- Upcoming Events
-
October 16, 2001 - 7:00 PM
- Libertarians of Allegan County monthly meeting. All are invited. - If you have any petition signatures, please bring them. Petitioning deadline is this Saturday. We'll mail them for you.
- Location: Meeting is at the home of James Joyce, 334 Cutler St in Allegan - park across the street in the Congregational Church parking lot.
- Contact: Rick Dutkiewicz Phone: (616) 673-5503 E-mail: rdoogie@datawise.net
-
October 17, 2001
- Monthly meeting of the St. Clair County affiliate.
- Location: Figaro's is located at 1503 11th Street, Port Huron, MI 48060. TX: (810) 987-3588. Join us for dinner at 6:00 PM. Business begins at 7:00 PM.
- Contact: Richard Friend Phone: (810) 982-7178 E-mail: rfriend@advnet.net
-
October 18, 2001 - 7:00 PM
- The Van Buren County group will be meeting to determine if a meeting in conjunction with ajoining county groups would be useful and interesting(dinner will start at 6:30 - see you there)
- Location: CJ's restaurant (South Haven on the corner of M-140 and Blue Star Hwy)
- Contact: Bill Bradley Phone: (616) 637-4525 E-mail: bbradley@cybersol.com
-
October 20, 2001 - 7:00 PM
- FREEDOM BANQUET 2001, large buffet, cash bar, speakers and much more! $15.00 per person. This is the second year for this event. Last year saw a huge turn out greater than both the major parties annual dinners in Clare County drew.
- Location: Town & Country Lounge, Clare, Michigan
- Contact: Ghazey Aleck Phone: (989) 386-2699 E-mail: aleckfamily@voyager.net
-
October 24, 2001 - 6:30 PM
- LP of Oakland County General Membership Meeting. Public welcome. Meet for dinner at 6:30pm, business begins at 7:30pm.
- Location: Sila's Restaurant, 4033 W. 12 Mile Rd, Berkley. Sila's is 2 blocks west of Greenfield on Twelve Mile Road.
- Contact: Chris Pellerito Phone: (248) 373-9411 E-mail: LpocChairChris@aol.com
-
October 25, 2001 - 7:00 PM
- The Ballot Access Restoration Committee meets the second and fourth Thursday every month -- until we submit petition signatures to the Bureau of Elections to be certified to once again be able to run Libertarian candidates in partisan races. All LPM members are welcome to attend and help with both the planning and execution of our petition drive.
- Location: LPMHQ, 619 E. 9 Mile, Hazel Park (just east of I-75)
- Contact: Nancy O'Brien Phone: (313) 562-5778 E-mail: nobrien321@home.com
-
November 5, 2001 - 8:30 PM
- Meeting of the Andy LeCureaux for Hazel Park City Council Campaign.
- Location: LPM HQ, 619 East Nine Mile Rd., Hazel Park
- Contact: Dave Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: DCCollver@aol.com
-
November 6, 2001 - 8:00 PM
- Andy LeCureaux for Hazel Park City Council Victory Party. All are invited to attend.
- Location: LPM HQ, 619 East Nine Mile Rd., Hazel Park
- Contact: Dave Collver Phone: (248) 542-9274 E-mail: DCCollver@aol.com
-
November 13, 2001 - 7:30 PM
- LP of Oakland County Executive Committee Meeting. All dues-paying members are welcome. Business begins at 7:30pm.
- Location: LPM Headquarters, 619 East Nine Mile in Hazel Park, just east of I-75.
- Contact: Chris Pellerito Phone: (248) 373-9411 E-mail: LpocChairChris@aol.com
-
November 14, 2001 - 6:30 PM
- Libertarians of Macomb County monthly meeting. Drinks and dinner at 6:30 PM, business begins at 7:00 PM.
- Location: Miles World Resturant, 17689 Masonic, Fraser, MI 48026, 810-415-4500.
