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For those  people who keep thinking “we live in a Free country”, here is yet another sign from the Progressives now running our Federal Government that they believe that the Constitution (ok, just by their Official Position in Government) allows them the notion that they should tell us what is good or bad behavior.  No, not what is criminal behavioral or not, but the “good and righteous moral behavior” they have blessed.  From CNSNews.com:

The “new energy future” will require the federal government to encourage “the right kinds of behavior,” Interior Secretary Sally Jewell told a clean energy summit in Nevada on Tuesday.   “When you are getting into a new energy future, you really benefit from having the support of states — and the federal government encouraging the right kinds of behavior and encouraging those incentives (for solar panel installation), she said.

Right – so if you don’t go right out and get solar’d up, if you don’t use renewable energy, you are a bad person (among all the other things that the Politically correct things that Smart People have decided are “right for the times” (without a note that, hmm, we change our minds about these things too). And as far as “getting into a new energy future”, this has all been decided for us – as in jamming it down our throats on the front end and making sure that we must “make the right decisions” by taking away energy resources on the back side (e.g., coal and nuke, for nothing says Freedom like limiting real choice, eh?).  “Right kinds of behavior”?  We’re back to the end goal of Progressives – the Administrative State whose technocrats will make all important choices for us.

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Today is the day where various unions (chief amongst them, the SEIU) are trying to have fast food workers conduct a strike across a number of large cities against the likes of McDonalds, Kentucky fried, Wendy’s, Subway et al.  CNN, the liberal new site, portrays this in Occupy (e.g., socialist / communist) language (thanks to the opinion writer):

Fast food and some retail workers in 50 cities around the country are striking today, and have mounted dozens of strikes over the past few months. Their demands are simple: a pay raise to $15 per hour — roughly double the federal minimum wage — and union recognition.  The “Fast Food Forward” movement began in New York City last fall and quickly spread to other cities. In some places it grew to include workers in other low-wage jobs besides fast food. Like the earlier Occupy Wall Street protests, this new movement has captured the imagination of millions of Americans angry about the ever-widening gap between haves and have-nots.

…They are struggling to support their families on jobs that pay at or close to the legal minimum, with few benefits. Adding insult to injury, full-time work is hard to find in the fast food and retail world. But many workers have no other options, since the Great Recession permanently wiped out millions of better-paying jobs.

From another CNN  post:

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The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people’s money.“

– Lady (and former British Prime Minister) Margaret Thatcher

You know, I’m not sure if this is just the kind of creeping socialism that California has been practicing for the last few decades, or just dumb governance ideas gone crazy, or a willingness to participate in the kinds of “cooperative federalism” in which the Feds pass laws that offer much money to the “various States” but with strings attached.  Or, most likely, all of them at the same time (and a few more) (emphasis mine, reformatting):

The Sacramento Bee reports that the state’s Employment Development Department is about to cut its number of staff because the funding it gets from the federal government has been slashed.  Normally, the federal unemployment insurance program is the bulwark for the State Department, but the state will receive $150 million less through next June 15.  The federal program complains it is underfunded, blaming Congressional budget cuts, and is giving California less for two reasons:

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Living here in central NH, weather does go bump in the night.  Bizzards, severe thunderstorm, nor’easters, hurricanes – thankfully we get those but with some advance warning as opposed those Californians that get the “shake & bake” at almost any time with little notice (e.g., earthquakes or wildfires).  You keep food around, you keep a secondary source of heat around, even water.  We were here a few years ago during the great ice storm – we were out of power for almost two weeks.  You prepare accordingly.

You’ve heard about the Feds purchasing lots of ammo – far beyond normal limits for stated needs.  The rumor was 1.6 billion rounds, much of it for Dept. of Homeland Security (which they denied) to the point where Congressional inquiries were started.  At least today, it seems that prices and availability are starting to fall and go up, respectively, and headed back to normal levels.  And then I ran across this earlier this month (yeah, trying to play catch up once again):

This email was received by a company that sells preparedness and survival food stocks. What is the urgency of being able to supply rations within 24 hours?

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Issues that define the TEA Party movement?

• Fiscal frugality on the part of Government
• Constitutional boundaries – limits to Government (to protect us from Government)
• Free Markets

So, in advance of yesterday’s March on Washington on the 50th anniversary of MKL’s “I have a Dream” speech, what topic did a nationally known feminist blame the TEA Party for?

