Do as we say, not as we do

This is the parking space for the Obama for President Campaign next door to my office. These are the folks who want CAFE Standards raised so that we common folk will not be able to buy the kind of vehicles they drive.  The smallest vehicle is the 18MPG Jeep Grand Cherokee.
But isn’t it always like that with liberals?

Eric Cantor’s House Passes CISPA! – updated w/ C4L link to roll call of votes

CISPA. It’s the latest acronym being used to control you and your internet experience. This time the pretense is cyber security. It is perfectly understandable to want to prevent cyber attacks, but they can’t take small efforts to protect our civil liberties? Huh?
Civil Libertarians have probably seen this http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0412/75670.html on Facebook.

The Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) – It sounds like a good thing. All that sharing and protecting. The problem is, they did precious little to protect individual liberties. One could even argue that they went out of their way not to.

Hey! Remember SOPA? Just a reminder of the last attempt to control your internet.

http://video.godlikeproductions.com/modules/vPlayer/vPlayer.swf?f=http://video.godlikeproductions.com/modules/vPlayer/vPlayercfg.php?fid=27d7e3ea50ab080f398

Remember SOPA? Stop Online Piracy Act? It was defeated, but check out the video above and just scour the internet if you need to. Some informational background can even be found on wiki. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act

Posing with Body Parts of a Failed Suicide Bomber

In general, I think we can all agree that disrespecting or defiling the dead, even in war is bad practice. Usually it is groups like Al Qaeda severing and displaying heads, or Iraqi goons stringing up and burning bodies. Sometimes our own soldiers end up doing something we won’t exactly be fast to celebrate even as we acknowledge that, “War is Hell”. We know our soldiers sent to war will often be made to risk their lives, or even make the ultimate sacrifice for their country.

US Senate Candidate Jamie Radtke speaking at the Tax Day rally in Virginia Beach.

This is great stuff and the TLP folks will likely see a lot of familiar faces in this clip. I am proud to support Jamie Radtke. In the US Senate, she will do the be best by Virginia and best for America.
Bankruptcy is not an option.
-Britt Howard

An Innovative Approach to Social Security Reform

I am posting the following summary on behalf of Mr. Carlton Lee, who has developed an interesting alternative to reducing the cost of Social Security. I have not fully analyzed the plan, but on the surface, it looks workable.

Social Security Proposition 60

A Simple, Voluntary, Common Sense Solution to Social Security

What if there was a way to guarantee individuals at least part of their social security even if the government had no money for benefits?

What if there was a way that seniors could pay off mortgages with the value of their own homes without incurring debt?

What if there was a way that the government could save hundreds of millions of dollars per day by individuals volunteering to give up part of their social security?

There is just such an entity; Social Security Proposition 60 (SSP 60)

The William Cooper Tragedy

This is a letter to the editor I sent in to the Virginian Pilot. Most people think botched raids are isolated incidents, but a quick tour of google news will show you these types of things happen regularly across the nation. With the Ryan Fredrick case and now the William Cooper incident here in Hampton Roads, I hope we can raise enough awarness that our local police forces will rethink there policies becasue they seem to think the status quo is a-ok.

How many “isolated” incidents that result in the death of an innocent man must occur before our local police departments question their tactics? Unfortunately, many people are not aware of the death of William Cooper due to lack of media coverage. Maybe it is not interesting enough to make the papers, since it is a sequel to the Ryan Fredrick case. Hampton police officers received a tip from an unnamed informant that Mr. Cooper, a 69 year old retiree with a laundry list of medical conditions, sold methadone from his home. Instead of investigating the claims to verify the tip or knocking on his door to serve a warrant, the police decided an armed assault was the best course of action. As they kicked in the door, Mr. Cooper pulled a weapon and was killed in a barrage of gun fire. A softball field is behind the house. According to witnesses, the game was called off after the 10 year old girls playing at the time of the raid hit the ground to dodge the bullets. Over 100 people, mostly children, were present. The police found no methadone, just one bottle of prescription OxyContin among his other pills, used to treat his numerous ailments. Now members of the Virginia Peninsula Narcotics Enforcement Task Force, which includes the cities of Hampton and Newport News, The State Police, and local prosecutors, are divvying up the assets seized from his house. The Hampton Police Force is saying they did everything right and the issue should be dropped. Instead of shrugging the incident off and saying police work is dangerous, why not figure out a way to make it less dangerous and less deadly? When will we stop these armed raids? When will they stop trusting these informants? The public deserves answers.

ATLAS SHRUGGED Pt 1, a trailer for the book?

Bringing a book to the screen is always a difficult task, especially so for a 1200 page, deeply philosophical book. A 10 hour miniseries would have been a better vehicle for Atlas Shrugged than three movies to be released a year apart, but that is what we have.

The Virginia Constitution Forbids Charity By Force

I know this notion ruffles the feathers of our state senators for Fairfax, but the rules are very clear. Ken Cuccinelli’s “opinion” was not earth-shattering or “irrelevant.” He simply quoted Article II section 16 of our Constitution. The General Assembly obeyed this section all the way up until 2006 (debunking our wonderful state senators’ claim that we have always done this) which prompted delegates to ask the Attorney General for a ruling on the matter. He sided with the Virginia Constitution and there are good reasons for him doing so.

In 2008, former national LP chairman Bill Redpath and Virginian came to speak to the Tidewater Libertarian Party. He was running for US Senate at the time and he said something that really stuck with me:

“We won’t begin to address the fundamental problem of government overspending until the American People position government as an agent for justice, not an agent for good, as there is an infinite amount of good to be done in this world”

Political Super Fans

When I meet people, I like to ask the about their political beliefs without sharing mine. I probe their convictions with questions to try to understand their point of view. I have found talking to most people about politics is like talking to Bill Swerkski about sports. Of course Jordan is going to average 100 points per game and Da’ Bears are going to 8-peat as Super Bowl Champs. Who would win in a battle between a hurricane and Coach Ditka?? Ditka! No amount of evidence will make him consider otherwise. Individuals root for their team which can do no wrong and that they will support with their dying breath.

Look at all the Redskin fans here in Virginia or all the Raider fans in my native Northern California. It doesn’t matter what idiotic moves their front offices make, you’ll just hold out hope that a new coach or touted draft pick will turn around an otherwise bad and underperforming team. Support will not waiver. Works the same for the Republican and Democratic parties. At least with elected officials (unlike Dan Snyder and Al Davis), you get a chance to fire them, which may feel good but has done nothing to improve the team. They are replaced with a clone.