Because for some reason Russ Verney's return email doesn't work

I got the standard daily fundraising email from the Barr campaign today, in which Russ Verney first whined about the judge keeping Bob Barr out of last night's joint appearance by Barack Obama and John McCain, and then (naturally) got around to asking me for more money.

Supposedly to get Barr into the big Presidential debates, but let's get down to cases:

Call me a bit grumpy over the matter, but I think it's time that we break that winning streak by getting Bob Barr into the national debates.

I don't think that I stand alone on this issue.

As a matter of fact, I know that I'm not alone. You agree with me and that's a good start, but a report that I read late Friday night led me to believe that we can do a bit better.

According to the polling firm, Zogby International, a MAJORITY of Americans want Bob Barr included in the national debates!

The poll showed that 55% of likely voters want Bob Barr included in the debates. Of the respondents, 69% of independents felt that Bob Barr deserves a place in the debate, while 52% of Democrats and even 50% of Republicans agreed.

You, me, and a majority of Americans want Bob Barr taking the stage next month with John McCain and Barack Obama.

You, me, and a majority of Americans . . . that's not too bad now is it?

Steve we can make this happen.

I need your aggressive support from now until Election Day.

I need your contributions - as much as you can give.

I need you to spread the word far-and-wide about our candidate.

Finally, our nation - and especially the national media - needs to witness an avalanche of support made possible by a dedicated group of Americans who truly love liberty and will fight to get it back.

Steve we will make this happen.

Only a few short weeks remain until the Commission on Presidential Debates begins their "selection process" for candidates.

Donate, Spread the Word, Make Noise. Do not wait for orders from headquarters.

I appreciate your support.

So here's my reply to Russ:

Dear Russ,

You probably need to purge your email list, since I publicly dropped support of your candidate weeks ago.

Why?

Because Bob Barr's PAC donated thousands of dollars to Republican candidates who had Libertarian opponents, while he was a member of the Libertarian National Committee.

Because Bob Barr's position on the DOMA is that it's OK for the States to deprive American citizens of their rights based on sexual orientation.

Because Bob Barr hasn't shown the slightest concern for down-ticket Libertarian candidates.

Because the Barr campaign's approach to ballot access has been one of the least effective in recent memory.

Because Bob Barr's financial reports are riddled with air conditioning systems and payments to consultants who just happen to be family, friends, and former LP employees...

Russ, the fact of the matter is that your candidate hasn't met the necessary standard for my financial or personal support, and has become an embarrassment to many Libertarians nationwide.

And as for the little matter of orders from headquarters, just the fact that you'd include that phrase in a fundraising email to Libertarians suggests that you don't have the slightest clue about the ideology your candidate supposedly represents.

Sorry, Russ: no sale.

Sadly,

Steve Newton, Publisher
Delaware Libertarian

A Libertarian Martin Luther King Jr. Day post

In which we travel into interesting waters . . . (for a fairly long trip, so be prepared) Dr. King's 1968 book, Where do we go from here: chaos or community? , is profound in that it criticizes anti-poverty programs for their piecemeal approach, as John Schlosberg of the Center for a Stateless Society [C4SS] observes: King noted that the antipoverty programs of the time “proceeded from a premise that poverty is a consequence of multiple evils,” with separate programs each dedicated to individual issues such as education and housing. Though in his view “none of these remedies in itself is unsound,” they “all have a fatal disadvantage” of being “piecemeal,” with their implementation having “fluctuated at the whims of legislative bodies” or been “entangled in bureaucratic stalling.” The result is that “fragmentary and spasmodic reforms have failed to reach down to the profoundest needs of the poor.” Such single-issue approaches also have “another common failing — ...

Libertarian National Committee Deathwatch Part 1

As the LNC continues to lurch towards collapse, with the latest news of mass layoffs at HQ, I've decided to begin tracking those things leading the national party to irrelevance, even as state and local parties gain power. As news, rumors and rhetoric break out, I shall chronicle them in this ongoing series at Delaware Libertarian. Organizations approaching failure have a number of characteristics. One of the most striking is renunciation of their purpose and effort to reinvent themselves as a "me-too" provider of services in the marketplace. In this, the LNC has been on a collision course with destiny for a while now. Recently, for example, it hired Republican Party web site developer TerraEclipse to redesign the LNC web site . Terra created a web site very similar to those of the clients it brags most about -- far-right Republican conservatives like Tom McClintock and BJ Lawson. A quick look at the web site they built for the LNC is instructive. The tagline on the ...

The disturbing decline of the Delaware blogosphere: a very unfortunate Around the Horn (even if it's not Friday)

I've noticed a change in my own blog-checking habits over the past several weeks, and I don't know if it's just me or the reality of the last month of a divisive political campaign. I automatically used to check out Delawareliberal first and several times a day, because it was where I could find edgy, thought-provoking, and (dare I say it) funny banter going on. These days visit several other spots first, and my visits to DL are both shorter and less engaged. Why? Because the combination of invading neo-con commenters with the stridency of some of the major contributors has led to such pleasant exchanges as a post dedicated to labeling another blogger racist by donviti, whose own sense of provocative humor is generally so far out there that he makes John Belushi doing Samurai bartender on the SNL look positively pro-Asian. Or I can find Delawaredem and jason periodically spewing the idea that anybody who is not a liberal or progressive Democrat is somehow a non-American,...

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