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Cognitive Dissident

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2655 on: February 26, 2010, 06:05:09 PM »

The bureaucrats are gonna claim the J-weed possessed him and made him to violent things.
The keeniacs are gonna claim it is an absolute outrage for police to show up just because a wasted drunk guy drove his motorhome all over his neighbor's property, smashed it thru a garage door, and then started shooting bullets into the air.

I mean, what kind of jackbooted thugs go after a guy like that anyway  :?:

Let us know when this happens.
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thescoop

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2656 on: February 28, 2010, 01:13:39 PM »

The bureaucrats are gonna claim the J-weed possessed him and made him to violent things.
The keeniacs are gonna claim it is an absolute outrage for police to show up just because a wasted drunk guy drove his motorhome all over his neighbor's property, smashed it thru a garage door, and then started shooting bullets into the air.

I mean, what kind of jackbooted thugs go after a guy like that anyway  :?:
What I would like to know is who put that house in his way. I smell entrapment!
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FTL_Mark

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2657 on: March 01, 2010, 10:23:37 AM »

The bureaucrats are gonna claim the J-weed possessed him and made him to violent things.
The keeniacs are gonna claim it is an absolute outrage for police to show up just because a wasted drunk guy drove his motorhome all over his neighbor's property, smashed it thru a garage door, and then started shooting bullets into the air.

I mean, what kind of jackbooted thugs go after a guy like that anyway  :?:

Well, I am not a Keeniac, but I do have a point to make here: Id be willing to bet that the majority of the time that he gets/got comes/came from the Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon charge. He shouldn't have done what he did, but putting him in jail doesn't help his victims, and charging a man for having a gun is immoral.

I don't think a candlelight vigil will get him out of jail/prison however.
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TimeLady Victorious

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2658 on: March 01, 2010, 11:49:39 AM »

The bureaucrats are gonna claim the J-weed possessed him and made him to violent things.
The keeniacs are gonna claim it is an absolute outrage for police to show up just because a wasted drunk guy drove his motorhome all over his neighbor's property, smashed it thru a garage door, and then started shooting bullets into the air.

I mean, what kind of jackbooted thugs go after a guy like that anyway  :?:

Well, I am not a Keeniac, but I do have a point to make here: Id be willing to bet that the majority of the time that he gets/got comes/came from the Possession of a Firearm by a Convicted Felon charge. He shouldn't have done what he did, but putting him in jail doesn't help his victims, and charging a man for having a gun is immoral.

I don't think a candlelight vigil will get him out of jail/prison however.

If I were in Keene I'd actually feel safer that he was in jail.
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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2659 on: March 01, 2010, 11:51:22 AM »

I don't think a candlelight vigil will get him out of jail/prison however.
Yeah but you're a tool of the minarchist oppression     :wink:

A candlelight vigil will make the cops realize they are inhumane and immoral. Just a matter of time till the vigils wear down the oppressors, and thet throw open the gates of the Bastille!

blackie

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2660 on: March 01, 2010, 11:51:54 AM »


If I were in Keene I'd actually feel safer that he was in jail.

I'm not sure this dude ever showed up in Keene.
« Last Edit: March 01, 2010, 11:54:07 AM by blackie »
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anarchir

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2661 on: March 01, 2010, 01:07:02 PM »


If I were in Keene I'd actually feel safer that he was in jail.

I'm not sure this dude ever showed up in Keene.

But he could have!

Firecracker: coming soon to a neighborhood near you!
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blackie

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2662 on: March 04, 2010, 05:52:38 PM »

http://freekeene.com/2010/03/03/critics-liberty-activists-have-wreaked-havoc-in-keene-freekeene-is-failing/

    Don’t Pull Back the Curtain on the Free Staters
    March 3, 2010
    By Pam Martens

    The individuals supporting Bill Campbell in his bid for Selectman of Westmoreland want you to look in another direction altogether, rather than demand his truthfulness on his affiliation with Free Staters.

    His supporters want you to focus on those “outsiders” from the “city.” (My husband and I have never lived in a big city; we come from a tiny town, Garden City, Long Island, that clips happy faces in the shrubs in the Town Square and where the 1931 bakery still hands children a free cookie; where calling residents “outsiders” is just too silly to even contemplate. But if we did come from a big city, so what. This is xenophobia-baiting and should be deplored by any person of good character and conscience.)

