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[Art.] 2-a. [The Bearing of Arms.] All persons have the right to keep and bear arms in defense of themselves, their families, their property and the state.

Based on MY Senator’s (that would be Andrew Hosmer) response to Susan’s request to support SB116 which seeks to implement “Constitutional Carry” here in NH (just as they have had in Vermont for years with NO ill effect in that safest of safe states), I just sent email to him:

From: Skip@GraniteGrok.com
To: SenHosmer@gmail.com
Sent: 2/9/2015 6:50:35 PM
Subject: Your “half baked” response to Susan Olsen’s email to you.

Senator Hosmer,

Really, that was a proper response to Mrs. Olsen’s politely worded  email to you – “half baked”?  This seems akin to the School of Carol Shea-Porter Political Civility who, when asked a question by a Republican lady several years ago who lived in her District, snarkily dismissed her as “No, you’re not being one of my constituents” simply for being on the other side of the political aisle.

For a number of years I’ve heard the Democrats throw out the Democrat meme #WarOnWomen for many sundry reasons the last few years at those that seem to be opposed to them – using Political Correctness in a politically weaponized manner any time a Republican of any measure was deemed out of line in a sexist fashion.  But then you, a high ranking Democrat in NH, have the temerity to completely dismiss Mrs. Olsen (yes, a dear friend of mine) in such a off-handed way?  Such a fine and upstanding example of “political civility” this is not!  Or was your response, like that hashtag meme, simply the new political expediency (seeing that the Democrat #WarOnWomen has run its course and only fit to be tossed into the heap pile)?

Unlike Mrs. Olsen, I AM one of your constituents. 

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NH State Rep Leigh Webb (D): “The role of government is to legislate behavior“

And yes, when Government legislates that YOU will give to SOMEONE ELSE your money, of course they’ll be happy!  But is it FAIR that a few benefit from the many?   Instead of paying for something themselves?  Why should Government be creating an environment where its citizens must use game theory against each other?  From the Union Leader (reformatted, emphasis mine):

HANOVER — Solarize Hanover plans to begin work on 62 installations soon, which is the equivalent of permanently removing 65 cars from the road, Town Manager Julia N. Griffin said Thursday.  Launched in October, Solarize Hanover’s goal is to dramatically increase the solar-electric or photovoltaic residential and small-business installations in Hanover by offering a group purchasing plan to obtain volume-based price reductions and unique networking opportunities to simplify the process of installing a solar system.   It is part of a larger solar project, Solarize Upper Valley, which is coordinated by local nonprofit Vital Communities.

Non-profit, yes?  So they actively went out to the Hanover community to get private pledges to get this done, eh?  THAT’S the NH spirit – local activism, local resources, local “sustainability”.  So what is this all about – and where did the money come from? From private donations, you say?  No???

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And one wonder’s why Conservatives are so anti-UN?

UN Climate Chief Announces “We Are Remaking The World Economy”

The United Nation’s climate chief says that reordering the global economy to fight climate change is the “most difficult” task the international body has ever undertaken. Christiana Figueres, who heads up the U.N.’s Framework Convention on Climate Change, told reporters, “This is probably the most difficult task we have ever given ourselves, which is to intentionally transform the economic development model, for the first time in human history.” Figueres continued, “This is the first time in the history of mankind that we are setting ourselves the task of intentionally, within a defined period of time, to change the economic development model that has been reigning for at least 150 years–since the industrial revolution.”

And I will add, the one that has boosted more people out of abject poverty than any other in the world’s history.  But, like all Smart People, she believes she and a handpicked few others can

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In the Texas Tribune, former Texas Governor Rick Perry took a shot at his fellow Texan, US Senator Ted Cruz, who may be vying with him in the 2016 Presidential Primary:

“It’s one of the selling points, if you will, to the American people as they decide who’s going to follow Barack Obama,” he said. “I think they’re going to make a rather radical shift, away from a young, untested United States senator whose policies have really failed.”

And then he shot himself in the foot, as far as I’m concerned, because it goes against one of his fundamental lines that had me giving him an approving eye the last time around (““My goal is to make Washington as inconsequential to your daily life as possible”):

Perry said he was “not necessarily all that fond of this open carry concept,” adding that those who carry guns ought to be “appropriately backgrounded, appropriately vetted, appropriately trained.”

“We license people to drive on our highways,” he said. “We give them that privilege. The same is true with our concealed handguns.”

