What we are seeing right now is the infancy of the Information War that will continue to escalate. American citizens have a choice for a means for information, and it seems the mainstream media is losing it's stranglehold on the dispersal of information to the American public.

It makes perfect sense: Television is one-way communication. In a country that claims to be "free", its people are much easier to propagandize. The internet is a means to communicate to others and is a sea of information.

And now, $6 million has been dropped on Ron Paul in one day by private individuals, commemorating the Boston Tea Party. Staggering. And it is truly democratic.

This brings Ron Paul's quarterly total to roughly $18 million.

Marshall McLuhan once wrote that World War III would be an information war. It seems he was right- so many people who buy into what mainstream media tells them shun the internet, yet China's government is clamping down on internet access to its citizens. It isn't very hard to figure out why one-way communication is a better tool for propaganda than the internet.

Thanks to the internet, I get to have class discussions on how the Jews were responsible for 9/11.

One problem with two-way communication, is that most Americans, are seriously uninformed and quite ignorant. So they are easily swayed by propaganda on the internet.
Just read about how wonderful and magical the FAIR tax is on the Pro-fair tax websites. It will solve ALL of our problems!!!

I love the internet, and have my students do a LOT of research using it.
However, there is a TON of garbage out there also.

I never saw a nightly news report about how the Jews are responsible for 9/11. The reason being that the Jews are NOT responsible for 9/11. It was the work of 19 Muslim men in league with Al Qaeda. End of story.

I wonder what Ron Paul is going to do with all those funds after he loses the nomination.


Ixtellor

P.S. IMHO Ron Paul is the most honest, and stick to his principals, nominee in the entire field. This does not change the fact that some of those principals are not so great, and that he will most definitely lose the nomination of his party.

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George W. Bush "I don't think our troops ought to be used for what's called nation-building"

Blasphemy is a victimless crime.

6 million is the most raised in one day by any candidate in history. You know there is serious dissent within the Republican party when Ron Paul is pulling that kind of change. He's basically capitalizing on the fact that even the conservatives are getting sick of everlasting war and record deficit after record deficit. I'm betting that a lot of Ron Paul supporters won't even vote after he loses the nomination.

Or they'll vote libertarian or some other party. I would bet that most of his supporters do not identify with the Republicans but are rebels against the system.

Looks like Paul is currently at about 4.5% and is not a serious contender:

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epo...ation-192.html

He has a very dedicated but fringe crowd. He is doing better than Alan Keyes.

Except it isn't just R's. There are D's who support him as well.

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All you need to know about the energy crisis:
ANWR Exploration Republicans: 91% Supported. Democrats: 86% Opposed.
Coal-to-liquid R's: 90% YES. D's: 78% NO.
Oil Shale Exploration R's: 90% YES. D's: 86% NO.
Outer Continental Shelf Exploration R's: 81% YES. D's: 83% NO.
Increased Refinery Capacity R's: 97% YES. D's: 96% NO

SUMMARY: 91% of House Republicans have historically voted to increase the production of America’s own oil and gas. 86% of House Democrats have historically voted against.

Republicans, Democrats, libertarians, socialists, neo-nazis... everyone who is really pissed at this point in history.
Ron Paul's strength is his weakness.
He draws people around him whose common cause is pure anger but whose directions do not match at all. If he did win the election, he could never appease his whole base and could not have broad appeal.
There is no policy that will unite libertarians, socialists, and neo-nazis.

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That information is classified and to be given only on a need-to-know basis...

And I do not need to know.

Unfortunately, most have had only a government school education, so they can't sort out fact from propaganda.

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Blade: "more educated and literate people than Justabubba"

Justabubba: "that would include everyone"

http://politicalforum.com/showthread.php?t=27847

Are you saying that public schools don't teach children how to think for themselves? Parents have to assume their fair share of responsibility. Many people don't accept citizenship as a responsibility; and they only want the rights and privileges.

Regarding the issue at hand, having free flow of information is a step toward knowledge of truth. If there is some organization that filters (censors) information, then the received message may not be that which was originally intended by the sender.

It is the responsibility of the receiver to decode and interpret the message. Remember playing "telephone" as a kid, the game where one person whispers a word to the next person and passes the message on to the next? Well, by the time the message got to the last person, it often was totally different (false) than what was originally communicated.

It is much more effective to communicate directly from sender to receiver with as little interference as possible in between.

Now I am wondering what else you may have been insinuating with that statement, "Unfortunately, most have had only a government school education, so they can't sort out fact from propaganda."

I find that subtly offensive because I am a product of the public education system.

edited for spelling

addition: Too add to that, many people are schooled at church schools or other religious institutions that teach things which are wholey contradictive to what we KNOW is FACT. The internet is a great tool, one of many, to spread truth.

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Not in my experience. They teach children to be compliant little slaves to the system. Do you think the government controlled school system will actually teach kids to question the government? When I went through school I considered a lot of it just pure brainwashing. Here's an interesting article on government controlled education.

"If you make people think they are thinking, they will love you, but if you really make them think they will kill you." -- Albert Einstein

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer

True, and it's even more profound than that - it's serious dissent with politics in general. Ron Paul has a verifiable record that people can trust. You know there won't be any "read my lips, no new taxes" lies. You know he's not part of the political establishment. And you know he truly believes what he says - and he will back those words up with the appropriate action.

And a lot of people are indeed sick and tired of those things.

No, they probably won't - and that's because there aren't any other honest Republicans who can be trusted to act as true fiscal conservatives.

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"All truth passes through three stages. First, it is ridiculed. Second, it is violently opposed. Third, it is accepted as being self-evident." - Schopenhauer