Breaking News… Barr to be featured in TIME Magazine

UPDATE:  For those of you that are interested, here is the story I described below last night.

Today, Editor & Publisher is reporting that TIME magazine will be running a feature on Bob Barr’s candidacy and the Libertarian movement.  This issue will be available at newstands tomorrow, and it discusses the standard national media coverage, asking the same questions that everyone else is, asserting that Barr’s candidacy will steal votes from John McCain, implying this vote loss will result in the election of Barack Obama.  The typical “spoiler” message will be presented, and the slant against anything that is not the status quo will be continued, as they compliment the LIbertarians backhandedly with a “The (Not So) Lunatic Fringe” title.  The positive side of the feature is that it will add to Barr’s national media exposure and hopefully draw people into the fold that appreciate the message of liberty and freedom.

What a Great Idea!

For those of us searching for smaller government, sound fiscal policy, and retaining our freedom, neither Barack Obama nor John McCain fits the bill.  But if you are someone who must see how they stack up against someone who many regard as the measuring stick for those ideals, Marc at Liberty Maven has taken the positions of the two status quo candidates and held them up to the “Ron Paul Paul-O-Meter.”  John McCain’s dismal score of 25 out of 99 possible points was nearly as low as I thought you could get until I saw Barack Obama’s deplorable 17 out of 99 possible points.  They will soon be showing how Bob Barr stacks up to Dr. Paul’s stick.  For information about the scoring and an explanation of the scale, you can find that here.  Not only will they be sizing up the status quo candidates and Bob Barr, but they are planning to scale Chuck Baldwin, Ralph Nader, and Cynthia McKinney to round out the participants in this year’s election.

How Do I Sign Up For One Of These?

The next time you fly, how would you like to wear one of these ?

I wonder what Ben DeCosta would think of these in a “post 9/11 world.”

Independence Day Message from Bob Barr

Today, I received a very inspirational message from the Bob Barr presidential campaign discussing freedom and liberty in America today.  For those of you not already involved in the message that Barr brings, I have included the majority of the message below.  Please note that these are his words and emphasis and not mine, although I echo his sentiments.

This weekend, millions of Americans will celebrate our Independence Day.  They will gather in parks and on front lawns, fire up their grills and enjoy an evening of fireworks, family and friendship.

Children will wave sparklers in the air, tracing figure eights, while fathers will light seemingly endless fuses of fountains and firecrackers.

Most revel on the Fourth of July as a matter of tradition – and it is a good one.  I have celebrated this day throughout my life, even when I lived in nations that did not cherish freedom.

When I reflect on our Independence Day traditions, I am deeply grateful that Americans continue to celebrate this historic day, but I am also saddened by our combined failure to stop the continued encroachment upon our freedom.

Each July 4th, I look back at our year and can literally count the ways in which the path set forth by our forefathers has been distorted and, many times, betrayed.

We live in a nation bursting with people who love liberty but governed by men who lust for power.

For over 100 years, those designing men have been enabled by a political system that favors and protects the powerful.

Republicans and Democrats have maintained and significantly increased their hold on the reigns of our government regardless of the damage that has been done to the men, women and children who work, love, live and die in our great nation.

Today’s America does not resemble the intent clearly laid out within that document that was signed by patriots 232 years ago.

They put more than ink to paper when they signed the Declaration of Independence; they placed their lives, families, prosperity and honor on the line for liberty.

Our founders knew that we are endowed by our creator with certain unalienable rights.  They held no tolerance for the thought that we are granted rights by government.

Our rights, our decisions, our very lives are ours.  It is through individual responsibility by which we prosper or fail – not by state decree or legislation.

When Jefferson added the word “among” into the phrase, “among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness,” he was defiantly stating that our rights are self-defined, short of depriving another of their life or liberty.

Since the day that the Declaration of Independence was signed, we appear to have lost the meaning and intent of the words: independence, freedom and liberty.

Instead, those words have been echoed with abuse on campaign trails and government buildings by politicians who use them as Orwellian tools to mean just the opposite.

We now use “freedom” as an excuse to invade sovereign nations.

The protection of “liberty” is now an excuse to take it from us.

But today, during this election year, we have the opportunity to change the course of events.

We have a chance to send a message to Washington that will rock its foundation.

Together, we can make the word LIBERTY ring true with deafening accord.

My candidacy for President of the United States is not one of vanity or shallowness.  I, probably just like you, have had my eyes forced open by a government that wants to take all that it can from me and my family.

I am running for president to stand firm and demand a return of my liberty, my privacy, my labor and the peaceful heritage of my nation.

I ask you to stand with me.

Together we face the two-party behemoth that will do all that it can to silence us.

I have made contributions to the campaign, as recently as today’s Barr Bomb, and I encourage you to do the same if you truly hold freedom and liberty as highly as I do.  You can donate to the campaign here, and if you haven’t researched his message enough to feel comfortable contributing, I strongly urge you to visit him at his campaign website.

The Message of Freedom and Liberty

The Barr/Root campaign has released a new campaign video.  It is too long to be a television commercial, but it is certainly short enough to keep the ADHD American public’s attention.