Winter 2009 Alumni Council Report to the Class of 1994

Seasons Greetings from Hanover, or at least close by. I recently completed my first Alumni Council Weekend as your representative for the Class if 1994. I'm honored to be your voice to the College, and your source of information for what’s happening on campus.

Trustee Nominations

The biggest news to come out of last weekend's meeting was the Nomination of two candidates for the two open seats on the Board of Trustees. The Council voted 89-1 to forward the recommended candidates of the Nominating Committee to the alumni body. I was the sole dissenting vote, not because I find any fault with the chosen candidates, but because recommending a single candidate for each open seat negates the reason for having an election.

The Nominating Committee believes that by forwarding a single candidate, another candidate will come forward through the petition process. This will then lead to a one-on-one election between the Alumni Council candidate and the Petition candidate. I believe this process cements a two-party system that recent rule changes have tried to avoid. I hope that I am proven wrong, and that we do have a spirited choice between outstanding candidates for both seats when we vote this spring. My objections to the process aside, I want to thank the Nominating Committee for giving us two spectacular candidates, Morton Kondracke '60 and John Replogle '88.

Both Mort and John came up to Hanover to introduce themselves, and both spoke passionately about their love of Dartmouth. Kondracke is best known for his years in journalism, from his time as a panelist on "The McLaughlin Group" to his current stint as one of the Beltway Boys on Fox News. He is also a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University, but I promised not to engage in mudslinging.

Replogle is President and CEO of Burt's Bees, a leading personal care company that specializes in natural and ecologically friendly products. John is also a veteran of WFRD/WDCR, which is a sign of sound judgment and character. I wish them both the best of luck, and thank them again for stepping forward to run for Dartmouth Trustee.

I've been encouraged by Alumni Council leadership to campaign on behalf of Mort and John, but I will limit myself to providing you with a much information as I can on the candidates and the upcoming campaign.

You can learn more through the Alumni Council's Facebook page, and through the two announced candidates campaign websites, Mort4Dartmouth.com and John4Dartmouth.com. If and when petition candidates come forward, I will be happy to pass along information about them. Here's to a robust and positive Trustee Election.

Budget Crisis

New Dartmouth President Jim Yong Kim was kind enough to meet with the Alumni Council not once, but twice, during the weekend. While his stirring address to the Council Dinner on Friday night was moving and memorable, the stark outline he gave Saturday morning of the financial challenges facing Dartmouth needs to be communicated. The national economic recession has hit Dartmouth's Endowment hard, though not as hard some comparable universities with more aggressive investment strategies. With no changes to the College's budget and investment plans, Dartmouth is facing a $50 million deficit next year, growing to $122 million by 2014.

President Kim's plan to tackle this mounting deficit is to cut $50 million in expenses next year, another $50 the following year. This $100 million in annual savings will bring the budget back into balance over the next five years, but also mean some tough and painful choices have to be made. An alternative approach, one being adopted at Yale for instance, is to phase in the budget savings over several years while tapping into the Endowment to smooth the transition. President Kim and VP for Alumni Affairs David Spalding made a compelling case that making deeper cuts today will leave Dartmouth's budget and endowment in much better shape down the road, whether the economy rebounds strongly in the next year or suffers another dip.

For more information on Dartmouth's financial picture, I encourage you to visit budget.dartmouth.edu or watch President Kim’s recent 90-minute presentation on YouTube at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_HEN5J7jfuU. Copies of most of the slides used at available at http://budget.dartmouth.edu/communications.

Academic Affairs Committee

I’m thrilled to be a member of the Council's Academic Affairs Committee. Undergraduate instruction is the core of Dartmouth’s mission, and I can't think of a more important way to give back to the College. During Alumni Council Weekend, we received a comprehensive overview of the Native American Studies Program from Chair Bruce Duthu, and a fascinating presentation from the student editors of the Dartmouth Journal of Undergraduate Science. This periodical gives Dartmouth students a unique opportunity to publish original scientific papers. It is a wonderful resource that elegantly compliments Dartmouth's core academic mission, and provides real value to current and prospective Dartmouth students.

What can you do for Dartmouth today?

One thing we all have in common is an abundance of ideas for what other people can do to help Dartmouth. But I wanted to tell you about a few small things I did last weekend to help the College on the Hill.

I've started a Facebook group for those interested in the upcoming Trustee Election. On Facebook, search for DarTEC (Dartmouth Trustee Election Clearinghouse) and join. Hopefully, the Alumni Council page and Vox the Vote will provide comprehensive information on all Trustee candidates, but it's important to have an independent source of information on the issues facing the Board of Trustees as we consider who to add to that Board. The site is open to all to read and to post. Feel free to post links or commentary you find useful, and to make the case for your candidate. I will be monitoring the page in order to maintain a civil discussion, but will make no other editorial restrictions on content.

I've subscribed to the Dartmouth Journal of Undergraduate Science, http://dujs.dartmouth.edu Not only will this dramatically improve the quality of my coffee table literature which is currently limited to Sports Illustrated and Entertainment Weekly, but it will support a great undergraduate publication.

And of course, I've made sure my Class Dues are up to date. But your Dues are current, right?

The next Alumni Council meeting is in May. In the meantime, I am available to answer any questions I can, and forward any I can't to the Alumni Relations Office. You can get in touch with me at grantbosse@gmail.com or call me at (603) 748-3659.

Thank you again for the honor of representing you on the Alumni Council, and Merry Christmas.

Yours in service to Dartmouth,

Grant Bosse '94

Dartmouth Trustee Nomination Follow-Up

I wanted to add some follow-up thoughts to this afternoon's post about the Dartmouth Trustee Candidate Nominations.

First, I neglected to thank both Tom Daniels '82, who chaired the Nominating Committee, and Janine Avner '80, Alumni Council President. Though I disagree wholeheartedly with their nominating strategy and their belief that the Alumni Council should now actively work to elect the Committee's nominees over any petition candidates who emerge, both have gone out of their way to welcome my input, and to give me a chance to share those opinions with my fellow Councilors. From past Councilors, I understand that this is a marked improvement from the way dissenting voices were welcomed over the past several years. It shows we can disagree, sometimes passionately, about the issue facings us at Dartmouth, and still respect each other. Of course, I think that reinforces my view of the world, but I would, wouldn't I.

Scott comments on the prior post that since petition candidates can and likely will step forward, it's unfair to claim that the Nominating Committee set up an uncontested election. But in the Nominating Committee's mind, there shouldn't be a contest. We should confirm its choices. And any candidates who get their name on the ballot should be defeated. I find this an obvious overreach of their responsibility.

Further, the Nominating Committee strengthens the presumption that Dartmouth Alumni are forever split into two camps, insiders and outsiders, and that each camp distrusts the other's motivations and judgement. Having watched the governance battles of the past five years, I believe that the division they seek the quell stems at least as much from Alumni Council defensiveness as from disaffected alumni. Building those divisions into the nominating process is a bad idea.

I'm not going to belabor the process argument much further. Alumni interested in serving on the Board of Trustees now have the opportunity to seek petitions to be put on the ballot, and I'm looking forward to the opportunity to find out and share their vision of Dartmouth, along with Mr. Kondracke's and Mr. Replogle.

I'll have full report from the Alumni Council Weekend for the Class of '94 and anyone else interested tomorrow or Sunday. President Kim's speech tonight was phenominal. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to watch the Mort Report and buy some Burt's Bees lip balm.

Go Big Green!

Pre-empting the Election at Dartmouth

The Dartmouth Alumni Council just voted 89-1 to nominate two candidates for the two Trustee positions up for election next spring. I was the one. Never before have I felt like such a voice crying out in the wilderness.

The Nominating Committee brought forward two outstandingly qualified candidates, Mort Kondracke '60 and John Replogle '88. Both men are extemely distinguished in the field, both made the trip to Hanover to introduce themselves to the Council this weekend, and both spoke passionately about their love of Dartmouth.

While I can't quiblle with the Nominating Committee's work in filtering the field of Dartmouth graduates down to a pair of Trustee candidates, I am left to wonder the point of an election with only one candidate for each office.

Tom Daniels '82 Chaired the Nominating Committee, and justified the decision to limit the field to one candidate based on "rumblings" that other candidates would surely emerge through the petition process, and that they wanted to ensure a one-on-one contest. Yet there is no guarantee that a petition candidate will qualify for the spring ballot, or that there will be only one challenger. What the Nominating Committee has done is game the system in an attempte to redetermine the outcome of the Alumni election.