    His supporters implore you to look at those people who have (patiently) attended 10 hearings over two years on a gravel pit that has been illegally located in their residential neighborhood for 17 years but they might sue the Town eventually. (Don’t stop to ask yourself how the gravel pit issue is relevant to whether Bill Campbell backs the agenda of the Free Staters.)

    His supporters want you to look at the pedigrees of those telling you Bill Campbell is not a Free Stater — they’ve lived here 49 years, or 25 years — and if they say Bill Campbell is not a Free Stater, well, that should be the end of the matter.

    Aside from his supporters’ denials, Bill Campbell has issued a campaign letter seeking votes in his bid for Selectman that is completely silent on his long-term involvement with the Free State Project. Mr. Campbell instead suggests these are just “rumors” and “negative campaigning.” This is his exact statement:

    “You may have heard negative rumors about me, fueled by my opponent’s supporters. I don’t believe in negative campaigning and I ask you to consider the source and motivation.”

    That statement in itself is negative campaigning since it strongly suggests the “rumors” are false and maliciously motivated by Mr. Campbell’s opponent’s supporters. (Neither my husband nor I knew in advance June Hammond planned to run for Selectman nor do we know what’s going on in her campaign. Our issues are with the Free State Project’s unconscionable plan to take over local and state politics in New Hampshire.)

    Why does it matter that Bill Campbell refuses to discuss his involvement with the Free State Project? For one thing, good character is reflected in forthrightness. For another, the Free State Project holds extremist views and their participants have wreaked havoc in areas like Keene and Grafton. We’ve seen a steady stream of Free Staters taunting the Keene police and ending up in the Westmoreland jail, costing taxpayers dearly. We also know the Free Staters ran a campaign of intimidation and smear tactics in Grafton against anyone who dared to stand up to them. The web site’s still up. My husband and I know from first hand experience the tactics used against people who speak truth to the Free State power base. But we think what’s at stake is worth the threats and slander against us.

    If the Free Staters gain a foothold in Westmoreland, Mr. Edgington, co-host of the Free State Project sponsored radio program, Free Talk Live, could implore more Free Staters to swarm into Westmoreland. Mr. Edgington’s radio program is affiliated with 65 radio stations around the country.

    Below are the links that document Bill Campbell’s long-term involvement with the Free State Project. It’s time for Mr. Campbell to come clean with voters.
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ForumTroll

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2663 on: March 04, 2010, 06:17:56 PM »

OH GOD THEY'RE TAKING OVER
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TimeLady Victorious

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2664 on: March 04, 2010, 06:29:18 PM »

Seems the local Newhampshiremen don't like the Free Staters.

If Ian is ostracized, will he still think ostracism's a good idea?
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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2665 on: March 04, 2010, 08:52:38 PM »

Seems the local Newhampshiremen don't like the Free Staters.
More accurate to say the Keene-area people don't like the FSPers, for a lot of the same reasons the Grafton people (like our own M$/president/blackie) didn't like FSPers.

In lots of towns the people love FSPers. Because their first exposure to them was helping out in a food bank, old folks' home, or some other community-volunteering function. As opposed to being yelled at with bullhorns by people smoking pot in the town square. (way to win hearts and minds, guys!)

Cognitive Dissident

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2666 on: March 04, 2010, 09:16:20 PM »

http://freekeene.com/2010/03/03/critics-liberty-activists-have-wreaked-havoc-in-keene-freekeene-is-failing/

"Are you now, or have you ever been a communist?"

"WAT"

"You've been seen with communists.  List all the communists you know on this piece of paper.  If you're truthful, we'll let you go."

:roll:

Seems the local Newhampshiremen don't like the Free Staters.
More accurate to say the Keene-area people don't like the FSPers, for a lot of the same reasons the Grafton people (like our own M$/president/blackie) didn't like FSPers.

In lots of towns the people love FSPers. Because their first exposure to them was helping out in a food bank, old folks' home, or some other community-volunteering function. As opposed to being yelled at with bullhorns by people smoking pot in the town square. (way to win hearts and minds, guys!)

...or, quite possibly...the rest of the state isn't as collectivist...but I don't live there, so I wouldn't know.
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blackie

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2667 on: March 04, 2010, 09:34:10 PM »

    Westmoreland News
    Supporting Participatory Democracy Through Citizen News
    WestmorelandNews@aol.com

    March 1, 2010

    In April 2009, my wife, Pam Martens, published two in-depth essays on the Free State Project’s activities in New Hampshire in the print and web based editions of CounterPunch. Since that time, a counter-offensive has been launched by Free Staters. The campaign is being directed by Dawn Lincoln, a key participant in the Free State Project who purchased a home in Westmoreland with her husband in 2007. Ms. Lincoln’s husband is Bill Campbell, who has been actively engaged in the Free State Project for many years, helping to organize their annual events, participating in those events, and encouraging people to move to New Hampshire as Free State “early movers.” Joining in the campaign is Mark Edge (real name, Edgington) who co-hosts the Free State Project sponsored radio program, “Free Talk Live.” Mr. Edgington and his wife, both Free Staters, also live in Westmoreland.

