The East Metro Epic Rant, 12.26.2012

Regarding the idiotic comments of Wayne Lapierre, executive vice-president of the NRA, all I can say is this: the federal government has no business having anything to do with security for any school with the exception of those in Washington, D.C. No, I think they're probably too busy killing infants and toddlers in the Middle East. I mean...What. The. Fuck? I think this write-up is pretty much on the money: Is the guy drunk, or high? How could he have possibly pissed off both sides of the gun issue with equal effect? I'm thinking crack rocks...or maybe ice? Regardless, he's obviously a bitch-ass mark! Or is he a mark-ass bitch?

And what is with these stupid Hollywood fucks and their little "Demand a Plan" video calling for the Federal government to make everything all better. Oh, is this the same federal government that is killing women and children on a daily basis is countries like Yemen, Pakistan, and Afghanistan? Just to be clear, are we talking about the same federal government that passed NDAA, a law where any American citizen can be disappeared forever without due process? And without beating a dead horse, are we discussing the same federal government that armed drug cartels in Mexico? And...oh wait, I'm sorry, are we talking about the same government that has been waging the War on Drugs for 41 years with such stellar results?

And I get most of the people on this stupid, pathetic video, but Conan O'Brien? Et tu, Conan? Hey, it's your 1st amendment right to have been a part of this thing, and it's my right to never watch you on T.V. again and to unfollow you on FB and Twitter...

It seems as if the whole damn thing is headin' south in a hurry, folks. What else is there to say...don't blame me, I voted Ron Paul?

"Do we really want to live in a world of police checkpoints, surveillance cameras, metal detectors, x-ray scanners and warrantless physical searches? We see this culture in our airports, witness this shabby spectacle of once proud, happy Americans shuffling through long lines while uniformed TSA agents bark orders... The federal government should not try to pursue unobtainable safety with state-approved security precautions... The government has "zero moral authority to legislate against violence." -Dr. Ron Paul

Oh well, such is life. But the rub is this: there is stupid, crazy, and evil all over this world. Always has been and always will be. You can't legislate it, and they don't care about laws, anyhow. It's just the way it is.The sooner people realize this, the better. If you're into faith, I suggest you cling to it, because I don't see it getting any better anytime soon...

Random Bites: 17 December 2012

Well, according to some, the end of the world is only 3 days away, so I figured I should get at least one more post up on the East Metro Blog.

I've been hearing about the weirdness of the Denver Airport for years. According to multiple conspiracy theorists, it is the site of a super-bunker for the power elite if ever "the shit goes downs." But, I've heard from folks that have been there in person, and after seeing this article, I'm starting to wonder...

And in other news relating to the ongoing and continuous trend of POLICE STATE USA, here's this little piece about a misguided town in Arkansas. 

A friend of mine on Facebook, Sean Haugh, recounts his witnessing of the the North Carolina meeting of the Electoral College. Yep, hard to believe, it is already the first Monday after the second Wednesday in December. Happened in every state of the Union and D.C. A really neat read. This is how it's decided...good stuff.

And the CT state police has decided that the 1st amendment does not exist, and that they have the power to go after journalists and bloggers in other states. This is response to some of the conspiracy theories going around? What a joke!  It almost makes you start to wonder...

The best journalist in America? 

A good read in re the social media reaction to the recent tragedy by Charlie Harper, editor of Peach Pundit. 

The UGA Hoop Dawgs are really, really, really bad this year. But...they might get a lot better by the end of the year. Lots of young talent. I hope we can win at least 8 or 9 more games to hopefully save Mark Fox's job for one more year.

One of my favorite Holiday songs. 

Alright, this will probably be it until 2013. Hope everyone has a wonderful Christmas and New Year!

14 November 2012: A belated post-election re-cap, Rand Paul, Ron Paul and the road ahead

Howdy! I hope this write-up finds everyone well. It's been a week since the election and after stewing things over in the various back burners of my mind, I decided it was time to try to get some thoughts out there. Not that my thoughts really mean that much, but hey, a few people do check this blog out, so Imma gonna just go with it...

"Awww yeah! Y'all know I love me some drones!" 

"Keep Obama in President," so said the rather enthused lady talking about her Obama phone. Well, that lady got her wish; Obama will be our president for four more wars...er, make that years. I got sidetracked thinking about Libya, Yemen, and a few other countries. Sorry about that. So yeah - four more years...

Looking back on it, it should have been obvious. The GOP had a death wish. It seemed as if they were, at every, single turn, making all of the WRONG decisions. On everything! Flipping the middle finger to all of the Ron Paul supporters wasn't one of their finer moments, for sure! With the polarized electorate we now have, you've got to be as inclusive as possible, not completely exclusive. Throw in the fact that Mitt was an incredibly weak candidate who ran an incredibly weak campaign, and there just wasn't any way around it - the Nobel-winning, drone-loving, American citizen-killing, corporatist, big-government statist was almost assured victory.

No, the surprise, to some, was the fact that the GOP didn't even come close to taking the senate and they lost seats in the house. This, contrary to much popular belief, is a very good thing. It finally hammered home the point that this awful way of doing things that the GOP had settled in on is No. Longer. Working! Now, even older, long-time rank-and-filers are starting to see the light (I'm seeing it happen where I'm at). More and more people are realizing that big government, social conservatism is what cost the GOP in this last election cycle. It's a non-starter, stuff like abortion. Roe v. Wade! It happened, and we're not going back. In re marriage equality, the tide is turning. People are realizing that this is a civil rights issue. Hell, two states, Colorado and Washington, legalized recreational marijuana. Not medicinal marijuana. Full legalization. Freedom is in the air. Literally.

