tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-96661242012-01-23T16:08:43.114-05:00Political notes and cultural commentary from a gay, libertarian, Catholic, Republican author and theatre critic.... <p> <i>Complete index of postings listed by month in left column.... Comments and tips always welcome!</i></p>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.comBlogger134612538.026342-78.534803tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-59081719161534760102012-01-22T22:09:00.000-05:002012-01-22T22:09:54.483-05:002012-01-22T22:09:54.483-05:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wBTs6DQOzLE/TxzM9SPHQHI/AAAAAAAACsg/o-3emRooenI/s1600/Santorum_001.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-wBTs6DQOzLE/TxzM9SPHQHI/AAAAAAAACsg/o-3emRooenI/s200/Santorum_001.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rick Santorum in Richmond, October 2010</td></tr> </tbody></table>Two days before he placed a distant third in the South Carolina GOP presidential primary, former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum published <a href="http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/jan/19/romneys-record-of-judicial-capitulation/" target="_blank">an op-ed piece in the <i>Washington Times</i></a> in which he criticized his rival for the Republican nomination, Mitt Romney, for poor judgment in making judicial appointments as governor of Massachusetts.<br /> <br /> Posing a rhetorical question, Santorum wrote:<br /> <blockquote>What sort of justice to the Supreme Court will Mitt Romney nominate - a [David] Souter or a [Clarence] Thomas? A [Harriet] Miers or an [Samuel] Alito? A Kennedy or a Scalia? His record as governor of Massachusetts gives no cause for optimism.</blockquote>Santorum's examples of bad nominations almost all relate to judges who issued rulings favorable to the rights of gay citizens (though not all of them -- this is somewhat unclear from the text -- were appointed by Romney, and one of them is acknowledged to have been nominated by Romney's predecessor, Republican Governor William Weld).<br /> <br /> Santorum also notes that<br /> <blockquote>Mr. Romney nominated 36 judges while governor, just nine of whom were Republicans.... There is no evidence that Mr. Romney ever fought for a conservative nominee.</blockquote>Accusing Romney of "ambiguity and timidity," Santorum concludes his article by saying that (the contrast is implied) he would stand up for conservative principles, unlike the former Massachusetts governor:<br /> <blockquote>Numerous conservative leaders have said that I was the “go-to” guy in the Senate to push for conservative judges. This is a deeply felt cause for me - of both heart and head. We absolutely must get this right. Ambiguity and timidity won’t get it right, nor will it defeat the left’s judicial agenda. We need to uphold the Constitution with principles and conviction, not with moderation and vague hopes.</blockquote>The funny thing is, four years ago, <a href="http://governor%20romney%20has%20a%20deep%20understanding%20of%20the%20important%20issues%20%20confronting%20our%20country%20today,%20and%20he%20is%20the%20clear%20conservative%20candidate/" target="_blank">Rick Santorum said</a>, apparently with sincerity, that Mitt Romney was the presidential candidate with principles and conviction, and who therefore deserved the Republican party's nomination instead of eventual winner John McCain.<br /> <br /> "Governor Romney is the candidate <i>who will stand up for the conservative principles</i> that we hold dear," Santorum said enthusiastically on February 1, 2008, adding that "Governor Romney has a deep understanding of the important issues confronting our country today, and <i>he is the clear conservative</i> candidate" [italics added].<br /> <br /> Of course, since Romney ended his term as Massachusetts' chief executive in early 2007, he had already done all those things for which Santorum criticizes him today. If Romney's judicial nominations were so bad prior to his first presidential run, why did Santorum praise him so effusively in 2008?<br /> <br /> The only thing that has changed is that Santorum and Romney are both seeking the same job, and as a politician, Rick Santorum will say anything -- even reverse his own previously held convictions -- to get the job instead of Romney.<br /> <br /> Really, how slippery can <a href="http://spreadingsantorum.com/" target="_blank">Santorum</a> get?<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=10974&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-5908171916153476010?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/s4lKfpFVWmU" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2012/01/how-slippery-is-santorum.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-42003418259600324292011-12-28T17:35:00.000-05:002011-12-28T17:35:33.594-05:002011-12-28T17:35:33.594-05:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtawP1IIsHE/TvuYqjOVarI/AAAAAAAACsU/AhKnAUV3Bos/s1600/Tim-Donner-Jul12_b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-xtawP1IIsHE/TvuYqjOVarI/AAAAAAAACsU/AhKnAUV3Bos/s1600/Tim-Donner-Jul12_b.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Tim Donner in Richmond</td></tr> </tbody></table>Norman Leahy <a href="http://bearingdrift.com/2011/12/28/breaking-donner-to-drop-out-of-senate-race/">had the story first</a> at Bearing Drift:&nbsp;<br /> <br /> U.S. Senate candidate Tim Donner has ended his quest for the Republican nomination to succeed retiring Senator Jim Webb.<br /> <br /> That leaves four candidates in the Republican field:&nbsp; former Governor George Allen, Bishop E.W. Jackson, political activist Jamie Radtke, and lawyer David McCormick.&nbsp; Although Tim Kaine is the likely Democratic nominee, he also faces at least one opponent.<br /> <br /> Donner's announcement came at 4:00 p.m, but 45 minutes earlier he telephoned me to give him a personal heads-up.&nbsp; I took the opportunity to interview him about his decision and about his plans for the future -- including whether he might consider a third-party bid for the U.S. Senate or any other elective office.<br /> <br /> The interview has been published in two parts on <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Examiner.com</a>:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/rHCp1u">Exit interview, Part I: Senate candidate Tim Donner withdraws from race</a><br /> <br /> and<br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/u8Kjjb"><br /> Exit interview, Part II: U.S. Senate candidate Tim Donner ends campaign</a></blockquote>In a part of the interview that was not published, Donner said to me:<br /> <blockquote>Thank you, Rick, and I just want to say I’ve always respected your reporting. You have been more pro-active than almost any of the other journalists that I’ve come to know in the course of this campaign. <br /> <br /> One of the things that struck me the most about the media, and I always knew there was a left-wing media bias, that was nothing new to me, but what I didn’t realize was just how lazy so much of the media has been in their unwillingness to do anything more than repeat press releases and poll results and fundraising efforts and FEC reports.<br /> <br /> You’ve been out there on the scene, watching people speak, watching them interact, interviewing them in person, and so I have a great deal of respect for the work that you’ve done.</blockquote>I wasn't seeking praise, but I certainly appreciate it.<br /> <br /> I hope the other candidates I have interviewed -- including <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/in-crozet-for-independence-day-weekend-george-allen-warns-of-perpetual-debt">Allen</a>, Kaine, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/virginia-gop-senate-candidate-david-mccormick-touts-his-business-experience">McCormick</a>, and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/va-senate-candidate-jamie-radtke-hopes-her-message-resonates-with-libertarians">Radtke</a> -- feel the same way. I do all I can to be fair, even to interview subjects with whom I disagree profoundly (examples include <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/tim-kaine-argues-for-balancing-individual-liberties-communal-responsibilities">Tim Kaine</a> and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/congressman-tom-perriello-explains-his-appeal-to-libertarian-voters-virginia-s-5th-district">Tom Perriello</a>).<br /> <br /> By coincidence, Donner's announcement came on the same day that former New Mexico Governor <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-weighs-on-uganda-foreign-policy">Gary Johnson</a> ended his campaign for the Republican presidential nomination and announced he will instead <a href="http://politics.blogs.foxnews.com/2011/12/28/gary-johnson-switches-libertarian-party">seek the Libertarian Party's nod</a>.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=1053&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-4200341825960032429?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/t0dVNCxUqXc" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/tim-donner-withdraws-from-us-senate.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-49754490758566262212011-12-24T04:46:00.000-05:002011-12-24T04:46:59.839-05:002011-12-24T04:46:59.839-05:00Back in 2008, <a href="http://bit.ly/vG9zcz" target="_blank">I offered my recollections</a> of how my family celebrated Christmas as I was growing up in the 1960s and 1970s.<br /> <br /> Now I have some videos to illustrate those memories.<br /> <br /> I have transferred some ancient home movies, filmed with a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004EPYZPS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004EPYZPS" target="_blank">Super-8</a> millimeter camera, to digital format. Through them, one can follow the holiday celebrations of Christmas Eve and Christmas Day in the year 1967.<br /> <br /> Yes, 44 years ago. Almost half a century. I was eight years old. I don't remember what it was like to be eight years old, but at least I can see myself then again.<br /> <br /> First, the <a href="http://youtu.be/Mreq3I7z5KI">early evening</a> of Christmas Eve. On this occasion, the rotating responsibility of hosting the Czuta family and its branches by marriage (Benkert, Geilenfeldt, Jaeger, Michalak, and Sincere) fell to my parents, so the party was held at our house in Wauwatosa.<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Mreq3I7z5KI" width="420"></iframe></blockquote>Can you believe that one acceptable Christmas present in those days was a decorative ashtray? (Watch carefully and you'll see it.)<br /> <br /> Next, my family took to the road -- no doubt leaving the wrapping paper on the floor and half-empty highball glasses on the bar -- <a href="http://youtu.be/dBfJDC1vGBM">to visit with the Sincere family</a>. The first sequence is at my grandparents' home on North 49th Street, with most of my dad's brothers and sisters (especially those who were not yet married) finding their way there as well.<br /> <br /> The later sequence is at the home of my Uncle Bill and Aunt Lucy. Note the several pre-teen boys dressed in <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AIOLKK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002AIOLKK" target="_blank">tacky Batman costumes</a>. (Adam West would appreciate the gesture if not the execution.) Christmas Eve was about the only time that we kids were allowed to stay up well past midnight. My guess is that this footage was shot around 2:00 a.m., even as Santa Claus was gliding up above to deliver his presents to all the good girls and boys.<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/dBfJDC1vGBM" width="420"></iframe></blockquote>I'm sure if I uploaded just the 30 seconds or so of the Batman boys, that video would go viral.<br /> <br /> Finally, Christmas morning arrives and it is time to open up those presents left behind by St. Nick.<br /> <br /> The first 3'30" of this video takes place at the foot of the artificial Christmas tree at my own family's home on West Derby Avenue in Wauwatosa. The gifts that I open up, as toy poodle Tabitha bounds through the discarded wrapping paper, include a toy called "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005Z5ZORO/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005Z5ZORO" target="_blank">Incredible Edibles</a>" and a "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004SGHPRI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B004SGHPRI" target="_blank">GI Joe</a> Official Space Capsule," commemorating NASA's Gemini program. I also received a bowling ball (it weighed eight pounds, one pound for each year of my age, and did not yet have finger holes drilled into it).<br /> <br /> Later, we traveled to <a href="http://youtu.be/5MjpjNEOlWU">the home of my grandparents</a>, Chester and Josephine Michalak, on Spring Drive in Brookfield. Santa left behind a big haul for me and my cousins, Julie and Sheri (my sister, Cathy, and their sister, Jennifer, had not yet been born; our other cousins, Jason and Chris, were more than a decade in the future). Apparently I really liked that tacky <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B002AIOLKK/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B002AIOLKK" target="_blank">Batman costume</a>, since I wore it Christmas morning.<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5MjpjNEOlWU" width="420"></iframe></blockquote>Whether this was a history lesson or simply an exercise in nostalgia, I don't know.<br /> <br /> In any case, I wish you a Merry Christmas (<i>1967!</i>) and a Happy New Year!<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=2879&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-4975449075856626221?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/tN5Br8S9zes" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/christmas-in-milwaukee-1967.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-51230902061676401452011-12-20T16:20:00.023-05:002011-12-20T16:20:00.630-05:002011-12-20T16:20:00.630-05:00Much of my effort in on-line reporting during 2011 has been devoted to regular contributions of articles to <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Examiner.com</a> as the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner</a>.<br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?lt1=_blank&amp;bc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;fc1=000000&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;t=ricksincerene-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=as4&amp;m=amazon&amp;f=ifr&amp;ref=ss_til&amp;asins=B00441GYZ6" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Last week, I decided to investigate the top ten most popular stories of 2011, based upon the preferences of the readers of the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner</a>, using statistics made available through Google Analytics.&nbsp; No real patterns emerged.&nbsp; Several of the favorites were about Virginia politics, others were interviews with national celebrities; the number one story was about a movie.&nbsp; All of them were published during the calendar year 2011 and none were carryovers from 2010.<br /> <br /> Surprisingly, two articles that used "porn" in the headline did not break the top ten:&nbsp; "<a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/library-of-congress-collects-pornographic-films-and-violent-video-games">Library of Congress collects pornographic films, violent video games</a>" (published November 4) and "<a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/porn-king-larry-flynt-defends-free-speech-charlottesville">Porn king Larry Flynt defends free speech in Charlottesville</a>" (published November 6).<br /> <br /> Apparently adult content no longer has the cachet on the Internet that it once had. Not so long ago, using words like "porn," "erotica," "panties," or "scrotum" would be a surefire path to search engine optimization (SEO). Paraphrasing a Supreme Court decision and replacing "penumbra" with "aureola" was pure traffic-enhancing gold. But, it seems, no more.<br /> <br /> For reasons of space, I ended up publishing three "Year in Review" articles on Examiner.com, dividing the top ten into groups of <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-i-1">three</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-ii">four</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-iii">and three</a>.<br /> <br /> What follows is just the list of the ten most popular Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner articles of 2011. To see the annotations, please visit the original year in review pieces published on <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-i-1">December 16</a>, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-ii">December 17</a>, and <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-libertarian-examiner-year-review-part-iii">December 18</a>.<br /> <br /> <blockquote>#10 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/neh-chairman-jim-leach-talks-about-civility-charlottesville">NEH chairman Jim Leach talks about ‘civility’ in Charlottesville</a><br /> [Published March 17, 2011]<br /> <br /> #9 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/disappointment-as-va-house-subcommittee-votes-to-keep-pot-possession-a-crime">Disappointment as Va. House subcommittee votes to keep pot possession a crime</a><br /> [Published January 17, 2011]<br /> <br /> #8 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/va-gov-bob-mcdonnell-says-gop-stands-for-equal-opportunity-for-all">Va. Gov. Bob McDonnell says GOP stands for ‘equal opportunity for all’</a><br /> [Published October 26, 2011]<br /> <br /> #7 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/libertarian-writers-welch-and-gillespie-unveil-the-declaration-of-independents">Libertarian writers Welch and Gillespie unveil the ‘Declaration of Independents’</a><br /> [Published July 19, 2011]<br /> <br /> #6 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/virginia-s-tax-free-holiday-far-more-complicated-than-necessary">Virginia’s school supplies ‘tax-free holiday’ more complicated than necessary</a><br /> [Published August 4, 2011]<br /> <br /> #5 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/attorneys-ted-olson-david-boies-discuss-proposition-8-and-gay-marriage-at-cato">Attorneys Ted Olson, David Boies discuss Proposition 8 and gay marriage at Cato</a><br /> [Published May 18, 2011]<br /> <br /> #4 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-write-ins-reveal-voters-allegiance-impishness">Charlottesville write-ins reveal voters’ allegiance, impishness</a><br /> [Published November 9, 2011]<br /> <br /> #3 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/libertarian-reactions-to-the-killing-of-osama-bin-laden-by-u-s-forces">Libertarian reactions to the killing of Osama bin Laden by U.S. forces</a><br /> [Published May 2, 2011]<br /> <br /> #2 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/gary-johnson-wins-rlc-straw-poll-places-third-cpac-poll">Gary Johnson wins RLC straw poll, places third in CPAC poll</a><br /> [Published February 13, 2011]<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005N4DP1E/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005N4DP1E" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=B005N4DP1E&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005N4DP1E" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /> Drum roll, please...<br /> <br /> #1 - <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/audience-reactions-to-atlas-shrugged-movie-mixed-box-office-returns-respectable">'Atlas Shrugged' movie: Audience reactions mixed, box office returns respectable</a><br /> [Published April 17, 2011]<br /> <br /> </blockquote>Next year will bring new topics, new stories, new personalities and -- eventually -- a new year in review article.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/csbox.cfm?syndview=6&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-5123090206167640145?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/TBmMmqy4Ij4" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/top-ten-charlottesville-libertarian.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-32320052692405160292011-12-19T23:15:00.001-05:002011-12-20T03:21:54.327-05:002011-12-20T03:21:54.327-05:00Over on the most-neglected of my three blogs, <a href="http://where-are-the-copy-editors.blogspot.com/">Where Are the Copy Editors?</a>, I have only created one post during the entire calendar year of 2011.&nbsp; Yet it's proven to be unusually popular, with dozens of hits within a couple of hours of publication.<br /> <br /> Headlined "<a href="http://where-are-the-copy-editors.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-far-best-typo-of-2011.html">By Far the Best Typo of 2011</a>," it points the reader to a howler of a typographical error in a new book by Craig Shirley called <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595554572/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1595554572">December 1941: 31 Days That Changed America and Saved the World</a></i>. (Suffice it to say that the book is rife with errors of all sorts. In the chapter I read last night, Shirley used the word "causality" when he meant "casualty." Every page has some kind of mistake like that, and each one could have easily been caught by an editor in the manuscript stage. Such things should never even make it to galley proofs.)<br /> <br /> In any case, this very funny typo -- you have to <a href="http://where-are-the-copy-editors.blogspot.com/2011/12/by-far-best-typo-of-2011.html" target="_blank">read the original post</a> to get the full impact -- has, relatively speaking, gone viral.&nbsp; ("Relatively" meaning nowhere near as popular as the Lindsay Lohan <i>Playboy</i> photos.)<br /> <br /> I Tweeted a link to the post that was reTweeted by the popular Wisconsin Twitter personality, <a href="http://www.misspronouncer.com/">MissPronouncer</a>.<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center">By Far the Best Typo of 2011:<a href="http://t.co/oygqpt9W" title="http://bit.ly/saOY4T">bit.ly/saOY4T</a><br /> — Rick_Sincere (@Rick_Sincere) <a data-datetime="2011-12-18T03:30:54+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere/status/148243817361973248">December 18, 2011</a></blockquote><script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"> </script><br /> Then it got picked up elsewhere on Twitter and repackaged with a clever pun:<br /> <blockquote class="twitter-tweet tw-align-center">The caret and the shtick: Why everybody needs an edictor <a href="http://t.co/7vKsKCQJ" title="http://bit.ly/vMmBtq">bit.ly/vMmBtq</a><br /> — Jon Belmont (@jbelmont) <a data-datetime="2011-12-18T04:17:00+00:00" href="https://twitter.com/jbelmont/status/148255417091371009">December 18, 2011</a></blockquote><script charset="utf-8" src="//platform.twitter.com/widgets.js"> </script><br /> I'm not sure whether the retweet by @MissPronouncer or the new Tweet by @jbelmont was the driver for it, but the thing is, for a blog that had an average of zero views over the past four weeks, to get 75 or 100 hits within a few hours is, as I say, "viral," in a humble and relative sense.&nbsp; It's also great fun.<br /> <br /> I have not yet finished reading <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1595554572/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=1595554572">December 1941</a></i> but I do wish that I had started with a blue pencil on page one, just to keep track of all the bad editing of an otherwise entertaining and educational book.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14123&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-3232005269240516029?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/4IDIIoXbhlw" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/little-typo-that-could.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-10199037455583936782011-12-19T19:22:00.000-05:002011-12-19T19:22:30.952-05:002011-12-19T19:22:30.952-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ow2_ZCfxW8/Tu_QcKSUURI/AAAAAAAACsI/wSC4PwgiS4Y/s1600/Obama-TR-Dec17-2011.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/--ow2_ZCfxW8/Tu_QcKSUURI/AAAAAAAACsI/wSC4PwgiS4Y/s200/Obama-TR-Dec17-2011.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Over the weekend, the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> published an opinion piece I wrote with the headline, "<a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/oped/2011/dec/17/tdopin02-sincere-why-does-obama-channel-racist-tr-ar-1550106/">Why does Obama channel racist TR?</a>"&nbsp; It ran in six columns across the top of the Op/Ed page on Saturday, accompanied by a photo of Teddy Roosevelt.<br /> <br /> In the article, I take note of President Barack Obama's recent speech in Osawatomie, Kansas, a small town that had been the location of an earlier speech (in 1910) by former President Theodore Roosevelt, in which he introduced the phrase "a square deal" as the theme of his upcoming campaign to regain the presidency.<br /> <br /> Roosevelt split the Republican party in 1912, forming the Bull Moose party as a vehicle for his planned return to office, while the GOP nominated the incumbent, Roosevelt's hand-picked successor, William Howard Taft.&nbsp; The divide between factions of the Republican party led to the election of Woodrow Wilson.<br /> <br /> The key paragraph in my <i>Times-Dispatch</i> piece was this:<br /> <blockquote>The sad fact is, Theodore Roosevelt was an unabashed racist who celebrated genocide. He was a Nobel Peace Prize winner who glorified war and facilitated the Japanese conquest of Korea. He was a eugenicist who thought only fit people (as he, or the government, defined them) should be able to reproduce.</blockquote>My point in bringing this up was that it is strange that the country's first African-American president would want to wear the mantle of a man who, according to most accounts (and his own words), held non-white races and non-Anglo-Saxon ethnic groups in contempt.