Last night, the Conservative and Libertarian Coalition held its first ASUW elections candidate forum, which had an unusual format.

The entire The Husky Impact ticket and Fred Ness were present, while some members of the ProgressUW and Purple Roots tickets were not present due to scheduling conflicts. The members of ConnectUW were not present.

It was sort of a last-minute thing we put it together a couple weeks ago, College Republicans President Austin Van Dusen said. Everything is always a work in progress and just making sure everything runs smoothly is a lot harder than it is.

Van Dusen said the forum may not have been as organized as some of the other forums hes been to, but he was proud to have the clubs presence on campus.

Contrary to the other forums excluding the presidential debate, the Conservative and Libertarian Coalition directed questions to some of the individual candidates, but not to all positions. The audience was given an opportunity to ask questions to some of the positions but the other positions only received individual or general question from the coalition. Additionally, candidates were allowed to respond to each other.

Kate Callison, running with The Husky Impact for director of policy and procedures, was asked how she would use the ASUW wiki and blog.

I believe the blog and wiki really need to be utilized more often, Callison said.

Brian Moe, running on the ProgressUW ticket, agreed with Callisons statement about the blog but disagreed the statement regarding the wiki. He said the current Board of Directors has had serious discussions of abandoning the wiki because nobody uses it unless theyre looking for a job, and it wasnt as accessible to students.

Callison also responded to Moes statement.

The wiki is the most valuable resource we have, Callison said. I believe that the fact that the wiki hasnt been updated is a flaw of the current director of policy and procedures.

Continue reading here:

Conservative and Libertarian Coalition hosts first ASUW forum

The Libertarian Party will hold its national convention May 2-6 in Las Vegas, in which the party will nominate their presidential ticket and celebrate the party's 40th anniversary. Based on straw polls, former Gov. Gary Johnson of New Mexico is expected to become the presidential nominee. As the presumptive nominee, Johnson has endorsed Judge Jim Gray of California to be the party's vice ...

See the original post here:

Gov. Gary Johnson Endorses Judge Jim Gray for Libertarian Vice Presidential Nomination

Young Americans for Liberty (YAL), a Libertarian organization, is set to launch a chapter on campus Friday to raise awareness about the partys platform, which aims to educate students about Libertarian values, including a reduced government role and free markets.

According to public outreach coordinator junior Phil Futuyma, YAL also tries to emphasize the role of the Constitution and liberty within the American government.

YAL is part of a nationwide organization with over 300 chapters at different colleges.

The nationwide organization began after the launch of Ron Pauls 2008 campaign. Since its inception, the organization has hosted massive student protests of the war in Iraq, the national debt and the Transportational Security Agency.

People should be free and able to live the lives that they choose, said Futuyma. We want to use DU as platform to identify, train and mobilize youth activists.

The group, which began forming on campus in February, was started by now-chapter president, junior Daniel Gerstel. Approximately 15 student members joined since Gerstel began forming the organization.

Although YAL will not be an official campus organization until its review on May 5, the group has hosted and planned a series of events to capture the attention of the student population, including a Transportation Security Agency (TSA) booth set up on Driscoll Bridge early April.

Futuyma said the TSA Awareness booth was aimed to raise awareness and anger from students over TSA safety check policies in airports. They especially wanted to point out body searches and overuse of scanners.

We want to educate students on the unconstitutionality of TSA and the moral incorrectness of their groping innocent people, he said The group also hosted Occupy the GPA, an event where they set up tents and sleeping bags on campus similar to the Occupy Wall Street encampments in Denver and throughout the nation. This was done to express YALs disagreements with Occupys message.

Futuyma said students who stopped by their events seemed interested and responsive to their message.

Continue reading here:

Libertarian group to become official

Under 30s Playing Hard to Get

View post:

Libertarian Leanings of Young Voters Dampen Obama's Appeal

Former Gov. Gary Johnson is on the verge of winning the Libertarian Party's nomination for president, but he's reluctant to claim victory yet.

"I wouldn't take anything for granted yet," he said of the Libertarian nominating process, which takes place Saturday at the party's national convention in Las Vegas, Nev. But a moment later, he added, "It does look good."

