Skip, Author at Granite Grok

Another Democrat Quote about NH’s Budget

September 26, 2018June 26, 2011 Skip

Again, the Democrats here in NH are all squawking about the budget that is about to become law, based on veto-proof margins by the Legislature and Gov. "Can’t do Nuttin’" Lynch deciding to, once again, doing nothing.

While Terrie Norelli decided to make an ill-fated whiff of a quote, now we have NH State Senator Lou D’Allesandro making another "let’s change the language" statement in the same article (P. 11):

Besides criticizing Republicans for giving smokers a break while forcing college tuition hikes that could make higher education unaffordable for some, Democrats also pointed to other cuts with far-reaching impacts. For example, they pointed to a $1.5 million cut to help about 240 elderly people with housing services such as meals and light housekeeping to keep them independent and out of nursing homes. “Without these services many of these people will be relegated to nursing facilities at a cost greater than the appropriation,” said Democratic Sen. Lou D’Allesandro of Manchester.

Zero in on the word "independence". Once again, only in that rarefied atmosphere (think: lack of oxygen?) of the hallowed halls of the Legislature, can this kind of redefinition of a word be taken with straight faces of the denizens of those marble lined halls while the rest of us go "huh?". As in the case during most budget seasons where a department asks for X amount above their current budget and then wails that their budget has gotten "cut" when they don’t get all that they wanted (but more than they did last year), we see another instance of a redefinition of yet another word.

Independence commonly means being able to function without input or assistance from others. In this above instance, if these seniors have to rely on government to keep them in their homes, is that truly "independence"? Instead of absconding the rightful use of the word, why can’t D’Allesandro (and all those that continue this misdirected meme) just say "to keep them dependent on Govt welfare to keep them in their homes"? This is not independence, but dependence – not on family and friends but on the faceless visage of Government. Sure,…

Debt Ceiling: Vote for it, and we are your enemy

September 26, 2018June 26, 2011 Skip

Erick Erickson of Redstate has thrown down the gauntlet over the upcoming national debt ceiling debate: I pledge that if any Republican votes to increase the debt ceiling without first cutting, capping, and balancing using Lee-Cornyn-Hatch, I will work like hell to beat the hell out of him/her in a primary, even if their election … Read more

Hey there, young lady, how about saying no?

September 26, 2018June 26, 2011 Skip

Here in NH, the Executive Council refused to fund a $1.8 Million contract with Planned Parenthood of Northern New England on a 3-2 vote – Ray Burton and Chris Sunnunu decided to vote to give the money to the abortion providers. Indiana has also voted to follow suit; the complaints are already beginning to pour in: how dare you refuse to make me responsible for myself? A court battle (seemingly similar to that levied by ACORN when the Feds cut off their funding – they lost) has been filed by PP and the Obama Administration and the sob stories are starting to be put out:

Nicole Robbins, a 31-year-old single mother who has been a Planned Parenthood client for six years, said she had intended to visit a Planned Parenthood clinic in Indianapolis on Tuesday to pick up a 2-month supply of birth control pills. Then, the Medicaid recipient learned that the more than $100,000 in private donations the group had raised since May 10 had dried up.

The Ivy Tech Community College student from Indianapolis who is pursuing a physical therapy degree said she’s not sure how she’ll pay for her birth control.

“There are a lot of people who don’t have jobs, who don’t have income, and Medicaid is their only source of income as far as health insurance,” she said. “I feel like I’m stuck between a rock and a hard place.”

I do not know if she was married or not. If the former, I do not know if her husband left her or the other way around. But the point that sticks out quickly is that she believes that others should be responsible for her sexuality, that any consequences from her personal behavior is not hers to bear. Yes, I’m old school…

In Lieu of Flowers

September 26, 2018June 25, 2011 Skip

Heh! (H/T: John D)

An admission by Obama that Supply & Demand actually works? Or a crass political ploy?

September 26, 2018June 25, 2011 Skip

You know, I haven’t quite figured this out. I was emailing with a person from the American Petroleum Institute and she asked if I had seen the announcement of President Obama releasing 30 million barrels of crude from the Strategic Petroleum Reserve ("The IEA said it would release 2 million barrels a day (bpd) over 30 days onto the world market to fill the gap in supplies left by the disruption to Libya’s output.", the US is supplying 1/2 of the 60M bbls total)? I said yes, but that I’ve been scratching my head trying to figure out what the actual dodge could be – it certainly is not Libyan oil "disruption" (what the official reason was). Or is it being used as camouflage for some "other" action "over here" ("pay no attention to that man behind the curtains").

So, we have nations that have to import oil to meet their needs now selling oil to lower the overall price of oil – right! Prices have been dropping here in the US for the last month – this is supposed to make a difference? In the grand scheme of things, the 30 million bbls is a spit in the bucket – it will not make a difference AT ALL in the cost at the gas pump. While it did drop the cost of a bbl by $5, it also sent the stock market down – way to go in messaging the message, dudes!

The SPR contains about 730M bbls and is supposed to be used ONLY in extreme conditions – a national disaster either naturally made (think Katrina shutting down the Gulf, a war cutting off our supplies, or OPEN repeating the ’70s). While 30M bbls is only 4% of the reserve, is this the proper role of that resource?

No, it isn’t. We have no shortages,…