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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.

GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 12/18/10

  Podcast – week of 12/18/10 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

Not exactly the best way to treat employees…

After the show and after setting up the Podcast page, TMEW and I went and did some shopping.  Bought some DVDs, came home.  Realized soon after that they were still encased in the "Risk Prevention" boxes – "er, hey guys, your RFID alarm system worked splendidly 100% for all 5 DVDs – 100% FAIL, that … Read more

Another View – guest post by Jennifer Horn

Guest post by Jennifer Horn: Another View
 
NH Republican Party needs an activist leader: the Next GOP Chairman Must Respect ‘We the People’

On NOV. 2, voters across New Hampshire turned the Granite State into an island of red in a sea of New England Democratic blue. At every level of government, Republicans earned huge wins, including a veto-proof majority in Concord and every available federal seat.

There were a lot of changes that contributed to those wins, both here at home and across the country: an electorate that was generally disappointed in “hope and change,” a stronger, more organized Republican effort, and most of all, a dramatic increase in citizen participation in the democratic process.

Make no mistake, it was “we the people” that was the deciding factor in these elections. It was the combination of efforts of longtime GOP activists, new Republicans and liberty Republicans, and it would be arrogant and selfdestructive for the winning politicians and the leadership of the party to believe otherwise.

As the Republican Party prepares to select a new leader, it is important to remember that “the party” is not an inanimate object, a prize on the shelf waiting to be passed down. The party is a living, breathing, everchanging organization of real people who have dedicated enormous sums of personal time, energy and hard-earned dollars to further a cause they believe to be for the greater good.

The idea that we have to protect against allowing the activists to take over the party is ridiculous. The activists — the people — are the party. We must elect a chairman who…

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Jingle Cats

(H/T: From my position…on my way)

So, we need parents….for what?

School lunch

Seriously.  Now, they’ve taken over the Lunch Ladies? 

One of my favorite phrases, especially now, is "What is the Proper Role of Government?".  Today, I’m wondering "Is there a role for Parents?".

Seriously.

After all, there’s this:

First Lady Michelle Obama said of deciding what American children should eat: “We can’t just leave it up to the parents."

Seriously?

Today, we saw the furtherance of the Federalization of the Little Red School House (Given that this is about a Progressive push, is Red the appropriate color?  Seriously?).  Local control – little by little, under the guise of "it’s for the children", Big Government has decided that in its needs to further the cause of "one size fits all" policy initiative simply because someone doesn’t like Janie’s waist size, local control is merely a concept.  After all, nothing says "we care" like "you will do this", does it? 

Seriously.

Hillary was famous for saying "It takes a village".  Michelle has to go one step further: "economic threat….a national security threat".  Yup, those D.I.’s are just eyeing the hot dog in 5-year old Johnny’s hand and the cupcake in the other – so, who knew Michelle was so gung-ho military with a pipsqueak to go "Oorah" while dropping and giving her 50?

Take over details:

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Carol Scold-Porter; once again getting it wrong

On WMUR’s Closeup show, she regurgitates the same old Progressive pap: We can only allow the tax cuts for the middle class We have to borrow money from China To give to the rich (anyone making over $250K) The truth? If ANYTHING, not passing the present bill under discussion, would result in a tax HIKE … Read more

More: NH GOP Chair saga – The Beat goes on

It is looking, more and more, that while Gov. Sununu’s legacy is going to include his successes such as being Governor, White House Chief of Staff, and the job that he has done as NH GOP Chair, added to the negative of having to resign from being WH CoS will be this slow motion explosion of hand picking a successor for NH GOP Chair. Frankly, it is looking like what happened to Obama (nominating person after person who turned out to be tax cheaters) may well be happening to Sununu in a different fashion – a failure to do proper vetting. Why do I say this?

I’ve had a number of pieces of information come my way – mostly from other conservatives rather peeved over the railroading process that is now happening and challenging the "conservative cred" of Juliana Bergeron.  One such story shows a problem with several of the "Sununu Values" from his letter – it follows:

The time is the Spring of ’09 when a number of Swanzey residents were at a Cheshire County GOP meeting (Juliana Bergeron, Chair; Bill Hutwelker, Vice-Chair).  Seeing a sufficient number of folks, they decided to form a Town GOP Committee.  They elected a Chair, Vice Chair, and a treasurer and met through the rest of 2009.

Well, problems started soon after at the Town GOP level.  The Swanzey Chair said she was having a problem with Bill Hutwelker (who supports gay marriage supporter and is a social liberal).  He wanted to run for state rep again – and was asking the Town Chair’s support.  Unfortunately, there was a sticking point – his liberal stance.  Thus, a battle ensued in which, the Town Chair being a true Conservative,  support was denied  due to that social attitude.  His insistence was such that at the end, she no longer wanted to talk or work with him. 

A few months passed with no meetings held because of the remaining enmity.  However,  Hutwelker decided, as County Vice-chair, that he was going to start his own Town meetings, and called such a meeting.  The Town Chair called him out on it with the NH GOP Platform in hand with the Town Vice-Chair in attendance, and a whole lot of new folks that previously had never attended in the past. 

It became clear from the start that this was an attempted coup over a difference of political outlook; he was not willing to support the Platform and the Town Chair made the argument that he was not in favor of the Platform.  In fact the claim was that he was trying to skew the group away from the fact that the Platform is the actual set of beliefs of the NH GOP.

I tend to agree – it is the written contract of, and the basis of, what makes up the philosophical base of the GOP.  Why belong to the Party when you do not believe in its tenets?  And this is where it begins to affect this current NH GOP Chair race – as Sununu said, the Chair must support the Platform.

What about when a candidate for the Chair refuses to support the Platform wholeheartedly?

At that point, Juliana Bergeron stepped in where Hutwelker had left off and SHE started to rant about and against the Platform.  Her claim was that that very few people were in agreement with it, that she didn’t not want to hear about it all, and that they had to forget about the social issues entirely [as Papa Sununu said, we should] and ONLY focus on the fiscal.  It was obvious that not only did the Platform have no status, she wanted it to have no role whatsoever.

She, at this time, admitted to have voted against traditional marriage as outlined in the Platform. "A lot of us are not for that" indicating that 49% also voted against traditional marriage in the Platform.

At that point in time, the coup plan was triggered…

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Mike Kitch – Journalist or Big Government Defender?

"Simply, this "journalist" has decided that his is not to merely report the news but to shape it – and he hates to see Government spending cut." 

IMHO, Mike Kitch is nothing but an ass who does his readers a HUGE disservice.  News?  Nay, propaganda!  And extremely thinly veiled at that.  Filed under "Journalism – not!" because once again, Mike Kitch shows in his Page 1 story in the Laconia Daily Sun that ANY attempt to slow a growth in Government spending must be stopped as pure sacrilege! Only one single mention of why this issue has arisen (a complaint that the budget is too high), and the rest of the story?  Well, it seems he has no problem in distorting a story to make his point and carry out an agenda.  You folks out there REALLY believe that Journalism is all about telling "just the facts"?  Ha!  Here’s what I put up on FaceBook:

So Mike Kitch, intrepid reporter for the Laconia Daily Sun, wants to start attacking TEA Party activists? Kitch is upset because your’s truly thinks that the Gilford School Board’s proposed budget is too high and wants to bring in a person who help write the NH Laws concerning Superintendents.

Hey Mike – your Progressivism is showing. Also can you do your interviews a bit louder with the former school board chair?

Why? An excerpt from Kitch’s page 1 / top of the fold story: 

Tea party activist to give Gilford BudCom ‘expert’ advice on going without school super

 GILFORD — The Budget Committee, which is considering eliminating funding for the position of school superintendent for at least a year, last night agreed to invite Jorge Mesa-Tejada of Hampstead, a Tea Party activist, to proffer advice on the state laws bearing on the structure of school administrative units (SAUs).

Notice the "Scare" quotes surrounding the word expert. Right in his headline, his goal is to discredit a man who has more experience at all of the areas of school budgeting, town budgeting, and had a hand in actually writing the RSAs concerning education process here in NH BEFORE talking about the story.  Notice, too, that he decided to not lead the story  with the fact that I made quite clear that Jorge was on the School Board for 8 years, alternating as Chair and Vice-Chair?  Did he lead with the fact that he was on the Hampstead’s Budget Committee (as Chair) for five years? 

Sidebar – heck, I made sure to list the above this past Thursday; you think Kitch could even write it down correctly?  What does this say about his "journalistic" capability?  Just this: "…describing him as a member of the budget committee and vice-chair of the school board in Hampstead…"

Did he mention that Jorge was on the State Dept. of Education subcommittee that wrote the report and then was the Chair of the subcommittee that actually wrote the law?  No, only that he was "part" of the process.  Gee, if he was part of the process, would that not have made him proficient in this field?

Only in further disparaging terms, by noting that this was done under the aegis of Ovide Lamontagne at the time – making the point that Ovide lost in his Senate bid – does Kitch "fill in the gap".  He certainly took a slam, once again, at me via attacking Jorge Mesa-Tejada simply because I have had the temerity of holding him, a "journalist" to  account.  No, for Kitch, it’s not about simply reporting the happening at the meeting, it’s all about protecting Government and its programs.  Protecting the taxpayers? Not so much.

And he goes on to state pretty much those that would preserve the spending and once again, tries to besmirch Jorge by noting, in a stealthily pejorative manner, is a director of CNHT (whose mission is to advocate for taxpayers when confronting situations when Government acts badly).  And to no one’s surprise, he decides to color his upcoming talk to the Budget Committee by explaining that he appeared on my old radio show and has written for this blog in the past. 

Simply, this "journalist" has decided that his is not to merely report the news but to shape it – and he hates to see Government spending cut.

In another FB posting (and have written the same here before):

Well, in his case, it’s both. He was VERY upset with me when I told him that he was bonkers when he said that since we did such a great job on our budget, we should send the surplus to folks that needed it – like California and Illinois. Seriously! He believes that I am just cold hearted and and a skinflint because I demanded that THOSE folks should manage their spending better and not to expect handouts from those of us that manage our affairs responsibly.

At the time, he was some angry that I "couldn’t see the light of helping people in need"; why would I punish people that needed the money simply because their politicians and bureaucrats had misspent their taxpayer monies badly?  He just couldn’t believe it when I said "they elected them – their responsibility to bear the consequences".

And that is why, calling Jorge a TEA Party activist (one who advocates for a more accountable and smaller government that spends only within its means and follows Constitutional values) is about a bad a term as Kitch can hurl at someone from his Progressive perch.

Now for the back story that he DOESN’T tell you!  After all knowing the story might actually make a difference!

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GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 12/11/10

  Podcast – week of 12/11/10 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

Data Points – Car sales

What we heard during the last Presidential election from the Democrats and environmental fascists is that the car industry was not providing and selling the kinds of cars that Americans want to buy.  Thus, right after Obama the election, Obama changed the CAFE standards that will effectively force smaller cars on Americans. Free choice? The … Read more

Data Points – Economics

The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified."
            – President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09

Pretty much, I think we are finally at the point where any more attempts by ANY Progressive or Democrat to blame our economic woes on Bush and the Republicans are look just like further Baghdad Bob impersonations as American tanks rolled through behind him.  Am betting that this kind of chart, showing the  on-going and absolutely dismal job of creating new jobs (or recovering those that have been lost):

(H/T: Big Government)

At what point will the current Administration finally figure out "new tact needed?"  Right now, Obama will have this as part of his legacy – only two years in.  And ANY Democrat trying to spin it will also have to spin the fact that Democrats have ruled the roost  for the last four years in DC.

