FSP Sedition

[president]

http://www.freestateproject.org/news/media_archive/0221.php

On 10/7/05, as a part of C-SPAN's 25th anniversary, the editor of the Manchester Union-Leader, Joe McQuaid, appeared on-camera to discuss New Hampshire primary politics. In response to a question concerning the changing population of NH over the past two decades, McQuaid ended up noting by name (and at some length) the Free State Project, with fairness, accuracy, and ? indeed it seemed ? warm approval. The hostess interjected some recognition of the movement as well.

http://www.freestateproject.org/news/media_archive/0221.wmv

So now it is fair and accurate to say the FSP wants to "take over the government" and to say "They claim to have candidates in municipal elections"?

The FSP leadership talks out of both sides of their mouths. What assholes.

I did not hear Joe say anything like that on that clip? The FSP is of no importance when speaking of the candidates, but what their opinions are of the different issues, is.

WTF?
Do you know how retarded that makes you sound?

Perhaps you should have asked for a clarification of what I said, not stooped to the level of name-calling since that sort of negates anything worthy that might have been gleaned from your argument?

Not my style. I call it like I see it.
I don't need clarification of what you said. I posted quotes, and you said you did not hear Joe say anything like that. He said the "takeover" thing more than once. Did you notice the quotation marks?

By the way, I know Joe McQuaid and he isn't about to say anything to sabotage the movement.

So that is your problem, you can't be objective.
The problem is....if I say what Joe said the FSP would deny it....but if Joe says it it is  fair and accurate.

[CNHT]

http://www.freestateproject.org/news/media_archive/0221.php

On 10/7/05, as a part of C-SPAN's 25th anniversary, the editor of the Manchester Union-Leader, Joe McQuaid, appeared on-camera to discuss New Hampshire primary politics. In response to a question concerning the changing population of NH over the past two decades, McQuaid ended up noting by name (and at some length) the Free State Project, with fairness, accuracy, and ? indeed it seemed ? warm approval. The hostess interjected some recognition of the movement as well.

http://www.freestateproject.org/news/media_archive/0221.wmv

So now it is fair and accurate to say the FSP wants to "take over the government" and to say "They claim to have candidates in municipal elections"?

The FSP leadership talks out of both sides of their mouths. What assholes.

I did not hear Joe say anything like that on that clip? The FSP is of no importance when speaking of the candidates, but what their opinions are of the different issues, is.

WTF?
Do you know how retarded that makes you sound?

Perhaps you should have asked for a clarification of what I said, not stooped to the level of name-calling since that sort of negates anything worthy that might have been gleaned from your argument?

Not my style. I call it like I see it.
I don't need clarification of what you said. I posted quotes, and you said you did not hear Joe say anything like that. He said the "takeover" thing more than once. Did you notice the quotation marks?

By the way, I know Joe McQuaid and he isn't about to say anything to sabotage the movement.

So that is your problem, you can't be objective.
The problem is....if I say what Joe said the FSP would deny it....but if Joe says it it is? fair and accurate.

Apparently I did not hear the whole clip... I usually watch for that word since I feel it is not a fair representation of what the FSP is about. I'm not saying I didn't hear wrong, just expressing surprise if he did say that.
You don't have to be nasty but it seems you like to be.

And I'm not in need of a hearing aid, despite my years of loud rock'n'roll guitar, just yet.........

And because I am a woman of character I went back and listened more carefully and will admit Joe did say that twice and I missed it...although I am sure he did not mean it in such a way as to harm the movement because I know he wishes there were more people like FSPers....which is why I probably misheard due to the sympathetic tone of his other words...
So there you go, are you happy now?

[Friday]

post from that @#$%^&* Dreepa on the FSP forum:

/bump

I just reread Friday's first post.
Friday give us an update on the good and bad....   

[Friday]

[cross-posted from the FSP forum]
Alright, Dreepa, since you asked...

from: Friday on October 23, 2005, 01:21:02 PM
FSP Participants, Friends, libertarians, lend me your eyeballs, and let us discuss what is to be done with our beloved FSP.

As has been discussed at great length on this forum and elsewhere, the FSP has ?issues?.   

Here is my current assessment of the progress that has been made on the issues I elucidated back in October.

The current configuration of the Board of Directors is self-appointed and meets in secret.

