Friday Funnies!

A powerful tool for the advancement of intellectual diversity and academic truth.

Are you sick and tired of having your kids arrive home from school announcing that they've just learned that Karl Marx created the Earth, that Buenaventura Durruti invented fire or that the sole purpose of Columbus's voyage was conquest via biological genocide?

Well take heart dear readers, from our friends at the Center of the American Experiment comes welcome news.

From Randy Wanke, Director of Communications of CAE; an important announcement:

IntellectualTakeout.com was created by Center of the American Experiment, a conservative think tank located in Minnesota, to provide students with the intellectual ammunition needed to combat liberal bias on their campus.

It offers students quick access to a menu of ideas on a number of topics including Cultural Studies, Economics, Education, Environmental Studies, Foundations of Liberty, History, Political Science, and Hot Topics. The website also connects students with other like-minded peers and alumni, and can even assist them in job searches.

Earlier this month, IntellectualTakeout.com was given the HotSite award by PoliticsOnline.com.

The award recognizes “Internet sites that stand out as being truly innovative in the realm of bringing the Internet and politics together.” And this is what Power Line had to say about the website: “Intellectual Takeout is a tremendous resource for students desiring to hear the other side of the party line usually promulgated in high school and college classrooms on subjects related to politics, from economics to the environment to the family and beyond.”

Look for IT's link on my sidebar: Fight the good fight and do it..for the Children!

SCOTUS has a new Chief Justice.

John Roberts was confirmed as the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court this morning, over the objections of the usual suspects.

He will be sworn in later this afternoon at the White House.

Global catastrophe..maybe

Arctic's ice cover continues to shrink [we think]

The floating cap of sea ice on the Arctic Ocean shrank this summer to what is probably its smallest size in at least a century, continuing a trend toward less summer ice, a team of climate experts reported Wednesday.

So, in other words, we think, probably, that it could have been this size or smaller more than a hundred years ago when Humvees roamed the Earth in wild packs.

That shift is hard to explain without attributing it in part to human-caused global warming, they and other experts on the region said.

Actually, we're trying really hard to explain it by attributing it to human-caused global warming.

The change also appears to be becoming self-sustaining: The increased open water absorbs solar energy that would otherwise be reflected back into space by bright white ice...

Unlike the last time it was this small, maybe, when we think that the shrinking ice pack did not increase the amount of open water, or as a second choice the water wasn't absorbing energy like it does today.

It's "pretty certain a long-term decline is underway," said Ted Scambos, a scientist at the National Snow and Ice Data Center in Boulder, Colo.,....

...as he sat in his office across the hall from renowned professor of Little Eichmann's, Ward Churchill swilling a tumbler of iced Kool-Aid (Cherry, we think).

The North Pole ice cap always grows in winter and shrinks in the summer. The average minimum area from 1979, when precise satellite mapping began, until 2000 was 2.69 million square miles. The new summer low, measured on Sept. 19, was 20 percent less than that.

And so, when you put these 21 years of data against an extrapolated grid of the Earth's 4.5 billion year history, using computer software we received from Earth First!, we think we're in big trouble, maybe..sort of...well it could happen.

"This summer was the fourth in a row with ice cap areas sharply below the long-term average", said Mark Serreze, a senior scientist at the snow and ice center and a professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder [between stealing sips from Scambos's Kool-Aid cup].

So grab your children and run for high ground! Well, if you want to, you can..it might be a good idea, but maybe not.

Hey...we're working on it, just get rid of your cars in the meantime and use dried cow dung to heat your Tofu.

There's a new "sheriff" in Rome

News has been filtering from well placed Vatican sources that Pope Benedict XVI is set to release new orders concerning the ordination of homosexuals to the clergy.

If these stories are correct, the Church's past practise of ordaining men with same sex attractions as long as they take a vow of celibacy will come to an abrupt end.

This will no doubt bar some men who have a sincere calling, and that is regrettable, but the pederasty scandals that for the past few years have rocked the Church, and the faith of many Catholics has proven beyond all doubt that admitting homosexual men to the priesthood is simply too great a risk to bear.

The faithfulness of priests must be beyond doubt.

This ruling will also have effects that reach far beyond the issue of sexuality in the clergy. Many of the people, priests, nuns and lay, who have been behind the push to force the Church to accept homosexual behavior as normative..even holy...are the same people who have been spreading dissent in an ill concieved effort to convert the Catholic faith into a "run what ya brung" free-for-all ala the Unitarian church.

To be sure, there will be resistance in some Diocese. Many of the men who were drawn to the Church during the late 60's and 70's, the period during which most of the pederasts that have been identified were admitted to the clergy, are now in positions of power within the Church heirarchy. Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised in the least to see a few high profile clergy members be removed, willingly and unwillingly, from pastoral and administrative duties.

Some parish's that have been skirting ever closer to outright apostacy in favor of a left wing political orthodoxy, parishes such as St. Joan of Arc in Minneapolis, may indeed find their church's nearly empty for a while as their radicalized congregations come to realize that the Church is not going to accomodate their whims.

Personally, I say it's long past due.

In and of itself, this one ruling will not "cure" what ails the Church; there is much work to be done to reverse the damage that has been done for the last 30 odd years. But this is a very good start.

The Church has seen worse upheavals, and as with all other times of challenge, this too shall pass and the Catholic Church will emerge stronger and more unified for it.

Lefty US Representative smacked down: Efforts to honor Communist rebuffed.

Rep. Barbara Lee, M(oonbat)-Oakland has been trying for several years to have a US post office in Berzerkely, Ca. named in honor of longtime Communist Party USA member Maudelle Shirek.

Yesterday, she was again put in her place.

Washington -- House Republicans rejected an effort Tuesday to name a post office in Berkeley after longtime Berkeley Councilwoman Maudelle Shirek after a conservative lawmaker questioned whether the 94-year-old activist represents American values.

Rep. Barbara Lee, D-Oakland, has been trying for more than two years to name the city's main post office on Allston Way for Shirek, a civil rights leader and peace activist who served on the Berkeley City Council for 20 years.

But House Republicans have sought to block the effort, mostly through a whisper campaign about her reported past ties to communist leaders and left-wing causes.

Rep. Steve King, R-Iowa, objected Tuesday to Lee's proposal and rallied Republicans to defeat the measure in an unusual roll call vote.

Whisper campaign? Sheeeit, allow me to start the shout it out loud campaign.

I happen to know a bit about Maudelle Shirek. In the early 70's I was living in a suburb of Oakland, and can remember vividly that when the CPUSA made appearances in the Bay Area, Shirek's name was always front and center.

That she never pubicly admitted her CPUSA membership means nothing. It has long been Communist party doctrine to shield member's identities in order to infiltrate more mainstream organizations.

She didn't need to claim Communist membership, she lived her membership.

In 1977, she worked on the campaign of CP candidate for Berkely city council Mark Allen.

In 1999, she joined a delagation of left-wing legislators on a house call to Fidel Castro and is understood to have had a private dinner meeting with El Hefe himself.

In the early 80's Shirek made several "goodwill" tours of the Soviet Union, Czechoslovakia and went to East Germany to celebrate the construction of the Berlin wall...while it was still standing.

Oh, and she was married to Brownlee Shirek, who was one who did not hide his CPUSA credentials.

Today Maudelle Shirek, who is still alive, suffers from Altzheimers disease which, while I wouldn't wish on anyone, in this case constitutes one small victory for Democracy and Freedom...I wish her a speedy journey to a peacefully complete oblivion.

People should not fail to take notice of people scumbags like Barbara Lee and Nancy Pelosi, who continue to champion those who have dedicated their lives to overthrowing our government and enslaving our people.

Nor should we forget people like Rep. King, who rallied his fellow GOPers to defeat Lee's proposal and present Shirek for what she was.

Hurricanes create liberal Paradise on Earth.

The WaPo is reporting this morning that as floodwaters recede, a virtual Eden is being exposed in the wake of hurricanes Rita and Katrina.

According to the story, southern Louisianna has been returned to it's natural state, nearly ready to recieve the new, progressive society that has been struggling to be set free from the ravages of capitalism.

These brave pioneers are no doubt already making their way down to Louisianna where they can plan out their new reality squatting around a fire in loincloths while Maya Angelou recites poetry.

It will be beautiful.

And oh hell yes, all of you who had threatened to move to France after the last election; there will be room for you too....down in the new country of Blue Bayou.

Where Bayou Towns Stood, Only Bayou Remains

At its worst [best], Rita behaved like a viciously effective bulldozer, scraping away everything it met, scraping away places such as Holly Beach.

Looking down from above, it's clear what functions in Louisiana and what doesn't. The places where the marsh -- run through with brilliant patches of orange amid seas of browns and green -- was allowed to thrive without development are vibrant.

The marsh wears a storm well, wrapping water around it like a shawl, guzzling the excess. But the places where people pushed themselves into the marsh -- where houses and businesses sprouted in place of marsh grass and lilies -- are apocalyptic, smashed and eerie zones where the few things left standing are in tatters.

Yea! Now it's only a matter of time before the entire area reverts to it's natural state and the local wildlife population takes control of the ecosystem...ready to share Mother Earth's bounty with the gentle people.

Meanwhile, the previously exploited domestic animals will have to learn a new way of life..freedom isn't always easy.

Cows push against one another for comfort on tiny patches of dry land in deep bayou-country pastures, stranded three football fields of water away from the high road.

But don't despair friends. Because as the designer of Earth, Charles Darwin, has dictated these cows are most likely already developing webbed hooves and rudimentary gills..it's just a matter of time before they take their proper place in the new eco-system, with their new friends the water moccasins, the copperheads and the alligators.

The storm goddess has wisely left a few warnings, lest the new inhabitants get too ambitious..

In Erath, a police sport-utility vehicle is tipped onto its side in a roadside
ditch.

And as well it should! The children of the new society will need to be taught the evils of progress, and what better monument than a wrecked SUV slowly being returned to Mother Earth.

No bill-boards! No cars! No MTV!! It's all waiting for you in Blue Bayou!

I propose that those of us who would rather remain in the comfortable, unenlightened conditions of the remaining 49 United States should begin to encourage our left-wing neighbors to "get on the bus" and leave for Blue Bayou right away.

Yes friends, leave your material belongings behind..you won't need that television in the village, and forget that pick and shovel; down in the promised land they don't scar Mother Earth with tools..they just live off the fat of the land.

Moonbats on Parade!!

Both of the Twin cities MSM papers took particular note of the anti-war protest at Macallister College in St. Paul this weekend. The local lefty's produced the expected three-ring circus of course, which coaxed out the finest collection of misanthrope's this side of the Missippi.

The Minnesota Democrat Exposer was exposing a particularly dense lefty who despite having obviously spent hours and gone through countless crayons working on his sign didn't notice that he had spelled "out" as "uot".

That's why it's best to put the bong away until after the rally kids.

I followed his lead to the Democratic Underground and was so amused by the rest of the pictures they had posted, I couldn't resist sharing them with you...

Iontach scéala!!

