Just another devaluation of Citizenship?

Or just another attack on the responsibility of citizenship?

Jury BoxIt IS a basic pillar of American Jurisprudence is that we are to be judged by a panel of our peers – people that should at least share some common values and outlook on guilt / innocence and presence / absence of evidence.  And be able to logically connect the dots running between all those things within the confines the applicable law.  We, as Citizens, are expected to fulfill this duty and responsibility – those that are accused need to be judged by fellow citizens.  I am amazed, at time, how often my co-workers in Southern California are called to do just this, for here I am in central New Hampsha, having lived in the same town and same house for 30 years, and I have yet to be called even once (or TMEW, but the Eldest and the Youngest have)!  I know a lot of people do an awful lot to keep from being empaneled as they never know what kind of case they’d be put on – the fear being a long drawn out trial in which they might lose their job or miss out on some important marker in life (e.g., wedding, funereal).  To be honest, I would like to be called.

With all that said, I think this is a horrible idea (emphasis mine):

California would allow noncitizens to serve on juries under a proposal being considered by state lawmakers, potentially expanding a fundamental obligation of American life to millions more people.

The measure, which would apply only to legal residents, would make California the only state to open the jury box to noncitizens who meet all other requirements of service, according to legal experts. The proposal raises the question of what it means to be judged by peers in a state where more than one in seven residents is not a citizen. One of the bill’s authors, Assemblyman Bob Wieckowski (D-Fremont), said the proposal would help ensure an adequate pool of jurors, help immigrants integrate into American society and make juries more representative of California.

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Assault furniture

“TV tip-over warnings are imperative, said Dr. Gary Smith, president of the Center for Injury Research and Policy.

Congressional Democrats in DC – Can Congress grant ourselves a waiver from Obamacare – it costs too much!

And I am hoping it is going to cost them dearly – and not just as another deduction from their Federal tax paid payroll checks.  Like many Conservatives, my heart dropped when the Supremes declared it Constitutional – being penalized for simply being an American citizen that breathes if you decide to do “nothing”?  A Collectivists’ wet dream but in my mind, it shattered the Founders’ vision of a limited Government.  However, being a 3,000 page of a bill and now up to 20,000 pages of regulations (with more yet to come) to implement, States refusing to set up their own Exchanges and blowing out their budgets by expanding Medicare, are we starting to see panic as the October implementation date coming up?  And with this, are we seeing the first moments of the political equivalent of “insider trading”?

Or are we seeing the first screaming of those closest to an explosion starting to run to save their hides?

“I have no problems with Congress being under the same guidelines,” Burr told Politico. “I think if this is going to be a disaster — which I think it’s going to be — we ought to enjoy it together with our constituents.”

That would be US Senator Richard Burr (R-NC) over at The Corner and I think that SHOULD be the line that the Republicans should take – but will they cave?  At Politico (2 days ago):

Congressional leaders in both parties are engaged in high-level, confidential talks about exempting lawmakers and Capitol Hill aides from the insurance exchanges they are mandated to join as part of President Barack Obama’s health care overhaul, sources in both parties said.

…There is concern in some quarters that the provision requiring lawmakers and staffers to join the exchanges, if it isn’t revised, could lead to a “brain drain” on Capitol Hill, as several sources close to the talks put it.

The problem stems from whether members and aides set to enter the exchanges would have their health insurance premiums subsidized by their employer — in this case, the federal government. If not, aides and lawmakers in both parties fear that staffers — especially low-paid junior aides — could be hit with thousands of dollars in new health care costs, prompting them to seek jobs elsewhere. Older, more senior staffers could also retire or jump to the private sector rather than face a big financial penalty.

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Real life NH Example of why HB135 (repeal of Stand Your Ground) is a bad idea

From Pro-Gun NH, an example of someone who would be in jail if it wasn’t for the passage of the “Stand Your Ground” law simply for trying to protect his family member in a public space.  I keep hearing that we are “not to worry – this is not a problem in NH” with the underlying whisper message of “not to worry – NH prosecutors WILL do the right thing”.  Then we here in NH saw what happened to Ward Bird with “a willing liberal prosecutor, Robin Gordon“.  And now, a second time (emphasis mine, reformatted):

After two days of trial and jury deliberation in Hillsborough County Superior Court South, a verdict of not guilty was rendered in the case of State v Craig Moses. The attorney for Mr. Moses was Evan Nappen….who is also the General Counsel and one of the five Directors of Pro-Gun New Hampshire. Mr. Moses had defended himself and his cousin, who was knocked unconscious and was lying in a pool of blood after having been brutally punched and kicked in the head. The attack on Mr. Moses and his cousin occurred early in the morning of May 5, 2012 outside a Nashua nightclub called “The Junk Yard.”

