Eric Sundwall

A lot of people are picking on Kent McManigal for not being a ‘real candidate’ for President. The main reason seems to revolve around his standard not to take any money for his candidacy. This is a good and noble thing on Kent’s part. A ‘real candidate’ does take money from anyone they legally can according to the naysayers in the peanut gallery. Even though I won’t pick sides in a race which features at least a dozen candidates, I will defend Kent in this regard. I’m enjoying the LP process far more than anything Chris Matthews or David Brooks are thinking about.

How can the LP expect to run anything but a protest candidacy when one looks at the historical and electoral realities ? Unless a compromise candidate of some largesse and fame were to step forward, why would we nominate anyone who didn’t value freedom above simple pandering to get along ? The formula for a ‘successful’ third party attempt for the American Presidency is literally not known. Perot may have shown that it requires a large disgruntled ‘middling’ for any traction to be had. But is that what we want so much ? Is the risk of it being taken over by Lyndon LaRouchies or Lenora Fulanies worth it ? Certainly a little giddiness at declaring taxation as theft isn’t so bad Dr. Milstead . . .

Aside from being the partisan cat call at a former Congressman from the area, the possibility that Albany might shut itself down is too tempting not to comment. Seems like a great idea from this vantage. Nobody expects 'vital' services to stop, but if all those offices filled with people, systems and other extraneous doings of the State were to suddenly not exist, I would not notice but for the languid commercials I might suffer through if the crisis went on that long.

Is Mr. Spitzer savvy enough to manage such political brinkmanship as Clinton did in the nineties when faced with a similar prospect ? Here's a great opportunity to humiliate and castigate the Senate for what is insured to be a multiple year struggle of partisan showmanship. I've only ever existed at the fringes of government and politics, but I'm a big fan of the show. This is not simply a matter of right or wrong, but an exhibition of supposed talent that has been touted all along. Will my fellow Columbia County resident steer his ship of state through Albany's iceberg with a deft hand or will it only come to sink POTUS aspirations if Hillary or Rudy pull it off ?

I knew I was in trouble when three deputies and one State police officer where surrounded again by three and five various representatives from County agencies at a table with another two or three residents of the community. Supervisor McGivney indicated he would give opportunity for everyone assembled from various agencies to introduce themselves and explain what type of work that they do and what services were available to families in need. Doug (the Town's Supervisor) asked that they consider a fictional scenario where a 15 year old breaks a car window and it is soon discovered that the kid's mother is inside drunk on the couch. This lead to variety of talk about parents unable to cope and various resources available and other statist tripe ad naseum that made me wondered why this panel of expertise and stormtroopers had descended on the little hamlet that I grew up in. My quality of life is not being threatened by a few rowdy youth, but the entire apparatus of the 'State' that feels it can manage the lives of individuals better than we can. I just found out about this stuff yesterday and I live in the middle of the place !

Sometime during the various Roosevelt administrations the First Lady came to what would be known as the Valatie Colony to christen two large buildings which have been used for various semi-public purposes throughout the years. Apparently it was a women's prison at some point. As kids we called it the insane asylum because anybody brave enough to go back there was confronted by some sort of anomalous human being under some type of special care. Frightening stuff for silly over stimulated young minds. Of course as I get older and longer in the tooth, the possibility of my own demise or loss of faculties concerns me slightly more then it ever did then.
The photo is the former First Lady with former Cuban dictator Batista during the initiation of the Good Neighbor Policy.

Apparently the good folks from the State have 'given' these buildings to the locality. Tonight I'm off to a Niverville Neighborhood Watch Meeting there. Yesterday I received a notice from Town Hall indicating that such a meeting was even occurring. Apparently neighbors are forming to report 'identifiable young people' engaging in unacceptable activities. Despite a survey that indicates an overwhelming majority of people feel there is no problem, the Committee will continue to meet based on concerns about ATV's, crime etc. I'm sure some people will be surprised when I express my opposition to the group (after all I have young children . . ) more so than the teens, but we'll see. Here's letter I whipped up to be submitted to the minutes of the next Town Board meeting.

The Turning Stone and all other state sponsored gambling should be shut down. I once stopped in the Turning Stone with a buddy a few years back on a business trip. I couldn't just pop twenty bucks into the slots without getting a card and essentially 'registering' my transactions. After refusing such nonsense, as my buddy went happily off to waste his money, I figured the bar would be a good spot to spend some otherwise wasted time. Lo and behold no alcohol on the premises! Needless to say it was my one and only visit. Why do we allow these restrictive means and measures into our personal vices ? What happens when government subsidizes or licenses these 'services' ? One could argue that free market casinos are less fraudulent than government as a whole.

Why would good free market sorts call for a boycott of a venerable financial institution ? Simple. Eminent Domain. LPNY Chairman Richard Cooper and Hardfire producer Gary Popkin are calling for the boycott in a recent press release. Why ? It's participation in the Brooklyn's Atlantic Yards eminent domain abuse. Upstate taxpayers like myself were alarmed at the powers of the State in the 2005 Kelo Supreme Court decision. Never been a Nets fan. Choice and decision are often restricted by the corporate bean counters regardless of political rights. Getting abusers to refrain takes more than more regulation and bureaucracy. Here's the press release text;

Apparently KG's coalition with Blue Dogs has struck a cord amongst the faithful Democrats who sacrificed to see the ticket lead by an Albany insider and soon to be former Columbia County resident. Ed Pell & Morris Guller are organizing a protest outside what they are calling the 'Gillibrand Mansion'. Here's an excerpt;

There will be a Demonstration/Protest for Peace in front of the Gillibrand Mansion, Saturday, March 24 from noon to 3:00 P.M. 358 Mt. Marino Road, Greenport (Hudson), New York.

