One of the golden oldies of science denial is the “impending ice age” myth.
As usual, the climate denial noise machine distorts what an actual scientist says about his research — That there is no prediction of any ice age. – mini, maxi, little, big or or otherwise.
Since Ron Paul is in the news again with yet another run for president, it’s time for a reprint of my post from last time he was unsuccessfully running – this was my opinion back in 2007 when I was still a Republican, and it hasn’t changed a bit since I’m now registered Democrat. How did I go from Republican to Democrat in the interim? The GOP lurched to the far right, away from me and towards Ron Paul.
[Editor update: When I wrote this I used the word "Polypundit" in the sense that there are multiple conspiracy pundits supporting Ron Paul. I was unaware that there is a blog out there called Polipundit - that blog is not related to this article, and I am not implying that they are Ron Paul supporters.]
Ron Paul is running a campaign of “the way things ought to be” — with little reference to political reality. Vague policy papers and appeals to yesteryear, conspiracy theory, tradition, culture, and nostalgia attract a many-faceted crowd of followers, each of whom sees Ron as the saviour for their single issue.
He throws the right code words into most speeches to gather that fringe — military industrial complex, big corporations, corporatism, constitutionalism, trade-protectionism, gold standard, big government, anti-war, blowback etc. etc. It all sounds fine on the surface, but he’s trolling at the wrong depth by the way and order in which he presents the ideas and the words he chooses.
These single-issue fringe groups each see what they want to with this posturing, but when you place all of them into the mosh-pit arena of political reality they collide and crush each other. His populist campaign has acquired a rich field of kook-pundits and their flocks to pimp for him however, and it’s time to question how this populist movement of marginalized splinter groups would work.
Some of that is clear in how his grassroots campaign is careening out of his control. At the same time Ron Paul was disavowing white nationalism Don Black and other members of Stormfront were registered in Ron Paul forums and posting there.
Don had six posts, five of which got removed because they were of the “we aren’t racists, we are racialists and not so bad” variety of persuasion. The one Don Black post left up at the forums is the one that discredits Bill White who “outed” Ron Paul’s alleged meetings with white nationalist groups. Bill White is a “fringe of the fringe” character, actually in the American Nazi party, and someone whose veracity has been questioned.
[editor: I'm not linking to Stormfront, they are easy enough to find, their forums are public and you can find a lot support for Ron Paul there in fresh posts daily. The large white nationalist sites have also run campaign ads for Ron Paul since October or prior until just recently. I found these side and header ads prominently displayed while researching European White Nationalist groups tied to Stormfront.]
Regardless, Don Black and other Stormfront people are involved. At the Stormfront site you can also find the old instructions from August on how to get to the Ames straw poll and how to register. Even with the multi-state “storming of the Ames Straw Poll,” Ron Paul still finished a disappointing fifth, with Romney and Huckabee the leaders.
Does this make Ron Paul personally a racist? No, I don’t think so. Does it make him a politician willing to pander to that fringe for support? Yes, as shown by his speaking engagements at the Robert Taft club and refusal to return their donations. Note the plural there, it’s not just Don Black’s $500.00 I am talking about, it’s also the money raised from the banner ads for Ron Paul at Stormfront and VNN.
He also has clear associations with 9/11 truthers, as well as support from them, and his “blowback theory” caters to that crowd. This even though the original 9/11 truther, Hamid Gul, is a foreign politico allied with the MMA, Bin Laden, and the Taliban. Hamid came out three days after 9/11 and laid the whole plot out to cover for the Pakistan ISI and Bin Laden. Here’s the interview. [Sorry to link to the fever swamp at Fisk's site, but this is the verbatim UPI interview that begat the "Troofers."]
How much of the money-bomb’s content came from these groups? Probably something we will never know since it would take a couple months of combing the reports that come out in January for the details — and by time that research was done Ron Paul probably won’t be in the running anymore.
One of Ron Paul’s supporters is Alex Jones, pimp for every whack-job conspiracy theory out there, from the Bilderbergers, to the Illuminati, to 9/11 Truthers. Leftover survivalists from the 80?s pant after his every word on his radio show, and the gold currency standard theorists are there as well.
Everything that happens is controlled by some super-secret group in Alex’s miscreant brain. He calls himself the “grandfather of the 9/11 truth movement”, however as you can see above we know where the theory originated. [Editor: I won't link to Alex Jones sites any sooner than Stormfront; both are houses of fear and hate where the stench of madness flies up the flue.]
