A very wise video from Fox Business Channel
Sunday, June 29, 2008
A July 4th Rally For Ron Paul... In Oslo Norway!
The message of libertarianism and Ron Paul are not just American but global
Bob Barr On Preston on Politics
A great interview allowing Barr to explain himself more than what is normally shown on TV so far.
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Bob Barr On Fox Sunday
Hey its Fox News which we all know pander to the Neo Conservative message but at least there is more media exposure for our candidate Bob Barr.
Barr is speaking about the Patriot Act, Defense of Marriage, and The War on Drugs
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Barr is speaking about the Patriot Act, Defense of Marriage, and The War on Drugs
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Friday, June 27, 2008
A Real Choice (Not McCain or Obama)
From the Bob Barr you tube channel; The video says it all:
Visit the Bob Barr Presidential campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
The Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Visit the Bob Barr Presidential campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
The Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Bob Barr Article: Will libertarian Barr be next Nader?
The typical question always posed to third party candidates (in the title) but overall this is a good article from Politico: http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11338.html
The Republican Party and John McCain should be afraid, very afraid, of Bob Barr.
For only the second time since it began running presidential candidates in 1972, the Libertarian Party has a leader who has actually been elected to something (the first being Ron Paul, in 1988, then also a former Republican congressman).
A Republican congressman from Georgia for eight years, Barr has a real constituency in his home state. Combined with a heavy black turnout, the participation of Barr partisans could easily deprive McCain of Georgia’s usually Republican electoral votes.
But Barr goes beyond the one-key-state problem that megalomaniac Ralph Nader caused Democrats in 2000, when the self-righteous, self-styled consumer advocate deprived Al Gore of more than enough chads to lose Florida.
And Barr is a considerably more skilled, articulate campaigner than Paul. Like many children of the ’60s now in our 60s, he has traveled a circuitous route to his libertarian philosophy. He was a military brat, born in Iowa City; grew up in Malaysia, Pakistan, Panama and Iran; and became an anti-Vietnam War Young Democrat in the 1960s, when he studied at the University of Southern California. He then discovered the philosophy of Ayn Rand and joined the Young Trojan Republican Club at USC; he went on to embrace movement conservatism in the 1980s. He rekindled the libertarian side of his conservative inclinations after being involuntarily retired from the congressional Republican Party after his census-redistricted campaign for reelection in 2002.
Like a number of small-government Republicans who came to Washington in the Republican Revolution of 1994, Barr’s separation from the corrupting influences of K Street power led him to rediscover just how much liberty was being sucked out of our personal as well as economic lives in these — to use the well-earned cliché — 10 square miles, surrounded by reality, known as Washington, D.C.
He may be proof that political wisdom can grow when not polluted by the mindless partisanship and seductive careerism that contaminates Capitol Hill.
An anti-drug warrior in the Reagan Department of Justice as well as in Congress, Barr now supports medical marijuana rights and questions neo-Prohibition. The author of the Defense of Marriage Act while in the House, he now opposes the federal constitutional amendment against gay marriage and advocates states’ rights on the issue. A supporter of the post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act, Barr now publicly regrets that vote.
Perhaps most remarkable for a man made famous as one of the House managers in the Clinton impeachment, the anti-Iraq-war-Republican-turned-Libertarian recently gave this answer to MobLogic.tv interviewer Lindsay Campbell when she asked him to choose between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton: “Why you doin’ that to me?” he sighed. But he quickly answered, “I’d have to go with Bill Clinton. Bush has done such damage to freedom, liberty and privacy.” Wow.
As a libertarian Democrat (there are about six of us, I think), but also an Obamamaniac, I certainly appreciate all the support Barr can provide in helping to thwart a third Bush term.
But as a small “l” libertarian, I welcome Barr’s contribution to explaining what the philosophy of free markets and free minds means to voters, who got little sense of it from the personality- and rhetorically challenged Paul.
To be sure, the bespectacled and mustachioed Barr may be too dour for prime time — though not necessarily boring, for those who recall his licking whipped cream off the chest of a woman at a fundraising event several years ago. But he speaks in complete thoughts and succinct sound bites, with occasional flashes of humor. There may be enough gravitas in him to rescue the Libertarian label from the potpourri of wackery that keeps its candidates from breaking the 1.1 percent of the presidential electorate that was its zenith of national vote-getting. That happened in 1980, when Republicans had a self-described libertarian candidate running for president, Ronald Reagan.
With a statist conservative as the GOP standard-bearer this year, Republicans who can’t hold their noses and vote Democratic may find Barr an appealing place to plant their protests against a party that has sold out to a Rove-ing band of “compassionate” big-government “conservatives,” more interested in the perks of power than in principle.
And that has to be welcome news for Barack Obama in several other Southern states and the Rockies and Intermountain West. But good also for those of us who would like to see a contest of ideas in the next five months that goes beyond a silly left/right food fight.
Go, Bob, go!
Terry Michael, director of the nonpartisan Washington Center for Politics & Journalism, is a former Democratic National Committee press secretary and writes on his blog, www.terrymichael.net.
The Republican Party and John McCain should be afraid, very afraid, of Bob Barr.
For only the second time since it began running presidential candidates in 1972, the Libertarian Party has a leader who has actually been elected to something (the first being Ron Paul, in 1988, then also a former Republican congressman).
A Republican congressman from Georgia for eight years, Barr has a real constituency in his home state. Combined with a heavy black turnout, the participation of Barr partisans could easily deprive McCain of Georgia’s usually Republican electoral votes.
But Barr goes beyond the one-key-state problem that megalomaniac Ralph Nader caused Democrats in 2000, when the self-righteous, self-styled consumer advocate deprived Al Gore of more than enough chads to lose Florida.
And Barr is a considerably more skilled, articulate campaigner than Paul. Like many children of the ’60s now in our 60s, he has traveled a circuitous route to his libertarian philosophy. He was a military brat, born in Iowa City; grew up in Malaysia, Pakistan, Panama and Iran; and became an anti-Vietnam War Young Democrat in the 1960s, when he studied at the University of Southern California. He then discovered the philosophy of Ayn Rand and joined the Young Trojan Republican Club at USC; he went on to embrace movement conservatism in the 1980s. He rekindled the libertarian side of his conservative inclinations after being involuntarily retired from the congressional Republican Party after his census-redistricted campaign for reelection in 2002.
