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.

From the Democrat Socialists of America: We are working like crazy…………………..Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC: oh, really?

Bumped:  We getting ready to saddle up and head downrange to Dover for the event: BE THERE!

*****

From the Democratic Socialists of America in the language of Occupy Wall Street:

The 99% Spring Offensive is coming. Will you be there?

Groups from every corner of the progressive movement – inspired by the everyday heroes of Occupy Wall Street and Madison, Wisconsin – are planning a massive campaign of bold nonviolent direct actions to explain who REALLY brought on the Great Recession, and make the voices of the 99% impossible to ignore.

Their stated aims are aligned with Obama – the total transformation of the United States of America (where one goal is that Government, not Citizens, are in control).  And they are energized and working hard at doing just that.  Well, there is one group here in NH that is saying “Over our dead bodies!” – The Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC!  Jerry Delemus, who took over the PAC (in addition to his shepherding of the Rochester (NH) 9/12 Project) as Chair when Jack Kimball decided to run for NH Governor, has returned those reins to Jack Kimball.  And at a meeting of the GSPLPAC last night, Jack made it clear that the group is regrouping and come out fast and furious:

Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC logo

The Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC

sponsors a

Save-Our-Republic

Tea Party

Saturday, April 21

2-4 p.m.

Guppey Park

168 Portland Ave. (Rt. 4), Dover

ALL Patriots, Liberty Groups, 912 Groups,

And Tea Parties are invited to participate

For additional information

www.GSPLPAC.com

The ‘Grok will be there to cover the event – see you there!

Updated: a message from Jack Kimball, Granite State Patriots Liberty PAC Chair

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Free Speech Rights? Not if you disagree with Greenpeace USA!

On their site, they have a page of “FAQs” about why you can’t believe any who is a “climate change denier”, and this page is calling Exxon their personal bogeyman (I notice that no mention of ClimateGate and the MBs of emails and bad data is mentioned – and I just giggled when I read … Read more

HB 1403 – an Act relative to International Baccalaureate program

In my little hamlet, we fought the implementation of the IB program in our high school mostly on the idea that we believed that our students should be American students first and then be knowledgeable “the world”.  But the biggest thing was the philosophy bias and that it would have meant a total loss of local control – use the SEARCH function with “IB” to see what we’ve written about the program in the past.  Well, there is a bill is now being considered in Concord – HB 1403:

HOUSE BILL 1403

AN ACT relative to providing pupils with curriculum and instruction regarding state and national sovereignty and establishing a committee to study the implementation of the International Baccalaureate program in New Hampshire.

SPONSORS: Rep. Pettengill, Carr 1; Rep. Cohn, Merr 6; Rep. Cox, Merr 6; Rep. Hill, Merr 6; Rep. Kreis, Merr 6

COMMITTEE: Education

AMENDED ANALYSIS

This bill requires that school curriculum and instruction shall only meet school approval standards if such curriculum and instruction promotes state and national sovereignty and is not subject to the governance of a foreign body or organization. The bill also establishes a committee to study issues relating to the International Baccalaureate program in New Hampshire.

I am all about local control, but I also know that the Educational Establishment in a lot of towns start pushing it in their towns – and don’t always take the truthful, the ENTIRE truthful, road in explaining what’s what with the program to parents that trust them implicitly (that implicit trust is oft not the right thing to have – instead, a bit of cynicism would better serve them).  Rep Seth Cohn, one of the sponsors, found out personally as he caught the “Educational Establishment” lying to him.

So in this case, I support this Act.  I also support this petition process:

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Obama for America – FL: Wonder if they will report us to AttackWatch?

Every once in a while, something absolutely hilarious comes over the transom – this came in over Twitter: As Steve said about the question: Gee, I hope so. ‘Course, why are those Southern boys awantin’ to follow us Yankees?  Or are the OfA-NH tribe being lazy?

