White Don't Know Much 'Bout History (Or Economics)

From Michael Q. Sullivan, Empower Texas

Democratic gubernatorial candidate apparently knows as little about world history as about good economics. He's taking Texas Gov. Rick Perry to task for "Soviet-style" budget techniques. What technique is that? Well, budget cuts, of course.

Excuse me, Mr. White, the late Soviet Empire imploded for many reasons but government austerity certainly wasn't one of them. Reckless, out-of-control, unrestrained spending was high on the list. And bad economic policy. And oppression of their citizens. And an evil worldview. Spending restraint? Soviets never had a problem with it; they never did it.

At an event hosted this week by the online Texas Tribune, and reported on by the Associated Press, Houston's former mayor also said he "refused to rule out future tax increases to close the gap.”

Texas faces an $11 billion shortfall -- that is, the difference between projected spending and projected revenues. Notice the word "projected."

A budget shortfall can be managed in basically one of two ways. Spending can be cut to match available funds, or taxes can be raised to bring more cash into the treasury.

So what got Mr. White's revisionist goat? Earlier this year, Texas Gov. Rick Perry, Lt. Gov. David Dewhurst and House Speaker Joe Straus staked out their position on the shortfall. They told every state agency to find ways to reduce spending by five-percent.

To Mr. White and the tax-and-spend wing of his party, cutting government spending simply not allowed.

Voters worried about their jobs, and the future of Texas' economy, would do well to let Mr. White join his economic comrades in the dustbin of history.

Editor's Note - Texas House Speaker Rep. Joe Straus of San Antonio is a self-described "libertarian Republican."

"Freedom let's us improve our lives -- government control makes that impossible" -- Donald Beezley, Republican candidate for Colorado State House

The Broomfield Enterprise reports:

Local businessman Don Beezley, a Republican, launched his campaign for the statehouse on Sunday. He`ll be running against Rep. Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, who has held the House District 33 seat since 2007.

Beezley lives in Broomfield with his wife, Pat, and two sons, Connor and Alexander. He is the president of Tager Enterprises.

Beezley has been active in conservative and libertarian circles. He is a guest writer for the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute and serves on the advisory board of the conservative Leadership Program of the Rockies. He also is on the board of the Tabor Foundation, which promotes the Colorado Taxpayer`s Bill of Rights.

Some highlights of Beezley's stances:

•Low taxes and no new taxes

•Oppose unreasonable regulations and oppose any additional taxes, fees and burdens where jobs are created—businesses

•Tax policy that disconnects patients from their doctors must be changed by moving tax benefits to the individual level while empowering individuals with vehicles like Health Savings Accounts.

•School choice, especially in the form of charter schools, must be protected and competition that fuels excellence, innovation and continuous improvement must be fostered.

•Home schooling must be protected as an option for families to choose.

•Stop the massive tax and fee increases imposed by the Democrats—in violation of constitutional requirements that Colorado government must ask the people first.

•Maintain the commonsense provisions of the Taxpayer's Bill of rights (TABOR). Government must ask first before it can take your money.

•Recognize that the depths of a recession when people are losing their jobs and their homes is not the time to impose billions in new taxes and fees.

DonBeezley.com

From Eric Dondero:

The Obama administration is preparing to dole out a major chunk of change to Illinois Democrat Senate candidate Alexi Giannoulias and his family in an effort to bail out his failing bank.

From Chicago Business, March 8 "Giannoulias family could walk away from Broadway Bank collapse with $15 million tax refund":

The family of Democratic U.S. Senate nominee Alexi Giannoulias stands to collect more than $10 million in federal tax refunds even if its Broadway Bank fails, which Mr. Giannoulias said last week is likely.

A $75-million loss at the struggling lender last year generated tax benefits potentially worth between $12 million and $15 million to Mr. Giannoulias, his two brothers and his mother.

According to MSNBC Giannoulias was with Obama at the "White House for [the] Greek Independence Day celebration," last Tuesday.

No word on what was discussed, or if the two held meetings with Chicago campaign operative and chief Obama advisor in the White House David Axlerod. But he did single out Giannoulias for praise.

Obama announced to the crowd (from The Scoop):

Alexi, stand up -- from the state of Illinois. (Applause.) We've got in fact, in addition to Alexi, we've got a lot of Greek American friends here...

Giannoulias is being challenged for the Obama seat, currently held by Sen. Roland Burris, by Republican Rep. Mark Kirk of the northern Lakes area, near Chicago.

