New Hampshire has already firmly established itself as the main source of liberty media for the world and more content continues to be created! It appears that “Shire Liberty News”, a new blog, launched online several months ago. Editor Sandy Pierre positions the blog as “Spotlighting activism in New Hampshire” and the site also features opinion pieces, including the blog’s most recent post, about civil disobedience.
Here’s hoping the new blog will keep the content flowing!
Free State Project participants have one thing in common: We have signed a statement saying we’ll work towards the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of individuals’ rights to life, liberty and property. In other words, we prefer less government, more freedom.
That message is being drowned out by the present conflict surrounding Free Keene, which has devolved into a childish quarrel featuring lawsuits, ad hominem, and hateful bigotry. Free Keene’s opponents have included the Free State Project in their broad smears on the basis of objectionable tactics and personal behavior by a handful of Free Keene activists, some of whom are not even Free State Project participants.
Both sides unashamedly provide endless ammunition to each other to perpetuate the skirmish. This drama diverts attention from dialog about what’s really important: freedom.
I can tell the brawl has the public’s attention by the concerned questions I hear from longtime friends who are confused by misleading rhetoric. (more…)
An apology to Ian was needed and a great thing that it happened, But the story stays the same, just need to change the name “Ian” and replace it with a Free Keene member and blogger, requested the page be removed. At the end of the day the over all story doesn’t change, just the name of the guilty party, but Free Keene as a whole was behind it. We need to take note from this, once you are part of a group and do something for/with the group, it affects the entire group, good or bad, You are no longer an individual when you speak for a group. We succeed together and we fail together.
“Free Keene” has never been behind anything. Only individuals do things, and in this case, the company was contacted by Jay Freeville. He did this not as part of a group, or at anyone’s behest. Personally, I wouldn’t have bothered to do something like that, and the other dozen+ bloggers here all likely have their own opinions about it.
In the same way, just because SFK members Dan and Kay Georgina demolished countless chalk smiley faces over the weekend in Central Square, doesn’t mean that “STOP FREE KEENE!!!” was doing it. There may be people in SFK who don’t agree with what Dan and Kay did. Not everyone in the SFK group is responsible for what the others do or say. They can, as FK’s bloggers can, speak out and air their concerns or disagreement, but they can’t stop Dan and Kay from continuing the smiley genocide.
Ed Lake is wrong – people in groups should be seen as individuals, unless they are claiming to speak with 100% of the group’s approval. I would never blame SFK’s Josh Erickson for what SFK’s Kim Diemond says or does, and the same courtesy should be given to our bloggers. Also, keep in mind that there are far more activists who are NOT Free Keene bloggers than who are. Some of those activists are angry people. That’s one reason they’ve never been invited to blog at Free Keene. Just because they are part of the same freedom movement doesn’t mean we agree completely or that they are in any way affiliated with Free Keene’s message of Peaceful Evolution. Case in point: (more…)
Through their actions, the key members of SFK!!! prove the anger in their hearts – what kind of person could feel good about such destruction of community artwork?
Some STOP FREE KEENE!!! members believe that threats, violence, and protest will somehow stop the flow of activists to Keene and NH at large. However, all they are accomplishing is attracting more movers and sparking new activism.
Free Keene is about love and peace. “STOP FREE KEENE!!!” is about anger. Peace is the way.
Property taxes are a drag, especially here in the Granite State, where, thanks to the “New Hampshire advantage,” they pretty much pay for every aspect of state and local government and the quality of the services we receive are proportional to the value of our community’s real estate and not an individual’s ability to pay.
So, wouldn’t it be nice to simply wish them away, to click the heels of your ruby red shoes and chant: “There’s no tax on home; there’s no tax on home,” and have it become reality?
We’ll soon find out, thanks to the organizers of the Shire Free Church, otherwise known as the Free Keene activists best-known for their efforts to fill expired parking meters, the subsequent court case stemming from their harassment of city parking enforcement employees, their attempts to bait local and state police by pretending to break local drug and alcohol laws, and their efforts to convince others to mess with the courts and the government.
The leaders of that group have applied for tax-exempt status, claiming their house at 73-75 Leverett St. in Keene, which has for several years served as a base for libertarian Internet broadcasting and their local political operations, is now a parsonage. (more…)