    Ms. Lincoln ran in the Republican primary for State Rep from Westmoreland without advising voters she is an “early mover” from Connecticut for the Free State Project. (Ms. Lincoln was defeated by Jack Laurent.) Now Bill Campbell is running for Selectman in Westmoreland without being forthcoming about his long term involvement with the organization.

    We think voters have the right to make informed choices in local, state and national elections. We think candidates have an obligation to be honest with voters.

    In this vein, we are publishing over the next three days a three-part series on the Free State Project, its origins and impact on New Hampshire, adapted and updated from the original articles written by my wife.

    Russ Martens, Westmoreland News

    Free State Project Plots a Takeover

    March 1, 2010

    By Pam Martens

    It’s like a bad B movie plot playing out in real life in New Hampshire: a twenty-something political science grad student has an idea for a new economic order. He posts it on the internet. Over a few years, as disenchantment with Big Brother government grows, the idea takes off. A call goes out from the grad student and his eclectic gang of libertarians and anarchists for 20,000 people from around the country to move into New Hampshire and prove his thesis: that small numbers of hyper active political agitators can control the political process in a thinly populated state; that free market capitalism will work just fine alongside a system where citizen volunteers, not government, provide all social welfare programs.

    Fast forward to today: quiet rural countrysides spotted with maple sugar houses and wild flower meadows are sprouting pockets of political extremism and YouTube videos of defiance against state and local laws. [1]

    The grad student is Jason Sorens, at Yale at the time of his epiphany, now a thirty-something Assistant Professor of Political Science at the State University of New York in Buffalo. Dr. Sorens’ grand experiment, the Free State Project, was spawned in 2001 and has now signed up just under 10,000 individuals who have pledged to move to New Hampshire according to the organization’s web site. Just under 800 “early movers” are already here.

    New Hampshire is being targeted because of its tiny population of approximately 1.3 million. Sorens mapped out the following plan to his followers in 2001:

    “Once we’ve taken over the state government, we can slash state and local budgets, which make up a sizeable proportion of the tax and regulatory burden we face every day. Furthermore, we can eliminate substantial federal interference by refusing to take highway funds and the strings attached to them. Once we’ve accomplished these things, we can bargain with the national government over reducing the role of the national government in our state. We can use the threat of secession as leverage to do this.” [2]

    Sorens expresses his patriarchal view of the “ignorant” populace, as posted at the Cato Institute’s web site, a free market think tank:

    “The ‘collective action problem’ helps to explain why only narrow interests will successfully organize and achieve policy victories, and why these will come at the expense of the citizenry. Interest groups can achieve these victories only because voters are deeply, irremediably ignorant of philosophy, politics, economics, and public policy. Trying to educate voters is hopeless because they lack the proper incentives to learn and employ political knowledge.” [3]

    The Free Staters seek to eliminate the “Nanny State” which, to their way of thinking, includes public education (to be replaced with home schooling or private schools), planning and zoning boards, building codes and inspectors and essentially every other government function that isn’t involved in protecting their right to swarm New Hampshire, their free speech, their guns, or their right to do whatever they want on their property.

    The Free Staters call themselves porcupines (upset them at your own risk) and dub their annual confab a Porc Fest. On blogs and radio they rage against an eclectic group of evils: public education, zoning ordinances, nursing homes, car inspections, Medicaid.

    Following a public relations fiasco in Grafton, New Hampshire where locals faced heavy-handed intimidation from a splinter group called the Free Town Project, the new game plan for Free Staters is to come into towns presenting themselves as mainstream; get elected to local boards and civic organizations, and slowly chip away at the framework of established society by gutting public funding.

