Ian's Blog from Jail #8

"The Greater Jihad"

If you've been following these blogs of mine from jail, you've probably noticed me referring to the Cheshire "House of Corrections" as the Keene Spiritual Retreat. Like most of my ideas, this one is not original. It was coined by Sam Dodson a couple of years ago when he was imprisoned by Edward Burke for not revealing his name. Sam spent 58 days in the Cheshire jail before being quickly and unexplainably released - still wearing his jail orange! Dig back into the Free Keene archives to learn more about that situation.

At first blush, calling a jail a "spiritual retreat" appears to be a joke, but really, perspective matters. You get to choose how you feel and how you approach the events in your life, so why not look on the bright side? In jail there is plenty of time to yourself. Lots of time to read and no access to the internet. (Amazingly, I did not experience withdrawals, but I do miss easy access to information.)

I have been reading some great liberty-oriented books and graphic novels sent in to me by some wonderful people, and also acquiring books on religions of the world from fellow prisoners and the jail library. One of the first books I read was the Qur'an, which I followed with more on Islam and its prophet Muhammad, in addition to discussions and study with a Muslin in my cell block.

Ian's Blog from Jail #7

"Choose Your Words Wisely"

I'd like to comment on the vernacular of the liberty movement. I'm sure some critics will find this analysis to be trivial, but to me, words are very important. You will be judged by the words with which you choose to express your ideas. In addition, the words you select will reveal your mindset.

I was inspired to write this post, as in several of the kind, thoughtful, and encouraging letters I have received while incarcerated her at the Keene Spiritual Retreat, I noticed the writers chose words that I find counter-productive, mentally. Here are three that appear frequently: "fight", "struggle", and "sacrifice". I understand why these words have been chosen - they are commonly used in activist literature and culture, and I mean all activism, not just the liberty-type. For instance, some national liberty political group sent me one of those multi-page fundraising letters (you know, where they try to make it look like someone went in and underlined words, then signed it, and maybe made "notes" in the margins - but of course, you know it's just a form-letter) after I had become aware of the :fight" mentality. I took a highlighter and went through the letter and highlighted all the fighting-related terms. "Fight" and "battle" appeared many times. There is probably a reason why these organizations use this conflict-oriented language. They want to maximize the effectiveness of their fundraising direct mail campaign, and what American doesn't like a good war? Who wouldn't want to be on the side of the winning team - having vanquished the enemy? Who wouldn't want to sink a bayonet into -

Ian Freeman
825 Marlboro Rd.
Keene, NH 03431

Letter to the Editor (from Jail)

More Police Will Not Stop Robberies, Violence, and Theft in Keene.

Many Keene inhabitants are rightly concerned with the recent incidents of real crimes like robberies, thefts, fights, and even murder. It is understandable that typical response amounts to, "We need more police on the streets!"

Unfortunately, this only provides the illusion of security. The police cannot be everywhere at once. Even they will tell you they usually arrive on-scene after a crime has already ben committed. If they manage to find the money to hire another officer or two, the politicians can pat themselves on the back and pretend they have done something about crime. At best, more police only addresses a symptom - not the root cause of most of these crimes.

Ian's Blog from Jail #6

"Keene - Ripe for Political Action"

I was reading the Keene Sentinel this week and was pleased to see liberty activist, Free Keene blogger, and NH native Heika Courser is in the running for the five "at-large" city council seats up for election here in Keene. Sadly though, she is the only liberty activist in the race - not just for the at-large seats, but also for the ward seats. It's too bad more activists do not take advantage of this ripe opportunity to get the word out about liberty. More on that in a moment.

First, a little detail. In Keene, there are 15 city council seats. Every two years, ten of the seats are up for election. The "at-large" seats are two year terms and there are five of them. The other ten seats are "Ward" seats. Keene has five wards and each ward has two seats. Ward seats are four years each and are staggered, so every two years, five ward seats are available. Keene has a "mayor", but it's a ceremonial position. The mayor can only vote in the event of a tie and can assign councilors to committees. The mayor is elected every two years. The only requirements to run for these seats is that one be a registered voter and pay $2 (or $5 for mayor). Alternatively, one can get 50 petition signatures and not have to pay the fee.

