FSP Porcupine Festival, 2005

by Brian Wright

In Free State Project (FSP) Year IV, all pledgers and liberty-lovers everywhere have been invited to northern New Hampshire for the second official annual FSP hootenanny in the hills. After this one, yours truly will finally become a freeboot on NH ground.

To refresh everyone's memory, the Free State Project was the brainchild of Dr. Jason Sorens in the summer of 2001. At the time he was a political science college student/lecturer studying the decentralization of power. He initiated a political project summarized as follows:

Liberty-minded people move to a low-populated, freedom-receptive state within one year after a threshold number of pledges to move is met.

That's the essence of the project (it isn't easy to describe succinctly)[~/1]—the statement on the website is quite elegant). The FSP was thus born. After a lot of meaningful conversation in cyberspace and realspace, the threshold number was set at 20,000 individual pledgers. The destination state was determined by voting of the first 5,000 pledgers to be the "Live Free or Die" state, New Hampshire.

It doesn't take a lot of imagination to guess what fulfilled FSP pledgers actually do when they get to the Free State. Hmmmm, maybe they work together for even more freedom! Yes! The obvious idea is make New Hampshire a model for the other jurisdictions of the world: Live Free and Live! Or as Russell Means used to say: "Freedom is for Everyone."

###

Once again, I start out from my Michigan digs and point the Audi A4 eastward. The route through Canada is closer, but I don't have a warm-fuzzy feeling about customs' personnel these days (not that I ever did)...especially with a couple of choice libertarian bumper stickers adorning the car. Too much chance of routine government harassment.[~/2]

The trip to the Free State—many people increasingly substitute "the Free State" for "New Hampshire"—is uneventful. I do notice at turnpike service islands and rest areas that far too many Americans are technically in an obesely way: If a people's moral character were measured by the pound, the US would certainly get the Nobel Prize!

Question: Is obesity a function directly related to fat government, or vice versa?

Whatever, I and my fellow patriots, whether porky or svelte, are on a pilgrimage to what we will fashion into a free country. Coming in, 400 plus, from all states and even a few other countries, we are gathering for a major pep rally and to move the cart forward in terms of actually living the dream. Moving here, breathing here, growing here as good neighbors.

What distinguishes the Free State from, say, being a member of the Libertarian Party or some other political organization is that the FSP obliges not simply involvement, but commitment. Consider the adage that Michael Ruppert, leader of From the Wilderness, likes so much: "In your eggs and ham breakfast, the chicken is involved but the pig is committed."

Talk about putting your footprint where your mouth is!

Day 1: New Hampshire Insertion

I come up from the Mass Pike along Mass 83, which turns to NH 10 at the border aiming toward Keene. The road sign welcoming me to the Free State looks like some local Rotarians one day in the '50s had too many beers for lunch and decided to plant the sign as a gesture of goodwill. It has the look of one of those old handpainted Burma Shave placards.

Most of us are used to state welcome billboards with grandiose artwork, suns rising over amber waves of grain, and professionally metered slogans telling us how absolutely wonderful it is for us to be crossing this threshold into God's chosen land. Followed by multiple signs telling us all the things we must do or that we certainly cannot do.

So thanks, New Hampshire, for a perfect sign... in more ways than one.

I drive along some terrific twisting roads—maintained adequately but not perfectly—that Audi lovers and other driving enthusiasts would actually pay good money to drive so routinely, at will. Thank you, Jesus, I just died and went to highway heaven. As for Free State road signage, well that's another issue... to discuss later.

Looking at the roadside real estate, I sense you can still put up a trailer or a tarpaper shack on inexpensive land if you want to. The high rollers and the low rollers seem to live side by side without a fuss. But who knows what laws lurk beneath the calm surface?

I manage to thread the delicious spaghetti roads to find a Quality Inn in Bedford that used to be a Sheraton, but they forgot to drop the prices. To explore my surroundings, I drive to get some gas. As I also purchase an (indispensable) Delorme® road map from the Mobil attendant I learn Milly's Brew Pub is just over the bridge on the Mancester waterfront.

Hallelujah, another sacred experience!

Day 2: Initial Homesteading Process

This is my own personal first move to the Free State. In the technical jargon of Free State, I'm an "early mover," moving before the 20,000 threshold number of pledges is reached. Through the Free State forum and www.roomates.com, I just earlier this week had a conversation with a young homeowner with a room to rent in New Boston.

We meet and go through the place. It's perfect for what I need right now: private room, private bathroom, high-speed Internet, even garage space for my A4. We make the deal and I move some stuff in, then haul it on down the road. Within about two miles, I receive a message on my cellphone from an employment agent I've contracted. I meet with him in Concord on the way to Porc Fest. Major progress on home and work issues in one morning!

"Somedays a diamond, somedays a stone."

---

Note: You can see it's much easier for a man alone to get his wheels down in a new place. Couples and families have to be a little more planned out. FSP has increased its support system esp. the Welcome Wagon and related groups. Contact via site.

---

Getting around in the Free State is easy, and it's easy to find rural living within easy access of moderately sized cities. Around Keene yesterday, some rush hour traffic hit me, but nothing of the magnitude you get in Ratrace, USA. The key seems to be multiple distinct towns connected by winding, largely development-free rural roads.

###

This is only my Day 2. The festival actually started on July 23, the previous Saturday.

July 23rd is significant as the 2001 publication date of Jason Sorens' online essay in The Libertarian Enterprise, which first made the case for the Free State. So this July 23rd is the fourth anniversary of Free State concept publication. We're holding Porc Fest 05 at Roger's Campground in Lancaster, FS, same place as Porc Fest 04.

The main events before—Sunday thru Wednesday—are LP Presidential nominee Michael Badnarik's Constitution classes, a mock town hall meeting courtesy Free State pioneer and longtime NH resident, Mary Gere, as well as some hands-on 2nd-Amendment shooting training by Bill Walker.

All I do on this afternoon, Wednesday, 7/28, is drive to the Roger's site and shoot the breeze with people at the registration table: Dave Mincin (aka the Mad Hugger) of the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA) and Lloyd Danforth, among others.

Lloyd and I, both 50-somethings, find a lot of common early history. Lloyd was around during the early Foundation for Economic Education (FEE) days, rubbed elbows with Murray Rothbard and Ludwig von Mises. And we both know Morris and Linda Tannehill from Michigan![~/3]

Nothing being on my agenda for the evening, I check into my motel in Lancaster; do a few errands for water, vittles, and such; and walk around town taking pictures. It's amazing to discover what has gone into a town this old and small. On the courthouse lawn, I find a memorial to the men who died in the four major wars of the 20th century. It astounds me that more than 100 men died in WW I alone! It seems that not that many people live here now, let alone could have lived here then—or else they lost everyone who signed up? Tragic.

Also, some of the buildings in this northern NH resort-area town have very interesting architecture; in particular a residence along the main street looks like it was converted from a stone-walled factory. Another observation as the week wears on is the visiting population and traffic of Lancaster are higher than the previous year, though we came last year in late June, not July.

Day 3: Golf on the Nearby Mountainside

The mock town hall is scheduled for this afternoon, but I elect to indulge my own personal golf package[~/4] to frontload some exercise and fun on the weekend. Nobody will miss me. I do have some regrets upon hearing later how instructive the mock town hall was, but figure I'll be doing town halls for real in the not-too-distant future.

I play a few miles away at Waumbek GC again, shoot a legitimate 84 on the first 18-hole golf course built in the Granite State. The adage, "If you're breaking 80 (completing 18 holes in fewer than 80 strokes) at golf, you're not paying enough attention to your real job," comes to mind. The weather has turned from hot to beautiful, which bodes well for the Porc Fest weekend. Nothing else for me of earthshaking importance today. A final settling-in day.

(My) Day 4 (Friday): Taking Some Part in the Program

Today, Friday, begins the regular presentations in the Main Hall at Roger's Campground. I start with the Education Funding Forum. Mr. Charles Arlinghaus, president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, addresses us with information on how education is funded in New Hampshire. He also suggests some legislative remedies to allow more options.

The questioning period is lively. I'm overwhelmed. Hearing all these Byzantine laws and silly bureaucratic conflicts and supreme court rulings/ambiguities, I think, "What a friggin' mess." The only alternative a sane man would consider is divestiture: education is obviously not an area the state can even come close to running as well as your average village idiot.

I believe I suggested words to that effect in a question.

Virgil Swearingen, Pop of Varrin (the Porc Fest Czar), came up to me in break and said he fully agreed that the separation of education and state is the only way to go. It's wonderful to make these connections. You wind up learning so much by listening. Virtually everyone here has an absolutely wonderful voyage of self-discovery to communicate. Welcome to the Freedom Train.

Next, at 2:30, people like myself are featured—early movers. The topic is "Moving to the Free State." FS VP Evan Nappen is our enthusiastic moderator. He's purchased two rolls of chain, thick and not-so-thick, and two boltcutters, one large version and one giant super wombat thunderpig version (for the heavier chain).

As each new mover comes to the front, he or she cuts off a length of chain. This symbolizes breaking the chains that have bound us to our former statist states. Naturally, we manly guys pick the heavier chain and try to make the Paul Bunyan cut. I manage, but at 5'10" and 175, it takes some luck; Evan's there to help in case someone falters. (The photo shows a big guy early mover who cut the chain in a microsecond.)

After cutting the chains, we each get to say a few words: "Hi, Mom, way back there in Michigan, don't worry about the next payment on your iron lung machine. The check is in the mail." But seriously, even for a single between-jobs guy, it's a big step to leave friends and family to start over. I shed a lion-sized tear in my beer every time I think about it.

It goes back to the issue of commitment; nobody comes to the Free State for light and transient reasons. We come to make a difference, make history, kick some major statist buttski. Someone during the weekend came up with, "Come Home to New Hampshire."

We think the move is a challenge, and it is. But consider what the early American settlers had to endure to achieve a freer existence: crossing an ocean, no unlimited long distance, no 7-11s. Ha ha, but as tough as it is psychologically for some, we really do have it pretty easy.

We all take a bow with a handful of chain. When I come to the podium, I show some bumper stickers which with the help of a lady friend I've created. They say "Freedom: It's the Law!" Instead of the colon we place a scroll entitled Bill of Rights, upon which a the shadow of a colonial militia man is superimposed. Strikingly effective message.

---

Note: We rushed to get the first ones ready for Porc Fest, and the quality wasn't good. We're planning to eventually resurrect the stickers as first-class quality items; please contact me at brian@borep.org if you're interested in large quantities.