While Wolf Tone's remains turned at 1700 RPM, The Irish Republican Army yesterday verified that it had put it's arsenal permanently out of commission, ending 36 of bloody guerilla warfare in Northern Ireland.

The IRA escorted two independent witnesses, a Methodist minister and a Roman Catholic priest to hidden caches of weapons in the Irish Republic to view the secret disarmament work conducted by officials from Canada, Finland and the United States, and overseen by retired Canadian Gen. John de Chastelain.

Martin McGuinness, the deputy leader of Sinn Fein ("Ourselve's Alone") said "I am confident that tomorrow will bring the final chapter on the issue of IRA arms" and evidently plans to cash in this week with a trip to Washington to seek U.S. political support for the IRA's actions.

Meanwhile in Belfast, radical Protestant unionists, led by Ireland's answer to Michael Moore, the Rev. Ian Paisley dismissed the event as "a cunning trick".

It remains to be seen whether this development will spur the renewal of a joint Catholic-Protestant government in the six counties of Northern Ireland. Some knowledgable pundits are expressing the opinion that the IRA has waited too long past the 2000 deadline for disarmament and that the political process may have to be started from scratch.

In any case, it is now in the hands of the people of Ireland as the British no longer have any justifiable excuse for maintaining an armed presence in Northern Ireland.

With friends like these...

As you may have already heard, Greeen (as in cash) party candidate for Minneapolis city council, Dean Zimmerman has been implicated in a bribery scam involving that staple of "B" movies and backroom politicians; the ol' bulging envelope handoff in the resturaunt trick.

I ran across this, this morning...one can only hope it isn't a leak of Zimmerman's legal defense, but the fact that David Tilson writes occasionally for the Twin Cities PULSE doesn't give us much hope..this is just the sort of defense a Greenie would be expected to mount.

Dean Zimmerman Fact Sheet Or If all politicians are crooks, who needs evidence?

Allegation #1.
A cooperating witness “CW” met with the FBI and said that he had talked to Dean Zimmerman about getting “help” with his zoning needs. He said that Dean has told him that he could help with an outstanding legal bill.

Implication – Dean was highly in debt, desperate for money and that he was asking for help.

Truth:
We can only speculate on the motivations for CW to meet with the FBI. The FBI has left this part of the story out.

Dean was not desperate for money. He was not personally liable for the legal bill. Dean was one of a number of Plaintiffs in the redistricting lawsuit. An organization called FREE (Friends for Re-districting Equally and Equitably) was set up to try and raise money for legal fees.

FREE was officially disbanded when the lawsuit was lost, but a number of the plaintiffs decided to appeal. Dean was not among those favoring this approach but supported the group and promised to help raise additional money.

Dean felt morally obligated [kind of like Air America's moral obligation to pay Gloria Wise kids back~ed.] to help the other plaintiffs and further the interests of the Green Party in Minneapolis.

Dean was not, and we emphasize not, personally liable in any way for any
amount of debt incurred during the lawsuit challenge. This is the proposed motive for Dean to get involved in the Carlson Scheme and it is completely without merit. [emphasis author]

BUT

Allegation #5
On June 14th Dean received an envelope with $5,000 cash in it at another restaurant [emphasis mine]. Again CW talked a lot, and the longest sentence quoted is that in order for Dean “to do certain push and help and favors,” Zimmerman needs to be a councilman.

Truth
This is the major part of the case against Dean. Dean received an envelope containing a contribution to the legal defense fund. We know there were other people present at the meeting, but none of them are quoted, or were interviewed by the media. [maybe because no one else got a bulging envelope?~ed.]

Also the quoted statement in the affidavit “to do certain push and help and favors” is such poor grammar and out of context, that is impossible to give it much credence.

Have any of you ever listened to a Greenie? I know, I know..but this syntax and grammer is classic.

Further, any time you get a lefty putting the word "truth" in bold, you know right away that he's just reciting excerpts of last night's LSD trip.

You get the picture...and it ain't pretty.

Someone help this man!

I read an editorial today that touched me.

A guy named Paul Scott, who the Star & Sickle describes as a writer from Rochester is confused, and he is upset..I'm here to help. Take it away Paul:

I am talking about the way in which conservatives speak about liberals.

Consider the creepy trade in "books" a person must pass on the way to the coffee bar at Barnes & Noble. In powerless bouts of protest I have turned upside down more anti-liberal manifestos than I can remember.

Just look at some of these titles: "The 100 People Who Are Screwing Up America,"Surrounded by Idiots,"Useful Idiots,"Intellectual Morons,"Liberalism is a Mental Disorder,"How to Talk to a Liberal (If You Must),"Persecution,"Slander,"Treason,"The Enemy Within" and my personal favorite, "Deliver Us From Evil." And this is from the movement that complains about the coarsening of America culture.

Liberals, it seems, are deranged morons, cunning and powerful misanthropes to be patronized at worst, institutionalized or outfitted in orange jumpsuits at best.

A moment of clarity. Nicely done. But take a moment to consider what a tool you look while turning books around in the store..you're marking yourself as an idiot, really.

On bad days, you order your latte and wonder if this is how they started in on the Tutsis.

Yes Paul it is.

In fact the Tutsis were initially identified by their mere presence in latte lines, or by the tell-tale nutmeg flecked foam on their upper lips..Hutu's take theirs strong and black you see....be afraid my friend, very afraid.

The left is not above demonizing the other side, but we don't do it nearly as well. Perhaps we don't have the stomach for it.

No Paul, it's brains that are lacking. Brains and vitiman C deficiencies caused by all that latte slurping. I suggest a good multi-vitamin.

The left has never managed to demonize the word "conservative," for instance, while the word "liberal" now rolls off tongues in quarters across the land as a nasty pejorative.

Well that's because Americans never did get over our inherent distaste of Communists and their fellow travellers, and we're on to the "liberal" and "progressive" cover Paul...we can see you.

In addition, you may not have noticed, but your fellow liberals are quite fond of putting themselves on the wrong side of any issue that includes our country, our society, our economy, our common morals and scruples...just plain ol' right and wrong. That, and it's just hard to trust a guy who's coffee looks like a bananna split..we like ours strong and black.

Sorry.

I get sent e-mails that make Photoshop fun of the president, but reading them feels like chuckling at the teacher from the back of the classroom -- while the other side is busy erecting billboards clamoring for your public defenestration.

There you go; I get those photoshop klinkers too. In fact here's a guy who seems to make his living with photoshop, although for the life of me I can't figure out how the drooling goofballs he calls fans ever put two cents together for anything other than their next bong load.

See how stupid you all appear?

You content yourselve's with dressing up like cartoon characters and marching down the street and putting petulant little websites up to convey your collective tantrums...we laugh Paul, because we find it all very amusing.

Then there is the issue of access: You need to go to the back of the Nation to order a roll of George W. Bush toilet paper.

See?...ordering George W. Bush toilet paper. Boy, that sure gets the point across, doesn't it?

You're morons Paul, morons.

Liberals do not stand for anything, the line went: They are blind in their hatred of Bush, religion, the military, America. Liberals don't stand for anything. Liberals just want to complain, protest, attack. This even crops up now in local races.

"People want to vote for something," said St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly in the Sept. 19 Star Tribune. "You have to appeal to their instincts of a better future. He [Chris Coleman] hasn't done that. He has a message of partisanship and ideology. ..."

This is a sanitized version of the official Republican script, which is to paint liberals as bereft of ideas, filled with hate, blind with anger.

Nobody likes an angry person, after all.

Actually, I don't think it's the anger that bugs everyone so much Paul; hell, a little anger might lead us to conclude that you have not been completely castrated as a show of solidarity with your overbearing, obnoxious, prematurely grey "life partners" feminist period..it's the celebration of stupidity, the lack of any coherent thought that identify's you all as morons.

It really is that simple Paul.

In the eyes of Republicans we are shrill, hysterical, comical.

That is true, I'm here to say!

Every day that the right entertains this narrative about the left is another day in which it knows nothing about 50 percent of the voting public, its own friends and neighbors, many of whom do not wear horns.

Actually Paul, we're not being entertained by 45% of voters, just you hardcore goofballs.

I can understand how someone who in all other respects is a fine person could be led to believe that a bonehead like Kerry means what he says. Reaching an informed opinion based on facts and on experience takes time and effort. A lot of people have not had the time to sit down and think things through..but we're working with them.

It's the 20% hardcore Howard Dean moonbat corps that are providing us with our daily entertainment.

It is likely that the ringleaders behind this message think this is all a big game. It is no game at all. It is shards of glass thrown across the road.

Yes Paul, shards of glass popping the tires of your yellow bicycles, "I hate Bush" bumper sticker laden Volvo's and Prius's.

I feel your pain buddy, but you had better prepare yourself for yet another drubbing at the next election. From the looks of things you and your pals are deciding to counter the public perception that you are all shrill comics by proving that you are quite serious about dragging this country down to parity with the Third World to ease your muddled consciences.

That's not going to go over very well I'm afraid.

None of the above?

Driving around St. Paul today, I was taking notice of the lawnsigns people were sporting for the mayoral candidates.

I've never been convinced that lawnsigns give much of an indication of how well a particular candidate is faring, but if a lack of such signs give any clue it appears that the majority of SP residents are not all that thrilled about either of their choices this year.

Perhaps that is why there are at least as many "For Sale" signs up as any of the others.

A vote for none of the above?

The Superbowl of America's foes

Get ready Mr. and Mrs. America, for this coming weekend you are slated to be the unwitting captive audience to the greatest assemblage of Communist\socialist\progressive\anarchist\pacifist\queer\tree hugging\camel humping\anti-American goofballs this country is likely to see in the next 200 years.

Star attraction Cindy Sheehan is scheduled to headline this bash, sponsored by the communist front group know as International ANSWER.

Imagine my surprise.

Count on an exhibition of Anti-American, anti-Capitalist, anti-Democracy the likes of which your family curmudgeon uncle Harry couldn't have imagined in his wildest dreams.

Here's a sample of the left-wing glitterati that is in store for us:

IFCO/Pastors for Peace
Free Palestine Alliance - U.S.
Haiti Support Network
Partnership for Civil Justice - LDEF
Nicaragua Network
Alliance for Just and Lasting Peace in the Phillippines
Korea Truth Commission
Muslim Student Association - National
Kensington Welfare Rights Union
Mexico Solidarity Network
Party for Socialism and Liberation
Middle East Children's Alliance

For a look at the man behind the curtain, I direct your attention to stage left.

IFCO/Pastors for Peace are regular attendees at Communist gatherings and can always be counted on to bring a nice tuna casserole for the cadres. Nicaragua Network has been hauling water for the Sandinista's since the early 80's. The Party for Socialism and Liberation, well they kind of speak for themselve's don't they....& etc..

In fact, every one of these groups is tied in one way or another to the Marxist\Leninist World Workers Party..yes Virginia, Communists still exist.

The anti-war rabble in this country has finally, and this weekend will have irrevocably, tied themselves with the few remaining groups on the planet who hold on to the dream of crushing Democracy under the dirty boot heel of Communism.

