GraniteGrok Archives - Page 61 of 85

See – I WAS right about taxes!

September 26, 2018April 18, 2012 Skip

Finished them last night – between prepping for the NH GOP Annual Meeting and these despicable taxes, you now know why I’ve been AWOL here. TMEW schlepped them off to Post Office this morning. Done, mission accomplished, and fini. Really – fini! That’s it, I’m done. Really done.

Done doing them. No mas!

For years, I have done my own taxes. Did it before TMEW and I had our daycare center (just a wage earner), did it when we had the daycare center – afterward too. And still do. Rather simple: “regular” taxes with no dependents, a home office, and the ‘Grok (we do take in money, and we do spend money on stuff). But for the last few years, I’ve kept thinking “why am I doing this to myself”? It just seems that each year, it just gets harder with more pages to read to figure out how to fill in the same number of pages and the same number of forms. I have two scientific degrees – I may not be the brightest bulb in the box, but I’m not the dimmest one either. Yet, I kept finding myself asking “what the heck does THAT mean?”. In fact, I complained to some friends:

I did notice the “more cumbersome” – I have ALWAYS done our taxes, and the last few years the instruction manuals for the forms have kept getting longer and longer – this year, more pages and in a lot more places, far more technical.

I’m out of my league in doing this. Laws should be few, short, and easily understood by all for intent if not for obscure outlier conditions (we all know – do not kill except in self-defense IF needed). Taxes? The opposite

And I had started it off with this:

This is the last year I do my own taxes – After getting about 1/4 of the way of processing through the AMT sheet to see if I had to file that way, I swore that our Legislators ought to have to do this for 5 small biz people a year just to put them through the pain of trying to figure out “er, what does THIS mean???” And the way that the forms go “circular” (can’t finish this part until you do this other form, but that form almost needs you to finish the first form), I can understand why the IRS support folks can’t get it right either. PLEASE!

Give us a straight consumption tax. Failing that:

No more automatic deductions – every week, ya gotta send in a check for the Fed income tax and FICA

Move election day to the day after Fed income tax is due.

As was pointed out on TV yesterday on one of the talking head shows, isn’t there something wrong with this crap when the 2 page 1040-EZ instruction manual is 88 pages long?

Do those two things, manual-send-in-money and move the election date – you’d see smaller government pretty darn quick! Then I saw this – and knew I was right:

Juliana Bergeron – More words of “responsible” and “compromise”

September 26, 2018April 18, 2012 Skip

I relayed the post that Steve put up on what Juliana Bergeron had said to my co-worker out in San Diego (and helps to run the Women V.I.Ps that her Mom started decades ago – a Conservative oriented issues and candidate supporting group):

The New Revised Unabridged 2012 Dictionary:

Reasonable – > Liberal, large controlling government, anti-American, Socialistic, Communistic.

Divisive – > Constitutional, pro-American values, small government, liberty and freedom (opposite of “reasonable”)

Heh! And this from a friend that was at last week’s Belknap County Republican Committee meeting:

At the Belknap County Republican meeting last Wednesday, Bergeron talked about the need for compromise. I told her compromise was often fine, but not of our principles. Too often the Democrats want to deficit spend by a trillion dollars while we want a balanced budget. If compromise means we settle on $500 billion in deficit spending, then I am totally against compromise. My comment got some applause…but as I recall no useful response from Bergeron.

The entire piece from the Keene Sentinel after the jump – along with her email that she sent out to the NH GOP State Committee:

BE BREITBART: Update 9: DES Right To Know Update : DOIT and DES – convoluted hiding

September 26, 2018April 18, 2012 Skip

OK – still catching up here. Late on Friday, I received the latest update from the DES RTK dude – and to be honest, my reaction was two-fold:

turning on all the burners and the ovens of a commercial kitchen range had nothing on me.
And as Steve posted: Game On

April 13, 2012

David “Skip” Murphy

9 Gilford Glen Road

Gilford, NH 03249

RE: Request for Records Pursuant to RSA 91-A – Final Response

Dear Mr. Murphy

I am writing to provide you additional information in order to conclude DES’s and DOIT’s response to your request for records pursuant to RSA 91-A. The first and second preliminary responses issued by DES and DOIT on March 27, 2012 and April 5, 2012, respectively, addressed all of your specific requests except Request 7.c., relative to web traffic data. That request is the subject of this letter.

