LTE: Free Staters go too far

by: nhveedub

Thu Jun 28, 2012 at 06:08:31 AM EDT

I am a candidate for the NH House in Hillsborough County district 39: Deering, Goffstown and Weare. My Republican opponent is Free State Project member and 2011 NHLA 'Legislator of the Year' Mark Warden.

The Free State Project has disturbed me for years, for a number of reasons. I've tried to peg it down in a letter to the editor, published in today's Concord Monitor: Free Staters go too far.

I instantly fell in love with New Hampshire when I moved here in 2002. The combination of natural beauty and frugal Yankee pragmatism got me. I'm here for life.

I moved here for work, not part of a Yale graduate student's sociology experiment. Such is the journey of Free State Project members. The group's goal is to move 20,000 libertarians to New Hampshire, get them involved in politics and change our state to their ideals.

Many are already here. Eleven known Free Staters running as Republicans were elected to the New Hampshire House in 2010. This is partly why I'm running for state representative in Deering, Goffstown and Weare. After all, we are New Hampshire and we can govern ourselves.

Open Thread: Waiting for SCOTUS

by: William Tucker

Thu Jun 28, 2012 at 08:59:07 AM EDT

Legislature Overrides Vetoes on Voter ID & Tax Credits

by: William Tucker

Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 17:50:00 PM EDT

Bills that because law over the governor's veto today include a voter photo ID requirement (SB 289), educational tax credits for private and parochial schools (SB 382) and "early offer" medical malpractice reform (SB 406).

The legislature was unable to override the governor's veto on medical marijuana legislation (SB 409), collective bargaining oversight (HB 1666) and a fetal homicide bill (SB 217).

Full details follow below the fold.

Kindergarten Causes Increase in Crime Rate

by: Mike Hoefer

Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 10:07:27 AM EDT

Representative Bob Kingsbury said he's been working on a theory since 1996, when he analyzed local crime rates and compared them to a list of communities that offered public kindergarten. Then, he told his colleagues, Laconia offered kindergarten and had the highest rates of crime. Meanwhile, surrounding towns, some of which didn't offer kindergarten, had less crime.

It's a theory...  

Remembering Rep Dan Carr

by: Mike Hoefer

Wed Jun 27, 2012 at 01:02:39 AM EDT

I thought it captured the very essence of the Citizen Legislature; State Rep plate, rusty bumper, 3 cycles worth of stickers, lumber for totems(?).

Dan passed yesterday at the age of 60 after battling illness for the past few months.

Veto Day: School Vouchers & Voter ID Top the Card

by: William Tucker

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 16:05:36 PM EDT

Tomorrow the House and Senate convene to consider Gov. John Lynch's vetoes of 13 bills (by my count) that they passed during the current session. The bills include such high profile legislation as photo voter ID (SB 289), school vouchers (HB 1607, SB 372) and medical marijuana (SB 409).

The first vote for each bill will occur in the originating chamber. If two-thirds of those present vote to override the veto, the action then moves to the second chamber. If two-thirds of those present in the second chamber vote to override the veto, it becomes law.

Below the fold, I've included a brief description of each bill with a link to the full text, an excerpt of the Governor's veto message, and the last recorded roll vote. The last recorded roll call vote may not have been for the final version of the bill and is only included to provide a sense of the lawmakers' relative support for each bill. The full text of the Governor's veto messages can be found in the calendars for the House and Senate.

Obama Survives Durham Rain; Floods Romney with Criticism

by: Gary Patton

Tue Jun 26, 2012 at 10:31:02 AM EDT

I've been attending political gatherings for over 40 years, and I've learned that almost anything can happen. It can be too hot or too cold. Bad weather can cause the event to be cancelled. The featured speaker can fail to appear. Or the speaker can be late - sometimes very late. I attended a political dinner in Pennsylvania many years ago where the meal was delayed until the featured guest , then Gov. Milton Shapp, showed up 3 hours late. At that point, the audience was chewing on the napkins and the tablecloths.

So, on Monday, I wasn't surprised when drenching rains flooded the road as I drove to hear Obama speak. I was within sight of the high school when I made a wonderful mistake - I discovered that I had left my admission ticket at home, so I had to drive back to get it.

Carol Shea-Porter Orange to Blue

by: Mike Hoefer

Mon Jun 25, 2012 at 22:00:04 PM EDT

There are three things that make a race worth focusing on: a winnable seat, a strong progressive Democrat and an especially villainous opponent. The House race in New Hampshire's first district has all three.

Orange to Blue is the Daily Kos program to elect strong, progressive Democrats in key Senate seats and House districts in 2012.

Carol joins NH-02 Candidate Ann McLane Kuster on this exclusive fundraising list with national exposure. The game is on in the Granite State!

You too can donate via Act Blue. (134 days till election day)

Eyes on the Prize

by: William Tucker

Mon Jun 25, 2012 at 06:06:11 AM EDT

I was in Providence for this year's Netroots Nation conference, one of the more than 2500 progressive activists — including a sizable contingent from New Hampshire — who gathered for three days of speeches, training sessions, panel discussions and networking.

The discussions and presentations made it clear that what we've experienced in New Hampshire over the last two years is not unique. It's being played out all over the country in state after state after state: attempts to dismantle the public schools, the war on women, the fight over voting rights, the list is sadly familiar.

