Abhorrent? Really? You really want to know what is abhorrent?

From the Concord Monitor: A few days after the New Hampshire Legislature, led by the newly-elected Republican majority, decided in its wisdom to allow guns into our State House, a U.S. congresswoman and her supporters are gunned down by a clearly deranged person who had much too easy access to guns. I do not share … Read more

Out On A Lim

CHristian Cross mp3 playerChaeyoon Lim has published an article in the American Psychological Review that… "substantiates that it is not really going to church and listening to sermons or praying that makes people happier, but making church-based friends and building intimate social networks there.”

So all that stuff about God, that’s just window dressing?

“Our study offers compelling evidence that it is the social aspects of religion, rather than theology or spirituality, that leads to life satisfaction,”

"In particular, we find that friendships built in religious congregation are the secret ingredient in religion that makes people happier.”

This looks like a conclusion looking for research to support it.  But has Chaeyoon really gone out on a Lim? 

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Hey, it isn’t costing US anything…

Three Shell MonteThis is the vast "Three Shell Monty" played at the governmental level.  You send me your taxpayers money for my project, and I’ll send you my taxpayers tax monies for your projects.  We’ll hide it using other governmental agencies, but we politicians (wink, wink) have set the rules – just watch our hands.   And we’ll sell this game as "Free Money" – hey, it doesn’t cost US anything, right?

Once again, we run into the case that when the locals either don’t have the money or are unwilling to ask their taxpayers for more to pay for what they want, they go for the "free money".  From yesterday’s Laconia Daily Sun (P. 9):

Pulling together the funds to buy Colonial is going to be complicated

In the next town over, Laconia, there is an old building that houses what used to be an old style stage theater that, now that its run as a converted "multiplex" is over, has now sat vacant for a number of years.  Simply, no entrepreneurs wanted to buy it for any purpose.  Yet, there are those in town that just want to see it restored to its former magnificence and start doing plays and such.  However, I do think that the sub-head says it all:

Formation of non-profit corporation seen as needed because for profit business is not going to step forward

Ya think?  If folks, over the years, are not willing to ante up their own personal money (most people, even the uber-rich, are loathe to just throw their money away) for a project, it generally means it is a loosing proposition.  Loosely put, if there is no profit, there is no need there for which people are willing to spend (unless it is flat out given to him).  Yet, there are those that still want to City to buy it?

“Where do we get the $1.4-million to buy it?” asked City Councilor Bob Hamel (Ward 5). “It’s not coming from the city.”

No one questioned Hamel’s presumption that the city would not contribute to the cost of purchasing the property.

So what does it say when even the City Fathers won’t ante up?  In short form,

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Batten Down the Hatches

GFZ.jpg

"Batten Down the Hatches" originated as a nautical phrase – an expression of preparing for trouble, particularly as a storm approaches, to protect oneself in every possible way.  A "batten" is a strip of wood, and a "hatch" is door.  When the hatches are sealed, you are theoretically protected from the outside world.

Across the Nation, Liberals are in this very process now, using the Tucson shooting as an opportunity to predictably (emotionally) push back on our 2nd Amendment rights, under the guise of protecting us all.

I received a copy of a statement that was written by NH State Representative Marcia Moody (Rockingham District 12 – Newmarket).  Marcia is a classic "social justice", "free healthcare for all", global warming fire-breathing Liberal, who was inspired to run for office by none other than Howard Dean. 

In the letter, she mentions the Tucson shooting.  Timing is everything, I suppose.

*Parents Have a Right to Be Informed*

"There was a major event that took place in the NH House this week. The
Rules Committee repealed a rule prohibiting guns in the State House. The
new rule that they passed is to allow deadly weapons, specifically guns,
in all parts of the State House complex. This includes the floor of the
House of Representatives, the anti-chambers, the gallery, the hallways,
and the committee rooms in both the State House and the Legislative
Office Building (LOB). We Democrats made an attempt to amend the rules
by at least prohibiting firearms in the gallery where 27,000 school
children come to observe the workings of their government every year. We
felt that school children especially the 4th grade classes that are
selected for this field trip, did not need to be confronted by adults in
the gallery carrying weapons, whether the weapons were concealed or not.
Anyone wearing a pistol and holster under his or her jacket risks it
being seen by innocent children coming to visit the State House. No one
can bring weapons to a school, the post office, a court house or any
federal building or on an airplane. Yet, the opposition party thinks it
is perfectly all right to bring weapons to the State House where
legislators are only performing their duties carrying out the people’s
business."