Voters deserve a choice. That needs to be the cornerstone of any election. Yet the Nominating Committee, and the Council through its vote today, has decided to substitute its judgement for that of the voters. There are real issues facing Dartmouth, and real choices on where the College goes under the Kim Administration and beyond. Kondracke and Replogle may be outstanding Trustees, and might end up supporting them both once I learn about their priorities for Dartmouth. But I would never use my new position as my Class Representative on the Alumni Council to tell my classmates how to vote. I'm going to try my best to get them good information about both candidates, even if they end up unopposed, so that my classmates and the rest of the Dartmouth Community can make an informed choice.

Elections are inherently messy. Tempered get frayed and feelings get hurt. But the Nominating Committee, in its zeal to avoid any unpleasantness, is generating far more division. In a conference call before my first meeting of the Alumni Council, I was instructed that it my job not just to communicate the actions of the Council to my classmates, but also to advocate for the election of their slate of candidates. I'm skeptical of In Loco Parentis when it comes to college students. This paternalistic doctrine certainly has no place after graduation.

I may be wrong, but despite today's vote, I know I'm not alone. We deserve a real choice about the direction Dartmouth takes. I'm sick of Trustee Elections being all about how we elect Trustees. Let's trust our classmates to choose between competing ideas amongst qualified candidates who all love Dartmouth. Let's have a real election, and then let's move Dartmouth forward together.

Grant Bosse '94
Alumni Council Representative
Dartmouth Broadcasting Board of Overseers

Grant Bosse Launches Phantom Campaign for Congress

Greetings Google searchers and Cavuto viewers. Here's my segment with Brian Sullivan on "Your World". For my latest work, please check out New Hampshire Watchdog.

Kelly Ayotte in Newport

Potential Senate candidate Kelly Ayotte addresses the Sullivan County Republican Committee dinner in Newport last Friday evening.

Part 1


Part 2


Part 3

Bold Prediction- Obama Approval Ratings will rise in next ten days

I'm predicting that President Obama's approval rating will go up, at least 3 points and possibly more, over the next ten days.

We like our politicians more when they aren't showing up on television reminding us of how much they are doing to help us. Call it the John Lynch Popularity Model. He was extremely popular when he wasn't doing anything. This year, he's actually had to govern, done it badly, and is seeing his support erode.

President Obama has also sabotaged his signature initiatives, especially the ObamaCare debacle, by putting himself in front of the issue on every occasion. Now that's he's going on vacation for ten days, he won't be holding any awkward and pedantic press conferences or lying about AARP's endorsement at Town Hall meetings. This has to be good for his image.

As of Friday, Rasmussen has Obama's approval ratings at -8, 31% to 39%. I predict that by September 2nd, which will give the full vacation time to make its way into the poll, his approval rating will be up to at least -2. Then, he can come back to Washington and resume eroding his popularity.

President tells "folks who created the mess" to get out of the way

I presume he's talking about Barney Frank:

Star Wars for the 4th

Let me be clear ahead of time. If we end up shooting down a North Korean missile on the 4th of July, not only will that be super-cool, but I will give President Obama full credit.

He's said some silly things against missile defense in the past, but if he manages to demonstrate that the United States will not remain defenseless in the face of a ballistic missile threat, he will have greatly strengthened national security, which in turn will make the world a safer place.

Happy Independence Day

By GRANT BOSSE

Mother Nature has a cruel way of reminding us that the Fourth of July isn’t all about fireworks and barbeques. This particular date on the calendar marks the anniversary of American independence. Maybe the rainy weekend will remind us that the day is about more than hot dogs and sunscreen.

On July 2, 1776, the Continental Congress meeting in Philadelphia voted to declare the 13 American colonies independent from Great Britain. This was a bold and controversial decision, even for a group of revolutionaries that had been at war for a year. At the time, a sizable segment of colonists held out hope for reconciliation with the Crown, and a return to British rule with greater colonial autonomy. Declaring independence meant not only the prospect of a long war, but of a life without political and economic support from the British Empire if they won.

The Continental Congress announced this new Declaration of Independence on July 4, and most members signed the document on August 2. John Adams wrote his wife Abigail that “the Second of July, 1776, will be the most memorable Epocha, in the History of America. I am apt to believe it will be celebrated, by succeeding Generations, as the great anniversary Festival.” He was only off by two days.

