More on Sharron Angle’s appearance on "Libertarian Politics Live" – Politico jumps in with criticism

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From Eric Dondero:

The Washington Post was critical of Sharron Angle's appearance on our show "Libertarian Politics Live" on Thursday. And now, like clockwork, the other liberal DC establishment media is joining in.

From Politico, Sunday, July 4, "Sharron Angle: I'm not a 'birther'":

Republican Sharron Angle, who is challenging Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid in the Nevada Senate race, declared Friday that she is not “birther,” a day after she avoided answering a question about whether she had any doubts about President Barack Obama’s citizenship.

In an interview Friday with the conservative blog Hot Air, Angle was asked whether she believed Obama was born somewhere other than Hawaii, and she replied: “No. Is that flat-out enough for you?”

Her comments came a day after she appeared on the conservative blog talk show Libertarian Politics Live, when Angle was asked by a caller whether she had “any doubts whether or not President Obama is a legitimate president or a naturalized born citizen.”

Note the description of our show explicitly named "Libertarian Politics Live" as "Conservative."

Later in the article:

Andre Traversa, the host of the Thursday show, said the question was “irrelevant” because “what’s really important is [Obama’s] ideology is dangerous.”

“I think so too,” Angle said. “I think his policies as I’ve said have been a failure, and Harry Reid has failed because he has pushed forward those policies, and that is what has put us in this position – especially here in Nevada. … You’re exactly right: his ideology has failed us and continues to fail Americans.”

Angle has faced a barrage of criticism from Reid’s campaign over some of her staunchly conservative views, some of which she’s kept off her newly revamped website. And she’s been criticized for limiting her appearances before the mainstream media in favor of mostly sympathetic news outlets.

And a few paragraphs later they mentioned my question to Sharron; whether she could see the makings of a "Liberty Caucus" in the Senate:

On the radio show Thursday, Angle was praised by conservative callers and the hosts who badly want to take down Reid, who faces sagging approval numbers back home and who polls show is trailing Angle in the race. And she went on the offensive against Reid, accusing him of wanting to "raid and pillage" the Social Security trust fund and for presiding in Washington as the top Senate Democrat as Nevada's economy has bottomed out.

Angle predicted she’d win November and create a “strong minority within the minority” of fiercely conservative members in the Senate Republican Conference, including Sens. Tom Coburn (R-Okla.) and Jim DeMint (R-S.C.) – along with Senate GOP hopefuls Pat Toomey in Pennsylvania, Rand Paul in Kentucky and Marco Rubio in Florida.

WaPo didn't even mention the Liberty Caucus question, which could be seen as the most newsworthy event to come out of the show. Politico could be given some praise for picking that up.

Of course, both WaPo and Politico completely missed Dave Nalle's calling into the show to announce the official endorsement of the Republican Liberty Caucus. Somehow a set-up question from the 617 area code (Boston) on Birtherism is more important than a national political organization representing the libertarian wing of the GOP endorsing a US Senate candidate.

OHIO: Kasich increases lead over embattled Democrat Gov. Strickland

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From Eric Dondero:

Fantastic news coming out of Ohio. Fiscal Conservative stalwart John Kasich has actually increased his lead over scandal-ridden incumbent Gov. Ted Strickland. Rasmussen reports that Kasich is up by 2 points over a similar poll done in May.

From Rasmussen:

The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey of the governor’s race in Ohio finds Republican John Kasich with a 47% to 40% lead over incumbent Democrat Ted Strickland - for the second month in a row. Three percent (3%) of Likely Voters in the state prefer some other candidate, and 10% are undecided.

In the last poll, Kasich had 47%, but Strickland was at 42%.

The latest on the Robert Byrd replacement issue; opportunity for the GOP

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From Cliff Thies:

We broke it here. There may be a special election to fill the late Senator Robert Byrd's unexpired term this year.

The WV Secretary of State notices, as we did, that West Virginia's law is unclear about this, when such a vacancy occurs with more than 2 1/2 years left in a term but prior to the filing date for the primaries, as happened this year. Her reading of the law is that the special election is to take place in 2012, coincident with the regular election. Her reading of the law is informed by a 1994 WV court ruling dealing with a would-be Republican candidate for a vacancy in a judicial office. But, the filing period for independents and third-parties is not past. They have until July 30th to file for the ballot by petition, which is their "primary" (and the law on this seems clear enough, the petitioning period IS the primary period for those who are nominated by petition).

