Democracy for New Hampshire - Fiscal responsibility

The Power of One

Tue, 29 Jul 2008 08:26:59 -0400

Friday, August 15th, 7:30 pm: The Power of One: A Talk by and Conversation with Doris “Granny D” Haddock at South Church, 292 State St, Portsmouth NH. NH's own Granny D talks about how each of us can make a difference, and how public funding of elections can help us. Changing our election funding system can bring peace, the environment, alternative energy, education, poverty, healthcare and more the attention they deserve. Also, from 5-6pm join Granny D and the Leftist Marching Band for the Peace Vigil, Market Square, Portsmouth.
Free and open to the public. Refreshments and a book signing will follow the program. Sponsored by Outreach Associates of South Church, NH Codepink: Women for Peace & Seacoast Peace Response. For more info contact bgh3@comcast.net or 603-431-0138.

Bi-State Transportation Meeting--updates on the Downeaster

Thu, 10 Apr 2008 12:58:48 -0400

Come hear about the 'Downeaster' ridership, future expansion and funding. Representatives from both Maine and NHDOT are invited to discuss this important transportation initiative.

for more information and to sign up contact Kim at the Rockingham Economic Development Corp
kim@redc.com
or
srpc@strafford.org

Event is sponsored by the Bi-State Alliance

http://www.thedowneaster.com/authority.html

It's Not Nice to Stiff New Hampshire, Hillary

Sat, 05 Apr 2008 09:23:53 -0400

While it's possible that the debts have been paid, each month's filings with the FEC isn't available until about the 20th of the next, so the February numbers are about all we have.

h/t to tpmcafe

From: Cafe, Election Central
Hillary please pay these debts first
By - April 4, 2008, 12:16PM

We've all heard the stories about Hillary Clinton's debt. The small businesses left to pick up the tab after Clinton came, saw and left an unpaid invoice.

Let's talk about the other folks she's stiffed.

The school districts, universities, cities, towns and non-profits.

Please help a native Vermonter understand the Granite State . . .

Wed, 12 Mar 2008 11:35:37 -0400

I am a new member of DFNH and a native Vermonter who moved to southern NH 18 months ago. To begin with, I'm an avid hunter and angler and frequent listener to talk radio as well as NPR. I am a registered independant who doesn't go for the politics of party but rather votes on issues which are important to me. I'm probably not what you would call your "average" DFNH member as a result.

Having said that, I would also like to add that I am a public school teacher and musician who is pro-public education and an advocate for the Arts as well as Environmental conservation. I'm extremely confused by some of this state's "traditions" regarding taxes, politics, etc. Specifically:

1) Members of our legislture, from what I understand, get something like $300 a year to do their job. Forgive me for my ignorance, but WHO can live on $300.00 a year?!?! The answer is NO ONE! So then, who can afford to be a NH legislator? It would appear that only those who are independantly wealthy. So we have a system where a bunch of rich people are making laws for the state. I wonder who will benefit from laws that are made exclusively by rich people?

What the Flyboys Want

Sat, 16 Feb 2008 05:53:54 -0500

While it may be unfair and even inaccurate to characterize the personnel of the United States Air Force as flyboys, being flyboys is what the George Bushes and John McCain have in common and the Air Force, it would seem, is where their agenda was/is being carried out, even as that agency's role in global affairs is, so to speak, flying under the radar.

For any number of reasons, the Air Force is stepping up a public relations campaign, including the filming of commercials inside a refueling plane out of Edwards Air Force base in California, as well as reports from the ground in Afghanistan.

Friends of Patrick Arnold Launches New DFA Website

Fri, 01 Feb 2008 09:15:04 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

MANCHESTER – The Friends of Patrick Arnold PAC has launched a campaign website at Democracy for America’s DFA-Link.

Patrick Arnold, a resident of Manchester’s Ward 12, is running for State Representative to represent citizens of Manchester’s west side (Hillsborough Co., Dist. 17) in the State Legislature.

NH Common Sense Issues Report Card, Launches 'Decrim' Petition

Thu, 20 Dec 2007 13:27:49 -0500

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy
1 603-391-7450
info@nhcommonsense.org
www.nhcommonsense.org
12/14/2007

The New Hampshire Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy today announced the launch of its online petition to support a marijuana decriminalization measure in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. The bill would reduce penalties for possession of less than 1.25 ounces of marijuana from a misdemeanor to a "civil violation" offense punishable only by a fine.

