From the Editors:

As our regular readers know we editorialized last week that Libertarian Republicans would hold off on enthusiastically backing Sharron Angle until she explained some troubling comments she made on legalized beer, which were made in a now defunct "libertarian" publication a few years ago. When asked about legalized marijuana, she seemingly suggested that beer was just as culpable of societal ills, and might be better off illegal.

Sharron Angle has now apparently heard our call for an explanation.

From an interview with John Gizzi, Human Events just released:

As to reports she opposed legalization of alcohol, Angle shook her head and replied: “Well, the issue came up from an article that they can’t find the original for, so that makes it suspect in the first place. In the context of the conversation—and it was with a libertarian group—we were talking about legalization of these things because they felt we can’t fight the war on drugs—that was their premise. My premise was that we need to be educating rather than legislating. As a ‘less government’ person, I believe that less regulation is always a better policy, and that is what I was referring to—on all levels.”

She added that Nevada is a “a 24-hour state. We deal with the proper use of alcohol all the time. It is an educational issue and we have problems with legislation.”

That satisfactorly answers our questions. Clifford Thies and I now heartily back her candidacy. We are joined by "Right Guy" Jim Lagnese, and Libertarian Politics Live Host Andre Traversa.

Note - our endorsement does not constitute endorsement by the Republican Liberty Caucus. They are still going through the decision process.

MAINSTREAM MEDIA BLACKOUT

From Eric Dondero:

This story has received no national media coverage. In contrast, Catholic Preists who bugger young boys, and Baptist preachers who get caught with male prostitutes get splattered all over the mainstream media.

From the Tampa Bay Herald-Tribune June 17:

TAMPA, Fla. - An imam pleaded guilty to molesting a teenage boy at a Gulf coast mosque.

A judge put Yasser Mohamed Shahade on probation for 10 years and designated him a sexual offender Thursday. He will be deported to Egypt.

He faced 15 years in prison if convicted of the initial charge, sexual battery on a minor. His attorney confirmed that he pleaded guilty to a reduced charge of lewd and lascivious molestation.

He was arrested in May 2009 after a boy who stayed overnight at the Masjid Omar Al Mukhtar mosque said he had been assaulted.

Blogger and Private Detective Bill Warner has more:

Imam, Yasser Mohamed Shahade, Charged With Sexual Battery (Rape) On 13 Year Old Teenage Boy at Masjid Omar Al Mokhtar Mosque 1307 W. North B St. Tampa Fl . Yasser Mohamed Shahade, 35, a prayer leader, holy man, who had been in the country for about two months is from Egypt and had been staying at the mosque, he sexually battered the victim about 6 a.m. Sunday morning, police say.

LIBERTARIAN RIGHT VIEW

by Michael W. Dean, Libertarian Punk

I have a HUGE problem with Utah’s executions! They are unsafe for the executioners!

Last night The State of Utah killed scumbag Ronnie Lee Gardner (he murdered a bartender for not serving beer quick enough).

Utah executed Gardner by having four guys with .30-30 rifles shoot the scumbag in the heart. (Five guys shot, but one had a blank…as is common with execution by firing squad….some sort of pussy-ass “Plausible deniability” for the shooters. He’ll I’d ONLY be a shooter in a firing squad if I could know for SURE I had a live round.)

The execution took place in a 20 x 25 foot room, with the five shooters firing through six-inch high slots in the wall (below.)

My problem with this is that at 25 feet in a concrete room, there is ABSOLUTELY the chance for a .30 caliber bullet to go through the scumbag, hit the back wall, ricochet off another wall and come back and kill one of the executioners through the slot. BAD GUN SAFETY PRACTICES, UTAH!

Excerpt from Press Release, Wes Benedict, LP National Director, June 18:

"The president could have taken the opportunity to talk about getting government out of the energy industry, and allowing the free market to guide the future of energy production. Unfortunately, he instead blamed the free market for government failures, and discussed his hopes of increasing government interference in the energy industry.