The other problem with the GOP is the "establishment." The folks who, for lack of better words, are supposedly running the show. They're a freaking joke. And what's with this continuous attempt to "maintain the narrative?" It's as if they think they can magically change reality by hoping (and probably praying) for something bad enough. Take the convention as an example. Rather than playing by the rules and letting Ron Paul be nominated from the floor, they decided they'd start changing the rules anytime it suited them and that they would go to war with the one wing of the party that could actually GOTV (get out the vote), create some excitement, and make things happen.


Anyways, in the end, the GOP got exactly what they deserved. But things are changing. Look at Jeff Flake, the libertarian-leaning Senator-elect in AZ; or TEA party fave Ted Cruz in TX; or the numerous "Ron Paul Republicans" that got elected to the House. Things are looking good for Liberty candidates in this country. That's the memo that the GOP needs to get. Will they? That's the question...


Rand Paul, for the Win (and for Hemp)! 

Rand Paul 2016!!!

The good doctor's son turned some heads this week. Industrial Hemp is truly one the greatest cash crops America has ever known (it was legal until 1937). It doesn't get you high, so why is it now illegal? As is always the case, just follow the money - there are multiple special interests who have a vested interest in keeping this stuff illegal such as Big Paper, Big Pharma, Big Oil, and others. This is a must read for more info: http://www.hemphasis.net/Politics/politics.htm

No truer words have been spoken than those of Carl Sagan: "One of the saddest lessons of history is this: If we've been bamboozled long enough, we tend to reject any evidence of the bamboozle. We're no longer interested in finding out the truth. The bamboozle has captured us. It's simply too painful to acknowledge, even to ourselves, that we've been taken. Once you give a charlatan power over you, you almost never get it back. So the old bamboozles tend to persist as new ones arise."

Kudos to Sen. Rand Paul for standing up for this all-too-important issue. Freedom is in the air. The time is now. We must act!Write your congressman and all that jazz...

"Yes, actually, I am aware that I'm a Badass!"

Ron Paul. A Real American Hero. 

So Dr. Paul gave his farewell address today. It was EPIC!

Thank you Dr. Ron Paul. Thank you so very much. God Bless you, always!

For a great write-up of this epic address, check out Reason's take here (includes a link for a transcript): http://reason.com/blog/2012/11/14/ron-pauls-farewell-speech-to-congress-we

  



The Road Ahead

As a few people in the blogosphere have mentioned, perhaps we are right at the threshold of a great Liberty awakening. As as the old saying goes - it's always darkest right before dawn - maybe we are getting very close to the dawn. That's personally what I believe. As others have mentioned, there seem to be reasons for optimism. And that maybe, just maybe, the GOP is starting to "get it." 

But what about you? Are you someone who is very discouraged about Obama getting reelected and also not feeling good about what's been happening about the GOP? If so, then the answer is quite simple: Get Involved! Change, real change, always starts at the bottom...at the grassroots. Find the webpage of your local county GOP and join. Here in Georgia, the mass precinct meetings (the beginning of the delegate process) occur on February 9th. This is the first step. Go. Engage. Get Involved! Also, there are so many other groups that you can get involved with that can help make a difference: Campaign For Liberty, FreedomWorks, Institute for Justice, etc. Anything and everything to "light the flames of freedom and liberty, one heart and mind at a time." 

As a final aside, all of the talk about secession is absolute crap. No! This is our country, and it's worth fighting for. It took us years generations to get to this point and it's going to take some time to get us out of it. We have to remain patient, yet vigilant, and we just have to keep up the good fight. We can do it. We must do it. 

In Peace and Liberty, 

-M

What my ballot will look like on Tuesday

Yeah, I know that the title of this column may lead some people to certain reactions: How pretentious, right? Who cares who you're voting for? Well, I know for a fact that at least a few people do. They've come to my place of work to ask me. I even had one gentleman ask me to fill in a sample ballot he had printed out. Which, by the way, I did, but I put asterisks next to two of the races and told him some info, but not who to vote for because, as I told him, I wasn't sure yet.

No, I guess that I've become somewhat of a political...whatever.  Regardless, I am blogging about politics again, and as some of you may know, I am a political activist of sorts. So I've decided to put this out there.

These are the races I'm voting for in Newton County, Georgia and these are the people I'm voting for:

President and Vice-President of the United States of America

Gary Johnson (L) & Jim Gray (L)

I've never voted for a Republican or Democrat for President in my life, and I'm not starting now. Why? Romney will win GA by double-digits, so it's not like I'm going to be changing anything. The reasons for casting a principled vote of conscience? How about NDAA, drones, and the FED to start? Having respect for the 4th amendment and maybe questioning the war on drugs or the merits of NOT having an interventionist foreign policy are more examples of why I think Romney and Obama are two sides of the same coin. This goddam 2-party duopoly is precisely why we're in the mess that we're in and frankly, I'm damn sick and tired of it.

Public Service Commission 

PSC 5: David Staples (L)
PSC 3: Brad Ploger (L)

There are two PSC Libertarian candidates on the ballot, and I'll be voting for both; however, there is one in particular that I'd really like to mention. David Staples is in a 2-man race with Stan Wise for the PSC 5 race. I've known David for years and I can say this - he's a good man, and he's smart as hell. Also, as evidenced by his debate performance on GPTV, he knows his stuff. He would do a hell of a job. But, Stan Wise is absolutely awful. He is the poster boy for crony capitalism. He gets over 90% of his campaign contributions from the executives, lobbyists, and lawyers of the utilities that he is charged with regulating. He, singularly, is responsible for you having to pay some of the highest utility rates in America. If you vote for him simply because he has a "R" next to his name, then you suck!

Newton County Commission Chair

Keith Ellis (R) 

I've known Keith for years. I've worked with him in the real estate business (me as an agent, him as a builder) and have gotten to know him pretty well over the years. He's a good man, and he's honest. I think he would do Newton Co. proud...especially with people like me reminding him that he needs to always be mindful of the concepts of freedom and liberty and placing taxpayer dollars in the most sacred regard. I think he'd be willing to do that.

Newton Board of Commissioners, Dist. 5

Levie Maddox (R) 

I like Marcello Banes. He's smart and likeable, but I'm going to have to go with Levie on this one. We don't need 4 Democrats on the BOC. I'm definitely a "divided-government" fan.

Newton Co. Sheriff 

UNDECIDED

I've been grappling with this one for months....I just don't know. I think we would be OK with either, but I will say this: awhile back I was positive that I would be voting for Ezell Brown (D), but in the last couple of months, I've had several folks, including people I think very highly of, sing the praises of Philip Bradford (R). I think I'll decide this one when I actually touch the computer screen in the ballot box.

Newton Co. Coroner

Tommy Davis (R)

I've known Tommy for some time having worked with him in the death business (Tommy as a funeral home director, me as a cemetery salesman). He seems like a heck of a guy and a super, hard worker. For a job like this, I think we definitely need someone who knows what they're doing.



U.S. Congress, 4th District 

I'll be writing in "GREG PALLEN" 

And let it be known that Greg is not a certified write-in, so my vote won't count. Greg ran in the GOP primary as a Republican "Liberty Candidate." He lost with 45% of the vote which surprised most insiders and establishment types. He would have been the much better candidate to get slaughtered by Mr. Guam, Hank Johnson. Whereas J. Chris Vaughn will likely lose 70/30, Pallen may have been able to push 40%. I've met Greg a few times. I like him; he's a little kooky on some things, but aren't we all?

GA Senate Dist. 17

Nelva Lee (D) 

Simply a protest vote. As I said earlier, I'm a divided-government guy. It seems like more and more as the GA Republicans take over the Gold Dome, the worse things get. At this point, I think the Libertarian Party of Georgia is about as organized as the Democratic Party of Georgia. The Dems in GA are in shambles - they're broke and and in disarray. There are county parties that are in good shape, but statewide, the Dems are in a bad way. We need a real and viable 2nd party in Georgia. Thanks to Georgia's archaic and draconian ballot access laws, it's damn hard for the Libertarians to get on the ballot for non-statewide races.

Constitutional Amendments 

NO on both. 

For amendment 1, I'll just direct you to Better Schools Georgia As their sign says, "I love Charter Schools. I Love Local Control." Therefore, you just have to say NO. 

Special Elections 

YES  on all three.

I'm all about freedom, and we need all the tax revenue we can get!

Everything Else 

I'm skipping!

I haven't voted for someone running unopposed in about 6 or 7 years, and I never will again. 

*****************

So that's it...

Please vote if you haven't already. Seriously, VOTE!!!


 

My Take on Last Night's Debate

I posted this on my Facebook and the response was very positive. Thought I'd share it here as well. -MM 

Well, I won't lie. I tried to watch the debate tonight...I lasted about 20 minutes until I bailed. I didn't hear anything about the 4th amendment (nor did I hear any mention of the 1st, 2nd, 6th, 9th or 10th), NDAA, indefinite detention, drones, murdering of American citizens, military industrial complex, war machine, etc. etc.

I very seriously doubt that there was any mention of any of those 
topics in the last 70 minutes...just a hunch.

My take on these two jokers: they are both narcissistic, ego-maniacal sociopaths who are bought and paid for by their corporatist, statist masters.

Another choice does exist. He'll be on the ballot in every state. His name is Gary Johnson and he fucking climbed Mt. Everest. Stay thirsty my friends...

POTUS 2012: 13 October 2012

The folks over at RealClearPolitcs have recently updated their electoral map, and in a not-so-surprising turn of events, it is showing the POTUS race tightening up considerably. Throughout most of the Summer and early Fall, it was looking very likely that Obama, despite having a ton of bad stuff going on (bad economy, bad gas prices, bad track record, erosion of base, etc), was probably going to get reelected probably for no other reason than Romney being such the weak candidate that he is.

But in light of the 9/11 attack in Libya and Romney's complete annihilation of the PrezBO in the first debate, it's really looking like the "Stormin' Morman" just might win this thing. Possibly the biggest thing to note is how two states, Michigan and Pennsylvania, at one time thought to be very safe Obama territory, are now considered toss-ups. Wisconsin, while not as big a surprise as the aforementioned states, is also very important to keep in mind. If Romney takes those three, and holds Florida, he would probably win regardless of any of the other toss-ups.

