When Ted Olsen teamed up with his former adversary, David Boies, to file a federal lawsuit on behalf of two plaintiffs against Proposition 8 in California, one would have thought that the apocalypse was indeed nigh. Olsen and Boies were on opposite sides in 2000 when they were arguing before the Supreme Court about that little election issue in Florida… I think it was important, but I don’t recall. Anyway, the fact is, they teamed up and brought a lawsuit against the State of California. At the time it was filed, there was reticence and mistrust from the LGBT community. There was a real concern that if Olsen and Boies lost it would be disastrous precedent for future lawsuits to overcome. Lambda Legal was one group who was worried that the timing wasn’t right, and that a loss would be incredibly damaging. Some conspiratorial voices buzzed that Olsen was going to intentionally throw the case. But, no such thing happened, and they actually won, for now. There’s a good chance that this ends in California, though, because California may not pursue the appeal. Governor Schwarzenegger and Attorney General Jerry Brown have declined to pursue it any further, and as they were the defendants named, nobody else would have legal standing to defend Prop 8 before the Ninth U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. If this happens and the 9th Circuit declares that there’s no standing, the case does not advance. That would be the best scenario for social conservatives, a containment of their loss, because a Circuit-wide defeat of Prop 8 would in effect wipe out any state law or state constitutional amendment that restricts marriages to one man and one woman. Other states would most certainly appeal that to the U.S. Supreme Court and it’s really a toss up at that point, because Judge Vaughn Walker- ahem- a Reagan conservative appointee- wrote a solid ruling that was based in constitutional law and analysis, and not the emotional, irrational whining of the Prop 8 defenders who almost seemed to be throwing their own case intentionally. But, this is not about the ruling in Perry v Schwarzenegger. There is a movement afoot that I have been sensing since this case was first filed.
Conservatives are turning the page on gay issues.
At first it was subtle. Just a little rustling in the wind. In 2004, Vice President Dick Cheney broke ranks with President Bush and declined to support a federal Constitutional amendment that would have forced a nationwide definition of marriage on all 50 states. Not for nothing, but many prominent Republicans at the time also recoiled at the idea of etching such a thing into our founding document. Many who did faced enormous criticism from liberals and conservatives alike. The next wave crested when the State of Massachusetts could not get the required votes to place a ballot initiative that would repeal marriage equality. The State of Iowa became the first state West of the Mississippi to enact same-sex marriage when their state supreme court overruled the ban on same-sex marriage and it’s held for several years now. So, when did conservatives see the writing on the wall and decide that the time was right to make a move? I would say it all began with the campaign and election of Barack Obama.
Barack Obama has, in the past, expressed his support for marriage equality back when he was doing community work in Chicago. Yet, when he ran for the U.S. Senate against the carpetbagger Alan Keyes, he dialed back his support to the fence-sitting position of ‘civil unions’. It was easy to look like the beacon of reason next to the virulently homophobic Alan Keyes, who called Mary Cheney a selfish hedonist and even kicked his own daughter out of the house for being a lesbian. Everyone knew that Obama was being groomed for a run at the presidency even while he was being sworn into the Senate, and on the national stage, the more vague you are, the more people you reach. He tried several times to reach out to socially conservative, religious Black people, first through using ex-gay singer Donnie McClurkin on his campaign tour, and then by inviting Rick Warren, pastor of the Saddleback Church, to give the invocation at Obama’s inauguration. Warren has had his own litany of anti-gay screeds and arguably, the blood of many Africans on his hands thanks to his help in getting condom distribution stopped in countries ravaged by HIV/AIDS. Gay people were frankly livid at Warren got such a prestigious invite. Incidentally, many social conservatives were also livid that Warren accepted. Obama then failed to say anything about Propostion 8. He did not object to his words being used out of context in pro-Prop-8 ads. He did not say much a year later when a voter’s referendum was used to repeal the legislatively enacted same-sex marriage law in Maine, one that was heavily financed by out of state interests, similar to how Prop 8 was pushed. Obama’s justice department filed briefs in two cases, one defending the 1996 Defense of Marriage Act from a Massachusetts lawsuit, and another defending the Don’t Ask Don’t Tell policy by people who were suing to keep their careers in the United States Military. Both briefs were filled with insulting and demeaning characterizations of gay people. It was becoming clear that Barack Obama was no “fierce advocate” for the LGBT community. By the time Ted Olsen and David Boies filed the lawsuit, a plan was in place.
I have to admit, it’s a good plan.
First, you quietly drop the opposition to same-sex marriage and gays serving in the Armed Forces. Even if you oppose it, just let it go, because eventually these battles will be lost. The second is to have some conservatives actually outflank the President on these issues. Not conservatives who actually have any power, mind you, but a few big names that might open some eyes, like Dick Cheney and Laura Bush. It makes Obama look weak if he can’t even throw a bone to members of his base. Ken Mehlman comes out. GOProud puts on a conservative gay convention and has Ann Coulter speaking, not to mention such sponsors as Tammy Bruce, Grover Norquist, Margaret Hoover, John Hawkins, Lisa DePasquale, Bruce Carroll & John Ciccone, Christopher Barron & Shawn Gardner, Jimmy LaSalvia, Craig Engle, Christopher Taylor & Anthony Cirone, Roy Eappen, and Jessica Lee. Glenn Beck even takes a few steps back and telling Bill O’Reilly that there’s bigger fish to fry than gay marriage. The plan is, I believe, in two years, to split the gay vote from two fronts- the first is dropping opposition to or even expressing support for marriage equality, and the second is to use Islamophobia to convince us that compared to Muslims, Christians are downright docile. Lastly, they get to one-up a president who has had a lot of trouble putting his words of support into any tangible action that benefits gays & lesbians. If the Republicans manage to deliver marriage equality while Obama waffles on it, it’s going to go a very long way in getting new GOP support in 2012.
Some have said that the social conservatives in the GOP won’t stand for it, but I believe that they will endure it, because the thought of four more years of Obama enacting what they believe to be a socialist, communist, non-citizen, Muslim (okay, look, birthers and other people who try and paint Obama as something completely foreign- he’s black. Deal with it, okay? Get over yourselves.) agenda is more frightening to them than two dudes and two chicks getting married. So the GOP will downplay their social cons and their theocratic cons, and use the Tea Party movement to recruit gays by one-upping the president and the do-nothing Democrats in Congress. Even though their motives are purely political and have nothing to do with, oh, doing the right thing for LGBT people, they get to wrap themselves in the mantle of acceptance and equality while they evangelize a new batch of gays & lesbians into Republicanism.
I’ve been there. I’m a recovering Republican. I’ve seen what this kind of governance has done for this country and I can’t say I like what I see, and that has nothing to do with marriage equality or LGBT issues. It has more to do with giving away so much power to megalithic, unaccountable corporations who have undermined capitalism and representative democracy, which as a result, is systematically destroying a once prosperous American middle class, and in this endeavor, Democrats are also complicit. They have just as much blood on their hands as Republicans. I am all for diversity of thought and public opinion in the political sphere, I am not one who thinks that all gays should vote Democrat, but I do ask that you think about this sudden shift in opinion and ask yourself why they want your vote so badly that they’re willing to throw 30 years of pandering to Christo-fascists and Moral Majority types under the bus to get it. Perhaps they see that younger generations aren’t quite as hip to the disturbing anti-gay messages of the late Jerry Falwell or the severely aged Pat Robertson. Perhaps they see Islam as a far greater threat to the West than homosexuality. No doubt we have to keep a watchful eye on crazy radical Muslims, but the degree of fearmongering going on lately is a bit much. Whatever the reason is, remember, they’re not doing it because they genuinely believe in marriage equality. They want something from us. They need something from us. Our problem is that we’ve forgotten how to be demanding. We’re a cheap date, anyone knows by watching how we fawn over Democrats who make us promises they have no intention of keeping. So let’s stop being such pushovers and start dealing, and make them come to us hat in hand. Democrats too, it’s time that we hold them responsible for broken promises, stalling, and inaction as well. Screw it, while we’re at it, ANYONE who feels that they’re simply being pandered to, stop being so easy and start holding the feet of your elected officials and candidates to the fire. Let’s hold them all accountable for selling out the American Dream while using volatile but meaningless social issues to distract us from how badly we’re being shafted.
“An off-duty Chicago police officer shot and killed a man who broke into his South Side home Friday morning,” Becky Schlikerman of The Chicago Tribune informs us.
The suspect, we are told, was armed:
“The officer…fired his service weapon several times, killing the intruder…”
Neighbors are supportive:
“They invaded his home, he did what he had to do…”
A core issue behind the McDonald Supreme Court case was so if the neighbors’ homes are invaded, they’ll be able to do what they have to do. That the Daley administration continues to fight recognition of their right to do so every step of the way ought to be all any fair-minded person needs to know…..
Oath Keeper Sheriff Richard Mack – interview for the movie “Guns and Weed: The Road to Freedom.” Filmed at Wyoming Liberty Fest in Lander, August 21, 2010.
Sheriff Mack, Richard Mack, Oath Keepers, Oathkeepers, Graham County, Arizona, Libertarian, 10th amendment, constitutionalist, gun rights, Wyoming liberty fest, Sheppard Humphries, Neema Vedadi, Michael w. dean, nullification, guns, weed, legalize marijuana, liberty, Ron Paul, freedom, states’ rights, US Constitution, saving America, Bill of Rights, Richard Mack vs SPLC, Southern Poverty Law Center, tyranny, gun control, gun grabbers, Brady campaign, war on drugs, obamacare, war on guns
I think a lot of libertarians and Republicans tend to not want to “rock the boat.” For instance, I have a Goldwater Republican friend who lives in Phoenix and he hates illegal immigration, is directly affected by it in a negative way, but doesn’t like what the governor’s doing there, because it “causes unrest” and “goes too far.”
Whereas liberal progressives LOVE to yell and demand their “rights.” It’s a problem…..libertarians just basically want to “be left alone”, that’s almost the common DEFINITION of libertarianism. And the definition of progressivism is that they LOVE to screech, tell people what to do and “push the envelope.”
Libertarians should all own and carry guns. Carry a handgun and own a rifle. It reinforces the idea of self-defense, in everything. Guns are not only a physical tool, they are a psychological tool. Carrying one reminds you that libertarianism isn’t just “leave me alone”, it’s “if you push me too far I’ll push back.”
Some may think that “rocks the boat” or “goes to far”, but I’m a peace-lovin’ man and it makes a lot of sense to me.
ZAP: Do not initiate aggression.
ZAP 2.0: Do not initiate, OR ACCEPT, aggression.
We’re making this film because we’re amazed by how many people who love guns also support the War on Drugs, and how many people who love drugs support the War on Guns. They need to know the two wars fuel each other. And most pro-pot people are also into progressive socialism. It doesn’t make sense. If you’re into one freedom, you really should be into ALL freedoms.
For instance, Woody Harrelson is a well-known pot advocate. I agree with Harrelson on the pot issue. But he’s an inveterate Obama licking socialist progressive.
Salon.com: At least at this point, it appears that Obama is pushing onward with the war in Afghanistan. Is he just constrained by geopolitics? Is he simply not free to say, “Look, we’re not going to do this anymore”?
Harrelson: I think there’s a lot of persuasive and powerful people around Obama. For a president to make his own decisions, I think that’s a rarity. Even someone who we think of as our guy — this is a guy with integrity, a guy who cares, for the first time in a long time — in the Oval Office, even with him we don’t really know who’s pulling the strings. I think of every president as being a marionette. Whether he’s any different, I don’t know. Certainly his military advisers all want him to prosecute this war to the end, just as they did in Vietnam with LBJ.
It’s just too depressing, I think we’re going to have to hit the streets. Obama has the chance of becoming JFK or LBJ. I think JFK was one of our last great presidents, although I thought Carter was pretty great too…..
Which just goes to prove my thesis….the Republicans better quit trying to legislate against what people smoke and who they bed, or we’re going to have a permanent majority of people who want to rob from the disarmed producers to support the insolent and indolent parasites.
Not that repubs don’t do that, but lately the dems have been taking it to vast new levels. And while dems don’t care what kind of freaky mammal sex you have, they certainly want to control or eliminate every tiny little other nuance in the world. Coal, oil, commerce, guns, hunting, water, health care, salt, or body fat index and ironically, weed.
Why should the government protect us from ourselves?
If you think they should, then no one should have guns, right? (Except of course, the government, because the government is an all-knowing and perfect loving-yet-stern parent to guide us in our every decision!)
Another issue: PROHIBITION DOES NOT WORK. The War on Drugs has been unwinnable since the 1930s. It only fuels government waste, bolsters government intrusion, and puts good people in prison. It also fuels the War on Guns. Look how Holder tried to reinstate the Assault Weapon Ban to help the War on Drugs.
Prohibition doesn’t make people quit smoking pot anymore than a total gun ban would make a patriot hang his head in shame and voluntarily hand in all his hardware to the federal smelter.
My friend Neema directed this piece (which features me) about the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, for the news. This showed in Casper, Cheyenne, Riverton, Lander and throughout most of Wyoming. Yay! It’s also got Anthony Bouchard, from the Wyoming Gun Owners Association.
Neema and I are working on a film together. It’s about liberty.
Here’s part two, Wyoming governor candidates talking about guns:
We just bought a house, and you know A HOUSE IS NOT A HOME WITHOUT AN AK-47 TO PROTECT IT. I made that saying up, but I’m sure it’s as true here as it is in Iraq.
Wolverines!
This could be on the cover of "Mall Ninja Monthly" magazine
Check out our new Yugo AK-47. Yup, believe it or not, the AK commonly said by experts to be the best AK is made in Yugoslavia by the same company, Zestava / Zestava Arms, that made the YUGO automobile. (The cop ridden in the movie “Dragnet” by Dan Aykroyd and Tom Hanks. In the movie, Dan Aykroyd calls the car “The cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology.”)
It’s an M-70 AB2, the very best AK you can get, and we’ve got one! yay! You’re not a real libertarian if you don’t own a rifle (and know how to use it), so get your Yugo AK-47 here. Be sure to pick up some commie cold-war ammo too.
Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) narrating: “After losing the two previous vehicles we had been issued, the only car the department would release to us at this point was an unmarked 1987 Yugo…a Yugoslavian import donated as a test vehicle by the government of that country and reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology.”
It’s a great Schumer-hits-the-fan gun to keep zombies at bay. And it’s NOT LEGAL IN CALIFORNIA. (The best things aren’t.)
Sgt. Joe Friday (Dan Aykroyd) narrating: “After losing the two previous vehicles we had been issued, the only car the department would release to us at this point was an unmarked 1987 Yugo…a Yugoslavian import donated as a test vehicle by the government of that country and reflecting the cutting edge of Serbo-Croatian technology.”
Never forget what they say,
AK-47 Magacin koji prihvataju članov familije 7,62 x 39 je istovetan.
Punjenje Puške automatske M70 AB2 vrši se iz odvoivog magacina (okvira) kapaciteta 30 metaka. Moguće je korišćenje i specialnog magacina kapaciteta 75metaka, a koji se isporučuje na zahtev kupca.
This is my friend Neema Vedadi’s song “I Own Me.” It kicks ass.
He’s my buddy, we hang out a lot and go shooting and are making music together and are working on a film together. (He’s a TV Newscaster on the Wyoming ABC affiliate, K2 News.)
Its gettin thicker than dreadlocks/
they treat us like we’re dread scott/
don’t wanna see the feds pop/
or be the one that they’d stopped/
or get in trouble cause I talked shit to their mascot/
frickin’ busybodies need to go and buy an ascot/
tellin’ me you own me then makin sho’ i’m taxed out/
maxed out, deep in-debted from the easy credit/
that the fed imbedded then they betted it all be copacetic/
if they were the medic but forget it/
the people are gettin’ pissed/
blowin up like some unleaded/
they want control unfettered/
but ya’ll know that smells fetid/
like the craphole that we’re headed/
to if they don’t let me do me/
and you do you/
and all the guns in the gunverment /
won’t amount to a twenty-two /
if they keep on stompin’ on amendment number two/
and we don’t even need you/
take your welfare and your brainwashing free-school/
and ya’ll are so see through; easy to see you is evil/
chorus:
Nobody owns me/
ya’ll haters don’t/
I own me /
so back the fuck off/
(x 2)
I make my own rules/
take my own tools/
you ain’t in my shoes/
no you ain’t get to choose/
I ain’t pay you dues./
I pay ‘em for my self/
don’t expect shit from me/
and I ain’t need your help/
and in case you didn’t know/
this song is for the parasites/
the feeders that bleed us and treat us/
like they’re the hand and we’re the dice/
no utopian paradise to be had from any plan/
the world’s too complex for any man to comprehend/
all the supply and again all the demand/
when the few control the view/
their mistakes are multiplied /
the decisions should be ours/
like our bodies. Let’s take back our lives/
Only a slave if you submit/
and ya’ll know I got some fight!/
and this ain’t racist /
its for blacks, whites and asians/
middle eastern people, latinos/
and everyone who wants to be free, so/
we’ll even let it slide if you’re emo/
I never signed no social contract/
I’m about to have to repo/
myself, for my health/
and my wealth/
put your bills back on the shelf/
capitol hill can go to hell/
we should put them punks in jail/
we could live our lives ourselves…./
chorus
So who’s to say Barack Hussein/
knows what’s best for me?/
I knock the man and not the name/
cause in my family tree/
could be husseins so I take aim/
at tyranny times three/
branches that act just/
like geriatric babysitters/
poonannies./
but really you’ll get beat-up/
if you don’t follow their edicts/
there’s a law against living /
year its worse than shariah./
but where can I go if this/
whole world is socialist/
though we know that it failed for the soviets./
Its 1984 people please notice this./
Fuck a tax feeder time to overthrow them tics/
its in the declaration Jefferson wrote the shit/
So choose to be a free man /
governments we’re over it/
governments we’re over it!/
Cale Case (Republican) – Wyoming state senator, co-sponsor of the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act, Hotelier, libertarian, Republican Liberty Caucus member, sometimes called “The Ron Paul of Wyoming”, comes over to Michael W. Dean’s house and yacks freely about how a Constitutional Convention can save America. They also yack about Molon Labe, the economy, homeschooling, guns, cats, pot, porn, dueling, the wind tax, the role of government, Ron Micheli, Matt Mead, Rita Meyer, Gerald Gay, Free State Wyoming and Free State Project New Hampshire, how wonderful Wyoming is, and how to be hopeful, not fearful, in the coming years in America.
I own two parcels of land in Kenna, New Mexico (population 15). It’s in Roosevelt County, and it’s literally in the middle of nowhere. Here is a Google satellite view of the Kenna area. Here is the Wikipedia article on Kenna. Here is an article with the very interesting history on how I came to own the land.
The photos above and below are of the town, not of the land. I’ve never been to Kenna or seen the land. But I own it, and will probably never use it, and am tired of paying the eight dollars a year in property tax, and would love to sell it and buy more guns. (I gots me a hankering for some AK-47s, actually!)
The land is two parcels, each is 1/6 of an acre, which is enough to camp on. You can go there when the Schumer hits the fan! I’m selling both parcels as a unit for $750.
The land is property number 1 000 010 004 285 00 – lots 9 and 11 of block 81 in Kenna, New Mexico. It’s a matter of public record that I own them, and this can be confirmed by phone with the county clerk at the courthouse in Portales, NM.
…according to Senator Jon Kyl (R – Arizona), who says he met one-on-0ne with Obama, and Obama said he would NOT close the border because that would remove his leverage for a mass-amnesty immigration reform. (This link will take you right to wear the pertinant part starts in the video):
Be Libertarian, AND avoid Christian Sharia. End the Fed, cut off welfare, but keep porn, pot and gambling legal!
I’m a libertarian. I believe that government FAR overreaches its rights. I think the government would be much more effective if it were about 1/2 of 1% of the size it is now.
I believe that the only morally correct laws are laws that protect people from aggression against their person or property. I think that the only things that should be illegal are murder, rape, assault, theft, fraud, and trespassing.
A large force that has always been active in American politics is what I call CCCs, i.e. Christian Conservative Constitutionalists. Ronald Reagan was one. The John Birch Society would fit that description. The Constitution Party do. Many LDS do. This CCC force is “making a comeback”, often in the form of people who claim to be part of the Tea Party, like Sarah Palin and Glenn Beck.
I agree with about 95% of what most of these folks believe in. For instance,
I believe in the right to keep and bear arms, without limitation.
I want lower taxes.
I do not believe in bailouts or “too big to fail.”
I think welfare (of all kinds) should be slashed to the bone, and/or eliminated.
I believe that homeschooling should be legal and easy, and the public schools should even be phased out.
I believe in the right of people to worship as they please (for instance, I’m appalled that a kid got kicked out of school for wearing a rosary. I don’t think that voluntarily wearing a rosary to public school violates any kind of “separation of church and state.”)
I oppose “hate crime laws” (murder and assault are already illegal, adding time for what you were thinking while committing the crime is racist.)
I’m against Affirmative Action (I think it’s racist.)
I believe the borders should be closed (at least until all freebie incentives are removed).
I’m against unlawful wiretaps and illegal search and seizure.
I am appalled by the march of socialism and I fear and hate the Obama administration’s hostile takeover of America.
HOWEVER, most CCCs believe that drugs, porn, prostitution, gambling and gay marriage should also be illegal. SHOW ME WHERE IN THE CONSTITUTION, OR IN NATURAL LAW, YOU CAN JUSTIFY THOSE THINGS BEING ILLEGAL! That’s my problem with CCCs. If they were in power, we would have a wonderful Constitutional Republic for about 95% of things, but something amounting to Christian Sharia for the other 5%.
NO LAW IS MORALLY JUST UNLESS IT PROTECTS THE PERSON OR PROPERTY OF OTHERS. It is immoral to try to force the government to force YOU to act “moral.” Trying to make the state regulate your husband from looking at porn or keeping your wife from gambling is lazy nanny-state bullshit, and is not morally acceptable. And it certainly isn’t Constitutional and does not conform to Natural Law (which is the only MORAL law.)
I don’t do drugs, but I am convinced that drugs should be 100% legal. The War on Drugs does far more harm than good, and ruins far more lives than it helps. It costs billions in taxes, jails and lawyers, and encourages violent crime. Prohibition didn’t work for alcohol and it ain’t working for drugs. Besides outlawing drugs (or porn or gambling) will NEVER stop drugs (or porn or gambling.) Outlawing these things won’t even minimize them. People will do them anyway.
Thomas Jefferson said “The Constitution on which our Union rests, shall be administered… according to the safe and honest meaning contemplated by the plain understanding of the people of the United States at the time of its adoption...” Well, at the time of The Constitution’s adoption, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington grew (and likely smoked) marijuana and Benjamin Franklin slept with many French whores.
My favorite Wyoming candidate for Governor, the best candidate we’ve got, the guy I’m voting for, Ron Micheli, said in a recent interview that he thinks porn should be illegal and marriage should be defined as being between a man and a woman. Porn illegal? How is that moral. How can you even SAY that? Show me in The Constitution, or Natural Law, where outlawing porn is even moral. (And my thought on marriage? Take the state out of the equation. The STATE has no right to be involved. Marriage should be between two people and maybe their church. As a libertarian comedian Doug Stanhope once said “If marriage didn’t exist, would you invent it? Would you go ‘Baby, this shit we got together, it’s so good we gotta get the government in on this shit. We can’t just share this commitment between us. We need judges and lawyers involved in this shit, baby. It’s hot!’”)
Doug Stanhope for president
Enforcing random nanny laws (like outlawing pot, porn and gambling) will lead to tyranny. It will pave the way for a new Hitler, whether the nannying comes from the right or the left. I don’t think Obama is Hitler. But I think that Obama is paving the way for a Hitler (or Stalin), a few presidents from now, at the rate things are going. AND CHRISTIAN “CONSERVATIVE” GEORGE BUSH HELPED HIM. Every time someone’s in “power”, for the last hundred years, they’ve chipped away a little more at the Constitution, at Natural Law, and added more and more bullshit, thinking their party will be in “power” forever. But with the next changing of the guard, the other party abuses those “powers” even more, in the opposite direction.
“The problem isn’t Democrats. The problem is Republicans who aren’t willing to become libertarians”
The only solution I can really see for NOT having a Hitler running America into the ground in ten or twenty years is GET RID OF THE NANNY-STATE BULLSHIT on the left and GET RID OF THE CHRISTIAN SHARIA on the right. Concentrate on the basic human rights governance, abide only by Natural Law, strip government down to near nothing, get rid of “special” rights, and only protect human rights. (Hint: free health care is not a “human right”, because it’s not free. Someone else has to pay for it, and the government forces them at gunpoint to pay. That’s not a human right!)
I’m not going to “waste my vote” on a third party. I’m going to back TRUE libertarian candidates (not CCCs) operating within the Republican Party. I think that’s the plan that’s got the best plan. (Rand Paul for president anyone?)
And from a simple logistical standpoint, the CCCs should re-evaluate their plan. CCCs are NEVER gonna get the “youth vote” or the “hipster vote”, which is a large part of the vote. Only Libertarian Republicans can attract the youngsters.
If a more-libertarian Republican Party can’t save America, nothing can. If it can’t, my prediction is that in five or ten years, we’ll all “party like it’s 1775.” And if that happens, I’ll likely be shoulder to shoulder with the CCCs, saying “How the fuck did you let this happen? Oh well, you did let it happen, now let’s fix it. So praise God and pass the ammunition.”
–Michael W. Dean
Michael W. Dean is the Wyoming representative for the Republican Liberty Caucus. His views are his own.
I hate liberals so damn much!
But not for their freaky mammal sex
I don’t care what you wed or do or screw
and I don’t care if you shoot crack!
I hate liberals because they steal
My money and my rights
They mug me and they mug you
and think they’re doing right…..
I HATE LIBERALS SO DAMN MUCH (AND I HATE STATISTS TOO)…but I love cats!
Michael W. Dean and Debra Jean Dean have rainy day fun talking about the baffling case of South Carolina candidate Alvin Green, chili cookin’ on a rainy day with your baby, the concept and the book Future Shock, the growing divide between far left and far right, the concept and the book The Road to Serfdom, THE PUSSIFICATION OF THE WESTERN MALE, the cool site and book The Art of Manliness, why people who hate guns are really dangerous (and pussies), how all laws and taxes are enforced at the barrel of a gun, and more nifty stuff.
