This ain't Hell, but you can see it from here

Category: Ron Paul

  • Kokesh won’t quit (Updated)

    As I predicted, Adam Kokesh, IVAW diva, announced that, although he could only attract 16% of the delegates in new Mexico’s 3rd District GOP pre-primary race, he won’t quit;

    “Our campaign is energized, and we’re committed to winning the primary election,” Kokesh said in a news release. “We are a grassroots campaign, and over the next two and half months we will be calling on our many supporters to help us win this important election, and do our part to unseat the Luján-Pelosi-Reid Congress and stop the Obama agenda.”

    Typical Ron Paul tactic – ignore that fact that he’s unelectable and keep charging ahead with a useless campaign until the party is so fractured that the Democrat wins. Then he’ll claim that its the Party’s and the media’s fault because no would would crown him the candidate despite the wish of voters. Someone explain to me how Kokesh, who now has the support of one in seven voters, is going to turn that around in 10 weeks – he’s already been campaigning for a year, but a couple more weeks is all he needs.

    I wish someone would start a nationwide remedial math class for Paulians.

    Thanks to COB6 for the link.

    UPDATED: Below the jump is Kokesh’s latest campaign letter forwarded to us by a former IVAW member;

    (more…)

  • The dichotomy of Kokesh

    So this reporter from the Santa Fe Reporter by the name of Corey Pein sent me two of his articles on Kokesh and his Congressional campaign in New Mexico. Me? I’m tired of writing and reading about Kokesh, honestly. And readership interest is falling on the subject – but every time I try to get out they pull me back in. Take this tongue bath;

    Meet the new face of the Republican Party in northern New Mexico.

    The face is engraved on a silver coin that is available for a $50 donation, but worth approximately $15 melted down.

    The face is smiling. The face has a neatly trimmed beard. The face belongs to a man wearing a necktie. He stands beneath the Statue of Liberty. His rolled-up shirtsleeves reveal tattoos on each forearm. One says USMC. The other says IVAW, which stands for Iraq Veterans Against the War.

    The arms hoist a banner that says “R3VOLution.”

    Funny, but everytime I think of Kokesh’s face, I remember the day I took these pictures of him less than two years ago;

    (more…)

  • More Stewart Rhodes, Adam Kokesh, Oathkeeper and IVAW

    Bev Perlson of Band of Mothers has been writing to me this weekend about the Oathkeepers and what she saw at CPAC two weeks ago. Apparently, they had Michael Maresco manning the Oathkeepers booth at CPAC for a while. Michael Moresco was the 2009 Oathkeepers Citizen Activist of the Year for his cross country bike ride from Liberty Island to Alcatraz, ostensibly to symbolize our journey from Freedom to Fascism. Along his route, Maresco handed out Ron Paul propaganda. I guess that’s why no one ever heard of him.

    Anyway, Maresco told Bev that he recruited Adam Kokesh to run for that seat in New Mexico. When Bev confronted Stewart Rhodes about Maresco’s claim, Rhodes denied that he even knew Maresco – that’s pretty strange since it seems to me that the Citizen Activist of the Year of Oathkeepers, who happened to be working at Oathkeepers’ table at CPAC would be someone the leader of Oathkeepers would know.

    Bev went on to tell me that Larry Baily, a relatively famous phony SEAL buster, told Rhodes that he should drop his support for Kokesh’s congressional campaign and announce that on the Oathkeepers’ website. Of course, Rhodes did no such thing.

    Bev went a step farther and called the New Mexico Republicans;

    I called the Republican party in New Mexico and spoke with a girl by the name of Tiffany. I told her I was calling about Kokesh and that I understand they can’t stop him from running in the Primary as a Republican, but they sure should issue a statement that they do not support a candidate that actively works to impede the efforts of our recruters and our troops. Tiffany told me they are gettting so many calls like mine, they are aware of the problem, and are looking into their legal options to separate themselves from Kokesh.

    Jonn, I hope you will post the phone number on your website to the GOP in New Mexico and ask folks to call. We need to keep the pressure up on the Republicans over this.

    Here’s the contact information for the Republicans in New Mexico;

    Mailing Address:
    P.O Box 94083
    Albuquerque, NM 87199

    Office Address:
    5150-A San Francisco Rd. NE
    Albuquerque, NM 87109

    Phone: 505-298-3662
    Fax: 505-292-0755
    Email: administrator(at)gopnm(dot)org

    Several readers have emailed me and asked me if they should continue their membership in Oathkeepers. I’ll tell everyone that it’s your choice what you do with your money, but me personally, any organization that ignores Adam Kokesh’s transgressions so that they can have a pretty candidate that mouths the words they want to hear is not one to which I would belong. Kokesh has proved himself to be a poor NCO and a poor citizen. He’s shown that he disregards laws he doesn’t like, and he has no problem lying. He’s covered up his misbehavior on his blog to facilitate his campaign. The DD214 he posted on his campaign website misleads voters.

    And that’s what Oathkeepers supports – just because Kokesh is a Paulian.

    Me? I’m going to start checking out ever member of Oathkeepers from Stuart Rhodes through the Board of Directors down to the newest member. Everyone that claims they have military service is going to have me crawling up their ass for proof. So you Oathkeepers better get your narratives straight.

    And, oh, Michael Maresco, let’s see how you have membership in Oathkeepers since I can’t find a military record, nor a First Responer’s record. Are you OK’s activist of the year just because you’re a propagandist for Ron Paul?

    Added: It appears that we’re having an impact on Oathkeeper’s support. Ol’ Broad at An Old Broad’s Ramblings has just dissolved her relationship with them because of the post I wrote last week..

  • Mother Jones on Oathkeepers

    In the comments, BOHICATwentyTwo left this link to a Mother Jones article about the Oathkeepers. It was written by Justine Sharrock who visited us last year when she erred in writing an article about Adam Kokesh. Sharrock quotes folks like Glen Beck and Lou Dobbs as they praise the Oathkeepers, but I think Beck and Dobbs don’t know Oathkeepers like we know Oathkeepers.

    In fact, in a companion photo essay of the Oathkeepers, Mother Jones calls them “The Tea Party’s Military Wing” and they tout the participation in the Tea Partys. But on the last last page of the article, she quotes founder Stuart Rhodes, former Ron Paul Congressional staffer on the IVAW;

    After an Oath Keeper who is also a member of Iraq Veterans Against the War touted IVAW repeatedly on Oath Keepers’ Web forum, Rhodes deleted the guy’s online testimonial. “The IVAW have their own totalitarian mindset,” he told me. “I don’t like communists any more than I like Nazis.”

    Yeah, Rhodes didn’t delete the online testimonial voluntarily. It took four days for members of This Ain’t Hell to convince Rhodes to take the testimonial down. It began here and ended here. What hasn’t ended, however is Oathkeepers’ support of Adam Kokesh which Bev Perlson told us earlier today. So, apparently Rhodes gets his marching orders from Ron Paul…still.

    When the Oathkeepers first came to my attention, right after the 2008 election, it smelled a little fishy to me. All of the American servicemembers I know don’t need a group to tell them to uphold their oath – in fact, I take offense that Stuart Rhodes thinks they will not. Supposedly Rhodes was a member of the military – does he honestly think that the mothers’ sons with whom he served needed a boy scout troop to tell them to obey the law?

    Maybe some of the assclowns who Sharrock interviewed in that article need adult supervision, but they are the exception, not the rule.

    The bottom line is this; the Tea Party Movement, Glen Beck, Lou Dobbs, Dick Armey and any other Conservative group needs to back away from the Oathkeepers and their secret alliance with IVAW unless they want to be tainted by that special brand of crazy that comes with being a paulian.

  • An open letter to New Mexico voters

    There’s a letter going around the internet that’s an open letter to the voters of New Mexico warning them of IVAW’s Adam Kokesh. I’ll lend my voice to it. Bubba of What Bubba Knows sent it to me first – he posted it on the Gathering of Eagles website. Our buddies ConcreteBob and DanNY posted it on United Conservatives of Virginia and American Patriots Against Kokesh, respectively.

