Helping the poor?

A couple of days ago, a frequent liberal anonymous commenter took me to task for my criticism on Hillary care and asked when readers could expect my "screed" 0n the SCHIP program.

Anonymous said...
Oh, and the SCHIP program is up for a vote this week. When
can we expect your screed against health care for children, no matter what their
family's income level? Because after all, only SOME kids deserve health care.

In my response to his/her remarks I hinted at it....today it's here.

As passed by the House, the State Children's Health Insurance Program, known as
SCHIP, will create a major new middle-class entitlement even as we face looming
national bankruptcy from our $50.5 trillion (yes, you read that number right) in
planned spending under Social Security and Medicare.
Today, some 6.6 million kids are covered under SCHIP, at a cost of about $25 billion over five years. The new bill raises that to 9 million kids covered, at a cost of $60 billion. It pays for it with a 61-cent hike in the tobacco tax.
Sounds good, except that tax will hit the poor hardest. And those it helps are not poor. Under the new bill, families earning $83,000 a year could be eligible. If this bill were targeted at the poor, President Bush and the Republicans wouldn't oppose it. But it isn't. It's a new, radically expanded middle-class entitlement.
That, by the way, includes families like the Siravos of New Jersey, profiled recently by Bloomberg News. The Siravos earn $56,000 a year, own their own home and drive two used cars. They also pay $9,000 a year to send their only child to a private
school.

So a family that can afford to send their kid to private school is eligible for SCHIPS under the new program? I thought that this program was for the poor who couldn't afford health care?

One comment that this editorial hammers on is the fact that these taxes ARE regressive...they hit the poor the hardest! Smoking taxes are regressive taxes - a dirty little secret that most politicians don't want you to know. IBD asks a very important question in this editorial.

Yes, things are a bit tight for the Siravos, as with many American families. But should the working poor subsidize health care for the Siravos and other
middle-class families?

Emphasis mine. Not only is are the working poor subsidizing middle class kids in this program but they are also subsidizing adults.

There are other problems. For instance, far from being "about the children,"
SCHIP already covers 670,000 adults. The new law will increase that.

The ironic thing is that right now Democrats (like my anonymous commenter) are trying to use SCHIPS as a hammer....beating Republicans over the head with accusations of the being against "health care for children". The problem is that FACT and history do not back up those accusations.

Ironically, a Republican-controlled Congress created SCHIP in 1997 to help the
poor — those up to 200% of the poverty level.

Woops - that's gonna smart. What is going to hurt those same Demcorats even more is this little fact.

But Democrats, along with many state governors, now want to expand that to up to
400% of the poverty rate — or $83,000 for a family of four. That's
upper-middle-class, not poor.

Emphasis again mine.

If the Democrats (like my anonymous commenter) really gave a fig about "the poor" they would not be pushing to hit the poor with a huge "sin tax" on tobacco in order to subsidize middle class health care and they would work on ways to get better health care to those who really need it....the people who are not making $50,000 plus a year. The real poor of the country.

Middle class citizens in this country (like the Logical Household) can and do afford to have their own health care. SCHIPS should be for the children of the POOR who can not afford their own health care. Not adults or families making almost $100,000 a year (like the Siravos and the Logicians). We can afford to take care of our own families...

UPDATE AND BUMP: The New York Times carries an Op/Ed today that continues the discussion of the tobacco tax being a burden on the poor with some statisics.

Instead, this program is funded by raising taxes on smokers,
who generally are much poorer than average Americansand much less educated. High school dropouts smoke at roughly three times the rates of college graduates.

They are also among the most demoralized people in society. Recent sociological
research shows that most Americans regard smoking as a sign of low-class,
unattractive behavior — and most smokers see it this way, too. Research by Kip
Viscusi of Harvard suggests that smokers actually overestimate the dangers of
their habit; they believe they are killing themselves even faster than they
really are.

The S-chip bill takes money from these relatively poor, politically immobilized people and shifts it to those making up to $62,000 a year. Nobody is raising a tax on wine consumption or gasoline consumption to pay for this benefit. Instead, Congress is taxing the weakest possible group in order to shift benefits to others, some of whom are middle class.

Emphasis is mine.

Well my anonymous friend. Would you care to defend this attack on the poor? Or are you just going to continue to spout the talking points about how this is all "for the children"?

Allah mocked....riots pending...

Oh wait - maybe not....

Laura Ingraham was talking about this yesterday and Michelle Malkin wrote about it today. The promotional poster for the Folsum Street Fair (Fun...Frolic...Fetish) features a mock Last Supper, replacing Jesus and the disciples with men and women dressed in provocative leather and masks, and the bread and plates and cups with whips and chains and other sex toys!

Laura and Michelle are both in high dudgeon over Miller Beer "sponsoring" this event and they are calling for their readers/listeners to call and protest. I am waiting to see if the outraged Christians are going to start rioting and looting and burning, a la their Muslim cousins. For some reason I think I will have a very, very long wait.

Governor Green Jeans

Governor Pawlenty has (in case you haven't noticed) bought into the Global Warming hype hook, line and sinker. Using his pulpit as Chairman of the National Governor's Association he has instituted an initiative to broaden the nation's use of biofuels, regardless of whether they are best for the country or not! He has even gone so far (in defense of his initiative) to attack his fellow Republicans.

He’s hardly alone. At a summer’s gathering with reporters in Washington,
Minnesota Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty seemed at a loss to explain how
Republicans in Washington could still be quibbling over the reality of global
warming when the party’s governors, including Pawlenty and California’s Arnold
Schwarzenegger, were passing groundbreaking legislation to combat it.

“The false premise of some of the critics is that you’ll wreck the economy,” Pawlenty said, a shot aimed mostly at his own Republican colleagues.

Well now Governor Green Jeans is set to launch (with the help of Governor Schwarzenegger and Georgia's Governor Sonny Perdue) a re-branding of Republicanism - a re-branding that will make Conservatives nauseous.

Fearing additional losses in 2008 among their own ranks, Republican
governors are trying to wrest control of the party’s re-branding campaign away
from their Washington brethren....

Next month, a small group of governors spearheading the effort will gather
in Atlanta to begin exploring new policy positions on energy, conservation,
education and health care that they believe are more attuned with public
concerns and doable at the legislative level.

The summit also will include a host of senior aides with expertise in policy, politics and communications who will be vital to translating the broad ideas into substantive legislative advances on the ground quickly.The tug of war between the party’s state and federal factions reflects continuing disagreement within the party about how to regain voter appeal and avoid another round of crushing Election Day losses.

