Blue Hampshire

Union Leader says DJ Bettencourt

Lucy Weber — Sun, 27 May 2012 00:33:48 GMT

did not graduate from law school, and was less than candid about an internship he is alleged to have used as part of his graduation requirements. Rep. Brandon Guida says there is a discrepancy between the hours Bettencourt actually worked in Guida's law office, and the hours Bettencourt submitted for credit. Check out the Union Leader story here

Pull quote added by Ed.

Giuda, who has his own law firm, said he had agreed to take on Bettencourt, a third-year student at the University of New Hampshire School of Law, for a spring-semester internship that Bettencourt told him he needed in order to graduate. But he said Bettencourt only showed up at his office for one day, "where he did approximately one hour of legal work."
He later discovered that Bettencourt had submitted "extremely detailed" reports about that internship, including court hearings he supposedly attended, cases he worked on and interviews with clients.

If true, this is astonishingly self-destructive, and truly sad.

! Sunday Update: Pindell is reporting that Bettencourt will resign immediately

Open Thread: Memorial Day Edition

elwood — Sat, 26 May 2012 22:50:31 GMT

Our family - quasi-extended here, the tree from one set of grandparents - said goodbye to two veterans last year: one from World War II, one from Korea. Another two World War II veterans and a doughboy from the First World War passed on earlier, in my memory.

Each of them enjoyed their Memorial Days as chances to get an extra day or two off from work and spend it with family and friends, with a little luck on an early summer day. If they were somehow to nag me about observing this weekend, I would hear "Did you visit your aunt? How are my grandkids doing?" They wouldn't ask about flag ceremonies or cemeteries.

We did go to the cemetery today, and we had a cookout too. I hope you all have great weekends and spend them in ways that you enjoy. To misquote someone, "Living well is the best remembrance."

This is an open thread.

So What IS the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation, Anyway?

Lucy Weber — Sat, 26 May 2012 15:41:35 GMT

Yesterday's news bomb was that DJ Bettencourt is resigning his position as House Majority Leader effective June 6 so he can focus on his job as Executive Director of the New Hamphisre Legal Rights Foundation. So what is the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation, and what does it do?

According to its web site, NHLRF

is a nonprofit, nonpartisan membership organization dedicated to our mission. Through advocacy, public education and sponsored legislation, its staff and volunteers work to preserve liberties grounded in United States and New Hampshire constitutions and civil rights laws.

I'm guessing "public education " does not include support for your local public school.

What has it done to date? Well, it has an Executive Director, DJ Bettencourt.
It has opposed the nomination of Attorney Jim Bassett to the NH Supreme Court. It may be worth noting that Atty. Bassett was nominated by a Democratic Governor, and confirmed quickly and with little fanfare by an all-Republican Executive Council by a vote of 4 to 1.

Recent Blog Posts? They are "Coming Soon."

Events? That page says they hold a spring and fall "morning seminar relating to a contemporary legal issue pertinent to the practice of law in New Hampshire." No dates, no topics, but you can sign up for $30 or sponsor for a donation of $250-$2000.

Our Docket? Also "Coming Soon."

History? (Full disclosure: I'm no expert in online research, but here is what I have found. There may be more, and if anyone else can find it, please let the rest of us know.)

According to the Secretary of State's website, NHLRF was incorporated as a nonprofit on 2/28/2008, was under administrative suspension as of 2/15/2011, and was reinstated on 9/28/2011. The Articles of Association were signed by Robert P. Hull of 12 Liberty Lane, Grafton, Paul Mirski, Edward Mosca, William O'Brien, and Robert Rowe. The address is given as 9 Southview Drive, Mont Vernon. The Certificate of Revival lists as officers Bob Rowe, Bob Hull, Bill O'Brien, and additionally as directors, Edward Mosca, Paul Mirski, Tim Condon, also of 12 Liberty Lane in Grafton, and Richard "Stretch" Kennedy of Hopkinton.

Want to join them? In a change from what was posted when I visited the site yesterday, you can send a check in any amount to the New Hampshire Legal Rights Foundation at the Liberty Lane address, which the web site lists as their address.

Because this is a registered New Hampshire nonprofit corporation, I'm looking forward to future filings as to the sources of funding, and as to the compensation paid, and to whom. After all, those donors get tax deductions. Stay tuned.