In my opinion, I see Romney safely picking up Florida, North Carolina, and Virginia which puts him at 237 electoral votes to Obama's 201 with 125 undetermined. Throw in Wisconsin, Ohio, and either Michigan or Pennsylvania, and Romney wins.With all of this said, there are obviously a ton of scenarios that could play out. What if, as one scenario goes, it comes down to New Mexico? A state where Obama is winning fairly easily, but a state where the Libertarian candidate, Gary Johnson, is polling right at the margin of difference between Obama and Romney. Wouldn't that be a hell of a note? Of course, as most of us know, there's nothing to it - A vote for Johnson is a vote for Johnson; however, I'm sure a lot of GOPers would love to blame us childish Libertarians for throwing the election. I'd absolutely love that!

Regardless, the GOP needs to work on taking over the Senate (very possible), maintaining the House (completely probable), and then start to seriously think about their strategy. Because, honestly, it's not a very good one. And that's without even getting into their disdain and maltreatment of the Ron Paul/Libertarian/Freedom wing of the party... 

Goodbye JasonPye.com: An End of an Era

I met Jason Pye in the Summer of 2005 while attending a Constitution seminar given by 2004 Libertarian Party (LP) candidate Michael Badnarik. He was the Chair of the Henry Co. LP while I was the Chair of the East Metro Atlanta LP just next door in Newton Co. We really hit it off and had a lot in common (although not so much with music).

It was shortly thereafter when I told Jason I was in the process of starting up a blog, mainly to be a vehicle for the fledgling, up-start LP affiliate we had just formed in Covington a couple of months prior. In fact, that is the very blog you're reading right now (although I disassociated the blog from the affiliate years ago). He liked the idea and said he might do the same. I think originally he just had a Henry LP Blog, or something similar, but before long, a new blog was rolled out, simply entitled, Jasonpye.com.

I was an avid reader right from the beginning. At that time, the hits were pretty scarce, I think, but the Pyeman kept hammering away. He was actually quite prolific with his postings and before long he really had things rolling--lots of good, quality posts; a growing readership; and a nice following of knowledgeable commentors that led to a lot of quality debate.For years, www.jasonpye.com was an everyday stop for me.

In particular, I think of the 2006 Georgia election season and the 2007/2008 POTUS primary season and campaign as highlights of the blog. In the Fall of '06, Jason was pulling double duty as he was Chair of the Georgia LP and was doing his blogging. In 2008 he was pulling triple duty as he was operating his blog, working on the campaign for Bob Barr 2008, and getting involved with another blog, United Liberty (UL). Of course, during all of this, he was still working a full-time job in addition to working on some local campaigns here and there as well. Ultimately, it was UL that took more and more of Jason's time and involvement as he was the Editor-in-Chief and was responsible for most of its content.

I had started writing a print column in 2009 and by 2010 had started up another blog to house those columns with additional content, but I started longing to do some political stuff again as the East Metro blog had been on hiatus for several years. Early in 2011, when Jason asked if I'd like to be a contributor for his page, I jumped at the opportunity to be able to write for the blog that I was such a fan of. I did a few posts, though not nearly as many as I'd have liked, but before long, I fell into a lot of the time constraints as Jason did, including spending more time writing at UL. Plus, it's not like many of us are doing this full time. We have jobs, responsibilities and other things going on.

As 2012 wore on, the posting at Jason's eponymous blog started to get slower and slower. Although out of sheer habit, I was still hitting the site at least a time or two a week just to see if anything new was up. So it wasn't really a huge surprise when I saw that Jason wouldn't be posting there anymore. But still--I had this keen sense of sadness when I heard the news. I immediately thought back to the many memories from it over the years. Blogs like Jason's become more than just a basic visit on the web. They become parts of our lives.

As I understand it, Jason will keep the site up as basically a resume page for his writing with links to his other projects, Twitter feed, etc. And we'll still be able to read Jason's stuff at Peach Pundit in addition to UL.

So...farewell to an old friend. Goodbye JasonPye.com. Seven years--that's a damn good run!

The RNC Power Grab

A lot of you have probably already heard about the latest round of shenanigans and hijinks, courtesy of the RNC. For those who haven't, it all started Friday when the Rules Committee, led by one of my least favorite people, John Sununu, decided to radically change the power structure of the party, in essence, neutering the grassroots. Specifically, it would make the RNC  very much a top-heavy organization and give the national party establishment, as well as the party's nominee, ultimate authority over the delegate process.

So fast-forward to Tuesday when the convention convened to start handling party business. The matter concerning the rule changes was brought before the assembled body and while, according to multiple reports, the nays had it, it was passed. Before we go any further, I'd have to recommend a write-up by Dean Clancy of FreedomWorks. This pretty much gives all the info you need about this power grab. The main points were Rules 12 and 15, respectively, which if changed, would create the aforementioned shift of power.

As Clancy notes, there was a lot of misinformation flying around that helped cause this mess. The main one being that this was just a Ron Paul thing:

Some delegates seem to have believed that the rules fight was really just a proxy fight in the larger battle being waged between the Romney and Ron Paul camps over who would represent certain states on the convention floor. This assumption may have discouraged some Rules Committee members from supporting the minority reports.

Certainly it seems intuitive that the power elite of the party probably figured this would happen and that it would help their cause. As Michelle Malkin herself tweeted, this was not about Ron Paul. It was an all-out power grab. During the session, #RNCpowergrab started to trend on Twitter. On the front lines of this battle--FreedomWorks and The Heritage Foundation. For Heaven's sake, even Rush and Mark Levin started to decry this obvious mistake, but, it didn't matter. It passed...

