A few weeks ago, my shotgun would have subjected me to years in a state prison, I paid an 8.625% sales tax on nearly everything I purchased, and a progressive state income tax made every effort to steal from me the fruits of my labor. Finally, a local municipality driven mad by xenophobic anti-immigration activists declared my apartment illegal and threatened to evict me from my home. Thanks for that, no, really, thank you, because coming to New Hampshire is the single greatest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life.

So I fit what I could in my van and fled the criminal gangs calling themselve The State, operating inside the arbitrary geopolitical boundary commonly known as New York. 5 hours north, I find myself in Marlborough, New Hampshire, just outside of Keene.

The move couldn’t have gone smoother. I made a forum post on the Shire Society website describing my predicament, and within hours I was contacted by a man who rented rooms in his house, a few message exchanges and a deal was made. I had become quite used to living alone, and had a bit of hesitation about living with 3 other guys, but as it turns out I really like the people I live with. Privacy is respected, but we’ll frequently find ourselves in common areas of the house hanging out, laughing, and discussing a wide range of topics.

On my first day, I was introduced to something of a private club we have not far from here. I can’t go into great detail on that in public, but suffice to say it is a place for freedom loving people congregate nearly any time, day or night. We eat, drink, inhale, exhale, watch movies, sing karaoke, plan activities, have deep philosophical discussions, and more. I was instantly plugged into a network of dozens of very serious liberty activists who are some of the coolest people I’ve ever known.

We exchange goods and services as free people should, by voluntarily exchanging value for value. This can be sort of offputting at first to some, when an individual is making dinner, offers you some, then asks for payment. But it didn’t take long for me to see the benefit to this. Sharing has its virtues, but a person is not going to be inclined to make free food every day, and even in the most giving of circles, someone is at some point going to feel like they are giving more than they are getting. By exchanging value for value, everyone is made whole all the time, nobody is ever losing, nobody is ever made to feel like they are carrying anyone else. Unless of course, that is what they desire to do, and people who are otherwise productive do get helped if they hit a rough spot. We’ve all known “that guy” who comes to the party to drink other peoples beer and eat other peoples food, but never brings anything to the table, or always comes away with more than he brings. “That guy” is unable to exist that way here for any significant period of time, his choices are only to produce more than he consumes, or find other people to leech off of. With value and production being the only available means of survival, we need not be surprised when there is lots of value and production going on. Within our small community, there is always food and drink, and other things, available. People are anxious to help eachother, for a small fee, and so whatever it is you need help with, someone is always ready to help you. With every new person who arrives, and every new skill and resource acquired, it becomes less and less necessary to go outside the community for the things we need, the inevitable outcome of which, is a self sufficient voluntary society where The State has no role to play.

We even have our own money. Sure it doesn’t have fancy designs with questionable meanings or pictures of dead tyrants on it, but I rather enjoy the sound of 0.1 Oz silver bars clinking about in my pocket, and the honest feeling of exchanging real value as opposed to the grim depressing knowledge that my primary means of exchange is the cause of so much human suffering.

People seeking to be free are unfortunately the frequent victims of armed men in costumes with tacky lights on their cars. In response to this, we have “Shire 911″. If you are threatened by individuals in such disguises, if they flash those ugly lights at you, call, txt, or transmit over your two way radio if so equipped, and available liberty loving people will come with the cameras, making every peaceful effort to hold them accountable.

In the event that you are kidnapped, or handed a threatening note by these mislead, theft fed aggressors, people will come to your court dates, offer you advice, tell you what to expect, and offer you moral support. Being a guy who has had his fair share of conflicts with the law, I can tell you it would have given me a great deal of joy to know a dozen or more people were outside my court dates with signs saying “Free Chris”.

Luckily I haven’t personally had any adventures in legal land since my arrival in The Shire, but observing, and talking to people about their adventures has been informative. As a man with no respect for fictional authority figures, I’m pretty much certain that this information will come in handy at some point.

The activism is energetic, fun, and frequent. If you haven’t read my previous note about the 4/20 rally in Concord, NH, I strongly suggest you do so, smoking pot on the steps of the State House in full view of the police before walking into the building and singing drug war parody songs was quite the thrill. But not everything need risk arrest, just the other day some of us went down to the local High School with signs and “Philosophy of Liberty” brochures. My sign said “Don’t let school interfere with your education”. The week prior I was sad to have to miss a visit to the University in Keene. There is some sort of outreach effort, rally, or civil disobedience sort of event happening pretty much at least once a week since I’ve been here, and I haven’t even bothered to look outside my local area. If one wanted more action, there are things going on in other parts of the arbitrary geopolitical boundary commonly known as New Hampshire, but I find that just hanging out with my new friends and being part of the counter economics is powerful action in and of itself.

I can hardly believe I spent so much time swimming against the tide in New York. I miss my friends and family there sometimes, but I can’t imagine going back. If you’re in a place like New York, and you feel the way I do about government coercion, you know that you’re in the wrong place. You know that the taxes are too high, you know that the cameras they are putting up on your streets are intrusive and unnecessary, you know that checkpoints and arbitrary searches are unconstitutional and invasive and wrong. You know that the gun restrictions are absurd and dangerous and contribute to a high crime rate. You know that your political systems are so terribly broken and corrupt that you have no hope of fixing them within your lifetime. I imagine if you know all of these things, you might, like me, find yourself pondering “Why do I tolerate this?”, and if you do, I imagine the only conclusion you could come to is “I shouldn’t tolerate this”.

