And here’s the video put together by the Revolution PAC that shows the last two minutes of Mark’s speech as well as more of the Washington Co. caucus.

Washington County Caucus, Feb. 18, 2012

I just spoke with Mark Willis and his wife Violet, after a strong win by Ron Paul of the Washington county caucus in Maine. Violet is Ron Paul’s coordinator for Washington county and previously in my last interview with Mark didn’t want to reveal her role for campaign privacy reasons. She was very happy with the outcome and how the campaign is going, as was Mark.

SwashbucklReport: So how did it go today?

Mark: Well, Ron Paul won the straw poll vote in Washington county! They counted it out loud, in front of everybody.

Violet: It was 163 to 80 for Paul.

Mark: And there were other counties caucusing too. We believe that Hancock county today went for Paul, but in the end, as far as the overall tally, Paul is still short.

Violet: But it’s by 90 votes.

SwashbucklReport: What about Kennebec county?

Mark: I don’t know, they counted the votes in Waterville, they did that last night. If you go to MaineGOP.com you can go there and get the spreadsheet of all the towns by county. It very well could be that Paul falls short in the straw poll, but we are winning the delegate war.

SwashbucklReport: Ron Paul is getting more delegates?

Mark: Yes. He’s getting more of the delegates, absolutely.

SwashbucklReport: So, Washington county goes for Paul and Maine as a whole will be officially reassessed in March, is that right?

Violet: They overwhelmingly went for Paul. It was knocked out of the ballpark.

Mark: Yeah, you know it was 2 to 1 for Paul. I would say stay tuned until March until all the numbers get counted. We had some small towns in the northern part of the county that they got their packets today and they came down and wanted to caucus. But they had called the caucus and got their packets, so they’ll be caucusing later on. There’s a few towns still left out there. I would say a safe assessment would be: at this point it’s very close and let’s just wait until March and see how it finally falls out.

SwashbucklReport: So more or less pretty good news at this point?

Mark: I spoke for Ron Paul and I got a standing ovation. The Revolution PAC they wired me before I went up there. I went up there and gave a speech and they were going to post the video on iroots.org tonight.

SwashbucklReport: So in your talk I guess most people out there were supportive of what you said?

Mark: Yeah, it was very receptive. I went through everything. His economic plan. I would say watch the video for yourself. I was really passionate. I stuck it into fifth gear right off the bat. I knew the audience was pro-Ron Paul, but I had no idea how much.  Check out the video and call us back. I can give you some details on how I put it together, the Ron Paul camp they blessed off on it, really approved it. I wrote everything myself, gave it from the heart, I think it was really good.

As Business Insider Reports:

In Maine, the caucus disaster has made the state GOP prime for a Ron Paul takeover. And that means that Paul’s hard-won delegates will be protected as the delegate selection process

“We are taking over the party,” Wead [Paul's campaign manager] told BI. “That’s the important thing — and that is what we are doing in Maine.”

2012 US Senate candidate Scott D'Amboise

FEBRUARY 14 – 2012. Scott D’Amboise of Maine is running for US Senate against incumbent Olympia Snowe.  I had the chance to have a chat with Scott about his run for Senate, his views on various problems facing the United States, and his ideas for how they can be addressed. He faces a well-financed, D.C.-entrenched opponent in Snowe. Scott is building a principled, back-to-American-basics campaign in response and doling out some plain truth to Maine residents tired of politicians with forked-tongues and looking for someone who will represent “Maine for Mainers.” Scott has already drawn considerable notice from the media and received strong endorsements. He has also  faced attacks in various yellow journalism outfits such as the discredited Frum Forum and others – growing evidence that his real liberty roots and genuine outlook poses a challenge to establishment arrogance and corruption.

First of all, what do you want to change by running for Senate?

I want to get government back to what it should be. We need limited government and less taxes. Our government is so huge. It’s become an entity of its own, a conglomerate, or a business, if you will, and the business is the American people. States need to have their right to the 10^th amendment. We’ve got to get back to the basics of government following the constitution.

