At a public selectman’s meeting several weeks ago Matt asked the other selectman to come up with proposals for a 2, 5 and 7 % budget cut proposals to see how that would impact the town services and departments; keeping in mind that public safety, Fire and Police, major emphasis on Fire to keep as much services as they can in tack. The other selectman said that it was too early to do that and they needed to wait until the budget reached the selectman.
When the budget reached the board, the selectmen were talking about at least level funding. Matt voted responsibly against most spending increases and proposed spending proposals only to find that they couldn’t even level fund the budget and appeared to make cuts to the spending proposals and not to the budget. As a point of reference and discussion he made a motion for a 7% budget cut. Some of the selectmen acted like rats fighting over cheese accusing him of not saying anything before this, etc, etc and etc.
Well he did and waited to see if the board was serious about making any cuts to the BUDGET and not just providing lip service to the process. As they came to realize Matt is quiet but committed to do what he says.
It was also good to see members of the audience support him in his quest to reduce our taxes with positive suggestions for cuts. I was truly pleased to see that and not just complaining. I hope those who like to go to the selectman’s meetings will continue to provide positive input, it will benefit the town and hopefully save us money.
Wednesday, January 19, 2011
Sunday, January 2, 2011
WE’RE WATCHING IT!!!
According to the Seacoast News Papers that was the comment from some of our local politicians on the Exeter/Anthem situation. I guess if you don’t know what to do you probably will do less damage if you stand on the side lines and watch. Quite frankly I have never been one to sit on the side lines when there was work to do.
Last Weds. I met with Roger Sevigney, the NH Insurance Commissioner, Roger, Matt and I have an excellent working relationship, and we had a frank and honest private conversation. Roger is on top of this and is walking a regulatory tight rope with limited but some authority to get involved.
The prior insurance commissioner was involved in the Tufts insurance debacle. If some of you remember Tufts was a big HMO, on the financial ropes, couldn’t come to grips with the Exeter Hospital pricing, lost Exeter (I was told about 16,000 subscribers throughout the area) then lost Bath Iron Works in Maine and folded up and left NH. So we are now going through a second Exeter Hospital/Insurance carrier situation with the insured being used in the PR war. Actually I believe the fight has gone too far and both entities have severely hurt their reputations.
In the last campaign I don’t know if I got the message out as well as I would like; when (at candidates forums or going door to door) people would ask what I thought the biggest cost drivers were in health care/health insurance I would say, “greed”; GREED, on the part of the hospitals and greed on the part of the insurance companies. Unfortunately greed is a built in factor in a capitalistic society. The only time government gets or should get involved is when it becomes a consumer protection issue or consumers are getting screwed in any other way. We don’t want to regulate; but, we need to have the authority to get involved when a situation gets out of hand.
Like I said, I met with Roger and I believe he is on top of the situation and I made my and Matt’s feelings known.
THE DIRECTION OF THE LEGISLATURE!!!
The speaker of the house, speaker William O’Brian (some refer to him as “Billy O”, has given his marching orders, the house will prioritize the budget and financial part of our business as the prime objective. Of course there other bills out there repeal gay marriage, parental notification and others; but, it is more of a routine maintenance in the legislature than a social reform swing in any direction. I have a couple of bills one to study insurance contracting with medical providers and a couple of other study committees, one dealing with pre-buys for oil contracts and a few others; but, being on finance the main gist with Chairman Ken Weyler and marching orders from Billy O is budget, budget and budget. We’ll get the other stuff done and will fix our finances as well. Remember the old saying, “If you put liberals in office they spend, if you put conservatives in office they save”. The republicans are in office and we tend to be fiscally conservative.
AN IDEA TO HELP SAVE TAX PAYERS $’s IN EXETER!!!
I did a little checking around and it looks like it would be legal to elect our tax assessor. That would make him directly responsible to the voters and tax payers and not the Selectman or Town Manager. That way maybe we would avoid the Vision Appraisal fiasco of them increasing our tax bill and refusing to come to check the taxpayer’s property.
What it appears it would take would be 25 petitioners to sign a warrant article/petition to put it on the town warrant. Anyone that wants to can go to it.
Last Weds. I met with Roger Sevigney, the NH Insurance Commissioner, Roger, Matt and I have an excellent working relationship, and we had a frank and honest private conversation. Roger is on top of this and is walking a regulatory tight rope with limited but some authority to get involved.
The prior insurance commissioner was involved in the Tufts insurance debacle. If some of you remember Tufts was a big HMO, on the financial ropes, couldn’t come to grips with the Exeter Hospital pricing, lost Exeter (I was told about 16,000 subscribers throughout the area) then lost Bath Iron Works in Maine and folded up and left NH. So we are now going through a second Exeter Hospital/Insurance carrier situation with the insured being used in the PR war. Actually I believe the fight has gone too far and both entities have severely hurt their reputations.
In the last campaign I don’t know if I got the message out as well as I would like; when (at candidates forums or going door to door) people would ask what I thought the biggest cost drivers were in health care/health insurance I would say, “greed”; GREED, on the part of the hospitals and greed on the part of the insurance companies. Unfortunately greed is a built in factor in a capitalistic society. The only time government gets or should get involved is when it becomes a consumer protection issue or consumers are getting screwed in any other way. We don’t want to regulate; but, we need to have the authority to get involved when a situation gets out of hand.
Like I said, I met with Roger and I believe he is on top of the situation and I made my and Matt’s feelings known.
THE DIRECTION OF THE LEGISLATURE!!!
The speaker of the house, speaker William O’Brian (some refer to him as “Billy O”, has given his marching orders, the house will prioritize the budget and financial part of our business as the prime objective. Of course there other bills out there repeal gay marriage, parental notification and others; but, it is more of a routine maintenance in the legislature than a social reform swing in any direction. I have a couple of bills one to study insurance contracting with medical providers and a couple of other study committees, one dealing with pre-buys for oil contracts and a few others; but, being on finance the main gist with Chairman Ken Weyler and marching orders from Billy O is budget, budget and budget. We’ll get the other stuff done and will fix our finances as well. Remember the old saying, “If you put liberals in office they spend, if you put conservatives in office they save”. The republicans are in office and we tend to be fiscally conservative.
AN IDEA TO HELP SAVE TAX PAYERS $’s IN EXETER!!!
I did a little checking around and it looks like it would be legal to elect our tax assessor. That would make him directly responsible to the voters and tax payers and not the Selectman or Town Manager. That way maybe we would avoid the Vision Appraisal fiasco of them increasing our tax bill and refusing to come to check the taxpayer’s property.
What it appears it would take would be 25 petitioners to sign a warrant article/petition to put it on the town warrant. Anyone that wants to can go to it.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
WHERE DOES ONE START??
Let’s start with the Exeter/Anthem contract impasse. What we have is two 900 pound greedy gorillas and a situation where there is a lot of money at stake. Some of the numbers that are being thrown around is about 20,000 insurance subscribers and total costs have not been released yet.
What we are looking at is the most expensive hospital in NH by about 50% and a greedy insurance company with a lot of purchasing power. I remember being told, by reliable sources that an Anthem CEO was paid about $600,000 salary and a million $ bonus on top of that. Where do we think this money is coming from? I think it is coming out of health insurance premiums and I firmly believe that greed is what is driving up our health insurance costs as well as our health care $’s.
It seems every contract negotiation period we go through these negotiation gyrations and people like you and me get dragged into the PR war of who is right and who is wrong and how we are all going to lose our favorite doctors. Fortunately, Dorie and I moved our health care to the Portsmouth Hospital and our PCP too so we are not directly affected by all of this; but, what I do know is there is too much money at stake for both parties to continue playing one upsmanship and I would not want to be the Anthem CEO that loses 20,000 subscribers who are paying about 1,000 a month for their health insurance premiums. I don’t believe Exeter Hospital can afford a mass exodus to Portsmouth. There are times that when Dorie and I have gone to Portsmouth Hospital, or any of our other doctors offices, it seems like we are always bumping into friends or other Exeter residents; more people seem to be going to Portsmouth, than Portsmouth patients coming to Exeter and this cannot be good for Exeter Hospital so another hemorrhaging of Exeter patients will not be good.
That is why I think an agreement we will be reached as soon as one of the protagonists blinks.
