Unfortunately Oliver Stone was not a lone conspiracy theorist

Yet another Kennedy assassination conspiracy book is out because some people just can't accept he was killed by a "silly little Communist."

Fortunately Wisconsin has an expert on the subject.

This election was a tough choice

ht: Professor John McAdams

I spent the week talking to Libertarians

As I explain in my column in the Waukesha Freeman, it's been a heady week for the Libertarians.

Former Republican Congressman Bob Barr announced he’s running for president as a Libertarian. Zogby polling currently has him at 3 percent, just enough to have a Nader-like effect on Republican chances in November.

Meanwhile, Texas Congressman Ron Paul, the Libertarian candidate for president in 1988, continues to chug along to the Republican convention where his supporters hope to be noisier than his estimated 19 delegates would suggest.

However, this was also the week that saw Kevin Barrett enter in the race for Congress as a Libertarian against Ron Kind.

This is not to say that Barrett is unanimously endorsed by the party. The state party chairman wasn’t sure "what the next steps are" and indicated that there was some opposition to Barrett within the party. However, he admitted, there is a strong component within the party that believes in 9-11 conspiracies. He hoped Barrett’s candidacy wouldn’t be solely about 9-11. He also told me Barrett is a member in good standing.

I checked with Randy Palmer, the Libertarian Party’s 3rd Congressional District representative, and he hoped Barrett would not use his campaign as a soapbox for his conspiracy theories. Palmer had no firm beliefs about what happened on 9-11 and conceded again that there are "lots of people" in the party that believe in the conspiracy theories.

And I conclude,

I would add that any hope of the party leadership that Barrett’s candidacy would not be about 9-11 conspiracies misses the point. That’s how he gained his notoriety, his Web site is plastered with 9-11 conspiracy material, and WEAU television reported Barrett’s call for another investigation into 9-11.

If the Libertarians, both locally and nationally, want to move out from their fringe status and kook reputation, they should issue a strong statement condemning 9-11 conspiracy theorists like Barrett. And they may want to have a long talk with Tommy Thompson’s little brother as well.

Meanwhile, I wrote another piece that complimented my Freeman column over at Jo Egelhoff's FoxPolitics.net. There I went into greater detail of my conversation with Marquette University Professor John McAdams about conspiracy theories. Because of the later deadline, I was also able to include a follow-up conversation with national Libertarian Party Political Director Sean Haugh.

Haugh did end up calling me back to say that he could not support Barrett’s candidacy for Congress. Not because of the 9/11 conspiracy thinking. It was Barrett’s support for Holocaust denier David Irving that had given him pause. “Oh, my.” And then Haugh’s research also led to discovering Barrett had called for the execution of journalists “complicit in the 9/11 cover-up.”

So it’s interesting to note that the Libertarian Party does have some standards. Calling for violence against journalists and denying the Holocaust are, in Haugh’s words, “beyond the pale.”

We’ll see if the Wisconsin Libertarian Party also finds Barrett to be “beyond the pale” or if Barrett will continue to run as a Libertarian without opposition from the party leadership.

Given former Libertarian Party candidate for governor Ed Thompson’s seeming endorsement of much of Barrett’s 9/11 conspiracy views in a February 19 radio interview, it’s a fair bet the Libertarian Party will continue to be the home of the political fringe.

More on the Maher front

Professor John McAdams reports FM radio station WKLH is reconsidering their sponsorship of Bill Maher's appearance at the Riverside Theatre.

We talked to Bellini after receiving this e-mail, and the people who run WKLH will be meeting later today to decide what to do about this situation.

Bellini made it clear that he is no fan of Maher.

WKLH could simply “pull its sponsorship” of Maher, although Bellini pointed out that “the horse is out of the barn” in some ways. Promotional materials already printed can’t be unprinted.

But he conceded that WKLH could, if it wanted, stop giving away tickets to the Maher performance and take the promotional blurb off its website.

Such actions, while not large in the entire scope of things, would at least send the symbolic message that WKLH does not condone or support Maher’s anti-Christian bigotry.

A call to 414-978-9000, or an e-mail to Tjoerres@mkeradiogrp.com (station manager Tom Joerres) with a civil statement about how the station should distance itself from this kind of bigotry would be in order.

I should add that this is clearly not an attempt to censor Maher. What reasonable people are attempting to do is ask Milwaukee institutions with an interest in how they are perceived by the public not to subsidize and publicly support Maher's appearance. Let him say what he wants to say on his own dime, or with the support of the Crazy Shepherd.

Update! 5/7/08 I answer the Voltaire question over at From Where I Sit.

Maher sponsor pulls out

Professor John McAdams has good cause to celebrate tonight as American TV has pulled it's sponsorship of Bill Maher's appearance at the Riverside Theater. Good for American TV, and good for the professor.

Let Maher speak on his own dime.

Charlie Sykes has the official statement.

Well, it's one louder, isn't it? It's not ten.

Blog Net News came out with the list of the most influential blogs in Wisconsin. We can disagree with a ranking here or there, but it's nice to be considered near the top. By the way, I agree with their number one. Patrick at Badger Blogger has certainly built the most influential local blog in Milwaukee. (Likewise Fred Dooley with Real Debate Wisconsin in Racine, whom I am suprised wasn't ranked higher.) Congratulations also to Jessica McBride, 2nd on the list but certainly the number one target of liberal bloggers.


Rank
Blog
1
Badger Blogger
2
McBride's Media Matters
3
Texas Hold 'Em Blogger
4
No Runny Eggs
5
FREEDOM EDEN
6
An Ol' Broad's Ramblings
7
Dad29
8
Boots and Sabers
9
From Where I Sit
10
The American Mind
11
Wigderson Library & Pub
12
The World According to Nick
13
Charlie Sykes
14
The (Somewhat) Daily RAG
15
Paul Soglin: Waxing America
16
Uppity Wisconsin - Making Wisconsin Progressive Again
17
The Right Side of Wisconsin
18
Real Debate Wisconsin
19
Marquette Warrior
20
In Effect

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