Roadblock for FairPoint

FairPoint Communications announced this week that it would need more time to complete the takeover of Verizon’s telephone network in northern New England. The controversial sale of Verizon’s landlines to the small company took place at the end of March, after being approved by the Public Utilities Commissions of Maine, Vermont, and New Hampshire. Those who opposed the sale pointed out that FairPoint was too small a company to be able to efficiently take over the much larger Verizon.

The company was scheduled to assume total control of Verizon’s network in September. In order to do this, FairPoint would need to prove “an irrevocable notice of readiness” by July 7. The company admits that this isn’t going to happen. The date for the total takeover, or cutover as it is called in the industry, is November. Meanwhile, FairPoint is paying Verizon approximately $16 million a month in transition fees. This is on top of the $2.4 billion they paid for Verizon.

It has not been a smooth transition. Maine just fined FairPoint $25,000 for disruptions to the 911 system. There was a problem at the Penobscot Regional Communications Center in May that led to 911 calls being transferred to Orono. One woman in Penobscot County called to report her husband wasn’t breathing. She didn’t get an answer, and finally called her local rescue department. The problem seems to have been with the power supply, which has been replaced. In April and May there were problems with the 911dispatch system in Gray and Windham. There was a delay of up to an hour for 911 calls to be routed to a backup system. Apparently neither the personnel nor the equipment have changed since the FairPoint takeover. Naturally, this is of great concern to Maine lawmakers. The state pays FairPoint $6.45 million per year to provide 911 services under a 5-year contract previously negotiated with Verizon.

FairPoint’s transition is being supervised by Liberty Consultants, who point out that a number of Verizon employees did not transfer to FairPoint, and that FairPoint has made progress in hiring new employees, but needs to step up the pace. Based on my limited television watching, I can say that they’ve sure spent a lot on their advertising campaign, which seems intended to make me feel better about the sale. I’d feel better if they were spending less on ad campaigns and more on hiring and providing better service. I’d feel even better if my phone bill hadn’t gone up about $10 in the last two months.
The delay in the cutover means a delay in the rate decrease FairPoint had planned for August. Some $18 million in rate cuts had been negotiated, which would mean an approximate cut of $4.50 per month for residential customers and $6.00 for businesses. I can’t help but wonder how many other customers have already experienced the same rate hike I have, which apparently I’m supposed to forget about when (and if) I receive a rate cut of approximately half of the rate increase I’ve already experienced. The rate cut will be retroactive to whenever the cutover takes place.

We all know that the economy is bad. Unemployment is at record high levels, and people are scrambling for the low wage jobs that seem to be the only ones available. The cost of energy, and everything else is skyrocketing. When the Verizon FairPoint sale was being negotiated, naysayers (like me) warned that a small company taking on huge debt would be raising the rates and providing less service. The handwriting already seems to be on the wall before FairPoint has even taken over. I’m guessing that customers will drop FairPoint like a hot rock, and then what? As they lose customers in a shaky economy, our whole telecommunications system in NH will be in jeopardy.

I still don’t understand why this sale was allowed to happen. I attended several hearings. There was little testimony in favor of the sale. There was great opposition to it. Many state legislators opposed the sale. The consumer advocates opposed the sale, at least in the beginning. Still, apparently FairPoint/Verizon were able to grease enough palms to make it happen, despite all of the evidence that pretty much guaranteed that NH would become a dead end on the information superhighway. Without the investment in communications infrastructure, NH will fall behind the rest of the country. Without a national commitment to invest infrastructure, the US will continue to fall behind the rest of the world.

“I hate to be the one who told you this, but I told you so.” Larry Birkhead

picture from NHIndymedia

We've Come a Long Way, Baby

On June 4, 1919, Congress approved the 19th Amendment, (also known as the women's suffrage amendment) and sent it out to the states to ratify.

Women fought for over 70 years to gain the right to vote. Susan B. Anthony devoted her life to the movement. Elizabeth Cady Stanton began working for suffrage, and later moved into all areas of women's rights - while raising 7 children, at a time when there were no washing machines, computers, or telephones. She wrote at least 6 books, and innumerable pamphlets, periodicals, and other statements. These women were partners in the suffrage struggle, yet neither lived to see women get the vote.

Alice Paul was a leader in the last push toward the vote, heading the National Women's Party. Other suffrage groups at the time were focused on lobbying for individual states to give women voting rights. The NWP chose to lobby for a constitutional amendment. These young firebrands were not beloved by the women who had dominated the suffrage movement for decades. The women of the NWP had a huge suffrage parade on the day before Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration, hoping to take advantage of the expanded media presence in Washington. The parade was disrupted at several points by angry mobs. The police turned a blind eye to the violence of the mob. It is interesting to note that most men thought that women should stay home and be cherished little darlings, yet had no compunctions about beating them up in the streets.


In January of 1917, frustrated at Wilson’s unwillingness to promote (or even discuss) a constitutional amendment the women of the NWP began a silent demonstration in front of the White House. The daily picketing continued for two months, regardless of the weather. On March 4, over 1,000 women marched around the White House, on the eve of Wilson’s second inauguration. In April of 1917, the US entered WWI. By summer, the picketers began to encounter resistance. Demonstrating during wartime was considered an outrage, (my, how history repeats) and so the women began to be beaten, harassed, and arrested. Once again, the police ignored the violence against the women. Guantanamo Bay was not an option at that time, so the women were sent to a prison in Virginia. They demanded to be treated as political prisoners, and when their demands were ignored they went on a hunger strike. Alice Paul was put in a psychiatric unit (in an attempt to discredit her) and force fed three times a day. Word of the torture these women were undergoing did get out to the media, and traveled around the world, tarnishing the US reputation in other countries. Again, history repeats. After enough stories of torture and ill treatment were leaked the public pressure became strong enough that the women were released, and Wilson decided to support the suffrage amendment. (This a very condensed version of the story.)

We’ve seen two historic presidential campaigns over the last 16 months. Barack Obama is not the first African American to run for president, but he is the first to become the nominee of one of the two major US political parties. Senator Hillary Clinton is not the first woman to run for president, but she is the first to be viewed as a serious contender, the first to nearly win her party’s nomination. Considering that a little over a century ago women were the property of men, this is a huge leap forward toward equality.

Senator Clinton was often the subject of media sexism. There were endless comments about her appearance, her laugh, her tears, and her voice. The party who had the shrillest candidate of all – Ron Paul - dared to call her “Shrillary”. There were the Hillary “nutcrackers” for sale. The fear created by a powerful, ambitious woman is astonishing. On the other hand, sometimes gender worked in her favor. Clinton was not subjected to endless lapel scrutiny or ruthless questioning about her ongoing lack of a flag pin. Her church affiliations were ignored completely by the right wing corporate media – a media that seemingly embraced and supported her candidacy.

Now, we’re being told that angry Clinton supporters, feeling their candidate didn’t get a fair shake because of her gender, plan to vote for McCain. The mind boggles. We’re supposed to believe that angry feminists will cast a vote for a right wing Republican who has a terrible voting record on women’s issues and will most assuredly nominate more fascist activist judges to the Supreme Court to ensure his stated goal of overturning Roe v. Wade? I have a hard time believing that is even an option – that women would cut off their noses to spite their wombs. Any woman who is considering that should get out her copy of “The Handmaid’s Tale” and re-read it.

I was often badgered about my failure to support Senator Clinton’s candidacy, and told on more than one occasion that it was my duty to vote for her, because she is a woman. I responded by pointing out that women my age worked hard for equal rights for women, and that by rejecting Senator Clinton as just another candidate I could not support, I was giving her the compliment of treating her as an equal. That said, I hope I live long enough to see a woman elected president, and I’m sorry I was unable to support Senator Clinton. I was unable to support ANY primary candidate who voted to authorize the use of military force in Iraq. I was unable to support a candidate who voted for the Patriot Act. My ovaries go into the voting booth with me, but they don’t hold the pencil.

I’m grateful to Senator Clinton for her candidacy, and paving the way for the next woman to run. We’ve come a long way, baby.


“I've always met more discrimination being a woman than being black.” Shirley Chisholm, Congresswoman and presidential candidate.

For a detailed chronology of the National Women’s Party: http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/suffrage/nwp/detchron.pdf

Drowning in Failed Policies

We are all feeling the pinch of the failed Bush economic policies of the last seven years. Unemployment is on the rise, and so are food and energy costs. The sub-prime loan crisis is causing record numbers of foreclosures. Working families are in desperate need of relief. This administration has been on a borrow and spend war spree that is destroying our nation’s financial stability, and plunging us so deeply into debt that it will take generations to dig our way out.

