Cry-baby Barr threatnes to sue church.

How far away from libertarianism does Bob Barr have to go before Libertarians realize they have handed their party over to a scoundrel? How many excuses will they make for his conduct before they give up and admit he was the Libertarian Party's biggest mistake.

Here is the latest unprincipled position taken by Mr. Barr -- unprincipled for a libertarian that is. I guess you can say he is being true to his principles.

The big fundamentalist church, Saddleback Church, in California, is holding a forum where they have both John McCain and Barack Obama speaking. Crybaby Barr is bitching because he wasn't included. Barr's fellow conservatives, who run his campaign, have been trying to put pressure on the church to include Barr in the forum.

Campaign manager Russ Verney, who is not a libertarian either, sent out a campaign email saying:

Yesterday, I reported to former Congressman Barr that we’ve exhausted every avenue. I told him, “We’ve had calls placed to Pastor [Rick] Warren from very powerful leaders from the left and the right, we sent in our personal request, and placed numerous phone calls that have not been returned. You are not going to be included.

“Our only option left is to threaten to file an temporary injunction as our attorney’s believe they are in violation of the law.”

Bob responded by saying, “No, don’t threaten to do that … Just do it.”

As you read this, our attorneys are filing an injunction against Saddleback Church to include Bob Barr in their forum this Saturday.

The Atlanta Jounrnal-Constitution called Barr's actions "an odd thing for a Libertarian to do -- asking a judge to determine whom a church should invite into its sanctuary."

Even someone who doesn't know what a libertarian is supposed to be would know this is entirely unlibertarian. Actually this is not just unlibertarian it is anti-libertarian. Of course, this isn't the first time the media has actually had to inform Mr. Barr about what it is libertarians believe.

Barr's first instincts are always statist. He doesn't comprehend principles, just politics. It then takes education to get him to change his position. His first instinct, after 9/11, was to support the Patriot Act. Only later did he figure out he was promoting authoritarianism. He did the same with his disgusting Defense of Marriage Act. Barr is a natural statist NOT a libertarian.

Just in case someone from Barr's campaign actually reads this, which is unlikely as they seem to spend little time understanding libertarianism, let me spell out the principles. Saddleback Church is a private organization. They are entitled to invite anyone they wish to speak in their church. They are also free to deny speaking rights to anyone they wish. Mr. Barr is attacking the concept of private property and freedom of association. He is also attacking freedom of religion.

Had this been a state-sponsored event it would be different. But this is an entirely private affair. As such Mr. Barr has no right to attend. He can ask, he can beg, he can even advocate boycotts and nasty letters. But the moment he goes to court he has stabbed libertarian principles in the heart. But that is pretty much true to form for him.

Mr. Barr has also confirmed that he will sspeak to the bigots who run the Minutemen at a national rally they are holding. Disgusting, but typical Barr. And not long ago he made a pilgrimage to Colorado Springs where he tried to suck up to the fundamentalists who run Focus on the Family.