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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.

USA: our economic freedom is diminishing. Who is to blame?

Freedom.  The choice to make our own decisions.  And as been recently said, our personal freedom is also tied to our economic freedom – how free are we with respect to financial decisions? So, time to pick up the pitchforks and muskets, and charge those that are in charge of creating "the level playing field"; … Read more

Classic – Govt changes the system, Society adapts, Govt throws a hissy fit.

Govt changes the system:

Once again, the "not exactly humble" chuckleheads in DC decide, beyond hubris, that having bestowed the title of "Masters of the Universe" on themselves, they were fully qualified to completely "fix" our financial system.  500-odd wise guys decided that after mastering the task of getting elected, they could change the rules.  And that the marketplace would just sit for it. 

Thanks to the Frank-Dodd reform act (that would be Congressman Barney Frank (MA-D) and Senator Chris Dodd (CT-D) and in this case, aided and abetted by Senator Dick Durban (IL-D) with his Durbin amendment, capped the fees that banks could charge on debit card usage (and arbitrarily plucked a "fair" number out of thin air that the banks could charge going forward).

Oh, wait – Society adapts:

…Bank of America will begin charging a $5 monthly fee at the beginning of next year for customers who make debit card purchases.

…The move coincides with the implementation of new rules limiting the revenue banks will be able to get from merchants. Beginning this weekend, a cap on the fees banks can charge retailers every time customers swipe their debit cards will take effect.

Having been caught in the act, Govt throws a hissy fit to distract:

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Grok Special Interviews: OccupyNH – Part 1

Yesterday, the ‘Grok went to Manchester after the show to see first hand what the hubbub was all about as much to see how they set themselves up and organize as it was to see what the message was.  Certainly what the New Media is reporting is not what I have been seeing in the … Read more

GrokTV Special Interviews from OccupyNH (Occupy Wall Street): Ben DiZoglio

Another person at the Occupy Wall Street / OccupyNH rally yesterday in Manchester was Ben DiZoglio.  As opposed to Leah and Mirav, he seemed genuinely attached to the movement here. He had noticed that I was recording the event and offered that since they now had some power, offered an outlet for use (unfortunately I had left the AC brick at home). Since several others had refused to do interviews (I figured out, partially, why later on), I requested an interview to find out why he was there and was looking to see what some of the difference were between OWS and the TEA Party movements:

When I got home, I decided to Google his name and found out that he was a student at Plymouth State (an athlete on the baseball team) and had written an Op Ed for the Nashua Telegraph this summer:

At every tea party rally I’ve ever gone to, veterans tend to be given positions of honor and are either asked to speak or, at the very least, are recognized.

The message, of course, is the people who protect our country should be praised for their service. Often these humble veterans will say the true heroes are those who sacrificed everything for their country.

But then the political speeches begin…

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Signs from OccupyNH (Occupy Wall Street) rally in Manchester

I think back to the signs at the TEA Party events and most were funny, a play on words, and with a point against the growth of government and the socialization of risk taken (instead of letting folks and corporations fail for bad decisions made). 

Somehow,I believe this sign sets the tone for this movement built on class envy and growing the size of government:

Now, every movement has its nutcases, and this one will be no different, and I laugh that the Obama/Hitler signs by the Lynden LaRouche folks are now showing up at OWS sites and becoming THEIR problem as they did for the TEA Party events.  But this "Eat the Rich" meme (and the associated meme being "kill them first") is being seen all over the country (and the world).  Make no mistake, the "rich" are being targeted and scapegoated for being successful; envy is a powerful emotion.

