Ron Paul’s Biography !!!

Ron Paul’s Biography !!!.

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Ron Paul: America’s last hope

Ron Paul: America’s last hope.

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The Health Insurance Question

The Health Insurance Question.

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Quick Facts About U.S. Military Operations in Afghanistan

From the National Priorities Project:

The Obama Administration is in the process of preparing a set of benchmarks which will be used to gauge the progress of U.S. military and civilian operations in Afghanistan. Ordered by Congress, the benchmarks are due by September 24. In addition, Gen. Stanley McChrystal, commander of U.S. and NATO forces in Afghanistan, has just released an interim assessment of the situation in the region. It has been widely reported that as a result of this assessment, Gen. McChrystal may request that as many as 45,000 additional U.S. troops be sent to Afghanistan. 

The following are quick facts about the U.S. commitment to Afghanistan to date. We hope they are useful to you to you as you follow this issue.

U.S. Troop Levels in Afghanistan Fiscal Year Troops 2001 N/A 2002 5,200 2003 10,400 2004 15,200 2005 19,100 2006 20,400 2007 23,700 2008 30,100 2009 50,700*

* Current Troop Levels – There are roughly 62,000 U.S. troops currently in Afghanistan. This number is expected to grow to at least 68,000 by December. [Gates Says Additional Local Forces May Be Needed In Afghan War, Bloomberg News, September 1, 2009.] 

NOTE: The Defense Department reports troop levels involved in military operations in several ways. The figures shown here are taken from the Pentagon’s Boots on the Ground (BOG) reports to Congress. They reflect only personnel located in Afghanistan and do NOT include other personnel deployed as part of Operation Enduring Freedom, such as those providing logistical support in neighboring countries,

Source: Troop Levels in the Afghan and Iraq Wars, FY2001-FY2012: Cost and Other Potential Issues, Congressional Research Service Report R40682, July 2, 2009
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/R40682.pdf

Annual Funding for U.S. Combat Operations in Afghanistan Fiscal Year $ in Billions 2001 N/A 2002* 20.8 2003 14.7 2004 14.5 2005 20 2006 19 2007 36.9 2008 42.1 2009 60.2 TOTAL 228.2

NOTE: 2002 figure includes both FY 2001 and 2002 funding. The source gave only the total and did not break out funding for each year.

 

Source: The Cost of Iraq, Afghanistan, and Other Global War on Terror Operations Since 9/11, Congressional Research Service Report RL33110, May 15, 2009
http://www.fas.org/sgp/crs/natsec/RL33110.pdf

U.S. Military Fatalities in Afghanistan Year U.S. Fatalities 2001 12 2002 49 2003 48 2004 52 2005 99 2006 98 2007 117 2008 155 2009 183* TOTAL 813

*NOTE: As of September 1, 2009

 

Source: Icasualties at http://icasualties.org

NPP’s Cost of War Counter See NPP’s Afghanistan Cost of War Counter (http://www.costofwar.com/) and calculate the cost of the war to your state (and in many cases your city or town).

Additional Resources

Civilian Casualties the Human Rights Unit of United Nations Assistance Mission to Afghanistan publishes an Annual Report on the Protection of Civilians in Armed Conflict in Afghanistan, which is updated every six months. Their website is http://unama.unmissions.org/Default.aspx?tabid=1816

Additional casualty data, plus Background information on Afghanistan can be found in The Cost of War in Afghanistan, published jointly by NPP and the American Friends Service Committee. It can be found at: http://www.nationalpriorities.org/auxiliary/costofwar/cost_of_war_afghanistan.pdf

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Americans Following Obama

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

No explanation needed, and so appropriate.  Their action matches the looks they all wore during the campaign speeches.   I am soo glad I voted for Ron Paul, so don’t blame me!

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Discovering Ron Paul: From Nut to Hero

Posted July 30th, 2008 by sempiternal

I was asked to digg my experience, so here it is :

The first time I spent any time listening to Ron Paul was at the Republican debates at Reagan Library on January 30, 2008. But I still paid little attention to him and did not want to bother finding out what he was all about. Since Romney has a history of turning bad financial situations around, and is very intelligent, I was supporting him and pretty much making fun of Ron Paul, just like most everyone else.

But I was not making fun of Ron Paul for what he stood for, I didn’t really know, I was merely making fun of him because of first impressions and what the media was telling me about him – especially Sean Hannity.

Even prior to the Reagan debate, I had been told about Ron Paul, but didn’t really understand what he stood for or what his values really were. As a result, I always had the impression he was a red-nosed ‘clown’ with no chance of winning, and he seemed to get too excited and whine too much when he talked. I was basically purely and ignorantly judging him based upon exactly what the media was representing him as.

After hearing a little about Ron Paul from someone, I still thought he was a nut! How could we just pull out of a war and give up, essentially losing everything already sacrificed? I had personally been involved in two similar wars, where it felt like the government just gave up, and in doing so seemingly made all the great sacrifices for naught. Ron Paul is nuts, I thought.

How did this change?

It was only through a significant outrageous event that I began to wake up to the reality all around me.

The massive government raid on the FLDS ranch got me searching the Internet for what the hell was going on.

At first, I went to Hannity.com to post there and ask questions, but found out that most the people in those forums were actually a bunch of ignorant name-calling people that were happy that these people got raided. They had no clue how the government was abusing the Constitution and these FLDS people, and didn’t care.

After many searches for news media on the FLDS and seeing all the misrepresentations and outrageous claims and lies made by the government and parroted by the media, the final search before I spent the time to become aware of who Ron Paul really is, was here to www.dailypaul.com.

After coming here, I found many people that realized the same things as I did, that these FLDS people were having their rights severely violated by the government, there was almost nobody at Daily Paul that disagreed. I was amazed at the difference in the people from Sean Humanity’s site compared to Daily Paul; it was the difference between discussing things with a 4th grade bully constantly calling names for no purpose other than noise, to an educated group of adults talking about issues around the table. That made a big impression on me.

After that, I realized I really needed to spend some time finding out who Ron Paul was and to also stop listening to Sean Hannity and the TV.

Finally taking the time to actually listen to what Ron Paul had been saying all along, I was overwhelmed — I couldn’t believe how distorted the truth and media had been about Paul, and how foolish I had been to not even listen to the man when considering Presidential candidates.

I imagine the rest of the nation is still in the same boat as I was, floating happily around the tip of a massive iceberg of excessive government hiding directly beneath the surface. Without a significant event that really makes a big splash, catches their attention and grabs a hold of them, shaking them out of their slumber, they will continue to believe the TV and pay no attention to Ron Paul.

In the end, it’s now obvious I was the nut, and so are the rest of the ignorant Americans, ignoring Ron Paul by default, ignoring Ron Paul because they are told to. Not even educating themselves on the most viable candidate for actually honoring his oath of office.

As for the war, now I realize we shouldn’t have been there to begin with, it was justified based upon lies, the head of the CIA was disgracefully forced to resign because of it. With my newfound realization that we went to war based upon lies, it’s apparent that leaving is not giving up everything already sacrificed, leaving is cutting our losses short and preventing further unnecessary sacrifice – the longer we stay, the more we lose.

Now I know the truth.

Ron Paul supporters are actually educated on the issues, they know the truth and they know what is going on – many of those supporting other candidates merely watch TV to found the basis of their opinions and ignore everything else past that point – and I am embarrassed to say, I was one of them.

If there is anyone that should be President of America, it is the person that will actually honor the oath of office, ignoring any criticisms regardless of how popular they might seem to be, and strictly defend the Constitution of the United States against all attacks, both foreign and domestic.

While nobody else dared to, Ron Paul has done just that, consistently, for decades, even if bravely standing alone for what was right.

Ron Paul is an American Hero.

 

The above post was so honest I just had to include it here today.  Deep Bows to this poster on the Daily Paul.

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The Bird Feeder

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled It with seed. What a beauty of a bird feeder it is, as I filled it lovingly with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds Taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food.

But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue.

Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table . Everywhere!

Then some of the birds turned mean. They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket.

And others birds were boisterous and loud. They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food.

After a while, I couldn’t even sit on my own back porch anymore. So I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio.

Soon, the back yard was like It used to be…. quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now let’s see. Our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, and free education and allows anyone born here to be an automatic Citizen.

Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families; you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor; Your child’s 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn’t speak English.

Corn Flakes now come in a Bilingual box; I have to ‘press one’ to hear my bank talk to me in English, and People waving flags other than ‘Old Glory’ are squawking and screaming In the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties.

Just my opinion, but maybe it’s time for the government To take down the bird feeder. If you agree, pass it on; if not, Continue cleaning up the poop.

I received this as an email and have had exactly the same experience with my bird feeders.  I don’t know who the author is, but thank you. I thought the same things as I refilled and then took down my feeders to get rid of the flock of large, wild doves that invaded and chased all the littler birds away.  I was kind of excited and touched when the first few doves showed up a few days after my Mother died in 2000.   They were unusual to see and beautiful, cooing from the tall trees. But then they kept coming.  They stayed.  All the other varieties of birds they chased off.  They began to harass my two old, non-threatening cats. My feeders were not designed for large birds, and the doves began to destroy them to get to the food.  Sadly, I decided the only thing to do was take the feeders down.  The Doves took several weeks to leave.  They still come and check to see if there are feeders in the yard every now and then.  

The corollary here is great!  Our good ole’ USA is fast becoming a feed-trough for those looking for easy and free.   Illegally. That isn’t exactly MY definition of Freedom.  That is my definition for capital-L Lazy.   Rather like Crows, trying to sneak into an Eagle’s nest.

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An Honored SEAL Send-off

PO2 (EOD2) Mike Monsoor , a Navy EOD Technician, was awarded the Congressional Medal of Honor   posthumously for jumping on a grenade in Iraq , giving his life to save his fellow Seals.
 
During Mike Monsoor’s funeral in San Diego, as his coffin was being moved from the hearse to the grave site at Ft. Rosecrans National Cemetery, SEALs were lined up on both sides of the pallbearers route forming a column of two’s, with the coffin moving up the center.  As Mike’s coffin passed, each SEAL, having removed his gold Trident from his uniform, slapped it down embedding the Trident in the wooden coffin.

The slaps were audible from across the cemetery; by the time the coffin arrived grave side, it looked as though it had a gold inlay from all the Tridents pinned to it.  This was a fitting send-off for a warrior hero.  This is what we should be seeing in the news.  I received this in an email, wish I had seen it on the front page of a major newspaper.  These men are our Heroes.

 

 

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Ron Paul speaks out Against Iran War to a nearly empty House

See his speech here.  http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7354M1QmGYQ&fmt=18

This man is my President.  Absolutely Brilliant, truth to a nearly empty chamber. 

Here’s the unofficial text of his speech:

“Today the Dow Jones Average was down 350-some points, gold was up $32, and oil was up another $5. There is a lot of chaos out there and everyone is worried about $4 gasoline. But I don’t think there is a clear understanding exactly about why that has occurred.

We do know that there is a supply and demand issue, but there are other reasons for the high cost of energy. One is inflation. In order to pay for the war that has been going on, and the domestic spending, we’ve been spending a lot more money than we have. So what do we do? We send the bills over to the Federal Reserve and they create new money, and in the last three years, our government, through the Federal Reserve and the banking system has created $4 trillion of new money. That is one of the main reasons why we have this high cost of energy and $4 per gallon gasoline.

But there is another factor that I want to talk about tonight, and that is not only the fear of inflation and future inflation, but the fear factor dealing with our foreign policy. In the last several weeks, if not for months, we have heard a lot of talk about the potential of Israel and/or the United States bombing Iran. And it is in the marketplace. Energy prices are being bid up because of this fear. It has been predicted that if bombs start dropping, that we will see energy prices double or triple. It is just the thought of it right now that is helping to push these energy prices up. And that is a very real thing going on right now.

But to me it is almost like deja vu all over again. We listened to the rhetoric for years and years before we went into Iraq. We did not go in the correct manner, we did not declare war, we are there and it is an endless struggle. And I cannot believe it, that we may well be on the verge of initiating the bombing of Iran!

