Another Democratic Win in Formerly Solid GOP-NH Turf!

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Tuesday September 26, 2017 · 8:03 PM PDT

2017/09/26 · 20:03

Rockingham 4 (Auburn-Chester-Sandown) is one of the NH House Districts — and it’s a very conservative area. No Democrat has been elected here (as a Democrat*) in a century.

Until tonight.

There was a special election to fill a seat vacated by death. Kari Lerner stepped up to run her first race (because we need to contest everything). And she ran hard, bringing all her experience in working on other campaigns to the table.

About 1800 votes were cast — a good turnout for a special election with only one position being voted on. And Lerner won by 39 votes. This is a really noteworthy victory, and the state GOP will be crapping itself over this.

Congratulations, Kari. It was fun, and we’ll be doing it again!

* Another Democrat did win a seat here for a term some years ago; however, she was listed among the Republicans on the ballot due to a printing error.

Taxes & Human Psychology: a small proposal

ogre

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Monday November 12, 2012 · 5:17 PM PST

2012/11/12 · 17:17

Presuming that a progressive tax system makes sense--and I firmly believe that it does--the problem seems to be that it's easily misrepresented and confuses people.

Talk about raising taxes on the rich, and you have the GOP frothing at the mouth, lying to people, suggesting that everyone is going to be taxed at that rate, and acting as if the marginal tax rate applied to everything.

It's relatively complex (which is why the flat taxers can appeal to people--it's "simple" and it's "fair" -- which I don't agree with; it's so simple as to be simplistic, and fair is an assertion that suggests that identical treatment is fair, in a situation where people and their incomes are anything but identical).

So what do we do to make it easier for folks to understand and support?

ogre

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Saturday December 25, 2010 · 10:46 AM PST

2010/12/25 · 10:46

Quick backdrop: I grew up with two Democrats for parents. My first political memory is walking precincts with them -- for RFK. Not too long after that, my father ran for a seat in the House of Representatives (in a highly gerrymandered district; he lost--but did better than any Democrat did there before him, or for many years afterward). His parents were Democrats as well and my grandfather was a union member who paid his dues even when unemployed during the Depression.

The idea of being a Democrat runs in my veins. But it's the end of the year, and I'm feeling contemplative.

ogre

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Friday July 31, 2009 · 11:04 AM PDT

2009/07/31 · 11:04

I just got an email--as many others did, no doubt--from Chris Dodd, announcing that he's been diagnosed with an early form of prostate cancer.

And that he'll be having it tended to, very soon, and that the prognosis is very good, and that he'll be back at work and....

Below is my letter in reply.

ogre

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Tuesday May 26, 2009 · 12:27 PM PDT

2009/05/26 · 12:27

The proposition was upheld. Yes, it's hateful. Yes, it's immensely infuriating and saddening that it passed, and that it was upheld.

I'll be out there this evening mourning and protesting too.

And yet, Joe Hill's words ring in my mind; Don't mourn, organize.

It's unjust. It's wrong. And the simple facts are that the only people who can--and will--fix this now are us.

So here's what I propose:

ogre

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Thursday October 16, 2008 · 1:30 PM PDT

2008/10/16 · 13:30

Several days ago, my wife and I came home from supporting the local GLBT Coming Out Day event--part of a group of churches showing that there are plenty of faith communities that support and embrace this community. She'd been speaking to one of the No on 8 organizers and was really, really pissed off at the huge funding of the Yes campaign by the LDS Church.

When we got home, I was instructed to go and make a donation to the No campaign--and when I asked how much, was told "$1500." That's the largest donation we've ever made to any political cause, and we'll feel it. It's staggering, because I'm the one that usually makes donations... and she chooses to not really ask how much (partially because I always start answering with "It's cheaper than moving to Canada..." and she doesn't probe after that).

But since she donated that much without consulting, I think I can...

ogre

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Tuesday June 17, 2008 · 7:44 PM PDT

2008/06/17 · 19:44

Unitarian Universalists in San Diego County (and I suspect throughout California) rallied today to celebrate Equal Marriage being a reality. We gathered at the county administration offices where marriage licenses are issued and marriages performed to support and celebrate those getting licenses today.

