1 Caught, 2 sought in one Murder in the 'Bury

Brooks Lamar Seldon --- Caught.

In what has been a dangerous week in Salisbury, which is turning in to the norm, many city residents are on edge.  Two murders and one that has left a man brain dead has sent shock waves through the community.

Brooks Seldon has been arrested in connection with a murder on Charles Street.  Troy Wilson was sitting on his front porch Monday at 1:25 AM when a red Dodge Neon stopped and the passengers opened fire on Troy Wilson, who was unarmed.

As the group was attempting to get away, they struck a vehicle.  They exited the car and fled on foot.  One suspect was witnessed dropping his gun.

Frederick Coston -- Wanted

Wilson was transported to PRMC and is reported as brain dead according to the Daily Times. 

Seven hours earlier the bodies of Antonio Smith and Arlene Byrd were found at Parkside Apartments.  Police discovered their bodies during a welfare check after a concerned neighbor reported a disturbance.  Their deaths have been ruled as a homicide. 

This All-American City winner is quickly becoming a city with an out of control gang problem, bank robberies, hotel robberies,  and daily shoplifting incidents.  That is not even scratching the surface.

Keshawn White -- Wanted

The culture in this city and county has taken a downward spiral.  With millions of dollars being spent on education every year, the current approach is not working.  We are still ending up with people who do not respect other people's civil liberties.

The focus is on the Police which is the wrong approach because they are a reaction to crime.  They are constantly spread thin and run from one call to another.  Our State's Attorneys Office is overloaded with petty cases that are clogging up the resources of our justice system.

Our judicial system is one area that is failing us.  Education is the other.  These are the two areas we need to focus on for reform.  I just hope we are not to late.

The J. Millard Tawes 34th Annual Crab and Clam Bake

Mike Brewington (D) and Dr. Richard Davis (L).

Crisfield, MD: The J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam did not disappoint if you were in search of politicians. Candidates from the Democratic Party, Republican Party and Libertarian Party were present meeting voters and distributing campaign flyers.

Independent District 1 Congressional Candidate Jack Wilson had his people gathering signatures. Dr. Richard Davis signed the petition form to show his support for Wilson to be on the ballot, even though he would be an opponent. Wilson needs around 40,000 signatures according to the campaign worker.

Richard Davis(L) and Andy Harris(R).

                Read the rest at Examiner.com

The Vote Libertarian Buttons were very effective.  Governor O'Malley got the message when we shook his hand.

Grannis explains why Libertarians are different

Q&A: Why should someone who distrusts both major parties believe the Libertarian Party is different?

Last week on Mailbag Monday, we discussed where Libertarians fit along the popular but not-very-informative left-right spectrum. This week we discuss the logical follow-up that should appeal especially to the 20% or so of 8th District voters who have learned to hate both major parties: How can any party be trusted? Why should anyone believe the Libertarian Party is different?

I love this question, because it was my question for most of the last decade. The short answer is that while most parties exist to promote the electoral success of their candidates, the Libertarian Party exists to promote Liberty, win or lose. We would rather be principled than powerful. And that’s what makes it safe to trust us with power.

As we saw last week, the Libertarian combination of views looks like an ungainly hybrid to people who are used to arranging political views along a single left-to-right spectrum. By combining fiscally conservative and apparently “pro-business” views on economic matters with socially tolerant and anti-war views, Libertarians can look to some people as if they are trying to sew an elephant’s head onto a donkey’s torso.

But if we pay closer attention, we see that the part of each major party that Libertarians combine is the principled part. Libertarians oppose government interference with individual liberty for any purpose other than to protect the person or property of another individual. This is known as the “non-aggression principle,” and it is more fundamental for Libertarians than any particular plank of the party’s platform. Thus, what may look at first blush like a mixing and matching of standard R and D positions is actually a much more consistent application of a principled preference for individual liberty over government coercion.

Neither major party accepts the non-aggression principle, but that’s not the only way they differ from the Libertarian Party. In practice, there is no political principle to which either major party is committed more strongly than it is committed to winning elections. The two major political parties exist, first and foremost, to win elections. They are private clubs that exist for the purpose of electing their members, and if they believe that changing their policy positions or even their political philosophies will help them elect more members of their club, they will change positions in a heartbeat. This has actually happened many times in the history of the Republicans and the Democrats, as any good history of those parties makes clear. (For anyone who wants to check this out, I can recommend Lewis Gould's Grand Old Party.)

Libertarians are different. If you don’t believe this, go to the Libertarian Party’s website, http://www.lp.org/, and try to join the party. Before the party accepts your membership (or your money), you will be asked to take the following pledge: “I certify that I oppose the initiation of force to achieve political or social goals.” Libertarians don’t all agree on exactly what the pledge means, and there is sometimes room for reasonable minds to differ about what counts as protection of person or property rather than a “political or social goal." The value of the pledge, though, is that it anchors the debate around a principle that is much more protective of individual liberty than the perpetual, poll-driven pursuit of power practiced by the major parties.

The first time I thought about joining the Libertarian Party, I stopped at the non-aggression pledge. It was so broad that, even if it sounded good in theory, I wasn’t sure it would succeed in practice. After a few more years of watching the clown show we call Congress, I came to understand that it’s the unchecked pursuit of electoral power that is the ultimate practical failure. After spending years as an “unaffiliated” voter, it now seems to me that the pledge is the only reason I could consider joining any party again. It is the pledge, and the party’s principled commitment to non-aggression, that makes the Libertarian Party more trustworthy than the others.

by Mark Grannis

Dr. Richard Davis Campaign Updates

Annapolis, MD:  In an article that was published in the The Capitol, Dr. Richard Davis is mentioned in an article about the upcoming heated race in the First Congressional District.

Crisfield, MD:  On July 21, 2010 Dr. Richard Davis, Libertarian candidate for Maryland's First Congressional District, will be in attendance at the 34th Annual J. Millard Tawes Crab and Clam Bake.   The event is held the third Wednesday every July and usually attracts politicians by the dozens in an election year.

J. Millard Tawes was the 54th Governor of Maryland and a Crisfield native.  The event was named in his honor and is held at Somers Cove Marina.

Seeing the Miraculous in Manufacturing

Date: Sun, 07/18/2010
Author: Mark Grannis
Some correspondence this morning with a friend who teaches economics reminded me of this 1946 essay/short story by Leonard Read. It's called "I, Pencil," and in it an unusually literate pencil substantiates the surprising claim that no one person on earth knows how to make a pencil, despite the fact that billions are made. The story is so simple that a kindergartener can understand it.

This is, of course, a celebration not of pencils but of human genius and of the remarkable way in which people in free economies coordinate their activities to produce things that are beyond the capacity of any single mind. The implications for centralized regulation of our natural productive capacities are clear enough.

Voting is one way to change public policy, and of course I hope everyone who reads this will vote for me and for other candidates who recognize how vital our economic liberties are to our well-being.

But if you want to improve our public policy not just for a couple of years but for decades to come, read this story to your younger kids and have your older kids read it themselves. It's short -- just 28 brief paragraphs that barely run to five typewritten pages altogether. Do yourself, your kids, and your country a favor and print it out.

www.grannisforcongress.org