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Peggy Noonan, from my standpoint and outlook, either is a major whiff or hits home runs.  Her latest column in the WSJ, however, is more the latter than the former.  I have oft complained that a major part of the reason we have the political disfunctions we do is:

• that the politicians we elect say what we hope to hear
• that then they turn around and simply run for re-election right after being elected
• and to do so, they avoid the major and important decisions, large and small, that we really need made BY THEM

instead of what we now know to be true – a bunch of partisan and ideologically driven bureaucrats (after all, there is a reason why the Democrats are called “the Party of Government”).  I say they’re political cowards (and seconded here).  She uses a different word: selfishness – putting themselves before their constituents.

Sometimes the most obvious thing is the most unnoticed. I find myself thinking this week about the destructive force of selfishness in our political life. This common failing is the source of such woe! Politicians call themselves public servants, so they should be expected to be less selfish than the average Joe ; their views and actions should be assumed to be more keenly directed toward the broad public good. But no one expects that of politicians anymore, and they know it and use the knowledge to justify being even worse than they’d normally be. “If I have the name, I might as well have the game.”

They are the locus of selfishness in the modern world.

We have heard our politicians rue

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Dear NHFC Supporter,

I know that NHFC President Jon Evans and I have been asking a lot of you lately. However, you the grass roots gun owners are our strength. To be honest, whenever the legislature is in session, our Second Amendment rights are at risk. We must be vigilant.

While we have been warning you about SB 244, a bill that would create a new gun ban for tens of thousands of Granite Staters, the anti-gun activists have been preparing to pass a ban on private gun sales.

The gun ban crowd is pushing HB 1589, a bill that will put you in prison for up to 7 years for selling a gun to a friend or neighbor. That’s right, under the provision of HB 1589 you can’t even dispose of your private personal property without going to a licensed firearms dealer.

This bill will criminalize commonplace activities you probably don’t even think about. Ever loan your rifle to a friend on a hunting trip? Ever let a friend try out one of your guns at the shooting range? If HB 1589 is passed, these are the kinds of things that could land you in jail!

HB 1589 is so broad that any transfer that is not completed by a licensed dealer subjects the transfer0r to the penalties of a Class B felony! 

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Is Amazon trying to be the first to implement the retailing version of “The Minority Report” (emphasis mine, reformatted)?:

Amazon is watching you and shipping your next package…even if you didn’t order it. The Seattle, Washington retailer has just obtained a patent that they call “anticipatory shipping,” which targets customers based on their historical shopping trends.

This new software system Amazon hopes will reduce waiting time for customers to receive shopping items and “may dissuade customers from buying items from online merchants.” Although a customer hasn’t yet clicked on buy, Amazon is predicting that he/she will, based on previous orders, product searches, wish lists, shopping-cart contents, returns and the amount of time an Internet user’s cursor lingers over an item.

I think that line should read “from buying items from OTHER online merchants”.  Certainly with advanced data mining, a lot of things can be put into a “possible” or “never” sold status in the aggregate – but there is always uncertainty in the individual case.  Heck, they might be right in what I would want next – but is that sufficient even if they want to keep their lead in customer service (which as online sales increase, is increasingly being measured by delivery times – when we Americans want something, we want it RIGHT NOW!): 

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And of course, there is that small thing call “holding someone accountable”, eh?  From CNSNews (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Two members of the Senate are pressing for significant changes to how presidents consult with Congress on sending the military into war.  Sens. John McCain, R-Ariz., and Tim Kaine, D-Va., unveiled legislation on Thursday that would repeal the 1973 War Powers Resolution, often ignored by presidents of both parties, and replace it with a new law that requires greater consultation and a congressional vote within 30 days on any significant armed conflict.

“The Constitution gives the power to declare war to the Congress, but Congress has not formally declared war since June 1942, even though our nation has been involved in dozens of military actions of one scale or another since that time,” McCain said. “There is reason for this: The nature of war is changing.”

I’ve listed the relevant parts of the Constitution as to War responsibilities after the jump.  But ask yourself – if the President (current and past) has unilaterally decided to ignore the US Constitution in ordering our troops into military actions, ignoring the current War Powers Act law, where has the Congress been and done in calling him (and prior Oval Office denizens) to account?  Was the War Powers Resolution written to be Potemkin law – a mere punching bag or an invisibility cloak when needed?  And which is worse – ignoring a law or ignoring the Constitution?  And are Congressman / Senators just using this as a bully pulpit and bellow “We’re being ignored!” without actually have the political courage to do something (e.g., defunding such military actions or impeachment)? 

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I’ve written before about Laconia’s Hathaway House (here) that is considered to be a historic landmark and the animus that “community stakeholders” have towards the owner simply because the owner won’t keep it up to “their” standards.  Well, two of these chuckleheads are at it again in sending Letters to the Editor excoriating the corporate owners (a Dunkin Donuts franchisee) and their Letters to the Editor are shown after the Jump.  I sent this into the Laconia Daily Sun:

To the Editor:

I dryly note that Progressives became so hated during the last century, they needed to rebrand themselves. They chose “Liberal” to next redefine and abuse.But their intent was not to elevate Classic Western Liberalism that emphasized the Individual and Rights granted by God but the regressive idea that the Individual should be subservient to the Collective which would grant (and therefore, could revoke) those Rights which otherwise should be held inviolate including the Right to Private Property. And as we know, they blew that word up and have retreated to the original word, Progressive. Either way, I call them incremental Socialists.

The Hathaway House situation provides us with yet another GRAND example of people absconding with a word’s original meaning: “stakeholder”. Previously viewed as simply a person that held the stakes for erecting a tent or a fence, they have redefined its usage by involving themselves into “the process” as “interested and involved citizens”. At the national and international level, they are generally known as Non-Governmental Organizations. Think of the EPA, its royal decrees (void of legislation) – and the environmental groups that insert themselves and “advise” on policy. Even though they have no ownership interest in property whose value may well be diminished, they have no problem in helping to promulgate regulations that diminishes the Rights of the owners to use that property. They call themselves “advocates” – we used to call these people Busybodies. 

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From Big Government:

1. A Record 91.8 Million Americans Are No Longer in the Workforce

…According to the U.S. Census, 317 million people live in the United States.

2. Since Jan. 2009, the Number of Jobless Working-Age Americans Has Risen 9.6 Million People

…That means that the number of working age Americans that are not working has grown by close to 10 million since Barack Obama first took office.

3.  47.4 Million Americans Now Rely on Food Stamps

…roughly one out of every six Americans – now receives food stamps 

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