Ron Paul Raising a Lot of Money, Wait Whose Ron Paul?

The Republican presidential hopeful Ron Paul has been making a lot of money these days on the Internet, even though not many people know who he is. However, one man is trying to change this by his Internet giving site. The man’s name is Trevor Lyman and he “doesn’t look the part of political fat cat” (Morain). Ron Paul “has raised more than $10 million in the last few weeks but has yet to hit double digits in the polls” (Morain). The presidential candidates are breaking fundraising records and Trevor Lyman is one of the biggest fundraiser of all of them. Lyman is doing everything in his power so that Ron Paul will get the attention that Lyman believes he deserves. Lyman created a “money bomb” which are dates that people donate money and help Ron Paul’s campaign grow, they have become quite successful. Lyman is an unlikely man for this money raising job because he is “a 37-year-old musician and Internet entrepreneur [who] didn’t finish college” (Morain). There are now houses throughout New Hampshire that will house about 1,000 members of Ron Paul’s volunteers. The funny thing is that Ron Paul has never met Lyman and even pronounced his name wrong when he was on “Face the Nation.” However, all of Lyman’s help for money has hired staff and bought television airtime, something that Lyman would want.

I had never really heard about Ron Paul until all this excitement occurred that he was raising so much money on the Internet, but I was shocked to hear how much he had actually raised. Ron Paul, in my opinion, will not win the Republican nomination because is too much of an unknown and too much of a libertarian for most. However, why are so many people giving him money? The answer to this is unknown, but perhaps it is because he has different ideals than most Republicans and that he is much more honest than all of the other candidates. Still, I am shocked that there has not been much more commentary about him in the last few months or even weeks. He is not a candidate to watch for the Republicans, but maybe he will be a possible Independent candidate once the Republican primary season is over. Will he win the election, probably not. However, it is very interesting to see how much support that the is gaining just on the Internet.

For more information: http://www.latimes.com/news/printedition/asection/la-na-moneyman16dec16,1,4490146.story?ctrack=1&cset=true

So, Iran Doesn't Have Nuclear Weapons?

There was no need for Bush, Cheney, and Israel to be frightened about Iran’s nuclear weapons. This was because “in fall 2003, Tehran halted its nuclear weapons program” (Powers). This means that the American intelligence community has no need to be worried or to attack Iran at all. However, this is a very complicated piece of intelligence because “Who pressed to declassify these highly inconvenient findings?” (Powers). The president did receive these findings but when he was briefed on it he did not know whether to let it emerge over days or weeks or declassify these findings. Basically, the president decided to declassify these findings, but the editorialist believes that this also shows that the “White House has lost control over American intelligence” (Powers). Everyone believes that the Iranians stopped the bomb-design program during the easy part, not during the hard part which is when the fissionable material is needed and used. However, this is what “Iran is doing with its ongoing centrifuge program to enrich natural uranium” (Powers). Many believe that Iran will be able to make a nuclear bomb in less than ten years, which is a huge threat to Israel. “Israel dreads the difficulties of every sort promised by an Iranian bomb and has been hoping that the Bush administration was going to shut down the possibility once and for all. The new NIE intelligence estimate kills that hope” (Powers). The American intelligence says that there is no nuclear bomb program, which means that there is no way that the United States can begin a new war.

This is very exciting, but very frightening at the same time. This is exciting because these reports mean that there is no possible way that we will be able to go in to Iran and start a war. However, I am very skeptical of these reports because it seems as if they have come out of nowhere. If Iran has not had a nuclear weapon program since 2003, why have we all been so frightened? This is very good report that Iran does not have a nuclear weapon program, but I am not sure if I really trust this. How do we know that this report is not false and that Iran is working on material that could be made into a nuclear bomb. All I hope is that Iran is not making nuclear weapons, therefore we will neither attack them nor will they attack Israel. I just hope that our intelligence agencies are proving to be intelligent at this crucial time.

For More Information Read Thomas Powers' article: http://www.latimes.com/news/opinion/sunday/commentary/la-op-powers9dec09,1,3609512.story

The Mideast Needs Help With Peace

President Bush has created a new plan that he spoke about last week for the situation in the Mideast. The plan “laid out an American role in the upcoming Mideast peace talks that challenges the accumulated wisdom of former secretaries of State Henry Kissinger and James A. Baker III and Presidents Carter and Clinton” (Richter). The plan, which calls for a limited U.S. role, may be harder to stick to then Bush thinks. Bush, defying diplomatic consensus, has said that he would not negotiate with Palestine and Israel, but would encourage them. Bush is using this approach because Rice has said that “the conventional approach, based on more active American prodding, simply ‘hasn't worked’” (Richter). However, this limited role makes people think that there might never be a peace agreement by the end of Bush’s term in office. Europeans and Arabs believe that the U.S needs an activist stance so progress is made. Without the U.S intervening with the peace agreements there is more of a burden on the other two countries and the agreements might not be as strong because usually the representatives from the countries make their agreements to appease the U.S. Most believe that the U.S. will not be staying out for long because they will want this agreement to be made.

The United States should get involved in the Mideast peace talks. Although there is so much strain with other issues I think that this might be something good for a change. Many analysts have said that Palestine and Israel will not make peace if the U.S is not involved. I think that we should make this peace a reality and be a mediator. It seems like the U.S. has to get involved in everyone’s business, which is true, but in this case if we do not their will still be fighting and/or we will not get better tied allies, which we need at this point. Staying out of these talks just shows that we care too much about our problems in Iraq and in Iran more than other issues. I think in order to show that Iraq is not everything and that we are a caring nation, we should get involved with the Mideast peace talks.

For more information: http://www.latimes.com/news/nationworld/world/la-fg-usmideast2dec02,1,4929352.story