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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.

Frankly Speaking: It’s Time To Lay “Obamacare” to Rest

Guest post by Congressman Frank Guinta (R-NH-1)

It’s Time To Lay “Obamacare” to Rest

Welcome to the first installment of “Frankly Speaking.”  Every two weeks, this column will let you know what I’m doing in Washington and explain what it means to people here in New Hampshire.  It’s important that you know the steps your Congressman is taking to fight for your interests, and to maintain an open dialogue with you about it.

Our country has just come through the national tragedy of the Tucson shootings.  Our thoughts and prayers remain with Congresswoman Giffords and the others who are still recovering, as well as the families of the fallen.  It was proper that the House paused from its activities to honor the victims of this senseless crime.

Now the House is turning its attention back to the people’s business, and the first major bill of the new Congress: repealing last year’s federal takeover of our nation’s health care system, commonly called “Obamacare.”  It’s disturbing to many Granite Staters not only because it will lower the quality of the health care your family receives, but it will also kill jobs –1.6 million according to an estimate by the National Federation of Independent Businesses– at a time when we need to be creating jobs, not losing them.  (In fact, I never stop looking for new opportunities to help encourage the creation of more jobs for our citizens.)

You sent me to Washington to do something about this dangerous law.  That’s why I proudly added my name as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 2, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.  Ending Obamacare is so important, I made it my very first piece of legislation in Congress.  I have mixed news to share with you about our progress on it.

The good news: there is broad support for repealing Obamacare in the House.  The bad news:

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It seems that RedHampshire fell hook, line and sinker….

UPDATE:  I got an email from Matt, the Managing Editor over at RedHampshire asking if a clarification could be posted – Sure! Skip, I saw your post earlier concerning a post that was posted in the Community Section of Red Hampshire this afternoon from one of our users.  I should note that "Red Hampshire" did … Read more

Even a stopped watch is right twice a day:

Not often do I agree with Blue Hampshire (yes, we do affectionately call them Boo-Hoo Hamsters from time to time), but on this, I will (emphasis mine): The latest Pat Hynes/Shawn Millerick right wing smear machine masquerading as a news site takes a quote out of context and makes stuff up that isn’t in the … Read more

GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 01/15/15

Podcast – week of 01/15/11 GrokTALK! Streaming Live! from GraniteGrok To play (or "stream") a clip now, just click on it.  To download it to your PC, right click on it and tell the process where to save the file for you. (Click here for the promo page) Hour 1      Hour 2 Skip … Read more

Congressman Guinta:

Issa Announces Oversight Subcommittee Structure, Names Chairmen and Vice Chairmen

WASHINGTON D.C. – Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced today the members who will serve as Subcommittee Chairmen and Vice Chairmen for the 112th Congress.

“The American people deserve and have a right to expect that the money Washington has taken from them is well spent and well accounted for,” said Issa.  “These subcommittees are a reflection of the substantive agenda House Republicans have promised to pursue one that is focused on identifying and reforming waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement within the federal bureaucracy.  The American people have a right to an efficient and effective government.  They have a right to a Congress and White House that is held accountable and acts transparently.   This is our committee’s mission and this is what Oversight Republicans will work tirelessly to deliver to the American people.”

The Committee will be organized into seven subcommittees with different legislative and oversight jurisdictions as follows:

Well, look where Congressman Guinta landed!  One of the items that drove the TEA Party movement was the seemingly never ending handouts and bailouts of those that were judged "too big to fail": 

The Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs
Chair: Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (NC-10)
Vice Chair: Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1)

Finance.  Money.  Glad to see a TEA Party Freshman get that assignment.  You’ve got the opportunity, NOW

Stop the spending, Frank!

“Congressman Guinta’s experience as a mayor and his commitment to accountability in government convinced me he was the right candidate to serve as vice chair for this subcommittee,” said Issa. “In this position, he will play a leading role in sorting out still unanswered questions about the financial meltdown and federal programs that are failing to achieve measurable goals to help the economy while wasting taxpayer dollars.”

Frank:

“Granite Staters have told me they are unhappy with the billions of dollars spent on bailouts.  They want to know where all that money went, what it produced, and cases where it was wasted.  When waste is identified, they want it stopped immediately. My goal is to do everything I can to keep the money paid by hardworking taxpayers from being needlessly squandered.  I was sent to Washington to help get our nation’s financial house in order, and I look forward to working on this important subcommittee to do just that.”

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Tweet in my ear – so, not satisfied with one bite of the apple, eh?

More incoming: you know, if people were happy with the anointing of Juliana Bergeron, why would this even be a story?  

The Nashua City Republican Committee Meeting was this past week and it was a heavily attended meeting. The invited speaking schedule:

  • Radio host Jeff Chidester,
  • State Senator Jim Luther
  • State Senator Gary Lambert
  • Jack Kimball

Well before it started, Juliana Bergeron swept in encircled by some of her supporters with JULIANA stickers. Some members immediately commented how “crass” the stickers were. 