Here are some others, as well as a quick video of some of the other signs:

 

 

Of course there were a couple of union signs there but given that the SEA (the State union that is the local chapter for the SEIU, email after the jump) promoted the event:

 

(Proud to be a Union Carpenter)

 

 

 

 

 

 

And the video of more also after the jump 

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GrokTV Special Interviews from OccupyNH (Occupy Wall Street): “UNH Fencer”

Another of our micro-interviews was with a young lady, seemingly from UNH (according to her jacket), who I spotted standing and holding a sign at the curbside of Elm Street in Veterans Park in Manchester.  Although she seemed a bit confused that I would even ask, she allowed herself to be interviewed: I’m betting, however, … Read more

GrokTV Event from OccupyNH (Occupy Wall Street): Random Clips

Here are some other video clips from yesterday’s OccupyNH (Occupy Wall Street)’s rally in Manchester.  Somethings that struck me as I re-watched the clips (in random order):

  • 0:30 – It’s a bit weird to listen to the "human microphone" fashion of speaking at these gatherings.  Speak 3-6 words, let the audience repeat it. I guess they believe regressing from using a bullhorn / PA system is progress.  It also seems to enforce the collectivist outlook – everyone, the same words, the same time, all the time…..to evoke the same thoughts?
  • 0:50 – It is very weird, in the beginning, to seemingly have to have an entire crowd decide how to use Porta-potties; I kinda thought in this day and age that pretty much most adults would have the proper decorum.

Not only have you had more coverage, but also more favorable coverage.

  • 4:26 – Oxymoron: "The 99% is everywhere".  Er, isn’t that true just by definition?  But isn’t it just a bit much that you, the 0.00001%, have decided you can speak for the rest of us?
  • 7:17- Will Manchester Mayor Gatsas really allow this crowd to camp out in Victory Park all winter in tents?  Have they pulled the permits and paid the fees?  Will they have to follow all sanitary and food handling ordinances?
  • 13:23 – I am still bothered by this "sign of hate and violence" (best seen at 17:58).  Watch the video to see that this is not an outlier holding it – it is right in the heart of their gathering in a "drum circle" (ok, more like a hazy grouping, but hey….). Not one person said "get rid of it, it’s hateful and  offensive".  I guess Political Correctness is only determined by who says it…
  • 18:24 – my favorite part:  Organizers cracking down on an "individual thought and action", stripping away individual initiative.  Must not act alone unless we all act together (and we will ensure that it happens by use of the "agenda / process" of the "human microphone".

You know, I DO have a great reason for the OWS folks to keep using the "human microphone" – it is FAR easier to transcribe what they say when they automatically repeat what was said a second time.

More thoughts after the jump

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Guest post by Mac Kittredge: This Mighty Train

Across our mighty nation  Rises up the new refrain   “We need new blood to lead us!        Let’s elect that Herman Cain!” His beginnings were quite humble,  But with elbow grease and brains,    He became a great example       To us all, this Herman Cain. Sharing Reagan’s happy vision,  He sees our future plain;    In the City … Read more

Guest post by JR Hoell: Let’s Send Every Child to a Good School

According to the U.S. Department of Education, almost 27% of children  in America already have access to the school of their choice.  As recently as 2007 (the most recent year of available data from the National Center for Education Statistics), 16% of students attended a public school other than the assigned school in their district, 9% went to faith-oriented private schools while the remaining 3% went to  private secular schools.   The numbers listed above do not include the 3% that are home-schooled, an additional form of school choice.

Clearly, parents want to be involved in the selection of the school for their children.  In fact, there is a growing percentage of families that choose to relocate to a new neighborhood or town so their child can attend a particular school.  If parents are willing to pick up and move for a better school, then clearly our system of rigid geographic school districts is failing and a new system based on school choice needs to be implemented.

As student test results indicate, parents, on the average, do a better job of making educational choices for their children than bureaucracies do, which is yet another reason  the expansion of school choice. The real question is, “Can we afford to let more children have school choice?” or “Can a system be put in place to still support the public schools while allowing parents to have this choice?”   Actually, a well implemented school choice program saves the state money, without down shifting the cost to the local school districts.

