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Co-founder of GraniteGrok, my concern is around Individual Liberty and Freedom and how the Government is taking that away. As an evangelical Christian and Conservative with small "L" libertarian leanings, my fight is with Progressives forcing a collectivized, secular humanistic future upon us. As a TEA Party activist, citizen journalist, and pundit!, my goal is to use the New Media to advance the radical notions of America's Founders back into our culture.

Uh-oh! Did somebody forget to pay their domain registration bill?

BUMPED from 6/6/2012.  Moron. Better stuff coming back in a while – VOTE Bill Kuch!

Somebody wasn’t paying attention to details, were they?  It does happen – and it more often than some folks will admit to.  However, this is not what I expected to see when I went over to David Boutin’s NH Senate campaign site:

And yes, there are some things that were promised and the stark truth of votes taken.  Right, Left, or somewhere in Squishland, all politicians have a record and it isn’t just other politicians that look at those records.

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NH Firearms Coalition “you’re anti-gun if you don’t play by our rules” – survey results

You can go look at their results over at their website listing the candidates sorted which race, what district, and what “grade” they received.  Right now, I’m only concentrating on the aggregate result as I think it will bear my hypothesis out – lots of sturm und drang and not a lot “there” there for usable information.  For instance:

Who actually filled out their survey?

  • Republicans:  170
  • Libertarians:  4
  • Democrats:    133

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Republican elected officials demanding overrides on SB 365 and 446 so that taxpayers have to pay more

So why are NH State Senators Bob Guida and Kevin Avard (among others, like Jeb Bradley – and hasn’t he monkey’d with our electrical enough to realize what a total hash he’s made of it?) throwing mains pillars of the Platform into a woodchipper? From the NH Constitution:

[Art.] 2. [Natural Rights.] All men have certain natural, essential, and inherent rights among which are, the enjoying and defending life and liberty; acquiring, possessing, and protecting, property; and, in a word, of seeking and obtaining happiness. Equality of rights under the law shall not be denied or abridged by this state on account of race, creed, color, sex or national origin.

Our money is our property.  Sure, we give up certain things for a limited government, but is it the Proper Role of Government to continually act as a forceable transfer of said wealth because JOBS?  Add to that, these from the NH GOP Platform:

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Quick Thought – a really important piece of journalistic information about the Berlin

From Steve’s post on Woodburn’s Posse and intellectual honesty (or not as the case might be), this caught my eye:

It might also be useful to point out that the Berlin Daily Sun has reporters who are members of the Democrat party, in elected positions. By all accounts, these reporter-party insiders are on the Greiner-Woodburn side of ‘this mess’ while the Berlin Daily Sun is trying to unseal the arrest records.

So when they tell you they are “objectively” reporting the news….yeah, well, you get my drift. The MSM writ tiny – “just trust us – we’re JOURNALISTS!”. Go read Steve’s post for the fuller context but I thought this needed to be on the front page. Especially as it is further proof that the rampart of our “culture” have been captured by the Left posing as being in the middle – center.

Question:

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Data Point – U.S. Workers Report Highest Job Satisfaction Since 2005

Just more than half of U.S. workers—51%—said they were satisfied with their jobs in 2017, the highest level since 2005, according to a new report from The Conference Board, a business-research group. Over the past seven years, Americans report feeling better about their pay along with a greater sense of job security, both features of an … Read more

Quick Thought – Gosh, TMEW asks the same thing!

Doesn’t matter where I’m going, she’ll often ask.  If she knows if the area is not a great one, she definitely asks (reformatted, emphasis mine):

This morning, in light of recent events, Bobbi replied to my “I’m headed out” with “Do you have a gun?”  She was asking out of genuine concern, and so I did not reply sardonically with “I’m wearing pants, aren’t I?” or “Am I in the secure area of an airport?” But I’m not carrying a gun because I’m afraid. I’m carrying a gun because carrying a gun is what I do. If I’m dressed, there’s a Gen4 Glock 19 on my person, whether I’m at home or out and about.

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Data Point – I hope this doesn’t continue on this slope

U.S. consumer spending extended gains into July and inflation rose to a six-year high, reflecting economic strength that should keep Federal Reserve policy makers on track to keep gradually raising interest rates. Purchases, which account for about 70 percent of the economy, rose 0.4 percent from the prior month for the second straight time, matching … Read more

Deep down, this is NOT about guns

Progressives are all about taking freedoms away either by having Bigger Government that makes the “right” decisions “for us” that they don’t ever believe we’d make or just outright taking things away completely so that we have no chance to make a decision at all.  “You can only buy the healthcare we allow you to!” was their rally cry for Obamacare – their “justification” was that we all are too stupid to know what is good for us.  “You can’t invest in that” for some industries or companies at all unless you are a “qualified” investor says Government bureaucrats (“we know your money better than you do!”).

US Senator Ted Cruz (R-Texas) is running for re-election against uber-Progressive Beto-O’Rourke and things are getting heated:

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Grok 3.0 – It’s almost time!

