Cops to Law-Abiding Citizens: "Laws We Enforce on You Don't Apply to Us!"

Maryland's tax collectors, whom we call "cops" (sometimes "law enforcement officers"), believe that the laws they enforce on its own residents have no bearing on them.

Surprise, surprise, surprise...

Anthrax Was An Inside Government Job

Of course Anthrax was an inside government job. It was made in a taxpayer-funded government lab for the U.S. military. It may even be another neocon trick.

Here's the YouTube for it:

The Governator Speaks Out Against California Homeschooling Ban

Arnold Schwarzenegger, the former bodybuilder and actor and now a Republican governor of the socialist state of California, has publicly expressed his outrage at the state's supreme court ruling against homeschooling. He said that he would fight the ruling and defend the rights of the parents to educate their children any way they see fit.

(03-07) 13:37 PST SACRAMENTO -- Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger denounced a state appeals court ruling that severely restricts homeschooling and promised Friday to change the law if necessary to guarantee that parents are able to educate their children at home.

'Every California child deserves a quality education, and parents should have the right to decide what's best for their children,' Schwarzenegger said in response to the ruling, which said children educated at home must be taught by a credentialed teacher.

'Parents should not be penalized for acting in the best interests of their children's education,' Schwarzenegger said. 'This outrageous ruling must be overturned by the courts, and if the courts don't protect parents' rights then, as elected officials, we will.'

State Education Secretary David Long, a Schwarzenegger appointee, said that meant the governor supported allowing parents without teaching credentials to educate their children.

'The governor sees this as a fundamental right of parental choice,' he said.

In the meantime, attorneys with Long's agency are poring over the decision to determine what to tell local school districts, the agencies responsible for pursuing truants, said Jack O'Connell, the state's superintendent of public instruction.

An estimated 166,000 children are homeschooled in California. Some are enrolled in independent study programs through school districts, charter schools or private schools. Others are taught at home or in programs that have no oversight by a public education agency or private school.

The ruling that prompted Schwarzenegger's anger was issued Feb. 28 by the Second District Court of Appeal in Los Angeles, but went unpublicized until this week. The court said all children ages 6 to 18 must attend public or private school full time until they graduate from high school or must be tutored by a credentialed teacher.

As much as I despise Ah-nold "The Governator" Schwarzenegger's statist/fascistic ideology and his support for his own party's hawkish foreign policy, at least he had the audacity to challenge the socialistic collectivists, statists, and social engineers who view our children as the property of the omnipotent state.

McCain Won't Release His Medical Records

Apparently McLame's -- err, I mean McCain's -- medical records won't be available for public viewing anytime soon. According to The New York Slimes (err, Times), McCain adamantly refuses to relinquish his medical files to the public.

An already-anointed presidential candidate who refuses to be candid about his health to his propsective constituents is unworthy of the Office of the Presidency.

California Homeschooling Ban Exaggerated...Sort Of

It turns out that the L.A. Times' recent reporting of the Supreme Court's ruling on homeschooling was blown out of proportion. Well, sort of.

Apparently the paper neglected to mention that parents are still allowed to educate their children at home without state-approved teaching certificates under the state's education code, which makes room for various exemptions to required government school enrollment regulations. As a blog going by the name of Ace of Spaces HQ recently asserted, the parents did, in fact, lose due to the fact that they couldn't support their contention that their kids were enrolled in charter schools and the kids were free to skip classes so that they would be taught at home with little supervision.

Of course, Aces of Spade sided with the court (not to mention the government-propped teacher unions), claiming that, if the parents had done everything in their power to homeschool their children by complying with the state's mandatory regulations, they would have had a case. In other words, in the eyes of The L.A. Times and The Washington Post, the California Supreme Court, the government school unions, and their collectivistic cronies, if the parents in question had played by the state's rules by being more proactive with their kids' education, everything would have been fine and dandy.

Balderdash! Even if the parents had played by the government thugs' rules, the thugs could have -- and most likely would have -- done an about-face on the parents and lobbied to ban homeschooling, all the while pushed for their children's return to the propaganda learning centers that the statist thugs wanted them to have done to begin with. Morever, the state could have easily turned on the parents and imposed a series of mandates on the homeschooling industry or even pursue an outright ban on the schools, regardless of whether the parents complied with the state's rules.

Whatever may have been the case, the point is that the state would have cracked down on the homeschooling industry, just to set an example on the homeschooling families, no matter what its excuse would have been and what the parents would have done.

Iraq Veteran Says No to McCain's War Policy

An Iraq veteran speaks out against Arizona Republican Senator John McCain's war policy, saying that the United States and its military forces "cannot afford another leader like President Bush who would keep our overstretched military in Iraq for 100 years while ignoring the other threats our country faces both at home and around the world."

According to the March 8th edition of the Washington Post:

WASHINGTON -- Speaking on behalf of the Democratic Party, an Iraq combat veteran said Saturday that apparent GOP nominee John McCain should not win the presidential election because he would continue the war in Iraq.

