Recently I shared a couple of news articles describing the contentious scene at this year’s Grafton deliberative session. I had wondered what the activists would have to say about the scene there and now Bob “Weeda Claus” Constantine has weighed in:
I am one of the unfortunate people that the town of Grafton, NH sends a demand note to, often euphemistically and oxymoronically referred to as a property tax bill by government apologists. Therefore I attended the annual Town Meeting or Deliberative session on Feb. 7th 2015, in an attempt to reduce the theft and rattle my chains, well aware of my forced subservient position within the coercive government food chain. Plus I know they’ll steal my home if I don’t pay their ransom.
This year’s meeting was again run sloppily by Susan Frost, a serial bureaucrat and the same moderator who proclaimed her “fairness” in her 2014 Town meeting preamble by quoting Voltaire. You know the quote, something like I may not agree with what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it. Less than two hours later, she had Brian Fellers, a friend and a forthright long time Grafton resident, arrested for asking the deliberative body to “examine his right of free speech”, that is, if you still believe in that kind of stuff. Or “being disruptive”, if you think Voltaire quotes sound good, but weren’t meant to actually be followed. No, I’m not making that up. Brian has stated the real reason he was arrested in 2014, was that he told the Police Chief prior to his arrest that he was there to cut his budget which had bloated enormously in recent years. Brian does not mince words. The cop has a gun. Guns, sadly trump words. Apparently Voltaire is an electrical term to the double dipping salaried and hourly overtime paid Police Chief. (more…)
NH Bitcoiners again converged on the state house legislative office building yesterday to testify on a bill that would make NH the first state to allow tax and fee payments in bitcoin. The video below is day two of two. (Day one is here.)
Liberty activists in Grafton are making headlines again this year. They’ve submitted 20 warrant articles, which unlike Keene’s school board petitioned warrant articles, were not gutted at this year’s deliberative session. The deliberative session in Grafton was reported on by both the Union Leader and the Valley News.
The conflict-heavy meeting reportedly went to the ten hour mark and the moderator of the meeting was allegedly driven to the verge of tears, according to the Union Leader report. Activists in Grafton are definitely having an impact! Hopefully Grafton activists will weigh in at some point with a full report on the successes and failures of the brutally-long meeting.
A bill before the NH state house would, if passed, restrict police in NH from acquiring any equipment that average people cannot acquire, thereby preventing further issuance of any BEARCATS and other military-grade equipment, and stopping the further militarization of the police. This week, Keene liberty activists went to the state house to speak on the bill and the issue of ending police militarization. Here’s video:
Also, we dropped in on a hearing to increase the minimum wage and explained to the legislators why the minimum wage only hurts those it intends to help and how it’s economically destructive: (more…)
Democracy: Two wolves and a sheep voting on what’s for dinner!
That’s exactly what went down at last Saturday’s deliberative session, where a small group of fiscally responsible residents went head-to-head with the tax hungry education industry.
As was expected, they were completely outnumbered, ridiculed and ultimately silenced. School board member Susan Hay summed up the proceedings perfectly, “We don’t need a very small minority of people in this community — that do not in any way represent the will of the people — telling us how to do our job.”
This brings up a very important question. Who, then, represents me? If I have no voice because the powers that be disagree or outright refuse to hear me, why then should I be forced to pay into such an institution. What happened to deriving their powers from the consent of the governed? Well, I officially renounce the consent I never swore to in the first place.
One of the school board members said, “We don’t need a very small minority of people in this community — that do not in any way represent the will of the people — telling us how to do our job.”
Recently I shared a couple of news articles describing the contentious scene at this year’s Grafton deliberative session. I had wondered what the activists would have to say about the scene there and now Bob “Weeda Claus” Constantine has weighed in:
