HANDS UP DON'T SHOOT!!!

HANDS UP DON’T SHOOT!!!

It is very troubling when people when confronted with the facts refuse to believe them like in Ferguson, MO.  The situation was tragic, as is whenever anyone loses their life; but, there are personal situations where you can almost determine, early on, who will not make it through life.  I think this was one of those situations.

When looking at police training you must look at the force continuum which has 8-9 steps officers are trained in on the different levels of force, it goes all the way from officer presence up the ladder or around the circle depending on which model you are trained in, to lethal force.  I don’t have the time to do a police course on the issue; but, the Officer in Fergusson went by the book.  He saw two men walking in the road and told them to get on the side walk, what was the response, “I don’t give a F--- what you say”.  The Officer is notified of a robbery at a store with a description of the two subjects matching who he was already in contact with.  The Officer was over 6’ but the main subject was 6’6” and around 300 pounds, which under most normal circumstances would have allowed for an escalation of force based on the subject’s aggressiveness.  What I don’t know is did the Officer call for backup knowing he would have a hard time making an arrest, did he have pepper spray or a taser and could he get to them?

We know the rest; but was interesting was there was no credible testimony that the subject had his hands up and trying to surrender; but, was attacking the police officer and trying to steal his gun, that is lethal force justification.  The old statistics were that 25% of police officers that are killed are killed with their own gun, you put yourself in the Officers position and you make the call.

People are saying the officer should have been indicted and you can indict a ham sandwich.  You probably can indict a ham sandwich; but, you better have substantial evidence that will lead to a conviction or as a prosecutor you’re in trouble.

In short the facts do not support the angry black rhetoric that is being put out by Al Sharpton and some of the others, the old saying of “don’t confuse me with the facts, I know the truth”, has come into play.

 

NY I CAN’T BREATHE!!!

We have another individual who was around 300 pounds and well over 6’ selling individual cigarettes on a street corner that is not the issue to die over.  Supposedly was arrested numerous times for similar problems.  A passive handcuffing technique might have worked, that is “ sir I am placing you under arrest, please turn around and put your hands behind your back, if you think the cuffs are too tight tell me and I will adjust them”, that type of technique.  If the officers had prior knowledge that he was aggressive and a fighter then that technique is out the window.  Police are trained in the technique that the safest position to handcuff that is non cooperative is by placing the subject in the prone position (on their belly).  The problem with this is when you fighting a guy this big, with a big belly, you have to be concerned with positional asphyxia, that is when you have a big belly and when you’re forced down on your stomach all that weight pushes up against your diaphragm and you can’t breathe; couple that with a number of Officers trying to control him and hold him down and he suffocated.

Another sad case and loss of life, yes, criminal no, civil suit big time and it is a training issue, did any officer do anything criminal, not that I could testify to.

This is a very short rendition of what I saw in the news; but what is scary is race relations in the US have been set back about 50 yrs.  What I am afraid will happen is the KKK and white groups will grow in strength and all hell can break lose.  Race relations under Obama have gone bad and we still have two more years to survive his presidency and who knows about his legacy.

TWO BACK STABBERS WHICH ONE DO I VOTE FOR???

 

That was the recent quandary facing the NH Legislature on organization day when they had to vote for a speaker.  In fact that was the biggest complaint heard from the State Reps that they did not have a real choice.  O’Brien cooked his own goose when one of the Billy bots made a motion for a rules change to make the vote for speaker public and not secret.  That told those Reps sitting on the fence that the kinder O’Brien was all BS and they voted against him.

The Democrats had plenty of scores to settle with O’Brien, about as many as the Republicans, because of the way he treated them; he treated them as some kind of enemy with a total lack of respect, the same way he treated Republicans that disagreed with him. 

Well everyone looking for pay back got it on organization day.

What people seemed to forget is Jasper is no better.  He was one of the very few State Reps that Matt and I were not dumb enough to trust.  In my opinion Jasper was jealous of Matt who was in leadership, yes, O’Brien’s leadership, and Matt was liked and trusted.  I think his sense of humor and honesty was something people respected in the group and he was very easy to talk to.  Jasper always had to be the only puppy in the litter which caused frequent disagreements and dissention in fact Jasper was not well liked and was eventually removed from leadership.  Jasper made serious and false accusations against Matt, which was proven false, after Matt quit the O’Brien team and refused to go along with Right to Work.  The accusation caused serious ripple effects through the house and other than being O’Brien’s lap dog Jasper was persona non grata with many Republicans and most Democrats who couldn’t believe he was such a lying back stabber, this was before he was removed.  Well now he is speaker and my suggestion is to hold on to your hat, the ride is just beginning.  Although many State Reps were right and there were no alternatives, the house just got sunk to a new low.

The rumors going around are that the Republican establishment was behind O’Brien’s derailment.  I heard they were afraid of the damage O’Brien would do and cause them to lose the 2016 elections for their chosen candidates, such as Kelly Ayotte, who poll wise is running neck and neck with Hassan for the US Senate race.  The establishment seems to be scared to death about this.  Well to the establishment, you just drove another nail into your political agenda; you have a whole new level of enemies out here you didn’t need to have.

IT IS NOT GOOD TO LIE TO THE VOTERS!!!

IT IS NOT GOOD TO LIE TO THE VOTERS!!!            

For a little local discussion a friend of mine sent me a local news article that was touting how the oysters were taking Viagra and making a big comeback in Great Bay as well as the Eel Grass is having a fantastic year.

This is quite surprising since the Exeter Dam is still up with all of the nitrogen problems killing all the fish, etc, etc, etc.  This is what we were told when the big push was being made to tear down the dam at a cost of over a million dollars.

