A charming reminder of the ugly side of Dr. No.

People might have forgotten the sort of things that Ron Paul's newsletter said. You will remember that he retired from Congress before. And then used his mailing list to solicit subscriptions to his new political report, which was written by Paul, Lew Rockwell and a few others. Rockwell and Paul were business partners in it with Rockwell as editor and a major ghostwriter for Paul. The same mailing list when, as I understand it, later used by Rockwell to solicit donations to start the paleoconservative Mises Institute.

Here are a few charmers from the newsletter.

When Al Sharpton and others were pushing to rename New York City after King, the newsletter suggested other names, all charming.

Welfaria

Zooville

Rapetown

Dirtburg

Lazyopolis

The newsletter said demonstrations in favor of honoring King in this way were better held "at a food stamp bureau or a crack house."

When a gay reporter criticized the commentator Andy Rooney for anti-gay remarks, the newsletter said he "certainly had an axe to grind, and that's not easy with a limp wrist."

In the June 1990 issue Ron was attributed with saying: "I miss the closet. Homosexuals, not to speak of the rest of society, were far better off when social pressure forced them to hide their activities."

The January, 1994 issue said that gay men in San Francisco "don't really see a reason to live past their fifties. They are not married, they have no children, and their lives are centered on new sexual partners." As for the issue of AIDS, it said that gay men "enjoy the attention and pity that comes with being sick." In the Dec. 1989 issue he quoted Right-wing Bill Dannemeyer claiming that "the average homosexual has 1,000 or more partners in a lifetime." In January, 1990 they ridiculed the "Silence=Death" campaign, on AIDS awareness, by suggesting it should be changed to "Sodomy=Death." In September, 1994 he assured his white, heterosexual readers that unless they have sodomy, or a blood transfusion, or swap needles that they are "virtually assured of not getting AIDS unless they are deliberately infected by a malicious gay."

In a letter urging various Right-wing loons, anti-Semites and bigots to subscribe to his newsletter Paul wrote: "I''ve been told not to talk, but these stooges don't scare me. Threats or no threats, I've laid bare the coming race war in our big cities. The federal-homosexual cover-up on AIDS (my training as a physician helps me see through this one.) The Bohemian Grover-perverted, pagan playground of the powerful. Skull & Bones: the demonic fraternity that includes George Bush and leftist Senator John Kerry, Congress's Mr. New Money. The Israeli lobby, which plays Congress like a cheap harmonica."

So, Ronnie laid bare "the coming race war" in America's cities. That was over two decades ago; did we have a race war when I wasn't looking? Nope. In Dec. 1989 Paul ran an article "The Coming Race War," that said: "If you live in a major city, and can leave, do so. If not, but you can have a rural retreat, for investment and refuge, buy it." Paul said "Racial Violence Will Fill Our Cities" because "mostly black welfare recipients will feel justified in stealing from mostly white 'haves.'" In 1992 he said: "I've urged everyone in my family to know how to use a gun in self-defense. For the animals are coming." Hmm, were those "animals" the black race rioters he was paranoid about? He blamed liberals for preventing "white America from taking action against black crime and welfare."

But back then Paul was pandering to what they called "Outreach to the Rednecks" where they would forge a paleoconservative/paleolibertarian alliance. So you will find various issues favorable citing the white supremacist Jared Taylor. Taylor is a long time racist, and has just released his newest screed "White Identity." But he's been in the race baiting business for decades and was so when cited by the Paul newsletter as an authority.

I got Paul's newsletters at the time and these were the final straw for me. I stopped supporting him entirely after reading year after year of these hateful letters.

Yes, I know Ron, claims he doesn't know who wrote the material. Odd that the paid staff of the newsletter was Paul's wife, his daughter, Lew Rockwell and one other person, who ran his campaigns. There aren't many to pick from. Apparently we have to believe that Paul's wife, daughter, campaign manager, and business partner/friend Lew Rockwell, all kept Paul in the dark about the hateful material that was being distributed in Ron's name, sometimes under his byline. We also have to believe that Ron never got curious enough to read one of his own newsletters, and that in the period of years that this was going on, not one single reader brought the bigotry to his attention. I don't find that plausible. Add in that Ron claims he can't remember the mystery employees name, that no other employees showed up on the tax records, and that Ron refused to investigate who it might have been. It is obviously his attempt to lie his way out of the mess he got into.

I just wanted to remind people as to what sort of venom Ron Paul was peddling to his readers over a period of several years. I know his cult following will simply ignore it. But there are a lot of decent libertarians who do not take kindly to bigotry, at least I hope there are.