The Terrorist Next Door

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Terrorist Next DoorInvestigative reporter Erick Stakelbeck, host of the network program “Stakelbeck on Terror,” has written a book everyone needs to pay attention to.  It’s called “The Terrorist Next Door, ‘How the government is deceiving you about the Islamist threat.”
I did a thirty minute interview with the author, an interview that could have gone on for hours before we began to exhaust the material.
  • There are terrorist and al Qaida training camps in the back country… of America
  • Mosques are being built in the US (With Saudi Money) to create and expand Arabic and Muslim enclaves with no intention of integrating into American society.
  • Mosques and Muslim bookstores are providing radicalization materials, books, CDs, and DVDs, all across the country–even ten minutes from the White House.
  • The Muslim Brotherhood and Iran are actively promoting terror cells in the US to perform chip away attacks like at Fort Hood and Times Square.
Erick is an on the ground investigative reporter and this book is but a small sample of what he has discovered.  Take a few minutes to check out outthe podcast of that interview with Erick.  Interview Part One,  and Part Two

Erick Stakelbeck has been a correspondent and terrorism analyst for CBN News since 2005. He covers the global war on terror, U.S. national security, the Middle East, and the growth of radical Islam at home and abroad for the CBN News Bureau in Washington, D.C. He is also host of the Stakelbeck on Terror show on CBNNews.com.

GrokTALK provides pod-casts of all its interviews on GraniteGrok.com, but if you’d like to be part of the program, listen or call in Live, every Saturday morning from 9-11 am

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Break Ups, Tweet Your Weiner, And An Election Not Stolen

Posted on June 1, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Plain WeinerObama’s call for an up or down vote was just meant to give the DNC talking points to bash Republicans.  Get them on the record, then roll out the left wing rhetoric.  But with 82 democrats acting like fans of the TEA Party on Federal spending, will Obama ever be able to get the band back together for another Progressive Productions, Spendapalooza Tour? 

Yes, Anthony Weiner probably did tweet a picture of his Weiner to a college co-ed whom he chose to “follow.”  He is arrogant enough.  They are both adults.  But it’s not as if he cheated on his wife and lied to a grand jury about it.  But the coverup by the left wing organs (sorry) is a glorious display of self-immolation.

Over in the land of Cheese JoAnne Kloppenburg’s democrat/union advisers have discovered that they cannot steal this particular election.  Whomever was supposed to find 7000 plus votes in their trunk must have flea-bagged it to Illinois or Indiana, or maybe Minnesota, and fallen in love with the Holiday Inn Plus accommodations.  Who doesn’t want free Continental breakfasts for months on end?

Short the necessary “absentee ballots” needed to steal the race the State Supreme Court Candidate has had to concede.  Let’s just hope a bridge doesn’t fail.  That half-million she just wasted on her arrogance (for the recount) could have done some real good in the world.

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Another Whack at RGGI

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Wind mill fall downNH Watchdog (NHWD) is reporting that State Senator Jeb Bradley, in an effort to get something out of the Senator with the letters RGGI on it, has proposed another version of his amendment.  It would tie our departure from the program to a New England state with 10% or more of the total load of the ten states in RGGI.

That means Massachusetts.  According the NHWD Massachusetts is the only state that meets the criterion.  Anyone want to guess what the odds are of Massachusetts leaving RGGI?

The “compromise” to get the votes needed relates to who supplies power to the New England Grid.  New Jersey’s departure while representing more than 10% of the RGGI load, is said not to apply because they do not supply electricity to our grid but this not entirely accurate.

Con Edison of NY/NJ supplies energy to the New England Grid through Con Edison solutions, buying up more expensive wind power from outside the region and pushing it into New England states.  From May of 2009 to July of 2010 ConEd Solutions provided 25% of the electricity to public buildings from outside New England, typically to stupid left wing governors who bought into the kind of nonsense that resulted in RGGI in the first place.  I’m not clear on whether that contract was “renewed” but tying us to New Jersey like this for the sake of making its departure relevant is no less far fetched than the suggestion that Massachusetts will ever leave RGGI as a condition of our departure.

And what I find particularity perverse is that “Republican” Senators in New Hampshire could be tying themselves to the Massachusetts compromise as the tipping point at which staying in RGGI would then no longer make sense.

It doesn’t make sense now. 

You know what else does not make sense?  As a net exporter of electricity to the New England grid (at least as of 2009) we should ask why NH as a producer of electricity well in excess of our actual consumption as a state, would not want to improve costs to other New England states using that excess production by leaving RGGI?

Additional ref.
My July 2009 post on the Lynch buying wind from NJ

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

 Yeah, it’s cross posted. Check it out: http://granitegrok.com/blog/2011/05/another_whack_at_rggi.html

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Jury Nullification Bill In NH Senate

Posted on May 31, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

(Adapted from a previous version posted Feb-2011) Jury Nullificaton for New Hampshire?

