Masthead

Founder: Daniel Fowle (1715—1787)
Published Fortnightly on Alternate Fridays
PO Box 756, Portsmouth, NH 03802
www.nhgazette.com
(603) 433-9898
editors@nhgazette.com

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13 thoughts on “Masthead”

  1. To the Editor:

    Demonizing the opposition and deliberately mischaracterizing complex issues may be “smart” politics and boost cable news ratings, but it’s inconsistent with responsible government and good citizenship. One of the many reasons I believe in Barack Obama is my conviction that we need to restore rationality and civility to our social and political discourse. But when deception and lies threaten to drown out the truth, it’s time to set the record straight.

    What does the Republican Party stand for? Family values? Let’s ask Larry Craig, John Ensign, David Vitter, Mark Foley, Newt Gingrich and Mark Sanford what they think. Democrats aren’t perfect and don’t pretend to be. Like all people, they make mistakes. But Democrats don’t preach morality and family values while secretly committing adultery, hiring prostitutes and soliciting gay sex in airport bathrooms. They don’t campaign on fiscal responsibility while bankrupting the government and the country. They don’t rail against government intrusion into our private lives while conducting an illegal wiretapping program against unsuspecting Americans. And they don’t speak self-righteously of the Constitution and democratic ideals while conducting torture, setting up gulags like Guantanamo and criticizing the rule of law.

    For the past generation the GOP has won elections by promoting welfare to corporate America and the rich, telling ordinary Americans what to be afraid of and then pointing out who’s to blame for it. The GOP is not only the party of obstructionism and fear, it’s the party of hypocrisy.

    In the early 1950s Republican Senator Joseph McCarthy advanced the art of political fear mongering by claiming communists had infiltrated our government and society. His attacks on President Eisenhower and his claim of “a red under every bed” made him nationally prominent. Even though his political success was short-lived, his ruthless use of innuendo, intimidation and character assassination ruined the lives of a great many innocent people. This is how we coined the word McCarthyism.

    Since the Nixon era the GOP has used the “culture wars” to stir up fears and get people to the voting booth. Sadly, they’ve managed to convince tens of millions of voters that people of color, gays, liberals, intellectuals, illegal immigrants and even political activists were destroying the country. In the last decade, Republicans persuaded a majority of Americans that their party did a better job of keeping the country safe, ignoring the fact that the 9/11 attacks happened on their watch.

    While Republicans have recently stated they’re in favor of health care reform, let’s consider their history on the issue. In 1994, the Republicans gained control of Congress and killed Democratic health care reform. They retained control for 12 years until voters got fed up and threw them out in 2006. During this 12-year period, Republicans made no effort to enact health care reform legislation of their own despite having a receptive Democratic president to work with until 2001 and Bush 43 until 2006. Only after recent polling demonstrated that Americans were strongly in favor of overhauling the current system did the GOP “embrace” reform.

    Inventing a boogey man and calling it Barack Obama or “a government takeover of health care” may help win elections and drive poll numbers, but it’s no substitute for committed public service and real leadership. Hate-mongering, depicting President Obama as a Muslim Nazi foreigner and celebrating the assassination of abortion providers on Fox News may energize the right wing base, but it’s irresponsible and un-Christian.

    Serious citizenship in a democracy is not easy. It requires that we be well informed, engaged and willing to challenge our leaders even when they belong to the same political party.

    David B. Munsey
    Exeter, NH
    munsey133@comcast.net

  2. You should find something better to do than publish subversive and treasonous content. It’s not too late to seek employment that may instill in you more realistic values.

    Dave
    Descendant of Edward Colcord of 17th century New Hampshire

  3. Richard:

    We’ll grant you that we find it a bit curious that Ms. Gallace appears to have few concerns other than the cataloging of Israeli mistreatment of Palestinians. But, since the letters we publish are inherently expressions of opinions, we are loathe to impose our opinions on others.

    You accuse Ms. Gallace of mistating matters of fact, and yet, rather than specifically countering these alleged mistatements, you provide counter-arguments. In her eyes, Israel can do no good; in yours, they can do no unjustified harm. We suspect that a face-to-face meeting of the two of you would be much like matter colliding with anti-matter.