- Contact: Diane Barnes Phone: (810) 774-1625 E-mail: dbarnes98@aol.com
- More
- For more events, see the online calendar at:
- http://www.michiganlp.org/lpmonline/events.php
- GET TICKETS AT THE DOOR FOR FREEDOM BANQUET
by Ghazey Aleck
You can get your tickets at the door for Freedom
Banquet. Freedom Banquet 2001 is going to be held by the
Clare-Gladwin LP on Saturday, October 20th at 7:00 p.m. at
the Town & Country in Clare, MI. The featured speaker is
from the Mackinac Center on Public Policy. There will be a
4 meat buffet dinner, exhibits, door prizes, 50-50 drawing,
and silent auction--all to raise money for candidates in
2002! It is not too late to get tickets (ony $15 per
person)--you can them at the door--however I ask that you
e-mail confirmation at ghazey@alecklawfirm.com. Thank you!
Back to Contents
- BARC Update
by Nancy O'Brien
As of Friday, October 12 we have collected 38,885
signatures! With only 5 days to go till the October 20
final deadline, we still need 6,115 signatures to meet our
revised goal of 45,000. Will we make it? That depends on
you. Most of you have a few stray signatures that you have
been hanging on to, hoping you would run into someone else
who might be an easy sig. But unfortunately time is up. We
will be turning them in to the state before the end of this
month. They aren’t any good to us sitting in your car or on
the shelf in your office. So please put them in the mail
today so they will reach us by October 20.
We are not especially popular with Republicans, Democrats
or bureaucrats, all of whom make up the body that controls
this process. I’m sure they would love to see us excluded
from the 2002 ballot. We must therefore make sure we have
enough signatures so that even if they flyspeck our
petitions, they still can’t find enough bad signatures to
deny us our rightful place in the election process. Every
signature we collect increases our chance of success.
Our top twenty signature collectors as of today:
Name Sigs.
Leonard C. Schwartz 2292
Albert J Titran 1901
Ben Steele 1221
Jerry E Bloom 1010
Richard E Jozwiak 594
Greg Dirasian 548
Violet Steele 500
Trafton Jean 462
Benjamin Steele 450
Mickey Hall 398
Paul Hitch 341
Charles Goodman 306
Constance Catalfio 300
Stephen Townsend 296
William White 296
Bill Gelineau 294
Tom Quinn 290
Fred Collins 287
Gregory Creswell 274
Following is the current status of each affiliate in terms
of meeting its “fair share” goals. Each affiliate’s fair
share was determined by multiplying the number of members in
the affiliate by 27. That is the number each would need to
collect for the LPM’s 50,000 signature target to meet the
state’s requirement. The first list is the percentage of
signatures collected. The second list includes both
signatures and monetary contributions.
Affiliate Sigs. Goal % Of Goal
Allegan 95 560 34.8
Berrien 211 560 74.8
Branch-Hillsdale 269 351 133.0
Clare-Gladwin 269 320 84.0
Ionia 24 240 10.0
Kalamazoo 503 1013 40.3
Lapeer-Genesee 819 1413 95.4
Livingston 690 1732 39.8
Macomb 2535 5784 72.8
Mid-Michigan 793 2852 36.7
Midwest Michigan 308 560 66.8
Oakland 6004 10688 56.2
Ottawa 138 800 17.3
S. Central Michigan 44 1652 2.7
Shiawassee 2782 293 930.4
Saint Clair 13 693 6.2
Traverse Bay 22 773 11.0
Tri-Cities 1116 1173 140.2
Upper Peninsula 54 1119 36.5
Van Buren 324 426 99.1
Washtenaw 1406 2799 84.9
Wayne 1659 8422 43.5
West Michigan 863 2799 45.4
Affiliate $$+Sigs. Goal % 0f Goal
Allegan 195 560 34.8
Berrien 419 560 74.8
Branch-Hillsdale 495 351 141.0
Clare-Gladwin 269 320 84.1
Ionia 24 240 10.0
Kalamazoo 576 1013 56.9
Lapeer-Genesee 1534 1413 108.6
Livingston 1092 1732 63.0
Macomb 4566 5784 79.0
Mid-Michigan 1263 2852 44.3
Midwest Michigan 374 560 66.8
Oakland 13721 10688 128.4
Ottawa 141 800 17.6
S. Central Michigan 79 1652 4.8
Shiawassee 2822 293 963.1
Saint Clair 43 693 6.2
Traverse Bay 85 773 11.0
Tri-Cities 1644 1173 140.2
Upper Peninsula 414 1119 37.0
Van Buren 422 426 99.1
Washtenaw 2576 2799 92.0
Wayne 3671 8422 43.6
West Michigan 1355 2799 48.4
A laurel -- and hardy handshake to Lapeer-Genesee for
crossing the finish line!
