A few weeks ago, the Lebanon City Council formed an Energy Advisory Committee. City Councilor James Dean and I worked together to propose the idea. The City Council is non-partisan, but it just so happens that James Dean is a Republican and I am a Democrat.

Two things I notice about this: Energy is an issue that provides opportunities for Democrats and Republican to work together. And local government seems to lend itself to non-partisanship.

There are a lot of great things happening with energy committees around the state - and nation. It gives me hope for the future.

Some groups to know about...

US Conference of Mayors Climate Protection Agreement

The Carbon Coalition

Sustainable Energy Resource Group

EPA New England's Community Energy Challeng

According to the Education Commission of the States, "Educators and policymakers are becoming increasingly aware of the importance of the first five years of life in the development of children's brains and the cognitive, social, emotional and physical foundations of later success. Research has demonstrated that quality early learning programs can have significant and lasting benefits throughout childhood and into early adulthood. As a result, states and districts are investing more money than ever before into early learning programs, increasing the need for policymakers to make difficult policy and funding choices."

Read the entire article here.

Investing in early education childcare strikes me as a very fiscally responsible thing to do.

Lebanon, NH -- City Councilor Karen Liot Hill, 28, will seek re-election on the March ballot. “I have learned a lot and made some significant accomplishments over the past two years, such as chairing the City's first-ever strategic planning process," she says, "and I would like to continue serving Ward 3 residents as their representative to our City Council in order to further the work I've become involved with." Her top priorities for a second term on the Council include engaging residents more effectively in decisions affecting the city, developing a transportation and open space plan to incorporate into the Zoning Update planned for the March 2008 ballot, pursuing opportunities to save energy and invest in new energy alternatives through the creation of an Energy Advisory Committee, and improving our long-term fiscal health by investing in our infrastructure.

Karen is the City Council representative to the Pedestrian & Bicyclist Advisory Committee, which seeks to make Lebanon more walkable and bike-able. She is part of the renewed momentum behind the project at the Westboro Yard, as a member of that City Council subcommittee. She has additionally served on the Dana House Committee, dedicated to preserving this historic asset to Lebanon, and the ADA Committee, charged with overseeing the incremental implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act within our City. She is currently a member of the Council Subcommittee on Zoning which will facilitate the process of reviewing and revising the Zoning Update. "I have enjoyed bringing an action-oriented approach to our city government," says Karen, “My goal has been to conduct city business with a thoughtful, honest approach that respects our past and embraces our future, and I believe I have done so.”

Thanks to Carl Schmidt of the Orford Democrats, Karen Liot Hill and I had the chance to staff a DFNH table at the annual Orford "Flea" this weekend.

Now in it's 29th year, the Orford Flea is one of the great flea markets in NH during the summer. There's an amazing array of goods for sale, and people throughout New England come to attend it. My favorite item for sale was the vintage wooden say announcing "Red Sox Game Today" for a mere $595.

It was thrilling to speak with people about Democracy for New Hampshire and the grassroots change which is underway in the Granite State. We got a lot of support from people, regardless of which state they call home, and about half a dozen new members joined DFNH.

Perhaps the most memorable conversation occurred with a couple from New Jersey who were registered Republicans. The Orford Dems had a number of anti-Bush bumper stickers on their table, and this couple came to express their disapproval of Bush. I asked them to say more -- why, as registered Republicans, were they no longer supporting the President?

Karen Liot Hill — DFNH co-founder, board member, co-director of political affairs, and Upper Valley Meetup co-conspirator — won her first political election yesterday, winning a race for a seat on the Lebanon City Council.

Karen beat incumbent Councilor Dominic Balestra by almost 2-1 on a day that began with pouring rain and ended in a blizzard of snow. Although turnout was low, Karen's decisive victory was part of sweeping change in the council, as both incumbents in the City Council lost their positions.

Writing in The Valley News, columnist Jim Kenyon said of Karen's victory: "Karen Liot Hill's victory over incumbent Dominic Balestra in Ward III shouldn't come as a surprise for one reason: Hard work. Liot Hill, 26, knocked on more than 100 doors and made dozens of phone calls to voters, the kind of grass-roots campaign often lacking in Lebanon politics. She mailed out campaign literature to roughly 1,800 households. Yesterday, she stood in the snow and cold outside the downtown polling place for 11 hours, greeting voters with her homemade campaign sign. 'It probably made a diffference, but I don't want to take all the credit,' she said. 'There was a lot of discontent with the current city council.'"

Karen's victory was also made by possible by the hard work of Becky Windt, former Dean manager in the Upper Valley, and Sarah Ayers, a Dartmouth student who served as a NH delegate for Dean at the Democratic National Convention in Boston in 2004.

Way to go, Karen!

Read the story in the Valley News

This is, I think, a first — a college/campus-based group that is part of the Democracy for America coalition.

I write about "Democracy for Dartmouth," a student organization commited to the ideals of DFNH and DFA. Founded by Ben Krauss (class of 2006), Democracy for Dartmouth recently held its first meeting with approximately 20 students in attendence.

And who is their formal adviser? None other than former Dean Dozen Congressional candidate, Jeff Smith of St. Louis, MO (www.jeffsmith2004.com). Jeff is a now a visiting professor at Dartmouth, and huge asset to both NH and the Dartmouth campus.

Democracy for Dartmouth (DFD) will affiliate with Democracy for New Hampshire, and we look forward to seeing news about their activities.

Send a note of encouragement to Ben (Benjamin.A.Krauss@Dartmouth.Edu), and stay tuned for more information!

This compelling article appeared in the Connecticut Valley Spectator's January 27th issue. It was written by the Upper Valley Meetup's own Audrey McCollum, a writer and retired psychotherapist...

In his inaugural speech, President Bush aimed to engage our nation in a moral crusade to spread freedom and democracy across the world. Together, the words "freedom," "liberty," and "free" were used 49 times (I counted), as though the president and Michael Gerson, his speechwriter, hoped to burn them into our minds. The word "peace" was used only once.

The president's mission actually replicates the aims of the Project for a New American Century (PNAC) which I described on 12/4/04. Published in 1997 by men who include key players in the Bush inner circle, this scheme favors the use of pre-emptive wars -- possibly several at once -- as well as new nuclear weapons, domination of space through Star Wars systems, and control of cyberspace through the Global Information Grid.

Although new nuclear weapon development was voted down by congress, the president has activated the other ghastly schemes. Now dark hints from Vice President Cheney and observations of The New Yorker's writer Seymour Hersh indicate that the president's warlike sights are now aimed at Iran.

[Update: the penultimate paragraph of this story was garbled. Corrected now. — R.]

With a speech to an enthusiastic and overflow crowd of more than 400 people, Howard Dean tonight concluded his Class of 1930 Fellowship at Dartmouth College, but judging from his remarks, the battle for the White House in 2008 just began.

What’s interesting, though, is how Dean did this. Rather than throwing just red meat to the crowd, Dean returned to some of his core themes from the primary campaign and touched on a number of new areas, most importantly the question of faith in the modern world.

Dean first spoke about how most Americans – indeed, most citizens of the world – want the same four things: 1) jobs and economic opportunity, 2) strong public education; 3) healthcare, and 4) moral leadership. Dean strongly believes Democrats better address these issues than Republicans. He also clearly rejected the need for Democrats to be more accommodating or conservative in the next four years. We have to change the language we use, Dean said, but we should not abandon our core values.

read more

DFNH members in the Upper Valley played a significant role in the Get Out the Vote operations in the Upper Valley, including Lyme and Lebanon, which were organized using the model from the Dean campaign. In addition to delivering a large vote for Senator Kerry, the Upper Valley turned out in large numbers for John Lynch, one of the DFNH Dozen and the next governor of New Hampshire. Peter Burling was elected to the State Senate handily along with Democrats coming to the New Hampshire House from Lebanon (all four), Lyme and Hanover (all four), Canaan (2 of 3), and New London (1 of 2). These are impressive gains in our area, and we look forward to further expanding on them.

In general, I am excited about the role that Dean supporters have played in this election cycle in New Hampshire. We have made a real difference - and will certainly continue doing so through Democracy for New Hampshire.

I went back to the blog today - mostly lurking, and I followed a link back to a site where I posted my "Blogger's bio" about a year ago. This was in response to the editorial that classified us all as latte-drinking, volvo-driving intellectuals or whatever (as if that was a bad thing!). It was funny to see but also a bit heart-breaking. I'm looking forward to hearing what the Gov has to say over the upcoming months...

Karen


Read Karen's blog bio

What an amazing MeetUp! Though disappointed with the outcome on the national level today, we had reason to celebrate today in the Upper Valley. At tonight's MeetUp in a classroom in Hanover, twenty-five of us came together to talk about where to go next - to start a conversation that will continue over the months to come. Where do we go from here?

The contributions of people in New Hampshire inspired by Governor Dean's presidential campaign made a critical difference in making New Hampshire a blue state - with a new Democratic governor and significant gains in the legislature. Volunteers from all over the Upper Valley - and New Hampshire - worked on a tremendous Get Out the Vote operation and have a lot to be proud of.

We conducted the meeting as a brainstorming session, writing notes on the classroom's white board. And here are some of the ideas we considered:

*Party is up for grabs
*Getting people involved - running for office
*A forum for issues and ideas
*It was good that Dean worked within the party