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It's happening. Well, not yet. But a federal court has ruled Don't Ask Don't Tell is a crazy concept and the United States Senate may well be voting on its repeal soon. Of course, we know that Senator Jeanne Shaheen and Congresspeople Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes are leading the fight on this cause on behalf of equality and justice.
The Human Rights Campaign and other equality organizations are encouraging calls to our Senators during the next few days. Please, if you support repeal of DADT, and who in their balanced and equalized mind doesn't, make a call.
Senator Judd Gregg can be reached at (202) 224-3324. Senator Jeanne Shaheen's number is (202) 224-2841.
A nice staffer will likely answer, and tell them that you're calling to ask the Senator to push for repeal of Don't Ask, Don't Tell.
Thousands and thousands of Granite Staters fought tirelessly to make marriage equality a reality here. For me, for this online community and for the majority of the Granite State, it was an extraordinary moment in New Hampshire's history when our state legislature courageously passed a marriage equality bill into law last year. But for Kelly Ayotte, that historic achievement was "disappointing." She wants to repeal the law and take our state and our country backwards. She also promised to always vote to uphold DOMA if she makes it to the US Senate.
I need your help to win in November and make sure Kelly Ayotte never has a chance to cast that vote.
At the time, Representative Hodes was a contender for campaign support from the National Stonewall Democrats' Elect Equality program. Elect Equality is proud to announce Representative Hodes' campaign was selected and help has arrived in New Hampshire.
Read more over at the Daily Kos about the strength of Hodes' candidacy on equality issues and why the LGBT community in particular stands to score a big victory in this race.
LGBT and allies can find more details on the effort and how join after the fold.
Supporting "Clean Energy" is laudable for many reasons, but right now "It's the economy stupid."
Paul Hodes gets it. Read his complete plan here.
PAUL HODES:
JOB CREATION THROUGH CLEAN ENERGY INNOVATION
The private sector is the engine that drives our economy. To be sustainable, jobs must be grown from the bottom-up - from the small businesses on Main Street, New Hampshire -and from the entrepreneurs who bring new ideas to the market. We're fortunate that New Hampshire is home to some of the leading innovators in the alternative energy sector. We must work with them, recognizing that job growth begins with a highly educated work force and access to credit, but also that clean energy technologies are an important area for growth in our state.
I don't have any new news; I have no revelations in this diary (unless someone else is moved to make an interesting comment.)
I just realized I was infamous even before the events of August 11th-13th. In in this Paul Hodes campaign video, I can be seen lurking mysteriously in an underlit hallway behind Kelly Ayotte:
Mr. Sununu's petulant comments are partisan politics at its worst. Instead of engaging in a thoughtful conversation or offering any ideas for putting New Hampshire back to work, Mr. Sununu resorted to petty political attacks and childish name-calling. He showed disrespect to the Office of the Presidency.
Democrat Carol Shea Porter, the first district incumbent issued a brief statement that tries to put the issue in the past. She says she believes this is a local decision and the city of New York has decided.
Ask Democratic Congressman and senate candidate Paul Hodes about the matter and he'll spend most of his time attacking Republicans for having stirred up a divisive issue but he shies away from endorsing the project.
HODES: I personally think it more appropriate not to have any single religious place of worship built there but I suggest there be an interfaith chapel.
As I travel across the Granite State on this campaign, there seems to be one thing the people of New Hampshire can agree on - Washington is broken. It doesn't matter if you're a Republican, Democrat or Independent. You've seen exactly what I see down there: a system that is simply not serving the needs of our middle-class families and small businesses any more. A system that has become rigged against the people it's supposed to support.
That's why yesterday I announced my proposals to change the Senate rules to increase accountability and break the partisan gridlock in Washington. Right now, Washington Republicans in the Senate are blocking a vote on a critical bill that will provide tax cuts and increased credit to New Hampshire's small businesses. My plan calls for an end to anonymous holds and gradually lowering the threshold needed to end debate and hold an up or down vote on Senate bills.
Tomorrow's Progressives, my blog, is showing the foolishness that the American Action Group's new anti-Paul Hodes ad to the world! If you like my work, please go to the blogroll, where my blog is. (You may need to hit refresh when you click on the link- it isn't a dead link.)
Please join us for great food, Vegan and Barbecue, (same great caterer)Mary Fagan Music, and great political discussion. Congressman Hodes, Ann Kuster, Katrina Swett, and Speaker Norelli are confirmed to attend and speak.
Our special guest speaker is known to many here on BH. He is Dr. Lawrence Lessig, bio below.Chairman Buckley believes as I do that the Citizen's United ruling will have far reaching impact on our politics. We need a disclosure bill, and the though NH House tried without success last session to pass one, the cause continues. Come here why this is central to preserving our democracy.
http://www.facebook.com/home.p... http://www.bluehampshire.com/e...
The Merrimack County Democrats invite you to our Summer Barbeque and Picnic. Join Cong.Paul Hodes, Ann Mclane Kuster, Katrina Swett, and other great candidates at the home of Steve Gorin and Cyndy Moniz...
Lawrence Lessig is the Director of the Edmond J. Safra Foundation Center for Ethics at Harvard University, and a Professor of Law at Harvard Law School.
His current academic work addresses the question of "institutional corruption" - roughly, influences within an economy of influence that weaken the effectiveness of an institution, or weaken public trust. His current work at the EJ Safra Lab oversees a 5 year research project addressing institutional corruption in a number of institutional contexts.
He will talk about the relationship between change- every new administrations' mantra, lobbying in Washington, and Campaign Finance effects of the "Citizen's United" Case.
