Free Keene

So the Democrats sweep into office, most of them not smart enought to know that a good chunk of those votes weren’t FOR them, but AGAINST Bush, the Patriot Act, the war, runaway spending, tax cuts for the super-rich and other foot-on-a-banana peel moves by the Republicans. Then comes this list of “100 hour promises” by Speaker Pelosi, who must have learned about the political process from the Governor Moonbeam School of Populism. Raise the minimum wage? Please. Who makes $5.15 an hour? Even the much-vilified Wal-Mart’s starting wage is $7.50 an hour in Manchester. Ethics reform? Right. Eliminate travel on corporate jets? Fine, but no rule against first-class commercial travel is there? I’ve seen Swiss cheese with fewer holes than this “reform”. The Democrats have chosen to pick the lowest-hanging fruit to mollify an angry electorate into thinking they’ve done something. They promise a 5 day work week-and the VERY FIRST DAY they take off for (wait for it) a COLLEGE FOOTBALL GAME! Evidently the terms “first 100 hours” and “5 day week” have different meanings inside the Beltway than the rest of the country. The more things change, the more they stay the same.

First, allow me to say I’m very excited to be part of FreeKeene, and to start with please allow me to ask some rhetorical questions.

1. Why don’t people read? I recently was perusing the Dell customer forums to get an answer to a minor technical problem, and came across an interesting thread. There were many people upset that they didn’t get the 0% financing they were “promised”. A quick skim of the terms said clearly that it was available only to well-qualifed buyers, and not all accounts would qualify. Further, the terms stated the interest rates would be based on credit score and could range up to 29.9%. I then read with amazement that people were complaining about the interest rates! I have a Dell account, and the rate was clearly disclosed before I bought anything. If they don’t like the terms, why did they use the account? (Read on …)

Last week I picked up a copy of the projected 2006-2007 operating budget for the city of Keene. Although the 392 page, one and a half inch thick, spiral bound volume is going to take days of study to fully understand, the first thing that jumped out at me were the salaries of government workers. Department heads are being paid huge salaries upwards of $90,000 and benefits many tax payers can only dream of. Since when was working for the government a way of getting rich? (Read on …)

Yes, we’re missing episode 2. Unfortunately, it may not resurface. Here in episode three, the show gets much better with the addition of the “Keene Question” segment. This episode Toby, Dale, and David discuss: Average Cops / Reading the Laws? / Bad Law / Risk / Keene Question: Torture

More episodes to come here, plus consider subscribing at our Youtube site at http://youtube.freekeene.com

I have enjoyed living in Keene my entire life, but it wasn’t until recently that I began really appreciating the freedoms and liberties I still posses that other places, even in America, no longer do. Seat belt laws and restaurant smoking bans are sadly becoming the accepted norm almost everywhere, but so far New Hampshire residents have stood up for their freedoms and fended off both. New Hampshire residents have largely understood the need for small government, and it is up to all New Hampshire residents to keep standing up for our rights, and to take back those we have lost.
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If you peruse this site, sooner or later you’re going to come across a phrase. It’s a phrase that, frankly, irritates me a little. That phrase is: “free market.”

Now, I don’t want to convey the wrong idea. Readers are probably already thinking that I am somehow against the idea of the free market. Nothing could be further from the truth. It’s the phrase itself that I don’t like.
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