GraniteGrok

Starting Saturday morning at 9 am!

 As usual, this week's broadcast version of GraniteGrok and Now!Hampshire.com 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)

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• Mark Holden is the President of the New Hampshire/Vermont Chapter of the Associated Builders and Contractors, Inc. Writing in an op-ed published in the Union Leader back in September, Mark told us that the Federal Department of Labor has ordered that the new $35 million Job Corp Center Project in Manchester NH benefit only union contractors, workers and their families by requiring the use of a Project Labor Agreement (PLA).

 There's a bit of new news regarding this matter, which has caught some national attention thanks to a story in the Washington Times.

North Branch Construction, a Concord, N.H.-based general contractor and member of the business group Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC), filed a bid protest this week with the Government Accountability Office, claiming the PLA "unduly restricts competition."

"PLAs are special-interest handouts that deny taxpayers the accountability they deserve from government contracts," said Ken Holmes, president of North Branch Construction.

Mark will discuss the details, and point out that these rules basically prevent New Hampshire companies from getting a chance to even bid on the project. Some "stimulus," huh? As noted on their website, this amounts to "compulsory unionism."

• Last Sunday we linked to an interesting article in the Washington Examiner by Diana West on "how to 'lose' Afghanistan and win the war."

And what war would that be? Since 9/11, the answer to this question has eluded our leaders, but it remains the missing link to a cogent U.S. foreign policy.

It is not, as our presidents vaguely invoke, a war against "terrorism," "radicalism," or "extremism"; and it is not, as the current hearts-and-minds-obsessed Afghanistan commander calls it, "a struggle to gain the support of the [Afghan] people."

It is something more specific than presidents describe, and it is something larger than the outlines of Iraq or Afghanistan. The war that has fallen to our generation is to halt the spread of Islamic law (Shariah) in the West, whether driven by the explosive belts of violent jihad, the morality-laundering of petro-dollars, or decisive demographic shifts.

Diana lays out the steps we MUST take if we're going to ultimately win this thing-- meaning the war against Sharia, not some nation-building stint in the Islamic World. What other choice do we have, but victory? The alternative is to submit... West lays out some hard realities and solutions. One wonders if our country can ever summon up the will... and the right leadership necessary to cary it out. I have my doubts. We'll ask her what she thinks... One thing's for sure- she doesn't think McChrystal's strategy will win the day in Afghanistan.

• Doug 'n Skip kick around a few random topics... Yeah, we're not ashamed to admit we're NOT Nobel Prize winners. Could it be the world's consolation prize to Obama to make up for not granting him and his Chicago cronies the Olympics? And what about the cool million bucks? Can a president take that money? Could this help replenish that Obama-money being handed out to the homeless?

• Jennifer Rubin, writing at Commentary Magazine's Contentions Blog last week (BEFORE Obama landed his Nobel Farce Prize) noted, following the failed Chicagoland Olympic bid:

Observers were convinced that the deal to give it to Chicago was set, because no president would go—and no staff would let him go—to Copenhagen to be humiliated, right? Uhh, no. They hadn’t a clue and they had no game plan. They played roulette with the president’s prestige—and lost.

Could it be that there is less to Obama and his team of geniuses than we were led to believe? Maybe Obama’s domestic and foreign-policy agenda is all based on wishful thinking...

Gulp! Is this any way to run a country?

Jen also wrote of some interesting points being raised by, of all people, Lanny Davis, regarding the Obama Administration's bass-ackwards Honduran policy. A long-time MTNP Radio fave, Jen Rubin contributes to the American Spectator, Human Events, Commentary Magazine.com's Contentions blog, along with a host of other excellent magazines, websites, and news organizations.

• And of course, ===============>> Your calls are encouraged at 603-527-1490.

WHEW! 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 results are in. MTNP Radio BLOWS AWAY the competition!