"Kelly Ayotte has proven time and time again that she will stand with the extreme right instead of the people of New Hampshire," said Hodes. "The Kelly Ayotte and Sarah Palin team would trample on the rights of Americans simply to score political points. I will not support any proposal to weaken, rewrite, or repeal the 14th Amendment of our Constitution. New Hampshire needs an independent fighter in the United States Senate who will stand with all of New Hampshire's middle-class families, not a right-wing politician who is only interested in standing up for the far-right special interests."
I just wanted to make sure you all saw the latest video from my campaign, which is about my time on the trail this week and my upcoming statewide tour:
The attack ad launched against Paul Hodes today was put together by a DC group called American Action. As Paul himself notes, American Action is chaired by Fred Malek, one of the most powerful Village Republicans you've never heard of.
Here's some fun trivia about Malek I came across the last time his name came across my laptop screen.
* A dog. A barbecue. And Fred Malek.
* FBI. Daniel Schorr. And Fred Malek.
* Nixon. Jews. And Fred Malek:
It was also in 1971, The Post reported, that Malek was given a patently anti-Semitic order from a paranoid Richard Nixon to count the Jews in high-ranking posts in the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS). Instead of refusing, Malek set about compiling a list of 13 of 35 top BLS employees who, he believed, were Jewish. Less than two months later, two senior BLS officials who were Jewish were moved out of their jobs to less visible posts. Malek acknowledges carrying out the disgusting hunt for Jews, but he denies having anything to do with the transfers.
* Malek thought it was poor form of cancer patient Elizabeth Edwards to talk about cancer. "The cancer conversation is best left to the experts, researchers, and doctors."
* Fred Malek is one of the most important DC establishment advisers of Sarah Palin and her inevitable run for president. So while the Palin Ayotte endorsement was a total fail, at least Kelly's reaping the benefits of Palin's classy backers.
(I'll have more later on Fred Malek. I took an especial interest in him during the 2008 Presidential race. - promoted by Dean Barker)
Kelly Ayotte and the Washington special interests behind her campaign are getting nervous. They're seeing the same things we are: my campaign is surging in the polls and the Sarah Palin endorsement is backfiring.
So what do they do? Launch an attack ad full of facts and figures so misleading I have a feeling they were taken straight off Glenn Beck's chalkboard. They're attacking me for standing up to the special interests and big oil companies and supporting efforts to reduce our dependency on foreign oil and address climate change.
The special interest group funding the ad, American Action, is headed by Washington insider Fred Malek, a top backer of the Ayotte-Palin team. He's a life-long K-Street Republican from Washington who wants to tell Granite Staters how to vote.
We knew this would happen. Ayotte and her special interest backers see that we're within striking distance of taking a senate seat that has been in Republican hands for the last 30 years. So they're throwing everything they can to stop my momentum. Plus, Republicans can't help themselves. They have nothing to offer this country but the failed policies of the past and nasty attacks.
The U.S. District Court of Northern California's decision to strike down Proposition 8 is a huge win in our ongoing fight for equality.
There is much work still to be done, and many more battles to face - but the march toward universal marriage equality continues. It's time that the Defense of Marriage Act was repealed once and for all. When I get to the US Senate, I will lead the charge to repeal DOMA and ensure equal rights and protections for every citizen in this country.
I am thrilled with today's ruling, and more determined than ever to repeal DOMA and help achieve universal marriage equality for all Americans.
Ann McLane Kuster:
"I was pleased to hear that a federal judge struck down California's ban on same-sex marriages. Our Constitution guarantees equal protection under the law. We need less government interference in our personal lives - in New Hampshire, in California, and in Washington, DC. That's why I support marriage equality and why I am proud to have the endorsement of the New Hampshire Freedom to Marry Coalition in my campaign for Congress."
For years, there's been an express train between Capitol Hill and K Street.
We have former employees of big corporations ending up in the agencies that are supposed to regulate them. We have former public servants securing high-paid jobs in the businesses they used to oversee.
That may be good for K Street, but it's bad for the American people.
Today I am announcing my plan to end the revolving door in Washington between public officials and corporate lobbyists.
Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.) has told a group of national LGBT Democrats he would work to end DOMA should he be elected to the US Senate.
and
Hodes, a co-sponsor of the Respect for Marriage Act in the U.S. House that would overturn DOMA, and would be one of a very few senate members who supports marriage rights for same-sex couples should he win in November.
This is great news - and we can all be proud of Congressman Hodes for standing up for justice and equality.
Now if we can only get him to stop supporting war....
The usual band of ConservaDems, with the usual strain of obvious self-interest, and with the inevitable depressing of the base, will probably kill the possibility of filibuster reform.
Reform supported by Paul Hodes and introduced by Jeanne Shaheen.
When we don't define our differences with the other side, we lose. Why is this so hard to comprehend?
I've spent a lot of time on this blog talking about how we need to end business as usual in Washington. Earlier this week, we got another disheartening reminder of what business as usual has become. Rather than stand up for the voices of the people who define and deliver democracy in this country, the Republicans in Washington resorted to political obstructionism and caved to the special interests, once again. They successfully filibustered the DISCLOSE Act, which is a crucial first step in undoing the damage inflicted by the Citizens United Supreme Court case. It would have allowed us to start closing the door on corporations trying to buy our elections.
You know what? I wasn't surprised by their filibuster. I was expecting it. I'm sure you were too.
But I think everyone here can agree - it is one sorry state of affairs that leads us to expect special interest-funded obstructionism from our public servants.