I have been active in libertarian circles for more than a decade, so when Ron Paul’s Presidential campaign raised more than $6 million in one day for our Presidential candidate, I was jumping for joy. That was in December, 2007, and was in conjunction with a nationwide “Tea Party” protest of Big Government. At our local event in Georgetown, Ron Paul supporters hosted our own fundraising event in which we wrote “Income Tax”, “Federal Reserve”, and “Invasion of Iraq” on boxes and tossed them out the 2nd story window of the event venue onto the streets of Georgetown.
The “Tea Party” was a nationwide event organized by Ron Paul supporters. Therefore the original concept of the Tea Party was libertarian — in favor of individual liberties (including personal freedoms and the ability to make any choice that does not harm another), limited government, and free markets.
The summer after the MoneyBomb fundraising success, in 2008, I participated in a Revolution March with Ron Paul supporters in DC (that’s me, with the Ron Paul sign, below right). The march was quite massive, likely with between 7,500 and 10,000 participants from all across the country. It ended with a concert in front of the nation’s capital which lasted all day.
2009 Resurgence
Things went quiet for a while, until early 2009. That’s when Rick Santelli drew attention for his remarks made regarding the Homeowners Affordability and Stability Plan in February of last year — from the floor of the CME Group during pre-market hours. Santelli accused the government of promoting bad behavior and called for a Chicago Tea Party in response. Scattered cheers, whistles and applause could be heard from some of the personnel around the floor.
I participated in my second tea party event when I was asked to speak at the Reston Tea Party (in northern Virginia) on April 15 of last year. My speech focused on an economic issue that I believe important on tax day: repealing the Sixteenth Amendment. In my speech, I discussed how I never was duped into voting for George W. Bush, but that those who did can now redeem themselves by working for liberty in 2009, 2010, and beyond. I was well-received despite the hard rain pouring down on me as I spoke. At the time of my speech, I could tell that a broad coalition of folks were attending the Tea Party, and I surely realized that not all of them would agree with me — especially on social issues. So be it.
Hijacked Tea Party?
But it’s now a year later, and the Tea Party seems to be transforming from a libertarian gathering to promote less intrusive government and celebrate our freedoms to a neo-con group promoting War in Iran, criticizing immigrants and diversity, and persecuting those with different religious views. Rachel Maddow and David Weigel from The Washington Post have provided excellent coverage of this transformation from the very beginning, interviewing libertarian bloggers like Steve Gordon and Jason Pye and even interviewing Congressman Ron Paul to gain their perspective on the Tea Party hijack. Maddow was shocked to learn that three so-called Tea Party supporters challenged the inspiration behind the Tea Party — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul — for Congress in his rural Lake Jackson/Victoria area district in Texas.
The “far left media” recently crowned Sarah Palin the new mother of the Tea Party movement. This is problematic for several reasons.
First, Palin is employed by FOX News, which has a history of propping up increased foreign intervention — including the War in Iraq. Second, Palin is closely associated with people who support increased interventionism abroad. In her most recent trip to Hong Kong, she brought a prominent media relations strategist/lobbyist named Randy Scheunemann. Third, there is a correct perception that Sarah Palin is scripted — she’s using talking points from people writing speeches for her rather than sharing what she really believes. (I’m sure she has some core beliefs, but what are they?)
Increased foreign interventionism, bigger military budgets, and sending our troops to more countries abroad is the exact opposite of what the original Tea Parties were all about — so libertarians, paleo-cons, and traditional Goldwater conservatives should be rightful skeptics of the strategists who have put into motion the hijacking of the Tea Parties.
There are several national groups claiming to lead the Tea Party. These include:
* The Tea Party Express, which created a campaign called Our Country Deserves Better. Of the $1.3 million raised for their campaign from July to November, $870,000 plus of it went to a single Republican campaign firm in California.
* The Tea Party Nation, run by Judson Phillips, which organized the recent Convention in Tennessee. Libertarian-leaning groups like Ron Paul’s Campaign for Liberty and Eric Odom’s American Liberty Alliance decided not to participate after dealings with Phillips and his co-organizers.
* The Tea Party Patriots, which is working with FreedomWorks — headed by former U.S. Rep. Dick Armey.
Be wary of any national group trying to control local Tea Party organizations.
How Do We Proceed?
This is not the first time a libertarian concept has been adopted by others. It was libertarian economist Milton Friedman who developed the concept of school vouchers, but most of the credit was never given. The same is true of the Cato Institute, which developed the concept of Social Security privatization but is rarely credited with it. And who was it that was actively calling the War on Drugs a failure from the early 70s onward? Despite that most people recognize the failure of the War on Drugs, the Libertarian Party rarely receives credit for popularizing what is now plainly obvious: that the War on Drugs has not worked.
The original message of the Tea Party — let’s take our government back! – still rings true. It’s up to us to keep fighting to reclaim our personal and economic liberties — and that includes a humble and logical foreign policy.
I would encourage people who share the Republican Liberty Caucus commitment to limited government to attend local Tea Party meetings to get a flavor for what your local branch of the Tea Party is like. Certainly the flavor of the local Tea Party depends on who is leading it. The local Tea Party objectives should determine if it’s a good fit for you. If it isn’t, start your own Tea Party.
If more libertarian-leaning Republicans were leaders in the Tea Party movement, perhaps the Tea Party movement would have a decisively more libertarian flavor.
Overall, the credit for the Tea Party concept goes to the most innovative thinkers in politics today: libertarian Republicans and Ron Paul supporters. The current Tea Party is heading in the wrong direction, but whether it can reverse its course is up to us.
There’s never been a better time to get involved in the movement to change our government to one of, by, and for the people. I challenge you to become active in your area. Joining the Republican Liberty Caucus is a great place to start.
Tea Party Member Punched by liberal protester in North Carolina.
Can you imagine if this were a tea party guy punching a liberal? Or a white tea party guy punching a black liberal? Either would by the ONLY story in MSNBC and CNN today. The PRESIDENT would likely address it.
But I predict this will not be covered AT ALL by anyone, except maybe FOX. And I’ll bet Eric Holder will make sure guy who did the punching is not charged under “hate crime” laws, as he really ought to be, if you’re gonna have such silly laws.
Also, how come those of us who open carry weapons never get hassled at tea parties?
–Michael W. Dean
UPDATE:Both the puncher AND the guy who got punched are being charged with assault. What the fuck is wrong with this world? ? ?
OK, I was not shocked AT ALL when Los Angeles County voted yesterday to boycott Arizona over the very sensible anti-illegal immigration law Arizona has passed. California is free to shoot themselves in the foot economically (this boycott will hurt sinking California more than it will hurt Arizona). California has shot themselves in the foot early and often for decades, which is why it’s drowning in debt and canceling even basic services. (Whereas the state I moved to from California, Wyoming, is doing fine and dandy, and even has a surplus of money! Shhh! Don’t tell California! They’ll get Obama to come steal it!)
And Los Angeles are hypocrites, they’re not going to boycott the electrical power they get from Arizona…about 25% of the power used in LA comes from Arizona!
So I wasn’t even surprised when this “shoot ourselves in the foot” boycott resolution was passed by a mere two people on a damn bureaucratic committee, despite the fact that a majority of Californians are in favor of the Arizona law.
The issue would, in essence, be dealt with in a manner similar to broadly accepted episodes of racial and cultural intolerance and abridgments of rights, such as the Jim Crow laws and the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II, said district spokesman Robert Alaniz….
I dunno, I lived in California for 23 years, so nothing should really shock me. But when I see a region that is about to fail from its own policies, is bankrupt (economically and spiritually), yet insists on bankrupting itself further to insult another state’s policies, (that only mirror and enforce federal law), then insist on teaching their children, in an official capacity, that that other state is worse than Hitler for trying to save itself, well, I am just damn lucky (again) that I got out of that statist cesspool of entitlement and bullshit a year ago. Fuck those California carpetbaggers, and shame on them for trying to insist another state fuck itself up.
And remember, by the way, the Arizona law hasn’t even gone into effect yet! The law goes into effect 90 days after the close of the legislative session, which has not been ended yet and does not have a definite end date.
Meanwhile, I finally sat down and read the Wyoming Firearms Freedom Act (which goes into effect July 1). I love it. It’s so beautiful, it actually made me weep with joy. When is the last time a piece of state legislation in your state made you weep with joy?
Here’s the full text of that short, wonderful law.
I like all of it, and especially these “reaffirming our rights against the Feds” parts:
(vii) Article 1, section 7, of the Wyoming constitution provides that absolute, arbitrary power over the lives, liberty and property of freemen exists nowhere in a republic, not even in the largest majority; …
….the Wyoming constitution provides that all power is inherent in the people, and all free governments are founded on their authority, and instituted for their peace, safety and happiness; for all the advancement of these ends they have at all times an inalienable and indefeasible right to alter, reform or abolish the government in such manner as they may think proper;
I’m glad my wife, my cats and me got out of California and got on the RIGHT side of any possible schism, early. And it’s pretty mindblowing where the candidates for Wyoming Governor are not only running on a platform of AGREEING with these ideals, it’s almost certain that one who feels this way WILL be the next Governor of Wyoming. I’d look for some legislation out of my state in the next few years that will make Arizona look like Californians.
