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.

Crime victims: To shoot or not to shoot?

This from today’s Union Leader: “MANCHESTER — A 76-year-old Korean War veteran was mugged Monday morning in a city alley, losing his wallet to an assailant who ripped it, literally, from his pants.” With the article is a picture of the victim, Chuck Wiggin, with a bandage on the side of his head. But the old … Read more

You’re going to want to watch this….

A movie with a revolutionary, true, good, strong message, for a change. From Silver Circle, the Movie: “The problems of the world lay heavy on many shoulders. We hope to bring even just a tiny sliver of hope. Knowledge is power and we are spreading plenty of it…. ” [jwplayer mediaid=”21187″]  

Are Campaign Signs Like Gray Hairs?

The joke says that when one gray hair gets yanked out a bunch come to the funeral. A few days ago someone stole the Krupp for School Board sign from my yard.  I only had one.   Today, there are five of them.  I have room for a dozen more if I should happen to … Read more

Bwahahahahaha!

Project Veritas strikes again.  This time, in Attorney General Eric Holders own Precinct.

Paid Back the Auto-Bailout You Say?

Kevin A. Hassett at AEI has an article (also available in the most recent print edition of National Review) in which he addresses the many fictions of the Obama auto-bailout.  You can read it here, but what caught my eye was the nifty graphic that went with it. It suggests what Hassett articulates in his … Read more

Merrimack Elections Tomorrow – My….Observations

I don’t usually weigh in on local elections but after someone stole my Krupp for school board sign I have been properly pissed off.  You wanted my attention, you have it.

So here we go.  I am not endorsing so much as suggesting.   And I am not weighing in on everything this time around.  But that will change in the future.

School Board – Two positions

Gary Krupp, Joe Kearns.  I want to see some fresh meat on this board.  But if you can’t find room in your ballot for Joe’s fresh face, go with Andy Schneider.   Vote for Gary either way.  We need this guy on the School Board.

School District Article 6 – (Article 6 would eliminate the School Budget Committee.)

Four words – Don’t frikkin Do It!  Do not disband your budget committee.  In fact, you should be trying to figure out how to add one to the town side.  Budget committees are not a waste of time or resources.  Spend five minutes looking at the history of waste, corruption, inside deal making, tax scams,  and embezzlement schemes in small town New Hampshire and you will find responsible budget committees sorely lacking.

You can never, ever, have enough eyes looking at any budget, particularity one as large as the Merrimack School District.

Vote NO on Article 6.

Now for a quick trip to the Town side of the ballot,

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NH Unions Using Religious Bigotry to Affect Merrimack School Board Elections?

(Derp- Fixed the title.)

I was recently informed (my source has asked to remain anonymous for good reason) that a teacher from a nearby town was repulsed at the sight of a Joe Kearns for School Board sign on a Merrimack residents lawn.   When asked “why that reaction” she proceeded to explain that her union had told her that Merrimack School Board candidate Joe Kearns was a member of the Christian Coalition.   If the union told her, it must be true, right?  Smart lady like that would have looked that up.

But if she had looked it up she would know that Joe is not a member of the Christian Coalition, and so would her union.  Neither of them did, or neither of them cares to know the truth.  But they did want someone to know the lie.

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Pam Tucker: New Hampshire’s answer to Sarah Palin?

In one week the New Hampshire Republican Party will hold its annual meeting. At that meeting the members of the Republican State Committee will vote on various matters, including

State Rep. Pam Tucker

the election of two members to the Republican National Committee (RNC) from New Hampshire. The winners of the two elections—one man and one woman—will sit on the RNC along with 164 other members.

State Representative Pam Tucker, who lives in Greenland with her husband and children, is running for one of the NH Republican National Committee seats on Saturday. She is the vice chairman of the powerful State House Rules Committee, a deputy speaker of the State House, and is the best kind of Republican: As a strong conservative activist for the NH GOP, she believes in all the values in our state party platform. She has a nice dash of the proverbial “libertarian tendencies” too. All of which makes her acceptable to all branches of the NH Republican Party, including the establishment, the Main Street Republicans, the social conservatives, the free marketeers, the Tea Partiers, and my own libertarian-conservative Republicans.

Sound familiar? This lady has it all, just like Sarah Palin (who is standing the test of time far better than those who ran the smear campaigns against her in 2008).

But there’s more….

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A Poke In the Democrat’s Soft Tissue?

I’m happy to report that I may be getting under someone’s skin (again).  Not long after making a passing observation about political signs cropping up on the lawns of committed Democrat tax and spenders, a campaign sign vanished from in front of my house. Yes, dear readers, someone stole a campaign sign from my yard.  … Read more

Meet Another State Employee Wasting Taxpayer Time Online

We thought DickNH was trying to set a record for a state employee posting comments at the Concord Monitor on taxpayer time.  He was posting comments and promoting his Democrat union agenda during office hours.  But since our discovery and the ongoing effort to pursue a 91-A Right to Know Request to determine just how deep and wide this rabbit hole goes, at least three things have become clear.

1) Prior to March 7th 2012 Dick de Seve (DickNH) was misappropriating significant amounts of taxpayer time and services on State equipment to advance his own personal political agenda, if not more than that.

2) The Department of Environmental Services seems to be in bureaucratic duck and cover mode because the abuse went on almost daily on a public platform for more than three years without notice.

3) Mr. de Seve is not the only state employee whiling away their taxpayer funded days commenting at the NH Democrat Party paper of record, the Concord Monitor.  (We’ll get around to the other papers, be patient.)

We’d like you to meet Gaia, the handle of another state employee whose internet abuse may just put Dick de Seve to shame.

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Pay As You Throw Had To Go – Revisited

In April of 2011 I wrote about trying to institute Pay As You Throw in Merrimack.  Seeing as this comes up every year, I figured it was time to re-post it.  One point I would add; If any division of the town government intends to continue making a case for costs/burden related to actual use they should be prepared for an all out assault on school taxes (you are still taxing the elderly, childless, and parents with kids out of school), Hydrant fees (we all pay them but who ever uses them), and much, much, more.

by Steve MacDonald – Originally posted on April 22,2011

trash bagThe Merrimack Town Council bent to the will of the voters and scrapped plans to institute a pay as you throw program.  That would have required residents to buy special bags for trash at $1.00 or $1.50 per bag, and you could only use those bags at the town dump.

But we’ve been warned.  This is an issue that will be revisited. Or so we have been told.

Well, screw that, let’s look at it now.

The Complete Dick de Seve Comment Stream

I know you have been waiting for this.  It is the complete Dick de Seve comment stream from the Concord Monitor, compiled from November of 2008 until March 6th 2012.  It is over 300 pages of PDF, for which I apologize–I could have formatted it better–but I provided the link to the Scribd site below.  … Read more

Public Education Money Pit

DoE Money pit - Obama and Duncan keep shoveling it into the bottomless holeGeorge Bush 43 doubled the budget at the Department of Education over eight years to roughly $32 billion.  Barack Obama more than double it again with the only bloated budget the Democrat congress ever dared to pass.

That first Obama budget increased spending at the Department from Education from $32 billion per year in 2009 to $71,000,000,000.00 (Billion) per year by 2011.   That works out to over $400 million more dollars spent per school day nationally (assuming 180 days of school), in addition to all the state or local taxes you also pay for public education.  And Obama want’s more.  For what you ask?

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A Merrimack State Of Mind – Partisan Non-Partisan Elections

The best indicator of a candidates partisan tendencies–in a non partisan election–is to watch where the yard signs pop up.  The Democrats in town will tell you who the tax and spenders are by supporting candidates who are most likley to give them the big, top heavy, budget busting, taxpayer funded institution they adore. They … Read more

Smart Girl Politics Action: “They don’t speak for us”

Smart Girl Politics Action launches “They Don’t Speak for Us” asking women to put the conversation back on real issues important to women. Women are forced everyday to make sacrifices and its time that we put pressure on Congress and this Administration to stop playing games and get back to work for the American people. … Read more

Union Stormtroopers Training for Mob Rule?

From today’s Washington Times: “Welcome to Occupy Spring. The Occupy Movement has become more sophisticated. Its 40 co-sponsors now include big names like the United Auto Workers, the International Brotherhood of  Teamsters,  and Moveon.org. When The 99% Spring was announced in February, organizers vowed to train 100,000 people. It looks like they’ll easily make that goal … Read more

A Short Message From President Obama

I know.  You’re tired of hearing messages from President Obama.  But this is important.  In fact, it may be the last message you will ever need to hear, because it sums up not just his entire Presidency but every talking point of the modern Democrat party.   [jwplayer mediaid=”20729″]

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