Remember that argument?  That Government spends far less on administrative costs, 2-3%,  so that ALONE is a good thing (with the implied meaning that the Government can do as well as private insurance (who were around 20-25%).  What they didn’t ever want to talk about was the fraud in the Government’s Medicare / Medicaid system with a run rate of around $80 Billion (although I have heard of lower ones of $50 – 60 Billion).  Private insurance spent more as a percentage basis (4-7%) but their fraud rates were far, far less; spend a little more percentage wise to find it and spend FAR less in outgoes due to fraud (“Fraud, about 9 % of the Medicare budget“) – see:

Or take Medicare. Other than the source of its premiums, Medicare is no different, economically, than a regular health-insurance company. But unlike, say, UnitedHealthcare, it is a bureaucracy-beclotted nightmare, riven with waste and fraud.

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The New Hampshire Citizens Alliance (NHCA) and the New Hampshire Citizens Alliance for Action (NHCAA) have been pretending to operate as a grassroots, non-partsian, group with tax exempt status for years.  This is not only untrue it is virtually impossible.

The NHCA and NHCAA are the local chapter of USAction which..

… empowers our state affiliates by providing funding, training and leadership development.  We also work in partnership with our affiliates to develop strategic national civic engagement and issues-based campaigns.

To what end?  Well, USAction used to be very up front about that but they have since scrubbed their website to hide the fact they are proud to be “The Nations largest progressive activist organization.”    An activist organization that funds and trains affiliates (NHCA/HNCAA) to do what?  Well, they used to be upfront about that as well.  Take a look at the list and see if you can guess why they scrubbed it…

“fighting the right wing agenda”;…

Sounds partisan enough to me.  But wait!  There’s more…

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School districts from LA to NY are complaining and now a few of them are taking matters into their own hands.

“We’re eating more junk food, now, than last year”, a student from the Los Angeles Unified School District explained in December of 2011.

We’re talking about Michelle Obama’s Healthy Kids Hungry act, passed by lame-duck Democrats in the waning days after the Democrats got mauled in the 2010 elections.  It sucked then.  It sucks now.

The Government limits the choices by force of law but human nature (and natures laws) trump man made laws every time so the kids end up skipping the Michelle-O in favor of quick alternatives.   So the law effectively creates more harm because it presumes to know the minds, tastes, and needs of everyone everywhere, as viewed from the backs of nutrition unicorns prancing around inside the blue bubbles that pass for “the way the whole world thinks according to progressive busy-bodies.”

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“May I suggest a good book today – and a GREAT Obamacare healthcare insurance plan??”

Well having seen that the ALA had pledged local libraries to be in the Obamacare “sign up here” corps (like other “community organizers” like the discredited ACORN organization (where Obama was an instructor in Alinsky’s Rules for Radicals), unions, and other left leaning organizations whom, if I were a betting man, would have Voter Registration materials with the policies whispering “and remember which Party is giving you this free healthcare!” – yes, I am that cynical), I asked and received answers from two of my three Town Selectmen (Oh Gus?  Still waiting).  The only thing of note is that while ACORN (or its reconstituted and renamed chapters) will be getting paid for its solicitation of soon-to-be-healthcare-wards-of-the-State (and remember – Obamacare is getting School systems to recruit “the children” to badger their Parents to sign up), those 17,000 public libraries will be doing it for free on the local taxpayer property tax dime.

In responding, they said no from their standpoint but the final decision would rest with the town’s Library Trustees.  So, I asked them, too!  Do you think I’ve received an answer yet (emailed on 6/30)?

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Doubleyouemyouare News Nine in NH is reporting an incident in which a 48 year old Tilton, NH man had to be hospitalized after (unintentionally?) stopping a firework with his face.  While details are sketchy–was he sober, did he lose his balance, was he pushed, did a YouTube video make him place his face over the tube when it discharged–his physical injuries were not life threatening.

We here at GraniteGrok hope for his quick and complete recovery.  It probably hurt like hell, and may have resulted in permanent eye injury (we hope not), and there is very likely been or will be someone in his life telling him they told him so…for the rest of his life, maybe…because the experience of being the victim or the observer, had to be frightening, and that doesn’t just go away.  You have to let it out somehow. But you have know when you owned it.

The only thing more frightening would be having to again suffer through the nearly perennial effort (by those just looking for any excuse) to introduce more state regulations and oversight of the entire populace because of one (or even just a few) fireworks accidents that were the result of less than stellar behaviors on the part of the victim or those nearby.

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We do work hard, we Groksters here at the ‘Grok.  No, we don’t do it for the fame, the glory, or the money (er, none of us earn a dime here (Unlike Zandra Rice Hawkins of Granite State Progress; an transplant supported by outside-the-State Billionaires) – we’ve found ourselves to be on solid ground when we realized that we should not give up the day jobs) – but we do have lots of opinions on a whole lot of subjects, issues, and events and we are not shy about sharing them from our Conservative / libertarian (note the small “L”) standpoints of free markets, fiscal frugality, Constitutional values, limited expressions of Government, and Individual Freedom and Liberties.

So when someone else gives us a H/T (Hat Tip) or asks us to speak or uses some of our material (in the way it was meant), it is most appreciated.  Four recent ones come to mind

• The hard work that Grokster Steve has been putting in on GrokTALK! every Saturday morning resulted in a national syndication for our podcast (and soon, adding in live audio streaming and call-ins)

• Grokster Rick has had one of his blog posts picked up by the Swedish outlet, Kristian stadsbladet: The Gay Marriage Report

• DaTechGuy (Pete Ingemi) had Grokster Mike on his syndicated radio show to share his views on “stuff”

• And then someone walked up to TMEW and I in Lowes picking up a few things…

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After doing GrokTALK! podcast in Concord this morning, I headed north on Route 93 in heading back to the Lakes Region.  Heavy traffic: lots of out of state plates and a bunch of boats and camping trailers being towed.  That said, the overall speed was quite high and then I remembered that the speed limit had just been raised from 65 to 70 MPH from Concord northward pretty much up to the border (excluding the Notch).  I would have to say that most folks were in the 70 to 75 mph range.

Then I also remembered what I had read in the Nashua Telegraph as first the Senate approved the higher limit and then again when Gov. Maggie Hassan signed the bill.  Concern for more accidents, more deaths?  Nope, what caught my eye was a crie du coeur from those whose Enviro mindset is that we peons driving at all is “a sin against GAIA” – we should NEVER be allowed to ‘create more pollution’ under any condition:

“…goal should be to increase fuel mileage and reduce unnecessary travel.”

The message?

• How DARE you even think you should be able go faster! 

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