Skip

He runs away from debates.  He avoids forums.  When he is answering questions, from what I have heard and seen, he’s quite glib in starting to answer and then zig-zagging away off into tangents and not answering the questions directly.  But really, to go hide out in a bathroom to avoid a reporter asking a question on an important issue??

It’s why New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie (R), for example, went to unintentionally amusing lengths to avoid saying anything about the Hobby Lobby ruling. But as Paul Lewis reported, even Christie wasn’t as evasive as former Sen. Scott Brown (R-Mass.), now on the campaign trail in New Hampshire.  I found Brown at a table at a restaurant called Priscilla’s, introduced myself as a Guardian reporter and enquired if I could ask him some questions. Brown smiled nervously and replied: “What do you want to ask me about?”

“Hobby Lobby? That would be a start,” I said.

“I’m all set,” he replied. “We’re enjoying ourselves right now.”

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On the dissolving of the  dividing line of public vs private that was a foundational governing philosophy – a bug, not a feature:

…Today, indeed, we confront a transformation in the regulatory state so profound as to indicate a change at the regime level. Today, our regulatory state does not simply promulgate the kind of docile “soft despotism” Tocqueville feared, or blanket the human passions with the kind of bureaucratic uniformity Nietzsche derided as the “coldest of cold monsters.” Instead, as we still struggle to accept, it is aggressively intervening in the intimate details of everyday life as a friend to some kinds of civil liberties but an enemy of others.

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The non-religious are often skeptical towards Christians that say one thing about divorce (“not!”) and doing (“I’m outtahere!”) and in many cases, rightfully so.  David French at The Corner has a good post on this seeming contradiction – but then puts up this chart as part of the explanation:

It’s pretty simple: When it comes to marriage, church attendance matters more than church affiliation.

I’ve often heard the South described as “God-haunted,” in the sense that there are millions of men and women who identify as Christians, who attend church at least semi-regularly, and who at least aspire to live a Christian life as they understand it. Within that “God-haunted” culture is a very large subculture of the “God-fearing,” in the sense that they hold to the orthodox tenets of the faith, attend church regularly, and –furthermore — immerse themselves in the larger life of the church, from Sunday School to mission trips to small-group Bible studies.

It turns out that the God-haunted lifestyle is terrible for marriage. The God-fearing lifestyle is excellent. The reasons are not difficult to discern. 

You know, I have had the perfect title roaming around my head for years:  “Everything in politics I first learned in church”.  

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One of our ‘Grok friends, “K”, decided that she was not going to be one of those that would sit back and just “roll with it” – or like many, retreat into a cocoon of their own making and isolating from the world that seems to be spinning out of control.  With the news of the Obama Administration arrogantly taking the “UAC”s – Unaccompanied Alien Children” (that illegally and blithely walked across our borders, with some of them heavily tattooed and shaving) and shipping them to State after State without notice of the local authorities, she decided that she needed to find out.  What will be a multi-part series begins now with Part 1 (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Hi Skip,

I’ve been reading with great interest your article/s covering the illegal immigration situation.  I am trying to find out what towns/facilities/how many illegals are here.  For your further interest I forward to you my correspondence to Commissioner Toumpas of NH DHHS with copies to the Governor and City Council, which I sent to Steve a while ago for his info.  I just received an email from the Commissioner (because I inquired about a response to my correspondence) that a letter is in the mail, which I will forward to you and Steve.

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Well, between that and eating more beans, you might be healthier!  From the “eweee, but good for you” department:

Cancer, Heart Disease, Stroke, Dementia? Study Says Common Bodily Function Could Keep ‘Em All at Bay

Scientists out of the University of Exeter in the U.K. said harnessing the power of one particular bodily function could prevent cancer, among a host of other diseases, the Western Daily Press noted.  Which one, you ask? (We know you’re asking…)

Flatulence.

More precisely… 

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There exists a phrase that came to be when politics realized a fundamental truth: the Internet never forgets.  Some politicians, above a certain age, have had a hard time coming to grips that whatever they have said, wherever they were, once uploaded to the ‘Net, were not going to go away – forever. Words that they wish they had never said cannot be pulled back.  Words said to one set of people can be compared to a different set of folks. Like the slur that he used against the TEA Party that Walt Havenstein has been trying to deflect from and non-apologize for since it first appeared with reasoning that since he didn’t know what the word meant then he need not apologize for it now (even as he does understand its meaning to a large number of folks), .  Gosh, if I had a nickel for every time I got out of apologizing for something in the past.

Anyways, it seems that Walt was all enamored with newly elected President Obama’s words back in 2009 when he spoke at the Naval Academy’s Leadership Council.  I do wonder if this is a repeat performance; “I didn’t know what Obama meant by those words at the time” as it certainly is clear now that President “So sue me”‘s words certainly don’t mean the same thing as the way he has governed.  Quoting someone at length in giving a speech at such an important institution gives that person praise, gravitas, and importance and Havenstein does exactly that.  Now what?:

The problem is that most of us Conservative activists certainly knew who Obama was well before his inauguration – and certainly all of us at GraniteGrok.  Researching his background, his friends, his resume, his speeches – a well known entity.  Obviously, Havenstein didn’t – or did and didn’t care (one or the other).   Slur, Democrat Governors Association appearance, now this.   Now what, folks?

For full context, after the jump:

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I just read Steve’s post on Bill Greiner, and I am SO Confused.

