What would we do without the government?

Great song by Matt Ames with lyrics expressing clearly anarchist/libertarian sympathies.

Hat tip: Brad Spangler, post 666

Can LP Affiliates Endorse Ron Paul?

Given the number of Libertarians who support Ron Paul, I have wondered whether it would be in violation of LP rules for state LPs to endorse a candidate from another party. I still haven’t looked into it, but Jake Porter has. Excerpted from his blog:

Another myth is that the Libertarian Party can support Ron Paul for the Republican nomination. Now, we will take a look at what the Libertarian Party bylaws say about this issue.

Article 6, 4: No affiliate party shall endorse any candidate who is a member of another party for public office in any partisan election. No affiliate party shall take any action inconsistent with the Statement of Principles or these Bylaws.

Libertarians often become very angry when Congress violates the United States Constitution. The Libertarian Party bylaws should be treated no differently. Additionally, I am told that many states have laws, not state party bylaws, but actual legislative law prohibiting one party endorsing a candidate of another party, or a candidate to be nominated by more than one party. I would need to look more into this to find out if it is true, but I have been told it is so. The Libertarian Party cannot, without violating our own bylaws, support a candidate for the Republican Presidential nomination.

Read more here.

I haven’t really thought this through, beyond that it might be a good topic for discussion, but …… perhaps the Libertarian Party should court Ron Paul for the LP presidential nomination, if and when he is denied the Republican nomination.

When “Mothers Against Illegal Aliens” Go Wild …..

I’m on sabbatical from posting to LFV for medical reasons, but I couldn’t resist cutting and pasting this with my one good arm from Third Party Watch, since I am always endlessly annoyed by any hate group which pretends to represent my interests ….

When television stunts backfire . . . With the aforementioned immigration deal stirring the political pot, the nation’s eyes – and cable news channels – turned to Arizona last week.State GOP Chairman Randy Pullen did Hardball on MSNBC with Chris Matthews and the Fox News Channel with Brit Hume.

Not to be outdone was Michelle Dallacroce, the founder of Mothers Against Illegal Aliens who appeared via satellite with Fox News personality Neil Cavuto. Saying that Kyl “flip-flopped” and “lied to us” with his support of the immigration agreement, Dallacroce took her opposition a step further by cutting up what she called her Republican voter card.

Just one problem: Dallacroce wasn’t a Republican. It turns out, according to the Maricopa County voter rolls, that Dallacroce has been an independent since August 2004.

Dallacroce was insistent when asked about the registration discrepancy by The Insider, even suggesting the error was the county’s, not hers.

“If they make a mistake on their computer,” she fumed, “that’s their problem.”

Just one thing: While Dallacroce argued (via phone) with The Insider about her party registration, she cited the scraps of the dismantled voter card as proof.

“It says right here,” Dallacroce said, reading three letters from what remained of the card. ” ‘P’ . . . ‘N’ . . . ‘D.’ ”

“PND” is elections-office code for “Party Not Designated.” It means you’re an independent. Oops.

Dallacroce said that as of Friday, she’s registered with the Constitution Party.

As if that’s not amusing enough, Dallacroce started posting like a maniac in their comments section …..

Let Freedom Grow! for 05/20/07

In this week’s “radio address” Steve Kubby discusses how citizen action can make freedom, not fear, the dominant factor in our political system:

Thomas Jefferson, our third president, told us that “when the people fear their government, there is tyranny; when the government fears the people, there is liberty.” It’s a basic litmus test for freedom. And American society today fails it miserably.

My friends … it’s supposed to be the American DREAM, not the American nightmare! And for that matter, it’s not just supposed to be a dream. It’s supposed to be our own vision that we realize in our own lives, each and every day.

We deserve an America in which our privacy is held sacrosanct unless there’s true probable cause to believe we’ve committed a crime.

We deserve an America in which “crime” is very narrowly defined to include only those actions which harm unconsenting others.

That’s what America was supposed to be. And that’s what America CAN be if we’re willing to seize the day and assume the rightful authority over our own lives which our government has, piece by piece, stolen from us over the years.

Tune in for more:

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Shittiest political protest EVER.

I shit you not.

A former Democratic Party activist who left dog feces on the doorstep of U.S. Rep. Marilyn Musgrave’s Greeley office during last year’s 4th Congressional District campaign was found not guilty Wednesday of criminal use of a noxious substance.

…

Ensz’s lawyers never denied that their client left a Musgrave campaign brochure full of feces at the front door of the congresswoman’s office. But they argued that Ensz was making a statement protected by free speech – the poop was a symbol of what she thought of Musgrave’s politics.

“Her only intention of going over there was to make a political statement that Marilyn Musgrave’s politics stink,” attorney Shannon D. Lyons said after the verdict.

I’m not entirely sure what to make of that, so I guess it’s good that the judge came down on the side of free speech. But yeah. A little odd, and a little childish coming from a real campaign… and this is coming from LFfuckingV. If WE’RE calling you childish, well, fuck.

Motherfucking snakes on a motherfucking plane part II

Yup.

Customs officers at Cairo’s airport on Thursday detained a man bound for Saudi Arabia who was trying to smuggle 700 live snakes on a plane, airport authorities said.
The officers were stunned when a passenger, identified as Yahia Rahim Tulba, after being asked to open his carry-on bag, told them it contained live snakes.
Tulba opened his bag to show the snakes to the police and asked the officers, who held a safe distance, not to come close. Among the various snakes, hidden in small cloth sacks, were two poisonous cobras.

If you rip off a cheesy American flick’s plot device as your terror instrument… it means the Americans have won.

Props.

Another update from Hammer of Truth.

http://hammeroftruth.com

A developmental blog is supposed to launch tomorrow.

*waits to see what happens*

Michelle Malkin used to be a truther

Thanks to random commentors on Digg and MichelleMalkinIsAnIdiot.com for this. On March 8, 2002, Michelle Malkin, who is currently all over the place trying to convince people Ron Paul thinks 9/11 was perpetrated by the US government (which considering his earlier statements is patently absurd), wrote the following in Jewish World Review:

THE six-month anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks is upon us. Here are a half-dozen unsolved mysteries still on my mind:

Ooooh. Let’s go on.

What really happened on United Airlines Flight 93? As the Philadelphia Daily News reported back in November, many folks in Shanksville, Pa., where the hijacked Boeing 757 crashed, believe the plane was shot down. Eyewitnesses reported seeing a small, unmarked jet flying overhead immediately after impact; others are convinced they heard the piercing sound of a missile. A federal flight controller told The Telegraph of Nashua, N.H., that an F-16 had indeed been in “hot pursuit” of Flight 93 until it hit the ground. One of the 911calls from a passenger on the flight indicated that there was an explosion aboard the plane. The FBI immediately confiscated the tape.

Are you questioning our leaders, you unpatriotic kook? Surely the explanation lies later on in the article!

What really happened on American Airlines Flight 11? Did one of the hijackers have a gun on board? Was it planted before the flight took off, or was it smuggled on? Either way, shouldn’t someone be held accountable if such an egregious security breach did in fact take place? Investigative reporter Paul Sperry, formerly of Investor’s Business Daily and now with Worldnetdaily.com, scooped the mainstream press by exposing a high-level, internal report from the Federal Aviation Administration. It detailed the alleged shooting of Flight 11 passenger Daniel Lewin by hijacker Satam Al Suqami.

According to the document, which was later obtained by the Washington Post, USA Today, and others, an onboard flight attendant reported in a phone call that “one bullet was reported to have been fired” during the flight, killing Lewin before the plane crashed into the north tower of the World Trade Center. FAA officials dismissed the leaked memo as a draft and claimed that the very specific report of gunfire – including the names of the victim, shooter, and their precise seat numbers — was an editing error.

Just a typo, huh?

Now she’s sarcastically questioning our leaders! Something is clearly amiss!

Who murdered Katherine Smith, and why? Smith was the Tennessee state license examiner who had been implicated last month in a phony ID scam involving a group of shady Middle Eastern men from New York City. Investigators say there are “connections” between the ring and the Sept. 11 terrorists; one of them had a repair pass in his possession that gave him access to the lower levels of the World Trade Center basement. It was dated Sept. 5.

A day before Smith was to appear in court over the matter, she died in a bizarre and fiery crash inside a car registered to one of her Middle Eastern co-defendants. Smith was burned beyond recognition; her arms and legs disintegrated in the flames. Yet, her car was traveling barely over 20 mph when it hit a utility pole and damage to the vehicle was minimal. This week, the Tennessee Highway Patrol concluded definitively that her “death was not the result of the crash itself. Her death was by other means.” Is this the vengeful work of al Qaeda killers still on the loose?

Well, that’s actually kind of interesting, but still, why are you questioning our leaders, Michelle? And finally:

So where the he-l is Osama bin Laden, anyway?

But this no longer matters, because we’re in Iraq.

OK, so when did Malkin switch from truther to administration apologist? Secret sources tell me it happened when she met with Bill O’Reilly in a Cairo tavern. This is what she wants you to believe happened, with her in disguise as her alter ego, “Gary”:But the transcript I have from sources inside the bar is much different:

[Malkin approaches the tavern door. The two guards look at her with suspicion and accost her as she approaches the door.]
GUARD 1: Derka Allah! George Bush jihad!
[Malkin does nothing. Guards ready their weapons to fire.]
GUARD 1: Ba’akalah! George Bush jihad! Ba’akalah George Bush jihad a’ala derka derka George Bush jihad! George Bush jihad!
MALKIN: Uh…Ba’ak…derka derka Allah. Derka derka George Bush jihad! Ha’aka sherpa sherpa. Ba’akalah!
GUARD 1: Oh, derka derka derka.
[Malkin is escorted into a back room where O'Reilly waits.]

