Articles tagged as

Free Speech

The pushback continues…

Along with Tea Party rallies and demonstrations popping up all around the country, including those at the doorsteps of congressional offices, we are witnessing yet another vehicle folks are taking advantage of in expressing anger and frustration with what their so-called "leaders" have been doing on their behalf down in Washington: speaking out at various … Read more

Welcome to the Police States of America. It’s happening and it’s closer to home than you’d think…

.. Regular readers know that the rise of quasi-public "special operations groups" (SWAT teams or "SOG") within the Granite State law enforcement community has caught our attention. In this prior post about a raid in Bristol, NH involving some 20 masked police officers, I mentioned two other events involving overwhelmingly excessive force given the circumstances. One … Read more

Death of only TRUE First Amendment rally in America? Is “Live Free or Die” DOA?

LFOD Rally

Got an email from Jean Coutu, organizer of the Live Free or Die Rally:

The Town’s demands for a site plan review subject to all boards and abutters’ approvals drove in the death nail on the LFOD Rally.

Today the ACLU refused to intervene due to firearms being at the rally.

appleseed shoot

We have contacted hundreds of people for help and unless someone is brave enough to come forward soon, it maybe the first case of a true first amendment event squashed in America. What’s next? Porc Fest? The Tea Parties? The Million Man Marijuana March? The article from the Canada Free Press reprinted below is being sent far and wide in order to try and recruit help as a last ditch effort. The event isn’t canceled, but, could be soon.

End of Live Free or Die Rally end of free assembly for America?

By Judi McLeod and Jean Coutu
Saturday, May 30, 2009

Putting it in the vernacular of little people everywhere: “The worst has happened”.

The 4th Annual New Hampshire Live Free or Die Rally is quickly sinking into a quagmire of bureaucratic red tape, and with no 11th hour reprieve on the horizon, chief organizer Jean Coutu may have to cancel.

Billed as the All Free, Only TRUE First Amendment Rally in the U.S., this years Live Free or Die Rally is scheduled for August 21, 22 and 23.

“It looks like it’s finally over.  Not just for us, but for the right to assemble, Coutu wrote Canada Free Press (CFP) in an email today.  “Though I don’t agree with the ACLU on everything, almost every year the ACLU has gone after city hall bureaucrats to get our permits.”

The landscape has changed, dissent is being suppressed in America and now the ACLU is refusing to back the LFDR, in part because of the rally’s Appleseed Project Instructional Shoot Feature–even though it meets all state ordinances.

This is not a good sign for the scores of Tea Parties planned for July 4th. Politically correct and compromised by stimulus money, the bureaucrats of town and city halls decide whether Tea Parties and rallies can be held in their jurisdictions.

Coutu sees it as the death of the right to assemble in President Barack Obama’s USA.

Jean also included the message he is trying to get out to supporters and liberty-loving people everywhere:
 

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Who were those guys, anyway?

We don’t often engage in shameless self-promotion, except when circumstances warrant. Both Skip and I were honored to have been asked to address the Tea Party this past Wednesday in Manchester. All my life I’ve wanted to announce the start of a revolution in front of several thousand people. If only I had brandished my … Read more

Manchester Tea Party: Signs ‘o the times…

One of the bedrock principles our Nation was founded upon is the ability to criticize the government without fear of redress. Many of the folks in attendance at yesterday’s Tea Party in Manchester took full advantage of this basic right… . . . . .   CAN YOU HEAR US NOW?!!   More great pics … Read more

Aerial Footage of Manchester Tea Party

This is some nice video shot from the parking garage to the rear of the main stage of the rally. It was taken just at the start time of 5:30. The crowd kept growing as the event rolled on…     [H/T Now!Hampshire.com]

High Tech Watchdog

During his campaign seeking the Republican nomination for NH’s 2nd Congressional District seat, one of the things that impressed us about Grant Bosse was his use of new technology and the new media. He continues to do so in his position as Lead Investigative Reporter at the Josiah Bartlett Center and the resident NH Watchdog: (CONCORD) … Read more

The. Worst. Moderator. Ever.

I got this from our friends at the CNHT. I used to think that George Roberts of Gilmanton was the worst Town moderator ever (He botched up the ballots at a vote so bad one year– the year that the Town of Gilmanton appeared to have passed SB2– that the vote total could never be … Read more

The Constitution is not just “a body of suggestions that can be disregarded when expedient.”

