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Bob Barr captured the nomination of the Libertarian Party this weekend in Denver. Most people remember Barr as the very non-libertarian conservative who served Georgia’s 7th District starting in 1994, but the story of how he was defeated and how that led to him becoming a Libertarian is not as well known. Gary Storck writes about how Barr was ousted from Congress in part by the Libertarian Party running ads against him after he was forced by the Georgia legislature (which was controlled by Democrats) to face another incumbent Republican in a re-districting.

Barr’s conversion to his current political outlook is pretty drastic. He has gone from being a staunch supporter of both the Patriot Act and the drug war to working with both the ACLU and the Marijuana Policy Project in opposition. He has renounced his former support for the Defense of Marriage Act and wants us out of Iraq. It’s hard to tell what kind of support he will actually be able to get this year, but if there’s anyone who understands how the Libertarian Party can exercise some influence, it’s Bob Barr.

With posts to first Daily Kos and now The Huffington Post, Gov. Chris Gregoire is beginning to get into this blogging thing:

As Memorial Day approaches, I encourage all of you to take the time to honor our fallen veterans. Sadly more than 100 Washington men and women have died in combat in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mike and I have tried to attend every funeral service for Washington’s fallen soldiers, and we will continue our commitment to honoring these brave individuals by showing their families that we acknowledge their tragic loss.

And unlike the Bush administration, Gov. Gregoire provides both talk and action when it comes to supporting our troops, signing 47 pieces of legislation regarding veterans and their families during her first term, more than any other governor in state history.

Read the whole thing.

Kelly Steele versus Patrick (“The Anti-Goldy”) Bell…? It’s not a fair fight.

He was perhaps best known for his blog, “Respectfully Republican.”

When did the state GOP become a make-work program for B-list bloggers?

Kill ’em BOTH. What the hell…

(Source)

James Howard Kunstler writes about the problems he sees us heading towards when it comes to our energy needs:

As the world passes the all-time oil production high and watches as the price of a barrel of oil busts another record, as it did last week, these systems will run into trouble. Instability in one sector will bleed into another. Shocks to the oil markets will hurt trucking, which will slow commerce and food distribution, manufacturing and the tourist industry in a chain of cascading effects. Problems in finance will squeeze any enterprise that requires capital, including oil exploration and production, as well as government spending. These systems are all interrelated. They all face a crisis. What’s more, the stress induced by the failure of these systems will only increase the wishful thinking across our nation.

And that’s the worst part of our quandary: the American public’s narrow focus on keeping all our cars running at any cost. Even the environmental community is hung up on this. The Rocky Mountain Institute has been pushing for the development of a “Hypercar” for years — inadvertently promoting the idea that we really don’t need to change.

I wanted to post about this because it’s now the top story at reddit. The idea that people need to change their lifestyle in the face of a crisis is a difficult message for any politician or pundit to put out there. If the predictions turn out to be overly alarmist, all it does is make people complacent towards the real dangers that exist. This is a common problem with the environmental issues we face, and why I often compare them to the foreign policy issues we face. When either side of the ideological spectrum exaggerates the dangers (whether it’s Kunstler on the environment, or Joe Lieberman on Iran), it only works against those who are intent on fixing the problems.

I tend to believe that Kunstler is underestimating what the demand for technical innovation will produce. When people are faced with the prospect of giving up their lifestyle, their financial calculus changes. When this happens across the globe, I believe we’ll see some radical changes, but we’re not returning to a time where everyone is cut off from the rest of the world again. The innovations of the 20th century (commercial air travel, computers, the internet, space travel, and television) were largely inconceivable to someone in 1900, and the major advancements of the 21st century are largely inconceivable to us now. It’s not a bad idea for people to change their lifestyles, and with the price of oil what it is, many people are going to anyway. But what we need to do most of all is place more emphasis on science in our educational systems. And we need to return to a time when our government valued and respected science so that the innovations that build the 21st century come from America, just as they did in the 20th.

The Seattle Times has the story of 41-year-old Pauline Goldmeier, who chased down a group of teens stealing her $500.00 mountain bike, eventually leading to the arrest and detainment of three of the five suspects.

When Pauline Goldmeier pulled up to her Seward Park home last week and saw a group of teens making off with her $500 mountain bike, something snapped.

She’d been the victim of a carjacking, a kidnapping and uncounted incidents of vandalism, but that day she’d had enough.

“They had no idea whose bike they were stealing,” said the 41-year-old legal secretary and mother of two. “I’ve had a lot of things happen to me, and I’m tired of it.”

Good for Goldmeier.  But imagine how differently this incident might have ended had Goldmeier, as so many on the right advocate, been armed at the time “something snapped” …?

I’m just sayin’.

Ambassador Joe Wilson’s gives a very entertaining and informative talk on neocons, America, patriotism, and Republican traitors:

(These and some seventy other clips from the past week in politics are now posted at Hominid Views.)

Oy…

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton quickly apologized Friday after citing the 1968 assassination of Robert F. Kennedy as a reason to remain in the race for the Democratic presidential nomination despite increasingly long odds.

“I regret that if my referencing that moment of trauma for our entire nation and in particular the Kennedy family was in any way offensive. I certainly had no intention of that whatsoever,” the former first lady said.

The episode occurred as Clinton campaigned in advance of the June 3 South Dakota primary.

Responding to a question from the Sioux Falls Argus Leader editorial board about calls for her to drop out of the race, she said: “My husband did not wrap up the nomination in 1992 until he won the California primary somewhere in the middle of June, right? We all remember Bobby Kennedy was assassinated in June in California. You know I just, I don’t understand it,” she said, dismissing the idea of abandoning the race

Yes, it was offensive, and yes, it was an awfully dumb thing to say. And while yes, she was quick to apologize, yes, she should have worded her apology more directly.

But honestly… it’s true. Who doesn’t fear for Obama’s safety above that of the typical candidate, and why wouldn’t that thought enter into Clinton’s calculation? I’ve always assumed that one of her reasons for sticking with this so doggedly—however small—is the desire to lay undisputed claim to the nomination should anything, scandalous or tragic, happen to Obama.

You don’t come out and say it—that was a fuck up—but you can’t blame her for thinking it.

The Washington Post’s top political handicapper Chris Cillizza has updated his list of House seats likely to change party hands in November, and look what makes the top twenty:

19. WA-08 (GOP-held): Rep. Dave Reichert (R) is a very strong candidate but the demographics of this Seattle-area district are trending in the wrong direction for the incumbent. Democrat Darcy Burner came within 7,000 votes of beating Reichert in 2006 and is back for a rematch. Reichert could do everything right in the next five months and still lose. (Previous ranking: N/A)

Keep in mind that 13 of the races ahead of WA-08 are for open seats, and that Cillizza ranks Reichert as the second most likely Republican incumbent to lose his seat. And this analysis coming from a guy who thinks Reichert a “very strong candidate.” (Perhaps Cillizza was just referring to Reichert’s biceps?)

Once again, same city, same day, two newspapers, two headlines.

From the Seattle Times: “Housing prices slide in this state, 42 others.”

And from the Seattle P-I: “Area home prices up 2.8% from year ago.”

My suggestion… if you’re looking to buy a house, read the Times. If you’re looking to sell a house, read the P-I.

From the Seattle Times: “Wenatchee cyclist could get shot at Tour de France.”

My advice to 23-year-old Wenatchee cyclist Tyler Farrar is, if you could get shot at the Tour… for God’s sake don’t go! It’s just a bike race, and you’re too young to die!

UPDATE:
The Times has updated the headline in their online edition to read: “Wenatchee cyclist has shot at riding in Tour de France.”

Another victory for bloggers everywhere.

The TNT’s Niki Sullivan is fast becoming my favorite newspaper blogger. After being refused entry into a Christian Businessmen’s Connection (CBMC) event featuring Dino Rossi (obviously, one of the businesses they haven’t connected with yet is PR), Sullivan follows up by reporting that the gathering most likely violated the law, putting the organization’s tax-exempt status at risk.

The problem: CMBC is a 501(c)3 nonprofit. And, as far as the Internal Revenue Service is concerned, Rossi could have talked exclusively about his shoe size and the event still would have run afoul of the law.

That tidbit in itself is worth the read, but I just love how Sullivan writes up her exchange with CBMC organizer Dwight Mason:

“I feel like it’s a private party. Our purpose was not fundraising, I can say that,” he said.

I asked if fundraising occurred.

“There was no plea for funds. No funds were solicited.”

I told him I had heard otherwise.

“You know, if there were envelopes there, they weren’t anything that I had anything to do with. When you have a political campaign, I’m sure there’s going to be some envelopes around somewhere.”

Understandable. But whether there was fundraising is irrelevant in the eyes of the law.

“To me this sounds to me like a reporter who has an agenda.”

Correct. My agenda includes something about holding people in power accountable.

Now that’s blogging. You go girl.

Gen. Wesley Clark is going to one lucky Congressional district to do a community service project and we get to decide where to send him.  So go to Democrats Works today and vote for Darcy in WA-08.

It’s quick, it’s easy, and it’s free, so there’s no excuse not to show your support.