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Once again with Spring, the little birdies start tweeting again – even if Spring is measuring 11 degrees outside and this is pretty good one.  So, one would think that the NH House Speaker Shawn Jasper (Democrat appointed, if you don’t already know) would be a fine upstanding supporter of Free Speech.  After all, not only is Free Speech protected by the US Constitution:

First Amendment, US Constitution:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

But so does our NH Constitution, as the Bill of Rights comes FIRST in our Constitution – to protect Individuals FIRST (and then and only then does it talk about Government):

[Art.] 22. [Free Speech; Liberty of the Press.] Free speech and liberty of the press are essential to the security of freedom in a state: They ought, therefore, to be inviolably preserved.

And if our Lawmakers can’t even follow that, well, they (at the least) deserve all the mocking that we citizens can muster!  After all, they ALL swore an oath to protect and preserve it – not to ignore or subvert it.  And the words make it clear – Inviolate to deny Free Speech to an Individual. But, I guess, the Democrat supported NH Speaker of the House has decided that he knows better and has his own Pen and Phone:

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I have said for years that the primary reason why the NH Highway Fund is in such a stupid financial position is that Politicians refuse to do the right thing – let that fund do what it is supposed to fund and stop raiding it.  And, instead of constantly using taxpayers to pay for the lack of true priorities by lazy politicians (who love to claim they have “solved” the crisis – but rarely ante up that Government created the problem in the first place).

Lately, the “wonder cure” is to put expenditures on auto-pilot – which is exactly what and how the Highway Fund has been used.  And it is in BIG trouble because that auto-pilot has been buffeted like a jet in the thunderstorm as politicians keep taking, and taking, and taking more out of it.

Thankfully, it seems like SOMEONE has decided that this cannot continue and one of the smartest Legislators in the NH House is trying to do the Very Right thing.  Yet another little birdie sang what seemed to be a happy, melodious song to me this morning – and then the Democrat appointed NH Speaker of the House and his Majority Leader decided that their duet would go off key – from my taxpayer ear, rather flat indeed:

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After US Senator Ted Cruz had left the Turbocam building, we did a couple of interviews: ‘Grok friend Mac Kittredge and member of the Nam Knights motorcycle organization

Previous videos:

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From the March 2015 of America’s Freedom (p.39, emphasis mine):

In the United States and other nations, more and more people are recognizing that victims have the best chance of survival when they can be the first responders.

First Responders.  We usually think of these folks as heros – and they are, no doubt.  But they are also Government employees – police, firemen, EMTs..  Nothing wrong with that – unless you feel that the role of first responder should only be government workers.  However, that is the outlook of Progressives like Susan the Bruce (here, here) where in the real world when bad people go after nice ones, individuals are not to do anything – especially defend themselves.  They are to outsource responsibility for themselves to others.

In government.

It is yet another startling,

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Last Sunday at Turbocam, Ted Cruz was asked by Carlos when he was going to announce his run for the Presidency – you can see the video here as Cruz was a bit out front (and coy) with his answer.  Well, we now have the answer  from the new GraniteGrok Twitter follower,  Ted Schleifer ( @TeddySchleifer ) from the Houston Chronicle (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Ted Cruz to announce presidential bid Monday

Sen. Ted Cruz plans to announce Monday that he will run for president of the United States, accelerating his already rapid three-year rise from a tea party insurgent in Texas into a divisive political force in Washington.  Cruz will launch a presidential bid outright rather than form an exploratory committee, said senior advisers with direct knowledge of his plans, who spoke on condition of anonymity because an official announcement had not been made yet. They say he is done exploring and is now ready to become the first Republican presidential candidate.

The senator is scheduled to speak Monday at a convocation ceremony at Liberty University in Virginia, where he is expected to declare his campaign for the presidency.

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From Instapundit:

NOBEL PEACE PRIZE UPDATE: Breaking a decades-long trend, the world gets more violent. “That’s a pretty disturbing spike by anyone’s terms. And if you look at the first few months of 2015, the violence doesn’t seem to be waning. What’s even more worrying is that this seems to be part of an ongoing trend that now goes back eight years. According to the Australia-based Institute for Economics and Peace (IEP), global violence — as defined by a range of measures from conflict deaths, to displaced persons, to homicide rates — has been rising since 2007. This news is in many ways surprising because up to 2007, the data suggested the world was becoming a much safer place.”

Gee, look at that year…

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“But the problem, the 800-pound gorilla sitting calmly in the corner, eating Doritos, and throwing the bags in Putnam’s face is not named. It is the destruction of the traditional two-parent family. Instead of dozens of charts, Putnam needed only one“

And it all stems from that.  I grew up in a broken home and there was no one there to teach me how to be a Dad as I was growing up.  I never learned the real reason why my Mom & Dad split up so I will never know if it was for infidelity or incompatibility.  I do know, regardless of those extreme points, it was a failure of values:  faithfulness, selflessness, love not as an emotion but as a choice of will, responsibility, and other what used to be considered foundational attitudes: those of “the children come before self” and that a promise of “’til death do you part” really was a promise not to be broken.  Yes, a lot of stuff packed in tight.  No, there was no abuse of which I am aware of, so we can let the dog lie.  But I did sense, even as a young boy when it happened, a tad bit of aloneness creeping in.

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