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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.

GraniteGrok Debating Awards!

Tongue-in-cheek awards!

I can be a long patient person – as shown by my willingness to endure endless hours of drab, humorless blither and blather by office-holder-wannabees, I crave moments of either absolute absurdity or stunning brilliance in the art and execution in the rhetorical arts.

Well, Wednesday nite at the Seacoast Republican Women Senatorial Debate, there were three responses that I decided deserved a wee bit more attention than the rest of the rather drab (but important!) questions and answers – because they made us laugh.  They are:

  • The Tweaking Award
  • The Best One Word Answer in a Foreign Language Award
  • The Best Non-verbal Response Award

Thus, let us render the prizes! 

GraniteGrok Award – "The Tweaking Award"

The Tweaking Award, was earned by Jim Bender for cheekily taking advantage of the very public and blunderbuss carrying party that Bill Binnie and Kelly Ayotte are sharing.

GraniteGrok Award –  "Best One Word Answer In A Foreign Language"

Gerard Beloin truly earned this honor with his answer to the question "Would you vote yes to make English to be the official language of the United States?"

GraniteGrok Award – "Best Non-verbal Response Award"

Once again,

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Bill O’Brien at the Belknap County Republican Committee

At the last meeting of the Belknap County Republicans (8/11/10), Bill O’Brien, a NH House Representative and Chair of the NH GOP Platform Committee, gave a brief talk to the assembled crowd (full house!) on some of the changes to the Republican Platform that have been proposed.

Most of them center around an enhanced adherence to the Constitution and the philosophy of a limited government – putting in items to slow down or reverse the growth of Government that has been put on steroids by Democrats since 2006.

Does Bill believe in them? So much so that he is running to be the next Speaker of House; confident that Republicans will take back the House and the Senate here in NH, he believes that he is part of the new Vanguard of Republicans – a renewed and robust leadership that will do more than just give mere lip service to the words: Constitution, limited government, individual liberty and freedom.

Past Republican stewardship talked the talk but reaped the rewards of not doing the walk; Bill intends on leading the pack down Liberty way.

Q & A session that he shared with Jack Kimball after the jump:

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Rochester / Dover 9-12 picnic – a quick post

It almost goes without saying that there were no Liberals there, no Progressives there, that would have been participating in the event (the speakers, the food, the talking with Liberty minded people) on their own.  Again, the movement is oriented (along with the TEA Party folks) in a "back to the future" manner, that we have to go back and reclaim our Rights regarding individual freedoms simply enumerated in the Constitution.  Unless that happens, the forces of Progressivism will continue to march us, to "progress" us, to nothing more to what is incremental socialism and then on to totalitarianism.  Self-governance (and I’m not just talking about casting a vote) is anathema to these "smarter / holier than thou" folks (like Zandra Rice Hawkins of Granite State Progress).

Anyways, I digress.  On the way home, I saw this car and immediately thought "kismet!" and the bumper sticker:

Problem was, I kept wishing for a red light so I could snap the picture at a close enough range to be readable here.  Well, for once, I hit every single green light from Dover up to Alton on Rt 16.  Darn.

Well, there’s always Google, and with a bit of finagling of search terms, I found it:

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And I still find interesting the folks that work on the campaigns…

These are not always the Senior Advisor types, or the Strategies folks, but the folks I consider to be the shock troops – the folks that, day in and day out, just do all of the lowest level stuff that has to be done during a campaign – coordinating other volunteers, planting signs, calling people, and doing the setup and take down work for each and every event that a candidate goes to. 

I love talking to these folks – the "blue collar" workers.  They are often a tad leery to talk to me, for obvious reasons – and I will walk up "to the line" but don’t wish to cross it.  Why?  Mostly, these are good folk – YOU may not like the candidate (or I, for that matter) that they are working for, but for many, this is how they feed themselves and their families – cut’em a break.  Sure, the Lakes Region Rigor Mortis Conservative has a high level of disdain for them that almost matches that of his hatred of the Candidates for which they work or volunteer (like getting into a screaming match with some volunteers that were trying to put up campaign signs near his home that were NOT for HIS candidates – a couple of them thought he was going to stroke out, he went so livid!). 

Anyways, back to the campaign workers.  This one I had the chance to yak with before going into the hall to set up.  He smilingly said "You won’t get one of me!"

Silly person – challenging me to do something?  He was actually smiling when I took the pic – THEN I reminded him of his challenge that I wouldn’t be able to get his picture…smile went to ‘downcast’ in a femtosecond.