    My suggestion, though is to target Kokesh’s sources of support like Stuart Rhodes of Oathkeepers, Ron Paul and Rand Paul. Kokesh’s membership in IVAW should be problematic for Oathkeepers since the IVAW is currently engaged in activities to encourage active duty members of the military to ignore their oaths of service – it seems to me that an organization called the Oathkeepers would consider that activity radioactive – but we’re not dealing with rational people here.

    I’m pretty sure that Ron and Rand Paul don’t want to be associated with those activities either – although Ron Paul accepts all tainted money, apparently. I don’t thin associating himself with Kokesh would go over very well in Texas – nor would it seem a successful association in Kentucky. I’m pretty sure voters in Texas and Kentucky would be dismayed to find out that their candidates associate themselves with Kokesh who planted racist posters around GWU in an attempt to frame a student group on campus. I’m pretty sure New mexico voters don’t know about all of Kokesh’s antics either.

    UPDATE: Just as I published this post, I received an email from my buddy, Bev Perlson, founder of the Band of Mothers who says she is dropping her support of the Oathkeepers for the same reasons. I hope she won’t mind me sharing a bit of her email;

    Stewart Rhodes finally did show up at the booth. I would describe my conversation with Stewart as very disappointing. He said the fellow sitting at the booth was a volunteer and he had told him to take the pin off???!!!!!!!!!!!!

    So taking the “Kokesh for Congress” pin off was good enough for Stewart Rhodes, President of Oathkeepers, but not for me.

    I asked Stewart about Michael Maresco who told me that he was the Activist of the year for Oathkeepers and he recruited Adam Kokesh. Stewart’s answer was vague and he denied knowing Michael Maresco. Funny thing though, I had seen Maresco at the booth. I told Stewart of my personal observations of Kokesh associating with marxist groups like the SDS, Code Pink, World Can’t Wait and ANSWER, and Kokesh’s involvement in the Winter Soldier Hearings, not to mention his involvement in impeding our recruiters at recruiting stations. I told Stewart I was very disappointed in his associations with Kokesh supporters and I would inform others what I observed at the Oathkeepers booth at CPAC.

    What I observed at the Oathkeepers booth at CPAC leaves me no choice but to disassociate The Band of Mothers with the Oathkeepers. The Band of Mothers do not support any groups who support Adam Kokesh or the IVAW or any groups who who impede our troops mission and discredit them in anyway. Oaths mean nothing to traitors.

    Updated March 10, 2010 1800 hrs. Bev sends this response to Michael Maresco;

    Michael,

    The fact of this entire matter is that anyone who seriously thinks Adam Kokesh is a Republican has lost sight of reality.
    Kokesh’s reputation precedes him.

    I don’t lie and my reputation precedes me.

    Your fantasy that my Marine friend is your friend, you are naive and almost childish. Ever hear that expression “Keep your friends close and your enemies closer?”

    Sorry, but Kokesh cannot get up one day and put on a suit and tie and declare himself a Republican without backlash from every Patriot who has stood against him and his Marxist friends in DC.
    Enjoy your fantasyland, the rest of us will continue to fight the good fight and support our troops and we will continue to fight those who impede their efforts and mission.

    Beverly Perlson
    The Band of Mothers

  • Thoughts on CPAC

    If you missed CPAC in DC last weekend, here’s a photo essay from John Hawkins at Right Wing News. I’ve never been to CPAC, but I’ve always gotten updates from my buddy Skye who has been the last three years running.

    But I guess the big news this year was Ron Paul winning the straw poll. Actually, that’s no surprise – since Paul was one of 11 candidates in the poll. What the media isn’t saying is that 69% of the 2000 voters in the straw poll voted against Ron Paul. Judging by the jeers when the winner of the poll was announced, Paul would run right of town if he were the nominee.

    Yeah, yeah, I agree with Ron Paul on much of his domestic policy, but he’s a nutbag on foreign policy. Since the media has been successful on focusing on domestic policy the last several months, in conjunction with the White House, it’s no wonder that a large number of Conservatives would ignore Paul’s foreign policy and vote for his domestic policy.

    And did I mention that Ron Paul supports IVAW’s Adam Kokesh for Congress in New Mexico?