As for Sheehan, she has become nothing more than the stray piece of styrofoam that floats between piers at a harbor. She has no clue to what she is doing, or what she wishes to accomplish at this point. But she continues to bob up in the MSM, which makes her the perfect patsy for every lunatic on the planet.

Sheehan may or may not realize that these are the people who would be cutting throats on airliners and crashing them into our buildings, if they had the guts. But it's clear that her hatred of our President has precluded her form really caring anymore.

Let's not let them fluff up the few who might.

A little South Side Marriage counciling

It's come to my attention that the blissfull coupling between Kool-Aid Guy and Kool-Aid Gal has hit the rocks.

Normally, I tend to give dometics a wide berth, but in this case I feel it's nothing less than my duty to step in here.

Much to our dismay, it appears that, like many women, the Kool-Aid Gal, the "Pride of the South Side" was taken in by a smooth talkin', slow walkin' loser.

It's worse than you can imagine.

Instead of the Castle on the hill, the Kool-Aid gal has found out that Kool-aid guy lives in a double-wide trailor parked in back of his mommy's house, and that a hard day's work for KAG consists of riding his bicycle down to the local corner tap ('cause his drivers license is nothing more than a fond memory, and his rusting '76 Chevy pick-up sits rotting somewhere "down by the barn") to sit in a corner, surrounded by his fellow losers until the start of the weekly debacle that passes for football in his neck of the woods fills the snowy black and white screen of the vintage, 15" black and white that sits in the corner, right above the rotting jar of pickled pigs feet.

Yes my friends, the Kool-Aid gal has married a Green Bay Packers fan.

And now, he's trying to dump the Queen of Halsted St. without so much as a thanks for the BJ. I won't stand for it!!

I encourage the Kool-Aid Gal to take that worthless cheese eating, Falstaff swilling, cow jumping SOB for everything he's got..which unfortunately is guaranted not to be much.

And I leave her with these words of comfort.

Kool-Aid Gal, look on the bright side. You could have hitched your wagon to a petulant, unfaithful fellow who can be counted upon to set a bon-fire in the driveway every January; a bonfire consisting of worthless trinkets that he squandered countless dollars on during the previous five months that in a drunken rage he might have killed for three weeks previously.

A fellow who will enevitably be counted upon to spend the cold, dog days of winter ( just when you need him the most), sprawled across the blessed marital bed shedding bitter tears..utterly emasculated.

Yes darlin', just be thankful you didn't get hooked up with a Vikings fan.

In the mean time, I offer this meagre bit of sustanance to get you through the tought times ahead...




My sincere advise is to head East, back to the Windy City. The City with Big Shoulders (and the crookedest politicians this planet has ever seen). Go back and have a a couple of dogs with the works.

And. by the way...I'm told that Mc Mahon polishes it with a Vikings\Packers jersy sewn together for the purpose.

More reasons to be glad you're an American.

Reason #516: If you're an American, you're not Dutch.

Dutch TV reporter to use illegal drugs on air

A field reporter for a new Dutch television talk show plans to use heroin and other illegal drugs on the air during the weekly program on issues that concern young people, producers said Wednesday.

The announcement of "Shoot Up and Swallow," scheduled to premiere as a late-night show Oct. 10, sparked an outcry. Even in the liberal Netherlands, where marijuana is sold and used openly, the proposed drug use by reporter Filemon Wesselink is illegal.

The show's host, Sophie Hilbrand, will interview guests about drug use, while Wesselink appears in segments taped in the field as he experiments with drugs and liquor. Another reporter, Ties Van Westing, will do segments about engaging in sex acts, but not on camera.

And in most probablility, neither is your mother...

For one episode, Wesselink, 26, plans to smoke heroin, said Ingrid Timmer, spokeswoman for the show's producer, BNN. For others, he plans to go on a drinking binge and to take the hallucinogenic drug LSD -- on his couch under the supervision of his mother.

Am I mistaken, or is Holland not one of those "progressive" countries touting homosexual marriage as well? At this point, if I were Dutch, all I could think of to say is "Why the hell not?"

Compare this statement from "Shoot up and Swallow's" host..

"It's not our intention to create an outcry. We just want to talk about subjects
that are part of young people's lives," Timmer said.

..with this one from Lorraine Teel, the Director of the Minnesota Aids Project, given in defence of MAP's publication of a stomach turning "how-to" guide for animalistic degredations such as "fisting", as well as the proper way to purchase and use methamphetemine, a drug that is being described as "ravaging" several Midwest states including Minnesota.

"The only way to talk to adults about safer sex is to use sexually explicit language, yet this bill demands that the Minnesota Departmentof Health (MDH) not use any funds to support "sexually explicit materials."

You see where this is taking us? Think about this the next time some airhead accuses you of bein "intolerant" of "alternative lifestyles", then remove the offending life-form from your immediate presence by all means available.

And they say Packer fans are bad?

Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need for an emergency landing in Peru so passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match, officials said Wednesday.

The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed Tuesday in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night.
Emergency crews were scrambled ahead of the Lockhead L1011 Tri-Star's unscheduled landing. It was to have landed in the capital, Lima.

The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game had the flight first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south.

Breaking news?

St. Paul DFL suspected in campaign hanky-panky...in other news, snow is forcast for December in Minnesota.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Michael Brodkorb
September 20, 2005
(612) 618-1168

CHRIS COLEMAN'S CAMPAIGN AND SUPPORTERS BUCK ST. PAUL CAMPAIGN FINANCE LAWS

St. Paul DFL Hasn't Filed Campaign Reports In Seven Years; "Recall Randy" In Over One Year

St. Paul - After learning that the St. Paul DFL Party has not properly filed campaign finance reports with Ramsey County for more than seven years and that the St. Paul DFL is paying for and producing lawn signs that are potentially illegally coordinated with mayoral candidate Chris Coleman's campaign, the Campaign for St. Paul's Future today demanded an investigation by local authorities and asked the Coleman campaign to disclose and return all contributions received from the St. Paul DFL.

According to public information available at Ramsey County's election office and confirmed with County staff, the St. Paul DFL has not filed the legally required campaign finance disclosure reports in over seven years. The St.Paul DFL last filed their reports with the Ramsey County election office onFebruary 2, 1998, which covered the period of January 1 to December 31,1997.

"St. Paul voters should be alarmed that the DFL and Chris Coleman are flaunting campaign finance laws," said Campaign for St. Paul's Future spokesman Michael Brodkorb. "By going nearly seven years without properly reporting to voters how they are raising and spending campaign funds, the St. Paul DFL has violated the spirit of good government.

By coordinating with groups like this, Chris Coleman has disappointed voters who really care about reforming the behind-close-doors, good ol' boy political process,"added Brodkorb.

Chris Coleman was endorsed by the St. Paul DFL on April 30, 2005. Since receiving their endorsement, Coleman's campaign has been coordinating campaign expenditures such as lawn-signs with the St. Paul DFL. Because the St. Paul DFL did not file the legally required Pre-Primary Report due on September 2, 2005, it is impossible to determine if the St. Paul DFL has exceeded the contribution limit to Coleman's campaign.

Also, Committee 2 Recall Randy.org has not filed the legally required campaign finance disclosure reports in over one year according to public information provided by the Ramsey County election office and confirmed withCounty staff.

This committee maintains a website (www.recallrandy.org), accepts online-contributions, and distributes "Republican Randy" lawn-signs,yet the committee has never filed a campaign finance report listing the committee's contributors and expenditures.

In fact, the organizers of Committee 2 Recall Randy.org have purchased 1000"Republican Randy" lawn-signs: "The Duddingstons said that they've given out about200 of their 1,000 'Republican Randy' signs and that they're getting inquiries about obtaining large quantities of the signs and hinted they're happy to get more." (Source: City Hall Scoop; "Recalling Recall Randy";August 18, 2005; accessed at www.cityhallscoop.com on September 20, 2005)

Chris Coleman attended a fundraiser at the home of David Duddingston on August 25, 2005 (Source: City Hall Scoop; "Chris Coleman speech: 'This isgreatest city in the world'"; August 30, 2005; accessed atwww.cityhallscoop.com on September 20, 2005).

David's brother Daniel Duddingston is chair of the Committee 2 Recall Randy.org. "The Committee to Recall Randy.org should spend less time reminding people about 'Republican Randy' and spend more time remembering to file the legally required campaign finance disclosure forms," said Brodkorb."

In all fairness, maybe Chris doesn't know the background of the groups he's been taking money from and coordinating with, but we are hopeful that he will condemn their illegal campaign behavior and bring this race back to higher ethical ground," added Brodkorb.

The Campaign for St. Paul's Future is reviewing all legal option available to force Chris Coleman's campaign, the St. Paul DFL, and the Committee 2Recall Randy.org, to abide by St. Paul's campaign finance and election laws."Just because there is a statue of Chris Coleman's father inside the State Capitol, doesn't mean he or his campaign allies can operate with a total disregard for St. Paul's campaign finance and election laws," said Brodkorb.

"If candidate Chris Coleman thinks he can ignore the law now, imagine howMayor Chris Coleman will govern St. Paul if he is elected," concludedBrodkorb.

###For more information, please visit www.stpaulfuture.org

UPDATE: More surprises!

Saint Paul City hall moonbat league Vice-Chairman shoots the messenger, but fails to address the facts:

Is this Campaign for Saint Paul Future group the one financed by BruceLarson?

"North End entrepreneur Bruce Larson has funded a 'Campaign for St.Paul's Future,' and independent organization that, according tospokesman Michael Brodkorb, will be 'focusing on Chris Coleman's recordas a City Council member and the positions he's taken as a mayoral candidate.' Source: Pioneer Press Sept. 15, 2005

The same Bruce Larson who paid for full page ads for the Mayor's StreetBeats? The same Bruce Larson who put up Kelly Campaign Signs on several buildings including the North End Law Enforcement Center? The same Bruce Larson who hosted several events/fundraisers for RandyKelly Hmmm... let's see the full financial disclosure.

Lee Helgen
Councilmember - Ward 5

Yes Lee, the same Bruce Larson who appears on Randy's campaign finance disclosures...you know the same disclosures that your party doesn't bother with.

Unions determined to export discontent..

...but fail to get import license.

It's a beautiful, sunny day today in Minnesota, or is it?

Everyone has a story about jobs that have headed to India, and if it's a union hack telling the story it includes vivid descriptions of stark deprevations that workers there toil under. A piece in today's Pioneer Press checks in with those poor serfs to get their side of the story.

From Europe and North America, India's offshore workers — call center operators, data entry clerks and telemarketers — may seem like the sweatshop laborers of the information age, toiling long hours for meager pay.

But an international alliance of unions that wants to organize them is finding a very different reality in India: Many think of themselves as members of a relatively well-paid, respected professional elite in no need of a union's protection.

"Professional"; keep that in mind as we continue with this story of woe.

"I know these young people have a negative image about unions," says Narayan Ram Hegde of Union Network International, a global alliance of 900 unions.

But "these professionals are more like cyber coolies," he said. "We hope we will be
able to convince them over time."