Loans to convicted criminals, much subsidized by US Taxpayers, of up to $52 million

Now, this morning, in an interview with the Chicago Sun-Times, Kirk is criticizing Giannoulias for his questionable ties.

From the Sun-Times:

U.S. Rep Mark Kirk said today that Thursday's arrest of a Giannoulias Family friend and bank customer brings the amount of money Broadway Bank has loaned to criminals to $52 million.

State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias, Kirk's Democratic opponent for U.S. Senate, has said that as chief loan officer of his family's bank from 2002 to 2006, he did not check loan applicants’ arrest records.

Kirk calls that "reckless."

Giannoulis allegedly approved a loan to Nick Giannis, owner of the Chicago hotspot Boston Blackies.

Giannoulias buddy Giannis, under charges, busted trying to sneak across the Canadian border

Just days ago, close friend of Giannoulias, Nick Giannis was arrested by Canadian authorities trying to leave the United States.

Continuing from the Sun-Times:

Nick Giannis was arrested at the U.S.-Canadian border with his Greek passport Thursday, apparently trying to flee the country as he was being indicted in a check-kiting scheme in Cook County.

The Giannoulias and Giannis families reportedly were friends and Giannis had contributed about $120,000 to Giannoulias’ political campaigns. Giannoulias plans to donate $120,000 from his campaign to charity.

He was charged with felony possession of a firearm.

On Jan. 1, 1996, Nick Giannis was stopped for speeding and driving under the influence as he was driving northbound on 1-294, according to court records.

When officers searched his vehicle, they found a bag with a gun inside in the back seat of the car.

Additionally, according to various sources, it is alleged that Boston Blackies, a popular hang-out and event fundraiser location for Chicago pols, served as headquarters for a criminal operation.

Photos of Boston Blackies:(Above) shows Giannoulias campaign sign upper left, and (bottom) of inside the bar with mural of famous Chicago mobsters. Note - the bar itself is named after a legendary 1880s jewel thief and safe cracker from dimestore novels.

Chris Giannis, anxious to trade cold bologna sandwiches from jail cell, for a burger and a beer

Meanwhile, this breaking news... the co-owner of Boston Blackies just bonded out of jail.

From Chicago Breaking News center:

A co-owner of the Boston Blackie's restaurants bonded out of Cook County Jail today after he, his co-owner father and a restaurant manager were charged in connection with what prosecutors called a nearly $1.9 million check-kiting scheme.

As he left the jail, Chris Giannis made a brief statement, saying "I still don't know what I'm charged with."

He then said after suffering through jail meals, he was looking forward to a cheeseburger at Boston Blackie's.

Further background:

Chris Giannis, 38, Nick Giannis, 62, and restaurant manager Andy Bakopoulos, 38, were charged with defrauding Charter One and Washington Mutual banks. Chris Giannis also was charged with two counts of being an organizer of a continuing financial crimes enterprise.

In an impromptu press conference outside the jail, Giannis state, "I don't know why everyone is talking politics," in regards to his family ties to Giannoulias.

(See video of the younger Giannis leaving jail here.)

Giannoulias is denying any responsibility for loans being made from his bank to the Giannis family. He is similarly denying any responsibility for loans being made to other suspected individuals with alleged mob ties, including most famously convicted Chicago land deal fraudster Tony Rezko (photo above), and convicted sports betting bookmaker Michael "Jaws" Giorango.

And finally this, continuing from the Sun-Times:

Giannoulias signed off on $20 million in loans to reputed father-and-son Russian mobsters Lev and Boris Stratievsky (photo) but Giannoulias said -- and the records back him up -- that when they came in to his bank they had "not even a misdemeanor" charge.

Poll show an extremely tight race. An earlier poll had Kirk up by 4. But a poll last week from Rasmussen showed Giannoulias in the lead 44% to 41%.

by Eric Dondero

Talk about extreme bias. The NY Times put out a hit piece this morning seeking to portray the Tea Party movement as undercover "social conservatives." The piece is titled "Tea Party Avoids Devisive Social Issues."

The biggest blunder, intentional or just from plain ignorance, the reporter Kate Zernike referred to the Sam Adams Alliance as "conservative."

From the NY Times:

For decades, faith and family have been at the center of the conservative movement. But as the Tea Party infuses conservatism with new energy, its leaders deliberately avoid discussion of issues like gay marriage or abortion.

God, life and family get little if any mention in statements or manifestos. The motto of the Tea Party Patriots, a large coalition of groups, is “fiscal responsibility, limited government, and free markets.”

