To the Editor:
Congratulations, Mary. Having reached your twelfth year as an American citizen, you are hereby required to register for the draft. No, not for Military Service, but for the U.S. Female Fertility Service. The mission of our agency is to ensure all unwanted pregnancies, especially those initiated through rape or incest, are carried to term in a manner that protects the life and wellbeing of the developing fetus.
Under U.S. law, should you become pregnant due to an unfortunate circumstance, you will be required to report to the FFS within ten working days for service as a surrogate mother on behalf of the state. During the period of your conscription, you will receive pre-natal counseling, lodging, food, medical care, legal counsel, and other support services as needed. And, as an employee of the state, you will receive a fair monthly wage in compensation for your time. Finally, upon discharge, you will be entitled to a separation bonus, tuition benefits, and follow-up services to ensure a smooth return to civilian life.
Please note that failure to register with the FFS is a felony. Also, failure report your pregnancy or acting in any way to terminate it is, by order of the U.S. Supreme Court, a violation of federal law punishable by life imprisonment.
Naturally, we hope life’s circumstances will never require you to report for active duty. However, in the event you do, know your mission will be to save the life of another human being. We at the U.S. Female Fertility Service believe there is no higher calling.
Rick Littlefield
Barrington, N.H.
Rick:
Can you tell from the prominent placement of this letter how much we have missed your mordant wit?
We only hope that we don’t come to regret having published this. One never knows what humorless authoritarians might get up to, given the opportunity.
If we let them get us to start self-censoring, though, they will have won already.
The Editor
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Another Ewing Flight of Fancy
To the Editor:
There’s no legislative purpose to the January 6 Committee. Its “Report” is a professionally produced TV propaganda extravaganza intended to smear former President Trump and prevent his 2024 re-election as President.
Breaking a 200-year tradition, Democrat [sic] leader Pelosi appointed all committee members, only people who voted to impeach President Trump; the Republican leader’s appointees were rejected. Thus, witnesses know that perjured or incomplete anti-Trump testimony won’t be exposed and that their pro- or anti-Trump claims may impact their treatment by the media, employers, prosecutors, Judges, and juries.
Why wasn’t the Capitol adequately protected? The Committee refuses to investigate why President Trump’s January 2, 2020 offer of 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol was refused despite known threats of violence, expected large crowds, and Capitol Police pleas for help before January 6th.
A veteran ABC “Nightline” producer created the committee’s one-sided TV “Report,” with members reading scripts from Teleprompters. Evidence allegedly condemning former President Trump was cherry-picked from 1,000 witnesses and 140,000 documents. No contrary evidence is provided. No evidence is challenged. E.g., Chairman Thompson’s proven false, inflammatory claim that police died on January 6th defending the Capitol remained unchallenged; only unarmed protestors died at the Capitol on January 6th.
In a jury trial Prosecutor’s opening statements couldn’t be as dishonest as the January 6th Committee “Report;” prosecutors know that Defense Attorneys will expose their omissions and tear their lies to shreds.
The January 6th Committee allows no Republican selected representatives to question witnesses to expose lies and biases, to present contrary and exculpatory evidence or theories, or to expose other misinformation. Under these circumstances every innocent defendant will be found guilty!
The January 6th Committee Report is simply taxpayer funded Democrat propaganda.
Don Ewing
Meredith, N.H.
Don:
We can understand your jealousy, seeing the Democratic Party finally employ a few PR techniques that have come so naturally to Republicans since Richard “The Crook” Nixon first hired Roger Ailes.
Perhaps you have forgotten, but it was Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy who decided to cede the field to Democrats—and the only two Republicans in Congress with any balls.
Your claim that “Trump’s January 2, 2020 offer of 20,000 National Guard troops to protect the Capitol was refused” is, of course, bogus. The source for that claim appears to be Sean Hannity, from whom no one should buy a used car or bridge.
Your whine that “only unarmed protestors died at the Capitol on January 6th” suggests you’ve been listening to Newsmax’s Greg Kelly. His grasp of reality makes Hannity look like Diogenes.
We look forward to hearing your excuses for the thug who tried to grab the wheel of “The Beast” on January 6th, apparently bent on personally leading a violent overthrow of the government.
The Editor
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The Math Doesn’t Add Up
To the Editor:
Electricity rates in New Hampshire are about to double. Readers should ask why.
