____ 
Author Ramesh Ponnuru
Ron Paul-hater
It is possible that Paul will come in first in a fractured field in the Iowa caucuses: Those caucuses reward intensity of support, which he certainly has. The notion that he will be the Republican nominee is too absurd to spend a moment contemplating.
You can read this hopeless article if you weant. Better reading are the 300-plus comments that tell a different tale.
And here’s another gem. This author says Iowa is worried sick that if Paul wins then their whole political system will be ruined. What is wrong with these people?
Paul poses an existential threat to the state’s cherished kick-off status, say these Republicans, because he has little chance to win the GOP nomination and would offer the best evidence yet that the caucuses reward candidates who are unrepresentative of the broader party.
This is hilarity at its best.
So—whats “hopeless” about the article/analysis?
given your insight and experience I was actually expecting something hopeless but the article made several definite SPECIFIC points. So–you can disagree but calling it hopeless is rather shameful.
Paul is too dogmatic. All dogmatists should be rejected. They raise their dogma above all other values thereby wreaking havoc to things like human rights, constitution, and so forth.
Here is a good summary of the article: “So over the next few weeks Paul’s ideas will probably get more attention than they have ever received before, or will ever receive again. Most people who examine them will reject them, for good reasons, while giving him credit for sincerity.”
Short, sweet, and to the point. Hopeless—not so much. I skipped the comments. Ayn Rand fan bois are never good for my digestion and I do plan on eating this week.
Buddhism.
By your logic consistency, principles and logic equal dogma. Wow.
The article was hopeless because the writer had a fixed unwavering negative opinion.There was not one note of balance. Not one sign indicating anything but the assertion that Paul is a loser with no redeeming characteristics. How is that not hopeless?
We all know why Paul is scoffed at by the hard-line Republicans, He’s against the Bush doctrine and wants to treat all Countries equal. Ron Paul claims to want to defund the war machine, and that is the backbone of the sabre rattling Republican machine.
Off topic, John I just now watched Obama on msnbc, at the bottom of the screen scrolled “Two men in Louisiana die of brain-eating infection after drinking from nasal teapot”, I’m paraphrasing. Drinking? Eww.
I am unapologetically a capital L liberal. Ron Paul and his dogmatic policies are the only hope we have as a nation (and a species) to survive the next 100 years. Politics have nothing to do with it.
Specifically, the Federal Reserve. Everybody agrees both liberal and conservative that the Federal Reserve Bank needs to go. The ~only~ person bringing this issue up is Ron Paul. The only people who think that the Federal Reserve should stay in place are the mushy nuggoty creamy center… Well them and the Bankers.
All Ron Paul wants to do is audit the Federal Reserve, expose it to the light of day.
It is my feeling, that the Federal Reserve and its practices are so at the heart of what is wrong with the world right now, that as soon as this private entity is exposed to transparent governance, it will cease to exist.
I come to this conclusion from caring about the environment, and humanitarianism, and building a legitimate world wide meritocracy.
Should Ron Paul actually make it through the Republican nomination process (I wish I was hopeful enough to believe it possible) I will absolutely cross over and vote for Ron Paul over Obama.
. . . I just woke up from a faint.
Why did I faint?
Because we found some common ground.
Ignore previous post. Wrong Greg 🙂
My apologies.
“All dogmatists should be rejected. They raise their dogma above all other values thereby wreaking havoc to things like human rights, constitution, and so forth.”
Exactly like the current teabagger right-wingers now destroying our country with their inflated sense of importance.
Are you referring to a gay cabal practicing tea-bagging? Or just being a bigot?
John, you got it wrong, and Bobbo got it right. The label RonPaulHater is way off. Ramesh Ponnuru exhibits no hate in that article, and having read many of his writings he is one of the few writers who doesn’t just assume the public agrees with him. For example he will write how Republicans will be politically hurt by various pro-life laws, even though he supports very extreme pro-life laws.
Sweet Bobo the Troll is back in his usual style….
Rupert Murdoch doesn’t like Ron so the sheeple need to be herded away for him.
You think Rupert owns Bloomberg?
Michael Bloomberg owns Bloomberg not Murdoch.
Its eponymous.
it is fixed
“What especially worries Iowa Republican regulars is the possibility that Paul could win here on January 3rd with the help of Democrats and independents who change their registration to support the libertarian-leaning Texas congressman but then don’t support the GOP nominee next November.”
Exactly correct, my wife and I became registered R’s just to be able to vote for Paul in the NY primary. We also donated money for the first time to a political candidate, not much, but Ron Paul makes sense.
Iowa don’t represent a sampling of America. Iowans are mostly white and gainfully employed. So what’s all the fuss about?
Ron Paul is the first and only presidential candidate that I have supported with donations and a vote since I attained voting age.
When the liberals start supporting a Libertarian philosophy, you know there is trouble in this country.
Orchidcup, the only reason Mitt Romney has a campaign right now is because libertarians put an initiative on the Massachusetts ballot in 2002 to get rid of the state income tax.
Two Iowa faith leaders back Rick Santorum
(Reuters) – Two prominent Iowa religious conservative leaders endorsed Republican Rick Santorum on Tuesday, bolstering his longshot presidential candidacy and dealing a blow to front-runner Newt Gingrich two weeks before the state’s kickoff nominating contest.
