http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/ RSS feed of mnpACT! Progressive Political Blog en-us sBLOG 0.5.0 Beta (Build 20050313) Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:23:06 GMT Sun, 05 Sep 2010 13:40:19 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2462
I keep trying to point out the problems that Congressman John Kline causes for the 2nd District, but it usually gets dismissed as "partisan" politics, but I would hope that this article about Scott County would move us beyond that.

Scott County: Spending tax dollars to get tax dollars

We pay tax dollars to cover the salary of Congressman John Kline. In return, Congressman Kline is supposed to advocate for us in Washington. He is supposed to consider the needs of his district and act upon them appropriately.

But he is doing none of that.

And because of his abdication of responsiblity, the units of local government in the 2nd District have resorted to advocating for themselves directly to the Federal Government via lobbyists. Yes, they are using tax dollars to pay lobbyists to advocate for their projects....the ones John Kline refuses to advocate for.

As this article points out:

A new report from the Freedom Foundation of Minnesota highlights the 26 local government entities that collectively spent $5.2 million since 2006 lobbying federal officials. Scott County topped the list at $815,000, spending more than twice as much as nine-times-bigger Hennepin County.

The Freedom Foundation is a partisan conservative group and they are pointing out what they consider monetary "waste" by the county units of government....using tax dollars to lobby another government entity.

But Scott County officials explain why:

Scott County also has turned increasingly toward lobbying because its congressman, Second District Republican John Kline, has sworn off seeking earmarks for his district, (County Administrator Gary) Shelton said.

And you know what? The efforts of Scott County have been successful and actually saved the State of Minnesota money. In return for $815,000 in lobby expenses (highest in the state), the County managed this:

Lobbying has helped bring $62 million in critical transportation projects to Scott County in the past five years, county Commissioner Jon Ulrich said. Lobbying also saved the state $40 million when it helped gain agreement that the Hwy. 169/I-494 interchange reconstruction project didn't have to follow conventional guidelines but could be downsized, omitting elements that are normally required, Shelton added.

And you have to wonder how Kline responds to this:

Kline stands behind his decision as a way to cut pork-barrel spending, despite the vast majority of members' determination to keep using earmarks to fund local projects. "County commissioners could save their constituents tens of thousands of dollars by meeting with members of the Minnesota delegation in their Minnesota offices," Kline said in a statement.

Kline's answer? The county could save the lobbying money by meeting with the Minnesota Congressional delegation IN MINNESOTA.

Oh really?

I guess it would save some money in Kline's case, because the answer from him is always the same -- NO!

Kline complains about "pork-barrel spending" at every opportunity. And yes, there are needed reforms to be made. However, the system still stands and District help still needs to be met.

Shelley Madore is the DFL candidate and she has repeatedlly pointed this out -- especially on her 35 cent tour, which amplifies the Kline problem.

Madore gets it -- Kline never will.

If you are part of that angry group that is upset with incumbents, well, then the 2nd District incumbent is an optimal case in point. The 2nd District needs better representation.....no, check that, they need ACTUAL representation.....and that would be Shelley Madore.]]> Sun, 05 Sep 2010 06:23:06 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2462 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2462 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2461
Let's take the next phase of the "12 Biggest Lies". They are getting tougher.....

7. Americans are greedy and self-centered.

I will be curious to see how this group defends America's role in the world. Granted, we are a generous people and are the first on the scene for any major disaster. But even at that, there is always a political reason for what we do. We do not want any country or region to descend into chaos. It would be bad for "business" and bad for political stability.

Even our beginnings are seeped in self-centeredness. We didn't like being used by King George as his ATM machine, even though we considered ourselves English subjects, and the taxation imposed without any say in the matter finally broke the tenuous bond.

But once we threw off our obligations to the mother country, we rapidly moved into Manifest Destiny and expanded our sphere of influence across the continent. Wars with Mexico and Spain were purely self indulgent expansionism, but it mattered not.

Our pride in being a super power is extensive and we expect the world to respect us unconditionally. We established Wall Street as the world's financial market base and expect the world to recognize that as well.

To assume that Americans are NOT greedy and self-centered lacks honest self-analysis. We are a country that wants it all....and we have become a country that wants it all without having to pay for it.

