Skip

Yes, I got off track with other things – seems to be an easy thing lately (getting distracted).  So, we get near the end of this sorry trail with Al Letizio – the guy who wasn’t happy with Grokster Kimberly’s posts and wanted me to yank them.  And yet, even with his protestations of malfeasance by Kimberly, I have NEVER, EVER heard one exact piece of a wrong fact from him.  Nor, from his chuckleheaded imtimidator-wannabee, Dennis Senibaldi.

>One thing is sure – he didn’t like this back and forth via email and realized (far too late) that This Was A Bad Move With A Blogger.  Roger that, Al.  On two points:

• I knew of Kimberly’s reputation well before I invited her to blog here.  I only offer writerships to those I can trust.
• Bloggers get upset when challenged when there is Absolutely no evidence to be bullied.  Thus, we write.

So, he tried another route, “tried” being the operative word

From: “Al Letizio Jr.” <aletizio@AJLetizio.com>

To: “skipdcm” <Skip@GraniteGrok.com>

Sent: 3/27/2015 5:55:34 PM

Subject: Re: Re[2]: Granite Grok Article – Letizio

SPECIAL EVENT:

Join us on Sunday April 19th
for the

603 Alliance Grassroots Summit

9:00 AM to 3:00 PM
At the Crowne Plaza Hotel, Nashua NH

On Sunday, April 19th, grassroots activists from throughout New Hampshire will gather at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Nashua to unite behind the principles of free people, free markets, and constitutional government.  Come join us and learn how we plan to work together to bring a stronger voice for liberty and freedom to the New Hampshire primary in 2016!

Join us as we hear from locally and nationally known speakers, including:

Read more

We do have some of the Left persuasion that do visit GraniteGrok and comment.  Possibly to their great surprise, I actually welcome them here for the discussions and the debates – it was never intended that the ‘Grok be an echo chamber.  However, there have been some times that questions ARE asked by other commenters but seem to go unanswered – text, yes, but not a head on, straight forward answer (e.g., at what point do taxes become too high – what is an upper limit percentage-wise?).

From Conservative Review comes some questions (abridged here – full text at CR).

Here’s a series of ten questions I’ve yet to see anyone on the Left answer:

• Are there any limits at all on what government can make someone do? If so, where would those limits come from?
• Are women a protected class? Re:  Planet Fitness / Yvette Cormier and Memories Pizzeria in Indiana.
• How come we are having this debate at all? Didn’t your side promise the American people for years “no one would lose their freedom if we allowed the freedom to marry?” Were you purposefully dishonest when you repeatedly trotted out that now discredited line, or just naive?
• Do you know how many times RFRA laws have been used to discriminate against someone for their sexuality?

Read more

We’ve been blogging about the extremely Liberal city of Seattle and its misguided attempt to suspend the economic laws of Supply and Demand in order to feel good about themselves “Hey!  We’re HELPING!” the poorer amongst us.  They’ll have more money, they’ll have better lives, they’ll be happier”!  ON the conservative side, we all went “this is not going to end well, but even as we’ll be sorry for the victims-to-be, you will hear we told you so”.  Profit margins (or lack there of), artificially inflated labor costs by government fiat, downgrade of materials – there are consequences to be paid.  Problem is, while the Left blithely said “So?  Just raise prices”, consumers aren’t following the plan and are going elsewhere (or not going period, emphasis mine, reformatted):

Read more

EBT cards – used to be called “food stamps” and I remember people using coupon books to pay for their items at the grocery store (and often, even now, a second round of purchases with cash or credit after using our money).  Yes, our money, for remember that the State cannot give to someone until first taking from someone.  That is the plain honesty of how it work  – taking before giving and no amount of caterwauling from the Left can change that equation (yes, for them it seems that math and economics is hard).  And Kansas has just voted that the Peoples’ money should be used for its proper usage – life sustaining items and not the “extras” like these:

• Tattoo parlors
• Spas
• Nail parlors
• Porn stores

Read more

In the Union Leader a few days ago, they printed an Op-Ed by David Scannell that bit me the wrong way (The complete Op-Ed (for context) is after the jump; emphasis mine in the parts that highlight my points).  In toto, it is obvious that he expresses what I have seen over the last few years – a growing disdain for parents and a disregard of the relationship of government and the citizens that give it its legitimacy by their consent.  Certainly in this piece it is clear that citizens have been withdrawing their consent by withdrawing their kids in participating in “mandatory” testing and surveys.  Oh, how DARE these parents get in the way of us (in the government school system)  doing what WE believe needs be done for “our” children (yeah, that’s the increasingly evident groupthink and outlook being displayed – not YOUR children but OUR children).

So here’s a couple of those snippets:

THIS JUST IN from the don’t-we-have-enough-to-worry-about-already department: the perennially put upon, overextended and tapped out Manchester School District — currently dealing with looming cuts in state funding, manufactured outrage about standardized tests, and a federal civil rights inquiry — is confronting two additional heaping helpings of trouble recently placed on its plate: sex and drugs.

Read more

NH State Rep Barbara French (D-Henniker) had an Op-Ed in the Concord Monitor stating why she was not going to vote for the NH Budget.  Certainly and true to the Democrat form whereupon ANY lessening of a proposed budget calls for shrieks of death, damnation, and falsehoods (“Our state agencies have been severely cut over the years” – really, real cuts ma’dam? Only if 1% is considered, f’instance, as severe).  Typical “we didn’t everything we wanted so Republicans aren’t just of a different mind, or wrong, but EVIL!  The whole thing is after the jump but two things jumped out at me:

• Once again, the phrase “General Welfare” is used in a completely wrongful manner
• Once again, the wealth of Individuals is held to be at the full disposal of the State (and of course, her as a legislator).

To the first:

The U.S. Constitution and the New Hampshire Constitution both direct us to promote the general good/welfare.

Constitution of New Hampshire (Part First, Bill of Rights, 1, Equality of Men, Origin, Object of Government): “All men are born equally free and independent. Therefore all government of right originates from the people, is founded in consent and instituted for the general good.”

Constitution of the United States: “We the People of the United States, in Order to form a more perfect Union, establish Justice, insure domestic Tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general Welfare, and secure the Blessings of Liberty to ourselves and our Posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”

Really?  Actually, no, not from legal perspective are either uses of “general welfare” which shows a lack of knowledge by this long lived solon.

Read more

…James Madison (who was the main author of the US Constitition) put the point this way:

It is the duty of every man to render to the Creator such homage and such only as he believes to be acceptable to Him. This duty is precedent, both in order of time and in degree of obligation, to the claims of Civil Society.

It is important to note that Madison was making this case not in the context of arguing for permitting the free exercise of religion but rather in the context of arguing against the establishment of any religion by law. His point was that no one ought to be compelled to affirm as true a religious tenet he took to be false and that no one should be compelled to participate in a religious rite that violated his own understanding of his religious obligations.

Read more