Author Archives: Admin

Become a Facilitator January 29

See how the other half lives…

NH Listens Facilitator Training

This day long workshop gives participants an understanding of the critical role of facilitators in public engagement work. We spend time locating the work in local and statewide projects, walking through a typical “talk to action” process, and emphasizing the principles that guide our work. Prior facilitation experience not necessary.

NH Listens Facilitator Training
http://carsey.unh.edu/nhlistens/facilitators

January 29, 2015, 9 am – 4 pm
300 Gorham Hill Road (NCES Building)
Register here: Constant Contact NH Listens
For more information email Courtney Wrigley

The work of public engagement and deliberative dialogue is only as strong as its facilitators. New Hampshire Listens looks forward to connecting with new and experienced facilitators across the state who are interested in serving as a small group facilitator, learning skills and strategies for helping all voices to be heard, and networking with other NH citizens who are invested in proactive problem solving. Facilitators assist local communities as well as regional and statewide partners in the design and delivery of deliberative processes. We generally offer a small stipend to facilitators for statewide projects and tend to work with volunteers for local projects.

Read more.. http://carsey.unh.edu/nhlistens/facilitators

Concerned About the Gas Pipeline?

These open houses will be held for information on the proposed gas pipeline to go through parts of NH.

All open houses (weather permitting) from 6:00 to 8:00 PM.

January 27: Hampshire Hill Dome, 50 Emerson Road, Milford.
Feb. 3: Four Star Catering, 18 Lisa Drive, Rindge.
Feb. 4: Winchester High School Gym, 85 Parker St.
Feb. 18: Londonderry High School Cafeteria, 295 Mammoth Rd.
Feb. 19: White Birch Banquet Hall, 222 Central St., Hudson

Lakes Region Planning Commission Plots

The Executive Board of the Lakes Region Planning Commission, an unelected board paid for with your tax dollars, discusses recent legislation submitted regarding requiring planning boards be elected.

Its seems amazing that these UNELECTED RPC members who do NOT represent YOU, are allowed to use YOUR tax dollars to lobby for legislation that HURTS YOU and deprives you of your right to local self-governance. Remember, this is the Regional Planning Commission, appointed, run by the agendas of the NGOs and foundations and their PR firms, but who are paid for with your tax dollars, INCLUDING THEIR LEGISLATIVE LOBBYIST

Please support HB 487 filed by Rep Ed Comeau.

US Senate Votes 98-1 Climate Change is Real

US Senate Votes 98-1 Climate Change is Real

Interesting that this would be a proposal to the US Senate but not surprising since the UN needs to make human-caused climate change real in order to justify their goal of global carbon taxes.

Meanwhile in Davos…

Former Vice President Al Gore and former Mexican President Felipe Calderon are pushing for $90 trillion in spending to ban cars from every major city in the world and make them more dense.

Gore and Calderon presented a report from the Global Commission on the Economy & Climate (GCEC) and argued that fighting global warming will require making cities more compact and wholly reliant on public transit. This is the only way to make sure urban areas don’t contribute to global warming, the two politicians argued.

Calderon and Gore argued that if $90 trillion is going to be spent in the coming decades upgrading cities around the world, that it should be spent on making cities more climate friendly.

“The mistake we made in Mexico was to let cities develop however they want, and it’s a mess,” Calderon told Business Insider.

Read more…

Regionalism is NOT a “Conspiracy Theory”

This article was first published in 1996 but is right on target about what we are facing today.

Regionalism: Sneaking America Into World Government
March, 1996 (revised December, 2000)
by Jackie Patru, Council on Domestic Relations (CDR)

Governance – as opposed to Government – means “control by rules, restrictions and regulations”. That’s a far cry from our elective, representative form of government where laws are to be passed only by elected officials – legislators – and only in pursuance of the Constitution.

Regional Governance is a ‘layer’ – or layers – of government run by nameless, faceless and usually ruthless appointed bureaucrats who are insulated from the election process, and therefore accountable only to those who appoint them. And they will not bite the hand that feeds them. The rules and regulations being promulgated via regional governance are mandates trickled up from self-selected world policy makers at the United Nations to the federal, state and local levels.

