It’s once again time for another edition of the HCLP Liberty Update (ok, actually I’m a few days late; I apologize … it’s been a very, very busy week).

As always, if you know of anything that might be of interest to members of the Hamilton County Libertarian Party (and since we are providing a home for some folks in North Georgia that don’t have local LP affiliates, that includes those areas as well), please let me know, or feel free to send an email to the group at libertarian-381@meetup.com.

1. Libertarian Party of Tennessee 2009 Convention – The TnLP Convention was held this past weekend in Knoxville. Approximately 40 people, including our own Mo Kiah, were in attendance. John Sebastian was been elected to serve as the TnLP Chairman. John replaces Tony Wall, who stepped down after serving for the last two years. Izaak Standridge was elected Vice Chairman; he replaces Charles Wilhoit who was appointed last July to fill the position after the resignation of Christian Wilson. Ray Ledford and J.R. Enfield will continue to serve as Secretary and Treasurer. Many thanks to Tony Wall and Charles Wilhoit for their service!

A brief article about the Convention, including a photo of our new officers, can be found here: http://tr.im/kjbw.

Video of some of the presentations is also available on the TnLP web site (http://www.lptn.org).

2. Chattanooga City Council – I was unable to attend this week’s city council meeting, and it looks as if I won’t be able to attend the one scheduled for next week either. The agenda for next week’s meeting has been posted here (http://tr.im/k5yV). The minutes of this week’s meeting are also available online (earlier than normal!) here (http://tr.im/k5z0, PDF).

3. Letters to the Editor/Local Talk Shows – From time to time, people ask me how they can work to advance the cause of liberty locally. One easy way that doesn’t take much time is writing letters to the editor or call locally-produced talk shows. When writing letters, short (200 words or less) letters that address one topic are more likely to be published. Be sure to use the word ‘libertarian’ in your letter somewhere. Good luck!

4. Audit the Fed – H.R. 1207: Federal Reserve Transparency Act of 2009 (http://tr.im/kjdo) – There are now 112 co-sponsors of this bill! The bill is now in the House Committee on Financial Services; we need it to get out of this committee so that the House can vote on it. Please take some time out of your day to call or email Barney Frank, the Committee Chairman and other members of the committee and ask them to support this bill. You can find a list of members here (http://tr.im/kjUk; under “Step 2: Financial Services Committee”).

Tennessee Folks:
TN District 3 Rep. Wamp and TN District 2 Rep. Duncan are already co-sponsors. For those of you who are in District 4, Rep. Davis has not signed on as a co-sponsor, so take some time to call him or write him, and perhaps we can convince him to sign on as well! If you’re not sure which district you’re in, you can find a map of TN House Districts here (http://tr.im/kjSA) and a list of Representatives here (http://tr.im/kjSD) along with links to their web sites.

North Georgia Folks:
GA District 9 Rep Deal is already a co-sponsor of the bill.

If your representative is already a co-sponsor of the bill and you haven’t already done so, let them know you appreciate what they’ve done! Let’s make sure that our reps don’t just hear from us when we’re unhappy with them.

5. Tennessee 10th Amendment Sovereignty Bill/HJR0101 – This bill is currently in the House Subcommittee for Civil Practice & Procedure. It was to have been considered this past week, but due to time constraints has been scheduled for Tuesday, May 5. Please take a few minutes to let committee members know how you feel about this bill; you can find a list of members here (http://tr.im/kjYg).

That’s all! Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Best,
Jeremy

It’s time for issue #3 of the HCLP Liberty Update! I had intended to send this out yesterday, but I ran out of time to wrap it up, so it’s a day late. My intention is to send these out every Wednesday going forward.

As always, if you know of something of interest to our group, send it my way and I’ll distribute it to the group … or, if you’d like, you can also just email libertarian-381@meetup.com and it will go out to everyone in the group. This is an email discussion list, so feel free to use it to ask questions or discuss issues as well.

1. Tea Party

Mo Kiah had a very nice banner made up for us prior to the event. I’ve posted a picture of Mo and Dana Wilson holding the banner on my Flickr account (http://tr.im/jvhe). The banner is also briefly visible in WRCB’s coverage of the event (http://tr.im/jvhC). Because of this banner, we had a number of people walk up and ask questions about the LP. Dana also distributed approximately 350 flyers with information about the HCLP and the LP to people in attendance. It is my hope that we’re able to connect with many of the people and get them involved with the HCLP!