While the importance of independence and the tragic fate that befell so many of the Declaration’s signatories have made their mark on American history, it is the strength of Thomas Jefferson’s words that have truly changed the world. While it was conceived as a formal notice to King George of the grievances that led to separation from the Crown, Jefferson’s poetic preamble turned the Declaration into one of the most powerful statements of human rights ever printed. I would summarize its meaning, but Jefferson stated the inherent justice of self-government more succinctly than I ever could:

“We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more
disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.”

Deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed. I still haven’t found a better way to describe the limits of government in a democratic society. It turns out the government the Founders instituted in 1776 didn’t work very well. The Articles of Confederation were scrapped in 1789 in favor a Constitution, granting us what Benjamin Franklin described as, “A Republic, if you can keep it.”

Jefferson’s ideals have spread over the past 233 years. The rights of life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness are shared far beyond our borders. The people of Iran are fighting for those rights today. The people of North Korea are still trapped in darkness.

I hope the sun comes out long enough this weekend to use the grill. I’m taking the family to Fenway on Sunday. So I’m going to enjoy this Fourth of July. But I’m going to celebrate Independence Day.

Souter Wrong Again for Old Times' Sake

The Supreme Court made a lot of sense today by siding New Haven firefighters who did well on a promotions exam but had the results thrown out, because those who did poorly didn't like the results. New Hampshire's own David Souter ruled that the city should have put political correctness over public safety, and that firefighters should have been promoted based more on skin color than on ability. His sloppy jurisprudence will not be missed, though likely-Justice Sotomayor's race-based rulings won't be any improvement,

Richard Epstein does into much more detail about the Ricci case, and it's implications for government-sponsored racism in the future.

I'd also recommend the continuing coverage over at the Volokh Conspiracy, the best legal blog on the planet.

And if you've still got the time and interest in the Ricci case, you can check out today's reaction from the worst legal reporter in America.

Cline on Sanford

UL editorial guru Andrew Cline has a new piece in the American Spectator on the political suicide of Mark Sanford. Read the whole thing, but I had to clip this paragraph:

Beautiful women can impair men's reasoning faculties. If that was the case here, Sanford's mistress must be the most beautiful woman on earth because she turned his brain into grits.

Sanford exits Zipped Pants Caucus

South Carolina Governor Mark Sanford is the latest politician who can't keep it in his freaking pants!

We Are All Iranians Now

The future is on the brink right now in Iran. The next few hours may decide whether an oppressive regime hangs onto power or crumbles under the force of freedom. There is little we can from here, but perhaps we can make it just that much easier for Iranian bloggers to remain free from the state security services.

Join Operation Haystack, change your Twitter settings to Tehran, and provide some cover for those telling the world about what's going on in Iran right now.

After 9/11, the world reached out to America. Tonight, my prayers are with the Iranian people. We are all Iranians now.

Help the Iranian People

Two small ways to help Iranians risking their lives for more freedom, one useful and one symbolic.

1) Change your Twitter location to Tehran, and your time to GMT +3:30. The State Security Services are searching Twitter to find protesting bloggers. Adding more hay to the haystack will make it harder for them to find the needles.

2) Change your Twitter and Facebook pictures to make them green in solidarity with the protesters.

It's remarkable how useful new media, and especially Twitter, has been in not only letting the world know what's going on inside Iran, but also helping protesters communicate with each other. I know people like to mock Twitter as just bloggers telling each other what they're eating, but any tool that makes it easier for people to communicate makes for a better world.

NY Times Reporter Escapes Taliban

Nice.

Predicting Obama's Reaction to Iran

Last summer, we got a glimpse into Barack Obama's likely response to a foreign policy crisis when he failed miserably to adequately respond to Russia's invasion of Georgia:

Moral relativism, appeasement in the face of aggression, and failed foreign policy: Barack Obama- Change You Can Believe In!

Powerline charts the Obama's weak response to tyranny on public display in Iran:

President Obama has figured out that "something has happened in Iran." Unfortunately, his take on what that "something" is suggests that he is uncaring, clueless, or both:

"I do believe that something has happened in Iran where there is a questioning of the kinds of antagonistic postures towards the international community that have taken place in the past."

In other words, the mass demonstrations aren't about the quest for freedom, they are about being more respectful towards "the international community."

The Zipped Pants Caucus

More details are coming out about Sen. John Ensign's admitted affair with a campagn worker.

