Merry Taxmas!

Americans for Prosperity (AFP) is celebrating the fiscal cliff with a series of suitable Holiday Greetings. It all begins at Merrytaxmas.org where you can send a special holiday message to one of the Legislators on their Naughty or Nice list, or you can share one with your Facebook Friends or Twitter followers. You can learn … Read more

HHS Gets Coal in Its Stocking

DRU486 The Abortion pill -Religious conscience arguments winning in court against HHS mandateemocrats insisted that business owners not only had to provide insurance (or get fined) but that the insurance had to cover contraception and abortion (day after) pills, even after Bart Stupak  voted yes! claiming…”There will be no public funding for abortion in this legislation. We’ve all stood on principle.”   That would be the principle of believe the lie to get them to leave you alone, or if you are the other side, lie until you get what you want.

The Federal Department of Health and (in)Human services has since dutifully complied and made “The Mandate” part and parcel with the Patient Affordable are Act.  So when a business owner in Missouri filed a suit claiming that the mandate violated his religious rights the court had to answer the question–can the government make laws that force you to act in direct contradiction to your religious beliefs under threat of penalty?

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Andrew Hemingway for NH GOP Chair – questions from the ‘Grok

Andrew Hemingway For NH GOP ChairUpdated and Bumped:  Since a number of GraniteGrok readers have already posed questions on the posts I put up concerning Andrew Hemingway’s running for NH GOP Chair, I decided to see if they could get answers to those questions.  I have emailed with Andrew and he has indicated that he’d be most  happy to oblige.  So, I’ll gather them up and will start / continue to post both the questions and the answers here over the next few weeks. The idea will be to have answered questions “up top” and unanswered ones after the jump; so prepare to see this post a number of times.  Stay tuned!

Sidenote:  Other than this particular outreach to the Hemingway campaign, this is about all the contact we have with his campaign.  Neither I, GraniteGrok, or any of the other writers (that I know of) are working for the campaign (just in case you were wondering).

Answers from Andrew:

  • Andrew, Why are you seeking this position?

I am seeking this position because I believe I am uniquely qualified and positioned to help move the party in a new direction. I believe the NH is a better state when Republicans are leading, and so I want to dedicate my efforts to seeing republicans elected all over the state. The party needs leadership, creativity, and a sound understanding of technology. I can provide all of these and we can once again begin winning elections and helping turn around our state and our country.

  • Our current method of reaching unknown, prospective voters in nonexistent, what your vision to help reach voters?

This hits the area I am most excited about. We need to expand our Republican voting base and we can do this through data collection, analysis, and implementation. Data will drive the decisions that we make if I am elected as Chairman. We will be able to target new voters and deliver the right message to them.

  • Andrew, how will you bypass the old media (or do you have to) bias towards Republicans and conservatives in this state?

Social media allows Republicans a great opportunity not only reach voters and to bypass the media, but to target exactly who we are talking to, and what to say to them. We can talk to “Business Owners” about taxes and spending and to “hunters” about gun rights and land ownership, etc. The NHGOP needs to build a complete technology infrastructure that will facilitate such targeting and messaging.

More unanswered questions after the jump.

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Dr. Paul Rahe – the real problem that the Republican Party faces is not campaigning, technology, or GOTV

The money lines:

The deepest source of our present discontents is the sexual revolution. Our abandonment of chastity as a norm has had dire political consequences.

Her right to be promiscuous trumps our right to the fruits of our own labor.

From commenter John Walker (a self described “flaming libertarian”):  The libertarian society in which I wish to live (and in which, to large extent I lived prior to 1965), was made up of people who shared a common moral code. Today we may call it “social conservatism”, but then we just called it “proper behaviour”.

Proper behavior may now be long gone.  Dr. Rahe is a professor at Hillsdale College and I would rank him with the likes of Mark Steyn, Victor Davis Hanson, Walter Williams, Thomas Sowell – awe, heck -just go here for the list!  He has penned one of his best (IMHO) called “The Deepest Source of Our Troubles” in which he describes one of the ugliest reasons (from a Conservative’s viewpoint) why our outlook that Obama would lose his re-election bid.  He postulates, and I agree, that the reason we lost was the culture has been changed from underneath what traditional America is – or, perhaps, is.  But he also posits, and I agree, that this change to the culture is not enhancing the sense of Liberty & Freedom which and here are a few snippets (emphasis mine):

One of the reasons that Romney was unable, despite my hopes, to do in 2012 what Reagan did in 1980 is that, in the intervening 32 years a great many of the American citizens who voted for Ronald Reagan had died and been replaced by Americans educated and morally formed in a very different fashion.

Indeed.

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Mohamed Morsi Has Left The Building

Talk about overreach.  Less than two weeks after declaring himself king (even just interim king) protesters have stormed the Presidential palace (two words that should never be used in the same sentence to begin with) and forced Morsi to make a hasty retreat. No one knows where Morsi has fled, but opposition coalition spokesman Hussein … Read more

An endorsement on behalf of Andrew Hemingway’s quest for NH GOP Chair

I received this earlier today from Ms. Monson – I do not know her but certainly we can put up her Letter: “I’m electrified for Andrew Hemingway’s bid for Chairman of the NH GOP.  Andrew inspired me when I met him a couple years ago. Andrew is friendly and is animated. At our first meeting, … Read more

Georgia on My Mind

Before 9am yesterday morning I had no idea who Foss Manufacturing was in Hampton New Hampshire.  Now, I’m something of an expert.  For example, back in 2008 Foss managed to get a grant for $450,000 dollars (Hampton Union) to help them buy some equipment.  In exchange for that they promised to create 25 new jobs with 60% of those earmarked for low to moderate income workers but as of 2010 they were seeking a second extension and had not yet fulfilled the requirement.

When Foss got approved for the Block Grant, which I believe was wrangled as usual through the NH-Business Finance Authority, the town itself, and the Coastal Economic Development Corporation (CEDC, aka; a local Federal sphincter for disposing of handouts), the Hampton facility had 435 employees.  So the goal, at least in my mind, would be to get to 460 employees in Hampton. They were not, after all, getting free money to have fewer employees.

They got the money, the equipment, and have opened new lines and product options since, but in 2009 dropped down to only 321 employees; in June of 2010 Foss was back to about 357 employees; as of September 2012 were at around 375.

That’s not 460.  So would you be surprised if I told you they just got a $1.6 million dollar loan in March 2012 and have promised to add 45 more employees because of that?

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Andrew Hemingway for NH GOP Chair

Andrew Hemingway For NH GOP ChairAs reported here and here, grassroots activist Andrew Hemingway has decided to challenge the Establishment candidate, Jennifer Horn.  If you are looking for more information, he has a Facebook page up here.  In fact, he is planning a reach out tonite via Facebook:

Dear Concerned Republicans,

 Today has been an exciting day for the future of our party! This morning I announced my candidacy for Chairman of the New Hampshire Republican Party. I am doing this because I have a unique set of skills that I want to use to serve our party and strengthen it. Tonight I will be laying out some of my vision for the future of our party. Please join me tonight at 8pm for a live Facebook Town Hall about my candidacy and my ideas to help Republican Party in New Hampshire. The video will be streamed on my Facebook page via Ustream.

Sidenote: or watch it live here after the jump:

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Blogline of the Day from Brad Thor

Actually a tweet: Obama like angry spouse who wants everything: house, car, kids, & only scorched earth for other side. Did we have a divorce or an election? concerning the Fiscal Cliff – he wants everything or a tantrum he throws. As I have said before – he cannot govern, he can and only be … Read more

Bloggers on the Right picking the Right’s best columnists

From John Hawkins who has done yet another one of his RightWingNews polling of Right-side bloggers!  Top folks are the folks I enjoy the most: 6) Walter Williams 5) Jonah Goldberg 4) Ann Coulter 3) Victor Davis Hanson 2) Thomas Sowell 1) Mark Steyn Kudos to NH’s own Mark Steyn for ending up on top! … Read more

WTF.gov

Green Energy Loan crack pipe
80 Billion dollars up in smoke..but hey, make sure you use energy efficient light bulbs!

