rEVOLution

I happened to catch the Libertarian Party Convention on CSPAN today. The candidate I was pulling for, Dr. Mary Ruwart, finished second behind former Congressman Bob Barr. Of the possible candidates, I liked Barr the least. He's a fairly recent ex-Republican who voted for the Patriot Act and also voted to uphold the ban on gay marriage, though he says he has switched his position on both issues. Dr. Ruwart is a scientist who worked as a pharmaceutical researcher for almost twenty years, and has a fairly strong stance against the war on drugs. She has been in the party longer, but hasn't held a major office like former Congressman Barr. He kind of strikes me as a douchebag (or at best, a politician), but at least I agree with him in some aspects. He's better than McCain or Obama, and Clinton was never an option to begin with.

Some highlights from the convention include Penn Jillette receiving three votes in the first round and Steven Colbert receiving votes into the second round. I also liked when the Utah delegate introduced his state as "the place where separation of church and state is three city blocks." But I have to say my favorite part was seeing delegates form Arizona wearing Guy Fawkes masks. Awesome.

Why I'm Not A Teacher

Drew Carey, fellow Libertarian, has a series of videos at reason.tv called The Drew Carey Project. I don't agree with him on every point (yes, even Libertarians can disagree), but I encourage everyone to watch the videos, because he covers a lot of points that don't get much air time (organ transplant, traffic, gambling, etc.). I was catching up on his videos yesterday when I came across this one that made me sick to my stomach. I'll pause here while you watch the video...




::Intermission::





And THAT, my friends, is why I hate the government. And unions. And public schools (see government). Thank FSM this ultimately had a happy ending. One of the hardest Libertarian points I have to defend is the elimination of public schools. Ron Paul faced similar criticisms when he ran for president. This video pretty much sums it up. You have a school district and a teacher's union that don't give a damn about students. They just care about themselves. As Penn Says, "It's better to be uneducated than educated by your government."

WT*? LM*O!

I haven't had a good Libertarian post, so it's about time I spit out some crazy politics. The survey I took yesterday got me thinking, particularly #5. I wasn't being cute with my answer, that's really how I feel. I don't believe in curses, and I don't believe in curse words. The idea that words like fuck, shit, asshole, damn, bitch, and cocksucker are somehow "bad" words is ridiculous. I can be just as vulgar and derogatory without using any of those words. They're like little summaries of what I'm actually thinking. I swear a lot (I am a sailor after all). But I know that there's a time and a place for it. I don't say "fuck" around my patients for the same reason I don't tell dead baby jokes around them. It's unprofessional, regardless of whether I use one of the seven dirty words or not.

And that type of self-censorship is fine. But I will never agree with government censorship of any kind. The FCC can go have sex with itself (to use a polite euphemism). Television is violent, vulgar, and crude. Jack Bauer can be tortured on screen, then grab a gun and shoot nine people, but he can't use these seven words. If you don't want to hear those words, if they make you cry, then by all means, change the channel. You can live in a hole with the lights off for all I care. That is the role of the person, not the government. It's the first amendment, like it or not.

I was arguing this point with a very conservative friend of mine, when he said that "freedom of speech implies freedom of listening." I think what he was trying to say is that he believes he has a right to not have to hear something if he doesn't want to. This claim is also used to stop gay marriage ("I don't want to have to see that...") or evolution ("I don't want my children learning that..."). Political groups use arguments like that to push their agendas and take the freedom of speech and expression away from people they disagree with. There couldn't be a more obvious abuse of government than that. That is exactly why we have the first amendment.

While the Profanity episode of Bullshit is great (the entire episode can be found on YouTube), I found this clip from the College episode (you can cut it out after 2:01, the rest is in the context of the whole episode). He nails it. Censorship is the job of the individual, not the government. "We don't have a fucking right NOT to be offended."

On a related note, new episodes of Bullshit start in June. I can't wait.