My personal thoughts were basically along these lines: Is the GOP intentionally trying to do everything wrong? But perhaps Matt Kibbe, president of FreedomWorks,who was just highlighted yesterday on a blog I contribute to,United Liberty, summed it up best:

I believe that the Republican party has made a huge mistake by effectively disenfranchising grassroots activists who want to be a part of the party process. If the party sincerely wants the support of citizens, shutting them out of the process is not the way to do it. Sooner rather than later the Republican establishment needs to come to terms with the decentralized nature of grassroots organization circa 2012. The terms of engagement can no longer be dictated from the top-down.

Tampa, FL--It's Gettin' Hot in Herre!

Most people wouldn't know it, but even though the 2012 Republican National Convention has only been in session for a short amount of time, there has been a ton of stuff going on. First off, before the convention even started, there was a lot of committee meetings and things of the like going on. That's where the interesting stuff has been occurring.

As I mentioned on United Liberty, there has been a lot of BS going on including the GOP's inexplicable decision to be A-holes to the good doctor himself, Ron Paul. Naturally, with their way of thinking, they decided that it would be best to lie, cheat, and steal their way to a nice scripted infomercial for Mitt Romney and company. That sucks! And it's weak as hell. However, they saved their best for later...

On Friday, the Rules Committee, headed up by none other than Jabba himself, John Sununu, decided they would just basically do away with grassroots activity, all together. They probably thought it would work. Why not? Everything else that the establishment has done has worked. But they didn't count on other people and groups not going for it. Like the entire Texas delegation, Washington delegation, FreedomWorks, and a plethora of other groups and organizations.

So, just this Monday evening, on the eve of the convention, the establishment worked out a "compromise" that changes the worst aspects of the aforementioned decision in order to dispel any perception of disunity, which has been, apparently, their goal all along. But...I think that things just might be getting started. I think more and more people are getting fed up with this crap emanating from Romney and the establishment. I think we might be on the verge of something very interesting. I think it's about to get hot in Tampa.

UPDATE!

It's gettin' hotter, baby!

From FreedomWorks:

Now the Romney forces are removing unfriendly Rules Committee members.  
'
The GOP is obviously a more fractured party than most people are thinking. That's without even getting into this whole Romney power play thing. This is getting very interesting...

GOP breaks own rules; Dr. Ron Paul will not be properly nominated

 *This write-up was cross-posted at United Liberty*

Well...it's all but official now. Ron Paul will not be on the ballot in Tampa, nor will he be able to speak. Dr. Ron Paul and the forces of Freedom worked very, very hard to get the good doctor a plurality of delegates in 8 states. Easily passing the threshold of 5 states needed to be able to nominate Dr. Paul from the convention floor and give him the automatic speaking time earned, the GOP and the Romney camp has spent the last several months fighting and lawyering its way to silence the Paul forces. Things have really heated up this week in Tampa as various convention committees have broken its own rules multiple times to make sure that the Republican National Convention is a smooth, scripted infomercial for Mitt Romney and the Grand Old Party.

But. At what cost? Will the majority of Paul supporters be content with a Rand Paul prime-time speech on Monday night and several platform planks that, honestly, really don't matter. I don't think so. I think the GOP has really mucked this one up. Rather than letting things play in a natural way where the 500 or so Paul delegates and alternates--and the thousands and thousands of supporters across the country--would have felt validated and respected, the Republicans have basically said that it is more important to maintain a facade of loyalty and unity. Rules and principles be damned.

My take on all this? I think Gary Johnson will be seeing a surge of support in the next few weeks.

Former Marine Arrested and Detained for Anti-Government Comments

Early Monday morning while making my news rounds, a very interesting item from caught my attention. Brandon Raub, a former Marine, was arrested by local police and the FBI in Virginia and was sent for a mental evaluation for posting anti-government comments. At least, according to that first article I read.

I sure as hell wasn’t going to share or comment on the story until I had more info, but I had to get to work. So, as the day progressed, I read more and more about this story. There was talk about green warrants and possible mental health issues. Then someone posted a link to this guy’s FB page. Some of the stuff on there was just downright crazy. But! Was it a threat or a call for violence? No. Not in my opinion.

Still…I didn’t have the necessary information to make an informed decision. Did this guy’s family have him committed? At this point, it’s looking like no.  And the strangest thing to me was, as I mentioned, that the FBI was involved with his detainment.

As of last night, Mr. Truth himself, Ben Swann, stated that he was on it. That makes me feel good. Ben will get to the bottom of it. He has said that at this point—it does not seem to be passing the smell test. Also, The Rutherford Institute has now come out in support of Mr. Raub. But until more information presents itself, I just can’t make an informed analysis; however, I will say this—if he wasn’t involuntarily committed in a proper way…if this was just the government deciding that they would detain this man for words he wrote. Then—we might have a problem. This might be a game-changer. This could be one of the biggest stories in America that hardly no one knows about. If this was done improperly, then the United States Government may have just committed an egregious error.

Time will tell, I’ll follow up soon…

The East Metro Round-up, 8/15/12

National 


Corn shortage--Obama's got that!

Let's see. We could scrap the mandate for ethanol, lowering corn prices and therefore lowering meat prices in the process (and stopping it from tearing up our engines), or...just spend upwards of 200 million of tax money to artificially inflate meat prices. Brilliant!!!

