Seems to me that the average folk throughout the ages can easily interpret the second amendment as simply " Well, we had to take up arms against Britain, you never know. So let's not abridge the right to do so." That's now called 'originalism' (though its doubtful that any current justice in that camp would deign to come down to such prosaic and simple language or justification, they still have to hang out together), and while its often rendered quaint by the devious and cunning brutes who feel their relationship to power entitles them to decree, it has become the last weak stand by those who counter the blue players on the board near check mate time.

I suppose touchy feely crap is the stuff of modern political candidacies, but I'm still waiting for substance. I know the average Ivy League graduate in the MSM thinks those memoirs and books we're the right stuff, but I'm unswayed. But is he the darling that the disgruntled right would have us believe ? As far as I'm concerned the dude can't even bowl, so Harvard degrees in law are meaningless. There simply is no evidence that he understands economics or anything beyond the typical pandering of a main party politician. My vote for President of the United States has always been 'wasted', as a denizen of New York, there's no doubt that my fellow collectivist citizens and their deep desire to hope and have change will carry the day for Obama. This is just a quick protest note to goad your idealism a bit.

This last Monday I mentioned to my wife after going swimming with the kids, that I should go down to the Town meeting and see what my fellow citizens have in store for me. I regret not going now after copping out about heat, time and other previous wasted efforts of energy that is government and its muted participation. It seems like governmentis has creeped in the form of a 'noise' ordinance however and July 14th is on my calendar now.

Even though I know they exist, I never found the ardent Hillary supporter willing to discuss the ideas or issues that she presumably represented for us. Rather it was always how horrible the Republicans were or some other equally vague bromide or premonition. So let's take a quick look at the highlights of the POTUS chase for our favorite daughter from, Illinois, Arkansas and DC.

But if they did and wanted to do anything about it on a meaningful level, could they ? After all, the either/or aspect of the process offers few choices in most races. As much as we may gripe or complain about third party choices/efforts for President, there are little to none in terms of choices in most Congressional and local races. While the smug anarchist may find delicious humor or satisfaction in this fate, the average person is left wanting. Not so much in terms of their own immediate benefit, but more in terms of meaning and hope. After all, hope and meaning are what the big players ply their craft in. Yet when it comes down to it, the background noise and real happenings are disgusting examples of cronyism and the pathetic need for attention amongst their fellow parasites as the rest suffer. Even the good anarchists couldn't avoid this if their intentions were noble and hearts pure and power to absolve the state absolute. Sleaze begets sleaze.

Think tanks, pundits, theoreticians and general anonymous blog critics all have these great ideas and attitudes. But if they aren't implemented (or even attempted) in a certain way or done with the right intent, they tend to fall into the trap of blaming the political process which creates so many of these problems. Granted the LP is a small batch brewery in a world of Budweisers and Miller Lite, but why attack the people who at least try ? In my estimation the puerile responses seem quite immature and achieve no sense of unity that this obvious parody seems to imply.

In that most of my fellow libertarians are making their way to Denver, I'll get back with Bruce a bit and explain why we matter. He says this time;

" The fact that such well-known, former establishment figures would seek a fringe party's presidential nomination demonstrates to many libertarians that their party has come of age. It's also created fear in Republican ranks that a viable LP candidate could throw a close election to the Democrats. "

Fringe ? . . . . Twinge.

Viva la resistance !

Several years ago I used to play over thirty hardball (I'm still pictured here as a Cardinal, back row second from right). Not softball mind you, there is a difference. The team had a mixture of aging athletes, jocular types and some average guys who enjoyed the game. But every once and a while you could tell when the young idiot jock was still inhabiting an old man's body. He became irate when a teammate screwed up. He was short with the otherwise duly embarrassed second baseman or outfielder whose own aging body just failed them as they remembered how much easier it was 20 years ago.

In a hurl of defiance and rage he would justify his obnoxious behavior as being a result of being 'competitive'. Maybe I remember the fact that I didn't make the team in high school because I had refused to cut my hair on demand. Even though I started as a 14 year old the summer before on the local all-star team with most of the guys on their way to Varsity, I didn't make the junior varsity team that fateful Monday because I didn't show up like a 'Yankee' on Friday. So I bark back occasionally too when I'm feeling the injustice twinge. In this case it was dressing down the pudgy idiot scraping his glory days off the back of a few guys who just wanna play ball on the weekend.