What these governors don't seem to get is that the people WANT a candidate of principle. If you take a look at the 2006 elections, principled candidates like Michelle Bachmann won where other Republicans lost. Governor Pawlenty barely won because most of his base stayed home on election day! Every single one of the issues that these Governors are proposing are issues that are to the left of where a principled Republican would stand. They are proposing more spending on education, instead of accountable spending on education, "universal" health care - expanded S-CHIPS spending for people who are far from poor.

They are calling on "moderation" of ideals and principles instead of talking about principles and what is best for the country! Governor Green Jeans and his cohorts have shown that they don't care about anything other than winning elections. They don't care about the tax payers, they don't care about principles...all they care about is winning elections...to make sure they don't lose anymore Governors seats!

They are willing to sell out their principles and our wallets in order to retain and even gain power. Is that what you, as a voter, want? Or do you want a politician that stands (as Senator Paul Wellstone did) on his or her principles.

What are the odds?

What are the odds that one Presidential candidate would be on all of the Sunday morning interview programs on the same day? Well those odds are very, very good if your name is Hillary Clinton. One Fox News Sunday, Mrs. Clinton had this to say about bipartisanship

But you know, the real goal for our country right now is to get beyond partisanship, and I'm sure trying to do my part, because we've got a lot of serious problems that we're trying to deal with.

Health care

Well, Chris, let me first describe the program. The American health choices
plan does not create any new bureaucracy. It is not government-run health care.
If you are satisfied with your health care, you keep it, no questions asked.

But if you are one of those 47 million uninsured, or if you are one of the
many millions more who actually have insurance except when you really need it
and the insurance company won't pay for what your doctor has prescribed, you
will now have the same choices that are available to members of Congress,
because we will open up the plan that members of Congress have and give you a
health choices menu to choose from.

We will also provide a health care tax credit for those who cannot, on their own, afford it or who don't have employer help.

Similarly, I will provide a new small business health care tax credit because a lot of small businesses tell me that they'd love to be able to help provide health care for their employees, but they just can't afford it, and we're going to make it affordable.

But in our system, we have a lot of inefficiencies. Let's take electronic medical records, because if we were to have a system where everyone had a private, confidential health care record — this is something that I've worked on with Newt Gingrich — we would see that we would save a lot of money. It's been estimated by not me but others who have studied this — about $77 billion a year.

If we better managed chronic care, we would save money, because right now
we don't, and we pay a big price for it. So there are a lot of cost savings.

And let me just correct you for a minute. My plan has about $52 billion in
tax cuts because of what we're doing by moving the tax rates back to the
pre-Bush era. And yes, taxes will go up on people making $250,000, but most
Americans will see a net tax decrease.

And we have about $55 billion in savings from electronic medical records,
chronic care management, taking away some of the overpayment to HMOs that have unfortunately driven up the cost of Medicare prescription drug
benefit.

And if people want to see how I will both get health care and how I will
move toward fiscal responsibility, please go to my Web site, HillaryClinton.com,
because we talk about how we will pay for all of the initiatives that I am
proposing in this campaign.

I take fiscal responsibility very seriously. I regret deeply that President
Bush threw out fiscal responsibility over the last 6.5 years. And under my
administration, we will move back toward fiscal responsibility.

(ed - OK I have to say this...FISCALLY RESPONSIBLE Senator Clinton? I have seen your voting record and I would not call that "fiscally responsible" if my life depended on it and right now it does!)

and Iraq

WALLACE: Senator, we've got a couple of minutes left. Let's talk about
Iraq. There are reports that the president is going to submit a new spending
bill this week calling for another $200 billion in spending for Iraq.

Last May you voted to cut off spending. Will you do so again with this
spending bill?

H. CLINTON: I will not vote for any funding that does not move us toward
beginning to withdraw our troops, that does not have pressure on the Iraqi
government to make the tough political decisions that they have, that does not
recognize that there is a diplomatic endeavor that has to be
undertaken.

This scene was pretty much played out verbatim at Meet the Press and This Week. Then today she backed away from that saying that she could not take away supplies and armor from the deployed troops. You will be forgiven if, after reading the transcripts you are still a little confused on what Mrs. Clinton was proposing. The Washington Post shared your confusion.

Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton appeared on all five talk shows yesterday
morning and demonstrated a particularly senatorial skill: the art of the
filibuster.

George
Stephanopoulos whether she would withdraw all U.S. troops from Iraq during
a first term as president, Clinton (D-N.Y.) gave a simple answer: She did not
know.But she used more than 225 words to say so.

Mrs. Clinton said a lot of things yesterday but the one that got me was her response to Chris Wallace's question on her refusal to vote to condemn the MoveOn.org ad.

WALLACE: Senator, you have refused to criticize the MoveOn.org ad about
General Petraeus. And in fact, this week you voted against a Senate resolution
denouncing it.

President Bush said that you and other Democrats are more afraid — his word
— afraid of irritating the left wing and MoveOn than you are about insulting the
American military. Does he have a point?

H. CLINTON: No, he doesn't. But I think it's clear I don't condone attacks
on anyone who has served our country with distinction and with honor, and I have
been very vocal in my support of and admiration for General Petraeus.

I did vote for a resolution that made it clear I do not condone and do
condemn attacks on any American, impugning their patriotism, and that includes
people like Senator Max Cleland and Senator John Kerry.

So in Senator Clinton's mind, attacking an active duty 4 star general is the same thing as attacking a politician for something he has said in the past. Obviously there is no distinction (in her mind) between a soldier and a politician. Good to know.

Why counter protest?

Conservatives will be forgiven for asking "why bother counter-protesting the anti-war crowd? It's not going to change anyone's mind and the local press will never report on it." The answer is simple and the Star Tribune (of all places) actually reported on it.

Before he was deployed to Iraq in 2005, as anti-war sentiment spread around
the country, Minnesota National Guardsman Bryan McDonough asked his parents to
promise that they would never "disrespect" his decision to serve.

Last week, 10 months after their 22-year-old son was killed near
Fallujah, Thomas and Renee McDonough made good on that pledge, rallying on
Capitol Hill with hundreds of other military families from around the nation.

"It's really about what our son told us," said Thomas McDonough of
Hugo. "He believed in it." I would venture to guess that every one of us here
knows at least one soldier who has not only been in Iraq but that also believe
in the mission that they were sent there to perform. I am blessed to know more
than a few who know what progress is being made and I am in awe of their
accomplishments.

The Star Tribune then went on to report something that I am sure stuck in their craw just a little.

Minnesota, like much of the nation, polls almost 2-1 against the war. And
Sen. Norm Coleman, a Minnesota Republican facing reelection next year, has been
looking for a middle ground in the debate.

