Articles tagged as

Constitution

Glen Reynolds nails it – “Why Barack Obama should resign”

What do you say about a Government that care more about its image, more about its power, and more about re-election than doing what it is supposed to be doing?  I don’t often put up entire posts – but this one deserves to be read in it entirety – Glen Reynolds aka “Mr. Instapundit” aka The BlogFaddah” (emphasis mine):

WHY BARACK OBAMA SHOULD RESIGN. Just for the record, this is what it looked like for a man who made a film that made the Obama Administration uncomfortable:

Here’s the key bit: “Just after midnight Saturday morning, authorities descended on the Cerritos home of the man believed to be the filmmaker behind the anti-Muslim movie that has sparked protests and rioting in the Muslim world.”

When taking office, the President does not swear to create jobs. He does not swear to “grow the economy.” He does not swear to institute “fairness.” The only oath the President takes is this one:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

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Obama, you’re no Margaret Thatcher when it comes to Free Speech

Glen Reynolds over at Instapundit is just.all.over.this Obama #FAIL and the way it illustrates the hypocrisy that ReProgressives and Socialists have between the words they speak and what they want you to believe about them, and the actions that belie those words and public beliefs, as he floats all over the blogosphere and reports back:

Compare Margaret Thatcher and Rushdie to Obama and Nakoula.

When Salman Rushdie had a death fatwa pronounced on him for a novel considered insulting to Islam, Margaret Thatcher immediately ordered a protective detail to be sent to Rushdie, who took him to an undisclosed secure location. They have been protecting him ever since. Bear in mind that Rushdie had been a severe and vocal critic and political opponent of Thatcher.

Compare and contrast to Obama and Holder’s treatment of Nakoula.

Indeed.  Margaret rushed not just to defend a private citizen and his thoughts / speech (Salmon Rushdie) but more importantly, one of the primary pillars of Classical Western Liberalism: Free Speech. Sadly, it seems since that time, Britain has come to embrace a perverse version of Political Correctness in its stead, but at that time, Thatcher understood the power of Free Speech.

Frankly, so does Obama – and fears it.

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Where Congressman Frank Guinta helps to make Congress even MORE irrelevant and Obama more powerful

“Or are you that hellbent in giving Obama and the Progressives the tyrannical Administrative State they so ever desire?“

US Constitution, Article II, Section 2, paragraph 2:

…shall have Power, by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, to make Treaties, provided two thirds of the Senators present concur; and he shall nominate, and by and with the Advice and Consent of the Senate, shall appoint Ambassadors, other public Ministers and Consuls, Judges of the supreme Court, and all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law: but the Congress may by Law vest the Appointment of such inferior Officers, as they think proper, in the President alone, in the Courts of Law, or in the Heads of Departments

This is one of those posts that all bloggers have – start it, something else grabs the eyeballs, and it just sits.  Unlike some of my others, though, there was a little  voice saying – yeah this is important.  Why?  All during the campaign back in 2010, it was “Constitution Frank” Guinta; I remember that because I interviewed him often.  He realized which way the political way the wind was blowing and decided to ride it.  Problem was, we all believed what he said (and knew what Carol Shea-Porter would do if re-elected – and still do).  The problem is that when you go to the mat for someone, which the ‘Grok did during the primary and the general, when you come across stuff like this, you end up doing more than merely wince and cringe (reformatted and emphasis mine):

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GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC presents Rosa Koire on Agenda 21 – Parts 6 and 7

I’ll tell you, the more I hear about the subject, the thoughts of “are you serious”?  Yet, when I look at the example in Portland, Oregon where “sustainable development” is the end-all-be-all of urban planning, I start to think “mmmm, maybe there is something to this” (here, here, here, and here).  Skyrocketing housing costs have … Read more

GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC presents Rosa Koire on Agenda 21 – Parts 3, 4, and 5

Rosa Koire continued to talk this past Tuesday night about how the UN Agenda 21 program has made its way into the Federal bureaucracy and what it means for New Hampshire citizens, their private property, and the traditional NH town life.  She outlined how representatives from the EPA, DOT, and HUD are out to change … Read more

GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC presents Rosa Koire on Agenda 21 – Parts 1 & 2

Behind The Green Mask: UN Agenda 21

Tuesday night, the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC presented Rosa Koire, author of the book “BEHIND THE GREEN MASK: U.N. Agenda 21” – The Agenda for the 21st Century Sustainable Development.

She spent two hours talking about how zoning laws have been targeted by those wishing implement mandatory high density housing, the community data compiled by local towns and cities that would be used against them in attempts to “provide justice against institutionalized racism”, the attacks on personal property by calls to move to a commutarian philosophy (where the “common good” outweighs any Rights of the individual), and a forced move from personal cars to an all public transportation model.  Governance would go from elected and accountable officials to an unaccountable and unelected bureaucratic regionalism model.