This is still largely the case.  Of the seven current Directors (Jason, Steve, Varrin, Morey, Brian, Jon and myself), only Morey and I were elected by a group other than the Board itself.  This issue has been discussed by the Board at various times, but an official decision has not been made.  Jean spent some time formulating guidelines as to which group of FSP volunteers would qualify as the "voting body" in director elections, but I think we never followed through on finalizing that either.  There's actually a Board meeting today, but the agenda is absolutely gi-normous.  I will put this topic on the agenda for the August Board meeting, and make a motion.  It will then go into the minutes exactly how the current incarnation of the BoD comes down on this issue.

The minutes of its meetings are a joke, IMHO.

I believe this issue has been resolved.  Former Secretary Jean made an effort to provide more verbose, informative minutes.  I'm Secretary now, and I attempt to not only provide minutes that are informative to non-attendees, but even include information that, strictly speaking, isn't applicable (for example, I include comments such as "The Board discussed this prior to the meeting").  Minutes are posted promptly on the FSP website:  http://freestateproject.org/about/bod_minutes  If you have any questions or concerns about the minutes, feel free to bring them to my attention.  I like to think I'm responsive to those who elected me (Dreepa!    ).

Some Directors and department heads go MIA for months at a time

This has been fixed.  All seven sitting Directors are VERY active and participate on this forum.  As for department heads, there are a few who, for whatever reason, aren't really into the forum, but in my experience, if you email them, they respond promptly.  I'm really not aware of a single person on the Org chart who is MIA anymore.  This is a good thing.   

yet retain access to internal leadership discussion lists, while other very active members are refused admittance.

This is still an issue.  There is a private, invitation-only mailing list called the "Organizers List" (or the O-List for short), the purpose of which is to advise the Board on policy decisions.  Jason controls this list and has the discretion to add people to it (although he generally asks the other Directors for their opinions first).  The size of the list is currently fixed at 15 (I think?).  There are people on the list who haven't said a word in months.  There are other very active and thoughtful FSP volunteers who have not been invited onto the list.  Perhaps if a particular individual would like to be on the list, the appropriate action to take is to lobby Jason?

There hasn?t been a board election since the summer of 2004.

There have been two elections since I posted that.  See above for more on the issue of electing Directors.

The winner of that election became so disgruntled, for reasons that were never publicly spelled out, that she not only quit the Board, she quit this forum.

You may have already noticed the recent return of Kat!  Hooray!!  Welcome back, Kat.   

Several other Boardmembers and officers have disappeared over the years.

This is still an issue.  I find it mysterious, the number of people who used to spend gobs of time on the FSP, and now no longer weigh in at all.  I think it might be helpful to make a friendly gesture to some of those people.  Maybe time has healed their wounds, or their personal situations have changed, or whatever, and they'd now be willing to help out with the FSP again.   I'm thinking of people like Kelton, and Michelle, and Eddie, and Doug (aka Stumpy).  Any really old-timers with good people skills want to volunteer to take a stab at this?

to be continued... (man, I do ramble on at times, don't I?    )

[Friday]

[cross-posted from FSP forum]

Quote from: Friday on October 23, 2005, 01:21:02 PM
Even public DISCUSSION of BoD elections has been relocated to the Participants Only section, preventing prospective members from being fully informed about the history of an organization that, let?s face it, asks for a rather large dose of personal sacrifice.

Recently, Jon (who is in charge of this forum) asked for opinions re: reopening the archives.  I'm not sure what came of that.  Jon?  In any case, I believe the plan is to completely replace this forum in the near future.  Seth and/or Jon has the best info on that.

It appears to have analysis paralysis; it has been sitting on over $30,000 in organizational funds for months now, unable to decide whether to spend it on a marketing campaign or a paid employee (resulting in the money being spent on neither).

This has been fixed.  We'll be spending money on a new winter conference.  I'll be spending money any minute now placing more print ads for First 1000 in some liberty-oriented publications.  The Board voted to continue using the PR firm PIC after the trial period ended, because it seems to be doing great work for us.  FYI, the head PR guy, Brian Gottstein, attended PorcFest.

Exciting and inspiring things are being done by early movers and friends of our cause in New Hampshire.  This is the proof that our concept is feasible, and must be shared with the rest of the world.

This continues to be a topic of heated debate.  There are two main factions: the one that wants to advertise the goings-on in NH loudly and proudly, and the one that believes that it's best to not advertise any goings-on, for fear of implying endorsement of some groups/individuals/activities and not others.  This item is on the agenda for today's BoD meeting.  I believe a decision is about to be made.

