We Are Two For Two!

• Survey ends Midnight Saturday
• SB92 passes quietly into oblivion
• State Convention only 2 weeks off – See the Convention Special

Last week we sent out ACTION ALERT #2. This notified Libertarians across Kansas about SB92, an ill-conceived first step by the legislature to eventually regulate ‘pornographic materials’ including such things as Playboy Magazine and Huckleberry Finn. Libertarians must have taken this threat seriously. We learned recently that SB92 was not voted on and was taken off the agenda. Thank you, John S. for BCC us on your well written email that you sent your legislator. And, thank you to all Libertarians who participated in this campaign.
We know most legislators seldom hear from their constituents about the issues they vote on. Thus, a well coordinated campaign by a relatively few liberty-minded individuals across the state can have a dramatic impact. Thank you to everyone who helped on this campaign. Coupled with our first campaign, we are 2 for 2 ... An enviable record for any organization; truly amazing for our expanding party!

At this time, over 175 Libertarians have registered their opinion on our first survey. This is an important tool we will use to shape policies and priorities going forward. We really want everyone to take part. It is designed so everyone’s opinion can contribute toward our success. No matter how new you may be to the Libertarian Party (or if you do not even consider yourself ‘Libertarian’, yet) your opinion will be important.
Most participants complete the survey in less than 20 minutes. If you want to be counted. You MUST do so before midnight Saturday. To access the survey, click one of the links above or copy and past this into your web browser: http://www.instant.ly/s/QocPb

The new issue of the Free Kansan is on the website now. If you missed it, you can find it at http://lpks.org/2013/04/04/free-kansan-april-2013/

Our state convention is only two weeks off. You can find complete information and register here. The ExCom (short for Executive Committee) covers all the expenses for this from our limited budget. This means there is no cost to you to attend. However, if you want a box lunch, there is a small pass-through cost AND you must place this request before April 12.
Our friends and supporters at LPStuff.com made a generous offer: Anyone making a donation to LPKS of $100 or more THIS WEEKEND will receive ALL of the following absolutely FREE:

1. Your choice of any one of these books ($14.95 value): Unlocking More Secrets of Libertarian Persuasion by Michael Cloud; Totally American by Dan Smee; Why Government Doesn’t Work by Harry Browne; A Drug War Carol by Susan W. Wells and Scott Bieser; Healing Our World by Mary Ruwart.
2. All of the six most popular bumper stickers ($21.00 value)
3. Front license plate for your vehicle ($9.95 value)
4. Your choice of box lunch at the convention (up to $9.50 value)
5. Our considerable gratitude for your support

This is over $50 in gifts. If you can support the party financially, you must do so before 8 am Monday morning to receive these FREE gifts from LPStuff.com. Oh! And please thank the folks at LPStuff.com for their support.
That’s it for another week. Thanks for all each of our supporters do to advance and defend Liberty in the State of Kansas.

New Weekly Internet Show!

The Future of Freedom Foundation announces “The Libertarian Angle,” a new weekly Internet show featuring FFF president Jacob Hornberger and FFF vice president Sheldon Richman. Watch Jacob and Sheldon discuss the libertarian angle on the burning issues of the day.

The half-hour video is featured in our FFF Daily email newsletter and on our website every Monday.

“The mainstream media provides people with the statist viewpoint but a growing segment of the populace wants to hear the libertarian angle on current controversies.” said Hornberger. “That’s what Sheldon and I are bringing with this new show.”

Richman added, “Being a libertarian means asking questions that other people tend not ask about what the government is up to. You won’t find this kind of analysis on television.”

Jacob and Sheldon have already done five shows, which are archived on FFF’s website here.

To receive our free FFF Daily email newsletter, click here.

From The Future Of Freedom Foundation

FFF Webinar:

"The Illusion of Recovery"

DATE:  April 9, 2013 – Tuesday

 PLACE:  World Wide Web

TIME: 7:00 pm eastern

ADMISSION:  FREE

SPEAKER:  Sheldon Richman

FFF vice president and editor Sheldon Richman will host a free, interactive online webinar entitled “The Illusion of Recovery,” which will focus on the economic and fiscal turmoil that the U.S. has recently been experiencing. This will be an interactive experience with Sheldon and will be limited to 24 participants.

The webinar will be held on Tuesday, April 9, 2013 from 7:00 to 8:00 p.m. eastern. Participants will need a computer with a video camera as well as headphones with an integrated microphone. Computer speakers are not permitted as they cause feedback problems during the broadcast.

Participation will be on a first-come, first-served basis. To make a reservation for the webinar, please email Bart Frazier at bfrazier@fff.org with your name, email address, and telephone number. Participants will be notified before the event with instructions.

NEVER!

Vote now to express your view: Is proposing a NEW tax ever justified?
Should Libertarians never, ever even think of proposing a new tax?
Or might a new tax proposal be justified under certain circumstances?
Is there always a better alternative to raising taxes — like cutting government spending?
Click here to vote. Pick the choice that best fits your view.

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Paid for by the Libertarian National Committee
2600 Virginia Ave, N.W. Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20037
Content not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

LSLA Coming Up!

The Libertarian State Leadership Alliance invites you to participate in this year's annual LSLA conference, held in conjunction with the Libertarian Party of Colorado's state convention. Both events will take place at the Doubletree in Aurora, May 17–19, 2013.
Highlights of the upcoming conference include:

• A special address from Sharon Harris of the Advocates for Self-Government
• A seminar on communicating the principles of liberty
• Panel discussions on effective use of social media tools, getting the message out to local media outlets, attracting and engaging volunteers, building relationships and coalitions, and more

Registration is available online. Please visit for more information and to register.

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Paid for by the Libertarian National Committee
2600 Virginia Ave, N.W. Suite 200, Washington D.C. 20037
Content not authorized by any candidate or candidate committee.

From our friend in liberty, John Todd

The FIRST AMENDMENT is under attack in Kansas!

SB 92 – AN ACT concerning crimes, punishment and criminal procedure; relating to sexually violent crimes; law enforcement reports on the presence of pornographic materials.
As so frequently is the case, this bit of legislation might sound like it would be good. ... Unless one is concerned with the details.
As passed by the Senate, this bill was only ‘bad’. Now that it is in the Kansas House, it has been amended so that it is now draconian. The worst part of is that its full effects will not be felt for several years.
According to SB 92 ‘pornographic materials’ are much more than what most commonly expect. In addition to more graphic depictions, it encompasses pictures of simple nudity, stories that describe sexual behavior or even nudity itself. This would, include such seditious material as Playboy Magazine, art books with illustrations of classic paintings and sculptures, classic literature like Moby Dick, Huckleberry Finn, and Catch-22 and many video games. Interestingly, if the Sistine Chapel were in Kansas, its ceiling would be considered pornographic by this bill’s definition.
Although SB 92 does not criminalize this material, if someone is arrested for a “Sexually violent crime” law enforcement would be required to keep and report to KBI the total number of sexually violent crimes reported and the number of such crimes where pornographic materials are seized or documented.
Although SB 92 merely requires the collection of information, it is not difficult to see where this is going.
Earlier in this session, Libertarians teamed with others to defeat a bill designed to cripple the ‘adult entertainment’ industry. Supporters of this legislation like to point to so-called ‘secondary effects’ of such establishments. These secondary effects, they claim, include increased crime, lower property values, increased drug activity, etc. which are supported by similar statistics they had previously required law enforcement to collect. Sure enough, law enforcement found drug use and other criminal activity in the area of adult entertainment. Using these new statistics, they have succeeded in having restrictive laws imposed against the “sex” industry. These restrictions have found support in the Supreme Court.
Reducing crime sounds laudable until you realize this becomes a cum hoc propter hoc (with this, because of this) argument. In other words, just because two events are correlated does not mean one caused the other. In the adult entertainment issue we faced earlier in this session, opponents of the proposed law did their homework and presented studies actually conducted under controlled conditions to make them scientifically valid. These studies demonstrably showed that adult entertainment establishments do not have substantially more criminal behavior (ie. secondary effects) than any other legal business. In other words, law enforcement found drug use and other criminal activity in other areas of their jurisdiction.
In this instance, someone has decided there must be a connection between pornography and violent sex crimes. They just need to gather the statistics to ‘prove’ it.
We suspect this is where SB 92 is headed. Once the data are collected, someone will introduce a bill, supported by the evidence SB 92 requires be collected, that says:
1) we have statistics that show 75% of those convicted of sexually violent crimes possessed pornographic material when arrested.
2) we want to reduce sexually violent crimes in Kansas
3) therefore, we will outlaw or otherwise control access to pornographic material.
Statistics suggest as many as 76% of the adult population have viewed some sort of porn. With the very low threshold required to be classified as porn, it is not difficult to believe they will be able to get a statistical correlation at least as high as 75%.
However, just because someone has an art book in their home, or even Playboy or something else, does not necessarily mean they will become violent. In this data-collection effort, there is no control group as required to make the data scientifically valid.
Since we are talking about a violent crime, it would probably be more relevant to correlate it to gun ownership, rather than Playboy, Huckleberry Finn or other so-called ‘porn’.
The Libertarian Party of Kansas believes this is the first phase of a serious attack on our First Amendment rights. It is extremely important you contact your state representative NOW and urge them to vote against SB 92. It is bad legislation; it will be bad for Kansas.
You are one of about 1,400 Kansans who now know about this threat. We can become one of the most influential lobbying groups in the state if (and ONLY if) you call your legislator. Bills progress extremely quickly now. So, you must act quickly.
When you communicate with your state representative, either by phone or email, be respectful. Express your concern that this bill will not further any legitimate law enforcement purpose. Since there is no control group, any statistics it collects will not be scientifically valid and will only serve to obfuscate any future discussion on the matter. Since a future assault on the first amendment is NOT in this bill, do not bring that point up; it will only confuse the discussion.

You may read the bill as amended in the House here.
You can find a related Topeka Capital-Journal article here.