Me?  A big deal?  Stickers?  Running for the NH GOP Chair and showing up at (gasp!) a meeting of Republicans where some might actually be Members that could vote for her on Saturday for NH GOP Chair?  I’d be shocked if she didn’t…

Oh wait! Shades of a Christmas Card? 

There were comments swirling around the meme that they were surprised to see Juliana again as she was not a regular attender of their meeting.  In fact, the only other time she had appeared at their  meeting was when she appeared as a speaker in at their previous meeting in December.

Some felt it was “disrespectful,” and was meant to “tweak” Jack (which it did not).

Sounds like some Republicans around here – show up for a couple of meetings just before an election, never see them again. However, as they say in the infomercials: "But wait – there’s more!"

The members became even more upset when Juliana Bergeron campaign manager, Liz Christoffersen approached the committee and “demanded” that Juliana be afforded “equal” time to address the audience (since Jack was there).  Liz was reminded that Juliana had already had her turn as she had already talked to the group back in December; fair was fair and tonight was Jack’s turn to address the members. Liz then insisted that Juliana be given at least a few minutes to say “hi.” Again, Liz was reminded that Juliana already had her chance and that it would not be fair to Jack.

OK.  That’s the job – persistence and advocating.  I do think that the Committee had it right – equal opportunity.  One try is fine, twice should have been enough; having done so, you’ve shown and done what you should have.  The correct thing to have at that point was to accept "the loss", be polite, accept the fact that the Committee has made the rule, and abide by it.

Er, nope – that was not the reaction.  Direct opposition to the will of the Committee:

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Guest post by Cathy Peschke: Rebuttal to Ms. Piotrow

Guest post by Cathy Peschke of Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes:

When I read Ms. Piotrow’s letter to the editor I was astounded and left speechless.  Then I realized her letter to the editor was a living document open to interpretation and could change meaning with time. What Ms. Piotrow really meant to say is that she has lived in a cloistered world surrounded by people who do not believe in the rights of "life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness."  Further, her elitist progressive big government view of the world is far better then that envisioned by the Founding Fathers of this great Nation. She also believes that simple people can not lead their own lives without direction of a large centralized government.   

You are right Ms. Piotrow, our Founders did believe the Constitution was a living document.  However, the process of change was only to occur through amendments, not selective interpretation.  Our Founding Fathers did not look at the future to create a new government as you stated but to history; they choose a Republic because throughout history Democracies have failed.  

Funny that Ms. Piotrow (Emily’s List Contributor, Former Director of International Planned Parenthood and Director of the Population Crisis Committee) sees that the constitution as a living document but does not see human fetuses as living beings worth protecting. There is no telling how many lives have been lost over the last 40 years due to Ms. Piotrow belief in abortion to solve the so called "Population Crisis",  please do not try to kill the Constitution as well Ms. Piotrow.

Ms. Piotrow I realize that your letter is not a living LTE left open to change as I see fit and neither is our Constitution.

Catherine Peschke
Citizens for Reasonable and Fair Taxes

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NOW the NH MSM gets around to the story…spinning

Kevin Landrigan is the first out of the box (that I am aware of) on reporting on the Cheshire County fight that happened in Swanzey.  Problem is, I reported on it quite some time ago – December 12. with some input from someone very close to the brouhaha.   What took you so long, boys? … Read more

If we get stuck with Obamacare who will get the machine that goes “Ping”?

Guest post by Leigh MacNeil:

Obamacare is the largest tax increase in American history; taxes that will kill jobs and destroy our economy.   Did you know that Religious Objectors, Illegal Aliens, Prisoners, Members of Indian Tribes, Hardship Cases (determined by HHS) and those earning less than the poverty line are exempt from these taxes?  

  • How do we expect to maintain service levels while giving 30 million plus people most of which choose not to be insured free healthcare?  
  • How can the government provide these services on the backs of tax payers and not see a negative impact both on the system and the economy?  

You don’t need to be some well-to-do economic genius to see that this is a bad idea.   

Let’s start with the mandates or better yet the income surtaxes: An adult will be taxed 2.5% of his or her adjusted gross income and we will be penalized with if we do not comply with the mandate to have health insurance.  That alone makes this legislation illegal and warrant repeal.

How about the quality of service we will see when 40% of the medical doctors leave the profession due to the monetary constraints and piles of red tape that come with this monstrosity?  That’s a recipe for…

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The WHOLE story here?

I kinda threw out a general challenge at the end of this last post:

What took you so long, boys? Landrigan’s version is here (registration may be required).  Compare his to mine to see the spin.