Then later in the piece:

But when the Sam Adams Alliance, a Tea Party-friendly conservative organization in Chicago, surveyed 50 leaders of the movement about the most important direction for the movement, none selected social issues. Most said “budget” or “economy/jobs.”

The Sam Adams Alliance is wholly and entirely libertarian. Of course, Sam Adams members would mention only free market economic issues.

The groups founders and current leaders include, former Libertarian Party National Director Eric O'Keefe, , former Vice-President of the libertarian Macinac Center in Michigan Joe Lehman, (both Sam Adams Board members), former Libertarian National Committee member and 1980 Ed Clark, Libertarian for President campaign staffer Bob Costello and former Libertarian Party National Director and well-known Draft Resistor Paul Jacob.

Although, Sam Adams works with conservatives, and invites conservatives to its functions, the group is firmly identified within the libertarian movement.

The Times was attempting in its piece to portray the Tea Party movement as "avoiding" social issues. Rather, the Tea Party movement itself was founded by Libertarians, including Eric Odom, former Board member of the Libertarian Party of Illinois, and many Ron Paul supporters in various cities, including Denver and Seattle. The very first Tea Party protests recorded were organized by local chapters of the Libertarian Party dating back to 2007.

Not a single mention was made in the piece of the libertarian origins of the Tea Party movement, nor of the current universal libertarian beliefs of Tea Partiers.

Incredibly, the Times even quoted an "expert" that when libertarian Tea Partiers talk of the Constitution, they're really talking about religious extremism.

Some experts, like Lisa McGirr, a professor of history at Harvard and the author of “Suburban Warriors: The Origins of the New American Right,” say that the Tea Party uses a kind of code to talk about social values. For instance, when they emphasize a return to the strict meaning of the Constitution, they interpret that as a return to a Christian foundation.

“When they talk about returning to the values of the Founding Fathers,” she said, “they are talking about life as a social issue.”

It'd be interesting to hear Ms. McGirr's explanation as to why most Tea Partiers support drug legalization, legalized prostitution, gambling, and many even pro-choice.

Photos of Eric O'Keefe and Paul Jacob, photo of Jacob taken at the 2006 Sam Adams conference in Chicago.

Palin supporter brings up Romney's less-than-impressive book sales

The very first shots of campaign 2012 may have just been fired. And it appears that for the moment it's a battle of the book sales.

Supporters of the Palin camp, 16 months before the GOP primary season officially begins, are taking a mild swipe at the former Massachusetts Governor for his alleged artificial inflation of his own book sales.

Ian Lazaran reports over at the hugely popular site Conservatives4Palin, the following:

Mitt Romney's book has debuted at #1 atop the NY Times best-seller list among non-fiction hardcover books. However, the NY Times also provides some additional information that may explain how Romney's book hit the #1 spot.

Whenever the NY Times places a "dagger" symbol next to a book, it signifies that "some bookstores report[ed] receiving bulk orders" for the book.

The NY Times placed not just one, but two, daggers next to Romney's book. You can draw your own conclusion as to who it was that purchased Governor Romney's book in bulk.

By contrast, the NY Times failed to place the "dagger" symbol next to Governor Palin's book in any of the weeks she held the top position on the NY Times best-seller list among non-fiction hardcover books. Despite the left's unsubstantiated theories, bookstores did not report to the NY Times that they received bulk orders for Going Rogue. See week 1, week 2, week 3, week 4, week 5, and week 6. As you can see, in none of these weeks is there a dagger symbol next to her book.

Lazaran cautions "Don't shoot the messenger... I'm just reporting what I found... don't shoot the messenger."

Sidenote - former Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania spoke before the Iowa Christian Alliance last Tuesday, in what many deemed a 2012 campaign trip. Minnesota Gov. Tim Pawlenty has already visited the State once, and is planning on making an additional appearance at a Tax Rally in Des Moines on April 15. The Iowa Straw Poll (held traditionally at the IA State Fair), is just 16 months away.

From Eric Dondero:

The David Kernell email hacking of Sarah Palin story is back in the news. Gov. Palin has been called to be a star witness in the case before U.S. District Judge Clifford Shirley. The trial begins in two weeks, and Palin will be called to testify sometime next month.

According to Scripps News service:

Kernell, the son of longtime Democratic Memphis state Rep. Mike Kernell, faces a four-count indictment accusing him of stealing Palin's identity, improperly accessing her personal e-mail account, allowing at least one other person to access it and trying to wipe from his laptop evidence of his alleged crimes. He is alleged to have committed the crimes while attending the University of Tennessee.

