Internet Doodlings – At TreeHugger, environmentalists are like Obama: Constitution?

OK, commenter “mer” had me dead to rights:  Skip,  as a young boy, did you run around with sticks poking bears and hornet’s nests?  😉

My response was:  No, mer, I didn’t – but I have found out, as an adult, that it is good, clean (and cheap!) fun!

So, I went back and did it again at TreeHugger.  It seems that even at that bastion of Environmentalism (Leftist branch), there is talk about the Obamacare oral arguments:

If the Supreme Court Throws Out Health Care Law, Might Environmental Protections be Next?

The jist of the post is that they are following in line with Obama’s reasoning: The Supremes should not throw out a democratically passed piece of legislation. No positive mention of the Constitution as a limiting document – merely kvetching that other liberal programs, especially the EPA, would be at risk.  That would be, except for a couple of conservative outlier commenters like yours truly.  I responded to this comment which, in turn, was in response to an earlier one (emphasis mine):

” If you do not carry health insurance, you are not a threat to others. “

Have you ever heard of people passing germs and thus sickness? Yes, lack of healthcare is a threat to others.

I really shook my head at this – I’d hate to be this guy, walking around, thinking everyone around me could do me harm with a simple cough or sneeze!  THIS is the argument of choice as to why Obamacare is constitutional and should not be thrown out – “Daddy, she gave me germs!”:

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BE BREITBART: Update 8: DES Right To Know Update : DOIT and DES – living up to their own policies (#FAIL)

The last post on this topic (GraniteGrok’s Right To Know to the State of NH on the non-State biz use of the State’s network: political commenting) effectively ended on these notes:

  • “what did they know and when did they know it?“
  • and “they did know it all and they knew it when the packets went through the system.”

Which leads up to the next important question:“…can the State live up to its own personnel policies in this area?”

This actually breaks down into two parts:

  • Can the State technically actually do what the policies say imply based on the results sent to us from our Right To Know request?
  • And if the State can technically support its policies – are they actually using those technical tools and if not, why not?

Now, I would be remiss to not point out that part of RTK for our calculus is still outstanding – Mr. Richard de Seve’s outbound (of the NH State domain) emails which the DES RTK guy has told me, multiple times now, is in process:

Request 5:

5. Any and all of Mr. de Seve’s emails that were outbound of the NH State’s domain and whose destination were other than for another NH State employee.

Response to 5:

All known emails have been collected and are currently being reviewed to determine 1) whether they are responsive to your request and 2) whether they are subject to any privilege or statutory exemption under RSA 91-4. Responsive, non-exempt emails will be provided upon completion of this review.

 So, this needs to be fit into the picture when they arrive.  In the mean time, there is more to review and our interim conclusion at the end…

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“New Hampshire” “Republicans” for Something…Part II

Back on March 28th I wrote a post in which I observed that the group New Hampshire Republican’s for Equality was run by a lobbyist and fueled with outside money just like all of it’s predecessors.   One commenter demanded to know why I had not pointed out that NOM was an out of state group and that it was fronting the group “New Hampshire Marriage.”

That’s a fair question.  I have what I believe to be a reasonable answer.

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How the Political Class Destroys Prosperity in Order to Expand Its Power

Sounds counterintuitive, doesn’t it? I mean, one segment of the class structure destroys abundance for everyone else in order to aggrandize and cohere its own power? It doesn’t make sense. But it does work, and there are plenty of historical examples. In today’s Wall Street Journal columnist Mary O’Grady gives a masterful explanation of the process. Here’s what she says:

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Left Wing Liars – A Few Examples.

The Today show is under “Investigation” by NBC after…”the morning show aired an edited conversation between George Zimmerman and a 911 dispatcher recorded moments before the shooting. The investigation came after Fox News and others pointed out that the network spliced two parts of the call together, making it appear as if Zimmerman had said, “This guy looks like he’s up to no good. He looks black.” In reality, Zimmerman was answering a dispatcher’s question:”

Zimmerman: This guy looks like he’s up to no good. Or he’s on drugs or something. It’s raining and he’s just walking around, looking about.

Dispatcher: OK, and this guy–is he black, white or Hispanic?

