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That would be the GOP going after the TEA Party – how DARE you try to remove us from our Jr. Party seats?    The Washington Examiner has the take from a 42 year Senator that has no problem in being honest as to what he will be doing upon seeing “barbarians at his gate”.  Forty-two years – certainly long enough to have helped overseen the tremendous growth of the Welfare state.  Well, certainly long enough to have a hand on the lever of power that most TEA Partiers do not have: lots and lots of millions of dollars.  And to keep themselves in power, they are not afraid of using it (emphasis mine, reformatted):

The Republican Party of Iowa was blindsided by the Tea Party movement in the last presidential election, but party officials are already working hard to diminish the conservative movement’s influence by the time the next presidential primary rolls around in 2016, Sen. Charles Grassley, R-Iowa said.

“I think the Tea Party people in Iowa caught them off guard,” Grassley said of the state party in an interview on C-SPAN’s “Newsmakers.”  Grassley said many Iowa Republicans “have been dissatisfied with the direction of the Republican Party in Iowa and are prepared to get more involved this time to counter the Tea Party influence.”

All Republicans, Mr. Grassley – or just YOUR wing of the party that are, well, feeling rather insecure?  Nice to see that “countering” the wing that has brought the energy and motivation to the Party is of more importance than “countering”, umm, those that are drifting us to a Socialist hellhole. 

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And they are SELLING these 1911s!  Figures – in Texas by Solid Concepts PR:

Austin, TX – Solid Concepts, one of the world leaders in 3D Printing services, has manufactured the world’s first 3D Printed Metal Gun using a laser sintering process and powdered metals. The gun, a 1911 classic design, functions beautifully and has already handled 50 rounds of successful firing. It is composed of 33 17-4 Stainless Steel and Inconel 625 components, and decked with a Selective Laser Sintered (SLS) carbon-fiber filled nylon hand grip. The successful production and functionality of the 1911 3D Printed metal gun proves the viability of 3D Printing for commercial applications.

“We’re proving this is possible, the technology is at a place now where we can manufacture a gun with 3D Metal Printing,” says Kent Firestone, Vice President of Additive Manufacturing at Solid Concepts. “And we’re doing this legally. In fact, as far as we know, we’re the only 3D Printing Service Provider with a Federal Firearms License (FFL). Now, if a qualifying customer needs a unique gun part in five days, we can deliver.”

Video after the jump:

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Even a casual reader of the ‘Grok knows that we have been writing about the Civil War now raging within the NH GOP and the GOP is general; the VA Governor race has brought that to the fore.  Nice to see, on the topic of expanding Medicaid here in NH, that former NH GOP Chair and current National Committeeman Steve Duprey decided to bring the gas and the match; good to know honesty when we hear it:

…just in time to hear an influential member of the board saying (I’m paraphrasing here) what a great plan it was and the only people who would not want to accept federal money for this program are, flat earth TEA partiers, and Ted Cruz fans who don’t want to pay taxes but still want their Social Security.

Sidenote: I guess Duprey missed this (and so much for his negative categorization of TEA Party folks – actually we are more educated than the general population and more affluent – and better read.  Really, no more listening to Harrel Kirstein or Chris Matthews please.):

that is, identifying with the Tea Party correlates positively (r = 0.05, p = 0.05) with scores on the science comprehension measure

My only regret in hearing about this is that when I “ran” for Committeeman at the last election, I did it more as a stunt than as a serious campaign (although I wanted to make a point and did – that just simply coming out of the stands, I (a TEA Partier, Conservative, Constitutionalist, and Evangelical Christan – “hated” categories not just for Democrats but for Establishment Republicans as well) garnered almost a third of the vote.  I toned down the “campaign” speech to be polite – a mistake I would not make again; nice to see that an Establishmentarian holds a large percentage of his Party in such high regard.

Duprey’s words, by the way, were said before the NH GOP Executive Board when it met with NH State Senators Jeb Bradley and Chuck Morse to hear how the Senate Republicans were going to approach Medicaid Expansion.  The reaction by the E-Board to Duprey’s words, were, well, illiminating:

judging by all the grins and giggling around the table I feel pretty confident saying this was the same position held by the majority.