Political insiders in Nevada and in the Senate said that Ensign decided to acknowledge the affair publicly after the husband of the woman he had been seeing asked him for a substantial sum of money.

Ensign described the affair Tuesday as “the worst thing I have ever done in my life.”

“If there was ever anything in my life that I could take back, this would be it. I take full responsibility for my actions,” he said.

As the details come out, it shows that Ensign did the absolutely right thing by making this public. That is the proper response to blackmail.

Given the pressures of being a U.S. Senator, and the fact that he and his wife were estranged at the time of the affair, and that Ensign told his wife about the affair and ended it when they got back together....I still don't care.

You're a United State Senator. Until yesterday, you had aspirations to run for President. Keep it in your freaking pants!

Setting a Higher Standard

Seriously! I mean, c'mon. I like John Ensign a lot. He was a great member of the Commerce Committee when I was working there, generally standing up for the right ideas. So was David Vitter.

But keep it in your freaking pants!

Sen. John Ensign (R-Nev.) has acknowledged an extramarital affair with a campaign staffer in a statement released by his office. "I deeply regret and am very sorry for my actions," said Ensign. He is expected to announce the affair at a press conference at 6:30 pm tonight. The affair, which was with a woman who worked for both Ensign's re-election campaign and his Battle Born leadership political action committee, began in December 2007 and ended in August 2008. Ensign's wife, Darlene, said that the couple's "marriage has become stronger" and added: "I love my husband."

The link between sex and power is hardly a partisan phenomenon. How about we start a Third Party based on a platform of not being a cheating scumbag. We'll call it the Zipped Pants Caucus. It's a low threshold, but I think voters might prefer politicians who underpromise and overdeliver.

Rob Huxley at Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Rob Huxley addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Andrew Hemingway at Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Andrew Hemingway addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Robert Bestani at Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Robert Bestani addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Ovide Lamontagne at Hillsborough County Flag Day Picnic

Ovide Lamontagne addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Fred Tausch at Hillsborough County Flag Day Picnic

Fred Tausch, founder of STEWARD of Prosperity, addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Jennifer Horn at Hillsborough County Flag Day Picnic

Jennifer Horn addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Charlie Bass at Hillsborough County GOP Flag Day Picnic

Former Republican Congressman Charlie Bass addresses the Hillsborough County GOP's Flag Day Picnic:

Frank Guinta at Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta addresses the Hillsborough County Republican Committee's Flag Day Picnic:

Bob Giuda announces run for Congress

Republican Bob Giuda announces his Exploratory Committee for Congress in New Hampshire's Second District at the Hillsborough County GOP Flag Day Picnic:

Grant Bosse at Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Grant Bosse on the meaning of Flag Day:

Steve Stepanek at the Hillsborough GOP Flag Day Picnic

Chairman Steve Stepanek welcomes the crowd at the Hillsborough County Republican Committee Flag Day Picnic:

A Rainy Flag Day in Greenfield

I'm MCing today's Flag Day Picnic for the Hillsborough County Republican Committee. Luckily, we're indoors at the Barbara C. Harris camp in Greenfield.

Scheduled speakers include:
Congressman Charlie Bass
Ovide Lamontagnge
Jennifer Horn
Mayor Frank Guinta
Fred Tausch
Bill Martel
and several potential Congressional candidates.

We'll post the video as soon as we can.

Another good rule

I live my life by a few simple rules. Among them is this:

Never own a dog that can be blown away by a gust of wind.

WaPo- Security Guard Killed at U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum

The Washington Post reports that the guard shot at the Holocaust Museum this morning has died.

A gunman armed with a rifle walked into the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum in downtown Washington today and fatally wounded a security guard before being shot and seriously wounded by two guards, authorities said.

I've been to the Holocaust Museum just once. It was a powerful and emotionally draining experience. It was like watching Schindler's List or United 93, only much more intense. You're reminded not only of man's capacity for evil, but also our ability to withstand that evil and rise above it. James Lileks has the most insightful comment I've yet heard:

The fact that the Holocaust Museum has several armed guards tells you why we need a Holocaust Museum.

This murder by a man now identified as a white supremicists and anti-semite is an act of terrorism. He used violence and fear for political ends.

The Union Leader reports that this lunatic once lived in Lebanon, and tried to take hostages at the Federal Reserve in 1981.