Yet the nation's leading "pro-victory" groups, Vets for Freedom and
Families United for Our Troops and Their Mission, are led by Minnesotans. Peter
Hegseth, who heads Vets for Freedom, has become the national TV face of pro-war
veterans; Merrilee Carlson, who lost a son in Iraq, has become one of the
nation's leading "Gold Star" mothers.

"It is the Silent Majority no longer," said Carlson, who lives in Hastings
and serves as president of the 55,000-strong Families United group. "It's too
important for us to stay quiet."

I first heard Merrilee Carlson speak at John Kline's April town hall meeting. Her words were inspiring yet the anti-war partisans in the crowd refused to acknowledge the sacrifice that this woman made, sending her son off to war half a world away. Peter Hegseth was a frequent correspondent with the Powerline guys so he is well known to many of their readers. What many may not know is that TN's own Dave Thul is also a member of Vets for Freedom. All three of these wonderful people have helped inspire me to "get off of the couch" to join the fight.

It is past time for those who do not agree with the "withdrawal at all costs crowd" to get up, get out and make our voices heard in every way possible. We need to let the vocal anti-war folks know that they do not speak for all Americans and that we do get a say in the direction this country moves in, just as much as they do. Then maybe we can have an honest, realistic dialog on where we go and how we get there.

What reality are you in?

I do not normally "fisk" letters in the Star Tribune. I leave that to more talented bloggers than I. However, since no one has yet touched this gem of a letter I just had to say something. Wrap the duct tape around your head tight.....the "logic" of this letter will blow your mind!

DISAPPOINTED IN AMY

Votes like a Republican

Sen. Amy Klobuchar should just follow Sen. Norm Coleman's example and
switch from the DFL to the Republicans. Time and again she capitulates to the
Bush political line. And then she regurgitates right-wing propaganda points to
try to justify her betrayal of the Minnesota voters who sent her to Congress to
defend the Constitution, not to traduce it.

Klobuchar's craven performance reminds me of what Minnesota Rep. C.A. Lindbergh said 90 years ago: "Of all the cowards, no other is so cowardly as the average
politician."


OLIVER S, ST. PAUL

OK - did you get your mind wrapped around this.....Amy Klobuchar....our Amy votes "like a Republilcan"?

Now I don't know what alternate reality Mr. S lives in, but here in the real world Amy's voting record sure doesn't look "Republican" to me.

Let's start with her most recent vote. Senator Amy voted FOR the Feingold Amendment to start a phased redeployment of our troops out of Iraq. She was one of twenty eight Senators (all but 1 were Democrats and the 1 was Independent/Socialist Bernie Sanders from Vermont) to vote to pull our troops out of Iraq. Senator Coleman.....voted against withdrawal. Strike one Oliver.

Senator Amy voted against a bill (co-authored by Senator Coleman) that would prohibit contributions to organizations that promote abortion as a method of birth control. Senator Coleman (of course) voted for his own bill. Strike two Ollie!

Senator Amy voted for a bill that would give the rights of Habeus Corpus (rights that are guaranteed in the Constitution to American citizens) to foreign nationals who have plotted to commit terror acts against US citizens and interests. Senator Coleman....voted against it. Strike three Ollie.

Senator Amy voted to give legal immigrant status to gang members, terrorists and drug runners....Senator Coleman did not. Senator Amy voted for every troop withdrawal amendment...Senator Coleman split his. Senator Amy voted FOR federally funded human embryonic stem cell research and Senator Coleman did not. There were strikes four, five and six! There is a whole lot more out there, but I figured you got the picture by now.

If capitulating "to the Bush political line" were all that it took to switch political parties, I don't think Senator Klobuchar would meet the entry requirements. Then again, the same could almost be said about Senator Coleman. Step away from the ledge, Oliver. It's really not all that bad.

Families United

Tomorrow afternoon, several local Democrats/unions (same thing...) will be gathering at the steps of the Capital in order to protest the ongoing successes in Iraq. Thankfully, Merrilee Carlson, Kathy Dunaway and the rest of the Families United For our Troops and their Mission are out to make sure that their soldiers are represented tomorrow. From an email I received today.

Families,
We need everyone to come forward and tell your story of your hero. A number of unions will be holding an anti-war rally at the Minnesota State Capitol tomorrow, Sunday, September 23 at 1 p.m. Here is the email they have sent out. We need all our families, Gold, Blue, Vets, and Proud Americans to contact their congressional leaders, newspapers, media (TV/Radio) and let them know we support our troops and the completion of the mission. MN families - call in to The Patriot
today! AM 1280 - they need to know/share what is going on so we can get
some media attention to how wrong this is. Link to t he program
guide: http://www.am1280thepatriot.com/programguide.asp

If you are a member, like myself ( Kathy Dunaway ) of one of these unions, you need to contact your union and tell them that they do not have permission to speak on
your behalf on the War on Terror and that they should stand with our Troops that
protect their rights to organize and protest!

We are trying to get a press conference set up for tomorrow. Please watch for another email. Respond to myself and Merrilee that you support us and will contact
the union.

We'd also like to get a count of who is in what Union . Please respond using the following email addresses if you belong to that union. Please share this with all your friends who are also members of these unions and wish to be counted in those that do not stand with the union with this protest.

AFSME/ACORN
Fed/State/Municipal Employees info@familiesunitedmission.com
AFL-CIO info@familiesunitedmission.com
Minneapolis & Central Labor Councils info@familiesunitedmission.com
Other labor and religious affiliations included in protest info@familiesunitedmission.com

We are working on a plan for Sunday near the capitol - press conference or other. If you are able to attend, please send Merrilee an email so we can know who is available. Merrilee@familiesunitedmission.com

NOTE:
We are sending this nationwide, because each state needs to know this is coming - this does not just affect Minnesota ! If we get responses to the union offices from everyone involved, perhaps we can pull the rug out from under their feet regarding doing this protest. CALL TODAY !

Kathy is a union member. She got an email from her union reps yesterday which she also included in her email.

BELOW IS THE EMAIL SENT OUT TO MN AFSME MEMBERS aka ACORN:
ATTN: MINNESOTA ACORN MEMBERS
Unprecedented Coalition Organizes September 23 Rally Against the War
It's not just the usual suspects any more. On September 23 labor unions, religious bodies and non-profits will hold a rally at the state capitol to tell Congress it is time to end the war. Participating groups include: Minnesota ACORN, Minnesota AFL-CIO, the Minneapolis and St. Paul central labor councils, AFSCME, SEIU, the Office for Social Justice of the Catholic Archdiocese, the Methodist Social Ministry Team, the Sierra Club, Iraq Veterans Against the War, Wellstone Action, TakeAction Minnesota, Progressive Majority and more.

