irate
Current mood: 
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Fwd: Guns aren't the problem, and never really were
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 22:16:38
From: Mike Blessing
To: LPNM Discussion list @ Yahoo!, My Public Email Archive, The Weekly Sedition @ Yahoo!, New Mexicans for Liberty
BCC: [80 individuals]
Re: Gun Arguments Die in Latest Massacre
-------- Original Message --------
Subject: Guns aren't the problem, and never really were
Date: Tue, 18 Dec 2012 01:51:55
From: Libertarian Party of New Mexico <lpnm.chair@gmail.com>
To: <llinthicum@abqjournal.com>, <opinion@abqjournal.com>
"And it’s time for Americans to stop talking about our individual rights and start accepting our collective responsibilities."
With that one sentence, Ms. Linthicum disavows the one thing that separates America from the rest of the world – the United States is the only country with the notion of individual rights written into its core documents: the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution and the Bill of Rights.
She says "I don’t want to hear that it’s not guns that are the problem, people are." Well, she's going to, and not just from me, from what I see on the Journal's website. Because it's the truth. Inanimate objects such as guns, knives and baseball bats don't cause violent crime, as she alleges. That's like saying cars cause drunk driving.
Then she says she doesn't want to hear about how an armed teacher could have prevented the tragedy. Again, she doesn't want to hear the truth. She's got an agenda to promote and doesn't want anything to get in the way.
Fact is, Linthicum's pet cause of victim disarmament legislation has been a stagnant one since the year 2000. Twenty dead kids in a public school is just what she needed to bring it back to life.
Why hasn't she asked any questions about Adam Lanza's psychiatric state at the time of the tragedy? Was he doped up on Ritalin, Prozac or any other anti-depressant?
And about the shootings themselves:
Why is it that not many (if any) people shoot up private schools or religious schools like this? What makes the public schools so special in this regard?
Why is it that there's never any coverage of these sort of incidents happening with homeschooling families? After all, quite a few of those in the homeschooling movement are also supporters and exercisers of the right to own and carry weapons.
Why is it that these sorts of shootings never seem to happen at gun shows, at gun stores or at shooting ranges? After all, by Linthicum's brand of thinking, these are the places that they should happen the most at – lots of guns present, lots of ammo present.
Anyway, Linthicum wants us to put our inalienable Constitutional, civil, God-given human rights aside for her notion of "collective responsibility." Well, what happens when her side loses an election, and she becomes subordinate to someone else's notion of "collective responsibility" – a version that she doesn't particularly care for? Maybe then she'll learn to appreciate that "outdated" notion of individual rights?
I can only hope so.
_______________________________________________________________________
Mike Blessing / Phone – 505-249-1248
State Chair, Libertarian Party of New Mexico
Who owns you? Who runs your life? Who should – you or someone else?
Freedom is the answer – what's the question?
"If you wanna live long on your own terms
You gotta be willing to crash and burn"– Motley Crue, "Primal Scream"
NOTES
Copyright © 2012 Libertarian Party of New Mexico and Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.
This blog entry created with Notepad++.
