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Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.

I really hope that Kelly Ayotte, BFF with John McCain, is not playing this game

Captains Quarters on the incipient Gun Control activities by the White House and the “set up” in Congress (emphasis mine):

They want to turn hunters against the NRA and modern sporting rifles. Fat chance. That didn’t work out so well for David Petzal or Jerry Tsai. Their plans to divide and conquer the NRA will meet with disastrous results. Every minute spent on such a tactic is wasted, and thus we have to hope that they expend a lot of energy on it.

But the later part of the strategy, i.e., politics, is far more fearsome and they have proven very adept at that approach. Gun Owners of America (h/t Mike Vanderboegh) gives us an inside baseball look at the current tactics.

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Tweet of the Day – Fred Thompson

Yeah, I was a “FredHead” when he decided to run for President – well, for as long as it lasted.  Anyways, he’s got a nice tweet that conflates Obama and Michael Moore: Yeah, that about captures it all, don’t it?

Notable Quote – Henry Ford

“Any man who thinks he can be happy and prosperous by letting the government take care of him had better take a closer look at the American Indian.” – Henry Ford, founder – Ford Motor Corporation   (H/T: Maggie’s Farm)

Notable Quote – The Barrister

American Exceptionalism contains the notion that government is a necessary evil, requiring containment and strict limitations by a virtuous people and a muscular Constitution to handcuff the state. The state is the enemy of individual freedom. – The Barrister   (H/T: Maggie’s Farm)

Do our betters truly wish us to be this helpless?

I bookmark 100 times the number of other writers’ posts than what I can ever comment on.  Sometimes, I “find them” again – like this one.   If I was on “the other side”, I might put up as a Notable Quote – but sadly, I consider it to be an ignoble one.  American Federation of Teachers, Randi Weingarten, on gun control and school safety:

Firearms have absolutely no place in our schools—the Dec. 14, 2012, tragic massacre at Sandy Hook Elementary School in Newtown, Conn., is a chilling and heartbreaking reminder of this. Permitting firearms in schools—visible or concealed—enables a dangerous set of circumstances that can result in similar tragic outcomes. We should be doing everything we can to reduce the possibility of any gunfire in schools, and concentrate on ways to keep all guns off school property and ensure the safety of children and school employees.

The school had upgraded its facilities in the name of safety – glass, door, buzzer, cameras.  They had practiced the drills for lockdown.  The police had done their part with drills on active shooters.  They arrived 20 minutes after Adam Lanza killed his mother (breaking the law), stole her AR (breaking the law), stole her Sig handgun (breaking the law), stole another handgun  (breaking the law), stole a shotgun (breaking the law), stole her car (breaking the law), illegally entered the building (breaking the law), and began his murderous rampage of revenge ( (breaking the law multiple times).

I read Weingarten’s words then and just read them again.  And I think of Victoria Soto, the first grade teacher that put locked her door, put her students into a closet….and then waited.  Hearing the screams.  Hearing the gunfire. And scared to think that she and her charges would be next.  Helpless.

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Gun Control – are Republicans in DC about to go weak-knees again?

Are we to the point of asking “what will the Republicans stand for – do they even know what they stand for”?  Or do we relegate them mostly sit in the corner, mumbling to themselves, drooling?  Anyone that knows me knows that I am always good for a debate (er, not that I am always “good” – just always ready to debate) but I also like to listen to a good debate as well.  Best part for me is listening to the Round Table segments of Fox News “Special Report with Bret Baier”.

But as I was listening Thursday night, my head snapped around from the laptop when I heard Tucker Carlson.  They had been talking about the Fiscal Cliff and what was next:

But look, this is not the end.  Even in this month, so Democrats have said that they want to get an immigration bill and a gun control bill through by the end of January.  Whether they do that or not is an open question.

I spoke to a senior Republican, VERY senior republican last night and asked a simple question “Do you think that a lot of members in your caucus will break and vote for gun control.  He said “YES”. That has got to be the last core Republican issue there is.  If you see a sizable number of Republicans peel off to vote for a new version of the assault weapons ban, say, then, you know, it’s over at that point. They are just not a credible opposition if that happens.

Sure, I railed about the Congressional vote (“For a meager mess of porridge; so what DOES the Republican Party stand for now?“).  Yes, it could have been cast as a win, as the long decided Bush tax cuts are now permanent – but not for all.  The Republicans were willing to sacrifice some – letting Obama crow that he had broken their will on raising taxes, as their compromise did exactly that.  $620 Billion more to fund an even bigger Government (any thoughts of it going to reduce the defict are about as illusory as the “clean” air in the Choom Gang’s Volkswagen bus).

