Redstate

Posted at 11:26pm on Jul. 1, 2008 Hoo boy. California just might Legalize It. (The other It)

By birdmojo

So I was clicking around, as is my nighttime wont, and stumbled across this (watch out, salty language). It's a report about an initiative coming up in California that does a lot of stuff... first and foremost, it legalizes pot. Not in a "with a note from your doctor and $100, you can buy a bag from a dispensary" kind of way, but in a "if you sell alcohol, you can sell weed" kind of way.

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Posted at 10:21pm on Jun. 12, 2008 Abortion, Gun Control, and the years that follow a major Supreme Court Case.

By birdmojo

Every now and again, I get to thinking about how things tend to play out and, being a patterns kinda guy, I tend to look for patterns... and I think I see one.

This is a story that I read today. It's ABC news talking about the Brady Folks and their attitudes about the upcoming Heller decision. Here's the money:

"We've lost the battle on what the Second Amendment means," campaign president Paul Helmke told ABC News. "Seventy-five percent of the public thinks it's an individual right. Why are we arguing a theory anymore? We are concerned about what we can do practically."

Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (12) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 12:58am on May 17, 2008 What happened between "Permanent Republican Majority" and now.

By birdmojo

There's been a spate of diaries recently that talk about doom/gloom, etc. (For the record, I was pretty much in agreement with this assessment until the California ruling a couple of days ago.)

I'd like to point out that it wasn't so long ago that folks were talking about a Permanent Republican Majority.

And so I'm wondering... what happened?

Exactly what happened between then and now that changed "We'll be riding high forever!" into "there will be a permanent Democratic majority"?

Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (146) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 2:36pm on May 12, 2008 Bob Barr is running for President on one of those loser third party tickets.

By birdmojo

Reason's Hit and Run and Brietbart (Hat Tip: Drudge) are reporting that Bob Barr has announced his candidacy for President.

It's ironic that, in 2002, Barr was likely unseated by the very party upon which ticket he is now running... due to issues related to Bob Barr's relationship to The Drug War (Barr was *VERY* much against it).

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Posted at 3:43pm on May 6, 2008 Mildred Loving, Rest In Peace.

By birdmojo

Mildred Loving passed away yesterday, May 5th, 2008.

She was 68 years old.

From the NYT article:

When Mildred became pregnant at 18, they decided to do what was elsewhere deemed the right thing and get married. They both said their initial motive was not to challenge Virginia law.

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Posted at 1:43pm on Apr. 9, 2008 Libertarianism, Judicial Activism, Gay Marriage, Dred Scott, Gun Control, Illegal Immigration, and Originalism

By birdmojo

The other day, Neil and I got into it in the Deaves thread. The Deaves thread told the story about a guy who consensually had a child with his full grown daughter. Of course, the thread immediately started talking about gay marriage... and that discussion led to a great many other discussions.

(As many of you may know, I am one of the resident Libertarian Nutballs on the board. So... if you've ever used the word "Libertine" unironically in a political discussion, you probably want to move on to the next diary.)

Posted in Miscellanea — Comments (27) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 4:19pm on Mar. 17, 2008 The Gods of the Copybook Headings

By birdmojo

Or, I suppose, If I Am Conservative, Why I Am Conservative.

This poem was written by Rudyard Kipling in 1919.

As I pass through my incarnations in every age and race,
I make my proper prostrations to the Gods of the Market-Place.
Peering through reverent fingers I watch them flourish and fall,
And the Gods of the Copybook Headings, I notice, outlast them all.

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Posted at 3:04am on Mar. 4, 2008 Tribalism

By birdmojo

So my job is one where I would say a good 90% of my co-workers are military or ex-military (or the spouse or ex-spouse thereof). Most of the guys I work with are, unsurprisingly, Defense Hawks. Most are also Social Conservatives. A majority are also Fiscal Conservatives (the remainder are "Compassionate Conservatives" in the way that Socons can be sometimes).

As you may or may not know, I lean libertarian in my own life. Big fan of the Constitution, big fan of the 10th Amendment, bigger fan of the 9th. Now, this isn't really an issue when it comes to the inevitable political discussions... most people have something in common with any given libertarian they come across. The problem with libertarians isn't this view or that one, it's that they hold both of the views at the same time. Like, if I said "Dude, I don't care if two guys get married and want civic protections", I could get a ton of people smiling and thinking that I'm an enlightened kinda guy. If I said "I think that the drug war is a waste of resources and should be ended immediately", I'd get another handful of people to applaud and yell "FREEBIRD" or whatever it is potheads yell. Were I to say that Social Security is a complete mess and ought to be dismantled (or, if that's not feasible, phased out), I could get yet another group of people to stroke their beards and agree. And, finally, if I were to say that anything that was not explicitly "Interstate Commerce" or related to the General Welfare of The States should not be under the jurisdiction of the Federal Government, I could get yet another group to smile broadly and start talking about their favorite Amendments.

