Sunday, November 29, 2009

Current Market Price for the US Ambassador to Singapore: $100,000 to $200,000!!!

Hi Kids,

It's been a busy couple of days over here at the Secret Underground Libertarian Command Center (LCC) as we scramble to get ready for the impending special election for replacing Senator David Adelman after the congress approves him for the Ambassador to Singapore gig. While we were doing background on State Senate District 42, the peculiar nature of special elections in Georgia and the possibility that this special election might feature a democrat, a republican, a Libertarian and even a Green Party candidate, we stumbled across this reference as to how Dave got picked for that sweet gig in Singapore.

From the fine folks over at The BLT: The blog of Legal Times:
"He bundled between $100,000 and $200,000 for Obama, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. "
If you want to read the whole post, click on the title of this post and you'll be magically transported to the article.

Pretty simple really, scrounge up 100-200K for your favorite Presidential candidate and voila! You get to live in the big house in Singapore, ride around in the Ambassador's Limo and meet all kinds of groovy Singaporeans. Just be sure not to spit on the sidewalks or it's 40 lashes. So that's the story on how David Adelman got to be the Ambassador.

But that's not the focus at the moment. The focus right now is how long is it gonna take the crew in congress to give him his chops and put him on a plane to his new job? And how long after that will it take Sec State Karen Handle to announce the qualifying period for the resultant special election to replace him? And how crowded will the field be? The scorecard right now has Jason Carter nosing around for the job, Mr. Altaf Galeyev might take another shot at this as he did run against Adelman in the last election, The Libertarian Party is firmly committed to fielding a candidate due to not having to petition and now it seems that the Greens might want to play as well. What next? The Constitution Party!

All we can say is the more the merrier! Really, anyone with $400 in their pocket can play and any of you out there with that kind of loose cash ought to. Imagine a special election with 80 or 90 candidates on the ballot. What a freakin' circus!

Well, it's time to get back to work on the mobile modular 21 foot tall Statue of Liberty for the Decatur Campaign, finish wiring up the sound trucks and start printing yard signs and Posters for a breakneck three week campaign!

Also, it would be nice if we had a couple of hundred bucks to finance this effort so be sure to click on the political ads on the sidebar. We make money from adsense, adsense takes money from the ad sponsor! What a Two-fer!

More to follow from your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

Friday, November 27, 2009

Taking Aim at the impending Georgia State Senate District 42 election

Hi Kids,

Big news afoot. It seems that the impending election to decide who takes current state Senator David Adelman's place once he gets approved by the US congress for his new gig as Ambassador to Singapore will have at least two candidates. Rumor has it the none other that Mr. Jason Carter (Grandson of Ex-President Jimmy Carter) is eyeballing the race. There are no bubbles of intent from the republican party but Senator Adelman's opponent from the '08 election, the extremely interesting Mr. Altaf Galeyev, may decide to take another crack at it in the upcoming special election. And us Libertarians are beating the bushes to locate a candidate willing to run in the 42nd Senate district as well.

Why the interest? Simple, no stinking petition requirements are involved in special elections. Pony up the $400 dollar filing fee and poof, you're on the ballot. The extremely short cycle of special elections is also very attractive to us Libertarians, typically elections are held within 3 to 4 weeks after the brief qualifying period. So you take an off cycle election that will come on the heels of the post holiday season, or better yet in the middle of it, combine that with the lack of an incumbent and mix in 3 or more candidates and you've got the makings of an upset.

Add in the perceived name recognition of Jason Carter and the race will get some national attention and provide us Libertarians with the opportunity to see how many democrat Decaturites we can peel off with our position on decriminalizing marijuana possession, our position of getting government out of the marriage business as well as the tried and true litany of Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom. Turn out will be abysmal which will give our small but dedicated base a chance to flex their muscles at the ballot box and see if we can send a Libertarian Senator to the State house.

More to follow from your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

Wednesday, November 11, 2009

Georgia's Health Insurance Premium Tax

Hi Kids,

I was reflecting on the video made by Jeff Sexton the other day wherein he taped Gary Purcell for a few minutes on his big three issues as a republican candidate for Insurance Commissioner. Mr Purcell mentioned that Georgia has one of the highest health care insurance premium taxes in the USA and also that it generated about $700 million in tax revenues every year for the mighty Peach State. He also mentioned that half of the take goes into the general fund every year, a cool $350 million.

