I got a tip from a Loyal Reader concerning a State level response from the Canadian Trucker Protest that was going to Ottawa and then to Washington over Vax mandates centered on truck drivers:
Articles tagged as
DOT
DOT Investigates Religious Discrimination By Airports That Banned Chick-Fil-A
We didn’t cover the story much here, but at least two airports refused to allow Chick-Fil-A Restaurants in their facilities. The Federal Department of Transportation has taken note and is launching investigations into whether those decisions were based on Religious discrimination.
Rail Propaganda Campaign Approved By NH Executive Council
If a big pharmaceutical company was given $40,000.00 by the New Hampshire’s Executive Council to advertise the benefits of a drug therapy that had 
not only not yet been approved but was not even known to be viable, would people be up in arms about that? I think they probably would. So how about some outrage over this?
The New Hampshire Executive Council, by a vote of 4 – 1, has just spent $40,000.00 so that the NH-DOT and the New Hampshire Rail Transit Authority can hire…
“… a consultant for the sole purpose of public outreach and public relations to increase the public awareness of the mission of the NHRTA … and to educate the public on the benefits of rail as part of a comprehensive multi-modal transportation system, both statewide and specifically within the N.H. Capital Corridor.”
The NHRTA’s sole reason for existing is to develop commuter rail in the Granite State without regard for long term costs, efficiency, or even need, all questions which have been answered time and again, but not to the satisfaction of proponents because the answers were not favorable to their cause.
EMail Doodlings – SB11
SB11 – the bill ostensibly written to allow Exeter and Stratham to cooperate on a water system. However, as we have written here on the ‘Grok, we have seen a lot of problems with the bill as it is too broadly written. With the Feds and the NH regional planning commissions pushing the Federal “Sustainable Communities Initiative”, we see that as one of the possible on-ramps for totally losing that which makes NH special without any of us having much of a say so in favor of Planners’ solution to any future ill – a move from local control in towns and cities to ‘regional approaches’ (overseen, of course, by the NH Regional Planning Commissions). Thus, I wrote to a couple of NH Senators a bit ago:
<redacted>, thanks for writing and letting us know.
To say that when Steve posted the news up on GraniteGrok about SB-11, it took my breath away – I had no idea it was even in the works. It looks just like legislation I would have expected to see coming from the Water Sustainability Comission. Why? They made it quite clear that during their “listening session” (how I HATE that phrase, as having been to some, there is no “listening” going on; only Cass Suntein style “nudging” to a determined outcome) that one of their stated aims was to remove water from being private property (“I BUILT that well”) to a publicly owned “common resource” with a handful of votes and the signature of a pen.
I crossed swords with them earlier this year – and look at the verbiage in the bill:
- Therefore, the general court declares and determines that the waters of New Hampshire constitute a limited and precious public resource to be protected, conserved, and managed in the interest of present and future generations.
- This requires careful stewardship and management of water and wastewater within the state
- To maximize health and safety, ecological and aesthetic values, and the overall well-being of the people, the state of New Hampshire must enable municipalities to protect water supplies
- In order to foster regional approaches
- and authorize the establishment of charges to owners and users of property
Granite State Future – Not really just “Advisory only”
We keep hearing from those that are in favor of Granite State Future (the NH version of the Federal Government’s “Sustainable Communities Initiative” pushed by the EPA, HUD, and DOT that aims to Federalize our local homegrown zoning regs so “we can live better) that is is merely advisory. Just hints, directions, guidance – take … Read more
NHListens – the non-profit FOR the sustainable Granite State Future plan which HATES our NH environment!
Or for another take, this subtitle: NHListens – the “Run Away!” edition!
Gosh, and last week was JUST.SO.MUCH.FUN! So this week was supposed to be the next one in the North Country series of “listening” sessions. Get out of work on time (and an unexpected “happening”)? Yup – Check! Good weather? Snow? Rain? Fire? Raining frogs (or other Biblical disasters)? Nope – Check! Heavy traffic, mechanical breakdown, gas in the tank and a Mikey D’s drive by? GPS loaded and locked in? Yup – Check! Arrive on time? Yup – Check! Go to the door and let myself in?
SCREEETCH (think: fingernails on a blackboard)! Er, nope. Anyways, this is the notice they left on the door of the Littleton Senior Center.:
Well, it was supposed to be such – there was a sizable number of folks that drove up north – just THINK of all that horrible CO2 that was emitted by fossil fueled conveyances for naught simply because NHListens couldn’t, well, listen. Isn’t that contrary to their whole notion of living ONLY in walkable cities – to NOT emit that evil gas that comes out of your mouth after every breath (btw, have you seen that the Earth is now the greenist in a long, long time with all of the new vegetation that is sprouting up?).
