Petition to the NH State House for Redress of Grievances re:Cynthia Chase

State Rep. Cynthia Chase has made national news for her statements that “Free Staters” are the biggest threat to the state and thet she wished to restrict their freedoms in an attempt to make FSP participants leave New Hampshire.

A Petition for Redress of Grievances has begun circulating on the internet and requests that Rep. Chase be censured and/or impeached. The Petition at Change.org (full url http://www.change.org/petitions/nh-state-house-censure-and-or-impeach-cynthia-chase) reads:

Whereas State Representative Cynthia Chase has stated, she wants “to pass measures that will restrict the ‘freedoms’ that [Free Staters] think they will find here,” and
Whereas this shows her intent to enact laws to interfere with protected rights, and
Whereas her intent is to harm a specific group of people, and
Whereas her statements are in violation of the “Equal Protection Clause” of the 14th Amendment to the Constitution of these United States of America;

Be it resolved, that we, the undersigned call for the immediate censure of Representative Chase from the General Court, and
Be it resolved, that we, the undersigned call for impeachment proceedings against Representative Chase, and
Be it resolved, that we, the undersigned request the General Court take any additional actions against Representative Chase that the General Court sees fitting.

Cynthia Chase’s Free Stater-Hating Makes Union Leader Front Page

The biggest paper in NH, the Union Leader, has splashed the Cynthia Chase story to their front page. That story is in print-only, but here’s a related story by their political reporter:

FRIDAY, JAN. 4: GOING VIRAL. A Democratic state lawmaker’s recent web post critical of the libertarian-leaning Free State Project has gone virtually viral in the past few days and, as one might expect, has drawn criticism. (more…)

Ridley’s Visual History of Russell Kanning Arrests

Recently published was a new Ridleo chronicling a history of arrests of Russell Kanning in New Hampshire. Russell is partly responsible for the reputation of Keene area activists as civil disobedients, as he had originally moved to that area of the state as he made waves over a number of victimless offenses.

Kat-and-Russell_keene

Kat and Russell in Keene, NH

The video also features footage from Michael Fisher’s illegal manicuring event from 2005 in Concord. The headline-generating fingernail beautification by a Free State Project participant is referred to by Ridley as a “textbook act of civil disobedience”.

Russell currently faces federal chalking-related charges in Waco, Texas. Though he also had chalking charges from Concord, New Hampshire, Kat Kanning reports that the NH charges were dropped because, “[the] NH court said they thought he could be prosecuted adequately in TX, so they dismissed their charges.” Authorities may have prevented Russell’s legal adventures from taking him back to NH also because he would attract more supporters while in the Shire.

Jan 6 2013: Ridley has released a follow-up video.

Hassan Pleasantly Passes on Independence Inquiry

Yesterday was the inauguration ceremony at the state house and a number of other scheduled festive events to ring in the new administrations. After doing some promotional chalkings around the perimeter of the building, I headed inside and met with other independent media personalities visiting town from Keene. When we discovered a line outside of the governor’s office, we were struck with the urge to file in.2013_01_hassan_corporatehosts

A staffer noticed our rolling videocameras and informed us that the line was for a photograph with governor Maggie Hassan, but that she would not have time to dedicate to a videotaped interview. Darryl, Kate, and James decided to find other items to film, while I perused the posters featuring the event’s corporate sponsors, which included everything from New Hampshire businesses to pharmaceutical multinationals.

2013_hassangovIt was a very rushed encounter, as most happenings with lines tend to be. I quickly asked after handing off my rolling camera and being flashed by still cameras, “Will you be doing anything to decrease New Hampshire’s dependence on the United States federal government?”

“Uh, well, I think that’s something we’ll all talk about, thanks.”

I picked up a cheesecake item and walked to the house chamber to listen to a colorful choir. Outside of the office, the line to see the new state president grew. In the lobby, chocolate bears were being distributed. It was a statist synthesis of Christmas and Easter, and there was free stuff to go around.

2013_colorsshaus_choir

See also: Gov John Lynch Dodges Medicinal Cannabis Question (video)

Get a clue, Limbaugh – Free Staters aren’t conservatives! (or liberals)

Well, the good news is the Cynthia Chase story that we broke here at Free Keene has gone national in a big way, with Breitbart and Rush Limbaugh picking up the story.

The bad news is that they got a key point of the story wrong. WAY wrong.

Cynthia Chase said that “Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today.” However, the conservative media is reporting the story as though she said Conservatives are the single biggest threat.

Get a clue. Free State Project participants are NOT “conservative”, nor are they “liberal”. We love liberty.

The Free Staters that I know all support ending the insane war on drugs. They are LGBT-friendly (or actually LGBT). They are anti-war. Are those “conservative” positions?

If you love liberty, meaning the freedom to live your life as you wish, so long as you don’t harm others, then you should join the Free State Project. However, if you’re a “conservative” that wants to control people’s sex lives or what they put in their bodies, then you won’t fit in. You should stay where you are.