I have noticed Rand Paul as he supported his father's political campaigns. Rand Paul is now running for US Senate in Kentucky as a Republican (the election is now 14 months away). I have reviewed his posted positions. He is critical of the business as usual politics that go on relative to US foreign policy and the Federal Reserve. I hope he is elected and eliminates the corrosive secrecy that the Federal Reserve currently maintains.

http://auditthefed.tk/

With the current State of Arizona government budget is acknowledged to be in a state of deficit spending there are many plans being proposed on how to make Arizona government operation more efficient. One of those plans involves contracting out (privatizing) the operation of incarceration with private business, thereby replacing Arizona Department of Corrections staff with private employees. Arizona State Senator Russell Pearce (LD-18) is often mentioned as the originator of this plan.

Voters and citizens would do well to keep in mind another recent Arizona "innovation" when it comes to contracted out government services. Photo radar enforcement is no more popular than when it was introduced and now that several levels of government are considering abolishing it, the private operators are bringing up financial penalties that the public was never briefed on.

Contracted out government operations are an option to be considered after full review and public disclosure of the terms. Arizona voters should also keep in mind the poor contract terms that government has negotiated in the past when considering the actions of their elected officials.

I have been calling the office of Representative Harry Mitchell [Democrat, CD-5] for a couple of week encouraging the congressman to support HR 1207 the Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (it calls for a full audit of the Federal Reserve). Last week the staffer told me that Mr. Mitchell had recently co-sponsored HR 1207.

I received a letter a few days later which includes the reasons he chose to co-sponsor the bill.

There is only a single (Arizona) representative to the house that hasn't cosponsored HR 1207 and that would be my former opponent Ann Kirkpatrick.

AuditTheFed.TK!

Chuck: Um, sir, they don’t have any guns. I personally put this mission together and I forbade them from packing.Fulcrum Agent: (mystified) Why would you do that?

read more

I've gotten on top of things lately which allows me to seek out additional reading sources. One I've found that I like is the blog Goldwater State by Ben Kalafut. Libertarians (other other folks) enjoy!

GOLD VS DOLLAR

Is the value of the dollar going down?
Bernanke probably would say no, but the average American knows instinctively the answer is yes.

A Real Choice

Are the only choices John McCain or Barack H. Obama? I say no!

Make a positive choice - vote for Bob Barr!

Ranked Choice Voting - Mesa, Arizona

Yup, that's right--a big step forward for democracy. When can we get this in Tempe?

Debasing the paper US currency being a land office business these days, the fools and charlatans in charge are moving towards replacing the current US penny with a steel replacement in order to save about $100 million dollars a year. What member of congress has the latest low down on this sham - Representative Ron Paul.

http://thesteelpenny.tk/

Photo credit: The Govmint.Com

The video above is from the impudent and innovative folks at dot.tk, a domain registrar that offers no charge (as in free) domain names. The only hitch is a little advertising and I certainly don't begrudge them a bit of that.

I took time Monday evening to go to a forum of Republican Party candidates for congressional district 5. Among those present were Mark Anderson, Laura Knaperek, Jim Ogsbury and David Schweikert. Alongside those in the audience was Andy Swann a very clean-cut retired employee of the Arizona Department of Public Safety. I solicited a piece of his campaign literature and took the time today to review his web site: www.AndySwann08.com. I visited his issues page and was less than impressed with several of his apparent positions. He is under the belief that "Educating our children is of course a critical role of state government." While that may well be a task assumed by government, monopoly government education has produced some sadly uneducated students and a billion dollar Arizona state deficit. The current educational system in Arizona isn't going to provide education that today's youth needs to compete.

In any case I am happy to see that Mr. Swann has put in the effort to offer the voters in LD20 (West Chandler and South Tempe) a choice in the upcoming November elections.

With John McCain being hailed as the likely nominee of the Republican Party I have been getting quite a few more emails from my pro-peace cohorts here in Arizona. Luckily Matt Welch has taken the time to write a book on John McCain called McCain: The Myth of a Maverick"McCain: The Myth of a Maverick" and avaiable for $18.45 (hardback) from Amazon.com. I hope to have the opportunity to read this book so I can see how wise an insight it offers on John McCain.

Until then I will likely just visit http://whoisjohnmccain.name/ and see what video and audio jewels John McCain has offered since he started singing "Bomb, bomb, bomb Iran".

If you favor John McCain or oppose John McCain, it behooves any American voter to learn all you can about him and his positions. I watched a panel discussion of John McCain and certainly came away from it knowing much more about John McCain than I did before watching the show.

I am always 100% in favor of peace as the best option. As such I try to support any anti-war effort that comes my way. Fiveyearstoomany.org is one such group. They are working to support hearings on the war as well as local events such as town halls across the country in the March 13th through 19th time frame. I encourage everyone to take a look, this effort certainly looks worthy of support.

Lest anybody think that innocent people aren't unjustly convicted in the United States, let them read up on Ray Krone. He was convicted twice and sentenced to the death penalty for a crime he did not commit.

Photo credit: cobalt123

Wayne Allen Root has been out spreading a libertarian message for 9 months now. While I still have a few reservations about his positions and policy, I think that he is certainly worth a look.

I hope that he continues to spread a message of limited government in his campaign for president and beyond. I still have greater faith in the positions held by Christine Smith.

While not a Ron Paul booster, the creator of overcompensating.com does draw an interesting comic.

John Taylor Gatto is a name that many individuals concerned with education will come across. He is the author of "Dumbing us Down: The Hidden Curriculum of Compulsory Schooling". He will be appearing at HENA (Home Education Network of Arizona) Conference at the ASU College of Education (Tempe, Arizona) the weekend of March 1st and 2nd. The registration deadline is February 15th, 2008.

Photo credit: melaniesage

In honor of all the blood, sweat and tears (or at least really hard work) put in by Ernest Hancock and Powell Gammill, I have added FreedomsPhoenix.com to the sidebar. I hope that if you haven't visited Freedom's Phoenix lately that you do so. It has great news with a sprinkle of critique added.

If there is one thing that the Libertarian Party is known for it is their desire to reduce government spending. The Arizona Libertarian Party is walking the walk as well as talking the talk unlike some other political parties of late.

ARIZONA LIBERTARIAN PARTY PRESS RELEASE
1/27/2008 Phoenix Arizona
## For Redistribution ##

Arizona Libertarians Save State Tax Payers $1,000,000.00

The Arizona Libertarian Presidential Preference Primary Election will take place from January 30th through February 5th, 2008. It will be conducted online using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) with candidate information links. RCV allows voters to rank candidates in order of preference, better reflecting voter intent. The winning nominee must receive a majority of the vote not a plurality. All registered Libertarians are encouraged to study the candidate’s positions and participate. Voting instructions will be posted online prior to the election at http://www.lpelection.com

The Arizona Libertarian Party (AZLP) has statewide ballot status as a major political party. By statute, the AZLP was invited by the state to participate in the Presidential Preference Primary Election in which party members cast votes which are non enforceable upon the convention delegates. The AZLP decided to save Arizona taxpayers from this expense and hold the election as an internal party function. Independents who can't vote in a partisan primary should not be forced to subsidize an internal beauty contest.

For more information on this primary or Ranked Choice Voting visit http://www.lpelection.com or contact the Arizona Libertarian Party at 1-800-875-7369 or in Maricopa County at 602-595-5451.