Tooting My Own Horn

The most recent installment of the Libertarian Party of Indiana's Weekly Podcast turns the tables on me. Rather than hosting as the interviewer, I am the guest, as the Chair of the Hamilton County LP. The guest host was more than capable. LPIN Executive Director Chris Spangle is a radio pro, a former producer at Indy's WXNT for the Abdul in the Morning show.

I answered Chris' questions about my plans for growing the Hamilton County affiliate, and the challenges in reaching voters in a traditionally Republican county, and one that is split between the highly developed suburban landscape of Carmel, Fishers, and Noblesville, and the rural and small towns of Sheridan, Atlanta, and Strawtown.

Here's the link to the podcast archive.

You can also subscribe to get every podcast episode downloaded to your iTunes or other service. Follow this link to subscribe. All 30 podcasts are available!

No TV? No Big Deal

In five days- you know, unless they can't pull it off, as was the case in January- all the broadcast TV stations will switch to digital, and the Kole household will lose the remaining 7 or 8 channels we have had since we pulled the plug on cable two years ago. Per the Indy Star:

The clock is ticking if you haven't made the switch to digital. On Friday, federal law requires television stations to stop broadcasting in analog. Recently released Nielsen data show Indianapolis is the 16th-least-prepared market. More than 40,000 households -- or 3.6 percent -- are not ready.

Only 3.6%? I'm amazed at how crucially important Americans find their televisions to be. Or, for that matter, how important entertainment is regarded.

If you ask me about movies made in the last 10 years, you'll get a blank from me. I'm astonished at how so many who are not named Ebert or Socey have encyclopedic knowledge of every movie Ben Stiller has ever made... and yet couldn't begin to tell you what the 4th Amendment is about, or what the Enumerated Powers are, or what their state income tax rate is, or who their representative in municipal government is.

So, government colluded with electronics retailers to needlessly create demand for new devices? Count me out. I don't need it. TV is the heroin that helps keep the populace distracted and stupid... and poorer. I can't believe how many 'poor' people subscribe to cable at $100/month. It's all an incredible misplacement of values.

Best Wishes, Andy Horning

With Andy Horning departing Indiana for Texas, after so many mostly Libertarian campaigns for office, we're seeing many nice tributes to the man, several of which go, "I'm a Libertarian because of Andy Horning".

Well, I can't say that's my story too. I was a Libertarian back in Ohio, when it became apparent in mid-2002 that I would be moving to Indianapolis with Ame. I didn't know anybody in Indy. I didn't even have a job lined up, so I was looking to make associations right away. So, I called the Libertarian Party of Indiana's office, talked with then-Executive Director Brad Klopfenstein, asking where I could get active upon arrival.

No hesitation. Brad directed me to Andy's campaign for Congress.

I was most impressed. I was leaving a state where the Libertarian Party lacked ballot access. I was never deeply involved with the LPO, because it was scarcely like a political party at all. If you can't get on the ballot, you essentially don't exist. But Andy Horning fulfilled everything I expected a Libertarian candidate for Congress to be: He is something of a statesman. His positions are well-reasoned. His delivery smooth and sure. His temper even. I felt great about my move, politically. Everything that Ohio couldn't be, because of the repressive ballot access laws, Indiana seemed to be. Before I even knew my neighbors, I was delivering the Hoosier Libertarian newspaper to every door in my neighborhood, in an effort to promote Andy's campaign.

Andy Horning is one large reason I ran for Secretary of State, beginning in late 2004. Yes, by then he had jumped ship and was running for the Republicans, but the purpose for my running was established: to preserve the ability of Libertarian candidates to have the ballot access.

I was delighted when Andy came back to the Libertarians, and accepted the 2008 nomination for Governor. He was running with us, on the ballot access I helped preserve. That was a private observation and pleasure, until now.

The last political thing I did with Andy was to sit down with him for an interview for the Libertarian party of Indiana's Weekly Podcast. He was working in Louisville, and when the issue of state sovereignty began to arise in Indiana and several other states, there was no other person I wished to interview on the subject. Andy answered as sometimes only Andy can- with a somewhat confounding, surprising response, but one that was wholly consistent with his view of the US and Indiana Constitutions. He was speaking off the cuff, but he was as scholarly as a university professor... and he was truly just gabbing on his lunch break.

