Skip

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.

Occupy NH – a misleading infographic

I have been following the Occupy Wall Street movement as it was seen by both the media and the Democrats like Elizabeth Warren as their version, the Left’s version, of the TEA Party.  And it landed here in NH as well by starting a meeting in Manchester and then Concord, and then back to Manchester (with a few videos done at that last one).

I had put up what I thought was the definitive infographic that pointed out the common complaint between the Occupy Wall Street folks and the TEA Partiers.  Absolutely, we agree that the problem is Greed – greedy corporations willing to pay elected officials for access and influence as well as greedy elected officials (and bureaucrats) for willingly taking (and sometimes "requesting") such monies and perks.  Greed knows no bounds, be it for money or for power.  Or in some cases, both.

Now, some might think "Skip’s turned into a broken record on this".  In some ways yes, and others, no.  You see, it is just another version of the same old political problem:

  • Some of us just want to be left alone, and want government to remain in the background, quietly umpiring the rule infractions as opposed being front and center and bossing folks into behaving in Politically Correct ways.  Do the (few) things that individuals can’t easily do and do them well.
  • Others want to, for the lack of an even more simpler explanation,  grow Government in ways that remind me of the full-of-themselves hall monitors – just on steroids (these ARE the power hungry folks that just can’t leave others alone because they don’t trust anyone else than themselves to be bright enough to run their own lives).

Now, having gotten that out of my system, notice this new infographic put up by Sherry Gould of Occupy Concord (NH, that is):

I have no doubt, having spent time at the Occupy Manchester,  that the intersection, the "Middle Ground" is a true statement.  I’m not sure that I’d agree with the right side, totally, of what this says of the beliefs of the TEA Party.  I’m quite sure that the left side does describe what the OWS believes.  The problem parts are the lower left and right corners.  

If you follow the link for Sherry, you can see the conversation.  The link to Open Secrets that Seth provides completely blows the the declared information in the lower right hand corner:

Top 10 Heavy Hitters:
ActBlue $55,745,059.00
AT&T Inc $47,571,779.00
American Fedn of State, County & Municipal Employees $46,167,658.00
National Assn of Realtors $40,718,176.00
Service Employees International Union $37,634,367.00
National Education Assn $37,051,378.00
Goldman Sachs $35,790,579.00
American Assn for Justice $34,715,804.00
Intl Brotherhood of Electrical Workers $34,292,471.00
Laborers Union $31,876,950.00
View Full List
Based on data released by the FEC on September 26, 2011.

12 of the top 20 are unions; add in ActBlue (a Left / Liberal donation aggreggator with a widget that allows folks on Left leaning sites to donate to their cause or candidate), so make that 7 out of the top 10, 13 out of the top 20, which completely shreds the point that Sherry subtly tries to make in that lower right hand corner.

I also…

 

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I guess we didn’t do too badly….

We here at the ‘Grok all support the Second Amendment – and love to exercise it!  So when Glen over at Instapundit ran this link, and TMEW and I having just "upgraded the armory", I had to go take a look at the post over at The Truth About Guns on self-defense shotguns.

Read the post, but the main points were:

Pump Action – "There are hundreds of stories of home intruders being scared away simply by the sound of a pump action shotgun being racked…Pump action shotguns have a feature that makes them ideal: reliability."

Short Barrel – The shorter the better. 18 inches is the legal minimum length for a shotgun without venturing into $200 tax land, but if you have the time and the money it might not be a bad idea to get the stamp and break out the hacksaw.

Attached Shell Holder – …Due to their massive size you can’t really load all that many into the gun at one time. So if you get into a protracted gunfight you may very quickly become screwed. The solution is simple: keep extra rounds on the gun…The other reason for a shell holder is to take advantage of both buckshot and slugs.

Pistol Grip – While the standard shotgun stock will work just fine a pistol grip makes the whole thing a lot more ergonomic.

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Occupy NH – I got onto the Ridley Report!

This is a bit late, but I just came across this video at a post at the Occupy NH forum that Dave at the Ridley Report had posted and dates from the same Occupy Manchester rally that I attended:

I was more than a bit surprised that I was recorded (around 6:30) – am usually on the other side of the lens.  Since I had already interviewed Leah earlier in the day, I started running my camera (the Flip, as I had already depleted the better camera’s battery) when I came upon her having just been insulted by Mark Provost.  After seeing where the conversation was, I decided to bounce in:

At 0:45, Mark makes the claim that OWS (two weeks into the unveiling) was twice as popular as the TEA Party.  Yeah, that was the Time poll (54-27), and if you examine how the questions asked about each were constructed, you’d understand why:

  • IN THE PAST FEW DAYS, A GROUP OF PROTESTORS HAS BEEN GATHERING ON WALL STREET IN NEW YORK CITY AND SOME OTHER CITIES TO PROTEST POLICIES WHICH THEY SAY FAVOR THE RICH, THE GOVERNMENT’S BANK BAILOUT, AND THE INFLUENCE OF MONEY IN OUR POLITICAL SYSTEM. IS YOUR OPINION OF THESE PROTESTS VERY FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE, VERY UNFAVORABLE, OR DON’T YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE PROTESTS TO HAVE AN OPINION?
  • ON ANOTHER ISSUE, IS YOUR OPINION OF THE TEA PARTY MOVEMENT VERY FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT FAVORABLE, SOMEWHAT UNFAVORABLE, VERY UNFAVORABLE, OR DON’T YOU KNOW ENOUGH ABOUT THE TEA PARTY TO HAVE AN OPINION?

Wording is VERY important when doing polling – TIME Mag (self-avowed Left leaning) basically begged that OWS got a better result than the TEA Party.  Now?  Since then, and with OWS sites breaking out in thefts, assaults, internecine warfare, money squabbles, and now riots, it has gone down:

Some other observations:

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A note to our readers: yeah, the storm nailed us too!

I apologize to our readers for not living up to our normal quantity of posts that you have come to expect over the years that the ‘Grok has been open.  Three of the five active bloggers of GraniteGrok have been affected by the aftermath of no power or internet access caused by the recent storm.  Yes, stuff happens and it sometimes happens to us.

I have been fortunate with no loss of anything (although my back has made it quite clear that it wishes to go all OWS-general strike by no longer wishing to deal with storms that dump 2 feet of snow on my property) but have been occupied (finally, as TMEW might agree) with some personal matters.  In lieu of a couple of posts, I’ll put this email that I sent to Tracy Banks (of the Banks auto dealerships in Concord, NH) and to her contact at the Banks Collision Center that fully took up all of my evening last (and thus, no posts from me last nite).  I have lightly edited it for posting – while it may not change the outcome of yesterday, it did assuage my soul in writing it:

Dear Ms. Banks,

It is not often that I get to write a letter like this as it seldom that my vehicle needs collision repair work (although this is now the second time I have had to select your repair facilities over others). Bought new from your Saab dealership, this most recent stay for my Saab 9-5 was due to a carefully done parking lot sideswipe performed upon it.

The start of this endeavor was to first deal with the insurance company. Although I had taken a video of the car when I came out of the hotel and sent the URL to my local insurance office, it still took almost a month before an adjustor could come to visually inspect the car – just to note what I had already told and showed (via YouTube) the local office. Then when I called three weeks later to see where the process was, I gently had to remind them that the insurance policy number for the other driver I had given them at first contact – was theirs, as the person who had hit the car had kindly and thoughtfully left a note with his name and number and gave that information to me when I called him. Given that we used State Farm, to use the adjective “underwhelmed” at their efficiency would be understated to describe what had not transpired for progress. Finally, after two more phone calls a couple of weeks apart, a check finally arrived – even though I had already told them that since all repair work on the Saab has been done by Tracy Banks Saab over the years, this would be handled by TBS as well.

Well, with all that insurance "pre-work" nonsense completed, I finally was able to contact Tracy Banks Saab who transferred me to the Banks Collision Center to set up a time to bring the car down. Thus, after working with Emily during the week of 10/17, we agreed for me to bring the Saab down from Gilford on Friday the 21st.  I even called that Friday morning to verify that everything was all set. It was during this time that I reminded Emily that I needed the car back by 11/2, at the latest, for a trip to DC starting on 11/3. “No problem, sir!”.

So imagine my surprise…

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Occupy Wall Street – showing its true roots?

From the NY Post (emphasis mine):

Some 50 Occupy Wall Street protesters saw red yesterday — giving an enthusiastic welcome to a genuine communist.

Alex Callinicos, a professor of European Studies at Kings College in London, announced to his rapt audience, “I am a Marxist.’’

Asked if the upcoming revolution can be non-violent, he parroted the party line of the demonstrators, who call themselves the 99 percent of Americans lined up against the “1 percent’’ with power and money.

He said violence could be avoided only if the “1 percent accept the decisions of the 99 percent,’’ which he predicted would never happen.

True to form, this Leftist walked up to "the line" and let his audience listen between the syllables for the true message.  If he had really been truthful, he would have simply said "yes", but just couldn’t resist the Class Envy that Marxists (and many academics) posses.

"Accept"?  The entire underlying premise of this movement can be summed up in one phrase:

They stole it.  We’re gonna take it.

(notice I didn’t say "back") That is it. Simple, isn’t it?  And that makes everything leading from that perfectly legitimate.  Prosecutor, witness, jury, and judge – Marxists love to wrap these roles all up into themselves, and he does! 

Therefore it follows, since the 1% are thieves, they should be demonized.  And once demonized, they have surely already been convicted, right?  The final step?  They, the 1%, must be punished.

However, here’s their magic key – the good Marxist Professor provides for the ultimate "out" – on your knees and beg forgiveness.  Give us what we demand, and we will let you go (yeah, we saw how this worked out in the French Revolution and the Bolshevik one as well).  Give us what you have – we’ll let you quietly go. 

This is, in their terms, what Democracy looks.  We make the demands, you acquiesce.  Just like a Jr. High bully picking on a 4th grader on the way home.  How is this any different than the mobster saying "pretty store you have here – pity if something were to happen to your Mom".

In this Marxist mindset, the 1% must be punished but again, in their minds, this "out" allows them to feel blameless if the trigger needs to be pulled (or the bat swung or knife sharpened.  And WHERE is that darn guillotine!) .

Thus, being thieves and therefore must be punished, it marches lockstep to the next which is the taking.  And the good Professor Callinicos is the one issuing the call for it.

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Notable Quote – Thomas Babington Macaulay

Just for Steve on the 17th-century Scottish Highlanders: It is not strange that the haughty and warlike MacDonalds, despising peaceful industry, yet envying the fruits of that industry, should have fastened a succession of quarrels on the people of Inverness.  In the reign of Charles the Second, it had been apprehended that the town would … Read more

Occupy Wall Street – the Supporters list!

Well, Steve had the Occupy Wall Street rap sheet.  Now in accordance with my previous post, keep this in mind:     You can tell a lot about a person by the people they keep around or, those that support them. Well, here’s a list from Big Government of those that are going all in for … Read more

“Maggie the Marxist” – she choose diapers over students??

I just shake my head at stuff like this; from the Daily Caller: “Diaper Need Awareness Day” comes on the heels of Connecticut Democratic Rep. Rosa DeLauro’s introduction of the “Diaper Investment and Aid to Promote Economic Recovery Act (DIAPER) Act,” which would provide diapers and supplies to low income families via child care providers … Read more

Let the NH Governor campaign begin (heh!)!

I have a feeling that this is gonna be a long (and fun) campaign with stuff whizzing back and forth.  It seems that Maggie Hassan is the front leader on the Democrat side (taking into account some of the undeclareds) and may well be the nominee.  Problem is, we believe her to be the antithesis of what the spirit of New Hampshire to be (and fits rather well with the Progressive mantra that Government should be as big as it has to be in order to make sure of equal outcomes vs equal opportunity (e.g., healthcare: MaggieCare, free market be damned), making sure Government gives you stuff instead of being self responsible and acting like an adult ("Diapers R NH Govt!"), and if you don’t like it, we’ll regulate your speech instead of honoring your right to free speech (HassanSpeech here and here). Live Free or Die makes no sense to the Progressive mindset.