Your government floods the AM band with public service announcements (PSA’s).  Back in the day I used to have to read them when I did radio in High School.   We didn’t have them pre-recorded.  But now they have them canned and you can just play them with a mouse click or program them into the content.  And there a lot of them.

There are spots for the Forest service, home loans, emergency management, you name it.  Remember Ready.gov during hurricane Sandy? Not so ready if you don’t have Internet.  No surprises.  This is the government we’re talking about.

Well they also have PSA’s on saving energy.  The newest in that series points out all the things you could have bought if you had not wasted that money of inefficiency.  Like throwing money out the window.

That’s right.  The US government and the Obama Department of Energy are schooling us on how to avoid wasting money when it comes to energy.

Go ahead and laugh.  I did.

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The Meaning Behind The ‘Holiday Tree’

It’s time we simplified this whole debate with an image I like to call “The Real Meaning of The Holiday Tree.” It’s like an x-ray that visualizes the deeper meaning of each.  Merry Christmas!

Bob Costas: The Sportscast World’s Own Personal Douchebag

“Let’s have a toast for the douchebags, Let’s have a toast for the a**holes, Let’s have a toast for the scumbags, Every one of them that I know.” —Kanye West DID YOU KNOW…Bob Costas hires his own personal armed security? In the world of man-make-up, bad hairpieces and dudes who get facials, manicures and other, less … Read more

“Jennifer Horn – Wayne MacDonald in a Skirt?” or even more derogatory “Jennifer has a bus – just like Obama’s”

Skirt.  This reminded me of something that happened when Jack Kimball was running for NH GOP Chair

There is a crying need for revised American (and Israeli) military doctrine in the face of enemies who hide behind women’s skirts

Associated Sidenote: I also note with disdain from this morning’s WMUR Channel 9’s Closeup interview with Wayne MacDonald:

“When Jennifer Horn decided it was time for Jack Kimball to go..”

I wasn’t aware that it was her decision to make.  Interesting that the present NH GOP Chair would make such a statement.

Derogatory.   Yes, you’ve been seeing that word in my posts for a while – there’s been a reason for it (Steve sneaks it in every once in a while too).  It’s a blogger inside joke – something happens and you write about it in such a way that only those that were involved in the incident (generally a bad one) will “get it”.  And sometimes, if done right, it’s like that old Carly Simon song “I bet you think this song is about you“, you have a bunch of people thinking “Oh jeeze, he’s at it aGAIN”?  And you giggle, knowing that you succeeded.  And sometimes, it’s just enough to be eternally tearing off their scab.

So let this be a response of mine  to this FB page notification:

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So What If It’s Technically Impossible to Administer…

woman-spraying-perfumeNew Hampshire Democrats are ready to get serious about legislating matters that are important to New Hampshire’s future…so hey, how about we try to pass a perfume ban? (For state employees).

The important point to remember here isn’t that  a perfume ban was brought up in the last legislature and failed, and it is not that there is a need to discuss whether or not “how state employees covering their BO” might create an unpleasant environment–into which some citizens may be inconvenienced, it is how quickly can we use the power of the state to regulate it regardless of whether or not it would even work.

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Talk About Having No Idea What A Conservative Is… (Updated Again & Bumped)

John B. Heroux is reported to be a resident of Bedford, New Hampshire, and a chronic contributor to the Union Leader Editorial page (if Google can be trusted), but he has absolutely no idea what a conservative is.  In his recent “Your Turn” contribution to the public discourse (Union Leader) he starts with this:

The first order of business should be to take the party back from the conservatives. Republicans are the minority party, and the party’s success depends on appealing to independent voters and conservative Democrats. The radical Tea Party and the Rush Limbaugh/Ann Coulter faction do not appeal to these voters.

That’s all well and good as opinion–to which he is of course entitled–except that as he proceeds to storm his way down the laundry list of “consevatives” he blames for all that seems to ail him, he fails to name anyone who has actually behaved like a Conservative.

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Notable Quote: Harvey Mansfield – On Goodness and Justice

“…goodness or justice in our country is not merely the transfer of resources to the poor and vulnerable. We have to take measures to teach the poor and vulnerable to become a little more independent and to prize independence, and not just live for a government check. That means self-government within each self, and where … Read more

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