Since nobody was in the room besides O’Reilly and Malkin, it is hard to know what exactly transpired, especially as the noises of the tavern obscured many lines. Here is what we know:

[Giggling]
O’REILLY: I like you. You have balls. I like balls.
[Strange noises for several minutes]
MALKIN, loudly: OH, derka derka derka!

Whatever happened in that room, Malkin had been reborn as a neocon, the Michelle Malkin we know and despise today.

This is satire, obviously. Lawsuits will result in you paying court and lawyer costs.

Another police brutality video

It appears his hypocrisy knows no bounds

John Edwards said that there are two Americas and he is right.

There are Americans who have access to ob/gyns in their towns and there are those who don’t. From a November news release from The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists:

Increasing medical liability insurance premiums and the fear of lawsuits continue to force ob-gyns to change how they practice medicine, according to the latest medical liability survey conducted by The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists (ACOG). As a result, many women across the country are going without basic health care and treatment of serious health conditions, as more ob-gyns are providing fewer services, retiring from practice completely, or relocating to areas where there are less liability concerns.

According to the ACOG survey, 70% of ob-gyns have made changes to their practice because of the lack of available or affordable medical liability insurance, and 65% have made changes because of the risk or fear of liability claims or litigation. Between 7-8% have stopped practicing obstetrics altogether because of either insurance affordability or availability issues or the risk or fear of being sued.

Bob Barr sets off fire alarm in DC

Not only that, but apparently Stephen Gordon was there too.

After the alarm continued for more than a minute, I decided to go investigate the cause. Finding no sign of fire or smoke, I proceeded out the F Street exit, where I encountered Libertarian Party political director Stephen Gordon and the LP national chairman, Bill Redpath. I took advantage of this opportunity to inquire of Mr. Gordon about LP affairs, and asked whether the party’s Region 4 representative, Bob Barr, was in attendance. Mr. Gordon told me that Mr. Barr was indeed present for the gala, and was seated at the National Rifle Association’s table.

That’s when Mr. Gordon told me he believed that Mr. Barr had activated a smoke alarm by smoking a cigar on the premises.

Was Mr. Gordon joking? Well, Mr. Barr is indeed a cigar smoker and he has a reputation for mischief. And you know what they say about libertarians ….

After all the complaints about things that weren’t his fault, this is why we need Stephen Gordon at the job he’s at now. He gets shit done for the Party. Where doors might have been closed to us, they’re open. He was invited to John McCain’s son’s anniversary, for Christ’s sakes-hardly a political event but one that helps build clout. He has the ear of our friends and enemies in Washington and these calls to fire him will only shoot us in the foot.

Not to be callous over the whole LibertyMix thing, but caveat emptor. And Gordon was just as hoodwinked as the rest of us. Let the man do his job advancing liberty, or let out your grief on an innocent man and watch us all live in a more statist world because of it.

John Edwards wants to bring back the draft.

Captain “Opportunity To Serve America” loses mind, commits political suicide.

And Edwards called for plans to spread the burden of serving the country by mandating national service.

“One of the things we ought to be thinking about is some level of mandatory service to our country, so that everybody in America — not just the poor kids who get sent to war — are serving this country,” Edwards said.

After the event, Edwards said he had not meant to imply that only the poor go to war, only that everyone should serve in some way.

“We have people from all walks of life in America who are serving, including Reservists and National Guard,” Edwards said. “What we want to do is to have all Americans to have a chance to serve their country.”

Hey! Last time I recalled I serve my country with every tax dollar you withhold from me. And a “chance” to serve my country? I have that already; in fact the military is making damn sure I know about my “chance” every other time I go to the Student Center here on campus. (Asthma is useful for one thing on this planet; keeping pushy war marketers at bay.)

Presidential hopeful John Edwards said Monday that Americans should speak out against the war in Iraq this Memorial Day weekend, renewing an anti-war call that has been criticized by the leader of the American Legion.

Edwards also said all young people should serve their country, “not just poor kids who get sent to war.”

I see what you did there, Edwards… you and the rest of the statist left. If you and the elite fucks you serve are going to end the war for us, you’ll only do it at the cost of reenacting one of the most oppressive institutions in modern American history: the draft. You want to advance statism with every action and it’s just not going to happen. The same 70% of America that opposes the war also opposes a draft, or “national service,” or whatever else you want to call it in order to market this evil to us. You’re not going to get anywhere, and thank God.

The craziest 9/11 conspiracy theory of all.

19 Middle Eastern hijackers? That’s preposterous.

Ron Paul on Eric Dondero

Just the other day Nigel told us about Dondero’s plan to run against Paul in TX District 14. We all think it’s a laugh, and apparently, so does Ron Paul. reason hit & run has a short interview with Ron Paul about his thoughts on Eric Dondero.

Reason: Your former staffer Eric Dondero is challenging you for your House seat in 2008.

Paul: He’s a disgruntled former employee who was fired.

Reason: But he says he’s running because of your debate performance. So is this presidential campaign weakening your standing in your district?

Paul: Well, if it affects my standing in my district then I wouldn’t be a very good candidate for the presidency. If these views are popular, and I think they’re popular enough, then they should be popular in my home district. They’ve been hearing me saying this for a lot of years and I keep getting re-elected rather easily. I think politicians are always concerned about how they’re doing in their district, but right now, if Eric Dondero is the only thing I have to worry about, then I don’t have a lot to worry about.

The interview also gets into Congressman Paul’s thoughts on the 9/11 truth movement and the comments there, well let’s just go ahead and say that hit & run always has the funniest comments.

Nice job, warmongers.

From the Dallas Morning News:

One in four younger U.S. Muslims say suicide bombings to defend their religion are acceptable at least in some circumstances… That sentiment is strongest among those younger than 30. Two percent of them say it can often be justified, 13 percent say sometimes and 11 percent say rarely.

Compare this to the sentiment after 9/11 that the patriotism of the American Muslim community was largely responsible for the US not getting attacked very often. It’s easy to see what’s happened: neocons like Michelle Malkin have raged against the horrors of the Muslim religion, trying to claim that they’re all trying to kill us. That creates an “us vs. them” attitude – after all, if the Muslims already feel hated, why shouldn’t they hate back?

“It is a hair-raising number,” said Radwan Masmoudi, president of the Washington-based Center for the Study of Islam and Democracy, which promotes the compatibility of Islam with democracy.

He said most supporters of the attacks likely assumed the context was a fight against occupation — a term Muslims often use to describe the conflict with Israel.

Or, you know, Iraq. Sort of like Ron Paul was saying.

…only one in four consider the U.S. war on terrorism a sincere attempt to curtail international terror. Only 40 percent said they believe Arab men carried out the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001.

Does it come as a huge surprise that they’re suspicious of events that have been used to vilify them?

Just over half said it has been harder being a U.S. Muslim since the 9/11 attacks, especially the better educated, higher income, more religious and young. Nearly a third of those who flew in the past year say they underwent extra screening because they are Muslim.

This is the part of racial profiling people like to avoid: blowback. Sure, it’s easy to say “racism is a small problem compared to getting killed”, but this shows that we’re far more likely to get killed if we are perceived to discriminate against Muslims.

Bush Administration Declares Anti-War Nobel Peace Prize Winner “Irrelevant”

CRAWFORD, Texas (Reuters) – The White House on Sunday fired back at former President Jimmy Carter, calling him “increasingly irrelevant” a day after Carter described George W. Bush’s presidency as the worst in history in international relations.Carter, a Democrat, said on Saturday in an interview with the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette that “as far as the adverse impact on the nation around the world, this administration has been the worst in history.”White House spokesman Tony Fratto had declined to react on Saturday but on Sunday fired back.“I think it’s sad that President Carter’s reckless personal criticism is out there,” Fratto told reporters. “I think it’s unfortunate. And I think he is proving to be increasingly irrelevant with these kinds of comments.”Carter has been an outspoken critic of Bush, but the White House has largely refrained from attacking him in return. Sunday’s sharp response marks a departure from the deference that sitting presidents traditionally have shown their predecessors.In the newspaper interview, Carter said Bush had taken a “radical departure from all previous administration policies” with the Iraq war.“We now have endorsed the concept of pre-emptive war where we go to war with another nation militarily, even though our own security is not directly threatened, if we want to change the regime there or if we fear that some time in the future our security might be endangered,” Carter said.In a separate BBC interview, Carter also denounced the close relationship between Bush and British Prime Minister Tony Blair.“Abominable. Loyal, blind, apparently subservient,” Carter said when asked how he would characterize Blair’s relationship with Bush.”I think that the almost undeviating support by Great Britain for the ill-advised policies of President Bush in Iraq have been a major tragedy for the world,” Carter said.Carter, who was president from 1977-1981 and won the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize for his charitable work, was an outspoken opponent of the invasion of Iraq before it was launched in 2003. [Source: Reuters.com]

Across the blogosphere, conservatives are now making the rather shocking claim that 9/11 occurred as a result of Jimmy Carter’s policies. In a way, it’s amusing, since most of those bloggers are too young to even remember the Carter presidency. As a middle-aged left Libertarian, I remember it well. Jimmy Carter was the first president I ever voted for, although he lost that time around to Ronald Reagan. I voted for Carter because he is a humanist who believes in a strict policy of non-military intervention in international affairs, opting instead for diplomacy, except if our national security is directly threatened. After all, I was alive during Vietnam, and during the height of the Cold War, so that was (and will always be) an extremely important issue for me.