Well, there was a spat in the Union Leader between Shrill Kathy Sullivan and Pat Hynes over that free speech (complete snippet after the jump) part:

Granite Staters will begin hearing from Hynes’ version of the Forum today when it unveils a radio ad going after the new Democratic candidate for governor, former state Sen. Maggie Hassan, just two days after she announced.The spot accuses her of supporting:

"more than 80 taxes and fee increases, including the LLC tax."

"Hassan even hatched a harebrained scheme to have state bureaucrats take control of our hospitals," the ad charges, saying "it’s no wonder" she lost a bid for reelection to the Senate last year.

Right after that, I got a "boo hoo, they’re attacking me!" email:

Dear Friend,

As you may know, I announced my campaign for governor of New Hampshire on Tuesday.  It did not take but two days for an extremist PAC to start running radio ads attacking me.

But what’s worse is that they are doing this because they want to direct attention away from an out of control legislature with an extremist agenda and the right wing gubernatorial candidates who would be a rubber stamp for their policies.

But you can help fight back against these attacks by contributing $10, $25, $100 right now.

This attack is a perfect example of what’s wrong in Concord.

Funny, during her announcement speech, you called both the Republicans and your announced opponent, Ovide Lamontagne, extremists.  So Maggie, if you are going to accuse others of inciting a food fight, it’s a done deal that you threw the first dish of chocolate ice cream.

Here’s the ad itself

This ad is extremist only if one thinks that one’s past actions (and her leadership in those actions) being read back to you. Let me give you a piece of advice – extremist is the new racist, and is entirely overused and not effective.

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I don’t want to hear another word from Mo Baxley about outside money

Ever since the Democrats so ticked off NH voters and replaced them with a super-majority of Republicans (BTW, Maggie,, the voters labeled the Democrats as the extremists ), I’ve been hearing about gay marriage being "settled law", complaints that outside money is coming in to defend traditional marriage and repeal gay marriage, and "why aren’t … Read more

Dodd-Frank: And how much innovation time does it cost?

Progressives are always all in on Government is benign and never a thought to how much Government costs the private sector (although they are always yelling about how much tax cuts, otherwise known as "allowing the money earners keeping more of what they earned, "cost" the Government. Already, Sarbanes-Oxley is costing medium sized companies in … Read more

TEA Party vs Occupy Wall Street

I ran across this at The Lonely Conservative – a perfect info-graphic showing the issue that binds the TEA Party and the Occupy Wall Street movements together…

(larger version here)

…and where they rapidly diverge on both the cause and the cure.  Sure, the problem is that of crony capitalism / corporatism:

The unholy alliance where politically connected biz people exploit politicians AND bureaucrats for both profit and advantages over their competitors, as well as the converse of politicians AND bureaucrats exploit the marketplace to both extend their political power as well as to attempt to achieve their ideological ends.

I have one more video to post from two weeks ago that aptly demonstrates this point:  The TEA Party believes that Government is too big; so big that there are too many "points of entry" for lobbyists (both for profit AND non-profits) to gain advantages that normal folks cannot.  By reducing the size of government, the number of points disappear and Government is easier to keep accountable (less "dark corners" have to be patrolled). Constitution?  The TEA Party believes that with its Checks and Balances, it is the most magnificent document ever created to protect the most radical idea ever conceived: that government exists to protect Individual Liberty and Freedom.

In essence, pushing government back into the bottle and lessening its reach – and thus making it less attractive for influence as Society re-exerts its traditional role of determining how Society will function (instead of being ruled from DC and its phalanx of bureaucrats).  Self-reliance is not an abstract idea.

OWS, while agreeing there is a problem, totally disagrees with the

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The 1% confronts the Occupy Wall Street

Tim has been putting up videos of Peter Schieff (Wall Street entrepreneur, radio host, and columnist) going down to the Occupy Wall Street encampment and trying to engagement them (and sometimes, with mixed results) here and here. Here’s a longer version of the 3 hours Peter spent at OWS, courtesy of ReasonTV (a tad over … Read more

Notable Quote – Alexis de Tocqueville

But I am of the opinion that a centralized administration is fit only to enervate the nations in which it exists, by incessantly diminishing their local spirit.  Although such an administration can bring together at a given moment, on a given point, all the disposable resources of a people, it injures the renewal of those … Read more

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