GraniteGrok presents the Dope of the Week Award

Thanks to a September 19th  press release, The Neturei Karta International, "a worldwide organization of Orthodox Jews opposed to Zionism," earns GraniteGrok’s prestigious "Dope of the Week Award" (DOTW) with their announcement that the group
has officially extended her hand, together with many believing Jews, to the Iranian President Ahmadinejad, upon his historic viisit to the United States. The respectful display of friendship brings peace, harmony, respect and trust.
OK- while this is certainly a nutty idea- it’s an idea espoused by a great number of emotionally guided liberals and their Democratic comrades in government, this alone does not earn this obscure group the DOTW award- otherwise we would run out of space and time handing out awards.
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This statement (while certainly deserving) from their press release doesn’t earn it for them either:
It is the sincere hope of Torah true Jews, with the help of the Almighty, that this expression of peace will counter the provocations of the Zionist organizations. The motes operandi of Zionism and its organizations, is the cause of animosity and mistrust, which can only bring catastrophic results, endangering Jews and non-Jews alike, in Palestine, the U.S.A. and around the world.
This is the belief of moonbats of all stripes. No what earns them the GraniteGrok DOTW award is when Neturei Karta International says this:

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MY Senator John Sununu: Who does he represent?

The September 13th New Hampshire Union Leader ran a story on page A9 by Boston University Intern Kendra Gilbert covering Senator Sununu’s Tuesday remarks at an Arab American Institute luncheon. She reports he told the group Arab-Americans can bring a "personal perspective" to congressional debate. Sununu, a Lebanese-American, is the only senator of Arab descent. Huh? … Read more

A Tragedy, and Some Questions

Last year in the wake of the chaos of post-Katrina New Orleans I wrote an article focusing on the "culture of dependence" that has gripped a significant portion of our population.  More on that in an upcoming post. I was reminded of the dangers inherent in systemic dependency when I read about last week’s tragedy … Read more

Notable Quotes: George P. Shultz on preemptive action

Former Secretary of State George P. Shultz wrote the following back in 1986 in an essay included in the book, Terrorism- How the West Can Win. Twenty years ago… Can we as a country, can the community of free nations, stand in a purely defensive posture and absorb the blows dealt by terrorists? . I … Read more

Don’t they know war is illegal?

On this date, August 28th, in 1928, the treaty making war "illegal" was signed: The Kellogg-Briand Pact. That’s right, that treaty, still considered to be in effect on this very day, officially outlaws war.
The website www.u-s-history.com tells us

Relations between the United States and France had cooled in the aftermath of World War I. A number of issues had driven the former allies apart, including:

  • residual tensions from hard bargaining and perceived double-dealing at Versailles;
  • the continuing effort of the U.S. to collect the full amount of war debts incurred by hard-pressed France;
  • the embarrassment felt by France because of being assigned a lesser naval role at the Washington Conference (1921);
  • the recent failure, regretted by both nations, of the Geneva Conference (1927).
An effort was made by French foreign minister Aristide Briand to warm-up relations between the two former allies. Columbia University professor James T. Shotwell met with Briand in France and suggested that a bilateral treaty be negotiated that would outlaw war between the two nations. Briand seized this idea and presented it in an open letter to the American people.

The Coolidge government, at least initially, was not interested in having its hand forced in diplomatic matters and offered no response. A few weeks later, Columbia President Nicholas Murray Butler sounded the same theme in a letter published in The New York Times. The press in New York and elsewhere began a drumbeat calling for the “outlawry of war.”

Even back then, the news media and their ideological comrades in acedemia espoused silly, utopian notions that failed in the face of reality.

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GraniteGrok contributor discusses upcoming book project

Regular visitors to this blog should be familiar with the "And that’s the way it was" series of posts by our fellow contributer to the Grok, Ken G. Ken’s distant cousin, Henry Tilton Gorrell, a United Press International "war correspondent" who served in Europe from 1936 – 1945, wrote a series of memoirs from this experience. … Read more

Lawyers!

Soon, "personal responsibility" will be considered a quaint phrase, like "Sunday best" or "two-parent family."  How goes the old joke?  "What do you call 500 lawyers at the bottom of the ocean?"  Answer:  "A good start."
From Fox News:
Professor: BlackBerry Addiction Lawsuits Likely in Future
Friday , August 25, 2006
TORONTO — Keeping employees on electronic leashes such as laptops, BlackBerries and other devices that keep them constantly connected to the office could soon lead to lawsuits by those who grow addicted to the technology, a U.S. academic warns. In a follow-up to an earlier paper on employees’ tech addictions, Gayle Porter, associate professor of management at the Rutgers University School of Business in Camden, N.J., has written a paper that states workers whose personal lives suffer as a result of tech addictions could turn their sights on their employers. "These people that can’t keep it within any reasonable parameters and have these problems in their lives at some point may say: ‘My life is not all that great. How did this happen? Who can I blame for this?’," Porter, who co-authored the study with two other academics, said in an interview on Thursday. "And they’re going to say, ‘The company’."