The New Hampshire Senate will be voting on HB 146 this week,  a bill that would give the jury in any trial the power of nullification.

In this context a unanimous jury could present a not-guilty verdict despite the evidence in the case, or the letter of the law as written or applied, if it agreed in total that the law itself or the circumstances of its application are not compelling grounds for a guilty verdict.
From the Bill itself:  Right of Accused. In all court proceedings the court shall instruct the jury of its right to judge the facts and the application of the law in relationship to the facts in controversy. The court shall permit the defendant or counsel for the defendant to explain this right to the jury.
So why would you want that?

The application of the law upon which the defendant was charged could be too narrow or to broad.  The punishment as defined by law for those charges might seem excessive in the present circumstances.  It might be a bad law, or just unclear.  It may even (somehow) violate the defendants rights.  Without jury nullification, the jury and the court have their hands tied.  Bad laws or sentencing requirements go unchallenged where they matter most; to the lives of those few who might be unjustly charged as a result and should not have to wait in jail while the Legislature tries to work it out.

Jury Nullification sends a strong message to the practitioners of the legal system about how they exercise their discretion and to the General Court where law is made,  that something is not right with how that law has been applied in these circumstances.

Keep in mind that Jury nullification does not nullify the actual law.  It nullifies its application in the context of the trial at hand.  It allows the jury of your peers to think outside whatever box the judge or the prosecution has constructed for them by allowing them to ask if the law itself has been properly applied to the case of the accused. (That’s the simplest explanation, as far as I can tell.  Please correct me if I have missed something.)

And improperly applied law often results in appeals and new trials that can cost taxpayers millions, while leaving the case unresolved for years.  

Would it not make more sense to inform the jury of their right to nullify?  To allow them to look at the defendant, the legal system, and the law all together?  And if, in their unanimous judgment (and it would have to be unanimous), the law is not being applied correctly, they could nullify the charges based upon it.

A jury determines the verdict.  They decide the fate of the accused.  If a jury trial is necessary to ensure real justice, in our real world, then why is that same jury limited in its power to interpret the circumstances and application of the law to the case at hand?  How do the people not benefit from this; and what message does it send to prosecutors about making sure they are using the law properly to ensure justice, not just court room victories and jail time but actual justice?

It seems to me that if you can get a unanimous jury to agree on anything at all, what are the odds they will all see that the law as applied, or the circumstances as presented, are suspect to such a degree that they are questioning the law itself?  And if they actually can agree it is suspect, where is the justice in refusing them the authority to act on that reasonable doubt–not just of the evidence, but of how the law itself is being used?

Freedom comes with risks.  Any system of justice will have blind spots and flaws, and where it overreaches there can be no other remedy than jury nullification.  We must always ensure that the innocent go free, even if it means a few of the guilty must as well.  It is the only way to protect the people from the will and force of the guns of government.

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | 1 Comment

The Sweet Stench Of Left Wing Hypocrisy

Posted on May 26, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Picture from the Dictionary next to the definition of "hypocrite"This morning the Union Leader (UL) nails Zandra Rice Hawkins and Granite State Progress to the very cross on which she intended to crucify her Republican opponents.  Seems Hawkins has made a stink about a recent special election and the odor of “out of state money” used to influence elections. 
The Union Leader wastes no time, exposing Hawkins connection to money she received May 11th from America Votes (out of state left wing donation), which Hawkins/Granite State Progress then used to support the Democrat in the special election she is squawking at Republicans about, specifically to elect that democrat, in that election.

Did she forget?  No, she just has major character flaw.  It is called “progressive democrat.”

And she is not alone.  New Hampshire democrats do this all the time.  They have collected millions from outside the state.  Ray “out of state money” Buckley brags about how he out fund-raises the Republicans (by factors of two or more would be my guess) in every election cycle, with tons of cash coming from outside the state.  The entire democrat apparatus from the paid out of state union AstroTurf they send to Concord, all the way up to the party leadership, to the democrat Governor of New Hampshire, demagog the issue of Republicans using out of state money while they proudly use more of it to affect in-state elections than (probably) the entire Republican take from all sources in any given year.

This hypocrisy is a foundation for the maxim, “If democrats are bitching about it, it is because they are already guilty of it.”  And when or where has this not been the case? (Free speech, for example, is “protected” by intimidating or eliminating the kinds of speech or press democrats object to.)  I’ve written so many articles about their various hypocrisies that rarely a week goes by without one, and only then because there are so many to choose from I just don’t bother.

So Zandra Rice Hawkins is just following the template of the democrat machine. That is why she took out of state money for that race, filed her required public paperwork to declare it, proceeded  to spend it to elect the democrat, (who won) and can then attack her losing opponents for what she just did without as much as a second thought.