Executive Director Matt Simon said the measure that will be considered is a far cry from legalization. "This bill will simply reduce the penalties for marijuana possession and acknowledge an obvious fact: that marijuana is far less harmful than some other currently illegal drugs," he said.

Supporters note that similar 'decrim' measures have been in effect since the 1970's in other states, including Maine. "We're just trying to minimize the harms done by Marijuana Prohibition," Simon explained.

NH pension fund: here's the prognosis, but who and what got us in this mess?

Wed, 14 Nov 2007 08:48:54 -0500

SOURCE: Union Leader

State pension fund performs well, but ...

By TOM FAHEY, State House Bureau Chief

Concord – The state's pension fund for public workers had strong earnings last year, but not strong enough to lift it out of the bottom 10 percent of similar funds.

New Hampshire Retirement System investments made 16 percent in the year that ended June 30.

Even with the good performance, the $6 billion fund is still only funded at 63 percent of its long-term pension obligations, short by $2.7 billion the $9.3 billion it should have on hand, NHRS accountants said yesterday.

NHRS provides retirement funding for 20,000 retirees, and 50,000 active workers contribute to it.

The fund's long-term funding had bottomed out at 57 percent last year.

NHRS held onto an extra $204 million in June that in past years would have gone to special accounts that pay for medical insurance and cost-of-living increases. The Legislature blocked the transfer this year.

National Priorities Project on military spending and the states

Tue, 23 Oct 2007 05:56:58 -0400

SOURCE: National Priorities Project

NEW FEDERAL SPENDING ANALYSIS SHOWS MOST STATES PAID MORE FOR MILITARY THAN THEY GOT BACK; State rankings on procurement contract and social program spending also available

In spite of the claims that military spending creates jobs, much of the money spent on the military never makes it back to the States, according to an analysis released today by the National Priorities Project (NPP) of newly released 2005 federal spending data.

NPP's analysis provides state-level rankings comparing the money that came back to states in military spending with how much was paid in taxes by state taxpayers for military spending. A total of 32 states paid more in taxes than they got back, while 19 paid less. The top three states with the worst return for their tax dollar are Minnesota ($0.19), Delaware ($0.23) and New York ($0.24). States which had the best return for their tax dollar are New Mexico ($5.00), Alaska ($4.81) and Hawaii ($3.95). Per capita rankings are also available. This analysis is based on the Census Bureau's Consolidated Federal Funds Report (CFFR) for fiscal Year 2005 and IRS tax data for 2005.

"These numbers challenge the myth that military spending is essential for job creation," said Greg Speeter, executive director of the National Priorities Project. "For most Americans, spending close to $700 billion on the military next year would only promise fewer dollars to meet their real needs."

NPP's report also provides breakdowns by state and per capita on:

the amount each state received in Department of Defense procurement contracts, showing that the largest recipients were California ($31.2 billion), Virginia ($26.8 billion) and Texas ($20.6 billion) while the smallest were Idaho ($156), Delaware ($178) and Wyoming ($184).
the amount each state received from the Department of Education, the Environmental Protection Agency and Food and Nutrition Services, as compared to military spending. While $390.9 billion was distributed for the military in Fiscal Year 2005, $56.8 billion came to states in Department of Education programs.
total expenditures by state as reported by the CFFR and compared with the information on taxes paid by state. Thirty-one states received more than its taxpayers paid in taxes and 20 states paid more in taxes than came back in federal spending.

These findings follow the release of a recent report by the Political Economy Research Institute which found that the economic impact of military spending that goes to local areas is not as effective at creating jobs as other types of spending. Specifically, the report shows that public spending on education creates more jobs that are higher paying than the same amount of money spent on the military.

"Be wind changers," Jim Wallis tells audience

Fri, 19 Oct 2007 12:13:58 -0400

Jim Wallis tells NH audiences: Creating change requires more than your vote

Progressive Evangelical leader calls on NH voters to create a political movement to address poverty, AIDS, global warming

DURHAM – (Oct. 16, 2007) The Rev. Jim Wallis last night challenged people of all faiths, as well as those who consider themselves “spiritual, but not religious,” to create a movement to address the major global issues of our time, including poverty, AIDS, genocide and global warming.

Wallis told a crowd of about 200 people in Dartmouth College's Rollins Chapel Monday night that “people of faith should be the ultimate swing voters,” who use their moral compasses to evaluate candidates. But he also cautioned that regardless of where the next U.S. President stands on these issues, he or she will not be able to solve them without “a social movement pushing them from the outside to make it happen.”

