Agenda 21 is a United Nations plan for sustainable development that encourages resource conservation and preservation of open spaces.
Right-wing extremists from the John Birch Society to the NH Tea Party Coalition have latched onto the program as evidence of a worldwide conspiracy to destroy private property rights and implement a one-world government.
Today New Hampshire lawmakers joined them. By a 207-99 vote, the GOP-led House approved a bill that would prohibit the state, as well as any town or county, from implementing Agenda 21.
No agency or department of the state shall implement programs of, expend any sum for, be a member of, receive funding from, contract for services from, or give financial or other forms of aid to the International Council for Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI), and its derivatives, in furtherance of the United Nations program known as Agenda 21.
Senate Bill 217, as amended by the House, now heads back to the Senate.
If calling for Gov. Lynch to be arrested isn’t enough evidence of the New Hampshire Tea Party’s descent to irrelevancy, how about this message from the NH Tea Party Coalition?
The truth is, Obama is the product of a Bush cousin (his mother), with ties to the Illuminati families, and was picked out by the evil Henry Kissinger as far back as college … and was thus destined to be Kissinger’s Manchurian Candidate.
The reason Obama seems to have “no birth certificate, no college records, no roommates, no student loans, no girlfriends/boyfriends, and no past”, and was able to gain the presidency with virtually no prior major accomplishment or business experience is that he was likely a CIA asset as proven by the 26 or so SS numbers he used over the years.
Public opinion surveys have documented a dramatic fall in support for the Tea Party movement among New Hampshire voters. But if you need more evidence of how irrelevant the group has become in state politics, perhaps this letter to the editor from NH Tea Party Coalition spokesperson Jane Aitken calling for Gov. Lynch’s arrest over the James O’Keefe brouhaha will seal the deal.
I am outraged at the audacity of Gov. John Lynch who attempted to subpoena the young investigative reporter when it was thought he would be in New Hampshire this week.
I actually believe that Lynch himself is quite possibly breaking the law by doing this.
This must stop now. The citizens of New Hampshire have had enough of his buffoonery on this matter.
Perhaps the governor himself should be the one to be arrested. He is the one who has been allowing fraud.
When GOP state Rep. Anne Cartwright received an email from a constituent urging her to oppose Bill O’Brien’s bid for re-election as Speaker of the House, she responded publicly via the “All Representatives” email list:
I have attended a number of local Tea Party events, have you?
I do not find them divisive.
Are you opposed to stopping wasteful spending such as TARP?
Are you opposed to the US Constitution which limits government to protect your rights?
Do you oppose the NDAA McCain Levin amendment which is already passed into law,
which gives the President the power to arrest and jail any American citizen without due process
if they are considered an enemy belligerent.
Who defines enemy belligerent?
I oppose a Fascist Oligarchy supported by a ceremonial US Congress
and I support your right to free speech and judicial due process
even if you disagree with me.
Former state Republican party chair and Tea Party leader Jack Kimball announces his return to the political scene with typical bombast:
“We are watching the systematic dismantling of our great Republic right before our eyes. Barak [sic] Obama is continuing with his mission to ‘fundamentally change’ America into a European Socialist style country. … He is aware that in order to succeed with his plan he must bring the USA to its knees.”
Kimball, who was the featured speaker at yesterday’s “Jack is Back!” Save-Our-Republic Tea Party rally, has taken back the reins of the Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC and vows to lead the Tea Party in a fight to “send Obama packing!”
“We are the Patriots of our time and we will not be the generation to lose what those who came before us have fought to preserve. No sir, we intend to FIGHT! I am asking you to join me in that fight. … Are you with me?”
Amid the sound and fury, however, polls document New Hampshire Republicans have fled the Tea Party in droves, and outgoing national Republican committeewoman Phyllis Woods reminds us Kimball’s last leadership role didn’t turn out so well.
“He was over his head, inexperienced and not qualified for the leadership role in an organization in which he never had participated. It broke my heart. … [I]t was just too steep a learning curve for him too soon.”
In the past year, support for the New Hampshire GOP legislative agenda has plummeted, House Speaker Bill O’Brien’s favorability rating has declined, and there has been a significant drop in support for the Tea Party.
A new survey from Democratic pollster Benenson Strategy Group found likely voters oppose the agenda of Republicans in the legislature by a 51 percent to 38 percent margin. Last year at this time, voters approved of the agenda by a 49 percent to 38 percent margin. “Notably, nearly one-in-five registered New Hampshire Republicans now opposes the legislative agenda of their own party.”
House Speaker Bill O’Brien, who has championed the agenda, fared no better. As he has become better known by the electorate, O’Brien is less liked. Of the 40 percent of likely voters who could identify O’Brien in May, 2011, six percent had a favorable impression compared to 16 percent with an unfavorable impression. Today, 69 percent of voters can identify him and his net favorability rating has dropped to -14 points (15 percent positive, 29 percent negative).
Support for the Tea Party in New Hampshire continues to drop also. Today, 29 percent say they view the Tea Party favorably, compared to 50 percent who view the Tea Party unfavorably, a net 14 percent drop since the February, 2011 survey. This is consistent with an earlier Suffolk University/7 News tracking poll that also measured a “drastic shift” in Tea Party support among likely GOP primary voters.
Benenson surveyed 600 likely voters in the 2012 general election between January 30 and February 1, 2012. The margin of error is ±4.00%.
The Washington Post documents the dramatic fall in support for the tea party movement among New Hampshire voters.
An NBC News/Marist poll released late Friday showed that for the first time, 53 percent of likely Republican primary voters said they are not supporters of the tea party, while 40 percent said they are supporters and seven percent were unsure.
The latest Suffolk University/7 News tracking poll shows an even more drastic shift. … Now, in the latest tracking poll, support for the movement has plummeted 11 points – from 48 percent to 37 percent of likely GOP primary voters. Opposition has risen four points, from 40 percent to 44 percent. Nineteen percent are undecided.
In the wake of this collapse, Occupy New Hampshire coalesced around an effort to counter the Republican narrative and has taken center stage during the final days of the primary campaign.
Directly across the street from the Radisson is a park, which has been turned into an encampment, with a circle of tents and an information shack, and a rotating cast of protesters on the sidewalk in front. This is the heart of Occupy New Hampshire…
At any given moment the vast majority of Occupy activists are not in the park but out at campaign events, peacefully but forcefully making their voices heard. According to organizers, there are roughly 600 people taking part in Occupy activities in New Hampshire right now.
Leaving the Romney rally there was a sizable crowd of Occupy protesters playing music, handing out literature and bearing signs. … [T]hey are providing a counter-message to the relentless conservatism voters and reporters are repeatedly exposed to on the campaign trail.
In his fight to keep his position as New Hampshire GOP chair, Jack Kimball characterized the conflict as a “struggle between the Tea Party and the establishment.” But Kevin Drum looks at the bigger picture and says that war is over. The Tea Party won.
Just like every other fluorescence of right-wing activism over the past 50 years, its destiny was to flare up, get incorporated into the Republican Party, and then die out. The big difference this time has been just how complete its incorporation has been. Ultra-conservative flare-ups in the past have been increasingly potent … which has brought us to the point where there’s really no meaningful distance between the ultras and the Republican Party establishment. The Tea Party really is dying away, I think, but only because their victory has been so total. For the time being, anyway, they control the Republican Party from top to bottom.
John Cresswell-Plant is a self-described high-function autistic who lives in England. He and his wife, who is also disabled, are disability activists despite being victims of hate crimes.
Recently, Cresswell-Plant made the mistake of thinking he could have a rational discussion with the New Hampshire Tea Party regarding the UN Convention on Rights of Peoples with Disabilities.
Here’s a snippet of the Twitter discussion. (Cresswell-Plant’s handle is @puppyjohn1999.) The full Twitter stream follows below the fold.
@puppyjohn1999: Have you any idea why USA hasn’t ratified UN Convention on Rights of People with Disabilities?
@NHTeaParties: US needs to get out of UN.. Sorry.. They are part of the problem not the solution.
@puppyjohn1999:Do you believe people who are severely birth disabled should be able to serve in Congress?
@NHTeaParties: Yes we have them IN CONGRESS now. ever hear of Barney frank? #LOL
@puppyjohn1999:What’s Mr Frank’s disability?
@NHTeaParties: He’s “mentally challenged”
@puppyjohn1999:Please remember I have a form of High-Function Autism so I don’t understand the term.
@puppyjohn1999: Sorry but can’t argue w/someone who doesn’t get that Barney is bat-shit CRAZY. Period. WHAT IS YOUR POINT?
@puppyjohn1999:I’m trying to find out why America won’t make birth-disabled people an advantaged and protected group ahead of all others
@puppyjohn1999:What is the Tea Party’s attitude - sans sympathy or charity - to the severely disabled?
@NHTeaParties: what a stupid question!!!!!!! all if us are losing if USA is taken down disabled or not!!!!!!!
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The Los Angeles Times’ Kathleen Hennessey writes that the debt ceiling vote has exposed the Faustian bargain many freshmen congressmen made with tea party extremists. Case in point: Congressman Frank Guinta.
How strongly must freshmen like Rep. Frank Guinta of New Hampshire hold out on the debt ceiling — and risk federal default — to appease people who voted for them?
But while Frank sold his soul to the tea party for votes, he looked to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce types for cash. And now each one has grabbed a limb and is pulling in the opposite direction.
Since taking office, Guinta has faced pressure from both sides. He met with tea party groups that urged him to hold the line. He also met with a business round table, where bankers warned him of the dangers of default.
So how is Frank going to talk his way out of this one?
“What I hear from people is it’s not the debt ceiling itself. It’s the spending,” he added. “The debt ceiling is the tangible thing, but it’s the spending people are angry about.”
Stay tuned.
“His obvious disgust for the federal government makes him attractive to the tea party-aligned voters here.”
— Andrew Hemingway, New Hampshire Republican Liberty Caucus, on the appeal of Gov. Rick Perry
h/t: birch paper (original @NHTeaParties tweet since deleted)
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