GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – Circle “BBBB” Parts 4 and 5

Continuing on from Parts 1, 2, and 3 of the NHListens “visioning” meeting at the Meredith Plymouth Senior Center (NH).  Thus far, the important takeaways that I have observed thus far:

  • A strictly controlled meeting agenda of questions and issues
  • A division of the prospective audience / attendees into “circles” consisting of about 10 people (remember that number)
  • Paid “Facilitators” and “Scribes that are to guide the “conversations” and to “take notes” – in this case, paper easels
  • The “Enforcer” – tasked with being the person who would argue with anyone that was challenging the narrative.

and a new one to add:

  • The Enabler(s) – those folks that dribble in “talking points” during the discussion usually at the most opportune times to be “slick and smooth”

This seemed to emerge in Part 3 (2 minute mark) when Susan started in on talking about Smart Growth principles, caught herself, and started to label them as if they were traditional New Hamspshire ones (instead of being cooked up by “Planners” that know better then we how and where we should live – certainly NOT a Live Free or Die Sentiment, or a Liberty & Freedom one either).  So, let’s return to my phrase: “and remember that number 10!“.  Next up is Part 4 which starts to show another dynamic right off the bat – those that are perfectly fine with a forced collectivism concerning land use, community priorities, taxes, and services, and those that believe that the voters have things right:

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At least Cynthia was awake…….

This arrived in my email this morning…….David Karrick, Democrat, Merrimack District 25 (Andover, Boscawen, Salibury, Warner & Webster)….

Congresswoman Carol Shea-Porter (Progressive-NH) blows off constituent concerns; deja vu all over again?

Heck, I’m still waiting for her to fulfill her promise that she made to me during her first time in Congress – so why am I not surprised?  After all, back in 2008 she told a Republican woman, a member of one of NH’s “main Republican families”, to her face that “You are not my constituent” because of her party affiliation (even though she lived in Carol SEIU-Porter’s district).  Well, another loyal reader has had a run in with Carol Shea-Porter’s cubicle minions – here is the sordid tale of trying to get a simple answer to a simple question on drones:

So, last week, I made a few phone calls to our “representatives” in DC. My concern was the possibility of drone strikes on any America citizen deemed a “terrorist” ON American soil. Well, as you well know, according to the Southern Poverty Law Center, many of the Tea Party affiliated folks are considered “terrorists.” Shocking? You bet! But fact. Anyhow, I called Kelly’s office and was assured she would not be supporting anything such as this act which could strike someone without due process, no trial, no defense … etc. I called Sen. Shaheen’s office and spoke to a nice young woman who said that she would give my thoughts to the Senator. (Sorry, I actually did get the names of the people I spoke to at the Senators’ offices, but I have misplaced that note at this point.) Then I called Ms. Shea-Porter’s office, where I was confronted with a less-than-cordial young woman staffer. When I told her that I wanted to know where Ms. S-P stood on the drone strike on American soil issue, the girl acted as though she knew nothing about it. I asked her to ask the Congresswoman please stand up for the Constitution, and support our rights, since this arbitrary way of using drones on American soil on American people was a complete contradiction of our Constitutional rights to a fair trial and due process. She started laughing. I was outraged. I hung up.

Below is the letter I received today in answer to my phone call.

CSP On Drones Header

Anwar Al-Awlaki????? Really???? A form letter? Oh goody. If it’s not her sending them, it’s Jeanne Shaheen. How very personal. And my name is misspelled. This has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with what I called for. Argh. To deal with this situation for another 2 years!

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Belknap County Republican Committee (3/13/13) – Vesta Roy, Belknap County Budget

Well, these should have gone with the “intro” post, but that’s OK – blogging means never having to recycle pixels if you don’t want to.  The Vesta Roy is a training program for Republican women and given that the Belknap County Convention just finished setting up its budget (along with cry baby Commissioners), NH State Rep Frank Tilton gave the attendees an update.

  

Vesta Roy                                                                         Budget Update

Previous video:

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So, which do YOU think is the correct philosophy?

US President Ronald Reagan (R-CA): “Government exists to protect us from each other.  Where government has gone beyond its limits is in deciding to protect us from ourselves?“ NH State Rep. Kris Roberts (D-Keene):  “Government has to protect us from our own stupidity.” One takes the attitude that Citizens are stupid and must be herded … Read more

Should all information be freely available?

CodyWilson
Law school student Cody Wilson, one of the “15 most dangerous people in the world.”

Even computer files that can be used to “print” guns with the emerging technology of 3D printing? A team of young libertarians led by University of Texas law student Cody Wilson says yes. “South-by-Southwest” (aka “SxSW”) is a conference and festival in Texas that “offers the unique convergence of original music, independent films, and emerging technologies.” One of those technologies is 3D printing. One of the speakers within the past week was Cody Wilson, who in his speech announced the formation of…

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At least I use my real name….

All of us who blog at GraniteGrok expect comments on the things we write, hoping to engage folks in thinking, in discussion, in exchanging ideas.  There is only one rule at GG and that is whatever we write – and whatever commenters post – must be family friendly.  That means, if your children – or your mother, for that matter – came across GG, they should be able to read anything posted and not be offended.  Perhaps they might not agree with what each of us writes, but they should never be offended by bad language or offensive images.

