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Remember last week when the GOP in NH was complaining about our State's Rights being violated when the Federal Government contracted directly with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England.
Where was their mock outrage yesterday when a sitting US Congresswoman, Michele Bachmann, threatened to get involved in the RTW veto override?
So the Federal Government insuring the health and welfare of our state's women is protected = Violations of State's Rights.
A sitting US Congresswoman from a state with no geographic connection to New Hampshire trying to influence the outcome of the New Hampshire Legislature = Business as usual.
The NHGOP really needs to come with an owners manual so we could actually know what we are getting with these guys!
Did Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire sacrifice the health of 16,000 New Hampshire residents for personal political ambition? Tony Schinella reports on the political calculations behind St. Hilaire's vote to reject the Planned Parenthood contract that would have provided health care services in the state.
The political rumor mill began spinning about a St. Hilaire gubernatorial run in 2012 not long after he voted to defund Planned Parenthood in June of this year. Up until that vote, he was not considered a serious potential statewide candidate since he drew a lot of his support from liberal-to-moderate Republicans and might not survive a primary, where voters tend to be more conservative. ...
Earlier this year, some conservative leaders wondered openly about the swerve to the right with the defund vote, thinking that St. Hilaire might be considering a potential bid for governor in 2012.
In an interview with the Concord Monitor, St. Hilaire confirmed he is, in fact, considering a gubernatorial run.
"I'm at the stage of deciding whether I should be jumping into the race or not," St. Hilaire said.
When the Executive Council refused to renew a contract with Planned Parenthood to provide family planning services for low-income New Hampshire families, the Department of Health and Human Services stepped in and awarded a replacement grant.
Councilors Raymond Wieczorek and David Wheeler, who voted to reject the Planned Parenthood contract, expressed outrage over the federal government's "heavy hand" and arrogance in overriding the Council's position. The Valley News takes them to task:
Let's talk about arrogance. Three councilors voted to deny a respected nonprofit the grant money on which it relies to provide free and subsidized health services, including contraception, cancer screenings, and testing and treatment for sexually transmitted diseases.
By opposing not only the state contract with Planned Parenthood but also the federal role in providing assistance for family planning, the executive councilors betray their real intent. They seek to prevent women from having abortions, and they are trying to hobble one of the country's leading abortion providers. ...
Executive councilors ... think they know what's best for women, whose legal right to an abortion is being threatened all over the country.
When the Executive Council voted not to renew the state's contract with Planned Parenthood to provide Title X family planning services, 16,000 New Hampshire residents were left without health care services ranging from birth control to cancer exams.
Last week, the federal Department of Health and Human Services stepped in to protect the health of Granite State families by awarding a replacement grant to Planned Parenthood citing the "urgent need."
Title X family planning services have not been provided in the areas of the state previously served by PPNNE since the contract between NHDHHS and PPNNE ended on June 30, 2011. There is an urgent need to reinstate services with an experienced provider that is familiar with the provision of Title X family planning services and applicable laws, regulations and administrative requirements, and has a history of successfully providing services in these areas of the state.
Councilor Dan St. Hilaire, one of the three councilors voting against renewing the contract, said he opposed the contract because Planned Parenthood also provides abortion services -- despite knowing that Federal law prevents family planning money from being used for abortions.
“Actually funding an agency that performs the actual event is something that I would object to, and I have objected to. That’s what I voted against it.”
St. Hilaire was silent on where the 16,000 Granite Staters would now turn for vital health care services including cervical cancer screenings, breast exams and sexually transmitted infections. Following the Executive Council's dereliction of duty, Sen. Jeanne Shaheen stepped in and asked Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius to consider a direct federal contract. Shaheen applauded the federal government's action.
“Women in every part of the state deserve access to affordable reproductive health services, and Planned Parenthood is a critical provider of those services in our state,” Shaheen said. “These clinics also provide vital preventive care, such as screenings for breast and cervical cancer. In some parts of New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood is the only provider of these preventive services to low-income women. I am glad the federal government has stepped up to provide this new contract, so that women in every part of New Hampshire will have somewhere to turn for basic health issues."
(Part moved below the fold - promoted by William Tucker)
Today I had the opportunity to attend the Executive Council's meeting at the Goodwin Health Center in Somersworth. While at the meeting the Council voted on an otherwise benign contract between Health and Human Services and Dartmouth Hitchcock Hospital in Hanover, NH. The contract is for Dartmouth Hitchcock to provide attentional epidemiology resources on an as needed basis, for occasions such as the anthrax incident at the University of New Hampshire in 2009.
