The only thing I know to be said about 2008...

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of Light, it was the season of Darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us, we were all going direct to heaven, we were all going direct the other way - in short, the period was so far like the present period, that some of its noisiest authorities insisted on its being received, for good or for evil, in the superlative degree of comparison only."

-- Charles Dickens
A Tale of Two Cities

No "end of year" review this time. I wouldn't know where to begin... or where to end it for that matter.

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"...A Merry Christmas, and God bless all of you, all of you on the good Earth."

As is the usual custom here at The Knight Shift blog, I am going to take the next few days off to celebrate Christmas. That's not to say there won't be blogging. If something obscenely crazy and dire comes up that demands writing about, I'll get back behind the keyboard and do my best to report about it. And let's not forget that there's the annual Doctor Who Christmas special that I'll no doubt be downloading, watching and then reviewing as soon as our Brittish brethren have it online :-)

But for the most part, I'm taking a break. And this is one Christmas that it hasn't been more needed.

The past few months have been one of the worst of my life. A lot of things have happened behind the scenes that I haven't touched on here. In many ways this is already set to be a Christmas that I'm not looking forward to...

...but in the past month or so there have also been a lot of good things that have begun to happen as well. I like to believe that it's God's way of telling me "I haven't given up on you Chris." 2008 had some wonderful moments and then tapering off wound up not a very good year at all... but 2009 holds so much promise already. I'm just gonna try my best to hold onto that hope, and put my faith ever more in Him, no matter what happens.

Speaking of 2009, there maybe some lulls in action on this blog as I work on some of what those "hopeful things" are. And Lord willing in the fullness of time I'll get to talk about what those are :-)

So if you've been reading this blog for a number of years, you know what's going to happen next. I'm going to repost the Christmas article that I wrote for The Pendulum, the school newspaper of Elon University, ten years ago in 1998. But before that happens, there is another - and far more notable - anniversary this Christmas...

It was forty years ago this Christmas Eve, on December 24th 1968, that the crew of Apollo 8 greeted the people back on Earth with a special message from mankind's first-ever orbit of the Moon. William Anders, and then Jim Lovell and finally Frank Borman read from the first chapter of the Book of Genesis. It has come to be regarded as one of the most beautiful and moving television transmissions in history. Forty years later it has lost none of its power. So here it is: Apollo 8's Christmas message...

From our house to yours, Merry Christmas and God bless :-)

---

Originally published in The Pendulum, Elon University, 12/03/1998

Celebrating the Christmas season means celebrating the memories
Chris Knight
Columnist

     Some of the best memories that we take through life are about the times we cherish the most. And sometimes, it doesn’t take much to bring back the joy.
     Last Friday as I was driving around Greensboro, the all-time coolest Christmas song ever came over the speakers.
     Who knows what this genius recording artist’s name is? Does it really matter? Whoever he is, he’ll forever be remembered as giving us the immortal sound of “Dogs Singing Jingle Bells”:

Arf arf arf,
Arf arf arf,
Arf Arf Whoof Whoof Whuf…

     Ahh... you know how it goes.
     And there’s the ever-beuh-beuh-beauh-beautiful rendition of Porky Pig singing “Blue Christmas” and the Chipmunks and of course “Weird Al” Yankovic’s “Christmas at Ground Zero,” but hearing those dogs singing “Jingle Bells...” ahhhhh.
     It brought me back to the very first time I heard that: on the radio coming back from school just before Christmas in 1982. I was in third grade at the time. And it brought back memories of the Christmas we had.
     It was cold and very cloudy. I remember that because Santa had brought me a telescope and I didn’t get to use it that night. Which wasn’t too big a worry, ‘cause me and my sister had our brand-new Atari 2600 to play with!
     Another Christmas memory: To this day, I’ll never forgive Anita for the pounding she gave me in “Combat.” I don’t care how fancy Sega or the Playstation get... they’ll never touch the 4-bit pleasures of the Atari!
     There have been many a Christmas since then, and I remember each one well, for all the little things they had with them.
     I’ll never forget Mom and Dad taking me and my sister to see Santa Claus at the mall in ‘84. That morning Dad asked if I’d come with him to cut firewood, so we rode the tractor into the woods. There had been snow earlier in the week, which lay around us in the crisp, cold morning.
     Dad also brought his 30-30 rifle, why I still don’t know. After we had the wood loaded, Dad asked if I wanted to try shootin’ the gun.
     There I was, a ten-year old kid, holding what looked like an anti-aircraft cannon in my tiny hands. Well, I aimed at this tree like Dad told me to, and pulled the trigger.
     To this day I cannot describe the colors that flashed before my eyes, or the sound in my ears. When my existence finally returned, I was flat on my back in the snow, and blood was gushing from between my eyes where the scope had hit my nose from the backfire.
     That night Santa saw the bandages and said “Ho ho hoooo, and what happened to you, little fellow?”
     “I got shot, Santa,” was the only thing I knew to say.
     Hey, was I gonna lie to the Big Man? Uh-uh, no way was I gonna lose all that loot!
     The following year’s Christmas I remember for many things, but especially feeding the young calves on our farm. It would be the last year our family would be running a dairy farm, and I had started helping with some of the work around the barn.
     Dad set up a Christmas tree in the milking room, with wrapped-up boxes beneath it.
     Tinsel hung from the front doors of the barn. And there was something about the feel of the place there, that has always held a special place in my heart, as if we knew that there would not be another Christmas like this one.
     I wish there had been another Christmas on the farm, because there’s something I wish I could have seen. And as silly as some people might find this, I really believe that it happens.
     You see, if you go out at midnight on Christmas Eve, you will see all the animals in the farmyard, and in the fields, and in the forests, and wherever else they may be, stop where they are.
     And then they kneel.
     They kneel in remembrance for another night, long ago. It was Christmas, but how many people could know it then?
     Nothing remarkable, to be sure: Caesar had decreed a census through the land, and each man went with his family to his town.
     One man in particular took his wife, a young woman quick with child. But there was no room for them at the inn. So that night, in a dirty and filthy stable and surrounded by animals, a child was born.
     You see, it’s easy for us to forget. At this time of the year, we are too overwhelmed by the consumption and the material and the glitter /and all the customs that come with Christmas.
     And it’s too easy for us to forget that Christmas is, before everything else, a birthday.
     But the animals, who watched over Him as He lay as a newborn babe, two millenia ago... the animals have not forgotten.
     And so they kneel every Christmas and give glory to the newborn king, and in awe that God would send His Son to live among us in the greatest act of love.
     And to teach us many things, but especially to “love one another”. And to bridge the gap between man and God.
     The birth of Jesus Christ: the greatest Christmas present there will ever be. His birth, which would give mankind the greatest present it could ever ask for.
     Who in the world on that night could know the price that this present would someday have?
     Heaven and Earth sang praises to His glory on that night. The animals have always remembered that night. And Heaven and Earth still praise and sing unto Him.
     And if you only take a little time out from how busy things become at this part of the year, you can hear the singing, too. And it is a great temptation to join in that chorus.
     And perhaps in hearing, we will not forget the real meaning of Christmas, either.
     This Christmas Eve night I plan to be outside, with the same telescope that I got for Christmas all those years ago, and trying to envision a bright star over Bethlehem. Around midnight, I’m going to take a walk over to my aunt’s farm.
     Merry Christmas. Peace on Earth, and goodwill toward men.

Dedicated to the memory of W.C. “Mutt” Burton, for whom Christmas was always “In My Bones.”

---

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Happy New Year 2008!

And I'm glad that those were not gunshots that I heard at midnight, but rather our upstairs neighbors who were setting off firecrackers and jovially shouting out "Happy New Year!" :-)

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The Ron Paul for President Jack-o'-Lantern!