This is likely, from all early accounts and polls, the next Governor of Wyoming:
NOTE: This song is not a call to action. Its a history lesson, about the Whiskey Rebellion….sort of punk rock Schoolhouse Rock.
“Would You Tar and Feather a Tax Collector?”
NEW song from Right Arm of Wyoming. DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE. (RIGHT CLICK TO SAVE.) http://www.rightarmofwyoming.com/TarA…
Kingston, Jamaica (CNN) — Jamaican authorities declared a state of emergency in Kingston after gang members supportive of an alleged drug lord wanted by the United States attacked at least three police stations and blockaded a large swath of the city.
Two of the police stations were evacuated after being hit with Molotov cocktails, while the status of the third was unclear.
Gang members blocked off a miles-long area of Jamaica’s capital city — mostly in West Kingston — using vehicles, sandbags, barbed wire and anything else they could find…..
The country that I think has the most direct application for us, however, is one that we don’t have a lot in common with, and that’s Jamaica. In response to a sharply rising crime rate in Jamaica in the early 1970s, the government imposed complete gun prohibition. In fact, possession of a bullet meant a mandatory life sentence in prison. There was a special gun court where people would be tried in secret for gun possession offenses. And in conjunction with this tremendous crackdown on guns, they also did everything else that you can imagine Oliver North or Ross Perot doing to our Bill of Rights in your worst nightmares. They had gun sweeps, drug sweeps, militarized law enforcement, the government breaking into people’s houses, with no probable cause at all, to look for illegal weapons and drugs.
Every kind of oppressive measure you could want, censorship of violent television and movies, everything you could want in terms of “let’s get really serious and crack down and get rid of all these silly constitutional liberties that are standing in the way of rough and tough law enforcement,” they did. What happened was the crime rate and the homicide rate dropped substantially for the first six months. They then started to rise again, got back to their old levels, and within a few years were far ahead of their old levels, and a few years later were at double and triple the levels which had inspired this kind of crackdown in the first place. One of the kinds of violence that increased in Jamaica was homicide by police officers. Jamaicans were getting killed by their police at a rate higher than the general American homicide rate of anybody getting killed by anybody…..
(photos of kittens to keep your head from exploding when you read this article):
You know how in science fiction movies from the past few decades, any movie that takes place in “the not-too-distant future” will have different cliché literary devices to let you know it’s in the not too distant future? Like they usually have a black president? And you say to yourself “Sure, OK, that could happen, why not? Race is a non-issue. Race means about as much to me as the color of my cats.”
But then they have other cliché literary devices to let you know that in this not-too-distant future, while things look much the same, they are VERY different? Like in the opening scene, the main character will be putting on his tie to go to work, listening to the morning news…but the scene will cut in mid-sentence to the TV newscaster saying something like “….and the rain of frogs and blood that fell from the sky south of downtown this morning is the fourth such event this month. In other news, the Senate voted 61 to 39 today to approve the House bill to allow house pets and house plants to have full voting rights….”
Well, I felt like that today. Actually, I’ve felt like that pretty often in the past year.
I needed a cute kitty chaser too, after Nancy Pelosi told people today “quit your job, follow your dreams, play music, and we’ll take care of your health care”:
Cloward and Piven “proposed to create a crisis in the current welfare system – by exploiting the gap between welfare law and practice – that would ultimately bring about its collapse and replace it with a system of guaranteed annual income. They hoped to accomplish this end by informing the poor of their rights to welfare assistance, encouraging them to apply for benefits and, in effect, overloading an already overburdened bureaucracy.”
SO…as if that weren’t enough to make your head explode, here are a few unrelated (?) news items today in the fed’s “march to progress”….
Life in prison is ‘cruel and unusual’ punishment for teens, Supreme Court rules
Milagro Cunningham, a 17-year-old who beat and raped an 8-year-old girl before leaving her to die under 197 pounds of rock in a recycling bin in a remote landfill…
I’m glad that the Supreme Court (a bunch of dudes and liberals in dresses) decided that we don’t wanna be mean to teenagers and give them life in prison for doing things like that. That makes my head want to explode, and no amount of cute kittens can help.
Being appalled at this 6-3 ruling might make you think I’d be happy about this 7-2 ruling that came down the same day (today):
Supreme Court: Sex offenders can be held indefinitely
The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday the federal government has the power to keep some sex offenders behind bars indefinitely after they have served their sentences if officials determine those inmates may prove “sexually dangerous” in the future.
“The federal government, as custodian of its prisoners, has the constitutional power to act in order to protect nearby (and other) communities from the danger such prisoners may pose,” Justice Stephen Breyer wrote for the 7-2 majority….
seems good on the surface, in a “think of the children!” way, but could be expanded to anything. This means they could probably put citizens in prison if they thought you might be a danger to the government, but had no proof. If they just “feel it’s a good idea” in a “think of the children!” sort of way. (Like if you vote Republican or Libertarian….)
I think that a problem a lot of libertarians and Republicans have is relying too heavily on the Constitution (and on its interpenetration by the guys in dresses. Letting those guys make up the rules as they go along was never the plan of the Founding Fathers.) The Constitution does not GRANT rights, it only tries to ENFORCE rights THAT YOU WERE BORN WITH. It’s all about NATURAL RIGHTS, not what Nanci Pelosi or Harry Reid or even Ron Paul says. It’s what is RIGHT, not what some lawmakers or law interpreters SAY is right.
If you live your life with integrity, you KNOW what’s right, and you don’t need some guy in a dress to tell you so. And Natural Rights (and the Constitution) only include negative rights (which are actually good things), like the right not to be killed for no reason, the right not to be tyrannized and taxed to death. And Natural Rights (and the Constitution) do NOT include and “positive rights” (positive rights are bad things), like the right to “free heath care”, the right to “a good job with benefits”, etc. Because positive rights can only be obtained by stealing from others.
Governments cannot earn money, they can only steal it, borrow it or print it. And none of those help honest people, and none of those are included in Natural Rights. And arrogant and sociopathic thuggish goons like Nanci Pelosi, Harry Reid, Obama, and now apparently the Supreme Court, do not understand Natural Rights. And Governments only have power if YOU give it to them.
I’m not telling people not to vote. I’d say vote for the least statist person who has a chance to win…usually a Republican, put the breaks on the Obama regime Cloward and Piven crap, and after that’s taken care of, we’ll work from there.
Pass this basic info on, brothers and sisters….especially to the youngins.
Article exclusive for the Libertarian Republican. Michael W. Dean works for a living in Wyoming, makes protest music, and refuses to buy into the notion that academics in DC can tell him what to do in Wyoming, and he will not pay for the health care of other musicians.
The Revolution rock and roll podcast interviews Michael W. Dean about punk rock, revolution, survivalist ideals, prepping, the Sex Pistols, Wyoming, Texas, drug addiction, the dot-com crash, making a living doing what you love, battle rifles, GOOCA (get out of California!), building a home recording studio, libertarianism, guns guns guns and more guns, the FAL rifle, carrying a gun to save your life, dealing with gun grabbers and much, much more.
Questions:
- Why the FAL?
- What specifically brought you over to libertarianism from liberalism
- How do you deal with all of the libs and left-wing nuts in the music industry?
- Mention letter to self, What were your punk rock influences?
- Why Wyoming?
- What do you do besides RAW?
- Discuss Songs:
+ Fakin’ the Race Card (you lie!)
+ Get Off My Property
+ Government is A Collective Hallucination (lots of talking)
+ My Gun Keeps You Honest – “and I practice almost every day…”
- “My guns are keeping you honest, that is my right as a free man”
How to Keep the Internet Free from Censorship (a call for programmers)
There should be a simple way for non-technical people to bookmark the I.P. address of a website when they bookmark the URL of that site. This would circumvent later re-directing of ICANN records by governments, hackers, and “Internet czars” and various busybody senators and congressman who want to take over the Internet so they can cut off sections of it that are critical of their tactics.
It would be great if someone would make a free, open-source plug-in for all the common browsers to do this. It would have to work seamlessly, i.e. it would have to be automatic, and work so non-technical people wouldn’t have to jump through any hoops to use it. And it would have to become common. The more people using it, the more value it would have in case of any censorship blackouts.
If enough people had this plug-in, it would prevent vested interests from corrupting the “bottom up, consensus driven, democratic manner” in which ICANN is supposed to operate.
I’m not a programmer, but it seems like this would be pretty easy for any good programmer to do in an afternoon.
What I’d love to have a programmer do is write a plug-in for Firefox (and maybe other browsers) that would automatically bookmark the I.P. address of websties, not just the URL, when you bookmark one. So if DNS were ever blocked, you could still get to your favorite sites.
It would have to work very easily (for non-tech folks, it would have to just work without them knowing much about anything) and automatically.
Suggested name for the plugin: “CensorFree” The basic idea is that if the gov (or hackers, or anyone) blocks the ICANN DNS records, people will still be able to get to their favorite sites.
An issue that would have to be dealt with is how would it resolve shared I.P. servers. For instance, DreamHost is who I use, and all my domains on there share I.P.s with a bunch of other domains, using zone files or something.
