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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.

This Week On GrokTALK! – the after edition

While creating today’s GrokTALK! podcast, we had Dean Dr. Julianne Cooper from Liberty Harbor Academy and Josh Youseff who ran for the NH State Senate this last cycle on to talk about education. We ended up talking on a number of issues concerning education and during that discussion, I remembered this post from 2009 about then retiring NEA General Counsel Bob Chanin and read some of his words:

Despite what some among us would like to believe it is not because of our creative ideas. It is not because of the merit of our positions. It is not because we care about children and it is not because we have a vision of a great public school for every child. NEA and its affiliates are effective advocates because we have power.

…And we have power because there are more than 3.2 million people who are willing to pay us hundreds of millions of dollars in dues each year, because they believe that we are the unions that can most effectively represent them, the unions that can protect their rights and advance their interests as education employees.

…This is not to say that the concern of NEA and its affiliates with closing achievement gaps, reducing dropout rates, improving teacher quality and the like are unimportant or inappropriate. To the contrary. These are the goals that guide the work we do. But they need not and must not be achieved at the expense of due process, employee rights and collective bargaining. That simply is too high a price to pay.

Here is the clip:

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Palate Cleanser – two pictures

Two pics – one from the Hubble Telescope and the other is of 19 year old Dzhokhar Tsarnaev, one of the two Boston Marathon Bombers, when he was hiding in the boat in Watertown, MA just before he was apprehended.  This from Hubble is just gorgeous on its own:

Orion-hubble-620

This of Tsarnaev shows how good the quality of the IR camera of the police helicopter is:

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This Week On GrokTALK! – the after edition Part II

We also talked about this post from Instapundit so I figured somebody might want the text / link (emphasis mine):

So, as tactical officers, 9 deep, hang off urban military assault vehicles, they feel great. I look at those things rumbling through empty streets and feel sick.

Bad guy #2 was bleeding for 20 hours outside the perimeter the cops and FBI had set. That was a miscalculation I wouldn’t dream of second guessing, but luckily for all of us, a regular guy noticed the torn and bloody tarp on the boat parked out back and called it in. They answered the 911 call and did what was required–excellent! But if Average Joe hadn’t noticed, how long would the officials have kept the city locked down? But I expect we’ll hear how important it is that they have more domestic P.D. paramilitary, oh yeah, and that CISPA that just passed under the radar was a must.

Law enforcement has been working very hard, but how about a little recognition that this was another instance when an alert citizen rose up, without official permission or sanction, to take reasonable, effective steps?

And my response this morning was “Gee, not to take anything away from the Boston PD (et lots of al), but once again, we see that it was NOT the apparatus of the Progressive State (and make no mistake, MA is a Progressive / Democrat dominated State) that “solved the problem”, but just a regular citizen”.  Glen Reynolds links to his book, An Army of Davids, at the end of the post.  The message he is trying to send by doing so is that ordinary  technology has so empowered  regular citizens, that crowd sourcing has outstripped the often outdated notions of how Business and Government should and can act.  Indeed –  just look how Twitter and Facebook are acting as the “first responders” of the news cycle simply due to the ubiquitous presence of  ordinary citizens than specialized “professionals”.  Often, there are domain specific experts “among the crowd” that can quickly relay highly detailed observations that are far beyond the pros – and then technology makes that knowledge widespread in just a few clicks.  Ah, the disruptive force, that Internet!

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An observation: Does the Left now hate Muslims?

Quick observation: all week long, one Leftist / Progressive / Democrat has trotted out the meme that it had to be a white TEA Party extremist that set off the bombs – someone who loves a lo-cal Government struggling on a pittance.  Three examples: David Axelrod’s “hanging” innuendo of a tax day protest, Charles Pierce that it as a “patriot” because of the MA Patriot Day holiday, CNN, David Sirota – and that’s just from today’s quick run through my normal blog readings (there have been a LOT since Monday – here’s a better list).

Chalk it up to the Progressive politicization of everything where nothing is off limits. They just couldn’t wait to see what actually developed – after all, they traffic in emotion and not facts.  They were wailing before it was known if this tragedy was created by a lone wolf or an entire cell network behind this.  Yes, the Right reacted as well, but mostly AFTER the first few punches / tweets / quotes / op-eds had already been unleashed by the Left who just couldn’t constrain their hatred.  They were DYING that it be their opposition.  Not just any opposition, but those that keep them from achieving their goals.  You see, they believe they ARE the moral ground (and not just merely standing on it or holding it).  Their fevered minds believe if they can JUST show that their political opposition is as evil as they believe that are (re: that old saw that Conservatives think that Liberals are just wrong / misguided; Liberals believe Conservatives are EEEEEvil), they could convince the Middle to hate them as well.