irate, pissed
aggravated, 
annoyed, 
bitchy, 
crankySOME DETAILS ABOUT ME
| Screenames: | GunsSaveLives, StarshipTrooper, RAH4Pres | |
| Birthday: | 21 February | |
| Birthplace: | Philadelphia, Pennsylvania | |
| Current Location | Albuquerque, New Mexico | |
| Eye Color: | Greyish-blue | |
| Hair Color: | Dark brown (that was 2005 – now it's more grey) | |
| Right Handed / Left Handed / Ambidextrous: | Right handed | |
| Your Heritage: | Polish / German, from what I've been told by family | |
| Family: | Scattered around the country – ABQ, NM, Philly, PA, Tampa, FL, others in WV and VA/DC | |
| Named after: | No one that I know of | |
| Shoes: | Boots / Sneakers / Sandals | |
| Your Weakness: | Procastination, hesitation | |
| Skills, Talents: | Computers, copiers, fax machines, firearms, radio operator, land navigation | |
| Your Fears: | Rejection / Failure | |
| Your Perfect Pizza: | Sausage and pepperoni (from Papa Murphy's) | |
| Goal You Would Like To Achieve This Year: | Lose some weight | |
| Your Most Overused Phrase On an instant messenger: | LOL | |
| Thoughts First Waking Up: | "Oh shit, I have to get up?!?!" | |
| Your Best Physical Feature: | My brain | |
| Your Bedtime: | Work days – 12 AM / Off days – 2-3 AM | |
| Most Missed Memory: | If I knew what it was, it wouldn't be missing, would it? | |
| Soft Drinks: | Cherry Coke / Vanilla Coke / Root Beer | |
| Fast Food: | Subway / Wingbasket / Jack In The Box | |
| Single or Group Dates: | Single | |
| Lipton Ice Tea or Nestea: | Either – Iced tea is my preferred drink | |
| Ice Cream: | Strawberry, butterscotch | |
| Cappuccino or Coffee: | Neither | |
| Do you Smoke: | I'm a non-smoker, as opposed to an anti-smoker. | |
| Do you Swear: | Sometimes | |
| Do you Sing: | In the car | |
| Do you Shower Daily: | Yes | |
| Have you Been in Love: | Yes | |
| Do you want to go to College: | Yes | |
| Do you want to get Married: | If the right person comes along and wants to | |
| Do you belive in yourself: | "Do you belive in myself"? Never heard the word "belive" before. | |
| Most important lesson in life: | Don't start fights, but be prepared to finish them. | |
| Do you get Motion Sickness: | Not really | |
| Do you think you are Attractive: | A bit | |
| Are you a Health Freak: | No | |
| Do you get along with your Parents: | Sometimes | |
| Do you like Thunderstorms: | Yes, as long as I'm not online – already had a burned-out hard drive | |
| Do you play an Instrument: | The CD player | |
| In the past month have you drank alcohol: | Not lately, but I prefer Makers Mark or a beer or two | |
| Smoking: | No | |
| Most used drugs: | Acetominophen / Ibuprofen (tried pot, but it didn't do anything for me) | |
| In the past month have you gone on a Date: | No | |
| In the past month have you gone to a Mall: | Yes (Cottonwood) | |
| In the past month have you eaten a box of Oreos: | No | |
| In the past month have you eaten Sushi: | Tried it a few years ago – wasn't impressed. | |
| In the past month have you been on Stage: | Not for about two years. | |
| In the past month have you been Dumped: | No | |
| In the past month have you gone Skinny Dipping: | No | |
| In the past month have you Stolen Anything: | No | |
| Ever been Drunk: | Yes | |
| Ever been called a Tease: | Yes, and I am. | |
| Ever been Beaten up: | Yes, and I've done my share of the beating, too. | |
| Ever Shoplifted: | Yes (not exactly proud of it) | |
| How do you want to Die: | In bed with a beautiful woman | |
| What do you want to be when you Grow Up: | Do I have to? | |
| What country would you most like to Visit: | Not sure. |
| Advanced Global Personality Test Results
|
Results Summary
Stability results were moderately high which suggests you are relaxed, calm, secure, and optimistic.
Orderliness results were medium which suggests you are moderately organized, hard working, and reliable while still remaining flexible, efficient, and fun.
Extraversion results were moderately high which suggests you are, at times, overly talkative, outgoing, sociable and interacting at the expense of developing your own individual interests and internally based identity.
Trait snapshot
social, outgoing, worry free, optimistic, upbeat, tough, likes large parties, makes friends easily, rarely irritated, open, enjoys leadership, trusting, dominant, thrill seeker, strong, does not like to be alone, assertive, mind over heart, confident, controlling, feels desirable, likes the spotlight, loves food, social chameleon, hard working, concerned about others
NOTES
Copyright © 2012 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.
This blog entry created with Notepad++.
Current mood: 
For those fed up with wearing those stupid glasses while watching 3-D movies and TV, this could be a bit of relief:
While it's an interesting development, the title of the clip embedded here is "Holographic TV coming in 2012." Well, it's almost the end of 2012, and there doesn't seem to be any commercial version of this tech being pushed to market any time soon.
NOTES
Copyright © 2012 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.
This blog entry created with gedit Notepad++.
Current mood:
The title of this video clip – "Why our Country is Going Down The Drain" – really is self-explanatory.
NOTES
Copyright © 2012 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.
This blog entry created with Notepad++.