As you may have heard old houses, not maintained by the landlord, are going to be torn down so new development can go in.  I heard there was going to be cottages with porches, a private club all overlooking the river; but, there is not going to be a river we’ve nicknamed Clement Creek for the person who lead the charge to tear down the dam when he was chairman of the Board of Selectman.  A creek is what it is going to be.  So I guess the little red riding hood cottages won’t really have a river to sit and overlook.  I hope that will keep their tax bill down; but, I understand that cottage porches were a selling point to the planning board.

What will the voters do when they realize they were lied to?  That will be another story.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING AND PLEASE SAY A PRAYER FOR OUR MILITARY WHO ARE DEFENDING US!!!

SPEAKER'S RACE AS PREDICTED!!!

The recent Speaker’s race came out as predicted; but, what really surprised me was how close it was, O’Brien by 4 votes; however a win is a win and we now have him back for two years.  Unfortunately, Chandler is not a good campaigner coupled with the fact that too many of the crazies were elected or re-elected.  There is a good side and that is the house is not veto proof and if things, once again, get too far out of hand, they will not be able to override Maggie’s vetoes.

I predict the biggest fight will be over the budget with UNH and HHS getting hit hard, as they did a couple of years ago.  Although what Maggie did to get UNH to hold down tuition increases was to subsidize UNH with taxpayer $’s and taking credit for keeping the increases down.  HHS, as I’ve heard has problems in their budget and the Medicaid expansion is a budget buster by all accounts.

I would not be surprised to see another 10% or more budget reductions across the board.  These can be very painful but we have lived through them before. 

The big Republican fear is how much damage will O’Brien do before the 2016 elections?  The last time the Republicans got clobbered, state wide, and it was laid at O’Brien’s feet.  The rumors are that Chris Sununu, a good guy and formidable candidate will be running for governor and Kelly Aoyette is up for re-election with the two Congressional seats up also.

What people are not discussing publicly is can O’Brien survive without the support of the Republican Party and establishment.  Will he make a move to control the State Party Convention, the Republican Chairmanship and or the executive committee? Will he fight with the establishment over control of the Republican political process?

The Republicans are using 20 year old campaign strategies in a changing political environment with NH showing the growing dissatisfaction with both parties. 

Where do we go from here?  We have to ask the party bosses and establishment Republicans who are second guessing the voters and trying to control the political process.

THE GLOVES HAVE COME OFF IN THE NH SPEAKER'S RACE!!!

 

Kelly Ayotte and some other establishment Republicans signed a letter asking Republican State Reps to vote for Gene Chandler for House Speaker against Wild Bill O’Brien the house bully.  The content follows:

 

“Support Gene Chandler, lawmakers urged

U.S. Sen. Kelly Ayotte and state Republican leaders past and present are asking members of the New Hampshire House to vote in Gene Chandler as speaker.

The group sent a letter Wednesday to the state representatives recommending the Republican as the next Speaker of the House, a title he held from 2000 to 2004.

“Now, we have the opportunity and responsibility to make great things happen for the people of New Hampshire ...,” the letter said.

The letter is addressed to “representative-elect,” signed by Ayotte, former Govs. John H. Sununu and Stephen E. Merrill, the Hon. Charles F. Bass and former Speakers Doug Scamman and Donna Sytek.

The letter asks the lawmakers to cast a vote for Chandler during the Republican caucus on Tuesday, Nov. 18.

“We have all worked with Gene over the years and know that he will listen carefully to all members of the Republican caucus and will put you first,” the letter said”.

 

Republicans took a drubbing because O’Brien brought down the whole Republican agenda.  What is equally interesting the same Billybots that blindly supported O’Brien and got thrown out of the legislature because of it, appear to be supporting him again; DUUUUUHHH! It is obvious to me and it is my opinion that our Republican establishment remembers two years ago when in that election the Republicans were placed on the endangered species list.

 

Now that we will have Kelly Ayotte in a tough race with Maggie Hassan in 2016 they cannot afford another Republican debacle like the last election and has encouraged open warfare amongst the Republican Party.  It looks like the Free Staters are supporting O’Brien against the Republican establishment that is supporting Chandler.

 

The pundits are saying that NH is not a red state or blue state; but, a purple state, it looks more and more like a black and blue state to me.

THE 2014 ELECTIONS ARE OVER, THE AFTERMATH IS JUST BEGINNING!!!

           
With the 2014 elections over it reminds me of a blog I did about two years ago when I talked about re-districting.  I mentioned that by separating Exeter from any of the surrounding towns the O’Brien redistricting plan would probably guarantee the we wouldn’t be getting any Republican State Rep candidates elected for the better part of 10 years because there would be no way to offset the number of democratic voters.  It looks like that understanding held true.  Some of the Republican candidates worked hard; but, lost.  I can tell you that is never fun.

I was told there was about 60,000 Republicans not voting for Scott Brown.  The pundits are all over the board as to why he lost; but, the most interesting fact is neither Shaheen or Brown took debating 101 in school.  The funniest thing I saw was Shaheen, from Missouri, attacking Brown from MA as being a carpet bagger that always made me chuckle.  Two of the biggest anti Brown issues were his anti gun stances, which cost him the large and vocal gun groups, and Shaheen putting him on the defensive for abortion.  This forced him to come out with expensive ads pandering to the women’s vote and supporting abortion which cost him many of the religious right.  That was a smart move on Shaheen’s part.

Poor Walt Haverstein, although coming closer than people expected was never destined to win; the rumor going around Republican circles was he was just a place holder for the next candidate to run for an empty governor’s seat when Maggie runs against Ayotte in 2016.  Now Maggie has to raise another few million $’s for that race.  The other issue that Walt made a cornerstone of his platform was doing away with the Obama expanded Medicare program.  If you stop and check it was the Republicans that pushed that plan through NH not the democrats.  I hear there is millions to be made in the implementation of this program for those that know how to work the system all at the expense of the rate payers.  Poor Walt, he was out here talking about repealing a program that the State Senate Republican leadership pushed through.  I hate to tell you this Walt I think you were set up for failure, that’s why, in your debates, Maggie kept pounding you on her bi-partisanship, she never pushed expanded Medicaid through the Republicans did.