    One Free Stater, Dawn Lincoln, who moved from Connecticut to Southern New Hampshire describes the subterfuge on the Free State web site:

    “Personally, I keep the FSP [Free State Project] stuff to myself until I really know someone. Some people know about the FSP and think it’s great, others have heard about things like the Free Town Project and aren’t so sure….” [4]

    The new movement includes a sophisticated organizational model. Imagine an octopus. The center is the Free State Project. The tentacles now include Free Talk Live radio, which has 65 radio affiliates around the country according to their web site and the major means of recruiting “liberty loving” types to move to New Hampshire; a political action group called the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance that holds mock town meeting training sessions, reviews legislation for assault, gives out grades to legislators based on how obediently they toe the Free State Project line; and supports a growing number of Free Staters seeking elected office. Here’s how one of the Free Staters described the big picture:

    “…control the local Government and remove oppressive Regulations (such as Planning & Zoning, and Building Code requirements) and stop enforcement of Laws prohibiting Victimless Acts among Consenting Adults, such as Dueling, Gambling, Incest, Price-Gouging, Cannibalism, and Drug Handling.” [5]

    The social order envisioned by the Free Staters is one of voluntarism. People will simply volunteer to take care of each other’s needs. This statement appears on their web site: “…government exists at most to protect people’s rights, and should neither provide for people nor punish them for activities that interfere with no one else.” As they openly admit on their blogs and radio call-ins, those pesky details of how the roads will get built, who will provide for the poor and indigent have yet to be addressed.

    This is how care for the poor was handled before government funding and when the job was left to voluntarism:

    “About this time [1815] a new plan of selling the paupers at public auction for a year was instituted; and in 1816 we find that William Powers was bid off at one dollar and fifty-eight cents per week, and Benjamin Alld at ninety-six cents per week, and again in 1817 William Powers was struck off at one dollar and sixty-nine cents per week, which is the last we hear of him on the town records. At these auctions, the peculiar qualities of each individual were described by the auctioneer, pretty much as he would speak of the qualities of any other livestock offered for sale.” History of the Town of Peterborough, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, by Albert Smith, John Hopkins Morison.

    The other incomprehensible aspect is the Free Staters’ love fest with totally free markets. Despite the loss of credibility of deregulated capitalism in this country and around the world, they’re clinging tight. Even the captain of the mother ship, former Federal Reserve Chairman Alan Greenspan, has accepted defeat on markets without regulators.

    There’s also a strong scent of insincerity about what the core group in the Free State Project are really up to. The Free Talk Live radio program condemns all forms of property seizure, even for people who haven’t paid their property taxes in 3 years. And yet, one of their largest advertisers is Sakal-CAI, a debt collector. On its web site, Sakal-CAI says it uses the following procedures: wage garnishments, bank account attachments, property attachments, property foreclosure, property lien attachments.

    It’s time for the good people of New Hampshire to rethink the red carpet rolled out by former Governor Craig Benson to the Free State Project before the state’s proud motto of “Live Free or Die” becomes a rallying cry to tens of thousands of anti-government extremists.

    The test for New Hampshire is to remain tolerant while effectively defending itself against an invading army using buzzwords of “liberty” and “freedom” while blogging about their plan to take over.

    [1] Free Staters on YouTube

    http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=ISO-8859-1&q=youtube+AND+%22free+state+project%22+AND+arrest&btnG=Google+Search&aq=f&oq=

    [2] Taking Over State Government

    http://www.thebirdman.org/Index/Others/Others-Doc-Government&Politics/+Doc-Government&Politics-Tracking&AvoidingTyranny/LibertarianStateTakeover.htm

    [3] Jason Sorens on Ignorant Voters

    http://www.cato-unbound.org/2009/04/10/jason-sorens/leveraging-institutional-change/

    [4] Dawn Lincoln’s Early Move for the Free State Project (Scroll down to article.)

    http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:30mWg80FZnAJ:www.freestateproject.org/community/moved/lincoln.php+%22Personally,+I+keep+the+FSP+stuff+to+myself+until+I+really+know+someone.%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

    [5] Defining Victimless Acts As Incest and Cannibalism

    http://freetownproject.com/
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ForumTroll

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2668 on: March 04, 2010, 09:36:00 PM »

"Defining Victimless Acts As Incest and Cannibalism"

LOL, Larry hasn't had any publicity in awhile.
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blackie

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Re: Drama in the Free State
« Reply #2669 on: March 04, 2010, 09:42:23 PM »

    Like It or Not, Free Staters Plan to “Liberate” You

    By Pam Martens

    On the morning of Friday, February 27, 2004, at the Washington D.C. corporate headquarters of the free market think thank, the American Enterprise Institute, a far-fetched plan was carefully rolled out to the national media. The key speaker at the event was Jason Sorens, founder of the Free State Project.

