So I'm reading a copy of the Littleton Courier newspaper. This is an advertising paper with a left wing slant that has been published since 1889.

There's a front page article about Kevin Smith for NH Governor.

It starts out, "With a degree in public relations and marketing in his back pocket gubnatorial hopeful Kevin Smith has his eye on job creation all the way and wants to become the Massachusetts governor's worst nightmare."

Good product differentation there. And be sure to piss off the largest adjacent economic climate in a New Hampshire depression.

I'm sure the campaign of Kevin Smith goes deeper than this so I'm reading on: "My philosophy is that the government doesn't create the jobs, but the government can create the atmosphere that brings the jobs here." Smith said.

More interesting.

Is this the definition of Keynesian economics from a conservative? He didn't say it but statements like this are usually accompanied by supporting public-private partnerships.

Isn't Solandra in California an example of this?

The possible entry of Steve Kenda into the Republican Gubernatorial race I think presents an interesting dynamic of not only who can win but

Who can lose.

Assuming a horse race between Lamontagne, Gatsas and a Kevin Smith grabbing a percentage if not all of the conservative base. So, if Kenda can get something even 2% of a statewide vote; this is enough to pull down the roof on one of the mainstream campaigns.

But which one.

"For some people lying is like breathing." -Dustin Hoffman

I'm not a television watcher. I don't have the time.

But several nights ago I saw a pilot for a series that I'm intrigued by. It's called Luck and it's on HBO. I'll let you watch the trailer to get an idea of what is going on here.

I see alot of parallels in New Hampshire pollitics. But I also see: Even when the chips are down don't ever give up.

So after Congressman Bass responds about foreign trade I continue on the iniative asking Executive Councilor Ray Burton the following:

Q. "Councilor Burton you have told me and other constituents that you support the NH Rail Transit Authority, a quasi state agency that has no oversight and substantial contact and bonding authority to increase state indebtedness and costs to the taxpayers. How can you support this when there has been no evidence that passenger rail service between Concord and Boston would even be viable?"

Burton responds by talking about the Amtrak Downeaster and how Maine advanced this using Federal money. And how effective the Amtrak Downeaster is. I responded to this by offering a clarification that the Amtrak Downeaster was created by public referendum, over 500,000 signatures were collected and it was placed on and approved by vote in a public referendum. This doesn't exist in New Hampshire. So I followed up with another question:

Q. "Councilor how can you support a multi-million dollar proposal that probally isn't even viable, how many people from your district have been appointed to the rail authority and how many citizens of Manchester, Nashua and Concord are saying that they want this rail service?"

Burton responded by explaining that there would likely be a contract before the Governor and Executive Council to "study the feasibility of this rail service." As if this hasn't already been studied umpteenth times by every state Regional Planning Commission, Consultant and even Amtrak itself. Then the long-time Executive Councilor goes on describing the political process and how Governor Lynch makes his appointments including the influential former Sen. Peter Burling. And then he closed out his reponse by stating "New Hampshire has a long history of subsidizing mass transit systems, he cited Concord Trailways, now Concord Coach as an example "I support this." he said.

At this point Congressman Bass offered some comments to this Keynesian, big government, more taxes economic model:

"I remember when Manchester Airport was nothing more than a dilapidated hanger and parking was on the grass adjacent to the building for $1.00 if you choose to pay it." Congressman Bass said.

Then he described how far Manchester Airport has come in terms of development and what this has brought to transportation and economic development across the region. He also suggested that rail service into Manchester would assist in the development and create Manchester as a viable alternative to Logan Airport in Boston.

It was getting late in the evening and I decided against evoking a running debate as to how spending millions of dollars to run half-empty trains into Manchester is going to change the dynamics of an airport where ticket prices and parking are issues that can be resolved by just taking the bus into Boston's Logan airport.

It was good of these two elected officials to even offer this Town Hall meeting I think as time goes by and the next generation of individuals gets elected into offices like this this won't happen anymore.

They'll probably just do it online.

So last night I'm headed southbound to the Bath, NH Congressional Church site of the Congressman Bass Town Hall featuring Executive Councilor Ray Burton as special guest. And I'm thinking as to how I'm going to approach this: I'm looking for answers to my policy question(s) but I don't want to cross some invisible line where questions become a nuisance.

Then I starting thinking about the political careers of both the Congressman and the Dean of the Executive Council. Clearly, their careers or even a percentage in the next election won't even register by their attempts to communicate with constituants on a raw January night in small town, or as Councilor Burton terms it rural America.

They don't need to be doing this.

So I'm now in the basement of the Congressional Church they'res some 25-30 people here including Bass staffers and the once Speaker of the NH House, Rep. Gene Chandler. Okay the introductions have been done, we do the Pledge of Allegiance and the Congressman gives a short speech about his career in politics and his concerns about the national debt making him want to run again after being defeated by Paul Hodes.

Then the questions start. They all run in themes of national debt, same sex marriages and what kind of legislation Bass is planning on filing for the next session. "I'm not blaming anyone." Bass said but he stated that he was advancing legislation calling for a reorganization of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) and the iniatives to increase high-speed bandwidth throughout rural areas of the U.S. including New Hampshire.

Billions of dollars have been spent here. Do you have high speed internet access in your community?

I hope the Bass legislation moves forward.

So I finally get a chance to ask some questions. I start out with the Congressman explaining that the Administration is now proposing a new round of trade enhancements to the Far East and the creation of a a Trans-Pacific Trade Zone comprised of China, Singapore, Vietnam, Malaysia, etc. I explain that as a long distance truck driver I've spent some time in places like Long Beach, California and Laredo, Texas and I don't see how the U.S. can handle yet more imports and containers onto the already clogged infrastructure including ports, highways and rail.

Bass hadn't heard of this idea. Though he did state he would be get back to me with this information and if he supports what the White House is trying to do with respect to foreign trade.

To Be Continued...

Next Blog: Questions for the Councilor.

Tonight I'm going to my first town hall meeting involving NH politicians.

Congressman Charlie Bass is having a town hall meeting in Bath, NH featuring "Special Guest Executive Councilor Ray Burton."

I don't know if I'll even be given a chance to ask some policy question(s), isn't this what these town hall meetings are for?

Councilor Burton fresh off a vote for a new warden for the prison in Berlin with an interesting financial background in New York has publically stated to me and friends of mine that he is a supporter of the NH Rail Transit Authority.

I'd like to know why this is.

I’ve long been a student of World War II and the European Threatre of Operations so this movie quickly attracted my attention.

The movie is about the Tuskegee airmen the first all black fighter squadron that would later make some impressive scores flying the P-51 Mustang in support of a variety of missions.

I’ll do the official review after I see the film but this is still a political blog. I’ve looked at all the trailers for this film and questions of historical accuracy continue to occupy my mind. And I’ll start right in. The trailers show the destruction of the ME-262 which was Germany’s only major jet fighter aircraft. Well, the problem here as I see it is that the ME-262 didn’t make it’s appearance until the war in Europe was a good as lost for Germany. Very few of the ME-262s even took to the sky and several reasons for this: fuel and pilot shortages and the fact that the ME-262s primary design was to be a strategic based bomber not a fighter. This was later adjusted to emphasize production of the fighter, but again it was too little and much too late. So very few of the ME-262s even flew and the ones that were downed were shot down not in aerial combat but when they were most vulnerable namely, when they had to slow down for approach to the airfield to land.

So the 262 seems to be emphasized in this film why?

The other major German aircraft shown is the Messershimdt ME-109 which is by far the most common aircraft used during this period of the war however, the trailers don’t show the other major aircraft used and this is Focke-Wulf 190. I think this is significant because unlike the ME-109 the FW-190 with its radial engine could still maintain impressive performance statistics using lower grades of petroleum unlike the ME-109 which required the higher grades and grade that were increasingly difficult to obtain. The FW-190 isn’t shown in the movie or at least not in the trailers I’ve seen.

This is a movie like any other which seeks to entertain and in my case a $9.50 admission ticket to the IMAX theatre in Hooksett, NH where I’m headed right now. But from what I’ve read George Lucas of Star Wars production experience has stated that “he used $58 million dollars of his own money to produce the film because financing wasn’t available by any producers in Hollywood.”

So is Red Tails simply a story or a production of history?

Next Blog:  Red Tails movie reviewed.

West Of Eau Claire, Wis. enroute to hook a load. About 9-10 hours later I'd be at The Pilot.  

Writer’s Note- This is a continuation blog from an earlier post titled: ‘Not A Good Report From Goffstown.’

So I’m sitting here in the shower line at the Pilot talking with a Jennifer Anniston from New Hampshire; as well as her admission that she has served time in state prison.

What do I make from this? Other than being tired, fatigued and how all of this leads to rational thought and intelligent decision making, and believe it or not I never thought of asking what landed her behind bars-- actually the thought never crossed my mind.

Never.

Before I reveal what Anniston said as a part of my training to be an OTR Truck Driver I had to take some training dealing with fatigue and what it does to the body. It’s really something this is when, due to the tired state of the body the mind and major components of the body literally separate and start shutting down with the mind and cognitive ability being right up there on the list. There was a time when I was with my trainer, driving some 10 ½ hours across Wyoming and Nebraska in the pitch dark and my trainer who has been driving for 22 years calmly asked me to recite my last name backwards with the letters, I struggled to remember the last letter! Then he asked me if I could feel my hands against the steering wheel. I couldn’t. “This is how drivers fall asleep at the wheel and innocent people get wiped out.” My trainer said.

