Here’s what Ron Paul thinks about the war on drugs:

This war on drugs is totally out of control. If you want to regulate cigarettes and alcohol and drugs, it should be at the state level. That’s where I stand on it. The federal government has no prerogatives on this.

Strong stuff.  So please don’t show Dr. Paul the weekend’s Miami Herald.

He might see this article:

The Skyship 600 blimp has been a headturning advertisement for Fuji Film, rock band Pink Floyd and presidential candidate Ron Paul.
Now the 197-foot airship that looks like a gigantic white balloon features only an American flag.
The blimp’s latest lessee: the U.S. government.
In a $1.6 million collaborative test project conducted by the Navy, Coast Guard and newly created National Office of Global Maritime Situational Awareness, the blimp has been equipped with radar, sensors and electro-optical infrared cameras to provide six weeks of surveillance of the Florida Straits.
The goal is to catch drug smugglers, immigrant smugglers and environmental law breakers, as well as to aid in search-and-rescue missions at sea.

You mean the Ron Paul blimp is now being used in the war on drugs?  Have they no shame?
Certainly grounds to quote Naked Gun:

Frank: It’s the same old story. Boy finds girl, boy loses girl, girl finds boy, boy forgets girl, boy remembers girl, girls dies in a tragic blimp accident over the Orange Bowl on New Year’s Day.
Jane: Goodyear?
Frank: No, the worst.

Fascinating to see Ron Paul’s campaign soliciting Willie Nelson’s help for events surrounding the Republican convention:

Paul is planning a one-day shadow convention that could be the wildest party of the entire week. Especially if a certain famous long-haired, bandanna-wearing, pot-smoking, libertarian-leaning country star accepts Paul’s invitation to perform.

Yes, Willie Nelson.

The Paul campaign, which has morphed into a grass-roots movement called the Campaign for Liberty, is on pins and needles awaiting Nelson’s response. “We would be thrilled if Willie Nelson could come, and he has an open invitation to join us,” says Paul spokesman Jesse Benton.

Seems to be a match made in heaven.

Whether it’s their joint antipathy toward the IRS …

… or their mutual feelings toward American foreign policy.

Could China’s warm Wen Jiabao be just as friendly as America’s cuddly Ron Paul?

Check out these stats in Time about the Chinese Premier:

Lauded by Chinese for his visits to areas hit by the Sichuan earthquake–has become the most popular non-U.S. politician on Facebook. Since a profile of the “people’s premier” first appeared in May, it has been adorned with thousands of admiring posts and more than 700 photos of Wen giving speeches, chatting with citizens and playing baseball.

FACEBOOK’S FAVORITE POLITICIANS

1st PLACE
BARACK OBAMA
1,046,851 friends

2nd PLACE
HILLARY CLINTON
158,127 friends

3rd PLACE
JOHN MCCAIN
153,654 friends

4th PLACE
RON PAUL
89,761 friends

5th PLACE
WEN JIABAO
53,036 friends

15th PLACE
GEORGE W. BUSH
14,434 friends

(SOURCE: FACEBOOK.COM, AS OF JUNE 25)

We’re betting our home boy Ron Paul has a plan for holding onto fourth place.  Yangtze nuthin’ yet!

Ron Paul is headed to Branson, Missouri — and he’s getting top billing!

Promise me you’ll watch at least until :39, just so you can see a still shot of Branson’s “Chateau on the Lake.”

How about this for a slogan: “Branson, Missouri.  Because Sometimes Dover, Delaware, Just Isn’t Big Enough.”

Washington Post reports that Ron Paul has been …

…putting relatives in a slew of key positions and paying them a total of $169,063, according to the latest campaign finance reports.

Paul’s granddaughter Valori Pyeatt helps organize fundraising receptions and has been paid $17,157. Another granddaughter, Laura Paul ($2,724), handles orders for Ron Paul merchandise. Grandson Matthew Pyeatt ($3,251) manages Paul’s MySpace profile. Daughter Peggy Paul ($2,224) helps with campaign logistics. The candidate’s sons Randall and Robert and his daughter Joy Paul LeBlanc have all been paid for campaign travel and for appearing as surrogates at political events.