According to the New Hampshire Department of Education,

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Racism? For President? Hardly

(H/T: John D)

This must be making Liberals and race-baiters’s heads explode.  All their finely tuned theories of being able to make some the oppressed and some the oppressors just is going out the window.  Comedian Janeane Garafalo, for instance, plain called all the TEA Partiers "straight up racists" for opposing President Obama.  They just can’t seem to understand that while their world view is race based, we could care less.  It isn’t his skin color, its his liberal / Progressive / socialist policies that we hate.  But people like her, and Al Sharpton, and Jesse Jackson, and a whole phalanx of folks of that ilk cannot seem to muster the intellectual horsepower to actually muster a reasonable argument.  Thus, they are reduced to "skin calling".

Problem is, it has been overused so much, they just aren’t getting the idea that, pretty much, we don’t care what they call us.  They haven’t figured out yet that their "Cry Wolf" tactics have been so overplayed that it is like an abused drug therapy – the tolerance levels continue to rise to where a drug no longer can meet its purpose.  So too has this tactic of the Left, as they have abused its real meaning in real life – simply disagreeing with Obama is not racist.  Wishing to defeat him in the next election is not racist.

And, – it is simply politics. But race inflamed Leftists like Garafalo simply expose themselves as mindless twits as they complete a circle as effective as the OWS folks drum circles with this:

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GrokTalk! Saturday October 14, 2011

Live Streaming local and National News with opinion you could only get from GraniteGrok. EMail: GrokTALK@GraniteGrok.com  or Call us!  603-524-7478 This week, 9-11AM… Former LA Congressman and Governor, Buddy Roemer, (and candidate for Republican nominee President) will be our guest.  Of all of those running, he is the only candidate that is embracing the Occupy … Read more

Data Points – Household getting rid of debt

Unlike previous recessions, households are holding back from taking on additional debt – a clear sign of uncertainty of the future economy and their part in it.. (H/T: Business Insider)

Grok TV Event: Grafton County Republicans

OK, last set of videos from Monday’s Grafton County Republican meeting (have to be pretty much complete, dontcha know!).  Being the Presidential season, there was a straw poll taken – with a winner that surprised me:

Intro ceremonies (with a delightful rendition of the National Anthem by Mollie Brown!), the "Tie Auction" (with auctioneer Bill Tobin), and NH State Senator Jeannie Forrester giving out an award – all after the jump.

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Bon Mots of the day – Christie endorses Romney

In surfing around, these bon mots from Hot Air: That’s the lowlight from this pitiful spectacle, in which a guy who’s famous for uttering hard truths whether or not people want to hear them endorses a guy who’s famous for telling people whatever they want to hear to win votes. And as a person who … Read more

GrokTV Special Interview: Lakes Region TEA Party hosting Michelle Bachman – Micro Interviews

From Saturday’s Lakes Region TEA Party in Moultonborough, NH hosting Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann’s, we had the chance to do a number of ‘Grok Micro-Interviews both before and after the event (which we always enjoy doing!)

Those willing to talk to us were:

  • Tom Thomson (out to get yet another Presidential candidate signature for his Tax Pledge)
  • NH State Senator Jeannie Forrester
  • Jim and Nancy
And Tim Carter, leader of the Lakes Region TEA Party, who had about 30 seconds to do a "micro version of a Micro-Interview" before having to dash off to get on the bus (as we heard its Diesel roar to life):
 

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GrokTV Event: Lakes Region TEA Party hosting Michelle Bachman – Signing “The Pledge”

On the Conservative side of the NH political scene is Tom "The Axe Man" Thomson who is famous for his pledge on behalf of NH (and American) taxpayers.  He has traveled the length and width of NH, going to a lot of the political events, to publicize the benefits of the pledge and confronting those that will ultimately be deciding what to spend of the taxpayers’ money – or not.

And yes, Michele Bachmann signed the pledge.  Two takes on the signing – one from the camera angle of all of the rest of the event (ably manned by TMEW)….

…and another strange attempt from me and the trusty FlipCam. Apologies in order – I thought I had gotten into the right position for the signing, and it turned out that she could not have cared more where I was sitting.  So, in signing the second version, I took my monopod (FlipCam attached) and just stuck it out there (and there is no "angling" with it).  I was pleased to get what I did – except it was sideways.  With a software assist, the rotation was accomplished but a wee bit "strange" in one spot.

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