Captive customers and the U.S. Post Office monopoly then and now….

I found myself in a post office yesterday. Gawd. I waited in line, and waited in line…and waited in line. The counter had

Oh please...how about ditch the monopoly.

one, and only one, postal employee at “work.” She chatted and talked and chatted and talked with the captive customer ahead of me. And I waited some more…I waited longer than I’ve ever waited in line in a Publix or any other grocery store. I waited longer than in any Wal-Mart I’ve ever been in. I waited longer for service than I’ve ever waited at any restaurant that I didn’t walk out of.

Why did I put up with that? Because the post office has a monopoly of course! Why not open it up to free market competition? Oh no! We couldn’t allow that! The private companies would “skim the cream.” Rural service would suffer! Mail would be too complicated!

Oh bosh. Like food? Like shoes? Don’t we need a monopoly government service to make sure that “rural areas” get enough food and shoes? To make sure that some stores don’t “skim the cream” on food and shoes? But I digress. The reason the post office has a monopoly is that it’s a bloated political  bureaucracy that has outlived its usefulness. You doubt me? Here’s what Thomas Jefferson had to say about the early post office:

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Romney’s Tax Records And The Idiot Cabral

“Is being an idiot like being high all the time?”  —Janeane Garofalo

MSNBC‘s Michael O’Brien asserts, “Most Americans say Mitt Romney should release more of his tax returns,” citing a USA Today/Gallup Poll. So how many Americans is “most Americans?” According to the poll, 54%. Certainly, that is 4% more than half. But curiously, the margin of error citing in the poll is +/-5 percentage points, based on a national survey of 539 adults. Also in this poll, Forty-seven percent call the issue of releasing tax returns in general, “largely irrelevant...”

CNBC? Yeah..[insert yawn here] more of the same blather. CNBC adds this little morsel of info:

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GrokTV Special Interview: Bob Burns (candidate for NH Executive Council District 4) – Q5: “Hacks” versus “Public Servants”?

Leadership counts and one of the primary jobs of the NH Executive Council is to confirm those that have been brought up for appointment for leadership positions like Commissioners of departments and such, and judges.  The person doing the nominating certainly has a philosophy as to why a given candidate should be confirmed, so we … Read more

Sigh…everyone is allowed to get it wrong once in a while. Ryan O’Connor of Bedford Patch just took his turn.

“Andy Sanborn Earns Granite Grok Endorsement“

Er, no.  I just emailed, via the form email at Bedford Patch, Ryan this message:

And you didn’t read the whole post, did you?

“Note: This is a personal endorsement.  I do not at present speak for anyone else at GraniteGrok.”

All of the writers at GraniteGrok are free to endorse, and post their endorsements, at any time.  However, GraniteGrok has not yet endorsed any person in this primary race.

Skip Murphy
Owner and Co-Founder, GraniteGrok.com

Here is his post, declaring that GraniteGrok has endorsed Andy Sanborn in his Primary in NH Senate District 9.  Unfortunately, we have not made any such endorsement at this time.  Grokster Steve put his his own endorsement with this disclaimer:

“Note: This is a personal endorsement.  I do not at present speak for anyone else at GraniteGrok.“

Oh, and one other small little nit:  GraniteGrok, not Granite Grok.  Merci!

Update: Well, THAT was quick!

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The Free State Project says “Thank you, President Obama!”

Why? Because his policies are driving small businesses to New Hampshire. Why? Because Democrat (and RINO Republican) policies harm business and job-creation. It’s a simple as that. As a result, entrepreneurs and business-owners are considering moving to our state because our policies are increasingly free market oriented (and thus actually work). See for yourself in … Read more

Hypocrisy 101 – How to deceive the American people, or at least try to.

Obama has come out swinging at Mitt Romney lately, trying to indict him of nasty capitalist behavior while at Bain Capital (which he apparently left in 1999). This commercial tries to blame Romney (along with Bain) for the closing of the Kansas City GST Steel plant in 2001. However, it appears that one of Obama’s … Read more

As Morally Repugnant as The Healthcare Plantation or How About Economic Collapse?

Statton Rice of Wolfboro finds it morally repugnant that someone might object to legal plunder to advance the Democrat Health care agenda.  In a  recent editorial (Concord Monitor) Rice wheels out the moral outrage in an attack on RLCNH chairman Carolyn McKinney.   Here is the closing paragraph.

