FSP News - August 2005

Porcupines and friends gathered again in Lancaster, NH a couple of weeks ago for the biggest and best PorcFest yet! A grand time was had by all. Did you take any photos at the PorcFest? Send in your favorites. We're having a Photo Contest and there will be awards for the best, the most submitted and the funniest, along with a Grand Prize awarded for the Best Publicity photo to be used to help promote PorcFest 2006.

We made up some great merchandise for the PorcFest. A great deal of it was sold, but the remaining items are now for sale on our merchandise page. There are T-shirts, drink koozies, tote bags and even a few signed and numbered posters (shown to the left). We also debuted new FSP hats and polo shirts, and the limited edition FSP Buck Knife - all HOT sellers.

The 2006 Porcupine Freedom Festival planning is already underway with the selection of the new PorcFest leader, Kate Rick. This is an important leadership role - thank you Kate! To suggest a new title for her, please go to the Forum. We had a talented team of over 20 people working on the PorcFest planning this year and we'll need even more for 2006 - new ideas are welcome. Please contact Kate to volunteer.

The FSP Board has taken another important step forward in organizing our efforts. Two new Vice President positions have been created and staffed. Steve Cobb now serves as Vice President of Publicity and Varrin Swearingen now serves as Vice President of Operations. The day to day organization and operation of the FSP will now be led by those two VPs, who will share the work of managing the existing departments. They will report to Amanda Phillips, who remains the President of the FSP and will focus more of her efforts on public relations and media representation.

Brian Wright's new report, FSP Porcupine Festival, 2005 is a great read, insightful and amusing! Varrin's Czar's Report will be posted soon and we'd love to post your report too - see how on the Reports page.

New Hampshire wins another wonderful award - five months ago, NH was crowned as the Most Livable state - #1 out of 50 states. In June it was named as the Most Improved, and at the end of July, it was NH again in the top spot in the 2005 KIDS COUNT Data Book! This annual report by the Annie E. Casey Foundation ranks the very latest state-by-state data in areas such as education, employment, income, poverty, health and youth risk factors. According to this report, there is no better state for kids (or their parents). Shhh, only tell freedom-lovers about this!

Thank you to all who have responded to the Board of Director's request for suggestions and input on how, and if, to restructure the Project to increase our chances of success in creating a free state. There are some exciting and fresh ideas being sent in and discussed on the Forum. Please send in your thoughts for consideration before September 1st.

Media and press this month included the PorcFest articles Taking Freedom for Granite in the Boston Phoenix and Porc Fest Draws 450 Libertarians in the Coos County Democrat.

Hey early movers! When you move to NH, please let the FSP volunteers know by emailing or calling 888 532-4604! We all want to know about the migration's early progress. And before you move, or when you visit NH, please contact the FSP Welcome Wagon for networking and community. The FSP Welcome Wagon has grown deeper and stronger! The last meet and greet was held in Epsom, NH on August 5th, where 30 Porcs and friends were very pleased to greet two newly moved families.

As usual, all kinds of things are happening at Free Talk Live. FTL wins a podcast award in the category Best Cultural/Political Podcast! Listenership continues to grow too with the addition of internet affiliate RantRadio and more radio stations. Tune in to the web stream, podcast or on the radio, and call in to the show - the hosts are Porcupines!

Rockin' FSP outreach tables were operated at three locations on the Van's Warped Tour in July that featured bands such as Offspring, Strung Out, Reliant K, Dropkick Murphys and others. The FSP tables greeted concert-goers in Buffalo, NY, Pittsburg, PA and Northampton, MA. Thanks to Keith Carlsen and his volunteers.

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In New Hampshire

Organizations, activities and events of interest in NH:

2005 Liberty Ratings! The New Hampshire Liberty Alliance released the 2005 NHLA Report Card and handed out its coveted Legislator of the Year Award at its annual Liberty Dinner July 30th. Look over the Report Card - some very impressive pro-liberty voting. The Legislator of the Year is Clifford Newton.

The Liberty Dinner was an overwhelming success once again and featured the release of the NHLA Report Card, the award for Legislator of the Year and was highlighted by speeches by Congressman Ron Paul and Jack Cole, of Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP). The dinner was delicious and the company priceless!

More NHLA news:

• another Legislative Workshop was held August 7th, where freedom-focused people gathered to go over the NH Bills that the NHLA will support, introduce, or work against. More volunteers are welcome in this effort.
• NHLA Day at the Races will be held September 18th. It will be a fundraiser and awareness effort at the stock car races. All volunteers will get a T-shirt while assisting with ushering, concessions and parking.
  

Taxpayer holidays - who doesn't love a tax holiday? The State of NH ran an ad campaign August 7, 10 and 11 in the Boston Globe, aimed directly at Massachusetts residents and sales tax payers. Scorecard for sales tax-free days: NH = 365, MA = 2.

The Liberty Scholarship Fund provides donated funds directly to families in NH for non-public education. The LSF just awarded 3 new scholarships for the 2005/2006 school year. The LSF Endowment Fund has also been established with initial funding. The Endowment Fund helps to assure the long-term success of the LSF mission.

The Libertarian Party of NH Chair, John Babiarz, made an appearance on Hannity and Colmes on Fox News, August 12th. The topic was the planned eminent domain proceedings in order to build a Constitution Park on Supreme Court Justice Stephen Breyer's NH land. See the World Net Daily article on this and the other eminent domain plan to seize Justice John Souter's property in NH to build the Lost Liberty Hotel initiated by Logan Darrow's FreeStar Media.

Full Slate for the Free State is an aggressive plan to run a full slate of Libertarian Party candidates all across New Hampshire!

• The Merrimack Valley Porcupines' last meeting, held in concert with the Freedom Summit, drew 60 people! This active group of Porcs and friends meets next on August 27th and features speaker Wayne Anderson of the Free State Objectivists Club.
• The Seacoast Porcupines' monthly meeting regularly draws 20 interested people and meets the 3rd Saturday on the month in Somersworth, NH.
• The Modnadnock Porcupines are an active bunch! A meet and greet was held August 14th for all the new recent movers to the Keene and Modnadnock area. For amazing levels of new activism - see the NH Underground's Forum
  

Gun Owners of New Hampshire, GO-NH, keeps you up to date with the many important Legislative actions and alerts in NH. Upcoming special events of note:

• GO-NH Annual Banquet, September 17th. Keynote speaker will be Alan Gottlieb, the founder of the Second Amendment Foundation.
  
• New Hampshire Outdoor Pistol Championships, September 24th & 25th.
  

The Free State Objectivists Club meets monthly to share ideas and socialize with other active-minded people in the Concord area. The next meeting will include the presentation of the first five lectures from Nathaniel Brandon's NBI lecture series.

The Coalition of New Hampshire Taxpayers, CNHT, has a live streaming radio show on Thursdays from 6-8pm (also on 90.7 FM in NH). Check out the CNHT Insider News posts for details of many news stories of interest to NH taxpayers!

Try out a new FSP window decal, shown above. Available in black, dark blue or white through the merchandise webpage - polo shirts, hats, brochures and more.

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Participants: 6,707
Participants in NH: 376
as of August 15, 2005

Please forward the FSP News to interested people.

To report FSP and NH news, or to comment on the FSP News, please contact the Editor.
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FSP Website: http://www.freestateproject.org Liberty in our Lifetime