This past Sunday those who tuned into This Week on ABC saw first hand how far our government leaders have strayed from the guidelines set down in the constitution that established this country. We saw first-hand that we are no longer a republic with leaders who recognize that their first responsibility is to listen carefully to their constituents. Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi flatly refused to listen to the vast majority of Americans who are demanding both short term and long term solutions to sky-rocketing energy costs while we shift our economy away from fossil fuels because she has decided “saving the planet” is more imperative than helping the poor and middle class in our society. Somehow it is more important to prevent a catastrophe that may never occur than to deal with the needs of the people today. She chooses to exercise unbridled power to force the environmental special interest agenda upon this nation no matter what the cost to its citizens.
Unfortunately, she is not alone. The candidate selected for president by the Democrat Party promises to avert this energy crisis even though, in his own words, “It will take nothing less than a complete transformation of our economy.” Words that eerily echo the words of Al Gore in his book, “Earth in the Balance” first published in 1993 that it will, “take nothing less than a wrenching transformation” of our economy and society to prevent catastrophic damage to the earth. The message to the citizens of this nation is, “we know best, so we will determine your best interests for you”. We are not concerned with listening to the people we were elected to represent and accurately following their wishes. We are much better suited to determine what is best for those we govern no matter what cost or pain and suffering results.
Our current and would be leaders are no longer committed to serving the people who elected them. They are committed to implementing their vision of a perfect world in spite of the people who elected them. It doesn’t matter how wrenching the transformation of the existing world may be. Better to sacrifice all in search of the perfect world than put the idealism that fosters this quest in check and face realities in the here and now.
I just got word of this press release from the MN Republican House Caucus about news of significant Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) welfare abuse in Minnesota. Have a look at this simple visual, and hum along to the theme of "49 of these states have something in common, which one of these states just doesn't belong?"
When I first looked at this chart, I thought, OK, the upper midwest is the problem area for excessive welfare transactions. Then my jaw hit the table when I looked at how astronomically high the land of 10,000 lakes was compared to EVERY other state. This is beyond scandalous to anyone who cares about fiscal responsibility, abuse of an already too-liberal system, and general self reliance.
Here's the story on EBT madness.
SAINT PAUL – (August 7, 2008) – Citing millions of state taxpayer dollars being spent in other states through the use of Electronic Benefit Transfer (EBT) cards, Minnesota House Republicans today called for legislative hearings and an audit of the state’s EBT system.
House Republican Leader Marty Seifert said exploding out-of-state costs are costing taxpayers millions of dollars.
The EBT card provides cash and food support benefits to Minnesotans. In 2007, 12.9 million transactions totaling $496,330,741.25 were made. Of those transactions, 309,717 took place in states other than Minnesota for a total of $10,226,758.50.
“Minnesota welfare benefits should be provided to Minnesota families in need. When the state of Minnesota is facing a major budget crisis, we cannot turn a blind eye to the potential misuse of taxpayer dollars,” Seifert said. “The average Minnesotans deserves to know why $1.3 million is being spent in Illinois and 126 transactions are taking place in Hawaii. Hundreds of thousands of transactions are taking place in the other 49 states and that's a huge concern.”
According to the Minnesota Department of Human Services Web site, misuse of the Minnesota EBT card is unlawful. Defrauding the system or selling an EBT card or pin number to others could result in criminal charges and loss of benefits. While it is not illegal to use EBT cards in other states, House Republicans question the financial accountability of those transactions.
“There is a financial responsibility on behalf of the State of Minnesota to ensure that taxpayer dollars are not being abused,” said Representative Laura Brod. “The welfare system is growing exponentially and receiving a greater share of the state’s budget. We want to take care of families in need but also ensure that no one is abusing the system for their own financial gain at the expense of Minnesota families struggling to pay their own bills.
House Republicans are calling for legislative hearings and an audit of the EBT system to put concerns of potential fraud and misuse of state taxpayer dollars to rest.
“An efficient government is an effective government,” Seifert said. “Government must be held accountable for fiscal responsibility, particularly in cases of fraud or misuse of taxpayer dollars.”
