Libertarian Ron Paul catches Fox New's Steve Doocy off guard

Complimenting Ron Paul on his phenomenal one day fundraising, Fox News host Steve Doocy asked Paul about Mike Huckabee's heavily slanted ad aimed at Christian voters complete with a floating cross. When you view the video clip linked below you will notice Doocy was not prepared for Paul's answer where he quoted American writer Sinclair Lewis who once said, "When facism comes to America, it will be wrapped in a flag and carrying a cross." View Clip After viewing the clip, don't you think, Doocy, in his tone, was just more than a little condescending towards Paul or am I reading too much into it?

ALERT: For you online serial fiction fans, I have just added a new chapter to my novel about a modern American secession movement. The Southern Split.

Greenspan Speaks and it ain't pretty for the middle class and the poor

Even though he is retired as Chairman of the Federal Reserve, when Alan Greenspan speaks, financial managers and economists stop in their tracks. He spoke today in USA Today and here's what he said:

Former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan says the odds the U.S. will fall into a recession are "clearly rising" and he believes economic growth is "getting close to stall speed."
Greenspan, who ran the central bank for 18 1/2 years, until early 2006, offered his views on the economy in an interview on National Public Radio' Morning Edition.

A severe slump in the housing market, a stubborn credit crisis and turbulence on Wall Street are endangering the country's economic health. Growth in the current October through December period is expected to have slowed to a feeble pace of just 1.5%, or less.

Lou Dobbs to appear on Don Imus show

This should prove to be very interesting. Two raucus freethinkers together in the same cramped studio. Lou Dobbs is scheduled to appear on Imus in the Morning which is broadcast on ABC radio and RFD TV. I'm reasonably sure the appearance date is Thursday, December 20. I do not know which segment of the 6-9 am time slot Lou will appear. There are several rural cable outlets that pick up RFD and it is shown on Dish channel 231 and Direct TV channel 370. Tune into the Imus show on RFD on Monday morning or Monday evening to find out when Lou makes his appearance next week.

Will Albert Gore Jr. run for President as an Independent?

Increasingly frustrated by the United State's slow progress in taking the lead in solving the Global Warming crisis, rumor has it that Al Gore is seriously contemplating a run for the White House as an independent candidate. Rumor also has it that Gore recently met with Michael Bloomberg to discuss a ticket that would ride on a billion dollars of Bloomberg's money. Given the lackluster field of Democratic and Republican candidates that will be left standing after March, Gore would match up well with whoever is nominated. I think he could definitely win against Clinton or Obama, and certainly would garner more votes than ANY Republican nominee. Read how Al Gore could win. Americans are so disgusted with the Bush Administration many will go to the polls to vote against ANY Republican. Gore's experience as a senator, two term vice president, and now, a Nobel Prize winner would make him look like a rock star compared to either Hillary or Obama regardless of gender or skin color.

It will interesting to see how this plays out.

James Leroy Wilson

James Leroy Wilson is a fellow columnist of mine at The Partial Observer. When I first started reading Wilson's columns several years ago I found some of them difficult to plow through. JLW is DEEP! If you are a lockstep Democrat, Republican or even a Dobbite (new term found only here at Independent Populist)reading a few James Leroy Wilson articles will stretch your mind and balance your perspective. He is an unabashed Libertarian, but he, in true Libertarian fashion, does not preach a party line. James Leroy Wilson's articles are guaranteed to make you uncomfortable,angry,giggly at times,and refreshed because you reading a point of view that is not neo-con, conservative,liberal,or even populist.

Here are a few columns to get you started. Enjoy!

Inevitable Disappointment - politics will not get us what we want.

The Great Disconnect - We condemn greedy businessmen, but venerate politicians who inflict far more damage.


Why They Fight - If North America was invaded, Americans would resist - just like the insurgents in Iraq.

The Secret of Janet Jackson's Breast - Freedom, government, and a phony culture war.