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807118087/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0807118087" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=0807118087&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0807118087" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /> For my article, I drew on the works of scholars like Thomas J. Dyer, author of <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0807118087/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0807118087">Theodore Roosevelt and the Idea of Race</a></i>. (The fact that a book with a title like that exists should be an indication of Roosevelt's problematic views.) Another historian I cited was Nancy Carnevale, who cited Roosevelt's disdainful views of immigrants from southern Europe in her book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0252034031/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=0252034031">A New Language, A New World: Italian Immigrants in the United States, 1890-1945</a></i>.<br /> <br /> Even the Miller Center at the University of Virginia <a href="http://millercenter.org/president/roosevelt/essays/biography/4">noted that Roosevelt</a><br /> <blockquote>did little to preserve black suffrage in the South as those states increasingly disenfranchised blacks. He believed that African Americans as a race were inferior to whites</blockquote>I also quoted directly from Roosevelt's <a href="http://www.dnalc.org/view/11219-T-Roosevelt-letter-to-C-Davenport-about-degenerates-reproducing-.html">own writings</a>.<br /> <br /> Although I have written articles for the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> in the past (for instance, "<a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/commentary/2011/aug/07/tdcomm03-third-party-resurgence-seems-unlikely-ar-1221184/">Third Party Resurgence Seems Unlikely</a>," published on August 7, and "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/07/fourth-of-july-tribute-to-calvin.html">America Could Use a Good Dose of Calvin Coolidge</a>," published on July 4, 2010), none has received the kind of reaction that this one has. <br /> <br /> There were <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/oped/2011/dec/17/tdopin02-sincere-why-does-obama-channel-racist-tr-ar-1550106/#fbcomments">comments left on the <i>Times-Dispatch</i> web site</a> (and propagated through Facebook) and I also received several emails, some critical, some congratulatory, in reply to my piece.<br /> <br /> What follows are replies to most of the comments I received, either directly or through the RTD web site.&nbsp; If you haven't read the <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/oped/2011/dec/17/tdopin02-sincere-why-does-obama-channel-racist-tr-ar-1550106/">original article</a> yet, it may be helpful to do so before tackling the responses. <br /> <br /> One of the emails and one of the commenters took me to task for misrepresenting how Texas came to be part of the United States.<br /> <br /> The email correspondent wrote:<br /> <blockquote>Not to make a big issue, but Texas was not 'annexed' by the USA. Texas was an independent nation in 1936 and joined the Union later.</blockquote>Similarly, a published comment stated:<br /> <blockquote>Texas was a republic, a separate country, from 1836 to 1845. The United States annexed Texas in 1845. Do your homework!</blockquote>I did, of course, do my homework before mentioning "the annexation of Texas and other territories formerly belonging to Mexico" in my article.<br /> <br /> In fact, the United States annexed Texas in 1845. The governing law passed by the U.S. Congress to join Texas to the United States, passed March 1, 1845, was entitled "<a href="https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/march1845.html">Joint Resolution for Annexing Texas to the United States</a>." The controlling legislation from the Republic of Texas, passed in convention on July 4, 1845, was called the "<a href="https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/ref/abouttx/annexation/4july1845.html">Ordinance of Annexation</a>." (The texts of both those laws can be found on the web site of the <a href="https://www.tsl.state.tx.us/">Texas State Library and Archives Commission</a>.)<br /> <br /> Another email came from a self-described "retired history teacher."&nbsp; Given the lapses in grammar, spelling, and punctuation in the message, I print the text in full (first paragraph omitted here but shown later in this post):<br /> <blockquote>Obama our nation's first Black president is trying to say that Teddy Roosevelt was a Republican, who was " progressive" and willing to move forward instead of being like the Republicans today who only move backward or not move at all. It is not about race? Its about vision of the future.<br /> <br /> Teddy Roosevelt preached against greed of big business and worked hard to break up monopolies.<br /> <br /> No where in your article do you mention that. If Obama understands that, why can't you? <br /> <br /> In order for him to be re-elected our country will have to get over the race issue. Too much anti-Obama is about race. For this southern white male, and retired history teacher who supports Obama and will vote for his again no matter who the Republican is. If you think about it, it may be that your article; why would this Republican newspaper use it? To tell everyone not to forget that Obama is Black. You did it for them. Thanks alot.</blockquote>Other writers (e.g., <a href="http://www.thefreemanonline.org/featured/theodore-roosevelt-big-government-man/">Jim Powell</a> and <a href="http://washingtonexaminer.com/opinion/columnists/2011/12/obamas-tr-imitation-falls-flat/1997581">Gene Healy</a>) have addressed Roosevelt's domestic policies with regard to business and economics; that wasn't the point of my article, and that's why I did not "mention that."&nbsp; I chose to write about a different topic.<br /> <br /> What I find most odd about this emailer's complaint, however, is that he seems to imply that my article decrying racism had a hidden racist message. If so, he finds more irony in what I wrote than what I found in Barack Obama's wish to emulate a racist politician.<br /> <br /> And, if there are Americans who are unaware that President Obama is African-American and need my reminder... well, those people shouldn't be voting in the first place. Ignorance has no place in the voting booth.<br /> <br /> Another email correspondent writes:<br /> <blockquote>This morning I read your piece on Teddy Roosevelt. It was an interesting read. Near the end you referenced two quotes from letters Roosevelt wrote, one to Charles Davenport and another to an unnamed recipient. It's my opinion that neither of these quotes supports your argument that Roosevelt was a racist as he not once makes mention of race as a factor in his breeding philosophy. You offer no additional support for how these quotes demonstrate TR's rascist views.</blockquote>To a certain extent, this point is valid. The quotations about Roosevelt as a eugenicist to not, in themselves, prove he was a racist. But what I was trying to do by citing them is to prove he was a eugenicist, and eugenics was largely (but not entirely) based upon racist beliefs. Prominent eugenicists like Margaret Sanger were not shy at all about expressing the racist (mostly anti-black) roots of their aims.<br /> <br /> In that regard, a third correspondent, unaware (I believe) of the others, wrote this:<br /> <blockquote>A year or so ago, I read the book "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005OL86II/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005OL86II">The Imperial Cruise</a>" by James Bradley, which detailed much of what Roosevelt believed and stood for, his speeches and his actions. He was truly a bully and his beliefs concerning Eugenics, interracial marriages and his encouragement to Japan to become the dominant force in the Pacific were horrifying. By the time I finished the book, I have been wondering how we could blast his face off Mt. Rushmore without damaging any of the remaining three.</blockquote>One of the commenters on the newspaper's web site seems not to have read the article I wrote because he assets:<br /> <blockquote>TR was no racist. In fact, his views on race unusually progressive just like his politics in general. He believed all people should be treaty like human beings. As for his war record, there was none. In fact, he won a Nobel Peace Prize. Your reading of American history is flawed and biased. He was a patriot.</blockquote>My high school debate coach taught that "he who asserts must prove." I provided evidence for my contentions, but the commenter does no more than gainsay my argument. <a href="http://youtu.be/kQFKtI6gn9Y">This is not argument at all, just contradiction</a>. The fact that I mention the dubious circumstances under which Roosevelt received the Nobel Peace Prize apparently slipped this commenter's grasp altogether.<br /> <br /> Other correspondents and commenters rationalize Roosevelt's racist attitudes by suggesting that he was a man of his time or that he was no different than other public figures before or since.<br /> <br /> Said one, in an email with the subject line "Your RTD Blog on TR" (has the line between blogging and newspaper opinion-writing become that porous?):<br /> <blockquote>All heroes have feet of clay………………… Grow up………………………. Martin Luther King was a huge racist and adulterer…………………. Why don’t you ponder that for a while.</blockquote>And another:<br /> <blockquote>The same column could be written about Abraham Lincoln by harping on his placing preservation of the Union above freeing the slaves.<br /> <br /> And the same has been said many times of Ronald Reagan, and that is far more relevant to today's political discourse.</blockquote>And this one, which arrived in my email box after I began composing this blog post:<br /> <blockquote>Mr Roosevelt was a product of his times; employing the teachings of evolution and carrying them out in his beliefs! Evolution teaches that life came from a simpler life form to a more larger and stronger life form. That only the strong survive and the weak fail to continue. Obama simply has no clue about the historical facts of the presidents he desires to emulate and should perform more research before he comapres himself to one of the characters of history.</blockquote>Finally, the "retired history teacher" cited above began his email to me with this:<br /> <blockquote>By our standards today every white male would have been racist in Rossevelt's time. By that same standard today every Black male would be racist towards whites.</blockquote>I actually reject that thought. While the turn of the 20th century was no picnic when it comes to race relations -- the reprehensible Virginia state constitution of 1902 is evidence of that -- there were, in fact, principled individuals who believed fully that "all men are created equal" and who worked hard to achieve racial harmony in the face of great odds.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J7K9CI/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005J7K9CI" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=B005J7K9CI&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B005J7K9CI" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" /><br /> This was the time, remember, when groups like the NAACP had their beginnings. It was also the time, to be sure, of D.W. Griffith's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B005J7K9CI/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B005J7K9CI">The Birth of a Nation</a></i>, which inspired a resurgence of the KKK in the North as well as the South, and the time during which Woodrow Wilson ordered the re-segregation of public facilities in Washington, D.C.<br /> <br /> Had it not been for those early pioneers in civic activism, law, and the humanities who fought against racism, jingoism, and eugenics, the accomplishments of the later "civil rights era" of the 1950s and '60s would have been that much harder to achieve. Were it true that "every white male" was racist toward blacks and "every Black male" was racist toward whites in 1900 and the years that followed, the civil rights movement could never have reached the launch stage.<br /> <br /> Progress requires a core group of people of good faith who are also kind, thoughtful, fair-minded, and intelligent.&nbsp; That people like Roosevelt and Wilson lacked those qualities is a good reason for us today to reassess their political legacies. <br /> <br /> I am looking forward to any letters to the editor that appear in the <i>Richmond Times-Dispatch</i> in reply to my article. Once they are published, I will post links as an update, below.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13706&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-1019903745558393678?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/TXaBenj3uX4" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com1http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/12/replying-to-critics-of-my-rtd-piece-on.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-14743847260629019562011-11-24T00:03:00.000-05:002011-11-24T00:03:15.814-05:002011-11-24T00:03:15.814-05:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4t4uAYcdlP8/Ts3LUZ2z3_I/AAAAAAAACrw/EIM5FeqQBqs/s1600/Smith_004-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-4t4uAYcdlP8/Ts3LUZ2z3_I/AAAAAAAACrw/EIM5FeqQBqs/s200/Smith_004-a.jpg" width="150" /></a></div>Every year about this time, a gently nagging but generally fleeting question crosses my mind.<br /> <br /> Why, I wonder, is Thanksgiving celebrated on a Thursday?<br /> <br /> The fact that Thanksgiving occurs every year on a Thursday seems so natural -- so divinely ordained -- that we take it for granted.&nbsp; Even when that question nags me, what I usually do is resolve to check it out on Wikipedia, and then never carry through on the resolution.&nbsp; (What?&nbsp; A Thanksgiving resolution?&nbsp; Seems like cognitive dissonance, especially if, like a typical New Year's resolution, it involves diet and exercise.)<br /> <br /> In any case, at long last my question was answered, in <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifestyle/style/giving-thanks--for-long-weekends/2011/11/21/gIQAm9rhmN_story.html">an article by Monica Hesse on the front page</a> of Wednesday's <i>Washington Post</i>, in which she discusses the origins and benefits of long holiday weekends.<br /> <br /> Looking at the history of Thanksgiving, Hesse reveals why it's always been on Thursday.&nbsp; Not pre-ordained, as one might expect, but rooted in the mundane:<br /> <blockquote>The first federally endorsed Thanksgiving holiday was the one proclaimed by George Washington in 1789. More than 70 years later, Abraham Lincoln issued his own proclamation. But between those events were decades of relentless lobbying and letter-writing campaigns by Sarah Josepha Hale, a New Hampshirite who made it her life’s mission to formalize the then-ad hoc holiday. (She also wrote “Mary Had a Little Lamb.”)<br /> <br /> In Hale’s mid-19th-century heyday, “the only American holidays were Independence Day and Washington’s birthday,” says Penny Colman, who wrote “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805082298/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0805082298">Thanksgiving: The True Story</a>.” “And those were both military holidays — full of bombs and explosions.” Hale wanted a holiday that would honor domestic tranquility and not, you know, blowing stuff up. Additionally, she wanted it on a Thursday.<br /> <br /> Partly, that was to honor George Washington, whose own proclamation had been Thursday-scheduled. The other part? To honor housewives. “Thursday is the most convenient day of the week for a domestic holiday,” Hale wrote in one of her dozens of Thanksgiving editorials. What with all of the washing on Mondays and ironing on Tuesdays, Thursdays seemed like the best opportunity for a homemaker to prepare a meal and still get to hang out with her visiting family.<br /> <br /> Hale’s letters are credited with ultimately bending Lincoln’s ear and prompting him to standardize the Thursday feast. Had she opted for Wednesday or Sunday, the country might not know the joys of awkwardly long family gatherings or waiting in line at 5 a.m. on <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/black-friday-approaches.html">Black Friday</a> for <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/08/that-sales-tax-holiday.html">Best Buy</a>’s deeply discounted television sets.</blockquote>My guess is that more complete information, both on the origins of Thanksgiving as an annual observation and specifically on how it came to be observed on a Thursday each November, can be found in the 2009 book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1584658010/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=1584658010">Thanksgiving: The Biography of an American Holiday</a></i> by James W. Baker, as well as in the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805082298/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0805082298">book by Penny Colman</a> mentioned in the <i>Post</i> article.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/csbox.cfm?syndview=6&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-1474384726062901956?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/e7IZosAqFWw" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/11/yes-but-why-thursday.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-74735234499093437012011-11-22T03:45:00.000-05:002011-11-22T03:45:13.117-05:002011-11-22T03:45:13.117-05:00It has been nearly 50 years since the assassination of John F. Kennedy in Dallas, yet that event always seems like a current topic of conversation.<br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ej7-p_XEgqQ/TstcDkCkVDI/AAAAAAAACro/bQiNEf8YLcs/s1600/Oliver-Stone-11-04-11.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="236" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ej7-p_XEgqQ/TstcDkCkVDI/AAAAAAAACro/bQiNEf8YLcs/s320/Oliver-Stone-11-04-11.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Oliver Stone</td></tr> </tbody></table>Indeed, it was precisely the topic of conversation earlier this month in Charlottesville, when film director and screenwriter <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B0002ZSKMS/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=B0002ZSKMS">Oliver Stone</a> appeared at the Virginia Film Festival following a 20th-anniversary screening of his 1991 movie, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001DJ7PNW/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=B001DJ7PNW">JFK</a></i>.<br /> <br /> That film explores many of the alternative theories of the Kennedy assassination through the real-life character of New Orleans district attorney <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0446362778/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0446362778">Jim Garrison</a> (played by Kevin Costner) and features some of the most offensively stereotypical portrayals of gay characters (played by, among others, Tommy Lee Jones, Joe Pesci, and Kevin Bacon) that one could expect from a self-described philosophically liberal film maker (see third video, below, and Stone's answer to my question about his personal political views).<br /> <br /> Stone was interviewed on the stage of the Culbreth Theatre by Larry Sabato of the University of Virginia's Center for Politics, which is engaged in its own project marking the fiftieth anniversaries of significant events of the 1960s.&nbsp; (The project <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/uva-center-for-politics-commemorates-1960-kennedy-nixon-debates">began last year with a forum</a> on the Kennedy-Nixon presidential debates.)<br /> <br /> I was at the Sabato-Stone colloquy on November 4 and recorded video of the entire event.&nbsp; Here it is, in two parts.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/CuCa9kopoVs">Part I</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CuCa9kopoVs" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/5Ib5M7MPs_c">Part II</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5Ib5M7MPs_c" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> Prior to joining Professor Sabato in the auditorium, Stone met with the Charlottesville news media in a rehearsal hall backstage. <a href="http://youtu.be/TlBFtflOF3o">Here's the video</a> of that exchange of questions and answers:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/TlBFtflOF3o" width="420"></iframe></blockquote>Considering that newly-published books about the Lincoln assassination (<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0805093079/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0805093079">such as one</a> by Fox News talk-show host Bill O'Reilly) are still selling briskly nearly 150 years after that event, we can expect to be airing, debunking, and re-airing Kennedy assassination conspiracy theories for many decades to come.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14365&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-7473523449909343701?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/bMFcPtHoqlE" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/11/who-killed-jfk-oliver-stone-has-some.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-13492528142844107902011-11-02T15:58:00.000-04:002011-11-02T15:58:12.130-04:002011-11-02T15:58:12.130-04:00I'm unfamiliar with the platform (<a href="http://yowie.com/">yowie.com</a>) but tonight at 8:00 p.m. (EDT) (or 5:00 p.m. Pacific time), Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson will be hosting a live internet townhall.&nbsp; He is inviting participation from people around the country.<br /> <br /> The graphic below should take you to the site.&nbsp; If not, check out <a href="http://www.yowie.com/videochat/58r">http://www.yowie.com/videochat/58r</a>. <br /> <br /> <br /> <script src="http://www.yowie.com/Embed/Lounge/58r?width=720" type="text/javascript"> </script><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-1349252814284410790?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/AlKRhkNkuWU" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/11/live-internet-townhall-tonight-with.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-83650892502371433602011-10-16T00:14:00.001-04:002011-10-16T00:16:48.334-04:002011-10-16T00:16:48.334-04:00Two years ago, <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/10/blog-action-day-2009.html">I participated in Blog Action Day</a> for the first time. That year, the topic was "climate change." This year the topic is the less specific "food." (I can imagine plenty of blog posts featuring favorite recipes or odes to chocolate.)<br /> <br /> This year <a href="http://blogactionday.org/">Blog Action Day</a> is scheduled to coincide with World Food Day, October 16. <a href="http://blogactionday.org/2011/10/16/its-here-today-is-blog-action-day/">According to its own blog</a>, 2,250 bloggers from 100 countries are participating in a global conversation about food.<br /> <br /> I thought I might just revisit some of my previous posts about food and beverages. (I missed last year's topic, "water," which is the most common and, arguably, the world's most important beverage.) It turned out there are not many of them, at least not many that have been tagged for easy reference. Still, a few jump out and, as you will see, certain shared themes emerge from them.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aikIWewUOUU/TppRdYoHHYI/AAAAAAAACrM/BXV2-oXwGBE/s1600/Blogactiondaybloggerbadge21.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-aikIWewUOUU/TppRdYoHHYI/AAAAAAAACrM/BXV2-oXwGBE/s1600/Blogactiondaybloggerbadge21.jpg" /></a></div>My latest food-related item was posted in July, <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/better-late-than-never-national-ice.html">marking National Ice Cream Month</a>. Previous to that (on April 7, 2010) was one that drew attention to a <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/04/old-nougat-cross.html">bizarre kind of Easter candy</a>, and the one before that was an odd report about some New Zealand scientists who advised people to <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/11/soylent-green-is-fido.html">eat their pets</a> as a way to save the environment. <br /> <br /> It seems that there's something about food in the news that brings out weirdness, since I also noted the existence of "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/and-its-tasty-too.html">cock soup</a>" on the shelves at Kroger back in June 2009, and in March of that year I wrote about the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/03/bet-you-cant-eat-just-one.html">Oakdale Testicle Festival</a>. Then in October of 2008, there was a report of a political candidate who was <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/10/i-am-not-vegetarian-says-candidate.html">denying his opponent's calumnious accusations</a> that he was a vegetarian.<br /> <br /> On a more serious note, in the wake of then-current reports of "tainted tomatoes" across the country, in June 2008, I republished an old article of mine about <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/tainted-tomatoes.html">the benefits of food irradiation</a>, a topic that could be revisited in light of the recent listeria-infected cantaloupes scare in the United States. A few days earlier, I looked at the food policy of the U.S. government in a post called "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/how-congress-makes-us-fat.html">How Congress Makes Us Fat</a>."<br /> <br /> Three days previous to that, I looked back at the 1996 Democratic National Convention and how the journalists there engaged in a literal "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/link-between-food-and-journalism.html">feeding frenzy</a>" each afternoon, when the DNC hosts laid out a big buffet catered by local Chicago restaurants.<br /> <br /> More sentimentally, on February 3, 2008, on what would have been my mother's 70th birthday, I <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/02/super-happy-birthday-bowl.html">recalled how she liked to entertain</a> with food, particularly on occasions like Super Bowl Sunday.<br /> <br /> The previous November, I discovered a favorite recipe of foot-tapping Senator Larry Craig, an odd concoction that involves pushing a hot dog through the center of a baked potato. (<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/11/cooking-with-larry-craig.html">I am not making this up</a>.)<br /> <br /> More nostalgia came up when I found an article in the <i>Marquette Tribune</i> about a durable Milwaukee tradition, the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/03/friday-night-fish-fry.html">Friday night fish fry</a>.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603427287/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=1603427287" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=1603427287&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1603427287&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />One of my favorite odd-food stories was the one about the clergyman who discovered that <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/12/but-im-carnivore.html">eating soy products</a> results in homosexuality. (Tofu does <i>what?</i>)<br /> <br /> In terms of beverages, my favorite post has to be the one I published on the 25th anniversary of the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/04/remembering-new-coke-25-years-later.html">introduction of New Coke</a>. You would have thought Netflix had learned from that episode before introducing Quikster.<br /> <br /> Speaking of anniversaries, it's hard to talk about beverages without talking about alcoholic ones -- so I celebrated the 75th anniversary of the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/12/celebrating-21st-amendment.html">repeal of the Prohibition amendment</a>, on December 5, 2008.<br /> <br /> That, of course, suggests cocktails, including <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/08/yiddish-cocktail.html">the recipe for Alter Kaker</a>, which linguist Michael Wex published as a "Yiddish mixed drink."<br /> <br /> In the end, however, realizing the sobriety (no pun intended) of the topic adopted by the people behind Blog Action Day, I decided to focus on the darker side of food -- that is, hunger.<br /> <br /> I found a book review I wrote while I was in graduate school about the Ethiopian famine of the 1980s. The Horn of Africa is currently experiencing a serious drought, which is hitting Somalia particularly hard. While parts of Ethiopia and Kenya have also been affected, drought there has not turned into widespread famine as it did in the 1980s because the governments there are now far more responsive to the needs and wants of their people. Ethiopia overthrew the Stalinist Mengistu regime in the early '90s, and Kenya has been having democratic elections since Daniel arap Moi was forced from power more than a decade ago. <br /> <br /> Both countries, while far from perfect, are far more open to free enterprise than they were in the 1970s and 1980s, and -- has history has shown -- while drought may occur in free-market economies, drought in such countries does not turn into famine. (Somalia is still a basket case, divided by clan rivalries and beset by terrorist groups with ties to al-Qaeda.)<br /> <br /> What follows is my review of <i>Breakfast in Hell</i>, by Myles Harris.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><b>RICHARD SINCERE </b><br /> <b>A Doctor’s Story Of Deliberate Famine And an African Hitler&nbsp;</b><br /> <br /> <b><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Hell-Myles-Harris/dp/0330297929?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Breakfast in Hell: A Doctor’s Experiences of the Ethiopian Famine</a></b><i>, by <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Tomorrow-Another-Country-Asylum-Policy/dp/190338625X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Myles Harris</a>, Picador, London, $4.85, 221 pp.&nbsp;</i><br /> <br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=0394406192&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>In the play <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Man-Mancha-Dale-Wasserman/dp/0394406192?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Man of La Mancha</a></i>, the poet <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Portable-Cervantes-Library/dp/0140150579?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Cervantes</a> explains what impelled a plain country squire toward becoming the knight <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Don-Quixote-Miguel-Cervantes/dp/0060934344?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Don Quixote</a>: “Being retired, he has much time for books. . . . All he reads oppresses him, fills him with indignation at man’s murderous ways toward man.” <br /> <br /> This is one of those books. <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Breakfast-Hell-Myles-Harris/dp/B002JLAES6?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Breakfast in Hell</a></i> came to my attention through an article by the author in <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Spectator/dp/B00006LDSV?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Spectator</a></i>, the British public affairs weekly. The title was “The Regime That Kills Ethiopians,” and that sums up the whole story. It would be extraordinarily difficult to come away from Myles Harris’s account of the state-imposed famine in Ethiopia without profound anger and indignation. <br /> <br /> Myles Harris is a medical doctor who has worked all over the world caring for the malnourished, ill-housed, poorly clothed and impoverished people who make up such a large number of us. Prior to his six months in Ethiopia with the Red Cross, he and his wife Janet had worked in undeveloped regions in Papua New Guinea, Australia and the Kalahari Desert. <br /> <br /> It is clear from the outset that Harris went to Ethiopia with few, if any, preconceptions of what he would encounter there. The Red Cross needed medical personnel to work in famine areas, and he responded to their call. He had no trouble adopting the apolitical life of a Red Cross delegate and wanted only to help suffering Ethiopians. <br /> <br /> He emerged from the country half a year later with bitter feelings toward the Mengistu regime, toward international aid agencies and toward petty Communist Party officials who blocked genuine humanitarian relief; he has fond and loving memories of his Ethiopian co-workers and the farmers, townspeople, young mothers and children he encountered in the feeding camps and medical stations. <br /> <br /> Harris writes vividly and pulls no punches. He compares the Emperor <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mengistu-Haile-Mariam-Scribners-Encyclopedia/dp/B001NJLZ3I?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Mengistu</a> (as he calls Ethiopia’s Marxist military dictator) to Hitler and Stalin; indeed, reading some of the descriptions of Mengistu’s atrocities makes one think Adolph and Joe were mere pranksters. <br /> <br /> For instance: The Soviets, as part of their aid to keep him on his throne, sent a unit of the East German Volkspolizei, “a secret police force with one of the finest pedigrees in suppression in the world. . . . At the time of the Ethiopian terror in 1977, some of the most senior Volkspolizei officers had once been serving members of the Gestapo. For, at the end of the Second World War, the capitulation of half the Third Reich to the Russians had meant little more for them than. . . swapping a swastika for a red star, before it was business as usual.” <br /> <br /> The business these ex-Gestapo henchmen taught Mengistu was the need for a memorable terror to bring all Ethiopians into his iron grip. “Mengistu searched his heart for the most terrible thing he could do to bring his people through fear to the truth of Marxism-Leninism, and he thought of burial. Ethiopians hold burial to be one of the most important rites of life. To die unburied, to be forgotten in death, is so awful that even today those who whisper to you their memories of the Terror can hardly bring themselves to speak of this part of it…. [Mengistu] ordered that the bodies of the slain should lie unburied, and that those who tried to take them for burial were themselves to be slaughtered. One morning, the people of Addis woke to streets filled with corpses and a sky dark with vultures.” Later, “the lampposts were strung with corpses, not of men, but of young school boys who had tried and failed to rescue their fathers’ and brothers’ bodies for burial. . . . When it was over, of the 5,000 students at the University of Addis Ababa, only 1,500 were still alive.” <br /> <br /> That excerpt exposes the minds of men who would, among other things, padlock food warehouses for days and weeks, refusing to give relief workers access to the tools of their trade; who would refuse hospital admission to obviously sick and dying children whose parents lacked the proper papers from the local farmers’ association, papers that took five days or longer to obtain; who would ship truckloads of grain from the famine-stricken north of the country to the healthier and more fertile south, where it was stored for unknown reasons -- perhaps for later shipment to the masters in Moscow. These are men who forbid the sale of yeast to Ethiopian citizens in order to secure a government monopoly on the baking and selling of bread. <br /> <br /> Harris spares nearly no one from his understated but strongly felt wrath. The Red Cross and other relief agencies get criticism for trying too hard to work with and please the government -- a government that wants to keep the Red Cross from doing its job. At one point, he tries to explain this to his superiors: <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0810849100/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=0810849100" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=0810849100&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=0810849100&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />“We had done exactly what we had been instructed to do by Geneva: emptied the camps of all except the very ill and returned the rest of the people to their villages. <br /> <br /> “But each success would have found little favor with the Ethiopians. Suddenly, they had been washed into the center of a disaster worse than the First World War. <br /> <br /> Confused and frightened, their only remedy -- huge feeding programs -- seemed the only rock to cling to. Then we came along and tried to close down their camps. Closing down their operation implied their failure, and, as in most aid programs, threatened bureaucratic livelihoods. Famine camps meant foreign aid, foreign aid meant jobs.”<br /> <br /> Hitler, Stalin and Mao share one positive characteristic — they are all dead. But Mengistu and the communists who rule Ethiopia with him are alive and dripping with the blood of their countrymen. Why, then, do Western governments, the United Nations and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Deep-Heart-Nowhere-Bob-Geldof/dp/B001DJ7QCC?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Bob Geldof</a>’s <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Do-They-Know-Its-Christmas/dp/B0006I0S6C?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Band-Aid</a> continue to send them money that perpetuates their tyranny? <br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Sowing-Seeds-Free-Enterprise-Politics/dp/0923128026?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Richard Sincere</a>, a Washington writer, is currently pursuing post-graduate studies in international relations at the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/LSE-History-Economics-Political-1895-1995/dp/0198202407?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">London School of Economics</a>.</blockquote>NOTE: This review originally appeared in the <i>Washington Times</i> on Monday, June 1, 1987, and in the <i>New York City Tribune</i> on Wednesday, June 3, 1987. It has been crossposted from <b><a href="http://www.rickreviewsbooks.com/">Book Reviews by Rick Sincere</a></b>, where it appeared on <a href="http://rickreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2010/01/breakfast-in-hell-doctors-experiences.html">January 9, 2010</a>.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14361&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=6" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: #f6f6f6; color: black; font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 13px; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"></span><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-8365089250237143360?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/ABOu4hM082o" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/10/blog-action-day-2011-blog-post-food.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-83718193512931817182011-10-15T19:49:00.000-04:002011-10-15T19:49:23.236-04:002011-10-15T19:49:23.236-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2P2XXcXN1ys/TpoURvYpcgI/AAAAAAAACrE/yqkJMcDhkYQ/s1600/DSCN1698.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-2P2XXcXN1ys/TpoURvYpcgI/AAAAAAAACrE/yqkJMcDhkYQ/s200/DSCN1698.JPG" width="150" /></a></div>Today my friend from Nelson County, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0071431934/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=0071431934">Doug Hornig</a>, and I spent about two hours on Charlottesville's downtown mall collecting petition signatures to put the name of former <a href="http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/">New Mexico Governor Gary E. Johnson</a> on the Republican presidential primary ballot in Virginia.&nbsp; The primary election is scheduled to take place on March 6, 2012.<br /> <br /> For a long time I have said that the hardest job in politics -- with the exception of asking people for money to finance an election campaign -- is collecting petition signatures.&nbsp; Over the past 20 years, I have probably gathered thousands of such signatures, both for candidates and for ballot measures.&nbsp; To do so requires an ability to deflect rejection with aplomb (or at least not take it too seriously).&nbsp; Most people are unfailingly polite, even if they refuse to sign, but even in the course of a few hours, one is likely to encounter a surly character who makes it clear that he holds you or your candidate or cause in disdain.&nbsp; It's best just to ignore such people and return to the task.&nbsp; <br /> <br /> Petitioning is not an appropriate time for campaigning or engaging people on the issues or the merits of your candidate. If people ask for information, give as much as necessary to help them decide whether to sign, but focus on the goal of gathering as many signatures as possible in the shortest period of time, because the actual campaign can proceed only if your candidate qualifies to be on the election ballot.<br /> <br /> On the flip side, however, comes the pleasure that circulating petitions in a place like downtown Charlottesville offers an opportunity to interact with friends and neighbors.&nbsp; It's practically inevitable that in Charlottesville, you run into people you know.&nbsp; Indeed, today, I chatted briefly with Oscar-winning filmmaker <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004NJC0PC/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=B004NJC0PC">Paul Wagner</a>; local activist (and actor -- check out <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1559363614/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=1559363614">Superior Donuts</a></i> at <a href="http://www.livearts.org/">Live Arts</a> beginning next week) Sean McCord; locavore, hunter, and author <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1603427287/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=1603427287">Jackson Landers</a>; and Jack Faw, <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/12/ron-paul-blimp-greets-2008-in.html">who brought the Ron Paul blimp</a> to the Charlottesville area during the 2008 presidential campaign. It was fun to see them all, perhaps mostly because it was so unexpected.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQx2A533NOg/TpoTtAX15EI/AAAAAAAACq0/d8pUKcjuKpg/s1600/Gary-Johnson-Poster-CPAC.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-sQx2A533NOg/TpoTtAX15EI/AAAAAAAACq0/d8pUKcjuKpg/s200/Gary-Johnson-Poster-CPAC.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Another unexpected thing was discovering that Charlottesville's downtown mall is not a gathering place for locals alone.&nbsp; I collected about 35 signatures but only a small fraction came from people who live in the city of Charlottesville or Albemarle County.<br /> <br /> It seems that on sunny autumn days, Charlottesville is a destination for people from all over Virginia.&nbsp; The signatures I gathered today came from residents of Loudoun, Greene, Augusta, Bedford, Chesterfield, Clarke, Greene, King William, Loudoun, Louisa, Rockingham, and Spotsylvania counties, as well as the cities of Richmond, Suffolk, and Virginia Beach.<br /> <br /> On the back of my clipboards, I have "Gary Johnson for President" in large block letters, two photos of Governor Johnson from his visit to Charlottesville, and his campaign web site address, <a href="http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/">www.GaryJohnson2012.com</a>.&nbsp; I don't have any literature to hand out but I did write the web site URL on both sides of the Free Speech Monument chalkboard near City Hall.<br /> <br /> My usual pitch is simply to ask, "Are you registered voters in Virginia?"&nbsp; If the answer is yes, I say, "We're collecting signatures to put Governor Gary Johnson on the ballot for the March presidential primary.&nbsp; This isn't an endorsement or a promise to vote for him, just saying you'd like to give him a chance to compete with the other candidates."<br /> <br /> At that point, some people say, "Sure, I'll sign."&nbsp; Others ask, "<a href="http://youtu.be/XmzKH3iivYU">Who is Gary Johnson?</a>" and that gives me an opportunity to explain that he served two terms as governor of New Mexico, he climbed Mount Everest, he's a successful entrepreneur.&nbsp; If necessary, I'll size up the voter and quickly decide whether to mention specific issues, such as Governor Johnson's success at shrinking the size of New Mexico's state government, his plan to allocate Medicaid and Medicare to the states in the form of block grants so they can be "laboratories of innovation" and "laboratories of best practices," and his opposition to the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1FBNCPuBEHg/TpoUB6U6rQI/AAAAAAAACq8/b5urCWUBJuY/s1600/DSCN1694.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-1FBNCPuBEHg/TpoUB6U6rQI/AAAAAAAACq8/b5urCWUBJuY/s200/DSCN1694.JPG" width="200" /></a></div>With others -- such as the couple selling tie-dyed t-shirts near the carousel -- I simply point out that Governor Johnson favors legalizing marijuana.&nbsp; (That line got me more than a few signatures today.)<br /> <br /> Grassroots supporters of Gary Johnson in Virginia will continue to collect ballot petition signatures until the turn-in deadline of December 22.&nbsp; A good many volunteers will be deployed at polling places on Election Day (Tuesday, November 8) all over the state.&nbsp; That day will be particularly fruitful because virtually every person you meet in those locations will be registered voters from a particular location, meaning that each signature is pre-qualified and categorized by city or county, which is required by State Board of Elections rules.<br /> <br /> Anyone who is interested in participating in the Gary Johnson presidential petition drive in Virginia can learn more about the process and express interest in volunteering at the "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/groups/Virginia4GaryJohnson/?ref=ts">Virginia Grassroots for Gary Johnson 2012</a>" or the "<a href="http://www.facebook.com/Virginia4GJ">Virginia for Gary Johnson</a>" Facebook groups.&nbsp; There is also a <a href="http://www.meetup.com/Virginia4GJ/">Virginia for Gary Johnson Meetup group</a>.&nbsp; (Meetup.com was instrumental in the early momentum of Howard Dean's campaign for the Democratic presidential nomination in 2004 and for Ron Paul's juggernaut in 2008.)<br /> <br /> Like those of all other statewide candidates, Gary Johnson's supporters have to collect 10,000 signatures, including 400 from each of Virginia's eleven congressional districts, by the December 22 deadline.<br /> <br /> Readers may also like:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/gary-johnsons-pursuit-of-scrappiness.html">Gary Johnson's Pursuit of Scrappiness</a><br /> <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/05/governor-gary-johnson-plays-not-my-job.html">Governor Gary Johnson Plays 'Not My Job' on NPR</a><br /> <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/05/gary-johnson-on-winas-schilling-show.html">Gary Johnson on WINA's 'The Schilling Show'</a><br /> <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/02/gary-johnson-speaks-at-cpac-2010.html">Gary Johnson Speaks at CPAC 2010</a><br /> <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/04/former-nm-governor-gary-johnson-to.html">Former NM Governor Gary Johnson to Speak in Charlottesville</a><br /> <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/02/rlc-videos-peter-schiff-and-gary.html">RLC Videos: Peter Schiff and Gary Johnson</a><br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/gary-johnson-wins-rlc-straw-poll-places-third-cpac-poll">Gary Johnson wins RLC straw poll, places third in CPAC poll</a><br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/examiner-com-exclusive-gary-johnson-reflects-on-his-first-visit-to-jefferson-s-monticello">Examiner.com exclusive: Gary Johnson reflects on his first visit to Jefferson's Monticello</a><br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/cpac-bars-goproud-presidential-candidate-gary-johnson-presciently-weighs-in">CPAC bars GOProud; presidential candidate Gary Johnson presciently weighs in</a><br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/at-the-9-12-march-on-washington-former-nm-gov-gary-johnson-aims-to-put-a-voice-to-the-outrage">At the 9/12 March on Washington: Former NM Gov. Gary Johnson aims 'to put a voice to the outrage'</a></blockquote>If you like this article, be sure to share it with your friends on Twitter and Facebook.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14148&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-8371819351293181718?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/I0rPkepRJCw" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/10/ballot-petitioning-for-gop-presidential.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-80403947938492829332011-10-12T22:33:00.000-04:002011-10-12T22:33:36.747-04:002011-10-12T22:33:36.747-04:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eREU8c_IX8E/TpZHX-FDKFI/AAAAAAAACqk/yGVMKPi5UpE/s1600/Kameny_May05-2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="188" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-eREU8c_IX8E/TpZHX-FDKFI/AAAAAAAACqk/yGVMKPi5UpE/s200/Kameny_May05-2010.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dr. Franklin Kameny</td></tr> </tbody></table>Most people live their lives while history happens around them. A few people live their lives to make history happen.<br /> <br /> Frank Kameny was one of those amazing few who make history happen.<br /> <br /> Kameny died yesterday at age 86. He was a pioneering advocate and activist for equal rights for gay citizens and he passed away -- ironically or poetically -- on <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/10/come-out-come-out-wherever-you-are.html">National Coming Out Day</a>, observed each year on October 11.<br /> <br /> I first met Frank Kameny about 20 years ago, when he was one of the speakers on a large panel assembled by <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/01/dissenting-view-on-gaylesbian.html">Gays and Lesbians for Individual Liberty</a> in the District of Columbia city council chambers to discuss the platform of the upcoming national march for gay and lesbian rights, which eventually was held in <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/March_on_Washington_for_Lesbian,_Gay_and_Bi_Equal_Rights_and_Liberation">April 1993</a>. Kameny, though a diehard liberal whose views were forged in the fires of the New Deal and World War II, railed against the proposed platform's venturing into issues barely peripheral to the core questions of gay equality - things like "universal health care" and "sexism in medical research," as well as a laundry list of New Left demands that were, in large part, eventually discarded from the final platform statement.&nbsp; Some of the people at that meeting rolled their eyes and openly wondered why this crotchety old man (he was just 66 years old at the time) was bothering them with his retrograde actions.&nbsp; Someone actually asked me why he had been invited.&nbsp; I said he was invited because, were it not for him, the rest of us would not be here.<br /> <br /> Later in the 1990s, Frank and I ended up on the same email discussion list. He weighed in on the issues of the past fifteen years in the same way he had lived his life: with ferocity and passion and a refusal to accept any situation simply because "that's the way it's always been done." He scoffed at "tradition" as a reason for anything, pointing out that if we had continued to maintain the traditions of our ancient ancestors, we'd be living in caves and roasting our enemies over firepits.<br /> <br /> It was his fundamental perseverance that brought him -- and all gay and lesbian people in his wake -- to the point we are today.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S7FUM4/ref=as_li_ss_il?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=B004S7FUM4" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ws.assoc-amazon.com/widgets/q?