Bob Vander Plaats, head of the influential Christian group Family Leader and Iowa Family Policy Center head Chuck Hurley backed Santorum after the Family Leader’s board of directors was unable to reach agreement on a broader endorsement.
“I believe Rick Santorum comes from us,” Vander Plaats said of Santorum, who has touted his born-again Christian faith on the campaign trail but is mired in single digits in most state polls. “He’s one of us.”
Wonderful.
Not “wonderful”. I know you were being sarcastic. It makes me sick to my stomach with all this faith based reaching out to politics. “He’s one of us.” Keep your God out of our politics.
Tell that to Barack Obama.
And Rick Perry.
Mr Dvorak–I’m honored. Your rare appearances are respected by all. So, let’s parse:
By your logic consistency, principles and logic equal dogma. Wow. /// Yes–principles not compromised by pragmatism and certain competing interests is “dogma” by definition and should ALWAYS be avoided.
Dogma Defined: Characterized by an authoritative, arrogant assertion of unproved or unprovable principles. See Synonyms at dictatorial.
Dogmatist Defined: a person who asserts his or her opinions in an unduly positive or arrogant manner; a dogmatic person.
The article gives several fairly good examples of this dogmatism at play: He would have voted against Civil Rights legislation and he would take no steps to prevent Iran from getting the Bomb. What is that except logical consistency on a given principle without compromise or pragmatism?—ie===Dogma?
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
The article was hopeless because the writer had a fixed unwavering negative opinion. /// No he didn’t.
1. First Sentence: “doesn’t mind long odds, and doesn’t mind standing alone. ” /// a real individualist, brave, resolute.
2. Most of Paul’s fellow libertarians are excited that he is doing well in the polls in Iowa, and hope that more Americans will be exposed to their political philosophy. /// He has friends!
3. He opposes abortion, which he considers an infringement of the individual’s right to be free from violence. He has supported the Defense of Marriage Act, /// certainly a positive if you are a misogynistic homophobe?
4. Many of them were also dismayed by bigoted newsletters sent out under Paul’s name during the 1990s — newsletters that Paul has disavowed, //// No sarcasm–Paul is not a bigot. I believe him.
5. Paul’s top issues in this campaign are foreign policy — he opposes all U.S. military action except in response to attacks – – and monetary policy. //// More positives if you are an isolationist and rather retarded about economics.
6. It has also led him to hostility to Israel. //// That introduces some “balance” to the unwaivering support of Israel. In a vacuum, a good thing.
7. It is possible that Paul will come in first in a fractured field in the Iowa caucuses //// Winning!!!!
8. Somewhat more likely is that he will mount a third-party run in November 2012. /// He’s not a quiter!
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
There was not one note of balance. /// No. The above are positive statements/elements and then they were balanced by the writers OPINION of how such positives would be balanced by their opposing issues/concerns/acceptability by the American Voting Public–if not just the Republicans.
Not one sign indicating anything but the assertion that Paul is a loser with no redeeming characteristics. /// Simply not true–see above.
How is that not hopeless? /// Define Hopeless: Feeling or causing despair about something ====thats not my feeling after reading the article. I’m positively giddy the American Voting Public, even most Republicans, are not taken in by this Dogmatist.
Why aren’t you?
Bobbo, I’m a different John, though your reply is one of those tl,dr posts. Short and to the point gets read. Just trying to help a fellow out.
Its Bobbo, don’t worry about it.
An intelligible/intelligent comment is only a scroll of the mouse away.
I stopped responding to his troll bait months ago, and I feel I’ve become a better man for it.
Peapod–I have noticed your posts getting better and better over time. I didn’t realize I was the cause of that. Well done. Where do you think your use of the slash (“/”) word/idea bridge came from?
Infectious isn’t it? It works in a kind of eecummings stream of consciousness kind of way. Bad for the dyslexics but good practice too.
Your continued support is noted and appreciated.
yawn..just as you refused to read the comments (the point of the post in the first place) I cannot deal with this diatribe.
Now we are even!
#–too hard to figure/aka JCD==so you think the even score is now zero to zero, one to one, too two, or what? But I thank you for giving me any point at all. You are quite stingy that way. The foibles of a great man? I do agree quite often the comments are as worthy or even more interesting than the original article: much like this blog. Your lead in then was designed as a distraction? It worked!!
But trusting your judgment, I’ll go read them now. I wonder what makes them stellar? Fan bois being countered or the fan bois themselves. I’m thinking its the fan bois.
I do wonder in addition to whatever why an opinion piece should be balanced to begin with. Why? Its a generic complaint of no substance. Analysis proceeds on what IS written, NOT on what is NOT written. I guess THAT is irrlevant when the point was to read the comments.
But I tarry so.
If you were lucky enough to see Bruno, the movie, you know Ron Paul is for real. Any other politician would have thrown a fit and had Sacha Cohn jailed if he did not cut the dildo bike scene.
Ron Paul proved his manhood by walking out and not, NOT, NOT, making a big deal of it. Could you imagine any other candidate in the Republican field handling that with class and under the radar? Obama would have pulled it off also.
Crossing over in the Primary…..I want my weed and Israel out or US politics.
Bobbo likes long blog posts.
I apologize for the length of this post. It is good reading.
Inscriptions on the walls of the Thomas Jefferson Memorial:
On the panel of the southwest interior wall are excerpts from the Declaration of Independence, written in 1776:
We hold these truths to be self-evident: that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain inalienable rights, among these are life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness, that to secure these rights governments are instituted among men. We…solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states…And for the support of this declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine providence, we mutually pledge our lives, our fortunes, and our sacred honour.
Note that the inscription uses the word “inalienable”, as in Jefferson’s draft, rather than “unalienable”, as in the published Declaration.
On the panel of the northwest interior wall is an excerpt from “A Bill for Establishing Religious Freedom, 1777”, except for the last sentence, which is taken from a letter of August 28, 1789, to James Madison [The Father of the Constitution]:
Almighty God hath created the mind free…All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens…are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion…No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.
The quotes from the panel of the northeast interior wall are from multiple sources. The first sentence, beginning “God who gave…”, is from “A Summary View of the Rights of British America”. The second, third and fourth sentences are from Notes on the State of Virginia. The fifth sentence, beginning “Nothing is more…”, is from Jefferson’s autobiography. The sixth sentence, beginning “Establish the law…”, is from an August 13, 1790, letter to George Wythe. The final sentence is from a letter of January 4, 1786, to George Washington [The Father of our Country]:
God who gave us life gave us liberty. Can the liberties of a nation be secure when we have removed a conviction that these liberties are the gift of God? Indeed I tremble for my country when I reflect that God is just, that his justice cannot sleep forever. Commerce between master and slave is despotism. Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free. Establish the law for educating the common people. This it is the business of the state to effect and on a general plan.
The inscription on the panel of the southeast interior wall is redacted and excerpted from a letter July 12, 1816, to Samuel Kercheval:
I am not an advocate for frequent changes in laws and constitutions. But laws and institutions must go hand in hand with the progress of the human mind. As that becomes more developed, more enlightened, as new discoveries are made, new truths discovered and manners and opinions change, with the change of circumstances, institutions must advance also to keep pace with the times. We might as well require a man to wear still the coat which fitted him when a boy as civilized society to remain ever under the regimen of their barbarous ancestors.
The excerpts chosen from the Declaration have been criticized because the first half alters Jefferson’s prose (for the sake of saving space) and eliminates the right of revolution passage that Jefferson believed was the point of the Declaration, while much of the second half (from “solemnly publish” to “divine providence”) was not written by Jefferson.
The fifth sentence quoted on the northeast interior wall (“Nothing is more certainly written in the book of fate than these people are to be free.”) has been called “misleadingly truncated” by historian Garry Wills, because Jefferson’s sentence continued with: “Nor is it less certain that the two races, equally free, cannot live in the same government.”
The phrase “We…solemnly publish and declare, that these colonies are and of right ought to be free and independent states…” was actually authored by my ancestor Richard Henry Lee, and borrowed by Jefferson in his draft of the Declaration of Independence.
Many of the Founding Fathers were skeptics of the highest order. They did not subscribe to the religious dogma of their era.
Nor do I.
#14–jp==pro’s and con’s to all we do. This is an important topic and I’m sure JCD has the attention span to read the whole thing as will anyone with a real interest in the subject matter. Time and interest to respond?===Probably Not. He can actually make money spending his time otherwise–and thats fair enough.
Ron Paul and LIEbeTARDism. Fascinating how single ideas/dogmas capture the thinking of people, become all consuming==RATHER THAN one item in the mix of competing interests wherein all must be considered and balanced to have any real solution.
Lets See jp, not to be overly long, but what did you post? Sound like you are an RP Supporter?………………its a bit muddled? Maybe too long?==but you seem to be saying its “wrong” for Dems to cross over to vote for Paul when they won’t vote for Paul later? Well, that is “dirty politics” practiced by both sides. But it can “backfire.” Its a long list of people who were voted for thinking they would be easy to beat. Some can be too clever by half.
There isn’t a single Dogma I can think of that is not made better by compromise with its opposing interests. Not going all Buddha on this one but ying/yang is a most complete approach to every subject. Identifying the ying and the yang remains the challenge.
Pro’s and Con’s to all we do. Dogmatists don’t agree. Its all their Dogma and everything else is wrong. In Pauls case this means no civil rights enforcement, Iran has the Bomb, the government tells women to keep and bear children, etc. How many issues can be identified as “critical” before you vote a candidate into office for his good positions just hoping he doesn’t get his way on the bad ones?
No–once again we need to hold our powder dry, vote for the least bad candidate, and wait for our savior. Sad that things have to get even worse than they are now before we find our way.
Yea……verily.
#16–Orchi==exposition at length can be a pleasure to read as was your post but I’m coming up dry with catching its meaning/intent. Let me pare down my ode to a short summary that is on topic: The article wasn’t one sided.
And how would you pare your own work?