    The following are excerpts of remarks made by Dr. Sorens at that event, according to a transcript available at the American Enterprise Institute:

    “The Free State Project started as an effort to identify the best state in the country for people who favor smaller government and stronger individual liberties to move to…

    “We started signing up people in September 2001, and our growth was slow in our first few months. However, growth picked up dramatically in late 2002 and 2003, and by August 2003, we had 5,000 signed members…

    “Once New Hampshire moves dramatically in a free market direction, we are going to continue to attract individuals and businesses from other states. And other states are going to have to reform their own laws in order to avoid losing their tax base to our state.” [1] (Dr. Sorens calls it “our state” but in the nine years his plan has wreaked havoc on New Hampshire, he’s never actually taken up residency here.)

    One of the most astute questions at this conference came from a man identified in the transcript as William Kelly of Cox Newspapers:

    “KELLY: My question is for Jason. I was wondering, when you sign people up, do you do any kind of background check on them or anything, to make sure that you’re not importing rapists and thieves to New Hampshire?…

    “SORENS: No background checks. I think libertarians wouldn’t like that, too privacy invading and too resource consuming as well. So to some extent this is built on trust. Everyone I’ve met has been normal and well adjusted.”

    Jenna Wolf of the Union Leader out of Manchester honed in on another obvious area:

    “Have you talked to residents? What are their feelings about this?”

    Dr. Sorens assured Ms. Wolf:

    “…we have solicited the opinions of people who live in New Hampshire in our forum…And the responses I have gotten have been overwhelmingly positive, conditional. So long as you are good neighbors and really support the political ideals that you talk about, then they are supportive.”

    In just four months, both the lack of background checks as well as resident reaction would blow up in Dr. Sorens’ face.

    Just nine days before Dr. Sorens gently rolled out his case to a strategically selected group of corporate think tanks and reporters viewed as market friendly at the headquarters of the American Enterprise Institute, Tim Condon, at the time the Director of Member Services at the Free State Project and a Tampa, Florida lawyer, had mapped out an offshoot strategy. The plan was to create a Free Town Project as well – “a low-population town in that same state where Porcupines can congregate….” (Free Staters refer to themselves as Porcupines – upset them at your own risk.) The tiny town of Grafton, New Hampshire was chosen. [2]

    According to Mr. Condon’s own account of how the Grafton plan came about, an “exploratory trip was launched in early February, 2004. This time Porcupines Tim Condon and Zack Bass flew to New Hampshire from Florida, and had help from resident Free Staters in exploring. Also present was Robert Hull, who drove up from New Jersey to join us.”

    Zack Bass, according to a June 20, 2004 article in The Boston Globe was actually Larry Pendarvis of Brandon, Florida: “A computer analyst who also goes by the alias Zack Bass, Pendarvis was convicted in Polk County, Fla., in 1997 of more than 100 counts of downloading child pornography, a conviction later overturned on appeal. His other enterprises include a website that peddles mail-order brides from the Philippines with the slogan, ‘Date Locally, Marry Globally.’ ” [3]

    According to Free Staters, it was Mr. Pendarvis who was responsible for setting up a web site targeting local residents, which read: “This is a list of New Hampsters who have oppressed libertarians…Don’t vote for them, don’t hire them, don’t buy from them, don’t sell to them.” The list included a Judge, the Selectmen, the Selectmen’s Clerk, an attorney, a police chief, various police officers, and former Governor Benson. The web site is still accessible. [4] (In Westmoreland, my husband and I are the Free Staters’ favorite pinatas.)

    Hostilities flared against the Free Staters in Grafton by residents, followed by a large town meeting and unflattering local and national press. Dr. Sorens has persistently blamed all of this on Pendarvis and dismissed it by noting that Pendarvis was expelled from the Free State Project. Dr. Sorens fails to note that it was he who declined to do background checks and it was his own Director of Member Services at the time, Tim Condon, who has acknowledged in his own article that he was part of the conception and planning of the Free Town Project and made the exploratory trip to Grafton with Pendarvis (aka Zack Bass) in February 2004.

    Today, Free Staters in Grafton host an annual “anarchic campout” in the town, advertising the following slate of activities: “There will be drinking, burning things, sitting around BSing, bands, toilets and showers in the woods, talking about the revolution, and of course a giant burning rodent. It’ll be one big party. Lloyd is going to do a naked fire dance. “ [5]

    While outwardly advocating a government that imposes no taxes for education, Dr. Sorens collects his paycheck from the State University of New York at Buffalo, a tax funded institution. He also has a long history of corporate-based funding.

