Tag Archives: Politics

November 5, 2012 · 3:53 pm

The Election Ends, Ugly is the New Standard

I’ve started and stopped about 20 posts on this election, sat down to the computer with some thoughts and an idea of what I wanted t0 talk about, and frankly had to bail, basically intellectually pull up before I plowed myself into a smoking hole in the ground of pissyness and snark.

There really isn’t anyone else to convince anymore so I’m wasting time trying to move opinions. Tuesday can’t come fast enough and yet I find myself a little worried about the outcome.

My thoughts-

On the Presidential race; I’ll be voting for Obama. I toyed with idea of voting for Mitt. As I’ve said before, the version of Mitt that was the Governor of Massachusetts I would vote for in a heartbeat. The version that was running during the primary scared the shit out me, the version that we’ve seen the last few weeks is more reasonable, I’m just don’t have confidence as to which one would be President.

All of them Sank! So you say.

Comes down to these issues for me-

On social issues I’m a strong Libertarian. Getting more so the older I get. Get the Government out of the doctor’s office, bedroom, classroom, blah blah blah. Since this president will nominate 3 Supreme Court justices, the thought of a bunch Anton Scalias and Clarence Thomas’ on the court scares me do DEATH. Citizen United almost brought me to the point of thinking that I should just stop voting.

Speaking of social issues:

Abortion. I thought we’d be done arguing about this years and years ago. But it still comes up in 2012, and even more shockingly so does birth control. Thank you Rick Santorum. Rape is not a good enough reason to allow abortions. Rape. In 2012. Personally if my daughter, sister, niece, wife, aunt, whomever were raped and a baby were conceived in that process, under Paul Ryan’s America we’d be on our way to Canada in a hot second (assuming we weren’t already there as Political Refugees) Remember I’m the guy who’s own birthmother was honest enough to admit that were abortions legal in 1963 “you wouldn’t be here”. Nuff said. Supreme Court justices appointment is high on my list.

Same Sex Marriage, I’m on the record here. I think government and religion should part ways on marriage. Register your partnerships at the County Courthouse and be done. You want a religious ceremony, go have one. You don’t? Don’t. BTW, the Biblical definition of marriage includes multiple wives and sleeping with slaves and concubines. That’s a biblical marriage. One Man One Woman as the billboard says, an interpretation of the bible. Listening to the arguments on same sex marriage in Minnesota frankly, has shaken my very belief in God. The more I see sides manipulating and reinterpreting God the less I believe that there is anything to religion other than a social institution. And we’ve been fighting about it since the second person asked “who am I?” and discovered their answer to be different from the first guys answer.

BTW, I’m tired of the Orwellian doublespeak going on around this issue. Win or lose, in 20 years I’m certain we’ll look back on this like we do miscegenation laws today. Non-factor.

Voter ID Speaking of Orwell, he would love the Voter Id amendment. I can hear the conversation in the bowels of the Republican Strategic War Room.

2010. Coleman concedes the Senate election to Al Franken. Republicans are flabbergasted that a carpet bagging New York Jew could come back to Minnesota after several decades and beat their golden boy, another New York Jew, but their New York Jew.

“We lost the Franken/Coleman race by 300 votes. Dayton beat our man Emmer by 9000 votes, less than ½ a percentage point. What can we do? Here’s an idea.. voter ID. Create an issue where there isn’t one. In this case report that we have massive voter fraud. The Republican base will buy it because it explains what they cannot, that reasonable people vote for liberals. Put the measure on the Presidential ballot, it’s a win win. It will bring out the conservative voter either way, and if it wins, it will take a percent or two out of the Democrats voter ranks. What’d’ya think? Let’s do it.”

And they did. And people are buying and somewhere the ghosts of Nicolai Machiavelli and George Orwell are laughing their asses off. Well played right wing, well played.

Then again this is the kind of shit that had Lee Atwater begging for forgiveness from George Dukakis and Willie Horton and the rest of the Body Politic at the end of his life.  He screwed  all of us by honing the lie cheat steal mode of political discourse. Seems Lee was diagnosed with a brain tumor after the Bush election and really thought he was going to hell for the things he’d done. Maybe there is a God after all.

Immigration. When I hear my Anglo friends complaining about how “bad” my hometown is now, “it’s Spanish everywhere” and “crime and gangs and graffiti and drugs and all that stuff… to me, as a student of history, this is sounding more like a reaction to the Latinization of the American Southwest and West. The arguments I hear from Stockton concerning Mexicans are the same arguments which put forward when the Chinese were the immigrant horde taking over America. Look up Chinese Exclusion Act for a little eye opening view of anit-immigrant racism. We’re a country of Me Firsters, ironically with some very short memories because in this case there’s a valid argument for Mexicans in California, Arizona, New Mexico etc should be complaining about 150 years of Anglicization, since technically, they were here first. (apologies to my Native friends) Cultural borders rarely respect political borders, and conflict along them, exactly what we’re seeing here. 12M illegals in the US. Give them a just path to citizenship and lets move on.

Obama Care. I’m not all that happy with health care reform, but from my seat, because it didn’t go far enough. On this issue I’m a socialist. I want a health care system that provides benefits for the greatest number of people. Period. In 2012 it’s a crime to me that American’s have to worry about being one catastrophic illness away from financial ruin. It’s also a crime that the richest country in the world has some of the worst statistics in the developed world when it come to infant mortality and life expectancy. We can certainly do better here. I would feel a ton better about voting for a Republican who instead of simply proclaiming opposition to Obama Care would perhaps, and this might be a lot, tell me what their alternatives are, ’cause what we have now is a real problem.

The Economy. Crushing debt. High unemployment. The Great Recession. I get it. Obama inherited a mess and made it worse. I’m not smart enough on this to put forth an opinion, but in my simple mind looks likes this:

Our national debt is a problem. Has been a problem since 1776. We almost went bankrupt paying for the war of independence. Now we’re going bankrupt paying for Middle Eastern wars, $1.3 TRILLION. We’re going bankrupt paying $1.6 TRILLION for debt financed tax cuts, thank you George Bush. Our current Medicare programs also about 1.6 TRILLION in deficit. Some due to government contracts and BS and some due to Bush prescription drug benefits. Another Trillion for Obama’s economic stimulus, and finally the Great Recession. About another TRILLION in gap in tax revenue. Made worse by loopholes, offshoring blah blah blah.

So what’s the fix? Lower taxes again to spur the economy? Get rid of regulation stifling American Business? Cut some centerpiece environmental protections so we can continue to drill baby drill? How about we take taxes back to where they were during America’s most recent economic boom, that would be the Clinton years. We’re paying the lowest taxes in our recent history at the moment and we still whine. Lets close the loopholes that allow the Koch brothers and GE to not pay a nickle in income taxes? I don’t have faith in the Romney plan. And finally, lets penalize companies that offshore their production to escape our regulations and our taxes. You want to business in American communities, you have to pay American taxes. Seems reasonable.

 

Now my cynical self, which has become even more acute this election.

-          Elections in this country are bought and paid for. No candidate will actually make any of the changes needed to move us forward. There’s too much money and influence in the system.

-          We are run by a cabal of business interests and lobbiest for various industries that see the government as a profit center. Been that way for 150 years, and it won’t change now.

-          Religion has no business in politics or government. In 2012 the fact that we’re arguing everything from abortion to creationism and everything in-between really leaves me depressed and not all that hopeful for our future. On the other hand, I’m sort of encouraged that the next generation seems to even less influenced by religious dogma that mine. 60% of kids today have no religious affiliation. The Catholic Church is closing parishes by the score, partially because the ranks of Priests and Nuns is in absolute free fall in Western countries and partially because American Catholics are having a hard time with an institution run by the successor to Torquemada the Grand Inquisitor. (The Bavarian Cardinal Ratzinger, in last gig was the head of the modern successor to the Inquisition.) Bottom line, the more I hear the arguments coming from the Faith community the more I find myself wondering how much I’ve let my own faith force me to make irrational decisions.

