We can be "kick-ass, fun lovin'" Roller Derby fans; not "grey-suited, pocket protector," Bible thumping Geeks

From BigGovernment.com, "Conservatives, let's change perceptions Now!" by Deanna Murray:

Conservatives are doctors, lawyers, TV directors, actors, journalists, singers, seamstresses, Wall Street tycoons and a ton of other things. Some are church goers, some aren’t. Some believe in God, some don’t. But for some reason, all that is forgotten when we actually tell people where we stand. We just become ‘that conservative over there …’ or …‘that right-wing fanatic.’ All of our coolness disappears and we’re nothing but a label, defined by other people … people we don’t agree with.

But it really does need to be our mission to change perception. Every single person knows perception is reality … and the perception the media puts out there... is tainted, disrespectful and flat out wrong. We need to defiantly say we’re not going to take it any more and we are going to show this country who we are.

Does being a conservative mean we’re not a group of kick-ass fun-loving people? Damn, I don’t think I got that memo … at least I hadn’t when I was out at the roller derby last weekend hollering it up with a bunch of my girlfriends...

If we want to take back our country we have got to show the brainwashed who we really are. That we have a vision and a reason for believing what we do – and we still know how to live. This may seem superficial, but we’ve been painted into a grey-suited box, complete with pocket protector and fire and brimstone Bible …

Deanna Murray at MySpace

A "libertarian-conservative Tea Party" festival for central NE

From Eric Dondero:

It's called the Heartland Liberty Fest. The Libertarian Party of Nebraska will be hosting a day-long event in Papillion to celebrate Liberty. The LPN recently regained ballot status, after collecting more than 8,000 signatures. The event is co-hosted by Americans For Propserity, the Republican Liberty Caucus, as well as other libertarian-leaning groups.

The keynote speaker will be Republican Congressman Terry Lee (photo). But a forum featuring the four declared candidates for US Senate will also take place.

From the AP (via The Examiner):

The daylong festival will include musical entertainment and a number of speakers, including KFAB radio talk show host Tom Becka and Libertarian state party chairman Gene Siadek. Republican candidates for U.S. Senate in 2012 will also speak.

The event takes place Aug. 6, and will take place from 11 a.m. through 10:30 p.m. at the Sumtur Amphitheater, Papillion (near Lincoln).

LPNE.org

Upstart Rick Scott reformers vs. the holdover Charlie Crist supporters

From Eric Dondero:

There is an ongoing dispute in St. Johns County (St. Augustine) between local establishment Republicans and elected officials and the St. Johns chapter of the Republican Liberty Caucus together with the Tea Party. The elected Republicans are disgusted with the Tea Party/RLC's continuing references to the Constitution, their anti-government attitudes and theatrics.

From St.Augustine.com, "Local GOP, Tea Party 'at war'
n Tea Party: We're all Republicans n GOP: Fight over control of party":

Many local Republicans dislike the Tea Party's attitude and pressure on officials and staff to attain their agenda. Some say they sometimes ask impertinent and misleading questions, saying, "You work for us," and, "It's our money."

Their protests include signs with scrawled anti-tax slogans and quotes from Founding Fathers. Several silent protests were held by members wearing Sons of Liberty clothing and holding the yellow Gadsden Flag with the words, "Don't Tread on Me."

The two opposing camps stem from internal GOP battles for party positions. The two blocks include supporters of former moderate Republican Governor Charlie Crist and former AG Bill McCollum on one side, and the more Tea Party-oriented supporters of current Governor Rick Scott.

Commissioner tells county employees - "Don't be ashamed" of public service

Continuing:

Long-time GOP veterans say confrontational and theatrical actions turn them off.

Several mainstream Republicans said they don't believe Tea Party rhetoric and added, "There's been a war going on" for control of the party since 2008, when the libertarian-leaning Republican Liberty Caucus tried to take over.

Bob Veit, at the time Executive Committee chairman, said the Caucus was trying to put supporters into vacant precinct captain positions and with increased numbers gain control of the Executive Committee.

One county commissioner recently blew off steam at a local event at what he described as a "verbal assault," by a Tea Partyer.

Later, without mentioning the Tea Party or the incident directly, [Ken] Bryan addressed it at a commission meeting, saying, "There is a trend of anti-government sentiment sweeping this country. I've talked to our employees, and they, too, are feeling it. Some are afraid.

"That is disheartening. I want to tell our employees, 'Don't be ashamed of being a public servant.'"

Photo h/t Florida Tea Party

Economist Tom Woods is well known for his book Meltdown, an Austrian/Free Market view of the 2008 financial collapse and its causes. In September of 2010, Woods spoke at Indiana University. You can view the entire playlist here.

