My new friend Sam Kazman from cei.org has given me permission to post his musings here from time to time. This piece, Dining on Politics…with no cigar was published in Cigar MagazineSummer 2010 issue
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Videos of the Leesburg City Council meetings from last Friday (October 1, 2010, Special Called Meeting on SPLOST) and this past Tuesday (October 5 2010 Regular Meeting) have been uploaded. They are on the Leesburg City Council Videos page. Also, Tom’s “What is Libertarian?” post from last week’s Albany Journal will debut here on SWGAPolitics.com at 8am today. My latest edition of “Liberty Locally” will debut on United Liberty at some point in the next day or two. (I’m not an editor there, just an author, so I have no control of exactly when it publishes.) Finally, please VOTE for Leesburg citizen Traci Henry’s project to build a Special Needs playground in Leesburg via a Pepsi Refresh Project $50K grant. You can vote via the website linked on her name, and you can vote by sending 103013 to 73774. Both are completely free, and I encourage you to do both every day. Voting ends at midnight on Halloween (Oct 31), with winners announced the following morning. She is currently ranked in the 50s, and needs to be in the top 10 to win. Before we get into this, my definition of “Talibaptist”: Those so-called “Christians” who judge as the modern Taliban and Biblical Pharisees judge, rather than loving as Christ loved. If you’re a Christian who genuinely loves God’s Image Bearers, I’m not talking to you. If you’re one of the so-called Christians who has 1,000 rules covering every thing a “good” Christian should or should not do, I AM talking to you. Note that this includes “Christians” of all denominations, but I am a Baptist and therefore I have seen this more with fellow Baptists than with other denominations. Also, “Taliepiscopalians”, for example, simply doesn’t roll off the tongue as well. Anyways, the story, from the AJC:
If the people who claimed to be my brothers and sisters actually lived as our Greatest Brother did, this would never have happened. This kid would have known that no matter his personal decisions, God still loved him and so do we. He would not have had to feel the shame that drove him to his death, because he would realize that we ALL sin daily, and in God’s eyes sin is sin. None is any greater or any lesser than any other. But because of the social stigma the Talibaptists have put on anything related to homosexuality – even as we constantly see news stories of “Christian” pastors known for anti-homosexual stances being outed as bisexual at a bare minimum – these kids feel like they can do nothing except kill themselves rather than be outed. We as supposed Christ-followers have a SERIOUS problem when we are perceived this way, and until we admit this problem and actively work to correct it, we will continue to lose the very people we were called to win. In a somewhat related note, Saxby Chambliss has fired the idiot responsible for the “all faggots must die” comment being posted online at a gay blog from his office, and has apologized to the gay community. Kudos, Senator – although it should have been done the instant you found out who it was, not a week later. For some reason, the following video is causing quite a bit of hand-wringing in certain sectors: First, let me say that this “controversy” was the first time I’d ever listened to a Perry song, much less watched a video from her. That said, there is NOTHING wrong with this video. I’ve seen more skin on Sunday morning at Leesburg First Baptist Church than Katy Perry shows in this video. Yet there are those people who may as well deem that all women must wear a full burqa at all times that say this video is “morally degrading” or even “pornographic”. I would expect such terms from people like Ray McBerry, whose brand of “Christian” is so extreme as to make the Taliban look like Hollywood, yet this is from supposedly “mainstream Christians”. From a note on TX Congressional Candidate John J Myer’s Facebook page: I am asked “Why don’t you run as a Republican? You could do so much good in the Republican Party”. I should not be upset, after all it’s sort of a compliment “they like me, they really like me”! It’s hard to respond, because I don’t feel like knocking any ones attempt at freedom or smaller government. As a somewhat influential member of the Libertarian Party, some might take exception to my comment “I believe in Principle before Party”. I do believe this, but let me say I also believe the Libertarian Party needs to flourish and become a true option for the American people. It would be silly for me to tell people that they should not always vote for party and then tell them that they should only vote for mine. However, I would like to take this time to explain the many reasons why I believe people should run, and vote Libertarian. But My Teacher