Can an individual claim an exclusive monopoly to a word, phrase or idea, which then denotes the right to seek damages from those who happen to utter sounds in a particular order?
What about a corporation? Can an entity that comes into existence when a group of people put some words on paper all of a sudden have rights? How can a legal fiction be wronged? How exactly would something that exists only on paper be made whole?
Actual picture from LENCO's site
Individuals employed at LENCO, the MA-based manufacturer of the BEARCAT – an $300,000, 8-ton armored vehicle being peddled to police departments in large and small towns alike thanks to Dept. of Homeland Security grants and mindless scare tactic rhetoric – a few weeks ago pulled their promo video of the vehicle after pushback from many Keene, NH, population 23,000, who were rightly concerned about their local police acquiring such hardware. (watch video in full below)
The video in question shows the BEARCAT engaged in SWAT/paramalitary exercises set to AC/DC. Badass, right?! The video is the epitome of the post-9/11 world according to those in government* who grow their claimed authority thanks to real or claimed emergencies. (more…)
Did you really think it was going to be over last night? What a shame no city councilors had the courage to change their vote in the face of so much public opposition to the killing machine that the Keene police want to bring to town. We tried to tell them the world was watching.
Now it appears some hacktivists have also been paying attention to what is going on in Keene and the heroic group AntiSec has targeted “mayor” Kendall Lane and the Keene city councilors who voted in favor of the BEARCAT for a good doxing.
They have started with info about Kendall Lane and Janice Manwaring. AntiSec states that the rest are coming. The dox are being posted to the AntiSec facebook page, and who knows where else they are being spread.
Do you think the council expected attention like this? Kudos to the brave hacktivists in AntiSec for taking on this issue and paying attention to the oppression going on here in Keene.
I will update this post as AntiSec continues to post more info.
Tonight, the Keene city council could have made history as the first ever political designation to reject arms manufacturer LENCO and the federal government’s pushing of the BEARCAT police attack “tank“.
They could have heard the voices of the people who were crying out against this intimidating monstrosity that will inevitably militarize the Keene police even more, and as city councilor Carl Jacobs appropriately pointed out, distance them further from the community they supposedly serve.
They could have. But they didn’t. The BEARCAT passed 9 to 4.
Despite the outpouring of opposition in the community against the BEARCAT, not a single councilor changed their vote from December, when they originally voted in favor of it. That vote was 13 to 1. Why were the numbers different? The new city councilors who took office in January were the ones to vote against it. So, the councilors who originally voted for it completely disregarded all the input they received from the community in various forms:
In a Keene Sentinel online poll, 72% said they city council was wrong to accept the BEARCAT. (Only 12% favored the BEARCAT in the poll.)
City councilor Bettina Chadbourne related during tonight’s meeting that of the 80 phone calls she received from various members of the community, (old, young, business owners, men, women, etc) only ten calls were in favor of the BEARCAT.
A random walk down Main St. would show anyone who bothered to ask people that the supermajority of people oppose the BEARCAT.
Most letters to the editor of the Keene Sentinel were in opposition to the BEARCAT.
During the meeting the councilors who favored the BEARCAT got no applause from the packed room, while the councilors who spoke in opposition to the BEARCAT were blasted with applause.
On Friday, February 17, 2012, I was detained at Monadnock Regional High School for allegedly “trespassing” on the “public” school’s property. The reason given for my being detained by two law enforcers was “to give me paperwork.” Is that a legitimate use of force?
I was handing out literature about the BearCat to the students at Monadnock HS, but unlike the law enforcers, I wasn’t threatening them with arrest if they refused my paperwork.
Tonight, the 