The following was posted by the New Hampshire Department of Energy: “According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration (EIA), over half of New Hampshire’s electricity generation is from nuclear energy. Approximately 25 percent is generated by natural gas while seven percent is generated by hydropower, six percent is produced by biomass, three percent is wind, 1.6 percent coal, and about one percent from solar.”
While the price of natural gas has increased by two and a half times from a year ago, it is only a quarter of the supply. Has the cost of producing nuclear, wind, hydro, biomass or solar increased?
Isn’t it time Governor Sununu and his handpicked members of the State’s Public Utility Commission represented New Hampshire consumers instead of greedy corporations?
Walter Hamilton
Portsmouth N.H.
Walter:
Do you realize what you’re asking? Utility companies have run roughshod over ratepayers in this state since early in the last century. It should come as no surprise that they do so now.
This is not to say you’re wrong. We, as a people, have just become so accustomed to getting the short end of the stick that we’ve lost the habit of demanding that which is our right.
The Editor
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Calling on Washington and Concord for Gas Tax Relief
To the Editor:
Why are today’s gas prices so high? That’s a great question—to which we’ve seen a variety of answers. Some blame it on corporate greed, pointing to high oil company profits. Others think of it as a supply problem, created by Russia when it invaded Ukraine. And there’s the argument that it’s a demand issue; in our post-pandemic world folks started traveling again, so demand outpaced supply, pushing prices up.
It seems these three factors go a long way to explaining today’s high gas prices. Those who accuse Joe Biden of single-handedly causing this global economic phenomenon overlook these causes. They also dismiss his decision to release a portion of our Strategic Petroleum Reserve as a means of keeping prices from rising even higher.
Taxation is another factor that influences gas prices. President Biden has just called for a federal gas tax holiday. We’re seeing arguments that this is just a gimmick; that oil companies, not consumers, will benefit from such a move. Maybe so. But we could couple a tax holiday with a crack-down on any price gouging that might follow. An anti-gouging bill recently passed in the U.S. House. A related bill, sponsored by Maggie Hassan, is awaiting Senate action. I’d sure like to see Congress approve this legislation—and support the President’s tax holiday—to help lower our cost at the pumps.
Finally, some states have reduced or suspended their own gasoline taxes, but New Hampshire has not. Our Governor and Executive Council, our State Senate and House of Representatives should take action to help us out during this crisis so we can drive to work, get out for groceries, maybe even travel for a summer vacation—without needing to take out a loan every time we fill-up!
David Wessel
New Durham, N.H.
David:
Here’s a random thought plucked out of the aether: what if the Pentagon cut its use of gasoline by about ten percent?
That would free up 1.26 million gallons of fuel per day.
The Editor
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Kick the Republican Bums Out
Dear Editor,
The Supreme Court’s decision allowing states to prohibit abortion is cruel and repressive. Women, and their men, who can’t raise a child are being forced to do so. How does that honor the life of the child?
The Court’s decision to prohibit states from regulating the carrying of guns in public spaces is insane. The Second Amendment is being worshiped at the expense of our children’s lives. How does that honor life?
The Court has become politically partisan because Senate Republicans blocked Obama’s legitimate nominee, Merrick Garland, and installed three of their own ideologues. Republicans continue supporting trump’s [sic] baseless, false claims of a “stolen election” while installing partisans in local voting offices to steal the next election. That is treason against our democracy.
We can repair these threats to our lives by voting Democrat, overwhelmingly, in November.
It’s time to kick the Republican bums out.
Bruce Joffe
Piedmont, Calif.
Bruce:
We’re not going to hold our breath waiting for Merrick Garland to rip off his shirt to reveal a big red “S”.
That said, we’d much rather have seen him on the court than any of the yahoos Trump appointed.
As to your main point, yes, absolutely—it’s always time to kick the Republican bums out.
The Editor
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Cue the Revolutionary Protein
To the Editor,
I was happy to learn the San Francisco-based company Eat Just is planning to build the world’s biggest cultivated-meat factory in the United States. For those who don’t know, cultivated meat is grown from animal cells, without slaughter. The planned facility will have ten 250,000-liter bioreactors, capable of producing 30-million pounds of this revolutionary protein every year.
Despite such amazing progress in the private sector, more federal funding for cellular-agriculture research is necessary to help make cultivated-meat competitive with the price of its slaughtered counterpart. Cultivated meat is better for the environment, public health and animals. Our senators should support this nascent industry, which has the potential to do so much good.
Jon Hochschartner
Granby, Conn.
