Segment 4                                                           Bonus Segment

Not only has this event become clear that the actions of the Chair of the Windham School Board show ill will, it also shows a condescending attitude by Windham’s elected representatives towards its citizens / taxpayers / voters, it is showing a dangerous pattern of such going on around the State of NH: Gilford, Dover, Windham, Hampton.  In each case, elected representatives have decided that, having now been elected, they are now “above all that” when citizens wish to discuss (or even protest) seemingly snap decisions or decisions that push forward an agenda that goes against the beliefs of many in that community.  At worst it becomes “the good old boy network”; at worst, it is a misguided sense of importance and grandeur of status that is completely wrong – and dangerous.

That is called Ruling, not Good Governance – and we fought a war against the former in order to have the latter.

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Yesterday the vice chairman of the Windham School Board, Dennis Senibaldi, was on Girard At Large to discuss the Cenergistic debacle that was first reported here on Monday. Senibaldi made the claim that as a board member he not only reviewed the proposal and did his research but that he also put his full trust into Adam Steel. Steel is Windham’s business administrator who recommended the board approve the proposal.

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This graphic below comes from a NH Employment Security and NH Economic and Labor Market Information Bureau Report.  It’s a map.  Don’t you love maps?  This one depicts the most current hourly wage data available for New Hampshire – a state with the lowest poverty rate in the nation and that only enforces the federal minimum wage of 7.25/hour.   Democrats want to double the minimum wage without regard to the economic consequences.

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THE LONG MARCH CONTINUES. The NH Rebellion walk to draw attention to the role of big money in politics has four routes this year: Dixville Notch, Keene, Nashua and Portsmouth. The finish line is at the State House on Jan. 21 — in celebration of the late Doris “Granny D” Haddock’s birthday — but the group aims to have a longer, and louder, presence in the 2016 first-in-the-nation primary with supporters asking presidential hopefuls this question: “What specific reforms will you advance to end the corrupting influence of money in politics?”

NH Rebellion – yet another silly attempt to rid us of the evil corruption of money from the political process.  Silly in that there have been many failed attempts in the past but they believe (like many socialists) that it is because “the right people haven’t tried it yet”.  Silly, too, in that they really go out of their way to ignore the obvious reason why there is so much money in campaigns.  The entire time that Larry Lessig’s Mayday PAC was funding Jim Rubens in the NH US Senate race, not a whisper.  We Groksters had a bit of a discussion on their mark and raison d’etre; this was one of my responses:

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We’ve talked about this before:  In 2008, then-candidate Barack Obama told the San Francisco Chronicle that his cap-and-trade proposal to control greenhouse gas emissions would mean higher energy prices for Americans.  “Under my plan of a cap-and-trade system, electricity rates would necessarily skyrocket,” Obama said.

CNSNews:

“Even as gasoline prices plummeted and the overall energy price index calculated by the Bureau of Labor Statistics declined, electricity prices bucked the trend in the United States in 2014. Data released today by the BLS indicates that the electricity price indexes hit all-time highs for the month of December and for the year. 2014 was the most-expensive year ever for electricity in the United States. The annual price index for electricity, published by BLS today, was 208.020. That was up from 200.750 in 2013.

The seasonally adjusted electricity price index for the month of December was 210.151, according to the BLS. That sets an all-time record for the seasonally adjusted monthly electricity price index…The average price for a kilowatt hour of electricity in the United States was 13.5 cents in December. That is the highest average price for KWH of electricity in the month of December since the BLS started recording the December monthly price for a KWH in 1978. In December 2013, the average price for a KWH was 13.1 cents.”

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The President of UNH is on a mission.  His goal is to not raise in-state tuition.  In a free market you’d talk to suppliers, look at internal operations, streamline your offerings, modify compensation, or optimize productivity.  You’d get rid of what doesn’t work and focus on what does work.

I’m not sure UNH knows how to do that.  What they do know how to do is to ask the legislature to fleece taxpayers for 200 million.  It is like kidnapping or extortion.  Pay up every budget cycle or else.  Or else what?   The person buying the education will have to pay for it themselves?

