The Jackson County [Indiana] Banner recounts the town meeting recently held by 9th Congressional District Libertarian candidate Dr Eric Schansberg at which he (gasp, sputter) actually stood up and just answered people's questions. After his prepared statement, Eric threw the floor open to the voters: The first question Dr. Schansberg fielded was about illegal immigration. Though not his “favorite issue”, he said policy should be to deal with the reason immigrants enter the country illegally. “We need to penalize employers who hire illegal immigrants,” he said. He went on to say that he’s a fan of legal immigration, though the process often deters people from legally moving into the country. “I’m for a high wall and a large gate. We need to streamline INS procedures. If you want people to do the wrong thing, make the right thing hard to do,” he said. He was questioned about the Fair Tax and the flat tax, both of which he said are “improvements”. Another person asked about opening a...

I'm not even going to post about either of these stories beyond this: If you want to read about progressive and liberal Democrats tying themselves up into knots trying to avoid sounding like they actually purchased subscriptions to celebrity tabloids, then visit Delaware Liberal and look through the bars. [Please note that both at DL and the DKos these are the same people who ran with the completely unfounded Sussex County story of a young Muslim girl being harassed over Barack Obama's religious affiliation, and who--even when the story was discovered to lack foundation--did damnall little to set right the avalanche of abuse they lit off.] If you want to see that the Democrats have now fully invited God into the political arena on their side (after spending years condemning the GOPers--and rightly so--for doing just that), then visit Becky the Girl in Short Shorts . But in both cases take a barf bag with you. From one family's potential personal tragedy to the ongoing tra...

Regular DE Blogosphere commenter (and Libertarian) Brian Shields has taken the plunge with The Mourning Constitution , increasing the quotient of individual liberty and rational discourse in the Delaware blogosphere. Go. Bookmark. Read. Argue. Enjoy. Welcome, Brian.

Or should we just sit back and watch as China feeds its authoritarian, human-rights-abusing, environmentally disastrous government a big helping of light Iraqi crude? See, as a Libertarian I applaud the right of the Iraqi government to do what the hell it wants to do with the oil that is a sovereign Iraq's property. But as a good American imperialist (in the manner of GHW Bush, Bill Clinton, Dubya, John McCain, and even Barack), damn it, I expect that when my government literally sends in the Marines, Will Rogers-style , that we get to keep the goddamn oil we rightfully stole.

Sarah Palin, Governor of Alaska and now Senator John McCain's pick as his Veep, has been undergoing the usual media anal exam, which is a singularly unpleasant if accurate metaphor to use for the highly partisan examinations of the new candidate's qualifications. Of course, no Democrat finds her qualified (with the possible exception of Hillary Clinton ), no Republican has any problem with here (except if the Republican in question thought he was about to get the nod), and the media doesn't know what the hell to do with her except criticize her career aspirations as causing her potentially to neglect her children (thanks, John Roberts ). What this all overlooks is the non-partisan fact that none of the four individuals running is actually even remotely qualified to be President of the United States. That's the disgusting true story of the election of 2008. We have three Senators running--members of the only governmental organization with a lower approval rating that...

OK, so I must be a plutocrat like John McCain because my wife and I saved and invested carefully enough to afford a condo in Lewes. (I got Tony Rezko to buy the one below me for more than market value, so that it all evened out.) No internet. No cable TV. No Greek temples facades that I though (honest!) when I first saw it looked more like and old set from The Price is Right . And no more idiotic posts about Sara Palin from any direction. I'll have internet connections at night on occasion, so I will check in here and post occasionally. But mostly I'll be enjoying the ill-gotten fruits of capitalism before the taxman comes and takes it all away.

This link is for those of you who visit from out-of-state, and may not have any idea that Duffy exists. A line-by-line, devastatingly accurate commentary on Senator Obama's speech at the DNC,

It's not up on the website yet, so I can't link to it until later, but on page 3 of the Local section in today's NJ Beth Miller covered the Libertarian Party of Delaware convention, mentioning all of our candidates. Go check it out.