You can try to make a case against this self-centered greed but in the end it is really who we are.

8. Islam is a religion of truth.

I have trouble with this ongoing animosity that is growing towards Islam. Maybe Islam is not a religion of OUR truth, but it is truth to its followers. Why can't we leave it at that?

Religions always seem to want to compete with each other. Followers of each various type get uncomfortable when their own "truth" is questioned by another version. And since each religious basis of thought requires the contention that it is the only true meaning of life's absolute questions, conflicts will ensue.

Islam and Christianity have different factions which range from tranquil to very violent. Our ancient history is littered with wars fought for religious reasons. All religions can move to a tendency to usurp ultimate truth into ultimate death.

This particular "lie" is probably included, not so much to negate Islam's truth seeking, but to more or less, mollify Christianity's sensitivity to any challenge of its own validity.

It is all very curious, because Christianity itself is, by contrast, a very "young" religion and is completely dependent on Judaism to extend it heritage back to ancient times.

9. The Jews stole Jerusalem.

The makers of this DVD are going to have to delve into a lot of historical background to back this one up. And, again, it will be a matter of interpretation of events. We forget that Jerusalem is a sacred city to other religions as well as our own. Everybody has their own version of "rightful" claims.

To call this a "lie" is, in this case, strictly a religious opinion. I would prefer to let each interpretation to stand within its own context. To say that the Jews "stole" or conquered or were awarded Jerusalem is all a matter of semantics. It was more of a political decision than a religious one.

**********************************************

See how complicated this is? Look for part 4 at the Roundtable...]]> Fri, 03 Sep 2010 15:23:32 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2461 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2461 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2460
You are going to hear a lot about this over the course of the next month or so....so I thought I'd pre-warn you.

The people who made the Left Behind, apocolyptic religious book and film series, are promoting a new DVD called the "12 Biggest Lies". Of course, they are lies because fundamentalists are telling us they are, but I assume they will try to give us "facts" that prove their version of things....and, of course, a lot of it will be centered on the Bible. That's a given.

But this is actually good for discussion and I always find this religious "fact checking" to be a good debate. There is too much to do just one post on this...so look for my own "series".

First, what are the 12 BIGGEST LIES?

1. There is no such thing as Absolute Truth.

2. People are inherently good.

3. No one should be offended.

4. Men and women are equal.

5. A fetus isn’t human.

6. The world is overpopulated.

7. Americans are greedy and self-centered.

8. Islam is a religion of truth.

9. The Jews stole Jerusalem.

10. The earth is billions of years old.

11. There is no God.

12. Jesus was just a good man.

That is a fascinating list in my opinion. So let's delve into it. Feel free to add your own thoughts -- I really would like to hear them.

#1 - There is no such thing as Absolute Truth.

You know, I actually agree that this IS a lie. I can say that because the X-Files concurs....THE TRUTH IS OUT THERE. Ultimately, there HAS to be an absolute truth. I contend that absolutely nobody knows what it is and that we probably never will know, but the essence of the human spirit is to keep striving to find it. Quite frankly, I think religion has abdicated its right to pronounce it because they have made such a wreck of the current world. When you build your truth on discriminatory actions and ultimate hatred of other people and other religions, you are not capable of finding truth. I do think that focused individual spirituality has the best chance of finding truth in humanity. But, then, will it really be the same for everyone? I don't know. That's the 3 words that the ultimate truth seeker needs to humbly admit to.

#2 - People are inherently good.

Since that is apparently a lie, we must assume that people are inherently bad. I imagine this will bring up a discussion of "original sin" which gets into more theology than I care to contend with. But ultimately, people are both - good and bad. We have a constant struggle within ourselves as to which part of our selves wins out. It is very hard for me to believe that when a baby is born, he or she is NOT inherently good. They have needs that must be selfishly met, but that is not bad in and of itself. How we meet our needs is the ultimate test of good and evil. I do believe that people want to do good in their life. Our life circumstances, that we have little control over, are what ultimately shape us. Some people have the ability to continue the good aspects of themselves despite horrible circumstances. That is what I consider the ultimate good person. That kind of person had to be inherently good in the first place to counter what he or she was up against.