Almighty God hath created the mind free…All attempts to influence it by temporal punishments or burthens…are a departure from the plan of the Holy Author of our religion…No man shall be compelled to frequent or support any religious worship or ministry or shall otherwise suffer on account of his religious opinions or belief, but all men shall be free to profess and by argument to maintain, their opinions in matters of religion. I know but one code of morality for men whether acting singly or collectively.
I don’t care what is the pun-dents have to say, everyone I talk to is either voting for Paul or thinking about it. The have no plans to vote for the media darling in the primary.
Good for them.
I think what is changing in this country is the belief the media is reporting the news in an unbiased fashion.
Happened to me. I read a news report about the government raiding a gold coin manufacturer that was putting “Ron Paul” on the obverse side. I got curious, looked up Ron Paul, read his speeches, and haven’t looked back.
This is the Gospel of my Religion:
And that the said Constitution be never construed to authorize Congress to infringe the just liberty of the press, or the rights of conscience; or to prevent the people of the United States, who are peaceable citizens, from keeping their own arms; or to raise standing armies, unless necessary for the defense of the United States, or of some one or more of them; or to prevent the people from petitioning, in a peaceable and orderly manner, the federal legislature, for a redress of grievances; or to subject the people to unreasonable searches and seizures of their persons, papers or possessions.
A general dissolution of the principles and manners will more surely overthrow the liberties of America than the whole force of the common enemy…. While the people are virtuous they cannot be subdued; but once they lose their virtue, they will be ready to surrender their liberties to the first external or internal invader…. If virtue and knowledge are diffused among the people, they will never be enslaved. This will be their great security.
The liberties of our country, the freedom of our civil Constitution, are worth defending at all hazards; and it is our duty to defend them against all attacks. We have received them as a fair inheritance from our worthy ancestors: they purchased them for us with toil and danger and expense of treasure and blood, and transmitted them to us with care and diligence. It will bring an everlasting mark of infamy on the present generation, enlightened as it is, if we should suffer them to be wrested from us by violence without a struggle, or to be cheated out of them by the artifices of false and designing men.
Samuel Adams – (1722-1803), was known as the “Father of the American Revolution.”
Amen.
Makin me thirsty for a beer…
rEVOLution 2012
Occupy a Garden
A BEER garden.
That’s okay.
I sincerely doubt any Republican supporter, never mind a Ron Paul supporter, reads Bloomberg.
That’s for people with brains and or money.
Republicans are basement dwellers and barrel-bottom scrapers and 50% of the population possesses below average intelligence.
Remember, ever idiots and cretins are allowed to vote, even if the Republicans have to open a polling station in an asylum/ bar/ whore house/ pig sty or open field.
In some cases, even the dead are allowed to vote. But those votes were tallied were tallied weeks ago, by people working the graveyard shift.
You must be referring toa Bloomberg Terminal, not the publication. It’s Business Week with cut staff and cut salaries. Hardly a big draw for the people with brains and money.
“50% of the population possesses below average intelligence”
Really? I would hope so. Otherwise we’d have to rethink the fundamentals of math.
Did you discover this information yourself or did you read it in a book?
He read it on Bloomberg.
Funny how that works.
50% is below therefore 50% is above, yet … I’ll bet that none of you thinks he or she is only of average intelligence.
Psychology says that you all think you’re in the “upper” side despite the mathematics of it.
After all, you’re using a computer aren’t you so that makes you, uh, smart, doesn’t it? (No it doesn’t. It makes the computer builders/makers smart.)
You can drive a car too, but I’ll bet you can only push the pedals and turn the wheels.
I’ll further bet that none of you have read the builders manual.
Oooh another saviour!
Didn’t you learn from the Obama saviour ?
Really people are just plain ignorant.
Cursor_
Except he is running as an anti-savior.
So few people (or people who identify themselves as Libertarians) know this. Most people seem to think that a political party with a specific party platform who happen to name themselves after a philosophy somehow completely embodies that philosophy.
Correct.
The Libertarian philosophy is also subject to change, according to the changing times.
The point is, every individual has a right to believe whatever is according to their own conscience.
The problems are definitional.
How does one define “as required” government? “National defense” or what is considered a human entitled to Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
How one pivots after things are defined is where you’ll get some semblance that Libertarians are “alike”. It’s getting them to agree on how to define things is the problem.
Look at the guy, he has a smug face, at least to me 🙂 This is only proven more by the fact Boobo agrees with this fool of a man. I should live my life like this too, think one way going into everything. Maybe not, don’t want to be an idiot all my life.
“50% of the population possesses below average intelligence”
Perhaps you meant “below median intelligence.”
Nobody can know the average intelligence of the population.
According to the scale of the Intelligence Quotient, a score of 100 would be “average” intelligence for an individual.
Take an I.Q. test and see where you stand.
I have, often.
They average out to 145. (Double pun there. 🙂
If the sample is carefully selected, like in a room full of theoretical physicists, that can drop me down to a mere 90.
What is your point?
That, like most people, I don’t distinguish between median and average in everyday parlance.
Granted.
Now that Ron Paul is the front runner in Iowa, we’ll be hearing more about those newsletters.
I know you refer to the newsletters that were authored by Lew Rockwell that contained a number of perceived racist comments that were directed at black people.
Ron Paul has denied and will continue to deny that he is a racist. He has taken responsibility for the publishing of the newsletters but he has denied his support of the content.
