Helmer Reenberg: House Minority Leader Gerald Ford & NO District Attorney Jim Garrison in 1967

Source:The FreeState

Gerald Ford was already the House Minority Leader by the time these interviews were done. And was put on the Warren Commission by President Lyndon Johnson because he was trusted by Congressional Democrats and Republicans and seen as a responsible intelligent Republican. Who would seek the truth and not try to score political points from the investigation. But looking back now I think these conspiracy theories especially centering around Lee Harvey Oswald not being either the sole assassin, or the only person involved in the JFK assassination, doesn’t look so crazy fifty-years later. And I believe Jim Garrison looks like a more credible figure now. And that it looks possible, reasonable that someone other than Lee Harvey Oswald was behind the JFK assassination.

The O’Reilly Factor: Ethan Nadelmann & Bill O’Reilly Debate The War on Drugs

Source:FreeState Now

One of the reasons why the War on Drugs does not work. Is because its contradictory, because it tries to protect people from themselves. But then sends people to places jails and prisons that are worst for them than marijuana supposedly for their own good. A lot of government laws are reactive and contradictory. People get sanctioned after the fact. And the punishment for their supposed crime is worst in many cases than the actual crime itself. Like doing 3-5 years in prison for simply possessing, or selling marijuana.

Or selling marijuana, even to a sober competent adult who just happens to want marijuana. Americans by in large know that the War on Drugs simply does not work. They know why their taxes are high, because they are being forced to subsidize people who could take care of themselves on the outside. And it’s really just the big government Neoconservatives and paternalistic Progressives, who if they could would outlaw anything that is not healthy for people, who haven’t figured out the so-called War on Drugs doesn’t work and we need a new policy and policies in how we deal with narcotics in America.

Advocates for marijuana legalization and ending the so-called War on Drugs, are not calling for marijuana legalization, because they think that we should all get high. And always throw caution to the wind and that everyone should not only be on marijuana, but use it all the time. What we tend to say is that we’re talking about a drug that has similar side-effects as alcohol. And throwing people in jail for using a drug that has similar effects as alcohol, is not a good use of taxpayer resources. Especially when the economy is slow and government budgets are tight to begin with. And when marijuana legalization would be a benefit both to the economy and with tax revenue.

Movie Trailers: AC News: One For The Money (2011)

Source:The Daily Press 

When I first heard about and watched One For The Money, I thought Katherine Heigle was way too cute to play a bounty hunter. I don't care how tall she is and how great of a body she and she's tall and very sexy physically, but she comes off as a big kid. Like a baby-face teenage girl a lot of times and didn't look much older in this movie than she did in that 1998 Chucky movie she did. So in that way she was sort of perfect for this part, because the people she was trying to catch wouldn't take her seriously and she would perhaps be underestimated.

But then you watch the movie and see the scenes where Katherine Heigle is actually involved in bounty hunting and catching suspects and she handles herself very well and even tackles a guy running away from his home suspected I believe on drug dealing. So her persona and appearance of "aw, you're so cute and sweet, I have nothing to worry about with you", worked very well for her and her character because she did know what she was doing once she learned the ropes and handled herself very well as a bounty hunter.

What I was expecting from One For The Money when I finally saw it on demand this summer, was perhaps somewhat cheesy bad written movie that was mostly about a sexy, gorgeous baby-face goddess kicking ass in tight skinny jeans in boots. With some explosive action scenes and car chases and perhaps some humor in it. This movie has all of that, except the writing is much better and it is actually a very good action/comedy and fairly well-written and Katherine Heigle and Jason O'Mara the two main bounty hunters do a very good job in it.

Sam Seder: Federal Judge Blocks 6-Week Abortion Banning Bill

Source:The Majority Report- Pro-Choice on abortion rally. 

Source:The Daily Times

“A federal judge in North Dakota has issued a block on the country’s most restrictive abortion law, the “fetal heartbeat” ban, stating it is unconstitutional…

This clip from the Majority Report, live M-F at 12 noon EST and via daily podcast at:The Majority Report." 

From The Majority Report 

I don’t love it, but I do find it amusing, even sadly so when I hear people who call themselves fiscal Conservatives, who claim government is too big and spends too much money and yet they spend taxpayer dollars on bills that if they don’t know that they’ll get thrown out on constitutional grounds, their lawyers at the very least are smart enough to know that. And yet taxpayers still have to pay for the costs of them writing their bills and paying for staff’s work and everything else. North Dakota and their anti-abortion bill, that bans abortion after six-weeks of pregnancy, is a perfect example of that.

If you can forget about the unconstitutionality and big government aspects of the bill, with the state stepping in to make health care decision for competent women, you can also dislike the bill for the waste of tax dollars that come with it. Money that could be used to pay for schools, roads, hospitals, law enforcement, jails, prisons, or lowering property taxes, is being spent to pass a bill that will eventually get thrown out. And that is before you add up the costs of what it will take to defend the unconstitutional law in the first place.

But the politics and politicians don’t take positions too many times to be consistent and accurate. But to meet short-term political goals. Which is why they’re not leaders, but sheep trapped in herds instead.

James Miller Center: 1980 State of The Union

Source:FRS FreeState

The Iranian Hostage Crisis, was the final nail in the Carter Presidency. Not so much the day that it happened, but how long it went on. Plus the fact that it was one more big blow that President Carter and the Democratic Party couldn’t afford controlling both the White House and Congress going into the 1980 general elections. Going up against a Republican Party, that was on the rebound and anxious to get back into power. If you look at President Carter’s poll numbers from the summer of 1979, one of the worst summers that America has ever gone through, at least economically with the energy shortages and everything else, President Carter was in the low thirties.

Plus, the economy was going back into recession and was dealing with high interest rates and inflation. And then the hostage crisis starts in November, right before Thanksgiving that year. But the country sort of came together around the situation, because we wanted our people back. Especially the families and President Carter acted so strongly and swiftly in response to the crisis. And his poll numbers shot back up as a result. Progressive Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy, challenges the President for the presidency in the winter of 1980. But Carter whips Senator Kennedy is most of the Democratic primaries. It wasn’t so much the Iranian Hostage Crisis that ruined the Carter Presidency, but how long that it went on.

That a third world country of twenty-five million people, could hold the world’s number one military and economic power hostage for an entire year. If the crisis was over by the spring of the 1980, President Carter probably does much better against Ronald Reagan and the fall and perhaps even beats him. Because the economy started rebounding as well. The Carter Administration, tried to end the crisis in the spring of 1980 with a rescue attempt. That failed with a helicopter crashing in the Iranian desert. Which just made the President look worst and weaker and essentially guaranteeing that the crisis would go on.

Liberty Pen: Milton Friedman: The Free Lunch Myth

Source:FreeState Now

The fact is there is no free lunch from government. Even if you are technically receiving services for free like in public assistance, that is for anyone working and gets paid to work, because anyone who works pays taxes to finance some government service. We just pay for these services in taxes, and not paying for them out-of-pocket, or with a credit card at a store. Or buying those products online. Anytime you hear a politician, or political candidate say that they can give you this service for free, or that government should provide these services for free, ask them how much it will cost you.

They’ll probably say free, but then you should say, “if this service will be free, how is it paid for?” And they’ll from this tax, or that tax, or creating a new tax. And then you should say directly and not as a question, “so this service won’t be free, because I’ll be paying for it in new taxes, or a new tax increase. Or this service will be cut to pay for this new service.” And the politician, or candidate might still say, “no. You’re not going to pay for this new program in taxes. Business’s will, or wealthy people will.” Well, they’s still be wrong. Because every time you increase the cost of doing business, the consumers end up paying for that new cost. Business’s, are for-profit and aren’t patriotic enough generally to say, “look, we know our government needs to do this and we’ll be happy to pay for it ourselves.” So, you increases taxes on business’s and the consumer will end pay for that new tax increase, or at least part of it.

Conky Joe: Video: NFL 1973-The Don Shula Show-Super Bowl 8-January 14, 1974

Source:The Daily Post

Obviously a Miami Dolphins local TV show with the so-called host of it not there to ask Head Coach Don Shula any tough or critical questions. But having said that, forget about the score of Super 8 between the Miami Dolphins and Minnesota Vikings, 23-7. The game looked like a 28-0 or 35-10 game, where one team could basically did everything they wanted to do on offense and dominate the first half. And play keep away in the second half, as well as shut down the other team’s offense in the first half at least. Because sometimes the final score in football games are misleading. Because you could have one team dominate the other really badly without the score indicating that. And making the game look a lot closer than it actually was. Which is what the Dolphins did, completely dominate the Vikings in Super Bowl 8. To the point that the Vikings were never actually in the football game with a real chance of winning. They Vikings fell behind early and never got into the game.