There?s a growing schism between those who, officially, hold the reins of power over FSP policy, publicity and funds, and those of us who have actually put our lives where our mouths are by moving to New Hampshire and becoming political activists, in some cases at enormous personal cost.

Mixed bag on this one.  The Board now consists of 3 Directors who already have moved to NH, or will be doing so within a few months (Varrin, Brian and myself), and four directors with no immediate plans (to my knowledge; feel free to correct me if I'm wrong) to move (Jason, Steve, Morey and Jon).  Frankly, I'm not sure what to do about this.  I still think it's reasonable to ask leaders to do that which they ask others to do.

The denizens of the FSP forum, and those of the NH Underground forum, each pretend that the other doesn?t exist.

My sense is that this has improved somewhat.  There are numerous individuals who "hang out" on both fora.  There are a few FSP'ers who used to avoid the Underground, but now do occasionally make an appearance.  And vice versa.  It would be cool if certain Undergrounders would stop posting on this forum about how much it stinks in comparison to the other one, and how weak and ineffectual the FSP is in comparison to the Underground.  I don't believe that, and I can't think of any FSP'ers who are posting on the Underground forum in such a hostile and antagonistic manner.  We're not in competition with each other!

The FSP leadership seems repulsed or frightened by the radicalism expressed on the Underground; yet, as far as I can see, the majority of regular posters there are bonafide FSP early movers, or NH natives friendly to our cause, or FSP participants who seem serious about relocating within the next few years.  The official forum, meanwhile, is dominated by nonmembers engaged in endless discussion that has nothing to do with the FSP.

Relations between the FSP leadership and the Underground "leadership" have improved.  Note that Varrin recently made Russell one of the lead people for PorcFest 2007.  There has also been serious discussion of selling the Political Graffiti DVD, which features video shorts of various Underground demonstrations, on the FSP website; this is also on the agenda for today's BoD meeting.  And as mentioned above, this forum is much livelier than it used to be.

The early movers who are running for political office (or have already won) post in neither place, and we therefore lose the ability to point to their successes (or noble defeats) as a recruitment tool.

This remains a serious issue.  Several early movers running for political office have gone to great lengths to ensure that their names aren't publicly linked to the FSP, I guess for fear that it would hurt their chances of being elected.  But perhaps others simply haven't thought about it.  I think we should approach some of these people and ask them to write essays for the website, or post on the forum about how they've been elected to such and such (Dreepa!    ), or write for the monthly newsletter.

re: President who doesn't appear to be moving to New Hampshire any time soon
Fixed. Hi Varrin!   

re: Chairman who doesn't appear to be moving to New Hampshire any time soon
Jason has discussed this openly quite recently (I'll add a link to that thread later).  And, just my personal observation, but Jason seems more enthused recently about getting himself to NH (I'd comment on how much fun he had at PorcFest, but, you know what they say, WHAPFSAPF    ).  Let's all keep our fingers crossed, and maybe one of the Poli Sci professors at Dartmouth will get trampled by a rabid moose, providing Jason with a golden career opportunity.

The concept of the FSP will succeed or fail by our actions.  Let?s discuss this, and take action.  I welcome all ideas.  Please post them here, IM me, email me, or call me (I?m in the Porcupine directory).  If you?re *really* paranoid, I?ll even meet you in a crowded pub and remove all my bugged fillings first.   

I can also be found at Bickford's in Manchester on the first Saturday of every month.   

(This message will also be posted on the Underground forum, for the benefit of those early movers who have become so frustrated with the FSP leadership that they won't even look at this forum anymore.)

I will do this again.

[Dreepa]

post from that @#$%^&* Dreepa on the FSP forum:

karma for Friday!

[d_goddard]

First and foremost, thank god you're on the Board, Sandy.

Exciting and inspiring things are being done by early movers and friends of our cause in New Hampshire.  This is the proof that our concept is feasible, and must be shared with the rest of the world.

[...]I believe a decision is about to be made.

I'll be interested to hear how the chips came down.
Since both our websites are both largely oriented to getting the message of our successes out to the world, I'll wager we have similar opinions on this topic!

[Friday]

Exciting and inspiring things are being done by early movers and friends of our cause in New Hampshire.  This is the proof that our concept is feasible, and must be shared with the rest of the world.

[...]I believe a decision is about to be made.