Roger Martinez, who served as an Army ranger in Afghanistan and Iraq, noted in the Democrats' weekly radio address that President Bush endorsed McCain this week. Bush said McCain 'won't flinch in the face of danger' and McCain strongly supports the U.S. efforts in Iraq. Electing a leader who would continue Bush's policies in Iraq would be a mistake, Martinez said.

'Our country and our armed services cannot afford another leader like President Bush who would keep our overstretched military in Iraq for 100 years while ignoring the other threats our country faces both at home and around the world.' McCain has said that U.S. troops could be in Iraq for many years if those troops were no longer being injured or killed.

'I honor and thank John McCain for his years of military service to our country,' said Martinez, who is studying at the University of Texas at San Antonio. 'But I don't think he offers the right leadership on Iraq or understands how to reinvigorate our economy here at home.'

My Announcement to Run for U.S. Congress, Michigan's 10th District

Over a week ago, I announced on my show Liberty Cap Talk Live with Todd Andrew Barnett: The Special Edition Show that I would be running for Congress this year and in 2010, contesting Congresswoman Candice Miller's seat in my distict. (Miller is a conservative, warmongering dye-in-the-wool Republican who supports the War on Terror, the War on Immigration, the War in Iraq, and a foreign policy of interventionism.)

I also announced that I am running on the Libertarian Party ticket, so I expect to provide a unique campaign unlike past Libertarian candidacies. I also intend to be quite different from the collectivistic, statist Republican and Democratic congressional candidates at large as well.

While I don't have an official congressional website up and running yet, I am working on it. It should be up and running in a few days.

I have already outlined my five (originally four) main platform points, which include the following:

• End the War in Iraq and our Foreign Policy of Interventionism


• Restore Our Free Market Economy


• Ending the War on Terror and Restoring Civil Liberties


• Restoring Free Immigration and Free Trade


• Restoring Sound Money and Fiscal Responsibility

If anyone has any questions for me, please email me at your leisure.

Bush Vetoes Waterboard Ban Bill

El Leader vetoes a bill that, if passed, would have outlawed waterboarding as a tool for interrogating apprehended suspects in the name of the War on Terror.

According to the Washington Post:

President Bush vetoed Saturday legislation meant to ban the CIA from using waterboarding and other harsh interrogation tactics, saying it 'would take away one of the most valuable tools on the war on terror.'

'This is no time for Congress to abandon practices that have a proven track record of keeping America safe,' Bush said in his weekly radio address.

Congress approved an intelligence authorization bill that contains the waterboarding provision on slim majorities, far short of the two-thirds needed to override a presidential veto.

Bush's long-expected veto reignites the Washington debate over the proper limits of U.S. interrogation policies and whether the CIA has engaged in torture by subjecting prisoners to severe tactics, including waterboarding, a type of simulated drowning.

The issue also has potential ramifications for Sen. John McCain (Ariz.), the presumptive Republican presidential nominee and a longtime critic of coercive interrogation tactics who nonetheless backed the Bush administration in opposing the CIA waterboarding ban. The Democratic presidential candidates, Sens. Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) and Barack Obama (Ill.), both support the ban, though neither was present for last month's Senate vote for the bill that Bush is to veto.

'It is shameful that George Bush and John McCain lack the courage to ban torture,' said Democratic National Committee Chairman Howard Dean.

McCain has said that, while he opposes waterboarding, he agrees with the Bush administration that the CIA needs to be able to use tactics banned by the military but which fall short of torture or cruel treatment.

California Supreme Court Declares Homeschooling 'Illegal'

The California Supreme Court has formally ruled that homeschooling in the state is illegal, according to both The L.A. Times and The Washington Post.

Considering that's the case, imagine what will happen in a short matter of time: a black-market homeschooling industry in which unsavory educators charge exorbitant prices to their customers and violence in the homeschooling environment brought into existence, thereby causing harm to the children whose natural desire for learning will be destroyed. Perhaps some parents will be forced to send their kids to a government-coddled, government-regulated "private school," or to what the state calls an alternative public "government" school (a tax-funded propaganda learning center for troubled kids and teens). The worst case scenario: the kids being forced back into the government schools, where they will be indoctrinated and subject to more socialist crap (i.e. kooky global warming propaganda, ludicrous abstinence pledges, etc.).

Sheldon Richman Interviewed on Independent Thinking

Prominent libertarian columnist, author, blogger, and editor of the Foundation for Economic Education's The Freeman - Ideas on Liberty Sheldon Richman appeared on Independent Thinking, a libertarian TV talk radio show hosted by John Caldara, president of the Independence Institute.

Here are the videos of Sheldon on the show in parts 1, 2, and 3:

Part 1:



Part 2:



Part 3:



Honestly, I believe Sheldon did an excellent job educating the masses on the importance of economic education from a libertarian perspective and the need for economic liberty.

Kudos to Sheldon for a job well done!

Ron Paul Drops Out of the Race

Ron Paul has decided to drop out of the race entirely. In his latest campaign report video (a running time of seven-and-a-half minutes long) issued directly to his supporters, Ron acknowledged that his campaign to run as a GOP candidate failed to secure the votes needed for the party nomination.

Although I'm not surprised that this has transpired, it was not unexpected either. Quite frankly, it was bound to happen, whether many of the supporters wanted it to happen or not.

