YOUR COMMENTS

This is just absurd and politics as usual (especially by these dimwitted dems). My question is what will happen next year when we have to find a way to cut 1 Billion from the state budget? Mark my words, it's coming.
- Hank, Bedford

The school district cuts in Manchester are immoral. Period.

This idea that more money for education doesn't improve results is false. Yes, in a few of the very worst communities in America -- DC, Detroit, South Central LA -- more money has not helped. That doesn't mean more money in Manchester, NH wouldn't help.

Here are some facts:

Manchester currently spends less per pupil than all but four school districts statewide on education.

Manchester has one of the highest student to teacher ratios in the state.

Manchester schools are dead last in the state in standardized testing results.

Manchester citizens, despite substantial increases over the last eight years or so, enjoy some of the lowest taxes (yet highest level of services) in the state.

Given the above facts, it is clear that the politicians of Manchester and the voters who voted them in have made a deeply immoral decision in refusing to increase the school budget over the last two years.

As John Kenneth Galbraith put it "The modern conservative is engaged in one of man's oldest exercises in moral philosophy; that is, the search for a superior moral justification for selfishness".
- Fred, Amherst

Anyone that votes for this budget will never get my vote. We need to go after welfare fraud and put an end to the inflated state retirement. I guess common sense in Concord is out of the question. I would like to see them rethink the slots. In the WMUR survey 85% of us are in favor of expanded gambling.
- Rich, Winchester

Bob Jean,

Fair point. I think of it this way:
Democrats are really socialists-in-the-making;
Republicans are classic Democrats; and
Libertarians are classic Republicans.

I do wonder if editorials would be more useful if they focused not just on railing against the perceived problem but also on solving that problem.
- Jay, Nashua

My word....even when the Republicans have been out of power for YEARS, the liberal moonbats trolling these comment pages STILL blame them for every problem under the sun. Democrats sure do live in a fantasy world of make believe. They can consistently trash the country one vote at a time and their mindless sheeple will just keep crying "it was all Bush's fault."

Hey Libs, notice the gas prices lately? When President Bush was in office, it was "all his fault" so shouldn't we now be blaming your false messiah? How about North Korea's saber rattling? How about the sham election in Iran where the man who came in third "won" the election? How about our national security? I can go on and on and on. Democrats don't care about these things. They put party first, everything else second. Always have, always will.
- Mike, Temple

It seems to me the people of New Hampshire have the opportunity to make the choice of going down the same road those like Robert of Deerfield supports of more and bigger government or considering just maybe this road is the actual problem causing these issues.

For myself I feel as though I'm becoming the slave of government. While Robert speaks of greed and profiteering, I say no one does this more easily than a government that simply takes compared to a private sector that only makes what we freely buy. Charity is freely given while the same programs run by the state are taken with little regard of our family income and ability to afford the next round of tax hikes. And there are always tax hikes with his party of choice.

I now await the name calling to my post rather than the flow of ideas that challenge my own.
- Deb, Derry

Hey Robert, your 8 year comment, yeah, your good buddies, the saviors of the universe, aka the dems, were in charge for 6 of them. People sitting around waiting for government hand outs is hardly the republican mantra. But hey man it's cool, when you get all your thoughts from a handful of places and people you end up a bit ignorant, so I'm not faulting you.

But Mark....oh Mark, wear your vitriol on your sleeve much buddy? You seem to so hate anything associated with repubs that things like sense, and logic go right out the window. That is pretty standard though these days. Hey, did you ever think that when Benson suggested those cuts it may have been to avoid the economic mess we're in now?

Nah, seeing as you no doubt have some sort of mystical insight into the minds of all republicans I'm sure your convinced he only suggested it because, just like all republicans, he must be an agent of the devil, right?

And man, anyone who doesn't think JUST like you, must be wrong, right?
- Craig D, Manchester

Some will always keep their heads buried in the sand. Just keep blaming it all on Bush, forgetting that Democrats and their ilk have controlled the state & US congress for the last three years...who needs to "get of their asses and get to work"? The same legislators that have been living out their fantasies and those of their big campaign contributors at taxpayer expense.
- Mae, Plaistow

23 million dollar cut wherever it is taken is a penny in the ocean of the 12 billion dollar state budget. It is roughly 1 percent of 1 percent of the total budget. Said another way it is equivalent to saving 1 penny on a 100 dollar purchase. There is certainly room to take the 23 million, in fact there is about 500 million that could be cut from governor's proposed bonus budget.

