The Sons of Liberty

Well, it appears to be working! Wolf Blitzer ran a story today on the Ron Paul blimp!

It appears as if the Ron Paul Blimp Project may end up crash-landing before it ever gets off the ground. In a ‘first’ of sorts for the grassroots supporters of Ron Paul, rounding up financial support for the project, which initially had nearly $500,000 in pledges, has been more difficult than initially anticipated. Although many of the original supporters who pledged to support the blimp project have doubled or even tripled their donations (I doubled up myself), the program remains nearly $85,000 short of the total needed to get the blimp off the ground by it’s scheduled launch date, and nearly $235,000 short of paying for a full month of operation, after some questions about the potential effectiveness of the blimp were raised.  The organizers of the project have also expressed some concern about not being able to reach those who have previously pledged via email, but will continue to try and raise the necessary funds through Friday, Dec. 7th when the initial payment to the Airship company is due.

Personally, I hope they can still pull this thing together - I was really hoping to see that blimp floating over Boston Harbor on Tea Party day! If you’d like to help out by donating, please head over to the Ron Paul Blimp Website.

Dr. Paul paid a visit to Las Vegas today with his message of hope and freedom, and packed the house at Artemus Ham Hall at UNLV with over 1500 supporters even after a misprint in the Las Vegas Review Journal listed the wrong time for his rally.

George Orwell = Prophet? The house of representatives recently passed with a huge majority HR 1955, which, under the guise of protecting us from “homegrown terrorists”, would in effect make it unlawful to even to adopt a specific belief system.  This is essentially “Thought Crime” legislation.  This is seriously scary shit, not to mention being completely unconstitutional, and we really need to put a stop to it.

I couldn’t find a way to link directly to the full text of the resolution, but here’s how to get there if you wan to read it:

Go Here —> http://thomas.loc.gov/home/thomas.html

Search for the term ‘H.R.1955′

This resolution has already been passed by the house and is currently under review in the Senate. If you want to help stop this resolution from becoming law, contact your Senators as soon as possible. I’ve copied the text of a sample letter you are welcome to use that was posted by our friends over at http://www.dailypaul.com

Dear Senator ________,

As you know, “Congress shall make no law . . . abridging the freedom of speech” (Amendment I to the U.S. Constitution). Yet, the House of Representatives has passed HR 1955, which states:

The term `violent radicalization’ means the process of adopting or promoting an extremist belief system for the purpose of facilitating ideologically based violence to advance political, religious, or social change.

(HR 1955, emphasis mine)

While violent thoughts, speech, and writings may be anathema, they are clearly protected under United States law. In *Yates v United States*, the court wrote that “advocacy of forcible overthrow of the government” was *protected speech* under the First Amendment.

The court further expanded the protection of the First Amendment in *Texas**v Johnson *, when it noted that “if there is a bedrock principle underlying the First Amendment, it is that government may not prohibit the expression of an idea simply because society finds the idea offensive or disagreeable.”

Though its supporters may argue that HR 1955 solely addresses speech meant to directly incite violence (which would not protected under *Schenck v. United States*), this is an inapplicable argument, because HR 1955 oversteps the boundaries of prohibiting inciteful speech and instead prohibits “the adopting . . . a belief system.” It is impractical, impossible, and unconstitutional to determine if “an extreme belief system” is explicitly “for the purpose of facilitating . . . violence” and it is further impossible to determine what belief system someone has adopted

There is simply no good way to reliably determine the intent of someone’s speech until their intentions become actions. There is no way at all to determine the purpose of someone’s adopted system of beliefs. HR 1955 and the commission it would create would encourage law-enforcement agencies around the nation to engage in domestic pre-emptive strikes based on nothing more than assumptions, lies, and flawed intelligence. We do not need to make thoughts and beliefs a crime in order to combat terrorism. Such laws would only drive terrorists further underground, making attacks more likely and America less safe.

