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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.

A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the NH House of Representatives – Part 1

Part 1 of a three part series of Guest Posts by the Honorable Paul Mirski, member of the NH House of Representatives (and one of the Fathers of Conservatism here in NH).  He is seeking to be the Majority Leader in the NH House of Representatives.

  • Part One concerns our mission as Republican members of the House.
  • Part Two discusses how  the Republican Caucus ought to be organized in order to use and enhance the array of skills represented within our caucus and in a way that will encourage each and every member to play a constructive and satisfying part.
  • Part Three suggests five or six overriding legislative themes and then goes on to provide a basket of  choices for legislative action that are drawn directly from our current Republican Party Platform.  If members consider all of the media focus on Tea Party initiatives over the last 18 months, they will see that those Republicans who began rewriting our platform eight years ago were well ahead of the curve.We’re ready right this minute to create change. We don’t have to go searching for ideas.

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A Presentation of Ideas Concerning New Republican Leadership in the New Hampshire House of Representatives

The 2010 elections have given New Hampshire Republicans a great gift.  That gift is the chance to start over. New Republicans must lead. We’ve not been elected to fine tune state government.  We’ve been elected to reform it.  New Republican leadership must compel the legislature to rise and fulfill the obligations and responsibilities given it by our State Constitution.  We now have strength of numbers.  We have the passion – and we now have a mandate to accomplish great things.

PART 1

OUR MISSION:

Voters have given Republicans one last chance to end expanding government, runaway spending and ever higher taxes.

Republicans been charged with responsibility for repairing the harm inflicted by recent Democrat rule. We’d better perform. Activists who worked on our campaigns have told us that if we do not reform government this coming session that they’ll never vote for a Republican again. They mean it. If we fail, we’re done.

We know intuitively that rules, laws, taxes and penalties that inhibit competition and individual expression are wrong.

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Ovide Lamontagne’s “Return To Red”

Back on 10/26, the ‘Grok went to that event – one that was described as "a pep rally" for conservatives.  We live streamed that event and pretty much captured much of the activity.  However, we also recorded some of it, and I decided that since we went, we’d put up two of the speakers.  Certainly … Read more

Frank Guinta – he’s in a good spot!

My, my, who do I spy?  I think that my new Congressman, Frank Guinta, is EXACTLY where I want him to be: From AFP: We were also joined by other great free market champions in Congress such as Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, Congressman Mike Pence, Congressman Louie Gohmert, and Congressmen-elect Morgan Griffith, Frank Guinta, Bob Gibbs, … Read more

Now the media is reporting on the Speaker race – almost as much as we have!

Gene Chandler or Bill O’Brien: which should be the next Speaker?  Yes, I am discounting Susan Emerson (who sounds like compromise is her whole raison d’etre of running) and John Reagan (who has made very little splash in this pool).  Thus, only Chandler or O’Brien are in the klieg lights. We here at the ‘Grok … Read more

Voice of Democracy – Fellowship Christian Academy: Meghan!

This is the final paper from the good students of Fellowship Christian Academy located in Methuen, MA.  We all met at Ovide Lamontagne’s "Return to Red" even held in Manchester the week before the election.  Although I had noticed that there were teens in the room, I really hadn’t paid much attention as I was, well, rather quite busy.  However, as the event wound down, three of the guys came over and said that they wanted me to interview them.  A bit puzzled (er, why GraniteGrok?), I said yes.  Well, afterward, they stood politely by as I did a couple of other interviews.  They were patient.

I then saw them, said it was time, and then they ALL descended upon me – Yikes!  Yes folks, I had been "had" – and it turned out to be GREAT!  During the interview, it came out that they were working on these papers and I asked if they would send them to me.  They agreed and I have kept my promise.

This last paper is by Meghan (preceded by Peter, Maggie, Laura, Kathryn, Grace & Tim, Catherine, Ben, Tyler, Jillian, Michael, Christie, Nate, and  Hannah!)

 (Picture credit: Alan Glassman; FCA students interview with GraniteGrok) 

Warning: This essay contains strong opinions on America’s future, listener discretion is advised. Those of us participating in this contest have been posed with the question, “How will my generation affect America’s future?” But my question is, how could we not?
         
Just as every generation before us, my generation faces the ever-mounting odds against American youth. With the issues of politics, economics, religion, and pop-culture threatening to overwhelm us the moment we reach adulthood, it would be understandable if we were shaking in our boots. As it has been with every generation since America’s inception, we stand at the door frame leading out into the future, faced with the choice to slam the door and retreat, or to venture out into the uncertainty that awaits us.         
 
You may think he too bold, or too pompous, but I know that my generation will decide if…

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Well, should I give them points for trying?

Filed under Humor

As a long term computer guy, I do believe that GIGO (Garbage In, Garbage Out) still applies since I heard that as a "still wet behind the ears" programmer back in the….oh, never mind when.  We’ve been buying a bit of gear lately to boost the quality of our "citizen journalist" reporting when we cover the events we’ve been going to as well as for GrokTALK!.  One of the vendors I have used is BSW – and I received this from them after purchasing a "micro-mixer" from them:

On 11/10/2010 5:00 AM, Customer Support wrote:

Dear <redacted>,

We want to thank you again for shopping at BSW, and would like to invite you to post online reviews of the products you purchased. Simply click a link below to post a review.

Offering your opinion and experiences to others helps all of us make better buying decisions. We appreciate you taking the time to post your reviews. As a gift for posting your review we are offering you 10% off your next web order with us, good through September 30, 2010

Purchased Products
Alesis MULTIMIX4USB4-Channel USB Mixer

At BSW, our goal is your complete satisfaction. If you have feedback or issues with the service you received from us, please feel free to call us at 1-800-426-8434.

We appreciate your feedback and hope to serve you again in the near future.

Sincerely,
Tim Schwieger
President
Broadcast Supply Worldwide
www.bswusa.com
1-800-426-8434

 Well, they got a couple things wrong in the email; my response was:

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START NOW! to REFORM CONGRESS

Guest post by Peter Bearse, Ph.D and former candidate for Congress in NH’s first Congressional District

START NOW! to REFORM CONGRESS

We’ll soon see whether the Republican dominated Congress really ‘gets it’. They’re likely to confuse “change” with shift in control of Congress from ‘R’ to ‘D‘. Real change, however, is changing the way business is done. Real soon — next week! — Republican Members of Congress will meet to choose their leaders and set rules for the operation of the next Congress. If these decisions are made in the same-old/same-old [SO/SO] ways — hierarchical and undemocratic — the new Congress swept in on a wave of “change” will be off to very bad start. All bets then will be off whether the performance of the new Congress will be any better than the last.

Members newly elected don’t even need to do any homework to make a good start on the #1 issue-of-issues they face: the crying need to reform the way Congress does “We the People“s business. A recent Heritage Foundation [HF] paper has set both the tone and thrust of an initial reform agenda. Further reform initiatives, to be pursued after Members’ January swearing in, have long since been accessible online via www.DownsizeDC.com [DDC]. Jim Babka, DDC’s Director, crows that all of three(!) Members have pledged to introduce DDC’s full raft of reform legislation.

The keys to a “good start,” however, lie with the HF. Their “Four Immediate Reforms to Change the Culture of Congress” opens with:

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Voice of Democracy – Fellowship Christian Academy: Nate!

We still have a few more papers to put up – this one is from Nate! Previous papers were from  Peter, Maggie, Laura, Kathryn, Grace & Tim, Catherine, Ben, Tyler, Jillian, Michael, & Christie!  (Picture credit: Alan Glassman; FCA students interview with GraniteGrok)      Does my generation have a role in America’s future? I … Read more

Hey Harrell – don’t want to make you think we forgot about you!

We at the ‘Grok appreciate your missives – gives us something to write about.  They’ve also given us the chance to point out the inconsistencies that the Democrat philosophy demands of its adherents!  One of them seems to be the non-observance of that Biblical stricture (we’ll forgot about the one about lying for now) of … Read more

On American Exceptionalism

From The Corner: It is appropriate to end this history of the American people on a note of success, because the story of American is essentially one of difficulties being overcome by intelligence and skill, by faith and strength of purpose, by courage and persistence. America today, with its 260 million people, its splendid cities, … Read more

Voice of Democracy – Fellowship Christian Academy: Hannah!

Second to last paper – this time from Hannah!

By the way, one of the folks that was at the event, Jeff Chidester, is also one of the principals at the General John Stark Liberty Award organization – while recognizing those who exemplify his famous phrase:

Live free or die; death be not the worst of all evils.

It will be offering scholarships to students as well. While but a fledgling organization (their website is rather sparse – a work in progress), he donated a small token of a prize – a small statue of General Stark.  Folks, I gather we are going to have a contest!

Remember – previous papers done by from  Peter, Maggie, Laura, Kathryn, Grace & Tim, Catherine, Ben, Tyler, Jillian, Michael, Christie, and Nate!

  (Picture credit: Alan Glassman; FCA students interview with GraniteGrok) 

Voice of Democracy:

Does my generation have a role in America’s future?

I believe that every generation has a role in America’s future whether it is for good or for bad.

