And so it begins – resisting religious tyranny

Obama - shows more deference to Islam in Afghanistan than to First Amendment freedom for religion here in the USAlthough the political conversation over the last week or so has been Obama’s personal redefinition of what traditional marriage is, let’s not forget that he and HHS Secretary Sebelius decided that they were after yet another “First” – the First Administration that felt they had the authority to redefine what a religious organization is or could be.  Function as a house of worship (for now)?  “There was an exception for that!” with respect for the supremacy of the Right to Conscience – although the HHS mandate required that all health plans for employees provided for abortions, abortifacients, sterilizations, and birth control.

But if you are a religious outreach or ministry of some type (e.g., halfway house, hospital, educational, soup kitchen – anything that demonstrated a caring for the poor, the downtrodden, or the needy), even if connected to a House of Worship, Obama and Sebelius decided that they could decide that you were NOT a religious organization for their means.

As the cartoon shows (sent by Grok friend Karen a bit ago), we see exactly what Obama thinks of the First Amendment:

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Internet Doodlings – “meanwhile, back over at Treehugger…”

Yeah, back there again.  While the name connotes an environmental bent (which it does), there is enough there to start proving “Green on the outside, Red on the inside”.  Or at a minimum, think the Nanny State with Nurse Ratched looking back at you.  Doubt me?  Loyal reader C. Dog e. dog seems to be lately frequenting those haunts as well – it does give one a chance to raise one’s game a bit.  Anyways, there’s this post complaining about our latest epidemic, obesity, and that the Government HAS to do something – Corporations through small children are forcing parent to buy junk food (or something…):

One of the recommendations intended to speed things up is for the food industry to “take broad, common, and urgent voluntary action to make substantial improvements” to marketing aimed at kids. This is certainly important, as advocates have for years been sounding the alarm about the intractable problem of junk food marketing to children and its connection to poor health. But another part of the IOM dictate sounded vaguely familiar:

If such marketing standards have not been adopted within two years by a substantial majority of food, beverage, restaurant, and media companies that market foods and beverages to children and adolescents, policy makers at the local, state, and federal levels should consider setting mandatory nutritional standards for marketing to this age group to ensure that such standards are implemented.

And this:

“Congress should enact legislation mandating” a shift in advertising. Also, that “[w]ithin 2 years the Secretary [of health] should report to Congress on the progress and on additional actions necessary to accelerate progress.”

 Well, I couldn’t let that go by….

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‘Properties’ of Marriage

Wedding Rings- does the state have an interest?Marriage is always a great topic to visit in New Hampshire. It irritates so many people on so many sides. But if we ever put it to a vote of citizens, New Hampshire would join the ranks of every other state to define “marriage” as a union between one man and one woman. Which is why the left would never want to allow that. And bigotry or inequality has nothing to do with it. And it certainly has nothing to do with love.

Love, as it turns out, is not a state’s interest. There is no ministry of love. No state department of love. No state director of love. And no one in their right mind would want the State organizing, defining, taxing or regulating it. Love is not a state’s interest.

And the idea that you “can’t help who you fall in love with” is total rubbish. Of course, you can. I haven’t fallen in love with anyone since I got married 18 years ago unless I count falling more in love with my wife. People fall in and out of love all the time.  They can help it. So what the gay marriage lobby means to suggest by this is that sex is love and that you can’t help who whom you want to have sex. But neither of those things is true either.

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Slippery Slope…?

Sylvia Larsen is making a slippery slope argument against the New Hampshire Senate’s passage of a bill that would make causing the death of an unborn child murder. Senate Minority Leader Sen. Sylvia Larsen, D-Concord, joined other Democrats in criticizing Forsythe’s bill. “I think it establishes a bad precedent. It establishes a non-scientific basis for … Read more

HB 1704 – Republicans doing the dirty work by resurrecting HassanSpeech? Part 3

Heh! Update before posting:  If you go down 1/3rd of the post to where I discuss lines 25-26, 28-29 you can see that even if the IRS codes would not require Donors / Contributors information, this amendment will require it.  Now add this info:

TUESDAY, MAY 15, UPDATE: CROSSROADS ON THE AIR. Crossroads GPS, a nonprofit self-described issues advocacy group that works in conjunction with the pro-Republican Super PAC American Crossroads, is planning political advertising in New Hampshire.

…The Granite Status has learned that Crossroads GPS will air at least two ads on WMUR television beginning later this week and at least into the middle of next week at a cost of at least $75,000.

 While American Crossroads, as a Super PAC, must disclose its donors, Crossroads GPS as a 501 (c)(4) nonprofit, does not.

This Amendment would force that.  What actually would happen is that they wouldn’t participate in NH.  That is chilling of “freedom of speech”.

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Project Veritas – “Can Illegal aliens vote in North Carolina?” Er, that would be a yes

James O’Keefe’s  Project Veritas has done another Voter Fraud video – this time in the State where the Democrat National Convention will be – North Carolina!  How fitting, as it always seems that Democrats are the one who could care less who is voting (or how often – it’s the Chicago way!).  I just keep wondering how long it will take before the illustrative theater of the absurd will finally start to sink in – and even with that, it IS absurd that the government workers can’t accept that if something is that absurd looking, they are being punked.  But, that’s the problem with “seams” or boundary conditions and folks who are “just doing the job” – both them and the “system” can easily be exploited.

Here is the supporting info for this North Carolina activities (entire video, the research paperwork).

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Smart Girl Politics Radio – On ‘Everything’

From 10-11am this morning I will be guest co-hosting Smart Girl Politics with Susan Olsen on WSMN 1590 AM.   We will be discussing everything so pay attention. There is a slight possibility that we may not get to “everything” in one hour so thinning it out to topics like GrokWatch, ‘Julia’ and the war … Read more

Screw The “Most Vulnerable?”

Internet access - NH House bans taxing internet accessThis morning’s Union Leader reported the passage of a bill in the New Hampshire House that would ban any tax on internet access.  They also reported that it included $1.7 million in funding for the reduction of the developmentally disabled services wait list.  The vote margin was 245-80, with the majority of dissenters on the Democrat side.

If this reporting is accurate the scope of the lefts hypocrisy here might be epic.  Internet and broadband access have been used as a left wing class, warfare, dirge.  Voting to tax it is not exactly “pro less-fortunate” nor pro-more “in need of internet access.”  But to vote against funding the disabled services list again?

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A Democrat’s Evolving Positions

revolving on gay marriage- Democrats revolve on every issueMr. Obama has evolved his position on Gay Marriage.  Not surprising.  Most everything the candidate ran on “evolved” once elected to the office.  The lesson then, is not that Mr. Obama is seeing homosexual marriage in a new light, the lesson is that no matter what he says or does about anything, you should expect him to evolve those positions as well.  He has too.

It is a fatal flaw of pragmatism (the left’s safe word for their socialist/Marxist proclivities),which insists on ignoring what has worked in the past in favor of whatever the average room full of left wing intellectuals believes will work now.  Right now.  And what will always work for any room full of smarty-pants liberals is more government and more money to pay for more bureaucracy.  And they’ll tell you all about it.  But they wont tell you this.  When that fails, and fail it shall, they will continue to fund whatever it was, and simply imagine a new solution for a new “right now” problem, that would be the one they just made worse, and that “solution” will require even more government, and more money, to pay for more bureaucracy.  To quote Kyle Resse from the original Terminator Movie.  “You still don’t get it, do you? … That’s what he does! That’s ALL he does!” He, Democrats, don’t know anything else.

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Did You Know That You Have A Lobbyist In Concord? [Updated]

[Update at end of post]

You may already have your own lobbyist.  Maybe.  Oh, and this lobbyist might not be representing you or your legislative whims specifically.   But you are paying for them with your tax dollars, if that makes you feel any better.

The lobbyist you are paying for, if your School district participates, is the New Hampshire School board Association (NHSBA).  The NHSBA

“has provided member school boards with training, support, advice, information, and other essential services to help school board members perform your very important jobs.”

That sounds great.  Who wants a School Board that hasn’t been properly “trained” by professionals since 1916?  Is there a class on how to make taxpayers feel like morons who should sit down and keep quiet?  How to convince people that the budget divided by the number of students is never, ever, the actual cost per student.  I bet there is.  I’m sure they don’t call it that though.

And then there’ is that lobbying thing I mentioned.

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99-0

The smartest man in any room can’t seem to put his name on a budget anyone will vote for.  This years nightmare on Pennsylvania Avenue is worse than the last–it even has the distinction of being discarded with more no votes than last years budget nighmare.  99-0. The Senate torpedoed his last budget 97-0 in May 2011, … Read more

Do Retired School Superintendents Ever Really Retire?

Starting in July of 2012, Mr. Irwin Sussman will begin his new job as the Superintendent of SAU#43 ( Croydon-Newport), a not so curious turn of events for a man who recently “retired” after 40 years working in public education in New York State.  (Last week, you may recall, we introduced you to Robert Sullivan.  He retired as the Super in Middleboro MA, and is collecting $70-80K from the State of Massachusetts, while currently running SAU#21 in New Hampshire.)

Mr. Sussman was a teacher, school principal, and finally a superintendent, working in Lake Luzerne NY, when he “felt it was time” to retire…

After two decades at the Hadley-Luzerne Central School District, and the last eight years as the superintendent, Irwin Sussman told the board last week he will retire at the end of the school year.

Sussman, who turns 64 next month, will work his last day on June 30. His career in education spans 40 years.
“I feel that it’s that time,” said Sussman, who was the high school principal for about 11 years before he became the superintendent in January 2003.
Wait.  Didn’t I just say he was starting a new job in Croydon-Newport this July?
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