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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.

Practical Federalism–The Videos. GrokTALK! interviews

As Steve said in his recent post, it was a long day: “We recorded 7 hours of audio and video at SNHU”.  I’ve finished processing the video (re: chopped it up) but the uploading continues.  Given work will depress my posting next week, I’ll put up as many as possible today.  Like Steve, I’ll start out with our shortened GrokTALK! show segements:

  • Pre-show: the ordinary odds and ends as we tidy up the last techie details from, once again, doing a remote event.
  • Segment 1: ‘Grok friend Jeff Chidester (Talk show host, columnist, conservative activist) comes on to yak with us.  And we thank him for his nice words about us!
  • Segment 2: Ann Marie Banfield, education liason for Cornerstone Policy Research Action to talk about, well, Education!
  • Segment 3: Shane Vander Hart of The Family Leader (and blogger) comes on to talk about the Caucus activity going on in Iowa and how we see the differences between NH and Iowa.
  • Segment 4: Utah State Representative Ken Ivory comes on to represent the American Lands Council – why should the Feds control so much state land?

And yes, I got “off numbered” starting with Ken – in the video, I got ahead of myself and called it Segment 5.  Apologies.

Segment 1:

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Practical Federalism– Opening Remarks: Jeff Chidester, Bryan McCormack, and Emmett McGroarty

Even before we could really finish with UT State Rep Ken Ivory and our discussion on why Feds controlling State lands (for no good reason, IMHO), the Practical Federalism Forum (sponsored by American Principles Project,  Cornerstone, and The Family Leader) began.  In this post:

  • Segment 6: Jeff Chidester acted as Master of Ceremonies and gave his opening remarks and led in the Pledge.   Subsequently, Bryan McCormack (Executive Director of Cornerstone Policy Research Action) spoke to formally open the event.
  • Segment 7: Emmett McRoarty, Esq., (American Principles Project) – “An Overview of the Federal Overreach”

  

Segment 6                                             Segment 7

Previous Video:

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Closeup: NH GOP Committeeman Steve Duprey takes a whack at the same people Walt Havenstein did.

New WMUR logoWell, how’d that work out for him, eh Steve?  Are you looking to continue to whip up the alienation of the conservative base of the Party that Walt successfully torqued off and was subsequently unsuccessful at getting the same to vote for him (name of John Stark come to mind?) in the General Election? (and NO!, not all Republicans are conservative, truth be known – not by a long shot).

We have to keep in mind there’s a whole segment in the Party, particularly the people who are the Big Donors, who would love to have a one day national primary because that favors the people that give big money.  It could also lead to a mistake of electing a celebrity.  We could end up with Brad Pitt as our nominee in a one day national primary.

On the other hand, we have our most fervent TEA Party activists who would like us to have a caucus or primary every week for 50 weeks leading up to the convention.

This, I believe, was a shot at the 603 Alliance –

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Practical Federalism–The Prez Wannabee edition

What would be a formal political event in NH without Presidential candidates being present and circling around a microphone like a pride of lions around an antelope on the Serengeti??  Three showed up and each is in two parts:

  • Segments 9 & 10:  US Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) Parts 1 & 2
  • Segments 11 & 12: former HP CEO Carly Fiorina Parts 1 & 2
  • Segments 15 & 16 former US Senator Rick Santorum (R-PA) Parts 1 & 2

Segment 9 – Ted Cruz

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Practical Federalism–UT State Rep Ken Ivory of the American Lands Council

I’ve heard Ken before – he gives speech to the plight of the Western States whose land is mostly still “held” by the Federal Government stemming from their days as newly appointed States.  It is this situation that makes them oft “over the political barrel” as without taxable land mass, they can be beholden to “free money” from the Feds – and the those that would use that situation against them (re: US Senator Harry Reid (D-NV).  He is speaks on “State Equality”

Part 1

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Practical Federalism–Stanley Kurtz and Robert Murray: subverting and going around the Principle of Federalism

