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I lost all respect, years ago, for Laconia Daily Sun Reporter Michael Kitch when we had a blowout argument that my town was made up of residents and elected officials that were cheapskates.  Certainly, he knew that I truly believed that when I was on the Budget Committee in my hamlet, I tried mightily to act in the vein that “this is not my money” – and spent a lot of time trying to convince others of the same.  If anything, I tried to be more frugal with other peoples’ money, their property tax monies, than I am with my own.  After all, it IS mine – I earned it and I should be able to spend it the way I want to.

Kitch believes otherwise – he could not understand (or stand) the idea that I (and my town, and other political entities) refused to raise the taxes on our residents simply to send that money to towns and cities that were broke.  Broke not because the single industry in town just up and left (and to which I would have some empathy) but because of years and decades of Progressive / Liberal / Democrat rule – the largest example now being Detroit.  As I have written here before, we had a screaming match over the fact that I refused to send money to the leaders of those towns, who have already proved that they are incapable of wisely spending their taxpayers monies.  WHY would I want to send them more and “enable” their bad habits?  His response was that ‘we are all in this together, that there were people still hurting in those cities, that the intent to help was paramount, and it was irrelevant that the political and appointed leaders would just waste that extra money.

Right…

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As if the TEA Party targeting wasn’t enough, NOW we find out that the IRS decided to “pull an Illinois”.  Remember back in 2007 when Joe “the Plumber” Wurzelbacher seriously questioned candidate Obama’s Socialist idea of that wealth redistribution was such a great economic policy (“I think when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody.”)?  Yeah, what happened right afterwards has been a hallmark of the Obama Administrations minions (either by or sans direct orders) – State of Illinois bureaucrats started to illegally mine their  State’s databases  to dig up dirt on Joe.

Aw, those good old days, those WONDERFUL memories brought to us by “The Chicago Way” devotees – and now refreshed by our friends at the IRS!  Decided to run as a political candidate?  Decided to donate some Big $$ to said candidate(s)?  Your friends at the IRS decided to do a wee bit of digging on your behalf:

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And one would think that in the political center of American politics (no, not the State capitals as it once was supposed to be), Washington, D.C., with all of the patriotic statues and words by politicians (of both sides), this would be a no-brainer, something that happens all the time.  Sadly, just the fact that some intern had to write this and bring up this subject say much about the real climate in DC and the utter divide that that lays between not just the Left and Right, but from the Smart People in government who used to serve those of us “in the hinterlands”.  A perfect example, and result of, the difference between the Coasts and fly-over country in how each views this country and what each holds dear about this place we call home.  Pride of Country used to be taken for granted – now, because of Political Correctness, you could be an outcast at a party for saying just that.  Yet, this has gone viral:

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From The Corner:

“Only lawyers now can argue before Supreme Court.” That was the headline over this article. I’m sure that the new rule makes sense: that you have to be a lawyer, to argue before the Supreme Court. The last time a non-lawyer argued, it was 1978.

Still, doesn’t the professionalization of everything make you slightly uneasy?

Indeed!  Before Government (at any level) starts to touch a new area of Civil Society (before it totally absorbs it a la The Borg), it is Citizens living and interacting in voluntary fashions to, well, live their lives.  Have an interest, an activity you do with others, or something that you feel “hey, this is the US – I should be able to do anything!”, right?  Instead, the Bigger that Government gets, the more it costs – no, not in that it just keeps adding people to it and the cost of the payroll for those people skyrockets.  Rather, it requires, as the above suggests, that everyone that deals with Government has to become more expensive as well.

Two more examples are personal:

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The Live Feed:

MSNBC has hired Abby Huntsman, a host/producer on HuffPost Live and daughter of former GOP candidate Jon Huntsman, as a co-host of the political panel talk show, The Cycle.

“I am excited to bring a dose of moderate, rational conservatism to The Cycle,” Huntsman said on HuffPost Live on Wednesday. “I think that’s needed today in the political discourse.”

That would be Jon Huntsman, former GOP PRESIDENTIAL candidate (yes, it does make a difference).  Who governed, when a Governor, in a fairly conservative manner but then decided that the differential for him was to run (and certainly talk) as a moderate Republican.  Which, in the end, turned out badly as far as the primary results were concerned at the end of the trail (his stop in Laconia when he first started running was a disaster – I was there; a complete nothing burger compared to “the game” that the others brought.  Didn’t help his “first impression” that his aide-de-camps couldn’t spell his name right on the literature).

Now, I know Establishment Republican.  I know grassroots Republican.  I know political operative Republican. 

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Conservatives believe that the best government is a limited one and the closer to to the Citizens it is supposed to serve, the better.  That way, it is much easier for Citizens to correct the actions and decisions made by their public servants. After all, local is where life is lived and when things go wrong, best to fix it when problems are small.

