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.

New Hampshire Gets Another “Passing Grade”

Courtesy of The Blaze.com. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to supporting entrepreneurship, and Thumbtack.com have released a study ranking the “least” and “most” business-friendly states in the U.S. Idaho, Texas, Oklahoma, and Utah all got an A +.   New Hampshire got an ‘A.’  The only respectable grade in the Northeast. (Notice … Read more

Please Keep Your Hands Off My Speech

Political speech is a popular subject these past few days, and seeing as that is what we do here, it should be.  Any slight change about what is defined as paid speech could make what we do very difficult to define financially, and more cumbersome to execute.  Take for example the value of web space or the cost of remote equipment used to broadcast “speech.”  If we are not cautious, these and many other things might become “expenses” for “Speech hobbyists,” like those at GraniteGrok, that would require us to register and file with the Secretary of State.  And failing to do so might invite action from the Attorney General.

So while the goal of speech related legislation may be to identify fly-by-night political groups who gang rape your constituents mail-boxes with lies and hate, the potential collateral damage is much too great.  People forget that lies and hate are protected by the first amendment.  We should have other laws for dealing with that (and not the lefts hate speech laws, a topic for a different post).   Any speech related legislation should not define, value, or in any way complicate the act of speech itself; when you meddle with political speech you always risk placing a gag on it and at the very least risk handing someone else the gag to be applied later.

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Grokipedia – Forward (generic name of socialist publications)

Forward (generic name of socialist publications)

(The Wikipedia entry ‘Forward’ has been saved from deletion.  Wikipedia may have censored it, but “Grokipedia” will not.  While we have restored all the original links–mostly to other Wikipedia pages–we cannot promise that Wikipedia will not also delete these pages in their mad-dash to protect and defend the current Democrat administration’s Presidential campaign. )

Vorwaerts! Meaning Forward - German Socialsit Publication<—First issue of Vorwärts, October 1, 1876

In the English translation, the term Forward has historically been used in the titles of socialist and politically left-leaning periodical publications primarily in Europe.[1][2] The context of the title connoted an “urge for progress”.[3]

Vorwärts! (German for ‘Forward’, with an exclamation point as part of the name) was a revolutionary German emigré publication issued in Paris in the mid-1840s. Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels were amongst the contributors to the magazine. Whilst the publication was short-lived, it had a lasting impact and served as an inspiration for later socialist press outlets. A second Vorwärts (without exclamation point) was founded in 1876, being an organ of the Social Democratic Party of Germany and with Wilhelm Liebknecht as its first editor.[4] In the years before the First World War, the term ‘vorwärts’ was almost monopolized in German political discourse by the Social Democrats, and the name was used for various publications and organizations.[5]

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Most Corrupt Administration Ever…Obama DOJ – Wall Street Walks and Justice for Sale.

From Breitbart.com…

Four of the top officials at the Department of Justice were all big money fundraisers for President Obama’s campaign with strong ties to Wall Street—the very entity President Obama and the Occupy Wall Street movement say must be criminally prosecuted for bringing about the biggest financial crisis in U.S. history.

  • Attorney General Eric Holder:  formerly of Covington and Burling law firm, Holder has represented the Big Banks, such as UBS and MBNA Bank. Holder was Barack Obama’s campaign co-chairman and raised $50,000 for the president’s campaign.
  • Associate Attorney General Thomas Perrelli: a managing partner at Jenner and Block law firm whose clients include Merrill Lynch, Perrelli stepped down from his number three position at DOJ in March. A former member of Obama’s National Campaign Finance Committee, Perrelli has bagged $500,000 in campaign contributions.

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Fascilitators & Organizers

The Foster’s (It’s Australian for Beeyah!) Daily Democrat, gave GraniteGrok some ink this morning regarding James O’Keefe’s “appearance” at a Rye Republican GOP event yesterday…(That’s Rye NH, not the grass or the spirits, though perhaps the humor.) O’Keefe’s video appearance Sunday was facilitated by the conservative political website Granite Grok, which provided live video coverage … Read more

How about we amend HB 1704 to stifle some policial speech while we’re at it?

Will HB 1704 intimidate political speechI just shot off a quick email to my New Hampshire State Senator this morning.  I do not know his stance on this yet, but I have some questions about language added, via amendment, to HB 1704, regarding political speech.   I find the amendment language confusing.

I am not certain of the purpose, or if this amendment even achieves that purpose, whatever it is.  And most importantly, it sounds to me like an effort to stifle political speech by interjecting bureaucratic nonsense, while simultaneously encouraging speech intimidation through the implied threat of failing to comply.  This “threat” would come through the ever-present risk of third party complaints of potential violations that would keep people from speaking out for fear of having to lawyer up to defend their political speech against members of the General Court.

I was against it when Maggie ‘The Red” Hassan and Kathy ‘Lawsuit” Sullivan tried it.  I am going to simply state that I am against this becasue it looks like an effort to not just regulate but to complicate free speech, and I do not much care who is trying to do it.  I will do what I can to stop it.

(I will post an update when I have clarification from my State Senator on his position, and or explanation of this new language.)

Senator White,

I have a few questions about the amendment to HB 1704-FN.  It appears to me to include language that would make it difficult to engage in political speech about members or candidates to the General Court.

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Smokes and Mirrors – What’s Up With Tobacco Taxes?

smoking - what about the tobacco taxes in New HampshireAll across the the Granite State Democrats have gathered in their secret underground lairs.  The unthinkable has happened.  Tobacco revenues were up last month.   (Audible Gasp!).  That’s right.  Revenues beat estimates.

This is, of course, a double edged sword for the liberal left.   When their grotesque estimates (overall) were forever coming in under target, how many times did they say, “it’s just one month, wait and see.  Give it time, they’ll come around.  We’re not that far off.” No such quarter for Republicans. ( Typical hypocrats.)   At the ugly end of the 2007 to 2010 Democrat “experiment” they were off by about a billion dollars which might suggest they have no clue what they are doing.

But when the Republican’s estimated revenues for their budget the Democrats cried and whined anyway as if they were suddenly experts; the religious left even gathered to pray for more spending.  I’m not kidding.  They prayed for more spending.  The left claimed repeatedly that Republican estimates were purposefully low to punish people.  That is what the left said.

But the overall estimates are close.  Very close.  This means the Democrats were wrong about Republicans underestimating revenue on purpose, which means they were themselves wrong about estimates again (no surprise there).  With revenue nearly in line with spending, bitching about it makes them look petty and just reminds everyone what wretched stewards they were of our tax dollars.

So left hanging without an economic axe to grind they have bet their rhetorical money on the cigarette tax cut.  But they may have lost that bet as well.

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The Coming War…Blood for Nothing.

No, I am not talking about the presidential campaign, though that will be similar to a war.  I am referring to what Mr. Obama will do if he feels he has to to get re-elected. Hold on to your peacenik badges lefties, because that hope and change you’ve been clinging to will take another hit … Read more

Howard Dilworth – CNHT Vice Chairman

(Picked up and cross posted from CNHT) For those of you who have been asking about our Vice Chair, Howard Dilworth, we have some news… As you may know, our long time Director and friend at CNHT, Howard Dilworth, has recently had some serious medical issues, and was, for a time, in an induced comma … Read more

The Avengers Movie – Frikkin Awesome!

Some people think too much when they review a movie.  Not so at GraniteGrok.  I just spent a few hours with my kids at the movies.  This is impressive because movies cost too damn much, I don’t make a lot of money, and my preference for Red Box is well documented.  For me to haul … Read more

Have You Met Julia?