That number sparked my interest. There are about 9.5 million Georgians all told. We've got an estimated $700 million in tax revenue from a relatively restricted industry, health insurance and property/casualty insurers. Right off the bat, it looks like every Georgian drawing breath is shelling out about $77 dollars a year in state health/property/casualty taxes. That includes every Georgian from 1 day old to Great Great Great Grandpa. Of course that number is bogus because the only people who are paying the tax are people who have insurance. And you don't get insurance until you're old enough to have a job, own a car or some such. So the number of people who are paying this undisclosed tax in Georgia is a lot smaller that the total population of the state and you can bet your patootie that they're paying a lot more than $77 dollars a year.

The question really is when was this premium tax enacted? According to some of the websites I've visited over the last few days, it's gone up 88% since the year 2000. And I had not even been aware of it until I saw the Purcell tape over at SWGA politics a couple of days ago. So we can probably figure that at least $3.5 billion has been filched from the taxpayers of Georgia over the last 7 or 8 years by this well hidden, never discussed, tax on your healthcare.

And it's only one tip of the healthcare iceberg here in Georgia. The lack of a high risk pool for the estimated 225,000 Georgians whose pre-existing conditions mean the insurance companies won't make a dime directly from them is another, as well as the inability of a citizen of our fair state to buy a policy from somewhere other than Georgia.

Interesting topics indeed. And they need a Libertarian solution that follows the basics, Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom!

Tuesday, November 10, 2009

Comment over at AJC ref Johnny Isakson's Developer Give Away Bill

Hi Kids,

Big Jim Galloway over at the Political Insider has a little snippet running on our #2 target in the 2010 elections here in Georgia. It seems that Johnny Isakson and Saxby Chambliss were hobbing and nobbing at a GOP state fundraiser to scare up some money for our impoverished State GOP appratchicks. Looks like they're charging $2500 a table so some of the richer proles could rub elbows with Georgia's US Senators and have some of that beltway magic rub off. Big Jim also said there were 700 of these guys in attendance but I don't know if they sitting by themselves at small tables or if there were 20 seats at each table, still, it's a hell of a lot of money for not much of nothing.

Head over and join the fun by clicking the title of this post and don't forget to scroll down this page before you go and click on any ad that has the word Isakson on it. If you do, please roll around the site it takes you to and click at least two of the sections, Adsense loves it when you do that!

More to follow from your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

TANSTAAFL
November 10th, 2009
4:48 pm

Greetings All,

We’re tickled pink over here at secret underground Libertarian Command Center (LCC) at the news from Big Jim Galloway that our democrat brothers and sisters have yet to find a suitable candidate to take on Senator Isakson in 2010. Luckily we’ve a great candidate waiting in the wings for our raucous convention to nominate next April. His name is Chuck Donovan and he’s already addressing some of the soon to be issues in next falls contest. Here’s a bit from the Donovan4Senate website that takes a Libertarian look at Senator Isakson’s latest “achievement”.

While Rome burns, Johnny Isakson Fiddles
Johnny Isakson seems to think that all we have to do to fix our economy is to continue to prop up his buddies in the real estate business. Here is the first paragraph from his latest newsletter:

“Over the last week I have worked with Senate leadership to craft a compromise amendment to extend and expand the current first-time home buyer tax credit, which is set to expire on November 30, 2009. This amendment would include buyers in the “trade-in” or “move-up” market, because I believe the real housing recession is in this market in which citizens are putting off purchasing their next home. The amendment would continue the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and would establish a new $6,500 tax credit for “move-up” buyers so long as the home they are leaving has been used as their principal residence for five years or more. ”

Johnny is rushing to again shore up the real estate industry while the rest of the economy and the US dollar itself are in shambles. Just how many Americans does Johnny think are capable of being first-time or move-up home buyers? After this silly little tax trick puts a few extra dollars into the pockets of a lucky few, what will be Johnny’s next trick? How many more tax credits can Johnny offer without making a penny’s worth of spending cuts?

What the soon-to-be ex-Senator does not seem to understand, is that he is not legislating from a seat next to the gods on Mount Olympus. The real estate problems we face are just a symptom of the economic destruction Johnny Isakson, the Republicans, and the Democrats have brought down on the entire country. Their failure to deliver on decades long promises of less government, less complex taxes, less debt, and better fiscal responsibility are the reason for all of our economic problems.