At the same time, it’s typical that conservatives would find a way to blame the actions of George W Bush – decades after Jimmy Carter left office – on a liberal. After all, they can’t blame themselves for re-electing a known warmonger who openly advocates torture and the erosion of our civil rights …. can they?

Let’s compare the two presidents.

Jimmy Carter won the Nobel Peace Prize. George W. Bush couldn’t even win second prize in a beauty contest on Monopoly.

Jimmy Carter is known as a peace-advocating diplomat, and a humanitarian. George W Bush is known as a lying, draft-dodging, bloodthirsty warmongerer.

Don’t blame a man, who advocated peace, for a war that started decades after he left office. And don’t just dismiss him because he dared to say what many, if not most, politically active Americans are already thinking.

Put the blame where the blame is due. This is a war based on lies and deceptions, all of which are directly traceable and attributable to the Bush administration. There were no WMDs, folks, and Bush knew there were no WMDs; but he attacked Iraq anyway because they might one day get WMDs. Huh? I’m still scratching my head about that one. Now, Bush wants to attack even more countries, and the Democrats have already backed off the promises they made when they were elected, to end the war in Iraq. Is it therefore any wonder that third parties are more attractive than ever to voters during the 2008 presidential election cycle?

THE TRUTH BEHIND 9/11.

The Bush Administration has tried to cover this up for too long, with their doctored photos taking the Hulkster out of the picture. It’s just a cynical ploy of theirs to give them an excuse for war. They thought their secret was foolproof…

…what they weren’t counting on was some dude with a website.

Neocons are really, really bad at smear tactics

The neocons are launching a two-pronged attack on Ron Paul: First, they are accusing him of saying it was America’s fault angry Muslims perpetrated the 9/11 attacks. Second, they’re trying to connect him with 9/11 truthers who say the US government did it.

…That’s all I have to say, because unless you are drowning in doublethink, the contradiction should be obvious.

Another thing happens that has nothing to do with Ron Paul

We’ve got ten years left until Social Security implodes on itself.

Yep, we’re fucked. The Dems had best start finding their Jeffersonian spirit in a jiffy, because we can’t take any more socialism.

UN clusterfucks itself in the ass

So Zimbabwe’s now the chair of the United Nations Commission of Sustainable Development.

Brilliant!

Next, let’s make North Korea the chair of the United Nations Commission of Not Being Completely Batshit Insane! Or maybe let’s make America the chair of the United Nations Commission of Pronouncing “Nuclear” Correctly. (That’s “noo-KLEAR,” not “new-kyu-LUR,” Mr. Bush.)

Boy howdy, this United Nations is made of fail. EPIC fail. Should this Republic last a thousand years, our descendants will tell stories of this legendary failure to their children to scare them into not punching their kid sisters anymore. (They’ll probably also use the letter “W” as a swear word, but that’s neither here nor there.)

Anyway, yeah. Why the hell are we still letting these complete and total pieces drive up land prices in Manhattan?

Eric Dondero Rittberg trying to destroy Ron Paul

Well, our favorite itchy asshole is at it again. We already knew that Rittberg (will he run on his real name or his assumed one?) will be running against Paul for the Republican nomination for Texas’s 14th congressional seat. It looks like he’s going to try and win this campaign with smear tactics.

Over at Third Party Watch, in a post about how Paul’s tendency to not immediately dismiss the 9/11 truth movement – despite proving at the last debate that he believes pissed-off Muslims did it, not suddenly competent bureaucrats – “Dondero” asks for information to use against Paul:

What is the link for the YouTube video showing Ron Paul and the “9/11 Truth” activist?

Thank you for your assistance.

After the video was posted, I said:

Jesus, don’t give it to Dondero, he’s trying to derail Paul’s campaign!

Too late. Next post from Dondero:

Joe, thank you for posting the link of Ron Paul and the 9/11 “Truth” Seekers. I believe many people will find this to be quite informative. Thanks again.

For those who are interested there’s also a new YouTube video of Rosie O’Donnell on The View defending Ron Paul.

It’s at www.libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com

I’m sure many South Texas voters will find the Rosie-Ron link of great interest.

Now, any person who’s encountered Rittberg online must know that the man isn’t worthy of drinking Ron Paul’s ball sweat. From his astoundingly unprincipled, anti-American support for warmongers like Joe Lieberman and Rudy Giuliani to his diarrheal spewing of the non-word “Islamofascist” and “high-priority” love for prostitutes (which I’m sure South Texas voters will find of great interest, sir), not to mention his horribly received book on how to (mis)pronounce things in many languages, it’s obvious the man is a crock begging for attention any way he can get it. If it’s a doomed-to-failure attempt to defeat Ron Paul in a primary which Paul could crush with a single press release, it’s good enough for this schmuck.

And yes, I think prostitution should be legalized. Rittberg’s bragging about banging whores from all over the world makes me feel sorry for all of them, however.

Power vs. Truth

Thanks to Scott Bieser for such a magnificent creation!

Ron Paul roundup

Homeboy’s got a fuckton of press these days. He’s the boy hero of the libertarian blogosphere. So here’s all the interesting shit about him that I found.

Saul Anuzis, the asshat from Michigan that tried to get Ron Paul barred from the debates, just took back what he said. Already neocon twits are taking back what they said, unasked, without Ron Paul taking back his common sense when Giuliani demanded him to. Fascism loses, kids. But that doesn’t stop this dumbass from Real Clear Politics arguing that Ron Paul should be ejected not because of what he said, but because he’s a libertarian. (Small-l, even; Paul’s views, not his LP membership, are this douche’s problem.)

Oh yeah, and while the MSM’s chugging down the Haterade, they completely bashed Ron Paul. Their reasoning? “Just please stop e-mailing us. Thanks.” Arrogant establishment SOBs ought to be made to eat shit when we inaugurate President Paul.

LewRockwell.com had a video of three of the hostesses of The View taking up Ron Paul’s banner against the remaining one, who seems to be voting for President of 9/11 (srsly, her argument was basically “But… TERRORISTS!”). Odd having Rosie O’Donnell in my corner for once, but whatev.

What’s left to be taken seriously of the social conservative movement has just told Giuliani to get fucked. Unfortunately, this means the bulk of them will probably rally around Romney, not Paul… although a lot of the pro-life hardcores probably will defect to us anyway simply because Paul’s a dedicated champion of the pro-life cause.

Even if Paul doesn’t win, it’s likely that his merely being there will stir shit up within the GOP for years to come anyway.

McCain: The Manchurian Candidate

With all the attention we have been paying to Republican Presidential candidates Adolf Giuliani and Ron Paul lately, I thought it would be only fair to say a word or two about creepy warmonger
John McCain.

Here he is singing “bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb, bomb Iran” and laughing about it.

What did the Iranians ever do? Never mind, war criminal McCain has never met a war he didn’t like.

McCain can’t help but remind me of the
Manchurian Candidate.

This illustrious member of the Keating Five Savings and Loan scandal Senators and noted gigolo is also well known for the McCain-Feingold Incumbent Protection Act.

Somewhat less well known is that he also co-sponsored the McCain/Lieberman gun show bill, which would have given the federal government the administrative power to prohibit all gun shows, and to register everyone who attends a gun show. According to wikipedia, “Since 2004, McCain has gained the unique distinction of receiving an F- rating from Gun Owners of America; and further unlike any other 2008 Republican Presidential Candidate has a dedicated section/compendium within the GOA web site, which contains numerous pages relating to John McCain’s very own anti-Second Amendment initiatives while in the Senate”.

Wikipedia also points out that he hired a board member of the Project for the New American Century, Randy Scheunemann, as his foreign-policy aide and is considering Billion Dollar Bob Riley for veep.

Oh, and his anti-torture provision? Not all it’s cracked up to be.

To sum it all up, I have to give McCain the maximum number of flushes.

Giuliani To Run For President Of 9/11

The headline and photo are totally swiped from The Onion and I think the article is funnier now than when it was posted.

NEW YORK—At a well-attended rally in front of his new Ground Zero headquarters Monday, former New York City Mayor Rudy Giuliani officially announced his plan to run for president of 9/11.

“My fellow citizens of 9/11, today I will make you a promise,” said Giuliani during his 18-minute announcement speech in front of a charred and torn American flag. “As president of 9/11, I will usher in a bold new 9/11 for all.”

If elected, Giuliani would inherit the duties of current 9/11 President George W. Bush, including making grim facial expressions, seeing the world’s conflicts in terms of good and evil, and carrying a bullhorn at all state functions.

“Let us all remember how we felt on that day, with the world watching our every move, waiting on our every word,” said Giuliani, flanked by several firefighters, ex-New York Police Commissioner Bernard Kerik, and Judith Nathan, his third wife. “With a campaign built on traditional 9/11 values, and with the help of every citizen who believes in the 9/11 dream, I want to make 9/11 great again.”

According to Washington–based political analyst Gregory Hammond, Giuliani’s candidacy “should not be underestimated.”

“Sure, he has no foreign or national policy experience, and both his personal life and political career are riddled with scandal,” said Hammond. “But in the key area of having been on TV on 9/11, the other candidates simply cannot match him. And as we saw in 2004, that’s what matters most to voters in this post-9/11 world.”

As always, The Onion provides beautiful satire and I can do nothing to improve upon it. But, three months after the “news” piece was published, American voters can clearly see how politics du jour more closely resembles something made up.

Police brutality

If a picture is worth 1000 words, what’s a video worth?

Update: I was being a bit lazy, but Stu asked the question. Here are details of the beating.

PONTIAC – Two longtime Pontiac police officers have been charged with misdemeanor assault and battery in the beating of a prisoner.

