Announcements

I apologize to our readers for not living up to our normal quantity of posts that you have come to expect over the years that the ‘Grok has been open.  Three of the five active bloggers of GraniteGrok have been affected by the aftermath of no power or internet access caused by the recent storm.  Yes, stuff happens and it sometimes happens to us.

I have been fortunate with no loss of anything (although my back has made it quite clear that it wishes to go all OWS-general strike by no longer wishing to deal with storms that dump 2 feet of snow on my property) but have been occupied (finally, as TMEW might agree) with some personal matters.  In lieu of a couple of posts, I’ll put this email that I sent to Tracy Banks (of the Banks auto dealerships in Concord, NH) and to her contact at the Banks Collision Center that fully took up all of my evening last (and thus, no posts from me last nite).  I have lightly edited it for posting – while it may not change the outcome of yesterday, it did assuage my soul in writing it:

Dear Ms. Banks,

It is not often that I get to write a letter like this as it seldom that my vehicle needs collision repair work (although this is now the second time I have had to select your repair facilities over others). Bought new from your Saab dealership, this most recent stay for my Saab 9-5 was due to a carefully done parking lot sideswipe performed upon it.

The start of this endeavor was to first deal with the insurance company. Although I had taken a video of the car when I came out of the hotel and sent the URL to my local insurance office, it still took almost a month before an adjustor could come to visually inspect the car – just to note what I had already told and showed (via YouTube) the local office. Then when I called three weeks later to see where the process was, I gently had to remind them that the insurance policy number for the other driver I had given them at first contact – was theirs, as the person who had hit the car had kindly and thoughtfully left a note with his name and number and gave that information to me when I called him. Given that we used State Farm, to use the adjective “underwhelmed” at their efficiency would be understated to describe what had not transpired for progress. Finally, after two more phone calls a couple of weeks apart, a check finally arrived – even though I had already told them that since all repair work on the Saab has been done by Tracy Banks Saab over the years, this would be handled by TBS as well.

Well, with all that insurance "pre-work" nonsense completed, I finally was able to contact Tracy Banks Saab who transferred me to the Banks Collision Center to set up a time to bring the car down. Thus, after working with Emily during the week of 10/17, we agreed for me to bring the Saab down from Gilford on Friday the 21st.  I even called that Friday morning to verify that everything was all set. It was during this time that I reminded Emily that I needed the car back by 11/2, at the latest, for a trip to DC starting on 11/3. “No problem, sir!”.

So imagine my surprise…

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Links added:   From the Laconia Daily Sun (P 12):

GILFORD — Americans for Prosperity (AFP) Foundation has named David “Skip” Murphy of Gilford, who hosts the conservative political blog GraniteGrok and the radio talk show GrokTalk, as its “Activist of the Year” for 2011. The award was presented at the fourth annual RightOnline Conference in Minneapolis, which was attended by some 1,200 conservative and libertarian activists last week.

Each year AFP honors an individual for their effective use of online media to further personal liberty and economic freedom. GraniteGrok describes itself as “fire-breathing, Mtn Dew powered, extremist, right-wing, hard-charging, gun-toting, opinionated, outspoken, rabble rousing, letter writing, radio microphone stomping, buying ink electrons by the Gilford blogger honored by Americans for Prosperity barrel Conservatives and Rational Libertarians!”

A technical analyst for a software firm headquartered in California, Murphy was drawn to local politics by Doug Lambert, with whom he shared the blog and microphone until Lambert withdrew after intemperate insults about New Hampshire Democratic Party chairman Ray Buckley reached the public. Murphy stayed the course, allying himself with the Tea Party and drawing contributors from the libertarian wing of the Republican Party, to become a strident voice in conservative circles.

Murphy has served on the Gilford Budget Committee since his election in 2006 and is the father of two sons serving in the United States armed forces.

— Michael Kitch

I humbly thank Americans for Prosperity for the unexpected honor given to this ordinary schlub from central New Hampsha.  If no one had mentioned it, I wasn’t going to either, but I felt that the error-prone article had to be corrected.

But really – strident?  The corrections:

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OK, it’s not Monday but Chan was a tad preoccupied with a more serious matter yesterday than fooling around with a graphic that shows that we two are in Michelle Obama’s crosshairs.  But, we are making a bit of progress and it was good to see I’ve jumped onto the wagon again.  Next week, hopefully will be down into the next "5 lb bucket" (after all, I may not be able to lose 30 lbs but I can certainly do 5!).

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Guest post by Congressman Frank Guinta (R-NH-1)

Welcome to the first installment of “Frankly Speaking.”  Every two weeks, this column will let you know what I’m doing in Washington and explain what it means to people here in New Hampshire.  It’s important that you know the steps your Congressman is taking to fight for your interests, and to maintain an open dialogue with you about it.

