Subject: Re: [LPNY DISCUSS] Re June Notes
Date: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 12:53:26 -0400
To:        <lpny_discuss@yahoogroups.com>
From:     Bob Armstrong <bob@cosy.com>

My view from the tube here from NYC :

 I don't know who I'd have voted for had I been there .
 Watching it on C-SPAN reminded me of the real political=
 conventions
 of the past which bored the hell out of me in the `50s when=
 they
 preempted all 3 networks with ballot after ballot going into=
 the
 night for some of this stuff which had nothing to do with the=
 life
 of a suburban kid more hooked on Captain Video and Mr. Wizard .

 I continue to think that Nolan would have been the strongest of=
 the
 candidates altho I can appreciate the negatives expressed by=
 those
 there . Russo's disingenuous insulting of Nolan was a reprise of=
 his
 behavior on Harry Browne's show which caused me to withdraw my
 original preference for him .

 Badnarik needs to smell the coffee if he is going to be anything=
 other
 than a hand-hidden yawn .

 Interviewed on C-SPAN Monday , he was totally passive reactive=
 .
 I yearned for Russo . 

 I posted some comments and links on the drugwar.org list where=
 the
 Kubby video had attracted notice .  Here's some commentary=
 elicited .


--- Original Message ---
From: "Elmer_Elevator" <bobmer.javanet@rcn.com>
To: =A0<drugwar@mindvox.com>
Sent: Wed, 2 Jun 2004 01:26:31 -0400
Subject: Re: [drugwar] Libertarian Convention: Kubbys on C-SPAN?

