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Monthly Archives

June 2015

BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

Charleston May Be In The “Low Country,” But It Demonstrates “High Values”

by lgadmin June 24, 2015
written by lgadmin

After even a few minutes walking the historic streets of Charleston, South Carolina, it becomes clear why the city is revered by so many. Charleston’s rich history, world-class culinary offerings, and a community of people recognized as being among the friendliest in the nation, account for its consistent ranking high on the list of vacation destinations for Americans and foreigners alike.

Many Charlestonians refer to their home as the “Holy City” because of the large number of churches — including some of the oldest in the nation — within its borders. These all are reasons why the news of the cold-blooded murder of nine members of Emanuel A.M.E. Church in downtown Charleston last week is so difficult to comprehend. Charleston simply is not a place where one expects to find such evil.

Yet, amidst the grief and tragedy, Charleston proved, once again, how special it is. At the bond hearing for the shooter, who had hoped his attack would spark a “race war,” the victims’ families one-by-one addressed the killer — not with hate or anger, but with a display of genuine love and forgiveness that comes only from a truly “holy” people. In that moment, it became clear Charleston would not descend into the same violence and chaos that manifested itself in Ferguson and Baltimore. Rather, Charleston would present itself as a lesson to the world about the power of love, faith and forgiveness.

If only national politicians had gotten the message.

Less than 24 hours after the shooting, and just minutes after the suspect was arrested, President Obama stood in front of the nation on TV and issued a politically-charged message, blaming guns and America itself for the actions of this young lunatic: “Once again innocent people were killed because someone who wanted to inflict harm had no trouble getting their hands on a gun.” Our Gun-Controller in Chief went on to claim that, “At some point we as a country will have to reckon with the fact that this type of mass violence does not happen in other advanced countries” (which, of course, it does).

Hillary Clinton, not wanting to miss an opportunity to look similarly “presidential,” provided another nonsensical explanation for Dylann Roof’s murderous acts — blaming “hate speech,” and making the fantastical jump to referencing a recent speech by Donald Trump to support her thesis.

The urge to irrationally blame guns and the Second Amendment for the acts of a deranged 21-year old even manifested itself among some Republicans. Bush-family advisor Karl Rove opined that until someone has the “oomph” (whatever that means) to repeal the Second Amendment, we will continue to witness acts of gun violence.

These political rants represent a problem far beyond merely showing how out of touch Washington elites have become with the world outside the Beltway. When the President of the United States, and another who is a front-runner for the job, stand before the nation issuing the same, tired talking points, and reduce a complex situation to sound bites about “guns” and “negative speech,” any meaningful debate over the true causes of such tragedies is short-circuited. Rather than being offered real options based on sound reasoning, we are offered only a broken record of recycled sound bites that have no legal or factual basis.

Instead of trotting out the same gun control proposals that already have been struck down by the courts – and which consistently have failed to staunch gun violence in cities like Chicago, New York, and Washington, D.C. – perhaps the Congress and our state legislatures could fund meaningful research into the role mental illness, and the possible impact SSRI drugs play in mass shootings. Or, instead of treading on First Amendment rights by targeting “hate speech” as a cure-all for “racism,” might our political leaders address aspects of our criminal justice system that disproportionally impact minority communities, and work to pass meaningful reforms such as the Smarter Sentencing Act?

Such measures might actually find far more support among the citizens of Charleston and other places outside the Washington Beltway, than Sunday talk-show sound bites or slogans that festoon presidential campaign paraphernalia.

Last Saturday, thousands of people joined hands and walked together across the Ravenel Bridge in Charleston — demonstrating the city’s solidarity and commitment to peace, rather than showing the world a city using a tragedy as an excuse to vent anger and spew hatred. The citizens of Ferguson, Missouri and Baltimore, Maryland, and especially those who work in Washington, D.C., could learn a lot from the people of Charleston, South Carolina.

Charleston may be geographically in the “Low Country,” but its citizens display far higher values and understanding than do people in many other cities.