Data Point – Taxmageddon

Well, Obama DOES want high gas prices and high taxes!  And if the Democrat Harry Reid led Senate continues their do-nothing ways, this will be the Democrat Party’s New Year’s gift to us all. (H/T: Business Insider)

BE BREITBART: DoIT Right To Know Request : Outbound Internet traffic summarizations

We are a persistent bunch here at the ‘Grok:

Good morning,

We, as taxpayers in the State of NH, are requesting certain electronic records concerning the outbound Internet traffic emanating from the State of NH’s computer network.

Please review the following RSA 91-A request; we stand ready to work with you concerning this issue.  Please find a copy of the request below as well as two attachments (the same request, in Microsoft WORD and OpenOffice formats)

Kindest Regards,

-Skip

David “Skip” Murphy for myself, Steve Mac Donald, and Ed Naile (citizens of the State of New Hampshire)

**********

Right to Know Request
as per
RSA 91-A
April 20, 2012

To:     Stanley “Bill” Rodgers, Commissioner and CIO, Department of Information Technology, State of NH
Thomas S. Burack, C, Department of Environmental Services, State of NH

In light of the final response of April 19th concerning our first Right To Know request (re: political postings by State Employee Richard de Seve during regularly scheduled work hours contra to the policies of both the Department of Environmental Services (“DES”) and the Department of Information Technology (“DoIT”) filed on March 11, 2012), we are making the following RSA 91-A request.

As noted in that final response:

When a user enters a URL or IP address for a particular web page, the outbound request passes through the state’s internal network until it reaches the internal firewall. There, the request is routed through DOIT’s web filtering software. That software categorizes web sites based on historical content. Agencies establish filter policies that determine which categories are accessible or blocked. Based on a user’s login information, the software is able to associate a user with his or her IP address and based on the policy assigned to that user, determines whether the requested page is allowed or blocked. If allowed, the software permits the requested web page to be sent from the requested server to the user for viewing. The date, time, and destination of the outgoing request, as well as all IP information sent to the user from the destination web page, are recorded by the web filtering software. The actual content of what was either sent or received is not recorded.

We hereby request,

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BE BREITBART: Update 10: DES Right To Know Update : DOIT and DES – a “gentle” (eh?) response

Well, my first reaction to the “final response” was this quick note fired off to the RTK Dude:

Sidebar: slightly edited here as it turned out the copy outbound had a few less words than here – brain saying the words and the fingers went partially deaf.

Mr. Demas,

I am in receipt of your alleged  final response – I can assure you it will not be a final communication.  I find the logic contained herein to be  very convoluted and tortured to conflate computer communication data packets with a personnel policy. While such a policy depends entirely on having such data records available, it is not a fact that those records are, in whole, subservient to that single purpose. Indeed, while the personnel policy is entirely dependent on those records, there are many other functions that those records could service as well and thus should not be considered exempt from our Right To Know request.

In fact, I thought of a half dozen in the space of 2 seconds – and I wasn’t trying hard.

In fact, we have already proven that the stated written policies of both DES and DoIT have not been followed either in respect to their letter of such nor their spirit. In fact, it is clear that your personnel policy does not even require using those records to take action in this case; I find with no small amount of irony that it is our records (where Mr. de Seve admitted his guilt to GraniteGrok and not to the State) that are serving as the bulwark of any actions that DES takes in dealing with Mr. de Seve. If it were not for GraniteGrok, he still would be breaking both DES and DoIT’s policies with impunity.

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“The Power of Profit” by my favorite economics professor

Dr. Walter E. Williams is one of my favorite people to read and listen to – able to take complicated issues, strip them down to their essence, and tell the story in a way that brings out the important stuff that others don’t even think of.  This video is a great example – an explains … Read more

BE BREITBART: Update 9: DES Right To Know Update : DOIT and DES – convoluted hiding

OK – still catching up here.  Late on Friday, I received the latest update from the DES RTK dude – and to be honest, my reaction was two-fold:

  • turning on all the burners and the ovens of a commercial kitchen range had nothing on me.
  • And as Steve posted: Game On

                                                                                                                              April 13, 2012

David “Skip” Murphy

9 Gilford Glen Road

Gilford, NH 03249

RE: Request for Records Pursuant to RSA 91-A – Final Response

 Dear Mr. Murphy

I am writing to provide you additional information in order to conclude DES’s and DOIT’s response to your request for records pursuant to RSA 91-A. The first and second preliminary responses issued by DES and DOIT on March 27, 2012 and April 5, 2012, respectively, addressed all of your specific requests except Request 7.c., relative to web traffic data. That request is the subject of this letter.

You requested “[a]ny and all electronic records that show outbound traffic to any and all non-State related websites from the IT department[‘]s proxy servers, outbound routers / designated Internet gateways emanating from the use of Mr. de Seve’s computer usage” and packet level records what will contain…[t]he [destination] IP address of such traffic generated by Mr. de Seve.” As previously discussed, DOIT’s system do not log capture, or otherwise retain packet level details or content of inbound or outbound internet traffic. However, DOIT systems do capture information about internet traffic initiated by users of state computers systems.

Your request for production of that internet traffic information is one of first impression. Therefore, DES and DOIT carefully examined how that information is generated, recorded, and used in order to determine 1) whether the requested information meets the definition of any governmental record under RSA 91-A:1-a, III, and 2) whether such information is subject to any exemptions set forth in RSA 91-A:5.

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See – I WAS right about taxes!

Finished them last night – between prepping for the NH GOP Annual Meeting and these despicable taxes, you now know why I’ve been AWOL here.  TMEW schlepped them off to Post Office this morning.  Done, mission accomplished, and fini.  Really – fini!  That’s it, I’m done. Really done.

Done doing them.  No mas!

For years, I have done my own taxes.  Did it before TMEW and I had our daycare center (just a wage earner), did it when we had the daycare center – afterward too.  And still do.  Rather simple: “regular” taxes with no dependents, a home office, and the ‘Grok (we do take in money, and we do spend money on stuff).  But for the last few years, I’ve  kept thinking “why am I doing this to myself”?  It just seems that each year, it just gets harder with more pages to read to figure out how to fill in the same number of pages and the same number of forms.  I have two scientific degrees – I may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I’m not the dimmest one either.  Yet, I kept finding myself asking “what the heck does THAT mean?”.  In fact, I complained to some friends:

I did notice the “more cumbersome” – I have ALWAYS done our taxes, and the last few years the instruction manuals for the forms have kept getting longer and longer – this year, more pages and in a lot more places, far more technical.

I’m out of my league in doing this.  Laws should be few, short, and easily understood by all for intent if not for obscure outlier conditions (we all know – do not kill except in self-defense IF needed).  Taxes?  The opposite

And I had started it off with this:

This is the last year I do my own taxes – After getting about 1/4 of the way of processing through the AMT sheet to see if I had to file that way, I swore that our Legislators ought to have to do this for 5 small biz people a year just to put them through the pain of trying to figure out “er, what does THIS mean???”  And the way that the forms go “circular” (can’t finish this part until you do this other form, but that form almost needs you to finish the first form), I can understand why the IRS support folks can’t get it right either.   PLEASE!

  • Give us a straight consumption tax.  Failing that:
  • No more automatic deductions – every week, ya gotta send in a check for the Fed income tax and FICA
  • Move election day to the day after Fed income tax is due.

As was pointed out on TV yesterday on one of the talking head shows, isn’t there something wrong with this crap when the 2 page 1040-EZ instruction manual is 88 pages long?

Do those two things, manual-send-in-money and move the election date – you’d see smaller government pretty darn quick!  Then I saw this – and knew I was right:

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Juliana Bergeron – More words of “responsible” and “compromise”

I relayed the post that Steve put up on what Juliana Bergeron had said to my co-worker out in San Diego (and helps to run the Women V.I.Ps that her Mom started decades ago – a Conservative  oriented issues and candidate supporting group):

The New Revised Unabridged 2012 Dictionary:

Reasonable – > Liberal, large controlling government, anti-American, Socialistic, Communistic.

