The Binary Circumstance

I’m looking forward to seeing the fundraising totals for all the 2008 presidential candidates for the 4th quarter 2007. On this last day of the quarter, Ron Paul has topped $19 million and could possibly top $20 million by the end of the day. That’s almost 4 times what his campaign raised in the 4th quarter.

To put that in perspective, it is also more than any of the other candidates raised in the 3rd quarter with the exception of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama who raised about $28 million and $21 million respectively.

According to Red Pills, Clinton transfered $10 million from her 2006 Senate race to her presidential campaign, however. That means she actually raised only about $18 million. Romney brought in $16 million but $6 million of that was a loan.

I want to see how the other candidates did in the 4th quarter because Paul’s fundraising has increased–exploded is more like it–every quarter. (See graph here.)

In 1998 the New York Times published a detailed expose on evidence of corruption by Benazir Bhutto and her relatives. [Link from TheAtlantic.com - article has interesting comments]

If it’s true, it’s certainly no disaster that she won’t be their next Prime Minister.

While she was great at mouthing her concern for the people of Pakistan, her previous two terms in office make it more likely that she returned not so much to elevate the status of her people but to plunder the treasury again.

A Muslim woman, commenting for CNN, notes that Bhutto did little to elevate the status of women in Pakistan while in office.

Presidential Candidate Congressman Ron Paul, MD, says that he doesn’t think there’s enough evidence to support evolution. You can see the YouTube video at Dispatches from the Culture Wars or go to YouTube directly and search for it.

In response to a question about whether he thinks the theory of evolution is true or false, he said he thinks it’s “a very inappropriate question, you know, for the presidency to be decided on a scientific matter.”

He adds that “it’s a theory…I don’t accept it.” He then goes on to talk about “the creator I know…that created every one of us and the universe…”

He concludes, “I just don’t think we’re at the point where anybody has absolute proof on either side.”

There’s a lot of evidence to support evolution and anybody who cares to look can see it happening in front of their very eyes. It can be objectively verified and continues to grow over time. There is absolutely zero evidence that any supernatural being created man and the universe, and to believe in such a thing one must discard scientific evidence. You can’t have it both ways.

Ron Paul is a very smart man, probably one of the smartest running for the presidency. He’s also an MD. It’s inexcusable that he holds such a view or even just saying it to get votes.

After eight years of George W. Bush who doesn’t know the difference between his beliefs and objective evidence, it’s a perfectly appropriate question for somebody running for any office, especially the presidency. In this video, Ron Paul has shown he’ll reject evidence and accepts myths with the same ease as Bush. Unfortunately, the same applies to the other candidates as well, but just in different ways.

Maybe “inappropriate” is his way of saying you shouldn’t ask this question because it puts me in the position of having to sound more religious than I am and having to say something I don’t believe just to win because I can’t win if I tell the truth.

He doesn’t seem to be worried about reactions on any other issue and refreshingly speaks his mind, politically correct or not. I have to think that if he thought evolution was true, he’d come out and say it.

Religion is poison for the human intellect. For more on that, and how mystical, irrational cultures select against rational people obtaining positions of power–Ron Paul is just more evidence–read my book.

CNN.com has a page that gives the reactions of the various presidential candidates to the murder of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto.

There is a separate page for the Democratic and Republican candidates. Just click on the candidate’s picture and you’ll see a quote and often a link to a video as well.

There is a marked difference between how the Democrats and Republicans react in their statements. One candidate stands way apart from the crowd. Guess who.

Bhutto was murdered while finishing up a campaign rally for the upcoming election. The former Prime Minister was running for office after returning from exile after President Musharraff granted her amnesty from all corruption charges related to her previous time in office. She and her husband have been accused of taking many millions of dollars in bribes from companies wanting to do business in Pakistan and laundering the money through Swiss bank accounts.