A couple of Ron Paul’s supporters used their God-given autonomy and the free market to boldly register ronpaul.com a few years ago. Now, Ron wants it back. The domain owners have made him a fair offer — they’ll give him ronpaul.org, but if he wants ronpaul.com, that’ll be $250K (or 145 Kruggerrands, or 8,234,888,422 Ameros).
In response, Paul filed a complaint to with the WIPO, the organization that deals with domain name disputes, or as ronpaul.com’s authors call it, a UN Tribunal:
I realize this is nothing compared to the retirement of one of the world’s greatest enablers of child rape, but it gave me a chuckle.
gnomedad
Not just irony; stainless steely.
Cassidy
Special Timmeh is Catholic? Learn something new every day.
Ohmmade
Apparently he doesn’t believe in the free market.
chopper
@gnomedad:
it’s like ‘goldy’ and ‘bronzy’ only it’s made out of iron.
Cacti
O/T but have any of you front pagers noticed that Pope Benny has announced his resignation?
Schlemizel
Gawd I love it when these guys just coolly ignore their own bullshit in defense of their own self interest.
If only this would seep into the brains of his zombie army. But they probably think he HAS to go to the UN because the Obamunists gave away our ownership of the Intertubes to the UN overlords
Schlemizel
@Cacti:
No, not one & nobody has mentioned it in any of the last 3 threads either
Heck it wasn’t mentioned in this FP post or any of the comments that followed!
shorter: RTFB B-{D
mistermix
@Cacti: Yeah, DougJ’s last post.
slippy
Having it both ways, Ron?
I’ve known for a long time he was a hypocrite. It’s amazing what his drooling supporters will excuse. I’m sure none of the Paultards in the great wide internet are going to be able to suss what the problem is, though.
scav
@mistermix: mentioned in this one even, 7th sentence in doug’s, and innumerable comments. must be the text cloaking system working at high efficiency.
eldorado
there is a german word for this feeling
Cacti
@Schlemizel:
Silly me. It garnered a couple of one-sentence mentions after the earth shattering news of a DC bar meetup and what Ron Paul’s up to these days.
But now that it’s out there, the real question is…
Will the GOP filibuster his successor?
Cassidy
@scav: Admittedly, last weeks snafu’s were a really good comment cloaking system.
MomSense
This has to be one of the signs of the “end of days”. Should I stock up on MRE’s and buy a survival kit?
jibeaux
Oh, Ron, Ron, government is never the solution. What’s next, asking a court of law to resolve your dispute?
Violet
Ron Paul has never been above doing crap like this. He talks a good game, but he brought home a lot of money to his district. Gotta keep those constituents happy. This is just another example of his hypocrisy.
The news reports are saying that the Pope has been increasingly frail. I wonder if he’ll end up dying in office.
PurpleGirl
@Cacti:
I realize this is nothing compared to the retirement of one of the world’s greatest enablers of child rape, but it gave me a chuckle.
I believe this front pager has.
Re Ron Paul: I thought he believed in the free market. I’m sure he can afford $250K for ronpaul.com. He can fund raise at ronpaul.org. Now do they want that in fiat dollars or in gold?
Redshirt
Blue Helmets for Me, but not for Thee.
Just One More Canuck
@eldorado: backpfeifengesicht?
MattF
What’s mine is mine, even if it appears to be yours. You have a problem with that?
scav
Ach, I may have stumbled accross the “Ich bin ein Berliner” bookend. The tabloid Bild’s headline read (at the beginning of Ratzy’s papacy) “Wir sind Pabst” (we are the pope).
MattF
@scav: Are you telling me that I used to drink ‘Pope’ beer?
John Weiss
Ron Paul is just another asshole.
dmsilev
As hilarious as it may be to see Ron Paul asking Big Government to overrule The Free Market, I submit that this is even funnier.
