Search GraniteGrok for “Tobacco” or “Tobacco Tax ” or “Cigarette Tax” and you’ll find reams of links and data that demonstrate why raising the tax in New Hampshire won’t do any of the things claimed and how leaving it alone or lowering might be a better idea.

Add this Report to that...  “Tobacco Taxes Don’t Fix Fiscal Problems.”

What they actually do is lead to more taxes.  Between 2001 and 2011, 67% of tobacco tax increases were followed by other tax increases.  In 70% of the cases the increases failed to produce the promised revenue.

If that’s not bad enough, check this out.

Read more

Here is the lament that the academicians are now having over the downside of the law they almost all willing supported Obama who said this was in the mix.  They supported it as the “Obamacare sausage” was being made by the Democrats in the House, the Senate, and the White House (with not a few of these Ivory Tower denizens snapping on the rubber gloves and shoving them into the vats).  They praised its passage.  They patted themselves on the back – “NOW we have social  justice” (as that and skin color diversity seem to be the real majors taught at our higher-level institutions for which parents pay tens of thousands of dollars).

And now they are shocked (SHOCKED, I tell you!) that the law they climbed that hill for is now rolling some of their fellow labrats back down it.  For all of their advanced learning, their often wide disconnect to the way the world outside academia actually functions is, as a famous black preacher associated to the Presidential campaign 8 years ago once said “coming home to roost”.  From Hahvad (er, Harvard for those outside of the Bawston area) economics Professor Greg Mankiw – Obamacare vs the Faculty (reformatted, emphasis mine):

I don’t know how widespread this phenomenon is, but I thought I would share an email I received this morning:

I have been teaching multiple sections of economics for four years now at several Colleges and Universities in the State of Indiana. I have also been a frequent user of your texts in the classes that I teach.  With the implementation of the ACA (Affordable Care Act) these institutions are giving notification to their part-time faulty that their individual teaching schedules will now be limited to three sections. At the college this will likely result in the cancellation of 20-25% of the class sections in economics, and I would assume other areas will have a similar result. The students are not fully aware of the situation and many will be surprised that their desire to get a college education is now being impacted by the need to avoid the full implementation of the ACA.

Read more

Obama: “I think that when you spread the wealth around, it’s good for everybody“

One’s wealth is a measure of one’s labor (effort, motiviation, and skill) and time – the “price” society attaches to you economically (but not to your worth as a person – different measure).  Which brings up the great Libertarian question: who owns me? We settled that, at least in large part, back during the Civil War when one man’s labor became their own and not their Master’s (the epitome of slavery) and thus, finally had the chance to make their own wealth instead of forced to create or add to the wealth of another.

It seems, however, that with the rise of Socialism (under its Political Class  nom de plume of “Progressive”) in the Democrat Party and in the people it sends to Congress (e.g., Annie Custer from NH-2 who campaigned as “I’m more Progressive than you!”), we now see a resurgence to reduce not just the Second Amendment but also the Foundational Principle of that Right to Private Property.  The difference now is not the color of one’s skin but to the Economic / Political class to which you are perceived to belong.

Read more

I guess that’s why Obama is about to spend $750 million to convince is “Smile!  It’s GOOD for you!”.  From Powerline, this part of a poll on Obamacare, a commentary on “government shutdown” or Obamacare.  There’s nobody that has submitted legislation aligned with this question, it is still an interesting result from LIVs that wouldn’t know the difference between legislation and a continuing resolution (this time on the debt ceiling).

Interesting breakdown by age for shutting the Feds down to repeal Obamacare: 18-29:  57% ; 30-44:  49% ; 45-64: 41% ; 65+: 50% for shutdown

Is it possible that the Young, that HAVE to sign up for policies that are priced not for their needs but to pay for the elderly and sickly, have figured out this new Ponzi scheme (Social Security and pensions being two other prime examples – promises to the otherwise).

Thus, it seems, the tendency of the Republicans to automatically take up the mantle of French surrender monkeys, should be held in check.  In fact, I’m betting that the base, if they adopted the word “Fearless” and actually acted like that adjective, might actually win the issue.  Or is it the case when one is an Establishment Republican, there is no such word in describing a stand for principles?  Or do either of the phrases “Don’t make waves” or “Go along to get along – because the MSM won’t like us” come to the fore?  And then lose the 2014 races?

Read more

“In order to save Bambi, we had to bodybag her“

Yeah, I know – it’s “The Bigger the Government, the deader smaller the Citizens” (hey, it fits – the deader our Freedom).  But it is true, the Bigger the Government, the Bigger it thinks it really is – and as a result, the stupider it gets.  A bureaucracy, once set in motion, sets up all kinds of rules and regulations and follows them every jot and tittle – and lose sight of the actual reason for their existence.  Check this box, check that box, make this measurement, cross-check against some other list…

…and you end up with a fustercluck of a SWAT Team targeting a recently newborn doe.  Yup, a Government that decided that it was in charge of saving deer from the rest of us had the authority to kill it instead of “us” saving it. This story’s been circulating for the last couple of days and it was such that I decided to let it percolate a bit to see if there was a “rest of the story” not part of the first.  Er, sadly, nope – a sacrificial fawn name “Giggles”.  From WISN (reformatted, emphasis mine):

WISN 12 News investigates an operation raising questions about the use of government resources and the state policy that meant a death sentence for a fawn.  “It was like a SWAT team,” shelter employee Ray Schulze said. Two weeks ago, Schulze was working in the barn at the Society of St. Francis on the Kenosha-Illinois border when a swarm of squad cars arrived and officers unloaded with a search warrant.

“(There were) nine DNR agents and four deputy sheriffs, and they were all armed to the teeth,” Schulze said.

15 armed Government agents that decided to descend upon yet another Catholic charity?  OK, it is the Obama Administration that is doing the “Chicago Stomp” on the Catholic Church (as well as others).  In any case, here is a great example when Libertarians talk about “the Force of Government” – killing a dear baby deer is not, as the collective Democrats are wont to say “[Government is] what we do together”. So, regulations and laws are put into place to SAVE wildlife.  To keep wildlife from being mistreated.  To keep  keep wildlife from being inadvertently by “untrained civilians”.  So, quis custodiet ipsos custodes? Who will watch the watchers?  So Government wraps itself all up in its own self-empowered regs and actions: go forth and save the wildlife.  How’d that work out for a real life Bambi?

Read more

A longish quote from Forbes on “Your Help Is Hurting: How Church Foreign Aid Programs Make Things Worse“:

When you try to help, you try to give things, you start to have the consequences. There’s an author Bob Lupton, who really nails it when he says that when he gave something the first time, there was gratitude; and when he gave something a second time to that same community, there was anticipation; the third time, there was expectation; the fourth time, there was entitlement; and the fifth time, there was dependency. That is what we’ve all experienced when we’ve wanted to do good. Something changes the more we just give hand-out after hand-out. Something that is designed to be a help actually causes harm. And so, microfinance turns that model on its head, and instead of going in and just saying, “We’ve got a lot of things you don’t, so we’re just going to give it to you,” it turns that model completely on its head and says, “Every single individual is created by a God who loves them, and that means there is worth and there is dignity and there is ability.” So we go in and say not, “What don’t you have,” but, “What do you have? What are you dreams for your kids? What are your aspirations? What are your hopes? What is it that is in your hand to do?” That changes everything. Microfinance then is the belief that everyone has ability, everyone has capacity, and it asks the question, “What is required to unlock that potential in that community to get them in productive employment?” And so, just real quick, just what that means is we do training, we do financial literacy, we do a place for people to save money, and then for people that are ready, we give them access to small loans so they can invest in their business ideas.”

– Peter Greer, President & CEO of Hope International

Read more

As an occasional listener– no liberal drones I do not “get my marching orders from Rush Limbaugh,” or Fox News; that’s how you guys operate, not us–I was aware that the milestone was coming but now it’s here.  Starting in August, 1987 Rush began what became and is currently the most listened to Radio program in America; much to the continued anger and dismay of liberals.   The mere mention of his name is like sunlight on the classic vampire.  It burns!

With that in mind, Limbaugh had this to say about Liberals.

Read more

You can’t tell me that progressivim is not a mental condition that creates obsessive compulsive tendencies?  They are children who must have “that toy” and they will not take no for an answer.  Their toys are people’s lives, their culture, their ideas, and they live to destroy them and replace them with their own.

Virus.  That is what progressivism and liberalism are.  A virus.

And the liberal establishment media is so possessed of this man that a routine 5 minute traffic stop is…International News. (And he has a Gun!)  If someone catches him leaving a restroom without washing his hands it might be the lead on MSNBC for days.  Obsessive, compulsive, destructive.

Read more

New Hampshire House Rep Brenda Grady (D- Merrimack) has proven herself to be exactly what I claimed she and her husband were (he did not win office) before the election last November; mules for the state Democrat Party’s partisan agenda.

While the Grady’s tried to style themselves as less partisan, moderate candidates, who would work against gridlock (there wasn’t any), downshifting costs (hadn’t happened since Democrats last held the majority), and being more responsive to constituents–with a dash of the bring civility back to Concord narrative the whole Democrat party was binging on (though Democrats were more often making things uncivil) , the reality with regard to the kind of elected official Brenda Grady has turned out to be can summed up with two facts.

Read more

The Zimmerman-Martin incident and aftermath is sad on many levels.   Martin is dead.  Facing death threats, Zimmerman lives in hiding.  Both families are devastated.  People “getting justice for Trayvon” create other victims.  The media demonstrated its corruption.  Political pressure forced an indictment when one may not have been warranted, raising questions whether any of us can be assured of getting fair treatment by the law.  The usual race-baiters did their best with the help of the media and President Obama to roll back our progress to a colorblind society.

People make claims without any evidence.  A recent headline declares, “Would Zimmerman have picked a fight if he hadn’t been armed?”  There is no evidence that that Zimmerman either confronted or started any physical interaction with Martin.  Others say Martin would be alive if he were white, yet who considers race, or anything besides survival, when someone is killing us?  The prosecution, the defense, and FBI investigators indicated that race was not a factor.  If you spent many lonely hours trying to protect your neighbors from further harm, would the race of a suspiciously acting person change your actions?  No.

Read more

Some guys at an office decided that the Jerk with the new expense sports car needed a comeuppance of a “you’re a Jerk” message.  I’m betting that this is at a place where part of the pecking order involves “parking near the door” and this guy was constantly doing what we all hate: parking sideways or “on the line” to make sure that nobody else was going to even dare to park next to him.  Yeah, we all get sloppy parking once in a while, but apparently not this self-important dude.  Who knows what the reason was – didn’t want his “baby” scratched or just an overblown sense of entitlement (“Think my car is cool?  Wait til you see me!”).

His co-workers were not impressed – and decided simple was best:

I have to admit, in a different circumstance, I did the same thing to another “parking space jerk”:

Read more

Katherine O’Neill is a Jersey Girl and sometime Senate Staffer currently in the employ, according to Legistorm.com, of US Senator Ben Cardin (D-Maryland), which appears to be confirmed by her LinkedIn page: Current  US Senate.   Ms. O’Neill has worked in the Senate as a staffer previously, in both 2009 and 2010.

She was, (is?) also in the employ of OFA, and came to the Granite state where she claimed residence at 107 Penacook Street in Concord, New Hampshire, voted Democrat, and then left the state to return to DC.  She was a professional campaigner, connected to the DC political machine of Barack Obama, who never had any commitment to New Hampshire beyond stuffing the ballot box with another liberal vote, then left.

So who actually lives at 107 Penacook Street in Concord, NH?

Read more