FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (6/30/10) – Today, the Indiana Supreme Court issued its opinion in League v. Rokita regarding the Voter ID law in Indiana. Libertarian Party nominee for Secretary of State Mike Wherry supports this decision by the Court and applauds this protection against voter fraud.
Wherry explains, “The Supreme Court upheld the constitutionality [...]

From Eric Dondero:

The Republican Liberty Caucus met in conference call Monday night and resolved to officially endorse two high profile Republican candidates: Sharron Angle for US Senate in Nevada and Randy Brogdon for Oklahoma Governor.

Interestingly, the RLC had backed Angle in 2008 in a failed primary run for Congress against now-Congressman Dean Heller. (She lost by a very slim margin.)

RLC National Committeeman Aaron Bitterman comments:

Voters interested in supporting a candidate who will work to reduce the size of government should enthusiastically support Sharron Angle for U.S. Senate in Nevada.

The bonus is that electing Angle will rid our country of Majority Leader Harry Reid.

On Brogdon, Bitterman had this to say:

Brogdon is in a tough election with Congresswoman Mary Fallin, the establishment favorite, to win the Republican primary taking place July 27.

As a State Senator, Randy Brogdon proposed or passed …

• The Healthcare Freedom of Choice Act
• The Real ID Opt-out Bill
• The Freedom Firearm Act
• The Tenth Amendment Resolution

Brogdon was also the lead sponsor of the Stop OverSpending Initiative (TABOR) and was instrumental in supporting an initiative to protect private property rights in response to Kelo v. New London.

It should also be noted that Brogdon has had a longstanding friendship with the Republican Liberty Caucus. He's affiliated with Howie Rich's Americans for Limited Government. He's also been a guest speaker and attendee on a number of occasions at Oklahoma Libertarian Party meetings.

IMPORTANT!

From the Editor: We will have a very special announcement regarding Sharron Angle on Thursday morning. You will not want to miss this.

Unfortunately with Deadly Consequences

From Cliff Thies:

The headline of the London Daily Mail reads "Innocent couple died 'after wrong house was fire-bombed in bungled honour killing'."

An innocent couple died in a house fire at the hands of assailants who got the wrong address in a botched honour killing, a court heard today.

Abdullah Mohammed, 41, and his wife, Aysha Mohammed, 39, were overcome by smoke and fumes after an accelerant was poured through their letterbox and set alight.

Their killers were ordered by another man to avenge his family's honour but instead of firebombing 135 London Road in Blackburn, Lancashire, they started the blaze at 175 London Road, the court heard.

Opening the case at Preston Crown Court, Brian Cummings QC said: 'The prosecution allege that Sadik Miah, Mohammed Miah (no relation) and Habib Iqbal were directly responsible for starting the fire that night

'The prosecution say, on behalf of his family, Hisamuddin Ibrahim wanted to kill a man by the name of Mo Ibrahim (no relation) to punish him for damaging the family's honour for having an affair with his married sister, Hafija Gordi.'

Just another stupid Muslim terrorist story? No! More like another story of creeping Sharia Law.

Abdullah Mohammed, 41, and his wife, Aysha Mohammed, 39, who were murdered in a botched 'honour killing,' were indeed an 'innocent couple,' as the headline puts it. Ditto their minor children who, thankfully, survived. But so were the persons the murderers intended to kill. In Great Britain, as in our country, a person is presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Even then, the punishment is to fit the crime. Guilt is not to be determined by any Sadik, Mohammed, Habib or Hisamuddin, with punishment determined by primitive tribal standards masquerading as a religion, and executed by hired assassins. It's bad enough that immigrants don't respect the rule of law. But, for the editors of a great newspapers to accept that the intended victims might not be innocent is much worse.

Photo of London row houses not actual site of fire.