Think about that.  She knows what she did, and still a public attack on her opponents is the next step for what?  To focus attention on your own hypocrisy?  Of course not.  She does not believe that she, nor any democrat for that matter,  will ever have to be held to account for this or any other hypocrisy they perpetrate.  And there are plenty of them.

So this is not so much about money as it is about character.  Hawkins obviously has none.  The state democrat leadership has none.   Nor do the democrats who condone, defend, excuse, or support this behavior, nor the independents and RINO’s who refuse to acknowledge it by continuing to vote for  and elect into power members of a political party that expect to be able to almost daily misrepresent the truth in broad daylight and not suffer any consequence from it.  Will someone, anyone on the left step up and call her out? 

This is what the democrat party has become.  This is why they cannot be trusted to run a lemonade stand, let alone your government.  It’s why I call them Hypocrats.

Citation: Union Leader, Editorial Page:
Relevant Portion of Text from UL Editorial (Digital Edition)

In the latest state campaign finance report we could find, dated in 2008, every contributor to America Votes-NH lived outside of New Hampshire.

In the May 17 election, America Votes gave Granite State Progress $1,500 to defeat Kucmas. Granite State Progress filed as a political action committee for this race on May 11 — the same day it received America Votes’ $1,500. America Votes filed as a PAC on May 10. So in the last week before the election, these two PACs appeared and dropped $1,500 to defeat the Republican.

Rice-Hawkins, who gave $50 to Jennifer Daler, Kucmas’ opponent, might have limited her complaint to possible violations of election law. Instead, she spun it as principled opposition to out-of-state interests trying to affect New Hampshire elections, something she is clearly not opposed to, as her work in New Hampshire politics is funded by out-of-state interests. What hypocrisy.

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Also available from GraniteGrok.com : http://granitegrok.com/blog/2011/05/the_sweet_stench_of_hypocrisy.html

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Is Pregnancy Still John Lynches “Exception” To Parental Notification?

Posted on May 25, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Prior to being against parental notification, John Lynch was happy to lie to his constituents about his position.  His dishonesty is evident (when compared to his real world opposition) in this letter from Governor John Lynch, dated December 2006, to a New Hampshire resident who expressed some concerns about his honors position on Parental Notification.
Dear (redacted)

Thank you for sharing with me your thoughts on New Hampshire’s parental notification law.  I share your belief that the health and safety of New Hampshire women, no matter what their age, must be our first priority.

As Governor, and as a father, I believe parents should be involved in these important decisions.  But we must also recognize that there are cases where that is not possible-and we should not risk the health and safety of young women in those cases.

 Again, thank you for sharing your thoughts with me.  Please do no hesitate to contact me with your ideas or if I can be of assistance.

Sincerely,
John H. Lynch 

-emphasis mine-
(Click here to see a pdf of the actual letter)

The Teflon John assures us (12/2006) that abortion must be an option, but that parents have some right to be involved.  But the “exception” to parental notification up to this point has been pregnancy. Parents have been completely excluded from “these important decisions,” by Governor Lynch and the New Hampshire Democrat Party.

But Mr. Lynch no longer has his democrat majority legislature to protect him from his own words.  And the Republican lead New Hampshire House and Senate have just passed another bill (HB 329) that meets the Governors ‘stated’ objectives.  They have passed it with veto proof majorities.

Given the facts ‘on the ground’ will pregnancy continue to be the “exception” to parental notification in John Lynches New Hampshire or have parents earned the right to have a voice in what happens to their underage daughters? 

Or will Governor Flynch cave to New Hampshire’s pro abortion Democrats, his own state party leadership, the pro-abortion gay lobby, unions, and the abortion lobby itself, all factions who prop him up with money and votes; does he dare veto the bill and contradict himself again? 

The legislature has crafted the bill you asked for.  Will you sign it, or were you lying to the parents of New Hampshire?  And if you are lying, how do you intend to hide it this time?

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Obama Seal Team 6 Action Figure

Posted on May 24, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Obama Action FigureNo, I am not kidding.  Doug Powers at Michelle Malkin.com brings us to the Herobuilders.com web site, where we find the Obama Seal Team 6 Action figure.
This is almost more annoying than the Obama Superman standee.  The standee is not in demand these days, and not just because Superman renounced his US citizenship. (Thirty bucks on eBay but if you shop around you can get one for $20.  Same price range as Candace from the cartoon Phineas and Ferb)

Then there was the Obama comic book. Not on shelves now! but on eBay forever.  I don’t have a bird so why would I bother.  Besides, I get the Sunday Nashua Telegraph–same thing.

I do have one remaining Keurig T-Cups of “Obama Blend” coffee (unopened) left over from the 2008 election. That box lasted a long time.

