Free Republic

NEWPORT [NH] – A police officer-turned-radio personality who fled to Florida last week with his teenage daughter is now wanted on felony child pornography charges. Police say former Newport officer Aaron Aldridge, 42, abandoned his 19-year-old daughter, Amanda, at Walt Disney World on Friday after abruptly disappearing with her on Monday. Orange County authorities found Amanda there and reunited her with her family Friday night. Aldridge is wanted on warrants for one count of possession of child pornography and one count of production of child pornography. Police said some of the photographs and video found by a member of Aldridge's...

Congratulations FReepers and Patriots! According to Henchster's ongoing tallies, we've surpassed 750,000 participants in our nationwide Tax Day TEA Party/Tax Revolt! Woo hoo!! All 50 states fully engaged! Over 600 cities represented and reports still coming in! Huge turnout, huge SUCCESS!! Elected officials take note: DO NOT TREAD ON ME!! Tyranny, usurpation, corruption, overreaching, big spending, high taxing will no longer be tolerated! We the people are FED-UP and we're not going to take it anymore! Ignore us at your own peril! All Congressional seats, all elected offices throughout the land at risk! Revolution is in the air!!

If the Obama administration has taken flak for suggesting that conservative groups might be home to domestic terrorists, it looks like some House Democrat leaders are willing to go even further: But in an interview on Fox TV in San Francisco, Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.) chalked up the GOP grass-roots effort as “AstroTurf.” “This initiative is funded by the high end; we call it AstroTurf, it's not really a grass-roots movement. It's AstroTurf by some of the wealthiest people in America to keep the focus on tax cuts for the rich instead of for the great middle class,” Pelosi said....

As volunteers with the American Society for the Defense of Tradition, Family and Property (TFP) rallied for traditional marriage in Concord, New Hampshire, a pro-homosexual advocate desecrated a Bible, shouting obscene anti-Catholic slurs.

A Massachusetts man and his climbing partner from Vermont were "incredibly fortunate," officials said, to survive with only minor injuries after they were caught in an avalanche and tumbled 800 feet down a slope at New Hampshire's Mount Washington last weekend. Daniel Zucker, 46, of Danville, Vt., said he and Tim Finocchio of Holbrook were nearing the top of the Dodge's Drop area at Tuckerman Ravine at about 12:30 p.m. Saturday when the snow gave way. He described a terrifying plunge down the slope in which he wondered if he would survive. "There's this roaring sound that's constant, and you're...

After the 2010 census has been held, the number of seats held by each state in the U.S. House of Representatives will change. The National Conference of State Legislatures recently estimated what the 2010 reapportionment will mean for each state. Eight states are expected to lose one seat each, in the U.S. House and in the Electoral College. They are Iowa, Louisiana, Massachusetts, Michigan, New Jersey, New York, Ohio, and Pennsylvania. States that will gain will be Texas (3 seats), and one each for Arizona, Florida, Georgia, Nevada and Utah. If the bill now pending in Congress to expand the...

52 Buildings Burn on Easter at New Hampshire Christian Center Sunday, April 12, 2009 ALTON BAY, N.H. — A massive Easter fire has damaged dozens of buildings on the grounds of a Christian center in New Hampshire. Firefighters tell the News 9 television station in Manchester that 52 buildings burned at the Alton Bay Christian Conference Center, 30 miles northeast of Concord. The buildings are cottage-type seasonal homes. There are no reports of civilian injuries. One firefighter has been hurt. The fire erupted at 4:30 p.m. Easter Sunday, when Christians were celebrating the resurrection of Jesus Christ. The fire's cause...

We cheer the reddest. We corn the hardest. And, apparently, we grin the widest. Because Nebraska is the happiest state in the U.S., a new study says. The survey — conducted by personal finance Web site MainStreet.com — ranked all 50 states and the District of Columbia from fiscally happiest to saddest based on a few factors of economic well-being. These included foreclosure numbers, unemployment rates and the ratio of average debt to average annual income. “It reflects the attitude of this state,” said Gov. Dave Heineman. “We are a positive people with a can-do attitude who are focused on...

MANCHESTER – All Michael Yannetti wanted to do Monday was to protest the notion of Washington bailouts and $3.6 trillion in federal spending. So he did what thousands did across the country this week: mailed tea to their congressional representatives in protest. Yesterday, police showed up at his door. The green tea he had mailed to the Manchester office of Rep. Carol Shea-Porter prompted the evacuation of her office yesterday. Police and firefighters were at the downtown location for about 1 1/2 hours, securing the scene and conducting field tests for possible hazardous substances or volatile compounds. "Really, I didn't...

Are you ready for a FReepathon!!? Well, it's a new quarter and a new president and he's everything we knew he would be. In less than 90 days he's managed to take an economic downturn and turn it into an unmitigated disaster for good old American capitalism. Never let a good crisis go to waste! The government is now printing money as fast as they can run the presses. Our federal budget is doubling and tripling and the Fed is running with no controls or oversight whatsoever from the congress, pumping trillions more into the "economy." The government now spends...

For Dick Heller, the battle to reclaim Second Amendment rights from the District of Columbia was over 30 years in the making, and it isn’t over yet. “They wouldn’t let me have my gun,” he said, speaking at the 2009 New Hampshire Liberty Forum. “I paid for it. It was mine. I live in America!” Heller had just moved to D.C. and purchased his first gun in 1976 when the city passed its infamous gun ban, overturned in 2008 by the U.S. Supreme Court in the landmark case in which Heller was the plaintiff. Referring to his gun, a “.22...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi says she's still committed to using a procedural trick to fast-track health care reforms this year — despite opposition from Sen. Max Baucus, the powerful chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. "I believe it's absolutely essential that we come out of this year with a substantial health care reform," Pelosi said during her weekly press conference. "I believe that is best served by having reconciliation in the package." On Thursday, Baucus (D-Mont.) told POLITICO that the House was making a big mistake by going that route, saying putting health care through the budget process would prompt...

In a previous article we gave you a taste of how grossly incompetent and inefficient government programs are and that they are far too expensive. Programs that are designed not to uplift the poor and promote self sufficiency, but actually do more to leave people dependant and keep them poor. Its not just the taxpayers that suffer, it is those who are forced to depend on them who suffer and who suffer the most. Consider the story of Sebastian Peters, born and raised in Manchester NH, from earliest moment of his childhood, Sebastian had suffered terrible cruelty under a father...

Like it or not, gun sales are, well, booming. There are a number of reasons but the most prevalent are people are afraid the Obama administration, sooner or later, will get around to creating more-restrictive gun ownership laws and taxes. And those are not unfounded fears. So gun owners are stocking up on ammunition, handguns and semiautomatic rifles. Sales are up 50 percent since Barack Obama was elected. And gun-control advocates have taken notice. In a story in Seacoast Sunday last week, Peter Hamm of the Washington-D.C.-based Brady Campaign to Prevent Gun Violence used words like "lunacy" to describe people...

A cat who lives at a US veterinary hospital because his owner gave him up has been branded the world's ugliest feline.Eight-year-old "Ugly Bat Boy" has become something of a tourist attraction in New Hampshire. The cat's breed is not known.

Gay marriage bill deadlocks in committee House lawmakers will vote next week By LAUREN R. DORGAN Monitor staff March 18, 2009 A House panel deadlocked yesterday on whether to support gay marriage, voting 10-10 on a bill that would make New Hampshire the third state to allow same-sex couples to marry. The split vote means that the bill will go to the whole House next week for a debate and vote without any recommendation from the House Judiciary Committee, which vetted the bill. The committee also deadlocked on another hot-button social issue yesterday, voting 10-10 on whether to forbid discrimination...

CHICHESTER, N.H. (AP) — A pastor in this quiet, picturesque New England town thought he was doing the Christian thing when he took in a convicted child killer who had served his time but had nowhere to go. But some neighbors of the Rev. David Pinckney vehemently disagree, one even threatening to burn his house down after officials could find no one else willing to take 60-year-old Raymond Guay.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DPCxYPN3yDM Adorned with bowie knives, pistols and peaceful exasperation...Freedom activists swarm the New Hampshire legislature demanding passage of a warning to Washington. This bill would declare the union nullified if the central government commits certain abuses.

EXETER — A year after he was denied a license to carry a concealed weapon, Exeter resident Dan Garand is taking his case to the state Supreme Court. His hired gun is attorney Penny Dean, a Second Amendment specialist, NRA-certified shooting instructor, hunting safety instructor and graduate of the "Lethal Force Institute." "If you can lawfully own a gun, you should be issued a license to carry," said Dean, who hopes to convince the state’s highest court that appeals of gun license denials should be heard in superior courts. The case is scheduled for oral arguments before the Court on...

State legislators are accusing the Federal Government of flagrantly usurping its authority and bursting it's constitutional bounds. This allegation is based upon the 9th and 10th Amendments to the US Constitution. It helps to recall a few facts: 1) The constitution does not come from the Federal Government. It comes from the people of the several states. 2) The Constitution is a set of instructions from the people to the Federal Government. It was established by the thirteen original states as a delegation of certain specific powers to the federal government so that the rights of the people might be...

The New Hampshire state legislature took an unbelievably bold step Monday by introducing a resolution to declare certain actions by the federal government to completely totally void and warning that certain future acts will be viewed as a “breach of peace” with the states themselves that risks “nullifying the Constitution.” This act by New Hampshire is a clear warning to the federal government that they could face being stripped of their power by the States (presumably through civil war! The remarkable document outlines with perfect clarity, some basics long forgotten. For instance, it reminds Congress “That the Constitution of the...

Given 31,000+ page views, “Guns and the Constitution: A legislator finally gets it” apparently struck a responsive note. The piece covered House Concurrent Resolution 6, introduced in New Hampshire by state Representative Daniel Itse, which called for secession by the state under specified instances of federal usurpation of power, including gun control such as HR 45: “Blair Holt’s Firearm Licensing and Record of Sale Act of 2009.” And well it should: Beyond immediate concerns over impending gun control such as reimplementation of the federal “assault weapon” ban, Itse’s bill raises questions that have bedeviled Americans since the founding of the...

PORTSMOUTH, N.H. - New Hampshire's top liquor law enforcer wants restaurants and bars to limit patrons to one drink an hour.Video at link.

A crowd that state police estimated at 1,000 packed the State House yesterday to urge lawmakers to reject changes in home-schooling laws. The most widely criticized was HB 367, which sets out strict guidelines for assessing the home-school students academic progress. It would require them to submit portfolios annually, and to take standardized tests while monitored by a certified educator.

A new survey of New Hampshire voters from Public Policy Polling finds that Democratic Congressman Paul Hodes is the strongest early Senate candidate for 2010, although the field of commonly discussed candidates is pretty evenly matched. Hodes has the best net favorability of the quarter polled at 42/34. Former Republican Senator John Sununu and Democratic Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter each receive a +3 rating from state voters with the former at 46/43 and the letter at 43/40. Former Republican Congressman Charlie Bass gets the poorest reviews at 33/37. Hodes leads hypothetical contests against Sununu 46-44 and against Bass 40-37. Shea- Porter...

Two days ago Sheridan Folger, one of our Senior Writers and the Co-Founder of Let’s Get Theis Right.com and Conservative Solutions.org, wrote a very thought provoking article concerning the desire of many New Hampshire citizens to declare their sovereignty from the leftist Obama influenced law makers of Washington DC and their attempts to put a stranglehold on their state should they decide to further infringe on their states rights. Much like my state of Texas, the voters of New Hampshire have always considered themselves “keepers of the flame” when it comes to preserving and reserving the right of the state...

On Friday, I reported about the resolution being prepared in the New Hampshire State Legislature to fight the unconstitutional socialization and centralization of our federal government. Yesterday the resolution was introduced to the legislature with very strong wording that certain acts by the federal government would be seen as a "breach of peace" with the states, and "nullifying the Constitution."

Conservatives clearly have more than enough reason to worry because all of the praise being heaped on her by New Hampshire Democrats suggests she won't be as reliable as the least dependable of the GOP's current sitting Senators. Newman, after all, endorsed Lynch when he first sought the governorship in 2002 against the sitting governor, Republican Craig Benson. And she has described herself as a "reasonable Republican" - not exactly the kind of self-identification that suggests she has an altogether favorable impression of her own party. Lynch's selection of Newman, who has already indicated she will not seek a full...

From RidleyReport.com New Hampshire reps try to draw new lines in the sand against expected Federal gun laws. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qoXqaGZuxkE http://www.whistlestopper.com/forum/showthread.php?p=1294509#post1294509

HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED 2009 SESSION 09-0274 09/01 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6 A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Sen. Denley, Dist 3 COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs ANALYSIS This house concurrent resolution affirms States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. 09-0274 09/01 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this...

Former Sen. Bob Smith (R-N.H.) is thinking about running for the Senate again in 2010, but not in the state that sent him to Washington the first time.Smith, who moved to Florida since losing to John Sununu in the 2002 GOP primary, is now looking at running for the open seat left by retiring Sen. Mel Martinez (R-Fla.).According to the New Hampshire Union-Leader, Smith has sent an e-mail to supporters seeking their input on the race.“The purpose of this letter is to simply ask for your opinion as to whether I should be a candidate,� Smith said, according to the...

HB 436-FN-LOCAL – AS INTRODUCED2009 SESSION09-0008 09/10HOUSE BILL 436-FN-L0CALAN ACT relative to civil marriage and civil unions. SPONSORS: Rep. Splaine, Rock 16; Rep. McEachern, Rock 16; Rep. Butler, Carr 1; Rep. B. Richardson, Ches 5COMMITTEE: JudiciaryANALYSISThis bill eliminates the exclusion of same gender couples from marriage, affirms religious freedom protections of clergy with regard to the solemnization of marriage, and provides a mechanism by which same gender couples who have entered into a civil union prior to the enactment of this bill may obtain the legal status of marriage. - - - - - - - - - - -...

HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED 2009 SESSION 09-0274 09/01 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6 A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Sen. Denley, Dist 3 COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs ANALYSIS This house concurrent resolution affirms States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. 09-0274 09/01 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this...

Reader Bruce submitted this news and I thought I'd pass it along to our audience. ECR certainly supports states' rights and we're supportive of this bill. New Hampshire is a great state, almost like a big independent finger in the face of Boston. Ya gotta love that.

CONCORD, N.H. - Abby didn't make for much of a witness at a New Hampshire Senate hearing. She just let out a quiet whimper, as lawmakers considered making Abby's breed the New Hampshire state dog. Abby is a Chinook. It's a cross between a husky and a farm dog, dating back to the 1920s. State Senators also heard from a group of seventh graders backing the measure. Thirteen-year-old Emma Benson told lawmakers the Chinook reflects a unique aspect of the state's history. The senators agree. The committee voted unanimously in the Chinook's favor.

Way to go NH! Let's see the rest of our states take this first step to reminding the federal government that WE are in charge, not them.

HCR 6 – AS INTRODUCED 2009 SESSION 09-0274 09/01 HOUSE CONCURRENT RESOLUTION 6 A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. SPONSORS: Rep. Itse, Rock 9; Rep. Ingbretson, Graf 5; Rep. Comerford, Rock 9; Sen. Denley, Dist 3 COMMITTEE: State-Federal Relations and Veterans Affairs ANALYSIS This house concurrent resolution affirms States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. 09-0274 09/01 STATE OF NEW HAMPSHIRE In the Year of Our Lord Two Thousand Nine A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this...

A RESOLUTION affirming States’ rights based on Jeffersonian principles. Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 1, Article 7 declares that the people of this State have the sole and exclusive right of governing themselves as a free, sovereign, and independent State; and do, and forever hereafter shall, exercise and enjoy every power, jurisdiction, and right, pertaining thereto, which is not, or may not hereafter be, by them expressly delegated to the United States of America in congress assembled; and Whereas the Constitution of the State of New Hampshire, Part 2, Article 1 declares that the people...

A coalition of Democratic-leaning organizations is spending millions of dollars on a campaign aimed at convincing five Republican senators to back the economic stimulus legislation. The Campaign for Jobs and Economic Recovery, a group of labor and political organizations, is targeting GOP Sens. Susan Collins (Maine), Olympia Snowe (Maine), Judd Gregg (N.H.), Lisa Murkowski (Alaska) and Chuck Grassley (Iowa) with a 30-second spot. The ad includes audio excerpts from President Obama’s Jan. 8 speech at George Mason University, when he made his case for the stimulus package that could exceed $900 billion.

DURHAM — The 2009 Martin Luther King Jr. Celebratory Events at the University of New Hampshire will come with a controversial twist — the inclusion of 1960s student radical turned academic Angela Davis who will give the keynote speech. Davis, who was on the FBI’s 10 most wanted list in the 1970s, will speak about the urgent need for prison reform as part of this year’s MLK celelbration theme “One in 100: Dismantling a Prison Nation.”

Two New Hampshire GOP House members have added their names to a Legislative Service Requestion seeking to introduce a bill allowing red light cameras in the Granite State. House members Ken Hawkins (R-Bedford) and John A Graham (R-Bedford) have joined NH State Senator Sheila Roberge (R-Bedford) in sponsoring LSR 2009-S-0874-R, titled "authorizing the electronic enforcement of traffic signal violations." Red light cameras snap a digital photo of vehicles caught inside the intersection when the the signal changes from yellow to red, not just those entering the intersection after the signal changes to red. With no video to contest the situation...

State Senator Sheila Roberge (R-Bedford Senate District 9) has put forward a Legislative Service Request (LSR 2009-S-0874-R) for 2009 titled "Authorizing the electronic enforcement of traffic signal violations." A similar bill was introduced by Democratic legislators in 2005 and was defeated in the New Hampshire House by a 2-to-1 margin. With very different legislature and a much tighter state budget we cannot assume this will happen again. These cameras are very controversial no matter where they are installed. The state of Virginia discontinued its widespread use of red light cameras for two years following a Virginia DOT study that showed...

Why have so many people come forward with stories in this small New Hampshire town? Part one of a story on glowing orbs, UFOs and other unexplained phenomena in Exeter. "It was duskish. I saw a ball of bright white light with golden-yellowish edges about 20 feet above my head," recalled Andrew Ulery of his encounter with a glowing orb on Park Street, when he was a freshman in high school. "It was following me for about a full minute, until I reached the bridge that crosses the railroad." (Visitors to Exeter have reported observing a pyramid of lights above...

New England Ice Storm

Via Isaac Chotiner, Newsweek reports: The day of the third debate, Palin refused to go onstage with New Hampshire GOP Sen. John Sununu and Jeb Bradley, a New Hampshire congressman running for the Senate, because they were pro-choice and because Bradley opposed drilling in Alaska. The McCain campaign ordered her onstage at the next campaign stop, but she refused to acknowledge the two Republican candidates standing behind her. So according to the hatchet man/woman who talked to Newsweek, Palin is such an ideologue about drilling in ANWR that she won't stand next to Bradley, even though John McCain has the...

These next four hours on the ground in New Hampshire could determine the election. If you have sixty spare minutes between now and 7:50, please consider coming down to our office at 130 Water Street in Exeter to canvass or make calls. We need to turn each of the people on our list out to vote. -------------- National Call Team, Barack needs your help right now -- our data indicates that the results will be very close in many states. I can't emphasize enough how urgent this message is. Please go to our website and start calling as soon as...

2008 Presidential Election Results: * Barack Obama: 17 * John McCain: 10 * Ron Paul: 2 (write-in)

John McCain - 6 Barack Obama - 15

Here are some pictures of the Town Hall event yesterday.McCain with ex-pitcher Curt Schilling and their wivesBitter Clingers of the World, Unite!A very small segment of the line which waited for about 3 hours to be admitted. These people didn't even get into the Town Hall, but saw McCain outdoors.How can we lose, with an endorsement from Uncle Sam?

PETERBOROUGH, N.H. -- As his campaign nears its end, John McCain convened a town hall meeting tonight in New Hampshire, the state that has sustained his presidential aspirations during the darkest times. McCain's first-place finish in New Hampshire in 2000 made him a serious contender against George W. Bush, though it failed to carry him through the rest of the primaries. Nearly eleven months ago, winning here put him on the path to securing his party's nomination. While only a couple of dozen people showed up eight years ago when he held one of his first town halls here, tonight...