The New Hampshire Gazette, Volume 257, No. 2, October 19, 2012

Vol. CCLVII, No. 2 October 19, 2012

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The Fortnightly Rant

Dawn Comes to Marblehead The longest-running war in American history is not being waged in Afghanistan — it’s happening right here in “The Homeland.”

The Bad Old Days President Richard Nixon declared war on the news media more than forty years ago. The term “war” is slightly hyperbolic, we’ll admit — but only slightly.

When President Nixon’s “Plumbers” weren’t busy bugging Democratic headquarters and wiretapping journalists’ phones, G. Gordon Liddy and E. Howard Hunt were plotting to murder journalist Jack Anderson.

Thanks to a vigilant hotel guard and a couple of diligent reporters, the snarling Richard Nixon was finally driven from the White House in disgrace; and for a few short years it seeemed as if the news media had won.

Phase Two Then came smiling Ronald Reagan, scheming Newt Gingrich, and their plump, nerdy sidekick, the arch-propagandist Frank Luntz. Through the perverse application of Luntz’s marketing expertise, Republicans were able to develop a whole new strategy: don’t fight the news media, control the medium: fight language itself. Convince people to vote for your party — and against their own interests — by calling things what they are not.

Total War Successive waves of religious fervor in the early 19th century led historians to call western New York State “the burned-over district,” because there were not enough unconverted people left to sustain another revival. Successive waves of Republican misrepresentation have turned the

nation’s political dialogue into a burned-over district.

Given the blasted post-Bush terrain over which he is fighting, Mitt Romney knows that to win the White House, merely abusing our common language will not suffice. He’s got to escalate. And the only way to do that is to sever the last remaining connections between reality and what comes out of his mouth.

This theory is a tremendous stretch, we admit. But how else can one explain the Romney/ Ryan ticket’s apparent determination not to utter a single thing that’s actually true?

Don’t Like That Lie? I Have Others …

Romney claims his tax plan can extend the Bush tax cuts for the wealthy, cut all tax rates by another 20 percent, and eliminate the capital gains, estate, and alternative minimum taxes, all without adding to the deficit or raising taxes on the middle class. After careful study and analysis, the non-partisan Tax Policy Center concluded that there is no way the plan could perform as promised.

The Romney campaign countered by claiming that “no fewer than six independent studies have confirmed the soundness” of the plan. Except, as Bloomberg’s Josh Barro explained in a detailed 2,000-word article, they were mostly blog posts, not “studies,” and they failed to refute the Tax Policy Center’s conclusions.

“Pre-existing conditions are covered under my [health care] plan,” Romney insists. Yes — provided you have health insurance now. But if you don’t, you’re not.

Not to worry, says Romney. You can always get health care at your local emergency room. “We don’t

have people … who die in their apartment because they don’t have insurance.” Except we do. A Harvard study found that lack of insurance is killing 45,000 Americans every year.

The Gish Gallop Mitt Romney didn’t invent this lie-a-minute strategy. He’s just the first major party Presidential candidate to base his whole campaign upon it.

In fact, there is a name for this technique. As RationalWiki. org explains, “the Gish Gallop, named after creationist Duane Gish, is the debating technique of drowning the opponent in such a torrent of half-truths, lies, and straw-man arguments that the opponent cannot possibly answer every falsehood in real time.”

Or, as the internet puts it:

Good News, Everyone Thanks to the superabundance of industrial-grade political lies emitted over the last several decades, some mainstream journalists have gotten over their squeamishness and begun to grant objective reality a little respect.

This was particularly evident Tuesday night during the Presidential Gong Show Town Hall at Hofstra University.

Mitt Romney said “it took the president 14 days before he called the attack in Benghazi an act of terror.” President Obama replied, “Get the transcript.”

Moderator Candy Crowley, who had read the transcript, said “He did in fact, sir … he did call it an act of terror.”

Conservatives immediately went bonkers — how dare she state what she knows to be true?

It’s Just Business Romney appears to have made a cool, rational business decision: the voters he might actually be able to win over just don’t give a damn about facts. It’s an incredibly bold move. But, given the na-

tion’s shifting demographics, the Republican party is in a desperate situation and might never get another chance. As Sen. Lindsey Graham was quoted saying recently in the Washington Post, during the Republican Convention, “[t]he demographics race we’re losing badly. We’re not generating enough angry white guys to stay in business for the long term.”

Corporate America, through the power of advertising and the illusion of choice, has gradually, over the past several decades, succeeded in converting the majority of American citizens into mere consumers.

If the GOP’s champion, Mitt Romney, takes the White House next January, we will be further transformed from consumers into hostages.

The most shocking thing about this shift is that it places the presidency in the hands of the leastinformed, most-easily-excited voters. Hamilton, Madison, and Jay, the mostly-conservative authors of the Federalist Papers, would weep.

Court, but to no avail.

The Republican-appointed Ballot Commissioners did a partial recount, which they called for Wyman by two — count ’em — two votes. Thomson pulled certification from Durkin and gave it to Wyman.

Cotton resigned early, thus allowing Thomson to appoint Wyman to fill out the remaining three days of his term. It seemed that Wyman was home free.

Then Durkin pulled a Constitutional ace out of his sleeve. The Constitution gives the House and Senate the final say on who will become members of those bodies.

Durkin filed an appeal in the Senate, where Democrats had a 60-vote majority. Republicans, however, had the filibuster. A seven-month stalemate ensued.

Prompted in part by a scathing editorial in the Washington Post, Wyman proposed a special election to settle the matter. Durkin agreed, and on September 16, 1975, Durkin won with a 27,000vote majority.

Ever since, the Durkin-Wyman contest has been held up as proof of the adage that every vote counts.

The law of unintended consequences never sleeps, though.

The protracted fight over the seat is widely thought to have helped unite the previously-fractured Republican caucus in the Senate.

In his first year, Durkin and his Democratic colleague, Sen. Tom McIntyre, wrote a successful piece of legislation extending GI Bill eligibility, which had expired ten years after discharge, for the

life of the veteran.

No political junkie in those days would skip an article quoting Durkin; you might run the risk of missing his wit. We’re unable to verify this before our deadline, but Durkin is alleged to have once responded to a letter from Governor Meldrim Thomson, “Dear Governor: It appears some idiot has managed to get hold of your official stationery. I thought you should know.”

As the Bible says, “a prophet is not without honor save in his own country.” On Durkin’s passing, the Portsmouth Herald posted a 125word Associated Press obituary online, but did not bother to run it in the print edition.

News Briefs

Can One Vote Count?

Senator John Durkin, the winner of the most epic battle in history for a U.S. Senate seat, died on Tuesday at the age of 76. A Navy veteran, Durkin had been living at the State Veterans Home in Tilton.

In 1974, Durkin and Louis Wyman both sought to replace retiring Norris Cotton, a Republican.

Durkin, a Democrat, was the state’s former Insurance Commissioner and very much the underdog. Wyman, his Republican opponent, was the sitting Representative for the state’s First Congressional District.

Wyman had also been Attorney General from 1953 to 1961.

Soon after assuming that office he began a prolonged investigation, mandated by the state leg-

islature, into alleged Communist subversives in New Hampshire.

The investigation uncovered no threats; but it severely disrupted many lives, cost a good deal of money, and provided a first-rate springboard for Wyman’s political ambitions.* Wyman won the November 1974 election by 355 votes; but Durkin requested a recount, which he won by ten votes. Republican Governor Meldrim Thomson certified Durkin’s election provisionally, but Wyman appealed to the State Ballot Law Commission.

