Rep. Ron Paul, R-Texas, the Libertarian hopeful in this year's GOP presidential contest, will headline 50th anniversary celebrations of the John Birth Society in Appleton, Wisconsin, this weekend.

Paul will speak on the topic "Restoring the Republic: Lessons from a Presidential Campaign."

The John Birch Society? Producer of those "Impeach Earl Warren!" and "Get US Out of the UN and Get the UN Out of the U.S." signs we used to see along U.S. 101 on the Olympic Peninsula . . . distributor of the movie "Communism on the Map" narrated by Ronald Reagan?

It lives on, celebrated by columnist and three-time presidential candidate Pat Buchanan.

"Reports of the death of the John Birch Society in 1962, back when I was a 23-year-old editorial writer for the St. Louis Globe-Democrat, appear to have been premature," Buchanan wrote in a note to JBS President John McManus.

"My congratulations to you and the Society on the 50th anniversary of the JBS. And I could not let the occasion pass without expressing deep personal gratitude for all that The New American and members of the Society did for the Buchanan Brigades in the insurgent campaigns of 1992, 1996 and 2000. That America retains her sovereignty is surely in good part a tribute to your patriotic labors," Buchanan wrote.

Early targets of the Birch Society, such as President Eisenhower and Chief Justice Warren, are long in the grave. The United Nations still has its headquarters in New York. The International Communist Conspiracy came apart as the Soviet Union broke apart in the late 1980's.

Still, there is much reason for discomfort on the right.

In the last eight years, the U.S. has lost 3 million manufacturing jobs overseas. The country has gone deep in debt to "Red" China.

Overseas interests have bought control of major links in the U.S. transportation system, e.g. the Chicago Skyway and Indiana Toll Road. In the Northwest, a Scottish conglomerate has gained control of the Pacific Power & Light Co., and Australians are in the process of taking over Puget Sound Energy.

One thing has not changed - right-wing talk radio.

A member of the Birch Society's national council, Clarence Manion, was a pioneer on the airwaves. So was Texas-based broadcaster Dan Smoot, a Society ally.

Today, however, such voices of the right as Rush Limbaugh, Bill O'Reilly and Sean Hannity reach an immensely larger audience than did their predecessors back in the 1960's.

Paul will be joined by such right thinkers as Larry Pratt, executive director of Gun Owners of America, Aaron Zelman, founder of Jews for the Preservation of Firearms Ownership, and Dr. Chuck Baldwin , 2008 Constitution Party presidential nominee.

Once based in Belmont, Mass., the Birch Society is now headquartered in Appleton, Wisconsin.