The Republican Senators just elected nationwide need to never forget we did not elect them to compromise our principles; the democrats are all screaming bi-partisanship because they need republicans to push through their agenda, the very agenda that has our country over 18 trillion in the hole and in the middle of WW 3 with the Muslims; bring down the deficit, clean up the runaway Obama entitlement programs and rebuild (not cut our military), oh, by the way the United States is a Christian country.

THE PROBLEMS WITH ELECTIONS!!!

 

The problems with elections are the candidates are challenged to tell the truth.  If you are like me you are probably getting sick and tired of all the misleading TV ads and mailings covering a whole spectrum of political issues all trying to convince us, the voters, that the candidates have us in their desire to do a good job and look out for us.  As soon as they get elected it is the old saying of mind over matter, they don’t mind and we don’t matter.

After all the millions of dollars on the ads and mailings, this election can be boiled down to two issues: if you like President Obama and his policies keep him, vote Democrat.  If you want him out and let our country try to heal the wounds and problems he has created then vote Republican.  People will argue that he has another two years on his term; but, a Republican Senate and House will cripple his ability to promote his polices and will probably tie him up in impeachment proceedings.

 Nothing complicated about this election it is either one way or the other.

 A lot is being said on national news about how the democrats are running away from Obama, I don’t believe it; as soon as the election is over, if the democrats keep the senate it will be, “we sure pulled that one over on the voters”.  In other words the Democratic desertion of Obama is not credible and after the election it will be business as usual.

The votes that will be going against the Democrats this election I don’t think has to do with partisan politics; but, more of an ideology difference.  If the Democrats go down in smoke and flames the handful of Republican insiders that control the party will try to convince us that was all about message, organization, etc, etc.   There are thousands of Republicans in NH that believe they didn’t leave the party the party left them and vote for the issues not the party; they do not seem to be anxious to jump back into the party ranks until some real changes are made.

So Mr. President, it is all about YOU!!

THE 2014 ELECTION PHENOMENON!!!

The polling numbers for the State and Federal candidates are quite interesting.  It appears that the voters in NH do not like any of the candidates; the candidates’ positive and negative numbers are running almost neck and neck.  This simply means both Democrats and Republicans seem to be in a quandary on who to vote for; couple this with the hundreds of thousands of dollars going into negative campaign adds (which has a tendency of driving down voter turnout) and we might have an unpredictable election.

The Republican establishment can read numbers like the rest of us and, I’ve been told, have been putting the word out that if you are a Republican and don’t vote straight party then you are really not a Republican and should be thrown out of the party now doesn’t make for a cordial recruiting poster.  Vote for me or I’ll kill you, I think that is how dictators influence elections.

 There is more than one reason to vote for a candidate, intelligent, qualified, and not nuts; but one quality that I look at (as well as the others) is will they embarrass us as elected officials.  Will they represent the voters and taxpayers or will they blindly support their party leadership? I have had several calls from around that state talking about how the infamous Bully O’Brien is calling the Republican State Rep candidates to garner their support for another speaker’s race.  The last time he was speaker he brought down the whole Republican agenda and cost us the majority in the legislature.  I have a concern that our candidates will become “Billybots” and we will have a legislature that is divided and cannot work together.

 Just looking at the Republican candidates running for State Rep in Exeter I end up scratching my head.  I know three of them, Laurenco and Griset who have been endorsed by the political wing of the Free Staters, Ferraro who the voters have already had enough of and the other two candidates I have never heard of.  Nicholson seems like a nice guy, he actually said hello to me once.  Looking over the primary election votes, there appears to be 300 Republicans voting that did not vote for any of the Republican State Rep candidates. Exeter has not been a welcoming town for Free Staters with their anarchist views and controlling agenda.

In the U.S. Senate race Shaheen put Scott Brown on the defensive by attacking him for not supporting women’s issues.  He had to spend thousands of dollars showing that he really does support abortion, contraception, etc, etc.  He is now in trouble with the religious right and also the pro gun groups because of his prior anti gun stand and he could be in a political pickle. That pretty much puts him in trouble with the conservatives.

The only thing that will save the Republicans is the intense dislike there is for Obama; politically he is a one man wrecking crew that has done political damage to his own party as well as our Country.

If the election were to be held tomorrow who do I think would win? Let’s hope the voters; but, I’m not sure.

THE OBAMA PLAGUE!!!

            

The United States is getting a valuable lesson on world sanitation and health standards.  We are watching with horror, viruses ravaging our population especially our kids.  Some of these have symptoms of TB and now a strain of Polio.

 

Being in my 60’s I grew up with the generation that worked hard to eradicate many of these diseases with childhood immunizations and proactive medical programs; as a kid I remember people getting polio.  I can also remember going to get the polio vaccine while in school standing in long lines for shots then (at a later date) the Salk vaccine that we drank in little paper cups. 

 

In short, overall, the US has attained a high degree of sanitation with fresh drinking water, sanitation programs and preventive health programs.  Not all countries of the world have done this, many in our own hemisphere. 

 

As a country we want to save the world, feed the hungry kids, help with the Ebola Virus; but, what about countries that have very poor sanitation standards?  Let’s look at South and Latin America; we just allowed tens of thousands of children from these countries that didn’t have shot records to show immigration, the Obama administration and liberal democrats are too busy to have them checked out for some of these viruses that thrive in the poorer countries that do not come close to the health standards we have.  We were in such a hurry to “save the children” we may have sentenced our own children to severe medical problems or a crippling future with polio.  I think we are just finding one of the problems of illegal immigration.

 

I received this information from a friend of mine who is sick with many of the symptoms of what the kids are coming down with and this is what his doctor told him.  Maybe the doctor is wrong; I’ll let you connect the dots.

 

Did Maggie take in any of these kids into NH?  The viruses seem to have shown up.

INTERESTING PRIMARY!!!

