Karen Kwiatkowski on cspan Sunday night

This Sunday night Karen Kwiatkowski will be on cspan. For those not familiar with her writings you should visit her archives.

She is a good writer. She is an excellent speaker and I can't talk of her speech without calling her a firecracker.

Once before 3/19/03 and once after the invasion I had written to cspan to have her on. I don't know if the reason she was not on was cpan's fault or her declining. The second time I wrote was after seeing her in May of 2004 at the Libertarian Convention in Atlanta.

Watch this, tape this, and tell your children. I hope this firecracker will be rerun on cspan's 4th of July coverage of the Libertarian Convention. I am sure you will find this woman entertaining.

Please comment here after watching.

A war on the poor and middle class - Women and children first!

Jo Coleman has sent this with opinions I agree with. I have highlighted certain areas but have n0 links in this blog.

To add to her analysis, if you are not an investor you may not be aware that venture capital is capital put at risk by the very wealthy. Here we are stealing from the poor and middle class to ease the risk of the very wealthy.

In the Eminent Domain section I have highlighted in green to emphasize the point that this law is all about the money. I believe it was in 2003 I was at the polls talking to a Democrat woman handing out literature who complained about how she had to get a lawyer to stop a realty company from taking her house for not having a correctly fixed fence. The lawyer was able to stop the proceedings but at the cost of a fence and lawyer. I would hope we can win people one person at a time but I fear they too often see government and "the greater good" as the best alternative. The individual is just considered a fly in the ointment of progress. Perhaps this is why some call themselves "Progress" ives.


House Bill 1380 passed and Mitch signed it...one section

"Authorizes counties, cities, and towns that receive county economic development income taxes (CEDIT) to: (1) establish local venture capital funds; and (2) establish regional venture capital funds by pooling CEDIT revenues and grant proceeds. Provides that a regional venture capital fund shall be administered by a governing board. Authorizes the governing board to make grants or loans from the fund to public or private entities for economic development purposes."

This is the very antithesis of capitalism and a slap in the face to all the real entrepreneurs and investors who risk their own money.

But combine this with the eminent domain bill that doesn't really protect us from anything...House bill 1010, eminent domain does not prevent taking for private development; they just have to declare our property run down or neglected ..."Establishes procedures for using eminent domain to transfer ownership or control of real property between private persons for uses that are not public uses, including: (1) limiting the use of eminent domain only to acquire certain types of property; (2) requiring that the acquisition of the property will accomplish more than only increasing the property tax base of a government entity; (3) requiring mediation under certain circumstances; (4) requiring the payment of more than the fair market value for certain types of property; (5) requiring the condemnor to pay the attorney's fees of certain owners; and (6) requiring the payment of certain other damages, if applicable, including business losses."


The potential for EVIL here is awesome.

Jo

Note from Ed - And these folks will say, "It's the Law, it must be right."

Remonstrance for Staples Improvement Abatement

This is something like the remonstrance I have signed and am sending to people in Vigo County. If you would like me to send an attachment for you to copy send me your email and I will send the attachment. My email is edgluck2@yahoo.com. The abatement is $1,000,000 over ten years according to the Tribune-Star.




REMONSTRANCE AGAINST THE TAX ABATEMENT FOR THE STAPLES WAREHOUSE IMPROVEMENT

MARCH 27, 2006


To the Honorable County Council of the County of Vigo:

We the subscribers, citizens of the said County, have taken into serious consideration the proposed tax abatement for the Staples warehouse in the Vigo County Industrial Park.

1. Because we hold our Indiana Constitution sacred, we refer the Commissioners and County Council to Article I Section 23. Equal privileges and immunities Section 23. The General Assembly shall not grant to any citizen, or class of citizens, privileges or immunities, which, upon the same terms, shall not equally belong to all citizens.

2. Because we believe the tax abatement mentioned above discriminates against all non special businesses, the tax abatement violates the spirit of our State of Indiana.

3. Because this tax abatement does not apply equally to all businesses in
Vigo County, it creates a hardship on all places of business required to
pay their fair share.

We the subscribers, oppose this tax abatement for the Staples warehouse. We do this to establish more firmly the liberties, the prosperity and the happiness of our County of Vigo.


----------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------------------------------- --------------------------------------

I Found Some Fine Gold - Feingold!

Here is a letter which may get me kicked out of LPIN. But this guy looks like a closet libertarian.



Dear Russ,

I am a Libertarian and agree with many of your views. I had considered you a diehard irresponsible big government big spender. To my surprise, your state responsible system on health care matches my views fairly closely and when you put it that way, universal health care is a good way to propose it. I appreciated the following at your website on health care and the budget:

Health Care
All Americans deserve adequate health care and it is far past time for Congress to take action on this pressing issue. I support a state-based, American-style approach to health care reform, where each state, with the federal government's help, comes up with a plan to make sure that all of its residents have health care coverage. Such an approach would provide universal health care for all Americans by encouraging the flexibility and creativity that are necessary to ensure nationwide access to high-quality, affordable health care.

Deficit Reduction
One of the main reasons I first ran for the U.S. Senate was to restore fiscal responsibility to the federal budget. Since I was first elected to the Senate in 1992, I have worked to bring Wisconsin's historic tradition of fiscal responsibility to Congress, an environment where wasteful spending too often dominates the budget process.

I was proud to work to reduce and briefly eliminate the federal deficit during the 1990s. But today the federal budget is once again in the red. Unless we return to fiscally responsible budgeting, Congress will saddle our nation's younger generations with an enormous financial burden for years to come. This is why I continue to offer measures to cut wasteful federal spending, and enforce budget discipline.

(end of Feingold pasting)

Mr. Feingold, the jerk in chief needs to be impeached. (but first the V.P.) The more I look at you I can see you have too much sense to disagree. (Although maybe not yet ready to admit in public.)

Almost the entire armed forces that have said anything need to be fired at the general level or above. (Oddly, a general named William Wallace, like the Mel Gibson "Braveheart" character talks like he is not a traitor to the Constitution.)

I don't believe you can win a Democrat primary. I hope you can talk to Ed Thompson in Wisconsin. Their website is http://www.lpwi.org/. If you can get out some of your libertarian credentials (and perhaps more of your state-based solutions moved to education) they will accept you with open arms. Their convention is April 8th. I know it is soon but I am sure they would love to hear your comments on censure (or something better ;>))

I hope to see you shaking hands with Bob Barr at our Indiana LP Convention at the end of April. (If I could see this without paying I would definitely be there.)

I will paste this letter on my blogsite at: www.lpvc.blogspot.com

Thanks for your service.


In Liberty,


Ed Gluck, Terre Haute, Indiana

Impeachable offenses should be discussed early and often

In answer to a pro-government comment (or perhaps more anti-Congress) I posted the following on the the Tribstar board:

Dear Sir or Madam,

We should have been talking impeachment from the time Mr. Bush said we would not abide by the ABM Treaty (Anti-Ballistic Missile) and perhaps if there was healthy debate about a unilateral (though called coalition) illegal invasion of a sovereign state Mr. Bush might not have pursued this impeachable offense.

I kept quiet on these acts myself because I would tend not to impeach on these counts. However the "above the law" actions did not stop there. This guy mocked another international treaty the U.S. signed on to and this time saying the U.S. could torture was too much for me to keep quiet. This act puts U.S. troops already in harm's way in danger of being tortured as retaliation. Not just in Iraq but anywhere by anyone. I would definately impeach our mock monarch on this count.

I would also impeach this clown for violating the fourth amendment. Perhaps originally meant to save us from WMDs, the reason given is the liberation of a foreign land. First, I would impeach if he were trying to save this country because it would be like cutting out a man's heart to ease his high blood pressure. In this case it turns out he expects us to cut out our hearts to ease the blood pressure of another man. In "Deranged, Disconnected, and Dangerous", Paul Craig Roberts points out that these people have lost it. He writes, "Bush gave a delusional speech that shows he is detached from reality." And Joshua Frank writes, on the smearing of Paul Craig Roberts.

In a recent article titled "Bush Signs Bill That Didn't Pass Congress" we see once again that this guy has absolutely no respect for the U.S. Constitution, the men who wrote it, and the people who died and are dying to protect it. The difference between the Bill that passed Congress and the one signed is about $2 billion. Now throw another 2 billion my way an perhaps I'll keep quiet on this.

