Nipples and Nonsense

It’s the start of the new year, and that means that the legislature will be back in session! The fun has already begun, with some of our NH Republicans covering our state with glory in the national media.

You may have read that a couple of male legislators made boobs of themselves over the horrifying thought of being subjected to the view of a female nipple. It seems that State Representative Josh Moore was so incensed at the idea, that he told a female state rep that any woman who was putting her nipple on view deserved to have it stared at or grabbed. This is especially fun because Josh is Ted Cruz’s “faith based outreach” director in NH. (Be sure to ask Josh or Ted whose nipple Jesus would grab.) The other offender was Representative Al Baldasaro, who also made crude remarks, but stopped short of justifying assault.

This all came about because last summer some women staged a “free the nipple” topless protest at Hampton Beach. This apparently was too much for the Patriarchal Police, so
a trio of male legislators filed a bill (HB 1525) to define the circumstances that comprise indecent exposure and lewdness.  

NH has some serious problems. We have the 11^th worst infrastructure in the United States. Our roads, bridges, dams, and water systems are in serious need of repair. We need telecommunications infrastructure. Young people are leaving the state in droves, because there are no jobs and no affordable housing. NH invests less than any other state does in higher education, so our college students have a tremendous debt load. We’re unwilling to raise sufficient funds to run the state as if it were a going concern, so all state agencies are insufficiently funded and don’t run properly. Our property taxes are some of the highest in the nation, and prevent young people from buying houses, and force old people to sell theirs.

The response of our legislature to the very serious problems our state faces? Nipples. Nonsense.

There are 8 bills attempting to eliminate abortion. Republican  men may not know diddly about planning future, but one thing they do know is that women can’t be trusted with their own bodies. There are 11 gun bills. There’s a constitutional amendment to try to ensure college students can’t vote here.  There’s a bill to require TANF recipients to be drug tested, another to dictate where SNAP benefits can be spent, and a resolution to encourage the governor and executive council to open their meetings with a prayer. Yeah, that’ll help. The legislature opens every session with a prayer, then they go on to do the best they can to ensure that the state’s poverty rate continues to rise.

Some of the bills are very familiar. Our legislators are not deterred by bills that fail to pass for decades – they just keep filing. There’s the usual attempt at defining “domicile” in ways that are aimed at preventing voting as opposed to encouraging it, this time in the form of a proposed amendment to our state constitution. Another constitutional amendment would require a 3/5 vote in the House to override any veto. We’ve heard these before.

HB 1629 would disqualify members of foreign terrorist groups from receiving public assistance. Is there a box that folks check off (yes or no) to notify the state that they’re members of a terrorist organization? HB 1542 would require drug testing of people receiving TANF benefits. This is one of Representative Don Leeman’s favorite hobbyhorses, brought back again. Kansas spent $40,000 on drug testing TANF recipients and got 11 positive test results. Mississippi spent $5,290 and got 2 positive test results. In a state that can’t afford to fix bridges, this seems like a bizarre use of funds, but hey, those poor folks aren’t going to demonize themselves.

HB 1115 stipulates that NH residents would only be required to obey our own state and federal laws. The laws of other states wouldn’t apply to us. This bill is sponsored by Rep. Frank Edelblut, a Republican who wants to be our governor. HB 1128 would designate the second week of September as Patriot Week. Because legislating patriotism makes it happen!

House Majority Leader Jack Flanagan is the lead sponsor of HB 1668, a bill that would create a registry for people convicted of heroin related offenses, and require the registration of those offenders. NH offers very little in the way of treatment for addicts. The GOP is determined to eliminate the NH Health Protection Program, (aka expanded Medicaid) which enables 40,000 low wage NH workers to access health insurance that they wouldn’t have otherwise. Insurance that covers treatment for addiction. Offering young people a future might be more helpful, (affordable education, good jobs, home ownership) but we’re not about to do that – so the only thing left is trying to prosecute our way out of a heroin epidemic. That it hasn’t worked yet is not a consideration.