There are a lot of places you could go to read this story, but nobody will tell it better than RC at Big Bend Bikers for Freedom : Federal Court Rules Driving with Air Fresheners is Suspicious. Federal appeals court rules that motorists can be stopped for 30 minutes and searched if they are nervous and use an air freshener. Judge J. Harvie Wilkinson IIIA federal appellate court ruled last week that police can delay a routine traffic stop as long as necessary to conduct a search for drugs. In its decision, the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit upheld the validity of a thirty-minute traffic stop in Maryland because the arresting officer claimed the nervous driver had an air freshener hanging from his rear-view mirror and had previously been spotted driving in a run-down neighborhood. O.K. so if you want to read the rest of this gig you can go here. But do you really need to? Cause like here's the gig, when the courts decide that nervousness+air freshener=sufficient cause f...

Here's an interesting question for voters in Delaware's 4th House District. Fact: Gerald Brady is employed as the Executive Director of the Delaware AFL-CIO . Fact: Gerald Brady has solicited and received over $5,000 in campaign contributions from unions (including the Delaware AFL-CIO) over the past two years. In 2006: Delaware AFL-CIO--$600 Political Education Committee, Local 1238 IBEW--$300 ABC Educational Fund Local 27 [Baltimore MD]-$100 In 2007: FOP State PAC--$200 PAC Local Union No. 451 --$200 Local 42 PAC Asbestos Workers --$300 Delaware Building Trades --$200 Bricklayers & Allied Crafts Local 1PA/DE PAC Fund--$600 Plumbers & Pipefitters Local No.74 PAC--$600 Wilm Police/Fire Pension Task Force--$100 ABC Educational Fund Local 27 --$100 F.O.P.State PAC Fund--$400 IUOE Local 542 --$400 Carpenters Local #626 --$600 IBEW Local #313 --$300 Politial Education Committee, IBEW local #1238--$300 Grand total (not including what Gerald has socked away so far in 2008)...

This one is several months old, but is one of my favorites from Nanny Knows Best , chronicling the folly of creating a Progressive State in England wherein the government has the power to use force to DO GOOD. And the good they're doing? Banning fire extinguishers because you might try to use them (so help me) to put out fires: It transpires that those appliances that you and I assume are there to help us fight fires, fire extinguishers, are a clear and present danger to our health and safety. That at least is the view of Nanny's chums in Hamilton Townsend, managing agents for a block of flats in Bournemouth. A risk assessment (pass the sick bag) was recently carried at Avon House and Admirals Walk by a buildings risk assessor, these people make a very nice living on the back on Nanny's rules and regulations (under the Regulatory Reform Fire Safety Order 2005 the managing agents of every private block of flats must hire professional assessors to carry out a risk assessmen...

George Donnelly, who did what LP national has yet to do in putting up a website dedicated to tracking our State and local candidates , has another idea. He's interested in creating a Libertarian version of the Contract with America that Newt Gingrich used so successfully in 1994 to support our candidates in 2010. Here's a smattering of George's intro (more designed to incite conversation than to be a close expression of his own beliefs): The Republican Contract with America is generally believed to have not only helped the Republicans take over the House in 1994, but also put President Clinton on the defensive.... The Concept Of Accountability Was The Only Revolutionary Aspect. But it was a real softball. The only revolutionary aspect to it was the implication that politicians might be accountable to their constituents. Significant Pledges To Shrink Government So, I propose a Libertarian contract with America, and one with real teeth - significant pledges to take action t...

You'll probably never hear this one in the MSM, what with Bill trying hard not to spit every time he says Barack's name, but.... It appears there is a legal case to be made that neither John McCain nor Barack Obama should be on the ballot in Texas come November 4 . Apparently, Texas changed its law a couple years back to require names to be submitted to the Secretary of State not 60 days before the election, but 70 days . And there is some uncertainty as to whether the GOPers and Dems even submitted placeholder petitions, with the intent to substitute actual names after their conventions. [They could easily have submitted Obama and McCain as the main candidates, but the law requires VPs as well.] I suspect that either (a) we will discover retroactively that they filed something; or (b) a carefully purchased Texas judge will simply set aside the law ala Frank Lautenberg's illegal replacement of Bob Toricelli a few years ago in New Jersey; or (c) at the very worst they'l...