But where we would all like to give me $2 billion dollars, we should question the $1.2 billion given to foreign nations as their bribe to help us in Afghanistan. Most of my $2 billion would be spent in the U.S. Can we say the same of Pakistan, Jordon, and the others?

It looks like Paul and BuSHITes have a bit of a row going. In his latest article, Paul mentions the massacre by marines in Iraq. (It has a link to the Time story.) I'm the guy that didn't believe in the Nuremberg trials nor the trial for action at My Lai (the taking of Pinkville), but with all the "Guard" over in Iraq I fear they will do something worse than Abu Ghraib. Remember the militia is considered a group of free people and as such has the choice of participating or not in abhorrent actions. With freedom comes responsibility. If a soldier follows orders to kill illegally we should hang our Commander in Chief. Here's a question to ponder, if an order was given rather than just considered, to bomb journalists in Fallujah, should we hang Bush and the pilot if the pilot was Guard? When we see thousands of mistakes by the U.S. military, we have to start wondering if they are not mistakes. At the very least we must consider that the rest of the world has some very serious questions.

Feingold is supposed to be on the Jon Stewart show tonight. Since I can't remember the name you can tell I am not a big fan. I do catch it from time to time and enjoy Jon noticing the corruption of the Ds and Rs.

If you know me, you know I give the facts even if it is often before they happen. This blog I will make a prediction, perhaps based on facts, but still nothing more than an educated guess. Here is my prediction: Jon Stewart will NOT for the most part make fun of Senator Feingold and will instead use Feingold's call for censure to mock the spineless Ds and corrupt Rs.

If I am wrong, you can call me on this and I will admit my error. This worse case scenario will not stop future predictions.

The Origin of Sin City

From the history of Terre Haute we find that Vigo County was cut out of the existing Sullivan County. Thank you Daddy Sullivan County.

It also has an explanation of the name "Sin City" which started in the early twentieth century and unlike the fun times of the middle of the 1900s, the origins look somewhat like today. I'd bet they even had their Bible thumpers. Here it is pasted:

The burgeoning cities of America required extraordinary vigilance by citizens' groups to counteract vice and political corruption. In the 19th century Terre Haute was reputed to be a "sporting" town, the "Paris of Indiana." The public's indulgence of shady activities changed to anger in the early 1900s Civic and business organizations joined hands to expose sinister links between crime, special interests, and city hall. At one point the coalition petitioned for state aid and for federal monitoring of elections. Nationwide experiments in city management often granted elected mayors unprecedented appointive powers, therefore inviting misuse of authority. A Terre Haute mayor indebted to a political machine backed by brewery money could make sure his chief of police and his safety board neglected to enforce closing hours of saloons. Fraudulent election practices included repeat voting, stuffed ballot boxes, counterfeit ballots, padded registration lists, bribed elections officials and police, extortion, and violence. The tenacity of both the guardians of morality and the beneficiaries of lawbreaking is evident in the replays of official misconduct: Mayor Edwin Bidaman was impeached in 1906; Mayor Louis A. Gerhardt was arraigned for contempt of court in 1911; and Mayor Donn Roberts and 20 others convicted of election fraud in 1915 served time in Leavenworth Penitentiary. Despite these and other court victories, the press stamped Terre Haute as Sin City, thereby fostering an image that has haunted the community.

Decker, Scott, and Curley The Three Stooge Makers

Did anyone notice that Darrick Scott and Tim Curley are running unopposed in the Democrat primary for County Council Districts 2 and 1? They, along with David Decker who is running against Bill Bryan for Commissioner District 1, voted in favor of County income taxes, making us who labor for a living more slavish to the state. They are making us stooges. Is anyone willing to stand by the polls on election day and hand out Stooge stickers for anyone who votes for these fellows?

The End of the Dollar Hegemony

Click on Ron Paul on the right and see his pod cast of his house floor speech on "The End of the Dollar Hegemony."

This man needs to be cloned.

From extreme to insane

With Cathy calling for people to rally against the war today, I must agree. I don't know if these infoshop pictures (rated PG) are true, but we better get used to them because this war is coming home. Some think the war is already here. I haven't seen anything yet that hasn't been Bush approved, one way or another.