Tonight I set to work on carving a Ron Paul Jack-o'-Lantern, using the pattern that I came up with a few days ago. I've been a longtime admirer of Dr. Paul and I am definitely supporting him for President in next year's election (as I've said here before: I'm voting for Ron Paul or I'm voting for nobody at all). So I thought it would be fun to do something in keeping with the spirit of the holiday for when the trickster-treatsters in the neighborhood come around for candy on Halloween tomorrow night, and do my part in promoting Dr. Paul.

(Here's Ron Paul's official campaign website and I'll also recommend the Ron Paul Forums, where I hang out a lot.)

I started carving it a little before 7 p.m. tonight, and finished just before 9:30. Like the Jack-o'-Lantern I made of local politician and admitted thief Ron Price last night, a lot of the work in this one related to the extra-thick skin that had to be scraped away. But also on this one, the "RON PAUL" letters that I made on the pattern were not very workable. I ended up having to re-design them on the fly, as I was carving them (had to do that carefully 'cuz I did not want to botch up a perfectly good pumpkin :-).

Finally after two and a half hours, here was the finished product...

What does it look like when it's lit-up with a candle? Feat your eyes on this my friends!

And here's what it looks like on our porch...

So... what y'all think? :-)

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How about a Ron Paul Jack-o'-Lantern instead?

Okay, this will be the last post I make before getting back to my much-needed break from blogging! Because after making and publishing the Ron Price Jack-o'-Lantern pattern, I couldn't in good conscience leave things dangling with something that scary.

So here's a Jack-o'-Lantern pattern of the candidate for President that I'm backing: Ron Paul. Same basic instructions as the original: Click on the image to get it full-sized and print it out. Use pins or tape to secure it to the side of a pumpkin. Then use a Pumpkin Carving Kit from Pumpkin Masters, and do with this as you would do with any other pumpkin pattern.

Happy Halloween! :-)

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This is decisiveness? Fred Thompson announces an announcement

Fred Thompson has said he'll announce his presidential candidacy on September 6th.

Ummmm... isn't the announcement of an announcement the logical equivalent of the announcement itself?

This is part of the reason why I'm so disgusted with modern politics: it's become too much about pomp and pageantry and public bravura, and so very little about substance.

It's like this: the President of the United States is a position of service. Those who fully comprehend that won't play games with even candidacy for it. A real leader would simply say "Yes I'm a candidate", without being a protracted prima donna about the matter.

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One reason why I support Ron Paul for President

Here, read his latest essay, "The Fear Factor".

When was the last time we had the opportunity to elect a man with an intellect on par with that of the Founding Fathers?

You'll never see this kind of thought and eloquence from Hillary Clinton, Rudolph Giuliani, Fred Thompson, or any other empty suit that the party bigwigs and the mainstream press would rather you vote for. You certainly can't say that you've ever seen this level of articulation from George W. Bush.

Just one more reason why in 2008 I'm voting for Ron Paul, or I'm voting for nobody.

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Karen Allen confirmed to return as Marion in INDIANA JONES 4!

Gadzooks, check this out!

Tonight, via satellite hookup, Steven Spielberg and Harrison Ford revealed to those attending Comic-Con in San Diego that Karen Allen would be returning as Marion Ravenwood in the as-yet-not-properly-titled Indiana Jones 4. There's more pics at the link. Doesn't Allen look simply amazing?! I can't tell any difference between her in 2007 and how she looked circa 1981 in Raiders of the Lost Ark.

Now, the return of Marion Ravenwood, well ... adds considerably to the melange of mystery that I'm seeing coming out of this project. I've heard all kinds of things about what the next Indiana Jones movie entails. One rumor I heard a few weeks ago, when I first came across it I thought "that's the STUPIDEST thing I've ever heard about an Indiana Jones movie", and now I can't help but think "that's the most BRILLIANTLY CLEVER thing that I've ever heard about an Indiana Jones movie!" Basically the rumor has it that Indy is going after the Ark of the Covenant again, 'cuz it's been stolen by the Soviets. Dunno how that notion is going to pan out but the presence of Marion (and the story that John Hurt will be playing the long-presumed dead Abner Ravenwood) does make one wonder.