_encoding=UTF8&amp;Format=_SL110_&amp;ASIN=B004S7FUM4&amp;MarketPlace=US&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822" width="132" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=B004S7FUM4&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />Imagine this: When Frank Kameny was fired from his job as a government astronomer simply because he was gay, he was the first person to have the audacity to stand up and demand to get his job back, suing the government and writing his own brief requesting certiorare from the U.S. Supreme Court. (That <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B004S7FUM4/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=B004S7FUM4">petition is available</a> on Amazon.com in a Kindle edition.)<br /> <br /> He and colleagues organized the Mattachine Society in Washington a few years after that group first emerged in Los Angeles. Because meetings of homosexuals were illegal in those days, he personally (and audaciously) invited the local police and FBI to attend.<br /> <br /> He and friends were the first to march in front of the White House to demand equal rights for gay Americans.&nbsp; They also took their placards to march in front of Independence Hall in Philadelphia during tourist season, a move steeped in symbolism.&nbsp; ("We hold these truths to be self-evident:&nbsp; that <i>all</i> men are created equal...") <br /> <br /> When sexual relations were still illegal between persons of the same gender -- that is, when sodomy laws were still on the books and the Supreme Court had not yet ruled, in <i>Lawrence v. Texas</i>, that they were unconstitutional -- Frank went on the radio and solicited everyone in the listening audience, including, he specified, any law enforcement officials, prosecutors, and elected officials, to engage with him in an act of sodomy of their choice. No one ever took him up on his invitation (at least not that he revealed), and he was never arrested for that brazen act of solicitation to commit a felony.<br /> <br /> In his lifetime, Frank Kameny moved from a world in which the government and all private employers could fire you for being gay; in which marriage of gay people was illegal everywhere; and where it was illegal for patriotic gay Americans to serve in the military.<br /> <br /> Half a century after he took up the cause, sodomy laws have been wiped off the books; six states and the District of Columbia, plus numerous foreign countries (including Spain, Portugal, and South Africa) allow gay people to marry; and the notorious <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/12/dadt-in-perspective-franklin-kameny.html">Don't Ask Don't Tell policy</a> that banned gay servicemembers has been repealed.&nbsp; Eventually, the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/06/opms-overdue-apology.html">government formally apologized</a> for treating him so cruelly.<br /> <br /> All this happened, in large part, because of Frank Kameny's dogged determination and insistence that "no" is not the right answer to demands for equality and freedom. He did not do it alone -- that credit belongs to hundreds and thousands of ordinary folks who themselves realized that "no" is unacceptable -- and he would have been the first to admit that his own efforts, by themselves, were insufficient.<br /> <br /> <div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XHCtAuHjwg0/TpZI4FCsEEI/AAAAAAAACqs/PlTtH_2J7Fo/s1600/FrankandFriends-05052010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-XHCtAuHjwg0/TpZI4FCsEEI/AAAAAAAACqs/PlTtH_2J7Fo/s200/FrankandFriends-05052010.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>But, boy, were they necessary.<br /> <br /> Last year I had dinner with Frank and some friends. While we were waiting to be seated, I pulled out my voice recorder and asked him a few questions about his life. That interview resulted in three articles <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">for Examiner.com</a>, one of which was cited this morning in the <a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/frank-kameny-dies-wasleading-gay-rights-leader/2011/10/11/gIQAIsUwdL_story.html"><i>Washington Post</i>'s obituary</a> of Frank. (In fact, I learned of his death last night shortly after 10:00 o'clock, when a <i>Post</i> reporter called me up to ask for my reaction to the news. That is not the gentlest way to find out a friend is dead.)<br /> <br /> One question I asked him was one that had troubled me for a long time. After he lost his job with the government and became a full-time activist, I wondered, how did he make a living? How did he earn enough to make ends meet? Here's his reply, from the raw transcript, most of which has not been previously published:<br /> <blockquote>That’s a good question.<br /> <br /> Incidentally, you know, a few months ago, last June, after mulling it over for 52 years, what was the Civil Service Commission, now the OPM [Office of Personnel Management], gave me a beautiful, full-page letter apologizing for their shameful (their word) act in firing me. I was tempted to ask, apropos of your question, for 52 years’ back pay.<br /> <br /> ... The firing occurred at the very end of ’57, maybe the very first months of ’58, and the next two years or so were very difficult. There was a period of eight months in ’59 when I was living on 20 cents of food a day, which even at ’59 prices was not much.<br /> <br /> I had a degree in physics, optics, my bachelor’s degree is in physics, my master’s and Ph.D., as you probably know is in astronomy. I got a series of jobs over the next decade, three or four of them, in that. However, because of the Eisenhower 1953 executive order 10450, which we finally persuaded Clinton to reverse – and that’s a whole [other] story – over the next 40 years, but because of that I was unable to get a security clearance, which meant that I had a number of edgy jobs, companies that went out from under me.<br /> <br /> Meanwhile, however, I began to get increasingly involved, starting in ’61, with the gay movement of the time, and got moving, and through most of the Sixties, it amounted [to] -- speaking figuratively -- I was a physicist from nine in the morning until five in the afternoon on weekdays, and I was a gay activist in the evenings and on weekends. But the activism gradually took over things.<br /> <br /> The Seventies were very, very difficult financially. At the very end – ’78, ’79, ’80 – my mother gave me some stocks and they gave me an income. I wasn’t rolling in wealth, but the Eighties and through the Nineties, I was comfortable.<br /> <br /> My mother died in ’97 and then left me some additional funds. But then I just -- I was going to invest those bonds or something, and I would have been very comfortable, again not rolling in wealth but OK. Just about that time ... what has been called the dot-com bubble burst and all at once in early 2000, I ended up with very little. Most of a million dollars just disappeared and the ten years since then -- it’s almost exactly ten years-- financially speaking, has been a nightmare.<br /> <br /> People have helped out. They’ve been generous. It’s very edgy. It’s been very, very, very difficult and awkward.<br /> <br /> A lot of money came in from getting my papers over to the Library of Congress. That brought in some other money, but still, I don’t sleep soundly at night.<br /> <br /> Obviously, as you know, I’m good at some things, but a financial wizard I’m not. I don’t know how it’s all going to work out. Hopefully, something will come along.</blockquote>Thus it is that Frank Kameny, once an outcast from polite society -- or so the government would have had you think -- had his home in Northwest Washington designated as a historical landmark; his papers have been enshrined in the Library of Congress; his gay-rights memorabilia are in the permanent collection of the Smithsonian Institution; and a street near Dupont Circle bears his name.<br /> <br /> I've noted elsewhere that, even on some issues of concern to gay people, Frank and I seldom saw eye-to-eye.&nbsp; He was, after all, a New Deal liberal and I'm a libertarian.&nbsp; But where we could agree was that all Americans deserve to be treated with equal dignity and respect regardless of their sexual orientation.&nbsp; Gay is good, Frank said, paralleling the 1960s slogan "Black is beautiful."<br /> <br /> Gay is good -- a fitting epitaph for a man who did what is right in spite of the odds, even at the cost of substantial personal sacrifice.&nbsp; He will be missed by those who knew him.&nbsp; Those who did not know him, but who benefited from his efforts, should wish they had.<br /> <br /> Here are the links to <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">my Examiner.com</a> interview with Frank Kameny:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/gay-rights-pioneer-franklin-kameny-remembers-his-civil-disobedience-part-i">Gay-rights pioneer Franklin Kameny remembers his civil disobedience – Part I</a><br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/gay-rights-pioneer-franklin-kameny-remembers-his-civil-disobedience-part-ii">Gay-rights pioneer Franklin Kameny remembers his civil disobedience – Part II</a><br /> <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/world-war-ii-veteran-franklin-kameny-remembers-his-experience-with-don-t-ask-don-t-tell">World War II veteran Franklin Kameny remembers his experience with 'don't ask, don't tell'</a></blockquote>Among the many tributes to Frank appearing in print and on line today, I noticed two reminiscences by our mutual friends, <a href="http://jonrowe.blogspot.com/2011/10/frank-kameny-rip-i-hope-he-is.html">Jon Rowe</a> and <a href="http://igfculturewatch.com/2011/10/12/remembering-frank-kameny/">John Corvino</a>. The Huffington Post <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-peron/frank-kameny_b_1006431.html">also has a piece</a> that intriguingly links Frank Kameny with the Talmud, written by James Peron, president of the Moorfield Storey Institute.<br /> <br /> Plans for a memorial service have not yet been released, but it has been suggested that the (non-religious -- Frank insisted) service coincide with the previously planned 50th anniversary party for the Mattachine Society of Washington on November 15.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=10975&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-8040394793849282933?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/Q9-YDNtNRBI" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/10/frank-kameny-life-of-consequence.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-38103795734464893502011-10-11T22:24:00.000-04:002011-10-11T22:24:33.829-04:002011-10-11T22:24:33.829-04:00<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6e3WqBFPJ8/TpT3gBS34BI/AAAAAAAACqc/Zl35lPAq3t4/s1600/McDonnell-JMU_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-_6e3WqBFPJ8/TpT3gBS34BI/AAAAAAAACqc/Zl35lPAq3t4/s200/McDonnell-JMU_002.jpg" width="153" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gov. Bob McDonnell (R-Va.)</td></tr> </tbody></table>President Barack Obama is making a campaign swing through Virginia next week, an acknowledgment that, although Virginia has only voted once for a Democratic presidential candidate since 1964, it has the potential to do so again in 2012.&nbsp; (In 1964, Virginia voted for Democrat Lyndon Johnson over Republican Barry Goldwater; in 2008, the Old Dominion chose Illinois Senator Barack Obama over Arizona Senator John McCain.&nbsp; GOP candidates won Virginia in all the intervening elections.)&nbsp; As the 2012 presidential campaign is well underway, even with the GOP nominee still unknown, the President's need to keep Virginia in his Electoral College "win" column is quite keen.<br /> <br /> The White House has not released precise details but it looks like the President will <a href="http://www.dailypress.com/news/politics/dp-nws-obama-visit-update-20111011,0,3393015.story">make at least four stops</a>, in Charlottesville, Danville, Fredericksburg, and Newport News.<br /> <br /> Virginia Governor Bob McDonnell has requested that Obama add a fifth stop to his tour of Virginia:&nbsp; earthquake-damaged Louisa County, where the town of Mineral was the epicenter of a 5.8 magnitude earthquake that was felt up and down the East Coast and as far west as Chicago and St. Louis on August 23.<br /> <br /> In a letter released by McDonnell's office, the Governor makes his case to the President, noting that the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) has denied his request for assistance to property owners to pay for damages to their homes and businesses:<br /> <blockquote>I am inviting you to join me in visiting Louisa County during your tour of the Commonwealth next week. This additional stop in your previously scheduled tour will provide you the opportunity to meet the citizens who were at the epicenter of this significant seismic event, and witness the impact of the earthquake and more than 40 aftershocks on the homes and businesses in this area. It would benefit your administration to understand the devastation brought on by this historic earthquake, and to sec how the community’s recovery will be hindered as a result of FEMA’s denial of important emergency relief funds.</blockquote>In his letter, at the top of page two, the Governor goes on to make a puzzling and unsubstantiated claim (italics added):<br /> <blockquote><i>Disaster relief and public safety are core functions of the federal government.</i> Volunteer groups are ill-equipped to repair earthquake damage. And, while state and local officials are doing everything they can, federal assistance is necessary in ensuring that affected Virginians are able to repair their homes to a safe condition and get back on their feet again.</blockquote>That italicized phrase also appeared in a news release from the Governor's office <a href="http://www.governor.virginia.gov/news/viewRelease.cfm?id=955">dated October 7</a>. It stuck in my craw a bit but I let it go as illustrative of the poetic license one associates with public relations efforts.<br /> <br /> Never having seen any part of the U.S. Constitution that addresses either "disaster relief" or "public safety," I sent a query to the Governor's press secretary, asking, "Can the Governor's office provide a citation of the section (or sections) of the U.S. Constitution in which either 'disaster relief' or 'public safety' are found?"<br /> <br /> As of 10:23 p.m., I have not received a reply.<br /> <br /> While waiting, I took another look <a href="http://www.fee.org/library/not-yours-to-give-2/">at the famous story</a> ("<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2005/05/ron-paul-last-of-goldwater-republicans.html">Not Yours to Give</a>") about Tennessee Congressman David Crockett, who told his colleagues once about his encounter with a constituent, Horatio Bunce, something of a backwoods sage.<br /> <br /> Bunce had objected to Crockett's vote to appropriate funds for the relief of victims of a fire in Georgetown, D.C., and said to the Congressman:<br /> <blockquote>The people have delegated to Congress, by the Constitution, the power to do certain things. To do these, it is authorized to collect and pay moneys, and for nothing else. Everything beyond this is usurpation, and a violation of the Constitution.</blockquote>Among those things not delegated to Congress is the authority to engage in charity using taxpayers' money, no matter how noble the cause. That authority is missing from Article I, Section 8, of the Constitution, which specifies the few and defined powers of the national legislature.<br /> <br /> "Disaster relief" is not among them, and "public safety" (aside from the raising of armies and navies to protect against foreign enemies) is reserved to the states under the Tenth Amendment.<br /> <br /> Certainly Governor McDonnell, as an educated man and a lawyer, knows this.<br /> <br /> By the way, country singer Alan Jackson is <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/2011/oct/11/tdmet01-post-earthquake-mineral-wins-big-with-free-ar-1373990/">giving a free concert</a> in Mineral to give a moral and material boost those directly harmed by the August earthquake.&nbsp; His efforts to help the town are, in fact, his to give.<br /> <br /> The question is, who would draw a bigger crowd in Louisa County:&nbsp; Barack Obama or Alan Jackson? <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14124&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-3810379573446489350?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/XYIQsPQjWHE" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/10/virginias-governor-and-constitutional.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-64756167170577144622011-09-18T03:30:00.000-04:002011-09-18T03:30:23.495-04:002011-09-18T03:30:23.495-04:00On September 10, Tim Hulsey and I saw two world-premiere musicals at Signature Theatre in Arlington. Here is my review.<br /> <b><br /> </b><br /> <div style="text-align: center;"><b>‘The Hollow’ Is Hollow; ‘The Boy Detective’ Not-Quite ‘Fails’</b></div><div style="text-align: center;">Rick Sincere</div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Metro Herald</i> Entertainment Editor</div><br /> Two world premiere musical plays at Arlington’s Signature Theatre are not only being presented in rotating repertory, they are virtually mirror images of each other in tone, theme, and interpretation of the material on which they are based.<br /> <br /> <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i>, based upon <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1933354100/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=1933354100">a novel of the same name</a>, takes dark themes – murder, suicide, mental illness – and presents them in cartoonish colors and bright lights at odds with the underlying source.<br /> <br /> <i>The Hollow</i>, a reimagining of Washington Irving’s comic short story, “<a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1453857567/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369&amp;creativeASIN=1453857567">The Legend of Sleepy Hollow</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=&amp;l=as2&amp;o=1&amp;a=1453857567&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399369" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important;" width="1" />,” takes a well-known gothic satire and nearly empties it of its comedic base, with a dark, brooding set to match its new dark, brooding mood.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ACiWPyv82BY/TnWPZCkd49I/AAAAAAAACqU/w7TPpxZCLDI/s1600/THEHOLLOW_035RESIZE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-ACiWPyv82BY/TnWPZCkd49I/AAAAAAAACqU/w7TPpxZCLDI/s320/THEHOLLOW_035RESIZE.jpg" width="213" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ichabod Crane (Sam Ludwig). Photo: Scott Suchman.</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"></td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">&nbsp; </td></tr> </tbody></table>It is a stretch to say that <i>The Hollow</i> is little more than a musical retelling of the familiar Irving story. While the program says the play is "based on” the familiar story, it is more accurate to say that it was suggested (loosely) by characters and situations created by Washington Irving, because the end result bears little resemblance to Irving’s telling of the tale. (Irving’s story, set in 1820s Hudson Valley, New York, has no book burnings, no mute preachers, no rapes, no distant abandoned spouses – all elements invented for this stage production.)<br /> <br /> <i>The Hollow</i> borrows a few familiar aspects of Irving’s original – a schoolteacher named Ichabod Crane, a mysterious “headless horseman,” and quirky Dutch-speaking villagers – but transforms them into a modern-day, period-costumed morality play about an American Taliban (or perhaps the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/va-attorney-general-ken-cuccinelli-reacts-to-high-court-s-westboro-ruling">Westboro Baptist Church</a>) of intolerant ignoramuses who reject any knowledge not derived directly from the Bible. This sets up a clash with cheerful outsider Crane (he’s from Boston by way of Connecticut) who, like Socrates before him, corrupts the minds of Sleepy Hollow’s youth with such radical books as <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1613820925/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=1613820925">Gulliver’s Travels</a></i>, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/145659527X/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=145659527X">Candide</a></i>, and Thomas Paine’s <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1551115840/ref=as_li_ss_tl?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=217145&amp;creative=399373&amp;creativeASIN=1551115840">The Rights of Man</a></i>. Needless to say, Irving wrote nothing like this.<br /> <br /> Despite the play’s fundamental flaws, there are solid performances by <b>Sam Ludwig</b> as Ichabod Crane, <b>Whitney Bashor</b> as his love interest, Katrina Van Tassel, <b>Harry Winter</b> as Katrina’s father, Baltus, and <b>Noah Chiet</b> as 10-year-old Pieter Claassen. The rest of the cast, unfortunately, plays into the overwrought script and offers little more than two-dimensional caricatures of religious zealots who would sooner burn down the village schoolhouse than allow their children to learn.<br /> <br /> Composer-lyricist <b>Matt Conner</b>’s score includes two excellent musical numbers: Katrina’s song of yearning about “Boston” and a trio called “Perhaps” for Ichabod, Katrina, and Pieter, in which they permit their imaginations to run wild. (Something, it seems, that is forbidden in Sleepy Hollow.) <br /> <br /> The agitprop tone of <b>Hunter Foster</b>’s deeply flawed book is matched by <b>Matthew Gardiner</b>’s direction while the sets by <b>Derek McLane</b> and costumes by <b>Kathleen Geldard</b> almost make this ill-begotten enterprise worth watching.<br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div><br /> <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i>, though still flawed, succeeds where <i>The Hollow</i> falls short. Even though the main character (Billy Argo, played by Signature regular <b>Stephen Gregory Smith</b>) suffers from OCD or ADHD or Asperger’s Syndrome – it’s never made clear what, exactly, is wrong with him – he comes across as a likable fellow whom the audience wants to cheer on.<br /> <br /> <table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V0ZHbZ59fK4/TnWQ4Jl4q2I/AAAAAAAACqY/Kxms1jXzs7E/s1600/BOYDETECTIVE_118RESIZE.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="213" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-V0ZHbZ59fK4/TnWQ4Jl4q2I/AAAAAAAACqY/Kxms1jXzs7E/s320/BOYDETECTIVE_118RESIZE.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Thomas Adrian Simpson &amp; Stephen Gregory Smith.&nbsp; Photo: Scott Suchman.</td></tr> </tbody></table>Not being familiar with the original source material, it seems that the opening numbers, “Prologue” and “Billy Argo, Boy Detective,” condense what must be about a third of the original novel into a 12-minute expository musical scene. While composer-lyricist <b>Adam Gwon</b> tries to follow the dictum of “show, don’t tell,” the scene has too much “show and tell” – where the Greek chorus describes what the principal characters are doing, as they do it.<br /> <br /> If anyone steals the show, it has to be <b>Thomas Adrian Simpson</b> as Professor Von Golum, Billy’s longtime adversary. Von Golum gets three novelty numbers that are quite the highlights of the show: “Old Friends” and “No Such Thing,” both duets with Billy, as well as “Evil,” a scenery-chewing delight he shares with the ensemble.<br /> <br /> Billy also gets two affectionate songs with his equally shy romantic partner, Penny Maple (<b>Anika Larsen</b>), “I Like (The Secret Song)” and “Little Mysteries.”<br /> <br /> The colorful physical environment created by scenic designer McLane, costume designer Geldard, and lighting designer <b>Chris Lee</b> helps to overcome any of the show’s minor shortcomings. They take full advantage of the expansive stage available to them.<br /> <br /> If <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i> has any fundamental flaw, it is that at the end of the show, there is no sense of resolution. The problem is, this is precisely what the librettist – <b>Joe Meno</b>, who also wrote the original novel – seems to intend. That the audience leaves the theatre feeling unsettled and alienated may provide some artistic satisfaction to the creators is really no consolation to the people who bought tickets expecting to see the various plot strands arrive at a logical terminus.<br /> <br /> That said, director <b>Joe Calarco</b>’s staging for <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i> – lightheartedly at odds with the central themes of the piece – works precisely because of the juxtaposition. Gardiner’s direction of <i>The Hollow</i>, in contrast, is too earnest by half. Their choices explain the general success of <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i> and the ultimate hollowness of <i>The Hollow</i>.<br /> <br /> With a few tweaks to the script (perhaps including some judicious cuts of about 20 minutes of its playing time), as well as a more definitive ending, <i>The Boy Detective Fails</i> might have a life beyond this debut production at Signature Theatre. To salvage <i>The Hollow</i>, however, will require a total overhaul. As currently conceived, the play has little worth saving.<br /> <br /> The Hollow <i>and</i> The Boy Detective Fails <i>were commissioned through Signature Theatre’s American Musical Voices Project (AMVP). Both shows continue in rotating repertory through October 16 in The MAX, Signature’s larger performance space, at 4200 Campbell Avenue (Shirlington Village) in Arlington, Virginia. For ticket information, visit the theatre’s web site at www.signature-theatre.org or call the box office at 703-820-9771.</i><br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=2881&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-6475616717057714462?