I guess that they weren’t all that happy that people showed up to their last session in Plymouth (and earlier) who expressed ideas contrary to the goals of the Granite State Future program (Heavens – people have been caught quoting the NH and US Constitutions! Totally unfair of them to be quoting the REAL Social Contract(s) of America!). Their actions (“La-La-La-La can’t hear you!”) reminded me of this:
GovernmentOversite: NHListens / Granite State Future – another viewpoint
Both the ‘Grok and GovernmentOversite went to the same event last week: a “listening” session conducted by NHListens (an offsoot of the Carsey Institute at UNH, where “Carsey” is the uber-Progressive TV producer, Marsey Carsey). Here is the video that ‘Grok friend Ed over at put together over at GovernmentOversite (a mashup of some of the activity at the meeting with micro-interviews with Tim Carter of the Lakes Region TEA Party included (emphasis mine):
Read this before viewing: There are Nine Regional Planning Commissions within the State of New Hampshire. The Commissions were created by the Legislature and are given the task to create a regional master plan, a housing needs assessment and to assist towns in land use planning. They also derive most of their funding from the Federal Government. A smaller percentage comes from monies that are paid to it in the form of membership dues. The Nashua Regional planning commission applied for a planning grant offered by HUD, Housing and Urban Development, EPA Environmental Protection Agency and the DOT Department of Transportation. The planning grant is under the Federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiatives primary goal is to support international agreements that incorporate “Sustainable Development” into local land use planning.The most commonly accepted formal definition of sustainable development is taken from Our Common Future, the landmark 1987 report of The World Commission on Environment and Development. Chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and is the base document promoting the agreement known as Agenda 21, an action to be taken by member states of the United Nations to control all aspects where humans have an effect on the environment.
In New Hampshire the Sustainable Communities Initiative has been given the name, The Granite State Future…
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Wrapup
The last of the NHListens session at the Plymouth Senior Center on behalf of the Granite State Future plan, which is the local instance of the Federal Government’s way to Federalize local zoning codes via bribing us with our own money as the HUD / EPA / DOT throws money (with strings attached via the “Sustainable Communities Initiative” program) at the nine Regional Planning Commissions around the State. Here’s the video:
Circle “AAAA”:
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 10 and 11
Pretty much more of the same – Part 10:
- Business startup issues: ease of startup credit, banking issues / regulation (to customers, on themselves), reduce barriers to entry,
- Train the workforce – not to be the cogs in a machine but to design that machine, teach them to be entrepreneurs
- You should be willing to pay more to a local store to have a local economy and support it.
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 8 and 9
And we start right in with Part 8:
- continuing on the economy was a lady that asked the question “what is the next thing?” as if an entire State’s economy could be planned to succeed. An older gentleman answered but I could not hear what he said,but true to form, The Enforcer went right after that.
- One of the gentleman wanted to start a new business in NH but is hesitant due to the costs and regulatory headaches.
- Two warring ideologies in the State: *I* built that vs Warrenism – “You didn’t build that” – is it individual effort or is it a community effort?
Part 9:
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “AAAA”
Well, during the recording of circle “BBBB”, I bet you’ve noticed that, on occasion, I panned over to one of the other groups. Primary reason? Well, the Scribe over there was writing a whole bunch more than this group (including when Tim Carter got up, walked to the front of the group to explain to the Scribe that her notes needed updating as she “missed” an important part (i.e., that verbiage said during the conversation that mentioned “NH’s strong believe in private property is a barrier to the aims of the Granite State Future plan” was completely left off the easel). So, I asked Molly, if I could set up another camera to cover group “AAAA” easel due to its activity – and she agreed.
Why? An experiment – knowing I was over in one place, I wanted to see if anything would keep this camera from seeing the easel at any time. And yes, when I got to the end of watching the entire thing, I was not surprised to see how things turned out:
- The Scribe who had been standing to the side during the time before the camera was set up adjusted her behavior to mostly stand in front of it. Sure, it blocked the camera view but I also thought it rude for that circle’s attendees as there was little opportunity for them to look up and see what was going on.
- Even as Molly agreed to the camera, she blocked it a couple / few times.
- At one point, the camera itself was moved
Flashlights, I guess, are not well loved. All that said, I was surprised to see that the same roles I identified over at Circle “BBBB” were replicated in this circle as well. Now, I thought that it was happening, as during the event, I could actually hear some of the discussions happening over there even as I was engrossed over here (imagine that even in my middle aged state of being, I can still multi-task (sorta)). So instead of perhaps having to eat crow, it reinforced what I saw in circle “BBBB”. Once again I will state – if I had been a participant, I would not have seen the pattern. Observing it once was enough and twice was confirmation.