The Decline and Fall of the United States of America - It began today, when the Fed told the world the dollar is worthless.

Liberalism vs. Conservativism - It comes down to mentality, not policy.

Of Great Quotes and Good Men - And why Bush is worse than Clinton.

To see all of James Leroy Wilson's 235 articles go to Independent Country at the The Partial Observer.

My Tolerance for Anonymous Comments is Zero

As you notice to the left of the page, I put myself out there. You have my name, location,web and print publications, etc. For that reason, my policy forward is that I will not tolerate anonymous comments on this blog. It takes very little time to create a Google account and even if you use a psuedonym I can tolerate that,but to wear an "electronic" mask to hide behind is fine - at other blogs. You can't do it here. If you wish to call me a klansman, racist, or an anti-semite as one anonymous poster did on my Michael Bloomberg post, that's fine too, but come out from behind your own "hood" when you do it. Free speech at this blog is welcomed and criticism tolerated but potshots from the murky depths of anonymity are not. Stand by the courage of your convictions and be counted...

What Do You Have in Common with Michael Bloomberg?

Michael Bloomberg recently enjoyed breakfast with Barack Obama. No one knows what was discussed. Is an endorsement afoot? Some have said that Bloomberg may take a stab at the presidency himself as an independent candidate. Do we want this man?

At a time when America is drowning in foreign goods, mainly from China, Bloomberg had this to say, yesterday:

This week I am meeting with business leaders and government officials in Beijing and Shanghai to discuss the increasingly important relationship between the US and China – and the opportunities that we hold for each other. Some in the west believe that a growing Chinese economy is a threat. As a businessman, and now as mayor of the world’s largest financial capital, I believe the opposite is true: Chinese growth is, in fact, an opportunity for the US and the world, because the global economy is not a zero-sum game. We all share in each other’s success.

Please Lou Dobbs,Pat Buchanan,or someone, as they say in the South, who has "walking around sense," please declare yourself a candidate.

Chinese IT Espionage

December 03, 2007 (Computerworld Australia) -- The U.K. government has accused the Chinese of hacking into the computer systems of some of its leading companies, according reports published by the English press over the weekend.

According to The Times, the Director-General of intelligence agency MI5, Jonathan Evans, sent a confidential letter to 300 chief executives and security chiefs at financial institutions and legal firms last week warning them that they were under attack from Chinese state organizations.

The summary of the letter, which was posted (securely) on the Web site of the Centre for the Protection of the National Infrastructure, warned its recipients of the "electronic espionage attack."

"The contents of the letter highlight the following: the Director-General's concerns about the possible damage to U.K. business resulting from electronic attack sponsored by Chinese state organizations, and the fact that the attacks are designed to defeat best-practice IT security systems.

Obviously this is very troubling to the British, but what is even more troubling and downright frightening is what happened recently at one of our most top secret nuclear laboratories. This from Network World:

The U.S. science and technology lab Oak Ridge National Laboratory yesterday disclosed it has been compromised by what it described as a “sophisticated cyber attack that appears to be part of a coordinated attempt to gain access to computer networks at numerous laboratories and other institutions across the country.

When the employee opened the attachment or accessed an embedded link, the hacker planted a program on the employees’ computers that enabled the hacker to copy and retrieve information,” ORNL said.

ORNL said the compromise has been traced back to Oct. 29, 2007, and that the lab has “reason to believe that data was stolen from a database used for visitors to the Laboratory.”

ORNL, which conducts highly sensitive energy research in the neutron science and high-energy physics as well as biology research, does not believe that classified information was lost. However, ORNL said anyone who visited the lab, which is based in Oak Ridge, Tenn., between the years 1990 and 2004 may have had their name and other personal information, such as Social Security numbers and birth date, stolen by the attackers.

Thom Mason, director of ORNL, on Monday sent an e-mail to staff employees that said, “Our cyber security staff has been working nights and weekends to understand the nature of this attack.”