I have a meeting with the NH Insurance Commissioner next week and we can chat about this.
WHEN IS A FINANCIAL MESS A REAL FINANCIAL MESS??
When the legislative auditors tell you the NH State budget deficit just went up another $100 million dollars to $900 million; when you elect liberals don’t be surprised when they spend us into a huge deficit and the republicans have to come in clean up the mess. The old political saying is put the liberals in control of the social programs and the fiscal conservatives in charge of the purse strings; that way everyone is happy.
My committee assignment is on the finance committee, division one, with Ken Weyler from Kingston as my chairman. Ken and are have been friends and supporters for years and I have the greatest respect for his MIT education and intellect. If anyone can help lead us out of this mess it will be the excellent financial team that Speaker O’Brian has brought together on Ways and Means (they figure out how much money we have to spend) and finance (who figures out where to spend it). I believe the state cuts will be deep and painful; but there might be some hope and ways to mitigate the cuts without passing anything along to the towns.
We need to all remember that what the state does has only minimal impact on you local tax bill. The majority of times it is YOU that determines what your tax bill is by voting in all the local spending increases for the town and especially the schools. If you don’t show up at the deliberative session and vote no on some of these increased spending proposals, then you own your tax bill, not the state. When we complain about our tax bill we are actually complaining about our own action or inaction.
What we are looking at is the most expensive hospital in NH by about 50% and a greedy insurance company with a lot of purchasing power. I remember being told, by reliable sources that an Anthem CEO was paid about $600,000 salary and a million $ bonus on top of that. Where do we think this money is coming from? I think it is coming out of health insurance premiums and I firmly believe that greed is what is driving up our health insurance costs as well as our health care $’s.
It seems every contract negotiation period we go through these negotiation gyrations and people like you and me get dragged into the PR war of who is right and who is wrong and how we are all going to lose our favorite doctors. Fortunately, Dorie and I moved our health care to the Portsmouth Hospital and our PCP too so we are not directly affected by all of this; but, what I do know is there is too much money at stake for both parties to continue playing one upsmanship and I would not want to be the Anthem CEO that loses 20,000 subscribers who are paying about 1,000 a month for their health insurance premiums. I don’t believe Exeter Hospital can afford a mass exodus to Portsmouth. There are times that when Dorie and I have gone to Portsmouth Hospital, or any of our other doctors offices, it seems like we are always bumping into friends or other Exeter residents; more people seem to be going to Portsmouth, than Portsmouth patients coming to Exeter and this cannot be good for Exeter Hospital so another hemorrhaging of Exeter patients will not be good.
That is why I think an agreement we will be reached as soon as one of the protagonists blinks.
I have a meeting with the NH Insurance Commissioner next week and we can chat about this.
WHEN IS A FINANCIAL MESS A REAL FINANCIAL MESS??
When the legislative auditors tell you the NH State budget deficit just went up another $100 million dollars to $900 million; when you elect liberals don’t be surprised when they spend us into a huge deficit and the republicans have to come in clean up the mess. The old political saying is put the liberals in control of the social programs and the fiscal conservatives in charge of the purse strings; that way everyone is happy.
My committee assignment is on the finance committee, division one, with Ken Weyler from Kingston as my chairman. Ken and are have been friends and supporters for years and I have the greatest respect for his MIT education and intellect. If anyone can help lead us out of this mess it will be the excellent financial team that Speaker O’Brian has brought together on Ways and Means (they figure out how much money we have to spend) and finance (who figures out where to spend it). I believe the state cuts will be deep and painful; but there might be some hope and ways to mitigate the cuts without passing anything along to the towns.
We need to all remember that what the state does has only minimal impact on you local tax bill. The majority of times it is YOU that determines what your tax bill is by voting in all the local spending increases for the town and especially the schools. If you don’t show up at the deliberative session and vote no on some of these increased spending proposals, then you own your tax bill, not the state. When we complain about our tax bill we are actually complaining about our own action or inaction.
Friday, December 17, 2010
A REMINDER IN HISTORY.
General VoNguyen Giap.