DJ's Hypocrisy: When Has GOP Leadership Stood Up?

Ray Buckley — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:07:33 GMT

GOP Leadership Silent on Outrageous, Ignorant Comments From Own Party

O'Brien has remained silent while GOP in the Legislature have made offensive comments, degraded integrity of House

CONCORD - Yesterday, GOP Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt said, "When outrageous, ignorant things are said, I think decent people have to stand up and say that's unacceptable."

If that is the case, then why the utter silence from Majority Leader Bettencourt and Speaker Bill O'Brien when members of their own party said a mentally handicapped rape victim "had her entire life to get used to being called defective" or when another said that he "thought it was great" that the audience of a GOP debate booed a gay Marine?

"Where were Speaker O'Brien and Majority Leader Bettencourt when members of their own party were spouting off these ignorant and offensive comments?" said Raymond Buckley, Chairman of the New Hampshire Democratic Party. "If Majority Leader Bettencourt's comments were genuine, then he and Speaker O'Brien should have spoken up months ago and repudiated the repulsive words coming from their own party."

Rep. Jordan Ulery, one of the signers of the letter to the Concord Monitor yesterday, suggested European Jews were somehow at fault for the Holocaust. A since-resigned member of the GOP legislature said that 'defective people' should be shipped to Siberia. Another called liberals fascists. Bettencourt himself even called Catholic Bishop John McCormack a 'pedophile pimp.'

"Speaker O'Brien has turned the once-venerable institution of the New Hampshire House into a laughing stock. Ramming through his radical anti-choice, anti-equality, anti-union legislation at the expense of New Hampshire jobs and the economy, while turning a blind eye and deaf ear to the outrageous, ignorant things his own party is saying," Buckley said.

New Hampshire GOP On-The-Record:

GOP Representative said that a mentally handicapped rape victim "had her entire life to get used to being called 'defective.' Canterbury Representative Kenneth Kries said a mentally handicapped rape victim "had her entire life to get used to being called defective" during a House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing on replacing the term "mentally defective" in the state's aggravated sexual assault law.

[Concord Patch, 4/15/12]

GOP Representative said 'retarded' and 'defective' are 'just words.' In the same House Criminal Justice and Public Safety Committee hearing, Rep. James Antosz of Epping also supporting keeping the phrase, saying "defective" and "retarded" are "just words."

[Concord Patch, 4/15/12]

GOP Representative made light of White House shooting, calling it a 'lucky shot.' Rep. Antosz made light of the assassination charges being brought against an Idaho made who shot at the White House saying: "An Idaho man accused of firing two shots at the White House exterior last week has been charged with attempting to assassinate President Barack Obama or his staff. Are Your Kidding me? The Obama family according to sources was not even in Washington. It was a lucky shot via driving by on Pennsylvania Avenue. The president has the safety security in our history, it's near impossible to kill a U.S. President with today's secret service protocols and vehicle technologies."

[Huffington Post, 11/20/11]

GOP Representative said mentally handicapped should be sent to Siberia. Rep. Marty Harty ultimately resigned after saying that the world would be "better off without defective people" who should be shipped off to Siberia to freeze to death.

[Nashua Telegraph, 3/11/11]

GOP Majority Leader called Bishop a "pedophile pimp." On his Facebook page, House Majority Leader D.J. Bettencourt this morning wrote on his Facebook page that Catholic Bishop John McCormack is a "pedophile pimp."

[Concord Monitor,4/1/11 ]

GOP representative 'through it was great' that audience booed gay Marine. When asked about the audience of a GOP presidential debate booing a gay Marine, state representative Al Baldasarro said "I was so disgusted over that gay marine coming out... when the shit hits the fan, you want your brothers covering your back, not looking at your back...Oh no, I thought the audience, when they booed the marine, I thought it was great."

[Think Progress, 10/3/11]

GOP Representative called liberals 'fascists.' In an email sent to Republican House members, including Majority Leader DJ Bettencourt, State Representative Paul Mirski called liberal politicians 'fascists or Marxists.'

