A Hoell Lot of Nanny State

JR Hoell, at the Concord City Council meeting on August 14, 2013. One of the issues the City Council was taking up at this meeting was whether or not to accept a federal grant to purchase a BearCat armored vehicle. Rep. Hoell is the tall man in a blue blazer, standing against the wall on the far right next to a tripod. He's the state Representative for the towns of Bow and Dunbarton. Concord is not part of his district. At the time I wondered how Rep. Hoell would respond to Concord Representatives coming to tell the Dunbarton selectmen what they ought to be doing. 

Hoell's a gun guy. His whole purpose in the legislature seems to be to write gun legislation. Bow's population is about 8,000 and Dunbarton's is around 2500. It just seems unlikely that thousands of constituents call Hoell on a regular basis and beg him to write another gun bill. On average he writes five a year. The gun bills aren't getting that closed bridge in Dunbarton fixed. The gun bills aren't creating jobs in Bow or Dunbarton, or lowering their property taxes. What does he do for his district? Nothing really, unless you think MOAR GUNZ are the answer to everything. To be fair, he's also opposed to state revenue, education, and women having bodily autonomy.  His agenda appeals to a small cadre of like minded thinkers in the two towns. The rest of his constituents don't know what he's up to, because the media doesn't report on it. When Hoell threatened armed insurrection recently, it went unreported by most of the NH media. Only Tuck at  Miscellany Blue and Tony Schinella of the Concord Patch covered the story. 


After his time in the spotlight around the BearCat issue, Hoell decided that he could ride that pony a little further, and wrote a bill to make sure that NO town or city in the state should be able to purchase armored vehicles - or weaponry that isn't available on the open market. His co-sponsor for  HB 1307 is Rep. Timothy O'Flaherty, a Free Stater from Manchester.

The Concord Monitor published a story about this piece of legislation. This is telling: 

None of the activists who flooded the Concord City Council’s public hearings on the BearCat last year came to yesterday’s hearing. Only Hoell testified in favor of the bill, while Keene’s police chief and a state Department of Safety official testified against it.

None of Hoell's Free Stater buddies came to testify in favor of his bill. None of his libertea colleagues came to testify. Even his co-sponsor didn't testify in favor of the bill. Ouch. 

Specifically, Hoell’s bill would prohibit state agencies and municipalities from acquiring, purchasing or accepting any military-style equipment, including vehicles and weapons, that aren’t available on an open national commercial market. The National Guard would be exempt from this.

And

Several members of the House Executive Departments and Administration committee said the bill appeared to take away local control. Rep. Mary Nelson, a Nashua Democrat, asked Hoell what he sees as the appropriate role of the Legislature in telling communities how to spend their money.

“The role of the state, in this case, is to make sure the citizens have the best law enforcement and not one that’s overly militarized,” said Hoell, who added that he is in favor of local control.

Hmm. This bill says otherwise. 

Elections and Eulogies

New Hampshire cities had municipal elections last week. After the Great Bearcat Media Event in Concord, a number of Free Staters decided to run for the City Council. Given that the Bearcat was a done deal, running on the anti-Bearcat platform wasn’t the best strategy. Most revealed a woeful ignorance of what the job entailed. They all lost.

City and town elections should be nonpartisan – they should be about electing the best person for the job. The key word there is “should.” We all know that partisan politics and ideology sometimes creep in. Former state Republican Party Chairperson, Fergus Cullen, ran for the Dover City Council. Despite billing himself as a humble small businessman (he failed to disclose that he’s the executive director of a far right think tank in Connecticut) he lost. Badly. Cullen has written about the dangers inherent in what the NH Republican Party has become, and now he’s experienced what he predicted.

In addition to the municipal elections, Nashua had a special election in Ward 8 for a state representative. It was an ugly business. Republican Peter Silva (former House Majority leader) had some unattractive things to say about his opposing candidate, Latha Mangipudi. Speaking to the Nashua City Republican Committee, Silva remarked that upon coming out of the polls on primary day, “I thought I was in New Delhi,” referring to the large turnout of Indian American voters. He told his fellow Republicans  “they’d be coming out of the woodwork” to vote for Mangipudi. That effort to rebrand the GOP to be friendlier to women and minorities sure is coming along nicely. Silva refused to apologize, whined about political correctness, and generally dug himself a deeper hole every time he opened his mouth. He lost.

