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Do You Favor or Oppose the NH Death Penalty?
* Oppose: States Should Not Kill Persons - 37 votes (66.07%)
* Favor: Some Crimes Merit Capital Punishment - 8 votes (14.29%)
* Oppose: Too Great a Chance of Killing an Innocent - 8 votes (14.29%)
* Favor: Some Criminals Are Too Dangerous to Live - 2 votes (3.57%)
* Democrats Should Avoid the Issue - 1 votes (1.79%)
* Favor: Victim's Survivors Deserve Closure - 0 votes (0%)
* Oppose: Racial Bias Too Strong - 0 votes (0%)
* Undecided - 0 votes (0%)
Total votes: 56
45 Blue Hamsters oppose the use of capital punishment in New Hampshire, and 10 favor it. The biggest reason given in opposition is ideological rather than practical: "States Should Not Kill Persons". One person voted for Democrats to avoid the issue. Interestingly, no one who voted was undecided.
Speaking of the death penalty, here's the latest out of the state house:
Death penalty opponents were heartened by a 15-1 vote in the House Criminal Justice Committee to advance a study of the state's death penalty laws.
The full House passed it without debate. Now it's the Senate's turn.
This week's poll concerns the trickle down effects of the Totally Awesome Bush-Born, Sununu-Sponsored Three Trilion Dollar War of Choice.
Due to our budget shortfall, Gov. Lynch is being forced into cuts no one of any political stripe will be happy about:
The plan, which would have invested $2 million in programs in tobacco cessation, cancer screening and statistical studies of cancer patterns in New Hampshire, was cut to $250,000.
But read the whole article.
As always, to vote in our utterly unscientific poll, you must be a registered user, but signing up is free and easy.
I'm not at all surprised by the significant majority vote against the amendment, but I am intrigued by how many Hamsters are undecided, a near tie with the amendment supporters. If you voted undecided and are willing to talk about what your thinking is, let us know in the comments.
This week's new poll is up, and it's on capital punishment in our state. As always, you must be a registered user to take the poll, but that's free and easy.
And let's make this an Open Thread. I'll start off by admitting openly that I now sometimes actively avoid news about the Democratic presidential nomination - that's how bad it has become, imho. Concerning all kinds of critical down-ticket races, I simply can't wait for the nomination to be done. And concerning my sanity and sense of goodwill toward the remaining candidates, I simply can't wait for the nomination to be done.
More to the point - and here's what Americans need to understand - a dollar spent in Iraq is a dollar we do not have to spend here, not only repairing our own bridges, roads, and water and sewage systems, but also giving Americans access to health insurance and children access to good schools, fully funding Social Security and Medicare, investing adequately in non-carbon based energy sources and green technologies, and borrowing less from abroad.
Coverage of the Petraeus/Crocker hearings in going on over at TPM Muckraker including this gem from Joe Lieberman (I-CT)
"there's a kind of hear no progress in Iraq, see no progress in Iraq, and most of all, speak of no progress in Iraq."
Yesterday I spotted some greenery budding around the corners of things. So much for yesterday.
In the door-yard fronting an old farm-house, near the white-wash'd palings,
Stands the lilac bush, tall-growing, with heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
With many a pointed blossom, rising, delicate, with the perfume strong I love,
With every leaf a miracle......and from this bush in the door-yard,
With delicate-color'd blossoms, and heart-shaped leaves of rich green,
A sprig, with its flower, I break.
Use this thread to complain about (or celebrate) Old Man Wintah's final (?) hurrah.
What did the bunny bring you? I was hoping he would bring me a presidential nominee, but alas, it was not to be.
This is an Egg and Chocolate Open Thread -- now with a roundup:
* Shorter Sununu fundraising appeal: URGENT!!! Give me money! Because dirty hippies everywhere with unlimited bank accounts have it out for me. I'm still laughing at this (emphasis most definitely his):
I'm writing today to inform you of a very serious and time-sensitive matter. As you know, the far left has made me its top target in this year's elections. Their operatives are doing everything and anything to eliminate from the United States Senate my voice for low taxes, limited government, local control, and personal responsibility.
This means that not only is the national Democratic Party and its Senate campaign committee attacking me, but also liberal groups with access to virtually unlimited financial resources are trying to distort my record as well. And that's why I urgently need your help today.
Fresh off another failed Presidential campaign, John Edwards has announced a coalition of left-wing groups, including MoveOn.org and Americans United for Change, is launching a multimillion dollar campaign aggressively targeting Senators who have supported our brave men and women around the world fighting the war against terrorism. I am number one on that list!
If either the insinuation that Blue Hamsters are moneyed operatives rather than fed-up constituents, or the painting of John Edwards as an America-hater who targets the patriotic bothers you, then I urge you to give money today - to Jeanne Shaheen.
* Speaking of Sununu, it looks like Fergus Cullen's transformation of the Union Leader into the press organ of John E.'s re-election effort is now complete. And no, I'm not going to waste my time debunking the editorial's many distortions.
* Who said this in October of 2002?
"He has developed stocks of germs and toxins in sufficient quantities to kill the entire population of the Earth multiple times...He has placed weapons laden with these poisons on alert to fire at his neighbors within minutes, not hours, and has devolved authority to fire them to subordinates. He develops nuclear weapons with which he would hold his neighbors and us hostage."
Hint: he has "crossed the threshold" to be Commander-in-Chief.