However it turns out, it's great to know that Marion return. Of all of Indy's girls, she was my favorite. Maybe we'll get to see that she and Indy got together after all :-)

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"Conservative" Fred Thompson: Believer in big government and lobbyist to dictators

This is the "unabashed conservative" with the "great conservative record" that is supposed to be the only legitimate candidate for President?

(I'm not going to say here who exactly described Fred Thompson as that, only that the person in question is, well... the biggest sell-out and loon that I've ever seen on the Internet.)

From ABC News...

Fred Thompson, a likely Republican presidential candidate, on Tuesday defended his work as a Washington lobbyist, telling The Associated Press that lobbying is an important part of life because "government's got their hands in everything."

This is precisely the reason why a lot of us aren't being fooled into supporting Fred Thompson and are instead backing Ron Paul for President: because government really does have its hands in everything. Paul has a record for doing his best to remedy that situation. Fred Thompson just rolls over and lets it happen (and makes a handsome profit from it).

Sorta makes Fred Thompson the John Edwards of the Republican party, when you think about it (if we're holding Thompson to the same standard that the GOP holds Edwards to).

But wait, there's more...

The actor and former U.S. senator from Tennessee added, "Nobody yet has pointed out any of my clients that didn't deserve representation."

(snip)

He also was a lobbyist for deposed Haitian President Jean-Bertrand Aristide, who was widely criticized for endorsing "necklacing," the gruesome practice of execution where gasoline-soaked tires are thrown over a person's neck and set ablaze.

In September 1991, Aristide said: "The burning tire, what a beautiful tool! ... It smells good. And wherever you go, you want to smell it."

"Necklacing" is why I couldn't help but loathe the Mandelas of South Africa: Winnie Mandela was a bigtime supporter of this execution method. It sickened me twenty years ago when I heard about it and it sickens me even more that a possible U.S. President would unapologetically represent a foreign dictator who enjoyed using it.

The only "conservatives" who could possibly support Fred Thompson, in spite of knowing about his love of big government and prostitution of principles for a buck, are the so-called "neo-conservatives". And they've brought enough problems to this country than for us to want them to have another four or eight years in the White House.

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Ron Paul supporters VS. Fred Thompson supporters on Meetup

Fred Thompson is supposed to officially announce he's running for President next week. Right now he's the darling of the Republican head honchos, and of a mainstream press that, as I have noted many times on this blog, is too lazy and more interested in maintaining the status quo than doing anything that might jeopardize that. And if you were to listen to them, you would believe that there is this "massive groundswell" of support for Fred Thompson out in the public.

Okay well...

Credit denvervoipguru on the Ron Paul Forums for finding this. It's the current number of people using the website Meetup to "meet up" and coordinate activities promoting their favorite candidates.

Here are Fred Thompson's "meetups":

And here are Ron Paul's "meetups":

Fred Thompson has 72 Members. Ron Paul has 14,673. Fred Thompson has 5 cities represented on Meetup... whereas Ron Paul has 323. There is one event being organized through Meetup for Fred Thompson supporters, while Ron Paul's have 482.

And yet according to most of the stateside press, all of this Ron Paul vibe is being generated by, at most, a couple hundred enthusiasts who live in their parents' basements, don't have girlfriends and are too dumb to realize that they are "throwing their vote away".

So I have to ask: on the level playing field that is the Internet, where is a comparative amount of support for Fred Thompson or any other candidate, as opposed to that which seems evident for Ron Paul? I mean, it seems that if Fred Thompson's support is this vast, that it would certainly approximate that of a "second tier candidate", doesn't it?

If anyone has an explanation for this discrepancy, I would love to know what it is.

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Fortune and glory

Today is a day that a lot of us thought would never happen.

Today begins something that a lot of us have seen promised for over ten years now, only to have our hopes dashed time after time.

And for those who know the wacky history of this thing, it's hits especially hard that today...

...is the day that filming starts on the fourth Indiana Jones movie.

Somewhere right now, as these words are being written, George Lucas and Steven Spielberg are once again directing Harrison Ford as Indiana Jones.