Why do you support Ron Paul? Which of his positions do you agree with and which do you disagree with?

Well I haven’t come out with any official endorsement. We’ve basically been staying neutral. Talking with Dr. Paul we’ve both basically thought it would be wise not to endorse or support, but just to continue to follow the same principles. Because, if you latch yourself to somebody certain members of the Press like to lop you together with someone else’s positions and characterize them unfairly. Lots of people don’t believe in Ron Paul’s philosophies or Mitt Romney’s so-called “conservatism” or Newt Gingrich or a lot of these people. So we basically have not officially endorsed. But I am someone who has similar positions to Dr. Paul on the Constitution and most other matters. I’m probably a bit more conservative on the aspect of foreign policy, but pretty much other than that everything Dr. Paul talks about I talk about also. It’s basically about letting us have our liberties and freedoms.

What is the biggest problem facing Maine?

Speaks for itself.

It’s the same thing as every state. It’s the lack of work. Again, the only business that’s making money in America is government and they’re from the top down. We have to get government out of the way and get rid of regulations stifling businesses so people can get back to work. There are so many regulations and restrictions on trying to start a business particularly here in Maine. We are literally handcuffed here in Maine. I have a small cleaning business and you have to jump through hoops continuously just to do anything. Any business in Maine like any place in the nation there are so many regulations, whether it’s state or federal. We have to create an environment where jobs start coming back. Government thinks it creates jobs but it doesn’t – it destroys them. We’ve got to get government out of the way.

What are your main reasons for believing Olympia Snowe is a poor choice for the people of Maine? You’ve already received donations from over double the amount of people she has received since her election in 1994. Why are you receiving more grassroots support?

People are tired of government. It’s like the bully on the playground. You get bullied day after day after day, and you either take it or you stand up and fight. Here in Maine we’re tired of being bullied. We’re standing up for our rights as American citizens for life liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I think the reason we’re getting support is people think: here’s a guy who works in the medical field and runs a small business. If he can stand up and fight going against a political giant, why can’t I stand up and fight? The least I can do is stand up and support him. He’s not a politician, he’s one of us. And I’m not a politician.

We have a training manual for government, it’s called the Constitution. As a family or community or town or state we have to stick to a budget. As a family we understand that we have to stick to a budget. People across the nation are realizing that the government also has to live within a budget.  People support me for different reasons. One is for her [Olympia Snowe] to be defeated. Two is for someone to stand up for their rights. Three is, she’s never had a challenger in 33 years as a Republican. When we’re out speaking it’s nothing personal, but what I wanted to do is explain her record. Ask why she voted for the NDAA, why she voted for Obamacare, partial-birth abortion, why she voted “undecided” on a Constitutional amendment on marriage as being between a man and a woman. We as her constituents want answers. Show us why you voted that way. Give us reasons. Defend her reasoning for voting for Sotomayor for Supreme Court. In videos of my events, when you go to parts where a representative is speaking for Olympia you can hear the loud boos from the crowd. In fact, in one area of Maine, that was the place where Olympia was born she didn’t show up to the rally and got booed.  Kelly Ayotte got booed when speaking about her.

Some people say about me that ‘he can’t win.’ But I say, ‘folks, look at her voting record: we’ve already lost the seat! She votes Democrat more than she votes Republican.’ We face more money in our Olympia’s campaign than others have had to go up against, but the Press won’t talk about it because that would show even more people how viable we are.

What is your view of the Federal Reserve?

Like Ron Paul [laughs] The same thing Ron Paul says about the Federal Reserve.

What is your view of the current situation in Syria, specifically signs that some of the unrest is being incited by Western elements to stir up conflict and destabilization?

