Free Republic

Dec. 19, 2005 Carrying pitchforks, revolvers and pistols, 21 New Englanders came together in southwestern New Hampshire Sunday for the Second Annual UN Flag Burn. All smiles despite sub-freezing weather, most indicated they are members of NHfree.com, a local offshoot of the Free State Project. Demonstrators focused particular scorn on the UN's repeated efforts to support gun bans around the world. But a more subtle goal is to re-inforce New Hampshire's Live Free or Die reputation, drawing additional freedom lovers to move to the state. "This kind of thing helps get the word out," says activist Dave Ridley of Keene....

Police took Michael V. Pelletier’s loaded pistol while he browsed in a bookstore; David K. Ridley’s mistake was to change jackets in a mall parking lot, and Penny S. Dean’s encounter happened during a late-night constitutional on a city street. Because the New Hampshire Constitution guarantees the right to bear arms — no license needed, unless the weapon is concealed — all three got their guns back within minutes, but the confrontations caused them unease. “The bottom line is that this type of thing shouldn’t be happening in a state where (carrying a pistol) is perfectly allowed,” said Dean, a...

LISTEN, Libertarian! By Tim Condon October 9, 2005 Libertarians are such losers. I know, this is not a way to endear myself to them, even when my best friends are all libertarian or near-libertarian. But success is staring them in the face, and a significant proportion of them deploy massive brainpower and argument to make sure that nothing ever gets better. It's incredible. LISTEN, libertarian! It's over 30 years later, and we're still hearing endless platitudes that keep us from gaining political power in the service of individual freedom. "All we need to do is a better job at selling...

As Brits stiffen their upper lips and politicians hustle to reiterate that Islam is not the problem, cognitive dissonance grips the planet. If Islam is not the problem, what is? And are we not inviting self-defeat by refusing to recognize that Islam is at least part of the problem? Now that xenophobes are licking their chops, let me offer the requisite disclaimer. Most Muslims despise the barbaric tactics of radicals who have hijacked their religion in order to justify killing innocent civilians. The majority of Muslims don't deserve contempt from non-Muslims any more than infidels deserve "justice" administered by maniacs.

MANCHESTER, N.H. - A Keene man who planned to try to board a flight carrying nothing but a Bible and a copy of the Declaration of Independence was arrested Saturday at Manchester Airport. Russell Kanning, 35, was arrested after refusing to comply with security screening procedures and refusing to leave the screening area, according to the Rockingham County sheriff's department. He was charged with criminal trespassing and was being held at the Rockingham County jail. Kanning, an accountant and staunch Libertarian, said last week he hoped his actions would highlight what he considers overly burdensome state intrusion. ``They're not going...

Not sure how much to read into this...but in the 9 months since I moved to New Hampshire I've noticed a lot of changes in the talk radio culture, mostly positive for local freedom lovers. When I first got here to Keene in late August '04, there was apparently only one local libertarian talk show in the state - Gardner Goldsmith's program airing 3-6PM weekdays on WGIR-AM. Now he airs an extra hour each day, and his signal reaches about half the homes in the state. Southwestern New Hampshire's main radio station had no local libertarian show last year, but...

From NHfree.com Man Without I.D. Vows to Board Flight or be Jailed Manchester, NH May 21, 2005 Inspired by New Hampshire's "outlaw manicurist," another Granite Stater is stepping forward to peacefully defy license-related laws. Thirty-five-year old Russell Kanning of Keene has announced he will approach a Transportation Security Administration (TSA) checkpoint at Manchester airport on June 11 and refuse to cooperate with the requirement to show ID. "I will either board the plane without I.D. or be arrested," he says. "In a free country you do not need government permission to travel." Kanning has a ticket to Philadelphia and, if...

Buff and polish stunt proves need for health and safety regulationsIf Mike Fisher was hoping to gain sympathy for those tired of government red tape and bureaucracy by getting arrested Monday, he failed.A member of the Free State Project, Fisher arranged to give a fellow Free Stater a manicure outside the office of the State Board of Barbering, Cosmetology and Esthetics. Doing so without a license, earned him a visit with a judge and two days in jail.Fisher had arranged the stunt to draw attention to what he called "out of control" licensing requirements by the state.As Free Staters, Fisher...