The latest story about the TSA Gestapo wanting to grope a woman with an underwire bra didn't interest me half so much as some of the comments: Carolyn said... Happened to me once in Detroit airport right after 9/11. Humiliating and unnerving. So now I have a special bra with no underwire that I always wear when I fly. Clothing manufacturers take notice: use plastic for underwire rather than metal! Thanks Carolyn--we'll just change all out clothing choices to get permission to fly.... limabeano@aol.com said... Just a suggestion... I have stopped wearing large metal bracelets and necklaces as well as belts with large buckles when I travel to expedite my time going through security. To avoid any problems, perhaps all of us who are well endowed should forgo the underwires on travel days--a sports bra or non-underwire might be the solution to avoid those pesky pat downs. Yeah, limabean, it's obviously OUR problem.... petra.allen@verizonbusiness.com said... doesn't that woma...

Jim Wooten of the Atlanta Journal Constitution notes that another well-known Georgia conservative has deserted Senator Saxby Chambliss for Libertarian Allen Buckley: [Joe] McCutchen, of Ellijay, is widely known and highly regarded in conservative and Republican circles as a passionate advocate for fiscally responsible government. Pork sends him up the wall. Hidden debt dumped on the grandchildren invites his wrath. He’s loyal to Republicans until they cross him on core principles. Then he’s gone. “They’re nice guys,” he says after identifying members of the Georgia congressional delegation, “but I can’t vote for them.” In the U.S. Senate race, he’ll vote for Libertarian Allen Buckley, convinced that incumbent Saxby Chambliss is a big spender, particularly on farm programs. Columnist Wooten goes on to praise Buckley's fiscal plans: Buckley will appeal to fiscal conservatives, regardless of their party affiliation. The 47-year-old lawyer and certified public accountant is the voice ...

Most of the time Eric Dondero and I don't see eye-to-eye on many issues, but I appreciate his picking up the Libertarian Party of Delaware fusion nominations of Tyler Nixon and Jesse Priester in a larger post at Libertarian Republican about fusion candidacies nationwide. Thank, Eric.

As we move closer to Election Day, Libertarian candidates are starting to show up in the polls. This is not necessarily because they are suddenly gaining adherents from zero, but because the pollsters have started to include them. Michigan's Libertarian Senatorial candidate Scotty Boman, for example, has been working away, but only recently has his name been included in polling in the State's 7th and 9th Congressional Districts , where he is pulling down 2% and 3% respectively. Statewide polls still have not included Boman, but are consistently showing a 5% vote for Other , a category including Boman, Green Party candidate Harley Mikkelson, Taxpayer Party candidate Mike Nikitin, and Natural Law Party candidate Douglas Dern. Mikkelson, Nikitin, and Dern, however, only score a combined 1-point-something in the 7th District and a combined 3-point-something in the 9th, which suggests that Boman's numbers are probably running in the 2-3% range across the State. Bob Barr, on t...

From Daniel at Down Right : I finally found him. I have finally found someone who will actually stand up and answer the tough question of our national debt. As I have stated many times, my generation is facing a personal debt of $175,000 per person if we don’t do something fast, and Allen Buckley, the Libertarian candidate for Senate in Georgia, is offering a solution.... [there follows an excerpt from Buckley's financial plan] Although I have stated previously that it is important to keep Democrats out of office and is usually best to vote for a Republican, I plan to support Mr. Buckley in November. It is absolutely necessary to address this problem, and Buckley’s campaign, if nothing else, will attract attention to this failure in Washington. By cutting spending, pork projects, entitlement projects, and a few government agencies that are unnecessary, people like Allen Buckley can put America in a position to succeed in the future. I’m excited that this has already gained attentio...

