“Environmental Police” Shut Down Ice Cream Stand

Not content with banning bake sales, Massachusetts officials have shut down a local ice cream stand.

Mark Duffy, who has operated the dairy farm at the state-owned park for 26 years and has a lease with the state to run the stand, said armed Environmental Police officers showed up at stand on Friday evening and stood guard throughout the weekend, turning away customers craving delectable sundaes and frappes.

Massachusetts House Passes Bill Overturning Bake Sale Ban

A couple of days ago, I posted a story about Massachusetts schools banning bake sales. Apparently, State Representatives of both parties thought this was worth undoing:

“That is the stupidest thing I’ve seen in my career,” state Rep. Cory Atkins (D-Concord), moments after the House unanimously voted to ease the statewide cupcake crackdown. “Talk about hitting the nerve of government reaching far into people’s lives.”

State Rep. Brad Hill (R-Ipswich) offered the amendment, which leaves it up to local school committees whether to adopt the Department of Public Health rules, after hearing about an Ipswich school arts group that would have had to cancel bake-sale field trip fundraisers and fielding complaints from the local football Boosters concerned about their concession stands.

“I was outraged,” said Hill. “This is not what government was set up to do. Then when I started hearing from the groups and how this would affect different fundraising activities, it upset me even more.”

North Carolina Voters: Marriage Is Between A Man And A Woman

North Carolina’s Amendment 1, which defines marriage as being only between a man and a woman, was approved yesterday by about 61-39.

North Carolina voters approved a constitutional amendment on Tuesday defining marriage solely as a union between a man and a woman, making it the 30th state to adopt such a ban.

Massachusetts Bans School Bake Sales

Just when you thought the lefty haven of Massachusetts couldn’t get any more wacky, they come up with something like this:

Bake sales, the calorie-laden standby cash-strapped classrooms, PTAs and booster clubs rely on, will be outlawed from public schools as of Aug. 1 as part of new no-nonsense nutrition standards, forcing fundraisers back to the blackboard to cook up alternative ways to raise money for kids.

Supreme Court Appears Skeptical Of Administration Immigration Claims

It’s no wonder that Obama and his fellow travelers are trying to demonize the Supreme Court, because they appear to be set to act as a brake on his power grabs.

Supreme Court justices took a dim view of the Obama administration’s claim that it can stop Arizona from enforcing immigration laws, telling government lawyers during oral argument Wednesday that the state appears to want to push federal officials, not conflict with them.

Mia Love: Perhaps The First Black Republican Woman In Congress

Well, this should give the lefties who love to shove people into groups apoplexy:

Mia Love won the GOP nomination for the 4th Congressional District race Saturday at the Utah Republican Convention, scoring a major upset after wowing the crowd with a roof-raising speech at the South Towne Expo Center in Sandy.

The daughter of Haitian immigrants, Mrs. Love took 70.4 percent of the delegate vote, well in excess of the 60 percent required to avoid a primary runoff under Utah’s unique rules. She defeated former state legislator Carl Wimmer, who had been viewed as the heavy favorite. He mustered only 29.6 percent of the vote.

NC Democratic Party Executive Director Resigns Amid Sexual Harassment Scandal

Yet another Democrat resignation under a cloud of suspicion:

The executive director of the N.C. Democratic Party resigned Sunday as calls for his ouster mounted amid questions regarding a secret agreement to pay a former staffer to keep quiet about sexual harassment allegations.

“Moderate” Democrat Calls For Cheney’s Execution

Just to show how “moderate” a “moderate” Democrat really is (emphasis in original):

Rep. Chuck Kruger (D-Thomaston), the Democrat chair of the Maine legislature’s Moderate Caucus, used his Twitter account to express his view that former Vice President Dick Cheney should be executed. This comment has led some to question the validity of Kruger’s moderate credentials.

Kruger made the statement through his Twitter account this past summer, saying, “Cheney deserves same final end he gave Saddam. Hope there are cell cams,” a reference to technology that would allow Kruger to watch the proposed execution of the former Vice President of the United States.

Oklahoma Ultrasound Law Struck Down

Another judge sticks himself in the place of the legislature:

An Oklahoma judge on Wednesday struck down a state law requiring women seeking abortions to have an ultrasound image placed in front of them and to listen to a detailed description of the fetus before the procedure.

District Judge Bryan Dixon ruled the statute passed by the Legislature in 2010 is an unconstitutional special law because it addresses only patients, physicians and sonographers dealing with abortions and does not address them concerning other medical care.

