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.

The MRC (Manchester Republican Committee) Facebook Squabble

NH-GOP_logoSomeone thought it would be appropriate to put a link on the MRC Facebook page to my recent observations about Jennifer Horn and her abrupt 180 on the Fiscal Cliff deal. (She seemed offended by the “deal” until after someone told her Senator Kelly Ayotte voted for it.  It then became “the best we could do under the circumstances.”)

I beg to differ on “the best we could do scenario” but that is hardly the point today.  I wanted to remark on my post being linked up on GOP Facebook pages and the dust up that followed.

This all started when someone at the Derry GOP Town committee Facebook page posted an update (Jan 2, 1:53pm) with a link to the above mentioned article. There are no comments on the Derry page but three people shared the link.  It then shows up at the MRC Facebook page and an enthusiastic debate ensued.

Read more

An Idle Observation About Teen Paranormal Romance

Barnes & Nobel now has a shelf titled ‘Teen Paranormal Romance.” But “normal” has never been a point on the map with teenage girls has it?  Adding romance?   When did that situation get solved?  I seem to recall teenage romance being a cross between the movie Inception and a George Romero flick with a … Read more

This Isn’t Sexist?

Obama - G8 Photo, Checking Out Her ASSHypocrisy from the left is always on my radar and let me tell you–my radar is always beeping.  Take this for example.  Just imagine if former Senator John Sununu (or any man anywhere) had said this…

Keep the New Hampshire Delegation in men’s hands.

I can smell the tar boiling from here.  So who has the feathers?

But it is perfectly acceptable for Daily Kos to lead it’s fawning article about New Hampshire’s female delegation with this.

NH-Sen: Keep The NH Delegation In Women’s Hands, Help Jeanne Shaheen (D) Win Re-Election In 2014

We should re-elect Senator Shaheen because she is a woman?

Read more

Cynthia Chase Moved Here From Rhode Island – Recently

Rhode Island - This is not New Hampshire
This is not New Hampshire

New Hampshire Democrat Cynthia Chase (Cheshire Dist 8) is getting a lot of press.  Her comments have gone viral.  While I’m happy to have played my small part, the benefits go a lot further; people are searching the original story, landing on FreeKeene,  Reason.com, coming across Dr. Tom Woods original report, even cruising over to GraniteGrok where the Breitbart story was sourced, which ended up on Rush Limbaugh.

And they are discovering that the same woman who views Free Staters moving to New Hampshire as a threat is herself a self-admitted, pro-Alinsky, progressive transplant from Rhode Island.  (Makes for a great followup doesn’t it?)

A fan of the radical Saul Alinsky here to ruin the New Hampshire Advantage no doubt.  And the kicker?  She admits she has only lived here since 2006.

Read more

Why Did We Need RGGI?

With the recent approval of significant electric rate increases that will allow PSNH to recover some $67 million dollars a year in costs related to legislated state energy mandates (NH Renewable Standard and the RGGI tax), having this fall into my in-box could not have been more fortuitous.

From the journal Earth System Dynamics billed as “An Interactive Open Access Journal of the European Geosciences Union” comes this paper which suggests that the posited AGW forcing effects simply isn’t statistically significant in the observations, but other natural forcings are.

What that means is that a European Science journal is reporting a study that tried to consider all the data and all the factors that might influence global temperature change and human activity (AGW) was deemed statistically insignificant.  The things that drive temperature change–natural forcings–are what makes the world get warmer and cooler.

So why did we need RGGI?

Read more

CFL’s May Cause Cancer?

cfl-bulb-dangerousA study released last Summer by Stony Brook University – “The Effects of UV Emission from CFL Exposure on Human Dermal Fibroblasts and Keratinocytes in Vitro,”  (published in the June issue of the journal of Photochemistry and Photobiology)– suggests that compact fluorescent light bulbs release dangerous amounts of UV rays that create a serious health risk.

STONY BROOK, NY, July 18, 2012 – Inspired by a European study, a team of Stony Brook University researchers looked into the potential impact of healthy human skin tissue (in vitro) being exposed to ultraviolet rays emitted from compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.

Two days ago I laid out a long list of problems with compact flourescents, some health related but mostly practical objections, but only touched on the implied health risks of simply turning them on.  This university report makes some startling observations.

Read more

Rush Limbaugh Mentions Me On The Air.

Rush LimbaughThis goes into the “Wow that’s kind of cool category.”  Today Rush Limbaugh mentioned me by name.  I didn’t hear it but Skip called me from the road, and he was pretty darn excited for me.