[NH Insider, 5/23/12]

GOP representative said that Jews were somehow responsible for the Holocaust. When asked about a bill he proposed that requires that any shop with signs in any language other than English to also post signs in the six official languages of the United Nations, State Representative Jordan Ulery said, "When you establish a ghetto, you're leaving yourself open to what happened to the Jews in Eastern Europe because you're setting yourself up to be different."

Asked to expand on his comments by Fox News, Ulery said, "What I was trying to convey is when you do not participate in your society around you, and when you become different, you become subject to what the Nazis did to the Jews."

[Concord Monitor,1/11/11 ]

GOP Representative accused the Ballot Law Committee of treason. During a Ballot Law Commission hearing, Representative Accornero began yelling at the chair of the committee, claiming that the chair and the committee were committing treason.

[Miscellany Blue, 11/20/11]

GOP Representative wants to sue President Obama for treason. State Representative Harry Accornero said President Obama "has crossed the line, and under Article III section 3 of our Constitution is guilty of treason by giving aid and comfort to the enemy and attempting to overthrow our government from within...I am formally asking you to bring a commission of treason against Mr. Barack Husain [sic] Obama."

[Huffington Post, 12/18/11]

GOP Representative and State Senate candidate called former GOP vice chair a "pole dancer" and "stripper." At a GOP event, state Senate candidate and current State Representative John Hikel called former GOP vice chair Pamela Manney a "pole dancer" and "stripper."

[Union Leader, 5/22/12]

GOP Representative Jerry Bergevin cites Nazism, Columbine shooting as reason to roll back teaching evolution in NH Schools. "A Republican state lawmaker in New Hampshire who introduced legislation to stop the teaching of evolution in schools has claimed that the theory of evolution led to the Columbine massacre."

[Huffington Post, 01/02/2012]

GOP Representative asked if he was justified in 'blowing away' a police officer if he was faster on the draw. In a Facebook post, State Representative Kyle Tasker said: "When a police officer points his firearm that's not gonna make me feel threatened? If I've been trained to respond to that with force am I justified in blowing a cop away because I'm quicker on the draw, and he already pointed his firearm at me? Police are just citizens with badges and all laws should apply equally."

[WMUR, 9/8/11)

GOP Representative joked about using a .50 caliber machine gun on members of labor unions. In an email, State Representative Lynne Blankenbeker wrote: "Today I got to be the gunner which was fun. The .50cal is quite a gun! I was never ascared (sic) of the unions but they better not F#%k with me again!!! Just saying."

[Patch, 7/22/11]

###

Cleaning Up Campaigns

CarolSheaPorter — Thu, 24 May 2012 20:44:15 GMT

What if the United States held an election season and no Super PAC money or other hard to trace or totally hidden special interest money showed up on our television or radio, or in print ads? Would voters think they were better off without that money in local, state, and federal elections? Do they think this money is unduly influencing our democratic process, and are they right? The answer to these questions is yes, and citizens want politicians to clean this mess up now.

Super PACs and other secretive funding groups known as "advocacy organizations" have changed campaigns, and not for the better. The New York Times wrote in an article entitled, "Super PACs Let Strategists Off the Leash," that campaigns can now last longer. Candidates have a few very rich people who want to keep up, and are willing to pay for, extended attacks on opponents. And there is an added benefit-no regular people involved. The article quotes Bob Schuman, who ran a super PAC, Americans for Rick Perry. The quote should make us all sit up and take notice. He said, "You don't have kitchen cabinets made up of well-intentioned friends and neighbors who don't know what they're doing but eat up a lot of your time." And, "Super PACs don't have spouses." These Super PAC funders and managers like the idea that just a few people can be heard over those annoying candidates, their spouses, and friends and neighbors, and that their special interests get special attention, even if they do not share the same interests as those annoying citizens.
Recently, a Super PAC's plan to run racially divisive ads against President Obama came to light before it was implemented, and everyone involved ran away from the idea, claiming they were shocked at this vicious plan. But there are more than 500 Super PACs now registered with the Federal Election Commission, and most of us understand why they are there. Ever since the Supreme Court's misguided 2010 decision in Citizens United, Super PACs and other "advocacy" groups can accept unlimited money in a race. This is just wrong. Individuals can only contribute $2,500 in a primary and an additional $2,500 in the general campaign, and there are strict rules about identifying the donors. Traditional PACs, such as the National Education Association, which donates to me, and ExxonMobil, which donates to Congressman Frank Guinta, can only give $10,000. But now, they and others can give an unlimited amount of money to a Super PAC to attack or support either of us, as long as they don't coordinate with us. Super PACs can easily hide the money because it is extremely difficult to identify who owns private equity firms, and the "advocacy" organizations are not required to identify donors.