If Johnny really wanted to fulfill his oath to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States”, his primary efforts would not go to his friends and old business partners, he would instead work to give all Americans more freedom of choice. One way to do that would be to make the tax system less complex, not more complex. Johnny could work to lighten the heavy burden of regulations that crush the efforts of working Americans and American businesses. He would work to make the difficult decisions necessary to bring back the power of the dollars Americans work hard to earn to buy things, yes even things like homes. Such efforts would empower individual Americans who are suffering through this economic downturn, the same individual Americans who will do the work to make us recover. Instead, our Senator works to empower those who hand over large “contributions” to Johnny.

It is now clear, after all of the years the Republicans have promised less government and fiscal responsibility, they have no intention of actually delivering on that promise. How many times do Johnny Isakson and the Republicans have to show us who they truly are before we will believe them?

If you,like what you just read, head over to Donovan4Senate and drop a dollar on the guy’s donate button. Vote Libertarian! Vote Chuck Donovan for Senate! Vote John Monds for Governor!

Gary Purcell sounds like a Libertarian

Hi Kids,

Looks like Jeff Sexton over at SWGA Politics got a one on one interview with republican hopeful for Insurance Commissioner Gary Purcell. Nice video Jeff. Mr. Purcell had three big ideas, Interstate health insurance, reduce or eliminate the hidden tax on your healthcare premiums and create a high risk pool for Georgians on deaths door due to pre-existing conditions. If you'd like to see the vid, just click on this post's title and you'll be magically transported over to SWGA politics.

The neatest part of the interview was when Mr. Purcell cited the general funds share of the premium tax at roughly $350 Million a year! $350 Million a year that the citizens of the state of Georgia funnel to the guys and gals up at the state house to pay for stuff like "Go Fish"

We wish Mr. Purcell well over here at Bludgeon & Skewer, but the Insurance Commissioner field over in republican land is quite crowded and who knows who their candidate in the general will be. I do think that Mr. Purcell's big three ideas will survive into the general election because there will be Libertarian Candidate in that race.

More to follow from you friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer

Friday, November 6, 2009

Tip Top Secret Libertarian 2010 Georgia Election Strategy, Part 2

Hi Kids,

Here's part 2 of the Tip Top Secret Libertarian 2010 Georgia Election Stategy, here after referred to as TTSL2010GES.

As an after thought on part 1, we'll examine the advantages the accrue to the Libertarian party here in Georgia by deciding our candidate slate at the convention next year as opposed to the primary system used by our democrat and republican brothers here in Georgia. The Georgia LP is a small outfit, agile, nimble and able to resolve candidate issues and suitability in one day during our annual convention. Like any other party there are conflicts to be resolved, issues to be refined and platforms to be built, but unlike our foes in conventional politics land, there is no special interest money sloshing around to muddy up the waters of Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom.

So how does the Georgia LP benefit from not dragging a slate of candidates around the state of Georgia for the better part of year prior to a primary election? Looks kind of self evident to us, we don't have to force our candidates to re-enact the Bataan Death March up and down and all around the great state of Georgia to sell their souls for some meager campaign contributions and a handful of equally meager endorsements. Our guys don't spend 11 months beating their breasts and rending their garments screeching about how they are the best guys or gals for the job and whining the whole time about much money it all costs and will you please give me some more money to get on the short list of people I'll take calls from IF I manage to get elected. Libertarians just don't work that way.

So if you add up all the money our republican and democrat foes are going to spend just to figure out which one of their contenders will be the candidate for a given statewide office, you wind up with a figure that runs into millions of dollars, thousands of man/woman hours and heaps of outdated political yard signs littering the highway and byways of Georgia. We Libertarians will have spent exactly zero up to that point. A major advantage to our way of thinking.

Now traditional political consultants will tell you that the primary system is absolutely vital to the traditional political campaign. It allows the voters to get some exposure to the herd of political aspirants, it allows the voters to make a measured evaluation of each of the contenders based on their proposals and then the voters select which one of the herd move on to the general election while mercifully culling the rest. And all the while polls will have to be commissioned, TV and Radio and print ads will have to be composed, produced and aired so that the voters have an opportunity to see each candidate in the best light while making the others look like a collection of lying, thieving chintzy bastards. And tons more money will have to raised and spent. Millions more.

So by utilizing the more traditional convention setting, the Libertarian party is able to spring ahead of our conventional political foes when it comes to selecting candidates. We also suck at fundraising but that's a topic for part 3 or 4 of the TTSL2010GES at a later date.

More to follow from your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

Thursday, November 5, 2009

Comment over at Fresh Loaf RE: Nathan Deal makes the CREW list!!