Regardless, we would like to hold Congresswoman Gillibrand accountable for the promises she made just a few months ago prior to her election to the U.S. House of Representatives.

The notice goes on about campaign promises, administration lies and the people of the district. I suppose it was about this time last year that all the potential anti-war candidates were lining up. Unfortunately, emotional and rational responses are of little consequence when pitched against the steady ambitions of special interests and their machine like capacity to obfuscate issues like 'war' to the average voter. KG's advocates and apologists amongst the media and the blogogentsia will do little to respond or cover this curious gathering overlooking the Hudson River on the 24th.

A couple years ago I might have been tempted to link to the Lew Rockwell site everyday about a particular issue or idea. As much as I find myself going there every morning on a regular basis again due to the general vapidity in the liberty-sphere, today William Lind has saved me some time exposing the hypocritical thought process of the Dems who have the potential to achieve absolute power in the next two years. At least some are finally starting to notice Gitmo.

So instead of writing glowing reviews of our new CongressCritter in the DailyBos or running off to examine Walter Reed, we'll also link to a more mature and truthful perspective on that situation from a Congressman who gets little notice for his candid assessment of things. Didn't badboy Johnny on the spot always show up in times of need, promising earmarks for the crisis/disaster ? Now don't you think if that were Kirsten's kitchen that a couple of Columbia County contractors could have fixed that up jiffy quick ? Think about it.

Not to long ago I responded to a column by Bruce Bartlett. Now it seems that a liberty oriented party might be viable with political reforms. Throwing aside this unlikely possibility that the powers to be would never lesson their hold on electoral mechanics, let alone a major paradigm shift in the form of a parliamentary government or the abolishment of the Electoral College, Mr. Bartlett once again fails in terms of what third parties have meant historically. Given the burden of local, state and federal taxes one certainly wonders why Bartlett hasn't seen the concerns of the Socialist Party being met on a daily basis. Bartlet states,

I see nothing in the way parliamentary systems govern that seems better than what we have.

A buddy of mine once asked, what question would I ask George Will if given the opportunity. His wife is a good friend of the gal who married Will's son and he was going to a marriage ritual of some sort with Mr. Will in attendance. I told him to ask Will whether you could be a Conservative and an anarchist at the same time. In my own personal estimation one presumably could, if simply enrolled to vote as such and otherwise held a belief that government had no place in my life. Of course Will ultimately scoffed at the notion expressing the historical impossibility of such a claim. The yearning of conservatism requires hero's like Ronald Reagan for people like Will. He gave a quick speech ahead of Mitt Romney at last week's CPAC gathering and there was a lot of media noise about this event in general.

What always amazes me about these events are the amount of people who can afford or get paid to attend such events. All these folks so far removed from the necessity of bodily employ or otherwise useful economic behavior. Somehow the Michelle Malkin's and Ann Coulter's of the world can hawk books and their cult of personality to a select core who compromise their meal ticket. A Coulter book on average only sells 90K amount of copies (from what I once saw on CSPAN, can't find hard facts quick in this case). The reality is that she'd just making sure those sales keep going up amongst the faithful who cheered on her vulgar remark about John Edwards.

I'm not going to respond to posts at TAP in the form of a comment. I've already been called unreasonable by Andrew White and yet I maintain a high standard of not personally attacking anbody. Sometimes I chide, but typically I just disagree on principle and attack faulty logic. Knowing that my own traffic at this site is still significant I'll maintain the illusion of an audience and throw out some criticism of the current Congressperson. As 'devtob' seeks to play KG as this super special representative, this is what I would have asked in West Sand Lake yesterday if not for both children being very sick (this should deflect the call for me to ask her myself rather then my own special place on the net).

1. Would you support the initiation of the War Powers Act instead of a toothless non-binding resolution ?

2. If an attack on Iran is imminent will you tell your constituency in advance at the risk of being accused of compromising 'national security ?

3. Do you feel that a Declaration of War is required to invade and occupy another country ?

Preferring a simple Yes or No, I'll just speculate on the answers that would be given.

Having relegated the Capital Confidential's voyeuristic political blogging to a brief daily scan, I found this piece by Caleb Johnson of the Keene Free Press a delightful change, here's an excerpt about a recent trip by Hillary to New Hampshire and some Ron Paul too;

She even agreed wholeheartedly with a questioner who said that the government needs to provide free universal college education. But she failed to put forward any ideas for paying for her programs. She criticizes the President for spending money that the country doesn't have, and then in the next breath proceeds to draw up her own spending sprees. Her position on health care was no different. She asserted that the country needs universal health care, provided freely to all citizens. We all need three meals a day too. But that doesn't mean government should pay for it. But again, Clinton put forward no plan for paying for her schemes. . . . . Overall, Clinton's visit to Keene was disappointing. A friend described her performance as “thirty minutes of clichés.”

After such a brutal put down you would think that the Ron Paul article to follow would be as harsh as the Senator's shakedown. I was pleasantly surprised. My own critique of his Free State speech was harsher. Here's Johnson on Paul . . .