Johnson has even chosen his preferred running mate -- Jim Gray, a retired California superior court judge, who, like Johnson, is a longtime opponent of marijuana laws. Gray is the only announced Libertarian candidate for vice president.

But even if Johnson wins the Libertarian nod this weekend, he acknowledged his path won't be easy. In an interview Wednesday, Johnson said any hope of being competitive with Democratic President Barack Obama and likely Republican nominee Mitt Romney in November depends on him being included in the presidential debates in October.

But because of the steep standards set by the organization that organizes the debates, that's not easy for any third-party candidate. The last to be included in the debates was Ross Perot in 1992.

Johnson said if he can get on the stage with Obama and Romney, he would have a shot at winning. But as Johnson himself said, "That's a big 'if.' "

The two-term governor, who had been a lifelong Republican, left the GOP early this year after months of being ignored and excluded during his frustrating campaign to win the Republican nomination.

He'd assumed that his reputation as a tight-fisted, small-government, small-taxes advocate who was not afraid to veto hundreds of bills would appeal to GOP primary voters.

However, his libertarian positions on gay marriage, abortion and drug-law reform didn't catch on with socially conservative Republicans. Plus, Ron Paul, himself a former Libertarian Party presidential nominee, announced his candidacy shortly after Johnson entered the Republican race. The better-known Paul was invited to all the GOP debates, while Johnson was only allowed to participate in two.

But -- assuming he's the Libertarian nominee -- being excluded from debates could become Johnson's biggest problem again.

Continue reading here:

Johnson likely to get Libertarian ticket

27-03-2012 11:11 From the Majority Report, live MF 11:30am EST and via daily podcast at Another Libertarian caller debating Libertarianism and their ideals!

See the rest here:

Libertarian Caller Debates Sam Seder on Libertarian Ideals - Video

02-04-2012 08:03 First: My apologies for slipping off the map. I was assigned to run a workshop at AACR at the last minute, and I'm uploading this from my hotel in Chicago (at AACR2012). It's been the busiest month of my life with the house going on the market, a new project and new position at work, and AACR on top of it all. For those of you who are curious about why I missed the Reason Rally, it's because my daughter's birthday was on the same day, and I'm a father first and foremost. Sorry to have missed it. I should be back at 100% very soon. Let's see who can be the first to misinterpret this video to be advocating for a totalitarian state with no personal liberty! Winner gets a free "Slippery Slope-n-Slide"* I'm not interested in criticizing the "Big L" party because they provide a small minority of people with a voice and they provide a useful counterpoint to the two-party system. This video is strictly about the misuse of "the government has no right to tell me to..." argument. "We, the people", have a right to act when one person's choices affect the rest of us. It's easy to miss the subtle externalities that come from living in a complex and interdependent society. Other topics where there is clearly a conflict between personal liberty and the best interests of the society: 1. Vaccine refusal 2. Extreme sports 3. Unlicensed medical practices 4. Religious tax exemptions 5. Recreational drug use *offer not valid on planet Earth

Here is the original post:

The Libertarian Argument - Video

25-04-2012 11:11

Here is the original post:

Why Vote Libertarian? - Video

They're too shapely, and might excite Muslim men

From Ansamed.en

The shapes of the mermaids that embellish the fountain of Zeus in the centre of Alexandria have been deemed "inappropriate" by the Salafist Al Nour (Light) party, which decided to "veil" them completely with a sheet during a meeting yesterday evening.

The incident, which was reported by the website of the Al Masri Al Youm newspaper, has unleashed a wave of comment and disbelief on Twitter, where the paper posted pictures "before and after the niqab" of the fountain of the sirens, upon which an enormous placard carries the words: "Egyptian women devote themselves to their husbands and their nation".

Political leaders of the party, which is at the head of a coalition of Islamist parties that will stand in the forthcoming Egyptian elections from November 28, had recently announced that they were against the statues, deeming them contrary to Islamic tradition, the newspaper reports.

See photos of the mermaid coverings at globalvoices.com

Islamist City Councilwoman says they're "unfair to residents"

by Eric Dondero

And so it begins...

Libertarians mostly on the leftside of the movement have been skeptical of right-libertarian claims that Muslims will ban a whole array of sexual freedoms once they gain power.