This from the highly respected Economist magazine:

General James Cartwright, recently promoted from head of Strategic Command to vice-chairman of the joint chiefs of staff, said in June that China was carrying out widespread “reconnaissance” of America's networks. This allowed China to steal advanced know-how, so as to skip generations in military and civil technology. A cyberspy can potentially steal much more information than a human one. Others argue that China wants to send a signal to America that a future war would be costly, and would not be limited to the Straits of Taiwan.

The Pentagon is probably better able to protect itself against cyberattacks than most. But in an increasingly internet-connected world, civilian life has become more vulnerable. Earlier this year suspected Russian hackers attacked the websites of ministries, banks and other bodies in Estonia, the tiny but highly-wired Baltic state that had offended the Kremlin by removing a Soviet war monument from the centre of the capital, Tallinn, to a military cemetery. The “denial of service” attack was crude, but disruptive.

Past American exercises to test the computer defences of critical services (such as electricity grids) have found that, without detailed inside information, an external cyberattack would be more disruptive than catastrophic. That assessment may be changing. The psychological effect of a cyberattack on America, in General Cartwright's view, could be as severe as the use of weapons of mass destruction

Are the incidents in Great Britain and Oak Ridge Tennesee related? Why would anyone want personal data about anyone who VISITS the nuclear laboratory. If I were those people I would be highly nervous. What is our government and particularly Homeland Security doing about it?

Worst Commentator in The World - Keith Olbermann!

Keith Olbermann is obviously trying to become the liberal answer to Rush Limbaugh. He's failing. His nemesis, Bill Oreilly, who he attacks in some way ever night, has a viewership of 507,000 nightly viewers compared to Olbermann's 250,000.

I guess the viewership is tiring of the attacks on Oreilly so guess who Olbermann is now attacking - you guessed it, Keith is now throwing puny inaccurate jabs at populist icon - Lou Dobbs. It was bound to happen. Dobbs has forcefully brought the issue of immigration into the political campaigns. No Democrat or Republican candidate can dodge it.

This obviously infuriates Olbermann who is like the little kid perched high up in the limbs of a tree throwing rocks at the big boys. His latest cheap shot was to give his worst person of the year award to Dobbs. In an unproven claim which I think is outright lying, Olbermann accused - get this - not Dobbs, but Dobbs daughters. Here is the Olbermann undocumented misstatement:

but Mr. Dobbs has a problem. He has two daughters who are heavily involved in show jumping, an activity that is heavily dependent on undocumented workers. Basically, Lou threatens undocumented workers on his show, then pays them to clean up after his daughter’s horses. Nice…

Why don't you offer us some proof on that statement Mr. Olbermann? In the same broadcast Olbermann joined the ranks of other left wing neo-liberals(new term invented at this blog)and branded Dobbs(who is married to Mexican-American Debi Segura)a racist. Come on Keith, how far will you go in your propaganda? Apparently as far as a left wing Goebbels can go, hence this glowing note to Keith from the Anti-Defamation League:

On July 28, 2006, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) sent an open letter to Olbermann at MSNBC stating, "We are deeply dismayed by your ongoing use of the Nazi 'Sieg Heil' salute, both on your program and in public appearances…" The letter explains that Olbermann's use of the salute prompted many complaints from its members, including Holocaust survivors, and that any use of it "serves to trivialize the Holocaust and the six million Jews and others who died as a result of Hitler's Final Solution." The letter closed by asking Olbermann to "reconsider [his] use of the Nazi salute in the future."[38]

Olbermann had written a year earlier in his weblog that Nazi references have "no place...in this culture" and "the analogies are wrong, offensive, and deeply hurtful" when used in partisan politics

So,with that, Keith Olbermann is nominated "Worst Cable Commentator in the World."

Oh and by the way, Keith, I'm old enough to have listened to CBS News commentator Edward R. Murrow, who you try to emulate, trust me Keith, you haven't had enough crisis in your wannabe life to tie the shoes of Edward R. Murrow...

Good night and good luck...