We should not have our nose over there in any way, shape, or form. I am someone who believes that if the people of country ask for our help then it needs to come before our Congress, and then we as Americans do what we can do to help. It’s such a difficult situation. We don’t need to have our nose over there. As far as I’m concerned we need to be out of the Middle East altogether. How many thousands of years of unrest has there been in the Middle East? We will support nations who ask us for our help. I think Dr. Paul is the same way. Look, if you ask us for help we’ll do what we can. But a lot of this nonsense around the world we really need to butt out. Don’t get me wrong. I feel for those people that want freedom, but yet how many Americans are we going to put on the ground, when things won’t change? The people will stand up and fight. They’ll stand up for their rights, but our government should not be getting involved. I can tell you this: if it’s unconstitutional it’s not going to get a vote from me. I don’t think the President has the right to declare war. We always need to look at all avenues before we enter any conflict.

What is your view of the large influence of lobbyists and organizations like AIPAC in American politics?

We need to get rid of all the lobbyists nationally and globally. That’s a huge problem. Same thing with the UN. The UN owns us. I always say about the UN: let’s kick ‘em out and turn that building into a YMCA. I am so frustrated with kowtowing as a nation to the UN, a globalized government and to these entities – these lobbyist groups that control everything. We the People don’t want that. We’ve got the WTO (World Trade Organization), the UN, all these entities that are telling us as Americans how to live our lives and they’re controlling our lives from the Food Safety Act to the NDAA. Senator Snowe voted for Stimulus and the Bailout. She bailed out Goldman Sachs. She’s taking campaign financing from Goldman Sachs, to the tune of $13,000 already. What does that tell you? There’s more, but Goldman Sachs is a big one. She’s also taking money from Planned Parenthood.

Where do you draw the line on freedom? For example on dangerous drugs?

I always see people who come up to me as an ophthalmic technician and they say ‘can you tell the doctor to write me out a prescription for medical marijuana?’ And I say ‘it only works if you smoke it 24/7 for your condition, and we don’t prescribe that, but we can give it to you in pill form that you can take daily. They say they don’t want that. Those are obviously people that want to use it recreationally. Now, what someone does in own home as far as I’m concerned if it’s not breaking the law, like abusing children, child pornography, that’s not good we know that. But what someone does in their own home they have right to do – that’s what makes America great. It’s when they use it to influence others or take these things outside the home we get into trouble. So, if someone was smoking crack cocaine and went out and drove and killed someone we know that’s bad, and it’s illegal. It’s one of those fine lines. I believe that that I think the same thing that Dr. Paul believes.

Is there anything else you would like to add?

If everybody who reads this article donates just $25 to the cause we can defeat Snowe. She’ll have more than I ever will but we can win. People who support Dr. Paul will find that with me they will have a Senator who stands up for their rights. A president that doesn’t have a congress that works with him can do nothing, but this nation can turn around. That’s what’s great. They can donate on my website [Ed. note - US citizens only] or they can mail me a check. That would help me so much, it really would. We can win this! In the end it is only about 4% of the population that gets involved, volunteers, caucuses.  A lot of candidates lose because they forget the other 95% of the people. So we are going door-to-door talking to everyone. Maine is a great state with a lot of independents. A lot of people are libertarian or very, very upset Republicans who have left the Party, and these are the people we have to reach.

Ron Paul speaks to a crowd of 1,000 supporters in Freeport, ME January 28, 2012

Although the Maine caucus was called for Romney on February 11, the actual winner is not yet certain and will not be certain until this coming Saturday once votes are tallied from Washington county (which was cancelled on short notice due to snowy conditions).

Earlier today I spoke with Mark Willis, a small farmer from Washington County Maine. Mark is a strong Ron Paul supporter who explained what is happening with the caucus situation in Washington county.  Ron Paul’s support in Maine has expanded a lot since 2008, and the situation over the postponement of the Washington county vote is “the biggest story in Maine right now.” Although some Ron Paul supporters find the cancellation is a bit fishy, Mark says the weather was indeed quite bad on Saturday. Driving to Machias, the location for Washington Co. voting, Mark says he saw a few accidents on the road and heavy snowfall.

