Yay for Gridlock! The word “compromise” is not bad, but “compromising principles” is a bad phrase. Throw in “social contract” and there’s a big problem.

Social Contract:

an actual or hypothetical agreement among the members of an organized society or between a community and its ruler that defines and limits the rights and duties of each

I have been noodling on the phrase “social contract” for quite some time ever since Elizabeth Warren had her misbegotten rant denigrating capitalism and entrepreneurship and defending taxation as “part of the social contract”.  The problem is, who really knows what the “social contract” really is?  Let’s narrow it down further – what is it now, what did it use to be, and what should it be in the future?

And who put this contract up for debate, and how come I’m held to it even as others change the rules?  What – no choice for an opt out?  And why do the Libs

Sort of rhetorical questions, but Warren’s assertion is that “the social contract” allows and demands for all she believes is right, but also holds what the entrepreneur believes is wrong.  Thus, it seems,  it is a one way agreement: a liberal can claim that it provides for all kinds of social programs (and in effect, pushing that government programs are now necessary for it to be complete, and the wealth extraction from one set of citizens that is necessary to accomplish it).  Yet, when a Conservative begins to talk about “the social contract”, they are hooted from the room and there is no discussion that, like Government, the reach of “the social contract” is ever being extended (or over extended)?  I used to think that it included (in no particular order) following the laws, paying your taxes,  being nice to your neighbors, pay your taxes, be helpful to your community if led to be so (or, at least cause no harm), and that government would excel in what it should do and be frugal (e.g., don’t waste my money).  Oh yeah, and leave me alone to make my own decisions instead of telling me what to do all the time (after all, I’m an adult).  But remember, to a Liberal, it IS a one way agreement.

Problem is, my sense is now, the social contract is now quantity over quality, the American propensity to throw money at any problem has gone on steroids, and that any attempt to hold those programs accountable for results actually results in jeers thrown to the like of “what, you hate the poor, blacks, gays, browns, Latinos, or <name your least favorite Democrat identity group here>?  Shame on you, you cold hearted, uncaring Neanderthal!  YOU are stopping us from Progressing forward!”.  In essence, they are using the social contract not as an agreement but as a club – with a nail in it that sticks out.  And Lord help a Conservative involved in the Legislative process trying to hold to what we thought was the social contract when trying to keep Govt small enough to fulfill our version of “the social contract” – after all, we believe that people can fulfill such a “contract” and does not require an activist, intrusive Govt.

Oh, that compromise word? That brings me to the next point – when a Republican gives the Dems a loophole – and NH GOP Treasurer Robert Scott seemingly has done just that.  From the UL’s State House Dome:

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CRYBABIES


“My door is always open-bring me your problems.” This is guaranteed to turn on every whiner, lackey and neurotic on the property.” —Robert F. Six

 

It’s rarely ever a good idea to solely devote any kind of a blog entry to a person who has responded to an entry written, where that respondent or his or her comment is the central thesis. What the old adage? “Great minds discuss ideas; average minds discuss events; small minds discuss people…” I  like to follow that concept, but it gets exceedingly hard in the sphere of religion and politics. After all, ideas and events do not simply osmose into the realm of virtual communication, but are brought forth by people.

So we go about the business of writing our rants, posting our blogs in fact, often times intentionally being irksome about it. And we often post sometimes very serious ideas, we are challenged, condemned, called into question and disagreed with. That is the nature of this beast.

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Internet Pirates ‘Aaarrrrgh!’

Is the Federal Government’s move to pass the Stop On-line Piracy Act, intentionally or not, putting another foot in the door for federal censorship of the online universe? Here’s the actual text of the thing. (No, I have not read it yet.) As with all Federal legislation intent should be considered irrelevant.  Potential is what … Read more

Add A Half-Mil to Norelli’s Debt Tab

RGGI deficit spending by NH democrats leaves us another 600K in the holeNew Hampshire Watchdog is reporting that up through 2010 the Democrat controlled New Hampshire State government overspent RGGI revenues to the tune of about $600,000.00 dollars.   They just assumed we’d have more revenue.  Hmmm..where have we seen that before?   SO much like their regular budgeting they spent (more)  money we didn’t have, leaving someone else with the hard work of fixing things.

NH Watchdog’s Grant Bosse reminds us of the RGGI tab, the sad state of the Cap and Trade scheme,  as well as the Democrats taking 3.1 million dollars out of that scheme to (cough-cough) ‘Balance’ the State budget.

So Teri ‘ Billion Dollar Deficit’ Norelli strikes again.

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Email Doodlings – Assertion: “a threshold that I believe none of our recent wars has crossed”. Me: Really?

The Assertion that was made was in response what I posted here:

You asked the question as to whether we need to wait until American lives are lost to respond….To me, this means that there must be imminent danger—and that is a threshold that I believe none of our recent wars has crossed—and all other options should have been exhausted. Instead, our recent wars have been pre-emptive with no clear moral certainty that an attack was imminent.

Answer: Really??  Crossed a threshold?

  • Oil is in our self-interest, like it or not.  Gulf 1: Should Bush 1 NOT have rallied the world to throw Saddam out of Kuwait, especially when it looked like Saddam might be able to roll up the Saudis et al?  Just or not?
  • Gulf 2 – lots of UN resolutions were broken by Saddam.  More importantly, if you read the Congressional resolution (of more importance than the UN resolutions to be sure), there was a whole litany of things that they found against Saddam and gave Bush 2 approval for.  And yes, LOTS of countries still thought Saddam had WMDs and that they would be used against the West as he had done so against Iran and his own people.  And Saddam had almost a year and a half of warning to comply.  Just or not?
  • We gave the Taliban plenty of advance warning – give up those that you are sheltering that trained and attacked us.  Were there just reasons to go and eradicate the Taliban from Afghanistan?

My problem is that I believe that Ron Paul IS an isolationist on defense and not just a non-interventionist; and many believe likewise.  I also believe that…

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Do You Get Tim Tebow?

Tim Tebow in contemplation, how Tebows outward faith has excited a nations interest .I’m listening to Michael Graham on the way home last night.  It is at most a 15 minute drive so there isn’t much exposure to the program and I frequently tune in in the middle of some topic.  Last night I caught part of a segment on Tim Tebow,  the sudden attention he has attracted, and of course his faith.

One caller in particular caught my ear, not based on his feelings about Tebow but due to his complete lack of understanding about the nature of faith, and in this case Tebow’s public expression of it.  The caller kept saying that he thought it was a bit goofy because there was no way God would really care about the NFL or the outcome of a football game.  So his understanding of Tebow’s faith relationship was limited to a supernatural interest in sports and Tebow seeking divine intervention to affect an outcome in his favor.

I think I would have to agree…that God is not betting on the Broncos.  But then that is probably not what Tebow is praying for.

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Newt on the Left as presented by Occupy Wall Street

It fits – it is just a minute long so watch it.  Since Hayward reprised it, if you liked Reagan’s “Acts like Tarzan, dresses like Jane, smells like cheetah”, you get the idea: (H/T: Powerline) Note: Our new blogging platform is nice enough to show me drafts of stuff that I didn’t actually post…this is … Read more

Guess the Political Party, given the bumper stickers!

Yes, this is a NH House legislator.  Those of you who are “NH political junkies” can probably decode the House Vanity plate and already know whose car this is.  For those of you who are not, the answer is after the jump.

   

The bumper stickers?  Revealing:

   

(H/T: loyal ‘Grok reader, Jean, who nailed this the day of the Right To Work override vote)

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Grok 2.0 – Still under Construction

Yeah, we’re up and then we’re down.  The ‘Grok has been getting hit from both hardware problems with balky disk drives and recalcitrant RAID controllers and some software issues from moving from our old blogging platform.  Dontcha just love Murphy’s Laws?? I think we need a healthy dose of boring for a while, but given … Read more

The Shrill Kathy On Religion, Fatties, Food Stamps, And Republicans

“I have a great diet. You’re allowed to eat anything you want, but you must eat it with naked fat people.” —Ed Bluestone

Kathy SullivanIt’s a different kind of day when the Shrill Kathy graces the pages of the Union Leader with feigned pity for Republican candidates. And what can be said of the Shrill Kathy where she takes the opportunity to grossly mischaracterized an ad put out by the Perry Campaign. She states, “Rick Perry Complains…” But does he really? Or are the assertions in the spot a pointed statement about the current and existing situation. Having served in the United States Marine Corps, I can tell you there were individuals present and serving who were gay. And they continued to serve.

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Putting up the proper firewall?

Drip, Drip, Drip, Attorney General Eric Holder.  For the most transparent Administration in history, the necessary FOIA (Freedom of Information Act) requests are showing, more and more,  what many Second Amendment Rights advocates feared – that the Obama Government used Fast and Furious as a tactic to get an outcome that was not possible via the legislative route – an increase of regulations on law abiding citizens to achieve an ideological outcome.  Using their own straw purchasing proxies, they spent boatloads of taxpayer funds to buy from dealers they told “Oh, don’t be worried” and let them “walk” into Mexico where the drug cartels snapped them up.

And the main reason d’etre for the operation (officially, anyways) was to track them and get the druggies? Er, no.

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That cell phone while driving post that Steve put up?

