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GraniteGrok

EMail Doodlings – Presidential warning still relevant, Part 2

I have previously posted the warning about leaving Obama at the levers of power in the general election from one of the email lists I’m on here.  It bothered me then, and it bothered me to do a similar warning a couple of months later:

Alright, I’ll say it – with all of the levers of the Executive Branch at his command, and his willingness to use them regardless of whether he has Constitutional or even legal authorization to have them do the actions he wants, how much of this Country will be left?  In the news and in the blogosphere, I see agency and department in the Executive Branch doing what bureaucracies have always done – push their authorizations to do more and more.  And lately, there is a very disturbing trend that, under Obama (knowing that there will NEVER be retribution from him from doing so), they are making rules and regulations that totally disregard their authorizing legislation.

Heck, Obama’s own policy of “We Can’t Wait” has publicly said that he will go around and disregard Congress pretty much any time he wants.  Robert, what will be the end result of 4 more years of what is rapidly becoming Obama’s reign as Monarch (vs a Constitutional Presidency)?

Look, I am not one of the Conservatives that dislikes Libertarianism – in fact, there is a lot that I embrace from a smaller govt standpoint as well as fiscal sanity.  There are also a lot of Conservatives like me that have reached out to make common cause with Libertarians regardless of what the Republican Party thinks of us as a result. While I am an official Delegate to the NH GOP, I doubt ANY one would ever categorize me as part of the “GOP Establishment”:

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Notable Quotes – Mark Penningtonn

[P]rivate property institutions are more robust because they enable people to cope with uncertainty by reducing the prospect of systemic error.  Compared to regimes where decisions are taken at the centre, the dispersal of ownership in a market tends to confine the effects of any errors to a relatively smaller sphere and provides decision-makers with … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview-NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 1: With everything thrown your way, why are you running again?

The ‘Grok was welcomed to The Draft (Concord, NH) when we interviewed NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (owner) as to why he was running for “virtual” re-election in a newly constructed district (“virtual”, as his original district was drawn out of existence).  We had all kinds of questions but did not get the chance to … Read more

Where environmentalists explicitly wish no access AT ALL to anyone – and are willing to kill people to enforce it.

I’m not sure if the proper metaphor is “enough rope to hang themselves with” or “let them babble long enough to find out what they really believe.  Once again, from that crazy hothouse of Environmentalism meets Totalitarian Murder, TreeHugger.  This post’s author is absolutely aghast that our civilization has found just SCADS of high amounts of usable energy and that we’d actually use it:

Consider this: If we’re going to keep temperature rise below 2°C (a figure it increasingly appears is still too high to avoid some serious climate impacts, but it is internationally agreed to), then we have about 565 gigatons more CO2 we can send into the atmosphere over the next four decades or so.

Then consider: The amount of carbon contained in the proven coal, oil and gas reserves of national oil companies and private corporations is about five times higher than this, 2795 gigatons.

In other words, we simply cannot allow that fuel to be extracted and used, if we’re going to preserve the climate in anything like a state we’ve grown accustomed over the recorded history of human civilization.

Notice the hubis that he REALLY thinks that:

  • Humans can actually stabilize global temperature.
  • Sufficiently number of like minded folks are willing to live stone age lifestyles to make that a reality
  • What’s this WE bit on the pronouncement, kimosabe??  I see no crown tipped on your forehead

But that wasn’t even the worst.  This guy just just wants us to live poorly; this next guy wants something FAR worse!

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Guest Post by Mac Kittredge – Endorsement for Sam Cataldo

Mac has been a good friend to the ‘Grok as well as a long time advocate for individual Liberty and Freedom.  When he asked if we would post this, the answer was “absolutely!”

Sam’s the Man for NH State Senate (District 6)

Representative Sam Cataldo is running for NH State Senate. He brings the same focus and dedication that he brought to the NH House, because these jobs are critical to the welfare of New Hampshire! Tasks requiring far more than just good intentions, they require an extensive, diversified background and education; leadership and communication skills; hard work and dedication; and lots and lots of time.  The time requirements are very much greater in the Senate; it’s a full time job, and then some. Sam has a proven work ethic in the NH House, where he serves as Clerk for the Science, Technology and Energy Committee. He has the upbeat, collegial attitude of a cheerful warrior. He should, he’s a pilot and a Vietnam Era USAF veteran. He’s running because his oath to “Preserve and Protect” our nation and its Constitution didn’t come with an expiration date.