The real point of contention in this matter is that Washington Co. Chair Chris Gardner was told not to worry about the snowstorm, and that his county’s votes would still count in the results. Then, Maine GOP Chairman Charlie Webster went ahead and called Romney as the winner Feb. 11. Webster is now sceptical that Washington Co.’s votes will make any difference, despite strong indications that they could.

“We live in a very, very strong Ron Paul area,” said Mark, who sees the decision to call the race without Washington Co. as unfair. “Why should we be punished? Our votes should count. They haven’t counted all the towns correctly. There are a lot of discrepancies going on in Maine. Waterville [Ed. note - in neighboring Kennebec county] wasn’t even counted. It’s very likely with the amount of turnout that Ron Paul could win Washington county and then win Maine.” 

Vote postponement and counting irregularities call these results seriously into question.

A win for Paul will be a big deal that will bring more limelight to his steadily-increasing campaign. “Romney is definitely in second place, it’s a pretty close run,” Mark said, admitting that it’s tight, but saying that he sees Ron Paul supporters all over. Maine Republicans split along strong support for Paul from varied areas of society, followed by those who “tend to be establishment types” that support Romney, and some supporters of Rick Santorum who perceive him as a “real conservative and anti-Romney.” Gingrich is rather unpopular in the state.

And Ron Paul has been drawing immense crowds. Mark attended the rally in Freeport January 28, where over 1,000 people braved freezing temperatures to hear Dr. Paul speak.  The day before he drew 1,000 people at a rally in Lewiston. Mark has some insights into why people are getting behind the Ron Paul banner, and it all has to do with “his message of economic and personal liberty, and getting the government out of your life and having as little government as possible involved in your life…Another reason I support Ron Paul is he really is an advocate for small farmers to sell raw milk across statelines.”

After the votes this Saturday we will see what happens and if it changes the results of the Maine caucus. The voting will be at 1:30PM in Machias, Maine.

As Mark says, “regardless of the outcome our votes should count.”

A recent interview between Canada’s version of FOX News (SUN News) between an irate commentator who needs to work on her diplomacy and a famous interpretive dancer, Margie Gillis went viral online. SUN News, while protested as singularly objectionable by left-leaning Canadians, is of course only a more in-your-face version of the globalist fuzzy feel-good blather currently pumped out by the State Media CBC here in Canada. Ironically, interviewer Krista Erickson, didn’t let her qualms about taxpayer subsidy get in the way of working working for 11 years at CBC’s taxpayer-funded state-run media paradise.

In any case, as regards this interview, I don’t think arts should be state-subsidized either (neither should news organizations), but I wouldn’t go out of my way to insult someone personally and make specious, disingenuous (and random) red herring arguments about the military to try to discredit her career or personal motivation (see in part 2 of the interview).

Apparently Canada’s special watchdog agency for news got three times more complaints from the single interview than it generally does in a year. Of course, the agency, the Canadian Broadcast Standards Council ruled it was acceptable discourse. This seems obvious: the newscaster has the right to be a bitch. I don’t see why people upset about that think it can be censored. The most they can do is start a suit against the newscaster Krista Erickson for libel or petition to have her fired.

I don’t know much about Margie Gillis, except that she clearly has showcased Canadian arts and modern dance around the world and cares a lot about dancing. Her use of the word “collective” is disquieting, and her general understanding of the role of government in society is a slippery Statist slope, but her intentions from her perspective are clearly good. The idea of promoting good things through movement makes a lot of sense. Her dance workshops for peace actually sound kind of cool, although how much difference they can make when combined with anything other than an astute and cynical understanding of the crooks running the world’s systems (and how they step back and play people off against one another), is questionable from my perspective.

Gillis talks about “value for the soul” that the newscaster just refuses to get into and how artistic pursuits are not generally profitable in this day, age and culture. Also, about how “society” has lost its moral center, which is, also vastly true. The thing is that “we” in some “collective” sense is a false mode that Canadians, particularly liberal ones, often fall into, blaming “we” and praising “we” as some kind of odd idol of moral universalism that determines the fate of all those less fortunate. It is up to individuals to change things, not some mysterious “we” that is embodied through government legislation or arts funding.

Nonetheless, it’s hard to deny Gillis’ strong point that society in the sense of an amalgamation of people has lost its way from caring about honor and those around them. Not to mention the media with its soul-crushing Hollywood propaganda and tiresome leftist Canadian comedians. To watch this female roid-rage suburban lipstick-smearing parody of a woman called Krista Erickson interview Gillis, however, is undeniably like watching a vision of the distorted ideal of the “modern goal-oriented woman” meet the sort of an earlier more reflective, feminine version of a woman – that is to say…a woman. Erickson is an example of what happens to power-hungry shallow bitches who get let loose in places of work. Maybe if women weren’t pressured to act like men and think having children and getting married is a sell-out they’d stop bringing their frustrations into their modern wage-slave prisons aka the workplace. Even someone who agreed entirely with Erickson would be struck by her odd, combative behaviour throughout the “interview” and Erickson’s strange habit of trying to goad the interviewee with obviously sarcastic lauding of her various artistic accomplishments.

As Gillis points out, there is not much profitability for genuine high art, music and film in Canada. The thing is that if the upper elite who used to sometimes act as “patrons” to artists and musicians no longer have as much interest in doing so, that should not be relegated to a role for government or this nebulous “society” that will somehow collectively be glad it got a dose of real art out of it’s tax dollars when it reflects on the enrichment it’s brought. As good as these motivations may be, I just don’t believe the state is the vehicle of it, private individuals and individuals who come together in appreciation always must be, otherwise government eventually becomes the body that decides what is a good message, art, opinion, form of speech or not, which is what exists to an extent in Canada – particularly if any offense is taken by someone to art that seems to infringe on a popular minority.

That said, the clash here between revolting corporatist bias from the newscaster with an apparently genuine interest in increasing artistic appreciation from the dancer is definitely shocking.

Treasury Secretary is at least a remotely imaginable scenario.

But put the guy who wants to “end the Fed” in charge of it? The insider parasites would be hiding their stolen wheelbarrows of gold bullion while distracting Ron Paul giving him celebratory coffee mugs or nice shiny plaques for his office; they’d leave Ron Paul looking over dummy charts of rigged numbers while they headed off to suck the blood out of every producing economy, ensure all countries and organizations remain tied to heroin-like debt addiction and world reserve currency imbalance, and get more countries and factions to unwittingly fight Mossad’s wars by proxy.

How absurd to think that a non-insider put in charge of the problem would be given the ability to reform or truly manage it. Even more, how silly to think he would ever be given that position in the first place. Root either must not understand the depth of the Fed’s treachery or is pretending not too in order to even think Ron Paul would be offered such a position.

Here’s a rather modest article on just some of the problems with artificial sweeteners, a more comprehensive list of health problems they trigger and/or cause, and a disturbing report on the rat excrement marketed as a sugar substitute known as Aspartame. When you let your food supply and the agencies that approve it be in the control of people who make money from you being sick you run into some of the problems we are seeing today.

Drudge Report readers felt so, anyway, handing Paul victory at 98, 813 votes with Romney in second at 91, 676 votes.  With witty one-liners and thoughtful, concise responses, Paul looked very sharp onstage, and the other candidates seem to be stuck in an attitude of courting him for his followers. The words “I agree with Ron Paul…” in some form or other were not rare to be heard, which should be a sign to Paul’s supporters that people onstage are trying to see if they can nice talk him into selling out and/or scoop up some of his less-devoted independent and conservative base.