“Power concedes nothing without a demand,” he said, quoting abolitionist Frederick Douglass.

The Big Lie And The Rightwing's Neo-Feudal Vision

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 14:12:56 -0400

The Big Lie And The Rightwing's Neo-Feudal Vision (A Supplement To The Political Duality Series)

by: Paul Rosenberg

Sun Oct 07, 2007 at 01:44:56 AM EDT

One key to why movement conservatives are so successful is that they are playing a different game than everyone else-even most conservative voters, who really have no idea what they've signed on for.

What they are after, at a minimum, is a return to the Gilded Age system, when big business owned Congress outright, and the country was run directly for their benefit, and little else.

I'm going to be talking about this in an upcoming diary, but to illustrate it a little more fully, I created this standalone diary.

Outsourcing from the Teamster Perspective

Sun, 07 Oct 2007 09:01:37 -0400

Two trends have been particularly destructive to the people of our nation who make things with their hands. One is privatization and the other is outsourcing.

The supposed reason for promoting privatization was the promise of more efficient and lower cost goods and services than government agencies traditionally delivered. That promise hasn't been realized, as we all now know.

But, the reason it hasn't been realized, I would argue, is because it was never intended to. The real impetus for privatization was to evade public scrutiny of government functions that became increasingly intense as a consequence of the passage of civil and consumer rights legislation and government-in-the-sunshine legislation. When people started paying close attention to how their money and resources were being used, government officials were easily convinced that it was time to hide behind the "private corporation."

Blackwater's Dubious Republican Connections (w/Ken Starr)

Sat, 06 Oct 2007 06:14:08 -0400

SOURCE: KOS

by markthshark
Thu Oct 04, 2007 at 05:44:07 PM PDT

When the State Department tried to shield the CEO of Blackwater USA, Erik Prince, from testifying before Waxman’s oversight committee on Tuesday, it not only displayed the ties between the two entities, it also showed just how far the State Department was willing to go to keep that relationship intact.

But those ties don’t begin to expose the deep connections between the notorious security firm and the Bush regime writ large. Nor does it reveal the links between Blackwater and other prominent Republicans, a virtual rogue’s gallery - from former Independent Counsel Kenneth Starr to convicted uber-lobbyist Jack Abramoff.

From 2001 to 2007, Blackwater employees passed effortlessly through the proverbial turnstile between the firm and the administration, several leaving important posts in the Pentagon and the CIA to take high-paying jobs at the security company.

Bush/Cheney's Cardinal Sin

Sun, 16 Sep 2007 13:20:50 -0400

When I was growing up, reasonable people agreed on the facts and disagreed on the solutions.

Yet now, and especially over the last six years, our political discourse has grown ever more shrill, especially on the Republican side, with name-calling, demonizing and attacking the messenger, personal insults – anything to draw attention from the truth.

What are the Bush/Cheney administration and their Republican apologists afraid of? What is the dirty and terrible secret they are apparently frantic to protect?

What is the common thread behind this administration’s hideous legacy, which includes:

1) Their failure to detect and prevent 9/11
2) The squandered golden opportunity to bring America and the world together in the aftermath of 9/11
3) Their failed invasion of Afghanistan
4) Their failure to capture Osama Bin Laden
5) Lying America into war with an unthreatening sovereign country
6) Fabricating, falsifying and exaggerating intelligence information, then blaming the messenger

PrioritiesNH calls $20.5 million in Defense fraud "the tip of the iceberg"

Fri, 17 Aug 2007 15:32:07 -0400

Million-dollar washers recall platinum-plated toilet seats

Campaign pressures Presidential candidates to reduce wasteful Pentagon spending

CONCORD, NH – Yesterday's report that the Pentagon spent nearly $1 million to ship two 19-cent washers illustrates why Presidential candidates need to get serious about protecting American taxpayers from ongoing Defense waste.

The latest example of wasteful Pentagon spending became public when a South Carolina defense contractor pled guilty to wire fraud and money laundering. The company was paid $20.5 million for bogus shipping costs over a six-year period.

"This 20 million dollars is the tip of the iceberg," said Steve Varnum, PrioritiesNH director. “Despite absorbing half of our nation’s discretionary budget, the Pentagon cannot even pass a simple standard audit. Wasteful Defense spending is rampant and robs money that could be used to improve America’s education, health care and job training and energy independence.”