From Cliff Thies:

With all the bad news in the world, the wars, the depression, the oil spill, finally, some good news: hot Russian spy babes are back! The headline read "sexy Russian spy busted!" And is she ever! And those eyes. If the North Vietnamese could break John McCain, could anybody blame me if she forced me, with those eyes, to tell her everything???

More photos at the NY Post

Photo hat tip Humble Libertarian

by Clifford F. Thies

Sometimes you have to put 1 and 1 together to get 2. One day, the President names General Petraeus, hero of the surge in Iraq, to be commander of allied forces in Afghanistan. A few days later, the G-8 releases a joint statement that includes a commitment to five more years of international military assistance to that country.

When he announced his surge in Afghanistan, President Obama also announced a timetable for withdrawal. Beginning in 2011, U.S. troops were to begin withdrawing from the country. The pre-commitment to a timetable for withdrawal aligned with candidate Obama’s criticism of President Bush for making withdrawal from Iraq based on "conditions on the ground,” a standard that appeared to commit the U.S. to have a military presence in Iraq indefinitely.

The timetable for withdrawal may have made sense to President Obama at the time it was drawn up, based on various assumptions of what could be accomplished with the resources available; but, right off the bat, problems developed. First, there were problems assembling the resources assumed in the plan. Our own troop level was only increased gradually due to a variety of problems, and none of our allies committed to additional troops or agreed to relax restrictions on the deployment of their troops already in the country, and a number of our allies announced withdrawals of their troops.

Second, the Taliban didn’t cooperate with the plan. They zigged when the plan assumed they were going to zag, increasingly operating across the borders of Afghanistan with Iran and Pakistan, and being augmented by international jihadists. Instead of encountering only scattered resistance, our forces find themselves engaged with a fierce and resourceful enemy. This has not been the “walk in the park” that the Obama Administration had assumed.

Thus, as things failed to go according to plan, President Karzai of Afghanistan said the allied forces will not defeat the Taliban, meaning not according to President Obama’s timetable. Local Afghanis started to accommodate themselves to their soon-to-be evil masters. The now dumped commander of the allied forces, General McChrystal, agitated for more troops and became increasingly frustrated with the civilian leadership.

Following his appointment of General Petraeus President Obama seemed to fudge his policy of a timetable for withdrawal with a policy of conditioning withdrawal on conditions on the ground. He said that his timetable was not “race for the exits,” but a “conditions-based,” open-ended transition.” My, my, why didn’t President Bush think of saying that? And now comes a five-year commitment by way of a G-8 announcement.

Independent of the tacit admission that Bush was right about basing withdrawal on conditions on the ground, there is the geopolitical question as to what is the mission in Afghanistan and is it worth the cost of another five years of war? The original mission in that country was merely to overthrow the Taliban and to secure Kabul for the so-called central government of the country. For some reason, this changed into securing the entire country for that so-called government. Neither President Bush nor President Obama has bothered to tell us, the American people, why this is in our national interest.

From Eric Dondero:

It's being dubbed a "Red Meat" state convention. Idaho Republican delegates met in convention in Idaho Falls over the weekend and adopted a hardline platform. From the Deseret News:

Take the party's new platform, updated Saturday to include a loyalty test for candidates, a provision recommending Idaho withhold taxes from the federal government, further efforts to limit marriage to "naturally born" men and women — even a GOP-sanctioned admonishment for residents to stock up on gold and silver to gird against the ravages of U.S. dollar inflation, should it come to that.

a recommendation to revise the Idaho Constitution to give Idaho the right to take over federally managed U.S. Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management territory.

(Bold emphasis added.)

Also, two Tea Party stalwarts were elected to the GOP Executive Committee - Secretary and Treasurer positions. The Party is already Chaired by a hardline conservative Norm Samanko who won reelection.

LR FOLLOW-UP

From Eric Dondero:

We reported last week on local newspaper stories out of California, uncovering EBT machines in California Casinos. Welfare recipients could access easy cash for the blackjack tables, slot machines, and poker.

The Governor was caught by surprise. But to his credit he has put an immediate stop to the practice.