Durkin fought Wyman’s appeal all the way to the state Supreme * The Editor, at the time of Wyman’s investigation, was slightly acquainted with Henry Iram (1875-1964), one of its subjects. We are now accumulating material for a fuller accounting of the clash between these radically disparate men.

News Briefs to page two

Page 2 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Friday, October 19, 2012

News Briefs from page one The What Prize in Economics?

All the usual news outlets reported on Monday who had won this year’s “Nobel Prize in Economics” — we employ quotation marks because there is no such thing.

There is a Sveriges Riksbank Prize in Economic Sciences in Memory of Alfred Nobel, but that’s a different kettle of herring.

We’ll explain.

The Nobel Prizes, both genuine and false, owe their existence to an unpleasant experience Nobel suffered one day in 1888. While reading his own obituary, which had been published prematurely in a French newspaper, the inventor saw himself referred to as “the merchant of death.”

In order that posterity would have something more positive to remember him by than the mountains of corpses created by the explosives and armaments that had made him fabulously rich, Nobel left 94 percent of his assets to a foundation, to award Prizes, in five different fields, in his name.

Economics was not one of those fields. The first Prizes were awarded in 1901.

Many years later, in 1968, “Sweden’s Central Bank quietly snuck [the Sveriges Riksbank Prize] in with all the other Nobel Prizes to give retrograde freemarket economics credibility and the appearance of scientific rigor,” writes Yasha Levine, of ExiledOnline.com.

Levine is a notably savage writer whose work has an unmistakable leftward tilt, but that doesn’t mean he’s necessarily wrong. In his piece headlined “The Nobel Prize in Economics? There Is No Nobel Prize in Economics,” published October 12th, Levine cites the editor of a Federal Reserve publication writing that the Sveriges Riksbank Prize was “bootstrapped to the Nobel in 1968 as a bit of a marketing ploy to celebrate the Bank of Sweden’s 300th anniversary.” Members of the Nobel family have similarly denigrating things to say about the Sveriges Riksbank Prize.

There was a deeper, more sinister motive than just adding some bling to a birthday party, though.

“To ensure the prize would be awarded to the right economists,” Levine writes, “the bank managed to install a rightwing Swedish economist named Assar Lindbeck, who had ties to University

The New Memorial Bridge — because what else are we going to call it? — is still eight or nine months off. But, progress is evident on the structure that will carry traffic to and from it.

of Chicago, to oversee the awards committee and keep him there for more than three decades.… “[Then, after picking some safe, mainstream recipients to establish] the award as credible and serious, the prizes took a hard turn to the right. Over the next decade, the prize was awarded to the most fanatical supporters of theories that concentrated wealth among the top 1 percent of industrialized society of our time.”

Friedrich A. Hayek won the Prize in 1974. His status suddenly went from washed-up crank to genius. He and Charles Koch parlayed Hayek’s newfound authority into making the Cato Institute’s weird schemes respectable.

Milton Friedman won in 1976.

The alleged Prize got him a promotion from relatively harmless mischief, like making the Chilean economy safe for dictator Augusto Pinochet, to advising Paul Volcker on how best to send the U.S. economy into a recession.

And, believe it or not, it gets

worse, but fair use dictates that we send the reader to ExiledOnline.com for the rest of the sordid story.

Breaking Old Grounds Breaking Old Grounds: The Challenge of Interpreting Black History, is the title of the 7th Black New England Conference, to be held at the Discover Portsmouth Center on Saturday, November 10th.

A notice about the event includes this quote, from the distinguished historian John Hope Franklin: “The study of African American History provides an important context in which much, if not the whole, of the history of the United States can be taught and studied.” Nowhere is that more true than in this city, now engaged in an effort to properly recognize a paved-over Burying Ground where untold numbers of enslaved Africans rest.

The Portsmouth Historical Society forwarded us this announcement for the event:

427-2919

“America has long struggled with ways of interpreting and integrating the legacy and impact of race at historical sites and in the classroom. This struggle to remember a fuller, richer and more complex American history is fraught with uncomfortable truths, misinterpretations and embarrassment, for the Black past serves as an unforgiving mirror of America’s ideals and promises.

How then do we find effective ways to talk about this forgotten and often downplayed part of our history?

“Through presentations, discussions and a workshop, this conference will be an open and candid exploration of those challenges so that those who preserve and interpret African American life will discover useful and inclusive ways to engage the public with a richly nuanced history that is replete with great joy and great sorrow.

“The Black New England Conference is a national event gathering scholars, teachers, research-

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Friday, October 19, 2012 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Page 3

ers, community members and members of local organizations to share their work and insights on the Black experience past and present in northern New England.” Among the presenters will be John W. Franklin, son of John Hope Franklin.

NB — The deadline to register is Thursday, November 1st. Space is limited so reservations are strongly encouraged. To view the schedule for this event or to register, visit: www.neculture.org/bnec/2012/index.html.

Last On-Board Lecture — Free!

Next Thursday, October 25th, may be your last chance this year for a free trip aboard the gundalow Piscataqua.

During the trip, from 4:30 to 6:00 p.m., Cameron Wake, a research associate professor with the Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space at UNH, will present a lecture on the rising sea level and the impact of global warming on coastal environments.

Wake has published numerous research essays on climate assessment within the Northeast. He

also directs a research program investigating regional climate and environmental change through ice core analysis and instrumental and phenological records.

The Gundalow Company will continue to host public sails and education programs for youth through the month of October, concluding its first sailing season with a celebration on October 28th at the Gundalow Company Headquarters at 60 Marcy Street in Portsmouth and onboard the Piscataqua. This event will feature an extended up-river sail that includes brunch, a twohour afternoon sail offering fall treats and cider, and a special sunset sail offering Smuttynose beer and light appetizers. All sails are $35; proceeds go toward continuing the efforts of the Gundalow Company to provide educational programs and resources to the Seacoast community and beyond.

For more information or to reserve a spot, contact Daisy Wilson at (603) 433-9505 or dwilson@gundalow.org. Tickets may also be purchased online at www. gundalow.

The Gundalow Company continues to refine its unique vessel, the Piscataqua. It now has a pair of sweeps: oars so big that a person has his hands full grappling with one of them. One is visible in the foreground, just below the vessel’s nameboard. A sturdy aluminum deck hatch, hard by the stump mast, has also replaced a less-robust provisional one. Altogether, ship-shape.

Piscataqua’s first sailing season concludes with a celebration on Sunday, October 28th; see the related story on this page for details.

© 2012 by Dan Woodman

Return of the Cheapskate Multi-Millionaire Once these elections are over the most urgent item on the agenda will be pulling the nation’s neck from the fiscal noose Republicans have wrapped around it. And who is generously taking time off from his new gig at Goldman Sachs to tell us how to stop short of the “fiscal cliff?” Former Senator Judd Gregg.

“Fix the Debt” is an astroturf 401-something operation which is ginning up a plutocrat-friendly solution to this manufactured problem. It’s running a classic pincer maneuver: give campaign money to cooperative Congressmen, and apply political pressure from mobs of easily-herded voters. Gregg’s working the Congressional end.

In the old days, they called that position “bag man.”

About NH Ballot Questions We’re grateful to Bob McElwain for the following analysis:

Ballot Question 1 is a constitutional amendment (CACR 13) proposed by the legislature: In a letter dated April 18, 2012 to the New Hampshire Senate, various community leaders expressed concern that this amendment to the NewHampshire Constitution addresses a problem that does not exist and will result in court involvement in tax policy.

It will freeze the present tax system in place, increase reliance on business and property taxes, and make it extremely difficult for future leaders to fund pressing priorities. CACR 13 will result in increased “downshifting” of the tax burden from the State of New Hampshire to the local governments to fund crucial needs of our citizens.

