Another one of last year's tax protest pics.

This young man is being treated humanely. He gets plenty of exercise, he is fed up to and including three times a day, and he is allowed to read the Koran.

Actually he agreed to be symbolically chained to a large weight that represted his share of the national debt.

The next tax protest is scheduled to take place on April 17th in front of the Clinton Street post office. It will last from 3pm until midnight.

BSN Update

A controversial new law that would allow the INS to revoke the citizenship of workers who are not fluent in English and violate the law was quietly passed by both the House and Senate today. As a result of the new legislation, President Bush faces deportation.

80th District Race Update

This morning WOWO announced that Kevin Howell was running for the 80th District seat. Except this isn't really news, since he filed the paperwork back in February. What is new is that he provided a soundbite. For those of you who are just itching to find out what my voice sounds like, I promise that I will get around to holding a press conference soon. Then those without Internet access will also know that I am running.
Right now my focus is helping Mike Sylvester get elected to the NACS Board.

By the way, is there anyone reading this who actually lives in the 80th?

Immigration

Is it terrorism that they are worried about? Does it matter at all that there have been more Islamic terrorists captured that were born here in the United States than were born in Mexico?

Are they going to stop at just making it a felony to help an illegal alien, or even be an illegal alien? Is there enough prison space to hold them all?

It is well known fact that Timothy McVeigh, John Muhammad, John Walker Lindh, and Jose Padilla were all issued authentic birth certificates when they first entered this country. Will they put ortho-trycyclin into the water supply? Will they post INS agents at obi-gyn wards to stop Americans from getting into this country?

Are politicians just dreaming up new external bogeymen for you all to be afraid of, so that you'll be distracted as the last of your civil liberties are taken away, one by one?

My Campaign Logo

This is my new campaign graphic. It is already available as a t-shirt on the Allen County LP Store


It is also available in other color schemes. I was going to put this on a black t-shirt, but I am having trouble finding the right software to create the template for Cafepress to use.


If you like, feel free to download it and use your favorite drawing program to experiment with other colors. If you're nice to me, I'll make your color scheme available as a t-shirt, mug, teddy bear, thong, whatever you want.

PETA Protest

PETA staged a protest at the KFC at the corner of Stellhorn and Maplecrest today. I did take pictures. Should I have told them that the film in my camera was made from gelatin, which is derived from ground up animal bones?

Tax Protest on April 17th

The Libertarian Party of Allen County will be holding its annual tax protest on Monday April 17th in front of the Clinton Street post office in downtown Fort Wayne. It will last from 3pm until about midnight. We'll be handing out pamphlets, waving signs, and doing some street theater.


The boss from the movie "Office Space" and Judge Lance Ito discuss the quality of my TPS reports

Actually this is Indiana Secretary of State Candidate Mike Kole and LPAC Secretary Doug Horner.

New French Riots!

France has passed a new law that will allow companies to terminate the employment of a young adult without reason within 2 years of the original date of hire. This law is expected to help reduce the 23% unemployment rate among young adults in France. Now thousands are rioting in the streets in protest of the law. You can tell this country has changed a lot since the term "lassiez-faire" was coined.

Yes, if I had a company I would feel so confident about hiring French youths now.....

Finally figured how to post my pic

I've been blogging since August and I finally learned how to post pictures on my profile. Of course I didn't have a good recent photo of me untill a few days ago. That pic that you can see of me at the LPAC site on my bio was one that I copied off of my IPFW student ID. That ID is from 2001.

So what do you think of it? Should I wear a tie next time? How about a suit? Maybe a paperbag?

Let this be a lession to you all, though. Polticians are not perfect. Neither Phil GiaQuinta, Geoff Paddock, Kevin Howell, nor I are at all qualified to make decisions regarding how you should live your life. But that is what the Libertarian promise of smaller government is all about. With some notable exceptions, human beings are capable of deciding what is best for themselves. If it is a mistake to let one person decide what to put into his or her body, then it is an even bigger mistake to let a governor and a state legislature or a President and a Congress decide for them.

Candidate's Forum

The Spy Run Neighborhood Association held a candidate's forum today. I attended, and I brought Michael "Mikey" Potter, the high school student who lives next door to me. I suspect that there were more candidates in attendance than there were registered voters. Even though the forum took place outside of the 80th District, I attended anyway for the learning experience.

The highlight of the event was when all the candidates for Sheriff made their cases on why they should be the next Sheriff of Allen County. Democrat Tina Taviano was the only one there who was confident that combining the 911 dispatch services for Allen County and Fort Wayve would save money in addition to providing better service. I found that encouraging.

