Liberty Point

From LewRockwell.com:

This week downtown Denver has been turned into a police state. We have mounted cossacks on horses with shields over their eyes …flying squads hanging off SUVs as they dash through the streets …black uniformed storm troopers marching our sidewalks in patrols of ten …there are more and more heavily armed troops in Denver this week than in Baghdad.

Denver and Minneapolis (site of the GOP infomercial) have received $50 million for security. Both have been designated “national security events.” And both extravaganzas are also subsidized by taxpayer money.

It’s funny. I was in Denver for the Libertarian National Convention and I didn’t see any cossaks or flying squads. But then again, I suppose all the FBI, DEA, ATF and CIA agents were undercover.

The General Assembly will convene for a special session today to consider an override of the governor’s veto of a bill restricting the size of boats that can be towed on State roads. What a joke! But an expensive joke.

This is what happens in a democracy. The majority — who are in reality a minority because in a democracy the “majority” is just those who show up –  can pass laws restricting everyone’s rights and spend everyone’s money.

I’d say that legislators should be ashamed of this sham, but that is not possible. Here’s an idea: when the General Assembly holds a special session let’s really make it special. Let them volunteer, for free; no salary, no per diem, no special perks for as long as the session lasts.

Now, isn’t that special!

Brian Irving
Libertarian/NC Senate 17

Freedom for a Change

The NC Property Rights Coalition sent this survey, and it took me all of three minutes to fill it out. They don’t give you room to comment, but I wrote in this at the end: I believe the power of eminent domain should be abolished.

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The latest outrage in the State mental health gulag is a 50-year patient left to starve to death in a full view of several State employees at Cherry Hospital. The State has cracked down on these miscreants by taking unspecified “disciplinary action” — and sending Patsy Christian, who’s  under investigation for using State funds to pay for a portrait of herself, to fix the problem. I’m not making this up.

Meanwhile, a legislative analysis of the State’s “reform” of the mental health system finds that the program lacked controls, wasted money, and had little or no oversight. One legislator said, “It appears to me that some of these decisions almost rise to the level of being criminal,” and that looking at the report “is almost like looking at crime scene photos.” (News & Observer, Aug. 20, 2008).

Except no one has been charged with the crime. In a series on the State’s mental health gulag, the News & Observer reported several incidents of death. Yet no one has been prosecuted, and the State employees responsible have only received slaps on the wrist.

Christian was “forced to step down” from her position as a hospital director, but the State created a cushy-job for her to “improve quality management and compliance with regulatory requirements” with a $114,000 a years salary. I suppose she could claim some special experience with “regulatory requirements” since she’s being investigate for violating them.

Enough already. We need to get the State out of the mental health business. If I had a doctor who was this incompetent, I’d get a new doctor. And we need to charge offenders with crimes — including negligent homicide. And somebody needs to go to jail!

Update

Fed regulators are all over Cherry Hospital, and the SBI investigating. Meanwhile, the SBI has completed its investigate of Christian and taken no action. Don’t you feel better now?

Mike Munger may not be invited to the gubenatorial debates, but that won’t stop him from speaking — from the shadows. The Libertarian candidate will conduct a “shadow debate” tomorrow on WZTK FM 101.1 from 8 to 9 a.m. courtesy of the Brad and Britt Show. The format will be to replay the questions and answers from the Democrat and Republican candidates debate tonight on WTVD-TV 11, then air Dr. Munger’s comments.

“It will be like the old TV show Mystery Science Theater 3000,” quipped the Duke University political science and economics professor. “I listen to the lieutenant governor and the mayor tonight, then offer my own answers.” He said he probably will think of some witty retorts “having had all night to think of them.”

“I appreciate Brad and Britt giving me the opportunity to respond to Bev and Pat, something most of the other so-called major broadcast media have refused to do.” Munger said.

“Honestly, I expect more people will hear this than the TV debate,” Dr. Munger said.

This survey from the NC Family Policy Council will probably be the most difficult survey I’ll have to deal with. I spent sometime on this, and the responses aren’t perfect. Rather than simply answer the questions yes, no, or undecided (knowing that some of my yes and no answers where not what they wanted to hear) I tried to present the libertarian viewpoint so they can at least understand it.

The Council is a fundamentalist Christian group and as a Christian I think I understand where they are coming from and can “speak the same language,” even though I don’t agree with their views. While I don’t expect to win them over, or get their endorsement, I do hope they will understand my views. Anyway, I tried. Thanks to Thomas Knapp from some of the ideas about marriage.

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This was my first survey, and I had to research some questions before answering. They also invited me to an interview by a panel, where I asked almost as many questions as I answered, particularly about their issues — pay, health care insurance, collective bargaining and protections offered by the State personnel act. I actually learned something, and modified some of my planned responses. For example, I gave a qualified yes when asked if I favored giving State employees to right to collective bargaining. After asking some discussion, I changed that to a definite yes.

And yes, I did tell them I would reduce government and eliminate some of their jobs. They asked what specifically would I drop. Good question. One point I kept repeated was that their employment agreement with the State was a contract, and contracts should be honored.

I doubt this group will endorse me; nevertheless, it was great opportunity to do some eduction, and a polite and pleasant encounter.

Here’s my response to their survey:

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In a recent column (Growth missing the bus) News & Observer political reporter Rob Christensen contrasts the millions of dollars of support the city of Raleigh gives to downtown development, including  a restaurant that sells $250 a bottle wine, with their lack of support for the bus stops and the mass transit system. He wonders “If buses had a little more glitzy appeal, would the city do more?” Of course they would. But politicians eat at the $250-for-a-bottle-of-wine restaurants; they don’t ride the bus.

I’m starting to get the traditional assortment of surveys from various special interest groups, for theIr 2008 Voters’ Guides and websites. I’ll begin posting my responses, highlighting some of the more interesting questions.

One of the first I received, and my personal favorite, is the online questionnaire from Project Vote Smart. They call their guide the “Voter’s Self-Defense Guide.” The opening video is priceless. Project Vote Smart covers candidates on all levels. They ask candidates to complete a very comprehensive Political Courage Test,

Curiously, neither of the Big Two responded, and the site gives some logistical excuse for not included the other parties. However, I think the information on the site was just for the primaries and will be updated. Results of the PCT won’t be up until August 27.

Chalk up another unintended consequence for a wasteful, useless State program. The News & Observer reports that after more than three decades of effort, the state’s Marijuana Eradication Program has succeeded in driving marijuana farmers away. They’ve moved indoors.

Of course, the Pot Police will claim it was not a waste, since they used Federal Grant money, $290,000 this year, for the program and the helicopter pilots get good training for the $340 per hour flights. Where do they think that money comes from? It comes from North Carolina taxpayers. And why do State government helo pilots need such low flying training for peacetime search and rescue operations.

Oh yeah, I forgot, we’re fighting a “War on Drugs” which is going just as well as the myriad other wars we’ve fighting. N&O cartoonist Dwane Powell captured the idiocy of this program.

I have never heard of anyone dying from a marijuana overdose, or robbing or killing someone to get money to buy marijuana, or hurting anyone or any property while driving under the influence of marijuana. The National Academy of Science has found that marijuana addiction is very rare, far less than other drugs, including tobacco, nor is there any evidence that it is a “gateway” drug. On the contrary, marijuana has proved to have medicinal effects, especially in relieving nausea in people undergoing chemotherapy for cancer. (For more information go the Marijuana Policy Project.)

A Franklin county sheriff’s detective may have unwitting categorized the value of the program when he told the N&O, “It’s just pot luck. You never know.”