Yes-on-Prop-19-Winning-52-36- Majority-Supports-Legalizing-Marijuana

Will a legal California make the feds `blink' on drug policy? Don't hold your breath - http://elections.firedoglake.com/2010/07/26/yes-on-prop-19-winning-52-36-us-majority-supports-legalizing-marijuana/ legal post is RHP.

More States "Competitive" in Terms of Party Identification - http://www.gallup.com/poll/141548/States-Competitive-Terms-Party-Identification.aspx#2 - the funny part is that the Dems don't even realize they have LOST the youth already.

Meanwhile, Marijuana Church Founder Called 'Too Dangerous' For Bail - http://www.tokeofthetown.com/2010/07/marijuana_church_founder_called_too_dangerous_for.php

California Dems Endorse Pot Legalization, Proposition 19 - the republican bluff about individual liberties has been called - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/08/california-dems-endorse-p_n_639933.html

Red-Light Cameras Spark Debate in Texas Cities - http://www.lewrockwell.com/spl2/red-light-extortion-cameras.html - the public safety hazards (many studies prove) continue to crank out the easy cash for the bloated politicians and they fight to keep the power and cash.

I have more politics links at http://barfstew.blogspot.com/

Ron Paul - Best source of ethanol is HEMP !

Hemp is the side of marijuana the politicians REALLY don't want to talk about. As much as ending the pot laws would affect lawyers and such - ending the hemp laws would bring all sorts of competition to industries not much interested in competition. http://ronpaul1.blogspot.com/2009/12/ron-paul-best-source-of-ethanol-is-hemp.html HEMP=REAL HEAVY POLITICS.

Why's Everyone So Pissed Off at NORML? - http://www.celebstoner.com/200912103351/blogs/steve-bloom/whys-everyone-so-pissed-off-at-norml.html You pissed at NORML too? --------- Good read of the issues.

Michele Bachmann: Welfare Queen - http://www.truthdig.com/report/print/michelle_bachman_welfare_queen_20091221/ If politicians talking out of one side of their ass and eating with the other bothers you - read this.

Los Angeles sees sharp rise in red-light camera revenue - http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-red-light24-2009dec24,0,2706485.story ALL public revenue cameras represent the sacrifice of public safety for political spending. Sick.

McGinn on marijuana: Legalize it - http://blog.seattlepi.com/seattlepolitics/archives/188734.asp Seattle's mayor calls for pot legalization.

Thanks for your visit today - have you seen my new blog at http://barfstew.blogspot.com -- tell a friend.

33 of 642 Banks Missed TARP Payment Last Month - Over Half For First Time

Another basically ignored story by the big media cheerleading the economy - http://blogs.reuters.com/rolfe-winkler/2009/10/08/tarp-deadbeats/

Can the County Sheriff Save the Constitution? - http://www.thenewamerican.com/index.php/usnews/constitution/1976-can-the-county-sheriff-save-the-constitution See Below and ask yourself.

Plymouth, PA Cops Assault Me and Terrorize My Toddler Son Right Outside My Home - http://georgedonnelly.com/asides/plymouth-pa-cops-assault-terrorize One great read here.

States using red light and speed cameras - Now, here's a helpful map of the country - http://www.iihs.org/laws/cameramap.aspx

Telephone Company Is Arm of Government, Feds Admit in Spy Suit - http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2009/10/att-doj-foia/ This is news?

Drew Carey Raises Bid to $1 Million for @Drew on Twitter - http://mashable.com/2009/10/07/drew-carey-twitter-bid/ Hmmmm.

http://rudepundit.blogspot.com/2009/10/rep.html Angry blogging.

Today's fun link - Surreal America 1905 http://www.shorpy.com/node/6968?size=_original

Real Heavy Politics - Aug. 25th Links

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/archive/Marijuana-Will-Lift-Us-Out-Of-Recession.html Marijuana Will Lift Us Out Of Recession --- I'm afraid that our bloated government is beyond the help of correcting one issue.