If the Republicans are too prissy to push the issue, the WV Libertarian Party should attempt to put a candidate on the ballot. The WV LP does not have a petitioning drive underway, there being no regularly-scheduled statewide election this year. This is good news and bad news. It is good news, since an attempt to qualify a candidate for a special election for the unexpired term of Senator Byrd would not disrupt a petitioning drive already underway. It is bad news, since the infrastructure of a petitioning drive is not already set up, and the deadline for filing is soon upon us. Should enough valid signatures be submitted, I am confident the Secretary of State will promulgate rules allowing nomination by convention for the parties of the state that nominate by primary (i.e., the Democrats, Republicans and Mountain Party), rather than risk losing an appeal of a ruling that there is no special election, since she has already admitted that the WV law is unclear.

Solid as Steele behind Petraeus, War in Afghanistan

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From Eric Dondero:

The liberal media is exploiting a supposed gaffe made by libertarian-leaning Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele, earlier last week. He was speaking off the cuff at an outdoor picnic.

Now Steele has responded with a clarification of his remarks. Through his spokesman, Doug Heye (via National Journal):

"The responsibility for building and maintaining [a] strategy falls squarely on the shoulders of the President. Like so many Americans, Chairman Steele wants to hear an explanation from President Obama on what his strategy is for winning the war in Afghanistan," Heye said.

Heye called Petraeus's confirmation hearings, held this week, a "missed opportunity" to flesh out Obama's strategy. And Steele himself, at a fundraiser on Thursday, said winning wars in Afghanistan has proven difficult in history. On Friday afternoon, Steele reiterated his support for the general and aimed to clarify his historical point.

"As we have learned throughout history, winning a war in Afghanistan is a difficult task. We must also remember that after the tragedy of September 11, 2001, it is also a necessary one," said Steele.

"That is why I supported the decision to increase our troop force and, like the entire United States Senate, I support General Petraeus' confirmation. The stakes are too high for us to accept anything but success in Afghanistan."

For the record, we here at Libertarian Republican fully support the Chairman, and recognize that any calls for his resignation, will only be hurtful to our ultimate objective; a massive defeat of Democrats in November. Those who call for his resignation, are in all practicality, aligning themselves with the Democrats against the Republican Party, and just as bad, aligning with the liberal media.

Libertarian Defense Caucus blasts Libertarian Party National Director for anti-Iraq & Afghanistan War Letter

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BREAKING NEWS!!

From Eric Dondero:

Ryan Christiano, Co-Chairman of the Libertarian Defense Caucus and an editorial board member of Libertarian Republican, asked us to publish the following letters in full. The first is from LDC's longest standing and most Senior member, LDC Co-Chair Kevin Bjornson. It is in response to a release sent out by Libertarian Party Executive Director Wes Benedict. Below Bjornson's response is Benedict's letter in full to Libertarian Party members. Needless to say, and I believe I speak for the LR editorial board, endorse Bjornson's remarks.

It should be noted Kevin Bjornson is an original member of the Libertarian Party; as in he was there at the founding of the LP way back in the early 1970s. He lives in Washington State, one of the two states where John Hospers the LP's first Presidential candidate was on the ballot in 1972. Benedict, on the other hand, is relatively new to the LP. Both Bjornson and Benedict attended the recent Libertarian Party national convention in St. Louis.

Bjornson's Letter

Wes Benedict, "LP executive director":

Your recent communique (appended below) tends to alienate at least half of your LP audience. Is that your intention?

Do you intend to cleanse the LP of all but a tiny clique centered around spurious sources like IBC and anti-war.com?

Fact-checking your statistics is an Alice-in-Wonderland journey through America's anti-war fringe, where far-left meets far-right.

For example: your claims for US-caused civilian casualties are sourced to this website:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/

However, when I click unto their source, I get this:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/database/

Clearly, this source is self-referential. They do claim a few sources, in general terms (like "media reports " or "Iraqi government sources"--with no links as to where specifically all these numbers were published, or proof linking the statistics to reality.

In fact, the statistics of alleged US victims mostly include:

"suicide bombers" "roadside bombs" and "shot" by insurgents. So attributing the cause of their misfortune to the US is disingenuous--akin to blaming US attacks on Hitler as the cause of the holocaust.