General Giap was a brilliant, highly respected leader
of the North Vietnam military. The following quote
is from his memoirs currently found in the
Vietnam war memorial in Hanoi :
'What we still don't understand is why you Americans
stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the
ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder,
just for another day or two, we were ready
to surrender! It was the same at the
battle of TET. You defeated us!
We knew it, and we thought
you knew it.
But we were elated to notice your media was
helping us. They were causing more disruption in
America than we could in the battlefields. We
were ready to surrender. You had won!'
General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed
what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not
lost in Vietnam -- it was lost at home. The
same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media,
is currently underway. It exposes the
enormous power of a Biased Media to
cut out the heart and will of
the American public.
A truism worthy of note: ... Do not fear the enemy, for
they can take only your life. Fear the media, for
they will destroy your honor.
General Giap was a brilliant, highly respected leader
of the North Vietnam military. The following quote
is from his memoirs currently found in the
Vietnam war memorial in Hanoi :
'What we still don't understand is why you Americans
stopped the bombing of Hanoi . You had us on the
ropes. If you had pressed us a little harder,
just for another day or two, we were ready
to surrender! It was the same at the
battle of TET. You defeated us!
We knew it, and we thought
you knew it.
But we were elated to notice your media was
helping us. They were causing more disruption in
America than we could in the battlefields. We
were ready to surrender. You had won!'
General Giap has published his memoirs and confirmed
what most Americans knew. The Vietnam war was not
lost in Vietnam -- it was lost at home. The
same slippery slope, sponsored by the US media,
is currently underway. It exposes the
enormous power of a Biased Media to
cut out the heart and will of
the American public.
A truism worthy of note: ... Do not fear the enemy, for
they can take only your life. Fear the media, for
they will destroy your honor.
Friday, November 26, 2010
REMEMBER, IF YOU DON’T ACT CRAZY, NOBODY WILL KNOW!!!
I don’t know if it is just me or when I watch the Exeter Selectman’s meeting there is a lunatic fringe that keeps coming in and attacking the selectman or the Town Manager. Maybe I’m the one that is nuts and they are normal, never rule out all the variables when you are trying to make a decision. If they want the town manager gone draw up a petition and present it to the board. But stop this haranguing that distracts from town business, is so wasteful of time, and let the board listen to constructive ideas to move our town forward. Don't misunderstand, there is a need for the voters and taxpayers, such as Mr. Bailey, to keep an eye on the process; but, some others need to take a break. This last meeting was a little too much.
Just for the record, I’m not all that happy with how Exeter is being run, we are spending much more than we need to keep our services and reduce our taxes. We need to cut spending, pay down our bond debt obligations and get ready for a new sewer treatment plant. Our need for infrastructure upgrades border on catastrophic in nature to the taxpayers; please keep this in mind.
Some were complaining about the cable contract; but, where were they on the transportation fees being placed on registering our vehicles? The voters seem to vote in every spending issue that goes before them on the warrant articles and then complain that their property taxes are too high. We are also in the mindset that we don’t have to cut back our local spending, we just need to complain to the state that we need more money in the revenue sharing area to make our local ends meet; remember the state has to balance their budget buy cutting spending.
A good test for Frank Guinta and Kelly Ayotte will be to find about 30-40 million in grants to fund our water and sewer upgrades that need to be done because the feds keep changing the guide lines requiring expensive upgrades.
We do need to bring back the water sewer commission. My request to the town is NOT to reappoint the prior members that quit when the town needed them. I do believe we have people in town with the expertise to devote full time to our water and sewer needs with out the political game playing that caused the demise of the water sewer commission.
Just for the record, I’m not all that happy with how Exeter is being run, we are spending much more than we need to keep our services and reduce our taxes. We need to cut spending, pay down our bond debt obligations and get ready for a new sewer treatment plant. Our need for infrastructure upgrades border on catastrophic in nature to the taxpayers; please keep this in mind.
Some were complaining about the cable contract; but, where were they on the transportation fees being placed on registering our vehicles? The voters seem to vote in every spending issue that goes before them on the warrant articles and then complain that their property taxes are too high. We are also in the mindset that we don’t have to cut back our local spending, we just need to complain to the state that we need more money in the revenue sharing area to make our local ends meet; remember the state has to balance their budget buy cutting spending.