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/icrrf7lVqSc" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/09/twin-review-hollow-and-boy-detective.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-62855388917395747412011-09-06T01:10:00.002-04:002011-09-06T02:21:53.977-04:002011-09-06T02:21:53.977-04:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7_b2RhalNyE/TmWomD3kPSI/AAAAAAAACqQ/GanxmbMQJAs/s1600/Radtke-Donner-a.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-7_b2RhalNyE/TmWomD3kPSI/AAAAAAAACqQ/GanxmbMQJAs/s1600/Radtke-Donner-a.jpg" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jamie Radtke and Tim Donner</td></tr> </tbody></table>Yesterday was <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Labor-Day-First-Step-Nonfiction/dp/0761350284?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Labor Day</a>, and that means the launch of the political season in Virginia at the annual Buena Vista LaborFest, which features an old-fashion community parade and stump speeches by political leaders and candidates.&nbsp; Like the Wakefield Shad Planking each spring, the Buena Vista event began as a Democrats-only political gathering but has become bipartisan (even multipartisan) in recent years.<br /> <br /> I captured most of the speeches on video (see below) but, first, to give you a flavor of the day, here are a couple of scenes from the parade as recorded by Steven Latimer.<br /> <br /> The first is the lead-off musical group, a pipe band from the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Virginia-Military-Institute-Campus-History/dp/0738586463?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Virginia Military Institute</a> (VMI) preceded by a Boy Scout honor guard bearing the colors and the second is the marching band from the local Buena Vista local secondary school, Parry McLuer High School.&nbsp; ("Parry McLuer" is also the namesake of the local middle school.&nbsp; Is that odd?)<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/NkaZGVO8r_0" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/grEcyBoZ1CQ" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=B004QTBQ2C&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>I actually missed the parade, even though I was there. Just before the parade began, I realized I had lost my cellphone. And I mean really lost it, not just misplaced it. One minute I had it -- I <a href="https://twitter.com/#%21/Rick_Sincere/status/110707358774206465">checked into Foursquare</a> upon arriving at Glen Maury Park -- and a few minutes later, it was gone. So if anyone in Buena Vista found a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Samsung-i9100-Unlocked-Smartphone-Touchscreen/dp/B004QTBQ2C?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Samsung Galaxy S</a> along the parade route on Monday, please send me an <a href="mailto://rickinchova@aol.com">email</a>. (I had the phone remotely disabled by Sprint and arranged for a replacement to be sent to me, but it looks like I'm stuck in the 1980s for the next couple of days.)<br /> <br /> After retracing my steps three or four times, I gave up and headed to the pavilion to interview some politicians and watch the speeches. Over the next couple of days, <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">look on Examiner.com</a> for my interviews with Congressman Bob Goodlatte, Delegate Ben Cline, U.S. Senate candidate Jamie Radtke, and Sixth District GOP congressional candidate <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ron-Paul-Ideas-Christopher-Horner/dp/097386494X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Karen Kwiatkowski</a>.<br /> <br /> I videotaped speeches by all those people plus U.S. Senate candidate Tim Donner, State Senator Creigh Deeds (D-SD25), and Deeds' challenger TJ Aldous.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/LHcIOEn8tNA">Bob Goodlatte</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/LHcIOEn8tNA" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/_hRoa98ICgY">Creigh Deeds</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/_hRoa98ICgY" width="420"></iframe></blockquote>(Shaun Kenney points out <a href="http://t.co/E2Iuw4Q">over at Bearing Drift</a> that at the one minute mark, Deeds implies that he may be thinking about running for governor again in 2013.)<br /> <br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/1XDpxXAQQB8">TJ Aldous</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/1XDpxXAQQB8" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/KgyIdoK5W1M">Ben Cline</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/KgyIdoK5W1M" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/Q24XJf52vmQ">Jamie Radtke</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Q24XJf52vmQ" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/3C8HStTyJtk">Tim Donner</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/3C8HStTyJtk" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> <a href="http://youtu.be/a1HllyV9vr8">Karen Kwiatkowski</a>:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="345" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/a1HllyV9vr8" width="420"></iframe></blockquote><br /> You can also see previous reports from Buena Vista's Labor Day festivities, from <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/09/buena-vista-social-club.html">2008</a> and <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/09/labor-day-in-buena-vista-2009.html">2009</a>.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13761&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-6285538891739574741?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/wwVdmvMjpVI" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/09/if-its-labor-day-it-must-be-buena-vista.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-41236671803922419782011-09-03T23:50:00.002-04:002011-09-04T00:00:36.915-04:002011-09-04T00:00:36.915-04:00My headline is a question for which I have no definitive answer.&nbsp; Perhaps readers may be able to contribute their own hypotheses.<br /> <br /> For those unfamiliar with the concept, a blog carnival is ... well, here is a definition from Dean Abbot, <a href="http://www.runjenrun.com/2006/05/21/desperately-seeking-mundanity/">as quoted by</a> the host of the <a href="http://www.runjenrun.com/2006/05/">Carnival of the Mundane</a> on May 21, 2006:<br /> <blockquote>A blog carnival is a post published by a single blogger (whoever is hosting that edition) and consists of a collection of links to other posts that have been emailed to the host. The host then tries to present the links to those posts in single post of his or her own with a little context, maybe even some clever commentary.</blockquote>There used to be a lot of very active blog carnivals but they seem to have disappeared by attrition.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Blogging-Dummies-Susannah-Gardner/dp/047056556X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Blogging For Dummies" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=047056556X&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=047056556X" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />In the past, I have hosted the <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/09/carnival-of-liberty-lxii.html">Carnival of Liberty</a> (now defunct) and twice, <a href="http://rickreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2010/10/book-review-blog-carnival-55-halloween.html">at my book</a> <a href="http://rickreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/04/book-review-blog-carnival-66-doris-day.html">review blog</a>, the Book Review Blog Carnival (still active). My posts have been featured on now-departed blog carnivals such as the <a href="http://belowthebeltway.com/2006/07/10/virginia-blog-carnival-july-10-2006-edition/">Virginia Blog Carnival</a>, the <a href="http://thebobofiles.com/?p=1567">BoBo Carnival of Politics</a>, the <a href="http://westanddivided.blogspot.com/2011/02/carnival-of-divided-government-sedecim.html">Carnival of Divided Government</a>, and quite a few others.<br /> <br /> What prompted my question was a visit to the <a href="http://blogcarnival.com/bc/">Blog Carnival Index</a>, which claims to have listed 14,354 individual blog carnivals. Yet, of these, only 156 are active in the sense that they have upcoming editions listed.&nbsp; That's barely one percent of the total number of blog carnivals that have been created.&nbsp; Even so, some of those "<a href="http://blogcarnival.com/bc/clist.php?id=0&amp;directory_id=0&amp;keyword=&amp;sort=4">next editions</a>" are as distant as 2017, 2018, and 2019. (The bulk of them, however -- about 125 or so -- say their next editions will be published within the next few months.)<br /> <br /> The loss of so many blog carnivals is unfortunate.&nbsp; They were major factors in the conversational nature of blogging, adding to the give-and-take and sense of community that I remember from my own early days of blogging.&nbsp; Blog carnivals offered bloggers an opportunity to discover like-minded writers and people with similar interests. <br /> <br /> I should confess that, earlier this year, I made a failed attempt at starting a blog carnival.&nbsp; After announcing the launch of the "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2010/12/announcing-carnival-of-live-theatre.html">Carnival of Live Theatre</a>" last December, with a debut date of January 2, I first postponed the first edition and then scuttled it completely after I received no submissions that met the guidelines I had posted on the Blog Carnival Index.&nbsp; (I did receive some spam submissions.)&nbsp; Rather than further postponements, I simply let the idea die.<br /> <br /> I'm glad the Book Review Blog Carnival -- <a href="http://manoflabook.com/wp/?p=2899">now in its 75th biweekly edition</a> -- is still vibrant.&nbsp; I'm sad so many of the others that I've participated in have gone moribund.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13404&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-4123667180392241978?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/zOhusX8XsY8" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com1http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/09/what-explains-decline-of-blog-carnival.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-9168952815955196502011-08-07T00:57:00.000-04:002011-08-07T00:57:57.941-04:002011-08-07T00:57:57.941-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7Uo7R2Y9K4/Tj4a2KT2UOI/AAAAAAAACqI/-WrCWgPjpNs/s1600/Radio_Sept12-2008-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-U7Uo7R2Y9K4/Tj4a2KT2UOI/AAAAAAAACqI/-WrCWgPjpNs/s200/Radio_Sept12-2008-b.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>A couple of weeks ago (July 26, to be precise), <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Corner-History-Student-University-Virginia/dp/157427113X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Coy Barefoot</a> invited me to be a guest on his WINA-AM radio program, "Charlottesville Right Now."&nbsp; The topic we agreed to discuss was the prospects for a <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Other-Candidates-Parties-Presidential-Elections/dp/0874512565?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">third-party presidential candidate</a> in 2012. (Podcast <a href="http://www.wina.com/play_window.php?audioType=Episode&amp;audioId=5398227">here</a>.)<br /> <br /> In preparing for the show, I realized that, despite the wishful thinking of pundits who -- as they have prior to so many elections in past years -- predict that a "third-party moment" is upon us, owing to the deep dissatisfaction of American voters with the two major parties, the Democrats and Republicans.<br /> <br /> What has sparked this latest round of prognostication was the "dysfunctionality" perceived in the long congressional debate about raising the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Hell-Going-Ceiling-ebook/dp/B005C7USQW?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">debt ceiling</a>, an issue that has largely gone unnoticed in the previous dozens of times it's come under legislative consideration.<br /> <br /> I realized that the pundits are going to be wrong once again when I examined the facts about Virginia's "off-year" elections in 2011.&nbsp; (We election officials cringe at the use of "off-year" to describe Virginia's elections, because every year is election year in the Old Dominion, and every election is equally important in the effects it has on the lives and governance of our citizens.)<br /> <br /> What I found out is that there are only about a dozen third-party and independent candidates for the 140 seats up for election in the General Assembly -- 100 in the House of Delegates and 40 in the Senate.&nbsp; I also discovered that the majority of those seats will be fully uncontested -- there is only one major party candidate in 62 of the House elections and in 15 of the Senate elections.<br /> <br /> If there were really a strong desire for third-party representation in government, we would see demand for third-party and independent candidates to emerge in this year's Virginia elections.&nbsp; But we don't see that.<br /> <br /> This is all a long way of getting around to pointing out that, once I got my thoughts in order, I put them on paper and submitted them as an op-ed to the <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Richmond-Times-Dispatch/dp/B001U3YRF0?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Richmond Times-Dispatch</a></i>, which published the piece in Sunday's commentary section under the headline, "<a href="http://bit.ly/ocLkom">Third-party resurgence seems unlikely</a>".<br /> <br /> The <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/news/commentary/2011/aug/07/tdcomm03-third-party-resurgence-seems-unlikely-ar-1221184/">article's central argument</a> is this:<br /> <blockquote>Because Virginia holds its state elections in odd-numbered years, out of sync with most of the rest of the states, it is widely seen as a bellwether of the country's political mood.<br /> <br /> In 2009, for instance, Republicans swept the top three statewide offices here, anticipating the landslide return in 2010 of a GOP majority to the U.S. House of Representatives.<br /> <br /> Four years earlier, Democrat Tim Kaine won the governor's mansion, followed in 2006 by the Democratic Party regaining control of both chambers of Congress.<br /> <br /> In 1993, Republican George Allen's come-from-behind victory in the governor's race portended the first GOP takeover of Congress in 40 years.<br /> <br /> If the electorate's mood really favors a third-party surge, we would be seeing it in Virginia. There would be a demand for third-party and independent candidates for the General Assembly, and candidates would rise to meet that demand.<br /> <br /> Yet according to records available through the Virginia Public Access Project (VPAP), there are only seven independent candidates seeking election to the 100-member House of Delegates this year. There are four independent candidates for the 40-member state Senate.</blockquote>Check out the <i>Times-Dispatch</i> today at your local newsstand or <a href="http://www2.timesdispatch.com/">look it up online</a>. Comments and questions are welcome, there or here.<br /> <br /> I just hope that nobody thinks the photo accompanying the article in the RTD is a picture of me. <br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=10706&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-916895281595519650?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/Gdt0I8rmDFI" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com1http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/08/todays-rtd-third-party-resurgence-seems.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-43530461802598839932011-08-05T23:02:00.000-04:002011-08-05T23:02:42.783-04:002011-08-05T23:02:42.783-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SZvSEMlmjJ4/TjysaKm2fiI/AAAAAAAACqE/KSXclZ8lRA8/s1600/TaxFree_003.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="http://1.bp.blogspot.com/-SZvSEMlmjJ4/TjysaKm2fiI/AAAAAAAACqE/KSXclZ8lRA8/s320/TaxFree_003.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>In <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/08/that-sales-tax-holiday.html">2006</a> and <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/07/another-sales-tax-holiday.html">2008</a>, I wrote blog posts about Virginia's tax-free holiday for back-to-school shoppers.&nbsp; The first such holiday was in August 2006, which means that this year's "celebration" is the sixth consecutive one.<br /> <br /> Last night, I <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/virginia-s-tax-free-holiday-far-more-complicated-than-necessary">published an article</a> about the tax-free holiday weekend on <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Examiner.com</a>, which made the argument that the lengthy list of tax-exempt and non-exempt items is inconsistent, confusing, and needlessly complicated.&nbsp; It would be better, I said, for the General Assembly to simplify the whole matter by declaring that all retail items priced at $100 or less should be tax-free during the tax-free holiday period.&nbsp; (Both the 72 hour window and the $100 limit are arbitrary.&nbsp; Each of those numbers could be bigger or smaller.)<br /> <br /> The article caught the attention of Jim Hanchett, news director at CBS19 TV in Charlottesville (part of the <a href="http://www.newsplex.com/">Charlottesville Newsplex</a>, which also includes the local Fox and ABC affiliates).&nbsp; He assigned reporter Frankie Jupiter to do a story on the topic, which included an interview with me conducted at the Ix Building studios of the Newsplex.<br /> <br /> <a href="http://ww2.newsplex.com/video/?autoStart=true&amp;topVideoCatNo=default&amp;clipId=6125510">Here's the video</a> from tonight's 5:00 o'clock newscast:<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://ww2.newsplex.com/global/video/videoplayer.js?rnd=744318;hostDomain=ww2.newsplex.com;playerWidth=400;playerHeight=375;isShowIcon=true;clipId=6125510;flvUri=;partnerclipid=;adTag=News;advertisingZone=;enableAds=true;landingPage=;islandingPageoverride=false;playerType=STANDARD_EMBEDDEDscript;controlsType=fixed" type="text/javascript"> </script></blockquote><br /> Jupiter also interviewed a local sporting-goods store owner, and he pointed out that <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Hugo-Boss-Octopus-Trunk-Medium/dp/B004RHB5I8?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">swimming trunks</a> are tax-exempt, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Speedo-Vanquisher-Swim-Goggle-Clear/dp/B00070QE12?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">swimming goggles</a> are not. (I had pointed out, in my article and the interview, that dancer's clothing, like <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Capezio-Girls-Sleeve-Leotard-4-6/dp/B000KIHOME?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">leotards</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Capezio-2-6x-Transition-Ballet-Size/dp/B000A2KJWM?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">tights</a>, is tax-exempt, but <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Class-B410-Split-Sole-Toddler/dp/B002OSWQ8K?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">ballet</a> and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Dance-Class-T100-Flexible-Toddler/dp/B002CH9B8Q?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">tap shoes</a> are not.) Jupiter said he found the list of exempt and non-exempt items from a link in my Examiner.com article and was amazed at the complexity and inconsistency.<br /> <br /> Some excerpts <a href="http://www.newsplex.com/news/headlines/Tax-Free_Back_to_School_Shopping_126869828.html">from the print version</a> of the interview:<br /> <blockquote>The first day of school is right around the corner, which means back to school shopping, and this weekend in Virginia you can do yours tax free.<br /> <br /> But Rick Sincere, a local blogger, says the rules on what is tax free and what isn't are way too complicated.<br /> <br /> "We have these weird combinations where an athletic supporter is tax exempted but athletic shoes with cleats are not."</blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><br /> </div><div style="text-align: center;">* * *</div><br /> <blockquote>"A lot of the things on the list that are tax exempt have no relation to school at all. Wedding dresses, now if you can find a wedding dress for less than $100 you deserve a lot of credit," said Sincere.<br /> <br /> And items such as printer paper, printer ink and zip drives are not tax exempt.<br /> <br /> "Simplify it, simplify it, simplify it."<br /> <br /> Sincere suggests tax breaks for anything $100 or less across the board, not just school.<br /> <br /> "Easy to understand, much easier for our retailers who have to program their computers."</blockquote><br /> My article <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">for Examiner.com</a> is headlined "<a href="http://exm.nr/rfC22W">Virginia’s school supplies ‘tax-free holiday’ more complicated than necessary</a>" and can also be found through Google News.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/csbox.cfm?syndview=6&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-4353046180259883993?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/Jtg8V-7fOZw" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/08/tax-free-shopping-revisited.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-26682863854782979752011-07-28T23:09:00.000-04:002011-07-28T23:09:54.908-04:002011-07-28T23:09:54.908-04:00<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ice-Cream-Month-Club-SHIPPING/dp/B000MJKYYQ?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Ice Cream of the Month Club - The Gift that Keeps on Giving! - FREE SHIPPING with every order" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=B000MJKYYQ&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0688161499" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B000MJKYYQ" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />While many of us are still in the midst of one of the most persistently hot months in living memory, it may be appropriate, before it gets too late, to remember that July is National Ice Cream Month.<br /> <br /> See?&nbsp; Just thinking about the cold creaminess sliding over your tongue and down your throat makes the heat seem less like Hades and more like heaven.<br /> <br /> The first National Ice Cream Month was declared by President Ronald Reagan, pursuant to a congressional resolution, in 1984.&nbsp; In <a href="http://www.idfa.org/files/Ice_cream_month_proclamation.pdf">a proclamation dated July 9, 1984</a>, Reagan said:<br /> <blockquote><i>Ice cream is a nutritious and wholesome food, enjoyed by over ninety percent of the people of the United States.&nbsp; It enjoys a reputation as the perfect dessert and snack food.&nbsp; Over eight hundred and eighty-seven million gallons of ice cream were consumed in the United States in 1983.</i><br /> <i> </i><br /> <i>The ice cream industry generates approximately $3.5 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of citizens.&nbsp; Indeed, nearly ten percent of all the milk produced by United States dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, thereby contributing substantially to the economic well-being of the Nation's dairy industry.</i></blockquote>Those numbers have changed somewhat in the ensuing quarter-century.&nbsp; <a href="http://www.idfa.org/news--views/media-kits/ice-cream/july-is-national-ice-cream-month/">According to the International Dairy Foods Association</a>,<br /> <blockquote>The U.S. ice cream industry generates more than $21 billion in annual sales and provides jobs for thousands of citizens. About 9% of all the milk produced by U.S. dairy farmers is used to produce ice cream, contributing significantly to the economic well-being of the nation's dairy industry.</blockquote>(Someone else will have to do the math for me to figure out whether the growth of the ice cream industry has kept pace with inflation, surpassed it, or underperformed.)<br /> <br /> Over the years, Members of Congress have paid tribute to ice cream, either during National Ice Cream Month itself or in the preceding month of June, which has been designated National Dairy Month since the 1930s (either 1937 or 1939, depending on the source).<br /> <br /> One of the best tributes came from then-Senator Alfonse D'Amato on June 17, 1993, found on page S7531 of the <i>Congressional Record</i> for that date (due to the eccentricities of the thomas.loc.gov database, <a href="http://thomas.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/C?r103:./temp/%7Er103t4DGVX">this link</a> may or may not work).&nbsp; D'Amato's remarks are worth reading in full:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Power-Pasta-Politics-According-Senator/dp/0786881828?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="Power, Pasta, and Politics: The World According to Senator Al D'Amato" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=0786881828&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0786881828" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />Mr. President, I rise today to extol the virtues of ice cream, scrumptious concoction which has found its way into the hearts of fans across the globe. From Jamaican rum raisin to Chinese green tea to Georgia peach; from Hawaiian coffee to New York super fudge chunk, there is an ice cream flavor to please every palate, tempt every taste bud, and sooth every stomach.<br /> <br /> To celebrate this unique eating experience, next month, July, is National Ice Cream Month, dedicate to American's love of ice cream. As an appropriate reflection of this national devotion, the United States leads the world in per capita production of ice cream and related products.<br /> <br /> In 1992, American workers produced a record 1.49 billion gallons of these frozen desserts, which comes out to over 23 quarts per person. Being an enthusiastic ice cream loving State, New York's contribution to this number was a whopping 65 million gallons.<br /> <br /> The enjoyment of ice cream spreads to all nations, ages, genders, and even crosses political party lines. As it has been said many times, to be happy, you must take the time out to enjoy the small things in life. This afternoon to celebrate the 11th annual Capitol Hill ice cream party, I would like to introduce a bipartisan personal stimulus package--eat more ice cream.</blockquote>While never rising to mark National Ice Cream Month itself, former Wisconsin Senator Russ Feingold at least twice gave nearly identical floor speeches commemorating National Dairy Month, in which he mentioned ice cream prominently.&nbsp; (A third Feinfold tribute, <a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-2004-06-24/pdf/CREC-2004-06-24-pt2-PgS7425-3.pdf#page=1">dated June 24, 2004</a>, is entirely different.)<br /> <br /> On June 4, 1998, Feingold said (<a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1998-06-04/pdf/CREC-1998-06-04-pt1-PgS5657-3.pdf#page=1">page S5657</a> of the <i>Congressional Record</i>) in part:<br /> <blockquote>Other Wisconsin dairy firsts include: the development of Colby cheese in 1874, the creation of brick cheese in 1875, the first dairy school in America- established in 1891 at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first statewide dairy show in the U.S. in 1928, and the creation of the world-record holding 40,060 pound, Grade-A Cheddar cheese in 1988. And Wisconsin also can claim one of the best-tasting inventions in the history of dairy industry: the creation of the first ice cream sundae in 1881.</blockquote>On June 9, 1999, Feingold also said (<a href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/CREC-1999-06-09/pdf/CREC-1999-06-09-pt1-PgS6811-3.pdf#page=1">page S6811</a> of the <i>Congressional Record</i>) in part:<br /> <blockquote>Other Wisconsin dairy firsts include: the development of Colby cheese in 1874, the creation of brick cheese in 1875, the first dairy school in America--established in 1891 at the University of Wisconsin at Madison, the first statewide dairy show in the U.S. in 1928, and the creation of the world-record holding 40,060 pound, Grade-A Cheddar cheese in 1988. And Wisconsin also can claim one of the best-tasting inventions in the history of dairy industry: the creation of the first ice cream sundae in 1881.</blockquote>As it happens, Hilde Lee, who writes about food history and traditions in a weekly column in the Charlottesville <i>Daily Progress</i>, told the story of the invention of the ice cream sundae in the Wisconsin chapter of her 1992 book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Taste-States-Food-History-America/dp/0943231566?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Taste of the States: A Food History of America</a></i>:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://www.amazon.com/All-About-Food-History-Traditions/dp/0963960547?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;" target="_blank"><img alt="All About Food: Its History and Traditions" src="http://ws.amazon.com/widgets/q?MarketPlace=US&amp;ServiceVersion=20070822&amp;ID=AsinImage&amp;WS=1&amp;Format=_SL160_&amp;ASIN=0963960547&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20" /></a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0963960547" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />The ice cream sundae originated in Ed Berners' ice cream parlor in Two Rivers in 1881.&nbsp; It seems that one summer evening one of Berners' customers, George Hallauer, dropped in and ordered a dish of ice cream.&nbsp; Hallauer saw a bottle of chocolate syrup, which Berners used to make sodas.&nbsp; "Why don't you put some of the chocolate on the ice cream?" Hallauer asked.&nbsp; Berners complained it would ruin the flavor of his ice cream, but Hallauer insisted he wanted to try it anyway.<br /> <br /> Chocolate-topped ice cream became the rage of the town, and Berners began experimenting with other flavors and with toppings of nuts or a generous dish of apple cider.<br /> <br /> The name sundae, however, was born in the neighboring town of Manitowoc.&nbsp; George Giffy, also the owner of an ice cream parlor, served the embellished ice cream dishes only on Sundays.&nbsp; One weekday, a little girl ordered a dish of ice cream "with stuff on it."&nbsp; When told that he only served it on Sundays, the child said, "This must be Sunday, for it's the kind of ice cream I want."&nbsp; Giffy gave it to her, and from then on the dish was called Sunday.&nbsp; How the spelling evolved into sundae is not known.</blockquote>Not every member of Congress has been so kind in regard to <a href="http://www.amazon.com/National-Cream-Month-Lambert-Surhone/dp/6136190559?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">National Ice Cream Month</a>.&nbsp; Back in 1992, former Colorado Congressman Joel Hefley complained about commemorative days, weeks, and months as a waste of the taxpayers' money and of legislators' time.&nbsp; He said in a one-minute speech on the floor of the House on August 12 of that year (page H8027 of the <i>Congressional Record</i>):<br /> <blockquote>Mr. Speaker, in the last few years, Congress has picked up a lot of nasty little habits that cost taxpayers big bucks.<br /> <br /> To pad their legislative accomplishments, some Members of Congress have taken to introducing one commemorative bill after another in hopes of stroking every special interest group that knocks on their door. In fact, 30 percent of all public laws are commemoratives. That is why we now have a `National Tap Dance Day,' a `National Ice Cream Month ,' an `Elvis Presley Day,' a `Karate Kids Just Say No to Drugs Month' and a `National Quilting Day.'<br /> <br /> Don't get me wrong. I have nothing against Elvis Presley or people who enjoy quilting, and I think it is great that we have positive role models against drugs. I also love to indulge my taste buds with ice cream from time to time, but to get these bills passed, we spend close to $350,000 a year to do it.<br /> <br /> There are two bills working their way through Congress that would create a commission to advise the President on proposals for national commemorative events. It would cost half as much and accomplish the same thing. Plus, it would give Congress more time to deal with the more difficult and important issues of the day.<br /> <br /> Commemoratives get my vote for `Porker of the Week' award. </blockquote>The fact that Hefley was correct should not deter us, however, from celebrating National Ice Cream Month privately.<br /> <br /> For example, The <i><a href="http://forward.com/">Jewish Daily Forward</a></i> has marked this month this year by running a series of articles about ice cream, accompanied by recipes for delicious (and, presumably, kosher) ice cream dishes.<br /> <br /> Introducing the "Frozen Friday" series, Dan Friedman lets his imagination run wild in an article called "<a href="http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/139609/#ixzz1TSTTxsnU">Religion, Politics, and Ice Cream, Oh My!</a>":<br /> <blockquote>People are fascinated with the idea of the afterlife and whether Jews believe in Heaven and Hell. Now, I’m no professional theologian, but I think that if I died and was greeted by a smiling minyan of Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield, Mr. Häagen and Mrs. Dasz, Joseph Edy and Moshe-Lev Dreyer, Burt Baskin and Irv Robbins, Sharon Breyer and Malky “Dairy” Queen bearing free samples that, for me, would be heaven.</blockquote>The series also includes <a href="http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/139384/#ixzz1TSRgcY81">a reminiscence</a> of Naomi Zeveloff about her distant relatives who were the founders of Häagen-Dazs. It turns out to be a typically touching story of immigrant success, by-the-bootstraps-style.<br /> <blockquote>Reuben and Rose were distantly related Polish Jews who moved to Brooklyn and married in 1936. Though the Häagen-Dazs web site would have you believe that it was Reuben’s advanced palate that foretold the couple’s success, the truth is that Reuben got into the ice cream business because it was a lucrative way to start out in America. When Reuben first hitched his horse to a wagon and began hawking his mother’s ice cream to restaurants in the Bronx, he joined a small group of Jewish ice cream vendors who roamed the city, cooling summer fevers with an icy treat.<br /> <br /> <img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=bil&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B003NUJSLG" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /><iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=B003NUJSLG&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>Reuben sold the family’s ice cream for three decades before forging his own path. While most ice cream manufacturers cut costs by concocting a sweet, milky mixture that could barely pass for ice cream, Reuben created a fatty, dense ice cream in three flavors — chocolate, vanilla, and coffee — and marketed it to the city’s upscale restaurants. Rose came up with a vaguely Scandinavian name. Häagen-Dazs has no meaning; in fact, the umlat above the first ‘a’ and the combined ‘zs’ are unheard of in Scandinavian languages. Nonetheless, the couple slapped a map of Scandinavia on the lid of the ice cream containers and New Yorkers got a taste of the “European” delicacy.<br /> <br /> “By word of mouth,” it became popular, “people tasted it and it was really good,” said Harriet Leitz, Reuben’s first cousin. “When you compared the ice cream, one was like garbage and the other was like cream.”<br /> <br /> .... From the beginning, Häagen-Dazs prided itself on its simple recipe of fresh cream, milk, and eggs.<br /> <br /> In 1983, Reuben and Rose sold the company to Pillsbury, which was bought out by General Mills in 2001. (Dreyer’s, a subsidiary of Nestle, now makes the ice cream in the U.S. and Canada.) The couple made a fortune, and spent much of it supporting Israel through right-wing causes, funding organizations devoted to bringing Jews from Europe and Asia to settle the West Bank. Rose in particular became a fixture in Zionist circles, sitting on the board of the Zionist Organizations of America.</blockquote>Somehow Naomi Sugar's <a href="http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/140172/#ixzz1TSSNOAHB">article about ice cream sodas</a> works in a mention of the cocktail that originated in Washington, D.C., and which was recently celebrated in a legislative commemorative resolution from the District of Columbia City Council:<br /> <blockquote>Legend has it that Colonel Joe Rickey invented the lime rickey in the 1880s after a bar tender at Shoomaker’s in Washington DC added a lime to the Colonel’s morning drink. A decade later it became a sensation when mixed with gin. To honor the raspberry lime rickey, a summer staple, bartenders in Washington, DC have declared July as National Rickey Month. So, I suppose it’s apropos that I’ve made a raspberry lime rickey ice cream soda for national ice cream month and national rickey month!</blockquote>(For those who are interested, <a href="http://rickreviewsbooks.blogspot.com/2011/06/author-interview-garrett-peck-writes.html">Garrett Peck</a> has a more detailed history of the rickey in his recent book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prohibition-Washington-D-C-How-Werent/dp/1609492366?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Prohibition in Washington, D.C.: How Dry We Weren't</a></i>.)<br /> <br /> Finally, Rivka Friedman offers a recipe for cinnamon swirl ice cream as the end of <a href="http://blogs.forward.com/the-jew-and-the-carrot/139903/#ixzz1TSUUlPre">her quest for a "Jewish" ice cream flavor</a>:<br /> <blockquote>Is there such a thing? I thought about milk and honey ice cream (too cliched); date and pomegranate ice cream (more Israeli than Jewish); even ricotta-brown sugar ice cream, supposedly inspired by kugel (such a stretch!). The ideas, they didn’t come so quickly. I was stuck. But it’s National Ice Cream Month and I had committed to being part JCarrot’s Frozen Fridays. So there was no way out: I’d be figuring out a Jewish ice cream flavor, yes I would.</blockquote>Although it is "National" Ice Cream Month, it should be noted that love for ice cream is an international phenomenon, as a story filed by United Press International on July 28 makes clear.<br /> <br /> It seems that classes in making ice-cream desserts offered at the headquarters of Carpagiani, a Bologna-based manufacturer of ice-cream-making equipment, attracted some 12,000 students in the past year.<br /> <br /> Kaori Ito (does that sound like an Italian name to you?), the director of the school, told Sky News (<a href="http://www.upi.com/Odd_News/2011/07/28/Italian-school-teaches-ice-cream-making/UPI-20551311836400/#ixzz1TSVKZwsg">as reported by UPI</a>) that "the people who come here are people who want a career change. The average age is 35-40. They are ready to drop what they're doing and open a new chapter in their lives."<br /> <br /> The report was distributed by UPI under its "Odd News" category. Is it really so odd, though, that people would flock to learn about ice cream?<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=14123&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-2668286385478297975?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/4W8pd4Oz-8g" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/better-late-than-never-national-ice.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-78886669433755355752011-07-11T09:31:00.101-04:002011-07-11T09:31:00.178-04:002011-07-11T09:31:00.178-04:00<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XhDwr0gEITg/ThovteKx6tI/AAAAAAAACpk/xqSVqg1ZhN0/s1600/Rick-Sincere-examiner.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="135" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-XhDwr0gEITg/ThovteKx6tI/AAAAAAAACpk/xqSVqg1ZhN0/s200/Rick-Sincere-examiner.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>Yesterday in this space <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/interviews-with-us-senate-candidates.html">I noted a number of articles</a> I have written <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">on Examiner.com</a> based on interviews I have conducted with candidates for the U.S. Senate from Virginia, including former governors Tim Kaine and <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Washington-Learn-World-Sports/dp/1596985984?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">George Allen</a>, who were guests at the Crozet Independence Day celebrations in western Albemarle County during the Fourth of July weekend.<br /> <br /> In the past few months, I have had the opportunity to interview a wide range of policy makers, political analysts, and policy experts on various topics.&nbsp; The interviews were <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">published on Examiner.com</a> under the umbrella of the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner</a>.<br /> <br /> Reaching back to February -- I know, I've been remiss -- I had several interviews at CPAC, the annual Conservative Political Action Conference:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/proWCm"> Webb withdrawal irrelevant to Virginia GOP Senate race, says Morton Blackwell</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/eQiq5k">Gary Johnson wins RLC straw poll, places third in CPAC poll</a><a href="http://exm.nr/oQLHFp"><br /> LNC executive director Wes Benedict takes Libertarian message to CPAC</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/icV6Lb%20">GOProud’s Jimmy LaSalvia talks about CPAC and gay conservatives</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/pZ9yQQ">Is Barack Obama the best recruiter for College Republicans?</a><a href="http://exm.nr/of2nMa"><br /> Historian Paul Kengor on Ronald Reagan and the collapse of the USSR - Part I</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/qoM9i3">Historian Paul Kengor on Ronald Reagan and the collapse of the USSR - Part II</a><a href="http://exm.nr/gDSaRR"><br /> Author Paul Kengor talks about Communist manipulation of liberals, progressives</a></blockquote>That same weekend I attended the Republican Liberty Caucus national convention in Arlington and was able to nab a couple of interviews:<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/fCGSJ0">RLC member Dan Halloran promotes government transparency on NYC Council</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/ifLYzX">Law professor Randy Barnett reveals the origins of the ‘Repeal Amendment’</a></blockquote>In March, I attended a couple of events at the Virginia Festival of the Book. At one of them, I talked to the chairman of the National Endowment for the Humanities, former Iowa Republican Congressman Jim Leach, and the president of the Virginia Foundation for the Humanities, Robert Vaughan.<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/qcHAeO">Va. Foundation for Humanities increases private funding, helps mark Civil War</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/pZNJSh">NEH chairman Jim Leach talks about ‘civility’ in Charlottesville</a></blockquote>April 15 was a significant day. It marked the day that the long-awaited movie version of Ayn Rand's <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ayn-Rand-Box-Set-Fountainhead/dp/0451947673?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Atlas Shrugged</a></i> was released and it also was an opportunity for local Libertarians and Tea Party members to vent some steam.<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/i9YCPe">Charlottesville-area Libertarians use 2011 Tax Day to argue against taxes</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/f2bMAT">'Atlas Shrugged' movie: Audience reactions mixed, box office returns respectable</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/g5mqcg">Charlottesville radio host Rob Schilling says Tea Party is 'just a beginning'</a> <br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/fQO5x1">City Council candidate Bob Fenwick challenges ‘hypocrisy’ and ‘trickery’</a><a href="http://exm.nr/f0VWxQ"><br /> Charlottesville radio host Joe Thomas assesses two years of the Tea Party</a></blockquote>I have also been able to interview people about transportation issues, arts education, criminal justice, journalism, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gay-Marriage-Good-Straights-America/dp/0805078150?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">gay marriage</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Prohibition-Washington-D-C-How-Werent/dp/1609492366?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">alcohol Prohibition</a>, and libertarian activism.<br /> <blockquote><a href="http://exm.nr/ocXBrz">Former U.S. Transportation Sec’y Mary Peters: ‘not not convinced’ on high-speed rail</a><a href="http://exm.nr/jTQ4Wj%20"><br /> Higher gas prices won’t change American car culture, says transportation expert</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/g4UYAN">Kennedy Center chief Michael Kaiser touts economic benefits of arts education</a><a href="http://exm.nr/fAfO5z"><br /> Nigel Ashford to address liberty in today's world at University of Virginia</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/kPWSxQ">Sorensen Institute chief Bob Gibson assesses the state of news media in Virginia</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/jIrVUg%20">Attorneys Ted Olson, David Boies discuss Proposition 8 and gay marriage at Cato</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/kGG6WN">Historian Garrett Peck looks back on ‘Prohibition in Washington, D.C.’ – Part I</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/iFlgi1">Historian Garrett Peck looks back on ‘Prohibition in Washington, D.C.’ – Part II</a><a href="http://exm.nr/n5jAwx"><br /> Reason editors discuss criminal justice system: ‘America’s national disgrace’</a><br /> <a href="http://exm.nr/ppnMn9%20">S4L president Alexander McCobin recruits ‘community organizers for liberty’</a></blockquote>I have quite a few interviews still "in the can," waiting to be transcribed, and I'll be posting links to them here in the future.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13761&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-7888666943375535575?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/kTSFdxzprc8" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/updates-from-examinercom.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-2933127594482268672011-07-11T02:06:00.001-04:002011-07-11T16:50:41.980-04:002011-07-11T16:50:41.980-04:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0W9-v9ax__0/ThqSHHbpOPI/AAAAAAAACpo/4cDgywpVjeY/s1600/Gary-Johnson-May-2010.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-0W9-v9ax__0/ThqSHHbpOPI/AAAAAAAACpo/4cDgywpVjeY/s200/Gary-Johnson-May-2010.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Gary Johnson at Monticello</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br /> </td></tr> </tbody></table>Former New Mexico Governor <a href="http://bit.ly/mQEqfm">Gary Johnson</a> has established himself as the Republican presidential candidate who won't play by the rules.<br /> <br /> He did this by refusing to sign the so-called "Family Leader" pledge foisted on GOP candidates in Iowa by Bob Vander Plaats, who seems to fancy himself as the <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Last-Call-Rise-Fall-Prohibition/dp/074327704X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Wayne B. Wheeler</a> of the early 21st century.<br /> <br /> In <a href="http://www.garyjohnson2012.com/gary-johnson-calls-family-leader-pledge-offensive-and-unrepublican">a statement released by his campaign</a> on July 9, Johnson called the pledge "offensive and unRepublican," saying that its rhetoric "gives Republicans a bad name."<br /> <blockquote>“Government should not be involved in the bedrooms of consenting adults. I have always been a strong advocate of liberty and freedom from unnecessary government intervention into our lives. The freedoms that our forefathers fought for in this country are sacred and must be preserved. The Republican Party cannot be sidetracked into discussing these morally judgmental issues — such a discussion is simply wrongheaded. We need to maintain our position as the party of efficient government management and the watchdogs of the “public’s pocket book”.<br /> <br /> “This ‘pledge’ is nothing short of a promise to discriminate against everyone who makes a personal choice that doesn’t fit into a particular definition of ‘virtue’.</blockquote>Jennifer Jacobs, who covers politics for the <i>Des Moines Register</i>, <a href="http://caucuses.desmoinesregister.com/2011/07/10/gary-johnson-family-leader-pledge-gives-republicans-a-bad-name/">summed up Johnson's statement</a> like this:<br /> <blockquote>Republican presidential candidate Gary Johnson thinks the pledge that an Iowa Christian conservative group is circulating is offensive because it condemn gays, single parents, divorcees, Muslims, women who choose to have abortions “and everyone else who doesn’t fit in a Norman Rockwell painting.”</blockquote>Johnson's feisty stance against intolerance within the Republican Party and conservative movement is getting kudos across the Internet.<br /> <br /> E.D. Kain <a href="http://ordinary-gentlemen.com/kain/2011/07/09/gary-johnson-comes-out-against-family-leader-pledge/">reposted Johnson's statement</a> on the web site called "The League of Ordinary Gentlemen," prefaced with this comment:<br /> <blockquote>Just another reason to support Gary Johnson in 2012</blockquote>Writing on the widely-read blog Towleroad, <a href="http://www.towleroad.com/2011/07/gop-candidate-gary-johnson-blasts-offensive-anti-gay-pledge.html#ixzz1RlnG5Vgk">Andrew Belonsky noted</a>:<br /> <blockquote>It's an absolutely unnecessary and offensive covenant, yet at least two GOP presidential hopefuls, Michele Bachmann and Rick Santorum, have already signed onto the vow, which also claims black children were better off in 1860, slave days, and that homosexuality is a choice.<br /> <br /> But Gary Johnson, a libertarian Republican candidate, refuses to follow suit, and yesterday described the document as "offensive to the principles of liberty and freedom on which this country was founded."</blockquote>Johnson's statement was also <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/10/rick-santorum-the-marriage-vow_n_894055.html">reported by Elyse Siegel</a> on The Huffington Post, <a href="http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/308955">by Michael Krebs</a> on Digital Journal, <a href="http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2011/07/10/gop-candidate-gary-johnson-blasts-family-leader-pledge/">by Eric W. Dolan</a> at The Raw Story, and <a href="http://www.rhrealitycheck.org/blog/2011/07/10/presidential-candidate-condemns-conservative-family-pledge">by Robin Marty</a> on RH Reality Check. She adds:<br /> <blockquote>The Family Leader, who is positioning themselves as the gatekeeper to the Iowa evangelical right, has already pulled back on their language that they say could have been "misconstrued" to imply African Americans were better off under slavery. They have said nothing about the covert "quiverful" code language embedded in their pledge.</blockquote>Stephen Haynes, at a blog called "Truth and Justice for All," <a href="http://www.shaynes.com/blog/?p=6432">says self-effacingly</a>:<br /> <blockquote>As comprehensive and adequate as may have been my own denunciation of the FAMiLY Leader’s “Vow” yesterday, more important is that one Republican Presidential hopeful actually said it better.... Good stuff!</blockquote><a href="http://www.theagitator.com/2011/07/09/gary-johnson-denounces-family-leader-pledge/">Radley Balko asks</a> at The Agitator:<br /> <blockquote>Think any other GOP candidate will have the guts to do this?