Time for the Ideological Year of the Biennium in the NH Legislature

Members of the House have filed their LSRs for 2020. An LSR is the beginning of what will become a bill. LSR stands for Legislative Service Requests.  What we see right now is just a one liner, a fledgling request that will be fleshed out and be assigned a bill number. The title we see right now  may or may not provide insight into the intent of the bill, but when combined with the list of sponsors, the intent isn't difficult to discern. 

The budget is the work of the first year of the biennium. In the second year, some legislators get to work on their ideological projects. There are four bills coming up that are intended to exert control over the bodily autonomy of women and girls. Sponsors may still be added to LSRs, so the sponsors you see in this screenshot may change. It was taken on October 24 at about 10 AM.

2046 is theatrical nonsense from Rep. Prudhomme-O'Brien. Abortion has long been the way the radical right manipulates part of its  voter base. This last year, there's been a lot of phony drama with Trump and the god botherers insisting that doctors are killing babies that are born alive. This is, of course, a lot of bunkum. They've wailed, moaned, and made a big show of filing bills, conveniently forgetting that President George W. Bush signed the Born-Alive Infants Protection Act of 2002. It's all a lot of sound, fury, and manipulation. That Prudhomme-O'Brien hasn't managed to find anyone to cosponsor the bill is telling. 

2054 is three men desperate to control the lives and bodies of girls. 

2483 is obviously the big ideological centerpiece, given the number of cosponsors. The GOP is skilled at finding women to support the patriarchy. Five of the 6 sponsors are women. I don't know what abortions they want to prohibit "in certain cases," though it's not hard to guess. 

2584 is anti-science nonsense, coming from Dave Testerman. The forced incubation crowd is insisting that something the size of a pea at 6 weeks has a heartbeat, despite the fact that it hasn't developed a heart. This is an attempt to cloud science with emotion - and to use that emotion to force women to serve as involuntary incubators. For more on the fetal heartbeat issue this piece from NY Magazine offers some actual science. 

All of these bill sponsors are people who claim the mantle of being "pro-life." None of them are people who legislate accordingly. Whenever there's a chance to vote on bills that would help children and families, they are almost always on the wrong side. 

A quick example is last year's SB 1, relative to family and medical leave. SB 1 would have created a system for paid leave that would enable parents with new babies to take paid time away from work to be with the new addition to their family. It also would have given people with health problems time off, or time to help a family member with a serious illness. It was a bill to help families. The sponsors of the bills all voted against it - with the exception of Prudhomme-O'Brien and Abigail Rooney, who were both absent on the day of the vote. 

These are folks who are pro-birth. Once that little nipper hits the chute, they expect him to pull him/herself up by the bootie straps and fend for him/herself. 

If Nothing Is True

Webster’s defines truth as: the property (as of a statement) of being in accord with fact or reality.

In 2016, the Oxford Dictionary chose post-truth as the word of the year. Truth’s been taking a beating for the last few years. No longer are facts accepted, just because they exist. Today we are free to dismiss facts if we don’t like them, or if we find them inconvenient.

Science - the systematic building of organized, tested knowledge is dismissed by ideologues who don’t like the conclusions, or who have religious objections to them. Once ours was a country that enthusiastically taught and venerated science, but somewhere along the way, religious fundamentalists started chipping away at it, because of evolution, and then it became a bone of contention when it came to climate change. The fossil fuel companies didn’t care much for the idea that they might be part of the problem, and so they provided a lot of funding to spread the gospel of ain’t no such thing as climate change. The anti-vaxxer crowd tried to tell us that vaccines caused autism – something many still believe. Now all things scientific are in doubt, because we’ve allowed the lunatic fringe to turn education into something questionable and elitist.

History can either be ignored or rewritten. The legendary civil war battle site, “The River of Blood” is memorialized at a Trump golf Course. Who can forget the Bowling Green Massacre? We’ve also seen plenty of rewriting. The deification of Ronald Reagan was years in the making. It wasn’t successful enough to get him on Mt. Rushmore (or Mount Clay) but it was successful in diverting attention from Reagan’s role in the Iran Contra affair. Reagan planted the seeds of government mistrust that have flourished over the decades, and Republicans smile with pride about that. They should be worrying about what happens in a country where the government can no longer govern, the inequality divide is expanding, and there are nuclear weapons lying about.

News stories we don’t agree with are now handily dismissed as Fake News, thanks to our president. He’s desperate for attention, but unless that attention is fawning and slobbering, it is Fake. When I was a schoolgirl, we were encouraged to read differing points of view, and make up our own minds. What a waste of time that was! Easier to pick out what we like, what we’re comfortable with, or what doesn’t threaten us.