-          Citizens United has been a disaster to good TV and honest campaigns. We’re as dirty now as we were at the turn of the last century. The Out of Context shit, I can’t stand it. Michelle Bachmann is the worst. Speaking of which, she lies about EVERYTHING, how do my Republican friends continue to support her. She is a BAD human being, stop electing her.

 

That’s it. I’m done with elections 2012. Got a lot off my chest here. See you on the other side, for good or for bad.

 

 

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October 12, 2012 · 10:04 pm

Vote Id- A Badly Written Law that will fix nothing.

The focus of my anger at the right has shifted in the past couple weeks. Where I once had vitriol and disgust about the Marriage amendment, that’s all been replaced by this voter id amendment we’re voting on here in Minnesota.

Gay marriage will work itself out. The Gay hating Archbishop around here needs a win of some kind, his church is consolidating parishes and closing churches faster than Department Stores as their members die off and are not replaced. 60% of kids today, and by kids I’m saying 30 and under, don’t attend any church, and certainly aren’t going to be attracted to an institution that offers a message of hate and damnation. Who needs that.

I digress.

What I’m really upset about this election is the voter ID thing.

If this were a legitimate issue, if voter fraud were a problem in Minnesota there would be non-partisan support for this.

The Pro Site claims that our elections in Minnesota are among the dirtiest in the Nation. They quote 100+ convictions for voting irregularities in this state. In the last 4 years there have been 113 convictions in Minnesota. How filthy is that? Just as a reference that means we’re running a .004% fraud rate. Thats over 1:25,000 votes that were fraudulent. I can see how our election integrity is at risk around here. I know I feel threatened. Oh, btw.. of those 113, 112 were felons voting. Felons voting BTW, would not be corrected by this amendment, since they have ids.

The Pro People claim that this amendment would allow active military and elderly folks to use their military ID’s and expired drivers licenses to vote. Bullshit. We have no idea what folks are going to be able to use to vote, this amendment doesn’t tell us that. It only says “valid ID”. The legislature will have to figure out what valid means.

Forget about voter suppression, which I happen to believe is exactly what is behind this amendment. Since when is it a good idea to add a law that’s going to add regulation to something and leave the details of how the law will be enforced out of the law? The legislature could, the way this law is written, mandate that only Passports are valid ID. It doesn’t say.

The arguments on this from the left anticipate that we will follow the Indiana model and force driver licenses or “free” government issued IDs. Id’s that are only free if you have your raised seal birth certificate. Now if you can afford the $30.00 to order, and assuming you weren’t born at home in the South before 1970, there may not even be one in existence for you. So you’re going to have to go to court and this quickly becomes a very complicated process with high hurdles. According the Pro Site.. at least before they took it down, “voting is a privilege not a right”. That says it all right there. Privileges for the privileged. Fact is if they can make it impossible for 10% of the 200,000 voters in this state who do not have legal id’s, the calculus is that it’s probably 80% Democratic voters.

Fact is, voting is a right. This amendment is a red herring designed to do two things; get a few percentages of the Democratic electorate away from the polls, and rally the conservative base by drumming up fears of illegals brown people and mean old felons voting in droves and delegitimizing our elections. ‘cause that, just ain’t happening.

I strongly urge a vote against this. Even my conservative friends, this is a baldy written law that does not belong in our constitution. Lets do the right thing here.

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September 20, 2012 · 9:15 pm

Romney, Lacking a Winning Plan

In my experience in strategic planning, developing a strategic plan at the organizational level involves at some level answering the following simple questions:

  1. What do we do?
  2. Who do we do it for?
  3. What’s our reason for doing it?

In business this is pretty easy to align to customers, competition, driving performance, shareholder return etc.