Now we have a Muslim woman recently elected to a local council in the infamous Muslim-dominated London zone of Tower Hamlets, and one of her first acts, is to seek the banning of strip clubs. (Tower Hamlets is where "Sharia Law Zone" posters were recently posted on telephone polls about town.)

11 lap-dance clubs could be closed down

From the BBC "Could the East End become a strip-club free zone?" Nov.3:

Tower Hamlets wants to be the first council in London to ban lap-dancing clubs and it has just finishing asking its residents if they feel the same.

The east London Labour-led borough is one of the capital's most deprived as well as being the playground of the City and that clash, for many in the council, is uncomfortable.

Officially there are 11 lap-dancing clubs in the borough.

Independent councillor Rania Khan, who has been leading the campaign to shut the clubs, said: "You see a lot of the city workers coming into the borough... It's really unfair on residents, these venues are in the heart of the community."

Let's see if they are any libertarians out there besides this website bold enough to report on this news?

Photo credit - Lauren's Lounge UK

From Haaretz.com:

Israeli authorities on Saturday began deporting pro-Palestinian activists who tried to breach the naval blockade of the Gaza Strip.

The Israeli navy on Friday intercepted a Canadian vessel and an Irish boat carrying 27 activists and medical supplies which had set sail from Turkey toward Gaza.

From OccupyWallStreet.org Nov. 3:

@OccupyWallSt: We support and would like to express #solidarity to #FreedomWaves #Palestine.”

Response from response from the flotilla activists:

@CanadaBoatGaza Canada Boat to Gaza We are thrilled to receive the support of #OccupyWallStreet Looks like only the 1% support the Israeli blockade of Gaza. #FreedomWaves

Photo - Canadians in Greece support Gaza Flotilla, wearechangetoronto.org

DEVELOPING...

"I never heard him say anything violent," said Eric Eisen of Fort Collins, an Occupy activist. "He was all about converting money."

From Eric Dondero:

Breaking news from theColoradoan.com minutes ago... "Arrest in Old Town fire - Activist charged with arson; $250,000 bond set":

Gilmore, a beekeeper, was arrested in the early morning Friday and charged with first-degree arson, second-degree burglary and criminal mischief. The fire destroyed the building at 311 Mason Street on Oct. 24 and damaged the next-door Penny Flats residential and mixed-use retail building.

Gilmore, a registered Republican, had been an outspoken member of the Occupy movement... (Emphasis added)

Fellow activists say Benjamin David Gilmore, 29, kept his message positive during the many days he participated in the movement. They declined to draw any conclusions about his possible guilt but said the movement is strictly peaceful.

[OFC Spokeswoman Julia Crisafi] said Benjamin Gilmore, who was part of the movement "since Day One," is a Ron Paul supporter. There has been friction between Paul supporters and other Occupy activists, whose views are "a little bit more extreme," she said.

Eventually, the Paul supporters moved their demonstration to Mulberry Street and College Avenue. But Crisafi said Benjamin Gilmore stayed at Maple and College.

Occupy Fort Collins activists said Benjamin Gilmore has been a well-liked leader and friend, parking his camper at Maple Street and North College Avenue to provide a toilet and napping spot

In a bizarre YouTube interview posted Oct. 18, Gilmore rants for 3.5 minutes on everything from corporations controlling the American economy, to federal reserve notes, to paragliding in Colorado.

UPDATE!!

Suspect appeared at Ft. Collins City Council Tuesday dressed in Black

The Denver Post is reporting that Gilmore "appears to be" the very same person who went on a rant against the City of Ft. Collins at a council meeting Tuesday night. He was wearing a black t-shirt and black gloves.

UPDATE!!

Video of Ft. Collins city council mtg. now up

The Coloroadoan.com just posted a video of Gilmore's city council appearance from Tuesday. It is nothing less than bizarre. He appears to have some sort of scar on his nose. He is wearing black leather gloves. He rants about the War of 1812 and paper money. At one point he breaks down and appears to come to tears.

UPDATE!!

Welcome Pamela Geller Atlas Shrugs readers!

