GraniteGrok

Starting Saturday morning at 9 am!

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As usual, this week's broadcast version of GraniteGrok and AnkleBitingPundits brings an array of items and guests for your consideration-- ALL STARTING AT 9AM! As always, thanks to the technical wizardry and analytical skills of Skip, if you are beyond the broadcast area of Newstalk 1490 WEMJ, simply click here for instructions on how to connect and listen on the Internet via livestream. (Podcasts here)

• Earlier this week, Erik Taylor sent out a link to this editorial in the Citizen newspaper (Laconia, NH) regarding the proposed gas tax holidays in the news. Since we happen to think that this is a good idea for more than the obvious reasons, and Erik disagrees, we invited him on to debate the issue in the "no sandbag zone" that is MTNP. Erik is Managing Partner of Elevare Communications based in Concord, NH.  Over the past decade, Erik has managed substantial legislative initiatives and issue advocacy campaigns on matters dealing with transportation policy, health care, tort reform and economic development.   In addition, he has been active in state and federal political campaigns, and formerly served as chairman of the Carroll Country Republican Committee.

• Among our greatest pet peaves here at the 'Grok are Republicans that don't act as such and give the Party as a whole a bad name. Erick at Red State had an interesting post on one such example. As Skip noted in this post, there are more examples of this than we wish there were right here in New Hampshire. The gang discusses Republicans acting badly. Sigh...

• More from the "Why Johnny Can't Read" files... From the St. Helena Star: 

On Friday students gathered at Carpy Field with their umbrellas before marching through downtown and arriving back at Carpy Field, where they had a hamburger lunch. On the way students flashed peace signs and some could be heard chanting, “No more war.”

Don't worry, though, because it's all thanks to St. Helena's

adoption of the International Baccalaureate program, which teaches students how to be a part of a global community.

Got that? We'll do a quick segment on this latest educational fad starting to spread here in NH in order to whet the listeners' appetites for upcoming programs where we'll explore the subject in greater depth with both those who are promoting the International Baccalaureate Programme (IB) and those dedicated to stopping it.

• Mike Biundo is the Chairman of the New Hampshire Advantage Coalition, a group which sees its mission as sending

a message to lawmakers on all levels that the only way to keep our low-tax advantage is to hold the line on spending. 

Mike and his group have been all over the news lately spreading that message with two initiatives that seek to do just that: hold the line on spending. First, his group has organized an effort to bring tax caps to Manchester, Concord, Merrimack, and Rochester. In addition, as reported by John DiStaso in Thursday's Union Leader,

 As charter amendments calling for Consumer Price Index-based property tax caps are filed in four communities, with seven more community filings planned, the group next week will ask state and local officials and candidates to sign a pledge not to vote for any spending increase beyond the CPI rate.

We like this part, because, while we can't have a chartered tax cap here in our town because, well, we don't have a charter, we CAN pledge to limit spending increases. This promises to be a great interview.

• Another education funding amendment? The gang throws in its two-cents.

• This Tuesday brings the latest chapter in the ongoing story of the disaster that is the Belknap County budget process with a public hearing for a proposed supplemental buudget. Yep- less than a month since the default budget was approved for the county, the politicians, led by the Republican-dominated delegation and commissioners, are coming back for more, and they make NO apologies. We'll preview the situation, and beg our "leaders" to control spending rather than take more of our money.

Think we'll get it all in? Tune in and find out! It all starts at 9AM EST Saturday. Tune in if you're in Central NH at NewsTalk 1490AM WEMJ or live on the 'Net here... The best radio (in our humble opinions) anywhere...