Reading the stories, it looks like we can call this "Reconstruction" for real. Like the reconstruction in the U.S. south in the decade after the War Between the States we do things like keep the past leaders out of government.

With Buckley calling Iraq a U.S. defeat and al-Sadr damning Rumsfeld for saying he would not get involved in a civil war, I am now preoccupied or perhaps obsessed with America's ostrich-like denial that this thing is lost. Some want to stay there to "help" the people who don't want us there. Others want us there because it will make them money.

This is not extremism. It is now insane!

Feingold is Correct!

Russ Feingold of Wisconsin has called for a resolution to censure President Bush for his NSA wiretapping crimes. I believe Bush should be impeached over this. One section of our Constitution stands above the rest and it is the Bill of Rights. I believe the Bush Boy is violating both the fourth and first amendments.

Think there is no connection? Well these amendments have been connected from the very start. William Penn told his religion to all who would listen. Zenger wrote a paper for people to read. But I am not referring to these guys. I want you to think about Algernon Sidney.

Algernon Sidney wrote something that contained his thoughts that all political power should reside with the parliament or the people. Years after he wrote it, the king's men broke into his house and ransacked it until they found the manuscript. For this writing, Algernon was beheaded. For a half century after the American "Declaration of Independence" writers in support of liberty in the U.S. signed their letters with the name of Algernon Sidney.

Our feckless Congress will fail to take responsible action. Instead I have already heard a person in Feingold's own Party (Senator Joseph Isador LIEberman) denounce Russ for his correct and
brave position. The cowards in Congress will set a fine example for the common folk showing them how to "know your place."

Most papers in this country are socialist much like Mr. Feingold. But will they support him? I would say very few. But as Mr. Sidney's case demonstrates, once the fourth amendment is violated, can the first be far behind. Indeed, the reincarnation of Abe Lincoln stalks this land in the name of W. Bush. How short are the memories of those who run the press?

Algernon Sidney

Iraq Prison Business

Unlike Vigo County, it is easy for Americans to get jobs in Iraq. The prison business is booming. (As are many things in Iraq these days.)

According to an article in Countercurrents, the number of prisoners has gone from 16,000 to possibly "hundreds of thousands" in the last year. U.S. watch torture on prisoners of which probably 90% are innocent. Even if it is due to the other 10%, we still have to feed and house 100%. If the choice is genocide or leave, I would chose leave. But the choice is left to Hitler, er I mean Herr Bush. I certainly hope we don't keep feeding and housing these folks indefinitely. Even Commie Clinton set a 5 year limit on American welfare.

Rock MY World Neal Cavuto

I missed this program but wish I had seen it. Neal questioned if a third party candidate might have a good chance in 2008 given the unpopularity of the Big Two. Libertarian Party Chairman Mike Dixon called the two parties extreme. I agree.

It isn't easy being Green

Still trying to court the broad Nader to Buchanan libertarians, I suggest most Greens can join us when their quest for ballot access fails. If the Greens can admit much of their agenda is unconstitutional, they can move their controlling ways down to local levels. By teaming with Libertarians (at least for the short term) their voices will be heard on civil libertarian issues and diplomacy over war on foreign issues. Indeed, I am in the minority on seeing trouble in Afghanistan and would appreciate the company.

I would like to see the Greens sap Democrat support. Until that happens, I must consider us reluctant allies against corporate government.

BUSH AND HITLER

Jay Bennish, a teacher in a Colorado high school, has made the news for asking his students to compare Bush with Hitler. Some think these young people need protecting from thoughts about evil and comparisons with our god who we call "President" Bush. News programs air this as if proposing a question is so out of the ordinary it is worth coverage. Where were these news organizations when Bush was tricking the country into supporting a war with an innocent country?
(And now is it Iran's turn? I don't think The People will believe the lies this time.)

News has become spin. Spin for big corporations. Spin for the warfare state.
Sometimes they state facts in an emotional manner to put a slant on the truth. The worst example of this was when David Duke was running for office in Louisiana. He stated his positions and showed how they were "Republican" stances. Yet he was called a racist and President H. W. Bush denounced him, even though it was Bush who was a member of the racist organization, NAACP.

