Dear Friend of Liberty,
I'm asking you to please make a donation to our General Fund.
If you could donate $500, $100, or even $25, that would be a big help.
I recently brought Wes Benedict back to D.C. to serve as Executive Director in our headquarters. Wes was our Executive Director from 2009 to 2011. Carla Howell has moved to the role of Political Director, where she will focus on candidates and news media.
While interest in the Libertarian Party and our candidates seems to be as high as ever, August revenue was significantly below what we would like to see to support a strong staff with necessary resources at headquarters.
Our General Fund is what we use to pay our basic operating bills like rent, staff, postage, and office supplies. It's not always the most exciting thing for donors to support, but the funds are vital for keeping our doors open, and for keeping our staff working for us.
Please click here and make a generous donation today.
Sincerely,

Geoffrey J. Neale
Chair, Libertarian National Committee
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.

A Jury’s Secret Power is Nullification

By Alan Chwick & Joanne Eisen

AmmoLand.com

August 23, 2013

New York --(Ammoland.com)- With Jury Rights Day just around the corner on September 5, it is a good time to reflect upon a Jury’s Duty.

Our Founding Fathers, in all their wisdom, gave us a Constitution with layers of safeguards, so that if we erred, we could correct the error, peaceably – without a shot being fired.

One of these very important layers is Jury Nullification. John Adams and Thomas Jefferson were very strong advocates of Jury Nullification.

They stated:

“It is not only [the juror's] right, but his duty…to find the verdict according to his own best understanding, judgment, and conscience, though in direct opposition to the direction of the court.” (John Adams, America’s second President; 1771)

“It would be an absurdity for jurors to be required to accept the judge’s view of the law, against their own opinion, judgment, and conscience.” (John Adams)

“I consider trial by jury as the only anchor yet devised by man, by which a government can be held to the principles of its constitution.” (Thomas Jefferson, in a letter to Thomas Paine; 1789)

“The juries [are] our judges of all fact, and of law when they choose it.” (Thomas Jefferson to Samuel Kercheval; 1816. ME 15:35)

Even the First Chief Justice of the U.S. John Jay, in 1789, chimed in on this issue with, “The jury has the right to judge both the law as well as the fact in controversy.”

Lastly, and most succinctly, Alexander Hamilton, in 1804, said that, “Jurors should acquit, even against the judge’s instruction… if exercising their judgment with discretion and honesty, they have a clear conviction the charge of the court is wrong.”

Simply stated, from the time of the signing of the Magna Carta by King John in 1215, and right up to the present, We the People, when in the role as juror, wield immense power over a case’s facts and the laws that are in question. The power of the Juror is greater than that of the courtroom judge, the legislators who wrote the law, or even that of the President of the United States. The axe the Jury wields is NULLIFICATION, and the Jurors do not have to obey the courtroom judge. You can not be intimidated by the courtroom, the judge, or the venue.

If punishments are too harsh, if the laws are flawed, or if a government is running rampant over the populace, the juror’s power to nullify can easily stand in peaceful opposition. Jury nullification has protected our freedom of speech and even helped to overturned prohibition.

(See Niagara Falls Reporter, “JURY NULLIFICATION HAS LONG HISTORY OF RIGHTING WRONG LAWS”, By Frank Parlato (2012),  http://goo.gl/fk8BXB )

Few people understand Jury Nullification, as it is not taught in school. Grade school teachers, high school teachers, and even college professors neglect to explain exactly why the jury system is so important to our legal system. They neglect to explain why the jury system is even written into the Bill of Rights. They neglect to talk about the powerful feature of Jury Nullification. They neglect to inform jurors that they are not required to follow the judge’s directions, or even follow the law.

Because of this pervasive ignorance, the Fully Informed Jury Association (FIJA; FIJA.org) flyer complains, “Too often, jurors actually end up apologizing to the person they’ve convicted – or to the community for acquitting when the evidence clearly established guilt.”

On the other side of the coin, the pervasive ignorance, of the jurors, is used by our leaders so that they can more easily manipulate and control us where we are most powerful, thus abating the power of nullification from us.

We, as gun owners, are constantly under siege by a plethora of legal attacks. Whether it be self-defense, stand-your-ground, how many bullets can you carry, what guns are good, what guns are bad, or any other gun issue, we must expend our energies on a multitude of fronts. Yes, there will always be laws created and that are cases brought to court where there is a need for individuals to say, “No, Stop!” And, We the People must learn that we can say “No” without question or punishment. The method…JURY NULLIFICATION.

