Steve MacDonald

Steve is a long-time New Hampshire resident, an award-winning blogger, and a member of the Board of Directors of The 603 Alliance and the National Heritage Center for Constitutional Studies. He is the owner of Grok Media LLC and the Managing Editor, Executive Editor, assistant editor, Editor, content curator, and more (yes, there's more) at GraniteGrok.com. Steve is also a former board member of the Republican Liberty Caucus of New Hampshire, the Republican Volunteer Coalition, and has worked for or with many state and local campaigns and grassroots groups, and is a past contributor to the Franklin Center for Public Policy.

Later This Week When It Warms Up…

Spring In Upstate new York taken 5-26-13 - 3 feet of snow
Spring In Upstate new York taken 5-26-13 – 3 feet of snow

By the end of this week New England will be back to being warm again.  When that happens, I’d like all the climate denier-deniers to remember that yesterday parts of the North East got three feet of snow.  That Alaska is having a winter several weeks longer than average.  That nationally, temperatures are down.  That globally temperature have been flat for 16 years and may be declining.  That I don’t feel all that comfortable putting any plants outside after June 1st for fear we might still be at risk for a very cold night or two.

What I’m trying to say is, it’s just weather.

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The Stalinist Idea Behind HB135 – The Effort to Repeal Stand Your Ground

I pulled this opening line from a very interesting article by Steven Hayward at Powerline because it reminds us where the lefts hatred for the right of self defense actually comes from, even if they themselves do not know it.

If memory serves, Irving Kristol once remarked that the term “peace,” as it was used by the left, “is a Stalinist concept,” since the intent of the so-called “peace movement” was the unilateral disarmament of the West and the triumph of Communism.

On the big stage Mr. Obama is doing a fine job of advancing that very-communist goal of undermining the US military from within but it occurred to me that the same ideological inheritance that encourages the Obama administration’s effort to put the US military into therapy is equally rich with a “peace movement” mentality which the average street-level apparatchik deploys (at the direction of their professional left-wing betters) against the second amendment.

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GrokTALK! May 25th 2013

This week on Grok Talk!… Kate Baker,  the Executive Director at The Network for Educational Opportunity, to talk about New Hampshire’s Education scholarship Program, parent and student rights, and value of education choice. Laura Condon, New Hampshire State Director of Advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center stops by to talk about vaccines, vaccination, New … Read more

May 25th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – Kate Baker

In this segment of GrokTALK! we are joined by Kate Baker,  the Executive Director at The Network for Educational Opportunity, to talk about New Hampshire’s Education scholarship Program, parent and student rights, and value of education choice. Listen Here http://granitegrok.com/GrokTalk/By-Snippets/05-25-2013%20Segment%20One.mp3 Download this segment here You can get links to other segments or listen to the complete … Read more

May 25th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – Laura Condon

In this segment of GrokTALK! we are joined by Laura Condon, New Hampshire State Director of Advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center stops by to talk about vaccines, vaccination, New Hampshire House Bill 664–relative to the NH Vaccine association, and why should contact your State Senator and tell them to vote no on this … Read more

May 25th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – Karen Testerman

In this segment of GrokTALK! we are joined by Karen Testerman, Former Candidate for Governor of New Hampshire and former Executive Director of Cornerstone Policy Research; on Jeanne Shaheen and the IRS, Jeanne Shaheen’s SB711, the potential for US Oil independence and its affect on our relations in the Middle East, The Muslim Brotherhood, and … Read more

May 25th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – John Hikel

In this segment of GrokTALK! we are joined by John Hikel, NH House Rep, on when government doesn’t work, holding legislators accountable, who the real extremists are, Constitutions, oaths, and obligations and the road back to them if such a road exists. Listen Here http://granitegrok.com/GrokTalk/By-Snippets/05-25-13%20Full%20Podcast.mp3 Download this segment here You can get links to other … Read more

Kathy Sullivan Channels Adam Smith?

Kathy Sullivan channels Adam Smith (?) in John DiStaso’s Granite Status…(In regard to the Casino Bill Vote)

“But what amazed me is the lack of willingness (by opponents of both parties) to recognize the amount of gambling we already have in New Hampshire, with all of the under-regulated charitable gaming, and it continues to grow and grow,” Sullivan said.

“It’s as if they don’t see it, but it’s there.”

The key phrases here are “under-regulated” and “continues to grow and grow.”

If Sullivan’s intellectual agility were not chained to the statist dogma of the Democrat party she might have been able to reach the obvious conclusion that if you under regulate “it,” “it” is almost guaranteed to grow and grow, and that includes employment, wages, wealth creation, opportunity, self-reliance,  charity, and even tax revenue; while costs and prices are not-so-mysteriously driven inexorably down by growing choice and competition.

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The Icing on The Accountability Cake

c/o Ed Morrissey… In my column today forthe Fiscal Times, I argue that this epidemic of sudden incompetence and ignorance completely undermines the argument for large, activist government.  That’s true whether one believes that these executives are either telling the truth or lying about their knowledge and involvement: So what are we to think about … Read more

Coming Up On The Next Edition of GrokTALK!