    The Israelis did not do much for your side of the argument by approving, during Vice President Biden’s visit, the construction of 1,600 new homes for ultra-Orthodox Jews in East Jerusalem, where the Palesinians hope to some day have their capital.

    The Editor

  4. Ms. Gallace (dis)graces your pages with frequent publication of her irrational misconceptions regarding Israel. She predicates her fantasies upon non-facts which appear never to be vulnerable to corrective comment by your editorial staff. So, for instance, in this week’s fabrication, I see that Gallace refers again to the “illegal occupation” as though constantly repeating this false mantra would make it true. Israel, having endured five failed major Arab attacks, now suffers the burden of trying to maintain some semblance of order amidst a once-again conquered aggressor population whose principle strength lies in its bizarre, 12’th century Islamic clan codes.

    Israel is required under international law to maintain order until such time as a peace can be negotiated and implemented. And Israel is equally required under international law to take whatever actions she can to ensure the safety of her own population. Israel is in full compliance with international law. The various Arab tribes constantly trying to murder her Jewish women and children cannot even begin to claim such lawful behavior, nor can they even pretend such innocent and honorable motives.

    Ms. Gallace also raves about payments we make to Israel, but ignores the origins of that on-going commitment. Noble purpose aside – and supporting the only democracy in the Middle East is hardly a base action – these payments comprise a small compensation to Israel, encouraging her to transfer vast oil reserves in the Sinai to Egypt as part of a comprehensive, putative peace agreement. Egypt got the oil and derivative wealth, yet we still pay Egypt almost $2 billion each year in addition. Would Gallace propose that this is a result of the Egyptian Lobby in Congress?

    Gallace regularly trots out other canards like the “we made war for Israel” tripe. We have been supporting Islamic nations throughout the Mideast for many decades as a bulwark against the late USSR, yet Gallace would have you believe we only support Israel. Nonsense! Did the bombings of our embassy and of our marines in Lebanon escape her notice? Did she miss the bombings of the Khobar Towers, the USS Cole? Has she ever heard that anything unusual occurred in the US on 9-11-2001? Is it within her grasp that perhaps we might have been responding (regrettably, inaccurately, but we’re talking about politicians here) to the repeated aggressions against us which emanate from that violent quarter of the world? Killings and mutilations directed against us by Muslim hordes flow from wild cultural hatred of our secular-democratic traditions and derive from an Islamic dogma which requires true believers to conquer the world and subjugate infidels – that’s us. The Faithful are expected to murder the dhimmi to fulfill the word of Allah, and unfortunately many such maniacs are delighted to obey. Such actions are undertaken for the glory of a depraved theology and the spiritual reward of the fanatical murderer. They have nothing to do with Gallace’s fantasies.

    For Gallace to be encouraged to spew her libels against Israel without even an occasional factual editorial demurrer is a sad reflection on the editorial policies of this paper Your praises of her fabrications are disheartening to those of us who see the facts readily available to those who choose to look. Why is there never any reference to the historical precursors of the present Middle East imbroglio in rebuttal to the misleading representations in your pages? Why are there no corrections to Gallace’s direct mis-statements of fact? Why is there no effort to accurately inform the public, but only this ongoing echo of vile, tendentious, anti-Israel mythology? Is this ignorance or malice? One can only wonder.

  5. 780 WORDS

    AMERICA’S VITAL CROSSROAD

    The United States needs to get out of Afghanistan; after eight years fighting, and with the recent history of Russia’s experience and withdraw, there are more reasons to go than to stay. The fact is, the war cannot be won any more than was the Iraq War won, and for all the same reasons.

    European allies are reluctant to continue their role under the NATO command which, to the extent that the U.S. assumes an ever larger role in what was supposed to be a cooperative effort, NATO leadership declines; shades of Iraq and the Coalition of the Willing which evaporated leaving just Great Britain in support of the U. S. in Basra until they wisely decided to withdraw.

