Just for fun take the Authentic Libertarian Certification Exam. Be sure to read the directions first. Once done, if you are proud of your results post them in our forum. No cheating by doing research during the exam.

The exam is part of the Frederic Bastiat Interversity's Libertarian Certification Program developed by Michael Everling and Sam Wells.

On October 2, 1996 in the “New York Post,” then columnist Carl T. Rowan wrote a piece entitled “Liberal Is Not a Four Letter Word.” In it, he described what it meant to be “a liberal” and what it entailed. After reading it, it just reaffirmed to me that the ideology had nothing to in common with the liberalism of the past. That the ideology was hijacked. Where once liberalism believed in the chains of the Constitution, the limits of power and government, as well as rugged individualism, it, along with the conservatism of the modern variety today, believes in the omnipotence of the state. To me, it was a sad read.

Proposal number five of Karl Marx’s Communist Manifesto was to bring about the “centralization of credit in the banks of the state, by means of a national bank with state capital and an exclusive monopoly.” This is exactly what our central bank, the Federal Reserve, has now done. Anyone who thinks we are still a capitalist country needs a reality check. We haven't been a capitalist country since FDR and the New Deal. It is ironic that Bush and the republican "free marketeers" have dealt the final blow.

The House narrowly defeated a bill to “rescue” Wall Street today. The question is, what does this mean to the average American?

First of all, congress rejected the concept that the government will be responsible for renegotiating homeowner mortgages that were made by banks which thought they could sell off those loans and take no risk. Investors in such financial instruments that are backed by mortgage payments and other revenue streams, such as credit card receivables, will be wary of taking on such risk in the future. Insurers who promised restitution to these investors will no longer be so certain that these financial instruments are somewhat recession-proof.

Solar panel installation companies are laying off workers and NJ residents are waiting years for solar panels to be installed on and around their homes. Why? Because NJ has a rebate program to promote clean energy but they don't have the money to back it up. These installation companies have to wait years to get checks for work that they are doing and they can't afford to install solar panels and not get paid for their work. There are over 700 applications for solar power rebates still backlogged and now NJ is going to have to pull the plug on the program. And it gets even worse... they are funding this failed program with a tax on every one's utility bill! So as the price of oil is going up the NJ government is trying to promote clean energy use by making electricity more expensive? This does not compute!

If you haven't seen it yet please go check it out. You can find it at www.bobbarr2008.com.

Assembly Speaker Joseph Roberts (D-Camden) authored the most recent bill that modified NJ's current housing policies. It passed in the senate yesterday by a vote of 21-16. One of these changes was to stop municipalities from paying poor cities to take on the burden of offering affordable housing on their behalf. Half of these Democratic senators must be in the pocket of the developers because that is the only reason I can think of behind these types of bills.

The City of Newark is spending $9,300 to offer etiquette classes to its citizens. This is the kind of absurdity that is hard to laugh at. Not only is this an insult to the people of Newark but also a wanton waste of taxpayers' money that could go to something much more useful and necessary. Table manners will not help add jobs to the city of Newark.

Read more...

Jeffrey Conway, a man who protested at an Orange town meeting, was found innocent of any charges that could have been brought against him. For months the town government has been going after him in court, and for what? He held up a sign the size of a regular sheet of paper in protest against Mims Hackett, the mayor of Orange. For holding up a sign and refusing to put it down he was hauled away to jail despite the fact that other people were also holding up signs and that he was just practicing his first amendment right.

Here is the news article.