The Montana Supreme Court upheld a 100-year old state law last year that restricted corporate campaign funding. Even a hundred years ago, voters understood that Montana could be "especially vulnerable" to corporate control, because Montana's state politics were controlled by mining and agricultural interests. Senators John McCain, a Republican, and Sheldon Whitehouse, a Democrat, agree with the 22 states and the District of Columbia who are trying to keep the US Supreme Court Citizens United decision from stopping Montana's state laws that restrict corporate campaign money.

The Citizens United decision is outrageous, and I hope that the Court does review and overturn its decision. But unless and until the United States Supreme Court acts, there are steps citizens and politicians can take.

First, Congress can pass a law requiring full disclosure. This simply means that if you donate money, you have to disclose who you are. I cosponsored that bill when I was in Congress. Second, require companies to give shareholders a vote on political spending. Shareholders do not have the freedom of speech to say "no" to the corporate managers right now. Third, adopt public financing. The Fair Elections Now Act, which I also cosponsored, would give candidates public money if they demonstrated voter financial support for their candidacies. This would free the candidates from dialing for private dollars all the time, and reduce donor influence on members of Congress.

Polls show that the majority of voters want campaign finance reform. I have asked Congressman Frank Guinta to join me and ask Super PACs and other outside groups who have secret money to stay out of our race. He has refused, but I will keep asking, because we have to start somewhere and we have to start now.

Kennedy: My Personal Reflection, I offer HOPE!

billkennedy — Thu, 24 May 2012 13:33:05 GMT

Traveling around the state and talking to our residents, I realized more than ever what my Crusade is all about, Hope! Residents hope: they will find jobs, they hope that the economy will improve, that education will be protected, that property taxes will stop going up, that health care will be available when they need it and not have to commit life savings for treatment, that the Parties will work together, that the state and local government will do what is right for the people and that things will get back to "Normal".

For those of us that have solid jobs, income, education, low or no property tax burden, subsidized health plans, no civil liberty challenges and trust in the value of state government; you will never understand the despair I witnessed in so many of your neighbors. We all have a responsibility to community, state and our neighbors and the current radical initiatives of our legislature are jeopardizing the basis of what makes us great.

I am not going to denounce the rich for being well off or attack the parties for lack of compassion to pursue what is right for the State as a community. What I want to protest is the lack of conviction to do what is right! Too often our politicians fluctuate on what is right and pursues what is popular; to get the vote or funding from a lobby or special interest. More often than not, through clever spin, the politician will get the inexperienced voters to believe they represent their interests even when they are solidly backed by special interest, lobbyists and personal interest.
I am a humble man of conviction and not obligated to special interest. Thirty years of military and public service supported by an ethical upbringing has guided me to champion the issues that are important to the great people of NH. I represent all the good neighbors that realize that we are all in this together. What makes this state great is our attributes; pride, perseverance, charity, contrast, and innovation! What makes us unique is contrast and innovation! Contrast in respect to the differences that make us unique among our neighbors, like not having Casinos. Innovation in respect to what we do when challenged with limitations, like energy initiatives that help us deal with the rising fossil fuel and energy costs.

I am the first candidate to controversially declare what is right rather than what is popular. I publicly declared that property taxes were exceedingly high and unfair and proposed a fairer and more equitable broad based income tax which is tied to a person's actual ability to pay! I would not champion this without a correlating 50% cut in property taxes and abatements to business and corporate taxes; to make us more competitive and draw new business into the state and foster growth, development and most importantly jobs.

I am the first candidate to publicly declare my opposition to Casinos. As a law enforcement officer supported by an academic degree in sociology and criminal justice, I can guarantee that there are social issues, crime and corruption that is almost certain to follow this venture. Pro-Casino supporters will argue that there is no data to support this but countless negative examples exist around every Casino in America and abroad.

I am an advocate for Green initiatives and have witnessed the benefits in the military where energy alternatives and conservation have reaped billions in savings. Our state has and will continue to benefit from these initiatives and partnerships with our state universities have allowed us to capitalize on innovations distinct to NH through organic academic ingenuity!

I am also against the Northern Pass initiative as proposed and would not offer a consideration until alternative line laying was proposed, property holders were protected from eminent domain and that the venture would guarantee a reduction in utility rates across the state!

I am against the politics of special interests, lobbyist or personal interest unless it is in the best interest of the people and thus my declaration in support of public campaign funding. Public funds will allow other great underfunded candidates to pursue public office and prevent any candidate from having to compromise convictions for financial support.

So I ask the voters to take a good look at their choices and filter through which organizations or individuals are backing them. If the organization or individual, that backs a particular politician, is not advocating in the best interest of the State or Community you may want to reconsider your vote! Through simple online and media research I now know who the candidates are endorsed by and you can be sure that a particular endorsement or donation isn't made without some obligation by the candidate. That commitment by the candidate is not always in the best interest of the State!

In closing, Democrats have traditionally championed the best interest of the people and state. I am Bill Kennedy, Democrat for Governor and would be proud to serve the great people of NH. Help me bring the parties together and make it a Red, White and Blue New Hampshire that is united! Help me stop the Non-Sense and put Common Sense back into NH Government. I need your votes in November to put Bill Kennedy in the Governor's seat and my fellow Democrats and Moderate Republicans (where Dems are not campaigning) in the House and Senate.

You can read about my campaign of "Hope" and "Dark Horse" pursuit to put sanity back into NH governance! Follow our campaign or if you want to donate go to BillKennedyForGovernor.

House Redistricting Plan: "Unconstitutionality is Stark"

William Tucker — Wed, 23 May 2012 22:15:54 GMT

The New Hampshire Constitution guarantees that every town and city with sufficient population shall receive at least one full seat in the state House of Representatives. The House Redistricting Plan, enacted by the legislature over the Governor's veto, denies a dedicated representative district to 375,284 people in 62 New Hampshire communities that have sufficient population.

Today, lawyers representing a group of residents from those towns filed a brief with the New Hampshire Supreme Court arguing that the plan is unconstitutional and should be overturned. "Put into numeric terms," the lawyers argue, "the unconstitutionality is stark and the magnitude of the potential fixes is dramatic."

Accompanying maps illustrate the discrepancies. The first map on the left highlights in white, all of the towns and cities that have at least 3,291 residents and are entitled to their own representative. The map on the right indicates in red, those communities that actually receive their own representative under the House Redistricting Plan. The 62 communities highlighted in white, representing 375,284 residents, are denied their own representative under the plan.

The lawyers contend that "substantially greater compliance" with both the U.S. and New Hampshire constitutions can be achieved with little or no "disruption to the constitutional balance." They provide three such alternatives.

The map below on the left creates 24 additional compliant districts (highlighted in red) and gives 172,971 more people their own district by expanding the allowable population deviation from 10% to 14%, a miniscule shift of just 66 people in either direction.

The map below on the right provides even greater constitutional compliance using the somewhat controversial weighted voting approach in floterial districts. Weighted voting would add an additional 51 compliant districts and would give 307,074 more residents their own representative than the House Redistricting Plan does.

A third alternative, 400 single member districts, would provide the smallest possible districts but would necessarily cut across ward and town boundaries, conflicting with the state constitutional requirement to preserve those boundaries.

Attorney Jay Surdukowski explains, in layman's terms, why the plaintiffs are asking the court to declare the plan unconstitutional:

[W]e like to know who our state reps are — local representation matters. There’s a reason we have 400 representatives — you can’t go to the grocery store without running into one, and the people of New Hampshire like it that way.... We hope the court will vindicate this long and lively New Hampshire tradition which the voters breathed new life into just a few short years ago.

The fight to "vindicate this long and lively New Hampshire tradition" is a community effort. Please consider a donation to the Granite State Progress Redistricting Legal Fund.

A Few Things the School Amendment is NOT About

elwood — Wed, 23 May 2012 10:29:56 GMT

The rule of thumb is: if the media describes the internal disagreements on the specific language of a constitutional amendment to overturn the Claremont decisions as about X - it is not about X. Some examples:

It's not about shifting funding to the neediest towns. None of the drafts include any obligation to spend a dollar more in those towns that, because their ratio of school-age children to property tax values is high, have trouble funding schools.

It's not about shifting power from the courts back to the legislature. (This pious claim from the same deeply committed believers in representative democracy who are trying to change the constitution to block future legislators from considering an income tax.) As though the legislature had used its greater leeway, pre-Claremont, to raise and distribute funds that fixed poor schools! They didn't; that's why the Claremont lawyers won. They had the power - they just didn't have the obligation.

It's not about local control. (This from the same General Court than entertains bills on teaching evolution.) Since Claremont your local school board has continued to set the budget, hire and fire the superintendent, and oversee the curriculum.

It's not about "going back to pre-Claremont" school support. Before Claremont there was always the untested threat that a town and state that maintained lousy schools could get sued. This eliminates that threat.

What the amendment IS about is starkly simple. It is about abandoning the state's obligation - and with it the obligation of the local town - to pay for schools. There is no obligation in the federal Constitution: it has always been a state function. With the amendment that disappears. Combined with the 1980s amendment prohibiting imposition of unfunded mandates on towns, the amendment will allow communities to simply close schools completely - without paying to send the local kids to another school.

The only debate going on is, "How big can we make the fig leaf that says we still support schools, without running the risk that we will have to actually pay?"

Open Thread: Graceful and Other Exits Edition

elwood — Tue, 22 May 2012 02:58:25 GMT

(I'm not announcing anything.)

The topic comes up because I just caught the last show of House and got thinking about final episodes: of TV series mostly, but also of bands.

The TV examples are a mix of the good, the bad, and the ugly. Some that come to mind:

The Mary Tyler Moore Show. The TV station gets bought, the staff is laid off, and there's a tearful group hug as everyone sings... It's a Long Way to Tipperary ?
The Bob Newhart Show. (The Chicago shrink one.) Ending a year later, with Bob and Emily moving from the city - and the cast in a group hug singing... Oklahoma ???
The Newhart Show. (The Vermont innkeeper). Dick Loudon gets banged on the head during an argument with a local Vermonter. He blacks out and awakes... next to Suzanne Pleshette, back in his old show.
St. Elsewhere. The camera fades back to show us that the hospital drama we've been watching for years took place inside a snow globe, populated by the imagination of a mute autistic child.
M*A*S*H. Hawkeye's mental breakdown, with Dr. Sidney Freedman slowly getting him to come to terms with his bus trip - and the final bugout as the ceasefire takes hold.
The Fugitive. This is reaching waayy back for me. The one-armed man finally appears and loose ends are all tied up.

For bands, I can think of only one satisfying exit: The Band, with The Last Waltz. A concert with friends raging from Ronnie Hawkins to Neil Diamond to Neil Young to Joni Mitchell to Van Morrison to Bob Dylan. Lawrence Ferlinghetti stopping by for a benedictory poem. Martin Scorcese filming it.

Cream had a great final album cover, not so much a great final album.

The Beatles last recorded album was Abbey Road - but the last released album was Let It Be. A bit anti-climactic, no?

I'm sure that I'm forgetting some exits worth remembering. Want to remind us? Or talk of anything else - this is an Open Thread.

Rep. Hikel Said What?

Kathy Sullivan 2 — Mon, 21 May 2012 19:30:44 GMT

Every time I think the Republicans in the legislature can't possibly think of anything new to do to outrage us, they manage to come up with something. In today's version of Planet O'Brien, John Distaso reports in the UL online that Rep. John Hikel, R-Goffstown, candidate for the state senate, repeatedly and loudly called Pamela Manney, former GOP vice chair, a "pole dancer" at a local Republican picnic.

"I'm just totally mortified," Manney told the Granite Status. "I was never a pole dancer or a stripper. And he said it two more times and the more he said it, the more he advanced toward me.
"I thought we were friends," Manney said of Hikel. She said she worked on behalf of Hikel's campaigns for the House in the past but is supporting Greazzo in the current Senate primary.

I don't think I can add anything to this, other than: seriously? He called her a pole dancer? Are you kidding me? And they say there isn't a war on women?

http://www.unionleader.com/art...