If you share these concerns, you should vote “No” on Question 1 (CACR 13).

Ballot Question 2 is a constitutional amendment (CACR 26)

proposed by the legislature: This amendment would allow the legislature to control the judiciary. It strikes at the heart of the separation of the powers of the legislature, executive, and judiciary under the New Hampshire Constitution.

If you share these concerns, you should vote “No” on Question 2 (CACR 26).

Ballot Question 3 is proposed pursuant to Part II Article 100 of the New Hampshire Constitution. A “yes” vote on this question will result in an election of delegates who will hold a constitutional convention. At the convention, these delegates will vote to make any changes to the New Hampshire Constitution they wish. These changes will then be presented to the NH electorate for approval. If you believe a constitutional convention would be too costly or is unnecessary at this time, you should vote “No” on Question 3.

Page 4 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Friday, October 19, 2012

Veterans and Representation To the Editor: Frank Guinta believes in a smaller government that indirectly supports veterans. Guinta voted for the VOW to Hire Heroes Act that gives tax incentives to businesses that hire unemployed veterans, and he has hosted a veterans job fair. Veterans job fairs are indeed useful; I organized one coinciding with New Hampshire’s “Welcome Home” End of the Iraq War Parade. While I or a mayor can host job fairs, only Congress can pass the $1 billion Veterans Job Corps Act that Republicans defeated because of their small government ideology. Likewise, in pursuit of smaller government, Guinta voted for the 2012 Ryan Budget, which cuts discretionary veterans programs by $11 billion.

Carol Shea-Porter believes government should directly support veterans. Shea-Porter cosponsored the Post-9/11 GI Bill, allowing recent veterans like myself to pursue our post-military dreams. She’s responsible for prohibiting toxic military burn pits and forcing the VA to recognize that they may lead to the Agent Orange or Gulf War Syndrome of my generation. Furthermore, Shea-Porter supports the Veterans Jobs Corps Act. I subscribe to the view of a government that supports veterans directly with jobs, educational and health benefits, over an ideological one that relies on business to support veterans while cutting veterans programs. Guinta should return to Manchester and continue to host job fairs, and SheaPorter should return to Washington so government can once again directly support veterans.

Josh Denton

Former Captain and Iraqi Combat Advisor Portsmouth, NH § Biden Causes Us To Suffer To the Editor: One wonders how much the American people must suffer or how great a disaster must happen to our country before Vice-President Biden will discuss these topics seriously. In Thursday’s debate Vice President Biden acted more like a candidate for class clown than a man concerned about his country.

One wonders, if 23 million Americans who can’t find the work they need to care for their families aren’t enough to get VicePresident Biden’s attention, how many have to suffer? 50,000,000?

75,000,000?

If nearly 50,000,000 people in poverty is not enough for VicePresident Biden to discuss real solutions, how many poor must there be? 75,000,000? 100,000,000?

If creating more than $5 trillion in new debt for our children and grandchildren in less than four years is not enough to get the Vice-President to discuss balancing the budget, how much more debt would it take? $8 Trillion? $15 Trillion?

If the interest cost on our debt which exceeds ten percent of the federal budget is not enough to make the Vice-President concerned about deficit spending, what interest cost would? 20 percent? 30 percent? (What programs will be cut?)

If two credit rating downgrades during President Obama’s term is not enough for the Vice President to be concerned, how low must our credit rating go?

Vice President Biden didn’t know that more protection was requested for our people in Libya.

Perhaps he also doesn’t know that gasoline prices, college costs, food prices, and electricity rates are escalating under President Obama.

Or, since VP Biden is rich, perhaps he doesn’t really care.

One wonders if Vice President Biden’s indifference reflects President Obama’s attitude. President Obama has done more fundraisers, played more golf, and been

campaigning for re-election longer than previous Presidents.

President Obama skips most of his Presidential Daily Briefings which, perhaps, explains why Americans died in Benghazi.

President Obama was too busy to meet with world leaders, but he has time for Letterman and The View. Perhaps lack of President Obama’s attention explains why there has been so little real progress on addressing the problems of suffering Americans or of our country, on calming the Middle East, or of reducing threats in a dangerous world.

Last Thursday Vice President Biden showed that he does not take our country’s problems seriously enough to be one heartbeat away from the Presidency. Perhaps Senator Obama didn’t know Senator Biden in 2008, but keeping this immature person as his Vice President shows how little President Obama cares about the well-being of our country should the Vice President need to take over the Presidency.

Don Ewing Meredith, NH Don: So let’s see if we’ve got this straight: Paul Ryan, who recently barged into the kitchen of a homeless shelter without permission, grabbed a clean pot and posed for a picture, then left, is apparently OK with you, despite his having a net worth of $4.9 million. But you can’t stand that rich @&%$ Joe Biden, whose net worth is less than $366,000.

The Editor § Romney for President To the Editor: President Obama has racked up more than $5 trillion in debt over the past four years; in a second term he’ll let our debt climb to $20 trillion. Mitt Romney will cut spending, get the United States on the path to a balanced budget, and get our country’s AAA credit rating back. Mitt Romney believes that cutting the deficit is a moral responsibility. He knows that we can’t keep buying, and spending, and passing on debt to our kids. His test for the federal government is, “is this program so critical, and so important, that

Mash Notes, Hate Mail,

it’s worth borrowing money from China to pay for it. While President Obama once again claims to have plans to cut the defecit, Mitt Romney has the track record to prove it. In his business, as Governor of Massachusetts, and at the Olympics Mitt Romney balanced his budget. I think it’s time for Washington to have real change we can believe in.

Phil Boynton Durham, NH Phil: Incredible — now you’ve got us wondering if House Speaker Bill O’Brien was right about letting college students vote.

The Editor § Get Factual To the Editor During the first Presidential Debate, Mitt Romney accused President Obama of robbing $716 billion from Medicare.

Fact-checkers have repeatedly explained that the savings actually comes from: 1) stopping insurance companies who run Medicare Advantage from charging taxpayers a 14 percent surcharge and 2) other administrative savings. Yet Mitt continues to mislead the American people. Mr. Romney also neglected to mention that this identical savings plan is outlined in Paul Ryan’s budget—which Mitt supports!

Conservatives Mitt Romney, Paul Ryan, and Frank Guinta also like to claim that “15 Washington bureaucrats” will make decisions about which treatments and procedures a Medicare recipient can receive. Congressman Guinta recently told a group of seniors that the Independent Panel Advisory Board (IPAB) will “make decisions for every Medicare recipient as to whether say you need a hip replacement or some sort of surgical procedure.” This simply is not true.

The law governing the IPAB’s recommendations explicitly states: “The proposal shall not include any recommendation to ration health care, raise revenues or Medicare beneficiary premiums…increase

Even your dreams tell you it’s working.

Medicare beneficiary cost sharing (including deductibles, coinsurance, and co-payments), or otherwise restrict benefits or modify eligibility criteria.”

The IPAB has been given the task of achieving cost savings in Medicare without affecting coverage or quality of care.

As for the claims of the Board being composed of “15 Washington Bureaucrats,” the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities states, “The board must include physicians and other health professionals, experts in health finance, health services researchers, employers, and representatives of consumers and the elderly. To prevent control by special interests, health care providers may not constitute a majority of the board’s membership.” USA Today says, “The Medicare board seems like a common-sense mechanism. The reason it engenders such heated opposition is that like the ‘death panels,’ it’s a convenient way to scare people into opposing health reform—facts to the contrary.”

Don’t be fooled by repeated false claims. They are aimed at confusing voters. Join me in voting for those who will stand up for, rather than dismantle, Medicare: President Obama, Carol Shea-Porter, and Maggie Hassan.