"For decades, Libertarians have warned against putting trust in government regulatory bureaucracies like the Minerals Management Service (MMS). While costing the taxpayers a lot of money, these agencies generally fail to deliver the kind of protections they promise, they tend to become corrupt, and they discourage vigilance on the part of citizens by lulling them into a false sense of security.

"When large companies and the government start working together, the results can be disastrous. Congressional liability caps, the MMS bureaucracy, and BP have all cooperated to create a costly disaster that should never have happened."

http://www.lp.org

by Clifford F. Thies

With the release of a Battleground Poll of 70 “competitive” Congressional Districts (60 Democrat and 10 Republican), and three “generic Congressional” polls, it is a good time to update our tracking of the 2010 elections.

This Battleground Poll is not a poll of the entire country, nor a set of 70 Congressional District polls. Rather, it is one poll of 1,200 people selected from 70 districts thought to be competitive. While it can't tell us anything about particular races, it can tell us about tendencies in races thought to be competitive. And, what it tells us is this: That Republicans are, on average, 5 points ahead in these districts.

GOP has well-over the necessary 40 to win back the House

Given the normal variation across competitive districts (due, e.g., to the individual candidates involved), we can suppose that Republicans will win a net of something like 45 or 50 seats from these competitive districts. If this were to happen, Republicans will also pick up a few more seats in contests thought not to be competitive as well. So, with the standard caveat that things could change, we're looking at a net pick-up of 50 to 60 seats for the Republicans.

This analysis is supported by the three "generic Congressional" polls that have just been released: Ipsos (which might lean Democrat) +1 for Republicans, Gallup +5 for Republicans, and Rasmussen (which has been very kind to Republicans this year) +10 for Republicans. These are very strong numbers for Republicans. We are looking at a 1994-type tsunami.

Over in the Senate, based on a variety of state polls, it looks like Republicans will make major gains: SD, DE, IN, AR, NV and CO look like probable pick-ups. IL and PA also look do-able. CA and WA are competitive. Our most vulnerable seat is OH, which is a toss-up, and several other of our seats are in play. So, I'm thinking there is a possibility of gaining eight to ten seats.

These numbers are available to everybody. Democrat incumbents will be very focused on their own races. You can bet, for example, that Barbara Boxer will be raising and spending all the money she can to hold on to her seat. As a result of this "circle the wagons" mentality, I don't think there will be much money for Democratic non-incumbents or even for vulnerable first-term Democratic House members.

Economic numbers offer no relief for Dems

Let me comment on the economy. The leading indicators are weak. I'm not saying we're going into a double-dip (or, triple-dip) recession (depending on how the course of the U.S. will eventually be adjudicated by the NBER). But, the economy will be weak through the next several months. Plus, there are gathering signs of inflation. (Plus, with all the new taxes and regulations piled onto the economy, the next couple years don't look too good either.)

Consumer confidence is abysmally low. Small business confidence is likewise. There has, on the other hand, been some recovery of confidence in the corporate sector; but, I think this refers to their sense that the survivors among them can operate in these troubled times. The stock market and the real estate market have been moving down or sideways. Continuing to blame it all on Bush is not resonating any longer.

The bottom line is that I don't see any reason for Democrats to feel that their fortunes will turn around any time soon.

Dr. Thies is a professor of econo-metrics and statistics at Shenandoah Univ. in Virginia. He is also a former Libertarian National Committee member, and former National Chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus.

From Eric Dondero:

Yesterday, we ran a series of articles on Tim Scott, Republican for Congress, in SC's Tuesday run-off election. Scott is a solid Reagan Conservative. Katherine Jenerette, Scott's primary opponent and a libertarian Republican, said this offering her endorsement:

I know that Tim will cut wasteful government spending, watching every precious taxpayer dollar.

I know that Tim will fight to win the war on terror, and support our military so that America can continue to lead the free world.

Now Scott's got a second powerful Female libertarian-leaning Republican in his camp.