From Al Jazeera this post of Dubya warning Russia not to recognize the breakaway Georgian provinces: The US president has warned Russia not to recognise Georgia's two breakaway provinces of South Ossetia and Abkhazia. George Bush said on Monday that Russia's leadership should "meet its commitments and not recognise these separatist regions". "Georgia's territorial integrity and borders must command the same respect as every other nation's, including Russia's," he said. Bush's statement came after Russia's parliament passed resolutions calling for the recognition of South Ossetia and Abkhazia as independent states on Monday. Without commenting on the relative merits of Georgia vs South Ossetia/Abkhazia, I'd only point out that we were quite willing to recognize Kosovan independence in February 2008 against Russia's protests when it suited our foreign policy agenda. And, of course there's Joe Biden's old plan to break up I...

Since the Saturday LPD convention, we've been gaining considerable attention both in-State and nationwide. Last Free Voice ran our press release in its entirety. Ballot Access News picked that up, and did its own story on our use of fusion candidacy. George Donnelly's Libertarian Party Candidates 2008 has now updated the Delaware page to show Tyler Nixon (Tyler, I screwed up with the upload of the photo; he'll add that tomorrow) and Mark Anthony Parks; they'll add Jesse Priester as soon as he sends his info Mike Matthews at Down with Absolutes has picked up my revelations about the special interest fundraising bonanza enjoyed by Tyler's opponent Gerald Brady. The News Journal has promised me coverage within the next day or so. Pretty good so far; but let's see what else we can do.

jason at Delawareliberal posts the following about Democrat Jack Markell's latest plans: Today Jack Markell joined community leaders and public-safety advocates Monday to release his plan to make Delawareans safer in response to the recent escalation of gun violence. I have just skimmed it so far, but I really like these practical common sense steps which DON’T INFRINGE ON ANYONE’S 2ND AMMENDMENT RIGHTS. One of the proposals was the following: LAUNCH A “PARENTAL CONSENT TO SEARCH AND SEIZE PROGRAM” : to help police and parents work together to stop youth firearm possession. Through such an effort, police will seek permission from a homeowner to enter a home in search of illegal firearms belonging to juveniles and, if found, the illegal firearm is confiscated but no gun possession charges are filed. When this was tried in St. Louis, consent was given nearly all the time and half the searches turned up firearms – with 510 weapons seized and taken away from youths during an 18-month ...

From the Munger campaign : On Saturday, an invitation arrived from UNC-TV. Mike has accepted the invitation to participate in two debates on public television, Sept. 24 and October 8. This adds momentum to the effort to include Dr. Mike in ALL the debates. Previously Dr. Mike was invited to one debate, in October, at Queens College in Charlotte. The campaign staff was apprehensive that one candidate would cancel at the last minute and thereby scuttle the event. So the UNC-TV invitation is especially welcome: the terms of the debate say that the event goes on, even if “not all” candidates accept. This means it would be very risky for Bev (say) to decline, giving Mike and Pat a show of their own. We still have other debates and events that are excluding Dr. Munger. Please visit the campaign website for information on how you can help. Meanwhile, BlueNC, the leading Progressive Blog in the Tarheel State, finds itself now taking a Libertarian candidate seriously , even when they disagree...

Here are the clips, thanks to Brian Shields CNN Video: Video 1: Video 2: The first step is to get your ideas considered mainstream enough to be included in the daily norm of political discourse. That's what Allen Buckley is achieving.

We all know that the hundreds of US military bases across the world are draining our taxpayer dollars while extending the reach of a Statist, Corporatist, interventionist foreign policy. But did you know that the Drug Enforcement Administration trains people to break down doors and shoot dogs (or whatever they do) in this many countries: Belize, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Mexico, Canada, Panama, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Honduras, Paraguay, Colombia, Brazil, Argentina, Uruguay, Venezuela, Bolivia, Peru, Ecuador, Chile, Antigua and Barbuda, Barbados, Dominica, Grenada, St. Kitts & Nevis, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, St. Lucia, Aruba, Netherlands Antilles, Suriname, Jamaica, The Bahamas, Turks & Caicos Islands, Haiti, Guyana, Trinidad & Tobago, Suriname, Dominican Republic, Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia, Australia, Cook Islands, Fiji, French Polynesia, New Caldeonia, New Zealand, Niue, Papua New Guinea, Solomon Islands, Tokelau, Tonga, Tuvalu, Vanuatu, Wallis & Futuna, West...

