Dear President Obama,
I have a number of shovel-ready projects which will require a fairly modest amount from the new stimulus package but will, I believe, create a number of jobs in New Hampshire. I respectfully submit my list of requests for your consideration. Before you reject my request before even reading it, I want to offer my credentials as a reliable consumer and person who pays her income taxes to help support the various bail-outs which have occurred thus far on the last President's watch and now on your watch. I also want to offer evidence of myself as someone who is trying her level best to keep the economy going. To wit in the past 3 months:
1. I have just paid for a complete renovation of my upstairs bathroom, pumping about $8,500 into the local economy.
2. I have just booked two week-long trips, helping to support the airlines, and no doubt boosting the economy in each of my destinations.
3. I have recently purchased clothing that I didn't actually need, but thought I could do my part to stimulate the fashion industry and prop up L.L. Bean.
4. Similarly, I have purchased 6 books in the past month, some to give as gifts, but most to read myself. I believe in supporting the arts (in this case a NH writer, a Utah writer and an Italian writer, proving that I am also participating in the global economy).
5. I have purchased new windows for my living room at a total cost of approximately $3500. Here I provided work for a local carpenter and have improved my energy efficiency, therby reducing my dependence on that pesky foreign oil. (It occurred to me today, Mr. President, that if we think the economy has collapsed this year, what will the economic collapse look like when we pump the last drop of oil???)
So, I believe my track record is strong, and I should qualify for my share of the stimulus pie. Here are my shovel-ready projects:
1. Extensive culvert work to channel the e-coli-filled water flowing through my backyard UNDERGROUND. $10,000
2. Clean-up of ice storm downed willow branches: $400.00
3. Removal of my old mailbox post and the 3 tons of concrete in which my ex-husband set it. Removal of an old basketball standard similarly set in 3 tons of concrete: $500.00
4. Removal of the current driveway and replacement with a more eco-friendly material, hoping to eliminate some of the nasty run-off in the basement and the backyard: $10,000
5. Relining of two chimney flues. Really only one needs to be relined, but in the process, they may smash the other one by accident, so I'm including it in my list: $3- 5,000.00
6. Renovation of the downstairs bathroom, making it handicapped accessible, which will make it possible for me to stay in my home when I am ancient, thereby saving the County Home a lot of money, not to mention the Medicaid system: $8,000 minus the cost of the toilet which I have already had installed!
So, Mr. President, my infrastructure would be greatly enhanced by these rather modest, but shovel-ready projects. A mere $32,000 or so should suffice, and compared to the roughly $750 billion available, I don't think my request is too exorbitant. The trickle down effect of this investment would stimulate the local economy, and would make Ronald Reagan proud. I eagerly await your approval.
Sincerely,
Big Red
Wednesday, February 18, 2009
Only in Cow Hampshire
While the Congress debated the stimulus plan, and citizens contacted Congress persons to successfully remove one billion dollars for nuclear weapons (do we need any more??) New Hampshire was undergoing its own budget revolution, announced by Governor John Lynch last Thursday.
Part of the budget for the next biennium includes trying to close a huge budget deficit. Since NH only has a property tax, the bulk of which goes to fund local education, towns and counties, the state has few options for raising revenue. Most of the tried and true methods include raising the cigarette tax, raising the business profits tax and trying to sell more liquor and lottery tickets. Quite the plan, eh? (My personal suggestion has always been to install condom machines in all high school bathrooms and fund state education through the revenue they would generate, but I digress.)
So, it comes as no surprise that really, the only thing the governor can do is cut state expenditures and consolidate state functions and departments. So, I'm sorry to report that:
1. We're apparently not drinking enough in NH and the governor plans to close several "underperforming" state-run liquor stores.
and 2. Our visionary governor has decided to consolidate the State Library and the NH State Council on the Arts (part of the Division of Cultural Resources) with the Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Game Department. I bet you are already imagining how these four agencies are related . . . I remember a painting a few years ago which had dung daubed on it and. . . . well . . . the moose license plates, made by prisoners, are sold to raise money for the Division of Cultural Resources . . . and......beyond that, I'm just speechless.