From Sarah Palin's Facebook, earlier today:

I’m very proud to add my support to Tim Scott’s campaign to represent South Carolina’s 1st congressional district. Tim has a remarkable success story. He grew up in poverty and was raised by a single-mom who struggled to provide. With help from a mentor and his brave mom, Tim learned to appreciate the value of hard work and American opportunity. He went on to become a business owner and has served in public office with integrity on the county and state level.

Tim is a pro-life, pro-2nd Amendment, pro-development, Commonsense Conservative who’s been endorsed by the Club for Growth because of his solid commitment to the principles of limited government and fiscal responsibility.

He will represent the Palmetto State with distinction in DC, so I encourage you to vote for Tim in his run-off election next Tuesday, June 22nd. Please visit Tim’s website at http://www.votetimscott.com and follow him on Facebook and Twitter.

- Sarah Palin

If Scott wins the run-off on Tuesday, his election will be virtually assured. He has only nominal Democrat opposition in the Fall, in an overwhelmingly Republican district. This will make him the first Black American elected to Congress as a Republican since 2002.

Note - Stephen Maloney, a contributor to Libertarian Republican, and a Co-Founder of Draft Sarah Palin for VP in 2008, served as Campaign Coordinator and Media Director for Jenerette for Congress.

From the Editor:

We reported on Sarah Palin's moderately pro-marijuana remarks, here at Libertarian Republican, hours after the video first appeared. We noticed the enormous importance of the comments. A Google search immediately after the article posted, showed not a single other blog or mainstream media had even mentioned the Palin remarks. Now four days later CBS News, and Politico are covering it. And no hat tip to LR.

From CBS:

That's right, pot smokers: You have something of an ally in Sarah Palin.

The former Alaska governor appeared on Fox Business Network last night, along with libertarian-leaning Republican Rep. Ron Paul. Paul is a longtime advocate of decriminalizing drugs

If we're talking about pot, I'm not for the legalization of pot," Palin said, as Politico first noted. "I think that would just encourage especially our young people to think that it was OK to just go ahead and use it."

But she went on to say that police should not focus on arresting people who use marijuana recreationally....

Palin has admitted to smoking when it was legal for personal use in Alaska...

Politico headlines:

"Sarah Palin: Marijuana is a 'minimal problem'"

Meanwhile, our friends at HotAir.com are claiming credit for having launched the story. From AllahPundit:

I’m surprised that one of my dopey posts was able to push Sarahcuda’s take on weed out to big news outfits like Politico and CBS. What makes me think they got it from Hot Air? Well, both sites claimed in their write-ups that Palin had made her remarks on Wednesday night — but that’s simply not true. We posted it last night, but her appearance on Judge Napolitano’s show actually happened a few days ago.

Yet HotAir published the remarks a full two days after Libertarian Republican.

For the record, we posted the article "Sarah Palin on Marijuana use: Law Enforcement has other priorities" at 5:09 am, Sunday, June 13.

Run-off Election July 13

(H/t Stacy McCain)

By The Right Guy

This past Tuesday Libertarian Politics Live, a blogtalk radio show that is produced by Eric Dondero and Libertarian Republican, featured guest Charles Lollar, who is running for the 5th congressional seat in Maryland against Steny Hoyer.

I encourage all Libertarian Republican readers to listen to this show as Mr, Lollar is the best and most articulate libertarian Republican to come down the pike in a long time. He's very pro free market small c capitalist, and a Jeffersonian classical liberal. It was refreshing to speak with him and I encourage all here to do the same.

You can listen to the show here

You can also go to his campaign site here.

Thank you reading this blog.

A stunner of a story from Jewish blogger Shelomo Alfassa (h/t Pamela). Alfassa was a guest recently of the Mayor's at a backyard "kosher bbq" at his home. After the Mayor spoke, Alfassa confronted him.

