LTE's from Undergrounders

[CNHT]

I am 2 out of 3.
Printed today:

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/REPOSITORY/603080362/1029/OPINION03

Very good Chris! No point in railing on any 'party' as I always say, government IS the problem! Period!

[Dave Ridley]

Sent this to the Sentinel

With regard to the state legislature's bill which would ban smoking in restaurants:   I hope our reps from the Keene area will vote against it.   If the state can decide what you put in your body in a restaurant that you own, then the state is to some extent running your business.   How good is the state government at running a business?  How much is it going to cost taxpayers to enforce?

Speaking of business...what is with these restaurant owners (some of them) who favor a government-forced smoke ban but still allow smoking in their restaurants because they don't have the guts to enact a no-smoking policy of their own?  How unimpressive is that?

Personally I like nonsmoking restaurants better but let me make the choice, not Concord or any government. 

[Atlas]

I am 2 out of 3.
Printed today:

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060308/REPOSITORY/603080362/1029/OPINION03

Very good Chris! No point in railing on any 'party' as I always say, government IS the problem! Period!

Nice!

[Dave Ridley]

Here's a Union Leader article I think I may respond to...

although maybe i should write another lte about russell and kat

Prime cut: Halve the premiums tax

Friday, Mar. 17, 2006

CUTTING THE state?s insurance premium tax in half is a risky proposition, but one worth taking.

The state now charges insurance companies a 2 percent tax on all insurance premiums they collect. For any insurer based in New Hampshire, that tax is charged not just in New Hampshire, but throughout the country. As it is in effect a nationwide tax, it brings in serious money. If you?re an insurer, however, it takes away serious money.

Insurers consider a state?s premiums tax when considering where to locate their headquarters. The difference in a fraction of a percentage point can mean tens of millions of dollars for a company. If New Hampshire drops its rate from 2 percent to 1 percent, as House Bill 678 would do, its rate would be lower than that in 46 states. That would provide a powerful incentive for insurers to move to New Hampshire.

On Wednesday the House Ways and Means Committee approved the bill by a vote of 16-2, even though it would reduce state revenues by an estimated $32 million in the short run.

Wisely, the committee was more concerned with the long-run implications of the bill. Estimates of how many insurers would relocate to New Hampshire if the bill passes vary. An independent review by Ernst & Young reached lower numbers than an insurance industry study did. No surprise there.

If other states lower their rates, that might weaken the impact of a lowered rate in New Hampshire. But insurers are unpopular, and with states looking to raise more and more revenue from sources other than general taxes, it seems likely that more states would increase their rates over time rather than cut them. New Hampshire would be in a very enviable position if that happened.

Let?s cut this tax rate and closely watch what happens. Right now the state budget is in surplus, so it is a good time to take the gamble. If the benefits fully materialize, then the state brings in more jobs and more revenue than before. If fewer jobs than projected arrive, the rate can always be nudged back up, though it won?t be necessary to bring it all the way back to 2 percent. Either way, it?ll be a jobs-producing tax cut.

[Fluff and Stuff]

Here's a Union Leader article I think I may respond to...

although maybe i should write another lte about russell and kat

Prime cut: Halve the premiums tax

Friday, Mar. 17, 2006

CUTTING THE state?s insurance premium tax in half is a risky proposition, but one worth taking.

That was pretty good.  Would you write a LTE saying you agree with it?  I'd write on something else if I was you, but it is all about what they will publish.

[Dave Ridley]

(This is for publication, if you wish)

Dear folks at the Union Leader:

With regard to your Feb. 9 article "Two arrested as protesters gather," I have an update.  As you reported then, Manchester police arrested two Keene residents for carrying signs and refusing to be herded into a "Free Speech Zone" during President Bush's last visit.   The demonstrators, Russell Kanning and Kat Dillon, declined to plea bargain at their initial hearing.  So in the absence of schedule changes, their "Free Speech Trial" will be at 8:15 a.m. on April 5 at Manchester District Court, 35 Amherst St. 

They make this sacrifice so you don't have to.  But you are invited to a demonstration in their support, which will occur outside the courthouse at that time.   Details are at NHfree.com, or you can call me:  603.721.1490.

Gandhi said "non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty."  Manchester police, like the British troops Gandhi faced down, are not evil persons.   But the practice of arresting individuals-  simply for carrying a political sign in a public area where everyone else was allowed to be -.that practice *is* evil.  It constitutes an assault upon one of the few freedoms Americans have left - the freedom of expression.  New Hampshire officers should have no part in it.

[Dreepa]

From Pat McC in today's CM.

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060321/REPOSITORY/603210352/1029/OPINION03

[Tunga]

Good questions from Pat.