Steve wrote about the NTSB busybodies now wishing to go all Nanny State on us about texting while driving; I thought this just fit ever so well. Dig the micro car with the electrical plug, too. It is never enough for the Govt to just carry out something that many of us think is a … Read more

So, once again, an Occupier has made their well being the responsibility of others – who knew?

And trying to be unconstitutional to boot!  After all, isn’t that the aim of the Left?  After weakening one of the checks and balances that the Founders put into the Constitution (of Senators being elected by state legislators), and trying to weaken another (the Popular Vote movement to end-run the Electoral College), now one of the small unwashed wishes to go contra-Constitutional by allowing District of Columbia residents to vote. (Constitution specifically states that only residents of States can vote).

Now, one of the few of the Occupy Wall Street sites to have not been evacuated (which “nuance “of the word is left to the reader), is that in DC.  So why am I not surprised that one of them is trying for headlines (emphasis mine):

Several protesters, including an Occupy DC hunger striker, were arrested at a rally outside the Longworth House Office Building for D.C. voting rights Friday.

Hunger striker Adrian Parsons was arrested alongside another Occupy DC protester and D.C. Vote communications director James Jones, protesters said. The rally was intended to pressure lawmakers to support full voting rights for the District as well as legislative and budgetary autonomy.

…Meanwhile, one of four Occupy the Vote DC participating in hunger strikers dropped out this week. Kelly Mears, who hadn’t eaten in eight days, said on Twitter that he was experiencing medical issues that would have become grave if he continued the strike.

The strikers had pledged not to eat until D.C. got full voting rights.

Indeed – according to a linked report, “say they will refuse food and drink only water ‘until D.C. realizes democracy.’”  Now, here’s the deal:

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Increased Marijuana Smoking Also Coincides With Fewer Fatalities…

…according to some recent research, at least. You can read all about it in The Wall Street Journal HERE. Marijuana prohibition is essentially the same thing as alcohol Prohibition. Neither have worked, and both have succeeded in creating HUGE social problems that are worse than the supposed harm caused by people exercising their inalienable American … Read more

Email Doodlings – 2012 Presidential Primary – Yes, it gonna be a long month…

More meanderings from on this:

Despite the (still) prevailing hawkishness within the GOP, I feel that the tides are turning. Republicans are starting to understand that we are FLAT BROKE and we can’t financially sustain these wars. We are being bled dry just like the mujahedeen (al Queda) did to the Russians in Afghanistan.

I am going to hate my self for doing it, but I couldn’t help myself at the time….(heh!) (edited slightly)

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That Jim Bender – still working to be part of the 1% that the Occupiers hate but keeps the rest of us employed & ups our quality of life: Ping4!

I met Jim Bender during the last election cycle as he was vying to be the Republican nominee to contest Paul Hodes to be the next US Senator from NH.  Well, didn’t quite turn out that way, as Kelly Ayotte took the nod and then beat Paul Hodes like an old washtub.  But, I gained a friendship with Jim, so things worked out on my end anyways.  Jim, being a serial entrepreneur, went back to prove his campaign promise: Jim for Jobs!  As I pointed out here, he’s putting his money (no hording it he!) where his mouth is and spending it to create a new product and new jobs.  His new company is Ping4:

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Word Cloud – GraniteGrok 2008

Here’s more of the old stuff that we were talking about back in 2008 (as opposed to 2007 first half and second half, and 2006):

Grocery Stores And Courtesy…NOT!

“Anyone who believes the competitive spirit in America is dead has never been in a supermarket when the cashier opens another checkout line.” —Ann Landers

"Let me call my Manager while I pretend to care about your damned problem"
"Let me call my Manager while I pretend to care about your damned problem"

Your Turn, NH, a weekly New Hampshire Union Leader feature, gave ink to young Natasha Cole of Hudson, a U-Mass Lowell Student and cashier to speak out to the diseased and afflicted unwashed masses. Cole asks customers to, “Have some courtesy for your cashiers this holiday season,” and not to spew her with your collection of germs and bodily juices while shopping at the local grocery store. The points made by Cole are valid. No dispute there. I know nobody who desires to get sick over the holiday season, much less anytime.

I, as a consumer, being forced to use such establishments, am not lost on Cole’s underlying sentiments.  In fact, those very establishments that Natasha speaks of have overtly acknowledged the need for such disease consciousness with the installation of sanitary wipe dispensers at the grocery store point of entry. Customers are able to wipe down the shopping cart handle. Waterless hand sanitizer is also often present. But while the topic of exposure minimization would appear to be the thesis, the underpinning thesis  her topic is couched in, is courtesy.  Grocery stores! absolute fodder for social scientists and cultural commentators like me, so I would be remiss pass up such an opportunity to address…even expand the concept of grocery store courtesy.

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