No coalition of this breadth has previously come together in Minnesota - nor apparently anywhere else in the country - to end the war. With two-thirds of Americans opposed to continuing the war, and Congress soon to vote on it, this is a tipping point. It is a time to stand up and be counted, and this coalition provides the
opportunity to reach out to a broader cross-section of the public than ever before.

The rally - 1:00 pm on Sunday September 23 - will feature Gold Star Mother Becky Lourey and others directly impacted by the war. Please join us at 1:00 pm, Sunday September 23, at the state capitol!

For more information or a ride, contact Brandon Nessen at Minnesota ACORN - 651-642, 9639, Extension 102.

Your tax dollars are going to protest our troops. Doesn't that make you feel all tingly inside?

Seriously - if you support our troops and you are available tomorrow afternoon, won't you please go help Families United speak up for our soldiers who support their mission?

1 plus 1 equals...

This is not a rant about what our school district is doing wrong. As a matter of fact, it is quite the opposite. As much as I have been beating up on them lately, I figured I was due...

The Junior Logician brought home an interesting math assignment today. His math teacher has a brother in law who is in the 2nd PLT, D Co, 2-2 SCR. As a result, all of this teachers math classes are adopting the platoon. They are collecting items for care packages and each student was "assigned" a soldier in the platoon to send letters and birthday cards etc to.The assignment consisted of two pages. The first page was a list of items that they are collecting to send over to the soldiers (and a short list of items that are not acceptable to send). The second page consisted of instructions on the letter writing project, including the soldiers name, rank, birth date and MOS (military occupation specialty). After all of the grammatical reminders of how to write a proper letter came the following instructions.

Topics you can talk about:
Ask them about themselves, family, where they are from, how/why the came to
serve our country.
Ask how long they have been in Iraq, what the weather is like, what the
kids and schools are like, what their job duties are, what they do for fun, when
they get to come home, how often they get to talk to family, how much do they
see the country improving.Ask how they are doing. Ask them questions that are
caring.

Topics you CANNOT talk about:
Negative personal feelings on the war, your political views and/or your
parents views (we are not here to protest the war)
Only school appropriate questions will be allowed (nothing about killing
people, negative things about the war, drugs/alcohol etc.)

The capitalization emphasis is the teachers, the bold mine.

The teacher also emphasized (a couple of times) that she will be proof reading all letters prior to them being sent.

As often as we complain about teachers and the "liberal" indoctrination that seems to be coming from the schools, it was so refreshing to see this come home tonight. The Junior Logician is very excited about the project. He couldn't wait to get home to tell me all about the project and his soldier and to plan what we were going to get for the care packages. It is one of the few projects in school that I have seen him this excited about.

This is a good reminder to those of us on the right that teachers are not a single monolithic entity. There are some very good individuals out there and they are out there doing the right thing.

Scholars of History - Hollywood version

Poor Sally Field. In a bleeped out diatribe at the Emmy's Ms. Field blurted out (in her acceptance speech) that if mothers ran the world there "would be no more g*dd*mned wars". Obviously, Ms. Field did not pay attention to her history classes - ancient or modern.First we have Queen Boudica

Boudica (or Boadicea) was the wife of Prasutagus, king of the Iceni, a
British tribe, at a time when Britain was a Roman province. When Prasutagus died
he willed half of his kingdom to the Roman empire and half to Boudica and their
two daughters, Camorra and Tasca1 or, according to legend, Voada and Voadicia2.
British law allowed royal inheritance to be passed to daughters in the absence
of male heir, but Roman law did not. The Roman administrator ignored the will
and proceded to take over the entire kingdom. Roman historian Tacitus wrote,
"Kingdom and household alike were plundered like prizes of war... for a start,
his widow Boudica was flogged and their daughters raped. The chieftains of the
Iceni were deprived of their family estates as if the whole country had been
handed over to the Romans. The king's own relatives were treated as slaves."

Enraged Boudica joined Iceni forces with another tribe, the Trinobantes, and together they fought back. They attacked and conquered the Roman colony Camulodunum (now Colchester) and burned the temple dedicated to Claudius, the Roman emperor who completed the conquest of Britain. The Romans retaliated against the insurgents by sending a whole division of soldiers, but they were defeated. The insurgents then marched on London, which they sacked, and killed its Roman population, as well as their sympathizers. They did the same at Verulamium (now St. Albans) and other settlements.

Then we have Queens Candace, Kahina and Hatshepsut, all African warrior queens who ruthlessly fought to keep and enlarge their countries. We have the Trung Sisters who are acknowledged to be the "Founding Mothers" of Viet Nam. Moving forward a few hundred years, we come to Joan....Saint Joan of Arc who was instrumental in defending her beloved France from the English invaders in the Hundred Years War. In modern history we have Golda Meir, the fierce Israeli premier who did whatever it took to grow her fledgling nation, Indira Gandhi who helped defend India against China when she was premier and Margaret Thatcher who led the British in the war to reclaim the Falkland Islands. Then there is Miriam Farahat.

Consider Miriam Farahat, a Palestinian mother who has raised three sons to be
homicide bombers for Hamas. Known throughout Gaza as Um Nidal, or “the
mother of the struggle,” Farahat is featured in a Hamas recruitment video
telling one 17-year-old son to attack Israelis and telling him not to return.
And Farahat -- who is now an elected member of the Hamas parliament -- says she
is willing to sacrifice all her 10 sons to the war against Israel because
“Israelis are not civilians and there are no prohibitions on killing them.”

I think that Patricia Heaton said it best when she said (H/T Michelle Malkin)

“I’ve actually become a more violent person since I became a mother, If
someone came between me and my kids, they’d be dead meat. So I didn’t agree with that particular statement.”

I know that I have started fighting for what I believe in a whole lot more since the Junior Logician came along. It is not for me, but his future that I fight and will continue to fight.

It's already getting ugly

All across the cities, the levy referendums abound. From Anoka down to the Savage Lands, schools are asking for more money from the ever burdened taxpayers. However, things are already starting to get ugly in Stillwater.

An already contentious school levy debate took an ugly turn late last week
when several people involved with two popular anti-levy Web sites learned that
information about them and their families had been anonymously posted on another
site by someone calling themselves "Stillwater Infidel."The information -
including home addresses, tax statements, license plate numbers, and the
identities of children and other family members - was published between July 18
and Sept. 8 on HeavyLevy834.blogspot.com, a Web log that takes its name from the
citizens group that actively opposed last fall's failed District 834 levy
referenda.

The discovery of the blog prompted a flurry of e-mails, phone calls and
blog posts that started Friday and continued through the weekend between people
on both sides of the levy debate and school officials.