You requested “[a]ny and all electronic records that show outbound traffic to any and all non-State related websites from the IT department[‘]s proxy servers, outbound routers / designated Internet gateways emanating from the use of Mr. de Seve’s computer usage” and packet level records what will contain…[t]he [destination] IP address of such traffic generated by Mr. de Seve.” As previously discussed, DOIT’s system do not log capture, or otherwise retain packet level details or content of inbound or outbound internet traffic. However, DOIT systems do capture information about internet traffic initiated by users of state computers systems.

Your request for production of that internet traffic information is one of first impression. Therefore, DES and DOIT carefully examined how that information is generated, recorded, and used in order to determine 1) whether the requested information meets the definition of any governmental record under RSA 91-A:1-a, III, and 2) whether such information is subject to any exemptions set forth in RSA 91-A:5.

GrokTV Event: Meredith Republicans host the NH Gov Republicans candidates

September 26, 2018April 15, 2012 Skip

Before the NH GOP Annual meeting yesterday at the Inter-Lakes High school (Meredith, NH), the nascent Meredith Republicans decide that they’d host the announced candidates to replace Gov “Do Nuttin’ Lynch: Ovide Lamontagne Kevin Smith

Indeed: “…the TEA Party lives on in grassroots activists determined to see change.” Final thoughts on yesterday’s NH GOP Annual meeting

September 26, 2018April 15, 2012 Skip

Indeed, indeed. Those involved in the TEA Party movement are still around. They were lambasted three years ago for being “amateurs”, thinking that holding clever signs would change things, that they were too white, too middle class, leaderless, and if the media and Democrats were to be believed, would soon go home to their living rooms and resume a more normal life of simply grumbling at their TV sets and wringing their hands. H/T to Instapundit for this:

AN A.P. REPORT ON THE STATE OF THE TEA PARTY: Dead it’s not — the tea party lives on in grassroots activists determined to see change. “Dead the tea party is not. Changed? Perhaps. But still very much alive, in the back room of a Jim’s Restaurant in San Antonio and many other places across the land. . . . Perhaps nowhere is the persistent power of the tea party more at work today than at the local and state level, where many grassroots activists have decided to shift the focus of their efforts. More tea party-backed candidates are running for county and state Republican leadership positions, with the aim of having a bigger say in the party’s agenda and direction.”

All is proceeding as I have foreseen.

And I see no end to it soon. Sure, there will be the rallies going forward, as Steve points out for one today in Manchester, NH and as I’ve posted here for next Saturday in Dover (sponsored by the Granite State Patriot Liberty PAC). But change, REAL change comes only after real hard works over a longish amount of time. In Glen’s second link, he outlines what the Utah TEA Party was doing in participating in personal democracy – moving the Utah Republican Party back to its roots of not just lip-serving for smaller government but actually making it happen. They did it rather quickly – but as I just told another activist concerning a different issue on the phone, be prepared for change to come slowly.

GraniteGrok Endorsement: Ovide Lamontagne for NH Governor

September 26, 2018April 14, 2012 Skip

We have known Ovide Lamontagne for a number of years now, and the longer we have known him, the surer we are of his Conservative Principles and his stances on current events based on those Principles. We have seen him refuse to take more politically expedient paths, ways the could yield better political outcomes for him personally, simply because it meant that he would have to cut corners instead of following those foundational guiding philosophies. Many times, you might hear that a politician is a man of his politics. That’s not Ovide; instead, you get a politician of steadfast convictions. Enough so that we endorsed him for US Senate this last cycle. Every stance is a Conservative one – we like an appreciate it. You know us – and we know Ovide Lamontagne.

Have no doubt, the Democrats will be putting up an extremist Progressive – and our bet is that Ovide will present the best alternative to those that will try (and make no mistake – they are campaigning on it right now) to recreate the Big Government go-round of 2006 / 2008?

