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Posts By Steve Mac Donald

Picking Up The Gauntlet

The morning after I had taken my first casual whack at eliminating the deficit–The New York Times has a nifty interactive form you can use (here) to check off items it chose from the debt commission report to see if and how you might solve the problem–I wake up to a Google Alert that’s practically calling my name.

"Where Will Frank Guinta, Granite Grok, The Republican Liberty Caucus Of New Hampshire & The NH Tea Party Movement Come Down On Bowles-Simpson?"

The link leads to content from Heather Mac Donald (great last name) via the The Monday Morning Clacker--which is where we find out that "this is our last chance to meet Heather’s challenge."

That’s a bit dramatic, and hardly accurate.  If it wasn’t for Google Alerts, the mention of Guinta, and the fact that Heather and I share a last name I never would have even known about it, or the imagined arbitrary deadline.  Be that as it may, I accept.

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Yeah Baby!

Liberal educators tell a kid he can’t have an American flag on his bike because he rides it to school and it stresses people out. (Stresses out the liberal educators, says I). Avalanche of public outrage crushes unsuspecting "smartest people in the room."  They backtrack on the flag ban. Real American’s show support for the … Read more

Frank Guinta In DC

Speaking at the AFP event, Congressman-elect Frank Guinta says a few words guaranteed to piss of Manchester democrats…which to be honest, is why I posted it.

Guantanamo Blues

Twenty-two months after announcing that the Guantanamo Bay detention facility would be closed in twelve months, the Obama administration has announced that they will now be holding Khalid Sheikh Mohammed at that facility, indefinitely, without any trial at all.

Palin Bashing

I stumbled across an open letter by (former?)’Young Democrat’ Douglas Lindner, a primary candidate for Manchester Ward 1 back in 2008.  Lindner narrowly lost the primary (his words).  Narrowly is 268 to 330,350 and 406 for three seats in Manchester Ward 1; I’m thinking he might not have been liberal enough.

But I believe he’s found a fix for that.

In his letter he first congratulates the Republicans on their victory (a very gracious set up), commends the Republicans for selecting the moderate train wreck John McCain in the past two presidential primaries, (even though it was the moderate/independents that swung those victories) and then proceeds to embark on a Palin bashing screed. 

I told you he was trying to up his cred.

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Governor Rapes School Funding To Hide Budget Shortfall

Again, we see the smoke clear over the wreckage of the Lynch budget.  In this mornings UL Tom Fahey reports on how the Legislative Fiscal Committee plans to pilfer half of the $41 million dollar federal educations stimulus meant to save teachers jobs and the minds of our future leaders. They voted for a plan … Read more

Making The Sausage

One of my readers did me the honor of pointing out a grammatical error I had made in a post, not once, but four times. He politely explained the issue, while pointing out that he still appreciates my work. For my part I knew the rule, but sometimes it’s not quite that simple.

An Open Letter to Republican Freshmen Members of Congress

Sarah Palin(Sarah Palin’s open letter to the newest members of the 112th congress)

Welcome to all Republican Freshmen and congratulations!

Congratulations to all of you for your contribution to this historic election, and for the contributions I am certain you will make to our country in the next two years. Your victory was hard fought, and the success belongs entirely to you and the staff and volunteers who spent countless hours working for this chance to put government back on the side of the people. Now you will come to Washington to serve your nation and leave your mark on history by reining in government spending, preserving our freedoms at home, and restoring America’s leadership abroad. Some of you have asked for my thoughts on how best to proceed in the weeks and months ahead and how best to advance an agenda that can move our country forward. I have a simple answer: stick to the principles that propelled your campaigns. When you take your oath to support and defend our Constitution and to faithfully discharge the duties of your office, remember that present and future generations of “We the People” are counting on you to stand by that oath. Never forget the people who sent you to Washington. Never forget the trust they placed in you to do the right thing.

The task before you is daunting because so much damage has been done in the last two years, but I believe you have the chance to achieve great things.

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[Updated] Why You Should Contact Senator Mitch McConnell

Mitch McConnell[ UPDATED Senator McConnell has officially come out against earmarks:“Today, I am announcing that I will join the Republican leadership in the House in support of a moratorium on earmarks in the 112th Congress,” he said].

NYT Link Here

Original post

Senator Mitch McConnell (R- KY) is said to be working to undermine an effort at banning earmarks in the US Senate.  This is not surprising.  Senators, as a rule, abuse the privilege more.  And while appropriations of this nature amount to a fraction of the total budget, it is an impressive fraction that rarely serves the interests of anyone more than the Seantor themselves.