No Alcohol; No Gambling; No Music; No Porn; No Smoking; No Drugs

From Eric Dondero:

London and surrounding suburbs are being taken over by Islamic Jihadists.

"It's no longer your land. It's Allah's land... Holy shit, what's going on here... Coming to a neighborhood near you."

There has been little if any reporting by major media sources on the new Sharia Zones.

Sharia-compliant posters now dot London and surrounding suburbs

by Eric Dondero

The London Daily Mail reports July 28, "'No porn or prostitution': Islamic extremists set up Sharia law controlled zones in British cities"

Islamic extremists have launched a poster campaign across the UK proclaiming areas where Sharia law enforcement zones have been set up.

Communities have been bombarded with the posters, which read: ‘You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.’

The bright yellow messages daubed on bus stops and street lamps have already been seen across certain boroughs in London and order that in the ‘zone’ there should be ‘no gambling’, ‘no music or concerts’, ‘no porn or prostitution’, ‘no drugs or smoking’ and ‘no alcohol’.

Islamist beliefs extreme polar opposite of Libertarianism

Libertarians are explicitly in support of the legalized gambling, free speech including explicit lyrics in music, adult pornography, prostitution, no smoking bans, and legalization of drugs.

A check of top libertarian websites show no other libertarian media, outside of this website and one other, covering or even mentioning this story.

There is nothing at the Libertarian Party website LP.org. None of the Ron Paul websites such as Daily Paul and Campaign For Liberty are covering the story. LewRockwell.com is silent. Cato.org is similarly mum. The most popular culturally libertarian site Reason.com, which regularly features legalize porno, free speech, prostitution, and drug issues has nothing on the London story. A check of smaller libertarian sites, such as NolanChart.org, The Humble Libertarian, or The Agitator (another one that emphasizes the civil liberties side), haven't said a word.

LINOs - Libertarians In Name Only?

Selective coverage perhaps? No doubt, if this had been a Christian Conservative group putting up such stickers in say Memphis, Denver or San Francisco, the outcry from such websites would be deafening.

Reason alone would be covering the story on the front page of their magazine, and as the header for their website. Dave Boaz, openly gay VP at Cato, would be screaming bloody murder at the "homophobic and sexually intolerant" Christians. Wes Benedict, Director at Libertarian Party HQ, would have issued a press release condemning the "Christian bigots," within hours of the story breaking.

But as it is, criticisms of Islamism and opposition to the Islamic agenda on repealing individual liberties, is not politically correct for these increasingly LINO (Libertarian In Name Only) sites and groups.

Of Note - Gates of Vienna, whose editor-in-chief and co-editor are die-in-the-wool self-described "libertarians," is one website that featured the London story. Oddly enough, GofV is not considered to be a "real libertarian" website by the others listed.

Photo right - London Daily Star via UK Democracy Forum

Adding Balanced Budget Amendment key to reversal

From Eric Dondero:

The staunchly economic libertarians at the Club For Growth late Friday, reversed their earlier decision to go after any House Republicans who voted for House Speaker John Boehner's debt relief bill.

From The Hill "Club for Growth won't fight Boehner plan":

They had earlier promised to score any vote for his plan in their annual rankings as against the club's views, a warning sign that any supporters might have faced their well-funded wrath. But after Boehner added the balanced-budget amendment this morning, they issued a statement that said they would withdraw their opposition to it.

This represents a sharp turn-around.

On Tuesday, according to CNN Political Ticker, CFG issued a strongly worded statement opposed to the Boehner plan:

"The Club for Growth strongly opposes the Boehner Debt Limit plan," Club for Growth President Chris Chocola said in a statement. "It cuts almost nothing immediately, it caps only discretionary spending, and it does not require passage of a balanced budget amendment. Additionally, and perhaps more importantly, it simply doesn't fix the country's fiscal problems. We strongly oppose it, and we urge a no vote."

Republican leadership "social Darwinists" against the poor, old, weak and sick?

From Eric Dondero:

Excerpted from the Miami Herlad, column, "Libertarian fanaticism and the debt limit" by Jose Gabliondo:

the libertarian fanaticism about the public debt... is becoming a national liability. It shows how ideas can matter in real life. The two main ideas at work here are small government and market primacy, both excellent values. The Republicans’ leadership, however, has stretched them in troubling ways.

For them, small government means social Darwinism and skepticism about all things public. So entitlement programs make them gag and then wax eloquent about rugged individualism.

No worries if you’re fit as a fiddle. Poor, old, weak, or sick? Tough.

Note - Mr. Gabliondo is a professor at Florida International Univ. a known hotbed for hard-left thinking in FL. He is also described as having advised the Treasury Dept. during the Bush administration.