That wasn’t the end of the ugliness in Ward 8. Inside the polling place, Karen Thoman, Secretary of the City Republican Committee was videotaping voters. Apparently she had permission from the City Clerk, who ran it by unnamed “state officials.” (One hopes that this is being investigated.) As one would expect, there was some backlash from angry voters. At least one called her a Nazi. She piously defended herself by stating that she didn’t videotape children. She has standards!  That this videotaping took place ONLY in Ward 8 underscores the sheer nastiness of this special election. The day will come when Republicans want minority votes. (HINT: this isn’t the way to get them.) This kind of conduct only serves to continue the erosion of confidence in our electoral system.

Alcoa stock prices have been on the rise this week, thanks to former state GOP Chairman Jack Kimball. Kimball sent out an email to 50 of his pals warning them that the UN was invading NH. Apparently his daughter saw a convoy of about 50 trucks on the highway. From the email: “It consisted of a wide range of military vehicles, many of them white and nondescript and unmarked." He said they later saw another group of around 10 to 12 18-wheelers, also nondescript and driven by military personnel,” Kimball told the Portsmouth Patch, “We’re on the watch for stuff like this.” The fact that white UN trucks have UN painted on them in big black letters was lost on Mr. Kimball. Turns out, those frightening white trucks belonged to medics from NH, Maine, Massachusetts, and Rhode Island National Guard units, who had been in Maine conducting training exercises. Ooops. Jack had to send out a retraction to his followers.

Kimball also told Patch, "We're all concerned about what's going on with Obama. We've all been talking about what's happening. We've got Chinese troops arriving in Hawaii... and Kansas. There’s a lot of things going on that are very suspicious. There are a lot of people that are very vigilant.

“We” appears to be Kimball’s fellow members of the shiny haberdashery club. Some cursory research reveals that the Chinese troops in Hawaii are there taking part in disaster relief exercises. They’re simulating post-earthquake relief operations. This sort of exchange is an annual exercise that is part of a security cooperation agreement established in 1998. I can find no reputable sources confirming the invasion of Kansas by Chinese troops. Perhaps they’re sneaking in, undercover, in UN trucks.

In other news, NH has lot a couple of the good guys to cancer in the last 2 weeks. Marty Capodice died at home in Concord. Marty was a retired research analyst with the NH Employment Security Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau. He was also a long time house manager at the Capital Center for the Arts. Marty was married to Arnie Arnesen, who can be heard discussing national politics and events on radio in at least 4 states. Marty was a truly happy man – he loved his family, his friends, and his community. He could convince even the most Eeyore amongst us (me) that they could do anything, give them a bear hug, and send them on their way, feeling as if maybe Marty was right. A big loss.

District 1 Executive Councilor Ray Burton died this week. Ray served the North Country in that capacity for 35 years. Since the council districts are based on population, Ray’s district covered 2/3 of the state. It’s a stupidly huge district, but Ray managed to be everywhere at once, handing out combs and remembering the names and faces of everyone he ever met. Ray was a staunch advocate for the oft-forgotten northern part of our state. He was a Republican, but not an ideologue, and he always returned my phone calls. It has also been mildly amusing to watch all of the people who were howling for his resignation 8 years ago offering up accolades now that he’s gone. As a tribute to Ray, I hope we can all agree that no one else can do what he did. District One should be divided into at least 2 parts. Ray had decades to figure it out, something the next person will not. Creating 2 manageable districts would keep the Council at an odd number (no tie votes), and ensure quality representation for the biggest part of the state.

My Active Opposition to the Concord BearCat is Over

I am deeply concerned about the militarization of the police around this country. I was strongly opposed to the city of Keene purchasing a BearCat. It seemed to me that Keene had no need for it, and the justifications provided didn’t hold water. It seems I was correct. Keene has never used the BearCat.

I was horrified to read that the Boston Police Dept. brought a sound cannon with them when they busted up the Occupy Boston encampment. Occupy was a non-violent movement. The people in that camp had no weapons. The idea of a sound cannon being brought along to use on peaceful protestors is shocking. Equally shocking is the fact that the now-defunct Boston Phoenix was the only media outlet to report on it.