I say let them.

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It has been an interesting week.  The power jack on my laptop coughed up its connecter pin last Thursday.  A bit of ingenuity and some copper tape later and I kept it powered up though GrokTALK! last Saturday and long enough to get the show edited, segmented, and the full podcast published.  But that fix went belly up Sunday.  I shipped it out for repair Monday morning and have been without my primary progressive torture tool until today.

Yes, I managed to post a few things, but it’s just not the same.

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This is about the stupidest idea I have heard in the area of self defense (ok, just period) especially in the case of an armed bad guy attacking a school (or any other soft target).  Serious – slowly throwing canned grocery items by middle schoolers at someone firing 9mm, .45, or .223 back at them?  What does Principal Princella Holley want to recreate – a pint-sized charge of the Clueless Brigade?  And her Superintendent isn’t much better:

A Valley middle school is asking students to bring canned goods to school in an effort to fight off intruders in the event of an active shooter situation. The administration at W.F. Burns Middle School sent a letter to parents asking each student to bring an 8 oz. canned food item to use in case an intruder enters the classroom.

Yeah, just chuck a can of tunafish at’em – water packed however, we don’t want to bring in a Hazmat team to clean up the environmental disaster that is “tuna packed in oil”, dontcha know.

“We realize at first this may seem odd; however, it is a practice that would catch an intruder off-guard,” the letter reads. “The canned food item could stun the intruder or even knock him out until the police arrive. The canned food item will give the students a sense of empowerment to protect themselves and will make them feel secure in case an intruder enters the classroom.”

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Once again at TreeHugger is the notion that all advances in our standard of living should be sacrificed at the Altar of GAIA.  What’s so bad about wearing a few layers of outdoor clothes on as you sit on your favorite indoor couch to save a few ergs of energy:

Super-insulated clothing could let you skip indoor heating

Wearing extra layers inside is one of the easiest things you can do to reduce energy consumption during the winter, which both helps the planet and saves you money. We’ve brought you some great low-tech ways in the past to stay warm while keeping the heat set low, but a new high tech solution could help us all to warm up while using less energy. Researchers at Stanford University have figured out a way to apply a silver nanowire coating to fabrics to make them super insulating, cutting down or even cutting out the need for indoor heating when worn.

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“The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.”            – President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09

$1.5 Trillion PLUS and not only will its mini-gun not be ready for FOUR years:

“There will be no gun until [the Joint Strike Fighter’s Block] 3F [software], there is no software to support it now or for the next four-ish years,” said one Air Force official affiliated with the F-35 program. “Block 3F is slated for release in 2019, but who knows how much that will slip?”

OK, this thing has been in development a long time – one of the most complicated piece of machinery ever built.  Software plays a MAJOR role on this thing.  But this aircraft is slotted to not just an advanced air-to-air fighter but a multi-role one – including that of ground troop support.  Now, while the Eldest took care of the EA-4B electronic warfare jet for the Marines while in Iraq (at El Asad airbase where Obama has now sent some Special Forces “non-combatants”), the Youngest was on missions in Afghanistan where the Warthog 

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Once again, you have been put on the Alter of GAIA and about to be sacrificed, you infidel of the Cult of Beef & Dairy.  Katherine Martinko over at TH has a post listing a couple of studies saying how bad the beef and dairy industries are for planet (yes, global warming.  Not again – always).  That’s not the worst of it by a long shot – it is the attitude that she shows towards those that won’t adopt a diversity of thought – primarily hers.  Yes, one thought, one outlook – and brands those that don’t want to agree with her as heretics and selfish subhumans (what, like we haven’t seen this Progressive “I know better than you what is best for you!” snoot nosiness?

A couple of snippets (emphasis mine):

Despite the fact that livestock production contributes more greenhouse gas emissions than the entire transport sector, there is an appalling unwillingness to change eating habits in order to make a difference.

And this: 

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