So, feeling comfortable yet?

You shouldn’t – even as the private sector is struggling, it certainly is the case that Federal Government workers need not worry at all:

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Er, conditions now placed on that Starting Gate?

The ‘Grok has certainly been following the pathway of Gov. Sununu’s retirement from holding the NH GOP Chair.  In fact, here, I noted that the horse race has started, with four gates already slated for the major names thus far being led to the stalls.  However, in concentrating on the news (and other things call "life" that get in the way of blogging), I put aside the letter that he penned in finally clearing the track.  Hmmm, is that Horse Gate being moved before the horses are positioned (emphasis mine, full letter after the jump)?

CONCORD –  Former New Hampshire Governor and Republican State Committee Chairman John H. Sununu sent the following letter the NHGOP’s Executive Committee this afternoon discussing his decision to retire and the qualifications that the next chairman should have:

…It is important that we elect a new chairman who will be able to maintain and expand our reinvigorated NHGOP grassroots effort for 2012. We worked too hard rebuilding our Party structure to let it revert back to a neglected, ineffective condition.  We are fully aware of how difficult it is for Republican candidates and elected officials to succeed when the State Committee is weak or mismanaged.

"Reinvigorated NH GOP grassroots" – I hate to be a thorn in the side, or point out the obvious, but while the GOP and the NH GOP Chair certainly had their role, I would hardly agree…

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A response to the Concord Monitor on Parental Notification

Concord Monitor

Once again, the Monitor shows its willingness to have Government be a wedge between parents and a minor child over the issue of abortion, even as it makes the attempt to have it look otherwise.  From their editorial:

…The issue might seem like common sense if it’s framed only as an issue of parents’ rights. After all, advocates say, they must be told before their kids are given an aspirin by the school nurse – why shouldn’t they be told before their daughters receive something so momentous as an abortion? No one wants to imagine their 15-year-old in trouble and themselves out of the loop.

"only as an issue of parents’ rights"?  Really – only?  This is simply a "mind brushing" here a la Star Wars ("…there’s nothing to see here…", as if the Force is with them).  Frankly the major premise of the argument, Planned Parenthood pro-abort aficionados aside, IS parental rights and from the get-go, are trying to down play the importance of the issue with a "put-down" (er, shove-down?).  The only reason why the "framing" schtick only makes sense is if one is trying to "re-frame" the issue to something else.

Which, indeed, what the Monitor is trying to do.  As you read the whole piece, it seems that the Monitor has also gotten into the farming biz as they later throw up so many strawman arguments, they must really be farmers (good thing, given the current state of the print media biz – unless the loonies at the FCC get their way and start to subsidize the news-biz as heartily as they do agri-biz)

However, instead of stopping at the last sentence of the ‘graph (and which would have given them some semblance of sanity , they decide to play "Titanic-iceberg tag" with logic.

But we encourage legislators to think hard about the rights of vulnerable teenage girls whose fear of confiding in a parent or a judge – perhaps misguided, perhaps chillingly justified – would keep them from seeking help at all. It is their health and safety that must be paramount.

And that "right" that a minor child would have in this situation is…what?  The only one that can come to mind is that normally given to women who have achieved the age of majority – and sadly, that is the Right to kill an unborn child.  I keep listening and reading this blather of…

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You think that he might have learned…

  From the NH Biz Report: Rich DiPentima: The Democratic state rep from Portsmouth says he’s going to sponsor a bill to require that "free portable drinking water" be made available to the public at large public gatherings "lasting a certain period of time."  LSR 2011-H-0027-R Right – another Democrat who blithely expects that people … Read more

If this was a swim meet, the cadence would be…

(having said it a sufficient number of times in the past): "Swimmers, take your mark!"  But that was then, and now, it is no longer the swimmers’ blocks, let the Horse Race begin! Four Gates – and who will be there at the start? Now that Gov. Sununu has made it official (and yes, I … Read more

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