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No, the Farmers Almanac prediction for this winter (which is lent more than a little credence in these parts) is not using sophisticated sensors, sats in space, or high level math to have declared that we all ought to have our woolies cleaned and ready.  Watts Up With That? is one of the heaviest trafficed sites that is skeptical (to the point of being called a chief denier) that global warming is due mainly to human activities.  That’s not to say that the earth ISN’T getting warmer, just that the Warmists are going all enviro and seeing catastrophe around every bend, that humans are the curse and not the cure, and that only by submitting our lives to their Most Beneficient administration will we all get out of this alive in 100 years or so.  Hmm, we keep hearing this from regular type Progressives all the time – thus they have earned the title of Watermelon environmentalists (Green on the outside, Red on the inside (from a time when Socialists / Communists were red, not blue; such is rebranding)) but what is the measured reality vs the prediction of all the models that have been driving all this drivel that “we’re all gonna die!” by too hot (or not able to breath under water from rising sea levels).

And remember, back in the Stone Age of the ’70s, these self declared Smart People were the same ones hootin’ and hollerin’ that “we’re all gonna die” – but from a new Ice Age.  So, having heard that, I keep thinking that this latest stuff is the same thing, just the other side (and there is WAY more money going into this – as in “follow the money”).  Anyhow, WUWT has a post that has the summarization of the most frequently used warming datasets, shows the aggregate on a plot, and then shows that result compared to the IPCC predictions that is driving so much of Government policies in social engineering “for our own good”. The money question is – do the predictions match reality?

I’m afraid not.

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Farmers Almanac 2014 Winter Prediction

After the unusually warm and snowless winter of 2011–2012, many people questioned if winter could make a comeback. Well it did. Last winter was cold and especially snowy.

So, what’s in store for this winter? The “Days of Shivery” are back! ?For 2013–2014, we are forecasting a winter that will experience below average temperatures for about two-thirds of the nation. A large area of below-normal temperatures will predominate from roughly east of the Continental Divide to the Appalachians, north and east through New England. Coldest temperatures will be over the Northern Plains on east into the Great Lakes. Only for the Far West and the Southeast will there be a semblance of winter temperatures averaging close to normal, but only a few areas will enjoy many days where temperatures will average above normal.

Precipitation-wise, the Southern Plains, Midwest, and Southeast will see above-normal conditions, while the rest of the country will average near normal. With a combination of below-normal temperatures and above-normal precipitation the stage will be set for the Midwest, Great Lakes, and Central and Northern New England to receive lots of snow. Farther south, where the thermometer will be vacillating above or below the freezing mark, Southern New England, Southeast New York, New Jersey, and down through the Mid-Atlantic region will be seeing either copious rains and/or snows.

Well, let’s see what happens.  If this holds up, it certainly will put a lot of egg on those faces that have said “Our childrens’ children may never know snow!”

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Over at The Blaze is a post about a Mom who watched the MTV VMA show – and saw it for what it was.  She has penned a letter (“penned” sounds so much better than “keyboarded”) and posted it on her blog. In essence, she is drawing a line in the sand for her daughter – and firing a shot against the Progressive values that have so much demeaned the value of self-respect and the value of truly knowing who you are.  Cyrus’s act perfectly shows the effect of the Progressive hard core emphasis on freedom of action (an adaption of Nike’s “just do it” – and do it all) and nary a word of self-limitation on moral grounds.

Remember Andrew Brietbart’s admonition to those of us who wish to change politics back to Constitutional values: “Politics is downstream from politics”.  Here is one Mom’s effort to change that culture for her beloved daughter:

Dear daughter, let Miley Cyrus be a lesson to you.

Yes, this is what happens when you constantly hear everything you do is awesome. This is what happens when people fawn over your every Tweet and Instagram photo. This is what happens when no responsible adult has ever said the word “no,” made you change your clothes before leaving the house, or never spanked your butt for deliberate defiance.

Unlike Progressives that believe every 11 year old has a right to Plan B and the right for her teacher to bring her to Planned Parenthood, this Mom says “here is my line in the sand on your behavior”.  In fact, she goes on to demonstrate that her daughter’s decisions WILL have Mom’s consequences follow through .

