Free Keene » Issues

City Bans BEARCAT Promo Video from Upcoming Committee Meeting!

Ian — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 07:01:14 +0000

Sign the online petition to keep Keene Bearcat-free!

I was told today by city staff that I would be disallowed from showing the LENCO video promoting their BEARCAT attack vehicle.

LENCO’s head salesman, Jim Massery admitted on the phone today that he didn’t think it should be shown to the council as it’s intended to market to the police.

Of course, that’s the point. LENCO is not marketing the BEARCAT to police as a rescue vehicle, as the council has been told. The councilors should see how this monstrosity is being promoted. If you haven’t, please watch the video that the city attorney doesn’t want you or the city commission to see. (Also, note that LENCO changed the permissions on their video to make it so it is not searchable and also so it can’t be embedded on other websites…like this one.) Then come out on Thursday evening and speak out against it. It’s our chance to reverse the deal and say, “Thanks but no tanks!”

LENCO’s head of sales also said he’d be attending the Keene committee meeting, which tells me LENCO doesn’t quite think they have this sale in-the-bag.

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

Heika — Wed, 08 Feb 2012 01:20:38 +0000

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

Ian — Sat, 04 Feb 2012 23:47:30 +0000

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

Ian — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:07:00 +0000

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

Kelly — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:02:57 +0000

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.

“It is the opinion of this court that the Constitution was crafted in such a manner as to uphold and encourage practices that are not right and, ideally, are very wrong,” Justice Antonin Scalia wrote for the majority, which also included Justices Clarence Thomas, Samuel Alito, Anthony Kennedy, and John Roberts. “Despite the compelling case for goodness, truth, and justice made by our predecessors in the case of Right v. Wrong, we firmly believe that malice, dishonesty, and injustice were the framers’ original intent.”

“The ruling today rights an age-old wrong in which right has consistently, and unconstitutionally, prevailed,” Justice Alito wrote in a concurring opinion, adding that the decision between right and wrong did not present a difficult choice for him. “It is clear the earlier court erred when issuing the Right decision.”

The ruling in Right v. Wrong was handed down in 1790 by the Supreme Court’s six original members, all of whom sided with the plaintiff, prompting Chief Justice John Jay to write, “It is the emphatic province and duty of this highest judicial tribunal to rule in favor of Right, as the argument in support of Right is the right one, and the argument in support of Wrong is the wrong one.”

Since that time, the verdict has been cited in most legal rulings at the state and federal level, and has been upheld by the Supreme Court numerous times, most notably in a 1974 opinion overturning a Six Circuit Court of Appeals decision that would have re-segregated the nation’s schools, abolished the minimum wage, legalized evil, and allowed law enforcement officials to conduct searches and seizures without a warrant.

This term, the high court agreed to hear the appeal of an Arizona state judge’s ruling for the defendant in the case of Good v. Bad, a decision that had once more called into question the basic tenets of Right v. Wrong.

“If you look at the current makeup of the court, the verdict is hardly surprising,” said law professor Erwin Chemerinsky, adding that given recent decisions to permit unlimited corporate spending in electoral politics, crack down on civil liberties, and allow the execution of Troy Davis to proceed, he believed the justices had been angling to do away with Right for some time. “It’s long been clear Roberts and Alito were in the camp favoring wrong, and Scalia’s passionate criticism of the Right decision almost certainly swayed Justice Kennedy.”

“As for Justice Thomas, he was practically asleep when the attorneys representing Good gave their oral arguments,” Chemerinsky added. “In terms of his job, that was definitely the wrong thing to do, so he made it pretty clear which side he was on.”

Many constitutional scholars have argued the ruling sets a dangerous precedent whereby violent criminals could conceivably appeal their convictions and, citing the federal judiciary’s rejection of Right, be acquitted of their crimes.

According to reports, the impact of the verdict has already been felt, with a Massachusetts man murdering three people this morning in front of several Boston police officers who by law could do nothing but watch. In addition, a woman who volunteered at a Toledo, OH soup kitchen has been arrested, sentenced to six months in jail, and fined $25,000.

“This ruling is so broad that even those who show an intent to do right can be prosecuted,” said Martha Minow, dean of Harvard Law School. “Make no mistake, the court is sending a message to pro-right supporters that fairness and equality are no longer the laws of the land. And the decision has no chance of being overturned in the immediate future, because the bench will be dominated by pro-wrong advocates for years to come.”

Justice Stephen Breyer chose to read his dissenting opinion aloud before the court, a rare gesture apparently aimed at expressing the full measure of his disgust with the verdict.

“The court needs to overturn this ruling immediately because, simply put, it’s the right thing to do,” said the associate justice, who, along with his colleagues joining him in the minority, was then arrested by Capitol Police, placed into custody, and is currently awaiting trial. – Supreme Court Overturns Right v. Wrong. The Onion Issue 48-03, Jan. 18, 2012

We laugh only because the joke rings so true.

The corrupt system of corporatism (fascism) that we have on our hands in America today is making it quite difficult for me, as an American, to do the right thing. Tomorrow morning, I face the possibility of being tossed in a cage for peacefully exercising my so-called Constitutional right to proper redress of grievance, standing up for the rights of myself and others, and doing the right thing.

Perhaps fairness and equality are no longer the laws of the land, but they are still the laws of the universe and of nature. I am quite certain that the scales of justice will tip even in the end. I’m not hurting anyone and I’m doing the right thing, thus my conscience is clear.

Kelly

Defense Filed Documents in State v. Jason Talley

Brad — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 18:36:06 +0000

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!

Pete Eyre — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 06:58:53 +0000

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

Kelly — Sat, 28 Jan 2012 03:53:55 +0000

“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

Ian — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 08:08:38 +0000

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

DerrickJ — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 19:33:29 +0000

“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: