Art. Thanks for your words and I am about done with the discussion...all that can be said has been said its just going to get nasty from here on out (grin).
> > Robert, please, keep in mind that everyone working on building > spacecraft is a volunteer. Nobody is paid to build a particular > project, nor can they be expected to do so. Therefore, to some > extent, he who does the work makes the rules. I suspect in the end that this is the main problem with AMSAT and probably the organization will continue a decline until it is fixed. I've been on a number of volunteer efforts which I define as ones you dont get paid for...including being President of the largest community association in Texas and being President of the School board of the premier school district (or at least one of them) in Houston Texas (it includes the NASA facility in Houston)...those last two I had to work to get elected to and in both cases was responsible for a budget several times larger then Amsat which was all "taxpayer money" and in the case of the later, had far more consequences then Amsat board members can even pretend to imagine. So I have a pretty good idea of what "volunterism" on a corporate level means. And it doesn't mean that the person who does the work makes the rules. It means that the person who does the work out of a volunteer spirit, as long as they are spending "member" dollars and doing things in the name of the organization do those things solely for the benefit of the organization. It means being responsible, even if you dont like some of them, the membership of the organization. The BOD has no real comprehension of that concept and that is the foundation of the reason that the numbers in AMSAT are not growing and the amateur satellite "community" isnt all that much either. The questions about Suitsat that I asked were legitimate ones and I got not a single legitimate answer from any member of the BOD... I would imagine that they cannot answer the questions because it explains why the odds are very high that Suitsat 2 or whatever it is now called, is a wild goose chase. As my late wife use to tell me when people would come up to us at the cafeteria on a sunday or even when we were "out on a date" at the movies and ask me some question about how the school district was running "if you didnt want to answer the questions you should not have worked so darn hard to get elected". I know the answer is "vote the bums out" and I certainly try every chance I get. Before election time I was curious and that is why I raised the issues I did... Dont worry, except for getting myself (and to some extent the current congressman from District 22) elected most of the people who I vote for dont....as an example the last three guys I voted for President for are doing something else... but as we use to say in my last "assignment", "I love the work" take care and thanks for your words Robert WB5MZO life member Amsat _________________________________________________________________ Windows Live: Make it easier for your friends to see what you’re up to on Facebook. http://windowslive.com/Campaign/SocialNetworking?ocid=PID23285::T:WLMTAGL:ON:WL:en-US:SI_SB_facebook:082009 _______________________________________________ Sent via amsat...@amsat.org. Opinions expressed are those of the author. Not an AMSAT-NA member? Join now to support the amateur satellite program! Subscription settings: http://amsat.org/mailman/listinfo/amsat-bb