• NH House Minority Leader Gene Chandler famously said “Anyone with an R after their name is a good Republican” – so does that make Bill Greiner a Good Republican?  I’m supposed to think so (at least I’m TOLD to think that way).
• NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn said this:   “That means starting today we must agree to respect our differences and work toward our common goals.”  and “There is room for our Party for every kind of Republican as long as you are a Republican.”  And this:

If you believe, as I do, in a Constitutional Government, I want you on our team.  If you believe that limited Government leads to unlimited opportunity, as I do, then I want you on our team.  If you believe that the First and Second amendments are placed at the beginning of the Bill of Rights on purpose for a reason, that Obamacare is an assault on our Freedom and Prosperity, if you believe, as I do, that our Constitution was written not to limit your Freedom but to limit your Government, then I want you on our team.

“Then I want you on our team” – Er, Gene and Jennifer?  What about those that go both ways?  Like Bill Greiner?  I am SO Confused. 

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Lois Lerner of the IRS is the most famous example of a Federal Agency who has been weaponized by the Obama Administration (even, according to random posts I’ve seen, more than Tricky Dicky – disgraced President Nixon (R) or one termer President LBJ (D)) and we have been SO treated by the arrogance of the new IRS Commissioner John Koskinen over the public’s right to know.  And Gina McCarthy, head of the EPA, has had to undergo questioning over more documents / emails that have gone missing – another hard drive crash (allegedly).  And now, we have yet another agency that has the same case of the hard disk flu – Federal Elections Commission (FEC, where Lois Lerner was before going to the IRS ) (reformatted, emphasis mine):

House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) on Monday made yet another request to the federal government for details about a crashed hard drive that may have contained information allowing criminal charges to be brought against a federal official.  Issa’s newest letter concerns the hard drive of April Sands, a former employee at the Federal Election Commission who resigned in the spring after admitting to violations of the Hatch Act. That law puts restrictions on the ability of government officials to conduct political activities while on the job, or from government offices.

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A lot of the politicos, chief amongst them was Bush II, use the PC phrase “Religion of Peace” when talking about Islam, but then we see actions that belie that phrase (but again, that’s what happens when Political Correctness becomes a religion itself).  Well, thanks to a gaffe (read: truth spoken when not concentrating on the smoke and mirrors) by a Hamas (a terrorist organization according to the US – and part of the Palestinian Government) spokesperson, we now know better (while Israel is now beating the snot out of them after having endured years of incoming rockets from Hamas and like minded “militants”)

Reformatted, emphasis mine:

Hamas spokesman Sami Abu Zuhri is not helping advance his organization’s cause.

Zuhri became the focus of criticism when a clip of him advocating for civilians to act as human shields in order to protect Hamas militants and assets exploded on the internet. A MEMRI TV translation of Zuhri’s appearance on Hamas’ Al-Aqsa TV showed him talking up the “character” of Palestinians who “defend their rights and their homes with their bare chests and their blood.”  “We in Hamas call upon our people to adopt this policy in order to protect the Palestinian homes,” Zuhri advocated.

Well, with their blood?  That sounds absolutely delightful, eh?  Don’t worry – it gets worse and confirms what has been said of the Palestinians. 

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The Obama Administration and Open Borders / Anti-America activists are lying to us.  Very interesting stats from American Thinker pulled from the LA Times – sorta made me think “Gosh, what the Obama Administration has been saying about WHY these illegal alien kids are coming is just like that anti-muslim video caused Benghazi”:

It is clear that the Obama Administration’s own words and policies served as an incentive to pull the illegal immigrants kids northward.  And as to the weasel words about the level of violence rising in the Central American countries?  Here’s the murder rates (per 100,000 population), from 2008 to 2012: 

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Caught at The Corner:

The line in his [LeBron James] return-to-Cleveland statement that resonates most with us denizens of the North Coast is the following:

“In Northeast Ohio, nothing is given. Everything is earned. You work for what you have.”

Contrast that statement with Barack Obama’s obtuse, insulting, and dispiriting 2012 observation:

” You didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen.”

Rumor has it LeBron’s a better basketball player, too.

In the case of Obama, other people DID make it happen for him – and IMHO, on a silver platter. And let’s add the erstwhile Fount of the Progressive Work Ethic, Senator Elizabeth Warren (who beat Scott Brown in his last campaign for US Senate): 

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Dunno if I’m right, but I’m, as always, willing to play along.  And, I bet a better than .500 average to boot.  So Political Scoop’s questions (emphasis mine):

When will it start to bother the major players in Washington that Scott Brown is down double digits in two polls in a row?

I would think it’s already started.  Once is a warning flag, twice is panic button when there’s onl 58 days left until the Primary and the Old Bull in the race (e.g., former Senator Bob Smith) is horns down and charging into the margin of error.  It is now mid summer and the “almost activists” are starting to nose around politics.  Given that it will be the most conservative voters turning out, unlike the Ayotte / Ovide race where Ovide just barely ran out of track in the 2010 Senatorial race, Brown ‘s tires may already be rubbing and making smoke (appropriate for NASCAR weekend) – and it may be that a pit stop won’t get the job done.

Objectively speaking, where should the anti-Brown Republican vote go?

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From Weekend Pundit:

David Starr comments on the Federal Highway Trust Fund, its original purpose, and how it is now being used for anything but maintaining our highways. He also has some suggestions about dealing with it now that the money is running dry.

Better, would be to shut down the Highway Trust Fund altogether.  Lay off all the bureaucrats who run it. Cancel the Federal gasoline tax.  Let the states, who do the roadwork, pay for road maintenance out of state funds.  The states could even hike their gas taxes if needed.  With the Federal gas tax removed, the states could take a much bigger bite without raising the price of gas.

Indeed.

Ayup.  Too often I have to say “what is happening in DC is happening in Concord”; the politicians of BOTH stripes have created this man-made crisis – set up the Fund(s) for a specific purpose and unable to exert discipline over themselves to leave the monies alone and siphoned it off in multiple ways… 

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