With great thanks to all the Conspirators and their friends who took time out of their days to contact their representatives and senators in NH, we are happy to announce that HB 1177, the bill that would have forced restaurant and bar owners in the state to disallow smoking in their private establishments, lost by one vote.

It is a day to celebrate. Sort of. The popularly titled bill "Michelle's Law", has passed the Senate unanimously. This bill, now to become law, would force insurance companies to have to continue to cover catastrophically ill clients for up to a year after dropping college due to illness, even if their polcies stipulated that they had to be full-time students to get certain rates.

On Friday, March 31, El G welcomed Alice DeSouza, Director of the NH Division of Travel and Tourism, and Stewart Arnett, Director of the Division of Economic Development. They appeared in order to provide a recap of the recent meeting between state bureaucrats and "businesses effected by the warm winter".

Since it was only November that the NH Legislature voted to spend nearly 18 million Dollars on "fuel assistance" for cold families over the winter, one wonders when state "assistance" (AKA, resitribution of other peoples' wealth for purposes the politicians deem "charitable") will ever end.

His favorite Red Sox player is still Manny OrTEZ.

We're on our way!

Continuing our conversation about HB 1177, the regulatory bill that stands in opposition to the concept of private property and free exchange.

More, on the subjects of government education, and smoking bans, on changing practicality versus timeless principle.

This time, El G Grande takes on Senator Bob Odell, ('R') of Lempster, as they discuss the recent vote on an amendment to take the judiciary out of education funding decisions. This is part one of two.

Enjoy.

The number for the Manchester Chamber of Commerce is 603-666-6600.

Conspirators may want to use it, often.

This is part two of two from "Against the Grain", as Gard and Charles look at the smoking ban, and other major items heading into the state Senate.

We continue, with the live coverage of the House vote on HB 1177, as Seth Cohn appeared on "Against the Grain" to report the vote as it happened.

MANY THANKS TO SETH COHN.

Find the Liberty Alliance at http://www.nhliberty.com/

As "Against the Grain" began, HB 1177 approached its inevitable victory in the NH House. This is the beginning of the coverage afforded the issue on WTNK, with Gardner Goldsmith, allies, and adversaries...

In addition to the brilliant idea of forcing kids who don't want to be in government schools to stay in them until they turn eighteen (SB 268), the NH Senate Thursday passed SB 399, which would grant extensive powers to the NH Secretary of Health and Human Services during "states of emergency".

These powers include the power to regulate the PRICES of drugs, commandeer drugs, block gatherings of fifty or more people, and medically cleanse private buildings.

This segment from "Against the Grain" studies this development in more detail, concentrating on what the pop media have not discussed

On Tuesday, March 14, Nathan Greenberg appeared on WNTK with Gardner Goldsmith, to explicate his position on the recent education funding ruling by Hillsborough County Superior Court Judge Bill Groff.

Study his arguments, and come to your own conclusions.

On Monday, the NH Union Leader published Gard's opinion piece on CACR 34, the "Marriage Amendment".

The link is provided for your reference.

http://www.unionleader.com/columns.aspx/Opinion?channel=f006d8a2-dcb4-45...

CACR 34 will be up for a vote in the House in one week.

The NH House voted on March 8 not to allow for licensed pharmacists to decline requests for purchase of the "morning after pill". Instead, opponents of amending SB 30 (passed in 2005) claimed that pharmacists already have the voluntary right NOT to take the state-run training program that would allow them to sell to anyone who wanted to purchase the possibly abortive pills (the pro-abortion politicians in Concord will not admit that the "morning after pill" can kill a conceived fetus, but in most cases, in fact, that is exactly what it does.)

The trouble is that there is not a legal procedure to protect any pharmacist who opts not to take the training program, and who could be later taken to court for making that decision. A woman desiring the morning after pill in order to "prevent an unwanted pregnancy" up to 72 hours after the act of sexual intercourse, could, clearly, attempt to bring suit against a pharmacist who opted not to take the training course, and who later faced her with the denail of her sale.

On March 10, 2006, Dr. Terry Bennett, of Rochester, finally got to have a public hearing before the NH Board of Medicine. His license may be pulled because he was not pleasant enough when he told a women to lose weight.

This not only calls into question the priorities of our Attorney General's Office, which is involved in the "investigation" of Dr. Bennett, it calls into question the entire paradigm of licensing itself. Hear this and information the Governor's PR appearances, in this segment from "Against the Grain".

The Conspiracy was unaware yesterday when we presented the segment on "Against the Grain" spoofing John Lynch's mighty "Rapid Response Team" that the skit would turn out to presage an event that would occur a few hours later. Of course many people may know that a paper mill in Berlin announced today that it will close in 60 days, and the Rapid Response Team was ON THE WAY!

The details of the closure are here. The questions about why government needs to take our money from us in order to insure that we have money ready for us if we become unemployed, and why the system is made even worse by redistributing cash, those remain unanswered in the article.

John Lynch has made greater political hay than any other governor before him by promoting his "Rapid Response Team", which races out to help newly unemployed people get onto unemployment, and receive "services".

Since the Lynch Adminstration has played up its use of the "Rapid Response Team" in high-profile cases of business closure, where the number of people affected is large, and ripe for media coverage, one has to ask, what standard dictates the use of the team? Can a group of employees at a small business get the same assistance; can an individual who loses his job? Will the "Rapid Response Team" fly out to help if there isn't a camera there?

... Unfortunately, it's a maple tree.

As Governor Lynch races across the state to make public appearances to support certain industries, either because they reflect the "NH heritage", or some other aspect of NH that the politicians deem important, does anyone wonder when he will stop by their place of business for a photo opp?

How must it be to live every day in a cycle of PR spin, perpetually trying to give people the impression that one supports, and is interested and involved in every nuance of NH culture?

Where does one reach the saturation point?

When the "book season" begins in late spring for summer readers, will the governor appear at an Annie's Bookstop, shelving books for the cameras? Where does it stop?

On February 17, 2006, "Against the Grain" revealed that John Lynch is fully in favor of giving the executive branch of the state of NH more power during "natural disasters" or other emergencies. Believing that the governor is the "only one" who can coordinate the resources needed during emergencies, Lynch supports a Senate bill to give the Secretary of Health and Human Services more power to commandeer medical supplies, close private buildings and block travel and meetings of large groups.

This is an analysis of his ideas, and the pilosophy behind it.