So, I'll miss you, Andy. Indiana's loss is Texas' gain.

Never Wonder Why Some Libertarians Dislike Democrats

I couldn't believe what I was reading this morning, in an article on Andy Horning's leaving Indiana later this month. From the Indy Star report:

A confident public speaker and skilled debater, Horning has been the face of the Indiana Libertarian Party for a decade and has run for offices ranging from county recorder to governor.

"I don't think he made any good points, but he made his points in a way that you didn't dislike the man," said Dan Parker, the Democratic state chairman.

This makes Andy rather unlike Dan Parker.

It seems that Indiana Democrats know only one speed: attack. If there's one time when one can say nice, flattering things about a member of an opposing party while they are still alive, it's when they are leaving your area. Alas, Parker.

When I was running for Secretary of State a few years ago, Ame & I hosted some fundraisers in our home, and she was always taken aback, as a Democrat herself, by the contempt some Indiana Libertarians hold for Democrats. This is pretty typical fare, so there shouldn't be any surprise at it.

Hamilton County Libertarian Meet-Up

Our Meet-Up group meets the first Thursday of every month. Come join us tomorrow in Noblesville! The discussion is informal, the food & beer is delicious, and our group is growing each month.

Thursday, June 4, 2009
Barley Island, Noblesville
7pm - ?

RSVP here, if you plan to come. It helps us allow Barley Island how many people to expect. They are dedicating a server to our group, since we slammed them last time.

We can talk about anything, although the GM bailout and the Indiana budget are bound to be hot topics. See you there!

Quick Reaction To Sotomayor Nomination

I don't know much about Sonia Sotomayor. Why would I? Judges are not known to us the way lawmakers are, or even governors of other states are. I figure that's as it ought to be, justice being blind and all.

So, the first article I read on the nomination has two passages that have me hoping for a miracle defeat:

Even before she was nominated, conservative activists were describing her as a judicial activist who would put feelings above the Constitution.

Sotomayor seemed to take the matter head on. She said the rule of law is the foundation of all basic rights and the principles set forth by the Founding Fathers endure. "Those principles," she said at the White House, "are as meaningful and relevant in each generation as the generation before."

and

Sotomayor has spoken about her pride in her ethnic background and has said that personal experiences "affect the facts that judges choose to see."

"I simply do not know exactly what the difference will be in my judging," she said in a speech in 2001. "But I accept there will be some based on my gender and my Latina heritage."

I don't want a Supreme Court Justice, left or right, who puts feelings ahead of the Constitution. It seems to me that we have eight Justices that do that now, and as such, the next appointment will merely replace one of those eight. No improvement. I hope Justice Kennedy lives to be 135.

And I certainly don't want a racist, sexist Justice. That last quote makes me very uneasy. Imagine if a white man had said that. There would be references to linens as costume, and organizations using the letters between J and L. But instead, this racism and sexism is 'historic'.

Thus, I don't like the nature of the nomination. From the same article, the first statement:

Reaching for history, President Barack Obama on Tuesday chose federal appeals judge Sonia Sotomayor to be the first Hispanic justice on the Supreme Court

I don't want nominations, appointments, or elections based on the color of one's skin, one's sex organs, or one's national origin. I want this done on the basis of a resume, and resume only. Let's stop this idiocy of being 'historic'. Rule of law, not of men.

Bush's Third Term

I hope the folks who sported the "No Third Term" bumper stickers in the Fall of last year as tasting the buyer's remorse. President Obama is changing so little besides the names we call certain policies. It's so apparent, that even the commentators on the Left can help but notice it.



Three cheers for Rachel Maddow! I deeply respect her integrity for this report. It would have been easy enough for her to report on Obama's anti-Bush remarks while sweeping the subtance that makes Obama's policies exactly the same as Bush's under the rug. Change, my eye!

So, what about the Right? From Gene Healy at Cato at Liberty:

Since Rich Lowry, Karl Rove, and Charles Krauthammer have all admitted that Obama’s anti-terror policies are substantially the same as Bush’s, I assume they’ll refrain from arguing that Obama’s making the country less safe, and they’ll hold the recriminations if and when there’s another terrorist attack. Right?

I wouldn't hold my breath.

Excellent Convention

I spent Saturday in Clarksville, Indiana (north of the Ohio River of Louisville) for the joint conventions of the Libertarian Party of Indiana, and of Kentucky. I was rather impressed.

Right off the top, I liked the cost savings made available by working jointly. Rather than having two sets of expenses, one set allowed for more money to be allocated for speakers, and I have no doubt that the quality of them had a great deal to do with the record attendance for an off-year, where not a single candidate for office was nominated. I also enjoyed the opportunity to discuss regional differences with our neighbors to the south.

I suspect the attendance growth also can be explained by the sense I get of growing dissatisfaction with the two older parties. There were many new faces among the Indiana delegates.

But due to my 2006 campaign for Secretary of State, it was terrific to be with so many of the people who worked alongside me, and in support of me. I only wish I could have stayed an extra day.

On to business, the convention was a gold mine of interview subjects for the podcast. In no particular order, I interviewed:

Al Cox, Brown County
Ed Coleman, Indianapolis
Ryan Liedtke, St Joseph County
Doug Horner, Fort Wayne
Rebecca Sink-Burris, Bloomington
Sam Goldstein, Chair, Libertarian Party of Indiana
Ken Moellman, Chair, Libertarian Party of Kentucky
Luke McKellar, Ohio Central Committe Chair
Wayne Allyn Root, candidate for President 2012

I also recorded the speeches of:

Daniel Williams, on drug policy
Goldstein, acceptance speech
Radley Balko, Senior Editor, Reason Magazine
Root, on the media and his campaign

Look for much to come from the convention on the podcast in the next several weeks!

Podcast Posted

The latest is an interview with Mark Rutherford, former Chair of the Libertarian Party of Indiana. Mark reflected on his tenure, and the many ways the party grew during that time, and since. 

I think the most insightful comments were about the Party surviving certain transitions. Small and growing organizations can become stale if one person leads for too long. Worse than that, weak organizations fail to make transitions when the time comes. 

Here's the link to the podcast archive.

Rutherford will be speaking at the LPIN's joint convention with the Kentucky Libertarians this weekend, in Clarksville IN, just north of Louisville KY. The convention has a pretty exciting list of speakers, topped by Reason Magazine contributor Radley Balko, who also runs The Agitator blog, which has long been linked on my blog, at the right. Dr. Eric Schansberg, Wayne Allyn Root, and Daniel Williams round out a list of fine speakers.

See me in Clarksville. Who knows? I may interview you for a future podcast!

NPR on Pepsi Throwback

Because all politics and no play makes Jack a dull boy. Linkage.

Then again, the reason high fructose corn syrup is used more generally than cane sugar is political, with tariffs making sugar more expensive than true market price, and subsidies making HFCS less expensive.

iTunes Now Carrying Podcast!

I'm very excited to report that the Libertarian Party of Indiana's Weekly Podcast is now available to anyone worldwide via the iTunes Store!

I had recently submitted the podcast feed information, and just checked a few minutes ago with the search 'Libertarian Party', and there it was.

If simply searching with the word 'libertarian', the podcast is currently #95 on the list. As more people download for free and subscribe, the podcast will climb the ladder and bee seen sooner by folks searching the random world of free libertarian podcasts. You know what to do.

Hooray, Pepsi!

I've never been a big fan of Pepsi, as I was raised in a Coke household. I like Coke better because it's not as sweet as Pepsi. I'm sweet enough already, thank you.

So, this post may seem ironic, because I'm celebrating PepsiCo's "new" product line, their Throwbacks: Pepsi & Mountain Dew. Throwback? They're made with sugar rather than high fructose corn syrup. From an AgWeek report:

FARGO, N.D. - A trial marketing campaign with sugar-containing soda pop manufacturer Pepsi called Pepsi Throwback and Mountain Dew Throwback.

