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It's 12:00 AM EDT on June 1st, which means... June 1st Rand Paul Money Bomb ! --->[ Donate here !]<--- Thanks so much for bearing with me this past week here at THL as I heavily promoted this Money Bomb, and thanks so much for your support of Rand Paul today. This week, I've got some great commentary and analysis planned in the mix in addition to some more info on the fantastic opportunities we have over the next two years for electoral activism. I'll be live-tweeting the Money Bomb for a couple hours tonight and then all day tomorrow. Look forward to seeing ya there! Hashtags: #THL #$bomb #R&Paul -------------------- UPDATE: Just made my donation- And Rand's website sends you this neat little e-mail message afterward: Thank you for your generous donation to Rand Paul for US Senate Exploratory Committee. Your contributions provide the fuel for a well coordinated, effective, and successful campaign. With your help, we will bring honesty, responsibility, an

Rand Paul campaigning for his father, Ron Paul in NH - Image by nicco ( CC ) Updates on the Rand Paul Money Bomb When Rand Paul announced his exploratory committee, he said that if incumbent Senator Bunning steps down he will absolutely run in the Republican Primary. I am excited to announce that this Wednesday, Rand Paul took it a step further and said in an interview that if he raises a significant amount of money over the next several months, he would give serious consideration to challenging Bunning and any other potential contenders in the Primary. In effect, Rand has presented a lofty challenge to local and national supporters. If they shower him with financial support, he will answer the call of duty. Could this be a subtle hint aimed at us moneybombers? Then today, Dr. Paul posted this video to RandPaul2010.com, urging us to help him raise enough money to wage a successful campaign for Senate. See you guys on Rand's donation page this Monday! Support From Notable Lead

I have a guest post up today over at Eric Dondero's blog, Libertarian Republican . It features four main areas of analysis concerning President Obama's appointment of Judge Sotomayor to our nation's highest court. These are: 1. It was a cynical, racial pick calculated to prevent any real, legitimate, non-racial debate about how she would perform on the Supreme Court, because anyone who opposes her will be painted as racist whether it's true or not. 2. Judge Sotomayor herself expressed extremely racist and sexist sentiments in her now-famous 2001 quote, and we shouldn't take any chances on putting a racist on our nation's highest court. 3. Judge Sotomayor, it would appear, is not even very legally competent, certainly not legally exemplary, and most certainly not qualified for the SCOTUS. 4. Judge Sotomayor has an abysmal record on upholding our basic freedoms as enumerated in the Constitution. She is a friend of affirmative action and an enemy of gun-rights,

Here are a couple upcoming opportunities for any interested libertarians: The Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism "IPN's Bastiat Prize for Journalism was inspired by the 19th-century French philosopher and journalist Frédéric Bastiat. The prize was developed to encourage and reward writers whose published works promote the institutions of a free society: limited government, rule of law brokered by an independent judiciary, protection of private property, free markets, free speech, and sound science.This year, the Bastiat Prize has been expanded and includes a new prize for online journalism (including blogs and self-published articles). Bastiat Prize for Online Journalism (One winner only, $3,000) Sign up to receive a periodic email reminder about the competition between now and June 30, 2009, the final day that submissions will be received." H/T: Greg, The Holy Cause Cato University "Cato University is the Cato Institute's premier educational event of

Michael D. Tanner of The Cato Institute Following up on Tuesday's critique of socialized medicine , which featured the work of Michael, D. Tanner, a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute- blogger Chris Moody (also with Cato) hooked me up with an interview to bring you some more expert information on the state of American health care from Michael D. Tanner himself. Here it is: Free Market Alternatives T H L : Thanks so much for taking the time to answer some questions about health care. I truly appreciate it and I'm excited to hear what you have to say. In your featured articles at the Cato Institute, you do an excellent job of exposing the flaws in the push for government-provided universal health insurance, but one thing we never stop hearing from social democrats these days is that their political opponents offer no real alternatives. Could you briefly outline a platform for health care reform that you would support? (We could call it "The Tanner Plan.") Michael D

As I've been working on various libertarian causes lately, it has been encouraging to change my desktop every couple of days to a different libertarian-themed wallpaper. Here is a selection of the ones I've been using. PC users- just click on each image to get the full-sized version, then right-click on the full-sized version to select "Set as Desktop Background..." from the drop-down menu. Of course if you know of any other awesome libertarian wallpapers, let me know in the comments so I can include them here. [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ] [ Source ]

If you like the DMV, you'll love Universal Healthcare. Photo by Charlie Reece ( CC ) Michael D. Tanner , a Senior Fellow at the Cato Institute, has published some good criticisms recently of the health care policies taking shape in Washington. Take for instance his piece last Thursday over at the National Review, which begins: "Drip by painful drip, the details of the Democratic health-care-reform plan have been leaking out. And from what we can see so far, it looks like bad news for American taxpayers, health-care providers, and, most important, patients... The net result would be an unprecedented level of government control over one-sixth of the U.S. economy, and over some of the most important, personal, and private decisions in Americans’ lives." He proceeds to outline seven major areas of change that will stomp out individual liberty and distort the operation and ability of the marketplace to bring us the best quality at the lowest prices. Here is his brief summ

Rand Paul campaigning for his father, Ron Paul in NH - Image by nicco ( CC ) Enthusiasm For The Rand Paul Money Bomb Hey folks! I'm happy to see the enthusiasm this Money Bomb has started to generate. Within hours of getting up the post, I was getting links from some people at DailyPaul , discussion at RonPaulForums , and shares on Facebook (where someone had put up a Facebook event that same day). I've also been getting messages and phone calls about it. Apparently Rand Paul is now aware of it. This is of course, our own grassroots effort and it was my idea to start a small money bomb for Rand Paul's exploratory committee on June 1st. Rand and his committee were surprised to hear about it, and they are okay with us moving forward and making it a success. That's what I love about this political movement! We've got passion and we take initiative. We did it in 2007 to spectacular effect, and we have come full circle to another campaign season with exciting pro

Help make Rand Paul's run for Senate a reality by participating in and promoting the June 1st Rand Paul Money Bomb ! --->[On June 1st donate here !]<--- The Goal of the June 1st Money Bomb To get Rand Paul's fundraising to $50,000 and beyond, which means we need to raise over $25,000 in one day. If 1000 people each give just $25 on June 1st, we will likely hit $50,000. Easy. If only twice that number- 2000 people- give $40 each, Rand Paul's exploratory committee will have raised over $100,000 in its first quarter (nay- first month!) of existence. But in order for it to work, we have to give! And we have to promote this in as many ways as we can! Why A June 1st Money Bomb? Because Ron Paul's son, Rand Paul is running for the U. S. Senate in Kentucky, which officially became a commonwealth and was admitted to the Union on June 1 , 1792. It's also the perfect time to get a quick little money bomb in early on to jump start Rand Paul's fundi

Screenshot from RandPaul2010.com I wrote a piece for Rand Paul's official campaign website entitled " The Case for Rand Paul ." Here it is in its entirety, but please also visit the official website, browse around, do some learning about Dr. Rand Paul, and take just five minutes and as little as five dollars (or more- your budget permitting!) to donate to his campaign if you think Americans need another advocate for true freedom and common sense government in our nation's capitol and if it seems to you that Rand Paul would exemplify those principles. It certainly does to me: "The Case For Rand Paul" The Commonwealth of Kentucky is known for its bluegrass pastures and music, rich culture, vast resources, and down-to-earth, hardworking Americans. In this time of great change and greater challenges, Kentucky needs a common man, with common sense, to represent the commonwealth. That man is Dr. Rand Paul of Bowling Green, Kentucky. Dr. Paul has owned his

Coal Gas Plant Photo by Joel Mabel ( GFDL ) We're in trouble. Congressman Henry Waxman's Cap and Trade Energy Bill is just as big and just as bad as the Stimulus Bill and TARP Bailout - and it's about to come to a vote in committee on Capitol Hill in less than 48 hours. Apparently , Rep. Waxman has skipped over a subcommittee vote to push his bill through for a full vote by the House Energy and Commerce Committee this week. What this bill would do : Mandate that 25% of U.S. electricity come from "renewable" sources (and nuclear doesn't count). "This kind of renewable portfolio standard directly contradicts the putative flexibility of cap and trade, which is supposed to allow businesses to reduce CO2 how and where it is least expensive." Regulate everything from roofing to "furnaces, laundry machines, dishwashers, showerheads, faucets, water closets, and urinals even (or especially?) jacuzzis." By 2020, "the manufacture of any gen

Obama's new fuel standards will smash the auto industry. ( photo ) It's just one insane policy after another these days. When I argued against the auto bailouts last December, I wrote : When a group of automobile industry executives who are intimately acquainted with the particulars of their own industry are apparently not able to return a profit on their operations, it is downright absurd to think that a group of politicians (who are hardly exemplars of efficient spending or financial management themselves) can dictate operational policies that will return profits from these auto companies. Today's announcement from President Barack Obama calling for stricter fuel and emissions standards is just more evidence to substantiate my concern: President Barack Obama will announce new vehicle-emission rules tomorrow, setting the first-ever nationwide limit on greenhouse-gas pollution from autos, people familiar with the plan said. The move would force automakers to meet a fuel-ec