This week when we assemble in Concord, New Hampshire to record the next edition of GrokTALK! out guests will be… Kate Baker, the Executive Director at The Network for Educational Opportunity; Laura Condon, New Hampshire State Director of Advocacy for the National Vaccine Information Center; Karen Testerman, Former Candidate for Governor of New Hampshire and … Read more

Casino Bill was Defeated by Large Margin, 199-164 [Updated and Bumped]

From Spec Bowers…

Casino bill was defeated by large margin, 199-164. I thought it would be close.

I thought it would be closer as well but gambling is one of those issues that has broad bi-partisan opposition.    There are factions on the left that are hard core progressive wellsprings that oppose gambling as if they actually had morals or something.  And I think Hassan over-reached when she presented a budget as if the gambling money was a given.

Bad idea.   I think that turned the Democrats who might have considered easing into it on the other side of a fence they were too pissed off to cross.

And let us face facts. Gambling is just not a good fit for the Granite state given the dynamics of the region, it has not delivered on its promises in the Northeast, and in the end it is a crutch for growing government on more false promises.

Update: According to Jim Rubens from the Granite State Coalition Against Expanded Gambling, after the Casino vote there was a motion to reconsider.  That motion failed 212-155.

Jim’s email on the jump

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How Much Mileage Can We Get Out Of This? (Updated & Bumped)

Update! – The Democrats claim they needed the Monday Caucus so that both sides could give their views on the Casino Bill, and that this was a legitimate purpose for which they could exact a mileage reimbursement on a Monday, but Wednesday morning of the same week, before the session and vote on the Casino Bill,  the Democrats held a caucus at which they discussed…. the Casino bill.  Democrat Governor Maggie Hassan even came to that Caucus to make her final pitch for the legislation.

Original post Follows…

From the Concord Fish Wrapper…

“Please remember that mileage reimbursement will only be paid for travel on Mondays and Fridays for statutory committees which meet on those days,” Norelli wrote in the April 26 edition of the House Calendar.

But this Monday, House Democrats held a closed-door caucus that didn’t appear in last week’s calendar. Norelli’s spokesman, Mario Piscatella, said the caucus was held to discuss the casino bill, with members on both sides of the issue presenting their views followed by a discussion.

That doesn’t sound like a statutory committee.  And yet 78 Democrats–the attendees of the “Caw!-cus” –all requested mileage reimbursement.

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New Hampshire State Senate Nixes Medicaid Expansion in Budget

By a vote of 4 – 2 Senate budget writes have ‘Just said No’ to the proposed Medicaid expansion option tied to the “Eliminate Any Hope Of Affordable Care Act,” frequently misrepresented as the ‘Affordable Care Act,’ or ObamaCare.  Speaking for the majority, State Senate Majority Leader Peter Bragdon, who happens to be State Senator, said something incredibly intelligent.

“I’m not a big fan of spending a whole lot of money on something that seems to me to have some doubts as to whether or not it is effective.”

To which I would add, “Oh, Yeah- so why do we still have RGGI?”

Cheap shot.  Sorry.

Well he happens to be right in this case.  And don’t be fooled by the fools like Senator D’Allesanrdo who say things like this…

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CALL TO ACTION: SB48 passed the House Ed Committee.

From Ann Marie Banfield c/o Facebook
CALL TO ACTION:

SB48 passed the House Ed Committee. 

The good news is that both the Democrats and Republicans had ISSUES with ASSESSING “Dispositions”. That word was removed with an amendment.

Unfortunately schools will be labeled “Priority” and “Focus” schools based upon the standardized assessment results.

This means that if your students do not perform well on the standardized assessment that is ALIGNED TO COMMON CORE, your school could end up identified as a “Priority or Focus” school.

NH Senate Votes 19-5 to Table HB 135

The NH Senate has tabled HB 135, the Deputy Dawg Shurtleff House passed bill that would have repealed stand your ground in New Hampshire and replaced it with Run Away or else go to court and have them tell you a year later…yeah, you should have run away. Bad bill. Tabling is not death, however. … Read more

If A Picture is Worth 1000 Words…

If a picture is worth 1000 words how many words can we expect from the screeching left-wing enviro-harpies who are already climbing on the graves of dead children  in Oklahoma to make a case for Tornadoes, Temperature, and Global Warming.

Preface: Once again the “weather” is our fault.  And while the average amount of Tornado activity has been  lower in recent years, if at best average in the age of Inconvenient Gorey-truths, that has not stopped the “if we grow government we can change the weather crowd” from blaming this latest event (or any act of weather) on Global Warming Deniers and their failure to “let them fix it” with legislation.

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Just a Quick Note To The Democrat Enablers…

There are more than a few people making excuses for the recent scandals involving the Benghazi cover up, the AP phone scandal and the IRS.  Without laboring the point these are just the latest of those we know about.   The point I want to make is this:  Are the people excusing or dismissing this behavior because … Read more

You Can’t Have Your Apple And Eat It Too.

Senator Rand Paul has some words for his committee, the hearing, and congress, with regard to their Apple Executives show-trial, brought on by a large, successful employer, who already pays more in taxes than almost anyone, following the tax code to its own shareholders benefit. In the minds of the you-didn’t-built-that-progressive-government-firsters all the money is theirs to begin with so shame on … Read more

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