#3 - No one should be offended.

If that is the lie, should everybody be offended instead? I guess I am puzzled as to what that means. Since this is coming from a religious group, I guess that the offense they cause in their bigotries is not something they think can be helped or should be changed. If some people are "offended" by religious truth (and I use that term loosely), then religion ultimately says "too bad". I do get offended by one particular thing. That is the so-called Christians who tell everybody that they discriminate against gays because they "love them". There is the ultimate lie.

OK...that's three so far. More "deep" thoughts to come later.....

See part 2 on the Minnesota Political Roundtable....
]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 19:06:06 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2460 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2460 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2459
Congress passed a bill that will bring $167 million in direct education money for Minnesota. The idea is to help ailing school districts to keep education jobs and meet budget deficits.

But it will have zero effect.

As this MinnPost article by Beth Hawkins points out, school districts are so tenuous about future budgets that a lot of them plan to go with the patched together budgets they have in place and simply bank the money against future cut backs.

That's where we are. Districts can't count on state support and they are now budgeting out of fear. Fear of cutbacks, fear of the unknown.

And here is a quote that gives me pause:

As the result of more than $150 million in budget reductions and the Legislature’s ratification of Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s 2009 unallotment to schools, worth $1.4 billion, last spring metro area schools cut some 1,500 educators, according to estimates by the Association of Metropolitan School Districts.

I'm sure budget critics point to that as simply cutting excess. I don't. As I pointed out recently, a number of districts (using Farmington as a prime example) are having enormous class size problems and teacher ratios are out of sync.

I do NOT consider teaching just another "government job". Educators are essential to our future economic growth. They are the key ingredient to any potential "Minnesota miracle" in the future.

Losing 1500 jobs in this manner and the likely reduction of 100's of others in the coming cycle, has an additive effect in other job areas. In fact, a reduction in the quality of our education endangers all of Minnesota business.

We are a state that prides itself on our educational investments. When business looks to Minnesota, they have always been able to count on a skilled and educated workforce.

But can they count on that in the future? That is becoming an important question.]]> Thu, 02 Sep 2010 15:41:05 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2459 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2459 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2458
Luke Hellier over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed got himself into a lather over the divorce records of Mark Dayton. He went into post after post about releasing these "unsealed" documents -- Republican translation: He has something embarrassing in there and we want it. He even got to ask Dayton a question about it at a press conference -- God knows how he got a pass for that -- and a local journalist even asked a follow up question. It was yet another embarrassment for the local press.

And, as usual, Hellier tries to whip up his echo chamber to draw attention to his loosely researched story. He even got PowerLine to gleefully comment on this "mystery".

But Powerline puts an addendum on this post. It goes like this:

CORRECTION: Luke Hellier has corrected his MDE post to reflect that the affidavits were removed from the court file by the attorney for Dayton's wife, not by the attorney for Dayton. That seems to me to make it more likely that the affidavits raised issues personally sensitive to Dayton's wife rather than to Dayton. I regret the error.

I regret the error?

Unfortunately, the blogger/press that masquerades as media around here should be issuing a lot more "regrets" than that.

Item #1. Hellier on Minnesota Democrats Exposed continues to post about this issue...with no "regrets" listed.

Item #2. The usually reliable Doug Grow felt compelled to add this bizarre exchange to his story about Dayton getting the Police endorsement. At present, this story has no "regrets" listed.

Item #3. Pat Kessler was the reporter who asked the follow up on this out of the blue fishing expedition, which had no reliable information whatsoever. But, again, no "regrets" forthcoming.

I'm not sure I understand what journalism is today. Have the budgets become so arbitrarily small that reporters find it difficult to budget actual research of their own? Are they compelled to follow every slashing, Hail Mary charge that political parties throw out there?

Powerline is a blog that gets a lot of attention. But the general idea of the Dayton post is left intact.

Still, it does have those four words which are supposed to exonerate any wrongdoing.....

"I regret the error."
]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 23:43:36 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2458 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2458 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2457
There is a fine line that elected officials have to walk. It's the line between (a) doing what's best for your constituents and (b) doing what is poltically beneficial for yourself.

Governor Pawlenty has thrown (a) out the window and now his only policy test is what will get him another few votes in Iowa.

