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.
Following Pam Tucker and DJ Bettencourt, Bill O’Brien spoke for about 30 minutes on the budget, jobs, creating a pro-business environment here in NH, reforming public pensions, the process of redistricting, and a new site, ConcordFactCheck.org:
Last night, GraniteGrok went to the reception for Ovide Lamontagne. It is our understanding that about 80 odd folks had RSVP’d but by my count, over 160 were in the room as the evening’s proceedings played out. The downside to trying to live stream the event was that Windows 7 just would not attach to the WiFi at the hotel (as usual with all things Microsoft, reboots fixes most all ills). The upside is DaTechGuy showed up with his lovely bride so we were able to have some chit-chat in between everything (and we did a bit of a GrokTALK! commentary which I will post later once I process the audio from the evening. He also posted up some pictures and interviews here (even got my good side!).
Jeff Chidester served as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening – and given he is a political activist himself, he can always add “commentary quips” that most cannot. In this clip, NH State Senator Jim Luther gave the invocation, Di Lothrup lead us all in the Pledge, and the Peters children played their violins “My Country ‘Tis of Thee”:
One of the speakers in favor of Ovide’s candidacy was Sandra Ziehm – video after the jump:
Following on the heels of the Intro Ceremonies and speech by Sandra Zimm, ‘Grok (and personal) friend, Jack Kimball, was the Keynote speaker of the night. Previously having endorsed Ovide, he gave one of his classic stemwinder of a speech:
Well, if the reception was for Ovide Lamontagne (thrown by Grokster Mike and Mar-Mar Rogers), it would be great and fitting for Ovide to speak, and indeed, he did. Topics centered on his background, his guiding philosophies, and how he would carry out the duties and responsibilities of NH Governor:
So, you think this is a new thing just because Project Veritas decided to release a video? One of the main complaints from Conservatives here in NH is that out-of-state students at our in-state Universities vote improperly. Even as the major news outlets now have “crying in their cups” politicians going “Oh, mea culpa – … Read more
“Was the tea party movement, if we don’t nominate a conservative tea party candidate, much of a success?” said Skip Murphy, a tea party activist in New Hampshire. “My main goal is to beat Obama. If we stop the progressive administration and start to move toward more conservative values in this government, that’s something. It’s taken years to get where we are, and it’s going to take years to turn this around.”
And he also quoted fellow TEA Party activists Jerry DeLemus, Jane Aitken, Ken Eyring, and Brad Winslow. In fact, the quote from Brad reinforced what I had been trying to emphasize with the reporter, Wayne Slater :
Brad Winslow, a software designer from Salem, agreed that while the tea party might fall short in putting a staunchly conservative budget hawk in the White House, its impact would be felt in local and state politics.
“We’re changing school boards and we’re getting local officials elected. Certainly at the state level of New Hampshire, we’ve made gains,” he said. “Have we solved our problems with RINOs [Republicans in name only]? … It’s going to take a while to weed that out.”
Get that last part? About “We’re changing school boards and we’re getting local officials elected. So true.
The knock on the Presidential Primary campaign is “oh, the TEA Party is broken and old news” because there is no clearly identifiable TEA Party candidate in the running (a la Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL). The Republican Establishment is happy, the Left is saying ‘whew!” and the media is supporting both. Yet, all three are missing the point of what the TEA Party is and what it is all about.
Earlier this evening, I had the opportunity to talk with James O’Keefe of Project Veritas concerning the NH First In The Nation Voter Fraud video that has gone viral in the blogosphere and has ignited a firestorm of commentary and angst here in NH (and of course, we have commented upon it all starting here … Read more
All we’ve heard from Occupy Wall Street and their enablers in the Progressive / Democrat camps (and the MSM that supports them all) is how we all hate the “growing income inequality gap” here in the US. Really? Look at this chart from Gallup. So, as I have learned to read charts like this … Read more
Well, look at the slope! Which one is trending upward faster? That would be the GREEN line. Oh look – what event happened in early 2009, I wonder…. (H/T: The Enterprise Blog)
William Tucker over at Boo-hoo Hampsters is trying to make the case that the TEA Party is done and going (to which I have some remarks here):
An NBC News/Marist poll released late Friday showed that for the first time, 53 percent of likely Republican primary voters said they are not supporters of the tea party, while 40 percent said they are supporters and seven percent were unsure.
OK, given the rain of call of “extremists!” (er, simply for wanting to actually following our Constitutions??) by the Progressives / Liberals / Democrats, I could see where there was some erosion of support. But given that self-identifying Liberals only make up 20% of the population and self-identifying Conservatives has been climbing to now reach 40%, I’ll take that!
