Speaking Truth To Power

Sam Adams knew what it meant to fight for what was right...“If you love wealth more than liberty, the tranquility of servitude better than the animating contest of freedom, depart from us in peace. We ask not your counsel nor your arms. Crouch down and lick the hand that feeds you. May your chains rest lightly upon you and may posterity forget that you were our countrymen.”

Turning A Blind Eye South

I guess the south has risen again but I for one won't be buying a confederate flag. Justice John Roberts says in the 5-4 majority opinion: "The way to stop discrimination on the basis of race is to stop discriminating on the basis of race," ...but history shows that ignoring discrimination won't end it and isn't that the outcome of this decision?

Which Way To The Closest Exit?

If it was left up to Bu$hCo, none of us would even know where the restrooms are, executive privilege don't ya know? And yeah, it is a load of sh*t.

Pawlenty of Ambition

Gov. Pawlenty is using his time stomping for republican presidential candidate John McCain rather than working on resolving issues resulting from his vetoes…What's more important his national ambitions or Minnesotans? Which one was he barely elected to office to fulfil?

Gov. Pawlenty said he was ‘disappointed’ that Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach concealed data on nearly three dozen cancer cases among Iron Range miners. His office took several weeks before disclosing the information….again highlighting Pawlenty’s commitment to his political appointees over Minnesotan…

Gov. Pawlenty’s office is pushing Luke Hellier for the position of trustee on a board representing 4 year public college students….unfortunately, Luke goes to private school, didn’t go through the vetting process by peers, and has an ideological program that would indicate he’s not suitable for being anything other than Pawlenty’s pet parrot…again…Pawlenty is favoring abusing the system for his own political gain over Minnesotans…I’m sensing a pattern here!

Pawlenty Wrong For Minnesotans

For over a year Health Commissioner Dianne Mandernach has delayed the release of data on cancer cases among Iron Range miners. The data shows double the numbers of miners with a rare lung cancer. I know first hand, being married to a cancer survivor; a year can be the difference between living and dying.

Mandernach was appointed in 2003 as Health Commissioner by Governor Pawlenty. A Pawlenty spokesman, Brian McClung, said Mandernach shouldn’t lose her job over an ‘error in judgment’. But this is much more than an error. Not releasing this data has endangered these Iron Range families. And brings into question…why?

Governor Pawlenty standing with his Health Commission can only be interpreted that he’s willing to over look malfeasants from his appointees at the expense of the very lives of the Iron Ranger miner community.

Another appointment that Pawlenty is playing with that shows the Governor’s disregard for Minnesotans, is documented by 'A Blue Man in a Red District' Blog.

“Recent discussions I have had with colleagues in St Cloud and Mankato have produced a third candidate for the Board, a candidate who has been supposedly recruited by someone in Governor Pawlenty's office, in a blatant attempt to thwart the work of 4 year students across the state”

Will Governor Pawlenty appoint a student who did not recieve the support of the student associations and is attending a private school to represent a public school? If so, expect more ‘error of judgments’ from Pawlenty’s appointments!

Oogles of Omens

Minnesota has a shining bright northstar to guide it, but the star has been obscured by ever growing number of clouds. Today's news headlines says it all, the northstar is possibly fading away:

Record Number of Heating-bill delinquencies jump

Utilities, facing a record numbers of past-due accounts, have begun disconnecting service for thousands of customers...

MN Unemployment jumps above national average

Minnesota's unemployment rate in May jumped above the national jobless rate for the first time on record going back 31 years.

The future of downtown is threathen by beggars

87% reported reported being panhandled at least twice in the past month..

(note- I don't personally agree with the bend of this article but I believe there is a growing beggar population and it's root cause needs to be explored)

State's Labor-force Participation Slips

Other bad news in May’s report included the state’s labor-force participation rate, or the number of people employed or looking for a job, slipped to 72.9, its lowest level since the early 1990s. It was near 77 percent six years ago

From first rate to third world? Not yet but we need to pay attention to the omens...our state is changing under the tutelage of 'not new taxes' and vetoes of necessary legislation. Without a committment to improved schools, healthcare, roads, and jobs, Minnesota is doomed to slid every deeper into a state of disarray.

Big Payday For 'Abstinence Only' Programs

Always follow the money... $27 million increase in "abstinence-only" programs? Might as well take the money and stick it up their arses…ah but I guess that should be ours for not considering the economics of getting rich off of ‘Just Say No’:

Over the past six years George W. Bush's faith-based Administration and a conservative Republican Congress transformed the small-time abstinence-only business into a billion-dollar industry. These dangerously ineffective sexual health enterprises flourish not because they spread "family values" but because of generous helpings of the same pork-heavy gumbo Bush & Co. brought to war-blighted Iraq and Katrina-hammered New Orleans--a mix of back-scratching cronyism, hefty partisan campaign donations, high-dollar lobbyists, a revolving door for political appointees and a lack of concern for results.

One of the chief cooks is a media-shy 63-year-old Catholic multimillionaire, welfare privatizer and Republican donor named Raymond Ruddy. With close ties to the White House, federal health officials and Republican power brokers that date back to W.'s days as Texas governor, Ruddy has leveraged his generous wallet and insider muscle to push an ultraconservative social agenda, enrich a preferred network of abstinence-only and antiabortion groups, boost profits for his company and line the pockets of his cronies--all with taxpayer dollars

Tuesday's Cherry Tomatoes

Will Scooter Libby be joining Paris in home arrest? Or will the Preznut pardon him completely?

Imagine what $250,000 can buy?

Who knew bombs could be gay (not that there’s anything wrong with it!)?

