Bye Bye bin Laden

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Osama bin Laden is dead, nearly a decade after the US government set out to get him, as Mr. Bush famously pronounced, "dead or alive."  After masterminding the most deadly terrorist attack on American concrete, it was clear that bin Laden needed to pay for his crimes.  He was a bad guy.  (Albeit the fact that he once was our "friend" and received weapons from the US when the Afghans fought the Soviets)  The government's path to bin Laden, however, leaves much to be desired.

Over the past ten years, we have spent two trillion dollars, ten thousand plus American troops, and hundreds of thousands of Afghan, Pakistani, and Iraqi citizens - all the while turning al qaeda from a small fringe group into the recruiting monster they are today. There was a better option.

Shortly after the attacks on 9/11, Ron Paul introduced the Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 before Congress with the intent of creating an elite special force to hunt down and capture or kill bin Laden.  From wikipedia:

The issue of marque and reprisal was raised before Congress after the September 11 attacks^[30] and again on July 21, 2007, by Congressman Ron Paul. The attacks were defined as acts of "air piracy" and the Marque and Reprisal Act of 2001 was introduced, which would have granted the president the authority to use letters of marque and reprisal against the specific terrorists, instead of warring against a foreign state... However, the bills Congressman Paul introduced were not enacted into law.

Of course it wasn't. Bin Laden is seen on several video tapes explaining his strategy of death by a thousand cuts to the US government.  His master plan, it seems, was to drag the US military into many small un-winnable conflicts in an attempt to bleed America dry and topple the Empire. I have to say, if indeed that was the plan, that it's kind of working.

While it's good that bin Laden is dead, we certainly haven't won.  He knew he would die a martyr to the thousands of religious nuts who looked up to him and were willing to die for him.  As reader Sam quoted, "he hasn't been on the run, he's been on the relax!"  Sadly, the death of Osama bin Laden does not mark the end of terrorism, or even the end of al-qaeda.   

My Breakfast With Ron Paul

On the morning of April 26, several newspapermen and economists gathered in New York City to hear Ron Paul talk about his upcoming presidential bid, and I was fortunate to be in attendance. The event, an editorial breakfast hosted by the New York Sun, was held only hours before Paul headed to Des Moines, Iowa to officially announce the formation of his presidential exploratory committee. (This step is a prerequisite of participation in Fox's May 5th presidential debate.)

The congressman fielded a variety of questions regarding the upcoming campaign and specific policy issues, but a large part of the discussion revolved around monetary policy - on a day when the dollar's value fell below one 1,500th an ounce of gold. It was suggested that as more and more people become aware of the dubious nature of the Federal Reserve, a push to abolish America's central banking system could prove quite useful in a race against President Obama.

At one point, the conversation turned to China, and I loved what Dr. Paul had to say about the pervasive anti-Chinese sentiments being thrown around in the media and by elected officials. From the New York Sun article written about this meeting: 
  

He suggested voters will not finding him focusing his attach on the Chinese Communists, who have been widely criticized for keeping their currency in what critics deem to be an artificially weak state so as to protect their export industries. “Don't you think it’s demagogic to accuse the Chinese of manipulating their currency when we've  been manipulating our currency forever,” Dr. Paul said.

After the breakfast, I spent a couple hours with the congressman and his campaign manager, Jesse Benton - also the senior vice president of the Campaign for Liberty. At the dinner I attended with the congressman a year and half ago, I felt lucky to be sitting at the same table with him.  Now, here I was, walking around midtown Manhattan, candidly chatting! My goodness. I followed the pair to Fox studios and sat on the set of Freedomwatch during Judge Andrew Napalitano's interview with Dr. Paul.  After the interview, I spent ten minutes explaining the process of making maple syrup to Ron Paul. I then wished Paul and Benton well on their trip to Iowa and gave each a little mason jar of my own homemade syrup. I wonder if the syrup made it through airport security.

Photo by David Pietrusza

As someone stated directly to Ron Paul near the conclusion of the breakfast Tuesday morning, "Your time is now, Mr. Paul. Good luck."  Here we go.  Never before has the political climate been so ready and primed for a principled libertarian-leaning candidate like Ron Paul.  Four years ago, when we started hanging signs on highway overpasses and taking over televised presidential debates, few people had even heard of Texas Congresmen Ron Paul.  one of our slogans was, "WHO IS RON PAUL? RONPAUL2008.COM."  We don't have to do that anymore.  The day after the breakfast with Dr. Paul, I was eating a bagel in Brooklyn,  flipping through the New York Times in hopes of finding a tiny blurb about the congressman's announcement in Iowa the previous day.  I was pleasantly surprised to find nearly half a page devoted to the event. And it was primarily positive. What a change.

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Lets take advantage of this momentum and raise some money!  Vote with your dollars: click here to donate on May 5, the day of the first presidential debate (and check out debateday.com for info on the moneybomb).  Send a message to the establishment: End the wars now! End the FED! Donate any amount of money (no more than $2,400). Let's tell Ron Paul he can win!

DEBATE DAY!

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It's time raise some money in opposition to war!

Click on the above picture to donate!  Just a little is something!  Every cent counts.

Libya, Fibya

I know it's kind of a stretch on the title there.  Micheal Sheuer hands two interviewers their heads in this great interview on CNN.  Mr. Sheuer is a former CIA agent who is one of the most outspoken and articulate anti-war TV talkers.  In this segment, he explains some of the many problems associated with America's invasion of Libya. Take a look:
 

Japan Disaster

While watching the news coverage of Japan's horrific earthquake, I saw that the Prime Minister of Japan is quoted in saying, "This is the worst disaster in Japan since World War II."  I guess he means, but does not say, since America dropped two atomic bombs on Hiroshima and Nagasaki, killing nearly half-a-million civilians.  Yes, this earthquake is devastating and terrible, but it's no atomic bomb.  At least the earth wasn't being evil when it attacked Japan. It was random. God Bless America.

Inexcusable

During a speech in which Hillary Clinton condemned the actions of totalitarian governments in the Middle East, peace protester and former CIA analyst Ray McGovern was tackled and dragged from the room.  His crime was standing up and facing the back of the room while everyone else sat and faced the speaker.  He was bloodied and bruised, handcuffed, and put in a little cell.  Why was this not a bigger deal?  Did Jon Stewart talk about this? Democracy Now! covered the incident and interviewed McGovern. Watch it here. It's really chilling to watch the whole thing caught on tape: Clinton rattles on without missing a beat as an old man is violently accosted ten feet in front of her. She terrifies me. 

RUN RON RUN

 

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