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I think a lot of Northeast Republicans were fairly happy when Scott Brown won the special election from “Marsha” Coakley  in MA to fill the Senatorial seat left empty upon the death of Ted “The Swimmer” Kennedy a few years ago now.  Occupying “the Peoples’ Seat” (as opposed to the “Kennedy Family Seat”), he pretty much met most expectations – not a Democrat, but not rock solid votes on Republican issues either.  Now, he’s making noises about running for election again – just unsure for what and from where (except for MA Guv, which was on the list but he just ruled out – maybe).  From NH, perhaps, due to his home out on the Seacoast?

Several people took note on him filling in – locally, Karen Testerman did (Note: Karen is an exploratory candidate for NH Gov).  Given that the Laconia Daily Sun only does “pictures of text”, that’s all I’ve got:

But Brown filling in for Bill O’Reilly also caught a national audience as well.

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Herein is the difference between people like former Vt. Governor and former Presidential candidate Howard Dean (and pretty much the entire Obama Administrative political appointees and Obama himself).  As Daniel Webster noted “they mean to be masters” – even if they believe their hearts to be “good” and believe in their heart of hears that their motives are only to be seen as pure and “for the common good”.  See what I mean:

On health care, Mr. Cruz said Mr. Obama’s law is a “job killer” that has forced businesses to drop coverage or shift workers to part-time status. He said these changes have an outsized effect on the most vulnerable, including minorities and single moms.

Rising to an oft-repeated challenge, Mr. Cruz offered three health care reforms that Republican may support in lieu of Mr. Obama’ plan.

He said that Americans should be allowed to build up health savings accounts in a tax-advantaged way, that health coverage should be “personal and portable” and divorced from employment, and that consumers should be allowed to purchase health insurance across state lines instead of quarantining policy options to the individual states.

Howard Dean, former Vermont governor and 2004 Democratic presidential candidate, said interstate insurance options is the last thing he wants, arguing some states would pollute the policies that Vermonters and other states have built up and enjoy.

“I don’t want our people buying Texas health insurance,” he told CNN.

Note the totalitarian leanings of Dr. Dean: “I don’t want our people“.  

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The more you look at Obamacare, the more you see that the entire intent is to kill off another industry: healthcare insurance.  I stumbled upon this just a bit ago:

The problem with a 90-day grace period for premium payment is that at the end of it you must pay for three months of premiums, when you couldn’t afford to pay one month in the first place. A lot of people won’t be able to do that, but meanwhile they have been running around with an insurance card receiving health services.

What then? Who is on the hook for those services? HHS has decided to split the baby. The insurance company will have to pay for the first month of non-coverage, but providers (doctors and hospitals) will have to absorb the costs incurred for the second two months. That could be a whole lot of money. The (formerly) insured person will be canceled after three months, but they get to re-enroll again at the end of the year without penalty. (And we were told one of the purposes of this law was to solve the “free-rider” problem. Oh, well.)

Along with paying for services during the first month of the delinquency, the insurer must: 1) notify HHS of the non-payment; 2) notify providers of the possibility of denied claims during the second and third months; 3) notify the insured that he/she is delinquent; 4) continue to collect the advanced tax credit on behalf of the policyholder; 5) return the tax credit for the second and third month to the Treasury; 6) issue a termination notice to the insured at the end of the grace period. Oh, and the carrier must also determine whether the insured has a disability as defined by the Americans With Disabilities Act, and make “reasonable accommodations” for such individuals. These are pretty substantial administrative burdens, and the costs will aggravate the Minimum Loss Ratio requirement for the carrier.

So, how many people do you suppose will do this? I would wager just about everybody. Why not? You can get 12 months of coverage for nine months of premiums and suffer absolutely no penalty.

My head hurts – let’s see if I have this straight:

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Yesssir, a contest!  For nothing says “Success!” for a nitwittish, top-down command and control, IRS-fine-giving billy club of a “We’re from the Government and we’re here to help you” HHS “shh…we care” like having to run a contest to get those youn’uns that don’t need it to sign up and pay three times the premiums just to keep that halo going over the Obamessiah brow:

And just to make sure that this isn’t just the Senior set trying to run a con on them, Obama, Sebelius and the (dum-da-da-TUM!) Young Invincibles (aka the Center for Community Change, Washington DC) decided to get those creative type’s juices going and “send us a video” just like America’s Funniest Videos does (except AFV’s rewards, being a private capitalistic show, actually has decent money for prizes).

Socialism – the political system that REQUIRES propaganda in order to think that there is sugar in the medicine they’re jamming down the throat.

Oh, by the way, did you now know that that Obamacare has its own Obama corpse (Like the US Marine “Navy Corpsemen“)?

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