Monthly Archives: December 2007

The Kind Of Help Ron Paul Doesn’t Need, Part II

Back in September, I wrote about an incident in Michigan in which some overly-enthusiastic Ron Paul supporters who nearly became physical with former Mayor Rudy Giuliani.

Well, Giuliani was in Metro Atlanta this weekend and, while it didn’t get quite that bad, I don’t think that this group of Ron Paul supporters did any better job to convince people to vote for their candidate:

It was Rudy Giuliani campaigning for president on the Marietta Square on Sunday afternoon, but anyone listening may well have thought the candidate’s name was Ron Paul.

“RON PAUL! RON PAUL! RON PAUL!” — a crowd chanted from Glover Park, effectively drowning out comments from the former New York mayor and occasionally changing the chant to “FREEDOM! FREEDOM! FREEDOM!”

The younger crowd of Paul supporters had stronger, or maybe more enthusiastic, lungs than the middle-aged crowd of Giuliani’s gaggle, who responded with a college try — “Rudy! Rudy! Rudy!” — while the Paul cadres tailed the GOP front runner on his walking photo op in downtown Marietta.

The Paul backers, handing out their own candidate’s literature, said they were more interested in a president who would truly try to shrink government, not just promise to do it, and who promises outright to bring the troops home from Iraq.

“You’re being very inconsiderate,” an elderly woman, aghast at the lack of Southern manners, told three young female Paul acolytes.

“You’re not helping your candidate with this,” a middle-aged man told a 20-something man toting a blue-and-white Paul campaign sign.

That’s an understatement.

I understand the enthusiasm that Ron Paul’s supporters have for their candidate, but whether your goal is to win the nomination, or simply to move the Republican Party, engaging in tactics like this that really do nothing more than annoy other Republicans doesn’t accomplish anything, doesn’t help the campaign, and doesn’t help the candidate.

H/T: Jason Pye

This Should Make The War-With-Iran Argument Much More Difficult

The latest National Intelligence Estimate finds that the Iranians stopped actively pursuing nuclear weapons in 2003:

WASHINGTON (CNN) — Iran halted work toward a nuclear weapon under international scrutiny in 2003 and is unlikely to be able to produce enough enriched uranium for a bomb until 2010 to 2015, a U.S. intelligence report says.

A declassified summary of the latest National Intelligence Estimate found with “high confidence” that the Islamic republic stopped an effort to develop nuclear weapons in the fall of 2003.

The estimate is less severe than a 2005 report that judged the Iranian leadership was “determined to develop nuclear weapons despite its international obligations and international pressure.”

But the latest report says Iran — which declared its ability to produced enriched uranium for a civilian energy program in 2006 — could reverse that decision and eventually produce a nuclear weapon if it wanted to do so.

Enriched uranium at low concentrations can be used to fuel nuclear power plants, but much higher concentrations are needed to yield a nuclear explosion.

“We judge with moderate confidence that the earliest possible date Iran would be technically capable of producing enough highly enriched uranium for a weapon is late 2009, but that this is very unlikely,” the report says. A more likely time frame for that production is between 2010 and 2015, it concludes.

By which time there may not even be an Islamic Republic of Iran.

This should make the foreign policy debate during the upcoming elections more interesting. For Republicans at least, standing up to Iran was close to being a litmus test with every candidate with the exception of Ron Paul refusing to take the possibility military action off the table. Even the major Democratic candidates have been hedging their bets on Iran; and the unstated assumption underlying the debate as been that some kind of confrontation between the United States and/or Israel and Iran was coming.

The release of this report would seem to make the political argument for any military action much harder to make.

Republican Candidates Challenged On Medical Marijuana

The New York Times reported over the weekend that a public policy group is challenging Republican candidates who are opposed to the legalization of marijuana for medical use to put up or shut up:

Some of the Republican presidential candidates have dismissed medical marijuana as unnecessary or “too dangerous.” Now they’re being offered $10,000 to come up with the scientific evidence.

The Marijuana Policy Project, a group advocating the use of medical marijuana, will be in New Hampshire next week with a mobile billboard offering to contribute $10,000 to the campaigns of Rudy Giuliani, John McCain or Mitt Romney if any of the candidates can substantiate their statements about medical marijuana.

There’s plenty of evidence that there are medical applications for marijuana, with many opting to buy weed online ontario for ailments such as chronic pain and seizures.

When it comes to the use of marijuana for medical reasons, it could be as simple as buying products from sites like buddies weed, in the hopes of relieving any pains and symptoms of health conditions that can affect daily life.

But no big study has come forward with any major negatives as of now. This is why some people may choose to find out more from i49, especially if the use of cannabis is something they’ve been considering to improve their health.

Whilst smoking anything can, of course, be potentially damaging to the lungs, there are other forms that marijuana products can come in, such as oils and edibles, that negate this potential lead. Many who are allowed to take marijuana for medical reasons choose to buy cbd edibles online instead of smoking or vaping the product, as it is better suited to them, and can be easier to take for many who the drug can help. None of this has come up in the discussions Republicans have put forward.

So something tells me that none of the candidates will be biting on this one.

Chavez Suffers A Setback

In what can only be characterized as a surprise, Venezuelans narrowly defeated President Hugo Chavez’s latest bid to amend the country’s Constitution to expand his power:

CARACAS, Venezuela, Dec. 3 — Venezuelan voters delivered a stinging defeat to President Hugo Chávez on Sunday, blocking proposed constitutional changes that would have given him political supremacy and accelerated the transformation of this oil-rich country into a socialist state.

Hours after the final ballots were cast, the National Electoral Council announced at 1:15 a.m. local time Monday that voters, by a margin of 51 to 49 percent, had rejected 69 reforms to the 1999 constitution. The modifications would have permitted the president to stand for reelection indefinitely, appoint governors to provinces he would create and control Venezuela’s sizable foreign reserves.

(…)

The victory for the “No” vote represents the first electoral setback for Chávez, 53, a former lieutenant colonel who won the presidency in a 1998 landslide and, until now, had trounced his opponents in one referendum and presidential election after another. Political analysts had said last week that the populist leader had lost standing this year after implementing unpopular policies, such as canceling a television station’s broadcast license and displaying increasingly erratic behavior in verbal spats with foreign leaders.

The extent of the public’s frustration with Chavez became clear a few weeks ago when an offhand remark by the King of Spain became the rallying cry for opponents of the constitutional changes that Chavez was advocating.

This isn’t the end of Chavez, of course. He remains in office through the end of 2012, which is more than enough time to stir up trouble at home and abroad.

Who Raised Taxes More: Bill Clinton or Mike Huckabee

An editorial in the Arkansas Leader reveals the truth

Mike Huckabee raised more taxes in 10 years in office than Bill Clinton did in his 12 years.

……………………………….

So which raised taxes more? It is hard to quantify. If you measured the increases in the revenue stream, the Huckabee tax cuts far exceeded Clinton’s but that would be unfair because the economy had grown and the same penny of tax would produce far more under Huckabee.

But if you look at the major taxes, I see the aggregate Huckabee taxes as greater, especially if you deduct the 4 cent gasoline and diesel taxes that Clinton vetoed in 1985 and that the legislature enacted over his veto.

Anyway, the sales tax is the big revenue producer. Both raised it by 1.5 cents on the dollar and both expanded it to cover a myriad of services. Clinton raised motor fuel taxes a little more, Huckabee cigarette taxes a lot more.

Now, who cut taxes the most. After all, part of Mike Huckabee’s “fiscal conservatism” is that “he cut taxes 94 times”.

The 94 tax cuts that he said he fathered are similarly misleading. The vast majority of those were the usual exemptions and modifications of various taxes and fees that the legislature enacts every time it meets. They were not a part of Huckabee’s program with a few exceptions. Rather, Democratic legislators sponsored them, usually at the behest of whatever special interest benefited, and Huckabee signed them when they hit his desk. If you did a similar summary of Clinton’s years he could claim probably well over 100 tax cuts. Every Arkansas governor since World War II could claim dozens each.

If you counted all the tax benefits extended to corporations under the incentives enacted by the legislature under Clinton — and they were part of his programs, especially in 1983, 1985 and 1989 — the tax cuts would dwarf those under Huckabee.

Tax Hike Mike is lying about his record again.

Tax Hike Mike is easily the most dangerous Republican running for president. He combines religious fanaticism with socialism and populism which would wreck the country if he’s elected. As such, I cannot support any ticket with Tax Hike Mike on it.

h/t: Jason

I’m one of the original co-founders of The Liberty Papers all the way back in 2005. Since then, I wound up doing this blogging thing professionally. Now I’m running the site now. You can find my other work at The Hayride.com and Rare. You can also find me over at the R Street Institute.
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