Are We Free Men? Losing New Hampshire Liberties
A great editorial from the New Hampshire Union Leader about the nanny state on it’s way to New Hampshire:
MAJORITIES IN THE State House and Senate, elected in a fit of anger at a President and his unpopular war and ineffectual political party, are on the verge of making state government into a cosmic blacksmith’s shop in which legislators swing their hammer and reshape the citizens’ souls upon the anvil of the law.
New Hampshire always has been a state in which the character of the people shapes government policy, not the other way around. That could change on Thursday, when legislators consider two bills written to force individuals to adopt behaviors of which legislators approve.
“Shall we mould our citizens to the law, or the law to our citizens? And in solving this question their peculiar character is an element not to be neglected,” Thomas Jefferson wrote to John Quincy Adams in 1817.
Jefferson, like New Hampshire’s founders, believed that the law should not be used to shape a people’s character or habits. Rather, the people’s character or habits should be reflected in the law. Yet molding citizens to the law is exactly what House Bill 802, mandating adult seat belt use, and Senate Bill 42, banning smoking in bars and restaurants, attempt to do.
Each bill is intended to replace the judgment of individuals with the collective judgment of the 424 people who happen to be elected at this moment.
“The laws . . . which must effect (a people’s happiness) must flow from their own habits, their own feelings, and the resources of their own minds,” Jefferson wrote to William Lee in 1817. “No stranger to these could possibly propose regulations adapted to them. Every people have their own particular habits, ways of thinking, manners, etc., which have grown up with them from their infancy, are become a part of their nature, and to which the regulations which are to make them happy must be accommodated.”
Granted, the legislators proposing these laws were elected by the people of New Hampshire. But the ideas behind the bills are antithetical to New Hampshire tradition and the state’s independent way of life. The bills are adaptations of laws passed in other states — states where the people are more accustomed to obeying the dictates of government.
House Bill 802 and Senate Bill 42 may seem harmless bills. But pass them and New Hampshire begins its descent into the dark chambers of state control, where the state maintains unquestioned supremacy over the individual.
The question is not whether the behavior that would be enforced by these laws is positive or negative. It is whether the irresistible force of law ought to be used to shape the very character of a people, whether merely exercising the option of enjoying a cigarette with a meal or driving to the store without buckling up is to be punished by the state for the sole reason that the state prefers that you make a different choice.
A vote for these bills is a vote against freedom of conscience. A vote against them is a vote to maintain the individual’s primacy over the state. It is a vote for keeping New Hampshire the most free and independent state in a union increasingly antithetical to Jefferson’s prescription that a good government is one “securing to us our dearest rights and the practical enjoyment of all our liberties.”
All our liberties, Jefferson was careful to write. Not just the ones the government approves.
We residents of New Hampshire have always prided ourselves on being independent, with little government intervention in our lives. However, last November voters decided to send the president a message about the war. New Hampshire sent two new anti-war representatives to Wash. D.C. Fine, I didn’t agree with it, but I lost.
In the voters shortsightedness they also voted out most state Republicans. This, of course had no effect on the war because they are in state government, but they did it anyway. Blinded by hatred for the president they voted for the same type of state candidates that New Hampshire voters have always voted against.
Now we are facing the nanny state and higher taxes we have always opposed.
New Hampshire voters, you let me down last November, I thought you were smarter than that. I hope you enjoy having every last aspect of your lives regulated.
Get out your pacifiers, babies, the government is here to take care of you.
From politico.com:
John Kerry spent $1.4 million more than federal rules allowed during his 2004 presidential bid, primarily on customizing two campaign planes, according to a draft audit by the Federal Election Commission.
Just another person who is lucky enough to have a ‘D’ after his name. Could you image the uproar we would hear about this if President Bush had overspent federal election laws? We would be subject to endless investigations.
Considering he left about 12 million dollars in his campaign war chest, couldn’t he have spent this money more wisely than customizing airplanes?
The draft audit also found the campaign’s media vendor improperly invested and earned interest on public funds. And auditors allege the campaign misreported its media buys and its outstanding debt.
This is just another example of the double standard that is evident in the media. John Kerry, who served in Vietnam and still carries shrapnel in his leg in case you haven’t heard, violates campaign rules and will not be held accountable in the media. While if George Bush committed the same violations there would be hell to pay.
I expect the Democrats in congress to investigate this, after all they promised us the most ethical congress in history while they were campaigning. Or did they just mean they would hold the Republican accountable for their actions?
I think we know the answer.
You can read the whole article here.
From the Boston Globe:
If some Cambridge officials have their way, dogs like Babe, a frisky yellow lab mix, will be sidelined at Fresh Pond Reservation.
What’s wrong with Babe? She’s from Belmont.
Fresh Pond is one of the few parks in the area where dogs are allowed to run free. But the Cambridge Water Department, which oversees the park, wants to ban nonresident pooches from roaming off leash and plans to outfit Cambridge canines with bright red medallions, so the rangers who patrol the park can see which dogs belong and which do not.
This is discrimination. Some dogs belong and some don’t. I hope the ACLU can step in and prevent this kind of hate crime. Is it the dog’s fault they are from the wrong side of the state? I think not. They only want to poop on the grass that Cambridge dogs don’t want to poop on. This isn’t fair.
If the plan is approved, Babe from Belmont will be forced to look on longingly, straining in her blue harness, as Cambridge dogs roll in the grass and run beside their owners.
This sounds inhumane to me. I know they are not human, but they have feelings too. How must it make them feel to know they are not wanted.
The most ironic part of this story is that Cambridge voted themselves in as a sanctuary city for illegal aliens last year. Residents were interviewed after the vote and talked about how proud they were of their city. Now less than a year later we find out they are closet doggie bigots.
You can read the whole story here.
While Mitt Romney was governor of Massachusetts he never took a paycheck. Now he is considering making the same pledge if he is elected president:
speaking with reporters, Romney said he would likely accept the presidential salary of $400,000 annually but donate the money.
“I haven’t really thought ahead that far,” Romney said at first. “There are some questions I haven’t forecasted, perhaps because that would seem presumptuous of me.”
Then, he added: “I presume I would take the salary and then I would donate at least that amount – or more – to charity.”
Memorial Day Protests-Thank you John Edwards
John Edwards asked people to go out over the Memorial Day weekend and protest the Iraq War. What a great way to honor the fallen. Not.
I reported this story this morning. It is about flags that were put up around the town of Natick in honor of our fallen heroes. They were stolen and burned in a trash compactor.
Thank you John Edwards.
Now we have this story from lasvegassun.com:
Vandals burned dozens of small American flags that decorated veterans’ graves for Memorial Day and replaced many of them with hand-drawn swastikas, authorities said Monday.
Forty-six flag standards were found empty and another 33 flags were in charred tatters Sunday in the cemetery, authorities said. Swastikas drawn on paper appeared where 14 of the flags had been.
Members of the American Legion on this island off Washington’s northwest coast replaced the burned flags with new ones Sunday afternoon.
The vandals struck again on Memorial Day after a guard left at dawn, the San Juan County sheriff’s office said. This time, the vandals left 33 of the hand-drawn swastikas.
“This is not an act of free speech. This is a crime,” Sheriff Bill Cumming said in a statement released Monday afternoon.
Investigators believe there’s more than one culprit, based on the number of flags that were vandalized, Cumming said in a telephone interview. But authorities have no suspects, he said.
The sheriff said deputies were trying to lift fingerprints off what little physical evidence they were able to recover.
How dispicable is this? Words can’t describe this kind of action.
Thank you John Edwards. And then there is this:
In what one cop called a “disgraceful” show of disrespect, two 13-year-old boys were arrested yesterday after allegedly pelting eggs at the town’s Memorial Day ceremonies.
They hit war veterans and members of the color guard who were marching in a parade, police said.
Officers chased the two suspects to a house, where they were arrested. One officer said the disturbing attack was planned in advance.
This may be just a case of teenage pranksters, but it shows an unbelievable amount of disrespect for men and women in the military. Not to mention no respect for their elders. I have two boys, aged 15 and 12 and they would never even think of trying something like this. I have to question these youth’s upbringing. It doesn’t bode well for future generations when our youth show this kind of disrespect towards their elders, never-mind the people who have dedicated their lives toward protecting our country.
Thank you John Edwards, you asked for these protests over Memorial Day weekend and you got them. You must be so proud. I mean you called for this and your minions responded. You must be parading around you mansion right now with your chest puffed out. The feeling of accomplishment must make your day.
Not many people could ask for protest on the day that is meant to honor fallen heroes who died for our freedoms, and feel proud about it. But I’m sure you do.
What else would you expect from a trial lawyer.
Thank you John Edwards
Cindy Sheehan Steps Down
The funny thing here is, what the hell is she resigning from? She has no job, she is a professional protester.
She does get one thing right in her resignation letter though, and that’s how quickly the left turned on her when she decided they weren’t ending the war fast enough. She started to focus her attention away from President Bush and started focusing it on the newly elected Democrats. That’s when the far left said woah, woah, woah,….wait a minute here, you can’t hold us to the same standards as the president.
She was then abandoned. They want to end the war, but more importantly they want to do more Bush-bashing.
Isn’t it funny how when she was protesting the president the media had Sheehan-mania, we saw her every move, you couldn’t turn the TV on without seeing her, but when she started going after the Democrats she wasn’t seen on television any more?
She goes on to say:
Good-bye America …you are not the country that I love and I finally realized no matter how much I sacrifice, I can’t make you be that country unless you want it.
Unfortunately I think she is wrong here. I think we have become the country she wanted, weak and soft. She just hasn’t see the so called benefits it will reap us yet.
Good-bye Cindy, we hardly knew you.
Yesterday, Memorial Day, I made a decision not to post anything. I re-posted a video tribute to the troops that I originally posted on Saturday so that it would be the top post all day on Memorial Day. Just my little way of honoring those who died fighting for our country.
However, I found it very difficult not to post when I read this.
I fought off the urge to comment on this until today. I felt that if I wrote about this on Memorial Day I would be playing right into their hands. I would be helping them politicize Memorial Day, which I refuse to do. I would actually be justifying their actions in a way.
A trash compactor was found on fire in Natick, Ma. early Friday morning. It contained decorative flags that were placed around the town for Memorial Day. Someone stole the flags and burned them.
BOSTON — Natick police said they were searching for whomever stuffed decorative American flags in trash receptacles around the town square and set them on fire.
Authorities said an off-duty officer noticed a trash receptacle on fire in a Natick park near the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority station at about 4 p.m. on Thursday.
“I will tell you — I was very, very upset about this. This area, this park, Moran Park, is considered sacred ground by the veterans here in Natick,” veteran John MacGillivray said.
“I am aware that people have a right to protest, but they don’t have a right to take property that doesn’t belong to them and that’s here to honor the veterans. It is a disgrace,” MacGillivray said.
To say it’s a digrace doesn’t even begin to explain how I feel about this. I really don’t think I can put it into words. They are taking a holiday meant to honor lost heroes, fighters of our freedom, defenders of our country, and using it to protest the Iraq War.
They are using one of the very freedoms that soldiers(soldiers we are supposed to be honoring) died defending, to show utter disrespect for those soldiers and our country. Can you image what these heroes could possibly be thinking right now if they could see this? They would not believe what America has turned into.
This just shows an utter contempt for the military that probably goes far beyond the war in Iraq.
John Edwards asked people to go out and protest this Memorial Day weekend, he asked people to show their opposition to the war by dishonoring the veterans who died for our right to protest. Now he seems to have gotten what he wanted. I’m sure somewhere John Edwards will see this story and smile. This is the type of people he is playing to, hell, this is the type of people all the Democrat candidates are playing to. It’s their base, and it’s reprehensible, despicable,deplorable,disgusting, unconscionable, and many other adjectives I can’t think of right now. One thing that it is not is patriotic, as the left would have us believe.
So, how did local veterans react to this?
A veterans group said it would properly dispose of the flags.
With the class and dignity you would expect from our courageous military personnel. Whoever did this is a coward, hiding under the cover of night, nameless and faceless, showing his hatred for our military. It kind of shows you the contrast between someone who would commit this crime in the name of protest against America, and the people who volunteer to defend America.
Those responsible for the vandalism face felony charges for destruction of property for destroying the flags and damaging the trash compactors.
I hope they catch the bastards responsible for this and prosecute them. However this is Massachusetts we are talking about, so even if they catch them they will go light on them.
Memorial Day Tribute Video
Thank you.
New Hampshire Reps.Carol Shea-Porter(D-NH) and Paul Hodes(D-NH) Vote Against the Troops
This is an editorial from the New Hampshire Union Leader, the author is uncredited:
So New Hampshire’s two new congressmen are “for the troops,” eh? That’s what they told us, even as they sought to put dangerous troop-withdrawal deadlines on a larded-up military funding bill that probably drew as much political support for its Democratic pork as for its military spending.
Well, the proof of the pudding is in the eating and if any Granite Staters are still swallowing our Congress pair’s “for the troops” hogwash, we feel sorry for them.
For when the much-needed funding bill was finally passed last week — shorn of its insane deadlines — Carol Shea-Porter and Paul Hodes voted AGAINST the troops and against the bill.
Apparently — no, make that CLEARLY — these two would rather deprive America’s and New Hampshire’s fighting forces of much-needed munitions and equipment than be seen supporting President Bush’s request on anything having to do with Iraq.
Their willingness to put domestic politics above the needs of our combat forces is truly astonishing.
Very well said by this author. It amazes me that our representitves can say they support the troops while voting against funding the troops. How can you support them if you don’t want to send the money over there to support them?
Major Tax Hike Possible in New Hampshire
This is an editorial from the New Hampshire Union Leader, the author was not credited:
TAXES, FEES and spending are all going up in New Hampshire now that the elected branches of government are controlled by Democrats. As the spending is going up fastest, we are being set up for a major tax increase.
Charles Arlinghaus, New Hampshire Union Leader columnist and president of the Josiah Bartlett Center for Public Policy in Concord, released an analysis of the House-passed budget on Thursday that ought to scare senators into breaking out their budget-cutting scissors. Arlinghaus estimates that this year’s budget could contain a more than $1 billion hole that would have to be filled by future tax hikes.
He estimates that revenues will be short of expectations by between $151.5 million and $235.8 million, while spending is between $665 million and $885 million over budget. That makes for a total shortfall of between $816 million and $1.12 billion. And that is after the House already voted for $185 million in tax and fee increases.
The bulk of the shortfall comes from the House definition of adequate education. The bill defining that term commits the state to providing certain school services, including kindergarten, but does not include the cost. Legislators say they’ll get to that later.
Later will be too late. Once the bill is passed, the state will have to pay for whatever it mandates, no matter the cost. Arlinghaus’ estimates range from $620 million to $840 million.
Such financial irresponsibility is appalling. And it is not just happening at the state level. In Manchester, the Democratic majority on the board of aldermen passed a budget that will create a hole of up to $9 million next time around because, like the state budget, it obligates the city to spend far more in future years than the tax base is prepared to provide.
New Hampshire, with its history of frugality and smart spending, is about to learn what it’s like to be grossly, incompetently irresponsible with money. Welcome, everyone, to Blue Hampshire.
You got what you wanted New Hampshire voters. I hope you are happy.