I couldn't get there this morning; my wife had a hell of a schedule and I had to take one son to a dentist appointment. I'm told there was a rush at and shortly after 8 am at the San Marcos office. I got there at 1 pm.

There were no protesters. None. There weren't any at any time during the day. There were a couple sheriffs (and cars) there, but they had nothing to do (other than to gently and politely point out that we were blocking one sidewalk at a time when we were with three couples at the same time and in the process sort of spilled out over the whole walk).

ogre

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Monday May 19, 2008 · 6:02 PM PDT

2008/05/19 · 18:02

Five years ago, I wasn't a member of the Democratic Party.

My earliest overtly political memory is walking a precinct with my parents for Bobby Kennedy. My father ran for Congress in the next election, an aerospace engineer whose living came from the defense industry... running against the Vietnam War, and in what today we'd call a red district--a gerrymandered district that more or less ensured a Republican would win.

And that's what happened. Though dad did well--better than any Democrat had in that district--the district ensured a GOP win. Still, I learned a lot, traveling with my father and listening to politics being talked at home.

I never lost those values. But sometime around 1990, the Democratic Party no longer really represented them, as far as I could tell. I left.

ogre

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Friday March 28, 2008 · 7:56 PM PDT

2008/03/28 · 19:56

Not much of a diary. I admit it.

Sue me.

But this was simply too good to just drop into an open thread.

ogre

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Thursday December 13, 2007 · 12:16 AM PST

2007/12/13 · 00:16

Cross-posted at Street Prophets.

You just knew... with the insane fulminations of Radio Rwanda and the rest about the horrible War on Christmas, that sooner or later, real people were going to get hurt.

You know--some shop clerk, forced to say "Happy Holidays" or "Seasons Greetings," would snap and gun down a store full of frazzled secular humanists, screaming "Jesus is the reason for the season!" (actually, it's axial tilt, but... never mind) Or some schlub would wish someone he was holding the door open for a "Merry Christmas" and be brutally assaulted, beaten within an inch of his life, and abandoned--only to be shoved into the gutter by some hard-hearted Jesus-hating Jew or Muslim.

But no.

ogre

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Sunday November 25, 2007 · 10:32 PM PST

2007/11/25 · 22:32

The injury and injustice that the "Don't Ask, Don't Tell" (DADT) policy of the military (imposed on it by Congress) has done is pretty well recognized. It ranges from good patriotic gays and lesbians who seek to serve their nation being hounded from the service to the illegal harassment of straight folk who are falsely accused, to gays and lesbians who would be--and would like to be--good soldiers, sailors, aviators and Marines being steered away from military service.

The vast majority of progressives would like that policy to be done away with, and for our gay and lesbian brothers and sisters to be permitted to serve in the Armed Forces in exactly the same way, under the same rules, as the rest of us.

The truth is that time is on our side. Society's views are changing (with frustrating slowness, but steadily). Because of Bush's War, the military is so desperate to make its recruitment numbers that it is dropping standards on who it will let in (both in terms of education and criminal past), and also dropping its standards for keeping people in--behavior which would have resulted in discharge a decade ago is being effectively ignored now.

ogre

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Tuesday November 06, 2007 · 4:05 PM PST

2007/11/06 · 16:05

You may have gone and helped clear and rebuild.

You may have sent what money you could.

You may have railed at politicians about what happened (and what hasn't).

Here's something you can do, and it'll take you just over a minute.

Watch this.

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Another Democratic Win in Formerly Solid GOP-NH Turf!

Taxes & Human Psychology: a small proposal

Why I'm a Democrat (but might not be...)

Dear Chris...

Prop 8--An invitation to action

Challenge: Donate and Endanger My Marriage...

One Wonderful Afternoon (Equal Marriage Support Experience)

An Open Letter to Clinton Supporters

The Final Word on Obama's Funny Name

At Last: Casualties in the War On Christmas!

Taking Down Don't Ask, Don't Tell.

So You'd Like to Help New Orleans?