Late last week, it was exciting to hear Dr. Rand Paul of Kentucky (Congressman Ron Paul's son) announce his exploratory committee for a 2010 Senate bid. Here's a video of his official announcement on the Rachel Maddow show in case you missed it. You can expect plenty of commentary on and enthusiastic support for Rand Paul's campaign in the coming weeks and months. Get ready for it. This is going to be really exciting. Here's some more information on Rand Paul , which I posted in late February when Dr. Paul expressed interest in running. You can visit his campaign website and make a donation here .

Feb 27th Tea Party Protest - Nashville, TN © 2009 W. E. Messamore I mentioned on Twitter early this week that the Tennesseean got in touch with me to do an hour-long interview on the motivation behind the Tea Party protests. After scheduling the interview, I put together a one page explanation listing the reasons behind our activism and brought that to the interview for the journalist to keep and use. Here it is below. As soon as the Tennessean publishes some of the information from the interview, I'll be sure to let you know in an update. ---------- UPDATE (1:27 pm) - It seems that this post and the Tennessean's Tea Party article went up at roughly the same time today. Check it out; the part with information from my interview is on page 2. ---------- The American Tea Party 2009 - Why Protest? W. E. Messamore | ***.***.**** (c) | wemessamore@gmail.com http://www.humblelibertarian.com Oligarchy- Many Americans no longer feel that their voice is being heard or that th

Photo by splifr ( CC ) Chris Moody e-mailed me the other day to tip me off to the Cato Institute's coverage of the White House drug czar's decision to stop using the phrase "War on Drugs." Reports the Wall Street Journal : The Obama administration’s new drug czar says he wants to banish the idea that the U.S. is fighting “a war on drugs,” a move that would underscore a shift favoring treatment over incarceration in trying to reduce illicit drug use. "Regardless of how you try to explain to people it's a 'war on drugs' or a 'war on a product,' people see a war as a war on them," he said. "We're not at war with people in this country." Cato Institute scholar Ted Carpenter is correct to give very reserved praise with an important qualification for this change in White House terminology: Well, that’s at least a modest step in the right direction. However, I want to see how policies change (if they do) under the Obama admini

Miss California, Carrie Prejean Source ( CC ) This week Carrie Prejean has been making headlines once again because of an investigation into some semi-nude photos that may have disqualified her from retaining her crown as Miss California. As it turned out, pageant owner Donald Trump allowed her to retain her crown , saying "We've made a determination that the pictures taken were acceptable. Some were risque, but we are in the 21st century." Furthermore, he defended her answer to Perez Hilton during the Miss USA Pageant and started another controversy by saying "It's the same answer the president of the United States gave. It's the same answer many people gave. She gave an honorable answer. She gave an answer from her heart, and I think for that she has to be commended." Last month when the controversy broke, I wrote in defense of Carrie Prejean , arguing that her answer exemplified perfect tolerance and noting that she "did not say that gay marria

Congressman Ron Paul gives an interview on FoxBusiness earlier this week, warning against the dangers of runaway inflation and criticizing the policies of the Obama Administration and Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke. Curiously, at 1:18 he says that it's a good thing (or at least it seems from the video- the most reasonable thing) for the U.S. government to pay off its astronomical debt through inflating the money supply. Huh? I thought he was against that. And he does immediately seem to contradict himself a moment later by saying how bad inflation is and how much better it would be to cut spending and simply pay off our debt with revenues. Can someone help me figure this out? Any big Ron Paul fans/apologists who might have an insight into what he meant? Was that a slip up when he said it's a "good thing" for government to liquidate debt by printing money? Or did he mean it and have some solid, though somewhat sophisticated reasoning behind it? Or is he j

Looks like more of the inevitable is happening at the post office. When will we understand that this government enforced monopoly is pointless and wasteful? If we opened first class mail up to competition, FedEx and UPS would almost certainly thoroughly and quickly replace the post office, probably reducing the price and certainly preventing the steady stream of price hikes created by the current enforced monopoly. The silliest part of it all is the notion that the Forever Stamps, which allow people to buy stamps that can be used any time, even after a price increase, will do any good. These stamps have no effect on the problem. The problem is not that the American people are paying too much. The problem is that we don't have a true price system, so we have no clue what "too much" is. The post office, like every enforced monopoly is constantly aware that they can simply raise prices to cover costs, and never have to worry about competition. Even a monopoly in a market is