What’s the reason Florida continually throws itself under the buses wheels? Really, maybe we should just remove them from the union until they behave!?

General Petraeus had already decided that come this September he's going to call the surge a resounding success, even before it's over. Think Progress documents early success. (When Bush said that Petraeus was the right man for the job he apparently meant the con job.)

Don't Ask Or I'll Tell

Along the whole gay bomb thingy... From John Aravosis (DC):

We're at war, we don't have enough men and women in uniform, we definitely can't keep up with translating all the terrorist chatter, so we're kicking out the very people who can translate them. Did you know that we intercepted a key conversation in Arabic the day before September 11 saying that the attack was imminent? We didn't get it translated in time. It's a very simple calculation. What matters more to you - keeping gays out of the military or stopping the next September 11?

Pawlenty of Potholes

Minnesota has Pawlenty of Potholes. Since the Governor has vetoed (sigh) most all bills, don’t expect improvement. I see where the GOP tout Timmy's holding the line on taxes and therefore we (Minnesotans) have fallen out of the top tax bracket..oh goody! Now Minnesota is just...average: "when taxes and spending are measured as a percentage of personal income, Minnesota has fallen to 23rd in taxes and 31st in state and local government spending". Once we hit bottom, then will Pawlenty work for the financial well being of this state instead of scoring partisan points with Republicans?

Don’t you feel better with more potholes, traffic congestion, declining graduates, thousands of children with no health insurance and increased poverty…but hey…we kept taxes down…sort of…okay property taxes don’t count…

Pawlenty of Vetos Hurts Minnesotans

Pawlenty’s vetos this session have done nothing other than block the fiscally sane management of our state, interfered, delayed or depleted funding of needed programs including transportation, killed federal matching monies, put cities at risk next year, and now will let our property taxes fill in the funding gaps!

Surely Pawlenty now has the honor of being the most irresponsible governor in Minnesota’s history. Why does he hate Minnesotan's so much?

From WCCO: Moorhead City Manager Bruce Messelt said because of Pawlenty's veto, Moorhead will not receive $2.9 million in local government aid it was hoping for. Messelt said that money is used to provide police and fire protection, run the city library and fund local park and recreation programs.

From Niel Ritchie: Governor Pawlenty’s veto of the tax bills slammed the door on $462 million dollars of property tax relief for Minnesota businesses and homeowners this year. That is especially bad news for Greater Minnesota residents, who bore the brunt of the Governor’s cuts to schools (9.9 percent) and local government aid (30.9 percent) during his first term.

From Cook County News-Herald: Late last Wednesday, Pawlenty sent a letter to Speaker of the Minnesota House, Margaret Anderson Kelliher, informing her that he had vetoed House File 2268, Chapter 149 — the Omnibus Tax Bill. In so doing, he left the Ham Lake Fire victims and Cook County local governments high and dry. Not to mention the tourist industry’s sales and lodging taxes and the North Shore Hospital and Care Center, and much more.

From Swift County Monitor-News: The veto eliminates more than $70 million in local government aids (LGA) and $33 million in direct property tax relief for Minnesotans

From Austin News: Chances for modest property tax relief for homeowners from the 2007 Legislative session died Wednesday, the victim of Gov. Tim Pawlenty's veto pen and a dispute over including inflation in the state's budget forecasts.

Wednesday's Random Waxings

What do you get when you question the former head of the Justice Department’s civil rights division during an investigation into allegations of voter discriminations against American Indians in Minnesota?

1. Poor recollections, lies, and finger pointing
2. former MN Secretary of State Mary Kiffmeyer
3. Tom Heffelfinger on a master list of prosecutors to be considered for dismissal
4. All of the above

Stay tuned folks, this will get even uglier as the complete story unravels unfolds and the coverup lies truth comes out.

How does Senator Norm Coleman know that the French aren’t as brave as us and why is he always putting them down?

Minnesota is above average! But that’s not always good.

A womanizer, sexual predator and cheat, a quintessential good soldier who mislead the world and failed America, and a right wing pathological liar and media hack….Are you feeling motivated yet? Shouldn't half of these presenters be in jail?

It’s nesting time for turtles, so please drive carefully.

Snakes Alive In Minnesota!

This is a story about a den of poisonous snakes striking each other with thier deadly vemon after a dismal showing last election. They attack each other personally (sound familiar?) rather than address the underlying reasons for losing their base of support. As usual they increasingly demonization anyone that doesn't totally share their beliefs or views... including their own!

Joe Reypa, candidate for MN GOP Chair, lashes out by stating:

"...The truth is, I was offered the position as the National Chairman for Veterans Outreach for McCain 2008 not State Chairman for McCain. I turned down the offer because of the despicable condition the Minnesota Party is in following a greatly mismanaged and poorly executed election in 2006….And unlike my competition for Party Chair, I will not attack the qualifications or integrity of any of the Republican Presidential candidates."

We all realize that while proclaiming to not attack, Joe's attacking. How silly of him to think we don't realize 'despciable', 'mismanaged' and poorly executed' are attacking words! Makes you wonder if he's behind the leaked memo?

Naturally there’s talk of this being part of the Stribs liberal political agenda (yeah like they mismanaged GOP money?!) and accusations abound including the wild ass thought that Andy would pick the law over the GOP party! These glossy GOPers, there’s always more than meets the eye. Sure it's a pretty picture and nice teeth but where's the flag and family?

This has all the markings of a good mini-series. Naturally I won't ruin it by telling you the ending but let's just say 'they get what they reaped'. The cliff notes for this rant are posted up at The Fruit Fly (no link out to Truthsurfer- but so be it!).

Coming soon, Snakes in MN I and II...