---

Following the love fest for us FS newbies, smiling Welcome-Wagon supermodel goddess, or at least highly cute mother of four, Margot Keyes addresses the assembly. FSP continues to improve the welcoming process, with meet and greets, more connections with jobs/real estate/social services, and help with moving. One guy says that if you hire professional movers, our Free State Beer and Pizza Moving Company will be majorly offended.

A directory of the Porcs who have moved to FS is also continually updated. It will be available on the website, but the latest hardcopy is on the registration table for only $3. The directory, I feel, will be helpful for initial hookups in my town of New Boston.

This year the Porcupine Family Dinner is held around the Main Hall on Friday evening as opposed to Saturday evening. Last year itinerate journalist Logan Brandt from the Reason to Freedom site wrote the following about the meal:

This year they get it right. Plenty of food, plenty of main meat dishes, plenty of wine—not sure if the wine was catered or a volunteer effort, perhaps the forum can enlighten us—and everything is first-class, AOK-terrific. I sit down next to a couple I don't yet know; the woman is the animated Mary Gere, who organized the town hall in Unity. Her husband is Paul as I recall, and is here mainly because he's family.

Paul said some interesting things. He's not a true signed-up Porc (Porc is a nickname for "FSP person" or even more generically a friend/member of the FSP, sometimes simply a resident of the Free State—in NH when you say someone has Porced up, it's a compliment).

No, Paul sees an insidious "Mass"ification process occurring particularly in Southern FS, meaning too many people from Massachusetts come in and want all the amenities they've been used to, only they want "everyone" to pay for these. And he's doubtful it can be stopped unless FSP is successful. He always votes pro-gun. He believes if only a thousand active Porcs move here every year, we'll handily control state politics in 10 years.

True. I would also say, we get a lot of leverage from people like Paul who have been here for years and want to keep what makes New Hampshire special.

Speaking of being pro-gun, Evan Nappen formerly of New Jersey tells us a new law enables NJ statists to take your home if you get caught with an illegal gun... even if it doesn't fire. And even if it isn't yours. The New Jersey thugs in suits must think no one in the state reads... the Constitution.

The evening for me is uneventful, as I return to the motel and write up some notes.

Friday is also the day of the Mt. Liberty Hike. Last year it was purported to be a bit of a gruel, a true climb, rather than a simple walk up the trail. This year, I find out later, it's the same, an ordeal (younger couple at the campfire tomorrow evening would confirm). Nonetheless, next year I hope to go, but not miss any good presentations.

Day 4: Saturday, the Main Event

Saturday the 20th is the big presentation schedule.

The several vendor tables display their wares—we have the FSP, NHLA, Gun Owners of NH, Bureaucrash, Coalition of NH Taxpayers, Republican Liberty Caucus (RLC), Liberty Scholarship Fund, and a few others I'm sorry I forgot (Where were the hemp-legalization people this year?).

Jason and Amanda offer opening remarks, then other principal speakers go through the afternoon. In the evening, many of us are attending the New Hampshire Liberty Alliance (NHLA) dinner featuring Texas Congressman Ron Paul about 55 minutes down the road in Plymouth. Finally, for those who remain awake, Tim Condon hosts the Circle of Liberty again around the big campfire, where, into the wee hours of the morning, you can pass the stick and say your piece.

Amanda utters a gem: "Someone said that in the future 20,000 libertarians moved here and no one considered the ramifications of having 20,000 libertarians being within arguing distance."

Jason's talk this year is on two main political virtues: courage and humility. He gives some interesting illustrations of courage from English and European History. Look up the Immortal Seven and The White Rose, people who stood up to tyranny of one kind or another in favor of natural rights. He concluded with comments on the goals, objectives, and status of the FSP. Already, we are the most successful liberty-minded migration movement in modern history, and the Porc Fest is the biggest libertarian event of 2005.

Some Q&A:

Alan Weiss of Austin speaks of the need for taking the organization to the next level of professionally managed operation, to accelerate the recruitment of pledges. 20,000 by end of 2006 isn't written in stone, more like a "biggest practicable number" in the shortest conceivable timeframe. Success is not inextricably tied to these integers. Jason mentions an upcoming press conference that will outline new FSP strategy.

We get some difference of opinion on the celebrated attempt to designate Supreme Court Justice David Souter's home in Weare, NH as an eminent domain taking. There was in fact a protest, July 17, in Weare with more FSPers opposed to the taking than were for it. Undeniably the publicity of pursuing Mr. Souter's home is good stuff. Certainly, no true libertarian would actually carry out an expropriation, even if authorized.

Someone suggested that we advocate "liberty-minded people" come to New Hampshire, as opposed to "libertarians." It's unfortunate the generic word libertarian carries specific connotations that some find offputting. Personally, I don't have a problem understanding lower-case libertarian vs. initial-cap Libertarian. Both are complimentary words.

We get some media coverage and signup rate is directly related to that. NPR did a piece. Per Mary Gere, don't come to the FS with the idea "I'm coming here to rescue you." More like "I'm here because I want to be free, and I want to fight for freedom for everyone."

In the afternoon, Heather Talley of Bureaucrash spoke. I recall her from the National LP convention in Atlanta, at which they staffed a booth. These are the movement's international Liberty Youth of style and substance. Into very clever designer t-shirts—at the convention I bought "Capitalism Heals"—they arrange to travel to big media events worldwide and make liberty seem avant-garde.

Often, the antiglobalist leftists protest these events. She said once at an international conference in Cancun(?), the leftists were protesting free trade in favor of "fair trade." It was a hot day, so the Crashers set up two soda pop stands for people to quench their thirst. One sold cold pop at the free trade price of 50 cents and the other sold pop at the fair trade price of $2.00. She said only two people actually paid the fair trade price.

You get the point. Bureaucrash. What can you say about a group that actually has a t-shirt with a bust image of the professorial capitalist FA Hayek under which big capital letters announce BAD ASS! She says they're successful in getting local chapters to support protests, the network gets the word out, and young people show up. Good stuff, check it out; I now have my Christmas list filled for my nephews and nieces.

I skipped most of Ed Naile from the CNHT, but caught some of his later statements. They really engage the opposition and, through constant vigilance, make the Free State much less susceptible to tax aggression. They stop tax bills that the Concord statists try to sneak thru in the dead of night. I also missed most of Katherine Albrecht, privacy advocate, Michael Badnarik, and legendary civil liberties author James Bovard.

Really wanted to catch James, but had to skedaddle to get dressed for the drive to the NHLA's Liberty Dinner. The drive to Plymouth State University's Prospect Hall took about 55 minutes, and I had interesting conversation with my passengers: Brian Sullivan, investment guy from Ithaca, NY; Neil Alexander, software engineer already here; and a young man named Keith, a member of the National Guard. Very excited to be part of this unique freedom-fighting intellectual activity he was; he met up w/girlfriend there.

I can't go into all the conversations, because you wind up talking to people all weekend and discussing ideas from dusk to dawn and dawn to dusk... or at least discussing the various ways in which the state diminishes our lives, and freedom enhances us. If I described all these encounters, this article would be a book. The intellectual excitement rocks.

---

I want to say a word about the "ordinary" Porc. He or she is just like an normal citizen of New Hampshire only moreso. Unpretentious, down to earth, willing to live free or die, and the most kindhearted person you'll ever meet. Give you the shirt off their backs. I.e. "Don't tread on me, and I'll be nice."

---

Increasingly, I've personally felt our direction should be much more fundamental, take the Rational Review Political Program, launch a culture-wide movement to enforce the Bill of Rights. L. Neil Smith has it right, we do this with formal announcement of employing the Zero Aggression Principle to accomplish our end: Constitutional government.

Just say no to the state. It never had the power.

This thought to insist on the Bill of Rights is very hot I feel. Along with that movement, I did some more thinking this week toward the establishment of the Nonaggression Principle as something of a sacred mission of our deep love of humanity. (Think Mary Ruwart and Healing our World.) I believe the time has come where the nonaggression principle, marketed as a gesture of love, is going to sell bigtime. The state is at the end of its rope. Freedom lovers have the only humane solution.

It looks grim sometimes, but consider that Carla Howell and a handful of brave libertarians in that god-awful government catastrophe to our south, Massachusetts, got 45% of the population to vote to end the state's income tax and replace it with nothing. They were totally blockaded by the Boston Globe and other media.

Folks, we are on the verge of taking our country back, and the Free State is the model for how we'll go about it. Sorry, putting down the soapbox now.

NHLA does terrific work. Local hero, former NH representative Don Gorman announced the 2005 Liberty Rating document that is just coming out, that rates individual representatives on the liberty scale based on their votes. Extremely useful for those of us coming to the Free State to get everyone on the right track.

The MC is Keith Murphy who has put together a good program.

The warmup act is a Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP) speaker, Mr. Fred Cole. He's a former narcotics cop, who's repented and joined the organization founded by Sheriff Bill Masters and others to argue as cops against the drug laws. He's certainly singing to the choir here. It's always good to get the statistics reinforced. I liked the stat when drugs are relegalized, 1.6 million fewer people will be arrested and additional millions of people will either be released from jail or, like me, have their pseudofelony records expunged.

Ron Paul is his normal amiable, rambling self. I've seen several Paul speeches over the years, and attended the LP Convention in Seattle as a delegate, where he was nominated as the LP presidential candidate. (I preferred Russell Means.) Still, Dr. Paul is the real deal, a man of absolute integrity in Congress. He speaks out and votes No a lot (126 times by himself from 2000-2004).

That being the case, him being unable to influence the Republican Party, I've wondered why he won't introduce articles of impeachment to get rid of the current administration. It is clearly guilty of treason in actively enabling and covering up its role in the 911 attacks, then lying to Congress about the premises for war in Iraq and Afghanistan. In fact, I have written out a question, to put it gracefully to the good doctor in Q&A.

But this is a long, dragged-on night. The room is hot, we've been sitting here for a couple of hours and it's a long drive home in the dark. Let it go. Sometimes I have the feeling attending dinners and banquets is the price one pays for political activity. In the future, I want someone to invent a robot or a clone, which can sub for me at these affairs while I'm playing golf, drinking quality brew, or otherwise creatively engaged.

The drive back is stimulating. As I said, the roads here are like Disneyland rides. The conversation typical libertarian fare. I drop everyone off around 11:30 p.m. at Roger's, then drive back to my motel to change into my mountain-man togs... or at least to get out of the suit. I wonder whether I should just crash.

