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Today's Concord Monitor has a story about a woman named Karen Morgan who has just lost her unemployment benefits, because of the expiration of the federally funded extension program. She's 55 years old and has had several operations for breast cancer.
Tara Reardon, commissioner of the state's Department of Employment Security, said 4,700 people in New Hampshire have already exhausted all eligibility for unemployment compensation. Now that the program has expired, by the end of the year an additional 3,000 will be left without unemployment benefits and 9,000 more will lose benefits by April if the program is not reinstated by then, Reardon said.
The fastest growing segment of the homeless population is women over 50. A long term (over 6 months) unemployed person over the age of 50 may never find another job.
Here's what a NH Republican has to say:
Grant Bosse, a lead investigator with the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy, a New Hampshire free-market think tank, said the government should find places to cut spending if it's going to extend unemployment benefits.
I'd sure like to hear him explain that to Karen Morgan. These are real lives being hurt by the Party of No. Every newspaper in the country should be telling these stories, every single day.
this op-ed was published in the November 12, 2010 edition of the Conway Daily Sun newspaper.
The state of the economy and the recent mid-term elections got me thinking about the Reagan years, and what life was like for the average Josephine in Carroll County around 1989. There were few jobs available. Few employers provided health insurance. Housing costs were high, though toward the end of the Reagan years they decreased, and became more realistic. Looking at the help wanted ads provoked a revelation - the wage scale in this area hasn't changed since then.
I've tried for several minutes now to add to this post something snarky about the massive income inequality that's been accelerating since St. Ronald Reagan re-made America, about the zero net job creation under George W. Bush, about the clever scam of our Pledge politics.
But I've got nothing.
One in four children on food stamps in Coos county.
We can do better than that. We must do better than that.
Perhaps I've become overly sensitive to the role of things in people's lives ever since we rescued an elderly gentleman whose house, filled to the ceilings with stuff, was about to collapse around him. It's made me realize that wealth and poverty can't really be evaluated in material terms and the fact that a quarter century ago the poor had fewer things is really irrelevant.
That's the context for why these data about the Medicaid caseload in New Hampshire are really shocking.
The New Hampshire Center for Public Policy has issued a new report in the context of the state budget being at risk! I say, never mind the state budget. Just look at the number of people in need of care.
Unless we elect a Gandhi-like figure to the Presidency, it is my supposition that most American's would agree that the POTUS should be too busy and precoccupied to do his or her own laundry. That task should fall to the First Spouse.
You read about my clothesline conversation with Bill Clinton here last week, if you are a regular to these pages. The reason why I focused in on him was simple. It is not because I want Hillary to win, particularly. It is not because I wanted to create another echo in the annointment chamber. It is not because I thought his unsatisfactory answer was any more unsatisfactory than the answers from some other candidates whom I have approached. It is quite simply because he is a man.
Bill Clinton, among the spouses of the major candidates of the major parties, is the only potential First Gentleman at this point in time. If Bill Clinton were to install a clothesline and do the First Family's washing himself, he would help to jumpstart a more important conversation--a conversation about work. If Hillary wins, he may be uniquely posed to instigate such a conversation.
We need to have a robust conversation about work in this country. It is long overdue. Here in the USA, we work more hours and take less vacation than in any other industrialized nation. Our households have become largely dependent on two-incomes, yet women still do the bulk of the housework, including the laundry. Though presumably through a contrived change of habits, Bill Clinton could nevertheless set an example for American men about sharing domestic chore responsibilities more evenly.
While I would be the last person to suggest that relief from some of the quotidian joys of housework would solve our cultural affliction of working too much, I do think it would cause us to examine the burdens that we have put on women in particular as more and more households, where meals must still be cooked and the laundry washed, have come to depend on two incomes. Speaking in broad generalities, we have come to expect too much from 51% of the population. It is time for the other 49% of the population (my tribe) to pick up the basket, and the loose socks, and the scattered toys, etc.
In the last few weeks, I have tried to jumpstart this conversation by reaching out to Barbara Ehrenreich, Kate Michelman, Elizabeth Edwards... and Bill Clinton. Will you help broaden the conversation even further?
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
His remarks were sharp, clear and passionately delivered to an enthusiastic crowd.
He threw down the gauntlet on universal health care in the field and challenged the entire Democratic party on financing campaigns through lobbyist money. He presented the voters in attendance not only with his vision for change in this country, but he gave us a very clear picture of the kind of America that he wants us to create together. The grassroots are not only central to the campaign in this vision, but they need to be central going forward from January 20, 2009.
On Saturday, I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process.
Overflow crowds and running behind schedule were the order of the day. Edwards only had time to take a few questions at the end of his remarks. They are presented here in Part Two. If you're going to an event in NH, for a Democrat, then you'd better plan to get there early. All the passion and attention seems to be on our side this time. Thank God that at least "some people" know what the GOP is doing to our country these days.
Part One of this vlog covers the remarks and makes the case that the Edwards message is a populist message that we, as a party, can be proud of and one that is long overdue. I don't think that any other candidate in this race deserves the mantle of progressive populist the way the Edwards does. That's why I support his candidacy for President.
I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH on Saturday. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process. The media is certainly not capable of any meaningful discussion of the issues in this campaign and they will not be reformed in time for the primaries. Nary a patriot in the DC press corps.
Before the event started I heard some of the Edwards advance people talking about the overflow crowds they had seen at the stops all day long. He had done a bunch of house parties that were packed with 200 to 300 people. The Epping event left about 100 people standing out on the lawn under threatening skies. In this clip posted by the campaign at YouTube he's talking to people in a garage at a house. People who couldn't squeeze into one of these events.
