See the list at Independent Political Report

This is getting serious.

It was only a week ago that the Commission on Presidential Debates had ten sponsors for the 2012 debates.  

Today, they're down to seven.  Phillips Electronics has, as of this morning, pulled their sponsorship. 

What does this mean for us?

We're that much closer to seeing and hearing Governor Gary Johnson and Judge Jim Gray on the debate stage this autumn!

I know what you're thinking.  "It's entirely too late for the Commission on Presidential Debates to invite Governor Johnson to debate."  Fortunately, it takes very little effort to add a podium to a stage. It takes a whole lot of effort, however, to convince a multi-billion dollar corporation that you wield the power to hit them where it hurts worst — their pocketbooks.

Power.  That's the key word in this previous sentence.  YOU HAVE ALL THE POWER NOW.

Phillips Electronics
BBH New York
YWCA

That's three down, seven to go.

Get to writing those letters, guys!  This election cycle, you will CHANGE THE COURSE OF HISTORY.   Change it for the better.

Power to the people!!

LIVE FREE,

Crystal Gross
State Director
Georgia for Gary Johnson 2012

Note from Paulie: Under the Commission’s guidelines for debate inclusion, other than the non-objective polling criterion, two additional candidates would qualify: Gary Johnson (Libertarian) and Jill Stein (Green), the only candidates not invited to the CPD debates who are on enough ballots to win the Presidency and are Constitutionally qualified for the office.

Some unverified contact info for debate sponsors in the comments here.

H/T Kimberly Wilder. FYI: Most guys don’t like this crap either.

In Iraq, that meant that 50,000 US combat troops (reclassified as non-combat, but still engaged in combat) remained on the ground, along with a large number of independent military contractors. On the home front, it means we still have about 10% official unemployment, but more like 20% when those who are no longer counted as officially unemployed because they have been out of work too long are factored in, along with those who are employed part time and would like to be working full time. But, according to the “Mission Accomplished” team in power, the recession ended in June 2009. Not that anyone noticed, or anything.

The power of wishful thinking has long been known to work miracles, after all, and if we all close our eyes and pretend, we can just spend a bunch of money we don’t have, right? Click your heels three times and repeat after me: Happy times are here again, and Eastasia has always been at war with Oceania.

Libertarians don’t steal votes. Neither do Greens. Democrats and Republicans do, though…by keeping candidates off the ballot, vote fraud (electronic and otherwise), closed debates, and more surreptitiously by making some people think they are the only choices.

Yet what choice is it when they are all too often the same in all important respects? Here’s an illustration of that from 1998:

http://www.kubby.com/commercial/stills.html.

This is why I have dubbed them D/R-oids. .

Some have said, don’t hate the players, hate the game. When it comes to politician D/R-oids, I hate both the players and the game.

Sure, there are a few exceptions, but they only prove the rule.

And that’s why I hereby nominate myself for D/R-oid player hater of the year. . Why? Because none of you bitches would do it for me, that’s why.

Critics are complaining that Obama spends too much time playing golf and taking vacations. But I see a solution to our economic crisis. Please, Mr. President, stay on vacation and away from the economy. Perhaps you could explore the far reaches of Siberia or Antarctica? How about a safari in South Africa? Or better yet, tee it up night and day Mr. President. Don’t be guilty. We desperately need you to develop your inner game of golf. Name Tiger Woods your Golf Czar. Work on your putting stroke. Get that handicap down to zero. Practice makes perfect. Play 36 holes every day- minimum. The more time you spend on the links, the less time you have to think about Karl Marx. As your golf score goes down, the U.S. economy can only go up.

Capozzi replies:

I like Root’s sentiment here, but we’d need the entire West Wing to go on permanent vacation to stop their coercive initiatives.

Even then, though, Obama has been leaving a lot of the details of his agenda to Congress, and they’ve come out even worse. Stimulus and ObamaCare come to mind.

So, we’d need Congress to also go on a very extended vacation.

But, then, of course, the permanent bureaucracy implements some of the most injurious aspects of what the federal government does. So, we’d need the cabinet to close down, too.