Was it Carol Shea-Porter, 2012 congressional candidate in waiting who said that earmarks are necessary so that the state can get back it’s fair share of the federal taxes it’s residents pay?  Or was that Hodes?  Does it matter? Sure, congressman abuse them as well, even those who swear they have sworn them off.

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Nick Levasseur Won’t Like This..

Courtesy of Hot Air–I confess that this is just cool.  It is a live concert (the band is live) at which a holographic Anime pop singer, performs for the crowd.  Whether or not you like the song, or Anime, the holographic technology is…to quote my teenage boys…sick. Check it out.  Then follow the link–there’s another … Read more

Progressive Trade Rules

Being beholden to unions causes you to say and do stupid things.  Take Carol Shea-Porter for example.  She was against a trade deal with Panama because she claimed it would cost American jobs, when it would actually open up trade from us to them–they already had unfettered access; result?–it would have created American jobs. Provisions … Read more

Maine Squeeze

Maine by degrees of Republican-ness

Maine has something of a bi-polar disorder.  They have purple US Republican senators, democrat congressman (still) and just elected a tea party-ish backed governor while handing their entire state legislature over to Republican control for the first time in about 30 years.

Why do that?

For all the why’s and what-fors that can be imagined, at the end of the day it is hard to ignore the pressure from on high.  Two years of high-profile democrat campaigning to advance what turned out to be a very unpopular progressive-national agenda, was felt most strongly in the places where voters felt they have the most control–local state house and state senate races.  It’s been true all across the country.

Moderate to democrat Maine, it seems is no different.  In a state that has let the left dominate state government for decades, Republicans successfully sold the need to be more state-centric and that resonated locally, perhaps to fend off the nationalization of local government from massive federal overreach.

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VoteCrier.com

Someone has just performed what appears to be a great service to the People of New Hampshire. (I just have not figured out who they are yet.) It’s called VoteCrier.com. It’s premise is to provide a database where New Hampshire legislators can explain how and why they voted for particular bills, and a method by which voters can sort and read these responses.
In the words of the Guinness guys. “It’s Brilliant!”

New Hampshire Exceptionalism

The voters on this Granite island took a democrat majority government and turned it into a Republican super-majority, making the historical re-election of democrat John Lynch historical for it’s inability to stop anything the legislative super majority can agree is in the best interest of the people who elected them.

The Three Amigo’s

In an email posted to the entire Republican caucus, team player Gene Chandler invited everyone to a luncheon to meet the Republican candidates for speaker of the House.  Gene announced that he would be there, along with John Reagan, Susan Emerson….and…..that’s it.

So three of the four candidates have arranged a lunch (those three seem to do everything together now) at 11:30 the day of the vote for speaker–which happens at 1pm–to do a meet and greet, and have purposefully excluded William O’Brien.

I wonder if the progressives are catering the event and filled out the invites?  The democrats would not have invited Bill O’Brien either.

I mean, wasn’t it Dean Barker at Boo Hoo Hampshire who said, if he had to have any of them, he’d prefer Gene?

Ringing endorsement from an ultra liberal democrat.

I say eat Gene’s free lunch and then vote for the guy who was not even invited to the event.  The one the democrats do not want to be speaker.  William O’Brien.

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Did SB500 Work?

Correct me if I am wrong, like you wouldn’t anyway, but were we not told repeatedly that the best thing about SB500 was that it would allow the former inmates to work their way back into society under a more supervised regiment than if required to serve out their entire sentence.

What Was He Thinking?

Gene Chandler has been taking a good deal of heat lately.  He deserves it in my opinion.  He knows full well the Democrats will make the same hay over the trumped up corn roast scandal, just like they did back then.  That means if he wins he’s on the defensive every single day instead of focusing on business.  It also means that the entire caucus has to defend their electing him to the post as well, even if they didn’t vote for him to be Speaker.

And if they try to claim they did not vote for him, now we have to defend against attacks of party division over the so-called "ethically challenged" Gene Chandler.

If you, for one moment think that won’t happen you are deluded.

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To Spend And Protect

Image Courtesy of The Tizona GroupThe State Supreme court announced that is sees a conflict between current state law and spending cap initiatives approved by voters (Manchester in particular).  This is not unexpected but it is fortuitous, and to some degree ironic.  In their quest to defend any liberal-leaning municipalities desire to spend beyond the ability of their residents to pay for it, groups like Keep Manchester Moving have just financed the blueprint by which the now Republican super-majority state government can adroitly engineer a fix.

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