Regional Governance is the method whereby would-be world rulers intend to control every aspect of our lives. Without the full implementation of Regional Governance, their plan for world dominance cannot succeed.

The following quotes should dispel any doubts about the veracity of the previous statement. From the book published in October of 1995 – in celebration of the UN’s 50th Anniversary – titled Our Global Neighborhood – The United Nations Report of the Commission on Global Governance : [emphasis added]

“REGIONALISM – The UN must prepare for a time when regionalism becomes more ascendant world-wide, and even help the process along. It is committed to doing so; the Secretary-General has called repeatedly for a strengthening of regionalism in global governance, in development no less than in peace and security.”
“The development of global governance is part of the evolution of human efforts to organize life on the planet, . . . we are convinced that it is time for the world to move on from the designs evolved over the centuries and given new form in the establishment of the United Nations nearly fifty years ago.”

Could they have stated their aims more clearly than that?

On a worldwide scale, the globalists have divided the planet into ten regions. The divisions may have changed from the map we’ve seen. North America – Canada and the U.S. – being Region 1; South America being Region 6. Given the present and ongoing Summit[s] of the Americas being held, it appears the ultimate plan is to unite the ‘Americas’ into one region… one nation, as in the European Union, with one currency. [See related links below for: Summit of the Americas and the Organization of American States]

Following is just a thumbnail sketch of how the plan is being implemented in America. Regional Governance is another layer of government. Picture in your mind a map of the United States of America. Then, picture ten federal regions… so instead of seeing the borders of the 48 contiguous states you see markings that have broken the U.S. up into ten federal regions. We’ve been quite effectively ruled under these ten federal regions since Nixon created them… by the stroke of a pen. (Just doing as he was told) Nixon then established ten mini-federal governments within the states, because each of the ten federal regions has a capitol, and all of the federal regional agencies have offices in the ten federal regional capitols.

When we hear the U.S. Congress talking about the ‘bloc grants’ that are being sent to the states be assured that the money does not go to the states. It goes to the regional agencies such as HUD, HEW, departments of Labor, Commerce, Education, etc, and to regional councils from there. The money is then doled back out to the local governments from which the money was taken in the first place… doled out in return for their compliance. No compliance, no money. We see that word a lot today, don’t we? Compliance. Passing whatever laws and ordinances the federal planners dictate. Those dictates emanate directly from the United Nations.

So, if in your minds eye you can see that map of the 48 contiguous states broken up into ten regions, then think of a little capitol building – a federal capitol building – ten of them planted throughout the country in each of the regional capitols. And that’s how the federal government did it. Richard Nixon claimed they were bringing government closer to the people. Yes… they did. They moved ten little Washington D.C.s right into the states. Nixon called it, “Power to the People”.

Then, between 1968 and 1972 the Advisory Commission on Intergovernmental Relations (ACIR) urged and encouraged the states to hold constitutional conventions to change their state constitutions. When that happened a section was added in the Local Government Section of the constitutions… the “Intergovernmental Cooperation” section was added. That allows other “units” of government to be created. The “other units of government” are sub-state and multi-state and multi-national regions.

Keep in your minds eye the map outlining the ten federal regions created by the federal government, with ten mini-Washington D.C.’s setting in the federal regional capitols, and now you’ll see how state legislators began politically erasing state borders, by entering into compacts with other states and nations. Thus, bi- and tri-state regions were created, along with bi-national regions.

For example… the Delaware Valley Regional Planning Commission (DVRPC) is comprised of three states, Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Delaware. There are five or six counties involved in the tri-state DVRPC. By creating these multi-county compacts that crossed state borders, it was “necessary” to have planning commissions to handle the funding. Voila! A “new layer of government”. As we all know, it takes money to run governments, so a new layer of taxation was also added. The finest example of taxation without representation. Taxation by and for appointed bureaucrats at that.

The federal dollars are fed through the federal regional agencies to the planning commission, which doles it out to these local governments in three states in return for their compliance. So the state borders were erased. Even though we still have maps that show the state borders, the overlay of regional governance has politically erased the borders. If you’ve wondered how the UN mandates get implemented at the local level… you now have a clue.