It is disheartening to see the NH GOP ready to repeat the same mistakes that have gotten us to this point. Congressional candidate John Stephen recently brought Grover Norquist, of the Americans for Tax Reform (ATR) to NH, so that he could sign Norquist’s pledge against raising taxes. This was a staged tableaux, since Stephen actually signed the pledge in November of 2007, according to the ATR website. Former Congressman Jeb Bradley signed the Norquist pledge in February 2008. Senators Judd Gregg and John Sununu, Jr. have also signed the pledge.

Grover Norquist is most famous for saying, “ My goal is to cut government in half in twenty-five years, to get it down to the size where we can drown it in the bathtub.” This is code for cutting spending on just about everything except defense. We’ve seen the results of that shrinkage - in the failure of the levees around Lake Ponchartrain, in the aftermath of Katrina, where residents did not require a bathtub in order to drown. We saw the results in the collapse of the bridge in Minnesota, which came about because repairs were put off - to save money. The repairs and rebuilding will cost more than the upkeep ever would have. When we choose to pay the pound of cure, it’s a sign that our spending priorities are out of alignment. Federal spending on domestic programs has been shrinking, even as federal spending on defense has skyrocketed. As we borrow billions to fund the war in Iraq, we neglect our own national infrastructure. In addition to risking American lives, this jeopardizes our economic future.


Americans For Tax Reform is a lobbying group that is funded by lavish contributions from special interest groups and conservative foundations. The ATR served as a conduit for funds that Jack Abramoff’s clients donated in order to secretly fund grassroots lobbying campaigns. Norquist’s goal is to eliminate taxes on the wealthy. The Bush tax cuts were a move in that direction. Most of us understand that with taxes we pay for things like roads, bridges, fire and police protection, and education. These are some of the benefits we reap in a civilized society, but they aren’t free. Most of us are willing to pay our fair share, and we think that everyone should, including those who happen to be financially fortunate. Norquist and the GOP leadership are not interested in fairness or equal taxation. They don’t care if the middle class has to pick up the tab - they just want to ensure that the rich don’t see the bill. Warren Rudman, himself no liberal, had this to say about Norquist: "Americans for Tax Reform is a wonderful-sounding name. As far as I'm concerned, it's a front organization for Grover Norquist' lobbying activities."


There’s a distinct lack of solutions coming from GOP leadership. They continue to advocate the same economic policies that failed the last three Republican presidents. Albert Einstein defined insanity as “doing the same thing over and over again, expecting different results.” What we need are some new ideas and solutions, and a collective return to sanity. Instead, we have John Stephen embracing Grover Norquist, who said when he was in NH, “We consistently don’t have a revenue problem, we have a spending problem.” This is the same mantra used by the NH GOP for generations - the mantra that left us with dams about to burst, and bridges about to collapse. The NH GOP loves to invoke the image of families sitting around kitchen tables going over their budgets. They fail to point out, however, that when there isn’t enough money to meet basic needs, someone’s going to have to take a second job to bring in more money.

Stephen also invokes the name of Meldrim Thomson at every opportunity, which seems a curious choice. Thomson was a “colorful” conservative governor, who wanted to arm the NH State Police with tactical nuclear weapons after the first big anti-nuclear protest at Seabrook. Given that all protestors had to go through non-violence training in order to participate, this seemed somewhat extreme. Thomson dressed in military fatigues and flew by helicopter to the site of the Seabrook nuke in order to personally order the arrests of 1400 demonstrators in 1977. Thomson flew NH flags at half mast whenever he felt the urge. NH officially mourned the signing of the Panama Canal Treaty and the official US recognition of Communist China. Thomson used NH State troopers as his personal drivers, and often ordered them to pull over and arrest drivers who were speeding on 93. Looking back at Mel Thomson, it’s clear that he transcended the category of mere eccentric, and was actually pretty crazy. Thomson is an interesting choice for a politician seeking to create his own political image to ally himself with.

Thomson won election in the 1970’s on the same platform Stephen is trying to win on “no new taxes.” That’s a real problem for Republicans. Recycling the same old tired slogans for decades is not new, innovative, or interesting. Jeb Bradley is running is first attack ad against incumbent Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter. In the ad he says that in 2006, NH voters wanted change, but this (Shea-Porter) “isn’t what WE had in mind.” I don’t remember Bradley being interested in change in 2006. In fact, he was very pleased with the Bush status quo. The only change he was in favor of was privatizing Social Security, which put him squarely at odds with most of his constituents. The same old GOP tired mantras about guns, abortion, gays, and taxes are meaningless at a time when NH families are facing frightening financial insecurity. We need solutions, not recycled versions of the failed policies that have brought us to this point.


“We are trying to change the tones in the state capitals - and turn them toward bitter nastiness and partisanship.” Grover Norquist

(Picture from campusprogressive.org)

Out of State Interests

Late last month, NH’s junior Senator, John E. Sununu, Jr. published an editorial in the Union Leader, NH’s own Republican newspaper. Sununu waxed poetically about NH’s admirable record for protecting our water, air, and land. Luckily he didn’t pat his own back too, far, since his own environmental record is less than stellar. His reason for writing, however, is that he’s miffed at the Sierra Club, of whom he says, “I don’t endorse its Washington-based approach of lawsuits and partisanship.” Apparently the Sierra Club is trying to stop some timber harvesting in the White Mountains. One wouldn’t know that from reading Sununu’s editorial, however. He states that the Sierra Club is trying to stop timber harvesting, a calculated move to ensure that the average UL reader reads ALL timber harvesting, without him actually saying so.


Senator Sununu is running for re-election in 2008. He is running against former Governor Jeanne Shaheen. We last saw this same election matchup in 2002, the year of the infamous GOP phone jamming incident. Governor Shaheen was endorsed recently by the Sierra Club, which has the GOP in a tizzy. I don’t remember the Sierra Club’s endorsement of Charlie Bass in 2006 as generating any GOP commentary. Our very own local state Representative Gene Chandler had a letter to the editor in the Conway Sun this week, and that same letter was sent out to (the erroneously named) Foster’s Daily Democrat. Chandler went on at great length about out-of-state interests making decisions for NH, the subtext, of course, being that Shaheen is the tool of the aforementioned out-of-state interests. The implication is of course that conversely Senator Sununu is not a tool of out-of-state interests.

That, of course, would be incorrect. Take a trip to opensecrets.org and find out where Sununu’s campaign funds are coming from. HINT: not NH. Over 75% of Sununu’s contributions come from out of state. They come from places like Washington (that place of lawsuits and partisanship), New York, Houston, Maryland, and Virginia. His top contributor is the Club for Growth PAC. The Club for Growth is so firmly entrenched in reality that there’s a commentary on their website saying George Bush may turn out to be a top economic forecaster. Other contributors include FMR Corp, an investment and wealth management company, Citigroup, Goldman-Sachs, AT&T, and Verizon. The top four industries who have contributed to Sununu’s campaign thus far are: Securities and Investment, Insurance, Leadership PACs and Lobbyists.

Senator Sununu has said that he wants to see more research on climate change before he joins the rest of the world in recognizing that there is such a thing. Thousands of scientists around the world have issued reports saying they believe humans are contributing to climate change. Sununu isn’t buying that. He says we need to put more money into research to understand how different greenhouse gasses affect long-term global temperature. Gary Hirshberg of Stonyfield Farms was quoted in 2007 as saying, “At this point there are only about three people on the planet who are denying that humans are heating our planet. Two of them are in the White House, and the other one is Senator Sununu.”

Senator Judd Gregg has acknowledged he seriousness of climate change, pointing out that overwhelming scientific evidence cannot be ignored. Sununu has said that he supports making all cars and light trucks meet fuel-efficiency standards - yet he’s consistently voted against increasing CAFE standards both as a Senator and a Congressman. In 2003 he voted against the Climate Stewardship Act, which would have created a cap-and-trade program. Gregg voted for it.

This regressive viewpoint puts him squarely at odds with most of his NH constituents. In 2003, 2004, and 2005 he voted against bipartisan proposals to reduce greenhouse emissions. In 2006 he opposed cutting carbon emissions, saying the environmental impact would be minimal but the costs to business would be substantial. After Hurricane Katrina, he voted against a bill that would have made gas-price gouging a federal crime.

Senator Sununu voted with George Bush 90% of the time. In early December 2007, he voted against a modest increase in LIHEAP funds, which would have eased the burden of heating costs for some NH families over the course of this long NH winter. He chose to side with out-of-state interests, rather than represent the in-state interests he’s supposed to be concerning himself with.

At the Carroll County GOP Lincoln Day Dinner, a thank you letter (and bumper sticker) signed by Henry Mock, was handed out, thanking Sununu for voting against “higher energy taxes.” The vote mentioned was not about higher energy taxes, it was about removing $13 billion in taxpayer subsidies to the oil and gas companies. The money would have been used to create renewable energy incentives and 3 million green jobs. It was a part of the tax package on the Energy Security and Independence Act. Sununu cast the deciding vote against it. He’s received over $210,000 from the oil and gas lobby, including a contribution from Chevron the day of the vote.