A good friend said Bush W. was a "reincarnation of Lincoln." This would be a good comparison. I've always said Lincoln was worse than Hitler because Hitler could destroy all of Europe and Africa and not do the damage to liberty and mankind that Lincoln did. W. has less to destroy, but he still stomps on the embers of our smouldering freedom.

My comparison would be with John Adams and W. W. is like an uneducated Adams. If Adams were stupid enough to go to war I don't know if he would have been reelected. But war would have ended his thoughts about an Adams monoarchy line.

But I ask you not to agree with me on every issue. I do ask you to agree with me that investigating things, comparing things, and seeking truth, are not crimes. I consider ignorance a crime, but a crime for which we are all punished without need for governments.

Andrea "Big Sista" Neal

On the agenda for the County Chair meeting of the LPIN is a talk by an Indiana Policy Review person. Although they have excellent economists, I can't stand Andrea Neal's columns. I don't consider them libertarian. Her latest support for Major Moves legislation is just the latest stupidity coming from an ex-teacher. (Although I should agree with stealing money from the north - I80- I believe on its way to the 8th District almost all ill gotten gains will fall in Indy. This bad law where we are selling out to foreigners - explained at the State LP website - www.lpin.org - may cost Indiana a libertarian leaning State Rep. Bruce Borders who supports this Republican folly. This is not the year to support foreign Major Moves.)

Unrelated to this but also at the County Chair meeting, the Count Us! group has been added to our links. They seem to be "Nader Greens which I am gathering from their open government section. Libertarians from Nader to Pat Buchanan don't bother me but that Andrea Neal will start off in favor of something like free trade and end up supporting NAFTA and CAFTA. She seems to be a statist mole (of Republican stripe) in the liberty movement. Lefty Dems have trouble supporting liberty or Libertarian candidates due to their indoctrination, but this Neal should be shown for what she is. From now on think Andrea "Big Sista" Neal.

"Wisdom of Crowds" Redux

Finished reading this book. The review (also mentioned below) is very good especially the mention that a limited government puts more power in the hands of the democracy. Author Surowiecki does do a good job explaining a sometimes tangled subject. I came away with a good Jefferson quote I believe I heard somewhere before. From the book, "There is no reason to think that experts are better at making those decisions than the average voter. Thomas Jefferson, for one, thought it likely that they might be worse. 'State a moral case to a ploughman and a professor,' he wrote. 'The former will decide it as well and often better than the latter because he has not been led astray by artificial rules.'" Recall if you will how ahead of their times Jefferson and Madison were as they (Republicans) went to the secret meetings of the Democrat societies which were so feared at the time.

The County Chairs of the Libertarian Party are meeting this weekend. State Party Chair is giving instructions on Robert's Rules of Order for productive meetings. At the State Central Committee Meetings I see us too often as being Surowieck's dreaded concensus rather than a group of independents. I may suggest times (at least in these small groups) where it may be advantageous to waive the rules. One problem is that if one (like myself) presents a resolution, five or six people will have their say before the presenter can respond. It would make for a better informed group (less of what some call "groupthink") if the presenter is allowed to answer the questions or opinions as they are presented. Another break in the rules for small groups we should consider is a secret ballot. In most votes it does not matter but I believe it will force others to come to their own conclusions. Too often we don't want to be out of step with the group. (peer pressure?) Top down parties have failed miserably, but for the Libertarian Party (or any other party) to be superior it must not only be bottom up, but must follow the four rules mentioned in the book. Otherwise we can only be as intelligent as our most intelligent person. I'll repeat the four rules explained in the review:

Surowiecki argues that “four conditions characterize wise crowds: diversity of opinion (each person should have some private information, even if it’s just an eccentric interpretation of known facts), independence (people’s opinions are not determined by the opinions of those around them), decentralization (people are able to specialize and draw on local knowledge), and aggregation (some mechanism exists for turning private judgments into a collective decision”

The collective wisdom of Libertarians can be aggregated in Yahoo polls. We are already doing this at county and district levels, but we will become more wise if we can extend our polls to all libertarians. (This should extend to the entire voting population, but the other parties do not encourage free thought. Perhaps their motto should be, "there is no such thing as a free thought!")

We may get tagged with being democrats or republicans, but hey, no other parties are living up to those names.