Peter Flynn Durham, NH § Energy Independence To the Editor: During the presidential debate Mitt Romney repeated his oft used line concerning his energy policy. He said he wanted to make North America energy independent. North America is composed of Mexico, Canada and the United States. Mexico and Canada are already energy independent. They export oil and gas to the United States and other countries. So Mitt wants to count their surplus production as if it was ours.

Would you be impressed if Mitt had said he wanted the combination of Saudi Arabia and the US to be energy independent?

I wouldn’t. This is just Mitt the

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And Other Correspondence used car salesman trying to con the voters.

Mitt also says he intends to cut tax rates by 20 percent. He says he would limit deductions to pay for it and that the rich will not pay less than they do today. That can only be true if the rich have itemized deductions equal to 20 percent of their income and all their deductions were eliminated. If you believe that, Mitt has a used car to sell you. Mitt also wants to make income from investments and dividends tax free. Guess what, Mitt’s multimillion dollar income comes from investments and dividends so he won’t be in the 15 percent tax bracket he is in today, he will be in the 0 percent bracket and join the 47 percent who don’t pay income taxes.

So will all his financial backers at Bain Capital and other hedge funds. If that happens who will be stuck with the bill? You will.

Walter Hamilton Portsmouth, NH § Romney’s Not On the Level To the Editor: I was hoping that in his first debate with President Obama, Mitt Romney would give us some specifics on how he plans to carry out his plans for the economy and how he will implement the Republican Party’s platform.

He’s been talking about big tax cuts for almost two years—a whopping 20 percent cut at every tax bracket. This amounts to $5 trillion in tax cuts, yet he tells us it will not increase the deficit.

Romney tells us not to worry that this will dig a deeper hole because he plans to bring additional dollars into the treasury by eliminating trillions in tax deductions and exemptions (aka loopholes).

But he won’t tell us which “loophole” he plans to close.

Economists from across the political spectrum agree a prime place

to find these “savings” is the home mortgage interest deduction. This means the burden will fall squarely on the middle class. What else is on Romney’s chopping block?

Medicare and Medicaid? Critical programs for education, the environment and medical research?

Romney’s numbers just don’t add up. In the post debate analysis, CNN’s David Gergen summed it up: “Romney was just sort of flat out lying.”

Romney’s persistent dishonesty is a deal breaker. He does not have what it takes to be President.

Joan Jacobs Portsmouth, NH § Do Not Be Fooled To the Editor: I am a retired physician living in the Seacoast area. I’ve noticed that Mitt Romney has recently been trying to softpedal his position on a very important issue.

Do not be fooled! Let’s check the record.

Mitt Romney told the Des Moines Register on Tuesday, October 9th, “ There is no legislation with regards to abortion that I’m familiar with that would become part of my agenda.”

Let’s be clear: Mitt Romney wants to overturn Roe v. Wade, end federal funding for Planned Parenthood preventative services, and end insurance coverage for birth control. There is a pattern of hypocrisy here.

But there is no hypocrisy when Mitt Romney chose his running mate, Representative Paul Ryan.

Mitt Romney may have backtracked on many reproductive health issues but his running mate, Paul Ryan has never wavered from his extremist views on women’s health issues. For nearly 14 years as a Republican Congressman from Wisconsin, Mr. Ryan has been an ardent, unwavering foe of abortion rights and has tried to

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cut off federal money for family planning. He introduced 38 antiabortion measures, co-sponsored legislation with Rep. Todd Akin (R- MO) that would narrow the legal definition of rape to “forcible rape”! Congressman Ryan co-sponsored legislation to give “personhood “ rights to unborn fetuses which would make in vitro fertilization almost impossible and would outlaw some popular hormonal contraceptives. The concept of personhood is a fundamental tenet of the anti-abortion movement. That’s how Paul Ryan spends his time in Congress.

This is a critical time for reproductive freedom and in the words of Vice President Joe Biden, “ I do not believe that we have a right to tell women that they can’t control their body.”

Sylvia R. Kennedy, M.D. Exeter, NH § Gangnam Romney Style To the Editor: There has been a lot of positive spin by some pundits on Governor Romney’s “style” in the first debate. To me he seemed hyper — almost frantic — in his naked ambition to be president. Where was the substance? Where was the truth?

Romney’s tax plan would cut income taxes by 20 percent, cut corporate taxes by a third, extend the Bush cuts on top of that, and repeal the alternative minimum tax and estate taxes - and the cost of that, according to the Congressional Business Office, adds up to $5 trillion. His fervent denials that his tax plan would increase the national debt and increase the misery of millions of people demonstrate a lack of honesty or math skills.

Who doesn’t want to hear that the government is going to cut taxes? But we would like to hear how that affects all of the people, not just the wealthy. I know Romney doesn’t care about 47 percent of Americans. The top 1 or 2 perMurph’s Fortnightly Quote “... the price of goods should be made to include the costs of producing and disposing of them without damage to the environment.”

President Richard Nixon (1913-1994) State of the Union Address, January 22,1970

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cent have as much wealth as all of the 47 percent combined — they are his supporters and he does care about them. He wants to cut services to the middle class and families living below the poverty line and at the same time make sure they get some “skin in the game.” No more tax loopholes for you folks! Just quit whining and wait until it all trickles down to you. Have faith in our “job creators.”

Romney also repeated the same old lies about Medicare and Health Care Reform apparently thinking that if you repeat a lie often enough, people will believe it. I urge all voters to check out his statements on factcheck.org and make your voting decisions based on facts not style.

In contrast to Romney’s feverish high, the President’s calm, thoughtful style of presenting a specific vision for an economy that grows from the middle out and benefits all Americans in the long run provides me with a sense of security and hope. We need Barack Obama to lead this country forward.

Cynthia Muse Rye, NH § Romney On a White Horse To the Editor: President Obama’s foreign policy has placed America and our allies at the mercy of events and those who mean to do us harm. He has downgraded our relationship with Israel, failed to develop a strategy that protects and advances our interests in the Middle East, and put our nation on track for massive cuts to the defense budget. Mitt Romney will provide the leadership needed to shape world events and protect our interests and our ideals. Mitt Romney will reverse the President’s defense cuts, and he will never apologize for America.

Mitt Romney will ensure that the United States is the most powerful nation on the earth. So power-

ful, that no one would ever think to test it. He will stick with our allies, and restore our reputation around the world. I’m tired of apologizing for America. It’s time to elect Mitt Romney President of the United States.

Maddy O’Neil UNH Campus Durham, NH Maddy: UNH used to teach a course called Critical Thinking. Check it out.

The Editor § Of, By, For, Whom?

To the Editor: Question: Do we wish to have a “government of the rich, by the rich, for the rich?” We are currently remembering the 150th anniversary of our own Civil War, at the end of which we had lost some 622,000 souls. This includes a couple of its key battles horrific in nature. In September it was Antietam, down in Maryland. In one single day there more casualties than in any other day in our entire history: Over 20,000 humans wounded or killed!

Next year we will commemorate the battle of Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, as well as President Lincoln’s immortal words four months later on that very “hallowed ground.” Following Lincoln’s powerful statement, we could opt to firmly maintain and act on the notion “that we here highly resolve that these dead More Hate Mail, &c. to page six

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Page 6 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Friday, October 19, 2012

MoreMash Notes, Hate Mail, And Other Correspondence, from Page Five shall not have died in vain … and that government of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the earth.”

“The people.” Us. You and me and all those like us all across this beloved land of ours whose participation is the essence of our government!

If we wish to maintain a government for the people, let us turn out in massive numbers on 6 November and re-elect Barack Obama as our President.

Henry M. Smith Durham, NH Henry: The saddest and most accurate twist on Lincoln’s memorable phrase was uttered decades ago by Rep. Ron Dellums (D-CA). Sadly, it’s even truer today. He said we’ve got a “government of the people by the powerful, for the rich.”

The Editor § Plaia for County Attorney To the Editor: As a psychotherapist I treat mental illness and substance abuse in both Democrats and Republicans. These are non-partisan conditions.

These disorders can cause behavior that leads to contact with the criminal justice system. Incarceration, however, is not always the best approach to prevent recidivism. Instead, incarceration often creates emotional and financial hardship for the families of offenders, and unneeded expense for taxpayers.

Forty to seventy-five percent of inmates in the NH state prison system have a mental illness, substance abuse problem, or both.

Most of them are not violent. Female inmates, for example, often have mental health problems as a result of discrimination, victimization, and/or economic deprivation.

The 2008 report by the NH Commission to Develop a State

Mental Health Plan emphasizes the need to create systems that divert the mentally ill from incarceration. Still, Rockingham County does not have a felony mental health court.

Plaia’s platform will modernize Rockingham County through the creation of federally subsidized diversion programs for offenders who are mentally ill, non-violent, or who have legal trouble due to substance abuse. In doing so, Plaia will strengthen Rockingham County communities and save taxpayer money.

As County Attorney, Joe Plaia will bring Rockingham County out of the dark ages and up to speed with exemplary county criminal justice programs in our state and nation. Please vote for him.

Jane Zill, L.I.C.S.W. Portsmouth, NH § Facts are Stubborn Things To the Editor: Are you better off than you were four years ago To answer that question you first have to ask yourself, “Where were we four years ago in October of 2008?”

We had just come upon the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression. Iraq and Afghanistan were wars with seemingly no end after great human cost in both US troops and foreign civilians and Osama bin Laden was still at large.

Then President Obama stepped in and in continuity with the troops, kept the same Secretary of Defense as his very different predecessor President Bush, but instead President Obama led a peaceful transfer of power to Iraqi authorities. When auto jobs were threatened by the collapse of GM and Chrysler, President Obama led a successful restructuring while his opponent Governor Romney bet against America and said in an editorial “Let Detroit

The New Hampshire Gazette

Die.” When health costs were rising threatening the weakened economy, President Obama led on health care and now pre-existing conditions are covered, 25 year olds can stay on mom and dad’s insurance, and for the first time in 50 years health care costs have slowed. That’s fiscal management.

Oh, and that guy Osama bin Laden who was responsible for 9/11? That guy was brought to justice by Navy Seals led by their Commander in Chief, President Obama. Not President Bush, not his jingoistic Republican Congress, and certainly not Governor Romney-- President Obama made the hard call. Governor Romney has as much foreign policy experience as Dan Quayle.

Governor Romney can grin and interrupt and pretend as if he never said or did the things he said or did. He can change his political stands like the New England weather but facts, Governor Romney, are stubborn things.

Obama’s policies saved the auto industry when you were ready to abandon Detroit and 47 percent of your fellow Americans. I will be voting for a President of all the people-- not some, or a select few.

I stand with the President, Governor Romney, and no amount of charm or money or well-born privilege will make you a better leader than President Barack Obama.

Raymond A.G. Will Dover, NH Raymond: Charm? You really believe Romney has charm?

The Editor § Illumination is a Group Effort To the Editor: A recent article [in the Portsmouth Herald] highlighting the effort of our subcommittee to illuminate the new Memorial Bridge may have left the impression that

only 2 individuals are responsible for this effort.

In reality, this was truly a group effort. For the past 6 months our Illumination Subcommittee has explored the means and processes that would allow us to illuminate our new bridge. Along with Ben Porter and myself the primary members of our group who made significant contributions included Rose Eppard, Gail Drobnyk and Doug Bates (President of Portsmouth Chamber of Commerce).

Our group was convinced that while the new Memorial Bridge design had many good technological features, it was still possible to make this bridge more attractive and a worthy icon of the seacoast area with illumination. We were convinced that this bridge should be more than just a connection between Kittery and Portsmouth, but that it should be an attractive connector of our two states, our two communities and our seacoast businesses. We believe that such an illuminated bridge would be an attraction both to our local residents and those who come to visit us. While in the beginning our suggestions met with some reservation, we were fortunate that the NHDOT was willing to listen to our ideas. After we developed a lighting design and provided analyses showing that our proposal which included energy saving street lighting and illumination would result in significant utility and maintenance cost savings compared to the original contracted bridge design, the NHDOT wanted to hear more. In addition to the illumination, our proposal also includes an operation fund which will pay for the first 5 years of utility and maintenance costs.

Keith Cota and his staff enlisted the support of NH Commissioner Chris Clements who was enthusiastic about our ideas, and by the fact that our group was willing to

raise the funds privately to pay for the illumination. With their help, we have receiving tentative support from city officials in Portsmouth and the town of Kittery.

Our group and NHDOT will be providing presentations to the respective councils in both of these communities and soliciting their support. While we have already received a significant amount in pledges of financial support, we plan to kick off our fund-raising effort only after our two communities have given us their support.

We look forward to a large show of support from everyone in our seacoast communities.

Peter Somssich Chair, Illumination Subcommittee, Memorial Bridge Public Outreach Advisory Committee Portsmouth, NH § Wasteful County Spending To the Editor: Rockingham County spends over $1,000,000 each year to house the overflow of inmates in other counties because our jail is at maximum capacity. Why? First, Rockingham County needs to be tougher on violent felons. Every violent felon sentenced to state prison is one less violent felon in our county jail. Second, the current Rockingham County Attorney does not support the alternative sentencing and pre-trial services programs that other County Attorneys in New Hampshire utilize for non-violent offenders. Merrimack County has a pre-trial services program that monitors non-violent offenders in the community at a cost of $10.50 per day, which saves them over $2.8 million annually. Compare that to $80-$90 dollars per day to house an offender in our county jail. Strafford County invests in similar programs, and last year they saved up to $8.5 million.

It is the County Attorney’s duty to ensure we establish these

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Friday, October 19, 2012 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Page 7

The State of the Free Press

by Jim Hightower et us now assess the state of the free press in this land of … well, of press freedom. The assessment? Pathetic. Not because of some government clampdown, but because of increasing press pusillanimity.

The latest decline in hardnosed, investigative reporting is something called “quote approval.” It began with PR flacks for

public officials and political candidates demanding that reporters agree — as a price of being granted an interview — to submit any quotes they intend to use from the interview to the interviewee’s staff for approval. Thus, when Mr. Big blurts out something shocking, stupid, or actually newsworthy, Mr. Big’s staff of bowdlerizers can tidy it up, or even erase it: zzzzzzzztt, it’s gone, as though it was never uttered.

It’s not surprising that today’s media-sensitive political figures (including Barack Obama and Mitt Romney) would demand this extraordinary editorial control over what comes out of their own mouths. But it’s utterly despicable that media bosses and reporters have so gutlessly cavedin to the demand. It reduces reporters from hard-nosed diggers to brown-nosed beggars, and it makes a mockery of our democ-

racy’s need for a free press. Yet, many of America’s major publications have meekly surrendered their reporters’ freedom to this restraint.

And now, corporate executives have realized that — hey, we can emasculate the press, too. Wall Street barons, Silicon Valley hot shots, and even the bosses of media conglomerates are demanding (and getting) quote approval for stories about their operations.