Don't listen to the politicians who are trying to distract you from the real issue: the budget is full of wasteful social service programs and "classified" state postitions. Every state job should have the salary published. That eliminates the need for state employee unions. If you don't like the pay work someehere else. It would save the satet money and put more money in the state employees pockets, which I am all in favor of. Another item that would save hundreds of millions annually would be to pass state tort reform. Stop rediculous lawsuits and the cost of almost everything will drop, especially healthcare.

Shame on you politicians who proposed this budget. You are supposed to be public servants, not feudal lords.
- Michael Layon, Derry

Governor Lynch is leading a new and imporved Democratic Party. Unlike Republicans, who defend doubling of the National debt during a great economy, and many of their ultra-liberal-ultra-big government Republican political leaders of that era, Democrats are different.

They are changing the way business is done here in NH, and are the Party that is now protecting the taxpayer. And the ultra-big government defenders, like the Union Leader, will even criticize them for that.

Where were they when it was the Republican Party that was eating Craig Benson alive? They were hardly to be found. And now, they are even criticizing Democtrats for what they consider the same policies.

Lets face it. The UL is a fake Republican voice. You didn't do anything substantial to help Benson with theses policies. And you are now causing trouble when Democrats do it.

The question becomes, do you really want smaller government? Not based on your actions, and not based upon this editorial. And certainly not based upon your need for government to be sooooo large that it chooses who can marry who, and what we do with our money, including big government telling us we can't gamble it.

The UL is certainly not what you pretend to be. This editorial gets in the way of the policies you pretend to support. When the rubber meets the road, you do not support these policies, and you don't support anyone very strongly when they support them, and that includes Craig Benson.
- Bob Jean, Northwood, NH 03261

better than the dems robert from deerfield...
I grew up in MA and the only people needing support are disabled and handicapped. not free loading immigrants and lazy uneducated people... why don't you move to maine, VT, MA, NY, or ct since you love the tax and spend so much, huh? please do us all a favor and go speak your thoughts to the obama admin and such since you kiss their tails anyways?
- mark, Rochester

Capitulating to Benson's 2003 policy is not the mark of a leader -- it is of a follower. One man told it like it is, and another had to be dragged kicking and screaming. Remember when Clinton signed welfare reform?

Imagine what could have been, had Benson been given a little more time.
- Steve, Manch

Was Craig Benson proposing $24 million in cuts because NH didn't have any revenue coming in, which is the case today? NO. Gutting HHS programs is not something anyone should willingly choose to do--but Craig Dracula Benson did. Unfortunately this time around Democrats had to make cuts because Republicans were spineless to address the fact that our revenues--SURPRISE, SURPRISE--are failing.

Does the UL stand for anything other than greedy, pigs like Craig Widow's Peak Benson?
- Mark, Salem

Yes, when the Democrats do it, it's "making very difficult choices in a toxic economy" and when the Republicans do it, it's "throwing them under the bus."
- Serena, Manchester

The reality is that like within our own households, we have to make tough decisions on what to cut out of our budgets. Pols are always above that using distasteful suggestions for soundbites - until some semblance of reality bites them in the backside. What I find amazing is where the cuts end up being and have to wonder two things, the first being is that did they cut where they knew they had permitted excesses in the past? And the other being what would be the result of a simple same percentage cut across the board?
- Elle, Manchester

What this actually says is that legislators are trying very hard to make choices to keep the painful cuts as small as possible. Cutting aid to the disadvantaged is painful whether it is Democrats or Republicanics that do it. Now if our New Hampshire businesses would get off their asses and get to work, taking advantage of the real advantages of our state, the economy would come back and we wouldn't have to make these cuts. That doesn't mean that conservative Republicanics won't want to make more cuts - that is the only thought that they have, good times bad times, any times. Unfortunately, what you get with that mind set is a whole bunch of free loaders looking for government hand outs, no bid contracts and huge deficits. Just look at the past eight years. 60% increase in the size of government, two wars. Profiteering - the Republican way of government.
- Robert, Deerfield