Here is Part 1:

Part 2 after the jump:

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GrokTV Event: Brookfield Planning Board – presentation on “Sustainable Communities Initiative” – Part 3

Eileen Mashimo next addressed the Brookfield Planning Board and added some of the connections to some of the groups that are behind the scenes of this initiative, how the people and the groups all  interconnect, and the methods by which this “Granite State Future Plan” is being rammed through the process (it is rather manipulative).  All said and done, it is clear that those behind this do not have the standard model of democracy in mind, nor values that our Founders would agree with or give their blessing to them.

Part 1:

Part 2 is after the jump

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GrokTV Event: Brookfield Planning Board – presentation on “Sustainable Communities Initiative” – Part 2

Ken Eyring continues and finishes his presentation of some of the paperwork that just never seems to stop once a local community signs onto the “Granite State Future Plan” (the NH adaptation of the Federal program called “Sustainable Communities Initiative”  operated by a consortium of the Federal EPA, the Federal Dept. of Transportation, and the Federal Housing and Urban Development).

Sidenote: viewed from one angle, that last department’s name is indicative of the goal – to fundamentally transform how Americans will be allowed to live by creating “urban development” villages with high density housing and just public transit: not just bringing the city to rural areas but making rural communities into “micro-cities” where everyone is forced to live together instead of the types of town NH has historically had).

Some main points, overall:

  • The endpoint has already been established
  • Local control will be a thing of the past
  • Why is taxpayer money being used against taxpayers best interest?
  • Those presenting “the plan” are not being honest – they are not upfront about what towns are about to get themselves into and not honest about the techniques being used to do so.

Part 3:

Part 4 (and last) after the jump:

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GrokTV Event: Brookfield Planning Board – presentation on “Sustainable Communities Initiative” – Part 1

Monday night, the Brookfield, NH Planning Board heard a presentation by Ken Eyring and Eileen Mishimo on their research concerning the Federal Government pushing their Sustainable Communities Initiative (called Granite State Future Plan here in NH, a “massive entitlement / welfare program”).  Those that are pushing this agenda are doing so by making it seem innocuous in the beginning but based on the hundreds of hours of research that Ken and Eileen have done on primary documents, it results in a virtual takeover of local communities by land use and zoning changes and collected demographic studies that are then used in lawsuits when Federal “standards” are broached by local communities (i.e., how local towns give up their sovereignty via “Federal money with invisible strings attached” and “strumg up” by their own efforts to comply with ensnaring federal regulations and mandates).

Ken Eyring from the Southern NH 9.12 Project presented first in his slow, quiet, methodical manner (hey, he’s a software engineer – what else would you expect!).  Here are the first two segments:

Part 1:

Part 2 after the jump:

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Really, Judd?

“working” is only goodness when “working” is on the right stuff and achieving the right results inline with proper governance

A few days ago, former US Senator from NH Judd Gregg had an Op-Ed in The Hill (an inside- DC-political-baseball newspaper) was decrying the loss of the “bipartisan centrist” and it included :

…Our politics has for the most part always been played between the forty-yard lines. Unlike a parliamentary form of government where the majority party has all the power, our system is designed to be incremental — and it usually is.

As a consequence, it is almost always necessary to include the minority party in any action that is going to actually lead to governance, especially if the act contemplated affects a significant number of Americans.

This means that if there is no middle ground, nothing happens. Big issues of significant national concern go unaddressed.

I dryly note that this vaunted “centrist moel governance” has resulted, as a result of BOTH Republicans and Democrats, with a mind-blowing $16 trillion dollar debt laid upon our childrens’ children – but only if we last that long as a nation even if it has been just incremental (“just turn that knob on the stove up EVAH so slightly, wouldja?”).  Nice to see that you’re owning up to owning that, due to this middling governance that I hear so lamented lately.

We now have a Federal Government that acts as if every other political entity is entirely subordinate to its decrees even as Congress continues to pass laws to which it exempts itself.  I also note, with much lamentation, that you helped to set the stage for the current brand Executive branch governance that has decided that it no longer has to mind that the Constitution mandates that a Legislative Branch and a Judicial Branch also have roles to play in how that governing happens (as in “We Can’t Wait” and thumbing its nose at judicial decrees that stop it from what it wants to do (e.g., EPA, FCC, NLRB, Interior Dept; the list goes on).  Why should it – the Leviathan is here and has figured out that it has sufficient power and leverage on its own to act as the Progressive end game – The Administrative State.

Yeah, such a great thing, that bipartisanship that has governed seemingly with only lip service to the words of the Constitution (and almost zip with its underlying philosophy) in dealing with a limited government (e.g., Nancy Pelosi’s outburst of “Are you serious?”).    I also note that the Founders did not set out to make a government that only worked from the middle – their intent was to deliberately make it hard to get anything done if an idea was not that substantial or important enough (leaving aside for the moment, those items that are highly urgent but totally stupid which seem to crawl through DC’s Halls of Power on a too frequent basis).

