While many candidates running for elected office will hold pancake breakfasts and spaghetti suppers as fundraisers, Michael Badnarik, who is running for Texas’s 10th Congressional District, is sponsoring a rock concert.

The Badnarik campaign is sponsoring “A Concert For Liberty.” The concert will be held on Saturday, June 3rd at the Red Eyed Fly, an Austin nightclub that specializes in live music.

The bands that are scheduled to perform are Loot, Trent Turner and the Moontowers, and Honky. Michael Badnarik will be present to shake hands and address the crowd.

The Badnarik campaign is planning on placing a full-page ad in the June 1st edition of the Austin Chronicle, a weekly newspaper with a monthly readership of 265,000.

Sponsoring a concert is another sign that Badnarik is waging a serious campaign. He has raised enough money to hire a full-time campaign staff and pay for three billboard ads. It is becoming more evident that Badnarik will not be satisfied anything less than a victory in November.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Thomas Knapp on his personal run in with Fred Phelps and his merry band of God Hates Fags ‘phobes:
At the 2000 “major party” presidential debates (sic) in St. Louis, the Westboro Baptist Church Crew (the gen-ewww-whine “God Hates Fags” mob) held court in a fenced-off section of the official “free speech zone” with their “Mel’s […]

From Hammer Of Truth

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The New York Times reported on Wednesday that an official working in the Department of Veterans Affairs will resign at the end of the week over the theft of computer data that contained personal information on 26.5 million veterans.

Michael H. McLendon serves as the deputy secretary for policy and was the supervisor of the data analyst who brought the computer data home to work on a department project without authorization, according to the New York Times.

Even more amazing is, according to one official at the Veterans Affairs Department, is that sensitive computer data has been brought home by the data analyst before (via NY Times):

“‘He said that he routinely took such data home to work on it, and had been doing so since 2003,’ George J. Opfer, the department’s inspector general, told senators, some of whom expressed amazement at how the department has handled the theft.”

Loose regulations regarding data security are a problem that is not just confined to the Veterans Affairs Department:

“Christopher Wolf, a Washington lawyer with the firm Proskauer Rose who specializes in security issues, said that the veterans department was just one of many federal agencies with lax computer security, and that sabotage might not be the biggest danger. ‘These things happen because of accidents,’ he said.”

Not having rigorous procedures for protecting personal data is one of the best arguments for not allowing the federal government the ability to collect large amounts of personal information in the first place.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

"The question posed by the [anti-Gay] marriage amendment" says Reason.com, "is not just whether gay marriage is a good idea, but who should decide�the states or the federal government? From its debut in 2001, the marriage amendment was misleadingly advertised…

From Strike The Root

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

The Federal Election Commission last Thursday held a public hearing on a campaign finance case that illustrated the continued confusion associated with the Bipartisan Campaign Reform Act that was co-sponsored by Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona) and Sen. Russ Feingold (D-Wisconsin).

The case involves the Los Angeles County Democratic Party and their get-out-the-vote program. The county party is hoping to determine if it can use soft money to pay for direct mail pieces and automated calls, also known as robocalls, to registered Democrats in Long Beach, California, informing them of the party’s local candidates.

Here’s some insight into the confusion that BCRA causes (via Roll Call):

“Under BCRA, state and local parties cannot use soft money to finance GOTV efforts when federal candidates are on the ballot. But campaign finance experts say the definition of GOTV under the law is somewhat vague.

For the purposes of today’s FEC debate, TV and radio ads would not fall under BCRA’s GOTV restrictions because they are not personal communications. By contrast, driving people to the polls or going door-to-door for face-to-face contact is legally considered GOTV under BCRA.

But the rules for direct mail and robocalls are not as clear, experts say. That has sparked a heated debate about whether including the date, along with other local candidate information, in the automated calls and direct-mail pieces amounts to a GOTV drive.”

If the FEC rules against the Los Angeles County Democratic Party, the ruling will have far-reaching effects on what state and local parties can do on behalf of their candidates.

According to Roll Call, the FEC general’s office, in a draft ruling, stated that robocalls and direct-mail pieces constitute federal regulated activities and should be financed through hard money.

If the draft ruling is adopted, the effect could be the federalization of virtually all campaign activities, including the state and local level, according to Don McGahn, counsel to the National Republican Congressional Committee.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Larry Darby, the white supremacist Alabama Democrat who keeps trying to associate himself with the Libertarian Party, has really gone off the deep end. From The Birmingham News:
Darby is running on a nine-point platform to restore state sovereignty. Under his plan, the state would gradually divest itself of the federal government, beginning with the National […]

From Hammer Of Truth

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

As indicated earlier today, I called the Sue Jeffers campaign to obtain an update about her status with respect to the Minnesota GOP convention. In typical fashion, she (as opposed to a campaign staffer) promptly returned my call. I’ll note at this time that I called Governor Pawlenty’s campaign a few weeks ago […]

From Hammer Of Truth

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Sometimes you can get what you want.

The Treasury Department announced last Thursday that it will eliminate the 3 percent excise tax on long-distance phone calls and refund about $13 billion collected from callers, the Washington Post reported.

It appears that the federal government is getting tired of defending the tax in court (via Washington Post):

“Companies have been fighting the tax in court and winning, arguing that the 3 percent excise tax should not apply to some long-distance calls. [Treasury Secretary] Snow said the government would stop fighting those taxpayers challenging the tax.”

There is even more good news:

“Individuals will be allowed to claim refunds on their 2006 tax returns, filed in 2007, for taxes paid on long-distance telephone calls since March 2003.

Taxpayers can calculate the actual taxes paid and apply for a refund, or they can claim a standard amount that will be set later by the Treasury Department and Internal Revenue Service.”

The tax will officially come to an end July 31st.

From US Libertarian Party

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

Texas Senate District 14 Libertarian Party candidate Rock Howard has now added a blog to his campaign website. His latest entry had some interesting insight on ballot access issues in Texas:
Sadly the Green Party fell short in their efforts to get on the ballot in 2006. As a long time advocate and activist working […]

From Hammer Of Truth

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom

One of the Libertarian Party campaigns I’ve been noticing lately is David Schlosser’s race for U.S. Congress in Arizona’s 1st Congressional District. Like Dick Clark, he just received the Third Party Watch candidate of the day citation.
I was also impressed with this piece (RealPlayer required) he did (which was passed to me […]

From Hammer Of Truth

Tags: Libertarian, Politics, Liberty, Freedom