Me?  I think it is just

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Er, back to the goose and gander again, Chuckie?

US Senator Chuck Schumer (D-NY) is at the forefront of the “immigration reform” effort now going on in DC (and yes, Marco Rubio is trying to figure out how to slide into the “useful idiot” slot in being John “bring’em all in” McCain’s wingman)..  Already, what started as 844 pages earlier in the week is now 900+.  My main sticking points are:

  • Once again, we are stuck with yet another “comprehensive” solution to fix what ails us – that’s what Progressive Schumer tells us, anyways.  Remember, part of the Progressive “state of being” is the Government knows what’s best.  Yo, this is Attempt #3 by “Smart Progressive Government” to fix, ostensibly, what an earlier version of “Smart Progressive Government” already did to “fix the problem.

Yeah, emphasis on “smart”.

  • Comprehensive – let’s translate that shall we: “We have to pass the bill to see what is in it”.  This is especially true that, once again, the Left wants to express train this puppy to a final vote

And let NOTHING stand in its way – from the Daily Caller:

WASHINGTON — New York Democratic Sen. Chuck Schumer admonished colleagues not to “try to conflate” the immigration reform bill that the Senate is considering with the bombings at the Boston Marathon, the perpetrators of which have been identified as immigrants.

“I’d like to ask that all of us not jump to conclusions regarding the events in Boston or try to conflate those events with this legislation,” Schumer said Friday at a hearing of the Senate Judiciary Committee on the immigration bill.

Translation:

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Ah yes, the IRS’s version of the Washington Monument Syndrome

When the Citizens decide to remove even a teeny tiny amount of their hard earned money from Government, the reaction is generally swift, vindictive, and done in a way to say “go ahead, and we will hurt you by taking away stuff that we really don’t have to – but we can, so we will”.  That is the Washington Monument Syndrome – let’s deprive all those families to whom a trip to DC might well be a once-in-a-lifetime moment, or a school year ending trip.  The Government turned into the Soup Nazi: no <interesting thing to visit> for you!

Now, on one hand, I don’t have ANY problem with this Washington Monument moment – or days!

The IRS will shut down entirely for five days this year in order to try to meet its slimmed-down budget under the sequesters, a labor union that represents Treasury Department employees said on Friday.

The IRS will close its doors on May 24, June 14, July 5, July 22 and Aug. 30, and employees are being told there could be two other days as well.

“On those days all public operations of the IRS will be shut down, leaving taxpayers without access to information and assistance from frontline workers,” the National Treasury Employees Union said.

Right – completely closed.  Waiting for a return?

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Yeah, food fight on the other side – and THEY have MONEY!

It was only a matter of time!  The Dems, especially here in NH, have been calling we who hew to the US and NH Constitutions (and less, the R party platform) “extremists”

Sidenote: Again, when did complying with, and using them as a perfectly good standard of quality become extremist?  Oh yeah, when the Dems (and Establishment Repubs) didn’t want you to think “is this Constitutional and the Proper Role of Government?”

for quite some time.  They also have “complained” about the lack of bipartisanship from Republicans, as we “extremists” primary out “the moderates” from working with those self-same Democrats (er, WHERE does that Overton Window now sit – closer to ideals of socialism or to the ideals the Founding Fathers?).  But what they don’t want to talk about is that they’ve been doing the same.  Ask yourself – how many “Blue Dog” Dems are still left on the national stage (er, that would be moderates on the Democrat side)?  Well guess what the Smarmy Side is about to do:

The nonprofit advocacy group backing President Obama’s second-term agenda plans to mobilize constituents against the U.S. senators who on Wednesday helped defeat a measure to expand background checks – including four members of the president’s own party.

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“Go faster? No, you shouldn’t be driving at all!”

Little CarFrom the Telegraph yesterday:

“Gov. Maggie Hassan is now the only one potentially standing in the way of the first increase in state speed limits since the 1970s.

After little debate, the state Senate approved on a voice vote raising the speed limit to 70 miles per hour for about an 80-mile stretch of Interstate 93 north of Canterbury until the border with Vermont. Currently motorists can drive up to 65 mph on this stretch of road.

