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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.

Guest post by NH State Rep. Jane Cormier: “Sleepless Nights”

It is now 4:45 am. I am wide awake, thinking about the vast number of things that need to be accomplished today. As a wife, mom, legislator, volunteer, and music educator, I can tell you there are lots of sleepless nights.  I suspect it is a difficult time for most of us as we struggle with the financial, personal, and political challenges of our time.  Life is definitely a test these days.

Much of my worry seems to be rooted in the insecurity of what is coming down the pike.  What country will our children/grandchildren possess as they grow older?  Will our children still have all the opportunities our generation enjoyed?  Will our grandchildren enjoy the personal freedoms we always assumed would be there for them?  All of these questions are overwhelming in scope and stop many of us dead in our tracks.  As our country becomes deluged with crushing, liberty-stealing debt and disingenuous politics, people are checking out.  Many folks have just become immobile under the weight of it all.  But, most frightening is the fear this is exactly what those in political power desire.  If “the people” drop out of the process and leave governing to others, (especially those who may not be looking out for our Constitutional Republic) well, let’s just say this is NOT what our Founding Fathers had in mind!

I joined the NH legislature because I could no longer be part of the silent majority.  I unequivocally believe the majority of our neighbors ARE for conservative principles of smaller government, smaller debt, and broader personal freedom.  But we are hitched to a leviathan of debt and corruption.  How can we possibly hope to stand under such weight?  One answer – we become politically active in the Conservative movements in our communities.

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Granite State Future – Not really just “Advisory only”

We keep hearing from those that are in favor of Granite State Future (the NH version of the Federal Government’s “Sustainable Communities Initiative” pushed by the EPA, HUD, and DOT that aims to Federalize our local homegrown zoning regs so “we can live better) that is is merely advisory.  Just hints, directions, guidance – take … Read more

Out of the mouths of babes: ‘Which Parent Do I Not Need: Mom or Dad?’

A simple question asked by an 11 year old that CAN’T have an answer other than a child deserves both.  As a child of a broken home, now that I am approaching the end of middle age and that my Eldest and Youngest are now in their mid-to-late twenties, I realize that from personal experience the void that was left without a Father in the home.  Oh sure, Mom tried really, really hard, but she was, in the end, a Mom – not a Dad.  As it came time for me to raise my own, I thought I was well prepared – I had some role models from church and other groups I was in that I thought would stand me in good stead.  A voracious reader, I bought every self-help book for a Dad-to-be.

Yeah, not so much.  At each stage, I realized that I was winging it – a lot.  I HAD no firm framework on which to hang the Dad hat no matter how hard I tried to recall the advice of those grown men who unstintingly gave of their time to shepherd we young boys in our activities or the pages of text from the “know more than I”.  Tough work, had to keep at it – and even accounting for the stuff / problems with my two that even having a Dad in the past wouldn’t have helped at all, I realized the voids of “what the heck now”?  I’m not about to write a book about this issue (although I probably could), but certainly I know that this young lady is spot on:

“Since every child needs a mom and a dad to be born, I don’t think we can change that children need a mom and a dad. I believe God made it that way,” Grace Evans, 11, said before the Minnesota House Committee on Civil Law last week. “I know some disagree, but I want to ask you this question: Which parent do I not need – my mom or my dad?”

Testifying in Minnesota, she had a few more bon mots to say:

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NHListens – the non-profit FOR the sustainable Granite State Future plan which HATES our NH environment!

Or for another take, this subtitle:                        NHListens – the “Run Away!” edition!

Gosh, and last week was JUST.SO.MUCH.FUN!  So this week was supposed to be the next one in the North Country series of “listening” sessions.  Get out of work on time (and an unexpected “happening”)?  Yup – Check!  Good weather?  Snow?  Rain?  Fire? Raining frogs (or other Biblical disasters)?  Nope – Check!  Heavy traffic, mechanical breakdown, gas in the tank and a Mikey D’s drive by?  GPS loaded and locked in?  Yup – Check!  Arrive on time?  Yup – Check!  Go to the door and let myself in?

SCREEETCH (think: fingernails on a blackboard)!  Er, nope.  Anyways, this is the notice they left on the door of the Littleton Senior Center.:

Well, it was supposed to be such – there was a sizable number of folks that drove up north – just THINK of all that horrible CO2 that was emitted by fossil fueled conveyances for naught simply because NHListens couldn’t, well, listen.  Isn’t that contrary to their whole notion of living ONLY in walkable cities – to NOT emit that evil gas that comes out of your mouth after every breath (btw, have you seen that the Earth is now the greenist in a long, long time with all of the new vegetation that is sprouting up?).

I guess that they weren’t all that happy that people showed up to their last session in Plymouth (and earlier) who expressed ideas contrary to the goals of the Granite State Future program (Heavens – people have been caught quoting the NH and US Constitutions!  Totally unfair of them to be quoting the REAL Social Contract(s) of America!).  Their actions (“La-La-La-La can’t hear you!”) reminded me of this:

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Did some of those HB617 Republicans not like that Flashlight that shined brightly? Good – Mission Accomplished

gas pump oldOK, I know this is a couple of days old, but still worth posting as an object lesson.  We here at the ‘Grok raised a fuss and a big ‘ole stinkeroonie as we figuratively shined our flashlight into a dark corner – the kind of one where taxpayers end up paying for the mistakes that Government makes, either in actuality or in priority (e.g., not doing what it should be).  We berated those Republicans that voted to raise the gas tax (that Pike Industries loves so much) that would hurt ordinary working folks.

Well, our motto is to “Spank’em when they’re wrong and Thank’em when they’re right”; we did the former and now time for the latter:

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 19th, 2013
Contact: 603-271-3665

House Republican Leaders Comment on Gas Tax Increase Bill

CONCORD – Today House Republican Leader Gene Chandler (R-Bartlett) and House Republican Policy Leader Laurie Sanborn (R-Bedford) offered the following statements on the committee vote on HB617, a bill that would raise the gas tax. The House Ways and Means committee voted 11-7 to recommend the bill ought to pass with amendment. The committee amendment would raise the gas tax by 67%. Republicans on the committee were unanimous in their opposition to the bill.

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Guest Post by C.dog e.doG – “Gas Tax Lisping Fantasticos Just Give Me Gas”

C.dog e.dog is our most prolific commenters here on the ‘Grok who I first “met” over at TreeHugger (the Greenie Statist Enviro site that I go over to poke a stick into once in a while) – and he followed me “home”.  Located somewhere in this Live Free or Die State that we adore, he’s stayed around and brought his unique wordsmithing styling to the “Grok (to which we say “Thank you”):

Gas Tax Lisping Fantasticos Just Give Me Gas

After reading the latest download from New Hamster’s Democratic Machine to boost the “revenues” of the Grate State on the backs of those who reside and drive within its jurisdictional domain, once again I became flushed with questions.  But lo and behold, where I first read this boiler-plate proclamation at NH Insider – written by the esteemed Over-Lord who manages the town of Durham with mad skill –  there was no place to inquire of the mighty bureaucrat.  Evidently, Todd I. Selig considered his propaganda so invincible – so flawless – that he turned the comment feature off.  (“By order of the Royal Pompous Asses (clear throat) To all naives: There shall be no questioning of duly processed authority figures.  Pay the Man, take your seats, and shut up.”)  Now there’s a loud, a proud, and unquestionably, a correct-thinkin’ apparatchik.  I-Toddius reigns supreme!

First, order of business, Todd’s contribution to the “conversation” is really just recycled points from the Campbell playbook.  Reading over the pol megaphone snewspaper reports, which is repeated elsewhere and often by others on The Team, I-Toddius provides nothing new but more prattling – likely to score brownie points and get invites to swanky Liberatti festivities.

But I dither and linger.  On to the substance!

“This additional revenue would be placed in a separate fund within the constitutionally protected highway fund to be used exclusively for the construction, reconstruction, and maintenance of state and municipal roads and bridges – investment that will equate to good jobs across New Hampshire, particularly within the construction, engineering, paving, and aggregate industries.”  “The increase would also fund an additional $8.5 million per year for municipal bridge and highway aid programs, fully fund the I-93 widening project …”

Hey Todd-o –

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Notable Quote – Joseph Epstein

Even when they have not lent their energies to promoting schemes for human betterment that depend on the mass coercion of real human beings, the intellectuals’ overdependence on ideas, and their consequent detachment from reality, have often turned them into little demons of ignorant subtlety. – Joseph Epstein   (H/T: Cafe Hayek)

GovernmentOversite: NHListens / Granite State Future – another viewpoint

Both the ‘Grok and GovernmentOversite went to the same event last week: a “listening” session conducted by NHListens (an offsoot of the Carsey Institute at UNH, where “Carsey” is the uber-Progressive TV producer, Marsey Carsey).  Here is the video that ‘Grok friend Ed over at put together over at GovernmentOversite (a mashup of some of the activity at the meeting with micro-interviews with Tim Carter of the Lakes Region TEA Party included (emphasis mine):

Read this before viewing: There are Nine Regional Planning Commissions within the State of New Hampshire. The Commissions were created by the Legislature and are given the task to create a regional master plan, a housing needs assessment and to assist towns in land use planning. They also derive most of their funding from the Federal Government. A smaller percentage comes from monies that are paid to it in the form of membership dues. The Nashua Regional planning commission applied for a planning grant offered by HUD, Housing and Urban Development, EPA Environmental Protection Agency and the DOT Department of Transportation. The planning grant is under the Federal Sustainable Communities Initiative. The initiatives primary goal is to support international agreements that incorporate “Sustainable Development” into local land use planning.The most commonly accepted formal definition of sustainable development is taken from Our Common Future, the landmark 1987 report of The World Commission on Environment and Development. Chaired by former Norwegian Prime Minister, Dr. Gro Harlem Brundtland and is the base document promoting the agreement known as Agenda 21, an action to be taken by member states of the United Nations to control all aspects where humans have an effect on the environment.

