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.

Muslims who use Twitter….Are Going to Hell

Sheikh Abdul Latif Abdul Aziz al-Sheikh said Wednesday that Muslims who use Twitter or other social media have “lost this world and his afterlife,” as quoted byBBC News. Lost in the next world…they’re going to hell. But I bet…and I’m just guessing here..that if it is OK to lie, cheat, steal, kill, or do anything … Read more

IRS Agents – Just Following Orders

IRS agents in Cincinnati may not be willing to take the fall as rouge, lone-wolf agents on some personal vendetta against the right.  A local news channel claims an exclusive–They say they were just following Orders… Of course they were.  These are public employees.  That’s what they do.   FOX19.com-Cincinnati News, Weather

I wonder if…

I wonder if anyone in the New Hampshire Democrat Party Political Machine had unathorized access to illegally obtained IRS infromation during the 2012 campaign, or at any point after the 2010 election cycle? Just a question.

Boo Hoo Hamster Can Finally Write Something about the DOJ – AP Story

Last night Skip observed that the progressive mouthpiece for the Democrat blogosphere in New Hampshire (Bleu Hampshire) had been awfully quiet given all the newsy tid-bits peppering the interwebs.  Nothing to report on Benghazi, The IRS, HHS, DOJ seizing AP phone records, dead Americans, failed Middle East policy…nothing.

But there is good news. Blue Hamster has leave to react to at least one of the recent scandals…

The Soros funded, highly political (non-profit) Media Matters, has release instructions on how the Democrats should respond with regard to the Obama-DOJ seizing two months worth of phone records from the AP.  (I have included them on the jump so that you wont have to be bothered with visiting their site to find out what they have been told to think.)

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US News.com Says Jeanne Shaheen Pressured IRS

Not exactly a bastion of the Vast Right Wing Conspiracy, US News connects the dots between public rhetoric and policy efforts by Democrat Senators that specifically mention right wing groups, with the ongoing partisan actions taken by the IRS against conservative and TEA party groups.

From “Senate Democrats pushed for Tea party snooping before criticizing it…”

“From Max Baucus to Chuck Schumer to Jeanne Shaheen, key Senate Democrats publicly pressured the IRS to target groups that held differing political views and who, in their view, had the temerity to engage in the political process. The IRS listened to them and acted. And other Democrat senators like Kay Hagan and Mark Pryor said and did nothing about it.”

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Guest Post: Ken Eyring – Will Senate Bill 11 Confiscate Control of ALL NH Waters?

On May 22nd, the NH House of Representatives will vote on Senate Bill 11.  It was written to enable Exeter and Stratham to jointly form a water/sewer district — but that capability already exists in State RSA Chapters 53-A, 33-B, 38, and 36.  These RSAs enabled the creation of the Merrimack Valley Regional Water District (7 towns).

The Bill is unnecessary and should be killed.  It contains broad, far reaching language, including this;

“Therefore, the general court declares and determines that the waters of New Hampshire constitute a limited and precious public resource to be protected, conserved, and managed in the interest of present and future generations.”

The “waters of New Hampshire” could be broadly interpreted to mean all water resources are defined as public resources regardless of location (Public or Private Property), and regardless of source (lakes, rivers, streams, ponds, wells…).

This would set a dangerous unconstitutional precedent, severing ownership of water from private property. It could also lead to private wells and septic systems being taxed and “protected, conserved and managed” by newly created, powerful government bodies – whether or not you wish to participate in a water/sewer district.

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Belated Mothers Day Card for the Londonderry Town Democrats

I heard that the Londonderry New Hampshire Town Democrats sent US Senator Kelly Ayotte a  mother’s day card.  It was a drawing of the kids murdered at Newtown, with the words ‘Happy Mothers Day.’  Someone forwarded it to me in an email.

Newtown was tragic, but sending the Senator a card like that was, well….I’m not going to expect anyone to denounce you because you liberals are probably all too busy sniggering amongst yourselves at how clever you all are.  And you are Democrats.  But hey, if you want to play that game…I’m more than willing.  If you want to stand on the bodies of more dead children for political gain, who could ever compete with a Democrat?

So with that in mind, I thought I’d return the favor.  You know, send the Democrats a picture for Mothers Day as well…

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Facebook Doodlings…How To Treat Your “Republicans”

If you are a Republican in New Hampshire the official party response to Stella Tremblay’s “opinion” (regardless of your opinion about her opinion) is a stark reminder of how you will be treated by them, regardless of your value to the parties so-called political goals (the platform).

