Kent McManigal interviewed by Eric Sundwall

Since Kent and I are very good online friends, and talk every day (sometimes several times per day) via IM and email but have never met or spoken in “real life”, this was a very big treat for me. After you watch this, you’ll see why I’m proud to call Kent my friend, and why we became friends in the first place. He’s just one helluva nice guy, very intelligent, and extremely personable.

Hat tip to one of my other online friends, Jake Porter.

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George Phillies: “Torture is a crime against civilization”

At the South Carolina debate, Republican candidates were asked if they would torture prisoners. Some of them thought torture was just fine.

What is the libertarian answer to the torture question? It’s the American answer, the answer the American people have already given. Torture is a crime against civilization, reviled by all patriotic Americans.

Let’s take it from the top.

First, there is nothing for a President to decide.

Inside the United States, torture is a felony. If you are anywhere in the United States, and you torture someone, you are committing more crimes than I care to list. There is no exception in those laws for government officials.

If you are an American abroad and torture someone, it’s a felony. If your victim dies, you have earned the death penalty. There is no exception in those laws for government officials.

Second, those laws reflect the wisdom of the American people. Torturers are the filth of the earth, properly grouped with child molesters and mercenaries. We need not ask what the founding fathers and their fellows thought of mercenaries. Their position is enshrined in the third verse of The Star-Spangled Banner:

“And where is that band who so vauntingly swore

That the havoc of war and the battle’s confusion

A home and a country should leave us no more?

Their blood has washed out their foul footsteps’ pollution.

No refuge could save the hireling and slave

From the terror of flight, or the gloom of the grave,”

Third, there are people who get their jollies from snatching people off the streets, hustling them off to remote places, and inflicting great pain and degradation on them. These people have their enablers: television producers and actors who portray torturers as heroes and patriots. Torturers and their advocates are perverts, shunned by decent human beings.

Finally, thoughtful Americans should find it hysterically funny to watch the same gaggle of Republican Presidential candidates first say they would torture a defenseless prisoner, and then pander to the Republican Christian Right. The required depth of hypocrisy surpasses all belief.

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Christine Smith speech for 5/21/07 LP Candidate Forum

Greetings.

I am Christine Smith, Libertarian candidate for president. Truth is my highest priority.

If elected, I would take the oath of office, swearing to uphold the Constitution, but unlike past presidents I would not only swear to it I would always do it. I will diligently use the executive powers granted me to restore the democratic republic we were established to be.

I will focus on individual liberty because I believe social and economic progress occurs only through liberty. Regardless of your political party affiliation, I invite you to my campaign website LibertarianforPresident.com to read about the only presidential candidate truly dedicated to the U.S. Constitution, fiscal conservatism, and social progress. I am superior to all other presidential candidates regardless of their political party because my priority is the American people. Our peace. Our freedom. Our prosperity. Our equality. Read my platform.

But since this is a debate between Libertarian candidates seeking the presidential candidate nomination, I ask you this question…What do you really want your Libertarian presidential candidate to accomplish? Think about it for a moment. What do you really want them to do?

I’ve asked that question of many Libertarians nationwide. I’ve already attended the San Diego Libertarian Convention, the Oregon LP Convention, the New Mexico LP Convention and the Indiana Libertarian Convention where I asked this question…I also asked many Libertarians nationwide on the phone this question…and without exception everyone tells me they want their Libertarian presidential candidate to reach out to more American people.

This is the most essential quality we must look for in choosing a candidate–the ability to effectively communicate the LP message to millions of non-Libertarians. Of course, that statement coincides with everything else Libertarians tell me…that their spokesperson (which is what our presidential candidate is–a spokesperson for the Libertarian Party) must be knowledgeable, willing to travel the country and address Americans at every opportunity they can, and said candidate must be a true Libertarian.

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Latest Steve Kubby interview

The following interview was conducted by Phil Defer, a French student who has been interviewing US presidential candidates for his forum.

1. Could you introduce yourself in a few sentences ? ‘

I am a leader for medical rights here in the USA and I have written two books on drug policy reform.

2. How was your political engagement born ?

I helped write and pass California’s historic medical marijuana law and then was arrested for passing a law the police did not like.

3. What personal way drove you to compete for the presidency of the United States ?

The sorry legacy of George W. Bush.

