camerongray.net - News

Why a vote for Ron Paul is not a waste (Part 2)

nospam@example.com (Cameron Gray) — Fri, 01 Jun 2007 15:53:01 -0700

Here is a clever you tube video presentation of my previous article. Thanks to radiofriendly for finding my article and putting this together. Here it is:

"ron paul"

Why a vote for Ron Paul is not a waste

nospam@example.com (Cameron Gray) — Thu, 31 May 2007 12:02:28 -0700

Out of the ten current Republican presidential candidates there really are only two choices. We have the neo-con candidates led by Giuliani, McCain and Romney and the anti-war constitutional conservative Ron Paul. I have been interested in seeing th buzz which has been generated regarding Ron Paul in the last few months on the internet. On many blogs people preface or conclude their articles with the comment "but Ron Paul has no chance of winning" - this is a plea to the don't waste your vote crowd. If you are a person who broadly agrees with Ron Paul's ideas but is concerned you might waste your vote, read on.

Watching the debates online recently it is clear to me that if any of the nine neo-con candidates are elected the differences between them are minimal - all are for the war, all are for expanding US federal spending. If you are spending time trying to differentiate them so you choose the best candidate it probably is as effective spotting differences between a school of fish. They all look the same, so why waste your vote choosing between nine clone candidates with whom you don't overly agree with. Either way if Ron Paul does not win, you are fairly certain as to what you are going to get, so why worry about your perceived wasting of a vote for Ron Paul. Surely it is better to vote for a candidate you agree with than rather trying to split hairs between neo-con candidates with questionable and unknown intentions.

As for Democrat voters, switching to the Republicans and voting Ron Paul is a guaranteed way you can stop the war. It is pretty evident that whoever wins the Democratic nomination will be anti-war leaving the left side of the ballot is anti-war. Which way will the right side go? If you help Ron Paul win the primary then it will be an Anti-War v Anti-War presidential election, meaning both the left side and the right side will be anti-war. Even before the November 2008 elections are held it would be clear that the Iraq war will end, and thus other issues will become relevant in the presidential contest. If however a neo-con candidate wins the Republican primary the only issue debated will be the war. Democrats helping to elect Ron Paul will actually cause the Republican primaries to become a referendum on the war rather than the much later presidential election.

How the campaign continues for the Republicans in the next few months might determine their party's direction for the next ten to twenty years. I will watch with interest.

"ron paul"

Subtle Adverts on YouTube

nospam@example.com (Cameron Gray) — Sun, 16 Jul 2006 15:43:21 -0700

Are companies now using YouTube as a subtle way of reaching consumers?

A quick browse of most viewed on YouTube today and I was struck by this video:

Throughout the whole video he is holding a can of Pepsi, despite the fact he never drinks it. Additionally he actually moves his can-holding hand around vigorously, in quick changes of direction, and no Pepsi is seen spilling out indicating that the can is actually empty.

I have two theories about this. Either the guy in the video from SMP Films is doing it off his own accord hoping to gain some cash, or it is a genuine professional marketing tactic.

There are always blatant adverts on YouTube normally centered around the virus advert concept - the typical humorous beer advert for example. This is different given it is not specifically an advert but a "handy safety tip" on the dangers of fame via YouTube. I thought the subject matter is probably a little to sloppy to be a professional marketing campaign, however the fact it has become on the most viewed for the day might indicate otherwise.

I expect we will see similar things in the future - for instance imagine if Nintendo has sponsored the famous Back Street Boys boys clip.

Does anyone know if YouTube suffers from "most viewed" spam so certain videos generate a buzz?