I'm writing on behalf of the Borgen Project- a seattle based non profit organization working to bring political attention to severe poverty. You can learn more about our organization through theborgenproject.org.

As you will see we have created the Global Poverty Act which has passed in the House and now we're trying to pass in the Senate. The way you can help is severly important and takes only thirty seconds to help pass this act.

We need roughly a dozen people (however the more the merrier) in New Hampshire to call Senator Sununu's office at (603) 647- 7500 and simply tell the staffer on the phone: “I’m a Borgen Project supporter and I would like the Senator to cosponsor the Global Poverty Act.” People can also email his office here:

sununu.senate.gov.

If you and your members can make the call or shoot an email it would greatly help the cause. You can see here (sample call log on right) how political offices tally each call and why it’s so important. Thank you so much for your consideration and let me know if I can answer any questions.
Thank you,

Candice Hays
The Borgen Project
theborgenproject.org

While I don't subscribe to the characterization of political candidates as opponents or contestants, like gladiators in the Roman arena, there's little question that many of the promoters and financial supporters of candidates are basically antagonistic to the interests of the general public the candidates are proposing to serve.

So, as a progressive Democrat, I'm not at all reluctant to consider the Republican proponents of authoritarian, patriarchal dictatorship as my enemies. Moreover, since a significant number of the American people have awakened to the fact that, instead of having their modest expectations and patriotic values honored, the people they elected to represent and serve them have engaged in the grossest deceptions and dishonored the country, it's clear that there's a small class of people who now have a lot to lose. It would be a mistake to think they will give up power easily.

Loser Take All is a wakeup call at 3 a.m. from a screaming relative. Take heed.

SOURCE: InTheseTimes.com

The Great Election Robbery of 2008? By LAURA S. WASHINGTON

Come Nov. 4, the elephant in the polling booth is the possibility that the 2008 presidential election will be stolen - again.

Loser Take All is a new collection of essays edited by Mark Crispin Miller. Subtitled "Election Fraud and the Subversion of Democracy, 2000-2008," the book reviews a contemporary slew of electoral mischief, hubris and thievery.

Miller has been around this block before. A professor of media, culture and communication at New York University, Miller authored the 2007 book, Fooled Again: The Real Case for Electoral Reform. He is a leading voice on media activism and electoral reform.

Miller wastes no time diving into the gloom and doom. By page three of his wide-ranging, sarcasm-laden introduction, he suggests that the United States is headed toward a fascist state. While "the guardians of the establishment" on both sides of the aisle crow that American Democracy is a shining beacon for the world, Miller writes, our so-called free and fair elections are seriously corrupted. He argues the American media has done its darndest to rewrite history and that the Bush/Cheney "re-election" of 2004 was a "masterpiece of fraud."

Gracie Dodd was worried that Santa would not find her in Iowa. Being only six, she probably didn't remember what else happens in her family on Christmas.

Wonder if Chris bothered to mention that when the baby Jesus was born, His mother and father were far from home, traveling to take part in a political process--the Roman census.

Is the American Dream -- that bedrock belief that if we work hard, we can get ahead and make a better life for ourselves and our children -- alive and well?

It depends on which Americans you have in mind.

A series of studies by The Economic Mobility Project (www.economicmobility.org), a bi-partisan initiative, reveals that while some groups continue to move up the ladder of success, others are facing a tough time. And for two significant groups – children born to low income parents and middle-income African-Americans – the picture appears even bleaker.

What is the Economic Mobility Project?

Funded and directed by The Pew Charitable Trusts, the Economic Mobility Project is a consortium of prominent scholars from four public policy institutions that cut across the political spectrum – the American Enterprise Institute, The Brookings Institution, The Heritage Foundation, and The Urban Institute.

The Project’s primary goal is to expand the current national economic debate about economic inequality to also include a fundamentally uniting discussion of opportunity and mobility. As such, and particularly in the lead-up to a presidential election, it is critical that candidates and policy makers are informed by the hard facts about mobility in America today.

SOURCE: Dodd Campaign

November 26, 2007 - 7:58pm

This week in Iowa Chris Dodd is rolling out his plan for Women and Families—a solid, comprehensive plan that will get results for women across the country. It tackles a range of issues including paid leave, equal pay, women’s health, and violence against women.

From women’s health issues, to child care support; pay equity, to a woman’s right to chose; Chris Dodd has been a strong advocate for women and their families, and his plan only reinforces his past leadership on this issue.

