Mission Impossible?

The New York Sun had a bit of fun yesterday with the nascent Brooklyn Libertarian Party. I even got mentioned in the article, and I wasn't at the meeting.

I'm Lovin' It at the Freedom Summit

Dawn and I dropped the girls off at Grandma's house for the weekend and headed up to New Hampshire for the 5th Freedom Summit. Talk about your hardcore libertarian cornocopia. We're talking a weekend packed with speeches by such leading libertarian thinkers as Nathaniel Branden, Congressman Ron Paul, Vin Suprynowicz, James Bovard, and many others. And of course, I alway love to catch up with my Freedom Summit sponsors Ernie Hancock and Marc Victor. These guys are truly inspirational and give me the enthusiasm to love fighting for liberty. As Ernie likes to say, "If you're not having fun with activism... you're doing it wrong!"

But How Will Alan Jennings Attend Council Meetings?

14 members of the City Council want to vote sex offenders off the island of Manhattan, as well as much of the rest of the city.

Don't You Hate Stale Blogs?

I slacked off big time on the posts after launching this blog last week. In my defense, it was more of a soft launch" that allowed me to work out the kinks before really unveiling it to the public. Honest. I ran out of gas. I, I had a flat tire. I didn't have enough money for cab fare. My tux didn't come back from the cleaners. An old friend came in from out of town. Someone stole my car. There was an earthquake. A terrible flood. Locusts. IT WASN'T MY FAULT, I SWEAR TO GOD.

(Bonus points: Name the movie reference.)

At any rate, I'm going to make an effort to update the blog at least once or twice a day going forward, so be sure to check back soon. And tell your friends.

And When Are They Going to Eliminate This Tax?

While NYC is slowly whittling away at the sales tax (see below), the federal government still hasn't seen fit to do away with the "temporary" federal excise that on telephone service that was enacted to fund the Spanish-American War... 107 years ago!

Half a Sales Tax

Apparently that's what we'll be left paying on clothing in New York City. The mayor and city council have reportedly reached a deal to ask Albany for permission (!) to cut the city's 4% share of the 8.375% sales tax on clothing. I guess it's a start... and just in time for campaign season.

Guinea Pig Kids

The federal Department of Health and Human Services just issued a scathing letter to Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center about New City's worst-kept secret -- that the hospital, in cooperation the Catholic church and government agencies, had a local version of the Tuskegee Experiment going for years. Only this time, instead of black men and syphillis, it was foster kids and experimental AIDS drugs. The foster kids, some as young as three months, "volunteered" to test experimental AIDS cocktails for pain, toxicity and side effects. Of course, the foster kids' parents weren't asked for permission to subject their children to these chilling experiments. They lost custody of their kids to the government, because the parents might have, you know, mistreated their offspring. All together now... it's for the children.

Guns For Tots Revisited

In case anyone missed it, I had an all-new segment with Ed Helms (see "Helms Looks Back") on The Daily Show last week. The response has been tremendous. They say The Daily Show is the primary source of news on current events for young people, and I believe it. People I haven't heard from in more than 15 years have been emailing, and strangers stop me on the street to shake my hand. One guy even asked for my autograph in a bar last Friday! Yes, there has also been plenty of criticism from humorless sorts (both inside and outside the Libertarian Party), but overall it was was priceless publicity for me and my campaign.