…The state Department of Safety opposed the bill and critics maintain it sends the wrong message when the goal should be to increase fuel mileage and reduce unnecessary travel.

“To be encouraged to drive faster is to encourage me to burn more gas resulting in higher gas costs and more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere,” said Rep. Kenneth Grossman, D-Barrington, during debate on the measure.”

I don’t have a problem at all with upping the speed limit – but I DO have a problem with Enviro-BusyBodies arbitrarily telling ME what is necessary and what is UNnecessary for my needs – based on what THEY think is proper.

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An NH GOP State Committee Member, computer bag, and tripod walk into a Merrimack County Repub meeting……Part 2

….and voted off the island at The Draft tonite.

So tonite was the Merrimack County Republican Committee meeting and given what happened Monday night, I wanted to report on what people would be talking about, so I drove down (spent a while trying to find a parking spot)

Sidenote; Andy and Laurie, you gotta get some more parking spots!! Heh!

and went upstairs to see that the meeting was already in progress.  I quietly went to the back and set up my camera.    Surprise – apparently some people weren’t all that appreciative that media was there.  Or some Democrat tracker, 0r that it was me / GraniteGrok (I had to laugh, I’ve only been wearing that “meeting attire” of a ‘Grok shirt, cap, and vest for HOW many years now?).  Either way, it was a bit surreal thing to hears several calls that “he helps elect Democrats” (along with some derisive “that Granite Grok”) as well – I laughed. I do admit that we all try to get BETTER Republicans elected – if there is a Republican that is voting more like a Democrat, that’s what a primary is for and we take full advantage of that….but really, helping the Dems?  Only if one believes the meme of “anybody with an R next to their name IS a good Republican” and that NEVER should one Republican attack another? Sorry, we don’t believe that – for if you believe that anything is possible, well, you may find Rs voting like Ds and acting AGAINST the Republican Party Principles (and too bad if it is your friend).

Well, it certainly felt like was a bit of payback time for our pitchfork times by some who haven’t like the idea that we at the ‘Grok don’t accept that meme.

Yeah, we who try hard in defending the Party Platform (and the “brand”) with Flashlights are extremists and the bad guys – go figure that “we try to elect Dems”.

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Blogline of the Day – Obama and the TEA Party

“Ironically, the only populist mass movement on domestic-policy issues Obama can claim credit for creating is the Tea Party, which I think we can all agree isn’t what he had in mind.” Indeed – Obama has this as part of his Legacy.  Enjoy! (H/T:  The Corner)

“Shameful” there, ‘Bam? Obama just got Alinsky’d on gun control and is he mad!

What’s good for the gander should be good for the goose – only this time, it seems that the goose has had its feathers all in a dither, as the US Senate voted against the gun control bill, the Manchin/Toomey bill, went down 54-46.  Diane Feinstein’s new and expanded ban on so-called “assault weapons” (hey, I got an “assault fork” too!) and high standard-capacity magazines also was a blank at an even worse 40-60.  And Our Imperial King Obama is royally ticked off:

“All in all, this was a pretty shameful day for Washington,” Obama said, accusing the gun lobby of lying about the bill.

Aw, lying?  Really?  Hmm, this bring back any memories about truthtelling, oh LightBringer?

The Republicans plan, Obama says, boils down to this: ‘Dirtier air, dirtier water, less people with health insurance.’

I would consider this a lie as well; fear-mongering by him.  After all, Saul Alinsky dedicated his Rules for Radicals to the Father of Lies, Lucifer, and Obama is nothing if not a disciple of Alinsky.  But what is permissible to the King can hardly be extended to the serfs, can it?

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Guest post by NH State Rep. Mike Sylvia: “The Power of Words”

The Power of Words

Words are important as they transmit ideas. Santa Claus: I just stuck a fat bearded man in a red suit into your mind. Sorry, you’ll get over it soon enough. Of course, I didn’t do it by myself, you had a lot of training when you were a child to get that image of the red suited man into your head. I just used the words to conjure him up in your mind. He may have even come with some memories that you associate with him.

We use words to transmit ideas and if the person to whom you are speaking has a similar set of ideas and associations, then you’ll need fewer words to communicate your ideas or concepts. As we share ideas and reduce many words into simpler phrases, we need to be careful not to introduce a faulty concept. Sometime ideas can be intentionally twisted by a skilled propagandist; other times, a simple error enters naturally – it would be hard to tell the difference.