So don’t tolerate it. Leave. Flee your oppressive governments and join us in New Hampshire. Why struggle to convince your neighbors to be free, when you can come to a place where your neighbors already so desire? Let’s trade freely, let’s speak freely, let’s enjoy beautiful scenery, let’s make one last stand for human liberty on planet earth. You see how bad things are getting, you know you can’t stop it doing what you’re doing. Dispersed across the country and planet the way we presently are, things are going to get much worse much faster and it could be generations before we can right the ship. But if we are concentrated in one place, working together against the forces of statist aggression, there really is a chance for Liberty in our Lifetime. Come and be a part of it.

Yesterday I had the pleasure of joining Kelly Voluntaryist, Ian Freeman, Darryl Perry, Jason Repsher, Rich Paul Freeman, and over a hundred other activists for the 4/20 rally, at the State House in Concord, NH.

Activists from Keene, NH met at the Keene Activist Center, as we so often do, a week in advance and discussed what we would do, who wanted to go, and who could provide transportation, signs were made, channels for two way radio communications were decided on, and by the time we loaded into our cars, everything was ready to go. Other activists from across the state and political spectrum also made plans and attended.

Some people had arrived early, to clean up the streets. Liberty activists performed a litter pickup, as agents of The State wrote parking tickets nearby…

As we arrived, there were about a hundred people there already, holding signs, smoking weed, and making new friends, just a few feet from where the New Hampshire legislature meets to conspire against them. I was happy to see that a number of parents had brought their children, in hopes they might grow up in a freeer society than they had the opportunity to grow up in. The case for spontaneous order was made no better than by one such parent suggesting that anyone smoking (legal or otherwise), do so on one side of the rally so that parents could keep their children away from the smoke on the other, nobody needed to be coerced, threatened, berated, assaulted, kidnapped or robbed (as The State so incorrectly believes is necessary for order) they were more than happy to respect the wishes of the young mother.

Up to this point we had been on the sidewalk outside the building, we heard a few inspiring words by several speakers, before Rich Paul Freeman asked if we were ready to take the steps, to which I loudly yelled “Yeah!”. Perhaps a bit unsure as to whether the rest of the crowd heard him, Rich asked again, and the crowd this time responded in kind, and we crossed through the gate onto the lawn of the State House and made our way up to the steps, just outside the front entrance, where police where inside waiting.

This didn’t stop us from lighting up joints and pipes right in front of them. If you know me, you know I’m not much of a pot smoker, but on this day, I simply couldn’t resist the opportunity to smoke up on the steps of the State House with my fellow freedom fighters. I was reminded quickly why I stopped smoking pot, as cotton mouth and the inability to concentrate or communicate set in…

Keene activists came with an abundance of propaganda, handing pamphlets out to the people who came, but might not have had a full grasp of what it really means to be free, information on jury nullification, “Never Take A Plea”, and voluntary solutions to societies ills were warmly received by people who had perhaps come simply thinking that medical marijuana should be decriminalized.

Ian Freeman held the attention of the crowd as if they had all paid to see him, he spoke charismatically about the bigger picture and what people could do to make things better, it was obvious he was making people think. When one bullhorn failed, we had another ready to keep the action going.

A paper was handed out containing Christmas Parody songs written by Richard Onley, and the Shire Chior was formed. Outside we sang to the tune of “Santa Clause is Coming to Town” a powerful parody called “Drug War Cops are Raiding the School”

And you know, that was a lot of fun. It was so much fun, that Ian suggested, maybe we should go inside the State House and do it! Ian opened up the door and I followed Kelly Voluntaryist inside. The police asked us to be quiet, and Kelly assured them quote “I’ll see what I can do about that”, dozens of people entered the lobby of the building and formed a circle, where we performed such classics as “Hands off Weed-a-claus” “War on Drugs” “A Lay of Anslinger” and “Violent Blight”, along with another round of “Drug War Cops are Raiding the School”.

Certainly the dozens of voices enthusiastically belting out anti government propaganda songs was not what the police would have defined as quiet, but for that handful of cops to drive off that many activists would have been quite a task, and so they endured our display throughout the duration, after which, Ian encouraged everybody to hug the police on their way out, and several people did.

To some of the people tagged, none of this is news, they were there… For others who may be reading, I have 3 words.

MOVE TO KEENE!

Well, if you’re set on a solution that involves a compulsory government of any sort, then you might be better off in Nashua or Manchester or something, but you should still come to New Hampshire.

If you’re ready to stop asking permission to be free, if you’re ready to renounce initiatory force as a valid method of problem solving, if you’re ready to meet awesome people and be surrounded by people who know how you feel, then don’t waste any more time swimming against the tide.

It is entirely possible, and even likely, that your state is too far gone. The only chance I see for us to be a free people is to be in one place, and make it ungovernable by rejecting their authority and supporting eachother in so doing. The infrastructure for a free society is here, you are all that is missing. Once you move, that will serve as encouragement for others to move, when they move, the same process occurs, and this can grow exponentially. And hey, even if it doesn’t, there is still no state income or sales tax, and you can still get a concealed carry permit for $10…

Flee your oppressive governments, as I did. Come here with resources to get you by for at least 3 months while you look for work. Know Freedom, or No Freedom, you decide.

Some critics have accused the liberty movement as being a cult. However, when you break it down, it doesn’t fit the parameters. Really what is happening, is those accusing liberty-oriented people of being cult members are just projecting. Whether they realize it or not, they are deep within a cult of their own. It’s a cult so pervasive and effective, that people don’t realize they are a part of it.

Until a better name is put forth, I’d call it the Authority Cult. In Larken Rose’s excellent book, “The Most Dangerous Superstition”, he clearly outlines how the belief in “authority” is incredibly destructive to the ends of peace. It’s an excellent and enlightening read.

There are classic signs you are in a cult, and the Authority Cult is replete with them:

Brainwashing Techniques
There is no shortage of brainwashing going on in the Authority Cult. Children are indoctrinated from a young age to believe in “authority” and to respect those who claim to have it. The message is very effective, and the government schools churn out wave after wave of worker drones who are not likely question their beliefs and will hand over a huge portion of their earnings to the Authority Cult leadership.

Chanting is also another serious warning sign, and Authority Cult members are inculcated from an early age with the “Pledge of Allegiance” and other nationalistic hymns.

Charismatic Leaders
People in the Authority Cult may not agree on who the leader of their cult should be, but ultimately, they’ll do as their leader (they call the person “president”) tells them. If only to bide time until they can hopefully elect their own. Some cult members (“the military”) will even die for their leader. The cult is organized hierarchically and has many sub-leaders of lesser “authority” underneath the head.

Rituals
The Authority Cult members also engage in strange rituals, which they believe are completely normal. Believers in “authority” are seen doing things like standing up when a robe-wearing person called “judge” walks in or out of a room. They stand and put their hands over their hearts when chanting their brainwashing “pledge” (it used to be the fascist salute – see photos here). Every couple of years they engage in an “election” where they choose the cult’s next batch of leaders. These are just a few obvious examples of Authority Cult rituals.

Jargon
Not only does the Authority Cult employ euphemisms to cover for the violence that is the core of the cult, like “taxes” (extortion and theft), “corrections” (cages), and “public servant” (master), but the cult actually has a full language they call “legalese”. Legalese looks like English, but the words are re-defined by the cult intellectuals. For instance, in legalese, the word “person” can mean “corporations”, which are themselves nothing more than another cult belief. (A “corporation” in reality is some papers in a folder that the cult members use as an excuse to protect the upper crust of business owners from liability for their actions.)

Culture of Fear
Historically, many cults have been very difficult to leave. Believers in the Authority Cult will frequently tell others that “if you don’t like it, leave”, but ignore that the cult members control the “borders” and won’t let you physically leave without a pass issued by the cult. Besides, to where is someone who doesn’t believe in “authority” supposed to go? The whole world is full of Authority Cult members. Many people who reject believing in the cult go about it quietly. They are afraid of publicly leaving the cult, because they know the cult’s “public servants” may possibly kidnap and cage them. The cult does this to former members from time to time to send a message of intimidation. After all, if they just let you opt-out, others who have quietly rejected the cult beliefs might just get ideas and also stand up and speak out against the oppressive cult.

A Solution
See the cult for what it is: Men and women using costumes, rituals, indoctrination, and other distractions to keep their victims as blissful or incarcerated as possible so as to maximize the cult leaders’ power and money. Consider joining the Free State Project and/or Shire Society. People who have released the cult belief system should get together in the same place. You can escape the cult and help others live free of the idea of “authority” and its corrupting, angry, divisive, greedy influence. Please get to the Shire and get active – there is much to be done.

Thanks to Gene the Christian Anarchist and Larken Rose for inspiring this piece. Also thanks to the trolls on this blog for providing continuous absurd examples of the cognitive dissonance many people will experience when coming to realizations regarding their, in many cases, lifelong belief in “authority”.

During a recent city council meeting, the mayor of Keene, New Hampshire leaned over to a council member and whispered excitedly: “We’re going to have our own tank.”

Yes, the tank (or, more specifically, the “armored personnel vehicle”) is the latest must-have toy for mayors and police departments. Even in this picture-perfect and tranquil New England town of about 23,000 residents, officials hurl common sense to the wind at the very thought of having such a cool ride parked in front of town hall. Maybe they’ll even get to drive it in the next Fourth of July parade. Never mind that Keene has no crime that would warrant rolling out a tank.

Nonetheless, thanks to such richly funded boondoggles as the “war on drugs” and the “war on terrorism,” the federal government is throwing money at cities and states to militarize their various police forces. Thus, Keene was granted $285,000 by the Department of Homeland Security to buy its very own “Bearcat,” an eight-ton combat vehicle.

Of course, corporations that peddle such pricey hardware testily insist that Keene needs a tank. A sales executive for Lenco Industries, which makes the Bearcat, snapped to an inquiring reporter: “I don’t think there’s any place in the country where you can say, ‘That isn’t a likely terrorist target.’ Wouldn’t you rather be prepared?”