We don't yet know the murdered guard's name, and we may never know many lives he saved today. My prayers are for his family, and his colleagues who will put their lives at risk again the next time they go to work.

This murder comes ten days after Dr. George Tiller was killed because he performed controversial abortions. I hope these two crimes do not mark a trend. Violence and murder are not legitimate political tools. It's especially grotesque to see such violence at the Holocaust Museum, where we mark on the largest uses of murder as a political weapon in our history.

Today and forever, let us "confront hatred, prevent genocide, promote human dignity, and strengthen democracy."

PJ O'Rourke on Daily Show

I live my life by a few simple rules, among which are these:

*Wait until the whistle to leave or go back to your seat at a hockey game

*Always use fresh cracked black pepper whenever possible

*Whenever a New Hampshire writer goes on a nationally televised cable comedy show to promote his new book, embed the video:

The Daily Show With Jon Stewart	M - Th 11p / 10c
P.J. O'Rourke
thedailyshow.com
Daily Show Full Episodes Political Humor Economic Crisis

Joe McCarthy's Legacy

The most long-lasting legacy of the McCarthy Era wasn't the damage done to those who were unfairly tarnished as Communists. It was that Joe McCarthy's self-serving, thuggish, and bombastic attacks on imaginary Communist spies made our federal government much safer for the actual Communist spies:

A former U.S. State Department official and his wife have been arrested for spying for the Cuban government for nearly 30 years, the Justice Department said on Friday.

Walter Kendall Myers, 72, aided by his wife Gwendolyn Myers, 71, used his Top Secret security clearance to pass on classified information to the Cuban government and at one point met with Cuban leader Fidel Castro, according to court documents.

The two were charged with conspiracy to act as illegal agents of the Cuban government and to communicate classified information to Cuba, the Justice Department said. They were also charged with wire fraud and acting as illegal agents.

Mr. and Mrs. Myers weren't recruited by Castro's regime until the 70's, well after Joe McCarthy left this world. But his buffonery made it hard to credibily run effective counter-intelligence for decades.

Blue Hampshire: When does "New Media" cross into "major nuisance"?

Over at BlueHampshire, Zandra Rice Hawkins debates herself as to whether independent journalists working for think-tanks should be allowed access to state government:

As someone with an organization that routinely films political activity in the state for the benefit of our members, I try to gain access wherever I can. But I don't purport that I'm speaking for new media advocates when I'm asked to move to the gallery. Instead, I'd rather leave that space and make the case for new media that's reporting for general public interest rather than an organizational view.

Obviously, we disagree with Rice Hawkin's line in the sand. We would prefer to be judged by the quality our of work at the Josiah Bartlett Center and at NH Watchdog. At a time when traditional media organizations are cutting back on State House coverage, we are stepping in to fill the gap. The First Amendment has no requirement that the press have no opinions. We prefer to let people know that we are in favor of free markets and smaller government, and let our coverage speak for itself.

D Day Y+65

UPDATE- Nice post by Paul Twomey over at BlueHampshire.

On June 6, 1944 at 6:30 am British Double Summer Time, the Allies launched the largest invasion in military history, breaching Hitler's Fortress Europe on the beaches of Normandy. Though a careful study of history would reveal socio-economic trends suggesting Germany would inevitably lose the war by this time, the cost of victory in Europe and the shape of the post World War II world were far from certain. Germany had lost the war by the summer of 1944, but the Allies still had to win it.



Without surprise, coordination, and above all, the sheer will of the American, British, and Canadian landing forces to hold and advance from five narrow beachheads into the teeth of Wehrmacht, Germany may have delayed the Allied advance on Berlin by months or years. The potential direct cost of this delay in incaluable. The costs of Soviet troops occupying all of Germany and beyond would surely still be felt to this day.

President Obama, French President Sarkozy and British Prime Minister Gordon Brown are marking the anniversary in several historic locations today. It's a shame that Queen Elizabeth, the only living Head of State who served in WWII, hasn't been invited. Her generation faced a challenge that drawfs even the military and economic problems we have before us today. The Queen's presence would have served as a reminder of Britain's resolve in the face of evil, and guided us as we continue to fight for freedom for all mankind.

Remembering the Battle of Midway

I've got a post over at NH Watchdog going up tomorrow about the 60th anniversary of D-Day, but a similarly critical battle took place in the Pacific 67 years ago today. Powerline remembers.