From Alfassa.com:

At that moment, I clicked my iPhone camera shutter and simultaneously exclaimed in a serious but gentle voice, "MR. MAYOR, NO MOSQUE AT GROUND ZERO!" The mayor's face immediately became somber. He quickly disregarded his elderly constituent and in a serious tone, while staring me directly in the eye, leaned forward, pointed to my face and said matter-of-factly, "If we don't let them build a mosque, we won't be able to build a temple!" Some in the crowd gasped. I quickly responded, "But we don't need a temple-that's not the issue, a mosque is a symbol of jihad victory." While still standing in the crowd and amongst his staffers, which attempted to shuffle him away, the mayor suddenly lurched forward, walked right up to me and with a perturbed voice and stern eyes, said what sounded like "we need to allow it." "But mayor, this is my field of study, and I am telling you, they are building it as a symbol of victory over us." At that time the mayor's staff shuffled him away but not before the mayor looked back at me, obviously annoyed that I raised the subject with him in public. His staffer also asked me to "just drop it" as the mayor was whisked away.

(H/t Pamela Geller)

Vietnam Veteran, Tea Party activist & Ultra-Patriotic American

Introduced by the "Singing Cowboy" Michael Martin Murphey, (1970s soft rock mega-hit "Wildfire"). Performer of Bob McConnell for Congress theme song "Free Rein."

McConnell at the GOP convention:

"We're gonna take our country back.

We need to stand up for our allies like Israel...

Progressives want to change our way of life. They want to create a socialist utopia.

It's about this. It's about the Constitution.

We need to repeal the internal revenue code. Abolish the income tax.

We need to repeal the federal reserve act. Do away with the federal reserve. Go back to the gold standard.

We need to repeal the morass of federal laws... We're gonna start by repealing the endangered species act. The endangered species are not a fish or a bird. They're farmers and ranchers.

We can take this seat back. I'm Bob McConnell and I'm mad as hell!"

See Bob's new video on the 2nd Amendment at his campaign youtube channel.

Help Bob's campaign at his website

Just Breaking...

From Eric Dondero:

It now turns out the shaking incident involving Rep. Bob Etheridge of North Carolina, was not the first time for the Congressman. From The Pilot:

Brandon Leslie, who moved away seven years ago and is now an attorney in Oxford, Miss., said he had an encounter with the now seven-term Democratic congressman from Lillington almost 14 years ago.

Leslie said he introduced himself to Etheridge and asked him about his stance on a particular education program. He said Etheridge didn't answer his question, so he pressed him two more times.

"And that's when he grabbed me by the shoulders, he shook me, and I'll never forget it, he said, 'Son, you need to learn to respect your elders,'" he said by phone on Wednesday. "I was just so taken aback, I think my jaw just dropped, and he walked off."

Leslie is a self-described "Obama Democrat." Continuing:

"He doesn't like to be pressed," he said. "He's kind of a bully."

New Poll - Elmmers now at 39%, Etheridge 38%, Libertarian Rose at 12%

Meanwhile a new poll from the District indicates Etheridge's latest shaking incident is not going over well with constituents. Republican Renee Elmmers has pulled to a lead. Even the Libertarian in the race has gained ground. From WTVD Raleigh:

Civitas said the poll of 400 registered voters in the 2nd Congressional District shows Ellmers leads Etheridge 39 percent to 38 percent. Twelve percent said they would vote for Libertarian Tom Rose and 11 percent said they were undecided.

Reached for a comment by Libertarian Republican Rose (LPNC website) said:
on the shaking incident:

"All he had to do was answer Yes that he does support the Obama agenda, and walk away. If he had said No it would have come back to bite him, cause people in his district realize that he does support 97% of the agenda."

Rose describes himself as an "independent Libertarian." He has no qualms with his Republican opponent Elmmers who he says he gets along with just fine. He also added that he believes his numbers from this particular poll are on the low-end and that Etheridge is a lot less popular in the district than the poll indicates.