2. Chattanooga City Council

As always, I encourage any of you who are citizens of Chattanooga to attend the Council meetings, which are held each Tuesday night at 6pm in the City Council building at 1000 Lindsay St. Although I was unable to attend the meeting this past Tuesday (http://tr.im/jvmw) due to a conflict, when I am in attendance I will cover the event live on Twitter on the HCLP’s Twitter account (http://twitter.com/hclptn).

The agenda for next week’s meeting has not been posted online as of this writing, but will be available at some point in the future at this location: http://www.chattanooga.gov/City_Council/110_Agenda.asp.

3. Facebook Page

4. End the Fed Rally in Nashville

5. Audit the Fed Phone Call Campaign

6. Legislation in TN that you should be aware of

View details here:
http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HJR0369
and
http://www.capitol.tn.gov/Bills/106/Bill/HJR0369.pdf

b. A resolution to affirm Tennessee’s sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution of the United States and to demand the federal government halt its practice of assuming powers and of imposing mandates upon the states for purposes not enumerated by the Constitution of the United States.

View details here:
http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HJR0108

c. A bill that prohibits the state from being required to participate in the implementation of the federal REAL ID Act of 2005, which mandates a national identification card for each citizen of the United States.

View details here:
http://wapp.capitol.tn.gov/apps/BillInfo/Default.aspx?BillNumber=HB1426

That’s it! Hope everybody has a great weekend!

Best,
Jeremy

Well, here it is … the second weekly “Liberty Alert.” Now that I’ve managed to produce two of them, there’s hope that I’ll keep this trend alive!

For those of you who are new to the Meetup group, I’d like to welcome you to the HCLP! We meet monthly on the fourth Saturday of the month, at 7pm at various places around Chattanooga, although this month we’re not meeting due to our participation in the Tea Party protest (more below).

As always, if there are any items of interest or concern to HCLP members, please let me know and I’ll broadcast the news to the group.

Quote of the Week (courtesy of the LP of Indiana) – “Politicians should dress like NASCAR drivers so we can see who their corporate sponsors are.”

1. Tax Day Tea Party – As we mentioned last week, the HCLP will be participating in the Tax Day Tea Party at Ross’s Landing this coming Wednesday. The event will be from 4pm-7pm. More information is available at http://chattanoogateaparty.com. If you are planning on attending the event (and have not done so already) please go to that web site and RSVP so that the organizers can have an accurate idea of how many people will be in attendance. Our primary purpose is of course to send a message to government at all levels that we’re sick and tired of out-of-control wasteful spending and government largesse. However, this will also be an excellent opportunity to connect with other people in our community with libertarian ideals, and educate them about the HCLP and the LP.

2. Chattanooga City Council Meeting – City Council meetings are held each Tuesday at 6:00 p.m. in the City Council Building at 1000 Lindsay St. Meeting agendas are posted on the City Council web page (http://www.chattanooga.gov/City_Council/110_1427.htm) each week several days prior to the actual meeting. I encourage everyone who is a citizen of Chattanooga to review the agenda each week, and contact their representative on the Council about any items of concern. If you don’t know who represents your district, email me and I’ll help you find out. If you’re able to do so, please attend the meetings as well. Let’s work together to send a clear message that we are paying attention to our local government and care!

I will be Twittering updates during any meeting I’m able to attend using the HCLP Twitter account (http://twitter.com/hclptn).

This week’s meeting agenda has been posted at http://tr.im/iExq

3. Hamilton County Commission Meetings – I’m still learning about how the County Commission meetings work around here. Unfortunately, the information on the county’s web site isn’t terribly complete. However, a schedule is available here: http://www.hamiltontn.gov/commission/meetings.aspx. Agendas for the meetings are posted online, but apparently not regularly; for instance the most recent agenda posted is for the April 1 meeting, and there has been one meeting since then (April 9) and yet another is scheduled next Wednesday (April 15). I hope to try to attend these meetings as regularly as possible in the future.