Originally published here on townhall.com

June 24, 2015 0 comment
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BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

Hillary vs. Hillary

by lgadmin June 17, 2015
written by lgadmin

If there is one law of politics the Clintons know better than anyone, it is the power of perception. Their masterful ability to twist, bend, and manipulate the truth — even something as basic as the word “is” — has afforded America’s Power Couple a Teflon-like resistance to scandal and corruption that is the envy of less savvy politicos. In Clinton World –where both public and professional personas follow a meticulously crafted storyline that has been thoroughly polled and vetted — nothing is left unscripted; least of all, Hillary’s political swan song.

The location of New York’s tiny Roosevelt Island for Hillary’s first major rally of her 2016 presidential campaign, offers a small taste of how heavily the Clinton handbook will play into her campaign. Not to be interrupted by the riff-raff of New York City, limited access to “Hillary Island” allowed for total attendance control; described by The Daily Beast as a “pleasant little police state.” The island’s namesake, Franklin D. Roosevelt, and its Four Freedoms Park provided the perfect backdrop for Hillary’s reinvention from cloistered liberal elitist to American populist hero.

If successful, the transmogrification of one of the Washington Establishment’s most entrenched fixtures into a working class hero, will be the Clinton PR machine’s magnum opus. However, even it faces the limitations of how much the public is willing to swallow in order to believe such a contrived narrative. In the end, Hillary’s greatest hurdle to the White House may prove to be Clinton herself. Indeed, “Hillary vs. Hillary” may prove just as exciting a bout as the likely Main Event between her and the GOP nominee.

Unlike Barack Obama in 2008, Hillary does not have the benefit of a clean slate when it comes to public service on the national stage. Whereas Obama could skate by on superficial campaign promises, Hillary’s new populist rhetoric clearly clashes with a very public legacy both in office and out, that is decidedly Establishment in nature.

In fact, little about the Clintons’ posh lifestyle, and their phobia of anything outside their neatly manicured sphere of influence, demonstrates any genuine connection with “the people” Hillary now champions. If a campaign could be run on clever Internet memes and social media alone, she would prefer such managed, strategic “interactions” to the unpredictability of public appearances. Such a framework reduces the risk of uncomfortable outbursts from a clearly out-of-practice Clinton, like that in New Hampshire recently when she barked at an adoring fan to get to the “back of the line” when he asked for an autograph.

Even Hillary’s campaign speech on Saturday, light as it was on substance, illustrated how out-of-touch she is with her own policies as a “leader.” Not wanting to waste an opportunity to slam the Supreme Court’s Citizens United ruling, Hillary called for constitutional action to “stop the endless flow of secret, unaccountable money,” which she claims is “corrupting our political process.” Never mind that Hillary is facing serious ethical questions about her own “endless flow of secret, unaccountable” foreign money, totaling in the tens of millions of dollars into the coffers of the Clinton Foundation, even as she negotiated with those very countries as Secretary of State.

Hillary also remains stubbornly tone deaf to the criticism of calling for greater transparency, when, as Secretary of State, she intentionally ignored such laws. To the average citizen, who expects government officials to be accountable to the law, such hypocrisy is obvious; in Clinton World, Hillary is the victim.

Instead of responding in a manner reflective of a true People’s Champion, Hillary treated the e-mail scandal as a joke; a “distraction” orchestrated by her enemies. For those who have followed the Clintons over the years, it was simply another vintage-Clinton maneuver; one which National Journal writer and long-time Clinton reporter Ron Fournier called the “predictable, paint-by-numbers response from the Bill and Hillary Clinton political operation” — deny, deflect, and demean.

The next 16 months for Team Hillary will be less about any substantive plans for rescuing America from the abyss; and more about a continuous reeducation campaign to persuade voters she is not the out-of-touch elitist from Chappaqua who has not driven a car in 20 years, but instead, the hip, pantsuit-wearing grandma ready to carry the presidential banner for all American women into the Oval Office.

There is an Aesop’s Fable that comes to mind here. A farmer finds a viper freezing in the snow and places it in his shirt to save it from dying. Revived by the warmth, the viper resorts to its true nature, turning on its benefactor with a fatal bite. “Oh!” cries the farmer, “I am rightly served for pitying a scoundrel.” Some may genuinely buy into Hillary’s conversion fairytale, and others may feel she deserves the White House as a matter of Manifest Destiny. But the essence of the Clinton fable is well-established and no amount of pity, or forced perception, will change the inevitability of corruption and ethical misconduct to come with another Clinton in the White House. They cannot help it. It is their nature. Shame on us if we succumb to its siren song.

Originally published here on townhall.com

June 17, 2015 0 comment
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Blog

Press Release: Liberty Guard Supports the Smarter Sentencing Act

by lgadmin June 15, 2015
written by lgadmin

6/15/2015
(Atlanta, GA) – Liberty Guard today announced its support for the Smarter Sentencing Act.
This piece of legislation attempts to give federal judges more discretion with certain non-violent drug offenses. As we’ve seen since 1980, the population in the federal prison system has increased by a staggering 769%

Federal Prison Population

The Bureau of Prisons has reported that they’re 30% over capacity. In lieu of increasing funding, Liberty Guard suggests the government should look at the current prison population; nearly 50% of its population is composed of nonviolent drug offenders. If implemented, the minimum mandatory sentencing requirements would no longer be the norm.

The antiquated drug laws cost taxpayers billions of dollars while acting as a detriment to the families of those convicted. Years (or decades) spent in prison reduce the quality of life of the affected families and stigmatize rehabilitated individuals who have duly gone through the system.

Liberty Guard questions whether harsh punishments including imprisonment of nonviolent drug offenders yield increased public safety or rehabilitation for the drug addicted.

Bob Barr, Chairman of Liberty Guard, commented, “There is nothing as powerful as the status quo. But the status quo has failed. It has failed to solve the problem of drug addiction, has resulted in a huge waste of taxpayer dollars, and does not reflect smart law enforcement.  We need to have smarter sentencing, not simply longer sentencing.  The Smarter Sentencing Act makes sense from a personal, a fiscal, and a law enforcement perspective.”

Steve Thomas, President of Liberty Guard, added, “We know drug sentencing laws target minorities disproportionately. They traditionally don’t have the financial means to hire legal representation. African Americans are more likely to be arrested for drug crimes committed while whites aren’t (for the very same crime); their incarceration rate is nearly 6 times that of whites. Basic fairness says that something has to change, and we are convinced this bill will help.”

Support Liberty Guard by visiting libertyguard.org and sign an e-card to thank Senator Paul for standing for liberty!

About Liberty Guard – libertyguard.org
Formed in 2009 by Bob Barr, and supported by over 115,000 Americans across the country, Liberty Guard is dedicated to restoring and strengthening liberty against intrusions by government at all levels; including taking action against TSA privacy intrusions and ObamaCare. Liberty Guard remains committed to identifying and supporting policy, candidates, and causes which champion liberty and return our country to constitutional principles.
###

Contact:
Steve Thomas
703-819-0127

June 15, 2015 0 comment
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BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

The Trap That Ensnared Denny Hastert Could Be Set For Any of Us

by lgadmin June 10, 2015
written by lgadmin

Lavrenti Beria, who ran Josef Stalin’s KGB, once commented on the ease with which the feared organization he headed could convict any individual at will: “Show me the man and I’ll find you the crime.” But that was early 20th Century Soviet Union, and this is 21st Century America, you might say; we have all manner of procedural safeguards in place to guard against individuals being charged and convicted of things not truly evil or harmful to others. Ahh, were it so.

Just how easy is it in 21st Century America to run afoul of one or more of the many thousands of federal criminal offenses on the books? Just ask Former Speaker Denny Hastert, now under federal indictment for nothing more egregious or harmful to our nation’s well-being than trying to conceal from prying eyes payments of his own money to another individual, and then not telling the FBI what it wanted him to reveal in order to incriminate himself.

Many of these criminal offenses have been on the books for decades — some conceived at the same time as our Internal Revenue Code a full century ago; others the offspring of the “War on Drugs” in the late 1960s. However, the zeal with which Uncle Sam’s agents target individuals who seek nothing more than to keep certain personal activities private, has become pronounced in recent years.

We live in a world in which the federal government not only makes it nearly impossible to engage in any private financial transaction, but actually resents the person – to the point of making them a felon — who dares try to evade revealing to federal regulators and investigators what they are doing with every red cent of their own money.
From the massive, NSA-directed meta-data collection programs revealed two years ago by Edward Snowden, to the FBI’s continuing efforts to outlaw any encryption of electronic data by individuals or companies to which the federal government is not given the keys, America’s landscape is peppered with legal landmines set for people and businesses trying to keep a small part of their world private.