Minnesota is in massive deficit and has health care issues. When it comes to health care, the state has three choices regarding how it can alleviate that. 1) Raise taxes, 2) Accept Federal Money when offered, or 3) throw people off the programs.

We are well aware of how Pawlenty utilizes option 1 -- he doesn't. Yesterday option 2 seems to have been eliminated as well. That leaves option 3, which has already been utilized more than we are comfortable with, but it is all we have left.

Tom Emmer concurs with it all, despite his "new direction".

Here's Pawlenty's reasoning:

Pawlenty is directing all executive branch departments and agencies to not apply for grants or other funding connected to the federal law unless approved by his office or required by law. His executive order described the federal law as "a dramatic attempt to assert federal command and control" of the country's health care system. He also wrote that the law "includes unprecedented intrusions into individual liberty."

Minnesota pays a lot in Federal taxes. Like it or not, some of those taxes are involved in Federal Health Care. Even if you think it is "too much Federal control", we still have needs to meet that are immediate. Some of those taxes are meant for Medical Assistance.....they are meant to help deal with recessionary pressures on our health care system.

By refusing money that has been offered (and that we have basically funded ourselves), Pawlenty is making a personal political statement at the expense of real needs of Minnesota citizens.

The GOP has been using an attack ad on Mark Dayton claiming that he would be "Minnesota's worst governor"...(all evidence to the contrary).

Well the ad is meaningless.

We already have the gold standard of "worst governor" sitting in the executive mansion right now.

]]> Wed, 01 Sep 2010 04:57:12 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2457 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2457 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2456
Yesterday, the USA Today had a front page story which I think everyone should examine. As the partisan debate over spending and deficits rages on, these statistics should give us pause:

--Anti-poverty programs now serve 1 in 6 Americans.

--50 million Americans are now on Medicaid.

--40 million Americans now get Food Stamps.

--10 million people get Unemployment Benefits. (4 times the number of 2007).

--4.4 million people are on welfare. (An 18% increase during this recession).

The question needs to be asked...What would be happening to all of these people without these programs?

I assume we have all seen the gruesome pictures of the 1930's. The soup lines. The lines at places of employment. The grim faces on trucks heading out to fields. The tent cities. The trucks loaded with a family's belongings driving to the unknown.

We put a lot of these programs into place so we wouldn't have to go through such an ordeal again. They are serving the very purpose for which they were intended.

Yet, Republicans look at these "handouts" as some kind of burden on the rest of us. They are causing a ballooning deficit. They are a "burden" to socieity.

Hard times in this country needs to be a shared burden. These numbers won't stay this high. People will get back to work. But they need help right now. They need to at least keep their dignity intact.

Pawlenty, and if he gets elected, Emmer have tried to eliminate such programs. Welfare is for the lazy. Welfare takes away "incentive".

Sorry, I have been there. When I was a kid, family health issues put us in a situation where we needed help. We survived it and we more than gave it back.

These people will too. Any of us could suddenly find ourselves in the same situation. A health crisis, bad market conditions, a poor investment, or a crop failure.

Life is tenuous at best. No matter the financial circumstances, we are all in this together and these programs are meant to allow us to share with those down on their luck...to get them through.

If money is more important than the well being of our fellow citizens, then we really have lost our sense of values.]]> Tue, 31 Aug 2010 17:50:25 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2456 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2456 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2455
An article in the Apple Valley paper regarding the latest Dakota County Commissioner's meeting caught my attention. Especially this little blurb:

Commissioners also talked about raising the 2011 Regional Rail levy 38 percent.

Although the percentage increase sounds significant, the result on a median-value home, which for 2011 is $206,100, would increase $2.35 per year, going from $5.69 per year to $8.04 annually.

The funds would help pay for continued transit improvements along Cedar Avenue and the Robert Street corridor.

This refers to the BRT (Bus Rapid Transit) system scheduled to be built on the Cedar Ave corridor in Lakeville/Apple Valley. In early May, it was reported that the County had sought to get a final $20 million through a Federal appropriation... but Rep. John, the anti-district funding king, Kline refused to help.