The one thing you should never trust is the Senate Republican leadership.  When it comes time to recruit for the Republican ticket for the State Senate they will tell their intended targets anything and promise them anything to get them to sign up.  Then when they sign up it is “good luck kid see you after the primary”; by the way we can’t get involved in primaries.  Then spend many thousands of dollars to shore up weak incumbents with primary challanges.

 

We seem to have quite a lineup for State Senate Candidates this time one supposedly had his pistol permit pulled for a domestic violence allegation, another is alleged to have taken a homeless young lady into his family home and she alleged a strange sexual relationship while she was in the home.  Another reported case was an incumbent who, it was alleged, asked a young mail intern to perform sex acts on him.  Supposedly, this was reported to the senate leadership who apparently covered it up.  Another was a you tube video of a State Senator, in a bar, and drunk as a skunk; this is all ok because we can dispense with morals and what is right and wrong because we need to maintain a Republican majority.

 

On the state rep races some are predicting a 265 republican to democrat majority with, you got it, the famous “Bill the Bully O’Brien” as speaker once again.  If you remember the last time he was speaker in two short years he turned the legislature into a cult and by doing that brought down the whole republican agenda and we lost the house.  Many of the same people who the voters rejected during the last election, let’s call them Billy bots because they couldn’t think for themselves, are running again.  That includes a number of Free Staters who are still hell bent on taking control of NH and frustrated they can’t.  We have Free Staters and Free State backers running in Exeter who are trying to keep a low profile knowing, like Exeter, many communities will not vote for them.

 

As far as the governor’s race goes, the last time Maggie was in charge of anything was when she had a leadership position in the State Senate; she ran up a budget deficit of about 100 million dollars.  I know I was on finance and tasked with closing the gap, we worked day and night to do this and it was extremely difficult to cut state agencies and programs to the bone but we did it.  Now, that all has to happen again.  I have been told we do have another 100 million dollar deficit which will require about a 10% budget reduction.  Maggie does not want that number made official until after the election.  I have also been told a big chunk of this deficit is caused by expanded Medicaid which appears to have been sanctioned by our Republican Senate Leadership, (shoosh, don’t say anything and maybe the voters won’t notice).

 

I would prefer elected officials who only vote with their leadership half of the time; that way I know they are voting for their constituents the other half the time which is a marked improvement over what we have now.

 

Senator Shaheen, Congressmen Kuster and Porter I don’t think they have had an original thought since Obama has been in office. Unfortunately, their Republican opposition isn’t much better.  I was in the State Legislature with Both Guinta and Garcia.  Although I supported Innis in CD 1 in the primary I will hold my nose with both hands and vote for Guinta, at least he won’t be a rubber stamp for Obama, and he’ll be a Republican rubber stamp.  Fortunately I don’t have to vote for Garcia.  While in the house Garcia was a very strong Billy bot, who although smart and somewhat sophisticated her only claim to fame was she played the harp; causing me to frequently call her harpo Garcia. In my opinion she is not a leader, has no leadership abilities; but, she is a female with a Spanish last name and that is what our Republican leadership wants.

 

I think politically we are in trouble.

 

To leave a thought, as we know that Obama is the worst thing to happen to our country in recent history, he didn’t vote himself into office!

BACK FROM VACATION!!!

NEW DEMOCRATIC TACTIC!!!

I don’t know how many remember a recent election, I think in Mississippi, where the democrats took Republican ballots to influence an election and it worked.  Well they did it in NH and we confirmed it in one race and strongly suspect it in another.  It is illegal, no, is it unethical, probably not, would they go nuts if we took Democrat ballots to alter the results of their primaries, they would scream bloody murder and deny they ever did it to the Republicans.

The Republican establishment is so busy getting involved in primary races, they lost sight of the ball and that is keeping an eye on the democrats.

EXETER NEWS LETTER GOT IT WRONG!!!

It wasn’t long ago the Exeter News Letter wrote an editorial calling for the removal of the old white garage at 1 Franklin St (the end of Franklin and Clifford where they meet water street.  The ENL referred to it as an eye sore. I never looked at it that way, to me it had a certain character, I use to deliver the newspaper to the owner when I was 8 years old and lived down the street from it since 1951.

The building was torn down and now, I guess it no longer looks like an eyesore; it looks like Grandma Hokum’s weed patch. 

I tried to envision it as a Norman Rockwell setting; but, I just couldn’t pull it altogether to picture it in my mind.

I’m still waiting for the new restaurant to come in like the owner said was going to happen.

IF THE NEW EXETER PAY PLAN IS TO WORK???

If the new Exeter pay plan is to work the appeals process has to work; if the appeals process doesn’t work then the pay plan doesn’t work; if the new plan was to fix the old plan then we’ll need another plan to fix the new plan.

I understand there are people who will be appealing what the pay plan does to their position and it will be interesting to see how it will turn out.

DAN INNIS FOR CONGRESS: A NEW FACE, NEW IDEAS AND A NEW DIRECTION!!!

DAN INNIS FOR CONGRESS: A NEW FACE, NEW IDEAS AND A NEW DIRECTION!!!

It doesn’t seem many people are paying attention to the upcoming elections; first of all they all sound the same and spending millions of dollars on TV ads with the same old messages, same old accusations and the same old candidates running.

From what I have seen about Dan Innis he is open and honest about his life, has a fantastic education, and seems to be in tune with what the state of NH wants.  I don’t see him beholden to anyone except the voters and I think he deserves a chance to see if he can do what he says he wants to do.

Dan supports lower taxes, lower business regulations and a better business environment over all.  Although politically a new face he seems well grounded in what he wants to do and has the knowledge to do it.

Right now I’m willing to give him a vote, there is always another election.

I LOVE THE EXETER SELECTMAN’S MEETINGS!!!