Pamela Geller at Atlas Shrugs is running this story in full as the top headliner on her site. We welcome all Atlas Shrugs readers. Please add us to your daily favorites and/or sign up on top for our email newsletter summary of daily posts.

UPDATE!!

Welcome ConservativesforAmerica readers!

This article re-posted to ConservativesforAmerica.com in full. We welcome the site's readers. Please add us to your Daily Favorites.

Building Photo courtesy of Poudre Fire Authority via 5280Fire.com Suspect, Photo credit - ar15.com (home of the black rifle) forum

WARNING: EXTREMELY GRAPHIC LANGUAGE!!

From Eric Dondero:

Republicans oppose hike in the property tax. Democrats send in the thugs.

Get the full story at OldBridgeRepublicans.com

Pat McCrory for Guv may help GOP prez candidate take the state

From Eric Dondero:

This poll just coming out from the left-leaning polling firm PPP, (via Hedgehog)

GOVERNOR – NORTH CAROLINA (PPP)
Pat McCrory (R) 48%
Bev Perdue (D-inc) 39%

No doubt this has enormous implications for the presidential race. With Florida and even Virginia moving into the GOP column, the Obama campaign has increasing pressure to hold North Carolina. It's darn near impossible to come up with a winning electoral strategy for Team Obama without NC.

Who is McCrory?

Pat McCrory is a former 7-term Mayor of Charlotte. He holds claim to having been the prime mover in bringing the NASCAR Hall of Fame to Charlotte.

He is run-of-the-mill moderate-to-conservative. He ran in 2008 against Purdue, and lost. Ironically, there was a strong Libertarian Party candidate in the race who polled near 10%.

There hasn't beem much to excite libertarians about McCrory. However, this somewhat encouraging note from Creative Loafing - NC in August:

According to observers from both parties, the former Charlotte mayor has moved farther and farther to the right in order to shore up support from the GOP's ultra-conservative Tea Party factions, as he looks toward a rematch with Gov. Bev Perdue in 2012.

It seems McCrory has linked up with the libertarian group Americans For Prosperity and longtime libertarian Republican and fmr. state rep. Art Pope.

He now firmly supports anti-voting fraud measures like voter i.d., deep spending cuts, and North Carolina opting out of federally-mandated Health Care.

They're no different. They want a bail-out too

From Politico.com, Sarah Palin: ‘Occupy Wall Street’ wants a bailout

They say, `Wall Street fat cats got a bailout, so now I want one too.’ And the correct answer is, no one is entitled to a bailout,” Palin said at a dinner Thursday with donors in Florida, CBS reports.

“The American dream, our foundation, is about work ethic and empowerment, not entitlement.”

Editor's note - Our friend and part-time contributor Stacy McCain has exclusive video up this morning at TheOtherMcCain.com of "smelly" Occupiers attempting to crash the Ronald Reagan dinner of AFP in D.C. last night. It's an absolute must see!

"Thank you Herman Cain for running and for inspiring better dialogue"

Excerpted from TheState, guest column by Jenny Sanford, "fresh face, a bold message, and a choice" Nov. 3:

Time will tell if Herman Cain becomes the next political newcomer to be elected, and I, for one, am thankful he’s in the presidential race.

I know this story well. A “fresh face” appears on the political scene and puts forth new proposals that challenge the status quo and then is attacked viciously on his proposals and then his character. Many of these challengers don’t make it; some shouldn’t. Others win and fight to improve things in our nation only to be worn down over time, to tire of fighting the system, becoming more cautious, political and hollow. Thus the system creates empty suits, adept at giving sound-bites to the media and talking points to voters and raising money to be reelected. Understandably, few modern-day politicians put forth big ideas or proposals to truly shrink or reform our government, preferring instead to obfuscate or to punt to committees. Thank you Herman Cain for running and for inspiring better dialogue.

H/t NR, photo ftsnews

SPECIAL GUEST REPORT!

by Rick Murphy

Personal debt problems can be cured by debt settlement for the people of US. However, the Prime Minister of Greece, George Papandreou definitely isn’t getting any easy way out. In a recent economic decision, Papandreou has decided to hold a referendum on the EU bailout deal which although is a controversial plan but has won unanimous support from cabinet. He had announced in a late night cabinet meeting that the referendum is meant to be a clear mandate both inside and outside Greece on the course that Greece is going to take in its participation in the euro. He also announced that no one will be able to doubt the course that Greece takes within the euro and the market turmoil resulting due to his announcement of the referendum will be short lived. The cabinet had voted on that the referendum will take place as soon as possible.