Yes, truth has been taking a beating.

We’ve certainly seen that writ large in New Hampshire. The Republican Party had control of the NH House for 150 years. When they lost that control in 2006, the rumors of “busloads of people from Massachusetts” voting in our elections began. It was a steady drumbeat for a decade. In 2016 those drums became Lambegs when gubernatorial candidate Chris Sununu went on a radio show in Boston to bray about voter fraud. Days later he won his election – in fact the GOP seized control of all branches of the state government, despite all that alleged voter fraud.

Shortly after Trump took office, he started whining about voter fraud in NH, thanks to Trump sycophant Sununu, who paved the way. Donald Trump, the sorest winner in US political history was miffed because even though he won the election, he didn’t win NH, and apparently he was entitled to.

Now we’re dealing with the fallout from that bizarre pageant. Last year our legislature passed a ridiculous voter prevention bill. One of the provisions of that bill created a position for someone to play Nancy Drew and dig into the Mystery of the Unreturned Post Cards.

The person chosen for this new position is Orville “Bud” Fitch, who was an assistant AG, then left to work for Kelly Ayotte. A recent story by the excellent Mark Stern in Slate magazine provided some information about this new state employee. Mr. Fitch was resentful at being questioned, and provided little in the way of answers.  He refused to give Mark his job description, or describe how he’s going about doing it. Meanwhile, we’re paying for this – even though there is no proof of voter fraud.

At the same time, we have the audacity to wonder why there is political apathy among the young. They’ve learned that facts don’t matter. That justice is elusive for the non-wealthy. They can see that we have no interest in protecting the planet or their future. They have no hope of achieving the American Dream. And we have the audacity to wonder why there’s an opioid crisis. If nothing is true, nothing matters.

"Believe in truth. To abandon facts is to abandon freedom. If nothing is true, then no one can criticize power because there is no basis upon which to do so. If nothing is true, then all is spectacle." Yale Prof. Tim Snyder

Published as an op-ed in the January 25 edition of the Conway Daily Sun 

Time For A Divorce

found at quoracd.net

For years we’ve been hearing Texas threaten to secede. NY City has threatened to secede from the rest of the state. In 1933 State Senator William E. Martin of North Dakota proposed that the 39 western states leave the US. The remaining states of Maine, NH, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and New Jersey would be left as the union.

That was not a bad idea. Sadly, nothing came of it. The Free State Project, the armed miscreants invading our state with the intention of taking over and dismantling our state government would like to secede. Out on the west coast, the California Freedom Coalition has turned in a proposed ballot initiative calling for California to withdraw from the US. Spokesperson Cindy Sheehan said the state should stop subsidizing a federal government that is out of state with California values.

miguelcolumbia on reddit

We’ve held this huge, unwieldy country together for almost 250 years. That’s a long time. We’ve always been deeply divided (remember slavery?) and those divides have been glossed over, but never actually healed.

Racism is a huge divide. Religion, even though we’re increasingly non-religious, is a huge divide. The evangelicals have a death grip on the middle of the country. Anti-Muslim fear is a constant beat, drummed by people who wouldn’t recognize Sharia if it leapt up and bit them on the buttocks, but are sure that Sharia Law is already being enacted in the United States. We are divided by science and facts. A great many people who believe in Noah’s Ark deny that humans are having an impact on the climate. Anyone who doesn’t like the news they’re hearing feels free to declare it fake. We have wealth, poverty, gun, and education divides. We have an information divide. We are divided on whether women are fully autonomous beings or not. We don’t even agree what facts are any more.

Worst of all, most of this is tacitly accepted. We’ve somehow accepted living in the “post-truth” era, where alternative facts rule the day. Hardly anyone is bold enough to say that this is absolute nonsense, and if we can’t do better than that, we should get out of the nation business. 

Rob Beschizza on Boing Boing

Bottom line – a large segment of the nation voted for a dull-witted reality TV star with an incredibly embarrassing hair style at the last presidential election. A nation that once praised the virtues of statesmanship, went in the opposite direction, and chose a leader who is an acknowledged grabber of female genitalia.  He and his grifter family are now lining their pockets at taxpayer expense. This clan is hastening the demise of the US as a global superpower. Under Trump, we’re officially a rogue nation.

Under Trump, we have reality TV government. He tweets incessantly, picking fights, blaming others, and just plain making stuff up. A large part of the audience cheers him on. That’s what they’ve become. An audience. There is nothing on the looms, but they swear they can see the fine fabric the Emperor is clothed in.