(H/t Memeo)

MOVEMENT NEWS

George Phillies, longtime former Chairman of the Libertarian Party of Massachusetts and Libertarian National Committee member, not normally a fan of the Republican Party, commented favorably on the GOP. The comments came in reaction to an article published at Tucker Carlson's Daily Caller, "Libertarian Party sees resurgence as number of congressional candidates jumps by 35 percent over 2008" June 16:

Although good management and fundraising certainly play a role in party growth, today’s zeitgeist could help make a Libertarian boom out of the two-party bust.

For the 2010 election, 171 candidates for U.S. Congress are running with an “L” beside their names, up from 127 in 2008 and 114 in 2006. At all levels of public office, the party counts 716 candidates running as Libertarians this year, compared to 593 in 2008, and 596 in 2006.

No Libertarian Party candidates are on the ballot in Massachusetts. This despite the MA LP having run numerous candidates in the past, most recently the high profile and somewhat novelty candidacy of uniquely named Joe Kennedy for US Senate special election last February.

Instead, Bay State Libertarians may be shifting to the GOP for 2010. From Phillies (via IPR):

This [Libertarian boom] phenomenon is also seen elsewhere. For example, in Massachusetts the number of Republican Congressional candidates in their primaries has gone through the ceiling. In recent years, they have typically had five for the state’s ten Congressional Districts. This year, there are five Republican Congressional candidates in my Congressional District alone, and every District except Capuano’s (D, north of Boston) has at least one Republican running.

From Eric Dondero:

A balding Mid-west Governor, and a more-than-husky outspoken East Coast chief of state are described as "sexy" proponents of the free market philosophy - tongue in cheek - in the latest column by Michael Gerson at WaPo "Mitch Daniels: A paradox for our times":

Daniels became a highly successful Indiana governor, combining a motorcycle-driving, pork-tenderloin-eating populism with courageous budget cutting, a solid record of job creation and a reputation for competence. If responsibility and austerity are now sexy, Daniels and New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie are centerfolds.

When asked his political influences, Daniels cites Charles Murray, the author of "What It Means to Be a Libertarian." Daniels speaks of taxation as a form of coercion that can be justified only by narrow and necessary public purposes. But unlike, say, libertarian Kentucky Senate candidate Rand Paul, Daniels has actually run a state, forcing him to define government's necessary purposes in a more realistic manner.

Here’s the long and short of this “comprehensive energy plan” they want to pass: For 40 years, no President has “found” a solution getting us off of oil. The Free Market has no desire because most believe oil isn’t near its peak point. SO the Democrats want to put ENORMOUS tax increases on all carbon [...]

Republicans vote near unanimous for Repeal

From Eric Dondero:

Every single Republican in the US House, with the exceptions of Rep. Joseph Cao of Louisiana and Rep. Zach Wamp of Tenn. who missed the vote, voted "Yea" for repeal of the individual mandate in Obama's Health Care bill. The vote was 187-230.

From Politico:

Republicans wanted to get Democrats on the record once again saying they back a law that requires uninsured Americans to purchase health insurance.

The procedural motion never really had a shot at passing, but that wasn't the Republicans' point. The vote was 187-230, with 21 Democrats voting to roll back the individual mandate.

The amendment was sponsored by Republican Rep. Dave Camp of Michigan.

AntzinPantz blog comments:

Of course, it was defeated.

But it left the republicans with a handy list of names to campaign against.

Though, "conservatives and libertarian voters" will turn out anyway

From Eric Dondero:

Initiatives and referendum for repeal of ObamaCare will be on the ballot in a number of states this Fall, including Missouri, South Carolina, Oklahoma, Arizona and Florida. The initiatives are seen as a way to help boost turn-out on the Right. But some on the Right, don't see it as entirely necessary. Conservatives and libertarians are already fired up.

From The Hill "Republicans put health reform on ballot in push to turn out conservatives":

“We don’t care who gets it done,” [repeal] said ALEC health task force director Christie Herrera, “just as long as they get it done.”