Rush was reporting on the Breitbart post that Warner Todd Huston put up linking to my GraniteGrok post about Democrat Cynthia Chase.  So I give all the credit for Warner.  Thanks for sharing.  I got a serious kick out of being mentioned on the most listened to radio show in America.

But I have to wonder, as people give me digital high-fives and attaboys, just how much street-cred does this give to Ms. Chase?  My earnest hope is that the weight of her remarks humbles her into reevaluating her worldview, but seeing as she is a New Hampshire Democrat the NHDP will probably give her an award and throw her a party for having Limbaugh call her out.

Such is the nature of the divide.   Accused of Legislative Tyranny –Way to go Progressive Girlfriend!

Meanwhile,  it is only January 4th.  I’ve been linked to on Breitbart and Rush Limbaugh has quoted me on the air.  Not a bad start to 2013.  (And I was just awarded AFP’s blogger of the month for December 2012).  I can’t say I expect the rest of the year to be more interesting but I’ll keep writing and sharing as I always do and whatever happens, happens.

(Transcript on the jump -MP3 available later today.)

Read more

New Hampshire House Democrat Respect & Civility Alert!

New Hampshire Democrats ran on respect and civility.  And we knew it for the fraud it was but people still fell for it.David Miller Democrat Roch NH

Part and parcel to the fraud was Speaker Norelli claiming to shake up the seating arrangements in the House to help build respect and civility,  bi-partisanship, working together…I figured it was so the Democrat majority could intimidate the minority members.  Another rep I spoke with suggested that this seating plan would make it easier for the Speaker to call close voice votes however she felt like calling them.

I can’t speak to the latter but the harassment by Democrats has already begun.

Today’s Respect and Civility Award goes to David P. Miller D- Rochester.

Read more

Special Election – Nashua New Hampshire Ward 4

Nashua Ward 4 (Hills 31) will hold a special election for an open New Hampshire House seat on February 19th.  This is the seat vacated by Stacie Laughton after she resigned the seat when information about a past felony conviction surfaced.  Laughton had expressed a desire to run again but has since dropped out, eliminating … Read more

dark field Compact Flourescent light bulb CFL Image by Suvajit Roy from Pixabay

Watt The CFL Is Going On Here?

While the total ban on incandescents was averted, the old reliable ‘heat-ball’ is still nearing extinction in the US.  When we rang in this new year, January 1st, 2013 began, the ban on the 75 Watt incandescent bulb.

Read more

Extremist Circumstances

Being a part time ‘hobby blogger’ who REALLY LIKES their hobby, I try to do more than is humanly possible.  (Yes, despite being a Conservative, I am also human).  One of the inhumanly impossible things I like to try to do but often fail (see also only ever did once last year that I can recall) is to visit the pages of other bloggers for content with the intent of linking and sharing it with our readers at GraniteGrok.

The ‘Other Bloggers’ in this instnce are folks I met at RightOnline 2012 or have since corresponded with–at least once to get their contact info–but have probably really been in contact with since then.  This is no reflection on any of us because we’re all busy rhetorically burning fossile fuels at both ends, so time is in short supply.  Everyone is busy working on their stories for their readers and that is as it should be.  But that does not mean we (or in this case me) do not mean well when we express a desire to share content.

So this morning (as my vacation winds down) I stepped out into the sphere to look for something to share but having forgotten to leave behind a trail of digital bread crumbs I got distracted and lost track of time.   The end result isn’t even a T-shirt that reads I went to GraiteGrok and all I got was More Right Wing Extremism.  Instead you get this.

Read more

Democrat Terie Norelli Brings Civility To the New Hampshire House?

Get a load of this. It is part of a quote from an elected member of the New Hampshire House.

“What we can do is make the environment here so unwelcoming that some will choose not to come, and some may actually leave.  One way is to pass measures that will restrict freedoms that they think they will find here.”

Can you imagine any person in elected office saying something like this and not being run out of office by their party leadership? The person speaking is talking about using the legislature’s police powers to intentionally drive people away from New Hampshire or out of New Hampshire. They are suggesting we use the government to restrict people’s freedom, on purpose.

Read more

NH House A Gun Free Zone

By a vote of 196 to 153, the New Hampshire House voted to make their little corner of heaven a gun free zone.  Six (r)epublicans voted with the Democrats to ban citizens from carrying firearms in Representatives Hall and the House gallery.   Belknap County – Dennis Fields, Sanborton Carroll County – Karel Crawford, Center … Read more

Seven “Firsts” for the US Economy

Gas Prices – Image Credit: Washington Post.com

From Wynton Hall at Breitbart…an end of year (or beginning of year) list of Mr. Obama’s new normal.  This is his America, and that of Democrats who have had a majority control of the US government for six years now. Mr. Hall calls these “seven firsts for the US economy.”