Written by The Big Stink
Thursday, 07 August 2008 08:11
The problem with liberalism has always been that it never thinks two steps ahead. It lives in the moment. A liberal has always been like a dog at dinner time – you can always make them forget what they were doing with the sound of food being put in the dish. From Rush Limbaugh we learn that New York state has become that dog and that dish. Governor David Paterson has gone so far as to call New York “a social services economy.” In short, a welfare state.
A recent poll found out that 78% of the New Yorkers want to increase income taxes in the state – even while the state is in a recession. The dogs are barking. They know there’s food in the fridge and they want it!
From Limbaugh’s site:
“a poll finds that 78% of New Yorkers favor raising the income tax on New Yorkers who make $1 million or more per year as a way to get out of the state's fiscal crisis. They're already paying the highest combined tax rate in the country and still it's not enough. Seventy-eight percent of New Yorkers agree with this. The poll, by the way, shows support for a proposal by the New York assembly's Democrat majority to help fill a projected $6.4 billion deficit for the coming year. Opponents say a higher tax will drive employers away, and it might drive some employees away. 78% of New Yorkers want to raise income taxes on people who earn a million dollars a year or more.”
Now, the undeniable conclusion is when a majority of people want to raid the pantry of the minority of the “rich,” the rich will leave and take their pantries with them.
Prediction: In 20 years America will be clearly divided into producer states and social service states.
Jurors didn't buy what this illegal alien and her defense team were selling. From the StarTribune:
In the end, a Kandiyohi County jury believed that Olga Franco was behind the wheel of a van when it plowed into a loaded Cottonwood school bus nearly six months ago, killing four students and injuring 17.
The 24-year-old Guatemalan native, who had claimed that her boyfriend was driving the van, showed no emotion when the verdict was read -- guilty on all 24 counts, including criminal vehicular homicide and criminal vehicular injury. Family members of the victims wept quietly as the verdict was read about 10 p.m.
Hunter and Jesse's father, Marty Javens, called the verdict "a big plus to the community."
"We can start working ourselves back to normal," he said, adding that he was "still kind of in shock."
Kim Louwagie, the mother of two children injured in the crash, said, "One of the fears that my children had is that this person could get away and do this again to other kids."
Now, she said, she could tell them that that won't happen.
A man I hoped to call Mr. President back in 1996, then again in 2000 will be coming to town to speak at the Inaugural Dinner of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Committee for Heritage.
But Forbes for all his fiscal discipline attraction did not have the charisma chops, and we elected George W. Bush. Although Bush has been excellent on fighting back against terrorism, and getting us solid SCOTUS apponitments, the spending he approved and the direction of pork within the GOP under him has been a disaster for the party. That was then, this is now; guessing what life under a President Forbes would be like is unimportant.
Steve Forbes has been busy since the runs for the presidency, some may remember this time last year he was involved in the Giuliani campaign—he was one of the reasons I had some hopes for the campaign. Forbes was also one of the big wheels behind pushing for abolishing the IRS by way of the Flat Tax. Mr. Forbes is the author of Flat Tax Revolution: Using a Postcard to Abolish the IRS (Regnery, 2005). He also wrote A New Birth of Freedom (Regnery, 1999), a book of bold ideas for the new millennium.
Come out and see him and welcome in the new Minneapolis/St. Paul Committee for Heritage
CHAIRMAN AND CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER, FORBES INC., AND TRUSTEE, THE HERITAGE FOUNDATION
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Minneapolis Marriott City Center • 30 South 7th Street, Minneapolis, Minnesota
7:00 p.m. Dinner featuring Keynote Speaker Steve Forbes
Please RSVP by Thursday, August 21, 2008. For additional information, please contact Emily Davis. Call: (202) 608-1524 Fax: (202) 675-1753 E-mail:
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it
Can't make it? Watch the Steve Forbes dinner live online at www.MyHeritage.org on August 28, 2008.
