Selling off Power Plants to cut rates???

Heard about this on NHPR fm this morning.  The public utility commission is going to force Eversource (nee Public Service of New Hampshire, my electric co.) to sell off it's power plants.  Some coal and some hydro.  The buyer is only going of offer about $20 million for the plants.  The state allows that they are worth about $400 million and promises to make up the difference to Eversource.  This is supposed to raise my electric rate ONLY 0.4 cents a kilowatt hour.  I'm already paying 25 cents a kilowatt hour, which is the highest in the US.  Then there was some more fast talk about how all this would come out OK for ratepayers in the distant future.  No mention about costs to tax payers either this year or in the "out years".. 
   Which would force Eversource to become a poles and wire and electric bills company who buys the power on the spot market and passes the cost on to us ratepayers.  When the price spikes Eversource just waves its hands and says the spot market is rigged.  Last state to fall for this scam was California.  And when the CA electric bills spiked they impeached the governor, Gray Davis.  The special election CA held to fill the governor's office was won by Arnold.
  Sounds like some Concord sharpies are out to skin us ratepayers.    

Hillary takes More Flak, a Lot More

Fox News runs Hillary stories pretty much all day now.  They are not complimentary.  Even I am beginning to think this is over kill. 

And it Snowed, Again, Last night

Only an inch, but winter ain't over yet.  Damn. 

New England Town Meeting

Ayup, we still hold 'em.  Beloved of de Tocqueville, older than the Constitution.   Franconia Town Meeting started at 7PM.  Turnout was light, maybe a hundred out of a town of a thousand.  But the old Franconia people, Peabody, Foss, Lovett, Dinsmore, Walker, me, and others were there.  The town warrent (agenda) was mostly about money, the operating budget, the library budget, new snow plows and police cruisers, the dump funding, routine stuff of no ideological importance.
  Surprise, a floor motion to reduce the $1.6 million town operating budget by $54,000 passed.  That's a new one for Franconia, a well to do small town, full of democrats, and with a stiff tax rate.  Normally everyone grumbles about spending, but then they vote it thru.  This time, they actually cut the selectman's budget and it stuck.  Took a voice vote, two shows of hands, and a paper balloting, and it only passed by one vote, a lotta spendies voted against it, but it passed.  More of a symbolic gesture than real tax relief, but better than nothing.   
   It was 10 PM before the last town vehicle purchase was approved and meeting adjourned. 

Heat Wave.

It made up above 40F, first time this year.  Perhaps there is a spring hiding out there under all the snow?

Islamic ideology or Teen Age Angst ?

TV news has been upset over stories of young westeners, both boys and girls, going off the join ISIS.  The TV newsies take the position that the ISIS ideology must be so attractive as to pull young people into it, even just thru internet contact. 
  Perhaps.  but could it be these young people are fleeing terrible home situations?  Unloving parents, unsympathetic and boring schools, no jobs, no friends.  Could the idea of carrying an AK on the front lines, or finding a tall dark and handsome sheik with Rudolf Valentino looks to marry beat out being  on the bottom of a high school pecking order? 

Congress cuts the feet from under Iran deal

Dunno what counts for conventional wisdom in Iran, but in the rest of the world, a letter from the national legislature dissing a nuclear deal would kill that deal.  I mean why give them anything at the bargaining table when they have announced they won't keep the deal even if you get them to sign it. 
  Off hand, I'd say that Obama's relations with Congress are about as bad as they can get.  I wonder how that happened :-)
  I don't think anything like this has happened since the War of 1812.  And that was a long time ago.