From Eric Dondero:

As reported media-wide this morning, House Speaker John Boehner's debt relief bill passed by a slender margin of 218 - 210.

On Thursday, the vote looked dicey and unpredictable. But Boehner, (and Majority leader Eric Cantor), were able to make some last minute compromises to get enough Tea Party caucus members in line.

Libertarian Republicans split their decisions. Most prominently, Reps. Tom McClintock (CA), Ron Paul (TX), and Justin Amash (MI), voted "No." Joining Boehner in voting "Yay," were libertarian Republican Reps. Jeff Flake (AZ), Jack Kingston (GA), and Allen West (FL). Flake and West held out til late in the game. It is known Flake garnered major concessions on his pet issue of ending earmarks.

A number of libertarian-leaning Republican Reps also voted No including Joe Walsh (IL), Paul Broun (GA), Tim Huelskamp (KS), Chip Craavack (MN), and most prominently Michele Bachmann (MN).

Interestingly, Rep. Tim Scott of South Carolina, one of two GOP House freshman leaders and a longtime Tea Partyer, also voted No.

Note - There was no official libertarian Republican position on the Boehner vote. This website did not take a position, nor did the Republican Liberty Caucus. The Libertarian Party, whom we libertarian Republicans side with more often than not, did issue a press release vehemently opposing raising the debt limit, and critical of the Boehner plan.

Photos from top to bottom - Tom McClintock, Michele Bachmann, Allen West, Jeff Flake and Justin Amash.

From Cliff Thies:

AP is reporting that, with the permission of the family, cemetery workers quietly exhumed the body of Rudolf Hess, once the #3 man in the Nazi hierarchy, cremated it, and scattered the ashes over an undisclosed lake, as the burial site had become a shrine to neo-Nazis.

Hess had apparently become mentally ill while in Hitler's inner circle and, delusional, set off to negotiate a peace between Germany and Great Britain. He was immediately arrested and spent time in the historic Tower of London before his trial at Nuremberg. At Nuremberg, he was found guilty of conspiracy to wage war (but not of war crimes or crimes against humanity) and was given a life sentence. He eventually died, at the age of 93, in Spandau Prison in Berlin (which itself was subsequently demolished so as not to become a neo-Nazi shrine).

How could such a horror come out of a cultured people like the Germans, we may never know. But, we will never forget.

By Jim Lagnese, Ran and Eric Dondero

DEVELOPING! At least one car bomb rocked Oslo, Norway, Friday July 22, 2011. One person is confirmed murdered. At least eight people have been hurt. The attack appears to have been directed at Norwegian parliamentary buildings and the Prime Minister's office. There is an unconfirmed report of a second explosion.

Stacy McCain at The Other McCain has more.

Video at YouTube:

More here at You Tube.

More here at You Tube.

UPDATE: Via UK Daily Mail Online

Norway came under a double attack today in what is being described as the worst atrocity it has faced since the Second World War.

Terrorists are believed to be responsible for a massive car blast at a government office block in the capital Oslo and a man disguised as a police officer opened fire on an island hosting a youth summer camp.

. . .

More than 30 were killed - seven in Oslo and between 25 to 30 on Utoya Island, 50 miles north of the capital - where the prime minister Jens Stoltenberg had been due to attend the youth Labour Party event.

Coordinated multiple attack - much like Mumbai.

Photo credit: Allover Norway / Rex Features

From Cliff Thies:

A Democratic polling firm (PPP) has found that God has strong job approval ratings. "It," as they like to refer to God so as to be inoffensive, gets a relatively high approval rating of 56 percent in the area of animals, and a relatively low rating - for God - of only 50 percent in the area of natural disasters. I don't see any hypothetical match-ups in their survey, such as God versus Generic Human, but I'm thinking with these high approval numbers the "it" God doesn't have to worry too much about getting re-elected.

From Eric Dondero:

Yesterday, on the Senate floor. Blasting Democrats non-proposals on the national debt.

In plain English... The debt limit is a problem. But it is the least of your problems. The bigger problem is the debt. And if all you do is pass a limit on the debt, and if you don't come with a serious, substantial plan to deal with the debt, you're in big trouble.

"If the rating agencies are using the word you just used (default), it is not part of my vocabulary. Greece will pay its debt," -- Nicolas Sarkozy

by Eric Dondero

Felix Salmon at Reuters is reporting this morning:

The latest Greek bailout is done, and it involves Greece going into “selective default,” which is, yes, a kind of default.

This is a bail-in as well as a bail-out: while Greece is getting the €109 billion it needs to cover its fiscal deficit, both the official sector and the private sector are going to take losses on their loans to the country.