The Pilgrims came to America in 1620, for religious freedom and to escape persecution. When America was founded, it was given the freedom of religion. People could come to America to worship however they wanted and whatever they wanted, but our country was founded by Christian leaders and on Christian principles. When President George Washington was inaugurated, he added to the end of the inauguration oath “so help me God.” In Washington’s farewell address, he said, “It is impossible to rightly govern the world without God and the Bible.” With Christian principles, our country prospered for many years.

The present generation of Americans is slowly getting farther and farther away from…

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GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 11/13/10

Podcast – week of 11/13/10   GrokTALK! Streaming Live!from GraniteGrok To play (or "stream") a clip now, just click on it.  To download it to your PC, right click on it and tell the process where to save the file for you. (Click here for the promo page) Only "snippets" this week – no "Hours" … Read more

Seacoast Republican Women Post-election Panel Discussion

I had a blast!

Seacoast Republican Women

 

This past Wednesday, I had the opportunity to be on a “Post Election” panel to discuss what we thought happened on Nov. 2nd and what that may mean going forward for NH and the nation. We discussed what The Wipeout would mean for the Democrats, what may happen to the Republicans and the contentions that may occur during the new Legislative session, and what it may mean for the next election (especially with the Presidential Primary getting ready to wheel itself on stage. To be honest, I’ve not ever done an event like it before, so I enjoyed myself…and I think most of the folks there did as well.  The panel consisted of :

  • Catherine Broadbent, WGIR Anchor, who served as Moderator
  • Jeff Chidester, WGIR AM 610, 96.7 The Wave, WGIN AM 930
  • James Pindell, WMUR Political Analyst
  • Skip Murphy, Founder – GraniteGrok

Here is the audio of the two hours:

  • right click here to down load
  • To listen to just the audio:

And the video:

 
 

Part 1                        Part 2

Part 3 is after the jump

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RLCNH – a new force in NH Politics

It came upon the NH political scene with the power of a tornado this year, sweeping RINOs and Democrats before it with mighty wind.  The Republican Liberty Caucus of NH ("RLCNH"), derided by some as part of the vast right wing conspiracy (welcome, boys and gals!), certainly made their mark. Building on the anger of the electorate towards free spending and non-Constitutional abiding politicians of both parties, this group aided a new set of new Republicans to gain their seats in the NH House of Representative with research, ideas, strategies, money, and technical assistance; talk about a motivated grassroots movement!

They will be making a difference during the next two years here in NH – all for the benefits of NH Citizens in helping to actually move towards the ideal that they all voted for in overwhelming numbers; this is what the RLCNH had to say:

RLCNH

REPUBLICAN LIBERTY CAUCUS CELEBRATES RE-BIRTH OF COMMON SENSE IN NEW HAMPSHIRE

State chapter welcomes 107 endorsed candidates into state government, urges principled governing

CONCORD, N.H.?The Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire is excited and hopeful for the state’s future after last week’s general election swept 80 percent of its endorsed post-primary candidates into the State House, where they will advance common-sense principles in the “Live Free or Die” state.

“The Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire was happy to help its endorsed candidates win their elections through multifaceted campaign support, media coverage, targeted mailings and election-day volunteerism in both their primary and general elections,” said Andrew Hemingway, chairman of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire. “Thanks to this unprecedented effort by the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire and other conservative and libertarian groups throughout the state, New Hampshire now has an extraordinary number of elected Republicans committed to the principles that made our state and country great.”

Before the primary, the Republican Liberty Caucus endorsed 153 candidates, including one executive councilor candidate, 10 state senator candidates and 142 state representative candidates. Of the 153 candidates, 134 of them or 88 percent, made it past the primary. With 107 endorsed candidates winning their elections on Nov. 2, that means 70 percent of the candidates the Republican Liberty Caucus originally endorsed made it into office. Of those candidates, one will be an executive councilor, seven will be state senators and 99 will be state representatives.

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Yet another “almost final” observation from the campaign trail:

I saw this in DiStaso’s column: And no, said Biundo, Shea-Porter still has not called Guinta to congratulate him on his victory. Set that into high contrast with true  graceful "not-the-top-vote-getters"; examples like Jack Kimball, Ovide Lamontagne, Jennifer Horn, Rich Ashooh, Jim Bender, Mike Castaldo and others. They may have lost with a heavy heart, … Read more

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Accountability – it begins now. Hi Kelly!

Filed under a new category: Political Accountability. Yup, now that the elections are over, NONE of us are done (and you thought it was time to go back to the couch)!  We put them into their office – now it is time to hold them accountable.  We should not, we can not, go back to … Read more

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