From Mydesert.com:

Spurred by a newspaper's report that California's welfare debit cards can be used to withdraw cash in more than half the casinos in the state, Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger on Thursday issued an immediate ban on state-provided cash assistance at ATMs in gambling establishments.

The Los Angeles Times disclosed that Electronic Benefit Transfer cards work in automated teller machines at 32 of 58 tribal casinos and 47 of 90 state-licensed poker rooms. The report also found the state Department of Social Services published a list of useable ATMs where the EBT cards that work like debit cards could be cashed.

“I will use every available power I have to protect taxpayers from waste, fraud and abuse in government,'' Schwarzenegger said.

From Eric Dondero:

Libertarian candidate for Governor of Arizona Bruce Olson admires Republican Governor Jan Brewer in general, but wants her to be even tougher on border security.

Yesterday he issued an open letter to his opponent. Olson sent a copy along to Libertarian Republican.

Governor Brewer:

This morning I read your article in the paper. Here’s a idea. Take an hour out of your campaigning day, and do what your charged to do. Be the Commander in Chief of the Great State of Arizona. Forget obama, hes not coming, he has no paperwork. Put out a call for volunteers to develop and deploy the state militia we are ready. Instruct the Border Patrol to return to the border fence and no more than one mile inside the border. Send the Armed State Guard to the border to back up the Border Patrol . Locate two General Aviation aircraft equipped with RC-9 or -10 cameras with gps link, deploy them to the border and mountain ridges, identify the location of repeaters with freq finding technology. Send in the Huey’s with gunners and take them out. Use the militia to mop up. You are at war , and the longer you fool around using this issue as a campaign tool, the more people are going to get killed or worse. We need a Commander in Chief in Arizona, its for certain we dont have one in the District of Columbia. You want to be a sovereign state,prove it.

Bruce Olsen

Note - Olsen refers to himself as a "Wayne Root Libertarian," and a strict Constitutionalist. To challenge Brewer in the Fall, he must first win the Libertarian Party nomination. His opponent for the nomination is leftwing Libertarian and perennial candidate Barry Hess. The Libertarian primary is in August.

BruceOlsen4Gov.com

Libertarian-Conservative

Tea Party-backed. Supported by longtime Massachusetts Libertarian Republican State Senator Bob Hedlund of Weymouth.

Massachusetts 10th Congressional District running against longtime Democrat incumbent Rep. William Delahunt. Regarded as the best shot for the GOP to pick up a seat in Mass.

JeffPerryforCongress.com

by Eric Dondero

By now many of you, especially those of you who are rightwing blogosphere junkies are aware that Dave Weigel as resigned as the "Conservative" Blogger for the Washington Post.

I cry no tears for Dave's departure. I will say he's always been friendly in his dealings with me and with this political website. Well, at least recently. But no less, I'm not sorry to see him go. Mainly because he was not in any way a Conservative.

Rather, Weigel is the perfect Leftwing Libertarian.

And ironically, because of this hub-bub, the term Leftwing Libertarian or variations of, have been spread all over the blogs.

We here at Libertarian Republican take credit for pushing these terms "Leftwing Libertarian," and "Right Libertarian," or "Rightwing Libertarian." We most certainly are the main political website representing the Right Libertarian movement.

The difference? Mainly foreign policy. Right Libertarians are Pro-Defense, and generally less skeptical and even downright supportive of the Wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. We Right Libertarians are also more tolerant of Pro-Life Libertarians, Christian Libertarians, and Libertarians personally opposed to Gay Marriage for example. We Right Libertarians tend to be more Pro-Death Penalty, and tough on Crime. And most certainly, we are much tougher on Immigration than your typical Libertarian.

Weigel represents the complete opposite view. He's stridently non-interventionist. He was an open Obama supporter in 2008 when he worked for Reason. He's been disdainful of Sarah Palin.