In New Hampshire the Sustainable Communities Initiative has been given the name, The Granite State Future…

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Guest post by Andrew Hemingway

Following Departure of Partisan Attorney General Delaney, Hemingway Calls on Governor Hassan to Appoint Independent-Minded Successor

Contact:  Andrew Hemingway
(603)203-4063
firstinthenation@gmail.com

Today, Attorney General Michael Delaney announced he will not be seeking re-nomination as the head of New Hampshire’s Justice Department. This comes after a term when he used the job to push a liberal political agenda and spent too much time fighting the people’s elected representatives. Andrew Hemingway issued the following statement on Attorney General Delaney’s departure “ From his attempts to go behind the backs of the legislature to spend money to his refusal to stand up against the government takeover of healthcare, Michael Delaney has done well by the liberal base in our state.”

“As Attorney General, Michael Delaney engaged in partisan politics on numerous occasions and was repeatedly criticized for it by legislative leaders. Instead of working with the legislature to ensure bills were constitutional, Delaney went behind their backs and tried to spend money on speculative partisan lawsuits and ignored the wished of New Hampshire’s elected legislators [1]. He refused to join 28 other states in the lawsuit against Obamacare, even after multiple bills passing the legislature asking him to do so.”

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Troopers are not the only rent-seekers – so is Pike Industries

Grokster Steve’s post (“Troopers Admit – They Just Want the Money“) is a great one that demonstrates rent-seeking –  enriches the few at the expense of the many by advocating for an action by Government.  In the case of the State Troopers, they’re absolutely good with having Government approve a casino simply because it will mean more money for Troopers.  Yes, this is also a great demonstration of Government being the Biggest Special Interest group of….wait for it….Government (want another example?  Watch the Public Sector Unions drive the State of California -> and drive it into bankruptcy).

PikeRentSeeking-2

Here we have a snippet from a letter that was published by Pike Industries (you know, the road pavers) to its independent contractors – doing the same thing.  They WANT this gas tax, HB617, to go through.  Not so much for “civic duty” no matter what the elegant words are that come out of their PR flacks – it is because they know they will get a large, if not lion’s share of that money.  Do the right thing and demand of legislators to fill the leaky bucket that is the Highway Fund?

Heck no!  New tax – more money for Pike.  To heck with the drivers that aren’t their employees that will have to ante up more at the pump – not Pike’s concern as they’ll play the margins:  not enough contracters means a few more seasonal employee (and keep them under 30 hours a week to avoid the Obamacare nightmare of paperwork.  Contractors or employees – Pike will still profit and that’s the bottom line.  And you know they mean business – after all, they’ve got money tied up in paying for the Government Relations man – and businesses don’t spend money unless they are expecting to profit from it.

Complete letter after the jump – along with some well targeted and deserved snark:

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 8 and 9

And we start right in with Part 8:

  • continuing on the economy was a lady that asked the question “what is the next thing?” as if an entire State’s economy could be planned to succeed.  An older gentleman answered but I could not hear what he said,but true to form, The Enforcer went right after that.
  • One of the gentleman wanted to start a new business in NH but is hesitant due to the costs and regulatory headaches.
  • Two warring ideologies in the State: *I* built that vs Warrenism – “You didn’t build that” – is it individual effort or is it a community effort?

Part 9:

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Parts 10 and 11

Pretty much more of the same – Part 10:

  • Business startup issues: ease of startup credit, banking issues / regulation (to customers, on themselves), reduce barriers to entry,
  • Train the workforce – not to be the cogs in a machine but to design that machine, teach them to be entrepreneurs
  • You should be willing to pay more to a local store to have a local economy and support it.

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Wrapup

The last of the NHListens session at the Plymouth Senior Center on behalf of the Granite State Future plan, which is the local instance of the Federal Government’s way to Federalize local zoning codes via bribing us with our own money as the HUD / EPA / DOT throws money (with strings attached via the “Sustainable Communities Initiative” program) at the nine Regional Planning Commissions around the State.  Here’s the video:

Circle “AAAA”:

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 6 and 7

“…who controls the natural resources and are they privately owned or a community resource?“

What have we learned so far as we get ready for Parts 6 and 7 of the NHListens session at the  Meredith Plymouth Senior Center this past Thursday?  Seems like listening isn’t what it used to be, I guess – especially if the circle is stacked.  Again “and remember that number 10!“.  If you start with 10 seats and

  • A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
  • A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
  • Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
  • The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.
  • The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”

five of them are seemingly “in” on it, it tends to drown out what seems to be the REAL disenfranchised citizens in all this. Five seats taken in a 10 person?