If you're going to an event in NH, for a Democrat, then you'd better plan to get there early. All the passion and attention seems to be on our side this time. Thank God that at least "some people" know what the GOP is doing to our country these days.
As many of you know John and Elizabeth Edwards have embarked on a tour entitled the 'Road to One America.'
From Monday, July 16th, 2007 to Wednesday, July 18th, 2007, Senator John Edwards will take a break from his normal campaign schedule to travel to 8 states to shine a bright spotlight on the issue of poverty in America. During the tour, Edwards will meet with people struggling with poverty, in order to share their personal stories with the nation. He will also discuss how we can build One America where every person has the chance to work hard and get ahead.
John Edwards will be speaking today at the historic Cooper Union in NY where he will discuss his plans to reduce debt for families as part of his plan to build one America.
It is fitting to continue this conversation here at Cooper Union ? a school founded by a man who couldn?t afford to go to college, but who succeeded and made sure that others would have chances he never did.
Peter Cooper?s story is the story of America. A place of optimism and upward mobility, a place where people work hard and sacrifice because they know it will lead to a better life for themselves and their children. And a place where we recognize that we are all in it together.
I know that story well, because it?s my story, too. My father had to borrow $50 to bring me and my mother home from the hospital. Now I enjoy all the blessings of America.
Thank you very much for the food that arrived yesterday. Mother was thrilled to see
it. She cried because she had not seen so much mealie meal for months.
Straightaway she cooked a really big meal of nshima. We ate really well last night
and I still feel full today.
Some days when I'm unable to write at home, too lazy to make breakfast, or just need a better cup of coffee than I make around here, I head for a local Internet Cafe. Java Street is a very pleasant spot run by a gracious friend named Stacy and habituated by a generally interesting and diverse group of people.
Yesterday as I settled in, plugged in the laptop and ordered breakfast I spoke to a couple of the regulars who play chess most mornings trading quick coffee house greetings. As I opened the morning paper I noticed at the next table a very pretty young woman (I'm a professional, a trained observer, it's my job) wearing a headset, engrossed in her work and seemingly oblivious to the coffee aromas mixed with the lingering memory of burnt toast and the low murmur of breakfast banter wafting in her vicinity.
(Important Stuff. No matter what county you are in. - promoted by Mike)
I met a doctor at the Edwards Town Hall on Monday Night. I'm still working on the vlog, it'll be up soon, but I'd like to take a minute to post this clip from an interview with the doctor I met.
His name is Dr. Terry M. Bennett and he is the last family doctor in Strafford County NH that will see poor or modest income patients in his practice. I think that his remarks and his work are vitally important to the debate we need to have as a country on health care. He's in the trenches everyday and I hope you take a minute to view the short interview and listen to what he's saying.
In speech at St. Anselm' College yesterday John Edwards spoke about Global Poverty as a critical National Security issue for the U.S. and linked educating the poor children of the World to generational change in America's standing in parts of thw world where we are now reviled.
[In New Hampshire] a livable wage ranges from $10.10 to $19.50 per hour ($21,683 to $48,625 a year)
Depending on family type, the basic needs budget in New Hampshire is between 2 and 2.5 times the federal poverty level
...
In 2005, the median hourly wage in New Hampshire was $14.66
According to the study, $14.66 an hour is only enough to support a family with dual-incomes or a single person living alone. So there are many more families here struggling to make ends meet than just those counted below the federal poverty line (set deliberately low of course).
Despite New Hampshire's relative wealth - sixth highest in the country in per capita income - the number of families with serious financial problems are growing.
They concluded one in 10 New Hampshire children, or 28,000, are living in poverty that the federal government defines as a family of three that earns no more than $16,090 a year.
And lest you think this is all stories about broken economies and lost jobs in places like the North Country, think again.
Yesterday I attended and taped* the Edwards Town Hall held in Portsmouth, NH. Excitement and intensity were the main vibes that I got from the crowd. A thousand people were turned away from the Little Harbour Elementary school on the first cold day of the winter up in the Granite State.
That must have been tough, but I honestly think these guys didn't realize the minimum size vessel required to launch the Edwards campaign. The crowds everywhere on the tour are at "never before seen levels" for this guy. Some of these crowds are bigger than January 2004. That's big. All that hard work that Edwards did out in the states over the last two years is paying off now.
See it's grassroots, y'all. It's all up to us now. Now it's our turn to enter the discussion, formulate the solutions and go and execute a game plan. Batter-up people. This isn't a: "You know I really want to President because..." kind of a thing. This campaign is about us more than anything else.
Last Sunday evening at the end of a long, hot, winding road through the state the Edwards family wrapped up their bus tour of NH. They were greeted by well over a thousand people at a Town Hall event on the banks of the river at lovely Prescott Park in downtown Portsmouth NH.
On Saturday, I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process.
I went to vlog an Edwards Town Hall in Dover, NH on Saturday. It was a day marked by torrential thunderstorms yet about 300 NHer-ites turned out to see the candidate speak and take hard questions from Granite State voters. They, my neighbors to the north, know they're king makers and they take their job seriously. Thank God that at least "some people" still have respect for the process. The media is certainly not capable of any meaningful discussion of the issues in this campaign and they will not be reformed in time for the primaries. Nary a patriot in the DC press corps.
Yesterday I attended and taped* the Edwards Town Hall held in Portsmouth, NH. Excitement and intensity were the main vibes that I got from the crowd. A thousand people were turned away from the Little Harbour Elementary school on the first cold day of the winter up in the Granite State.