A couple of others:

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At the Seacoast Republican Women event – The Crowd – and who else it attracted…

Every indication is that the Democrat Party (and its core base, Progressives / incremental Socialists) is rather fearful of the upcoming election – and here in NH, they have every right to be.

Otherwise, how would you explain this crowd:

on an otherwise perfect late summer’s night??  A better shot after the jump showing the 350 PLUS in attendance.  Also, there were others…

Yup, the Democrats?  Now, for some, it’s just a job (I think) – look carefully in the picture above – see the guy in the blue shirt at the far end of the combined rooms?  Polite, quiet, and equipped with a camera.  Does the recording and then leaves.  He’s a regular at a lot of the events – and given the "tracker movement", they’re looking for more "macaca" moments that the Democrats might be able to use to stop the steamroller that is coming their way.

On the opposite end of the tracker mentality, there is Zandra Rice Hawkins…

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Jack Kimball and the Tenth Amendment Center event – Part 1

Back on Aug 8th, Mike Rodgers and Chris Henegan had an event for Jack Kimball (running for the Republican nomination for NH Governor) in which they had planned on having Mike Boldin from the Tenth Amendment Center come in and speak.  Unfortunately, he was unable to be there in person but was able to participate … Read more

Let’s play catch up, Part 1 – Alton Old Home Day Parade

I’ve a bit to catching up to do on posting up videos here on the ‘Grok.  A lot of it is that unlike most bloggers, the ‘Grok gets out to a lot of events to either cover them or to support good candidates, or both!  We just don’t blog – we activate! "Old Home Day" … Read more

Let’s play catch up, Part 2 – Alton Old Home Day Parade

Like I said, playing catch up on stuff!  A couple of pictures from Alton Old Home Day: Sylvia came all the way down from Littleton to march in this parade and show that this swords lady wanted you to get the point for Jack Kimball!  And yes, that is how she marched – and was … Read more

Let’s play catch up, Part 3 – Alton Old Home Day Parade

Last Saturday, TMEW and I marched in the Alton (NH) Old Home Day parade to show support for both Jack Kimball (NH Governor) as he was at another event and for Jim Forsythe (NH Senate, District 4). Along the way, we met up with Guy Comtois who is running for NH House of Representatives in … Read more

Seacoast Republican Women Senatorial Debate – Part 1

This past Wednesday night, the Seacoast Republican Women (Portsmouth, NH) held a double header: a debate between the Republican candidates in NH’s CD-1 and then those for Senate. The moderator for both debates was Nancy Stiles (NH House of Representatives, running for NH Senate). Candidates included (Senate): Kelly Ayotte, Gerard Belion, Jim Bender, Bill Binnie, … Read more

Seacoast Republican Women Senatorial Debate – Part 2

Part 1 is here.  Enjoy this one! The longer term goal is to take these questions and answers (and Part 3 will be up over the weekend) and match them with the Congressional Debate (waiting to upload those as well) ones as well. So much, and so little….and you know what the missing words are….you’re … Read more

NH 9-12 Liberty Picnic – General John Stark Birthday Bash!

Bumped up – and the ‘Grok will be there! Come and join us for a gathering of liberty-minded individuals on August 21, 2010.  Relax and enjoy a casual celebration of the 9-12 movement and to honor New Hampshire hero, General John Stark. 9-12 members from around the region will gather and chat about the cause … Read more

Email doodlings – thoughts on the 17th Amendment and why it needs to be repealed

Still more from from an email thread:

It is a tough sell – but if one is going to go Constitutional, and not be 1/2 way about it, you do have to accept that sometimes "tough love" has to be a part of it.  Until I saw Greg’s depiction of what the Amendment had done, I merely thought that a Senator was just like a Congressman – albeit with a different title and only 100 of ’em.  Given what the political climate is today, and the ills that have been set upon us by that repeal (states rights and all that portends), I’d be willing to give up my direct vote to put that part of the Republic back in.

People often whine that Americans are ungovernable – the Founders deliberately made it difficult to get things done and now with Obama and the Progressives ramming all this stuff through, it should be obvious why – and why the brakes have to be reset.  From Betsy’s Page:

That supposed stimulus bill that the Democrats passed yesterday to help fund state workers carries strings telling the states how they must use the money.Specifically, the bill stipulates that federal funds must supplement, not replace, state spending on education. Also, in each state, next year’s spending on elementary and secondary education as a percentage of total state revenues must be equal to or greater than the previous year’s level.

Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi did the math and figured out his state will be…

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Email doodlings – a back and forth with Jeff Chidester on Kelly Ayotte – part 2

The response back from Jeff was this:

Skip, you and I will always be buddies. And how did I know you would kick the ball.

