Quote of the Day for 30 December 2010

"What’s really ironic is that, if someone claims to see a flying saucer, which hurts no one and costs nothing, debunkers come out in force. But let a former vice-president claim environmental apocalypse is upon us, and suddenly we’re appropriating billions and changing our lifestyles."

– Jeffrey D. Kooistra, Alternate View: Lessons from the Lab, Analog Science Fiction and Fact

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Copyright © 2010 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.   

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Questionnaire from the Alibi -- My Answers

Name:		Mike Blessing
Party:		Libertarian Party / Boston Tea Party
District:		16
Website:		http://mike4nmh16-2010.blogspot.com/

1. What qualifies you for this position?
   
   I am a sapient (self-aware) resident, registered voter and taxpayer of the District.
   
   What qualifies me over my opponent? What qualifies him over me? What qualifies either of us over any other resident of the District?
   
   Beware the person who tells you that they have all the answers to all of your problems, if only you surrender a bit of your liberty to them. To paraphrase what Lord Acton said, "Power corrupts. Absolute power corrupts absolutely. All great men are bad men." And no, I don't see myself as being immune to this tendency.
   
   
2. What should be done to address ethics reform and transparency?
   
   Open up all closed-door conference committees in the Legislature.
   
   Require that all State spending over $1000.00 be posted to a publicly-viewable website within twenty-four hours. Considering that you can be tracked in real time when you use your credit card to pay for gas, fast food, etc., this is a very doable idea.
   
   Allow private citizens to make audio and video recordings of all Legislative and regulatory-agency proceedings.
   
   
3. How can we balance the state's budget?
   
   We can start by using a zero-services baseline, and put all of the State budget onto the table for discussion.
   
   As for cutting specific budget items, we can start with the Rail Runner and the Film Office.
   
   Refrain from expanding existing programs without cause, or from creating new programs or agencies that do the jobs of existing agencies or programs. Consolidate duplicative programs and agencies. Require every agency and program to justify its existence and budget on an annual basis.
   
   
4. Should New Mexico allow domestic partnerships for same-sex couples?
   
   Inasmuch as the State requires any form of permission slip for two consenting adults to engage in romantic or sexual relations, the State should NOT discriminate against anyone of the gay / lesbian / bisexual / transgender / polyamorous / kinky persuasions, especially when it's often clear that such discrimination is done just because of this factor.
   
   Still, it should be remembered that marriage-licensing laws started out under "Jim Crow" in the post-Reconstruction South as a way to enforce segregation, by outlawing interracial marriages between whites and blacks.
   
   
5. Do you favor rehabilitation instead of jail time for nonviolent drug offenders?
   
   The current "rehabilitation" programs offered by the State as an alternative to jail or prison can often be more intrusive and onerous than incarceration.
   
   Instead, let's try repealing the stupidity, insanity and evil known as Drug Prohibition. Consider that all it really does is corrupt law enforcement. Until I hear otherwise, I will assume that anyone who supports Drug Prohibition also supports the 10,000 drug-related murders per year in America caused by Drug Prohibition. Drugs being illegal won't stop people from wanting them, and someone else will find ways to make money providing them.
   
   
6. What do you think of the state's film initiatives?
   
   The Film Office is just as much a corporate welfare handout program as was Isotopes Stadium when it was built, as is the Balloon Fiesta Park. Eliminate them from the public budgets, and then cut the gross receipts tax, cut the personal income tax, so that poor people can save some more money to support their kids. Let the Hollywood studios, all owned by multimillionaires, pay their own way. How many of the jobs created by the production companies still exist after the movie is completed?
   
   
7. How can we improve public education?
   
   APS is one of the State's biggest spenders and employers, yet apparently the following was written by someone in the eighth grade:
   
   ABOUT THE "All Work, No Play" article, I disagree with the run artical on how if the students do poorly on the standard based test then they cant have an elective. I feel bad that you feeled on the test.
   
   See http://tinyurl.com/2a7fmuf for more.
   
   And we should give APS MORE money?! When I was that age, I would have been ashamed to write that. Is APS even fixable?
   
   I'm more focused on charter schools, private schools, and homeschoolers.
   
   
8. Should New Mexico change its laws surrounding immigration?
   
   All of this hysteria about Mexicans coming north like Genghis Khan's Golden Horde is just that – hysteria. Joe Miller, the Alaska GOP's candidate for U.S. Senate, unwittingly reinforced my point when he said that East Germany was "effective" about enforcing its border around West Berlin – http://tinyurl.com/25mf2ml – nice guy, isn't he?
   
   Seriously, what kind of society do we want to end up with – one with fences, walls, scanners, regulations and subgun-toting guards all over the place, or one where people can interact with each other on a basis of voluntary consent?
   
   
9. What kind of infrastructure improvements does your district require?
   
   The usual kinds that just about every other district needs – the roads are the most visible ones. Driving around some parts of Albuquerque can be like four-wheeling, considering the potholes, cracks, bumps, etc. that I often see around town. This is what we spend millions on road bonds for every two years?! There has to be a better way to build roads.
   
   One thing that needs doing around here is speed-bump removal – people still routinely go over them at 40 MPH, and I wouldn't want to be a patient in an ambulence going over them.
   
   
10. What issues do your constituents care about most?
    
    I haven't had the cash to do any surveys or polling, but I'm guessing that they would want their individual rights to life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness to be respected by State government. I suspect that they want to provide for themselves and their families in a productive manner by interacting with others on a basis of mutual consent. State (and local, and federal) government should do what it can to defend that liberty, while not infringing that same liberty. Other than protecting those freedoms, government should leave people to their own devices.

