A Taste of Life at the Cheshire “House of Corrections”
It only took ten days, but I finally have stamp and envelopes! For the uninitiated, the commissary or “canteen” is a system that allows prisoners to make life on the inside a little more comfortable. In the case of Cheshire county jail it is accessed by a touchscreen system mounted in the dayroom area of the cell block. The deadline for placing an order is Tuesday, and your order is delivered on Friday night. Unless you are sentenced to jail on a Monday and happen to be classified by Tuesday, (policy is that you be kept on 23-hour lockdown for observation for at least 24 hours ion entering the jail until they classify you – in case you are dangerous or suicidal, etc.) which is unlikely, you can expect to wait at least a week before you can get commissary.
Speaking of commissary, thank goodness for the Civil Disobedience Fund at CDEvolution.org! Did you know that if you are imprisoned for civil disobedience or noncooperation that CDEF will likely deposit $50 in your commissary account? That $50 is more than sufficient to buy some useful comforts. Subtracting the 100 envelopes and stamps I bought (I’m getting lots of mail thanks to Mail-to-Jail.com), which alone cost $50 ,($44 in stamps, $6 envelopes) I only spent $30 on a couple done items, some of which includes shampoo, deodorant, (which I have been looking forward to after working 8-hour days in the kitchen), toothpaste, toothbrush (the toothbrush they give you in here is AWFUL and will easily tear up your gums), vitamins, writing stuff, drinks, and snacks. I had money in my pocket when I came in, so the CDEF contribution wasn’t critical, but if I did not have money on me, it would have been a BIG help. Thanks to all who contribute to CDEF! (more…)
Hello from the Keene Spiritual Retreat, aka, the Cheshire County “House of Corrections!” In case you aren’t aware, I have been sentenced to 90 days here (plus 270 days “suspended”) for the “crime” of “obstructing government administration.” In other words, my friend Heika was being kidnapped by the people calling themselves the Keene Police because she was enjoying an afternoon in the park with an alcoholic beverage, and I chose to peacefully stand in front of police car to prevent the kidnapper’s escape. Turns out, I merely delayed them for a few minutes before they kidnapped me and the other brave activists who stove in front of, and behind the police cruisers -Rich Paul, Meg McLain, and Wes Gilreath.
So began an odyssey into “legal land” that has lasted over a year. Apparently, waiting over a year for a trial is “speedy.” That is one of several absurdities about this sick, slow, stupid system to which we are all subjected, that I experienced personally. Here are some more “highlights,” which you will be able to see in the trio video, thanks to Talley.TV:
• KPD’s Jason Thompson admits that he doesn’t really think about liberty, even though it’s his fundamental duty to protect it, according to KPD’s “Statement of Ethics”
• KPD’s Colin Zamore appears to be oblivious to what “subject” means, even though he and fellow officers use it all the time to refer to us non-police-folk
• “judge” John P. Arnold claims the constitution does not apply in this case
• Arnold ejects members of the public from court under threat of violence because their moral or religious beliefs prevent them from standing for another man.
There are more, but I only have so much space. Another interesting aspect was the jury. This was the third jury trial in Keene, and the first time they have returned a non-guilty verdict. They found me not guilty of “resisting arrant.” Unfortunately, they found me guilty of the “obstructing” charge, which is why I am in jail. There had been jury nullification outreach done to the potential jurors and the concept was the cornerstone of my defense. Was their “not guilty” a nullification? I’d speculate it wasn’t, but simply their decision regarding the facts of the case. Perhaps someday we will know for sure, as I have heard NHJury.com intends to contact them with a survey.
So here I sit at the Keene Spiritual Retreat, as my work responsibilities go unmet and email piles up – I am having months of my life stolen from me because I delayed the police for five minutes! It’s a clear violation of NH Constitution Article 18, which says punishments should be proportionate to the crime. Of course, if you are reading this, you probably know the government people don’t give a damn about their founding document, or any of their rules, for that matter. Look at the camera/audio ban at “Superior Court” – it violates both the NH Constitution and RSA 91-A:4, but good luck getting anyone to enforce their own laws on their buddies!
I am already jotting down ideas for future blogs from jail – for now though, I bid you goodbye. First though, THANK YOU to all who came to my trial and to everyone who has moved or will be moving to New Hampshire as part of the Free State Project. The more people who come here and get active in the way that is right for them, the better our chances of someday living free. Special thanks to the financial uprooters or Mail-to-Jail.com – one of the most useful activist tools out there!