After the meeting I took a few minutes to speak with my Councilor, Dan St. Hilarie. I asked him about his vote against Planned Parenthood, but in approval of today's Dartmouth contract, since they both provide abortion services. He told me the Dartmouth vote was different since it was for epidemiology services and not family planning services.
In the past Councilor St. Hilaire said he opposed taxpayer money supporting organizations that provide abortions. With today's vote he didn't have that same objection though.
Today he told me that if Planned Parenthood started a new 503c for it's abortion services and it was completely separate from it's women's health services that he would vote to fund the women't health services part. This is a completely unnecessary step since Federal Law already blocks Planned Parenthood from using federal funds for abortion services.
The all male NH Executive Council has voted to cancel the state's contract with Planned Parenthood. Once again, our state's shame goes national. From HuffPo
New Hampshire lawmakers rejected multiple attempts to defund Planned Parenthood during the 2011 legislative session, voting repeatedly in favor of continuing to fund PPNNE using the state's federal family planning money. But the Executive Council, which oversees state contracting and generally stays out of hot-button political issues, overturned the decisions of both the state legislature and the Department of Health and Human Services with its 3-2 vote against Planned Parenthood.
The move was a war on women, fueled by misinformation about federal funding for abortion....Thankfully, the bill did not make it past the Senate....If you, like us, have no desire to take giant leap backward in reproductive health, then tell these women what you think.
Marie Claire, a woman's magazine published by Hearst, and focused on fashion, beauty, and lifestyle topics--not politics--published a sidebar in their July 2011 issue entitled, "Who Are the Women Who Voted Against Health Care for Women?" It lists the 22 female reps and 2 senators who fell for right-wing propaganda. Senator Kelly Ayotte's name leaps off the page at you as one of only two female senators who voted for this. (The other is Kay Bailey Hutchison, rightie extraordinaire from the Republic of Texas.)
I think this is important because it will be seen by many female voters who might not be following politics that closely. I'm sure thousands of women in New Hampshire read Marie Claire.
Here's the list of women who voted to defund Planned Parenthood:
House of Representatives--all Republicans
Sandy Adams (FL)
Michele Bachmann (MN)
Diane Black (TN)
Marsha Blackburn (TN)
Ann Marie Buerkle (NY)
Renee Ellmers (NC)
Jo Ann Emerson (MO)
Virginia Foxx (NC)
Kay Granger (TX)
Vicky Hartzler (MO)
Nan Hayworth (NY)
Jaime Herrera Beutler (WA)
Lynn Jenkins (KS)
Cynthia Lummis (WY)
Cathy McMorris Rodgers (WA)
Candice Miller (MI)
Shelley Moore Capito (WV)
Sue Myrick (NC)
Kristi Noem (SD)
Martha Roby (AL)
Ileana Ros-Lehtinen (FL)
Jean Schmidt (OH)
(Important story from the weekend - promoted by William Tucker)
NHPR:
Earlier this week, the Executive Council blocked a $1.8 million dollar contract for Planned Parenthood of Northern New England. That loss of revenue is compounded by a similar reduction in the budget passed by the Legislature on Wednesday. Planned Parenthood says the cut could have a devastating effect on the some 16 thousand clients they serve.
What are the services devastated by these cuts?
Last year in New Hampshire, Planned Parenthood saw more than 15,000 patients and provided:
• 6,112 breast exams
• 5,548 cervical cancer screenings
• 18,858 tests for sexually transmitted infections
• 13,242 contraceptive care consultations
Why would Executive Councilor Dan St. Hilaire do this to New Hampshire women?
"Actually funding an agency that performs the actual event is something that I would object to, and I have objected to. That's what I voted against it."
The so-called 'event' is abortions.
(No public money, of course, goes to this legal "event.")
Recently, lawmakers opposed to the law of the land did much the same in Indiana. But the judiciary branch just put a stop to that kind of legislative activism:
Planned Parenthood of Indiana expects to start offering services to Medicaid patients again Saturday after a federal judge ruled the state is not allowed to cut off the organization's public funding for general health services solely because it also provides abortions.
Here in New Hampshire, Tuck reported that "Planned Parenthood is investigating the possibility of filing a lawsuit against the state."
How much will Dan St. Hilaire cost the state of New Hampshire?