Live from the Crown Plaza – just getting on the Internet now so we join the event in progress. Live video from your iPhone using Ustream Also, DaTechGuy just came in and he is tweeting away as well. Presently, Jack Kimball (who has already endorsed Ovide) is introducing Ovide with another one of his stemwinder … Read more
OK, still playing catch up from last Friday’s Hillsborough County Republican Presidential event (start here and work “upwards” to see all the video). I had my full kit there for video (live stream camera, recording camera, FlipCam – and thanks to Grokster Mike with Plan B for streaming with his MiFi device) and audio (headsets, … Read more
Updated and bumped: The video is now embeddable, so embed I shall! The video, being brand new, is not yet embeddable on the ‘Grok just yet (C-SPAN generally waits about a week before “releasing” stuff like this). However, here’s the link: Washington Journal 1/7/2011. Nicely done!
As is my practice when I go to most political events, I ask a number of folks that I know to “stop on by” when I have set up all the equipment and can do either a live stream, a recorded video, or an audio interview. Heck, I will talk to anyone! And at last … Read more
A friend of mine sent me this email missive from Maggie Hassan (candidate for the Democrat nomination for NH Governor):
Dear Friend,
After watching the GOP Primary, I got tense thinking about all of the damage some of these candidates could do to progressive causes and values across the country.
That’s why we need President Obama to stand strong.
At home, progressive values face the most serious threat in years. We need to stand strong right now as well. Please support our campaign financially today to make sure we stand strong as Granite Staters.
If Bill O’Brien and his extremist friends control all three branches of our government there is no telling the amount of damage they could do. Consider, they have already:
Overriden the Governor’s veto to allow parents to opt their child out of ANY public school class if they don’t like the material that is being taught for ANY reason
Tried to repeal the law that protects our environment and limits the impact of greenhouse gases across all of New England
Tried to repeal public employee collective bargaining rights and passed so-called “right to work” legislation.
Organized to repeal marriage equality.
Tried to repeal kindergarten and compulsory education altogether.
Repealed the minimum wage.
Cut cigarette taxes.
Canceled the state’s contract with Planned Parenthood for birth control.
Extremist? Really? Now, as I said here, I’m willing to talk with anyone, including Progressive Democrats – and be nice too! But really – extremist? Of course I have some thoughts….
In response to a Letter to the Editor in the Daily Sun (P. 4) today, i sent in this response (original Letter after the jump):
I actually wonder why there is not more discussion of theology in “public square”, Mr. Carey. After all, it was the philosophy of Judeo-Christian theology that gave rise to the political philosophy of our Republic in which we now live. Religon, and the attendent theologies, shapes many of our individual outlooks on life, those around us, and how we conduct ourselves; in short, our personal morality. Since it is individuals that become our legislatures, it makes it more important to have those discussions. After all, they concoct our laws which form our public morality.
I got a tip just after 2pm that the story has broken that James O’Keefe’s Project Veritas has done yet another undercover investigation. First, however, let’s set the stage with what Gov. Lynch has said:
The right to vote is a fundamental right that is guaranteed to all citizens of this State under the United States and New Hampshire Constitutions. An eligible voter who goes to the polls to vote on Election Day should be able to have his or her vote count on Election Day. SB 129 creates a real risk that New Hampshire voters will be denied their right to vote.
Voter turnout in New Hampshire is among the highest in the nation, election after election. There is no voter fraud problem in New Hampshire. We already have strong elections laws that are effective in regulating our elections.
Riiiggghhhttt! Really? Who are you going to believe – Lynch and Gardner’s closed eyes or your lying eyes:
Lying eyes: as in “the same thing time after time – walk up, give some dead guy’s name, confirm the address, and get a ballot. Simple. Fraudulent.” And you watched it over and over. Project Veritas chose NH’s First In The Nation Primary to investigate voter fraud here in NH – and they certainly found a number of problems here yesterday at a number of polling places:
On New Hampshire Primary Day, Project Veritas sent a team of investigators into polling places with a list of deceased voters to see if they would be permitted to vote.
We tested more than a dozen polling places, simply walking up and stating the name of the deceased, and in all but one instance — where an alert poll worker actually knew the recently deceased — we were handed ballots.
While our investigators cast no votes and returned the ballots, there was nothing stopping our team from illegally influencing the outcome of a presidential primary.
With the 8 vote margin in the 2012 Iowa Caucus, it is clear that voter fraud can influence the outcome of an election. It is important to note that Project Veritas’ team had the ability to cast more than a dozen votes in this latest investigation.
This has gone viral in the blogosphere and I just wish that I had been able to post this up earlier – but there will be more coming!
Question 6 (which was asked by a young girl): you are going to abolish 3 Departments including the Department of Education; how are you going to replace them? I believe the underlying “gotcha” question was “and how will I get a decent education if the Feds are not involved?” (an adult formulated question, I presume):
Question 7: How will lowering corporate taxes bring back jobs to the US where many corporations already don’t pay [income] taxes?