Glad I decided to head back. The Circle is down by the road on my left just as I drive in from the highway. Lots of people here. All the principals: Amanda, Jason and his wife, Tim Condon, the Swearingens, Evan, Alan Weiss... Matt and Sid from Tennessee—these were some super dudes I met last night, Sid the Kid is a fellow homebrewist and shared w/me the other night when I was beerless; Matt is his philosophy instructor at the community college or something. It's rewarding to meet such gentlemen for whom ideas (and the freedom to make them happen) matter.

I'll be brief on the Circle, though some of us hard core were out there until 0300.

I'm sure I'm not remembering some key people, but Tim Condon seemed to run things. Not much to run actually, the idea is you take the walking stick and you get the floor. You can say whatever you want. Mostly positive vibes. I particularly remember hearing from Tony, formerly of the people's republic of Poland. It's always inspiring to get it straight from the heart what tyranny and freedom truly mean.

A lot of other people around the fire have also been victimized by the aggression of the state. I certainly have. Though nowhere near to the level of Tony and the people they destroyed back in the old country. That's why we're here. We are not going to let that happen to America—or at least not forever: a man from Michigan brings up the killings at Rainbow Farm (and of course there have been many government massacres).

We are going to rid ourselves of these demons of aggression once and for all. Claim our birthright and spread the good word. Wonderful group of people. If FS proves to be a last stand of some sort, then I can't imagine a better place for it. But I think we need to consciously resist any Alamo/circle the wagons images.

Instead let's imagine we're embarked on a mission to once again plant the seed for the Liberty Tree. Here on special soil with the tender loving care of hundreds and thousands of kindred, freedom-loving souls. This one will flourish. And its seeds we will spread everywhere at lightning speed. That's a better image.

Day 5: Sunday" So-Longs"

Sunday is the getaway day for many. Some stay for the religious services, or in my case Amanda's atheist revival meeting. We also again this year have a Seekers' group—not easily obtained on the Internet, so I'm not even sure a site exists—that can probably be located on the FSP site. And, of course, the Christians.

The distinction between the atheist grouping and the Seekers lies probably in the latter's arguable reluctance to jettison mysticism. Soul searching with people who eschew supernatural explanations is exhilarating to say the least. It is amazing how deep we are without throwing an incomprehensible, all-knowing, all-powerful deity into the mix.

Sorry for the editorializing again.

We really had a good time in our atheist conclave, though we are uncomfortable being defined as a negative. Perhaps next time, we'll just announce a meeting of all rational individuals with something to share of their own feelings and motivations. It's just easier to say atheist.

We left it with someone maybe going to post a category on the FSP forum. There is a Religion and Liberty category, so perhaps some activity can be generated there on a continuing basis.

###

Naturally, it's sad to say goodbye. Doubly for me, because I'm making my move now. A week ago I crossed the ocean between Detroit and Mancester, left my friends, family, and ex(es) behind. Now with these new friends disappearing to various corners of the Free State, I'm alone again naturally. And I have all this work to do to get settled and find a job.

The nice thing is people in the Free State are almost universally approachable and kindhearted. It's going to be very easy for me to make new friends, even among the natives. And when I do get my wheels down, I'll be giving Welcome Wagon Margot a call, and scouting for local Porcs around the greater New Boston metropolitan area.

As a service to others, I plan to post a weekly chronicle of my experiences getting lined up in the Free State. How I'm finding things work. How I'm solving certain problems others may run into. Often, it helps to know what not to do. Tentative title: "New Pilgrim Chronicle." It will be fun to share. I can already tell you NH is vewy vewy different. And vewy vewy wonderful.

Sign people up. Get them here. By this time next year, perhaps the Porc Fest will need to rent the campgrounds of the entire northern tier of New Hampshire counties!

[~/1] The following summary from the web page is the most elegant I've seen:

The Free State Project is an agreement among 20,000 pro-liberty activists to move to New Hampshire, where they will exert the fullest practical effort toward the creation of a society in which the maximum role of government is the protection of life, liberty, and property. The success of the Project would likely entail reductions in taxation and regulation, reforms at all levels of government to expand individual rights and free markets, and a restoration of constitutional federalism, demonstrating the benefits of liberty to the rest of the nation and the world.

[~/2] Major Idea in Transit: Create a voluntary, quasi-commercial worldwide citizen identification and certification program. The (renewable, say, every five years following one's tenth birthday) certification requires that the citizen represent zero threat to violate the nonaggression principle. (Government officials and aggressive criminals would have initial probation status pending validation of no further intent to aggress.) "Forge-proof" ID cards would serve the identification part of driver's licenses, passports, visas, etc. worldwide. Thus, end the international government paperwork mandate, and save the average citizen untold hours' worth of complete bullschtick.

[~/3] Authors of The Market for Liberty, an early humanistic anarchocapitalist tract.

[~/4] Another Crazy Idea While Driving: Libertarian Golfers' Association. There don't seem to be too many committed libertarian ideologues who also spend quality recreational time on the links. Perhaps for good reason. But if you open up the qualification process to golfers who have libertarian sentiments, I'll bet you could raise a fair number of stickwielders.

---

Note: By the way, any of these groovy ideas are—so far—out there for the taking. Just give me a nod of attribution when you make your first million.

---

Bill Walker

2005 Porcupine Freedom Festival Report – Bill Walker

After months of communications and planning, Porc Fest '05 sort of snuck up on Kate & me, and we began scurrying to make the necessary arrangements for organizing and packing a ton of stuff into our tiny car for the 700-mile trip to the Free State.

We got a screened-in tent for our campsite, large enough to fit over a picnic table so that we could keep things dry and insect-free during the week-long festival. We also picked up a heavy-duty fabric roof rack to supplement the limited space inside the Mazda.

Since I was and would be organizing the "Second Amendment Activities", and was therefore bringing six rifles, eight handguns, and a shotgun – along with the usual related equipment, supplies, and several thousand rounds of ammunition, I needed to secure everything in a manner that would comply with Federal law for interstate transport of firearms as well as not set off any red flags for the socialist Grenzpolizei in MD, NJ, and NY. I didn't have enough locking containers to put all of the ammo and firearms into, and I needed a way to transport and secure all of the guns after we unpacked the car at the campsite. Many hours of research, design, and redesign produced a blueprint for a gun cart that could be loaded up with everything needed for a complete range trip – guns, ammo, targets, cleaning supplies, a chair and shooting bench, even a padded gun vise and a Dremel tool for cleaning and minor repair. It had wheels, and it locked. Two sheets of plywood, lots of sawing and gluing, and four or five trips to various hardware stores over the next few days produced a rough prototype – sans chair and shooting bench.

THURSDAY [July 21, Richmond VA]

We began packing the car on Thursday night. Piles of guns in a giant cart needed to be wheeled down a flight of steps that the rear cart edge didn't quite clear. Lift, roll, clunk. Lift, roll, clunk. As sweat poured off of me, I imagined taking a giant spill that would crush Kate and dump $5000 of guns all over the concrete below. Ugh. Finally reaching the bottom, we had only a short off-road trip up a grassy hill to the car. At least the wheels worked nicely. The cart had to be turned around and carefully maneuvered into the trunk – and then the legs wouldn't clear that last 2 or 3 inches. AHHHHHHH! Murphy had predictably visited us. We popped the cart open and removed the legs, managing to JUST slide the cart into the car – and then at the last second ripped off the wheels in the process. @#&*! Oh well, we can fix that after we get there.

Next we had fun shoving the roof rack onto the car, creatively securing it with straps and buckles – since the metal clips that were supplied wouldn't hold onto the doorjambs of the Mazda. We dripped sweat in the heat and humidity to get the thing loaded and sealed – just before it poured rain all night long. I guess we'd see if it was really as waterproof as the manufacturer claimed. I hoped so, since the tent – and all of our clothes – were in it.

FRIDAY

Friday morning, we ran up and down the stairs, carrying the last of the mountain of stuff into the car and rearranging it so that WE could fit into the car as well, and so I could see out of the rear window. A few items were judged at the last minute to be nonessential (cardboard IDPA targets, etc.) and left behind. We stopped for gas and food, and began to run the interstate gauntlet while monitoring channel 19 on the CB radio my boss had gifted to me. Lots of chatter about The Man in the Big Hat, bears, "brushing your teeth and combing your hair", and girls. We listened to an intellectual and very libertarian conversation about race. Every so often we'd have someone get on the channel and teach us some new vocabulary words. Once – in the Catskills – we were repeatedly serenaded by an escaped mental patient singing, "Meow meow meow meow, meow meow meow meow." Through tolls, off and on exit and entrance ramps, under "Report All Suspicious Activity" notices, and past the watchful eye of toll-collectors, we proceeded north as the July sun beat down and radiated through the windshield. Every so often we had to pull over on the side of the road and heave the roof rack forward onto the car since it had slid backwards on the roof and was dangling over the edge, causing it to flap in a truly disconcerting manner at highway speeds. Up and down mountainous roads we drove in our little 4-cylinder import, loaded down with a ton of stuff and straining against gravity and the air-conditioner to reach our friends in the Free State. The closer we grew, the gloriously cooler it got.

At long last, we arrived in Keene, and made our way to Varrin & Edi's home by about 8pm. We made good time and it was smooth sailing all the way. No blocking off all five lanes of Route 95 like the year before, no MD state po-lice confiscating all of my guns, no NJ state po-lice arresting me for 1000 years for transporting mountains of hollow-point ammunition, and no NY state po-lice shooting me to death for transporting handguns. Whew. I slid out my Galco NSA-II leather holster and proceeded to secure my H&K USP Compact (.357 sig) with the LEM trigger into the rig as an assertion of my Rights and as a celebration of my safe arrival in the Free State. I also marveled at what was surely a 30-degree lower temperature than what we left in Richmond, VA.

We enjoyed meeting Virgil and Lois Swearingen (Varrin's Parents) and watching Varrin scurry around the house as he – oh yes – just then began to pack. We talked and drank, and ate, and played with Edison and Erin, and poo-poo'ed the government, and then ate and drank some more. We discussed the weather and how Varrin usually likes to camp without a tent, and how the last time he went camping and it rained, his friend forgot to pack one. And we ate and drank some more.

SATURDAY

Saturday morning entailed stuffing Edison head first into my sleeping bag stuff-sack so that Varrin was free to pack and load the van, unpack and rearrange the van, search for missing items, and run last-minute errands. Once Varrin's family had loaded into the van, they all predictably had to get back out to use the restroom and then get settled back in. A few brief directions were relayed, and the caravan headed out toward the highway. A mere twenty minutes out, and I was frantically braking to avoid rear-ending Varrin's van as he swerved off to the side of the road. Varrin apparently likes camping without a tent so much that he neglected to pack one. The Fellowship parted ways and would meet up again at Roger's.

We made our way into Lancaster and stopped at the grocery store for a quick supply of camp food. And beer. Then we made our way down the street to the campground and checked in. It was still light out, we were awake, and we knew exactly where our campsite was. It was an amazing improvement over the year before. We parked the car and began setting up the campsite, and Lloyd Danforth wandered into camp to tell us that he had a 12' x 24' tent he could bring over for social gatherings since we had a double-sized campsite. As we talked and set up, we noticed that there were LOADS of people already in camp and it was still only Saturday! I had a feeling that this year's festival was going to be BIG. Mary'L Gere stopped by and dropped off a huge pile of hearing protection for the Second Amendment activities. As we walked down to Dawn's camper to see who was checked in, we met Tony Stelik and his friend Mike, Russell Kanning and Kat Dillon, Pat K., and lots of other people I recognized from either MD FSP meetings, the 2004 Libertarian National Convention, last year's Porc Fest, or one of the local FSP meetings at Millie's.

We headed down to Site 31 to cook chicken wings, meet people arriving at the festival, and take part in the Kickoff Party that of course had cake – yummy cake. And beer. We met Bill Campbell, Matt and Sidney [KY], Nick and Jeremy and Carl-the-Swede (TM) who were going to film a documentary [MN], Ward and Lisa Griffiths, and tons of other folks. Some folks burned a UN flag over the campfire. We played with my Bushnell night vision monocular, and then Dawn kicked us out from in front of her RV so that they could sleep – sheesh. So I lit up my ?-million candlepower flashlight so we could all find our way back in the otherwise pitch black, and a few other night owl porcs and I sat around and talked until well past midnight.

SUNDAY

Jeremy Noyes and I drove down to the grocery store to buy real food, and he proceeded to go hog wild and buy everything in sight. He must have been hungry. Or pregnant. And then he tried to pay for it all. He must have had low blood sugar. Anyway, we loaded food-for-twelve into the car and then made a trip to the hardware store to buy eye & ear protection, some 1 x 3 lumber for target stands, and some brackets and a pound of screws for reattaching the wheels to my gun cart. We then hopped across the street to the other hardware store to get a compass for when Jeremy would go evaluating properties for the White Mountain Land Club, and I got a shovel to do a little sprucing up at the shooting range.

After we unloaded all of the goodies back at camp, we hooked up with John Conner who volunteered to come along and help set up the range. We headed out of Roger's and down Route 2 past Santa's Village, a little tourist place that was packed to the gills, and made a left onto Ingerson – a gravel road across from Six-Gun City. At the end of Ingerson, we drove into the woods along Pond Safety Road – an unpaved dirt road full of big rocks and sometimes even bigger potholes. The second dirt path on the left was the entrance to the range, so we parked our cars and carried the lumber and tools through the ruts and gullies until we arrived at a clearing. I had forgotten that the clearing had stretched out so far out from the left side of the road – it was perfect for the clay target shooting I wanted to do the next day. We walked farther up to the little range, which was a LOT smaller than I remembered, but it would serve the purpose that I needed it to. We hacked away some brush, shoveled away some detritus, and began fashioning points on the lumber to be driven into the loose but very rocky soil. After all of that was set up, we cleaned up some of the garbage left by other people, dug some of the larger rocks out of the way, and filled in some of the holes that people might stumble into. Then we measured out yardages and pounded in stakes to mark the various ranges.

Not to let a perfectly good visit to the range go to waste, I showed Jeremy how to shoot my H&K, and he quickly got the hang of it. Unlike throwing a ball at a target you don't focus on what you're shooting at, you focus on the little front sight at the end of the gun barrel while lining it up with the distant blurry target that you want to hit. It doesn't sound right, but when you compare the results of both methods you quickly learn that keeping your focus on the front sight makes an amazing difference. I've seen people miss targets at a range of 5 yards when they had forgotten to focus on the front sight instead of the target.

John Conner was eager to learn how to carry a pistol, and we somehow managed to finally fit my inside-the-waistband (IWB) holster inside of his waistband – after he loosened his belt up and sucked it in. Draw, fire, reholster. Well, that last part turned out to be a little tricky....

Later on in the evening I wandered over to Matt and Sidney's campsite and sampled some of their store-bought beer and delicious homebrew. About ten people were gathered around the picnic table, engaging in hardcore libertarian conversation and lamenting the state of affairs that the government has led our once-proud and beautiful country into.

MONDAY

Some time around 9 or 9:30am, people began arriving at the campsite, and wondering what was going on. I figured that we'd wait until 10 in order to give people time to finish showering, eat breakfast, and find their way over.

We got a bunch of people together and thankfully, Peter Herrick had a huge van that we could pack all of our equipment into, and would clear the ruts and gullies on the dirt path that led up to the range. I wanted to see if the two local gun stores were open so I could pick up some targets and provide people with eye protection. I hopped into the car while people were packing their stuff into Pete's van, and went to the little gun store across the street – it was closed. So I came back and led everyone out to Whitefield to see if the Village Gun Store was open, but they too were closed. Well, we could manage.

I think that Lloyd showed up about then to assemble his mammoth canopy, and a group of 10-12 people sorted poles and connectors, tightened thumbscrews, and bungeed the giant tarp to the frame. We then lifted the entire roof up while we shoved poles into the connectors and then slid the whole assembly over so it overlapped the little wooden structure on the campsite. Next came a few lessons on the taut-line hitch to secure the corners down in case if high winds. The thing was as big as an aircraft hangar.

Peter, Jeremy, Joseph, Lloyd, John, Jerry Lynch and the entire Gere family all hopped in and we finally got to the range at about 1:00 and shot about half of a case of clays – once we figured out how to stabilize the thrower in the loose soil with makeshift stakes and rocks. The trick to clay target shooting is to know where to position the clay in relation to the sights, and knowing where the shotgun shoots. Then just relax, get that shotgun up and mounted as fast as possible and smoothly track the clay across the sky until you're on it – and squeeze the trigger. It's a knack. Sometime I got it, and sometimes I don't. Robert Gere definitely had it that day and proceeded to powder clay after clay as we launched them across the clearing. I think he may have found a new hobby. We called it quits around 3:00 and picked up a few hundred spent shotgun shells and bits of trash before heading back to camp to make dinner.

When we got back, we found a Gadsden-Style flag for the Militia hanging on the canopy, donated I'm sure by JP.

After dinner, we made our way down to Kat and Russell's campsite where there was a horde of people doing the libertarian socialization thing. This entailed large quantities of alcohol – probably as a talisman to ward off the feds – and vampires as well. Lisa Griffiths was having a grand old time, and Jane Aitken, Web Mistress of the Darkness was enjoying wine, lots and lots of wine, so I enjoyed some with her. Lloyd and I burned a UN flag over the campfire, sort of as a daily affirmation to avoid entangling alliances and protect the Constitution from foreign enemies. Later that evening I headed down to "31" and met more new arrivals and old friends. We got kicked out and stayed up late at my campsite talking with Robert, Thomas, David, and others about libertarian activism.

TUESDAY

Sometime really early in the morning we awoke to the industrious crunching of plastic, and when I unzipped the tent and looked out, there was a squirrel busily chewing on a newly purchased loaf of bread. Hoots, hollers, and threats were of no avail, since the little guy just looked over at me, did a little mental "yeah, whatever" and brazenly continued munching into the loaf. I looked over at my .357 sig and decided that 115 grain CorBon hollow-points would be overkill, and settled for just pulling on some jeans and chasing the little thief over to someone else's campsite.

Sometime around 9 or 9:30am, people began arriving at the campsite, and wondering what, if anything was going on. Once again, I figured that we'd wait until 10 in order to give people time to finish showering, eat breakfast, and find their way over. Eventually we had assembled a typical libertarian gathering, where there were lots of people standing around trying to figure out how to get organized. I decided that the cats needed to herd themselves, and Peter once again let us use his van to haul our gear to the range.

While equipment was being transferred and loaded into vehicles, I hopped into the car while people were packing their stuff into Pete's van, and went to the little gun store across the street to buy a box of .38 special for Bill & Dawn and a box of .380 auto for Neil Alexander. Dave, the guy that runs the store, had gotten robbed while he was away in Florida and all of his guns were stolen. I supposed the kid who robbed him had panicked afterwards, because he dumped all of the guns in the woods or the river, and then – no kidding – committed suicide by shooting himself with a crossbow. You can't make this stuff up. Dave didn't have any cardboard targets, so I drove out to Whitefield risking an unfamiliar and as I discovered hardly faster route, to see if the Village Gun Store had any cardboard IDPA silhouettes. They didn't have any cardboard targets either, so I grabbed a business card to post at my campsite and headed back. By the time I got back, people were finally packed and organized, and I led a huge – yes, huge – caravan of cars, trucks, and vans to the sand pit. I think we had about 18 people.

While I scrambled around trying to make the best of the supplies I had, Jeff Jordan – "Hunter" graciously instructed people in the basics of gun safety and firearms handling. I managed to set up about 4 targets with some old cardboard I found and the really stubby staples in my staple gun, and then set up a piece of shot-up steel shelving as cover for the IDPA course I had planned to run. IDPA stands for International Defensive Pistol Association, which is where cardboard targets are set up to simulate real-life self-defense scenarios, and the shooters must engage the targets with concealed weapons as fast and as accurately as possible. Most of the people we had were new shooters, and so we spent a lot of time showing folks how to load magazines, how to operate revolvers and semi-automatic pistols, and people shot guns of their own. So IDPA got scrapped, and we had lots of fun introducing new shooters to the joys of guns. Stance, grip, front sight, and then Squeeeeeeeeeze. Bang. SMILE. These folks were having a GOOD time – boys and girls ranging in age from 12 to 55. When we were done, everyone picked up spent brass and bits of trash, and helped pack everything up.

We headed back to camp and made some food while Thomas, Dave, Jeff, Jerry, and Emerson stayed to help disassemble and clean firearms. Gunmetal and moist outdoor air don't mix well, so I had invested in a few cans of Break-Free CLP, G-96, and Sheath to keep my guns from slowly corroding into piles of red powder.

Later on we wandered from party to party, sampling the different atmospheres at the different campsites. I stopped by the film crew's campsite to see what was going on there, just in time to watch Jane shift that crucial fraction of an inch beyond the center of gravity of her chair – in slow motion I reached out as I watched her topple backwards, taking the folding table and its assorted beverages and condiments with it. Jane, a dedicated and enthusiastic wine connoisseur found this to be uproariously funny. The lass so endeared herself to me that I sang the opening bars of "The Hero of Canton" from Joss Whedon's libertarian space-western Firefly. Nick immediately recognized the ballad, being a huge Firefly fan himself, and began unpacking a video monitor so that we could watch an episode (or more) of the show – perhaps another night – since he had thoughtfully brought along the DVD's. "Mi mi mimi. Ahem. Jane! The girl they call Jane!" Now I had that song stuck in my head – probably for the entire rest of the week. We made our way down to Dawn's RV, and it began to rain. Sometime after 11pm she came out and shooed us away, so we reassembled back at my campsite to discuss politics and the future of freedom until the wee hours of the morning.

WEDNESDAY

A few people wandered by throughout the morning wondering if we were going shooting, but it had rained off-and-on all morning, the sky still looked a bit gray, and people staying in Roger's Motel had reported that there might be thunderstorms. The previous year had taught me how volatile the weather could be, and so I decided that we might wait until 1:00 or so to see if the sky cleared up. It didn't.

It rained. It rained and rained and RAINED. And then it POURED. Later on in the day it switched to an all-out deluge. Water cascaded in almost a solid sheet across the ground, leaving just a few dry spots under Lloyd's cavernous canopy where we piled tarps and ammo boxes. So we just ditched the day's shooting plans and made coffee, munched food, smoked cigarettes, and talked when we could hear ourselves above the thundering din of raindrops pounding against 288 square feet of canvas roof. I used my shiny new shovel to enhance the almost overflowing drainage trench around the little wooden shelter – the one that drained straight into the fire pit. I checked into the tent to see how it was holding up – the last North Face tent I had camped in had leaked like cheesecloth – and I discovered that we had some leakage around one of the seams near the tent stake. So I shoved a few small towels against the side to keep things localized, and pulled the ground cloth out from under the tent, where water was collecting into a small lake.

We had the Minn-eh-sodah film crew come by, you know. They took some footage of us talking about politics and freedom and activism, and of a few people sinking down low in their chairs so as not to be caught on camera.

Late in the day the rain finally stopped, and we ventured out to visit our friends in other parts of camp.

THURSDAY

People started assembling at the campsite as usual, and I quickly announced that the cats had to herd themselves and find their own rides. This is a great secret for getting libertarian activities moving. We made pretty good time organizing ourselves and driving to the sand pit, and a few experienced volunteers helped set up the range while Jeff made sure that everyone new was familiarized with gun safety and basic gun handling. I made the command decision that we would actually run the 3-gun match I had scheduled, and got people to grab a handgun and get in line. One by one, I ran them through the course: move to the left as 3 targets were shot at least 3 times each with the handgun, then drop the gun, pick up the pump shotgun and move to the right while taking out 5 clay targets lined up along the ground, and then finally load and fire the AR-15 at 5 cans or plastic bottles arranged on the metal shelf. Not surprisingly, the handgun portion seemed a little challenging, but once people picked up the shotgun and the rifle there occurred an amazing transformation – even first-time shooters did really, really well. And after each person shot all of the rifle targets, I just had them unload the rest of the 30-round magazine, making all of the fallen cans and bottles fly around – sometimes clear to the other side of the range. Some folks supplied their own handguns, Dave brought his shotgun – which he was determined to shoot at least once this week, and another Porc brought his MAK-90 (Chinese AK variant) with two 75-round drum magazines. Let me point out that there is a noticeable and very clear difference between a 60-grain .223 and a 122-grain 7.62 x 39 bullet. Maybe half of the cans and bottles went down with the AK in a carefully aimed manner before the decision to simply unload was made. The entire area around the platform erupted into flying bits of dirt and plant matter as he bump-fired from the hip and annihilated a good 6-foot square area with bullets and muzzle blast. Once Machinegun Kelly was finished "recycling" the targets, I finally stopped laughing long enough to thank everyone for attending "Bill's anger management class." When we cleaned up later, we found all of my .223 cases and picked them all up, but I don't think that any of the AK brass was anywhere to be found.

There was a lot of free-form shooting where people practiced with their own firearms, sighted in rifles, and tried more of the handguns that we brought for the events. There are many authors in the Freedom Movement who advocate that Americans reclaim our place as a Nation of Riflemen. I could not agree with them more, and after watching the joy and skill with which all of the participants engaged the rifle targets, I think that such is a sound and reasonable goal. We can peaceably assemble and teach each other the lore and craft of riflery – however I think that training a nation of skilled handgunners will take a lot more effort – I know that achieving speed and accuracy with a handgun has sure been an uphill battle for me. But the interest and enthusiasm are there, so I am excited to see what new equipment and skill shows up at Porc Fest '06!

FRIDAY

I took my time getting some much needed sleep and fueling up with sandwiches and coffee before heading down to hear Bernard von NotHaus speak about the Liberty Dollar. He was down in the pavilion where Poker Face was setting up their equipment. The "dollar" (Federal Reserve Note, Æ© is worthless fiat currency, and only serves to help balloon the already unmanageable National Debt. Debt to whom? Why, The Federal Reserve of course – a PRIVATE company that's no more affiliated with the federal government than most banks or the Federal ammunition company. While there, I got a donation in silver from a generous Porcupine to defray my costs in setting up and running the shooting activities, and I picked up a copy of Bernard's Liberty Dollar DVD.

Poker Face was finishing setting up their equipment, so I headed back to my campsite to pick up some beer and cook dinner at Dawn's campsite – Steak, onions, peppers, and pineapple. After I had stuffed my face and picked up some more beer, I headed over to the pavilion to hear the show. The sun was streaming over the hills and shining brightly onto the band as they worshipped freedom and energized themselves and the steadily growing crowd with a mounting frenzy of sound and light. These were musicians with a message, and as they sang their songs into the blazing rays of the setting sun, they appeared to me as Warriors of Freedom wreathed in fire. Laden with electronic gear and armed with instruments of Liberty, they raised their voices in unison to greet an army of Freedom Fighters bent on working towards – and achieving – Liberty in our Lifetime. Anyone who missed out on this show missed out bigtime. I owe a huge thanks to Chris Gronski and all of the people who worked and donated money to make Poker Face's presence at the festival possible.

The band played well into the night, and finally closed their show with what I hold to be some of their best songs – and the near complete destruction of their drum set. As the band began packing their equipment up, hordes of porcupines made their way up to the campgrounds to search out the night's festivities. There were acres of food and refreshments at Joel's site, and I got to meet all sorts of people who had made their way up to Rogers for the weekend. In addition to tons of new folks, I talked with Matt and Sidney, Ritchie from Poker Face, and just an endless number of great people having a great time. Some time around midnight I finally tore myself away from the party so I could get some sleep and be up early enough to pick up Michael Badnarik from his motel room.

SATURDAY

Somehow I managed to get up in time to get dressed and drive down to pick up Michael Badnarik at the motel he was staying at in Lancaster. There was some sort of festival being held in the center of town, and I had to take a small detour around Route 2. As Michael and I were getting into the car to return to Porc Fest, a po-lice oppresifer was walking past us and my spider sense just KNEW that something was going to happen.

"Excuse me, sir," the oppresifer said as he wandered up along the front of the car. "Yeah?" I said. "I see that you're carrying a firearm, do you have a permit for that?" "No, but I'm open carrying, so I don't NEED a permit." (visibly backing off) "Yes, well, thank you for carrying it openly, but there's a festival going on and people might have questions." "Well, I'm certainly confident that I can supply them with answers." (backing off further) "Well, yes, you have a nice day, and stop by and enjoy the festival." "Well, we're actually headed back to Roger's campground where we're having our own festival – you're more than welcome to stop by." ..ooOO( and the folks there might have more than a few questions for YOU. )

So Michael and I headed back along the detour as the public road that was closed off began to be clogged on either side by traffic, and he just looked over at me with a hint of a smirk. He's probably been through the same sort of thing 1000 times before. If I had not joined VCDL as soon as I had moved to Virginia and became a gun owner, I would not have had the knowledge, the resources, and the resulting confidence and courage to defend myself against the lies and tricks that police officers routinely use to intimidate completely peaceful citizens just going about their daily business. I am also grateful to Michael for educating me about my Rights, inspiring me to be a proud and sovereign citizen ("It's good to be King!"), and further strengthening my resolve to never again back down from a petty tyrants while enjoying the free exercise of my Rights. Do I have a "permit" – oh PLEASE! Nothing causes me to rededicate myself to my goal so much as pointless and arbitrary official harassment. Freedom. Freedom at any cost.

We made it back to Roger's without further incident, and Michael went and got his vendor table set up – paperback editions of It's Good to be King! and a DVD copy of his Constitution class. I got to hear Heather Talley's presentation for Bureaucrash, and I plan to heavily plug into their activist network in the upcoming year. I really think that they can help floundering libertarian activists to network with each other and so get more accomplished in their local area. I then wandered around to check out the vendor tables and eventually made my way back to the campsite with Kate to make lunch with Hunter. I made it down to the Breaking the Chains event, which was really inspiring, and the very kind of thing I love about Porc Fest. Next, Varrin & Amanda gave out Free Stuff to festival organizers, and I got a VIP shirt (Very Important Porcupine) for going out and having fun at the range shooting guns. Go figure. I already have a job where they PAY me to hang out all day in a gun store. Maybe next year they'll actually rook me into doing something useful.

Michael was up next and gave a run-down about his plans for freedom and political action. I always love to hear him speak, because he understands the core issues so readily and is able to come right back with a clear, sensible answer that always makes me wonder why I can't think of that kind of solution and response.

Right after that another porcupine and I did get rooked into doing something useful – setting up the projection screen for the next speaker. We sort of stared at each other, and then back at the screen, and then bumbled our way through setting it up with all of the things that folded out, twisted, turned, and unraveled. We didn't get injured and I'm pretty sure that we didn't break anything, so I guess we did okay. Katherine Albrecht of CASPIAN gave a talk about RFID chips and tracking consumers, which was really Orwellian and totally raised my hackles. We're talking serious creep factor. I'm preparing to start repackaging all the stuff that I buy and then dissect the containers for hidden tracking devices. It's not paranoia when they're actually there. (Some links: Spychips · Supermarket Privacy · RFID · Biometrics)

Partway through James Bovard's presentation I had to make my way back to my campsite and get dressed for the NHLA dinner. I'm glad that we had the P.A. system and that I wore hearing protection at the range, because I didn't miss much.

We then hitched a ride to the NHLA dinner with Bill & Kathy Beeman. It took about 50 minutes, which was pretty short, and we got to see a lot of really beautiful countryside. We talked about a bunch of issues and about next year's Porc Fest. Always planning ahead. We got to the dinner and Dawn Lincoln & crew were – checking people in. Familiar theme there. Bureaucrash also drove down to set up a table. We had a few drinks in the lobby and checked out a bunch of vendor tables – some of which had cool books about activities in the Freedom movement. I love cool books. Hell, I just love books. And books on freedom swiftly divested me of yet more cash. Well, Kate's cash.

Dinner was really good, and there was plenty of food and coffee and dessert. We got to hear a talk by Fred Cole from Law Enforcement Against Prohibition (LEAP), and then there was a mad dash during the break to go outside and smoke. I was steadily working my way through a carton of cigarettes – brought up from PhillipMorrisLand, and I felt the need to help support the home state's economy. Congressman Ron Paul spoke next and had a good Q&A session. We made the trip back and got to Roger's around 11:30pm, and I was quite amazed to find that the parties were JUST starting! I hung out with Joel and Amy at their campsite where again there was a ton of food and beer and all sorts of stuff. We talked about next year's Porc Fest and then I got to talk to Tony Stelik about guns and his experiences in Poland, and then Evan Nappen showed us his billion-dollar holster from Mitch Rosen – a very high-quality gunleather company in New Hampshire.

Late in the night I made my way down to visit Tim Condon at the Circle of Liberty that was taking place down by the pavilion. We shared our thoughts and our beer around the fire, and then we packed up all our trash around 3am and headed to bed.

SUNDAY

I wandered about to find the Seekers meeting, since there was an actual lecture on how science gets mixed in with freedom and spirituality – or something. I was running on a week of whirlwind activity and a corresponding lack of sleep, so the title and the name of the speaker didn't fully register. I wasn't up for hymns at 80 dB – you could hear them clear across the campsite, and the year before I had spent the morning at the atheists' gathering. I figured I'd try something new. There was a lot of really interesting history and intelligent interpretation of events, all of which was aimed at explaining how Liberty is spiritually healthy and we have a spiritual Right to destroy tyranny. There were plenty of other folks like Gardner who were really into this and who had read all sorts of books that I hadn't – so I mostly just listened and then hunted and gathered breakfast and coffee.

I ran into the Minn-eh-sodah film crew, you know, and they were drooling over the opportunity to go to the range and shoot their rifles. They were just finishing filming an interview with Varrin the Porc Fest Czar, and had to rearrange half the van to get to the firearms that were buried under a thousand pounds of camera gear. We picked up Thomas, Kate, and Hunter and drove down into Lancaster to get some lunch at a little diner. We ate a ton of really good food, gave the waitress a healthy tip, and made haste to the Sand Pit. The boys had a pair of Schmidt-Rueben straight-pull rifles in 6.5mm Swiss, a .223 bullpup carbine, and a WASR-10 in 7.62 x 39; Kate and I brought a matching WASR-10 (Romanian AK-47) and a tricked-out AR-15; and Hunter brought his "FrankenFAL" FAL (Fusil Automatique Leger, or Light Automatic Rifle) in .308 (7.62 x 51 NATO).

The Schmidt-Ruebens have an interesting loading device that's sort of a cross between a fiber M1-Garand clip and an SKS stripper clip. You grab a pre-loaded package of 5 rounds, insert the metal rim into the action, push down on the casings through the slot in the fiber container, and all of the rounds are smoothly loaded into the fixed box magazine. The container is removed from the action, and the bolt is slammed home. Those things must have been one hell of a battle rifle in its time.

We put a few magazines through Nick and Kate's WASRs and cut down some of the intervening vegetation partially obscuring our view of the targets. After a while, we made use of the handguns to shoot a steel spinner,

and repeatedly pounded the target with 45 caliber bullets – there are few more satisfying sounds than big bullets hitting steel targets. We each put a few rounds of .308 through Hunter's FAL, "The Right Arm of the Free World," and while Thomas was shooting I studied the gas blasting out of the muzzle brake during each shot. I noticed that the jets seemed to have rotated counterclockwise from my vantage point, and asked Jeff if they were supposed to be at an angle like that. Apparently the silver solder holding on the muzzle brake had broken loose and the brake had begun to unscrew. So we tightened it up and started winding down.

But then, Nick and I decided that the vegetable minions of the UN that were encroaching on our libertarian gun range had to be dealt with – and swiftly. So we loaded up two 30-round magazines and assumed a tactical stance with our pair of Romanian AK's. "Go, go, go!" I whooped, as we rapidly made our way forward to engage the offending scrub – me crouching to the right and keeping my muzzle down while Nick stayed upright and pointed his muzzle over to the left. "Now!" I hollered, as I got down on one knee and shouldered my weapon. Nick and I let off a barrage of 60 rounds of Russian ammo that seared through the scrub, felling a few branches and causing bits of foliage to erupt out the rear. Ratatatatatatatatatat! Ratatat! If terrorist trees ever have any nefarious plans for the good-ole' US-of-A, Nick and I will be there to stop them. We detached our mags and showed clear, then headed back to the van with our muzzles down. Nick had a big stupid grin that showed we had bonded in a manly fashion, with guns. All sound and fury, and signifying – well – that perhaps a scythe is far more effective at removing scrub than an assault weapon. We cleaned up all of our brass and then ferried everything back to the road where we transferred our gear back into my car. We said goodbye to the crew, since they were heading straight back home from the range, and then went back to Rogers to clean up.

We spent the rest of the day lounging around the campsite, saying goodbye to people as they headed out, packing the car and organizing the rest of our stuff. I dug out a huge boulder whose tip was sticking up out of the dirt and causing people to trip. Never attempt to dig up a "little rock" in New England. We had already collected some wood, and then a few bundles of split wood were donated to us, so that night we built a nice size fire and enjoyed the company of Hunter, Charlie & Dorothy Parker, Thomas Brown, and other late leavers. Charlie showed us an old "sporterized" Enfield bolt-action rifle in .303 British that he picked up for 75 bucks at an auction. A few patches down the bore and some CLP on the bolt showed it to be in good working condition, and the crown looked like it hadn't been abused. I hope he has fun shooting it when he gets back home. I think that Hunter and I finally called it quits around 1:30 and made plans for meet for breakfast.

MONDAY

We got the last of our stuff together and shoved it into the car for the ride home. Of course, the car got packed slightly differently from the ride up, and I had less legroom and reclining space. We took a quick breather and talked with our friends, then finally headed out to begin the long journey home. Somewhere along the way we had packed up the power adapter for the CB, but I think that we were zonked enough to enjoy the silence on the ride back. We stopped in Vermont on the way back to peruse a sale at a sporting goods store, and get some coffee and donuts at Dunkin Donuts.

We picked up some snacks at the gas station across the street so I could guiltlessly use their restroom, since I was ready to pee out of my eyeballs, and I used the cleanest gas station bathroom I have ever experienced. We made another stop for gas in New York, and met a biker and his wife coming back to New Hampshire from their vacation.

We made good time, and again successfully snuck under the radar of the oppressive authorities. Worn and tired, we carted most of our gear from the car to the apartment, and then passed out.

AFTERMATH

So now that I'm back in Virginia, what are my impressions of the festival?

I just met 400+ people who proved that Liberty can and does work. An entire campground was filled with people – with backgrounds and upbringings as diverse as any college campus or large corporation, probably even more so – yet there was no Government that was centrally planning how many of what type of people were going to show up, and there were no penalties to be paid for failing to have the appropriate number of racial, cultural, or social minorities. I would have to think very hard to find a segment of the population that wasn't represented. [Whoops, we had no lefty democrats, I mean Communists.] We had whites, and blacks, and Polish immigrants, and Latinos, and women, and atheists, and republicans, and polyamorists, and Christians, pot smokers, and old white men, and open gay people, smokers, and black women, and democrats, gun nuts, and children, and college students, and libertarians, and Asians, and Costa Ricans, and on and on. We didn't need a Board of Diversity to tell us to show up, in what numbers, and who we should hang out with camp with, cook with, eat with, sleep with, or indeed who we could be and what our value as people was for just being US. And everywhere I went people were getting along, and doing things, and working together without anyone telling them what they had to do, or that they had to do it a certain way or with certain types of people. And they were having fun. And they were responsible and trusted each other. That was obvious. People were handing over valuable personal property to use, lending money, lending people cars, leaving their campsites unattended, and there were a heck of a lot of people drinking beer or walking about with openly carried or concealed handguns – and no one got into a fight, got shot, got robbed, or injured a child, and all of the campsites were clean.

New people would roll into camp, and folks would just show up and help erect tents and canopies, give directions to local businesses, explain the layout of the campsite, and invite perfect strangers to drop by for dinner and drinks once they had gotten settled. At night, I could wander down the pathways and be welcome at any number of small or large parties taking place – and everyone brought food, and drinks, and chairs, and a ton of other creature comforts. People would talk about books, and music, and almost everyone was smiling! You could even tell that the people who weren't smiling – because they were deep into discussing serious subjects – were having a good time, because they were in the company of people who really thought, and understood. There was a large Quantity of Quality Time spent at Porc Fest, and I found it very rewarding. It really cleansed my soul and energized me to DO what needs to be done to move to the Free State and kick major statist butt. I think that I'm really going to love my new neighbors, whoever they turn out to be, and I'm excited to see the results of all the discussions and collaborations that took place throughout the week.

There was a very strong sense of can-do attitude. No task seemed daunting, and the speed with which people grasped and exploited entrepreneurial opportunities was impressive. T-shirts, bumper stickers, CD's, books, beer, chili, FSP Buck knives (!)

and loads of other goods and services were available or in the process of being planned out by people sitting in the grass. It was so pervasive, that people you'd never met before would show up and say, "Can I help?" and it was just so natural. You'd meet someone for the first time, and 5 minutes later you'd be discussing business opportunities or the streamlining of some existing service.

I would walk through the woods and stumble upon a group of 3 or 4 people with widely varying opinions and viewpoints discussing – not arguing – economics, gun Rights, religion, politics, housing construction, schooling, entrepreneurial business, and a host of other intellectual subjects. They discussed, and considered, and reasoned, and didn't try to shove their opinion down someone else's throat or out-shout an opposing view. While drinking beer. While armed.

I had to travel 700 miles to a mountain campsite to find real, civilized people. It was awesome.

[I have to admit that Kate and I were quite busy during the whole week, and I look forward to reading other attendee's Festival Reports to learn about what I missed and gain insight into events that I attended – from someone else's point of view.]

Porc Fest '05 - Chris Lopez

Report on Porc Fest '05

by Chris Lopez

Here is a little bit of an idea of what Porc Fest '05 was like as seen through the eyes of Chris Lopez.

We arrived in Lancaster about 7 pm on Thursday. There was still plenty of light & I was able to snap off a few pictures of the mountains and a few attendees. Dawn Lincoln was heading up the registration camper & had it down to a science by the time we got there. Many people had been there since the previous Saturday, but most people showed up for the Friday & Saturday events. There were a few neat items for sale with the FSP logo on them & I was quick to pick up a t-shirt & bumper sticker. The golf shirts sold out by Friday, but I hear there are still quite a few that can be ordered on-line. Probably the cutest item available was the porcupine planter.

From there Seth & I ventured forth to meet & greet some other campers. It didn't take Seth long to start up a conversation near the registration area. Jean & Neil had their bus parked next door and, as they say, that was that. I however couldn't sit still for too long at any one spot throughout the festival & soon found Kat, Kira & Russell's campsite. Oh yeah, they also had food! They had quite the crowd there that first evening of mine, but I did overhear that it definitely wasn't the first party of the week. I met Estelle who was the most recent mover & found her story of luck & fortune very hope filled. John brought his guitar along & sang his Porcupine Anthem. It brought JP to tears & gives us all something to think about.

Friday morning started out nice & brisk & we went on down to the cafe. It was filled with hungry campers, so we made conversation while waiting for our food. The hikers all gathered together & it looked as though it was going to be a great day. At 10 am, I enjoyed the presentation by Don Gorman of the NHLA. He was very spirited & he let us know how easy it can be to effect change in the State House of New Hampshire. I know this from first hand experience because I have been to the State House several times with Don & the NHLA. It is very open and lobbying for a specific bill of interest is as easy as standing up and stating your case. Basically. Here's a little article that I wrote for the NHLA about that.

For the next few hours I had the privilege of helping out at the registration camper. I really enjoyed meeting new people and answering whatever questions I could. Probably the most fun, though, was just plain socializing.

At 2:30 that afternoon many of us gathered in the main hall again for the "breaking the chains" ceremony. It was very dramatic and symbolic of our victory over the "oppression of the state." (grin) Our Vice President & new mover Evan Nappen brought in both small & large chain along with a 2 sets of bolt cutters. Each one of us that had made the move in the last year came up front, broke our chain & told the audience a little bit about our moving experience. The grand finale culminated in our lifting our chains high with a loud "Hurray!"

Soon after was our Porcupine family dinner. I was the one collecting tickets :) The food was good, but I think the highlight here was definitely the conversations that sprang up between the movers and those who had not quite decided. Seth & I met some great people & I was able to tell them a little bit about what I have been doing in the short time that I've been here.

From here were the Poker Face concert and various evening events. Seth & I danced to the rock & roll music & it made me want to grab my guitar and play. My room was next door to the polyamory party, so I stopped in to say hello. It was a very small group of people who were nice and polite. I looked through the collection of buttons that were displayed & expressed interest in one that stated "Civil marriage is a civil right." After all, Seth & I have never needed the state to tell us that we are married to each other. After playing a couple of songs there, I brought my guitar over to Joel & Amy's camp site & hung out for a while. We played cards and had some fun, but soon the night was over & it was time for some rest.

Saturday morning started off pretty early (for me) and I went to help with the FSP and Liberty Ladies tables. From the tables we could see & hear the presentations in the main hall, so I didn't feel like I was missing too much. The morning really flew by with all the activity around the exhibit tables. There were so many interesting groups and people asking & answering questions, that it was all very exciting. I was even presented with the pin that I had admired so much the night before.

It's funny, when I look back on it all, that I really do know a lot of people here. I've been here less than a year & I already have so many friends and acquaintances. I don't share every interest with all people, but I recognize faces & am actually remembering some peoples' names! I had friends at the NHLA table, the Liberty Scholarship table, the Objectivist table, the Liberty Ladies table, the Libertarian table, and the GONH people. That's a lot for a girl that moved out from Oregon & wasn't really sure about the whole thing a year and a half ago.

I believe that this morning and most of the afternoon were very productive in helping people gain more of an understanding of who we are and what we are doing here in NH. It was more than selling t-shirts and promoting our particular brand of philosophy. Here we were able to ask and answer questions that I believe are important to people that have not quite decided to move. There were also some presentations that I did not attend, therefore, I will not review them.

As soon as the volunteers were properly recognized, Seth & I were off to Plymouth for the NHLA Liberty Dinner. We first made our way to the VIP social and had some delicious hors d'oeuvres with Congressman Ron Paul and others. It was very small and quaint, but a nice little get together after all.

When we got to the college, the line to get in was pretty long, so I tried to help out as much as I could with the registration process. Dawn Lincoln was definitely the hero there. Our Liberty Ladies booth was one of several in the lobby during the reception. It was a little crowded, but as soon as the program started we had plenty of room.

After dinner the program began with Jack Cole from LEAP (Law Enforcement Against Prohibition.) I thought it was a very interesting presentation about how the war against drugs just isn't working. Mr. Cole gave us some statistics as well as his own personal history in law enforcement. He's seen first hand how this war has not kept people from buying drugs, in fact the number of people addicted has stayed constant while the number incarcerated has risen. The specific piece that I found most interesting is that some countries that don't have prohibition also offer assistance to those who want to get off drugs. They actually give them a choice, drugs or life without drugs, instead of "Just Say No!." Hmm.

Next it was Don Gorman's turn as Political Director of the NHLA to hand out the Legislature of the Year Award. This award went to Clifford Newton from the Strafford District with a 92.59% Liberty Rating. There were a few other legislatures to acknowledge, including Sheldon Sawyer from Cheshire county, Bea Francoeur and David Buhlman from Hillsborough county, Richard Marple from Merrimack county & Paul Ingbretson from Grafton county. FYI, all 6 legislators are Republicans.

Last but not least for the evening we heard Congressman Ron Paul speak of his experiences in Congress. Apparently we went over our alloted time in the hall and the air conditioning shut off. Unfortunately, I can't elaborate about his speech, as he touched on so many things.

So now we headed back to Rogers and the Saturday night camp fires. Seth & I brought our glow sticks and sparklers to the Circle of Liberty. It was a pretty big crowd and people were taking turns holding the 'big stick' and telling stories. We didn't stay long, but headed up to the Irregularly Shaped Polygon of Non-Conformity. We stayed for a few hours and played guitar, sang, ate snacks & talked, talked, talked. It was a nice way to end our adventures at Porc Fest '05 with friends and new acquaintances.

The next morning we said our goodbyes and even had brunch with some other porcupines. It was also our first anniversary, so Seth & I drove around the state and found a waterfall and other neat sights to see. We had dinner in North Conway at a good Thai restaurant and then headed home. It was a great adventure and I can't wait for next year!

2005 PorcFest Spam #11

    The Free State Project’s
    Second Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival
    will be held on
    Saturday, July 23, 2005, thru Sunday, July 31, 2005
    at
    Rogers Campground & Motel, Lancaster, New Hampshire
6/26/05: PFS (PorcFest Spam) #11
EMERGENCY PorcFest Roundup #4

---

YIKES! THE 2nd ANNUAL PORCFEST IS LESS THAN A MONTH OFF!!!

            For various reasons (all due to lack of time and going crazy with multifarious projects), I haven’t gotten a PorcFest Spam out for a MONTH. Now there’s so much to report that I’m just going to have to give it to you rapid-fire. Because of the time-squeeze to get this out, I can’t give another chapter of Supercharged Solitons (or “How the Free State Project Saved America”). There’s just not enough time... So listen up, and act!

            THE PORCFEST SCHEDULE HAS BEEN jumping around over the past few months like some kind of demented Libertarian Jumping Bean (a species of jumping bean that grows only in the Free State). You need to LOOK at the schedule at http://www.freestateproject.org/news/festival/schedule/ and see what’s changed since last you checked it.

---

Food, Food, Food, Food, Food

            THE LAST TIME I TALKED TO YOU, I promised information on the PorcFest food situation. Here’s the final information: There will be a single PorcFest-Wide meal held on Friday, July 29th. It will be dinner (supper, for you southern Porcupines), and will be held starting at “about” 4:30 p.m. that day (sandwiched, so to speak, between the Reports from Individuals and families who have made the move to the Free State, chain-breaking by FSP VP Evan Nappen, and the Welcome Wagon presentation on the front end, and the Polyamory Social Gathering (eek!) at the back end that starts about 6:00 p.m., before the Rock Concern with Poker Face that begins at 7:00 p.m.). Wanna know what’s for dinner? Check it out:
        Tossed Garden Salad with Dressing and Croutons
        Potato Salad with Egg Garnish
        Macaroni Salad with Tomato Garnish
        Hearty Pasta Salad
        Swedish Meatballs over Rice Pilaf
        Baked Homemade Rice Pilaf
        Green Bean Almondine Sautee
        Buttered Fettuccini Noodles
        Cheese Stuffed Ravioli with Marinara
        Marinated Tenderloins of Chicken Stir Fry with Fresh Vegetables Saute
        Hot Assorted Homemade Rolls & butter
        Dessert Du Jour (that’s Romanian, I think...)
        Coffee, and Decaf, and Tea, and Ice Water
            THE COST OF THE MEAL with be $20.00 each (part of which goes to support the continuing work of the Free State Project). IF YOU WANT TO PARTAKE of this wonderful meal (headed up by super-Porcupine Margot Keyes, who “made the move” to the Free State in the past 12 months with her husband Bradley and their four children from far-away Minnesota), then you need to “sign up” for it (so we can tell the caterer how many meals to prepare). We’ve got to have the final count in to the caterer by Friday, July 22, 2005, so....
            IF YOU SIGNED UP ON THE “WE’LL BE THERE LIST”, you may or may not have had the opportunity to include a sign-up for the Friday dinner. If you signed up “early-on” with the We’ll Be There list (like me), you may not have had the chance to sign up for the dinner. If you signed up for the dinner on that list, it would still be a good idea to let us know you still want in on it. If you signed up for the dinner on the We’ll Be There list, but now don’t want to participate, you need to let us know. If you signed up on the We’ll Be There list and didn’t have the chance to sign up for the dinner, then you most DEFINITELY need to let us know you want to eat that afternoon.
            CLEAR? I know it's confusing. Go back and re-read the above paragraph.
            THEN NOTIFY US that you want to be one of the PorcFest Dinner eaters by emailing Varrin Swearingen (our PFC this year, aka PorcFest Czar) at THIS ADDRESS: varrin@sugargroup.net. So go on and SEND HIM AN EMAIL NOW. Tell him “you’re in,” and that you want to pig out at the PorcFest Family Dinner on Friday the 29th.

