The candidates from the Libertarian and Green parties were arrested while trying to get into the presidential debate last night.

The first report from St. Louis is in – and presidential candidates Michael Badnarik (Libertarian) and David Cobb (Green Party) were just arrested. Badnarik was carrying an [order to show cause](http://thelfactor.org/arizona*state*lawsuit.html

)

which he intended to serve the Commission on Presidential Debates (CPD). Earlier today, Libertarians attempted to serve these same papers at the Washington, D.C. headquarters of the CPD – but were stopped from approaching the CPD office by security guards.

Exactly… how can it possibly be a valid debate when a candidate that is on [nearly every states’ ballot](http://badnarik.org/ballotaccess.php) isn’t allowed to participate?

This is why we as citizens never have any choice except what the Republicrats wish us to have. That’s not very democratic.

This is what the mainstream press hasn’t told you about what we’ve accomplished in Iraq since the end of major combat operations was declared.

* The first battalion of the new Iraqi Army has graduated and is on active duty (~60,000 Iraqis providing security to citizens).
* Nearly all of Iraq’s 400 courts are functioning.
* The Iraqi judiciary is fully independent.
* Power generation hit 4,518 megawatts (Oct), exceeding prewar output.
* All 22 Universities &43 technical institutes/colleges are open
* Nearly all primary and secondary schools are open.
* Coalition has “rehabbed” 1,500+ schools (500 ahead of schedule).
* Teachers earn from 12-25 times their former salaries.
* All 240 hospitals and more than 1200 clinics are open.
* Doctors salaries are at least 8 times what they were under Saddam.

And this list goes on. But you’d never know any of this if you just read the [[New York Times]] or the [[Boston Globe]].

The one thing that struck me with the debate the other night is that neither candidate was willing to just speak the plain truth.

Once upon a time in America, there were public figures like Barry Goldwater. He was a rock-ribbed conservative Republican. I disagreed with almost all of his political positions and could never have voted for him.

…
Above all his other qualities, I miss Goldwater’s extraordinary penchant for straight talk. He was one of those old-fashioned Americans who absolutely believed that our freedoms of speech were there to be used. He understood that clear, declarative sentences, unencumbered by evasive qualifiers and legalese, were the sinewy muscles of our democracy, and like muscles, they grew flabby and weak if they were not used. In his long career (five terms in the U.S. Senate), Goldwater always said what he believed. He didn’t submit to the slippery guidance of media consultants, who have turned so many of today’s politicians into ciphers. He went forth and spoke his mind, even when his blunt opposition to the prevailing New Deal orthodoxies brought forth mockery.

…
That is why we must cherish those people who have the guts to speak the truth: mavericks, whistle-blowers, disturbers of the public peace. And it’s why, in spite of my own continuing (though chastened) liberal faith, I miss Barry Goldwater. More than ever.

I’d vote for any candidate that avoided equivocations with every phrase uttered. Where are they?