Why The Libertarian Party Has So Many Ballot Access Problems

Skullduggery is underway in Ohio to keep the Libertarian Party off the ballot. 

In 2012, we had to find a Texan named Gary Johnson so that our presidential candidate named Gary Johnson could be on the ballot.  (That's a long, tiresome story that you wouldn't bother reading if I wrote it.) 

Baptist preachers can get on the ballot in Saudi Arabia easier than a Libertarian can get on the ballot in Oklahoma. 

Here's the simplest explanation, courtesy of somebody on Libertarian Reddit. 

I'm recruiting Tarrant County candidates until the December 9th deadline.  Every one of them will be on the ballot. 

God Bless Texas !! 

Who Was The Most Intriguing Person Of 2012?

What makes someone intriguing?

What makes you take a few minutes to swing by someone else's workspace to hear what they have to say? 

I have some employees and some co-managers that I try to contact as often as possible.  They're usually up to something different, something out of the ordinary. 

There are others who depress the living hell out of me, because when I ask them about their night, what they did with their lives, etc., they say that they went home and watched "Dancing With The Stars".  To each his own, and all that, but we have a limited amount of time on this planet to define ourselves. 

I think that former New Mexico governor Gary Johnson is intriguing.  I think he has ideas about government that are different from almost anything else out there.  Get out of other countries' bidness.  Reduce the size of the military.  Cut government by 43%.  End the Drug War.  End the ban on gay marriage.  Gary Johnson will say these things in short, concise sound bites.  Try to find a recording of someone from the Obama/Boehner team saying the same things in words anyone can understand.   

I've hung out with Governor Johnson a couple of times and listened to him explain how he could have easily cut New Mexico's state government size in half, and no one woulda noticed. 

Gary Johnson climbed Everest with a broken foot.  He paraglides.  Hops on his bike and goes a hundred miles every now and then.  I sat beside him at our Joe T. Garcia's fundraiser, and they brought him a special order, one that someone had obviously arranged long ahead of time.  This platter of meat made an Atkins Plan look like something from a donut shop.  A serious carnivore, that Gary Johnson. 

On the other hand, there's Barack H. Obama. 

I swear, I think I can finish his sentences for him.  At this point, I wouldn't go out of my way to hear his opinions on the NBA draft, much less his opinions on the economy, the unemployment rate, foreign relations, or the national debt. 

He's an absolute failure on all of those issues.  Why his blather is of interest to anyone is beyond me. 

CNN just named Barack Obama the "Most Intriguing Person Of 2012".   

Don't congratulate Big Boi Patton on the Obama victory

A NYC radio station runs a segment called "Everyday Racism".
The guest in this clip was Big Boi Patton of Outkast.
Don't congratulate Big Boi on the Obama victory just because they're both black.  The similarities end there.  Big Boi is smart and has some talent, and had sense enough to vote Libertarian. 



Here's a fun video.  My favorite Outkast song, prob'ly because it isn't rap, and I'm too old for the other stuff.  I don't care how old you are, this is good stuff:

A Prayer For 2016

Dear God,

We don't talk much anymore. 
I acknowledge that I'm a sinner. 
Except for Christmas and some Youth Sundays, I haven't made it to church in about three years. 

I've said horrible, horrible things about three of my Brothers In Christ, George W. Bush and Barack Obama and Mitt Romney.  Perhaps I've made Gary Johnson into a false idol. 

But I've worked really hard to get our children and grandchildren some relief from their parents' and grandparents' ridiculous government debts.  I've worked hard for gay marriage.  I've led discussion forums about the right of self-defense and gun rights and the 2nd amendment.  I've advocated the complete and utter destruction of Ben Bernanke's government money printing press on Blue Mound Road, mostly because inflation hurts poor people so much. 

I've even tried to be Moses.  I've taken a look at the number of black men that Barack Obama keeps in steel cages for marijuana offenses, and I've said "BARACK OBAMA!!!  YOU HYPOCRITICAL POT-SMOKING S.O.B. !!  LET YOUR PEOPLE GO !!"

I recently acted as preacher/priest/rabbi in a secular wedding.  I bet you were proud. 

Balance all that Libertarian Goodness against my continued violations of almost every known commandment, and it probably comes up even.  That's the only reason I'm coming to you, asking just one little favor. 

This website (do you have to hit links if you're God?) says that Jeb Bush, who is George W.'s brother and GHW Bush's son, will probably be the Republican nominee for President in 2016. 

This website says that She Whose Name Is Not Spoken will probably be the Democrat nominee for President in 2016. 

Please let this happen, God.  Please, please, please.  I'll go to church every Sunday for one complete calendar month.  Jeb Bush and Hillary Clinton.  Please, please, please. 

If voters are given the choice between Gary Johnson and the princelings from a couple of entitled hereditary monarchies, life will be almost too good for words.  Gary Johnson vs. Bill Clinton's wife vs. George Bush's brother.  Can you imagine those two royal families arguing that a commoner should be excluded from the presidential debates???

In spite of today being Saturday, the Jewish Sabbath, I'm going to go to work.  Please don't hold that against me. 

Amen. 

Thank You

Many thanks to the Libertarian Party candidates, door-knockers, sign-posters, phone-callers, Facebook-sharers, forum-attenders and other supporters !! 

This was our best year ever. 

Check out the Tarrant County Elections website when time permits.  Then head over to the Texas site.   A staggering number of Republicans and Democrats voted "straight ticket".  Even so, a lot of Dems and Independents selected our folks when there was a two-candidate race between the LP candidate and a Republican. 

We had a respectable showing in many of the 3-party races. 

If I'm disappointed in anything, it's Gary Johnson's total.  Yes, he doubled the 2008 number, but I would've put money on a 3x performance. 

But dang it, we didn't win anything. 

There's always 2014. 

I gave it my best shot, but the big one got away

Sometimes you win. 
I think the Libertarian Party is going to have its best year ever.  We've brought a lot of important issues to the attention of The Crips and The Bloods. 
It's been pleasant to see LP signs all over the place.  (I have to drive past 5 to get to work, and only one of them is from my stash !)
We've got some excellent candidates running in Tarrant county this year. 
We've made a lot of connections with gun rights groups and anti-prohibition groups.  Attendance at LP meetups has been increasing every month. 
There's been a lot of talk in the media about how the Libertarian Party might take some states away from one of the Obamneys and "give" those states to the other one, as if that matters. 

Sometimes you lose. 
I can probably point to 30 people who are voting LP for the first time because of my efforts. But dammit all to hell, sometimes the big ones get away. 

Go here. 

I tried, folks.  I really tried.  I came so close....

"Day Of The Dank"

DFW NORML (National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws) threw a party last night.  It was called "Day Of The Dank".  Sort of a post-Halloween fundraiser.  I showed up with a bunch of Gary Johnson For President propaganda, and couldn't give it away. 

Because almost everyone there had already voted for Gary Johnson !!  They had persuaded their neighbors and co-workers and even their preachers to vote for Gary Johnson.  I felt almost NORMAL.  (Pun intended.) 

Bear with me for a few minutes while I get some fun pics out of the way.  I'll eventually get to my usual political point....

According to The Urban Dictionary, "Dank" is now "an expression frequently used by stoners and hippies for something of high quality".  This party was dank.  Dankness permeated the environment.  Lord have mercy, it was a good time. 

Five or six bands played.  They had on-site facepainting. 

I kept seeing people that I thought I knew, but it was hard to tell. 

Brief digression:  We had a Texas Tragedy at the state fair a couple of weeks ago.  An old statue named "Big Tex" caught on fire and burned all the way to the boots before anyone could do anything about it. 

I've now made it to four Halloween parties dressed as "Big Tex".  It's a cheap, low hassle, low maintenance costume, and it got plenty of laughs.  Here's my great friend (and Governor Gary Johnson's Texas Campaign Coordinator) Elizabeth Miller.  She and her friend Roman got their faces painted later, but she looks better as a live person who doesn't have her lips stitched together. 

 
DFW/NORML's deputy director Will Jenkins and I couldn't be photographed together.  Too much danger of ignition. 

This is Shaun McAlister and his lovely friend Andrea Brown.  Shaun and NORML have been working very hard for the Gary Johnson campaign for the last few months.  The LP couldn't ask for a better group of supporters than these folks. 

Throughout the Red Goose Saloon,  Shaun had put up quotes from various public figures about the need to legalize marijuana.  It was a broad spectrum.  Please excuse the quality of my cellphone pics below.  Like I said, the place was kinda.....dank. 

Here's the inevitable one from LP presidential candidate Gary Johnson.

And on the other side of the fence, here's something from Bill O'Reilly.  Yeah.  Bill O'Reilly. 

From mens' clothing guru George Zimmer:

From Melissa Etheridge:

From U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Anon:

And finally, from Texas governor Rick Perry.  Rick Perry has figured out that locking up people for owning or consuming a plant is wrong.  Rick "Oops" Perry has figured it out. 

The "Day Of The Dank" party at Fort Worth's Red Goose Saloon was a great time with great people.  90% of them were marijuana consumers.  Most of the time, if you put 400-plus people into a relatively small bar or nightclub, you'll see some fights.  Not last night.  Everyone was peaceful.  Having a great time.  Mellow.  Dank.  It makes you wonder what our government (and its supporters in the booze industry) is so afraid of. 

The quotes on the wall from Bill O'Reilly and Kofi Anon were there to let everyone know what DFW/NORML and the Libertarian Party are about. Leave people alone to live their own lives.  What they do, as long as it doesn't harm others, is none of John Boehner's or Harry Reid's or Nancy Pelosi's business. 

If Rick freakin' Perry can figure that out, why can't these two guys?

End Prohibition.  Release the captives.  Mind yer own damn business. 
Gary Johnson for president !!!

Best Libertarian Election Pics from Facebook, Emails, Reddit, Mom, etc.

What if the 9-11 events had happened elsewhere? And the response had been equally screwy? 

This is my truck bumper.  All the cool kids have one now.

I'll go ahead and say it....The President Of The United States isn't very smart.  Google his college transcripts from Occidental and Columbia. 



A vote for Romney is a vote for Obama.....

fOward !! fOward !! Wear it proudly !!

For the love of God and all things holy, where else does Romney want to put military bases??  The Vatican?  Loch Ness?  Euro Disney?? 

Give a copy of this to everyone you know between the ages of 6 and 18.  Tell them to start working, learning Mandarin Chinese, learning how to clean woks, etc.  They have a huge debt to pay off, and the older generations have a certain lifestyle to support.   

Here's a pic of our Nobel Peace Prize Winner with some of his victims. 

And do you wonder which of our major political parties is considered "the lesser of two evils" by this kid??

Here's the infamous Paul Ryan budget, the one that's supposed to cause economic upheaval.  He spends almost as much as Obama.  Sheesh....  And which one is supposed to be the small government party? 

But in a Libertarian society, who would build the roads???

From the Libertarian Party float in the Alan Ross/Gay Rights Freedom Parade....