The media columnist for the New York Times admits that he’s also succumbed to these demands: “If it’s [a quote] I feel I absolutely need,” he recently wrote, “I start negotiating.” Never mind that it’s his independence and journalistic integrity he’s bargaining away. § Copyright 2012 by Jim Hightower & Associates. Contact Laura Ehrlich (laura@jimhightower.com) for more information.

programs in Rockingham County. The 14 year incumbent seems content to continue to spend your money in other counties. I want to address the many issues that signify complacency and resistance to innovation in the current County Attorney’s Office. The incumbent takes your vote for granted. I want to earn it.

Joe Plaia Veteran, USMC, Candidate for Rockingham County Attorney Portsmouth, NH § Thomson Picks ‘Em To the Editor: Please find below an OP-ED I wrote plus photo and caption.

Would you please consider sharing this with your readers before the Nov. 6th elections.

Thank you. Tom Thomson My Picks for November 6th Elections I believe this election, November 6, 2012 will be the most important election of my lifetime.

We as a nation are clearly at a crossroads and our vote will determine the fate of ourselves but more importantly for our children and grandchildren.

My pick for President is Governor Mitt Romney; I like many have not been impressed with President Obama’s “Hope and Change” over the past four years.

Whether you voted for Presi-

dent Obama four years ago or not, please consider a few facts that in my opinion are destroying the hopes and dreams of our hard working Americans.

1. Even after trillions of dollars that President Obama spent to supposedly improve the economy, unemployment under his watch has increased to 8.3 percent and has remained above 8 percent for over 43 consecutive months.

2. When President Obama took office gas prices were $1.85 per gallon and today they have more than doubled at $4 per gallon.

While gas, diesel, heating oil and electricity have increased, Obama has stood in the way of our increasing domestic production.

For example: killing construction of the Keystone pipeline and increasing his war of regulations on this nation’s coal production.

3. All of Obama’s policies have had a negative impact on American workers who have seen over a four thousand dollar loss in their median income.

4. During Obama’s nearly four years as President he has increased the national debt from 10.6 trillion to over 16 trillion dollars. It was reported today that each share per household is now $137,000 for our national debt. This debt is being piled onto the backs of our children and grandchildren which we all know is wrong and is un-

sustainable.

Governor Romney is a proven businessman who has the skills to lead this nation back to prosperity by providing the right conditions and eliminating the uncertainty for small businesses to create and expand jobs. His energy plan will unleash domestic production which will reduce prices at the pump and will create good paying jobs while keeping our energy dollars here at home rather than depending on foreign oil and sending hundreds of billions of dollars to foreign countries that don’t like us. When it comes to our foreign policy, Governor Romney will lead through strength and not go around the world apologizing.

And last but not least, Governor Romney signed “The Thomson Presidential Pledge” and President Obama did not.

My pick for New Hampshire Governor is as clear and important to me as the Presidential Election.

Our state is also at a crossroads; under Democrat Maggie Hassan we would see increased taxes, fees and regulations and a very good chance of a sales and or income tax despite what she says. Republican Ovide Lamontagne not only promises to veto a sales or income tax but he was the first candidate to publicly sign the pledge, and Maggie Hassan has refused to do so.

In 2008, Maggie Hassan as Senate Majority Leader supported and voted for the LLC (Limited Liability Company) Tax which was a 5 percent income tax on our small businesses, the same businesses that are the job creators.

New Hampshire small businesses were outraged at this 5 percent income tax and pushed back so hard that the LLC law was repealed the following year. So when Maggie Hassan says she will veto a sales or income tax you’ll know that it is nothing more than smoke and mirrors. Don’t let Maggie Hassan fool you again. My pick for Governor is Ovide Lamontagne.

My pick for the 2nd District Congressional race is incumbent Charlie Bass over challenger Anne Kuster. We cannot afford to lose this hard working Congressman whose seniority and experience in the US House confers substantial advantages to our state and nation.

My pick for the 1st District Congressional race between incumbent Frank Guinta and Carol Shea- Porter is Congressman Guinta (I don’t vote in District 1, but if I did I would certainly vote for this hard working conservative, Frank Guinta).

I remember my father, Governor Mel Thomson, encouraging voters nearly 40 years ago to “Protect Your Pocketbook” by getting

out and voting. You may want to consider this the next time you fill up at the pump.

On November 6th please exercise the greatest freedom we have, the right to Vote.

Thomas Thomson Orford, NH Thomas: In addition to your father, the Editor has lived under Governors including Ronald Reagan and Lester Maddox, who disgraced Georgia, your father’s home state. Your father was the worst of the lot. He made this state a national laughing stock by, among other things, proposing that our National Guard should be armed with nuclear weapons. Your father’s penchant for lowering flags to half-mast so exasperated the Editor’s father that he invented the “Mel Thomson Flagpole.” The top pulley was mounted half-way up. But the worst thing your father ever did was

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Page 8 - The New Hampshire Gazette - Friday, October 19, 2012

Admiral Fowle’s Piscataqua River Tidal Guide (Not for Navigational Purposes) Portsmouth, arguably the first town in this country not founded by religious extremists, is bounded on the north and east by the Piscataqua River, the second, third, or fourth fastest-flowing navigable river in the country, depending on

who you choose to believe.

The Piscataqua’s ferocious current is caused by the tide, which, in turn, is caused by the moon. The other player is a vast sunken valley — Great Bay — about ten miles upriver. Twice a day, the moon

drags about seventeen billion gallons of seawater — enough to fill 2,125,000 tanker trucks — up the river and into Great Bay. This creates a roving hydraulic conflict, as incoming sea and the outgoing river collide. The skirmish line

moves from the mouth of the river, up past New Castle, around the bend by the old Naval Prison, under Memorial Bridge, past the tugboats, and on into Great Bay. This can best be seen when the tide is rising.

Twice a day, too, the moon lets all that water go. All the seawater that just fought its way upstream goes back home to the ocean. This is when the Piscataqua earns its title for xth fastest current. Look for the red buoy, at the upstream

end of Badger’s Island, bobbing around in the current. It weighs several tons, and it bobs and bounces in the current like a cork.

The river also has its placid moments, around high and low tides.

When the river rests, its tugboats

and bridges work their hardest.

Ships coming in laden with coal, oil, and salt do so at high tide, for more clearance under their keels.

They leave empty, riding high in the water, at low tide, to squeeze under Memorial Bridge.

Sunday, October 21

Monday, October 22

Tuesday, October 23

Wednesday, October 24

Thursday, October 25

Friday, October 26

Saturday, October 27

1975—In the 12th inning, New Hampshire’s own Carlton Fisk waves the ball fair, and the Red Sox win Game 6 of the World Series.

1967—Yippies, Diggers, Hippies, &c., attempt unsuccessfully to levitate the Pentagon.

1965—President Lyndon Johnson flashes his gall bladder scar for the photographers.

1957—Special Forces Captain Harry Cramer becomes the first American soldier killed by hostile action in Vietnam, but his death is falsely listed as accidental.

1954—The Indiana Boxing Commission rules that boxers and wrestlers must swear under oath they are not Commies before they can fight in the Hoosier State.

1874—Birth of Charles Ives.

1861—Sen. Edward D. Baker (ROR), in his capacity as a Colonel leading a brigade at the Battle of Ball’s Bluff, becomes the first and last U.S. Senator killed in battle.

1837—Under a flag of truce, 75 Seminoles are captured and imprisoned by U.S. troops at Ft. Payton, FL. 1835—For saying “all men are created equal,” Wm. Lloyd Garrison is paraded through Boston with a rope around his neck.

1797—The U.S.S. Constitution is finally launched in Boston on the third try, christened by Captain James Sever of Portsmouth.

1985—The last surviving Kickapoo Indians are given the right to live on their ancestral lands after being kicked off 140 years earlier.

