Today we are celebrating the achievements of graduating students.  We applaud them and wish that they achieve their dreams.

While we are happy for those who are prepared for their next endeavor, we need to recognize that many of our schools are just not good enough for students or for our country’s needs.  Too many graduates are not prepared for the next level of education or for a decent job.  And, far too many students drop out of bad, dangerous and uncaring schools and end up poor and/or incarcerated.

Changing the names of top-down driven programs, e.g., now Common Core, previously No Child Left Behind, continues to fail and neglects the real problems anyway.

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President Obama gets the blame for the failures and deaths at the VA  because President Obama is the head of the Executive Branch of our Federal Government.  (Bush got the blame before, Obama gets it now.) The Executive branch is the only branch with the Constitutional authority to execute our laws, i.e., to manage our government.  President Obama’s blame is increased because he complained about the VA when he ran for office and promised to fix it.  And, the widespread use of unofficial waiting lists so that employees could claim undeserved bonuses for responsiveness seems, but may not be, new with President Obama.

But no one should be surprised by President Obama’s failure to fix the VA.  He has demonstrated no management skills.  In fact he doesn’t appear to be managing anything except fund raising. 

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Yesterday’s Mississippi Republican Senate primary race clearly demonstrates that the real political contest in our country is not between whether we will be governed based on the principles that Republicans or Democrats believe are best for the people, but whether Republicans or Democrats will get to control big government and reap its benefits at the expense of the rest of the American people.

In yesterday’s primary election both Washington Republicans and Democrats came together to support the Republican incumbent Senator, who long ago gave up the fight for traditional Republican principles, against the grassroots candidate who is energetic and committed to traditional Republican principles, e.g., small constitutional government, freedom, opportunity, equal justice for all.

Because the incumbent has disappointed Mississippi Republicans, Republicans were going to elect the challenger.  So the incumbent’s supporters spent millions of dollars, made outrageous, false racial charges against the challenger and bought advertisements and phone calls to encourage Democrats to vote for the incumbent.   I haven’t heard Senator Ayotte or anyone else in Republican leadership condemn these lies and improper practices…practices so bad that establishment Republicans would NEVER use them against Democrats.

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Courtesy of The Corner:

Obama declare ‘Broader ISIS Foothold’ against U.S. Interests, ISIS Gains Broader Foothold

Determined Weakness: I am now convinced that each and every foreign policy decision that Obama makes has one and only one purpose – to make the US less influential on the world stage.  Name one thing that President “Red Line – Aw, who cares” that has actually, concretely, either stabilized or enhanced our standing in the world.  When even the Polish leader says that the US is irrelevant, has the goal been reached?  On what global stage, in what hotspot, concerning what issue, does Obama actually have a decision stick?  How has he been able to move the needle to heighten the prestige, honor, power, or influence of the US?

Me neither. So here you have a rag tag bunch of religious fanatics that are looking to establish yet another instance of that which the Left is always accusing folks like me (an Evangelical Christian): a real Theocracy.  Already setting up Shariah courts in the areas they now control and as they establish their Caliphate, you can be sure there will be more.  And harsher than that already in Iran.  They simply could care less what he thinks or says, knowing that lately, he’s been a nothingburger on taking action. 

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The VA is the template of government run medicine.  Vets have been mistreated, untreated, sat on waiting lists, and have died.  The government bureaucrats have hidden the incompetence and malfeasance and continue to receive rewards.  This is how big government at a distance works.

Change ‘VA’ with ‘ObamaCare’ if you want to see your families future.

“The problems at the VA are worse than anyone imagined,” Coburn said.

“Over the past decade, more than 1,000 veterans may have died as a result of VA malfeasance,” the senator added. “Poor management is costing the department billions of dollars more and compromising veterans’ access to medical care.”

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“Their next higher category from Snow Emergency is Nuclear Attack.”

Long… but reposted here in its entirety:

“Metropolis

Remus lived in a big east coast city for a while, not near it, in it. He saw many amazing things but none more amazing than the mindless panic over a bit-o’-snow. His first experience left him bewildered. Picture a snowfall barely thicker than the soles of your shoes, gone by noon-thirty or near enough. The news outlets made the story last well into the next day. They looked exhausted.

Reporters outfitted for an arctic caribou drive interviewed city service reps with breathless urgency, interspersed with video of people using maxed-out snow blowers to clear driveways barely longer than their 4WD SUVs, you know, the Hummer-type vehicles they steer around twigs in the road. Urgent updates rivaled 9/11 for grim-faced gravity and, after warning people to stay home and do their own appendectomies, came frantic appeals to stay calm. Priceless. Weather reporters, normally a perky lot, put on their apocalypse face and warned of, yes, worse to come. It didn’t. It couldn’t. Their next higher category from Snow Emergency is Nuclear Attack.

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There is some rumbling under the surface with regard to the original source of the “unity” letter NH-GOP Chair Jennifer Horn publicly delivered to Senator Bob Smith.  (My thoughts on what might constitute actual Republican unity can be found here.)

I am told that the Smith campaign sent a private letter to the chairperson to clear up any doubt about the source of (what I have been calling) the unity letter.

Four days have passed without a response so the Smith campaign is now making their request for clarification public.  Here it is.

June 24, 2014

Jennifer Horn, Chairperson

NH Republican State Committee
10 Water Street
Concord, NH 03301

Dear Jennifer,

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That would not be the Elite troops that all want us to be Gene Chandler type Republicans (“Anyone with an R after their name is a good Republican”), just us “regular” troops.  Rather, this is yet another email that has come across my transom that shows that her message is rather “revolting” (name redacted to protect the revolutionary who believes that Principles matter):

There is no way that I will be willing to vote for Scott Brown. Simply because the man puts a R in front of his name, does not change what he has said and done (and remember the best predictor of future behavior is past behavior, statements and actions). I will write in the candidate of my choice if Brown wins the primary (and many people have told me they will do the same, the Republican parties clear fawning over, and essentially pre choosing Scott Brown is disgusting). If Shaheen wins, as horrible as her voting record is, I am not certain that Scott Brown would vote any better/differently. Look at the percentage which Brown voted with Obama.

I agree.  When I was elected to my hamlet’s Budget Committee, I was not shy about speaking out (er, no surprise) and used any and all media to opine on its goings on.  This, as you can imagine, did not go over well and various schemes were tried by various dolts to strip away First Amendment Right to Free Speech.  Here, even though not a Government entity, the NH GOP is attempting to do the same thing in a slightly different manner: you will conform.

‘Fraid not, deary. 

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Last week I posted a blog about Governor Hassan treating innocent Granite Staters like drug abusers.  It’s only fair to call out those GOP Senators who sponsored this ridiculous invasion of privacy as well.  So here goes:  Boutin, Stiles, Obamacare Odell (luckily he’s retiring but remember he’s pushing Democrat Donor Jerry ‘knows’ Little in District 8), Bradley,  Carson, Larsen, D’Allesandro and ‘gas taxer’ Rausch (also thankfully retiring but backing Foley) along with Senator John Reagan (who sponsored the overreaching government hackery as a State Rep in 2012).  All of these people should be ashamed of themselves.

This bill will do nothing to stop drug dealers or drug addicts who already break the law but has the potential to hurt innocent people.  The fact that people’s personal health information is in a state database is egregious enough but they are assuming they all have the potential to be drug abusers or dealers.

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