Like a number of small-government Republicans who came to Washington in the Republican Revolution of 1994, Barr’s separation from the corrupting influences of K Street power led him to rediscover just how much liberty was being sucked out of our personal as well as economic lives in these — to use the well-earned cliché — 10 square miles, surrounded by reality, known as Washington, D.C.
He may be proof that political wisdom can grow when not polluted by the mindless partisanship and seductive careerism that contaminates Capitol Hill.
An anti-drug warrior in the Reagan Department of Justice as well as in Congress, Barr now supports medical marijuana rights and questions neo-Prohibition. The author of the Defense of Marriage Act while in the House, he now opposes the federal constitutional amendment against gay marriage and advocates states’ rights on the issue. A supporter of the post-Sept. 11 Patriot Act, Barr now publicly regrets that vote.
Perhaps most remarkable for a man made famous as one of the House managers in the Clinton impeachment, the anti-Iraq-war-Republican-turned-Libertarian recently gave this answer to MobLogic.tv interviewer Lindsay Campbell when she asked him to choose between George W. Bush and Bill Clinton: “Why you doin’ that to me?” he sighed. But he quickly answered, “I’d have to go with Bill Clinton. Bush has done such damage to freedom, liberty and privacy.” Wow.
As a libertarian Democrat (there are about six of us, I think), but also an Obamamaniac, I certainly appreciate all the support Barr can provide in helping to thwart a third Bush term.
But as a small “l” libertarian, I welcome Barr’s contribution to explaining what the philosophy of free markets and free minds means to voters, who got little sense of it from the personality- and rhetorically challenged Paul.
To be sure, the bespectacled and mustachioed Barr may be too dour for prime time — though not necessarily boring, for those who recall his licking whipped cream off the chest of a woman at a fundraising event several years ago. But he speaks in complete thoughts and succinct sound bites, with occasional flashes of humor. There may be enough gravitas in him to rescue the Libertarian label from the potpourri of wackery that keeps its candidates from breaking the 1.1 percent of the presidential electorate that was its zenith of national vote-getting. That happened in 1980, when Republicans had a self-described libertarian candidate running for president, Ronald Reagan.
With a statist conservative as the GOP standard-bearer this year, Republicans who can’t hold their noses and vote Democratic may find Barr an appealing place to plant their protests against a party that has sold out to a Rove-ing band of “compassionate” big-government “conservatives,” more interested in the perks of power than in principle.
And that has to be welcome news for Barack Obama in several other Southern states and the Rockies and Intermountain West. But good also for those of us who would like to see a contest of ideas in the next five months that goes beyond a silly left/right food fight.
Go, Bob, go!
Terry Michael, director of the nonpartisan Washington Center for Politics & Journalism, is a former Democratic National Committee press secretary and writes on his blog, www.terrymichael.net.
Thursday, June 26, 2008
Bob Barr: DC Gun Ban Decision is Great for America
Bob Barr, the Libertarian Party candidate for president, discusses the Supreme Court ruling for the 2nd amendment that will allow the end to the 31 year ban of handguns in Washington DC.
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
Visit the Bob Barr campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Visit the Libertarian Party website at http://www.lp.org
More Ron Paul On The Federal Reserve And Inflation: The 2% Interest Rates
The honest straight talk express of the whole congress, TX Rep. Dr. Ron Paul, discusses the interests rate that is set at 2% with the impact and concerns.
We can only wish that more members of our government understand the free market and the dangers of the federal reserve on our country
We can only wish that more members of our government understand the free market and the dangers of the federal reserve on our country
US court overturns DC handgun ban
The Supreme Court has made a historical vote on the second amendment.
From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474924.stm
From the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7474924.stm
In a 5-4 decision, the justices upheld a lower court ruling striking down the ban. They said individuals had a right to keep handguns for lawful purposes.
It is the first such case considered by the court in decades and is expected to have effects on gun laws across the US.
Debate over the exact meaning of the constitutional right to keep and bear
arms has raged for years.
The latest ruling says that the constitution "protects an individual right to possess a firearm unconnected with service in a militia, and to use that arm for traditionally lawful purposes, such as self-defense within the home".
The BBC's Justin Webb in Washington says the ruling is of profound importance, as it enshrines for the first time the individual right to own guns and limits efforts to reduce their role in American life.
Since 1976, the private possession of handguns had been prohibited in the nation's capital, while rifles and shotguns had been required to be locked away or dismantled.
The DC city council argued that the ban was needed to help keep violence and murder rates down.
But the measure was challenged by a security guard, Dick Heller.
He argued that if he was allowed to have a handgun at work, he also had a constitutional right to have one at home.
Friends of the court
In March last year, a federal appeals court agreed with Mr Heller that the Second Amendment protected an individual's right to keep and bear arms and that the DC ban was unconstitutional.
The city appealed against that ruling, with the case going to the Supreme Court.
The debate centred on whether the Second Amendment, ratified in 1791, protects an individual's right to possess guns, or simply a collective right for an armed militia.
The Bush administration welcomed the court's decision.
"We're pleased that the Supreme Court affirmed that the Second Amendment protects the right of Americans to keep and bear arms," White House spokesman Tony Fratto said.
The case has been closely watched, with dozens of outside groups filing opinions, known as "friends of the court" briefs, setting out their arguments for or against the DC ban.
The Supreme Court's ruling could spark challenges to gun control laws in other parts of the US, experts say.
The Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence - which supports gun control - said the decision would "most likely embolden criminal defendants, and ideological extremists, to file new legal attacks on existing gun laws".
New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg said the ruling would not affect the work of his coalition, Mayors Against Illegal Guns, which advocates stricter gun laws.
"The court clearly ruled that reasonable regulations are permitted under that decision," he said.
Even "Maverick McCain" Can't Connect with Young Voters
Maybe a good sign for people to consider Bob Barr over McCain or unwisely they will head for Obama.
