Practice what you preach!

As a libertarian, I don’t believe throwing money at a problem solves it. We have seen time and time again where the government tries to “fix” one of its programs by giving it more funding. It hardly ever works. More often than not it needs a revamping or a handoff to the private sector. When a situation in my life (intern housing) came up, I was almost too quick to toss money at the problem instead of fighting it. I’m glad I held off because God used the Career Center at LU to fix things for me. They went well beyond their jobs to help me. Awesome folks there despite the disagreements I have had with them. So basically, when push comes to shove, do what you say.

Drawing to a close or a new start? We'll see...

On Monday the Washington Semester Folks from LU took us out to eat at Carmine's (a very nice Italian restaurant) for the end of the semester. In my spare time, I applied for the Lynchburg District Court Deputy Clerk position. Haven't heard anything back but who knows. I used Caitlyn's phone and scanned several business cards into it. I definitely want a smart phone now. haha

On Tuesday, I delivered all of Cato's papers by myself. It didn't take too long though. I did CT and we finished up the CJUS week. We talked about how to deal with police (after we had to deal with police the night before. Ultimate Frisbee on the capitol lawn.) We also went to the Freshman Hill Briefing.

On Wednesday, we went to the freshman hb.

On Thursday I wasn't feeling so well so after I did CT I went home and napped. For four and a half hours. And I took medicine. And orange juice. I think it worked. While sleeping I received an email from Bob Goodlatte's office about the resume I sent. I have an interview this week for a staff assistant position. Wish me luck!

On Friday my parents came up and we had lunch. We also went to the People's Church (new NCC) for a Good Friday service. We watched Robinhood and Gulliver's Travels as well.

Saturday I helped with the Eggstravaganza for Ebz. I had a blast! We all had dinner at Barracks Row at this Cuban, Mexican, Puerto Rican place. It was good.

Sunday we went to Ebz for the Easter service and then we went to Eastern Market. That night we went to Columbia Heights to see Jason play drums at the Gala NCC location.

Criminal Justice Week at Cato

Well last week was criminal justice week at Cato (and today because we didn't finish on Friday). We watched a video and had a discussion each day. I really enjoyed it.
Monday - I did Cato Today (MWF) and our topic for CJUS Week was legalization of drugs.
Tuesday - I worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed and the topic for CJUS was the 2nd amendment and safety
Wednesday - I did Cato Today and the topic was plea bargaining. That video made me very mad. People are tricked into taking pleas by the system. Horrible
Thursday - The topic was wrongful convictions. Also another video that made me mad. Basically people were arrested falsely, then they were forced to rat on someone (making it up) to enter into a plea bargain, and then that person was arrested. And the cycle repeated until there were 7 guys. Finally a random guy was caught and he said he did it by himself, but the other guys were still locked up. Stupid system.
Friday - I did Cato Today and we had a Hill Briefing on Transportation with Randal O'Toole. Pretty interesting. We also had the State of the Institute where Ed Crane and David Boaz spoke. Those guys are awesome! Ed is a funny guy!
Saturday - I helped fill the communion bags for NCC
Sunday - We went to Fort Stephens and got to see the cannons and the place where Lincoln came under fire

Arrested Development: Libertarian Philosophy from our dear friend Buster

In the Arrested Development episode, "The One Where They Build a House," Buster says, "I don't agree with your dirty doings here, but I will defend with my life your right to do it." He was talking about joining the army because of what he caught his "parents" doing. As libertarians, we often come into situations where we also have to defend something we don't like.
Take the Westboro Baptist Church's protest of military funerals. I personally hate that. Those men and women served their country with everything they had (for a war that should not have happened) but those that protest their actions have that right. Just because I don't agree with someone is no reason for me to try and silence them. Our government is there to protect us from harming each other; but that does not mean that it can stop us from doing completely morally apprehensible things. As long as it doesn't hurt someone physically, then freedom reigns supreme.