By Kim Zetter , July 12, 2007 | 7:12:24 PM
Categories: E-Voting

The results of a 2004 California election involving medical marijuana went up in smoke today after a local judge tentatively threw out the disputed results and sanctioned election officials for failing to hand over crucial electronic data from voting machines used in the election. The judge ruled that officials failed to preserve evidence stored on electronic voting machines involved in the election dispute before returning the machines to their manufacturer, Diebold Election Systems.

It's a small case but nonetheless an important win for voting activists who have, until now, not always found courts amenable to granting requests for data from voting machines.

Online Oreos send Congress a message

With “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” at PrioritiesNH.org,
citizens build their own federal budgets by stacking Oreo cookies

www.prioritiesnh.org

CONCORD, N.H. - As thousands of New Hampshire taxpayers put the finishing touches on their federal tax returns, a New Hampshire organization is encouraging them to ask “What would Ben do?”

Ben is Ben Cohen, president of Business Leaders for Sensible Priorities (and co-founder of Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream). His animated image is the star of an award-winning Web video that demonstrates the federal discretionary budget using stacks of Oreo cookies. The video can be viewed on the PrioritiesNH Website at http://www.prioritiesnh.org/oreos/ .

Now Cohen’s PrioritiesNH campaign is letting the rest of us play. PrioritiesNH has posted a “Put Your Money Where Your Mouth Is” game on its Web site at: http://www.prioritiesnh.org/oreos/ustack/ . The game allows users to do what Ben does: Shift Oreo cookies along a bar chart of the federal discretionary budget, with each cookie representing $10 billion in spending. After building their ideal budget, players click to the next page, which allows them to send their budget vision and a personal note to their Senators and Congressperson.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

Coalition Exceeds 1000 Signatures, Recommends Decrim Similar to Other States

Concord, NH (Feb. 5) -- The NH Coalition for Common Sense Marijuana Policy has announced that it will encourage legislators to support an amendment placing reasonable limits on the bill that would decriminalize marijuana in New Hampshire. Sponsored by Reps. Charles Weed (D-Keene), Paul Ingbretson (R-Haverhill), and Steve Vallaincourt (R-Manchester), House Bill 92 has been assigned to a subcommittee, which has not yet been scheduled to meet.

During the bill’s initial hearing before the House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee, bill sponsors encouraged representatives on the committee to craft amendments that would improve the bill, which currently places no limits on acceptable amounts for possession. This process could turn HB 92 into a workable “partial decrim” bill similar to those which are in effect in other states such as Maine.

Under current New Hampshire law, possession of even a trace amount of marijuana is treated as a misdemeanor; the “perpetrator” can face up to one year in prison and up to a $2000 fine. In Maine, possession of less than 1.25 ounces is a “civil violation” punishable only by a fine. “Partial decriminalization is a sensible, moderate reform that should garner broad support from all sides of the political spectrum,” explained Matt Simon, a spokesman for the Coalition. “There’s no good reason to put people through the system for simple possession. This will unclog our courts, conserve tax dollars, and allow police to focus their resources on serious crimes.”

PrioritiesNH is making it easy for New Hampshire citizens to reach out and touch the NH Presidential Primary candidates.

The Concord-based non-profit campaign for sensible budget priorities has posted a publicly-accessible candidate calendar on its Web site, at http://www.PrioritiesNH.org/birddog_calendar.php. The calendar is updated several times daily and can be sorted by the candidate name, the city or town he or she is visiting, the date, and the name of the event.

PrioritiesNH put its schedule online because, “We believe in the NH Primary and we want to encourage as many New Hampshire citizens as possible to be involved,” said PrioritiesNH Director Steve Varnum. “We also know that people in New Hampshire want a larger proportion of their taxes to go toward education, health care, renewable energy and job training, and less to Pentagon waste, and we’re helping them communicate that to the candidates.”

PrioritiesNH is working to change America's budget priorities to reflect a national commitment to education, healthcare, energy independence, job training and deficit reduction -- at no additional taxpayer expense -- by shifting funding from obsolete Cold War and nuclear weapons. A panel of military experts says the Pentagon wastes $60 billion each year on obsolete Cold War weapons and excessive nuclear weapons. A piece of legislation in Congress, the Common Sense Budget Act, would redistribute that $60 billion to domestic and international human needs.

PrioritiesNH, a grassroots education and engagement campaign for sensible federal budget priorities, is looking to hire a "Cookie Mom" for its 2007 Presidential Primary project.

PrioritiesNH's Power of 10 project is organizing volunteers across the state to ask every Presidential candidate 10 budget priorities-related questions in the course of the NH primary.