Constitution

 

“If the freedom of speech is taken away then dumb and silent we may be led, like sheep to the slaughter.” George Washington

I am not going to talk about how Mr. Obama stole the nomination from Hillary Clinton. I am not going to talk about widespread voter fraud involving Acorn in the Obama camp, both in the primaries and general election. I am not going to talk about how all the Obama’s men either had influence in his life or helped him to his meteoric rise to power. I am not going to talk about Obama’s pre-paid Credit Card Fraud problem. I am not going to talk about how Radical Muslims paid Obama’s way through college. I am not going to talk about Obama’s Middle East Studies Mentors. I am not going to talk about Obama’s Voodoo Economics. I am not going to talk about the Logan Act when Mr. Obama did not speak responsibly when he went to Europe, Iraq and also a trip in 2006 to Kenya to meet with Odinga.

No, I am not going to talk about any of them, since none of those issues apparently mattered to those who voted for him. They elected him despite knowing those facts. So, I concede, he won the election by receiving more votes than Senator McCain who seemed he desperately wanted to wrap things up and throw in the towel.

However, I am truly disturbed. I do want to talk about the fears that are rampantly mounting, concerning the question of Mr. Obama being a natural born U.S. citizen, as required by the Constitution, to run for the office of the presidency of the United States. These fears are based on three elements:

  • The failure of the DNC to execute a thorough vetting
       process, ensuring Mr. Obama is a Natural Born U.S Citizen.
  • The failure of Mr. Obama to provide a Vault Birth Certificate.
  • The failure of big media to perform its function as the
       watchdog "Fourth Branch" of the government.

This issue led Philip J. Berg, a long time Democrat and attorney, to file suit against Barack H. Obama, (Lawsuit Continues) challenging Senator Obama’s lack of  "qualification" to serve as President of the United States. He filed a Writ of Certiorari in the United States Supreme Court on October 30, 2008, requesting a review of the United States District Court, Eastern District of Pennsylvania, Judge Surrick’s dismissal of Philip J. Berg’s lawsuit against Barack H. Obama, Jr., the DNC and the other co-Defendants.

According to Berg, Obama is not eligible to be president. He says Obama was born in Kenya and he carries an Indonesian passport and became an Indonesian citizen when his stepfather adopted him while going to school in Indonesia. In addition, Mr. Obama’s parental grandmother in Kenya, has publicly stated that she attended his birth at a hospital in Mombosa, Kenya, in 1961.

Ironically, Linda Lingle, the Governor of Hawaii, ordered to seal his birth records shortly after Mr. Obama’s recent trip to Hawaii. That begs the question:  What is he hiding?  Why not just open his records, if there is nothing to hide? In an extraordinary gesture, honorable U.S. District Judge R. Barclay Surrick tossed out the suit claiming citizens do not have any standing to challenge the constitutionality of the chargers.

 

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Can you imagine? In Iran, they view access to the Internet by its people “as a direct threat to their existence…”

Here at the ‘Grok, like many Americans, we value this wonderful thing known as the Internet. Whether for work, play, or communication, its uninhibited use is something that all of us take for granted. Can you imagine being someplace where that wasn’t the case? Certainly many people got a small glimpse at Internet control during the Olympic … Read more

Race debate in Central NH. “Negro 101” Part 2. Striking back…

Democrat Seal

Following up on this previous posting, in which the local Democrats here in Central NH have decided to take a local letter-writer "to task" for daring to be critical of the latest version of Barack Obama and, more importantly to local and state level Dems, daring to use the word "negro". As I noted in the first post, the local Dem chair put out the call, and several people dutifully responded, and the local papers have carried letters in which the original letter-writer, Mr. Jack Stephenson– who voted for Obama in the NH primary, by the way– has been trashed and berated for having the audacity to speak his mind in a way that the thought-police have deemed politically incorrect. Recall the Polidoro letter in the first post where he writes,

Stephenson shows his implied bigotry and ignorance

This is pretty much the tack taken by the Dems as they continue to beat this drum. Thankfully, there are other locals (myself included) that know Mr. Stephenson and can attest he is neither a bigot nor is he ignorant. Several people, knowing he was getting a bum rap, stepped up and defended him with letters of their own, and Stephenson wrote another letter rather ably defending himself as well. In the end, we all know this was nothing more than a tempest in a teapot, with the local Dems hoping to gin up emotion as they seek to promote their candidate, whose lack of experience and new ideas dictates voters must be distracted from that fact if he is to have a chance at victory in November…