Anyway, let me know if you get this working. I’ll help promote it.
Thanks!
Michael W. Dean
SPECS:
–Must be easy to use for non-techies, and work for Windows and/or Mac, not just Linux
–It would bookmark I.P.s of sites you already have bookmarked, and new ones you bookmark after installing it.
–Would automatically try the I.P. bookmark when the URL bookmark doesn’t work.
–Would be able to toggle manually from URL to I.P. (for testing, as well as use).
–Would be able to import lists from others (for use in countries where you currently cannot get to some sites already).
–Would be able to allow for manually entering an I.P./URL combination (for use in countries where you currently cannot get to some sites already).
(Charles Schumer can shoot guns, but doesn’t want you to shoot guns!:)
You know how a song will get stuck in your head for days? That happens to me with phrases. For the last few days, the phrase stuck in my head is “When the Schumer hits the fan.”
The phrase “When the Schumer hits the fan“ is often substituted for “When the shit hits the fan” on survivalist websites, an allusion to Democrat senator (and Nancy Pelosi super best friend) Chuck Schumer’s gun grabbing and “nanny state” policies, which many survivalists believe will contribute to a “when the shit hits the fan” (collapse of services, and ensuing chaos and violence) situation happening, and/or being more difficult for non-prepared citizens.
….you will also remember Schumer as the inspiration for a couple of my pet expressions (“Deep Schumer”, and “When The Schumer Hits The Fan”), that I coined back in the early 1990s, to avoid making crude scatological references. Given Senator Schumer’s horribly leftist and gun-grabbing voting record, I make no apologies for enshrining “Schumer” and “WTSHTF” in the SurvivalBlog Glossary.
Also sometimes used is the phrase “tough Schumer” to substitute for “tough shit.”
Chuck Schumer, if you’ll recall, is the guy who recently called a female flight attendant “bitch” when she asked him to get off his cell phone when the plane was about to take off. Chuck was on the phone to Nanci Pelosi, talking about the health care scam, a few days before the final “vote.”
Here are many more examples of uses of “When the Schumer hits the fan”:
So, in our ongoing quest to bring the Republican Liberty Caucus to more people in Wyoming, Debra Jean and I rented a table at the bi-monthly Wasatch gun show in Casper, Wyoming, put on our best “Don’t tread on me” and “Molon Labe” shirts, and set up a Wyoming Chapter of the RLC info table for the weekend. It was a lot of fun, and we met some great folks.
Before the gun show, we went to Party America and bought some camo balloons; some red, white & blue balloons, some bunting, and a bunch of camo candy. (I didn’t know they made camo candy, but apparently they do!)
We’re planning to take an RLC road trip next month, handing out pamphlets and talking to people all over the state.
The view from behind our table: machine guns with silencers. God I love Wyoming!
Libertarian rapper and TV personality Neema Vedadi visits Michael W. Dean and Debra Jean Dean in Nestlandia, in Wyoming, and drops mad science. They talk about consent of the governed, the coming collapse, impending doom, liberal idiots, and how to transcend all of the above through education, edu-tainment, and guns. Neema explains how America is headed toward a Weimar Republic where a loaf of bread costs a million dollars. He and the Deans talk about what to do about it, how to save yourself and your family, and chat about liberty, child rearing, taxation as theft, where America went wrong, why there should be no public property, and what’s cool about guns and weed.
They talk about a lot of other fun stuff, for a long long time (an hour and 40 minutes). Yay!
PODCAST:
Neema V Tells You How to Thrive in the Coming Collapse: Download
(CNN) — The former governor of Oklahoma and his wife were robbed at gunpoint in the driveway of their northwest Oklahoma City home, officials said Thursday. George Nigh, 82, and his wife, Donna, were unhurt in the incident about 10:15 p.m. (11:15 p.m. ET) Wednesday as they were returning home from a dinner engagement. Nigh told reporters his wife was unlocking the front door of their home as he got flowers out of their vehicle when a man approached him from behind and said, “Get on the ground.”…..
AUSTIN, Texas – Pistol-packing Texas Gov. Rick Perry has a message for wily coyotes out there: Don’t mess with my dog. Perry told The Associated Press on Tuesday he needed just one shot from the laser-sighted pistol he sometimes carries while jogging to take down a coyote that menaced his puppy during a February run near Austin. Perry said he will carry his .380 Ruger — loaded with hollow-point bullets — when jogging on trails because he is afraid of snakes. He’d also seen coyotes in the undeveloped area. When one came out of the brush toward his daughter’s Labrador retriever, Perry charged.
“Don’t attack my dog or you might get shot … if you’re a coyote,” he said Tuesday.
Perry, a Republican running for a third full term against Democrat Bill White, is living in a private house in a hilly area southwest of downtown Austin while the Governor’s Mansion is being repaired after a 2008 fire. A concealed handgun permit holder, Perry carries the pistol in a belt…..
I don’t like the idea of anyone getting mugged, but I must add that the unarmed Oklahoma guy who got mugged is a Democrat, and the pistol-packin’ Texan is a Republican.
Two lawmakers say violence has become so rampant in Chicago that the National Guard must be called in to help. State Democratic Reps. John Fritchey and LaShawn Ford made a public plea to Gov. Pat Quinn on Sunday to deploy troops. The request comes amid a recent surge in violent crime, including a night last week that saw seven people killed and 18 wounded, mostly by gunfire. Fritchey says Chicago has had 113 homicide victims this year. He says the police department has done a commendable job, but its resources are stretched thin. Chicago Police Supt. Jody Weis says he appreciates the lawmakers’ frustration and willingness to help, but doubts the National Guard is the best answer. A message left for Quinn wasn’t returned Sunday.
Chicago’s violence is so bad that they’re adding an incredibly expensive computer system that detects where gunshots come from…which won’t help, it will only determine after the fact where the shots came from, after the shooter is long gone. More liberal stupidity – try to fix shit with technology without addressing the main problem: Chicago is full of entitled people who are raised wrong and don’t value life, and the honest people are not allowed to defend themselves. Note that the computer system that detects where gunshots come from is in use in Washington, D.C., Oakland, Los Angeles, Chicago, Rochester, N.Y, ALL CITIES WHERE IT’S IMPOSSIBLE TO GET A CARRY PERMIT FOR A GUN!
Well, I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m gonna strap on a second gun and go enjoy my idyllic, safe town of Casper, Wyoming. Sure we do have a bad neighborhood (they call it “Felony Flats” lol…) but a bad neighborhood here is safer than a nice neighborhood in Chicago. And I’d have no problem walking down any street in my town if I had reason to, BECAUSE I’M ARMED!
We can add the FDA to the growing list of government agencies that are going overboard in throwing their weight around. It appears that the new target for government harassment is Amish country in Pennsylvania. The farm of Dan Allgyer was “investigated” at 5:00 AM for suspicion of interstate milk sales. Apparently, interstate milk sales are a major problem, much like narcotics smuggling and human trafficking.
A bit of research turns up that Mr. Allgyer is the general manager for The Barnyard so I assume that this family farm is not a full time venture. I haven’t been able to determine if he sells products at a market or directly to the public, but have we reached a point that a farmer cannot engage in business with private citizens without fear of “investigations” that result in threats like that contained in a letter Mr. Allgyer received.
“Failure to make prompt corrections could result in regulatory action without further notice. Possible actions include seizure and/or injunction.”
With many Americans striving to become more self-sufficient and with the popularity of the Organic movement, we can expect to see more of this type of harassment in the future. I’m not sure if it is because of the pull of the commercial farming lobby in Congress or just a Federal government feeling the need to gain and maintain control of every aspect of our lives. “Investigations” of this nature set a scary precedent for those of us that grow our own vegetables or raise our own livestock. The FDA has complete discretion to accuse you of interstate food sales, giving them full jurisdiction over your land and the products of your labor.
I can understand the need for food safety, but at what point are people not allowed to decide for themselves without a nanny state government forbidding them from drinking raw milk or eating a tomato that was not grown on a commercial farm with full government oversight?
If you feel so inclined, you can contact the FDA field office at:
Philadelphia District Office
Serves Delaware and Pennsylvania.
Food and Drug Administration
U.S. Customhouse
Second and Chestnut Streets, Room 900
Philadelphia, PA 19106
(215) 597-4390 8:00 a.m. – 4:30 p.m. (Eastern time)
South Park creators Trey Parker and Matt Stone are longtime self-proclaimed “libertarians.” Indeed, Parker is actually a registered Libertarian Party member. They are friends of Reason Magazine. And they have used explicit libertarian themes in numerous episodes.
In the early 2000s, a movement was born out of their series, called “South Park Republicans.”
South Park co-creator Trey Parker is actually a registered member of the Libertarian Party. Fellow co-creator Matt Stone sums up their views with the comment “I hate conservatives, but I really fucking hate liberals.”)
They are described as center-right Republicans, mostly suburban fans of the show, with moderate libertarian-leanings. There was even a book released by author Brian C. Anderson called “South Park Conservatives.”