By Friday night, some posts had been changed to remove children's names. By
late Saturday, the offending posts had been removed from the site completely and
replaced with a new post titled "Point made."

Now I remember back (in late 2005/early 2006) when Michael Brodkorb was being harassed and sued by Democrats who were intent on "exposing" the Exposer. Many comments were left by anonymous commenters (don't you just love that irony?) with pictures of Michael's house, the address, phone numbers....the whole nine yards. A lot of honest folks from both parties were equally indignant at the treatment some anonymous punk was posting. I had long discussions with the Logical Husband over how I should handle a similar situation should the time arise. Thankfully I never had to worry about that. However, I know how worried and upset I would have been if it were my family that was being treated in such a manner which is why the actions of "stillwater infidel" are so repugnant.

Jason Lewis is it a quest to reveal the identity of "stillwater infidel". Given what he/she did to people behind the "Citizens for Responsible Spending" (the people behind the heavylevy834 blog it certainly would be a karmic payback. However, I again go back to what Michael and the Lovely Mrs. MDE went through 2 years ago and I cringe.These levies are already loaded with heated rhetoric. The Anoka Hennepin School district (the largest in the state) has been accused by parents of engaging in emotional blackmail by talking about the schools that will be closed and the programs that will be cut should their levy not be passed. While things have not gotten that heated yet here in the Savage Lands, I know that it is coming...I have talked to proponents on both sides and the emotions are running that high.

Rather than dealing with emotions why don't we try to deal with fact. No one will deny that educating the children is a very important thing. However, personal responsibility is a lesson well taught. We do not teach that lesson when we chose to act in an irresponsible manner and I do not think that anyone would deny the actions of "stillwater infidel" are anything but irresponsible.

Who stifles dissenting speech?

And the Democratic activists are worried about how the RNC is going to react to disruptions to their convention?

A University of Florida student was Tasered and arrested after trying to ask
U.S. Senator John Kerry about the 2004 election and other subjects during a
campus forum.
Videos of the incident posted on several Web sites show
officers pulling Andrew Meyer, 21, away from the microphone after he asks Kerry
about impeaching President Bush and whether he and Bush were both members of the secret society Skull and Bones at Yale University.
"He apparently asked several questions — he went on for quite awhile — then he was asked to stop," university spokesman Steve Orlando said. "He had used his allotted time. His microphone was cut off, then he became upset."

Now I will admit that Mr. Meyer was disrupting the speech and that others there at the lecture were noticably perturbed by his actions but tasering???? Isn't that just a wee bit excessive?

Just to remind you....Democrats have a long, proud history of excessive use of the law when the speech of dissenters interrupt their events and offices. So the next time that someone tells you that Republicans are the ones who will resort to extreme tactics to stiffle dissent, please remind them of Andrew Meyer.

Embarrassing

Mayor RT Ryback is embarrassed. Not because the crime rate in his city is skyrocketing. Not because the citizens of his city are DEMANDING more cops on the street. No, Mayor Ryback is embarrassed because the state is "doing nothing" in the wake of the St. Anthony Bridge collapse!

Headed to a U.S. Conference of Mayors meeting this weekend to talk about
the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak said he
found himself filled with dread and embarrassment.

"I'm going to have to walk in there and tell them that our state is doing
nothing" on bridge repair, he said. "Other states are taking this seriously, but
our state, where people died, is doing nothing."

Doing nothing eh? I thought that the state was going through and reinspecting and repairing all fracture critical bridges in the state. I know that the state is working on cleaning up the debris so that reconstruction of the bridge can get going. Apparently that is not enough for the Boy Mayor of Minneapolis.

Last week, the U.S. Senate approved an extra $1 billion bill for bridge
repair. But the end result of the Minnesota Legislature's special session last
Tuesday was a narrowly targeted bill that mainly delivered about $157 million to
the flood-ravaged southeastern corner of the state.

A moment of clarity

That was far less than what Gov. Tim Pawlenty had suggested was in store
when he stood near the fallen span and predicted a special session that could
include a gas tax increase, a transportation bill, a bonding bill and property
tax relief.

So why couldn't Pawlenty and DFL leaders make it happen? Taxes, as has so
often been the case, proved a major stumbling block. Even though Pawlenty said
he would consider a nickel-a-gallon increase, he wanted an offsetting cut in
income taxes.

The next paragraph in the story shows where the blame truly lies in this story.

Even though Pawlenty said he would consider a nickel-a-gallon increase, he
wanted an offsetting cut in income taxes.

That would have provided money for roads and bridges, but would have
reduced funds for health care and schools -- unacceptable to DFLers.

Apparently, the Boy Mayor is not happy that his city was "ignored".

"Nobody's saying there shouldn't have been flood relief," Rybak said. "But how
could we not do anything for bridges? When you step back, it's shocking."

Let's see......we are re-inspecting bridges, we are cleaning up the debris and rebuilding the new and that is "shocking"? Maybe it is shocking...it's shocking that the Governor is actually leading the state instead of deferring his authority to the Legislature.

Here is a thought for Mayor Ryback...why don't you take care of the problems in your city. Put cops on the street...get the criminals off of the street and let the Governor take care of his problems. It's his responsibility to get the bridge rebuilt - something he is doing. Until you start doing your job, your criticisms of people who are doing their jobs only make you look like a partisan hack.

Sign, Sign everywhere a sign...

When the Minnesota Conceal Carry law went into effect, one of the concessions to the liberals in Minneapolis and St. Paul was the provision that establishments be allowed to post signs declaring that handguns were "not allowed on the premises". One of the Minneapolis businesses that has the victim disarmament sign is the Target Center (home to the Minnesota Timberwolves and Lynx). Apparently, one of the patrons of last night's event didn't realize that the signs included HIM.

Minneapolis police are looking for a man who allegedly fired a handgun at
another spectator in the Target Center stands Saturday night as thousands
watched a mixed-martial arts competition.

Or (as the Junior Logician put it) the patron must have "misinterpreted" the sign a la Bill Belichick.

Seriously, Mitch (and others) have written about the consequences of these "signs". How hard is it for a criminal for figure out that those signs mean that the place that has the sign posted is full of unarmed victims just waiting to be fleeced?

Rules and laws (and signs) do not matter to those who are bound and determined to break the rule/law/signs! It's really that simple. When will the sign posters figure out that their signs are nothing more than an open invitation for armed robbers to enter?

She's BAAAACK....

Coleen Rowley is back in the news, thanks to this puff piece in todays St. Paul Pioneer Press.

On a busy Eagan street corner, a former FBI wiretap specialist is
not-so-secretly hoisting and waving banners, demanding: "Support the
Constitution - End the War - Support the Troops - End the War - Support the
Bridges - End the War."

OK - so now the bridge collapse was caused by the war????? Oy vey!

Her trademark hyperactivity may have played more than a small hand in
dooming her 2006 congressional bid against U.S. Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., an
ardent conservative. Out-funded 2-to-1, Rowley's failed campaign required her to
take out a second mortgage on her Apple Valley home.

First off what doomed her campaign was her complete and utter failure to connect with any of the 2nd District voters that were not the far left anti-war crowd. I recall seeing Coleen at the Scott County Fair last year. She and her husband walked into the fairgrounds just ahead of me. She did not try to engage any of the fairgoers that were around us - they just walked straight in. I saw them again, about an hour later, sitting on a bench tucked between two food booths...again not talking to anyone around then and just yards away from two very crowded dining areas that were full of potential voters.

These days, Rowley, 52, is mired in almost $40,000 of personal debt, irked by
what she feels is complacency in the public and the media, and determined to
never, ever again run for public office.

Uh yeah - the media is so complacent....that is why they PiPress is running this little fluff piece on you right Coleen?

Today at 1:30 p.m., Rowley and her husband, Ross, will join the "Out of
Iraq! End the War Now!" march from the Cathedral of St. Paul to the state
Capitol. The march, organized by a coalition of anti-war groups, is expected to
draw peace activists by the hundreds.

"If nobody utilizes their rights, it's
like muscles: They atrophy," Rowley said. "People may think (protest is) silly,
but it gives people an outlet."

Several of my fellow True North compatriots are also exercising their rights to protest people like Coleen. I'm sure they will have pictures and video soon.The puff piece then went back to the subject of Coleen's Quixotic crusade for Congress.

...With Ross, a stay-at-home dad, helping behind the scenes, she ran
against Kline in the 2nd Congressional District, which includes most of
Republican-leaning Dakota County.

She lost. And big.

"Even a tidal wave couldn't lift this leaking rowboat," wrote a political
writer for the Minneapolis-based alternative weekly newspaper, City Pages, just
after the election.

The 16-point poll difference between Rowley and Kline wasn't the only
campaign scar. She doesn't laugh when she says that the two youngest of her four
children - son Jeb, 12, and daughter Meg, 14 - will be paying their own way
through college.

I again go back to my comments about Coleen's appearance at the Scott County Fair. We ran into her many times during the campaign at local parades and events. Every time she was there she was aloof and almost unapproachable - not a good thing when you are trying to get people to vote for you.

For the life of me, I can't figure out why this is "news". There are a lot of people at the Code Pink/WAMM/Anti-War Committee protests today. Coleen was just one of many (according to preliminary reports)...why focus on her? Could it be that this is our local presses way of giving free publicity to the anti-war rally by focusing on one of the movements fallen "heros"? Coleen (and the anti-war movements) calls for defeat in Iraq were rejected by the electorate in the 2nd district. However, that does not stop our local media from fulfilling their roles as the PR organ for the defeat at all costs crowd!

Posting

Sorry for the sketchy posting of late my friends. I have been neck deep in a lot of "backstage" things with True North as well as shaking off a rather nasty bug. Now that the bug is under control (unfortunately the backstage work will be an ongoing concern for some time) I should have time for more regular posting, including an interview with someone who really knows a thing or two about the threat of radical Islam.

Fortitude?

There is an editorial in today's Star Tribune that really highlights what we are True North are all about. In it James Hovland, the Mayor of Edina, talks about the aftermath of the St. Anthony Bridge collapse and what our collective response should be.

Do we Minnesota voters have the collective financial fortitude to demand that
all of our state elected leaders finally make the transportation commitments
needed to keep us safe and competitive in the future? After two decades of
falling behind, let's hope the vivid memory of a fallen bridge prompts our
governor and Legislature to build a financial strategy that actually achieves
the sound and wise transportation system that we and future generations need.

Do Minnesota voters have the "financial fortitude"????? No, Mayor Hovland it is not a matter of "financial fortitude". As has been said time and time and time again, the problem was priorities! Our past priorities have not been on rebuilding failing infrastructure...no our priorities have been on building bike paths and convention centers and interpretive nature centers in state parks!

The Mayor then goes on to take an obligatory swipe at the lefts scapegoat du jour....Lieutenant Governor Carol Molnau.

Is it wise to have a statewide elected official, in this case the lieutenant
governor, also in charge of running a state agency, in this case the
transportation department? Should Carol Molnau be running MnDOT?

When Governor Pawlenty took office, people like Mayor Hovland cheered when Lt. Governor Molnau was given the MNDOT spot because of her vast experience on transportation issues from her days in the legislature. Now all of a sudden she is an incompetent.

Rather than cast aspersions on the Lt. Governor, Mayor Hovland and the rest of the Metropolitan Council need to take a look at their own culpability! The Met Council has been the organization that has been pushing light rail and pushing the so-called "smart growth" agenda. That agenda has never had room for bridge and road repair. It has only had room for the kind of social engineering that has long been the hallmark of socialism.

No Mayor Hovland - the problem is not that we are not spending enough money....it is and always has been HOW we spend that money! Until we change HOW we spend that money, we are going to continue to have problems. If fortitude is needed for anything, it is the fortitude to finally stand up and tell the government that they need to get their priorities straight! Once that happens, then maybe we can talk about how much is spent.

What if they held an election...

and nobody came? That darn near happened just this week. In many communities around Minnesota, elections were held on Tuesday September 11. In the Savage Lands, we had a primary for the November School Board election and in a spectacular show of apathy, 95% of the registered voters in our school district decided that they had "better" things to do than to take 5 minutes to vote.

Now there has been much discord over the last 4 years between the communities of Prior Lake and Savage (who make up the school district), mostly stemming from the boards decision to not rename the new Prior Lake High School (which was built in Savage) to include the name of the city of Savage. There are many here who feel that the school board is "unresponsive" to the community. Yet, in the last two school board elections less than 20% of the voters in our fair communities came out to vote.

Local elections (county level and below) are probably more important to the average Joe and Jane Taxpayer because those elections have a more direct effect on their day to day lives. If you don't believe me, ask Mitch! Every decision that comes out of your school board or city council chambers will have an almost immediate impact on your life - whether it is hiring new police officers or building a new sewage treatment system.

Way back when I was a young voter, I was like that 95%. I didn't see how my single little vote made a difference in the grand scheme of things. In this era of close elections (remember - Mark Kennedy won his first Congressional election by 191 votes) I now see that elections do matter. Mom was right, once again.....

If I can get nothing else across to my fellow conservatives and young people everywhere it's this....voting is important. A lot of good, brave men and women died so that we can have the right to vote. We owe it to their memory to exercise our right to vote in every election.