Current mood:
11/25/2012 9:29 AM:
> A small group of Republicans in the south of New Mexico have the right idea. They are planning to attend the State Central Committee meeting
> and start there to change things. Good for them. It's the sort of thinking, the sort of effort we should all be doing. But most of us are not.
More than likely, they'll get the same sort of reception that Morton Blackwell and the Ron Paul Republicans got from Reince Priebus and the RNC at the GOP's National Convention in Tampa, Florida this past August:
"Shut up and go sit in the corner. When we need your support, you better be there for us."
> Why is not the State Republican Party talking to us? Why are not the county RPs sending their members messages of future plans?
Why should Monty Newman and Jay McCleskey care in the slightest what the grassroots Republicans think?
After all, the grassroots turned out for Slick Willard Romney and Heather Wilson, after Wilson and Romney were handed their nominations on silver platters by the GOP-E insiders.
Face it – the GOP-E insiders absolutely love you when you're marching to their orders, no questions asked. It's when you start insisting that the nominees adhere to certain principles that you get the door slammed in your face.
Just ask Ron Paul, Gary Johnson or Adam Kokesh how this works – either one of them can spell it out for you in detail.
Neither Romney nor Wilson were anything resembling capitalists of the limited-government, free-market orientation. Rather, they are more the sort of false "capitalists" that both Frederic Bastiat and Karl Marx excoriated. Wilson and Romney are more properly called mercantilists as Adam Smith defined the term in 1776.
But we all knew this since February and March of this year.
If you truly want to show McCleskey, Newman and Priebus that you're serious players and not just waiting for new marching orders, then you need to tell them exactly where in explicit terms where they can stick candidates like Romney and Wilson.
> Why are we not having town halls in major cities so that grassroots Republicans can mull over ideas, consider plans to become a strong,
> solid phalanx and attract more adherents?
A "solid phalanx" of star-spangled jellyfish is what you'll get under the management of McCleskey, Priebus and Newman.
At least that's what you've gotten in the past from the GOP-E gang.
How will continuing to kowtow to them as you've done in the past yield better results for you?
> Why are we not gearing up to educate the population about the virtues of capitalism?
Good question.
When did you start caring about these?
If Republicans truly cared about "the virtues of capitalism," then why did they nominate the likes of Heather Wilson and Mitt Romney for ANY sort of public office?
If you truly cared at all, then you wouldn't give Republicans cut from the mercantilist mold the slightest bit of slack, just because they have the magic "Big R" after their names.
What did I see in the 2012 election cycle? Did I see any of that sort of courage and fortitude?
No, I didn't. Instead, most of what landed into my inbox was stuff like "your wasting your vote," "Youre either with us or youre with Obama!!!" – stuff like that.
> I do not want to hear more of the same pabulum from the same elected officials that have not stood up for individual rights, limited
> governments and free markets.
What you need to do is tell the GOP-E types where they can stick the pabulum and those who push it.
As long as you continue to support them unconditionally after they give you that pabulum, they see that you're willing to settle for it. Thus that's all you'll really get from them.
> Instead, I'd like to hear Marco Rubio speak and Thomas Sowells, Yaron Brook and Dan Watkins. I'd like to hear John A. Allison talk to us
> about his new book, The Financial Crisis and the Free Market Cure.
Start raising money – the sooner the better, as all of these potential speakers are likely to charge a pretty penny to show up here in New Mexico.
And make sure to keep the GOPNM State Committee OUT of the loop where bringing speakers in is concerned – or all you will get is more of the same.
For what it's worth, I will observe with amusement the efforts of the "Ron Paul" and Tea Party crowds to "take over" the Republican Party. I suspect that future efforts in this vein will yield similar results to previous efforts along that line.
Rather, I predict it will be the C4L and Tea Party groups who end up getting taken over and co-opted by the GOP-E types, and thus subsumed into being obedient, servile troopies for them. In short, pawns.
So if you LIKE riding in circles on a bus for a few hours, if you LIKE the MC confirming the votes for the GOP-E candidates while ignoring the votes for your candidates, if you LIKE being told what to say and what to think – then please continue on as before.
Anyway, Republicans – PROVE ME WRONG (No one's done it yet.)
Hey, no one ever said that living as free people was easy – if it was, then everybody would do it. Sticking to your principles and standing up for what's right can be costly, in many ways. Sometimes you might have to lose an election rather than put a mercantilist with the magic Big R after his name into public office.