Well, someone took me up on it, is not happy with Landrigan’s spin; here’s the issue (and note: I have a new challenge at the end of this post!):

“Juliana never said she was against traditional marriage or failed to support it,’’ said newly elected Swanzey Republican Rep. John Byrnes, the state Senate’s former doorkeeper.

“Juliana never said she was against traditional marriage or failed to support it,’’ said newly elected Swanzey Republican Rep. John Byrnes, the state Senate’s former doorkeeper.

“There are people with extreme non-tolerant views in this community, and she was trying to bring people together.’’

Her critics and even one neutral observer there who praises Bergeron’s leadership heard Bergeron say she was against paying homage to heterosexual marriage alone as being in the party’s issues manifesto.

My first "he said WHAT?" on a re-read was on the "extreme non-tolerant views"; that has generally been tagged against TEA Party type folks, a la the Left.  Now, I wasn’t there and cannot verify that was the intent.  But one has to agree, it is often used simply because the speaker doesn’t like the stances that are orthogonal to his.

But I digress! The person taking me up on the challenge sent the following in and referenced this page which was from a Letter to the Editor.  In reference to the above, this caught my eye:

…I believe that we cannot always be rescued or bailed out of the consequences – not banks, not corporations, not state and local governments and not special interest groups.  If a person intentionally chooses to have pre-marital sex, they should be prepared to deal with the responsibility of a pregnancy….

…I believe a happy, traditional home with one (genetic) father and mother is an ideal environment for rearing a child and should be celebrated, protected and encouraged whenever possible.

Right.  I had no problem with either of those stances at all.  In the first, I have often said that too often, the Progressives and Liberals in our society are trying to socialize all risk out of society – that they have, via laws and regulations, absolved the entity (be it corprate or individual) for being stupid and force the rest of us to pay for it. 

In the second, I also believe in the traditional value of a traditional family – that makes ME a person holding an extreme non-tolerant view?  Is this what the Bergeron supporters believe and think? Gosh, that seems awful liberal to these eyes…

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Comments on DJ Bettencourt’s Op-Ed in the UL

which laid out the Republican agenda in the NH House of Representatives.  I just read it quickly and didn’t see much of it that I could agree against.  Frankly, my issues were this:

  • Reduce the spending as we have a $600-$800 million deficit (this week, up to a Billion).
  • Reduce the amount and intrusiveness of Govt in the business community to make this State a mecca for business
  • Reverse the ramming through of the Liberal / Progressive social agenda.  After all, they took advantage of their majorities, why shouldn’t Conservatives?

A couple of points / lines that caught my eye:

We are committed to this comprehensive conservative agenda, and we will deliver on our promise to protect the New Hampshire Advantage of low taxes and limited government.

You say it – we hold you accountable for it!  I do hope that the committment holds even under the withering fire of the Progressives, Suckley (yeah, I know, the same thing) and the Press.

Our agenda seeks reform in five major policy areas: government spending and regulations, business and enterprise, retirement reform, education excellence, and personal rights and responsibility. These are not just the priorities of House Republicans, but are the priorities of Granite Staters who sent a clear message in November: transform and rehabilitate our economy without new taxes.

If it was a simple majority, I would have said no.  A large majority, still…

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Notable Quote – Ronald Reagan (of course!)

A government can’t control the economy without controlling people.  And [America’s Founding Fathers] knew when a government sets out to do that, it must use force and coercion to achieve its purpose. – Ronald Reagan, A Time for Choosing (H/T: The Politically Incorrect Guide to Socialism, Kevin Williamson)

Tweets in my ear – more incoming on the NH GOP Chair

Well, I got my "I’m endorsing Juliana Bergeron Letter" from Gov. Sununu – but I feel SO left out!   It seems that a number of voting Members (of the NH GOP State Committee) are getting "personal" calls from either Ms. Bergeron or the Guv.  Problem is, unlike Jack who NOT ONCE has spoken ill … Read more

I suppose this will be an annual post…

…at a minimum.  Last year at this time, I wrote "Not mine to Give" which included:

  • One general reason is the socialistic nature of Progressives (think mostly Democrats, but can be Republicans too – those that believe that only Big Government can make the right decisions for us all).
  • Lastly, another is that too many folks are too lazy or unwilling to live up to their own responsibilities – easier to outsource the fulfillment of a need to others (both the service and the cost). 

What was it about this year?  Once again, coerced charity at the end of last year’s Budget Season as "outside agencies" (think charities looking for property tax monies from towns) want the Budget Committee stamp of approval.  This year, same thing. Tonite was the Town budget Public Hearing on what the Budget Committee would be presenting at the Deliberative Session.

Sidebar: the P.H. is where the BudComm sits and does nothing but  listen to what people think we have done with the Budget (There is no discussion from us – ONLY listening).  Afterward, we may change our budget (or not), based on their input.