Leaders on both sides of the isle, and in the administration, have all said so often, ‘No options should be taken off the table — including a nuclear first strike on Iran.’ The fear is, they say, maybe some day [Iran is] going to get a nuclear weapon, even though our own CIA’s National Intelligence Estimate has said that the Iranians have not been working on a nuclear weapon since 2003. They say they’re enriching uranium, but they have no evidence whatsoever that they’re enriching uranium for weapons purposes. They may well be enriching uranium for peaceful purposes, and that is perfectly legal. They have been a member of the non-proliferation treaties, and they are under the investigation of the IAEA, and El Baradei has verified that in the last year there have been nine unannounced investigations and examinations of the Iranian nuclear structure and they have never been found to be in violation. And yet, this country and Israel are talking about a preventive war — starting bombing for this reason, without negotiations, without talks.

Now the one issue that I do want to mention tonight is a resolution that is about to come to this floor if our suspicions are correct, after the July 4th holiday. And this bill will probably be brought up under suspension. It will be expected to be passed easily. It probably will be. And it is just more war propaganda, just more preparation to go to war against Iran.

This resolution, H.J. Res 362 [listed as H. Con. Res 362 online] is a virtual war resolution. It is the declaration of tremendous sanctions, and boycotts and embargoes on the Iranians. It is very, very severe. Let me just read what is involved if this bill passes and what we’re telling the President what he must do:

This demands that the President impose stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains and cargo entering or departing Iran, and prohibiting the international movement of all Iranian officials.

This is unbelievable! This is closing down Iran. Where do we have this authority? Where do we get the moral authority? Where do we get the international legality for this? Where do we get the Constitutional authority for this? This is what we did for ten years before we went into Iraq. We starved children – 50,000 individuals it was admitted probably died because of the sanctions on the Iraqis. They were incapable at the time of attacking us. And all the propaganda that was given for our need to go into Iraq was not true.

And it is not true today about the severity [of the need to attack Iran]. But they say, “Yeah, but Ahmadinejad — he’s a bad guy. He’s threatened violence.” But you know what? Us threatening violence is very, very similar. We must – we must look at this carefully. We just can’t go to war again under these careless, frivolous conditions.”

Incredible! 

Deja Vu all over again…..(giggle, giggle) 

 

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Now, Here’s A Memorial Worth Giving a Shit For…

An Honor That Bush Is Unlikely to Embrace….(LOL…no shit?)

By JESSE McKINLEY

 

Published: June 25, 2008

SAN FRANCISCO — Reagan has his highways. Lincoln has his memorial. Washington has the capital (and a state, too). But President Bush may soon be the sole president to have a memorial named after him that you can contribute to from the bathroom.

From the Department of Damned-With-Faint-Praise, a group going by the regal-sounding name of the Presidential Memorial Commission of San Francisco is planning to ask voters here to change the name of a prize-winning water treatment plant on the shoreline to the George W. Bush Sewage Plant.

The plan, naturally hatched in a bar, would place a vote on the November ballot to provide “an appropriate honor for a truly unique president.”

Supporters say that they have plenty of signatures to qualify the initiative and that the renaming would fit in a long and proud American tradition of poking political figures in the eye.

“Most politicians tend to be narcissistic and egomaniacs,” said Brian McConnell, an organizer who regularly suits up as Uncle Sam to solicit signatures. “So it is important for satirists to help define their history rather than letting them define their own history.”

Not surprisingly, those Republicans in a city that voted 83 percent Democratic in 2004 are not thrilled with the idea. Howard Epstein, chairman of the ever-outnumbered San Francisco Republican Party, called the initiative “an abuse of process.”

“You got a bunch of guys drunk who came up with an idea,” Mr. Epstein said, “and want to put on the ballot as a big joke without regard to the city’s governance or cost.”

The renaming would take effect on Jan. 20, when the new president is sworn in. And regardless of the measure’s outcome, supporters plan to commemorate the inaugural with a synchronized flush of hundreds of thousands of San Francisco toilets, an action that would send a flood of water toward the plant, now called the Oceanside Water Pollution Control Plant.

“It’s a way of doing something physical that’s mentally freeing,” said Stacey Reineccius, 45, a software consultant and entrepreneur who supports the plan. “It’s a weird thing, but it’s true.”

Original story here:  http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/25/washington/25rename.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

 

That in the above parentheses, was my input, and worth what you paid for it. 

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