So he’s not hep with the idea of open carry (and I don’t disagree with as there is the notion of “shoot me first”) but likes that Government must be asked FIRST before being able to exercise one’s Constitutional Right?  When that happens, he’s right – the ability to own and bear (either openly or carried) arms becomes a mere privilege

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From the UL (reformatted, emphasis mine) comes this news from the Federal Govenrment’s Ambassador to NH Shaheen in dragooning two other Government employees into saying “ONLY GOVERNMENT CAN SAVE US ALL!”.  Translation: All hail the Sacred Government!

The showdown over Homeland Security funding could affect first responders, right down to local firefighters, U.S. Sen. Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H., said Thursday. Shaheen held a conference call with David Lang, president of the Professional Firefighters of New Hampshire, and Laconia Fire Chief Kenneth Erickson, to highlight what she says is at stake.
Funding for the federal Department of Homeland Security runs out by month’s end. The debate in Congress is complicated as Republicans consider amendments to nullify President Barack Obama’s executive orders on immigration reform.  Democrats accused Republicans of putting politics above security.

Could? Politics?  Methinks the second is driving the first.  Politics – in Government? I’m SHOCKED, I tell you, SHOCKED! Especially coming from one that can dole out other peoples’

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It is certainly is a topic that I’ve blogged about before – a side transformation of American life and putting a stake in the heart in the American love of that big throaty roar of a well-tuned big block V8.  Instead, we’d be transformed to go down that Electric Avenue.  Unfortunately, other than he, the anti-live-where-you-want crowds, the eco-obsessed, most of the American public have gone for the bigger vehicles: pickups and SUVs.  The idea of a “tin can and a 9 volt” just has not caught on even with massive subsidies from the Government to the car companies and to consumers (and yes, one of the “side reasons” for the failed Cash for Clunkers program).  Thus, this at CNSNews (reformatted, emphasis mine):

 In his 2011 State of the Union address, President Obama predicted that the U.S. would have “a million electric vehicles on the road by 2015.”The president backed up his prediction with $2.4 billion in federal grants to companies producing lithium-ion batteries for plug-in cars.  But reality hasn’t even come close.  Despite massive federal spending on electric vehicles, which is expected to total $7.9 billion through 2019, there are currently just 286,390 plug-in vehicles on the nation’s roads today, according to the Electric Drive Transportation Association (EDTA).

That’s 72 percent lower than the million electric vehicles the president predicted four years ago. And with gasoline prices

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…then maybe, just MAYBE, you shoulda listened to that little angel on your shoulder going “er, wanna rethink that decision”?

As the nation’s moviegoers ready for the Valentines Day release of the “Fifty Shades of Grey” sensation, actress Dakota Johnson Friday told a national TV audience that it’s so racy that she won’t let her parents watch. In an early preview of the sex-filled film for a “Today” show audience, the daughter of actor Don Johnson and actress Melanie Griffith nervously said, “I don’t want my parents to see it.” Asked who could, Johnson said, “maybe my friends, maybe my sisters.”

The cognitive dissonance hurts…

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Rachel Madow is a Progressive of the first rank (and you can take that last word anyway you want) and has a loud large megaphone as an MSNBC host (er, that is, such as a megaphone that MSNBC may have left, given their ratings plunge).  I was rather amazed, however, in her rant on Salon about how disorganized and discombobulated the Left is…

Sidenote: I dryly note that each side thinks the other is such a monolith.  Go read the article to watch the Left’s cracks grow.

..and WHAT ORGANIZATION she actually admired (even as she has beat on it for years?

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From TechDirt comes this intrusion from unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats that believe THEY own your privacy (reformatted, emphasis mine):

To Enforce Emissions Standards, State Governments Are Looking To Ride Shotgun In Constituents’ Vehicles

Californians may find their cars being converted to government informants at some point in the future, thanks to the state’s push to curb emissions. As always, a trip to the land of Unintended Consequences begins at the Port of Good Intentions. Cleaner air and vehicles will come at a cost, and that cost may include an extensive collection of driving data. (via Cato).  The On Board Diagnostics computer systems on all of our late-model cars now collect a wide range of information mostly related to a car’s emissions. When something is amiss, your dashboard flashes with a “check engine” light and you head to a repair shop to fix it. The goal is to assure cars aren’t polluting the air.  But now the California Air Resources Board (CARB) is proposing regulations(for a May board hearing) requiring manufacturers to significantly expand the kind of information on-board computer software collects about our driving habits.

The software could track miles per gallon, driving distances, how often one stops and starts the car, and how fast one drives. Newer cars already tell us most of this information on those nifty trip computers in the dashboard. The difference, of course, is the regulations would require our cars to also tell government officials the information.

And if you play chess and think out a few moves, you can see where this COULD go.  Especially when you start linking in such “benign” sustainability Government programs like the EPA  HUD / DOT Sustainable Communities Initiative.

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