From The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/passingthrough/332309
From The Nation: http://www.thenation.com/blogs/passingthrough/332309
I've long worried that John McCain could be, as Arianna Huffington put it yesterday at the Personal Democracy Forum conference, a "Trojan Horse" candidate for the GOP. His perceived status as a maverick and his cultural savvy has long inoculated him from the troubles plaguing the Republican Party and boosted his image among young voters. Out of all the GOP contenders, he seemed most capable of reviving the Republican brand among a generation trending heavily Democratic.
According to a new poll by Democracy Corps, that image of McCain the Maverick has shattered.
Since Democracy Corps' last survey in April, John McCain's favorable ratings among young voters has dropped from 34 to 30%, and his unfavorable ratings have jumped over ten points, rising from 37 to 49%. Two of the supposedly biggest advantages a McCain candidacy brings to the GOP - his popularity with independents and his "liberal" views on immigration reform - also took serious hits in recent months. Among independent young voters, McCain's unfavorable rating nearly doubled, rising from 27% in April to 49% in June, and among Hispanics his unfavorable rating is now a whopping 70%. Apparently McCain's "principled" stand on immigration during the primaries was not enough to pull Hispanics back towards the Republican Party.
According to the report, McCain's favorable/unfavorable numbers now mirror those of the Republican Party, which has seen its brand collapse among young voters in the past two years:
In a head to head match-up against Barack Obama, McCain loses the youth vote 66 - 33% among likely voters, a larger margin than Democrats enjoyed during the wave election of 2006.
What happened to McCain the Maverick? How did his highly-cultivated independent brand crash so fast?
Democracy Corps points to the transformation of McCain into "McSame," a typical politician tied to the failures of the Bush Presidency and the Republican Party. That notion has gained great traction in recent months, in particular around the issues of Iraq and the economy, the two most pressing issues in the eyes of young voters and two areas in which McCain is most tightly tied to the policies of the Bush Administration and the GOP.
According to Democracy Corps, when McCain's policies on Iraq and the economy are laid before young voters, along with potential consequences for young Americans, a majority of young voters (60 - 65%) express serious to very serious doubts about McCain's candidacy. As long as McCain holds policy positions simlar to Bush and the GOP on those two major policy issues, and as long as Democrats, bloggers, and activists continue to explain the consequences of those policies to young voters, it's hard to see how McCain can recover his maverick status and gain ground among young voters.
Ron Paul on House Resolution 5767
The resolution, by TX Rep. Dr. Ron Paul and MA Rep. Barney Frank, he bill would have prohibited the Treasury Department and the Federal Reserve from proposing and implementing regulations to enforce the vaguely written Unlawful Internet Gambling Enforcement Act (UIGEA). The bill failed in committee.
Here is Ron Paul speaking about it:
Here is Ron Paul speaking about it:
Wednesday, June 25, 2008
Bob Barr On Glenn Beck (June 25th, 2008)
Opening with the typical spoiler question, by someone standing in for Glenn Beck, its great to see more media exposure of Barr and the Libertarian Party
Visit Bob Barr's campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com and the Libertarian Party at http://www.lp.org
Visit Bob Barr's campaign website at http://www.bobbarr2008.com and the Libertarian Party at http://www.lp.org
Remember: The Revolution March is July 12th
A message from Ron Paul
I will not be able to attend it due to prior engagements but nonetheless I full heartly support it and the campaign for libertarianism, civil liberties, fiscal responsibility, small government, and the constitution.
Visit the Revolution March website at http://www.revolutionmarch.com
I will not be able to attend it due to prior engagements but nonetheless I full heartly support it and the campaign for libertarianism, civil liberties, fiscal responsibility, small government, and the constitution.
Visit the Revolution March website at http://www.revolutionmarch.com
Libertarian Party Will Be on Statewide Ballots (in Nebraska)
from http://www.nebraska.tv/Global/story.asp?S=8553595&nav=menu605_1
Also visit the Libertarian Party of Nebraska web page at http://www.lpne.org/
The following is a press release from the Libertarian Party of Nebraska:
Lincoln, NE - June 25, 2008 - Jerry Kosch, Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Nebraska, received official notification from the Secretary of State's office today that the Party's candidates will be on the ballot come November. By gathering nearly 10,000 signatures from registered voters, the LPNE has successfully added the Libertarian Party and Libertarian Presidential candidate Bob Barr to the ballot in the Cornhusker state. Nebraska becomes the 30th state to grant access to Libertarian candidates and also makes it possible to change one's party affiliation to Libertarian.
Michael Compton, Vice-Chairman of the LPNE commented, "Nebraskans are known for their rugged-individualism while at the same time maintaining close community ties. This is Libertarianism at its core."
Compton went on to say, "...during the petition drive we heard from thousands of voters that were not happy with the current slate of business-as-usual candidates offered by the two entrenched parties. Many, many Nebraskans are not interested in making a "lesser-of-two-evils" choice between McCain and Obama. We are extremely happy to give them a real choice this election cycle."
Kosch echoed these statements and added, "...although it is a challenge to get our message out, we believe that our message of smaller government, lower taxes, and more freedom will resonate with a wide variety of Nebraska voters."
The Libertarian Party, established in 1971, is America's third-largest political party. It believes in a smaller, decentralized government where power is not concentrated in Washington D.C. but instead, returned to the local level. Additionally, the Libertarian Party believes strongly in personal freedoms of property, privacy, and civil liberties.
See what the ballot access so far is for the Libertarian Party and what you can do to help at http://www.lp.org/ballot-accessAlso visit the Libertarian Party of Nebraska web page at http://www.lpne.org/
The Federal Reserve Is Up To It Again!
from the BBC: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/7472469.stm
US interest rates are expected to remain at 2% amid further signs of problems in the housing market and falling consumer confidence.
Analysts suggest the Federal Reserve faces a difficult balancing act as it tries to cope with rising prices and a slowing economy.
US consumer confidence is reportedly at its lowest level in 16 years.
Meanwhile, a survey suggested house prices were substantially lower in April compared with a year earlier.
Higher oil prices, high commodity prices and higher fuel prices are causing an inflation headache for the Central Bank, according to the BBC's Michelle Fleury in New York.
Analysts suggest the next move in rates could be upwards in an attempt to tackle inflation.
But that could worsen the economic slowdown caused by crises in the credit and housing markets, economists suggest.
It is a situation that the head of the IMF recently described as being caught between "fire and ice".
