The Exercise of Vital Powers

I see that the LNC hasn’t gotten any more functional since I left even though they managed to nominiate someone who wasn’t a nutjob:

At the Libertarian National Committee meeting today, Mary Ruwart moved to reconstitute the Advertising and Publications Review Committee, seconded by R. Lee Wrights. Ruwart said “We recently had a press release that recommended more government, and if it had been reviewed it probably wouldn’t have gone out.” Secretary Bob Sullentrup pointed out that the APRC has been created and abolished multiple times, and said that if it gets reconstituted it should be done in a way that won’t require abolishing it yet again.

Ruwart suggested that the APRC be created and then its chartering language be improved. Wrights objected to hearing from staff about potential problems in the operational details of the APRC, and said “This committee does the business of the party, not staff.” LP Media Director Andrew Davis said that even a 12-hour turnaround time can miss a news cycle. Redpath said he had a policy of reviewing “anything that might be controversial”, but he admitted it did not happen with the recent controversial press release. The APRC was re-created, with Aaron Starr and Pat Dixon voting no. Its members will be Wrights, Ruwart, Starr, Jingozian, Flood, and they will have no authority until they create and win approval for new chartering language for it.

The Executive Committee was populated with the four officers and Mark Hinkle, Michael Colley, and Jim Lark.

I’ve highlighted the interesting bits. The APRC is also known as the purity committee. I’d love to see how this works with someone like Barr as the nominee. Purists tying the hands of the party staff trying to help the presidential campaign. Thats Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld levels of incompetence there.

Wrights is a nice guy and all, but you can tell he’s got no idea what being on a Board of Directors is about if he objects to hearing what the employees have to say.

Wrights and Starr hate each other with a passion, and on a commitee with no authority this is probably all meaningless. It will be interesting to see if this is the last gasp of the kooks or the start of a come-back. I’m actually suprised Barr got the nod. It was close. After the reformers gutted the platform in Portland, I expected to radicals to be back in more force for Denver. Denver is also a lot easier and cheaper to get to - which does factor into things as their is a reverse coorelation between radicalism and affluence in the LP.

HT: Third Party Watch

Malkin proves she is an ass-wipe with this but of idiocy.

Does Dunkin’ Donuts really think its customers could mistake Rachael Ray for a terrorist sympathizer? The Canton-based company has abruptly canceled an ad in which the domestic diva wears a scarf that looks like a keffiyeh, a traditional headdress worn by Arab men.
more stories like this

Some observers, including ultra-conservative Fox News commentator Michelle Malkin, were so incensed by the ad that there was even talk of a Dunkin’ Donuts boycott.

‘‘The keffiyeh, for the clueless, is the traditional scarf of Arab men that has come to symbolize murderous Palestinian jihad,’’ Malkin yowls in her syndicated column. (Dunkin’ Donuts yanks Rachael Ray ad - The Boston Globe)

Word on the street is that Casey Cagle is looking to run for Governor. That means Georgia will need a new Lieutenant Governor.

While it might be premature (he hasn’t announced) I’m endorsing one of the strongest fiscal conservatives in the General Assembly: Senator David Shafer.

Senator Shafer is a tireless champion for the taxpayer. He has opposed tax increases, even when the Republicans proposed them! He has led the charge on both zero based budgeting and spending limitation. His zero based budgeting bill passed both the Senate and House this year, and his idea to return budgetary surpluses was incorporated into Senate Resolution 20, and at least one version of the Speaker’s tax reform initiative.

Most big thinkers are not effective lawmakers, but David is the kind of guy who both thinks outside the box and knows how to translate ideas into law. Tapping the Tennessee River to secure a long term supply of water for North Georgia, creating a privately funded Umbilical Cord Blood Bank to save postnatal tissues and encourage nonembryonic stem cell research and deregulating cable and telecommunications to improve customer choice are among his many initiatives.

David is talking with financial backers and I have no doubt that he can raise the money to be the effective. He is one of the top GOP fundraisers in the state, with a large network of donors and plenty of political IOUs from the candidates and elected officials he has helped.

He is the type of candidate who can bring the various factions of the Georgia Republican Party together. He was an early and strong backer of both Casey Cagle for Lieutenant Governor and Karen Handel for Secretary of State, he will be able to work with the next Governor, no matter who that might be.

If you agree with me that David Shafer would make a great Lieutenant Governor, drop David an email david at vote david dot com and encourage him to run.

Still, if any of us had been secluded for the past seven years, a description of the Bush years without attribution would likely have had most any Republican assuming a Democrat had been in control. Is there an explanation for this? The first one would be that all politicians disappoint. By definition. Beyond that, given the statist direction taken by the Republican party in this decade, it’s fair to ask if it any longer represents laissez-faire growth. Many would point to the even harsher anti-growth views held by Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama, but it seems a lot of their stances at present are pure politics.

Even if they’re not, it would be hard to find an administration in modern times that has been more interventionist than the present one. That in mind, stinging losses for the GOP may be just what the doctor ordered. Indeed, maybe the pain of being out of power will force them to look inward, and in doing so, perhaps understand that when a Democrat runs against a Democrat, a Democrat always wins. ( RealClearMarkets - Articles - Is the GOP Still the Party of Economic Growth?)

Despite public sentiment, Sundays likely to stay dry for now | ajc.com

Chris Farris, chairman of the Liberty Caucus, sees Sunday sales as a free-market issue that matches basic Republican principles.