    Today the United States has 130,000 troops in Iraq and intends to keep 50,000 there after 2011 when supposedly all [we were promised] would be withdrawn leaving Iraq fully in control of its own destiny. The intention seems to be that the U.S. will remain in Iraq for decades to come; the real meaning of “winning,” in the parlance of Republican hawks.

    The same appears to be the United States’ intention in Afghanistan. If the president complies with the request for more troops, he will be playing into the hands not only of the military, but also of Republican Holy See whose Evangelists could ask for nothing more. Their purpose, after all, is to regain control of the government by doing what it can to see Barack Obama fail. I can think of no better scheme for doing so than by preventing Obama from fulfilling his campaign promises.

    President George W. Bush spent the U.S. into virtual bankruptcy when he determined – with the advice and encouragement of the Religious Right – to spend what he referred to as “my political capital.” There is only so much wealth to go around; something has to give, and to those of us who believe in the righteousness of President Obama, domestic issues ought to take precedence over external military considerations when the war against terrorism can be fought as effectively by Homeland Security at home.

    It is misnomer to speak of defeat or “losing the war,” when the reason for our being in the Middle East, when the terms honestly admitted, refer more to the struggle for political advantage on the Home Front. The chance that America can reverse the trend of the past depends on the determination of our president to break from the Military-Industrial [Political] Complex of his predecessors. Enhancing Home Land Security would amount to a pittance of the cost of continuing the policies of the last Administration.

    This is not a love-fest in which, as the song suggests, “you can’t have one without the other.” The fact is, the U.S. may lose far more than it might gain if it tries. At best, the cost of removing our military from the Middle East; e.g. Iraq and Afghanistan entirely, will not immediately reduce costs as a result of those incursions, but it will surely be a step in the right direction and be counterpoint to the claim of Republicans that Healthcare Reform is a program his Administration cannot afford – and here’s the rub – because it ought to pay the cost in dollars and lives lost by enlarging the Afghanistan struggle at the expense of Healthcare for all citizens.

    The longer the United States persists in pursuing its misguided struggle to defeat and destroy al Qaeda abroad, the greater will be it its ultimate loss.
    We cannot afford to make the Middle East dependent upon us to control what for centuries has been their way of life. I suspect the Republican Holy See would disagree, but for selfish reasons rather than for the good of our United States. For the truth is, the greatest danger to our democracy is not from without, but from within, and our greatest chance for success will come not from succumbing to the desire to bend nations to our will, but by being an example worthy of emulation, just as we ought to follow the Healthcare example of nations that have already successfully adopted it.

    America is at a crossroad, and the decision of which to follow is critical to its future. It must outgrow the belligerent adolescence of the past and demonstrate to the world at large that it is capable of adult and rational judgment and conduct. President Barack Obama has properly pointed the way: it remains to be seen if his convictions can reverse the course set by Republican and Evangelical adversaries, in the interest of all Americans.

    Kenneth G. Ramey darken1@sbcglobal.net Paso Robles, CA 93446

  6. Vermin Supreme Demands a Recount. Press contact: Vermin Supreme 978-546-1688
    Serious like a Dick Cheney heart attack. crazycircusdogs@yahoo.com
    Republican candidate for president Vermin Supreme joined the chorus of candidates calling for a recount of the New Hampshire Primary vote, today.
    On election night, Mr. Supreme encountered by chance, two, hand ballot counters from the New Hampshire town of Lyndeborough. Upon learning of Mr. Supreme’s identity , the election workers excitedly told him that they were a witness to Mr. Supreme receiving one vote in Lyndeborough. The official town and state vote tallies make no mention of this missing vote.
    “These women were not joking, they appeared quite sincere. They didn’t claim dozens or hundreds of votes. No, they claimed one vote for me in their town, a number that is plausible, and consistent with voting patterns around the state.
    How many other votes of mine may have turned up ‘missing’ due to ‘irregularities’?
    I would have to guess up to five. The real question is how and why something like this could happen. By ,‘irregularities’, I mean some person or persons unknown, simply discarding a paper ballot with my name on it. If true it is an outrage, and an affront to my candidacy, not to mention an indication of greater vote diddling” said Mr. Supreme.
    The Vermin Supreme Campain is asking the Secretary of State, Bill Gardner and the Office of Elections to investigate.
    More as this breaking story develops
    http://www.verminsupreme.com
    http://www.zerohits.com/vermin