</blockquote><a href="http://boyboxrebellion.blogspot.com/2011/07/new-mexico-governor-gary-johnson-r.html">Boy Box Rebellion</a> also republished excerpts of Governor Johnson's statement, as did <a href="http://pakstarz.blogspot.com/2011/07/gary-johnson-calls-family-leader-pledge.html">Pak Starz</a>, <a href="http://bighomocon.blogspot.com/2011/07/gary-johnson-calls-family-leader-pledge.html">Bruce Majors</a>, and <a href="http://www.nhinsider.com/press-releases/2011/7/10/gary-johnson-calls-family-leader-pledge-offensive-and-unrepu.html">the NH Insider</a>.<br /> <br /> Stephen H. Miller <a href="http://igfculturewatch.com/2011/07/10/gary-johnson-anti-gay-pledge-is-unamerican/">notes on the Culture Watch page</a> of the Independent Gay Forum:<br /> <blockquote>Former 2-term New Mexico governor and presidential candidate Gary Johnson says that the Christian right’s anti-gay “family leader pledge,” which other GOP White House contenders are jumping to sign, “gives Republicans a bad name.” Too bad the media refuses to take Johnson’s presidential bid seriously (unlike, say, Herman Cain, with no government experience), but he doesn’t fit into their political narrative.</blockquote>Ian Awesome, who blogs at OneAngryQueer, <a href="http://oneangryqueer.blogspot.com/2011/07/this-guy-is-pissed-about-family-leader.html">says that Governor Johnson</a><br /> <blockquote>is one guy that I might want to hang out with! He's the first (and I wonder if any more will join him) GOP candidate to speak out against against this piece of hate speech titled "The Marriage Vow – A Declaration of Dependence upon Marriage and Family." </blockquote>John Cole titles his post on Governor Johnson (on Balloon Juice) "<a href="http://www.balloon-juice.com/2011/07/10/good-for-gary-johnson/">Good for Gary Johnson</a>," while <a href="http://humboldtlib.blogspot.com/2011/07/go-gary-johnson.html">Fred's Humboldt Blog's headline</a> is the encouraging, "GO Gary Johnson." Another widely-read blogger, Joe.My.God., simply calls it "<a href="http://joemygod.blogspot.com/2011/07/quote-of-day-gary-johnson.html">Quote of the Day - Gary Johnson.</a>" (For what it's worth, the headline Fox News commentator Alan Colmes uses is <a href="http://www.alan.com/2011/07/10/gary-johnson-would-take-the-republican-party-to-a-much-healthier-place/">the wordy</a> "Gary Johnson Would Take The Republican Party To A Much Healthier Place.")<br /> <br /> Kyle Luebke writes about Governor Johnson's statement <a href="http://anenduringvision.blogspot.com/2011/07/family-leader-marriage-pledge-lacking.html">at An Enduring Vision</a>:<br /> <blockquote>Good for him!! I have always said that the only way that the Republicans will be able to win in the next election is to focus exclusively on economic and fiscal issues, rather than the divisive social issues that rile its base. As Johnson aptly point out, independent voters overwhelmingly reject the radical positions of the social conservative element of the Republican party. Sadly, Gary Johnson's words will most likely fall on deaf ears, for instead of opening itself and becoming an inclusive "big tent" party, it is running in the opposite direction to pander to its radical base.<br /> <br /> Rule #1 of American politics - appease your base while at the same time attract independents. Without independents, a presidential candidate will NEVER be able to win an election.</blockquote>Timothy Kincaid's <a href="http://www.boxturtlebulletin.com/2011/07/10/34983">analysis at Box Turtle Bulletin</a> begins:<br /> <blockquote>Former New Mexico Governor Gary Johnson has a bit of an unusual position in the candidacy for Republican presidential nominee. Although as a two term governor he is probably the most qualified candidate, he is not as well known as some of his more colorful opponents.</blockquote>Kincaid then adds:<br /> <blockquote>... it is of immense value to have Gov. Johnson respond to the blatantly and unapologetically homophobic “marriage pledge” proposed by anti-gay activist group Family Leader. </blockquote>And he concludes:<br /> <blockquote>I’m impressed. This goes far beyond “i don’t sign pledges” or even “this might be offensive to some”. He even uses the b-word.</blockquote>Several web sites and blogs mention that Johnson's campaign, on the heels of his outspoken criticism of the social conservatives' totalitarian temptation, also released a low-key video entitled "<a href="http://bit.ly/pNZTGf">Gary Johnson 2012: 'Tolerance is American'</a>." <br /> <br /> The one-minute video can be seen here:<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/Yo_tBIHPi9U" width="640"></iframe></blockquote>Under the video on YouTube, one finds this text in the info-box:<br /> <blockquote><a href="https://donate.garyjohnson2012.com/">https://donate.garyjohnson2012.com</a> It's not American to give rights to one group, but not to another. It's not American to stir up irrational fears about other Americans' religious beliefs. It's not American to discriminate against others for the way they were born. It's not American to use the federal government to override the decisions of the states. Tolerance is American. Gary Johnson 2012.</blockquote>Read aloud against the musical backdrop of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/America-The-Beautiful/dp/B000QVJADG?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">America the Beautiful</a>," those are stirring and, sadly, controversial words.<br /> <br /> Gary Johnson has come out swinging against the intolerant within his own party, recognizing that American voters as a whole are far more accepting of their neighbors' differences than some prominent GOP activists and officeholders are. He acknowledges in voters what <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reason-1-year-auto-renewal/dp/B002PXVYZA?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Reason</a></i> editors <a href="http://exm.nr/n5jAwx">Matt Welch and Nick Gillespie</a> describe in their just-published book, <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Declaration-Independents-Libertarian-Politics-America/dp/1586489380?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Declaration of Independents</a></i>:<br /> <blockquote>There's also a growing recognition that disagreements about lifestyle, drug use, the role of religion, and more are better hashed out in the marketplace of ideas rather than through the passage of contentious laws. Those pushing for smaller government are not some sort of reactionary John Birch Society recoiling from a world that might pollute our precious bodily fluids. By all indicators, Americans are more comfortable with ethnic, social, gender, cultural, and religious differences than ever before [pp. 32-32].</blockquote>Everyone agrees that, given the received wisdom that voters in key Republican primary states (with the exception of New Hampshire, some say) are in the thrall of social and religious conservatives, for Gary Johnson not just to refuse to sign the Family Leader pledge but to condemn it is a gutsy move. He risks alienating a core constituency, the pundits say.<br /> <br /> But isn't that what true leadership is all about?<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13742&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-293312759448226867?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/KIyYty4XqQk" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com1http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/gary-johnsons-pursuit-of-scrappiness.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-90625141744438018122011-07-10T18:04:00.001-04:002011-07-20T22:53:05.718-04:002011-07-20T22:53:05.718-04:00<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: left;"><tbody> <tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLhxIoLQoVs/Thod38LFNfI/AAAAAAAACpg/1J7u7nGX1fU/s1600/Allen-Kaine-Crozet-b.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://3.bp.blogspot.com/-GLhxIoLQoVs/Thod38LFNfI/AAAAAAAACpg/1J7u7nGX1fU/s320/Allen-Kaine-Crozet-b.jpg" width="281" /></a></td></tr> <tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">George Allen and Tim Kaine in Crozet on July 2</td></tr> </tbody></table>Almost a year remains before Virginia Republican voters will choose their U.S. Senate candidate in a statewide primary.&nbsp; (Traditionally, Virginia has primary elections on the second Tuesday in June.&nbsp; This year, because of post-census redistricting, primary elections for state and local offices will be on August 23.)&nbsp; Former Governor and Senator George F. Allen is widely seen as the favorite to win the GOP nomination, although he has several rivals who are contesting the 2012 primary.<br /> <br /> It is fairly certain that former Governor <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Rose-Kaine-July-2008/dp/B002Z7A542?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Tim Kaine</a> will be the Democratic nominee, although there remains a possibility that Representative Bobby Scott (D-VA3) will enter the race.&nbsp; Scott had previously said that he would reveal his intentions by July 1, but on that day, he said he was delaying his decision about whether to run.<br /> <br /> Since April, I have had several opportunities to interview the various candidates for the U.S. Senate from Virginia.&nbsp; They are seeking the seat being vacated by Senator <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Time-Fight-Reclaiming-Fair-America/dp/0767928369?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Jim Webb</a> (D), who chose to retire after one term.<br /> <br /> Among the Republicans, I have not yet been able to interview Northern Virginia businessman Tim Donner or Bishop E. W. Jackson.&nbsp; At least one of those lacunae will be filled soon, however, because I am scheduled to meet with Mr. Donner in Charlottesville on July 19, and I may also have an opportunity to talk to him in Richmond this coming week.<br /> <br /> Last weekend in Crozet, I was able to talk to both former Senator <a href="http://www.amazon.com/What-Washington-Learn-World-Sports/dp/1596985984?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">George Allen</a> and former Governor Tim Kaine.&nbsp; The two rivals were there to march in the annual Independence Day parade sponsored by the Crozet Volunteer Fire Department.&nbsp; In Allen's case, he didn't so much march in the parade as ride in it -- he was on horseback throughout the route.<br /> <br /> In remarks to the crowd at <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Claudius-Crozet-Engineer-America-1790-1864/dp/0813912229?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Claudius Crozet</a> Park -- which, I might note, is a private park, not a government-owned park, something I find admirable -- both candidates acknowledged that they are "competitors and friends."&nbsp; It was clear from their interaction that Allen and Kaine genuinely like each other, even if they disagree on policy issues and are likely to be engaged in a mudslinging, highly-competitive Senate race next year, one that is widely acknowledged by political analysts to be the most closely-contested campaign in the country and consequently one of the most expensive, too.<br /> <br /> Before speaking, Allen and Kaine led the revelers in patriotic songs.&nbsp; (Kaine's voice, especially, is clearly heard over the PA system <a href="http://bit.ly/nLRzd9">in the video below</a>.)&nbsp; They sang one verse each of "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/My-Country-Tis-of-Thee/dp/B001TLP3HE?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">America (My Country 'Tis of Thee)</a>," "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/America-The-Beautiful/dp/B0028EQHNK?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">America the Beautiful</a>," and "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/The-Star-Spangled-Banner/dp/B000QVODLK?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Star Spangled Banner</a>."&nbsp; The songs are introduced by WCHV radio host <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/charlottesville-radio-host-joe-thomas-assesses-two-years-of-the-tea-party">Joe Thomas</a>, who acted as emcee.<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/CMX862psdh8" width="480"></iframe></blockquote>In a flurry of restraint atypical of political candidates, Allen and Kaine -- introduced alphabetically -- limited their remarks to about two minutes each, focusing on the values celebrated by Americans during the Fourth of July holiday weekend. (<a href="http://bit.ly/pvl9rI%20">Video follows</a>.)<br /> <blockquote><iframe allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="390" src="http://www.youtube.com/embed/5tk-yfmdMiM" width="480"></iframe></blockquote>I spoke to Kaine just before the program began. We chatted briefly about our shared admiration of composer-lyricist <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Finishing-Hat-Collected-1954-1981-Principles/dp/0679439072?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Stephen Sondheim</a>. (Both of us were in the audience about two years ago in Richmond, when Sondheim was interviewed by former <i>New York Times</i> drama critic <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ghost-Light-Memoir-Frank-Rich/dp/0375758240?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Frank Rich</a>.) Then I asked him about some policy issues, posing the question I try to ask every candidate: How will you earn the votes of libertarian voters? His response, like all of these interviews, was first <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">published on Examiner.com</a>.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/l3oaeP">Tim Kaine argues for balancing individual liberties, communal responsibilities</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Asked how he would appeal to libertarian-minded voters in the coming election campaign, Kaine said that he would talk about his record.<br /> <br /> “I am very much a supporter of individual liberties,” he explained, adding that “yet we’re in this mixture, where we have individual liberties -- and that’s the great thing about our country -- but we also have communal responsibilities. Just trying to find that right balance is important.”<br /> <br /> Kaine noted that “we do pretty well on that in Virginia. My basic campaign message is, ‘America has challenges, Virginia has answers,’ so I’ll be talking about the way we do it here in Virginia.”</blockquote>For his part, George Allen had answered my libertarian voters question at Shad Planking in April (see below), so I asked him a different set of questions in Crozet.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/kmk4IC">In Crozet for Independence Day weekend, George Allen warns of ‘perpetual debt'</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Replying to a question from the <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/richard-sincere">Charlottesville Libertarian Examiner</a> about the pending debt-ceiling vote in Congress, Allen offered his assessment of the situation.<br /> <br /> “What I’ve been advocating for many years,” he said, is “that is there needs to be a balanced budget requirement in the federal Constitution, [the] same as we have here in Virginia. I think the President should have line-item veto authority and there should be taxpayer protection.”<br /> <br /> A balanced budget amendment “narrowly failed back in the 1990s by one vote,” he explained.<br /> <br /> “Can you think of how much better our country could be if that had passed back then?” he asked.<br /> <br /> “If I were in the U.S. Senate, I’d be advocating for spending cuts, for curtailing the amount of spending, and putting in real reforms to have ironclad reductions in reforming the way that Washington does business,” Allen said.</blockquote>My other interviews with Senate candidates took place at the 63rd annual Shad Planking in Wakefield, long seen as the start of the political season in Virginia. In Wakefield, I was able to interview Republican candidates David McCormick, Jamie Radtke, and George Allen, as well as potential Democratic Senate candidate Bobby Scott and current U.S. Senator <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Charlie-Rose-Burns-Warner-November/dp/B000GAKSPG?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Mark Warner</a>.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/iky6IV">Virginia GOP Senate candidate David McCormick touts his business experience</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Asked how he would appeal to libertarian voters, McCormick replied in general terms.<br /> <br /> “I’m a very good case for a libertarian or an independent or a conservative,” he said. “They’ll salute the fact that for 29 years I’ve worked with [the] middle class and working class of America. I have such strong independent roots, even though I’m a strong Republican, very conservative on fiscal policy.”<br /> <br /> He pointed out that he has “every policy, every solution on my web site” and suggested that “libertarians would love and support my candidacy.”</blockquote>First-time candidate Jamie Radtke developed a statewide reputation as a leader of the Virginia Tea Party movement. She also answered my question about libertarian voters.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/eEqVrS">Va. Senate candidate Jamie Radtke hopes her message resonates with libertarians</a>":<br /> <blockquote>“Our message is right in line with the libertarian vote,” Radtke said, especially “as far as the spending and the debt and getting the fiscal house in order. The PATRIOT Act is another one that really irritates the libertarian people. Infringing on civil rights is an issue with me, as well. All those things are important.”<br /> <br /> She said that when talking about the budget, “you’ve got to look at entitlements” and, from a libertarian point of view, entitlements “should be consumer-driven. People should have skin in the game.”<br /> <br /> Things like that, Radtke explained, “resonate with people in the Libertarian Party.”<br /> <br /> Even defense spending should be on the table, she said.<br /> <br /> “The priority, the absolute priority, 100 percent should be our military and our veterans,” she said, “but the size of the Defense budget is so astronomical that even the Department of Defense is talking about places where there can be savings” without adversely impacting current troops or veterans.<br /> <br /> “All of those things,” she concluded, “are things that we have in common” with libertarian voters.</blockquote>Allen also answered the same question.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/h3PJoV">At his 17th Shad Planking, George Allen lays claim to a ‘libertarian streak’</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Asked how he plans to earn the votes of libertarian-minded Virginians as he seeks the GOP Senate nomination, Allen called himself a “commonsense, Jeffersonian conservative” with “a good libertarian streak in me.”<br /> <br /> “I trust free people and free enterprise,” Allen said, “and so long as someone’s not harming someone else, leave them free.”<br /> <br /> He added: “I don’t like limits and restrictions. That’s borne out by my views on requiring a balanced budget in the Constitution” and a line-item veto to restrain the federal government.<br /> <br /> “I like lower taxes,” Allen said, noting he has “always been one for lower taxes on business owners and individuals and families.”</blockquote>While his colleague <a href="http://www.examiner.com/libertarian-in-charlottesville/senator-jim-webb-talks-about-u-s-korea-free-trade-and-stability-asia">Jim Webb</a> was not present, Virginia's junior senator, Mark Warner, was at Shad Planking this year. Warner talked about the budget and answered my question about libertarian voters.<br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/hjucRx">At Shad Planking, Virginia Senator Mark Warner says ‘budget situation is dire’</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Warner also addressed a political question: How can Democratic candidates earn the votes of libertarian-minded voters?<br /> <br /> “That’s a challenge,” he conceded, though “it depends on, in a certain way, how ‘libertarian’?”<br /> <br /> That is, he continued, “if you believe that there is no role for government in virtually anything, it may be a struggle.”<br /> <br /> Warner noted, however, “on the other hand, I think Democrats generally believe on social issues there should be less government involvement. Oftentimes Republicans believe in more government involvement on the social issues and less on the government side. I think there is a balance there.”<br /> <br /> Pausing briefly, Warner then suggested an approach that voters could take in choosing which candidates to support.<br /> <br /> “I actually think,” he said, “whether a libertarian or anyone else, my advice to people is try to find candidates who can (1) actually read a balance sheet and (2) who are rational.”</blockquote>Finally, Congressman Bobby Scott -- still a potential (and undeclared) candidate for the Democratic Party's U.S. Senate nomination -- answered a few questions. <br /> <br /> From "<a href="http://exm.nr/fbCjwG">Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott weighs in on budget’s ‘tough choices’</a>":<br /> <blockquote>Democratic candidates can attract the votes of libertarian-minded voters, Scott said, “if we stand up for the principles that we usually stand up for, that is, investments in our future, education, scientific research, making sure young people can go to college, mak[ing] sure the elderly are cared for [and that] children get off on the right track so that they have opportunities.”<br /> <br /> Scott pointed out that not only was the federal budget balanced during the Clinton administration, but the country was on track to pay off the national debt, a situation that has changed severely in the past decade.<br /> <br /> “So what do we need to be doing to attract votes?” he asked.<br /> <br /> Democrats must “do what we traditionally did,” Scott answered. “We’re fiscally responsible, we want to invest in education and the future of America, and, hopefully, people will respond to that message.”</blockquote>As a point of information, excerpts of my interview with Senator Jim Webb at Piedmont Virginia Community College earlier this year can be seen at "<a href="http://bit.ly/qYNGKm">Jim Webb Visits PVCC</a>" on this blog.<br /> <br /> <i><b>UPDATE, July 20:</b></i>&nbsp; I conducted an interview with GOP candidate Tim Donner in Richmond on July 12.&nbsp; This resulted in two articles for Examiner.com:&nbsp; "<a href="http://exm.nr/qbRCVo">Virginia GOP Senate candidate Tim Donner claims ‘deep’ libertarian roots</a>," published on July 18, and "<a href="http://exm.nr/pR7r2U">Va. GOP Senate candidate Tim Donner discusses the debt ceiling and tax reform</a>," published on July 20.<br /> <br /> In the first, Donner said that he had a long libertarian pedigree:<br /> <blockquote>“My libertarian roots go pretty deep,” Donner said, “back to when my father was heavily involved in the founding of National Review magazine.”<br /> <br /> Joseph Donner, he explained, was “a good friend of William F. Buckley and I grew up around William F. Buckley and his family. Buckley often called himself a libertarian, even though he’s known more as a conservative.” (The title of one of Buckley’s books is <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Happy-Days-Were-Here-Again/dp/0465003354?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Happy Days Were Here Again: Reflections of a Libertarian Journalist</a></i>.)<br /> <br /> “As the years go by,” Donner continued, “I’ve become more and more libertarian.”</blockquote>In the second article, Donner discussed some policy issues, including the impending debt-ceiling vote in Congress (with a Damoclean deadline of August 2) and a comparison of the flat tax and the Fair Tax:<br /> <blockquote>Donner also weighed the pros and cons of two popular proposals for federal tax reform, the Flat Tax (the centerpiece of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Flat-Tax-Revolution-Postcard-Abolish/dp/0895260409?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Steve Forbes</a>’ 1996 presidential campaign) and the Fair Tax (popularized by radio talk-show host <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fair-Tax-Book-Saying-Goodbye/dp/0060875496?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Neal Boortz</a>).<br /> <br /> “The pros of a Flat Tax,” he explained, “are that it will simplify an overly complex tax system. It will broaden the tax base because more people will pay income tax. More people will therefore have ‘skin in the game,’ so to speak.”<br /> <br /> These new taxpayers, he said, will “have a stake in the system and therefore be more interested and involved in what their government is doing -- and more informed and educated citizens is always a good thing.”</blockquote>I expect to have more opportunities over the next year or so as these candidates hit the campaign trail and make public appearances as they hustle for votes and money.<br /> <br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=4999&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-family: 'Times New Roman'; font-size: small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',Trebuchet,Verdana,sans-serif; font-size: 13px;"></span></span><br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS', sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-9062514174443801812?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/fQ6F56VHn5g" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/interviews-with-us-senate-candidates.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-1406346943067475562011-07-01T15:50:00.001-04:002011-07-01T23:25:16.087-04:002011-07-01T23:25:16.087-04:00The other night, during his Tweets and emails segment, TV's <a href="http://www.amazon.com/American-Purpose-Improbable-Adventures-Unlikely/dp/0061998494?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Craig Ferguson</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=0061998494" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" /> naughtily coined a phrase:&nbsp; "beaded curtain."