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Democrat Charles Weed has something more important for New Hampshire than that “focus on the jobs and the economy” narrative they ran on. It’s called HB 148, and it would take New Hampshire’s votes for president and make them completely meaningless. HB148 abandons our ability to apportion our state electors for president and lumps our … Read more
And all that time we thought Mr. Obama was playing golf. But instead of yelling ‘Fore!’ our ‘Executive in Skeet’ was shouting ‘Pull!’ So let’s celebrate the President’s love of skeet shooting with some commemorative clay targets. These are limited edition, embossed with the Obama logo, and only come in black. That’s right. We dare … Read more
“Prejudice is what fools use for reason…” —Voltaire
Milwaukie County Sheriff David Clarke has made a “Public Service Announcement” that has drawn the ire of liberals everywhere. Sheriff Clarke, in the wake of Budget cuts and autere measures, isn’t whining about it. Instead, he states the sober and honest realities and asks citizens to be pro-active in helping address the crime issue. See the ad below:
Bloomberg View Columnist, and National Review Senior
II. TAXES AND SPENDING
Government Structure:
Expand openness and transparency to employment, expenditures and all recipients of taxpayers’ funds
“Secrecy in the name of unity” – what a phrase; anyone else see the uber-contradiction between what the NH GOP demands of its Government and what governance it is willing to hold itself to? What a phrase from the person who held highest office in the State Party, now former NH GOP Chair Wayne MacDonald to utter. Once again, the disconnect of “Fine for thee but not for me” rears its ugly head. No, Wayne MacDonald and James “Jim” Foley, as we here at the ‘Grok have been pointing out for YEARS now, bloggers are not the problem. We only hold the flashlights and flip the ON switch to ON. What they shine on is strictly a manifestation of the internal works that folks like you have created. Or do you not like that message either? Good governance, either in Government or any other organization, yields trust – and that demands openness and transparency. However, both of these “gentlemen” believes otherwise – that secrecy is the stuff of good governing, I guess. We can only trust ourselves – the elected to rule govern.
Consistency – oh true, there are times we may continue the early practice of the blogosphere being the Wild Wild West (which does upset some of the delicates out there, or those that believe they are the be all and end all, and above criticism) but in almost everything we say or believe in here at the ‘Grok, we are consistent. Sure, like most folks, we do slip up now and then (heck, with almost 13,500 posts, we’ve said a whole lot a whole lot of times) – but they are the exception rather than the norm. You read us, you know us. Government, and the NH GOP, should be internally consistent. They are not.
This was the most egregious fact that was brought out by Steve’s post (“Wayne Mac Donald ..”People who blog are those who are “ruining” the party”“) linked to a piece by political newcomer Kathy Benuck about her experience at the NH GOP Annual Meeting. Seen through her eyes, from a fresh unvarnished perspective should be viewed by those now in charge of the NH GOP. My takeaways of her “cause for concern” items:
OK, perhaps some might think we are piling on tonite – well, sometimes, that’s just what happens. Besides, as bloggers, this past Saturday was like finding a field full of gold nuggets. Sure, we do have fun doing some of this (after all, none of us get paid, not even me, and if you aren’t being paid, you’d better be having fun) but it is a lot of “seriousness” wrapped in that “fun”. Sometimes, though, it’s just a having an observation thrown into your face by someone else.
This time, by new NH GOP Chair Jennifer Horn. Being a State Committee Member, I was on both her email list and Andrew’s – dualing messages. Well, given her victory, she sent out one last email from her JenniferForGOPChair account (as it will be Jennifer@NHGOP.org next time). And had a facepalm moment. After all, one of the Big Three “issues” of this campaign was Unity (“I can create this!”), another was Technology (“I can write and deploy this!”), and the biggest, in my mind, was Messaging (“I can articulate a convincing story”). Messaging – to differentiate the NH GOP from the NH Democrats. Messaging – to give a clear and obvious choice. Messaging – to articulate the differences.
Difference. Kinda hard to do, though, when you use their words their way, ma’am! My immediate response to friends was:
>> And Now We Move Forward!
PLEASE tell me that she really has no idea what she just said…...in copying the Obama campaign slogan “FORWARD!”
FORWARD! – the slogan of Marxists and Socialist from time eternal.
The pot is boiling. The Executive Branch’s DHS is buying fully-automatic rifles and millions of rounds of .223 caliber ammunition. When is someone in the GOP going to file an impeachment case against this President? Will it be left up to the people of the United States (likely just 3%, as in 1776) to correct this … Read more
Well, when the call for a second for Jim Foley’s Finance report, all that was heard were “BOOS”. Umm, no second was heard. The call for a second was issued a second time for Jim Foley’s Finance report, all that was heard were “BOOS”. Umm, no second was heard – a second time.