Apparently, McKinney does not realize that there are citizens in this state who can’t eat, heat their home, drive to work, pay for child care and also buy a “free market” health insurance policy. There is something morally repugnant in her plan to deny health insurance to these citizens in order to express her dislike for the Affordable Care Act and the man who signed it into law. At least, she shouldn’t brag about it.

Note to Statton Rice.  The only way they would not be able to eat is if they tried to sign up for food stamps from NH HHS without the required picture ID.

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RightOnline Blogger Roundup 7-17-2012

An official RightOnline BloggerThere were 200 plus bloggers at RightOnline 2012 and I’ve got links to the websites of at least 40 of them.  So I’d like to take some time (as often as I can) to visit them in groups and post whatever they’ve got at the top of the page.  No promises on how often, but I’m optimistic out of the gate.

My thinking is that these folks are more attuned to what is happening in their respective states than most, and they’ll have news and inside stories we’ll never get to see any other way.  And these folks are outstanding and dedicated.  That is certainly worth our attention.

In no particualr Order…

From Sunshine State Sarah

Locked in a tough GOP primary against U.S. Rep. John Mica for an Orlando-area congressional seat, Adams picked up a big-time endorsement that should help her tea party appeal. Sarah Palin gave her first U.S. House endorsement of the year

More on the jump

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GrokTV Special Interview: Bob Burns (candidate for NH Executive Council District 4) – Q3: How would the Executive Council advance your vision of Government?

Obligatory question for almost everyone I interview – and now adding in “and what would you do about that?”  In this case, Bob Burns was asked the same question  to find out what he thinks how the Executive Council could “progress forward” (heh!  take THAT Libs!) to his vision of a smaller government?  Given what … Read more

GrokTV Event – Rumney home event for Ovide Lamontagne (Candidate, NH Governor) – Question 4: Pricing and access competition in the medical industry.

The questioners at the Rumney home event held for  Ovide Lamontagne  were not done talking about medicine, Obamacare, and how Ovide Lamontagne would try to address their concerns in this time of medical uncertainty here in NH as he runs to be the net NH Governor.  They are scared of Obamacare, having to outsource decisions … Read more

Dennis Lamare – Nashua Telegraph Interview

NH CD-2 Republican Primary candidate Dennis Lamare (Challenging incumbent congressman Charlie Bass), was recently interview by the Nashua Telegraph.   Dennis is running as a Constitutional Conservative and in defense of State sovereignty.  He who would act to limit the abuse of congress and vote against anything the US Constitution has not empowered the Congress to … Read more

So, Ray Burton (NH Executive Councilor, District 1, Grafton County Commissioner) is pulling a Governor Peterson in endorsing….a Democrat??

This came over the transom:

‘Republican’ Ray Burton has endorsed Democrat County Commissioner Michael Cryans for reelection.  Burton has also refused to endorse Republican Omer Ahern for re-election as District 2 Grafton County Commissioner against Democrat Martha Richards. Omer has been a great advocate for reigning in Grafton County spending and keeping Grafton County property taxes low. Burton and Cryans have consistently opposed Ahern’s pro-taxpayer initiatives

Apparently, the news was in the Valley News at the end of the week 6/16/2012 – I have tried to verify that by asking if anyone has hardcopy as the Valley News site is so horrible it is all but useless.  For full disclosure, Omer is a personal friend and I KNOW that he has been a long term Republican and active in the Party structure.  More importantly, he is a great TEA Party / Conservative kind of guy (which is probably why Burton despises him).  He supports the Republican Party Platform but more important to me, he realizes that Government serves a purpose – and it is not to be used to spread influence and to buy votes. Government should be limited, frugal, unintrusive and stays within bounds and lie LIGHTLY upon taxpayerst.

That is not Ray Burton’s vision – IMHO, he has used it to enhance himself.  To NOT give a nod to Omer over his Dem opponent basically is bring up the specter that Burton (er, weak news flash??) is more a Progressive Republican, happy to grow government and aide those that sojourn in that process (like Dems) than a constitutionally based one.  In short, a candidate for one of Rick’s weekly reports. Much is forgiven by him as he doesn’t just bring home the bacon to the North Country – he brings home the whole herd.  Everytime I turn around, it seems there’s a whole flock of folks that owe him favors in return for what he has dragged from Concord.  Is that the NH way, or has he just toned down a Chicago system way of “doing business”.  And of course, don’t forget about this about his wanting to raise taxes and that (“He has become a parody of a good old boy politician.” – and people and other politicians keep kissing his arse).

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