Roy Buskirk gave me a nail file. Mike Foster handed out tip cards. Dave Roach handed out little plastic badges to everyone, including Mikey, and told them that they hand been deputized. Jeff Frazier was there, so check out his blog to see what he has to say.

Billboards

A lot of people seem to not like billboards for aesthetic reasons. Some of them want them banned outright, or at least have the city prevent any new ones from going up. I personally do not have a problem with the billboards, and as a Libertarian I cannot support passing a law against what I feel is constitutionally protected speech.

But I have a solution! Avoid buying the products and services advertised on those billboards. Companies that are public relations conscious will no longer use that medium for marketing purposes.

And I just can't help but notice all these billboard ads for Republican candidates for county commissioner plastered all over downtown Fort Wayne. I don't even think this is an attempt by them to get us to vote for them. They know they are going to win. I think that they are trying to rub my face in the fact that they are so certain that they are going to win. They are using a forum that a lot of people are lobbying against, as if to say "Hell Yeah! GOP 4ever! I'd win even if I left a steaming turd on the corner of Main and Calhoun!" They sort of remind me of all those murals of Saddam that were all over Iraq before 2003. No, I'm not accusing our local officials of genocide. I'm accusing them of colossal arrogance.

Political billboard ads usually just feature the face, name, and party affiliation of the candidate. They don't even say why you should vote for the candidate. I think candidates just buy them for the ego boost of seeing their own face plastered everywhere. So my personal guarantee to voters is that since I am trying to do my best to get you people to like me, I am not going to intentionally upset you by actively promoting what many consider to be an eyesore.

My advise to the billboard companies is that they could try working on some PR themselves. Try putting up the work of local art and photography students on billboards that are in between clients. I see billboards that have ads for events that have taken place back in January. That can't possibly be making you any money or doing anyone else any good. So put up a nice photo taken by a high school student of, for instance, a close up shot of baby geese. Don't use any of that Maplethorpe leather-and-chains crap, because that will just make things worse.

What to do about abortion

Abortion. Its not the choice that I would make if I could pregnant. I wouldn't recommend it to anyone else either. I don't think women should have them unless it was nessesary, but at the same time I don't think outlawing it will do much good either.

Let's say it does get completely outlawed through out the entire United States. Some qualified medical personel will lose their licences and wind up in prison. Women who want an abortion and can afford it will simply travel overseas. Those that cannot will take their chances with a coat hanger. Some women will carry their pregnancy to term then leave the baby in a trash can.

I'm sure many pro-life advocates can think up of doom and gloom scenarios of where society will head if abortion remains legal. Feel free to post those scenarios in the comment section.

But most pro-life advocates and I can agree that we would all be better of if there were fewer accidental pregnancies. So let's work on this common ground. The good news is that even with abortion being legal, fewer women are having them nowadays. It may seem counterintuitive, but it is the result of couple having more information on how to gratify themselves and each other while continuing to avoid conception.

Here. I'll start towards this common goal of ours by making a public service announcement.

ATTENTION KIDS!
1. Don't ever have sex.
2. If you decided to ignore my advice on #1, then you should realize that anytime a penis is placed inside a vagina, you run the risk of transmitting a venereal disease or getting the female half of your couple pregnant.
3. If you are reading this, you have internet access and can probably find all sorts of information about how to gratify yourself and your partner(s) while reducing the risk of getting infected or pregnant.

South Dakota's abortion law

This is a bad law. Not only does it violates a woman's right to choose, it isn't even meant to last. The law makes no exception for cases of rape, incest, or the health of the mother. South Dakota's governor and state legislature know that any abortion law that doesn't make these exceptions will be striken down by the Supreme Court, even with two new conservative justices. Their goal is not to outlaw abortion but to score political points during an off year election. Many career politicians love emotional and devisive issues like abortion to distract from all the real problems in this country.

Wasted votes?

One reason that people often give for not voting for a third party candidate is that they feel that they are throwing their vote away on a candidate that cannot win. Unless I can get the voters of the 80th past that mental block I don't stand a chance. So let's address this issue while the election is still eight months away.

For those of you who live in the 80th, ask yourself if you would vote for me if you thought I could win. If the answer is "yes", then start asking your friends, families, and neighbors the same question. If enough people answer "yes" then I can win.

There is no need to make a commitment to vote for me just yet. You have enough time to research the candidates and the issues. Hopefully you all can vote for someone you like this time instead of the lesser of two evils.

Harry Browne 1933-2006

The only thing in life that is certain in life besides taxation has happened to Harry Browne. He was the first presidential candidate that I have ever voted for.

He once said said that he expected to live another 20 years if it weren't for the FDA. I'll try to find the exact quote sometime. That he is the only Libertarian presidential candidate to have died illustrates how young the movement still is.