Although no change in rates is expected on Wednesday, investors will watch closely for any accompanying statements from the Fed for an indication of what its future interest rate policy might be, our correspondent says.
Housing slump
In the housing market, property prices fell by their fastest rate since 2000, according to the Case-Schiller home price index released on Tuesday.
Prices in the 20 cities it monitors were 15.3% lower in April compared to the year before.
The narrower 10-city index was 16.3% down, its biggest decline in its more than two-decade history.
Las Vegas and Miami experienced falls of more than 25%, while the declines in Denver, Chicago and Cleveland were less severe than in the previous month.
Economic gloom
The latest reading of US consumer sentiment also showed a worsening situation.
Higher food and fuel prices and fears over the economy, jobs and wages mean that US consumers' expectations for the next six months are at an all-time low, according to the Conference Board which polls 5000 households monthly.
The percentage of consumers expecting business conditions to get worse over the next six months jumped to 33.9% in June from 32.9% the previous month.
And the percentage of those expecting fewer jobs to be created in the months ahead rose to 35.5% from 32.3%.
"They feel purchasing power is diminishing. They've got rising gas and food prices and they don't feel wages are keeping pace with it and that is really taking a bite out of consumer confidence," Lynn Franco from the Conference Board told BBC News.
Tuesday, June 24, 2008
Bob Barr On Energy Policy and ANWR
FYI: Great Bob Marley intro music to the video.
Remember, help support the Barr/Root campaign at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
Remember, help support the Barr/Root campaign at http://www.bobbarr2008.com
John McCain: The Flip Flop 'Conservative'
For those Republicans who are considering voting for McCain please take a look at this:
"Libertarianism is at the heart of Conservatism" - Ronald Reagan
The Libertarian Party are already in 30 states for ballot access. Don't over look Barr as the spoiler candidate. A true democracy does not have the idea of a spoiler candidate. Information through various Libertarian links are on the right of the page.
"Libertarianism is at the heart of Conservatism" - Ronald Reagan
The Libertarian Party are already in 30 states for ballot access. Don't over look Barr as the spoiler candidate. A true democracy does not have the idea of a spoiler candidate. Information through various Libertarian links are on the right of the page.
Time To End Waste At Pentagon
from http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0608/11277.html
As Congress prepares to consider the annual Department of Defense authorization bill and other military spending legislation totaling more than $700 billion, the need for more aggressive scrutiny is abundantly clear. At a time when we have a $9.3 trillion national debt and large unmet social needs, oversight of these enormous and ever-increasing sums has failed to keep up.
The Pentagon’s procurement and budgeting processes are rife with problems. For example, the Government Accountability Office has identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 72 major weapons systems, even as the Pentagon can’t balance its books or keep track of its vast inventory. These problems can lead to bizarre results, such as the fact that the Pentagon has hundreds of millions of dollars in spare parts now on order that are already marked for disposal. Despite huge cost overruns, major contractors have received $8 billion in performance bonuses that have been paid out regardless of the results of their work. These abuses of the public trust — and the public purse — are simply unacceptable.
These are complex problems that will require multifaceted solutions. A good way to start would be by slowing down the “revolving door” that allows high-level Pentagon bureaucrats and military officers to go to work for major defense contractors.
The problems with the revolving door are twofold. First, officials looking forward to employment in the arms industry may favor certain companies in hopes of getting lucrative job offers after leaving government service. Second, once they have moved into the private sector, these former government employees can use their specialized knowledge and inside contacts to give an unfair advantage to their new employer.
These are far from abstract problems. In one high-profile case, Darleen Druyun, a senior Air Force contracting official, secured jobs with the Boeing Corp. for herself, her daughter and her son-in-law at the same time that she was in charge of negotiating a $20 billion lease deal with the company. Both Druyun and Boeing’s chief financial officer pled guilty to fraud charges and served jail time as a result.
The Boeing scandal was uncovered in time to save the taxpayers from a corrupt employment deal, but how many other scandals go undetected? In a study released this week, GAO reported that as of 2006, some 2,435 former generals, admirals, procurement officials and senior civilian leaders in the Pentagon were working in the defense industry. GAO believes that more than 400 of these were working on defense contracts related to their former agencies, but under current reporting requirements, there is no way to tell whether these individuals have conflicts of interest. That is because neither the contractors nor Pentagon officials are required to report on the post-government employment of key military and civilian government personnel.
The restrictions that do exist to curb the influence of the revolving door are riddled with loopholes. The general thrust of the regulations prevents senior Pentagon officials and personnel involved in weapons acquisition from lobbying their former agencies for one to two years after they leave the government. That doesn’t mean they can’t work behind the scenes to help their new employers get a leg up on weapons contracts, nor does it prevent them from lobbying Congress. Without any real reporting requirements, how are government regulators going to detect conflicts of interest in the first place?
A related problem is the growing use of private contractors to carry out government functions such as developing contract requirements, advising on award fees for other contractors and interpreting regulations. At more than two-thirds of the defense agencies surveyed by GAO, there were more private contractor employees involved in key offices than there were government employees. Other than restrictions on bribery and criminal fraud, these private contractors are not covered by conflict-of-interest statutes that apply to government employees. A contract employee can even have a personal financial stake in a decision that he or she is helping the government to make without running afoul of any current law or regulation.
If we are ever going to get a handle on waste in Pentagon contracting, we need to beef up revolving-door laws — including new requirements for reporting post-government employment. At a minimum, we need to subject private contractors involved in basic Pentagon decision-making to the same standards that apply to government employees. Otherwise, the Pentagon will continue to misspend untold billions of dollars that could have been applied to urgent national priorities.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, serves on the Senate Budget Committee. William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation.
As Congress prepares to consider the annual Department of Defense authorization bill and other military spending legislation totaling more than $700 billion, the need for more aggressive scrutiny is abundantly clear. At a time when we have a $9.3 trillion national debt and large unmet social needs, oversight of these enormous and ever-increasing sums has failed to keep up.
The Pentagon’s procurement and budgeting processes are rife with problems. For example, the Government Accountability Office has identified $295 billion in cost overruns on 72 major weapons systems, even as the Pentagon can’t balance its books or keep track of its vast inventory. These problems can lead to bizarre results, such as the fact that the Pentagon has hundreds of millions of dollars in spare parts now on order that are already marked for disposal. Despite huge cost overruns, major contractors have received $8 billion in performance bonuses that have been paid out regardless of the results of their work. These abuses of the public trust — and the public purse — are simply unacceptable.
