Current mood: excited

The radio interview with Marilyn Steffen (see last month’s issue of New Mexico Liberty or the LPNM blog) has been posted to the LPNM’s YouTube account in three parts –

Part 1 / Part 2 / Part 3

The interview has also been posted to lpnm.us as a single MP3 file –

lpnm.us/MediaFiles/MarilynSteffenInterview-KOOT.mp3

Thanks to Allen Cogbill for posting it to the net!

NOTES

——– Original Message ——–
Subject: county chair
Date: Wed, 11 May 2011 14:46:54
From: M. Steffen

I do the best I can here. I’m not an organizer, but I do hand out DVD’s of Freedom to Fascism and the Citizens Rule book by the hundreds and did a radio interview last year at a Silver City radio station and have a 23 minute copy of the show if you would like to have a copy. I talked about the Constitution, Fully Informed Jury and Freedom Fest.
——– Original Message Ends ——–

I’d like to put this interview on the LPNM site.

I’ve passed this on via email, as well as included in the next New Mexico Liberty, and sent it on to the National Chair, Mark Hinkle.

NOTES

New Mexico Liberty for May 2011

Albuquerque Liberty Forum is a no-host dinner, with discussion of issues important to libertarians, anarcho-capitalists, extropians, and Constitutionalists.

We’re currently meeting at the Sizzler at 7212 Menaul NE in Albuquerque (two blocks to the east of Louisiana Blvd., on the south side of Menaul), from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.

Suggestions for speakers are welcome. Speakers will have 30 minutes to make their case, then should be open to questions from the audience. Audience members are requested to ask questions of the speaker as opposed to making statements. All speakers will be considered to have consented to being recorded, including but not limited to audio or video devices, for posting to the internet (YouTube, etc.).

ABQ Campaign for Liberty

Facebook

FreedomConnect

FreedomTorch

Myspace

NMPolitics.org

New Mexico Liberty

Agenda for this event

1. Round-robin introductions (if needed)
2. State of the Party speech by LPNM State Chair Mike Blessing
3. Notices about upcoming events
4. Getting Started as an Activist

After-event review

What went well

1. We stuck to the posted agenda fairly well – we didn’t get sidetracked much at all.
2. We had a few new faces at this event – total attendance was twelve, which is double last month’s number.

What needs improving

The venue’s management seated us in the separate room after another group had previously reserved that same room for every Thursday. So at 7:00 PM, we had to move from that room to the main dining room, where we had to raise our voices to be heard over the piano.

NOTES

Copyright © 2011 Libertarian Party of New Mexico. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing
This blog entry created with Notepad++     

   Current mood: excited

Recently (10 March 2011), I went to a meeting of a local amateur “ham” radio club. While there didn’t seem to be any formally-established leadership, there were quite a few people who pointed me in the direction of getting started.

Way, way back in high school, I was one of three people (one was the faculty “advisor” who ran it) participating in the school’s Amateur Radio “club.” As with the group I met with above, there was no formal organization, just that “leadership” was on the basis of who was competent with the necessary technical skills. I didn’t go further with it then because you had to start off as a Novice operator, with Morse Code privileges only – no voice privileges until you passed the Technician test. A modern analogy would be getting on the internet by manually sending, receiving and interpreting the digital ones and zeroes that ultimately make up the relevant content.

Since then (1988 / 1989), the FCC licensing process has been simplified a bit, and the Morse Code requirements have been dropped from the tests. So when one of the members of the New Mexico Survival meetup group expressed an interest in “ham” radio, my own interest was rekindled.

Apologies for the digression there – back to the present.

At the meeting, I was told that resources for beginners are abundant, online^[1], in print form^[2], and from more experienced users willing to help out the newbies (“elmers”).

The testing seems relatively straightforward – it runs Ø14 to take the test for a Technician license, the bottom level of amateur radio operators. (The Ø14 test fee was what one of the attendees quoted to me as what it costs when he runs the test. Others may charge more.) IF you pass the Technician test, you then have the option to take the test for the General license at no additional charge. Should you pass the General license test, you then have the option to take the test for the Extra license, again at no additional charge.

I was also told that the Technician, General and Extra tests cover different material – you can’t just study for the Extra test and expect to pass the Technician or General class tests.

Club meetings – As I wrote above, club I met with doesn’t seem to have any sort of formal leadership – it’s just a group of retirees who enjoy amateur radio. (I was the youngest one there, at 40 years old.) They show up when they show up, there’s no formal agenda for the meeting. They just show up, have coffee and breakfast, and spend some time talking amateur radio, among other topics. This club meets on Thursdays at 7:00 AM at the McDonalds on the southeast corner of NM-528 and Coors (Alameda Blvd and Coors NW). Breakfast is on the no-host, pay-as-you-go plan.

The people who showed up there didn’t seem to have any hostility towards other clubs or groups – for example, they told me about another club that meets at the Krispy Kreme near IHOP, behind Kohls on Alameda NW, on Fridays at 1:00 PM.

If you are looking for a formal club, you can always search the ARRL site.

P.S. – If you’re a user of citizens’ band (CB) radio, it’s probably not a good idea to mention it too much at a ham radio club until you’ve already established your bonafides. Unless you don’t mind being ragged on and “dissed” a bit.

NOTES

Known nationally as “the conservative alternative to the AARP,” the American Seniors Association works hard to fulfill its mission to provide seniors with the choices, information, and services they need to live healthier, wealthier lives.

Our members’ dignity and security matter most to us, and that’s why thousands of Americans every year turn to the American Seniors Association for the help they need.

We offer our members better choices to help with:

We are driven by a uniquely American philosophy that starts with the understanding that government doesn’t tax and regulate “things.” It taxes and regulates “people.” Individuals like you and me. That’s why we treat every member as an individual, with a different story and different priorities, freely united as individuals to provide each other with better values in the services we want and need.

At American Seniors Association, we don’t just take the government’s side like some other associations. We are not some big liberal bureaucracy here to try to scare you into going along with Big Government all the time or telling you what to think. Instead . . .

And instead of pretending to speak for you on every issue, we’ll help provide you with the information and the tools you need to speak for yourself.

Like we said, we’re different. And we’re working for people just like you.

If you’re tired of having some association you’ve never met claiming to speak for you in Washington DC, then the American Seniors Association is a perfect new home for you.

If you’re tired of your opinion being taken for granted and your intelligence being insulted, then join the growing membership of the American Seniors Association.

You aren’t like everyone else. Neither are we.

A one-year membership with the American Seniors Association is only $15. And, we’ll be happy to add your spouse to your membership absolutely free. If you are an American Senior who believes in individual liberty, and is looking for a different sort of association, we hope you’ll choose the American Seniors Association. We want to work for you.

CLICK HERE TO JOIN

NOTES

This blog entry created with Notepad++     

Outright USA asked the question:

What did you think of the LP statement that gay Democrats are like abused spouses who return to their attackers?

The results at this time –

Exactly right.
75     41.7%

I’ll believe the LP when they remove the pro-DADT and pro-DOMA members from their National Committee.
50     27.8%

I wish they hadn’t said that the LP ‘neither supports nor opposes gay relationships.’ It undermined the message.
30     16.7%

The analogy was generous to the DNC and an insult to spousal abusers.
25     13.9%

I wonder if the question were changed to the following:

What did you think of the LP statement that gun-owning Republicans are like abused spouses who return to their attackers?

What would the results be?

NOTES

Copyright © 2011 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved. Produced by KCUF Media.
This blog entry created with Notepad++     

The Patriot’s Credo
by Richard Gleaves

The Nine Principles of American Civic life

The Twelve Virtues of American Civic Life

No man should be embarrassed to love his country. America belongs to us all equally, to every individual regardless of our differences, and by virtue of our shared humanity. In its founding principles, it is the noblest country in the history of man.

Let us march together beneath the Revolutionary Banner: “Liberty, Reason and Rights!”

We must call on the current administration, both parties in Congress, the Supreme Court, the Governors and Legislatures of the several states and on our fellow citizens to reinstate these founding ideas that were once at the center American life. It is a secular creed by which men and women of all faiths and nations may live together, grow together, and ultimately achieve greatness.

Please spread this note, which I believe represents the common sense of the matter, to every person within your reach.

“The last hope of human liberty in this world rests on us. We ought, for so dear a state, to sacrifice every attachment and every enmity.”
– Thomas Jefferson

For more, see the Principled Patriots site.

This blog entry created with Notepad++