  7. SATURDAY 5 JANUARY 2008 — http://www.DCIndependents.org
    TO: New Hampshire Citizens
    FROM: Dennis Moore, Chairperson,
    District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control (DCICC)
    ABOUT: Hillary Clinton and Independent Voters

    Independents Day for Hillary Clinton

    Hillary Clinton’s campaign of inevitability has collided with historical American reality. American voters are instinctively annoyed by pretentious politicians in general, and especially those with a sense of political entitlement. When spin with the wind arrogance is added to the mix, only losing integrity becomes inevitable.

    Sure, America’s electorate is sometimes fickle, blind and gullible. However, we’re never genuinely stupid. Since the founding of our country, inside every American is an Independent activist. Having discovered that Democrats and Republicans are the left and right wings of a rotting bird, the proponents of special interest status quo governance will face future electoral cremations.

    Despite some early dysfunction and distractions, being an Independent voter has increasingly become this century’s best option in national and local politics. Truly democratic common sense governance focused on “We the People” is the core belief of this reemerging political force rooted in our nation’s creation. Autocratic bureaucracies, corporate manipulation, and special interest agendas are the poisons being purged by this century’s patriots of democracy.

    Hillary Rodham Clinton, including several of her Republican contemporaries, has become the iconic political dinosaur trying to function in a world that is rapidly rendering her species extinct. Even the hype of being a woman presidential candidate holds little credibility compared to being the best choice for a more discerning Independent electorate.

    Notwithstanding popular perception, Independent voters network, organize, strategize, and are expanding. New Hampshire, like Iowa, is the tolling bell signaling Senator Clinton’s attention that politics and politricks as usual died when she tried to politically strangle Independent voters in America’s first capital, New York City. New Hampshire’s Independents are a major voting bloc. Despite attempts to revise her rhetoric, the inevitability of Mrs. Clinton presiding in the new capital decisively ends on a unusually warm winter’s day in the “Granite State.”

    ###

    Dennis Moore
    Chairperson,
    District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control (DCICC)
    http://www.DCIndependents.org
    202.441.8528
    dennis@DCIndependents.org, dcindependents@gmail.com

  8. FRIDAY 4 JANUARY 2008 — http://www.DCIndependents.org
    TO: New Hampshire and U.S. News Media
    FROM: Dennis Moore, Chairperson,
    District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control (DCICC)
    ABOUT: Hillary Clinton and Black New York Independents
    540 WORDS (Including Related Text and Video Links)

    Hillary Clinton’s Assault On New York Independents

    As in Iowa, New Hampshire Independents will discover and reassess the little-known ugly truth about Hillary Clinton. The U.S. Senator for New York is no genuine friend of democracy, inclusion, and Independents. Mrs. Clinton’s record of blocking and bashing Independent activists in New York City is well documented. Though she spins her campaign and rhetoric across America to have the appearance of being a proponent of populist and democratic values, New York City’s Black Independent voters know the real deal better than most.

    Ask members of the New York City Independence Party, Independence Party of New York (IPNY), the Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP), and especially 1992 presidential candidate and Independent activist Lenora Fulani. In 2005, Clinton engineered a bogus bigot-bating campaign to have Dr. Fulani eliminated as an executive member of the IPNY State Executive Committee. Though never substantially confirmed or affirmed by anyone, especially Fulani’s many Jewish friends and supporters, Senator Clinton hyped the claim that the New York City Independent activist was an anti-Semite to the state’s Jewish voters. Fulani’s longtime political mentor and CUIP’s veteran political strategist Fred Newman, also Jewish, knew better.