Think about that.

Isn't that just... the coolest thing?!? :-)

The last time Ford donned the fedora, it was in a cameo appearance as an older Indy in an episode of The Young Indiana Jones Chronicles (see pic) that broadcast on ABC on March 13th, 1993. That episode had Indy and this Native American fellow racing through snow to keep a sacred artifact out the hands of some bad guys. Ironically, the episode aired during the now-infamous "Storm of the Century". We were lucky to have been one place that didn't lose power: it was weird with us being surrounded by all that snow, and then watching Indiana Jones playing around in all that snow during the episode.

And now, Ford is picking up the bullwhip again.

On May 22nd 2008, Dad and I are going to see this movie... just like we've seen every other Indiana Jones movie together.

Just one thing that I have to wonder about, since this is being made by both George Lucas and Steven Spielberg: are they using George's digital, or real film a'la Spielberg? Or has George rigged up a digital camera that only looks like it's shooting on film so as to trick Spielberg into shooting shooting digitally? :-P

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My first video for the Ron Paul cause

It's late. I've been working on this video since yesterday afternoon. Had some weird encoding problems. But the first "political advertisement" I've made in support of Ron Paul for President is all finished now, and uploaded to YouTube for your viewing pleasure. I call it "Sick and Tired and Needing a Doctor" ...

This is like the third or fourth production I've done lately that involves me being shown with a toilet: parse that as you will. But all the same, I think this turned out rather nice. What do you think? :-)

Okay, this is a good enough post to close out the week with. I'm going to take a break from blogging for the next few days. Have a great weekend y'all!

EDIT 11:47 a.m. EST: The video has been posted on Daily Paul! After this update I really am stepping away from the 'puter for a few days. The video seems to be spreading around. Wonder how many views it'll have when I get back...?

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Live free or DIE HARD!

voteronpaul08 at Ron Paul Forums asked if I could do a Ron Paul thing with the Live Free or Die Hard poster. Here's what I came up with...

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He's got as good a chance as anyone else ...

One can only wonder about what kind of America we would have today if he had been elected in 1992.

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CNN Republican candidates debate: What a joke!

So far McCain has spoken for more than 6 minutes. Guiliani for almost 5. Romney for a little over 5. They're being asked just about all the questions.

Ron Paul has been given two questions and has only spoken for 2 minutes.

The other "non-front runners" are being given fewer questions and camera time, too.

This "debate" is a farce. It's protecting the ones the "mainstream" press wants to impress into people's minds are the only ones "worth considering".

For some reason, the last week or so I've gone back to reading Nineteen Eighty-Four. I don't know what's happened in the years since I last picked up that book, but it's like I can see this book coming to pass a lot more than I ever had before. This kind of consciously playing with people's perceptions is one example.

Whatever happened with giving everyone their chance to make their case, regardless of how much cash they have on hand or some kind of favoritism, and let the people decide on their own?

EDIT 9:02 p.m. EST: The only two that impressed me the least bit were Ron Paul and Tom Tancredo. And they barely got any time at all, especially in the second round (the one that had questions from the public).

Maybe it's time to post this again...

Fight the Matrix! Ron Paul is the One!

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Reason enough to not support Fred Thompson for President

From this article:

The former Senator supports low taxes and free trade. On May 13, 2007 he told the ABC radio audience that "[Globalization] works to our benefit. We innovate more and invest in that innovation better than anywhere else in the world. Same thing goes for services, which are increasingly driving our economy. Free trade and market economies have done more for freedom and prosperity than a central planner could ever dream and we're the world's best example of that."

Thompson says he is for low taxes (having NO income tax would be a far better position however) and control of the border. But I've seen more than enough damage done by "globalization" over the past fifteen years to know to steer clear and away from anyone who thinks it's supposed to be a virtue.

Didn't anyone learn anything from NAFTA?

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Keanu Reeves as Dr. Manhattan?!?