Thankfully, this is getting picked up. From HuffPo:

But within the Washington Post, Weigel's politics (he is a libertarian with clear progressive leanings) appeared to surprise management, some of whom assumed he was a conservative.

From VodkaPundit at PJ Media:

I’d read Weigel starting with his stint at Reason about three years back. He was always caustic, often funny, and typically cranky — an angry left-libertarian. Now, left-libertarian isn’t the most tenable position... From the moment Weigel started at the Post, it became pretty obvious that he wasn’t a libertarian of any sort, left or otherwise. And if you followed his Twitter feed, his “progressive” tilt, and open hostility towards most anyone to the right of, say, Dave Weigel, weren’t even debatable.

From E.D. Kain at the Washington Examiner:

It appears the Post either didn’t realize Weigel was not a conservative (but rather a left-leaning libertarian)

There's much, much more. Dave Weigel and "Left Libertarian," is all over the blogs right now.

Leftwing Libertarian and Right Libertarians are relatively new terms. The more they get bandied about the better for those of us on the Rightside of libertarianism. For, we are at the very apex of the Libertarian-Conservative movement.

So, in a way I guess we do owe Dave Weigel some gratitude after all.

by the Left Coast Rebel

Why was Al Franken so bored at Elena Kagan's testimony today? Perhaps it's because Al Franken knows what is bouncing around in Elena Kagan's skull and considers the 'hearings' even less than a moot point. Does liberalism cause narcolepsy?:

Or does narcolepsy cause liberalism?

Narcolepsy of the brain, if I were to surmise from Elena Kagan's empty, flowery, worthless speechifying today.

Exit question - Does, "I've learned that we make progress by listening to each other across every apparent political or ideological divide..."

Substitute, 'I do solemnly swear to faithfully and impartially discharge and perform all the duties incumbent upon me as associate justice of the Supreme Court of the United States under the Constitution and laws of the Unites States, so help me God?'

If so, then perhaps the 'redistribution of wealth to it's rightful owners' really has replaced 'the pursuit of happiness.'

Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL)did a pretty good job today at the Kagan hearings and even dropped the 's' word. Does Senator Jeff Sessions (R-AL) sum up precisely that which I did above?:

Cross-posted to Left Coast Rebel, Proof Positive.

From Cliff Thies:

Robert Byrd passed away five days short of the 2 1/2 year mark, which would have clearly allowed the Governor's replacement to fill out his unexpired term. (The Governor is a Democrat).

Five days! Do you think, maybe, the Democrats could have just kept his death quiet for five days?

From the Editor: Obvious photoshop of Byrd. Sorry, we couldn't resist.

UPDATE: "Flipping Racial Minorities The Byrd," an Op Ed by Wes Messamore.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
INDIANAPOLIS, IN (6/28/10) – Mike Wherry, Libertarian Party candidate for Secretary of State, extends his congratulations to Charlie White and Vop Osili on their respective nominations for Secretary of State.
“I would like to congratulate Charlie White and Vop Osili and welcome them to the race. I hope that we have a spirited [...]

I have never believed in the Easter Bunny, Santa Claus, or that creepy Tooth Fairy thing.
But that doesn’t mean that I haven’t nurtured other baseless, nutty beliefs until some painful paroxysm jolted me awake.
Many years ago, under horrible personal circumstances, I endured the same spiritual upheaval you’re feeling right now. Just as with you, my [...]

**By: Guest Blogger Wes Messamore

Rand Paul's campaign for U.S. Senate representing Kentucky has launched what is being billed as the "first money blast of the general election."

The campaign seems to prefer the term "money blast" to the grassroots neologism "money bomb" coined by supporters of Congressman (and father to Rand) Ron Paul's bid for U.S. President in 2007-08.

In a campaign that constantly faces down charges of radicalism, the choice of words can make a difference. Ostensibly the campaign wants to avoid violent imagery, including the word "bomb."

