by Ian | Jul 17, 2009 |
I wrote this hopefully persuasive essay for the printed newsletter published by FIJA. I’ve missed the deadline for the Summer issue, but it should appear later this year. I had been reading their letters to the editor and been amazed that no one was writing about much else besides just giving Fully Informed Jury Association information to their friends, family, and co-workers. This is good, but not particularly effective. I hope that explaining what we do here in Keene will encourage others around the country to duplicate our efforts, or better yet come to NH and get active here.
I’m publishing this article here on the blog in the hopes that it will encourage similar activism other parts of New Hampshire, where honestly, there is no excuse for activists to not be doing this incredibly simple and effective activism. We’ve been challenging the activists in other areas to take this up for months now, and they haven’t. Which of course just makes Keene a more attractive destination in comparison.
Thanks to Chris Muskus for being the driving force behind this amazingly successful FIJA outreach, as it enters it’s second year this August.
In the last year, my fellow activists and I have distributed hundreds of Fully Informed Jury Association pamphlets into the hands of potential jurors as they arrive at the courthouse for jury selection. Month after month, we gather on the first Monday in front of the Cheshire superior court in Keene, New Hampshire and offer FIJA information to every single person walking into the courthouse. We arrive at 8am when the doors open and stay until about 8:45am, fifteen minutes after the potential jurors are supposed to be there, just to make sure we reach all the late arrivals. About 80-90% of the people we approach will take the flier. Usually I’ll smile and say something like, “Good morning, would you like some free information on your rights as a juror?”, and hold out a trifold. That’s all it takes! (more…)
by Ian | Jul 14, 2009 |
Here’s the letter that video journalist Dave Ridley wrote while imprisoned six days for recording video in a public court lobby:
“Outlaw Journalist” defies order to stop recording
July 9, 2009
It is said that silence is often louder than speech, that a voice quashed is more powerful than one left free.
So, as I undertake the third night of a six-day civil disobedience imprisonment, there is no urgent crush to communicate. But it is fitting to outline the events which led here and the cause which fires so many others to suffer a similar path. (more…)
by Ian | Jul 13, 2009 |
The Hope Chapel on Rt 12 was vandalized recently. (Here is the story from WMUR.) The cowardly vandal(s) violated the church’s property with painted anarchy symbols and a large amount of their own preachy, anti-religious text, causing several thousand dollars worth of damage. Liberty minded people can debate amongst themselves over the meaning of the term “anarchist”, but such discussion is nothing more than academic “masterdebating”. You can talk until you are blue in the face about how anarchy really means “no rulers”, but when dangerous thugs smash storefront windows, throw molotov cocktails, vandalize property and call themselves anarchists to-boot, you’ve got a SERIOUS public relations problem on your hands.
I believe in rules on private property. I believe in peaceful, consensual interactions between human beings. I am a voluntaryist. I understand that others in this movement are still enamored (as I once was) by the “macho flash” feeling they get from calling themselves an “anarchist”, or by walking around wearing an anarchy symbol t-shirt, but look at the destruction and the people that symbol is associated with! I know, I know, you’re trying to rescue the term by showing that you are peaceful and respectful of others’ property, in hopes of changing people’s preconceived notions about it. While I understand where you are coming from, I think it’s as futile and counterproductive as walking around wearing a swastika t-shirt because you know that historically the symbol stands for good luck and you want to change peoples’ perceptions of it! (more…)
by Dale Everett | Jun 29, 2009 |
Here’s your chance to sell me on the notion so make it good. Bare in mind, however, that I’m a critical thinker and I’m looking for logical arguments without the usual presumptions like “It’s always been done this way.” If we invented really efficient and clean-running hovercrafts, it would be silly to cling to the idea of wheels just because that’s how it’s been done for thousands of years. I’m also tired of arguments from need which are irrelevant. It doesn’t matter how much we need unicorns if they don’t exist or voodoo spells if they don’t work. There’s no point in having a discussion about the benefits of unicorns and their healing and purifying magical powers until someone convinces me they exist or they can create them.
(Read On…)
by Ian | Jun 19, 2009 |
There has of late been a number of forum threads with sometimes heated discussion about whether liberty activists should engage in defensive violence against government people. I think violence against those men and women calling themselves “the state”, even defensive, is the worst possible path we could take. Not only does using violence lower you to their level, it also is exactly what they are trained for. It’s certain death for you and will be used as an excuse to expand the state’s intrusion into everyone else’s lives. To expound on these ideas, I’d like to share this article from Ogre in this month’s New Hampshire Free Press. I felt it did a great job of summing up how I feel about this issue. If we are to evolve to a voluntary society, it must be done peacefully. There is no way to peace; peace is the way:
I’ve been thinking more about pacifism and how to combat this government that is clearly no longer Constitutionally- or Freedom-based.
I have to admit, I used to be what Russell referred to as a “gun cleaner,” though I’d never heard the term. I am quite skilled with firearms, and I have more than one. I had always vowed that the government would get me only after I fought back with firearms. I was (and am) perfectly willing to be killed by the government (because I know where I’m going after that time). However, after reading and watching so much of the freedom activities in NH, and certainly I’ve got to give Russell a lot of credit here (and I would Sam, too, only I really figured this out before Sam was kidnapped), I’ve changed my views, and I would encourage others to, as well. (more…)
by Ian | Jun 13, 2009 |
The president of the Free State Project, Varrin Swearingen, has had his letter to the editor of the Keene Sentinel published, correcting the wild misinformation that has previously been found in the paper, particularly in Michael Schuman’s, “Will the Free Staters Please Sit Down” article. Here it is, since the Sentinel link will expire after a week:
“Freedom Lovers, Stand Up”
For those of you who don’t know me, allow me to introduce myself.
I moved to Keene in 2004 with my wife of 16 years and two children, now 7 and 8.
I have owned the same home in Keene since moving here. I attend Grace Evangelical Free Church in Spofford, am a DC-10 captain for an international charter airline, home-school our active children and play drums and other musical instruments.
I also serve as the president of the Free State Project.
Over the past several weeks, numerous news articles and opinion pieces have mentioned the Free State Project. I’d like to offer facts and opinions that I hope will shed light on the subject from an angle not yet covered. (more…)