You may recall, Libertarian Republican blog was the political website that broke this story wide open in September of 2008. Two Techie blogs first reported on the hacking, and two hours later we picked up the story, and reported on Kernell's political motivations. We were also the very first to alert the Memphis Daily and the (Nashville) Tennessean to the story, where eventually the larger national stories emenated from. Days later, we were successful in linkin Kernell to his father, State Rep. Mike Kernell, and directly to the Tenneseans for Obama campaign.

Needless to say, we had a lot of help. We were assisted by a number of other on-line sleuths on the Right most notable HotAir.com regular commenter "Canadian Cowboy," Tennessee radio talk show host Terry Frank, and David Kittely of Abilene, Texas.

Now that the story is back in the news, a great many websites are once again crediting Libertarian Republican. As one of the stories below mentions, we were able to capture (with the great assistance of David Kittely!), the screen shot of Kernell's link directly to a top official in the Obama campaign, literally hours before the page was scrubbed by Democrat operatives. (Note - the image is forever in LR archives, and cannot be eliminated.)

We've been recently credited by The Cypress Times, A Time for Choosing, and Palin Tribe.

From Palin Twibe:

Terry Frank was all over this at the time and managed to get a lot of screen shots from the G.Gordon Liddy wannabe’s Facebook page. You can read more here

As you read, you will notice commenter after commenter start referencing young David’s Technorati page and the fact that there appears to be more than a tenuous connection between David and Barack Obama’s campaign manager, David Plouffe.

In fact, a quick look though multiple sources will find references to this, and include a link:

http://www.technorati.com/search/%22david+kernell%22?authority=a4&language=en

Unfortunately, either Kernell or Technorati have scrubbed the website, and nothing on our master spy can be found. But, as luck would have it, the folks over at Libertarian Republican captured a screen shot:

Eric Dondero writes this for the website:

In another bizarre twist to the Sarah Palin email hacking story, the prime suspect in the FBI investigation David Kernell of Tennessee, had a video produced by Barack Obama for President Campaign Manager David Plouffe on his Technorati Search Page.

Libertarian Republican blog interviewed Computer Applications Specialist Dave Kittley of Abilene, Texas this evening. Kittley discovered the video link late yesterday, and captured it in a screen shot. (The black pen markings on the screenshot are from Kittley).

Kittley asserts that it is a very strange coincidence that the Plouffe video would show up right on Kernell's Technorati page. One possible explanation according to Kittley: Kernell's name might be in the credits for the production of the Plouffe video.

Plouffe is known to be a big advocate of NetRoots, a gathering of Leftwing Bloggers, formerly known as Yearly Kos, who often engage in on-line mischief against political opponents. Obama produced a personal video to the NetRoots convention which was held in Austin, Texas the weekend of July 16. Kittley told LR that is entirely possible that Kernell might be a member of the NetRoots community.

Kittlery also pointed out to LR that the video, which encourages volunteers to become the "cavalry" of the Obama campaign, has since dissappeared from Kernell's Technorati page. He has the screen shot in his possession, and has graciously made the screenshot from yesterday available to LR and to a limited number of websites covering the Palin email hacking story.

Although there was a lot of effort to scrub things, thanks to the folks at Free Republic, we found the INCREDIBLY boring video of Plouffe rallying the troops. The one referenced on Kernell’s Technorati page...

Of course, we plan to give full coverage to the Kernell trial. Additionally, it goes without saying we stand ready to assist all law enforcement, and investigator's on the case.

New ad from Rand Paul for US Senate - Kentucky

"Government's greatest responsibility is a strong national defense"

Newspaper of record for the Empire State Capitol

The Albany Times-Union mentioned Libertarian Republican blog and linked to one of our stories on March 9. Jimmy Vielkind is the reporter for the Times-Union.

Good morning. David Paterson is in Albany for half of today. The Siena Saints are going to the NCAA. Doug Hoffman is back. Here are some headlines…

Suffolk County Executive Steve Levy will meet with Republican leaders, who last night were snubbed by presumptive candidate Rick Lazio. (TU)

A libertarian blogger calls Spitzer-madam Kristin Davis “a sexed up modern version of Ayn Rand.” (Libertarian Republican)...

From the Editor: a thank you to Mr. Vielkind and the Albany Times-Union from Libertarian Republican editors and writers.

From Eric Dondero:

Marc Delphine, Libertarian Party candidate for US Senate appears to be off to a good start. He's already polling 5% in one of the first polls on the race. He's challenging incumbent Democrat Sen. Ron Wyden. (A Republican is also in the race, but not making many waves.)