1964—The Atomic Energy Commission explodes a 5-kiloton atomic bomb 2,700 feet underground, and ten miles west of Purvis, MS. 1963—His last request, for an injection of LSD, fulfilled, Aldous Huxley dies.

1962—SAC goes to DEFCON 2 as JFK blockades Cuba.

1929—“I know of nothing fundamentally wrong with the stock market,” says President of New York’s National City Bank.

1909—Female garment workers strike in New York. A judge tells arrested pickets, “You are on strike against God.” 1907—The Knickerbocker Trust Company goes belly-up, igniting the Panic of 1907.

1885—Bored with poetry, Arthur Rimbaud decides to run guns for King Menelik of Shoa.

1861—The first transcontinental telegraph begins operation.

1844—The third time fails to be a charm as William Miller’s prophecy of the end of the world proves to have been inaccurate.

1834—A fire to get rid of a huge mass of ancient wooden tally sticks once used for bookkeeping gets out of hand and burns Britain’s Houses of Parliament to the ground.

2001—The day Congressman James Sensenbrenner (R-WI) introduces the senseless PATRIOT Act, Justice official James Yoo writes a memo saying the President need not obey existing laws.

1999—Asked why he hasn’t campaigned more in New Hampshire, George W. Bush says “The important question is, how many hands have I shaked?”

1983—Suicide bombers kill 241 U.S. Marines and sailors in Lebanon, on Ronald Reagan’s watch.

1975—Workers at the Nevada test site drop a nuclear weapon core 40 feet. It doesn’t explode, so only 11 workers are injured.

1973—Eight articles of impeachment are introduced in the House against President Nixon.

1962—With SAC at DEFCON 2, JFK and aides debate whether to bomb Cuban SAM sites if any U.S. planes are shot down.

1954—Pres. Eisenhower authorizes direct U.S. aid to South Vietnam, bypassing the French.

1775—The Continental Congress prohibits the enlistment of blacks in the Army.

1739—Britain declares war on Spain over Robert Jenkins’ ear.

425—Flavius Placidius Valentinianus, age 6, becomes Emperor.

4004 BC—God begins creating Earth, according Archbishop James Ussher.

2001—The U.S. House passes the PATRIOT Act without reading it.

1983—U.S. military aircraft, using outdated maps, accidentally bomb the Richmond Hill Insane Asylum in Grenada, killing 16.

1960—A single switch in the wrong position at the Baikonur Cosmodrome prematurely ignites the second stage of a Soviet R-16 ICBM. It explodes killing more than 100 scientists and technicians.

1962—Soviet ships reach the U.S.imposed quarantine line off Cuba.

They don’t cross it, so we don’t nuke the USSR. A Soviet satellite explodes the same day. NORAD suspects an ICBM attack; but, again, nobody pushes The Button.

1947—A DC-6 catches fire near Bryce Canyon after a design flaw lets fuel get sucked into a heater vent. Passengers and crew jettison baggage to maintain altitude, but the plane crashes killing all 52 aboard.

1947—Walt Disney rats out some employees to Congress as commies.

1929—The irrational exuberance of the 1920’s stock market undergoes a correction on “Black Thursday.”

1901—Annie Edson Taylor, 63, becomes the first person to survive a trip over Niagara Falls in a barrel.

1901—U.S. Marines in the Philippines are exhorted by “Hell-Roaring Jake” Smith: “I wish you to burn and kill; the more you burn and kill, the better it will please me.”

2001—A single Senator — Russ Feingold (D-WI) — votes against the PATRIOT Act. 1983—U.S. troops preserve our Republic by invading Grenada.

1973—As Nixon sleeps, Henry Kissinger, Alexander Haig, and five other unelected officials raise America’s military readiness level to DEF CON 3.

1962—Nuclear-armed F-106 interceptors scramble from a Duluth Air Force base because a guard, thinking it was an infiltrator, has shot a bear climbing a fence.

1960—Martin Luther King, Jr. is jailed in Decatur, GA on old traffic charges. He gets four months hard labor.

1944—U.S.S. Tang, captained by Dover’s Richard H. O’Kane, is sunk by its own malfunctioning torpedo; 74 men perish. Nine men survive the sinking and subsequent internment in Japanese prison camps.

1920—King Alexander of Greece dies shortly after being bitten by his pet monkey.

1881—Birth of Pablo Diego Jose Francisco Picasso.

1854—Lord James Cardigan leads a brigade of sword-brandishing light cavalrymen across open ground in a doomed attack against Russian artillery. Astonishingly, half survive.

1760—Britain’s King George II dies on the loo.

2003—Iraqi resistance fighters nearly get Deputy Defence Secretary Paul Wolfowitz with a rocket in Baghdad.

2001—George W. Bush eagerly signs the PATRIOT Act. 1979—South Korean President Park Chung-hee is shot by the head of the South Korean C.I.A. 1972—Henry the K., lying as usual, says “Peace is at hand.”

1970—“Doonesbury” debuts.

1962—As planning for massive air strikes continues, President John F. Kennedy gets a telegram from Nikita Khrushchev offering to swap Soviet missiles in Cuba for U.S. missiles in Turkey.

1955—Ngo Dinh Diem proclaims South Vietnam a republic and himself president.

1917—At the Second Battle of Passchendaele, the Allies gain a few hundred yards of mud at a cost of 12,000 casualties.

1881—The alleged law and the Clanton brothers shoot it out at the O.K. Corral in Tombstone, AZ. 1806—Lord Timothy Dexter, seminal American crackpot who made money selling bed warmers in the West Indies and author of A Penny for the Knowing Ones, dies in Newburyport, MA. 1369—“The Wise”Charles V, King of France, dedicates a monument to his personal chef for creating a recipe for pickled fish.

2004—The Rex Sox take the World Series in four from the Cardinals — first time since 1918.

1972—Richard Nixon pocket vetoes a bill to raise the veterans health care budget by $85 million.

1969—Hoping to convince the Soviets he’s dangerously unstable, Richard Nixon secretly orders eighteen B-52s armed with Hbombs to spend the next three days flying around the North Pole.

1967—Rev. Philip Berrigan and three friends pour duck blood on draft records in Baltimore, MD. 1965—“We must never forget,” says Richard Nixon, “that if the war in Vietnam is lost … the right of free speech will be extinguished throughout the world.”

1962—As one American U-2 is shot down over Cuba and another strays over the USSR, Robert Kennedy cuts a deal with Soviet Ambassador Anatoly Dobrynin.

1951—“There is no question,” says Gen. J. Lawton Collins, “that the Communist menace in French Indo-China has been stopped.”

1948—A temperature inversion causes poisonous smog to settle on Donora, PA, but U.S. Steel’s Zinc Works plant keeps running.

1838—Missouri Gov. Lilburn Boggs signs an executive order calling for Mormons to be “treated as enemies,” and “exterminated or driven from the state.”

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Sunday, October 28

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Tuesday, October 30

Wednesday, October 31

Thursday, November 1

Friday, November 2

Saturday, November 3

2007—The Red Sox take the World Series in four from the Rockies — second time in three years.

2006—George W. Bush tells a CNBC reporter that he knows how to use “The Google.”

2003—”[A]s you know,” explains George W. Bush, “these are open forums, you’re able to come and listen to what I have to say.”

1988—In Tacoma, a jury awards $147,000 to a woman seduced by her minister.

1984—OPEC decides to produce less oil and make more money.

1970—Sen. William Fulbright charges the Nixon administration with waging illegal war in Laos.

1962—Russkie Premier Nikita Khrushchev agrees to dismantle the Soviet missile bases in Cuba and remove the weapons.

1929—A child is born in an airplane, over Miami—where else?