>=A0Yeah, I saw the Socialist and Libertarian guys on C-Span too.
>
>=A0Political truth is a real flexible kind of silly putty. I got a=
 deep sense
>=A0of conviction and sincerity, and logic and reason, as they=
 described a
>=A0political world view that's essentially unrecognizeable by=
 about 99 percent
>=A0of the electorate. We live on Earth, for all its faults; they=
 might as well
>=A0have been describing Planet Vleeptron. If they're perfectly=
 right about
>=A0everything, they have five months to educate 50 percent of the=
 American
>=A0electorate to see things their way.
>
>=A0I've had to do some amazing feats of fast cramming for=
 important exams in my
>=A0time, but I don't see this happening.
>
>=A0I was struck by an absence of a moral and ethical dimension to=
 their
>=A0political beliefs. Maybe this is just a personal thing with me,=
 but I can't
>=A0get enthused about voting for logical robots or Mr. Spock. I=
 need (as George
>=A0Bush I mumbled) "the Vision Thing." I need (for all his faults)=
 someone like
>=A0Robert Kennedy, who seems to burn with passion for a more just=
 and ethical
>=A0America.
>
>=A0All that said, I'm going to be a real creep and just ignore the=
 Libertarians
>=A0and the Socialists, and Ralph Nader, and the Greens, and the=
 reason why is
>=A0an old and nasty story.
>
>=A0The November 2004 election is going to elect (or=
 constititutionally spew
>=A0out) one of only two possibilities: Bush or Kerry.
>
>=A0At least I'm enthused about one thing: Kerry is an unusually=
 strong and
>=A0popular candidate compared to the most recent uninspiring=
 Democratic
>=A0candidates. If he doesn't stumble disastrously and screw up=
 catastrophically
>=A0between now and then, right now I honestly don't know who I'd=
 bet $100 on to
>=A0win.
>
>=A0He's the first Democrat in quite a while to turn a lot of=
 veterans (a
>=A0heavily registered and active voter bloc) into an enthusiastic,=
 even fanatic
>=A0cheering section. (Gore had the solid Army Vietnam record, but=
 couldn't
>=A0light any fires among vets. I even preferred Gore's Vietnam=
 record to
>=A0Kerry's -- Kerry's vet experience has a lot of whack and=
 loopiness to it,
>=A0Gore just showed up for the draft and did his full duty, in the=
 classic
>=A0tradition of citizen-soldiers.)
>
>=A0I think we in the drug and gulag reform community have to=
 grudgingly read
>=A0and accept the rules of the Election 2004 game, as "unfair" and=
 rigged as
>=A0they are. And the last big rule is: Only Bush or Kerry can be=
 the next
>=A0president.
>
>=A0It's like a dating woman: She might really want Richard Gere or=
 Leonardo
>=A0diCaprio, but barring some kind of miracle, she's gonna have to=
 settle for
>=A0Larry Bingle and his chain of dry cleaning stores.
>
>=A0If we fall in love with the Libertarian candidate, or with=
 Nader, for all
>=A0the right political and moral reasons, and take sabbaticals=
 from our jobs to
>=A0volunteer our hearts out for him -- we're still going to get=
 President Bush
>=A0or President Kerry. The 2004 World Series is just not going to=
 be won by the
>=A0Nagasaki Samurai, even though they play really exciting=
 baseball.
>
>=A0I'm voting for Kerry for a really tawdry, sordid reason: He's=
 not Bush.
>
>=A0Kerry may appoint an inept, incompetent, confused Attorney=
 General like
>=A0Janet Reno. But the damage Janet Reno did to American justice=
 and the body
>=A0politic is nothing compared to the Nazi programs of Ashcroft.=
 This month
>=A0Ashcroft has been prosecuting Greenpeace protestors for a=
 19th-century
>=A0crime, used only twice, called "sailormongering" -- interfering=
 with a
>=A0merchant vessel. (The law was written to prevent tavernkeepers=
 and brothels
>=A0from interfering with sailors on shore leave.) They were=
 protesting the
>=A0illegal importation into the US of a boatload of Brazilian=
 mahogony ripped
>=A0from the endangered Amazon rain forest. (I think a federal=
 judge in Miami
>=A0threw the government's case out.)
>
>=A0With Ashcroft, the Justice Department is firmly in the hands of=
 huge,
>=A0outlaw, corrupt, mega-greedy corporations AND fundamentalist=
 evangelical
>=A0Christians. Reno, on the other hand, was just bungling her way=
 through
>=A0calling each case as best as she could. I think she had a=
 vision of fairness
>=A0and justice; she just couldn't spell it or find much about it=
 in the
>=A0dictionary. She left a lot less damage behind than Ashcroft.
>
>=A0I'm sorry to say that our choice is like a choice of two pets=
 to keep in a
>=A0small apartment: A skunk or a rattlesnake. In four or eight=
 years, the skunk
>=A0may disgust us, but it's not going to bite us in the neck and=
 kill us.
>
>=A0Both candidates are totally silent on the War on Drugs or the=
 new American
>=A0Gulag; neither candidate is even recognizing it as an issue=
 that needs any
>=A0reform or attention.
>
>=A0But the next president WILL certainly be appointing one or two=
 new Supreme
>=A0Court justices, and scores of federal judges. Collectively, for=
 the next
>=A0thirty years, these are the people who will REALLY matter about=
 the
>=A0breakthroughs or disasters of the War on Drugs and the=
 galloping American
>=A0Gulag. What little resistance to institutionalized racism=
 America will
>=A0provide to racism's victims won't come directly from Kerry (as=
 it did from
>=A0Kennedy and Johnson), but it will come from the judges and=
 justices he
>=A0appoints. Voting for Bush is an endorsement for more and worse=
 legally
>=A0sanctioned racism.
>
>=A0And abortion rights. Hoorah! A real choice! Bush is 100 percent=
 stridently,
>=A0publicly trying to repeal Roe v. Wade, and end a woman's right=
 to control
>=A0her body and her reproductive life. Kerry is publicly,=
 strongly,
>=A0unambiguously pro-Choice. I would almost call his relationship=
 with
>=A0Church-State Separation clear, brave and thoughtful. Whether=
 the next thirty
>=A0years will be a "Handmaid's Tale" nightmare for American women=
 of
>=A0childbearing age, or a framework of laws and decisions and=
 rights and
>=A0doctor-patient privacy that they can live with depends entirely=
 on President
>=A0Bush or President Kerry.
>
>=A0Please feel free to attack me with knives and broken bottles=
 about all this,
>=A0but I have to accept The Game on its own terms. In my=
 fantasies, I want a
>=A0smart, brave, honest, visionary president. In my reality, I'm=
 going to get
>=A0Bush or Kerry. I have to psych myself up to ignore the fringe=
 candidates and
>=A0do what I can to elect Kerry, even if the best slogan he can=
 come out of his
>=A0convention with is: "He'll do less damage to America."
>
>=A0By the way, I'm not always this way. Here's my 2000 Nader Vote=
 Receipt. And
>=A0it made me feel great. But four years of Bush have transformed=
 me into a
>=A0very frightened voter.
>
>=A0Elmer
>
>=A0----- Original Message -----
>=A0From: "Bob Armstrong" <bob@cosy.com>
>=A0To: <drugwar@mindvox.com>
>=A0Sent: Tuesday, June 01, 2004 5:25 PM
>=A0Subject: Re: [drugwar] Libertarian Convention: Kubbys on=
 C-SPAN?
>
>=A0On Tue, 1 Jun 2004 15:28:45 -0400, Preston Peet wrote:
>=A0>=A0I saw the Lib candidate on Washington Journal the other=
 morning,
>=A0yesterday,
>=A0>=A0as well as the Socialist VP candidate.
>=A0>=A0They were both interesting. I like socialism a lot, but tend=
 to like
>=A0>=A0Libertarians too, but not as much. The Libertarian candidate=
 (whose name
>=A0>=A0escapes me right now) stressed strongly his and the party's=
 support of
>=A0>=A0legalizing marijuana though. The Socialist did not, not=
 mentioning the
>=A0> WOSDU=A0at all that I saw.

--

On Wed, 2 Jun 2004 11:09:45 EDT, jdobrian@aol.com wrote:
>=A0John is right to have misgivings about Badnarik's lack of=
 organization and
>=A0money. He never expected to be nominated, apparently, but it's=
 his own damn
>=A0fault for doing so well in the debate!

--=A0
=A0Bob Armstrong -- http://CoSy.com -- 212-285-1864
Computing Environment : =A0http://CoSy.com/CoSy/
A WTC vision : http://CoSy.com/CoSy/ConicAllConnect/

Libertarian Presidential Candidates =A0:=
 http://CoSy.com/Liberty.htm
=A0=A0=A0For Senator from NY : http://www.silbergerforsenator.org/
=A0=A0WHY DOES THE UNITED STATES INCARCERATE A LARGER PERCENTAGE,
AND A LARGER NUMBER, OF ITS CITIZENS THAN ANY OTHER NATION ON=
 EARTH?=A0
=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A0=A02004/06/02 12:10:42 PM