On closing, I’d like to leave you with the words of U.S. Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone on the Juror’s Duty:

“If a juror feels that the statute involved in any criminal offence is unfair, or that it infringes upon the defendant’s natural God-given unalienable or Constitutional rights, then it is his duty to affirm that the offending statute is really no law at all and that the violation of it is no crime at all, for no one is bound to obey an unjust law.” (Emphasis add) ~ (U.S. Chief Justice Harlan F. Stone, 1941-1946)

Reprinted with permission from AmmoLand.com.

LSOCK News Alert

Hello everyone,

The LSOCK Jury Rights Day Celebration will be held Thursday, September 5, in front of the Sedgwick County Courthouse from 3:30 PM to 5:30 PM. Fully Informed Jury Association signs to carry and literature will be provided to handout to the public.

This is a great way to spread the word and educate the citizens of the rights of the jury to render a verdict according to their conscience, not the letter of the law.

Wichita area libertarians have been celebrating Jury Rights Day at the courthouse since 1996. Come out and help us celebrate this precious piece of our heritage this year.

Also, I want to remind you that LSOCK Tuesday Supper Meetings are now at Cathy’s Westway Café at 1215 West Pawnee beginning at 5:30 PM every Tuesday. Cathy’s has a game room so feel free to bring your children as they will now have something to do besides sit and be bored while we adults discuss the issues of the day.

For Liberty,

Steven A. Rosile

Editor, LSOCK NEWS

Libertarians Of South Central Kansas (LSOCK) meet for Supper and discussion every Tuesday at Cathy’s Westway Cafe located at 1215 W. Pawnee in Wichita, Kansas at 5:30 PM. If we have official business to conduct or a featured guest speaker, that will begin at 6:00 PM. All who support personal responsibility and individual liberty are invited to attend.

To receive the LSOCK NEWS and LSOCK NEWS Alerts! via email please contact Steven Rosile at sarasile@att.net or 316 618-1339.

Contact the Kansas Libertarian Party or LSOCK at:

LPKS / LSOCK
P.O. Box 2456
Wichita, Kansas 67201

Ph. (800) 335-1776

On the Web please go to www.lpks.org  or to the LSOCK Blog at:

www.libertariansofsouthcentralkansas.blogspot.com

Also see: Sedgwick County Libertarians on Facebook for their meeting time and location.

From Our Friend In Liberty, John Todd!

AMERICANS FOR PROSPERITY--KANSAS 

Wichita Area Chapter Meeting

Tuesday, September 10, 2013

7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m.

Spangles Restaurant (Meeting Room)

612 S. Broadway (Kellogg & Broadway Downtown)  

Wichita, Kansas 67202

WE STILL HOLD THESE TRUTHS

Rediscovering Our Principles, Reclaiming Our Future

A presentation by Michael Pochek

Based on a book by Matthew Spalding, of The Heritage Foundation

Rule of Law:  The Great Foundation of Our Constitution

The Rule of Law, as established in early American History, was not a foreign concept. The American Colonies had long experienced the rule of law; they understood what it was and what it was not. The commercial republic that is the natural expression of the American way of life simply can not survive without the rule of law. The law allows for entrepreneurs to take risks and have the confidence that their capital will not be subject to the whims and passions of government or other individuals. The law is what provides the basis for civic community. The rule of law, as envisioned by our Founding, seeks to supersede the temporal desires of man. The modern importance is to recognize these temporal desires and understand the merit of what the law ought to be. 

Suggested Reading:  Chapter 5
The book has a website with a great intro video

http://www.westillholdthesetruths.org/

The Session 5 Study Guide our group leader will follow is available:

http://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/2010/pdf/WSHTT-StudyGuide.pdf

The presentation will be followed by group discussion.

For additional information please contact:

John Todd, Wichita AFP volunteer coordinator

john@johntodd.net, (316) 312-7335 cell

Or

Susan Estes, AFP Field Director, Kansas

sestes@afphq.org, (316) 681-4415

The Kansas Chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP-KS) is committed to advancing every Kansan's right to economic freedom and opportunity. AFP-KS is an organization of grassroots citizen leaders who engage in spreading the message of fiscally responsible government, free market ideals and regulatory restraint to policymakers on the local and state levels.

LSOCK News Alert

Hello everyone,

Mike's Steakhouse has closed. We are now having our LSOCK Tuesday Supper Meetings at Cathy's Westway Cafe located at 1215 W. Pawnee. This is at the southwest corner of Seneca and Pawnee. Please join us at our new location.

For Liberty,

Steven A. Rosile

Editor, LSOCK NEWS

To receive the LSOCK NEWS and LSOCK NEWS Alerts! via email please contact Steven Rosile at sarasile@att.net or 316 618-1339.

Contact the Kansas Libertarian Party or LSOCK at:

LPKS / LSOCK
P.O. Box 2456
Wichita, Kansas 67201

Ph. (800) 335-1776

On the Web please go to www.lpks.org  or to the LSOCK Blog at:

www.libertariansofsouthcentralkansas.blogspot.com 

Also see: Sedgwick County Libertarians on Facebook for their meeting time and location.