In fact, this page reaches a dead-end, wherein they assert as proof of their statistics, that they are from irregular and non-transparent sources:

1 We join UNAMI's call for the Iraqi Government to provide this information of important public interest regularly and in a transparent manner. UNAMI HR Report, 1 Jan - 31 Mar 2007. Page 3 Para 2. (PDF)

Yet another "source" is self-referential:

http://www.iraqbodycount.org/about/

Worse, this "source" admits they record all violent deaths, simply assuming they are all the fault of the US.

And further assuming, our only alternative to present policies is withdrawal to US soil, in the vain hope that oceans and a pious attitude will protect our homeland while saving foreign
victims.

These series of self-referential websites read as if written by grad students doing a parody of a superficially academic style.

Pompous enough to persuade the gullible, but without credibility or substance.

I must protest at this sophomoric display. This clearly diverges from your job description-which is executive and not policy-devising.

You are not recruiting libertarians, but trying to re-make the LP in your image. You are making dovish foreign policy dovishness, and not the pledge or NAP, the litmus test for libertarianism.

You pontifications are causing grave harm to the LP.

Thank goodness the LP has near-zero credibility, or your editorials would cause grave harm to the country.

Civilization is engaged in a war with barbarism and religious zealotry. This conflict will continue until we are vanquished or victorious, and cannot be ended unilaterally by the partial surrender you advocate.

If you cannot restrain your actions to those within your legitimate purview, you have sat too long in your position for any good you have been doing. In that case, your best course is to depart, and let us have done with you. In the name of Ayn Rand, go!

Kevin Bjornson
Libertarian Defense Caucus

Wes Benedict's original letter to LP Members

July 5, 2010

Dear Friend of Liberty,

The long wars in Iraq and Afghanistan have been back in the news recently, and we just had the bizarre spectacle of the Republican National Committee Chairman saying he didn't like Obama's war in Afghanistan, while the DNC chastised him for failing to support the troops.

Here are ten reasons to end the wars now. I hope you'll take a look at some of the links.

1. American military and contractor casualties in Iraq and Afghanistan.

2. Iraqi and Afghanistan civilian and military casualties.

3. These wars are a tremendous waste of taxpayer money in a time of extreme deficits, high unemployment and a falling stock market.

4. Invading and occupying Afghanistan and Iraq feeds terrorism.

5. Osama Bin Laden and his co-conspirators who attacked the World Trade Center were Saudi Arabian.

6. As Congressman Ron Paul recently said: "In Afghanistan, we are fighting the Taliban, those dangerous people with guns defending their homeland. Once they were called the Mujahideen, our old allies, along with bin Laden, in the fight to oust the Soviets from Afghanistan in the 1980s."

7. Most Republicans in Congress now admit Iraq was a mistake.

8. Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele's comments show that even the hawkish Republican Party can't support this war with a straight face.

9. As James Madison said, "If Tyranny and Oppression come to this land, it will be in the guise of fighting a foreign enemy." (Witness the PATRIOT Act.)

10. The U.S. military has been in Iraq over seven years, and in Afghanistan almost nine years. It's time to give peace a chance.

(Note, the LP doesn't necessarily endorse the organizations linked above. We encourage you to research these issues for yourself.)

Sincerely,

Wes Benedict

For more info on the Libertarian Defense Caucus DefendLiberty.org

SN 1987A

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In February of 1987, astronomers saw the closest supernova of modern times; it
was in the Large Magellanic Cloud, a neighboring dwarf galaxy.  This supernova,
named SN 1987A, is incontrovertible proof that the collapse of the core of
a massive star can produce a supernova.  Not only were neutrinos detected
from this explosion, as one expects in the birth of a neutron star from the collapse
of a stellar core, but also the star that exploded was observed many times before
the supernova and found to be massive.  The surprise is that the star
was a blue supergiant rather than the expected red supergiant.  Other striking features
of this supernova are its unusual chemical composition, its high expansion velocity,
its low luminosity, and the unusual shape of its nebula.  Some of these features are
tied to the star being a blue supergiant, while others are clues to why the star was
in a blue supergiant state when it exploded.

