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Jamie Kirchick of The New Republic discusses a piece out on Friday alleging presidential candidate Ron Paul has a racist past."

Ron Paul Statement on The New Republic Article Regarding Old Newsletters : "'The quotations in The New Republic article are not mine and do not represent what I believe or have ever believed. I have never uttered such words and denounce such small-minded thoughts. 'In fact, I have always agreed with Martin Luther King, Jr. that we should only be concerned with the content of a person's character, not the color of their skin. As I stated on the floor of the U.S. House on April 20, 1999: 'I rise in great respect for the courage and high ideals of Rosa Parks who stood steadfastly for the rights of individuals against unjust laws and oppressive governmental policies.' 'This story is old news and has been rehashed for over a decade. It's once again being resurrected for obvious political reasons on the day of the New Hampshire primary. 'When I was out of Congress and practicing medicine full-time, a newsletter was published under my name that I did not e...

"The constant rate cuts and geopolitical jitters have sent gold skyrocketing. Since August 2006, gold has gone from $650 per ounce to $887; a whopping $237 in just 5 months. If that is not a indictment of the Federal Reserve and their “loosey-goosey” monetary policy; then what is? According to the Wall Street Journal “gold and oil have run almost in perfect tandem. The price of gold has risen 239% since 2001, while the price of oil has risen 267%. That means if the dollar had remained as 'good as gold' since 2001, oil today would be selling at about $30 a barrel, not $99.” (WSJ; 1-4-08) That's right; the price of gas today is attributable to war, tax cuts and the relentless expansion of credit by the Federal Reserve---NOT OIL SHORTAGES!"

blackagendareport.com - Barack, Hillary, and the Sinister Nothingness of “Change” : "When politicians offer nothing, and the people demand nothing, then the powers-that-be are free to continue doing whatever they choose. The death knell of participatory politics can often be a very noisy, celebratory affair - such as we have witnessed in the call-and-response ritual of 'Change!' 'Hope!' and other exuberant but insubstantial campaign exercises. Finally, the most accomplished slickster in presidential history, Bill Clinton, was compelled to expose Barack Obama's 'fairy tale' anti-war history - some truth for a 'change.' Black Agenda Report knows the story very well, after more than four years of observing Obama's descent from vaguely progressive rhetoric to shameless pandering (to whites) and vapid 'Change!' mantra nonsense. Only the rich can win this game."

Robert Fantina: The Gulf of Tonkin and the Strait of Hormuz : "As the U.S. government continues to demonstrate its inability to learn from history, an alarming report from the Strait of Hormuz was broadcast to the world on January 7. The Associated Press reported the following: 'In what U.S. officials called a serious provocation, Iranian boats harassed and provoked three U.S. Navy ships in the strategic Strait of Hormuz, threatening to explode the American vessels.' These Iranian ships are believed to part of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard's navy, the organization that the U.S. Congress officially decreed a 'terrorist' organization. Those either old enough to remember, or cognizant enough to understand history, will immediately be reminded of the infamous 'Gulf of Tonkin' incident, reported on August 2, 1964. On that day, the U.S. destroyer Maddox, on an espionage mission in the Gulf of Tonkin off the Vietnam coast, reported being fired on by North Vi...

For U.S., The Goal Is Now 'Iraqi Solutions' : "In the year since President Bush announced he was changing course in Iraq with a troop 'surge' and a new strategy, U.S. military and diplomatic officials have begun their own quiet policy shift. After countless unsuccessful efforts to push Iraqis toward various political, economic and security goals, they have decided to let the Iraqis figure some things out themselves."

Tomgram: If the GWOT Were Gone... : "Consider the debate among four Democratic presidential candidates on ABC News last Saturday night. In the previous week, the price of a barrel of oil briefly touched $100, unemployment hit 5%, the stock market had the worst three-day start since the Great Depression, and the word 'recession' was in the headlines and in the air. So when ABC debate moderator Charlie Gibson announced that the first fifteen-minute segment would be taken up with 'what is generally agreed to be… the greatest threat to the United States today,' what did you expect? As it happened, he was referring to 'nuclear terrorism,' specifically 'a nuclear attack on an American city' by al-Qaeda (as well as how the future president would 'retaliate'). In other words, Gibson launched his version of a national debate by focusing on a fictional, futuristic scenario, at this point farfetched, in which a Pakistani loose nuke would fall into the ...