================================================ |*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*| Old Dominion Liberty Letter Issue #37 |*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*| ================================================
In this issue: 1. Nathan Larson Seeking FIJA Lit Distribution Help 2. Won't Decriminalization Result in Increased Drug Use? 3. Is Your Car's Air Conditioner Suffering From TMG (Too Much Government)? 4. Insanity 5. Government Goon Award: Jim Daves, Chattanooga (TN) Police Department 6. Stimulusol XR 7. A $600+ Billion Spending Cut 8. How About Reading the First Amendment? 9. EXPLORING LIBERTY: The LP's "3.5 Rights and Discrimination" Plank 10. NATIONAL NEWS: LP Issue Bumper Stickers 11. VIRGINIA EVENTS 12. Libertarian Radio in Virginia ================================================ 1. Nathan Larson Seeking FIJA Lit Distribution Help ================================================ I have returned to Virginia. Does anyone want to do any FIJA activism (i.e. hand out Fully Informed Jury Association pamphlets outside courthouses)? See http://libertapedia.org/wiki/Distributing_FIJA_literature_in_front_of_courthouses for more details. If not, do you know of any courthouses that have a lot of foot traffic and otherwise lend themselves to literature distribution? The Manassas one didn't look so good because there are several different ways people can leave (and thereby avoid literature distributors). The best one I found was the DC courthouse, which had an exit walkway leading through a lawn to the sidewalk.... Thanks! Nathan Larson <[email protected]> ================================================ 2. Won't Decriminalization Result in Increased Drug Use? ================================================ Yes, but that will just be congressmen going out on weeklong benders with their underage pages. For everyone else, repealing Prohibition will simply mean peaceful educational efforts to reduce drug use will begin to apply downward pressure on the demand for drugs. Portugal decriminalized the personal possession and use of all recreational drugs a few years ago, and the catastrophe predicted by drug warriors... simply didn't happen: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R7FshBjkS6U&feature=player_embedded In the words of David Kramer: "But then, the U.S. could never legalize recreational drugs - otherwise, how could the Bushes http://www.amazon.com/Compromised-Clinton-Bush-Terry-Reed/dp/1561712493/lewrockwell and Clintons http://www.scribd.com/doc/4577152/tranceformation-of-america make a living?" Read the rest at: http://FreeVirginia.blogspot.com/2010/06/repeal-drug-prohibition.html ================================================ 3. Is Your Car's Air Conditioner Suffering From TMG (Too Much Government)? ================================================ Remember how car air conditioners could freeze you out of the car twenty years ago? And now they can barely keep you comfortable, especially on long trips? It's not the automakers' fault: http://FreeVirginia.blogspot.com/2010/06/time-to-lift-freon-ban.html ================================================ 4. Insanity ================================================ First, the government says we should People should consume less fatty meats. The next day, it announces it is buying $14 million worth of fatty meats. http://www.cato-at-liberty.org/2010/06/16/your-government-at-work-2/ There's a word for this, and that word is insanity. ================================================ 5. Government Goon Award: Jim Daves, Chattanooga (TN) Police Department ================================================ Congratulations, Daves -- you get the prize: http://www.chattanoogan.com/articles/article_178209.asp http://www.newschannel9.com/news/couple-992252-emergency-wife.html http://www.aolnews.com/nation/article/newlywed-eric-wright-arrested-after-rushing-wife-aline-wright-to-hospital/19523650?ncid=webmail Oh, and the richest part of the story: The police bureaucracy said that there were "no policy violations, rules or procedures or laws were broken" [sic]. That's just cop-u-crat for "we know our guy committed [at the least] a serious assault and other crimes, but we're not going to do anything about it, and neither are you." Oh, and while Daves was stalking Wright, he apparently couldn't spare any time to solve this: http://www.newschannel9.com/news/elderly-992258-woman-years.html ================================================ 6. Stimulusol XR ================================================ "Stimulusol XR: Finally, relief from the uncomfortable side effects of progressive governance." http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=f85_1235801621 ================================================ 7. A $600+ Billion Spending Cut ================================================ "There is no economic reason why 100% of the expenditures on education should not be paid for by the parents of students or by the students themselves, when they reach college or graduate school