Hi Kids,

A post over at Fresh Loaf reveals that Nathan Deal is coming up in the world of professional corruption. He's in the big time now with guys like Charlie Rangel and John Murtha, you know long term major dollar stealer's in charge of the tax writing committee and other important boon doogle posts. Head over and join the fun and remember to click those political ads all the way! Adsense says the campaign is working!


TANSTAAFL Says:
November 5th, 2009 at 6:30 pm
Greetings All,

We’re quite perplexed over here at the secret underground Libertarian Command Center at all the Hoo-Rah over our boy Nathan’s gift to the birther movement this morning. It’s simply a method of pandering to a base element that will get in the car on primary day and cast their votes. Considering that the turnout for the impending 2010 republican primary is gonna set records for non-attendance, we think Nathan’s wise to make a pitch to any crowd that’ll give him a listen. Besides, we still haven’t decided which primary us Libertarians want to play in yet and if he manages to contain the Ox and keep Karen at arms length, maybe we’ll head over to the democrat love fest and see if we can have an impact there.

As far as his ranking on the crew list, we couldn’t help but notice that he’s got pretty impressive company. Stars like Charlie Rangel, Jesse Jackson Jr and the redoubtable John Murtha (Fourth Year for Big John) also made the list as well as other notables from both sides of the aisle. We did notice that this was the first year that Nathan received this singular honor, but don’t worry, he’ll try harder next time.

The upshot of the whole thing is that there is not a dime’s worth of difference between Nathan, The Ox, Karen Handel or King Roy. Machine politicians are machine politicians no matter what colors they fly. And for Libertarian purposes in 2010, we do hope that Nathan and Roy make the cut in their primaries and are their parties standard bearers in the general election because Libertarian John Monds is gonna make hash out of both of them.

So remember kids, Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom! Vote Libertarian! Vote John Monds!

Wednesday, November 4, 2009

Donovan 4 Senate got Content!

Hi Kids,

Chuck Donovan is racking up the bandwidth over at Donovan4Senate with heavy hitting posts on the Berlin wall and healthcare. Looks like the dude is planning a major article each day and is certainly delivering on the idea. Be sure to add him to your bookmarks and see what he's up to as we end 2009 and head into 2010, and while you're at it drop a dollar or two on his donate button. It's not as much fun as clicking political ads paid for by republicans or democrats, but money is money and Chuck will need as much as he can get to combat the Isakson machine next fall.

More to follow from your friendly neighborhood Libertarian Community Organizer!

Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Tip Top Secret Libertarian 2010 Georgia Election Strategy, Part 1

Hi Kids,

We're completely exhausted over here at the Secret Underground Libertarian Command Center as we've been following tonight's election results in Atlanta, New York's 23rd, Virginia and the Peoples Republic of New Jersey on cable, the internet and various cell phone feeds and tweets. It's a staggering amount of info, replete with smarmy punditry analysis, full color graphics and really keen zoom-able maps. And littered through out it all are sage predictions about how the democrats are toast, the republicans are toast, Rockin' Barry O is toast along with quite a few derogatory comments about conservatives in general and those loathsome tea party types in particular.

We're feeling kinda left out of the mix at the moment. The Libertarian Party is the only operational third Party in the good old US of A. We're the only party to successfully field national candidates on a regular basis and the only third party with access to State wide races here in Georgia with out a petition requirement.

So in order to have our ducks in a row for the next election-fest in 2010 here in Georgia, the guys and gals thought we ought to get around to devising clever schemes to maximize our public footprint. Asymmetric methods to exploit traditional media for exposure to a broader base, cooly daddy stuff to do on YouTube, Facebook and the rest of the internet to give our Libertarian ticket better reach and a bigger megaphone. And do it all on a projected budget of Zero, Nada, Nuthin'.

Libertarians typically count campaign donations in the tens of dollars unlike our foes over there in republican-democrat land. We've never been awash with PAC money, lobbyist money or any other special interest cash. We're clean like that. Why would a lobbyist give any money to a Libertarian candidate? Everyone with half a brain knows the fix is in and whatever brand of republican/democrat candidate gets elected is for sale. At discount pricing. They're not so sure about us, we might have ethics or something.

So as the first part of our Tip Top Secret 2010 Georgia Election Strategy, we've decided to continue to study our potential opponents for the Governorship, Lt. Governor, Secretary of State, Insurance Commissioner, Attorney General, Agriculture Commissioner, Labor Commissioner and all the rest as the current gaggle of republican and democrat wanna-bees fight their way to and through their primaries. And when they're done and the winner is selected for the general election there will a Libertarian Candidate right next to them on the ballot. Our republican and democrat brothers and sisters will be worn out from their bitter primary fights and our guys and gals will be fresh and ready to dance.