Zimmerman: He looks black.

(H/T Yahoo News)

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EMail Doodlings – Changing the large minority Obamacare supporters to a much lesser minority one.

The question:

Do you guys have any idea how we could potentially get more public support against Obamacare and toward a more free-market system so we can pass HB 1297 into law and stop this Democratic rhetoric from invading the hearts and minds of our citizens? I think we can truly improve the cost and quality of health care in New Hampshire if we could only roll back the government takeover.

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Data Point – Newspaper version of “Schumpeterian creative destruction”

“What goes up must come down” when an irresistible disruptive force invades your previously safe marketplace. 1950 – $20 billion in ad revenue 2000 – $63 billion in ad revenue 2011 – $20 billion in ad revenue Thoughts – it’s not just the Internet that has caused the disruption – many folks are missing the … Read more

Data Point – US Manufacturing is far from dead

We hear all the time that US manufacturing has died or that it has all been moved off-shore.  Nonsense – we only got real good (and very productive) at it.  In this, it is now following Agriculture (used to be 9 out of 10 Americans were needed to grow all the food we needed – … Read more

Earth Hour – I kept my promise!

I was the opposite of North Korea (thanks, Steve; I had forgotten about using that image!) – EVERY.LIGHT.IN.THE.HOUSE.WAS.ON!  I even bought TMEW a new DVD player – it streams movies much better than the old one – just another indication of what modern life can do for a better standard of living! Now that it … Read more

Healthcare Insurance as a function of Pizza toppings?

NH has 46 mandates that State Government has decided that we citizens just cannot do without when we purchase health insurance.  Once again, I see that Democrats believe that I do not have the wherewithal to rationally decide how to purchase healthcare insurance on my own. And don’t worry, I haven’t forgotten about NH Republican … Read more

An Airsoft Gun-Free Zone?

“Don’t carry a gun. It’s nice to have them close by, but don’t carry them. You might get arrested.” —John Gotti

An Airsoft gun can be dangerous. Dangerous because if one gets hit in the eye with one of those plastic BB’s, an eye could be lost. Like the old saying goes, “It’s all fun and games until somebody puts an eye out.” So here is this kid…He brings an Airsoft Pistol to school. Clearly, a very poor choice. But, let’s face it. If the kid brought a large chunk of soap to school, fashioned in the shape of a gun the school response would be the same.  Perhaps the word, “GUN” milled from steel in a CNC machine and then hot-blued… If you can admire “publik edjukayshen” for anything, they are to be lauded for their sheer ability to be consistent in this one single area.

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GrokTV Special Interview: Pam Tucker-RNC Committeewoman Candidate. Question 9 – Will the NH GOP defend Grassroots Ideals?

OK, getting near the end of the questions.  This one was dear to me, coming out of the Conservative grassroots here in NH where many believe that the “Established” (sometimes called “The Five Families” right now) have some lip service but little regard for what “the little people” believe and work for in the trenches.  The common complaint is “Why won’t you stand up for what I believe in?”.  Sure, the Established makes the right syllables vocal during the campaigns, does the requisite backslapping to urge the boots on the ground onward, the election happens, everyone does the “Happy Dance” – and then don’t bother with syllables again.  Bills come up that would implement (or get closer to) what the regular folk worked for, and took arrows for from family, friends, and neighbors – and then watch Republicans take a walk.  Much more in the NH Senate but also happened in the NH House.  So why should the grassroots support the Party as this happens over, and over, and over again?

Previous questions:

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Money Perspective from Lucianne

Lucianne.com is just about my favorite for news aggregators and most days they have a political cartoon that just fits the bill.  Given that my hopes were crushed when MY numbers weren’t the winning ones in this week’s Mega-Million, this put things into context.  WE ordinary people look at that $640 million won (out of … Read more

Nullify Now! – Philadelphia The ‘Grok is there!