The union's have run their ships aground on the shoals of the global economy, and as we shall see, they have nothing to salvage from their sinking ships but their trusty muckraking tools.

Hegde is leading the UNI drive to unionize workers in India's back-office outsourcing industry — a sector that employs about 350,000 people and is expected to add 80,000 jobs this year.

UNI has been quietly setting up the union for the past year — its formal launch date was Sunday. But it has so far only managed to attract about 500 recruits, underscoring workers' hostility to unions and the difficulty of the task faced by organizers.

"A union would make sense if there was no job security," said K.V. Sudhakar, who does technical support work in IBM's offshore outsourcing center in the western city of Pune.

"Here jobs are more, people are less — companies are trying all means possible to keep employees happy so that they won't leave." It's not the first time
UNI has encountered such sentiments. A previous efforts to start a union for
Indian software programmers — the highly skilled elite of the business — flopped
in 2000 after the programmers balked at joining, offering similar reasons.

A similar situation is playing out in the U.S. where, with manufacturing jobs
disappearing, many union leaders say they must organize high-tech workers and
academics to survive. But the Communications Workers of America has had a tough job trying to organize white-collar workers at companies such as IBM Corp. and
Microsoft Corp.

The unions find it difficult to organize white-collar workers because these people are professionals, and to any professional, the concept of unionism is an outright insult to the work and investment they have made in themselves.

As Webster's defines it, a profession is: "An occupation, such as law, medicine, or engineering, that requires considerable training and specialized study".

Professionals count on their preperation, experience and expertise to ensure their success. Where the union model relies on "seniority" as it's sole measure of accomplishment, the professional sees seniority as something that in-and-of itself provides no assurance of continued employment; to the contrary, in many respects seniority is seen as a wake-up call.

In order to compete in today's employment marketplace, a professional must be in a position to provide an employer with superior return on their investments in us. That's right Bubba, your job is an investment by your employer, he doesn't "owe" you sh*t..scary isn't it?

Our skills must always be kept sharp, our knowledge of the newest technologies must be as fresh as the most recent graduate.

In short, we are all unions of one. And we dictate the terms of our employment by the way we handle ourselves as professionals and by how we manage the standards of our professional fields. Keeping salaries high is a matter of keeping our standards and potential returns high..but try selling that to a guy who is making $20 an hour bolting fenders on pick-up trucks.

Outsourced jobs for the most part, are the ones that have become nothing more than a commodity. Computer programming for instance is no big trick, it's the men and women who can use their skills in an uncommon fashion that retain them here in this country.

The simple application programming job is stale and unfulfilling; any competant programmer is unconcerned, if not outright happy to see them head East.

And it won't be long until professionals in India and elsewhere raise the standard of living for themselves and everyone else..despite the union hack nipping at their heels.

Back-office workers are typically college graduates in their 20s and early 30s and drawn from India's urban middle and upper classes — their parents are lawyers, doctors and small and large business owners.

Such a background does not make them fertile recruits for union organizers, said H.S. Sudarshan, a former call center worker and now a recruitment consultant.Faced with problems, he said, most just quit and take a better job.

"There is opportunity everywhere," he said. "A new job is a better solution than a union."

You got that one right brother.

The local media joins in the full court press.

Lefty's in Saint Paul are pulling out all of the stops and hanging what remains of their credability on the effort to bounce incumbant mayor Randy Kelly in favor of a the DFL's milquetoast endorsee Chris Coleman this year.

Besides the fact that Kelly had the gumption to endorse the man he felt best to lead the United States for the next four years, liberals are upset because Kelly has proved to be an effective stopper to their pent up urge to spend, spend, spend.

The laughably leftist City Pages chimes in with a good example of just why no DFL endorsed candidate has taken the mayor's seat for well over a decade.

Last month at the headquarters of the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly announced his proposed 2006 budget. The speech was notable because the conservative Democrat--facing a tough reelection bid this year--recommended raising the city's property tax levy by 3 percent. If enacted, this would be the first time that property taxes have been raised in St. Paul in a dozen years.

But a closer inspection of Kelly's budget shows that the 3 percent increase is not nearly sufficient to cover the city's budgetary needs. OK hold it. We're talking about Howard Dean Democrats here, no budget will ever be sufficient to fulfill their penchant for spreading our money, your's and mine, around to their friends and allies.

Kelly made a strategic mistake in allowing for a tax increase. As is illustrated here, those on the left of Kelly didn't appreciate it one bit, and fiscally moderate Democrats and Republicans are feeling a bit let down. He's going to need these voters to turn back the howling mob that is nipping at his heels.

The article goes on to make a point, which as much as it pains me to admit, is relavent.

Perhaps most notably, Kelly proposes taking $1.15 million in fees collected by the License Inspections and Environmental Protection division and dumping it into the general fund. This money includes funds generated by construction permits, plan examination licenses, and certificates of occupancy.

I'm a big proponant of user fees..when they are used for the purposes for which they were collected.

Appropriating such fees for the general spending melee simply shuffles the cards for the resumption of the same game the Democrats have been playing since their inception.

The mayor needs to continue to reign in spending, not raise more cash.

However, after coming close to making a good arguement, the CP predictably veers off the cliff.

Last week the City Council voted--by a slim 5-4 margin--to increase the city's property tax levy for 2006 by 5 percent. That's 2 percent more than Kelly has proposed, a difference of roughly $1.2 million.

The chief concern expressed by the council majority is that Kelly's recommended budget relies heavily on onetime revenue sources and consequently will set the city up for a financial mess in 2007.

For instance, Kelly proposes tapping $3.3 million from excess fund balances for various departments. Obviously these rainy-day funds will no longer be available as a resource in 2007.

A recent study completed by the city's Council Research office found that to keep up with existing costs, the city would need to raise property taxes by 21 percent in 2007 even with Kelly's increase this year.

First of all, "tapping" excess fund balances should be a standing operating proceedure.

Likewise, "rainy day" funds are worthless in the hands of lefty's, because it's always raining in loonyville. Such funds are not seen as surpluses, they are merely piles of cash that they haven't had the time to spend by the end of each year..hey, even moonbats have to sleep sometimes.

Additionally, although I'm confident it's unintentional, the city council has undercut it's main complaint by admitting the existance of $3.3 million in excess money sitting around in the budgets of departments that they have been swearing to Almighty God are bleeding from the ateries due to the cuts some have recieved.

I can't speak for the state of medecine in loonyville, but out here in the fresh air an extra $3.3 mil is nowhere near "cutting to the bone".

For citizens of Saint Paul, this years election is of the utmost importance. The resurgance the city has seen in the past ten years is held in the balance, and if the left get's it's way, you can forget all about seeing a continuance of the kind of progress the W. 7th Street and Phalen corridor have seen.

If Chris Coleman takes the mayors seat you can count on watching untold millions of dollars dissapear down a hole labelled "special interests" that is so deep and black a pit not even light can escape.

Campaign finance reform comes to California

California governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has endorsed a ballot measure requiring public employee unions to get written permission before using member dues money for political purposes.

The measure, dubbed "Paycheck Protection," will appear on the ballot this year as Proposition 75 and is meant to give members of unions more of a say in where and how their dues are spent.

I've been leary of many legislative efforts to stem the flow of financial support to politicians. It really is a matter concerning our Constitutional right to free speech in my opinion.

But the money that comes from trade unions has a componant to it that can itself be construed as a infringement on members free speech and right of association. Despite the picture portrayed in the media and from union propaganda, union membership is far from a monolithic bloc of like minded individuals.

A quick check of any of the available sources shows clearly that the vast majority, 100% in some cases, of union financial support flows to Democratic causes and candidates, while no union in the country can claim that it's membership belongs to the Democratic party in such numbers.

Further, in "fair share" states such as Minnesota, persons wishing to gain employment in many fields (education and government for instance) are required to pay union dues whether they wish to be represented by a union or not. In fact, in Minnesota, their union dues are automatically deducted from their paychecks before they ever see them.

Hardly a situation which is conducive to free speech and free assiciation.

California's Proposition 75 in no way directs where unions can put their financial support; it merely ensures that the union's members have a say in where their money is spent by requiring that the member be asked to approve such expenditures.

Given the fact that many union members are in effect being held "hostage" to keep their jobs I think that in this instance such reforms are necessary and and in all ways proper. And in this instance, I think this is something that we in Minnesota would be wise to emulate.

FRIDAY FUNNIES!!

Better late than never! Click to enlarge.

The largest reconstruction projects the world has ever seen

Well, if the governmental response to hurricane Katrina was too late, it can no longer be said to be too little.

Speaking from Jackson Square in the heart of the French Quarter, President Bush dug down and reclaimed the man who climbed atop the rubble of the World Trade center and assured a shaky nation that he, and we were up to the task at hand.

It may have been the best speech he has ever made.

First of all, he again took personal responsibility for the failure to meet the hurricane proactivly, something for which I personally didn't think the fed was responsible. None the less, he headed off the Bush bashers at the pass.

Secondly, he has set all of his cabinet level staff to investigating what went wrong and what can be improved.

Most startlingly, he has put the federal government on the hook for some serious cash obligations. Serious as in billions serious; specifically:

~ $$100 percent reimbursement to states to cover their costs of health care for evacuees through the end of next year.

~$1.9 billion to reimburse states for educating displaced students, including some money that could go to religious schools.

~Six-month forgiveness on student loan interest for affected areas, at an estimated cost of $100 million.

~Worker recovery accounts providing up to $5,000 for job training, education and child care during victims' search for employment.

Estimates have been heard to be somewhere in the $200 billion dollar league.

The MSM delivers...the usual.

I watched the speech on ABC, and not surprisingly Ted Koppel & Co. were quick to start damage control from the leftist perspective. A field correspondant at the Houston Astrodome interviewed refugees who had watched the speech and did his level best to pry some incredulity or anger from his audience..and to his very visable dissapointment, he failed.

One lady whom he asked for a reaction said she heard the President say that she would return to her home, to which he replied "And you believed him??"; "yes I did" the woman answered.

He quickly moved to another woman whom he asked point blank "Do you have any anger towards the President?" to which she returned "No sir, I'm angry with the [Democrat] governor of Louisiana and the [Democrat] mayor of New Orleans, it was thier job".

The reporter probed deeper.."and they didn't do it?" to which she replied "No, no, LORD no, they didn't".

And then, incredibly, another woman said "They had billions in federal aid, they just didn't use it right".

I was torn between wanting to throw a shoe at the TV and wishing I could give that woman a hug. All in all, six people were interviewed, and not a one uttered one word of anger or disbelief directed towards the President.

One thing is sure.

We can expect the left to spend the next weeks nit picking the President's speech, working to torpedo his well elicited (and expensive) recovery plan and exhorting their political base to retain their hatred and anger.

After the masterful speech President Bush gave last tonight, they have their work cut out for them.

UPDATE: Newsbusters has some video clips of ABC's "coverage"...

Ignorance is no excuse.

Mark Gisleson is a throwback to the Minnesota of the 20's and a present cohort of many of today's frustrated Minnesota "progressives".

