Five myths about conservative voters – Frank Luntz

Frank Luntz is often on Fox News – given this Republican Primary season, he was on a lot doing his focus groups during the televised debates where the members of the groups were able to interactively “spin their dials” to indicate various levels of “like / dislike” with what the candidates were saying – it was interesting to see the differences of what “turned the switch on” between Republicans and Democrats.

Well, he has a quick read article in the Washington Post on what Democrats might believe about Conservatives – and would be wrong according to this pollster:

Five myths about conservative voters

1. Conservatives care most about the size of government.
2. Conservatives want to deport all illegal immigrants.
3. They worship Wall Street.
4. Conservatives want to slash Social Security and Medicare.
5. Conservatives don’t care about inequality.

Go read his explanations on each of those myths.  My take?

Government today is expected to do way to much – and in most of what it tries to do, it fails the “excellence” test.  My belief is that a limited government, much decreased in size (especially at the Federal level), would have a better, a far better, chance of being best in breed if the number of services were limited.  Take those services that Society would have a hard time in doing (national defense is the best example of such a good public good) and have Government do them – but have the accountability to ensure they work and work well.   If you disagree, reread this.

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Opportunism Knocks

“Criminals obey “gun control” laws in the same manner politicians follow their oaths of office.” – Anonymous

As we ramp up for the onset of the Political season, there are no shortage of the endless examples of those seeking public office working feverishly to define themselves to curry votes with core constituencies. This aspect is never more stark than with gun groups, a favorite target of Republicans and conservatives.

As I roll through my Facebook account, politicians trolling for favor are never more obvious anywhere than to Gun people. Those of us in the Second Amendment Advocacy column truly appreciate the positions taken. We can remain confident that those running for office are on our side. And we do appreciate it. 

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GrokTV Special Event – Howie Carr at the Nashua Republican “Growing the Grassroots” Dinner – The Videos Part 1

Woke up early this morning, so the easy decision was to toddle downstairs and start processing the video from last night’s Nashua Republican City Committee event labeled “Growing the Grassroots”.  Intro ceremonies here and after the jump are the videos of the reading of US Senator Kelly Ayotte’s letter to the NRCC, Congressman Charlie Bass‘s address to the crowd, Charlie’s opponent in the primary Dennis Lamare implored the crowd to vote for him, and Kevin Smith made his pitch to be the next NH GOP nominee for NH Governor (note: NH State Senator Bob Luther was a surrogate for Ovide Lamontagne, but the it seems that my original button press to restart the recording did not really “press” – apologies.  It can be seen in the replay of the live stream (to be posted later).

The video of the Keynote Speaker for the evening, WRKO talk host and Boston Globe Columnist Howie Carr, will be posted later on today.

Intro Ceremonies:

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GrokTV Special Event – Howie Carr at the Nashua Republican “Growing the Grassroots” Dinner – The Videos Part 2

The Keynote Speaker of last night’s event was WRKO talk show host and Boston Herald syndicated columnist, Howie Carr!

The live stream recordings of the interview before the start of the event are after the jump with interviews with RNC Committeewoman Phyllis Woods, fellow Grokster Mike, NH House of Representatives Deputy Speaker Pam Tucker, and an abbreviated (as the event formally started) interview with Kevin Smith who is running to be the NH GOP nominee for NH Governor.  Also fellow blogger and talk show host at WCRN (50,000 watts!) Pete Ingemi (“DaTechGuy”) joins us at our micro “bloggers row” – we will be joining him in studio in a couple of weeks to discuss our ongoing Right To Know requests concerning the Internet escapades at the State of NH

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Mark Steyn again: On dog-eating, exploding cigars, and “self-loathing cultural relativism”….

Mark Steyn continues a recent rampage! And damn is he good. Freestater Mark Steyn (pace the Democrats: In New Hampshire we are all Freestaters now) is on a red-hot roll, if not a full-blown tantara! When it comes to Obama and the “We-Are-All-Socialists-Now” Democrats, Steyn’s newly re-energized acidulousness is bracing! Take no prisoners!  I mean…consider our President’s penchant for dog-eating: Steyn notes that it won’t hurt the President with certain Democrat voters, because “he knows that to the average upscale white liberal it has the electric frisson of the exotic other.”