Is this still the Live Free or Die State? If you agree that it is, but that it hangs in the balance, consider this: It needs a Live Free or Die Governor! One that not only can say the words but means, that lives, the philosophy behind it. That person, that Governor, is Ovide Lamontagne, the Happy Warrior!

We ask that when it comes to vote in the NH Republican primary in the Fall, please vote for Ovide. And then again in November.

*****

When NH State Senator Jeanne Forrester had house event back February, Ovide Lamontagne was gracious in granting us an exclusive interview after having already spent a couple of hours giving a talk to those present and then answered questions from them. Both parts of that interview:

NH GOP National Committeewoman race – Or is it the “whisper race”?

September 26, 2018April 13, 2012 Skip

From Michelle:

Alas, if you’re a conservative mom, you’re damned if you do stay home and damned if you don’t. In 2008, Howard Gutman, a member of the Obama campaign’s national finance committee, attacked GOP vice presidential candidate and former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin’s ability to be a good parent and have a high-powered public life at the same time. “Your responsibility is to put your family first,” Gutman lectured as he singled out Palin’s Down syndrome baby and then-pregnant teenage daughter. “The proper attack is not that a woman shouldn’t run for vice president with five kids; it’s that a parent, when they have a family in need…” should get out of the public sphere and stay home.

Sound familiar? Wait, haven’t I JUST HEARD THIS from a Republican? Oh yeah…

Last time around and if my memory serves me well, four people were running for this position. It seemed, at the time, that the candidates ran on the issues and their stances – what happens in most races, the dirty side, seemed to be invisible. This time, not so much – it seems that it has come back near the end of this race – just like any other political race. This time, it seems to have been launched against Pam Tucker; a sample:

Pam Tucker has come highly recommended by her peers. I am thrilled that she is so competent at the State House, so much that I feel we NEED her there. I understand that she will again seek office as a State Rep in the fall. Her time is currently, and will be in the future, divided between her young family, her constituents from her district, and the added responsibilities as Deputy Speaker of the House. I have heard Pam speak several times, each time stating that she will be able to attend the necessary meetings.

But are attending just the necessary meetings enough to build strong relationships with other states, and therefore retaining New Hampshire’s First in the Nation Status?

The underlying message: She’s good, but not good ENOUGH. She works hard. but couldn’t POSSIBLY add another task. How COULD she abandon her family, her kids?? Sounds like a sexist argument to me – what about Dad, or is yet the next inference to be made is that he’s an incompetent boob who can’t be trusted to keep his “young family” alive without her? My gosh! She’s being split in too many ways – she can’t POSSIBLY do everything well!

Nonsense. Well, I’ve never been one to be quiet – but “whisper campaigns” are not my style. If someone has to rely on innuendo and whispers to secure a seat, well, that says:

You can’t win on your own in the public arena of ideas?
You are, perhaps, running as someone you aren’t and need “cover”?
It says something about “character”

So, in being loud, let’s dredge something up from the near deep recesses of the ‘Grok about newly “Conservative to the core” Juliana Bergeron from the Chair race:

Dontcha just love seeing a taxpayer supported employee arguing against taxpayer interests? Here’s one: Nathan S. Greenberg, Superintendent

September 26, 2018April 13, 2012 Skip

This was passed on to me by a concerned citizen – actually, an outraged citizen. If this letter checks out (and nothing that I have found thus far leads me to think contrary to it), we see one level of taxpayer funded government (a local SAU Superintendent) electioneering against a proposed law that taxpayers have requested. Is his school system doing so well that he can turn his visage outward? Or, is this really more of the entitlement mentality we are now seeing everywhere: hey, that’s MY money!!! How DARE you take my entitlement to taxpayer money and give it to someone other than me!! Don’t you know who we are?

Paid to lobby against you on your dime! As my friend Doug said when we caught our taxpayer funded Superintendent getting ready to electioneer to a meeting of senior citizens (sponsored by the taxpayer funded Parks N Rec department on the topic of “why a tax cap would be bad for the School District): “LEAVE THE POLITICKING TO THE POLITICIANS!” In other words, the School Board should have done it – not a supposedly neutral employee.

