Let’s Hook Up!

If you are any one of these social networks, feel free to look me up and add me to your network or favorite me, whichever the case may be. If you see some here that you aren’t using yet, I’ve given a really quick synopsis of what they are and why you’d use them.


View blog authority

Technorati–probably the biggest blog directory and networking site.
My username there is ‘beefstooge’. I have a couple of active blogs listed there (including this one) and a couple of projects that are in the works. On Technorati, you “favorite” other blogs. They also have some great widgets you can use on your blog.


Digg!
Digg
I call this a social news filter. People nominate, or “Digg”, stories they like, and if other people like them they can Digg them as well, increasing the value of the story. Posts with high Digg counts are considered important and get displayed on the front page. Sort of a free market for the news. My name there is, you guessed it, ‘sadcox’. If you blog about something that is popular with Digg readers, be sure to submit it. This will result in a steady stream of traffic for some time to come.

Del.icio.us
I use del.icio.us as my primary bookmarking mechanism. Unlike bookmarking in your browswer, you can tag a bookmark into as many categories as you like. The other advantage is that you can reach them from anywhere, not just your computer. You are also able to tag stories for other people in your network. Read something you think I may like? Tag it as for:sadcox, and I’ll be sure to read it.

StumbleUpon Sadcox.StumbleUpon.com
Stumbleupon is just plain fun, but also a great way to drive traffic to your site. Using their browser toolbar, you can “stumble” onto great sites that other people have liked (you can choose to stumble only your friends’ favorites as well). For site owners, loads of traffic can result from a good stumble. My Stumbleupon address is sadcox.stumbleupon.com.

Twitter
My username there is ‘sadcox’. This one is great for quick-hit ideas or “tweeting” live events like debates, ball games, etc.

Blog Catalog–Blogger’s network and directory.
My username there is ‘sadcox’. Connect with other bloggers, build your network, and get widgets to display on your site.

MyBlogLog–Blogger’s network and directory
My username there is ‘sadcox’. Very similar to BlogCatalog. They were recently acquired by Yahoo!, so you can use your Yahoo! account to sign up.

There are countless other networking sites out there, but these are some of the bigger ones for bloggers and surfers. If there’s one I missed that you want to hook up on, let me know.

Ron Paul and Wolf Blitzer on 12/2

Here are the two parts of Ron Paul’s interview with Wolf Blitzer last night. He gets to cover a lot of ground in this interview–Iraq, monetary policy, globalism, taxes, and fund raising. I also received Dr. Paul’s newsletter today that addresses a great point regarding last week’s debates

mainstream politicians NEVER attack an opponent they think is far behind. The McCain campaign, we’ve heard, is worried sick about New Hampshire, and they thought a slam at me would help. Ha! Of course, it only strengthened our forces.

Enjoy the video, and don’t forget about the Tea Party on December 16!

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Ron Paul is Not Ron Paul Enough

Extreme Mortman has a hilarious list of why Ron Paul is not libertarian enough. It was partly meant as an experiment to see how many Ron Paul supporters would flock to anything said about Ron Paul if his name was in a post, which is pretty dead on–did I mention it was a list about Ron Paul? However, there are some real gems in there, especially if you can take a joke (some of the people who’ve commented on it thusfar obviously can’t). I was actually surprised some of these didn’t make the list. I came up with them, and I’m not all that clever:

* In his years as an OB, Ron Paul never prescribed medicinal marijuana to a patient, despite their frequent complaints of nausea

* Ron Paul’s name has not been released as a customer of the D.C. Madam, therefore he doesn’t support a woman’s right to be a prostitute.

* Ron Paul did not take George Stephanopolous’s action when he said he’d bet every cent that Paul couldn’t win. He may be anti-gaming.

* Ron Paul has yet to utter the phrase “Fv(k the FCC!” in any of the live debates.

* When traveling by air, Ron Paul allows the pilot of the plane to take direction from those commie FAA employees.

to be continued…

Ron Paul on Morton Downey Jr.

Saw this posted at Reason and had to put it up here too, it’s just too funny.

Ron Paul is so young in this clip (1988). I’d love to see him this energetic and rowdy in the Republican debates. However, legalization of drugs would not go well with that crowd. They are probably happy this has surfaced on the web to use it as what they think will be ammo against him. It may actually garner him more support.

By the way, “d” had a great comment on the Reason post

Quick! Post the marines at that kid’s mouth to keep the cheeseburgers out!

