TEA Party starting to return to protesting? Here in NH, a re-start. DHS Police take notice?

With the recent news that the IRS was using its bureaucratic muscle to muzzle TEA Party groups ahead of the last Presidential election (hmm, the Press kept harping that the TEA Party disappeared – now we know, in part, why), is this now going to be a Rick Santelli type moment, Version 2.0?  They started small, all over the country.  A call went out for the TEA Party to start showing up at IRS offices all over country in protest.  Instapundit has pix from around the country (here, here, and here for some examples).

NH too!  Loyal reader Chuck sent these in:

NH TEA Party Protesting IRS - 1

NH TEA Party Protesting IRS - 2NH TEA Party Protesting IRS - 3

 

 

 

Not evident here in NH, there were some protests that did get the attention of Obama’s own security force (“We cannot continue to rely on our military in order to achieve the national security objectives we’ve set. We’ve got to have a civilian national security force that’s just as powerful, just as strong, just as well-funded.”) just in SUVs without any of the 2,700 MRAPS that DHS has reto’d lately:

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How Much Mileage Can We Get Out Of This? (Updated & Bumped)

Update! – The Democrats claim they needed the Monday Caucus so that both sides could give their views on the Casino Bill, and that this was a legitimate purpose for which they could exact a mileage reimbursement on a Monday, but Wednesday morning of the same week, before the session and vote on the Casino Bill,  the Democrats held a caucus at which they discussed…. the Casino bill.  Democrat Governor Maggie Hassan even came to that Caucus to make her final pitch for the legislation.

Original post Follows…

From the Concord Fish Wrapper…

“Please remember that mileage reimbursement will only be paid for travel on Mondays and Fridays for statutory committees which meet on those days,” Norelli wrote in the April 26 edition of the House Calendar.

But this Monday, House Democrats held a closed-door caucus that didn’t appear in last week’s calendar. Norelli’s spokesman, Mario Piscatella, said the caucus was held to discuss the casino bill, with members on both sides of the issue presenting their views followed by a discussion.

That doesn’t sound like a statutory committee.  And yet 78 Democrats–the attendees of the “Caw!-cus” –all requested mileage reimbursement.

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New Hampshire State Senate Nixes Medicaid Expansion in Budget

By a vote of 4 – 2 Senate budget writes have ‘Just said No’ to the proposed Medicaid expansion option tied to the “Eliminate Any Hope Of Affordable Care Act,” frequently misrepresented as the ‘Affordable Care Act,’ or ObamaCare.  Speaking for the majority, State Senate Majority Leader Peter Bragdon, who happens to be State Senator, said something incredibly intelligent.

“I’m not a big fan of spending a whole lot of money on something that seems to me to have some doubts as to whether or not it is effective.”

To which I would add, “Oh, Yeah- so why do we still have RGGI?”

Cheap shot.  Sorry.

Well he happens to be right in this case.  And don’t be fooled by the fools like Senator D’Allesanrdo who say things like this…

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CALL TO ACTION: SB48 passed the House Ed Committee.

From Ann Marie Banfield c/o Facebook
CALL TO ACTION:

SB48 passed the House Ed Committee. 

The good news is that both the Democrats and Republicans had ISSUES with ASSESSING “Dispositions”. That word was removed with an amendment.

Unfortunately schools will be labeled “Priority” and “Focus” schools based upon the standardized assessment results.

This means that if your students do not perform well on the standardized assessment that is ALIGNED TO COMMON CORE, your school could end up identified as a “Priority or Focus” school.

“You Have To Ask Me Nicely”

Ms. Pillsbury, Please advise where I may obtain electronic or hard copies of each of the “handouts” detailed in Attachment 1 of the 2010 Interim Report of the Commission to Study Water Infrastructure Sustainability Funding, created by SB 60, Chapter 245:1, Law of 2009, as well as all commission meeting minutes and notes. For ease … Read more

NH Senate Votes 19-5 to Table HB 135

The NH Senate has tabled HB 135, the Deputy Dawg Shurtleff House passed bill that would have repealed stand your ground in New Hampshire and replaced it with Run Away or else go to court and have them tell you a year later…yeah, you should have run away. Bad bill. Tabling is not death, however. … Read more

You Can’t Have Your Apple And Eat It Too.

Senator Rand Paul has some words for his committee, the hearing, and congress, with regard to their Apple Executives show-trial, brought on by a large, successful employer, who already pays more in taxes than almost anyone, following the tax code to its own shareholders benefit. In the minds of the you-didn’t-built-that-progressive-government-firsters all the money is theirs to begin with so shame on … Read more

A “minefield of mischief!”