Who keeps track of all these finances? Paul’s brother and daughter, naturally, who have been paid a combined $62,740 to handle the campaign’s accounting.

Interesting item in National Review Online’s The Corner:

The Florida Senate on Thursday passed an amendment to impose a $60 fine on Truck Nutz, one brand name for the novelty item on vehicle trailer hitches that resemble the dangling southern end of a northbound bull.

The proposal would make displaying bull genitalia reproductions on a vehicle subject to a $60 fine, moving violations and points against a driver license.

Of course, after they get rid of those truck nutz, they might want to do something about these …

OK, Ron Paul fans … Have at it:

The U.S. House of Representatives overwhelmingly passed a resolution Wednesday calling on China to end its crackdown on Tibet and release Tibetans imprisoned for “nonviolent” demonstrations.

The vote was 413-1. Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, who recently dropped out of the presidential race, was the lone congressman voting against it.

Huh — Ron Paul opposed that?

We know why the Ron Paul opposes the Iraq war.  Got it.  We know why Ron Paul opposes the Federal Reserve.  We’ve heard that, too.
But what, pray tell, was wrong with the Tibet resolution?

If anyone knows Dr. Paul’s official reason for voting against it, please enlighten us.  Otherwise we’d be led to believe he just doesn’t like lots of stuff.

… the essential ingredients of a blogger’s perfect headline.

Of course, we would never stoop so low.

Instead, we’ll just let you know of a fine piece of blogging over at the L.A. Times’ Top of the Ticket blog.

Here’s an excerpt you probably won’t want to read:

Orgasms and politics, the real choice

Apparently several hundred thousand readers of this website have gotten lost online in recent days on their way to this politics blog and accidentally clicked instead on a long story item headlined, “Science of the orgasm.” That’s been the most e-mailed thing from LATimes.com for two days running now. No explanation why.

It’s a perfectly fine professional story by our colleague Regina Nuzzo exploring how science is exploring the mysterious human orgasm, which is no doubt a good thing in terms of social and cultural progress and fecundity. No politician — or political writer — in their right mind would oppose such scientific exploration because orgasms are generally considered good things even by Republicans, although party policy strictly forbids talking about them.

And, so far anyway, orgasms have escaped government regulation, taxation and licensing, although you never know with the Democrats looking pretty strong this year…

You get the picture.  And if you didn’t read it, consider yourself a far better person. Like Ron Paul.

We were curious to learn more why Ron Paul had his best Super Tuesday state in Montana — where he came in second behind Mitt Romney.

Here’s today’s Billings Gazette:

Former Massachusetts Gov. Mitt Romney pulled off a decisive victory in Montana’s winner-take-all Republican presidential caucus Tuesday night, with Rep. Ron Paul edging Sen. John McCain for second place.

Finishing runner-up in Montana, however, counts for nothing. With his victory, Romney captured all 25 of Montana’s delegates to the Republican national presidential nominating convention in Minneapolis-St. Paul in September. …

Paul’s state director, David Hart, had mixed feelings about the results.

“Those were good results,” he said. “We were hoping to win the state, but somehow getting that many votes shows there’s a strong following for messages of freedom in Montana.”

Interesting, but still not a satisfactory answer.  Then our eureka! moment came. Ron Paul’s son Rand visited Montana, as this comprehensively long (you might want to watch for, oh, six seconds) YouTube video shows.

But Rand’s visit to Montana isn’t the story.  No, the big story is that Ron Paul has a son named Rand.

Wow. the Paul family doesn’t mess around with their libertarianism.  No sireee.  They Ayn Misbehavin’ no how!

WTOP radio:

People are showing up at polling places across Virginia expecting to vote in presidential primaries that are still a week away.

By noon Tuesday, the State Board of Elections received about 400 calls, and many callers wanted to know why their polling places were closed.

Officials say that’s double to triple the normal volume of calls.

Twenty-four states are picking presidential nominees in what’s become known as Super Tuesday. Virginia’s Republican and Democratic primaries are Feb. 12, next Tuesday.

The early arrivals are more evidence that next week’s primary is expected to be draw an unusually heavy turnout.