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This is one of those few times that I will reprint an entire post.  Yet, I am hearing similar things more and more: “why should I fight and support a Party that more and more is Democrat-like versus Freedom and Constitution loving?  Why should my time, my valuable time, be spent defending a Platform that is always ignored when times get hard to defend (or the converse – easy to walk away from when convenient).  Breeanne Howe does a good job (emphasis mine):

Dear GOP,

I’m breaking up with you. It’s not like we didn’t see this coming. We’ve had our ups and downs. The Tea Party years were tough enough, but I truly thought we could make it when we elected (who we thought were) more principled leaders to replace at least some of the old guard. Unfortunately, the old guard and their old ways just won’t go away and you seem to be more in tune with them.

Hear it often – heck, I hear myself saying it.  Principles over Party, for we look at what “Party – what Principles?” has wrought for this country in conjunction with the Democrats – a government that isn’t trusted to do the right thing, a government that doesn’t listen, a government that lies, a government that “looks down” on the Common Folk, elected officials that put themselves first versus why they were sent to their offices in the first place…

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And make no mistake, to Progressives, politics IS a religion!  This is the post that I read from while we were yakking with Bill O’Brien during GrokTALK! (update: here too!) this past Saturday that outlines some of the VAST differences in outlook between Conservatives that are confident in themselves and in their fellow citizens and in Progressives that believe totally in Government and that it must be placed first – to the point that NOTHING should ever be detracted from it.  Tower of Babel, anyone?  A self-constructed idol, anyone?  Republicans are UNBELIEVERS and must be held to account for any attempt in diminishing the reach, the cost, and the power of their all-giving (hmm, they keep forgetting about “all-taking”) Government.  In setting the stage (emphasis mine):

CHAPEL HILL – Abortion safety laws make it “more dangerous for the black woman’s body.” Republican lawmakers “want kids to die.” Conservatives “are trying to take the U.S. hostage” and hope to “destroy our public school system.”

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Huffington Post (boy, this musta hurt reporting this):

The head of the Environmental Protection Agency says the agency will “effectively shut down” unless Congress approves stopgap funding by Oct. 1.

EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy says the agency won’t be able to pay employees. She says only a core group of people will remain on duty in case the EPA has to respond to a “significant emergency.” The vast majority of employees will stay home.

That means that most of EPA’s functions, like drafting regulations and enforcing laws to protect the environment, will likely remain stalled until government operations fully resume.

Congress has a week left to reach a deal to avoid the first shutdown since 1996. Lawmakers are at odds over a Republican plan to defund President Barack Obama’s health care law as part of the stopgap measure.

Through environmental regulations that they have put on steroids and issuance of them in certain industries (e.g., electrical generation, coal, shale, storm water runoff, sewer treatment, take over of local zoning codes), they have become an entire unelected and unaccountable government unto itself and has put itself in the enviable Progressive position of regulating almost every area of American life.  All it takes is bureaucrats interested in that power and having fairies thoughts dancing in their heads that we can continue to have a modern society without any modern energy sources to drive them.  And in the case of other areas, they are issuing regulation upon regulation that will strictly constrict where and how we are to live our lives.

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“We have to reach out to this group in order to win and show that we’re hip!”

“NO!  Now we have to reach out to this other group”.    “Wait!  You’re forgetting this other one – it’s important because it contains a whole 2% of the voter population!”

Yuck.  This coming from Republicans as we are almost two years out from the last Prez election is rather sad.  Translation: we’re slinking into the Democrat model of identity politics.  Well, isn’t this just another version of being Democrat-lite?  If the policies being put out are not that much different, and the way about going about getting LIVs to vote for them, really, who is going to really win – Lite or Authentic?