" You're not competitive, you're emotional " I responded one time . . . He hated that, but it was true.

The recent foray of the Reform Caucus in the LP is playing up a series of ads designed to rally the 'reform' troops in Denver this weekend. I truly hope it backfires on them, because I'm tired of playing with such kids in grownup situations.

Brian Holtz you're emotional at heart. Use for good if you can, perhaps as metered passion, but not petty bickering.

This upcoming week New York has once again decided to sweep its citizenry with the insidious demand that they protect themselves from the potential medical costs the state might incur if they were injured in an accident because they were not wearing a seatbelt. Last year there were over fifty nine thousand tickets during this time. If at least fifty thousand were successfully prosecuted at a hundred bucks a pop, that's a cool five million in local and state coffers. The jury's still out whether it saves any lives.

But there has never been any question that this law was one of worst rationalizations to continue the machinations of the nanny state and so many others that have followed. Is saving a single life from itself worth the cost of abandoning the principles of individual rights and self ownership ? While this is the crux of libertarian values, few recognize it as such any more. What we did to the cop that day is kind of funny.

This past weekend I resisted the temptation to hit the Sunday morning political yap circuit in favor of some Netflix online. I came across one of my favorite flicks, The Mission. It is a story about the Jesuit Missions and the conflict between the Spanish and Portuguese colonial powers during the 1750s, near what is now Paraguay and Brazil. Starring Robert DeNiro and Jeremy Irons, it tells the story of the conflict between eternal love on Earth and the power of the state and church on the people who would promote that love here on earth. In many ways it parallels the hideous contradiction that Libertarian politics has become. At once, it is the unique assertion that a non-violent attitude and approach will always suffer in an arena rife with hypocrisy, hate and acknowledgment that a monopoly of force is the only way to achieve the 'good'. I'm pretty sure George S. and Chris Wallace & Matthews didn't go into quite this that morning.

Joseph Bell sets out the anemic case for this blame in a recent op-ed. According to Bell's own admission;

"He voted for Clinton/Gore in 1992. Abandoning the convictions that he had held and defended through adolescence and into adulthood was not easy. Sincere soul-searching and a commitment to distinguish fact from fiction compelled him to accept that liberal ideology was bankrupt."

No if he could only realize how bankrupt the country is based on false conservatism.

While it may be acceptable to engage in Limbaugh tactics when it comes to smelly liberals and the like, Dulgar displays his ignorance of the Third Party fight as well as any apologist for the Red & Blue. It may indeed be inevitable that the two parties will win based on the winner take all aspect of the system, but it is by no means certain that alternative issues and concerns will be well placed in the mainstream sensibilities. Asking activists to play in the muck of pluralism is one thing, but projecting one's own failure is another. The Ron Paul campaign is evidence that any 'libertarian' spirit in the GOP tops out at 3-7% of those eligible voters. Mr. Dulgar really ought to check with his comrades in the duopoly about the battle for ballot access, the war on drugs, the national debt, creeping Empire and the free bottle of pills in his grandmother's medicine cabinet. Sorry, but I remember Jim Jones in the seventies and I'd rather not be associated with the ultimate ruin of the country at the hands of mealy mouthed politicians who will do anything to get elected.

There is a Fox News meme that has been going around since early March which includes the case of Yassin Aref. It has provided fodder for every right wing blogger who sees terror plots around every corner. Hopefully the release of Son of Mountains will persuade thoughtful people to counteract this hit job, not only in the blog world, but everyday life about such matters.

Even when the local news and national news broke about this arrest in August 2004, I had extreme doubts and reservations about a 'sting' and the alleged ties to a real terrorist plot. After reading Aref's book all those doubts are washed away. The man was framed, setup and hung out to advance the political agenda of Karl Rove and his unwitting conspirator George Bush. Fortunately that's not even what the book is about. Aref's life as a Kurd, his suffering, forbearance, faith and understanding about the human condition may well become the bellwether for literature in the 21st Century. We've certainly had enough from the poor rich bastard stuck at Yale in the 20th Century.

So let's get this straight, the Catholic Church loots all level of society with its play on the fear of death, suffers an organization whose leaders frequently bugger little children, has all manner of wealth employed in keeping the Pope like an ancient emperor and then derides it own for not casting off the Robe into material nakedness like St. Francis ? Next thing you know they might start taking Jesus seriously and wondering if ideology in general is the cause of war, famine and horrible things to many people.