Free State Project Carla Gericke is the major interviewee for a feature piece on living free in NH and some of the bad laws here that need to change. It’s a great piece from the Nashua Telegraph.
Really. No, wait, not really. 
It has been several months since I contributed to the Free Keene blog regarding my transition to liberty or my opinions about stuff that is happening in the government world. In fact, my second to last post here was about how I, for the first time in 30 years crawling this planet, got arrested. I was arrested at the US/Mexico border in Nogales, AZ by United States Customs and Border Protection for exercising the 5th Amendment.
My blog was titled “I Sat in a Cage to Defend the 5th Amendment.”
Well, I finally got my “arrest report” from the feds (after 4-5 months of notarizing forms, mailing things back and forth, and begging) and it sure looks like they let me off easy for the pure evil I unleashed at the border station. It looks like I misled you in my July blog in that that I failed to mention that I, according to the federal officer who arrested me, murdered one of their co-workers.
Among the two things I “could have been arrested” for were 18 USC 111 and 18 USC 1114. That would be forcibly impeding and murdering a federal officer. Now verbal warnings are given out every day for things like speeding and rolling through a stop sign… but I never imagined I’d get a verbal warning for violating a law that I could get the federal death penalty for. I went straight from never having been arrested or convicted of anything to the lethal injection.
Here’s the report. It is so ridiculous, I believe it deserved its own meme.
Now, having written a police report or two myself, I’ll point some things out that are happening in CBP Officer Aldrich’s weak attempt of a report he came up with.
Tonight is the big meeting at city hall about Central Square. The public will be allowed to speak and it begins at 6:30pm. The Keene Sentinel has details on the many proposals that will likely be on the table.
You can expect the local authoritarians to be in attendance. Will the ideas of liberty be present and well-communicated? Will roots be struck and paradigms challenged? Be there and advocate peaceful, consensual solutions to social problems.
Hopefully, Juggalos will be there to show that they are not a group and are individuals who differ, just like liberty activists.
Here’s a facebook event for the meeting.
The Occupy Keene campout, which had grown from one tent the first night, to two last night was targeted by Keene police. Campers were threatened with a violation of city ordinance if they did not leave, which they decided to do. What will happen next? Stay tuned here to find out, or better yet, drop into the Occupy Keene facebook page and discussion group.
Plus, watch “Free Keene TV” tonight to see a live interview with one of the Occupy Keene campers, Craig, at 7pm on Cheshire TV – channel 8 on Time Warner in the Keene area and online via Ustream here.
Photo courtesy Talley.TV.
[Transcribed by Mail-to-Jail. Though Ian has been released from jail, we just received his blog #8 in the mail and we are posting it now.]
“The Greater Jihad”
If you’ve been following these blogs of mine from jail, you’ve probably noticed me referring to the Cheshire “House of Corrections” as the Keene Spiritual Retreat. Like most of my ideas, this one is not original. It was coined by Sam Dodson a couple of years ago when he was imprisoned by Edward Burke for not revealing his name. Sam spent 58 days in the Cheshire jail before being quickly and unexplainably released – still wearing his jail orange! Dig back into the Free Keene archives to learn more about that situation.
At first blush, calling a jail a “spiritual retreat” appears to be a joke, but really, perspective matters. You get to choose how you feel and how you approach the events in your life, so why not look on the bright side? In jail there is plenty of time to yourself. Lots of time to read and no access to the internet. (Amazingly, I did not experience withdrawals, but I do miss easy access to information.)
I have been reading some great liberty-oriented books and graphic novels sent in to me by some wonderful people, and also acquiring books on religions of the world from fellow prisoners and the jail library. One of the first books I read was the Qur’an, which I followed with more on Islam and its prophet Muhammad, in addition to discussions and study with a Muslin in my cell block.
I already knew from my conversations with Muslim callers to my radio show that most Americans’ views on Islam are at best misinformed and at worst, dangerously ignorant, but I wanted to know more. I wanted to be able to say I’d actually read the Qur’an, so I needn’t rely on others’ opinions in the way I had been. (more…)
[Transcribed by Mail-to-Jail.]
“Choose Your Words Wisely”
I’d like to comment on the vernacular of the liberty movement. I’m sure some critics will find this analysis to be trivial, but to me, words are very important. You will be judged by the words with which you choose to express your ideas. In addition, the words you select will reveal your mindset.
I was inspired to write this post, as in several of the kind, thoughtful, and encouraging letters I have received while incarcerated her at the Keene Spiritual Retreat, I noticed the writers chose words that I find counter-productive, mentally. Here are three that appear frequently: “fight”, “struggle”, and “sacrifice”. I understand why these words have been chosen – they are commonly used in activist literature and culture, and I mean all activism, not just the liberty-type. For instance, some national liberty political group sent me one of those multi-page fundraising letters (you know, where they try to make it look like someone went in and underlined words, then signed it, and maybe made “notes” in the margins – but of course, you know it’s just a form-letter) after I had become aware of the :fight” mentality. I took a highlighter and went through the letter and highlighted all the fighting-related terms. “Fight” and “battle” appeared many times. There is probably a reason why these organizations use this conflict-oriented language. They want to maximize the effectiveness of their fundraising direct mail campaign, and what American doesn’t like a good war? Who wouldn’t want to be on the side of the winning team – having vanquished the enemy? Who wouldn’t want to sink a bayonet into – (more…)
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