From the article:

"To recap, government is driving up the cost of food, animal feed and gasoline, and Obama's solution is to drive up meat prices as well. Obama could eliminate the entire problem overnight and reduce carbon emissions were he to waive the ethanol mandate in a time of drought. Instead, he is creating a new spending program to mollify livestock producers, who, were it not for the ethanol mandate, would be able to make an honest living without his help."


Paul Ryan--for realz?

So we've all heard about the Ryan thing. Obviously, it's a smart pick from the GOP/Romney perspective. He does seem to energize the base and as someone said on twitter (I think it was Dave Weigel), he at least seems like the type of person who will remember what magazines and newspapers he reads and could probably recall at least a couple of SCOTUS decisions.

Of course, many of us, especially those of us on the Liberty tip, can point out that Ryan is not the conservative Godsend that many on the right are thinking he is. Let's go down the list: he supported TARP, the auto bailouts, Stimulus I & II, Patriot Act, Medicare Expansion, No Child Left Behind, NDAA, and several other big-government policies. But that won't stop your regular FOX viewer from gettin' real excited about him as I've already seen several times in the last few days.

Over at United Liberty, a page I contribute to, Matt Naugle looks at Ryan's budget plan to see if that, at least, is something that Libertarians and independents can get behind. The short answer--no. Unless you think balancing the budget should take a generation or two to complete...

And to complete the UL hat-trick, here's a very well-written write-up (I'm a sucker for alliteration) that tries to explain why a Libertarian/libertarian should get behind a Romney/Ryan ticket. 

Her main point is--"we've got to start somewhere." That somewhere is supposed to be a voucher program for Medicare that really probably won't lower expenses and will probably only benefit the big health insurance companies? I don't think so. And as I commented on her write-up, the elephant in the living room is military spending. We're just wasting time until we're ready to address that:

All I’m pointing out, to use a business analogy, is if I’ve still got cash flow covering most expenses on a certain budget item (medicare) while I’m spending tons more without any revenue on another budget item (military, DOD, FP etc.), I would look at the item where I’m spending way more without any revenue. I run a business and you have to look at the big, long-term picture (net profit) and short-term (cash flow) at the same time. Both are important but when you’re in survival mode, you’ve got to look at cash flow with more urgency. With all that said, as I’m sure you well know, all one has to do is to look at the government’s own numbers relating to future expenditures of entitlements and debt service to see how really screwed we are. But! We’re going to be dead in the water anyway until we make huge spending cuts on everything else. Those cuts must be done right now for us to have any chance…

Y'all do know that we have a trillion dollar defense budget. Meanwhile, Social Security, at approx. 770 billion per year, is still basically paying for itself as is Medicare. We've got to get serious about this military spending before it's too late. Ole Ike tried to warn us about this a half-century ago... 


Local/East Metro 

We've got 2 runoffs coming up in Newton Co. BOC 5, GOP, and State House 113--Democrat.
The BOC race is between Levie Maddox and Ronnie Dimsdale...mmm...I just don't know about that one. Dimsdale does seems to be a "consensus builder," whatever that means, and Maddox seems to be a pretty intelligent guy who seems to really care about our county. Chances are, either one of them would probably to an alright job, so perhaps you should just flip a coin.

In the State House race, I'd definitely voted for Mrs. Sharon Sawyer if I lived in that district. She's a super nice lady who would do a good job, I think.

7/31/2012 Election Recap

 TSPLOST

Well, there's no doubt about it--TSPLOST is toast, at least in most of Georgia. For our purposes, it lost badly. The Northeast Region currently has the nays at 65% while the ATL region is at 63%. As of right now, 9 of the 12 regions will definitely vote no and I think it will be 10 when it's all said and done. I think this really sends a huge message. And that message is...ENOUGH IS ENOUGH! You have enough of our tax money. We don't need a regressive tax that won't really accomplish anything, anyhow. You have enough money--quit wasting it, dammit!

4th Congressional District

I supported Greg Pallen in this race and it looks like he will come up short. He ran a great race, and he had a core group of very loyal and dedicated supporters who helped him achieve a very strong number. He's a good man, and I hope he runs again. As of this posting, J. Chris Vaughn is winning with around 54% of the vote.

10th Congressional District

I attended an event where the challenger, Stephen Simpson,  spoke. By the end of it, I thought the crowd was about to run his ass out on the street. A very weak candidate who had a very weak showing. At this time, Dr Paul Broun is leading 69% to 31% with most precincts reporting.

Local Races

Newton Co. will lose a great voice of honesty and intelligence with the eminent departure of Commission Chair, Kathy Morgan. She lost by 8 points.

The biggest surprise, to me, was the BOC 5 Dem race where a very good man, Phil Johnson, got thrashed.

In terms of the Dem primary, it was pure demographics--the black voters, for the most part, solely voted for the black candidates, and they were the majority of those voting in the Democratic primary. And there wasn't enough of a crossover vote to make a difference. Not being racist--just stating fact. However, all that likely did was to assure GOP victories for Commission Chair and BOC 5.

Speaking of the GOP, in their primary, a good and honorable man, Bill Watterson, lost his bid to be Sheriff, losing by 10 points. That's a shame...

The most interesting race on the GOP side was BOC 5 where four men were vying to be the nominee. It's looking like long time politco, Ronnie Dimsdale, will join establishment pick, Levie Maddox, in the run-off in three weeks. Chamber of Commerce pick, Jared Rutberg, just missed it by a point. Mr. Negativity, Wesley Dowdy, managed a weak showing of 12% to bring up the rear.