We cannot subject our minds to searches for weapons that do not exist. I implore you to vote your oath, uphold the Constitution of the United States of America, and never let HR 1955 become law.

Sincerely,

We can still stop this blatant infringement on our freedom of speech, but only if we all take action.

I sent the following to CNN this evening in response to Glenn Beck’s recent segment “A Nation Divided”, where he essentially accuses Ron Paul’s supporters of being terrorists. If you haven’t seen the segment, I’ve linked to it below:

“A Nation Divided”, courtesy of YouTube

My reply:

I was absolutely mortified by Glenn Beck’s recent segment “A Nation Divided”. I strongly resent the insinuation that by supporting Dr. Ron Paul for President, I may be a terrorist. Never have I heard a supposed “journalist” report in such blatantly accusatory, divisive, and dangerous manner. His report smacks of modern-day McCarthyism, attempting to create fear and hatred by reporting half-truths and outright lies. As a patriotic American, I recognize Beck’s right to express his opinion. However, I believe it’s high time that CNN should re-evaluate whether Glenn Beck’s sensationalist, yellow journalism projects the image and values CNN expects from it’s representatives.

Do other candidates not have supporters with extreme views? Are Hillary’s supporters or Romney’s supporters compared with radical Islamic fascists? My favorite line was where Horowtitz comes right out and says that LewRockwell.com, a website dedicated to exploring the ideas of individualism, free markets, and less government is “in bed with the ‘IslamoFascists’”. Wow. Can you say double-speak?

Over 11,000 pledges to donate already, with over a month before the big day. $10 Million +++ here we come!

After the huge success of the ThisNovember5th.com Ron Paul donation drive, the race is on to match or beat the results seen earlier this week with a new idea for a mass donation drive, or “Money Bomb” as they are being called. We’ve got 5 weeks to prepare this time, since it looks like the next big day will be the anniversary of the Boston Tea Party - December 16. The official site for the new drive is TeaParty07.com - so head over and sign up!

Let’s all show this country what we are capable of.  After Monday all eyes are on us - let’s show them what real patriots can do when united behind a cause.

According to the most recent Gallup poll, Ron Paul is now garnering 4% of the vote, which puts him within the margin of error of Mitt Romney (7%). You can read the entire poll results here.

Ahh, there are so many reasons this country is worth saving. Exotic dancers, however, have to be pretty close to the top of that list in my book. Just a bit more proof that the Ron Paul message is reaching out to people from all walks of life.

Boy, I can’t wait to attend any fund raisers this grassroots group might be planning.

Seriously, though - this woman is very well spoken and offered some intelligent and interesting insights. You can read more of her views at her blog - http://ladyliberty.wordpress.com

I find myself in the unusual position today of be being in agreement with Teamster’s president Jim Hoffa. Acorrding to an article on FoxNews.com, the Bush administration today pushed forward with their unpopular plan to allow many Mexican trucking companies unrestricted access to US highways, rather than requiring their cargo be transferred to a US-based freight carrier at a port of entry as has been procedure for many years.

How can congress and the Bush administration not see the obvious issues this policy will undoubtedly create? There are a number of security and immigration issues that are completely obvious here, but there are also some significant liability issues as well. Have you ever seen how people drive in most of Mexico? There are no real traffic laws - they are more like “traffic suggestions”.  I don’t believe for one second that the freight carriers there have anywhere close to the safety requirements or safety records necessary to operate here, especially since the DoT concluded they were safe based on a 10% sample of the drivers that applied.  That being said, if someone is injured or killed due to the negligent acts of a Mexican driver, will the injured party have to file an international lawsuit in order to get some kind of settlement from the trucking company or their insurance company? What’s to stop those companies or insurers from just refusing to pay and hiding behind the fact that they are a foreign entity, making it difficult or impossible to enforce any kind of judgement? This entire situation is a giant can of worms, and the lid is being peeled back as we speak…