Richard Disney

Audio Link

I appeared on the KUNR Nevada Newsline radio show on June 27th, 2008. At times the debate gets somewhat contentious between myself and former Nevada Assemblywoman Vivian Freeman. Contentious means that it is interesting.

Not only do we discuss the Special Session of the Nevada Legislature but by listening to this broadcast you can hear a distinct comparison between an individualist philosophy of self-reliance and a philosophy of reliance on government.

From the KUNR website:

RENO, NV (2008-06-27) On this edition of Nevada Newsline, Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons has called a special legislative session to address a 250 million dollar shortfall in the state budget.

Just ahead, host Brian Bahouth takes your calls for a discussion about the special session that is just getting underway in Carson City. Our guests are former Nevada lawmaker, Democrat Vivian Freeman and one-time Assembly Candidate, local businessman and political blogger, Republican Richard Disney.

Also this hour, some Nevada Republicans will be holding another state convention in Reno this weekend, they say, to conclude unfinished business from the first state convention that ended in mayhem back in April. The state Republican party does not sanction this weekend’s gathering, but organizers say delegates chosen this weekend will be going to the national convention in September. We’ll be taking your calls for a conversation with long time Republican leader Mike Weber. Enjoy the show.

kunr NewsRoom

Tags: kunr, richard disney, vivian freeman, nevada legislature, special session, brian bahouth, republican, democrat, nevada republicans, convention,

After Mitt Romney announced his pull out of the 2008 Presidential Race at CPAC 2008, the only viable candidate left standing is Senator John McCain. In what state does this leave the Republican Party? Unfortunately both the Democratic and Republican parties continue their march away from limited government and individual liberty and toward growing government reach and individual dependence on the Federal Government.

Unlike when Ronald Reagan communicated individualist conservative values to lead many Democratic voters to vote for him, John McCain embodies the movement of the Republican Party to embrace more Collectivist notions in hopes that they can outbid the Democrats in the purchase of votes from constituencies that think it desirable to become more dependent on Government largess. As the saying goes, “Any government big enough to give you everything is big enough to take everything away.” A growing number of Americans now falsely perceive their rights to stem from what Government chooses to let them have rather than being “endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights” as recognized by the Declaration of Independence.

As the two dominant American political parties move toward competition as to which party can spend more taxpayer dollars for more pork dumped on more voters, what is a defender of Constitutionally limited government and individual liberties to do?

According to Human Events online, McCain is planning to open his address to CPAC 08 this year with a video featuring Ronald Reagan. After noticibly skipping CPAC last year and attaching his name to multiple causes that are decidedly un-Conservative; the Reagan video will most likely be met by a chorus of boo-birds in the audience.

One merely needs to remember two words…McCain-Feingold, to know that McCain is no Reagan.

Hat Tip: Tom Kovach at Military.com

I did not know until today that Senator John McCain was born in the Panama Canal Zone. I lived in the Republic of Panama for over 3 years while in the U.S. Army. Interestingly, I was just talking with a friend about the Panama Canal and how the Panama Canal Zone used to be a possession of the United States like American Samoa, Guam, Marshall Islands, Federated States of Micronesia, Palau, Puerto Rico, and the U.S. Virgin Islands are today. An interesting question is raised by an article over at Military.com. Is a Puerto Rican or a Guamanian eligible to be President of the United States? If John McCain wins and is inaugurated as President the answer would be yes because the exact same circumstances apply.

Is someone born in a possession of the United States considered a “natural born citizen“ as defined by the U.S. Constitution? John McCain has not been known as a strict interpreter of the Constitution especially in lending his name and efforts to the McCain-Feingold legislation which restricts political speech prior to elections of all things. What part of “Congress shall make no law…” does McCain not understand? Senator McCain’s ability to bend or ignore the Constitution makes more sense relative to his citizenship status and his run for U.S. President.

According the Constitution, there are only three requirements for an individual to be President of the United States. The Constitution says:

No person except a natural born citizen, or a citizen of the United States, at the time of the adoption of this Constitution, shall be eligible to the office of President; neither shall any person be eligible to that office who shall not have attained to the age of thirty five years, and been fourteen Years a resident within the United States.

