Michael Nystrom's blog

I went to my first Meetup last night in Boston. There were a lot of us - I'd say about 30, which was great! Its nice to see so many Ron Paul supporters in one place. The downside was that it was difficult to talk to everyone since we were all sitting at one long table in a big noisy pub.

Some observations: As Dr. Paul always says, there were LOTS of young people - especially down at my end of the table.

Thank you Mark for this great, refreshing video from Dr. Paul's 1988 campaign. Amazing! No one can ever accuse Dr. Paul of being a flip-flopper! This is the same, steady, rock solid message that he's talking about today:

So far, 138 people have signed up for the pledge to help raise $10 million for Ron Paul's campaign. The pledge calls for 10,000 people to donate $1000 each. I know it is a lot of money, and at this rate, the pledge is not going to make it.

So how about trying out this idea from Caroline:

What if every Meetup group took the pledge and pledged as a group? It might not seem so costly to those who can't afford the entire $1,000 themselves?

Yeah!!! What a great idea. Look at how many Meetup groups there are:

And as luck would have it, I'm going to my first Meetup tonight in Boston. I'm excited and I'm going to propose it to the group. If you're a member of a Meetup, tell the group, and help spread the word. Meetups can do all kinds of fund raising activities, and together, we can certainly raise $10M.

by Michael Nystrom
July 18, 2007

This sign, commemorating the Battle of Menotomy is less than a mile from my house, in Arlington, MA.

Whenever I walk by this sign and look at the peaceful green in which it stands, I pay silent tribute to the Patriots who sacrificed their lives for us so many years ago. They fought and died so that we could enjoy the freedoms and liberty that we have today. It is our job to protect those liberties.

We've already had one bloody revolution in this nation's history. Let's not wait until another one is required to restore the liberty and freedom that is gradually slipping away from us. There is still time to avert such a fate.

Please support Ron Paul.

Michael Nystrom

Robert Kahn, the most senior figure in the development of the internet, has delivered a strong warning against "Net Neutrality" legislation.

Speaking to an audience at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, California at an event held in his honour, Kahn warned against legislation that inhibited experimentation and innovation where it was needed.

Kahn rejected the term "Net Neutrality", calling it "a slogan". He cautioned against dogmatic views of network architecture, saying the need for experimentation at the edges shouldn't come at the expense of improvements elsewhere in the network.

(Kahn gently reminded his audience that the internet was really about interconnecting networks, a point often lost today).

Continue reading here

Thanks to Tex MacRae at Lew Rockwell's blog for this amazing nugget:

Of all the videos of talks at Google to date, Ron Paul's is by far the most popular - after being on the net for only three (3) days!. The next closest is Hillary's talk, after being up for over four months, followed by John McCain (two months). That, ladies and gentlemen is wide appeal.

1) Ron Paul has got an all new, tricked-out MySpace page. Check it out - very impressive!

2) He's also got a new website devoted to his foreign policy and his latest book,
A Foreign Policy of Freedom.

3) Finally, here is an independently produced research site called the Ron Paul Database, by Jake Orlowitz, Vail, CO. Jake says, "It's
called the Ron Paul database, and it's really what it sounds like: a full, tagged, searchable index of Ron Paul sites, ideas, groups and supporters, and other resources.

theronpauldatabase.googlepages.com

Check them out and help spread the word.

Best,
Michael

From Reason Magazine
by Jesse Walker | July 16, 2007

Among the other firsts of his campaign, Ron Paul is probably the only presidential contender to be compared to a Samuel L. Jackson movie. The Texas congressman, a dark horse candidate for the Republican nomination, was being lightly grilled by Kevin Pereira, a host on the videogame-oriented cable channel G4. "Young people online, they were really psyched about Snakes on a Plane, but that didn't translate into big ticket sales for Sam Jackson," Pereira said. "Are you worried that page views on a MySpace page might not translate to primary votes?"