For the State of Delaware, and for the Libertarian Party of Delaware, I consider the race between Libertarian/Republican Tyler Nixon and Democrat Gerald Brady to be the most important contest of the year. So at the risk of being Verbose [thanks for stroking my ego, Shirley], I am going into some detail on what it will take to put him in office. Here's the key comment Tyler made on Saturday at the LPD convention: “It’s time for government to stop regulating the American people, and time for the American people to start regulating their government.” He went on to talk about the Wilmington/New Castle County Instant Ticket program , under which bureaucrats can walk onto your property and assess you an instant $50 fine, which you can appeal only to the agency writing the ticket . "This is the concept of judge, jury, and executioner all rolled into one," Tyler told delegates, "and from every perspective it's simply wrong." By his actions in supporting HB 161 [Se...

Europe, as Progressives never tire of explaining to us when speaking of health care, or education, or snails for dinner, is the gold standard of civilization. If it works in Europe, and we're not doing it, it's another reason that all values but Progressive values (governmental force in the service of an ideology) are bankrupt. So, in the interest of furthering America's understanding of the European Statist Utopia, here's a post from Nanny Knows Best about the latest British good government idea : taking fat kids away from their parents: David Rogers, the LGA [Local Government Association] spokesman on public health, said: "Councils are increasingly having to consider taking action where parents are putting children's health in real danger. Councils would step in to deal with an undernourished or neglected child, so should a case with a morbidly obese child be different? If parents place children at risk through bad diet and lack of exercise is it right for ...

10. Because we timed our convention to occur simultaneous with Joe Biden's announcement as Barack's VP pick, thus insuring we would be able to hold our deliberations unbothered by all the large, intrusive camera trucks that usually mark our affairs. 9. Because even when we found out that the East End Cafe in Newark was out of Colorado Sauce for the wings, we toughed it out and didn't leave. 8. Because Shirley Vandever came to our convention, and we bet she didn't come to yours. 7. Because we haven't nominated Mike Protack or Rick Atkins for anything. 6. Because our new State Chair actually has access to real office machinery. 5. Because Mark Anthony Parks, our candidate for the US House is younger than a fossil (Castle) and smarter than even an attractive box of rocks (O'Donnell). 4. Because we figured out a way to hang our banner (yes, damn it, we have one) from the mike stands on the stage when we couldn't reach the ceiling. 3. Because we had at le...

Our official press release: “It’s time for government to stop regulating the American people,” said attorney Tyler Nixon , accepting the Libertarian Party of Delaware’s fusion nomination in the 4th House District (Wilmington), “and time for the American people to start regulating their government.” Nixon, already the Republican candidate for the seat, was one of three individuals nominated by the Libertarians at their annual convention on Saturday in Newark. He identified government transparency, eminent domain abuse, and renewable energy as key campaign themes. Fusion nominations, legal in Delaware despite an attempt to kill the practice last year, allow candidates to accept the endorsement of two or more parties in the same race. Nearly two dozen delegates also voted to nominate Mark Anthony Parks of New Castle County as the Libertarian candidate for the US House of Representatives. “Ron Paul’s candidacy energized me,” he said. “His campaign convinced me that people would res...

Waldo brought my attention to this one, although I disagree strongly with his sweeping generalization in the opening line: Christians are innovative when it comes to ducking responsibility for their bigotries. This is the poster placed all over campus on an Ohio community college by an atheist group promoting its next meeting: It brought out the predictable narrow-minded rejoinders that the people behind the poster were mocking religion : Student aide Jessica Hodge said she felt the poster would “pollute the minds” of her children, ages 2 and 5, if they saw it. “It looks like soft-core pornography,” she said. “I don’t think they’re making a statement at all. They just want to shock everyone.” A Christian, Hodge said she doesn’t try to force her opinions on others. Questioning religion is fine, but mocking it isn’t, she said. As another Christian who believes in the First Amendment, Jessica, I need to explain to you that mocking religion is perfectly fair game. And I'd also point...