On the serious side of this, the State Arts Council is suffering a loss of 1/2 its 9 person staff. The Executive Director position will not be funded going forward, and the amount of money the Council gets from the Nat. Endowment for the Arts is a match for the amount of state money funding the agency, so of course that funding will be cut in half as well.
This is indeed a short-sighted strategy. Not only is there a lot of evidence to support the idea that the arts actually generate a lot of money in the rest of the economy, but it's obvious to most of us that the arts feed our souls and help us to transcend our earthly troubles. The arts helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us. And I'm just talking about what consuming the arts can do for us. To be an artist and to produce art is a way to share a personal vision of the world, and to interpret the world to others. Instead of being the first to be eliminated from schools and from state government, the arts should be last. I hope we can find a way to shovel through the b.s. in the Governor's office, and preserve the State Council on the Arts so that they can continue to bring art to schools, communities and individuals.
Part of the budget for the next biennium includes trying to close a huge budget deficit. Since NH only has a property tax, the bulk of which goes to fund local education, towns and counties, the state has few options for raising revenue. Most of the tried and true methods include raising the cigarette tax, raising the business profits tax and trying to sell more liquor and lottery tickets. Quite the plan, eh? (My personal suggestion has always been to install condom machines in all high school bathrooms and fund state education through the revenue they would generate, but I digress.)
So, it comes as no surprise that really, the only thing the governor can do is cut state expenditures and consolidate state functions and departments. So, I'm sorry to report that:
1. We're apparently not drinking enough in NH and the governor plans to close several "underperforming" state-run liquor stores.
and 2. Our visionary governor has decided to consolidate the State Library and the NH State Council on the Arts (part of the Division of Cultural Resources) with the Department of Agriculture and the Fish and Game Department. I bet you are already imagining how these four agencies are related . . . I remember a painting a few years ago which had dung daubed on it and. . . . well . . . the moose license plates, made by prisoners, are sold to raise money for the Division of Cultural Resources . . . and......beyond that, I'm just speechless.
On the serious side of this, the State Arts Council is suffering a loss of 1/2 its 9 person staff. The Executive Director position will not be funded going forward, and the amount of money the Council gets from the Nat. Endowment for the Arts is a match for the amount of state money funding the agency, so of course that funding will be cut in half as well.
This is indeed a short-sighted strategy. Not only is there a lot of evidence to support the idea that the arts actually generate a lot of money in the rest of the economy, but it's obvious to most of us that the arts feed our souls and help us to transcend our earthly troubles. The arts helps us to understand ourselves and the world around us. And I'm just talking about what consuming the arts can do for us. To be an artist and to produce art is a way to share a personal vision of the world, and to interpret the world to others. Instead of being the first to be eliminated from schools and from state government, the arts should be last. I hope we can find a way to shovel through the b.s. in the Governor's office, and preserve the State Council on the Arts so that they can continue to bring art to schools, communities and individuals.
Monday, February 9, 2009
Not in my back yard
I never cease to be amazed by people. Yesterday was a meeting of people interested in participating in a community garden. Though the site was undecided, one of the points of a community garden is to place it IN THE COMMUNITY so people can walk to it and . . . gasp . . . develop a bigger sense of community.
What a good idea, thought I. A couple of years ago I had mentioned the idea of having a community garden on the Tot Lot which comprises about 4 acres in the center of the Faculty Neighborhood, where I live. People I mentioned it to seemed to think that was a good idea. Well, to make a long story short, the Tot Lot seemed to be one of the remaining open spaces in Durham, and a lot of people from my neighborhood responded to the email soliciting interest in a community garden.
So . . . the predictable happened. Word spread about the garden in the Tot Lot (though it hadn't actually been decided) and a host of abutters showed up at yesterday's meeting to protest the siting of a garden there. What? I was really dumbfounded by the strength of the negative response. You would have thought we were planning to place a hog farm in the space.
People were sure that traffic would be a problem for small children in the neighborhood and parking would be another issue. Hello - the garden is for people who live nearby and can walk . . . Well, deer would be attracted to the area . . . (deer are already in the area and a fence would have to be erected.) Well, mice are a problem, because people who care for the garden would just leave produce to rot . . . and on, and on.
The man who convened this meeting (out of the goodness of his heart and because he is concerned about eating local food, sustainability, etc.) finally got it through to people that if that space isn't going to work, for whatever reasons, we will look for another place to put the garden.
