Starting Saturday morning at 9 am!
.
.
.
.
As usual, this week’s broadcast version of GraniteGrok and AnkleBitingPundits brings an array of items and guests for your consideration– ALL STARTING AT 9AM! As always, thanks to the technical wizardry and analytical skills of Skip, if you are beyond the broadcast area of Newstalk 1490 WEMJ, simply click here for instructions on how to connect and listen on the Internet via livestream. (Podcasts here)
This week marks our first "G.A.B. session" where we focus big bright lights on Governments Acting Badly!
-
Co-host Tom Tardif, former Laconia Mayor and co-plaintiff in our RTK lawsuit against the Belknap County Convention joins us for a roundtable discussion on citizen access to government. We’ll also refute the Belknap County bond counsel, Convention, the Commissioners, and the Executive Committee’s contention that just because they redid the budget & borrowing process as we described that we are still not correct in our assertions. They believe that because it’s the way they always did it, it’s OK. Tom will explain "habitude."
-
Maggie Thurber will be our guest during the roundtable, joining me, Skip, and Tom. Maggie held elective office for 13 years – 9 as a Clerk of a municipal court (where she became the ‘go-to’ person on public records for her state association) and 4 as a county commissioner. Prior to that she ran a small business … after starting out in a family-owned manufacturing company. Her degree is in Communication – Print Media/Journalism, so she notes she’s "come full circle." She also hosts a daily radio program focusing on local issues, write a column in one of the weekly newspapers and blogs at Thurber’sThoughts. Interestingly, she has run in four successful campaigns as a Republican in a Democrat area.
-
Maggie and Skip will explain what last week’s "Samsphere" in Chicago was all about and what they hope will come of such events.
-
We’ll talk citizen access to records of OUR government. We’ll ask Maggie what she thinks of our ongoing quest for openness and compliance by the county government and she’ll recount a recent series of questions about her local government‘s budget and the excuse used to deny her answers. Yep– it might be Toledo Ohio, but it could be anywhere!
-
Our Sheriff wrote in a recent letter: “While inundating the county’s administrative staff with endless Right-to Know requests, Mr. Lambert has received volumes of information, some of which he has either not read, or chooses to ignore.” You can guess how he feels about the citizens’ right to know about their government. We’ll ask Maggie if this sounds familiar.
-
Among other things, CNHT’s Jane Aitken is a computer consultant, retired educator, and conservative activist who lives in New Hampshire. For concerned parents and other interested persons, Jane is fast becoming the "go-to" gal for the lovely-sounding International Baccalaureate Program. Jane has learned even more that folks need to be aware of when considering "IB" for their local schools since the last time she checked in with the MTNP gang. In a recent email on the subject, she wrote: "Part of brainwashing is keeping people exhausted with stupid tasks. If you read the entries for IB on the Urban Dictionary, you will see the kids describe it as just that — overloaded with ridiculous tasks or making a simple question complex to LOOK like it’s rigorous." You’ll learn what they WON’T tell you when touting all the great "benefits" of IB. Links:
-
Despite IB Growth, College Credit Is Elusive Students are feeling cheated after all the IB hype.
-
IB Community Themes Website Discover the themes around which the IB curriculum is formed
-
Michigan Congressman Thaddeus McCotter is the Chairman of the House Republican Policy Committee. When he first appeared on Meet the New Press back in February, he sure impressed the heck out of us, and we’re glad he’s coming back. He’s our kind of Republican in that he’s not afraid to take up a fight. His latest project
, according to his website, is "a bill in Congress restricting all government officials and employees from attending the opening ceremonies of the 2008 Beijing Olympics in communist China. The bill does NOT affect America’s Olympic athletes. The bill H.R. 5668, The Communist Chinese Olympic Accountability Act, is a follow up to a September 11, 2007, letter to President George W. Bush in which Congressman McCotter and a bi-partisan coalition of Members of Congress, state: ‘We urge you [President Bush] to reconsider your decision to attend the 2008 Beijing Olympics in communist China.’" We’ll find out why it’s important we do this.