Togetherness? Kumbaya moment? Not so much, I guess. But he did promise just that, once upon a time:
From Drudge: ‘President Barack Obama has claimed that he goes shooting “all the time”, while attempting to reassure American gun-owners that he respects their rights to use firearms.” “Up at Camp David, we do skeet shooting all the time,” he said. “And I have a profound respect for the traditions of hunting that trace back … Read more
…Circulated from Craigs list, An Obamazombie appears to discover that nothing in life is free and that the government really does not give a damn about the little people. Democrats just care about their policy agenda regardless of any real world impacts. (Adult language ‘edited’) Visit the posting at http://losangeles.craigslist.org/wst/rnr/3575925425.html to contact the person who … Read more
Tonight– January 28, 2013 and your help is needed. The Meredith Selectmen meet at 5:30 PM at the Meredith Community Center on Route 3 just north of the main intersection in town. Tim Carter of Meredith will be presenting his facts on the Granite State Future. He was refused an opportunity to make his actual … Read more
The New Hampshire House “focus” on budgets and jobs continues tomorrow at 2:00 pm in LOB 204 as the Criminal Justice and Public Safety committee “suffers through” another hearing room full of citizens on the critically important issue of banning things while mandating other things that will increase the cost of doing business. HB 336 … Read more
The New Hampshire Tea PartyCoalition has received its first response a letter sent to all ten New Hampshire County sheriff’s asking if they will uphold the Constitution against any unlawful gun control by the Federal government. According to NHTPC, Grafton County is the first to reply. YES, I would like to comment. I will uphold … Read more
Then this would be no problem!
Granite State Future is essentially a federal snatch and grab-bag that runs an end-around on your state and local officials, and earlier today I posted an alert about them trolling into Meredith New Hampshire at 5:30 this evening.
You should learn more but for those who want to skip the study guide and all the gobbledygook and boil it all down to it’s simplest–most offensive–form, let’s just call it concentrated evil, here are two pull-quotes regarding what the programs proponents have to say about barriers to implementing their Granite State Future…
Identifying and Overcoming Barriers – One of the steps in the visioning and planning process to be used by each region will be to identify existing and potential barriers to ensuring sustainable communities and to articulate the strategies the regions will use to mitigate or overcome each barrier. Anticipated barriers include NH’s strong tradition of individual property rights and resultant resistance to planning and zoning;
It further states in the following paragraph:
Kathy Benuck was a delegate at the GOP State party Convention Saturday and has a nice write-up here (LondonderryPatch). She has some great observations and asks some good questions. But what caught my attention (naturally) is this… After the meeting had been adjourned, I approached the outgoing party chairman, and I related that I was … Read more
I was forwarded this email by Mary Bonser and she has given permission to publish it (emphasis mine, not Mary’s). I do wonder if the NH GOP will accept its warnings? After all, now former NH GOP Chair Wayne MacDonald claims that blogs are ruining the Party. Which is yet another problem – if a lowly blog can ruin an entire State Republican Party, one of two things is true (after Mary’s Letter):
Regina Birdsell, Chairman
Rockingham County Republican Committee
P.O. Box 772
Exeter, NH 03833
January 27, 2013
Dear Regina,
Please accept my resignation as a Committee Member and Area 3, Vice Chairman for the Rockingham County NH Republican Committee. I will also be leaving the Republican Party.
As a woman in my sixty’s this is not a decision that I make lightly, as I have been a Republican all of my adult life. However, it is something I have been seriously considering for almost 2 years as I have watched the NH Republican Party lose its noble purpose and stumble in on itself.
Saturday’s Annual Republican State Committee Meeting was a watershed moment for me and for the NH Republican Party.
At the meeting it became clear that the party has no idea that it is in a rut of inconsequentiality and proceeded in major ways to dig the rut deeper. It was a ridiculous demonstration of awarding people who have failed demonstratively with, what amounted to, “participation awards”, merely for showing up, apparently.
I can no longer waste my time with a party that operates in a stifling bell jar of delusions of former grandeur. The NH Republican Party is now the pathetic old high school football star that still wears his “letter” jacket and hangs out in the town square as the world leaves him farther and farther behind. The NH Republican Party has lost its way and doesn’t know it, and doesn’t want to know it, and anyone who tries to tell them is marginalized and even demonized.
‘If you think Democrats are overstepping on guns now, wait til they get a hold of the first amendment!’ H/T The Looking Spoon
I’ve been quiet this weekend– Bathroom remodel, closets, floors, and much more on the way. I expect with but a few exceptions it will consume my spare weekend hours for several weeks. So I have not had my finger on the pulse of politics and culture but I find myself no worse for wear. And … Read more
Actually, in both cases, the answer to both cases is “It DOES make a difference – a tremendous one, in fact.” And both are in the same area: trust. Or in fact, creating more a lack of trust than what already exists. Both questions from the top figures in the organization show a lack of concern of the perception of impropriety at best or a callous lack of concern (at all) at worst.
As Grokster Scott points out here, the question from Hillary was an avoidance of responsibility on her part. She may, indeed, have future political plans and does not want a political albatross hung around her neck. It was also, secondarily, a defense of Obama and of Obama’s claim that He has single handedly decimated Al Queda and made the word safe for Socialism (after all, an Obamessiah has to be blameless in order to mold us to be able to enter into his Heaven on earth). After all, if that policy PR is shown to be false (and I believe that it has), the inference can be “where else is Obama’s foreign policies failing?” or other policies as well.
But it matters even more – Government should be open and transparent. It does matter, in that it is not YOUR Government, it is ours, the Citizens. This is not YOUR nation, it is ours, the Citizens. The reasoning of those we have elected to govern (not rule) as well as how that reasoning turns into action (and then how that action is carried out) should be able to be followed by the ordinary citizen. When that open and transparency is violated, the lack of trust by the ordinary system rises. Pulling down the shade by dint of her question only creates dark corners in Government in which bad things seem to sprout and create rot.
Oh, back to Wayne MacDonald, now the former NH GOP Chair…on the NH GOP Area 5 Vice-Chair race