Those hale and hearty fellows who claim to have the best interests of their fellow men at heart..but save their hateful racial invective for whispered oaths while in the safe company of their fellow cowards.

It takes perseverance to take steps toward creating an inclusive society free of racial barriers, and Gisleson and his ilk illustrate some of the greatest impediments to making those steps.

Consider his latest contribution to the fellowship of man:

Dead Niggers

Such gleeful use of images of racial hatred to slander those who have clearly never harbored such disease tell us the depth of his thinly veiled bigotry. By seeking to make such bigotry respectable for use as political back-stabbing, Gisleson reveals his ignorance about recidivism's polyvocality.

More likely, he just doesn't care.

If stupidity is the root cause of Gisleson's problems, that same ignorance probably also precludes him from realizing that I am deliberately using the same restraint in this instance as I did in our face to face meeting a year ago.

It's easy enough to hate men like him any day of the week on general principles; but that is a mistake. While pity is not reserved for such as he, neither is outright hatred the answer..he has grown to expect nothing less..don't water the weeds.

Instead, it would be best to shun men like Mark Gisleson, he's got nothing we need, and to challenge him is to feed into his illness.

Still, I'd encourage him to cross the street if he should ever encounter me walking the same sidewalk as he.

UPDATE:
Gisleson himself gives us a bit of perspective into his racial bigotry:

“I promised Minnesota Observer this election was all hers to cover, but I am so pissed right now I think I’m beginning to channel Lyndon Baines Johnson, one of
my political mentors.”

Ahh, it’s clear now.

Here’s a sample of the mentoring that brought this scumbag to his present miserable existence. A few LBJ quotes:

"Be practical. We've got to give the goddammned niggers something."

“But Johnson also worried that some Northern delegations would object to the seating of all-white Southern slates.”“I seated these people that have been killing all these other people" . . . [but] we can't go back home if they seat a bunch of niggers.”


Vice President, and President Lyndon Baines Johnson: "I talk everything over with [my wife]," he proclaimed on one occasion early in his political career. Continuing, he quipped, "Of course . . . I have a nigger maid, and I talk my problems over with her, too."

Between Karl Marx and LBJ it's no wonder Gisleson is the waste of flesh he is today.

Cyber stalkers call out the troops.

An obsessed group of Minneapolis based gay rights cyber-stalkers have taken up a "call to arms" by a UofM crew and are mobilizing to disrupt a scheduled appearance by Minnesota state Senator Michele Bachmann in Hutchinson.

A Call To Arms
On Thursday, September 15th at 7pm, Sen. Michele Bachmann will be speaking at the American Legion Hutchinson Post 96 in an attempt to drum up support for her anti-gay marriage agenda. A friend of mine grew up in Hutchinson and is planning on attending this "Town Hall" meeting to show Bachmann our side of the argument -- equal rights for all.

We will be leaving the cities at around 5pm in order for us to get to Hutch on time. While our intent is not to outright protest the meeting, I beleive it's important that we show the citizens of Hutchinson our side of the fight. Let's show Bachmann that we will not take her blantant bigotry lightly! Please contact me either through LJ, e-mail, or phone to get further info on this.

Thank you

Vincentstau0076@umn.edu612.240.9951

While the original call to arms appears to be the work of one gay rights activist\student, the Senator would be well advised to bring a healthy security staff along despite a specious claim by the UofM crew that "our intent is not to outright protest the meeting".

They may well not know whose attentions they have attracted:

"I encourage other DB [Dump Bachmann] readers who might be interested in this to contact this person to arrange to carpool to this. This should be interesting."

Interesting indeed.

If the past actions by members of "Dump Bachmann" are any clue, things could get out of hand very easily.

As many will recall, on April 9th of this year, a similar incitement by the Dumpsters resulted in two radical homosexual rights activists chasing the Senator into a bathroom and blocking her exit until help was called for.

A complaint was filed, but no arrests were made.

In that incident, no one was hurt, but given the erratic behavior and questionable mental stability of several of the members of the "Dumpbachmann" membership, and given the hateful tone of their public statements, it seems only a matter of time before one of these unhinged individuals loses complete control and someone does suffer an injury.

What is interesting is that one of the "Dumpsters" continual complaints against Senator Bachmann, who is a candidate for US House of Representatives, is that she has garnered much of her support from outside her district, while the majority of these same stalkers live in Minneapolis and Saint Paul...well outside the Senator's district.

Go figure.

UPDATE: If there was any question as to the purpose of this mobilization, these instructions should clear things up nicely..from the dumpsterdiver website:

"Attendees, bring cameras, video and tape recorders. Don't miss another "Heeeellllllllpppp Meee!" moment."

This anonymous moron (most divers prefer to remain anonymous, for obvious reasons) is of course referring to their last physical confrontation with the Senator. Anonymous moron #1 continues with the traditional coward's note of caution:

"I wonder if she'll come with her security thugs?"

Yes moron #1, it would be so much more pleasant if you could carry out your intimidation upon a single, unaccompanied woman wouldn't it?

Unfortunately, I believe you can count on her being accompanied by MEN. But perhaps if you stake out the bathrooms again with a couple of stalkers you might have a few seconds pleasure before getting your teeth re-arranged.

Democrats advance in Twin City primaries

In other news, the sun rose from the East this morning.

Saint Paul mayor Randy Kelly staved off a challenge from Green party candidate Elizebeth Dickenson yesterday and will square off against DFL endorsee Chris Coleman in February's election.

Kelly has been the target of a particularly vehement attack by SP lefty's due to his endorsement of President Bush. He also declined to seek the DFL endorsement which further enflamed activists of the city's dominant political party.

Although primaries are traditionally marked by low voter turnout, this years test was historically low. Yesterday's results showed that of those who did bother, the majority represented the left side of the left-wing as Kelly barely managed to stave off Dickenson's challenge and came in a distant second to Coleman.

The DFL has not been successful in seating any of it's endorsed candidates for mayor since the late 1980's and is banking on the latent anger of it's constituency towards President Bush to turn the tide, a fact that is illustrated by his supporters tactic of spray painting "Supports Bush" over Kelly's lawn signs in some of the city's most liberal neighborhoods in favor of actually articulating Coleman's positions.

The stakes are high

Make no mistake, a win by Coleman would mark a sea change in the city's leadership and the way day-to-day business is conducted.

For the past 12 years, the city's mayors have managed to reign in spending enough to stave off property tax hikes in favor of charging home-owners and business directly for the services they receive via fees; a direction anethma to liberals, who find themselves unable to easily re-direct tax dollars to their favorite special interests and political supporters.

Kelly broke that trend this year by allowing for a 2% hike in this years tax bills, but with a majority of far left "True-blue believers" on the city council chombing at the bit to do some serious spending, a Coleman win would ensure that mayor Kelly's recent veto of the council's desire to raise taxes a further 3% would be the last citizens would see for some time.

Additionally, Saint Paulites could look forward to enactment of a Minneapolis style ban on smoking, since Kelly's pragmatism is the only thing that stand between enactment of council member Dave Thune's nanny state policies and the boom in business Saint Paul eateries and pubs have seen since last April, when Minneapolis's ban took effect.

Businesses take notice

The constituency paying the biggest price for a Coleman win may well be the city's businesses as battle lines have been drawn between the members of the SP Chamber of Commerce and the most vocal liberal activists.

The CC's support of DFL challengers over the past decade has earned it "dirty word" status among many Democrats who seem driven more by a yearning for payback than any rational disagreement.

Thune's drive to ban smoking in particular, has irrevocably driven a wedge between business owners, many of them long time DFL stalwarts, and the city council. In fact, before I moved out of the city limits the owner of Mancini's steak house (a landmark eatery) asked me if I was interested in challenging Thune for his seat despite the fact that I identified myself as a very conservative Republican.

Thune himself has become literally personna non gratia in many Saint Paul eateries and bars. In fact, Costello's pub in Saint Paul's historic Cathedral Hill neighborhood sports a large "No Thune" sticker on the front door.

In recent months, the chasm has gotten wider if anything.

Status Quo reign supreme in SPPS

In the school board race, the three candidates endorsed by the Saint Paul Federation of Teachers advanced to the general election, ensuring that the city's public school children and their parents can look forward to more of the same.

Incumbants Elona-Street Stewert and John Broderick were joined by newcomer Tom Goldstein who promises that he will do everything in his power to see more tax dollars are put into the same exact bottomless hole that has been in place for the last 30 years.

Beyond that, it appears that Goldstein's most important educational priority is seeing to it that teachers and parents boycott WalMart.

There is much at stake for Saint Paul this winter. If the Kelly campaign doesn't get itself into high gear in short order taxpayers are in for a Katrina like shock come next year.

Garrison Keillor...hypocrite

Word on the street, and in the blogosphere is that the left-wing's favorite crank and failed would-be Norwegian, Garrison Keillor has sic'd his legal department against local bloggers behind MNspeak.com.

MNSpeak recieved a cease and desist letter from one of Keillor's mouthpieces warning him not to sell a parody T-Shirt that featured the words "A Prarie Ho Companion" against a field of Wellstone green..because as Garrison himself has intimated many times, mythical Norwegian bachelor-farmers who hail from fictional Minnestota towns don't have any sense of humor.

Unless they're doing parodies of ketchup commercials, former Governors or sitting President's of the United States of America (as long as they are Republican's of course).

I'm not saying that Keillor doesn't have a legal argument, I'm not a lawyer. My point is that Keillor's claim to fame is parody and satire, and he's told people that have objected to his use of trademarked images and brandnames (remember how pissed Jess Ventura was?) to pound sand.

MNspeak is torn whether to fight Keillor or to comply...personally I'd say f*ck Keillor and the lawyer he rode in on...but then again I'm not the one facing the financial where-withall of the champion of the little guy.

So I'll do the next best thing...





UPDATE: On further reflection, it's entirely possible that Keillor is just upset about people talking about his paid escorts in such a defamitory fashion..ya think?

I mean with a mug like this, how many options does a guy really have?

Here's a bit of information...

..for critics of the governmental response to hurricane Katrina to chew on.

"Mr. Bush's performance last week will rank as one of the worst ever during a dire national emergency," wrote New York Times columnist Bob Herbert in a somewhat more strident expression of the conventional wisdom.

But the conventional wisdom is the opposite of the truth.

Jason van Steenwyk is a Florida Army National Guardsman who has been mobilized six times for hurricane relief. He notes that:

"The federal government pretty much met its standard time lines, but the volume of support provided during the 72-96 hour was unprecedented. The federal response here was faster than Hugo, faster than Andrew, faster than Iniki, faster than Francine and Jeanne."

I did not know that.

For instance, it took five days for National Guard troops to arrive in strength on the scene in Homestead, Fla. after Hurricane Andrew hit in 1992. But after Katrina, there was a significant National Guard presence in the afflicted region in three.

I didn't know that and I'll bet you didn't either. That's probably because none of the MSM has reported anything like this..they've been too busy cataloging every dot and jittle that paints the whole scene as an unmitigated failure..ya think?