Divisive  – > Constitutional, pro-American values, small government, liberty and freedom (opposite of “reasonable”)

Heh! And this from a friend that was at last week’s Belknap County Republican Committee meeting:

At the Belknap County Republican meeting last Wednesday, Bergeron talked about the need for compromise.  I told her compromise was often fine, but not of our principles. Too often the Democrats want to deficit spend by a trillion dollars while we want a balanced budget.  If compromise means we settle on $500 billion in deficit spending, then I am totally against compromise.  My comment got some applause…but as I recall no useful response from Bergeron.

The entire piece from the Keene Sentinel after the jump – along with her email that she sent out to the NH GOP State Committee:

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Indeed: “…the TEA Party lives on in grassroots activists determined to see change.” Final thoughts on yesterday’s NH GOP Annual meeting

Indeed, indeed. Those involved in the TEA Party movement are still around.  They were lambasted three years ago for being “amateurs”, thinking that holding clever signs would change things, that they were too white, too middle class, leaderless, and if the media and Democrats were to be believed, would soon go home to their living rooms and resume a more normal life of simply grumbling at their TV sets and wringing their hands.  H/T to Instapundit for this:

AN A.P. REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TEA PARTY: Dead it’s not — the tea party lives on in grassroots activists determined to see change. “Dead the tea party is not. Changed? Perhaps. But still very much alive, in the back room of a Jim’s Restaurant in San Antonio and many other places across the land. . . . Perhaps nowhere is the persistent power of the tea party more at work today than at the local and state level, where many grassroots activists have decided to shift the focus of their efforts. More tea party-backed candidates are running for county and state Republican leadership positions, with the aim of having a bigger say in the party’s agenda and direction.”

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.

And I see no end to it soon.  Sure, there will be the rallies going forward, as Steve points out for one today in Manchester, NH and as I’ve posted here for next Saturday in Dover (sponsored by the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC).  But change, REAL change comes only after real hard works over a longish amount of time.  In Glen’s second link, he outlines what the Utah TEA Party was doing in participating in personal democracy – moving the Utah Republican Party back to its roots of not just lip-serving for smaller government but actually making it happen.  They did it rather quickly – but as I just told another activist concerning a different issue on the phone, be prepared for change to come slowly.

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GraniteGrok Endorsement: Ovide Lamontagne for NH Governor

Ovide Lamontagne For NH Governor 2012We have known Ovide Lamontagne for a number of years now, and the longer we have known him, the surer we are of his Conservative Principles and his stances on current events based on those Principles.  We have seen him refuse to take more politically expedient paths, ways the could yield better political outcomes for him personally, simply because it meant that he would have to cut corners instead of following those foundational guiding philosophies.  Many times, you might hear that a politician is a man of his politics.  That’s not Ovide; instead, you get a politician of steadfast convictions.  Enough so that we endorsed him for US Senate this last cycle.  Every stance is a Conservative one – we like an appreciate it. You know us – and we know Ovide Lamontagne.

Have no doubt, the Democrats will be putting up an extremist Progressive – and our bet is that Ovide will present the best alternative to those that will try (and make no mistake – they are campaigning on it right now) to recreate the Big Government go-round of 2006 / 2008?

Is this still the Live Free or Die State?  If you agree that it is, but that it hangs in the balance, consider this: It needs a Live Free or Die Governor!  One that not only can say the words but means, that lives, the philosophy behind it. That person, that Governor, is Ovide Lamontagne, the Happy Warrior!

We ask that when it comes to vote in the NH Republican primary in the Fall, please vote for Ovide.  And then again in November.

*****

When NH State Senator Jeanne Forrester had house event back February, Ovide Lamontagne was gracious in granting us an exclusive interview after having already spent  a couple of hours giving a talk to those present and then answered questions from them.  Both parts of that interview:

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NH GOP National Committeewoman race – Or is it the “whisper race”?

