Friday, March 06, 2009

Yet Another New Podcast Posted

Beyond the petty retribution Ed Coleman received, another thing revealed was that the City-County Council may have rules that address the political parties and where they fit into the structure of power, those rules are vague at best, and at worst do little more than protect the two parties currently holding power.

As the Ds and Rs consistently fail to deliver, I can foresee a greater number of third party victories at all levels of government, not just for Libertarians, but for Greens and perhaps a new party or two. The voters aren't going to be happy to learn, when the day comes, that the people they elect are essentially without a voice- and that it's all perfectly within the rules.

I spoke with Tim Maguire about the rules. Maguire is the Chair of the Marion County Libertarians.

Link to the podcast archive.
More Podcasting on Ed Coleman

When then-Republican City-County Councilor Ed Coleman left for the Libertarian Party, I felt 100% certain that there would be a political price for him to pay. Talking with party insiders, the general consensus was that he would probably be removed from one or more of the committees on which he served.

In fact, he was removed from all of them on Monday. Again- no real surprise. Politics is a bare-knuckled game, and retaliation, no matter how silly or childish it may seem, is a way of political life just as much as favors and back scratching is on the flip side.

I got a better sense of why Ed left yesterday, when I interviewed him again for the Libertarian party of Indiana's Weekly Podcast. This wasn't the first retaliation against Ed by the Republicans, nor the first time he was stripped of a committee appointment. Because Ed was speaking out on issues against the grain of his former party's leadership, he was stripped of committee appointments, and then assigned to different committees. To summarize Ed, he was advised that being reassigned was a warning, and that he should shut up and toe the line.

Here's the link to the podcast archive. Check out Podcast #011, released March 5. It is incredibly revealing in details about how local government works. Or doesn't.

I asked Ed if the members of the City-County Council read the ordinances they vote on. Interesting answer, to say the least.

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Still In Iraq

Barack Obama has been President 42 days, and we're still in Iraq, and looking at the prospect of increasing war activity in Afghanistan.

If McCain was elected, I doubt that the left would agree that August 2010 would be soon enough for withdrawl from Iraq. Why is it ok for the Obama Administration?

Monday, March 02, 2009

Latest Podcast Posted

#10 features Ed Angleton, the former 2-day Jeopardy champ and recent candidate for Indiana House in Marion County's District 100. Ed contributes to the Libertarian Party of Indiana's legislative review blog, and shared his thoughts on the best and worst law before the state's legislature this session.

Link to the podcast archive.

LPIN's legislative review blog is yet another thing the other parties won't do, because it entails taking a broad stand for or against a bill. Sure, there's room for diverging viewpoints, but if a political party is supposed to be a vehicle for moving public policy in a defined direction, how can it hope to do so unless it is willing to publicly take a stand one way or another? Is it any wonder our states and nation seem to be busy, but never moving the policy anywhere in particular?