Progressives, however, believe in the exact opposite – move the locus of power as close to a national level as possible; after all, our Public Masters don’t need to hear from the peons (so as to better formulate how they will tell us how the public will live their lives) – after all, THEY are the experts!  Really!:

First lady Michelle Obama’s signature healthy eating initiative – the plan that’s been pushed onto school lunch menus around the nation — is causing too many problems and demands speedy overhaul, a government watchdog agency found.

One of the biggest recommendations: Give local schools more control over their lunch menus.

THAT must be a hard pill to swallow (or would that be arugula?).  She started this process absolutely convinced that she and her cadre of Smart People had THE answers to all of our school lunch problems that were helping to further the obesity problem caused by junk food lunch times.  Yeah, that single admission should be all that is needed and totally refutes, for this example, that:

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It’s been a while since folks have mentioned Baghdad Bob – the Iraqi Information Minister who seemingly, during the 2003 Iraq War, wanted to be an actor (and used Kevin Bacon’s character from Animal House as a model “ALL IS WELL!”) official spokesperson in the green uniform that defended Saddam Hussein.  The funniest time was when speaking to the Western press in Baghdad, telling them that the US led allies were on the run – and a US Abrams A1 tank roared by a few streets in the background.

Well, is another press flacker, Obama Press Secretary Jay Carney, in a slow motion version of a Baghdad Bob moment?  CNSNews reports that he denies that the impending implementation of Obamacare is having any negative effect on the economy – like that it is skewing the jobs picture in that many more part-time jobs are being created at the expense of full-time jobs:

White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said Tuesday that the suggestion that Obamacare is reducing full-time employment is “belied by the facts.”

After reports that businesses are shifting to employ more part-time workers in light of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), Carney was asked if the White House is considering making changes to the requirement that employers with more than 50 employees must provide full-time workers with health insurance. A full-time worker is defined as a person working at least 30 hours per week.

“Well, I would say broadly that if you look at the economic data, the suggestion that the ACA is reducing full-time employment is belied by the facts,” Carney said…”what I can say is the data reflects that there is not, there is not support for the proposition that businesses are not hiring full-time employees because of the Affordable Care Act,” he said.

“ALL IS WELL!”  Well, sure it is, pardner!  Oh, that “tank”?  From the same post:

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OK, the Attorney General of the United States Eric Holder just spoke to the NAACP convention.  Just before this, we saw:

• The Sanford, FL police Chief decides not to charge George Zimmerman for lack of evidence
• His Department of Justice sent down folks to “persuade” the the City Fathers to oust the Chief
• With further “prodding”, Zimmerman is arrested (much to the satisfaction of the DoJ)
• The DoJ sent down members of its Community Relations Division to “counsel” community activists
• The DoJ seemingly applied pressure to the Republicans Governor (Rick Scott) and Attorney General Bondi (whom we have interviewed) to appoint a special prosecutor Angela Corey (who had also ‘been in communications” with the DoJ).
• Corey then overcharges Zimmerman, and is now coming out, withheld evidence from the Defense team (illegally, I might add)
• Put a bad strategy in place (what can you do with a paucity of evidence to support the overcharges)
• Loses the verdict, and then blithely stokes the racial fires by ignoring the jury verdict and calling Zimmerman a murderer.
• DoJ is on site, again.

So, when all is said and done, the verdict in, what does Holder say?  Which, in context with the above, could be construed as opening up a Fast and Furious V2.0?  Manufacturing another “man-made disaster”?

Race was not an issue in the courtroom when it came to the actual legal issues – the Law strictly defines murder, manslaughter, and hate crimes levels and both sides and the Judge agreed on the jury instructions as they they pertained to the legal points.  Certainly race has been an issue in the court of public opinion as well as the discussion of self-defense on both sides.  However, the argument of “Stand Your Ground”, valid in FL and here in NH, was NOT used during any arguments.  Nada, no way, nein – it was not brought into the courtroom as part of the defense strategy.  Yet, what does Holder say?

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With the verdict of the George Zimmerman / Trayvon Martin trial igniting a sense of rage (fanned by the usual race-baiting suspects who scream “RAACISTS!” even at a simple cross eyed face), Eric Holder (the most politicized US Attorney General EVAH!) has waded in and announced “Thank you, State of Florida – we’ll take it from here”.  I’m no lawyer but after reading and watching legal folks from both sides of the aisle, it would seem to be a Mt. Everest type legal climb to file, persecute prosecute, and win a conviction of civil rights violation (and climbing two Mt. Everest to gain a criminal civil rights conviction).

However – here’s a gimme!  An outright example of religious AND racial discrimination!  Not only that – they’ve got HUGE pockets full of dollars!  Petro-dollars, that is:

Saudi Arabian Airlines reportedly is discriminating against Israeli citizens by refusing to let them fly from U.S. airports.

The New York Post reported that for customers booking on online, the airline’s website has no drop-down menu options for anyone holding an Israeli passport, even though, as the Post pointed out, there is a drop-down menu option for Antarctica citizens. The airline appears to prevent passengers simply looking to transfer in Saudi Arabia to another country, as well.

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