Awake to the Che alarm clock, smoke a bedside bong, have some green tea, rub on the patchouli ointment with indigenous soil to look and smell the part, pull on the olive drab hemp togs for the day, then step on down to the curbs of sunny St. Paul for a week of America, GOP, western civ, Bush McChimpHitler, conformity hating. A great day in the life of a paid protester in Amerikkka.
Anarkids really have life soft. If they honestly wanted to do some protesting of oppression, they ought to step on over to the middle kingdom in the smog filled streets outside the Olympics where they would last about 10 minutes before the eager young fit men with green suits and small but very effective clubs would change their attitude for as long as is needed...
Behind the gray walls and barbed wire of the prison here, eight Chinese farmers with a grievance against the government have been consigned to Olympic limbo.
Their indefinite detainment, relatives and neighbors said, is the price they are paying for stirring up trouble as China prepares to host the Beijing Games. Trouble, the Communist Party has made clear, will not be permitted.
"My bet is the authorities won't let them out until after the Olympics," said Wang Xiahua, a veteran anti-government agitator from this farm town 180 miles southwest of Beijing and a supporter of the imprisoned farmers.
The Olympic Games have become the occasion for a broad crackdown against dissidents, gadflies and malcontents this summer. Although human rights activists say they have no accurate estimate of how many people have been imprisoned, they believe the figure to be in the thousands.
The crackdown comes seven years after the secretary general of the Beijing Olympic Bid Committee declared that staging the Games in the Chinese capital would "not only promote our economy but also enhance all social conditions, including education, health and human rights."
Now that Mr. Obama has completed his International pep rally tour we are beginning to see agenda of the man behind the soaring rhetoric of change and it is a very scary sight indeed. We will change from the world leader in science and technology to an impoverished nation struggling harness minimal energy at incredible cost. We will change from a people free to move around this vast continent to a people who can only go where rapid transit, bicycles, or our feet can take us. We will change from a nation with abundant, inexpensive food to one whose residents are condemned to pay increasing percentages of their income for poorer quality less abundant food. That, by the way, is limited to what we can produce within 100 miles of our homes.
Forget the readily available fresh produce in winter. If you can’t grow it locally you will have to do without it. Folks in states like California will see little change. This will not be true for the Northern tier of States unless the very Global Warming we are called upon to sacrifice all these things to end really does change the climate there. We will no longer be able to afford to live in states like Minnesota, Vermont and Montana because the cost for energy to heat and light our homes will be greater than budgets can bear after paying increased taxes to support everything from free college educations to eliminating taxes for over 37 million Americans.
We are seeing a man who has campaigned steadfastly on the need to end the war in Iraq win or lose to create instant support from citizens committed to peace world wide. We have learned that his plan to reduce the number of troops in Iraq does not mean our men and women will be coming home. It means they will be going to Afghanistan and likely, soon enough, Darfur.
Our young men and women will be called upon to serve at the behest of the United Nations and meddle in other countrie's affairs rather than protect and defend their home land and constitution. We are seeing a man eager to embrace the European Union’s proposed solutions to Global Warming which include incredibly high energy costs, greatly restricted travel, higher costs of goods and services, and greatly reduced standards of living. I ask you, is this change we can believe in? Is this change we aspire to? Is this your vision of 21st Century America? It certainly isn’t mine.
I've been so busy pondering the Republican dilemma of whether it is better to stand on principle and lose [the election] or to moderate principle and win, that I failed to notice that Democrats have already made their choice. They've decided to stand on principle, and I think they're going to lose because of it. Oh, I know that Barack Obama has flip-flopped on everything and everybody in the last few months of the campaign, but he is still standing firm on the principle that HE should be the President. Even though he may be the least qualified candidate in modern history, he will still get the nomination, because other Democrats will stand on the principle that black people must be promoted because they're black and despite their lack of qualifications.
I was concerned for a while that Democrats might be sensible, and choose a presidential candidate with a better chance of winning, but that concern dissipated when Al Franken easily won the DFL nomination for US Senate. Even though Angry Al is also a poor candidate, I predict he will easily win his primary. The DFL will stand firm on the principle that anyone who attacks Republicans, no matter how crude, lewd or unsavory they may be doing it, is still better than any Republican.