Speaking at a recent fundraiser in Washington D.C., Rand Paul said:

'"You'll see that they want to paint me -- the Courier, the Herald, even some of these national newspapers up here -- as being 'extreme,'" Paul said. "One of the answers I learned from my dad, because they tried to do this to him, is flip it around and ask, what's extreme? It's extreme to have a $2 trillion deficit."'

As of 11:00 am Eastern Time, Rand Paul had raised over $33,000 for the day and discouraged supporters at RonPaulForums.com expressed their hope that Rand would raise a lot more by the end of the day:

"I donated first thing (see post # 4) and I'll be back for a second round this evening. If others want to stand by and watch Maddow and Matthews steal a victory from us, they are welcome to do so, but I won't be part of that."

"This student is nearly tapped dry
Eating Mac n Cheese for the next 2 days"

In an e-mail to his supporters today, Dr. Paul wrote:

"My opponent is a big government, tax and spend trial lawyer. He has done little in his life but run for or be in office.

He is exactly what I mean when I say we won't change Washington until we change the kind of people we send.

I am a career physician who has built and run a small business. I believe in fighting for Liberty and for restoring our government to Constitutional limits.

I won't be just another vote in Washington. I will stand up and fight for reform.

I know you support these same ideals. And I am counting on you to stand with me today."

by The Right Guy

The Second Amendment – The original homeland security.
Anonymous

The supreme court today struck down the Chicago gun ban. In a 5-4 decision, the court overturned the 1982 ban on guns in Chicago. The 1982 ban was so restrictive that no firearms could be legally owned or possessed within a domicile in the jurisdiction of Chicago. None.

The statist and fascist mayor Daly had this to say:

Daly said his primary goal would be to protect police officers, paramedics and emergency workers from being shot when responding to an incident at a home. He said he also wants to save taxpayers from the financial cost of lawsuits if police shoot someone in the house because the officer felt threatened.

"If the ban is overturned, we will see a lot of common-sense approaches in the city aimed at protecting first responders," Daley said. "We have to have some type of registry. If a first responder goes to an apartment, they need to know if that individual has a gun."

In other words, we may have to allow people to own firearms, but we will regulate you to death. The safety of police and other first responders is a red herring. In States like Texas, Arizona, Florida and Utah (Along with Vermont and Alaska) have the most liberal laws in regards to gun ownership, and I mean truly liberal. Police there generally do not have a problem with individuals legally possessing firearms. This is a fall back measure by Daly to restrict people based on his illogical and statist world view.

Writing for the court in a case involving restrictive laws in Chicago and one of its suburbs, Justice Samuel Alito said that the Second Amendment right "applies equally to the federal government and the states."

This is a happy day for liberty loving people, even with the continued threat from social progressive statists like Daly, Obama and others. Alito's affirming that gun ownership extends to the states sends a clear message to left wing progressive ideologues that our natural rights will be defended, promulgated and affirmed at all levels of government, no matter how much it pains them in their pursuit of making us Farm Animals®.

Thank you for reading this blog.

Release from the Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas, June 24:

Republican Liberty Caucus of Texas Calls on Party Leaders to Address Problems with Anti-Gay Platform Planks

AUSTIN, TX - At the state Republican convention earlier this month the Texas GOP abandoned the Republican tradition of respecting the Constitution and protecting individual liberty and privacy rights by adopting a platform which includes planks which propose an attack on the civil liberties of some of our citizens.

The platform advocates policies which would make it a felony to perform a same-sex marriage in Texas, which would re-criminalize sodomy and which would take away the rights of gay parents in custody cases. These proposals are contrary to the values of most Texans and go against the Republican tradition of standing up for individual liberty.

The Republican Liberty Caucus strongly opposes the Texas GOP platform’s anti-gay and anti-liberty planks. We call for the state party to take action to address this problem. While it may not be possible to repeal or change the party platform, the state leadership should issue a clear statement that the platform is non-binding and does not represent the core, shared beliefs of Texas Republicans or of our candidates.