level. There is also nothing that says that a government has the moral authority to coerce parents who hold to one view of education, or one view of how the world works, to subsidize the educations of other families, whose children attend schools that teach a view of the world closer to that approved by the subsidized parents." Read more: http://www.lewrockwell.com/north/north853.html ================================================ 8. How About Reading the First Amendment? ================================================ From: http://www.whsv.com/home/headlines/96001374.html "Prepaid cell phone users may soon have to show identification before purchasing a phone. ... Sen. Chuck Schumer from New York and Sen. John Cornyn from Texas introduced legislation requiring people to show identification before they're allowed to make the purchase. ... Police say prepaid cell phones can make it difficult for them to track criminal activity. Because people are not currently required to identify themselves when buying a phone, getting a search warrant for a phone number that comes up in an investigation is often useless. ... Police say matching a name with a cell phone number could help them in their investigation. ... "What it will do is create a paper trail that we could then follow what calls were made, when they were made and who they were made to that may benefit an number of different variety of criminal investigations," says Sgt. Kelly Walker of the Waynesboro Police Department." Yeah, way to go, Waynesboro PD. Maybe Waynesboro police bureaucrats should stop getting fleas by lying in bed with totalitarians like Schumer, demanding new ways to snoop into people's private lives. Instead, maybe Waynesboro PD could spend its excess energy hammering away at the city's unsolved violent crimes. Here's one they can start on right away: http://www.waynesboro.va.us/pd-information-coldcases.php ================================================ 9. EXPLORING LIBERTY: The LP's "3.5 Rights and Discrimination" Plank ================================================ This issue, we bring you the Libertarian Party's platform position #3.5, "Rights and Discrimination", which reads: -------- We condemn bigotry as irrational and repugnant. Government should not deny or abridge any individual's rights based on sex, wealth, race, color, creed, age, national origin, personal habits, political preference or sexual orientation. Parents, or other guardians, have the right to raise their children according to their own standards and beliefs. -------- Libertarians believe that all individuals enjoy complete, unfettered FREEDOM OF ASSOCIATION. Individual rights should not be denied, abridged, **or enhanced** at the expense of other people's rights by laws at any level of government. We support repealing any such laws rather than extending them to all individuals. Discrimination imposed by government has caused a multitude of problems. Anti-discrimination laws create the same problems. While we do not advocate private discrimination, we do not support any laws that attempt to limit or ban it. The right to trade includes the right not to trade -- for any reasons whatsoever. The right of association includes the right not to associate, for exercise of this right depends upon mutual consent. In this vein, the mainstream media has whipped itself into a froth about remarks by congressional candidate Rand Paul, the son of 1988 LP presidential candidate Ron Paul. The younger Paul told The Courier-Journal's (Louisville KY) editorial board on April 17 -- and later MSNBC's Rachael Maddow -- that the Civil Rights Act of 1964 should not cover owners of private business. From an article in the Courier-Journal: "While condemning racism and discrimination by government, Paul told the newspaper that 'in a free society, we will tolerate boorish people with abhorrent behavior.' ... Paul's criticism mirrored the views of his father, who stood up on the House floor when it celebrated the 40th anniversary of the act in 2004 and denounced it as 'a massive violation of the rights of private property and contract, which are the bedrocks of free society.' ... Rand Paul expressed much the same view in a May 30, 2002, letter to the editor of the Bowling Green Daily News, in which he said the U.S. Fair Housing Act 'ignores the distinction between private and public property.' ... Should it be prohibited for public, taxpayer-financed institutions such as schools to reject someone based on an individual's beliefs or attributes? Most certainly,' Paul said. 