Now, his burgeoning campaign appears to have hit a speed bump. From Yahoo Sports News:

Marc Delphine was fond of the logo a volunteer had designed for his campaign for a U.S. Senate seat in Oregon: a silver star wrapped in a star-spangled banner that his designer told him evoked the letter 'D' for branding purposes.

It certainly was a memorable symbol. In fact, it was already being used by the NHL's Columbus Blue Jackets, as Delphine was stunned to discover on Wednesday.

"They were all like, 'What are you doing with their logo?' and I was like, 'I didn't make the logo!' and we pulled it immediately," said Delphine, a Libertarian candidate making history as the first openly homosexual man to run for the U.S. Senate in Oregon. "I'm not interested in any kind of infringement. We don't even need a logo."

Of course, being the property rights advocate that he is, upon discovery, he immediately pulled the logo.

Delphin went on to joke good naturdly that while he's a "huge sports fan," he's not very fond of hockey.

Sidenote; Delphine is one of six Oregon Libertarian Party members who serve in public office. He is a recently elected member of the Mountain View School Committee. And he is "Republican-friendly," having initially planned to seek the GOP nomination, as well.

Iowa could become first in the Nation thanks to maverick GOPer

Doug Struyk is a Republican legislator from Council Bluffs. He serves in the House as Asst. Minority Leader. Struyk firmly believes that the way to help close the State's budget gap is through legalized on-line gambling. This would make Iowa the first state in the nation to take such a step.

From WQAD:

According to Council Bluffs Republican Rep. Doug Struyk, about 50,000 Iowans participate in illegal online gambling. Several legislators are considering a plan that would allow people to deposit money into a special account at one of Iowa's casinos. The account could then be used to play poker online.

He calls this unique system "account deposit wagering." Safety measures are built into his legislation which would help prevent fraud of players from off-shore poker interests.

Other Republicans supporting the legislation include: Reps Peter Cownie and Jeff Kaufmann. A handful of Democrats have joined in with the Republican legalization supporters. However, the main opposition is seemigly coming from a somewhat unusual alignment of social conservatives and liberal Democrats. For example, the Iowa Family Council, a religious conservative group, opposes the measure.

And according to PokerWorks:

Democratic Representative Mary Mascher told the Des Moines Register, “There are a lot of things in Iowa that are illegal, but it doesn’t mean we should legalize it.”

And another Democrat says he's not that anxious to see the vote passed. From PokerWorks:

The House Majority Leader, on the other hand, doubts that Iowa is ready to pioneer such a renaissance idea as legalizing online gambling in the US.

Kevin McCarthy, Democrat from Des Moines, Iowa, says, “I will tell you that in my judgment, that would be the largest expansion of gambling in the history of the United States of America. There never has been a state that has done it and knowing that gambling bills historically are bipartisan and it takes a lot of work to get to 51 votes on a fairly limited bill, moving to the potential of allowing every home in the state to be licensed as a casino to gamble at home seems to me to be a fairly heavy lift.”

Now running statewide... Republican US Senate candidate Marco Rubio emphasizes a number of conservative stances, among them defeating "Radical Islam," as one of his top priorities.

"Freedom let's us improve our lives -- government control makes that impossible" -- Donald Beezley, Republican candidate for Colorado State House

The Broomfield Enterprise reports:

Local businessman Don Beezley, a Republican, launched his campaign for the statehouse on Sunday. He`ll be running against Rep. Dianne Primavera, D-Broomfield, who has held the House District 33 seat since 2007.

Beezley lives in Broomfield with his wife, Pat, and two sons, Connor and Alexander. He is the president of Tager Enterprises.

Beezley has been active in conservative and libertarian circles. He is a guest writer for the libertarian-leaning Independence Institute and serves on the advisory board of the conservative Leadership Program of the Rockies. He also is on the board of the Tabor Foundation, which promotes the Colorado Taxpayer`s Bill of Rights.

Some highlights of Beezley's stances:

•Low taxes and no new taxes

•Oppose unreasonable regulations and oppose any additional taxes, fees and burdens where jobs are created—businesses

•Tax policy that disconnects patients from their doctors must be changed by moving tax benefits to the individual level while empowering individuals with vehicles like Health Savings Accounts.

•School choice, especially in the form of charter schools, must be protected and competition that fuels excellence, innovation and continuous improvement must be fostered.

•Home schooling must be protected as an option for families to choose.

•Stop the massive tax and fee increases imposed by the Democrats—in violation of constitutional requirements that Colorado government must ask the people first.

