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.
That we should foreswear all principles or “isms” in order to achieve greater mastery over fate is even now proclaimed as the new wisdom of our age…. If I am not mistaken, this fashionable contempt for “ideology” or for all general principles or “isms” is a characteristic attitude of disillusioned socialists who, because they have … Read more
Regarding the solving of the recent rash of thefts in Belmont: First, kudos to the Belmont PD for a job well done in putting a stop to this particular situation. Unfortunately, the next steps, not so much, as we learned that, because they are juveniles, they weren’t even arrested. These criminals stole a firearm, among … Read more
State Rep. Al Baldasaro, R-Londonderry, the conservative Republican maverick who is never at a loss for words, came close to totally losing his voice this week. On Monday, Baldasaro had surgery in the Veterans Administration hospital in Jamaica Plain, Mass., to remove a polyp from his throat that was blocking his airway and his voice. … Read more
Numbers are nice but WHICH numbers? And what, exactly, are you measuring? The other thing is in comparing way back to now is the kinds of items that are bought. I remember that just buying a computer terminal as a DIY kit for not a lot more money than what a lot of Walmart computers … Read more
Part 1 here. The question I asked if the School District Administration does any kind of QA when a new / replacement program is introduced is one that I should NEVER have to ask. Rather, why didn’t the School District Edu-mucky mucks ask it of themselves? Failing that, why didn’t the School Board? After all, aren’t they supposed to be in charge and providing competent oversight (versus just being, as I have seen around the State) rather than mere rubber stamps for “the professionals”?
Anyways, given the answer that I received from the Superintendent:
For all of our curricular materials in the district we use
OK, Part 1 was done in April – too many Shiny Objects to contemplate so back to playing catch up. The premise was that we should pay more for what we buy because CONSUMERISM and ENVIRONMENTALISM! We all should be forced to make do with less, and I commented on this at the time (not wanting to make you click back):
“…the experience becomes less pleasurable and more painful.” You may not realize it but that statement seems to sum up how environmentalists come across to a lot of the rest of us (those of us that pay attention, anyways) – force life for the rest of us to be more miserable to satisfy their outlook on things.
Somehow, y’all gotta change your style (and I’m not talking about clothes or furnishings) because when I see this kind of statement, it cements even more my perception of what is “required”: Happiness is misery!
And for the record, I hate shopping all together; I have clothes older than you that I just can’t part with because I don’t care about fashion at all.
And went down hill from there – a bit. In fact, if you go there now, the next two comments were deleted:
Yeah, Treehugger again. I have NO idea what I said that would be an affront to these socialistic/communitarian (and let’s not forget that in every Socialist, there is a much worse Totalitarian yearning to get out – like in the movie Aliens) environmentalists. It seemed to be a hum-drum enough post (“Air pollution is hurting human procreation“, reformatted):
It distorts sperm, makes it harder to get pregnant, and can lead to premature births and low birth weights — yet another reason why cars and humans don’t mix well. Air pollution has become the world’s single largest environmental health risk, and scientists say it causes more than 3.7 million premature deaths per year (data from 2012). But what does air pollution do to unborn children? Or even to those parents who are trying to get pregnant? New research shows it’s having a seriously detrimental effect.
Problems start with a man’s sperm. In a study titled, “Exposure to ambient fine particulate matter and semen quality in Taiwan,” researchers from the Chinese University of Hong Kong examined 6,475 men between the ages of 14 and 49 and found that the more air pollution a man is exposed to, the greater his risk of having irregularly shaped and smaller sperm. Most of the participants did not smoke and had less than one alcoholic drink per week.
And of course, the obligatory (for them) WE HATE CARS!!!
Man Allegedly Grabs Woman from Behind, Flees When She Puts Gun to His Stomach
A suspect in Sterling Heights, Michigan, allegedly grabbed a woman from behind then fled when she pulled her concealed carry handgun and pushed the barrel against his stomach. The incident allegedly occurred “near 15 Mile and Van Dyke” during evening hours, as the woman was walking her dog.
…The woman said she noticed a suspect get out of the van and that he “started walking parallel to her.” She instinctively reached under her coat and put her hand on the handle of her gun. Then the man disappeared. Suddenly, the man reappeared and was coming right at her. Chief Dwojakowski said, “He grabbed the back of her jacket and tried to grab her and pull her towards him.” The woman drew her handgun, put the barrel against the suspect’s
Employment in manufacturing in the United States has increased by 189,000 in the year since Donald Trump was elected president, according to data released today by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. At the same time, employment in the federal government has declined by 3,000 since Trump was elected. Both numbers are going in the right direction. … Read more
The nationwide survey by YouGov shows that only 29% of Americans now say life is fair, down from 38% in December of 2016. And, while Republicans are more likely than Democrats to view life as fair, both saw a drop in optimism since last year.
“Life Is Fair”:
Republicans: 39%, Down from 47%
Democrats: 26%, Down 34%
Total: 29%, Down from 38%. Likewise, a smaller percentage of both Democrats and Republicans now say life “should” be fair. Overall, 55% of Americans believe it should, down from 63% in 2016 – and one in five (20%) said “Life shouldn’t be fair” – while 25% weren’t sure.