Here's some more that we didn't know.

More than 32,000 people have been rescued, many plucked from rooftops by Coast
Guard helicopters.

The Army Corps of Engineers has all but repaired the breaches and begun pumping water out of New Orleans.

Shelter, food and medical care have been provided to more than 180,000 refugees. Journalists complain that it took a whole week to do this.

Right, and lest we forget, they were doing their complaining from comfortable hotel rooms in between quick trips out amongst 'em to "feeel their pain".

A former Air Force logistics officer had some words of advice for us in the Fourth Estate on his blog, Moltenthought:

"We do not yet have teleporter or replicator technology like you saw on 'Star Trek' in college between hookah hits and waiting to pick up your worthless communications degree while the grown-ups actually engaged in the recovery effort were studying
engineering.

"The United States military can wipe out the Taliban and the Iraqi Republican Guard far more swiftly than they can bring 3 million Swanson dinners to an underwater city through an area the size of Great Britain which has no power, no working ports or airports, and a devastated and impassable road network.

"You cannot speed recovery and relief efforts up by prepositioning assets (in the affected areas) since the assets are endangered by the very storm which destroyed the region.

"No amount of yelling, crying and mustering of moral indignation will change any of the facts above."

"You cannot just snap your fingers and make the military appear somewhere," van Steenwyk said.

Exhibit A on the bill of indictment of federal sluggishness is that it took four days before most people were evacuated from the Louisiana Superdome. The levee broke Tuesday morning. Buses had to be rounded up and driven from Houston to New Orleans across debris-strewn roads.

The first ones arrived Wednesday evening. That seems pretty fast to me.

A better question -- which few journalists ask -- is why weren't the roughly 2,000 municipal and school buses in New Orleans utilized to take people out of the city before Katrina struck?

Right, that's a question I've asked here and I know that many other bloggers have as well.

And I'd like to add that the disaster in New Orleans may have seemed so much worse due to the behavior of many of the "victims" themselves.

As bodies are recovered (and no where near the ten thousand the MSM promised would be forthcoming BTW) I wonder how many of them will be sporting bullet and stab wounds? When hurricane Andrew wiped Homestead Fla. off the map, how many of you recall seeing images of wholesale looting?

I am at a loss to recall any incidents of disaster victims sniping at first responders there either.

How many area hospitals there were taken under seige by mobs of armed men demanding they hand over their supplies of drugs?

The aftermath of hurricane Katrina is a true catastrophy for the people who were affected, no question. But let's not forget that in addition to being hit by the "perfect storm", New Orleans was well positioned to be the "perfect victim" due in no small part to the continual corruption and incompetance of it's supposed civic leaders.

I suggest we all take a step back and re-assess the whole thing in a more rational way. I think reasonable people will shortly come to understand that there was not much more that could be done by people who were a thousand miles away when the hurricane struck.

Star & Sickle to the rescue!

The unofficial propaganda arm of the DFL party known as the Minneapolis Star and Tribune shows off their ecumenical side this morning with a puff piece bestowing the air of victimhood upon Green (as in cash) Party city councilman Dean Zimmerman who as I pointed out yesterday appears to have gotten caught with his hands in the pockets of his constituents.

The piece would be truly laughable if not for the fact that so many gullible lefty's will buy it hook-line-and-sinker.

Margaret Tucker, a constituent, volunteered to pass out campaign pamphlets because she likes how Zimmermann has represented her East Phillips neighborhood, and because she was upset.

"There's something dirty going on when the FBI raids your campaign headquarters ... days before the election," Tucker said.

Yeah, Dick Rumsfeld's tinfoil hat-black helocopter brigade is in the house. Never mind that it seems the FBI has the videotaped smoking gun.

I particularly enjoyed this:

"One of the more eye-popping passages in the federal affidavit is when the witness asks Zimmermann what he needs. "Money, money, money," he answers."

"That's a portrayal difficult to square with the man who rails against big corporations and lives in the inner city surrounded by halfway houses, a soup kitchen and drug dealers. Zimmermann, who rides a rickety bike to work even when the snow flies, doesn't appear to be plagued by materialism."

Pleease.

According to published acccounts of the affidavit, Zimmerman wanted the money to pay legal bills and get him re-elected. There's nothing in there about buying big-screen T.V's. He's in the game for the power, not the fancy SUV's, so what's new?

This is the third time in five years that Minneapolis's lefty junta has been implicated in good ol' city hall payola scams.

While the Star & Sickle may prefer to continue to sell it's (dwindling) readership the idea that "there is no spoon", we continue to be singularly unsurprised at the perp walk parade that issues forth from city hall over there.

So that's why they call it the Green Party!

For the third time in under 10 years, a Minneapolis city councilman is caught, on film and on tape, milking a real estate developer for cash.

But this time is different.

If you have ever taken a stroll through the Green Party's website, or listened to on of it's blatherskite candidates you know that to say it's on the fringe is being kind.

This is the party of last resort for disgruntled socialists, moonies, tree fort-less tree huggers, body piercing fanatics, wankers, reprobates and wanna-be's. I outed the Green Party candidate for mayor of Minneapolis for the racist moonbat she is a few weeks ago and here is another one looking for a bit of well deserved limelight.

Yes folks, here we have yet another "champion of the poor", "defender of the "downtrodden", caught squeezing the honest man just as hard as any of the corporate "raiders" that I can guarantee he spends a good part of his day ranting about.

And Minneapolis keeps electing these people none-the-less....go figure.

The boy of the hour is one Dean Zimmermann, a Green Party member seeking his second term for Minneapolis city council

Seems Dean-O was looking for someone to foot his legal bills and help fund his campaign at the same time an as yet unnamed developer was looking to invest some capital in his district.

The rest of the story is entirely predictable, the FBI wired the developer for lights and sound and got the whole thing in it's cinematic splendour. Equally predicatable is Zimmerman's reaponse:

"Speaking on behalf of the poor and the oppressed and the generations yet to come is not always popular, but it is necessary. It is my life's work, it is my work as a public official, and it is work I intend to continue.''

Yeah, yeah, tell it to your cellmate\husband Dean, I'm sure he'll be a great listener and want to hear all about it.

I can just hear him now, justifying his crimes by explaining how important is was for him to be re-elected, how the poor, the victims of society just can't face the day without knowing Dean Zimmerman is on the job.

God I despise these poverty pimps!

FRIDAY FUNNIES!

Click to enlarge.

With appologies to Cap'n Fishsticks...

Speaking of idiots to the rescue...

Penn's New Orleans Rescue Efforts Sunk

Oscar-winning actor Sean Penn's well-intentioned attempt to save children from the floods of New Orleans, Louisiana, failed miserably when his decrepit boat started leaking dangerously.

The Mystic River star, who was desperate to do "whatever I can to help,"reportedly forgot to fix a hole in the rescue vessel, which promptly started sinking as he furiously scooped water out of the boat with a plastic cup.

Penn allegedly attracted criticism from onlookers when they saw the boat was already crammed with Penn's entourage--including a photographer - before any flood victims climbed onboard.

One onlooker said, "How are you going to get any people in that thing?"

Pfft. What-a-circus!

Really, Penn's handlers should be made to get a permit to wave him around in public..he's a hazard to himself and to others...

...I almost choked on my coffee just reading about this, imagine witnessing it!

HT: The Attic

It's time to wake up America!

In Katrina’s aftermath, as we wade through the knee-deep punditry swirling around the streets of New Orleans, I’m struck by what so many people are not talking about, and what that means.

Just about every lefty out here is screaming bloody murder about the utter failure of the local, state and federal government to meet the disaster effectively.

And they’re right.

Tens of thousands of people have paid the ultimate price for abrogating their right to successful self-determination to those self same governments. Billions of dollars have changed hands (from ours to the government), but the cities' levies remained neglected while idiotic, worthless projects constructed for nothing more than rewarding political allies and buying influence received cash by the buckets full.

Men and women who worked a lifetime, found themselves penniless in their old age after being lulled into a false sense of social security. They spent what the government hadn’t taken from them because, after all, they had an old age retirement account being managed for them by "someone" in Washington.

People counted on the police to keep the predators away, but were left alone and unarmed to defend themselves and their property when the going got really tough.

And they still don’t get it.

"Take whatever idiot they have at the top of whatever agency and give me a better idiot. Give me a caring idiot. Give me a sensitive idiot. Just don't give me the same idiot."
-- Jefferson Parish President Aaron Broussard on CBS's The Early Show Tuesday

Aaron, and people like him are the real problem; I‘d like to shake him..wake him up. But for many, it is way too late; millions of us have depended on “the government” for everything, for so long, they are beyond help. They are too old or too blind to do anything to help themselves now.

For the rest of us though, there is still time to take a cold hard look at ourselves and our lives.

We don’t need any idiot at the top of our lives. If Katrina has taught us anything, it is that ultimately, we have only ourselves, our friends and our neighbors to count on when disaster strikes.

The levies are not going to get fixed unless we do it ourselves…there are just too many dead politicians waiting for new community centers to be built in their names…and too many smarmy politicians alive; waiting to pose in front of them.

FEMA isn’t going to come drifting down from the heavens, President fill-in-the-blank isn’t going to come rolling down our streets until well after the smoke and water have cleared.

It will be you and your spouse doing the negotiating with an insurance agent, not any uniformed representative of the federal government.

Is short, you cannot elect anyone trustworthy enough to run your life for you. It’s just you and me brother...

..so let's get to work.

Don't buy a pig in a poke..

Make sure that every tax dollar is earmarked for a specific purpose, if politicians want honorary community centers to name after themselves, let them build them with their own money.

You are your own best defender, first and last...

Defend to your last breath, your right to bear arms in the defense of yourself, your families and friends.

Have a plan ready to execute in time of disaster...

Know where you'll go, how you'll get there, who you will contact and how and what you'll do.

And by all means, the next time someone comes along with an idea to save your money for your retirement for you.."slap him up" and good.

Damned comment spammers

I know everyone has been suffering with the new generation spammers that attack our comments with pathetic pleas to visit their pathetic little websites, but we here in the Twin Cities have been plagued with a particularly annoying and persistant crew for months.

I just got hit again on the post about Al Franken's lies..check it out and see if it looks familiar to you:

Anonymous said...

Yup, Al Franken hates poor black children and sickly old people as much as Michele Backmann hates gays.

You have an interesting and wonderful blog, and I plan to bookmark it! But it's curious that you don't investigate more about Michele Bachmann, she's a bigot you know..and wacky too.

Interesting and curious. And wacky too.
Interesting and curious. And wacky too.

Blogging sure is becoming a big thing isn't it? Hi! My name is Eva Young Eva Young Eva Young Eva Young Eva Young Eva Young Eva Young and I have a blog too: http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com where I tell all about how much I hate Michele Bachmann once an hour every day, all day.

The Minneapolis Star and Tribune never prints a story about the bigoted and homophobic Michele Bachmann unless they contact me first at http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com.

That is http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com.

I'm very important, and so is what I think, so I'm hoping that you will visit my blog at http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com and tell all of your friends to visit me too.