    As one of New York State’s leading national representatives, including her network of state and national political resources, Senator Clinton forced IPNY chairman Frank MacKay and vice chairman Thomas Connolly to dump Dr. Fulani from her executive post before the state IPNY organization was allowed to endorse Clinton’s senatorial campaign. The demonization and attempted termination of Fulani, including the effort to disband New York City’s five-county Independent organizations, effectively was designed to disenfranchise the thousands of very active and mostly Black New York City Independents Fulani represents. Divide, conquer, and win election was Mrs. Clinton’s mission.

    Lenora Fulani and several complainants filed a Voting Rights Act violation case with the New York State Supreme Court and the U.S. Justice Department. Senator Hillary Clinton and former New York State Attorney General Eliot Spitzer, now governor, were also named in the complaint. New York State’s Supreme Court decided in Fulani’s favor, and upheld New York City Independents’ right to fair and equal representation as voters within the state. New York State Supreme Court Judge Emily Jane Goodman stated, “While the Court is not going to speculate on the motive for bringing this Petition now…it appears to be more political than philosophical.”

    The Big Apple’s Independents now have more empowered representation within local and state governance. Lenora Fulani’s potential run for New York City mayor in 2009 will strategically enhance that empowerment. The memory of history and facts, no matter how hidden for present day campaign purposes, have a way of focusing avid and aware voters. New York City’s Independents remember all too well. The once likeable First Lady Clinton of the 1990s is definitely not a truly democratic or electable presidential candidate for 2008.

    Another fact, Independents comprise a major voting group in “The Granite State.” As in past elections, they’ve shown that real change doesn’t mean adding a new flavor to the same recipe, or sustaining a political dynasty. As voters in Iowa and New York City also know, this among other reasons will be the justifiable basis of candidate Clinton’s much deserved demise among New Hampshire’s and America’s decisive Independents.

    ###

    Dennis Moore
    Chairperson,
    District of Columbia Independents for Citizen Control (DCICC)
    http://www.DCIndependents.org
    202.441.8528
    dennis@DCIndependents.org, dcindependents@gmail.com

    RELATED TEXT AND VIDEO LINKS:
    Dr. Lenora Fulani is a developmental psychologist and a member of the Independence Party of New York’s State Committee. She can be reached at 212-962-1699 and 212-609-2800, or Lenora_Fulani@yahoo.com
    Fulani Can Be The Boss In 2009
    http://www.observer.com/2007/fulani-can-be-boss

    Fulani Ban Nixed – NY Daily News, Tuesday, August 15, 2006
    http://www.nydailynews.com/news/2006/08/15/2006-08-15_fulani_ban_nixed.html

    Fulani’s Victory
    http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/?p=1881

    New York State Supreme Court Decision
    http://blogs.timesunion.com/capitol/wp-content/uploads/2006/08/Goodman%20dec1.PDF

    Court Rejects Independence Chair MacKay’s Effort to Disenroll Fulani, Newman and 100+ Party Members
    http://grassrootsindependent.blogspot.com/2006/08/new-york-court-rejects-independence.html#links

    Group Calls for Clinton/Obama Debate in Harlem
    http://www.independentvoting.org/activistcenter/ClintonSharptonCutoffDebate.html

    Independent Politics in a “What’s Next?” World – Dr. Lenora Fulani
    http://www.independentvoting.org/FulaniKeynote.html

    Black America Goes Independent
    http://www.independentvoting .org/activistcenter/blackAmeric a.html

    Independents File Voting Rights Complaint with U.S. Justice Department
    http://www.independentvoting.org/activistcenter/And_Justice_for_All.pdf

    Who Decided Hillary Is Best for the Black Community – Protest March Video
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GC0zxTHZWmw
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xpk4MYZPLKE&feature=related

    The New York Observer on Lenora Fulani
    http://www.observer.com/term/24247

    New York City Independence Party (Manhattan, Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Richmond)
    http://www.ipnyc.org

    Independence Party of New York
    http://ipny.org/index.html

    Committee for a Unified Independent Party (CUIP)
    http://www.IndependentVoting.org

    “Queen” Hillary’s “Courage” or What’s Laughingly Called Principles in the Democratic Party
    by Jacqueline Salit, CUIP Political Director
    http://ipny.org/QueenHil.html

