The Humble Libertarian original

I could feel my ears and cheeks burn as I read this article . I could hardly even believe it. Newt Gingrich is a sleazy politician, but he's got a primary to win: that even his campaign staff and supporters could behave in such a brazenly brutal and vicious way shocked and outraged me. His campaign should have to apologize for this : Dillard, a 29-year-old Ron Paul supporter from this suburb near Orlando, arrived to vote at his precinct at Winderemere Baptist Church early Tuesday morning. Pulling into the parking lot, Dillard noticed a man outside the polling place with a Gingrich sign. He decided to run home, slip into his "Ron Paul Rocks America" T-shirt, grab a "Ron Paul 2012" sign from his garage, and return to give his candidate some representation outside the precinct after he cast his vote. Dillard found a quiet spot along a sidewalk lined with tiny American flags and held up his sign. Little did he know, Newt Gingrich had chosen that very spot to mak...

The Florida Primary sure is getting ugly. Here's a robocall that Newt Gingrich is running (h/t memeo ): The Newt Gingrich campaign has a robocall out in Florida claiming that Mitt Romney once took kosher food away from Holocaust survivors. The allegation made in the call, obtained by anti-robocall activist Shaun Dakin, is undoubtedly targeted at Florida's large Jewish and elderly populations. The text of the call: As governor of Massachusetts, Mitt Romney vetoed a bill paying for kosher food for our seniors in nursing homes. Holocaust survivors, who for the first time, were forced to eat non-kosher, because Romney thought $5 was too much to pay for our grandparents to eat kosher. Where is Mitt Romney's compassion for our seniors? Tuesday you can end Mitt Romney's hypocrisy on religious freedom, with a vote for Newt Gingrich. Paid for by Newt 2012. The call is referencing Romney's veto of a 2003 bill. It came at a time that some nursing homes were consideri...

Ron Paul is skipping out on Florida and looking ahead to Maine and Nevada's caucuses on Saturday, February 4th: This week, Ron Paul is likely to win more delegates to the 2012 GOP convention than either Newt Gingrich or Rick Santorum. In fact, he’s likely to win more delegates than Gingrich and Santorum combined. “Hold it”, you’re saying, “How can that be? Rep. Paul’s polling in single digits in Florida. He’s going to finish behind Gingrich and Santorum, as well as Mitt Romney, in Tuesday’s Florida primary. How can that translate into beating any of his rivals at all?” We’ll tell you how – because he’s not winning those delegates in Florida. He’s winning, or will probably win, at least a few delegates in Maine. Paul took a quick two-day swing through Maine over the weekend, in case you didn’t notice. He met with GOP Gov. Paul LePage. He spoke to big crowds throughout the state – in Lewiston, apparently, event organizers had to expand his conference room to handle the peopl...

Last week, we explored the three functions that money serves and learned that money has enabled so many of the modern world’s advances in material prosperity and standards of living by acting as a: 1) Medium of exchange, 2) Unit of account, and 3) Store of value. If you haven’t already read it, please read What is money? (Part I) to familiarize yourself with these roles that money plays and why they are so essential to the material success we all enjoy today. If you’ve read Part I, you’re ready for Part II below, where we’ll explore what characteristics money has to have in order to fulfill these roles… Read the rest of my article at The Silver Underground . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

'Voters will see these “pre-endorsements” for what they are and resent the party hierarchy’s attempt to dictate results to them. Instead of helping the candidates that they endorse so early on, the parties will only hurt their chances. Pre-endorsements will become a liability to establishment picks and be used against them by their grassroots opponents. It isn’t about left vs. right anymore.  It’s about the establishment vs. you, and more and more voters are starting to really believe that.' Read the entire article at IVN.us . Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Saw this on Facebook and it made me laugh. Especially because I love Back to the Future so much. Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

I'm glad I featured this Salon piece recently , as I've gotten a lot of responses from The Humble Libertarian 's Mormon readers, who say if Romney adhered more closely to his church's principles, he'd be more libertarian and a more acceptable candidate. Reader Carla writes: I'm Mormon. The White Horse Prophecy is considered more urban legend than actual prophecy by Joseph Smith. The Church officially distances itself from it. So whoever wrote this is missing some key facts. Including the one where most Mormons support Ron Paul, not Mitt Romney. And: Romney definitely goes against official Church doctrine and scriptures all the time. The principle of agency is one of the most basic and important elements of our faith and he doesn't seem to believe in it himself. It leaves me and every other Mormon I know scratching our heads as to where he gets his politics. And yes, Mormons support Ron Paul in droves. I don't know of a single person wh...