These are complex problems that will require multifaceted solutions. A good way to start would be by slowing down the “revolving door” that allows high-level Pentagon bureaucrats and military officers to go to work for major defense contractors.
The problems with the revolving door are twofold. First, officials looking forward to employment in the arms industry may favor certain companies in hopes of getting lucrative job offers after leaving government service. Second, once they have moved into the private sector, these former government employees can use their specialized knowledge and inside contacts to give an unfair advantage to their new employer.
These are far from abstract problems. In one high-profile case, Darleen Druyun, a senior Air Force contracting official, secured jobs with the Boeing Corp. for herself, her daughter and her son-in-law at the same time that she was in charge of negotiating a $20 billion lease deal with the company. Both Druyun and Boeing’s chief financial officer pled guilty to fraud charges and served jail time as a result.
The Boeing scandal was uncovered in time to save the taxpayers from a corrupt employment deal, but how many other scandals go undetected? In a study released this week, GAO reported that as of 2006, some 2,435 former generals, admirals, procurement officials and senior civilian leaders in the Pentagon were working in the defense industry. GAO believes that more than 400 of these were working on defense contracts related to their former agencies, but under current reporting requirements, there is no way to tell whether these individuals have conflicts of interest. That is because neither the contractors nor Pentagon officials are required to report on the post-government employment of key military and civilian government personnel.
The restrictions that do exist to curb the influence of the revolving door are riddled with loopholes. The general thrust of the regulations prevents senior Pentagon officials and personnel involved in weapons acquisition from lobbying their former agencies for one to two years after they leave the government. That doesn’t mean they can’t work behind the scenes to help their new employers get a leg up on weapons contracts, nor does it prevent them from lobbying Congress. Without any real reporting requirements, how are government regulators going to detect conflicts of interest in the first place?
A related problem is the growing use of private contractors to carry out government functions such as developing contract requirements, advising on award fees for other contractors and interpreting regulations. At more than two-thirds of the defense agencies surveyed by GAO, there were more private contractor employees involved in key offices than there were government employees. Other than restrictions on bribery and criminal fraud, these private contractors are not covered by conflict-of-interest statutes that apply to government employees. A contract employee can even have a personal financial stake in a decision that he or she is helping the government to make without running afoul of any current law or regulation.
If we are ever going to get a handle on waste in Pentagon contracting, we need to beef up revolving-door laws — including new requirements for reporting post-government employment. At a minimum, we need to subject private contractors involved in basic Pentagon decision-making to the same standards that apply to government employees. Otherwise, the Pentagon will continue to misspend untold billions of dollars that could have been applied to urgent national priorities.
Sen. Bernie Sanders, a Vermont independent, serves on the Senate Budget Committee. William D. Hartung is the director of the Arms and Security Initiative at the New America Foundation.
Congressional Candidate Isaiah Matos (L) Discusses The Issues
A great 25 minute video of the issues discussed with Manhattan Libertarian Party Mark Axinn
Isaiah Matos website at http://operation-liberty.com/
Manhattan Libertarian Party at http://www.manhattanlp.org/
Isaiah Matos website at http://operation-liberty.com/
Manhattan Libertarian Party at http://www.manhattanlp.org/
Congressional Candidate Eric Schansberg (L) Explains Rising Gas Prices
In this brief news segment about rising gas prices Libertarian Congressional candidate, Indiana's 9th District, Eric Schansberg explains and discusses high gas prices and energy policy.
Visit his campaign website at http://www.schansbergforcongress.com/
Visit his campaign website at http://www.schansbergforcongress.com/
4th Amendment Rights Trampled In Washington DC
A video from You Tube. A 'safety compliance' checkpoint in Ward One, Washington DC gives away for unreasonable search and seizures contact local councilman Jim Graham by phone at (202) 724-8181 or mail to:
Councilmember Jim Graham
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 105
Washington, DC 20004
Also contact Washington DC mayor Adrian M. Fetny at http://app.dc.gov/apps/about.asp?page=atd&type=dsf&referrer=[$DSF_SERVER_NAME$]&agency_id=1075
If you were affected by this please contact the American Civil Liberties Union at http://www.aclu.org/
The 4th Amendment (A Reminder):
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Councilmember Jim Graham
1350 Pennsylvania Avenue, NW, Suite 105
Washington, DC 20004
Also contact Washington DC mayor Adrian M. Fetny at http://app.dc.gov/apps/about.asp?page=atd&type=dsf&referrer=[$DSF_SERVER_NAME$]&agency_id=1075
If you were affected by this please contact the American Civil Liberties Union at http://www.aclu.org/
The 4th Amendment (A Reminder):
The right of the people to be secure in their persons, houses, papers, and effects, against unreasonable searches and seizures, shall not be violated, and no Warrants shall issue, but upon probable cause, supported by Oath or affirmation, and particularly describing the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.
Monday, June 23, 2008
Libertarian Scotty Boman debuts new Web site; endorsed by Ron Paul state coordinator
Michigan Libertarians, Help Scotty Boman's campaign for US Senate.
from http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/libertarian-scotty-boman-debuts-new-web-site-endorsed-by-ron-paul-state-coordinator/
from http://www.independentpoliticalreport.com/2008/06/libertarian-scotty-boman-debuts-new-web-site-endorsed-by-ron-paul-state-coordinator/
June 23rd, 2008 · 6 Comments
Libertarian candidate for U.S. Senate, Scotty Boman, debuted his new Web site on Saturday. The site prominently features Ron Paul and the “R3VOLution” logo, and the Boman campaign says it hopes to build on Ron Paul’s Michigan momentum in a statewide campaign. More than 10,000 MIchiganders signed up to volunteer for Ron Paul and donated more than $600,000 to his campaign.
Boman is a long-time Libertarian activist. He became a Libertarian in 1985 and met and voted for Ron Paul in 1988, when Paul was the Libertarian Party’s presidential nominee. In 1993, Boman successfully chaired the Libertarian Party’s ballot-access drive, putting the Libertarian Party of Michigan on the ballot where it has remained since. Beginning in 1994, Boman has been a candidate in every statewide partisan election — this is eighth run as a Libertarian. In 1997, Boman was endorsed by the Detroit News in the race for Detroit city council.