Officers Joe Brinson and Ed Lasseigne are expected to turn themselves in to deputies to be arraigned in coming days on the charges, which are related to the July 1 arrest of an ex-convict on weapons violations.

They each face up to 93 days in jail on the charges.

According to Fox News, the charges against Lasseigne were dropped and Brinson had a $150 fine. Both were fired.

Immigration hysteria being used as an excuse for rise of US police state

“And he causes all, both great and small, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark in their right hand, or in their foreheads: And no man might buy or sell, save he that had the mark” (Rev.13:16-17)

Earlier we reported that the illegal immigration hysteria is being used to justify the construction of an American gulag, which has been the subject of plans for rounding up large numbers of Americans, not just immigrants.

In addition to SS numbers, as well as walls such as the one Bushling wants on the border with Mexico, and concentration camps, police states are well known for requiring their subjects to carry their papers and produce them on demand.

Immigration is being used as an excuse to implement this same system in America.

Homeland Stupidity reports:

Ron Paul Hands Rudy some Education

This after Adolf Giuliani claimed that America was attacked on 9/11 because “the terrorists hate freedom”.

America’s reaction to Ron Paul

Since the Libertarian Party conventions are some time from now, I have been following Ron Paul pretty closely. I certainly don’t agree with Congressman Paul on every issue, but I think he is the only possible answer from the two major parties. I am not the only one. Here is America’s reaction to Ron Paul’s debate performance.

Hat Tip/ Disinter

Outright Libertarians survey – Steve Kubby for President

Since Stuart mentioned the Outright Libertarians interview with George Phillies, here is their interview with Steve Kubby, from their blog.

Unlike the problem with immigration that Stuart mentioned in George’s answers, Steve’s were traditionally libertarian down the line.

Read the interview after the jump.

I really think they captured our essence here.

It’s true. Remember that part in Atlas Shrugged where John Galt pistol-whipped that illegal on his way back from a heroin deal/gay orgy? Exactly.

Hat tip to Third Party Watch.

Outright Libertarians interview George Phillies

It was a pretty extensive interview regarding Phillies’ positions on gay issues, and it can be found here. I liked everything I read but this:

LGBTQ people around the world face tremendous challenges in the face of government and societal persecution. In places ranging from the Palestinian Authority to Iran to China to Singapore to Algeria to Zimbabwe, LGBTQ people are regularly imprisoned, tortured, beaten, mutilated, and murdered simply because of their sexual orientation and/or gender identity. Many seek asylum in the United States, but find their application delayed or denied due to government policies that seek to limit immigration. As a result, the US government regularly sends back thousands of people to an uncertain fate – or worse, a certain fate of torture and death – rather than welcoming the oppressed. As president, will you support efforts to reform the immigration system to allow oppressed LGBTQ people from abroad to find sanctuary and freedom in America?

I prefer to encourage people abroad to fix their own regimes, and to exert American pressure to move foreign regimes in the direction of becoming civilized countries.

I’m not sure just how activist he intends to be on that-whether he’d just let free trade run its course by exposing them to greater liberty, or whether he’d directly snoop in other nations’ business. But it’s really not our government’s business how other countries conduct their affairs.

Also, even though Phillies doesn’t directly come out and say it, this highlights my biggest problem with his platform-the anti-immigration stance. (It’s also my biggest problem with Ron Paul’s platform, so this isn’t an attack on Phillies.) I really think that while we shouldn’t go mucking about in other countries’ political systems, we should be more than welcoming of anyone who wants to come here for any reason-refugees included. Emma Lazarus knew the score.

But, all in all, it was a lot of good stuff to see from the Phillies campaign.

LFV exclusive interview with Pat Dixon!

As was mentioned previously, Pat Dixon lost his campaign for reelection. As he’s one of the premier statesmen of the Libertarian Party, this was a shocker, so LFV dashed to find out why. Reprinted after the jump is our email interview.

Eric Dondero to run against Ron Paul for Congress

H/T Reason Hit & Run

Eric Dondero, who commented on some of last night’s debate threads, has made an announcement at Redstate.

I am this morning, declaring my candidacy for Congress in the GOP primaries against Ron Paul. If he does not resign his seat, and if another Republican candidate does not declare against him, I will run a balls-to-the-wall campaign for Congress in Texas CD 14. I am the guy that got Ron Paul elected to Congress in 1996. I can and will defeat him in 2008.

Eric Dondero, Fmr. Senior Aide
US Congressman Ron Paul (R-TX)
1997-2003

Dondero says he’ll defer if another pro-war conservative, like former Rep. Steve Stockman, makes the run. Paul’s 1996 win was sort of miraculous, given how the national GOP marshalled its strength against him and even backed a Democratic opponent to keep him out of Congress. I’d guess the party will have too much to worry about in 2008 to back a Paul primary challenge (it’ll spend at least $3 million getting back Tom DeLay’s seat, for example), but this is the kind of thing that could attract a nice fat stream of web donations.

If Eric loses the primary, he has made plans to challenge RP in the general election as the candidate of the Lieberman Lebensraum for Amerika Party (not officially, at least not yet).

While I still endorse Steve Kubby for President, I’m happy to offer my endorsement to Ron Paul for reelection to Congress.

Ron Paul was of course clearly 100% correct in last night’s debate against Dondero’s fascist idol, Adolf Giuliani.

Fuck Giuliani. Fuck Fox News.

Tonight I made myself do something I ordinarily would avoid like the plague – I watched the second Republican presidential debate hosted by Fox News. I did this for exactly one reason – to see Ron Paul stand up to a bunch of warmongering corporate shill clones, the kind the GOP is so good at churning out these days.

The big moment of the night took place when Ron Paul was doing what he does best – speaking the truth about America’s dangerously wayward foreign policy and the ongoing blowback we continue to experience from it. The instant he stopped speaking, Rudy Giuliani, aka Adolph Mussolini, indignantly countered, first with a bit of a strawman twist on what Ron actually said; secondly, stating he had never heard anyone suggest such an outrageous idea that American actions could possibly have been a factor in 9/11; and finally, calling for a retraction of the statement. Sadly, yet predictably, this elicited wild applause from the red state crowd. Naturally, Ron Paul stood his ground and went on to further elaborate his position in his usual plain-spoken manner.

Not surprisingly, 50% of the face time in the debate had already been handed out to the media darlings, Giuliani, John McCain, and Mitt Romney. And as soon as the post-debate spin room action began, Sean Hannity and his cast of guest pundits, including failed GOP gubernatorial candidate from Maryland, Michael Steele, went into overdrive belittling Ron Paul and pushing the idea that it is now time to whittle the field down to the “serious” candidates. Steele went as far as saying “it’s over” already for Ron Paul.

Moments later, the early results of the viewer text message poll came on to the screen. Ron Paul… top of the list, baby! It was sweet justice to see these slimeballs squirm when confronted with the reality that their best efforts to portray the honorable Dr. Paul as a joke were now revealing them to be the real joke. The people aren’t buying their shit and I’m loving it.

Throughout the post-debate show, each candidate was invited over to visit with Hannity and Colmes to share their thoughts on the whole affair, with Hannity salivating over each of the usual suspects. When Ron Paul finally got his turn, Hannity turned up the heat, and in true O’Liely form, proceeded to interrupt him seconds into each attempt to respond to a question. What a pathetically biased disgrace.

Indeed, Ron Paul is still a huge long shot in this race, but I intend to fully enjoy every opportunity he has to thumb his nose at the establishment.

I’m sick and tired of these mothafuckin’ snakes in my mothafuckin’ mail!

Pointless nannystatist laws strike again…

Apparently someone tried to smuggle highly poisonous snakes through the mail.

South African environmental inspectors discovered 10 poisonous snakes smuggled in video cassette cases when they searched a suspicious package at a post office, officials said.

Working on a tip-off, the inspectors seized the package from the Czech Republic and opened the cases to find live albino monocle cobras, Arabian saw-scaled vipers, Namibian spitting cobras and Australian Taipans, reputed to be the most poisonous snake on earth.

A potentially deadly situation was narrowly averted… but this situation wouldn’t have existed in the first place if there were a system in place for law-abiding animal collectors to transfer animals safely through various countries for their own private collections. I understand the worries about preserving local ecologies, and species migration has harmed that in a lot of places. However, I think that ultimately, there is a place for the legalization of such things, at least in some controlled fashion. After all, it would help sponsor the preservation of a lot of rare species, and cut down on incidents like this.

Fuck, that didn’t take long.

Reason Magazine already has an article up mentioning LibertyUp, and traffic’s through the roof today. We just need a couple more major libertarian blogs to do this and we’ll have one hell of a community.

And in case you haven’t been over there yet, go check out what all the fuss is about.

As he died to make men holy, let us live to make men free.

Jerry Falwell is dead.

I feel sorry for his family, of course, and on a non-political and non-theological level I’m sad to see a fellow human being die.

Not to be a dick, though, but this is some of the greatest news that the social and civil libertarian crowd could possibly hear. A man who stood against equal rights for women, gays, and immigrants can no longer influence our political system. Furthermore, this seems to be the starkest demonstration God could have possibly given us that the social conservative branch of the Republican Party is dead, leaving only fiscal conservatives and neocons, with the neocons about to die off as well.

Our future may be cloudy in the short term, but twenty years from now we will look back on these days like people today look back on the Vietnam War, draft and stagflation and wonder what the hell they must have been thinking.

Libertarian rock festivals… fuck yeah.

Just got this lovely tip from the LPGA:

A fund raiser for the Libertarian Party of Georgia
To be held on Wednesday, May 23, 2007 at Smith’s Olde Bar (1578 Piedmont Avenue, Atlanta, GA, 404.875.1522), the show will feature performances by: The Judies, Like Clockwork, The Lord Is My Shotgun, Heather Luttrell, Pistolero, and Fisher Meehan. Doors will open at 7, the music will start at 7:30, and the cover charge will be $10. Door proceeds from the concert will be donated to the Libertarian Party of Georgia. Along with the bands, the following organizations will have tables at the concert: thinkLIBERTARIAN, Libertarian Party of Georgia, Georgians for FAIRTAX, Secure Our Future, Marijuana Policy Project (MPP), Citizens Against Marijuana Prohibition (CAMP), and more to be announced. Local modern rock station 99X has placed the event on their promotions calendar and will have a promotional van at the concert as well.

The site is here. If you’re anywhere near Georgia, go check that shit out. $10 cover for a rock show is not a bad price by any stretch of the imagination. More state and local parties need to do things like this.

Even the generals agree: GTFO.

Keith Olbermann is rapidly becoming one of my favorite talking heads, BTW.

Let Freedom Grow! for 05/13/07

In this week’s “radio address” Steve discusses his vision for addressing environmental issues through the market and grassroots citizen action:

When I talk with young Americans about the Libertarian Party and the future of our environment, I hear two things from them: That they’re unhappy with the choices being offered them by the “major parties” … and that what they’re looking for is a future of hope and opportunity, not a life of fighting relentlessly just to hold the line and perhaps do as well as their parents did. And when I tell them about the future that we have to offer, their eyes light up.

The challenges and problems that we face as a nation are very real, but there’s a flip side to the coin. Nowhere is this more true than in the area of the environment.

Yes, we are addicted to foreign oil. Yes, our energy industry is addicted to subsidies. And worst of all, the environment is being trashed by irresponsible corporations, right before our eyes. But on the other side of the mountain, there’s a future where we supply our needs with domestically produced, renewable, environmentally friendly energy provided by a competitive, unsubsidized free market for hemp and biodiesel.

Tune in for more:

The Hills Have Eyes

I give up. Can’t find the background info to put this in context on google. Maybe it will come out in the comments. If so I’ll update it up here. If the video at least works (didn’t yesterday, dunno why), I’ll leave it up, and let the story write itself interactively. And now, your moment of Zen:

Kevin Tunstall city council bid falls short

LPers and other liberty activists around the Houston area are seriously bummed out right now as we’ve just learned that Kevin Tunstall’s bid for city council in Missouri City has fallen short. Despite his active grassroots campaign of block-walking, public speaking engagements, GOTV phone calling and more in this two-candidate, non-partisan race, it seems that, at the end of the day, what matters most is having the right connections – even if you don’t run an active campaign.

The results are in with Kevin’s 45.6% losing out to Barbara Gibson’s 54.4%.

But, Kevin is a savvy guy and I’m sure he learned a lot from this experience. Next time a similar opportunity arises, I expect he’ll be even better prepared.

GOP frontrunners mock Constitution, look goofy

It’s got to be such a drag being Ron Paul. Here you are, a smart libertarian guy with a backbone, having to share podium space with a bunch of totalitarian asshat hacks that dare to breathe your air.

From the bloggings of Andrew Sullivan:

The condescension to and mockery of the sole Republican candidate who seems to care about individual liberty has begun to tick me off. Chris Matthews can be heard groaning “Oh, God,” after Paul spoke of the “original intent” of the Founders with respect to the Constitution. And in the YouTube clip below, Rudy Giuliani actually seems to be guffawing after Paul’s defense of habeas corpus. I’m glad Paul’s supporters are fighting back on the web. He deserves more respect than he has gotten thus far, not least because compared to the pandering of his competitors, Paul actually seems to believe what he says. And what he says has more to do with conservatism than the crap the rest of them are peddling.

For all the noise made about “getting back to the roots of the Reagan revolution,” the GOP seems to be doing a piss-poor job of it. Their frontrunners all blow goats, and it looks like the Republican wing of the Republican Party are starting to uniformly reject them. Ron Paul emerged as the winner of the last debate, and if he continues to gain traction he may just end up with the nomination. A longshot, to be sure, but stranger things have happened.

I loves me some Libertarian Party but even more than that, I loves me some liberty. Here’s hoping he kicks all their asses and grabs the nomination.

LibertyUp. The Kos killer arrives on 5/12/2007.

We can build it. We have the technology.

My bloggers have been aware of it for a few days, because they’ve helped with the betatesting. It was Last Free Voice’s very first secret project, secret because I didn’t want to make promises and not keep them until they were already kept. That’s happened in the past and I didn’t want to go that route.

Well, our unmade promises are kept now. We have a blog aggregator, and we have it for free. All your favorite libertarian blogs are present at LibertyUp.com and we’ve got forums, too-finally a place where the entire Libertarian blogosphere can gather and chill. We’re not stopping there, though-we’ve got plenty of other nifties in the pipeline, nifties that we didn’t want to hold up the rest of the site for. So go on. Check it out. Register and post on the boards. If you catch an error, email it to me or Joe (the site developer and my good friend) and we’ll get it taken care of. If we didn’t include your blog, give us an RSS feed and we will.

Let’s rock this noise.

Why doesn’t Big Business love libertarians?

Whenever I bring up free-market ideals to people, they tend to reply with the public-school-gruel argument that goes something like this:

If government doesn’t keep the corporations down, monopolies will naturally develop, and they’ll buy out startups with new products, saving them from their own inefficiency, and they’ll never go away.

Firstly, if this were true, there would be a lot more corporate dollars flowing to Ron Paul’s and any Libertarian’s campaign, as opposed to neocon’s big-government campaigns.

But let’s look at why this isn’t true.

Large corporations are inefficient. 55% of innovations are produced by small companies. Sure, the big guys can buy up the innovators, to some extent. Eventually, however, the inherent inefficiency of a large organization will catch up to them and they will fall – unless government props them up.

Return of the Jedi

A few of us from the LP Radical Caucus were on Angela Keaton’s show. It’s been a while since I’ve heard it, but I remember that I said “um” way, way, way too much. It was me, Susan Hogarth, Morey Straus and Marc Montoni. Did I forget any other guests?

Unfortunately, after the show was supposed to be over, Susan and I kept talking and did not realize we were still being recorded for the show (oops!). One of the things we discussed was North Carolina LP Ballot Access. When we realized we were inadvertantly part of the show, I did not care, but Susan objected and we had the show removed.

A big brouhaha ensued, and I have been told the unedited show is a hot item being passed around on the libertarian underground by some people who must be incredibly bored. In any case,
after much fumbling, we were able to finally get the show edited and posted back up.

Listen to the edited show here:

http://angelakeaton.com/wp-content/uploads/radcaucus_ed1.mp3

Oh yeah:

Robert Capozzi and Brian Holtz of the LP Reform Caucus
“strike back“.

I guess someone objected to the
reference, since the show is now retitled “Reform Caucus Responds.”

Phillies campaign update

Apparently the Phillies campaign’s started purchasing AdWords ads, and their website is closing in on 750,000 hits, with 1000 people visiting it every day. Oh yeah, and the man himself, George Phillies, is now the State Chair of the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts, much congrats goes out to him from the staff here at LFV. Oh yeah, and if you’re gonna be at the LPGA convention in Atlanta on the 19th, be sure to stop by to hear one of our better Presidential contenders speak.

Another reason why Giuliani shouldn’t be our President

That’s right, homeboy banned ferrets.

I get a little bit closer to feeling sick

So Cheryl Crow thinks that we really only need one piece of toilet paper per bathroom visit.

On April 23, Cheryl Crow, the well-know singer was quoted in Britain’s The Register as saying: “I propose a limitation be put on how many squares of toilet paper can be used in any one sitting. Now, I don’t want to rob any law-abiding American of his or her God-given rights, but I think we are an industrious enough people that we can make it work with only one square per restroom visit, except, of course, on those pesky occasions where two to three could be required.”

Ms. Crow has reportedly since claimed that she was merely joking. Be that as it may, her proposal follows logically from ideas that permeate the environmental movement. It follows from the belief in the need to reduce consumption as a means of reducing the emission of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere, which emissions allegedly cause global warming. It also follows from the doctrine of the alleged intrinsic value of nature undisturbed by man. If the trees from which toilet paper is ultimately made are intrinsically valuable and thus must not be disturbed, it follows that man should not have toilet paper.

Even if she was joking, screw that. And I gotta admit… I’m never going to be able to listen to her music with a straight face anymore.

But one piece of toilet paper? Who the hell does she think she’s talking to, Arnold Rimmer? “One up, one down, and one to polish”?! How about no. I’m pretty sure that the Earth is not going to asplodinate because I wiped my ass thoroughly.

Hiltonesque Presidential “Litmus Test”

This has already been dicussed on Meg’s previous post. Commenters on this blog said they were just waiting for dense, Paris Hiltoneque questions to be seriously given to 2008 presidential contenders. It has already happened, surprise surprise. Oddly enough, there is no response from Ron Paul – and this time MSM blackout is a VERY GOOD thing. It seems as though Guiliani prefers an opera about himself. Part of me is still thinking – “Can this be real?”

Hat Tip/New York Post

A presidential candidate who loves Willie Nelson can’t be all bad.

And while some candidates running for the White House are just a little bit country, tastes in music among the Republican and Democratic contenders ran the gamut from rock to opera.

Responding to a question from The Associated Press, the candidates revealed their last musical purchase.

Democratic front-runner Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton went into her feminist bag, saying her most recent purchase was Carly Simon’s “Into White.”

In a scary scenario, Rudy Giuliani said Verdi’s opera “Macbeth” – the cautionary tale of a leader who stopped at nothing to become top dog – got his money.

What Angela Called Michelle…

http://www.liberatedspace.com/phorum/read.php?f=7&i=2773&t=2773

Adolf Giuliani: As Far From Libertarian As Possible

Despite what a certain milk shake would like you to believe, Rudolf Giuliani Mussolini is As Far From Libertarian As Possible (click on the link to read about his early history as a psychotically deranged persecutor of victimless white collar “criminals”).

Even some of Giuliani’s admirers admit he has fascist tendencies. The amazing record of corruption and perfidy simply boggles the mind. Giuliani even had the incredible temerity to
try to stay on as mayor after his term was over.

Check out the comments at Serf City. Giuliani abused his mayoral office to go after cabbies, artists, street vendors, porn,
sex-related businesses, and anyone who did business without a license. His phony tax cuts were merely deficit spending – putting the tax bill on future victims, plus interest, while ducking the responsibility for his out of control spending, a favorite ploy of scumbag Rapepublicneoconartists.

Ron Moore reports,

Let’s take the pot smokers. One study points out that under Rudy’s Broken Windows policy, public-toking arrests rose 2000% from about 2000 in 1994 to over 50,000 by 2000 ( Harcourt & Ludwig, Reefer Madness: Broken Windows Policing and Misdemeanor Marijuana Arrests in New York City, 1989-2000 http://papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers.cfm?abstract_id=948753). The study also finds that this had no measurable effect on violent crime.”

Furthermore,

Unfortunately, Rudy’s broken windows policy didn’t apply to Rudy’s buddies in the New York Police Department. An April 1999 article in Crime and Delinquency (Zero Tolerance: A Case Study in Police Policies and Practices in New York City, Judith Greene) points to a 75% increase in new civil rights claims against the police for abusive conduct. The article also points to a sharp increase in the number of complaints which resulted in no arrest and no summons and where there was no suspicion of criminal activity. Um – just why were people being stopped? What was Mayor Rudy’s response to growing concern about police misconduct? According to the article the new Civilian Complaint Review Board (CCRB) funding was cut 17% compared to the agency it replaced.

Victim disarmament? According to Mike Blessing, Giuliani said on one of the

morning empty-talk shows that “We shouldn’t just try one of these [”gun control”] plans, we should try them all.”

Giuliani libertarian?

King George Dubai-ya Dubai-ya III Bush has gone a long way towards creating a fascist Amerikkka. Rudolf the coke nosed Fascist would go all the way. No libertarians should even remotely consider being fellow travellers in helping Ayatollah Giuliani set up his gulag regime.

We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

-Rudy

This is why we can’t have nice things.

Jesus tits, does Alabama suck.

This is what the mouth-breathing yokels in their government have to say about small-government types, under the context that we’re all terrorists:

Thomas Knapp resigns as Kubby campaign manager

Not only that, but it happened here.

From Kn@ppster:

I just got off the phone with Steve Kubby a few minutes ago. At his request (and per my longstanding desire), I have tendered my resignation as his campaign manager.

If the above sounds a lot like “Knapp got fired,” yeah, pretty much … but let me plainly state that I fully concurred with Steve’s judgment, and was more than happy to resign a title which I never wanted to hold in the first place. If I’d thought he was making a mistake, I’d have argued the point and forced him to fire me if he wanted me gone.

Gone, by the way, I am not. I still support Steve’s campaign, I expect to continue working with Steve’s campaign in various roles, and I’m not available to any other presidential campaign in any role.

…

And now, for those of you wondering what my resignation is all about, three words: Wayne Allyn Root. In particular, my public comments on him and his candidacy, starting with this one and this one.

When I first agreed to work with Steve, and then when he hit me up to assume the title of campaign manager, one of my clearly stated conditions was that I remain free to express my own opinions. In the case of becoming campaign manager, I had frankly hoped that that condition would be a deal-breaker (have I mentioned that I didn’t want the job?), and it should have been. But it wasn’t, so here we are.

I think Knapp was perfectly in the right for calling out Root on his bullshit. Nonetheless, I can understand Kubby’s position here, and I wish them both the best of luck in advancing the Libertarian Party in the future.

Zimbabwe’s Catholic Archbishop kicks ass.

You tell ‘em, man.

Yeah, TIME did an interview of this guy, who’s currently telling the dictatorial fuck Robert Mugabe to stop killing people. I don’t typically support the church getting involved in politics, but there comes a time when a voice-any voice-is welcome if it’s shouting down a despot. And I love Archbishop Pius Ncube’s quote at the end:

I don’t care. I will say what I want to say. I will not be quietened. I am not their slave. I do get afraid. But there comes a time when you have to overcome that. I take a stand because I am convinced I am speaking the truth.

Dana Rohrabacher, Traitor to Liberty

Via Brad Spangler

Dana Rohrabacher wants me dead. Well, not just me. Dana Rohrabacher wants a whole bunch of Americans dead.

“I hope it’s your family members that [sic] die,” said US Rep. Dana Rohrabacher to American citizens who questioned the Bush administration’s unlawful extraordinary rendition policies.

Rohrabacher, bring it you fucking traitor.

“But in 1969-71, Dana Rohrabacher was the most successful and most beloved libertarian activist… he was a close friend of mine until he crossed the line with his campaign for Congress.“ — Samuel Edward Konkin III

This reminds me. I’ve been trying to get confirmation as to whether Rohrabacher was a warmonger during the Vietnam War. As a former anarchist and follower of an actual pacifist, Robert LeFevre, it would have been illogical, but I would like independent reports from those who actually knew Rohrabacher back then.

Mickey Mouse is a TRAITOR!

From Yahoo news:

A giant black-and-white rodent — named “Farfour,” or “butterfly,” but unmistakably a Mickey ripoff — does his high-pitched preaching against the U.S. and Israel on a children’s show run each Friday on Al-Aqsa TV, a station run by Hamas. The militant group, sworn to Israel’s destruction, shares power in the Palestinian government.

“You and I are laying the foundation for a world led by Islamists,” Farfour squeaked on a recent episode of the show, which is titled, “Tomorrow’s Pioneers.”

“We will return the Islamic community to its former greatness, and liberate Jerusalem, God willing, liberate Iraq, God willing, and liberate all the countries of the Muslims invaded by the murderers.”

All I can say is, “Wow”!

Oh, and is Disney getting any royalties off this?

Answers that Should Immediately Disqualify Candidates from Running for President

I’ve noticed a disturbing trend lately. Well, actually, my whole life. Candidates for political office are allowed to say the most ridiculous things, and still be elected. The media seldom calls them on it, and the voters, if they are aware, seem not to care.

During the recent Republican debates, the moderator asked if any of the candidates didn’t believe in evolution. Three of them raised their hands! Out of 10! That’s 30% of (allegedly) the best the GOP has to offer, that are functionally retarded. Yet, those candidates are still in the running to RULE OUR COUNTRY.

There are some answers which should immediately disqualify one from ever holding elected office in America. Here are a few.

Do you believe in evolution?

If answer = “No” – DISQUALIFIED

Do you ever talk to God? (if yes) Does he ever talk back?

If answer = “Yes” – DISQUALIFIED

Is it true that, “if we don’t fight terrorists in Iraq, they will to fight us here in America”?

If answer = “yes” – DISQUALIFIED

If elected, how many graduates of Pat Robertson’s law school would you employ?

If answer = “one or more” – DISQUALIFIED

Has George W. Bush been a good president?

If answer = “Anything other than no” – DISQUALIFIED

Any others?

Jason Gatties’s Groundbreaking Run To Bring Libertarian Principles To Tribal Council

I thought this was just entirely too cool. Jason Gatties, a Libertarian activist in Michigan who comments regularly on LFV, has decided to run for the Pokagon Tribal Council. For those who might be unaware, Native American tribes are sovereign nations, with their own laws and their own government, which makes this even more interesting than the average Libertarian campaign. What follows is the announcement from his blog.

I’m Full Of Suprises

Those who are close to me understood that I had plans on running for public office in 2008, but for now atleast, those plans are on the back burner. This past weekend I realized that Tribal elections were coming up in July. After speaking with my wife and others who are close to me, I was encouraged to run for a seat on the Pokagon Tribal Council.

I am a member of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, which is located in Southwest Michigan/Northern Indiana. We have over 3,000 members and this summer, we are opening the Four Winds Casino in New Buffalo, Mi. I feel that I can bring my libertarian values to our tribal government. If you really think about it, most Native Americans are probably “libertarians” even if they don’t realize it. I plan to educate our tribe and prove to everyone that libertarianism can work in any form of government.

In the next day or so, you should be able to access VoteGatties.org and get more info on how you can help. I will NOT seek any donations, but you can certainly help me out in other ways. The website that was being worked on for the 2008 campaign is, much like the campaign itself, on the back burner for now. The tribal campaign site is very basic. Given the fact that the election is on July 14th, I didn’t have a lot of time to design a proper campaign site, but I feel it will still accomplish my goals. To the best of my knowledge, I am the only person running for Tribal Council who will even have a web presence, so that alone I feel will give me an edge.

I wouldn’t run for office if I didn’t have my concerns. They include:

1.Term Limits- Currently there are no term limits for the Tribal Council or any elected tribal board or commission. I feel term limits are important and if elected, I will propose a constitutional amendment requiring some form of term limits for Tribal Government.

2. 26% of our tribe are unemployed and 40% of our tribe members live below the poverty line. One would think that would change with the opening of our casino in August. However, even though the casino has a “indian preference” when hiring for a position at the casino, the majority of the high paying jobs being offered are for those who have a college education, something which the majority of the tribe members do not have. I’m not in favor of any “hiring preference” when it comes to casino jobs, however, I believe that work experience should account for something and more jobs should be available to anyone, regardless if you have a college degree. I mean, do you really need a college degree to open a door or unclog a toliet?