Warning – the audio is extremely pour – if a shotgun mic isn’t going to make sense of this noise in the room, a simple FlipCam mic is not going to rise and jump over that bar…and it is an hour and twenty minutes long. So I listened for you:
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 6 and 7
“…who controls the natural resources and are they privately owned or a community resource?“
What have we learned so far as we get ready for Parts 6 and 7 of the NHListens session at the Meredith Plymouth Senior Center this past Thursday? Seems like listening isn’t what it used to be, I guess – especially if the circle is stacked. Again “and remember that number 10!“. If you start with 10 seats and
- A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
- A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
- Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
- The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.
- The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”
five of them are seemingly “in” on it, it tends to drown out what seems to be the REAL disenfranchised citizens in all this. Five seats taken in a 10 person?
There certainly were the advocates for the poor and for organizing as John Krebs said in the Intro:
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 4 and 5
Continuing on from Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the NHListens “visioning” meeting at the Meredith Plymouth Senior Center (NH). Thus far, the important takeaways that I have observed thus far:
- A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
- A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
- Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
- The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.
and a new one to add:
- The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”
This seemed to emerge in Part 3 (2 minute mark) when Susan started in on talking about Smart Growth principles, caught herself, and started to label them as if they were traditional New Hamspshire ones (instead of being cooked up by “Planners” that know better then we how and where we should live – certainly NOT a Live Free or Die Sentiment, or a Liberty & Freedom one either). So, let’s return to my phrase: “and remember that number 10!“. Next up is Part 4 which starts to show another dynamic right off the bat – those that are perfectly fine with a forced collectivism concerning land use, community priorities, taxes, and services, and those that believe that the voters have things right:
GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 1, 2, & 3
After talking with Tim Carter of the Lakes Region TEA Party and listening to the Intro remarks by John Krebs and Molly Donovan, it was time to start observing “how” the “what” was going to happen. As I said in the Intro post, I was not there to participate but to merely observe. To recap some of what I had observed thus far:
- A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
- A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
- Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
The meeting lasted just about two hours so there is a lot of video. Again, I apologize for the relatively low sound quality (even though I was using a shotgun mic that is supposed to mitigate that – sometimes room acoustics trump technology. I’ll have a few more observations from observing NOT just the circle that I chose to record (circle “BBBB”), but another one as well (to be explained later). Now to be sure, NONE of the segment / clips are NOT what I would call riveting and jaw dropping excitement video – in fact, they are rather boring if you are expecting “gotcha” moments. However, I did see some rather interesting dynamics being played out – not only in how each small group was run (and make no mistake – by the end of the evening, it became VERY clear that these were not just simple listening session) but the dynamics between the two poles of the culture / political worlds too. First Segment here with two more after the jump – and yes, there will be more posts with more later as well as a single post on the other circle I “observed after the fact”. Each of these 3 three videos runs about 9 to 10 minutes; here is Part 1:
Sustainable Communities Initiative (the Federalization of local zoning codes): Lakes Region Planning Commission Meeting
Yes, the unelected, unaccountable and mostly self-funding (multiple taxpayer teats at the ready) group of Commissions that started off doing road planning between neighboring towns – and suddenly, are experts in such varied things as Economic Development to Broadband Deployment in just a few short millions of dollars grants-writing. And now that THAT information is getting out (much to the dismay of paid shills like NHListens (here, here, here, here, sorta here, here) who “facilitate” meetings (and their outcomes) and their propagandists like Action Media (“to neutralize the opposition“)), they are not grooving at ALL that they are no longer being allowed to do their work out of the light of Citizen Flashlights…
…like here, where one of the taxpayer funded presenters, trying to sugercoat the “wassup!”, decided to diss ‘Grok friend Ed from GovernmentOversite (who wields a big Citizen Flashlight indeed). Diss? Er, well, object to the camera being present AND rolling – watch for yourself:
Lesson to the yet-to-be-PR-wise: holding up the yellow lined notepad makes you a bigger target and a more interesting subject to watch. And, as my 1 year old granddaughter will soon learn, blocking the camera lens with said notepad will not automatically make you invisible (something that the 1 year old is already learning, except she just uses her forearm to cover her eyes to make herself invisible to everyone else).
But I digress – here are some of the notes Ed took (emphasis mine, a bit of reformatting, and commenting on the notes on what these Planners really want to do [er, the Ed’s Notes are great and are NOT the target of the snark – the reason why the Notes had to be done is):
GrokTV: Rochester City Council – “Rochester City Councilors, just say “NO!” to the Granite State Future plan for Rochester!
Granite State Future plan – that plan by which Federalizes (via “free money”) local zoning ordinances. And if you haven’t looked or known, they can have a LARGE effect on how you live and where / how businesses can be run.