Brief observation on the SpaceX scrub

elwood — Sun, 20 May 2012 10:00:00 GMT

Update: successful launch early Tuesday: docking scheduled for Friday)

SpaceX - the private rocket company founded by Elon Musk with his PayPal fortune - is trying to launch an unmanned supply rocket to the international space station. Launch was rescheduled earlier then delayed again Saturday morning when something seemed to be wrong in the engines.

Free market competition really does do wonderful things. It produces innovation that a low-risk, consensus project - the sort of project we demand of government - cannot.

But the way the free market innovates is, dozens or hundreds of companies - usually start-ups, sometimes blue chips - make bets that the average bear would not make. And most of those bets fail, taking the whole start-up or division with them.

That's a good model for innovation! Evolution works that way, too!

I'm rooting for SpaceX - I hope they get a good launch Tuesday and go on to manned flights. The thing is, that's liberal romanticism. Free market principles tell me: maybe ten SpaceX companies will fail, along with their rockets, for each one that works.

That's the way free market innovation is supposed to work. And I'm cool with that.

But when some damn fool Republican says, that's how we should deliver health care, or education, or retirement security, I just wonder how stupid they really are. That would mean millions of school kids, or patients, or elderly happen to draw the wrong innovator - and end up with broken lives.

Romney Mocking NH Civil Engineering Landmark

nhveedub — Fri, 18 May 2012 16:13:19 GMT

Mitt Romney is in the town of Hillsboro NH today, where he plans to mock Sawyer's Bridge, one of only three civil engineering landmarks in the state. He will speak of wasteful government spending through ARRA, from which the bridge received $150,000 in order to preserve the sight, and he will call it NH's bridge to nowhere.

Yes it's a bridge, however the funding was used to preserve an historical site rather than update a bridge for traffic.

Romney's mocking is a complete falsehood, and he knows it. His staff is busy removing the public from the site so he may mock in private, rather than listen to the locals who fully supported the project.

WMUR is reporting there are 28 Romney backers who voted for the project:
http://politicalscoop.wmur.com/28-nh-romney-backers-voted-for-bridge-project-romney-plans-to-mock

Hillsboro NH Historical Society bridge info:
http://livinghistoryeventnh.com/hillsboroughs-stone-arch-bridges/

Phil Harvey, Hillsboro resident, history of the bridges:
http://compasspaper.com/the-double-stonearch-bridge-on-us-route-hillsborough-new-hampsh-p1356-147.htm

The Bradley Advantage

susanthe — Fri, 18 May 2012 14:17:01 GMT

Concord Monitor

The version passed by the Senate yesterday does not change the intent of the House's bill, just its wording. Sen. Jeb Bradley, a Wolfeboro Republican, said it clarifies that no "natural" person's income can be taxed to distinguish real people from corporations, which fall under the legal definition of person.
Bradley and the amendment's supporters said the constitutional amendment preserves one of the state's greatest advantages: its lack of an income tax.

From the ever uncritical NHPR

Senate Majority Leader Jeb Bradley told his colleagues supporting this plan is noble and worthy.
"Our tax structure is critical to the New Hampshire that we know and love. And to the fact that as difficult as this Recession has been, has survived a very difficult economy."
Bradley says if the amendment succeeds it will enshrine the so-called New Hampshire advantage.

One wonders: is Jeb Bradley a natural person? He spoke without an iota of self consciousness or irony. What does he know about the difficulties of the economy or survival? He's had his whole life handed to him on a silver salver.

Multimillionaire Jeb, of the Swiss bank accounts, wants to ensure that he and his fellow millionaires don't ever have to pay their fair share, and he's going to do his damnednest to enshrine that in our state constitution.

This is the very definition of corruption and legislating in one's own self interest.

These people know that many of them will never, ever be reelected, and they're doing all the damage they possibly can right now. To tie the hands of future legislatures in this way will ensure that NH will never, ever have a competitive economy, because we'll never be able to fix our infrastructure or fund our university system.

Bradley's lack of shame as he serves himself and his Richie Rich constituency is nauseating.

