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February 21, 2007

Updates: Howie Rich, Libertarians, and Prince Harry

What do Howard Rich, the Libertarian Party and Prince Harry have in common? Absolutely nothing except that I've written about them recently and have found some interesting new information about them.

First, Hart Williams (a.k.a. Ed Waldo of Boregasm) has a new piece out on Howard Rich that is quite enlightening. The primary point:

Howard Rich ain't no sugar daddy. In fact, he's not giving money away at all. He's MAKING it.

Hart has received a letter from an "Insider" in the Rich machine (I wonder if this is the same "insider" who contacted me last Fall and set me off on my own explorations):

You are correct that it's Koch and some others paying the bills. I'm not sure if you understand that Rich, Jacob and others actually profit from the initiatives. ALL the money comes from others. I know many of those others, and the routes they choose. …

What is important is that there is an undisclosed agenda of Rich and Co. That undisclosed agenda, simply, is he's only in this for the purpose of making money. Rich doesn't contribute one thin dime to anyone. Not in his nature.

Indeed, many of the people you mention are mere fronts. Ric[h] is a launderer. The money, ALL of it, comes from others, and he cuts himself into that for profit. …

The money is laundered (much of it) through ATR. Some of it goes through Nevada corporations....

Why am I not surprised?

A few weeks ago, after reading in the news that Wes Wagner was suing the Libertarian Party of Oregon because he thought the state committee had become "a power-hungry oligarchy," and then hearing Wagner interviewed on Thom Hartmann's radio show, I wrote about my own knowledge of the situation. This morning I found in my email a forwarded letter from LPO Executive Director Richard Burke announcing that as of yesterday, the legal battle is over.

This afternoon in Washington Circuit Court, Judge Hernandez dismissed the petition for a "Writ of Mandamus" filed by Mr. Wes Wagner against the LPO. Mr. Wagner had alleged that the LPO State Committee had violated a number of bylaws and asked the court to effectively enforce them.

It is the opinion of LPO officers and myself that Mr. Wagner's true agenda was to force the LPO into a discovery process it could not afford to break the party financially and politically, thereby facilitating a factional takeover. After listening to both sides, Judge Hernandez was very clear in his rulings as he dismissed the case. Judge Hernandez also declared the LPO and other defendants to be the "prevailing parties," thereby facilitating the collection of court costs and legal fees from Mr. Wagner as requested by the LPO's attorney.

In January, a recall election was held invoked by a recall petition organized and led by Mr. Wagner. In the election, LPO members overwhelmingly voted to retain all officers. This month, as reported above, the lawsuit against the LPO filed by Mr. Wagner has been dismissed.

Can you say "Loser"?

Finally, I very recently wrote about how Prince Harry was to be sent off to war in Iraq under extra protection, a situation that I viewed as setting him up to become some sort of war hero without ever having actually been placed in harm's way. Idler, an apparent Anglophile, took me to task for denigrating all the British royals who had ever served their country valiantly in war, something which, of course, I did not do. I'm still very wounded, by the way. Today, Matt Drudge carried the following headline on his website:

Is Blair Doing it for Harry?

Of course, the article says absolutely nothing about Prime Minister Tony Blair's motivation for announcing troop reductions in Iraq. The story really is about how Prince Harry will learn tomorrow whether his regimen is headed to Iraq. It also says that the prince has "insisted he wants to be treated the same as any ordinary soldier, rather than being kept away from harm in a headquarters job." I hope that before Idler says, "I told you so" he reads what I said earlier and notes that I never said anything about Prince Harry's interest in legitimate service, only that if he is sent over with special protections, then he will not be able to really relate to the common man who does not have such protections in war – but that he will enjoy all the credentials of a legitimate warrior, nonetheless.

Posted by Becky at February 21, 2007 09:10 AM