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Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.

Another, more descriptive term for Capitalism?

Innovationism:

Deirdre McCloskey says somewhere that a better name for capitalism is “innovationism” – innovationism unleashed only in societies in which private property rights are at least reasonably secure, freedom of contract is at least reasonably the norm, markets are at least reasonably free, and (importantly) the multitude of bourgeois merchants and accountants and actuaries and laborers and financial experts and… and… and… innovators are accorded at least a reasonable quantum of dignity by society at large.

Capitalism, the voluntary exchange of one product or service for another (with money as a flexible intermediary) is certainly under attack by Progressives, Socialists, Communists, and Marxists as being “evil”.  Their claim is that it is not “moral” and that “the little people” get hurt when the markets go sour).

Sidenote: Notice that they never talk about about the 100s of millions of “little people” that died at the hands of those leading the Progressive / Socialist / Marxist / Communist regimes in the Soviet Union, China, East Germany, Czechoslovakia, et al.

What needs to be stated, over and over again, that we are losing the ability to have that voluntary exchange as Government (and those that “know better for us” – actually, the Progressives / Socialists / Marxists / Communists that work for an in Obama’s administration) outlines how ‘free markets’ are to behave by fiat.

After all, Capitalism only succeeds when someone “serves another’s interest” –

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A sad commentary: Having to ask Santa for a “Dad”?

Civil Society – that “space” that the Founders cherished that was to be between a limited Government and Individuals.  An important foundational part of that future was to be the nuclear family: Mother, Father, children (again, like Capitalism, under attack by Progressives / Socialists / Marxists / Communists for their own greedy political power grab to redefine American Exceptionalism).  Certainly in Britain, the Political Elites have been redefining British Society since WW II when the Fabian Socialists took control – their present may well be our future (culturally speaking).

Great results there, old boy – jolly good bad (emphasis and reformatting mine):

When it comes to Christmas, it might be safe to assume children will ask Santa for an extensive list of toys, games and treats.  But a survey of their typical lists for Father Christmas has shown many have more serious concerns, requesting “a dad” instead. A study of 2,000 British parents found most children will put a new baby brother or sister at the top of their Christmas list, closely followed by a request for a real-life reindeer. A “pet horse” was the third most popular choice, with a “car” making a bizarre entry at number four.  Despite their material requests, the tenth most popular Christmas wish on the list was a “Dad“.

…A request for a “mum” reached number 23 on the list.

Tenth?  Doesn’t that scream out at you – TENTH??  That ranking tells me that the broken families abound – and if the illegitimacy rate is anything like here in the US, there are millions of kids who only have a single parent.  Every child should have the right to both a father and mother – and I know from personal experience.

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But who needs a Dad when Government gives you permission to literally screw up!

Ugh.  Like I said,in order to have their political jones satisfied, Progressives / Socialists / Marxists / Communists have understood for decades that they have to unmoor the American public from their traditional values in order – and in this case, a most important – Parents authority and responsibility.  Here’s a quick story that chops at a number of those anchor points all at the same time.  From Philly.com via  The College Fix:

Students as young as 14 in Philadelphia will soon have access to unlimited free condoms, courtesy of the city government. And while parents will be able to “opt-out” by sending a letter to their child’s school, administrators have made it clear that they will not monitor or restrict access to the condoms, even for those students whose parents have signed “opt-out” letters.

In other words, if your child attends high school in Philadelphia, then the government has taken control of your 14-year-old’s access to birth control, and there’s nothing you can do about it.

And this is why I have said that Conservatives have got to get back into the schools – it is there that the cultural tide that is wrecking our nation and which we saw this last election has its fount.  So here is a policy, set by a democratically elected administration, that thinks it is just great to lie to the parents of the kid in their care. WHY bother to send the ‘opt-out’ form is it is only going to be thrown out and out-right ignored?

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Unable to get elected to the NH Republican State Committee is no impediment for Fergus!

There was an article in the NYT that caught my eye:

Clout Diminished, Tea Party Turns to Narrower Issues

The Tea Party might not be over, but it is increasingly clear that the election last month significantly weakened the once-surging movement, which nearly captured control of the Republican Party through a potent combination of populism and fury.

Now, this kind of article has been spewed out pretty often pretty much since six months after the TEA Party movement started.  With a Leftward swing in most newsrooms (indicated by polls and by political contributions), I think we’ve become inured to this trying-to-make-it-true journalism.  Yes, I will admit that here in NH, local races didn’t quite turn out as well as  we’d hoped.  Nor at the national level either, as a number of TEA Party backed folks lost their races, and we did fail, in part, to drag Mitt across the line.  However, in the larger picture, Republicans (aided and “nudged” by TEA Party activists) are in control of more states than ever.

Remember, it took the Progressives over a 100 years to be where we are at with respect to Constitutional obedience – the TEA Party has only been around for 4 years.  This will be a long slog and there is no doubt that to some adherents to the limited Government, free markets, and fiscal frugality, a few battles were lost in “this theater” – but the war is not over even if some Journalists want us to believe otherwise.

And add to that, some Republicans as well – enter, stage Left: Fergus “The Fringe” Cullen.  How long is he going to try to trade in on his failed Chairmanship?

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“Unto you, a Child is born”

Tomorrow, the Christian world celebrates it’s second most sacred day of the year, the celebration of the day that Jesus the Christ, the Son of God, who came to a fallen world.  He came, of his own free will, to be the fulfilment of the long ago prophecies in the Old Testament to be the … Read more

A thought from watching Meet The Press’s host, liberal David Gregory

  • I normally DVR the Sunday talking head shows to watch them when it is convenient for me
  • Today was the “convenient for me” as I had other things to do in the morning and then met with some of the Groksters in the evening as we got together for a “shoot & yak” time

Sidenote:  Hey, ‘Grok readers!  If we were to do this again, would you want to come and join in the range time and the politics / cultural / misc. discussion (er, the latter lasted much longer than what I originally told TMEW – her response as I headed north to home on the phone was “and you thought I thought it would be otherwise??” (with a wee smile in her voice)

So I am just watching them now.  A couple of takeaways from watching David Gregory:

  • True to form, he definitely fits Glenn Reynold’s (Instapundit) description of almost all of the media pundits nowadays: Democrat operatives that have media bylines.

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So now the White House HAS to say something about Piers Morgan!

Grokster Tom had put this up about Piers Morgan – a British subject who is also a CNN evening anchor – who has been using his TV show and the US Constitution’s First Amendment to bash the US Constitution’s Second Amendment: Send a Wanker home for Christmas… Piers Morgan is a degenerate, rude, America-hater (even … Read more

“The night before a jobless Christmas”

By Brent Budowsky at The Hill:

It was a jobless Christmas,
throughout our American house.
Many people are suffering,
while politicians play mouse.

Unemployment is high,
jobless benefits run out.
“Tough luck,” said our leaders,
as invective they spout.

The workers now fear,
new taxes will crush.
“Don’t bother me,” say our leaders,
to the airports they rush.

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Now if this was a Republican saying this…

But just as Booker [Corey Booker, Democrat Mayor of Newark, NJ] announced he would seek the Senate seat, Harry Reid came out to sabotage the effort. Reid told Politico: I always support incumbent senators. I would always support Lautenberg or anyone else that’s running for reelection. He’s (Booker) a very good man, he would be … Read more

Sticks and stones?

Via the Washington Examiner (Philip Klein): Mr. Obama repeatedly lost patience with the speaker as negotiations faltered. In an Oval Office meeting last week, he told Mr. Boehner that if the sides didn’t reach agreement, he would use his inaugural address and his State of the Union speech to tell the country the Republicans were … Read more

Now if this was a Republican saying this…Part II

CNSNews:

Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) announced Wednesday that she is planning to introduce two bills to protect students at schools – the school safety enhancement act, which expands the existing COPS program (Community Oriented Policing Services), and SOS or Save Our Students, which would expand the National Guard program.

SOS “would expand a successful National Guard program in place since 1989 that allows governors to use the guard to assist with law enforcement efforts related to drug interdiction and counter-drug activities. So we take a successful program, and we say we’re gonna add a new purpose, and that’s what we do in our legislation,” she said.

“National Guard troops could be used to support local law enforcement agencies in protecting our children at schools. This could take the form of additional guards at school as well as capital improvements such as strengthening the perimeters of the school and safety procedures,” Boxer added.

…“Right now, the program is a 50-50 match. My bill allows the Justice Department to reduce the local sheriff to just 20 percent for those schools who make the case for more generous federal cost-share,” Boxer said.

And the media and Lefty groups went wild over such a stupid inane idea putting armed guards into kids’s schools…  Oh never mind – I missed that she’s a Democrat

<cricket, cricket, cricket>

Oh wait!  A Republican did!

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“Are you guys incompetent, or what?”

I hardly ever watch anything on CNBC – although after this, perhaps I should watch MarisaBartiromo more often.  After all, how cool is that for a media person to call a sitting US Senator incompetent to his face on national TV (all ratings aside, it STILL is a national TV show)?  Them be words that … Read more

And we wonder why we have $16 Trillion in debt to give to our kids…

The Feds have that Crack Money and local government just HAVE to get it. How many   Spend in the moment and justify to yourself – Nashua is doing it:

According to Lozeau, up to 60 percent of the funding used to operate the Nashua Transit System is federal money. Furthermore, the nearly $140,000 for the software upgrades will be paid with a federal grant leftover from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act funds, she said.

“If we don’t use it, some other community will,” Alderman-at-Large Barbara Pressly said of the stimulus money, adding she is very supportive of the project.

One has to wonder as ALL Fed money comes with strings attached; not one word as to what Nashua is on the stick for?  What are the long term costs that Nashua taxpayers will be on the hook  now that the money has been taken?  What are the legal ramifications if Nashua finds out “this ain’t workin’ as advertised”?  And anytime one puts money into government, does it evah gets smaller?  And what is the individual passenger mile cost of this system anyways?  What would be cheaper: running this or giving out vouchers for the private taxis in town?  Hard questions unasked.

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“Don’t let people who already have them keep them” – here comes the slippery slope

I quoted Chuck here in this post:

In the current state of play, moderate gun owners have become convinced by the NRA and other, even more radical gun organizations such as Gun Owners of America that the goal of all gun-safety advocates is to take away their guns. These owners view even the most reasonable gun-safety proposals with suspicion, fearing a slippery slope to a ban on firearms. This paranoia is what gives the gun lobby its power.

Well, looks like there ARE people, possessing sufficient power, to try grease that slippery slope.  Oh sure, there will be tender words from the Left of compromise and “no, we won’t take your guns away”.  However, their level of compromise, in taking advantage of this emotional crisis, will be this; if 100 is where we are now, and 0 is absolute confiscation, I have no doubt they believe that a 12 will be a “good compromise”.  Why do I think so?  Here’s just a few; I am convinced that more will come flocking out, especially as they see political opportunity to quickly move a Progressive goal of effectively disarming the populace, especially the red states.

  • US Rep Ron Barber (D-Ariz): I want to see legislation enacted that takes away the availability of these kinds of weapons that can do so much harm in such a short period of time
  • Judge Larry Burns: To guarantee that there would never be another Tucson or Sandy Hook, we would probably have to make it a capital offense to so much as look at a gun….Ban the manufacture, importation, sale, transfer and possession of both assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Don’t let people who already have them keep them. Don’t let ones that have already been manufactured stay on the market.
  • NYC Mayor Bloomberg: he would go farther than the 1994 ban and outlaw all automatic and semi-automatic weapons and high-capacity magazines. The mayor said magazines shouldn’t be allowed to contain more than five or even three rounds.
And then NY Gov. Andrew Cuomo actually came out and made it quite plain what the end game may well be – a ‘0’:
Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo (D-N.Y.) said Thursday that all options, including confiscation and “mandatory sales to the state,” would be on the table next month when the New York State Legislature debates new gun control measures. The comments were specifically aimed at what might happen should stricter rules be imposed on “assault” weapons and high-capacity magazines.
Audio here:

Slippery Slope – Part II

This post mentioned that NY Governor Andrew Cuomo was in favor of legislation, if it were to come to him,  that contained verbiage that would allow the State to confiscate peoples’ guns.  Or, if you want to put lipstick on a pig, require gun owners to sell their to the State.

Well, that same thinking has now hit the Federal level – US Senator Diane Feinstein has now slipped down the slope from just from restricting > 10 round  magazines  to making gun ownership much more regulated and a hassle to a Federal buyback program.  From a Presser she held yesterday (starting at 12:22):

Question: When you talk about the state of the art and the weaponry out there, I believe that your bill does not call for any confiscation of weapons that have already out there.  So, other than stopping people from buying new ones, if there’s already too much access to these weapons as you say, what would be effective?

That’s a good question and I thank you for it. What we are looking at now is placing these weapons under the Federal Firearms Act.  The same act that exists for automatic weapons since there are now devices to make them legally automatic.  It seems to me that it is prudent to palce them under the Federal Firearms Act and this would require that they be registered, the owners have a background check. it is inconceivable after what the NRA said to me today that they don’t think that people who have guns should have background checks or that they should be registered.

We are also looking at a buyback program.  Now, again, this is a work in progress so these are ideas in the development.

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Obama – the nation’s best gun seller

Well, it certainly didn’t take long for this running joke to become rather serious once Obama said that he will start playing politics with gun control (gun “safety” has nothing to do with it!) and that was like lighting the Christmas Tree at the start line of a dragway for gun haters everywhere.  We here at the ‘Grok have been blogging about this almost non-stop.  Yes, at the top level this may be about guns and certainly that word, and associated words, have filled our posts.  Yet the deeper levels, this has nothing to do about guns – and the political Progressives know it well.  At the bedrock level, this is about trust and control by politicians, and guilt, innocence and Freedom of the Individual.  Frankly, we see that Politicians, especially on the Left, are acting on pure emotion as individuals instead of sober minded, thinking policy makers that know better than to create public policy based on outlier events (for while being horrific events, and tragic events, these mass killings are certainly outweighed by the massive number of deaths of innocent babes in the womb by State sponsored / paid for abortions).

But that doesn’t come up as it spoils the narrative; they decry the death by the gun but not by the abortionists speculum, vacuum or chemical agents.

But back to the premise of the Title: two very recent posts have proven that Americans are in disagreement with the Freedom-crushers (as opposed to calling them mere-gun grabbers).  I also went to a local gun store this morning and range to get a feel for what is actually happening locally – and was surprised by what I heard.

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