So at some point you have to ask what unites Ron Paul supporters besides gullibility? If he somehow made it into the top-tier of candidates, how would the Prison Planet folks get along with the VNN folks? What about the Tea-cup racialists at Storm front and the Troofers?
His campaign carried much further will self-destruct, but from that destructive self implosion will come tanker farms of bile and political ill-will. The debate will be poisoned by his disillusioned followers, so please be prepared to wade through a lot of bile, piss, and vinegar before we get to the main campaign. With net anonymity the mob of commentors that follow these conspiracy theories are more vocal, and like a mob they will attack anything or anyone that differs with them.
Just remember to step back and look at the bigger picture when that comes – the President is somewhat powerless to change 90% of what Ron Paul says he is campaigning for. It’s Congress that makes the law, the executive branch just follows them, and congress holds the power to change the things he says he is worried about. If he’s so darned fired up about changing things, then why is he wanting to leave Congress? Maybe it’s like his earmarks, he voted for them before he voted against them.
Merry Christmas one and all!
A present for science fans:
Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger along with Daryl Hall and his band get down on People Are Strange.
See more at: http://www.livefromdarylshouse.com/index.php
Ray Manzarek, Robby Krieger, Daryl Hall, Guitar: T-Bone Wolk, Bass: Eliot Lewis, Drums: Kenny Arnoff
This is a bit fuzzy because it’s manually focused through a wispy tracery of thin branches 250 feet or so away from the camera.
Last Night's Moon
According to my results in the Pew survey talked about in the video below I fall into the “Post Modern” category of political typology. I owe how I got here to a strange progression of revelations over the past few years about my former political fellow travelers in the GOP and the extremism and zealotry they support.
I walked away from the new millennium definition of “Conservative” simply because it involves being a hateful busybody for God, anti science, and harshly anti human rights; it also meant knowingly allying with groups that are well beyond the pail. Here’s the political typology survey if you wish to take it and be surprised before you watch the video.
It’s day four and we are almost turkeyed out. The Kids took two glad tubs of [Dinosauria Saurischia Therapoda Paraves Avilae Aves *] turkey away, and we’ve made plates and sandwiches from the two birds we cooked for the last three days (one was traditional, the other rotisseried in the smoker.) The last bit in the last tub got cubed tonight and it’s simmering in broth with onions, celery, spices and the leg bones as I type. Tomorrow, we go out for burgers…
Meanwhile we didn’t fill up two trash cans to overflowing as usual because we now have a giant recycle bin on rollers, and it really makes a difference in reducing the space the waste takes up. Mostly our “garbage garbage” is comprised of food waste that won’t go down the garbage disposal and the rare stuff that’s not recyclable at our local plant (glass, plastic bags,
*taxonomy and phylogeny: such an exciting mess nowadays!
Fans of music and the underground era genius of Robert Crumb may well love the new R. Crumb: The Complete Record Cover Collection book that brings together more than 450 four-color illustrations of the man’s album cover artwork. It started with his first cover in 1968 for Janis Joplin’s “Cheap Thrills” album (no doubt familiar to you). Crumb then went on to interpret art covers for artists new and old with a particular focus on the blues. “So remarkable were Crumb’s artistic interpretations of these old 78 rpm singles that the art itself proved influential in their rediscovery in the 1960s and 1970s. Including such classics as Truckin’ My Blues Away, Harmonica Blues, and Please Warm My Weiner, Crumb’s opus also features more recent covers done for CDs.”
via R. Crumb – The Complete Record Cover Collection – Book | Selectism.com.
To run in the GOP you have to oppose gay marriage:
In an effort to woo evangelical voters in Iowa, Gov. Rick Perry of Texas has become the third Republican presidential candidate to sign a pledge to oppose gay marriage, to appoint only “faithful Constitutionalists” as judges, to stay loyal to his spouse, to shrink the size of the federal government, and to oppose Islamic law, among other things.
¶The pledge is the brainchild of The Family Leader, a prominent group of Iowa social conservatives whose endorsement is considered helpful to winning the backing of many evangelicals and other social conservatives ahead of the state’s Jan. 3 caucuses.
¶Julie Summa, director of marketing and public outreach for the group, confirmed in an email this afternoon that Mr. Perry has “signed the pledge as written.” Two other candidates who have support among social conservatives – former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania and Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota – have already signed the pledge.
