Free Keene News - Keene BEARCAT Story Breaks National

Coverage of Keene's opposition to the militaristic BEARCAT attack tank coming to town has broken out nationwide. The Huffington Post has an excellent piece, which has spawned others including The Atlantic and Antiwar.com.

Here's the Huffpo piece from Radley Balko:
http://freekeene.us4.list-manage2.com/track/click?u=00d4ac261351d14ca5ddf282c&id=0fe959f66c&e=f5d28cf5ef

Activists last night attended the full city council meeting, where the vote on the matter was put off until Terry Clark, the one councilor who originally voted against the BEARCAT, could be in attendance. This means activists have two more weeks to change hearts and minds. Last night, five minutes before the meeting started, we serenaded the council with our song, "Thanks but no Tanks", to the tune of Three Dog Night's "Joy to the World".

Here's video:
http://freekeene.us4.list-manage.com/track/click?u=00d4ac261351d14ca5ddf282c&id=17dabb60e4&e=f5d28cf5ef

[freekeenenews] Female and Male Activists Strip Down in Manchester Airport to Protest TSA: VIDEO

Here's the video of Free Keene's Kelly Voluntaryist and Derrick J.
Freeman in undergarments at the Manchester airport last week, for
their "Don't Strip our Rights" protest:
http://freekeene.com/2012/02/10/tsa-underwear-airport-outreach-kelly-v-derrick-j/

Last time, it was Kelly all by herself. This time, Derrick J. joined
her and successfully handed out over 200 anti-TSA flyers to passengers
and airport workers. As before, the responses were overwhelmingly
positive!

[freekeenenews] Overflow Crowd Packs Council Meeting, Supermajority Against BEARCAT

From:
http://freekeene.com/2012/02/10/lenco-sales-reps-keene-has-the-most-passion/

It was an amazing night. (Video to come.) Not only was it awe-
inspiring to see so many people pouring out from Keene and the rest of
the Monadnock region in favor of peace, but the LENCO reps actually
commented afterwards that Keene was the place where they had
experienced the most passionate response to their BEARCAT.

Some had suspected that LENCO had never experienced anything like
Keene, as evidenced by their desperate attempt this week to cover up
their Bearcat promo video. Their military-fetishizing video was
subsequently re-posted to several youtube channels, ensuring it will
never go away entirely.

Who testified in favor of the BEARCAT? Why city staff and former cops
on city pensions, of course. Among us non-aggressors, the
supermajority of the audience and speakers were in opposition. This is
not speculation. I asked during my speech to have the audience raise
their hands if they opposed the BEARCAT. I hope someone got a picture
or video of the huge response.

The city council chambers were standing-room only. Derrick J will be
releasing video of the police preventing him and others including Nick
Ryder from getting in because the room was at "capacity". How often
does that happen at a city council meeting?

The commission decided to take the night’s testimony as
“informational” and pass it back to the full council. Terry Clark, the
heroic lone councilor who stood for peace tonight, will not be at the
next city council meeting on Thursday, and requested they postpone any
vote on the matter to the following council meeting the first Thursday
of March. Whether they will or not remains to be seen. If they don’t,
the council can just accept it as “informational” and the issue is off
the table again. As you might imagine, it will be necessary for those
who support peace to contact the full council and share their feelings
and thoughts on this matter.

The LENCO salesmen shared with us afterwards that the reason they came
to Keene (besides trying to save the sale of a BEARCAT) was to
experience what was the most passionate and organized opposition
they’ve ever had, in the history of all 300+ BEARCAT sales they have
made to police departments around the country. It's a testament to
the amazing, peace-loving people that inhabit this region.

[freekeenenews] LENCO Pulls BEARCAT Promo Video Offline

http://freekeene.com/2012/02/08/desperate-lenco-pulls-bearcat-promo-video-offline/

LENCO has pulled their BEARCAT promotional video offline completely.
In the video, militaristic cops fire weapons, release gas into a home,
and do other maneuvers that prove this product is NOT marketed as a
rescue vehicle, all to an AC/DC soundtrack.

Isn’t it interesting that LENCO decided to pull the video offline this
week? Do you think they’ve ever experienced pushback from a community
like they have from Keene? They REALLY don’t want the city council to
see this.

Luckily, it appears a helpful individual had the forethought to rip
the video before they could pull it. So, perhaps you know someone who
would like to upload this video to Youtube, Metacafe, or Liveleak?
Here it is in MP4 form: http://www.supashare.net/hszu565zqm3r

This is the video LENCO doesn’t want you or the city council to see.

LENCO is probably wishing they'd never heard of Keene, NH.

[freekeenenews] City Bans BEARCAT Promotional Video from Being Shown at Committee Meeting

I was told today by city staff that I would be disallowed from showing
the LENCO video promoting their BEARCAT attack vehicle.

LENCO’s head salesman, Jim Massery admitted on the phone today that he
didn’t think it should be shown to the council as it’s intended to
market to the police.

Of course, that’s the point. LENCO is not marketing the BEARCAT to
police as a rescue vehicle, as the council has been told. The
councilors should see how this monstrosity is being promoted. If you
haven’t, please watch the video that the city attorney doesn’t want
you or the city commission to see: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Vm4bzV31k14
(Also, note that LENCO changed the permissions on their video to make
it so it is not searchable and also so it can’t be embedded on other
websites…like this one.) Then come out on Thursday evening as people
speak out against it. It’s our chance to reverse the deal and say,
“Thanks but no tanks!”

LENCO’s head of sales also said he’d be attending the Keene committee
meeting, which tells me LENCO doesn’t quite think they have this sale
in-the-bag.