We’ve seen how the state borders are politically removed. What about the national borders? Cascadia is a great example here. Cascadia is a region controlled by the Pacific Northwest Economic Region (PNER), which has been created by compacts between five northwestern states – Oregon, Washington, Montana, Idaho and Alaska, and two Canadian provinces – British Columbia and Alberta. Cascadia is promoted as the “two-nation vacation”; it’s ‘main street’ is the I-5 corridor from Eugene, Oregon to Vancouver, B.C.; and Cascadia reports its own GNP. Former Washington State Senator, Bluechel, president of the PNER, said, “It’s our version of the European Economic Region”. So they’ve politically erased the national borders in that area. U.S. Senator Mark Hatfield was quoted in a publication advertising Cascadia as saying:

“National regions are emerging as key environmental and economic units throughout the world”.
Yes. They certainly are. Border Region 21 has also erased national borders between Mexico and four southwestern states – California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. That’s part of the NAFTA deal.

We’ve seen how national and state borders are erased via regionalism. Now let’s look at the method of eliminating the very core of our representative government… the local governments. Within the states they have created regions within the regions, called sub-state regions.

The plan is packaged beautifully and sold to naive, brainwashed (many corrupt) elected officials. The carrot is this: they’re told that by forming consortiums, compacts with other townships, or counties that they can save a lot of money on services and supplies. We’ll create a Council of Government (COG) control the purse, oversee, order and distribute and spend and spend and spend. And the COG will need board members, and secretaries, and treasurers, and “I have a brother-in-law who can… ” and “I owe a favor to…”, and the beat goes on. Another layer of government, most of the employees of which are appointees. An elected official thrown in to appease the herd and give the appearance that local governments maintain local control. And… another layer of taxes to maintain the new layer of government.

The flow of money is always the same. From the federal government to the federal regional capitol to the COG… and then to the local governments in return for their “compliance” in passing whatever laws and ordinances the federal planners dictate. Remember, the dictates emanate originally from the United Nations.

This report would not be complete without a brief mention of the “Watershed Approach”. A back-door approach to regionalism. Example: In the Seeley Creek Watershed (where we live) there are six townships – three in Pennsylvania, three in New York; three counties – two in Pennsylvania, one in New York; and of course, two states. The S.C.W. Association is ‘sponsored’ in part by the Canaan Valley Institute (CVI), located in Virginia.

The CVI is a tax-exempt non-governmental organization (NGO) front group funded by the federal EPA and NOAA. They have lots of federal funds to ‘give’ to the watershed associations they sponsor. Think about it. An NGO funded by federal administrative agencies (created by a president), staffed by appointed bureaucrats with millions of ‘federal dollars’ to hook unsuspecting Citizens into willingly, even proudly and happily, participating in a plan that will eventually take over total control of their private property.

Last fall, 2000, we attended legislative hearings in our county seat, dealing with a proposed bill which would allow counties to create their Storm Water Management Plans on a Watershed Basis. That means, folks, that our new little regional unit being created as a watershed, will be allowed to devise a storm water plan with New York townships and counties. Notice the proposed legislation would “allow”… not mandate to the counties. The ‘allow’ is enough to get the ball rolling if County Supervisors are not up to speed.

For your further enlightenment, a watershed is defined as any land which catches and accumulates rainfall across or under the landscape. Actually, it’s planet earth. More about Watersheds in a separate report. Later.

So now, within your state see in your minds eye the political erasure of local government borders. Sometimes COGs are formed of as many as fifteen or more townships to come up with a “Storm Water Management Plan” mandated by the state, which was mandated by the federal which was mandated by the world government at the UN. Subdivisions among townships or boroughs, inside subdivisions of counties, overlapping city-county regions (called Metro), and some of which over-lap into other states. And do remember the watersheds.

Look at a map of your state and you’ll see all the county lines; look at a more local map and you’ll see all the township, municipalities and borough lines… that is for public consumption. If you can picture in your minds eye this layer of government right over the top… all the money and control is being sifted down through there. That is Regionalism. The plan that is being used to globalize the United States of America.

