by Ian | Feb 16, 2012 |
Thanks to Jason Ditz from Antiwar.com for this piece on the BEARCAT and the opposition in Keene:
Readers may already be familiar with the tiny town of Keene, NH despite its population of some 20,000 people in rural New Hampshire. The town has been a major site for the Free State Project and radio advertisements mentioning Keene are heard regularly when listening to Antiwar Radio on LRN.
You may or may not be familiar with Lenco Industries, a Pittsfield, MA-based company that manufactures heavily armored vehicles for government agencies. But even if you are familiar with both, you might not have imagined that the twain should ever meet.
But the Department of Homeland Security is seeing to it that they have, throwing $285,933 in grant money at the Keene city government to buy what their mayor referred to as “our own tank.” (more…)
by Ademo | Feb 16, 2012 |
Courtesy the Huffington Post:
“We’re going to have our own tank.”
That’s what Keene, N.H., Mayor Kendall Lane whispered to Councilman Mitch Greenwood during a December city council meeting.
It’s not quite a tank. But the quaint town of 23,000 — scene of just two murders since 1999 — had just accepted a $285,933 grant from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security to purchase a Bearcat, an eight-ton armored personnel vehicle made by Lenco Industries Inc.
But those plans are on hold for now, thanks to a backlash from feisty residents. Resistance began with Mike Clark, a 27-year-old handyman. Clark, who said he’s had a couple encounters with Keene police and currently faces a charge of criminal mischief, read about the Homeland Security grant in the newspaper. “The police are already pretty brutal,” Clark said, claiming he was roughed up in both his encounters with local police. “The last thing they need is this big piece of military equipment to make them think they’re soldiers.”
(more…)
by Garret Ean | Feb 15, 2012 |
2/4 Antiwar Rally in Minneapolis, MN
On Saturday, February 4, a national day of war resistance was celebrated in the streets of cities around the nation. Following a protest at the Obama re-election campaign office opening, I headed to Veterans Park in Manchester, where there was a rally against war, especially the increasingly hyped prospect of war with Iran. In recent weeks, it seems established powers have been banging the war drums ever more loudly.
It appears to be a geographic continuance of ongoing military conquests by the US government, that in taking Iraq and Afghanistan, the next ambition would be the powerhouse that divides them. Though there’s a history of mistrust between the US and Iran, one obstacle that neither militant faction of the two countries may be able to overcome is the ability of the people of Iran and the United States to directly communicate. (more…)
by Ian | Feb 15, 2012 |
Henry Acton of Keene emailed FK via news at freekeene.com with this essay on why you should support the BEARCAT:
Hello my fellow New Hampsters!
I’ve been reading with great interest the debate about the LENCO Bearcat Armored Personnel Carrier. I have decided to support Keene obtaining this fine piece of military hardware. This might surprise some of those of you who know me so I thought I would explain why.
There are two main sets of arguments as to why Keene needs such a beast of a vehicle. (more…)
by Ian | Feb 15, 2012 |
WMUR reports on the “Thanks but no Tanks” anti-BEARCAT movement here in Keene. Unfortunately, they get the information wrong that it’s “free staters” who are the opposition to this monstrosity. In their video you can see local, longtime NH inhabitant David Crawford singing with us “flatlanders”. I never once used the terms “free state” or “free stater” with the reporter, and told her I was a blogger at Free Keene, yet FK did not get a mention and they titled me “Free State Blogger”. Here is the report as aired on tonight’s newscast:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xy8BYn0CVnE
Here’s another video posted to their site of just the “Thanks but no Tanks” singing at city hall: (more…)
by Ian | Feb 15, 2012 |
Thanks to Christopher Elliott at the Huffington Post for linking to Kelly and Derrick J.’s “Don’t Strip our Rights” protest/outreach video at Manchester Airport in this article.
Oh, and you are invited to the next “Don’t Strip Our Rights” event at MHT, 2/24 at 5:30pm. It will also be a “Live Free or Dance” party. Here’s the facebook event.
by Pete Eyre | Feb 15, 2012 |
Sixteen months ago I made public a debt owed to me by my friend Kevin (and his then-wife Lindsay) in the hopes that it’d help me get repaid.
In an exhausitve post I gave an overview of the situation, a timeline of exchanges between me and Kevin, and screenshots of related email correspondence. As I noted at that time:
I’m making this debt public this for two reasons. First, in the hopes that it incentives Kevin to repay what he himself admits that he owes. Second, to lessen the asymmetry of information – so that others who may interact with Kevin on a business level are aware his history (at least with me), so that they can make more-informed decisions.
I had hoped I wouldn’t have to write this post. But, as an advocate of individual freedom and responsibility and someone who believes that each of our reputation’s is the most-important thing we have, I feel it’s the best option I have.
(more…)
