Kyle Varner’s Blog

posted by Kyle on Aug 19

As the following graph so eloquently demonstrates, pirates quickly and effectively deplete greenhouse gases, thus leading to a lower overall global temperature:

The Solution is Simple

Recruit Al Gore and his friends to form a Pirate’s Union in order to increase the number of pirates.  Wait.  No.  That would destroy piracy on the high seas.

Just give IRS agents boats.

The more IRS agents who have boats, the lower the global temperature will get.  After about five years, our country will need Ron Paul in order to prevent a new ice age (we’ve heard about a coming ice age before, haven’t we?)

But wait, pirates kill people!

When was the last time socialist environmentalist have cared whether their policies kill people?  Hmmm….

No new coal fired electricity plants in Africa….hundreds of thousands of children die each year of respiratory diseases caused by smoke from indoor cooking fires.  But what’s a few hundred thousand kids mean when we can save the polar bears?

posted by Kyle on Aug 16

This was originally sent out to the Spokane Ron Paul Meetup Group Email List. If you are not in Spokane, donate to the campaign, even if there isn’t a fund raiser in your area. This is very, very important!

Dear Fellow Patriots,

I would like to thank everyone who has already RSVP’d via meetup for the Ron Paul Birthday Fund Raiser. This fund raiser is going to be a great success. I will be spending most of the rest of the week getting everything set up. Tomorrow I will send out another email detailing some of the things with which I will need help. In the meantime, I’d like to give you a little update on what I’ve got prepared so far.

Here is the menu:

Hot Dogs and Hamburgers (veggie dogs and veggie burgers as well)
Corn on the Cob
Watermelon
Cake and Ice Cream

The bar:
Coke, Diet Coke, Sprite
Punch
Rum Punch
A Keg of Beer
Red Wine

We will have a combination of live and recorded music.

If you haven’t been to a Ron Paul event yet, I can assure you that Ron Paul supporters are some of the most amazing people in the world. Never before have I met such friendly and enthusiastic individuals from so many different walks of life.

We are going to have a great time, and raise a lot of money for the Ron Paul for President Campaign.

As many of your know, there is a contest going on between all of the meetup groups around the country for Ron Paul. The group that raises the most money total, and the group that raises the most money per member will earn a personal visit from Dr. Paul! We need to give all of the other meetup groups a serious run for their money. This campaign is incredibly important. We live in a defining time for America. Will the great American experiment succeed? Benjamin Franklyn, after the constitutional convention, said that they had given us, “A constitution, if you can keep it”. Can we keep it? I think we can.

Together, we can save our constitution and the precious freedom that our founders gave us.

If you haven’t already RSVP’d, please go to the meetup site and do so, or just send me an email. Also, please bring your friends. I will see to it that everyone who brings at least five people gets some sort of a prize and recognition. So, please, invite members of your family, invite your friends, and invite anyone who you know who cares about freedom and the constitution. Just email me or go to the meetup site to indicate how many people you will be bringing.

I look forward to seeing all of you on Monday for this exciting celebration! Together, we can save our constitution and make America free once again.

Sincerely,

Kyle Varner

PS: If you can’t make it to the fund raiser, please donate to the campaign anyway. Your donation can still be counted towards the total amount we’ve raised. If you are donating online, be sure to enter MU0149 in the project code box on the donation page so that your donation counts in the meetup group contest. Also please email me and tell me so that I can count your contribution towards the total amount that our event has raised. Spokane is ready to hear Ron Paul’s inspirational message of freedom. Let’s bring him here!

posted by Kyle on Aug 14

I got pulled over by a Montana State Trooper today because he said he saw me cross over the white line on the side of the road three times while he was following me.  I didn’t notice myself crossing the white line, but whatever.  He didn’t give me a ticket or a warning.  He just told me to be careful.  He took my license and “ran it”, i.e. checked the creepy database.  He came back to the car and gave my license back, and saw the Ron Paul car magnet prominently displayed on the back of the car.  He asked who Ron Paul was, and I told him a little bit about Ron Paul and the freedom message and then I gave him a card.  He said that Ron Paul sounded really interesting and that he was going to look him up.  Pretty cool!

I also saw a couple of Ron Paul rEVOLution banners in rural South Dakota.  Also cool.

One more thing:  a couple of newspapers interviewed me at RonStock and quoted me in their papers.  A quote that was published has been making its way around the blogosphere.  I’ll put together a post with links to as many blogs mentioning me and my quote as possible, because I am very vain.  Plus I just want to have that record for myself.  I am putting together a resume of my political work, and I am very disappointed that I didn’t keep a record of all of my media mentions during 1999-2002 (radio, tv, newspaper, et cetera).  It seems that I am pretty good at getting reporters interested in what I have to say.  I always have persuasive things to say, so this is a good thing.

posted by Kyle on Aug 13

I think that by now it is a well-known fact that Ron Paul supporters are the most dedicated, energetic and passionate volunteers of any presidential campaign.  We have clear and consistent principles, and believe strongly in them.  They’re the same principles those crazy guys who wrote our constitution had!

We can add another quality to our list of bragging rights:  most patriotic.

Ron Paul has said that this campaign isn’t about him, its about freedom.  We trust and respect Dr. Paul as the man to carry the banner of freedom, but it is the banner of freedom that excites us.

As myself and at least 150 other Ron Paul supporters waited in the Hilton Coliseum for the Iowa Straw Poll results, we chanted slogans about Ron Paul and freedom for almost the whole time.  The Huckabee, Brownback, Tancredo and Romney people were there too, and they tried to chant as well, but we drowned them out.

Then, we started singing.  This startled and puzzled them.  What did we sing?  “God Bless America” and the National Anthem!  (Crazy hippies songs!)
If I were them, I would have joined in.  After all, we all love our country, right?  It’s American’s National Anthem, not a Ron Paul campaign song.  They did nothing of the sort.  I wonder, did they want us to stand out as the most patriotic?  Did they disagree with the message of those “pinko songs”?  I doubt either of these things are the case.  What I think is the case is very telling about the strength of the messages of the various candidates.

They were all willing to chant about their candidates, because for them, the campaign is almost a cult of personality.  They want Mitt Romney, Tom Tancredo, Mike Huckabee or Sam Brownback.  The Ron Paul campaign isn’t a cult of personality.  We don’t admire Ron Paul because he has expensive haircuts, lost a lot of weight, or has a bunch of money.  We have chosen Ron Paul because of what we believe–in America.  When we hear songs like the National Anthem or “God Bless America,” our spirits rise and we feel energized.

They’re energized by personalities.  We are energized by a love for our country and what it stands for.

Several of these candidates are going to find that at some point their fundraising dries up and their supporters go off and support other “more successful” candidates.  They flock to the celebrity of the moment.  Ron Paul’s supporters aren’t fairweather patriots.  We jump started this campaign when it seemed next to impossible, and we keep making huge sacrifices and working hard despite the long odds.

We have something great, something none of the other candidates have.  Let’s keep up the hard work and keep raising the torch of liberty.  It is worth every mile we drive, every step we take and every drop of sweat.  I have never been so happy to work so hard, and I’m one of tens of thousands who feel the same way.

Vive La rEVOLution!!!!!!

posted by Kyle on Aug 13

I spoke to my mother today while I was on the road in South Dakota. I hadn’t spoken to her since the straw poll. She told me that when she was watching the results on Faux News, she didn’t see Ron Paul. She was very disappointed because she thought that meant that he scored below all of the other people they mentioned. Why didn’t they mention Ron Paul? Good question. I saw this screen shot uploaded to the Ron Paul for President Facebook Group:

Weren’t there a couple of guys between Brownback and Thompson? Hmmm…..

To be fair, they didn’t just exclude Ron Paul here, they also excluded Tancredo, which is equally wrong. These results are just plain misleading!

They’ve done the same thing on their website. Here is what they said:

Romney scored 4,516 votes to outpace former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee who had 2,587 votes. Kansas Sen. Sam Brownback was third with 2,192 votes.

Announcement of the results was delayed for 90 minutes because a hand count was required on one of the 18 machines.

