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GraniteGrok

Internet Doodlings – Once again, back at Treehugger…this time, Mayor Bloomberg soda ban

Ah yes, the Nanniest of them all, Mayor “Do as I say, not as I do” Bloomberg wants to ban large capacity soda servings.  One more thing that “It’s good for you to NOT drink all that” as if sugary water is the worst thing EVAH!   Hey Bloomberg – how about concentrating on stuff that Mayors are supposed to concentrate on that would be more important – like murders and crime?  Potholes?  What about your failing public school system – what was your graduation rate again? Oh yeah, a rate of 65% but not ready for college:

Sixty-one percent of city students who started high school in 2006 graduated on time in 2010, compared with 59 percent of those who started in 2005 and graduated in 2009.

But only 21.4 percent of those students earned high enough scores on their math and English state tests to be deemed prepared for college and well-paying careers.

That’s the [success] ticket!  If 78% of your grads can’t go directly to college, that’s not properly educating your students (a MAJOR part of your responsibility).  Yet, that is of lesser importance than grabbing big cups of soda out of the hands of folks in your city?

Anyways, back to the Treehugger post (which isn’t as bad as some of the pro-ban pandering I’ve read):

When if comes down to it, the ban would only be an inconvenience for the die-hard soda drinkers. If you really want to drink 32 ounces of Coke, no one is going to stop you from ordering two.

Your ability to choose what YOU want?  Not so much.  They don’t see it as individual freedom issue – rather, an infringement on the collective having to pay for the bad habits of all us fat people.  My response:

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GrokTV Special Interview: Josh Youssef for NH State Senate. Question 3: Philosophical: more in favor of self-governance vs the Progressive external governance?

Given Josh’s answer to the second question, I just had to ask the quintessential philosophical question that can go to the heart of “are you a Conservative or are you a Progressive?” – who controls you?  What governs your behavior?  And is one better than another? Previous Questions: Question 1: Why are you running? Question … Read more

Is this starting to show that Obama isn’t a good enough manager of the economy?

Obama-Unemployment May 2012As if we already didn’t know it.  He keeps blaming Bush for the economy he inherited; I remember the economy that Reagan inherited too.  Reagan merely said “let’s get down to working at making it work” and produced one of the (if not THE) largest recoveries ever in US history.  It did take a while, but he didn’t whine about things the way that Obama has.  In three and a half years, the only time he has acknowledged that he would be held accountable is when he said “If I don’t have this done in three years, there is going to be a one term proposition“.

They why does he keep insisting “HEY!  It’s NOT MY FAULT”?  It has been one excuse after another: Bush, Europe, the weather, a tsumani, Republicans (even as he “owned” Congress as Democrats controlled it before he was elected  and for his first two years) and at a cost of over $800 Billion.  Meanwhile, the latest jobs report yesterday shows his Administration’s continued ineptitude in setting up and implementing the policies in the best way to help American families: setting those conditions that make it easiest to get a job.

People don’t like whiners, Mr. President, they want results.  I understand that Government does not create jobs – it does, simply because of its size and its rule / law ability, set the environment that tells others the conditions under which they can operate and thus, decide to hire.  What the market is saying is “Mr President, we find your environment wanting, and wanting too much from us in believing you will do the right things.  Thus, we will wait”.  Now, one month upwards is not a trend, but it is indicative that even a President and all the smartest Progressive ideas can implement a command and control system that would truly meet the needs of the nation’s businesses that are, in turn,  supposed to meet the needs of over 300 million consumers.

I expect that soon, Mr. Obama will soon revert to bashing business for “not caring about American families” by hiring the unemployed” and continuing his class warfare scorched earth policies.  Bashing may indeed be a campaign strategy but it is not an economic one – too bad (for all of us) that Obama doesn’t understand the difference.

The problem is that there are just 6 months left in this campaign – while most people DON’T want to get involved in politics, they are paying attention to the economics coming up to the vote.  And they will do the one thing that often Liberals decry – they will vote their self-interest and their wallets.  Politics is fine but for most, taking care of their family is job one.  And they will ensure that the person best suited to enable that will get the nod.

And this above result is not going to cement the feeling that Obama is up to the job.

(H/T: Instapundit)

The hard data:

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10 top and 10 bottom of College Endowment funds – how well would they respond to “spread the wealth around”?

Certainly there is a LARGE disparity between these funds that allow university systems fund either “new” stuff or offset the cost of attendance to their places of higher learning to economically disadvantaged students (or so we are led to believe): 2,011 Endowment Rank Name State Funds 1 Harvard University MA 31,728,080,000 2 Yale University CT … Read more

An example: When Government oversteps it bounds via Boards and Commissions

“Can the government throw you in jail for offering advice on the Internet about what people should buy at the grocery store?…When does the government’s power to license occupations trump free speech?” Blogger becomes overly hefty Researches / picks a “Paleo” diet Works fabulously He blogs it Natural extension: answers questions about his diet North … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Andrew Hemingway, Chair, 4RG

Andrew Hemingway has started a new PAC here in NH called 4RG.  He takes a few minutes to talk with GraniteGrok about its mission (For a Republican Governor) and why the election of either of the two Left wing extremist Progressives, Jackie Cilley or Maggie Hassan, would be a disaster for constitutional governance and limited … Read more

Veto of HB 1549 by NH Gov. John Lynch – does anyone ever really proof this stuff?

HB 1549’s official title is  “AN ACT prohibiting the use of motor vehicle records for any federal identification database.”

There were three changes to RSA 260:14

  • III. Motor vehicle records may be made available pursuant to a court order or in response to a request from a state, a political subdivision of a state, the federal government, or a law enforcement agency for use in official business. The request shall be on a case-by-case basis. Any records received pursuant to this paragraph shall not be further transferred or otherwise made available to any other person or listed entity not authorized under this paragraph. No records made available under this section shall be used, directly or indirectly, for any federal identification database.
  • Changes the ID of a Federal form (I-151 to I-551) – NH has no control over this
  • Change United States Citizenship and Naturalization Service to United States Citizenship and Immigration Services – NH has no control over this

The latter is a simple change reflecting the name change that the Feds have done to themselves.  The first is basically saying – we continue to no support the REAL ID program (which NH has never agreed to participate in).  See for yourself – here is the entire bill:

AN ACT prohibiting the use of motor vehicle records for any federal identification database.

Be it Enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives in General Court convened:

1 Motor Vehicle Records. Amend RSA 260:14, III to read as follows:

III. Motor vehicle records may be made available pursuant to a court order or in response to a request from a state, a political subdivision of a state, the federal government, or a law enforcement agency for use in official business. The request shall be on a case-by-case basis. Any records received pursuant to this paragraph shall not be further transferred or otherwise made available to any other person or listed entity not authorized under this paragraph. No records made available under this section shall be used, directly or indirectly, for any federal identification database.

2 Employment of Illegal Aliens Prohibited. Amend RSA 275-A:4-a to read as follows:

275-A:4-a Employment of Illegal Aliens Prohibited. No employer may employ an alien whom the employer knows is not a citizen of the United States and not in possession of Form [I-151] I-551, Alien Registration Receipt Card or any other document issued by the United States Citizenship and Immigration [and Naturalization Service] Services or the Attorney General of the United States which authorizes him or her to work.

3 Effective Date. This act shall take effect 60 days after its passage.

Gov Lynch (or his speechifiers), in his veto, decided that instead of supporting this narrow, limited prohibition in participating in REAL ID-by-another-name, they decided to drag in irrelevant issues in order to beclown Gov. Lynch (hey, he has a few short months – don’t waste that time crisis!):

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Venture Capitalism. Obama really wants to put up his record?

Really?  Does Obama truly believe that just because his outlook is a  “government-centered”, that his version of venture capitalism using public tax money is better than private money?  Sure does – he keeps spending more and more of it.  Problem is, like many Progressives, he places more importance on the intent than the results:

(H/T: Hot Air )

It is rather amusing to watch the official Prez Press Flack Carney twisting behind the podium to explain this:

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Piling on Jeanne Shaheen’s Greenie green suck

And as Steve points out here (and mine), being Green means having LOTS of green – and just watching it swirl down the toilet (data points via The Enterprise Blog):

  • …candidate Obama promised to create 5 million green jobs, at the low, low cost of only $15 billion per year
  • Obama spent $90 billion of his stimulus package on green energy projects, including weatherization of buildings and development of electric vehicles. Yet, by the end of last year, just 16,100 people landed new jobs in the so-called green industry, Labor Department statistics show, far short of the 200,000 jobs the White House projected it would help create each year.
  • It is amazing to see just how badly the government can do at these things: 16,000 jobs out of 200,000 predicted is about 8%—a mere 92% underperformance rate.

Steve had this observation:

New Hampshire Senator Jeanne Shaheen cut her teeth in her first Senate race by raging about taxpayer hand outs to big oil

So, what does this do to her campaign strategy –  Did Obama just skewer a rerun of her campaign issue against big oil again (NY Times):

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Steve isn’t paranoid, I AM following him! This time, his Gendercide post – an update

First, taxpayer funded Green (both definitions).  This time, his post on Planned Parenthood getting caught AGAIN in their abortion-at-any-cost-any-condition.  The update: the staffer has become the scapegoat.

This spokeswoman for Planned Parenthood Federation of America also told The Huffington Post that the organization condemns seeking abortions on the basis of gender, but its policy is to provide “high quality, confidential, nonjudgmental care to all who come into” its health centers. That means that no Planned Parenthood clinic will deny a woman an abortion based on her reasons for wanting one, except in those states that explicitly prohibit sex-selective abortions (Arizona, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Illinois).

Like I said – anywhere they can get away with it.  SURE, they can “condemn” all they want, but their actions matter more than their words.  That second sentence obviates the first – status quo – killing babies for any reason wanted unless prohibited by law (and like with voter fraud, until they get caught).

A Planned Parenthood spokeswoman told The Huffington Post on Tuesday the staffer in the video “did not follow our protocol” for dealing with “a highly unusual patient scenario.”

“Planned Parenthood insists on the highest quality patient care, and if we ever become aware of a staff member not meeting these high standards we take swift action,” she said in a written statement. “Within three days of this patient interaction, the staff member’s employment was ended and all staff members at this affiliate were immediately scheduled for retraining in managing unusual patient encounters. Today opponents of Planned Parenthood are promoting an edited video of that hoax patient encounter.”

The Hot Air post goes into fisking this, so go read it (re: “we got set up!”)

(H/T: Hot Air)

Oh, and a bonus Blogosphere Line of The Day:

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Memorial Day – a time of remembrance and reflection.

There are two images that always come to mind on Memorial Day: (Photo credits: Todd Heisler/The Rocky Mountain News, via Associated Press, unknown) (H/T: NY Times, BlackFive) They are concrete examples of two sacrifices: the man that put himself into harm’s way for his country and for his buddies and sacrificed himself for them, and … Read more

DJ Bettencourt – a sad story

I thought it a bit strange, when I first heard it,  that DJ was resigning from the House and from being the Majority Leader – after all, the session was just about over.  Really, it was “dude, why bother, ya gotta run for re-election anyways”.  Family?  I knew that he was going to marrying Shannon Schutts soon, but it didn’t register is was REAL soon – like this week, so I kinda went “huh?” over the hackneyed phrase ” to spend more time with his family,” (a saying that is generally used in business when one has lost a position due to a corporate merger or political upheaval – or poor results come out) but decided, ok – a bit of a stretch, but it passes muster.  And even though Grokster Tim writes here, I didn’t know that DJ was to be the Exec Dir. of the NHLRF (the new job bit).  Then the real shoe dropped about the faked reports for the law internship at Brandon Guida’s office in order to graduate from UNH Law).

Sidenote: I do have to side with Guida in this and NOT just because that ‘silence is complicity’ would have put him at risk – cover ups are wrong for any reason and anyone (and not just someone of ‘high’ stature or any ideology)

A sad story indeed.  No, it is not my point nor my deal to add gas to a fire he lit himself.  All of us, at one time or another, have done stupid things and some of those have risen to the level of REAL stupid.  I certainly have and I can commiserate with some of the torment that he is now putting himself through (“did I really think I could skate by?”) – and that of those around them (having been there around those whose actions got me involved as collateral damage).  He may have blown up in actually getting that law degree and a shot at the bar, his political career here in NH may be in tatters

Sidenote: why does it seem that Dems who do similar things always seem to come back but Repubs aren’t allowed to (at the least, not for a LONG time)?

and he may have lost other things of much more value of a personal nature as well.

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Blogburst: A connection between NH AG Richard Head and convicted terrorist bomber Brett Kimberlin?

“WHY would Dick Head want to approach her even with a 10 foot pole?“

You bet (to answer the post title question)!  Real easy too!  I had previously blogged this post “Why does NH AG Richard Head want James O’Keefe emails from a third party without a subpoena?” where Dick Head was inquiring of a Nadia Naffe: “Hey, you’ve got James O’Keefe’s emails”?  Remember, at the time of the post, James O’Keefe was supposed to be the Keynote Speaker at the Rye Republican event.  The night before, NH AG Dick Head issued a criminal grand jury subpoena against him, so under advice of counsel, James ended up Skyping in instead of being there in person. Well, right after that, we got wind that Dick Head had contacted a Nadia Naffe concerning what she said were emails belonging to James O’Keefe (see the post).  Also, this Nadia was already doing some stuff against O’Keefe, as Patterico outlines, and the RNC.

So, what does this have to do with NH AG Dick Head and Brett Kimberlin?  Well, Grok friend John Hawkins of RightWingNews interviewed Stacy McCain who because of his investigative journalistic blogging about Brett Kimberlin, had to leave his home in Maryland to an undisclosed location as Kimberlin started to call his wife’s employer in an attempt to force Stacy to quit the story.  Well, there was a mention of Nadia in that interview:

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Quick Thought – Bragdon / Dwyer

From Pindell on his weekly Ups and Downs Political Standing column: Dan Dwyer: The Merrimack Selectman wants to primary Senate President Peter Bragdon, but Bragdon will file showing $63,000 cash on hand already in his campaign account. Can Dwyer compete with that? As a Conservative activist, I have been sorely disappointed in the NH Senate … Read more

Data Point – Bush vs Obama spending

In the blogosphere and in the Campaign, much is still being made of the Bush spending and the meme that the Obama campaign wants to spread that Obama is frugal.  One rebuttal is here.  Here is another one: (H/T: PJmedia)

Once again, Republican politicians deciding that they have the right to shut down private speech.

Congress shall make no law…abridging the freedom of speech…

Back to “Really, Judd?”

But what is the point, if you govern out of control, at cross-odds to Constitutional philosophy, once you get there, as the Democrats now wish to?

Oops, this time, its Republicans showing a lack of knowledge of Constitutional values – and respect as well.  All I can say is that I am really glad that I’m not in NY (or my server).  The Daily Caller has the story:

Nearly half of the Republicans serving in the New York State Assembly have proposed legislation that would ban anonymous online comments.

If enacted, the legislation would require websites — including social networks and online newspapers — to remove all anonymous comments that are brought to the attention of administrators.

An anonymous comment could remain if the author “agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate.”

Yeah – their version of NH’s HB1704 (sideways) – we will silence speech, particular that which might be critical of others.  The Founders had the equivalent problem of anonymous speech back then – only then, it was not computers and servers it was hand operated paper and ink printing presses (re: slow, laborious, and expensive).  In fact, if looking at history, we might still be singing “God save the Queen” without that anonymous speech.

Oh, that pesky parchment that is the foundation for all our laws?  Was THAT considered?  Er, no:

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42% Of Democrats Prefer NoBama! – Part 2

As Mike pointed out earlier, Arkansas and Kentucky Democrats only gave Obama 60% of their votes.  This is really embarrassing  to his campaign and certainly to the Democrat Machine and the only real explanation that is plausible is it is his policies – too liberal, too costly, too out of the American mainstream, and too … Read more

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