That’s good news for the sugar industry, says David Berg, president and chief executive officer of American Crystal Sugar Co.

“We’ve known this is coming for some time, but the brands are on store shelves now,” Berg says. The product is available in Fargo in single 20-ounce bottles and Berg’s sources tell him 12-packs of 12-ounce cans will be on local shelves by May 1. The campaign is being supported by radio advertising.

Bert says trade publications say the campaign is an eight-week trial.

No need to wait! I bought a 12-pack of Pepsi Throwback at the Target store in Fishers. If it's here, it's probably at your grocer too.

I go out of my way for sodas made with sugar. I sometimes get a Coke at the Mexican grocer, because they make it with sugar in Mexico. Passover is a good time to get Coke, because the sugar version is Kosher. I know the stores that have A&W root beer in the bottle, made with sugar (For instance, there is a Marathon off Exit 36 on I-65, that has A&W and Sunkist. When in Cleveland, I go to the Marc's stores. Etc.). So, having a sugar Pepsi in mass production, even if only for eight weeks, is sweet news indeed.

Sodas I savor. They have sugar instead of high fructose corn syrup.

The sweetening of drinks in the US is a result of politics. Sugar flat out tastes better than HFCS, but because there are tariffs on imported sugar making it artifically more expensive than it could be, HFCS is generally used instead, because its' price is artificially lower thanks to corn subsidies.
This Wikipedia link is a good springboard for sugar/HFCS reading.

For those who wonder what the fuss is in terms of drinking the stuff, here's your chance to find out. Line up a regular Pepsi with a Throwback and taste test them. The sugar sweetness is far less sticky in the mouth, and leaves me less thirsty than when I started. Drinking an HFCS drink leaves me thirstier than before drinking!

Hey Coca-Cola? You paying attention?

Build It And They Will Come, Eh?

(Crawfordsville, IN)- One of the current 'stimulus' spending targets is high-speed passenger rail service, and as a railfan, it caught my attention that one corridor singled out for attention is Cincinnati to Chicago, through Indianapolis. From an Indy Star report:

The administration identified the corridor linking Chicago, Indianapolis and Cincinnati as one of 10 where the president wants to see efficient train service zipping along at 79 mph to 150 mph.

Dennis Hodges of the Indiana High Speed Rail Association said passenger routes from Indianapolis to Cincinnati and Chicago now run at about 45 mph; upgraded tracks and trains would raise that speed to 110 mph.

Crawfordsville in on that current route. Amtrak currently serves this run, so I thought it might be meaningful to look at its' current standing. From Amtrak's website:

One can currently commute from Crawfordsville on Amtrak's Cardinal #51 train. It departs Crawfordsville at 7:28am, and arrives in Chicago at 10:35am, all times local. The cost is $19 for a regular coach seat. Coming home, Hoosier State #850 departs Chicago at 5:45pm and returns to Crawfordsville at 10:35pm. The return trip is another $19.

Pretty workable, if you have a late starting work day. It's a long day, but what else would you expect, commuting from 150 or so miles away? These are the only trains that pass through all day, in either direction, so do make sure to be on time!

How many people ride? Hard to say definitively, but here's the evidence I could collect in the late morning:

Amtrak's current station is the thing that looks like a bus shelter, standing here in front of the old Monon RR station, that is now the home to a massage therapist and other businesses. There is no staff here: No ticket agent, no porter. There isn't even a rest room.

Amtrak's dedicated portion of this parking lot in Crawfordsville has 12 spaces. 5 are occupied by commuters. One is my car.

Who knows? Maybe there is a lot of walk-up ridership. Maybe each vehicle had seven people carpooling. Maybe, though, people choose not to ride.

The National Association of Railroad Passengers has statistics on Amtrak's various routes. According to NARP, 31,099 fares rode the Hoosier State in 2008. See pg 37 of NARP's factsheet. For comparison? According to the most recent (2002) INDOT count, the least travelled part of I-65 north of Indianapolis saw 26,330 vehicles PER DAY.

I know how it goes with these programs: If they had a lot of riders, it would stand as proof of the public's support and therefore the worthiness of public funding. As it shows few riders, it's proof that if only the service were upgraded- made to run faster, in this case- surely more people would ride. No matter what, though, shovel more money at it.

There is no comparing Europe's high-speed rail to American passenger service. I've ridden Spain's AVE train from Madrid to Sevilla, and it's a hoot. It runs at about 180mph. Total trip time is about 2 hours. What makes it different is that the rails are dedicated solely to the AVE train. No slow passenger trains to clog the rails with, and no freight trains.

In the US, and on the former Monon at Crawfordsville, the rails are owned by the freight companies, here, by CSX. Passenger service is second fiddle. The railroads had been trying to rid themselves of passenger service from the 1950s until finally in 1971 Amtrak was formed. Until then, the federal government forbade American railroads from eliminating passenger service, forcing those companies to operate these trains at a loss for years or even decades.

The Administration's plan is to upgrade the rails on existing routes. Well, that's nice. I'm sure the freight railroad will appreciate that gift. But it doesn't change the fact that the freight trains still take priority over passenger trains. Do this math for me: A passenger train capable of 200mph is going to go how fast if trailing a freight train going 35mph?

So, what are we going to do? Kick the freight trains off their own tracks? Build new dedicated corridors? Anybody think that land acquisition through Chicago will be easy or cheap?

Notice, I haven't even begun to talk about the operational subsidies that allow Amtrak to survive. A quick look at Amtrak's balance sheet shows that passenger fares barely cover salaries and benefits to Amtrak employees, and don't even cover bothersome things like train operation (you know, the core of the enterprise), or fuel.

In 2007, Amtrak lost more than a billion dollars. Who ate that? We did. Those of us who don't even ride.

Kole At Hoosiers For Fair Taxation

I have accepted Melyssa Donaghy's invitation, along with Indianapolis City-County Councilor Ed Coleman, and recent Congressional candidate Sean Shepard to contribute to HFFT. Here's my first post there:

Introducing Mike Kole

Many thanks to Melyssa for her invitation to me to contribute to Hoosiers For Fair Taxation while she takes a breather.

HFFT is one of the blogs I have long linked to on my own blog, Kole Hard Facts of Life, because I value the perspective that so long as we have to have taxation as a necessary evil, for the funding of government (another necessary evil), it should at least be fair, and above all, taxation should be prioritized such that the proper functions of government are funded first, and everything else last and least, or in a better world, not at all.

Not a single day goes by that I see a news account of government funding something that, in a better world, would be funded exclusively by private funds. Today's example come from an Indy Star report:

Hundreds of Hoosiers braved patchy rain and cool winds swirling around Monument Circle at noon Monday to rally in support of the arts.

Known as "Indy Culture Matters," the rally was organized by the Indianapolis Consortium of Arts Administrators to raise the public profile of cultural institutions and their value, particularly amid the economic crisis.

John Pickett, executive director of the Indianapolis Opera and vice president of the consortium, acknowledged last week that in addition to simply raising awareness, the rally stemmed from frustration at the level of financial support given to the arts in Indianapolis.

This year, for instance, the Arts Council of Indianapolis received $1,870,000 from the city budget and the Capital Improvement Board in public funding for the arts -- a decrease of $673,500 from 2008.

Pickett is frustrated? Nearly $1.9 million received for something that is nothing like a proper function of government? And, at a time of economic downturn? I believe the phrase you're looking for is 'Thank You".

The more I learn about the Capital Improvement Board, the more I have come to believe it should be eliminated entirely. What about art is a 'capital improvement'? I think the time has come not merely for the CIB to explain itself on selected spending misadventures, but to justify and explain its' very existence.

Art is a wonderful thing. It's also a personal thing, a personal expression of the individual artists, whether painters, sculptors, stage performers or musicians. It is absolutely wrong to take the money from the community as a whole to fund the personal expressions of select artists of political favor. You see, a great deal of art is supported very fabulously commercially. But the various arts that line up at the public trough tend to be the favorites of yesteryear, lacking the ability to attract enough willing support, i.e.: customers, so they turn to political favor instead, where they need not be popular to support themselves, just popular enough to sway a weak-kneed politican or two.