Mitt Romney is REALLY rich. How rich? The AP says : Add up the wealth of the last eight presidents, from Richard Nixon to Barack Obama. Then double that number. Now you’re in Romney territory. He would be among the richest presidents in American history if elected — probably in the top four. ... The former Massachusetts governor has disclosed only the broad outlines of his wealth, putting it somewhere from $190 million to $250 million. That easily could make him 50 times richer than Obama, who falls in the still-impressive-to-most-of-us range of $2.2 million to $7.5 million. “I think it’s almost hard to conceptualize what $250 million means,” said Shamus Khan, a Columbia University sociologist who studies the wealthy. “People say Romney made $50,000 a day while not working last year. What do you do with all that money? I can’t even imagine spending it. Well, maybe …” This speaks to Romney's electability against Barack Obama this November. The economy is hurting badly and...

From The Fountainhead by Ayn Rand: "It was a contest without time, a struggle of two abstractions, the thing that had created the building against the things that made the play possible--two forces suddenly naked to her in their simple statement--two forces that had fought since the world began--and every religion had known of them--and there had always been a God and a Devil--only men had been so mistaken about the shapes of their Devil--he was not single and big, he was many and smutty and small." Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Fans of Journey will be either delighted or annoyed by the sample in this rap (as a Journey fan myself, I was positively delighted). Fans of liberty, fiscal responsibility, and monetary sanity will be 100% delighted by the lyrics. The video might be nsfw due to some f-bombs and the (spoiler alert:) "banana hammock" (very skimpy male swimsuit) at the end of the music video. Music sampled from Separate Ways (Worlds Apart) : Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

This is what's wrong with public education: Hell no, he won’t go. In a defiant raspberry to the city Department of Education — and taxpayers — disgraced teacher Alan Rosenfeld, 66, won’t retire. Deemed a danger to kids, the typing teacher with a $10 million real estate portfolio hasn’t been allowed in a classroom for more than a decade, but still collects $100,049 a year in city salary — plus health benefits, a growing pension nest egg, vacation and sick pay. Mayor Bloomberg and Gov. Cuomo can call for better teacher evaluations until they’re blue-faced, but Rosenfeld and six peers with similar gigs costing about $650,000 a year in total salaries are untouchable. Under a system shackled by protections for tenured teachers, they can’t be fired, the DOE says. “It’s an F-U,” a friend of Rosenfeld said of his refusal to quit. “He’s happy about it, and very proud that he beat the system. This is a great show-up-but-don’t-do-anything job.” Accused in 2001 of making lewd co...

On the eve of the Florida primary, all signs seem to be pointing to Mitt Romney. If Romney wins big it will be a huge boost of momentum. It will be a big pelt to nail on the wall while adding fuel to the narrative of both Romney’s inevitability and electability. Yet one cannot help but notice that a Romney candidacy is still disdained by much of the party. And despite what a Florida victory would mean for Romney, Gingrich shows every sign that he is willing to remain in the race for the long haul. Appearing Sunday morning on ABC, Gingrich said he expects the race to “go all the way to the convention.” Gingrich appears to think that even if Romney wins Florida, that he has the opportunity to fight Romney in a war of attrition with all the proportionally-awarded delegates. Read the rest at The RevoluTimes . Carl Wicklander , Regular Columnist, T H L Articles Author's Page Website

Way too cool not to share... The Politico reports : On this day in 1835, Andrew Jackson (1767-1845) became the first U.S. president to be targeted by an assassin. Richard Lawrence, an unemployed house painter, approached Jackson as he left a congressional funeral held in the House chamber of the Capitol and shot at him. His gun misfired. A delusional Lawrence believed that the U.S. government owed him a large sum that Jackson was keeping from him. Release of the funds, he thought, would allow him to take his rightful place as King Richard III of England. Jackson, who was 67 at the time, repeatedly clubbed Lawrence with his walking cane. During the ensuing scuffle, Lawrence took another pistol out of his pocket and pulled the trigger. But that gun also misfired. Bystanders joined in, wrestling Lawrence to the ground and disarming him. One of them was Rep. Davy Crockett of Tennessee. The U.S. Secret Service — which is now charged with protecting presidents, members of ...

Saw this somewhere. Thought it was cool. Occupy Your Mind... then you can become a libertarian and start reading my website :) Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

This is a pretty good Ron Paul interview. The questioner asks a lot of questions about Ron Paul's thoughts on the primary itself, his chances in upcoming states, his thoughts on the other candidates, and what he plans to do practically in the coming months with his supporters and with the delegates that he racks up: Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

From the New York Times (hat tip memeorandum ): The trip to Jordan by a group of United States congressmen was supposed to be a chance for them to meet the newly crowned King Abdullah II. But their tour guide had a more complicated agenda. The guide was Sheldon Adelson, a Las Vegas casino magnate who helped underwrite trips to the Middle East to win support for Israel in Congress. On this occasion in 1999, as the lawmakers enjoyed a reception at the Royal Palace in Amman, Mr. Adelson and an aide retreated to a private room with the king. There, the king listened politely as Mr. Adelson sat on a sofa and paged through his proposal for a gambling resort on the Jordan-Israel border to be called the Red Sea Kingdom. “This was shortly after his father, King Hussein, died, and he was grateful to me,” Mr. Adelson explained later in court testimony, recalling that he had lent his plane when the ailing monarch sought treatment in the United States. “So they remembered.” The proposal...