"I recommend that schools prepare a parental consent form to be signed by
parents acknowledging the fact that they are aware that when their child
visits the gallery of the State House that there may be armed adults
sitting next to them, and that they do or do not give their consent for
their child to participate in the school sponsored field trip to the
State House. In 2009 a large group of protesters were in the gallery to
witness a vote on a particularly controversial bill and exposed their
weapons when the House voted against the bill. That same year a sponsor
of another controversial bill received death threats and had to have
police protection at his home. The atmosphere in this legislative
session is very toxic and I feel strongly that parents should be made
aware of this fact. The events that just took place in Arizona
emphasizes the volatility of the current thinking among people who wish
to carry weapons to public gatherings."

Sincerely,

State Representative Marcia Moody – District 12

Here’s what I think after reading this reactionary letter, in the days following the shooting in Tucson, AZ, where we see a coordinated, exploitative, Nation-wide attempt by the Left to further their anti-gun agenda:

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Further reflections on Jack Kimball and the state GOP Chairmanship

There are many conservative Republican activists in New Hampshire who have been here far longer than I have. I learn from them and seek out their counsel at every opportunity. Some of them are in elected positions, some are not. Here is what one told me recently, musing about the possibility of Jack Kimball becoming the … Read more

What’s All This Then?

Tom has done Yeoman’s work in bringing us examples of the left wing hypocrisy known as ‘real’ hate speech.  But it’s hard to beat the work done by Michelle Malkin, who has what may be one of the most comprehensive examples (and it is somehow still incomplete) of what motivates the progressives. As you scroll … Read more

About Jack Kimball and the Chairmanship of the New Hampshire Republican Party….

Our super-activist, grass-roots, political reform, hope-and-change advocate, GraniteGrok.com, has recently endorsed Jack Kimball for chairman of the NH GOP.  And I’m glad to see it.

In fact, I’ve been meaning to do the same thing for a couple of weeks now. But…but…somehow I’ve found it uncharacteristically difficult to do so.

It’s not like I’m any shrinking violet when it comes to taking political stands. No, it’s not that.

And it’s not like Jack isn’t immensely qualified as the right man, at the right moment time, and in the right place, to lead the renewed and revitalized New Hampshire Republican Party forward over the next two years. He is, after all, the man of the hour.

No. It’s not any of those. In my case, it seems to be something else…something that’s been making me hesitant.

Here are my thoughts about why….

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Mike Farley Uses “The Template”

So is Mike ‘concerned?’ Or is Mr. Farley either the biggest wuss in Manchester (and given the democrat company he likely keeps that is saying something) or is he employing the template of fear, using children as bait, to scare parents into doing his bidding–the work of making guns the thing we should fear, even in the hands of trained law abiding persons?

They think us all Rambos that have to be “handled”

An untold story of the chaos at the Tuscon tragedy of a civilian’s gun – unused.

We have covered the Tuscon tragedy from the political viewpoint and how the Left let loose volley after volley of verbiage trying to pin the actions of a lunatic on political philosophy (and trying to pin it on the Right and the TEA Party movement).  Of course, the major mainstream media types (who, as we know, lean Left enough to need crutches for support if they weren’t already sitting down reading their teleprompters) have run to their support.

And as we, along with most of the Right, have refused to go along with this nonsense.  As I mentioned before, it has almost been like the WW II Turkey Shoot (or the Gulf War one) because while Leftward pundits and politicians have all "decried" incivility, even we at GraniteGrok have found it far to easy to find concrete examples of them pulling the pins and throwing their grenades (and this latest stretch of liberal rhetoric is just that – verbal handgrenades).

And thus, having wasted their "first wave" of a line of attack, the flanking move is onto the second target – gun control.

Why? They frankly don’t trust their fellow citizens.  They also believe, because of their belief in Big Government, that we all should outsource our well betterment and safety to Government (after all, THEY are the professionals).  Certainly, anyone that reads the ‘Grok on a regular basis, we believe that to be utter nonsense as well.  While we do operate and live in communities of others, we do not give up the sense of self-reliance that should be primary as a basic American philosophical underpinning.  We do believe that we are responsible for ourselves, including the basic right of self-defense.

Now, combine their misguided idea that Government will instantly be available at their time of physical threatening with this: their shared idea that once a gun is place into their fellow citizens hands, we lose all sanity and rationality and become nothing more than grunting Rambos whose only urges are to pull the triggers and find more ammo.

Yet, nothing could be further from the truth – the vast majority of us who use and carry firearms see it as a huge responsibility.  We would no more use…

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So, the Democrats hated married women when they passed this law!

Ah, yes, once again, we see what happens when clueless politicians (in this case, the Democrats who rammed the Credit Card Act) plant their noses squarely into the cement wall that is called the Law of Unintended Consequences?  Wall Street Journal (emphasis mine):

The suggested measure is "intended to enhance protections for consumers and to resolve areas of uncertainty so that card issuers fully understand their compliance obligations," according to the Fed proposal.

But retailers say the measures go beyond the original intent of the Credit Card Act that sought to limit financial institutions from offering credit cards to college students who don’t have income to pay bills.

So, no income or low income means no credit card at worst or very low limits on the card since only that person’s income could be used.  Rich Daddy’s income just didn’t apply (or Mom’s).  Problem for students solved by our paternalistic Congressional overlords as low limits means low capability to get into high debt.

Uh-oh….not quite.  Maybe for students, but what about other people with low personal incomes trying to get more credit:

Stay-at-home Moms also fit that description, and from now on, they’re going to have a hell of a tough time getting credit in their own name:

Yeah, that’s a bug (vs. a feature).

"It is astonishing that people have forgotten how difficult it was 40 years ago, particularly for women, to establish credit," said Ms. Fortney, who represents banks and retailers on consumer-finance issues. "This would really take a lot of women back to where they were in the early 1970s."

In fact, if the rules are strictly applied, they’re going to impact a lot more than just stay-at-home Moms.  Most women still earn less than their husbands, meaning that they’re going to end up with less ability to secure credit in their own name than their husbands have.  That translates into less economic power to, say, open a business using her credit, or leave a bad marriage, because you might not be able to get a mortgage on your own with only a limited credit history.  Presumably, more women are going to end up as joint-account holders with their husbands, rather than limiting themselves to the piddly amount of credit they can secure under their own names.

This is a problem that happens way too often – one reason why more engineers should be elected to office instead of a mere professional hack.  By nature of what we do, we have to take into consideration things as a whole – as a system.  We know, from training and by personal experience, that "%$*&#" moment when we…

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See what happens when Legislators apply their own “tax caps”?

Here in NH, tax caps are fairly common in the news.  For readers in other states for which this may be unknown (think Illinois, California, or New York), these legal instruments put into place by votes of the general citizenry of the various local governments that limit the growth of spending by elected officials. Why?  … Read more

With Obamacare, just THINK of all of your private information they will have…

You can TRUST your government!  They won’t tell anyone about your private secrets!  Oh wait: "The US government’s 11-page document on how to get various US government agencies to prevent future leaks has been leaked. It doesn’t get any more ironic than that. After the various leaks made by WikiLeaks, the US government understandably wants … Read more

Brunelle Is A Distraction

My previous post on the pending investigation of Mike Brunelle was to poke fun at the lefts hypocrisy on the influence of money, anticipate the caterwauling, and suggest a course for clarifying the meaning of the text. In the intervening days, it seems obvious that I left some points out, some made by democrats.

Endorsement: Jack Kimball for NH GOP Chair

  It is with pleasure that GraniteGrok is announcing its choice in the NH GOP Chair race: Jack Kimball. We endorsed him for Governor in the GOP Primary race: He saw that the ideals of Liberty and Freedom that allowed us unequaled freedom of choice in our personal lives were being eroded by those that … Read more

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