GrokTV Event – Seacoast Republican Women Congressional Forum – Question 4

To recap: five of the questions asked of the Candidates at the Seacoast Republican Women Congressional Forum were contributed before and during the event by the actual attendees with the lone exception of the last Question by Stella Scamman, the moderator.  The Candidates answering were:

NH First Congressional District – Rick Parent, Vern Clough                           NH Second Congressional District  – Will Dean, Dennis Lamare

“NO SHOWS”: Incumbents Congressmen Frank “Stiffing the SRW at the last moment” Guinta and Charlie “It’s not worth my time” Bass.

Much has been made of the annual debt (now all of the years of Obama’s Presidency have had $1 Trillion deficits) and the debt, but little on how to pay that $16 Trillion debt (which soars to over $130 Trillion if you count unfunded future liabilities) – Question 4: How will you work to reduce the debt limit?

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Mysterious Folder Conundrum

Love Birds

Suppose you fall in love with someone who is good looking, well groomed, and has lots of potential.  Let’s say you two lovebirds decide to get married.  Giddiness and joy all around…congratulations.

One day, you are at the supermarket, casually buying grapes (so you can feed them to your love, like they do in the old-timey movies), when a shadowy person comes up behind you and hands you a sealed folder.  The mystery person whispers in your ear and says…

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Democrat Contradictions – Out Of State Influence in Local Elections

Democrats in New Hampshire take a lot of money from outside the state.  Don’t take my word for it, just go look it up.  Millions and Millions.  They use candidates, campaign committees, so-called non-profits, and even have super wealthy out of state special interest donors making personal donations here and there to move money around the campaign finance camp fire, often right into the state Democrat party coffer, then back out to your local races.

No one should be surprised or even taken aback at this because it is all part of the business of politics, every party does some of this, it is all perfectly legal, and everything was fine up until the point when the New Hampshire Democrat party decided to make it a recurring campaign issue against Republicans.   It wasn’t Democrats who were affected by objects of out of state money and influence, just the Republicans.

Democrats are clearly guilty of hypocrisy on the  issue (no surprise there), but whenever they start a narrative like this it is usually because they are doing something else that might be worse, that they need you to be distracted from.  And guess what?   They were.

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GrokTV Event: Belknap County Republican Committee “Contested Primaries”- NH Executive Council

Going from the top race and proceeding “down ticket” at the event is that of the NH Executive Council and two candidates showed up for that: long time (in the tooth) politician and holder of the seat, Ray Burton) and Jerry Thibodeau who believes that he can overcome this ossified dinosaur and Master of the Patronage handshake (in my opinion) and change the name of the District 1 Executive Council seat back “to the people” (yeah, I’m biased – and have no problem in admitting it – I say what most other won’t DARE to about Burton).  Especially with this:

These were not asked as a member of the New Media.  Rather, they were submitted because I am a Member of the NH GOP State Committee:

To Ray Burton and Jerry Thibodeau (Executive Council, District 1):

Does it hurt the Republican “brand”, in your opinion, when an elected Republican official publicly endorses a Democrat in a race where there are Republicans running?

As in Ray Burton endorsing a Democrat up North?  Like Dick Green (in running for NH State Senate now, who was a member of “Republicans for Lynch)”?

Why does Ray Burton get a pass from other Republicans – and why does Leadership do nothing as the Public looks on (often, with the mantra on their lips “There’s not a dime’s worth of difference between the two parties”) instead of cleaning up and cleaning house?  Sheesh….

Here is the video of Jerry Thibodeau and Ray Burton:

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Following the Trail from Sustainability…to Tyranny (Part 2)

Sustainability Ferris Wheel

This is part-2 of a series that breaks down the “sustainability” movement, and explains how some in NH are working to constrain individual liberties with it.  Read part-1 here.

The consummate community organizer, President Obama, knows the value of urban voters.  He knows that urban living, with its clustered, infrastructure-heavy, and herd-like nature, depends on government more than suburban life, and far more than self-sufficient, independent rural living.  He knows that more urban (or urban-like) voters mean utter dominance of the Progressive political class, at all levels.

He also knows that people have flocked away from cities, especially since the 1970’s, forming concentric suburban rings, referred to as “sprawl” (a word you will hear used quite a bit), which provide resistance to his urban, democratic-socialist ideals.

“The suburbs will define the outcome of the 2012 Presidential election”

Continuing to use the environmental movement as cover, and using the Presidency for credibility and funding, Barack Obama and his fellow community organizers are advancing the simmering ideology of “sustainability” by attacking the suburbs.

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The Promise of The Democrat Police State

Inconvenient Speech Equals handcuffs in the Democrat Police State
Inconvenient Speech Equals handcuffs in the Democrat Police State

Democrats obstructing speech they object to continued… after yesterdays post, which produced some necessary followup.  Obama campaign officials obstructed a Pennsylvania reporter from speaking to Obama supporters waiting outside, in line for an Obama rally.  A Commenter, C. dog, responded with a link to this story from 2008, at the Democrat National Convention, in Denver.

ABC reporter Asa Eslocker was filming for a story about the financial influence of lobbyists and wealthy donors.  While taking pictures of Democrat Senators and others on a public sidewalk he was arrested and detained by the police.

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Jerry Thibodeau for Executive Councilor, District 1

I  support and endorse Jerry Thibodeau for Executive Council. I speak as me alone and not as the voice of Granite Grok.I personally know Jerry and count him as a close personal friend.

Jerry is a native to the Granite State. He has raised a family, built a successful business and served the Manchester community on many levels. I, in particular,  worked closely with Jerry during his tenure as  chairman of the Manchester GOP City committee. Additionally, I knew Jerry as a board member for the New Hampshire Wildlife Federation, an organization very dear to me. Jerry served there with distinction as well. Jerry is now running for the Executive Council.  He is would make a great Councilor.

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Maggie’s World -or- It’s Good to be the Duchess

Sustainability Ferris Wheel

Democratic candidate for governor, Maggie Hassan, was recently endorsed by New Hampshire’s largest union*, the National Education Association (NEA-NH).

In their press release, the union stated that “Maggie shares our belief that good public schools are the foundation for strong communities and a vibrant economy and that for our students and schools to thrive, we all need to be held accountable — teachers, parents, students and elected officials.  She knows that continuing to slash school funding risks losing an entire generation of students who won’t get a second chance…

Union President, Scott McGilvary, also stated that “it became very apparent that there was one candidate that can stand up for public education and bring us forward and that Maggie Hassan is our candidate.

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GrokWATCH: Right To Know Request – Water Sustainability Commission – Update 1

WSC-Logo Water Sustainability CommisionBack on August 2, we launched an RTK (Right To Know) request against Gov. Lynch’s parting gift, the Water Sustainability Commission.  Specifically, we wanted copies of all of the surveys that the public had filled in that the WSC presented via SurveyMonkey.

I am happy to report that John Gilbert did respond positively and sent a PDF containing those results within two days of the request.  And yes, I was / am behind on posting this up.

But, from there, I decided to ask for more – the contract between the State of New Hampshire and his firm, Synchrony Advisors, LLC, to no avail:

From: Skip Murphy
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 4:28 PM
To: John A. Gilbert
Subject: Re: Freedom of Information Request – NH Water Sustainability

Chairman Gilbert,

I have received your email and will be reviewing all of those surveys; we do appreciate your willingness to quickly comply with our request.

An additional request: again, under the auspices of RSA 91-A, we are requesting a copy of the signed contract between your company and the State of New Hampshire.   Further, as you are acting as an agent of the State, we are also requesting electronic copies of all the correspondence (e.g., such as, but not limited to email, paper mailings, recorded phone conversations and video conferences, websites) pertaining to that contract.

Kindest regards,

-Skip

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When the Left starts “Memory Holing” pictures and stories, you’re on the Right track!

Mike Kruglik - Obama in the White HouseThe ‘Grok is doing its part on exposing what has been run on a semi-stealth process here in NH – the Federal Government’s implementation of President Obama’s promise made just before his inauguration: “We are five days from fundamentally transforming the United States”.

As Tom’s post / series thus far has been pointing out (Part 1, Part 2), there appears to be an effort by HUD / EPA / DOT to subvert local control and local zoning for environmental and “sustainable” reasons only.   But the real story is not just subverting local control with Federal control of the Environment.

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American Exceptionalism – hoping it is more than a campaign slogan

This caught my eye as one of the things that Romney said after announcing that Paul Ryan was to be his Veep pick:

“I love America. We’re going to restore American principles. We love this country. We don’t want to change it. We don’t want to transform it. We want to restore the principles of America that made us the hope of the earth.”

Again, I ask you, loyal reader, to compare that, going back to our Founders vision, to what Obama has said:

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Medicare Fraud – [Updated and Bumped – Again…]

When I say “Medicare Fraud,” I’m not referring to the corrupt practices of people and professionals who are milking taxpayers by running fast circles around the bureaucratic behemoth that is Medicare.  I am referring to the left-wing Democrat lie-factory that has nothing in its barren campaign quiver but fear tactics.   That is the fraud I am referring to.   That and the fraud they will perpetrate on every aspect of the Ryan Budget.

I just hope Harry Reid has nothing to say about the Ryan budget…you know…that might get awkward.

Here’s a short clip from CBS news c/o Hot Air on Romney/Ryan and Medicare…

[Update(s) on the jump]

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GrokTV: Conservative Republican Candidate Home Event – Josh Youseff

Another speaker at Barbara Aichinger’s Conservative Candidate Night in Gilford last night was Josh Youseff.  He is running for the NH GOP nomination for the new NH Senate District 7 and we did an interview series with Josh Youseff a while ago (click here for the last in the series; it links backwards to all of the other questions) and have expectations of doing the promised follow up soon.

This is Josh both giving his stump speech and answer questions from the attendees (including your’s truly):

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GrokTV Event: Belknap County Republican Committee “Contested Primaries” – US Congress

This past Wednesday nite was the monthly Belknap County Republican Committee (“BCRC”) meeting.  I’ve missed the last few but only because there has been so many different meetings in so many places on Wednesday nites lately, I’ve gone to some of those “one time only’s” vs something that is there like a clock.  This month, however, was different than most.  Instead of the standard monthly mantra of one or two “special” speakers,   it was devoted to giving those candidates that are in contested primary races (i.e., a higher number of Republicans running for a lesser  number of available seats) here in Belknap County.  Each race had all of the Candidates come up and talk, and answer questions from the audience if there were some.  Here is Rick Parent, running to be the US Congressman from NH First Congressional District (his competitors were no shows):

Sidenote: Unfortunately, in what I felt was an overblown adherence to the so-called 11th Commandment (which generally is invoked to protect the guilty by those that can’t stand waves), MY questions were crumpled up and thrown away for being ‘too divisive in a public forum” by the BCRC Chair, Alan Glassman; I will be post them on the appropriate videos so that you may judge…oh heck, here they are:

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Palate Cleanser- Snow Dogs

I shot this last winter, then proceeded to play with the transitions in my video editing software of choice, then left it in a folder for a warm summer day.  I’ve had a few opportunities for ‘warm summer day’ and not posted it, but better late than never. … so here are some cool dogs … Read more

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