To the Editor,

Once again Jack Polidoro proves that a good education can give a person intelligence but does very little to reduce ignorance. His supportive opinions of Obama are properly placed in an “opinion” column even though Obama’s recent appearance at California’s Saddleback Church proves that the man is an empty suit and without a scripted speech he can’t answer “real” questions on “real issues. Mr. Polidoro’s ignorance comes to light when he provides an irrelevant history on the term “Negro”.  This, of course, is from the Obama supporters’ play book on racial accusations against anyone who points out Obama’s ineptness.

For the most part, only the hypersensitive “PC” American culture has shunned the word Negro. When you travel to most any other part of the planet, people of color aren’t offended when referred to as a Negro, which of course is the Spanish word for “black”. Obviously, everyone is aware that the really bad “N” word is unacceptable in any culture. The term “African American” is completely inaccurate because not all people of color are from Africa. In fact, most of the people of color that I’ve met are actually from America and proud of it.

During my travels through Europe, Mexico, South America and Asia I wanted to be very careful to learn such nuances while conducting business and socializing with the various cultures. I actually found most Europeans to be more “crass” when discussing other ethnic groups, including Caucasians living elsewhere in the world. I was mostly referred to as the American, White guy or in Latin America, the “Gringo”. 

In general, most of the people I meet throughout my travels posses a great sense of humor – which is something that Mr. Polidoro’s high intellect has difficulty understanding.

I’m positive that Mr. Polidoro will respond with another irrelevant “put us to sleep” tome on Black history but as usual it won’t square with the reality of every day life, no matter how many times he says it. Much like his “opinions” of Obama!

Terry Stewart
Gilford, NH

Next came one from our very own Skip, also taking the Dems to task. Keep in mind through all of this that there are two "Jacks" involved here– one, Mr. Jack Stephenson, the original letter writer, and Jack Politboro Polidoro, the consummate liberal blowhard that fancies himself an intellectual. Here, Skip starts out addressing Jack STEPHENSON, who he defends quite nicely as well:

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Democrats ignite race debate in Central NH’s Lakes Region. Part One: “Negro 101”

Democrat Seal

An interesting debate about the "presumptive" Democratic nominee taking place here in the Lakes Region of New Hampshire in our local papers and in cyberspace has escalated into a full blown debate over race, language, and political correctness. It all started when one of the local wags– a Democrat "seasoned citizen"– submitted a letter to several local papers. It’s author, Mr. Jack Stephenson, is well known to me and is someone I’ve always found thoughtful, humorous, and honest almost to a fault– he speaks his mind, and makes no apologies. Well, except when he puts forth his thoughts and later concludes he was mistaken… then, unlike most, he goes out of his way to admit it, and lets everyone know he was wrong with whatever previous mistaken position.

Here’s what Jack had to say in the letter printed in the Citizen and Laconia Daily Sun newspapers earlier this week. Keep in mind, he has long been known for his not-always PC, but truthful letters, always with a touch of Yankee humor:

To The Editor,

It is clear that IF we all had the knowledge about Obama which we have heard since he got the "nomination" (not confirmed until their convention), Hillary would be the Democrat candidate. But back then we didn’t know that brilliant Obama could not speak intelligently without his staff prepared cue cards. Back then we didn’t know that he opposed any increase in safe, clean, cheap energy sources (long proven nuclear, wind, solar and clean coal). Back then we didn’t know that he would propose the biggest tax increase ever in the US! Back then some of us thought that he was the same as most USA negros, but he is NOT, and he has become a total insult to our great successful negros in the USA. Back then we didn’t know that he was both against the Iraq war and for it, both against battles in Afganistan and for it, and wants to greatly increase number of our troops in Afganistan (the most dangerous place on earth). He is totally for WAR and totally against war, totally for outrageous taxes and totally against taxes, totally for 100% control of all medical care, and totally oppossed to government control of health care.

It is absolutely clear that Obama is totally for and totally against every issue which Americans are concerned with. IE, he is the ultimate politician, as his Church Pastor long ago told us!