(find me > 140 on birch paper; on Twitter < 140)
UPDATE: eagle-eyed Tuck noticed that St. Hilaire is already spinning away from his NHPR quote. (In light of how it might be used against him, ala Indiana?)
So Arizona Senator Jon Kyl went and did a stupid thing the other day by claiming on the floor of the Senate that 90% of what Planned Parenthood does is related to abortions, and that, by God, we need to cut that Federal funding for abortions, and we need to cut all Federal funding for Planned Parenthood-and we need to do it today.
Of course, that 90% claim was total hooey; it turns out that only 3% of Planned Parenthood's work relates to abortions. (The Federal funding for abortions part is, too; the Hyde Amendment made such funding illegal decades ago.)
When confronted, Kyl's office released a statement claiming the Senator's comments were "not intended to be a factual statement".
Sir Rev. Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA, decided to have a bit of fun with Kyl, and he challenged his audience to Tweet their own "Not Intended To Be A Factual Statement" about Kyl.
I decided to compose a Tweet of my own...and then another...and before I knew it I had an entire story's worth; that's why, today, we'll be taking a taking a short break from the daily grind to have a bit of fun with a man who truly deserves it: Jon Kyl.
Wednesday, Sen. Kelly Ayotte gave a web interview to Marjorie Dannenfelser, President of Susan B. Anthony List. SBA List is an organization that seeks to eliminate abortion by supporting pro-life politicians.
The interview topic was Planned Parenthood. Given how Planned Parenthood funding has become central to the Congressional budget fight, it's worth taking a closer look at the interview. And when you check the facts, you find Ayotte's responses are filled with lies and distortions.
This is stunning on the one hand, though on the other it confirms what we have all suspected to be true:
O'Brien lobbied last week to save from certain doom a bill that barred state funding for Planned Parenthood and any other abortion provider.
Health and Human Services Committee clerk Rep. Susan Emerson, R-Rindge, steamed, "I really resent being pressured like that" when she emerged from the GOP mini-caucus with O'Brien.
She complained later that a bipartisan subcommittee from both sides of the abortion argument met for hours before voting, 8-0, to kill the bill, HB 228. They worried about the effect it would have on 26 hospitals and 24 health clinics across the state, as well health insurers, Emerson said.
"I've been here 10 years, and I have never had a speaker call us in and tell us he wanted a bill passed," Emerson said. "He told us he did not want that bill killed because Cornerstone wanted it passed."
Stunning. The General Court no longer works for the people of New Hampshire, but for a right-wing social issue group that gets its money from goodness knows where and is allied with the National Organization for Marriage, a known anti-gay group.
What do we learn from Tom Fahey's incredible vignette?
1) It doesn't matter for whom you voted in November, if you voted for a Republican; House Speaker Bill O'Brien gets them to vote however he wants, or, I should say, however Kevin Smith wants.
2) O'Brien is disliked enough by House GOPers to go on record trashing him - to the Union Leader!
3) O'Brien's and Bettencourt's full court damage control insistence that the recent crazy emanating from Concord has nothing to do with their real focus on jobs and the economy is a total con job. Bill O'Brien is in fact micro-managing these social issue bills for his apparent boss, Kevin Smith.
When you combine this with Rep. Foose's revelation that John Stephen is the puppetmaster behind the preliminary budget, you have to wonder who is really in charge that was actually elected?
Frank Guinta has spoken of little but cutting spending since embarking upon his questionably funded campaign. Soon after taking office, he made this statement to Fosters:
I will work tirelessly to find places to cut the budget and implement savings; I have outlined many specific proposals during the campaign. I do not feel, however, that LIHEAP's New Hampshire program, which served over 35,000 households last year, is an appropriate place to cut."
Frank's no dummy, he knows that letting poor folks freeze to death isn't a good re-election strategy. He voted against funding Planned Parenthood, because women should be forced to serve as incubators in Frankworld. And if some of them get ovarian cancer - oh well. There are plenty more women around. They're the disposable gender. Plus it'll save taxpayers some $363 million! Those kinds of savings are worth cutting off cancer, HIV, and STD testing, and contraception for low income women.
Frank showed he has what it takes to be tough on low income women, but he's a marshmallow when it comes to Big Oil. He voted AGAINST cutting taxpayer subsidies to oil companies - along with all of his fellow Republicans.
For the typical American, I suspect this will seem hard to understand. In the face of fiscal challenges, Republicans are ready to slash funding in education, health care, job training, and national security, but they're not willing to end taxpayer subsidies -- our money -- for the oil industry? An industry that's already enjoying extraordinary profits?
