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Ron Paul Interview Transcribed

7 Sep

“The Founder’s were right: non-intervention, friends and trade with people, more prosperity, and peace.”

Here’s a clip of an interview with Ron Paul on America Live with Megyn Kelly:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sguZg8FI9lo

He’s trying to change history, and so are we. He gave this interview after he placed well in the Iowa straw poll, but got little notice in the MSM. Starting at about 1:10 into the video, Kelly asks Paul whether or not the media is ignoring him:

Paul: Sure. Yeah they are, and we need to ask them why? What are they afraid of? Well, we’re certainly in the top tier. We did well in Iowa and we have a good organization. We can raise money.

But they don’t want to discuss my views because I think they’re frightened by us challenging the status quo and the establishment. When it comes to foreign policy, monetary policy, the entitlement system, because my views are quite different from the other candidates. They’d just as soon us not get the coverage that the others are getting and they will concentrate on establishment type politicians.

Kelly: There seems to be a narrative emerging that you can’t win and therefore they’re giving you back of the hand treatment. There was an editorial in The Wall Street Journal that said “He has no chance to win.” This despite the fact that you are 152 votes within the top spot in the Iowa straw pole. In fact out of almost 17,000 votes cast you were a 150 votes or so from number one. But The Wall Street Journal and others that you can’t win. Why? Why do they believe that?

Paul: Well they want to believe it and they want to promote an idea. They don’t want to promote information because they’re having a couple poles where I either came in first or second when you match my name up against Obama. Because my votes really compete.

“I’m trying to change the course of history.”

This would be a reason why the Democrats don’t want me to win either. Because I can compete against Obama. His base is very unhappy with his expansion of the war, and his lack of interest in protecting civil liberties. And therefore they don’t want to hear from me either. But I’ve done quite well. I’m quite willing to match my name up against Obama any time of the day.

Kelly: It’s got to be somewhat frustrating for you. I mean to come in second and be as close as you were to winning in Iowa, not to mention the polling that you’ve been doing, which is fairly good. To have this kind of treatment in the media, does this disturb you?

Paul: Well it disturbs me. I don’t use the word ‘frustrating’ because I anticipate and I know how the system works, and I know what I’m trying to do, because not like I’m just trying to win and get elected.

I’m trying to change the course of history and our history in this country hasn’t been good for the last 100 years, whether it’s our drift into managing an empire, the destruction of our currency, the deficits that have been run up, the climax of the dollar reserve standard. This is big stuff and nobody else is addressing this.

So in spite of the shortcomings of the reporting of this I write if off a bit, because they don’t have any idea about the significance of the idea of the monetary system and what’s going on with the Federal Reserve.

“The peace candidate is always a very strong candidate.”

But the people, grass roots America, are startin’ to wake up. Millions of people are reading about the Federal Reserve and understanding how they bail out their friends. Trillions of dollars. Give a third of all that money they used in the bail-out, give it to foreign banks. People realize this even though the media, generally speaking, they don’t understand it, they don’t ask the right questions. And if they do understand it they don’t want to get the secret out of how the system that we have protects the special interests, the big corporations, the corporatism that runs our society. Continue reading

Sunday in the Park

6 Sep

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After Irene, Jersey City, NJ

29 Aug

Liberty Marina, on the Hudson River:

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Entrance to Liberty State Park (also on the Hudson):

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Inside an abandoned building near Liberty State Park:

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Communipaw, just South of Grand (my neighborhood):

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Communipaw Avenue is on a foot path originally laid down by the Lenni Lenape, who lived here when Henry Hudson landed in 1609. He landed on the shore of what is now Liberty State Park.

Work Sharing | Work-sharing could work for us – Los Angeles Times

29 Aug

Where this is headed is to a shorter work week. And leaves more time for drumming and dancing, community gardens, and everyone teaching skills to kids and one another.

After surveying policies around the world, we found that there is one that clearly dominates in terms of impact and cost-effectiveness: work-sharing. The idea is simple. Currently, firms mostly respond to weak demand by laying off workers. Under a work-sharing program, firms are encouraged by government policy to spread a small amount of the pain across many workers.

In Germany, for example, which has used work-sharing aggressively in this downturn, a typical company might reduce the hours of 50 workers by 20% rather than laying off 10 workers. The government would then provide a tax credit to make up for most of the lost pay, with the employer kicking in some as well. In a typical arrangement, a worker might see his weekly hours go down by 20%, and his salary go down by about 4%.

via Work Sharing | Work-sharing could work for us – Los Angeles Times.

How Resilient is the Internet?

28 Aug

I live in Jersey City, NJ, not too far from the waterfront (Hudson River / New York harbor). I’ve been glued to the internet getting up dated information about Irene.

Now, one of the power generating stations in JC has been flooded. They’re closing down for emergency repairs. But I’ve still got power. But if my power goes out . . .

No internet for me.

It’s clear to me that the internet needs to be entirely off the main power grid. I don’t know what that means, technically. If I had a small solar generator & bettery back-up sufficient for my lap-top, that would get my machine off the grid. But, is there wifi in my area? I don’t know, but probably should. If so, is it independent of the main power grid? Don’t know.

But what I do know is that the whole thing, ends-to-ends, needs to be OFF THE GRID.

I’d like to think that the Defense Department has made their communications independent of the main power grid. If anyone has the means and the motive, they do. But we ALL need to be independent of that grid.

Does America Need Manufacturing? – NYTimes.com

27 Aug

If America wants to stay competitive in the world of green energy technologies, it will have to invest in local facilities for manufacturing those technologies. They are not so easy to off-shore as software and services.

“Now I think we’re at a really different moment,” Berger says. “We’re seeing a wave of new technologies, in energy, biotechnology, batteries, where there has to be a closer integration between research, development, design, product definition and production.”

One challenge to moving in this direction may be that our banks, hedge funds and venture capitalists are geared toward investing in financial instruments and software companies. In such endeavors, even modest investments can yield extraordinarily quick and large returns. Financing brick-and-mortar factories, by contrast, is expensive and painstaking and offers far less potential for speedy returns. Berger maintains that for the economy to get “full value” from our laboratories’ ideas in energy or biotech — not just new company headquarters but industrial jobs too — we must aspire to a different business model than the one we have come to admire.

via Does America Need Manufacturing? – NYTimes.com.

A Cooperative Economy: The Time Is Now | Common Dreams

26 Aug

This is a perfect time for a cooperative economy. Considering the disproportionate struggles faced by women and people of color during a recession, the cooperative economy presents an opportunity for all people, to leverage more power by making themselves the bosses, sharing ownership, and taking a collective approach to good management. Many people have already been let down by a top-down corporate or non-profit model in a recession-ridden society. Now is the time to rebuild the system, and build a society founded on justice, dignity, and respect for people and the planet.

via A Cooperative Economy: The Time Is Now | Common Dreams.

For Hurricane Irene

26 Aug

I say let’s serenade the lady. Here’s the Weavers singing “Goodnight Irene” at their Carnegie Hall reunion concert.

Maybe the lady will here us, maybe she won’t. But we’ll feel better.

Still, get outa’ town if you’re living on low wet ground. Otherwise, lay in supplies and stay safe.

Liberty Rising

17 Aug

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And she’s NOT happy.

Big Pink

14 Aug

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