1. All-time record annual average gas price: In 2012, the average cost of a gallon of gas eclipsed the previous record by nine cents, bringing the annual average to $3.60.

2. All-time record food stamp participation: As of last month, for the first time in American history, 47,710,324 individuals — roughly one out of every seven people living in the United States — now receive food stamps.

Read more

Ban Cities Not Guns…?

A quick look at violent crime, how it has improved, and where it is not improving. Who is it that runs most major cities?  Who want’s us all corralled into urban areas?  I think the answer to both of those questions is (overwhelmingly) Democrats.  Just saying. H/T JR Hoell

Decisive Flip Flops From Candidate for NH-GOP Chair

Patriotic Flip Flops
How About Those Flip-Flops!?

Given all we know already about Andy Leach (Senator Ayotte’s Office) making calls to candidates running against Jennifer Horn for NH-GOP Chair, who then suddenly dropped out of the race for NHGOP chair leaving Jennifer to run un-opposed, until Andrew Hemingway stepped up, this seems relevant.

Candidate Horn, on her Facebook page, provided two updates (one last night and one before lunch today) in which she provided details on the impending Fiscal Cliff deal in the US Senate.  The first included some specifics from Congressman Guinta’s Office (see also deals on continuing resolutions and debt ceiling that lead to the fiscal cliff), and a second update in which she summarized her continued displeasure with the deal.

But then it was learned that Senator Ayotte voted for the deal.   Did Jennifer get a phone call from Andy Leach as well?

Read more

Granite Grok’s Top Twenty Posts For 2012

Granite Grok's TopTwenty most commented on posts for 2012Hot Air does this every year, so I figured I’d give it a shot.  It is a compilation of the posts that got the most comments in 2012.  That’s right, this is comment based.

And I can tell you, since I have a few posts on this list, that how well you write, or how clever you are, is not nearly as important as hitting the right note at just the right time.  That or some much more interesting tangents pop up in comments and then take on a life of their own.

However they got there, here are the twenty most commented on Grok posts of 2012 whether the comments are related to the post or not!

20.) So, gay activists, where do you think this will end up? We’ve all asked the question…if two men getting married is a right, why not three?  Skip provides a cartoon and some comments, and attracts all the right kind of attention for his effort.

19.) Oh, so THAT’s what they look like! Susan Olsen shares with us the ‘Journalists Guide to Firearms identification. Proof that a picture is worth a thousand words, or at least a bunch of comments.

18.) Meet Another State Employee Wasting Taxpayer Time Online Dick de Seve wasn’t the only state employee with way too much free time on their hands, and open access to the Internet.  In this post we meet Gaia, who made deSeve look like an armature.

Read more

“I will not register my weapons should this bill be passed…”

An Open letter from Marine Cpl Joshua Boston to US Senator Diane Feinstein.

Senator Dianne Feinstein,

I will not register my weapons should this bill be passed, as I do not believe it is the government’s right to know what I own. Nor do I think it prudent to tell you what I own so that it may be taken from me by a group of people who enjoy armed protection yet decry me having the same a crime. You ma’am have overstepped a line that is not your domain. I am a Marine Corps Veteran of 8 years, and I will not have some woman who proclaims the evil of an inanimate object, yet carries one, tell me I may not have one.

Read more

Rumors- Ralph Wilson Jr. Sold Buffalo Bills to Avoid Taxes

From Facebook. (Rumors…) A conglomeration including Jim Kelly, Thurman Thomas, and, very likely, Donald Trump and Bob Rich have purchased the Buffalo Bills from Ralph C. Wilson, Jr. for an unknown sum, probably in the $800Million to $1Billion range. Wilson is said to have sold based on the expectation that both estate taxes and capital … Read more

PUC Approves PSNH Rate Increase – Observe the Democrat’s Circular Green Firing Squad!

Winds of ChangeBack in September PSNH announced that it would need to rasie rates to deal with about 67 million dollars a year in costs associated with RGGI (and other state energy mandates)- a tax (RGGI) that Maggie Hassan was proud of, if you’ve forgotten.   (Grokster Tom also has a nice treatment of those same stories here.)

At the time of that announcement the estimated annual hike on rate payers was about $50.00 per year, more for commercial users obviously.  But the rate increase just approved by the New Hampshire Public Utilities Commission (PUC) will cost you a good deal more than that.  Make that a great deal more!

Read more

Share to...
BufferCopyFlipboardHacker NewsLineLinkedInMastodonMessengerMixPinterestPrintRedditSMSTelegramTumblrVKWhatsAppXing