Although there is no doubt that John McCain is a citizen of the United States, the question is if he is a “natural born citizen” and eligible to be President of the United States. McCain is only the third person in the history of the United States where the citizenship question has applied. Prior to John McCain only Barry Goldwater who ran for President in 1964 (born in Arizona while it was still a U.S. Territory) and George Romney who ran in 1968 (born in Mexico to U.S. parents) have prompted the question of natural born citizen status and eligibility for the Presidency.

During the current Presidential primary (or the 2000 primary) I had heard no mention of the McCain eligibility issue until now. The litigious nature of past Democrat Presidential candidates (like Gore in 2000) should make one have no doubt that if McCain ends up winning the general election there will be a motion made to the Supreme Court as to McCain’s eligibility to hold the Presidential (or even Vice-Presidential) office. It would be very disturbing indeed to see a Democratic victory for the Presidency by the Democrats successfully proving the winner ineligible in court.

It is easy to see yet another reason for Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to endorse John McCain because of Schwarzenegger’s own naturalized citizenship status and his reported desire to seek the Presidency in the future.

Nevada Assemblyman Ty Cobb Jr. was elected in the very conservative District 26 by claiming to be a staunch conservative. By endorsing Senator John McCain in his candidacy for President, Ty Cobb is not sustaining a conservative reputation. Senator McCain has been on the Democrat side of many debates including amnesty for illegal aliens, not sustaining the Bush tax cuts and the “Gang of 14″ in the U.S. Senate. The action that proves John McCain is not conservative was initiating and promoting for the McCain-Feingold legislation which is among the most blatantly unconstitutional legislation ever passed.

Ty Cobb was once my opponent during the District 26 primary election which he won handily. I have supported him on some occasions such as when he cast the only vote against the Democrat Nevada Assembly Speaker in 2007.

One must judge people, not by their words but by their actions. Unfortunately, Ty Cobb’s actions in endorsing Senator John McCain and hosting a wine-tasting event for him here in Reno, Nevada, indicate a willingness to disregard the First Amendment to the Constitution just as when Cobb took a position against ballot initiatives during his District 26 Assembly campaign.

The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution is as follows (emphasis mine):

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

What part of “Congress shall make no law” does John McCain not understand? And does Ty Cobb Jr. understand that endorsing McCain does not make one appear to be conservative?

Hat Tip: BurfordHolly commenter at Captain’s Quarters blog.

This nostalgic content is addictive. We need someone now who can enunciate clearly and simply about how insidious Collectivism is like Ronald Reagan did in 1961. This audio clip is part of a Long Play (LP) record sent out by the American Medical Association as part of the Operation Coffee Cup Campaign.

I know it isn’t video but I am still putting it in this catagory.

From Conservablogs.

“The votes are in and Mitt Romney has been declared the primary winner for the Wyoming GOP Caucus.”

Click here to read the whole story.

Hat Tip: The Corner

I tell you what, I have used the word “caucus” more than I ever thought I would! This little gem of an article in the Wyoming Tribune-Eagle questions why the Wyoming Caucus is being held at all.

The Wyoming Tribune-Eagle indicates that the Wyoming Caucus is “Shakespearian in magnitude” insignificant in the article’s final sentence, “In the end, to quote Shakespeare, Saturday’s Wyoming caucuses are full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.”

Click here to read the whole article.

The only really fresh and detailed coverage of the Wyoming GOP Caucus can be found at Conservablogs.

“Today Wyoming kicks off it’s own GOP Caucus. Fred Thompson, Mitt Romney, and Ron Paul have put some effort in the state, but the rest are for the most part ignoring it.”

Click here to read the whole story.

I greatly value the opinion of Newt Gingrich. I wish Newt had thrown his hat in the ring for the 2008 Presidential Election. I understand why he did not.

Take advantage of Newt’s free audio podcast. Newt is very positive and uplifting in his podcast and made me feel good to be an American while I was listening to it.

Click here to listen to the Newt Gingrich podcast.