"KPD Shows True Colors with Parking Meter Proposal & What to Do About it"

Keene Police Chief Ken Meola tipped his hand recently with his proposal to switch from the parking meters littering beautiful downtown Keene that many know and detest to a new system of kiosks." Each unit will replace several meters and unlike meters in other cities, thees do not require the user to place a receipt on the dash.

Please forgive my inexact numbers. I write this from my jail cell and do not have source material in front of me. I'm going by my memory of recent Keene Sentinel pieces on the subject.

Considering, if I recall correctly, that KPD rakes in over $300,000 per year from the current system, one might wonder what the motivation is to change a system that is "working." (Though I have heard rumor that the Parking Division actually runs in the red. I would love to have this confirmed or denied. Regardless, that information doesn't change the point of this post.)

[Tim sent another letter from prison, which we scanned. If you click the PDF attachment to this post, your browser will either display the letter or download it to your computer and you can view it from there.]

[We were unable to transcribe this letter due to injury, so thanks go to volunteer Anthony Richard for transcribing this letter from Ian. We have not checked the transcription, so we are still attaching to this post Ian's letter scanned in a PDF format.]

My most asked question - "Was it worth it?"

My answer - It depends on your perspective. What do you think?

Allow me to explain. The question feels like there should be some
objective criteria by which one can determine the worth of civil
disobedience. There is not. It's completely subjective.

For instance, were you to look at this from a financial perspective, I
took a big hit. It is costing me thousands to hire contractors to run my
business in my absence. My phone bill alone will likely be in the hundreds
with the collect calls I am making to the LRN.FM studio to be on-air
occasionally and to assist Mark and the rest of our great crew with
Technical Operations. Does it hurt to cut those big checks? Yes, of
course. Could the money have been spent in better ways, perhaps on other
activism? I don't know. How could I quantify what the extra publicity that
Free Talk Live and Free Keene may be receiving is worth? How many people
have decided to move to NH or have moved up their plans because of this
incident? No way to tell. Even if there was some way to know, what value
could be put on each? Incalculable. Therefore, while it is tempting to
judge the "worth" of this incident by a financial perspective, doing so is
folly. Besides, I came here to do activism. Activism takes time and costs
money. I knew that going in.

[We were unable to transcribe this letter due to injury, so thanks go to volunteers Anthony Richard and one other person for transcribing this letter from Ian. We have not checked the transcription, so we are still attaching to this post Ian's letter scanned in a PDF format.]

"Reflections on Civil Disobedience"

One night, later in the week at Porcfest this year I was walking around
and stopped at a campfire. A couple of the faces I had recognized as
people I had met earlier in the week - the rest I did not know. I believe
100% of them were attending their first Porcfest.

Apparently, I was right on cue, as when I approached the fire, some
comment was made about how if Ian Freeman were around, they could ask me.
The individual looked up, saw that the universe had delivered me to their
campfire, exclaimed a pleasant surprise and proceeded to ask: "Why Keene?"
Just prior to my arrival they had been discussing this, perhaps curious as
to why I had not chosen to move to Manchester and also under the
misconception that it was I who started the move to Keene. It's an
understandable misconception, especially to people who may not have paid
attention to the Free State Project prior to the last year or two.

Allow me to explain - somewhat as I did at the campfire - while I may be
an effective promoter of Keene as a destination for liberty activists,
like many of the ideas I promote, it wasn't originally mine. I am
certainly an early mover to Keene, but I wasn't the earliest. There are
many reasons for you to consider a move to Keene (see over 130 at
move.FreeKeene.com), but the main reason I moved was because I was
inspired by the earliest movers: people like Russell and Kat Kanning, Dave
Ridley, Lauren Canario and her husband Jim Johnson. It was outstanding to
me that the Kannings were publishing and distributing their own newspaper,
but what really got me excited was their courageous civil disobedience.