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NOTES

1. Original article – alibi.com page
   
   
2. Reposted –
   
   
   1. Personal blogs – Wordpress / Xanga
   2. KCUF Media – New Mexico's Consumer Advocate / The Weekly Sedition
   3. New Mexico Liberty

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Copyright © 2010 Mike Blessing. All rights reserved.   

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BTP National Committee opposes National ID

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Branson, Missouri, United States of America (Free-Press-Release.com) August 25, 2010 —

On August 24, 2010 the Boston Tea Party National Committee passed a resolution opposing a national ID "or any other bill that would establish a National ID card that includes biometric scanning or tracking devices" 5-0 (with 2 not voting).

Whereas governments that truly want to protect liberty have no need to track the every move of their citizens; and

Whereas privacy from government is a chief cornerstone of our liberties, enshrined in the Fourth Amendment to the United States Constitution; and

Whereas in the past, many Members of Congress, instead of taking steps to actually end our illegal immigration problem, have chosen instead to use the issue to dramatically expand government intrusion into our lives; and

Whereas the so-called "Comprehensive Immigration Reform" proposal being touted by Senators Chuck Schumer and Lindsey Graham includes a de facto National ID card that would be required for all U.S. citizens in order to hold a job legally; and

Whereas biometric scanning technology would be included in the card which could allow government bureaucrats to track citizens' every move; therefore,

Be it resolved, the Boston Tea Party National Committee urges the Congress of the United States of America to vote to defeat any legislation requiring U.S. citizens to obtain a National ID card just to get a job — or any other bill that would establish a National ID card that includes biometric scanning or tracking devices.

Party Chair Darryl W. Perry writes, a national ID system would include a "National database of personal information that can be accessed by any Law Enforcement Officer and/or Fusion Center anywhere the barcode on the Driver's License can be scanned. This database of personal information would be controlled by the very people with access, so you will have no say as to what information they keep. This could include not only your driving and/or criminal record, but could potentially include unrelated information such as your medical records, library records and any other host of information that some bureaucrat deems 'necessary'. Voting history perhaps? How about party affiliation?"

Plank 4 of the 2006 program of the BTP reads "The Boston Tea Party calls for the immediate repeal of the REAL ID Act and any and all National ID plans." Perry adds, "it only takes two more steps to become Germany's Third Reich, 'Where are your papers? Your papers, please!'"

The Boston Tea Party was founded in 2006 with a one sentence platform, “The Boston Tea Party supports reducing the size, scope and power of government at all levels and on all issues, and opposes increasing the size, scope and power of government at any level, for any purpose.” In October 2008, the party's National convention adopted the four point program of the Campaign for Liberty. Their program calls for an end to overseas occupation, a restoration of privacy and other liberties, no increase in the national debt, and a thorough review of the Federal Reserve. During the 2010 convention the Party adopted a new program to End the Wars of Aggression, End the Fed, End the War on Drugs, End the Abuses of Liberty, End the Immigration Fiasco.

For more information, contact Darryl W. Perry

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NOTES

1. Reposted —
   
   1. Personal blogs — Wordpress / Xanga
   2. KCUF Media — Blogspot / Xanga
   3. New Mexico Liberty / Mike Blessing for State Representative

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Comic-Con vs. Fred Phelps

Current mood: amused, annoyed cranky

I found this on Facebook —

Nerds vs. the Westboro Baptist Church, Super Heroes vs. the Westboro Baptist Church

Doesn't Fred Phelps have anything better to do with his time than this inanity? Really.

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NOTES

1. Reposted —
   
   1. New Mexico Liberty / Mike Blessing for State Representative

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The Weekly Sedition Returns to ABQ Ch.27

Starting Thursday, July 1st, at 8PM, The Weekly Sedition returns to Albuquerque Comcast Channel 27.

Your cordial host will be myself, Mike Blessing, with Bill Koehler behind the camera running the technical side of things.

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NOTES

1. Reposted —
   
   1. KCUF Media — Blogspot / Myspace / Xanga
   2. New Mexico Liberty / Mike Blessing for State Representative

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The 100-Word Challenge

Current mood: amused

New Mexico Turn Around posts a challenge for the rest of us —

CHALLENGE: In 100 words suggest a solution for the economic mess toward which we head.

Oh, really?

Here's my response — let's see if I actually need the full 100 words . . .

1. Cut spending across the board — no special handouts for anyone.
2. Cut taxes across the board — no special breaks for anyone.
3. Repeal regulations across the board — no special breaks for anyone.
4. Repeal bad, wasteful laws across the board — no special breaks for anyone.
5. Bring the troops home from Iraq, Afghanistan and everywhere else.
6. Return to a sound money system (gold? silver?) for government transactions.
7. Repeal legal tender laws.
8. Repeal any law repugnant to the written U.S. Constitution or Bill of Rights.

I count 80 words.

And I dared to use That Word Which Shall Not Be Uttered In Contemporary Politics — "repeal" — not just once, but four times! Shame on me!

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NOTES

1. Reposted — Mike Blessing for State Representative / New Mexico Liberty

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This Blog is the Official BTPNM Site

The BTPNM site currently hosted at Ning.com will be going away on 1 July 2010, as Ning management plans to start charging in order to provide the same level of service that they previously had not charged for. The new site will be hosted on Blogspot — http://btpnm.blogspot.com.

The BTPNM's 2010 Candidates

The Boston Tea Party of New Mexico's candidates for the 2010 general election are as follows:

State Representative, District 16 — Mike Blessing