Coming to us from the small gummint crowd is HB 1596, a bill aimed at changing the paperwork requirements for marriage. Representatives Itse, Hoell, Hill, and Ingbretson do not believe that the state should license anything, so they want to go forward into the past to the way things used to be, with couples filing a certificate of intent to marry, and then a certificate of marriage, which gives interested parties the opportunity to object to the marriage. I’m not making that up. It’s in the text. The text also only refers to couples that are comprised of a bride and a groom. It’s nice to see the same guys who moan and wail about gummint interference working hard to interfere in the personal lives of NH residents. Bravo, libetea dudes!

You can check out all 812 potential bills filed thus far at www.gencourt.state.nh.us . On the right side of the page, you’ll see the section labeled “State Legislation Dashboard” where you can find all bills – the good, the bad, and the peculiar. Presidential primaries generate a lot of heat and noise, but what happens on the state level has the greatest impact on our lives. Make it your New Year’s resolution to pay more attention.

published as an op-ed in the Conway Daily Sun on January 8, 2012

2013: A Year in NH GOP Shame

A brief overview of embarrassing commentary by NH GOP legislators. (Not intended to be comprehensive.)

January: 

Rep. William O’Brien, speaking at a “right to work” hearing:

“New Hampshire wages are artificially high, a symptom of stagnation.”

February: 

Rep. Donald LeBrun in a committee hearing (Health and Human Services) was quoted as saying: “Rather than spend money on people with disabilities we have another choice, Voluntary Euthanasia….”

h/t Tuck at Miscellany Blue

March: 

Rep. JR Hoell speaking on one of last session’s gazillion gun bills: “Maybe Democrats want a young mother to allow her children to be murdered as she runs under a table to hide instead of take a weapon from her purse and save her most precious loved ones?”

h/t to Tuck at Miscellany Blue

April:

Rep. Peter Hansen, posting on the House internal email system for legislators gave his opinion on what was missing from the debate on the stand your ground bill:  “Why children and vagina's of course.”

Rep. Romeo Danais used the House internal email system to compare feeding poor children to feeding wild animals – twice in the same day.

Rep. Al Baldasaro testifying before a committee hearing on a bill to phase out lead sinkers and jigs – because they’re killing the  loon population:

“If you take a look at other areas, uh, what’s going on around the country under Agenda 21, this isn’t get – the nose is already under the tent. This now is pushing the foot under the tent, to slowly get the fishermen off the lake. That’s what this is gonna do.”

Rep. Stella Tremblay gave her opinion on the Boston Marathon bombings on Glenn Beck’s website: “Just as you said would happen. Top Down, Bottom UP. The Boston Marathon was a Black Ops “terrorist” attack.”

Miscellany Blue

susan the bruce

May:

Rep. Jane Cormier, in a lengthy floor speech on SB11, a bill to allow municipalities to work together on financing and building water and sewer projects: “The EPA now considers rainwater a pollutant.”

June:

Rep. William O’Brien gives a speech from the floor, describing the budget that was just passed as “his legacy.” 

He had also just voted against the budget.

July:

Senator Andy Sanborn:

Sanborn, R-Bedford, was the guest host of the afternoon radio show on WTPL-FM in Concord Tuesday afternoon. During one segment he was talking to former State Sen. Ray White, also a Bedford Republican, about the new national health care law. Sanborn has been vocal opponent of the law.

At one point Sanborn said the new law "is barreling down on us like a jet landing into San Francisco. It’s (laughter) it should make people really concerned."

After the program Sanborn didn't recall the remark, but after hearing the audio of the program said he apologizes for it.

"It was my mistake. If I offended anyone I am sorry," Sanborn said.

Two people were killed and 168 injured in a plane crash in San Francisco just 2 days before Sanborn was yucking it up on air.

August: 

Rep. William O’Brien, at an Americans for Prosperity rally against the ACA:

And what is Obamacare? It is a law as destructive to personal and individual liberty as the Fugitive Slave Act of 1850 that allowed slave owners to come to New Hampshire and seize African Americans and use the federal courts to take them back to slave states.

h/t to Tuck at Miscellany Blue

September:

Rep. Al Baldasaro retweeted something posted by his friends at Americans for Prosperity: “RT if you want to be exempt from #Obamacare like members of Congress! Yes!”  Sadly for Al, that proved to be a falsehood.

h/t to Tuck at Miscellany Blue

October:

Former Rep. Pete Silva  tripped over his racism during a particularly ugly special election battle. Silva was trying to regain his former House seat. He said that on the day of the primary election "I thought I was in New Delhi." His opponent is Latha Mangipudi, who is of Indian descent. His further comment about how Indian voters would be "coming out of the woodwork" to vote for Mangipudi seemed, to many, to carry the unappealing aroma of racism.

November:

Representatives Laurie Sanborn and Neal Kurk on the subject of expanding Medicaid:

Is it fair that eligibility for expanded Medicaid is based on income only and not assets, so that a 50-year old who lives on a yacht and has a very low income qualifies for free health insurance?

December:

Rep. JR Hoell was the gift that kept on giving in December. First, from an interview he did on wingnut radio:

“We’re not here to threaten anybody. We’re here standing on our soapbox as opposed to standing with our ammo box in hand to make a point politically. The message needs to get out that Scott Brown does not represent New Hampshire.

If things continue the way they are, there may be a day or a time where firearms and ammo are necessary. It happened in the Revolutionary War. I’d like to think we’re not there yet, but as things continue to unravel, that may be the next step.

h/t to Tuck at Miscellany Blue

This lead to more tantrums:

“Regardless of where Brown lives, he BROKE his oath of office by stating he wanted to ban certain semi-automatic rifles.

Brown does not support NH values!

(BTW, he has taken an oath to up hold the constitution on at least 3 separate occasions: Swearing in as a National Guard member, MA legislature and US Senate)”

And finally, this little gem from the NSFW files.

The wheels are coming  off the GOP clown car, kids. Stay tuned, and Happy New Year to all of my readers.


PS: Thank you Tuck. Not only could I not do this without you, it would be so much less fun. 

It's All Over But The Shooting

September is here, and that means it’s time for legislative fun to begin again. September 9 was the first day that representatives could file LSRs (potential bills/Legislative Service Requests) for 2014. September 27 is the last day to file House LSRs. September 30 is the first day for Senate LSRs, and the cut off date for the Senate is October 25.

So far, House members have filed 86 LSRs. They have not yet been assigned numbers; there is no actual bill text available, just the titles chosen by the sponsors of the LSRs. Those titles sometimes provide great clarity into the potential bill, and sometimes create more questions. It’s worth noting that 2014 is an election year. Some legislators are intent appealing to voters through social engineering. Some are intent on making a name for themselves through means that the rest of us might find unusual.

The very first LSR listed is quite clear: “repealing the death penalty in NH,” is sponsored by Rep. Robert Cushing. At a time when other states are repealing their death penalty statutes out of fiscal concern, NH chose to bring ours out of mothballs and use it, thanks to former AG Kelly Ayotte, who rode a death penalty case right to the US Senate. That case has already cost our state millions, and will cost us many more before it is finished. It’s sad that the moral argument has less power in this state than the financial – but the bottom line is pretty simple. Are you willing to see an increase in your property taxes to pay for executions?

Representative Kathleen Souza has filed 2 bills that seem related to making a legal procedure more difficult for women to avail themselves of in the state of NH. The first has to do with the licensure of out patient abortion clinics, and the second has to do with gathering data. Naturally women have no right to medical privacy. Imagine a bill filed to gather data from the records of men getting prescriptions for erectile dysfunction drugs? Would men meekly submit to having their private medical records invaded by nosy number seekers?

Rep. Leon Rideout has filed an LSR to include the term “fetus” in the definition of “another” for the purpose of certain criminal offenses. This is a tactic frequently engaged in by the uterus police in an attempt to create “fetal personhood” which would grant a clump of cells the same legal rights as an adult woman is supposed to have. In an election year we can expect to see more bills aimed at regulating women from the crowd that is bitterly opposed to regulating guns.

Rep. George Lambert has filed 6 bills so far. Rep. Lambert is considering a run for governor next year. Lambert would like to repeal the timber tax, eliminate sugar packet requirements, and repeal the licensing of career schools. He also has bills relative to the conferring of college degrees, relative to training programs in career schools, and relative to funding career schools. These are interesting areas of focus for a guy who is considering a run for governor in a state where he has no name recognition. It sounds as if the freedom and liberty crowd is gearing up for another attack on hair stylists and beauticians. Or to put it more bluntly, an attack on women’s work.

NH currently has 500 bridges on the red list for structural impairment. Rep. John Cloutier, who proposes that the priority status of the widening of I-93 be repealed in the 10-year transportation plan update, filed the only LSR filed that has any grounding in infrastructure. Perhaps there will be some interest in solving our infrastructure problems when one of those bridges finally collapses and people are injured or killed.

Rep. JR Hoell has filed an LSR requesting Congress investigate the Benghazi incident. As we all know, Congress has, in fact, investigated. Rep. Hoell just doesn’t like the results of that investigation, so he’s willing to waste $1500 of our tax dollars to get his name up in lights with a bill to nowhere.

The NHGOP doesn’t seem to have heard, never mind heeded Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal’s warnings about the need to stop being “the party of stupid.” Former NH State Senator Jim Rubens announced his intention to run against popular US Senator Jeanne Shaheen. At his press conference, he described Senator Shaheen as “out of touch” with New Hampshire voters.

Shortly after the announcement, we learned of a blog post Rubens made in 2009, linking women in the workplace to the incidence of mass shootings. It seems that women have taken men’s jobs away from them, and that’s caused them to start gunning people down. In this same blog post, Rubens also said that “tweaking the tax code to add manufacturing jobs would be one way to relieve the stress on men.” It seems Rubens slept right through NAFTA and all other free trade agreements, and is unaware that the US gave the manufacturing industry away.  

Rubens has since removed that post from his blog, and put his blog behind a firewall so that we can no longer see his odes to being part of the glorious one percent: “I just returned from a not atypical vacation of private charter flights, organic meals on white linen, and a private bungalow.” It seems likely he wasn’t the inspiration for Aaron Copeland’s “Fanfare for the Common Man.”

This is some kind of a record – beginning and ending a campaign on the same day. It’s all over but the shouting (or the shooting). Rubens just doesn’t realize it yet. Those who defend him will only serve to alienate female voters even further, especially given that the gender wage gap is higher in NH than many other states. Women in NH earn $0.77 for each dollar earned by men.  Ten percent of NH women live in poverty. Of minimum wage earners in our state, 69% are women. No wonder there haven’t been any mass shootings here, eh Jim?

There are a great many problems in our state and our nation that need serious attention. It’s a shame they won’t be getting any this year.

“If stupidity got us into this mess, than why can’t it get us out?” ~ Will Rogers

© sbruce 2013 
published as a biweekly column in the Conway Daily Sun newspaper 

Panderers to the Prosperous

Here's what we've all been waiting for:  the America Is For The Prosperous - NH Legislative Scorecard. Greg Moore, who was former Speaker O'Brien's babysitter for a while (to the taxpayer tune of $75,000 a year) is now the executive director of Pasty and Pecunious. They've just come out with their legislative report card, based on 13 key votes. The votes included right to work for less, and of course anything that included a revenue stream was on their shit list.

The scoring key was designed by someone who spent many lonely, acne covered hours playing Dungeons and Dragons in high school:

A = Advocate of Prosperity
B = Guardian of Prosperity 
C = Friend of Prosperity
D = Neglector of Prosperity
F = Opponent of Prosperity

Best of all is A+  =   PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY!  That comes with a trumpet fanfare! 

Al Baldasaro is a PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY.  Almost all Democrat scored F's, even the fairly conservative ones. Those who did not were the Free Staters:

Joel Winters, Democrat and Free Stater scored a 31% - an F.  Sorry Joel. You are an OPPONENT OF PROSPERITY. 

The Free Staters who ran as Democrats in order to fool their constituents scored higher than some Republicans. Convenience Democrat and Free Stater Michael Garcia had a score of 100%. He's an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY. Convenience Democrat/Free Stater Anarchist Tim O'Flaherty scored a 91%. He still qualifies as an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.  

Gene Chandler - lifelong Republican and House Minority Leader scored 92%. He gets an A for ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.  But - Republican David Bickford only scored 40%. He gets an F. He's an OPPONENT OF PROSPERITY. Republican James Belanger scored 67%. He's a NEGLECTOR OF PROSPERITY. Brad Bailey scored an 89%. He's a mere GUARDIAN OF PROSPERITY.  How can this dude even hold up his head in public? The man who wants to be our next governor, George Lambert scored 100%, but it was not a perfect score, so he's only an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY. It must gall him a tad that his buddy, JR Hoell had a perfect score and has won the coveted title of PROTECTOR OF PROSPERITY.  

The scoring has nothing to do with missed votes. Republican Ronald Belanger missed 9 of the 13 votes, but he still got a score of 100%. Ronald is an ADVOCATE  OF PROSPERITY. We all know Kyle Tasker missed a bunch of votes this session. Kyle still  gets a 100% score, making him an ADVOCATE OF PROSPERITY.


This scorecard is telling on 2 levels.  These are not people who are thinking about the future of our state. They are thinking about keeping their seats in the next election. 

And any Democrat who gets a high score isn't one. 

The Glare of 100 Tinfoil Berets

Today at the NH State House, all of the bills that were not dealt with last week came before the House. There were 11 bills. Some came out of committee with near unanimous votes. One came out of committee with a vote of 18-0 and got the full loon/lead sinker treatment. For the same reasons, though they weren't spoken aloud either time. 

During the opening rituals, Rep. Peter Schmidt of Dover sang the national anthem, acapella. And he rocked it! This man can sing! He tells me that he can dance, too. Rep. Schmidt is apparently something of a renaissance man - who knew? 

First up, SB 96, relative to vexatious litigants. The NH Liberty Alliance found this bill to be "anti-liberty" because of course in Randia, everyone can sue all they want. Committee recommended OTP (ought to pass) as amended (OTP/A). Despite some complaints from the land of Freedumb, the bill passes 198-130 on a division vote. 

SB 100: authorizing electronic payroll. This bill would allow companies to stop writing paper checks and issue little debit card like things to employees. The thing about little debit card like things is that they also come with debit card like user fees. Another thing about those payroll cards is pretty simple: they are almost alway issued to low wage workers. You don't give the guy who's making $100k a year a little debit like card with user fees. As Rep. Tim Smith put it: This benefits employers,  NOT employees." Rep. Smith also referenced "company scrip" - thereby invoking the days of the company store.  

The bill doesn't just benefit employers. It also benefits banks and card companies. Everybody gets a piece of the low wage pie - at the expense of the low wage worker. Apparently this bill was written at the behest of Cranmore Mtn. Ski Area. One of the supporters of the bill pointed out that there was a credit union within 5 miles of Cranmore, for people to use. He failed to note that there is no public transportation for those low wage workers to use to get to the credit union.