Do the Republicans wish to defend the innocence of the vast majority of Americans, many of them Republicans, who the Left are declaring to be guilty simply because we own “scary” looking rifles?

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Whatsa matta John DiStaso, don’t like the ‘Grok much?

“As New Hampshirite Steve MacDonald notes, “this sounds like tyranny.”

Given that Rush Limbaugh brought up NH Democrat House Rep Cynthia Chase’s name (AND STEVE MAC DONALDS!!) this past Friday, it was expected that the local NH media would be FORCED to also give a few column inches as well.  And DiStaso of the UL does so (reformatted and emphasis mine) – reluctantly.  But guess who he left out?

FRIDAY, JAN. 4: GOING VIRAL. A Democratic state lawmaker’s recent web post critical of the libertarian-leaning Free State Project has gone virtually viral in the past few days and, as one might expect, has drawn criticism.  Reacting to reports that the Free State Project is aggressively trying to bring 20,000 supporters to live in the state over the next two years, Rep. Cynthia Chase, D-Keene, wrote on BlueHampshire.com:  “In the opinion of this Democrat, Free Staters are the single biggest threat the state is facing today.”

She went on to write that while there is “legally, nothing we can do to prevent them from moving here to take over the state, which is their openly stated goal,” she proposed making “the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave.”

Chase continued, “One way is to pass measures that will restrict the ‘freedoms’ that they think they will find here. Another is to shine the bright light of publicity on who they are and why they are coming.”

…The post this week was picked up by the Breitbart.com website, the creation of the late conservative commentator Andrew Breitbart, with columnist Warner Todd Huston opining:

Warner – a long time Samsphere blogger buddy of mine – got the story from GraniteGrok which he reads often as we are the leading Conservative / Libertarian leaning blogsite in NH.  He and I think a lot of like, and he likes what we do, commenting on local politics.  Anyway, see these next lines from DiStaso’s post quoting Warner’s?

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Your move, Kathy Sullivan – the offer has been accepted. What say you?

My previous post commenting about John DiStaso went a tad long, so I’ve decided to make sure that all can see – I happily accept Kathy Sullivan’s offer: She said she was not surprised Limbaugh picked up on the matter, but added, “Maybe everyone on either side needs to calm down and talk to each … Read more

Laconia Daily Sun’s “journalist” Mike Kitch decides to make sport of newly elected NH House Rep Mike Sylvia

I met Mike Sylvia a couple of years ago now.  Being a Big “L” Libertarian, his outlook on the size and role of Government is different than mine (not in direction but in a matter of degree; same page, different paragraph).  Which, however, puts him in the cross-hairs of the local Hobbessian believing scribbler Michael Kitch (not same page, not just different paragraph – a completely different book) who has a major problem with anyone that doesn’t acknowledge the Primacy of Government in the smallest affairs of individuals (lots of samples of similar behavior after the jump).  He has this thing for anyone that attacks his belief that only Big Government can maintain peace AND demand equality (including redistribution of political and financial capital).

Laconia Daily Sun Michael Kitch Makes Sport Of Michael Sylvia

Now in this case, reporting on how the Belknap County NH House reps voted on the rules that have now reversed the ability of people to protect themselves (and now have to rely on the State – a Liberal denial of the Right to self-defense), could Kitch just have reported the news (which would have been just the vote count)?  Sure.  Did he? Nope. He decided that he had to take a poke at Micheal Sylvia, who sits on the side of Natural Rights (including that of self-defense).  Did Kitch add anything of like manner from any of the Democrats?  Nope – not even a whisper (and I bet there would have been an opposing view).

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What IS that Fair Share, Democrat Socalists?

How much does your pound of flesh actually weigh?  Do you view the successful as sovereign citizens – or subjects to be punished because no one should ever be THAT successful (perhaps, because you think they stole it) ?

Obama is crowing “I got Republicans to raise taxes on the wealthy” – thus, fulfilling a campaign promise to make our income tax system even MORE Progressive (philosophically and financially); it’s bite in punishing those that have been successful far exceeds any in the developed world (including the real socialist European democracies that Obama is hellbent in turning us into).  So, what does CongressWacko Maxine Waters (who wants to nationalize oil companies) think about the tax hikes?  Are the rich now paying their Fair Share?