* The Bush-Sununu-McCain totally awesome Iraq War Forevermore continues to be as totally awesome as humanly possible. We need at least 100 more years of this.
* Every now and then it's worth remembering, despite our proximity to a new presidential administration, that George W. Bush openly admitted to an impeachable offense (warrantless spying), and is possibly guilty of several others.
* If you haven't yet seen or heard testimony from Winter Soldier, do so. You will not regret it.
* (One more): Pollster now has a dedicated NH Senate race composite poll graph up (h/t Doug).
When your home state president is commonly referred to as one of the worst in US history, you start to look for the cutesy family life anecdotes on President's Day:
[Franklin] Pierce attended school at Hillsborough Center and moved to the Hancock Academy in Hancock at the age of 11; he was transferred to Francestown Academy in the spring of 1820. Friends recalled that just after he entered the school, he became homesick and returned home on foot. His father put him into a wagon, drove him halfway back to the academy, and left him at the roadside, never saying a word. The boy trudged the remaining 7 miles back to school.. Later that year he was transferred to Phillips Exeter Academy to prepare for college. In fall 1820, he entered Bowdoin College in Brunswick, Maine, where he participated in literary, political, and debating clubs.
There he met writer Nathaniel Hawthorne, with whom he formed a lasting friendship, and Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. He also met Calvin E. Stowe, Seargent S. Prentiss, and his future political rival, John P. Hale.
In his second year of college, his grades were the lowest in his class but he worked to improve them, and graduated in 1824, third in his class. After graduation, in 1826, he entered a law school in Northampton, Massachusetts, studying under Governor Levi Woodbury, and later Judges Samuel Howe and Edmund Parker, in Amherst, New Hampshire.
I just wanted to let everyone know that if you're into playing with the math of the Electoral College in anticipation of the election, many news services provide interactive maps, but the only one I've seen so far for 2008 is at http://www.270towin.com
By my calculations, if we do REALLY well, we could clear 350.
As Mike reminded us last year, uselessly small amounts of money left on Simon gift cards can be donated to good causes--such as increasing our state and national majorities this fall--before Simon Says your balance has disappeared after 12-24 months. Instructions HERE.
Marshall Dodge and Robert Bryan were not from New Hampshire - or from Maine, for that matter, IIRC. They met at Harvard in the 1950s.
But if you're going through the pain of freezing your butt off living here you should reward yourself with some of their work. Bert and I and the follow-on recordings are classic regional humor.
Some of it works because it's terse:
Had to kill my dog the other day.
Was he mad? He weren't too damn pleased..
Other stuff because it meanders like the Jumping Frog of Calaveras County.
Oh, and Saturdays are also good for going through the mail:
Horn's column won't be missed by this reader
I was delighted to see that Jennifer Horn is running for Congress. This means that, at least till November, we will be spared her saccharine, holier-than-thou, do-gooder, virtuous screeds glorifying her marshmallow existence.
Any post-debate thoughts? What are the folks at work saying (or is all Pats, all the time)?
A couple of links for your reading pleasure.
- Moveon Endorses Obama
- Browner Hamlin Hearts Caulfield
- Hillary deserves more credit for her efforts to stop bases in Iraq
- Love this Obama poster
Just specimens is all New Hampshire has,
One each of everything as in a showcase,
Which naturally she doesn't care to sell.
She had one President. (Pronounce him Purse,
And make the most of it for better or worse.
He's your one chance to score against the state.)
She had one Daniel Webster. He was all
The Daniel Webster ever was or shall be.
She had the Dartmouth needed to produce him.
Results will be available from several spots after the polls close at 7 p.m
SC Dem Party Site, Politco, CNN results page
Other stuff from the News Reader today:
Obama collects endorsements from Philadelphia Inquirerand St. Louis Post-Dispatch
Hillary drops robo-call on Edwards... guess it must be close
Wolfson with Clinton's Pre-Spin Cycle
And a blast from the past to remind us that Obama was not the first politician to peddle hope
While I think it may be difficult for some of us focus on NH issues until the Dem Pres Nom is known, yesterdays announcement regarding The potential of Bob Clegg running for Hodes seat was a great reminder that things are going to get interesting around here. All of our NH (Sen, Rep, Gov, E-Council) seats will be once again up for grabs. (The two year cycle would be good diary for another day.)
What are people hearing about possible challenges out there? Any Dem Primaries (other then US Sen?).
it looks like we will not know more for sure until June 13th (deadline to file for Primary)... but anyone who is taking a serious run is working towards that goal now.
I've been curious for some time about the geographic spread of we hampsters. Please use the Poll below the fold to proclaim your Senate District. Don't know? For shame, this tool will help you out.
Open thread for anything else on your mind today (DOW Down ~180 (-1480 YTD) at noon).
Jan 15 Concord Monitor editorial supports Rep. Jim Spaine's Bill to allow 17 year olds to vote.
Enfranchising older 17-year-olds will increase the participation of young voters and strengthen democracy. Most of the 17-year-olds who vote will still be in high school, where younger children look up to them. The participation of those young, new voters in the process will be a great civics lesson, one that could help to make casting that first vote a right of passage like getting a driver's license.
Dante Scala looks at "Elite" Score of the "Big Three"
elite score = candidate's percentage of vote in elite areas/percentage in working-class areas
Nevada caucuses are tomorrow. For whom are they most important? What will be the spin going into SC? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.
Blue Hampshire RSS
When your home state president is commonly referred to as one of the worst in US history, you start to look for the cutesy family life anecdotes on President's Day: