PorcFest 6/02/04 Update

6/02/04 Update – from Tim Condon

GOOD GOLLY MISS MOLLY! THE FIRST ANNUAL PORCUPINE FEST IS DRIVING ME CRAZY!

First Annual Porcupine Freedom Fest and Night on the Barricades is only four weeks off---being held from Thursday, June 24, 2004, to Sunday, June 27, 2004, in Lancaster, New Hampshire---and the PORCUPINES ARE COMING OUT OF THE WOODWORK! The "We'll Be There List" that appears at the end of this email is growing by leaps now, probably heading toward more than 200 Porcs who will promise to make it. We expect at least double that number On the Ground" at the Rogers Campground and Motel that weekend. If you're coming, but not yet on the We'll Be There list below, you'd better email me and get on it. Being able to look back on the very first coming together of the Porcupines, and being on that list, will earn you a place in history!

Lots of new things are being added to the Porc Fest festivities, almost as I write this.

THERE IS VOLUMINOUS INFORMATION TO PASS ON, so much that I'm just going to dive in and give a blurb for each one, as follow:

1. A very excited Porcupine, sounding like many others I've heard from: "I'll be there! Can't wait to see my future home. :-) I'm coming from Grand Rapids, MI!"

2. Brian Sullivan, from Ithaca, NY, is the FSP Booth Materials and Special Projects Coordinator. He says, anyone who has banners, bring them with you (there are several out there that have gotten misplaced, through no fault of Brian's).

3. Here's a report on "Ghostcow," young Randall Wolfe, who set out a week ago to walk from Kentucky to his new home in the Free State, and be at the Porc Fest. Along the way he was injured and his backpack and all in it was stolen. Read this:

   "Last night I was out walking 79 North (there were no available alternate routes) and started getting an extremely bad pain in my right foot. This made absolutely no sense as I had rested up the day before and my foot had been feeling fine (this happened late at night, not sure what time). After a while it got to the point to where I was having to stop every 10 minutes or so just to deal with the pain, this was NOT good as I was about 10 miles from the closest exit and couldn't set up a camp as I was surrounded by mountains and was in no condition to climb...

   Fortunately I eventually came to a sign telling me that there was a rest area two miles ahead. I did a mix between crawling and hobbling for the next two miles and managed to make it to the rest area in a few hours... Once I got there I took my shoe off and checked my foot.... I honestly don't know how this could have possibly happened but I had somehow worn a hole about a quarter inch deep and about as big as my thumb into my foot... (pictures are here and here for people who are into that thing, be warned, it's really gross) I sat and rested for a minute and then started pleading for help... I couldn't get a single person to help me! I was completely stranded and helpless. At this point it was starting to go on about 2am or so. Cars quit coming into the rest area so I gave up and asked the caretaker if I could pass out on a bench...

   Big mistake! When I woke up all of my gear was gone! My cell phone had also run out of power while I was asleep, so I couldn't call any porcs for help! At this point I was getting extremely desperate, as I still couldn't really walk and there were no buses or taxi services for miles upon miles. I tried the courtesy patrol, but they said they only help people with broken down cars (real courteous...)

   Long story short, I couldn't think of any option outside of calling someone to pick me up, and finally just got home a couple of hours ago. I'm still hobbling and I think that I'm going to be laid up for at least a week, if not two. I'm really sorry about this guys, you can't imagine how depressed this has me! I've been too embarrassed to even go get a new cell phone charger to call Amanda and let her know!

   All is not lost though... I was able to get plenty done while I was out! I told at least 100 people about the FSP in my travels, and those that I couldn't get to say they'd join said that they would most likely join the LP (I feel that helps us indirectly). Those people will now be telling their friends about the FSP, and so on, and so on.

   I don't really know what else to say other than I'm extremely sorry about this and I will be more than happy to refund every last penny of donation money. It will most likely take me a month or so to pay it all back, as I cannot return to work for at least a week. I DO get a paycheck on Thursday though, most of which will be used to refund donations. If you donated directly to me or Paul via Paypal or snail mail, or if you donated minutes to my phone, shoot me an email with your information and I will promptly refund your money. The email addy is GhostCow at hotmail period com. Once again guys, I apologize."

   One way or another, I want that boy at the Porc Fest!

4. We're going to have a raffle at the Porc Fest to raise money for the FSP. Included in this raffle are prizes donated by FSP Vice President Alan R. Weiss that are exciting to L. Neil Smith fans, including the following:

   • (1) book, "Hope", signed by L. Neil Smith and Aaron Zelman. "Hope" has become one of the most popular books amongst FSP literati, and has been read by Libertarian Party candidates Michael Badnarik and Aaron Russo.

   • (1) book, "The American Zone", signed by L. Neil Smith. The perfect follow-up to Smith's seminal and wildly-popular "The Probability Broach", "The American Zone" hardback book will take readers on another science-fiction/mystery sure to thrill, painting a picture of a liberty-loving future - and the alternative.