Governor Shaheen is currently ahead of Senator Sununu in the polls. Senator Sununu is in danger of losing his job. He’s supported an extremely unpopular president (22% approval ratings) 90% of the time. He’s been a strong supporter of the war in Iraq. He’s told businessmen in Concord to stop complaining about the high costs of health care, because nothing can be done about it. At every opportunity, John Sununu shows us just how out of touch he is with the voters of NH. He’s doing real well, though, with those out of state interests.


"The right to be heard does not automatically include the right to be taken seriously."  Hubert Humphrey, on lobbyists

The ad pictured at the top was done by the Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee

more on FLDS breeding and indoctrination camp

Half of Sect's Teen Girls Have Been or Are Pregnant

SAN ANGELO, Texas (AP) -- More than half the teenage girls taken from a polygamist compound in west Texas have children or are pregnant, state officials said Monday.
A total of 53 girls between the ages of 14 and 17 are in state custody after a raid 3 1/2 weeks ago at the Yearning For Zion Ranch in Eldorado. Of those girls, 31 either have children or are pregnant, said Child Protective Services spokesman Darrell Azar. He didn't specify how many are pregnant.

"It shows you a pretty distinct pattern, that it was pretty pervasive," he said.

and later in the same article:

Of those 463 children, 250 are girls and 213 are boys. Children 13 and younger are about evenly split -- 197 girls and 196 boys -- but there are only 17 boys aged 14 to 17 compared with the 53 girls in that age range.

So - teen girls are being raped and impregnated by old men who tell them if they don't submit, they'll burn in hell. And, in order to ensure the old bulls don't have any competition, they're systematically thinning the boy herd after puberty. These boys are kicked out - taken to cities and dumped there - told they don't have families any more. They have no money, no education, and no life skills. They've never been out in the secular world. Over 400 Boys Excommunicated

Still, I keep reading that we must respect their religious freedom. I just don't seem able believe that rape is a mandate from God.

"It's like having the Taliban right up the road from Vegas, and no one pays any notice." ~ Jon Krakauer author of Under the Banner of Heaven

A short film by Thomas Elliot of Fresh Produce Media: Damned to Heaven

Subsidizing Polygamy

The reason given for the US invasion of Iraq in 2003 was that Iraq had weapons of mass destruction. We all remember the oft-invoked image of the “mushroom cloud.” After a few months it became quite obvious that there were no WMDs to be found. That’s when the story started to change. One of the later justifications for the invasion was “liberating the women of Iraq.” There were a few speeches where George and Laura got all choked up talking about what those poor burka clad women had endured, and how wonderful the US was to liberate them. We all felt warm and fuzzy, bringing democracy to these women from a culture that was alien to us.


A pity we’ve never had the same concern for women in our own country. For over 7 decades we’ve turned a blind eye to the polygamist sects that flourish in the western part of the US. Polygamy is against the law, but the law is seldom enforced. The revelations of sexual abuse by clergy within the Catholic Church shocked the nation. When this came out into the light, suddenly we began to have a national dialogue about pedophiles. This paved the way for some small concern to develop for the children of polygamy. It’s been slow to build, and given that the victims are only women and children, it may be short lived.

The Church of the Latter Day Saints officially renounced polygamy in 1890. Prior to that, plural marriage had been sanctioned, and begun, by Mormon founder Joseph Smith, who married at least 33 women. The joys of plural marriage were saved as a reward for especially saintly men within the church. The practice continued after Joseph Smith was killed. Brigham Young had 55 wives. Plural marriage became an accepted practice, in fact, it was neccessary, the Mormons said, to gain entrance to heaven. In 1890, when faced with the possibility of being kicked out of Utah, the Mormons decided polygamy might not have been a mandate from God, after all.

This change in doctrine was not accepted by everyone within the LDS. Some groups of polygamists splintered off to continue the practice. They were excommunicated by the LDS - and became what we now call the FLDS, the fundamentalist offshoot of the LDS. These are the folks who were living on the compound that was recently raided, in Eldorado, Texas. Their prophet, Warren Jeffs, is in prison for his role in arranging marriages between his adult male followers and teenaged girls. Teen girls are married to men old enough to be their fathers. They are raped by the old men, and begin their new lives as incubators and drudges in a home of many wives and children, all of this done in the name of God. Heaven forfend we should interfere with the religious freedoms of rapists and abusers.

Not only have we ignored polygamy - we’ve subsidized it. The US taxpayers are helping to keep those giant families afloat. Since polygamy is against the law, the men of the FLDS marry one woman legally, and the subsequent “spiritual” wives can apply for welfare benefits and food stamps. The 3 major outposts for this particular FLDS sect are the YFZ compound in Texas, and the towns of Hilldale, Utah, and Colorado City, Arizona. In Colorado City, approximately 33% of the residents are on food stamps. Only 6.7% of the population uses food stamps in the rest of Arizona. They may also receive state child care provider benefits, so that one wife can be paid for taking care of another’s children. This is the FLDS strategy known as “bleeding the beast,” a Norquistian way of saying they will take advantage of the government and taxpayers whom they despise. This is a very wealthy sect, and one that wields considerable power. Don’t let the sobbing women in the granny dresses fool you - they are kept deliberately uneducated about the real world, but the men of the FLDS are building a huge financial empire, and with that comes clout. Federal pork visits the polygamist communities (where few non FLDS members live). Colorado City was the beneficiary of $2.8 million for an airport that serves only FLDS members.

The leaders of this FLDS sect have been paid at least $1.5 million in defense contracts by the Pentagon. The polygamists own three companies that make airplane parts, and other components for the military. The money earned through these business dealings was used to help build the compound in Texas. It is unknown if Warren Jeffs’ name was on any of these contracts. The Pentagon says it does not consider religious affiliation when selecting vendors. This is code for “we don’t research who we do business with.”

Over 400 children were removed from the compound in Texas. There is controversy over whether children should be separated from their mothers. We’ve seen the tearful women tell TV cameras in monotone voices that they are free to leave any time. Don’t believe it. Women are not allowed to leave, and if they are do, they are frequently chased down and brought back. Former FLDS member Carolyn Jessop tells her life’s story in the book, “Escape.” She was brought up in a polygamist family and at age 18, when she wanted to go to medical school, she was married to a 50 year old man, and became his fourth wife. Jealousy was deliberately fostered within the family, that led to constant jockeying for position among the wives and children. Just before her daughter turned 14 (and met the same fate) Carolyn took her 8 kids and ran away from Colorado City in the middle of the night. The women and children are kept deliberately ignorant of life in the outside world, and told that people on the outside are agents of Satan, who want to hurt them. It’s no wonder the investigators in Texas aren’t getting a lot of cooperation. They are trained from birth to be obedient to the prophet and the men of FLDS. It’s all they know. They don’t regard being married to an old man as a crime - it’s simply the way things are.

The problem of balancing the marital needs of the elders with the population of girls is ongoing. To trim the male herd, and keep the post-pubescent girls for the old men, some teenaged boys are kicked out of the cult. They’ve lived their whole lives in a FLDS town, but they are taken to a city and dumped - with no education, no ability to fend for themselves, and no money. They’re called the “lost boys” of the FLDS.

We condemn the Taliban. We condemn fundamentalist Muslims. We have no problem condemning religious practices we object to in other countries - but we’ve turned our backs on these women and children for over 70 years, while we’ve helped to fund their abuse. I wish I didn’t believe that the authorities will eventually try to sweep this under a rug - but they probably will. This time, perhaps the genie will be too big to stuff back into the bottle.


“We should never permit ourselves to do anything that we are not willing to see our children do.” Brigham Young


Read “Escape” by Carolyn Jessop, and “Under the Banner of Heaven” by Jon Krakauer to learn more about the ugly realities of polygamy.

The picture is of Mormon founder Joseph Smith and his family.

Knee Jerk Policy

Drug overdoses killed more people last year in NH than car crashes. NH had 168 overdose deaths, and 129 car related deaths. Of those overdose deaths, 57% were caused by methadone. NH is now tied for 4th place in the nation in methadone related deaths, according to a report released by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

This has become a hot topic of discussion recently, since a company known as Community Substance Abuse has been investigating the possibility of opening a methadone clinic in Conway. Methadone is a synthetic opiate often used in the treatment of heroin addiction. The drug reduces withdrawal symptoms, without giving the same kind of high as heroin. Methadone is also used a pain reliever, particularly in managing long term chronic pain. It has a half life in the body of 24 hours, and it’s cheap compared to Oxycontin or Vicodin. A single Oxycontin tablet can cost $5.50, where a Methadone wafer costs about $0.33.

Heroin addiction is extremely difficult to overcome. Some addicts remain on a methadone maintenance for indefinite periods of time. It’s not the perfect cure, but, it does work for some people. A brave local woman recently wrote a letter to the Conway Daily Sun recounting her experience with addiction and methadone treatment. She’s able to be a mother and a productive member of society, thanks to methadone treatment. Two of our local pharmacists have written letters about dearth of treatment options for the addicted in our area. They both advocate suboxone as an alternative to methadone, but it is considerably more expensive than methadone, and since many local residents don’t have health or prescription drug insurance, it’s not within the reach of the average person. The potential methadone clinic has (if nothing else) opened the community wide discussion about addiction and treatment, issues that most people may not be experts in.

A recent Tele-Talk question asked “How prevalent or severe do you think the drug problem is in Carroll County?” Some of the answers were most illuminating. A number of people pointed out that prescription drug abuse is a real problem here. One caller addressed both the drug and the alcohol problems in the area. There were a few predictable comments about addicts being low income losers, and of course the jolly fellow who seems to think drug users dying is the optimum solution to the addiction problem. There were also a number of knee jerk responses to the possibility of a methadone clinic from callers - mirroring the knee jerk responses of the Conway Selectmen.

I didn’t spend endless hours doing research, but I did spend a few. I was unable to find any correlation between increased crime and methadone clinics. Crow Dickinson went on at great length about how a clinic would attract heroin addicts to the area. He seemed to be giving us his opinion. He did not back up that opinion by citing studies or facts. There are clinics in other parts of the state that don’t report any increase in crime. Mr. Dickinson may have a vast body of expertise in many areas, but addiction and treatment does not appear to be one of them. Most people who go on a methadone program do so because they want to end their addiction. They know they aren’t going to get high. Those who are enrolled in a methadone program take their drugs right there on the premises - there are no needles, and they aren’t wandering off with a bunch of drugs to sell on the street, which are some of the misconceptions that have been repeated by letter writers and Tele-Talk callers.

Dr. Wayne Cunningham had a letter in the April 8 issue of the Conway Daily Sun on the topic of substance abuse in the area. He pointed out that alcohol abuse is the most serious drug problem in our area. He also addressed the need for community discussion and involvement in the problems of treatment in Carroll County. The options for substance abusers are few. Dr. Cunningham expressed hope that the conversation about substance abuse and treatment will continue. I share that hope.

Another letter on this topic came from Daniel Bacon from Conway, who is running for state rep. He believes that addicts bring their problems on themselves, and that traveling to a clinic is a “sacrifice” they should have to make. Addiction has long been classified as a chronic disease, and it’s one with a strong genetic component. It’s not a “lifestyle choice,” which seems to be Mr. Bacon’s thesis. Making people drive hours for treatment may be a suitable punishment in Mr. Bacon’s opinion, but it’s not the best strategy for recovery. Drug addiction (I include alcohol in the category of drug) and the accompanying devastation have affected most families - and has a profound impact on our communities. Addicts can recover, and become successful, productive members of the community. Shouldn’t that be our goal? His emphasis on the “wholesome healthy lifestyle” of the area (repeated several times) indicates that Mr. Bacon is living in a fantasy world that isn’t reflective of local realities. I urge voters to pay a visit to Mr. Bacon’s website; www.danielbacon.net, and check out the My Promise section. He makes two promises about health care - he’ll promote providing “for the special needs for our senior citizens.” (His grammar, not mine) and he’ll “promote the best healthcare needs of our children.” (Again, his grammar, not mine.) It seems he’ll also provide an ill-informed, knee-jerk response on some issues.

I’m not for or against the proposed clinic at this time. I’d like more information before I make a decision. I wish local elected officials would take the time to gather information from experts and study it before shooting from the uninformed lip.

“In this country, don't forget, a habit is no damn private hell. There's no solitary confinement outside of jail. A habit is hell for those you love. And in this country it's the worst kind of hell for those who love you.” Billie Holiday

Buying NH

Lobbyists at the NH State House wear orange badges that identify them as lobbyists. In 2007, there were 252 registered lobbyists. I was surprised at the last hearing I attended to see how many of them were in the room. It was a hearing on water issues, and there were as many lobbyists present as there were citizens. It wasn’t always this way – one might see a lobbyist in a hearing. Now they are everywhere.  

Lobbying is big business in NH these days. According to Nashua Telegraph writer Kevin Landrigan, lobbyists in NH earned $9.6 million in fees last year – a substantial increase over 2006, wherein they netted only $5.4 million. This information isn’t easy to come by. Lobbyists find the NH laws on reporting cumbersome. The extent of disclosure is weak, and NH does poorly on gathering data. We are one of 10 states that do not report which industries spend the most on lobbying. To get information, one must dig through the vast number of monthly reports filed at the Secretary of State’s office.

Big legislative battles last year undoubtedly account for the heavy increase in lobbying fees. There was legislation requiring health care coverage for dependants up to age 26, and covering divorced spouses for a period of time. That brought the health care lobbyists out in full force, with over $1.3 million spent on lobbying. Legislation aimed at limiting the amount of interest charged by payday loan companies brought out the sharks. NH currently has no limits on the amount of interest these companies can charge, and the average seems to be somewhere around 500 percent interest.

A bill to actually weaken NH lobbying laws has already passed the House, and is currently in the Senate. HB 91 would eliminate the requirement currently in place that lobbyists must disclose campaign contributions. Based on how much lobbying money goes into senate campaigns, it seems likely to pass.

NH State Senator Bob Clegg, who is running for Congress in CD 2, is the lobbyist’s best friend. He received over $5000 from lobbyists. Lou D’Allesandro and Betsy DeVries weren’t far behind. Our local senators didn’t rake in the same kind of big dollars, though it’s interesting to peruse those reports and find out where their money does come from. The Secretary of State’s office has this information online. It is fascinating. Senator Joe Kenney received $1,250 in easily identified lobbying contributions – and by that I mean the big lobbying firms in NH. Sheehan, Phinney Capital Group, Dupont Group, Orr and Reno, Devine, Millimet, and Branch, and The Demers Group are names that came up for either or both Senator Gallus and Senator Kenney.

Even more fascinating are the PACs and other special interests. RJ Reynolds, and Glaxo Smith Kline made donations to both Gallus and Kenney. Gallus also received a $200 contribution from New England Payday Loans in 2006. Phillip Morris is supporting Senator Gallus with a $500 contribution in 2007. The lobbyists are already starting to write checks to Gallus in 2007. Senator Kenney’s reporting isn’t as clear – he had no 2006 reports filed under his name. The Friends of Joe Kenney PAC took in a lot of mostly PAC and other special interest money – about $25,000 for the campaign season, and spent it all. In 2007 there are no reports filed for Senator Kenney. Senator Gallus’s reports are clearer. He received many small individual contributions, and he also received a lot of special interest money. Merck, Verizon, Wal-Mart, Pfizer, PhRMA (the pharmaceutical industry’s biggest PAC), and the St. Lawrence and Atlantic Railroad of Quebec are some of the special interest donors. Senator Gallus received almost $34,000 in contributions in 2006. He didn’t spend much of it, as $26, 515.87 was brought forward from the 2006 campaign and rolled over for 2008. In 2008 he already has over $33,000 for his campaign.

One could spend hours looking into this, and we all should. The lobbyists claim that it’s just “good business,” “it’s about being able to be heard.” Most of us can’t afford to purchase those kinds of hearing aids. Our votes still count, and we all still have the right to call our legislators and do our own personal lobbying on our own concerns. We’re all aware of the influence of money on politics on the national level – and now we’re seeing the same sort of trickle down economics at work, in the NH legislature.

Weakening the current lobbying laws so that lobbyists don’t have to report campaign contributions will just make it harder to track those contributions. Those who wish to track will have to go to the reports of each and every legislator. Without lobbying reports to keep them honest an unscrupulous legislator may see this as an opportunity for their own personal corn roast. Having both lobbyists and legislators disclose these contributions is a system of checks and balances that are in the best interests of the voters of our state. The reporting system should be going toward creating greater transparency, not creating more secrecy.

The only way we will ever get away from the pervasive money influence is to initiate public funding of campaigns. When money is taken out of the equation, then we’ll be closer to government for the people and not for the special interests.

I urge folks to call their Senators, and tell them you’re opposed to HB 91. Tell them you think lobbyists should have to disclose all campaign contributions, and for that matter, so should senators.

“The 20th century has been characterized by three developments of great political importance: The growth of democracy, the growth of corporate power, and the growth of corporate propaganda as a means of protecting the corporate power against democracy.” Alex Carey

NH Gets a D+

The Pew Research Center released a report last week, grading states on the efficiency of their governments. NH scored a D+ - the lowest grade in the nation. The report found that NH is particularly weak with regards to our infrastructure, and long range planning. At this point, the 10-year transportation plan will take approximately 22 years to complete. The state has no capital plan. There is no plan for communication infrastructure. For hundreds of years we’ve been told that cheap equals efficient. Apparently that just isn’t so.