Two weeks... (again)

Monday - I did CT again. I also worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed and I worked the Green Energy seminar.
Tuesday - I did an email and a fax. EXCITING! Not really
Wednesday - Cato Today. MWF this week. I met the new lady in our department, Laura Renz. I did another fax and email at the spur of the moment for the freshman policy series. We had the op-ed seminar.
Thursday - I did a fax and email list for the freshman congressman. We had a seminar on the Constitution as well.
Friday - I did my professional interview with Caitlyn. Boy is she a talker. But it was great. I learned a lot. I did CT and a couple emails. I also worked on updating 4 databases for Laura. One day there and she's already bossing me around. Haha. She's actually really nice.
Saturday - We went to celebrate Kayon's birthday at the Cheesecake Factory in friendship heights.

Monday - I finally got the email sent out for the freshman policy series and I started dropping off some literature for the series as well on Capitol Hill. That evening, on the way to drop off some mail, I saw Al Frankin walking home.
Tuesday - I worked some more on Laura's databases. I did CT (TR) and I went to a hill briefing on Libya. We met with Nita Ghea about our op-eds and she said mine was a very interesting topic.
Wednesday - I spent almost four hours on capitol hill delivering the rest of the literature for the freshman policy series. In a period of one hour I saw Paul Ryan, John McCain, and Carl Cameron from Fox. Pretty awesome.
Thursday - CT
Friday - Went to Lynchburg
Saturday - Saw Phantom of the Opera (LU). Awesome!

My Letter to the Editor

Piece I responded to (Bristol Herald Courier):

"Was vote against Boucher rigged?

Virginia’s longest serving U.S. Congressman, Rick Boucher, is beloved by all of the people of his district, having served them through 14 terms. He received 68 percent of the vote in 2006 and was not even contested in 2008. So does anyone think it a little strange that he lost his seat garnering only 46 percent of the vote?
It reminds me of the curious result in South Carolina where an unknown, unemployed black man named Alvin Greene beat a well known state senator with 59 percent of the Democratic vote in the primary. He then lost the general election 68 percent to 28 percent to Jim Demint, the incumbent Republican.
Did Rick really lose? He deserves this theory be presented: It has been documented time and again by the best computer scientists in the country that 80 percent of America’s votes in 2010 were tabulated by hackable, inaccurate, unreliable, electronic voting machines. After a university team hacked into California machines, that state outlawed electronic voting machines for the 2010 election. In another instance, computer scientists tested the vulnerabilities of a mock District of Columbia election in 2010. They were able to infiltrate the online system and change votes without leaving a trace.
Do the research and you will find that this is a taboo subject. Perhaps it is because both parties are involved. I don’t know!
There are several documentaries out there exposing the fraud. One was produced by HBO, called "Hacking Democracy." Bev Harris at blackboxvoting.org has been on this for years. This, in my opinion, is the reason Boucher lost. It does not deserve to be pushed under the rug by those in charge of voting in the Fightin’ Ninth. Rick Boucher’s congressional career could have been terminated because of it.

Gary Carrier
Bristol, Tenn."


My response:

"Mr. Carrier is mistaken that Mr. Boucher’s loss in November was the result of a 'rigged' election. It was the result of the people of the ninth district of Virginia changing their minds about the Congressman. While the results of the election were much different from previous years, and would have to be for Mr. Griffith to win, that does not automatically point to foul play.

Boucher received 46 percent of the vote in 2010. In 2006, (the last year it was a contested race) he received 68 percent. While this 22 percent difference is quite large, Boucher himself knew it was going to be a tough race. According to OpenSecrets.Org he spent 2.9 million on media, campaign expenses, and administrative support in 2010. He only spent $828,000 in 2006 on the same items.

Boucher lost because the ninth no longer wanted his services and he most definitely saw this change coming."

Another Week in DC

Monday - I the second half of the medicaid event. I just sold books but I enjoyed it. I also stuffed letters for Caitlyn's "Gokhale" distribution list.

Tuesday - I did more letters. Oh joy. I also sold books at another event. I did Cato Today too. I'm getting pretty quick at it now. Definitely not the four hours like the first time.

Wednesday - I worked on Caitlyn's RSS feed again. Give it a week and it really piles up. I had to go through close to 300 articles. I did CT again and we had another interesting GA meeting.

Thursday - I delivered more handbooks after we did a hill briefing. Then I went on a dome tour with several of the LU kids. One of the most epic things of the semester so far.

Friday - I put together an email for Brandon and I worked on something else. Can't think of it right now though...