Never forget

Leo has the heartbreaking video



"Oh my God....all the people..." that was my gut reaction when I heard about the attacks 6 years ago today. All the people who, like me, said good bye to loved ones and went to work not knowing that their world was about to be shattered. All the people....and yet it could have been worse...

Andy has links to video of both planes hitting as well as links to numerous photo albums of the day. Please go see them all and remember the 2977 people who lost their lives 6 years ago.....the day Islamofascist terror came home to America.

Another hard sell

The Big Stink referred to this stat the other day in post on the slew of referendums on the ballot this fall and it just blew my mind. One school district in four in this state is going to the voters looking for more money and they are pushing it hard.

Across the metro, education officials are sounding those and other dire alarms
to voters who will be asked this fall to give schools more money in the form of
higher taxes.

When ISD 719 (Prior Lake/Savage) announced their twin referendums many voters and taxpayers said "did they learn nothing from the last election? Apparently the answer to that question was "NO".

Whatever the justification, for many school districts this year represents a
perfect financial storm. Many districts tried to win property tax increases last
fall, but about 60 percent of those measures failed. Some of the same factors
blamed for that showing remain in 2007. Although surveys conducted by education
officials show positive feelings toward schools, fears about increased property
taxes in a time of economic uncertainty inspire many voters to say "No," school
leaders said.

It is a perfect storm that all taxing units need to be painfully aware of. Cities, counties and school districts across the state are talking tax increases. All of them talk about their piece of the pie as if it was the only part of the tax burden. For example, I ran into one of our City Councilmen while walking out of our neighborhood Cub Foods a couple of weeks back. He commented on a letter to the editor I had in our local paper about the planned city tax increases. The first words out of his mouth (in attempting to justify the increase was ) "Well our city taxes are less than any of the other cities in our county!" My response (as was the response of another neighbor lady who joined our conversation) was "well when you add your 3 percent to the counties 9 percent to the school districts 12 percent....." All of a sudden a quarter of our annual income goes to pay local level taxes!

The cities, counties and school districts seem to think that the taxpayers are endless sources of money to support their wasteful spending habits. The first thought that crosses most of the minds of these city, county and school boards - when faced with budget shortfalls is to raise taxes! Oh to be sure, they will eventually talk about cuttings "costs" but only after the citizens have screamed in reaction to the latest tax increase and only to prove that there is nothing left to cut.

I do support both referendum requests. The budget-cutting effort this spring
highlighted how tight, and how little waste, is in the current budget.

If there was ever any reason needed to show the importance of city and county wide elections it is this one. The cuts that were "proposed" last spring were cuts to educational programs that have minimal impact on the school district budget but have maximum impact on parents. The hope is that these parents will then think "we can't vote against this - they'll cut more programs". The school board holds you children hostage to their greed!

So the next time that they tell you it is "for the children" you will know what they really mean.

Drip, drip, drip

All week long there has been a steady drip of criticism of the commanding General in Iraq. Congress has released their own reports on progress in Iraq (talk about armchair quarterbacking), the leadership has taken every turn to bash the general and his motives and finally there is this from our friends at MoveOn.org.

Tomorrow--as General David Petraeus provides his Iraq assessment to
Congress--the antiwar group MoveOn.org is running a full-page advertisement in
the New York Times under the headline: "General Petraeus or General
Betray us? Cooking the books for the White House."

Emphasis mine. Now throughout the debate, anytime a supporter of the war dared to even remotely raise the "patriotism" angle, they were jumped on by the left with cries of "don't you dare question our patriotism". Yet here they are accusing the lead General in Iraq of "betraying the American people" . Why is it ok then for those who oppose the war to question the patriotism of the man who is running the war effort?

It is one thing to have a debate on policy. It is one thing to have disagreements on the direction of the war and the country. It is another thing to accuse a General of treason which is what the MoveOn ad does. Come on guys. Let's dial back the hysterical rhetoric and talk like adults. OK?

Playing with puppets

He who pays the piper calls the tune....another one of those quaint old sayings that my dear old grandma used to say to me at odd (to my addled teen-aged brain) times. That saying came to mind as I was catching up on a week's worth of reading today.

In the Hell Hath No Fury sweepstakes, groups like MoveOn.org are gearing up to
take on a new set of perceived traitors in their midst--Democrats who have
acknowledged some success from the troop surge in Iraq.
Chief among the
targets is Washington Congressman Brian Baird, whose indiscretion was
recognizing progress on the ground, despite having initially opposed the surge
and having opposed the war in the first place. After a recent trip to Iraq, Mr.
Baird said: "One of the things that gets very little attention is that virtually
every other country I visited says it would be a mistake to pull out now."
We hope he took his flak jacket home from Baghdad. MoveOn is rolling out an
ad this week in Mr. Baird's Washington district, in which a former soldier tells
of being shot at in 2003 by the Iraqis he had fought to liberate and calls
America's continued presence in the country "wrong, immoral and irresponsible."
What does this have to do with the wisdom--or lack thereof--of the current
strategy? Nada, which tells you something about MoveOn's honesty.
The group doesn't aim to engage in debate, but to punish and silence
Democrats who dare to think for themselves. There's a pattern here:
When John Dingell contradicted party orthodoxy on global warming and auto
mileage standards this year, MoveOn ran ads in his Michigan district calling the
81-year-old Congressman "Dingellsaurus."

Emphasis mine. It is obvious that the lessons are being heard as Congress gets back to work.




That is New York's Senior Senator Charles Schumer speaking in the Senate on Wednesday. Oh to be sure it was part of a much longer speech (Sweetness and Light has the transcript) but the key - the shout out to his Move On puppeteers was this:

And let me be clear: the violence in Anbar has gone down despite the surge, not
because of the surge. The inability of American soldiers to protect these tribes from al Qaeda said to these tribes, “We have to fight al Qaeda ourselves.”
It wasn’t that the surge brought peace here. It was that the warlords had to create a
temporary peace here on their own. And that is because there was no one else
there protecting them.

Emphasis mine. It is obvious that Senator Schumer (as head of the DSCC) recognizes that he who paid the piper is indeed calling the tune and that is something that should worry us all.....

Take me home....to Gitmo

One of the long term demands of the anti-war left has been that we must close Gitmo. Most of those of us who support the war have usually answered that question with "release them to where?" It is an important question that never seems to get a serious answer. Well on the heels of the release of 16 Saudi nationals from Gitmo comes a story following up on two Tunisians who were released 6 weeks ago.

When two Tunisian men were sent home after five years in Guantanamo, they
thought they would be free. Instead, they faced imprisonment, abuse, threats and
solitary confinement. Now they say things were better back in the US prison
camp.