Cookie Mom will be the face of that project. The campaign is looking for an actress between the ages of 35 and 55 who can portray a wholesome, non-threatening image. Cookie Mom will attend Presidential candidate events in costume (an apron, button-down shirt and slacks), hand out special Priorities cookies (iced and labeled like our Priorities budget pie pin) and pens, and talk with attendees, reporters and candidates about sensible budget priorities. She will need to be able to conduct short interviews with reporters and to stay in character and maintain composure in high-tension situations.

Cookie Mom will usually be accompanied by a Priorities staff person and we will provide coaching and training – intensively upfront and ongoing.

Hello,
I am currntly working on a series of articles for www.newhampshireprimary.blogspot.com, as well as a possible short book on the upcoming 2008 New Hampshire Presidential Primary. Anyone interested may contribute comments or thoughts by emailing me at dwa@unh.edu or comment here. The piece/pieces will focus on the views of New Hampshire voters and their preferences in terms of the candidates. Namely, I'd like to know what issues New Hampshire voters care about the most, and the candidates they feel best represent their interests. One may also want to comment on past elections, campaign experiences, etc...
Thanks!
David Anderson
Graduate Student/Writer/Activist
University of New Hampshire

Representative Eileen Flockhart brings this to our attention:

Mark Kaufmann, the owner of Lindenshire mobile home park in Exeter, has received a $.5 Million deposit for a purchase & sale agreement from (Stanley Acquisitions (NY & RI ?) for a total $15.6M price for the park.

Roger & Barbara Morrison 603-772-5498 62 Hilton Ave and Don Woodward 603-770-2111 have coordinated a presentation/meeting with the NH Community Loan Fund this Wednesday 7PM in the Talbot Gym to see if residents can establish a cooperative within the next 50 day deadline to purchase the park.

If they cannot, it is conceivable that the new owner would evict the current renters and build expensive housing, forcing 396 families to find alternative housing.

I have been carrying on a continuing conversation with a young mother who is adding civic involvement to her already full life. The conversation has been a sobering wake up call to me. She and her husband, both well-educated professionals, have two young daughters.

And she is afraid. She is afraid of the world in which she is raising her children. She is afraid of global warming, she is afraid of the coming economic troubles, she is afraid of the radical fundamentalist right wing's attack on science (she is a scientist by training), afraid that our elections will be stolen, afraid that food, water and air will be unsafe for her children. Bush and the Republicans in Congress have done their job of promoting fear very well.

I have not heard her express fear of terrorism, or gay marriage, or immigrants, but she surely is in pain about the future for her children.

I have two daughters as well. They were born in the 60s, and there was fear then, too. Fear of nuclear war. But I sense a greater fear in my friend than I felt then. I try to keep my spirits up by working hard for the causes I believe in, electing good people, helping my town survive a vicious attack by ignorant people, but hearing her makes me hurt. I have grandchildren now, and I hurt for them as well.

There are many young families who must have the same fears. If we cannot fix this for ourselves, can we do it for them?

Political pressure forces organizers to retract invitation

The PrioritiesNH OreoMobile, an educational vehicle that was to have been a drawing card of the Day For Kids event sponsored by the Teen Center of the Lakes Region Saturday in Laconia, was abruptly uninvited prior to the event as a result of political pressure on event organizers.

Noting that the event was tied to a national Boys and Girls Clubs Day celebration, PrioritiesNH Campaign Director Steve Varnum said he was dismayed by the cancellation. "Our campaign is about the need for our federal government to support programs that strengthen families and communities, like Boys and Girls Clubs," he said. "This is a particularly appropriate message now, when cutbacks in federal funds are forcing these organizations to scale back or eliminate programs for kids and families."

"The people who would bar our exhibit don't want Americans to know about and to ask tough questions about government waste," Varnum said.

The OreoMobile is one of several vehicle promotions PrioritiesNH uses to educate citizens about how their tax dollars are spent, and about how that money could be better used. It uses stacks of oversized cookies to demonstrate what the government spends on various programs. The stack of Pentagon cookies reaches 13 feet high, dwarfing the amounts spent on education, children's health care, deficit reduction, renewable energy and job training. The exhibit also compares what the United States spends on the Pentagon to the second- and third-highest military spenders, and to the countries in what the Bush Administration calls the Axis of Evil.

more below the fold
------------------

For Immediate Release: Gov. Lynch Issues Executive Order to Monitor, Improve On Changes to TANF Law

Says More Work is Needed to Ensure Success, Self-Sufficiency for People

CONCORD - Saying more changes are needed to ensure the success and self-sufficiency of TANF recipients, Gov. John Lynch today issued an Executive Order requiring the Department of Health and Human Services to increase child care, transportation, education and other support services, as well as creating a system for monitoring the implementation of changes to the TANF program, and the impact of those changes on clients, the state and efforts to meet federal requirements.

more below the fold
-------------