For Strafford County, here's a beaut

Damn disgusting (4.00 / 2)

It is hard to grasp that people so messed up live among us.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

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by: Ray Buckley @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 01:14:29 AM UTC

What a SoaB! (0.00 / 0)

This is a person who truly lacks a heart.  IF it weren't for meals on wheels my grandfather wouldn't have the nutritious he gets and is able to save some of his money for his medications.

It takes a pretty cold bastard to write what that sorry excuse for a human being wrote.  Sunlight cures many ills though.  

"We start working to beat these guys right now." -Jed Bartlet

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by: cblodg @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 01:48:58 AM UTC

Does he think it's better that these patients live in a SNF? (0.00 / 0)

(skilled nursing facility)

What a bozo. While there are clients who either can afford to pay or who have family that can pay for Meals on Wheels, Leonard ignores the majority that don't have the means to pay for such services.

It's this lack of services that can force people into SNFs at higher taxpayer expense.

Leonard is penny wise and pound foolish. Actually he is just plain foolish.

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by: Putney Swope @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 02:01:11 AM UTC

And then consider that any tax dollars (4.00 / 2)

spent on Meals on Wheels are leveraged by countless hours of volunteer time...

Yup, penny wise and pound foolish just about covers it.

Here is a fact that should help you to fight a little longer.
Things that don't actually kill you outright make you stronger.

Piet Hein, Grooks

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by: Lucy Weber @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 04:01:55 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

nope (0.00 / 0)

He also favors cutting funds for nursing homes.  He doesn't favor sending old people there either.


sitting state rep: running for re-election in 2012.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 11:47:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

What is a "statutorially run government program"? (4.00 / 4)

That appears to mean that Rep. Leonard wants to cut funding for any outsourced programs?  No school vouchers, no privatized Social Security or Medicare? He only favors funding for programs that employ government workers and report to government bureaucrats?

That's all fine by me, but does the Speaker know about this?

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by: elwood @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 02:52:02 AM UTC

My favorite detail (4.00 / 3)

is how meals on wheels becomes "meal on wheel" in the singular form.

As Bugs would say, what a maroon.

November 2012
Hope for a return to sanity.

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by: GreyMike @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 03:28:05 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Socially conscious unicyclist (4.00 / 2)

delivering one sandwich each to the bedridden...

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by: elwood @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 03:31:33 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Government paying for charities? (4.00 / 2)

That's the kind of thing the Pope would say, as noted by this guy who appeared on The Colbert Report last night to talk about Paul Ryan's budget, and what does the Pope know about charity?

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by: Vis Unita Fortior @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 03:18:53 AM UTC

Rep Leonard (4.00 / 3)

and those like him, ie, the House Republican majority forget that government had to step in and provide services to people precisely because private charities cannot meet the needs that are out there. It's been proven: Dickensian England and similar US conditions, the Great Depression, elders eating dog food and other conditions that led to the War on Poverty in the 1960s.

The lack of compassion combined with a lack of basic historical knowledge is something else.

The War on Poverty has become the War on the Poor.

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by: Jennifer Daler @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 10:53:22 AM UTC

So many wars being fought (0.00 / 0)

War on Women
War on Middle Class
War on Poor

"We start working to beat these guys right now." -Jed Bartlet

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by: cblodg @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 12:40:26 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

one saving grace (4.00 / 1)

Leonard's one saving grace is that he doesn't show up at the State House very often.  He only makes about 50% of the roll call votes.  He showed up so seldom at this committee, the chair had him thrown off.  He now has no committee assignment at all.


sitting state rep: running for re-election in 2012.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 11:53:10 AM UTC

oops (0.00 / 0)

that should say "at his committee"


sitting state rep: running for re-election in 2012.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 11:53:58 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

All hat, no cattle (0.00 / 0)

How interesting. Nobody likes a no-show. Something tells me he won't be re-elected.

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by: DianeR @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 13:04:22 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

no show, no go ? (0.00 / 0)

Don't assume that.  His constituents need to know about not only his words, but also his actions, or lack of them on their behalf -

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by: victoriap @ Fri May 04, 2012 at 02:22:13 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Rep. Loenard contacted me privately and... (0.00 / 0)

Rep. Leonard emailed me to correct something I said.  He was not in fact thrown off his committee. (He was assigned to the Labor Committee in December 2010.) He informed me that he asked to be removed, and the Speaker granted his request.