If you want free humorous entertainment watch the Exeter Selectman’s Meetings on channel 22 Comcast. The lunatic fringe shadow government was in rare form with one of them, apparently, intoxicated and needing to lean on the lectern to steady himself, another one running for state rep was jumping up and down like he has  a physical issue and seemingly commenting on every issue that was discussed; evidently to get free face time to help him in the upcoming elections.  The third was trying to act sane in his presentation and is very sensitive about being grouped in with the loonies is not worth mentioning.

 

Dan Chartrand, the frequent target of their political rants, who is the next selectman up for reelection, was presenting a new pay plan for some of the town employees.  The plan was studied and recommended by an outside consulting group and the Town Manager.  Ann Surman, the cheerleader for the fringe voted against it as did the fringes mascot, Don Clement.  Their argument was that it needed more work; it had problems, etc, etc.

 

In the legislature the losing side of a legislative issue, when they had no basis to argue against a bill, would always say it is flawed, it has problems and it needs more study.

 

The plan was voted in 3-2 and will be in place soon.  If any of the town employees think they are being treated unfairly they do have an appeal mechanism; many times you don’t have to appeal a simple discussion with the Town Manager and a good argument as to why you disagree, may well resolve the issue.

 

So on a good night at the selectman’s meeting you might find the town drunk, the town nut and the town liar all in attendance providing entertainment by presenting their vision on how the town and the world should run.

DON'T FALL INTO THE FREE STATE TRAP!!!

This is a recent article published in the Concord Monitor.


By MATT MURRAY For the Monitor

Saturday, July 19, 2014
(Published in print: Saturday, July 19, 2014)

We are well into the 2014 election season, and there’s a lot at stake.

Not just control of the U.S. Senate, as newly minted New Hampshire resident Scott Brown ignores his GOP primary opponents in his rush to target incumbent Sen. Jeanne Shaheen.
 

Not just the perversity quotient of the U.S. House, as primary voters sort through which candidates – representing which wing of the Republican Party? – will challenge Democratic incumbents Annie Kuster and Carol Shea-Porter.

 

Not just the balance of power in the New Hampshire General Court, as we’re still trying to forget – or at least recover from – the two-year reign of House Speaker “Bully” O’Brien.
 

I hate to mention this, but there’s also the 2016 presidential campaign right around the corner. And if we’re going to fulfill the responsibility of the “First in the Nation” primary, then New Hampshire needs to have solid – and sane – political parties.

 

You see, New Hampshire is the focus of a unique political experiment, started in 2001 by then-Yale doctoral student Jason Sorens. His idea was to get 20,000 activists to move to a single state with a small population and an easily accessible government.
 

“Once we’ve taken over the state government, we can slash state and local budgets, which make up a sizeable proportion of the tax and regulatory burden we face every day. Furthermore, we can eliminate substantial federal interference by refusing to take highway funds and the strings attached to them. Once we’ve accomplished these things, we can bargain with the national government over reducing the role of the national government in our state. We can use the threat of secession as leverage to do this.”

 

Snowplowing? Bridge safety? An adequately funded judicial system? Public colleges? These things are nowhere on the Free Staters’ priority list.
 

No, the Free Staters – at least those in Keene – seem to be more interested in marijuana and videotaping the city’s parking enforcement officers.

 

Here’s where it gets serious: Free Staters don’t care about political parties. That’s how two Free Staters, who lived in the same house, ran for state representative on opposite sides of the ticket. (The Democratic candidate won.) Free State candidates don’t advertise their allegiance to the project, they just join up with a political party and run for office.

 

In their 2012 election results roundup, the project outlined the progress they had made: Over the past eight years, FSP participants who have become state representatives went from zero to 1, to four, to 12 to 14 in 2010, to eleven this cycle. Only 1,100 movers are on the ground. With only 5 percent of the goal movers in New Hampshire, political FSP participants held onto the status quo while Republicans got trounced. Baby steps, people. It ain’t called a “project” for nothing!

Twenty-thousand movers could translate into 200 state reps, half the house. Imagine what fun would ensue.

 

One-fourth of the legislators identified as belonging to FSP ran as Democrats.

And now it’s 2014, election season again.

 

Is it going to get even weirder this year?

 

Sen. Peter Bragdon is retiring, and “Free State” mover Dan Hynes is running for his seat. Apparently Hynes has offered free room and board to FSPers willing to work for his campaign.

And here’s what his campaign website says about why he’s running (under “Smaller Gov”): “Dan Hynes opposes government regulations that force people to do things against their will, or that prevents them from doing things that bring them happiness as long as it does not harm other people.”

But don’t we need rules about which side of the road to drive on? Laws to protect property? What happens when the things that make one person happy conflict with what makes other people happy? What happens when most people want to have our highways plowed, but some people don’t want to pay for it?

 

People actually think that this kind of chaos is a good idea? And they’re moving to New Hampshire to create it?

 

Hasn’t New Hampshire already had enough nuttiness from our politicians? Can’t we all agree that we need a functioning government? And rational political parties? And that Granite Staters don’t really want to secede from the United States?

 

This election year, we need to pay close attention to who we’re voting for, where their allegiance lies and what sort of a government they believe in (if any).

There’s a lot at stake.

(Matt Murray is the creator and editor of the NH Labor News, an online blog that focuses on politics and their effect on working families. He lives in Merrimack.)

BOB SMITH FOR U.S. SENATE!!!

Bob has got a temper and sometimes a little pig headed; but, he is the only true conservative running for U.S. Senate.

Bob is truly the only old guard Republican we have left in NH that has the experience, knowledge, Republican we can find in NH.

When Scott Brown ran for the U.S Senate in MA, many of the Tea Party conservatives  from NH gave him money and went to MA to go door to door, work the polls and put a lot of time into his campaign.  A month after he was sworn in the Tea Party admitted they made a mistake because he was liberal in his votes. 

Who is going to convince us, if elected, he won’t do the same in NH?

Brown is the establishment’s choice and has been anointed for the Republican nomination.  That sticks in many of our craws.

Bob Smith has done more for the Republican Party in NH than any of the other candidates and when he couldn’t be manipulated by the Republican establishment he fought back and has been on the outside ever since.

What has happened in our country in the last six years has not only been an embarrassment; but, I’m concerned about surviving the Obama leadership and arrogance for the next two years.  That is why we need people like Bob who will stick with his principles and ours too in the midterm elections to counter this.

HAS ANYBODY SEEN THE $1.7 MILLION GRANT MONEY TO TEAR DOWN THE DAM???

 If I remember right when the nitrogen nuts were putting out all of their misinformation about nitrogen in the river killing fish and eel grass in Great Bay, they assured us that we would get the grant money to do this; as you already know they have been proven to have lied and we haven’t seen any grant money.  That information appears to be disproven by the DES.  In fact I was recently told that the grant to tear down the dam has been denied; I can only assume that is the truth.  We have already spent $61,000 in interest payments for the 2008 warrant article bond to repair the dam, so we can tack that on to the above figure for our tax bills.

 Where are these so called environmentalist like Frank (I don’t know what day it is Patterson) or Don (behind your back Clement); people who claim to be conservationist and are willing to wipe out hundreds of acres of pristine wetlands to promote a political global warming agenda while claiming it will be good for nature.  The only fish that will be coming back over the falls will be the red herring that have been fed the misinformation.

 Once again the voters in Exeter have been snookered (lied to or mislead).

 Unfortunately the town will not open the gate to drain the river for a few days to show everyone what the river will look like with the dam gone, if they did that then there would probably be another warrant article to not tear down the dam.

 

I think I might have a little more bad news and that is while talking to some of my friends who work for the state, I was told that the rule of thumb is to take the amount of money that has been requested to tear down a dam and double it for “incidental issues”, so are we actually looking for 3.4 million $’s to do this?  OOPS, I don’t remember that being discussed either.

 It is also interesting to hear that some people don’t want to tear down the dam until after the 2016 selectman’s race, that way Clement might run again, with the dam down he is a dead duck (with all their wetlands gone) so to speak.  That appears why Clement is hiding from the issue; he wants the voters to forget he championed the removal of the dam.  I think we will all remember as Chairman of the BOS he threw a hissy fit when the majority of the Board voted not to take the dam down.  Remember when Clement was Chairman of the Board, the leadership position on the Board, he was claiming there was no leadership on the Board; he was right there wasn’t.  I’ll save this for the next election.

STATE REPUBLICAN PARTY REINVENTS STUPID!!!

 

Just when you thought it was safe to go back into the water the state Republican Party does it again.  While claiming to be neutral in primaries the inside discussions are of those candidates they are supporting.  The rumors are clear, Scott Brown for U.S Senate, Walt Haverstein for Governor, and Frank Guinta for Congress.

With the word that Bill Obrien is running for speaker again we could probably throw him into the mix since the party stood by him the last time he was speaker.  That period of time was an embarrassment for all Republicans in the state.  He not only cost us the majority of the house, he single handedly brought down the whole Republican agenda and now he is getting ready to do it again. If I was the democrats I would be pushing his candidacy as hard as I could.

 Powers is an addictive thing.  When you look at tyrants you can see how much they relish it and love exercising it; this is usually to the detriment of everyone else around them.

What happened a couple of years ago is the legislature developed a cult who would not or could not acknowledge the truth; they just blindly followed what the Republican leadership told them.  These people no longer listened to what their constituents wanted, failed to be representatives or what was good for the state, they did what Obrien told them to do and we lost the house and some good representatives who got swept up in the wave and voted out of office.

 Unfortunately the Democrats have not been stellar political performers and now they are facing a reverse wave which will probably give the Republicans a majority, albeit a smaller one than the last time we held the house with a majority.

The state party knows what is going on and is trying to get all Republicans to stand behind the Republican banner and put aside the internal fighting that has come to ear mark our Republican efforts to be the majority again.

 Whenever our leadership puts them and their love for power first, they lose sight of those of us they need to win.

 

That’s Stupid.

HOW THE GOVERNMENT SET UP THE VA FOR FAILURE!!!

Overall the VA health care delivery and claims process has been screwed up for years.  Out of all fairness the VA in NH is probably one of the better ones.  A number of years ago some of the veterans groups worked with some of the NH Legislators to take a look at what was wrong with the program.  As information came in as to what the problems were the Manchester VA made attempts to correct them.

 

What they could not correct was the underlying lever of bureaucratic level of mismanagement and incompetency that comes with any federal program screaming for good management.  We had veterans who lived in Colebrook or Berlin that would have to drive, or get a ride, at 0230 to go to the Boston area for medical issues.  The Western part of the state usually goes to White River Jct, VT.

 

Manchester never impressed me or the clinic at Pease and I have been serviced by both, and that is why I use my private insurance.

 

One of the options we discussed was to lay off the majority of VA Staff and give ID cards for all Veterans involved in services and let them go to private providers and charge the VA.  I understand that some of that has been adopted and hopefully will become the wave of the future.

 

What the director of the VA program didn’t realize is that they set up their own programs for failure.  When you set goals of reducing waiting lists, etc, and giving pay bonuses when those goals get met, the easiest way to reduce the lists to get your bonus is to burn the lists; ok, now we have met that goal is there any other area that you want us to increase efficiency in?

 

We are getting into an election year and it looks good to scream about how our veterans are not being serviced properly.  The bottom line is where were these watch dogs of our sick, aging and disabled military a year or two ago?

 

I would not remove the director of the VA at this point.   He has been burned and burned badly by his own managers; I don’t think he will allow that again.

 

 

WHAT IS THE MOST DANGEROUS PART OF BEING A MILITIAMAN, BEING A MILITIAMAN!!!