Deliberative Session: when the Townfolk actually debate the budget line items and vote to either add to or delete from them.  The final resulting budget is the one that is actually secret ballot voted upon by all the voters.

Well, I thought it was going to be like this past Tuesday for the School Budget – no one spoke up so we all went home (nothing controversial).  It ALMOST happened again tonite except one of the "outside agencies" came begging for us to change our recommendation for her group (which was "Not Recommended").

She did her spiel, lamenting that cuts in Medicaid had devastated their budget.  We listened and with no one else speaking, the Public Hearing was over.  However, since there was input, we had to have meet afterward to see if we wished to alter our budget based on this input.

And that’s when it got a bit interesting.

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A report on Rick Santorum

Guest post by Robert Jursik who covered Ovide Lamontagne’s Granite Oath series of speakers this past Tuesday night.  The featured speaker was Rick Santorum, former Senator from PA.

Granite staters are renowned for our caustic dismissal of snow storms, yet we are not foolish about them either. With a massive one only hours away, we would not travel blithely beyond our homes – certainly not for politics and most certainly not for wine and cheese. Yet, there we were, nearly 200 of us, squeezed elbow-to-elbow into the Lamontagne family home in Manchester for a purpose too great for mere snow to deter: the first event of Ovide’s Granite Oath PAC’s Presidential Series – a reception for former US Senator Rick Santorum of Pennsylvania.

Santorum has started out of the gate early for a presumed Presidential candidacy. While media heavyweights like Mitt Romney and Sarah Palin carefully compose op/ed pieces from the comfort of their warm homes, Santorum is here shaking hands, learning names and faces, and recruiting serious people around him to make a presumed candidacy sing. His attendance with Ovide this evening was a natural harmony of two generationally-close men with nearly identical belief systems: Catholic, conservative, Republican, family-oriented, ardently pro-life and strongly supportive of both the Constitution and national security – a combination particularly attractive to the conservative Republican audience attending tonight.

And what an audience! Guests arrived from nearly every corner of the state, a potent mix of veteran party leadership, rank-and-file activists, curious media personalities looking for news, every Lamontagne relative within a 50-mile radius, free cheese-and-cracker hounds (like me), and – perhaps most importantly – campaign professionals gauging Santorum’s value as a candidate for whom they might one day work. Already, the formidable Mike Biundo, still radiant from his management of the hugely-successful Guinta congressional campaign, has signed on to manage Santorum’s America’s Foundation PAC in New Hampshire – a telling endorsement from him of Santorum’s electoral capability. Another campaign veteran who had only recently managed a US Senate bid described Santorum as “on his short list” of Presidential aspirants. Here in this house, crammed as it was like a Republican sardine can, was assembled the grand collection of the best conservative political architects in the state, presented with Presidential Job Applicant “Santorum” – and they were interested.

Should they be? Frankly,…

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Jack Kimball: Letter to the State GOP Committee Members

From the desk of

Jack Kimball

January 10, 2011

Dear Member,

I am writing to ask for your vote in the upcoming election for New Hampshire GOP Chairman.

The Republican values of limited government, freedom and individual responsibility are the same principles our Founding Fathers used as a foundation for our Democratic Republic.  It is our responsibility as activists and leaders to assure that we continue to elect those candidates who most firmly embrace these principles.

Our state and our nation face great challenges in the years ahead and you and I both know that in order to overcome those challenges and emerge a stronger, greater nation, we must have the strong, principled leadership of Republicans.

That is why I am running for NH GOP Chairman and that is why I am asking you to please work with me.  

As the next Chairman, my primary goals will be as follows:

  1. Maintain the Republican majority in the State House
  2. Return the Governor’s Office to strong Republican leadership.
  3. Deliver NH in the Presidential primary to the Republican nominee.
  4. Grow the size of the Republican Party in every county in the state.

I understand that some may look at that list and say “no way” or “you’re dreaming.”  

I say, we can, and we MUST.  Our neighbors across New Hampshire put their faith in us on November 2nd of last year and come November 6, 2012 they will look to us once again. If we stand united now and work closely with one another these are easily accessible goals.

Here’s how we do it:

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Well, that didn’t take long, did it? DM – Herman Cain not being allowed to address the NH GOP State Committee at the Annual Meeting

Ah yes, operating at the speed of the blogosphere!  Just in – it seems that Herman Cain (who GraniteGrok has interviewed several times now) requested permission to take a moment (and only a moment) to address the assembled NH GOP State Committee at next Saturday’s Annual Meeting What’s the matter – is Herman not "the … Read more

“…it was like a spaghetti bowl…”

No, was not at TMEW’s most favorite restaurant (Olive Garden) where that spaghetti bowl appears, it is from here: How much federal money, all told, does NPR receive? Lamborn doesn’t know. "The funding is so convoluted and opaque," he says. "We asked the Congressional Research Service to look at the books, and a senior analyst … Read more

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