Ian's Blog from Jail #2
8/19/11

A Taste of Life at the Cheshire "House of Corrections"

It only took ten days, but I finally have stamp and envelopes! For the uninitiated, the commissary or "canteen" is a system that allows prisoners to make life on the inside a little more comfortable. In the case of Cheshire county jail it is accessed by a touchscreen system mounted in the dayroom area of the cell block. The deadline for placing an order is Tuesday, and your order is delivered on Friday night. Unless you are sentenced to jail on a Monday and happen to be classified by Tuesday, (policy is that you be kept on 23-hour lockdown for observation for at least 24 hours ion entering the jail until they classify you - in case you are dangerous or suicidal, etc.) which is unlikely, you can expect to wait at least a week before you can get commissary.

Ian's Blog from Jail #1
8/11/11

Hello from the Keene Spiritual Retreat, aka, the Cheshire County "House of Corrections!" In case you aren't aware, I have been sentenced to 90 days here (plus 270 days "suspended") for the "crime" of "obstructing government administration." In other words, my friend Heika was being kidnapped by the people calling themselves the Keene Police because she was enjoying an afternoon in the park with an alcoholic beverage, and I chose to peacefully stand in front of police car to prevent the kidnapper's escape. Turns out, I merely delayed them for a few minutes before they kidnapped me and the other brave activists who stove in front of, and behind the police cruisers - Rich Paul, Meg McLain, and Wes Gilreath.

[Tim sent another long letter from prison, which we scanned. If you click the PDF attachment to this post, your browser will either display the letter or download it to your computer and you can view it from there.]

[Tim sent another long letter from prison, which we've scanned. If you click the PDF attachment to this post, your browser will either display the letter or download it to your computer and you can view it from there.]

[Tim sent a long letter from prison, which we've scanned. If you click the PDF attachment to this post, your browser will either display the letter or download it to your computer and you can view it from there.]

[Tim sent a letter from prison but it was too long to transcribe so we scanned it.]

March 9, 2011

Hello Dave Ridley!

Thank you for your tenacity in getting your words of support through to me! It almost seems as though some officers pride themselves in how draconian they can be by refusing more and more material. Is there an "Officer Draco Award" of the month? Oh, hello officer! How are you today? [They allegedly read all of our incoming and outgoing mail, except for legal mail.]

The latest kerfuffle is over whether to grant me permission to view the "discovery" on a laptop. The fear is that I might send an email, even though I am sitting with my attorney or her paralegal the entire time. "Discover" is the government's stack of documents that purport to be evidence proving their case against me. The government has already spent $75,000 on the software and technical support to enable my attorney and I to view and search the 1.8 million (plus) pages of the discovery. If printed out, that would make a tower of paper over 60 stories high! The files have now been uploaded to a secure web site with search capabilities to more effectively sift through it all, otherwise, it would have taken over 16,000 attorney hours just to find the needles in the proverbial haystack!

Legal Tender Cases 79 US 457

#34 "The exercise of this legal tender power was not necessary, nor appropriate and plainly adapted to carrying into execution any of the powers expressly delegated" [to the federal government by the Constitution]

#35 "[It was] not their belief that they could strike any metal and stamp it with an arbitrary value, but that they could rightfully regulate the value of money only by truly declaring the value thereof. Not that they 'possess a magic power to give, by their omnipotent fiat, a precious value to inanimate and valueless things,' but that they possessed only power to regulate the coin stamped, by declaring its value according to the fact - according to the value stamped upon it when of full weight, and of only proportionate value when of light weight.

"In the opinions which have been given in various legal tender cases, nothing has seemed to go so far toward supporting the authority of Congress to make treasury notes a legal tender as the assumption that Congress had been left by the Constitution at liberty to impair private rights and the obligation of contracts by debasing the coinage."

Hi Mike!

Here's a Valentine's Day poem for the blog. Thank you for posting it for me.

BTW, who is going to be at "Liberty Forum" this year?… speakers, that is?

- Kevin

The morning sun paints the tiny window
With red and gold of morning's glory.
Another year of many sunrises
But still no sunset in this story.

Another world of change has traveled
Unheeding 'round the sun.
My heart finds solace in the embrace
Of the Loving One.

W. Kevin Innes
Valentine's Day
2011

Legal Tender Cases - Quotes