4. Can you tell me some key points about your program, the main ideas ?

I am a one issue candidate who believes this is no more about Marijuana than the Boston Tea Party was about Tea. Our struggle today is for true liberty from tyrannical governments.

5. How do you view the upcoming campaign, can you give us some elements about what it represents in term of hardships, opportunities… in the US system, and what about your strategy ?

This election is a complete mess with anything as a possible outcome.

6. Political fiction : It’s January, the 20th, 2009. You have just been elected president ! What are your first steps, your priorities ?

My first step, within minutes of being sworn in as President, would be to issue Executive Order 13420 which would immediately defund the DEA and all laws against marijuana.

7. What are America’s biggest internal problems today, and what are your answers ?

America is saddled with an illegal, unconstitutional, power-hungry oligarchy of thugs.

8. Same question for America’s external problems.

Same answer.

9. More specifically, what do you think should be done on Iraq and national security ?

Leave NOW!

10. What about environment ?

Allow private citizens to sue giant corporations when their pollution enters your land or body.

11. What about your political (institutions), social, economic and societal (civil rights, abortion, homosexuality…) positions ?

I support free choice and a policy of non-intervention by the government.

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Ron Paul flip-flops on Ed & Elaine Brown

Here, Ron Paul compares Ed and Elaine Brown to Gandhi and Martin Luther King, Jr.

Here, Ron Paul claims he never said what we just watched him say.

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XM Satellite Radio Launches New ‘08 Presidential Election Channel

Below is an announcement from XM Satellite Radio. There’s no word on whether they will provide third party coverage, but it would certainly seem so since 24/7 commercial-free is an awful lot of airtime to fill (and it’s going to get very boring, very quickly, if it covers only the two major parties):

XM Satellite Radio announced it will launch a new radio channel dedicated to the 2008 presidential election, marking the first time that a national radio channel has been devoted to a presidential campaign. The 24-hour, commercial-free channel, created in association with C-SPAN and other media outlets, will be called “POTUS ‘08.” The channel’s name (pronounced POH-tus) is the acronym used by government insiders for the President of the United States.

From their website, here’s a rundown of what to expect from POTUS when it goes live in September:

THE MISSION

• Provide unbiased and commercial-free coverage of the 2008 presidential election.
• Create a destination for voters to get politically neutral information about the election process and unprecedented access to the candidates.
• Provide a pipeline to the candidates and their campaigns to communicate without filter to the American people.
• Provide information from beyond the traditional media to include new media sources.
• Provide perspective on the election process from a historical and current view.
• Maintain the highest standards of professional integrity and neutrality.

FREE TO AIR
Created as a public service, POTUS ‘08 will be broadcast free to all XM radio receivers. Whether you are a paid subscriber or not, you can still listen to all the presidential coverage.

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Ron Paul on Colbert; Steve Kubby and Wayne Root debate on Angela Keaton’s Show

Meanwhile, in Libertarian Party news, Steve Kubby
and Wayne Root debated on Liberated Space.

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What Freedom of the Press Will Look Like if Adolf Giuliani is (s)elected President

source:
http://www.infowars.com/articles/ps/

giuliani_reporter_arrested_on_orders_of_giuliani_press_sec.htm

Matt Lepacek had valid CNN press credentials and was doing freelance reporting according to InfoWars.com. He asked Adolf Giuliani some inconvenient questions about the events of 9/11/01.

Thereupon, Adolf Giuliani’s reichsminister of propaganda press secretary had the gestapo state police rough up Lepacek and fellow reporter Luke Rudkowski.

He said police physically assaulted both reporters after Rudkowski objected that they were official members of the press and that nothing illegal had taken place. Police reportedly damaged the Infowars-owned camera in the process.

Furthermore,

Though CNN staff members tried to persuade police not to arrest the accredited reporter– in violation of the First Amendment, Lepacek was taken to jail. The police station told JonesReport.com that Lepacek is being charged with felony criminal trespass.

According to Rudkowski, Lepacek was scared because he had been told he may be transferred to a secret detention facility because state police were also considering charges of espionage against him– due to a webcam Lepacek was using to broadcast live at the event. State police considered it to be a hidden camera, which led to discussion of “espionage.”

Wearing a webcam at a press event is not an act of espionage.

The state police in Goffstown, New Hampshire, where the arrest was made, confirmed that Lepacek is in custody on charges of criminal trespass.

