Great Plan Dick

Dick Durbin, Richard, Rick, Ricky, Dicky, Dickard, The Dickster Durbin is suggesting an intervention for his state of Illinois. Apparently the tax and spender state implemented an internet sales tax on retailers. They were thinking that it might help them with their budget problem; I guess they left Terie “Billion Dollar Deficit” Norelli in charge of spending over there as well.

GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 04/16/11 – The TEA Party Edition!

Podcast – week of 04/16/11 GrokTALK! Streaming Live! from GraniteGrok To play (or "stream") a clip now, just click on it.  To download it to your PC, right click on it and tell the process where to save the file for you. When we are live – join in at either GrokTALK@GraniteGrok.com or call us … Read more

FB Doodlings – Evergreen Clause, public unions, educational quality

A while ago, ‘Grok’s friend NH State Representative George Lambert started a thread discussing NH SB1 which would repeal to the Evergreen Clause (now passed).  Simply put, Evergreen meant that all union contracts compensation agreements would remain in force if the two parties could not agree on a new contract.   I jumped in after seeing a reply complaining that the public should not be involved in the negotiation process (edited to fit a more bloggish format) :

Before Evergreen, if a public sector union did not get a contract resolved, the situation remain static; people had their jobs (e.g., teachers) and current pay / benefits while negotiations proceeded. Please note: if the employees do not like the conditions, they can leave and get a job somewhere better. Remember, NO one is entitled to anything – including a job.  The problem with Evergreen is that the other side, the taxpayers, have no recourse. They have to pay the additional costs regardless of the expired contract. There is no way to "win" in this situation.

With respect to crying over the fact that teachers and public servants are "drastically underpaid" compared to entertainers and sports stars because of misplaced societal values

  • They are not drastically underpaid and certainly not at the bottom either (do your homework vis-a-vis average / median wage comparisons which are open source available).
  • Top level entertainers are not overly paid either.

If they really feel that they are severely underpaid, why would public service workers stay in the job? That would mean that they are stupid; I doubt that.

The reason for top entertainers (including sports) get the pay they do is that…

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GrokTalk! Saturday April 23rd, 2011

State Senator Jim Forsythe with talk about the New Hampshire Senate and his upcoming fundraiser with US Senator Rand Paul.
Corey Lewandowski– the New Hampshire Executive director of Americans for Prosperity, will get us up to date on RGGI, and the NH Presidential Summit coming up on January 29th.
And Nat Yellis, Deputy Political Policy Director for Heritage Action For America, will call in to help close out the program; we’ll talk about Heritage Action, and the hot topics of the week

GrokTALK! – Podcast page for 04/23/11

Podcast – week of 04/23/11 GrokTALK! Streaming Live! from GraniteGrok To play (or "stream") a clip now, just click on it.  To download it to your PC, right click on it and tell the process where to save the file for you. When we are live – join in at either GrokTALK@GraniteGrok.com or call us … Read more

Pay As You Throw Had To Go

The Merrimack Town Council bent to the will of the voters and scrapped plans to institute a pay as you throw program. That would have required residents to buy special bags for trash at $1.00 or $1.50 per bag, and you could only use those bags at the town dump.

GrokTV Special Interview: GSPLPAC TEA Party

This should have been done last night, but family issues come first.  After the TEA Party rally last Saturday, I had the chance to sit, along with fellow Grokster Mike, and talk with some of the speakers.  Here are those interviews:      Jeff Chidester (NH Perspective)              Dr. Julianne Cooper … Read more

OK, maybe a couple words are necessary.