“Its not only a no-brainer for the caucus, it should really be a non-brainer for a Legislature that is controlled by a party that supposedly espouses the free market,” Farris said.

While several members of his caucus who oppose the bill are counted among the Senate leadership, Farris said it appears that Perdue — a religious conservative who doesnt drink — is the stumbling block. Perdue all but threatened to veto the bill, saying Georgians should show better “time management” if they want to purchase alcoholic beverages by buying them on other days of the week.

“The Senate saw no reason to pass a bill the governor was going to veto and irritate one faction of the [Republican] party without getting any benefit for the other faction, the free-market side,” Farris said.

Still, he said hes not giving up.

“My hope is it will get a hearing in committee this year,” Farris said. “The RLC is going to press for that.”

John McCain is a “true conservative,” President Bush says

How they hell would you know what a conservative is, Mr. President?

“John McCain has done more to undermine Republican leadership in Congress than anyone I know”. — Tom Delay

Thats the best endorsement for John McCain I’ve heard yet. My favorite Senator, Tom Colburn (R-OK) is also endorsing McCain for his focus on spending restraint.

I’m still undecided.

So with Fred’s disappointing 3rd place finish in South Carolina, I don’t see him being able to stay in the race much longer. Its a shame, because he is one of the few credible candidates who are strong on defense and yet truly believe in Federalism and decentralized government.

So now I need to find a new candidate. I don’t want someone whose only qualification is they can beat Hillary. I think Hillary would make a better president than several of the front runners *cough* Huckabee *cough*. I don’t want someone with an ‘R’ after their name in the White House just for the sake of having a Republican in the White House. We’ve done that for the past 8 years.

I also don’t think _if_ a Republican wins in 2008, they’ll win re-election. I think FDR was the last time a party held the White House for more than 12 years. History (not to mention voter sentiment) is on the side of a one term if a Republican wins.

The top three candidates are Mitt Romney, John McCain, Mike Huckabee and Rudy. If Rudy doesn’t make a killing in Florida next week he’ll be out too. Mike Huckabee is a liberal. I think he’s more liberal than Hillary Clinton. He may be more liberal than Barak Obama. The only candidate Huckabee looks good against is John Edwards.

So, my choices are John McCain or Mitt Romney. I don’t trust Mitt Romney. Maybe its because I agree with my friend who says all CEOs are sociopaths. Maybe its because he is too slick, his campaign rhetoric is too close to the party-line. I have no idea how he’d govern as president.

John McCain I know how he’d govern. He’s shown his independence from the party line from the get-go. I respect that. Unlike most in the Georgia GOP, I respect his work on immigration reform. I like how he bucked the current administration and the Rumsfeld Penatagon on the need for more troops in Iraq. I like how he bucked his leadership on earmarks and wasteful spending. Like Reagan I respect his ability to reach across the aisle to get things done. I often don’t like the things he gets done, but he shows a bipartisanship not seen these days in Washington. The two things McCain has done I don’t like are campaign finance reform and his votes against the Bush Tax Cuts in 2001 and 2003. With Fred in the race those were deal killers for me. Now with my choices limited I’m taking a fresh look at Sen. McCain.

I like Rudy as a nominee, I don’t think I’d like him as President. I think his federalism rhetoric is for convenience given his pro-choice stance. I think as President he’d be as bad or worse than the current President in expanding the size and scope of the Federal Government. However as a nominee I like him because it would really piss-off the folks in the party who are totally self-absorbed in a single unimportant issue.

Finally there is Ron Paul. I don’t dislike Ron Paul as I do the actions of his supporters. They exhibit the same kind of in-your-face tactics that I couldn’t stand when I was in the LP. I don’t like his whining negative attitude. I didn’t like how every question in the debates he tied to either the War in Iraq or the need to get back on the Gold Standard.

Kill six millions Jews in Germany, your name becomes a synonym with evil. Kill between 44 and 72 million Chinese, you get a café named after you. It’s a funny old world, eh? (Link)

Seriously, there should be as much outrage to this as to a Cafe Hitler or a Cafe Stalin.

WSJ has a brief history of the holiday, from Roman times, through the middle ages when it was more like a modern new years, to the reformation where the holiday was largely forgotten to the 19th and 20th centuries that created the child-oriented holiday we know celebrate.

The Christmas of parties and presents is far older than the Nativity. Most ancient cultures celebrated the winter solstice, when the sun reaches its lowest point and begins to climb once more in the sky. In ancient Rome, this festival was called the Saturnalia and ran from Dec. 17 to Dec. 24. During that week, no work was done, and the time was spent in parties, games, gift giving and decorating the houses with evergreens. (Sound familiar?) It was, needless to say, a very popular holiday.
[Illo]

In its earliest days, Christianity did not celebrate the Nativity at all. Only two of the four Gospels even mention it. Instead, the Church calendar was centered on Easter, still by far the most important day in the Christian year. The Last Supper was a Seder, celebrating Passover, which falls on the day of the full moon in the first month of spring in the Hebrew calendar. So in A.D. 325, the Council of Nicea decided that Easter should fall on the Sunday following the first full moon of spring. That’s why Easter and its associated days, such as Ash Wednesday and Good Friday, are “moveable feasts,” moving about the calendar at the whim of the moon.
A Brief History of Christmas - WSJ.com