These are blatant violations of the First Amendment:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances.

Actions like this would be more appropriate in the Third Reich, a
communist nation, or perhaps Italy under Mussolini. A clue, perhaps, as to what awaits America if this moral leper of an authoritarian dirtbag thug is allowed to stink up the white house the way he did Gracie mansion?

We look upon authority too often and focus over and over again, for 30 or 40 or 50 years, as if there is something wrong with authority. We see only the oppressive side of authority. Maybe it comes out of our history and our background. What we don’t see is that freedom is not a concept in which people can do anything they want, be anything they can be. Freedom is about authority. Freedom is about the willingness of every single human being to cede to lawful authority a great deal of discretion about what you do.

-Adolf Giuliani

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The French Take An Interest In Kent McManigal

Former LP presidential candidate (now a write-in candidate) Kent McManigal is engaged in a very interesting forum conversation with some folks from France who took an interest in his views and his campaign.

Here’s a taste of the questions they asked Kent:

Political fiction, again. You’re at the White House. Iran just acquired nuclear weapons, with abilities to launch them to Europe’s doors. It now threatens to launch one on Tel-Aviv if the Israelis don’t evacuate the territory under 48 hours. As the Commander in Chief, what do you do?

Ask Israel if they would like to purchase some nuclear weapons from America. Once again, America must stop interfering in world affairs, even when it seems like a good idea. It is a “slippery slope” to start down. Where does it end? There would be nothing to stop private American citizens from offering to aid in the evacuation, or to take steps to disable Iran’s weapons on their own, without government sanction or assistance, if they choose to do so.

What assessment do you make of George W. Bush’s presidency, and on which points will you be inspired or distance yourself from him ?

I think he has been a typical US President: an out-of-control megalomaniac. He has worked tirelessly to increase the strength and reach of the US government in America and across the world. He has violated the Constitution and Bill of Rights on a daily basis, which is treason. I would not be like him (or any other previous President) in any way.

Could you tell me about you day of September the 11th, 2001 ?

I was at work when the attacks happened. When the second plane hit the World Trade Center I knew it was not an accident. I quickly realized that once again, our government had helped kill many people. (If the people on the planes had been allowed to be armed, hi-jackers would not have had a chance. They were required by law to be victims.) I was angry that anyone had decided to kill so many innocent people. I was afraid that the US government would use the tragedy as an excuse to destroy more freedom in America.

What are, according to you, the 21st century’s greatest stakes, and how to face them ?

Government is working hard to incite hatred across national boundaries, and among economic classes. Fear and distrust of those different from yourself must be resisted. This in itself will take much power away form governments worldwide.

We were all marked by historical events. What are yours ?

When the US government murdered the Branch Davidians in Waco, Texas, my eyes were opened completely for the first time. I had not trusted government before, but had not seen it for the inexcusable evil it really is until that event.

What is your “vision of America” ?

I would really like for America to once again be the beacon of Liberty for the rest of the world, as symbolized by the French peoples’ gift: Liberty Enlightening the World.

You can read the rest of it, or join the forum to talk to Kent and others, here. Luckily, the vast majority of it seems to be written in English, and it’s a very interesting read.

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Ron Paul on the Daily Show

hat tip Michelle Shinghal

Now, anyone who has not just gotten here just now knows I’m supporting Steve Kubby for President. You know I have some issue position differences with Ron Paul. But, I’m endorsing Ron Paul for reelection to Congress, and I love what he is doing in the Republican debates.

Speaking of Republican debates, we will be providing live coverage at Last Free Voice tonight. I’ve heard a rumor that Michelle and TG might show up drunk, and there may or may not be trampolines involved. You won’t want to miss it!

So, to sum it up: until Steve can start showing up on the Daily Show, I’m damn glad and proud to see 1988 Libertarian Party Presidential Candidate Ron Paul on there. Here’s the clip:

And here is Michelle, doing her part by offering some high profile advertising:

Also useful as a floatation device, this kewl and handy billboard has many useful and even life saving properties.

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Outright Libertarians survey – Steve Kubby for President

Since Stuart mentioned the Outright Libertarians interview with George Phillies, here is their interview with Steve Kubby, from their blog.

Unlike the problem with immigration that Stuart mentioned in George’s answers, Steve’s were traditionally libertarian down the line.

Read the interview after the jump.

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