State House 109 saw the incumbent, Steve Davis, get his ass handed to him by Dale Rutledge. And in State House 113, incumbent Pam Dickerson finds herself in a run-off against Covingtonian Sharon Sawyer.

That's all I got for this round. Until next time...

Election Results ~ 31 July 2012

As of 10:24,

Per the Covington News. Here are the final results from Newton Co.:


Board of Commissioners ChairmanMarcus Jordan- 53.34%
Kathy Morgan- 46.66%
22 of 22 precincts reporting
BOC, District 1John Douglas- 59.20%
John L. Strauss- 40.80%
7 of 7 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 3
Tony Flanagan - 43.58%
Nancy Schulz - 56.42%
6 of 6 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 5 (Democrat)Marcello Banes- 62.50%
Philip Johnson- 37.50%
11 of 11 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 5 (Republican)Ronnie Dimsdale- 29.80%
Wesley Dowdy- 11.64%
Levie A. Maddox- 29.80%
Jared Rutberg- 28.76%
11 of 11 precincts reporting
Board of Education, District 4Almond Turner-66.94%
Franklin Perry- 33.06%
8 of 8 precincts reporting
SheriffPhillip Bradford- 55.26%
Bill Watterson- 44.74%
22 of 22 precincts reporting
Superior Court Judge, Alcovy Circuit (all seats are non-partisan) Seat 3 Stephanie R. Lindsey - 44.28%
John M. Ott (Incumbent) - 55.68%
22 of 22 precincts reporting

State Representative- District 109 (Republican)Steve Davis (Incumbent)- 33.06%
Dale Rutledge- 66.94%
2 of 2 precincts reporting
State Representative-District 113 (Democratic)
Toney Collins- 24.33%
Pam Dickerson (Incumbent) - 39.80%
Sharon Sawyer- 35.87%
10 of 10 precincts reporting
U.S. Representative District 4 (Republican)Greg Pallen- 49.47%
J. Chris Vaughn- 50.53%
17 of 17 precincts reporting
U.S. Representative District 4 (Democratic)Courtney L. Dillard, Sr.- 31.49%
Hank Johnson, Jr. (Incumbent) - 64.06%
Lincoln Nunnally- 4.45%
17 of 17 precincts reporting
U.S. Representative District 10 (Republican)Paul C. Broun, M.D. (Incumbent)- 74.28%
Stephen K. Simpson- 25.72%
8 of 8 precincts reporting
T-SPLOST
Yes - 36.47%
No - 63.53%
22 of 22 precincts reporting


Numbers on US Congress and Statewide TSPLOST regions coming soon...

As of 9:43,

Newton Co. Results:


Board of Commissioners ChairmanMarcus Jordan- 52.79%
Kathy Morgan- 47.21%
15 of 22 precincts reporting
BOC, District 1John Douglas- 58.23%
John L. Strauss- 41.77%
4 of 7 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 3
Tony Flanagan - 42.84%
Nancy Schulz - 57.16%
4 of 6 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 5 (Democrat)Marcello Banes- 58.54%
Philip Johnson- 41.46%
9 of 11 precincts reporting
Board of Commissioners, District 5 (Republican)Ronnie Dimsdale- 29.12%
Wesley Dowdy- 11.62%
Levie A. Maddox- 29.59%
Jared Rutberg- 29.67%
9 of 11 precincts reporting
Board of Education, District 4Almond Turner-69.74%
Franklin Perry- 30.26%
6 of 8 precincts reporting
SheriffPhillip Bradford- 54.64 %
Bill Watterson- 45.36 %
15 of 22

The Hon. Judge John Ott will win reelection as Chief Judge of the Alcovy Judicial Circuit. Now leading with 62%. 

GA 4: Pallen 45 / Vaughn 55. Looking like J. Chris Vaughn will take it.
GA 10: Broun is winning in a landslide. Now at 69% to Simpson's 31%.

Surprisingly, GA HOUSE 109 is going down as a landslide. Rutledge is wiping the floor w/ Davis.

GA HOUSE 113 will head to a run-off between Sharon Sawyer and Pam Dickerson.

For the few people who have checked this page out tonight, I'll probably do one more post (maybe 2).



As of 8:36PM,

GA 4: PALLEN 43%/VAUGHN 57% --5400 votes counted
GA 10: BROUN 69% / SIMPSON 31% -- 10,000 votes

NEWTON CO:
ALCOVY: OTT 63% / LINDSEY 37%

STATE HOUSE 113: SHARON SAWYER STILL LEADING W/ 43%...RUNOFF SEEMS LIKELY..
STATE HOUSE  109: RUTLEDGE STILL WINNING BIG W/ 66% OVER DAVIS

TSPLOST:
NORTHEAST GA: NO 63%
ATL: NO 76%
*You can put a fork in TSPLOST in the northern part of Georgia--it's dead! 

No other local results yet... 




As of 8:06PM,

GA 4: PALLEN 51%/VAUGHN 49% --1600 votes counted
GA 10: BROUN 72% / SIMPSON 28% -- 10,000 votes

NEWTON CO:
ALCOVY: OTT 63% / LINDSEY 37%

STATE HOUSE 113: SHARON SAWYER WINNING WITH 45% EARLY...
STATE HOUSE  109: RUTLEDGE WINNING BIG EARLY

TSPLOST:
NORTHEAST GA: NO 60%
ATL: NO 75%

No other local results yet... 