And now, like European Free Speech advocating Cartoonists, they have been specifically targeted with a serious Death Threat from a major Islamic Website.
From FoxNews.com “‘South Park’ Creators Could Face Retribution for Depicting Muhammad, Website Warns” :
A radical Islamic website is warning the creators of “South Park” that they could face violent retribution for depicting the Prophet Muhammad in a bear suit during an episode broadcast on Comedy Central last week.
RevolutionMuslim.com posted the warning following the 200th episode of Trey Parker and Matt Stone’s “South Park,” which included a caricature of the Prophet Muhammad disguised in a bear suit. The Web posting also included a graphic photo of Theo van Gogh, a Dutch filmmaker who was murdered in 2004 after making a documentary on violence against Muslim women.
“We have to warn Matt and Trey that what they are doing is stupid and they will probably wind up like Theo Van Gogh for airing this show,” the posting reads. “This is not a threat, but a warning of the reality of what will likely happen to them.”
Reaching by phone early Tuesday, Abu Talhah al Amrikee, the author of the post, said he wrote the entry to “raise awareness.” He said the grisly photograph of van Gogh was meant to “explain the severity” of what Parker and Stone did by mocking Muhammad.
“It’s not a threat, but it really is a likely outcome,” al Amrikee said,
Ironically, both Parker and Stone were guest speakers at a conference in Amsterdam in 2006 on the topic of Free Speech Rights, sponsored by Reason. Editor Nick Gillespie said at the time:
One of the reasons we were interested in having a conference in Amsterdam is that it’s not only the birthplace of tolerance but the site of one of the most brutal crimes related to free speech in recent memory: the 2004 murder of Dutch filmmaker Theo Van Gogh, who was stabbed to death in the street after making a 10-minute film critical of Islam’s treatment of women.
Parker commented to Reason in a resulting interview, Dec. 2006 isue:
This is what happened. I was on my honeymoon in Disney World. I turned on the television, and there were thousands of rioting Muslims, and the caption said, “Muslims enraged over cartoon.” And I said, “Oh, shit. What did we do?”
We actually did an episode five years ago with Muhammad in it. It was an episode called “Super Best Friends,” and Muhammad had super powers and turned himself into a beaver and then killed Abraham Lincoln. I thought, “They finally just saw it, and they’re all pissed off.” But no, it was those other cartoons that they were mad about.
Reached for a comment, Gillespie told Libertarian Republican yesterday:
To say that semi-veiled death threats against the creators of a cartoon show that spoofed Mohammed demonstrates the need for an Islamic reformation is self-evident. The threats, especially the invocation of the brutal murder of Theo van Gogh by a religious nutbar, should shame all serious Muslims the same way the pope’s behavior in sexual-abuse scandals shames true Catholics. Whether religious or secular, ideologies that try to suppress dissent and free expression through violence always lose, and always make themselves more abjectly pathetic on the road to the dustbin of history.
I make no secret of my love of snubbies. I carry a .38 special sometimes, and a .357 mag sometimes. The .357 can stop a bear, but weighs 24 ounces empty and kicks like a shotgun. The .38 special can stop most things, weighs only 12 ounces empty and has a manageable kick, which makes accurate follow-up shots easier.
My .38 is a Charter Arms Undercover Lite. Was 350 bucks new. I carry it all the time, even at home. Outside the house, I carry it, and often carry the .357 Taurus model 605 also.
Below the pix are some good links with excellent snubbie info. (added later: also check out the comments, there’s some great info there, especially on speedloaders, holsters and carry options.)
(Note that his Wal-Mart link goes to pix of me. I found his blog from the pingback.)
I do like that he says:
Okay, I’ll say it: these people scare the holy heavenly living fuck out of me. They seem so misguided and sincere and expect major gun battles in retail outlets and coffee shops. And ummm… just in case they’re right, I’ll be at Peet’s, okay?
Meanwhile, here in Casper, the liberal “more taxes and less freedom!” daily newspaper the Casper Turbine Tribune finally gets around to writing about the tea party that happened a week ago, talks about the “extremism” at the tea party in an article called Tea partiers try to temper messages, but some turn ugly
Some tea partiers brought signs that were ugly, such as using Obama’s name as an acronym standing for “One Big Ass Mistake America.” Others didn’t carry signs, but they wore firearms on their hips.
Speakers talked about the evils of Obama’s health care reform, critics who call tea partiers dumb or racist, wasting taxpayer money, the justice system and government as corporations, health care reform, gun rights, the Constitution, disinvited University of Wyoming speaker Bill Ayers, political incumbents needing a kick out of office, the John Birch Society, and health care reform.
Some talked about America the way they thought it was and should be. “We will rebuild America the way it was back in 1776,” Allen Crowder said. “We are a Christian nation, regardless of what the president says,” Carl Collea said. “I don’t believe Obama is a Christian.”
The council often has no one to speak during the public comment sessions at the end of every meeting, which makes council members wonder if the public cares, Holloway said…Holding his Obama-as-The Joker sign, Matt Kull… feels frustrated that people speak and vote, but politicians do what they want. “Our perception is we show up and no one listens,” he said.
If you read the 60+ negative reader comments on that article from the “more taxes and less freedom!” crowd (four guys in Casper on SSI and one guy in California who used to live here but still wants to make Wyoming more like California), you get the impression that people think it’s silly that us tea party folk don’t like it that our government ain’t listening. I don’t get that.
The unattributed quote from me in that article’s sidebar about “It hurts to watch our country be in a hostile takeover” (video below) seems to sum it up well. (I was actually quoting myself, it’s a paraphrase of a line in my Right Arm of Wyoming song “Tar and Feather a Tax Collector.”)
Anyway, yeah, people were complaining about the do’h!-bama regime, and five of the 150 people did have guns on our hips (I was one of them), but I wouldn’t call the mood that day “extreme.” I’d call it quaint. And considering what the left is doing to America, I’d say the Right have been very polite up to this point.
In a debate on Thursday night of Wyoming Gubernatorial Republican candidates Matt Mead, Rita Meyer and Ron Micheli (candidate Simpson didn’t bother showing up) and Libertarian Party candidate Mike Wheeler, they all tried to out-do each other on how anti-Fed each one is.
This is a nice contrast. In my former state, California, the candidates generally praise Washington DC and talk about how if elected (or re-elected), they will enact more programs and entitlements. In Wyoming the candidates talk about calling out the Wyoming National Guard against the federal government (RLC-endorsed candidate Rita Meyer), and taking federal land in Wyoming away from the Feds (RLC-endorsed candidate Ron Micheli). Statist Matt Mead even talked boldly about “securing the nation’s borders.” (Not really a bold issue for a non-border state gov candidate, but hey…more conservative than some RINOs would try to get away with.)
I love it. So far Wyoming has no Democrat announced for the November election, and the Republicans are fighting on a platform of who hates the Feds more. I find it refreshing.
Check out some of the user comments from appalled lefties on the Casper Tribune (a leftie rag that some call “the Casper Turbine”) :
I’ve never been so embarrased (sic) or depressed to live in Wyoming, because let’s face it it – one of these boobs is going to be our next Governor, and more than half of our state populace will embrace this boob with open arms. My god, look at what they say in a public forum – lord knows what they’re really thinking in the dark cobwebbed feverish little poison closets of their minds. Dark days ahead indeed, for the state and the country. Time for educated and enlightened folks to wake up and come out swinging or we’re going to wake up one day and find the teabagger trolls running the show.
and
You and Rita are both suggesting the treasonous use of force against the federal government. It doesn’t matter what 7th grade scenario you think up, if you’re using force to fight the rule of law in this country, you’re committing treason. I hope you both end up before a firing squad should you ever try to pull such nonsense using this state’s national guard. Or any other force.
Yikes!
Anyway, the Libertarian Party candidate, Mike Wheeler, showed up tonight at the Republican Liberty Caucus meeting we had at the library. He seems like a nice gent, but I’ve got to say, he kinda monopolized the meeting and spun it into a campaign pitch for ten minutes or more until I stopped him. And moreover, he is not a true libertarian, he’s a LINO who thinks the government should subsidize cars to run on natural gas to help the state economy of Wyoming. When I pointed out that this wasn’t a very libertarian stance, he said “I’m not really a libertarian.”
Mike Wheeler may have his heart in the right place (being of service), but has a very child-like understanding of government (several laymen and one laywoman attending the meeting had a much deeper understanding of the way the world works. And my wife, the only other person at the meeting who was a registered Libertarian Party member, said “No way I’d vote for that guy.”)
This was confounded more by Libertarian Party candidate Mike Wheeler’s comments at the debate last week, (from the Casper Turbine):
Growing up on a southern Colorado cattle ranch, Wheeler said there were “a couple of people that had a little water on their back working on the ranch.”
He then lamented that there are “red-blooded Wyomingites that are losing a job to somebody that’s probably sending their money back to Chihuahua for tacos.”
Anyway, the scary thing is the guy thinks he can win. He said so tonight when I asked him.