Short version: When Ronald Reagan was 4 years old, he and his family lived for about a year in an apartment building near the University of Chicago campus. Some time ago, the university bought that building and several others around it. The university now wants to tear down said building to make room for a parking garage for the hospital. Conservatives believe that this is Obama’s Evil Doing, and that the university is planning to tear down this holy site to make room for Obama’s Library. And they have therefore asked the local landmark commission to block the building permit.
There’s a whole long list of reasons why this is completely absurd, starting with the fact that Obama hasn’t actually picked a state for his library, never mind a particular street address, but the idea of using a government commission to block a private entity from doing what it choses with its property is just the icing on the cake.
PurpleGirl
I, for one, am hoping there is not a post about the resignation of the Pope. I don’t want to read another thread that degenerates into a long screed against the Roman Catholic Church.
Not to defend the RCCs but we’ve had plenty of threads about sexual abuse scandals and I’m tired of them.
Cermet
The issue with the child rapist enabler has been discussed too much in a few threads and posts already. The cardinals will shit out another load of shit and call it pope. WTF do we need to care about that? Same shit and it will stink the same.
Cassidy
@dmsilev: Obamacare demands more parking for all them blah people getting their free healthcare.
Maude
In the last thread, Cudlip is back.
GregB
Luke Russert just informed us that he’s never seen Republicans so dismissive of a President’s pending State of the Union address.
Never.
He started working at NBC in 2009.
I won’t believe until it is confirmed by Mark Halperin.
dmsilev
@GregB:
Probably true. He was, what, 12 years old when Clinton left office?
quannlace
Yup, I’m sure Ron Paul will have as much luck with that as Santorum had with Google.
Violet
@PurpleGirl: It might be better to have a single thread to discuss the Pope’s resignation instead of having it bleed into every other thread. That way you can ignore that thread if you don’t want to read it.
MikeJ
@Cermet: If the cardinals wanted a pope that didn’t ignore child rape they could have already named one. Didn’t happen last time, won’t happen this time.
Stan Musial was the last great cardinal.
handsmile
@Cermet:
“WTF do we need to care about that? Same shit and it will stink the same.”
What!? Andrew Sullivan is running for Pope?
shortstop
@GregB: I crack up, by which I mean melodramatically roll my eyes, every time Luke says, “In my three and a half years in Washington, I’ve never seen so and so!” He really seems not to understand how much he’s embarrassing himself.
shortstop
@Violet: Dying “in office” is the usual way it’s done for these fellows. Why Ratzo decided to go another route is the interesting thing.
Scott Supak
I hope they deliver his domain names via black helicopter drop.
MomSense
@shortstop:
A complete lack of self awareness is required for success in television “journalism”.
Violet
@shortstop: I know that. I just wonder if he’ll actually make it to his resignation. Or, if whatever is making him frail, as the news reports say he is, will get him first.
Now that he’s decided to give up power, he may find his power is less than it was. People are nice to the outgoing guy, but they know he doesn’t have any relevance. Ratzinger may find his followers aren’t as fawning. Who knows how that will affect him.
Cacti
@Violet:
I don’t think he’d be stepping down if he didn’t know the fix was in for his successor.
I imagine his successor will be equally reactionary and about 30 years younger.
NorthLeft12
If it was not so predictable it might be funny.
Joey Maloney
NPR is reporting rumors that Ratzy has Parkinson’s. That’s a terrible degenerative disease, especially combined with the general ravages of old age.
Good.
Soonergrunt
@Maude: Didn’t see that.
Violet
@Cacti: I guess we’ll see. These things don’t always work out the way people expect.
Paul in KY
@Violet: He can read about LBJ when he left the Senate & bacame VP on the life after the power is gone.
Paul in KY
@Soonergrunt: I didn’t notice it either. She is usually easy to spot due to her ‘posting style’.
scav
@Paul in KY: well, unless she’s mocking her own name and posting entirely on German, I don’t think it’s here. Seems that tribute poster knew about the Pabst headline too.
ericblair
@dmsilev:
Our buddy Ronnie there is an inexhaustible source of irony (a part of every balanced diet!), just look at the Reagan Building. Second-biggest and first-most-expensive gubmint building in Washington. Small government my ass. And DCA will always be National Airport in this house, dadgummit.