Mr. Pickett, you have raised my awareness. Now I wish you less public money for 2010 than 2009, and in a better world, none. Please consider approaching those who claim to value the various arts, and ask them for their personal expression of support, in the form of a donation, leaving the pockets of those who don't unpicked.

The Kole Garden

For the benefit of my old hockey teammate Colin Sikon, here's the visual proof that there really is a garden, and that I'm not merely a great fiction writer. Goalies always are a little odd.

The reason I decided to build a raised garden was that when our property was developed, the topsoil was scraped off and sold, rather than stored and replaced. I was planting into clay. The carrots couldn't push through the soil at all.

The framing goes 6' x 14'. Proper drainage, always.

Sifted topsoil, although I added sand at the north end, for the benefit of the cucumbers.

Lettuce, cilantro and basil, after five weeks. The rosemary is crowded out between the lettuce & cilantro.

The big downfall last year was that my work travel schedule was still heavy, and I built the raised bed over several weekends. I didn't plant until July 1! The lettuce was bitter, and the carrots didn't mature until November. I had to water furiously, starting plants in the height of the summer heat.

Having planted on time this year, I'm hopeful for better lettuce. Thing is, I don't know how much better I could hope for anything else to be. That beautiful topsoil made such great produce last year! I had never eaten tomatoes or carrots so delicious. Well, my friend Greg McNair grew awesome tomatoes at his farm up in NW Indiana, and made the most incredible pizza with homemade sauce and sliced several varieties of tomatoes to top it. That was pretty great, too.

Garden Largely Planted

I got a chuckle out of the reactions to my Facebook comments that I had pretty much planted my garden, what with Fishers being relatively in the Deep South as far as all of my gardening friends back in Cleveland are concerned. Yes, we get a good jump on it way down here.

Funny enough, I planted peas and lettuce back on March 7. They can withstand the frost and snow.

Anyhow, I planted more lettuce and peas, spinach, red bell peppers, tomatoes, basil, oregano, and parsley. I still have to add cucumbers and cilantro.

My criteria for planting is unchanged from the last few years: We like 'em; I can grow 'em cheaper than I can buy 'em; the taste is superior to what we can buy; I can grow 'em easily, without pesticides. Last year's tomatoes were the champs of the garden, as they met all four criteria. They were amazingly good, as were the carrots. I had never had carrots with so much flavor. We found out how much flavor carrots lose in transit.

The herbs are wonderful, as they also meet the criteria. I used so many herbs in soups this winter that I added the oregano and parsley. We dropped broccoli and green beans, as the broccoli was absolutely eaten alive by the cabbage moth caterpillars. The beans were just kind of ordinary, and I can get that at the grocery store any time I please.

There's some variety within the things I plant:

Basil: Genovese and Lemon

Lettuce: Four Seasons, Black Seeded Simpson, Granada, Aragula, and Endive

Tomato: Brandywine... so far.

I have room for six more tomato plants, which I will plant in stages so as to stagger their output. I still haven't settled on which varieties to go with, although I'm thinking about these heirloom varieties: Black Krim, Martino's Romas, Purple Calabash, and Livingston's Golden Queens. Anybody ever grow any of these?

Yesterday Was Tax Freedom Day!

I was surprised to learn that April 13 was 2009's Tax Freedom Day.

What is that? It's the day the average American is now working for himself. Up to this point, from January 1 through April 13, every cent you earned was committed to paying taxes.

The good news is, this Tax Freedom Day comes 8 days earlier than last year's Day. The bad news?

(1) the recession has reduced tax collections even faster than it has reduced income, and
(2) the stimulus package includes large temporary tax cuts for 2009 and 2010. Nevertheless, Americans will pay more in taxes than they will spend on food, clothing and housing combined.

Does anybody think it just that we spend more on taxes than food, clothing and housing combined? Please chime in if you do.

Again, this surprised me. The conventional wisdom is that when Democrats take office, taxes go up, right?

