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Maria Whyte is apparently running for Democratic Committeewoman in 10 different districts. There is a very interesting and informative discussion here on the Free New York Blog.

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It was a warm night last night and I couldn’t sleep. I went for a late night walk on the break-wall by the Peace Bridge. Below is a photo from my walk.

click the pic for different sizes.

This past week gave me the opportunity to meet many other local bloggers. The experience was very positive. It was nice that even though there are many different opinions on how WNY should be improved, the end goals are basically the same.

One of my reasons for starting a blog was to provide a libertarian viewpoint on the issues. It is different from the approach taken by many, but I firmly believe that good results can be obtained. One of my primary beliefs is that our social and economic woes would be better solved by less government, rather than more.

I ran across the following article criticizing liberals. I know there are many of you out there, but, don’t take it personally. I have equal disdain for many positions of the conservative class. My hope is to spark a re-evaluation of our current system of government. I believe things could be much better.

The Trouble with Liberals
by Jacob G. Hornberger, Posted July 19, 2006

The trouble with liberals is twofold: They have a horrible blind spot with respect to moral principles and they have an abysmal understanding of economic principles. Of course, I’m referring to “liberals” in the corrupted “big-government” sense of the term rather than in the classical libertarian meaning of the word.

We begin with a basic moral principle: It’s wrong to take what doesn’t belong to you. This principle, of course, is codified in the Ten Commandments: “Thou shalt not steal,” which connotes a way of life based on privately owned property. It is a violation of God’s law for a person to take the property of another person without his consent.

Most liberals have no difficulty understanding that basic moral injunction against stealing. Their problem arises when they begin thinking about the role of government in society. That’s where their moral blind spot enters the picture. The liberal mindset is that, while it’s immoral for one person to take another person’s property against the will of the owner, the same act is automatically converted into a moral deed when it is done by the government.

(read it all here)

Bush vetoed the bill passed by Congress to expand federal research on embryonic stem cell research. It is so nice having a President that knows what is right and what is wrong, and makes sure that we know too. NOT!!

Apparently President Bush’s reaction to Israel bombing Lebanon and killing scores of innocent civilians (including children) is to let Israel continue for one more week. The master of ill will is just adding to the already explosive tensions present in this “religious” battle. I guess this policy will ensure that Bush is able to continue his “war on terrorism”, it certainly fans the flames of terrorism.

American officials signaled that Ms. Rice was waiting at least a few more days before wading into the conflict, in part to give Israel more time to weaken Hezbollah forces.

The strategy carries risk, partly because it remains unclear just how long the rest of the world, particularly America’s Arab allies, will continue to stay silent as the toll on Lebanese civilians rises.

On Tuesday, the seventh day of the face-off, Israeli warplanes battered more targets in Lebanon, killing 30 people, including 11 members of the Lebanese Army, when bombs hit their barracks east of Beirut. Four of the dead were officers, and 30 more soldiers were wounded.

In southern Lebanon, nine members of a single family were killed and four wounded in an Israeli airstrike on their house in the village of Aitaroun, near the Israeli border.

(read it all here)

The 3rd Circuit’s decision doesn’t surprise. What does surprise me is that so many people just accept the fact that we need a government to regulate morality. A lap dance is harmless behavior between consenting adults. There is no harm resulting from the behavior and no one is forced to participate. The court ruled that freedom of expression is not inhibited because the activity is not banned generally but only in establishments serving liquor.

Lap dancing in bars is not protected by the First Amendment, the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has ruled, rejecting an Atlantic City tavern’s challenge of the constitutionality of a New Jersey regulation that prohibits “any lewdness or immoral activity” on liquor-licensed premises.

Lawyers for the Moulin Rouge bar argued that the regulation is “vague” and “overbroad,” and that it should not be applied to erotic dancers who wear bikini tops and bottoms.

But U.S. District Judge Robert B. Kugler of the District of New Jersey found that the regulation passed constitutional muster because it focused solely on activity in establishments that serve alcohol.

“The issue here is not whether a prohibition of ’simulated explicit sexual gestures’ … would be overbroad, because that’s not how [the regulation] is worded. Rather, the issue is whether that regulation’s prohibition of ‘lewd or immoral activity’ in connection with liquor licenses is overbroad,” Kugler wrote in a February 2005 opinion in 181 South Inc. v. Fischer.

Now the 3rd Circuit has upheld Kugler’s decision and rejected the bar’s argument that decisions from the U.S. Supreme Court show that the regulation is unconstitutional.

Apparently when it comes to alcohol the government has carte blanche privileges to enact any silly regulation.

Fuentes also found it is “well established” that a state’s interest in curtailing the “unacceptable social behavior” that can arise in conjunction with adult entertainment is “important and substantial.”

The regulation is neither vague nor overbroad, Fuentes found, because state officials enforce the law narrowly as interpreted by the New Jersey appellate courts.

What’s next? Regulation of the actions of bikini-clad babes on beaches?

(read it all here)