Along to the way organizations create vision statements, stakes in the ground if you will for their groups to rally around, they create goals and objectives and tactics to deliver on those objectives and they attempt to deliver on the strategy.

Great organizations constantly review those three questions and add two more questions to the classic list:

  1. What ecosystem do we live in?

I’m not referring to some rainforest environmental psycho-babble here, I’m referring the environment every organization finds itself existing in and reacting too.

  1. What are we great at?

Soar with you strengths, a focused organization is more successful than a generalist company that tries to be great at everything.

And now, my point-

Applying this thinking to the Presidential campaign, I’m absolutely flabbergasted, although I don’t know exactly why, at how the Republican Party can absolutely drop the ball on what should be a core competency of theirs; strategic planning.

I believe there is the opportunity this election cycle for the Republicans to walk away with the White House as easily as President Obama did in 2008, if they but take a few minutes to consider a more mainstream and populist strategy. A simple one they could have borrowed from Democratic strategist and human/lizard hybrid James Carville; “It’s the economy stupid.”

The economy is the one issue that resonates across the political spectrum, and its one issue that President and the Democrats have a difficult time defending. Not because they have done it all wrong and the Republicans have a plan which will do it right, the economy is a great issue for the politicians you can always attack the party in power about it and no one really knows how to do anything about it.

Hence the reason economists are more like weather forecasters than scientists. I’ve long thought that that really, there’s very little a President can do to improve an economy by policy, it’s too complicated, and too many factors come into play.

Economic debates are perfect political fodder because you can move opinions and you can take positions and still not alienate voters, you simply have to sound like you know what you’re talking about and you’ll be able to generate support, and you can always do that against the party in power.

When the Tea Party came along in 2010 or so, the message they tried to get out was this;

“We’re a non-partisan movement focused only on taxes and deficit reduction”. Implied in there was the idea that social issues were not of concern.

That lasted about 4 minutes. Not because I think the Tea Party wasn’t sincere in their statements, rather because the early adopters we’re anything but non-partisan, they’re as quick to adopt populist ideas about taxes and economics as they are conservative social positions.

Interesting side note, when Gov. Romney suggests that 47% of America feel that they’re victims I think the Governor is off by about 57%. The Tea Parties focus is on their own victimhood, they’re being oppressed by a big spending, big tax government that’s trying to redistribute their wealth. Just say’n.

For the Republicans all of their strategies are moot if they can’t get their candidate elected, and at the moment they seem to be doing all they can to keep that from happening.

In order to win, they have to sway voters in the middle. They should be studying those voters, understanding what’s important to them and hitting those messages hard. They should also be mitigating their weaknesses with those voters, and in doing so reducing the effectiveness of the opposition’s arguments against them. It’s this last point they’re missing big time.

Rather than focus on the issues the Republicans, have allowed themselves to be dragged into a series of red herring issues that will turn the middle right back to the President.

  • Immigration. Hispanics may like conservative values, but they sure don’t like being singled out for their papers like the Arizona law suggests. The Republicans, playing to their base, have supported this law, and alienated all but the staunchest Hispanic conservative voters.
  • Dream Act- Romney would send kids who have lived here all their lives back to where they came from, aliens in their own land, because of decisions their parents made. Not going to endear them to Hispanics.
  • Abortion. We’re still talking about this in 2012. I would hamper to guess that no one has changed their mind on this issue in 30 years. This issue polarizes the opposition and is a litmus test for many voters. No expectations for rape or incest, not only misogynistic, but probably alienates another 30% of women voters to the Dem side. Best to leave this alone.
  • 47%- this gaffe probably not as damaging as it seems unless it resonates with the 15% undecided. But the bigger problem with this, it gives the dems an arsenal of pointed material for the ad campaigns. And they’re going to need it because the Romney side is going to outspend the Democrats by an estimated 2:1.