Let’s not forget, that those on the other side of the argument say the same thing.  The key is to get more people involved in understanding the role of the judiciary.

I agree with your points, and they illustrate the root of our Constitutional ‘evil.’ Not enough ‘everyday’ people understand the Constitutional dilemma we are in.  Bork got screwed because the new media did not exist, and the ‘Constitutional Renaissance’ had not occurred yet.

Remember, the same process that provides for the confirmation of a justice is also the same one for Ambassador and ‘Ministers and Counsels,’ but when was the last time you heard of an Ambassador getting slammed, and why isn’t a Czar considered a Counsel? The process is flawed at all levels;

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Live blogging! Seacoast Republican Women Congressional & Senatorial debate tonite!

Tonight, the Seacoast Republican Women will be having their latest debate – this time, a double header: The SEACOAST REPUBLICAN WOMEN Present a Debate Doubleheader!Hear All Congressional and Senatorial Candidates Wednesday, August 18, 2010Doors open at 5:30Congressional Debate at 6:00 pmSenatorial   Debate at 7:30 pm At the Portsmouth Harbor Events & Conference Center100 Deer Street in downtown … Read more

Email doodlings – Religion in the Public as a Conservative:

Again, from an email thread based on an assertion that "Christian Fundamentalists" could be treated similarly as Marxists (as both can be viewed as totalitarian).  My take?  Not so much, and not so fast, for if you eliminate God…

I will quickly, and only briefly (as I have a jam packed day today and do NOT have the time to attend to this subject properly) wade in here.

I think it totally appropriate to bring "the God thing" into the conversation, and my eyebrows crawled a couple inches up my forehead at the phrase "Christian Fundamentalists", as normally that is used as a pejorative when brought into the political arena.

Indeed – the Left is working its tail off to try to take it off the political table.  They know that it is a bedrock of traditional Americana – remove that brick from the wall of Traditional Values, and it only becomes a WHEN and not an IF that we will (not may, will) lose the bedrock supposition of our Republic.

Yet, I think MORE talk of THE First Principle must happen – that our Rights stem from God.  The secular Left (and many on the Right) wish to suppress that discussion. The Left does because then they have to acknowledge that they and Government are NOT the absolute entities they believe themselves to be or should be – and thus, free to make decisions for the rest of us "without a controlling legal authority" as Al Gore once put it.  And if they continue to sever that relationship, they will have more and more leverage to continue their Progressive march towards complete Socialism – a God-less based society and a replacement of an internal law based society with more and more of a external law based society.

And they are on their way, make no mistake about it!  When a federal judge can blithely, in an attempt to institute homosexual marriage in California and sweep a boilerplate of Christian orthodoxy in that "gender plays no role in marriage".

 

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Email doodlings – a back and forth with Jeff Chidester on Kelly Ayotte

This may get a lot of motors running….printed with permission of Jeff Chidester from an email thread we are both on….and even a month later, this could invoke a bit of fireworks among the NH Conservative Folk…

and of course, I had an answer (after the jump).  We join the regularly scheduled show already in progress:

I have enjoyed your post and the all of the responses.

First let me say that that Bob (Bestani) is a great guy and solid candidate.  He has a great grasp on the issue, and as Fred said, has been very honest (even when people did not want to hear it) since announcing.  Bob is on my radio show this weekend (NH Perspective, Sunday 11am – 96.7 the WAVE). Sadly, this election has not really been about substance until now, and some candidates are talking more fluff than substance.

As to the Senate candidates. many people concur with your observations of Bill Binnie.  Some are concerned he is trying to buy the election (which never holds well with people). But seeking office is an expensive endeavor.

Kelly Ayotte is a solid conservative (Watch how the comments roll in on that statement – I know there are a lot of people who would disagree). Her position on Sotomayor was a non-political one, and based purely on the Constitutional responsibility a Senator has in the process.   We liberty-minded people get irked when liberals oppose justice nominees purely on ideological reasons, yet somehow expect the same behavior when we disagree with the nominee. The truth is elections have consequences, and the President gets to choose his nominees, and barring any revelations that disqualifies the nominee (which are few in nature), then all a Senator really can do is publicly state their concerns with the nominee.  The same Constitutional provision that applies to the Supreme Court applies to Ambassadors, Cabinet positions and other consuls and sadly has become too polarized (by those of the Left).

 Kelly has said numerous times she doesn’t agree with Sotomayor, and would have preferred a different nominee. But ‘prefer’ is not what a Senator is being asked to do in accordance with the Constitution. Kelly has been very clear…

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