Please add me, Eva Young at http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com to your blogroll!!

Eva Young
http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com
Eva Young
http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com
Eva Young
http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com
Eva Young
http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com
Eva Young
http://dumpbachman.blogspot.com

I guess I may have to add ID verification to get rid of this little germ.

Good-bye old friend

The skies above the "Land of Sky Blue Waters" were more akin to a funeral pall today as the former Hamms brewery burned on Saint Paul's East side.

Tears were shed by long time brewery workers that lined the streets at their once beloved union workplace, a place where a man could...

WTF?!? How did Nick Coleman get in here? Com'ere you little....

.....take 2.

Saint Paul off the hook!

Saint Paul officials literally jumped for joy today as a long abandoned, ridiculously expensive eye-sore they had been sucked into paying good money for went up in flames today.

"Thank Almighty God!" one city hall staffer was heard to exclaim as shots of the destruction of the former Hamms brewery were flashed across the television screen. Another staffer who was doing a version of Pee-Wee Herman's "Big shoe" dance in the hallways added "I thought we'd be stuck with that relic forever, we felt like such tools!".

Smoke from the fire, most likely started as the result of a incapacitated crack fiend who lost control of his pipe after passing out and fed on the fumes of 10 years worth of empty Boones Farm wine bottles, was seen by evening commuters as far south as Edina and as far north as Forest Lake. One motorist, Ken Clawson of Inver Grove Heights expressed the sentiments of many when he said "Whew! For a minute there I was afraid it was something important. Hamms tasted like p*ss water!".

The exact cause of the blaze was unconfirmed at this time and according to Deputy Chief Bob Winklemann was unlikely to undergo much of any type of investigation.

Al Franken undisputedly outed as a Lying Liar.

Oooh Al!

This is all over the blogosphere, and is spreading literally, by the minute.

Michelle Malkin and Brian Maloney of Radio Equalizer have been hot on the trail of the tax dollars that were diverted from underprivileged kids and sick, elderly people to keep the daily spittle fest that is Air America's programming afloat.

And they have hit pay dirt.

The short story is that Franken got on the air and denied any knowledge of the scheme and claimed that he was a victim himself. Now Malkin and Maloney have (somehow) gotten a hold of a document that Air America's legal mouthpieces put together to absolve everyone of everything.

The document explicitly mentions the $875K from the Gloria Wise boy's and girl's club, and all of the key players were signatories to this masterpiece of legal chicanery…including Franken who is mentioned specifically as well.

In part 20 of the document, entitled “confidentiality”, we learn that not only was Al Franken aware of what was going on…he explicitly agreed to help keep things on the QT.

20.1…..”As to Franken only, the foregoing restrictions (on giving news interviews or making press releases) and covenants of this Section 20 shall not be applicable, and instead, Franken agrees only to keep in confidence the specific material terms and conditions of this Agreement, except Franken will not be so obligated (i) to the extent disclosure by him of any such information is compelled by subpoena or other legal process or (ii) if such information is in the public domain other than as the result of Franken’s breach of his obligations under this section 20."

Is there anyone out there who still honestly doubts that these people are absolute lunatics? What the hell could Franken have been thinking? One can barely contain the anticipation of listening to Franken, who hates “liars” with a heated passion, weasel his way out of this mess.

Yesterday, Franken said "I am not an investor, and I didn't see this thing", but that was before Malkin & Maloney posted a copy of the agreement, complete with his notorized signature.

What's he going to do tomorrow? Claim insanity?

Which brings one to wonder if he might not now re-consider his promise to run for Paul Wellstone’s Senate seat against Norm Coleman. If he's going with the insanity plea, he'd be better off going after Mark Dayton's seat....

That way he could claim that he's trying to keep it among the fraternity of certified left-wing mental defectives...ya know....know what you're getting before you buy and all that.

BIG shout out to those wacky California legislators!

In what can only be described as manna from heaven for Minnesota in general, and US congressional candidate Michele Bachmann in particular, those merry pranksters in the California legislature have finally put the finishing touches on the putsch they and their junta partners in the judiciary have been working on since the citizens of that state overwhelmingly approved a defense of marriage law there in 2000.

It makes it so much easier to explain to our own electorate why we need constitutional protections here at home don't you agree? To say nothing of the clarity it brings to discussions that begin with "we already have a DOMA law in Minnesota", which may now be concluded with a succinct "...so did California".

Thanks kids, and congratulations to Senator Bachmann!

Anyone know where I can get one of these things?

Did everyone have a good Labor Day? Great!

Whatever else you might have been up to, if Mitch at Shot in the Dark is correct (and he usually is) it didn't include the big Labor Day bash on Harriet Island in Saint Paul.

Seems that the "working families" in attendance were outnumbered 10:1 by left-wing politicians, moonbat activists & wanna-be's.

That's a shame too.

After all, Chris Coleman, candidate for Mayor of the sainted city went through all of the trouble of borrowing a spare ladder truck from the SPFD to use as his mobile campaign HQ.

As you can see, the truck's nice red paint job went really well with Coleman's campaign signs and with the firemen's nice yellow Coleman for Mayor shirts..spiffy-O!




Being the ever alert parent, I called the SPFD right away to ask about reserving this spare truck for my kids' next birthday party, ya know and maybe put on some colorful "Happy Birthday Morgan!" shirts and stuff...but the guy there said they didn't have any trucks to spare and didn't know what I was talking about.

Huh..no spares?

Well I guess it's a good thing this truck wasn't needed for anything else, like er, ya know..fighting a fire or something.

I wonder if the SPPD will start plastering campaign signs for incumbant mayor Randy Kelly on their squad cars..after all, they've endorsed him.

Somehow, I'm betting that ain't gonna happen.

UPDATE: Minnesota Democrats Exposed, lightning fast as always, says the truck above isn't a SPFD truck.

But I bet this one is.

UPDATE II: The IAFF (fireman's union) was contacted yesterday to see if they could explain where this truck came from.

As of 12:30 today (Wendsday)...*CRICKETS*..

We'll get to the bottom of this one yet!

UPDATE III: Still no return call from the IAFF, but after an exhaustive survey of SPFD equipment, I'm convinced that neither of these trucks is in the city's inventory but are probably someone's personal toys.

FINAL UPDATE: Mystery solved. The IAFF contacted the Minnesota Democrat Exposer and makes all clear:

Question #1. Is this a St. Paul Fire Truck? Question #1 Answer: No, this is not an Official City of St. Paul Fire Department fire truck. The yellow fire truck you have linked was leased from a fire buff that is a friend of St. Paul Fire fighters.

Question #2. How does one rent a fire truck? Question #2 Answer: Rental or lease of fire trucks can be done thru numerous sources. Often private parties(fire buffs) or organizations like the Minneapolis Firefighters Museum http://www.firehallmuseum.org/ have halls and or fire trucks that can be leased or rented.

So you can actually rent a firetruck! In't it great to be in America?

Ladies and Gentlemen, may I introduce Dave Thune..

..Saint Paul city councilman, who, in response to criticism from yours truly regarding his abrogation of his oath of office to enforce the laws and protect the citizens of Saint Paul when he decides he doesn't like those laws, said..(Yes, this is a direct quote):

"We have to establish priorities. We are equal oppportunity."

A moment please, to compose myself....

.............................................................................................................................



Alright.

Dave follows that bit of wisdom with the following:

"..very simply put,the city of st. paul has way more than enough to do without becoming an arm of the federal INS."

This from the guy who wants to put the SPPD on the job sniffing out illegal smoking on private property. Thune continues..

"While it may seem logical to troll for illegal aliens, it has never been shown that their presence causes breakdowns in law and order on any kind of a noticeable scale."

First of all, since when does crime have to reach any kind of "noticable scale" to rate a response from the police? Secondly, I wonder how much crime must occur before Thune deigns to take notice?

Thune is dodging the facts of the issue here (imagine my shock); no one is suggesting any one go "trolling" for illegals. No one wants the Mercado staked out and I'd be pretty pissed off to learn that the SPPD is dragging people in off of the street for identity checks myself.

We're talking about identifying people who are already in custody for another crime..people like the guy who nearly killed my brother.

In 1990, I recieved a phone call at three in the morning from the the Deschutes County (Oregon) Sherriff's office urging me to get on a plane immediatly because my brother was dying.
Earlier that evening, Jerry had come out of a store in Bend, Oregon to find two guys taking tools out of his truck. When he tried to stop them, one of them stabbed him five times in the chest, shredding one of his lungs.

My brother bled out on the street, but by the grace of God that street also happened to have a hospital on it, and although he bled out a second time on the operating table, they saved him.

He spent six months recouperating.

A week later the stabbers' friends posted bail, and he went straight back toMexico..leaving my brother with over $50K in hospital bills and unable to work.

There is no way this guy will ever get caught, though the chances are very good he is back in the U.S. today (maybe in St. Paul?), because the cops were not even 100% sure they knew who he was!

How could this happen?

Well see, Bend doesn't ask silly questions like "where are you from" (like Thune's Saint Paul, Bend wasn't "Germany" either, no "papers" required), so the county prosecutor couldn't object to his release as a likely flight risk and the Judge had no choice but to cut him loose.

And my brother's story isn't rare; here's a hundred or so people who know it well.

This isn't about rampant "racism" on the police force, and it's certainly not about protecting the citizens of Saint Paul.

This is about a left-wing moron who puts the safety and well being of the citizens he was elected to represent, to say nothing of upholding the laws put in place to protect them, second to his wish to present himself as holier-than the rest of us poor slobs who must deal with the fall-out of such lunacy.

Citizens of Saint Paul's 2nd district, Dave Thune: you wanted him..you got him.

Speaking of rodents..

The high water in New Orleans has got our own rats scurrying..up the steps of the Minnesota state Capitol.

Under an "Impeach Bush" banner on a wall of the Minnesota State Capitol, anti-war speakers tried Saturday to link the Iraq war to a slow response to Hurricane Katrina.

"People are dying in Louisiana and New Orleans right now" because Bush, a "warmonger," is intent on "looting" oil in Iraq, said state Rep. Keith Ellison, DFL-Minneapolis.

What a tool....no, really.

Low-lives like Ellison are the epitome of the flotsom that floats to the surface, sputtering and snorting, after elections. He's what left-wing dominated cities like Minneapolis are always left with when the first rain of spring washes off the pancake makeup "centerism" of winters campaign rhetoric.

And the Democrats still can't figure out why they can't win national elections if they say what they think.

Here's a clue moonbats, there's still more of "US" in the U.S. than creeps like Ellison and his ilk..

After the rally, representatives of several military families held a news conference nearby to say troops need to stay in Iraq to support the war against terrorism and a future for the Iraqi people.

Kelly Freudenberg, of Forest Lake, whose soldier son was buried Friday, later disagreed with a link between Iraq and slowness of hurricane relief.

"Maybe that's where the people who are here have to step up to the plate," said Freudenberg, whose son, Pfc. Elden D. Arcand, was killed last month in Iraq.

"Do our troops have to do everything? ... Do we always have to depend on
the government to provide everything?"

No Kelly we don't. The people who built this country didn't, and the people who continue to build it have too much self respect to consider it.

Saint Paul has a flying rodent problem

And it's not pidgeons.

City officials are scrambling to make sense out of the chaos that council member Dave Thune has presented them with.

Thune spearheaded an ordinance last year that forbids the police or firemen from asking anyone about their immigration status, which might strike you as a, um, er..bit misguided at any time, but especially so given the fact that the the so called "20th hijacker" Zacarias Moussaoui was captured in Minneapolis.

The problem at hand concerns a provision spelled out under the Vienna Convention on consular relations that directs the arresting authority to contact the appropriate consulate upon the detention of foreign nationals. Specifically, after the Mexican consulate established an office in St. Paul in June, authorities there asked police to notify them of arrests of Mexican citizens.

The cops would love to comply, but alas, the Thune treaty has taken precedence in the "Peoples Republic" of Saint Paul.

"It's become problematic — how do you know when to notify them if you don't ask
about national origin?" Police Chief John Harrington said Friday.

Don't expect a coherent answer from Thune, Chief.

"I don't care if you're asking someone if you're legal or a foreign national, this leads to racial profiling," he said. "Do we ask them to prove it by showing their papers? That's what they did in Germany years ago. We don't do that around here."

I'm going to let the lunacy of that direct quote stand without comment.

Instead and in keeping with my observation yesterday that it is more important to scrutinize the maturity and leadership abilities of people asking for your vote than we may realize, allow me to extrapolate a bit on Dave Thune's worldview.

First, everyone put on your Thunevision goggles...ready?


Let's pretend that Dave Thune has been elected President of the United States.

Smoking is banned everywhere, especially in your house, from coast to coast, but the feds have imposed a $3.00 per pack tax to fund the Michael Moore peace camps for children.

They aren't collecting much though, because almost all of the tobacco companies have moved to Mexico and are shipping their goods across the border to the black market in "Little Debbie" trucks, which is pretty easy since the border patrol has been relegated to handing out complimentary AAA maps (and smiles).

Passports are not necessary to enter the United States (unless you are traveling from Vatican City in Rome..in that case you will be strip searched upon arrival), 'cause as Dave likes to say "this aint Nazi Germany...we love evrabody"!

This has made international travel a thing of the past for U.S. citizens since no other country on the planet has followed President Dave's gesture of unilateral trust.

President Dave says that isn't really important though, since the world is arriving at our doorstep every day: the U.S. population has quadrupled in the first two years of President Dave's tenure...as Dave says "we're celebrating diversity in a big way".

Everyone in the country is guaranteed universal health care, free of charge.

The nearest hospital is in Tijuana though, and since no one has a passport (which Mexico now demands as a measure to cut the flow of illegal American immigration) it's pretty much a moot point.

Which is kind of inconvenient because since every public school in the country has been mandated to teach "safe" sodomy under President Dave's "no hetero left behind" program (an offshoot of the Minnesota AIDS Project), AIDS is now truly an epidemic with one in twenty having the HIV antibody flowing in their bloodstreams.

President Dave (he likes to be called President Dave cause he's just a "regular Joe") is at a loss to explain why his free Crisco campaign has not stemmed the spread of the disease.

It's illegal for anyone, including especially the police, to own a firearm of any type, and the U.S. military has been reorganized into "peace squads" whose mission it is to patrol the world spreading love...losses have been mounting though, especially in North Korea and Iran where the flower arrangements that the squads have been dropping on their cities have gone unappreciated (President Dave is urging continued forgiveness, especially since the Iranians have started returning the heads with the bodies of slaughtered peace squad members).

Alllright.

That sounds pretty stupid doesn't it? But all of these things are things that moonbat candidates for office say they believe in when they are running for local offices taken to their logical (even if unlikely) conclusions.

So if it sounds so utterly ridiculous on the macro level, why would you vote for someone who wants to institute such lunacy in your town?

The fact that they are constrained to implementing their idiocy town by town doesn't make it any less stupid, so the next time some barking moonbat shows up on your doorstep touting a "ID free zone" do yourselves a favor and introduce them to the pavement.

Saint Paulites, your next chance is coming in two years, so until then, hang in there.

Linked at Stop the ACLU.

The results are in

Our official polling confirms the crash and burn status of newly minted Dumpster Diver Ken Avidor..

- 7 Votes for a direct hit.

- 6 votes for a direct hit with qualifier.

- 3 votes for keep trying.

...so I'm breaking out the moonbat stencil and spraycan.

Talk about a national disgrace...

This should remain etched on our memories, lest we allow others of the same ilk to sweet talk their way into offices of trust.

"I don't know whose problem it is. I don't know whether it's the governor's problem. I don't know whether it's the president's problem, but somebody needs to get their ass on a plane and sit down, the two of them, and figure this out right now.

Times of trouble often allow us to view the character of the people we encounter every day as we go about our lives. There is no better measure than trial by fire.

Some people, even under the circumstances of living day to day in the comfortable society that we enjoy in this country find themselves unable to cope. Others wear a patina of confidence and competence, but quickly crumble when tested; the cockiest banty roosters often seemingly failing the quickest of all.

Finally, we have men and women who in times of chaos and confusion seemingly appear out of thin air to take charge and calm the mob.

People like Rudy Giuliani come to mind when thinking about the latter. Faced with an unimaginable catastrophe, Rudy climbed the smoking pile of rubble that had earlier been two of the tallest buildings ever built before the dust had settled, to calm people who were at their wits end. His appearance and his words assured those who needed assurance that he was in control of the situation and there was no need to panic.

At the other end of the spectrum, we have “Nawlin’s” Mayor Ray Nagin. When Ray took office in 2002, he took the reins of a city that has long held the dubious honor of being one of the most corrupt cities in the country.

Ray won his election by promising to be a knight in shining Armani, he was going to take control of his hometown and clean it up. He was a take charge, no bullsh*t kind of guy.

That’s easy to say when you’re speaking to a friendly crowd while sipping a Jack Daniels in a hotel lobby, but when it came time to put up, Nagin went on national television, flapped his arms impotently and cried like a little schoolgirl. He’s right though, someone does need to get their ass down their and take control of a situation that Nagin has clearly proven himself incapable of dealing with.

Don’t get me wrong.

This is a catastrophe that no single city has the means of dealing with single handedly..few states could do so on their own. But Nagin squandered the resources he had at hand through sheer incompetence and has shown himself incapable of producing the type of authoritative gravitas this situation desperately needed.

For example, why didn’t Nagin send his police force out immediately after the hurricane to gather and take control of the food, water and medical supplies his city had on hand instead of ceding that control to bands of looters?

I can understand people taking things to protect themselves and their families, but the minute that Nagin appeared on television with his Chief of Police and announced his sympathy with looters, he gave anarchy the official seal of the mayor's office and lost any semblance of authority; a fact that was not lost on the looters themselves who took the cue to go on a wholesale rampage.

Incredibly, Nagin not only learned nothing from that mistake, he compounded the problem recently by reacting to the animals who are now shooting at rescue personnel and attacking hospitals for their drug supplies with a dismissive wave of his nicely manicured hand..

Nagin blamed the outbreak of crime and violence on drug addicts who are cut off from their drug supplies and wandering the city "looking to take the edge off
their jones."

Nagin’s police force lost no time in taking his hint..

To make matters worse, the chief of the Louisiana State Police said he heard of numerous instances of New Orleans police officers — many of whom are from flooded areas — turning in their badges.

"They indicated that they had lost everything and didn't feel that it was worth them going back to take fire from looters and losing their lives," Col. Henry Whitehorn said.

Tourist Debbie Durso of Washington, Mich., said she asked a police officer for assistance and his response was, '"Go to hell — it's every man for himself.'"

THAT my friends is how anarchy begins..at the top and working it’s way on down. Luckily for the people of New Orleans, there is an adult nearby taking charge.

Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco said "I'm not going to stand here and play the blame game," Blanco said. "We have a problem. Let's get to the problem."

And she has a few words of advice for those looters whom Nagin doesn’t have time to deal with..

Gov. Kathleen Blanco called people who committed such crimes "hoodlums" and issued a warning to lawbreakers: Hundreds of National Guard troops hardened on
the battlefield in Iraq have landed in New Orleans.

"They have M-16s and they're locked and loaded," she said. "These troops know how to shoot and kill, and they are more than willing to do so, and I expect they will."

There will be plenty of time to point fingers in the coming weeks, but if I were a resident of New Orleans, my first priority after reassembling my life would be making sure that Ray Nagin never sees the inside of the mayors office, or any other position of authority ever again.

IT'S FRIDAY FUNNIES TIME AGAIN!!!

Coalition forces make major bust

Baghdad Iraq.

US and Iraqi troops captured a French national in a security sweep of West Baghdad. The suspected suicide bomber, as yet unnamed, was captured during a house to house search in an area known as a safe haven for foreign-born insurgents.

According to Lt. John Nelson, seen above right, the bomber said that he had lost his nerve when he discovered that the explosive charge he thought to contain nothing more than silly putty was in fact the highly explosive compound known as "C-5".

Lt. Nelson added "He was sh*tting little green pellets all over himself" when apprehended.

"Merde, what to they think I am..some hero" was heard to be exclaimed as the foiled terrorist was dragged to the mess tent of the US controlled Green Zone.

Bring me your tired, your weak..but keep your foreskins to yourselves.

Big bruhaha brewing over the state of Minnesota's latest belt tightening moves.

Seems we've been paying for Viagra, sex changes and circumcision for the past few years, but now the party is over.

State stops paying for Viagra, sex changes

Starting today, the state will no longer cover routine circumcisions, unless "required by religious practice," under its insurance plans for 670,000 low-income Minnesotans, according to the Department of Human Services.

It's also dropping coverage of Viagra and other impotence drugs.

And last month, it completely stopped paying for sex-change operations.

OK fine, I can understand why some people might be upset about that last one, but what's got me scratching my head is why this woman is so upset..

In recent years, about 10,000 baby boys have been circumcised each year at state expense, at an average cost of $54, according to the Human Services Department. That's 10,000 too many to Cindy Tregilgas, a Stillwater financial manager and mother of two sons.

For several years, as a volunteer for NoCirc, the National Organization of Circumcision Information Resource Centers, she had lobbied the Legislature to stop circumcision. This year, her testimony helped change the policy, making Minnesota the 16th state to do so.

At a House hearing in March, she said: "I have come here today not to ask for money, but instead to show you where money can be saved." She argued that taxpayer dollars were wasted on a "cosmetic procedure."

While she opposes circumcision on moral grounds, she said, the money argument was especially persuasive. "Frankly if it's ten dollars to spend on something that's totally unnecessary and can cause harm vs. spending on necessary medical services for low-income people, it's a no-brainer," she said.

Moral grounds?

Heh, the mind reels with the possible routes that one could take. In any case, I'll be looking forward to reporting on the dust-up that is sure to follow as moonbats take up the "Free Viagra" banner this winter.