Also note, ending the subsidies would save the federal government tens of billions of dollars, making a significant dent in the deficit-reduction campaign that Republicans pretend to care about. It's a reminder that the GOP's commitment to fiscal responsibility is shaped in large part by who'll suffer as a result of the cuts -- working families can feel the brunt of the budget ax, under the GOP vision, but ExxonMobil can't.
Every time Americans go to the pump -- which is becoming more painful all the time -- Democrats want consumers to remember, "You're not only paying higher prices for gas, your tax dollars, thanks to Republicans, are also subsidizing the oil companies themselves."
For the record, ending those subsidies would be a savings of $40 billion.
Here's the roll call The Bass master also voted to continue socialist subsidies for Big Oil.
After all, it's Big Oil and the rest of their pals in big biz that'll be ponying up the big bucks for their reelection campaigns. Corporate America is their real constituency.
I got this e-mail from a friend who wanted to let me know what she has said to her current representative. Thought I'd pass it on.
++++
Hello, I am one of your constituents. My name is Maria Belva and I live on Sand Hill Rd in Peterborough. I have a couple of things I need to discuss.
I don't understand why you are taking away the ability of the Health and Human Services Dept. to contract with Planned Parenthood.
Do you understand that Planned Parenthood provides much needed health care services for low income women in our state?
They provide routine gynecological services, including pap smears, for women. They also provide birth control on a sliding fee scale.
Do you realize how important these services are?
I for one am still alive today because of a pap smear provided by Planned Parenthood. I had cervical carcinoma in situ-it was caught early and I was treated. I have three children who would have been orphaned had it not been detected.
Can you please tell me why you have it in for Planned Parenthood? And what does it have to do with creating jobs in New Hampshire?
Another issue-why are you wasting time worrying about same sex couples who wish to marry? When has any same sex couple taken away jobs? How do they keep anyone from affording health care? What has this got to do with balancing a budget?
One more, if you please. Why would you think that music and the arts should not be considered essential curriculum in our schools? By treating these subjects as not necessary, how are you improving the education of New Hampshire children?
http://kellyayottesenate.blogs...
http://seminal.firedoglake.com... Ayotte claims to be a protector of Women's interests but her tenure as a New Hampshire Attorney General tells quite a different story. She and her crew allowed for bad LE to run amok, assaulting and threatening men, women and children throughout the State of New Hampshire, and that's a FACT.
The fallout continues from the revelation that Kelly Ayotte quietly paid Planned Parenthood $300,000 of Granite State money to settle the legal fees from the case Sarah Palin claims she "won". Former US Senator Gordon Humphrey on the Laura Ingraham show:
Laura Ingraham: ...There was a case-parental notification. It went all the way to the Supreme Court. She was not obligated in her role as attorney general to authorize a payout of $300,000 in legal fees to Planned Parenthood. Am I getting anything wrong there?
Sen. Humphrey: No, that is correct. That is absolutely correct. I'm not an attorney, but I've been advised by one of the most imminent attorneys in the state, that she could have rejected the judges' ruling, she could have appealed the judges' ruling that the state pay the defense costs for Planned Parenthood. She did not appeal it, she did not dig in her heels. In fact the whole thing was rather, um, quietly pushed under the rug...
And the UL is unrelenting, today with a guest cloumn:
Sarah Palin may know her Alaskan grizzly bears, but she got a bit confused here in New Hampshire, where we have only black bears. If Palin cares about the Constitution and the conservative values that prompted her ill-advised "mama grizzly" movement, she should admit her mistake and rescind her endorsement of Kelly Ayotte.
The Republican Party, nationwide and in New Hampshire, is the Nanny Party. In particular, it believes that government should step between a woman and her doctor on reproductive matters. Every time Republicans take power this is at the top of their agenda.
Most recently, when Craig Benson was Governor and Republicans controlled the New Hampshire House and Senate, they passed a "parental notification" law with no health exceptions. (The law passed in the Senate only because Senate President Tom Eaton refused to vote.) This sort of law had been found unconstitutional by the U.S. Supreme Court before, but the Republican Party hoped that they had replaced enough Justices to change the previous rulings...
I'm still unclear about why this is a story, but here we go. Anti-choice groups in New Hampshire are up in arms that a group of students recently visited a Planned Parenthood of Northern New England (PPNNE) health center as part of a tour highlighting community prevention resources for at-risk teens in Manchester.
