Senator Shaheen not liking public response

by | Aug 7, 2009 | 44 comments

By James B Schlessinger Jr

August 07, 2009

Public discussions about health care reform have soured amid protests.  Senator Jeanne Shaheen has had three such events affected by large numbers of individuals who voiced disapproval with the current legislation in Washington D.C.  Sen. Shaheen put out a press release yesterday calling the protests a “disgrace” and insisting that good people had their “rights trampled on.”  The Senator’s press release also states, “Protesters were present at office hours held today in Grafton and yesterday in Hampstead.”

“These are not town hall meetings but rather office hours that we host in Town Halls across the state in order to make our caseworkers available to New Hampshire citizens who need help,” said Shaheen.  After visiting Sen. Shaheen’s website most of the “office hours” are listed as “Town Hall” lending the impression that they are meetings to be held in a public place.

This was not the case in Keene today as Sen. Jeanne Shaheen’s constituents gathered on the second floor of the City Hall for a chance to speak with Keene City Councilor Pamela Slack, Ward 2, who was there on behalf of the Senator.  The individuals were taken in for one on one conversations with Councilor Slack who would not allow any cameras into the room.

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Patrick Shields found guilty, fine suspended on good behavior

by | Jul 31, 2009 | 26 comments

At Keene District court today Patrick Shields, a resident of Keene, was put on trial by the State for charges stemming from the April 13th Court Lobby incident.  At the start of the trial Patrick was informed that the Disorderly Conduct charge was being dropped leaving only the Resisting Arrest charge on the docket.

The trial was very similar to the two held on Monday, July 27 where David Krouse and Nick Ryder faced charges of Disorderly Conduct from the same incident. Police Prosecutor Eli Rivera provided the State’s Testimony, repeating the same statements heard Monday.  Mr. Shields’ argument focused on the fact that Officer Rivera, the arresting officer per the summons, had no physical contact with Mr. Shields and because of this there was nothing to resist as far as a physical arrest.

Patrick also testified that his thought process at the time, given the situation, provided him with one moral option.  He chose to attain a purely passive state and not interact with the Officers.

Judge Edward Burke first congratulated Mr. Shields on his preparation for the trial and then found him guilty.  The punishment handed down was a $1000 fine – suspended.  Should Patrick be convicted of a Class B or greater misdemeanor or a felony within the next year he will have to pay the fine or serve roughly 20 days in jail.

Church Vandals: This Nietzschean Anarchist Condemns You

by | Jul 29, 2009 | 29 comments

By Andrew Carroll

Seeing the trenchant prose of Friedrich Nietzsche disrespectfully spray-painted on a church building, coupled with anarchy symbols and clichéd atheist mantras, left this particular Nietzschean anarchist with a bad taste in his mouth.

With no actual knowledge of Nietzschean or anarchist philosophy to stop them – and plenty of angst to aid them – the vandals have made nothing but fools of themselves, even amongst fellow anarchists, atheists, and Nietzsche fans.

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The famous, and usually misunderstood, quote “God is dead” is not, as our vandals seem to think, a criticism of the concept of God and any ethics derived therefrom, as much as it is a challenge to the atheists of the world, to the godless, whose value system is inherently nihilistic.  This nihilism is something that Nietzsche believes must be overcome (and he died trying to do it).  He believed the atheist must struggle, in a world without God, to create his own values and find his own meaning.  Thus Zarathustra, the character who speaks the famous quote, goes on to say that we, after killing God as a source of value, must “become Gods ourselves…”  In other words, we must become the source of our own values.

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