Seamless Statism

   “Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all.”    —Frederic Bastiat

Worcester Massachuetts Police Chief Gary Gemme
Worcester Massachusetts Police Chief Gary Gemme

One of the most nifty aspects of being a statist in places like the People’s Republik of Taxachusetts is the flexibility afforded to statists by laws and policies. In the present cultural environment where our lame stream media is awash with anti-gun, pro-gun control advocacy, tin horn police chiefs can rule their fiefdoms as arbitrarily as they see fit, sans any commitment to the laws or the people they serve. And besides, where Mass Gun laws are concerned Chiefs can play as fast and loose as they choose.

Such is the case with Worcester Police Chief Gary Gemme. The Worcester Police Department

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Where Shawn Millerick beclowns himself – again.

Jethro BodineIt is clear that the Editor of NH Journal doesn’t like this bastion of Conservative / Libertarian news and commentary, given that his veins run blue with Establishment Old Guard and all.  After all, we’re just a bunch of ordinary schlubs here at GraniteGrok, bitter clingers to our guns, Bibles, and Conservative / Libertarian viewpoints – we’re just those icky types of folks who, unbelievably, actually have a core set of beliefs.

I guess that from his high perchdom of full time Editor and political operativeness, we don’t matter.  Yet, there must be SOMETHING that we’re doing right because he decided to send a rather sneering email to me:

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Here we go again – immigration time

“Neither side trusts the other. In the case of immigration the sides are not really the Republicans and the Democrats, but rather our pro-amnesty, post-American elites, on the one hand, and the public, on the other. The public doesn’t believe the elites accept Israel’s right to exist America’s right to enforce its sovereignty, and the elites don’t believe the public will abandon the settlements its opposition to amnesty. So a limited deal, that gives each side a little of what they want, is more viable and might then serve as the basis for further action in the future.”

illegal alien signThe other Groksters may have other takes on the issue of illegal immigration and the illegal aliens, but in my mind, the above passage from The Corner concerning those that have crossed our borders violating our laws and sovereignty seems to put me in “the public” category.  For this, I have been called a Nativist, a xenophobe, a bigot – and those are the nicer ones.   I like my country – no, I love my country.  Sure, there are wrongs to be righted but becoming a “open borders country” is not one of them (a sovereign country has the right AND the responsibility to protect its borders for its citizens).  No longer following the Rule of Law is not one of them either – we are all equal before the law and Citizens are right to demand that they be enforced.

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Gun Control is about Obama’s Political Agenda, not Saving Lives

President Obama says, “If it only saves one life….” Then he promotes gun restrictions that will kill more law abiding Americans than they save.

If it were really his goal, President Obama could do many things that actually save lives.

Closing the border and removing the incentives for people to come or stay here illegally would annually save hundreds of lives and thousands from becoming violent crime victims.

He could lead the charge against smoking which kills approximately 449,000 Americans annually, including approximately 44,000 who die from second hand smoke (source: Centers for Disease Control). Thus, about four times as many people are killed by America’s 43 million smokers as by America’s 80 million gun owners.  Guns also often save innocent lives, smoking only harms people.

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When does a President become a dictator?

This from today’s Washington Post: President Obama is considering a series of new executive actions aimed at working around a recalcitrant Congress….One of the first orders is expected this week….The moves underscore Obama’s increasingly aggressive use of executive authority….. Query: Does the U.S. Constitution provide for a President to bypass “a recalcitrant Congress” when it … Read more

Hey! Dufus! Why the Hell Aren’t You Covering “This!?”

Both hands and a flashlightShawn Millerick, the head of the political fiction section at NH Journal, wanted to know why we at GraniteGrok were not covering the real world story about Ann McKluster Kuster not paying her property taxes.  The appropriate response was to provide a link to the story I actually wrote on February 5th about how Ann McKluster Kuster was not paying her property taxes.  A story I updated with additional comments from the Chairs of both political parties and a bit of exposition with regard to the sources.

It was a story posted the same day as the first story at NH Journal about how Ann McKluster Kuster was not paying her taxes, at roughly 6 am, perhaps even before NHJ pushed out their version; a story with the eponymous title…”Annie McKluster Doesn’t Pay Her Taxes?”

How hard could that be to find?  I’m pondering a pithy epithet for the NHJ Political Fiction Department that involves an ass, both hands, and a flashlight.

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Shawn Millerick: kettle, black

Jethro BodineYou know, I ALMOST forgot about this line:

——– Original Message ——–
Subject:     Kuster??
Date:     Mon, 11 Feb 2013 18:39:47 -0500
From:     Shawn Millerick <shawn.millerick@gmail.com>
To:     skip@granitegrok.com <skip@granitegrok.com>

How is it the biggest opportunity to bash a Democrat/Liberal comes along and you guys have stories about snow storms on your site? Kuster dodging taxes is not big enough to cover?? You guys are lame. Keep going after everyone else. I suspect I was the only person who read your site today so you should thank me.

Shawn P Millerick

Now, we make no bones about it – we are a state level blog in one of the Union’s smallest States staffed by a small group of part-timers; we know where we stand in the greater blogosphere.  While we do have several award winning bloggers and while our traffic is mild compared to some, we’re ok with our size and are grateful to every reader that comes to the ‘Grok, even if it is just one.  But this had me scratching my head – NH Journal puts itself up as THE place to go here in NH for this kind of stuff, and has full timers (or did – I only go over there maybe a couple times a year at best) and with Hynsie’s former blogger cred for link love, I figured that their traffic would give credence to Millerick’s sneering.  Instead, we’ve caught another acting like Fergus “The Fringe” Cullen.

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Palate Cleanser #2 – Can you serve table tennis this fast?

I used to play a lot of table tennis (“ping-pong”) quite a bit in college in the dorm as there were a lot of Chinese students coming over.  No, I didn’t win hardly ever against these guys – they humored me.  At some point, I started to actually win some points (vs them just really … Read more

Another stupid TV anchor – one of the MSM’s finest sounds a bit off key.

Progressives – the ones that claim that they are the reality based ones that are science oriented.  Well, Steve’s got the CNN looney bird that thinks approaching asteroids are due to our so-called “global warming” – her exclamation had to be both reality and scientifically based, eh?  And now, MSNBC’s Andrea Mitchell decides to lend her most informed opinion to the fray:

 Think about it – we can hamstring our economy just to make her feel good – after all, she is pretty well insulated from the actual industries that, you know, use energy to create wealth generating products and services. She earns a 1% living – far above what others do.  Yet, while she could absorb the extra energy costs with ease, most normal folks can’t (they’re struggling now with gas prices that are spinning the dials faster and faster the last couple of weeks).  But that’s the least of the idiocy:

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Some Anti-Gun Arguments Are So Lame…

There’s a great “Your Turn” editorial in the Union Leader, written by Brandon Harvey of Danbury.   His primary point is that some of the arguments being made in favor of restricting second amendment rights are so lame (as in unable to stand on their own), they have to be addressed, and he does a fine job doing just that.

Another argument in relation to this bizarre position taken by the anti-gun crowd is this: You don’t need an “assault weapon” or “high capacity magazine” to hunt deer.  First, the Second Amendment says “A well regulated militia, being necessary to the security of a free state, the right of the people to keep and bear arms, shall not be infringed.”  It does not say “the right to hunt deer.” In fact, deer hunting is not a right. The use of the word “militia” obviously implies using weapons that would be useful in combat. 

Militia, combat, I guess we are entitled to military style weapons after all, whose keeping the government…shall not infringe.  oh! Wait.  Brandon’s not done…

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How Teachers Unions Hurt Schools

Prager Universitie’s latest great video is “How Teachers Unions Hurt Schools.” I’m in a hurry so  I’ll just snag some context from Breitbart for now: ” ‘How Teachers Unions Hurt Schools is narrated by Stanford Professor Terry Moe.   Moe explains how the Obama administration’s admissions that the education system is broken contradict their pro-union stance. “Union … Read more

Notable Quote- Chief Judge US Court of Appeals DC

  “…free rein to appoint his desired nominees at any time he pleases, whether that time be a weekend, lunch, or even when the Senate is in session and he is merely displeased with its inaction.” He added, “This cannot be the law.” -Chief Judge David B. Sentelle – regarding the case against President Obama … Read more

Now I’m Not Alone…In Wondering About DHS Stockpiling Ammo.

empty or near empty ammo shelvesBack on Februry 7th I speculated…

If you are the government, and you want to hamstring gun owners whom you object to, why not buy massive quantities of ammunition to both drive up the price and corner the supply?  If no one else can get it or afford it, you–by default–not only have more of it, but command a level of policy control without the need for the public pursuit of actual policy.

And with that in mind, is that why the Department of Homeland Security just ordered another 21.6 million rounds of ammunition?

Three days later, on Breitbart, AWR Hawkins is wondering something very similar…

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The Obligatory Northeast Snowfall Timelapse Video

For those of you not yet weary of reports about “the big snowstorm” in the Northeast, here’s a time-lapse video from Hartford CT. Just for contrast, we got about 18″ where I live in Southern New Hampshire, some places–not that far from me–got two feet; these folks got a tiny bit more. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZiKBgm4ymXc&feature=player_detailpage

But can you get a Bachelor’s in both kinds of stupid?

How green is my pasture?
How green is my pasture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Following in the footsteps of Steve’s great post, I thought I ought to mention (if you hadn’t already heard) there is a student- advocacy organization at UNH called the Student Environmental Action Coalition pressing the university to divest itself from ‘oil and other fossil fuel’ companies.   Mimicking other non-reality-based schools, these little darlings seem to want the world to be run on nothing but clean, green, renewable energy, thus saving the world if not for their progeny (what with free contraception and all that), at least for the polar bears and unicorns. Just how much of UNH’s (2011[i]) $227 million endowment is invested in one form or another of nasty fossil fuels, I do not know.  But I’m pretty sure that none of the university’s or the town of Durham’s utilities or municipal services are currently fueled by solar, wind or fairy dust.

On the contrary, it appears as though electricity is supplied by PSNH and the NH Electric Coop; natural gas is supplied by Northern Utilities; the university has its own water system but the town runs the wastewater treatment plant and trash pickup.

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James Pindell interviews Senator Rand Paul

Back on February 5th James Pindell interviewed Senator Rand Paul on the WGIR morning show.  Foreign Policy, Immigration, Right to Work, and more… If you missed it, well–here it is. (Audio) [jwplayer mediaid=”47238″]

Internet Doodlings – Tree Hugger commenter Bussdriver87 wants a Peoples Government or something…

Well, I have been absent from Tree Hugger (the Greenie Communitarian with Fascist leanings site) for a while so I figured it was time to pay a visit.

SideNote: due to the Great Diaspora / Banning by TH of those willing to challenge their “Green Come First” religion, it has been OUR great benefit that “C.dog e. doG” and “Cris P. Bacon” have become tremendous commenters here – again, thanks guys!

At “Should We All Be Working a Four Day Week“, an architect decided to put her firm on a “5 days work in 4 days” schedule.  Great!  If she’s the owner and wants to do that, she should have the Right to do so (as long as no laws are abrogated).  They also had a poll asking what folks thought  about a 4 day work week (e.g., yes, no, other).  I left the following for the original downer premise (emphasis mine):

We are working’ 5 days in 4’ week because how we live as individuals has consequences for everyone else. The way we live now has created many problems: scarcity of resources, scarcity of jobs, climate change, wealth discrepancies and many wasted lives. These are all escalating problems which are not being addressed by the institutions of power: Governments, Banks, the Multinationals have too many vested interests in the current system to be the agents of change.

for the architect:

Why should it be up to OTHER entities (“Governments, Banks, the Multinationals have too many vested interests in the current system to be the agents of change”) to make such a decision for YOUR company?

You made it for your’s – good for you. If employees like it they will stay; the converse if they do not. Push the decision making down to the lowest granular level – if you can make and win the argument, congratulations! To have those “Power Entities” make the decisions for others is summed up in one word: “tyranny”.

Blaming it on others or other entities is a cop out – especially when one has made the right decisions and done the hard work to be in a place where they are able to make such a decision.  I figure that some might not like the longer days but some might really like always having 3 day weekend but one didn’t (emphasis mine):

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