United Liberty

The 2008 Mises Institute Supporters Summit

The Gold Standard Revisited

This past weekend was a chance for many of the Mises Institute’s supporters to get together, get familiar, and get updated on the Austrian tradition’s interpretation of recent events.  The focus of this weekend seminar was on the gold standard, and the increasingly desperate need for sound money in today’s fiat fiasco of an economy.  Speakers, local and international, delivered the message of monetary sanity to the supporters and students in attendance, as well as those who tuned in around the world via Mises.org.  Talks were given by many of today’s

A few weeks ago, I went to see “An American Carol” with high hopes for an atypical Hollywood film. It reinforced something I have been working on. When you look at the spectrum of topics I have written about, I am difficult to pigeon-hole by the average American. The two-party system forces people to consider politics in a linear manner, one is either a conservative Republican on the “right” or a liberal Democrat on the “left,” with no room for anything else. Interestingly, most Americans are not able to fit their beliefs into one of those two options, but they settle for the side they feel most comfortable with.

As a candidate for school board in the Bay Area suburb of Hayward, Maribel Heredia may not seem like a figure of national importance. However, Heredia’s presence in the Hayward school board race is a demonstration of the push for change that has taken the country by storm.

The discussion between Dr. Lawson and Congressman Price at the TROSA forum on October 13 was an interesting one, to say the least.  The Durham Herald Sun wrote an particularly fascinating report on the discussion between the two candidates on drug-related issues:

Lawson and Price sparred over issues including health care and law enforcement, especially enforcement of drug laws.

As a gun-owner and someone who has escaped injury due to private gun ownership at least three times, I pay attention to the voting records of candidates regarding the 2nd Amendment.

I recently wrote about the NRA’s disappointing endorsement of Senator John McCain, in spite of his clear record of being an enemy of the right’s of gun-owners.  A much more logical choice would have been 3rd party candidates Bob Barr or Chuck Baldwin, as an endorsement of Barack Obama would have been equally unthinkable.

Obama has claimed to be a supporter of the 2nd Amendment, but his voting record indicates otherwise.

Illinois State Rifle Association Executive Director, Richard Pearson, has this to say about Senator Obama-

I have to admit that I was skeptical when my mom sent me an email with this story in it.  Since the kind of jack-booted behavior described seems too sensational to be true, I first verified the story at The Lufkin Daily News and also spoke to Jessica Hughes’ friend and neighbor, Connie Wells, who confirmed Jessica’s existence and story.

According to the email, Jessica Hughes, New Jersey native, but now a resident of Lufkin, TX, was called by an Obama volunteer on her cell phone and asked to support Senator Obama on November 4th.  Jessica replied in the negative, citing Obama’s socialist tendencies and votes against an Illinois “born alive” bill as her reasons.

Gone are the days of the old Republican Party- a party that supported the principles of less government, low spending, low taxes, the rule of law, and the United States Constitution. Nowadays, Republicans spend as much as Democrats, burdening future generations with inevitable tax hikes, and making our federal government larger and more powerful than one could have imagined possible just a few years ago. 

According to Ohio state law, convicted child pornographers are required to carry a Tier 2 sexual offender classification, requiring registration as a sex offender for twenty years. In this case, a teen girl from Licking Valley High School is charged with illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material, a second-degree felony; and possession of criminal tools, a fifth-degree felony.

In case you made it this far without passing judgment on “yet another child pornographer,” the girl charged is fifteen years old, her “criminal tool” was a cell phone and MMS (multimedia messaging service). Her “illegal use of a minor in nudity-oriented material” were nude photos of herself. Putting those together, you can deduce that she took nude photos of herself with her cell phone. The Licking County prosecutor, Ken Oswalt, has received reports of 20 similar cases among school age teens, and he has been traveling to the area schools with an assembly program that discusses the consequences of such actions.

While the teen girl who sent these nude pictures of herself to others via MMS is not alone, she has been the only person arrested. She also spent a weekend in jail awaiting arraignment and a bond hearing. The statute she has been accused of breaking has exemptions in place that allows parents and/or guardians to take pictures of their naked children for a list of acceptable purposes. Interestingly, the statute does not provide the same exemption for the child themselves. While the consequences for her have already been laid out by the prosecutor in the charges, the recipients of her messages may be also facing prosecution for their passive role(s) in this incident.