Sidenote: From a post a while ago on when EVIL uses of ordinances by a Utopian wishing to get their way by using Govt to achieve their aim:
There is a long standing animus between a business entity called the Ames Farm and a lawyer by the name of Stephen Nix here in my hamlet. For years now, the latter has tried to shut down parts of the operation of this 120 year cottage / restaurant / boat launch resort by using a number of legal maneuvers. In essence, he is trying to take away one of our basic Rights, that of Private Property, from this family so as to enhance the value of his property. Gordon Gecko has no skin on this play!
Nix’s warrant failed, but not through his lack of trying. Federal Departments (EPA, DOT, and HUD) are trying to do the same thing by dangling easy money in front of cash hungry politicians – like gold seekers, some of the latter will do what is necessary to get that honey pot regardless of what the “strings attached” may do to the Property Rights of the taxpayers (yet another tale of Washington taking local money and saying “You can have your own money back, but only if you behave in the way we want you to (after all, we have our own version of what Utopia is – and YOUR Individual version no longer counts)). Well, those that attended this past Tuesday’s Rochester City want this program to fail as well. Lots of folks spoke up:
NH State Senator Fenton Groen NH State Representative Lou Vida
GrokTV: Rochester City Council – Pleading and venting
The last post – full out complaining that the Rochester (NH) City Council should not have subsidized the Obama Presidential campaign stop by expending taxpayer monies and not billing the Obama campaign (not that he’s bothering to pay – just that kind of guy, he is). Here are more folks going after the City Council for the same thing, but at the same time asking them that the Councilors NOT sign onto the Federal mandates (EPA, DOT, HUD) of the Sustainable Communities Initiative known here in New Hampshire as the Granite State Future plan.
Jerry Delemus, head of the Rochester 9/12 Project (one of the most visible and well known of the Liberty& Freedom groups in the State):
More after the jump!
GrokTV: Rochester City Council Public input on “Sustainable Communities Initiative”- Ken Eyring
Ken’s mission at the Rochester City Council meeting( as it sought Public Input on its signing onto the NH version of the Federal Government’s Sustainable Communities Initiative (“SCI”), also known locally as The Granite State Future Plan) was to start connecting the dots between all of the groups that are pushing, advocating, and agitating for the passage of the Granite State Future Plan (to supplant local control of zoning ordinances with those mandated by the Federal Govt’s HUD, EPA, and DOT).
To wit: the Conservation Law Foundation (a partner in the Granite State Future Program) also runs the New Great Bay Coalition that is advocating for a new regional water treatment plant (which is going to cost Rochester mega buckeroonies) under the Water Sustainability Commission, whose final report will be incorporated into the Granite State Future Plan (Otherwise known as: a circular taxpayer firing squad hosted by NGOs and bureaucrats!).
Ken related a comment made during one of the Water Sustainability Commissions:
“Water and sewer rates are too cheap in the State” and at that point, a few of the Commissioners alluded to the Great Bay sewerage treatment project and chuckled that…
“The residents in those towns in that project would soon learn that water and sewer is not cheap.”
He also brought up the fact that the Planner for Rochester, Kenn Ortmann, has a conflict; he is also the Vice Chair of the NH Housing Finance Agency and has a fiduciary responsibility that supersedes that of his responsibility to the City of Rochester. Any further testimony by Ortmann needs to be challenged.
GrokTV: “After Testimony” interview with – Sue DeLemus, Warren Groen
Both NH State Representatives Sue DeLemus and Warren Groen, testified before the City Council (against the Granite State Future Plan); both agreed to talk with GraniteGrok afterwards about whether or not they had words that didn’t get said, or items they wished to emphasize, like: “These people worship at the alter of Energy Conservation…they want … Read more
GrokTV: Rochester City Council Public input on “Sustainable Communities Initiative”- Tom Flaherty
Another of the folks that spoke out against the Federal Govt’s move to further do social engineering via the Sustainable Communities Initiative / Granite State Future Plan was Tom Flaherty. He stressed that the key entity is HUD – it gets the final say via operating through the 9 Regional Planning Commissions under contract. One statement from them:
“Given that our State’s population can fit within the boundaries of many of the nation’s cities, we are presented with the unique opportunity to create a truly integrated approach to planning not just in one city or region but across the State as a whole.”
Who the hell do they think they are – to view citizens as mere lab rats? So, it is the unelected and unaccountable Planners that get to determine how our State is going to look like? How many citizens understand this? And the chutzpah – it seems that Planners are thinking “look at what we can do!” without never thinking “er, maybe Citizens are happy in what they are doing now?” I guess not – Utopians never do…