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Figures:

Maryland health officials are investigating possible cases of food poisoning at what may be the worst-ever venue — a gathering of government and industry leaders attending a national Food Safety Summit.  At least four people called the Baltimore City Health Department this week to report that they developed diarrhea, nausea and other symptoms about 12 hours after eating a meal April 9 during the conference at the Baltimore Convention Center.

That was midway through the annual meeting held April 8 to 10 that attracted more than 1,500 food safety professionals, including staff from federal agencies as well as businesses such as McDonald’s, Tyson, Chiquita and ConAgra Foods.

“None of us are very happy when we hear these things,” said Peggy Daidakis, executive director of the center.

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So who protects us from Government?

It is the Progressive way – no one must be allowed to stop “progress” for the greater good (whatever they mean by that).  That would include elderly widows (emphasis mine, reformatted):

HUNTSVILLE, Ala.(WHNT)-More than a dozen widows who were married to retired Madison County employees saw their health insurance coverage dropped earlier this year, and one county commissioner now says it’s time to give it back.  The change was sparked by the new federal health care law, but whether or not coverage can actually be restored remains unclear. 

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…and what the Journalist Round Table failed to recognize.

WMUR’s CloseUp, their Sunday political rumination show, is generally good for a couple items and this week is no different.  Main interviewee was recently announced candidate for the NH GOP nomination for NH Governor, Walt Haverstein (re: info and oops!).  Well, Josh McElveen asked a question that I will be quite sure that NH State Senator Jeb Bradley and NH State Senator Chuck Morse (given that Bob Odell is running away, he won’t care) won’t be all that pleased.

“Do you think that the Republicans that voted for,  in favor for expanding Medicaid or expanding healthcare in NH (however they want to categorize it); is it fair that some of them are getting primaried, you believe?”

First, the “lift up” – Heh!  First he’s for the Rogue Republicans before…

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Now that the recent legal action taken by five area Democrats against Rep. Worsman and myself has been denied by Judge James D. O’Neill III, Belknap County Superior Court, I would like to comment on this most unfortunate and wasteful county lawsuit. The term “lawfare” comes to mind. By definition, “lawfare” is the weaponizing of our legal system and using it as a blunt instrument.

Now, this suit, brought forth by Rep. Ruth Gulick, (New Hampton/Center Harbor) and Reps. Beth Arsenault, (Laconia); Lisa DiMartino, (Gilford/Meredith); Ian Raymond, (Sanborton), and David Huot, (Laconia); alleged Belknap County Delegation Chair, Colette Worsman, and I, Jane Cormier, Clerk, violated the Right to Know Law by permitting Rep. Comtois, (Barnstead) to participate by phone at a February 18 meeting.  Because Rep. Comtois voted NOT to pass the Commissioners’ budget for 2014, as proposed by the Democrats, the vote was a tie – 7 to 7 and the motion did not pass.  Well after this vote occurred, Rep. Worsman and I were served by the Sheriff. The next day, on March 4, the County Convention voted to pass the Convention budget containing a modest 1.5% increase versus a much larger 8+% increase as proposed by the Commissioners.  While it is clear the Democrats did not like losing, they apparently liked Rep. Worsman and me even less… 

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Steve has been all over the Federal Government’s Ambassador to NH, Jeanne Shaheen’s utterances that global warming was going to kill off NH’s ski industry (here, here, and here).  And this year was one of the best EVAH for the industry as a whole.  So once again, Jeanne is wrong.  Really wrong.  And she was the 60th vote that is helping to actually shorten (and in some cases, kill off) the ski industry to which she professes love (emphasis mine, reformatted):

MANCHESTER — Owners of some small New Hampshire businesses said at a forum Thursday that paperwork and expense are threatening the economic platforms on which their companies are built — to the point that the Affordable Care Act could trump nature.  Greg Goddard, general manager of Gunstock Ski Resort, said requirements that health insurance be offered to employees who are on a company payroll for 120 consecutive days or longer could mean opening the slopes later and shutting them down earlier.

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The Bureau of Land Management is supposed to be part of the “conservationists” of the Federal Government.  This whole thing was blown up over “protecting the desert tortoises” (on the endangered list).  You would think that in the performance of their duties, the Bundy cattle that they had mercenary cowboys round up would have actually taken care of them at best and at the very least, bring them to a slaughter house and recoup some of the money that the Feds say that Cliven Bundy owes them for grazing fees.  and now those newly born calves are at risk.  Proof?  Click on each (more after the jump) for the larger versions.