This morning Free Keene blogger Meg McLain was on Fox News, along with Robert Fernandez, to discuss yesterday’s successful Lemonade Freedom Day. Despite being a nationwide event, it appears that there were only three arrests made on Lemonade Freedom Day and all were in Washington, DC. Everywhere else in the country, including Keene, cops used their discretion and ignored the open agorism taking place. Here’s Meg and Robert on Fox and Friends this morning:
Meg wasn’t given much time to discuss the abuse she faced at the hands of the U.S. Capitol Police Department but she did post the unfortunate details to her new blog, MegMclain.com.
UPDATE: Both Robert and Meg presented their views on liberty to the large audience of Fox and Friends. They spoke about good people disobeying bad laws and Robert was even able to mention jury nullification. Here are some quotes from this segment that I first posted on CDEvolution.org:
When you’re shutting down a kids lemonade stand, you’re basically telling them they can’t do anything, they can’t follow their dreams, they can’t set a goal and achieve that goal without getting permission from the government first. I think this is absurd. We’re all individual with an inherent right that we should be able to sell goods and services with other voluntary individuals that want to participate without having any problems and asking permission.
– Robert Fernandez
When the rules are inappropriate, there’s no reason that anybody should ever have to endure what I went through just for selling 10 cent glasses of lemonade.
– Meg McClain
The Fox Host asks Meg what she had to endure, which you can find more on at MegMcLain.com.
Fox Host: Robert, Ultimately what to you want to happen here. What are you hoping to achieve?
The biggest thing that I’d like to achieve here is to get good people to disobey bad laws. Police are human, we’re all individuals, we all make mistakes, so do the police, so do lawmakers. Not all laws are good, some laws are bad and when we have bad laws we need to disobey them.
– Robert Fernandez
Fox Host: Maybe the message here is to just lighten up.
I think we still need to stand up and disobey these types of laws.
Jurors need to be more informed and need to make decisions based on their conscience.
On August 20th, 2011 at 12:31pm on the Capitol lawn in Washington DC, Kathryn Dill, William Duffield, and I were arrested for selling 10cent cups of lemonade. The events leading up to our arrest, along with our capture and kidnapping were beautifully documented by several activists who came armed with cameras (see high quality video below); therefore, I feel no need to cover those details. However, once we were taken away, there were no more cameras to share our experience.
This Saturday, August 20th, I will be broadcasting LIVE from Washington DC; where brave liberty activists will join me to “illegally” sell lemonade on the Capitol lawn.
We stand together to protect the freedom of all peaceful people, who face threats of violence for the simple act of selling lemonade. There have been hundreds of accounts from across the nation of police shutting down children’s lemonade stands due to lack of government permits.
These permits are “required” by local governments, using excuses of ‘health and safety’; and can cost hundreds, even thousands of dollars. But, should the permitted vendor cause health or safety issues, the government that issued the permit is not liable for permitting a dangerous business. Bureaucrats face no consequences. So what is the purpose of these expensive permits? To gain more money for local governments; to force compliance and subservience to government “authorities”; and for larger businesses to cut out their competition… even if that competition is a couple of kids with a lemonade stand.
So join us in Washington DC at noon, or watch LIVE and join in an online conversation about the event!
SELLING LEMONADE IS NOT A CRIME!
For more information about Lemonade Freedom, head over to LemonadeFreedom.com
Lets assume you’re the owner of a business and you employ five people. One day you find out that one of your employees is threatening people to make sales. You didn’t approve of this tactic and quickly move on this information. You call in the employee and address the situation. You explain to them that threatening people is not how you conduct business and even though it might produce larger sales in the short term, it will ultimately destroy the company – ending both your jobs. Hopefully the employee will understand and adapts (or atleast respects) to your request. Though it’s possible they wouldn’t (adapt) and you’d have to fire them. Either way, in business, when you don’t agree with your employee (or with your employer) you have the option to end the relationship (on either side).
Let’s go one step further and bring police into the scenario. Police are paid for with tax dollars and tax dollars are collected from taxpayers. Essentially, taxpayers are the employer’s of the police and, just like any other business, the employer has the right to tell the employee if (and/or when) they don’t approve of their employees actions. Right? Yet, there is NO real course of action one can take to stop police from doing something you don’t like or want, like regular employers can. You can’t physically stop the police officer, nor can you fire a police officer and you can’t stop paying taxes either – we all know what happens if you do. So, what can you do?