As 9/12er’S, Rocky Mt. Militia, various other militia groups as well as the Oath Keepers flocked to the Bundy Ranch in NV to protect him from Uncle Sam, stealing all of his cattle, remember cattle rustling can get you hung out west, it became apparent that the Oath Keepers were the only ones with good leadership, appeared to access the situation's merrits and prepared to go home.  The 9/12’s, I believe a movement started by Glenn Beck, or at least worship Glenn, did not show very good form when it came to dealing with the other groups.

 

Supposedly a member, I was told of the 9/12er’s NH group, knocked down two of the Oath Keepers during a dispute while people there said that members of the group were reaching for their guns, saying if you want to draw, then draw.  The Oath Keepers being comprised of veterans, active duty, reserves and police officers, many retired, left and went home.  I heard they were called cowards, etc; but, they’re not.  They just want people who took an oath to defend the US Constitution, to remember that oath and protect the constitution.

 

Supposedly, a rumor started that Eric Holder had gotten permission to launch a drone strike on the Bundy ranch.  The only thing I can think of is someone packed their, survival food, guns and ammunition so fast they forgot their medication.

 

Not only this country; but, much of the world went nuts when Snowden leaked that the government listens into private conversations as a way to track down terrorists.  What would people say if Obama authorized a drone strike on US citizens on US soil; I think he would like to do that on the Congress?  Killing all those cute little calf’s and cows would definitely drive animal activists over the edge.

 

A friend of mine sent me a news article from NV and I am going to post it without comment, I think it pretty well describes the problem:  http://www.8newsnow.com/story/25469579/breaking-news-fbi-investigating-bundy-supporters-in-blm-dispute

WHERE ARE THE NITROGEN NUTS NOW???

Since the revelations that there is no proof that nitrogen is killing the eel grass in Great Bay the nitrogen nuts have become eerily quiet.  Look you guys there is nothing wrong in making fools of yourselves, I watch the lunatic fringe do it at almost every selectmen’s meeting; but learn from your embarrassment and listen to other people’s opinions, they just might be right.

 In a recent editorial the Exeter News Letter chastised the Department of Environmental Services for screwing up the Great Bay Study and putting out misinformation.  At times the ENL appeared to be quietly supporting the nitrogen nuts and when the world turned upside down for them, attacked the DES.  I think it is safe to say the paper no longer knows what is happening in Exeter.  When the ENL ends up on the wrong side of an issue because of poor information, they immediately try to get out in front of the right side of the issue.  There was a poll done that showed the confidence in the news media was on the same level as our confidence for U.S. Congressman.

THE EXETER BOARD OF SELECTMAN!!!   

My hat is off to Chairman Gilman for discussing the public comment session of the selectmen’s meeting.  While Ann Surman kept asking for examples of disruption during these public comment sessions, Chairman Gilman chose not to name, names.  Ann kept asking for “examples” while carrying the argument for the lunatic fringe.  I’ll give you an example it was unfolding right before your eyes, this issue, which appeared to be agreed not to do (put it in a different time frame), was all but agreed to; the board of directors of the lunatic fringe kept wanting to be on TV and get quotes in the News Paper for about 45 minutes; there is one of your examples.

Poor Frank Patterson stood up and didn’t know what day it was and had to ask the selectman, “do you know what day it is”, hey Frank in case you didn’t know it is Monday, that is when the selectman meet and I think that is probably why you were there.

Credit also goes to Dan Chartrand and Nancy Belanger for allowing Julie to have the final say on the issue.  The Chairman always votes last and she cast the deciding vote.  This was a true show of respect that probably would not have happened under Don Clement’s rule, to get respect you need to show respect.

A person just can’t make this stuff up…

WHEN YOU’RE RIGHT YOU’RE RIGHT!!! WHEN YOU’RE WRONG YOU’RE EITHER, DENNIS BRADY, BRIAN GRISET OR FRANK FERRARO!!!

The Exeter News Letter reported on the law suit being settled on the Great Bay Nitrogen issue.  Evidently the Department of Environmental Services publically admits they screwed up the nitrogen study in Great Bay and gave the wrong information to the Feds.  If you refer back to my blog about a month ago I outlined the fact that DES was having internal discussions about just this issue.

The cowards blog (the view from the bathroom) the liars who have to hide behind their anonymous blog ownership and postings, refuted my information.   It is gospel now it is out in the newspapers and in the open.

In my opinion the River Study Committee linked the nitrogen in the river to great bay issues which were off base from the beginning.  Tearing down dams, now, is a political Al Gore and Obama issue; climate change and global warming.  It is unfortunate that our so called local Republican Leadership has become Obama supporters and bought into this and then try to sell this misinformation to other Republicans is very sad.

Matt and I never bought into this misinformation and argued against it and Matt stood his ground to protect the taxpayers in Exeter.  How smart do you have to be to understand that climate change is a two way street.  It is not just about floods; ask CA and the Midwest about their droughts.  Our only natural resource in Exeter is our river which supplies much of our drinking water.  What happens if we have a bad drought in the summer, a dry mostly snowless winter and see what happens the following spring?  This is what we are gambling on, and now to find out our studies are wrong and based on misinformation or bad modeling I think we have made a big mistake.

It is my opinion that the River Study Committee has done their job and done about the most damage they could do to Exeter and the Selectman need to disband them.  The voters have voted to tear down the dam and I don’t think they have any further purpose.  I think some of the members embarrassed themselves in how they conducted themselves in the last local election by politicizing the issue.  Some acted like intellectual elitist or wannabes but they pushed a political agenda and not what is good for Exeter.

 

NOT FRANK FERRARO AGAIN???

I don’t think Frank wants the voters to be reminded that, in my opinion, he was instrumental in getting Brentwood to sue Exeter over the Pine Road Posting.  I can remember watching the selectman’s meeting that night when it was voted on and discussed, Matt was the leading vote not to post it which would bar trucks from using it and to give more time for negotiations while Frank’s attitude and vote was to tell Brentwood to go pound sand and to post it; that caused us to get sued and ate up a $100,000 legal budget.

