Saturday
Oct132012
Ron Paul: 'Forget A 3rd Party, We Need A 2nd Party' (CNBC)
This is an absolute must see.
Ron Paul on CNBC a few hours ago. He refuses to endorse Romney when asked, explains exactly what will happen in Congress with the fiscal cliff (cynics will rejoice!), and declares boldly that both parties are essentially the same, and that in his long career he hasn't seen a notable difference in the White House regardless of which side holds power.
Oh yeah, he also says that both Obama and Romney are owned by Goldman.
Nice.
If you have 2 more minutes, please watch this:
Ron Paul Embarrasses Romney In Front Of Millions
Reader Comments (12)
Yesterday I got an email from friends urging me to vote for Romney, as if it's a matter of life and death. Mortified that people I associate with actually believe there's a difference between the candidates, I responded as follows:
"How bad would a candidate wearing the label 'Republican' have to be for you to write someone in? Would you pull the lever for Hitler-R over Stalin-D?
The reason I ask is that I can find no material differences between the two buffoons on the ballot, and no one here has identified any (beyond labels).
In case anyone missed it, a global financial crisis started raging 4 years ago, and it hasn't stopped. The crisis was caused by fraud on Wall Street, it has totaled $12 TRILLION losses to U.S. taxpayers, and yet not one banker has been prosecuted. Not. One. (By way of comparison, the S&L crisis cost the U.S. just 1% of current losses, and yet 1000+ financial executives went to prison for fraud.)
Wall Street's fraud is so profitable that it's enabled the criminals to purchase the entire political process, which is why we now have the choice between 2 sock puppets for president. Behold their similarities:
Just like Obama, Romney opposes the prosecution of bankers who commit massive financial crimes. (Romney is either so owned by Wall Street or such a coward—take your pick—that he won’t even mention the theft of $1.6 billion by MF Global CEO Jon Corzine, one of Obama’s biggest fundraisers.)
Just like Obama, Romney has no plans to force derivatives trading—now at $1.2 QUADRILLION annually—onto an open market.
Just like Obama, Romney supports Tim Geithner as Treasury Secretary despite Geithner’s documented giveaways to Wall Street (and Citigroup in particular) at the direct expense of Main Street.
Just like Obama, Romney supports Quantitative Easing 3 (i.e., paying Wall Street banks par for their worthless mortgage-backed securities).
Just like Obama, Romney opposes auditing the Federal Reserve.
Just like Obama, Romney supports bailouts of banks that failed. (This comes naturally for Romney because Bain Capital survived due to a bailout.)
Just like Obama, Romney opposes the restoration of Glass-Steagall and has no plans to break up any too-big-to-fail banks, which are now 20% larger than they were before the crisis hit.
Just like Obama, Romney supports federal stimulus plans costing U.S. taxpayers $100’s of billions of dollars.
Just like Obama, Romney passed massive universal coverage health-care legislation that was written and will be interpreted and executed by lawyers for the medical and pharmaceutical industries.
Just like Obama, Romney opposes competition for health-care services and supports the exemption of the entire industry from antitrust laws, which is why prices in this sector have risen at 9+% per year for decades.
Just like Obama, Romney supports the indefinite detention of U.S. citizens, without trial or even charges, via the National Defense Authorization Act. They also support warrantless wiretapping and the suspension of habeus corpus.
Just like Obama, Romney supports foreign wars that we cannot afford.
So thanks, but no. I cannot in good conscience vote for either slated stooge and will instead register my dissent. If I were to swallow the 2-party charade, however, I would vote for Obamney over Robama knowing he's only got one term left."
* * *
There was no response, which reflects the fact that modern politics is 100% about branding and name-calling, and 0% about issues. Go Team! The end. The idiot box is indeed worthy of its name.
"It looks like Obama will probably win, which I guess is good news, compared to the alternative – a Mitt Romney presidency would have felt like four straight years of waking up with a naked Lloyd Blankfein sitting on your face."
http://www.rollingstone.com/politics/news/how-the-hype-became-bigger-than-the-presidential-election-20121009
That's a brilliant line from Taibbi, but he should have said 4 straight years of either Obama or Romney is like waking up to Blankfein sitting on your face. That's where Taibbi and many others I like tend to piss me off. They are a huge part of the problem. They might criticize Obama or DEMS but they never stop playing the blue-red game. They are fierce partisans who root hard for their guys and blame the other guys. Pretty much always.
I have the same level of visceral disgust as you regarding both candidates, but have a different conclusion. I'm hoping that Romney wins for 2 or 3 reasons.
So keynesians leave the white house...
So Bernanke doesn't get reappointed...
So Eric Holder loses his personal DOJ power trip...
And because Obama is a lying MF'er, and I will not support someone who lied as much as he did in 2008. I voted for him then, as you know, and I feel betrayed. Straight up. On so many levels. Fuck him.
Romney will also probably turn out to be a liar, so if he wins I will likely vote for the Romney alternative in 2016. And as for my voting in 2012, I either will not vote, or I will vote and write-in Ron Paul as a protest. Romney will Indiana regardless, so my protest vote is free of worry.
Lastly, I don't want readers to feel as though I'm being partisan, after having just given my thoughts. I respect everyone's right to their own vote and own opinion, and I understand that most readers like one side or the other, and don't carry the intense antipathy that I am forced to carry by the nature of this job...of documenting the bullshit, all day every day, every week.
My life is like the movie Groundhog Day.
Even worse, it doesn't go away when I sleep, but instead affects my dreams at night. Yeah, it's pretty much a fucking nightmare running this site.
http://www.thenewamerican.com/usnews/politics/item/13191-ron-paul-wont-endorse-romney-sees-essentially-no-difference
http://www.cnbc.com/id/49374723
http://www.buzzfeed.com/rosiegray/ron-paul-suggests-hell-vote-for-gary-johnson%20%20
http://www.policymic.com/articles/16255/ron-paul-legalize-marijuana-bill-8-reasons-why-it-makes-sense
WAR PIGS
Generals gathered in their masses
Just like witches at black masses
Evil minds that plot destruction
Sorcerers of death's construction
In the fields the bodies burning
As the war machine keeps turning
Death and hatred to mankind
Poisoning their brainwashed minds
Oh lord yeah!
Politicians hide themselves away
They only started the war
Why should they go out to fight?
They leave that role to the poor
[ Lyrics from: http://www.lyricsfreak.com/b/black+sabbath/war+pigs_20019418.html ]
Time will tell on their power minds
Making war just for fun
Treating people just like pawns in chess
Wait 'til their judgement day comes
Yeah!
Now in darkness world stops turning
Ashes where the bodies burning
No more war pigs have the power
Hand of God has struck the hour
Day of judgement, God is calling
On their knees the war pig's crawling
Begging mercy for their sins
Satan laughing spreads his wings
Oh lord yeah!