Fatigue.

“So what was it like?”  I say to Anniston as the shower line is finally moving forward. “The place sucks, I got laid every night.” So I’m wondering if this is consensual or this is the definition of sexual assault on state property: “It was that bad” I inquire, like I’m actually defending New Hampshire Correctional Facilities and their operations. Like any jail can be that good…. “The guards and probation officers are a bunch of egotistical assholes.” she says in response. And I’m still wondering if this is consensual.

I never found out.

Anniston’s phone starts ringing and by now the line behind me is filling up with yet more drivers looking for a shower or some of the smaller carriers to have a fuel pump authorized. So she answers and I vaguely hear the voice on the other end. “Do you gotta ride yet.”

Gotta.

Sounds black to me I’m hazarding a guess here. But I’ve learned to never judge any book by its cover.

To Be Continued…

It’s been a challenging day.

So I started out this morning with my recently purchased Kindle Fire attempting to emulate what an expensive Apple IPad 2 can do and Ka Bang!!!!! Snap crackle and pop.

So back to amazon.com the Kindle Fire goes. At least after the holiday, and no I don’t have a dream technology or otherwise; though I’ve been looking at the new Toshiba laptop with 3D capability it’s called the Qosmio F750. It’s quite a unit. Hopefully it will run better than my Kindle Fire.

Meanwhile, I’m left with my aging Toshiba laptop to accomplish my daily technological based tasks like maintaining my blog.

Perhaps I should use chalk instead.

But then again…

This is a UTUBE video that I found about what happens when laws, administrative rulemaking and free speech all mix together.

Should Ademo be freed?

I think this is another case of guilt by association. When you’re on the downward spiral of society the inertia tends to keep you there. In this particular case, a prior criminal record including felonies and now these charges: for writing in chalk!!!!! According to the Union Leader this individual is also facing indictment for taping public officials without their consent. This was the viral video at Manchester West High School showing the principal acting like a public relations officer for the Manchester Police Department who, smacked a student’s head against a table for being ‘disorderly.’

I think there is a message here. Follow the rules of society and what state government expects of you or else.

And I’ll leave this thought with a piece of legislation which has recently passed the U.S. Congress. And it goes like this: If a defendant is determined to be a terrorist (their definitions) they the defendant is now under official U.S. Military Jurisdiction not the U.S. Judicial System.

So what happens if chalk writers suddenly become a threat to free speech?

I was hoping that the NH House would override the Gov. Lynch veto of H.B. 218 and the whole issue of the NH Rail Transit Authority would quietly go away.

It’s the wrong time to be considering expansion of passenger rail service in New Hampshire for a number of reasons; mainly capital but issues of long-term planning and the demographics of the state also come into play.

The house voted to sustain the Governor’s veto so the NH Rail Transit Authority and its autonomous bonding authority continue on in force. Look out taxpayers here it comes!!!!

I’ll make a prediction here of what comes next and also it doesn’t bode well for the NH taxpayer or any reasonable transportation policy goal in this state:

Starting with a history lesson: In 1980, the Gallen Administration supported with a federal grant; creating commuter rail service between Concord and Boston. The service was contracted through the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) that run the trains between the two points. And I’ll skip right to the point. The ridership on these trains was abysmal; the service was typical MBTA, cost overruns, late trains and at least one accident in the dead of winter. Did I say that the trains were mostly empty as well.  

So when the federal grant money ran out and the state had to take over of course the service was axed. I believe the price of gasoline measured in terms of the Consumer Price Index (CPI) was actually higher back then then it is today. And NH residents still didn’t ride the trains.

Okay it’s 2012 and the NH Rail Transit Authority has survived H.B. 218 and is now under some amount of political pressure to deliver to cities like Nashua some type of rail service into Boston. And they have to do it soon, at least while they still have the popular Gov. Lynch in the corner office. I believe contracting with Amtrak will be out of the question. Amtrak is facing its own budget cutbacks from Washington and this national based carrier doesn’t like to do startup rail services without at least 2-3 years leadtime, this is also assuming that the physical infrastructure is in place to establish the service to begin with. This isn’t the case in New Hampshire.

So what will the NH Rail Transit Authority do?

Take the path of easiest political resistance. Contract with the MBTA again which is now called the Massachusetts Bay Commuter Railroad (MBCR). And just like last time it won’t work.

Except this time, unlike the last the NH taxpayer will be on the hook to the tune of millions of dollars to finance and operate a service into Boston featuring late and empty trains and the continuing argument that New Hampshire needs alternative transportation systems like rail.