A Weak Argument For The Individual Mandate

In today’s Washington Post, Ruth Marcus offers what she calls “116 billion reasons to be for the individual mandate.”

The most compelling sentences in the Obama administration’s brief defending the constitutionality of the health-care law come early on. “As a class,” the brief advises on Page 7, “the uninsured consumed $116 billion of health-care services in 2008.”

Romney Promised NARAL He’d Be “Moderate” On Abortion

More from the say-anything-to-get-elected candidate:

Mitt Romney was firm and direct with the abortion rights advocates sitting in his office nine years ago, assuring the group that if elected Massachusetts governor, he would protect the state’s abortion laws.

Will Democrats Attempt To Recall This Governor?

We all know how Democrats feel about politicians that try to restrict public employee unions, right? So, do you think they’ll try to recall this governor who’s trying it?

Gov. Jerry Brown will propose sweeping rollbacks to public employee pension benefits in California, including raising the retirement age to 67 for new employees who are not public safety workers and requiring state and local employees to pay more toward their retirement and health care, according to a draft of the plan obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press.

To No One’s Surprise, Romney Flip-Flopped Again Today

Talk about finger-in-the-wind politicking:

In a visit to Ohio today, Mitt Romney declined to state on his position on a high-profile referendum there on the new state law that curtails the bargaining rights of public employee unions. But earlier this year, Romney indicated support for the reforms signed by Gov. John Kasich.

Romney Follows Obama’s Lead In Blaming Others For His Own Errors

The news broke today that under RomneyCare, illegal immigrants are eligible for medical care under a program called Free Care, which is pretty self-explanatory.

This would be enough of a problem for Romney, but given how hard he’s been hammering Perry over the college tuition for illegal immigrants issue, it’s doubly dangerous, because now Romney looks like a flaming hypocrite (which he is).

The Future Under ObamaCare – Bureaucrats Demanding Families Buy Specific Coverage

Some may say it’s not fair to extrapolate from one story, but the pro-ObamaCare folks do it all the time, so turnabout is fair play:

Lauren and Nick Destito had a wonderful life in Plainville. They paid their bills and raised two sons in a lovely four-bedroom colonial that they were just eight years away from owning outright.

“Time To Kill The Wealthy” Says Email To New York Legislators

Remember all the kerfuffle over Sarah Palin’s “crosshairs”? Think that’ll be repeated with this story?

Several influential New York state lawmakers have received threatening mails saying it is “time to kill the wealthy” if they don’t renew the state’s tax surcharge on millionaires, according to reports.

“It’s time to tax the millionaires!” reads the email, according to WTEN in Albany. “If you don’t, I’m going to pay a visit with my carbine to one of those tech companies you are so proud of and shoot every spoiled Ivy League [expletive] I can find.”

Democratic NC Governor: Let’s Just Cancel The Next Election

And here I thought Democrats loved democracy. Guess not:

As a way to solve the national debt crisis, North Carolina Democratic Gov. Beverly Perdue recommends suspending congressional elections for the next couple of years.

Fined For Bible Studies

This is the kind of thing that makes me glad I left California years ago.

An Orange County couple has been ordered to stop holding a Bible study in their home on the grounds that the meeting violates a city ordinance as a “church” and not as a private gathering.

Homeowners Chuck and Stephanie Fromm, of San Juan Capistrano, were fined $300 earlier this month for holding what city officials called “a regular gathering of more than three people”.

Protecting Jobs From Government Interference Act Passes House

Speaking of HR 2587, it turns out that it’s passed the House handily.

	Yeas	Nays	PRES	NV
Republican	230	7		4
Democratic	8	179		5
Independent
TOTALS	238	186		9

A Democrat vs. NLRB

Finally, a Democrat puts his state and his constituents before party.

As the former chairman of the N.C. Democratic Party, I am not only disinclined to criticize organized labor, but am rather sympathetic to their cause. The bigger question at play, however, is not why one side of this argument pressed hard for job protection, but why the NLRB chose to deny another area’s competitive advantage?

The unemployment rate in South Carolina is 10.9 percent, the third highest in the United States. Unemployment in North Carolina is 10.1 percent. Washington State’s rate is 9.3 percent. In light of these statistics, the NLRB should not be denying job creation investment in any location, save for egregious violations of worker rights. This case does not qualify.