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Most third party bids are irrelevant by Emil Franzi

The delusions of relevance held by third parties is again before us. This time they’ll make a difference in deciding who’s President. Nader is running again from the Left, former Georgia GOP Congressman Bob Barr is running as a Libertarian from the right. It won’t matter.

Full disclosure. Disgusted with the Nixon presidency, a squishy Gerald Ford, weenie Country Club Republicans, and conflicted with a few locals, I took a walk on the GOP in 1976. I helped invent the local Libertarian effort for presidential candidate Roger McBride and hung around for three more cycles because by then I was pretty much running the whole national operation, making it hard to leave.

To no avail. The LP’s Ed Clark got over a million votes in 1980 using the personal checkbook of his VP running mate David Koch. Independent John Anderson got almost six million votes, also proving … nothing. In 1984 the LP partially imploded, the losers moving off to things like the Cato Institute, giving America genuine relevance with one of its greatest think tanks and the LP with declining vote totals and never again breaking a million. More

When did conservatives abandon conservation? by Tom Danehy

Pardon my asking, but don't the words "conserve" and "conservative" come from the same root? I used to think so, but after talking to a few self-proclaimed conservatives these past couple of weeks, I'm not so sure any more.

Republicans are singing a distinct tune these days. (Of course, it should be mentioned that "Republican" and "conservative" are no longer synonymous. Then again, after watching the GOP-controlled Congress roar through a few trillion dollars in the first years of this millennium, I don't know if they ever were.) According to several "conservatives," including a couple who are running for office, the skyrocketing price of gasoline shouldn't prompt us to conserve. What we need to do is go out and drill for more oil.

Why can't we do both?

I've put this question to some "conservatives" recently. Their eyes glaze over, and they spout some GOP-talking-point, non-sequitur-type response of, "We don't want the government telling us what kind of car we have to drive." This is in the dreaded fear that the gub'mint might take the draconian step of actually raising fuel-efficiency standards at some point in our lifetime. Then I usually get some kind of lecture on economics. . More

A Fork In The Road by Mike Tully

At long last the race for the Democratic presidential nomination has entered what appears to be the beginning of the early stages of the end stage of the campaign, maybe even the middle of the early stages, or earliest stage, or perhaps even the middle stage, most likely at the beginning of the middle stage of the early stage, which, when you think about it, makes the most sense.

And if that statement made sense to you I recommend you unplug the Cable, exit the Net, turn off the phones, and lie down in a dark room with a cold, wet rag over your face. Wring out the rag first so that you don’t waterboard yourself. And stock up on trail mix for the symbolism (the long presidential primary trail) and quick nourishment. And don’t eat the trail mix while you have the wet rag over your face. You probably know this.. More

The Bizarre Case of San Tan Flat by Jonathan Hoffman

Let me start by saying that San Tan Flat is in no way connected with Tortilla Flat. There are no tee shirts that say, "Where the Hell is San Tan Flat?" Although new to Arizona, San Tan Flat has enjoyed a level of publicity unknown to Tortilla Flat.

Our story begins with a father and son, Dale and Spencer Bell. Dale has operated successful restaurants in both South Dakota and Wyoming. He and his son, Spencer, opened their new venture in Pinal County, Arizona, on the flats next to the San Tan Mountains – hence the name.

After three years of jumping through hoops, they finally opened on 2005 with Pinal County's blessing. Shortly thereafter, Pinal County began to harass them mercilessly. They made them remove one of their two signs, reduced their road access from four entrances to one, and they made them build a bigger parking lot. They also sent deputies out at night to measure decibel levels.

This sort of behavior usually indicates that some well-connected turgid member of the community wants him out of Dodge. In the older frontier times, they usually just sent the Sheriff around to tell him, "Be out of town by sundown." These are less direct, less honest, weenie times. More

Governor Napolitano and Arizona's Budget Problems by Bruce Ash

You have to hand it to Governor Janet Napolitano…. She has chutzpah.

In a column she wrote for the Wall Street Journal she accused the White House for causing Arizona’s budget problems. Well look whose calling the kettle black?

Arizona’s constitution calls for a balanced budget. Starting last Summer anyone paying attention to revenue projections didn’t require a crystal ball to figure out our budget shortfall was going to be enormous but our Governor did nothing. No budget cuts. More

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