We would be shocked if suddenly provided with a map that shows the political local, state and national borders as they exist today. Pennsylvania’s global award-winning Governor Tom Ridge, in the Intelligencer Journal in 1996 (no date on the paper) said of local government that “geographic borders once held sacred have become “undeniably artificial”. Artificial borders. Political, not geographic. The maps we see are to keep us lulled to sleep.

Elected officials who are informed about the destructive nature of regionalism usually lack the courage to stand up. Those who do have the courage and conscience… those whose moral fiber will not allow them to intentionally betray the trust of their constituents don’t have the support of their constituents so they go down in flames. Removed from committees, stripped of their local offices and staff, belittled by the controlled media and finally, vote scammed out of re-election.

It appears that the only way this will be stopped is when enough politically active Americans realize that their complaints about federal usurpation of states rights are being directed to the wrong place. Usurpation can only occur when another entity acquiesces to the usurpation. That’s us, folks.

Sorry to burst the fantasy bubble that has been created by all the phony conservative / Christian-conservative leaders who’ve held sway over our minds and hearts for thirty-some years now. They would have us believe that calls, letters, faxes, e-mails to federal officials – whether they be elected or appointed – make a difference. They don’t. * The action is in our own back yards… our communities, townships, counties, cities and states. Attending local government meetings is possibly the most important political activity in which we could engage. You see now why the slogan from the UN’s Habitat II forum is “Think globally, ACT locally”.

Here’s a final quote from Our Global Neighborhood – The United Nations Report of the Commission on Global Governance :

“REGIONALISM and GLOBAL GOVERNANCE – The development of regionalism cannot be isolated from global institutions. Affecting each other in many ways, these groups should be linked in a dynamic process of interaction. Regional arrangements have the potential to complement and contribute to Global Governance, but may not produce a positive outcome automatically.” [They’re “experimenting” with world government and the people of the world are their guinea pigs]

* You’ll notice, also, that the phony Christian-conservatives have never warned you about the very plan that is the very means whereby the planners are silently, insidiously and deceptively dragging America into a global government, the seat of which is intended to be the United Nations. That plan is Regional Governance.

The Truth About the Meredith Roundabouts

Update: There will be a meeting at 6:00 PM on the 26th of January at the Interlakes High School auditorium.

Meredith NH Roundabouts
by Tim Carter

The town of Meredith, NH, where I reside, is considering installing one or more roundabouts in the center of town.

It’s my belief the town Selectmen feel the roundabouts will relieve the heavy traffic that descends on the center of town during the summer months, especially on Friday and Sunday afternoons.

This heavy traffic is created by non full-time residents. Some are tourists and some are people from down south who come to the Lakes Region of NH for the weekends.

I’m a full-time syndicated newspaper columnist and always try to look at facts when it comes to a problem. Let’s consider some facts.

I moved to Meredith, NH in 2008. Prior to that I was a Councilman in Amberley Village, Ohio. A Councilman in OH is the same as a Selectman in NH.

I was chair of the Roads committee in my OH village when I was a Councilman. I’ve chaired meetings with traffic engineers when we were considering a roundabout at the intersection of Ridge Road and the Ronald Reagan Highway in Amberley Village, OH.

When you’re in a small committee meeting like this, the engineers tend to let their hair down especially when the public rarely attends. It’s in situations like this where you get the real lowdown.

The traffic engineers stated in my meetings that ALL ROADS are designed for average or slightly above-average traffic flow. ALL ROADS and intersections WILL BECOME CONGESTED in periods of heavy traffic. That’s a fact.

Here’s an extreme example. Interstate 93 in Concord, NH is just two lanes north and south. Most of the time, it’s rarely backed up with traffic, even on Friday afternoons in rush hour.

But if you travel this road on summer weekends and in October it can become a parking lot as too many people try to use it at the SAME TIME to get north or south.

You could widen the interstate highway to five lanes in each direction to handle this heavy flow, but 99% of the time it would be a waste of real estate and paving material.