A lie repeated frequently whether intentionally or accidentally will appear (over time) to become the truth. Propagandists know this and use the technique. Sometimes the lies that we accept are just simple shortcuts.

We know and believe that we are created with inalienable rights; life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. We also know that the Constitution established the government with the intent of protecting our inalienable rights. You will notice here that it is the people that created the Constitution which established the government.

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Honor Your Oath rally – Ed has a good summary video

Ed runs GovernmentOversite – a site that is a labor of love in bringing citizen journalism via video to the public by going to board meeting after commission meeting after public hearing.  He was at the rally and here is his compendium of the afternoon: (H/T: GovernmentOversite)

Grafton…..and Henniker – Nothing but small town bullies

With Grokster Tim talking STBs (“Small Town Bullies”) in Grafton, and Grokster Steve has done yeoman’s work on reporting on the very sad tale of Stephen Forster’s farm and the power hungry Henniker based STBs that refuse to let a NH RSA get in their way to have their way (here, here, here, here, and here), this request for help needs to be put up. It is hard for the Individual to fight against Government at any level – the irony is that part of Stephen’s property tax money is being used to force him to abandon the fight to run his farm the way he wishes – just as NH’s RSAs allow him to do.

But uppity is uppity, and once up to that exalted state of being, uppity hates to have a down day, so the Henniker ZBA had doubled down.  Seems to be that way with bullies no matter where they are found and what strata of society they worm into.  So, Stephen is asking for assistance (emphasis mine):

STEPHEN FORSTER
FORSTER’S CHRISTMAS TREE FARM
349 Mt. Hunger Road, Henniker, NH 03242
Tel. (603) 428-8733 Cell (603) 496-0494
Email: sforster@mcttelecom.com

Dear Friends,

Re: Forster’s Christmas Tree Farm, Henniker, NH

Since February 7th, which was the rehearing to overrule the ZBA’s decision not to recognize Henniker’s zoning regulation and the State’s RSA 21:34-a that defines “Agritoursim,” we filed our final and last appeal to the ZBA on Wednesday, March 20th. Although our brief excellently defended and explicit in addressing the lame arguments made on 2/7, it was not unexpected when the ZBA denied us a rehearing after less than an hour of discussion and reinstalled the “cease and desist” against me for all activities.

Members Dr. Trivellini and Mr. Pagano were the only two people that interpreted RSA 21:34-a as intended by the Commissioner of Agriculture, and the Task Force who crafted this legislation. Member Leon Parker stated with respect to “ancillary” terminology that it is there for subjective judgment and that “some of us would make the judgment based on the amount of monies raised…” showing his intent to regulate and control the income that can be produced by a farm engaging in “Agritoursim.” That is contradictory to what the writers of the regulation meant it to be, and what has been outlined and permitted. The RSA allows other activity on a farm so that it can generate income in order to help the farm survive, as well as preserve the rural character of that farm.

Indeed – so WHAT if it is YOUR Property (you selfish person you!)?

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NH GOP Executive Board Meeting – Monday, April 15th – Part II

Well, it seem that what I wrote here about last night’s NH GOP E-board meeting pretty much happened as expected – and worse.  I’ve had a number of little birdies flying overhead and dropping little packets all day long – a seed here, another one here.  Might as well read it here, ’cause I guess those seeds may run out soon…but I digress.

Long meeting – good thing I ended up with a customer as I hate wasting time twiddling thumbs – and the meeting didn’t go short.  Those that are “merely” State Committee Members had to cool their heels for quite some time as the E-Board declared that they were out of the executive privileged session.  I guess the E-Board wasn’t too Trusting of the Members;  there was a policeman in the lobby to prevent them from entering the elevator to take them up to the conference room.  Oh, and because this was in Executive Privilege – you can’t ask for any meeting minutes (can’t have the proles knowing the goings on of their own Party, eh?).

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Belknap County Conservative Republicans!

Hear ye! Hear Ye! Calling All Conservatives! Belknap County is now home to a new political group in town, the Belknap County Conservative Republicans. This political grassroots organization is dedicated to offering conservative solutions for contemporary issues. Don Walker, one of the BCCR founders, says: “We believe that progressivism, in all of its forms, has corrupted … Read more

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