Told ya.
Told ya.

A reader commented on my “Drainfields of Dreams” earlier today quoting me and then saying “AHA so we who were subject to HB 572 of 2005 were not dreaming !!! Wow!!! I guess we’ll have to retire our tin foil hats.”

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SB 11 – Drainfield of Dreams

Build it and they will come.
Build it and they will come.

“Overall goal of SB 11: Enable a municipality to establish a water and sewer district within a specific area to attract and sustain commercial development”

 So, Monday morning, May 6, I’m on the radio talking about upcoming legislation and bring up SB 11 and that, in my opinion, it was a real Trojan horse disguising a long-wished for entre for cities and towns and the state of NH to tax private well and septic owners to pay for the mistakes and mismanagement of municipally-owned and operated water and sewer systems.

Next day, out of the blue, I get this email from Senator Nancy Stiles – how in the world she got my email address I have no idea:

Susan,
An email was forward to me and I’m not sure you understand why SB11 was put forward. It didn’t come out of a study. One of my selectmen group was in need of services and didn’t want to put them through the whole community but to provide business with nee[sic] for water and sewerage. One town has the water supply and the other has the septic in place. SB11 ENABLES two communities to share resources through an MOU. No one cares how they set up who pays for what as long as the two communities agree. Included in the legislation is a requirement that if they hate each other 5 years down the road it is predetermined and agreed on how the break up will occur and who has what responsibilities. TOTAL local control to solve a problem. Instead of drafting legislation for one/two particular towns I made it ENABLING legislation for any community that saw a need. NO mandate to do anything. Hope this helps. Stop in my office sometime to say hello.

 Nancy F. Stiles
Senate District 24
603 271-6933

So, I write back:

Senator,

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Part of the NH Advantage is local control. SB11? Not so much

  1. Does it allow Exeter and Stratham actually do that?
  2. Does it give others a “platform” on which to do other things – unintended consequences?

My background is as a software developer – not a lawyer.  However, as any one that has done any programming, the object is to first write the code that actually does what is needed (design, code, debug).  The next pass is to sit and try to think of all of the ways and permutations that users will use that programming to do their work – and how to subvert their efforts on insisting on “being stuck on stupid”.  For lack of training, unsure of the job requirements, cases of “let’s just try THIS and see what happens” to those that rub their hands in glee and exclaim “LET’S PLAY GAMES!” – one can be sure that your code will stop some of the inanities that users believe your code should otherwise handle.

Emphasis on some.  Many silly things it won’t simply because I don’t think like they do so I can’t write the software to keep them from using it “wrongly”.   To be sure, more will see what works, what doesn’t, and then will try to exploit it because 1) it is a challenge to do so, but for some idea of fun, or 2) they have an ulterior reason to exploit the system from some sort of personal gain. Get the wrong logic operator in the wrong spot (AND instead of OR, EXACTLY instead of CONTAINS) or assuming data is returned from a call in a certain format and type, and things can fizzle pretty quick.  GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) deliberately done can really hack out a system – the environment in which a program is run also effects what it can / can’t do and the results (valid / invalid) are spit out.

Laws work the same way.  Although not being a lawyer, reviewing laws can be just like reviewing a large program.  Instead of CPUs and networks, the political atmosphere into which the law is enacted is its operating environment.  And make no mistake, just as in computer systems where programs compete for scarce resources, the equivalence is all of the special interest groups hoping to gain some advantage (rent-seeking, be it for commercial gain or ideological success) in either how the law was written (re: hidden back doors, zero day exploits) or the how it can be interpreted to out-chess folks not as aware by those that seek to use it in unintended fashions.

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Enabling for me but not for thee!

Senator Stiles says about SB 11 (scheduled for a vote today in the House): “Instead of drafting legislation for one/two particular towns I made it ENABLING legislation for any community that saw a need. NO mandate to do anything”.  House and Senate Dems, Progressives and RINOs dig it. Senator Bradley said in SB 102 In “…cities, … Read more

Guest Post by Ken Eyring – a conversation on SB11

[Emphasis mine – Skip]

I wanted to share the conversation that I had with Rep. Abrami via email over the past few days regarding SB-11. I am concerned about some of the unintended consequences in the language of the Bill. These concerns are listed below.  If you agree with me, please share your concerns with your representatives.