In this race, he has already picked up the endorsements of three Ron Paul county coordinators and, most importantly, the statewide coordinator of Michigan’s Ron Paul for president campaign, Leslie Roszman. This is especially important since Boman’s Republican opponent is also wooing Ron Paul supporters. Other endorsers of Boman include LNC District 6 Alternate and former Geroge Phillies chief of staff Jake Porter, and third-party historian Darcy G. Richardson.
Scotty Boman shares his name with a very famous figure in Michigan, former Detroit Red Wings coach Scotty Bowman. This is a fact that Boman has used to his advantage in each of his previous runs for office. The Boman 08 Web site features what appears to be a Red Wings hockey jersey with the name “Boman” on the back and the number “08.” Scotty Bowman coached the Red Wings to Stanley Cup victories in 1997, 1998, and 2002.
The Boman Web site outlines a plan to reach “millions of Michiganders” to spread Ron Paul’s message of “peace, liberty, and prosperity” and build the Libertarian Party. Its current goal is to raise $10,000 by July 4.
On the issues, Boman is solidly libertarian. He calls for an end to the War in Iraq, repealing drug prohibition, repealing the Defense of Marriage Act, supporting choice in education and health care, repealing the income tax and replacing it with nothing, and abolishing the Federal Reserve. Boman is pictured with Mary Ruwart on the front page of the site, and his Flickr page features photos with him and Bob Barr; and with him, Steve Kubby, and Angela Keaton.
Scotty Boman was nominated on June 7 in a contested nomination. He won on the first ballot with 77.5% of the vote.
Disclosure: IPR’s editor-in-chief is a consultant for the Boman 08 campaignReporters Say Networks Put Wars On Back Burner
The elephant in the room, the war in Iraq, has just been moved to our backyard barn by our own media networks
from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23logan.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
from http://www.nytimes.com/2008/06/23/business/media/23logan.html?_r=2&partner=rssuserland&emc=rss&pagewanted=all&oref=slogin&oref=slogin
Published: June 23, 2008
Getting a story on the evening news isn’t easy for any correspondent. And for reporters in Iraq and Afghanistan, it is especially hard, according to Lara Logan, the chief foreign correspondent for CBS News. So she has devised a solution when she is talking to the network.
“Generally what I say is, ‘I’m holding the armor-piercing R.P.G.,’ ” she said last week in an appearance on “The Daily Show,” referring to the initials for rocket-propelled grenade. “ ‘It’s aimed at the bureau chief, and if you don’t put my story on the air, I’m going to pull the trigger.’ ”
Ms. Logan let a sly just-kidding smile sneak through as she spoke, but her point was serious. Five years into the war in Iraq and nearly seven years into the war in Afghanistan, getting news of the conflicts onto television is harder than ever.
“If I were to watch the news that you hear here in the United States, I would just blow my brains out because it would drive me nuts,” Ms. Logan said.
According to data compiled by Andrew Tyndall, a television consultant who monitors the three network evening newscasts, coverage of Iraq has been “massively scaled back this year.” Almost halfway into 2008, the three newscasts have shown 181 weekday minutes of Iraq coverage, compared with 1,157 minutes for all of 2007. The “CBS Evening News” has devoted the fewest minutes to Iraq, 51, versus 55 minutes on ABC’s “World News” and 74 minutes on “NBC Nightly News.” (The average evening newscast is 22 minutes long.)
CBS News no longer stations a single full-time correspondent in Iraq, where some 150,000 United States troops are deployed.
Paul Friedman, a senior vice president at CBS News, said the news division does not get reports from Iraq on television “with enough frequency to justify keeping a very, very large bureau in Baghdad.” He said CBS correspondents can “get in there very quickly when a story merits it.”
In a telephone interview last week, Ms. Logan said the CBS News bureau in Baghdad was “drastically downsized” in the spring. The network now keeps a producer in the country, making it less of a bureau and more of an office.
Interviews with executives and correspondents at television news networks suggested that while the CBS cutbacks are the most extensive to date in Baghdad, many journalists shared varying levels of frustration about placing war stories onto newscasts. “I’ve never met a journalist who hasn’t been frustrated about getting his or her stories on the air,” said Terry McCarthy, an ABC News correspondent in Baghdad.
By telephone from Baghdad, Mr. McCarthy said he was not as busy as he was a year ago. A decline in the relative amount of violence “is taking the urgency out” of some of the coverage, he said. Still, he gets on ABC’s “World News” and other programs with stories, including one on Friday about American gains in northern Iraq.
Anita McNaught, a correspondent for the Fox News Channel, agreed. “The violence itself is not the story anymore,” she said. She counted eight reports she had filed since arriving in Baghdad six weeks ago, noting that cable news channels like Fox News and CNN have considerably more time to fill with news than the networks. CNN and Fox each have two fulltime correspondents in Iraq.
Richard Engel, the chief foreign correspondent for NBC News, who splits his time between Iraq and other countries, said he found his producers “very receptive to stories about Iraq.” He and other journalists noted that the heated presidential primary campaign put other news stories on the back burner earlier this year.
Ms. Logan said she begged for months to be embedded with a group of Navy Seals, and when she came back with the story, a CBS producer said to her, “One guy in uniform looks like any other guy in a uniform.” In the follow-up phone interview, Ms. Logan said the producer no longer worked at CBS. And in both interviews, she emphasized that many journalists at CBS News are pushing for war coverage, specifically citing Jeff Fager, the executive producer of “60 Minutes.” CBS News won a Peabody Award last week for a “60 Minutes” report about a Marine charged in the killings at Haditha.
On “The Daily Show,” Ms. Logan echoed the comments of other journalists when she said that many Americans seem uninterested in the wars now. Mr. McCarthy said that when he is in the United States, bringing up Baghdad at a dinner party “is like a conversation killer.”
Coverage of the war in Afghanistan has increased slightly this year, with 46 minutes of total coverage year-to-date compared with 83 minutes for all of 2007. NBC has spent 25 minutes covering Afghanistan, partly because the anchor Brian Williams visited the country earlier in the month. Through Wednesday, when an ABC correspondent was in the middle of a prolonged visit to the country, ABC had spent 13 minutes covering Afghanistan. CBS has spent eight minutes covering Afghanistan so far this year.
