Thought of the day

An economic recovery without jobs is like sex without an orgasm. It just isn't worth crowing about. And it makes you wonder if paying for TARP or dinner was such a good idea.

How Obama can earn his Peace Prize: Part 2 of 3

One way that Obama might reduce the amount of violence in the world is leave the matter of drug enforcement up to the states. He has already promised that people who comply with state law won't be prosecuted for drug possession by the federal government. I applaud him for this, but I wish he would apply this principle on all matters pertaining to drugs. If every state were allowed to set their own drug policies, it could go a long way towards reducing the amount of violence stemming from the drug trade.

Even if you think that someone using marijuana across town impacts your quality of life, you should support this idea. Indiana is not going to allow pot use in the foreseeable future. But if another state decriminalizes it, many undesirable potheads will leave this state.

Indeed, a substantial portion of the violence in Afghanistan is due to the opium trade. I propose that Obama allow the allegedly sovereign nation to establish and enforce its own drug policies. Our troops are there to fight terrorists. Their poppy is their problem.

LPAC EVENTS THIS WEEK

Members, Friends, and fellow Officers,

This week is going to be very busy for the Officers as both Doug and
myself are going to be participating as panelist at two different
college study seminar events on Monday and Wednesday respectively, in
addition to Robert having his second meeting Tuesday afternoon with
the Vote Center Steering Committee, plus our monthly meeting on Tuesday
evening. Below are the details to the study seminars and the monthly
meeting events in order.

Another bit of interesting news, if you have not heard already, the
trifold brochures are here. There will be small packets of them
available for members to pick up and pass around at their convenience.
We are still awaiting approval from the Allen Co. Library to put some
at each location (17 sites total). We have had positive contact with
several universities and colleges and those will be distributed
shortly also. If you would like a small stack to put at your business call
any of the Officers and one of us will deliver them to you.

EVENTS CALENDAR (in order by date)

Forum Panelist: "The Paradox Of Affluence In Politics"
Monday, 19th of October, 2009 from 6 PM - 8 PM
Room 222-226 WALB Student Union @ IPFW.
IVY TECH's Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society Forum
Panelist: MRev. Kenneth White, Jnr., LPAC Secretary

Monthly Business Meeting
Tuesday, 20th of October, 2009 from 7:00 - 8:30 PM
Meeting Room C (1st floor use Webster St. entrance and veer left) *CHANGED ROOM,
Allen County Public Library Main Branch
Washington Boulevard between Webster and Ewing Streets
There will be no guest speaker this will be a planning session.

Forum Panelist: Sociology Awareness Week "Sicko By Michael Moore"
Wednesday, 21st of October, 2009 from 4:30PM -7:30PM
Room 101 Neff Recital Hall @ IPFW.
IPFW's Sociological Student Association
Panelist: Doug Horner, LPAC Vice Chair

THE AGENDA FOR THE NEXT BUSINESS MEETING

20th October 2009

A. Call Meeting To Order

B. Minutes from the last meeting read and approve

C. Treasurers Report

D. Vote Centers Report - Chair

E. Brochures are here - Vice Chair or Secretary

F. 3rd District/State News - 3rd District Rep/Vice Chair

G. Yard Sale Final Report - Secretary and Vice Chair - Fundraising Committee

H. Post Office Box?

I. (Break 10 minutes)

J. Discussion Topics (15 minutes each)
a. Election Contest in 2010 and 2011 We Know About
b. Set up committee to draw up budget and fundraiser for office

K. Review Calendar for rest of year.

L. Open Floor if time permits for questions

OTHER NOTES OF INTEREST:

We had eight new people join us at last months meeting when Ron
Heilman and his friend gave the presentation on the Fair Tax we thank
them for coming and ask them to consider participating further with us
please.

We would also like to thank Otto Boschet for video taping the Fair Tax
presentation for us and for the new commercial he put together for,
Doug Horner's Libertarians At Large, a monthly call in show on Public
Access Verizon 27 and Comcast 57 on the third Thursday of every month
from 7-8PM.

Jeannette Jaquish, our former Vice Chair, and her son also contributed
her many talents and time to video production of the LPIN's So You
Think You Want To Run For Office? Candidate Training Seminar on the
10th. This will save the State Party and County Affiliates tons of
money in both resources and manpower in the future for holding these
events.