———————————————————————————————-

From: Ken Eyring
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 7:08 PM
To: Abrami, Patrick
Cc: ~All Representatives
Subject: Re: Senate Bill 11 — Please consider these concerns/potential unintended consequences

Dear Honorable Representative Abrami,

Thank you for taking the time to read my concerns and share your thoughts.  Per your advice, I read Mr. Johnston’s summary of the bill (which you sent to me).  With sincere respect, I believe that both you and Mr. Johnson misunderstand the concerns that I and others have raised.  I am concerned that SB-11’s language may not be interpreted in the manner which you (as a sponsor) intended.  Please give me a moment to explain.

In my previous letter, I referred to some of the text in SB-11 as amended (e.g. “waters of New Hampshire”) that I felt could be broadly interpreted to mean ALL waters of New Hampshire, regardless of source or location.  I appreciate that you agree with me that the Bill’s current statement of purpose does not focus on the true purpose — and I want to thank you in advance for amending this section on Wednesday on the House floor.

There are other areas of the Bill that I am also concerned about, and perhaps it is due to a lack of understanding on my part.  I would appreciate if you would help clarify the following concerns related to this excerpt from 31:141:

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Response to Questions about Guns

Questions were asked of me in two letters to the editor that I didn’t see until there was a third letter on May 18th.  My response below has been submitted to the Laconia Daily Sun (http://issuu.com/dailysun) which carried the original letters and all can be reviewed at the link above.

To the Editor:

Dear Bernadette Loesch,

Apparently three times is the charm as I finally noticed your letter in Saturday’s Laconia Daily Sun.  I regret not seeing your earlier letters.

Your letter of April 26 asks, “why (do) ordinary, law abiding people need to own or be able to use high powered, lethal weapons?”  In America the poor, weak, un-famous, and politically unconnected have the same right to life as rich, powerful, famous, and politically connected people.

Law abiding people need guns because governments don’t keep guns out of the hands of criminals.  Our right to life includes our right to protect ourselves and other innocent lives from criminals.  That requires guns with enough bullets.  The police will rarely arrive in time to protect you.  As the NRA correctly states, when seconds count, the police are minutes away.

I am not aware of any low powered, lethal weapons.   If something is lethal, it is high powered enough.  Neither of us is going to care if we are killed with a 22, a 50 cal. Barrett’s, or a 30 cal. machine gun, we’ll be just as dead.  I prefer that potential murderers, and other criminals, are detoured by knowing that they may be seriously harmed by a potential victim.

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If A Picture is Worth 1000 Words…

If a picture is worth 1000 words how many words can we expect from the screeching left-wing enviro-harpies who are already climbing on the graves of dead children  in Oklahoma to make a case for Tornadoes, Temperature, and Global Warming.

Preface: Once again the “weather” is our fault.  And while the average amount of Tornado activity has been  lower in recent years, if at best average in the age of Inconvenient Gorey-truths, that has not stopped the “if we grow government we can change the weather crowd” from blaming this latest event (or any act of weather) on Global Warming Deniers and their failure to “let them fix it” with legislation.

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Benghazi scandal: Massive coverup collapsing?

If so…well…this is breaking today from PJMedia: According to two former U.S. diplomats…pressure was put on General Carter Ham—then in command of U.S. Africa Command (AFRICOM) and therefore responsible for Libya—not to act to protect jeopardized U.S. personnel in Benghazi….Military contacts of the diplomats tell them that AFRICOM had Special Ops “assets in place that … Read more

Just a Quick Note To The Democrat Enablers…

There are more than a few people making excuses for the recent scandals involving the Benghazi cover up, the AP phone scandal and the IRS.  Without laboring the point these are just the latest of those we know about.   The point I want to make is this:  Are the people excusing or dismissing this behavior because … Read more

“Lefties: Always Ready to Dance on Children’s Graves”

“Dems are already blaming the deaths of Oklahoma children on Republicans, just as they did in Connecticut in December. It seems that there is nothing they like more than dead children to push their agenda.”   

Truly, are these people deranged?

“Democrats in the House and Senate are looking to stop what they say are deceptive advertising practices by anti-abortion health clinics that imply they offer abortion services, but instead encourage birth and promote adoption.” As opposed to Kermit Gosnell’s “Women’s Medical Society”? Are you freaking kidding me?

Mirror mirror….

Miz Sullivan seeks to school us….. If you’d like the skinny on all the private, tax-exempt corporations in NH from 4-H to the SEIU to Philips Exeter, click here and look for the NH section…you can download all of it as a zipped text file or an Excel spreadsheet. In 2012 alone, some $10 billion of income in … Read more

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