Our state government is structured in such a way as to restrict government growth. It’s a good thought – and one that worked okay a century or two ago. The governor serves a two-year term. Agency heads serve four-year terms. Every governor is forced to deal with agency heads that may be completely hostile. A governor has little chance of enacting any reforms. The two-year election cycles apply to all state legislators as well. That two-year cycle does not lend itself to long term planning. The fact that those legislators are paid $100 a year ensures that that many of them are retired, and some quite elderly. I once testified before a committee, my testimony punctuated by the snores of one distinguished fellow, who awoke to educate me about the cost of a Model T Ford in 1940. I appreciate his dedication and service to the people of our state, but I don’t want him on the panel develops a plan for our communication infrastructure needs. We know that some legislators are befuddled by computers and email. Will NH develop a plan for communication infrastructure, or will it be ignored, and put off – like education funding or infrastructure funding?

The state is funded by a variety of narrow based taxes, the heaviest burden being comprised of property taxes. This regressive form of taxation ensures that NH is always in a financial crisis. As long as the state is in perpetual crisis mode, there can be no planning for the future, because monies must be aimed at paying the latest pound of cure for the most recent disaster. Our regressive tax system ensures that the state will never have enough money to deal with important issues like infrastructure. Remember all the talk last year about the sorry state of dams around the state? Think they’ve been repaired in the last year? How will this year’s spring thaw affect those dams?

I’ve just committed NH heresy by criticizing our tax structure. For decades we’ve been told that the only way to have effective state government is to tighten our belts, and make budget cuts. Any criticism of this makes one a “tax and spend librul.” Any criticism of “the pledge” makes one a candidate for burning at the stake. The terms have been defined by the NH GOP – and those terms ensure that there is no honest discussion of how our state government is funded. The pledge is a form of censorship. The pledge ensures that we can’t even talk about it, because if you want to discuss it, either you’re in favor of the underfunded crisis mode state government, or you’re a heretic who wants to RAISE TAXES. It’s been my experience that in order to solve a problem, one has to be able to discuss all of the options for solving it. That seems to work everywhere but NH.

One of the big problems in NH is that we hate change, and we want to do things the way we’ve always done them. This is why we have some duplication in state government. The Dept. of Fish and Game is sinking – hunting and fishing license sales have plummeted. The culture is changing – and shifting away from hunting and toward other forms of outdoor recreation. Occasionally there’s a great outpouring of concern as to how we will continue to fund the Dept. of Fish and Game. No one ever seems to wonder why we should. If Fish and Game isn’t financially feasible any longer, why not downsize it and merge Fish and Game with the Dept. of Resources and Economic Development? The Dept. of Resources and Economic Development already includes Parks and Recreation, Forests and Lands, and Travel and Tourism – so why not Fish and Game, too? This, too, is heresy. To suggest that NH change is just – wrong. There must be ways to honor the past while moving into the future. It’s a pity we aren’t interested in being creative enough to find those solutions, instead of being mired in the way it’s always been.

Former Governor Craig Benson was hailed as a successful businessman who would run our state like a business. We all remember his kitchen table analogy, about living within our means. No one ever dared point out the flaw in his thinking. Envision a business facing steadily rising overhead costs. Will they keep the price of their product the same? Or will the price of their product be increased, in order to stay in business? In NH, the answer to rising overhead is to eliminate revenue sources, while cutting spending – and this is presented to us as a sane way to run a state. It’s the D+ way.

“Always plan ahead. It wasn’t raining when Noah built the ark.” Richard J. Cushing

Peddling Fear and Lies

Last week the American Research Group, Inc released the results of their most recent poll on the US economy. Their polling research found that President Bush’s approval ratings are at the all time low of 19 percent. With ten months still to go, and the US economy in dire straits, there’s plenty of time for him to dip into the single digits, and possibly into negative numbers. The politics of fear and divisiveness don’t seem to be working so well any more.

Most Republicans know this, and do everything they can to distance themselves from the president. The group Americans United for Change personally delivered buttons to all GOP members of the House and Senate a week before the State of the Union Address. The buttons read: “I Am A Bush Republican.” The group urged the legislators to wear them proudly, in support of the president and policies they’ve been voting for. I didn’t see any of them being worn during that giddy event, which seemed to have been preceded by a lengthy open bar. How else would one explain all the standing ovations?

The GOP needs a new marketing strategy. In a year where one presidential candidate is engaging people by talking about hope, they’re still selling fear. President Bush is claiming that we are at risk, because the FISA (Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act) reform legislation, known as the Protect America Act, expired on February 16. The president has refused any efforts to extend or change the expired legislation, unless it contains immunity for telecommunications companies. He threatened to veto a short extension of the FISA reforms. If he believes the Protect America Act to be crucial to our national security – why would he risk it by a veto?

This is really all about shifting more power to the executive branch. The revisions in the Protect America Act would shift wiretapping approval from the judiciary to the attorney general and the director of national intelligence. This is also all about protecting the executive branch. There are over 40 pending civil lawsuits against the telecom companies. If the companies get immunity, the public will lose the ability to learn more about the warrantless spying, and how it has been conducted. That’s the bottom line. The Bush administration is attempting to protect itself, by peddling fear to the voters.

Former NH Congressman Jeb Bradley had an editorial in the Union Leader last week, accusing the US House of Representatives of “playing Russian Roulette with federal wiretap powers.” He cited the heartbreaking story of a young soldier who died because the government couldn’t spy on the kidnappers without establishing probable cause. The old FISA law allows the administration to apply for a warrant, in an emergency, AFTER the surveillance has taken place, a fact Bradley neglected to mention, in his attempt to use the death of this soldier to take a shot at current Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter. Poor Jeb didn’t learn anything from his defeat in 2006. He supported the Bush plan to privatize Social Security. He proudly touted his support for the REAL ID Act. He has consistently supported an administration that has played fast and loose with the US Constitution. The voters of NH found that Bradley was out of step with their values, so they sent him home. Bradley seems to think that beating the same losing drum will help him get elected again, in November.

Nationally, the GOP has targeted a handful of freshman Democrats they wish to oust, and they’ve found a group to run ads in 13 Congressional districts. One of them is NH CD1, where an ad has been running, telling us that our intelligence agencies are powerless to conduct surveillance against terrorists since February 16, when the FISA reform lapsed. The ad is false – propaganda designed to show that Congresswoman Shea-Porter is weak on terrorism. In fact, Shea-Porter voted to extend the law for 21 days so that Congress could work out the problems with the bill, but Bush was against temporarily extending his own legislation.

NH’s junior Senator, John E. Sununu, Jr., a Bush acolyte (voting with him 90% of the time) didn’t wear his “I’m a Bush Republican” to the State of the Union Address. Senator Sununu has shown that he, too, is out of touch with the interests of NH voters. Last year, when speaking to a group of NH businessmen, he told them to stop worrying about health care costs, since there is nothing they can do about them. That’s mighty reassuring, isn’t it? Sununu recently voted against the original economic stimulus package, claiming too many additions to the bill. When the unemployment extensions, and low income heating assistance were taken out, he voted for the bill. The poor, the elderly, and the unemployed are all mighty thankful for Sununu’s vigilance on spending. They know that Sununu, who wants to privatize Social Security and make tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans permanent, has their best interests at heart.

Apparently the GOP inability to learn from mistakes trickles down. Former State Representative Henry Mock had a little tantrum in the newspaper about activists exercising their First Amendment rights in staging an hour-long protest against Sununu last week. Far from being a traffic nuisance, the activists (including myself) were careful to stay on the shoulder, and not block the driveway to the restaurant where the Carroll County GOP were having their annual Lincoln Day Dinner. Despite Mock’s claims to the contrary, there was plenty of room in the parking lot, since the event was far from sold out. Mock came out and took pictures, in what he seemed to think was an attempt to intimidate the group. Far from being intimidated, people seemed willing to pose for his pictures and speak with him, but he quickly headed back for the warmth and safety of the cocktail lounge. Mock was quoted in this paper as saying that Republicans would never participate in such a protest. He’s absolutely right. They’d never stand outside in freezing temperatures to stand up for what they believe in.

“We cannot allow ourselves to be scared into suspending the Constitution. If we do that, we might as well call the terrorists and tell them that they have won.” Representative Silvestre Reyes, in a letter to President Bush.

Torture - the GOP Litmus Test

From Wikipedia: “Water boarding is a form of torture that consists of immobilizing a person on his or her back, with the head inclined downward, and pouring water over the face and into the breathing passages. Through forced suffocation and inhalation of water, the subject experiences the process of drowning in a controlled environment and is made to believe that death is imminent.”