Says……: I was forwarded a letter the other day from the Texas Secretary of State, it was an instructional tool for teachers to help them explain to students why we have a two party system.It went on to say that “it helps preserve majority rule in a democratic state.” If you know me, you would understand why this completely gets under my skin. We don’t have a two party system, if you look in the constitution you will not find any mention of having parties whatsoever. I am quick to point out that words majority rule, democratic, democracy, etc are also all not found in the constitution. Not once. We’ll get back to a semi-regular posting schedule in a couple of weeks, but for now I am tied up with my own election and am honestly too busy campaigning to keep up to date here. The election will be on Sept 21, and we’ll get back to posting at least a few times a week after that point. In the mean time, enjoy Chuck Donovan’s latest youtube/TV commercial – and if you really enjoy it, feel free to drop over to his campaign site and drop some coin to help put it on every TV in Georgia! Please make the time to attend to listen to the candidates that will be present! Republican Runoff Debates Format: Candidates will have one minute for an opening statement at the beginning of the debate. After each candidate makes his/her statement, the candidates will proceed to ask each other questions with 30 seconds to ask the question and one minute to answer. The candidate asking the question will then get 30 seconds respond to their opponent’s answer. After approximately 25 minutes of debate, the candidates will make one minute closing remarks. Each debate will last about 30 minutes. The Gubernatorial debate will be first, followed by the Attorney General debate, followed by the Commissioner of Insurance debate, and finally the PSC debate. Candidates Confirmed: The following originally appeared as a Facebook note from Erik Viker, a Libertarian Candidate for the State House of Representatives in Pennsylvania. The extremist blogosphere and the countless chain e-mails it spawns are ratcheting up the sedition rhetoric again. Before you make the gun dealers happy or get out the torches and pitchforks, please remember that defense of person or property from those who are violating our law is one thing, but violence against the government is called “treason” by the Constitution we all honor. Vote for better candidates, at all levels of government. If you want members of your political club to win elections, you need to recognize that all those people who voted Democrat are U.S. citizens just like you, with the same right to vote that you have. Every elected official was placed in authority by the will of the majority of constituents who cared enough to vote. Not happy with the outcome, or with how those people conduct our government affairs? Then work harder next time to get better candidates elected. You choose a whole new House of Representatives and a third of the Senate every two years, and a new President every four years. A version of this post went online last Thursday at UnitedLiberty.org Nearly all of us played on various playgrounds as kids. Whether it be swinging, sliding, climbing monkey bars, or simply playing tag on an open field, play is an important part of childhood and one many of us look back on fondly. The problem for local governments is that these days, playgrounds can be expensive. Depending on exactly what you want, they can easily cost upwards of $20K for a small one, and in the six figures for larger ones. Even for larger towns, this is a lot of money – and my town only has a population of around 3,000 people! So how do we as a community promote small government while also providing ample play space for our community’s children? and everywhere else in Ga as well, obviously. Voter turnout is predicted to be fairly low – the numbers I’ve heard are anywhere from 15% to 30%. In Lee County, only 487 votes were cast during advance and early voting, though that number may rise as more mail-in ballots come in today. In 2006, there were 1621 Repulican ballots and 1736 Democratic votes cast, for a total of 3357 votes cast. There were 14,151 registered voters in Lee County as of 2006, meaning that only 23.72% of them cast a ballot in that year’s Primaries. Turnout in the General Election that year in Lee County barely topped 50%. This is supposed to be an “anti-incumbent” year, a year where people are pissed off and ready to change things. Ladies and gentlemen, there are only 2 incumbents running in 10 Ga Statewide seats (Casey Cagle and Johnny Isakson), and both are running unopposed in the Primary, though they will face two challengers each in November. Don’t let someone else dictate to you who your options will be in November. Get out there and make that decision for yourself! Polls will be open from 7a-7p today. GO VOTE GA! |
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