I realize that I have been behind on my blogging here on the Boston Tea Party website, but considering I've been busy with my recent new work with the Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity website run by libertarian activists James Cox, Jessica Pacholski, Michael Shanklin, and a number of other wonderful pro-Liberty activists, it's an explanation for why my activism in the BTP has been silent as of late. It's also partly why my work as the Secretary of the Party has been absent, so I am working to resolve that.

But that's not the reason why I'm writing this blog. I'm writing this blog due to the death of a friendship with a fellow activist whose state of mind has been worrying me for a long while now. Just recently this person wanted the blocking of an individual on this website whom he labeled a "spammer," yet he attacked the national chair in a private Gmail conversation, calling him an "authoritarian" because Doug called him out on it, saying that his call for silencing a poster on the website "childish, distracting, and counterproductive." This person accused Doug of attempting to censor him when that was never true to begin with. I came to Doug's defense, because I felt that this individual was out of line for his uncalled for and unfair remarks against Doug, who did nothing of the sort. (And I stand by those remarks to this day.)

That person is Jim Davidson.

Yes, it's the same Jim Davidson who went to the mat for me when I defended John Wayne Smith from being thrown under the bus by Tom Knapp and Charles Jay, simply because I didn't believe the child molestation charges aimed at him by Dagny Kira Barnes, who brought the matter to me on my Facebook account at the time when I was the vice chair of the party. (I stand by my statements on this old matter, which are a matter of public record on here.) It's the same Jim Davidson who defended me when my battles with BTPNC At-Large Member Neil Kiernan Stephenson became a matter of public record here on the party's website. (I also stand by my statements on this matter as well, which are also public on this site.)

And yes, it's the same Davidson who has been abusive, nasty, vulgar, and downright mean spirited and a jerk to a number of people in the party, especially after he stepped down as national chair of the Boston Tea Party.

This nasty business started when I had Dave Nalle, the head of the Republican Liberty Caucus, on my show Liberty Cap Talk Live with Todd Andrew Barnett: The Special Edition Show, which also had Dr. Mary Ruwart on the same show. (By the way, many of you are not aware of this, but NowLive went under more than two months ago, and since then I have returned to Blog Talk Radio to continue my show, although I have rebooted the old LCTL:SpecialEdition show, and it's also where I am rebooting the original show Liberty Cap Talk Live with Todd Andrew Barnett & James Landrith, Jr. on there as well.)

Rather than retyping what happened, I'm going to repost an explanation to some fellow pals of mine on the LibertarianForum Google Group on June 27 (I will be filling in some blanks to give people an idea of whom I was talking to on the discussion list and to what items I was referring):

"On my show Friday night, after Mary Ruwart left, the panel and I started to have a discussion on the subject of Iran. I was taking a quote from the Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity Movement website (where I write for
James Cox, a good friend of mine in the Liberty movement), a quote that was lifted from the Libertarian Republican blog (Eric Dondero's blog), in which the guest columnist wrote the following:

'Well once again Congressman Ron Paul shows how much he just loves liberty, he just voted against a house resolution that would declare official support for anti-government protests in Iran!

*takes in air* Ahhhh yes, LIBERTY! Don't you just love it? Now, to be more serious, how come every non-interventionist paleolibertarian like Paul is always willing to say and write things for freedom (well except
this time of course), but they are so resistant to doing something for freedom?'

This is in reference to Ron Paul's NO vote on Iran, in which a conservative blogger was criticizing Paul for his vote against Congress's non-binding resolution on the events taking place in that country. Here are the links to the blogs:

http://www.peacefreedomprosperity.com/?p=1579
(Peace, Freedom, and Prosperity Movement website and blog)
http://www.conservativeforchange.com/2009/06/ron-paul-taking-heat-for...
(Conservatives for Change blog)
http://libertarianrepublican.blogspot.com/2009/06/ron-paul-loves-libe...
(Libertarian Republican blog - Eric Dondero's blog)

When I mentioned this, Dave Nalle, the head of the Republican Liberty Caucus, stepped in, saying that he normally doesn't defend Dondero, but the point made in the blog was a valid one. He was, to paraphrase here,
criticizing Paul for opposing the U.S. government's opinion and view on the dissenting Iranian protesters, because it should be our government's job to call for freedom in Iran. Jim Davidson, one of the people I know
on my panel, went ballistic and said (more like shouted out) that it wasn't the job of the U.S. government to butt its nose into the matter. Dave asked him, 'So you're not for freedom for the people in that country.' (In Jim's defense on that point, that's not what he said, but that's neither here nor there.) Davidson said that it began with a non-binding resolution and ends with bombing children. ([Daniel Coleman]'s right
on that point as well.)