Many stocks, both euro and global saw a downturn on financial markets following the announcement of Papandreou. His move brought into question the survival of crucial efforts in order to hold back the sovereign debt crisis of the euro zone. Asian stocks extended the wave of selling on 2nd November following the announcement. The leaders of the leading European nations, France and Germany were caught unawares by the gamble which has quite a lot of things at stake. They summoned the Greek prime minister to talk over the crisis in Cannes on Wednesday so that they can push in front of a summit of the G20 major world economies for implementing the bailout deal quickly.

However, Papandreou was of a different view. He said that the partners of Greece would support its policies and urged the G20 meeting to agree on policies that ensured the upper hand of democracy over market appetites. The German prime minister was quoted saying to the Financial Times Deutschland newspaper that he was confident that the Greeks would support the government’s reforms in the referendum. According to him, if Greece accepts the burden and efforts that are required by the aid programs and if it wants to stay within the euro zone, then Germany will support it.

The immediate hurdle that Papandreou needs to cross is a confidence vote. He told the cabinet that it was his belief that he would win both the vote and hold the referendum as planned. Of the ruling PASOK socialists of Greece, 6 seniors were angered by the decision of Papandreou’s decision to cal a plebiscite on the 130 billion euro rescue package that was agreed on the previous week and said that he should make way for a "politically legitimate" administration. Following Papandreou's latest remarks made the euro fall by almost half a UD cent which showed that he had failed to do away with market worries about the debt crisis of the region.

Rick Murphy is a contributory writer associated with the Debt Consolidation Care Community and has written several articles for various financial websites. To get Debt related help visit: debtconsolidationcare.com Photo credit - Harbermonitor.com

“We had to close the park because it was overrun with immigrants,” Local Councilor Spyros Dianatos tells RT. “They’d piss everywhere in the park, near the church mural. No one could cross the park, everybody was scared, and no Greek people could come here. It was not a playground anymore.”

From RT News, Nov. 1:

Over the last few years, illegal immigration into Europe and Greece in particular has skyrocketed, whilst the Greek economy has plummeted.

“The crisis has led to unemployment, to poverty, increasing to a lot of people not being able to make ends meet,” Professor of Economics Tsakalotos Efklidis explains.

Faced with these tough economic conditions, it is not just extreme factions of society that have seen a rise in anti-immigrant sentiment...

The streets of Athens have become a kind of limbo now for illegal immigrants, who are struggling to make money and survive.

Edtior's note - Meanwhile, the mainstream media focuses solely on the economic side of the equation.

"Sharia... does not have a place in a U.S. courtroom"

From ABC News, "Bachmann Opposed to Sharia Law, Says It ‘Usurps’ Constitution":

“It’s very troubling to see some United States justices bring in sharia law,” Bachmann said in a radio interview with WHO Radio in Iowa. “Sharia law … certainly does not have a place in a United States courtroom, nor should it be followed by United States judges.”

Bachmann was responding to a question from a caller who asked the GOP hopeful’s opinion on judges “sneaking sharia law into courts.”

“We surely must realize that [sharia] would be against our Constitution,” she said, “because that would usurp, and put sharia law over the Constitution, and that would be wrong.”

Editor's note - It's interesting Bachmann rival and "Constitutionalist" Ron Paul, has said little if anything on the subject of Sharia in the campaign.

From the Weekly Standard (via White House pool reporter):

entered the room at 1:15 and took to his left, heading to Angela Merkel and Nicolas Sarkozy. They chatted for a few seconds before British Prime minister David Cameron joined them... European president Herman van Rompuy, European Commission Jose Manuel Barroso and Turkish PM Recep Tayyip Erdogan were watching. Eventually the Europeans got a handshake but Erdogan got the hug treatment.

Editor's comment - No, no, no. Obama's not a Muslim. Not a chance. Photo credit - Scoopit.com