Monthly Archives: February 2008

Sunday Open Thread: Why Has Ron Paul Flatlined ?

James Joyner takes a look at the national polling trends asks this question:

Could it be that hard-core libertarians are just a relatively small group? That, despite being organized and enthusiastic, there aren’t enough of them to elect a president?

To the extent that the campaign has never done a good job of reaching out beyond this core group of supporters, not to mention the fact that events since November have contributed significantly to a drop in support from libertarians who might otherwise have supported the campaign, I’ve got to say that the answer to both those questions is yes.

Thoughts ?

Mississippi: No Food For Fat People

A legislator in Mississippi has proposed legislation that would forbid restaurant from serving people defined as “obsese:”

It has actually happened. Lawmakers have proposed legislation that forbids restaurants and food establishments from serving food to anyone who is obese (as defined by the State). Under this bill, food establishments are to be monitored for compliance under the State Department of Health and violators will have their business permits revoked.

House Bill 282 was introduced in the 2008 Mississippi legislative session on Friday by Representative W.T. Mayhall, Jr., a retired pharmaceutical salesman with DuPont-Merk. Its co-authors are Bobby Shows, a businessman, and John Read, a pharmacist.

The full text of the bill is available here, but here’s a summary:

An act to prohibit certain food establishments from serving food to any person who is obese, based on criteria prescribed by the state department of health; to direct the department to prepare written materials that describe and explain the criteria for determining whether a person is obese and to provide those materials to the food establishments; to direct the department to monitor the food establishments for compliance with the provisions of this act; and for related purposes. Be it enacted by the legislature of the state of Mississippi:

Under the proposed law, any food establishment found to have violated this law would be at risk of ha ving their Health Department license taken away. But how, exactly, would this bill be enforced ? Would Mississippians have to take a Body Mass Index text before walking being seated at Ruby Tuesday ? Would they have to carry around a doctor’s note certifying that they aren’t obese ? Would Mississippi (which would do better to concentrate on improving it’s school system) hire bands of fitness trainers to travel the state looking for restaurants making the mistake of serving someone who’s overweight? Wouldn’t they bit better off urging these overweight people to look into buying different sports equipment and clothing such as trainers and sports bras, getting in touch with a fitness trainer, and then helping people lose weight with physical exercise and better dieting?

The pure absurdity of this law is pretty galling, but even more galling is the attitude of the guy who proposed it:

I called lead author, Rep. Mayhall, and asked if this was serious legislation or tongue-in-cheek to make a point. He kindly took a moment to answer my question while the legislature was in session. He said that while, regrettably, he doesn’t believe his bill will pass, this is serious. He wrote it, he said, because of the “urgency of the obesity crisis and need for government action.” He hopes it will “call attention to the serious problem of obesity and what it is costing the Medicare system.”

And just wait till Hillary-care comes.

H/T: QandO

No Senator, How The NFL Runs Itself Is Not The Business Of Congress

A top Republican Senator is demanding an inquiry into why the National Football League destroyed tapes related to the New England Patriots’ spying scandal:

The ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee wants N.F.L. Commissioner Roger Goodell to explain why the league destroyed evidence related to spying by the New England Patriots.

In the stretch of 12 days, from Sept. 9 to Sept. 20, the Patriots were caught filming the Jets’ defensive signals in violation of N.F.L. rules, ordered to hand over all tapes of illegal filming to the league office, fined $750,000 and made to forfeit a first-round draft pick.

Then the N.F.L. announced it had destroyed the evidence.

In a telephone interview Thursday morning, Senator Arlen Specter, Republican of Pennsylvania and ranking member of the committee, said that Goodell would eventually be called before the committee to address two issues: the league’s antitrust exemption in relation to its television contract and the destruction of the tapes that revealed spying by the Patriots.

“That requires an explanation,” Specter said. “The N.F.L. has a very preferred status in our country with their antitrust exemption. The American people are entitled to be sure about the integrity of the game. It’s analogous to the C.I.A. destruction of tapes. Or any time you have records destroyed.”

Except for the fact that neither the New England Patriots, the New York Jets, nor the National Football League are a branch of the Federal Government. If the NFL choose to destroy the tapes after investigating the matter, that’s their choice. It may be a bad one, and one can make the argument that their punishment of the Patriots was far too lenient, but there’s nothing in the Constitution that gives the Congress the authority to get involved in this.

Ron Paul’s Tax Advisor Believes You Don’t Have To Pay Taxes

Apparently, Ron Paul has hired the son of legendary tax protester notorious crank Irwin Schiff as his tax advisor:

Representative Ron Paul, the Texas doctor with the libertarian streak who is seeking the Republican nomination, has taken on an economic adviser with very close ties to people who assert that the income tax is illegal.

Dr. Paul announced that his new economic adviser is Paul Schiff, who runs Euro Pacific Capital Inc., an investment fund. He is also the author of “Crash Proof,” a book about a coming economic collapse that on Friday was listed as #224 at Amazon.com.

Not mentioned by the Paul campaign is that Mr. Schiff is the son of Irwin Schiff of Las Vegas, now serving his third federal prison sentence for tax crimes. He is also the author of such books as “The Federal Mafia,” which asserts that federal judges are paid off by the Internal Revenue Service, and other books describing the federal government as a criminal organization that illegally extracts income taxes.

(…)

The son, in interviews, has said he thinks his father is correct in asserting that there is no law to make most Americans liable for income taxes and so they can legally put zeroes on their tax returns. Peter Schiff, however, said that he pays his taxes.

Well, they can put zeros if they want to, but they’d better plan on some time in prison if they do. Let’s be blunt about, there is no legal merit to the arguments that Schiff and the other tax protesters, such as Wesley Snipes, make. The 16th Amendment was legitimately ratified and is blindlingly clear:

The Congress shall have power to lay and collect taxes on incomes, from whatever source derived, without apportionment among the several States, and without regard to any census or enumeration.

And the Internal Revenue Code clearly defines income:

 

Except as otherwise provided in this subtitle, gross income means all income from whatever source derived, including (but not limited to) the following items:

(1) Compensation for services, including fees, commissions, fringe benefits, and similar items;

(2) Gross income derived from business;

(3) Gains derived from dealings in property;

(4) Interest;

(5) Rents;

(6) Royalties;

(7) Dividends;

(8) Alimony and separate maintenance payments;

(9) Annuities;

(10) Income from life insurance and endowment contracts;

(11) Pensions;

(12) Income from discharge of indebtedness;

(13) Distributive share of partnership gross income;

(14) Income in respect of a decedent; and

(15) Income from an interest in an estate or trust.

 

Schiff is a scam artist and he’s serving time in jail because he broke the law. And the Paul campaign has hired his son, who apparently agrees with his father but apparently isn’t stupid enough to actually put his ideas into practice.

You can argue that the law is unjust, or that we should repeal the income tax, but the argument that we aren’t legally required to do what the law allows is just plain nonsense and it’s truly unfortunate that the libertarian movement is becoming associated with nonsense like this.

The Times article goes on:

Dr. Paul has not criticized the tax protesters among his supporters, even ones who deny the legitimacy of the tax laws. While he has said that the income tax law is valid, he has also said that rules requiring people who make more than minimal income fill out income tax returns violates the 13th Amendment’s prohibition against involuntary servitude. He goes on to suggest that those who find themselves needing legal aid may want to visit a site similar to goodservicetax.com or speak with a law firm more local to them to get the information they need in regard to their taxes.

I haven’t heard Dr. Paul make this argument, but if he has he’s just plain wrong.

Caption Contest

© 2007 Capitol News Company, LLC

I did not watch the most recent Republican debate so I have no idea what the context is for this photo. Not knowing the context of what was happening at this very moment in time makes this photo all the more interesting and humorous to me. I can’t help but wonder what Gov. Huckabee might be explaining and what Congressman Paul is thinking.

With this priceless picture, I thought it might be fun to have a contest among the contributors and readers of The Liberty Papers. No prizes, just fun.

We have a winner!

Quincy’s submission:

Huck: “OK, Ron, I give up! How many nanny state proposals does it take before I can be called a ‘flaming liberal’?”

Paul: “You just don’t get it, do ya?”

Runner-up

Sadcox’s submission:

[Huckabee] “Ten. That’s how many corny lines I’ve delivered so far tonight in order to avoid answering a question. Now ask me another question.”

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