The biggest loser of the evening likely was former Wisconsin Gov. Tommy Thompson, who finished in 6th place with 1,039 votes. He had said repeatedly that if he didn’t finish in the top two his campaign was likely to end. He left the event before the results were announced, and there was no announcement from his campaign.

The missing big names got only a handful of votes.

HELLO!!!!!! Where is your journalistic integrity, faux? I guess you’re implying that some other people got more than a handful of votes. How about that one guy…you know…the one with the huge internet following? Did he get “only a handful of votes”?

We have to redouble our efforts to make this thing work. We will.

posted by Kyle on Aug 12

This morning I got up at 5:30 and was at the Ron Paul tent at 6:30 in the morning.   My first task was to go to the parking lot and greet voters getting off of the Mitt Romney buses.  We were there a little early, which was actually great because we got to watch Ron Paul supporters arrive in droves.  Every third car or so had a Ron Paul sign on it.  We started off the day with a lot of energy, and the Ron Paul cars would honk and we would cheer.  It was really great.  Our energy and enthusiasm grew.

At around 9:00 AM I headed back to the tent to hear Ron Paul speak.  Unfortunately, he was not there.  I learned that Mrs. Paul had heart problems and he was with her at the hospital.  I headed out to pass out “Gun Owners for Ron Paul” fliers, and when I got back I received the news that Mrs. Paul was recovering well and that she had told Ron to stop babying her and get over to the straw poll.  At 11:00 AM I heard him give his first speech.

The Mitt Romney people were a nasty bunch.  One of them called me a “pinko” for supporting immediate withdrawal from Iraq.  I got lots of dirty looks from them, and I never once said or did anything mean to them.  I smiled at them, said hi, and handed them literature if they wanted it.  Almost every Ron Paul volunteer with whom I spoke agreed that the Mitt Romney people were really nasty.  But hey, socialism is a nasty ideology.

At around 12:00, we had a big march through the grounds of the straw poll.  The group was so large that from the front I couldn’t see the back.  We chanted “Ron Paul” very loudly for a good half an hour.  I went into the Hilton Coliseum along with 149 other Ron Paul volunteers, and we filled the “mosh pit”.  We cheered loudly for Dr. No, and we made a huge impression.  A senior campaign staffer told me that Ron Paul was very very thrilled with our enthusiasm.

Later I handed out more literature, chatted with reporters and other volunteers, and had a great time.

Around 6:45 PM we all headed to the Hilton Coliseum to hear the results.  Some voting machine screw up delayed the announcement for a long time, but we kept cheering and chanting for Ron Paul for almost the whole time we waited.

I had hoped that we would get higher than 5th place, but I am certainly not disappointed with our showing.  The polls showed us at 2%, and we got 10%.  We worked hard, and we got our message out.  We got noticed.  We still have a lot of work ahead of us, but we’re making progress.

I have slept maybe 6 hours in the last two days.  Both of my feet have blisters on them.  I have a sunburn.  It is all worth it.  We’re going to keep working hard, keep fighting hard, and we’re going to advance the agenda of the freedom movement!

Tomorrow I will get in the car and head back to Spokane and start working on my Ron Paul fund raiser on the 20th.  We’re going to have a great time, and we’re going to raise a lot of money.  Vive La rEVOLution!

posted by Kyle on Aug 11

I attended RonStock tonight, which was an amazingly fun time.  The venue was over packed, and I was very, very happy about that.  Ron Paul showed up, gave a speech, his wife said a few words and he signed a ton of autographs and posed for pictures.  My buddy Jesda has the pictures on his camera, so I can’t upload them here now.  It was a great time.

In the hotel lobby where I am staying I sat down with several other Ron Paul supporters (there are a ton of us here).  We chatted with a John Cox staffer.  The guy didn’t know what John Cox stood for.  It was sad.

We are going to kick ass tomorrow!  I’m getting up at 5:30 in the morning to get to the straw poll and work all day.  I am also going to send in my resume and see if the campaign wants to hire me.  This is exciting and very important!!!!

Our support is HUGE, and this is just the tip of the iceberg!

posted by Kyle on Aug 10

The drive to Iowa was a long one, and I drank way too much coffee.  So, now I can’t fall asleep.  I took a trazodone, so hopefully that will kick in soon.

I decided to take a walk in the parking lot of my hotel and look at the bumper stickers of the various cars.  I saw one for Huckabee, with a license plate from Oklahoma.  I can’t understand why anyone would decide to drive all that way just because they admire someone for losing a lot of weight.  I can’t think of anything else that is unique about Huckabee.

There was also a sticker for John Cox with a license plate from Illinois.  I saw someone in the lobby with a John Cox shirt on.  She saw my Ron Paul shirt and gave me a dirty look.  I got a few other dirty looks as well.  It seems like some people are bitter that these spammers are crashing their jingoistic “party”.

The good news:  I saw TWO cars with Ron Paul rEVOLution bumper stickers!!!!!!  That is in addition to mine, which only has a sign taped to the window because it is a rental and putting a bumper sticker on a rental is a big no-no.

That is all for now.

posted by Kyle on Aug 10

I am in my hotel room, and I am very, very exhausted.

I will sleep in tomorrow and when I wake up I’ll attend the “RonStock” event.  I’ll update here as I can.

Here is an email I sent to the Ron Paul meetup group before I left.  It is mainly regarding the fund raiser at my house on the 20th of August.

Dear Fellow Patriots,

This is the last call for a ride to Iowa.  My friend Jesda and I will be leaving tomorrow around 12:00 Noon.  We will have room in the car for up to three other people.  If you want to go, please let me know.

Since I won’t be back until around the 14th, and I’m going to have my house party on the 20th, I really need people to help out to make it a success.  Rob and Chad have kindly agreed to help cook, which is wonderful.  Here is the other help that I need so that we can make this a success:

1)  I need someone to coordinate tickets or whatever.  Rather than set a mandatory donation, I’d rather have a suggested donation.  Remember, I am paying for all of the food out of pocket, so anything donated just goes straight to the campaign.  I will have a couple of computers set up so people can donate at the RonPaul2008.com website if they’d rather not write a check.  A way that usually packs these events is to get group members to commit to “selling” a certain number of tickets.  So, if you’d like to coordinate this, please claim the job.  If you’d like to commit to bringing a certain number of people, also please let me know.

2)  Silent Auction Coordinator:  Yoko has been kind enough to donate some t-shirts that we can sell, but I need someone to organize donations of items for a silent auction.  We only need four or five items, preferably having something to do with freedom.  Items I have seen at previous silent auctions benefiting the freedom movement are:  books, dvds, guns, framed copies of the constitution, declaration of independence, magna carta etc.  If someone owns a business and wants to donate a gift certificate, that is cool as well.

3)  If you have some kind of a special dish that you like to make, please feel free to bring it and let me know.

4) Entertainment:  I’d like it if someone can burn some DVDs of Ron Paul speaking and stuff like that so that we can put them on the TV.

5)  If anyone would like to volunteer to help set up and/or clean up, please also let me know.

6)  Campaign Materials:  It would be great to have campaign materials to give to people who attend so that they can take them out and coordinate them.

I’ll be keeping up with email as much as I can while I’m on the road and at the straw poll. I’m going to be focusing on reaching out to undecided voters and those who are confused and thus considering doing a bad thing ( i.e. voting for one of the statists).

Thank you all for your help!

Kyle

posted by Kyle on Aug 6

Two pretty awesome things happened today:

1)  I put up a LOT of signs and banners.  I was putting up a banner on a chain link fence on a very busy road.  Someone drove by, honked, and yelled, “Yeah Ron Paul!”.  This made me smile.

2)  On the way to a shooting range about 1/2 mile south of town, I saw a Ron Paul sign.  The only thing was, that this particular Ron Paul sign looked nothing like the Ron Paul signs from the Spokane Ron Paul meetup.  So….someone else is out there supporting him on their own!  This revolution is a powerful, growing organic thing.

Oh yeah, and this morning I watched the totally lame ABC presidential candidates debate at a bar with a couple of cool guys from the Ron Paul meetup.

It was a good day.  I will see what kind of Ron Paul agitating I can do tomorrow.

Vive La rEVOLution!