II. Any person who drives, operates, or attempts to operate an OHRV, drives or attempts to drive a vehicle upon the ways of this state, or operates or attempts to operate a boat on the public waters of this state shall be deemed to have given consent to chemical, infrared molecular absorption, or gas chromatograph test or tests of his or her blood or urine for the presence of any schedule I controlled substance, as defined in RSA 318-B:1-b, or its metabolites.
Read that again if it didn't sink in. If you're going for a gallon of milk, you've implicitly given your consent to have to pee in a cup or be stuck for a blood draw just by pulling out of your driveway. No commission of a crime is required, no reasonable suspicion need be raised. You've implicitly consented, just by driving, or riding your ATV or snowmobile, or piloting your boat. If you're out fishing on the lake, you cannot refuse a random blood draw. Well, you can, but you'll be found guilty of a misdemeanor and subject to arrest. I'm sure you'll be eventually vindicated on fourth amendment grounds, if you can afford to fight it, but any way you cut it this is outrageous and demeaning.
This bill is sponsored by Reps. J. Flanders and Welch, of Rockingham District 8. The committee members contact info can be found here and you can find contact information for your legislators here.
A hearing is scheduled at the Legislative Office Building in Concord on 02/05/2009 at 11:00 AM, Room 204. Everybody needs to be there.
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Thu, 09 Oct 2008 20:05:00 GMT
I stopped by Newbury Comics today to buy Will a birthday present (he's two today). I got him a Monster Book of Monsters stuffed toy he absolute went bananas for last time we were in there.
On my TODO index card in my pocket I also had 'wrapping paper' and 'padded envelopes'. Newbury Comics is in the same shopping plaza as K-Mart and since I was shopping on work time I decided to just go there rather than drive down to Wal*Mart and save a couple bucks on products.
I got what I needed, but during checkout I was asked, in order:
for my e-mail address so I could 'get coupons'. Three times, each worded differently.
for my ZIP code
if I wanted to apply for a Sears credit card
for $7.73 for the goods
if I would please go online and fill out a survey
to 'please come back and visit us again'
They're out of their minds. Next time I'm going to drive to Wal*Mart, and it's not for the $2, it's for the check out process:
give us this much money (incidentally, less than K-Mart)
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Thu, 25 Sep 2008 01:59:00 GMT
So the other night I was at a dinner and sat next to a nice fellow who asked me, "what do you think of this Sarah Palin?"
"She's interesting," I began, "what do you think of her?"
"Oh, she's terrible!" came the reply. So, I asked, intending to learn something and continue the conversation, "which of her positions positions do you dislike?"
"All of them!" was the what-don't-you-get reply. "Oh," I said with some fascination, "which one do you think is the worst?" At this point I was suspecting this could be fun.
"Just all of them," was the only answer I received, and the conversation turned.
So, the rhetorical question of the day is how many of Sarah Palin's positions do you think this hater actually knew anything about? It amazes me how people can take strong political positions without knowing anything about the subject. I get this over and over on nuclear energy especially. I think I err on the other side too much, only weighing in on a topic after I've researched it extensively. Well, at least feeling embarrassed in retrospect when I do otherwise.
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Fri, 04 Jul 2008 06:09:00 GMT
I've frequently heard about how great the trains are on the other side of the pond, so when I had lunch with a fellow from outside Manchester, UK recently, I asked him how many people take the train to London as a commute.
"Oh, plenty, but not me," was his answer. Probing further, I found the reason was he couldn't afford it.
The trains are apparently so popular and the roads so congested, that simple supply and demand have driven the fares sky-high. He told me that commuting to London, a bit less than a 2 hour trip, would run about a thousand dollars a week. Some big firms cover these costs for their day-trippers.
Half-disbelieving, I figured I'd run the numbers myself. I searched for that trip, on a weekday, commuting hours, and asked for the cheapest fare, steerage class. Turns out the cheapest round-trip fare is £230. Google says that's about $455.
While granting that there is probably a frequent-traveler discount, I can take a 2-hour commuter bus round-trip from here to Boston for $40 as the posted rate. $32 is the 'monthly' rate.
So, I'll assume my lunch partner's numbers were a bit old, or at least his exchange rate. Taking the train in the UK like this is in all likelihood $1600 per week affair, or about 10 times the cost of commuting in the US.
Consider this the next time you hear we ought to have commuter trains like they do in Europe.
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Thu, 26 Jun 2008 00:29:00 GMT
Who owns your property (real estate)? You do, right? Or maybe your bank does if you have a mortgage.
Nope, the State does. It's held in a feudal-style system where the State may tax your property or take it at will. You've paid for a title to it, that is an exclusive use of the land, but that title is granted by the State.
This is why the State may tax your land, and if it so pleases them, take it for other uses. We have a guarantee of restitution for such takings, by the Constitution, but not a guarantee against such takings.
So, be careful to say, "I hold title to this property", not "I own this land".
There is another option, that's called Allodial title. Allodial is from "without a Lord", a reference to the feudal system where the Lord owned all the land, and merely leased it out to those who would work it. With an Allodial title, you own the land. It's yours. Nobody can take it away with force. Nobody can tax it, it's yours. Certainly the State may attempt to ply the land from you with an offer of cash sufficient to convince you to leave, but they can't serve you papers and cut a check of their choosing.
Many NH Citizens equate a property tax with increased freedom, but in this light, it's really a drain on Liberty. Now converting all NH properties to allodial title overnight wouldn't work at all, there's still some area that's undefined. It's argued that an allodial title can't be mortgaged and it can't be subdivided, yet I've seen no justification for this (do try to explain it to me). There's also the issue of replacing the property tax with a just, fair tax. So far the best option I've seen is a head-tax, where each citizen is assessed an equal fee to support the services of the government. Setting this use-fee at a rate that every citizen can afford (how's $500/yr?) would ensure a government that is as lean as it can be, and largess by the Legislature would be felt directly in the next yearly bill, which ought to encourage proper behavior by a legislators who wish to retain their seats. The current system of 'sticking it to the other guy' that the politicians play is ultimately destructive, as some day you're going to be the other guy (only they'll only pander to other people about that one).
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Mon, 23 Jun 2008 23:40:00 GMT
Emma and I went to see Indy 4 last night.
I got Phantom Menace'd again. Drat. I'm not surprised anymore that Lucas would do this, but I am surprised Spielberg let him. It's not just a Star Wars thing anymore then, Lucas is off my list.
There are some interesting scenes, and as a collection of vignettes the movie has some moments. But the plot is absurd on all kinds of levels. Now, this is Indiana Jones - of course it's absurd, but the absurdity is in its internal inconsistency. You're not asked to suspend your disbelief, you're asked to stop thinking and ignore what just happened for the sake of... what? So they wouldn't have to write a sensible plot? Twenty-ish years was too short a time to come up with clever plot elements?
The SciFi channel's special on the crystal skulls was frankly more interesting, and that was as good as you'd expect it to be.
Thankfully this was a double-feature at the Fairlee Drive-In, and Iron Man was up next. Emma and I first saw it on opening night on a huge digital screen in CT with our friends Andy and Robin and two things can be said about seeing it a second time: 1) It stands up well to repeated viewings, improves even and 2) Big digital theatres are really the way to see this kind of movie. Oh, and 3) this time I stayed for the Nick Fury scene. The corn dogs were great, but visuals like Iron Man's are more enthralling when they're bright, crisp, and big. And loud (our window speaker was the last on the cable run and rather low).
If I were going to buy a BluRay player for a movie it would be Iron Man. That'll have to wait for the projector.
Also of note is the cost of gas as a factor in going to the Drive-In. It takes about four gallons round-trip. Last night's bill: $8 for admission, $12 for two corn dogs, fries, and drinks. $16 for gas. $36 for Indy 4 just isn't a good deal, I could have bought the DVD for half of that. $36 for an evening out with Emma is of course well worth it.
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Tue, 18 Mar 2008 13:49:00 GMT
With the announcement of President Wright's retirement, it occured to me that Dartmouth was cycling through presidents pretty quickly. To check that assumption, I grabbed the years in office from Dartmouth's page on past presidents and made a small chart:
The average length of tenure has been 15 years, which Dartmouth hasn't achieved in a President since 1960, nor benefited from since 1970. Perhaps constitution for seeing the job through for the long-haul should be one of the criteria for selecting the next president. Reading through the biographies, it appears that Dartmouth does best with Dartmouth men who have had a career in business. Career administrators and members of the faculty don't seem to last as long, at least in recent history.
Posted by Bill McGonigle
Tue, 26 Feb 2008 00:22:00 GMT
$6.49 for a pint of soup, large container of saladbar/entreebar and a small container of deserts (big enough for a large slice of pie). Can't be beat.
Next to EBA's: A sure sign of spring, a delivery of new bicycles:
Note to local travelers: the Go-Go Mart's gas pump is running at about 1.5 gallons per minute. The lines were atrocious, but I was on empty. Bummer.
Oh, and the guy who blocked the gas-pump passing lane for ten minutes, so nobody could get around to the front pumps (so he could get a sandwich) was somebody from Roger Gosselin Concrete and Excavating:
