Americans for Prosperity Foundation: Defend the American Dream Summit 2012

I drove down here to DC yesterday for AFP’s Defending the American Dream Summit 2012.  There’s a packed agenda  for sure, and I have some slots tomorrow (10 – 2pm) and on Saturday ( 8 – 3pm) for the ‘Grok to be on Radio Row so am hoping nab some good interviews.  I’ll put up “sticky posts” when we go live.

Given what is going on in NH on the Sustainable Communities Initiative (aka, Smart Growth, Granite State Future Plan, Water Sustainability Commission) that has been breaking here on the ‘Grok, and with…

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GrokWATCH: Right To Know Request – Water Sustainability Commission public surveys

WSC-Logo Water Sustainability Commision

Two days ago, we launched our newest Right To Know series concerning Gov. Lynch’s Water Sustainability Commission – that which was ordered into existence by Executive Order:

Good afternoon,

Having just taken your survey, I have a question:  will you be publishing all of the surveys taken so as to validate the summary result?  Like any good scientific OR Governmental process, it is always best, for openness and transparency, to publish all raw data.

If not, please consider this a Right To Know request under RSA 91-A for all of the filled out surveys that were received from SurveyMonkey (or by other means) on that survey, as shown by your page (http://www.nh.gov/water-sustainability/).

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Yesterday was Chick-Fil-a day! And a hateful CFO is getting canned?

Update:  Yes, for the hate filled rant below, Adam Smith is no longer the CFO at Vante.  Thanks to the commentors for confirming it! “Always tastes better when it is full of hate!” All the way down to DC, I kept hearing how Conservative folks have been flocking (pun intended) to Chick-Fil-A outlets to support … Read more

GrokTV – NH State Senator Andy Sanborn – Question 8

Accomplishments?

We always try to spend “a little time with GraniteGrok” and with Andy Sanborn (running for reelection to the NH Senate in District 9), we came to the realization that we had spent a lot more time than just a little.  So, we decided to end our interrogation interview with him with this last question.

Question 8:

What things have you accomplished since our first interview last cycle? Not get done?

We did all agree that we needed to come back and yak with Andy strictly on some issues rather than on the concentration on how the State does what it does – but it is nice to know that SOMEBODY has this in their head that not only do Legislators create laws for the rest of us but also how the “back of the house” (as Andy the restauranteur would put it) is doing as well.  After all, they ARE supposed to be serving us, the citizens.

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GrokTV-Jane Cormier for NH House-Questions 7 & 8

#7 Are Government and Society interchangeable terms?  #8 Should they be?

Continuing on with our questions for with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton), we wanted to know which should be the driving force in the land: Government or Society?  Are they two different entities?  If not, should they be looked upon as such?  Jane did answer the question but we split the answer into the Federal level and then at the State level:

  • Question 7: Proper Role of Government-Progressive conflate Govt & Society; Conservatives split them. Your outlook?
  • Question 8: Same as Q7, but bring it to down from the Federal level to the State of NH.

  

Govt vs Society: Difference?                               Ditto, for State level?

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Democrat House Candidate William Hudson Connery III…Violates DoD Rules?

William Hudson Connery III - Violates the DOD rules for Candidates for political officeWhen he’s not promoting potential vote fraud by out of state college students, or telling us how he can’t stand people of faith, the New Hamphire House Candidate and Socialist Democrat from New Hampshire 17 Rockingham 17, might also be …violating Department of Defense directives.

To your right is a picture of Mr. Connery….in Iraq…in Uniform.  It’s a nice picture.  The status update says…“Just another day in Iraq.”  But it is posted on his Facebook NH House campaign page.

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NH TEA Party Republicans Better At Revenue & Spending Estimates Than Democrats…Again

TEA Party Republicans are smart spenders - NH Revenue looks solid againI know… New Hampshire Democrats were losing sleep in hopes of some politically-beneficial revenue numbers, and guess what?  They were politically beneficial….To TEA Party Republicans.

The Union Leader is reporting that New Hampshire state revenues were slightly above estimates in July, with solid performances that suggest we are budgeting wisely so that the working families and small business owners in New Hampshire can continuing to drag us out of the economic quick sand in which Democrat tax and spend polices have had us trapped.

So How well did the TEA Party Republicans manage your money for July 2012?

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Water Sustainability Commission (a subset of the Granite State Future Plan, aka Sustainable Communities Initiative) – their own words. First Rep. Spang in her own words

UPDATE before publishing:  Apparently, Judith has responded to Ken and invoking both International Law and the World Court?  That’s only by email, but THIS I have to see!

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Our mission here at the ‘Grok is to promote and to protect Individual Freedom, Liberty, and Rights.  Period.  Sure, we do other things as well, but that is our main focus and raison d’etre.  I’ve been focusing on that my last few posts as the Federal mandate of the Sustainable Communities Initiative by the Federal Government (HUD / EPA / DOT) has, all of a sudden, climbed its way up the ladder from the muck in which it was derived.  And muck it is, and it has spread.

As Ken Eyring has pointed out, the Granite State Future Plan is being spearheaded by the NH Legislature spawned 10 Regional Planning Commissions with the intent, now funded with Obama money, to override local control here in NH by pushing for new zoning laws (back up with threats of lawsuits).  These are a fourth level of Government, creatures totally created by legislative statute that have no connection to the NH Constitution.  It is staffed by locally appointed members (for instance, my DPW department head is my town’s representative on the Lakes Region Planning Commission) with some paid staff.  They get State funding and also go around grubbing for town taxpayer monies by “billing” on population (e.g., “you have X number of people on town; based on $XX.XX / person, you should give us a total of….”).  Starting off as simply a way to “coordinate” transportation usage, they now do all kinds of things (when did road management make them experts in broadband deployment?) that stray far from their original mission (like all good bureaucracies do!).

One of the things the zoning changes are going to do is push for higher density “center of town” living; whether or not it makes sense, these Federal clowns want “livable centers” where you can walk from your home above places of business, walk to work, and walk to work.  Need to go somewhere else?  IF you take the time, you will find out that you will be “nudged” to use public transportation.  Mass transit isn’t even ‘sustainable’ in cities already – how would that work out here in rural NH – Oh yeah, they have a solution for that, too, but that’s for another post.

And it will be done, bit by bit.  In a later post, I go through and use some of what the Water Sustainability Commission and others have said, in their own words, to “shape the battlefield“.  In the mean time, let’s start with what has already been posted.  Even Judith Spang, in her response to Ken, starts with the individual but then immediately goes to the Town level, as if the individual Right never existed:

1. Groundwater Law in NH is based on Common Law, not statutory law. The common law (dating back to English Common Law) says unequivically that a riparian landowner has the right to “reasonable use” of water flowing under or abutting his land.  “Reasonable use” is a limitation: you cannot take so much water that you are depriving someone else who has riparian rights to the same groundwater or surface water.  Neither you nor a foreign water bottling company who may own the land next to you has the right to take so much water out of your (or their) well that it dries up abuttors’ wells.

2. When the Commission talks about the need for a water policy that respects the inter-municipal nature of water supplies, it is based upon the above legal principle.

And then explicitly denies the Individual their property Rights:

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GrokTV: NH State Senator Andy Sanborn (District 9) – Question 7

Question #7:  Adversarial relationship between State agencies vs ordinary folks?

To fix a perceived problem (which Questions 5 & 6 brought up), you have to know all about the problem – or at least the biggest and most influential parts of the problem.  In discussing State Agencies, we wanted to know if there was a sense of “us vs them”, if State Agencies had drifted into a condition of reversing the proper role of government serving the people and morphing into one of “we will ensure that YOU follow OUR rules”.

Question 7:

Adversarial relationship between State agencies vs ordinary folks?

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GrokTV: Jane Cormier, Candidate for NH House – Questions 5 & 6

# 5: Where on the Political Spectrum are you? #6: Proper Role of Government – Your outlook?

Labels, while not always completely describing who what is in politics, can generally give others a good idea of where one stands on the issues.  For instance, Democrats generally spend more and are more liberal than Republicans, who trend to greater fiscal frugality and more conservative social issues.  However, there are exceptions to the rules (like Zell Miller, who was a Blue Dog Democrat for years, being more fiscally tighter than most of his Democrat contemporaries)

On the other side of the aisle, there are also Progressive / Big Government Republicans that vote more in line with Democrat philosophies and, in the case of some, use the “R” next to their name as a cover.  A GREAT example of this is current NH State Rep Peter Bolster who calls himself a Republican but his voting record screams “I AM REALLY A DEMOCRAT!!”  and has admitted to such to some.  (think I’m wrong?  Do a search just on GraniteGrok and review the times he shown up voting AGAINST the Republican Platform!)

Fortunately, Jane Cormier is running against this “RINO to the max” in the primary in Belknap District 8 (Alton, Barnstead, Gilmanton).

  • Question 5: Where are you on the Political Spectrum (from Jim DeMint on the Right and Carol Shea-Porter on the extreme Left)?
  • Question 6: Should politicians be held accountable to their Platform?

  

Political Spectrum?       Adherence to Party Philosophy / Platform?

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Where the Celebrity Money In Politics Is…As If You Didn’t Know

One of the best sources for large dollar Political Donation history is Newsmeat.com.   I use it often, as regular readers may have noticed, but one of the features I have not used is the ability to look at large lists of Celebrities, Executives, Politicians, Media people, and see their contributions and party preferences.

The donation amounts are total reported (including all single donations of $200.00 or more) since 1978.  Donations under $200.00, if any, are not going to be included.  But you won’t be terribly surprised with the celebrities list–a snippet of which is posted on the jump.  That list includes actors, directors, producers singers, writers, radio personalities and so on. Take note of the % columns and how much is donated to each party or special interest groups.  (Click on the name to see their specific donation history and what groups they support.)

Oh.  They also point out how many winners and losers each has “backed ” in the WIN/LOSS column.  And Newsmeat says the entire list is updated every Monday so it is up to date.  (Newsmeat also has news, by the way.)

The real fun, I think, is looking for which of these popular people actually support Republicans since they are so few and far between compared to the liberal/Progressive support that dominates this industry–and dominate it does.

The Big table…on the jump….is just A through C.  Here’s the link if you want to browse the other parts of the list.

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Ted Cruz Wins Texas Primary

AP c/o Hot Air, calls the Texas US Senate Primary for TEA Party Backed candidate Ted Cruz. The followup should read…. Democrats double down on TEA Party is dead rhetoric. You know… that whole “The Bigger the Lie” thing.

Editorial Second Guessing And Blind Hypocrisy

“A liar begins with making falsehood appear like truth, and ends with making truth itself appear like falsehood.”   —William Shenstone

Oh No Guns....and magazines...and ammoThe Keene Sentinel , last Thursday, featured an editorial, positing the question, “Could an armed citizen have stopped the shooter?  But they never really answer the question and instead make an argument that we should move toward more gun control.

The opening paragraph states,

Anyone who has ever aimed and discharged a firearm knows that accuracy depends on a number of things — the eye of the shooter, the weapon in use, levels of training and experience. There’s also the matter of setting. Hitting a target at a shooting range, with pulse steady and trigger squeezed, is not the same as, say, taking down a gunman in a darkened theater that’s filled with tear gas and screaming, panic-stricken movie-goers.

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Right Left Divide on The “Knowledge of Wrongdoing.”

Chris Donovan has seven staffers arrested by the FBIDemocrats and the media are all uppity about a Romney staffer yelling at the press.  I guess this is the next ‘Waterloo’ for the Romney campaign.  The fifth or sixth or fiftieth beginning-of-the-end for the GOP (presumptive) nominee.  Clearly a guy with a staffer who would insult the media is unfit for public office?

Meanwhile, the Speaker of the Connecticut State House, Democrat Chris Donovan (who happens to be the Democrat candidate for CT-congressional district 5), had seven members of his campaign staff arrested by the FBI for taking $27,000.00 dollars in campaign contributions to influence votes in the Connecticut state House.

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Grok Special Interview: Jane Cormier,Candidate for NH House – Questions 3 & 4: Too many uninvolved people? What are your values?

Having gone over the preliminaries questions of “have you done this before” and ‘why are you running” with Jane Cormier (running for the NH House in Belknap 8 – Alton, Barnstead, and Gilmanton), from her answers came the next two questions (heh!  It is ALWAYS better to ask questions from what people themselves have already … Read more

Now and Then…

A 2008 Obama voter interviews her 2012 self…. http://youtu.be/WbX5EwSp_W8

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