Busy Time
Seems like I got back into rocketry when a LOT of things were
going on.
Primarily, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and
Explosives
(BATFE) is trying to regulate Sport Rocketry out of existence
because
Congress passed the ill-conceived and worded Safe Explosives Act
(SEA)
as a rider on the Homeland Security Act (HSA). The SEA made
rocket
hobbyists into potential terrorists overnight and the full force
of
Federal regulation is befalling the hobby. They must be stopped,
not
just for sport rocket hobbyists, but for the technological and
educational good of the country, and for the very well-being of a
free
nation.
In addition, I was saddened to see that several rifts had
appeared in
the rocket community while I was gone. Not only had rifts formed
within the different rocketry organizations, but there
were
rifts between the the different organizations and
enthusiasts as
well. This factioning could not be happening at a worse time. But
these
internal issues pale into insignificance when compared to the
threat of
Government regulation actually destroying the hobby altogether.
Now is
the time for ALL rocketeers to join together and speak and act as
one
voice against the terminal regulations coming out of Washington.
And we
need to realize that actions in America affect sport rocketry
over the
entire planet. We must put the internal differences aside, unite,
and
save rocketry first. Then we can log on to RMR and have at it
again.
To that end, encouraging cooperation in sport rocketry, I created these
webpages.
Some of
them speak to fundamental American ideals and philosophies
involved in
Homeland Security, terrorist attacks, and federal regulations.
Some
are meant to express my, and others, opinions and concerns on the
technical aspects of rocketry regulation and laws. Some are meant
to
promote the unification of all rocketeers under a common banner
in
order to help save the hobby.
Freedom
A short opinion piece on security and the loss of freedoms due to
government regulations.
Dialog
A United States Assistant Attorney General recently provided US
Senators
with his official views and opinions on pending legislation that
would
exempt sport rocketry motors and propellants from BATFE
regulation. If
anything is apt to shake your faith in the competence and ability
of
the Federal Government, this completely inane letter is it. I'm
not
kidding; I've never seen anything like it.
I have put my comments in-line with the text of his letter. Be
aware
that I use juvenile profanity several times at one point. I am
simply
"speaking" to him on the same level he is "speaking" to me.
GARY
My name, but also a tongue-in-cheek, recursive acronym for, "GARY
Association of RocketrY". GARY is my idea for an ad hoc
organization
experiment.
The experiment is an attempt to identify the requirements for,
and the
structure of, a universally acceptable rocketry organization that
all
rocketeers would participate in by simply trying to build one.
The goal
is to find a way to unify all rocketeers into a stronger
association
and lobby group in order to promote ALL of sport rocketry to the
public
and effect positive legislative change for ALL of sport rocketry
at all
levels of government.
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