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?

New Podcast Posted

I've added a special edition of the Libertarian Party of Indiana's Weekly Podcast, to include more dialogue from Dr. Eric Schansberg. I asked him about the prudent ways Indiana should spend the stimulus money, since it seems certain that we aren't going to pull a Utah and say, "No thanks!" - plus the traps our state should avoid.

I very happy with the timeliness and the content!

I am very interested to talk soon with Ed Angleton (hopefully this week) about legislation at the Statehouse, and I have conversations with the dynamic duo of Susan & Rex Bell in the can, so there will be plenty more to listen to!

Vote Libertarian!

I am sending this appeal to any voter, but in particular, I want to urge the people who supported my 2006 campaign for Indiana Secretary of State to get out to the polls and cast votes for Libertarian Party candidates.

When I ran for that office, it wasn't just in seeking the office. It was to ensure continued automatic ballot access for all of Indiana's Libertarian party candidates. This is the day that effort was put forth for.

If you supported my campaign, with your effort, your time, your money- do yourself a favor and protect your investment. Make sure the showing is as strong as possible for our Libertarian candidates.

If you support libertarian policy, please do not be discouraged by the perceived likely results in the various races. Show up and cast your vote. When we score strongly, our ideas are taken seriously. If we don't? Well, why should anyone take us seriously?

But truly, we're running some strong races out there. Steve Keltner is running a fantastic campaign for Indiana Senate in District 30. Ed Angleton is also running strong, for Indiana House in District 100. Rex Bell scored 15% in his three-way 2006 run for Indiana House in District 54, and this time it's a two-way race. Rex could win! Dr. Eric Schansberg is running another strong campaign for US House in District 9. And on, and on.

Full list of Libertarian candidates on the ballot in Indiana.

Do it for me! Do it for yourself and your children. Just do it- vote Libertarian.

Petty Little Tyrants

Abdul Hakim-Shabazz recently blogged that there may be retribution directed at those vocal Marion County opponents of property taxes when the reassessments are released. Ed Angleton reports that he is seeing such retribution:

I attended all the rallies, filed an appeal, and spoke unkindly about the ability of the Center Township Assessor's Office to assess their way out of a paper bag. Our neighbors did none of these.

Now comes the reassessment.

My assessment dropped from $256,000 to $232,000.
My neighbors dropped from $225,00 to $141,300.

Futhermore, I can point to two other neighbors who exprienced similar decreases, one for $193,00 to $114,000 and another that went from $254,400 to $170,200.

So, did the petty little tyrants choose to drop the hammer on my wife and I for speaking up?

You bet they did.

Petty little tyrants, indeed. This is government at its worst- when decision-making is arbitrary and capricious, when it is directed by revenge.

It is when I learn of stories like these that I think back to days gone by, when the oppressed tarred and feathered unjust officials, or sent them out of town on a rail, and think that such action was wholly justified. The apparent lack of ethics on the part of the Center Township Assessor's Office is staggering, and should be met with some punishment. We'll start here in the Court of Public Opinion, but somewhere, some higher authority should be slamming a hammer down on the Assessor's Office.