Anniversary of Special Election Victory

Jennifer Daler — Thu, 17 May 2012 12:00:13 GMT

One year ago today, the voters of Hillsborough District 4 (Lyndeborough, Mont Vernon, New Boston, Temple and Wilton) went to the polls and elected me to represent them in the NH House. Just six months earlier, they elected an all Republican delegation, headed by now Speaker Bill O'Brien. It only took a half a year of O'Brien's Republican majority to show voters the reckless nature of this group. This, combined with O'Brien's leadership style that uses fear and coercion rather than diplomacy and compromise, has made for an interesting year in the House.

O'Brien and his enablers, which would be about 90% of current House Republicans, have put New Hampshire on the road to ruin. They are doing what Scott Walker did in Wisconsin: creating deficits in order to make more cuts. They cut services to our most vulnerable citizens, are letting our roads and bridges collapse and rot, destroying public education and public higher education and trying to dismantle environmental and consumer protections.

If that weren't enough, the Republican majority in the NH House has attacked women's rights, workers' rights, gay and lesbian rights and voting rights.They voted to take away contraceptive coverage for women, and voted for a series of bills limiting womens's access to reproductive health care. House Republicans voted to bust unions in order to take away rights workers fought and died for in the last century. They passed voter id laws designed to keep low income, elderly and student voters from the polls. They tried and failed to repeal our groundbreaking marriage equality law and introduced a bill allowing merchants to discriminate against gay and lesbian customers.

This list must also include the crazier bills, such as requiring all NH laws to be in line with the Magna Carta, requiring all women seeking orders of protection to have a gun and ammuntion and doing away with employee lunch breaks.

The last couple of days have seen a scandal in the majority office, with a staffer being paid to do candidate recruitment on the state's dime and the "sieg heil" episode, where a Republican member yelled this reprehensible phrase at the Speaker because the Speaker was allowing Republicans to speak and shutting down Democrats. There are different rules for different people. Decorum has not been followed. Republicans are allowed to boo, hiss, clap, etc, in session while Democrats are gaveled for a peep. Democrats on the House redistricting committee were denied access to software and other tools in order to do their work, the same tools supplied to Republican members. No democrat was assigned to the committee to negotiate the budget. One would think that with such a huge majority, Republcians could afford to be magnanimous, but that isn't the case. And let the record show that the Republicans, not the Democrats, are the ones acting in an uncivil and hyper-partisan manner. I already hear election year rumblings calling for civility and decorum from "both sides". This nastiness isn't coming from both sides. It is the Republicans and it's time they were called out in it.

Despite all the negative aspects of the present NH House, I am honored and happy to serve there. Our strong group of Democrats, led by Minority Leader Norelli, has withstood all the disrespect and unfairness and managed to stop Right to Work for Less, retain marriage equality and work with some on the other side of the aisle to stem the damage . In addition, I am proud to give voice to the most vulnerable among us, to stand for more and better jobs, the environment, education and health care.

This year has shown that we must make sure Democrats are elected at the state level. We have to have a Democratic governor, and majorities in both chambers again. That is the only way to heal our wonded body politic and steer the state from its present course, back on the track that has made it a wonderful place to live.

What I learned today in the NH House

Marjorie Porter — Wed, 16 May 2012 23:58:26 GMT

Here are a few things I have learned in the last few days, as they come to mind:

• Everything international is unconstitutional. The UN and any of its sub-groups are attempting to take over the freedom and liberty and God given rights of Americans, especially those of us living in NH. There is a vast international conspiracy from which the NH House must protect the cities and towns of NH.
• Never ever suggest, in writing or at the Well, that bills introduced in the House have come from an outside organization. That absolutely NEVER happens, and it is an outrage to suggest that it does.
• Grannie D does not deserve a day proclaimed in her honor. Her accomplishments are no more worthy than what many other NH people have done and continue to do. Ronald Reagan, on the other hand...
• Microphones are turned down when Democrats speak, and turned up when Republicans speak. (This I learned from my partner who watched the live stream from home this week. )
• Any private or religious school is better than all public schools in NH. Public schools do a terrible job of teaching our kids. Excellence is only found in private or religious schools.
• A $2500 scholarship will allow homeless kids to get a private school education, and it will be better for them too.
• NH is not a home rule state. We believe in local control, but the legislature can, should, and will tell local communities what they can and cannot do. Residents of a town or city can not make those choices for themselves. This is in the constitution.
• I live in a parallel universe.

Please feel free to add to this list.
I know I've forgotten a lot.