Hi Don,

I just read the article in the Murdoch trash news about Ron Paul.....it doesn't sound like you were misquoted? So lets move into the issue shall we...

And no..I'm not American, I'm Australian! So let me recap...the article follows;

Head of Flinders University's Department of American Studies Don De Bats told NEWS.com.au that it "sounded like" an astroturfing campaign.

Astroturfing is the term used to describe a fake grassroots campaign, where members of an organisation create the illusion that "ordinary people" are behind the movement.

Professor De Bats said that for a relatively unknown candidate like Dr Paul to have so much prominence online was suspicious.

(Article continues below)

"I would not put any credibility on those results,"Prof De Bats said.

"I find it terrifically surprising and unlikely (that Dr Paul would attract that level of response)."

http://www.news.com.au/story/0,23599,22573751-401,00.html

Now moving right along....I have a background in IT and I will tell you now it is virtually impossible for a small group of people (Ron Paul has about 40 staffers) to manipulate the internet as you have inferred.....Ron Paul's funding has out stripped many of the other candidates in this last quarter...these are real dollars from real people not virtual cyberspace dollars.....In fact I have even donated to his campaign and I am Australian....and each internet poll that is conducted registers a single vote to a single IP address so there is rarely any duplicates....so those poll votes are real no matter what the controlled media spew out.....or what your delusion seems to be.

Let me tell you something else. You obviously sit in an academic bubble untouched by the real world down there in Adelaide, and especially untouched by the cyberspace world. I and a handful of Australian friends read articles on Ron Paul everyday, we watch YouTube video's of him too nearly every day.

Why are we Australians so interested in Ron Paul? Because he who controls America controls the western world....and the minds of the western world...as your mind seems to be controlled....and let me tell you, we need more great men like Ron Paul in the world.....who actually stand for something rather than just be talking heads like yourself.....

So please pull you academic head out of your academic ass, wake up and smell the coffee in Texas.....Ron Paul really is mustering all this internet support! There's nothing suspicious about it! And I am one of those ordinary people who are behind his success!

Regards
Michael Bending