4. Posse Comitatus/4th Amendment Violations in TN – Thanks to people like you who contacted folks in the Tennessee government, the seat belt check in Whiteville, TN that had been planned on April 4th and would have involved the military was cancelled. However, operations like this HAVE taken place in the past (see http://tr.im/iExo). This demonstrates why it is imperative that we be paying attention to what is going on and voice our displeasure whenever possible. The government does listen and respond!

That’s it for this week! As always, I encourage you all to watch our web site (http://hclp.org) and follow our Twitter account (http://twitter.com/hclptn).

Have a great week!

Best,
Jeremy

This is the first of what I hope will become a weekly tradition; my intention is to try to send out regular updates to you folks to let you know about things of interest going on in all levels of government, especially our local government. While my goal as the Chair of the HCLP is to eventually have Libertarians elected to office locally, I believe that it is paramount that we let government in our area know that we are here, paying attention, and that we care what is happening.

I encourage you all to let me know if something of concern to the group is happening, whether locally or nationally. Unfortunately, due to the ever-increasing size and scope of government at every level, it is difficult for any one citizen to stay on top of what is going on. However, if we all pitch in, we can do our best to keep our government accountable to us.

1. City Council Meetings

As I mentioned at the last HCLP meeting, I’ve been trying to attend the weekly meetings of the Chattanooga City Council as I’m able. I’ve been to two thus far, and hope to attend my third next week.  I was fairly disappointed to discover that persons not directly involved with the business being considered aren’t allowed to address the council until AFTER the business session is over (and even then, technically only on “non-busines matters”), but I still intend to attend when I can to make it clear that I am paying attention to what is going on.

To that end, if I manage to continue to send out these weekly updates (I’m crossing my fingers here), I’m going to include a link to the agenda for the next council meeting, and highlight any items that might be of interest to Libertarians.

The agenda for next week’s meeting has been posted: http://tr.im/iedy.

2. HCLP Web Site & Twitter Account

Last month, I re-launched the HCLP web site (http://www.hclp.org). The site uses the WordPress blogging engine, and I intend to post regular updates (including these) from both the HCLP, other regional LP organizations, and the Libertarian Party of Tennessee. The HCLP web site is graciously hosted free of charge by Signal Data (http://sdx.net), a Chattanooga web hosting company. Frank Cowan, the owner of Signal Data, has been a friend and supporter of the HCLP for many years now.

I’ve also created a Twitter account for the HCLP (http://twitter.com/hclptn). As I come across links of interest to us, I’ll post them on that account. I also intend to begin post Twitter updates during the Chattanooga City Council meetings that I am able to attend (previously I’ve been posting them on my personal Twitter account at http://twitter.com/foureightfour). For those of you who are not Twitter users, I encourage you to consider signing up if you’re into the social media thing. I’ve been able to network with both Libertarians and others libertarian-minded people from all over the United States, as well as Canada and the United Kingdom using Twitter.

3. TnLP Facebook Group

For those of you who use Facebook, the Libertarian Party of Tennessee now has a Facebook group! http://tr.im/ieiH

4. TnLP 2009 Convention

The Libertarian Party of Tennessee’s 2009 Convention will be held in Knoxville on April 24 & 25. Information about speakers is available here: http://www.lptn.org/blog/?p=1045. A registration form is available online here: http://tr.im/iej9. I will be attending if I am able, though it’s up in the air right now due to my business commitments.

5. April 15 Tax Protest

This year the HCLP will be participating in the Chattanooga Tax Day Tea Party. The event will be held from 4pm – 7pm on April 15, and the location is tentatively at the Ross’s Landing park on the riverfront. More information is available at http://chattanoogateaparty.com. If you plan to attend, the organizers have asked that you RSVP on that site (http://chattanoogateaparty.com/?page_id=27).

Our goal is to not only participate in the protest, but engage in outreach to identify and connect with people who are learning about the Libertarian message. To that end, I’ll have some flyers on hand that explain the Libertarian Party’s platform, as well as provide information about the HCLP.

6. No April HCLP Meeting

The HCLP will not be meeting in April. Our next regularly scheduled meeting will be on Saturday, May 23 at 7:00 p.m. The location and topic will be announced at a later date.

Conclusion

That’s it for now. Thanks for being involved with the HCLP! I encourage you all to come to our regular meetings as you are able. Have a great weekend!

Best,
Jeremy