The Republican base, represented by the Tea Party these days, there is no circumstance where they would vote for Obama, they hate him for so many reasons it’s not funny. They represent about 25% of the electorate. The 47% on Obama side.. well I think it’s more like 40%, they’re a lost cause forget about them.

The Middle, what local Right Winger Jason Lewis calls road kill, have decided every presidential election in my lifetime. If Romney could find some of his old self, the one that was more centrist, the one that was elected governor of Massachusetts, that Romney would waltz into the White house. Instead he’s giving voters who would otherwise support him on economic issues reasons to vote against him. The Republicans are the minority party, they need to win voters from the other side, not give them reasons to vote against them.

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August 18, 2012 · 8:53 am

Why Liberals should be pissed at Obama

Saw my first political ad today. A nice reminder to make sure I have lots of content on the DVR to cover up the event. I don’t think I can take a second more of lies and bullshit politics.

“What” you ask, or don’t ask, “You’re a political animal Sank,” Crazy I know.

I’ve crossed over to the dark side of cynicism, coupled with a healthy dose of disgust. I don’t know who to vote for to be honest. I know who I don’t want to vote for, Joe-Paul Mitt Ryan Hussein Obama, if you know what I mean. And once again I’m going to have hold my nose when I vote and select the candidate who I dislike the least. And, thanks to the Citizens United deal, I’m pretty sure it’s only going to get worse from a lying cheating standpoint.

4 years ago, I felt pretty good about voting for Obama. I liked what he had to say, I was quite weary of 8 years war mongering Bush policies, corruption at the highest levels of government, (Halliburton bidding for example) American concentration camps, the government torturing people in my name, my government wiping its ass with the constitution and so on and so forth. I wanted change.

On the other side, I was hoping for some new things like health care systems with equal access for all Americans, improvements to social programs to take care of our vulnerable citizens, our elderly, and a chance to quit debating fucking creationism and abortion and all the other red herring issues that do nothing to advance the country.

I liked the idea of change. I was proud that America could look past skin color and elect an African-American president. I wasn’t surprised when it started to become clear that Obama had a chance, that the wingnuts began spinning. My email was treated to every conspiracy theory you could imagine about his background, how he came to be a candidate you name.

Bottom line- there’s a scene from the film Trading Places where Eddy Murphy and Dan Aykroyd become part of an elaborate bet by the evil Duke brothers that people are a result of circumstance more than breeing. In the movie Murphy, acting as the managing director of the brokerage, overhears the Duke’s settling their bet in the men’s room.

Randolph Duke: [Valentine overhears the Dukes talking in the bathroom] Pay up, Mortimer. I’ve won the bet.
Mortimer Duke: Here, one dollar.
Randolph Duke: [chuckling] We took a perfectly useless psychopath like Valentine, and turned him into a successful executive. And during the same time, we turned an honest, hard-working man into a violently, deranged, would-be killer!
[laughs]
Randolph Duke: Now, what are we going to do about taking Winthorpe back and returning Valentine to the ghetto?
Mortimer Duke: I don’t want Winthorpe back, after what he’s done.
Randolph Duke: You mean, keep *Valentine* on as managing director?
Mortimer Duke: Do you really believe I would have a *nigger* run our family business, Randolph?
Mortimer Duke: [Valentine's eyes widen with outrage] Of course not. Neither would I.
Source: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0086465/quotes

Every time I get passed some bullshit email about Obama being a Muslim, or wanting to turn America into a socialist workers paradise, or that Obama care is the work of Satan, that scene from the movie kind of starts running through my head.

So I voted for change. And now he were are 4 years later, what’s changed?

We’re still at war. Slightly less so in Iraq, and we’re in the exact same place in Afghanistan. Pointless nation building for a bunch of people who really don’t want to get out of the stone age. I say, let’m fester where they are we can move on.