“Exotic other”? “Electric frisson”? Oh yeah. Referencing other culinary choices from the “exotic other” that might give those Democrats electric frissons, Steyn writes: “I’m not suggesting that President Obama has eaten a human penis, because, if he had, he’d almost certainly have boasted about it to the impressionable NPR ninnies who gobbled up his memoirs. But I am suggesting…

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Notable Quote – Joel Mokyr

The enforcement of property rights through private-order institutions reflects something deep and supremely important about British institutions in the eighteenth century.  The culture of respectability and gentility helped solve the standard collective action problems that bedevil the production of public goods.  The emergence of a plethora of networks, clubs, friendly societies, academies, and associations created … Read more

In Obama’s world, all that matters is – Cool?

Snazzy. Cool.  Hip.  He’s all that: But is that all? Is that why someone wants to become President? Results?  Good Governance?  Who cares about that in our celebrity “15 minutes of fame” environment? I’d rather have concrete results.

Best BlogLine of the Week. Worst BlogLine of the Week.

Context: “The question we ask today is not whether our government is too big or too small, but whether it works — whether it helps families find jobs at a decent wage, care they can afford, a retirement that is dignified.” – President Barack Obama, Inauguration, 1/20/09 Let’s start with the worst: Gov’t $15.6T in … Read more

Last I remember, NH sent both Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass to CUT THE SPENDING.

Low expectations for Charlie on my part – am not enthused that he has failed to meet that height challenged standard.  For Frank, however, who campaigned hard with TEA Party constituencies, the bar was higher – MUCH higher.  Sigh….Today, I get to repeat my lament: why isn’t your name among the other Conservatives that voted against spending more?  Oh, to be sure, I got both eBlasts about H.R. 4628:

  • Charlie’s: Earlier today, the House passed, on a bipartisan vote, legislation to extend the current student loan interest rate of 3.4 percent for one year.  Without Congressional action, the rate would double on July 1st, making it even more difficult for students struggling to find jobs in such a weak economy to pay back their loans.  I strongly supported this fully-offset, fiscally-responsible legislation and hope the Senate moves on it as soon as possible.
  • Frank’s: Representative Frank Guinta (R, NH-01) today voted for the passage of H.R. 4628, the Interest Rate Reduction Act.  It would extend the current 3.4 percent rate for college undergraduate recipients of Federal Direct Stafford loans.  Without congressional action, that rate will double on July 1.  The bill was approved in a 215 to 195 vote.

I note with no small irony that Obama has recently visited over 120 colleges and universities.   My response concerning this out-and-out-pander vote back at Frank’s office (NH CD-2 is not my district and I’ve given up on Bass):

So, we’re taking money from a program that most of us want to kill, for which we had no money for it in the first place, to fund a program that Obama nationalized.

Er, where am I wrong here?

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Blind fools, in the service of blind, enervated American elites….

Can extremely highly educated, very widely traveled and knowledgeable people be amazingly, obviously, exceptionally, absolutely blind to the lessons of history? Mark Steyn—who not incidentally lives in the Free State of New Hampshire—explains that, why yes, as a matter of fact they can be. In fact, there’s an example of one—well respected!—who recently wrote a … Read more

BE BREITBART: DoIT Right To Know Request : State of NH Internet Filtering policies

You know, we are still trying to find out the root reasons why folks like Richard de Seve and “GAIA” (and others like them) were allowed to comment and blog at the Concord Monitor so often during normal work hours.  So, we continue to think of what we need from the State that would be “non-exempt” that would be available.  We just sent this latest RSA 91-A request on the filtering policies that have been put into place by the State of NH:

  • what is blocked?
  • who requested it (Department) that it be blocked?

Here is the request:

Right to Know Request
as per
RSA 91-A
April 26, 2012

To:

Stanley “Bill” Rogers, Commissioner and CIO, Department of Information Technology, State of New Hampshire

Thomas S. Burack, C, Department of Environmental Services, State of New Hampshire

In light of the final response of April 19th concerning our first Right To Know request  (re: political postings by State Employee Richard de Seve during regularly scheduled work hours contra to the policies of both the Department of Environmental Services (“DES”) and the Department of Information Technology (“DoIT”) filed on March 11, 2012), we are making the following RSA 91-A request.

As noted in that final response:

That software categorizes web sites based on historical content. Agencies establish filter policies that determine which categories are accessible or blocked. Based on a user’s login information, the software is able to associate a user with his or her IP address and based on the policy assigned to that user, determines whether the requested page is allowed or blocked. If allowed, the software permits the requested web page to be sent from the requested server to the user for viewing.

Although we were fairly sure that web sensing / filtering software was part of the State’s network, we now have further requests knowing that such filtering software is actually used by  the State.  We hereby request, in electronic digital form, those electronic Governmental records of existing (and to the extent possible, retired or disabled) filtering policies that:

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A would-be dictator

He doesn't like you donating money to the Romney campaign....

I swear. We’ve got a Presidency that is descending into a parody of a South American caudillo bidding for permanent power. Obama has put into operation a “public enemies list” where the President attacks wealthy donors to the Romney campaign. It serves to intimidate those people from donating any more, and it warns others who might otherwise consider donating to Romney…if they give money they may get put on the President’s “public enemies list.” According to Kimberley Strassel in today’s Wall Street Journal, the public enemies list…

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Too much information: Multicultural News You May Not Want to Use

Ahem. This from MailOnline.com: It is reported that under the new Egyptian Parliament, “[H]usbands will soon be legally allowed to have sex with their dead wives – for up to six hours after their death. The controversial new law is part of a raft of measures being introduced by the Islamist-dominated parliament. It will also … Read more

NH Governor race – let’s start talking about it

This November, voters in NH are going to have a stark choice for Governor: On the Left, it will be one of two extremely hard Left, Progressive, “Government-centered society” candidates: Jackie Cilley or Maggie Hassan – both who are trying to “out-Progressive” each other On the Right, it will be either Ovide Lamontagne or Kevin Smith.  … Read more

The Misleading Claim about Medicare Administrative Costs

A recent caller to Niel Young’s radio show, “The Advocates”, claimed that Medicare’s administration cost is much lower than for private insurance companies. But, Medicare’s formula for computing administration costs doesn’t include all the costs which government requires in the calculations for private companies. So the comparison is not valid, and the claim is misleading.

Medicare’s formula for administrative cost excludes more than half of its real costs: some management costs, policy setting costs, tax and fee collection services, costs of capital, and many services provided by other government agencies.

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New Hampshire Bureaucrats Behaving Badly? Introducing GrokWatch

No one respects found money, and there is nothing more abundantly “found” in its appearance than the millions and billions bilked from taxpayers every year to “run state and local government.”

In the midst of that relationship, between producers and their wallets, are the hordes of bureaucrats, too many of whom are taking advantage of every opportunity to justify their existence while wasting millions of taxpayer dollars in the process.  You know who you are and we know there is at least one other person in New Hampshire who knows as well, and wishes you’d stop it.

So we’re introducing GrokWatch.  Our goal?   To identify and investigate cases of New Hampshire Bureaucrats Behaving Badly and then announce awards of shame for the worst cases…but we need your help.

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Maryland – A US Senate Race to Watch

Maryland manages to suffer from its proximity to the bureaucratic beast that is Washington DC (and the Bos-Wash blue belt of the Atlantic coast), and as such is a place where Democrats just expect to get elected.  But Republican Dan Bongino is making an impression in his quest to challenge Maryland incumbent Senator Ben Cardin. … Read more

BE BREITBART: DoIT Right To Know Request : Outbound Internet traffic summarizations – Update 3

Telephone Rotary

Well, a quick update on setting up the Commish meeting:  Got a call yesterday afternoon from the “DES Commish Lady” (Commish Burak  Administrative Assistant, but DCL sound more bloggish) – the tentative meeting with Commishs Burack and Rogers (DES and DoIT) this  Friday at 6 pm is out of the question – somehow, I was not surprised.  Here’s how the [admittedly paraphrased] conversation went (hmm, next time I should just flip on the sound board on and record such conversations):

  • She asked – how about next week?  SURE!
  • And then I aGAIN explained we all work full time day jobs – we’re located all over the state and I said I’ll have to check schedules – several of us travel for biz and that can mean country-wide rather than just state-wide.
  • Hesitation on her part: “Er, well, the only days he REALLY has is Wed or Friday.”
  • Well, that will be OK – still at 6pm, though?  Remember, we’re working stiffs.  And being computer folk, we REALLY want to ask some questions (yes, I made a point to say it that way to make it PERFECTLY clear what our intent is).
  • Another hesitation moment.  “Um, that could be a problem – you see, he has a lot of work appointments – like ground breaking ceremonies and the like”

Yes, you REALLY read that right- she REALLY did say ground breaking ceremonies.

OK, I just hate to be cynical (watch for a post a bit later this evening – you’ll understand why my outlook would be a bit “shaded”), but methinks I be getting a sniff that perhaps  he’s not all that willing to make time after his working hours even as we are after ours – having dealt with politicians personally for a while, the “is it a ‘for show’ deal meter” is starting to twitch a tad.

  • I reiterated: I’ll ask about Groksters schedules
  • Her parting words “Commissioner Burack remains committed to meeting with you”

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