Our country has just come through the national tragedy of the Tucson shootings.  Our thoughts and prayers remain with Congresswoman Giffords and the others who are still recovering, as well as the families of the fallen.  It was proper that the House paused from its activities to honor the victims of this senseless crime.

Now the House is turning its attention back to the people’s business, and the first major bill of the new Congress: repealing last year’s federal takeover of our nation’s health care system, commonly called “Obamacare.”  It’s disturbing to many Granite Staters not only because it will lower the quality of the health care your family receives, but it will also kill jobs –1.6 million according to an estimate by the National Federation of Independent Businesses– at a time when we need to be creating jobs, not losing them.  (In fact, I never stop looking for new opportunities to help encourage the creation of more jobs for our citizens.)

You sent me to Washington to do something about this dangerous law.  That’s why I proudly added my name as a co-sponsor of House Resolution 2, Repealing the Job-Killing Health Care Law Act.  Ending Obamacare is so important, I made it my very first piece of legislation in Congress.  I have mixed news to share with you about our progress on it.

The good news: there is broad support for repealing Obamacare in the House.  The bad news:

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WASHINGTON D.C. – Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), the Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, announced today the members who will serve as Subcommittee Chairmen and Vice Chairmen for the 112th Congress.

“The American people deserve and have a right to expect that the money Washington has taken from them is well spent and well accounted for,” said Issa.  “These subcommittees are a reflection of the substantive agenda House Republicans have promised to pursue one that is focused on identifying and reforming waste, fraud, abuse and mismanagement within the federal bureaucracy.  The American people have a right to an efficient and effective government.  They have a right to a Congress and White House that is held accountable and acts transparently.   This is our committee’s mission and this is what Oversight Republicans will work tirelessly to deliver to the American people.”

The Committee will be organized into seven subcommittees with different legislative and oversight jurisdictions as follows:

Well, look where Congressman Guinta landed!  One of the items that drove the TEA Party movement was the seemingly never ending handouts and bailouts of those that were judged "too big to fail": 

The Subcommittee on TARP, Financial Services and Bailouts of Public and Private Programs
Chair: Rep. Patrick T. McHenry (NC-10)
Vice Chair: Rep. Frank Guinta (NH-1)

Finance.  Money.  Glad to see a TEA Party Freshman get that assignment.  You’ve got the opportunity, NOW

Stop the spending, Frank!

“Congressman Guinta’s experience as a mayor and his commitment to accountability in government convinced me he was the right candidate to serve as vice chair for this subcommittee,” said Issa. “In this position, he will play a leading role in sorting out still unanswered questions about the financial meltdown and federal programs that are failing to achieve measurable goals to help the economy while wasting taxpayer dollars.”

Frank:

“Granite Staters have told me they are unhappy with the billions of dollars spent on bailouts.  They want to know where all that money went, what it produced, and cases where it was wasted.  When waste is identified, they want it stopped immediately. My goal is to do everything I can to keep the money paid by hardworking taxpayers from being needlessly squandered.  I was sent to Washington to help get our nation’s financial house in order, and I look forward to working on this important subcommittee to do just that.”

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(Picture credit: Alan Glassman; Tom talking to the students)

As I pointed out here, I met up and interviewed / was interviewed by students from the Fellowship Christian Academy.  During that time, they informed me that they were participating in the VFW’s Voice of Democracy; I offered to post their papers.  Here is the second paper (Previous paper: Peter).

Guest post by Maggie:

Does my generation play a role in America’s future? Asked this, the majority of high school students in the United States would answer, “no. probably not.” After all, they can’t vote, don’t make laws, and know next to nothing about politics. However, the truly vitalizing fact is that not only do we play a role in America’s future, we ARE America’s future.

Walk up to a high school student and ask that student what year we broke free of British control and became a country. Ask them who General Lee or Nathan Hale was. Ask them in what year the civil war was fought or what the Bill of Rights is. I can guarantee you that most of them will not provide you with correct answers. They don’t know. Why? Why should the youth in this country be so negligent in their knowledge of the tremendous history of the United States? The answer is simple- because they have not been taught. The majority of public schools in the U.S. no longer teach American History. Instead of American History, their minds are being filled with things such as “global thought”, “world peace”, and “critical thinking”. The media has perverted the minds of the young by telling them it is people like Lady Gaga, Elizabeth Taylor, Madonna, and Tiger Woods who should be honored rather than those who left their families and are now fighting across the ocean to prevent them ever having to experience a 9/11 in their own neighborhood.

 As a result, students are completely oblivious to their heritage. The youth of America don’t…

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