Seems like the woman feels the rest of us should be supporting her kids. Everyone is entitled to 1.2 kids along with a free education and health care. Plus a car, free gas for that car and a college education if they whine enough. Right?

[Dreepa]

Also... for you out of towners.
It looks like the CM posts letters from out of towners on Sunday.  You might want to submit late Wed or early Thursday.

[Dreepa]

And another one from me:

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/REPOSITORY/603230336/1029/OPINION03

That makes 3 printed out of 4 sent.

[CNHT]

And another one from me:

http://concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/REPOSITORY/603230336/1029/OPINION03

That makes 3 printed out of 4 sent.

Wow you beat met to it! I was just going to post..
http://www.cmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060323/REPOSITORY/603230336/1029/OPINION03

Did anyone see mine this past Sunday in the UL?

[CNHT]

(This is for publication, if you wish)

Dear folks at the Union Leader:

With regard to your Feb. 9 article "Two arrested as protesters gather," I have an update.  As you reported then, Manchester police arrested two Keene residents for carrying signs and refusing to be herded into a "Free Speech Zone" during President Bush's last visit.   The demonstrators, Russell Kanning and Kat Dillon, declined to plea bargain at their initial hearing.  So in the absence of schedule changes, their "Free Speech Trial" will be at 8:15 a.m. on April 5 at Manchester District Court, 35 Amherst St. 

They make this sacrifice so you don't have to.  But you are invited to a demonstration in their support, which will occur outside the courthouse at that time.   Details are at NHfree.com, or you can call me:  603.721.1490.

Gandhi said "non-cooperation with evil is a sacred duty."  Manchester police, like the British troops Gandhi faced down, are not evil persons.   But the practice of arresting individuals-  simply for carrying a political sign in a public area where everyone else was allowed to be -.that practice *is* evil.  It constitutes an assault upon one of the few freedoms Americans have left - the freedom of expression.  New Hampshire officers should have no part in it.

I just wish the press had not ignored the original reason for their being there...............to wit, the ED CACR was just passed by the House! Hooray!

[Dave Ridley]

Good work guys

One thing that I've discovered is I get more mileage out of a letter if I have some event, action item or information source to which I can point people and keep them engaged after they're done with the LTE .  For instance, "to fight this problem the Monitor has highlighted, we'll have a protest at such and such time, call me at such and such number for details or go to NHfree.com

it also helps more to talk up people and institutions that are good, than it does to attack people and institutions who are bad.  Attacking the evil by name gives them and their ideas free publicity.

I do it too, but it's not the ideal. 

[CNHT]

Another LTE from me, this makes the 3rd I guess:

http://www.concordmonitor.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20060326/REPOSITORY/603260359/1029/OPINION03

Um make that four:

http://www.seacoastonline.com/news/hampton/01312006/letters/85569.htm

I guess I don't even see most of the letters I get published...

[Dave Ridley]

Sent to Monitor

N.H. Senate should fight "Real ID"

Dear folks at the Monitor:

Regarding House Bill 1582, which would place New Hampshire in defiance of the hated Real ID act, history speaks to us.

Near the turn of the last century, British rulers attempted to impose similar, vexatious "identity papers" upon communities in South Africa.   One group, the Indian minority, resisted - led by a middle-aged lawyer named Mohandas Gandhi.  History remembers him as the Mahatma.

Gathering them in a meeting hall - perhaps the closest thing they had to our State House - Gandhi asked members of his community to swear an Oath, pledging that they would not submit to the identity Ordinance and would suffer all of the penalties attached to such peaceful resistance.  He warned them of the risks they were taking.

"...It is not at all impossible," he said, "that we may have to endure every hardship that we can imagine...

"We may have to go to jail, where we may be insulted...Suffering from starvation and similar hardships...some of us may fall ill and even die."

But, he added:  "If someone asks me when and how the struggle may end, I may say that if the entire community manfully stands the test, the end will be near. If many of us fall back under storm and stress, the struggle will be prolonged. But...so long as there is even a handful of men true to their pledge, there can be only one end to the struggle, and that is victory."

There followed a seven-year conflict in which thousands of Indians including Gandhi were jailed, flogged, or even shot, for refusing to register, burning their identity cards and and other peaceful resistance.  But by 1915 they had won.

How much smaller the risks we face in resisting today, and how much higher the stakes, as almost 300 million Americans stand at the edge of an *abyss.*  Authorities are birthing a system that would allow the rise of a police state in America.  This nation, maybe more than you realize, looks to New Hampshire for inspiration and for leadership.  They look to us to say "no" when no is the only moral thing that can be said.

I urge our state senators to say no to de-facto Federal ID, and *yes* to HB1582, which pledges our peaceful non-cooperation with this modern equivalent of a British occupier, Washington D.C.