   • (1) DVD video, "Innocents Betrayed", signed by Producer Aaron Zelman. A hard-hitting documentary defining the 20th Century's mass murders as being directly related to "gun control" (otherwise known as victim disarmament), this DVD explains the various and brutal genocides and Holocausts at the hands of statists of both the left and the right.

   Says Lisa Goodwin, the FSP director of development, "Please help us make the Porc Fest a success for the Free State Project! Donate an item to the raffle! If you have an item representative of your state, or which you think a fellow liberty-lover would like to have, please email Lisa Goodwin for details. Items do not have to be expensive to be treasures! OR if you are interested in donating a bit of time to help in selling merchandise for a great cause, let Lisa know!" Email Lisa at lgoodwin@freestateproject.org

5. Don't forget the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, which is having a fund-raising dinner on Friday evening in Plymouth, NH, featuring speeches by the Free State Governor, Craig Benson, and FSP Founder Dr. Jason Sorens. This comes from Keith Murphy of the NHLA:

   "Dear Friend of the NHLA,

   The point of this message is simple: If you haven't yet sent in your payment for the June 25th Liberty Dinner, to be held concurrently with the Porcupine Festival, then do it now or risk missing the single most important event of the campaign season.

   I know, you keep thinking that you'll do it later, that you've got plenty of time before June 25th. We would love to have you there, both big-L and small-l libertarians, the members of the Free State Project and the LPNH and the Gun Owners of New Hampshire and all the other groups that obviously support the cause of individual liberty in New Hampshire. But the facility only holds so many people, and by the end of this week two thousand (yes, TWO THOUSAND) of the granite state's most dedicated pro-liberty campaign contributors will receive professionally printed invitations asking for their support.

   With the lineup we're offering at this event, including Governor Benson and Dr. Jason Sorens, as well as dozens of elected officials from across the state, the remaining seats will likely be gone well before the first campfire is lit in Lancaster in June.

   I'm attaching the text of the invitation below, to illustrate how important your support of the NHLA is and how little time you have left before all spaces are taken.

   Supporting the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance, either by simply contributing funds for pro-freedom candidates or by attending the Liberty Dinner, is the single most effective thing you can do to turn back the tide of socialism in the free state. Your contributions will be used directly to support candidates who demonstrate a commitment to small-government principles, and defeat those who encourage less responsibility and liberty.

   For FSP members, a successful NHLA means a successful conclusion to the project, as it provides a swift answer to the most common objection: "It just won't work." To reserve your seats online now, or to download a form for mailing, go to www.nhliberty.org/libertydinner.htm. If you don't, you may find yourself all dressed up on June 25th with no place to go. Thank you for your generous support.

   Keith Murphy, Advisor, New Hampshire Liberty Alliance

6. Camcorders. Don't forget to bring your digital camcorders to the Porc Fest! The more the merrier. Footage shot by some of us may be used in the Big Documentary about this first coming-together of the Porcupines (if you want to donate it for such use). It has been determined that there's not only going to be a single film crew present, but there may be two, both working on documentary films about the Free State Project.

7. There's a whole FSP forum devoted to Porcupine Fest stuff, at http//forum.freestateproject.org/index.php?board=60, including ride-sharing, who's going when, visiting the Free State for the first time, etc. Go to it for information, as well as the Porc Fest link on the home page of the FSP web site.

8. Listen, Porcupines! All of you! This is only the first coming together of the Free State Project in the newly-chosen Free State. Each year there will be a gathering of the Freedom Lovers there. But this is the first. And with it we will make history. Read this, all of you:

   S/He that outlives the First Porc Fest day, and comes safe home,
   Will stand a tip-toe when this day is nam'd,
   And rouse him at the name of Porcupine.
   S/He that shall live that day, and see old age,
   Will yearly on the vigil feast his neighbours,
   And say 'To-morrow is Porcupines' Day.'
   Then will he strip his sleeve and show his scars,
   And say 'These wounds I had on the Barricade that day.'
   Old men forget; yet all shall be forgot,
   But we'll remember, with advantages,
   What feats we did that Porcupines' Day.
   Then shall our names, familiar to history as household words-
   Jason Sorens, Amanda Phillips, Weiss, Bradford, Parker,
   Alexander and Swearingen, Mincin and Reich,
   Pratt, Tucker, Dillon, Condon, Hillman, and others -
   Be in their flowing cups freshly rememb'red.
   This story shall the good Porcupine teach his son;
   And the Free State Project shall ne'er go by,
   From this day to the ending of the world,
   But we in it shall be remembered-
   We few, we happy few, we band of Porcupines;
   For s/he to-day that points his quills with me
   Shall be my brother or sister Porcupine; be s/he ne'er so vile,
   This day shall gentle their condition;
   And Porcupines in America now-a-bed
   Shall think themselves accurs'd they were not here,
   And hold their spiny quills cheap whilst any speaks
   That appear'd with us upon that bless'd day,
   And upon those quill'd barricades, at Lancaster,
   Made history on Porcupines' Day.
   
   

   From Tim Condon, Director of FSP Member Services - tcondon@freestateproject.org
   
   

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