Raison d'etre
A 'reason for existence' for the democratic perspective. A progressive shot in the arm for when your resolve needs a pick-me-up.
 One last day!! The NHRebellion walk to get the money out of politics is ending today, on the 5th anniversary of Citizens United. There will be a rally as the walks from Dixville Notch, Keene, Portsmouth and Nashua converge in Concord. There are indoor and outdoor activities planned - you can see the details at www.nhrebellion.org.
Do you recognize the man in the photo with me? That is Ben Cohen of Ben and Jerry's. He has been walking with us as his group (Stamp Stampede) is working to 'stamp' money out of politics. The NHRebellion walk is primarily to build awareness, but we are also raising some funds to carry the effort through the 2016 Primary and Presidential elections. You can visit my fundraising page here. Basically, the NHR approach is to leverage our First in the Nation primary to ask of each candidate until we get an answer: What are YOU going to do to end the corruption of money in Washington? This is a non-partisan effort, with people on all sides involved. Two years ago it was the second most important issue identified by voters after jobs/economy - and yet, not one candidate talked about it. It is time for that to change!! If you are driving near Concord today and you see the walkers, give them a toot with your horn. Thanks! Not sure where the text from the post on the 13th disappeared to - it wasn't even a Friday the 13th! Anyway, here it is:
Here is something for you to consider while I try to figure out why our County Delegation (our state legislators) have filed a bill to change State Law such that in all Counties in NH - except for Rockingham county - will have money disbursed by the Treasurer at the request of the (elected) County Commissioners... and in Rockingham County it is not the (elected) CC's but the Delegation designee that can authorize disbursements. Convenient that the legislators are moving to remove power from other elected officials and give it to themselves. Watch the Legislative Page to read what I find out. In the mean time, I am sure you will find this as interesting as I did: Did You Know?
Shop locally, stay engaged politically and cast informed votes!! track education bills in nh legislaturehttp://educationbillsnh.org/
You can track all education-related bills here, or sign up for daily (if applicable) emails about bills or topics you select. Almost 70 bills related to education have been pre-filed this year. You can see a comprehensive list here: http://educationbillsnh.org/2015/01/05/education-bills-in-drafting/ In the "Are you kidding me?" category:Curt Schilling says he lost Hall of Fame votes because he is a Republican. Check out this account on the Hardball blog. Not even sure where to start on this one... missing stephen colbert on comedy central?Introducing 1% News Network - the best news money can buy.
"Media experts say that the ideological right will always have a lock on the emotions of fear and resentment, and, that the rest of America will always enjoy a similar monopoly on satire and humor. If this is true, then we should make it our goal to engage as many Americans as possible in the latter, while luring as many as possible away from the former. We’ve observed over the past 30 years how hate-based political content can turn its consumers into reliable voters, activists, and opinion makers. The makers of humorous and satirical political content should do the same." ~ Eric Byler Eric further explains that the 1%NN is a framework in which to explore organizations and causes seeking economic and social justice... and to re-engage an American public that has come to see politics as impossibly corrupt. OK, so its not Stephen Colbert - but the Walmart segment (linked above) and Moral Mondays - the Musical will make you smile. Interesting article from the Washington Post - and of course NH gets a mention.
Republicans in state governments plan juggernaut of conservative legislation For a quicker, interesting read, check out John DiStaso's Granite Reports: So Many 2015 Questions Begging for Answers And you probably don't even need to read beyond the title on this one, but feel free: A House divided: O’Brien appoints own leadership team, may set up separate House GOP office from NH Journal.com. Last year, New Hampshire’s enrollment in health insurance plans offered through HealthCare.gov topped out at 40,262 – more than double initial projections. About half of those people enrolled during the final 45 days of the open enrollment period.
While only one carrier was available on the marketplace in New Hampshire last year, four additional insurance providers have joined to offer plans for 2015. And while some hospitals were not covered through the options offered last year, each of the state’s 26 hospitals is included on at least three insurance networks under this year’s plans. See the Concord Monitor article here. And, you can read about the end-of-year press release from Governor Hassan about the final enrollment in NH Medicaid (NH Health Protection Program) at this Vermont website. There were more than 30,000 enrollments in NH expanded Medicaid through Dec. 31st. Yeah, it takes Vermont to pick up that story... Follow legislation and budgeting in Concord, how our local legislators vote and the bills they sponsor.My resolution is to read the calendars each week, follow the budgeting and voting, and post summaries here. Your part is to follow along. Stay informed. Talk to others, your friends, spouse or neighbors. Talk to each other! Maybe even write a LTE? Why not? Live a little! No need to worry what others might think or say, or maybe that is exactly the reason to write the LTE! In the inimitable words of Taylor Swift, "the haters gonna hate - baby I'm just gonna shake it off!"
Today the new calendars should be out for the NH House and Senate. As they are posted I will try to keep you all updated on this blog. You check the calendars, bill text, roll call votes, etc too - just go to the NH General Court website. Y'all come back now, ya hear? So, there's a Resolution I was leading up to with my last post... then I remembered the Resolution on the home page our Windems site - and they are both important. So, today you get one, tomorrow the other - stay tuned!
Taking the lead from yesterday, here is Resolution #1 - posed as a question: How are YOU going to end the system of corruption in Washington? We had Lawrence Lessig speak at a Windems meeting last year. He laid out the case for why action is required, how it can and will work and why NH is uniquely situated to effect this change. Re/watch his TED talk to get up to speed. His first TED talk is great as well - Lesterland! Same topic, earlier on, more background info on the why and how of this approach - before NHRebellion was on the scene. Now he is working with NHRebellion (www.nhrebellion.org), a grassroots organization to educate and energize NH citizens to engage with the 2016 presidential primary candidates with the exact question posed above. This month, NHR is organizing several walks from the far reaches of the state, meeting in Concord on the 21st. I will be walking three of the four days covering the distance from Nashua to Concord. I have a modest fundraising goal - you can contribute here. You can register to walk one or more days here or to join the event in Concord on the 21st. Why walk? Why not? It raises awareness. Through awareness we educate. |
AuthorA collection of perspectives, quotes, writings, tweets and clips that got me thinking - so I'm passing them along to you ~ Kristi - Windems Chair Archives
June 2015
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