Rep. Andrew Manuse (R-Derry), one of the 12 or 15 Free Staters serving in the state house, is “considering a bill to remove the [Catholic] Church’s tax exempt status in New Hampshire”, according to a quote released by the Catholic League.
The threat resulted from a squabble between the Catholic church and House Republicans after Bishop John McCormack, of Manchester, claimed that Republican budget cuts would hurt the most vulnerable residents of New Hampshire. This prompted House Republican leader D.J. Bettencourt to call McCormack a “pedophile pimp,” a reference to his handling of sex abuse cases in the Boston archdiocese. The situation has only spiraled down from there. (Link)
Facebook’s commenting plugin appears to be broken again. In addition, there has been a recent activist exodus from Facebook, so it’s time to give those people who dislike Facebook the ability to comment here. You can expect the trolls to return, and I’d like to encourage you to keep your comments here, but bring discussion to the Free Keene Forum, where trolls have a more difficult time polluting things. Presumably the Facebook comments will return to the blog when the plugin gets fixed, however I will leave anonymous WordPress comments turned on – the market has spoken. Facebook comments will appear on each page prior to the anonymous WordPress comments. Enjoy!
UPDATE: CAPTCHA has been added to the site and user registration has been turned back on. If you are a registered user, you will not be subject to CAPTCHA. User registration is free, of course and if you had an account before, it has been purged and you’ll probably need to re-register. (Unless you are an FK blogger.) Just use the handy login widget in the far-right column of the site.
UPDATE 2: Facebook comments are now working. We have fully flipped to “version 2”.
“You have failed!” rail the critics of Free Keene within the liberty movement. As proof, they present that some people are upset by some of the things that some activists have done in the area. I always counter by pointing out that upsetting people is a sign of success. It’s inevitable that anytime you do or say things that threaten the status quo, the supporters of the status quo will lash out in its defense. I guess the critics for some reason thought that only applied to “offensive” civil disobedience like smoking pot.
They were wrong. Now that the liberty activists who have been elected have been having some success passing pro-freedom legislation in the NH house, the supporters of the status quo are OUTRAGED. It’s more than just a few anonymous comments posted on the newspaper websites, which is about all that ever happened as a result of the supposedly upsetting civil disobedience and outreach here in Keene. No, these outraged supporters of the status quo are gathering for large-scale protests in support of the government at the state house.
Inside the capital a lady held a sign that said LIBERTARIAN REPUBLICANS ARE Killing N.H. The man she was with held a sign that said Libertarians + FreeStaters GO HOME. When confronted by a Libertarian Party member, the man admitted that libertarians are OK but he shouted down FSP participants.
In addition, the Union Leader has printed an editorial by two such outraged supporters of the status quo, specifically blaming “libertarians” and “free staters” for a “takeover”.
Congratulations to the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance and their activists. They are really making a difference. You can tell by how many people they have pissed off. Keep up the good work! Maybe these statists will get the message and move to Massachusetts or New York, because it’s not going to get any easier for them.
Thanks to Dave Ridley for putting together this package from other activists’ videos and experiences at the trial of Big Mike for having the courage to stand up to the Nashua thugs during their assault on the 420 celebration over a year ago.
Here, “Freedomroad” writes a 
As you may already know, 
