Congress has a chance to partially atone for their trashing of our rights this week when a bill to amend the National Defense Authorization Act for FY 2013 comes up for consideration in the House of Representatives. The NDAA past last year contained two controversial and unconstitutional detention provisions that allow for the indefinite detention of American citizens and resident aliens arrested on U.S. soil.
The Campaign for Liberty, and other civil libertarian groups, are urging people to contact their Congress person to urge them mitigate this outrage by getting rid of these provisions or else voting “no” on H.R. 4310, the FY 2013 NDAA.
Reps. Adam Smith and Justin Amash are proposing an amendment to the NDAA to make it clear that it does not authorize indefinite detention of American citizens or legal residents.
You can contact Rep. Renee Ellmers here (she doesn’t have a direct email listed) or call her Washington office at (202) 225-4531 or the district office in Dunn at (910)230-1910, Toll Free 1-877-645-8764.
Note: If you are one of her “new” constituents (under the new district maps), you can’t use the contact form. It’s still based on the old district. You’ll have to call.
I just called her D.C. office, let them know who I was, and asked her to vote yes on the amendment!
If I were in Congress, I would not only vote yes on this amendment, and no on the bill if the amendment does not pass, I would not have voted for the 2012 NDAA in the first place.
Congrats to Renee Ellmers (R) and Steve Wilkins (D) for winning their party primaries for Congress. I look forward to meeting them and discussing the issues on the campaign trail.
Former New Mexico Gov. Gary Johnson won the Libertarian Party nomination for President of the United States Saturday, beating North Carolina native son R. Lee Wrights on the first ballot.
Accepting the nomination, Johnson said, “Millions of Americans want and deserve the opportunity to vote for a candidate in November who will get us out of the war in Afghanistan immediately, truly cut federal spending, end the failed war on drugs, repeal the Patriot Act, and support marriage equality.
“I am excited to offer that option: A proven fiscal conservative, a proven defender of civil liberties, and an advocate for social tolerance.”
Whenever a Congressional bill is praise for being “bipartisan” there’s one thing you can be sure of: it’s an assault on the U.S. Constitution and your freedom and liberty. You can also be certain that the more “bipartisan” the bill is, the greater the damage to your rights.
Such is the case with HR 3523, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA), which just passed the House 248-168.
District 2 Rep. Renee Ellmers voted for the bill.
For the record, I would not have voted for the bill.
Thanks to WRAL for allowing me the opportunity to make this video:
One of the “joys” of running for office is the many candidate questionnaires you receive. Most of the time, it is pretty clear from the wording of the question what response the sender wants. Sometimes they forms allow you to amplify of explain your response.
As a “third party” candidate, I believe it would be very difficult for me to receive the endorsement of any of the groups who send me a questionnaire, regardless of how I answer the question. I fill them out anyway because this is an inexpensive way of getting my message out.
Apparently the state constitutional amendment regarding marriage will not be called Amendment One when it appears on the ballot. According to this story in the News & Observer it does not have an official name, and probably will just be called a “constitutional amendment” on the ballot.
That’s just one of the confusing (on purpose?) aspects of this issue. As the story notes, people who say they’ll vote for the amendment in polls change their minds when the find out what it actually means.
But that’s what happens in a “democracy,” the majority gets to tell you what your rights are.
The North Carolina Libertarian Party unanimously passed a resolution opposing the proposed state constitutional amendment to ban gay marriage at its annual convention held Saturday in Durham. Rather than fulfilling the “great value” of a constitution, which is to protect individual rights, the amendment would deny rights to segment of the population and discriminate against a minority.
The Libertarians not only urged voters to defeat the amendment, which will be on the May 8 primary ballot, they also encouraged those planning marriage to “shun and disparage the licensure of the state,” in other words to not get a state marriage license. “A free and proud people do not ask the State for permission to marry,” the resolution says.
The resolution also reiterates the party platform plank calling for repeal of marriage license laws altogether to honor the principle that “couples are married when they declare they are.”
The party is a member of the Coalition to Protect North Carolina Families working to defeat the amendment, know as Amendment One. It would define marriage between a man and women as the only “domestic legal union” recognized by state law.
The resolution also asserts the amendment would violate the U.S. Constitution’s prohibition against impairing the obligation of contracts for many couples married in other states.” In addition, the amendment advances “no legitimate governmental interest” and is so vaguely worded that “no one can predict the scope of its harm.”
Today I filed to run for the U.S. House of Representative District 2.
I am running for Congress because I believe it’s time to stop all war. Stop the wars in and Afghanistan and the multitude of other nations were our troops are fighting. Stop the war on drugs and alternative lifestyles. Stop the war on immigrants. Stop the war on civil liberties. Stop the war on the U.S. Constitution. Stop the wars on food, healthcare, guns … stop all war.
The State of the Union is a perpetual state of war. Democrats and Republicans have used the fear of real or imaginary enemies, both at home and abroad, to manufacture and manipulate Americans, to divide us, to pit one racial, religious or social group against another – all for the purpose of stampeding us into giving up more and more our a precious liberties for the false promise of security.
This campaign draws this theme, and its inspiration from my good friend R. Lee Wrights, who is seeking the Libertarian nomination for President of the United States.
My platform is simple: I want to reduce the size, scope and power of the federal government at all levels and on all issues, and will oppose increasing the size, scope and power of the federal government at any level, for any purpose.
I want to restore the republic our Founding Fathers established, a government of limited and enumerated powers whose only purpose is to protect our unalienable, individual rights to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.
My goal will be to have a federal government small enough to fit inside the U.S. Constitution.
Some notes on my filing experience. I arrived at the State Board of Elections just as Bob Etheridge was concluding his press conference upon announcing his bid for N.C. governor. Once I worked my way through the media scrum, the filing process was relativity painless. Other than having to pay the exorbitant filing fee ($1,740) for the “privilege” of running for office, it is actually much easier to file for federal than state office. Unless I raise more than $5,000 (I wish) I won’t have to fill out any intrusive financial reports.