National LP News

Table of Contents:

·         Libertarian Party opposes U.S. intervention in Syria

·         New York LP fields record 8 candidates in NYC for November election

·         Are drone strikes in Yemen convincing its civilians that the U.S. government is the most dangerous terrorist?

·         Wes Benedict returns as executive director for national LP; Carla Howell becomes political director

·         Watch our video on restoring the Fourth Amendment

Libertarian Party opposes U.S. intervention in Syria
Libertarian Party Chair Geoffrey J. Neale today strongly opposed any U.S. military intervention in the civil war in Syria.
"There is no Constitutional justification for America to unilaterally use force in Syria," Neale said.
"Syria is not threatening our country," he added. "We have no national interest in intervening there. There are no reasons for the U.S. to support either the Assad dictatorship or the opposition warlords."
Neale reaffirmed the party's longstanding foreign policy of nonintervention, quoting part of the National Defense plank of the party platform: "The United States should both avoid entangling alliances and abandon its attempts to act as policeman for the world."
He also quoted from the International Affairs plank, which says, "American foreign policy should seek an America at peace with the world. Our foreign policy should emphasize defense against attack from abroad and enhance the likelihood of peace by avoiding foreign entanglements. We would end the current U.S. government policy of foreign intervention, including military and economic aid."
Read at LP.org!

---

New York LP fields record 8 candidates in NYC for November election
The Manhattan, Brooklyn and Staten Island chapters of the Libertarian Party pulled together to get a record eight candidates on the ballot as Libertarians for various local offices throughout the nation's largest city this November, reported LPNY Chair Mark Axinn. This represents the most LP candidates that have ever run for local office during a single New York City election.
The LP does not have ballot status in New York, so it was necessary for every candidate to submit independent petition signatures — ranging from 3,750 signatures each to run for the mayor, comptroller and public advocate, to 450 signatures to run for city council in a local district.
Petitioning in New York for independent bodies like the LP can only be done during a six-week period starting the week after Independence Day (i.e., during middle of the summer when most people are away), Axinn noted. Both the signatory and the witness must be registered voters in New York. Signatures can be invalidated for all sorts of technical errors, such as writing "Brooklyn" instead of "Kings" in the column for the voter's county, so surmounting all these challenges is a significant accomplishment.
Read the rest at LP.org!

---

Are drone strikes in Yemen convincing its civilians that the U.S. government is the most dangerous terrorist?

The Libertarian Party calls for an immediate end to drone strikes in Yemen.
“Yemenis perceive the U.S. drones strikes, which are killing peaceful citizens, to be acts of terrorism,” said Geoffrey J. Neale, chair of the Libertarian National Committee. “At least in some respects, they are.”
“Terrorism” refers to acts of violence that are intended to instill fear and that deliberately target or disregard the safety of civilians.
“While instilling fear among the Yemeni population at large may not be President Obama’s goal, it is well known that drone strikes terrify civilians,” said Neale. “His drone war in Yemen is blatant disregard for human life.”
Read the rest at LP.org!

---

Wes Benedict returns as executive director for national LP; Carla Howell becomes political director

Wes Benedict,
Executive Director
Libertarian National Committee

Wes Benedict, formerly from Texas, has returned to the national LP headquarters to resume his previous position as executive director for the Libertarian National Committee. His focus is on fundraising, LNC project oversight, and general management.
Carla Howell, who served as executive director from December 2011 through July 2013, assumed the position of political director, in which she will focus on recruiting, coaching and supporting candidates, political strategy, media interviews, and party communications.
"Wes Benedict is a highly qualified and welcome addition to the LP headquarters," Howell said. “He's focused on results.”
Read the rest at LP.org!

---

Watch our video on restoring the Fourth Amendment

Watch on YouTube!

---

Please donate today to the Libertarian Party today. Shrink government — expand liberty.

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.