With wise and frugal spending, NH can balance its budget, but this alone is not enough to create a positive climate for free enterprise and job creation. Over-regulation, bureaucratic delays and massive red tape can discourage dynamic growth just as much as ruinous taxation. In view of this, Sam brings a wealth of practical, real-life experience; including six years in the legislature and over 50 years as a leader in business, engineering and technology. He wants to streamline state government, to continue lowering taxes and fees, to make NH future friendly and enhance the NH Advantage so that ours is the best state in which to live, get an education, find a job, raise a family or start a business.

To insure a bright future for our children, Sam will strive to return sovereign control of schools to the localities whenever practical. He recognizes that parents are the first and primary teachers of their own children, and that the job of the state legislature is to support this role. We must also empower local jurisdictions to provide for, fund and administer public schools; and that this must be decided by local voters, parents and their duly elected representatives; not by distant, unelected judges, however well intentioned.

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Is this a “Er, does the weatherman evah look out his windows before saying that the weather actually is” moment?

Oh dear, what are the gloom and doomers gonna do now?  Empirical data is just such a pain….it’s just not melting! According to a statement from the American Geophysical Union, announcing the new research: It turns out that past studies, which were based on computer models without any direct data for comparison or guidance, overestimate … Read more

GrokTV Event-Rumney home event for Ovide Lamontagne (Candidate, NH Gov.) – Question 10 – Come to NH but vote like still in MA?

And the last question for Ovide Lamontagne who is running to be the Republican nominee for NH Governor, and the person who asked it was genuinely concerned that the traditional lifestyle and outlook of New Hampshire is changing due to folks moving into NH because of that attracton, but continue to vote as if they were still “back home”.

Question 10:

A lot of people moved across the border  and they came to NH because they wanted the NH way of life yet they still vote the way they did in Massachusetts

Previous:

  • Ovide’s talk
  • Question 1:  The Speaker has announced that he wants to cut an additional 2% out of the budget. what are your feelings on that?
  • Question 2:  Last year, the health insurance at the bank increased by 7%.  We just got new numbers for this year:14%. You know, last time we talked you wanted to join the fight against Obamacare and now the Supreme Court has come out with their ruling. What can you do for the State of NH against Obamacare at this point?
  • Question 3:  Do any tort reform in the State in order to help us?
  • Question 4: Competition in the medical industry.  I want to have a test done and I have to pay for it myself.  I start to call around and I find the best place for me to have it done is Concord Hospital. But in order to go to Concord Hospital, I have to hire a physician at Concord Hospital because my physician cannot send me to Concord Hospital. There’s a problem with that system!
  • Question 5:  Ovide, one of the issues going on at the Federal level right now is this arms treaty at the UN and everyone is predicting that that’s probably going to go through and what its going to end up being is gun control. How do we protect ourselves here in NH other than Jerry shooting everyone?  How do we protect ourselves from them coming in and taking our guns?

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Update – Ray Burton (NH Exec. Councilor, District 1, Grafton County Comm.) is pulling a Governor Peterson in endorsing….a Democrat??

An update to the post where little birdies told me that Ray Burton, long time district 1 Exec. Councilor had decided to endorse a Democrat over a Republican (and NH GOP Chair Wayne MacDonald publicly took a walk on it) – someone finally sent me a copy of the news item: (“And Burton, a North Country force, made clear that he would back Cryans over Sharp, despite the party labels.“).

And look – Ray Burton is approving of the fact that the guy he’s endorsing voted his own non-profit monies from the county budget?

I think that is cronyism at best and a complete conflict of interest for both Cryans AND Burton.  And Burton wonders why Jerry Thibodeau is starting to get noticed in his attempt to unseat him?  Is this a case where it is just time for Burton to be retired for the sake of better government?

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“There may yet come a day when you will have no choice.”

Steve beat me to it in using the Second Amendment support from Ice-T (“The right to bear arms is because that’s the last form of defense against tyranny.”); it was going to be my lead in for this post I found over at Hot-Air where the money line, THE important line, is the title to this post:

That was the moment when it hit me. The combination of that premise taken by anti-gun groups with the previous historical perspective on our country reminded me of what may be the most important piece of the puzzle. When having this conversation, it’s far too easy to say, “Oh! Of course we don’t want to kill people! So let’s discuss your proposition.”

It’s time to come out with it and speak the plain truth which was born and bred into the very soul of the United States from day one:

There may yet come a day when you will have no choice.

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GrokTV Special Interview – Rick Parent (Candidate, Congress (NHCD-1) – Question 9 – too big, too small, or just right?

The last question for Rick Parent is the same as a lot of folks get from the ‘Grok – a simple question which immediately give us a clue as to how they view the relationship of Government and sovereign citizens – The Bigger the Government, the smaller the citizen.  A bigger Government is a more intrusive, more expensive, and a more meddling one while purporting to be a more “caring” one by Progressives.  A smaller government means more individual freedom and liberty, but also requires more responsibility from citizens for their own lives and to those around them.  So, we ask it:

Question 9:

What are your governing principles with respect to: government too big, too small, or just right?

Previous:

  • Question 1:  Why are you one of the sponsors [of the Smart Girl Politics / NH First Annual Armed and Fabulous gun shoot]? What possessed you to say, in this hot and heavy political race, “I’m going to help sponsor a gun shoot”?
  • Question 2:  Why are you running for Congress in NH-CD1?
  • Question 3:  What are your top three things? What do you bring to the table, besides being a working man and not in politics, that Frank Guinta that Frank Guinta didn’t or has failed to do?
  • Question 4: You were talking about the debt resolutions, the continuing resolutions, that your opponent in the primary voted for and raised the debt ceiling. If you see a bill that is going to spend more than it did last year (outside of the military because it is one of primary Constitutional duties of the Federal Government), how would you vote?
  • Question 5: Does Congressman Rick Parent introduce bills to respond to these kinds of issues you’re talking about or defund them?

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EMail Doodlings – how about a definition for “Free Market”?

Free MarketsI think that both Steve’s and Mike’s posts on the ills of Socialism at spot on and as a counter point to what some feel are the overriding positives of Socialism, one of the email lists I’m on, a request came in to define “Free Market”:

I’m trying to write a short description of why the free market is good, why we should encourage it.
My problem is that I don’t have the skills of Friedman, Hayek, Rothbard, Hazlitt, Bastiat, Smith, etc. to be able to convincingly describe its virtues. What I hope is that through crowdsourcing, we can come up with a good description.

So please, everybody, give me a sentence or a paragraph explaining why a free market is a good thing that we should “cherish”.

To get things started I will start with a paraphrase of Milton Friedman [Nobel Prize winner]:

“The record of history is crystal-clear. The free market is the best way so far discovered of improving the lot of ordinary people.”

Now, it could be said that what Mitterand did (and rejected, as well as China, and the Soviet Union, and the rest of the Iron Curtain countries, plus Viet Nam and what even Sweden is moving away from and….well, you get the idea), and what Hollande is about to do,  just do the opposite.  So, a number of folks responded including moi:

 The Definition:

The free market (the TRUE free market) is the simplest of systems: you have something I would like to have, and visa versa.  For this transaction to happen, I am estimating the value of what I have versus the value *I* place on what you have to transact.  I will make the trade if it is in my self-interest and my perception is that I will become “richer” in value by giving you what I have, and you give me what I would like of yours.  This is a win-win situation as the other person is ALSO making the same calculation.  My self-interest is satisfied – and the other person’s is as well.  I want your dozen ears of corn more than the $3.00 in my pocket; you would rather have my $3.00 and we agree to swap.  That is the essence of free market capitalism – a price point is reached where the transaction happens, or not.  That price signal says my want is sufficient to pay the price that affords you to cover your costs, and a bit of extra (profit) to start your process all over again and is credited as possible “wealth to you”.

Note this – one ONLY succeeds when you offer something of value to ME.  It means that your good or service PLEASES me sufficiently to give you something for it.  You win ONLY by pleasing and serving others.  Yes, it is in your self-interest to serve others for when you do so, and do it well, you will “profit” by having more transactions come your way.

The Freedom:

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Internet Doodlings – GUESS WHAT! There’s a Timothy Horrigan that lives over at TreeHugger.

You know, I am glad that Timothy Horrigan does come over and read here at the ‘Grok – and comments as well.  He’s one of the few “Liberals” that does so, so I’ll give him kudos for trying hard.  I just wish that his comments were a bit more on topic and not just deflections that might be technically correct but not really making a point that is “tracking” the discussion.  However, it seems that “Luke” is a simulacrum over at my favorite haunt where Watermelon Environmentalists meet True Believer Environmentalists and fairly nary a Freedom that can’t be dismissed lives.

ClimateGate, where hackers obtained (stole?) hundreds of megabytes of emails, code and data – often showing that the code was GIGO, the data so mauled over for “homogenization” that it was all but worthless, and the main characters in promulgating Global Warming (now climate change, following the lead of Progressives / Liberals / Progressives / Pragmatists that learn they the make toxic every word they try to abscond from common parlance) participating in avoiding all kinds of FOIA and RTK demands.  It basically was the beginning of the end to the facade of GW / CC, regardless of the 50, 000 UN / NGO / VIP / Pandering Politicians junket goers that traipse around the Globe pontificating grand designs and documents (while really just enjoying the 5 Star hotels and incredible edibles and SWAG bags).

So, Brian Merchant wrote a post that ClimateGate was a “hack that was a sophisticated and carefully orchestrated attack”  whose point was not that it was an inside job as has been commonly thought but done by outsiders.  Fair enough – and he elicited comments from the readers: who?

Well, ‘Grok commenter C.Dog e.dog took up the challenge with a whack of “Do you know who I am in the Ivory Tower-ism” with the usual snark and hyperbole:

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Batman, culture, guns….freedom vs safety / security…..Second Amendment vs “Responsible” – Part 3: “You don’t need that” Doodling

Every Sunday I watch pretty much the all the talking heads / pundits Sunday morning shows (isn’t DVR a wonderful thing?) and easily the topic of the day was the horrific shooting in Aurora, Colorado at that midnight showing of the latest Batman movies (Part 1 on my thoughts, specifically on  irresponsibility of ABC here, Part 2 on my thoughts on responsible concealed carry here).  It was rather predictable in content and in slant – I knew that just about all of the Liberals would kvetch about getting more gun control into our laws.  Unfortunately, I was not disappointed as my low expectations were met.  In almost all cases, the concern (and rightly so) was about safety and security.  The problem for me (and I figure that some commenters are ready to pull the trigger on this) is they have placed safety and security above all else but refuse to acknowledge how much government would have to do in order to actually achieve it.

The line of thought, however, was especially clear on ABC’s This Week, hosted by one half of that dubious TEA Party smearer duo and Democrat rumpswab, George Stephanopolous (and I kept waiting to see if the apology would be offered again but to no avail).  It can be summed up by: “You don’t need that“.

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EMail Doodlings – Presidential warning still relevant

On one of the email lists I’m on, there was a discussion concerning the candidates just before the NH First In The Nation Primary – the typical thing of folks boasting of their candidates and who was better than the other guys.  I took a different tack in trying to point out what the end goal should back then in early January, but the warning is still relevant for those scared for our country:

Your daily dose of knuckle rapping and snark deliberately delivered by the dufus….

….AND, once again, we are back to the  conundrum of “there is NO single candidate without flaws”….yes, NO one.  Not a single one in the lot.  Even the guy I was backing, Herman, had flaws.  Even Ron Paul has flaws – maybe not to his supporters, but to the rest of us (and just as big as those pointed out earlier).

Remember one thing – OUR GOAL IS TO BEAT OBAMA.  Period.

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GrokTV Event-Rumney home event for Ovide Lamontagne (Candidate, NH Gov.) – Question 9: Position on FRM being re-opened

Complete switch in topic – The FRM financial scandel that took a lot of people in NH to the cleaners.  We hear so much that Government has to regulate more and more and more; what seems to have happened is that the state failed to do anything in the way of regulation at all.   But should it be re-investigated with a bigger flashlight?

Question 9:

The FRM financial scandel – lots of people lost their life savings.  And it seems to me most of this stuff got swept under the carpet.  What would your postition be on this?  Would you reopen that or is it a sleeping dog?

Previous:

  • Ovide’s talk
  • Question 1:  The Speaker has announced that he wants to cut an additional 2% out of the budget. what are your feelings on that?
  • Question 2:  Last year, the health insurance at the bank increased by 7%.  We just got new numbers for this year:14%. You know, last time we talked you wanted to join the fight against Obamacare and now the Supreme Court has come out with their ruling. What can you do for the State of NH against Obamacare at this point?
  • Question 3:  Do any tort reform in the State in order to help us?
  • Question 4: Competition in the medical industry.  I want to have a test done and I have to pay for it myself.  I start to call around and I find the best place for me to have it done is Concord Hospital. But in order to go to Concord Hospital, I have to hire a physician at Concord Hospital because my physician cannot send me to Concord Hospital. There’s a problem with that system!

    Read more

GrokTV Special Interview – Rick Parent (Candidate, Congress (NHCD-1) – Question 8 – How fix Social Security / Medicare entitlements due to demographics?

The biggest expenses in the Federal budget that are driving the national debt (and will continue as the “rabbit in the snake” of Baby Boomers retire) are Social Security and Medicare.  With crashing demographics and the money “alternatively used” by Federal Agencies, how would you fix this problem that could bankrupt the nation?  Question 8: … Read more

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