Episode 10 – Oct 1st 2012
1. Winchester, NH accepts federal grant for sidewalk project and gets nowhere fast.
2. Public Service of New Hampshire predicts higher energy rates to come.
3. Mass. crime lab tech accused of faking thousands of tests.
4. Mother sentenced to 12 years in prison for $31 of marijuana.
5. Garret Ean discusses this year’s 2nd annual Chalk the Police Day.
6. This week = Banned Book week.
The United States Senate has passed an amendment to Section 1021 of the NDAA that in theory would forbid the President from ordering the indefinite military detention of American citizens. The amendment is far from perfect as the Federalist Society overviews in an excellent blog.
Being a lifelong New Hampshire resident, I find it particularly embarrassing that our own Senator Kelly Ayotte (R) (who talks a good game about our “Live Free or Die” motto) voted against this. How can one “Live Free” when they’re subjected to indefinite military detention, on American soil, without access to the court system?
If someone proposed something like the NDAA for white men in 1950s, a visit to HUAC would have been called for. The NKVD did this stuff, not us. It is absolutely “Un-American” to deny the accused the right of access to the court system.
Please consider contacting Senator Ayotte to convey your thoughts about stripping Article III and the 5th Amendment from the US Constitution.
Thank you Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D) for voting for this.
What does it say about an individual that is uncomfortable sharing their first name with you? On November 5, the afternoon before the 2012 election, I was chalking around city hall in Concord when I was approached by an officer. He implied that he needed to know my name because “I got called in”, which is not a valid excuse/reasonable suspicion of any crime. I figured I would entertain him in reciprocity by first asking his name.
Ean: What’s your first name?
Pelliccia: My first name? It’s Officer Pelliccia. That, that’s how we refer to each other here.
E: You won’t give me your first name?
P: Nope.
E: Okay, well I’ll give you only my last name then. My name is Mr. Ean.
As he walked away, I told him that my name was Garret, and asked his. He only repeated, “Officer Pelliccia”.
The nice lady on the phone at the company he works for told me that his name is Andrew.
As reported here previously, Free State Project participant Tim O’Flaherty was elected in Manchester’s Ward 5 as a Democrat and open anarchist. He won the race against a Republican small-government Free State Project participant.
Now, thanks to a Union Leader piece, we learn more about Tim O’Flaherty including that he won his primary against a run-of-the-mill Democrat by one vote.
It’s not the first time and won’t be the last that a vote has been so close in NH. Your vote may not matter a whit at the national level, but it definitely does at the local and state level here in NH. All those activists who have given up voting out of frustration really need to think again.
The detailed numbers are in from the city clerk’s office regarding how many people voted in the Keene election, specifically District 16 State Rep, which covered all of Keene and featured three candidates – myself, incumbent Chuck Weed, and former state rep Delmar Burridge.
According to the results, 12,699 ballots were cast in Keene.
Chuck Weed won reelection handily with 60% of voters (7623) choosing him.
Delmar Burridge won with 44% of voters (5591) choosing him
I received votes from 11.7% (1490) of voters.
There were over 10,000 “blanks” in our race, which means many people either didn’t vote in the race at all or only chose one of two possible candidates. There is no way to calculate how many people voted in the race in total. Presuming everyone who voted for Chuck Weed comprises roughly the total number of voters in the race (there is no way to know for sure), then it appears about 1/5th of all voters in the race may have voted Libertarian – about 20%.
Thanks again to all who supported my candidacy. I’ll be back for city council in 2013!
According to an email from city clerk Patty Little, they found an error in their calculations spreadsheet revealing that fewer ballots were cast than their numbers originally showed. As a result, voter turnout was 69% of registered voters in Keene, not the 76% as reported by the clerk’s original numbers.
Kudos to Patty and the crew there for being willing to take a second look at their numbers. Here’s her email explaining what had gone wrong:
Hi Ian, I have had a chance to review your questions and have attached an updated spreadsheet of election activity. We decided that our previous spreadsheet was confusing because the number of absentee ballots was already included in the total ballots cast figure…and also inaccurate because the “formula” was accounting for absentee ballots twice. In addition, to clarifying the layout of the spreadsheet, we’ve updated some of the actual figures based upon corrections made to the Secretary of State and the correct “formula.” (more…)
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