•Maintain the commonsense provisions of the Taxpayer's Bill of rights (TABOR). Government must ask first before it can take your money.

•Recognize that the depths of a recession when people are losing their jobs and their homes is not the time to impose billions in new taxes and fees.

DonBeezley.com

There was a last minute entry before the filing deadline, in the race for Arkansas Congress District 4: Beth Anne Rankin. The District includes southwest Arkansas, stretching from Hot Springs to Texarkana.

Rankin is a small business owner, a gospel singer, and daughter of the former President of Southern Arkansas University. She was also Miss Arkansas 1994. She has performed in Branson, Missouri. Additionally, at a recent Sarah Palin visit to the State, she sang the opening Star Spangled Banner.

She has worked in numerous capacities in the Arkansas state capitol, including a stint under Gov. Mike Huckabee.

Rankin will be challenging incumbent Blue Dog Democrat Mike Ross.

Making her announcement she cited the reasons for her run:

Government is growing too big, too fast, and at too perilous a cost for future generations of Americans to bear.

Many consider her to be the hard-right constitutionalist candidate in the race. A website Pro-Arkansas for Liberty, which bills itself as a Save the Republic - Tea Party-oriented site with a heavy Ron Paul-orientation, lists her as one of 6 endorsed candidates in the State.

From Eric Dondero:

How soon til the cries of "meanie," and "scrooge" and "Mr. Grinch," start flying from Government Unions? Or, from Democrats talking about "cuts in school lunch programs," or "bigger class sizes," or more "homeless out in the streets"?

From NJ.com, March 11:

Gov. Chris Christie today will create a commission to privatize as many as 2,000 state jobs beginning next January, officials said Wednesday night.

The Republican governor today plans to sign an executive order creating the task force to cut the size and cost of the state payroll. Three officials familiar with his plans last night said the commission will identify which jobs or agencies would be operated by the private sector and how that would be accomplished. The officials declined to be named ahead of the announcement.

Privatizing jobs would require layoffs. By beginning them in January, Christie would not be subject to a deal between former Gov. Jon Corzine and state worker unions that would require the state to pay millions in raises to remaining workers if he orders layoffs before then.

Well, that didn't take long...

Maryann Woods-Murphy, the state’s teacher of the year is representing the NJ Teachers Association (Morris Politics):

“Many local schools will have to increase class size, lay off teachers and cut important programs. … And the even larger cuts you propose for the next school year will make it even harder for children to succeed.”

A libertarian blogger "against violent Islamism"

A liberal media icon is giving credit to a pro-defense libertarian blogger for breaking open the case of Collen LaRose, known as "Jihad Jane." LaRose the "Pennsylvania housewife," who allegedly organized Jihadists in Yemen and the UK to attack Western targets. ABC News reporter Eamon McNiff, took the unusual step of acknowleding that the mainstream media had been late to the story and that "for a group of 'Net vigilantes it was old news."

From ABC News:

In fact, at least one of the Web sleuths claims to have alerted the feds to Colleen LaRose's alleged efforts to raise money and recruit fighters for Islamic terrorists and to carry out her own jihad.

Groups like JawaReport, Quoth the Raven and the YouTube Smackdown Corps claim they had been monitoring LaRose's growing militancy for three years, and watched as the Internet -- particularly YouTube -- fed her fervor.

They also said "Jihad Jane" is not the only one on the Internet that the groups are monitoring.

"There are certainly many others out there who are more eloquent and appear to be more dangerous from the way they talk," a man calling himself Rusty Shackleford told ABC News.

Shackleford, a pen name, says he is a libertarian college professor who created the blog JawaReport in 2004 after he was enraged that Iraqi Islamists had beheaded an American named Nick Berg.

"It was my way of venting. But mostly it was about countering violent Islamist propaganda, specifically the videos that were being produced by al Qaeda in Iraq and other Salaafist jihadists fighting our troops," he said.

Shackleford said his goal from the beginning was combating violent Islamist material and support on the Web.

"I'm a blogger, but also an activist against violent Islamism.

Jawa Editor explains AntiIslamist activism

Continuing:

One of the things we do is try and pressure Webhosts to remove Websites that belong to terrorist organizations. An example of this would be the dozen or so times we've successfully had the Taliban's website removed. The websites sometimes pop back up, sometimes not," Shackleford said.

Shackleford and other contributors to JawaReport and sites like it noticed YouTube had become a hub for videos and comments in support of violent extremism and attacks against the West and its allies, leading to the creation of the YouTube Smackdown.