I will not say that Ron Paul is a perfect man who does not make mistakes. I do not know of any perfect men.
I am voting for Ron Paul because of his perceived allegiance to the Constitution.
I hope I am not disappointed.
I don’t have a problem with the newsletters, other people do, and that’s the issue. Do you know Lew Rockwell wrote them? Given all the baggage of the other candidates, I think this newsletter thing is pretty trivial given what Ron Paul really stands for.
I do not know that Lew Rockwell was the author of the newsletters.
Several people have pointed the finger at him.
I seem to remember he admitted it, but I don’t have a reference to confirm it.
Google it.
I’m no mathematician, but I thought in any standard Bell Shaped Curve the apex at 50% was the average, median, and mode value of the population?
but what I’m thinking is that the 50% measure is not a null value but has content so that to the left and right of it is something less than 50%. That number should be known==especially for the IQ curve. I looked, but like long posts, I got bored and stopped before I found anything useful.
Whats is really sad though is just how stupid someone with an IQ of 100 is. My sister as an IQ of 100. She teaches high school home economics and finds nothing remarkable about not liking to cook. Ha, ha. Maybe its just me?
IQ Studies. Fascinating. What is smart and dumb? More complicated and value driven than what you might think. Amusing nuggets like on what subjects do smart and dumb people think the same? Some people think smart people have something to contribute to society, but most people disagree.
How’s dem apples?
Smart people do not necessarily have anything to contribute to society.
That is not the purpose of our existence.
If I choose to contribute something to society, I expect to be paid for it.
You may contribute to my Paypal account if you like.
Just in….Parents want their kids to have straight “A” s.
Math for evaluation (re:grades) complete BS.
Kids kill themselves over “c”s.
I treated myself to 6 pack(s) when I got a D (that’s a 1.0 Dean Wormer) in Latin.
Soon everyone trying to get into Med School, Law School, Engineering School, will have a 4.0.
3.5 students will be janitorial staff and probably making more money than the above.
The janitors of the world have no more job security than anyone else.
One big problem with doing an indispensable job is that as the competition for jobs becomes more intense, the people doing them become more fungible.
Soon everyone applying for any job will need a degree of some form in some field.
The higher the degree and the closer the field to the job, the better your chance of getting considered for a job interview by some gorgon at an HR desk.
With apologies to Chris Rock but you can take getting a GED as a passport to fame and riches and shove the piece of paper right up your ass.
Grade point averages do not indicate intelligence.
They most often indicate cheating skills.
She teaches high school home economics and finds nothing remarkable about not liking to cook.
Maybe it a case of “Those who can do and those who can’t teach.
Bobbo, that’s if it’s a standard bell curve. If you measure by IQs perhaps using a scale that goes from 0 to very high numbers will change the average.
Is there a max IQ value? Like how Bill Gates and Warren Buffett can change the average income of a small town easily, while not moving the median.
You have succeeded in increasing the average intelligence of this blog by 10% or more.
NFS==expanding on my pontification from the next page==the IQ test is a standardized test: standardized to achieve a bell shaped curve with a median, mode, and mean of 100 with a standard deviation of 15 points and equal as to men and women. Standardized means they test the test until it produces that result.
There are “specialized” IQ tests that will further standardize between blacks and whites==but tellingly, the Chinese still beat all others. Actually thats not true. I think they produce “bi-modal” results: higher in the low end and the high end with a flattened middle. Its all depends on the result desired.
Much about the human experience is that way. Real in and of itself, but the understanding of it, manufactured for the result desired. Best just to assume we are all the same and all different at the same time and figure out how much of which rule applies to what subject?
Ha, ha……………….Buddhism!
“Is there a max IQ value?”
Marilyn vos Savant seems to be the record holder at 228. (That takes other factors like her age at the time into account.)
220* seems to be the limits of IQ measurement but that is a limitation of the test measurement. (At 14, I corrected a geometry question on the standard Stanford–Binet test by giving a revised version of the drawings they presented. [It has something to do with image rotation about two axes. This is not intelligence as far as I am concerned. Its just perception. {That got me an invite back to the testing lab. I never did find out what the test score was for that test.(After doing a few more of these, I averaged out at 145.)}])
Scoring 0 means that you’re not only as thick as a brick, but that you are as mentally inert as lead.
The median, (or mean, [or average, {or norm,}]) is defined as 100.
Even in a room full of Einsteins, like at a symposium of theoretical physicists, the value for IQ is 100.
Even in a room full of ‘tards, like on a short bus full of window lickers, the value is 100.
100 is a moving target. It depends on your sample and sample size.
“100 is a moving target. It depends on your sample and sample size.”
Precisely.
I wonder who Marilyn vos Savant is voting for?
No doubt she would consider that information to be private.
Inquiring minds would like to know.
Somebody other than Ron Paul.
The cabal is scared stiff. They fear that Washington may become clean, and that special interests can’t get their dope anymore.
Mr. Clean is coming to town. Watch out you crony capitalists. End times are near – for you.
The mainstream media have tried everything in the book to discredit Ron Paul, ignore, ridicule and twist and turn his statements in unprecedented ways. Let this anachronism of news presentation slowly dwindle and be laid to rest.