Then again, state governments do some pretty vicious stuff, too….

My reply: Yep, vacations all around. Great thinking!

Permanent vacations would be great.

I received a solicitation for a donation to Joe Arpaio’s campaign today. The letter chronicled Arpaio’s battles with illegal immigrants, Mexican drug cartels, and “open-border” leftists. I find it alarming that a local politician is utilizing illegal immigration as a national fund-raising platform (especially a fascist thug like Arpaio). Meanwhile, we have the mosque controversy in New York, and a mosque under construction vandalized and burned in middle Tennessee.

Lew, it seems as if all that is needed is the right spark and the collectivist inclinations of so many Americans will explode into the police state that we all fear. The politicians and media have worked very hard to create the scapegoats with which to divert the public’s attention away from the failed policies of the State.

I wasn’t around in the ’60s and don’t remember the ’70s so I don’t have much with which to compare the current environment except history books, but things are starting to get really ugly, aren’t they?

And at Reason Hit & Run, Matt Welch quotes an interview with Jacobs from the Baltimore Sun:

I know you’re an active member of the Libertarian party and you author a political blog, The Adventures of Citizen X. Have you ever thought about one day following in the footsteps of Jesse Ventura and running for public office?
Oh yeah, sure. But I think maybe with me it might be more educational stuff — talking with young people and that sort of thing as opposed to pursuing political office.

Do you think there will ever be a Libertarian or independent president or will it always be someone from one of the two major parties?
[Pauses] I don’t know. Certainly I think the way things are going with the economy, and this is not a rip on any particular party because they’re both at fault, but with the centralization of the economy, central planning, that doesn’t work. We saw that everywhere it’s been tried. As things unfold I think people will be looking for answers, and I think the Libertarians, certainly the people that understand real economics – Austrian economics – they have those answers. So we’ll see what happens. I think we do live in very interesting times.

Previous article on Jacobs at IPR

For his part, Joe Arpaio has been making some alternative party related news recently as well by sending out a letter on behalf of Constitution Party candidate Tom Tancredo.

Wikipedia says

Joseph M. “Joe” Arpaio (born June 14, 1932) is the elected Sheriff of Maricopa County, Arizona.[..]Arpaio promotes himself as “America’s Toughest Sheriff.”^[1][2] He has become controversial for aggressive publicity-seeking,^[3] retaliation against political enemies,^[4] abuse of power,^[5] civil rights violations,^[6] and financial mismanagement.^[7]. He is also noted for his outspoken stance against “illegal” immigration.^[8][9] He has become a flashpoint for controversy surrounding Arizona’s SB1070 anti-”illegal”-immigrant act.^[10] He is currently the subject of FBI,^[11] United States Department of Justice,^[12] and Federal Grand Jury^[13] investigations for civil rights violations and abuse of power, and is the defendant in a federal class-action suit for racial profiling.^[14] Arpaio was once widely popular among voters in Arizona,^[15] however his popularity has waned over the last three years.^[16]

See also: Scumbag Arpaio at Next Free Voice.

Now, I am no fan of Glenn Beck and the tea party movement, but it would be a lot less stressful if they tell us straight up who they really are: staunch Libertarians.

Instead of claiming that they want to restore traditional American values, they should just tell us that they want to [..] legalize prostitution, recreational drugs and suicide.

They should just say that they would like to abolish federal drug and seizure laws[..]

Instead of paying lip service to national security, why don’t they just tell us that they would like to abolish compulsory military service and dramatically reduce defense spending; end the U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid; and dramatically reduce defense spending?

Instead of trying to win an election based on the backs of illegal immigrants in Arizona and elsewhere, they should just come clean and acknowledge that immigration, like corporations and other businesses, should operate free of any government restraint.

They should tell us that political freedom and escape from tyranny demand that individuals not be unreasonably constrained by government in the crossing of political boundaries; and that economic freedom demands the unrestricted movement of human as well as financial capital across national borders.

Now, don’t get me wrong, I would love it if Beck, Palin and the Tea Partiers stood for these policies. But we all know they do not. So how does McFarlane come to this conclusion, so stunningly at variance with observed facts?