Jim was pummeling the guy on the air. The discussion devolved from being a spirited debate to a political death match in a matter of minutes. I was going to rebut Nalle's point on the air, but I couldn't because Jim
was screaming at the top of his lungs. From that entire time, Jim was being an asshole to Nalle, simply because Dave, who I didn't know favored the resolution, didn't come across as 100% anti-war, non-interventionist to Jim.

It was my fault that I didn't mute Jim's mike, let alone boot him from the show at that point. But that's too late anyhow. The damage is already done. I owe Dave Nalle, my guests, and my listeners an apology, because, legally speaking, I am responsible for the actions of a guest going off the deep end on my radio show. However, I refuse to take responsibility for a guest's damn meltdown on the air (it was more like a nuclear explosion than an angry response), considering it's his fault for putting my own show at risk. I will be blogging an apology on BTR's blog post (under my account name LCTLSpecialEdition) sometime tonight or tomorrow. As a result, I may have to institute some controls on the show to prevent this from happening again, and the same will be done for my regular show.

After that entire incident happened, Skype kicked me off, and I couldn't call back into the show, because Blog Talk Radio wouldn't boot my host call-in out of their system. I tried over a dozen times to call back
into the show to finish it out, but it was of no use. I managed to get only an hour and 41 minutes of recorded show time in lieu of the standard 2 hours. Thank the gods Mary wasn't around when this bullshit unraveled at the seams."

When I wrote that post, I even included my desire not to have anything to do with Davidson again, because of the fact that he screwed me over on the show. He claims that I didn't warn him in advance that there was going to be a pro-war Republican on the show and that I knew I was going to have a pro-war GOP'er, blah, blah, blah.

I would be glad to post the private emails on here, but I'm not going to do that. I will forward them to anyone who wants to know what happened, and I'll give my side of the story there and not just issue this story of what I posted.

If people want to know what I'm referring to, go to this URL and hear for yourself: http://tinyurl.com/ppvem9

And here's the URL to my public apology to my guests, listeners, and to Dave Nalle for what happened: http://tinyurl.com/o2f7mo

Here's the apology I posted on my BTR blog page:

"To my listeners of Liberty Cap Talk Live with Todd Andrew Barnett: The Special Edition Show on BlogTalkRadio.com:

I wish to express my sincere apologies to my listenership and my guests Jessica Pacholski, Gardner Goldsmith, and Republican Liberty Caucus Chairman Dave Nalle for the unfortunate and unexpected incident that took place on the show at 12:21 a.m. in the morning shortly after Dr. Mary Ruwart left the show.

The incident was started because I brought up the subject of Iran, specifically a conservative blogger's guest editorial on Eric Dondero's blog Libertarian Republican, in which the blogger took aim at Dr. Ron Paul for his principled NO congressional vote on Congress's non-binding resolution opposing the Iranian government's actions surrounding the civil unrest exploding in that country. Dave Nalle, the national chair of the RLC, admitted that he didn't agree with Dondero on a lot of things, but he did agree with the criticism of Ron Paul on his opposition to the resolution. I was going to issue my rebuttal to Dave's argument, but that chance was torpedoed when Boston Tea Party of Kansas Chairman Jim Davidson took issue with Nalle's position, stating that it starts with a non-binding resolution and then acts of violence, including murder, on innocent men, women, and children in that country and throughout the Middle East.

Davidson repeatedly attacked Dave Nalle, shouting and screaming at him, which in turn made the entire discussion very uncomfortable and very hostile. He created a hostile environment at that moment. While I agreed with him on his principled stand on the resolution, Jim's attitude towards Nalle was unprofessional, unbecoming, and uncalled for. Legally speaking, I am responsible for the behavior and actions of my guests, but I refuse to be held liable for the irresponsible and obnoxious actions and attitudes of a highly-disturbed man who has unapologetically and unremorsefully put the future of my show in jeopardy. I won't stand for that behavior, and I do not and will not tolerate it. Therefore, Jim Davidson is permanently banned not only as a guest panelist on the show, but also as a listener. I do not want to associate with him ever again, because, to associate with him is an endorsement of what happened on the air. Jim Davidson has a history of being abusive towards people on various discussion lists and websites, and I was dismayed that he would think that he would get away with it on my show. He is quite dead wrong, as far as I'm concerned.