Both Ms. Logan and Mr. McCarthy noted that more coalition soldiers were killed in Afghanistan in May than in Iraq. No American television network has a full-time correspondent in Afghanistan, although CNN recently said it would open a bureau in Kabul.
“It’s terrible,” Ms. Logan said in the telephone interview. She called it a financial decision. “We can’t afford to maintain operations in Iraq and Afghanistan at the same time,” she said. “It’s so expensive and the security risks are so great that it’s prohibitive.”
Mr. Friedman said coverage of Iraq is enormously expensive, mostly due to the security risks. He said meetings with other television networks about sharing the costs of coverage have faltered for logistical reasons.
Journalists at all three American television networks with evening newscasts expressed worries that their news organizations would withdraw from the Iraqi capital after the November presidential election. They spoke only on the condition of anonymity in order to avoid offending their employers.
John McCain's 300 Million Tax Payers Incentive For Better Car Battery
from http://www.cnn.com/2008/POLITICS/06/23/campaign.wrap/index.html
(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain on Monday called for a $300 million prize to whoever can develop a battery that will "leapfrog" the abilities of current hybrid and electric cars.
(CNN) -- Sen. John McCain on Monday called for a $300 million prize to whoever can develop a battery that will "leapfrog" the abilities of current hybrid and electric cars.
Citing high oil prices, the Republican presidential candidate said he wants his offer to "deliver a power source at 30 percent of the current costs."
"[The prize would amount to] $1 for every man, woman and child in the U.S. -- a small price to pay for helping to break the back of our oil dependency," McCain said during a town hall-style meeting at California's Fresno State University.
McCain said the new automobile battery should have "the size, capacity, cost and power to leapfrog the commercially available plug-in hybrids or electric cars.""In the quest for alternatives to oil, our government has thrown around enough money subsidizing special interests and excusing failure," McCain said. "From now on, we will encourage heroic efforts in engineering, and we will reward the greatest success."
McCain also called Monday for a "Clean Car Challenge" for U.S. automakers, hoping to spur them to develop and sell vehicles with no carbon emissions. The challenge would allow $5,000 tax credits to buyers of such cars, making those vehicles more appealing to consumers and thus easier to sell.
"We're going to see technology for electric-powered cars that are going to be [made cheaper] with our incentives," McCain said.
McCain also spoke against policies that he said "prevent consumers from benefiting" from ethanol not made from corn. He cited the U.S. subsidies for corn-based ethanol and tariffs on sugar cane-based ethanol from Brazil.
"Instead of playing favorites, our government should level the playing field for all alcohol fuels that break the monopoly of gasoline, both lowering gasoline prices and carbon emissions," he said.
McCain's remarks came a day after his Democratic rival, Sen. Barack Obama, called for greater oversight for energy traders. Obama's campaign said many economists believe speculation could be adding between $20 and $50 to the price of a barrel of oil; the price per barrel closed near $135 on Friday.
On Monday, the Illinois Democrat turned to the subject of working women, criticizing McCain for opposing a bill that would have made it easier for people to sue over pay discrimination.The bill, dubbed the Fair Pay Restoration Act, would have rolled back a 2007 Supreme Court ruling that a person who claims pay discrimination must file a complaint within 180 days of that discrimination taking place.
Senate Republicans blocked the bill, which Obama co-sponsored, in April. Obama, in remarks prepared for a speech to women at the Flying Star Cafe in Albuquerque, New Mexico, said McCain "thinks the Supreme Court got it right."
"He opposed the Fair Pay Restoration Act," the prepared remarks read. "He suggested that the reason women don't have equal pay isn't discrimination on the job -- it's because they need more education and training. That's just totally wrong."
Obama said that in the United States, women earn only 77 cents for every dollar earned by men. According to the prepared remarks, Obama was to claim that McCain said the Fair Pay Restoration Act would have opened "us up to lawsuits for all kinds of problems."
"But I can't think of any problem more important than making sure that women get equal pay for equal work. It's a matter of equality. It's a matter of fairness," Obama's prepared remarks read. "I'll continue to stand up for equal pay as president. Sen. McCain won't, and that's a real difference in this election."
Meanwhile, monthly campaign finance reports filed in June show the candidates are nearly level in the amount of money they have available to spend before their parties' conventions.
According to a report filed with the Federal Election Commission, Obama had $43.1 million in the bank at the start of June. However, $9.8 million of that amount is designated for the general election, meaning only the remaining $33.3 million may be spent before the conventions.
McCain, according to his report filed with the FEC, began June with about $31.4 million available to spend before the conventions.
McCain had only $123,000 set aside for the general election. However, since indicating he will accept public financing for the general election, he has returned nearly all of the money he has raised for it.
Obama said last week he would not accept public financing. Republicans and outside analysts have said Obama found he could raise more money than public financing would allow him to spend.
The Democratic convention is scheduled for August 25-28 in Denver, Colorado. The GOP convention is set for September 1-4 in Minneapolis and St. Paul, Minnesota.A Look Inside AIPAC Conference (from Al Jazeera English)
A look inside the recent conference of AIPAC, the Zionist organization that influences US foreign policy, from Al Jazeera English
Note: The Libertarian Online is not Anti Semitic or prejudice against the Jewish people. We hope through reporting of AIPAC and Zionism then there can be the separation of these organizations and ideology from the Jewish faith. We aim to ask critical questions of US foreign policy with the alliance with Israel which influence our foreign policy making and we hope to have a non interventionist foreign policy some day.
Note: The Libertarian Online is not Anti Semitic or prejudice against the Jewish people. We hope through reporting of AIPAC and Zionism then there can be the separation of these organizations and ideology from the Jewish faith. We aim to ask critical questions of US foreign policy with the alliance with Israel which influence our foreign policy making and we hope to have a non interventionist foreign policy some day.
Terror Attack Would Help McCain
from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7470399.stm
Charlie Black made the comments to a journalist from Fortune magazine.
Mr McCain has distanced himself from Mr Black's comments, saying he "strenuously disagree" with him.