Herrera said she doesn’t think Republicans need the ballot measures to bring out the vote.

“I think you’re going to see huge turnout among conservatives and libertarian voters,” she said, “just because there’s huge residual anger against the health reform law.”

by Eric Dondero

About time! Perhaps the election of John Harper and his Conservative Party is starting to have an affect. The Canadians are joining the worldwide fight against Islamo-Fascism.

Father and son were convicted last week and sentenced to life in prison for the murder of their daughter/sister Aqsa Parvez. What warranted the brutal strangling in the basement of Miss Parvez? She didn't want to wear a hijab, she wanted to get a part-time job in town, and hang out at the mall. In other words, she wanted to live a Western lifestyle.

Amazingly, many in the Canadian media are saying the sentence wasn't harsh enough. From the Globe and Mail editorials, June 17:

Canadian justice needs to be unyielding with those who kill women and children for what they deem to be culturally appropriate reasons. There is reason to question whether it gave too much ground, in the murder of 16-year-old Aqsa Parvez of Mississauga, Ont., by her father, Muhammad Parvez, and her brother, Waqas.

Crown prosecutors called it an honour killing, a murder to erase the shame of the men in an immigrant, traditionalist family from Pakistan in which a daughter sought Western-style freedoms, such as a part-time job. If that was so, the Crown should have sought the strongest possible sentence, that of first-degree murder, based on evidence of planning and deliberateness. The brother, for instance, had asked a friend days earlier if he could get him a gun to kill his sister.

Libertarians and cultural liberals need to face up to the harsh reality of Radical Islam. Explains Canadian columnist Margaret Wente in the Globe and Mail (via Memeo):

Aqsa’s entire family was dedicated to resisting Western values, not adopting them. They were determined to cling to the ways of rural Pakistan. They believed that their community in Mississauga would understand what had been done. And they were right. At the local mosque, where kids of Aqsa’s age attend Islamic class, the kids agreed that she’d largely brought it on herself. The imam did not disagree with them.

Got that? Western values clashed with imported Radical Islam, resulting in the brutal murder of this beautiful young girl.

As Marc Steyn explains (recent column):

they want to kill us merely because we are the other—undermines the hyper-rationalist’s entire world view... At a superficial level, the Islamo-leftist alliance makes no sense: gay feminist secular hedonists making common cause with homophobic misogynist proscriptive theocrats. From Islam’s point of view, it’s an alliance of convenience.

The Left are too dumb to understand this. Let's hope at least Libertarians who've been momentarily fooled, will wake up and smell the (Turkish) coffee.

Glenn Beck's just released thriller The Overton Window, is being both praised and criticized as a libertarian-themed tome.

Excerpt from Vanity Fair, "Glenn Beck Now at War with The Washington Post Because of How Much the Paper Hated His Book":

The Washington Post sure disliked Glenn Beck’s new Libertarian-ish thriller, The Overton Window, which came out today. The book’s plot centers around an evil person who attempts to stage a coup on the United States government, and his son, who attempts to stage a coup...

Beck also refuted the Post’s claim that the book is “dangerous” because readers might confuse his conspiratorial ramblings for fact. “It’s weird how many people read The Washington Post and take your fiction as fact,” he said.

From Mediate, "The Overton Window; a review":

Our protagonist is Noah Gardner, a privileged, cocky New Yorker with a cynical and vast knowledge of “truth” and a megalomaniac PR guru father. His love interest is Molly Ross, a headstrong, staunch anti-government activist libertarian who hates smoking and can deftly handle a firearm (who is not what she seems).

Huffington Post, "Glenn Beck's Soon-To-Be-Bestseller, The Overton Window: Paranoid Political Fiction":

It appears as though Glenn Beck is making the leap from bestselling author of paranoid political opinion to bestselling author of paranoid political fiction. That's right, he's about to release a new book Kevin Grisham-esque thriller called The Overton Window, after a political theory popular amongst libertarians about the shifting range of what is considered acceptable political policy.