Ron has certainly done a lot of good for the libertarian movement but the recent scathing events surrounding his campaign (the infamous newsletter scandal, for instance, which was stirred up in great part by the infamous New Republic piece by Rudy Ghouliani supporter James Kirchick) have also helped play a hand in sulling and marring the libertarian movement. That, and the stirring and scathing allegation prompted by Reason writers Julian Sanchez and Dave Weigel showcasing that prominent libertarian author, columnist, and blogger Lew Rockwell was the author of the newsletters tarnished the squeaky-clean image of the campaign as well.

I will offer a very thorough, objective (well, as objective as I can possibly be) analysis of the Ron Paul 2008: Hope for America campaign in the next day or so. I will be outlining the pros and cons of the campaign, along with the good and bad baggage that was attached to it.

Ask the Candidates How They Stand

From RADAR:

With the advent of YouTube, everything a presidential candidate says on the campaign trail is potentially important. As Big Media loses credibility and the homemade content of YouTubers and bloggers gains credibility, more and more people are turning to the Internet for news and information. Remarks that once went unnoticed are now fodder for online analysis and commentary.

The rise of alternative Internet media presents an opportunity for RADAR supporters to educate the nation about some of the problems with the domestic violence industry and where the various candidates stand in relation to those problems. RADAR has crafted two questions, one for Democrats and one for Republicans, that you can ask the candidates when they come to your area.

Democrats:	False allegations of domestic violence have become widespread in our country and disproportionately disadvantage minority communities. Restraining orders obtained through false allegations of domestic violence rip parents out of children's lives. If you are elected president, what will you do to stop these violations of civil rights?
Republicans:	Many believe domestic violence programs are weakening the traditional American family. For example, restraining orders obtained through false allegations of domestic violence rip parents out of children's lives. As president, what would you do to protect mothers and fathers from false allegations of domestic violence?

Please find out when and where a presidential candidate will be meeting with the public in your own state, and ask them a question. Don't forget to bring a friend who can videotape your question and the candidate's answer so you can post it on YouTube. Of course, if you do have the opportunity to ask a question of a candidate, please notify RADAR and provide the link to the video.

If you don't have a video camera or are unfamiliar with posting videos on YouTube, please ask a question anyway and let us know the response.

Now is the time to put the spotlight on the candidates--a time when your opinion is not only valued, but sought after. Please ask one of our questions and make a CHANGE for domestic violence victims ... and their children.

You can find out where the candidates will be appearing by going here: http://projects.washingtonpost.com/2008-presidential-candidates/tracker

Thank you!

Huckabee on Leno

Apparently, the Huckster appeared on last night's Leno, which, along with Dave Letterman, had been off the air for eight weeks due to the relentless, never-ending Writers Guild of America (WGA) strike. It turns out that he had ticked off the picketing writers because he had crossed the picketing lines to get into the studio for his on-the-air appearance.

The Guild issued a very stern yet bold statement on its website regarding the incident. It stated the following:

"The Writers Guild is disappointed that Mike Huckabee crossed the WGA picket line today at NBC. We welcome the statements of support he has made for striking writers, but we ask him to respect our picket lines in the future and urge the media conglomerates to return to the bargaining table to make a fair deal that will put writers and the entertainment industry back to work."

As much as I despise the Huckster and his evil, lopsided -- not to mention misguided -- positions, he deserved a chance to be heard on the air as much as any political candidate, even if the strikers can't stand his wishy-washy positions on many issues such as the war, the declining U.S. dollar, the health care crisis, etc. Imagine if Ron Paul had crossed those picket lines. Wouldn't the strikers be saying the same thing? However, if it were Billary, Barack, or any of the Democrats appearing on Leno, would they be expressing the same viewpoint? Any chance of a clear case of hypocrisy showing on their political sleeves?

The idiotic strike itself is another story and will be noted here on the blog later. But, as much as I can't stand Mikey himself, he, like any other political candidate, has the right to be heard and has earned a chance to be heard by the public at large.

Ron Paul in Businessweek

Maria Bartiromo interviews Ron Paul:

Who are your economic advisers?

I don't have any. I read Austrian economics, which I've been doing for 30 years. So my advisers have been [von] Mises and Hayek and Sennholz.

Ron Paul's Stand on Iran, According to the Council of Foreign Relations (CFR)

The Council on Foreign Relations has put up a bio of Ron Paul on its website, purportedly trying to set a negative tone with regards to Ron's statements that the site quoted -- statements that sound as if Ron is for Islamoterrorists conspiring to attack our home soil at any given moment.

This is coming from the CFR:

In a speech before the House in April 2007, Paul (R-TX) criticized what he sees as neoconservative efforts to drum up support for military action against Iran. Paul said that although the country “is hardly a perfect democracy, its system is far superior to most of our Arab allies about which we never complain.” The Texas congressman warned that a war against Iran would be disastrous and dismissed the justifications for military action against Iran as “propaganda,” saying that “Iran doesn’t have a nuke and is nowhere close to getting one, according to the CIA.” Instead, Paul advocates a policy of non-interventionism.