We had Bill O’Brien on GrokTALK! this morning and I mentioned this after he said he had been down to DC where people were all about “groups” – the Republican Party must reach out to all these little groups in order to be relevant.  Now, I have no problem in micro-targeting but when you start sounding like Democrats in their vote hoovering efforts, shouldn’t that alone be setting off alarm bells?  We must always be cognizant of “what’s the differentiator”?  Remember this – pandering is not differentiation; it is simply pandering.  Dems / Progressives / Socialist offer stuff and the road to victory for the GOP is…the same?  I don’t believe that Republicans can replicate the “set up the victimization identity groups, make them feel special in their victimization status, and promise them to punish those that have victimized them”.

Sad, real sad.  I used to hear that we were the Party of ideas, overarching and universal ideals,  and the last time I looked, those kinds of ideas transcend identity groups.

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David Gregory of the Sunday morning talking head show, Meet The Press, over the most important question concerning our Republic (yes, a Republic – not a democracy):

What is the Proper Role of Government?

and he turned to Leftist Tavis Smiley for his take on it:

Gregory:

There is a big argument over government too, here Tavis. You were concerned, as were others, about the vote on food stamps this week.  This is about the size, scope, the direction of government.  In the Republican Party, this is going to become a big campaign issue.  It’s going to be in 2014 but it also for those who want to run for President in 2016.  The question will be “where were you on Obamacare”?

Smiley:

“I think, not just for Republicans, I think that this country is facing a similar moment that we make a decision about what kind of nation, what kind of people we are going to be.  the President recently, much to my chagrin, spoke of, advanced once again, this notion of “American Exceptionalism”.  He clearly is not the only person in this town who likes to push that notion that we as Americans are exceptional.” 

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Spin that screen and see what prices come up for you!  Sheesh….

An Obamacare software glitch is now incorrectly tabulating how much people must pay for health insurance, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

“There’s a blanket acknowledgment that rates are being calculated incorrectly,” a senior health insurance executive told the WSJ. “Our tech and operations people are very concerned about the problems they’re seeing and the potential of them to stick around.”

Government officials, however, say they are not worried and promised the Obamacare insurance exchanges will be ready to go on October 1. “We continue working with [insurers] and we are confident that on Oct. 1, consumers will see accurate premium costs, including tax credits,” said Medicare spokesperson Brian Cook.

Randomness in this case is a huge bug, not a feature.  And when the techies are concerned and the bureaucrats are acting like Kevin Bacon near the end of Animal House, I feel sorry for those folks who have no choice to be the “first adopters”.

You know, this is the whole purpose of the system: 

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All states have some version of NH’s DCYF – Division of Children, Youth, and Family – that services families in need or “at risk” (including “Child Protective Services”).  Many do good work – and some do not.  Including the one that decided that a family, who allowed their 11 year old son in NJ to dress in camos and hold a .22 rifle that looks like those that gives gun-grabbers the swoons, just HAD to be investigated and did her best “Do you know who I am?? (and that I can take your kid away if I want!)” when they refused her entry without the proper paperwork (er, like a warrant) and ended up with an unconstitutional search.

Their thinking was probably “this kid is in imminent danger” – which he was certainly not.  Well, how about a new definition of “imminent danger” that would allow social workers unfettered access to someone’s home simply because the family is putting a child at risk – for serving food outside the Government’s “suggestions”:

Imminent means “right now and within seconds (or perhaps hours)” – letting a kid have a pint of ice cream or a few Ding-dong is worthy of Government taking charge of that family or, given some mentalities of some social workers, removal of that kid for “child food abuse”?   This is the Progressive mantra at its worst, especially with Medicare / Medicaid recipients mentioned in the video, in that:

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Yes, that is right – landing on a street in Boulder, CO., this National Guard Blackhawk had to land on the street.  And the pic is starting to go around the ‘Net (I spotted the story at BlackFive).

Now, Boulder is where all the rain fell (multiple inches on a number of days) and the damage is immense and people have perished and are missing.  Guard copters have been flying supplies and people around – but like in times like this, they must land in populated areas.  Depending on the local vegetation / trees, landing in a street (wide, of course) makes sense to transfer people and that material.

Now, I have not yet found out if it is a a joke or for real, so I’m not sure what to think so I’ll just repeat what BlackFive had:

So ridiculous it’s funny…and sadly idiotic.

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