Water boarding came into vogue during the Spanish Inquisition, where it was used to uncover and punish heretics. The Europeans brought it to the new world, where it was used to ferret out witches and punish “scolds” (uppity women who didn’t take orders well from men). Women who were accused of sorcery were immersed in water, and held under, repeatedly, until they confessed or drowned. If they confessed, they were hanged or burned.

In 1947, after WWII, the United States charged a Japanese military officer with war crimes. Yukio Asano was found guilty of water boarding a US civilian, and sentenced to 15 years of hard labor. In 1968, the Washington Post published a picture on the front page, of a US soldier engaged in questioning a captured North Vietnamese soldier. He was being held down as water was poured on his face, and a cloth covered his mouth and nose. The caption under the photograph said the technique induced a sense of drowning and suffocation, intended to make him talk. The US soldier was court-martialed within a month of the photos appearing in the paper. In 1901, a US Army major was sentenced to 10 years of hard labor for water boarding a prisoner in the Philippines, during the Spanish-American War.

Most members of the military are against torture. The results of such torture are meaningless, they tell us – since the person being tortured will confess to anything to make it stop. Some of us watched the confirmation hearings of Attorney General Michael Mukasey in amazement. Mukasey indicated that even if Congress were to ban water boarding, the president might be able to order it anyway, given his authority as president and commander-in-chief. The President seems to be under the impression that nothing is illegal if it is done in secret, so we have the practice of extraordinary rendition (where we outsource our torture work to Uzbekistan) and Guantanamo Bay, where we are now talking about trying and executing some of the prisoners who have been languishing there for years. One of them is Khalid Shaikh Mohammed, who is considered the mastermind behind the September 11, 2001 attacks on the US. Mohammed is often cited as a water boarding success story. In 2006, President Bush informed us of a foiled terrorist attack that was supposed to occur in Los Angeles – but the plot was thwarted. The presumption is that they water boarded the information out of him, and saved the day. The problem is, the plot had already been derailed (in 2002) before Mohammed was captured in 2003.

Retired Rear Admiral John Hutson is the Dean of the Franklin Pierce Law School, in Concord, NH. He is regarded internationally as an expert on military law, as a former JAG. We saw Admiral Hutson at the Mukasey hearings. In 2005, Hutson spoke at the Carnegie Council forum: Ending Torture and Secret Detention in America’s Name. He said, “The great strength of the United States is that for generations our mission has been human rights and the rule of law which embodies everything else that we stand for. In losing our bearings with regard to human rights, with regard to support of the rule of law, we have undermined the fundamental strength of the United States, and we therefore risk losing the war.”

The United States used to consider water boarding a form of torture. It has become a litmus test for the GOP. If you don’t support torture, you can’t be a good Republican. That makes a certain ironic sense, given how they’ve tortured all of us since the 1980’s. In fact, if you don’t support torture, you can’t be president, as John McCain has learned. McCain, a former POW, has been outspoken in his opposition to water boarding and torture. In November of 2007, I sat in a TV station in Londonderry, listening, as Arnie Arneson interviewed McCain. I don’t agree with Senator McCain about much of anything politically, but I was impressed with how he spoke out against the US using torture. He spoke about the history of water boarding, and related the story of how it was considered a war crime by the US after WWII. His principled stance against torture impressed me, and impressed me even more, knowing that he is a member of the pro-torture political party.
That was in November, before he was the presumptive GOP nominee for president. This week, the Senate voted on the Intelligence Authorization Bill, which would require the intelligence community to abide by the same standards as the Army Field Manual, and bans water boarding. Senator McCain has been in favor of implementing the Army Field Manual standards. But that was before he became the likely GOP presidential nominee. When push came to shove this week, McCain voted against the bill, which passed. President Bush has said he will veto the bill. After he does, McCain will have to choose whether or not to stand with the president, or take a stand against torture. His vote on this bill seems to be an indication. The Straight Talk Express just crashed and burned.

“Other than perhaps the rack and thumbscrews, water boarding is the most iconic example of torture in history. It has been repudiated for centuries. It’s a little disconcerting to hear now that we’re not quite sure where water boarding fits in the scheme of things.” Dean John Hutson, in the panel following Muckaey’s testimony at his confirmation hearings.

Putting the Goober in Gubernatorial

Over the last week, we’ve been treated to some very purple prose in the Conway Daily Sun, on the topic of the death penalty. After wading through hyperbole and run on sentences, the bottom line is this: Joe Kenney, State Senator from District 3, is running for governor. No one knows who he is. Filing a bill to expand the death penalty gives him headlines, and name recognition. Filing a bill to expand the death penalty - with NO plan for how to pay for it, in order to achieve name recognition can be called political grandstanding at best. At worst, one might say he is using the families of victims for his own gain. Either way, it ain’t pretty.

NH has a death penalty statute. The last time we executed a citizen was in 1939. Polling data in recent years shows that most NH residents are opposed to the death penalty. In 2000, both the NH House and Senate passed a bill abolishing the death penalty, but Governor Shaheen vetoed it. It is a deeply emotional issue. The families of victims are divided, with some wanting that “eye for an eye” solution, and some wanting justice - justice and an end to the killing. Murdering a murderer doesn’t change anything. It doesn’t bring back the dead, and it doesn’t stop anyone else from killing. It satisfies a very primitive need - the need for vengeance.

Senator Kenney wants to expend the NH death penalty to include murders with multiple victims. He was quoted in this paper as saying, “There is no way that someone should walk into a store in this state and kill three people and get away with it.” Michael Woodbury was sentenced to life in prison without parole. One would be hard pressed to call that “getting away with it.” One could even make the case that life without parole is the worst punishment possible. Waking up each day to face the mind numbing boredom, the daily violence - knowing that you are behind the bars and walls forever, for years and years and years - now that’s cruel. Executing him puts an end to that.

Expanding the death penalty would mean more potential capital cases. Senator Kenney left out the part about how NH will pay for these cases. Right now, the state is looking at a budget deficit that could be $50 million by June, and as much as $150 million by 2009. Where will the money come from to expand and update NH’s death row? Where will the money come from to pay for the prosecution of death penalty cases, and pay for the endless rounds of appeals?

How much will the death penalty cost us? New York reinstated the death penalty in 1995. As of 2003, NY officials estimated that it would cost approximately $23 million for each death row inmate. New Jersey has spent a quarter of a billion dollars in the last 23 years on a capital punishment system that has executed no one, a 2005 report showed. Since 1982 there have been 197 capital trials in New Jersey, that resulted in 60 death sentences. Fifty of those sentences were reversed. There are currently 10 men on death row, at a cost of $11 million a year. A report done by the Tennessee Comptroller of the Treasury found that death penalty trials cost an average of 48% more than trials seeking life imprisonment. The state of Kansas found that capital cases are 70% more expensive than trials seeking life in prison. A 2001 study by the National Bureau of Economic Research found that capital cases are a burden to county budgets, and most counties manage these costs by decreasing funding for highways and police, and increasing taxes. A study by Indiana’s Criminal Law Study Commission found that death penalty cases cost 38% more than life without parole cases. North Carolina spends $2.16 million more per execution than a life imprisonment case. The Palm Beach Post found that Florida would save $51 million a year by sentencing all first degree murderers to life in prison without parole. California spends $90 million a year on capital cases. According to a 2005 LA Times story, the death penalty system costs California taxpayers more than $114 million a year.

The figure of $23-24 million per capital case came up in several states. The argument is often made that it will cost more to imprison a murderer for life without parole, but that isn’t true. The cost of housing an inmate in NH was $31,140 in 2006. (from the Dept. of Corrections website.) Do the math. Keeping a murderer in orange jumpsuits for 50 years will not cost $23 million dollars.

Where will this money come from in NH? Surely even our state isn’t gauche enough to try to fund executions by lotteries, gaming, or gambling, as appealing at the idea of “bowling for hangings” may be. That leaves one option, folks - the property tax. I hope you’ll all tell ole Granstanding Joe how you feel about a dramatic increase in your property taxes to fund executions. Then be sure to tell him how you feel about him preying on the emotions of victim’s families in order to create statewide name recognition for his gubernatorial campaign. Helpful adjectives may include: despicable, loathsome, and abhorrent.

“If we let murderers turn us to murder, we give them too much power. They succeed in bringing us to their way of thinking and acting, and we become what we say we abhor.” Renny Cushing, Executive Director of Murder Victim’s Families for Human Rights, and former NH state legislator. His father was murdered in 1988.


The Death Penalty Information Center is an excellent resource. I used it for some of my research. http://deathpenaltyinfo.org

From Water to Kool-Aid

The recent water wars between Florida and Georgia have caused even some of the staunchest “no such thing as climate change” people to sit up and take notice that water is indeed a finite resource. The water war continues locally, with the Nestle Corporation donning the benevolent local disguise of Poland Spring, attempting to suck our local aquifers dry, so that they can sell our water to the highest bidder.

Some of our local legislators are getting involved. Last week in Concord, I was present for a hearing on HB 1353, An act relative to local control of water resources. This is bi-partisan legislation, sponsored locally by Representative Tom Buco. One of the other sponsors is Rep. Neal Kurk. As I signed in, in support of the bill, I noticed that Rep. Gene Chandler’s name was at the top of the page - against the bill. Being on the same side as Neal Kurk was shocking enough. If Gene Chandler and I were in agreement, surely a plague of locusts would be unleashed upon the Mt. Washington Valley.

The State of New Hampshire is the steward of NH’s water resources. The Department of Environmental Services (DES) makes the decisions about large groundwater withdrawals. They seem to come down (as everything in NH does) on the side of business, so it was no surprise to hear them testify that they wish to continue to maintain their control. There were lobbyists on hand to echo the same sentiments. The lobbyist for Ski NH does NOT want the townspeople involved in the decision making process. Those silly townspeople might eventually rebel at the need for a ski area to suck up millions of gallons of water to make snow in October or November. They could buy into the global warming conspiracy and decide to protect their water supply - and heaven knows, we can’t have that.

Gary Abbot, the lobbyist for the Association of General Contractors supports the perpetuation of DES as the deciding body. He is concerned about who would be making technical decisions - certainly a valid concern. Steve DelDeo, lobbyist for the NH Water Works Association, said that the bill would exacerbate water issues already in place. It’s safe to say, bill or no bill, water issues will continue to exacerbate.

During the course of his testimony, Rep. Kurk said that there must be public input into public policy regarding finite resources. This bill as it is written has some flaws. As it stands, the bill requires an affirmative vote of municipal legislative bodies prior to any large groundwater withdrawal. If 10 towns surrounded an aquifer, or if an aquifer involved one or two states, this could be a real problem. Reps. Harry Merrow and Howard Cunningham both testified that they support the intent, but not the bill as it is currently written.

Willie Farnum was sent to the hearing by the Tamworth Board of Selectmen. He echoed the concerns of Merrow and Cunningham. Farnum also brought up the fact that if towns are not in control of the decision making process, they can incur greater expenses (as did the town of Moultonborough with Castle Springs) which can have profound impact on a community. Farnum said that each community should have the right to say no to a bottling plant. Crow Dickinson of Conway supports the bill, finding it a step in the right direction. He agreed with the others who feel that the bill needs fine tuning. There were about 30 people present for the hearing, including half a dozen folks from Carroll County. Those Carroll County legislators who aren’t paying attention to water better listen up. The control of our water supplies is among the most important issues we face. Water is essential to life - which means that those who prefer to pander to business better think twice. Business may line pockets, but constituents vote you in and they can just as easily vote you out.

The bill was heard by the Resources, Recreation, and Development Committee. This was my first experience with this particular committee, and I was impressed by their willingness to work on this bill in subcommittee, in order to make it workable. This spirit of cooperation guarantees not only better legislation, but better feelings about the process.


Two weeks ago, I wrote an editorial about the “dark side” of GOP presidential candidate Congressman Ron Paul. I wrote: “Heaven help the hapless writer who actually uses critical thinking skills in a story on Paul. Legions of Paul’s cultish supporters show up to tell the writer how wrong he is for trying to hold Paul accountable for his own statements.” That proved to be most prescient. Within 15 minutes of the column being published on my blog, I began to get anonymous emails. By morning I was getting anonymous hate emails, with threats. I wasn’t surprised. I’d seen enough “Paullowers” on the internet to know what was coming.

Jennifer Call wasn’t so lucky. Ms. Call is the town clerk of Sutton, NH. There was an error in the paperwork that was turned in to the state, after the primary. It seems Paul had 31 votes in Sutton, but somehow that number hadn’t been transcribed on to the return sheet. As anyone who has ever participated in the ballot counting process is aware, it can be noisy - and at the end of a long day, mistakes can be made. The error was easily cleared up in the morning, the proper numbers faxed to the Secretary of State - and then the phone began to ring. The Paullowers had decided that Ms. Call was the ringleader in the plot to defraud Ron Paul of his 31 votes. Callers accused her of fraud, of treason, and at least one said she ought to be shot. They pretended to be media, in order to trick her into speaking with them. Most of them were from out of state. They harassed her at home. Ms. Call had to request an unlisted phone number.

The zombies have moved on, undoubtedly off to harass other people in other states. I’ve been wary of judging a candidate by his supporters (as a Kucinich staffer you can understand why) but in this case, I’ve lost all reluctance. This is not an ordinary campaign, this is a cult. Some campaigns become cults - the LaRoucheites, for example. LaRoucheites are extremely annoying, but not menacing. The Paullowers are so righteous in their brainwashed anger that they will threaten anyone who dares to disagree with their leader - and anyone unlucky enough to make a mistake.

“So, I guess when you mix Kool-Aid with bongwater… you get a Ron Paul supporter.” V the K, commenting on the Flopping Aces blog.

The First Civil Union in NH

A friend who is a justice of the peace and owns an inn was performing a civil union at midnight and suggested I drive up to be part of this historic event.

Hart's Location is about 20 minutes away. The inn is on the side of a mountain - and there is no light pollution - nothing but a few scattered homes for miles around. The inn is beautifully lit. I walk toward it, hearing the river to my right, through the stark white birches and the pines. The stars are so bright. It is perfect, so still, and so beautiful.

Inside, there's a fire in the fireplace, and the inn is decorated for the holidays. A reporter from NH Public Television is there - as surprised to see me as I am to see him. He didn't know that I live in the area, or that the owners of the inn are my friends. I didn't know he'd be taping the ceremony. We laugh.

I meet Neil and Jeff, the happy couple - and they are happy. There are no jitters - they are ready for this. We chat for a few minutes, and Neil tells me I look familiar - then he remembers, and asks, "weren't you at that hearing of the marriage commission in Littleton? Didn't you testify? You said you were the kind of heterosexual who gives marriage a bad name?" I hung my head and admitted that was me - and he threw his arms around me and said "We love you - that was so great!"

We all gather in the small living room, by the Christmas tree. Richard (from NHPTV) has the cameras set up. Neil and Jeff have a niece and a friend with them, and a few of the inn's guests trickle in to observe. Everyone is poised - and we begin the countdown to midnight. The new civil union law takes effect on January 1. I'm the timekeeper. As I coundown to midnight, everyone joins me - and after a quick cheer of "Happy New Year, " Ed begins the ceremony.

It is moving, and a little awkward - this is uncharted linguistic territory. There's a brief stumble over pronouns. It doesn't matter - we chuckle and move on. Jeff and Neil are radiantly happy. I forget that Richard is there with a camera. It's a very sweet, warm, and funny service. Ed pronounces them legally joined. They kiss. We all applaud - and we all hug one another.

There is champagne, and toasts, and cake - all of the things one would expect at a wedding. This isn't legally a wedding - but that doesn't change the way it feels. This feels like a wedding - only more joyous.

Civil unions are brand new (2 hrs and 15 minutes old as I write this) in NH. We don't know yet what this will mean for our state. Will this derail marriage equality? What are the legal differences between civil union and marrriage in NH? Will this have an impact on other states?

It's too soon to tell. What I know tonight is this - two people who love each other made a serious commitment to one another in front of friends, family, a handful of strangers, and two Bernese Mountain dogs. That it was two men didn't feel strange at all.

Note: I wrote this in the hours after the ceremony. This has not been published as an editorial in the Conway Daily Sun.

The Dark Side of Dr. Paul

One of my favorite candidates for president this year is Vermin Supreme, who recently donated some of his campaign props to the NH Political Library. He was wearing sparkly silver underwear over his pants as he made the donation. When asked by the Concord Monitor what he stands for he answered, “I stand for all that is good.” Mr. Supreme also touted his mandatory tooth brushing campaign, his work to promote time travel research, and zombie preparedness. In any election year the real long shot candidates like Vermin Supreme or Lobsterman are more interesting than any of the so-called front runners. Many of us remember (with affection) Pat Paulson’s ongoing candidacy for the White House. Another one of my favorites was Louis Abolafia, who ran for President in 1968 representing the Cosmic Love Party. His campaign literature featured a picture of him naked, asking, “What have I got to hide?” Fortunately none of the current crop of candidates are likely to emulate Abolafia. Some of us are still recovering from the 2003 pictures of Wesley Clark in a Speedo.

That was the year that Howard Dean dominated the internet, and used it to shake loose millions of dollars in contributions. This time, Republican candidate Ron Paul is the internet king. His supporters are everywhere on the internet. Heaven help the hapless writer who actually uses critical thinking skills in a story on Paul. Legions of Paul’s cultish supporters show up to tell the writer how wrong he is for trying to hold Paul accountable for his own statements. His supporters show up at Meet-Ups wearing pseudo Revolutionary War garb. They have some things in common – most of them are men, and most of them are white. A cursory look into Paul’s campaign finances reveals that 81% of his individual donors are men.