Hey Frank, there is no question you are a little rascal.  You sued the town and that cost us $10,000 and then THOUSANDS for the Brentwood lawsuit, are you still trying to convince everyone you’re a fiscal conservative???

WHY AREN'T MORE FACTORIES COMING TO EXETER???

 

This testimony was presented to the NH Legislature in 2008, although it was addressing RGGI the main topic was the increasing costs of manufacturing in the State.

 

We ask ourselves how do we do a better job at bringing manufacturing jobs to NH or our individual communities and we can all see the uphill battle. As I have red after NAFTA 7 million jobs went oversees because of cheap labor, cheaper costs of utilities and less government oversight and regulations.

 

When I look around our area, like Stratham and Epping, I do not see any plans for manufacturing jobs; but, a lot of retail jobs.  The manufacturing jobs coming back from overseas seem to be going down South where there is less government, cheaper labor and lower utility costs.  When I was in the Army there was a common denominator and that was I had a hard time understanding either one.

 

Sylvania has been a great neighbor to the State of NH and the communities they are in; but, in their own way gave us a warning of what may happen in the future if we cannot change our direction for increasing costs to do business.

 

When I was a kid Exeter had about 6-7 or so manufacturing plants, now we have less.  So I think we can see some of the problems the manufacturers are confronted with when we talk about trying to get them to come to Exeter.   

 

 

 

 

 

Testimony to the Senate Energy and Economic Development Committee

on New Hampshire House Bill 1434

The Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative (RGGI)

 

 

 

 

Cheryl Blackwood

Plant Manager, Global Automotive Lighting

OSRAM SYLVANIA

 

 

 

 

April 15, 2008

 

INTRODUCTION AND AFFILIATION

 

Mr. Chairman and members of the committee, my name is Cheryl Blackwood, plant manager for OSRAM SYLVANIA Global Automotive Lighting in HIllbsoro, Hew Hampshire. OSRAM SYLVANIA is the North American operation of OSRAM GmbH, one of three large, global lighting manufacturers. Our company employs nearly 10,000 people, with nearly 2,000 of that number employed in the state of New Hampshire.

 

OSRAM SYLVANIA operates three facilities in New Hampshire, with an annual state payroll exceeding $116 million. The plant I manage in Hillsboro is the leading automotive lighting facility in North America. Our facility in Exeter makes glass and ceramic components for lighting and semiconductor products, and our Manchester plant produces high intensity discharge (HID) light bulbs that are used for street lighting, sports lighting and retail store displays.

 

 

COMMITMENT TO ENVIRONMENTAL RESPONSIBILITY

 

OSRAM SYLVANIA is committed to environmental responsibility in our business.  We share with the State of New Hampshire a genuine concern for the environment and the need to address the causes of climate change.

 

For decades, our company’s environmental efforts have received recognition from numerous respected organizations. Just two weeks ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency awarded OSRAM SYLVANIA its seventh consecutive Energy Star Award for our corporate energy efficiency efforts. In 2004, the Hillsboro plant I operate received the New Hampshire Governor’s Award Honorable Mention, for Pollution Prevention.

 

OSRAM SYLVANIA is taking significant voluntary steps to reduce the amount of resources we use and greenhouse gas emissions that result. In 2007, we set a corporate goal to cut energy consumption by 10 percent. I’m proud to say that we not only met that goal, but exceeded it in New Hampshire with a 12 percent reduction in our energy use. Electricity is just one of the resources we are conserving. Last year alone, our Hillsboro plant recycled over 26 tons of cardboard and 15 tons of wood.

 

We continue to set new goals to make our operations in New Hampshire more sustainable. Our Hillsboro plant has already initiated the process of becoming LEED certified by the U.S. Green Building Council.

 

I share these accomplishments to highlight the fact that OSRAM SYLVANIA and its 2,000 New Hampshire employees are working hard every day to sustain our business while we sustain the environment.

 

THE RISING COST OF ENERGY

 

However, the high cost of energy in New Hampshire has made our effort to balance economic and environmental sustainability an uphill battle. Despite our aggressive energy efficiency programs, OSRAM SYLVANIA continues to face escalating energy costs in New Hampshire. We’ve seen our electricity rates skyrocket 61 percent over the last three years, outpacing increases in all the other states where we operate. Our electricity rate of 11.3 cents per KwH is a staggering two to three times higher than the rates we pay in Pennsylvania and Kentucky, for example.

 

Extreme energy costs have a direct impact on our ability to keep high wage manufacturing jobs here in New Hampshire. To stay in business, we need to make products that are cost competitive. In our Exeter plant, electricity represents a staggering 12 percent of the total cost the quartz glass components we sell to the semiconductor industry. The plant supplies customers in more than 20 countries around the world. These global customers are indifferent to our struggle to overcome high energy costs in New Hampshire. If we can’t produce products at a competitive price, our customers will simply take their business elsewhere.

 

I urge this committee to consider that every increase in electricity rates puts more New Hampshire jobs at risk.

 

About HB 1434

 

As a company committed to environmental responsibility,OSRAM SYLVANIA supports the intent behind RGGI. However, we urge the committee to address deficiencies in the bill that threaten to handicap OSRAM SYLVANIA and other large New Hampshire employers.

 

I ask that you to consider some of the specific approaches proposed by the New Hampshire Business and Industry Association. Lower thresholds for ratepayer protection rebates, an expedited rebate process, and provisions to ensure RGGI revenues are dedicated to energy efficiency investments, are all ways to make this well-intended better.

 

I appreciate the opportunity to present the views of OSRAM SYLVANIA. I look forward to continued dialogue regarding this important issue.

 

 

Respectfully submitted,

 

 

Cheryl Blackwood

Plant Manager

OSRAM SYLVANIA

 

 

 

Enclosure:

OSRAM SYLVANIA Global Care brochure