I have been reading Stanley Kurtz, Ph.D for years – first on research on Obama during the latter’s first Presidential run (which told me all I needed to know and NOTHING has transpired to any of that proved wrong and then on the evilness of Regionalism – that practices of setting in levels of “governance” that obviate our traditional American levels of authority by unelected and unaccountable bureaucrats by seizing the levers of power of zoning and land use – he speaks to how that is now morphing into Education.  Robert Murray, CEO of Murray Energy, tells a poignant and heartbreaking tale of how the bureaucracy of the Feds EPA and other assorted bureaucracies are putting him out of business – and without any input from those that SHOULD be creating Law – legislators.

  

Stanley Kurtz                                              Robert Murray

Part 1                                                           Part 1

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Practical Federalism–Discussion Panel: Winning Back Our Country

The last segment for the event was a panel discussion on Winning Back Our County by two of the previous speakers joined by

  • Emmett McGroarty, Esq (American Principles Project
  • Ann Marie Banfield, Education liaison for Cornerstone
  • Jamie Gass, Ed. Director, Pioneer Institute

Part 1:

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Practical Federalism–Closing remarks by Jeff Chidester

In concluding the entire day’s activities, Jeff Chidester gave his closing remarks to those still there at the end:

In large part, this was due to a lot of people there to hear Ted Cruz, Carly Fiorina, and Rick Santorum – the Presidential candidates.  Yes, many did show up for the beginning (more or less) and the room was filled to standing room well before those three showed up but it was clear the exits were seeing more activity the longer the event went on after the Wannabees had left.  This I can understand – at least they are trying to understand what the candidates are about on the issues.  For a lot of people, that may be all of the “dip into the political pool” they can stand – and I can’t say I blame them.  I, as a political blogger, news junkie, and philosophical in outlook, really got a lot out of the event – but it isn’t for most.  So all I have to do is convince another couple of percent of folks to be willing to jump right in and….

On the other hand, there was the Press…

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GrokTV: interview with Stanley Kurtz

As I said earlier, I have read Stanly Kurtz’s stuff for years and I was really happy that he agreed to come over and yak with us after the long day of the Practical Federalism forum at SNHU.  So, what did we talk about?  Of course – the Obama Administration’s use of Regionalism to distort … Read more

Data Point – Labor Participation Rate

A record 94,610,000 Americans were not in the American labor force last month — an increase of 579,000 from August — and the labor force participation rate reached its lowest point in 38 years, with 62.4 percent of the U.S. population either holding a job or actively seeking one. In September, according to the Labor … Read more

Has Obama apologized to Mitt yet?

Of course not….Obama just declares that the guy cleaning his clock in the Middle East is “weak”.  Of course, the guy who declared that he knew all of his subordinates’ jobs better than they did must be right, right? (H/T: Liberal Logic 101)

Political Correctness – when the Left really has no winning argument

Political Correctness 2We’ve railed against Political Correctness for years and how it is the hobgoblin of minor minds.  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve been called a racist, misogynist, homophobe, cold-hearted, uncaring…and a TEA Partier (heh!).  Frankly I don’t much care and a couple of times I’ve started laughing – which drives that Progressive nuts for obvious reasons.  It just doesn’t matter any more as for me (and the rest of the Groksters), we’re all set understanding that they’ve got nuttin’.  But most people DO care because they just don’t understand that if they only would look past those emotional attacks, they’d be home free.  Ammo Grrrll from Powerline has this observation – and what to do when attacked:

As soon as someone claims to be “offended” or worse yet, to “feel unsafe,” the discussion is automatically over. It’s really a nasty, intellectually-dishonest tactic to change the subject completely. You’re losing, so let’s not make it about the subject under discussion, but about your feelings. Since there is no “right or wrong” with feelings and everybody is entitled to as many feelings as she can generate, then the moral high ground is already ceded. And the person who disagreed with her and made her feel “unsafe” is clearly a vicious “bully.”