They are often alienated white men who have been hearing all their lives that “gummint bad,” thanks to Ronald Reagan, who used to delight in telling us how bad government was, while he was working diligently to join it. Ron Paul does the same thing. He loves to talk about term limits, though he doesn’t believe in them for himself. Paul loves to portray himself as being different from the Washington insider types. Paul first ran for Congress in 1974. He lost, but was elected that same year in a special election to finish Robert R. Casey’s term. He was not re-elected in ’76, but he was elected again in 1979, and stayed for a couple of terms. In 1984 he ran for US Senate, and lost. In 1988 he ran for president as the libertarian candidate. By 1997, he’d gone back to being a Republican and was sent back to Congress. For a guy who hates the government, he sure has worked hard to get into it. If he’s not an insider, it’s because nobody likes him.

A number of liberals have jumped on the Paul bandwagon, because Paul has been outspoken in opposition to the war in Iraq. He favors a non-interventionist foreign policy, and he’d like to close down some of our military bases in other countries, he’d get rid of the Patriot Act and protect our civil liberties, and he’d like to cut defense spending. If one stops there, he’s a good candidate. No one should stop there.

One reason Paul may not enjoy so much female support is his stance on abortion. He’s an OB-GYN who loves to tell us how many babies he’s delivered, as he touts his pro-life beliefs. He has stated that he would like to see Roe v. Wade overturned. He also thinks that abortion should be a state issue, not a federal one. Depending on what state a woman lived in, she could be forced to serve as an incubator. It is civil liberties he wants to protect. Civil rights are an entirely different story. Paul takes Libertarianism cafeteria style. When it comes to the rights of those who make him uncomfortable (women, homosexuals) he prefers to shunt them off to the states to decide. We might still have slavery, were it up to him.

The dark side of Dr. Paul goes largely unreported. He has ties to neo-Nazis and white nationalists. He’s the only Congressman with a 100% rating from the John Birch Society. Paul received the coveted David Duke endorsement. Who wouldn’t want to be endorsed by a former Grand Wizard of the KKK? One of his biggest internet organizers from Tennessee is a neo-Nazi. Will Williams (aka “White Will”) was the southern coordinator for the biggest neo-Nazi party in the US, the National Alliance Party. Don Black, founder of StormFront.org, a white nationalist website (which features links to the Ron Paul official campaign donation page) made a $500 campaign contribution to Paul. When asked if the campaign would return this contribution, a spokesperson said no. StormFront’s motto is “White Pride Worldwide.” Dr. Paul’s columns are featured in the American Free Press, a publication that focuses on the role of Zionism in US politics. Willis Carto, a Holocaust denier is a regular contributor.

Since 1985, Ron Paul has published a newsletter. It was initially called the Ron Paul Report, and was later renamed the Ron Paul Survival Report. His name is on the newsletter. In 1992, the newsletter published some really offensive statements such as, "Given the inefficiencies of what D.C. laughingly calls the `criminal justice system,' I think we can safely assume that 95 percent of the black males in that city are semi-criminal or entirely criminal.” Paul now denies that he wrote those statements, though he didn’t deny it at the time, he didn’t deny it when asked in 1996 – but he denies it now and blames a staffer.

The Paul cultists would have us believe that he has no control over who supports him, (true) that this is some sort of coincidence. I’d be mighty alarmed, myself; if suddenly neo-Nazis were flocking to me. I believe I’d take some action – like refusing to take their money, and making it clear, loudly and often, that I didn’t support white nationalists, anti-Semites, or bigots. Dr. Paul hasn’t done any of those things.

Perhaps his supporters can turn a blind eye to his racist ties, because he wants to eliminate the income tax. Perhaps their loathing of the income tax can blind them to the fact that Ron Paul, man of science, doesn’t believe in evolution…”it’s a theory, and I don’t accept it, um….as a theory.” They thought he whupped Tim Russert on a recent “Meet the Press” appearance. I was embarrassed for him. He didn’t seem to have any facts at his disposal, wasn’t embarrassed by his ignorance, and became increasingly shrill as the interview wore on. Only dogs could hear the last few answers.

Talk show host Michael Medved posted an open letter to Paul, asking him if he would publicly disassociate himself from these fringe groups. To date, there has been no response.

Under Surveillance

Some high schools have a specific academic focus aimed at preparing students for solid job prospects. In August of 2007, Joppatowne High School in Maryland became the first high school dedicated to the future of homeland security. The Homeland Security and Emergency Preparedness Programs are being funded by federal, state, and local agencies, as well as some defense contractors. The military industrial complex is booming in Maryland, with defense contractors and weapons manufacturers aplenty. The students will choose a track: information and communication technology, criminal justice and law enforcement, or “homeland security science.” Some of the 75 students in this program will receive limited security clearances at the nearby Army chemical warfare lab. Naturally, not all Joppatowne grads will join the intelligence community. Some will certainly end up as hired guns to the “contractors” aka mercenaries currently involved in the US occupation of Iraq. Jonathan Zimmerman, a NY history of education professor said, “the devil lies in whether this is going to be a school for education or indoctrination.”

In recent months, I’ve traveled extensively around the state. I’ve had the opportunity to visit a number of high schools. One school was a fortress. It was unclear where one even entered the building – which didn’t matter so much, since all of the doors were locked. I had to be guided in by a person wearing a lanyard with ID, who brought me to the office, where I was signed in and scrutinized. I was assigned an escort, who had a walkie-talkie. I was the advance person for a presidential candidate visiting the school. I asked to have a small group of students wait outside with signs, so the candidate would know where to enter the building. My request was denied. The students would not be allowed to be outside, “for safety’s sake.” This particular school is not downtown, or in a densely populated area – it’s out on a huge, remote parcel of land. Teachers all seemed to carry walkie talkies, and some were engaged in tracking down some students who didn’t appear to be doing anything other than being students, late for class. I asked one of the teachers about all of the security measures – had they ever had an incident? She said no, they hadn’t, but "this is the way things are since Columbine."

In contrast, another public school, one located in a more downtown area had students waiting outside for the advance team, and later for the candidate. The campus was more open and a lot friendlier. The students at Lockdown High were disinterested, and reluctantly asked very standard questions. The students at Friendly High were fully engaged, and asked better questions than any you’ve heard in any debate so far. Is there a correlation between the level of security and the level of curiosity and education? Sure seems like it.

It has been disturbing to read the reactions to the recent Big Impressive Random Search at Kennett High School. The prevailing attitude seems to be that all kids are presumed guilty, and therefore should not object to being searched to prove otherwise. The Bush administration has done a fine job of programming the populace to be fearful. We are told “if you aren’t guilty, you have nothing to hide” as a means of justifying illegal searches and wiretaps. Now our students are being programmed in the same way. In the name of achieving some sort of nebulous “safety” the student’s lockers and cars are being searched. Were the belongings and cars of teachers, staff, and administrators searched, or are only students “unsafe?”

In the years since 9/11, many of us are subjected to indignities that are supposed to keep us safe. Bored airport security people sometimes look in the trunk of my car. They don’t paw through the contents of the trunk, just open and look. We must take off our shoes, our coats, empty our computer bags, send our belongings through machines at airports – where we must throw out our chapstick if it doesn’t have a baggie to travel in. This isn’t protecting us from anything – it’s merely theater developed to provide the illusion that we are being protected. I am on an airport watch list. Every time I fly, I am taken out of line to be wanded, felt up, and X-rayed, along with all of my belongings, both carryon and checked luggage. I am not a terrorist. I’ve never spoken with a terrorist – at least not that I’m aware of. I don’t make many overseas phone calls, and the ones I do are to the UK. Somewhere, somehow I was put on a list, probably because of my political beliefs, or maybe it was the purchasing of Near East Rice Pilaf. That handy discount card you use at the supermarket gathers information about you, and that information can be accessed by Big Brother (and was, after 9/11), in the name of “national security.” I’ll never know – and I’ll probably never get off the list. Average citizens are not allowed to find out anything about these watch lists, which are protected from those who would question, in the name of “national security.”

We are a nation under surveillance. Many of the folks who responded to last week’s TeleTalk question in the Sun do not even question the need for all of this security any more. By teaching our kids that they have no rights, that their property can be searched at any time, we are indoctrinating them into the future, where they do not question domestic wiretapping and warrantless searches. They will parrot the mantra, “If you don’t have anything to hide, you don’t have anything to fear.” They will learn that they have no rights, and that they are always being watched. They will be perfectly groomed to take their place in our brave new world of the unending “war on terra.” There is no need to teach critical thinking skills to the cannon fodder of the future.

“There is no telling how many wars it will take to secure freedom in the homeland.” George W. Bush