The problem with that message is that the tea party is being bankrolled by two billionaire Libertarians, brothers Charles and David Koch. Their company, Koch Industries of Wichita, Kan., is a conglomerate, the annual revenues of which are estimated to be a hundred billion dollars, according to a recent New Yorker article by Jane Mayer.

Here, McFarlane fails to distinguish between small-l libertarians and the big-L Libertarian Party. While it is true that David Koch ran for Vice President as a Libertarian in 1980, McFarlane conveniently skips the fact that the “Kochtopus” and its funding left the Libertarian Party in a huff in 1983 (27 years ago, but who’s counting) and are now reportedly the largest donors to the Republican Party.

As many readers note in the comments, McFarlane and other critics fail to the note the role of wealthy people all over the political map, such as George Soros, in funding organizations that advocate for their viewpoints.

The actual Libertarian Party, unlike the fictional one subsidized by billionaires that McFarlane imagines, survives on small donations from individuals and small businesses, many of them struggling economically. The actual Tea Party, although in fact having Libertarian origins (The LP of Illinois gave Rick Santelli the idea for his tea party rant that set off the current wave of protests, and the LP has been doing anti-tax protests for many years before the “Tea Parties”), has in many places turned into a Republican Party front, opposed to even allowing Libertarians and independents on the ballot, and in staunch opposition to the wise policies quoted above which McFarlane ascribes to them.

As one reader notes,

Yes. Libertarians want to end welfare, legalize drugs, and allow prostitution. All which ravage the impoverished neighborhoods of America and contribute to the disproportionate imprisonment rates of minorities for non-violent crimes.

They as well as I would indeed like to see the IRS abolished along with the majority of extra-constitutional tasks the government has assigned to itself.

What you fail to understand is the ultimate goal of libertarian ideals. Libertarians are true progressives who envision a society that is well educated and comprised of individuals that have been empowered to choose their own path in life free of force, theft, or fraud. Only then will it be possible for the size and reliance on government to dwindle away as more and more people become capable of self governance.

If I may ask, what is the end goal of your political philosophy?

I spent much of the Shrub presidency advocating that he should be impeached. Unfortunately, the Libertarian Party missed the opportunity to call for his impeachment for the same principled reasons we once called for Clinton’s impeachment (no, not the blowjobs). For those same reasons, we should now call for Obama’s impeachment as well. But, only if we also call for war crimes trials for Bush and his gang. Otherwise, we look like we only find fault with Democrats, when both wings of the bipartisan bird of prey are equally responsible for destroying our freedom and prosperity.

The 35-year-old Galysh (pronounced GAWL-ish) unquestionably is earning a reputation as a stellar guitarist.

Check out some of the musicians he’s performed and/or recorded with: Reb Beach (Alice Cooper, Adrian GalyshWhitesnake, Dokken, Winger), Adrian Belew, Francis Buchhultz (Scorpions), Philip Bynoe (Steve Vai), Larry Carlton, Jerry Corbetta (Sugarloaf), Warren DeMartini (Ratt), Jerry Donahue (Hellicasters), Seymour Duncan, Robben Ford (Miles Davis), Tony Franklin (The Firm, Blue Murder), Mike Keneally (Frank Zappa, Steve Vai), Living Colour, Tony Levin (King Crimson, Peter Gabriel), George Lynch, Yngwie Malmsteen, Michael Manring, Marco Mendoza (Ted Nugent, Whitesnake, Thin Lizzy), Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions), Blues Saracino, Carl Verheyen (Supertramp), and Dweezil Zappa.

Galysh is also a libertarian and Libertarian Party member. He got his political feet wet volunteering with the Ron Paul for President campaign in 2000. Now he’s thrown his guitar pick into the ring, running for the California state senate as a Libertarian advocating, he says, “the ideals of limited government, fiscal responsibility and personal responsibility.”

Asked by the Los Angeles Daily News “What does a rock musician know about government?” Galysh answered:

“I don’t know anything about accruing a $600 billion debt (and) wasting people’s tax money. I do know California is in dire straits — and somebody has to tell the government ‘No.’”

Galysh has just completed recording his third solo album, entitled “Earth Tones”. Joining Adrian on the record is an impressive list of musicians. The rhythm section is Marco Mendoza (Thin Lizzy, Whitesnake, Ted Nugent) on bass and Joey Heredia (Stevie Wonder, F. Gambale, S. Henderson) on drums. Special guests on some tracks include Chuck Wright (Quiet Riot, House of Lords) on bass and Glen Sobel (Jennifer Batten, Gary Hoey, Tony MacAlpine) on drums and Carl Verheyen (Supertramp) on guitar.

Galysh, 35, started playing the guitar at age twelve. His early influences were Uli Jon Roth (Scorpions), Randy Rhoads, and Eddie Van Halen; however, Galysh soon gained interest in modern classical composers such as Arvo Part and Carl Orff, the world music of Peter Gabriel, and the new age music of Vangelis. He earned his degree in music at Duquesne University, where he studied jazz guitar, classical piano, and majored in Recording Arts and Science.

Currently, Galysh keeps busy with recording sessions, composing, producing and performing with his band.

Galysh hopes to ride a wave of anti-incumbent sentiment into office. The Los Angeles Daily News points out that he has at least one clear advantage over his Big Government opponents: “He’s one candidate who can play his own fundraising concert.”

More at http://www.youtube.com/user/adriangalysh

Welcome to 21st century America.

Paulie: No human being is illegal.

Amnesty might be a good start, but truly open borders would be far better.

LibertarianBlue: How so Paulie? They came here illegally

Paulie: Bad laws deserve to be broken.

LibertarianBlue: amnesty is a slap in the face to legal immigrants who went through the process the right way.

Paulie: I’m a “legal” immigrant, and it’s not a slap in my face. It was simply a matter of luck that due to cold war propaganda reasons we were considered “refugees” over people far more deserving of the term. Otherwise I would have grown up in Israel after leaving Russia. I’m glad I didn’t.

LibertarianBlue: I dont disagree that our immigration policy is fucked up with massive amounts of red tape but rewarding those who break the law isnt the way to go.

Paulie: So, change the law and let everyone in.

wolfefan: Wasn’t there an explicit proposal rejected at the time of the Constitutional Convention to make English the official language? There were a lot of people here at the time of the Revolution (many of them my ethnic and religious ancestors in PA) who did not speak English who were nevertheless citizens of the new nation.

Gene Berkman: you are correct that the time the American colonies declared independence from the UK, people spoke many languages. The first report of the Declaration of Independence was published in a German newspaper in Philadelphia.

There were of course in the same periods leading to the war newspapers published in other languages as well.

Davi Rodrigues: Unless every social program that is subsidized by US citizens, taxpayers, and residents is FIRST halted, there is no way we can just let everyone in.

Paulie: Nonsense. That’s like saying we can’t end gun control until drugs are legalized, or we can’t legalize drugs until we get rid of welfare and government involvement in medicine, or we can’t end welfare until government is out of the schools….

All our freedoms, all the time.

Tom Knapp: America is, and always has been, a polyglot country.

Less so after WWI, and even less so again after WWII (when the US government put 16 million men under arms and insisted that they learn to take orders in English), but still.

Within 10 minutes of my home in St. Louis, I can walk into places where the predominant language is Spanish. Within 15 minutes’ drive, there are apartment complexes where you’ll hear mostly Urdu. Within 30 minutes drive, whatever it is that Bosnians speak (40,000 Bosnian Muslim immigrants in St. Louis city). Here and there around town, enclaves of people who speak Vietnamese or Mandarin. Within a couple of hours’ drive, Amish who speak mostly (I think) “Low Dutch.”

In larger cities, all of the above (plus Russian, Yiddish, German, etc.), only more so.

English has always been the predominant language, but there’s no particular reason it should be a privileged or government-enforced language.

If we’re going to enforce borders, the one measure I’d like to see implemented is that if you leave the US to work in the District of Columbia, you can’t come back.

P; So….what do you think?

BONUS CLIP: