Author Archives: Stephen Gordon

Liberty + Libations = ???

tuntavern

The Tun Tavern hosted George Washington, Thomas Jefferson and the Continental Congress

What do you get when you mix alcohol with the politics of freedom? An argument can be made that we owe our Republic not only to a lot of bright and brave people, but also to a lot of booze.

In order to bring out freedom fighter in all of us, as well as to provide some networking opportunities and just plain fun, Liberty on the Rocks provides an opportunity for libertarians to plan alcohol-related events in their own communities.  I’ve just placed the first Birmingham event on the calendar, so we’ll see how it works.

We’ll have a special treat at our first event, as Jason Talley, Pete Eyre and Adam Mueller of the Motorhome Diaries will be there.  For those not following the story, here’s an overview of their recent encounter with the police in Mississippi.  I’m sure that hearing Jason and Pete describe their experiences will prove quite interesting.

We’re also meeting at the the J.Clyde, which has been very supportive of the Free the Hops legislation we’ve been working so hard on in Alabama.

America is in trouble, so perhaps it’s time to invoke the spirit of the Green Dragon.  Perhaps it’s time for you to start planning a libertarian social event in your area.

Libertarians arrested in Mississippi — probably for being libertarians

Talley:

Some of my friends were just arrested in Mississippi. Here’s a description of why they’re traveling across the country:

The Motorhome Diaries is the story of three friends who took to the road in April 2009 to search for freedom in America. Along the way the friends – Jason, Pete and Tom – interact with individuals and groups from diverse backgrounds and viewpoints at college campuses, homes, businesses and organizations that are united by one thing: increasing individual freedom and responsibility and decreasing the scope of government.

Here’s the best and lastest info about the arrest (follow the comment thread for updates):

It went down this morning in Jones County, MS. Jason Talley posted this to MHD’s Twitter:

“We are in Jones County MS and @adammueller has been arrested for filming cops after they pulled us over.”
http://img15.imageshack.us/my.php?image=q72.jpg&via=tfrog

Later, other posts to Jason’s facebook page revealed they were all arrested. After asking for details and hearing nothing, I called the Jones County Jail at 601-649-7502 and confirmed they have all been imprisoned.

Adam Mueller – Disorderly Conduct and Disobeying an Officer
Pete Eyre – Possession of a Beer in a Dry County
Jason Talley – Disorderly Conduct, Disobeying, and Resisting Arrest

The bureaucrats at the jail think they will be arraigned tomorrow…

They were scheduled to be in Nashville tonight, but the good folks in Tennessee aren’t going to let their arrest go to waste. Here’s a Facebook message I received:

Subject: Bring your stash of bail $ tonight…

Greetings everyone!

Sorry to disappoint, but the Motorhome Diaries boys won’t be joining us tonight. They are held up in Mississippi…in jail. That’s right. Ironic that they are traveling across American searching for liberty and are arrested for filming a traffic stop? Yes, it is. Read more here:

http://www.facebook.com/l/;http://freekeene.com/2009/05/14/keenes-motorhome-diaries-crew-arrested-in-ms/

Please don’t let this discourage you from joining us at Mafi’s tonight. We have to figure out how to help them – sounds like they’re being arraigned tomorrow. Allison Gibbs (Campaign for Liberty) is on her way now to bail them out, and they do need money. Mafi’s gives us a 2 for 1 special on drafts, so maybe you can use the money you’re saving for bail??????

See you tonight at 7!

Jason and I have worked together on a variety of issues (the latest being Fr33Agents) over the years. I’m speculating at this moment that he was arrested for respectfully asserting his legal rights. I know his style and I also know Mississippi cops. They probably mixed like oil and water. Fortunately for them, they were able to make bail without using a bail provider, but that isn’t the same for many people who find themselves in jail in America. Those unfortunate enough to find themselves on that side of the law require the aid of bail providers similar to HB Bail Bonds in order to regain their freedom.

The guys are supposed to be in Alabama next week and I was looking forward to seeing them — now even more. I’ll update this post as more information becomes available.

UPDATE: Here’s one of Pete Eyre’s previous encounters with the police.



UPDATE II
: From Twitter:

All 3 are coming out¡!@jdtalley @peteeyre @ammueller! All under 1000! Now we have to get marv!

UPDATE III: Jason tweets:

The #MHD crew has been released from Jones County jail. I was pepper sprayed and choked for refusing to give ID.

UPDATE IV: It’s interesting that Jones County is notorious for KKK activity. It isn’t not all that far from Prentiss, Mississippi. Those who followed the Cory Maye story which Radley Balko broke have probably already figured out the real probable cause: simply being a libertarian in Mississippi. In Alabama, we like Mississippi because it keeps us from being number 50 on a lot of lists.

UPDATE V: Pete Eyre has a while lot of additional details here.

Alabama’s hops are almost free

I’ve been writing about a bill in Alabama to Free the Hops.  The bill just passed the Alabama Senate and is heading to the Governor’s office to be signed into law.  Here’s the relevant news update:

The bill passed the Senate 22-9 and now goes to the governor. If signed, retailers would be allowed the sale of certain gourmet and imported beers in Alabama. Free the Hops, an organization which lobbied for the bill, says the beverages cost an average of $5 to $6 a bottle.

The bill came up for consideration earlier in the session but was filibustered by state Sen. Hank Erwin, R-Montevallo, who cited his personal opposition to alcohol consumption in blocking the legislation. Erwin was not in the Senate chamber for Thursday’s vote; however, the Senate approved the bill by using a previous vote total. Erwin was on that roll as voting aye.

I’m not sure why Erwin left the Senate floor, as he’d threatened to filibuster this bill to the very end.  That someone voted “aye” for him leaves a smile on my face.  Here’s the next (hopefully final) step in the process:

We need to do everything we can to encourage the Governor to either sign our bill. That’s why we’re asking everyone in the state who values personal freedom and who thinks the Alabama government should stop telling us which beers are ok to drink and which ones we can’t handle to contact Governor Riley immediately. By phone, fax, or email, whatever works best for you.

We’ve even had one of his former staffers give us some tips on how best to go about this:

The volume of letters and phone calls that he receives on a particular issue is reported to him every morning, and he takes them seriously. … A couple quick points:

  • They have a pretty sophisticated constituent database, so multiple calls/mail from the same person won’t accomplish much. They report to him the number of persons, not the number of communications.
  • Any arguments that sounds like something the gambling folks would say should be avoided (”People go over state lines to do it anyway…”). You don’t want to equate yourself with those guys in his mind.
  • Arguments about personal liberty and economic development will probably have more sway.
    Pointing out the surrounding states that allow it will also be helpful. The fact that GA, NC, SC, and WV have passed these bills in the past couple years is persuasive.

Just keep it short and to the point.  Let him know you support the bill and why.

Here’s contact information for the Governor’s office:

Switchboard:  (334) 242-7100
Fax:  (334) 353-0004
Email form:  http://www.governor.alabama.gov/contact/contact_form.aspx

Don’t hesitate!  We haven’t come this far only to suffer a veto now.  Make sure Gov. Riley knows the people of Alabama want him to sign HB373 into law.
Thank you to everyone who has gotten us to this point.  Time to seal the deal.

For folks in Alabama, the party tonight is going in Birmingham at the J. Clyde.

A suggested mea maxima culpa for Republican leaders

While hanging out on Twitter earlier today, I made this observation: “American voters will not take the GOP seriously until they make some sincere and MAJOR mea culpas.”

This got me to thinking about what it would take for me to start taking the Republican Party more seriously.  My initial observation is that I’m suddenly taken much more seriously by conservatives at the grassroots level.  A lot of these folks are equally upset with the senior leadership in the GOP.  The problems seems to be at the top.  Here’s the example du jour:

For the National Republican Senatorial Committee’s recruitment list for 2010 reads like a roster of some of the party’s best-known RINOs (Republicans In Name Only) and squishes — the derisive terms applied to centrists by movement conservatives.

The party’s top choice for Florida’s open Senate seat is popular Gov. Charlie Crist, who raised eyebrows earlier this year with his vigorous advocacy of President Barack Obama’s stimulus package — he even went so far as to appear with Obama at a Florida rally in February. In Connecticut, the national GOP has lobbied former Rep. Rob Simmons — who holds a higher lifetime rating from the liberal Americans for Democratic Action group than Specter does — to challenge Democratic Sen. Chris Dodd.

Then there’s last week’s example:

Republican House Whip Eric Cantor has just announced the formation of the National Council for a New America, which is described as “a forward-looking, grassroots caucus intended to bring together Congressional leaders with a national panel of experts.”

In reality, the National Council for a New America looks like another top-down organization which will be conducting forums and town hall meetings to push an agenda which looks just like the same-old agenda we’ve been seeing from Republicans.