    The Mercatus Center lists him as an Affiliated Scholar. It, and its sister organization, Institute for Humane Studies, have funded Dr. Sorens research since at least 2002 according to public records. [6]

    Mercatus is the Latin term for markets. Thanks to an in-depth report published in September 2006 by the public interest nonprofit, Public Citizen, and OMB Watch, we know a great deal about the agenda of the Mercatus Center. [7]

    [As part of its anti-regulatory agenda] “Mercatus staffers were pushing rollbacks that would directly benefit their corporate patrons. BP Amoco, Exxon Mobil, and the Kochs, for example, would benefit from 14 of the suggestions…filed in 2001 to weaken the Clean air Act. These petrochemical companies would also benefit from four of the Mercatus Center’s 2002 submissions calling for the weakening of the Clean Water Act…

    “By far the biggest corporate contributor to the Mercatus Center, and the group with the clearest personal ties to it, is the Koch group of foundations and, through them, Koch Industries. A privately-held $25 billion petroleum, chemical, and agricultural company based in Wichita, Kansas, Koch Industries has good reason to angle for a rollback of environmental standards. In 2001, the company’s petroleum division pleaded guilty to violating the Clean Air Act for releasing benzene, a known carcinogen, into the air at a Texas refinery. Koch agreed to pay $10 million in criminal fines and further agreed to spend $10 million for environmental projects in the Corpus Christi area. In addition, Koch must complete a five-year term of probation and adhere to a strict new environmental compliance program.”

    How much exactly has Dr. Sorens received from the Mercatus Center, the Institute for Humane Studies, and George Mason University Foundation? Requests for specific dollar amounts to Dr. Sorens, the State University of New York at Buffalo, and each of the nonprofits was met with silence.

    A notice on the web site of the department of Political Science at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where Dr. Sorens now teaches and conducts research, notes that “Jason Sorens and his co-author William P. Ruger, an Assistant Professor at the Texas State University, San Marcos published a study on Freedom in the 50 States: An Index of Personal and Economic Freedom with the Mercatus Center of George Mason University. The study presents an evidence based ranking of the 50 states in terms of both their provisions for and protection of personal and economic freedoms. Professor Sorens also continues to oversee a grant from Donors Trust. The grant supports a series of research workshops on ‘Markets and States.’ ”

    Exactly 13 days after the study on Freedom in the 50 States was released, the 1851 Center for Constitutional Law at the Buckeye Institute for Public Policy Solutions in Ohio, another free markets nonprofit, used the document in testimony on a House Bill in Ohio threatening to “initiate legal action” if the bill was signed into law. The testimony noted, from the report, that “Ohio recently ranked 38th in an index of economic freedom amongst the 50 states.” The bill the Center wanted to kill would have eased mortgage loan modifications to prevent foreclosures on distressed homeowners.

    DonorsTrust, which funded Dr. Sorens “Markets and States” workshops, explains itself this way: “DonorsTrust was established as the sole donor-advised plan dedicated to promoting a free society and serving donors who share that purpose. To date, DonorsTrust has received $230 million from these donors who are both dedicated to liberty and to the cause of perpetuating a free and prosperous society through philanthropic means…Know that any contributions to our DonorsTrust account that have to be reported to the IRS will not become public information. Unlike with private foundations, gifts from your account will remain as anonymous as you request.”

    Anonymity by the donors funding Dr. Sorens is not the only black hole. Homes and property purchased by Free Staters in Grafton are in the names of an array of limited liability corporations with no ability to ascertain the true party in interest.

    A home in Westmoreland occupied by a Free Stater is also owned by a limited liability corporation.

    Notes.

    [1] Transcript of Jason Sorens speaking at the American Enterprise Institute

    [2] Tim Condon maps out the plan for the Free Town Project in Grafton

    [3] “Grafton’s Messy Liberation,” Boston Globe, June 20, 2004

    [4] Blood Bath & Beyond, Grafton Locals Targeted

    [5] Anarchic Campout in Grafton http://burningporcupine.com/

    [6] Jason Sorens affiations with The Mercatus Center
    http://74.125.113.132/search?q=cache:NBCGMX1gMYcJ:mercatus.org/jason-sorens+%22mercatus+center%22+AND+%22jason+sorens%22&cd=1&hl=en&ct=clnk&gl=us&ie=UTF-8

    [7] “The Cost is Too High,” Public Citizen, OMB Report: Pgs 43 – 55,
    “Meet the Mercatus Center”
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