The sensible people of Keene, however, aren’t swallowing the fearmonger pill, and they’ve forced the town council to reconsider. Local businesswomen Dorrie O’Meara says she hasn’t met a single person who’s in favor of having “this militaristic thing in Keene.” She calls the tank “completely unnecessary. But it’s more than that,” she adds. “It’s just not who we are. It’s about what kind of town we want to be.”

Wherever you live, take heart in the Keene example. Reject the corporate nonsense and insist on being the town you want to be.

Jim Hightower is a radio commentator, writer, and public speaker. He’s also editor of the populist newsletter, The Hightower Lowdown. Distributed via OtherWords.org

It’s a view you rarely never see on this blog, but it’s a view held by myself and a serious portion of liberty activists in the Keene area. (Not to mention the overwhelming majority of Keene residents.) Lately it’s been the senseless pestering of city bureaucrats, the quixotic school outreach, and his involvement in the war on grandmas. Yes, he does other things which are more legitimate and professional, but, for as long as I’ve been in New Hampshire, it seems that Ian has always been vocally supporting activism that’s jarringly wrong-headed.

I joined this blog in 2010 in order to openly criticize certain activist tactics that struck me as counterproductive. At the time, I was worried that the suppression of criticism was creating an atmosphere of groupthink– a situation where the systematic lack of criticism leads groups to make wildly irrational decisions. Since then, I’ve changed some hearts and minds with regards to criticism, and caused people to look twice at things they’ve taken for granted. This has been very satisfying.

But, where it really matters, I have failed. I had assumed the groupthink emerged spontaneously from the interactions of many people. In reality, groupthink occurs because Ian Freeman consistently and deliberately marginalizes criticism and critics, and derails open discussions of the flaws of activist strategies.

It took this thread on the Shire Society forum to make me understand this. (I get a bit carried away in my first posts because I’m blinded by rage, but take a few days to calm down, and post more reasonably later.)

Since I’m not as irrational as Ian, I’m acknowledging this new information, and changing my own tactics accordingly. It’s pointless to try to debate with someone who doesn’t believe there should be debate or open discussion.

Short of coercion, the only realistic option available to those of us who would like to see activist tactics improve, rather than stagnate or regress, is to apply social pressure to make Ian stop. I am convinced that this is the only way things will change. It’s frustrating and absurd that it has come down to this, but Ian has blocked every other alternative.

As part of this effort, I will no longer be posting on Free Keene. More than anything else at this point, I suspect that my blogging only feeds Ian’s egomania. Like a Democrat on Fox news, I’m just here to support the pretense that Free Keene is fair and balanced.

I know some of my fellow bloggers agree with these concerns, and I encourage them to join me. Perhaps it’s time for a new group blog, one not stifled by Free Keene’s cult of personality. Alternately, I’m sure Free Manch would welcome new bloggers.

Adiós Free Keene, and good riddance.

According to Jennifer “Jade” Jones, publisher of The Desert Freedom Press:

Quartzsite voters turned out in record numbers yesterday to send a message. And that message was “NO” on Proposition 1(444 votes to 149), meaning 75% 0f voters wanted an elected not an appointed mayor. The mayor they chose was Ed Foster.

At odds with the rest of the council before he even took office in 2010, Foster had lost a recall election to Fire Captain Jose Lizarraga in August by a narrow margin. That recall was spearheaded by then Councilman Jerry Lukkasson and his wife Michelle. Lizarraga refused to run again for his expiring mayors seat and Lukkasson resigned from the council for a chance to  wield the gavel. Now, the voters of Quartzsite have put Foster back in as the town CEO, and by a respectable margin.

Two expiring seats on the town council will go to a run off election in May, with incumbents Barbara Cowell and Joe Winslow facing off against Pat Workman and Mark Orgeron.

Provisional ballots and late mail in ballots have yet to be added in to the totals, but write in candidate John Prutch was trailing appointed incumbent Mike Jewitt by 19 votes in the “special” election contrived through fraud by town officials. Poll workers reported the the layout of the ballot had many people confused and it’s believed that the twenty two write in votes in the regular election were meant to be cast for the special election. That would likely have put Prutch over the top.

Foster will be sworn back in as mayor at the next regular meeting of the common council. He will have to wait until the May election before he gets anyone to second his motions and open things up for discussion and possible action.

 

Here’s an article I wrote on the Qtown issues last summer, based on an interview with Jade in my media trailer in Quartzsite:

Night had just fallen when I pulled off of the I-10 at exit 19 and into the rural town of Quartzsite. My arrival was immediately preceded by a monsoon storm typical of the Arizona desert in mid-July; the intense wind and rain lasts for about fifteen minutes yet leaves behind the sort of inconvenient destruction that can only occur in an environment totally unequipped for anything but it’s usual dry and sunny climate. On that particular Sunday evening it had knocked down the power lines, cloaking the little desert town in a veil of darkness which only added to the surreality of the story playing out right before my eyes, a story which actually begins not days nor weeks but years ago. Since the Arco truck stop right off exit 19 was the only place in town with working electricity, it had become the informal meeting spot for the town’s citizens, shining brightly in what was otherwise a seemingly endless black night.

Originally established by settler Charles Tyson in 1856 and known in that day as Tyson’s Wells, Quartzsite is now the epitome of a “market town“. Up to a million snowbirds travel through the little town of thirty six square miles every year, mostly during the months of January and February. Like most of the town’s residents, the visitors are typically senior citizens who park their RV’s in one of the lots of which the town is mainly comprised. There are roughly a dozen major shows and swap meets which occur during this short time period; a large percentage centered around gems, minerals and precious metals, and this rural dwelling becomes a center of bustling camaraderie and commerce. By July however most Quartzsite residents have abandoned ship and there are only about a thousand people who remain to brave the stiflingly hot weather and capricious political atmosphere. Located in La Paz County, Quartzsite is governed by an elected mayor and town council of six along with appointed officials which include a town manager, town attorney, town engineer, magistrate, clerk, and police chief. Disputes between the town’s government and it’s citizens date as far back as it’s incorporation in 1989.

The first thing that struck me about Jennifer Jones was her sharp understanding of both law and philosophical concepts of liberty; she is very well spoken and obviously well read. When I ask to see a copy of the Desert Freedom Press, a local newspaper that she writes, edits, prints, and distributes all on her own time and on her own dime, she holds one up, smiles for the camera, and says “You can’t put a price on truth and you can’t put a price on freedom. You can’t even put a price on the Desert Freedom Press because it’s always free, one per customer”. She is one of those individuals whom it’s impossible not to like; open, direct, and genuine. Jones, an avid dog enthusiast and show judge for the All American Dog Registry, moved to Quartzsite a dozen years ago when a friend suggested it would be a good venue for her mobile dog grooming business. She originally came for a ten week visit and enjoyed herself so much it led to longer stays. Quartzsite eventually became her home, especially when she met and married her husband Jack, a longtime resident. She lived and worked with zero incidence, not even so much as a parking ticket, for the better part of the following decade. It was purely by accident that in April of ’08, Jennifer Jones took on the fight of a lifetime.

The season was in the death throes of it’s yearly cycle and she was in the bounds of her rented area at the swap meet where she had her trailer parked; like everyone else, she and her husband both live and work on location during the busy months of the season. She watched, dumbfounded, as the town code enforcement officer showed up out of nowhere with police in tow and began to harass her neighbor. Annoyed that she was watching, he approached Jones on his way out and told her that she couldn’t operate a kennel at the swap meet. He left after she asked to see the corresponding ordinance, but unbeknown to her he then proceeded straight to town hall, revoked her vendors license, and without even a single warning called county animal control and told them she was operating on a revoked license and that her animals were endangered. The animal control inspector immediately showed up at Jones’ home and demanded she allow him to inspect the premises. When she insisted he first present her with a warrant, he called the police for backup. Although they had no warrant, they entered her home in spite of her protests that because the animal control inspector had just come from the shelter where disease was rampant, his very presence was putting her prized dogs, which included a brand new litter of puppies, at risk of disease. Upon his departure, the inspector issued her a ticket for operating without a county kennel license even though she was not required to have one by law. Jones fought her case and won but only after being dragged through piles of bureaucracy as though it were manure; the fact that she was right angered those who were wrong, and she emerged with the brand of “troublemaker” newly bestowed upon her.

“Either we make you a deal, or we make you leave” is the town mantra, says Jones. She and her husband both said that many winter vendors have stopped coming to Quartzsite due to the hardships forced upon them by the town bureaucrats. Throughout the following season, she was plagued by anonymous complaints that her dogs were barking. She says those complaints were false, and indeed her dogs had not bothered anyone at all at any time in an entire decade prior. Around the same time (2009 season), her place was broken into by a neighbor and so she moved shop over to the other side of town, but the problems continued. She claims that she was under surveillance by Police Chief Jeff Gilbert, who allegedly recruited the property manager from another location belonging to the same owner to spy on and harass her and was even present when this manager cut the water line to her grooming shop. Then, Gilbert went around canvassing her neighbors at the swap meet, asking if her or her husband were troublemakers and if they used drugs. In the following months, she recieved numerous visits from strange individuals; one even showed up and blatantly asked to buy some drugs (Jones has no history of any drug related activity whatsoever). The complaints against her kept right on coming, but when Jones filed open records requests the city couldn’t produce any of the related reports. In fact, she received a letter from the chief of police stating that if police had to write reports they wouldn’t have time to do their job; a letter which she made public by reading it aloud at the next council meeting.

Thus, the game of cat and mouse not only continued but intensified as the months wore on. Alex Taft was appointed to the position of town manager around the end of the year, and it was early 2010 when Ed Foster began his campaign for mayor. The booths were set up at the swap meet to accommodate the high point of the season, and for many townspeople including Jack and Jennifer Jones, their booths doubled as a display of political support. Signs supporting Ed Foster for Mayor prominently decorated the front of Casa de Jones. One morning they were having coffee and walking their dogs when they noticed a red truck pull up. Three people, one of them the standing mayor, got out of the truck and began putting their own campaign signs in front of the Jones’ Ed Foster signs. Jack Jones grabbed his camera and was filming the incident when Police Chief Gilbert pulled up and started chatting with Mayor Huntley. Upon seeing him standing there, Gilbert demanded to see his ID and when Jones turned around to go in and get it, he was knocked to the ground and taken out by police. For his wife, this was the last straw. She not only founded the Desert Freedom Press to educate the community about the gross injustice happening all around them but also filed a civil lawsuit against the town of Quartzsite. The situation has gotten progressively worse ever since; at 45 years of age Jennifer Jones had no arrest record until November of 2010. Since then she has been arrested four times. Her last arrest occurred at a council meeting on Tuesday, June 28th of this year. She was brutally dragged out of the meeting by Quartzsite police over the objections of Mayor Ed Foster after it was determined by the council that her attempt to address the town was out of order. The entire incident was caught on video and went viral on You Tube; it was viewed over 40,000 times during the forthcoming week. Alternative media all over the Internet were reporting on the rise of the Fourth Reich in Quartzsite, AZ and Jones was even interviewed on the popular Internet based program Infowars. Upon my arrival the following Sunday, the town had just been declared to be in a “state of emergency” by the council due to all of the attention.

I met Jennifer Jones, Mayor Ed Foster, La Paz County Republican Precinct Chairman Michael Roth (who had been arrested at the council meeting the week before Jones), and many more members of the Quartzsite crew that night at the Arco. They welcomed me warmly; I got the feeling that they were genuinely grateful someone cared enough about their plight to pay them a special visit and they were more than happy to talk. Their sense of community was quite apparent, something that is sadly lacking in the average metropolitan city. The people of Quartzsite are simple folk; they came here precisely to get out of the city, enjoy some peace and quiet, and to pursue their own happiness. Many are retired and chose to buy an RV and move here instead of buying a condo and moving to Florida. They could be your parents or grandparents. They care deeply about their little town and as I chatted with them it struck me that these are true Americans and this is rural America fighting for it’s right to individual existence. What is happening in Quartzsite is a small scale model of what is happening throughout the country.

Since the violation of one individual’s rights equals the violation of all individual rights, lessons learned in small town America could potentially strengthen us all. “Most people will run and hide when the chips are down. We rally for each other and we stand together in opposition to this kind of tyranny” Jones tells me. “It’s not like I have done anything wrong that made me a target; nor has my husband. We’ve never bothered anybody, we’ve done good work, we’ve contributed to the community. If they would do this to us they would do it to anybody”. She is glad that the issue is finally getting the national attention it deserves and her greatest hope is that no one else has to endure the same misfortunes at the hands of Quartzsite’s corrupt.

“This stops here, it stops with me, and it stops now.”

Perhaps if the individual’s right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness can be restored to one small desert town there just might be a chance for the rest of us.

 

Here’s audio from Jade and Richard Abbey, live from election night last night:

Engraved at Mahatma M.K. Gandhi’s Ashram in Gujurat, India

life-force itself, imprisoning its victims within the everlasting flames of evil in the only hell I believe in; one’s own self-created hell on earth.  Fear in any area of one’s life spreads, just like a cancer, and inevitably seeps into the rest; eventually eliminating all traces of peace and truth.  The opposite of life is death, and the opposite of love is fear.  According to the axiom of life itself we can assume that because we are here on earth, our purpose on it is to live free, to thrive, and above all, to create.  Fear robs us of purpose.  Fear is what prevents each of us from fulfilling our highest potential.  Fear, quite literally, kills.

As most of you are probably already aware, I was arrested this past Monday along with fellow Free Keene bloggers and members of my voluntary family, Ian Freeman and Derrick J. Freeman, at the Cheshire County Superior Courthouse.  Ironically enough (but perhaps not that much so), Derrick J., Ian, and I have been Keene’s inseparable activist trio for most of this current year.  I moved here to Keene to make a difference in the world and am so grateful that the two of them are always up for participating in various projects with me.  I simply couldn’t ask for better activists to work with.  Like myself, they are also willing to give everything they have to give to the cause of liberty and the dynamic between us has been fantastic.  Therefore, when Ian told me that he needed to take care of some business at Cheshire County Superior Court and that he had been unable to get ahold of Sheriff Dick Foote, I was ready to stand with him.  Seven of us received no trespass orders for that court at the beginning of this year, due to our actions of singing outside of the courthouse and attempting to keep the peace by holding the bureaucrats accountable.  I truly believed the orders we received were invalid on a couple of different levels; morally, for one and legally, for two.  I even spoke with a trusted legal expert who assured me those orders were invalid according to the state constitution.

Since we were repeatedly unable to get ahold of the sheriff to discuss this issue, we were left with no other options that would allow Ian to conduct his business at the court but to go to the court despite the totally arbitrary and ridiculous “orders” we had been issued.  I felt this was a reasonable act of peace.  That morning, Carlos Miller of Photography Is Not A Crime just so happened to be visiting Keene after participating in the Free State Project’s annual Liberty Forum, so it was the perfect opportunity to take a stand against the unfair and biased treatment which we had received.

The morning began with a visit to Keene District Court to meet “Judge” Ed Burke in an attempt to hold him accountable for his unconscionable actions taken over the past several years.  We met him on his way into work and Carlos had the opportunity to ask him some questions (video coming soon).  Afterwards, it was off to Superior Court to try and resolve Ian’s business.

First, Cop Block‘s Ademo Freeman entered the courthouse, and then Carlos, Ian, and I headed the line of activists walking into the courthouse, with Carlos filming and leading a camera chain that went out the door and ended with Derrick J. (who never entered the building nor even stepped on the property, to the best of my knowledge).  Despite the fact that Ademo wasn’t being harassed over his camera, when Carlos asked the bailiffs if cameras were allowed in the court, this exchange ended with the bailiffs calling the sheriffs deputies, who threatened to kidnap Carlos if he didn’t stop recording and physically backed him out of the courthouse.  In the meantime, Caleb Dodson and other deputies invited me to walk further into the courthouse through the security checkpoint, where they proceeded to place me under arrest and kidnapped me, taking me downstairs to their holding cage in the basement.

They didn’t bother to cuff me as we walked downstairs, questioning me the entire way concerning the business I was attempting to conduct at the court.  I grabbed a lollipop off one of their desks and popped it into my mouth as I deflected their questions and brought up the pressing subject of the immorality inherent in the work they do (earning a living off of human suffering), then sat in a chair in front of their booking desk as I spoke with the government sanctioned thugs.  Soon enough two more thugs walked in with Ian in tow.  I had been praying they wouldn’t take him, as he is under a suspended sentence after serving two months over the summer for sitting in front of a police car to protest another activist’s arrest, and stands to serve out the rest of his sentence (nine months) if he’s charged with committing another “crime” before the suspended sentence is over.   Although part of me was thankful that I was no longer alone in the cage, I would have rather been alone as it broke my heart that he was in there with me.

We continued the lively discussion about the immorality and total lack of logic inherent in the injustice system which was systemically being involuntarily foisted upon us as we spoke with the deputies, all of whom I’m sure greatly wished we would just shut up.  Not a chance.  There’s human beings in there somewhere, under the uniforms and badges in which they hide, and under their cool outward veneer claiming they are “only doing their jobs”.  As a satyagrahi, in jail it is my job to find and reach out to those human beings, and I must do that by showing them that I’m a human being as well.  Eventually, the deputies got us processed and were likely quite relieved to lock us in our cages, as they could then forget about the truth and drown themselves in the comfort of the superficial lies they tell themselves in order to live with what they are doing.  Our songs of choice as we sat in our cages were “Thanks, But No Tanks”, “Drug War Cops Are Raiding The School”, and “We Shall Overcome”.  Finally I became so tired that I laid down on the wooden bench in my cage and went to sleep.  The next thing I knew, the deputies were ordering me to wake up.  They chained me at hands and feet then escorted me outside, where Ian was in chains in the back of a police car.  I got into the car and the deputies told us that we would be video arraigned from the Keene Spiritual Retreat (or, as they call it, the Cheshire County House of Corrections).  We looked at each other and didn’t need to say a word; we both knew the fact of having video arraignments from the jail instead of being arraigned in person at the courthouse was not a very good sign.  Speaking for myself, I was at that point mentally preparing to spend a significant amount of time in the cage.  I didn’t think we were getting out.

To Be Continued…

If good is not subjective – determined by the consciousness of whomever one is asking – is it then intrinsic? Are certain things simply good in and of themselves, requiring no sanction? The intrinsic theory of values unfortunately is responsible for almost as many horrors as the ridiculous concept of “public interest” (social theory of ethics). The intrinsic theory of values provides the logical base for the idea that since certain things are simply good and certain things are simply bad, it doesn’t matter how they are achieved. For instance: terrorism is bad and safety is good, thus whatever must be done to combat terrorism and guarantee safety must be moral. According to the intrinsic theory of values, the internment of thousands of Japanese-Americans during World War II was perfectly moral, and according to the intrinsic theory of values it would also be perfectly moral to throw every Muslim on earth in front of a firing squad…or in a gas chamber.

Value cannot be characterized independently of reality nor of consciousness. It must as fact of matter be a seamless integration of both, using total rational consciousness to build its meaning with the building blocks of reality; primary axioms which exist and their logical corollaries. This is objective value. Existence exists, consciousness exists, life exists, and man’s life exists. As such man’s purpose is to live free, to thrive, and above all, to create. Good is what forewords life; evil is what spins life out of control to its demise, the concept of irrationality, the idea that life and its corollaries, including principles of non-aggression and self -ownership, do not matter and are not subject to the laws of existence.

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Hello my fellow New Hampsters!

I’ve been reading with great interest the debate about the LENCO Bearcat Armored Personnel Carrier. I have decided to support Keene obtaining this fine piece of military hardware. This might surprise some of those of you who know me so I thought I would explain why.

There are two main sets of arguments as to why Keene needs such a beast of a vehicle. The official view is that it would be useful for emergencies…and stuff. The popular contrary view is that it is useful for militarizing the police to prepare them to wage war upon the populace, and because they want a really huge really fancy truck to play with at no real cost to themselves.

Both of these views are true, but I don’t believe they address the fundamental core reason why the small town government of Keene and the even smaller surrounding town governments want this. To understand why it is so important and necessary, I turn to the wisdom of the very first psychologist, William James:

“The deepest principle in human nature is the craving to be appreciated.”

The police and government officials want to be appreciated. They want to do an important job and they want to be appreciated, respected, even adored by the public.

Now Keene is a small town still, and the other communities are even smaller. There’s not a whole lot of important work for the police and local government employees. Why, if it wasn’t for the War on Drugs, we would have to fire most of the cops, and those remaining would be little more than Barney Fifes with no important work to do. Thanks to this blessed War they don’t just have important work – they have missions!

And for people who don’t have any particular skill or ability, or the drive and determination to develop any skill or ability they do happen to have, there is no better way to be appreciated than to be a war hero. This is why it is very important that we always support the government in it’s war against us. It elevates the police and mayors and city councils above us so that they are very important and obviously with all of that power the masses must appreciate them. Without this war when they are called about a plastic bottle littering the ground they would only be a janitor – and there’s no appreciation there. But with this war they are investigating a possible meth lab! And of course everyone appreciates the brave war heroes who risk burns and exposure to dangerous chemicals! Without this war when they are called about a backpack they would only be custodians managing the lost and found, but with this wonderful war, they are investigating a suspicious package that might be a bomb or other terrorist weapon of mass destruction! And of course they will be appreciated for risking life and limb to investigate a possible bomb, even if it turns out to only be a middle schooler’s backpack.

And think of the glorious LENCO Bearcat. This isn’t the typical old piece of junk armored personal carrier that is donated by the military because it’s so old and useless. Oh no, this is a top of the line souped up Ford 550 (that’s right – not a F150, not a F250, but a F550!!!) that can withstand .50 caliber machine gun fire! Obviously only very important highly appreciated war heroes are ever given such an expensive and powerful piece of equipment.

From now on our police will have the means to turn the hum drum work of small town policing into an exciting war mission. When they bust some friends playing poker they will no longer be the annoying busybodies and pompous party poopers ruining a good time – they will be fighting an organized crime gambling ring! When they bust consenting adults buying and selling marijuana flowers they will no longer be the hypocritical enforcers of the state’s alcohol monopoly – they will be soldiers on the front line of the drug war, just as important as any DEA agent in Mexico. And of course they will be worshiped as war heroes when they use their vastly superior numbers and arms and armor and armored vehicles to crack down on these unarmed scoundrels who offer no resistance, very brave war heroes whose courage will be unmatched and unquestioned.

I hope I have convinced you to support the LENCO Bearcat, and the KPD and the other police departments and all of our public masters. If you want to know how to express your support and appreciation for their very hard work (and what can be harder than policing a small town where there is little to nothing to police?), you may be happy to know it’s not very hard. Keep doing what you’ve been doing – paying and obeying. Do as you are told. And stop questioning and criticizing the police and local governments. Don’t pay any attention to the money and backroom deals and preferential treatment given to people more important than yourself. In return for giving up your liberty and your property and your rule of law the police and government officials will be most genuinely appreciative and that’s a win-win deal for all.

Sincerely,

Henry Acton
Keene, NH

Fear leads to BearCat

There is a specter haunting our nation — a specter of fear.

To me, and I know that in this evaluation I am not alone, it is apparent that since Sept. 11, 2001, fear has been the motivating force for change across the United States.

Where do I see fear? For the present I use but one parameter — despair, the need to arm one’s self, seek protection against the “other.” The “other” is too often an illusion than a reality but what a powerful one it is.

It is “we” against “them,” often irrational fears of the future.

For example:

New Hampshire could become only the fifth state in the country to let people carry concealed guns without a permit. The House voted 193-122 to make gun permits optional.

Members also voted 204-110 to allow loaded rifles and shotguns in motor vehicles, as long as there is not a round in the chamber.

The National Rifle Association reports that: “There are well over 250 million privately-owned firearms in the U.S., including nearly 100 million handguns and tens of millions of “assault weapons” — the types of firearms that gun-control supporters have tried the hardest to get banned — and the number of firearms typically rises about 4 million per year.

Annual numbers of new AR-15s, the most popular semiautomatic rifle that gun control supporters call an “assault weapon,” are soaring.

“In 2008, there were more than 337,000 new AR-15s configured for home defense, competition, training, recreational target practice and hunting”

Homeland Security News reports that: “At a time when officers are facing a more cold-blooded criminal element and fighting a war on terror … For the second straight year, law enforcement fatalities in the United States rose with 173 federal, state, and local officers killed in the line of duty during 2011; this represents a 13 percent increase over the 153 officers killed in 2010 and a 42 percent spike when compared to the 122 officers who lost their lives in the line of duty in 2009.”

Do you not find it rather unsettling that the Keene City Council, with one dissent, elects to purchase an armored vehicle (BearCat) that a newly elected mayor may in the future authorize the law enforcers (them) under his command to deploy it against the very people (we) that elected him? Or maybe he is not in command?

I further ask which group is the more fearful, who needs an armored bullet-fire-proof offensive device? Is it meant to be a threat – “Stay off the Central Square lawn or else?”

George Orwell, 1984: “There will be no curiosity, no enjoyment of the process of life. All competing pleasures will be destroyed. But always — do not forget this, Winston — always there will be the intoxication of power, constantly increasing and constantly growing subtler. Always, at every moment, there will be the thrill of victory, the sensation of trampling on an enemy who is helpless. If you want a picture of the future, imagine a boot stamping on a human face — forever.”

Google: “The girl in the blue bra.”

ARPAD J. TOTH

11 Houghton Point South

North Swanzey