'Should it be prohibited for private entities such as a church, bed-and-breakfast or retirement neighborhood that doesn't want noisy children? Absolutely not. Decisions concerning private property and associations should in a free society be unhindered.' The distinction libertarians make is between *government* behavior vs. *private sector* behavior. Since government takes wealth by force from everyone, it should treat all of its victims the same regardless of whom they are. However, on private property, the owner has every right to say who can enter that property, or not -- or whatever other restrictions he wishes. A rebuffed customer has every right to take his business elsewhere. ================================================ 10. NATIONAL NEWS: LP Issue Bumper Stickers ================================================ And now, a word from our sponsor: Wear the LP colors! Check out these bumper stickers: http://www.zazzle.com/immigration_is_also_called_moving_bumper_sticker-128096227542326068 http://www.zazzle.com/abolish_the_irs_vote_libertarian_bumper_sticker-128151456887305334 http://www.zazzle.com/repeal_prohibition_libertarian_party_sticker_bumper_sticker-128231895702692440 http://www.zazzle.com/abolish_the_fed_bumper_sticker-128034935072085282 How about a "Libertarian Precinct Captain" sign: http://cl.exct.net/?qs=60dd440acd057ed8274bd68a30fd9bb390791c8b8cf1435503819d525e340ec05bd645539a27a964 Or a "Repeal the Income Tax / Abolish the IRS" sign: http://cl.exct.net/?qs=60dd440acd057ed8274bd68a30fd9bb390791c8b8cf14355a536f38defdc0d72181e66827dc4f9e8 ================================================ 11. VIRGINIA EVENTS ================================================ To stay current on upcoming activities of Libertarians across the state, check out the Calendar: http://lpva.com/Calendar/events08.asp ================================================ 12. Libertarian Radio in Virginia ================================================ What's on your mind? Unlike those right-wing or left-liberal extremist shows, Free Talk Live is talk radio that ANYONE can take control of. Yes, even you. Free Talk Live is the next generation of issues oriented talk. What is the meaning of freedom? This show is about Liberty with a capital L. Check out some of the archives on the FTL Main Page http://freetalklive.com/ to get an idea of what this all means. FreeTalkLive ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- Call Freq Band City Affiliate Live? Days Hours Sign Since On On ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- WCHV 94.1 FM C'ville 2008-10-18 Yes Sat 7-10p ET WCHV 1260 AM C'ville 2008-10-18 Yes Sat 7-10p ET WSVG 790 AM Mt. Jackson 2008-08-23 Yes M-F Sat 8-10p 7-10p ET WTAR 850 AM Norfolk 2009-10-31 Yes Sat 7-10p ET ================================================ The editors of Old Dominion Liberty Letter are always seeking stories for our regular features: STATE NEWS: The "Government Behaving Badly" Files: This Issue's Criminal Bureaucrats VIRGINIA TASER TALLY: Something for the Police State to be proud of FEATURED LINK ================================================ ================================================ |*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*| Old Dominion Liberty Letter Issue #37 |*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*|*| ================================================ Creative Commons License This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License by Marc Montoni. ================================================ Publishing Schedule: Weekly - But it depends on YOU! Publisher: LPVA Communications Committee Editor: Marc Montoni Distribution: 500 + readers, via LPVA-Announce ================================================ Sign up for the latest news from The Libertarian Party of Virginia: http://www.LPVA.com/html/EmailLists.asp ================================================ Got a news tip? Click: <mailto:[email protected]?subject=vlw> Allow me to emphasize this: We prefer Virginia news to news you can get elsewhere. If you have a good liberty-oriented story centered in Virginia, please alert us to it. ================================================ WHAT'S GOING ON where you live? Make sure all Virginia Libertarians are informed of your activities. Send announcements and news to <[email protected]> or <mailto:[email protected]?subject=vlw> ================================================ JOIN THE PARTY - Never been a member of the Libertarian Party of Virginia? There's no time like NOW to become a member of Virginia's third largest political party. http://Membership.LPVA.com ================================================ RENEW YOUR MEMBERSHIP - Have you been a member in the past, but for one reason or another chosen not to renew? Renew today and resume the fight for Liberty! http://Membership.LPVA.com ================================================ BEGIN YOUR PLEDGE - Are you ready to make the ultimate commitment? Join the LPVirginia Pledge Program and help us promote our Libertarian ideas to all your friends and neighbors! http://Contribute.LPVA.com ================================================ NOTES: This newsletter will be migrated to a CMS with an RSS feed (which our webmaster has been very generous in setting up!) sometime soon. This version is primarily to guage interest. If you want it to continue, then participate! ############################################################# Have an announcement you'd like to post? 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