Some Good News!
The national party has experienced a bit of a rebound in its
own fundraising and was able to come through with
substantial additional support in the waning days of our
effort. This meant that we did not need to curtail our plan
to supplement our volunteer efforts with paid pros because
of lack of funds. Assuming that you, our dedicated
volunteers, also continue on course at your expected rate of
production, we are now confident that we will hit our 45,000
gross signature target.
Back to Contents
- A Message from Claire Wolfe
by Claire Wolfe
The world *has* changed, bulldozer-fashion, and I've
been trying to act as though everything is business as
usual. We're at war with an enemy who's demonstrated both
the ability and the willingness to hit U.S. cities. And even
though I don't feel I'm in any significant personal danger
(and I hope you and Detroit aren't, either), I woke up this
morning realizing it would be folly for me to fly across the
country to give an upbeat little speech about liberty at a
time like this. I looked at the presentation I'd been
working on and realized I couldn't give it and wouldn't be
able to rouse myself to anything beyond the most bleak,
black humor.
So yes, with deep apologies to you and the LibertyFest
organizers, I'm bowing out. I realize this goes against what
I said to you a couple of weeks ago, and I'd certainly never
expect a renewed invitation after this, though I thank you
for your kindness in mentioning it.
You've been terrific to me and I wish you and the
LibertyFest nothing but the greatest success.
Claire
Back to Contents
- National Strategic Plan
by Leonard Schwartz
The Libertarian National Committee adopted a strategic
plan with six goals. This is a comment on those goals.
Consider two futures:
(1) Libertarians are elected to ten percent of the
partisan offices, but they have no effect on government
policy.
(2) No Libertarians are elected to partisan offices.
But many Libertarians get more votes than the difference
between the Democratic and Republican candidates. Democratic
and Republicans candidates try to attract votes from
Libertarian voters by adopting Libertarian positions on the
issues and, after getting elected, making government policy
more libertarian.
If our paramount goal is electing Libertarian
candidates, each state party should have only a few
candidates run active campaigns for partisan offices. Each
state party should concentrate its limited resources on
those few candidates.
If our paramount goal is making government policy more
libertarian, each state party should try to get as many
candidates as possible run active campaigns for partisan
offices.
The preamble to our national platform says, "Our goal
is nothing more nor less than a world set free in our
lifetime ...." The statement of principles in our platform
says, "We ... challenge the cult of the omnipotent state and
defend the rights of the individual."
Our platform requires that our paramount goal is making
government policy more libertarian. The six goals in the
strategic plan are subordinate to that paramount goal.
By remaining the "Party of Principle" as we grow (goal
6) and by increasing public awareness of, acceptance of, and
support for Libertarian ideas (goal 5), Libertarian
candidates will get more votes. If many Libertarian
candidates get many votes, the unprincipled Democrats and
Republicans will become more libertarian.
Ironically, the liberation of Americans from the cult
of the omnipotent state probably will occur without electing
many Libertarians to public offices.