So, as I’ve begun blogging with a bit more frequency, I seem to have caught the fancy of one of GG’s long-time commenters who goes by the handle  ‘IWKAGGP’, or as ‘he’ has come to be revealed, ‘Hunter Dan’ who purports to be a school teacher.  I’m taking him at his word that he is male but for whatever reason, he seems to have a real problem with me, and not just with what I write.  From “IWKAGGP –

“You can’t burp a zygote. You can’t put diapers on a zygote. You can’t breastfeed a zygote. You can’t potty train a zygote. Your comparison is “apples and oranges.”” To “IWKAGGP –  Her hair looks different in every picture”.

Thank the good Lord he didn’t pick up on my last year’s little Prada shoes!

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Prager University – Calvin Coolidge

You can’t be a conservative and not like Calvin Coolidge.   He may be one of the best examples of how the Federal government and it’s chief executive ought to behave (with few and far between exceptions).  We would do well to find someone like him and soon. http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=dHj6iS8fM_s

Notable Quote – Bobby Jindal

If our vision is to better manage the disaster that is the federal government, you can count me out. I won’t sign up for that. (I don’t want to) slow-manage the decline of America. That’s why we have Democrats. – Bobby Jindal, Governor of Louisiana (R) at CPAC

Belknap County Republican Committee (3/13/13) – Tim Carter, Lakes Region TEA Party

Well, let’s see if I remember HOW to blog – it’s been a bit as I’ve been out straight since this past Sunday with events or tasks to attend to each and every night.  Lots of video to put up and other stuff to catch up on, and this is one of the first ones.  Wednesday was the regular monthly meeting of the Belknap County Republicans and the new NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn was the featured speaker.  While we did endorse her rival for the position, we’ve been waiting to see how she starts her term.  So far, not bad – especially with this.  However, that set of videos (a lively set of questions happened after her talk) will have to wait – there was another speaker that spoke before her.  To set the table, from the NH GOP Platform:  Oppose laws and programs contrary to our founding principles such as Sharia Law, the International Baccalaureate Program, UN Agenda 21 or other “sustainable development” programs

Since the inception of the  TEA Party movement, there has been an uneasy tension between the TEA Party and the GOP as the former has seen the latter as complicit in the mess that the Country finds itself even as it sees the GOP Platform (it’s “supposed” beliefs, but more on that later) close to the TEA Party philosophy than the Dems.  On the flip side, the Establishment Republicans see the TEA Partiers as a threat to their stranglehold on political power on the Right (as we watch this play out in DC right now).  But there are times that things mesh – as the quote from the NH GOP Platform indicates.  Tim Carter from Lakes Region TEA Party was allowed to speak to the full room quickly on the Federal Government over reach to Federalize local NH zoning codes in the form of HUD / EPA / DOT’s Sustainable Communities Initiative  – otherwise known locally as Granite State Future (why can’t Progressives ever use the plain truth for their programs?  Is it because they KNOW people would reject them out of hand if, you know, they actually were truthful and honest about what they were doing?):

More later on today on this topic.  Intro from the meeting after the jump.

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GrokTV: NHListens / Granite State Future – MicroInterview with Tim Carter

This past Thursday, the Granite State Future project (the project that the Federal Departments of HUD, EPA, and DOT are using locally to Federalize  the local zoning codes here in NH via their “Sustainable Communities Initiative”).  The “purpose” is ostensibly to “listen” to the public and get their input as to what the future of … Read more

The ‘someone’ was me

Artist's rendering from Warner 2013 Town Meeting
Artist’s rendering from Warner 2013 Town Meeting

In today’s Concord Monitor fish wrap, Meg Heckman, a lovely young woman and competent reporter wrote about the goings on at Warner’s Town Meeting Wednesday night.

It was a pretty straightforward recitation of Warner’s headlong rush from ‘freedom to freebies’ (Thanks. Skip.  Great phrase) and then she writes:

‘A proposal to set aside $15,000 to help offset town employees’ health insurance deductibles also met with some resistance.

“Are you kidding me?” someone shouted from the front row.

After a ballot vote, the article passed, 67-41.’

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“He Really Is King”

From Weasel Zippers: WASHINGTON — Following President Obama’s lunch meeting with Senate Republicans on Capitol Hill, Maine Republican Sen. Susan Collins described the food served and the president’s reaction to what was on menu. “University of Maine recipe for healthy lobster salad — I pointed that out to the president in keeping with the first … Read more

How About a Little Bias?

Much of the media bais that occures is subtle.  From choosing what stories to cover and what to ignore to how issues, ideas, and people are framed in context, word choice and tone convey connotation, intentional or not, to the reader. Here’s a classic example from Yahoo! News. Claudine Zap, writing for The Lookout – … Read more

There’s Bias and then there’s Hyper Bias

Speaking of media bias, let me ask you to characterize the following in a pithy little phrase such as “media bias” and see what you come up with.

Let’s suppose a Senator, a white middle-aged loin following male Senator, is accused of following his loin into under-aged brothels and cavorting in such trade illegally while said Senator was a Senator. Would such a story be confined to say the left wing white male antipathy laden “news” organizations such as the old grey decaying lady the New York Times, the Washington Post, or the alphabetical stairway to Stalingrad ABC, NBC, CBS et al.?

I doubt it.

It would be sprayed over all the news outlets.  Sprayed like the trail of a healthy, lecherous male cat who’s really in the mood.  The stench would be so overwhelming that no one could avoid it.  Such steamy methylbutan would drain the sinuses as much as chugging a horseradish milk shake topped a dollop of wasabi.  Avoiding the story would not be possible. It would be on Fox, Drudge, Rush et al. Everywhere.

Well now let’s change the main character a bit to say….

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