First detection of VHE ?-rays from SN 1006 by HESS

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Authors: F. Acero, F. Aharonian, A. G. Akhperjanian, G. Anton, U. Barres de Almeida, A. R. Bazer-Bachi, Y. Becherini, B. Behera, M. Beilicke, K. Bernlöhr, A. Bochow, C. Boisson, J. Bolmont, V. Borrel, J. Brucker, F. Brun, P. Brun, R. Bühler, T. Bulik, I. Büsching, T. Boutelier, P. M. Chadwick, A. Charbonnier, R. C. G. Chaves, A. Cheesebrough, J. Conrad, L.-M. Chounet, A. C. Clapson, G. Coignet, M. Dalton, M. K. Daniel, I. D. Davids, B. Degrange, C. Deil, H. J. Dickinson, A. Djannati-Ataï, W. Domainko, L. O'C. Drury, F. Dubois, G. Dubus, J. Dyks, M. Dyrda, K. Egberts, P. Eger, P. Espigat, L. Fallon, C. Farnier, S. Fegan, F. Feinstein, A. Fiasson, A. Förster, G. Fontaine, M. Füßling, S. Gabici, Y. A. Gallant, L. Gérard, D. Gerbig, B. Giebels, J. F. Glicenstein, B. Glück, P. Goret, D. Göring, D. Hauser, M. Hauser, S. Heinz, G. Heinzelmann, G. Henri, G. Hermann, J. A. Hinton, A. Hoffmann, W. Hofmann, P. Hofverberg, M. Holleran, S. Hoppe, D. Horns, A. Jacholkowska, O. C. de Jager, C. Jahn, I. Jung, K. Katarzy?ski, U. Katz, S. Kaufmann, M. Kerschhaggl, D. Khangulyan, B. Khélifi, D. Keogh, D. Klochkov, W. Klu?niak, T. Kneiske, Nu. Komin, K. Kosack, R. Kossakowski, G. Lamanna, M. Lemoine-Goumard, J.-P. Lenain, T. Lohse, V. Marandon, A. Marcowith, J. Masbou, D. Maurin, T. J. L. McComb, M. C. Medina, J. Méhault, R. Moderski, E. Moulin, M. Naumann-Godo, M. de Naurois, D. Nedbal, D. Nekrassov, B. Nicholas, J. Niemiec, S. J. Nolan, S. Ohm, J.-F. Olive, E. de Oña Wilhelmi, K. J. Orford, M. Ostrowski, M. Panter, M. Paz Arribas, G. Pedaletti, G. Pelletier, P.-O. Petrucci, S. Pita, G. Pühlhofer, M. Punch, A. Quirrenbach, B. C. Raubenheimer, M. Raue, S. M. Rayner, O. Reimer, M. Renaud, R. de los Reyes, F. Rieger, J. Ripken, L. Rob, S. Rosier-Lees, G. Rowell, B. Rudak, C. B. Rulten, J. Ruppel, F. Ryde, V. Sahakian, A. Santangelo, R. Schlickeiser, F. M. Schöck, A. Schönwald, U. Schwanke, S. Schwarzburg, S. Schwemmer, A. Shalchi, I. Sushch, M. Sikora, J. L. Skilton, H. Sol, ?. Stawarz, R. Steenkamp, C. Stegmann, F. Stinzing, G. Superina, A. Szostek, P. H. Tam, J.-P. Tavernet, R. Terrier, O. Tibolla, M. Tluczykont, C. van Eldik, G. Vasileiadis, C. Venter, L. Venter, J. P. Vialle, P. Vincent, J. Vink, M. Vivier, H. J. Völk, F. Volpe, S. Vorobiov, S. J. Wagner, M. Ward, A. A. Zdziarski, A. Zech and .<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 516 , page A62<br />Published online: 28/06/2010<br />
Keywords:
gamma rays: stars ; supernovae: individual: SN 1006 (G327.6+14.6).

Testing circumstellar disk lifetimes in young embedded clusters associated with the Vela Molecular Ridge*

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Authors: F. Massi, E. Di Carlo, C. Codella, L. Testi, L. Vanzi and J. I. Gomes.<br />Astronomy and Astrophysics Vol. 516 , page A52<br />Published online: 24/06/2010<br />
Keywords:
stars: formation ; stars: pre-main sequence ;
stars: circumstellar matter ; ISM: individual objects: Vela Molecular Ridge  ; open clusters and associations: general ; infrared: ISM.