Sage advice?: NC to join 13 states in outlawing Salvia divinorum - http://scienceblogs.com/terrasig/2009/06/sage_advice_nc_to_join_13_stat.php Which means that 37 still respect the right to altered states.

EDITORIAL: Toss your ticket - http://washingtontimes.com/news/2009/jul/01/toss-your-ticket/ I think you know how I feel about red light cameras around here.

http://logisticsmonster.com/ I've made the blogroll of this site under `Patriots'.

Thanks for visiting today - please bookmark.

A Critique Of Bob Barr's 2008 Presidential Run - By An Eight Time Libertarian Presidental Supporter

My last 8 votes for President have been 1980 - Clark; 1984 - Bergland; 1988 - Paul; 1992 - Marrou; 1996 - Browne; 2000 - Browne; 2004 - Badnarik and 2008 - Bob Barr. That's correct, not ONCE did I waste my vote on `the two party system'. Not once, and, I am proud of that. (Of course, I had to stand the stares of friends who felt that it was I who was wasting a vote.)

That said, it's strange to live in a country and to go thru one Presidential campaign, after another, after another, hoping that your candidate will get `covered' by the mainstream media. That the `ideas' presented by a party -- even if a party with only 5-10% potential support - receive a `percentage' of the coverage that is remotely `fair'. Meaning, that 5-10% of the coverage is on that third party. (I'm reminded of that Beatles song `Taxman' with the lyric -- that's 19 for me and one for you -- be happy we don't take it all.)

Yes, I'd be happy, no, elated, if the Democraps and Republinuts got 19 stories reflecting their points of view on Government -- and then -- ONE Libertarian story. Is that asking too much? Is the media THAT scared of presenting `other viewpoints' - or - is the media that much in the pockets of the two parties? (The obvious answer.)

But, as a keen observer of the media relentlessly regurgitating first one and then the other of the two parties viewpoints, for a few moments in 2008 -- I thought the media might have a reason to `balance it up'. After all, for really the first time in memory we didn't have a sitting President or Vice President of one of the major parties as nominee - and, for once - one of the `third' parties had a known name of a former congressman - Bob Barr.

Indeed, I felt very connected to this campaign - as I had met Mr. Barr at a Rib Ranch Meeting (a room in a BBQ restaurant on Canton Road in Marietta Georgia) prior to his announcing he would run for the Libertarian nomination. When I met him, and spoke with him privately for a minute, I urged him to use his awareness level - within the realm of politicians - to raise the profile of the Libertarians in the 2008 election. (I was even told by the head of the Libertarian party of Georgia (at least at that time) that Barr was going to run for sure if Hillary seemed to be the front runner for the Dems.)

Indeed, I even watched most of the Libertarian convention - at least the portion carried by C-Span. And, frankly, it was not a thing of beauty - nor was Mr. Barr's victory. Indeed, my memory is that it was widely held by the Libertarians that were voting (who seemed to be whoever would show up for a state) that while Barr WOULD give the party a candidate with `awareness' -- that now (2008) was NOT the time to pick for a nominee someone who was a leader in the Drug War effort at one time.

But, others countered, Mr. Barr seemed to apologize for that period of his life and was certainly a strong advocate - almost the only one - against the civil liberty aspects of the Patriot Act. And, in what appeared on TV to be little more than a quid quo pro -- Barr took the support of Wayne Root's followers to victory -- then gave the VP position to Mr. Root - for now. Personally, I really liked Root and think he would have made a much better candidate (and I hope he runs in 2012).


So, at the moment the convention ended, the Libertarians had - finally - someone with actual name recognition who was very well versed about the in's and out's of the whole game of Politics. And, as usual, the media -- BEFORE the two `main party' conventions - was willing to give Barr moments of exposer - which he seemed to handle fairly well. And, by this time, he had chosen Russ Verney to head the campaign - you probably remember that Verney was in the same position for the WELL FUNDED Ross Perot campaign years before.


I honestly think that they both thought that money would come flowing into the campaign as the party had someone with name recognition AND a known political consultant running the campaign. Not to mention the disgust the population had with both parties. Perhaps they thought the media would view them as having a new positioning for the Libertarians. Perhaps they thought they would really be having a whole country national campaign.