The Jawa Report is among a growing number of anti-IslamoFascist blogs that in the past have been incorrectly identified as "Conservative," but are now openly stating that they're anti-Islamist views come from an explicitly "libertarian" perspective. The list also includes Pamela Geller's (Ayn Randian) Atlas Shrugs, and Gates of Vienna.

Pork Party House: New from Nick Gillespie at Reason TV

A posh museum-like mansion serves as the hottest hangout for politicians and lobbyists in DC.

Democrat Sen. Mary Landrieu of Louisiana on the hot seat for stearing federal funds to the exclusive party hot spot.

"The Sewall-Belmont house shouldn't need extra revenue from the government. It should make its revenue either from the museum or by hosting receptions..." - AZ Rep. Jeff Flake

From the Editor - We recently received a nice note from Reason Editor Nick Gillespie. As many are well aware, we've had our differences with Reason in the last few years over foreign policy. But we're burying the hatchet, at least on behalf of our shared domestic agenda. Look for many future videos posted here at LR (mostly evenings).

Purposely trying to destroy the economies of Republican-leaning States?

by Eric Dondero

As the Wall Street Journal notes this morning, Obama in his State of the Union address to Congress, promised "new offshore areas for oil and gas development." Now, just a few weeks later he is completely reversing his stance. This, despite the fact that a FOIA request clearly shows the American public overwhelmingly in favor of drilling.

From the WSJ:

Congress's ban on offshore drilling expired in September 2008, and a Bush Administration plan for leasing the energy-rich Outer Continental Shelf was due to begin this year. Yet within a month of taking office, Interior Secretary Ken Salazar halted leasing by extending the public comment period by six months. When that period ended last September, Interior said it would take "several weeks" to analyze the results. It has yet to release a summary.

Newt Gingrich's American Solutions group used the Freedom of Information Act to obtain Interior emails suggesting that the public comments ran 2-to-1 in favor of drilling. Instead of acknowledging this, Mr. Salazar last week informed Congress he was scrapping the Bush plan and that leasing will not begin for at least another two years.

The biggest losers? Virginia, Utah, Wyoming and Alaska; coincidentally all Republican states. Newly-elected Republican Governor Bob McDonnell ran on a strong platform plank of pushing for offshore drilling. Utah is being hammered by the administration for something called "onshore" drilling:

Interior canceled oil and gas leases on 77 parcels of federal land in Utah (a handful have since been reinstated). Mr. Salazar also yanked eight parcels from a lease sale in Wyoming. Several weeks ago a leaked Interior Department memo disclosed plans to have Mr. Obama use executive power—under the Antiquities Act—to designate 10 million acres of western land as "monuments," putting them off-limits to energy development as well as current timber or mining work.

Bush fought for offshore drilling; Obama kills it off with one swift flick of the pen

And then this frightening assessment from the Washington Examiner:

Drilling was supposed to begin this July. But Salazar said he intends to discard the 2010-2015 lease plan developed by the Bush administration in favor of a new plan that won’t even go into effect until 2012.

“Secretary Salazar has finally confirmed what had long been feared – that the Obama Administration has no intention of opening up new areas for offshore drilling during his four-years in office,” said Rep. Doc Hastings, the ranking Republican on the House Natural Resources Committee.

So for the next three years and probably more, trillions of dollars in domestic energy assets will remain untouched while billions of dollars more are spent on foreign oil.

But it could be even worse than just Republican-leaning states losing out. Rush Limbaugh said on his radio show yesterday that like a 60's radical Obama was trying to "overthrow the United States." Limbaugh has been promulgating the idea for months now, that every action Obama has been taking has been with the expressed purpose of destroying the United States economy and rebuilding it upon a socialist model.

With news like this, it's getting harder and harder to doubt Limbaugh.

A hardline libertarian message sells at least in the GOP

From Eric Dondero:

Libertarians cheered two months ago, when South Carolina Lt. Governor made some politically incorrect statements in a speech highly critical of welfare moochers.

And after garnering enormous criticisms from the liberal media and the leftwing blogosphere, Bauer stood his ground. From Fitnews.com:

"Government has bred a culture of dependency, and there’s absolutely no one in government with the courage to stand up and say, ‘We need to break that cycle of generational poverty and dependence. I do not care about being politically correct. I care about being honest. And we honestly have a problem of dependency which is getting worse instead of better."

Mark Sanford's libertarianism may have paved the way for Bauer's hardline stance

Perhaps having an explicit libertarian Republican governor like Mark Sanford has helped paved the way for a principled hardline libertarian message in the Palmetto State. It now appears, at least among Republicans, Bauer's staunchly individualist comments may not have hurt. One of the first polls to come out put him in second place among a field of five.

