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The Patrick Henry Supper Club Presents:
Tom Lappas
Publisher/Editor
Henrico Citizen
http://www.henricocitizen.com/
As noted last month our usual location (Eastern Buffet) has had a "small" fire. As of last week it is still closed. Therefore we will meet this month at:
Byram's Lobster House
3215 W. Broad Street
(Near the WTVR tower)
6:00pm Dinner 7:00pm main event.
The Left Libertarian Alliance will be having its first Richmond meeting tomorrow at the address below at 7 PM. It would be great to have a strong turnout of libertarians at this new venue. Be there or be square!
Commercial Tap House
111 N. Robinson St.
Richmond, VA
(for more info go to upcoming.yahoo.com/event/171280)
by Robert Russo
The Virginia landscape is changing, from the traditional farm crops of the 20th Century eaten off the cob and out of the shell, to mass production of the cheapest vegetable matter that forms the base of synthetic food and fuel. Where there was once peanuts, corn and soybeans have stood for some time now as the staple ingredients of nearly all processed snack foods and drinks. But now what was once the state of Iowa’s platform in the alternative fuel debate has finally reached Virginia’s ears, the reality of the corn-fed automobile.
This month’s issue of the Bay Journal covers the many facets of an ethanol state and the impact it will have on the Chesapeake Bay watershed, nitrogen runoff being the most serious. Nitrogen fertilizer is a major byproduct of corn production and the projected increase will effectively reverse the reduction of nitrogen in the bay over the past 22 years. With the price of corn double that of last fall, farmers will also be less inclined to submit to environmental requests to set aside buffer zones, instead putting every square foot to the plow (including grade B land where there is more runoff). "Most farmers are planting additional corn this year." says Maryland farmer Robert Hutchinson. "We’re just responding to the market."*
Alternative fuel is a great idea, it produces fewer greenhouse emissions and lessens our dependency on foreign oil. The nation manipulating our state to meet its fuel needs however is not the innocent self-sufficiency of one man growing his own fuel. "It’s not an agricultural revolution." says soil scientist Tom Simpson. "It is a gold rush fever."* What benefits one aspect of an industry in the short term only messes with the greater stability of our fragile agriculture. Imagine what would happen to our economy if cash suddenly had some other use so that its melt value was greater than its worth. Four centuries ago tobacco became "Virginia’s gold" and was given priority over food.
There are myths to consider about ethanol, the fact that its production is not significantly more environmental than gasoline, it has much lower mileage, and hurts the food industry particularly in poor countries if it goes global. I agree that advances in technology should not have to wait for convenience, but why not move straight to the next level where fuel can be made from raw cellulose? (With existing technology the same grass that makes up our riparian buffer zones could yield almost twice as much ethanol as corn.)* At any rate Virginia needs to take this into its own hands weighing all its effects on our state, not the uncontrolled manipulation of marketing. 20% of the nation’s corn harvest last year went into ethanol. Karl Blankenship’s articles in the Bay Journal can be read at www.bayjournal.com.
*http://www.bayjournal.com/
Question of the Week: Would you like to see a higher percentage of ethanol at the pump to offset the cost of gas? Would you invest in a vehicle that can run on mostly ethanol? Send your opinions to henrico@richmondliberty.org.
If you have topics of interest to Libertarians please let us know. We welcome your input!
It has been my impression so far that because Monday’s tragedy at Virginia Tech hit us so close to home, the reaction has been more disjointed and numb than if it were second-hand information like the shootings at Columbine and Kent State. Students on the 5th floor of Ambler Johnston Hall did not even know what was taking place just one floor below them until they watched it unfold on TV, and different figures aired throughout the day with the first report looking like a relatively smaller calamity. It is out-of-state sources and media that are drawing the first conclusions telling us where to go from here. I believe we as a state won't be doing so until it is some distance in our memory.
The Virginia Citizens Defense League responded immediately with "Gun-Control Claims Lives at Virginia Tech", while the alternative health community I quoted in my last piece published "Another School Shooter, Another Psychiatric Drug?", and the UK site Telegraph released "Questions Film-Makers Must Ask Themselves After Virginia Tech". These are all valid points, the VCDL did push for a bill to allow students to carry defensive weapons on campus just this year, a high percentage of school shooters were on psychiatric medication at the time of the shooting, and indeed there is cause for concern over the violent images we are exposed to. There is more to all of these discussions however. More handguns on campus might incite further incidents, violent offenders may naturally require medication and questioning violence on film intrudes on free speech. As an antiacademic I could just write "Students Pay Ultimate Price For Enrollment", but bad things don't happen to fuel our own private ambitions. Like the war in Iraq, they only keep us from the civic platforms that we would choose.
As for the question of what's next, aside from shutting down all schools it's hard to see this not repeating itself anywhere that isn't a maximum security prison. If advocates of gun control get a union of college towns in their pocket after this they could pass sweeping legislation. If the shooter's classmates and teachers are blamed for not acting on the warning signs it could end privacy in schools and censor all writing and conversation. The reason he was able to do what he did and plot it unnoticed is personal freedom, the same thing that enables us to do good. So how then will we defend freedom? The First and Second Amendments are matters of principle, to be discussed without violence emerging once again, each time striking a blow to the side that wants freedom.
No political considerations must be so important to us that tragedy does not unite us as a people. God be with all Virginia Tech students and their families on this day of mourning.
http://www.billingsgazette.net/articles/2007/04/18/news/state/54-legiid.txt
"Gov. Brian Schweitzer said "no, nope, no way, hell no" Tuesday to national driver's licenses, signing into law a bill supporters say is one of the strongest rejections to the federal plan.
The move means the state won't comply with the Real ID Act, a federal law that sets a national standard for driver's licenses and requires states to link their record-keeping systems to national databases.
Though several states have either passed or are considering resolutions or bills against the act, Montana is the first state to outright deny its implementation, according to the American Civil Liberties Union."
by Robert Russo
When a medical practitioner uses the word "epidemic" he should be referring to one of the major outbreaks of disease raging in the world, but the term has become a catchphrase to bring attention to whatever subject the speaker chooses (an epidemic of high prescription drug prices, a "health crisis" when one team of physicians gets their way and another doesn’t). Advertisers and medical professionals are speaking with one voice, their business goals sounding like prognoses. Indeed there is an epidemic, of medical semi-professionals crossing the line between promoting a lifestyle and lawmaking. Some of them invade privacy by deciding what we eat, where we smoke and even our appearance in certain jobs, while others campaign against the competitors of mainstream health industry like holistic and alternative medicine.
The Natural Solutions Foundation alleges that this war has reached a new low with an FDA resolution that will declare all holistic, natural and alternative products and therapies as "medicine" rather than "food", meaning anyone who provides them without a PhD is practicing medicine without a license. Citizens have until April 30 to voice their objections or it will pass, says Retired Gen. Albert N. Stubblebine, author of "Winning the Health Freedom War".* This title (and its parent work "Art of Freedom") is striking, as are the words of its opposition the International Advocates for Health Freedom, "…unless we are able to stop our country from being forced into the North American Union, that failure to defend our sovereignty equals failure to defend the Dietary Supplement Health and Education Act and all of our other laws as well as our Constitution.".** This sounds like an argument taken from the floor of a Libertarian committee. The NSF website was shut down recently by hacking at the host level, while the IAHF calls it a bogus organization making false claims (the FDA by itself has no legal authority). Whichever one you believe, it’s easy to find Libertarian meaning in the health debate when they state the connection themselves.
Licensed practitioners of ethnic and environmental medicine have been persecuted in every way conceivable, forced to shut down their clinics, imprisoned for selling water-based products and research, and opt to leave this country in the footsteps of Patch Adams. Some have even met with mysterious deaths or carry handguns for their protection. "The people who are honestly helping people are being treated as criminals," says Midlothian resident Evelyn Chase whose son suffers from acute chemical sensitivity, and has spent much of her life at the mercy of medical ignorance in trying to treat it. "It seems that more and more the traditional medicine scene is the one practicing quackery as their medications are making people sicker over time and they certainly have done absolutely nothing to stop this epidemic of mental illness and learning disorders in children." "These things along with diabetes and autism are all exploding but there is no awareness of the parallelism of these epidemics that would make individuals start to see childhood health issues not so much by category but as an overall catastrophe."
The march to ingrain a single approved lifestyle has also taken the form of forced vaccinations on children, and invasive research into the home where any family with an obese child can find themselves on the news threatened with state custody (I was proud of the result in the British case where the mother reacted in defiance saying her son can eat what he wants).*** Bariatric butchery of the digestive system is being promoted to schools at a time when the need to teach self-esteem and acceptance is greater than ever. Every restaurant chain and produce manufacturer bows to the health trend (McDonald’s suddenly becoming the number one buyer of apples in the nation), and one can only wonder why. Industrial monopolies certainly don’t bend so far for environmental concerns.
The purpose of health is to better our lives, whether your goal is to leave a beautiful corpse, strive for longevity or reach emotional bliss where the physical becomes irrelevant. But in every field a single party wants to dominate and the freedom to choose this has been taken from us because leadership in the sciences is appointed, not elected. These appointed men are running the show; elected Democrats and Republicans obey them with little variation. Men in white coats expect their prescriptions to be taken as gospel, when we know there are conflicting motions and agendas within the medical community. Increasingly an MD can no longer practice without engaging in the politics and propaganda that keep his research funded. We are aware, and not to be disadvantaged by personal choice passing as fact.
I would encourage any Libertarian to look at www.nocodexgenocide.com or www.truthinwellness.com to see health advocates protesting the mainstream of their field as a political crusade against a North American Union, "intended to be a carbon copy of the European Union dictatorship" as a direct link to globalization.**** What a refreshing and relevant angle. To oppose the FDA "draft guidance" that will label all health supplements as drugs go to www.democracyinaction.org/dia/organizationsORG/healthfreedomusa/campaign.jsp?campaign_KEY=7185 and submit by April 30. For further information on any of these sources email the address below.
*http://www.healthfreedomusa.org/index.php/?page_id=363
**http://www.newmediaexplorer.org/chris/2007/04/08/natural_solutions_foundations_disinformation_should_be_ignored.htm
***http://www.reuters.com/article/worldNews/idUSL2745882020070227
****http://www.newstarget.com/020797.html
Question of the Week: Do you trust medical authorities or have your rights ever been violated? If so, what is the next step that would bridge what separates you from adequate care and protection? Send your thoughts to henrico@richmondliberty.org.
If you have topics of interest to Libertarians please let us know. We welcome your input!
Public Citizen today filed objections to a proposed nationwide settlement of a class-action lawsuit against Carfax, a company that sells history reports for used cars. The lawsuit, filed in Ohio, alleges that consumers are being deceived by Carfax’s claim that its vehicle history reports are based on searches of its nationwide database, when in fact the database does not include police accident data from 22 states and the District of Columbia. The objections to the settlement were filed on behalf of 17 individual class members and the nonprofit Center for Auto Safety.
Although the complaint asked the court to award damages to Carfax customers and to require Carfax to disclose the specific limitations of its database, the proposed settlement would do neither. Instead, it would primarily benefit Carfax, which would obtain a release from all similar claims by all former customers nationwide, and the plaintiff’s lawyers, who would receive $556,000 in fees.
Full Story at: http://www.citizen.org/pressroom/release.cfm?ID=2402
(Thanks to Audrey Muehleisen for sending in the link)
by Robert Russo
I never thought I'd be inclined to write about radio "shock jock" Don Imus, whose ethnic comments about the Rutgers Women's Basketball Team cost him his job yesterday after a week of humiliating atonement. In fact I try to avoid such "entertainment news" and gossip (which Aol News itself says was jumped on due to the slowness of the holiday weekend)*, that has no place beside serious issues. Until the news broke that on the same night Gov. Jon S. Corzine of New Jersey was critically injured in a collision while en route to moderate the Imus/Rutgers meeting.** In reality this tragic circumstance has nothing to do with the scandal, almost eclipsing it in significance, except for the simple reasoning that if there had been no scandal the governor would still be serving his term. It is this association that will sink Imus' career more than any words. The point is, in the public mind this is a perfect example of how the stifling of free speech is a road to ruin, a snowball effect which ends up hurting someone or something every time.
Personally when I first heard the story it didn't occur to me that Imus' remarks were racial slurs, more like an insult of the players' character akin to using the B-word. Nor do I think a sports team is wrong to defend their honor, it's just unsettling to see a critic brought down for his criticism, and not by any one person but the uncontrollable spin of entertainment media and the grapevine. After the word goes through the major networks it filters down to YouTube where people more representative of the masses can view it permanently, and an issue the network once hoped to salvage is no longer worth the trouble.
The risk of silencing critics is censorship. It's only natural that infringements on free speech lead to the detriment of our entire society, such as lawsuits where people are sued for speaking at civic hearings.*** If something is offensive, the way to fight it is with free speech. Our prayers are with Gov. Corzine at this critical time. Blogs connecting these two incidents are just beginning to appear, for coverage go to http://www.cnn.com/2007/US/04/13/corzine.crash.ap/index.html and http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9EofjRkNPZc.
*http://news.aol.com/entertainment/articles/_a/flying-solo-past-the-point-of-no-return/20070413073809990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
**http://news.aol.com/topnews/articles/_a/corzine-car-crash/20070412202709990001?ncid=NWS00010000000001
***http://www.richmondliberty.org/mt/2007/01/slapp_lawsuits_paying_to_stop.php
April 3, 2007 - After a little confusion due to Eastern Buffet burning down, the Patrick Henrico Supper Club met a few blocks down the street at Thai Diner. We heard from Joe Blackburn, who is running against Sen. Stosch in the Republican Primary on June 12, 2007. Joe's website is http://www.joeblackburnforsenate.com/
Other announcements at the event:
Jeremy Weiland talked about The Left Libertarian Alliance http://richmond.leftlibertarian.org
Matt Siegel talked about the American Gun Culture Report http://www.myspace/com/agcr308
Kate Marshall talked about the previous weekend's Appleseed Rifle Clinic in which she and Bill Walker participated. http://www.myvssa.org/rwvaclinic.htm
Tony Arjona talked about the World Freedom Conference – http://www.richmondliberty.org/mt/2007/04/world_freedom_summit.php
Bob Lynch announced that his is collecting signatures for a number of issues.
Also Matt Martin, running for Brookland District Supervisor, (http://www.matthewtmartin.com) needs more signatures. If you want to volunteer to collect some, please contact info@matthewtmartin.com.
Finally the LPHC Convention is May 16. In addition to Matt Martin in the Brookland District, George Marchenko (http://www.marchenko.com) is also running for Board of Supervisors in the Tuckahoe District. For More information about the LPHC visit http://www.henricolp.org
contact: www.MatthewTMartin.com
P O Box 1443
Glen Allen, VA 23060-1443
April 4, 2007- Henrico resident Matthew T. Martin, founder of the Henrico Taxpayers Union, has declared his candidacy in the race for Brookland District Supervisor, challenging republican incumbent Dick Glover.
Matt is a native Virginian and participant in Henrico civic events who successfully campaigned against the meals tax referendum in 2005, and challenged incumbent John O’Bannon for Virginia House of Delegates earning the second-highest vote count in history for the Libertarian Party of VA in a two-way House race. Matt is the elected vice-chair of the Henrico LP and a member of the Virginia Citizen’s Defense League.
With the Richmond area becoming a melting pot for bilking the public through taxation and real estate, Matt is one of the few candidates who will break the ties between government and big business that hurt the citizen. “We have seen oppressive new taxation, convoluted new regulations, and intrusive new security measures.” says Matt, “All of this is done because the politicians and bureaucrats think they know better than we do how to live our lives.”. He is against the daily $2 million spending of the current Henrico Board, the manipulation of zoning and eminent domain. He supports the rights of the individual and the Constitution.
Vigilant, adapting leadership is required to keep up with the fleecing of Henrico. As there is no democratic challenger in this race, Matt is the voice for change in this year’s election. Now is not the time for republicanism and incumbency, it is the time for alert watchmen like Matt Martin.
The Patrick Henry Supper Club Presents:
Tom Lappas
Publisher/Editor
Henrico Citizen
http://www.henricocitizen.com/
As usual the PHSC meets at:
Eastern Buffet
7586 W. Broad St.
Richmond, VA 23294
(in Merchants Walk Shopping Center)
6:00pm Dinner 7:00pm main event.
The 2007 Libertarian Party of Henrico County Convention is May 16, 2007 6:30pm at Dumbarton Library (6800 Staples Mill Rd). All are welcome to attend. We have two candidates running for Board of Supervisors. We expect the media to cover the event and we are expecting to have more vendors and attendees than our record setting 2005 Convention.
All are welcome. You must be an LPHC member to vote. Come make this the largest Libertarian event in Virginia this year!
If you plan to attend, please contact chair@henricolp.org. If you would like to be a vendor, please contact convention@henricolp.org.
At a lunch recently at a downtown Washington hotel, Gold, 78, hands over the program, now an artifact of seemingly ancient history. He is trying to explain why it was so hard to write his new book, one whose title encapsulates what he now thinks of his onetime friends: "Invasion of the Party Snatchers: How the Holy-Rollers and the Neo-Cons Destroyed the GOP." The two men at the top, he says, were men he knew pretty well -- or at least he thought he did.
Full Story at:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/04/01/AR2007040101211.html?referrer=emailarticle
(Thanks to Sue Walker for sending this to us)
From Steve Silverman (Executive Director, flexyourrights.org):
What do we look like? Do we actually know what we're talking about? Flex supporter and freedom enthusiast Mike Nixson wanted to know, so he brought down a camera crew from York, PA and interviewed us for an episode of his excellent local cable show Common Sense.
The conversation covers a range of topics including why I started FYR, why Scott Morgan hates the attorney general, and why consent searches are bad for America. If your appetite for constitutional law is as insatiable as ours, you'll love every minute of it.
The four part interview is available on the Flex Your Rights Youtube page here:
http://www.youtube.com/profile_videos?user=FlexYourRights
In 2007, the International Society for Individual Liberty's 26th World Freedom Summit will return to the roots of American freedom – to the very place where the seeds of liberty planted 400 years ago in 1607 took root and grew into the United States of America.
http://www.isil.org/conference/
(Thanks to Tony Arjona for telling us about this event).
by Robert Russo
Holders of concealed handgun permits in VA can now rest easy that their information in public hands won't be used against them, as it was announced Saturday attorney general Bob McDonnell is against all public access to the database. Although his opinion by itself is not law, it's almost certainly a prelude to law as the ranking legal counsel in the state.* This follows the publication of 135,000 names from police records by the Roanake Times last month, and the uproar bringing national attention along with such incidents as Sen. Webb's aide arrested for carrying a pistol in a Senate building last week**, a DC radio critic's statements turned against him when his own private information was released***, retaliation against the Roanoke Times itself****, and actual cases of permit holders being targeted (such as paroled criminals looking up the home addresses of police officers).***
Gun rights is the #1 topic of discussion on this site and is monitored by almost all posters who could probably correct me on many of the finer details, but I will say this. All libertarians should back Jim Webb for taking the flak on gun rights, his role in the changing of the guard in the Senate, and for just being an anti-Bush democrat from Virginia entering an arena that doesn't seem to allow that choice of representatives. From DC he and the rest of this state seem to be viewed as a bunch of gun-toting hillbillies, for what reason would a congressman possibly have for bringing a gun to the office? Until they turn on CNN and remember that off-duty cops have permits, and women with active restraining orders have permits, and maybe some of the people they know have permits. It's the same reason people forget some citizens can't wear seatbelts, and some keep unusual pets, and some have to walk through metal detectors on an artificial leg. It's ignorance.
McDonnell's reasoning for the decision is that files recorded for investigative purposes don't fall under the First Amendment or Freedom of Information Act.* The one bad side is that we ourselves won't have access to this list either for mailings, political research etc. and neither will the Virginia Citizens Defense League which has been the primary fighter in this battle. For updates on gun-related issues I subscribe to VA-ALERT at www.vcdl.org/static/va-alert.html, where the CNN report can also be viewed.
*http://www.timesdispatch.com/servlet/Satellite?pagename=RTD/MGArticle/RTD_BasicArticle&c=MGArticle&cid=1173350626414
**http://www2.vcdl.org/webapps/vcdl/vadetail.html?RECID=1216705
***http://www2.vcdl.org/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi.sh/vcdl/vadetail.html?RECID=1216705&FILTER=
****http://www2.vcdl.org/cgi-bin/wspd_cgi.sh/vcdl/vadetail.html?RECID=1429153&FILTER=
Question of the Week: Is there a down side to supporting Sen. Webb or even Gov. Kaine on issues we commonly support or oppose? Is each individual Libertarian safe in judging the issues for ourselves as individualism dictates, or do we risk being sucked up by the Democrats? Send your opinions to henrico@richmondliberty.org.
If you have topics of interest to Libertarians please let us know. We welcome your input!
Yet another big government failure...
"Results from energy companies are coming in, and the word is that moving Daylight Saving Time forward three weeks had no measurable impact on power consumption. The attempt by the US Congress to make it look like they were doing something about the energy crisis has been exposed as the waste it is. But the new DST is probably here to stay — letting the bill expire would mean re-patching a lot of systems again next year. So much for saving energy."
Full Story at http://politics.slashdot.org/article.pl?sid=07/04/03/2022236
by Robert Russo
As of March 21st the Alliance of the Libertarian Left has declared its presence in Richmond with a website at richmond.leftlibertarian.org. This is the group which operates Social Memory Complex, a blog to which richmondliberty.org owes much of its traffic and words of praise. The patrons of this chapter are planning their first meeting for May 1st for whoever wishes to attend. It is wonderful to see libertarians emerging from a new venue in our city, although as I will explain, I don't see this as a further divergence within our party but an opportunity to connect and integrate.
I believe Alliance bloggers themselves will admit the term "left" is not to emulate the divisions of mainstream politics by calling other libertarians "right", but is a perspective on libertarianism itself. (The first time I heard a non-lib speak of our party they described us as being "on the far left". To anyone who has seen the world's smallest political quiz, libertarianism is actually "up".) Basically the material on these sites focuses on the achievement of our lifestyle, culture and philosophy in ways that don't appear in most party discussions because the electoral process is not the means (i.e. libertarianism within the home, in business and around the globe), and for those who feel unrepresented by the idea that the LP should stick to "party line" issues because it leaves many stones unturned, whereas this site is for a more general audience. Quelle difference insignifiante!
Even self-declared Libertarian conservatives who participate solely to preserve their privacy and rights to defend it can serve these purposes in conjunction with every perspective and means that the rainbow of our philosophy can provide. With the prospects of election on our minds every discussion seems to be littered with the foolish political definitions of the two-party system, when we are outside that system (such as our state's Independent Green Party splitting from the national Green Party). The Green Party is a prime example of a group that is separate from ours for no good reason. Their political vision is not different, it's just focused on an issue that doesn't appear on any other platform. How do environmentalists who want to vote Republican make their case and also support their candidate? This is what keeps environmentalism and many other issues from reaching the big leagues. Those goals are a natural match with much of our political prescription.
It benefits the party and its candidates whenever the word Libertarian is spread by a group, prominent individual or news source to mean whatever esteemed context they hold it in, until we are a household name. We welcome this addition to the family of Richmond libertarian organizations. Stay tuned for updates on the details of the upcoming meeting. The main blog for the Libertarian Left is at leftlibertarian.org, with special mention of richmondliberty at blog.6thdensity.net/?p=647.
Question of the Week: If this column were extended to other sites (i.e. richmond.leftlibertarian.org), would you prefer to read more "cultural" pieces there and have this site stick to party issues like taxes and gun rights? Send your opinions to henrico@richmondliberty.org.
If you have topics of interest to Libertarians please let us know. We welcome your input!