Cranmer blog agrees:

When you examine the ‘aid’ package agreed last night to bail out bankrupt Greece (again) and keep the euro afloat, it amounts to a default. When you borrow cash on agreed terms and repayments cease because your bank account is empty, you’re not suffering a temporary cash-flow problem: you’re bankrupt. So if the lender should be stupid enough to lend you even more cash simply to enable you to go on paying him, it doesn’t take a dumbed-down GCSE in maths to work out that this money merry-go-round is a fiscal illusion. But this has been hailed as another great triumph of EU solidarity, and so Presidents Barosso, Van Rompuy and Papandreou drank champagne into the early hours of the morning, in awe of their economic flair and wonder at their political skill.

But while they call it ‘aid’, ‘restructuring’ and a ‘comprehensive agreement’, it amounts to default.

How will world markets greet the news in the coming hours and days is anyone's guess? Though, it may take a while to properly interpret the "euro-speak" for financial analysts to get a true grip on the situation.

Photo credit - UpdatesForo

Tax-funded Parks should Honor all Vets - Yanks and Johnny Rebs

From Cliff Thies:

From Loop21.com:

Dixie ain’t dead! 150 years after the first shot rang out in the Civil War, Alabamans are still paying a little-known tax that was designed to take care of the veterans who fought in it.

The property tax once funded the Alabama Confederate Soldiers' Home, which closed down 72 years ago. Now, the tax is used to pay for Confederate Memorial Park, which sits on the same land as the old Soldiers’ home.

Tax experts have noted that they don’t know of any other taxes like this that are connected to the Civil War. One black legislator, State Rep. Alvin Holmes, has vowed to try and get rid of the tax.

We in the libertarian wing of the GOP (Republican Liberty Caucus - RLC.org) honor all those who fought honorably in war, both the Johnny Rebs and the Billie Yanks, and all those in our armies and in the armies of nations with which we were once at war, but it is time to bury the hatchet and smoke the peace pipe. We should not have a Confederate Memorial separate from any other memorial, and if the parks of a state are generally supported by contributions and trust funds, then this one should be as well. One more thing, our flag is the American flag.

Photo credit - AL.com

From Eric Dondero:

From MSNBC "Army: Muslim soldier opposed to war is AWOL" July 21:

The Army says a Muslim soldier from Fort Campbell who won conscientious objector status but then was charged with possessing child pornography has gone AWOL.

Spokesman Rick Rzepka said Wednesday that Pfc. Naser Abdo has been absent without leave since the July 4th weekend.

Abdo, a 21-year-old infantry soldier, had applied for conscientious objector status last year saying his Muslim beliefs prohibited his service in any war.

On his refusal to be deployed to Afghanistan:

“As a Muslim, we stand against injustice, we stand against discrimination, and I feel it's my duty as an individual to do this.”

Abdo has been charged with possession of 34 images of child pornography on his personal computer.

Editor's comment - Let's see now? Places he might have fled too to avoid capture. Yemen? Somalia? Chechnya? Dearborn, Michigan? Berkely, California?

From Eric Dondero

Worldwide Libertarian Human Rights Activist Ayaan Hirsi Ali interviewed last week on the Canadian TV News program "On the Map."

At the 2:30 mark Ali states unequivocally:

Islam means submission to the will of Allah. A docrtine that requires an individual to become a slave. In my view it's bad.

Islam limits one to follow what you can find in the Koran and to follow the example of the prophet Muhammed. I think that's bad. And that's what keeps people in the Islamic world backwards.

Note - Ali is married to British libertarian historian Niall Ferguson.

From Eric Dondero:

Pretty amazing that the Donald has kind words for any other Republican. But his view on Congresswoman and rising star presidential candidate Michele Bachmann is suprisingly positive.

Trump said on a recent CNN interview with Pierce Morgan (via Newsmax):

Michele Bachmann as a bright light in the Republican race for the presidential nomination. “I think she’s a very underrated person,” Trump told CNN’s Piers Morgan during a phone interview.

Trump, who decided not to run for the Republican nomination himself, said he “was very impressed with her” when the Minnesota congresswoman and founder of the House Tea Party Caucus visited him recently in New York City.

From Cliff Thies:

Intrade, one of the foremost gambling parlors in the world, now tabs Texas Governor Rick Perry as the favorite to win the Republican nomination, 33 to 32 percent, over former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney. Minnesota Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is a distant third, at 10 percent. Others are tabbed in the single digits.

From the Washington Times"Among bettors, Perry now bests Romney for 2012 nod":

Mr. Perry’s nomination odds reached a high of 33 percent Thursday morning, eclipsing Mr. Romney for the first time. Mr. Romney, trading at 32 percent, had been Intrade’s 2012 favorite since betting on the GOP nomination began in 2008 and had even consolidated his front-runner status in recent months as his opponents stumbled and other would-be challengers opted not to run.