This is why the "release them where?" question is so important. Many assume that the inmates will just be "freed" and that is simply not the case. In the majority of the cases, the inmates are being released into the custody of a government that has a human rights violation record that makes our supposed record of abuse pale in comparison.

Abdullah al-Hajji left Tunisia in 1990 and had no idea that he had been
convicted in absentia in 1995 of being a member of a foreign terrorist
organization. He was arrested in Pakistan in 2002 and sent to Guantanamo
Bay.
According to HRW, when he landed back in Tunisia in June he was held at
the Ministry of the Interior for two days, where he was slapped and told his
wife and daughters would be raped. He was shaken repeatedly to keep from
sleeping and told to sign a paper he couldn't read because he needs new glasses.
He was then sent to the same military court that had convicted him in absentia,
told he would face a new trial on Sept. 26, and then thrown into solitary
confinement for six weeks. He told his lawyer that, if he had been told of the
conviction, he would have objected to returning to Tunisia.
Lofti Lagha, who
hails from a small village in southern Tunisia, was arrested in Pakistan in 2002
and held in Afghanistan before being transferred to Guantanamo. He was never
represented by a lawyer at the US base, and only saw his Tunisian lawyer Ben
Amor in August. He said he was threatened with torture when he first got back to
Tunisia but was never physically abused. He was then put in solitary confinement
for more than six weeks and a judge recommended that he be charged with
membership in a terrorist organization.

The US government has committed not to sending detainees back to situations in their home country where they would be subject to torture. The Tunisian Government gave their highest diplomatic assurances (as have the Saudis) that the former Gitmo detainees would not be tortured. Well as the headline of the story said "'I'd Rather Return to Guantanamo".

Maybe that tells you just how badly we are really torturing these guys after all. Honey glazed Chicken with Rice Pilaf anyone? It's on the menu tonight at Gitmo!

Insanity

Insanity, they say, is doing the same thing over and over again while expecting a different result. I think that the comments made yesterday by Presidential candidate (and former New Mexico Governor) Bill Richardson definitely fall into that category. You would think a former Governor would know better than to say something like this, especially so close to the city that finally made bridge repair"sexy".

The United States' transportation system is "fixated on highways" and should
include more emphasis on energy-efficient modes of travel with planning to
ensure preservation of open spaces, New Mexico Gov. Bill Richardson said
Tuesday.

It is thinking like that Governor Richardson that got Minnesota into big bridge trouble in the first place. Instead of repairing our decaying roads and bridges we have been build bicycle paths and hiking trail extensions, bridges to "nowhere" in Alaska and clean air initiatives in California and parkspace from sea to shining sea.

No Governor....we are finally rightly fixated on highways and bridges. It is sad to see that some politicians (including ones in this state) still would rather play politics than do what is right for the people of this country!

Selling it HARD

The DFL Leadership in the House and the Senate (and their various media mouthpieces) are certainly working very hard to sell the "necessity" of a special session.

Political shifts, changes in personalities and the I-35W bridge collapse
effect have re-energized a group of east metro political leaders whose interest
is in our region's long-range transportation plan. We are glad the group, known
as the Eastern Transportation Alliance, is promoting a vision of how we will get
around today, tomorrow and a decade or two down the proverbial road.

"This is a turning point for us,'' state Sen. Kathy Saltzman, DFL-Woodbury,
told us last week.

"Are we going to be at the table? Or is that train going to pass right
by?"

Did you catch it? The "T" Word????

The Star Tribune just comes straight to the point with the headline "Legislators PLEAD for a special session"

Telling him it is time “to stop the word games,” House and Senate leaders
on Tuesday fired a salvo at Gov. Tim Pawlenty, imploring him to call a one-day
special legislative session for next week to deal with flood relief and
reconstruction of the collapsed I-35W bridge.

In the letter, House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Senate Majority
Leader Larry Pogemiller appear ready to drop the idea of a more
comprehensive special session to deal with larger issues like property tax
relief and a bonding bill and to focus exclusively on the two disasters
which struck the state in August. They also suggest they would consider
abandoning the idea of a gas tax increase, using $370 million in existing
funding to address disaster needs.

Emphasis is mine. That is what every conservative in the state KNEW the DFL was initially going for when the calls for a special session arose. There was talk of tying LGA for Minneapolis and St. Paul to flood relief funding in Winona! Now that the governor has "loosened" the purse strings (emergency or rainy day fund) now all of a sudden the Governor is the one coming to the rescue while the House and Senate DFL Leadership looks on - locked in partisan wrangling for more money for "the Cities". While they fight for more money for their shrinking constituencies, the outstate voters are seeing a Governor do what they are supposed to do lead!

As I said before, I saw the game that the Governor was playing. I was surprised that more "politically astute" people than I, didn't see trap and fell right into it. However I can not say that I am unhappy with the results. Well played Governor Pawlenty!

Open for business

So Saturday was the big launch and here it is Tuesday before I finally getting around to writing about it.....not slacking, sick as a dog...

Did you hear the launch of True North? Have you visited www.looktruenorth.com yet? If not, then you are missing out on some of the BEST in conservative thought and opinion in Minnesota. It is your one stop shop for conservative thought and activism on the web. Bookmark it as there will be lots for you to find in the coming days.

Critical Mass

This is what we have to look forward to next year when the GOP comes to town.

About 200 bicyclists were riding on La Salle Avenue, with two officers
monitoring the protest that called for reduced reliance on automobile
transportation. The ride was also linked with weekend protests of next year's
Republican National Convention in the Twin Cities.

When officers tried to arrest a rider they felt had been trying to
provoke them, a scuffle broke out, said Minneapolis Police Lt. Marie Przynski.

"When the officer went to arrest him, his buddy came up, and they started
to struggle with the officer," Przynski said.

A group surrounded the officers, and begin to chant "Let them go!"Then
several people tried to prevent the officers from arresting these individuals,"
she said, and a skirmish ensued.

Soon, the two officers were surrounded by about 30 people, and they issued
the call "officer needs help."

That brought 48 officers from six different law enforcement agencies racing
to the scene, where the situation escalated and the officers used chemical Mace
in an attempt to control the crowd, Przynski said.

It is so predictable and at the same time rather worrisome. This was one of many "tune up events" according to the organizers. A warm up to the RNC convention. These protesters, with the tacit blessing of certain members of the St. Paul City Council", are going to ratchet things up during the real thing, of that you can be certain. It's going to be difficult for the police and the delegates to get around town without running into these folks.

Which may turn out to be a blessing in disguise. As long as no one gets hurt, if we can show the rest of the country what supports the Democratic Party, they are going to lose a lot of support from the middle. Next fall could be very interesting indeed.