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The French – way to reinforce that stereotype!

This story from Fox News:  Countries Pledge 3,500 Troops to U.N. for Lebanon Peacekeeping Force Friday, August 18, 2006 UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations got pledges Thursday of 3,500 troops for an expanded U.N. peacekeeping force in Lebanon, but it was unclear whether the soldiers represented the right mix of countries and units and could deploy … Read more

Wasting money on public transit in the “sticks”

One of my long time pet peeves has been the gobs of gas-tax and other tax-funded monies wasted on certain public transportation systems. I certainly support and appreciate public transportation systems in urban areas- where they are cost-effective (for the most part) and heavily used. It is when attempts are made to bring widespread service to rural areas that it becomes a costly, underutilized proposition- which I have a problem with.
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In this earlier posting (on our sister-blog) on the latest attempt to launch public transportation here in the Lakes Region of NH- certainly not a densly populated urban area- I wrote
They’re Baaaaack! That’s right- the area, relatively unchanged since the last public transit authority went belly-up due to lack of money and interest, now finds itself with a new public transportation company- (a jobs program for well-connected bus drivers?) but already saddled with the same problems that plagued its predecessor: money- or the lack thereof.
With rider fares around a few bucks or so, the bulk of the money needed to run a bus transportation company through the mountains and back roads of central NH comes from someone else: you and me.

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Dope of the Week: Jimmah Cahtah

You knew it would only be a matter of time before the officials here at GraniteGrok would find reason to bestow the prestigious Dope of the Week award to former president Jimmy Carter. Pretty much any time he speaks, he qualifies. Additionally, he fits in rather well with past recipients. . This week, we find the … Read more

More signs of moral decline…

Ever since the sixties, there can be little doubt that America has been heading further away from the cultural and moral foundations that made us a strong people. Every day we read about the latest tragic and disgusting action perpetrated by one person against another. People in positions of responsibility abusing their power with nary … Read more

Study: Shift Away From Broad-based Tax Increases

The state of New Hampshire has thus far resisted the siren’s call to broad-based taxes. Proposals to enact an income tax or a sales tax have spelled doom for many a gubernatorial candidate through the years. While our state still spends much more than it should, a degree of caution is generally exercised when approaching budgets. Because we … Read more

Notable Quote: Winston Churchill

As I was sifting though some old MS Word files I had saved for future reference, I came across this fantastic and inciteful observation our pal Winston Churchill had regarding Islam: “How dreadful are the curses which Mohammedanism lays on its votaries! Besides the fanatical frenzy, which is as dangerous in a man as hydrophobia … Read more

A man’s home is his castle? Not quite…(New story)

The story about the Nashua cops arresting and charging a man for taping police as they were on his porch (discussing how they might make the disabled veteran "more disabled" with a billy club) was if nothing else a cautionary reminder how fragile our private property rights really are. . Now comes this from the … Read more

Who is running foreign policy here….

Nations have no permanent friends and no permanent enemies.  Only permanent interests – Lord Palmerston I sometimes wonder if those that work in our beloved State Department know which is which.  From Little Green Footballs, I saw this: State Dept. Wants to Delay Arms to Israel According to the New York Times, State Department officials … Read more

Grasshopper bug insect Photo by Elegance Nairobi on Unsplash

Geek humor

From Computerworld: Poetry in Motion "There’s a bug in my monitor," executive smirks as he calls in IT pilot fish for help. Some sort of prankware? fish wonders. Or a virus? "A tiny eight-legged bug appeared to be walking rapidly across his LCD, like something out of an old-time video game," fish says. Fish grabs … Read more

Just Great! So much for business travel again…

Once again, the West has been attacked – even if not successful with the plot being aborted by the work of the US, Pakistani, and British intelligence agencies (and who else more?).  Maybe, just maybe, folks are starting to take notice.

It really has to be something to get the nerds up in arms (thank you very much!)   From Slashdot (News for Nerds. Stuff That Matters):

Charter Flight Websites / Services?

X86Daddy asks: "TSA’s latest announcement banning all fluids (toothpaste even) from carry-on luggage is the icing on a very sour cake. Many passengers are growing tired of the invasive security screenings, the increasing prices, lost and stolen luggage, and the decreasing quality of service with commercial flights in the United States. However, given the geographical size of this country and the lack of rail options, flight remains the only practical method of travel for most destinations. Can anyone suggest alternative flight services? Are there websites that connect Cessna or other small scale air charter services with interested passengers? I’ve found CharterX and CharterHub but they seem more geared toward executives looking for jets. Does anyone have experience traveling this way? Is the price point a lot higher, making this a dumb idea (just resign myself to buying toiletries at every destination and prepare for the mandatory anal probes in ’07)?"

For a moment, forget about the "why" of the new restrictions – I am just looking at this from the aspect of a frequent flier who just made plans for another business trip to San Diego.

I don’t carry a water bottle around or ingest my caffeine via coffee (I want my caffeine green! ->  Mountain Dew!), so I just wait for the "complementary beverage service" since United serves Pepsi products. Being a nerd (why ELSE would I surf Slashdot?), I don’t care about bringing perfumes, hair gels, deoderant gels, toothpaste and what not…besides, taking all that stuff on board means less techie stuff in the bag (laptops, hubs, Ethernet cable, headphones, cell phone, DVDs, yadda, yadda – I never know what I will need at the other end, so I bring it all with me). 

One does have to set the correct priorities, right?  Oops, hold that thought!  CNN is reporting that:

The British Airports Authority said no hand luggage would be allowed onto planes leaving British airports until further notice

Besides banning liquids, British police are also banning passengers from carrying electronic key fobs, which have the potential to trigger bombs.

I’ve also heard reports that cell phones, laptops, and iPods (or other MP3 devices) were not allowed to be carried on. 

Now, these last restrictions have not yet happened on this side of the pong, but let me ask you – WHO in their right mind is going to let their laptop or other electronics go into the cargo area?

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Ruminations on 8/11/06

And quickly too….it’s late……been a long week already

NewsBusters reports:

 

Where Are We Going Wrong Helping Homegrown Terrorists Integrate Society?

Posted by Mark Finkelstein on August 10, 2006 – 15:45.

Made-in-the-UK Islamic radicals are trying to murder people – and it’s the UK’s fault for not doing a better job integrating them into society.

Of COURSE it’s the West’s fault, why else would they be trying to kill us? 

[SNIP]

Corpe: "It was a problem even before 7/7 happened last year. . . We are not facing foreign terrorists but people bred here in the UK. Something our politicians have been discussing today. Not only [must we] be more tolerant of the Muslim faith and realize these few do not speak for the Muslim faith. These people born here, brought up here, going to our schools and still feel the need to blow up planes to, to plot to explode buildings and tube stations.

Continued Corpe: "We have a real job to do here in the UK to try to reintegrate these people and find out where we are going wrong in helping these people realize that if they want to stay in this country they have to accept the freedoms we have here and respect human life in the same way we do."

Well, the concept is identified correction "they have to accept the freedoms….", but loses the concept on the "where are we going wrong" bit.  My sense of personal responsibility (applied to all who are not approaching room temperature) is that they’ve decided NOT to.  And it looks pretty lame that we are going to "help" them do anything.  They have to help themselves.  Our only option is to get them to leave – a better option than them trying to kill me.

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LGF reports:

CAIR Goes Nuts Over Bush Remark

 

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Something’s got to be done

Brent over at Weekend Pundit has a quick discussion about tax reform, citing Ed Feulner over at TownHall.  The money quote from Brent:

I like the story of one of NH’s senators Judd Gregg, who has special training beyond law school in tax law. Yet he can’t even do his own taxes, it’s just too complex

The original purpose of a tax is to  raise money for a given level of government.  With all of the additions and changes (with very few deletions) over the years, they are both right -> this is nothing more than a hodgepodge of rules to favor a given entity over another.  In short, it is the easiest and fastest way to manipulate the public into certain behaviors and to be used by companies against each other (or industries for that matter).  At the same time, it has provided braces and college educations to the offspring of those that benefit the most – tax accountants, lawyers, and lobbyists.

For the rest of us, it is either having to employ our own accountants and lawyers, sweating and uttering choice words before, on, and shortly after April 15th.  And given the rising cut of government taxes, perhaps fewer braces and lesser college education than if we were able to keep more of our hard earned money.

Here’s what should be done:

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Family matters

I’ve been kinda busy lately with our other blog (GilfordGrok) in our blog family and getting ready for budget season for our town.  However, I did have a moment to do a little surfing and found this new NH based blog, NH State of Mind,  with a good Post on the more important part of … Read more

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