Nation States Forum

I’m not sure there’s any hope for unity, not after all this. If you were married to someone who was rude, abusive, and insisted on revising history and loudly trumpeting ignorance while calling it fact, would you stay with them? We should consider a divorce. A big national divorce.

The eastern seaboard down to Virginia is blue, and that includes New York. The west coast, Hawaii, and Nevada are blue. The rest is mostly red with some outcroppings of blue. Years ago I proposed creating the nation of New England – well, I wasn’t far off. We’d find a way to divide the country up equitably, with the red minded folks moving to the south and the center. They’d be able to have all the freedom they want from regulation, from taxes, from big gummint - from all the things that make them so unhappy. They could set it up any way they wanted:  monarchies, theocracies, dictatorships, or perhaps Randian enclaves with manly men doing manly things together with no government required.

The blue countries wouldn’t be picking up the tab for them any more, (or for a bloated military) so they’d have plenty of money for innovation, education, and infrastructure projects. High speed, cross-country rail could connect the blue coasts. No need for the red area to contribute. Or participate. The blue countries could set up their own social security systems, safety nets, and health care. The red countries could issue bootstraps, handguns, and hire bathroom police. Careful consideration would have to be given to missile silos, weapons sites, and military assets. All nuclear weapons will be destroyed. This isn’t going to be a quickie divorce.

The US is a superpower in decline. Ideology and willful ignorance divide us. There’s no way to come back from that.  We’re in an abusive relationship. We might as well accept it, split up, and move on.

quora

Published as an op-ed in the June 9 edition of the Conway Daily Sun Newspaper

Sinkers, Loons, and Knaves

It was a long day at the NH House. SB 126, a bill concerning business practices between manufacturers, distributers, and dealers took a long time. Free Stater Emily Sandblade of the Commerce Committee supported the bill, but the rest of the tinfoil brigade were quite annoyed about it. JR Hoell (the next best thing to a Free Stater) was wearing a button that seemed to suggest that passing 126 was likely to end NH as we know it.

They pressed on to SB 89, a bill aimed at eliminating the use of lead sinkers and jigs (weighing an ounce or less) for the fishermen in our state. One of the reasons for this, is that lead sinkers are the leading cause of death for adult loons. Also: lead bad. That's why we don't use it in paint or water pipes any more. Lead bad.

The tinfoil hat brigade defended their right to kill loons to the bitter end.

Rep. Webb introduced a floor amendment to give the manufacturers of lead tackle more time to comply. Apparently the 3 years specified in the bill wasn't long enough.

Best of all though, was Rep. John Burt from Goffstown. Burt spent a lot of time mocking the whole thing, saying that "the science just isn't there." That bald eagles kill loons. When asked why all the other states around us have passes similar legislation, Burt responded, "monkey see, monkey do. He asserted that the lead isn't dangerous, the lead in the water isn't dangerous, that there's mercury in the water - a hodgepodge of distractionary nonsense.

Rep. Manley, a science teacher, gave us some schoolin' on the science. Like: lead bad. We view lead as damaging to the environment. We regard lead as a threat to water.

Lots of consternation from the GOP - do lead sinker manufacturers donate heavily to GOP campaigns or something?

Michael Garcia, the Free Stater and fauxDem says the only way this practice will end is to change the culture. "It will impact small businesses. Who will want to buy back banned products?"

Anecdote: I know some guys who fish. None of them have any lead tackle.

Apparently this bill didn't go anywhere last year, and the committee last year agreed that the bill wouldn't come forward again in 2013. The possibility of losing their seats doesn't seem to have occurred to them. The guys who did get reelected seem quite miffed that this bill came forward AFTER a different group agreed that it wouldn't.

Best part of the hearing? Al Baldasaro walking by the media section saying, "this is just another feel good bill." Really, Al? Just last month, Al was claiming this bill was part of the UN's clever plan to take over the US via tackle box. “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.”

Al must have had an adjustment to his tinfoil beanie since then, because no one mentioned Agenda 21. Or maybe they've been mocked so much about Agenda 21 that they don't want to bring it up in public.

This was a long, painful debate that really boiled down to this: do you want to do the right thing, or do you want to reserve the right to kill loons? 

The loonkillers lost, on a roll call vote of 225-142.

After that came SB 122, concerning the establishment of a commercial shrimp license.
The tinfoil crowd was all wound up about this. Not sure why.  The voice vote failed. Free Stater Rep. Carol McGuire asked for a roll call vote. The bill passed 257-122.

                                             This is a high end casino: Montbleu in Stateline, NV. 

After lunch came SB 152, the casino bill. Last week the 45 member supercommittee of Finance and Ways and Means voted to ITL the bill. The full House needs to overturn the ITL before it can begin hearing and voting on the 20+ amendments to the bill that are just waiting in the wings.

Strange little caucus groups spring up around the chamber. O'Brien/Ober. Itse/Lambert. Baldasaro/smart phone. Even Stellaaaaaaaah is here this afternoon.

At one point, O'Brien, Itse, Lambert, Baldasaro, and Warden all slither out to the anteroom to plot. O'Brien all puffed up, and plotting. And why not? He refused a committee assignment, so he hasn't done any work this session.

Groups swap partners. Itse/O'Brien. Ober/Hoell. Baldasaro/Twitter.

Rep. Lovejoy spoke in favor of not overturning the ITL. She cited revenue, regulations, and social costs as reasons for her decision. Baldasaro gets a question. Al, it seems, worked in Delaware (this guy must have the longest resume in the United States. He had 10 different jobs in 10 different states all at the same time before he moved to NH. But, in Delaware, he tells Rep. Lovejoy,  he didn't see no crime, and no hookers like you're talking about. (she hadn't mentioned hookers.) At the end of her lengthy and respectful answer to Rep. Baldasaro,  Lovejoy added, "I don't expect there will be a big influx of hookers to Salem. I hope that doesn't disappoint you."

Rep. Sapareto repeating last week's line about "booze, butts, and bets." It was better last week. He also said of the legislature, "We're about 25 years behind the people we represent." (You can carve that in stone.) Sapareto also said that we have no other way to raise revenue.

(new sideline caucus: Rideout, Itse, Hoell, Lambert)

Rep. Webb reminded us that the bill addresses our social concerns, there's a fund built in to help problem gamblers. This always reminds me of the fund to help problem drinkers - to fund treatment, education and prevention. The fund has never been fully funded since 2003, when it was highjacked by the legislature and siphoned into the general fund. Also, his mother gambles at Foxwoods and she's not a criminal. When people come here to gamble, they'll buy our cheap booze and cigarettes. And buy gas, and pay the gas tax! Now, there's a sore subject, since the Senate finance committee just ITL'd an increase to the gas tax.

Gionet (revolution!) and Webb do a little theater performance of pretending to ask and answer questions.

No one ever mentions that casinos feed gamers free booze as long as they're playing. There will be a new crop of dual addicted folks: booze and gambling. It's never mentioned. I saw it all the time out in Tahoe.

Rep. Vallaincourt gives an inspired speech on how this bill (written by lobbyists from Millenium Gaming) cheats the state of NH, and what a bad deal it is for us. Pennsylvania gets 55% of the take from Millenium. They want to give NH 30%.

(sideline groups: Baldasaro/Chandler. Cormier/O'Brien. Warden/Winter)

Vallaincourt claims the state will lose over a billion in revenue in a 20 year period. "We will never get a do-over if we pass this." "Better do nothing now than try to fix this later."

Rep. St. James - this bill is good for NH.

Rep. Rideout: supports ITL. Is in favor of expanded gambling but opposes the monopoly that this bill would give Millenium. "Money is supposed to go to the north country - but the bill says nothing about it." "This bill is a goulash of government."

Rep. Butler: overturn the ITL. Bill will create 2000 jobs.

Rep. Azarian: the casino will provide the money to expand 93 and fix our infrastructure.

Rep. Groen moved here from NJ, and spoke about the big promises made by casinos there. They kept dropping the state's share of revenue every year. The developers promised to make Atlantic City the pearl of the Eastern Seaboard. "We got a sliver of glitzy buildings surrounded by a slum."
"The only thing worse than a gambling addiction is a state addicted to gambling revenue."

Rep. Hess: None of us (the committee) had any experience in regulating a casino. We were at the mercy of the lobbyists and lawyers of the industry. The revenue streams are fanciful at best. NHFPI finds that the casino may well result in a net loss for our state. "How can we meet unmet needs by creating more needs?"

Finally, at 4:40 pm the roll call vote on overturning the ITL finally takes place. The ITL upheld on a vote of 199-164.  Rep. Richardson makes a motion to reconsider. He wants the House to vote against reconsideration. (thereby killing the bill dead, dead, instead of just dead.) Rep. Walner asks for a roll call.

Richardson comments that this bill has had more scrutiny than any bill in NH history except possibly the loon and lead sinker bill.

The roll call on the motion to reconsider: 152 yea and 212 nay - the motion fails. SB 152 is dead, dead.

This is not a high end casino. Winners Casino in Winnemucca, Nevada is more like what NH will be getting 30% of the take on.