The Speaker does not always grant such requests, as those of us on Redress well know.


sitting state rep: running for re-election in 2012.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Sun May 06, 2012 at 01:51:52 AM UTC

[ Parent ]

Meals on Wheels saves untold millions... (4.00 / 2)

The meals on wheels program not only allows for people to stay in their own homes longer it also serves as a "check in" to see how the elder is doing. Without the meals on wheels program our taxpayer funded nursing homes would more than
double in population.

Fred Leonard's ignorance is profound.

Have you told a stranger today about Bill O'Brien and his Tea Party agenda? The people of NH deserve to hear about O'Brien  and his majority committed to destroying New Hampshire and remaking it into a armed survivalist preserve.  

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by: Ray Buckley @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 13:56:28 PM UTC

Note to Rep Leonard: (0.00 / 0)

Look up "empathy" in your Funk and Wagnalls. Ring any bells???

"It is true that the law can't change the heart, but it can restrain the heartless."  Martin Luther King

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by: cyndychase @ Thu May 03, 2012 at 23:45:30 PM UTC

Hillsborough County vote (0.00 / 0)

The Hillsborough County Commissioners voted 2-1 to defund Meals on Wheels. I detect a pattern. I'd rather defund their stipends.



"When you get to the end of your rope, tie a knot and hang on."  Franklin D. Roosevelt    

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by: Kathy Sullivan 2 @ Fri May 04, 2012 at 10:36:53 AM UTC

Elderly folks have a high voting rate (0.00 / 0)

Bless them, I've seen them pushing walkers and dragging oxygen tanks into the polls. I hope they speak their mind this fall. I know MY Republican mother is completely disgusted with the extremist element within her party.

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by: DianeR @ Fri May 04, 2012 at 15:47:41 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

When Steve Vallaincourt is middle-of-the-road, the road must have moved (0.00 / 0)

See his NHInsider post on Meals on Wheels.

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by: The Money Magician @ Sun May 06, 2012 at 16:42:08 PM UTC

[ Parent ]

for the baloney (0.00 / 0)

Here is what Fred has to say about a local effort to find funds to continue renovating the Rochers Opera House.  I think he means "balcony" rather than "baloney":

Is the Rochester City set to violate federal regulations governing the use of Community Block Development Grant funds by using CBDG monies to purchase seats for the baloney?

Mr Mayor & City Councilors,

You should take a look at a response from HUD I found researching the topic of using CBDG funds for "opera house" renovation:

http://www.hud.gov/offices/cpd...

Based on what I'm reading, you may want to think very carefully about using CBDG funds for the ROH...

24 CFR 570.200 - General policies. states "(2) Fees for use of facilities. Reasonable fees may be charged for the use of the facilities assisted with CDBG funds, but charges such as excessive membership fees, which will have the effect of precluding low and moderate income persons from using the facilities, are not permitted."...it seems to me that some of the ticket prices charged by the ROH may be deemed excessive and therefore preclude low and moderate income persons...

http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/C...

I'm also not sure that the ROH meets this criteria also found in the above code of federal regulations : "(i) The facility which is otherwise eligible and proposed for assistance will occupy a designated and discrete area within the larger facility;"...I'm not so certain the ROH is discrete under even the most liberal use of the term...it occupies part of the second floor and all of the third floor - discrete?...I believe the reason discrete was used was to prevent communities from abusing CBDG funds by masquerading intended purposes/uses...

I truly believe the HUD intends CBDG money to be used to benefit low and middle income people...in the 1995 request it is clear that the City of Rochester portrayed the ROH as a facility that was going to be used "as a theater to provide free entertainment for children."...it doesn't appear there was any mention that it would be turned into a theater charging ticket prices most low and middle income people cannot afford...I'd like to know if HUD has been contacted in a similar fashion for the proposed use you will be voting on tomorrow night and if they have, is their response available?...and I've still not gotten a response to my original question about whether or not the ROH or planning department had submitted evaluation criteria documentation justifying them being considered for CBDG funds...again, based on what I heard at last weeks CDC meeting, nothing of the sort exists...

In any event, I plan on contacting HUD to find out if the ROH and its intended use meets federal regulations with regard to CBDG...in the mean time Mr. Mayor and City Councilors, I strongly urge you to vote no on awarding CBDG money to the ROH and adopt an amendment to the plan that awards enough CBDG funds to build a new playground at the Gonic School...

Regards,

Fred Leonard

sitting state rep: running for re-election in 2012.

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by: TimothyHorrigan @ Tue May 08, 2012 at 22:37:06 PM UTC