Primum non nocere is a Latin phrase that means “First, do no harm.” The phrase is sometimes recorded as primum nil nocere.
Nonmaleficence, which derives from the maxim, is one of the principal precepts that all medical students are taught in medical school and is a fundamental principle for emergency medical [...]
Observers of the Free State Project are undoubtedly aware that civil disobedience has been growing in popularity as a method of promoting limited/no government in New Hampshire. I have been struggling with this concept for, well, crap, years now. It’s been just over three years since I expressed some [...]
tribe - noun any aggregate of people united by ties of descent from a common ancestor, community of customs and traditions, adherence to the same leaders, etc.
They came from the Seacoast (on the eastern border), Salem (on the southern border), and Winchester (on the western border). They came from the [...]
Three years ago today, I blogged about how I was leaving the Libertarian Party and becoming politically independent. To paraphrase the Dead, what a long strange trip it’s been since then.
Today, I’m declaring a different kind of independence, and one that I believe is more significant than a [...]
I think I owe an apology to everyone I’ve ever pulled a high-and-mighty on for working for the government, or a government contractor, or a less-than-savory private organization. I’ve spent much of the last three days working for a nonprofit thinktank. A thinktank that provides services to the Department of [...]
I used to think that it didn’t get any better than springtime in the San Francisco Bay Area; given a choice, why would anyone live anywhere else? Having broadened my horizons since then, I realize that springtime is beautiful in lots of places, including southern New Hampshire. The color green [...]
Roses are red,
Violets are purple;
Sugar’s sweet,
and so is maple syrple
– Roger Miller, “Dang Me”
About a week ago, I finally crossed one of those stereotypical New Englandy things off my lifetime to-do list: I went to a maple syrup manufactory, otherwise known as a “sugar shack”. I [...]
I tried to kill this blog the other day. I swear I did. It resurrected itself.
First, I deleted the index file. I didn’t delete the others because I wanted to export the content, and due to something buggy in the blog software, I couldn’t actually access the export button. A [...]
I’ve been half-heartedly househunting for several months now, and seriously looking for a couple of months. About a week ago, I finally went to visit the one house I’ve had bookmarked for a long, long time (its initial listing was out of my price range, but the price has dropped [...]
I’ve been half-heartedly househunting for several months now, and seriously looking for a couple of months. About a week ago, I finally went to visit the one house I’ve had bookmarked for a long, long time (its initial listing was out of my price range, but the price has dropped [...]
Quiet around here, huh?
It’s not that I have nothing to say. Au contraire… I’ve got LOTS to say. Not so much about politics, political movements, the Free State Project (whose recent convention, the New Hampshire Liberty Forum, was excellent and if you missed it, you missed out), etc; [...]
Suddenly, my schadenfreude-laced voyeurism of the nosediving U.S. economy has taken a turn for the uncomfortably close to home. (Did that sentence make sense?)
Wait, let me back up. And let me parse this carefully so that it winds up neither on Fucked Company nor my COO’s desk.
I work for [...]
This isn’t a political year in review… or a New Hampshire year in review. It’s *my* year in review.
Overall, I’d have to say this year was a mixed bag. It had some pretty high highs, and some pretty low lows. Moderation was never my forte. :-\
Accomplishments of note over [...]
On Saturday, Nov. 15, 2008, Manchester New Hampshire played host to the Third Annual North American Secessionist Convention. This event, organized and sponsored each year by the Middlebury Institute, brings together delegates of secessionist groups from throughout North America to exchange ideas, engage in networking, and promote the idea [...]
The Fable of the Lake Monster
Once upon a time, in a far off land, there was a large and beautiful lake. It had a number of villages along its shore.
The lake was the source of everything the villagers needed. It provided water for drinking, cleaning and bathing; fish and shellfish [...]
Yesterday was the first Tuesday following the first Monday in November. In the United States, that means it was election day. It boggles my mind how much time, energy and money is poured into this annual event, which becomes especially crazed every four years when it includes the election of [...]
I checked out of my hotel in the morning, skipping breakfast again as I only had a few Canadian dollars left and needed to save a few to tip the parking garage valet. I had visited a Canadian grocery store the day before, hoping they would sell some of the [...]
Day 3 of my Montreal adventure dawned cold and snowy. I walked around the corner to get a cappucino and pain au chocolat for breakfast and felt distinctly colder than the day before. So after eating breakfast and steeling myself for a few frigid moments of walking, I went directly [...]
After a refreshing night’s sleep blissfully unbroken by cats fighting/kneading my chest/sitting on my face, I ventured out into downtown Montreal. I absolutely refuse to pay $12 for “continental breakfast”, so skipped that meal. Thanks to years of alcohol-induced brain damage, I had not brought a coat with me to [...]
This week, I’m doing something I’ve wanted to do for years, and planned on doing ever since I moved to New Hampshire: visiting Montreal. It’s only 5 hours away if you make a straight shot for it (which I didn’t). I set off bright and early at 10:00AM (hey, that’s [...]
I’ve been an activist in the small-l libertarian movement for five years now. And man, has it taken years off my life! 
I’m not sure how much of a difference it’s made in the grand scheme of things (although yesterday, my shrivelled heart was warmed to [...]
subtitle: The Great Moosehunt of Aught Eight
New Hampshire is known for its crusty conservatives (now being increasingly outnumbered by leftie emigrants from Taxachusetts), fall foliage, beautiful lakes… and moose. Moose Xing roadsigns are ubiquitous around the state, and the further north you go, the more likely you are to see [...]
I have loved Bond (, James Bond), movies all my life. I love the exotic locales in which the stories take place; Bond’s supreme self-confidence, skill, knowledge of a million subjects, fluency in a thousand languages, cool head under pressure, horrible puns, outrageous car chases, bleeding edge gadgets, deadly aim [...]
It’s primary day in New Hampshire. In towns all over the state, starry-eyed Free State Project early movers are standing at polling places (and from the looks of the sky, will soon be standing in a thundershower), holding signs, bright smiles plastered firmly to their faces, asking that their [...]
Jobs. Can’t live with ‘em; can’t live without ‘em.
This morning I was pondering the fact that I’m a 21st century slave. At least 1.5 out of every 10 hours I work goes to the Government. And this is a comparatively low number by current U.S. standards, because I took the [...]
One of my legions [cough] of fans asked me recently why I hadn’t blogged in so long. Well, I’ll tell you: I’ve been freakin’ busy! Here are the blog entries that could have been, and maybe still will be if I ever get a round tuit:
* Free [...]
[Editor's note: our blogger was taken behind the woodshed and bitchslapped for the recent pathetic display of self-pity. This entry has been edited to stick to the topics of freedom-fighting and no more than the usual quantity of whininess.]
[Friday's note: But I *AM* the editor of this blog!]
[Editor's note: You've [...]
PUBLIC NOTICE
State of Emergency
10 Day National Bank Holiday Declared
Starting on June 5, 2008 and lasting through June 15, 2008 all US Citizens, Americans, Foreign Nationals, and Resident Aliens are hereby requested by the authority of We The People of the United States to withdraw all Federal Reserve Bank Notes (U.S. [...]
You know what really burns my butt?
A flame about three feet high.
— Miss Mona, Best Little Whorehouse in Texas
I have a deep, dark confession to make.
I love Dolly Parton.
I know, I know, this totally clashes with the hip kid persona I have tried (and so utterly [...]
[editor's note: the following post may be offensive to hippies, Christians, and people who don't find South Park funny]
A few weeks ago, I received an invitation to attend an organizational meeting of a new “ecovillage” that’s being developed in Barnstead. I didn’t know what an ecovillage is, or where [...]
A few weeks ago, when I was visiting the fam in California, my mother asked, “Why do you blog?”
To which I replied, “That’s a very good question.”
Since then, I’ve been giving that some thought. Granted, I often crack myself up writing this shite (I laugh at my jokes, [...]
When not thinking deep anarchocapitalist thoughts and compulsively listening to FreeDomainRadio, I work for a software consulting company, where almost all work is project-based. Periodically, as a project is completed (or “goes live” in the geek vernacular), the project manager sends out a company-wide email announcement about the successful [...]
Just got back from my first trip to KKKalifornia in almost two years. It hasn’t changed. I spent the first week in the East Bay attending training for work, then spent a few days visiting the fam (which I shall not discuss as it has recently come to my attention [...]
This morning, I worked from home in southern New Hampshire. Tomorrow, I’ll be working in Ann Arbor, MI. The day after that, I’ll be working in the San Francisco Bay Area. And last week I could have worked in Dublin, Ireland if I thought I could pull it off without [...]
You take the blue pill, the story ends, you wake up in your bed and believe whatever you want to believe. You take the red pill, you stay in Wonderland, and I show you how deep the rabbit hole goes. — Morpheus in “The Matrix”
As I mentioned in my recent [...]
According to the American Civil Liberties Union, the U.S. Federal Government’s terrorist watch list is now approaching a million “winners”. The ACLU has a clever graphic demonstrating the rate at which this list is growing: you can watch the number grow in real-time: [www.aclu.org]
Assuming that only adults are on [...]
According to a recent New York Times article, 1 in 100 U.S. adults are now behind bars:http://tinyurl.com/2oxar8
I’m having trouble wrapping my mind around these statistics. Seriously.
deep thoughts (by Friday, not Jack Handey)
I’ve been doing some heavy thinking lately. Actually, more than lately. Over the past 2 1/2 years I’ve moved much further from a belief in small/”limited” government towards anarchocapitalism, which makes it increasingly difficult to justify, either morally or rationally, the ways [...]
Editor’s note: the views expressed herein are those of the heathen blogger’s and do not represent the views of any organizations mentioned
A few months back, a young man contacted the Libertarian Party of New Hampshire looking for info on how to join the party. He mentioned that he [...]
Applaud friends, the comedy is over. — Beethoven, on his deathbed
I called it four months ago. Ayup.
I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that Ron Paul isn’t even going to win the Republican nomination in the state of New Hampshire. In case y’all haven’t been paying [...]
Restoration Caucus Seeks Return to 2004 Platform
A group of Libertarian Party members who believe that the Party’s 2004 Platform better represents the libertarian vision than does the truncated version adopted in 2006 have formed the Restoration Caucus, and will work to restore the earlier version at the upcoming LP convention [...]
Stevie said it better than I ever could.
Someday at Christmas men won’t be boys
Playing with bombs like kids play with toys
One warm December our hearts will see
A world where men are freeSomeday at Christmas there’ll be no wars
When we have learned what [...]
…stays in grafton. Except when you invite a blogger over for dinner.
A few weeks ago I journeyed out to the tiny town of Grafton for only the second time (read about the first time here). I’d heard that several Free State Project participants had moved to this town [...]
I had planned on trekking to Montreal for Thanksgiving weekend, but the need to pay my last respects to the patriarch threw a wrench in those plans. Fortunately, I was presented with a delightful alternative. A recent Free State Project transplant to New Hampshire from Rhode Island graciously [...]
My grandfather turned 97 last Thursday. I had made plans to drive to Yonkers, NY to attend his birthday party that weekend. Unfortunately, he died that day, so the birthday party morphed into a funeral.
My grandfather and grandmother were the patriarch and matriarch of an absolutely ginormous, Roman-Catholic Italian-American New [...]
I celebrated a birthday a week ago. I use the verb “celebrate” very loosely, as, for reasons I don’t quite understand, my birthdays have a tendency to suck. Now, there are those who hate the annual anniversary of their birth and prefer to ignore them; they feel older, closer to [...]
[continued from last entry]
…I immediately contacted Stanhope and let him know I had found a venue. He quickly replied that he was no longer available on three of the four different dates he’d previously offered; Thursday was my only option. Um, OK… Thursday it is! The show must go [...]
I had my Bill Graham moment last week when I served as promoter of a standing-room-only standup comedy show in ManchVegas. It gave me a few new grey hairs (actually, they just plain fell out), but at least it was a new experience.
Way back in July, a fellow LPNHer [...]
[Note: I’m swamped, getting ready for the Doug Stanhope Fundraiser for the LPNH, amongst other things. I therefore shamelessly dug up a used pre-blog rant for your viewing displeasure.]
I’m pissed. If harsh language or frank discussion of human sexuality disturbs you, please go away now.
You’ve been warned.
—————————————————————
I give blood [...]
The Deerfield Fair bills itself as “New England’s Oldest Family Fair”. It’s big… really big. So big, people have been known to lose their cars in the parking lot and take hours to find them again. So big that it can easily take 30 minutes to walk from the [...]
What unfathomable chain of events would draw former residents of Pennsylvania, California, Maine, Florida and New York to gather together in the home of a New Hampshire state representative for bright green Cookie Monster-themed cake? No, it’s not an L. Neil Smith novel (although there are numerous parallels to “Pallas“, which I [...]
My beloved is mine, and I am his… Until the day breaks and the shadows flee…
Yesterday I attended my second Porcupine wedding. This one, like the first, was the marriage of a male Free State Project migrant to a female New Hampshire native. I feel a certain amount of [...]
Good evening, New Hampshire.
Allow me first to apologize for this interruption. I do, like many of you, appreciate the comforts of the everyday routine, the security of the familiar, the tranquility of repetition. I enjoy them as much as any bloke. But in the spirit of commemoration whereby those important [...]
The setting: the most exclusive nightspot in southern New Hampshire
The protagonist: a strikingly suave, sophisticated, svelte (uh, ok, “festively plump”) brunette, impeccably coiffed. She catches the eye of the bartender, who immediately ignores all the other Hooters customers (what were you expecting in southern New Hampshire, Elaine’s?!) to take her order. [...]
[note: the following blog entry contains major spoilerage for the three “Bourne” films]
I saw the movie “The Bourne Identity” several years ago and was surprised by how good it was. Not your typical action film. So when I heard that the third Bourne movie was coming out this weekend, I [...]
Last weekend I manned an OPH table at the Hillsborough Balloon Festival and Fair. Hillsborough is a very small town west of Concord, New Hampshire, population less than 2000 as of the 1990 census. Every year since 1994, they’ve been throwing a fairly traditional summer fair, but they add the twist [...]
One of the first things first-time visitors to New England notice is its compact size: A crow flying 100 miles from almost any treetop outside of Maine will end up in the next state, if not Canada. But map distances bear absolutely no relation to travel time, thanks to the [...]
Editor’s note: this blog entry has been edited for content and formatted to fit this screen. Viewer discretion is advised.
I’m a huge Battlestar Galactica fan currently experiencing a painful withdrawal (damn you, summer hiatus! damn you all to hell!! [/Heston mode]). The show gives my brain everything it needs: [...]
The other night the spirit moved me to google the word “tarot”, click the first link in the results list, and have my cards read. The cybernetic fortune teller, prior to laying out the cards, requested that I enter a few words regarding the nature of the question for which [...]
‘Tis a brave new world. I was just checking out the President’s Corner, a sorta-monthly video newsletter presented by Varrin Swearingen, President of the Free State Project, when I noticed a familiar face in a little video montage menu… MINE. Apparently I was filmed the entire time I was speaking [...]
Not much going on on this here blog lately, huh? Well, there’s a simple explanation for that: there’s absolutely nothing political going on in New Hampshire right now. NOT!
Actually, there is tons going on. All of the major Presidential contenders have come to the state, some of them multiple times. [...]
…on the night of February 27, 1933, a Berlin fire station received an alarm call that the Reichstag building, the assembly location of the German Parliament, was ablaze… Hitler forced President Hindenburg to pass an ‘emergency decree’ suspending all articles that guaranteed freedom and liberty. Hitler’s police [...]
The birds are chirping, the peepers are peeping, the Presidential contenders are prancing around the state trailing crowds of supporters and hecklers in their wake… it must be springtime in New Hampshire! Numerous Free State Project early movers are foaming at the mouth about the fact that Congressman [...]
You, who are on the road,
Must have a code that you can live by.
And so, become yourself,
Because the past is just a good bye.
Teach your children well,
Their father’s hell did slowly go by.
And feed them on your dreams,
The one they picks, the one [...]
Spring is busting out all over in New Hampshire, but a week ago, we had the “perfect storm”. I’m not referring to a meteorological phenomenon; rather, several bills that were important to liberty lovers were scheduled for state House or Senate committee hearings on the same day. Due in no small [...]
[Apologies in advance if this blog entry is too preachy or let-it-all-hang-outy; feel free to surf on over to The Onion if it becomes too much for you.]Â
“St. Patrick was a gentleman who through strategy and stealth, drove all the snakes from Ireland, Here’s toasting to his health; But not too [...]
As I walk through
This wicked world
Searchin’ for light in the darkness of insanity.I ask myself
Is all hope lost?
Is there only pain and hatred, and misery?And each time I feel like this inside,
There’s one thing I wanna know:
What’s so funny ’bout peace love & understanding? [...]
