From what I've been able to figure out about Paul and the Gold Standard, it seems he just wants to see multiple forms of currency being accepted, such as standard dollars, gold dollars, silver dollars, etc... supposedly the idea is that it's harder to mess with a market via currency manipulations if you don't own all the currency, and somehow this will open up world trade in such a way that it becomes harder for a government to 'wage war' via currency manipulations.

Basically he likes peace and free trade between nations, and thinks as long as we have one form of currency that can be easily manipulated, there is a greater chance of international (and internal) conflict.

Not sure if he's right (or even if my interpretation is right), but it's interesting. I always like listening to Paul because he doesn't discuss the same five talking points every other party-affiliated drone does, though I don't agree with all his policies.

If you're going to put the word 'fact' in that, then [Citation Needed].

To you, maybe. He thinks a bit higher of himself. After all, he thinks his (paid) memoirs should be "one of the unifying documents of our generation."

No, he also uses "you're completely pathetic", "you're an ignorant hypocrite", and "slashdot = stagnated".

It's somewhat funny, actually.

I see you also spent a bit of time with UO. If I hadn't joined the Navy I probably would have never escaped.

Uh, looks like you forgot to sign in as Dr. Bob there, grub. Secret's out.

You mention food being more important than healthcare but then try to tell me the reason Europeans live longer has to be because of a healthcare system. Have you seen what we eat over here? And don't tell me about correlation and causality...

None of these parrots escape from homes that frequently watch Jersey Shore. Future generations will despise us.

http://www.pbs.org/now/politics/defensemap2.html"/a>

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_U.S._states_by_GDP

If you look at this number and compare it to other states, it appears defense spending is fairly proportional to state GDP (notice California). So, in other words, no, the Texas economy is not being propped up via defense spending... Virginia gets much more defense money (33% more), but has a GDP 1/5th of Texas. Alabama also seems to get a lot.

Wait, you are now using the postings of a few religious crazies on a web forum as indication of the larger thought process of the religious right? Even if there were 100,000 people that showed up to say 'Yay!' every time something blew up, that would still only be 0.03% of the total US population who was 'waiting to watch it burn'. That's not enough people to drive the 'religious right'.

A political leader with integrity and cojones. The three sets have a very small overlap.

Also, there is no way in hell I'd support secession with someone like Perry in charge. I think he would use it as an excuse to set up some kind of theocratic-leaning state. Even worse, he might support an interventionist foreign policy. I'd be worried what the 'new' constitution would look like under this kind of leadership. We're better off as part of the US for now. This also has the nice side effect of propping up the GDP of the US by about 8%, but the drawback of having our state education board influence national schools. Win some, lose some I suppose.

My bet is it would predict a revolution in the US every couple of years... probably every 2 years... right around election time...

Libertarians are usually nice people. They just assume everyone else is equally nice, and this enables sociopaths to be sociopaths.

Most libertarians aren't for 'no regulation', they just tend to prefer local regulation over state over federal. At least, the sane ones anyway. But the sane ones usually aren't the ones who troll forums arguing about building codes.

I tend to like a bit of liberarianism because it makes sense to have as little government as is necessary and as much freedom as is possible... an admirable goal, but one that needs to avoid being taken to extremes to avoid... well, stupidity.

Funny story.

Friend of mine was driving back home from grad school for a short vacation. Got pulled over by some state troopers on the way home. Apparently he was driving a road that is frequented by drug runners from mexico and his little compact car was stuffed to the point of overflowing with random possessions. Trooper asks to search his car. He says no.

Trooper then calls in a K-9 unit after mumbling something to himself, which walks around the car for many minutes without once alarming (barking). Obviously annoyed at this damned citizen who won't let him do what he wants, the trooper then moves my friend behind his police car and goes back to the car with the K-9 trooper. My friend sees them kick the car to get the dog to bark, and the troopers come over and inform him that the dog barking gives them right to search the car. They then spend the next half hour throwing his possessions all over the side of the highway. They found nothing and went on their way.

Moral of the story is - it doesn't matter. The more authority we surrender, the more our 'rights' become meaningless in the face of an overwhelming corporate/government bureaucracy that protects its own rights over yours.