Midway marked the eastern edge of Japanese naval expansion. Just six months after Pearl Harbor, Japan has pushed the U.S. Navy out of the Solomons and was threatening to acquire land bases within range of Hawaii and the American mainland.

The U.S. Navy, relying on intelligence gathered from broken Japanese codes, decided to take a stand at Midway. Using the airstrip on the tiny atoll, his last three carriers in the Pacific, and aging aircraft that were outclassed by their Japanese counterparts, Admiral Chester Nimitz gambled that his forces would be able to spot and attack the Japanese fleet first. He was right. U.S. planes sunk all four large carriers in the Japanese battle group. Japanese planes finally sunk the U.S.S. Yorktown, after mistakenly thinking they had sent the flattop to the bottom twice before. I highly recommend Jonathan Parshall and Anthony Tully's Shattered Sword, a compelling account of the battle, using primary sources from both the U.S. and Imperial navies.

The amount of skill, courage, and blind luck that took place over a vast stretch of ocean that day is astounding. I've had the opportunity to visit Midway, which is now a research station. The naval base was abandoned years ago, and the massive airplane hangers have been left to decay. But you can still see the bomb damage that they took on June 5, 1942. It's hard to convey the odd feelings of standing on that ground, knowing that this is where the tide turned in the War in the Pacific.

Though less significant in the overall course of the war, Japan also launched a diversionary attack on the Aleutian Islands in Alaska as part of the Midway campaign. Japan's decision to split its superior forces was a key to American victory in the battle. I've also had the chance to visit Kodiak Island, where my grandfather was stationed during the Aleutian campaign. This marked the only time a foreign army occupied American soil in the 20th Century. Brian Garfield's The Thousand-Mile War tells that story.

We need to remember our history. The events of June 5, 1942 were as pivotal to the future of the Pacific Rim as the events of June 6, 1944 were to Europe.

Kicked Out of NH Senate

"I would not join any club that would have someone like me for a member." - Groucho Marx.

I found out today that the opposite is also true. I never really wanted to be on the floor of the New Hampshire Senate until they kicked me out.

Senate Budget Could Kick NH Kids Out of School

Over at NH Watchdog, a new report on Charter Schools in the New Hampshire Budget.

Grant Bosse screwing up search engines

Somebody looking for "College Grants" will be sorely disappointed.
http://www.grantmoneydirect.com/college-grants/grant-bosse-at-nh-college-republican-convention

Kevin Niparko is making sense: Never Collis

During my junior year, Dartmouth college shut down the Collis student center for a major rehab. They reopened the building halfway through my senior year, and gave the campus a pool hall, a larger and more accessible function room, and a decent on campus pub. But the food at Collis Common Ground was as inedible as it was when I first arrived on campus. Hippie food.

The today's edition of The Dartmouth, Kevin Niparko '11 writes that not much as changed over the past 15 years:

I’ve had this Collis debate with so many people (females), I decided I would do myself (and all men on this campus) a favor and explain why Collis Cafe is not an attractive option for anything but breakfast (and maybe a midnight snack). I’m always dumbfounded when I walk into Collis and see the hordes of Collis-extremists fighting over the last piece of orange poppy seed tea bread, or chewing balsamic vinegar-soaked lettuce like Peter Rabbit. Have our collective campus taste buds really become so dysfunctional that we willingly resign ourselves to Collis’ flavorless foods?

For lunch, our Collis options are made-to-order sandwiches, stir-fry and salad. The sandwich selection at Collis is insultingly limited. It ranks last among our College’s sandwich stations, with “specialty” bread straight from the supermarket that you can’t even get toasted. As for stir-fries, every time I get one, I’m reminded of week-old Chinese food. The chicken is Blimpie quality, and the rice it’s served on is bland and overcooked.

Hey, hippies have the eat, too. I think. I've never really paid that much attention. And I'm glad that Collis is part of the campus dining mix. But Mr. Diparko explains very well why me, and I, would prefer to meet somewhere else for lunch.

Jennifer Granholm flunks history

The Governor of Michigan thinks that her state built the B-1 Bombers that won WWII.

As the Arsenal of Democracy during World War II, Michigan was called upon in a time of crisis to transition our auto manufacturing base to tanks and B-1 bombers.