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Posted at 1:16am on Feb. 6, 2008 A boring entry about my boring night at my Democratic Caucus

By birdmojo

As it turns out, I am (still) a Registered Democrat (and have been since 1990, the year in which I turned 18... why, you ask? My Grandaddy had three rules: Buy American. Buy Union. Vote Democrat. I am a good grandson. Well, I registered Democrat, anyway. He's been spinning in his grave since 1996 when I discovered the joys of the third party).

I have voted in every single even-numbered year election and in half of the odd-numbered year ones... but I had never done anything with a primary or caucus. I reckon it's about time.

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Posted at 4:04pm on Jan. 31, 2008 Why I suspect McCain won't lose 10% of the Conservative bloc in the November Election.

By birdmojo

The "I'll never vote for McCain!" voters come election day will go into the voting booth. They vote. They always vote. Voting is a Right and a Privilege and a Civic Duty. Yes, they told that webpage that they were going to write in Earl Dodge but that involves going in in the first place and voting for their Republican Congressman and Senator and the Republican guy running for county coroner. Why? Because they vote. That's what they do.

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Posted at 5:42pm on Jan. 23, 2008 Election Analysis from the Libertarian Nutball Perspective

By birdmojo

I am one of those "third party" voters. For every election since my first one, I've been made fun of by both my Republican and my Democratically-inclined friends for "throwing my vote away"... So my perspective on elections is that of someone watching a horse race upon which he has not bet.

It is with that mindset that I analyze the election. Please understand that when I say "I don't see so-and-so as a strong candidate" that I am not deliberately trying to undermine your support for said candidate (or said party) any more than I was trying to undermine the Democrats back in 2004 when I said that Kerry was an awful, awful candidate and making the election a referrendum on Iraq and the War on Terror and certainly on Vietnam Participation would result in a winnable election becoming an unwinnable one.

Posted in 2008 — Comments (14) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 3:35pm on Jan. 4, 2008 Re: Redhot's "Protecting Our Constitution"

By birdmojo

On the right, you'll see Dan McLaughlin's post entitled "Protecting Our Constitution".

Here is the text:

I've suspected for some time that Markos has a different copy of the Constitution than I do, but I'd still like to know what language in his requires a right to file class action lawsuits against telephone companies.

(the last part contains a link to Kos, click on his post and that link if you want to go there, I didn't.)

Posted in Law — Comments (4) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 1:23pm on Jan. 2, 2008 Ron Paul and Pat Robertson

By birdmojo

Way back in 1988, Pat Robertson (you know him from CBN) ran for President and came in 2nd in Iowa... pretty much shocking everybody who hadn't been paying attention. He went on lose New Hampshire and was unable to make any further waves in the primaries in the other states and dropped out.

His showing in Iowa, however, created ripples in the Republican party and communicated to the party leadership that the Social Conservative movement was sizable and needed to be taken into account in future races. Perot acted as spoiler in the 1992 and 1996 races for the Presidency, but House and Senate gains were made by the Republicans who reached out to the Social Conservatives who saw what Robertson heralded in Iowa. There was a large bloc of disaffected voters who felt that Washington was not listening to them and the Republicans responded and (eventually) received the House and Senate for their troubles.

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Posted at 10:50pm on Dec. 27, 2007 Why a crazy nutball libertarian like me isn't going to support Ron Paul

By birdmojo

For the record, this is not a "I DON'T SUPPORT HIM AND NEITHER SHOULD YOU!!!" post. I don't write those for Edwards or Giuliani, I'm not going to write one for Ron Paul.

This is just a post about how I experienced a deal breaker the other day and why I'm not going to throw my vote away on a Republican but will go back to throwing it away on a third party Candidate. Is the Natural Law party still around?

Posted in Elections — Comments (59) / Email this page » / Read More »

Posted at 8:50pm on Dec. 16, 2007 A personal essay on Constitutional Theory (long)

By birdmojo

I wrote this essay after getting into an argument online over the reasons I support a very limited Federal Government. Those who may remember me know that I am fairly Libertarian (described as "Libertarian according to Republicans and Democrats, a nigh-statist according to people who proudly call themselves Libertarian"). I am pro-choice (with many reservations... but I have more reservations about giving the government the power to jail people for them).

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