I say that because I was on the mailing list -- and the overwhelming concern EARLY on was to be on ALL 50 states ballots - to somehow show legitimacy. Indeed, one e-mail after another asked for donations so that they could send people into markets to get signatures or to find lawyers to fight one hardship after another. They never seemed to be asking for money to `bring ideas to America' - at least to me.


And, remember, I live in the Atlanta area - I know the coverage in the 90's that Barr got and the level of awareness of him. Indeed, he just barely lost a Republican primary in a run for the Senate. So, in Georgia and really in the core of the conservatives in America - the south - Barr was a known commodity. And, perhaps outrageously, I began an e-mail campaign with the Barr staff to have him use a strategy saying "I am going to win Georgia". (Since the media always love to ask - where are you going to win.)


Yes, I know, it sounds outrageous -- a Libertarian WINNING somewhere? But, in Georgia, with his limited funds - he would be able to raise awareness hugely about the Libertarian positions. And, once he started to `move' in the polls, in Georgia -- very likely -- other `southern states' would likely start to take interest. Other Southern States would likely also start to see some `movement' and improvement in the polling numbers as Georgia's numbers `took off'.


At WORST, at that point - the Libertarians would have had the media interest in the `regional' candidate - a new Wallace - (as you know, the media hates the south anyway). You would have had the media projecting `what if's' about winning southern electoral votes and throwing the whole affair into the House of Representatives. In a nutshell, you would actually shake the political system up and truly get the Libertarian point of view on the screen to all viewers nationwide. (I truly feel that `numbers' would, at that point, even move in other non-southern states.)


But, as you know, that did not happen - and ultimately Barr will get LESS than 1/2 of 1% of the total vote.

So, what went wrong from the viewpoint of an EIGHT time Libertarian voter? A better question would be what DIDN'T go wrong?


Obviously, VERNEY is not and was not a Libertarian - nor did he think like one - nor could he talk like one. Big mistake number one. Next, Barr wouldn't even back the legalization of marijuana - big mistake number two. Next, Barr also ignored the idea of a focused regional campaign, that would allow the campaign to grow from a base - big mistake number three. And then, finally, we had the spectacle of a nominated Presidential candidate willing to dump his Vice President candidate - big big mistake number four. (This, of course, was when Barr supposedly offered Ron Paul that position.)


That is not to say that IF Barr had gotten `traction' in the campaign that he would have done `well' - as the media would have been all over his prior hypocrisies such as cheating on his wife yet prosecuting Clinton for the same. Or, the obvious hypocrisy of `being a Libertarian' when he was so much behind the Drug War against Americans - and the adult right to self-medicate.


Ultimately, Barr inspired NOBODY - and got the results that showed an inept strategy from what should be one of America's main Liberty and Smaller Government parties. Perhaps, next time, in 2012 - the Libertarians WILL stand for Liberty once again - AND - truly smaller government - with a candidate that doesn't have to apologize for previous actions against Liberty.

Here's more links for today:

Judge Throws Out Red Light Camera Tickets As Program Declared Illegal And Void - http://techdirt.com/articles/20090811/1701585847.shtml To me, one of the absurdest ideas has been the Red Light Cameras - PROVEN to be a threat to public safety.

About half of U.S. mortgages seen underwater by 2011 - http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5745JP20090805 The media has largely buried this aspect of our `recovery'.

Why You Can't Trust Those Jobs Figures - http://www.forbes.com/2009/08/08/jobs-unemployment-layoffs-business-washington-figures.html Trusting the media spin on ANYTHING is not in ones best interest.

California Town Shuts Down Child’s Lemonade Stand - http://belowthebeltway.com/2009/08/07/california-town-shuts-down-childs-lemonade-stand/ Quoting from the article "There’s no business that’s too small for government to torture"

And, today's fun link - A GREAT video for all who believe in the old America --
(if video doesn't work - http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gZwIPnLZd6w)