In an exclusive report that is sure to drop jaws all over the place, Ain't It Cool News is claiming to be the first outlet with news about casting for the upcoming Watchmen movie adaptation (I keep tellin' yas, it's not gonna work as a 2-3 hour movie). According to the story, Jude Law is probably gonna be playing Adrian Veidt aka Ozymandias... which isn't something I was expecting to hear, but I could see that working.

Oh yeah, and Keanu Reeves as Dr. Manhattan.

Ummmmm... saywhu...??

If you've never read Watchmen, the image on the right is what Dr. Manhattan looks like. So if you can imagine Keanu Reeves as a bald, blue, naked, God-like being...

...which I can't...

On the other hand, I think Reeves did an outstanding job handling the material of the Matrix movies, and Watchmen is on that same level of "thinking man's" entertainment that those films were. Reeves as Dr. Manhattan might make a lot more people stand up and take notice at this project... if it can manage to stay faithful to the book (which is gonna be hard, but after seeing 300 I think that if anyone can pull the impossible off with Watchmen, it'll be Zack Snyder).

And now that I think of it, Reeves seems like an excellent choice to play Jon Osterman, before he becomes Manhattan (read the book if you want to know what happens that turns him nigh-omnipotent). But this is still gonna have to be handled delicately: we should not have people pointing at the screen and laughing at bald blue naked Keanu Reeves, right?

Now, anyone wanna take a stab at who is gonna play Rorschach?

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THE DARK KNIGHT already starting to look good

The 2007 summer movie season "officially" kicks off next weekend, but I'm already looking forward to next year... and no movie more so than The Dark Knight, the follow-up to 2005's Batman Begins. That has become one of the very rare movies that the more times I've watched it, it just keeps getting better and better. Christopher Nolan's vision was the best on-screen portrayal of Batman and his world by far: this guy gets Batman. Nolan's Batman is realistic and not comic-booky or "superheroic"... which ironically helped make Batman Begins the finest superhero movie ever, in my opinion. I just hope that nobody drops the ball with future installments of this series, 'cuz the first really was the best way to kick off a potential movie franchise that I've ever seen.

Well, this past week saw quite a few good bits of material coming out of The Dark Knight's production, and I'm already feeling positive that this movie is going to work, too. The first to make note of is that Eric Roberts and Nestor Carbonell have joined the cast. Roberts - lately seen on NBC's Heroes and the brother of Julia Roberts (although he will always first and foremost in my mind be known as playing the Master in the 1996 Doctor Who TV movie... am I a geek or what?) will be playing Gotham crime lord Boss Maroni. If you know much about DC's Batman comics, then you already know how this is significant. Carbonell is going to be the mayor of Gotham City... which is good. But Carbonell is already going to be in a new series on CBS this coming fall and more important in my mind, he's the guy playing the mysterious and seemingly forever-young Richard Alpert on Lost. Hope he'll have no problem doing all of those things, especially Lost: the last few weeks have catapulted Richard to the forefront of the mythology. But this is terrific casting for The Dark Knight and I think he'll be great in it.

Then there's this graphic that appeared on The Dark Knight's official website yesterday...

That's Aaron Eckhart playing Harvey Dent. I'm already liking this Dent over how he's previously been portrayed (by Billy Dee Williams in 1989's Batman and Tommy Lee Jones in Batman Forever). This Harvey Dent exudes confidence and a lust for justice. He's also handsome in the way that Dent needs to be handsome... which he should be, 'cuz it'll make his eventual transformation into Two-Face that much more tragic to behold.

So far, so good. Now if only a really good picture of Heath Ledger as the Joker could turn up somewhere...

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Limbaugh: "I alone have the power" to pick nominee, accuses Paul supporters of spamming

Once upon a time, I was a "dittohead". I discovered Rush Limbaugh not long out of high school: first from his syndicated TV show and then his radio show (which I listened to religiously). I read his books, I phoned and faxed my reps whenever he said we needed to make our voices heard... heck I was even a caller on his show one day in December 1993.

Thank the Lord that I came to my senses.