I mention it only because of a relatively recent Facebook status update posted in the Republican sphere, that said…

Tremblay criticized for comments on bombing victim. NH GOPers like this are giving NH Dems even better odds at retaining the legislative majority…

There were a few comments both ways to varying degrees but I felt compelled to add my thoughts…

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Guest Post: Vote NO on HB 664, a NH Vaccine Tax Assessment

From Laura Condon – Vote NO on HB 664, a NH Vaccine Tax Assessment  (via Facebook)

There is a little-known vaccine tax assessment bill, HB 664 an act relative to the NH Vaccine Association working its way through the NH legislature that will impose a new, limitless tax assessment on every self-insured business and municipality in the state of New Hampshire that would have the effect of imposing an expanded defacto vaccine mandate on all children for all vaccines ever recommended for use, including new, unproven, largely experimental vaccines. This bill should be properly voted down. The bill is now in the senate and needs your urgent attention and is expected to be voted on by the full senate on May 23. Please contact your state senator today by phone and email and ask them to please vote no on HB 664.  

Your senator can be reached here: http://www.gencourt.state.nh.us/Senate/members/senate_roster.aspx

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City of Keene Files Lawsuit Against Robin Hood

Parking meter time expired-Getty Images

Six members of Free Keene have been wandering the city with pockets full of change, looking for expired parking meters to feed.  When they find one they drop in some coins and leave a calling card.

Union Leader

Members of the group place cards under windshield wipers that read, “Your meter expired; however, we saved you from the king’s tariffs, Robin Hood and his Merry Men. Please consider paying it forward,” and includes an address where donations can be sent.

But the city claims that the video-camera wielding do-gooders are taunting and intimidating the cities parking enforcement staff so they have filed a lawsuit against the merry band of meter feeders.

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NH US Senator Jeanne Shaheen: on Both Sides of the IRS “Targeting Tea Party Groups”

New Hampshire US Senator Jeanne Shaheen on Feb 16th, 2012 (In a letter she signed and sent to the head of the IRS requesting they investigate 501(c)(4)’s in the run up to the 2012 elections)

“We write to inquire if the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) is investigating or intends to investigate whether groups designated as “social welfare” organizations, and thus receiving tax or other advantages under section 501 (c)(4) of the Internal Revenue Code (IRC) 26 USC § 501 (c)(4), are improperly engaged in a substantial or even a predominant amount of campaign activity.”

“…The promotion of social welfare does not include direct or indirect participation or intervention in political campaigns on behalf of or in opposition to any candidate for political office.”

See also here and here.

Last weekend (5-10-2013) we learned this…

Organizations were singled out (by the IRS during the 2012 election) because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their applications for tax-exempt status, said Lois Lerner, who heads the IRS division that oversees tax-exempt groups.

In some cases, groups were asked for their list of donors, which violates IRS policy in most cases, she said.

And what did New Hampshire US Senator Jeanne Shaheen have to say about that?

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Can’t Keep Up…

IRS Intimidation forced at least One TEA Party group to shut down EPA grants waivers to left wing groups that it denies to right leaning ones. HHS’ Sibelius to be investigated for trying to shakedown insurers. Obama Administration gives Wind farms a pass on deaths of Eagles, prosecutes oil companies. The IRS scandal now leads to Washington … Read more

URGENT! HELP STOP COMMON CORE

From Doris Hohensee c/o Facebook URGENT! HELP STOP COMMON CORE Manchester Board of Education meets at 7pm this evening (Monday, May 13th) at City Hall.  NH DoE Chief of State and Director of Instruction, Heather Gage, will be making an emergency presentation to the school board on Common Core. Remember how it was inappropriate for … Read more

A New Hampshire Democrat Accounting Trick – Explained

In years past the New Hampshire Democrats have taken to all kinds of foolish ideas to hide the truth about their blinkered incompetence when it comes to managing other peoples money.  Here is but one example to give you some perspective. Let’s say my wife and I ran our budget like New Hampshire Democrats and … Read more

Whatever Happened to HB 330?

A reader wrote me and said 1) the only info he could find on HB 330 was my post from February and 2) whatever happened with the bill?

HB 330 was (at that time) the latest effort from New Hampshire Democrats at a backdoor broad-based income tax.  Democrat Reps Burridge and Robertson, of Cheshire County, proposed HB 330 to allow each county delegation to vote for its own optional 1% income tax (to add further funding for public education, of all things).  Each county could decide separately so it would not technically be a broad based income tax, except that implementing it in even one county would require the same expanded bureaucracy to implement it in two, five, or all ten, paid for by the entire state….cramming costs down on every town and county to pump more money into public unions, basically.

So what happened to HB330?

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Obama Justice Department Grabs Phone Records for….The Associated Press?

Heck of week for the most transparent administration in history; Benghazi cover up, IRS targeting political opponents, and now this… WASHINGTON (AP) — The Justice Department secretly obtained two months of telephone records of reporters and editors for The Associated Press in what the news cooperative’s top executive called a “massive and unprecedented intrusion” into … Read more

May 11th GrokTALK! Guest Segment – Greg Moore from AFP-NH

Mike and Steve continue their conversion with Greg Moore, the state director for AFP-NH.   In segment Two they move on to Medicaid funding in the New Hampshire budget, the failure of Medicaid in general, UNH sabbaticals, Lobbying,  funding, conferences, SB 11 (expanded intermunicipal water districts), and more… Download this segment with Greg Moore here … Read more

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