Hardly:

WATERS: Well, you know, the Republicans are talking about, what all they’re going to do with these tax cuts. The president has said we cannot cut our way out of a deficit and he’s absolutely correct. The first thing that we’ve got to do is look at where we still have unfairness in the tax system and make sure that the people of influence, the billionaires and the millionaires and the corporate interests are paying their fair share. And I believe that whether we’re talking about the financial speculation tax or the elimination of the carried interest or defense spending, we’ve got areas that we could look at to get fair share so that we’re able to take care of the basic needs of this country rather than going to Medicare and Medicaid and Social Security and focusing on those areas as the only place that we can get more revenue.

Yet, what do the new tax tables actually show?

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Lunatics? To NOT spend more than what the US can repay?

$16 Trillion for our national debt.  A whole ton of money, which I’m not entirely sure that IF (and that is a mighty BIG IF) our CongressCritters and President were truly serious about our financial affairs, we could pay back in any kind of reasonable time frame.  But actions to date have proven that Obama is continuing his policy of Determined Weakness, other Progressives are hoping for a Cloward-Pivens moment, and Establishment Republicans continue to be “Appropriators” (that is, people who figure out how to spend other peoples’s monies).  The only folks that seem to be extremely serious (and scared out of their gourds) are TEA Party type ConcressCritters who realize that a 2% change in interest rates on our debt could Greece look like a lawn party.

So, who is the lunatic here?  I’ll side with Rick Santelli (emphasis mine):

The analyst said that the only obstacle he sees to the continued expansion of the U.S. economy were “lunatic Republicans” who may bring about an “insane technical default” when they attempt to negotiate spending cuts as part of a deal to increase the debt ceiling limit.

 “That’s the worry here,” Evans concurred. “Will we have a self-inflicted wound – a gunshot to the head?”

Right, so forget HOW much is on the national credit card and the “lunatics” that say we need to say stop – we HAVE to keep spending !!!!  These folks are all about paying what we have spent, and I’m ok with that.  What is missing in their equation is the adult part of this – and here, Rick Santelli again lends himself to the “adult in the room” scenario that is absolutely missing here:

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Blogline of the Day – Glen Beck

On the event of Al Gore (environmentalist) selling his “Current TV” to Al Jazeera (bankrolled by Middle East Big oil) for $100 Million: “He didn’t sell to the highest bidder. We were not allowed to the table.” He added, “I am proud to say that Al Gore finds my principles reprehensible but aligns his principles … Read more

A tale of Opportunity – it isn’t where you think it is.

From Cafe Hayek (emphasis mine):

Not only capital but also people move to where there is opportunity; and this is an essential part of creating new wealth and prosperity. This was dramatically illustrated for me in 1978, during a taxicab trip from the Wellington, New Zealand, airport to my hotel. The driver was friendly, and I asked, “Tell me about your country.” He replied, “It’s really wonderful. I don’t like paying half my small salary in taxes, but we receive so much that is free: health benefits, prescriptions, free education through college and advanced graduate study. I am just a cab driver, but my son is going to be a medical doctor. He has finished his medical degree and internship, and will begin practicing next year.”

Isn’t a socialized society just grand!  I bet his son will have have a lovely career where everything is free (after, ahem, large chunks of your wages for taxes).

Oh wait – no!

In recognition of his obvious pride, I said, “How wonderful. You have every right to be proud. Is he going to practice in Wellington?” He replied, “Oh no, he’s going to Australia. You can’t make any money here.” The New Zealand economic crisis hit about two years later. New Zealand could not compete in world markets – and could no longer afford socialism.

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Progressive Theology: “The State is my Shephard, I shall not want”

(H/T: Instapundit) I have never been able to understand why Progressives go apoplectic every time any one says “we need to cut the size and scope of Big Government” – no one wants anyone to diss their religion (and it certainly seems that Progressives, being amongst the most unchurched in the nation, would cling to … Read more

Finally, Frank decides to listen.

I have been ragging on Frank Guinta since he voted to support the first Continuing Resolution that raised the debt limit (and did not stand with the Patriots who said “No” as in “no more spending” and “this  is not how we fund Government).   And then duplicated it again with the second Continuing Resolution.  And … Read more

So, what’s the reaction been to the gun grabbers? Lots!

Once the horror of the tragedy of Sandy Hook set in, the two sets of folks I figured would appear right away, did.  The gun grabber group are certainly not letting a crisis / tragedy go to waste – tomorrow, the Chiefest one will be unveiling the details of her legislature tomorrow (via her past … Read more

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