3. Privitization- I believe the tribal council overpays for certain jobs that could be outsourced outside the tribe, saving tribal funds and allowing more tribal profits to be shared amongst it’s members.

4.No More State Funding- Currently the bulk of funds given to our tribe is in the form of state and federal grants. Thats fine, except for the fact that these funds come from the pockets of taxpayers who are not members of the tribe. How can we truly become a “sovereign nation” when we depend on tax dollars from non-tribal members? We are opening a casino (which is privately funded) which will generate MILLIONS for the tribe, not to mention the various stores which will open up on tribal land. If managed correctly, the tribe should become pretty self-sufficient in a short amount of time. I want to make it my JOB to make sure our tribe truly becomes a sovereign nation.

5.Stick to the constitution!!! Right now our tribal constitution reads like a “libertarian dream” and it should remain that way. As our tribe grows stronger, the temptation will be to turn our tribal government into a minature version of the U.S. Government. We can not allow this to happen. Through time, we as American Citizens have had many of our freedoms stomped upon by the government at all levels. As a citizen of the Pokagon Band of Potawatomi Indians, I feel it is critical to stick to the constitution that was drawn back in the mid 90’s. We can not allow our tribal leaders to infringe on the freedoms promised in our constitution. As a council member, I will make sure this does not happen.

These are just a few of the many issues I plan to campaign on. I could go on and on, but if I did that, I would have nothing to blog about tomorrow!

Be sure to bookmark this blog for all the latest campaign information and be sure to bookmark VoteGatties.org, as that site will be live by the end of the week. If elected, I will NOT run for office in 2008 as I plan to give my full attention to the Tribal Council for the next 3 years. Given the fact that I have many family & friends who are tribe members, this is a great opportunity for me to not only get elected, but make a real difference.

Let Freedom Grow! for 05/06/07

In this week’s “radio address” Steve Kubby discusses the essential difference between himself and some of those other presidential candidates:

If you’ve been following the Democratic and Republican debates, you’ve probably noticed by now that the candidates are possessed of an astonishing variety of ideas for running your life. Whether it’s “national ID,” “universal health care,” “protecting children from violence on television” or what have you, these candidates have made it clear that they believe the proper function of government is to care for you from cradle to grave — and police your every action from the time you get out of bed in the morning to the time you crawl back into bed at night … not to mention who you crawl into bed with or what you do there with them.

As a Libertarian, I have a very different view of government’s role. Government’s proper function is to protect your rights, not to run your life. And as a candidate for president, my prospective job would not be to police you — it would be to police your government

Tune in for more:

A Libertarian with a chance to win. Seriously.

No, this is not another absurdly unrealistic prediction from a Libertarian claiming he will win a Congressional seat nor am I talking about someone running for assistant dog catcher of Podunkville, Wyoming. I’m speaking of Kevin Tunstall who is in the running for city council of Missouri City, TX, a Houston suburb of over 60,000 residents.

As the Libertarian Party’s Fort Bend County Chair, Kevin had no thoughts of involving himself in this election as a candidate until a strange set of circumstances unfolded. Here, Kevin shares his story:

Whores? In MY Washington D.C.?! It’s more likely than you think.

Say it ain’t so, Joe.

A lawyer for Harlan Ullman, who created the “shock and awe” military strategy and writes a column for the Washington Times, said his client has no intention of helping Deborah Jeane Palfrey.

She is the 51-year-old accused madam of Pamela Martin and Associates, and is charged in federal court with racketeering and money laundering associated with prostitution.

Honest businesslady fucked over by government, damn the Man to Hell, legalize prostitution. Okay, got the obligatory libertarian diatribe out of the way. Here’s the best part:

Palfrey has maintained her agency was never a prostitution ring. She has given ABC News phone records purportedly indicating a list of her clients, hoping they will be compelled to testify in her favour.

The expansive phone records — so substantial the documents weigh a collective 46 pounds — were handed to the news broadcaster before a judge’s order barring their release took effect.

Yes, that’s right. There’s some horny motherfucking politicians on Capitol Hill, 46 pounds’ worth of records of them. Funny that the judge is barring its release… maybe he got a “massage” as well? God I would KILL to be a bookworm in that book right now.

Wayne Allen Root for President?

I forgot, Wayne Allen Root is running for the Libertarian nomination. Go check out this article, it sounds like it was written by Eric Dondero minus the whole Islamofascist bullshit:

Widely considered the frontrunner for the Libertarian Presidential nomination, Wayne Root is a resident of Henderson, Nevada- and a strong supporter of Nevada’s brand of Libertarian politics.

He is a anti-tax, limited government, pro states’ rights, anti-Nanny State, socially tolerant, anti-Yucca Mountain Libertarian conservative in the mold of Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater.

I find myself wanting to bash this guy because of this poorly-written article and because Dondero thinks he’s the Second Coming of Christ, but then again I really ought to give him a chance. The article is biased as all fuck, not even acknowledging any other big names vying for the nomination. But that’s not necessarily the man’s fault, and he admittedly does seem to have some pull with gamblers, which by all rights is a natural Libertarian constituency. But if he’s gonna run, where’s his website?

Kent McManigal Ends Presidential Trail

Kent McManigal made the following announcement today:

The End of the Trail

After a lot of thought I have decided to end my campaign. Last night while trying to delete spam comments, I accidentally deleted most of the content on the Boston Tea Party’s website. That was the last straw for me. I appreciate all the encouragement and support I have received in the past two and a half years. I apologize to anyone who is disappointed that I have withdrawn. I will probably keep blogging, and plan to change KentForLiberty into something other than a campaign site. I have come to realize that we will never get government back in line with the Constitution or with what is right by using methods approved and “allowed” by that same rogue government.

I can’t speak for anyone else, but I think a part of the LP community is surprised and disappointed by Kent’s departure. When I opened my computer for the day, there were several messages on the subject.

I am not shocked by it, but I wish he had stayed. Kent made the LP race more interesting, as I think many will agree. To my mind, Kent was that dark horse who could have walked away with the nomination, had Phillies and Kubby delegates clashed, not unlike what happened at the last LP presidential convention.

Kent was the one LP candidate who defied categorization. At first, to be honest, I really wanted to put him into the nutcase category. After all, he obviously doesn’t fit into the mainstream category. Yet, the more I read, and the more I talked to him, the more I realized that Kent is an original who defies categorization.

I first discovered Kent’s candidacy through, of all people, Gene Chapman. I looked at his website, and made a smartass comment on a forum about how Kent looks like he’d kick Gene Chapman’s ass for calling him a Communist. I stand by that statement, incidentally. Kent misunderstood and thought I was making fun of the way he dresses, and we began a correspondence which has continued to this day. I’m proud to call Kent McManigal my friend. I can’t categorize him any other way.

Needless to say, I support him no matter what he decides for his own life, because that’s what friends do. I hope I am not betraying a confidence when I say that this is a question over which Kent has struggled for a while now. He has hinted at it on his blog, after all. And now ….. well, the LP world is just a little less interesting for me today. I hope you understand.

Urban planning and libertarianism

This article from the Houston Chronicle was fairly interesting. Therein, they interviewed Randal O’Toole of the Cato Institute about his views on city planning and roads vs. mass transit.

Question: You say that for the most part, Houston gets it right, while Portland (Ore.), where you used to live, is a textbook example of government gone wrong. A lot of people would say it’s just the reverse.

Answer: Except for the light rail part, Houston really is a model for how urban planning ought to be done — which is privately.

Q: Do you think government has a legitimate role in planning transportation?

A: If government does anything, it ought to be through agencies like the Harris County Toll Road Authority, which has a single mission and relies on its own revenue to fulfill it.

Q: A lot of people say Houston already has too much concrete.

A: It’s a thrill to be here, in a way, because everywhere you go you see these new freeways being constructed. I’ve been all over the country, and nobody is building them anymore.

My opinion on the matter is… up in the air. I appreciate the “density” argument from liberals because it seems consistent with the efficient land use ends of geolibertarianism. However, I despise central planning and bureaucracy, and government almost never gets land planning right. I’m also left wondering if a free market could support a mass transit system that was wholly independent of government, and moreover if the government would let it happen.

After all, roads are government-subsidized transportation too. If the government is going to subsidize something, we might as well make sure it’s cost-effective, I’d think.

Maybe just a land value tax would set this whole density/transit problem straight? Replace the income tax with a land value tax?

Kubby running two races at once?

Looks like.

From that OTHER Hammer of Truth…

The bit below was posted to the discussion list of the LP Radical caucus via Joseph Knight of the LPNM. In it, Steve Kubby’s campaign manager Tom Knapp apologizes to the LPNM for Steve not being able to make their convention as he had originally planned. He cites a lack of money and time, and then goes on to add that Kubby may be involved in a race for County Supervisor very soon and will have even less time and money.

If Steve is interested in Mendocino County politics and feels he can make a difference there, good for him. But if he can’t make the full commitment to run one campaign, why try running two at once? Being a presidential candidate will more likely hurt than help Kubby in the supervisor race, and why should LP supporters take him seriously as a presidential candidate if he is obviously back-burnering the presidential race to focus on local politics? How can they seriously expect people who were reluctant to give in the first place to start giving when he is splitting an already desperately undergrown effort?

I basically have nothing to add to this except that it makes Kubby look potentially less attractive as a Presidential candidate. If he can win in Mendocino County, he should go for it. But he should drop his Presidential campaign if that’s the case.

