From the AP story on his death:
“Compromise, hell! … If freedom is right and tyranny is wrong, why should those who believe in freedom treat it as if it were a roll of bologna to be bartered a slice at a time?” Helms wrote in a 1959 editorial that foretold his political style.
The signature campaign of the excellent and effective grassroots libertarian lobbying site Downsize DC is their Read the Bills Act. While still far from introduction much less passage, it is having significant influence on congressional comment and, now, on conduct.
I happened to click the C-SPAN Senate channel a few hours ago partly because I knew they were considering the horrendous Kyoto are US CO2 cap and trade bill. (Go to Downsize DC to e-lobby your reps and sens against it.) The Repubs have cleverly taken the notion of the RTBA and forced the reading of Barbara Boxer’s substitute amendment by the clerk. Actually, it’s taking 2 of them in shifts — they’ve just passed the 6 hour mark.
What a great innovation. Now you can filibuster a bill just by insisting it be read!
The arrogance of this bill from this representative of that paragon of practical energy policy California, is mind boggling. Anybody who is not scared libertarian by this performance needs to have their brains rinsed.
The chutzpah of this bill is particularly astounding given the continually mounting proof that the notion that CO2 can change the mean temperature of the planet is piled cow pucks . On the other hand, Plants love CO2. I happened to catch part of a presentation by the socialist from North Dakota, Byron Dorgan, confirming this. He was describing a proposal for a coal power plant exhausting its CO2 into algae growing greenhouse ponds producing biomass which can be efficiently converted to biodiesel. Of course he can’t leave such a practical notion to the profit motives of capitalism, it needs tax subsidies.
This notion of using the waste CO2 and heat from powerplants to grow algae is not new. A good illustration of the State’s insistence to either subsidize something or prohibit it is the rejection last year by Kansas of a coal plant which would have included just such an experimental algae process.
Well, we’re about to hit 7 hours.
Since Hillary Clinton and John McCain are both well-established Iran-baiters it might be a good idea for the rational humans among us to develop our thinking on Iran based on actual knowledge and understanding of the facts. Somebody has to do it and in keeping with tradition the major party candidates are not up to the task.
So where should we look to understand the Iranian “problem” better.
In the book department Scott Ritter, the former Iraq nuclear inspection chief, has written Target Iran, which reviews Iran’s nuclear program from the perspective of someone with first hand knowledge of the subject. In All the Shah’s Men, Steven Kinzer details the CIA sponsored coup that ended democracy in Iran in 1952 and replaced it with the brutal Shah of Iran.
More recently,Trita Parsi of the National Iranian American Council has written Treacherous Alliance. This book describes the tangeled relationship among the US, Iran and Israel. Dr. Parsi was born in Iran, grew up in Sweden and earned his Doctorate at John Hopkins under (among others) Francis Fukuyama and Zbigniew Brzezinski. I’d say that’s a pretty interesting and useful perspective to balance against that of two of our least favorite Senators.
The NIAC has also just launched a brand new blog. I suspect this will be an invaluable source of information and analysis that won’t appear in the mainstream media as well as a great place to make your comments and hopefully enrich the debate in a positive way. I doubt you will have that opportunity on Fox News.
What sets John McCain apart from the rapidly thinning Republican Presidential field? He is the only remaining Republican candidate who has not pledged to refuse to raise taxes. According to Americans For Tax Reform, Huckabee, Romney and of course, our hero Ron Paul, have all all signed the Taxpayer Protection Pledge. McCain has not.
With a recession looming, tax cuts (and of course the attendant spending cuts) are badly needed. Recessions reduce tax revenue and increase deficits so you could argue that the only politically practical way to control the deficit is to keep the economy strong by cutting taxes. Interest rate cuts just encourage more bad investment decisions and prolong the agony. For some background on the problems with interest rate regulation check out www.mises.org.
But does McCain get it? Apparently not. While McCain has scored at high as above 80% with the ATR he has also fallen to 66%. ATR suggest that he has “tried to reinvent himself as a taxpayer friendly Senator”. Sure John, I trust you.
Here is a short list of other completely wrong headed McCain Votes
No - Economic and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act, Conference Report - May 26, 2001
No - Death Tax Repeal Sense of the Senate – February 13, 2002
No - Permanent Repeal of the Death Tax - June 12, 2002
No - Jobs and Growth Tax Relief Reconciliation Act of 2003 - May 15, 2003
N0 - Jobs and Growth Conference Report - May 23, 2003
The list goes on and on.
To all you prospective McCain voters - please ask yourself whether our economy can withstand higher taxes. Then ask yourself if Ron Paul isn’t a better choice.
Washington, D.C. - Following President Bush’s annual State of the Union Address, the Libertarian Party issued their response from National Chairman William Redpath:
Tonight’s State of the Union address went much as expected. Instead of calling for a more limited role of the federal government in American society, the President laid out plans that would only increase the government’s intervention into the realm of economics, health care, education and foreign policy. It is unfortunate to see that after seven years of increasing the size of government and increasing the government’s presence in the day to day lives of all Americans, the President refuses to limit the scope of the federal government, a once championed virtue of the President’s party. The President’s last State of the Union address encapsulated his legacy of an abandonment of the principles of limited government and individual freedom.
(more…)
Campaign myth #4762: Rudy Giuliani is a good manger
Fact: Giuliani is a poor fiscal manager
- Today’s Daily News headline story: “Poor Rudy - Cash crunch leaves Giuliani campaign aids without pay”. Ok so he’s putting his remaining $7 million into Florida and a few aids “volunteered” to go without pay. What will Rudy do with the Federal deficit the next President is bound to inherit from our current ”conservative” administration? By the way Rudy’s personal net worth is estimated by some to be between $30 and $60 million.