Upon exiting the nightclub, Mr. Moses was sucker-punched in the chest, breaking two ribs; he was also punched in the nose, and was dazed from a head injury. While trying to get away from his attackers, he saw his cousin also being brutally assaulted, receiving multiple punches and kicks to the head that left him unconscious on the asphalt as the beating continued.  When Mr. Moses reached the vehicle he immediately went to retrieve his lawfully-possessed .380 handgun, which he had kept in the locked vehicle, and for which he had a License to Carry.

In order to create a zone of safety around his fallen cousin…

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On the Next GrokTALK!

It’s Saturday morning and this means that not long from now we’ll be recording this weeks podcast- aired Sunday on GraniteGrok.com and Tuesday 7pm EST on AC Nation Radio. This week on GrokTALK! we have the former Chairman of NHYR (as of 4/20), former MRC Vice-Chair, and the current Vice-Chair of NHYR,  and a long … Read more

HB 135: State v. Craig Moses

“In a state where corruption abounds, laws must be very numerous.” —Tacitus

Fingers_In_EarsLiberals love to ignore inconvenient facts. Stick fingers in ears, close eyes and yell, “La-la-la-la-la!” Franklin resident Craig Moses was acquitted under the Granite State’s “Stand Your Ground” law.  Moses was arrested nearly a year ago in Nashua outside a nighclub and charged with criminal threatening with a deadly weapon after he and his cousin were severely beaten.

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Reality Alert to the Ivory Tower:

Emphasis mine:

On Tuesday, New Hampshire adjunct professors stood outside Manchester Community College to protest the limit.

Some said the realization that the health care law they once supported is being used against them was a harsh reality to swallow.

Craig Lange is a member of the team that has been negotiating for a contract since the adjuncts joined the State Employees’ Association two years ago. When the health care reform law passed, he was with a group of adjuncts at a system board of trustees meeting.

“We all applauded when the news came in that (the law) passed. . . . I didn’t think it would go this way,” he said.

This is what happens when Smart People support something that they didn’t read.  This is also what happens to Smart People when Government changes the rules of the economic game and the Smart People, who voted for the Democrats that drove this ObamaClunker over the Finish Line, failed to read the fine print and had nary a thought of merely clever people acting in their own interest. Which is to say, your bosses and your politicians that keep your bosses on a leash.  Welcome to the “new normal” of trickle down Obamaeconomics, boys and girls!  And just think of the irony – you all helped to grease the skids of your own healthcase and financial demise (as it were).

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Notable quote – Judge Andrew Napolitano

The pact with the devil occurred in the fall of 2001, when then President George W. Bush and Congress decided that they would use the machinery of the federal government to secure safety, rather than liberty. So, the Bush-inspired Patriot Act permits federal agents to write their own search warrants, and the Bush-inspired new FISA … Read more

Guest Post by Alan Olsen – Barrett L. Austin

Barrett L. Austin, Easley, SC
Barrett L. Austin, Easley, SC

My guess is that you do not know Barrett L. Austin. I would also venture a guess that you do not know the town of Easley, South Carolina. And in this day and age, we never will know unless we take our time and look for these youngsters and their stories.

Why is that important? Sad to say that this morning, I am doubting we do care anymore. But maybe you can help me come to better grips with all of this, a better insight beyond America not caring anymore. Honestly, I do not know and am clouded by my bias against being force-fed minute by minute, hour by hour and day by day the tragedies of the past months. Please understand here that I in no way minimize all that has happened. We have been hit by our enemies and by crazy people in the name of God knows what. There are bad people who do bad things for reasons that are hard for many of us to fully understand. And after all the media “get the widow on the set” coverage, it still boils down to bad people doing bad things to everyday good people. All tomorrow’s laws, rules and regulations, imposed on good people, will never erase the (set to action) of bad, cruel and cowardly people. To me, this is important because others are sacrificing and my country no longer pays attention.

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Enviroreligion: 12 dead humans. So? Big deal.

Left-wing statists hate religion. Their disdain shines through at anyone or anything that hints of a transcendental nature. Except for nature itself, that is. Now that…well there’s something worth protecting! Even if it means people die. That’s just too bad. So this is what…

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I Think She’d Say Something like this, Harrell!

Yesterday morning hapless Harrell ‘Jersey Shore’ Kirstein (The New Hampshire Democrat Propaganda Minister) tweeted this.

harrell kirstein tweet poll

PPP is left leaning and always suspect, with a tendency to over-sample for favorable Democrat outcomes, but maybe HK was just looking for a silver lining seeing as the UNH Poll, albeit with a smaller sample, came out with some contradictory results he chose NOT to share.

New Hampshire’s junior senator, Republican Kelly Ayotte, has also seen her favorability rating largely unchanged since February. Currently, 50% of New Hampshire adults have a favorable opinion of Ayotte, 25% have an unfavorable opinion of her, 9% are neutral and 16% don’t know enough about her to say. Ayotte’s net favorability rating is +25%, up from +23% in February. Her net favorability remains high among Republicans at +74% and low among Democrats where it is at -21%. Her net favorability rating among Independents has also stayed steady at +38%.

Emphasis mine… because in the UNH poll she owns Republicans, and most importantly …with independents she is +38.  No point in sharing that, eh Harrell.  But while we’re ‘sharing, that UNH poll had some other important news that might be of even greater concern to Democrats like Kirstein, given that Ayotte is not facing re-election next year and New Hampshire’s two Democrat congress-critters are.

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Bugs Obama, Yosemite Assad, Wile Iranians and Red Lines

The Charlatan in Chief blustered and threw down a red line last August to the Assad regime on chemical weapons.

Or so it seemed to his fans at the time.

He went forth to the adoring throngs with their laptops, tech Pad du jours, and cameras clutched and at the ready. Their attention hung on every bleated word as it made its way from the beguiling and Smartest President Evertm into their pixels and ink. Emotionally woozy, the reporters didn’t follow up for clarification; they just transmitted the text before the vapors overwhelmed them. “Ooooh, he’s so brave. He mentioned a red line. Did you hear that? He put down a red line… ‘scuse me I need to head to the restroom.”

Well, what he actually said was (emphasis mine):

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Gambling Addiction

From the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling…

The “no proof” meme was laid to completely rest yesterday at hearings before the community impacts subcommittee of the House special joint SB152 committee. Here is the Nashua Telegraph’s story on these hearings.

Dr. Rachel Volberg, the world’s most widely published gambling addiction expert, presented the most current data from her 2012 meta-analysis of all 202 gambling addiction studies worldwide conducted since 1975. These findings disappoint both pro- and anti-casino advocates, but the findings are abundantly clear:

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Some thoughts on the Pindell / Cline / Douglas criticisms of the Honor Your Oath Rally – Part 1

I’m not even sure that James Pindell, Chuck Douglas, and Drew Cline were even at the same rally I was from reading their criticism (one at the WMUR site, two Union Leader Op-Eds)  – or even bothered to watched the videos that were up at several sites.  Each of them decided to tear the folks apart that stood up for their beliefs without seeing what was, to me, the obvious.  In fact, I’m not even sure they even saw the obvious reason why 600 folks turned out to participate, volunteers doing the grunt work necessary to put on such an event, and the dozen or so speakers up at the podium.  Yes, when you put yourself out in public, this is what happens – others will take pot shots at you, at the rally, or the issue for a variety of reasons:  their sense of “professionalism”, their overarching specialized knowledge has been “violated”, their standing within their own specialized communities “demands” they take a stand, or they decided to reject the perceived issue out of hand as “being without merit”.  None of them seem to have caught the intense sense of importance of the actual subject to the speakers and the attendees.

Or, to put it simply, wielding a hatchet just because they have an audience to impress or a thinly veiled purpose that may be getting set for the future.  Or both.

Honor Your Oath.  It wasn’t about journalists worried about column inches, punctuation, and delicately chosen words and sentence structure; it is about keeping a promise.  It wasn’t about case law, or legal briefs, or court battles (even if from a former Supreme Court Justice);  it is about a man and the importance of his word.  It was not about bright lights, teleprompters, self-absorption, politics, or even the crowd; it is about judging a man and his bond.  It wasn’t about guns or self-defense or “Stand Your Ground” (although that’s all these three seemingly heard), it wasn’t about Right or Left; it is about answering the question “Do we trust this person when their actions do not match that Oath”?

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