An agenda for Occupy Wall St. - "An Indecent Proposal"

by: Lucy Edwards

Sun Oct 02, 2011 at 15:17:49 PM EDT

Ryan Budget, Senate Vote and Grover Norquist

by: whp

Thu May 26, 2011 at 08:11:59 AM EDT

The general electorate might not like Ryan's budget, but Republican primary voters -- or at least the organizations that are assumed to represent Republican primary voters -- love it. Grover Norquist is trying to train 150,000 activists to make the pitch for the plan. "The challenge will be to teach each of our activists to deliver the Ryan speech," he said. American for Prosperity, the group most associated with the Tea Party successes in the 2010 cycle, whipped yesterday's Senate vote.

With 40 Republicans supporting Ryan Medicare even AFTER losing the NY House seat, the table is set for the 2012 to be an election about very distinct differences on a key federal program. I do not believe we can win this debate without a compelling plan for "bending the health care cost curve".

NH-02: When Can We Expect Newt?

by: Dean Barker

Tue Dec 08, 2009 at 18:43:12 PM EST

And if this is in fact the new strategy, will he have to find another outlet besides the WSJ to revive the Death Tax meme he loves so well?

My letter to the Laconia Daily Sun re: Doug "the Donut Man" affair

by: TaxiManSteve

Mon Nov 16, 2009 at 21:13:13 PM EST

   Bravo for Sun editor Ed Engler's courage in dismissing columnist Doug Lambert from his widely regarded paper.  It is time to cull the herd of conservative commentators.  There are just too many of them doing the yeoman's work of Republican strategist Grover Norquist, pushing the nation's political debate artificially down the rightwing end of the political spectrum.

  Many, like Doug "the donut man" Lambert, are bereft of discernable talent.   Lambert and his fellow travelers are like noxious stinging insects.  The buzz of yellow jackets without respite.   The same shopworn mantras without end.  All the while a weary citizenry has shifted in its political views away from the wing beat.

  Winter is coming.   There are too many drones in the hive.  Thank you Mr. Editor for showing Lambert the door.  A grateful community applauds your civic spirit.  

Sununu and Boustany

by: hannah

Sat Sep 12, 2009 at 08:22:02 AM EDT

Well, first and most obviously, there's an apparent preference for the odd-man out status, which leads them to emphasize their Lebanese-born grandfathers and to designate themselves as Arab-Americans, albeit both are Christians, rather than followers of Islam.

As an immigrant myself, that strikes me as passing strange, especially now that a large segment of the Republican party seems fixated on differentiating between native and alien.

S.O.S.---Save Our Parks---Protest in Peterborough---tomorrow-Tuesday!

by: TaxiManSteve

Mon Jun 22, 2009 at 18:24:28 PM EDT

Stop!  Demonstration tomorrow outside the Peterborough Townhouse.  3:00 PM.  Bring banners with "Pisgah: Forever Wild" and "Save Our Parks."

Like the public is doing in California.

---SWL

Tainted Lobbyists, Part Two: John Stephen

by: Dean Barker

Thu May 15, 2008 at 06:46:05 AM EDT

Former NH Republican Senator Warren Rudman has said this about Mr. Norquist:  "Americans for Tax Reform is a wonderful-sounding name. As far as I'm concerned, it's a front organization for Grover Norquist' lobbying activities."

Republican 1st District U.S. House candidate John Stephen will meet potential Washington-based supporters at a meet-and-greet in the nation's capital tonight.

Invitations sent by lobbyist Todd Boulanger, a former associate of Jack Abramoff, say, "Come hear first-hand why John will be the winner of the September 9 primary and go on to defeat Porter (sic)," referring to Democratic Rep. Carol Shea-Porter.

The "small, informal gathering" will be held at Shelly's Back Room, which calls itself "A Civilized Cigar Parlor."

About once a month since 2001, Grover Norquist has invited a top Bush administration official or a Republican congressional leader to dine with him and some 20 or 30 corporate lobbyists who help subsidize Americans for Tax Reform, the anti-tax group that Norquist heads.

The dinners at Norquist's Washington, D.C., home aren't cheap: The lobbyists pay ATR between $10,000 and $25,000 a year for the privilege of attending several of the intimate get-togethers, which have featured the likes of White House political guru Karl Rove and Labor Secretary Elaine Chao, according to several lobbyists who have attended.

From time to time over the years, the K Street crowd has been joined at the dinners by other ATR supporters, including the leaders of some casino-owning Indian tribes who were top clients of one of Norquist's oldest friends, former lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

Representatives of the Saginaw Chippewas of Michigan, the Louisiana Coushattas, and the Mississippi Band of Choctaw Indians were among those who either attended or helped to finance some of the Norquist-hosted soirees that were advertised as tax policy events. Moreover, some of these same tribal representatives also attended brief meetings at the White House with President Bush that Norquist has organized annually since 2001 for dozens of state legislators who have pushed anti-tax measures or signed anti-tax pledges.

John Stephen, The "Pledge" and Failed Public Policy

by: Chaz Proulx

Wed May 14, 2008 at 19:57:17 PM EDT

The promise is small government and low taxes. The reality is deficits and debt, a decaying infrastructure, a banking crisis and a middle class that too often must chose between gasoline and health care.

