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2006 was not a good year for Republicans or conservatives.  Even worse was 2008.  2012 sucked less than either of those first two years but each of those years present a very low bar on which to measure success in 2012. Serious thought – I really started blogging and talking in earnest after the 2006 election debacle – I had the time  (I had become an empty nester as both sons went into the military) and I saw the complete wipe outs that the national and state level GOP suffered, and worse, the ever increasing loss of Freedom and Liberty that those losses engendered.

I now hear the same echos from 2006 & 2008 – and I hear myself thinking the same thing about the GOP that I did back then: you have forgotten who you are.  The Establishment didn’t listen to this voice in the wilderness then.  2008 was even worse and I heard more of the same from those in 2006 as to why they lost in 2008.   Then 2010 happened and the ensuing Republican wave happened – and they won but for reasons they wouldn’t (and still won’t) admit to – TEA Party, 9/12-ers, Libertarians all came out to stop Obama’s socialist unConstitutional regime rather than”joining” the Republican Party (the latter were just “convenient”). 

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My jaw dropped when I heard Todd say this on Meet the Press yesterday (emphasis mine):

CHUCK TODD: David, the most interesting thing in this report, right, page one– it’s page three of the report, it says here that, “The team is operating with private sector velocity and effectiveness.”

DAVID GREGORY: Yeah.

CHUCK TODD: Okay, that is an acknowledgement that, “You know what? If this was a government operation for a long time and it failed, now we’re bringing in the private sector folks.” I mean, that is an indictment on the whole idea of government as a solution, frankly, when you look at [unintelligible].

The report was from HHS and was meant to put on a happy face on a website that took 3.5 years and $600 million to screw up – and then stood on the smallest part of a twig to make that claim to try to say (shades of Kevin Bacon in “Animal House”) “All is well” now.

And it promptly snapped. 

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As I said here, Obamacare is the Progressive capstone to force otherwise Free people to take care of others – not out of kindness but out of fear.  Progressives, being the incremental socialists they are, previously have pretty much co-opted what used to be genuinely charitable organizations (now called ‘social services organizations who pretty much  grovel on their knees for any and all taxpayer funding; they have callouses on their kneecaps).  Once again, they are using the idea of a “living wage” (which exists only in the minds of Marxist ideologues and economic illiterates) to further press the meme that The Proper Role of Government is to take care of you – and force any non-State entities to fall into that same line by any means possible.  Doubt me?  Look at how Progressives are now forcing companies to comply with their social issues as if they were mere extensions of their government intrusion into all aspects of our lives, thus fulfilling their mantra of “Politics is personal…the Personal is politics”.

A “living wage” – a Marxist construct that Progressives are using to further their social issue agenda (and this IS why republican political operatives, strategists, and politicians are absolutely wrong to tell us “drop the social issues”) to force others to be responsible for other peoples’ well being (Washington Examiner, emphasis mine):

But there is a big lie behind this seemingly reasonable argument, namely that the employer is responsible for providing a person’s basic needs, not the individual himself. The falsehood is further illuminated by this question: Who is responsible for providing for the employer’s basic needs? If the answer is the employer, then society has two classes and equality is just a politically convenient myth. 

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Those NH Progressives – such a tolerant bunch – they love EVERYONE.  Nice to see that Peter Sullivan has marshalled them all behind him in the Democrat War On Women and Minorities and showing that they hate religion – see this Facebook entry by Sullivan?

“Yeah, I said it, and I stand by it. The comparison is accurate. Garcia is a creepy pseudo-Christian right wing extremist who gets a free pass because she doesn’t look the part.”

That was a response stemming from John Fund’s piece in National Review (note: he quotes ‘Grok friend NH State Rep Jane Cormier extensively) calling him out for his “do as I say and not as I say” attitude to attacking women and minorities.  Fund also pointed out the lack of NH media in covering the story after it went viral (and once again, GraniteGrok “scooped” Kevin Landrigan and DiStaso (once again, Democrats with bylines?) with Steve’s post here and Susan’s post on Annie Kuster’s lack of response here; DiStaso only mentioned it here today and Landrigan’s is…oh wait- hasn’t mentioned it yet).