Back to Contents
- Car & Driver Editor to fill in for Claire Wolfe at Liberty F
by Ben Bachrach
True to her reclusive image, libertarian writer Claire
Wolfe, who was scheduled to be the featured speaker at the
11/10 Defender of Liberty awards banquet, has decided that
because of recent events she feels compelled to bow out and
stay hunkered down in her hideout somewhere on the left
coast.
Fortunately, Csaba Csere (pronounced Chubba Chedda),
editor-in-chief at Car & Driver magazine has agreed to be
the guest speaker at this year's Liberty Fest.
Whether giving his opinions in the pages of C/D or as a
guest speaker on the David Newman show, Csaba Csere can be
counted on to focus on free market solutions and personal
responsibility for many of the issues that face our national
transportation system.
Csaba Csere is one auto enthusiast that believes that an
open mind is just as important as an open road.
A hallmark of C/D under his editorship has been an absolute
refusal to accept dogma handed down from on high. In the
Seventies, to get some unfiltered data on the actual dangers
of drunk driving, his magazine rented a test site, got some
of its staffers soused, and then measured their driving
proficiency at various levels of inebriation. The published
results were sufficiently offensive to Big Brother to
encourage C/D to repeat the test in the early Eighties with
a different drug: marijuana.
It should surprise no one that this fearlessness has gotten
them in a lot of trouble with government agencies and
"independent" organizations with axes to grind.
When the fracas over Ford Explorers and Firestone tires came
to a head, C/D bought an Explorer, rigged up a system
whereby a tire could be instantly blown by remote control,
and watched for signs of rollover. There weren't any.
A common theme at Car & Driver is government’s willingness
to make the many suffer for the sins of the few.
C/D was one of the first to point out that the vast majority
of pollutants of automotive origin come from a relative
handful of grossly out-of-tune cars. Donald Stedman, of the
University of Denver, the inventor of remote pollution
sensors, was consulted for the February 2001 C/D. His tests
showed that half of the pollution comes from a mere 5
percent of the cars; the worst 1 percent producing fully a
third of all auto emissions!
Some libertarians might argue with some of Csaba Csere’s
stances, but any who come to hear him speak at this year’s
Liberty Fest – appropriately being held at the Automotive
Hall of Fame – will find that he displays a distinctly
libertarian attitude.
NOTE: If you’d like to get an idea of Csere’s thinking,
just read his most recent Car & Driver editorial “Red
lights, loot, and the law” reprinted separately in this
e-newsletter.
Back to Contents
- Red Lights, Loot, and the Law
by CSABA CSERE
Loot and the law. You'd think governing officials could
tell them apart. But when the 37 red-light cameras in
Washington, D.C., are budgeted to collect $16 million in
fines this year, and a single red-light camera in San Diego
harvested $6.8 million over an 18-month period, I can
understand how some confusion might occur.
With red-light cameras raking in loot in at least 50 cities
in 10 states and their numbers growing every day, a question
arises: Are their installations motivated by considerations
of traffic safety or by the potential revenue they can
generate?
The concept of red-light cameras is simple. Through the
miracle of modern electronics, a few companies have
developed camera devices that monitor intersections,
automatically identify cars that run red lights, and take
their pictures. Traffic citations follow quickly in the
mail.
Proponents claim red-light cameras discourage law breaking
and reduce the number of accidents caused by red-light
runners. According to a study sponsored by the Insurance
Institute for Highway Safety, "Red-light camera enforcement
in conjunction with public awareness can modify driving
behavior and has been shown to reduce red-light violations
and intersection crashes."
Who would argue with that?
Oddly enough, however, red-light running doesn't appear to
be a major issue except in places where these cameras are
already in operation and where jurisdictions are cashing in
on the resulting revenue.
When I last wrote about these traffic cameras (May 1999),
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration didn't
even bother to track the number of fatalities caused by
red-light accidents. And I've never seen a public campaign
against running red lights similar to those demonizing
speeding, drunk driving, and road rage.