And we'll "dance with what brung us". Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom.

Monday, November 2, 2009

Will Hoffman win?

Crazy Times, Kids, Crazy Times,

Looks like Hoffman is gonna win his race up in New Yorks 23rd district unless the polls are way off base or the republican/democrat machine can figure a way to massage the result. It seems that ballot access up in New York is a lot more American than ballot access here in Georgia, which is why Hoffman got on the ballot in the first place.

We'll never see that kind of congressional race in Georgia as long as our 1943 Jim Crow ballot access law remains on the books and continues to do it's outstanding work of denying the voters any semblance of choice. Of course the existing two party duopoly will turn a blind eye to this as it serves their purpose of maintaining the current plantation system along with their perks/privileges/prerogatives as well as access to a steady stream of campaign cash.

But I think a bell is ringing. I hear it faintly as it rolls down the Appalachian chain from the highlands of New York, to me it sounds like change. I don't think the republicans or the democrats or the media elites hear it yet. I don't think anyone hears it but Libertarians and those enthusiastic folks who went to the Tea Parties and the Town Halls with us back during the high summer.

It sounds to me like it is tolling for Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom.

Kind of a Libertarian Bell. So we'll all see how thing go for Hoffman this week. We'll all read and listen to the established media and punditry as they try to spin it as win for their respective overlords on both sides and we'll make up our individual minds about what a Hoffman victory represents.

It will bode well for the Libertarian Ticket here in Georgia in 2010, John Monds for Governor, Chuck Donovan for Senate and rest of the merry crew are gonna push the Libertarian Litany of Smaller Government, Lower Taxes and More Freedom.

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Chuck Donovan Unloads on Johnny Isakson's Latest Press Release

Hey Kids,

Chuck's not letting any grass grow under his feet. Here's the latest from his website concerning Johnny Isakson's latest press release on the first time/second time/any time homebuyers tax credit designed to placate Johnny's developer pals. With your money.

Chucks site: http://www.donovanforsenate.com/

The latest post in it's entirety, great work.

While Rome burns, Johnny Isakson Fiddles
Johnny Isakson seems to think that all we have to do to fix our economy is to continue to prop up his buddies in the real estate business. Here is the first paragraph from his latest newsletter:

"Over the last week I have worked with Senate leadership to craft a compromise amendment to extend and expand the current first-time home buyer tax credit, which is set to expire on November 30, 2009. This amendment would include buyers in the “trade-in” or “move-up” market, because I believe the real housing recession is in this market in which citizens are putting off purchasing their next home. The amendment would continue the $8,000 tax credit for first-time home buyers and would establish a new $6,500 tax credit for “move-up” buyers so long as the home they are leaving has been used as their principal residence for five years or more. "

Johnny is rushing to again shore up the real estate industry while the rest of the economy and the US dollar itself are in shambles. Just how many Americans does Johnny think are capable of being first-time or move-up home buyers? After this silly little tax trick puts a few extra dollars into the pockets of a lucky few, what will be Johnny’s next trick? How many more tax credits can Johnny offer without making a penny’s worth of spending cuts?

What the soon-to-be ex-Senator does not seem to understand, is that he is not legislating from a seat next to the gods on Mount Olympus. The real estate problems we face are just a symptom of the economic destruction Johnny Isakson, the Republicans, and the Democrats have brought down on the entire country. Their failure to deliver on decades long promises of less government, less complex taxes, less debt, and better fiscal responsibility are the reason for all of our economic problems.

If Johnny really wanted to fulfill his oath to “uphold and defend the Constitution of the United States”, his primary efforts would not go to his friends and old business partners, he would instead work to give all Americans more freedom of choice. One way to do that would be to make the tax system less complex, not more complex. Johnny could work to lighten the heavy burden of regulations that crush the efforts of working Americans and American businesses. He would work to make the difficult decisions necessary to bring back the power of the dollars Americans work hard to earn to buy things, yes even things like homes. Such efforts would empower individual Americans who are suffering through this economic downturn, the same individual Americans who will do the work to make us recover. Instead, our Senator works to empower those who hand over large "contributions" to Johnny.

It is now clear, after all of the years the Republicans have promised less government and fiscal responsibility, they have no intention of actually delivering on that promise. How many times do Johnny Isakson and the Republicans have to show us who they truly are before we will believe them?