QA: that would be Quality Assurance for those not in the know. In any manufacturing environment, if someone (if not EVERYone) is watching the quality of your product(s), the last person who holds or uses your product or service is your customer. While that customer really is the ultimate QA guy in the end (“do I have to return this for non-conformance” or worse “I’m not buying this again”), do you really want to give them a reason to go negative? Expensive, expensive, expensive if you fail to do your QA.
During my first stint on our BudComm, I never asked the following question but just kept being amazed at how many new “programs” kept popping into the budget – new textbooks, time to train teachers, new teaching supplies; we’re talking on a new curriculum that may span several grades up to 100s of thousands of dollars. And then see that new program replaces after a couple of years?? But the mostly costly question is:
What difference did it do and did it work better than what it replaced?
“HEY – THAT’S NOT IN THE BUDGET!” HOW DARE YOU ASK THAT!
Yet another piece from the Concord Monitor where Don Vallone of Reaching Higher New Hampshire makes the argument, financially, that ONLY Government schools should be allowed to teach your children. How? He cries in his cups of how government public schools would be losing money to other entities if HB 193 is enacted. Boo-hoo (reformatted, emphasis mine):
Two public policy groups provided closer looks Wednesday at the financial impact of a sweeping school choice bill under consideration at the State House. Senate Bill 193 could cost the state $31 million in new spending over five years, an analysis by public school advocacy organization Reaching Higher New Hampshire has found, and the legislation could cost school districts nearly $6 million in state aid in its first year of implementation.
(re: Moms Demand Action is really misnamed; it should be Hoplophobic Womyn Demand Complete Civilian Disarmament).
This is the bill that will allow those of us with NH Pistol / Revolver licenses to conceal carry anywhere in the US – no more having to study up where one can pack legally and no longer having to worry “er, what jurisdiction have I forgotten to study??” Neither will we in NH who have to go southward worry about the wall that is MA, CT, NY, or NJ which effectively act as a “Thou Shalt Not Pass” for guns.
‘Grok friend John Hawkins (RightWingNews) has a column over at Townhall on 7 observations he’s learned during the last year. I’ve put the first one up in its entirety as it shows a massive shift on how a lot of folks on the Right are changing their view on morality and politics simply because the Left wins by ignoring traditional morality altogether – character no longer counts; only winning:
7 Things Conservatives Can Learn From Donald Trump’s First Year in Office
Donald Trump’s election felt like a revolutionary act and love him or hate him, his first year in office has rewritten the rules of the political game. That’s why it’s surprising how little political thinking seems to have shifted. There are some big lessons we can learn from Trump’s first year in office.
1) Conservatives Have Lost Faith That Good Behavior Will Be Rewarded: There was a time when conservatives took great pride in being the sort of people who wouldn’t tolerate a Ted Kennedy, Marion Barry or William Jefferson in their ranks. However, eventually conservatives have started asking a basic question: How does this benefit us? Do we get credit from the American people for being more moral than liberals? Is this helping us to succeed? What’s the pragmatic value of doing the right thing beyond feeling superior to the Left? When conservatives concluded there was no practical value to having high standards, standards declined. A lot. In a hurry. Is that a good thing? No, but when you create a situation where virtue is no longer rewarded, you can’t expect virtuous people to slam their heads into a wall forever.
New York Fed Now Projects 3.9% GDP Growth in Fourth Quarter… Another week – another set of weekly economic data – another upward forecast of anticipated 4th Quarter GDP growth. Two weeks ago the Fed raised the 4th quarter growth projection to 3.2%. Last Week they revised that up to 3.8%. This week they have revised it upward again to 3.93% Remember, … Read more
That was the question asked by a UL editorial and one that I have been saying no to for quite some time. After all, why should taxpayer monies be used for this – it isn’t for the common good, right? It is for a special interest group as that is what a union is – a collection of people that extract more wealth (money, time, power) from the majority than they would otherwise be able to do. Not a slam, not a whack – just a simple statement of what unions, bottomline, do. Reformatted, emphasis mine:
When the New Hampshire House returns in January, it will take up a bill that would get state government out of the union dues collection business. HB 438, introduced this year by House Majority Leader Dick Hinch, would stop the practice of withholding dues from state employee paychecks, which would require unions representing those workers to collect those dues themselves.
It would not prohibit or restrict membership in unions in any way.
This is not union-busting and it isn’t creating what unions would call “a hostile work environment”. It would just force them to collect their own damn money themselves. Simple, easy – after all, if the unions are actually providing value to their members, the members will gladly fork over checks, right? So why are the unions spitting mad and scared?
“I asked if he is a feminist. ‘Of course,’ he said. ‘The opposite of feminism is ignorance.’” Believe as I do or you and your opinion aren’t even worth considering. There is no discussion after that (and that IS the intent) and there can be no compromise. In this, it is like militant Islam – … Read more
Part 1 here. The question I asked if the School District Administration does any kind of QA when a new / replacement program is introduced is one that I should NEVER have to ask. Rather, why didn’t the School District Edu-mucky mucks ask it of themselves? Failing that, why didn’t the School Board? After all, aren’t they supposed to be in charge and providing competent oversight (versus just being, as I have seen around the State) rather than mere rubber stamps for “the professionals”?