Now this.
Yeah—as a “touch stone” I think Ron Paul is right about this. We should pull our troops out of where ever they aren’t wanted and we are bleeding ourselves into bankruptcy by keeping them there.
But as Dogma–this notion fails when the very same principle would leave Iran alone to develop their Bomb. The sustex virus was a good idea.
In the main: America cannot be the worlds policeman===BUT===in our own interests we should be the worlds “fireman.” Go into critical areas and stop the genocide while people can still argue about how bad it might have gotten BUT THEN GET THE FRICKEN OUT, and go back home. Rinse and repeat as necessary. Cheap, effective==not libertarian at all. Just pragmatic.
Most of the countries that the United States “occupy” is at the invitation of the host country.
Guyver–so what? Whether true or false doesn’t affect what I posted.
Great empires crumble when they invade countries not worth the plunder.
We really need to get back to basics and recognize the economics of world terrorism rather than domestic corruption and sleaze.
Well–crap==Sorry Guyver–reread your post. We shouldn’t stay even where we are invited and wanted if we are bleeding ourselves into bankruptcy–ie, if the plunder doesn’t pay for the adventure, we don’t go there absent a “real” National Security Interest which in large part is no where.
One of the biggest strength’s America “had” was our own internal consumer market and we wasted that asset by putting our manufacturing overseas rather than engage in trade warfare. Instead, we bound ourselves with silly free market ideas while competing markets at war with us pillaged us blind.
Silly free market corporate bastards did this to us and continue the activity today.
STORM THE BASTILLE!!! Let the revolution begin with Justice!!
In response to: Most of the countries that the United States “occupy” is at the invitation of the host country.
Just who the hell “invited” the U.S. to occupy ANYWHERE?! The facts are undeniable: The U.S. has occupied every country they have ever conquered. Just look at Germany and Japan if you need proof. Hell! Look at England!!!
And if that’s not enough, look at HISTORY where the fall of the Roman Empire was primarily due to the over extension of it’s military – by occupying other lands. Remember: if we don’t learn from history then we are condemned to repeat it.
It’s absolutely imbecilic is to post troops in any foreign nation especially if those nations are now allies. And it’s absolutely crazy to occupy a nation that doesn’t want us there – particularly when we have finished what we set out to do.
Are you maybe starting to see why other nations might think the U.S. is arrogant? And why the U.S. may actually be arrogant for trying to impose some form of government on a country that doesn’t want it? Could it be that they’re right and that we just need to leave?
So I say, fine. Let’s leave. But leave with a warning that if we ever have to come back that it might make Nazzi Germany look like a 60’s love in!
Theodore Roosevelt was right! He said, “walk softly and carry a big stick.” I say don’t be afraid to use it especially if the other guy has one too!
Since 1948, about 48% of the voting population has abstained from voting.
Get out of your armchair and vote.
I will vote for Ron Paul.
I will vote for the Constitution.
If our election ballots had ever included the option to vote for “None Of The Above,” I would have voted in the past.
The Revolution is now.
Occupy the voting booths.
If ever a time should come, when vain and aspiring men shall possess the highest seats in Government, our country will stand in need of its experienced patriots to prevent its ruin.
It does not require a majority to prevail, but rather an irate, tireless minority keen to set brush fires in people’s minds.
If ye love wealth better than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, go home from us in peace. We ask not your counsels or your arms. Crouch down and lick the hands which feed you. May your chains set lightly upon you, and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.
Were the talents and virtues which heaven has bestowed on men given merely to make them more obedient drudges, to be sacrificed to the follies and ambition of a few? Or, were not the noble gifts so equally dispensed with a divine purpose and law, that they should as nearly as possible be equally exerted, and the blessings of Providence be equally enjoyed by all?
If men, through fear, fraud, or mistake, should in terms renounce or give up any natural right, the eternal law of reason and the grand end of society would absolutely vacate such renunciation. The right to freedom being the gift of Almighty God, it is not in the power of man to alienate this gift and voluntarily become a slave.
Driven from every other corner of the earth, freedom of thought and the right of private judgment in matters of conscience, direct their course to this happy country as their last asylum.
Let us contemplate our forefathers, and posterity, and resolve to maintain the rights bequeathed to us from the former, for the sake of the latter. The necessity of the times, more than ever, calls for our utmost circumspection, deliberation, fortitude and perseverance. Let us remember that “if we suffer tamely a lawless attack upon our liberty, we encourage it, and involve others in our doom,” it is a very serious consideration … that millions yet unborn may be the miserable sharers of the event.
Samuel Adams – (1722-1803), was known as the “Father of the American Revolution.”
Sounds good–but a false dichotomy.
Buddhism!!!!! Where wealth and liberty are both attachments. No, I don’t get it.
BUT I know I’d trade in a bit of liberty to get a bit of wealth: because thats what everyone does everyday. Silly to make those values mutually exclusive.
Pragmatism vs Dogma.
Yea…..verily!
And if voting for Ron Paul means you vote Democrat or Republican, that makes you another asswipe voter like 100,000,000 million other voters who have put us where we are over the last decades.
Imagine a leader that says we should have no wars on foreign soils and then issues letters of marque for covert mercenaries to do the dirty work he does not wish to do himself.
Imagine a leader that says we should have no foreign alliances and entanglements wish to implement a hard currency system that allows private banks from anywhere to issue currency to his nation.
Imagine a leader that is against earmarks to gain political support that adds to the deficit get earmarks for shrimp fishermen, a closed movie theater to be restored and a hospital in his own county of his own state.
Imagine a leader that will say or tell you anything you wish to hear to gain your support, when every other leader does the exact same thing. Yet, nothing gets better.
I don’t need to use my imagination. It is real and happening right now. And we should set aside fantasy and imagination and instead WORK and PLAN and RATIONALISE a real solution. Not be swayed by hope, faith and promises; which are not tangible.
Cursor_
Well–I agree the Lame Stream Media looks silly and biased when ignoring Ron Paul given his popularity. I don’t know what the supposed rules are for inclusion in debates but it might be that Buddy Roemer is getting a raw deal. None of that applies to any opinion piece though. Paul is a “minority view” candidate. By consequence, most reportage will be critical of him.
Similarly, I always find it amusing that when are article or question is absolute fair but addresses anything disadvantageous to a candidate it is called negative as if informing the voters was a bad thing? Like Newt having lost his Speakership? Or Paul not supporting Civil Rights legislation? Is that being negative in a negative sense or merely reporting important disadvantageous information that the public should know?
Allegedly the League of Women Voters decided to no longer host presidential debates out of disgust because the Democrats and Republicans set up so many rules to exclude other parties in on the debates.
Apparently the two dominant parties don’t like the extra competition and will have rules set up for exclusion. I’ve heard that 3rd party candidates trying to show up for these debates typically get arrested for trespassing since those debates are considered private affairs.
In Pennsylvania, if you are not registered R or D, you can’t vote in a primary, you are disenfranchised. I’m quite sure this is unconstitutional. Guess who made up this law?
What about Independent voters. Are they disenfranchised as well?
I don’t know who would make up that law, but it would appear to be unconstitutional.
Ron Paul is not so “popular.” Perhaps this would explain his appeal in Iowa.
If Ron Paul were to become “popular,” it follows that his views would not be considered a “minority view.”
Bell curve for men and women are different, as women are more likely to be average.
I know you are joking. Not funny, but still trying? The thing with IQ tests anyway is that they are “jiggered” to work out. The wimmens score higher on verbal testing questions while the hunks score higher on spatial orientation questions and so you pick enough of each so that the average, mode, and median all work out the same. Blacks are totally correct to say IQ tests are culturally biased. Those in english favor the english while those in french favor the french. Life is like that. But even on a balanced test==introduce distractions like street noises, hallway noises, people walking into the test area and what not and men’s scores will markedly fall while women’s scores stay much more stable–all about being multi tasked in raising the kiddies rather than single purpose as in hunting vilderbeasts. I know thats true because it was tested for.
Test construction and theory is fascinating. does kinda make you suspicious of any “result” thereafter. Not a good class for undergrads to take. Should be restricted to advanced degrees.
Ron Paul could be the GOP’s Jimmy Carter. Just right for the times, but ultimately cut from the wrong political cloth to operate effectively in Washington. I am sure that he would use the bully pulpit masterfully. He would really be the outsider candidate.
… also, on voting procedures:
Caucuses are stupid. If we were a small town, prior to TV and phones, with NOTHING else to do caucuses would be ideal. Asking people to be aware of politics and the views of candidates is one thing. Getting them to show up at a specific time and waste an afternoon\evening is something else entirely.
A simple ballot. Paper backup of voting. A few weeks of early voting. Rare absentee voting.
Maybe the GOP can get rid of Paul with a strategically released swamp rabbit.
A morsel of genuine history is a thing so rare as to be always valuable.
Is uniformity attainable? Millions of innocent men, women, and children, since the introduction of Christianity, have been burnt, tortured, fined, imprisoned; yet we have not advanced one inch towards uniformity. What has been the effect of coercion? To make one half the world fools, and the other half hypocrites.
The legitimate powers of government extend to such acts as are only injurious to others. But it does me no injury for my neighbor to say there are twenty gods, or no God. It neither picks my pocket nor breaks my leg.
The spirit of resistance to government is so valuable on certain occasions, that I wish it to be always kept alive. It will often be exercised when wrong but better so than not to be exercised at all. I like a little rebellion now and then. It is like a storm in the atmosphere.
I consider the foundation of the Constitution as laid on this ground: That ‘all powers not delegated to the United States, by the Constitution, nor prohibited by it to the States, are reserved to the States or to the people’. To take a single step beyond the boundaries thus specifically drawn around the powers of Congress, is to take possession of a boundless field of power, no longer susceptible to any definition.
The mass of mankind has not been born with saddles on their backs, nor a favored few booted and spurred, ready to ride them legitimately, by the grace of God.
Rightful liberty is unobstructed action according to our will within limits drawn around us by the equal rights of others. I do not add ‘within the limits of the law,’ because law is often but the tyrant’s will, and always so when it violates the rights of the individual.
Every government degenerates when trusted to the rulers of the people alone. The people themselves, therefore, are its only safe depositories.
I tolerate with utmost latitude the right of others to differ with me in opinion without imputing to them criminality. I know too well all the weaknesses and uncertainty of human reason to wonder at its different results.
The two enemies of the people are criminals and government, so let us tie the second down with the chains of the Constitution so the second will not become the legalized version of the first.
Government can do something for the people only in proportion as it can do something to the people.
The judiciary of the United States is the subtle corps of sappers and miners constantly working under ground to undermine the foundations of our confederated fabric. They are construing our constitution from a coordination of a general and special government to a general and supreme one alone. This will lay all things at their feet… We shall see if they are bold enough to take the daring stride their five lawyers have lately taken. If they do, then… I will say, that ‘against this every man should raise his voice,’ and more, should uplift his arm.
Congress has not unlimited powers to provide for the general welfare, but only those specifically enumerated.
Honor, justice, and humanity, forbid us tamely to surrender that freedom which we received from our gallant ancestors, and which our innocent posterity have a right to receive from us.
Let us, then, fellow citizens, unite with one heart and one mind. Let us restore to social intercourse that harmony and affection without which liberty and even life itself are but dreary things. And let us reflect that having banished from our land that religious intolerance under which mankind so long bled, we have yet gained little if we counternance a political intolerance as despotic, as wicked, and capable of a bitter and bloody persecutions.
Above all things I hope the education of the common people will be attended to, convinced that on their good sense we may rely with the most security for the preservation of a due degree of liberty.
I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
Thomas Jefferson – (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
******** snipped from above **********
I never submitted the whole system of my opinions to the creed of any party of men whatever, in religion, in philosophy, in politics or in anything else, where I was capable of thinking for myself. Such an addiction is the last degradation of a free and moral agent. If I could not go to Heaven but with a party, I would not go there at all.
Thomas Jefferson – (1743-1826), US Founding Father, drafted the Declaration of Independence, 3rd US President
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And explanation for the R and D voters on this blog: This fear which Jefferson had was shared by many of his peers. There were no parties back then, no official factions, and every thinking man shared Jefferson’s viewpoint on how bad it would become if parties ever coalesced into existence.
Fast forward to 2011. No R or D voter alive now, were he alive back then, would even deserve to wipe Jefferson’s ass.
Agreed.
It must never be forgotten…that the liberties of the people are not so safe under the gracious manner of government as by the limitation of power.
To preserve liberty, it is essential that the whole body of the people always possess arms and be taught alike, especially when young, how to use them.
The constitution ought to secure a genuine militia and guard against a select militia. …. all regulations tending to render this general militia useless and defenseless, by establishing select corps of militia, or distinct bodies of military men, not having permanent interests and attachments to the community ought to be avoided.
Why then sir, why do we longer delay? Why still deliberate? Let this happy day give birth to an American Republic. Let her arise not to devastate and to conquer but to reestablish the reign of peace and law. The eyes of Europe are fixed upon us. She demands of us a living example of freedom that may exhibit a contrast in the felicity of the citizen to the ever-increasing tyranny which desolates her polluted shores. She invites us to prepare an asylum where the unhappy may find solace, and the persecuted repose. If we are not this day wanting in our duty, the names of the American legislators of 1776 will be placed by posterity at the side of all of those whose memory has been and ever will be dear to virtuous men and good citizens.
Richard Henry Lee – (1732-1794) Founding Father
Why doesn’t this guy go back to answering the phones at Dell?
Teapublicans terrified that Paul will just mess up the good old boy network with the military-industrial complex, lawyers, drug companies, oil and wall street.
Go Ron Paul
Only a virtuous people are capable of freedom. As nations become corrupt and vicious, they have more need of masters.
In those wretched countries where a man cannot call his tongue his own, he can scarce call anything his own. Whoever would overthrow the liberty of a nation must begin by subduing the freeness of speech.
Without freedom of thought there can be no such thing as wisdom; and no such thing as public liberty without freedom of speech.
Those who would give up essential liberty to purchase a little temporary safety deserve neither liberty nor safety.
We must all hang together, or assuredly we shall all hang separately.
When the people find they can vote themselves money, that will herald the end of the republic.
Make yourselves sheep and the wolves will eat you.
There was never a good war, or a bad peace.
Life’s tragedy is that we get old too soon and wise too late.
It is the first responsibility of every citizen to question authority.
Benjamin Franklin – (1706-1790) US Founding Father
Franklin would be extremely disappointed if he came back. Good thing he’s dead, buried and there is no way he’s coming back.
His body is dead, but his thoughts are preserved for posterity.
If he were alive today, the culture shock would land him in a psychiatric institution.
Obama, whoever the Repubes finally hold their noses and pick to run against him, who gives a fuck?
In the end, it’ll still be a party dominated by $$$.
If you have to run, you have to have something to run with, and that means you beg, borrow, steal and sell your integrity to the people with the $$$, the 12,400 billionaires who already own damn-near everything and are getting more, second by second.
We’ve become ruled by a government
OF the thousandaires (the 99%)
BY the millionaires (the 1%)
FOR the billionaires (the 12,400 individuals identified by the IRS as the people who count (though they don’t really count as they hire some thousandaires to run machines to do that.)