You know, we are lectured SO often by the NH Democrat Party on our lack of respect for diversity, for misogynist views, and the denial of peoples’ religious beliefs.  Glad to see that Peter is there to set us straight and show us the true Democrat feelings – glad to see that we can follow his lead and his example. After all, I went to the NH Democrat Party site and it is obvious by its silence on the matter that they are backing him 100% – there’s nothing on their site contra Sullivan’s stance.  No screams, no talking points, no whispers – and no pictographs for sign language or other communications medium.

Nice to know, Ray Buckley (Chair, NHDP), that you approve of Petey’s “political speech” – nice to see the verbiage of  the NHDP Platform:

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Grokster Steve had the post talking about the cancer patient that went on Fox News to complain that he had lost his medical insurance due to Obamacare.  Then a sympathetic Samaritan insurance broker decided to help him gain what could be life saving care.  The Obama (Democrat) Administration’s  reaction?  Yeah, one of those new IRS Obamacare agents is now auditing BOTH of them.  As Steve noted (emphasis mine):

Welcome to Democrat rule.  Speaking out will get you punished.  Helping those in genuine need will get you punished.   ObamaCare was never about getting people insured, it was always about power and control.

“Helping those in genuine need will get you punished” – especially when it “shows up” this current Administration.  It doesn’t help them, however, when their reaction goes viral (the audit).  Yes, “examples” are made to keep “voluntary actions” in line with the IRS code, but this is just retributive.  But it does show, as Glenn at Instapundit is oft to remind us:  

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I did watch WMUR’s Close up yesterday but didn’t have the time to put up a post on it.  Didn’t care much for Jon Huntsman when he actually ran – he tried to run as something that he was not and it didn’t work well at all.  For him to think that he could win NH next time around is, um, silly. I was there at his second campaign stop (Laconia, NH) and the optics could not have been any worse – a bevy of black SUVs arriving late, the staffers in the Republican Political Operative Uniforms of blue blazers and ties as the Huntsman Family were trying to dress like “the natives”.  Not impressive and fast forwarded past it.

But I did watch, intently, Josh McElveen’s interview with Marilinda Garcia or (elect-mari.com) who has just announced for a Congressional run (NH-CD2) and she did have a number of talking points that she repeated a couple of times.  However, McElveen did ask what I consider a pretty typical question:

What kind of Republican are you?

I ask the same question to pretty much every candidate I meet up with – but my twist is

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I read this article in Pravada-on-the-Merrimack about a “Senior Citizens Bill of Rights” being sponsored by NH State Senator Nancy Stiles (R) and two Democrats, Reps. David Borden and Tom Sherman, read it again, and still can’t reason it out to any kind of a logical form.  No, not necessarily the piece itself (although it left a LOT unexplained) but the items that are supposed to be in this upcoming bill.  Words have meanings and words in legislative bills should have very specific meanings, very sharply set definitions, and very unambiguous context.

Instead, this is a hot steaming pile of a mess that I’m finding to hard to do a cogent post.  And if that it true, if this “goes out into the wild”, the items (posted below) will cause all kind of grief:

The Hampton Republican plans to introduce a bill next year that would require licensed facilities, including retirement homes, senior centers and elderly housing projects, to prominently display a “Senior Citizens Bill of Rights” at all times. The bill would not create new rights but would amass those relevant for elderly individuals, such as the right to organize, the right to use and consult outside services, and the right to receive prompt service from a landlord.

The right to organize?  What, she wants SEIU socialists going in to unionize “the residence” (or patients, the elderly, or whatever other term you wish to use)?  Would that force them to pay union dues out of their Social Security checks?  And what happens if the caretakers are ALSO union members – how’s that gonna work out?

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Random Thought for the day:  Apex Predators, Social Synergy & Culture

Statism doesn’t work, because it can’t. It leads inevitably to tyranny and, as Thomas Hobbs would have it, lives that are “nasty, brutish and short!”  But why is this so?  Are there fundamental and inescapable aspects of our essential nature that ordain these results? Yes!

Humans are tribal, apex predators with the option for volitional teamwork (playing nice) and reasoning acutely (to-think or not-to-think is a choice). We are not domestic animals. Nor are we, essentially and appropriately, programmed by instinct and read-only, behavioral norms. Predators must, as an essential element of their nature and survival, be aspirational and adept at employing real-time initiative. We homo sapiens are designed to think on our feet, not walk in our sleep. To lead or be led, not driven.

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