State News

Libertarian Party Weekly Newsletter Mixed reader feed-back New initiative emerges in our State’s capital Upcoming candidate debates in Kansas? Professor Liberty on Human Rights   We love it when we hear back from our readers. Last week, we had two responses from readers and heard from one long-time friend. Leslie Van Sickel said, “Paragraphs 2 and 3 belong in a letter to editor. There's some other good stuff too.” Thank you, Leslie. If any of our supporters find anything useful in these missives they would like to use to spread support for Liberty, we hope they will do so. We also heard from Rachel who pointed out our inadequacies: “Professor Liberty's piece got cut off... Any way we can get the rest?” Oops! On checking, we discovered we did a lousy job checking our missive last week and the last paragraph of Professor Liberty’s piece got cut off. We apologize to all our supporters ... particularly to Professor Russell Fulmer who is kind enough to compose these. We have been in contact with our web master to have our missives put on the web page so everyone can find the archives and catch up. We’ll let you know if/when this gets done. On a darker note, a good friend of ours from Manhattan who is very Libertarian in his beliefs, admitted he regularly quickly deletes our missives without reading them. When asked why, he expressed concern about “they” who watch what we receive in our email and correct our thinking when we stray from accepted norms. He doesn't want to get on any lists. We ponder: What happened to Freedom of Speech; and the Right of Free Assembly? Keep those emails coming. For those concerned about scary scenarios, we came upon this invasion of an ex-marine’s home by “law enforcement”. They incorrectly suspected drugs. But, the marine was left dead all the same with 22 bullet holes in his body. Regular readers will recall our Douglas County contingent made the news by promoting and getting a resolution on drone use enacted. Now we learn they have received national coverage for their efforts. Articles appeared in the Huffington Post, Washington Times, Lawrence Journal World, Kansas City Star, KSN-TV, and Channel 6 News in Lawrence. Not bad! Hopefully, this will catch on and more communities will put restrictions on unfettered drone use to watch citizens in their daily lives.  And, what’s this? This week, Earl McIntosh who successfully spearheaded our Second Amendment initiative in KC and elsewhere, discovered an obscure Kansas Statute that permits citizens of any city in Kansas to submit petitions for local ordinances. And, he plans to do something about it. Earl is in the process of pulling together a coalition of citizens to gather enough signatures to have about five proposed ordinances either adopted or placed on a ballot in Topeka. Most will deal with property tax issues. Earl’s objective is to bring profligate spending by many of our governing bodies under control. This is uncharted territory. As far as we know, no community in Kansas has used initiative to redress grievances they may have with their governing body. We are excited that Libertarians will be the first in Kansas. This will be a big job. If you can help, contact us. Stay tuned! Well, a couple of weeks ago, Tresa McAlhaney and her running mate, Grant Nelson, announced their bid for the Governor’s seat. Today Keen Umbehr an attorney from Alma announced his candidacy. What a deal! Will more candidates be announcing? Next up, Libertarian Candidate Debates across the state. We still need help for the Olathe Old Settlers Days. We are also looking for someone interested in assisting with these weekly missives. If you are interested in either of these opportunities, please replay to this email. Coming up: We expect to file an Open Carry lawsuit in Johnson County in the next few weeks. We are making plans for our 2014 State Convention. And, maybe, if we hear from you, we will tell all Libertarians in Kansas about what is happening in your area. Is there any other political party in Kansas that actually accomplishes as much as the Libertarian Party? Thank you for your support of Liberty in Kansas. Professor Liberty says: Russell Fulmer, Ph.D. Human Rights Part One Libertarians champion individual rights. While the founding fathers of our country outlined a version of rights in the Constitution and specified some in the Bill of Rights – including elaborations on life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness – there are more rights you and I possess by virtue of being human. Human rights are freedoms – and some would say responsibilities – garnered by virtue of existence as a human being. Here are five.  Defense and protection – The 2nd amendment, proposed by who would become our nation’s 4th president, recognizes the right to self-defense.  Property – Should any person debate you on the validity of this right, ask them how they would respond if an armed assailant broke into their home and stole a prized possession.  Mobility – The right to travel, the right to not be enslaved by direct or indirect force, this is the right of mobility.  Speech – Recognized by most people at least theoretically. Its pragmatic application is put to the test in this day and age by overly sensitive souls who would put their insecurities over your right to speak freely.  Responsibility – “The only thing necessary for the triumph [of evil] is for good men to do nothing.” – Quote attributed to Edmund Burke  Next week, I will name five more. If you are asked to name five human rights, which would you elaborate upon and why? Individual rights are of great magnitude to libertarianism, for they are the nucleus of the party.

Upcoming Events Upcoming Events.... Libertarians are the fastest growing party in Kansas. We seek to maintain our momentum by keeping everyone informed. If you have an event scheduled, please let us know so we can help you get the word out. We owe much of our success to local groups that meet to organize and promote the message of Liberty in their communities. We are working to establish at least one local group in each Kansas County. Does your county have a group yet?  If not, you should consider organizing one!  Contact the state chair at Chair@LPKS.org for more information or assistance organizing your county for Liberty. A list of LPKS County Chairs can be found HERE (click on the "County Chairs" tab). Other events can be found on the LPKS page on Facebook HERE.  Forward this to a Friend Friend us on Facebook Follow us on Twitter If you no longer wish to receive ANY emails from the Libertarian Party of Kansas, follow the Unsubscribe link. To select WHICH emails you receive, follow the Update link. Update your subscription preferences  Unsubscribe from this mailing list