Meanwhile, Mr McCain's Democratic competitor Barack Obama has announced he will be holding a rally with his former rival Hillary Clinton on Friday.
Bhutto assassination
When asked whether a terror attack on US soil would help Mr McCain's campaign, Mr Black told the magazine: "Certainly it would be a big advantage to him."
In the article, Mr Black also said that the assassination of former Pakistani Prime Minister Benazir Bhutto was an "unfortunate event" that had "helped" Mr McCain's presidential bid.
Mr Black, a senior adviser to Mr McCain, later told reporters that he "deeply regretted his comments".
"They were inappropriate and I recognise that John McCain has devoted his entire adult life to protecting his country and placing its security before every other consideration," he added.
Meanwhile, the Obama campaign, which has not commented on Mr Black's remarks, announced that Mr Obama would be attending a campaign event with his former rival for the Democratic presidential nomination, Hillary Clinton, in New Hampshire on Friday.
In what observers say is an attempt to bring the party together after the divisive primary battle between the two candidates, the event will be taking place in the town of Unity, where both Mr Obama and Mrs Clinton received 107 votes in January's New Hampshire primary.
The rally will be the first time Mrs Clinton has appeared on the campaign trail on behalf of Mr Obama since she suspended her presidential bid on 7 June.US Court Backs Guantanamo Inmate
From http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/7470405.stm
A US court has for the first time rejected the classification of a prisoner held in Guantanamo Bay as an "enemy combatant".
Huzaifa Parhat, a Chinese Muslim, has been held since he was captured in Afghanistan in 2001.
He is now free to seek immediate release in a US district court.
This follows a US Supreme Court ruling this month that gave foreign Guantanamo Bay detainees the right to challenge their detention in civilian courts.
Mr Parhat is an ethnic Uighur from Xinjiang province in China, where it meets Central Asia.
The US government argued he was a member of the Eastern Turkistan Islamic Movement, which it said had links to al-Qaeda.
But Mr Parhat's lawyers said China and not the United States was his enemy.
Uighur activists are seeking autonomy from China, and there are sporadic outbreaks of violence in the province.
Headache for US
The three-judge panel directed the US military to release Mr Parhat, transfer him or promptly set up a new military tribunal to try him.
The court also specified that Mr Parhat could petition a federal judge for his immediate release in light of the Supreme Court's 12 June decision.
Mr Parhat is one of several Uighurs being held at the US military base in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba.
Their case has become a diplomatic and legal headache for the US, which has tried to find a country willing to accept the Uighurs at the same time as defending its decision to hold them as enemy combatants.
Obama Sold Out Liberty on FISA Compromise
from: http://www.lp.org/news/press-releases/obama-sold-out-liberty-on-fisa-compromise
The Libertarian Party condemned Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama for recently stating he does not oppose the Bush administration's program of illegally spying on U.S. citizens. "Obama has sold out liberty in his refusal to stand up to Republicans on FISA," says Libertarian Party spokesperson Andrew Davis.
"We have come to expect Republicans to hold a contempt for basic protections of civil liberties," says Davis. "To see this same type of reckless disregard for the Constitution from Democrats--especially their presidential nominee--is extremely unfortunate. Democrats were given a chance to stand up to Republicans after the 2006 election, but they have failed to do so time and time again ever since. Obama's refusal to state a clear opposition to the President's illegal program of domestic surveillance is just one more example of how both Republicans and Democrats have failed the American people."
In an interview last week with ABC News' Senior National Correspondent Jack Tapper, Obama stated, "I haven't opposed, for example, the national security surveillance program, the NSA program," adding that he believed the program could be done without violating the Constitution.
"Perhaps it is in Obama's nature as a big-government liberal to trust the government with unchecked power," Davis adds, "but supporting a proposal to give the government blanket permission to spy on American citizens should give voters an idea of how much Obama respects the Constitution and privacy rights."
The Libertarian Party has called repeatedly to reject any amendment to the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act that empowers the government to spy on U.S. citizens, which includes the most recent "compromise" by Republicans and Democrats. Additionally, Libertarian Party candidate for president Bob Barr recently issued a video that blasted supporters of the recent FISA amendments.
Texas Victory Over NAFTA Super Highway
From: http://www.house.gov/paul/tst/tst2008/tst062308.htm
By Ron Paul:
By Ron Paul:
I am pleased to report that last week we received notice that the Texas Department of Transportation will recommend the I-69 Project be developed using existing highway facilities instead of the proposed massive new Trans Texas Corridor/NAFTA Superhighway. According to the Texas Transportation Commissioner, consideration is no longer being given to new corridors and other proposals for a new highway footprint for this project. A major looming threat to property rights and national sovereignty is removed with this encouraging announcement.
Public outcry was cited as the main reason for this decision. I was very impressed to learn that the TxDOT received nearly 28,000 public comments on this matter, and that some 12,000 Texans attended the 47 public hearings held earlier this year. They could not ignore this tsunami of strong public opinion against the proposed plans. I was especially proud of how informed my constituents became on the subject, and how eloquently and respectfully they spoke and conducted themselves, considering how upsetting the plans were for our communities in
This is a major victory for the people of
However, now is not the time to rest on our laurels. The bittersweet aspect of this victory is that we had to fight at all. We took time away from family and friends, doing other things, to attend these meetings, inform others, write letters, post signs and submit our complaints, and we should not have had to. Government should let us be, if we are peaceful citizens, harming no one. In a perfect world, government could be trusted to act in the best interests of the people without overwhelming pressure of this kind. This is not a perfect world. Constant pressure is needed to keep government in check, and we succeeded this time. But this will not be the last time citizen efforts and involvement will be required. We still face many unreasonable encroachments of big government today, from confiscatory, economy-strangling taxation to creeping disregard of the right of habeas corpus and other Constitutional rights, to thousands of nuisance bureaucratic regulations interfering with our every day lives. We have drifted far from what the founding fathers envisioned for this nation. Last week was just one victory towards getting back on the right path. We must continue to hold politicians’ feet to the Constitutional fire. If I had to guess, they will probably try to implement the NAFTA Superhighway again sometime in the future.
It is a never-ending battle, but it must be fought, and can be won. I am proud to stand with my constituents in this fight, and in the other fights we have ahead of us.
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