The Free State Project has won some converts. Also: The lowdown on mercury - in loons and maybe legislators' hair. We're calling a truce this weekend. Today - and today only - there'll be no talk of budget bills, school funding plans or Medicaid reform. We got enough of that last week, and there will be plenty more hot air steaming out of the State House to keep us busy next week. Instead, let's revisit some old friends: the Free Staters. It has been 18 months since the Free State Project chose New Hampshire as its home, with the hopes...

The New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly to kill a gun control bill which would have restricted the possession of guns on public school property. NH will continue to be one of a tiny handful of states that still respects the 2nd Amendment in and around schools. I and other Free Staters had a chance to testify against this bill back when it was in committee and won the hearing's only standing ovation! The committee voted our way narrowly, recommending 7-6 that the "control freak" bill was "inexpedient to legislate." That enabled yesterday's stunning victory in the House. Details at http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=734.0

Well it was me and the New Hampshire Constitution vs. five gunmen in Salem this week, all wearing badges and threatening me with arrest for exercising my right to open carry a holstered pistol. Third time I know of this has happened to a Free Stater. Score: Free Staters 3 Police Staters 0 Details at: http://forum.soulawakenings.com/index.php?topic=661.0 More on the Free State Project: www.FreeStateProject.org

Free Staters are continuing to rattle the cage in New Hampshire...six years before any of them were even committed to move there. This time it's a fight with the Hampton Zoning Board and its attempt to bankrupt a local family for minor violations: http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/01262005/news/61060.htm

Jim Perry in "Escape from Massachusetts" Fed up with high taxes and the Massachusetts nanny state, Jim Perry joined the United States' fastest-growing freedom movement, the Free State Project, and publicly broke his bonds from big government. To symbolize this event, Jim chained himself to a pole in Massachusetts at its border near Nashua. Freestaters at the event witnessed thousands of cars pouring in to New Hampshire from Massachusetts for sales-tax-free shopping. Jim remained chained for about an hour, holding a sign urging people to "Cut the chains of statism. --freestateproject.org". Compatriots in the Free State Project handed out flyers...

"Revolt of the Porcupines" This is the latest media coverage of the Free State Project, our movement which is working to bring 20,000 liberty lovers to New Hampshire, reduce government, etc.

New Hampshire, generally considered third or fourth most gun friendly state, has just become a little more friendly. http://www.freestateproject.org/news/media_archive/0206.php

Here's an essay I wrote that I thought my Freeper friends might enjoy; it's published over on the Free State Project's site at http://www.freestateproject.org/about/essay_archive/lastdate.php My Last Date in the Nanny State by Dada Orwell Okay I will come clean here right off the top. There's some bait-and-switch in the title of this article. Yeah sure, I did have a date last week, and yes it did involve the usual blank stares when I brought up the subject of freedom. But I'm referring more to a date on the calendar: July 14. It's my last business day at work before moving...

http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?board=31;action=display;threadid=7788 The history on this: Early this year Killington VT started the attempted stampede out of socialistic VT by voting to secede to New Hampshire. Trend seems to be continuing... Personally I seceded to NH last week! And I'm never leaving if I can help it! It really is the Free State and Freedom never looked so beautiful as it does up close.

http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?board=2;action=display;threadid=7679;start=0#lastPost He was from Houston. The Free State Project is that group working to get 20,000 liberty-lovers to move to New Hampshire and carve out one sphere of Freedom in "Amerika."

Ten weeks before San Francisco shocked the nation by issuing marriage licenses to same-sex couples, the city quietly took another step in America's cultural revolution by liberalizing its massage permit laws to the point where some critics call it de facto legalization of prostitution. Addressing the issue of sex workers in the massage industry, outgoing Mayor Willie Brown, with the nearly unanimous support of the Board of Supervisors, signed a new law Dec. 5 that redefines it as a public health issue rather than a matter of law enforcement. The law went into effect July 1. By removing a requirement...

http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?board=31;action=display;threadid=7190;start=0 Stung by early Free State Project success in the Live Free or Die State, NH Democrats have decided to protest outside an FSP-connected charity event. The "Liberty Dinner" on June 25 is meant to raise tuition money for lower-income students, enabling them to escape government schools and attend private ones. Among the speakers will be New Hampshire's popular libertarian-leaning governor, Craig Benson. "The governor and the Free Staters share the same far-right agenda of gutting our state government and public institutions," writes protest organizer Chaz Proulx. Free Staters seemed alternately surprised and flattered to encounter a protest from the...