Monday, January 30, 2012
Brevard Times Endorses Ron Paul For GOP Nominee
During his Presidential campaign in 1980, Ronald Reagan posed the pivotal question of the time, “Are you better off than than you were four years ago?”
In 2012, the question has changed to “Is America better off than it was 40 years ago?” The answer to this question is decidedly no for America, and especially no for Florida’s Space Coast.
There has been much talk by the candidates about American exceptionalism. But no candidate, except for Ron Paul, addresses the monetary and liberty issues from which that exceptionalism arose.
When Republican President Dwight Eisenhower signed the 1958 Space Act and Democratic President John F. Kennedy challenged the U.S.A. to put a man on the moon, both administrations presided over a gold standard monetary policy.
The height of American optimism and futurism, embodied by the 1964 New York World’s Fair song ‘There’s a Great Big Beautiful Tomorrow’ and pinnacled by the 1969 Apollo Moon landing, did and could only occur when the U.S. dollar was as good as gold and the U.S. economy was not shackled by the ever expanding corporate and social welfare state that exists today.
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Senator Wyden Asks President Obama: Isn’t Congress Required To Approve ACTA?
As the US Trade Rep (USTR) under the Obama administration has made it clear that it has no intention of allowing Congress to ratify ACTA, but instead believes it can sign it unilaterally, we’ve finally seen someone in Congress notice that this appears to be unconstitutional. Senator Wyden has sent President Obama a letter asking some basic questions. From the letter:
Although the USTR insists that current U.S. law, and its application, conform to these standards, there are concerns that the agreement may work to restrain the U.S. from changing such rules and practices. As you know, the executive branch lacks constitutional authority to enter binding international agreements on matters under Congress’s plenary powers, including the Article I powers to regulate foreign commerce and protect intellectual property. Yet, through ACTA and without your clarification, the USTR looks to be claiming the authority to do just that.
The letter also responds to the repeated claims of the USTR that it can have this signed as an executive agreement because it doesn’t require changes to US law, by pointing out that’s not the rule:
The statement by the USTR confuses the issue by conflating two separate stages of the process required for binding the U.S. to international agreements: entry and implementation. It may be possible for the U.S. to implement ACTA or any other trade agreement, once validly entered, without legislation if the agreement requires no change in U.S. law. But, regardless of whether the agreement requires changes in U.S. law, a point that is contested with respect to ACTA, the executive branch lacks constitutional authority to enter a binding international agreement covering issues delegated by the Constitution to Congress’ authority, absent congressional approval.
Ron Paul greeted by cheering crowd in Lewiston
Urgent message to Rep. Ron Paul: You’re going to need a bigger hall.
At the Ramada Inn on Friday night, it wasn’t just standing-room only. It was shoulder to shoulder and elbow to elbow, and that was a full hour before the presidential hopeful had arrived.
“We may have to take that wall down,” local conservative activist Paul Madore said a half-hour before Paul was due to speak. “And put up some chairs.”
They did remove the wall, doubling the size of the room. Still, the space was crammed full as several hundred people showed up early and a few more trickled in late. And if anything was more striking than the size of the crowd, it was the diversity of it: Men and women well past the age of retirement stood next to kids not yet old enough to vote. There were men with beards and men who had shaved and put on suits. There were women in skirts and teenagers in jeans. Parents brought their kids to hear Paul speak and a few teenagers brought dates.
The young and old came in near equal numbers and when Paul took the stage, the applause was thunderous. It went on all night. They applauded when he spoke about the national debt and income taxes. They applauded when he spoke of getting American troops off foreign soil and letting other nations fight their own battles.
When Paul spoke about matters of individual liberty, on the other hand, the clamor grew to something much greater than simple applause. It became thunderous again.
“Turnout has been great for the cause of liberty,” Paul assured the room. “The freedom movement is growing by leaps and bounds.”
It was what many in the crowd had come out on a rainy, slushy night to hear. They roared their approval and chanted. They pumped their fists and held up campaign signs, showing support for a candidate who embraces personal freedoms above all else.
L.L. Bean heiress backs Paul
Linda Bean, an heiress to famed Maine outfitter L.L. Bean, came out in support of Ron Paul on Saturday as the candidate made a campaign swing through the state.
Bean, who is a part owner of her family’s company and sits on its board, said she is a longtime supporter of the Texas congressman. She backed his 2008 presidential bid, but hasn’t made a public endorsement in the current race until now.
“I’ve been for Ron Paul for years,” Bean said. “I watched his House races in Texas, and he’s just true blue. He doesn’t waver from the Constitution and I like that very much.”
Bean made her endorsement at the lobster restaurant she owns in Freeport, situated across the road from L.L. Bean’s large flagship store. She singled out Paul’s appeal across the political spectrum as a reason for her support.
This is what happens when you joke about “destroying America” on Twitter
It is widely known that law enforcement agencies are turning to social networks to monitor citizens but one UK Twitter user saw a joke tweet land him in hot water, as he was detained by Homeland Security in Los Angeles, interrogated and barred from the US, The Sun reveals.
Before Leigh Van Bryan and his friend Emily Bunting embarked on a holiday to Los Angeles, Van Bryan tweeted that he was going to “destroy America,” boasting that he would try “digging up Marilyn Monroe” during his trip across the pond.
If someone tweets they would “destroy America,” you would expect it to alert law-enforcement agencies. However, in the UK, “destroying” can also be used as a term for partying or having a good time.
When Van Bryan and Bunting arrived in the US, they were immediately detained by officials at Los Angeles International Airport, held by armed guards and questioned for over five hours before they were “handcuffed, put in a van with illegal immigrants and locked up overnight.”