Speaking of this morning’s Closeup show

If I’m going to correct a Republican, you KNOW I would be a hypocrite not to do the same to the Democrat on same said show.  Ann McLane Kuster, running to be the Democrat nominee in NH’s Second Congressional District, was also on- albeit, a different segment.  While Sean merely slipped up (but yes, an … Read more

Why differentiation matters…”

And no, I don’t mean differentials in terms of either calculus or or drive trains.  In politics, the differences between candidates can count (those between Parties do as well but are generally more easily seen).  Often candidates make the decision to move Right or move Left to simply and merely appeal to more voters with … Read more

More on the Big Tent post

A bit more on my Big Tent post.  In surfing around the ‘Net this morning, Powerline had this up from Gallup: Surprised by the uptick in Conservative numbers?  Not me – and even Gallup reports that the Dems are shoving people away even faster than the Republicans did a few years ago by acting as Democrat-lite … Read more

Really? Unexpected? GDP revised downward – again

In its final estimate on the first quarter on Friday, the Commerce Department said gross domestic product expanded at a 2.7 percent annual rate instead of the 3 percent pace it reported last month. (H/T: Big Government) So much for the cheery pronouncements of "things are getting better!  Happy faces all around!" With all of … Read more

Live Blogging – Ovide Lamontagne house event

  Ovide Lamontagne invited GraniteGrok to his house event in Rochester, NH (hosted by Warren Groen who is running for re-election for the NH House of Representatives).  These events tend to be much smaller than the regular campaign event, much lower key, and more of a meet and greet than the regular, much more involved … Read more

“The Big Tent” question – a great Conservative answer

Last week the Rochester 912 held their latest debate – the Republican Gubernatorial candidates.  Question 14 was the following: We often hear the term bipartisan, big tent, and walking across the aisle to identify governmental cooperation between different parties or different factions within the same party.  What will be your leadership approach to those that … Read more

Shuttle launch as seen by a parachutist

filed under "Just because" Update: Paul from over at Pun Salad gave me a tip: Apparently not the Shuttle. http://www.space.com/imageoftheday/image_of_day_070620.html But still very cool.

Notable Quote – Jerry Pournelle

I do believe that socialism is entirely antithetical to the Constitution of 1789 as Amended. For a very long time the Supreme Court of the United States believed that as well. Now the Court is divided on the subject. A majority of the Congress is held by a party that doesn’t purport to believe in … Read more

Democrat CANDIDATE campaigning with an ObamaHitler sign??

Like I told someone today, politics can be rather humorous at times.  In this case, a sense of farcical vindication.  Certainly, there were a number of claims and protestations that TEA Party events had participants had such signs. Glad to see a Democrat, one that is absolutely serious about running, holding such a sign: And … Read more

“Do you know about this……….dems are now using your material!!”

The above was the subject of an email received from a reader, Kevin.  He was rather surprised – to some degree, I’m not.  Why?  Ever since its inception, the ‘Grok has taken not a Republican stance but a Conservative one.  Where the two intersect, things are fine.  When a Republican strays from that, they have … Read more

More thin gruel from Dean at Blue Hampshire

I was wandering around the ‘Net and saw that Dean decided to go after Vicki over at TBONH.  The pretext was that since the writer behind TBONH had been anonymous in taking on Democrats (and others) from a Conservative standpoint, he decided to highlight her take on THE social issue for the Left / Progressives – gay marriage.  Yup, the issue that turned this State upside down AFTER the elections because the Progressives made that the number one goal of the legislative session.

You know, it’s rather lame because:

  • where the people of the State have had the chance to decide (vs the Legislature or the Court system), gay marriage has gone down in flames.  Ditto ripping off the male / female signs off bathrooms.
  • Dean went after Vicki simply because she was anonymous in posting – Libs hate stealth mode
  • yet, the Progressives pat themselves all over for passing gay marriage after being anonymous concerning it during the campaign season – gee, I’d call that a stealth mode as well.

"Not for thee but fine for me" cognitive dissonance – otherwise, call it hypocrisy.   Sure, she was anonymous in her posting – a long time American standard stemming back to the Revolutionary War times (think Publius).  But of course, Progressives hate the fact that others think their stances rather ridiculous and wish to out everyone so as to then demonize them. 

For example, witness Kathy Sullivan and Maggie Hassan’s failed attempt of MaggieSpeech – the micro version of the national DISCLOSURE Act that just got pulled by Pelosi because everyone started to realize that it was such a dog constitutionally – that even those on the Left realized that while the short term political gain for the 2010 elections might be a lumen brighter with it, it would bit them all in the butt afterward.  The intent of both Acts were not so much to ban the Free Speech that the Supreme Court declared inviolate (re: you know, supporting that document that Obama (and Sarcastic Sully and Manifesto Maggie) so disdain – the Constitution (and the "…shall not infringe…" part)) but to make it so onerous and expensive so as to make it highly possible to scare off those that otherwise would speak.  AND, (once again) put Conservative donors into the same risk pool that the Gary Agenda Supporters did to the California Proposition 8 supporters (got them fired, harassed them at work, businesses closed, and otherwise targeted for real hateful activities).  Chicago thuggery applied to political speech opposite their agenda and ideology.