Oh, right. Smoke & mirrors. A shell game. Deficit spending. That which made Ronald Reagan a criminal. That which the glorious Clinton Administration didn't engage in. That which Democrats so recently campaigned against. Any cognitive dissonance, Democrats? Or, is all justified when the a guy wearing blue does it?

New Podcast - Libertarian Participation in Tea Parties

I sat down with Travis Zellers for the latest podcast. Travis is the membership coordinator for the Marion County Libertarian Party, and is helping to coordinate Libertarian participation in the Indianapolis Tea Party.

Listen via this link to the podcast archive.

Because the Tea Parties are non-partisan events in which Libertarians will be joining forces with a wide range of participants, just like the recent Revolt at the Statehouse, I was interested to learn what lessons were learned to control our message, and to avoid negative associations being cast on some participating groups.

Tea Party? Count Me In!

I will be participating in the Indianapolis Tea Party, proudly. Sure, the message isn't about 'taxation without representation' as it was in Boston back in 1773, but the spirit seems the same to me. It's about justice.

The Colonists objected because they lacked a literal voice in government and in the taxes that affected them, because it was unjust that they shouldn't have a voice. Tax protesters are up in arms primarily about the bailouts, started with the Bush Administration, and continued by the Obama Administration.

My position is that it is unjust to transfer wealth to private corporations, or individual citizens, to relieve them from the predictable outcomes of their bad decisions and often fraudulent actions.

I don't believe it was just that a single penny was sent to AIG, or Bank of America, or Fannie Mae or Freddie Mac, or to any mortgage holder. I do not want to see the Capital Improvement Board bailed out in Marion County, either.

It was wrong to wantonly print money in order to give it largely to politically connected friends, calling it 'stimulus'. It was unjust to devalue our currency this way when the Bush Administration did it, and unjust again when the Obama Administration did. It doesn't work, besides.

In sum, democracy can be a real sham on freedom when some citizens are declared losers by a majority of representatives, and others winners. It's worse than taxation without representation, because you want to have faith that your representative is one who defends you, rather than sells you out to some corporate interest that contributed mightily to his campaign warchest. As the Franklin quote goes, 'Democracy must be more than two wolves and a sheep voting on what to have for dinner,' yet that's exactly where we are. Representatives gather to decide who should have his pocket picked, for the benefit of another.

That should make any decent person mad as hell. Hence, a protest.

There are a few lessons that seem to have been learned from the 'Revolt at the Statehouse' from a couple weeks back, where the result was diffuse, and the Libertarians were singled out for mockery. I like these items from the Indianapolis Tea Party website:

RULES FOR A PEACEFUL PROTEST
NO STICKS ON SIGNS (Statehouse Grounds rule)
No violence, no racism, no law-breaking
Absolutely no obscene words or gestures
Treat Law Enforcement Officers with respect
Do not block sidewalks and streets with your bodies or signs
Avoid conflicts and any physical contact with any opponents. Our 1st Ammendment Rights are their rights, too
Take the high road....be CIVIL at all times

SIGN IDEAS

FRIENDLY REMINDER:
Stick to the point and stay on message! No abortion, marriage issues, or Obama bashing signs. We need to come across united and focused
Use black, red, or dark blue markers for visibility
Anticipate the adversary’s tactics and create a few counter-point slogans

These are the kinds of things protesters at large economic summits could learn a thing or two about. Seattle and Quebec come to mind. And, even though I agreed with their basic position, Iraq anti-war protesters have often lost me on some of their messages. I'm glad to see an admonition not to attack President Obama. The important thing is to focus on policy, not people. (More on that later.)

Partisan Civil Liberties Disorder

I love political cartoons for their ability to sum up so much using so few words.

Major hat tip to Varangianguard, who directed me to this very recent Matt Bors comic:

This is what I've been on about lately! The hypocrisy of both Left and Right is absolutely on parade these days, as each winks at their own side's transgressions, while jumping up and down about the other side. Here's an idea: hold your own side to the fire. You might get something done!

Or, for a lack of cognitive dissonance, just back the Libertarians who are always pro-civil liberties.