Listen to the podcast – Jerry reporting in from the Bundy Ranch at the end with an extended interview.  Pix below just sent in by Jerry.

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Higher RANK number is safer:

Sen. Jim Rausch, R-Derry, who chairs the Senate Transportation Committee, which voted 5-0 to approve the bill, said the bill would give law enforcement the tools they need to make the roads safer.  “This is not an infringement on the rights of citizens,” Rausch said, “but a reasonable limit on the use of the technology we have today to keep us safer.”

Right. Actually, wrong.  True, there is not a “Right” to use a cell phone or to drive but if the goal is to make us safer, then pick circumstances in which that can actually be attained.  Once again, however, we see Government deciding to remove freedom of choice from its Citizens.  Remember what Ben Franklin say about safety:

They who would give up essential Liberty, to purchase a little temporary Safety, deserve neither Liberty nor Safety.

Given NH’s standing, there is little Safety to be gained in this and the problem is that the Republicans in the Senate are falling (or is that embracing, given the BradleyCare / Obamacare Medicaid Expansion they also passed?) the Progressive philosophy that ALL risk can be removed from reality in their march to march the rest of us to their Utopia.  It simply turns out to be, however, an ideology casting desperately to declare a solution that advances, not a solution, but that ideology. And in doing so, it must be definition reduce overall Liberty. NH State Senator Lou D’Allesandro lied when he said: “The data is quite clear,” he said. “This is worth doing because it saves lives”.  The actual data (see full chart below) does not support this at all – New Hampshire is the third safest state for driving and fifth best for “careless driving” in the nation as determined by

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It has taken a few years but blogs (like GraniteGrok) have slowly crept into the mainstream.  While many of the bloggers have crept into the MSM and most of the MSM outlets have incorporated blogs into their offerings, there has always been a pecking order.   Many have derided bloggers as “not journalists” and certainly early on, “journalists” sniffed at and looked down upon these “mere bloggers”.  No longer (although most bloggers still dwell near the bottom of the media totem pole – or political one for that matter).  However, with the disintermediation of the Internet, journalism seems to be returning to the realm of “what you do” rather than “it is how I get paid”.  Journalism is now longer just a profession but an activity to which millions of “amateurs” now practice and some of them that go payless are far better journalists than those that do.

However, the legal status in terms of liability has been sketchy at times as the law and law practice has been outpaced by the technology and the embracing the public has given to this “disruptive technology”.  But thanks to a case in Florida, we bloggers (at least in FL) have legal status (emphasis mine):

…it is hard to dispute that the advent of the internet as a medium and the emergence of the blog as a means of free dissemination of news and public comment have been transformative. By some accounts, there are in the range of 300 million blogs worldwide. The variety and quality of these are such that the word “blog” itself is an evolving term and concept. The impact of blogs has been so great that even terms traditionally well defined and understood in journalism are changing as journalists increasingly employ the tools and techniques of bloggers – and vice versa. In employing the word “blog,” we consider a site operated by a single individual or a small group that has primarily an informational purpose, most commonly in an area of special interest, knowledge or expertise of the blogger, and which usually provides for public impact or feedback. In that sense, it appears clear that many blogs and bloggers will fall within the broad reach of “media,” and, if accused of defamatory statements, will qualify as a “media defendant” for purposes of Florida’s defamation law as discussed above.

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Been real busy so playing catch up.  Here’s a few unconnected, disjoint factoids:

• Census says!  86.5 million workers are supporting 148 non-workers.

Enough people riding in the wagon for you, Zandra Rice-Hawkins, Jeanne Shaheen, and President Obama?

• The average price for a kilowatthour (KWH) of electricity hit a March record of 13.5 cents, according data released yesterday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. That was up about 5.5 percent from 12.8 cents per KWH in March 2013. The relative price of electricity in the United States tends to rise in spring, peak in summer, and decline in fall. Last year, after the price of a KWH averaged 12.8 cents in March, it rose to an all-time high of 13.7 cents in June, July, August and September.  If the prevailing trend holds, the average price of a KWH would hit a new record this summer. 

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