Final notes: Gary Johnson is JUST GETTING STARTED. He plans to do a 2013 college speaking tour, just like he did in the 2012 election. And at his Election Night Party at the Hotel Albuquerque, I asked him to form at least an exploratory committee for the 2014 New Mexico gubernatorial race.
_______________________________________________________________________
Mike Blessing
Who owns you? Who runs your life? Who should – you or someone else?
Freedom is the answer – what's the question?
"If you wanna live long on your own terms
You gotta be willing to crash and burn"
– Motley Crue, "Primal Scream"
_______________________________________________________________________
NOTES
Copyright © 2012 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.
Produced by KCUF Media, a division of Extropy Enterprises. Webmaster Mike Blessing.
This blog entry created with Notepad++.
Current mood: 
For those wondering how the Gary Johnson UNM Rally for Jobs, Opportunity and Diversity on Tuesday, 9 October 2012 went, here's some of the details:
I arrived right at about 5:25 PM, after spending about ten minutes looking for a parking lot – the "A" lot was packed. I ended up paying the ∅7.00 for a spot in the parking structure next to the square by the SUB.
Upon arriving at the ballroom, I dropped off my plastic milk crate full of brochures at the LPNM table manned by Mark Curtis, Ron Bjornstad, Elizabeth Honce, Elisheva Levin, and others.
After dropping off the supplies (it was a bit painful to carry that crate from the parking structure to the ballroom), I met Tom Mahon and Todd Myers where "Jack Gault" was parked. They had a spare Sharpie marker-pen on hand, so I signed the van on the front of the hood – dead-center, right above the edge where the latch is located.
At the same time, I made contact with the Sigma Alpha Epsilon representative and made myself available for my speaking slot.
While waiting for my speaking time, I went to the "green room" and had my picture taken with Gary Johnson.
So I presented my speech, came in at 6:20 – 1:20 longer than the 5 minutes I had planned for. While I didn't get the standing ovations that later speakers got, several people came up to me afterwards and complimented me on my bit.
Next up for the podium was the Independent American Party's candidate for U.S. Senate, Jon Barrie. If Jon wasn't running, I suspect many New Mexico Libertarians would be casting blanks come their time at the ballot "box." Jon talked for about ten minutes, mentioned that the politicians had their chance (too many chances to be forgiven come the election) to fix things, and ended with a standing ovation from the audience.
Following Jon Barrie was Paul Gessing of the Rio Grande Foundation, New Mexico's only think-tank that supports what the Tea Party claims to support – free-market economics, public-sector fiscal restraint, individual rights and Constitutionally-limited government. Paul talked about what New Mexico needs to prosper as a state.
After Paul, Jim Villanucci of 770 KKOB-AM spoke about how much crap listeners were giving him about his not supporting Mittens. After all, it's either "you're for Romney or you're for Obama," correct? Not even close – and with that, Jim introduced Gary Johnson as the only candidate in the presidential race worthy of libertarians' support.
Here's the video clip on YouTube of Gary's speech – http://youtu.be/bInmA5MhXTg
What did Gary discuss? First, he talked about his business background – he started Big J Enterprises on his own out of college, built it to 1,000 employees, then sold it in 1999 without having to fire anyone. He said that his business career is just a testament to showing up on time and doing what you say you'll do for people, maybe a little more.
His unsolicited advice to the audience? Go into business for yourself as opposed to punching someone else's time-clock – you'll find it much more rewarding. This dovetails with what I've heard from other libertarian entrepreneurs . . . .
Here's some of his talking points:
Notes and recollections from the event:
All in all, this was the best-attended LPNM event I've seen yet in my 18 years with the organization. Thanks to all who made it possible:
The UNM Chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon
Jon Barrie
Ron Bjornstad
Chris Chase
Mark Curtis
Paul Gessing
Susan Ann Holland
Elizabeth Honce
Melanie Hyland
Gary Johnson
Bruce Levin
Elisheva Levin
Tom Mahon
Sean Mallory
Todd Myers
Reviva
Kyle Ruggles
Jim Villanucci
Bob Walsh
Apologies to anyone I've omitted – the fault there is entirely mine.
NOTES