Tasted like socialism. Whenever I drank it I felt the urge to rob my co-workers and give it to General Motors or some foreign bank. It got so bad I almost started printing my own money.  

And yes, we did have a box of McCain blend as well.  We suffered through it because we had to.

So far 2012 isn’t looking terribly tasty yet either.  But anything would be better than the Obama blend.

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | 1 Comment

Davis Freddoso Interview – Gangster Government

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

 David Freddoso of the Washington Examiner took some time for an interview with GraniteGrok on Saturday morning.

Subversion of the Rule of Law?  Yup!

An Imperial Administration trying to rule by ignoring the Courts?  Yup!

Ignoring Congress, and governing by Executive fiat (whether allowed to or not)?  Yup!

The author, journalist, and former DC reporter for National Review Online tells GrokTALK! all about the book.  If you missed it we saved it for you.
Take a few minutes and listen to the Interview

David Freddoso is a political reporter for The Washington Examiner and the author of the New York Times bestseller The Case Against Barack Obama. Previously he covered Capitol Hill for National Review Online and was a reporter for Human Events and the Evans-Novak Political Report. A graduate of Notre Dame and the Columbia School of Journalism, he lives with his family in Washington, D.C. 

GrokTALK provides pod-casts of all its interviews on GraniteGrok.com, but if you’d like to be part of the line program, listen or call in Live, every Saturday morning from 9-11 am

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Right To Work – “Dear State Legislator”

Posted on May 23, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Good morning,

I realize most of the (Merrimack) town delegation supports right to work but as we approach the override vote I wanted to impart these remarks.  If any business but a union demanded $50.00 every month from every employee, for benefits and used some of that money to finance its mostly one-party political action funding, there would be hell to pay.  Now imagine if they had pay it or they could not work there?

Who among us would support that?
Unions are just big businesses brokering in the labor of human flesh, permitted to demand tribute for ‘benefits’ and political action.  If you do not want to pay tribute, you have to look for work someplace else.

And if you choose to work there because you must work, the political intimidation can be repressive, and even scary.  If you wish to work in peace you cannot speak your true political views.

So here we have what amounts to employment discrimination and speech intimidation, and you have to pay for that “privilege?”

Right to work is about open shops and a workers conscientious right to object to what amounts to political extortion to get or keep a job.  We would not permit it from Exxon-Mobil, or Wal-Mart, or anyone else.  Who then can condone it from any other business, even when that business is a union?

 

Please vote to override the Lynch Veto.

Thank you for your time.

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment

Is John Lynch In Trouble With Democrats?

Posted on May 22, 2011 by Steve Mac Donald

Got Jobs!The New Hampshire democrat party must be beside itself again.  The great white liberal NH Hope, Governor John Lynch, is bragging about how he’s gotten word that a Fortune 100 company may be moving some of its manufacturing work into southern New Hampshire.

The progressive socialists who pull the big red levers at party headquarters invest a good deal of political capitol on bashing big business and the men and women who run them so how do they reconcile their figurehead democrat pimping the potential for 1500 new manufacturing jobs in the state, created by some evil, free market, fortune 100 company?

What if it’s not GE?  What if it’s Wal Mart–or lord help those poor, whiny, conflicted socialist democrats–Exxon Mobil or some other job creator they have promised us they despise?  Will they march in protest to stop this injustice.  Will Kathy “Lawsuit” Sullivan file complaints with the NH AG or burn up the cell phone minutes to DC to fund a campaign or find a group willing to file injunctions or lawsuits to prevent the wholesale corruption of people who just want to sit back and enjoy their long-term, government-financed fun-employment, while they wait for the democrats to return to power so they can create some “real jobs” up in Concord with taxpayer money? 

Who on the left will will stand up to these slave-driving capitalists and what will they say about a democrat governor who condones this kind of abuse in contradiction to the progressive party line?  These jobs could improve peoples lives without the democrat party ever seeing a dime of their monthly wages.  And how can the socialist democrats guarantee they will have some kind of regulatory control if the jobs are not created as a result of congressional pork, or some expensive and inefficient, left wing boondoggle, with all the necessary bureaucratic strings attached? 

These jobs probably wont waste a dime of taxpayer money.  What the hell kind of job creation program is that?  And what about John Lynch?  Just the other day he was blaming our superior employment figures on low state taxes, and now he’s talking about 1500 new manufacturing jobs?  How are the liberals going to get all those big, broad, grow government taxes they want if low taxes, and smaller government actually do create job growth?  And how do they stop the free market from creating jobs they can’t possibly approve of without looking like…well, hypocrites?

It’s a problem.  But then for democrats, hypocrisy always is.

H/T Paul Feely, Union leader

Follow nhstevemacd on Twitter

Posted in Local NH Politics | Leave a comment