So, under the Federal tax check-off system, $34 million of our tax money is going to fund the Dem and GOP conventions . Thirty-four million dollars of US taxpayer money is going to fund the Dem and GOP conventions? That's $34,000,000--not Federal matching funds but an outright grant of my tax dollars--going to fund the f**king political conventions of two American political parties -- neither one of which I belong to ? So pretty much what this boils down to is that while the Catholic Church can't get tax money from Presbyterians, Mormons, and Jews to fund itself, the Republicans and Democrats get to take tax money from Libertarians, Greens, Socialists, and Independents not to meet Federal matching fund requirements, but to pay to drop the goddamn balloons on the heads of Barack Obama and John McCain . OK, somebody--anybody--explain to me how this is one whit more ethical than an established church.

His name is Gibson Glass, and his interview led off Al Jazeera's coverage of the issue of health care in America : Gibson Glass, 58, enjoys his jogs though New York City's Central Park. But he is not just running for fun. Gibson is one of more than 40 million Americans who does not have health insurance. So, for Gibson, regular exercise is a form of health insurance. He is a freelance picture framer, and he says he simply cannot afford to pay about $600 each month on insurance. He says that the United States' healthcare system is "totally messed up" because, as he puts it, "everybody should be able to afford health insurance, whatever their income, and I have a pretty good income, I just can't afford it." Gibson has worked out the odds and is making a rational decision, based on his circumstances. Seven years from now, when he is 65, he will qualify for Medicare, government-funded healthcare for the US's elderly. But sometimes, a rational decisi...

None of whom are among my favorite Senators, but when they get it right, they deserve the damn credit. [And, oh yeah, Sheldon Whitehouse, who I have to admit I've never heard of.] From the New York Times: WASHINGTON — A Justice Department plan would loosen restrictions on the Federal Bureau of Investigation to allow agents to open a national security or criminal investigation against someone without any clear basis for suspicion , Democratic lawmakers briefed on the details said Wednesday. The plan, which could be made public next month, has already generated intense interest and speculation. Little is known about its precise language, but civil liberties advocates say they fear it could give the government even broader license to open terrorism investigations. Congressional staff members got a glimpse of some of the details in closed briefings this month, and four Democratic senators told Attorney General Michael B. Mukasey in a letter on Wednesday that they were troubled by wha...

. . . and argue that its administrative costs are minimal and fraud is low. . . Now have to deal with a Federal Inspector General's report that shows an entirely different picture, as reported by that obvious reactionary spin-sheet The New York Times : Medicare’s top officials said in 2006 that they had reduced the number of fraudulent and improper claims paid by the agency, keeping billions of dollars out of the hands of people trying to game the system. But according to a confidential draft of a federal inspector general’s report, those claims of success, which earned Medicare wide praise from lawmakers, were misleading. In calculating the agency’s rate of improper payments, Medicare officials told outside auditors to ignore government policies that would have accurately measured fraud , according to the report. For example, auditors were told not to compare invoices from salespeople against doctors’ records, as required by law, to make sure that medical equipment went to actual...

I know, I know, Libertarians aren't supposed to use the "W" word, and we're wackos who only play the part of spoilers. Except.... I've already covered a commenter on the Progressive blog BlueNC coming out for Dr Michael Munger, the Libertarian candidate for Governor of North Carolina, over Democrat Bev Perdue.... ...and the GOP-leaning Meck Deck discussing why Perdue should be happy Munger wasn't invited to the last debate. Now, two other sources chime in. Here's Bryan C. Hanks of the Kinston Free Press : It does in North Carolina. According to this SurveyUSA Election Poll, Libertarian Mike Munger is “complicating” the governor’s race. While Bev Perdue leads Pat McCrory 47-44 percent, Munger is pulling down 5 percent (with 5 percent undecided). My take: And yet, they’re not allowing Munger to debate with Perdue and McCrory. The Libertarian Party is an official party again in North Carolina — despite what the Republicans and Democrats have done to destroy t...