Proof of the traffic engineers’ statements is right here in our own state. All you have to do is be at the enormous roundabout on the west side of Portsmouth, NH any morning or afternoon.

roundabout

I’ve been stuck in a lane of traffic trying to get into that roundabout on the eastbound leg of Route 16 as it enters the roundabout. Once it took me 15 minutes to get into the roundabout where drivers thought they were at the Bristol Motor Speedway.

In those situations, desperate drivers tend to take chances increasing the likelihood of traffic accidents.

Let’s list some of the most important facts about the proposed Meredith, NH roundabouts:

– Traffic is bad in downtown Meredith, NH on weekends from Memorial Day until Labor Day
– A vast majority of the year, there is rarely bad traffic congestion in Meredith
– Traffic can be bad on weekends during fall foliage season
– Local residents like myself know to AVOID town during peak periods of traffic
– Tourists, who do NOT PAY local real estate taxes to us, are the primary ones that suffer from the congestion

Now let’s consider some facts about the local geography:

– Routes 3 and 25 through Meredith to the Mt. Washington Valley and the northern parts of Lake Winnipesaukee don’t have viable alternative routes.
– People traveling these two routes have to put up with traffic delays no matter what traffic control is in place

Let’s take a look at some of the financial facts about the proposed Meredith roundabouts:

– Most of the money will come from grants obtained from the Federal Government. These grants are legally binding contracts and have long strings attached to them
– The taxpaying citizens of Meredith will pay increased taxes to maintain the roundabouts
The town of Meredith will lose real estate tax revenue by taking private land and buildings from the tax rolls to create the roundabouts
– The current intersections require routine periodic paving that’s already in budgets
– Sales, food, room and hotel taxes generated by tourists rarely flow back to communities from the state of NH to fund capital projects like roundabouts

Here’s the bottom line if you look at the above facts.

The traffic congestion during periods of peak flow will be the same or worse with the roundabouts.

All you have to have is one or two timid tourists who are NOT FAMILIAR with the merging and aggressive tactics you need to use in periods of HEAVY TRAFFIC to transform one or more approaches into the roundabout into GRIDLOCK.

If you’ve never been parked behind a person afraid to enter a roundabout, you’ll forever remember it when it happens to you. It’s very frustrating as they hold up ALL the traffic behind them.

Aggressive driving increases in roundabouts in periods of heavy flow as impatient drivers force their way into the roundabout.

If there’s an accident in a one-lane roundabout, like the ones proposed for Meredith, the entire intersection becomes GRIDLOCKED. That does not happen in a regular cross intersection as cars can navigate around the accident.

With the current computerized traffic signals at the intersection of Route 3 and 25, traffic flow through the intersections is handled as efficiently as possible. You normally don’t have to wait but a few minutes before your traffic light turns green in your favor.

The roundabouts will NOT relieve the seasonal congestion. Roundabouts do NOT guarantee smooth and consistent traffic flow from all incoming roads in heavy-traffic periods. See above.

Pedestrians wanting to cross Route 3 and Route 25 now have safe crossing signals. It will be VERY DANGEROUS to cross a roundabout on foot and it will bring traffic in the roundabout to a screeching HALT as pedestrians have the right of way in NH – ALWAYS.

One thing is for sure. If the roundabouts are designed like the one just south of the McDonald’s restaurant in Meredith, NH, it will cause even MORE congestion since the diameter of that roundabout is too small. The small diameter allows fewer cars into the roundabout at one time and those in the roundabout travel SLOWLY to navigate the roundabout.

The diameter of the current roundabout in Meredith was designed to CHOKE traffic and slow down cars and trucks. The fancy name used by planners is traffic calming.

MeredithRA

These roundabouts are currently being thrust upon communities by those in power who subscribe to planning produced by the United Nations of all places.

Now let’s consider modern technology in this discussion.

Savvy travelers use smart phone and tablet apps to MINIMIZE travel time. There are free apps like Waze and SigAlert that tell a traveler in REAL TIME the BEST alternative route.

WAZE

These apps are causing major traffic jams in residential and business districts all over the USA. Don’t believe me? Just go to Bing.com and search for yourself.