The reference was to the Internet sensation of 2006, an action movie whose cheesy title and premise had sparked a burst of online creativity: mash-ups, mock trailers, parody films, blogger in-jokes. Hollywood interpreted this activity as "buzz," and New Line Cinema inflated its hopes for the movie's box office take. When the film instead did about as well as you'd expect from a picture called Snakes on a Plane, the keepers of the conventional wisdom declared that this was proof of the great gulf between what's popular on the Internet and what sells in the material world.

Ron Paul is popular on the Internet, too, with more YouTube subscribers than any other candidate, the fastest-growing political presence in MySpace, a constant perch atop the Technorati rankings, and a near-Olympian record at winning unscientific Web polls. Like Snakes, he is the subject of scads of homemade videos and passionate blog posts. When Pereira mentioned the movie, he was making a clear comparison: Yes, your online fans are noisy, but will their enthusiasm actually translate into electoral success?

Continue reading at Reason Magazine

Here's Pajamas Media explanation of why they dropped Ron Paul from their polling: (Thanks Patrick.)

Following the established rules of the Pajamas Media Straw Poll, Ron Paul, winner of the twenty-fifth week among the Republican candidates, has been dropped from the poll for the forthcoming period. Paul did not make the required minimum number of one percent on the most recent USA Today/Gallup Poll.

Despite heavy support from Internet groups for some time, the Texas Congressman continues not to make a dent on national polls. While our evidence is only anecdotal (many email complaints), Pajamas Media editors suspect that targeted voting by Paul supporters on this and other open polls may even be hurting their candidate because the public is turned off by his supporters’ behavior.

Interesting. What it looks like to me is that we have a showdown between old and new media. Comments anyone?

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This is an amazing effort by private citizens. Hey everyone - you can do it, too! Thank you, Kansas City!

Ken Van Doren of Mauston, WI organized a local RP sign making project to make 100 signs in 100 days.

This is amazing, and an inspiration to us all!!! Thank you!

See how they did it, in the additional photo links below:

When news came out last week that Liberty Dollar started minting the Ron Paul Liberty Dollar, I signed up right away.

What is it? Back in 1974, a little company called Fed Ex started competing with the government monopoly known as the Post Office, which was plagued by inflation, poor service, and surly counter help. Fed Ex became a huge success, and the competition forced the PO to shape up. In 1998, the Liberty Dollar was launched to compete with another quasi-governmental monopoly, the Federal Reserve. The Fed prints money like it is going out of style, causing inflation; its currency is backed by nothing. The Liberty Dollar is real money - backed by gold and silver - that is designed to compete with Federal Reserve Notes (FRNs).

I signed up as a Liberty Dollar Associate, and my package arrived yesterday (sadly, the Ron Paul dollars are so popular that they're on back order). There was a great DVD included (actually three DVDs), including this snip from the Learning Channel that does an excellent job explaining just what the Liberty Dollar is. More to come on how to beat the Fed by using our own money. Enjoy:

Become a Liberty Dollar Associate, too.

There is a pledge going around to raise $10 million for Ron Paul by September 16th:

Raise 10 Million for Ron Paul

The goal is for 10,000 people to donate $1,000. When I first saw it, I was skeptical. A thousand bucks is a lot of money, and 10,000 - is a lot of people.

Thanks to Paul for passing along this illustration, which was originally spotted at Rense.com, but created by David Dees, of Dees Illustration.

Taking a cue from MikekChicago who writes,

If I am not mistaken there is Aug. 5 ABC Tv debate just week before Straw Poll. I can imagine that those who intend to vote in Straw Poll will be watching the debate. I think there is action required before the debate. We've got a choice: Whine that our candidate didn't have enough time in the debate, or strongly demand from ABC to give equal time to Ron Paul as to "First Tier Candidates."

We should start very soon, if not now. Let's do it Iowa Taxpayers style.

That's such a great idea, and since there is no time like the Now, I started this petition:

For a Fair ABC News Republican Presidential Forum

Please read it, sign it, and spread the word!

Michael Nystrom