The liberty frat boys in the back row of the House were mocking - "bet this is the argument blacksmiths used against cars, haw haw haw" to suggest that the people who oppose this were anti-technology. If the company were willing to eat the user fees instead of passing 'em on to employees, there would be greater support for this bill. 

The bill went down on a division vote of 235-93. 

SB 143, relative to benefits for unemployed persons who are trying to start a business. This bill would enable a small percentage of unemployed persons to commit to starting up their business, as opposed to looking for full time work. Some 2.5% of NH unemployed persons would be eligible. Naturally this was opposed by those who claim to be focused like a laser on job creation. Reps. Ulery, Daniels, and Flanagan all objected and presented misinformation. Flanagan demanded a roll call vote. The bill came out of committee with an OTP recommendation, and it did, on a vote of 183 - 149. 

SB 153: relative to legislative approval of collective bargaining agreements entered into by the state. 

The anti-union folk were out in full voice. Vallaincourt waxed on about the need for such a bill. The members of the House have long been under the delusion that they should oversee everything in the state, so this was no more of an overreach than we've seen in the past. Rep. DeSilvestro pointed out that this would insert politics into process. That, of course, is the point. The bill came out of committee with an ITL recommendation, and in a roll call vote it was officially ITL'd 191 - 135. 

SB 11, the controversial waster and sewer bill was moved till the end of the calendar at the request of Rep. Tucker, to accommodate a legislator who wasn't there yet. There was actually a division vote on this special order. 275-45 in favor of adopting the measure. 

SB 179, clarifying the definition of "renewable generation facility" came out of committee with a recommendation of OTP/A on a vote of 14-4. This didn't get the full lead sinker treatment, but it did get a division vote, which resulted the bill's passing on a vote of 256-63. 

SB 20 concerned modifications to the  DUI ignition interlock program. The bill came out of committee with a recommendation of OTP/A on a vote of 15-1. This bill  was opposed by the Liberty Alliance who claimed that there were provisions in this bill for installing cameras and GPS tracking. There was no language in the bill that indicated such a thing. O'Flaherty (the anarchist Free Stater who ran as a pretend Democrat) spoke on behalf of the minority. Apparently they were more interested in squirting to mark territory rather than actually swaying anyone, O'Flaherty not being a persuasive speaker. 

Back to SB11. We all donned our sunglasses to keep from being blinded by the sudden glare of a hundred tinfoil berets. 

This bill came out of committee with a recommendation of OTP, on a vote of 18-0. 

Somehow the Birchers decided that SB11, a bill to allow municipalities to work together to finance and build water and sewer projects was really the UN trying to achieve world domination through septic systems. None of those who spoke against the bill referenced the Agenda 21 hysteria, but some of those who spoke in favor of the bill were quite candid about it. The tinfoil brigade was desperate to shut this down without discussion. So Rep. LeBrun moved to table the bill. A division vote was requested, which morphed into a roll call. On a roll call vote of 86 - 244, the motion to table failed. 

Rep. Jane Cormier gave a one-woman filibuster of nonsense about Maryland and Oregon, and claimed the EPA "now considers rainwater a pollutant." Horse hockey. This may have been aimed at running down the clock till JR Hoell could arrive. 

Flanagan moved to recommit the bill (send it back to committee). The same committee that unanimously passed it. A division vote was requested and the motion to recommit failed 98-229. 

Rep. Abrami of Stratham (a town that would benefit from this legislation, as they do not have town water) pointed out that Secretary General Moon of the UN had not visited Stratham to help write the bill. He also said, "I'm a conservative guy. You think I'd stand up here and allow the state to steal our wells?" 

Rep. Burt asked for a roll call. Hoell made it in time to vote. The bill passed on a vote of 254-74. All that posturing and bloviating was for naught - with each vote they lost more of the tinfaithful. 

The same kind of petty obstructionism going on in Congress is being mirrored right here in the NH House, where the fauxliberty crowd persists in giving every bill the lead sinker treatment, even when they know they can't possibly win.