Voice For Liberty

Tag: Politics

  • Remembering Rose Friedman

    Today we learn that Rose Friedman has died. The Friedman Foundation for Educational Choice has a notice at Remembering Rose Friedman. Also Reason has Rose Friedman, R.I.P. From the Reason notice:

    “Because she was collaborator on his major works of popular political and economic philosophy and advocacy, most importantly Capitalism and Freedom and Free to Choose, she deserves her fair share of the glory and regard her husband Milton got. Consult my March 2007 article in Reason magazine for the ideas and accomplishments of the Friedmans in helping make America a place that is in some respects actually freer, and in most respects an intellectual environment where the idea of human liberty has wider play than it did before they did their long, arduous work of explaining the benefits of liberty, often against great opposition.”

  • What type of turf is a lie?

    The Lone Star Times reports how, at a town hall meeting in Texas, an Obama supporter claimed to be a physician when asking a question. But she isn’t: Obama camp plants fake doc, Che fan at Jackson Lee forum.

    (I wonder if this happened at the same Sheila Jackson Lee town hall where the Member of Congress talked on the telephone while citizens asked questions. Classy.)

    “Astroturf” is a term used to describe fake grassroots political activity. What type of turf is an outright lie?

  • Astroturf, Obama style

    At the recent New Hampshire town hall meeting, President Obama took a softball question from a young girl. It seemed innocent enough. Almost natural.

    The Boston Global article Question by a Malden girl becomes the target of conservative critics contains this: “The critics point to campaign donations and other partisan links of the girl’s mother, Kathleen Manning Hall, who was an early Obama supporter and donated money to his campaign. But a White House spokesman insisted that audience members are selected randomly.”

    The girl’s mother denies that her daughter was a plant by the White House.

    Astroturf? (Meaning fake political activity, organized from somewhere above, passed off as the genuine action and concern of real, genuine people.)

    The Left takes great glee in portraying actions by those on the political right and by libertarians as astroturf. Doing this allows them to ignore the substance of the criticisms. Instead, they can focus on the personal characteristics of the critics and sidestep the issues.

  • Astroturf, union style

    The American Left takes great delight in making accusations of “astroturfing.” Meaning that nothing that conservatives or libertarians do, such as attending tea party protests or raising a ruckus at town hall meetings, is real. It’s all driven from the top, the left says.

    I wonder: When a government employee labor union provides a service to an event, is that evidence of grassroots or astroturf? Here’s what SEIU, the Service Employees International Union is providing at a gathering of leftist bloggers this week:

    “Each year Netroots Nation does lots of things to make sure you can follow along at home if you can’t be here in person, and this year is no different. Watch the live stream of convention coverage, generously sponsored by SEIU.”

    The source is We’re doin’ it live!

  • Eugene Robinson doesn’t get it

    “I don’t know if you’d call it passion or manufactured passion … the uproar at these meetings is counterproductive .. and it’s organized, which I think is the most disturbing part of it.”

    That’s the Washington Post’s Eugene H. Robinson speaking today on MSNBC’s Morning Joe.

    Host Joe Scarborough inquired is it disturbing because it’s organized?

    Robinson replied that if he were a Democratic strategist, he’d be tempted to ask unions to send people to meetings.

    Scarborough said unions been doing just this — organizing people to go to town hall meetings — for years.

    The exchange went on for a bit, with Robinson several times chuckling uncomfortably as Scarborough made his points.

    I think that the Left — including Robinson in his role as leftist apologist — simply doesn’t understand the depth of the feelings that people have regarding the government’s attempt to take over control of health care in America. These townhall meetings are useful because they’re letting Congress know.

    Robinson complained that with the meetings being disrupted, people aren’t able to learn the details of the plan and the legislation, his implication being that members of Congress are in a position to be educators. Indications are that few members do, in fact, know what the plan really means. And townhall meetings are really a poor place to educate people on complicated matters such as this.

    The whole specter of the Left painting citizens as dupes of various organizations and interests simply because they speak up at meetings is amusing at the least, and rank hypocrisy at its core. Didn’t our current president serve time as a community organizer?

  • Tea party event planned in Wichita

    Here’s a message from Lynda Tyler.

    Kansans for Liberty presents

    An American Tea Party

    Friday, August 28, 2009, from 6:00 pm to 9:00 pm
    Sedgwick County Park, Wichita, Kansas (Click for a Google map to this location.)

    This is more than a protest, it is a celebration of patriotism and an opportunity.

    People want to get involved but don’t know where to go to become involved. This event invites you, your organizations, your business, your campaigns and your government agencies to showcase what you have to offer.

    We have a large enough area that we are offering areas where a group can set up a table, tent or booth to hand out literature, sign up members, sign petitions, solicit campaign funds, register voters and invite people to volunteer and become more active citizens.

    If you want to do a fundraiser we are looking for people who want to provide food and beverages or other types of vendors. The cost of a space is $100.00.

    This event is expensive to put on so we would appreciate ANY and all possible donations. This event will include music, speeches, presentations, vendors, food and beverage. The idea is to have fun, be heard and get involved.

    It is a NON-Partisan event and will be free to the public. Everyone who behaves courteously is welcome regardless of their party affiliation.

    Send donations or space requests to:

    Kansans for Liberty
    11509 Valley Hi Drive
    Wichita, KS 67209

    For more information call Lynda Tyler at 316-722-8031 or email to info@Kansansforliberty.com. The website is at Kansans for Liberty.

  • Nancy Armstrong memorial radio call-in show

    Nancy Armstrong Memorial Service, August 4, 2009
    American Legion Riders provide a flag line at the memorial service for Nancy Armstrong in Garden Plain, Kansas.

    Tomorrow there will be a radio show in Nancy’s honor, as described in this message from BettyJean Kling:

    “I am trying to get people to come on the show Wednesday at 8:30 pm central time to tell stories about their interactions with Nancy Armstrong, to make a memory tape record of stories for her family. A record for posterity about her work in sexual abuse in the Navy, or PTSD, her work on the road for Hillary, her work on ACORN and her dedication to the TEA parties!”

    BettyJean Kling
    The Majority United Radio for Women’s equality, laws and rights
    Mon 10:00 pm & Wed 9:30 pm Eastern

    www.blogtalkradio.com/FreeMeNow
    Call-in Number:(347) 838-8011

    More infomration about Nancy and her passing is at Nancy Armstrong, advocate for liberty.

  • South Central Kansas 9-12 group works for government accountability

    I’ve not attended any of their meetings, but I’ve seen some of these folks in action, so I know the members of the South Central Kansas 9-12 group are a dedicated bunch. If you’re looking for a group where you can be involved in working for freedom as defined in the United States Constitution, this is a good place to start.

    The next meeting of the South Central Kansas group is on Thursday, August 13, at the Wichita Westlink Library Branch, located at 8575 Bekemeyer in Wichita. The meeting starts at 6:30 pm, with social hour starting at 6:00 pm. Being held in a public library, I’m guessing the social hour doesn’t feature cocktails.

    Here are links to the website for the South Central Kansas 9-12 group, and for the Kansas state site. For more information, send email to info@ks912state.org.

    Following is the group’s brochure. (This is a Scribd document. Click on the rectangle at the right of the document’s title bar to get a full-screen view.)

    Wichita 9-12 Brochure

  • Howard Dean lies about Sarah Palin

    I’m really not comfortable defending Sarah Palin, so this is more about Howard Dean and how the left lies.

    Today, while watching the former governor of Vermont on MSNBC television, I heard Dean say this about Sarah Palin: “…and I don’t think she can see Russia from her house.”

    But Palin never said such a thing. Tina Fey, portraying Palin, did. It was funny when she said it. It was great and biting satire.

    To Howard Dean, however, that evidently counts as a fact.

    He then went on to tell lies about health care, but that will have to be covered in another post.