City Council, LISTEN TO KEENE: Say NO to Tanks!

February 7, 2012 by Heika · 4 Comments
Filed under: Issues, New Hampshire, Police

I know there has been much hoopla regarding the Lenco BearCat, but since I am unable to attend this Thursday’s meeting, I wrote city council a quick letter:

I would first like to take a moment and say thank you to Terry Clark, for his quiet attempts in educating the city of the Lenco BEARCAT and opposing its being in Keene. I feel I made the right choice in voting for him, as he truly listens and cares what people in this city want. I hope the rest of the city council takes note of him and follows suit.

With that said, I am flabbergasted as to why there is even consideration for this war-like machine for Cheshire County. Keene is the biggest town/city in the county, and we certainly don’t need it! Thermal cameras so whoever is in the BEARCAT can see what’s going on in the ‘privacy’ of homes? Gun stands? We, in NH are able to boast that we live in one of the safest places in the country. Now you want to make it a military state? People feeling threatened and nervous by the sheer SIGHT of this monstrous ‘truck’?

I have personally done a bit of research on these machines, and have found that this would not be beneficial in the least to our area. When it needs to be serviced or a part replaced, we need to take it to MA (there are only 4 places in the country that service them). I understand the government (thanks a lot, Bush and Obama) will give Keene a grant of about $285,000 to purchase the BEARCAT, but will the grant also cover the cost of repairs and upkeep? I do believe that will be coming from taxpayers such as myself. No thank you! What about the money/resources to effectively train people to use it? I do not want to see many of the KPD have such a powerful tool as they already abuse the ones they have. You, as city council, have done some great maneuvering and compromising with certain situations in the past, but you have NOT been good with taxpayers’ money. You have continued to blow it on ridiculous things that we don’t NEED and many people don’t WANT. I strongly urge you to think VERY carefully about this piece of equipment.

As cited from the MSNBC website, “Other criminal justice experts have questioned whether police need minitanks, saying they’re often used for mundane tasks such as serving warrants, and create a sense of police as military soldiers rather than neighbors. They also contend that BearCats and other SWAT machinery do little to prevent violent crimes, which have fallen steadily in the past decade.” The crime rate in the US is the lowest it has been since 2002, despite the population being at its highest since then.

Its bullet-proof armor sounds great, but really, how often do we have shoot outs in Cheshire County? Here’s a fact for you: Roughly 50 officers die per year in the US while on duty. That is in the entire COUNTRY. Not much! One other thing to consider: The only people this ‘tank’ will protect are the 2-10 people inside it. Please don’t hide behind the guise of this being an all-terrain vehicle that will assist in the once in a great while rescues that occur. BEARCAT stands for Ballistic Engineered Armored Response Counter Attack Truck. Again, utter nonsense!

I know that MANY people in Keene feel the same way I do about this machine. Please take another look at the petition that has been going around town. You will see that not only “the free keeners” don’t want this image for our quaint and beautiful town, but business owners, city workers, political figures, teachers, parents, and people that voted for YOU are also saying THANKS BUT NO TANKS!

Radio Free Keene News – 2012-02-04

February 4, 2012 by Ian · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Audio, Don't Strip Our Rights, Issues, Manchester, National, New Hampshire, News, Radio News

Radio Tower Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as a podcast and also will air at the top of some hours on LRN.FM.

You can download the edition for this week here. Topics covered include the latest on the BEARCAT, Kelly Voluntaryist’s return to the Manchester airport, and the Free State Project reaching 1,000 participants in New Hampshire.

You can add Radio Free Keene News to your podcast client via this RSS feed.

Kelly and Derrick J Strip to Underwear at Manchester Airport

February 2, 2012 by Ian · 23 Comments
Filed under: Issues, Manchester, National, News, Outreach, Personal Freedom, Photos

Keeniacs Kelly Voluntaryist and Derrick J. Freeman showed up again today at Manchester airport and stripped down to their underwear in protest of the TSA stripping our rights. They once again handed out fliers to travelers. Video coming soon.

Click the pic to the right for a full-size version.

UPDATE: A full photo album is here on Kelly’s website.

Thoughts on the Recent Right v. Wrong Decision

February 2, 2012 by Kelly · 4 Comments
Filed under: Civil Disobedience, Corruption, Hypocrisy, Issues, Thuggery, Your Evolution

From The Onion:

WASHINGTON—Striking down the judicial precedent that established the legal supremacy of right over wrong more than two centuries ago, the U.S. Supreme Court on Wednesday overturned Right v. Wrong.

The landmark reversal—a bitterly contested 5-4 decision that has been widely praised by murderers, rapists, bigots, usurers, and pro-wrong advocates nationwide—nullifies all previously lawful forms of right and makes it very difficult for Americans to make ethical decisions or be generally decent human beings without facing criminal charges. Read more

Defense Filed Documents in State v. Jason Talley

February 1, 2012 by Brad · 8 Comments
Filed under: Court, Issues, News, Noncooperation, Personal Freedom, Police

This blog is made pursuant to NH Rules of Professional Conduct 3.6 (c) (2) as all of the below have been filed with the Cheshire County Superior Court.

- Motion to dismiss PDF
- Notification of criminal defense PDF
- Motion to refrain from authorizing physical force to demand respect PDF

FLYER FOR DOWNLOAD: Thanks but no tanks!

January 29, 2012 by Pete Eyre · 2 Comments
Filed under: Issues, Outreach

Double-sided Thanks but no tanks! flyers now available for download via Scribd.com/FreeKeene

Learn more about the growing effort for a peaceful, not militarized Keene: http://FreeKeene.com/Bearcat

Bearcat Flyer (double-sided)

Kelly v. the TSA – Don’t Strip Our Rights -Thursday Feb. 2

January 27, 2012 by Kelly · 15 Comments
Filed under: Announcement, Civil Disobedience, Issues, Laugh at the Aggressors, Manchester, Personal Freedom, Video

“Don’t Strip Our Rights”, held at the Manchester airport on Friday, Jan. 20th, was a huge success in large part due to the many talented liberty media representatives from Free Keene, Cop Block, and Ladies in Keene who covered the event, Adam of Marijuana Muscle who is including it in a video project he is working on which focuses on the activism here in Keene, Free Keene blogger Jason Rapsher who so expediently released this video the day after the event, and to my video editor/graphics designer Beau Davis for creating the awesome flier and video you see featured in this post; his work speaks for itself.

Additionally, I must thank the individuals at the airport who were acting as agents of the state for doing the right thing that day. They regarded me with the same level of respect in which I regarded them and did not interfere with my peaceful demonstration by initiating any force such as arrest and/or caging against me.

I plan to return to the Manchester airport on Groundhog Day, Thursday, Feb. 2 to do it again, this time with a guest activist; to be announced.

The main goals of this event are to raise awareness of the violations on natural rights inherent in standard TSA procedures, to educate others on the ideas of liberty, and to promote a truly peaceful society.

As featured on:

…and more

Visit Natural Born Anarchist to read the full text of the literature I was handing out in the video.

In liberty,

Kelly

Radio Free Keene News – 2012-01-26

January 26, 2012 by Ian · Leave a Comment
Filed under: Audio, Copblock, Corruption, Issues, Living Free, Manchester, National, New Hampshire, News, Personal Freedom, Police, Radio News

Radio Tower Radio Free Keene News is a five minute newscast which is available as a podcast and also will air at the top of some hours on LRN.FM.

You can download the edition for this week here. Topics covered include Kelly Voluntaryist’s TSA lingerie protest/outreach, the Keene city council’s blowoff of the 144 petitions regarding the Bearcat, and the Londonderry cops’ bust of two Keene men for allegedly receiving hashish.

You can add Radio Free Keene News to your podcast client via this RSS feed.

State = Parasite

January 20, 2012 by DerrickJ · 19 Comments
Filed under: Data, Issues, Living Free, Noncooperation, Outreach, Video

“Word for word and character for character, it’s tough to beat Ryan Maddox.” – Super-activist Pete Eyre

This is the first episode in what will become a weekly series highlighting a range of pro-freedom topics. This one focuses on establishing the parasitic nature of the state. Others soon to follow will cover topics such as Mesh Networks, DarkNets, and open-source ecology. New episodes will be featured on my YouTube channel each Friday. The goal of this series is to bring newcomers to the ideas of liberty and to equip the liberty community with the technical aspects of maintaining strong virtual and real-life networks. One such real-life network is The Corner News, my favorite store. Check them out below:

City Council Blows off Anti-Bearcat Petition

January 19, 2012 by Ian · 61 Comments
Filed under: Corruption, Issues, Update

Bearcat Keene’s city council spat in the faces of most Keene inhabitants today by “accepting as informational” a petition with nearly 150 signatures urging the council to reconsider their accepting of federal money to buy a “Bearcat” armored personnel carrier. To accept something as informational is essentially a blow-off. It takes the issue off the table and means that no one need say anything further on the matter. It was not assigned to a committee where the public can be heard and action could be taken. It’s a big “fuck you” to all the people who spent time collecting those signatures and everyone who bothered to sign.

What did the petitions say? They merely asked the council to schedule a public hearing on the matter of reconsidering the Bearcat. Apparently the council would prefer that people not be able to speak on this matter. The Bearcat was quietly approved without public input and now the council is protecting the Keene police and their buddies in the federal government by refusing to even allow a hearing on the matter.

Does anyone really think these “councilors” represent “the people”?