The New York Times has a cool map as to where “excess Military Equipment” has gone from the US Military to counties around the nation: Militarization of the Police

Given the images from Ferguson, MO that have gone up all over the blogosphere (yeah, I need to post up the ones I’ve bookmarked) during the rioting there, it is causing a national question to be asked: How militarized should our police forces really be”?  Have police forces gone overboard in the “it’s free so I gotta get mine – even if I’ll never use it”?  Do citizens, when seeing these images, think “this is my PEACE Officer or is this a junior version of Special Forces”?  The Youngest, upon glancing at some of the news clips, said “Heck, even *I* didn’t carry that amount of stuff while in Afghanistan”.

Do we, as a nation or even locally, need (or want) a police force or one that is transformed, permanently, into paramilitary units?  There is a difference – a big difference, not least of which is “Are the police one of us, or do they see us as an enemy to be contained, controlled, or crushed?

• Belknap County:  60 Assault Rifles, 30 pistols, 2 grenade launchers

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“If there is a new, small government versus old big government guard in today’s Republican Party, the NH gubernatorial primary may be just the place to watch them face off.”

Not my words in the title, but the words over at Brietbart’s  Dan Riehl at “The Conversation” (Brietbart now being one of the largest sites on the Right of the Blogosphere”.  “Live Free or Die” where the People should be of more importance then government vs the meme of the tired outdated “Elect us – Republicans can run Big Government more efficiently”.  One advocates for government getting out of the way so you can do what you want for “the Pursuit of Happiness” (Hemingway) while the other (Havenstein) is merely “I make government better”.  Smaller, less intrusive and less bothersome government vs merely rearranging the deck chair on a Titanic that doesn’t realize it has hit the iceberg (“but I’ll keep the lights on!!”).  Asperational Freedom for the little guy and small business, or the traditional Republican politics per usual.  The new vision or the shopworn “process”?

Doesn’t hurt, either, that one of the most respected sites (Right OR Left) RealClearPoltics was quoted as well (emphasis mine):

Is Andrew Hemingway the New Face of a GOP with a Future?

A tech savvy accomplished entrepreneur with one foot in the Tea Party and the other in the so called GOP establishment, having run Newt Gingrich’s New Hampshire campaign in 2012, Andrew Hemingway is making noise in NH’s Republican gubernatorial primary – noise that even some oldsters seem to like, according to Scott Conroy at Real Clear Politics reporting on a recent debate.

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This just came in over the transom, and it is a very good question.  Where IS the “Open and Transparent” Government we were promised, Governor Maggie Hassan?  Can you explain (below: emphasis mine)?

Dear Governor Hassan,

On August 1^st, 2014 The Union Leader reported that the federal government dumped 13 unaccompanied non-citizen children in New Hampshire on January 1. Curiously, the year they were dumped was not transcribed in the article.

The following statement was attributed to you Governor Hassan by your press secretary William Hinkle;

“As a national issue, the governor believes that Congress should work together to find a bipartisan solution to America’s immigration issues and to ensure that no children are put in a dangerous situation.”

That’s it?  Your only statement published in the Union Leader on 8/11/2014;

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How does the State of Nebraska define Domicile?

Domicile, as you may recall, is the key, and only, word in the NH State Constitution that defines where a NH inhabitant votes.

Here is what the Nebraska Dept. of Revenue says about Domicile:

Domicile.

Domicile is the place an individual has his or her permanent place of abode and home. Even if the individual is absent at times, domicile is the place to which the individual intends to return. Actual residence is not necessarily domicile. An individual establishes domicile in Nebraska on the date he or she arrives in the state for other than temporary or transitory purposes. Once domicile is established, it remains the individual’s domicile until it is abandoned. Domicile in Nebraska is abandoned when an individual leaves the state with no intention of returning to the state and establishes a domicile in another state while present in the other state for other than temporary or transitory purposes.

Nebraska is the home of the lead petitioner of the non-resident voter case called Hannah Rivers v. NH that TWO Superior (and insufficiently educated) Court activist judges say magically grants the right to vote in NH to non-residents.

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Tom Steyer has been pouring money into New Hampshire in support of Democrat Jeanne Shaheen.  He’s the Green energy global warming billionaire buying up the US Senate for Democrats.   Steyer is one of those evil banker types who made a chunk of his fortune investing in coal,  two strikes Democrats dismissed when he promised to spend $100 million or more on Democrat Senate campaigns, including our own Jeanne Shaheen.

This point comes home to New Hampshire again with a recent revelation that while Steyer’s PAC’s have been spending money attacking Democrat opponents on their support for cheap, affordable, and abundant energy we can actually use, Steyer continued to profit from investments in coal and gas.

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Update: well, Skip is REALLY under the weather – and is barely functional.  Proven that he can’t think straight, can’t talk straight (compared to his normal ramblings), and forgot to bring, amongst all the other bags, the livestream computer.  So, besides the fact that he left late due to illness, there is no livestreaming today.  We will be recording the event and posting it later.  Apologies.

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Larry Lessig has been promoting the idea of publicly funded elections, and fighting corporate money in politics.  He is the impetus behind ‘NH Rebellion,’ a local effort to advance the progressive narrative against corporate speech.  Lessig’s overriding theme has come to a head with his latest effort to combat money in politics, Mayday PAC.

The group, the brainchild of Harvard law professor Lawrence Lessig and GOP media strategist Mark McKinnon, is trying to reduce the influence of money in politics by helping to elect candidates who have pledged to reform campaign finance laws.

Lessig and McKinnon are spending millions to elect candidates to public office.

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I just got a strange call – it seems that Jane’s husband was at their old home in Alton doing some “pre-sale” work now that they have moved to Bow Hooksett (my mistake – am ALWAYS geographically challenged).  He watched a maroon Ford SUV (not the Expedition size but more akin to an Explorer or Escape but I do have the license plate number) stop out side and then the lady in the car start taking pictures with a cell phone camera.  The car then went down to the local hardware store, the man got out, went inside, then came out and the car went back to the house where a few more pics seemed to be taken (being in his car, he followed them).  Then the car even made a THIRD swing by….

The man in the car was Alan Glassman, NH GOP Area Vice-Chair that includes Alton.  The ID is quite sure – anyone that goes to Republican events knows the slightly built man with the big 35mm camera.  The woman with him seen taking the pictures remains unidentified.

So, what is going on here?  

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Press Release from Jane Cormier for NH State Senate….

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:15 AUGUST, 2014
HOOKSETT. NH
Contact: Susan Olsen 748 4068

BELKNAP COUNTY CHAIR DOCUMENTING STOLEN SIGNS?

Earlier today, Friday, August 15, 2014, Alan Glassman, Chair of the Belknap County GOP, was found trespassing at the former Alton home of Jane Cormier, candidate for NH Senate District 16. Mr. Glassman, driving a red Ford SUV with license plate 7289, was seen taking photographs surreptitiously of the home (under repair prior to being placed on the market) and the truck belonging to Jane’s husband, Carlos Martinez. Photographs were taken by Mr. Glassman, or the unidentified female passenger in the front seat, from on the property itself. They then drove to the parking lot of a small hardware store located nearby, where they appeared to be examining the photographs just taken. They returned a second time, slowly passing the home to photograph from across the street. They turned around once more to photograph a 3^rd time, at which time Mr. Martinez was able to positively identify Glassman. Alton Police confirmed that the license plate did indeed belong to Glassman who told police he was “documenting stolen signs.”

At 1:37 pm, Mr. Glassman sent an email blast stating “Hi All,

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