Updated and Bumped: Mike just called in and he will be on, live, with Mark and Joshua starting at 12:05 am EDT. Update II – if you were waiting to listen to Mike, well, live radio happens: he’ll be on after 1pm =================================== Grokster Mike is in the City of Brotherly Love for the next … Read more

I am such a sucker for these feel good videos….A soldier and his dog

I like cats – used to own a couple (Rhysling and Tiona) but deep down, I’m a dog guy.  Playful, lovable furballs – and dedicated and loyal as well.  Sure, there are times when I think that they have trained ME – their behaviors generally elicit a reaction from me that compels me to do … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Pam Tucker-RNC Committeewoman Candidate. Question 8 – Republicans have said that they have eliminated regulations; got that list?

In addition to seeking to be the next RNC Committeewoman, Pam Tucker has something that her opponent cannot claim to have: experience as the current Deputy Speaker of the NH House where she has been intimately involved with policy and the legislation.  One of the claims this session is that the Republicans have been concentrating on fiscal matters and making NH more biz friendly even as the media is hyping the social issues (to which my retort is “there is ALWAYS a fiscal cost to every social issue!”).  So, I challenged Pam: “show me the list!”

A couple days later, she sent the list – take a look after the jump!

Previous questions:

  • Q1 – Why are you running?
  • Q2 – Why should the ordinary Republican care who their RNC Committeewoman is?
  • Q3 – Is defending the NH GOP platform part of the role of the Committeewoman’s role?
  • Q4 – Why vote for you over your opponent?
  • Q5 –  What part of the NH GOP Platform is in danger and why should people rally around it?
  • Q6 – How verbose will you be in defending Republican ideals as Committeewoman during the election season?
  • Q7 – As RNC Committeewoman, how can you sharpen the diferences between Republican and Democrat positions?

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Human Achievement Hour – 2012

Human Achievement HourOK, it’s that time of year again: Earth Hour is upon us where tonite between the hours of 8:30 and 9:30, we are all supposed to act like we are back in the Stone Age and just sit in the dark (ok, maybe a candle might be OK, but remember : IT’S CREATING MORE CO2!!!!!!).  But remember, it’s intentions that could (as with all things Liberal, the Environmental movement has morphed into after first being responsible) rather than actually, you know, accomplishing something concrete.

But SKIP!, you don’t think that turning off all the lights for exactly ONE hour is actually a responsible act?

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#OWS – As Dysfunctional as North Korea?

Is the average #occupier as dysfunctional as North Korea? Think about it. North Korea has no practical use.  If North Korea disappeared tomorrow and materialized on Kepler 22-b, our world would not suffer.  #Occupy, same thing. The NorKs are constantly looking for an excuse to agitate and create conflict.   #Occupy is no different.  There is … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Pam Tucker-RNC Committeewoman Candidate. Question 7 – As RNC Committeewoman, how can you sharpen the diferences between Republican and Democrat positions?

Continuing on the same theme as our sixth question (“How verbose will you be in defending Republican ideals as Committeewoman during the election season?”)to Pam Tucker as she is striving to be the next RNC Committeewoman from NH  is still oriented to the upcoming election season as we know that the Democrats are now cranking … Read more

BE BREITBART: Update 7: Right To Know Request – IT/HR – Lunches, breaks aggregation and NH official policy

The last post concerning our Right To Know request of the NH Department of Environmental Services (primarily) and Department of IT (secondarily) covered the NH policy on lunch and rest breaks:

DES’s standard workday is 8:00 am through 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday. This reflects a 7.5 hour/day, 37 .5 hour/week basic workweek which, consistent with NH Admin. Rule Per 1201.03, accounts for a half hour lunch period that is not considered work time. Also, pursuant to Per 1201.03, the workday includes a 15 minute rest period every 4 hours. Lunch and rest periods do not have to be taken at specific times during  the workday. Mr. de Seve is assigned to a 37 .5 hour per week schedule that coincides with DES’ standard workday/workweek. As to the DOIT  “Computer Use document” referenced in this request, please refer to the Response to Request 3, above.

Well, one of the Groksters read that and had a question (again, with an eye to the quantity of blogging that Mr. Richard de Seve did as he was allegedly working:

Are employees allowed, with their lunch break and rest breaks, to “stitch them” together and form one large break?  If that is true, are they allowed to take them earlier or later than the normal lunch times (i.e., use them at the beginning of the day to come in later or delay them until the end of the day and leave early for the day)?

The DES RTK Dude wrote back this afternoon with his answer:

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