More City Council Election Suggestions

by | Nov 7, 2011 | 15 comments

Tomorrow you can vote for five at-large city councilors. Will’s last blog post (which also has voting instructions and details) suggested Steve Lindsey, which I think is a good choice. Also, I reached out to as many candidates as I could in a short time, as I have been loaded with stuff to do since getting out of jail. I had a series of questions that I invited them to answer, which will appear below.

In addition to Steve Lindsey, I’d recommend voting for Robert Sutherland (scored a 90/90 on the World’s Smallest Political Quiz), Heika Courser (also scored Libertarian), Joe Bendzinski, and Dorrie O’Meara. These candidates are mostly new faces for the city council (Bendzinski is a former councilor who made a name for himself by voting no on things.) and friendly to the liberty community.

Candidate Survey Responses

This Tuesday, help out a friend

by | Nov 7, 2011 | 6 comments

City council elections are tomorrow. Most readers already know that Free Keene blogger Heika Courser is running.

But there’s another reason to show up at the polls: Steve Lindsey.

Steve Lindsey is the most libertarian state representative from Keene (beating six other state representatives). He is not a liberty activist, but he is generally on friendly terms with liberty activists. And he’s this close |-| |-| to being elected to city council.

There are five city council seats at-large. In the primary election, Steve tied for fifth place with another, less libertarian, state representative, David Meader. (Surprisingly, I have never met David Meader, so I won’t judge his friendliness.)

Steve’s views are hard to pin down. Left-leaning, and civil libertarian, but very eclectic.

This election will be very close, so every vote counts. The outcome tomorrow will determine the character of the council for the next two years, and could mean the difference between success and failure in future activism. I hope you will consider helping our friend Steve. See voting info below

Shire Choir Performs in State Liquor Store

by | Nov 7, 2011 | 16 comments

CONCORD – After a spirited rally in front of the New Hampshire State House, liberty activists opposed to the ongoing prohibition and prosecution of peaceful people marched to a nearby State-owned liquor store to point out the hypocrisy of a State that sells one type of drug while caging people for selling another. Ironically this state’s motto is “Live Free or Die,” though it is surrounded by other states that have more lenient drug laws, many having enacted some form of decriminalization for the possession of cannabis.

The first song that the Shire Choir sang at State Liquor Store #1 was “A Lay of Anslinger.” The words of both songs are by Richard Only. This song is to the tune of “Away in a Manger”:


Shire Choir sings “Violent Blight” at State Liquor Store #1 to the tune of Silent Night:

Courtesy of NH Liquor & Wine Outlets

The opening song is Sprawl II (Mountains Beyond Mountains) by Arcade Fire and is dedicated to the men and women employed by the New Hampshire Liquor Commission. These workers should find common cause with the message of the Shire Choir. Our main concern this holiday season is that all peaceful people should be released from N.H. and U.S. cages. 80 years ago, people selling liquor were killed or caged for doing the very same activity the employees of the New Hampshire Liquor & Wine Outlets do today.

Here are the lyrics to the opening of the song:

They heard me singing and they told me to stop
Quit these pretentious things and just punch the clock
These days my life, I feel it has no purpose
But late at night the feelings swim to the surface

Courtesy of NH Liquor & Wine Outlets

I hope these State employees find purpose along with the Shire Choir and support having the freedom to trade drugs like liquor, coffee, cannabis or whatever else an individual decides to put into his or her body. I’m not much of a drinker but if someone wants to drink responsibly then I have no problem with their choice. The same goes for cannabis consumption which has been found to be far less harmful than alcohol consumption.

The puzzle is why does the State lock up one type of drug dealer, as they allege Beau Davis to be, while the New Hampshire Liquor Commission employs others? Some tell me it’s because the State brings in over 1/2 a billion dollars. But if this money is spent to lock up peaceful people, like cannabis merchants and consumers, then what is the point?

Guy Fawkes Day 2011

by | Nov 6, 2011 | 18 comments

As published at freeconcord.org:

This year’s fifth of November celebration in front of the state house drew a larger and more motivated crowd than last year. After demonstrating in front of the placid capitol building Saturday evening, a group of activists marched to the liquor store, and once inside, began performing Weeda Claus’ Chronic Christmas Carols, which are songs about the harms of the war on drugs set to the tune of popular Christmas jingles.

A great portion of the festivities were captured by numerous still and video journalists from around the Shire. See the initial demonstration in part one, and the liquor store serenade in part two.

https://www.youtube.comwatch?v=5GdPFafW_yU

(more…)

Activist Saves 30 Innocents From Parking Tickets

by | Nov 6, 2011 | 44 comments


I went with Ian Freeman to his traffic court ticket on November 1. He was alleged to have not paid a parking meter, resulting in a $10 fine. He was found guilty despite several convincing motions to dismiss based on lack of competency of the witness, lack of clarity, and others. Despite his being found guilty, it was uplifting to know that by NOT taking the plea deal, he kept a parking enforcement officer off the streets and unable to ticket approximately 30 peaceful people whose crimes involve no victim–they would simply be extorted by agents of the State.

Thanks, Ian, for sacrificing your time and energy to fighting the State in their own home-turf, peacefully using words and reason and argumentation. The fact that they cannot negotiate using reason, but instead resort to force, is an indication of their dying system being replaced by Life 2.0 — a freer, more peaceful world.

Everyone who goes to court to defend himself against being charged with a victimless crime is using his mind and body and energy to change the world. Those who fight the state in court take up valuable time and resources for agents of the State–time and resources they’d rather be using to extort people. You can participate in this kind of activism by Pleading Not Guilty to victimless crimes and by handing out FreeKeene’s “Don’t Take the Plea Deal” flyers in your own town.