Guilt is now presumed from simply taking steps to avoid government’s prying electronic eyes.

The Hastert indictment is clear evidence of this alarming trend. The former Speaker faces a decade or more in federal prison, but not for allegedly committing any substantive criminal offense. Even if he eventually is acquitted, Hastert’s reputation already is ruined simply because he wanted private transactions to remain private; and because he elected not to incriminate himself when answering questions put to him by FBI agents.

As The Atlantic’s Connor Friedersdorf writes, Hastert is but the latest in a growing list of Americans “being prosecuted for the crime of evading federal government surveillance.”

One does not have to possess the standing of a former Speaker of the House of Representatives to earn such attention from Uncle Sam. Last July, Lyndon McLellan, a convenience store owner in North Carolina, had his life-savings of $107,702.66 confiscated by the IRS for violating one of the same financial reporting laws that ensnared Hastert. For simply trying to reduce the paperwork burden on his bank with regard to certain transactions relating to his savings, McLellan was forced to mount a long and costly legal fight in order to see his money again.

The use of tightly crafted and clearly defined financial laws can in fact provide legitimate tools with which federal prosecutors are able to strike at “real” criminals engaged in activities that seriously harm other people. However, contemporary financial regulatory powers go far beyond what could be considered reasonable weapons with which to prosecute, convict and imprison such individuals.

For example, most individuals do not know that if you engage in a financial transaction considered “suspicious” by an employee at a federally-insured financial institution, the employee is required to report that transaction to federal investigators. These Suspicious Activity Reports or “SARs” are mandated in addition to other federal paperwork, such as “CTRs” or Currency Transaction Reports, which must be filed by anyone depositing or withdrawing more than $10,000 cash at a bank.

Many of these financial reporting laws have been broadened considerably since 9-11; and almost all have criminal penalties attached to them. But they are only the tip of the “gotcha iceberg” with which the federal government can control individuals and businesses. As noted criminal defense lawyer Harvey Silverglate concluded in his 2009 book, Three Felonies a Day – How the Feds Target the Innocent, it has become virtually impossible for even the most intelligent and learned individuals to, “predict with any reasonable assurance whether a wide range of seemingly ordinary activities might be regarded by federal prosecutors as felonies.”

So, before jumping to any conclusions about Denny Hastert, consider for a moment just how easy it would be for any of us to suddenly find ourselves similarly charged, for wanting nothing more than to keep certain personal financial actions private from Big Brother.

Originally published here on townhall.com

June 10, 2015 0 comment
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Blog

Press Release: Liberty Guard Applauds Rand Paul on His Stand for the 4th Amendment

by Liberty Guard Author June 4, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author

(Atlanta, GA) – Liberty Guard stands with Rand Paul and his colleagues by thwarting the unwarranted interjection of government surveillance in our day-to-day lives. Through his liberty-minded efforts, the Senate of the United States let key provisions to expire May 31, 2015.
Per its expiration, the National Security Agency (NSA) ceased any bulk metadata collection at 7:44pm on Sunday. “Section 215” allowed the NSA to collect (and store) such data on Americans for 5 years. The second provision gave law enforcement entities the ability (and freedom) to wiretap suspected individuals in an all-encompassing effect. Without such a provision, a warrant is needed for each instance.
Bob Barr, Chairman of Liberty Guard, said, “the government cannot make fallacious connections between a “lone-wolf” suspect with terror groups such as ISIS, Al-Qaeda, or the Taliban to substantiate investigations. We are excited that due to Senator Paul’s efforts, the Patriot Act has been terminated.”
Steven Thomas, President of Liberty Guard, added, “Even though the court system has told the President that the program in question is illegal, Barack Obama seems ambivalent.
As Ayn Rand has said: ‘The smallest minority on earth is the individual. Those who deny individual rights cannot claim to be defenders of minorities.’ Rampant systematic breaches of the Fourth Amendment are justified by instilling fear amongst Americans and veiling its intentions under national security.”
Liberty Guard strongly stands with Senator Paul and what he is doing to lead the fight in the Congress to defend the Bill of Rights against many of those even in his own Party and great cost to himself. The status quo must be disrupted. As we’ve learned with the current Presidential administration, promises are moot if you later renege once elected.
Sign an e-card to thank Senator Paul for standing for liberty HERE!

