http://reason.com/…

A little while ago, I spoke with Penn “Bullshit!” Jillette about election 2008, not too long after he cut a video endorsing Bob Barr for president. Before the polls open (well, in that diminishing part of the country that doesn’t do early voting), here are his thoughts on the Most Important Election in the Universe.

reason: You said in 2007 that [1996 and 2000] Libertarian candidate Harry Browne was “as crazy” as you were, and thus was the perfect candidate. What did you mean?

Penn Jillette: Bob Barr is not crazy enough for my taste. Harry Browne had a kind of purity to his craziness. I couldn’t find anything in Harry Browne’s platform or his books that I disagreed, which didn’t seem exactly right in a presidential candidate.

Bob Barr is good guy. His conversion, I believe, is sincere. I believe all of that. But once in a while you want that Obama factor, of a guy who grabs your heart, like a rock star. Barr doesn’t do that for me like Browne did. Still, you know, there’s no trait we should celebrate more than changing one’s mind.

I do wish Barr had been more in agreement with me on sex and drugs. That always bothered me a bit. I’m for gay rights, boring monogamous rights, but I’m also for two guys fucking on the floor of my office. I don’t think Barr is. Although I don’t do drugs I’m ok with shooting heroin, and I don’t think he is. Someone smarter than me—I want to say it was P.J. O’Rourke—said if you’re going to go with a Republican or a Democrat, the person isn’t important. If you go with a Libertarian, you go with a nut, because if we do win somehow the first 16 years of Libertarian rule will be spent at the barricades, just rolling back stuff.

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http://www.washingtonpost.com/…

Former Prince George’s County homeland security official Keith A. Washington was sentenced to 45 years in prison yesterday for fatally shooting one unarmed furniture deliveryman and wounding another at his Accokeek home last year.

Circuit Court Judge Michael P. Whalen said the evidence contradicted Washington’s claim that he was under attack by the two larger men when he opened fire. “There wasn’t one discernible injury [on Washington] to any of the medical personnel who examined him,” said the judge, who imposed a term five years longer than prosecutors had sought.

Washington, who was also a county police officer at the time of the shooting, addressed the court for more than 10 minutes, apologizing to his family and friends for putting them through what he called a “spectacle.” He spoke of his effort to live with “courage and integrity,” and he cited historical figures, including Sojourner Truth, W.E.B. DuBois, Crispus Attucks, Thomas Jefferson and George Washington.

Washington, 46, admitted no wrongdoing. At one point, he turned to Marilynn Clark, mother of slain deliveryman Brandon Clark, and said, “I did not murder your son.”

Several months after the shooting, Washington left his homeland security post, and he was later granted medical disability from the police force. His disability benefits and police pension are not affected by his convictions, county spokesman John Erzen said.

We get to pay for him to stay in prison and we get to pay his family his pension. The victim’s family victimized twice more.