Free Ademo ~ On the Front Lines of Freedom

Ademo Freeman is a true Advocate of Liberty. He lives in the 'shire (New Hampshire) along with many other freedom lovers as part of the Free State Project (http://freestateproject.org/ ).  I had the pleasure of meeting Ademo back in the Spring of 2008 when he and two others liberty activists were touring around the country in MARV, a very noticeable and striking RV that had messages of Freedom & Liberty on it. These gentleman attended meetings, met with people, and basically just tried to spread the good word all throughout America. They came through Covington, GA where they were the guests of a local Libertarian Party meeting.

Right now, Ademo is facing 21 years in prison. What, exactly, you may ask, is his crime? Recording public officials in the course of their public duties...I'm serious. You can read more here: http://www.copblock.org/18279/decades-for-accountability/  Also, check out this video at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1e-ojh5Pey0&feature=player_embedded

This is the front lines of freedom, people.

And let me stress this--I am not anti-police. I respect and appreciate good and honest officers of the law; however, the growing trend of having a police state in our country is nothing short of disturbing. They may skew on the Anarchy side a bit, but I am a big fan of Ademo's group, CopBlock. You should like their FB page when you get a chance: http://www.facebook.com/CopBlock

I hope things go well for him, and I hope the D.A will just drop the charges or at least offer a plea deal with a completely suspended sentence with no probation.

Down and Out in Columbus, GA

Strange thoughts and sensations this evening morning as I type this...the Doctor is asleep and snoring worse than any human possibly could. It's alright, though-I picked up some ear plugs at the Publix. But God, how can anyone possibly snore this loud?

Yesterday, we started with a fifth of Crown XR and pints of Crown Black, Regular, and Special Reserve. The XR is long gone, as is the Special Reserve, but a bit of the Black and regular remain; which, by the way, is a really good thing as I've been on the edge of the following emotions all night: despair, rage, fear, loathing, optimism, resignation, happiness, and rage...yes--I repeated rage.

If nothing else, the Georgia GOP convention was a keen reminder that you should never underestimate the ignorance and fear of some of these people. These are the same people who just a few months ago railed against Mitt but who now need knee pads to fully service their admiration of this absolute sell-out of a shill.

[This portion of the write-up currently redacted]

Until next time...

Fear & Loathing in Columbus, GA

Is the "fear and loathing" thing played out and unoriginal at this point? Definitely, but that's never stopped me before.

Come this time tomorrow, I'll be sipping on some Crown XR and talking politics and shit with the Doctor. Saturday AM and we'll be in the thick of it. The Georgia GOP convention, that is. I am really, really looking forward to it...I honestly can't wait! Will it suck at times? I'm sure. Will I get agitated and irritated? Often, I'd assume. But...I'll be cool. And I think all of us RP folks are gonna be like Fonzi--we're gonna be cool, you know. But--we're going to let them know, through words and action, that they will have damned hard time winning this thing without us. And that, as HST would say, is the rub...

I'm going to be sending out some tweets ( @marshmanslim ) and some posts here (assuming that I get the laptop that FW3 is supposed to hook me up with). So, if you feel so inclined, check back some over the next couple of days.

Viva la r3VOLution!

In Peace & Freedom...

Ron Paul ~ Where We At?!!

There's been much hand-wringing, sky-is-falling, ridiculous stuff flying around the internets lately regarding the announcement from the RonPaul2012 campaign on Monday. A lot of this stuff, or I should say, a lot of these people, are just simply f'ing clown shoes!


This write-up from Lew Rockwell sums things up nicely


And Jack Hunter, in a way that only he can, really gets to the heart of the matter here


And my own take on things over at www.unitedliberty.org , a blog I contribute to



For those of you who still think that the good Doctor sold out...don't let the door hit your ass on the way out!

Peace!

Well...I lied...again

4 years ago I said I was really gonna get back on the blogging vis-a-vis the East Metro Blog.

Didn't happen.

What can I say?

Why would you believe me anyway?!

You know I'm such a dirty liar!

But Just Wait!

I'm 'bout to get on it like Flaunit!
In addition to a few other endeavors and projects, things have been quite hectic w/ the new joint comin' down from them C-town CA$H Money Playuz aka MC Equinox, Sweetheart Logistics, A$cerTain and Fed Mo. For those of you not in the know, I manage, record, and mentor a group of some highly skilled, well-schooled, and Fed-hatin MC's who love to rap about individual freedom, limited government, and sound monetary policy. We've been working on their debut album and hope to see a release sometime in 2012. For a little teaser, here's an excerpt of some of the lyrics of their first single--"Dat Phiat Money"

Yeah,
Yeah,
Yeah,

[chorus]
Dat fiat money, gonna make ya frown
Dat fiat money, it bring da people down
Dat fiat money, it's a tool of da man
Dat fiat money, we gotta make a stand

Yeah,
Yeah,
Yeah

[verse#1--MC Equinox}
Talkin' Austrian Economics,
Milton Friedman and what not,
Gotta base dat currency on a commodity
Gotta let dat free market work U see?

Na, Na, Na,

So what now ya'll?

See there--just a little snippet of what's coming down the pike. Very exciting. I hope to have a group photo up w/ in the next week or so and some MP3's up by the end of summer.

Carry On!
~Marshman Slim