What do you think this means for the shortcut down Waukewan Street and Main Street in downtown Meredith? It’s already gridlocked on Fridays in the summer. That gridlock will now spread to other connecting roads through town as the apps will show other secondary routes to be open.

Here’s my prediction. Traffic on Route 3 passing the town docks will be gridlocked by people using the apps who are told to go through town on Main Street. The constant heavy traffic flow passing through town and into the roundabout from the west to continue on Route 25 towards Meredith Neck and points beyond will BLOCK all those people on Route 3 trying to enter the roundabout as they approach it from the south.

Once a line of cars enters the roundabout because there’s no traffic coming in from their left, this flow blocks all the other entrances into the single-lane roundabout. Don’t think for a minute that all the harried tourists or part-time residents are going to be courteous drivers and allow each leg of the roundabout a chance to merge.

You don’t have to be a traffic engineer to understand or imagine this scenario.

Increased traffic on residential and business bypasses in downtown Meredith will lead to:

– more accidents caused by impatient motorists and travelers
– more pedestrian injuries or death
– more aggravation for business owners who’s customers can’t access the stores

SUMMARY: The Meredith Roundabouts are not a great idea. They’ll not solve the congestion problems. They may create WORSE secondary problems. They’ll cost the citizens of Meredith MORE MONEY over time. Meredith will have to sign a legally binding contract with the Federal Government and give back all sorts of things in the future to get the money for the project.

Get involved. Contact the Meredith Selectmen and Selectwomen now. Tell them to REJECT the Roundabouts.

Consider asking the Selectmen and Selectwomen these questions:


Why are roundabouts being considered for Meredith, NH?

Can you prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the roundabouts WILL SIGNIFICANTLY relieve traffic congestion? If the answer is “Yes”, can you present that documentation to me?

Who will pay to maintain any landscaping or hardscape improvements in the center of the roundabout? That landscaping or hardscape currently does not exist at the current intersections.

How will pedestrians safely navigate the roundabout at Route 3 and 25 the main intersection in Meredith?

When pedestrians cross the roundabout or the legs leading out of the roundabout at Routes 3 and 25 and cars stop for them as required by law, how will that affect the traffic in the roundabout?

Can you show me the grant documents from the Federal Government that would fund the roundabouts?

Before you vote to approve the roundabouts, are you willing to go on record that you have you read and you understand ALL of the documents that would be part of a Federal grant to pay for the roundabouts? Most of the grant instruments are hundreds, if not thousands of pages of LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACTS with the Federal Government.

Here are the Meredith Selectmen and Selectwomen that will make the decision:

Nate Torr njtorr@hotmail.com
Peter Brothers, Vice Chair twobros@metrocast.net
Carla Horne, Chair chorne@metrocast.net
Lou Kahn lkahn@nhinternet.com
Hillary Seeger hillary.seeger@gmail.com

Tim Carter is one of the most effective leaders the Lakes Region Tea Party has ever had. You can read more of his wisdom here: http://www.timcartersfirepit.com

Obama Administration: Car Driving is OVER

The Federal government has now declared the age of cars is over. That is the excuse they are going to use to stop the building and the repairs of highways and streets. This is the excuse used to take gas money from the roads and more for money losing trains, buses and subway systems. This is the excuse to be used to build bike lanes to take away lanes from cars. This is another Obama disaster in the making.

Any questions about why commuter rail is being pushed in NH?

http://www.capoliticalreview.com/capoliticalnewsandviews/obama-administration-car-driving-is-over/

Common Core? – The Brainwashing of Kids to Accept Water Scarcity

SAN BERNARDINO CALIFORNIA — The San Bernardino County Superintendent of Schools’ Regional Occupational Program has received a $35,000 grant to support new high school classes that address water issues in California.

The programs are expected to develop new standards-based model curriculum that promote advanced and in-depth study of a targeted content area.

The grant, called the H20 SMART Project, focuses on energy, environmental and utilities industry sector, offering a pathway for environmental resources through two integrated science courses — Water 101 and Water Science/Technology.

http://www.vvdailypress.com/article/20150109/NEWS/150109841