Republican U.S. Rep. John Kline has refused on principle to seek earmarked federal funding for Cedar Avenue, (Dakota County Commissioner Will) Branning said Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Al Franken have each asked for $1 million for the transitway. "We'll continue to strive to get as much federal funding as possible," Branning said.

The window of requesting funds is rapidly closing. The final funding mechanism has to be found. Where? Guess where....

The Dakota County property tax payer.

Regarding that $20 million? The citizens of Minnesota have already sent that money to Washington in Federal taxes. The BRT is approved and has Federal backing already. Kline could bring that money back to pay for this project that goes virtually by his house. Yet, he refuses to help.

And we pay double.

Thanks John Kline....for making me pay more....again.

]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 21:37:42 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2455 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2455 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2454
Paul Krugman was on CNBC (financial channel) for a brief segment today. He held his ground, as a conservative talking head interviewer tried to get him to criticize the original stimulus package. Krugman has remained consistent from the beginning of this financial crisis....he has maintained that the original stimulus package was half the size it needed to be.

Democrats were too timid when they had the opportunity to really address an economy in free fall. As Krugman pointed out, the stimulus package that was passed has helped, but only in that it staved off complete disaster.

The interviewer asked Krugman what needs to be done and he boldly proclaimed in a matter of fact manner -- another stimulus package of course. When asked how much, he responded with..."the same size or bigger."

The interviewer than tried to pin him down on tax cuts as part of this new "stimulus package". She asked him if extending the Bush tax cuts would be part of it or a corporate tax cut....as most of the financial talking heads are enamoured with.

Krugman noted that maintaining additional tax breaks for wealthy individuals would give marginal stimulus to the economy. They just have no real incentive to spend. And corporate tax cuts are absolutely useless...he actually said it "would have zero effect".... because corporations are currently sitting on trillions in cash and if they won't spend what they have, why give them more cash that they won't spend.

He did give some credence to a payroll tax holiday, because that would benefit the major part of the population that would push it right back into economic demand.

Krugman has never wavered from his original ideas on the economy. Yet, no one it would seem willing listen to this Nobel prize winning economist. The political will for doing what is right is woefully lacking.

You know, there is a real possibility that the Republicans will win back the House this fall. Kind of like being rewarded for the mess they caused. But if they would happen to gain that majority, what would they do?

What would they do?

]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 19:52:59 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2454 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2454 http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2453
You know if you are Michele Bachmann, and you are going to go to all the expense of getting a bus with your likeness emblazoned all over it, you really ought to get more than 2 days out of it, don't you think?

Well, at least she made some appearances in the 6th District. It's so hard for her to fit in the time you know. She has rallies and revivals and media events to attend to. There just isn't enough time in the day.

But, as we follow her trail, she did get to stop and see the good folks in Woodbury....or was it Woodbury, NY??? Sometimes these towns start looking like they are all the same.

Well, she had a nice piece of cake and moved on to Hugo...having some kind of centennial? or was it Hugo, Colorado? Oh yeah, that was the Colorado one. Oopsie.

OK, OK. It's on to St. Cloud....umm, not St. Cloud, Florida, right? No, no. We must still be in Minnesota. When is that Glenn Beck rally?

Next we hit Sauk Rapids. I'm pretty sure this one is right. It's definitely not Sauk City, WI....or Sauk Village, IL . Nope, this is the Rapids. Got it.

OK -- day 2 coming up. Have to keep this moving. Got a rally in DC coming soon. Alright, looks like Anoka? Pretty sure of this one, although you could make a mistake in the mirror and end up in Akona, HI If you start following Michele around too much, you start making mistakes like that. But, no sir, this is definitely Anoka....the Minnesota Anoka.

OK, now I'm confused. The next stop on the itinerary says Federal Ammunition. What that's about? What? She's going to shoot what?

Oh, well. We'll be back on the plane soon. Back to Washington, DC.

Good grief, if we spent anymore time in Minnesota we'd be getting lost all the time.

And jeez, that awful bus. Come on Michele -- you can air mail it back to those Minnesota yokels.

The Tea Party is calling....goodbye land of the lakes.]]> Mon, 30 Aug 2010 05:21:16 GMT http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/comments.php?id=2453 ]]> http://www.mnpact.org/sblog/blog.php?id=2453