Mr. Stephen stood alongside Grover Norquist the conservative lobbyist and founder of Americans for Tax Reform. Mr. Norquist symbolizes many things to many people. The right sees him as the number one crusader for small government and low taxes, the left sees him as a ruthless shill for special interests.

Former NH Republican Senator Warren Rudman has said this about Mr. Norquist:  "Americans for Tax Reform is a wonderful-sounding name. As far as I'm concerned, it's a front organization for Grover Norquist' lobbying activities."

Senator Rudman knows what he is talking about-he has dedicated many years to the Concord Coalition-a prestigious group of Americans dedicated to fiscal sanity and sustainable budgets.

Senator Rudman is right on the money about Grover Norquist. Mr. Norquist is the king of special interests and K street power politics.

Unfortunately, Mr. Norquist was the chief architect of George Bush's massive tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans and corporations. The scary part is that as the ultra rich get ultra richer and the middle class stagnates, Mr. Norquist considers the past eight years a rousing success.

True fiscal conservatives don't turn the country they love into a debtor nation with a straight face.

Mr. Stephen has now saddled himself with the Norquist/Bush world view.

He not only wants to make the Bush tax cuts permanent, he is parroting Norquist, Limbaugh and Bush in claiming that failure to make them permanent amounts to the "Largest tax hike in history."

Since when does the end of a temporary tax break become a tax hike? If someone told me I would get huge tax break for the next eight years, I think I'd be pretty grateful and use my time wisely.

Give somebody else a chance? Not this crowd.

Thematically too the event was telling. It took place in a boardroom high above the Merrimack River. I stepped out onto a balcony and it really was breathtaking.  There's nothing wrong with boardrooms per se, I've served on boards that met in comfortable rooms. But there was no mention of the middle class whatsoever. Not even a touch of lip service. There was no mention of recession, the national debt, the huge Bush Deficits or the healthcare crisis. And there was no mention of Iraq and the price to America in blood and treasure.

In fairness to Mr. Stephen he was very cordial to me. He and I talked both before and after the public part of the event. I enjoyed talking with him. I had a very nice chat with his wife too. I wish the three of us could have talked longer.

So this isn't personal. What is personal though, is the lives that Americans live.

We've squandered too much of our precious time. We've squandered too much of our money. We've weakened our military's effectiveness. In short, Bush Norquist policies have created problems that will haunt the next five generations of Americans.

The policies that have failed us so badly have no place in our future.  

A John Stephen Surprise? Whoopee Golly Gee Gosh

by: Rep. Jim Splaine

Sat May 10, 2008 at 20:50:10 PM EDT

Seeing him standing next to that great defender of American working men and women, ATR boss Grover Norquist, made for a beautiful picture.  A proud John Stephen trying to get a leg up, or whatever, over former Congressperson Jeb Bradley by showing he's even more conservative.  Brave man this Stephen guy is, willing to sign this "pledge" not to raise any taxes, ever.  Seeing how honest Republicans have been in recent years, one does have to wonder about the value of a signature anyway...

...And anyway, John Stephen was quoted as saying, "The tax cuts of the past decade are absolutely critical to the long-term success of our economy and our growth."  Read that to say that if we let the wealthy keep more of their money, they'll make more low-paying jobs for some of us so they can make even more money, as if the incentive isn't there for them to do that already.  (For those of us who remember, President Ronald Reagan put a term to it -- the "trickle-down theory," where us peeons got wet having the economy drip down on us.  Any questions?)

John Stephen is a funny guy.  

"Economy" and "growth?"  Tell that to many Americans -- the 99 percent of us who don't happen to be in the top one percent of the "wealthy millionaire class," many of whom never worked a day at one of the Walmarts or McDonalds or gas stations they own or hold stock in.

With people really hurting, and a winter coming in a few months when people won't be able to pay their heating bill, and kids not getting the education they need to compete in a 21st Century world with kids from other nations, and the need for investing in alternative energy to get off the reliance on Bush's oil friends, it's interesting to see Republicans like John Stephen stumbling over one another to show how "conservative" they are so that government will spend less so that the rich can get richer and keep all their money, and the poor will get poorer.

Corporate America underpays those who work for them, and the CEOs of those corporations get their multi-million dollar golden parachutes, and the Republicans are their servants.  A lot of Republicans seem to want to hold a yard sale for our government and have it just go out of business.  They want to stay in Iraq, they want to attack Iran, they want a 12 foot wall from the Gulf to the Pacific, and they want to have government peering into our library books, listening to our telephone calls, and checking into our bedroom activities.  But they just don't want to pay for it.  

Isn't it neat the way "politics" works among the Republicans?  One hand washes the other.  Fortunately for New Hampshire right now, Carol Shea-Porter, who has an eye out of "the rest of us" 99%, and Paul Hodes, who stands up for people who need help, will be re-elected this November because we need them more than ever.

Yes, John Stephen is a funny guy.  But governing is serious business, and people's families and lives and futures are at stake.  Carol Shea-Porter knows that, and will be re-elected over a John Stephen or Jeb Bradley or whomever because New Hampshire voters aren't going to be laughing this November.  

Oh, John F. Kennedy said it all when he challenged us to do what we can do for our country, and by that he meant for one another.  Lots'o Republicans want to take all they can from this country, and keep it all for themselves.