http://sentinelsource.com/…

Iused to say that a libertarian is just a Republican who wants to smoke pot and watch porn. That was before I attended a Bob Dylan concert in Laconia some years ago. Shortly after the concert began, a young woman two rows in front of me stood up. She continued to stand throughout the concert. Never mind that everyone around her was seated.

I asked the man sitting in front of me to ask the woman to kindly sit because she was blocking people’s views. She continued to stand. I asked an usher to ask her to sit. He spoke to her and walked away, the offending woman still standing. I called the usher over and he told me the woman said she will stand if she wants to because it is her right; there was nothing the usher could do about it.

Apparently this phenomenon is fairly common, because around that time it was lampooned on “Saturday Night Live.” At that concert, she was one of perhaps 10 scattered audience members standing. When I regularly attended concerts in the 1960s and ’70s the audience would either collectively stand or sit. That’s when I realized my original assessment of libertarians was wrong, since even the staunchest Republican I know would have the courtesy to sit down.

Libertarians say they espouse the rights of the individual, which always seemed to me to be just a political way of saying me first, second and third and the hell with everyone else.
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http://www.eff.org/…

It’s not often that you get former presidential candidates from the Green Party and the Libertarian Party to agree on legislation, but Bob Barr and Ralph Nader have done just that — jointly supporting the Right-To-Repair Act of 2009 (H.R. 2057):

This aptly named bill would allow independent repair shops to compete for the business now guaranteed only to dealer-controlled establishments. This is important because car manufacturers now severely limit the number of repair shops that are allowed to have the tools, diagnostic codes and updated repair information essential to being able to repair late-model cars (which are heavily dependent on computers for performance and repair).

By thus unfairly limiting the universe of repair shops able to diagnose and repair late-model cars to only those repair shops that are connected with their dealers, the manufacturers dramatically limit consumer choice and significantly increase the costs to those car owners (by some 34 percent, according to a study preformed for the Automotive After Market Industry Association by Lang Research).

We’re all for promoting competition and consumer choice. But this bill points to a much bigger consumer issue. The problem that this law attempts to fix is the direct result of the use of computers in cars, accompanied by proprietary diagnostic tools and “lock-out codes.” Sound familiar? It should, as it’s the very sort of thing that can also make it difficult to repair computer systems, sell replacement garage door openers, and refill printer toner cartridges. One underlying legal problem here is the DMCA, which prohibits bypassing or circumventing “technological protection measures.”

So while the Right-to-Repair Act of 2009 is legislation that deserves our support, it doesn’t help those who repair things other than cars. For example, it won’t help Joe Montero, who treks to the Copyright Office every three years to argue for a DMCA exemption to permit the repair and replacement of obsolete and malfunctioning software “dongles,” those little hardware devices purportedly intended to prevent software piracy, but which often end up frustrating perfectly legitimate customers.

Sorry EFF… it doesn’t deserve your support. The problem here is intelectual property law and it’s increased support by such things as the DMCA. Car companies have the right to keep the software, diagnostic codes and repair information secret if they so choose. The customers however also have the right to reverse engineer anything and everything in the product and shouldn’t be threatened by the State for doing so. Using the guns of government to solve a problem created by the use of the guns of government is no solution.

Here is Allison, on the Campaign for Liberty blog, in her own words on how she organized our release from a cage in Jones County, Mississippi:

Thursday morning I was heading to the airport to fly from DC to Atlanta then to Nashville, TN. I was going on a 6 day vacation (with a mix of outreach) to join the Motorhome Diaries crew aboard MARV, their RV, as a “fellow traveler”.

Upon my drive to BWI (in Baltimore, MD) I read a tweet from Jason Talley stating that Adam had been arrested in Jones Co. MS for video taping the police officer who pulled them over. I immediately called Jason to no avail . Simultaneously I received a tweet from Jil Wright, who I have met through Campaign for Liberty, residing in Jones Co, MS stating that she was on the case. We decided that due to the lack of communication with Jason- that chances were that all three had been arrested, and that some action was needed.

I flew into Atlanta in haste with worry for the guys all the while getting updates from Jil. We decided that I would change my flight from Nashville, Tn to Jackson, MS where she would pick me up, and we would figure out the next step from there. She had been in direct contact with the jail and was hesitant of me coming because the officers there had told her that due to the Department of Alcohol Tobacco Firearms (ATF) hold, none of the guys would be getting out within the week. I refused to accept this and decided to go down anyway. Throughout this endeavor I updated my tweets accordingly.  I then boarded my flight into Jackson not knowing where I would stay.

I landed in Jackson around 4:30pm to have 15 voicemails, my phone constantly ringing, and confirmation from at least four individuals offering to purchase a hotel room for me (Thank you to Whitton for getting me a motel room for 2 nights!). So many concerned folks contacted me with support and inquiry, including the guys from freekeene.com who helped us get the word out to readers of their site.

I immediately began a venture to raise funds within the liberty movement for bail money. After tweeting about the options and contacting several bailbondsmen, it was expressed to me that we had to have cash to get any of them out, and that the only funding options would be Western Union. Me, freekeene.com, those on twitter, the Libertarian Party (both national and Mississippi chapter), Mississippi Center for Public Policy, Campaign for Liberty supporters, those in the Free State Project, and many many others spread the message and within two hours supporters from all over the country had raised $2580 to get the MHD guys bonded out!

Jil and I then spent the rest of the night clarifying the bonding amounts only to find that some of the charges had been dropped and that all three could be bailed out for under $1000. At 10 PM we freed the three of them (Pete and Adam coming out shirtless!) and Jil drove us to the Motel 8. Jason immediately insisted on taking a shower to cleanse himself of the pepperspray from his body.MARV would have to wait till the morning.

We awoke with the goal of finding the fourth that had been locked up- MARV. $500 later we were in MARV and on our way to Birmingham.

Since then, I have had time to reflect on everything and catch up on voicemails. I must say I was amazed at the outpouring of love and support from so many of you out there.

I want to thank those of you that gave for the bailout individually:

Jil Wright, Elisabeth McCaffrey, Stephen Thomas, Vince Richardson, Darryl Perry, Jim Davidson, Sarah Williams, Antonio Musuneci, Nikki Sullivan, Tarrin Lupo, Melissa Hayes, Peter Orvetti, Nicole Kardell, Isabel Santa

There are many more out there that gave support and great inspiration, and I really sincerely appreciate everything that you and this movement have given to me and the MHD guys.

I beleive that this event truly reasserted the fact that this movement may be diverse … but when our people are needing us- we come together. It moved me to see this unification. I can’t say how thankful I am to be apart of this family.. the Liberty movement. I know that Adam, Pete and Jason agree wholeheartedly!

Allison mispronounced and misspelled my last name.

Comment by withrow

May 15, 2009 @ 12:46 pm

I’m with the libertarian party of MS I spoke with the party chair who sat down with the sheriff and chief deputy of jones county. They seem to be regretful they arrested the MHD crew but only because of who they were and the big stink this is causing. I can’t tell if this is a good or bad thing yet because basically if the guys were just three buddies traveling and didn’t have any supporters they’d probally still be in a holding cell. Hopefully this will get this will get some changes happening in mississippi! We have a very modest website currently http://www.mslp.org, we are currently building a new site, check there as we should be getting police reports posted and pictures of the arrest docket.

and

Listen live at 7pm Eastern as the Motorhome Diaries‘ Jason, Pete, and Adam appear on Free Talk Live to tell the story of their roadside attack and abduction at the hands of the criminal gang of men and women calling themselves the “State of Mississippi”.

http://www.lp.org/…

Libertarians are taking President Barack Obama to task for once again intentionally spreading false information about the source of guns used by Mexican drug cartels and blaming the United States for crime in Mexico.

“This war is being waged with guns purchased not here, but in the United States.  More than 90 percent of the guns recovered in Mexico come from the United States,” said Obama in a face-to-face meeting Thursday with Mexican President Felipe Calderon in Mexico City.

That claim, however, is blatantly false.   According to information supplied by the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (BATFE) the real number is closer to only 17 percent.

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http://catamount.com/…

CANTERBURY NH (Jan. 15, 2009)… Catamount Software announces Prohibition 3: Candy Wars has been approved by Apple for resale on AppStore.

In Prohibition 3: Candy Wars you play a candy dealer in New York City in the summer of 2040 during the height of candy prohibition — a few years earlier, due to an obesity pandemic the United States Congress declared sugar was a highly addictive substance and banned the sale and manufacture of all candy. Your goal is to make as much money as possible in 30 days without getting caught by the FDA or run out of town by the loan shark’s thugs.

aka, sugarcoated DopeWars: CandyWars is a reskinned version of Catamount Software’s remake of the cult classic DopeWars called Prohibition 2: The Dope Wars.

Catamount Software founder Hardy Macia stated, “Apple’s rejection of DopeWars was frustrating because we thought we had a big hit on our hands. We decided to rename it, gave the police and player pixie dust instead of guns. changed ‘Cocaine’ to ‘Sugar Sticks’, ‘Weed’ to ‘Brownies’, ‘Crystal Meth’ to ‘Rock Candy’… It was like adding another level of realism to DopeWars by using street names for drugs, but at the same time highlighting the problems of prohibition no matter what (when) the government tries to prohibit whether it is alcohol (past), drugs (present), or candy (future).”

Macia stated, “We still hope that Apple reconsiders their ban on Prohibition 2: The Dope Wars so we can bring many people’s favorite game to the iPhone, but in the meantime all of us chocolate addicts can enjoy Candy Wars.”

Catamount Software has been creating software for handheld platforms since 1993. Their other applications for the iPhone include CheckPlease, PocketMoney, and MPG.