I still have my copies of The Way Things Ought To Be and See, I Told You So, along with other relics from the strange days of my youth. Back when I couldn't see past the two-party fraud. By the time The Matrix came out in '99 I had already taken the proverbial Red Pill and started seeing the way things really are in this world. Like, how people like Limbaugh aren't so much interested in pursuing a righteous cause as they are with feeding their inflated egos. And I've come to realize something else: that the ones who insist on perpetrating this Democrat/Republican "either/or" sham do so for the primary reason of exploiting America instead of serving her.

Limbaugh has said some things over the years that have confirmed my later beliefs about him, but this one tops them all: Rush Limbaugh has declared that he will be the one who decides who the Republican nominee is... and that it definitely won't be Ron Paul. Then he accused Paul's supporters with "spamming" the post-debate polls so as to inflate their candidate's popularity figures...

Limbaugh's remarks came today during his analysis of last night's GOP presidential debate in South Carolina, as a caller urged Rush to throw his support behind Rep. Ron Paul of Texas, as the caller claimed Paul was the most conservative of the field of candidates.

"I don't think Congressman Paul has a snowball's chance," Limbaugh said.

"You have the power yourself to make him the Republican nominee," the caller responded.

"That is very true, and that is why I must exercise this power responsibly, not as a cheerleader," said Limbaugh, "which is why I'm not picking a name right now. I alone have the power to move the [Republican] base."

But we all know that he would never pick Ron Paul, or any other candidate who believes in adherence to the Constitution. Rush Limbaugh is now nothing more than a mouthpiece for the status quo. For all his long-standing boasting of being "the new media", he has only proven that he is not much different than "the old media" and just as corrupt. And like the old media, he knows that his stature would be direly threatened as never before if someone as serious-minded as Ron Paul came into the Oval Office and began rocking the boat.

Once again, it's a case of the press wanting to be lazy.

Somebody please 'splain to me how it is that Limbaugh is now supposed to be better than "the liberal media".

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How Ron Paul is destroying the media's grasp of politics

Something I'm not seeing talked about much during the past week or so, especially in light of the intense popularity - online and elsewhere - that Ron Paul seems to be enjoying following last week's GOP presidential candidates debate.

There seems to be a massive disconnect between what the mainstream press sees and is reporting, and the apparent support that Paul is getting as gauged from "alternative" outlets. F'rinstance, right now Paul has more people subscribed to his YouTube channel than any other Republican candidate. And as of this writing, "ron paul for president" entered into a Google search yields 162,000 results... compared to 75,400 for mainstream press-projected "frontrunner" Rudolph Giuliani.

And yet, the "traditional" media persists in largely ignoring Ron Paul, because he's not "polling high enough" compared go Guiliani, Romney, and a few others.

There's something horribly, horribly wrong with the mainstream media's perspective...

The only "scientific" polling that is being done by the major news organizations relies on old-school telephone landlines. No cell phones are being called for these polls (it's not allowed by law). A lot of people have migrated entirely to wireless phone sevice. That doesn't necessarily mean that a huge portion of those without landlines will not be supporting the "frontrunners", but it certainly seems that there would be a comparable level of interest in these candidates on the Internet. But right now, there isn't any.

In every way, Ron Paul's candidacy is the one getting the most attention... except the standard media isn't seeing that because it's still locked-in with old-school methodology.

What does this mean? I think it indicates that there are a lot of people who are interested in Paul and his message of less government, that are invisible on the regular media's radar screen. And there really is no currently known way of taking many of those into account with statistical polling as has been understood for the past several decades.

If the mainstream press is to act as responsible journalists, it's going to have to take this into consideration when reporting on candidates from now on, because otherwise they are practicing subjective reporting by omission... which I am compelled to wonder whether or not this might be by design.

I'm going to be interested to see what kind of reaction there will be following this coming week's Republican candidates' debate. A lot of people did not know who Ron Paul was before last week. Since then he's fast become an unavoidable contender. How much higher might his star rise in the weeks and months to come in the lead-up to the only polls that really count: the ballot boxes? And how is the media going to react to something that, for the first time in a very long time, it cannot project with any sense of accuracy?

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