Honesty, practicallity, need, usefulness, has nothing to do with Obama. Clearly, Obama is trying to steal from Clinton the title of the world’s best LIAR! Hillary tried that, but Obama beat her out for that title.

We must encourage Hillary to take the nomination away from misleading Obama, and give the nation a chance for a fair election. It can happen, and if it doesn’t, we are in for a "Hollywood style" president!

Jack Stephenson

Gilford

Well… You just know that that letter certainly caught the eye of the readers locally, including that of the local Democrat Party leaders, most of whom, like their hero Obama, cannot accept the slightest bit of criticism, and immediately cry foul when it occurs. Call Obama unfit to lead? Bigotry! Question his qualifications? How dare we doubt his patriotism! Note his liberal record? Racist! The chair of the Laconia, NH Democrats sounded the alarm in the daily emailed communiqué:

By the way, I don’t know how many of you saw the letter to the editor in the Laconia Citizen yesterday from Gilford’s Jack Stephenson complaining about Obama.  An excerpt:  Back then some of us thought that he was the same as most USA negros, but he is NOT, and he has become a total insult to our great successful negros in the USA.  Personally, I find that extremely offensive and I’m writing a letter in response.  I encourage each of you to do the same.

This was followed by a later email and blog post reiterating his request to take "Mr. Stephenson to task." And so they did, including none other than NH Democratic Party Chair Ray Buckley. But first out of the gate was another local lib (known to ‘Grok readers, perhaps) who fancies himself intellectually superior  to most folks, once again seeking first to dazzle readers with his "vast knowledge" of matters of great importance, in the hopes they’ll believe his recollection of history and culture. This week, he gave us HIS version of history– "Negro 101", if you will:

 

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Self evident truths, abuses, and usurpations…

As we celebrate the Fourth of July, it is worth a few minutes to reflect on what the birth of this “great experiment”, known as America really means. Consider these words from The Declaration of Independence: “We hold these Truths to be self-evident, that all Men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator … Read more

Why?

What WOULD Thomas Jefferson think? . What happens when a group of twenty US citizens celebrates the ideas of Jefferson by silently dancing by his memorial for ten minutes? Arrests. And we think we’re a liberty-loving people?  

Full Circle in Iran?

Protesting at Tehran University Sunday 12/8/07 (H/T Drudge) . This is a rather interesting pic given the slogan on the sign, and the fact that it is IRANIAN students waving it in protest AGAINST their fundamental Islamic overlords. As a citizen of the Granite State, it gives me pause to see our state’s motto hoisted for the world to … Read more

Free speech on campus? Not so fast…

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In this previous post, I reported on a story from the University of Rhode Island concerning free speech on campus being replaced with "coerced" speech. After offering the "WHAM Scholarship (White Heterosexual American Male) during its "Coming Out Conservative Week", that campus’ College Republicans group, chaired by Ryan Bilodeau, found itself in hot water. As punishment, the university’s student senate ordered the College Republicans to write a letter of apology to be published in the school’s newspaper. Taking a stand in defense of the freedom of speech, the URI College Republicans refused. Now, they find themselves "derecognized", in effect, banishing them from the campus. (One could imagine many liberals dreaming of ways to do this on a larger, more national scale)
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The story is beginning to get some national attention, with the group F.I.R.E. (Foundation for Individual Rights in Education) stepping in to help. The following press release was issued by that group last week. The chairman of the URI Republicans, Ryan Bilodeau, will join us on our radio program, Meet the New Press, this Saturday to give us the latest. You would think that of all places, the university setting would be the most welcoming of free speech. Think again…
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University of Rhode Island Student Senate Dumps College Republicans, Defies University President’s Order to Follow First Amendment

PROVIDENCE, R.I.—Displaying a dramatic disregard for students’ constitutional rights, a committee of the University of Rhode Island (URI) Student Senate voted on Monday to derecognize the College Republicans student group. For months, the Student Senate has demanded that the group publicly apologize for advertising a satirical $100 “scholarship” for white, heterosexual, American males. The College Republicans refused to apologize and contacted the Foundation for Individual Rights in Education (FIRE) for help. FIRE is now calling upon URI President Robert Carothers, who has already informed the Senate that it could not compel student speech, to reverse the decision to derecognize the group.
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