Another reason that I refuse to associate with him is that his once-respected relationship with me makes me look bad on the air and in public. His disgusting behavior puts my reputation at risk. The phrase "guilt by association" does not exist for nothing. Therefore, he's no longer a friend of mine, and I am pleased that he will not be a part of my life as a friend. In many ways, it pains me to do this, but I must; he didn't give me much of a choice. It's either my show or him; I choose my show. As a result of that choice, I have terminated his account at The Freeman Chronicles blog, and I have withdrawn my support for his Individual Sovereignty University project and all and any projects he's affiliated himself with.

As for Dave, I will issue a personal apology to him as well. To Jessica and Gard, I offer the same to you.

Therefore, the show will continue on Friday as planned, and I hope that we can move past this and put it behind us. Thank you all for your support, and I hope to see you all on the airwaves with me @ 11 p.m. EST every Friday night.

Thank you, and fight the state, all the time, everyday, and no excuses!

Yours in Liberty,

Todd Andrew Barnett
Host, LCTL and LCTL: SpecialEdition"

After Jim's email to me tonight, it is clear that my friendship with him is non-existent. I thought we were friends, and I thought we had a good relationship. Hell, I even thought that, after all the times I defended his ass left and right, we could set things right and patch things up.

Was I ever wrong!

Jim claims that I never sent him an email letting him know that there was going to be a Republican on the air with us. He's full of it because I did cc it to him and to the guests via Gmail at 4:10 p.m. EST, dated June 26, 2009. It was sent to his Yahoo and Gmail accounts. So, not only is he lying when he said I didn't do that, he also insults my intelligence. He did receive the emails. He made it sound like I never told him.

He also claims that I promised him to talk about the Individual Sovereignty University project that I initially endorsed and supported, but when he became abusive and off his rocker on the air, he basically made that impossible. I was going to bring up the subject towards the end of the show, but, as described in my reposting of what happened, that was impossible. He claims I violated his contract by doing that; he's full of shit because I never orally contracted to do such a thing. He claims that I didn't honor my end of the deal. Jim, if you're reading this, you destroyed that opportunity when you abused your position as a panelist on the show. If you think I'm going to apologize to you for what happened on the air considering it was your fault that it happened and neither I nor the guests twisted your arm to do what you did, you're out of your fucking mind.

As of today, Jim Davidson and I are enemies. I can see why people can't stand that prick. Therefore, because of his actions, he's been banned from my show and that ban will never be lifted. I tried to extend an olive branch to him hours ago, but that ungrateful backstabber threw it back at me and spit on it. Honestly, he makes Eric Dondero and Dave Nalle look sane in comparison. And I can't stand Dondero with a passion, given my complete and entire history with that jackass.

It's better this way. I'm venting my frustrations, disappointment, and yes, goddamned bitterness over what Davidson said to me in Gmail. But he made his choice.

Now I'm making mine. Effective August 7, I will be resigning my seat as Secretary of the BTP. I only ran on this seat because Davidson asked me to. I didn't want the damn seat, but because of this crap, I want nothing to do with it as long as it has his name attached to it. I will offer my last and final resolution on the Committee before my term expires.

This gives Doug and the Committee a month to transition my departure and find a suitable replacement for me on the Secretary seat. I got on this board because of Davidson, and I will not carry it further as long as his legacy is attached to my seat and this party.

Doug told me that he's had people tell him that they won't join the Party as long as Davidson is a part of it. For a long time, I could not fathom that; now I do. As long as Davidson, who is NOT a libertarian in my opinion but an unstable kook in my honest opinion, has any continued association with the Party, this organization will remain small and irrelevant. It will remain small and irrelevant anyway, but hey, that's what you get for getting involved in third party politics.

Thank you all for supporting me. This has been an agonizing decision, and I wish everyone the best of luck. I hope my successor will do a better job than I ever could.

As Jefferson has famously said, "The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants. It is its natural manure." How true indeed!

Yours in Liberty in Perpetuity,

Todd Andrew Barnett
Resigning Secretary of the Boston Tea Party