In a year in which we are looking forward to extraordinary opportunities for a great slate of Republican candidates in Texas, it would be a terrible mistake to shackle them to a platform which will alienate many potential supporters. This platform will weaken the
party at a time when a strong coalition of Republicans and independents is needed to stop the radical agenda of Democrats in both Austin and Washington.

“We need to focus on keeping the government out of our pocketbooks; especially in Texas,” said Texas RLC Chairman, Joey G. Dauben.

“There are far more pressing problems for the GOP in our state to worry about. While I personally disagree with same-sex marriage from a Biblical perspective, marriage is a contract between individuals and God, not with the government. If we want government out of our wallets and our boardrooms, we should also keep government out of our churches and our bedrooms.”

The Republican Liberty Caucus believes that true conservative leaders should be dedicated to cutting government spending rather than wasting resources by advocating policies that open the state up to lawsuits and create conflict. We need to put aside divisive issues and focus on real problems. We should work to bring Texans together to protect the interests of our state and its people and to oppose the radical tax and spend agenda of the Democrats that is bankrupting our nation.

We call on the state party to send a clear message to voters that the this platform does not represent the highest ideals of our party and that as a party we support individual liberty and equal rights for all Texans.

More info www.rlc.org

1939 Germany, all over again

From Eric Dondero:

Lower Saxony lies in the Northwestern region of Germany. It borders the North Sea and the Netherlands to the west. Hannover is one of the States' largest cities.

Hannover has a unique history in regards to the Jewish Holocaust. In 1938 the city was a major site of the famous Kristallnacht. A centuries old Jewish synagoge was burned to the ground. The local Jewish population were deported soon after. Most were eventually exterminated in German Death Camps, including at Auschwitz in Poland.

Hannover is the closest major city to the famous Bergen-Belsen concentration camp, where hundreds of thousands of German, Dutch, Polish, and Hungarian Jews were killed by the Nazis. Among the most famous of detainees at Bergen-Belsen, a young Dutch girl named Anne Frank.

Now this breaking news...

AP/Yahoo News: Youths attack Jewish dance group in Germany

BERLIN – Arab youths threw stones at a Jewish dance group during a street festival in Hannover, injuring one dancer and forcing the group to cancel its performance, German police and dance officials said Thursday.

The teenagers also used a megaphone to shout anti-Semitic slurs during the attack Saturday, Hannover police spokesman Thorsten Schiewe said.

"I don't remember such a dramatic attack in Germany in recent times," said Michael Fuerst, the head of the Jewish community of the state of Lower Saxony.

Six suspects have been identified — five Arabic immigrants and one German — and police are looking for the other three, police said.

An official with an association of German Jews, Stephan the Central Council of Jews, was quoted:

"This latest incident shows something we have not experienced before: A growing radicalization of young Muslims, which affects not only the Jewish community but the entire German community."

There are other reports that the Muslims were shouting "Juden Raus" (Jews get out), during the assault; taunts eerily similar to those lodged by German residents at Jews during the 1939 deportation.

Meanwhile, the Association of Jewish University Students in Germany is attributing the recent rise in Anti-Semitic violence to the unrest in the Gaza strip. They describe a marked increase in death threats and slurs on Facebook and by email in the last few weeks.

Pamela Geller, liberty champion and publisher of the Ayn Rand-oriented blog Atlas Shrugs, commented on the Jewish dance group stoning:

The Muslims are finishing the work of the Mufti al-Husseini, Hitlers allym and mass slaughterer of Jews during the the holocaust. Sixty years later it's the Muslims are dragging the rest of the world with them, in their genocidal dreams of annihilating goodness, creativity, production, inventiveness, benevolence, charity, medicine, technology and all of the gifts of the Jews.

Photos are of the camp at Bergen-Belsen. (H/t Wiki for Bergen-Belsen historical facts.)

For exercising Free Speech Rights.