Ten days ago I reported on a letter sent to President Obama, signed by twenty well-heeled climate cultists, asking the government to file RICO corruption charges against people who disagree with them. The lead signatory of the letter, Jagdish Shukla, a professor at George Mason University and front-man for the non-profit called IGES (where he posted the letter online), has since removed it and declared that it was inadvertently posted on the web site (after it was inadvertently sent to the president or linked in the press release?)

There was nothing inadvertent about it. It was a deliberate act of hubris that has come back to bite him in the a**!

Read more

I get all kinds of emails from all kinds of political groups.  I guess I should be used to it, given GraniteGrok and that I don’t hide my email but is sometimes curious who ends up emailing me, given my stances on a lot of issues.  Like the Freedom of Speech; one would think that NH Rebellion, the misguided group that wishes to delete and restrain peoples’ political utterances because of “big money”.  Money is not the issue – speech is.  Always, always, always ask – who benefits?  And ask yourself – the people promoting this – where do they stand on the political spectrum and HOW DOES IT STAND ON simple, Constitutional words:

Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.

And secondarily, who benefits?  How does restricting someone else’s speech hurt you?  Unless, of course, you are the “you” that has been targeted. So, I got the following from NH Rebellion – in return, I presented two facts back to them for comment:

Read more

That would be  NH State Rep Ivy Vann (D-Peterborough) – whose heart seemingly aches for the times of city or town life that many left many decades ago – but has no problem in using Government to impose her notion of “town Utopia”.  No kidding – she tells us this in a self-contradictory “puff piece” in Pravda by the Merrimack (emphasis mine, reformatted):

Planning event eyes ways to make towns easier to walk, live and shop in

In many small towns, a new business development often means yet another strip mall or a chain store set along an unwalkable highway, said Ivy Vann, a state representative and member of Peterborough’s planning board. What’s worse, she said, is when those new developments come despite empty storefronts downtown. And antiquated zoning regulations that create arbitrarily and detrimentally large minimum lot sizes add to the push away from town centers.

Right – because she doesn’t like the idea that ordinary folks try to put businesses where, you know, people would like to GO and shop, let’s FORCE people back to the areas they’ve already abandoned – and use zoning laws to make them obey!

Read more

Ah yes, another email example.  Just like with my reply to the NH Rebellion email missive (here), I got one (actually, I’ve gotten a whole SLEW of them) from a group that wishes to keep the Export-Import alive (or in reality, back from the dead as its authorization has already passed) has not been returned.  The email is after the jump but for some reason, I guess they didn’t like this sent back to them:

Without Ex-Im, Boeing Still Managed to Sell 300 Planes to China.

Read more

Hey, can you share that with BOTH Bernie and Hillary?  Because after all,

Read more

Photo of Ukrainian troops in Crimea, courtesy of Google

Here’s President Obama at the United Nations yesterday, talking about the “sovereignty and territorial integrity” of Ukraine:

“America has few economic interests in Ukraine. We recognize the deep and complex history between Russia and Ukraine. But we cannot stand by when the sovereignty and territorial integrity of a nation is flagrantly violated. If that happens without consequence in Ukraine, it could happen to any nation gathered here today.”

The irony abounds. 

Read more

That should blow a few Liberal and Socialist mindsets – serving others.  Indeed, it is ONLY when entrepreneurs, business people (and yes, even billionaires) serve others in such a way that consumers see great value added in the products and services offered that people get rich.  And they only stay if they continue to serve others with stuff that consumers voluntarily want.

This from Prof. Don Boudreau says it well:

First, in free markets, owners of capital remain owners of capital only if they use their capital to serve others.  And the greater the number of others they serve, the greater the amount of capital they own [or earn  -Skip].  The Walton family’s enormous capital was created – and its value maintained – only by that family’s continuing success at serving hundreds of millions of consumers.  Consumers’ voluntary spending choices play at least as large a role in determining “where money goes” as do the investment and managerial decisions of capitalists.  (Were the Waltons to put all of their money into factories that manufacture caramel-covered anchovies, they would quickly lose all of their capital.)

Anchovies?  Yuck – that would not have me

Read more

Because – Guns!

Situated in the prominent city heart of Mission Street, High Bridge Arms was founded in the mid-1950s by Bob Chow, who competed in the 1948 Olympics 25-yard pistol shooting event. By some accounts a Bay Area institution, it has long been a tourist destination – specially for members of the law enforcement community who visit the city.

The City was “going to force them to record videos of every customer in the store and keep those videos available permanently.”

Read more

If you took the Jaguars +35 points you are one happy camper as the Patriots couldn’t quite clear that spread in their 51-17 win over Jacksonville.

For perspective, the line on this game was 14.5 points. Over at SportsBet.com the thinking was, well – read it for yourself.

Read more