1922—Benito Mussolini, “sent by divine providence,” according to Pope Pius XI, takes over in Rome.

1921—Argentine workers revolt under the black flag of anarchism.

The army kills 1,500.

1919—Congress passes the Volstead Act, enabling prohibition.

1918—George Herriman’s “Krazy Kat” gets his own comic strip.

1906—Ivy Lee issues the world’s first press release, deflecting blame from the Pennsylvania Railroad for the deaths of 50 passengers.

2003—George W. Bush explains that “The war on terror involves Saddam Hussein because of the nature of Saddam Hussein, the history of Saddam Hussein, and his willingness to terrorize himself.”

1994—Francisco Martin Duran fires 29 rounds from an SKS rifle at the White House before being subdued by two civilians.

1987—Ronald Reagan nominates Douglas H. Ginsburg for the Supreme Court, but his pot-smoking past puts the kibosh on that.

1979—1,000 are arrested on Wall Street for disrupting business on the 50th Anniversary of the Crash.

1969—The DARPANET is turned on—two computers communicate for the first time ever.

1958—A radioactive cloud drifts over Los Angeles after the explosion of an A-bomb in Nevada.

1935—Driving home in his bonus—a new Rolls—after signing a three-year, $1 million contract, cartoonist Sidney Smith (The Gumps) dies in a car wreck.

1929—“Black Tuesday”—16 million shares sell on Wall Street, at ever declining prices; $26 billion evaporates.

1918—Sailors mutiny in Kiehl, Germany and establish Sailors and Workers Councils.

1835—The “Loco-Foco” Party, a Democratic splinter group, is formed at Tammany Hall.

2005—Pastor Kyle Lake, 33, standing in water to perform a baptism before 800 people at a Waco, TX Baptist church, reaches for a microphone and is electrocuted.

1995—Quebec votes not to secede, but just barely.

1990—For the first time since the Ice Age, England and the European mainland are connected; this time by chunnel.

1990—“Amazing Joe” Burrus, an escape artist, fails to escape from an acrylic coffin after it’s covered with tons of wet cement.

1967—Martin Luther King, Jr. is arrested in Birmingham, AL. 1961—The Soviet Union air-drops a 58-megaton hydrogen bomb, creating the largest explosion in human history.

1950—Puerto Ricans rebel against U.S. rule.

1948—Smog deaths in Donora, PA reach 20, and 6,000 are sick.

1945—The U.S. government ends shoe rationing.

1838—A mob led by three Missouri Militia captains attacks a colony of Mormons at Huan’s Mill, killing most of them.

1831—Rebel slave leader Nat Turner is arrested in Virginia.

1501—Party guests win prizes by competitively coupling with 50 naked whores collecting chestnuts strewn on the palazzo apostolico of Pope Alexander VI.

1968—President Johnson stops the bombing of North Vietnam.

1967—Calif. governor Ronald Reagan denies a “homosexual ring” is operating out of his office in Sacramento.

1963—“I can safely say,” says Gen. Paul Harkin, U.S. commander in South Vietnam, “that the end of the war is in sight.”

1964—China explodes its first Abomb.

1941—On convoy duty on the North Atlantic, the U.S.S. Reuben James is sunk by a U-Boat.

1939—FDR moves the date of Thanksgiving by a week to boost Christmas retail sales.

1938—A Utah prison doctor records John Deering’s heart rate with an EKG as he’s executed by a firing squad.

1926—Mussolini survives an assassination attempt by 15 year old anarchist Anteo Zamboni.

1926—After being punched in the stomach, Ehrich “Harry Houdini” Weiss dies.

1918—In a week, Spanish Flu kills 21,000 Americans.

1893—Daniel Fowle’s printing press is last seen in public at the closing of the World’s Columbian Exposition, Chicago.

1765—The New Hampshire Gazette is printed “in mourning” for lost liberty, in protest of the Stamp Act, to take effect the following day.

2004—Voting machines are delivered to polling places in Franklin Co., OH. More go to higher-income areas than lower-income areas.

2002—“[T]hat’s what you expect here in New Hampshire,” says George W. Bush at Pease Tradeport, “somebody who tells you what’s on your mind.”

1972—The Piscataqua River Bridge opens to traffic.

1966—Lyndon Johnson, lying, tells U.S. troops in Korea that his greatgreat grandaddy died at the Alamo.

1951—U.S. Army troops are exposed to an atomic explosion in Nevada “for training purposes.”

1950—Puerto Rican nationalists try to kill Harry S Truman.

1918—An inexperienced scab motorman causes the Malbone Tunnel disaster in New York City; 97 die, 255 are injured.

1789—George Washington attends services at Portsmouth’s St. John’s Church in the a.m. and North Church in the p.m.

1777—The Ranger, Captain John Paul Jones commanding, leaves Portsmouth for France.

1765—A mock funeral for Liberty is held in Portsmouth. She’s rescued “by a number of her sons,” and the hated Stamp Act is buried in her place.

1512—The public first gawks at Michaelangelo’s paintings on the ceiling of the Sistine Chapel.

2004—Warren Co. (OH) officials count votes behind locked doors due to an alleged “terrorist threat.”

2002—“We know he [Saddam Hussein] has chemical weapons,” says George W. Bush.

2000—A Portland, ME TV station reports that George W. Bush got busted for drunk driving in 1976.

1983—Soviet intelligence, already convinced that the U.S. is planning a pre-emptive nuclear strike under cover of a training exercise, detect NATO’s Able Archer 83—just such an exercise—and conclude that a nuclear strike is imminent.

1972—In exchange for the Justice Department dropping an indictment for making illegal campaign contributions, the Seafarer’s International Union contributes $100,000 to the Nixon campaign.

1963—With a White House OK, South Vietnamese generals overthrow President Ngo Dinh Diem and his brother, Ngo Dinh Nhu. 1950—The first color television broadcasts begin.

1947—Howard Hughes takes the “Spruce Goose”—the world’s largest airplane—out for a test flight. It never flies again.

1929—“The Wall Street crash,” says Business Week, “doesn’t mean that there will be any general or serious business depression.”

1920—Socialist Eugene V. Debs gets 913,693 votes for President.

1986—A Lebanese magazine reports U.S. government’s been selling arms to Iran.

1970—Salvador Allende sworn in as President of Chile.

1969—Richard Nixon announces “Vietnamization” of Vietnam War. 1964—Lyndon Johnson is elected as the peace candidate.

1957—A female dog named Laika, aboard Sputnik 2, becomes the first living thing to orbit Earth.

1948—The Chicago Daily Tribune mistakenly declares Dewey the winner over Truman in the presidential election.

1917—Bolsheviks take power during the Russian Revolution.

1913—The U.S. introduces the Income Tax. 1903—The Colombian province of Panama secedes with quiet backing from Teddy Roosevelt, whose Republican party recently received $60,000 from the New Panama Canal Company.

1868—John W. Menard, from Louisiana, is first black elected to Congress.

1789—George Washington visits Madam Lear, his secretary’s mother, on Hunking Street and attends a ball at the Assembly.

1755—Massachusetts establishes bounties for Indian scalps, ranging from £50 for male Penobscots over 12 years old, to £20 for female Indians under 12.

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“Where would we be without salt?”

James Beard (1903-1985)

Therapeutic Massage, Aromatherapy & Bodywork 150 Congress Street Portsmouth, NH 603-766-FISH

Jill Vranicar• Kate Leigh

16 Market Square, Portsmouth, NH

(603) 436-6006

Next to City Hall in Downtown Dover, NH 3 Hale Street j (603) 742-1737

Since 2011

7 Commercial Alley ~ 766-1616 www.portsmouthsaltcellar.com

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