I had been more or less sold on Stanhope until he dropped out, but now it looks like Kubby and Phillies still… and neither one has really been building momentum as of late. If I absolutely had to choose someone it would probably still be Kubby, but I’m hoping someone else will enter the race above all.

Maybe this guy?

New Rubik’s Cube World Recordholder Solves Puzzle With One Hand

I found this over on Stupid Evil Bastard, and was pretty amazed by it.

When Rubik’s Cube first came out, I was a teenager (yeah, I know, I’m showing my age with this story, LOL). I bought one with my own money, which I had worked like a dog to earn (back then, I think I was making about $1.75 an hour, again showing my age) and took it home. Basically, I intended to mess with it a bit, to get the feel for it, before I actually mixed it all up to be solved.

My older brother “solved” that problem for me, by asking “hey, can I see that?” then immediately mixing it all up while cackling gleefully.

Guess I’ve never forgiven him for that. I basically never touched the damn thing again.

But this kid is pretty doggone amazing, I have to say, and the way he studies it before attempting to solve it suggests maybe I had planned to go about it the right way after all. Apparently this is the world record for solving a Rubik’s Cube: 17.9 seconds!

Is the American Dream Still Possible for Small Business Owners?

Until today, I never knew who Judge Roy Pierson was but now I shall never forget. It seems that he may destroy a dry-cleaning business for good. This guy is demanding 67 million dollars for a pair of pants that he claims were lost by the the dry cleaning service. This is a Mom and Pop establishment run by Jin and Soo Chung. These are hard working folks pursuing the American Dream. They have attempted to settle the dispute by offering Mr Pierson $3,000, $4,600.00 then $12,000 but he did not accept their offers. I can’t believe that this case hasn’t been thrown out, but I can believe that this guy is an attorney and a judge. I only hope that in the end, justice prevails and he ends up footing the bill for all of the Chung’s legal expenses AND for all of the mental anguish that he has put them through. The Chung’s also claim that a week later they found the pants and have evidence that they are Mr. Pierson’s – but he’s denying it.

Hat Tip/ABC News

I’m pretty sure this is how it happened.

While we’re talking about the history of the Libertarian Party, it looks like Uncyclopedia decided to weigh in.

The issues most central to the Libertarian voters include the following:

* The freedom not to pay taxes
* The freedom to, if one so wishes, pay lots and lots of taxes.
* The freedom to pay employees less than minimum wage.
* The freedom to protect yourself from angry workers who get paid less than minimum wage.
* The freedom to pay for, sell and profit from sex.
* The freedom to have lots of kinky sex.

Yep, sounds about right, LOL.

Kinda iffy news coming out of Iraq

The insurgency now hates al Qaeda more than they do us.

Their tactics are extreme, but nothing new for the area.

“We are not looking for bloodshed. We minimize it,” a senior Salvation Council member says. “If a suspect is peaceful, we arrest and hand him to the authorities, but if he resists, there will be no other way than to shoot him.”

Al Qaeda has hit back hard at the tribes in recent weeks, sending chlorine bombs, car bombs and suicide bombers in explosive chest vests against their leaders.

Their allies violate their own laws and Constitution.

Asked if there had been an assassination program backed by U.S. forces, Zalmay Khalilzad, then-U.S. ambassador to Iraq, said, “We lose no sleep over the struggle against al Qaeda and the killing of al Qaeda people.”

But progress could be made here. Iraq might actually be pacified by the time we pull out. The ascendancy of the anti-war position in America is undoubtedly showing the insurgency that we don’t intend to run, or occupy, their country forever. That leaves the only other major foreign military force in Iraq to be al-Qaeda, which offers… no such promise. The post-veto Bush-Pelosi showdown will likely have benchmarks emerge as a sort of compromise position, which will allow America to pull out.

Doug Stanhope will not seek LP nomination

Just received an email announcing that Stanhope will not seek the LP nomination for prez. From his My Space page:

Tuesday, May 01, 2007

Stanhope in ‘08 Has Quit in ‘07!

May 1st, 2007

Stanhope in ‘08 has Quit in ‘07!

We’re done, at least so far as being a candidate.

For all of our false optimism, forced enthusiasm and the tireless effort of a small team of close friends, we couldn’t get past the wall of bureaucracy.

The Federal Election Commision proved insurmountable in their spiderweb of legal fingerfucking. The idea that I could run an effective campaign rested on the fact that I tour constantly for a living and have a built-in audience & media wherever I go. FEC rules would not allow for me to campaign at paid gigs while also retaining a personal income from those shows.

If I can’t recruit from my shows, I’m about as effective as standing on a milk crate in the city park.

Even our crafty attempts at creating our own loopholes in the laws – like jailhouse attorneys trying to invent and employ makeshift last-minute defenses – still came up short in the face of the Federal Election Commision.

The system is set up to keep the two-party monopoly as free from competition as possible. The penalties for fucking up with FEC rules make IRS penalties look like fetish spankings and I fuck up quite a bit.

The other problem was simply in making the whole thing fun. The more rules, paperwork and bullshit we’d run into the less creative and funny it was becoming. The process started to feel like when we had to “clean it up” for the Man Show – and we all know how well that worked out.

Our intention in this campaign was to try to get media attention for the Libertarian Party and we have no intention of giving up that campaign. It’s frustrating to see this country bordering on totalitarianism and having viable options like the Libertarians completely blacked out.

We’ll still put our efforts into getting the LP into the mainstream and\ eventually get behind a candidate. But it was better to bail now before announcing as opposed to plowing through with our pants half down only to fall apart later, looking like complete shitheads at the expense of the Party.

The amount of high-level people that went out of their way to support us was amazing. On the day that we have our shit together – more organized and better prepared to deal with the powers that be – we may just take another stab at it.

So jump on board, join the Libertarian Party (www.lp.org) and stay involved. We still plan on making some noise this year and turning the Libertarian National Convention in Denver next May into the Animal House of the Next Revolution.

Be sure to get on our mailing list so you can get involved in the trouble we’ll be causing.

***************************

For those of you with Stanhope in 08 t-shirts, I promise I will try to die in some horrible fashion that makes them vaulable some day.

The one I feel the most responsibility to is the chick who I don’t even know, who tattooed Stanhope in 08 on her shoulder.

We’ll fly you down to our tattoo guy in Tampa and pay to have it redone when we play there in November. Maybe we can make it say “Sanjaya in ‘08″. Or maybe I’ll run for a local water commisioner post in ‘08 and you’ll look like you’re extremely over-zealous about low-level local politics.

***********************

Many people have said that it doesn’t matter who you vote for, that the whole game is rigged. That’s why our next project will be to start our own Illuminati, Skull & Bones and New World Order that will secretly control the current New World Order without them even knowing.

Our secret society will be so secret that many of it’s member will not even know they are members. America has laws against monopolies and there is no reason that there cannot be free market competition when it comes to covert, world-ruling cabals and all-powerful, mystical fraternities.

******************************

My deepest thanks to all who went out of your way for this truncated attempt at giving the whole system the finger. We still intend to say “Fuck You” loudly and repeatedly. We’ll just have to find more unique, exciting and unregulated ways to do it.

No matter who is elected to what man-made office or put on whatever throne, you are still the leader of your own free world.

Stick around.

stanhope

Hat Tip/A. Keaton

Update: The Washington Times picked up the Stanhope story.

Stand-up comedian and Libertarian Party presidential candidate Doug Stanhope is dropping out of the presidential race. Most of you are probably asking yourself, “Who is Doug Stanhope and why should I care?”

Stanhope says he is withdrawing from the race because of Federal Elections Commission rules that prevent him from discussing his political views while simultaneously earning an income from his comedic performances.

In an e-mail to supporters, Stanhope writes: “For all of our false optimism, forced enthusiasm and the tireless effort of a small team of close friends, we couldn’t get past the wall of bureaucracy.”…

…I’d print more of the letter, but most of it isn’t fit for a family newspaper (or Web site, as the case may be).

Stanhope is scheduled to appear on the Howard Stern Show tomorrow to announce his withdrawal from the race.

Stanhope, whose MySpace page says he was running on a platform of, “Revolution, prison reform, conspiracy theories and beating incredible odds,” promises to back the eventual Libertarian Party nominee.

Jury Nullification: Should Juries Be Informed Of Their Right To Ignore The Law?

Jury nullification is a process by which a criminal jury determines that a law is unconscienable, either morally or as it applies to a specific case, and therefore is to be ignored despite the guilt of the defendant. The US Supreme Court has determined that juries do have the power to nullify, but they also determined that juries need not be informed of this power. As a result, very few jurors have any idea that they can ignore the law, if they feel the case before them warrants that action.

Historical examples of jury nullification are abundant. Early in our nation’s history, jurors were regularly informed of this power. Positive examples of jury nullification include cases involving the Fugitive Slave laws, and of course, Prohibition. Negative examples include the refusal of some juries in the south to find white supremacists guilty of murdering African-Americans or civil rights workers, despite substantial evidence of guilt.

Judges worry that informing juries of this power will result in juror anarchy, with jurors deciding cases based on their sympathies rather than on the facts of the case; some argue that this is what happened in the OJ Simpson trial of the early 90s. Another judicial concern is that jury nullification will result in an increase in the number of hung juries, or that jurors will be overwhelmed if they are expected to interpret not only the facts, but the fairness of the law as well. An ongoing concern is that, once found not guilty by a jury, a defendant is protected from ever being tried again on that charge under the Double Jeopardy Clause; so if jurors nullify, guilty defendants will go free. The current conventional wisdom is therefore to not only not inform jurors of their nullification powers, but to specifically instruct jurors that they are to determine the facts, not the law, and that they must follow the law exactly as it is presented to them by the court.