From Rasmussen one day ago:

State Attorney General Henry McMaster holds a slight lead among the field of Republican contenders in South Carolina’s gubernatorial race, but three candidates are within ten points of the lead and no one is close to the numbers needed to avoid a runoff.

The first Rasmussen Reports Election 2010 survey of likely GOP Primary voters in the state finds McMaster capturing 21% of the vote, closely followed by Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer with 17% support.

Fourteen percent (14%) of primary voters like Congressman Gresham Barrett. State Representative Nikki Haley earns 12% of the vote. Nine percent (9%) prefer some other candidate in the race.

Even some in the liberal media are acknowledging Bauer may not have been hurt.

Political Insider AJC, (quoting TNR) March 9:

In a sign of the times, Lieutenant Governor Andre Bauer, who has few friends in the state’s Republican establishment, delivered a speech comparing recipients of subsidized school lunches to “stray animals” who should no longer be fed unconditionally.

While he took a few shots from fellow Republicans for his indiscreet language, nobody disputed, and some praised, his basic premise that any form of public assistance corrupts its recipients and should come with some sort of reciprocal obligation.

Libertarian Republican interviewed Governor candidate Warren Redlich last night about his plans to launch a statewide "Soda Party" around Tax Day to protest Gov. Paterson, and NYC Mayor Bloomberg's proposed Sugary Sodat Tax. The duo is pushing the tax to "help save education and health services" from budget cuts.

From Politics Daily, March 8:

"An extra 12 cents on a can of soda would raise nearly $1 billion, allowing us to keep community health services open and teachers in the classroom," Bloomberg said in Sunday's speech. "And, at the same time, it would help us fight a major problem plaguing our children: obesity."

Redlich sharply disagrees with the Paterson-Bloomberg soda tax, pointing out that store-brand colas cost about 88 cents for a 2 liter bottle: "Paterson and Bloomberg want to slap a 68-cent tax on them. Do you know who buys store-brand sodas? People who can't afford Coke!"

The broad spread of the tax is also bothersome. "It's on 'sugared drinks.' That includes Gatorade, which is not only healthier than sodas, but also has fewer calories than fruit juice," Redlich noted.

Seeking support from the various Tea Party groups in New York, Redlich believes the soda tax is an issue that can bring them all together. "That's not how you operate when you have budget problems. You don't stick it to the regular people who are trying to get by," said Redlich.

If the soda tax makes it into the state budget, Redlich says there will be a Soda Party: "The original patriots dumped tea in the harbor. Pouring soda on the Capitol will be a wake-up call to Paterson, Silver and everyone else inside that bubble."

"NYS and NYC needs to look into cutting spending before thinking about driving more hard working taxpayers out of New York with more nanny taxes, which will reduce tax revenue, not increase them. Warren has the right idea with a Soda Protest Party," said Steven Vasquez, a NY State Tea Party organizer and NY State Coordinator for Campaign for Liberty.

Redlich told LR that other groups are already signing up like 9/12, 1776, and the Campaign for Liberty. It looks like the rally will be scheduled for Saturday, April 17 (right after Tax Day), at the Capitol in Albany. They are considering the use of a replica of the State Capitol to dump the soda on, right on the steps of the real Capitol. Obviously, environmental restrictions and good manners keep them from dumping the soda on the premises itself.

And what brand of soda will be used? Redlich says:

"Sam's Choice or some other price chopper brand, cause budget-minded New Yorkers will be hurt the most."

Warren Redlich is an attorney and local town councilman. He is a candidate for Governor seeking the nominations of both the Libertarian Party and Republican Party (against the favored Rick Lazio).

wredlich.com/ny

It is increasingly looking like Geert Wilders could become Europe's very first libertarian President in history.

From Reuters, March 7:

Wilders three seats ahead of rivals in Dutch Poll

The Maurice de Hond poll put the PVV on 27 seats in the June 9 national elections, while the CDA and the Labour Party (PvdA) were both on 24 seats. The poll also showed that none of the three most likely coalitions would be able to form a majority government without reaching across lines to a fourth or fifth party.

In local council polls on March 3, Wilders made substantial gains, positioning him to do well in the national election. Balkenende's Christian Democrats were seen as the biggest loser in the council voting.

A PVV triumph could also mark the first time in history that a European Nation would have a libertarian party as the governing party. Just two weeks ago, the PVV won a majority of council seats in the city of Alsmere (pop. 188,000), and placed second in The Hague, the second largest city in the Netherlands.