    I guess if you’re voting and it’s not going to count, you might as well vote for Paul – especially if your intention is to just rock the conservatives a bit and get them focused on domestic policy. But I think most conservatives, who aren’t single issue voters, wouldn’t vote for Paul in a primary. What did he pull in the 2008 race? Less than 1% of voters, despite the squirrely Paulian’s claim that he pulled more but the media wouldn’t report it.

    Speaking of Skye, it looks like she busted Medea Benjamin and Tyge Barry trying to interupt Glen Beck’s speech at CPAC. Also posted at Flopping Aces.

  • Stuck on stupid

    Remember how well the Ron Paul Blimp worked when it propelled Ron Paul into the Oval Office in 2008? Me neither. But that doesn’t deter the Paulians from launching a campaign to litter our skies with a “Peace Blimp“;

    Imagine…a “Peace Blimp”- defiantly displaying a message of peace across the skies of the nation, unable to be dismissed, ignored or brushed aside. Rallies for peace greet the blimp in every city it visits. Politicians, celebrities, movie stars, athletes, war veterans and peace activists make the call to bring our troops home by boarding the blimp for a ride. Crowds flock to the events and are educated about the war. With each stop along the tour the momentum for peace grows from a dull roar into an undeniable fervor until the seemingly endless wars come to an end.

    Now, let’s make this a reality.

    Please join us this March 20th for the largest online monetary war protest in history. Our goal is to bring together 100,000 people to donate $10 each (minimum), creating a one day total of millions to fly the Peace Blimp until we the people force our government to end this war.

    Do you know that Pizza Hut has a $10 special? I doubt the pudgy, basement dwellers across America will allow a large stuffed-crust slip through their fingers that easily.

    From an interview with a Paulian in a Canadian blog;

    Trevor Lyman, a Ron Paul supporter who is responsible for the Peace Blimp effort, responds to a few of my questions. Here are the questions, as well as his responses:

    P. M. Jaworski: What do you hope to accomplish with The Peace Blimp?

    Trevor Lyman: I hope to help reignite peace protests here in the States. The majority of the American people have wanted this war to end for over four years now.

    PJ: Why should money be spent on a blimp, rather than on other ways to persuade legislators to end the war?

    TL: There were massive protests against the war in the States around the time of the 2006 elections. The media barely covered them. The blimp is something that cannot be ignored and the money we will raise for it shows there is real support. The media only pays attention to candidates who raise the most money and so I believe this will be mostly the same.

    Yeah, the blimp didn’t work for Ron Paul and it won’t work for abandonment of our security policy. But you numbnuts keep throwing your allowance money at these fools’ errands.

  • Kokesh and Rand Paul – BFFs

    TSO phoned me from the road yesterday about a Rand Paul/Adam Kokesh video. I hope I found the right one, because it appears that there are several on Youtube. This one is from last summer and filmed in Kentucky;

    It’s funny, but I agree with everything they said – but it’s what they don’t say that makes them dangerous. Like in other clips where Kokesh mentions “humble foreign policy”. Yeah, that sounds like what we need right now, what with Chavez building up his military for a confrontation to our south and negotiating away oil to China. With North Korea expected to build a missile that can reach the US by the end of next year. With Iran threatening the Middle East and Europe. Russia trying to rebuild the old Soviet Union. Yeah, let’s be humble.

    I wonder if Rand knows he’s discussing gun rights with a convicted arms smuggler (sorry, a little Gordon Duff-style hyperbole there).

    Too Kooky for Kentucky finds white supremacists supporting Rand Paul just like they supported his father. Here’s another Kokesh for Congress video edited by Josh Paul. I can’t find any familial ties to Ron Paul, but it’s a bit coincidental.

    I think it’s hilarious that Kokesh avoids talking about IVAW these days. There’s a reporter for Stars and Stripes who did an interview with me and Army Sergeant last summer about the IVAW who is holding up publishing the interview until he can interview Kokesh who won’t return the reporter’s call. Kokesh now likes to call himself an “Iraq War veteran” instead of an IVAW member these days. I guess the need for xanax and gin has worn off.