Paul in KY
@scav: Good point. Was the German sentence a Zen Sufi koan, though?
Or maybe the German equivilent of ‘wallah’?
Frankensteinbeck
From a Free Market Libertarian perspective this honestly is not hypocricy. (To follow their philosophy:) Things like this only happen because government chains have bound the Invisible Hand Of The Market. Without those artificial pressures, no one would ever want to steal Ron Paul’s domain name. Until those chains can be gotten rid of, True Believers might as well manipulate the system in their favor as much as they can to try to get something, anything back from the system holding them down. It’s not hypocritical, it’s just so unrealistic and juvenile and self-serving that a six year old could see through it.
The hypocricy comes from the conspiracy theorist side. Since Ron Paul believes the UN is an evil organization attempting to conquer the United States and take away our bibles, consorting with them seems to be aiding and abetting the enemy.
EDIT – …you know, replace ‘freedoms’ with ‘bibles’, and Tea Party dogma in general becomes much more sensible and consistent.
Kathy in St. Louis
Good Lord. You mean that the government is good for something, Ron? Even if it’s only the commie world gubmint, I mean, shouldn’t you really by doing all this for yourself? Just like maintaining your own streets and arrest your own bad guys, shouldn’t you also be settling this yourself? In a free market way, of course.
Villago Delenda Est
Surprise, surprise, surprise!
It’s about the money, not about the principle of the thing.
Ron Paul is scum. So is his loathsome spawn.
Sly
Technically, ICANN sets the policy for domain name disputes (called UDRP and part of that policy is using a third party to settle the arbitration. One of the four organizations contracted to provide arbitration services is WIPO. ICANN has some agreements with other U.N. agencies, like UNESCO, but isn't run or otherwise controlled by the U.N.
Anyway, anytime you register a domain name you automatically agree to binding arbitration over any trademark disputes. Looks liberty-loving squatters at RonPaul.com didn't read the fine print on their registration.
Oops.
Villago Delenda Est
@eldorado:
The French have a word for it, and the word is merde.
catclub
@Villago Delenda Est: Whenever someone says “It’s not the money, it’s the principle of the thing,” It’s the money.
Paul in KY
@Villago Delenda Est: That’s Senator Loathsome Spawn, buddy!
Have pity on me, cause he’s one of my senators & he may be the ‘good’ one. Jeezus…
ericblair
@Frankensteinbeck:
No, I think it is. The domain name is property, and the Free Market has not been thwarted, since there’s a perfectly good offer on the table to sell it to Paul. However, the Free Market wants more than Our Hero Mr. Paul would like to fork out, so it’s time to yank it from its rightful owner using the BLACK HELICOPTERS and deliver it to the Elite who can work the system.
According to libertarians, enforcement of property rights is the only real function of government, so I can’t see what their beef is. Unless this is all really toddler-level MINEMINEMINE bullshit with a thin veneer of philosophical whitewash, but…nah.
Villago Delenda Est
Here’s the deal with Ratzi: JPII, the reactionary ass, spent his entire papacy purging the College of Cardinals of any of those liberal types, installing suitably reactionary minions in their place, in order to stack the College to assure the continued sensibility to magically determine that the Invisible Sky Buddy’s choice for head cover up artist would be suitably reactionary.
Hell, the purge went down into the ranks of the archbishops and bishops. Just ask Raymond Hunthausen, who took all that Jesusy-peacenik stuff a bit too far in the 80’s, pissing off Ronaldus Magnus who called his buddy Wojtyła who then sent his minion, a guy named Ratzinger to bitch slap Hunthausen about.
If it didn’t involve destroying the treasure that is the Sistine Chapel, drone strikes would be the correct solution to dealing with this criminal cabal.
Villago Delenda Est
@ericblair:
The problem here is that property cannot exist without the state. The state is evil, evil!
shortstop
@Violet: No, I know you know that, and I didn’t intend to be mistress of the bleeding obvious. What I meant is that there must be a pretty good reason why Ratzo didn’t just spend the last part of his “term” phoning it in with others doing the heavy lifting — the traditional way — rather than be the first pope to resign since the Middle Ages. It would be irresponsible not to speculate. ;)
Frankensteinbeck
@ericblair:
But you are forgetting that without Government Interference this would not have happened, could not have happened, and an easy solution that serves everyone would have arisen. Just as racism only exists because the Free Market wasn’t allowed to stamp it out, so the incentives for anyone to snipe Ron Paul’s domain name only exist because the government regulates domain names in the first place. Much like Flat Earth Theory this philosophy is consistent, it’s just obviously ‘What are you smoking?’ wrong. Heck, notice the incredible stretchiness whereby you can blame anything on the existence of even a little bit of government regulation. That’s a key aspect of Libertarian Theory.
Yes, that’s exactly what I’m saying.
Villago Delenda Est
That is what the entire “philosophy” is all about.
Every last one of these asswipes needs to be spanked, and sent to Point Barrow without their supper.
Frankensteinbeck
@Villago Delenda Est:
Absolutely. I’m just saying the philosophy was DESIGNED to support this kind of childish, selfish IGMFY stunts. Ron Paul is following it perfectly.
Patricia Kayden
Well, I guess Ron found something that the UN is good for.
Origuy
@eldorado:
nichtgereadenwassderbloggesayen?
Chris
@Villago Delenda Est:
As I recall, Ron Paul also packs pork barrel spending for his home district in Texas onto bills he knows are going to pass and then votes against them out of principle.
I’ve always thought the man was just a con artist – like, even more so than the GOP proper. Not a man with a vision, not a lunatic baying at the moon, not a dedicated activist behind or ahead of the times, just a scam artist who found a pretty good niche for himself entertaining crazy people and gullible idealists.
It’s easy being on the fringes. None of your ideas will ever pass, so unlike the mainstream of either party you’ll never have to take any responsibility for the actual business of governing. All you gotta do is talk pretty enough for the clowns to keep sending you back.
Villago Delenda Est
@Chris:
Some GOP conslutant type pretty much nailed the Paultard movement when he said that the Pauls were in this for the money…that the grift was the “principles” thing that corralled a bunch of idealistic naifs into thinking that Paul actually gave a shit about anyone but himself. These twits, lacking any ability to reflect, are “individuals” who behave like a cult. The cult of personality around Ron Paul and his son Kim Jong-Il is one that Stalin would be envious of. Funny, that.
Luthe
I am laughing my urban planner ass off at the thought that Ron Paul is trying to use eminent domain WITHOUT PROPER COMPENSATION to get a website from his supporters. This from a man whose followers hate the very idea of eminent domain, even with fair compensation.
If only all these assholes could die of irony poisoning. It would make my job so much easier (if I had a job, ahem).
mtraven
One World Government is your enemy until you need a friend.
WereBear
My only regret is that I didn’t think of doing it!
RSA
@Sly:
Interesting! I was just going to ask how these sorts of disputes might be resolved in Libertopia. Contracts.
(Freedom? You’re soaking in it.)
Ruckus
@PurpleGirl:
If you are tired of hearing about it and just want it to go away, the enablers have succeeded.
They don’t want to fix the system, hell they don’t even want to know about it. They are hoping that everyone gets tired of hearing about it. That is their only goal.
Sgaile-beairt
guysguysguys!! this is the best part, think about it:
ronpaul is attacking & pissing off the ronpaul fans who built & own a ronpaul fansite
how long do you all thik it will remain, a ronpaul SHRINE aftert his??
….and these fans thougth ronpaul was smart enough, to run a superpower….doesnt say much for either group does it??
Groucho48
My understanding is that the $150,000 asking price includes their mailing list. I can’t think why a retired, private citizen would need such a list.
A grifter, on the other hand…