These are some of the reasons why I was opposed to the City of Concord getting a grant for a BearCat. The sweetheart contractor deal that LENCO gets – because they know what congresscritters to bribe makes me ill. It’s Pentagon pork – filtered through the Dept. of Homeland Security. The grant application naming certain groups as potential domestic terrorist threats was also upsetting, but not as much as militarization and pork.

So, with all that in mind, I went to the Concord City Council hearing on the purchase of the Bearcat. I did not expect to be swayed by Chief Duval’s presentation, but I was.

The BearCat is intended to replace the 1970’s vintage armored Peacekeeper that the Concord PD has. This can’t be called  increased militarization - it’s replacing old equipment. The current armored vehicle goes out on calls where there are hostages, where armed individuals are shooting, and other equally dangerous situations. It is not an “attack” vehicle. It is a tool employed to protect the lives of police officers and emergency responders.

But wait – this is Concord – a small peaceful city, right? That’s true. But Concord has something that no other city in the state has. The NH State House. Concord is our capitol city. Visiting dignitaries visit our capitol. Nearly every presidential candidate visits our state capitol. And this year, nearly every month (so far) there has been a big demonstration in front of the State House by gun nuts.

January 19, 2013

January 31, 2013

February 23, 2013

April 13, 2013

And then there was June 19, 2013, when gun nuts violently disrupted a peaceful vigil in front of the NH State House.

 minister heckled by gun nuts

Father who lost daughter to gun violence heckled by gun nut

heckler arrested and tased

Names on a List

And then there was my eyewitness account of this event: 

gun crowd goes beserk

It was a scary scene. I’m still amazed that no one was injured or killed there. The gun crowd was out of control – illustrating why some of us support expanded background checks. It’s likely that many of the participants in that melee couldn’t pass a background check on the best day they ever had.

Then there’s the fact that the State House has no metal detectors. Many legislators and visitors are armed.

I understand why Chief Duval wants this armored vehicle.

I do not support the contractor/Pentagon/DSH pork. I do not support the increased militarization of police. After listening to the chief and thinking about our capitol city, I no longer view this particular instance as increased militarization. It absolutely was increased militarization in Keene.

I left the City Council hearing feeling really uncomfortable. I was disgusted with the histrionics of the Free Staters and their allies. I was disgusted with State Representatives George Lambert and JR Hoell for inserting themselves into an issue of local control – and they aren’t local. Lambert (who wants to put the goober in goobernatorial) wanted to show the video of the drunken heckler being tased in front of the State House thinking it would stop the Concord City Council from approving the BearCat. I tend to think that if they saw that video they’d order a few extra BearCats as backup.

Carla Gericke Must Resign At Once!

The Free Stater front group No More Bearcats had a press conference yesterday. About 6 people were there.  Here's a video of the speakers, including Pamela Ean, who says she's a former police officer. State Senator Andy Sanborn, who very patronizingly said, "Our boys and girls in blue do a great job." Boys and girls? They aren't five year olds. Why the need for the diminutive terms here, Andy? And the BearCat is not an armed military weapon. There are no weapons on the inside or the outside. It is ARMORED, not ARMED. 

Next up was Brian Blackden, who claims he, too,  was a police officer. There seems to be some question as to whether that's true. One thing is true, Blackden has been arrested on a number of occasions for impersonating  EMTs or law enforcement. The last speaker was State Rep. George Lambert, who wants to put the goober in goobernatorial. He isn't from Concord, but he wants to get his face in front of any camera that is attached to freedumb and libertea. He's a real gifted speaker. He actually went to actual police training about actually tasing people. Ooh, George Lambert, IS COMING FOR THAT TANK. I'm sure that the folks of Concord appreciate his interference in their local control. 

 Carla Gericke, President of the Free State Project spoke the longest. One might think that after the reviews of Carla's last speaking engagement (at the Concord City Council) that she'd try to tone it down. One would be wrong. Once she got warmed up, Carla reached her usual operatic vocal heights.  At one point, only dogs could hear her. Some of my favorite moments from her speech:

"We chose to come here!" Clearly, the FSP was doing NH a big favor by choosing NH as the state that the FSP  wanted to invade, colonize, dismantle the state government of, and then enable it to secede from the union. "We chose to come here to this peaceful wonderful place!" A wonderful place that you want to turn into some neofeudal Randian paradise. Don't do us any favors, okay? Feel free to make the choice to leave. 

