One thing is for sure, a reformation in the Islamic world is much better than the destruction of the Islamic world. This weekend watching from Carlata Gall and the BBC is enlightening about the way that brutality and reality meet to form a new set of rules in the American war on terrorism. It follows that my prediction of a ham handed response to a human problem is the cause of new forms of extremism for the "terrorism industry." It shows less incoherence in the system then you would think at first, and it is not the work of a few bad apples, and it illustrates more systemic problems within our ability to effectively manage people we do not understand or who "some nameless 'we' do not care about" and are managed for us, to quote Adolous Huxley. The film is called the "Taxi to the Dark Side" and has won critical acclaim around the world. It is a sad contrast with my humorous posts and I am posting the whole thing here for your viewing with one quest...

From my friends at Where HipHop and Libertarianism Meet , a consolidation of the reports on who wrote what at the Ron Paul nutty newsletter factory. The article has some credibility as it is sourced to Eric Dondero, a former Paulist disciple who no longer supports Dr. No, but who--it has always seemed to me--has been very careful not to trash him gratuitously. Although I don't think for a second this all absolves Paul from the responsibility for the material printed under his name, it should surprise NO ONE that Lew Rockwell appears to have been the source for racially oriented material.

Well, intellectually, maybe. And I think he would have liked her. The whole Ron Paul-is-a-closet-racist-homophobe controversy has made me think about three incidents from elementary school that may shed some light on thinking about Dr. No and his now-infamous newsletters. Incident one: pay no attention to the fat lady behind the felt board In rural Virginia during the early 1960s there was Protestant religious education in the public schools. Once a week we had music class; once a week we had Bible class. You could get out of it if you brought in a note from home that said you were Jewish or Catholic (apparently being an atheist was not an option). At the time my family did not go to church, had never gone to church. In first grade I thought about becoming a Jew or a Catholic to get out of Bible class, but then I found out that Jew and Catholics had to go to the library and spend an hour doing worksheets (take that you despicable non-Protestants!), so I thought it would be more ...

Over on Delawareliberal there's been a spirited debate regarding The New Republic expose about the racist, homophobic rantings and ravings that occurred in Ron Paul's newsletter during the late 1980s-early 1990s. Now you can actually visit the NR website and view scans of the offending documents for yourself. They are disturbing. Moreover, that they were out there has been fairly common knowledge for some time, and in large part explains the deafening silence of the gay Libertarian and Republican communities regarding Ron Paul's candidacy. Outright Libertarian s, for example, has dealt with Paul by ignoring him in its blog, while condemning him in other forums : “The LP offers an uncompromising stance on equal rights regardless of sexual orientation or gender identity—with sexual rights in the Libertarian platform for more than three decades,” says Rob Power, who chairs Outright Libertarians, a gay group within the party, and supports Phillies’s candidacy. “Paul’s ide...

While everybody around was signing Jason's semi-glorious half-naked body and chanting, "OOGA!" for open government, the Snooze J as usual missed a large part of the point. Nowhere in this morning's coverage of the event was there any acknowledgement of the Delaware blogosphere's role in organizing the event. Without the constant support for open government by Delawareliberal , Delaware Watch , and Down with Absolutes , Senator Thurman Adams would have enjoyed a much quieter morning. I guess Gannett doesn't know about the New Media. A hearty cybertoast to all who participated, and a notice to those in power: we may have no television station and one sorry excuse for a major newspaper, but we have the blogs. Open government is coming.

This is neither an Iowa prediction nor a Ron Paul commercial, but an observation that complements the one Dana made over on Delaware Watch about excluding Paul from debates. Here's how Newsmax presents the latest Zogby tracking poll that ended yesterday: With a Huckabee surge and a Romney dip, the former Arkansas governor opened up a six-point lead over his nearest rival. Former Tennessee Sen. Fred Thompson also lost a point, and Arizona Sen. John McCain, who has been surging in New Hampshire, faded here into a tie for fourth place. Notice that the poll doesn't say who McCain is in a tie for fourth place with . From Real Clear Politics here's the breakdown of the same Zogby tracking poll: Huckabee=31% Romney=25% Thompson=11% McCain=10% Paul=10% Funny, when you look at the numbers it would seem that the real news is that Ron Paul has risen into double digits and entered a virtual three-way tie for third place, given the usual margin for error. Newmax is not always the mos...