I'll be interested to hear how the chips came down.
Since both our websites are both largely oriented to getting the message of our successes out to the world, I'll wager we have similar opinions on this topic!

Denis, you'll be happy to know that the Board now agrees that advertising the activities and successes of Free Staters in NH is necessary to maintain interest and recruitment numbers.  Varrin wasted no time in creating a new, handy-dandy, generic FSP DISCLAIMER: http://freestateproject.org/disclaimer   

Carry on with the lobbying, electing, burning, protesting, burying, campaigning, publishing, boarding, nail-filing, nation-building, etc. etc.    And let Jon M. know if you think it warrants mention on the FSP website.  I suspect he'll be agreeable.

[Pat K]

 

[Luke S]

Subject: DO NOT COME TO NH - EVER
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 08:45:13 -0400

==========================================

Mr. Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx,

THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. WITH "FRIENDS" LIKE YOU, WE DON'T NEED ANY ENEMIES.

YOU HAVE POISONED THE WELL IN GRAFTON. THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR "HELP."

THE PEOPLE OF GRAFTON ARE ARMED, DANGEROUS, AND EXTREMELY PISSED AT YOU. EXCEPT FOR THIS MESSAGE, WE WILL CERTAINLY NOT PROTECT YOU.

IN FACT, WE WILL HELP THEM HANG YOU OUT TO DRY IN ANY LEGAL WAY POSSIBLE.

YOU ARE HEREBY WARNED. DO NOT COME TO NEW HAMPSHIRE EVER AGAIN.

THERE IS NO WARM, FUZZY FREEDOM COMMUNITY HERE FOR YOU. FOR YOU THERE IS ONLY AN EXTREMELY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT OF YOUR OWN MAKING. STAY IN FLORIDA.

For Responsible Liberty,

================================================
John Barnes, J. D.
Vice Chair, 2d District, L P N H
Chair, Welcome to the Granite State Committee
.
Voice or Fax:
Inside USA: 1-888-221-8628 (Toll-free)
Outside USA: 1-312-893-0715 (Not toll-free)
.
E-mail: jbarnes@lpnh.org
================================================

Oh wow, was this written by someone in New Hampshire who is mad at the Free State Project, and who doesn't want the Free State Project to come to New Hampshire? It sure sounds like it.

[John Edward Mercier]

I think it was written to a specific individual from NH Libertarian Party official.

[watershed]

I could care less if they join the FSP, so long as they come to NH for FREEDOM!!!!!!!!

Great point!

[Firewall99]

Subject: DO NOT COME TO NH - EVER
Date: Wed, 16 Jun 2004 08:45:13 -0400

==========================================

Mr. Xxxxx Xxxxxxxxx,

THE LIBERTARIAN PARTY OF NEW HAMPSHIRE IS NOT YOUR FRIEND. WITH "FRIENDS" LIKE YOU, WE DON'T NEED ANY ENEMIES.

YOU HAVE POISONED THE WELL IN GRAFTON. THANKS A LOT FOR YOUR "HELP."

THE PEOPLE OF GRAFTON ARE ARMED, DANGEROUS, AND EXTREMELY PISSED AT YOU. EXCEPT FOR THIS MESSAGE, WE WILL CERTAINLY NOT PROTECT YOU.

IN FACT, WE WILL HELP THEM HANG YOU OUT TO DRY IN ANY LEGAL WAY POSSIBLE.

YOU ARE HEREBY WARNED. DO NOT COME TO NEW HAMPSHIRE EVER AGAIN.

THERE IS NO WARM, FUZZY FREEDOM COMMUNITY HERE FOR YOU. FOR YOU THERE IS ONLY AN EXTREMELY HOSTILE ENVIRONMENT OF YOUR OWN MAKING. STAY IN FLORIDA.

For Responsible Liberty,

================================================
John Barnes, J. D.
Vice Chair, 2d District, L P N H
Chair, Welcome to the Granite State Committee
.
Voice or Fax:
Inside USA: 1-888-221-8628 (Toll-free)
Outside USA: 1-312-893-0715 (Not toll-free)
.
E-mail: jbarnes@lpnh.org
================================================

Oh wow, was this written by someone in New Hampshire who is mad at the Free State Project, and who doesn't want the Free State Project to come to New Hampshire? It sure sounds like it.

I wrote this letter as a member of the Welcome to the Granite State Committee in 2004 to Zack Bass, aka "Larry," who had become a cause célèbre and convenient tool for forces opposing the FSP and what was then known as the so-called "Free Town Project."

The Free Town Project was an ad-hoc concept of a few freedom-loving individuals who were looking for a town to which to move, one with no zoning and a modest libertarian presence.  They picked Grafton and made no secret about it. 

Some of them didn't follow the advice being given by John Babiarz and the Welcome to the Granite State Committee, which was to just move in, befriend the neighbors, volunteer for community service, go to meetings but not be politically active until they had established a good reputation around town.  Instead, they foolishly advertised their intent to "take over" the town.

One of these individuals looking at Grafton was apparently Zack Bass, then a member of the FSP.  Mr. Bass, if that is his real name, was made to order for agent-provocateurs of the NH Democratic Party or the Anti-defamation League of B'nai B'rith (ADL).  A self-described pedophile and zoophile and loud advocate of the FSP, Mr Bass was eventually arrested and convicted for pedophilia and later acquitted on appeal.  It is my opinion now that "Mr. Bass" was a ADL operative cut-out, sheep-dipped in the child porn and FSP movement for the express purpose of discrediting the FSP (hence the eventual acquittal).  It is my further opinion that there are other ADL operatives in the FSP who are still at large.

At the time, whether Mr. Bass was guilty or not was completely irrelevant.  He and the FSP were being pilloried by the forces of darkness on a blog site called "Save Grafton."  (http://save-grafton.blogspot.com/ -- THIS SITE IS TRULY EVIL.  THERE IS A TROJAN HORSE VIRUS THERE, WHICH AVG INTERCEPTS.)  This in turn caused the largest impromptu town meeting in Grafton history--some 200 townspeople attended--it was so large it had to be moved from the town hall to the fire station. Contributing to this turnout apparently was the town Post Master, who some said was a collectivist and who allowed a free mailing to the entire town population.

I wrote this letter the week before the town meeting.  Looking back on it, I see myself five years younger, a brash, over-reacting nitwit trying to stem the flow of a catastrophe that was out of control, as freedom is wont to do from time to time.  Sometimes you just need to flow with it. 

That being said, I have been asked whether it would have been better play it the opposite way--to make sure Mr. Bass was at the meeting.  I'm not sure what that would have gained, unless Mr. Bass could have somehow made good account of himself, which people familiar with him do not think would have happened.  (More likely, he would have made it much worse, especially if he was an ADL operative, but I hadn't figured that out at the time.)  What was clear to me then was that his presence most probably would have added fuel to the fire and concentrated the ire of the meeting on him. 

Instead, Tim Condon and Amanda Phillips were able to monopolize the meeting and make the best of a bad situation.  I believe they managed to successfully diffuse the situation somewhat, which is all that we could have asked for.  Then Lois Gardner asked Mike Lorrey if he was sure that 200 Freestaters were planning to move to Grafton, and Mike admitted that he wasn't sure at all and that he had heard that number from somebody else.  Hearing that the whole thing was really just Mike's dream, the townspeople relaxed, and the atmosphere of the room simmered down.  The meeting fizzled out soon after.

So, in the end, the whole thing was much ado about nothing.

Actually, there is much we can learn from this kind of manufactured "event."  Know who your friends are.  Are they helping or hindering the cause of Liberty?  But whatever you do, don't turn it into a witch hunt.  That's just what they want.  Another activist's liberty may not be your cup of tea, but their work may still may be helping on another front.  The beauty of it is that we all contribute in our own, individual ways.

We're all in this together.  We just have to be a little wiser next time.

John Barnes, J. D.
NH Coordinator & Instructor, The Appleseed Project
Chairman, Freedom Force International, NH Chapter

[Firewall99]

Just to close out the record...

Below is a link to an NHPR "The Exchange" Radio Show on Free Town Project, circa 2004.

A FSP forum thread (http://forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?topic=17576.new#new) describes it as not pretty, but it seems like a fairly balanced historical analysis to me.

The owner of the "Save Grafton" web site, an ADL smear op, I believe, is identified as "John Richard," a "new resident of Grafton."  Is he really there, or is he a "phantom" resident?  If he is actually there, I'd keep an eye on him.

IMO, Tim Condon, Mike Lorry, and Don Gorman make good account of themselves.

Amanda Phillips copped out for FSP.

http://nhpr.org/audio/audio/ex-2004-06-23.wax

Regards,

John M. Barnes, J. D.