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Should be one of our WTF entries for tomorrow’s GrokTALK!

I read the post – totally unhinged from reality and it proves my point – the Left doesn’t care at ALL who it must tyrannize in order to “grant” freedom to “the oppressed”.  Once again, we see that the Left must TOTALLY distort the common language (“…freedom from destitution…”) in order to make their point. Adding … Read more

If this is true at Umpqua Community College, people should be fired

Update: “The shooter was lining people up and asking if they were Christian,” she wrote. “If they said yes, then they were shot in the head. If they said no, or didn’t answer, they were shot in the legs.  Chris Mercer Harper, 26 years old was the shooter.

Let’s see what stands up over the next set of hours and days.

**************************

This is the kind of headline that I normally put up as a simple BlogHeadline of the Day simply because it evokes a sense of “you have GOT to be kidding me” bordering on a WTF moment.  This one, however, had a sense of rage and blood pressure rise:

CNN Report: Veterans Tried to leave Classroom to Stop Shooter, Denied By Staff

A lot of returning vets still hold themselves to the standard of not just protecting the Constitution but also others – trained to run towards the sounds of fighting and having the skills to do something once there.  I saw it a couple of weeks ago when I heard a loud noise and a person in what I thought was our yard and our dogs started ferociously barking. I started to run upstairs to go fetch something; the Youngest came barreling down the stairs and immediately ran outside – a look on his face I’d not seen before.  But he ran, not to the sound of gunfire, but to protect us.

Look, it will be a few days before we know all the details other than where it happened, people were killed by a 20 year old guy and there was some talk on 4chan that has come up that he warned people of what was going to do.  Also we have reports that he told people to lay down and then get up and tell him what religion they believed.

That’s it.  My point is that there were people,

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“OBAMA PULLED JOHN KERRY AND SAMANTHA POWER FROM NETANYAHU UN SPEECH”

That was the headline at Breitbart / National Security.  I was at lunch when Bibi Netanyahu, Prime Minister of Israel spoke (after the jump) at the UN during this “terrorist” / backslapping self-congratulations over the “Iran will never get a nuke” conference.  I was mesmerized over how he constructed that speech and thought that his 45 seconds of silence was an absolute condemnation of the UN on a country it created in response to the Holocaust of WWII – and in my estimation, what seems to be the road to Holocaust 2.0:

“Seventy years after the murder of 6 million Jews, Iran’s rulers promise to destroy my country, murder my people, and the response from this body, the response from nearly every one of the governments represented here has been absolutely nothing,” Netanyahu said. “Utter silence. Deafening silence.”

But I draw your attention to the words of President Obama over the shooting at Umpqua Community College and the unfortunate tragedy that is.  Although I heartily disagree with his premises and his continued implication that we are less of a country because we won’t act like other countries.

Sidenote: yet another Progressive that thinks Europe is superior to the US; if you really think that, just GO there and leave the rest of us alone instead of continuously trying to drag us into being a socialist country where their freedoms and Rights pale in comparison to ours.  I reject that “safety & security” should trump Freedom

Yet, isn’t he being two-faced as

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Yet, even as Obama says he is against guns….terrorists, not so much (especially Muslim ones)

ISIS call-them RefugeesNope, this will have to serve until I get a transcript.  But here is Obama, on one hand decrying American Citizens their 2nd Amendment Right but is bringing in “refugees” with ties to terrorism into the Homeland??

OBAMA ADMINISTRATION ADMITTED 1,519 FOREIGNERS WITH TERRORIST TIES INTO THE U.S.

Judicial Watch reports that the Obama administration has granted asylum or residency to 1,519 foreigners with terrorist ties. This information comes from an annual report to Congress by the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS).

More than half of the terror supporters granted asylum or residency by Team Obama provided material support to terrorist organizations, according to the USCIS report. Other received military-type training from a terrorist organization (nine fall into this category), voluntarily provided medical care to members of a terrorist group, or solicited funds or recruited individuals for membership in a terrorist organization.

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