"You cannot say to us just because we have ideas that are slightly different to yours that we are domestic terrorists." That's true. But, you have proven to be a group that has no respect for the laws, courts, law enforcement, or educational systems in our state. You are all armed, and claim to adhere to a nonaggression policy, yet every time you open your mouth, Carla, what comes out is aggression. And the same is true for many others in your cult. If you want to be thought of as peaceful and non-threatening, lay down your arms. 

As I've said before, Free Staters don't ever do anything for anyone outside of the FSP unless there's a camera rolling. Carla felt compelled to point out TWICE that she volunteers at the Concord Library in a child reading program. She gave the usual rant about THEY LIED ABOUT US in their FRAUDULENT LYING DOCUMENT and THEY SHOULD ALL RESIGN AND FALL OFF THE FACE OF THE EARTH!!! PERJURY! 

Then she looked out at the group of 6 and said, "We have a lot of reporters here." 

That was a lie, Carla. There were not a lot of reporters there. You talk about accountability and responsibility and demand that others resign for telling lies, so - if we hold you to your own standards, than you, too should be held accountable. 
  I DEMAND YOUR RESIGNATION AT ONCE! 

Why Would They Need a BearCat?

Mike Marland, right on target, in the Concord Monitor.

Scenes from the Concord City Council Meeting

This was the crowd in front of City Hall when I arrived at 6:15. All of the fliers and notices I saw about the protest said to be there at 6:00 pm. About a dozen people were milling around in the little park near the City Hall Annex next door:

This is Will Thomas (of NH Veterans For Peace) and his great tee shirt. To Will's front left is a tall man with a blue blazer. That's State Rep. JR Hoell of Dunbarton.  (Dunbarton is not part of Concord)

Finally, at 6:39, a big  procession of Free Staters began coming up the street. They all began to assemble in front of Concord City Hall. (pro tip: if your lit says 6 pm, you should be there at 6 pm)

There was a guy with a bullhorn who sounded like Charlie Brown's teacher. I have no idea what he was saying. Carla Gericke spoke. She did not give any of the other groups represented the opportunity to address the crowd, even though there were Occupiers and people from NH Peace Action. This was all about the Free State Project and their BIG HURT FEELINGS. 

This was supposed to be about the BearCat, military contractors, waste, and the militarization of police. 

The FSP does not play well with others. 

The City Council chambers filled quickly. Some of us were stuck in the hallway for a while, and couldn't really hear what was going on. The Council and the City Manager were very polite and welcoming, and clear that if everyone that wanted to testify did, there would be no decision made that night. 

I've already written about FSP President Carla Gericke's testimony. Other notables included Rep. JR Hoell of Dunbarton, and Rep. George Lambert from Litchfield. As I listened, I couldn't help but wonder what Hoell would think if say...Rick Watrous or Mary Jane Wallner came to tell the Dunbarton Selectmen what to do. Hoell wanted Chief Duval to know that Washington DC was turned around by the police getting involved with the citizens of the community. A less charitable person than myself might have found Hoell's comments patronizing. 

Even better than Hoell was Rep. George Lambert. Lambert wants to be our next governor, so he's seizing every single opportunity to get his face on camera, in a bid to increase his non-existant name recognition.  (note to Lambert: not all publicity is good publicity.) 

Lambert told the Council and the assembled throng that they should watch the video of the man who was tased out in front of the State House in June "for using his right to free speech." Lambert actually wanted to play them the video! The voices in his head told him that if folks saw this video, they'd understand injustice and police brutality! I was at the event in question, and I'm pretty sure that if the Council had seen footage of that near riot, they'd approve that BearCat (and possibly a few more) without further consideration. Apparently verbal harassment, resisting arrest, and grabbing at cops are all part of the famed Non-Aggression Principle that our FSP colonizers are so fond of citing. 
And of course, just like Hoell, one can't help but wonder what Lambert would make of Concord State Reps appearing to tell the good people of Litchfield what they ought to be doing. The exercise of free speech appears to be a one-way street for the Free Staters and their allies. 

A suggestion was made that the grant application be changed to remove the language that was offending people. Somehow that turned into a sidebar in the corner with a City Councilor, Carla Gericke, and desperate attention seekers Lambert, and Hoell. This went on for quite a while until another member of the Council objected strenuously to the sidebar, and the possibility of some sort of secret deal. The sidebar broke up. Lambert and Hoell lacked sufficient shame and grace to walk away. They hovered right there in the corner where the Council sits. 

That's them in the far right (!) 

I left at 10. I'd heard enough, and I was feeling sickened by the whole thing. I'll write more about that later on. 

The Council adjourned without decision, and have since stated that they'll have a special session on this matter in September. 

***

Anyone who wants a refresher on the gun nuts staging a near riot in front of the State House in June will find pictures and video in these links:

Photos from the Gun Melee in June 2013

http://susanthebruce.blogspot.com/2013/06/ayotte-ayotte-ayotte.html

http://susanthebruce.blogspot.com/2013/06/shame-on-you-wmur.html

http://susanthebruce.blogspot.com/2013/06/names-on-list-sociopath-heckling-women.html

The Non-Aggression Principle

(Carla Gericke, President of the Free State Project, speaking in front of Concord City Hall last night before the City Council Meeting began.)

The Non-Agression Principle (NAP) is what members of the Free State Project always point to as an attempt to illustrate to us that they are peaceful, nonviolent individuals. They are adherents of this principle, therefore they come in peace. That they are armed and claiming peaceful intent isn't supposed to occur to us, because hey, they're non-violent! They say so!

This is from the NAP wiki:
The non-aggression principle (NAP)—also called the non-aggression axiom, the zero aggression principle (ZAP), the anti-coercion principle, or the non-initiation of force—is a moral stance which asserts thataggression is inherently illegitimate. NAP and property rights are closely linked, since what aggression is depends on what a person's rights are.^[1] Aggression, for the purposes of NAP, is defined as the initiation or threatening of violence against a person or legitimately-owned property of another. Specifically, any unsolicited actions of others that physically affect an individual’s property or person, no matter if the result of those actions is damaging, beneficial, or neutral to the owner, are considered violent or aggressive when they are against the owner's free will and interfere with his right to self-determination and the principle of self-ownership.

Supporters of the NAP often appeal to it in order to explain the immorality of theft, vandalism, assault, and fraud. In contrast to nonviolence, the non-aggression principle does not preclude violence used in self-defense or defense of others.^[2] Many supporters argue that NAP opposes such policies as victimless crime laws, taxation, and military drafts. NAP is the foundation of most present-day libertarian philosophies.

It's not exactly clearly defined. And there's a huge component missing from it - verbal aggression. The Free Staters are very verbally aggressive.  

Last night, Free State President Carla Gericke spoke to the Concord City Council, concerning the poor FSP's wounded feelings about being named as potential domestic terrorists in a grant application by the Concord PD. The Concord PD is trying to get an armored vehicle. The folks turning out to that meeting last night were supposed to be there to protest the militarization of police and the wasteful spending by the Dept. of Homeland Security, but Carla and the Free Staters managed to turn the whole issue into being about them. 

From my notes:

Ms. Gericke was allowed to speak first. She started off by saying that the Free Staters are productive citizens moving here to be part of the shared values of the state. By then she was warmed up, and began to get loud. I hate the word shrill as an adjective because it's so often applied unfairly to women, but she was shrill.  She accused the police chief of perjury. "We're good people. I volunteer for Concord Reads at the Concord Library, and I am deeply offended by this misleading, fraudulent, secret application!" She bellowed that as President of the FSP, she has called for the retraction of this grant and a letter of apology! The people in that room didn't respect her enough to respond to her! And here's where she reached operatic heights: "I will be filing a complaint with the Dept. of Homeland Security!" (An agency of the very gubmint she claims disdain for) She called for the public resignation of all of the people involved with this application. When people make false statements, the penalty is PRISON. 

She was screaming by the end of her comments. She was red faced and angry when she left the room. 

If her intent was to show the City of Concord that the Free Staters are peaceful and nonaggressive, Carla failed in an epic manner.