Have you met Julia?  She’s you under the eternal reign of Obamanomics–as viewed from within the left wing ghetto. From Red State Over at Human Events, my colleague David Harsanyi writes “Who the hell is ‘Julia,’ and why am I paying for her whole life?” It’s a fair question. According to Obama’s campaign website, someone … Read more

This is…

[jwplayer mediaid=”22765″]This has nothing to do with politics…or does it? (After all, conservative women are both prettier and smarter than socialist and other left-wing women; it’s been proven.) [jwplayer mediaid=”22756″]

This Slut Votes

The War on Women continues apace, and right here in the Granite State. According to ‘The New Hampshire,’ a UNH campus publication, on April 28th, 30 people “gathered outside of Thompson Hall to participate in a national rally for women’s reproductive rights in support of access to birth control, Plan B One-Step, Planned Parenthood, and abortions.”

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The Complete Gaia Comment Stream

New Hampshire Public Employee Gaia managed to read, consume, and then comment at the Concord Monitor’s web site some 1200 times in just three years, more often than not during office hours. (Just to clarify this lastpoint, a super majority of time during office hours.) We could guess that they were doing it during one … Read more

Savage Hypocrisy

Dan Savage - Hater, bully, coward who bashes ChristiansHave you heard about Dan Savage?  He made some news recently by being himself.  That is to say, he is an angry, ill-mannered, hater hiding behind the skirts of the anti-bullying movement.   And not just any skirt.  He’s White House approved, well connected in the progressive idiocracy, endorsed by some of it’s dimmest bulbs, and a full blown world class hypocrite with a big mouth who is nothing more than a bully and a coward.

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We Just Need A Tax Structure That Would Allow it To Be Accessed For Government Use

I was doing my promised duty to screen scrape the million or so (hyperbole) comments by Gaia from the Concord Monitor Web site –who, by the way, seems almost reasonable for a Democrat–when I came across this.

By Gaia– 04/14/2011 – 9:30 am

Some of us are broke. There’s still plenty of cash in the state, if only there were a tax structure that would allow it to be accessed for govt. use.

..if only there were a tax structure that would allow it (the money) to be accessed by the government.

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A New Front in The War on Women – Do Liberal Chicks Dig Polygamy?

Piggy-backing off of Tim’s post on Mark Steyn’s recent article, I think the polygamy thing (which Tim does not mention) is worth visiting–repeatedly of course–just to remind everyone of the kind of campaign this has been and will continue to be.  Nothing coming from the Obama side will be relevant or substantive, everything utter nonsense.  And nonsense with the same lack of sourcing on the Democrat side as we’ve seen in everything they do.

From Mark Steyn’s recent article

For their next exploding cigar, the Democrats chose polygamy. Brian Schweitzer, the Democrat governor of Montana, remarked that Romney was unlikely to appeal to women because his father was “born on a polygamy commune.” Eighty-six percent of women, noted Gov. Schweitzer with a keenly forensic demographic eye, are “not great fans of polygamy.” You can understand the 86 percent’s ickiness at the whole freaky-weirdy idea of a president descended from someone who had multiple wives. Eww.

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The Philosophical Conservative:

“Men, I still think, ought to be weighed not counted.  Their worth ought to be the final estimate of their value.” – Coleridge.

The philosophical Conservative: “The man who works out a consistent and timeless generalization applying to the behavior of men in politics.”

This quote comes from Crane Brinton, courtesy of my dog-eared copy of Russel Kirk’s The Conservative Mind, which includes the other two definitions Brinton distinguished; the conservative of the dictionary, who accepts things as they are, and the conservative who, contemptuous of his changing times, idealizes the past.

The Left, be they either the dogmatic or the pragmatic genus– the latter being a rhetorical narrative designed by the dogmatic left to confuse people into thinking that the Progressives are not actually all a bunch of commie-pinko wealth-levelers obsessed with socialist/Marxist redistribution, would like the majority of people most likely to be fooled by the word pragmatism to think all conservatives are the sort that are contemptuous of changing times, and idealize the past.

On the contrary.  Most of us are…”The man (or woman) who works out a consistent and timeless generalization applying to the behavior of men in politics.”

Put another way, evil exists in all mens hearts (yes, women too) and without a moral or at least limiting counterweight (which no government of man will ever provide or sustain willingly) even the most well meaning public servant, left unchecked, can find a path to tyranny, and that history has already taught us every lesson we need to know to prevent it.

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