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Yet More Ewing, Posing as Reasonable
To the Editor:
The Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade (Roe); the lying about the decision has begun. This decision does not outlaw all abortions; according to the New York Times about 87 percent of abortions will be unaffected (the rest will be available in other states). This decision is not anti-democratic; it leaves control of abortions to be decided democratically by the people of each state and their representatives.
Each state’s decisions can evolve as the people consider the related competing interests: a woman’s, the baby’s, and the state’s/society’s. For example, has killing 63 million babies promoted a healthy society and respect for life or does it contribute to today’s high crime, suicide, and drug use rates?
The states where the citizens want the skulls of full-term, healthy babies to be crushed as they are being born will still allow it. States wanting underage, and perhaps molested, girls to get abortions without parental consent, will still allow it.
Most states will probably continue to have laws that are similar to what the Roe decision allowed; abortions will be available for a period of time, typically before the baby could live outside the womb. Each state will decide about parental notification, rape, incest, public funding, healthcare requirements to ensure safe abortions, etc.
Even abortions supporters like Ruth Bader Ginsberg agreed that the Roe decision was poor. Dissenters from today’s decision identify no Constitutional Right to abortion.
Bi-partisan support existed/exists in Congress for a Constitutional, nationwide law enacting Roe. The Democrat leadership’s very radical abortion bill was defeated by a bi-partisan vote.
Nationwide, today’s Supreme Court decision returns abortion decisions to the people and their representatives; abortion in New Hampshire is unaffected.
Don Ewing
Meredith, N.H.
Don:
We can see you’re really trying to appear reasonable here, but your straw man argument is still fatuous. No, all abortions have not been outlawed. Nobody said they had been. It’s clear enough, though, that the self-proclaimed righteous will not rest until they have.
The Supreme Court’s action will have its greatest effect on the most vulnerable among us—poor Black women in the South. Last we heard, that sort of thing went against the teachings of some guy who lived in Palestine a long time ago.
“Each state’s decisions can evolve….” That’s rich. The “States Rights” argument justified slavery and led to a Civil War.
Besides, given recent trends, evolution seems to have been cancelled, while devolution is rising. Haven’t you seen that photo of a grinning Mitch McConnell standing in front of a Confederate flag? Any day now the Heritage Foundation or the American Enterprise Institute is going to crank out a White Paper asking, “Was Chattel Slavery Really As Bad As All That?”
Some of our staff raise an eyebrow at your letters, but we thank you for sending them. You seem to believe in what you write. Perhaps some day we’ll figure out why.
The Editor
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Ms. Cassidy Hutchinson Deserves our Gratitude
Dear Editor:
Chief of Staff Mark Meadows, loathe to cross President Trump, was not responding to the January 6th attack on our U.S. Capitol, according to the courageous testimony on June 28th by Cassidy Hutchinson, who, as top aide, worked more closely with Meadows than anyone else. For those who may have missed it, Ms. Hutchinson showed herself to be first of all proud of President Trump’s accomplishments. She felt “on the team.” As January 6th unfolded, she feared for the safety of Vice President Mike Pence. She overheard Ivanka Trump and one Trump lawyer trying to convince President Trump to call off the attack. Nothing doing, not for hours. Her testimony, with Rep. Liz Cheney questioning her, showed Ms. Hutchinson felt a responsibility to our system of government that Chief of Staff Mark Meadows did not. In testifying, Cassidy Hutchinson, as the hearing chair called it, “showed true patriotism.”
An element new to me is that on January 7th, Trump’s Department Heads were discussing the 25th Amendment of our U.S. Constitution, about removing a President who “is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.” Fifteen cabinet-level departments exist, some being State, Defense, Justice, Treasury, Interior, Commerce, Labor, &c. On the 7th of January, only thirteen days remained in President Trump’s term. These Trump appointees saw the worst on January 6th, including worst Presidential behavior.
The public hearing on Tuesday included images of texts sent to witnesses attempting to intimidate them. This in itself is law-breaking. While the Russian war on Ukraine has my attention every day, and loss of women’s reproductive rights causes dismay too, and more gun deaths in our U.S.A., these Congressional hearings are important duty-being-done regarding our democracy. Our democracy may appear less concrete than war images / loss / cost, and people holding our signs expressing our feelings, and families having to untimely bury their loved ones, but our abstract treasure—democracy—needs noticing and protecting. The January 6th Congressional hearings are about that. Presidential misbehavior matters.
Lynn Rudmin Chong
Sanbornton, N.H.