A good test for Frank Guinta and Kelly Ayotte will be to find about 30-40 million in grants to fund our water and sewer upgrades that need to be done because the feds keep changing the guide lines requiring expensive upgrades.
We do need to bring back the water sewer commission. My request to the town is NOT to reappoint the prior members that quit when the town needed them. I do believe we have people in town with the expertise to devote full time to our water and sewer needs with out the political game playing that caused the demise of the water sewer commission.
LET THE GAMES BEGIN!!!
Now the elections are over and everyone is in place, pending committee assignments, the jockeying began. There were two main contenders for speaker with two other well qualified and very fine people who were lesser known running. The vote was pretty much neck and neck and the first ballot for speaker was inconclusive without the needed majority to win, by 1 vote. The second ballot gave the speaker ship to Bill O’Brian by under 10 votes. Either by 10 or a thousand, Bill was the winner.
Bill had Gene out classed in his ability to communicate to the newly elected freshman; but, reached out to the libertarians. Bill also had some very good people supporting him and one of his secret weapons is Pam Tucker out of Greenland. Anybody that knows Pam knows you don’t let a pretty face hide a cold organizational logic and great communications skills by a warm caring heart that can squeeze you for a vote while asking how your family is doing. She was the secret weapon to victory. Other people saw Pam the way I did and she is now the deputy speaker; good choice Bill.
The interesting part of this election was that the democrats were trying to get Gene Chandler elected speaker because they new he would be less partisan than Bill. Gene rejected their support, which would have put him over the top and speaker, to his credit.
One of the issues we have to keep in mind is the democrats left standing after the last election are mostly comprised of the left wing loonies from safe voting districts. These are the least easy of any democrats to deal with. There is probably no reason to reach out to them because of the huge republican majority; but, it would be the right thing to do. I suspect the reaching out will not be without limits.
The usual number of bills filed during the first filing session is about 1200, there is a projection and only a guess, there will be about 1800 which are crazy. We have some freshman putting in about 20 bills dealing with a variety of social issues; get out the Advil.
The very process that we have to work with will be working against us. With all the social bills in we will have to take those first because the budget bills always come in last because of the lengthy hearings, department presentations and general discussions takes the majority of time for the first session. It is not easy to find where to cut almost a billion dollars out of a 12 billion dollar budget (very time consuming).
So that is pretty much what we are facing and the tasks will be daunting. We can do it with your help, input and guidance.
Bill had Gene out classed in his ability to communicate to the newly elected freshman; but, reached out to the libertarians. Bill also had some very good people supporting him and one of his secret weapons is Pam Tucker out of Greenland. Anybody that knows Pam knows you don’t let a pretty face hide a cold organizational logic and great communications skills by a warm caring heart that can squeeze you for a vote while asking how your family is doing. She was the secret weapon to victory. Other people saw Pam the way I did and she is now the deputy speaker; good choice Bill.
The interesting part of this election was that the democrats were trying to get Gene Chandler elected speaker because they new he would be less partisan than Bill. Gene rejected their support, which would have put him over the top and speaker, to his credit.
One of the issues we have to keep in mind is the democrats left standing after the last election are mostly comprised of the left wing loonies from safe voting districts. These are the least easy of any democrats to deal with. There is probably no reason to reach out to them because of the huge republican majority; but, it would be the right thing to do. I suspect the reaching out will not be without limits.
The usual number of bills filed during the first filing session is about 1200, there is a projection and only a guess, there will be about 1800 which are crazy. We have some freshman putting in about 20 bills dealing with a variety of social issues; get out the Advil.
The very process that we have to work with will be working against us. With all the social bills in we will have to take those first because the budget bills always come in last because of the lengthy hearings, department presentations and general discussions takes the majority of time for the first session. It is not easy to find where to cut almost a billion dollars out of a 12 billion dollar budget (very time consuming).
So that is pretty much what we are facing and the tasks will be daunting. We can do it with your help, input and guidance.
Friday, October 29, 2010
COURAGE COMES IN SMALL PACKAGES!!!
The following is a press release from ISAF Headquarters in Kabul, Afghanistan. I don’t really know what they do; but do know that is where my daughter Alexa is stationed. She is on her 8th tour to Afghanistan, her first 7 were flying and she drew a ground tour on this one.