The B-1 Bomber took its first flight in 1974, which was a little late to have much effect of the Luftwaffe. To be fair, Michigan did build the nuclear submarines that defeated the Royal Navy in 1912, and the X-Wing fighters that flew air support over Grenada. That's what you get for going to Berkeley and Harvard Law.

PS- Of course, this was just a slip of the keyboard by whichever staffer ghost-wrote her piece (badly) on the Huffington Post. Such errors are only signs of low intelligence when committed by Republicans.

Hattip: American Princess

Grim Ferry Tales

Our friend Scott St. Clair has been doing great work at the Evergreen Freedom Foundation, investigating waste and mismanagement on the taxpayer-subsidized ferry system.

One page reads: "Ferry Tales: A tragicomedy about failure, folly, and
foolishness at Washington State Ferries."

Volunteers have been handing out the pamphlets to passengers waiting in line at ferry docks.

Scott St. Clair, who did the research that went into "Grim Ferry Tales," says the goal is pull back the curtain and give people a glimpse of how their tax dollars are being
used and misused at W.S.F.

"We wanted to take a look at some of the issues inside the ferry system," he said.

The pamphlet hammers WSF for letting unions control what hours ferries and the ferry repair shop operate. It also goes after the ferry system for not building the boats that were promised after a gas tax hike six years ago.

What's happening at NH Watchdog?

Lots of good stuff at NH Watchdog:

Fosters rails against raising the gas tax.

PJ O'Rourke documents our slide into a banana republic.

Charlie Arlinghaus wants to make us more like Canada.

An Ohio Police Chief tries to blackmail voters into higher taxes.

China warns the Federal Reserve about printing too much money.

Sonia Sotomayor getting Nomination

Wow, got one right. President Obama will nominate New York appeals court judge Sonia Sotomayor to replace David Souter on the U.S. Supreme Court.

Liberals are thrilled that Obama will nominate a woman and a Hispanic, which seem like really trivial reasons to anyone who believes people should be judged "not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character."

Opposition will likely center around a recent piece in the New Republic by Jeffrey Rosen questioning Sotomayor's legal temperment:

The most consistent concern was that Sotomayor, although an able lawyer, was "not that smart and kind of a bully on the bench," as one former Second Circuit clerk for another judge put it. "She has an inflated opinion of herself, and is domineering during oral arguments, but her questions aren't penetrating and don't get to the heart of the issue."

Conservatives will point to a video where Sotomayor says that appeals courts are where policy is made as proof that she's an activist judge:


To be fair, she doesn't seem to say that policy should be made at the appeals court; only that it does.

I'd be more concerned about her tendency towards judicial errors. Three times, she has been reversed by the Supreme Court, not for some disagreement over proper interpretation of the Constitution, but for legal slopiness. She has repeatedly failed to correctly apply the law. That's not a good trait on a Court that deals with complicated technical issues of the law more often than with the controversial big-ticket items like the death penalty, abortion, and gun control.

Barring any unpaid taxes or similar scandals that seem to attract Obama nominees, Sototmayor will be confirmed. I hope for a vigorous and healthy Senate debate. Given the makeup of the Senate Judiciary Committee, I'm not holding my breath.

Memorial Day

I've been lucky enough that both my grandfathers made it back from WWII, and my father came home from Vietnam. Today, we remember those who didn't make it back; who gave their lives to defend our freedom.

Frank Guinta Interview

RedHampshire has posted an extensive interview with Manchester Mayor Frank Guinta, who has announced his candidacy for New Hampshire's First District.

Honoring New Hampshire's Veterans

Over a NHWatchdog, I've posted a graph showing when all of the estimated 122,000 veterans in New Hampshire served.

NH Veterans by Date of Service

Publish at Scribd or explore others: Humanities Research grant bosse New Hampshire

Why Journalists Deserve Low Pay

HEH!

Mandating Paid Vacation

Over at NH Watchdog- Mandating Paid Vacation.

First post in forever

I know. I've been giving all the blog love to NH Watchdog, your best source for coverage of the New Hampshire budget, but I felt it was time to get things going again over here at the personal blog.

In case you missed it, here's my story on Tom Thomson taking over as Honorary Chairman of Americans for Prosperity NH at RedHampshire, and an article in Foster's about the possible impact on local school districts if the Senate cuts Building Aid.