 

 

June 4, 2015 0 comment
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BlogFrom the Desk of Bob Barr

The Tory Party vs. Rand Paul

by Liberty Guard Author June 3, 2015
written by Liberty Guard Author

If John McCain, John Cornyn, Mitch McConnell, and the other Republican senators lashing into Rand Paul because of his efforts to force expiration of Sec. 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act had been alive and part of the debate back in 1775-76, they would have been blasting Patrick Henry for supporting Liberty. Colonialists McCain, Cornyn and McConnell would have been firmly in the Tory camp; defending the powers of the Crown to “protect” the colonialists through such tools as Writs of Assistance.

Today, in this 21st Century, the tools may have changed, but the foundational principle on which our independence was fought – a federal government of limited and defined powers — remains the same; yet it is in far greater danger today than 240 years ago.

To McCain and other defenders of the all-powerful and all-seeing national security labyrinth that has mushroomed in the last 14 years, Rand Paul’s stand against permitting the National Security Agency to continue exercising a power to electronically surveil American citizens’ private communications without reasonable cause – an abuse a federal Court of Appeals already has ruled to be unlawful — is “reckless” and a threat to America.

These modern-day Tories might as well champion the words of ol’ King George III, who characterized his benevolent tyranny thus: “I wish nothing but good; therefore, everyone who does not agree with me is a traitor and a scoundrel.”

And what has this “scoundrel’ Rand Paul done? Dismantle the NSA? Destroy the power of the Intelligence Community to monitor real threats? Take away the ability of the CIA to conduct legitimate covert operations? Hardly.

All Paul has done to earn the enmity of the “Anything-It-Takes-to-Make-Us-Safe” caucus in the Senate is to try and reform Sec. 215 of the USA PATRIOT Act to bring it in line with the law and the Fourth Amendment.

Moreover, it is not as if the federal government does not have, and would continue to have, a full arsenal of tools at its disposal to identify, monitor and thwart real terrorist threats. And already moves are afoot openly – and quietly – to ensure that during this interim period when Sec. 215 is at least formally in limbo, those communications that pose a threat and are worthy of monitoring, are in fact monitored.

It would be naïve indeed to think the massive surveillance apparatus at the NSA is at a true standstill after years of abuse justified by the government’s broad interpretation the USA PATRIOT Act’s provisions. Already, there are attempts to weaken the USA Freedom Act – which passed the House last month and places at least some limits on Sec. 215 abuses. For example, Senate surveillance hawks want to keep secret the rulings of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court (FISC) that has, unshackled by public knowledge or input, shaped how and what information the government collects on American citizens. Other proposals include extending the time the government is allowed to collect bulk phone metadata before handing over control of databases to telecom companies; and requiring the companies to give government advance notice of any changes to their retention policies. This latter provision would give Congress time to enact legislation prohibiting such changes if believed to hamper the government’s snooping efforts.

Of course, even such moves by McConnell and other Rand Paul-bashers do not soften their disdain for the junior Senator from Kentucky. McConnell continues to fume at Paul’s refusal to “play nice”; and he stopped just short of naming Paul directly when accusing the opposition of leading “a campaign of demagoguery and disinformation launched in the wake of unlawful actions of Edward Snowden.”

McCain – never one known for congeniality or subtlety — has taken an even lower road, in accusing Paul of putting “a higher priority on his fundraising and his ambitions than on the security of the nation.” Not that McCain would ever use “national security” as a fund-raising theme.

Threats to American freedom are nothing new. And our Founding Fathers understood that if Liberty was to have enduring life, limitations on government power must be made permanent and not allowed to fade depending on the nature of a particular threat. Thus, our Founders chiseled the Fourth Amendment into the bedrock of our young nation even as we faced a very real and present threat from our former master, Great Britain – an enemy far more powerful than modern-day terrorist organizations.

It is depressing in the extreme that these lessons – this history – have now been forgotten and blithely discarded by so many of our political “leaders” more concerned about restoring the powers of the Crown than protecting the Liberty of the individual.

Originally published here on townhall.com

June 3, 2015 0 comment
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