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So what did Union Leader’s Ted Seifer wish to accomplish with this line?

Filling a vacancy on any Supreme Court–be it the US Supremes or the NH Supremes–is a big deal, so it is no surprise that people are talking and reporting on it (as we have here, here, and here).  So did the Union Leader;  Ted Seifer interviewed Tim, asking him about the NHLRF‘s position on Gov. John Lynch’s nominee for the NH Supreme Court, Jim Basssett.   Having gotten the link from a friend I decided to read the piece and this caught my eye:

Condon, its current chairman, is a Grafton attorney who has been active in the Free State movement.

Factually true, but what does the Free State Project connection have to do with the NH Constitutional basis that forms the basis for the NHLRF activities?

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Obama and his Progressive view of the Constitution to get what he wants

As John from Powerline put it: Yet the Supreme Court has expanded the scope of the clause beyond all recognition, to the point where it has rendered the most basic principle of the Constitution, that our national government is one of limited and enumerated powers, almost a nullity. Michael Ramirez illustrates graphically how one clause, … Read more

Rebuttal to Alison Therriault – No, there is no extreme jeopardy to women’s right to control their lives in NH

I submitted this in rebuttal to a Letter to the Editor in the Laconia Daily Sun (P. 7, March 23, 2012) (slightly expanded here):

It used to be that becoming an adult meant becoming independent and being self-responsible for their own well-being. Economic dependency on family was left behind along with the toys of childhood. It meant sober realization that what one wants, one earns. “Deserves” becomes relegated to childhood status;”earned”, its mature replacement.

Ms. Therriault shows her wish for maturity in stating “I control my body”. True enough; that’s what adults do – exhibit self-control. You have the ability to decide, within the statistical limits of reliable birth control and human discipline, how many children to have, when to have them, and when to start that family (it seems, too, that marriage is becoming more and more optional in today’s society. No wonder single moms are becoming the biggest proponents of “Government that gives you more with other peoples’ money” but that is grist for another letter).

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The ease at which a birthright is given away for mere pills…but at least they were free?

My own interpretation of this cartoon is broader than Ramirez perhaps intended. It is not just forcing religious institutions to pay for contraception, etc., that is unconstitutional under the First Amendment. Rather, for the federal government to dictate any coverages that must be included in private insurance policies is well beyond any enumerated power in … Read more

Democrats Do Not Want You To Be Free

According to Dr. Larry Arnn, President of Hillsdale College…

“Limited Government is necessary if you are going to have a representative government.  You can’t have a representative government unless you have a big, strong, independent, vibrant society, that can be represented, that is independent of the government that represents it.”

With people being who people are, this makes perfect sense.  We are not angels.  And human beings are not to be trusted in the defense of their own cause because they are prone to take advantage or each other.   And history has shown time and again that bigger governments inevitably result in fewer freedoms.  So we can see who favors less actual freedom–not the false rhetorical, hopey-changey, social justice variety–by looking at who encourages dependence on a larger central government.

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Introduction to the Constitution (Conclusion)

Here is the concluding session of the Hillsdale College Introduction to the Constitution. (Part 5) To see earlier versions posted on Granite grok, here is  Part One,  Part Two,  Part Three, and Part Four.   http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=JJnWoDskkHU   (Sorry – MP3 Version was too large to add to the post) Please visit Hillsdale College and register … Read more

Introduction to the Constitution (Part 3)

Following part one– link back here, or part two–here,  we proudly bring you part 3 of the Hillsdale College Introduction to the Constitution.

 

(An MP3 version and the Study Guide questions for part 3 are on the jump.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_y5ZtCRLAkc&feature=player_embedded

 

Please visit Hillsdale College and register for this series and their Hillsdale College Constitution 101 class.

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Introduction to the Constitution (Part 4)

If you missed part one– link back here,  part two–here, or part three, of Hillsdale’s Introduction to the Constitution, link back and check them out.  For those who are caught up, here is part 4 of the Hillsdale College Introduction to the Constitution.

 

(MP3 version and Study Guide questions for part 4 on the jump.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=7ioikCihaGw

 

Please visit Hillsdale College and register for this series and their Hillsdale College Constitution 101 class.

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Introduction to the Constitution (Part 2)

Following on the heels of part one, link back here if you need to see part one or my text introducing it, we at the Grok proudly bring you part 2 of the Hillsdale College Introduction to the Constitution.

 

(An MP3 version of this video, and the Study Guide questions for part 2 on the jump.)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_eeQmtQVPbc&feature=player_detailpage

 

Please visit Hillsdale College and register for this series and their Hillsdale College Constitution 101 class.

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