What’s your lifestyle worth?

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

Remember the song by Loverboy, Working for the Weekend? It was about working all week so that you could have free time on the weekend to find romance, to enjoy yourself. The idea is that you do your duty and get rewarded with a good time.

What was the expense? I mean what does it cost to have what you want? Really. Thinking about what it cost in terms of time, energy, money, or the impact on others is common for me, but I don’t imagine everyone thinks that way.

When an experience is our focus and we are working toward that thing, whether it is a week-long vacation or a few minutes at the top of a mountain, there is effort expended to get there. I think it is vital that we know what the cost is. | More…

Darlene Pawlik | The Darling Princess

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Superintendent Metzler and an Obstruction to the Policy Committee

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

Rich tackled Timberlane Regional School District Superintendent Earl Metzler’s accusations that Donna Green is spreading misinformation on social media. He then read from Donna’s blog post and made comparisons between Timberlane and the Manchester School District. | More…

| Girard At Large

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Team removing body of dead hiker from New Jersey

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

The New Hampshire Fish and Game Department is in the process of removing the body of a New Jersey hiker who was reported missing several weeks ago.

The body of 63-year-old Gregory Auriemma, of Brick, New Jersey, was found Thursday night by Appalachian Mountain Club work crews in the Dry River Wilderness, about 70 miles (112 kilometers) north of Concord.

AP | Timeline w/updates

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Veterans hospital under investigation in Manchester adds interim leaders

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

CONCORD, N.H. (AP) — New Hampshire’s only veterans hospital has appointed two more interim leaders as whistleblower doctors continue to call for a third-party investigation into substandard treatment and conditions.

Veterans Affairs Secretary David Shulkin removed hospital Director Danielle Ocker and Chief of Staff James Schlosser and ordered a review of the Manchester VA Medical Center this week after the Boston Globe reported on physician complaints that the facility is endangering patients. Alfred Montoya, medical director at the White River Junction, Vermont, VA hospital, took over as interim director on Monday. On Friday, officials said two others from White Junction also have been appointed to posts in Manchester. | More…

| AP

Posted in Health Care | Tagged , , | 2 Comments

So the Democrats have decided to go the way of Papa John’s?

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

“…no, the Democrats aren’t going into the pizza business.  But can Papa Johns’s go after them for “re-purposing” their corporate tagline: Better Ingredients, Better Pizza”?  I remember when that came out – after a slump in their business, they went back to basics, back to the beginning, to improve their product.

So what did the Democrats come up with?  Well, like the socialists they are, they “borrowed” the form (if not the substance) of Papa Johns. | More…

| GraniteGrok

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Ridley Report: Govt. says govt. exacerbated invasive species problem

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

Spring 2017: Patrolling the NH state house complex, I never know which kind of government worker I’m about to run into…or which kind of question I’ll have to come up with on the fly. I’m outside a meeting of the full Finance Committee, but:

Apparently, this next shot is the second to last image I’ll ever film of Steve Vaillancourt. He was a liberty-leaning legislator who died of an apparent heart problem about a week later.

| Ridley Report

Posted in Local NH Politics | Tagged , , | 1 Comment

Donna Green Invokes Education Administrative Rule 204:01

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

There are laws, and then there are administrative rules with the force of law.  Some feel that administrative rules, which are by their nature established by bureaucrats, have no moral authority because they are not voted on by elected representatives.

Be that as it may, at last night’s school board meeting (July 20, 2017), I invoked Education Administrative Rule 204:01, “Proceedings at the School Board Level to Resolve Disputes Between Individuals and the School System.” | More…

| timberlaneandsandown

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Man contracts flesh-eating bacteria while hiking in New Hampshire

Posted on July 22, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

NORWELL, Mass. (WHDH) — It started as a hiking trip in New Hampshire, but ended with a South Florida man being on the verge of death.

Wayne Atkins, 32, of Miami, has been hospitalized since Father’s Day weekend after doctors discovered he had contracted a flesh-eating bacteria that was devouring his insides. Atkins was left in a two-week coma because his organs were shutting down. | More…

| 7 News Boston

Posted in Health Care, New Hampshire News | Tagged , , , , | 1 Comment

‘Disparaging comments’ outlawed at Illinois college

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

Students at Carl Sandburg College could now be subject to “disciplinary proceedings” for the use of “offensive language” or “hate speech.”

According to the Illinois community college’s Student Code of Conduct, administrators “may initiate disciplinary proceedings against” a student who “is verbally abusive; threatens; uses offensive language; intimidates; engages in bullying, cyber bullying, or hazing; [or] uses hate speech, disparaging comments, epithets, or slurs which create a hostile environment.” | More…

| Campus Reform

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Postal Service broke law in pushing time off for workers to campaign for Clinton

Posted on July 21, 2017 by Steve Mac Donald

The U.S. Postal Service engaged in widespread violations of federal law by pressuring managers to approve letter carriers’ taking time off last fall to campaign for Hillary Clinton and other union-backed Democrats, investigators said Wednesday.

High-level postal officials had for years granted employees’ requests for unpaid leave, leading last year to an “institutional bias” in favor of Clinton and other Democrats endorsed by the National Association of Letter Carriers, one of the largest postal unions. The Postal Service’s Office of Special Counsel and inspector general found that the agency violated the Hatch Act, which restricts federal employees from working for or against a political candidate or party during election season.

“The culture and practice was, ‘It’s mandatory, it’s the directive’ ” to ensure employees got time off, Adam Miles, acting director of the Office of Special Counsel, told Senate lawmakers at a hearing. | More…

| WashPo

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