The internecine squabbling of two rich, arrogant men called Newton and Willard over blind trusts and who is a bigger hypocrite make Ron Paul’s non-entangling debate strategy look more and more intelligent even to neutral observers. Newt’s diatribes against Wolf for bringing up a question Newt had helped shape into an issue in the first place came across misplaced and control-freakish. “I’ll decide what is an issue and when it is an issue,” seems to be the former Speaker’s approach. But apparently, Newt can also blame Romney, who put him off his footing by being so deceptive in such a forum of truth as a US national political debate. Newt said today to the Washington Post “I think it’s the most blatantly dishonest performance by a presidential candidate I’ve ever seen” and claimed Romney’s team had disproportionately stacked the Jacksonville crowd with supporters. The evident friction and growing bitterness between the two RINOs threatens to eclipse the momentum Gingrich was riding in the wake of appearing to take on leftist and “mainstream” media bias (that in actuality has denigrated and dismissed Rick Santorum and Ron Paul far more than they have gone after him).

To bolster his case to all Americans Romney made sure to mention every Hispanic American ever involved in conservative politics when asked who he would include in his cabinet. And it seems to have worked in his favor with today’s endorsement of him from Puerto Rico governor Luis Fortuño. Although how Hispanic Americans will react to such disingenuous pandering remains to be seen.

At another moment, Mr. Santorum went determinedly after Willard (Mitt) on Romneycare, while Ron Paul just stood back and let them have at it. Paul focused on presenting responses, generally not involving moon bases (unless “some politicians” are being sent to them), for how America’s problems can best be addressed – with some (actual) “bold, commonsense solutions,” as Herman Cain would say.

Highlights of the debate and, below, clips of Dr. Paul’s responses:

Taken last year in Virginia.

Three of my favourite driving songs. James River Blues, Harley in the Ballroom and Big Sciota by Old Crow Medicine Show. Sometimes it feels like no matter how far you drive you never get anywhere, or at least never anywhere you can stay.

1809, South Tyrol

Writer and director Philipp Pamer has come out with the best historical epic since Braveheart in his depiction of the Tyrolian uprising of 1809 in Mountain Blood (Bergblut.) The film takes on the same topic as that of 1932′s Der Rebell.

A South Tyrolian, Pamer began working on Mountain Blood at age 21 while studying in Munich. This is now-25 year-old-Pamer’s graduation movie. To say it is impressive is to vastly understate the case.

Set in the 1800s when Napoleon’s French ruled Europe, the masterpiece follows young Austrian carpenter Franz and his Bavarian wife, Katharina as an unforeseen event forces them to flee from Augsburg, Bavaria for Franz’s family home in Tyrol, Austria. Tyrolian sentiment is rising strongly against Napoleon and trouble is stirring. In no time it sweeps up Franz and his brothers along with the whole town.

Unfortunately Katharina’s Bavarian background brings animosity from her new family and the villagers, as she represents to the locals the conflict with Bavaria that existed before the occupation of the French, as well as the current Bavarian collaboration with Napoleon. Inga Birkenfeld as Katharina brings the kind of power and depth necessary for her character in a standout performance.

Historical rebel Andreas Hofer (Claus Gurschler) comes alive onscreen as he leads the Tiroler Volksaufstand or Tyrolian rebellion against Napoleon. (Links may contain movie spoilers as they reveal historical outcomes). The wardrobe and manner of characters is realistic throughout the film. Even small details of historical female hairstyles and natural medicines of the area are adhered to accurately.

Franz's family home high in the mountains.

“Mountain Blood” is shot on original locations with engaging performances that inhabit the atmosphere of an older time and culture. The film perhaps belongs in the realm of the Heimatfilm (homeland film) genre, a German film style of the postwar late 1940s-1970s that usually takes place in idyllic settings and extols the virtues of rural life and moral goodness. Family, friendship and true love are almost always the main subject, with clearly-defined good and bad roles contesting each other for the eventual triumph of the good. Of course when the messiness of historical reality meets the idealism of a simpler way of life, hearts can break, answers can be muddled and beauty can be overwhelming. Part of the genius of Pamer and “Mountain Blood” is the way it takes such a complex, gritty, historical narrative and lets its varied hues shine through the characteristic framing of emotional imagery and moral ethos of the Heimatfilm ideal.