  9. Servicemen support the Constitution

    Our bureaucrats and politicians encourage us to support our troops yet they fail to recognize a candidate that has more support from the servicemen and women than all other candidates from any party. Ron Paul has dedicated his entire career to defending the documents that protect the people, The Bill of Rights, and the U.S. Constitution. His unwavering stance is easily verifiable as he provides a library of his speeches and articles going back ten years. The media and the Republican Party establishment are not rallying behind this man because he does not fit into the pocket of big business. His constitutional stand would require big business to return to a true free enterprise system where they must compete in the marketplace with creativity and innovation instead of parasitically manipulating our government to subsidize them with taxpayer’s sweat.
    With regard to the other candidates, the only experience Hillary has is Bill and he has already served two terms. Obama has Oprah and her charitable works I respect immensely, but American generosity would provide charitable support if we didn’t have to work until June supporting politicians. Huckabee uses the cross, so did the current president, his works so far have not been convincing. McCain, I had respected until he turned a corner and fell in line with the current administration. Romney with his hundreds of millions of dollars can identify with less than 2 % of the population. Please consider Ron Paul and vote in the primary election.

    Sincerely,

    Scott Kossack
    Grantsburg, Illinois
    618-949-5046

  10. Dear John Francis Lee,

    I agree with you on most of your points about those “other candidates”, and feel that Dennis Kucinich is also a viable alternative.

    As for those who disagree with leaving Iraq, please form a line at the nearest recruiting center! If you are going to talk the talk, then pony up and walk the walk! BTW, I did my 4-1/2 years during the Vietnam war.

    M. Mouris

  11. Dear James L. Campbell,

    I certainly agree with your appraisal of the Vietnam and the Iraq wars, but I’m afraid you’ve been hoodwinked by Barack Obama. Obama has been bought by the military-industrial complex :

    “To renew American leadership in the world, we must immediately begin working to revitalize our military. A strong military is, more than anything, necessary to sustain peace.”

    The Neocon Kagan, author of the escalation of the war in Iraq dubbed the “surge”, is a great fan of Barack Obama.

    No, they are all bought. There are two candidates who represent change : Mike Gravel and Ron Paul. I am strongly for Mike Gravel and think that you will be too if you reject the churlish attitude of the MSM and investigate what the man is really standing for. Ron Paul scares me in that he is a fundamentalist Xtian who would marry church and state, but he is against the wars in the Middle East and that is the overriding issue at this point.

    None of the other candidates has any credibility at all when it comes to ending American imperialism, the root cause of our disastrous decline at the beginning of this new American century.

  12. Letter to the Editor,

    Forty years ago, I was a 20-year-old U.S. Marine serving in a war zone in a foreign land. I was told that our leaders had decided that it was important that we kill the enemy there so that we wouldn’t have to kill them here at home. Our leaders are wise, we were told. They would never make a decision that might be wrong. We were morally right in being there and our actions were justified. Events happened that I knew were not right. I was told that in war innocent people get in the way and if they get hurt or killed, that is something that unfortunately happens in war.

    Today, not a day goes by that I do not feel shame or regret for what we did to some of those people. I feel pride for having been a U.S. Marine but at the same time I feel anger and shame for having been misused and misled by our elected leaders. I see the same thing happening today when I see reports of innocent people being killed by people wearing the flag of our nation sewn on their shoulders, when a bomb goes astray, when a grenade is mistakenly tossed into a room, or when a car does not slow down quickly enough to allow a state department convoy to pass.

    My soul has been tarnished and I see this happening to all of us because we continue to allow these things to happen in Iraq. This is just part of why I now support Barack Obama. He had the good judgment to oppose this war from the beginning, as did I, and continues to use his good judgment to oppose it today. He understands that we are tarnishing our soul as a nation and that we must make our leaders stop this war and when he is elected he will begin to repair the damage we have done to our nation and ourselves.

    James L Campbell
    US Marine Corps
    Vietnam Veteran
    Barack Obama Supporter and Volunteer
    10 Mechanic St
    Gorham, NH 03581
    603-466-5643

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