<br /> <br /> Well, he didn't coin it <i>per se</i>; the two-word term has been around for a long, long time.&nbsp; What he did was add an air of mystery to it, making it a sexually suggestive phrase.<br /> <br /> Shortly after the show signed off for the night, I signed on to <a href="http://www.urbandictionary.com/">Urban Dictionary</a> to submit a new definition:<br /> <blockquote>A vaguely sexual allusion intended to distract and confuse network television censors. Originally used by CBS late-night host Craig Ferguson on June 29, 2011, in response to a question posed by a viewer via email.<br /> <i><br /> Geoff Peterson: "I enjoy a good beaded curtain now and again."<br /> Craig Ferguson: "Go ahead, censors, look it up. We'll wait."</i></blockquote>To my surprise and disappointment, Urban Dictionary rejected my submission.<br /> <br /> I think that web site will come to regret this decision. "Beaded curtain" in this sense is going to begin to take root. The <a href="http://rsanews.com/">Robot Skeleton Army</a> (the Craig Ferguson fan club, so to speak) <a href="http://rsanews.com/craig-ferguson-booked-tonight-leno/">has already taken up the cause</a> of adding "beaded curtain" to the national lexicon:<br /> <blockquote><b>Is Beaded Curtain a Thing?</b><br /> <br /> If it wasn’t, it is now. Craig and Geoff’s conversation about beaded curtains got the RSA’s <b><a href="http://twitter.com/doxieone1">@doxieone1</a></b> inspired to come up with a fun poster.</blockquote>Here's <a href="http://www.flickr.com/photos/doxieone/5885684465/in/photostream">a link to that poster</a>, which shows <a href="http://twitter.com/GeoffTheRobot">Geoff Peterson</a> behind a beaded curtain.<br /> <br /> I predict you'll be hearing the phrase "beaded curtain" before too long, and you'll titter when you hear it. (And maybe titter about it on Twitter soon afterward.)<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=13706&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-140634694306747556?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/BCROjdYdJEY" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/07/beaded-curtain.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-55138244083944143672011-06-29T01:48:00.000-04:002011-06-29T01:48:05.221-04:002011-06-29T01:48:05.221-04:00This week the U.S. Supreme Court issued a decision in one case involving campaign finance (from Arizona) and chose not to review another case (from Connecticut).<br /> <br /> The ruling in the Arizona case (<a href="http://www.law.cornell.edu/supct/html/10-238.ZS.html"><i>Arizona Free Enterprise Club's FreedomClub PAC v. Bennett</i></a>) overturned a state law that gave greater taxpayer subsidies to candidates who have opposing candidates or independent groups that spend more than they do.&nbsp; Fairfax County Electoral Board member Hans von Spakovsky wrote about this case <a href="http://www.humanevents.com/article.php?id=44531">in <i>Human Events</i></a>:<br /> <blockquote>The Arizona law challenged in Arizona Free Enterprise Club v. Bennett benefited candidates for state office who accept public financing. The law allowed them to receive more taxpayer money in direct response to the campaign activities of privately financed candidates and independent groups....<br /> <br /> Chief Justice Roberts concluded that this matching funds provision imposed a substantial burden on the political speech of privately financed candidates. Every dollar that the candidates spent on their own campaigns resulted in more government funding for their opponents, and spending by independent groups had the same effect.<br /> <br /> This Arizona law hindered the political speech of independent groups even more than the speech of privately financed candidates. If an independent group opposed a publicly financed candidate, every dollar it spent guaranteed government funds to the very candidates the group opposed—as well as other publicly financed candidates in the race.</blockquote>In the Connecticut case (<a href="http://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docketfiles/10-795.htm"><i>Connecticut v. Lenge</i></a>), the Supreme Court turned down an appeal by the Green Party, challenging aspects of that state's public campaign financing law. <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Ballot-Access-News/dp/B004C05ANG?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Ballot Access News</a></i> <a href="http://www.ballot-access.org/2011/03/25/u-s-supreme-court-considers-whether-to-hear-connecticut-green-party-case-on-march-25/">explained the central issue</a> of the case on March 25:<br /> <blockquote>This case challenges the Connecticut public funding law which says that all candidates for state office who wish to receive public funding must receive a certain number of small contributions; however that is all that Republicans and Democrats need to do, but in addition, independent candidates and the nominees of new parties must submit a petition of 20% of the last vote cast to receive equal public funding. They must submit a petition of 10% of the last vote cast to receive any public funding.</blockquote>These two campaign-finance cases brought to mind an article I wrote 15 years ago this month on the broad subject of campaign funding. In it, I argued that the problem was low contribution limits, which (among other things) force candidates to spend more time fundraising than reaching out to voters.<br /> <br /> Here is the article as it appeared in <i>The Metro Herald</i> (Alexandria, Virginia) in June 1996. You'll note that the names have changed -- as have some of the numbers -- but the principles remain the same:<br /> <blockquote><div style="text-align: center;"><b>The Best Campaign Reform: Raise the Contributions Ceiling</b> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Richard E. Sincere, Jr. </div><br /> According to a report in <i>The Hill</i>, a weekly newspaper that covers Congress, a group of Republican House members, including Majority Whip <a href="http://www.amazon.com/No-Retreat-Surrender-Americans-Fight/dp/B000W8WSJG?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Tom DeLay</a> (R-Texas) has broken with House Speaker <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Save-America-Stopping-Secular-Socialist-Machine/dp/1596981903?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Newt Gingrich</a> (R-Ga.) and Majority Leader <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Give-Us-Liberty-Party-Manifesto/dp/B004TE8FXW?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Dick Armey</a> (R-Texas) on the issue of campaign finance reform. Gingrich and Armey have endorsed a plan to prohibit political action committees (PACs) from giving money to congressional candidates. <i>The Hill</i> reports in its May 29 edition that "dozens of rank-and-file Republicans ... have denounced the proposal." <br /> <br /> Good for them. These Republicans are risking their careers (by challenging the House leadership) on a question of principle. <br /> <br /> What principle might that be? After all, PACs are widely derided as the root of corruption in politics, since they channel campaign contributions to candidates from businesses, labor unions, and other special interest groups. <br /> <br /> That is precisely why they are valuable. It is an unassailable, fundamental tradition of American politics for individuals to come together, on the basis of shared interests, to form groups with the intention of influencing political and social affairs. We are guaranteed this right of association by the First Amendment to the Constitution. To deny this is to call into question the validity of our basic political freedoms. <br /> <br /> PACs began to be created in the mid-1970s, in the wake of two major campaign "reform" packages and the Watergate scandal. Previously, candidates were permitted to accept contributions from individuals, business corporations, labor unions, trade associations, political parties, and other groups and institutions. The new federal laws -- which, incidentally, established the bureaucracy and reporting requirements of the Federal Election Commission -- required such groups to establish separate committees to funnel campaign funds and set strict contribution limits. <br /> <br /> Those limits on contributions have not changed since 1974, even though the cost of running a political campaign has risen significantly. (Individual contributions are limited to $1,000 per campaign, while PAC contributions are limited to $5,000.) As a result, politicians -- both incumbents and challengers -- must devote the bulk of their time to fundraising, rather than to the vital job of meeting voters and expressing their views on the issues. </blockquote><blockquote>In other words, campaign finance "reform" has had the perverse effect of strengthening the incentives to seek funds from any and all sources, with candidates feeling forced to make promises to many different special interests just to keep their campaigns afloat. A second result is that highly qualified, highly motivated citizens are deterred from participating in the political process as candidates because fundraising has become so distasteful. This is the major reason why <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2009/05/jack-kemp.html">Jack Kemp</a>, a former congressman and cabinet secretary, refused to throw his hat into the ring for this year's presidential contest. Kemp represents only the tip of the iceberg of concerned citizens who fail to contribute their time and talent because campaign laws discourage them. <br /> <br /> Former presidential candidate <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lamar-Alexanders-Little-Plaid-Book/dp/1558535799?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Lamar Alexander</a> has suggested, based on his experience, that the campaign contribution limits should be raised. His suggestion does not go far enough. <br /> <br /> The best campaign finance reform would be to eliminate contribution limits altogether, but to require strict reporting of the sources of contributions. Campaign finance reports would be available for the press and public to examine. Such scrutiny would alert voters to any "funny business" and would inform us when special interests might have unseemly influence over a particular candidate. <br /> <br /> Politicians could be judged by their votes and their actions: Has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Great-Presidential-I-Wish-Book/dp/0743215273?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Bob Dole</a> introduced legislation particularly beneficial to Archer Daniels Midland, after that company has given him millions of dollars in campaign contributions? Has <a href="http://www.amazon.com/True-Compass-Edward-M-Kennedy/dp/0446539252?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Ted Kennedy</a> voted in lock step with the AFL-CIO, after labor unions have given him millions? Does the chairman of the House Education Committee take contributions from the National Education Association, or from the Home School Legal Defense Fund? If so, how does it affect his performance? These questions can be asked and answered in the full light of day. <br /> <br /> This is the system that Virginia law provides for state and local elections. Virginia has no limits on contributions, but campaign finance reports are open to public scrutiny. During campaign years, these reports must be filed on a frequent and regular basis. Local newspapers pay draw attention to any "red flags" that arise. This gives opponents and voters an opportunity to question and challenge candidates on the basis of their campaign funding sources. <br /> <br /> Campaign contribution limits force candidates to become beggars when they should be taking their case to the voters. If the limits are lifted, candidates will be better able to do their job and voters will be better able to judge them on their merits -- and therefore make better choices on Election Day. <br /> <br /> That is why the House Republicans who are challenging Newt Gingrich deserve praise and encouragement. They have demonstrated both independence and integrity by taking a stand on principle. <br /> <br /> <div style="text-align: center;">* * * * * * * * * * * * * * </div><div style="text-align: center;"><br /> </div><div style="text-align: center;">Richard Sincere is chairman of the Libertarian Party of Virginia. </div></blockquote><blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=10975&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-5513824408394414367?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/5XbH0kcOifU" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/06/best-campaign-reform-raise.htmltag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9666124.post-25741985599122581232011-05-22T16:06:00.001-04:002011-05-22T16:36:09.000-04:002011-05-22T16:36:09.000-04:00Five years ago, in anticipation of my 25-year college reunion at Georgetown University, I wrote a blog post called "<a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/05/may-29-1981.html">May 29, 1981</a>," which began like this:<br /> <blockquote><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BcqiboBtXb4/Tdlr7XgXWQI/AAAAAAAACpY/3qo2-75mGT8/s1600/1981_Graduation_002.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="154" src="http://2.bp.blogspot.com/-BcqiboBtXb4/Tdlr7XgXWQI/AAAAAAAACpY/3qo2-75mGT8/s200/1981_Graduation_002.jpg" width="200" /></a></div>May 29, 1981 -- the Sunday before Memorial Day, hazy in the morning in the Nation's Capital and unseasonably hot (with temperatures eventually reaching the 90s). It was Bob Hope's 78th birthday, it would have been John F. Kennedy's 64th, and it was the anniversary of Wisconsin's 1848 admission as a state in the Union and Rhode Island's ratification of the Constitution.<br /> <br /> <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Chorus-Line-Michael-Blevins/dp/B00008973A?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">A Chorus Line</a></i> was in its seventh year of a record-breaking Broadway run, but <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Cats-Musical-Commemorative-Elaine-Paige/dp/B00004XMTJ?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Cats</a></i> (which would eventually overtake that record) had opened in London but not yet in New York. "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Mistaken-Identity/dp/B0013SI7C6?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Bette Davis Eyes</a>" by Kim Carnes was the Number 1 song hit. Jonny Lang was precisely four months old and Britney Spears would come along nearly six months later.<br /> <br /> The Falklands War was a year away, John Belushi was still alive, and virtually no one had ever telephoned a friend to ask, "Where are you now?"<br /> <br /> May 29, 1981, was also a day of significance for me. It was the day I was graduated from Georgetown University.</blockquote>At the reunion a week or so later, I received a handful of compliments from classmates about the post, and gratitude that I had done the research to supplement their own memories.<br /> <br /> Nobody noticed that the premise was wrong.<br /> <br /> That is, I had the wrong date. May 29 was not the "Sunday before Memorial Day," because Memorial Day that year was on May 25. Our graduation, as a glance at my diploma on the wall would have told me, was on May 24, 1981.<br /> <br /> I've waited five years to correct the record.<br /> <br /> Sunday, May 24, 1981, was the birthday of documentary film maker <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1818058/">Nic Hill</a> (<i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Truth-Numbers-Everything-According-Wikipedia/dp/B004KPMCLQ?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Truth in Numbers? Everything, According to Wikipedia</a></i> and <i><a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1744787/">Ray Charles America</a></i>) and of Czech model and actress <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm1760194/">Markéta Jánská</a> (<i><a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2008/06/swingtown-and-challenges-of-1970s.html">Swingtown</a></i>). It was the day that the "Toastmaster General of the United States," <a href="http://www.imdb.com/name/nm0422181/bio">George Jessel</a>, passed away.<br /> <br /> <iframe align="left" frameborder="0" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://rcm.amazon.com/e/cm?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;o=1&amp;p=8&amp;l=bpl&amp;asins=B0007QJ1XE&amp;fc1=000000&amp;IS2=1&amp;lt1=_blank&amp;m=amazon&amp;lc1=0000FF&amp;bc1=000000&amp;bg1=FFFFFF&amp;f=ifr" style="align: left; height: 245px; padding-right: 10px; padding-top: 5px; width: 131px;"></iframe>That weekend saw the opening of several new movies: <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Outland-Sean-Connery/dp/6304698674?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Outland</a></i>, with Sean Connery and Peter Boyle; <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Death-Hunt-Charles-Bronson/dp/B0006GQMC8?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Death Hunt</a></i>, with Lee Marvin and Charles Bronson; <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Legend-Lone-Ranger-Klinton-Spilsbury/dp/B001ARDC16?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Legend of the Lone Ranger</a></i>, with Klinton Spilsbury, Michael Horse and Christopher Lloyd; <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Four-Seasons-Alan-Alda/dp/B0007QJ1XE?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Four Seasons</a></i>, with Alan Alda, Carol Burnett, Sandy Dennis, and Len Cariou; and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bustin-Loose-Richard-Pryor/dp/B0006FYOU6?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Bustin' Loose</a></i>, with Richard Pryor and Cicely Tyson.&nbsp; (Of those, the only one I remember seeing is <i>The Four Seasons</i>.&nbsp; Maybe I thought it was a documentary about <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Vivaldi-Four-Seasons-Antonio/dp/B000002994?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Vivaldi</a>, or a concert film with <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Very-Best-Frankie-Valli-Seasons/dp/B001223BLU?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Frankie Valli</a>.)<br /> <br /> The night before, Jill St. John and Jim Stafford guest starred on <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Fantasy-Island-Complete-First-Season/dp/B000B8IA3U?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Fantasy Island</a></i>, in an episode called "<a href="http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0577772/fullcredits#cast">Paquito's Birthday</a>."&nbsp; Sunday evening's TV shows included the perennial <i>60 Minutes</i>, as well as <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Archie-Bunkers-Place-Complete-Season/dp/B000CCBCCG?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Archie Bunker's Place</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-Day-Time-Complete-Season/dp/B00008EYBH?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">One Day at a Time</a>, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Alice-Television-Favorites-Compilation-Linda/dp/B000EU1QBS?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Alice</a></i>, and <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Jeffersons-Complete-First-Season/dp/B000068V9X?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Jeffersons</a></i> (all on CBS); NBC offered <i>Disney's Wonderful World, <a href="http://www.amazon.com/CHiPs-Complete-Season-Robert-Pine/dp/B00005JO3Z?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">CHiPs</a></i>, and <i>The Big Event</i>, while ABC had its Sunday night movie.&nbsp; Fox did not yet exist, and cable was not nearly pervasive in American homes as it would be just a few years later.<br /> <br /> The <a href="http://www.hawes.com/1981/1981-05-24.pdf"><i>New York Times</i> best-seller lists</a> published that day had <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Noble-House-James-Clavell/dp/0385343264?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Noble House</a></i>, by James Clavell, at the top of the fiction list, followed by <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Gorky-Park-Arkady-Renko-No/dp/0812977246?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Gorky Park</a></i>, by Martin Cruz Smith, in second place.&nbsp; The number one non-fiction best-seller was <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Lord-God-Made-Them-All/dp/0312335326?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">The Lord God Made Them All</a></i>, but James Herriot, with George Gilder's influential <i><a href="http://www.amazon.com/Wealth-Poverty-Self-Governance-George-Gilder/dp/1558152407?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Wealth and Poverty</a></i> at number five.&nbsp; (Number six was a biography of <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Maria-Callas-Woman-behind-Legend/dp/0815412282?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Maria Callas</a> by Arianna Stassinopoulos.&nbsp; You may know her as the founder of <i>The Huffington Post</i> under her married name.)<br /> <br /> In the music world, the number one U.S. single, according to Billboard, was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Bette-Davis-Eyes-Kim-Carnes/dp/B000006XGR?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Bette Davis Eyes</a>," by Kim Carnes; according to Cashbox, it was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Motown-Legends-Smokey-Robinson-Cruisin/dp/B0000047HV?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Being With You</a>," by Smokey Robinson.&nbsp; In Canada, the top hit was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/One-Hit-Wonders-60s-2/dp/B0000032TX?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Angel in the Morning</a><img alt="" border="0" height="1" src="http://www.assoc-amazon.com/e/ir?t=ricksincerene-20&amp;l=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969&amp;o=1&amp;a=B0000032TX" style="border: none !important; margin: 0px !important; padding: 0px !important;" width="1" />," by Juice Newton.&nbsp; In continental Europe, the number one single was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/MAKING-YOUR-MIND-BUCKS-FIZZ/dp/B004DY31A0?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Making Your Mind Up</a>," by Eurovision winner Bucks Fizz.&nbsp; In the UK, however, the chart-topping single was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Stand-Deliver-Very-Best-Adam/dp/B000KGGHII?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Stand and Deliver</a>," by Adam and the Ants, and in Ireland, it was "<a href="http://www.amazon.com/Shakin-Stevens-Greatest-Hits/dp/B00000744A?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">You Drive Me Crazy</a>," by Shakin' Stevens.<br /> <br /> Not that many of us at graduation on the Hilltop were paying close attention to these statistics.&nbsp; We had more monumental things on our mind.<br /> <br /> Let me note that my <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2006/05/may-29-1981.html">original 2006 post</a>, despite the wrong date, is still worth reading, if for nothing else than for the excerpts from Ambassador <a href="http://www.amazon.com/Reagan-Phenomenon-Speeches-Foreign-Policy/dp/0844713619?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;link_code=btl&amp;camp=213689&amp;creative=392969" target="_blank">Jeane Kirkpatrick</a>'s commencement address. <br /> <br /> At least I had the date for my high school graduation right, <a href="http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2007/05/may-22-1977.html">when I posted memories</a> on the occasion of its thirtieth anniversary a year later than my misdirected college reunion reminiscence.<br /> <blockquote><script src="http://www.tlavideo.com/affiliates/fcsbox.cfm?f=2970&amp;display_type=h&amp;sn=3668&amp;n=5" type="text/JavaScript"> </script></blockquote><br /> <br /> <div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">Be sure to visit<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.cafepress.com/ricksincere" style="color: #de7008;">my CafePress store</a><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>for gifts and novelty items!</span><br /> <a href="http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001AS6M7G?ie=UTF8&amp;tag=ricksincerene-20&amp;linkCode=as2&amp;camp=1789&amp;creative=390957&amp;creativeASIN=B001AS6M7G" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">Read my blog on Kindle!</a><br /> <span style="font-style: italic;">Follow<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span></span><a href="http://twitter.com/Rick_Sincere" style="color: #de7008; font-style: italic;">my tweets</a><span style="font-style: italic;"><span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span>on Twitter!&nbsp;</span></span></span></div><div style="font-family: 'Trebuchet MS',sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="border-collapse: separate; color: black; font-size: xx-small; font-style: normal; font-variant: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; line-height: normal; orphans: 2; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span style="font-style: italic;">See my<span class="Apple-converted-space">&nbsp;</span><a href="http://www.examiner.com/x-43619-Charlottesville-Libertarian-Examiner" style="color: #de7008;">articles on Examiner.com</a>!</span></span></span></div><div class="blogger-post-footer"><img width='1' height='1' src='https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/9666124-2574198559912258123?l=ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com' alt='' /></div><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~r/blogspot/iUOG/~4/L2O3h_C_f2I" height="1" width="1"/>Rick Sincerehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02430047101172614629noreply@blogger.com0http://ricksincerethoughts.blogspot.com/2011/05/may-24-1981.html