New Year’s Resolutions: Change Socks, Wake Up & Fight
From Woody Guthrie’s 1942 New Year’s Resolutions: Take bath. Stay glad. Dream good. Wake up and fight.
Dickens on Christmas and the Ninety-Nine Percent
“But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round — apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that —as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not another race of creatures bound on other journeys. And therefore, uncle, though it has never put a scrap of gold or silver in my pocket, I believe that it has done me good, and will do me good; and I say, God bless it!”
— Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Twas the Week Before Christmas
A Christmas poem from Team Shea-Porter.
It was the week before Christmas and all through the House
Guinta wasn’t stirring, nor was anyone else.The Senate had passed tax cuts with bipartisan care
In hopes that the House soon would be fair.When House Republicans closed down with the gavel, it caused such a clatter
Dems sprang to the floor to say wait—the middle class does matter!Away to the podium Dems flew like a flash
As the Republicans sneaked out past the Congressional sash.Wait! The Dems called to the Republican pack
We’re not done yet, please come back!You took care of the very rich
without a single hitch.You gave them tax cuts and subsidies and write-offs with glee
“But wait,” says the middle class, “what about me?”But the Republicans exclaimed as they fled out of sight,
No tax cuts for the Middle Class, it’s not for them we fight!
A Mother’s Day Gift for Working Moms
On the day we honor mothers, it’s worth noting that 71% of women with children under 18 years of age are in the labor force. And as the New Hampshire GOP continues its assault on workers and unions, it’s particularly meaningful to note the advantage these unions provide for working mothers.
A report by the Center for Economic and Policy Research (CEPR) documents the dramatic advantage unions provide women workers in pay and benefits.
The data suggest that even after controlling for systematic differences between union and non-union workers, union representation substantially improves the pay and benefits that women receive. On average, unionization raised women’s wages by 11.2 percent — about $2.00 per hour — compared to non-union women with similar characteristics.
For the average woman, joining a union has a much larger effect on her probability of having health insurance (an 18.8 percentage-point increase) than finishing a four-year college degree would (an 8.4 percentage-point increase, compared to a woman with similar characteristics who has only a high school diploma). Similarly, unionization raises the probability of a woman having a pension by 24.7 percentage points, compared to only a 13.1 percent increase for completing a four-year college degree (relative to a high school degree).
So, by all means, take Mom out for lunch. But to honor working moms all over the state, call your legislators and demand they stop the assault on unions and put an end to the so-called “Right to Work” charade.
Happy New Year!
For last year’s words belong to last year’s language and next year’s words await another voice. And to make an end is to make a beginning.
—T. S. Eliot
Merry Christmas!
But I am sure that I have always thought of Christmas time, when it has come round… as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely.
—Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol
Someone’s in the Kitchen with Dinah
Another chef in Congress, Rep. Paul Hodes (D-N.H.), is thrilled that his dining room table is finally long enough for the entire family — some 20 Hodes relatives — to gather around.
He’ll be in the kitchen for at least part of the day, making his special stuffing with fresh cranberries and an original recipe for whisky gravy.
Happy Labor Day Weekend!
Best wishes for a safe and enjoyable holiday weekend. We’ll see you back here on Tuesday.