From Michelle:

Alas, if you’re a conservative mom, you’re damned if you do stay home and damned if you don’t. In 2008, Howard Gutman, a member of the Obama campaign’s national finance committee, attacked GOP vice presidential candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s ability to be a good parent and have a high-powered public life at the same time. “Your responsibility is to put your family first,” Gutman lectured as he singled out Palin’s Down syndrome baby and then-pregnant teenage daughter. “The proper attack is not that a woman shouldn’t run for vice president with five kids; it’s that a parent, when they have a family in need…” should get out of the public sphere and stay home.

Sound familiar? Wait, haven’t I JUST HEARD THIS from a Republican?  Oh yeah…

Last time around and if my memory serves me well, four people were running for this position.  It seemed, at the time, that the candidates ran on the issues and their stances – what happens in most races, the dirty side, seemed to be invisible.  This time, not so much – it seems that it has come back near the end of this race – just like any other political race.  This time, it seems to have been launched against Pam Tucker; a sample:

Pam Tucker has come highly recommended by her peers.  I am thrilled that she is so competent at the State House, so much that I feel we NEED her there.   I understand that she will again seek office as a State Rep in the fall.  Her time is currently, and will be in the future, divided between her young family, her constituents from her district, and the added responsibilities as Deputy Speaker of the House.  I have heard Pam speak several times, each time stating that she will be able to attend the necessary meetings.

But are attending just the necessary meetings enough to build strong relationships with other states, and therefore retaining New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Status?

The underlying message:  She’s good, but not good ENOUGH.  She works hard. but couldn’t POSSIBLY add another task.  How COULD she abandon her family, her kids??  Sounds like a sexist argument to me – what about Dad, or is yet the next inference to be made is that he’s an incompetent boob who can’t be trusted to keep his “young family” alive without her?  My gosh!  She’s being split in too many ways – she can’t POSSIBLY do everything well!

Nonsense.  Well, I’ve never been one to be quiet – but “whisper campaigns” are not my style.  If someone has to rely on innuendo and whispers to secure a seat, well, that says:

  • You can’t win on your own in the public arena of ideas?
  • You are, perhaps, running as someone you aren’t and need “cover”?
  • It says something about “character”

So, in being loud, let’s dredge something up from the near deep recesses of the ‘Grok about newly “Conservative to the core” Juliana Bergeron from the Chair race:

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GraniteGrok Endorsement: At the NH GOP Annual Meeting, Please vote for Pam Tucker for RNC Committeewoman

As NH’s leading Conservative blogsite, we not only opine about politics (and culture) here at the ‘Grok, we also get involved – we run for (win and lose) local office, we certainly advocate for Conservative principles, and yes, many of us are either Delegates to or are Members of the NH GOP State Committee.  We not just write, we DO!  No, I think it highly unlikely that anyone, after reading the ‘Grok for any length of time, would take us to be partial to “the Establishment wing” of the party.  Rather, we hew to principle first over “politics and power” plays; we give our endorsements out on that basis.

PamTucker head imageTomorrow is the NH GOP Annual Meeting where NH Republican Party business will be taken care of, lots of political yakking will be taking place, and new officers will be elected.  Being Members, we will be voting.  Being Conservatives and Libertarians, we know for whom we will be voting.  Being who we are here at the ‘Grok, we loudly ask for your vote for Pam Tucker for RNC Committeewoman from NH.  We are sure that she has the temperament, the communications skills, and the wherewithal to skillfully accomplish the goals of that position.

But most of all, we believe that of the two seeking the position, Pam Tucker is the principled and accomplished person for the job.  Her answers to our questions were solid and grounded and it is clear that her rapid political rise is due to her hard work, sense of proper priorities, and knowing what to do when the occasion or situation requires.

It is also clear to us, based on the inbound emails from both candidates how this race is going to be decided.  Certainly, we know who is backing Pam Tucker’s opponent – with very few “surprises” – and those that are backing Pam.  We know that we are with the right group of folks who are hoping that others will see that Pam will do the superior job in representing NH to the rest of the national Republican Party.  We also know, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that she can also be that “inward” ambassador in taking  Republican ideals and the Platform to others here in NH.  Unlike her opponent, she is the only credible ambassador from the grassroots back to the NH GOP Executive Committee.

Previous Questions:

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