Alexa was instrumental in promoting and organizing a soccer match between the ISAF women and the Afghan women’s soccer team. In the middle of a war that our troops are fighting and the politicians are fighting over, Alexa asks the Afghan women’s team, “hey you guys want to play soccer”?
As I have seen in the news and told by veterans that there are parts of Afghanistan that if you’re a female and try to go to school you will be killed. If you wear anything other than the traditional dress, you will be killed, in other words if you’re a woman in Afghanistan, it seems it is awful easy to get killed.
What I’ve heard is that the captain of the women’s team is about five feet tall and a college student studying a finance/economics program at a college in Kabul and most of the soccer players are either college or high school students. One of them told ISAF that they wanted to show the world that they aren’t afraid anymore and they want the world to know they are sick of war; many of them were born during some kind of war and know nothing else,many of them have lost friends and family.
They seem to be like “kids” or women that know what they want and not afraid to push for it, the end of war and peace to their country.
The ISAF team is a composite team of people from different countries most of which grew up playing soccer and thought this was a great idea. All the generals bought into this idea and the game was on.
With only about 3 weeks to turn the NATO team into a team the training began, about 3hours a day after work, which can run 12 shifts, if they can’t sneak away for the team.
Finally the big day arrived today. The game was covered by about 25 international news organizations and many ranking officers from NATO. The Afghan team had beaten the Pakistani team and was up for the match. The teams went back and forth, up and down the field and stayed scoreless for a long time. Both teams started out not playing as good as they wanted and improved as the day went on.
Both teams did an excellent job with the Afghan women able to get one goal while holding the ISAF team scoreless.
What appeared amazing is that the vendors that were selling at the bizarre were (all men) rooting and cheering for the Afghan women. This is generally unheard of in that culture.
I tried to get Alexa to admit that they let the Afghan women win to rule out any honor killings, should they lose, and Alexa assured me it was a fair, hard fought game and they all had a wonderful time.
Just think of the ramifications; why would we send special ops troops into the mountains to kill the enemy, spend billions on sophisticated weaponry and drones, etc. When soccer balls are so cheap? Hey let’s stop shooting at each other for awhile and play soccer.
I say this tongue and cheek and only kidding; this is what the world would be like if it was run by women, no more wars, lower grocery prices and they will probably find an end to world hunger. It is getting to sound better and better all the time.
I can also tell you that we are very proud of our young Captain, that was born, raised and educated right here in Exeter, she truley one of Exeters own and also brings pride, not only to our family, but also to our community.
The press release follows.
"MEDIA ADVISORY
Headquarters
International Security Assistance Force – Afghanistan
Committed to the security, reconstruction and extension of governance in Afghanistan
2010-10-CA-010
Afghan National Women’s Football Team, ISAF Women
Set to Face Off
KABUL, Afghanistan (October 25) – Kabul-based media are invited to attend a football match here at ISAF headquarters between the Afghan national women’s football team and a pick-up team of women from ISAF on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
Leadership from the Afghan women’s team, who requested the match, envisioned the exhibition game as an opportunity to practice against friendly international competition in preparation for future tournaments.
When approached, ISAF members were eager to support the Afghan team.
“We admire the courage, tenacity and fearlessness of these Afghan women,” said US Air Force Capt. Alexa Quandt, an ISAF women’s team member and event coordinator. “They are truly an inspiration with their perseverance and dedication.”
The Afghan women’s team, founded in 2004, played their first international match against Pakistan in August, 2007. The team is the first all-women Afghan soccer team ranked by FIFA, the world soccer's governing body.
Since then, the team has continued to seek new challenges to hone their skills and demonstrate their resolve to continue playing the game they love.
“Afghans should be proud of their women’s football team,” said Brigadier General Chris Whitecross, ISAF Communications. “This match is a great way for them to showcase their skills against friendly competition.”
Media interested in attending must arrive at the ISAF main gate no later than 12:15 p.m.