I told him, in front of others at the meeting, that I think he’ll just take away votes from people who should win.
I asked him if he knew who Dave Dawson is, Wheeler didn’t know. Dawson is the Libertarian Party guy who split off three percent of the Republican vote in the last election and handed the Wyoming Governorship to a Democrat. (I’ve had lunch with Dave Dawson. He’s a sweet guy regardless of putting a Democrat into office. And that Democrat was Gov Dave, who really probably should have run as a Republican. Gov Dave is at least as fiscally conservative, if not more so, than Scott Brown.)
I also thought it was a little ironic that a Libertarian Party guy took up so much time at an RLC meeting, because I was anticipating (and prepared for) liberal shit-starters, and none arrived. So it kinda took me off guard when a Libertarian Party guy showed up and talked until I cut him off…at a meeting of a group that came out of the Libertarian Party to run candidates as Republicans so they could win, rather than splitting the vote to make a point, like the Libertarian Party so often does.
Amway, I’m excited about Rita Meyer and Ron Micheil, and the consternation they’re causing the small (but growing) number of liberals in this state. Yay!
I’d give it an A for effort, a C for presentation. It’s been a long time since I’ve yacked in front of the crowd. Also, I did point the opposite direction of where the library is when I said “….down at the library.” I’m sure at least two old cowboys in the audience thought “Damn carpetbagger!”
Whereas the John Birch guy
and the 911 Coalition gal
where feistier and more comfortable talking, but they’re more in practice. lol.
Tea Party was nice….there were about 200 people there, five open carrying guns (including me), no counter-protesters, and it was fun. Lots of families with kids.
NOTE: This song is not a call to action. It’s a history lesson, about the Whiskey Rebellion….sort of punk rock “Schoolhouse Rock.” lol….
NEW song from Right Arm of Wyoming. DOWNLOAD MP3 HERE. (RIGHT CLICK TO SAVE.)
Song is dedicated to my great great great great great great grandfather, Joseph Cornish, who died on the American side in the American Revolution.
LYRICS for “Would you Tar and Feather a Tax Collector?” :
CHORUS 1:
Would you tar and feather a tax collector?
Like they did in days of old?
Would you tar and feather a tax collector?
For breaking in and stealing your gold?
CHORUS 2:
GET OUT AND FIGHT!
GET UP AND FIGHT!
STAND UP AND FIGHT!
FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
GET OUT AND FIGHT!
GET UP AND FIGHT!
WAKE UP AND FIGHT!
FOR YOUR RIGHTS!
The American Revolution was mostly
fought for just two things:
taxation and trying to take our guns.
My great great great great great great grand dad
died in that war.
He took a musketball from King George’s goons.
A few years later, in 1791 the federalist gub’mint
sent us the bill for that war
with even higher taxes than before
That federalist traitor Alexander Hamilton
acted like the new King George.
He tried to take honest money from the distillers.
But the brave men of Pennsylvania didn’t want a nanny state
so they tarred and feathered a tax collector
(CHORUS 1)
Flash forward 219 years
The new Alexander Hamilton is trying the same plan
but on a much larger scale
The gub’mint’s much bigger
And most people are sheep
waiting to be sheered in their sleep
(CHORUS 1)
The gub’mint buys guns by the millions
Meanwhile, they’re taking ours.
What do you think they’ve got in mind?
I’m not saying “it’s time.”
I’m just sayin’ ya gotta look behind.
Those who ignore history
have no future.
And King George wants us all subdued.
Middle 8:
It’s hard to watch my country being destroyed
It makes me very sad.
When I’m sad I don’t feel sorry for myself.
The sorrow turns to anger, which
hardens into steely reserve.
(CHORUS 2)
I’ll probably get on some list for singing this song
Screw ‘em – I’m right, they’re wrong.
We were taught to love our country, at one time.
But now?
That’s a hate crime.
I’ve said and done some silly things in my life (nothing as silly as this guy below did), but I’ve always done it under my real name (or made it damn easy to find my real name when using a fun pseudonym). People should use their real names on the Internet instead of cowardly hiding behind a sockpuppet, unlike the “higher taxes and less freedom!” activist/liar Jason Levin, of Beaverton, Oregon.
If you’ve got something to say, say it with your real name. And include your town too.
–Michael W. Dean, Casper, Wyoming
Repost via Wyoming Patriot:
====
Tea Party Infiltrators -
Lions and Tigers and Bears…
Oh My!!!
Many have asked about the news that there may be “infiltrators” at tea parties around the nation. A website (crashtheteaparty.org) was recently set up. The creator, though he tried to hide his identity, has been outed; his name is Jason Levin, and he’s a middle school teacher in Beaverton, Oregon. He’s on record saying that you might see some of his team in Nazi uniforms at your local tea party pretending to be racists and other offensive characters. Makes you feel all warm and fuzzy doesn’t it? And one has to ask the question; if tea partiers are racist, anti-Semitic homophobes, and it’s so obvious, why does he need to plant people who pretend to be those things at your tea parties? Ah…leftist logic and tactics…there is no way to understand their twisted thoughts. But you do need to know what the left is up to.
And by the way, if you’d like to let Mr. Levin’s school district know what you think of his behavior, and his potential influence on public school students in Beaverton, Oregon, you can contact them here. And you can reach the Principal at his school, Mr. Zan Hess, at this number: (503) 524-1345. If you choose to contact them, in direct contrast to Mr. Levin’s behavior, please be polite. Remember, just because he’s exposed himself publicly as a vile, indecent human being who will stoop to Nazi symbolism, and the promotion of racism and bigotry to silence those with whom he disagrees, doesn’t mean everyone in the school district is bad.
In any event, we know that infiltrators might be coming to our tea parties. But remember last April 15th; the idea that the tea parties would be infiltrated in the same way was all over the news. The results? Virtually no infiltration. We know they might be coming, and they know we know. And they know we are ready. So if you’re a couple of guys who enjoy wearing Nazi uniforms or holding racist signs, are you really likely to show up…just a couple of you, all alone, at a well organized tea party of 1,000-20,000 people who disagree with you? I haven’t seen many leftists with that much spine. They prefer to hide in the shadows and lurk, like sleazy predators, or secret molesters. They don’t want to be identified. And we ARE ready to identify them. Do they really want their ugly mugs pasted all over the internet holding racist signs? Hmmm…they might find it funny to think about and even to threaten, but it’s probably not a good career move, and most will chicken out before they ever get started.
What’s wrong with saying “no” to stupidity? I mean seriously. What is the left saying when they’re protesting? Are they rooting for “higher taxes and less freedom”?
From CNN– The mayor of Los Angeles, California, called Tuesday for a plan to shut down all city services — except for public safety and revenue-generating positions — twice a week beginning Monday in an effort to solve the city’s budget crisis.
“There are no easy decisions or simple ways to solve this budget crisis,” Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa said. “But as the CEO of this great city, it is my responsibility to make these difficult, but necessary, decisions to steer the city out of this crisis and onto solid financial ground.”
He said he was asking the city administrative officer to develop a plan to shut down the city for two days a week and calculate the money the city would save from the move….
I think this is the wave of things to come. California sets the tone for everything in America, including politics and spending. When you have decades of bailing out everyone with taxpayer-funded “social justice”, this is what you get.
It sort of reminds me of the squirrel in my yard. He barely noticed me for a long time. One day, I put some peanut butter out for him. He gobbled it up. Then I gave him some more, for several days in a row…..
One day I didn’t have any peanut butter, and he stood on my window sill, watching me eat my lunch inside, looking like “Hey buddy, quit stuffing your pie hole and feed me, or I’ll kill you.”
That’s California in a nutshell. Damn glad we got out while the getting was good.
–Michael W. Dean
p.s. When Los Angeles says they’re cutting off everything except for public safety and revenue-generating positions, I believe the second part – hell, they’ll ADD more meter maids. But public safety? They laid off a bunch of cops and firemen six months ago and let a lot of people out of prison early, including some violent offenders and kiddie touchers.
As soon as they give out vouchers for welfare, as they’ve talked about, the result will rival the LA Riots.
or this wonderful YouTube video of a cop shooting himself in the foot in a classroom full of kids, after bragging that he’s the only person in the room “professional enough” to use a gun.
MP3 podcast
and was in conjunction with a nationwide “Tea Party” protest of Big Government. At our local event in Georgetown, Ron Paul supporters hosted our own fundraising event in which we wrote “Income Tax”, “Federal Reserve”, and “Invasion of Iraq” on boxes and tossed them out the 2nd story window of the event venue onto the streets of Georgetown.
rnment of promoting bad behavior and called for a Chicago Tea Party in response. Scattered cheers, whistles and applause could be heard from some of the personnel around the floor.
beginning, interviewing libertarian bloggers like Steve Gordon and Jason Pye and even interviewing Congressman Ron Paul to gain their perspective on the Tea Party hijack. Maddow was shocked to learn that three so-called Tea Party supporters challenged the inspiration behind the Tea Party — U.S. Rep. Ron Paul — for Congress in his rural Lake Jackson/Victoria area district in Texas.
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