DFL legislators this year held firm to the principle that they could spend your money more wisely than you can and Senate DFL leader Larry Pogemiller publicly said so. Then they passed several billion dollars worth of new taxes, on top of the 10% increase in the State budget and followed up with a billion-dollar bonding bill, just in case there were not already enough taxpayer-funded geegaws and shiny baubles for every politician to take home.
Lastly, we have Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi shutting down the House rather than debate the possibility of using the oil we already have in this country rather than buying it overseas. I was not outraged at Ms. Pelosi on this, but at the Republicans, who seemed too intent on trying to solve the problem and not intent enough on playing politics with the issue until November. They seemed too interested in compromising on the principle of free markets and not interested enough in winning the election. I now realize that Speaker Pelosi will not yield on the issue, regardless of Republican pressure. She is standing firmly on the principle that she must "save the planet" by allowing foreign countries to drill for oil on their half of the planet (and in less environmentally sensitive ways than would we) rather than allow American businesses and consumers to benefit from drilling on our side of the planet. It doesn't matter that this position makes no sense to you and me, or even to an objective observer, because the fundamental principle you can depend on Democrats to maintain is that they are smarter and more noble than all the rest of us. I hope they continue to stand on such principles, and lose. Maybe, just maybe, Republicans can figure out a principle or three they can stand on to win.
Today a study came that reports that state and local governments are on track to spend more than $2 trillion dollars in operation expenses by the end of 2008, a rate that amounts to about 13% of the entire Gross Domestic Profit of the nation. The cost of operations on the state and local levels are currently growing at 3 times the rate when compared to 2007.
This increase in these government expenses is attributable primarily to new employees and higher compensation packages for them and existing staff. In fact, today the Governor of California signed an executive order terminating more than 10,000 part-time and seasonal employees and reducing 200,000 full-time employees wages to the federal minimum wage of $6.55 per hour and suspending all overtime, hiring, transfers and promotions in order to help close the $15.2 billion gap between revenue and spending while Democrats in the state Congress are calling for increased taxes and Republicans are calling for additional cost cuts. As the old saying goes, “As California goes so goes the country”.
Unfortunately, we have folks in all levels of government who display the same cognitive disconnect between revenue and spending. Just today the presumptive Democratic candidate for President demonstrated that he is just as “unclear on the concept” when he called for an additional stimulus package that will give families each $1,000 to help tide them over in the face of high gas and heating costs expenses. Since the last stimulus didn’t quite have the effect he expected, he wants to repeat the action expecting a different income. Oh, and did I mention he wants us to trust his judgment?
It seems that some of our wise and wonderful Congressional representatives have come to the realization that when folks reduce their driving to save money in the face of the alarming cost of gas these days, there is less revenue available to repair our crumbling bridges. What, you may ask, is their solution to this dilemma? Why we must increase the federal gas tax by 40 cents a gallon! Of course, we can’t use the resources the nation has available within its boundaries. Those must be saved for future generations and of course, we all must sacrifice to, in the words of the illustrious Speaker of the House, “we must save the planet!”! My question is, how will increasing the gas tax produce the revenue stream for transportation maintenance, if we can’t afford pay for gas for our cars now? When will our elected officials realize that we can’t tax our way out of this crisis?
Students of Martin Luther will no doubt spend some time in his lengthy discussions and writings on The Law and The Gospel. A reflection that there are times and situations when one or the other should be emphasized while never losing sight of the other. There are times to offer a message of hope, a time for a firm lesson, good acvice, consoling, prayer, reflection, rejoicing and so on.
This morning I read of one story I knew about that is a case for rejoicing—that of the engagement of the first MOB couple. I wrote about it last New Year's Eve prematurely here, and that post still stands. I missed the party for them last night since I was at the MFMI Milton Friedman birthday. Here's to Ben and Faith again. Read a wonderful account from Ben here.
I was reading Leo's short note on the Keegan's party for the young couple this morning and saw he had another story up about his family that is a time for prayer. The story is ironicly about another young engaged couple.
Our son Doug and future daughter-in-law were involved in a motorcycle accident last night, as they hit a deer.
We received the call around 1am, after which we directly picked up and headed for Fargo--I've been up all night.
Our son is doing well, outside of some road rash, but his girlfriend is currently in an induced coma;
This past Monday, Unconventional Denver made an offer they knew the city would refuse: divert the $50 million of federal grant money to provide convention security to local communities. Here is a snip of their official statement:
This government does not care about meeting people's needs. AT&T, Lockheed Martin, Coca Cola -- Obama will serve the same big money that all politicians end up serving. As anarchists working towards dismantling this corrupt political system of violence and corporate greed, we are not going to allow this spectacle to go uninterrupted -- unless the City of Denver, the Federal Government and the DemocraticParty can prove us wrong.
...
So we come here today with this offer: If the Democrats and their allies in the city government of Denver can show their good faith ... can show they are immediately working for real positive change by using their 50 million dollar federal grant for something better than crushing democracy then we will change our plans. If they are willing to do this, then Unconventional Denver and hundreds of anarchists coming to town will sit this one out. We anarchists are willing to call off all of our protests, if the democrats are willing to call off their occupation of Denver and re-invest their police budget toward real community security.
New elementary schools; healthcare for the uninsured; providing clean, renewable energy to the city -- 50 million dollars could do all of this. If this money is used to concretely demonstrate that meeting people's needs will be the top priority of the Democratic Party and the City of Denver instead of protecting the robber barons of today, we will spend the last week of August with our friends and family continuing our work of furthering our communities instead of direct action confronting the Democratic National Convention.
Otherwise... . we'll see you in the streets.
The anarchists stated early on that they know their wishes "will never happen," and "there will be no democracy within the DNC." So, they cried for attention as all anarkids do, with a silly press conference. Police warned of one of their possible tactics: spraying from "urine-filled Super Soakers." To Denver workers, residents and convention-goers that might cross their path: keep a change of clothes handy.
I think perhaps Representative Lyndon Carlson has been breathing the rarified air of St. Paul for too long. His letter to the editor published in the Crystal & Robbinsdale Post this morning, July 30, 2008 definitely shows just how out of touch he is with his constituents. He is so busy taking bows for the success of the Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota’s success in getting about $24 million not to fix crumbling infrastructure, address severe shortages in school district budgets, or even aid local communities struggling to meet police and fire services with dwindling budgets due to falling property tax revenues. No, it is to provide environmental education, collect essential natural resource information, and protect and improve habitat and water quality so future generations will thank him, oops I mean us, for these efforts.
His own website states that “the Legislature must remain committed to a sound and fair tax system that adequately funds essential services and does not over burden our citizens”. It says he is a strong supporter of improved property tax refunds for homeowners and renters. Unfortunately, that support does not include re-prioritizing budget allocations to fit current pressing needs or reducing the amount of government spending so property taxes are reduced rather than refunded. Surely 36 years of tax and spend is enough. It’s about time we had some commonsense and fiscal responsibility in St. Paul
Reading my morning paper today, July 30, 2008 was an interesting commentary on the contrasts between the two prevalent worldviews represented by the two major political parties. The contrast between them at all party levels is never starker than in an election year. Throw in surging oil costs, a collapsing housing market and failing infrastructure and the pandering for power becomes even more obvious across all levels of government.
Locally, on the same day that the Minneapolis Tribune is reporting that delayed maintenance on a known problem on the 35W Bridge contributed significantly to its collapse, we are favored with a letter to the editor by state Senators Ann Rest and Terri Bonoff assuring their constituents that they support spending to “rebuild another backbone highway”.
Now superficially, this is definitely a worthy project given the bottlenecks that these stoplights create, however, in my humble opinion, this is, or should be, an extremely low priority given the current condition of our bridge infrastructure. It is past time to rein in spending on comprehensive planning and devote the funding saved to the more immediate need to address our crumbling infrastructure.
It is frustrating to have to sit in congested traffic at a stoplight. It is fatal to cross over or under a crumbling bridge.
I had two people come to my door last night right at dinner time. You can always tell a door knocking political operative, they'll have literature, a clipboard, often travel in pairs. In this case a young lass with nose ring, fair hair and light colored summer wear, and a man in his late 40s with round glasses, a ball cap, and cargo shorts. If I were a betting man I would have made book on them being with some group on the left, but I stepped out to hear the pitch and see what they wanted. They said right away they were only looking for my wife. OK then, this was a specific targeted effort. I called to her and stood back quieting the dog, close enough so I could hear the pitch.
They were with the union hand delivering teacher's union endorsed literature and asking who all of their union members were voting for. They also wanted to know what issues concerned her most. She did not hold back, she said “the war and our troops, I’m for it and them, you guys won’t like me, I’m a Republican.” They had a brief conversation, nothing confrontational, just wanted to get their numbers down, give her a scarlet letter, and of course to hand out the anti-Paulsen/Coleman/McCain Pro-Madia/Franken/Obama literature.
UPDATE, The wife writes me after reading to add:Here’s a few add ons. I specifically said when asked who I would vote for that “I am the worst union member, I am a Republican.” to which they replied, you vote a straight republican ticket?, I said yes and then the lass said “ok let me just mark that down here” and she did.
Then the gentleman changed the subject to talk about Ginger and the lass talked about her Siberian Husky. Then the gentleman said we are just going door to door to make sure that people are informed voters. He asked if I wanted their literature and I said sure I would take it. I took it out of curiosity to see what they were pushing and took it so it would be one less piece of propaganda in easily persuaded hands.
On the AFL CIO produced Paulsen/Madia piece, they proudly note that Madia will be co-sponsoring the Employee Free Choice Act. Going door to door is a concentrated effort to be sure. It would be nice if our teachers in K-12 and higher ed, and other employees in the education industry were not pushed by their own unions to vote for their perpetual party of choice—the Democrats.
Here are some new ads speaking the plain truth from UnionFacts.com. Learn more here.
NRO's lead campaign reporter Jim Geraghty posted at 4:00 today more news of a possible lean towards Minnesota's Governor Tim Pawlenty as the likely VP pick for McCain...
If Pawlenty Was McCain's Pick, His Schedule Would Presumably Suddenly Change
A source tells me that Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty is John McCain's choice, and that the announcement is coming very soon. But I checked with the American Legislative Exchange Council, who Pawlenty is scheduled to address Wednesday at 11:30. As far as they know, his speech is still on.
So I urge skepticism. Maybe Pawlenty is the choice, and it's coming later. Or perhaps this was just an overreaction to the news that Pawlenty is going to Iowa Saturday for the state Republican party.
Skepticism noted. Allahpundit has more here, including this less than rosy critique.
Here’s a bullet-point argument, again from TNR, about why Pawlenty is a “slam dunk” pick. His working-class pedigree is all to the good, but between the lack of name recognition and the “boring old Republican white guy” effect, I’m underwhelmed. He doesn’t even have serious religious cred to reassure antsy evangelicals. Let’s hope the report’s wrong, although given the general savviness of McCain’s campaign these days, it probably isn’t.
McCain—rock solid on no new taxes? Depends on who he's talking to and when in the campaign cycle we find him.
Ramesh Ponnuru just posted pieces of two interviews at The Corner with Senator McCain concerning raising taxes under a President McCain. The first with Ponnuru himself, McCain could not be more clear that there is no way this can happen. Then Yesterday with former Clinton wunderkind, George Stephanapolis, well...
Ponnuru: If you could get the Democrats to agree, or at least to come to the table on entitlements or on tax simplification, are those circumstances under which you’d be willing to accept a tax increase?
MCCAIN: I am a supporter of sitting down together and putting everything on the table and coming up with an answer. So, there is nothing I would take off the table. There was nothing I would demand.
I think that's the way that Ronald Reagan and Tip O'Neill did it. And that's what we have to do again. . . . I have said and will say, I will say that everything has to be on the table, if we're going to reach a bipartisan agreement. I've been in bipartisan negotiations before. I know how you reach a conclusion. We all have to sit down together with everything on the table.
STEPHANOPOULOS: So, that means payroll tax increases are on the table, as well?
MCCAIN: There is nothing that's off the table. I have my positions, and I'll articulate them. But nothing's off the table.
I don't want tax increases. Of course I'd like to have young Americans have some of their money put into an account with their name on it. But that doesn't mean that anything is off the table...
SD-45's House Representative has been in office 36 years and is seeking yet another term this November. His GOP opponent (in a blue district) is out block-walking and finding even DFL voters surprised and aghast when they're presented with the incumbent's history. Gregg Prest is seeking a humorous way to let voters know he's running to defeat this "lifer" with a long history of voting to raise taxes. Volunteers came up with an idea for a character and "ran with it"...
The following is a portion of a Twin Cities IndyMedia article submitted by an angry anarkid. He/She/It was "made" by a police officer as soon as he/she/it walked in to a gas station in the 7 Corners area of Minneapolis. Fisking is unnecessary, but I will offer a cautionary "do not drink while reading this" warning...
Pre-RNC Police Harassment. Minneapolis, MN.
Beloved Dissidents,
On July 20th around 8:30 AM I stopped to look at a map at Bobby and Steve's, a gas station near the corner of Cedar and Washington, immediately following the construction of a freeway entrance. Apparently this is a common hang-out spot for the thugs. As I walked through the entrance of the convenience store I saw an MPD pig drinking coffee directly to my left. He was facing the lot and as he was positioned in front of the window, he had seen me coming. I hadn't slept the night before and had just walked a couple of miles with a heavy pack. So, beyond my inherent distaste for such swine, when he leaned back in his chair, folded his arms and flashed me a grin demanding my submission, I did not smile back but continued walking to my right where I would look for a map. At this point I had dismissed his degrading presence simply hoping I could buy a map for less than three dollars. When the cashier told me I would owe him eight fifty, I put it back on the rack and headed toward the door. On my way out I saw the pig approaching me. He attempted to block my path and asked, "You new in town?" I continued walking, and by the time I reached the door he added, "You're about a month early aren't you?" As I was with a friend who was taking a piss, I walked outside and stood on the sidewalk in front of the one-stop-shop-consumer-bin. He followed me out. "Now you can't just go around scowling at officers in this town, we'll be all over you." I'd had it, "Quit harassing me!" He mocked me and continued to follow as I walked away. Another "Here about a month early" and a "Take a bath, you stink." I told him he was the fucking Patriarchy embodied then he threatened to arrest me for offending him. "Fuck off," was my last defense before I completely left the lot. As I walked away he made a pathetic attempt to demand my ID and that was the last of the interaction. Unfortunately, I tried to remember the name he wore on his name badge, but by the time I collected myself and continued walking out of sight with my friend, it had disappeared from my memory.
....
More recently, an individual associated with the RNC Welcoming Committee was confronted by two cops who identified themselves as officers from Hennepin County Sheriff’s Department. The individual was walking to their car. The two cops had arrived in a black SUV. When they approached the individual, they asked questions about the RNC Welcoming Committee's promotional video released a year earlier (http://youtube.com/watch?v=j6PLwOt0Bls). No names or badge numbers were collected, but the individual refused to answer their questions and left. Expect a more detailed statement from the RNC Welcoming Committee.
Not to be surprised, surveillance and harassment is poppin off! If you have a run-in or receive a visit from police regarding the upcoming RNC, publicize far and wide or contact the RNC Welcoming Committee. It's in everyones best interest to know who the enemy is and how they pathetically attempt to keep us down.
-A friend.
"You're about a month early, aren't you?" Priceless.
I nominate this officer for a preRNC commendation!
There is a saying that if you say something long enough and often enough, that people will believe it as fact.
One "Truism" is that a conservative candidate cannot appeal to the inner city, or African American voter.
There IS a way to appeal to this block of voters on either a nationwide level, or here in the Gopher State: Vouchers.
African American parents are voting with their kids' feet and taking them out urban public schools. They have reached a point where they are increasingly unhappy with substandard education and facilities in inner city schools. In Minneapolis, an increased number are open-enrolling their kids to suburban districts and charter schools.
The Democrats are still very much in the pocket of the NEA, who have been against any significant reform in public education for years. In spite of the fact that per pupil dollars have gone way up in Minneapolis, even inner city families are realizing that the system is not doing right by their kids, they are-in the words of the late Peter Finch-"Mad as hell, and they are not going to take it anymore." An increasing number of African American parents are not buying into what the teacher's unions have been selling them the past few years. They want a better education for their kids, and they want ityesterday, as my former boss in the Air Force, Armand Prudeaux would say when something needed to get done ASAP.
I think that Republican candidates will find a more receptive audience with urban communities on this issue, and it's a subject that should be bought up more frequently.
The little brother to the bass is the cello and responsible for the wonderfully stabilizing middle low string tones of the orchestra. The cello can also be a moving voice all on its own, and in the hands of a master like Pau (Pablo) Casals i Defilló one can appreciate why Johann Sebastian Bach composed his Cello Suites.
At the right is the first page of the timeless Suite No. 1 in G major written out by his wife Anna.
I don't pretend to be any sort of authority on these wonderful pieces that thanks to Casals, have become so well-known to us, but here is a brief history courtesy Wikipedia:
The Six Suites for Unaccompanied Cello by Johann Sebastian Bach are acclaimed as some of the greatest works ever written for solo cello. They were most likely composed during the period 1717–1723, when Bach served as a Kapellmeister in Cöthen.
The suites contain a great variety of technical devices, a wide range of emotional content, and some of Bach's most compelling voice interactions and conversations. It is their intimacy, however, that has made the suites amongst Bach's most popular works today, resulting in their different recorded interpretations being fiercely defended by their respective advocates.
An exact chronology of the suites (regarding both the order in which the suites were composed and whether they were composed before or after the solo violin sonatas) cannot be completely established. However, scholars generally believe that—based on a comparative analysis of the styles of the sets of works—the cello suites arose first, effectively dating the suites pre-1720, the year on the title page of Bach's autograph of the violin sonatas.
The suites were not widely known before the 1900s, and for a long time it was generally thought that the pieces were intended to be études. However, after discovering Grützmacher's edition in a thrift shop, Pablo Casals began studying and performing the works, although it was 35 years before he agreed to record the pieces, becoming the first to create a complete record of all 6 suites. Their popularity soared soon after, and Casals's original recording is still widely available today.
Here is Suite 1 performed by Pau Casals in 2 parts filmed in 1954 in the Abbaye Saint-Michel-de-Cuxa.
Beautiful.
Here is Casals being both firm and kind with a masters class of cellists.
Here is a must see interview with Casals at the age of 95 with the his portrait sculptor doing double duty as interviewer. Among the questions, why did he chose the cello of all the many instruments. Also, he speaks of his great love for America and Americans.
And here is the contemporary rock star of the cellist set, Yo Yo Ma performing the prelude ot Suite 1 (apologies on background noise).
Veering from Bach, but staying on Yo Yo Ma, I had to include this great performance of my favorite score composer, Ennio Morricne's Theme from Once Upon A Time in America.
A man I hoped to call Mr. President back in 1996, then again in 2000 will be coming to town to speak at the Inaugural Dinner of the Minneapolis/St. Paul Committee for Heritage.
This past Monday, Unconventional Denver made an offer they knew the city would refuse: divert the $50 million of federal grant money to provide convention security to local communities. Here is a snip of their 
The little brother to the bass is the cello and responsible for the wonderfully stabilizing middle low string tones of the orchestra. The cello can also be a moving voice all on its own, and in the hands of a master like 