This is big. From Veterans Today : The CIA is “out of control” and often refuses to cooperate with other parts of the national security community, even undermining their efforts, said former National Security Agency head William Odom, according to a recently released record of a 9/11 Commission interview. “The CIA currently doesn’t work for anyone. It thinks it works for the president, but it doesn’t and it’s out of control,” says a report summarizing remarks made by Odom, a retired three-star general who served as director of the NSA from 1985 to 1988. Odom, who also served on the National Security Council staff during the Carter administration, was known as an outspoken advocate for intelligence reform. He died in 2008. The 2003 interview, among others conducted by the 9/11 Commission, was posted on the website Cryptome, which is often compared to the secret-spilling WikiLeaks website. The report was not a leak, however, but one of many records relating to the 9/11 Commission...

In the context of voting for him or not, I care a lot more about Mitt Romney's politics than his religion, but maybe for him the two are more blurred than I was aware. Some highlights from the Salon article: Mitt and the White Horse Prophecy A close look at the roots of Romney's -- and the Mormon church's -- political ambitions ... From the time of his birth — March 13, 1947 — through adolescence and into manhood, the meshing of religion and politics was paramount in Mitt Romney’s life. Called “my miracle baby” by his mother, who had been told by her physician that it was impossible for her to bear a fourth child, Romney was christened Willard Mitt Romney in honor of close family friend and one of the richest Mormons in history, J. Willard Marriott. In 1962, when Mitt — as they decided to call him — was a sophomore in high school, his father, George W. Romney, was elected governor of Michigan. Throughout the early 1960s, Mitt collected petition signatures, ca...

I'm pretty sure I've featured one or two of these before here, but today we're leading the week with a very special #MusicMonday feature: every single RAP NEWS with Robert Foster music video all in one place here at The Humble Libertarian , courtesy of The Juice Media ! Excited yet? These videos are incredibly creative; Foster's writing, rapping, and acting are impressive; and the point of view is one generally critical of tyranny and supportive of libertarian ideas like freedom, transparency, and rule of law. (If you're at work or around kids, I should warn you that I believe there are a few expletives scattered throughout the over ten videos below, but not every other word or anything like that.) Make yourself a cup of tea and watch: RAP NEWS 1 with Robert Foster: Moon Bass RAP NEWS 2 with Robert Foster: OBAMA wins Nobel "War is Peace" Prize RAP NEWS 3 with Robert Foster: Lord Monckton rap-battles Al Gore on Climate Change RAP NEWS 4...

I wish Grover Norquist would spend all this energy focused on anti- spending increases and anti- spending pledges. He'd be unstoppable. We've got to move the conversation away from taxes and focus it on government spending. Spending is the problem. Taxes are just one symptom of that problem. Hat tip: Memeorandum Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

Someone posted this on Facebook with sports logos on the babies' shirts, so I thought I'd add political ones to illustrate the two camps' reaction when Ron Paul beats Mitt Romney for the Republican nomination thanks to all our hard work! Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

When badgered with the age question at a CNN presidential debate, Congressman Ron Paul gave a Ronald Reagan quality answer and the audience loved it: Wes Messamore , Editor in Chief, T H L Articles | Author's Page

The best news all week could easily be this : Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner, the last member of the Obama administration’s original economic team, said he doesn’t expect to remain in office if the president is re-elected. “He’s not going to ask me to stay on, I’m pretty confident,” Geithner said in an interview with Bloomberg Television yesterday in Charlotte, North Carolina. “I’m confident he’ll be president. But I’m also confident he’s going to have the privilege of having another secretary of the Treasury.” Awesome. The Fed’s people are becoming a big liability to politicians, especially ones like Tim Geithner who was heavily involved in orchestrating the financial bailouts, and has had some issues with paying his taxes as well, exemplifying the culture of privilege and corruption in finance, as well as the “revolving door” between big finance and big government, Wall Street and Washington. The Federal Reserve and its puppet masters are finally the target o...

Ron Paul Highlights From The 1/26/2012 Republican Presidential Primary Debate Hosted by CNN in Jacksonville: (my commentary follows) Ron Paul's best debate performance yet??? Even Ron Paul's critics were impressed by his performance at last night's debate. As a Daily Paul blogger notes , Red State's Erick Erickson had some surprisingly kind words for the good doctor: "Then there was Ron Paul. Many of us quickly dismiss Ron Paul, but his performance was stellar. He offered extremely sound responses on healthcare, education, border security, and more. Very few of the questions were on foreign policy, which is where he tends to go off the reservation. Last night he came off as warm, funny, and right on the mark. It was his best debate performance. Santorum and Paul benefited from Romney and Gingrich’s constant bickering." Who's the isolationist? Watch from 2:00 - 7:00 where Ron Paul and Rick Santorum skirmish over foreign policy and tell me whic...