Steve posted this chart on Wednesday. Well, yesterday, the creator of that chart added a bit more info to it: Highlights: Top 1% income earners ($380K / year) earn 20% of all the wages They pay 38% of all Federal income taxes Proportionally, I would say that is more than their "fair" share.  Agree? Interesting … Read more

74? No more! GraniteGrok endorses a “No” vote on raising the Federal Debt Ceiling

TO:       US Senator Kelly Ayotte (R-NH)              US Congressman Charlie Bass (R-NH)              US Congressman Frank Guinta (R-NH)              US Senator Jeanne Shaheen (D-NH) FROM:   GraniteGrok SUBJECT: Vote NO to raising the Federal Debt Ceiling Seventy Four – the number of times that the National Debt Ceiling has been … Read more

GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC TEA Party – The Patriot Pastor

The Patriot Pastor – just in his colonial garb topped by his tri-cornered hat, he’s a head turner.  Add in his height (6’7") and his personna (just as large), you cannot miss this gentleman in any room.  And yes, once he begins to speak, he gets your attention in his Black Robed Regiment style! Garrett … Read more

GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC TEA Party – Ovide Lamontagne

Ovide Lamontagne ran to be the Republican nominee to be the US Senator from NH during this last cycle.  He, like Rich Ashooh, is staying politically active and has formed the Granite Oath PAC.  There are also rumblings for the next cycle for him – Governor? Time will tell…

GrokTV Event: GSPLPAC TEA Party – Senator Rick Santorum

Former PA Senator Rick Santorum also spoke Saturday at the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC’s TEA Party.  As Jeff notes in his remarks, he had not been scheduled to speak originally; heck, he wasn’t even scheduled to be in State. Already up is the GrokTV Special Interview with the Senator.

Parental Notification: It’s Not Really About ‘Choice,’ Is it?

Pregnant_Woman_GG.jpg

House Bill 329. A law that will require the notification of parents for unemancipated minors prior to the performance of an abortion procedure, will get it’s public hearing tomorrow before the Senate Judiciary committee. Most certainly, that public hearing will segue the militant hit-parade decrying this often-called, “anti-choice” legislation.

Planned Parenthood, making quick use of our tax dollars to lobby against this piece of legislation, gives us indicia that should the bill pass the Judiciary and Senate, Planned Parenthood might sue to block its implementation as they did in Alaska. In fact, Planned Parenthood has made concerted efforts all over the Country to block such legislation with various court challenges. Planned Parenthood shows their resolve and that they will not be deterred. In 2005, for example, A Minnesota court ruled that St. Paul Planned Parenthood violated a parental notification law when an abortion was performed on a 17-year-old girl without prior notice to her parents. History instructs us that Planned Parenthood not only actively opposes these laws, but that they are willing to simply disregard them.

In today’s Union Leader story, Gary Rayno reports that opponents of the bill say, “(This bill) will needlessly put the lives and health of young women at risk…” Seriously? opponents all say this, but they never tell you exactly how. Or if opponents tell how, they give anecdotal examples of extreme abuse, rape or incest.  If one accepts that logic, one also has to first admit that all of the other systems and precious safety nets they so ardently champion and advocate for have failed. In cases of abuse, where was DCYF? and why did they not intervene?

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“The need for countries to maximize their take from their citizens”…Really? Is that all we are?

OK, this snippet is from the Economist of about a year ago (yeah, spending the last of my frequent flier miles on magazine subscriptions.  Hey, it allows me to sample some stuff for a short period of time that I wouldn’t ordinarily purchase).

It certainly is a Euro-centric philosophy expressed in its pages – and Big State to boot.  Oh certainly, from time to time, I’ve been surprised that they’ve agreed with my outlook on something.  That said, I could not say that their outlook other than Statist and almost always side with growing Govt.

Can you spot what caught my eye?  Oh, heck, I’ll make it easy for you:

High-tax European governments have complained in the past about competition from countries like Ireland; the current crisis may lead to more calls for co-ordination of tax policies.  Indeed, many countries will be raising taxes simultaneously, which may reduce the temptation for businesses to shift.  much depends on where countries start; it shouldd be easier for those iwth lower tax burdens to increase their take.

Higher earners can also be mobile.  So many French professionals moved to London in the past decade that Nicolas Sarkozy, France’s president, pleaded with them (and offered tax deals) to come back.  Britain is gradually losing its appeal to high-earning foreigners.  calculations by pricewaterhouseCoopers, an accounting firm, show that British authorities will take a bigger tax bite out of the pay packet of a married exutive earning 250K Sterling ($370K) than any other G20 nation except Italy.

The need for…

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