And CERTAINLY, the Prop 8 opponents went off on the Mormon and Catholic churches ("those haters!") simply for their standing up for their theological stances for "one man, one woman" traditional marriage.  Just puts their whole roll off kilter, that some people actually believe in absolute values and won’t kowtow to their pop culture Political Correctness Castration (I’m going to start using Joe the Plumber’s definition – it is more to the point and intent of what those who spout the political correctness mantra).

Sidebar: Think I’m kidding?  Kathy Sullivan just got humiliated AGAIN when the NH AG’s office ruled that just because the National Organization for Marriage and Americans for Job Security were well within their rights to say what they want in the arena of political speech.  The NH Democrat attack dog decided that using the pretext of "that’s doing business, so I’ll start the suing to scare them off / shut them up".  Or, at the very least, make expensive to speak out via legal costs (how lawyerly of her).

It’s time to stop ceding social issues to the Left. 

But back to Dean and TBONH.  I’ve enjoyed Vicki’s coverage of Grafton County Treasurer "No Show" Seivers – the Dartmouth college student whose only claim to fame is:

  • winning the election with a simple FaceBook ad (smart on her part)
  • Not really putting the effort into carrying out the duties of the office effectively

And that fact, Seiver screwing up, is indefensible by the Blue Bunch.  So, what do they go after?  Vicki’s writing on gay marriage (against it) and the bathroom bill (which would allowed me, on a whim, to use the female bathrooms and locker rooms – as long as I "felt like a woman" at that moment).  You know something?  So what!  But you know Progressives – cross them on anything and they want to do a stomping.

The Progressives have tried to position themselves (and many Republicans, especially those who believe that the "culture stuff" should be immaterial to politics) as the arbiters of culture and are entitled to declare what is the public morality by changing the law.  The Blue Bunch seriously believe that they, and they alone, should be the ones to declare what is permissible (their beliefs) and what is not (ours as Conservatives and Believers). 

And here is the fallacy that they cannot defend:  in trying to "give" freedom to some, they have no problem in taking freedom away from others NOT in their protected Class.  Yet, their second biggest Progressive hero, Woodrow Wilson, was the one that segregated the military again, and was anti-democratic.

And those of us who deeply believe, because of our faith, in traditional marriage are simply demonized and labeled "haters" and "racists" (and more).  Thus,…

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So, now the Obama Administration approves of illegal immigrants stealing jobs?

So, a Cabinet level Secretary is now blessing the use of illegal alien labor?  Of course, she has to use the Politically Correct Castrated wording of undocumented to do so: You know, by the use of the word "undocumented" instead of "illegal", she (as an official spokewoman for the Obama Administration) is saying "Hey, it’s … Read more

Factoid – Tyranny does not come just at the point of a gun – sometimes, pen and paper work just as well

From Big Government (emphasis mine): President Obama has continued this expansion of executive power.  He has given a great amount of power to unelected bureaucrats within the executive branch and has then, in effect, created law via the regulatory process.  No Congressional approval was sought for any of these actions. Congress is finally fighting back.  … Read more

“A Wish – A Prayer – And A Credit Card”

Guest post by Jeb Bradley, NH Senator from District 3

So said the Concord Monitor in their June 13th Editorial titled “Not a State Budget to be Proud Of.” How did the Democratic controlled New Hampshire Legislature get into such a predicament?

Spending has jumped by 10.5% while revenues fell through the floor — $102 million behind the estimate for the first eleven months of this fiscal year. Leading the revenue plunge are business taxes – off $43 million, rooms and meals taxes —off $20 million, and interest and dividends taxes — off a whopping $27 million. With the economic recovery anemic at best, revenues are not likely to improve any time soon.

On top of that, the effort to simply expropriate $110 million from a doctor’s medical liability fund (JUA) was deemed to be an unconstitutional taking of private property. All of which created a budget deficit estimated at $300 million by June 2011 when books close – up from a $220 million projection just in April.

Governor Lynch recently called a ‘Special Session’ of the Legislature to confront this alarming deficit – about 10% of the state’s General Fund. The package that emerged from the Special Session includes unprecedented borrowing and one-time revenue sources, uncertain receipt of federal funds, and unspecified sale of State property: The Credit Card.

The non-partisan Legislative Budget Assistant projects one-time revenue sources in the original budget and in the recent deficit package exceed $1 billion. Even excluding the $110 JUA raid and a $50 million reduction of funds that traditionally has gone to cities and towns to lower property taxes – this combined budget package relies upon a whopping 27% of one-time revenue for the General Fund. Nearly $200 million of that amount is unprecedented borrowing for operating expenses rather than capital investments such as buildings or bridges. Much of the balance of one-time revenue was federal stimulus funds.

Even stimulus funds may have reached their limit. Americans, fearful of a Greece-like debt crisis… 

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Data Point – It was said that Obama could beat Bush…

NewsAlert: According to data from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. shed 2.3 million jobs since February 2009, Obama’s first full month in office. Going back to World War II, that is by far the worst record for any president in his first 17 months, outpacing the job destruction experienced in the early … Read more

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