WHAT: Football match
WHO: Afghan national women’s football team vs. ISAF women’s team
WHEN: 1:00 p.m. Friday, October 29, 2010
WHERE: ISAF Headquarters"
Alexa was instrumental in promoting and organizing a soccer match between the ISAF women and the Afghan women’s soccer team. In the middle of a war that our troops are fighting and the politicians are fighting over, Alexa asks the Afghan women’s team, “hey you guys want to play soccer”?
As I have seen in the news and told by veterans that there are parts of Afghanistan that if you’re a female and try to go to school you will be killed. If you wear anything other than the traditional dress, you will be killed, in other words if you’re a woman in Afghanistan, it seems it is awful easy to get killed.
What I’ve heard is that the captain of the women’s team is about five feet tall and a college student studying a finance/economics program at a college in Kabul and most of the soccer players are either college or high school students. One of them told ISAF that they wanted to show the world that they aren’t afraid anymore and they want the world to know they are sick of war; many of them were born during some kind of war and know nothing else,many of them have lost friends and family.
They seem to be like “kids” or women that know what they want and not afraid to push for it, the end of war and peace to their country.
The ISAF team is a composite team of people from different countries most of which grew up playing soccer and thought this was a great idea. All the generals bought into this idea and the game was on.
With only about 3 weeks to turn the NATO team into a team the training began, about 3hours a day after work, which can run 12 shifts, if they can’t sneak away for the team.
Finally the big day arrived today. The game was covered by about 25 international news organizations and many ranking officers from NATO. The Afghan team had beaten the Pakistani team and was up for the match. The teams went back and forth, up and down the field and stayed scoreless for a long time. Both teams started out not playing as good as they wanted and improved as the day went on.
Both teams did an excellent job with the Afghan women able to get one goal while holding the ISAF team scoreless.
What appeared amazing is that the vendors that were selling at the bizarre were (all men) rooting and cheering for the Afghan women. This is generally unheard of in that culture.
I tried to get Alexa to admit that they let the Afghan women win to rule out any honor killings, should they lose, and Alexa assured me it was a fair, hard fought game and they all had a wonderful time.
Just think of the ramifications; why would we send special ops troops into the mountains to kill the enemy, spend billions on sophisticated weaponry and drones, etc. When soccer balls are so cheap? Hey let’s stop shooting at each other for awhile and play soccer.
I say this tongue and cheek and only kidding; this is what the world would be like if it was run by women, no more wars, lower grocery prices and they will probably find an end to world hunger. It is getting to sound better and better all the time.
I can also tell you that we are very proud of our young Captain, that was born, raised and educated right here in Exeter, she truley one of Exeters own and also brings pride, not only to our family, but also to our community.
The press release follows.
"MEDIA ADVISORY
Headquarters
International Security Assistance Force – Afghanistan
Committed to the security, reconstruction and extension of governance in Afghanistan
2010-10-CA-010
Afghan National Women’s Football Team, ISAF Women
Set to Face Off
KABUL, Afghanistan (October 25) – Kabul-based media are invited to attend a football match here at ISAF headquarters between the Afghan national women’s football team and a pick-up team of women from ISAF on Friday, October 29, 2010 at 1:00 p.m.
Leadership from the Afghan women’s team, who requested the match, envisioned the exhibition game as an opportunity to practice against friendly international competition in preparation for future tournaments.
When approached, ISAF members were eager to support the Afghan team.
“We admire the courage, tenacity and fearlessness of these Afghan women,” said US Air Force Capt. Alexa Quandt, an ISAF women’s team member and event coordinator. “They are truly an inspiration with their perseverance and dedication.”
The Afghan women’s team, founded in 2004, played their first international match against Pakistan in August, 2007. The team is the first all-women Afghan soccer team ranked by FIFA, the world soccer's governing body.
Since then, the team has continued to seek new challenges to hone their skills and demonstrate their resolve to continue playing the game they love.
“Afghans should be proud of their women’s football team,” said Brigadier General Chris Whitecross, ISAF Communications. “This match is a great way for them to showcase their skills against friendly competition.”
Media interested in attending must arrive at the ISAF main gate no later than 12:15 p.m.
WHAT: Football match
WHO: Afghan national women’s football team vs. ISAF women’s team
WHEN: 1:00 p.m. Friday, October 29, 2010
WHERE: ISAF Headquarters"
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