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Ron Paul’s Appeal to the Technoclass

No one can deny Ron Paul’s support and presence online is pretty amazing. How can a guy be so huge in the online community, yet still considered an outsider in the mainstream conversation? I’ve written before about the issues that mainstream media has dealing with the Paul campaign, but it is frustrating to be on the pro-Paul side of the argument and see him basically shut out of serious debate in the broad media. Probably the most frustrating are the accusations that the online support for Dr. Paul is actually very small and being perpetuated by a few puppet masters who are using their technical expertise to generate hype.

The fact is, Ron Paul’s support in the blogosphere and in other online arenas is very real and very large. While it may seem unlikely or unbelievable to the mainstream, there is a perfectly reasonable explanation for the online community’s sudden interest and large support of a single candidate where none has existed before. For the most part, the web is still driven by computer geeks and engineering types–LOGICAL THINKERS, FACT SEEKERS, AND PROBLEM SOLVERS–The Technoclass.

The ideas Ron Paul presents in debates and interview strike a chord with the technoclass for a few simple reasons. While most candiates base their platform on party loyalty, emotion, or poll results, Dr. Paul’s platform is based on logic, facts, structure, and actually addressing the issues. Ron Paul’s ideas follow the same line of thinking that we engage in every day–Identify the problem (issue), determine the factors that contribute to the problem (events that lead to the issue), determine the limitations of possible solutions (the Constitution), implement the best solution.

So why hasn’t the technoclass chosen a candidate for widespread support before this election cycle? Well, there’s a reasonable explanation for that as well. Never before, at least since the web has become widely popular, has a candidate taken the approach of presenting reasonable arguments and solutions to problems. For the technoclass, often the most reasonable course of action when no feasible solution to a problem has been presented is to do nothing.

That’s exactly what the technoclass has chosen to do, until now.

**UPDATE**
Of course, I could be wrong…dopplegangr has an alternate explanation.

The American Experience — Alexander Hamilton

Last night I recorded this program on PBS.  It is a nice warm-up to the debates tonight.

I’ve often wondered what Thomas Jefferson would think about our current situation, but this program makes me wonder what Hamilton would think.  Hamilton pushed hard for a strong central government, but I wonder if he would have wanted it this strong.  Would he agree with the current “aristocracy” that is running our governement?

It’s not tyranny we desire; it’s a just, limited, federal government.

Is that what we have now?

Why the National Libertarian Party Should Pack It In

It’s very interesting to read so much on the web about the buzz Ron Paul is creating in his presidential run. Sure, it’s early still, and I’m not unrealistic about his chances, but I’ve heard more people mention his name already this year than I heard discussing Badnarik in 2004. Although many hardline libertarians would disagree, the fact that he’s a libertarian (basically) running as a Republican is all the more encouraging to me. I believe the Libertarian Party should cease pursuing offices at the national level.Like it or not, a great number of Americans think that there are only two political parties in this country, and that they are diametrically opposed to one another. Even those who are aware that other parties exist seem partial to believing that “other” parties are full of nuts/extremists. Most of those who don’t share this belief think that voting for anything other than a Democrat or a Republican is a wasted vote, since this vote cannot possibly contribute to a potential win for a candidate.

By running as a Republican, Ron Paul will do more for the libertarian movement than he could ever do by running as a libertarian candidate. First of all, he will not be shut out of nationally broadcast debates. This will give him the opportunity to not only get his own ideas across, but also give him the opportunity to call other candidates on their BS to be seen by a large audience. Remember when Alan Keyes got the opportunity to say this on Fox News in 1999:

And so what are we supposed to do again, get down on our knees and thank “Master Bush” now because he’s going to let us keep a little bit more of our own money? And we’ll thank “Master So-and-so” when they do it.

I think it’s time we realized that that kind of thinking is for slaves.

My ancestors were slaves. I abhor to think like one today.

The tax system for a free people is not a tax that gives the government a preemptive claim to a single penny of your income, and the right reform of this system is to get rid of the 16th Amendment, abolish the income tax, and return to the original Constitution of our country which funded the federal government with tariffs, duties, and excise taxes.

It would be tough to get a statement such as this out to such a broad audience without being affiliated with one of the two major parties.  Keyes didn’t get the nomination, but he did get that message across and made an attempt to push the tax debate in the right direction.

Another problem the LP has to overcome to win a national election is that this is a big nation with lots of people. Even if several libertarian strongholds like the Free State Project were established, it would be very difficult to win even one state, much less enough to compete for the presidency.  While some would argue that it is important to get the message out at the national level, wouldn’t it make more sense to concentrate efforts at the local level where the possibility of winning is reasonable?