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I AM one of the 93 million employer insured employees that Obamacare has come for now that it has all but killed off the private insurance marketplace – something that absolutely delights folks like NH Congressmen Annie Custer, Carol Shea-Porter, and NH’s US Senator Jeanne Shaheen.  They want as little capitalism left as possible: Shaheen has shown it by her disregard for citizen control by SB711 and Chief Cheerleader for Obamacare, CSP by her hucksterism for Obamacare in her town halls her first term, and Kuster’s “I’m more Progressive than everyone else” during her primary race.  For them, NH Citizens getting screwed over by Obamacare is a feature, not a bug (regardless of what they say – ALWAYS look to what their actions have been).

I work for a largish company and today, Obamacare walked up to me and smacked me.  The plan that my employer has been offering (among a small few) and that I had used for almost 15 years (with very small little changes) has been cancelled – Obamacare made it too expensive.  I now have to pick from an even smaller number of other plans but the one that I will be forced to pick that best matches my former plan will cost me 25% more,  double (more or less) my deductible, and more for drug prescriptions.  And God help me if there are no providers “in network” for me here in NH.

Don’t get me wrong – I have a job and I have coverage; I am thankful.  But

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Let’s see, My Government says what my insurance policy has to have – including substance abuse (I’m a teetotaler), pediatric care (my kids are grown and I’m not going to have any more), and maternity care (ditto).  Other stuff as well that I would never purchase if I  had my own way.

How am I in control of my healthcare?

I am limited by My Government as to who I can buy from.

How am I in control of my healthcare?

It is their version of a “poker tell”?

I’ve often noticed, and written, that Progressives (re: incremental Socialists), like all totalitarians before them, can never ever use words with the same meanings that the rest of us understand in common use.  How often has the Clintonian political meme “It depends on what the meaning of the words ‘is’ is.”  Always shading the word usage to make us think one thing while actually meaning another – linguistic Houdinis having folks think “over there” when the action is “over here“.

Like Sebelius in her testimony in front of Congress today: 

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Certainly not in the late Chavez’s Venezuela – last time it was foreign currency black markets, rotting food on the docks, and toilet paper hording.  Socialism – the promise of a Utopia for Everyone!  I guess that 130 years, in lots of countries world-wide, not ONE set of folks has gotten it right yet!  Small countries, medium sized countries, and large ones; poor developing ones, a poor one that was faux superpower, and rich ones that are going broke.  Back to Venezuela: (emphasis mine, reformatted)

…Gonzalez is on a list of 31 breast cancer patients waiting to have tumors removed at one of Venezuela’s biggest medical facilities, Maracay’s Central Hospital. But like legions of the sick across the country, she’s been neglected by a health care system doctors say is collapsing after years of deterioration.  Doctors at the hospital sent home 300 cancer patients last month when supply shortages and overtaxed equipment made it impossible for them to perform non-emergency surgeries.  Driving the crisis in health care are the same forces that have left Venezuelans scrambling to find toilet paper, milk and automobile parts. Economists blame government mismanagement and currency controls set by the late President Hugo Chavez for inflation pushing 50 percent annually...Doctors not allied with the government say many patients began dying from easily treatable illnesses when Venezuela’s downward economic slide accelerated after Chavez’s death from cancer in March. Doctors say it’s impossible to know how many have died, and the government doesn’t keep such numbers, just as it hasn’t published health statistics since 2010.

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I wrote back in 2009 about the Lifeline (aka Obamaphones):

Once again, we see that the line at what Big Government defines as the “needs” of those needing “welfare” always seems to go ever upward over time (in addition to what the definition of what “poor” is). I saw an ad on TV the other day (in fact, I JUST saw it again) that if you are on food stamps or receive other type government aid, there is a program just for you.  The actress proudly proclaimed “I can now call my family any time I want!” – she has a free cell phone!

Don’t know about you but I consider a cell phone a luxury – a “want” vs a “need”. Handy?  Absolutely, but I am not one that is tied to one.  As such, it comes from my discretionary income (such as it is).  If things were to get tough, it would be banished from the budget.

Indeed – want vs need.  Now apply that to Obamacare.

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