Van Jones delivered a powerful and succinct message in his closing keynote:

In 2012, we know. We know absolutely, with not one bit of doubt, what the agenda is. They have a wrecking ball agenda. They've taken a wrecking ball. They want to paint it red, white and blue, call it patriotism, and smash down every American institution our parents and our grandparents fought for. That's what they want to do. That's who they are. They're proud of it. They're not hiding it.

They say they want to smash down out unions. They want to smash down public education. They want to smash down clean air and clean water. They want to smash down everything our parents and our grandparents fought for that made this country a great county. They have it in their sights and they have shown a brutal willingness to use every means available to smash down the things that our communities need to survive.

They've told us. Their leader Grover Norquist says it. He says, "I want to shrink America's government down. I want to starve it of taxes. I want to shrink it down to the size that I can drown America's government in a bathtub. I want to drown America's government in a bathtub." Who thinks like that? Who even talks like that? But they've told us, so we know. We know.

Open Thread: Philopolis Edition

by: elwood

Sun Jun 24, 2012 at 15:35:27 PM EDT

Here's one we should all know:

But there are a surprising number of such songs. (Los Angeles gets a few.) They seem to be a summer thing.

Have you got a favorite town tune?  Or do you want to talk about something else entirely? After all -

this is an open thread.

Jack Kimball Calls President Obama "It"

by: Chaz Proulx

Sun Jun 24, 2012 at 11:29:19 AM EDT

Durham, NH: Grandstanding Administrator makes spectacle of self

by: hannah

Sat Jun 23, 2012 at 06:40:05 AM EDT

Subject: EMERGENCY COUNIL MEETING SCHEDULED FOR MONDAY, 6/25/12 AT 8:30 AM | PRESS RELEASE: Durham, NH Requests Reimbursement from Obama for America Campaign for Scheduled Campaign Stop Monday

Dear Members of the Council,

A tremendous amount of time has been devoted this evening to addressing the campaign-related costs that are associated with the Obama for America campaign visit of President Obama to Durham on Monday.  To this end in conversations with Jay and Jim, we will be posting tomorrow morning for a special emergency Council meeting to be held Monday morning, 6/25, at 8:30 AM to discuss the matter as a Council in public in full and whether the Council desires to take the symbolic action of disinviting the President from visiting Durham.  Our sincere hope is that this meeting will not be necessary and that the campaign will agree to reimburse the town's projected public safety costs associated with the event.  

In addition, you will find a press release below outlining the situation for the media who have been calling this evening.  The release went out earlier this evening.

I anticipate that Durham may very well become a focus for the media over the next few days and to this end suggest that inquires from the media are sent along to me for a consistent community response.

Todd

It is both accurate and noteworthy that the administrator has finnessed the Chairman of the Council, Jay Gooze, into calling this emergency meeting.  Todd Selig could not do it on his own hook.  That Mr. Gooze, a known Democrat, is going along with this farce is, in my book, yet another example of Republicans coercing Democrats to do their dirty work.

Rabid Ideologues Will Destroy Us

by: susanthe

Fri Jun 22, 2012 at 15:30:52 PM EDT

The state of NH is looking into privatizing its entire prison system. Four companies have submitted bids. If Governor Lynch and the Executive Council accept one of those bids, NH would become the first state in the nation to hand over the entire prison system to a private company. The four venders are:
Corrections Corporation of America (CCA), Management & Training Corporation (MTC), The Geo Group Inc. and the Hunt Companies.  

"The GOP Doesn't Hate Women"

by: elwood

Fri Jun 22, 2012 at 12:59:18 PM EDT

Hate exists without harm to the hated; harm exists with no hater.  Hate seems to be a hot thing - maybe some mix of desire and envy, resentment and insecurity, guilt and compulsion?

Expressed hate can be therapeutic, perhaps: I hope so anyhow, when I listen to I Don't Believe You or Idiot Wind. (I kiss goodbye, the howling wolf...) Others write great love songs; Dylan writes great hate songs.

The word is so fraught that it isn't useful, at least in political discourse.  And like any other claim of motivation it is unprovable. So I don't find it either convincing or useful to think that the Republican Party "hates" women, or Hispanics, or even gays. (And I'm not even convinced that hate aggregates from the individual to the group.)

In ecumenical spirit, then, let us agree that the GOP does not hate these people.  The GOP hurts them, whatever the motives of individual voters, candidates, and office-holders are.

The GOP does harm to women. It fights laws that make pay discrimination illegal. It fights access to contraception and abortion.  (This year the contraception piece has become clear - and the notion that this was about "life" rather than "freedom" has wilted.)  It eagerly embraces words like "slut" and "prostitute" to describe women who oppose their agenda.

The GOP does harm to gays. It opposes marriage equality, it opposes bullying laws. The GOP does harm to Hispanics, sometimes deadly harm, with its high-volume low-content campaign against immigrants.

The Poet, too long absent:

Some say the world will end in fire,
Some say in ice.
From what I've tasted of desire
I hold with those who favor fire.

But if it had to perish twice,
I think I know enough of hate

To say that for destruction ice
Is also great
And would suffice.

Leave Healthcare Law in Place

by: CarolSheaPorter

Thu Jun 21, 2012 at 10:54:03 AM EDT

It is time for a reality check here.  Our media is finally starting to report what would happen if the Supreme Court overturns the healthcare law.