Communities genuinely concerned with enforcing compliance at
traffic lights could easily assign police to problem
intersections, just as they periodically launch speeding
crackdowns and drunk-driving checkpoints.
One reason for the lack of red-light jihads is that there's
an easier way to reduce red-light running.
Turns out that the duration of the yellow light has a huge
effect on the number of red-light infractions. The mechanics
are simple. When a driver sees a yellow light, there are
three options: (1) You are far from the intersection, so you
bring the car to a comfortable, safe stop. (2) You are too
near the intersection to stop safely, so you drive through
while the light remains yellow. (3) You are between these
two situations, in the "zone of dilemma." In this third
case, there is not enough space to stop calmly and safely
before the intersection, but you are too far from the
intersection to get through it before the light turns red.
A traffic engineer can eliminate this "zone of dilemma" by
setting an adequate amount of time for the yellow light.
This interval can be calculated using an equation that
incorporates vehicle speed (based on traffic surveys),
stopping ability, reaction time, vehicle length, and
intersection width. In most cases, the yellow-light time
ranges from four to five seconds.
Traffic engineers can also simply increase the yellow-light
time at problem intersections until red-light running is
reduced. "An increase of 1.4 seconds or about 30 percent in
yellow duration virtually eliminated all potential conflicts
at the Maryland site," according to a 1980 study in the
Institute of Transportation Engineers journal.
Wouldn't extending the yellow by a second be simpler than
installing expensive camera devices? Perhaps, but there's
no money in adjusting the duration of a yellow light. In
fact, not only can the authorities collect revenue by
installing red-light cameras, but they can really get the
cash register ringing if they reduce the yellow-light
duration at intersections fitted with the ticket-dispensing
cameras.
Last February in Beaverton, Oregon, Elaine Murphy, a
reporter for KOIN-TV, discovered that intersections fitted
with red-light cameras had three-second yellow lights and
adjacent intersections without the cameras had four-second
yellows. In response, city officials suggested that the
discrepancy was due to differing traffic volumes at the two
intersections.
In Mesa, Arizona, a story in the Arizona Tribune reported
that after motorists complained yellow lights were too short
at double left-turn lanes, the city increased their
duration. Some of these intersections were fitted with
red-light cameras, and camera citations dropped from 1640 in
November, when the yellow light was three seconds in
duration, to 716 in December, when it was lengthened to four
seconds. Citations then remained at lower levels, numbering
734 in March.
The installer of the cameras, Lockheed Martin, then got into
the act. The contract the city of Mesa had signed with
Lockheed Martin, which gave the contractor $48 for every
red-light ticket issued, contained a clause prohibiting the
city from altering the duration of yellow-light times after
the cameras were installed. With the Arizona Tribune shining
the spotlight on Lockheed Martin, the company chose not to
enforce this clause. But the company did negotiate a new
contract increasing Lockheed Martin's cut from the camera
citations from $48 to $75 if a certain quota of tickets was
not reached.
Much of this information about red-light cameras, and more,
can be found at www.freedom.gov, the Web site of Congressman
Dick Armey of Texas, the Republican House Majority leader.
Armey is keen on this issue because the federal Department
of Transportation is promoting red-light cameras and, in
some cases, offering funding to local jurisdictions to
install them.
The National Motorists Association, particularly researcher
Greg Mauz, has also been actively scrutinizing these
devices. Not only are these cameras a solution to a problem
that should first be addressed by retiming yellow lights
where necessary, but they also raise privacy and safety
concerns. An exhaustive Australian study of red-light
cameras, published in 1995 after 10 years of examining
accident data, suggests that rear-end collisions increase at
camera locations when drivers, hoping to avoid tickets, slam
on the brakes in an erratic manner. But who cares about
privacy and rear-end collisions when there is money to be
made?
Car & Driver, September 2001
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