---

2nd AMENDMENT ACTIVITIES...

            THIS IS ANOTHER biggie. The Second Amendment Activities at the PorcFest are going to be held on an ongoing basis. Note the schedule, and you’ll see that activities will be held “all day” on Wednesday the 27th and Thursday the 28th. Get with people there, find those who are helping with the shooting activities (especially Super Porcupine Bill Walker, who is the 2nd Amendment coordinator this year), and it will be easy to find out who’s going where to shoot, and who’s helping whom to learn.
            HOWEVER...there’s also going to be a special, great, beginners’ class held by super-max Porcupine Tony Lekas, an NRA Certified Instructor in Basic Pistol and Basic Personal Protection in the Home (if you’re a beginner
with guns, you will want to attend this class). It will be held on FRIDAY, the 29th, starting at 8:30 a.m. Here’s the scoop from Tony:

Shooting Introduction for Beginners

            This activity will begin on Friday July 29 at 8:30 am sharp at the Pavilion in Roger’s Campground. It is intended for those with little or no experience with firearms. At the Rogers Campground Pavilion we will meet to discuss safety, the parts and operation of the first firearms we will use, and the fundamentals of shooting. We
will start out with .22 revolvers and .22 rifles. We will then travel together to a nearby range so the participants can get some practical experience shooting. We will work with you to help you improve. We will also have other firearms available. Participants may leave whenever they want. If there is interest I plan to stay at the range through the afternoon. I can cover the operation of other pistols and rifles I’ll be glad to answer any questions about firearms and their use that you have.
            There is a $10.00 charge to cover materials. If you do stay into the afternoon I may ask for some additional money to cover ammunition and targets, especially if you use much ammunition other than .22.
            Given the facilities available and in order to provide individual instruction the number of people who can participate in this activity will be limited to about 15. If you are interested please sign up by emailing me at tony@lekas.org. First come, first serve. Participants under 18 are welcome but a parent or guardian must accompany them. Consider the physical and mental maturity level of the child before you bring them. If you have any questions contact me. I have had some children as young as 6 as students who have done well with a .22 rifle. Usually by 10-12 most children are ready. If you will be bringing children please let me know and provide the age(s). Young children need more one-on-one attention and if we have many I’ll need to round up more instructors.

            (Uh...Tony...I gotta tell ya...I promise you there are going to be more than 15 people who want to take your class...starting with me. You may find yourself with 150 or 200 people. Here come the emails.) Everyone who wants to take Tony’s class, email him at tony@lekas.org. RIGHT NOW!

---

IT’S NOW OR NEVER, BY THE WAY...

            ...just a reminder. If you haven’t got your plans firmed up, your plane tickets purchased, your car trip and friends gathered together, you need to take care of it NOW. I talked to some freedom-lovers the other day who WANTED
to attend the PorcFest...but they were still THINKING about it. Just a friendly reminder. FIRM IT UP NOW!

---

“CHECKING IN” AT THE PORCFEST

            ...IS GOING TO BE REALLY FUN AND REALLY IMPORTANT because you’ll get some great free stuff. When you get to Rogers Motel & Campground in Lancaster in the Free State (whether you’re staying in the motel, a tent, an RV, a trailer, or somewhere else), head into the campground to TRAILER SPACE #34. There you will see a white travel trailer with blue trim; it will “most likely” have some kind of big sign taped up on the. side of it (such as “SIGN UP AND CHECK IN HERE!”). That will be the place to check in with our super-Porcupines Dawn Lincoln and Kat Dillon, and whoever else has volunteered to help them out (hint, hint: you can email Dawn with offers to help at homeschool4ever@juno.com.
            AT THE CHECK-IN you will be given a Free Goody Bag that will contain cool stuff. No, I’m not going to tell you about all the great stuff that’s going to be in that bag. Anticipation will make you excited to check in! (But there will be name tags, lanyards, maps, business cards, that kind of stuff.)
            YOU WILL ALSO GET a full-color 2nd Annual Porcupine Freedom Festival (and Night on the Barricades) Program. You’ll want to have one, because there’s so much stuff that’s going to be going on.
            YOU WILL ALSO GET one or more raffle tickets (if you care to participate), and one or more meal tickets for the big PorcFest Family Dinner (see above), also if you care to participate.

---

AND LEST WE FORGET...

            ...THE PORCUPINE ENTREPRENEURIAL GROUP (PEG) WILL BE MEETING AT THE PORC FEST FREE STATE PROJECT VICE PRESIDENT EVAN NAPPEN is putting together a group of folks with a variety of skills, experience, and knowledge for a common goal --- to live in the Free State. The idea behind PEG is for entrepreneurial Porcupines to focus on creating some kind of lucrative business venture in New Hampshire. PEG will brainstorm to determine what product to produce. PEG will formulate and execute on a business plan. The first meeting of PEG will be at the Porcfest. In order to participate, you must
            1. Be an FSP Participant.
            2. Be willing to invest $50,000 or more into the Company.
            3. Have a desire to own, start up, and work on an entrepreneurial venture in the Free State.
            4. Possess experience, knowledge, or a skill needed by the company (e.g. accounting, marketing, engineering, sales, law, management, IT, HR, finance, machine shop skills, etc.).
            5. Be a rational, forward-thinking person who is not afraid to be creative and to take reasonable risks.
        IF YOU WANT TO KNOW MORE you need to get with Evan Nappen, who is issuing the invitations to this private group (not officially associated with the FSP) at gunesq@optonline.net.

---

SPEAKING OF FSP VP EVAN NAPPEN...

            This guy is great. He’s a one-man idea factory. He’ll be heading up a “chain-breaking ceremony” to be held on Friday the 29th between 2:30 and 4:15 p.m. (somewhere in there). Do you want to break the chains of the omnipotent state, and the myriad unconstitutional and unnecessary rules, laws, statutes, ordinances, commands, orders, etc. that tie you down today? MOVE TO THE FREE STATE! And break your chains. You’ll be able to actually and in reality “break your chains” at Evan’s ceremony on Friday. Be there.
            Also, Evan will have a Revolutionary War musket which has been traced and verified as having been utilized at the battle of Yorktown (where the good guys won) and elsewhere during the war for independence from King George. You will be able to see and handle it, and have your picture taken holding it whilst wearing a Revolutionary tri-corner hat such as the
patriots wore during that era.
            Evan has also prevailed upon the Buck Knife Company to create a Free State Project memorial, folding, lock-blade Buck knife that is gold-plated, engraved, and presented in a laser-etched presentation box. There will only be 300 of them made, and each one is etched in metal “#28 of 300" or “#165 of 300", etc. FSP Buck knife #1 will be raffled off at the 2nd Annual PorcFest. Be sure to ask about it. Others will be for sale, and the proceeds will be used to continue the work of the Free State Project in sparking a migration to New Hampshire from all over America.

---

            THE “TASTE OF THE FREE STATE” LUNCH FORMERLY SCHEDULED for Saturday, the 30th? It’s cancelled. Cross it off your list. Some th things just aren’t meant to be. Instead, let’s a bunch of us gather around a campfire, or descend on that neat little restaurant in downtown Lancaster. For lunch that day, we’re on our own.

---

FREE STATE TOWN TOURS...

            ...are going to be going on all week long, but mostly on the 28th. Yet another super-Porcupine activist, Edwina Houlmiere, will be coordinating tours of various parts of the Free State, all of which will be hosted by various volunteers knowledgeable about “their part” of New Hampshire. The “organized tours” will be conducted on Thursday, the 28th. You can find out details of the tours when you check in with Kat Dillon and Dawn Lincoln at the camp/RV site #34 (see above). For more information on the tours, you can also email Edwina at edwina@cbifutures.com.

---

THE MOCK TOWN MEETING!

            DON’T FORGET...the “Mock Town Meeting” to be held on Thursday, the 28th, in the Town Hall in Unity, NH starting at 2:00 p.m. There you’ll see, hear, feel, and experience how REAL New England democracy actually operates. I’ll be there for sure, and hope to see you there too! For more information, email the Mock Town Meeting coordinator, super-Porcupine Mary Gere, a 10-year member of the Unity Board of Selectmen, at Gere1356@aol.com.

---

            SHEESH! I can’t go on anymore. This PFS is way too long already, even without the latest installment of Supercharged Solitons. I’m sorry I haven’t been able to get a PorcFest Spam out for the past month...but another will be coming by the end of the next weekend...PROMISE! More info on the PorcFest to pass on. In the meantime, get ready for what may well be the largest gathering of true freedom-lovers in the world in 2005. In other words...

SYATPF!

(See You At The Porc Fest! This is Evan Nappen’s slogan. I stole it to use it here.)

---

FURTHER NOTES:
            1. For all information about the PorcFest 2005, go online to www.freestateproject.org/festival.
            2. FORWARD THIS EMAIL to your own email lists. We all have lists of friends, family, and freedom-lovers we know, and they should all have the opportunity to attend PorcFest 2005. So when you receive this PorcFest spam, pass it on!
            3. In 2004 the We’ll Be There List topped out at about 177, and over 300 people attended. Today we’re about to break 300 with 297 currently on the list. Check out all your friends who have already signed up at http://freestateproject.org/news/festival/bethere2005.php ...and then add yourself and your family members NOW, before it’s too late!
            4. Lodging and accommodations at the Porc Fest: Here’s everything you need to know about the Lancaster, NH campground and motel where the PorcFest will be held, as well as other local lodging; go to http://www.freestateproject.org/news/festival/lodging.php.
            5. To see what PorcFest 2005 is going to be like, take a look at PorcFest 2004 reports and pictures online at http://freestateproject.org/news/festival/festival04/
            6. If you have any questions, email Varrin Swearingen, “PFC” (Porc Fest Czar) for this year, at varrin@freestateproject.org, or me, Tim Condon, at tim@timcondon.net (813-251-2626).

---

SUPERCHARGED SOLITONS, or “How the Free State Project Saved America,” Chapter 11, by Tim Condon has not yet been written. So who *knows* what’s going to happen next? Stay tuned for future installments, Porcupines!

Note: Supercharged Solitons is a dystopian-future science fiction novel “in progress” where the United States has gone to hell and only the Free State and its fiercely independent, individualistic, and defiant citizens observe the Constitution and maintain traditional American freedoms; as such, they continue to prosper amid the wreckage elsewhere in America. All chapters can be read online at
http://www.freestateproject.org/news/festival/publicity/.

PorcFest Publicity

PorcFest Publicity

Press Release

Ads

PorcFest Spam

Periodic updates – from Spam Master Tim Condon

Back to PorcFest Home