This seems, more and more, to be the norm among the Public-Educational-Industrial Complex (which is larger, financially, than the Military-Industrial Complex) rather than what is best for the kids. Remember too, the mentality seems to also be that they know better what is best for your kids.

LONDONDERRY SCHOOL DISTRICT

April 12, 2012

Senator Nancy Stiles
Chair Senate Education Committee
Legislative Office Building
Room 103-A
33 North State Street
Concord, NH 03301

Dear Senator Stiles:

Unfortunately, I am unable to attend the hearing on HB 1607 on April 17, 2012 due to work related responsibilities. Thus, I would greatly appreciate it if this correspondence could be entered into the record as my testimony in opposition to that bill.

GraniteGrok Endorsement: At the NH GOP Annual Meeting, Please vote for Diane Bitter for Assistant Secretary

September 26, 2018April 11, 2012 Skip

The annual meeting of the New Hampshire Republican State Committee (NH GOP) is this coming Saturday. During that time, official NH State Committee Party Members will be voting on a number of positions, and Diane Bitter is running to fill the position of Assistant Secretary. We at GraniteGrok have been blessed to have now known … Read more

Notable Quote – Alex de Toqueville

September 26, 2018April 10, 2012 Skip

“A man’s admiration of absolute government is proportionate to the contempt he feels for those around him.” – Alex de Toqueville, French historian And Obama wants to radically transform America to be a Government-centric country to replace its citizen-oriented one…. (H/T: PowerLine)

GrokTV Special Interview: Pam Tucker-RNC Committeewoman Candidate. Question 11 – Get the NH GOP to become more active in local elections?

September 26, 2018April 9, 2012 Skip

Since this series of questions was done, most towns have had their local elections (be they SB2 based or the traditional formats). This season, a number of conservatives and libertarians who are Republicans lost their bid for local offices and were replaced by rather hard-left leaning folks (e.g., Carla Horn, a real self-avowed Leftist that would fit in well with the Democrat Socialists of American won over a really good conservative, Colette Worseman up in Meredith; I and a few others lost in Gilford). Many politically active folks on the Right have been watching the ‘staff up’ being done by the Dems, ostensibly for the Presidential election – it is now evident that they had active hands in organizing in these elections too (as well as the Unions).

Thus, this question, a future-now-past, proves that there is a problem: Can you, as Committeewoman, help nudge the NH GOP to better assist local elections “below the NH House races (think: farm team)?

Previous Questions: (on the jump)

Stacy McCain spins a great phrase “the Denunciation Derby”!

September 26, 2018April 9, 2012 Skip

OK, this weekend’s political scalps: on the Left, the still anonymous NBC “producer” that doctored up the now famous Tryvon Martin case’s “he looks black” in trying to insinuate “racism by a white Hispanic” (what, as opposed to a purple and green one?), Mr. Zimmerman. On the Right, John Derbyshire, late of National Review for a column at another site, got cashiered by NR for saying what he did.

However wrong their actions and words, Stacy points out the Level 2 problem: “the Denunciation Derby” (quick Stacy, trademark that!):

So, how is Karl Marx linked directly to the modern Democrat Party?

September 26, 2018April 9, 2012 Skip

Presto! Multiple links! And remember, Political Correctness is simply Cultural Marxism: And they call TEA Party folks “radical”?? Only from the perspective in that we refuse to submit to Marxism. Hey Collin, care to comment? Wanna dispute any of this? I do have a question for you, Collin – didn’t they miss the SEIU when … Read more

Speaking of the modern Democrat Party roots, here’s one of their results

September 26, 2018April 9, 2012 Skip

When you give the reins of power, you have done so because of their rhetoric. What you actually end up with is the results of their philosophy. Like their actions not reflecting their rhetoric: Obama PROMISED, his minions PROMISED that the Stimulus would keep more Americans off the dole and gainfully employed if we just. … Read more