Libertarian Party of Pittsburgh

LTE: Unfair to victims

While supporters and opponents of self-defense rights squabble with the court over the legal standing to challenge the criminalization of not reporting firearm theft ("NRA Loses Gun Law Battle," July 22), few recognize the absurdity of what this ordinance really represents. That absurdity is made clear when applying it to other crimes. Imagine laws requiring that within 24 hours: • A woman reports her rape or she goes to jail. • A car theft victim reports the theft or he permanently los...

Ron Paul in City Paper

A local member of the LP forwarded this LTE to the City Paper regarding a recent article worth reading on Ron Paul:   Thank you for the great article on Ron Paul by Charlie Deitch.  He obviously put a lot of time into it and talked with a lot of people to produce a well-balanced piece.  I would like to point out a subtle distinction in Dr. Paul’s reasoning for his Congressional votes that is apparently lost on most people.  He is accused of being indifferent to human suffering becau...

Global foolery

As published by the Pittsburgh Tribune Review Climatologist Timothy Ball made an astute observation about the strategy shift that sunspot-deniers are applying to global warming ("The politics of global warming," Q&A, Feb. 10 and PghTrib.com). He noticed they "switched from talking about global warming to talking about climate change." That's chillingly familiar. Remember how Osama bin Laden morphed into Saddam Hussein? Or how the mission switched from finding WMDs to freeing Iraq? O...

Real Voting Problem: Candidate Discrimination

As published in the PIttsburgh Post Gazette, December 25, 2006 The real voting problem: third-party or independent candidates are shut out Paper ballots may stop votes disappearing from recounts ("In Praise of Paper" by Bruce Schneier, Dec. 3 Forum), but they won't stop candidates disappearing from Pennsylvania ballots. 2006 saw no Pennsylvania third party or independent statewide candidates because unfair rules required over 67,000 ballot access signatures. Major-party statewide nomine...

Politician cameras?

As Run in the Pittsburgh Tribune Review, Thursday, December 21, 2006 Pittsburgh Councilman Bill Peduto's traffic cameras are a bad idea ("Drivers will hate Kodak moments," Mike Seate column, Dec. 14 and PghTrib.com). They are, at best, the law enforcement counterpart to those maddening automated phone menus. They are, at worst, a dangerous step toward a surveillance state. They are, at least, another reason to avoid Pittsburgh. To politicians still unconvinced, let's consider the questi...