Watching the members of New Hampshire’s Executive Council behave like Keystone Cops would be funny if real lives weren’t being hurt by their shenanigans. They voted to defund women’s health services, and then a few days later performed what amounted to a finger-pointing backward moonwalk trying to excuse their bad policy vote by blaming the Department of Health and Human Services for not providing enough information.
Meanwhile, Gov. Chris Sununu is getting tongue-tied having to explain their antics and his own. The self-proclaimed “pro-choice” governor signed what he called “common sense” anti-abortion legislation, and now his double-talk has him sputtering “we can fix it!” The fact is, he doesn’t have a club big enough for all the political whack-a-mole problems he and his friends have created for themselves.
What I want to know is, why are a bunch of old white men so opposed to funding women’s health? Is it really about abortion? Or is it about providing services to women in general, and especially women of color who are disproportionately affected by those cuts?
I think the abortion controversy is a right-wing proxy war on people of color. Similar to President Richard Nixon’s “war on drugs,” white supremacists have a new, divisive distraction that can make them appear virtuous while oppressing and “othering” our sisters and our daughters.
I think the people of New Hampshire need to wake up to the Republicans in Concord. Whether it’s women’s rights, teaching truth in schools or trying to do the right thing for life on the planet, New Hampshire is moving backward while our more progressive neighbors are engaging in the present and looking to the future.
JAMES GRAHAM
Lyme
Does the U.S. have an immigration crisis? There are tens of thousands of refugees from some of the poorest countries in the world at our southern border. Amid political finger-pointing, we reject America’s historical commitment to asylum and instead choose to be inhumane, flying people shackled in handcuffs back to Haiti, pushing people back into Mexico or locking people in camps.
If Bangladesh can handle nearly 1 million Rohingya refugees, Pakistan can handle more than 1.4 million Afghan refugees, Germany can accept 1 million Syrian refugees and Jordan can accommodate more than half a million Syrians, the U.S. does not have an immigration crisis. We have a morality crisis.
DAVID ALLEN
White River Junction
I know there’s a great need for health care workers, but I have to wonder whether the absence of nursing students who refuse the COVID-19 vaccine is really a loss (“Quitting one shot over another: Nursing students drop out to escape vaccine mandate,” Sept. 28). Do we need nurses who discount science and don’t care enough to get vaccinated, if only to protect others?
CORLAN JOHNSON
Norwich
Lisa Benson’s Sept. 23 editorial cartoon depicting President Joe Biden ignoring the fires around him was amusing in a way the cartoonist surely didn’t intend.
Because of climate change, our planet is burning up. President Biden is taking action despite the Republicans ignoring the climate fire, or even pouring gasoline on it.
DAVID GOLDBERG
West Lebanon
My idea for Newport Middle High School, regarding the bathrooms being destroyed, would be to set up a few outhouses or bring in a few portable toilets (“TikTok trend-linked vandalism closes down bathrooms at Newport Middle High School,” Sept. 25).
I bet by spring there would be a whole lot of respect for the indoor bathrooms.
DEBORAH GRAVEL
Woodstock