I was pretty thoroughly depressed by this discussion, but refusing to give up (predictably) have volunteered to be on the garden planning committee. And as far as I can tell, since the University of NH owns that land, if we discover that it is the best place to put a garden, the abutters may have to suck it up!
What a good idea, thought I. A couple of years ago I had mentioned the idea of having a community garden on the Tot Lot which comprises about 4 acres in the center of the Faculty Neighborhood, where I live. People I mentioned it to seemed to think that was a good idea. Well, to make a long story short, the Tot Lot seemed to be one of the remaining open spaces in Durham, and a lot of people from my neighborhood responded to the email soliciting interest in a community garden.
So . . . the predictable happened. Word spread about the garden in the Tot Lot (though it hadn't actually been decided) and a host of abutters showed up at yesterday's meeting to protest the siting of a garden there. What? I was really dumbfounded by the strength of the negative response. You would have thought we were planning to place a hog farm in the space.
People were sure that traffic would be a problem for small children in the neighborhood and parking would be another issue. Hello - the garden is for people who live nearby and can walk . . . Well, deer would be attracted to the area . . . (deer are already in the area and a fence would have to be erected.) Well, mice are a problem, because people who care for the garden would just leave produce to rot . . . and on, and on.
The man who convened this meeting (out of the goodness of his heart and because he is concerned about eating local food, sustainability, etc.) finally got it through to people that if that space isn't going to work, for whatever reasons, we will look for another place to put the garden.
I was pretty thoroughly depressed by this discussion, but refusing to give up (predictably) have volunteered to be on the garden planning committee. And as far as I can tell, since the University of NH owns that land, if we discover that it is the best place to put a garden, the abutters may have to suck it up!
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
Advice to President Obama
Ethics Rules: Here's the deal, explained to me early on in my teaching career. When you make a rule, you imagine what it will be like if your best kid breaks that rule. Can you imagine yourself enforcing your rule say, for plagiarism, if your most outstanding student plagiarizes a paper?? If you can't imagine yourself enforcing the rule, then modify the rule before you issue it, until you can enforce it for every kid in your class.
So President Obama . . . if you're not going to allow previous lobbyists to serve in your administration, then that applies to everyone. No waivers. Otherwise, you're not really about changing the culture in Washington. You're just changing it when it suits you. Or worse, you appear to be a hypocrite. YOUR lobbyists are o.k., others are not.
While I'm at it. Why should anyone who has failed to pay his/her taxes be confirmed to serve in your administration? Fortunately, Tom Daschle withdrew. But what about Tim Geithner? He's actually going to be overseeing the financial institutions in this country and he couldn't pay his taxes? Turbo-tax failed him. A couple of sharp women were denied offices during the Clinton years and ridiculed in the press because of employing immigrants and not paying social security for them. Is this just about the same old double standard?
I admire you for taking the moral high ground. The question is, can you stay on that moral high ground??
So President Obama . . . if you're not going to allow previous lobbyists to serve in your administration, then that applies to everyone. No waivers. Otherwise, you're not really about changing the culture in Washington. You're just changing it when it suits you. Or worse, you appear to be a hypocrite. YOUR lobbyists are o.k., others are not.
While I'm at it. Why should anyone who has failed to pay his/her taxes be confirmed to serve in your administration? Fortunately, Tom Daschle withdrew. But what about Tim Geithner? He's actually going to be overseeing the financial institutions in this country and he couldn't pay his taxes? Turbo-tax failed him. A couple of sharp women were denied offices during the Clinton years and ridiculed in the press because of employing immigrants and not paying social security for them. Is this just about the same old double standard?
I admire you for taking the moral high ground. The question is, can you stay on that moral high ground??
Recent thoughts
Last week I attended a lecture by former 60s radical Angela Davis. Her lecture was part of a series of events at UNH marking a month of celebrations of Martin Luther King, Jr. I have never seen so many people in Johnson Theater in all the years I have attended concerts, plays, etc. I got there early enough to get a seat in the front row of the back section.
First, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by Ms. Davis. I guess I expected someone way more radical and controversial, and someone more fiery in her delivery. In fact, she was a rambling speaker, apparently scrolling through notes on a laptop on the podium in front of her. After 45 minutes, a buzzer sounded and she said that was her alarm, to let her know when she had reached 45 minutes, so she could end. She proceeded to talk for another half an hour! Her main message: We need to do something about the number of black men in prison.
To my right was a chatty young woman, who was an Oyster River Grad. of 1977. I didn't know her or her family, but she proceeded to fill me in on their entire lives and on the web site created for her class and their reunion. To my left was a man about my age (if you can tell age by hair color) in a dark gray suit. I think he may have been someone in the UNH hierarchy. He held a Blackberry-type device, and though we were asked to turn off all phones, he silenced his device, but checked it obsessively throughout the almost-two hours we sat in the theater. He must have been able to receive email,and he must have been expecting some awfully important messages. Each time he clicked it on, it lit up the whole space around us in the dimly lit theater. I thought he was pretty dimly lit myself.
I'm embarrassed to admit that the minute Angela Davis finished speaking, I joined probably a third of the audience in beating feet out of the stuffy theater, skipping the rather bad music group which had opened the whole event and still had some music to perform at the end. The moment the crowd stepped through the doors to the outside, I was just about the only one who didn't whip out my cellphone and call someone. I walked to the parking lot beside a young man who was arranging a basketball game for 11 o'clock the next night. I marvel at our culture, and the fact that we are so slavishly dependent on our communications devices.
And that brings me to my next random reflection. The changeover to digital t.v. which has just been postponed because millions of Americans might actually be without t.v. for an unspecified amount of time. I wonder about the postponement. Is the government afraid that there might be some kind of revolution if Americans couldn't watch t.v.? Can you imagine outraged citizens marching on Washington? Are they afraid that people might actually start reading if their t.v.s went fuzzy? What would happen if people actuallly started talking to each other in the evenings? Good God! No wonder the government wants to make sure that every last household has the necessary coupon for buying the converter before the switch occurs.
Rise up Americans. Insist on your right to watch t.v. and actually see a picture!!!
First, I have to say that I was underwhelmed by Ms. Davis. I guess I expected someone way more radical and controversial, and someone more fiery in her delivery. In fact, she was a rambling speaker, apparently scrolling through notes on a laptop on the podium in front of her. After 45 minutes, a buzzer sounded and she said that was her alarm, to let her know when she had reached 45 minutes, so she could end. She proceeded to talk for another half an hour! Her main message: We need to do something about the number of black men in prison.
To my right was a chatty young woman, who was an Oyster River Grad. of 1977. I didn't know her or her family, but she proceeded to fill me in on their entire lives and on the web site created for her class and their reunion. To my left was a man about my age (if you can tell age by hair color) in a dark gray suit. I think he may have been someone in the UNH hierarchy. He held a Blackberry-type device, and though we were asked to turn off all phones, he silenced his device, but checked it obsessively throughout the almost-two hours we sat in the theater. He must have been able to receive email,and he must have been expecting some awfully important messages. Each time he clicked it on, it lit up the whole space around us in the dimly lit theater. I thought he was pretty dimly lit myself.
I'm embarrassed to admit that the minute Angela Davis finished speaking, I joined probably a third of the audience in beating feet out of the stuffy theater, skipping the rather bad music group which had opened the whole event and still had some music to perform at the end. The moment the crowd stepped through the doors to the outside, I was just about the only one who didn't whip out my cellphone and call someone. I walked to the parking lot beside a young man who was arranging a basketball game for 11 o'clock the next night. I marvel at our culture, and the fact that we are so slavishly dependent on our communications devices.
And that brings me to my next random reflection. The changeover to digital t.v. which has just been postponed because millions of Americans might actually be without t.v. for an unspecified amount of time. I wonder about the postponement. Is the government afraid that there might be some kind of revolution if Americans couldn't watch t.v.? Can you imagine outraged citizens marching on Washington? Are they afraid that people might actually start reading if their t.v.s went fuzzy? What would happen if people actuallly started talking to each other in the evenings? Good God! No wonder the government wants to make sure that every last household has the necessary coupon for buying the converter before the switch occurs.
Rise up Americans. Insist on your right to watch t.v. and actually see a picture!!!
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