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The New York Post has published a poorly written story on activist and NJLP member, Julian Heiklen. The story was also discussed by the Libertarian News Examiner.
What was he smoking when he wrote this?
A pro-pot libertarian activist who’s been repeatedly busted in front of the Manhattan federal courthouse has defied a judge’s order to stop sending him letters.
Julian Heicklen, 78, told Manhattan federal Judge Richard Holwell that he’ll cease only when Holwell recuses himself from Heicklen’s civil-rights case, "as I have requested previously."
"In the event that you are considering a contempt of court charge against me, you have misjudged the situation," Heicklen wrote in a letter filed today.
"My feeling toward this court is not contempt. It is hatred, intense hatred."
Heicklen, 78, is suing the Department of Homeland Security and numerous other defendants over his arrests, which took place while he was distributing pamphlets urging jurors to acquit defendants if they don’t agree with the law.
Holwell told Heicklen to "direct all correspondence regarding non-dispositive matters" to Magistrate Judge James Cott.
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- Written by: Jay Edgar
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I keep getting anti-immigration emails from right wing groups claiming all sorts of things about The Dream Act. As someone who supports a free market and free people, I think this is a good bill. It still has too much bureaucracy and doesn't apply to enough immigrants however.
Most of the right wing groups emails that I am getting claim that this is a give away of student aid and provides free college tuition. The bill has none of that in it. In fact it limits financial aid to loans only, work study, and Title IV aid. This is all subject to the same rules as any other student and does not provide for any special aid for illegal immigrants.
Immigrants who take advantage of the Dream Act are given a 10 year conditional non-immigrant status. They are no longer eligible if they "become a public charge" (i.e. become dependent on the state). Eligibility is removed for a list of other reasons.
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Examples of individuals using guns to defend themselves abound. A simple Google search has turned up the following:
- This past Thursday in Houston, a store owner shot three robbers who had tied up his wife.
- On Saturday a business owner shot and killed a robber at her Fresno, CA video game store.
- Also on Saturday in Georgia, a man shot a knife wielding robber in a parking lot.
- On Monday, a man in Kansas shot a would be robber in his apartment.
- Earlier this month in Georgia, a liquor store clerk shot and killed one of the two men attempting to rob him.
- In Tennessee a pizza delivery driver used a handgun to defend himself against three robbers, killing one of them.
- Just after Thanksgiving, a homeowner defended his family against a home intruder in Arkansas.
- This past summer an 11 year old girl defended herself with her mother's rifle in her Albuquerque home.
Meanwhile here in New Jersey Brian Aitken sits in jail merely for having weapons and ammunition locked in the trunk of his car. Law abiding New Jersey residents are left with little options for self defense.
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There's been a lot going on for the past week or two surrounding the WikiLeaks release of a number of secret diplomatic cables. The release of the leaked cables must be considered separately from what's been going on in its wake.
We've got the right to know what our government is doing. In fact, since our society is "government of the people, by the people, for the people", I'd argue that we have an obligation to keep an eye on the government. But that is in tension with the government's own responsibility to defend us: some things, like military strategy or, yes, diplomatic proceedings, need to be held close to the vest to be effective at all. This leads to a sort of Catch-22. We need to police the government, but we can't know what it's doing.
I think the only way to resolve the paradox is on a case-by-case basis. Given our current environment, it seems to me that we must come out in favor of disclosure. There is just too much evidence of the government lying to us, with politicians doing what's in their own interest rather than the nation's.
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Included in the Obamacare bill was a provision titled: Section 2711, "No Lifetime or Annual Limits". Insurance providers will need to drastically increase rates in order achieve a no limits policy. Health and Human services have provided a method for opting out of this provision. As of December 3rd, 222 providers have had their applications approved. This has allowed for over 1.5 million people to opt out of the one of the more expensive aspects of Obamacare.
I do not yet know how many applications have been submitted or rejected. Today I submitted a Freedom of Information Act request to the federal Health and Human Services agency requesting the list of rejected applications and the reasons for each rejection. I'll update this article when I hear back.
UPDATE: On December 23rd, I got a letter back saying that my request was denied based on 41 U.S.C 253b(m) of the National Defense Authorization Act for 1997, Public Law No. 104-201b. (FOIA exemption (b)(3) permits denials based on statutes other than FOIA.)
Furthermore they are denying my request because of FOIA exemption (b)(4) which permits the withholding of trade secrets and commercial or financial information. They claim the release of the info would cause harm to the organizations.
I have 30 days to appeal. I may either appeal or I may somehow reword my request.
One thing the letter does say is that the data I requested consists of approximately 50 pages of records.
So how does publishing the list of the 222 companies who were approved not cause them harm?
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
December 3, 2010
Contact: Wes Benedict, Executive Director
E-mail:
Phone: 202-333-0008 ext. 222
Wes for Wesley Snipes
Why men can't jump on Wesley Snipes
WASHINGTON - Wes Benedict, Executive Director of the Libertarian Party, issued the following statement today:
"The federal government's recent demand for tax protester Wesley Snipes to report to prison brings attention to how horrible the federal income tax system is.
"The three-year federal prison sentence for Snipes's failure to file tax returns is absurd. Snipes is not a threat to anyone, and the judge who sentenced him clearly just wanted to scare others who might think about resisting federal taxes.
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The NJ Libertarian Party is joining We Won't Fly by organizing the National Opt Out Day demonstration at Newark Airport. On Wednesday, November 24th we urge all travelers who are "selected" to undergo the intrusive full body scanning to Opt Out. Instead they will be forced to participate in the more time consuming and humiliating enhanced "pat downs". The pat downs include moving hands up legs until contact pressure is made with genitals.
We are meeting on November 24th at 6:00 PM at the bar of Chile's Too in terminal B. Demonstrations will start at 6:30.
Our goal is to raise awareness among travelers over this new TSA procedure.
For more info see our meetup page or the We Won't Fly website.
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The following resolution was approved by the Libertarian Party of Florida on November 14th, 2010 in response to several unlibertarian comments made by Wayne Root.
Resolution regarding Wayne Allen Root
WHEREAS, the Libertarian Party of Florida Executive Committee is committed to the platform of the Libertarian Party; and
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A New Jersey man gets seven years for being a responsible gun owner.
Sue Aitken called the police because she was worried about her son, Brian. She now lives with the guilt of knowing that her phone call is the reason Brian spent his 27th birthday in a New Jersey prison last month. If the state gets its way, he will be there for the next seven years.
Aitken was sentenced in August after he was convicted of felony possession of a handgun. Before his arrest, Aitken, an entrepreneur and owner of a media consulting business, had no criminal record, and it appears he made a good-faith effort to comply with New Jersey's stringent gun laws. Even the jurors who convicted him seem to have been looking for a reason to acquit him. But the judge gave them little choice.
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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
October 29, 2010
Contact: Wes Benedict, Executive Director
E-mail:
Phone: 202-333-0008 ext. 222
WASHINGTON - In Colorado, Indiana, Illinois, and Maryland, Democrats have spent money on mailers and other printed items to inform voters about Libertarian candidates.
Libertarian Party (LP) Executive Director Wes Benedict said, "We're pleased to see Democrats spending their own money to promote Libertarian candidates. We hope Republicans will start doing the same thing soon."
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Libertarian Chair: Time to Re-Legalize Immigration
WASHINGTON - Amid controversy over U.S. immigration policy, Libertarian Party Chair Mark Hinkle says the proper way to end illegal immigration is to re-legalize immigration. Hinkle released the following statement today:
"In debate after debate, Democratic and Republican politicians have decried the problem of illegal immigration, called for more border security and employer sanctions, and eagerly searched for evidence that their rivals employed undocumented help. The Obama administration proudly touts the fact that it is deporting more undocumented aliens than George W. Bush, while many of the families they support remain stranded in the United States, and most of whom were guilty of nothing more than the inability to satisfy a nightmarish bureaucracy.
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BY LUKE FUNK
MYFOXNY.COM - Auditors say the New Jersey Turnpike Authority wasted $43 million on unneeded perks and bonuses. In one case, an employee with a base salary of $73,469 earned $321,985 when all payouts and bonuses were included.
The audit says that toll dollars From the New Jersey Turnpike and the Garden State Parkway were spent on items ranging from an employee bowling league to employee bonuses for working on birthdays and holidays.
It took place as tolls were being increased.
The biggest expense uncovered in the audit was $30 million in unjustified bonuses to employees and management in 2008 and 2009 without consideration of performance.
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In January of 2009 the police were called to Brian Aitken's parents house in Mount Laurel over a family dispute. The police found guns in Brian Aitken's car and arrested him for not having a permit to possess these guns. At the time of the arrest, the guns were unloaded and locked in the trunk of the car.
When Brian moved from Colorado to New Jersey he properly checked his guns in with the TSA. He called the New Jersey State Police and asked if he needed to register the guns. He was told that he did not need to register them.
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The CATO institute released a report today, The Budgetary Impact of Ending Drug Prohibition. According to the report, drug prohibition has cost New Jersey state and local governments $832 million in 2008. $183 million of this is for marijuana prohibition alone.
The NJ Libertarian Party State Board urges Governor Christie to immediately commute the sentences of prisoners whose only offense involved consensual acts between adults. At a time where the NJ State Budget must be cut, we cannot afford to imprison people who have harmed no one.
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George Donnelly has recovered some of the footage that was deleted by federal authorities during his illegal arrest. Libertarian activists were harrassed while peacefully giving out Fully Informed Jury Pamphlets. During the confrontation, George Donnelly is assaulted and arrested.
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Campus organizations are currently being organized (or reorganized) at Brookdale and Rutgers University.
The Rutgers Libertarians are holding a meeting on Wednesday 9/21 at 9:15 in room 115 of Murray Hall. Stay tuned to their Facebook page for additional information.
The Brookdale Libertarians are still in the organizing stage. If interested visit their Facebook page.
In addition efforts are underway to organize a college organization at Rowan University.
If you are interested in forming a college organization let us know by emailing us at
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Recently I've been receiving phone messages from Congressman Chris Smith and his Democrat opponent in the fourth district, Howard Kleinhendler, accusing the other of not being Islamaphobic enough. First Kleinhendler left a message accusing Smith of supporting the Islamic Center in Manhattan, now a message from Smith stating that that is not true and that he is on record of "strongly opposing" Mosques.
Congressman Ron Paul is correct in his recent statement calling this grandiose demagoguery.
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The first line of our statement at Copblock.org reads “Cop Block is a decentralized project supported by a diverse group of individuals united by their shared goals of police accountability.” I believe this officer did a great job accomplishing that goal by holding himself accountable.
This officer gets a thumbs up from myself and I hope he can set an example for other officers in this country. I wish I could say the same for the troopers that let him go and apologized for pulling the Chief over.
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Ginny, while a candidate for Monmouth County Freeholder in 2004, speaks with Assemblyman Chivukala about eminent domain |
With extreme sadness I announce the passing of longtime NJ Libertarian activist Ginny Flynn. Ginny has been with the party since its founding in 1972. She has run for public office multiple times under the Libertarian banner. More recently she has been serving as the Treasurer for the Monmouth Libertarians.
Her family is planning a memorial service on Saturday starting at 11:00 AM at the Morganville Volunteer Department. The following message was sent out by her family.
In accordance with her own philosophy, instead of a traditional memorial service we will be holding a “Celebration of Life” to honor her at a local venue.
After an opening service given by the family, friends are invited to come up and share a memory or thought about Ginny. Children are welcome and we will try to have a space in the back for them in case they need a break.
Celebration of Life for Ginny Flynn
When: Saturday, August 21st , gathering will begin at 11 am, service will begin at 12 pm