Web-under-constructionWe’ve been waiting a long time for this and, finally, it’s almost here.  A lot of background work has been done by Perceptions Studio and yesterday was a massively long prototyping session as to how it will all fit together.  We think 

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Underreported story of the week: American-Mexican bilateral trade deal

“…Both the U.S. and Mexico have removed trade barriers, eliminated tariffs and subsidies…”

My, my – it looks like the use of tariffs as an economic tool (when wielded correctly) is actually having a positive result.  As a Free Trader, if nationally based and anti-free trade tariffs and subsidies are eliminated, this can only be a good thing! Conservative Treehouse has a good synopsis of the intent and result of this decision announced earlier this week on the re-negotiation of the Mexican part of the NAFTA treaty – and note the note about Canada’s unwillingness (emphasis mine):

Under the original 1993 terms and Chapter 22 of the Implementation Act, Lighthizer notifies congress that trade parties have modified the terms; this is the Section 2202 notification of modification. Ninety days after the date of the notification the U.S. and Mexico can sign the new terms of agreement; congressional approval is not required. [Canada can still join the U.S-Mexico agreement but they need to act fast.]

If Canada refuses to join the agreement Lighthizer will follow-up the 2202 modification notification with a Section 2205 notice dissolving the U.S. from the 1993 agreement with Canada; the dissolution is official six months from the date of notification. During the 6 month period, before official dissolution, the U.S. and Canada can enter into new negotiations for a separate bilateral trade agreement.

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Quick Thought – but what about all those campaign promises?

Sheesh – backslapping for the sake of backslapping? I guess that the “Right side of the most august legislative body in the world” didn’t really want to listen to Glenn Reynold’s (of Instapundit fame) maxim:

“Legislate like there’s no tomorrow, because there might not be one. And if they did, the increase in voter enthusiasm could make all the difference in November.”

They didn’t follow it when they started the session, didn’t follow it in mid-stream, and haven’t followed it EVAH! They couldn’t even pass their most vaunted promise – “We’ll repeal Obamacare!”.  Sure, they did Tax Reform and they’ve “consented” to Trump’s conservative judicial nominations.  But did they, after a few years of having the majority, return to “regular order”? How much and how hard did they really work in getting the GOP Agenda into practice and into law?

The Senate adjourned this week amid self-administered backslaps for “working hard during August” (they worked a grand total of 6.5 days) and donning self-congratulatory laurels as they praised themselves for implementing “major Republican priorities.”

Really, 6.5 days?  That’s a lowly

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Gunstock Ski Area is not a Proper Role of Government

Nor is the State of NH’s monopoly on alcohol either that’s for another post.  What is said below by a senior member of the Belknap County Delegation that oversees the financial aspect of the County owned Gunstock Ski Area is part of the reason why Government should stick to doing things that Govt (which should be a rather small subset of what they actually do today) and shouldn’t be running and in charge of businesses.  The backstory is that Gunstock, located in and owned by Belknap County, wanted things to be “as usual” and in this case, a $600,000 loan.  The county delegation said enough was enough and voted no.  We see an example of  “the local swamp” which mirrors not only the mindset of DC (“business as usual – don’t disturb us!”) but at other local levels as well:

Rep. Frank Tilton, R-Laconia, said the decision not to authorize the revenue anticipation note was short-sighted. “This is basically earth shaking and interfering with how they do business,” he said. “They’ve been working without it this summer and are in bad shape. “Six people are undercutting Gunstock. Their whole mindset is, ‘Don’t spend a penny,’ but businesses have to invest.”

Best comeback:

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Isn’t that what it’s supposed to be? A deterrent? – Part 2

Earlier I pointed out that the high penalty for violating SB3 is $5000 which is being used as an argument against allowing the law to come into force (“The $5,000 fine is financially crushing to college students“).  This was pointed out as part of the Democrat testimony against SB3 (reformatted, emphasis mine):

Recent UNH graduate Doug Marino, now working as a volunteer in the Congressional campaign of Democrat Chris Pappas, testified as to his experience in recruiting student voters on campus.  “I believe it (SB3) will deter students from voting. College students as it is are extremely busy, particularly first-year students, who are in a new place or on their own for the first time,” he said. “Even those who may want to register to vote may be wary of doing so if they have to sign a document that could potentially carry legal penalties.”

Especially if they are lying?

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Alan Bershtein – candidate for NH State House, Rockingham County 2 (Candia, Deerfield, Nottingham)

Having spent my entire career in the private sector, I finally have the honor of seeking public office. I have never run for public office before, so this is my first rodeo! I have reached a point in my life where I can devote the time and energy to something for which I truly have great passion. My wife Deirdre and I are empty-nesters. Our home is in the beautiful and bucolic town of Nottingham. I am seeking to represent Candia, Deerfield, and Nottingham in the New Hampshire House of Representatives. My goal is to earn your vote in the September 11th Republican primary and then in the November 6th general election. As I have campaigned door-to-door daily, so many of you have graciously invited me into your homes. It is inspiring to listen to your issues and concerns and this continues to motivate me to be the best representative of our communities.

Professional Career
After earning my bachelor’s degree in

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Data Point – 2nd Quarter GDP revised upwards

Economists expect growth to slow to a still solid 3 percent annual rate the rest of the year, resulting in full-year growth of 3 percent for 2018. It would be the best performance since 2005, two years before the Great Recession began. The 4.2 percent annual growth that the government estimated for last quarter is the … Read more

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