LPAC has a FACEBOOK page also, check it out.

We hope to see as many of you on Tuesday evening as possible and we
would like to ask any of our members whom havent been to a meeting in
a while to come and contribute to the conversation. I am working on a
new mailing system so please anticipate future announcements to come
from a generic email address. If you wish to update your email and any
other contact information, doing so at this meeting will be of great
assistance.

Celebrate Freedom By Stroking The Embers Of Liberty's Light!

+Kenneth

MRev. Kenneth R. M. White, Jnr.,
260-312-2200
Secretary, Libertarian Party of Allen County
@ allencountylp.org or allencountylp.blogspot.com
Protect Your Rights! Vote!

How Obama can earn his Peace Prize: Part 1 of 3

The draft is obsolete. It has as much military value as a smoothbore cannon or a Sopwith Camel. Like an antique musket it is maintained more to preserve the past than to prepare for the future. Ending Selective Service could be an important symbolic and cost saving gesture.

Curiously, over this past decade many hawks and doves alike have pushed for a revival of the draft. Pro-draft hawks believe that the draft will improve combat effectiveness. Pro-draft doves believe that it will make Congress and ordinary citizens alike think twice before supporting a war. I’ll address the hawk argument first.

Our modern military has become increasingly specialized. Current doctrine stresses quality over quantity. This is why the Army turned down many applicants even when it wasn’t meeting recruiting goals. (It’s meeting those goals now, though that may be due to the recession.) There are many qualifications for being in the military, and I would argue that the most important one is that the recruit has to believe in what he is fighting for. Forcing people who are opposed to the war into the military creates a huge security risk. It would be like putting a PETA member to work in a laboratory that tests medicine on animals.

Some people think that a peacetime draft would deter members of Congress from voting in favor of the next war or global contingency operation. But any politician cynical enough to send your kid but not his own can simply pull the strings to keep his offspring in the rear.

I’ve even heard people say that everyone has an obligation to serve in the military. National defense may be an important field, but so is agriculture and healthcare. I’ve never heard anyone insist that I am obligated to work as a farmer or a nurse.

If President Obama gets rid of Selective Service, it would set an example. If other nations follow this example, it will significantly reduce future conflicts.

Libertarians At Large Tonight 7-8 PM. Tune In, Call Up, Get Involved!

Libertarians At Large airs on channels Comcast 57 and Verizon 27, from 7-8 p.m., every third Thursday of the month. Tune in tonight as Doug Horner's guest this month will be Libertarian, John Schick from Porter County, our State Party's Secretary. Call in to ask questions or just let us know you are listening. Please contribute to the conversation.

The Libertarian Party of Allen County would like to thank Access Fort Wayne and the Allen County Public Library for providing us these opportunities to serve the public and promote the discussion at all levels of government about what is best for the future of of our communities, state, and nation.

Comic about Obama's Nobel Prize

Enjoy.

Obama wins Nobel Peace Prize

This is like being named valedictorian during your freshman year. There is a thing called hope, and a thing called results. This is the first time that I can think of that someone awarded a prize for the former.

For that matter, I don't think that a group of Norwegians have the final say on who has contributed the most to peace. There really should be other committees that award their own peace prizes.

Gerrymandering

There has been a lot of talk about prohibiting the redrawing of districts based on partisan voting patterns. Even if such a law were passed, how would you prove that someone violated it?

CITIZEN: Did you redraw the districts to help your own party?
POLITICIAN: Of course not! I merely wanted to ensure that each district had a proportionate number of (blue collar workers, farmers, middle class homeowners, minorities, or any demographic group that just happens to vote a certain way.)

So if the state legislature really, truly wants to prevent gerrymandering, then it should adopt guidelines that would make the practice harder. For example, the boundaries of a district should not snake in and out of residential neighborhoods. Whenever possible, cities should be divided into as few state rep and senate districts as possible. With every state rep district containing about 61,000 residents and every state senate district containing 122,000 residents, Fort Wayne's urban population would be better represented by 4 state reps and 2 state senators who represent only Fort Wayne and not surrounding rural areas. Four percent of Hoosiers live in Fort Wayne, so it should naturally follow that 4% of the General Assembly be from this city.