-While Rudy deserves some credit for controlling spending in his first term, he left poor Mike Bloomberg with a $6 billion deficit. By the way - this wasn’t only due to 9/11, remember the economy was headed south long before 9/11 and City revenues along with it. Tax-Hike-Mike’s dismal handling of the deficit will be the subject of another post on this blog.
Fact: Giuliani doesn’t set priorities well.
-In Grand Illusion: The Untold Story of Rudy Giuliani and 9/11, Wayne Barrett goes on for chapters about Rudy’s turf wars with the Port Authority, his failure to prepare NYC for terrorist attack even after the first World Trade Center bombing, his inability to cut through bureaucracy to acquire new radios for the Fire Department… the list goes on.
-Meanwhile Rudy picked fights with anyone who couldn’t defend themselves such as cab drivers, street vendors, night clubs, African hair braiders….
Fact: Giuliani can’t manage his team
In Grand Illusion, Barrett also describes how Rudy failed to resolve the turf wars between the Police, Fire Department and Emergency Management which to a great degree led to many of the problems encountered on 9/11.
This list just scratches the surface. Take a look at what Jacob Weisberg said in this Slate post.
“This comparison doesn’t make the case for Bloomberg as president so much as it underscores what a scary place a Giuliani White House could be. President Rudy would give powerful speeches denouncing terrorism while assuming extraordinary wartime powers. He’d reject compromise with his antagonists and ignore the nuts and bolts of running a government. After a few years, he’d be on nonspeaking terms with much of his Cabinet, never mind his fellow world leaders. By the time he got done, he might make us appreciate George W. Bush.”
Fortunately Rudy’s chance seem to be dropping fast. Unfortunately, it’s hard to tell who would be worse given the choice of Rudy and John McCain.
Of course that isn’t the only choice. There is still a libertarian choice in the New York primary: Ron Paul.
The theocratic tyrants running Iran are of course capable of all sorts of misguided action. So it’s entirely possible that the incident in the Straight of Hormuz on Sunday, when 5 Iranian craft apparently buzzed three US ships, is the smoking gun Bush and his neo-cons are looking for as provocation for future military action against Iran.
Of course the Iranian government has no corner on the market for treachery. This wouldn’t be the first time an American government used exaggeration or outright fabrication to drag the country into a disastrous war. And this practise isn’t unique to the Republicans either. I’m not talking about imagined weapons of mass destruction. I’m talking about Democrat Lyndon Johnson and the Gulf of Tonkin resolution which paved the way for undeclared war in Viet Nam.
Johnson knowingly lied to Congress in using the Gulf of Tonkin Incident to dupe Congress into the Gulf of Tonkin Resolution which granted Johnson the authority to use military force without a declaration of war.
It’s impossible to know the facts since neither government can be trusted, but here is an interesting analysis from the National Iranian American Council.
Remember back in September when Giuliani was the heir apparent to the neo-con throne? According to an average of poll results at RealClearPolitics.com in 3 short months America’s Mayor has slipped from about 23% in the New Hampshire polls to about 9% dropping from 2nd to 4th place. I guess he’s not New Hampshire’s mayor. Unfortunately, he has been replaced by an even scarier proposition, the free-speech-snuffing John McCain.
As illustrated in this famous video , John McCain thinks it’s OK to joke about bombing Iran, but as an author of McCain-Feingold he feels that serious political speech must be regulated. According to this story, when asked about criticism of his “bomb-bomb-Iran” joke, he suggested critics should “get a life”.
Now of course we hear that the new National Intelligence Estimate indicates that Iran ended it’s effort to develop a nuclear weapon in 2003. But we can’t hold Senator McCain accountable because he might not have read it. He didnt bother to read the one on Iraq before he voted for that war either. They don’t read the bills they pass. Why read National Intelligence Estimates? It will only cloud the decision making process with pesky old facts.
Is this the kind of judgement and due diligence we should expect from a Presidential candidate? Well - unfortunately yes. Particularly if you are talking about Republicans. With the exception of Ron Paul, they all cling to the same neo-con dogma that ruined the Bush regime (not to mention our civil liberties and our economy) and which will almost certainly hand the White House over to the socialists in November.
But New Hampshire voters might still surprise us by turning away from the big government neo-cons and their welfare-warfare state.
Granite State Republicans and Independents - vote for Ron Paul.
I was so astounded , I just sent this letters@time.com :
Subject: The GOP Race: None of the Above
Date: Thu, 13 Dec 2007 13:32:32 -0700
From: Bob Armstrong
Organization: Coherent Systems
To: letters@time.comI find 2 things astounding in this 2007/12/13 :
That you post articles with no feedback commentary mechanism .
Weak .
That this article bitching about the choice of GOP candidates never mentions even once the candidate that is stirring minds around the world , RON PAUL :
http://www.time.com/time/nation/article/0,8599,1694094-2,00.htmlTalk about obvious intentional bias to the point of censorship !
Astounding !
It’s no secret that many - probably most - Libertarians support Ron Paul’s Republican candidacy even though there is a large crop of candidates who plan to seek the LP Presidential nomination. At least one prominent Libertarian candidate has said he will support Ron Paul even while he continues his own run.
Now it’s offical. The Libertarian National Committee yesterday resolved to congratulate Ron Paul for ” his success in spreading a message of peace, prosperity and freedom” and urged him to seek the LP nomination if he is not nominated by the Republicans.
Read the resolution here.
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