Black Holes Explained - Granite Grok

Black Holes Explained

Black Hole

Black Hole in space…

The Wikipedia tells us that the

“defining feature of a black hole, the event horizon, is a surface in spacetime that marks a point of no return. Once an object has crossed this surface there is no way that it can return to the other side. Consequently, anything inside this surface is completely hidden from observers outside.”

Thus, whatever the object, it is apparently lost forever.

The easiest way to understand a black hole is to study the closest thing we have on earth: government. Allow me to explain…

Belknap County

Black hole on Earth…

First, as noted above, “once an object has crossed this surface, there is no way it can return to the other side.” This is best exlemplified when our fearless elected leaders have to make a real decision. For instance, like when the Belknap County Convention (comprised of the elected house members from the county) made its first appointment of the replacement sheriff over a year ago. At first, there was a total of seven applicants for the position. After a closed-door meeting – now ruled illegal—the Convention pared that total to two. How that happened, we will never know, as to this day, the deciding factors remain hidden. Thus, like some black hole, “anything inside this surface is completely hidden from observers outside” as they successfully “crossed the surface” to a point of no return. 

Once the black hole swallowed up all public knowledge as to how the Convention eliminated five applicants from those expressing interest, they made their final vote (also deemed illegal) and selected the present occupant, who was, as most readers know, removed from office following a year of legal manuevering. That placed the county in a situation where they had to, like just over a year ago, appoint a sheriff to serve until the next election.

Left with several choices, as provided to them by the county’s attorney, the Convention could simply reconstruct the appointment process as conducted a year back, excepting for the hidden pieces, which would be conducted on the up and up this time, or, they could declare “a new day” and create a new process wholley different from the original. Ultimately, this is what they chose to do… or did they?

Let’s review. At a June 25th meeting, the Convention decided nothing bound them to recreate the same process used, and simply proceeded with an appointment, taking no applicants, without any input from the public whatsoever. Instead, they made a motion, on the basis of a letter of advice from the County Attorney James Carroll, to appoint the present occupant—the same individual chosen inappropriately a year ago– without any competing choices. Leading up to that vote, the politicians on that body talked only about the financial hardship faced by the (at the time) unemployed replacement sheriff, and what a great job he had done while serving in that capacity until removed by the Supreme Court—in essence, a “test drive.”  They then appointed him to the position. How can this be?  After all, the first appointment was overturned due to a lack of public access to the deliberations leading up to it, and yet they can still hang their hat on it? [NOTE: In this instance, it is the Republicans alone who are at fault here. The minority Democrats tried to conduct the process in the proper fashion, but were rebuffed.]

The NH Supreme Court ruled that

“public knowledge of the considerations upon which governmental action is based and of the decisions taken is essential to the democratic process.”

When

“a public body is appointing an individual to fill a position normally filled by an elected official, the reasons for allowing public scrutiny of the actions taken are even more compelling. Such public scrutiny is of even greater import when the public body at issue consists of persons who by their very nature represent the will of the people, and, in their actions, are substituting their judgment for that of the people.”

Even with the second appointment of the sheriff—the so-called “new day”, the County Convention relied upon the first. How could they not when referring to the track record he put in during his tenure resulting from their action a year ago? The same black hole that prevented the public from knowing why he was chosen over others still exists. Oh sure, we know what kind of service he is capable of performing, but, why was the same opportunity not afforded the other applicants? Only by the act of being selected illegally a year ago was the sheriff able to create this history upon which his new appointment was based.

When all the brouhaha commenced last year following the illegal appointment, one of the members of the Convention, Representative Alida Millham told the Laconia Daily Sun that elected representatives having to make public their vote

“could be confronted with the unenviable choice of placing a valued friendship at risk by voting for the best qualified candidate or voting against the best qualified candidate to ensure the friendship.”

Oh the horror!

What we have instead is a handily placed “black hole” through which the Convention has miraculously passed with the desired result they intended: There is “no way that it can return to the other side. Consequently, anything inside this surface is completely hidden from observers outside.” The current sheriff retains his position, and Alida and her fellow Belknap County Conventioneers have protected their decision making process, voting and, apparently, their friendships…

If you don’t think this is a proper example, then go to this recent post and read about the Hillsboro-Deering School Board. They’ve done almost the same thing. They claim the process was open, but in fact, the nub of the appointment– the deliberation and the "why" that led to a unanimous public vote, done in non-public session, creates a handy black hole for the school board to hide– NOT THE APPLICANTS. I’m telling you… I’ll bet this kind of stuff is much more rampant and widespread than we can imagine.

I’m sorry for the difficulty of the material contained within this post. The study of science can be rather difficult at times. Hopefully, I’ve helped to simplify your understanding of black holes with today’s example designed for the layman…

 

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