There are 276 blog entries within the category of Blog Entry
Canvassing East Austin with some of our new campaign volunteers. From left to right: Fox Buchele, David Coon, Eric Guerra, Kevin Ludlow, Tara Vancil With the large amount of volunteers we have out on the campaign trail, it's not uncommon for us to go out canvassing several times per week. Today my volunteer coordinator, Tara Vancil, managed to organize some of our newer volunteers. We spent a few hours canvassing East Austin.
To date we have canvassed between 6,000 and 7,000 homes within the district; we have no intention of slowing down between now and November 4th.
Generally speaking we've had very positive reactions to the campaign flyers and have received countless emails, phone calls, and even more volunteers from the process. I am definitely looking forward to continuing our canvassing efforts throughout all of District 46. Our goal is to reach every potential voter at least once.
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A cartoon of my political self drawn by the people over at CoinTelegraph. I love cartoons. Following the success of the AMA on /r/Bitcoin/, a number of independent news agencies around the world picked up the story of my candidacy in Texas. One of those agencies was none other than CoinTelegraph.
I especially liked the article they wrote about the campaign given the fact that they turned me into a cartoon. I mean really, who doesn't want to be drawn in cartoon form?
Aesthetics aside, they gave our campaign wonderful reviews. Specifically, they cited our ability to conduct a very peaceful debate within a digital arena that typically sheds blood across the political spectrum. We've heard this kind of compliment from numerous sources over the past few months of campaigning. I'm overjoyed that we're being able to connect with so many people in so many different parts of the country.
It's always nice to see that the ideas of freedom are still alive and well. I think people are yearning for politicians that will follow through with those ideals in office. I know I'm looking forward to following through with them once I have a shot in the House.
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Our second campaign billboard on Interstate-35. This particular billboard was dedicated to the /r/bitcoin/ community on Reddit. We also have a few more images of the billboard available. Thanks to the wonderful support of the /r/bitcoin/ community, our campaign has now installed a second billboard on the Interstate! This billboard is dedicated explicitly to supporting net-neutrality. It is located on the upper-deck northbound side of IH35 just north of Manor Road.
Unlike our existing billboard just a few miles north, this billboard will only run for a 24-hour period. It is our hope to get Austinites asking questions about net-neutrality any way we can. And of course we're hoping it also drives people to consider our campaign themes of sensible drug policies, equality for the LGBT community, and civil liberties.
Thank you to the amazing and generous people of /r/bitcoin/ who made this billboard possible. Last month's AMA on /r/bitcoin/ drove over 16,000 people to our campaign website! We could not be doing this well without your continued support and exposure!
Thank you again!
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Our first campaign billboard! It is located on IH35 northbound just north of the US290 interchange (near the Pappadeauxs) Thanks to the wonderful and generous support of the Reddit community we have installed our first campaign billboard. The billboard is located on the northbound side of IH35 just north of US290.
The billboard is scheduled to be up for the remainder of the campaign season. Naturally we're hoping it drives people to the campaign's message of sensible drug policies, equality for the LGBT community, and a focus on civil liberties.
Thank you to all of those who contributed to the campaign on April 24th and May 12th. We could not do this without your continued support!
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Jacob Lavoro and Kevin Ludlow posing at a local dinner. Jacob is currently facing up to 99 years in prison for baking THC brownies in Williamson County, Texas Many of you have probably heard about the 19-year-old kid from Round Rock, Texas that is facing up to 99 years in prison for allegedly baking and selling pot brownies. That's him standing next to me in the photo.
The Libertarian Party of Williamson County has been working with Jacob and his family in an effort to help him with his current legal nightmare. The reason he is facing this kind of prison sentence is due to the fact that the district attorney has thus far chosen to weigh the entire amount of material confiscated and declare that the weight of the "illegal substance". Of course this is patently absurd. Included in this weight were eggs, flour, water, chocolate, even the glass bowl, and likely just a few grams of THC.
I have been calling on all Texas State Legislators to speak out against this kind of inhumanity. We are all victims of a vicious state apparatus when this kind of prosecution comes to light. Not only is this a victimless crime, but the situation has been publicly fabricated and few inside of the state seem to care very much at all. It's simply not possible that a district attorney cannot conclude of her own intelligence that there were not several pounds of THC in Jacob's Betty Crocker concoction.
Furthermore, what possible sense does it make to ruin the life of a 19-year-old young man? He'll forever be marked a criminal and if he does serve time, society will be paying for him while simultaneously loosing out on any productive value he would bring to the community (not to mention contributions to the tax base).
As a State Representative I would absolutely love to get involved in situations like this at ground zero. I would proudly attend court proceedings and use whatever influence I could as a legislator to sway an opinion of the court towards a sensible outcome.
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A direct link to the radio broadcast can be found here. I come on the air just after the 19:30 mark. This evening I had the pleasure of being on air with Ryan Dixon and Harlan Deitrich, hosts of The Crypto Show on local Austin station 90.1 FM. Harlan, by the way, is the loveable owner of Brave New Books located at 1904 Guadalupe.
I had been originally invited to participate in a weekly Bitcoin meetup. A friend of mine started the group some time back and had asked me to speak about my campaign. The whole thing was a wonderful experience. It was fun to speak with so many people working on Bitcoin and other Alt-currencies; as a software engineer, I've spent a lot of time in that field myself.
As kind of a bonus to the evening, Ryan Dixon asked if I would be interested in doing a segment on the campaign on The Crypto Show.
Check out this archived episode page for the broadcast I was part of. My interview is the first part of the show and starts just after the 19:30 mark on the MP3 file.
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