a video of the man

this video pumps me up!

Ron Paul : Don't tread on me
http://youtube.com/watch?v=FG_HuFtP8w8

my rebuttal for Ron Paul

my friend gave me these reasons against Ron Paul.

Ron Paul's bad policies:

1) Health care: he supports free market health care, I think national
health care (i.e. Wellstone's "Medicare for Everyone") is the way to
go.

2) He appears to support "Don't Ask Don't Tell" in the military, which
I think is dumb and discriminatory (although I'm a bit confused if he
actually supports what's in place, or just think the name makes
sense).

3) Network Neutrality: He wants a completely unregulated
internet...this means that telcos will be able to do whatever they
want (including censoring sites and infringing on 1st-amendment
rights).

4) He voted against a raise in minimum wage...no more discussion needed...

Just a few issues...still seems to be the best Republican candidate,
though. I think I might be a little too Socialist for some of his
Libertairan stances. ;o)

this was my response

1) i'm sure wellstone's health care plan would have been great, but for this to be a valid point against ron paul you have to relatively certain a free market health care system would fail (i'm not sure why we went from a free market to what we have now....). currently hospitals/clinics have zero incentive to lower prices. thus you have Jed getting a 2 or 4 hundred dollar bill from the doctor for getting stitches removed (which took all of two minutes probably). don't you ask yourself why health care is so expensive, but if you think health care is fairly priced then maybe a free market isn't needed.

currently in this market there are hospitals offering free care. here in minneapolis HCMC won't turn away people and they are one of the best hospitals around. and i watched a video of michael bloomberg and he was saying new york city's public hospitals all offer free care as well. so even in a very over-priced, of course in my opinion, health care system people are offering it for free. bloomberg also says we spend 50 percent more on health care then western europe and our life expectancy is fours years less (due to reactive vs. preventative health care) .

2) In the google video Ron Paul says he agrees with the principle and agrees that it probably needs to be re-implemented. He does often say that the right to serve the country, get married, etc. does not apply to sex, sexual preference, race, etc. a right applies to everyone in our country.

3) As the Ron Paul movement has been greatly jump started on the internet I doubt he is for the internet being controlled by the telecom/ISPs. He probably feels that regulating these companies is the wrong way to go. In spirit of the free market, companies can do what want, and companies like google will exist. I don't know the status, but google is working on a gPhone, which will probably solve/help problems we currently have with current telecom companies. And google will probably be offering the internet in the upcoming years. both of these google services will create completion in the market. look at email , wasn't hotmail or yahoo going to start charging for email at one point? that didn't get very far...

4) A minimum wage increase probably would be nice for a lot of people, this seems like a state issue and people working for these wages can be better benefited by a stronger dollar. Ron Paul is for fixing the dollar by helping america become more fiscally responsible; being against a war we cannot afford, stopping the printing of money, and there are probably ten other ways.

i think america is in a lot of trouble in a lot of ways; an unpopular war, a tanking dollar, go it alone mentality, etc. and i think Ron Paul has a lot ideas how things can change and has the ability to lead our country. he is obviously not afraid to speak his mind (huge plus) and acknowledges the way we do a lot of things are wrong and the need to be rethought. instead of trying to fix an issue while continuing down the wrong path or ignoring the issue all together.

thanks for reading my points!

i forgot to cry...

Jimmy Kimmel hating on gawker. i really don't know what people expect out of the internet. to see stuff and not talk about it... no tear here. maybe we found a butt buddy for the princess of nyc, giuliani...?

http://youtube.com/watch?v=2-avakrRUaU

have a good weekend!

UPDATE:
Did you see the NYT response she wrote? It is really good!

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/05/04/opinion/04gould.html?ex=1189915200&en=ad0c12221f6cd9d9&ei=5070

the polls

got excited? well this isn't about my last trip to the vu... but the fact that i'm having trouble figuring out who i like more ron paul or mike gravel. i really like the clam collective nature of gravel. but i also like paul's persistence and determination even though he is usually laughed at. i just think it is amazing paul has been fighting the same stance since the 80's (and probably earlier). this is demonstrated in his appearance on the Morton Downey Jr show ( http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IHB2I83_N_k ).

one think that i want to document in the email is that i think that there are going to be a record number on people at the polls, namely people who didn't settle for the lesser of two evils (which includes me b/c i've never voted). and more importantly, the "internet factor" will be alarming when realized. it seems like ron paul and mccain are the only republicans utilizing social networking sites to promote their campaign. and gravel seems to have a lot of youtube support.

the internet almost seems like a trojan to most candidates. every once in a while i talk to people who don't understand why so and so has a myspace page. when in reality these sites are like pure gold. i think half of america beliefs information comes through main stream media, but the next generation is learning about the 2008 elections on youtube, myspace, etc. matt is included in the generation revelation even though he is from a previous generation =).

Its hump day!