There certainly were the advocates for the poor and for organizing as John Krebs said in the Intro:

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “AAAA”

Well, during the recording of circle “BBBB”, I bet you’ve noticed that, on occasion, I panned over to one of the other groups.  Primary reason?  Well, the Scribe over there was writing a whole bunch more than this group (including when Tim Carter got up, walked to the front of the group to explain to the Scribe that her notes needed updating as she “missed” an important part (i.e., that verbiage said during the conversation that mentioned “NH’s strong believe in private property is a barrier to the aims of the Granite State Future plan” was completely left off the easel).  So, I asked Molly, if I could set up another camera to cover group “AAAA” easel due to its activity – and she agreed.

Why?  An experiment – knowing I was over in one place, I wanted to see if anything would keep this camera from seeing the easel at any time.  And yes, when I got to the end of watching the entire thing, I was not surprised to see how things turned out:

  • The Scribe who had been standing to the side during the time before the camera was set up adjusted her behavior to mostly stand in front of it.  Sure, it blocked the camera view but I also thought it rude for that circle’s attendees as there was little opportunity for them to look up and see what was going on.
  • Even as Molly agreed to the camera, she blocked it a couple / few times.
  • At one point, the camera itself was moved

Flashlights, I guess, are not well loved.  All that said,  I was surprised to see that the same roles I identified over at Circle “BBBB” were replicated in this circle as well.  Now, I thought that it was happening,  as during the event, I could actually hear some of the discussions happening over there even as I was engrossed over here (imagine that even in my middle aged state of being, I can still multi-task (sorta)).  So instead of perhaps having to eat crow, it reinforced what I saw in circle “BBBB”.  Once again I will state – if I had been a participant, I would not have seen the pattern.  Observing it once was enough and twice was confirmation.

Warning – the audio is extremely pour – if a shotgun mic isn’t going to make sense of this noise in the room, a simple FlipCam mic is not going to rise and jump over that bar…and it is an hour and twenty minutes long.  So I listened for you:

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HB135 “Stand your ground!” Rockingham District 4 State Representatives voting to kill it.

Self-Defense – a Natural Right.  After all, who is responsible, ultimately, for your well-being?  Certainly not government.  In fact, our founders recognized that this Right as being pre-existent to the formation of Government. They also acknowledged that this is not a Right that becomes null and void simply of the formation of Government.  Yet, it … Read more

GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Intro

Well, after running into Tim Carter at the Meredith (NH) Senior Center for the latest NHListens versioning of what our “collective future” is supposed to be with respect to the Granite State Future collectivist Utopia (after all, once taxes are used to socially engineer our behavior in our living conditions, our living standards, the modes of transportation that are allowed, we are no longer free but live solely at the mercy of others planning our lives – like that has worked out so well in other countries?).  Well, after I got done interviewing Tim, I went on inside.

Anyways, back to describing how this “listening” session would work:

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Guest post by NH State Rep. Jane Cormier: Bad Bill of the Month (HB 617)

HB 617 – Gas Tax Bill “…The Gift That Keeps On Giving…”

Last Wednesday, the NH House approved the largest tax hike in state history by increasing New Hampshire’s Gas Tax by a BILLION dollars over the next four years. Basically, it means paying about $3.00 more at the pump EACH time you fill up! The bill’s primary sponsor, Democrat David Campbell, from Nashua, sounded the CRISIS alarm that our bridges are about ready to drop! FEAR – FEAR – FEAR – a great way to hike taxes and raise fees. Now, I am not saying we do not have work to do on our roads and bridges, but to cause such alarm and use it to raise gas taxes by a whopping 83% is beyond the pale.

In trying to answer the “concern” for our roads and bridges, Former Speaker of the House, Rep. William O’Brien offered an amendment to the bill which would “fix the leaky bucket” that is our Highway Fund. (This fund is historically raided to serve other budgetary priorities.) This amendment would have dedicated 100% of the highway funds directly to the New Hampshire roads and bridges infrastructure. O’Brien offered, “If we stop the leaks, we’ll have twice as much in this budget than if you pass the tax increase.” Of course, this amendment was voted down by the Democratic majority and the original bill was debated (over 2 hours – UGH) then finally passed. Commonsense did not prevail, sad to say. And unfortunately, 15 Republicans voted FOR this immense tax increase.

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