The Republican leadership has had plenty of chances.  2006 election results should have been a clear kick upside the head.  After the 2008 results came in, it was time to start CPR.  And now they are going back to the same old practices which put them in this boat in the first place.

For the Republican Party to survive, the grassroots are going to have to take over the GOP or Republican leaders will need to learn a new vocabulary very quickly. This vocabulary will require a lot more than simply saying “I’m sorry.” It will have to be a serious and heartfelt apology to the American people.  If I was tasked to write an apology speech for some senior elected Republican, it might go something like this:

I come before you today to ask — no, to beg — for your forgiveness.

For years, I’ve disregarded my priorities and placed being in power ahead of my duty to you and to the Constitution of the United States.

For years, I’ve been voting for bloated budgets and increased deficit spending because I placed party loyalty above fiscal stewardship.

For years, I’ve been listening to lobbyists, as opposed to my you, my constituents.

For years, I’ve disregarded the Tenth Amendment and placed undo burdens on the states.

For years, I’ve voted for law after law which invades personal privacy and stifles individual liberty.

For years, I’ve placed my personal social agenda above the basic concepts of federalism and the Republic.  Especially with my vote on the Internet Gambling Ban and the Terri Schiavo case, I was truly wrong.

When President Bush wanted a bailout package, I succumbed to pressure and voted for it.  There is no excuse for this deplorable action of mine.

When Senator McCain won the presidential nomination, I stood with him on the campaign trail.  There is no excuse for this deplorable action of mine.

There is no apology I can make which will begin to make up for the financial and freedom losses you have suffered due to my irresponsibility.  I can only humbly ask your forgiveness and for your help to bring this country back on track again.

There is no excuse for many of my votes and actions since the Republican Revolution.  However, I’ve been reading a lot and talking with some very bright people over the last few months.   I’ve read about laissez-faire economic policy, the true free market.  I’ve read our founding fathers and learned why they wrote the Constitution and the Articles of Confederation the way they did.  I’ve read about natural law and libertarian theory.  I now carry a copy of the Constitution with me — and consult it before voting on any questionable bill.  I no longer vote on any bill which I haven’t first read.

I’ve sold your rights down the river, but I’m willing to do everything I can to buy back your freedom. I promise that I’ll work much harder than I ever have in the past to restore as much of your money and as many of your rights as possible.  It’s the very least I should do.

I know you will be watching each and every one of my votes between now and Election Day, as well you should.  I’d like to announce that the door to my office is once again open to the public. I hope you will take the time to call, e-mail or stop by to tell me how I’m doing.

While I may not deserve it, I’m now on the road to recovery.  With your help, America can be, too.

The only problem is that the speech would be coming from my keyboard — not from the heart of the RINO who would be delivering it.


Southern Baptists condemn torture, including waterboarding

In a move very surprising to this veteran of far too many southern talk radio programs where I was the one condemning torture to a hostile audience, the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission has just condemned torture.

“I don’t agree with the belief that we should use any means necessary to extract information,” said SBC Ethics and Religious Liberty Commission president Richard Land. “I believe there are absolutes. There are things we must never do under any circumstances.”

Furthermore, they clearly indicated that waterboarding is indeed an act of torture:

“For me the ultimate test is: Could I, in good conscience, do whatever I am authorizing or condoning others to do? If not, then I must oppose the action. If I could not waterboard someone—and I couldn’t—then I must oppose its practice.”

Land said he considers waterboarding to be torture because the definition of torture includes the determination of whether a procedure causes permanent physical harm, noting he is unable to “separate physical from psychological harm” in this instance. The practice contravenes an individual’s personhood and their humanity, he said.

“It violates everything we believe in as a country,” Land said, reflecting on the words in the Declaration of Independence: that “all men are created equal” and that “they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights.”

“There are some things you should never do to another human being, no matter how horrific the things they have done. If you do so, you demean yourself to their level,” he said.

“Civilized countries should err on the side of caution. It does cost us something to play by different rules than our enemies, but it would cost us far more if we played by their rules,” Land concluded.

To begin, I’d like to applaud the Southern Baptist Convention for taking this stand.  Based on my anecdotal observations, this won’t be popular with the let’s-waterboard-them-another-hundred-times crowd.  However, some of their members may now think through the issue or gain the courage to publicly oppose acts of torture.

While this condemnation is clearly many days late, it’s not a dollar short.  Perhaps it’s time to welcome the Southern Baptists into the fold of people who like to have rational and reasonable debate over issues of a political nature.  Or perhaps not.

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