By the way as an aside, I think maybe we should quite handing our “allies” the Afghans guns, ungrateful bastards keep shooting us with them. Minutes after we hand them over it seems. “Fool me once” as Scotty from Star Trek used to say.

Lezseenow Bill of Rights… President Obama on December 31 of 2011 signed into law the National Defense Authorization Act for 2012, and with his signature basically wiped out a little concept I like called Habeas Corpus. Basically, if you’re arrested you MUST be brought before a judge and be charged for something. And they have to do it quickly. Well, if you weren’t paying attention when this bill went through the Military can now arrest and detain you, and by you I mean foreigners AND American citizens, INDEFINATELY. That means as in as long as they like, regardless of evidence. All they have to do is think you’re a communist. No wait, I meant Taliban. Or Al Qaeda. Or have visited Pakistan. Or maybe India ‘cause that’s close to Pakistan. Well, since they don’t have to prove shit, doesn’t matter what they say. Detain away.

Seriously this thing is worse than anything Dick Cheney, not exactly a freedom loving patriot, tried to do in his years a shadow president. This is currently in court and for once my right wing friends should be thankful for the ACLU. No one likes Lawyers until they need one. Then they like’m a lot!

Camp_x-ray_detaineesConcentration Camp- “A camp where civilians, enemy aliens, political prisoners, and sometimes prisoners of war are detained and confined, typically under harsh conditions.” American Heritage Dictionary.

Obama promised to close our concentration camps at Guantanamo Bay and in Afghanistan. The Bagram Theatre Detention Center if you don’t know. This is where the United States detains people without due process and tortures them.. just like the Soviets did and Nazis did and every other you name it bad guy. These camps are still open and still in the business of torturing in my name. This alone should be a deal breaker. .

Look, I get it that there are terrorists in the world who will do us great harm, I happen to believe however that the US Constitution and the Bill of Rights are magnificent documents that do not need to be altered or changed because some douchebag congressman doesn’t think our founding fathers anticipated terrorists or evil doors among us. Funny how people so intent on keeping the tenants of a 5000 year old book are quick to change interpretation of 236 document they claim to hold in equal reverence.

I digress.

Uh Economy. It’s bust. Obama hasn’t helped, the congress hasn’t helped, the Euro fiasco hasn’t helped. No one want to do shit to fix this except, protect their own interests. All I know is when the two parties entrusted to making policy can’t negotiate with the countries best interests in mind, we screwed.

I’m pissed about the fact that the perpetrators of the current mess, who… and follow along here, BROKE THE FUCKING LAW by getting creative with banking and finance regulations, are all going to walk free, well my head is going to explode.  Goldman Sachs executives just this week got a get out of jail free card from the Administration. Money talks.

I have to laugh, laugh through tears mind you. When Obama was elected my right wing friends went off about how we’d elected a socialist and everything thing was going to change for the worse. The government was taking over everything, coming after their guns, closing their churches, imposing Sharia law, opening the southern border to the Brown Horde.. and here we are, 4 years later and as I predicted it’s pretty much the same. The Ship of American Politics doesn’t turn very fast, it makes course corrections occasionally, but no President can institute a quick fix on anything.

So, who ya voting for Sank? How about Ron Paul.. Lemmie go on record Ron Paul and the Little Paul are psychopathic xenophobic racists so uh NO to the Pauls. I like America.

Romney? And go back to Regan fiscal policy that got us into this economic morass to begin with? Uh..Gee have to think about that one.  

Which is a whole ‘nuther blog. Stay tuned.

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April 24, 2012 · 9:46 pm

Political Folly- The Season of the Lunatic is Upon Us

Looks like we’re going to be able to hunt wolves in Minnesota, legislators are in the process of passing legislation to allow wolf hunting. My favorite quote on this issue;

“This would be just one more way to continue the intrigue and enjoyment many people get out of hunting as well as a creative way to help control the coyote population.” Westrom said people have been telling him for years how much fun they had hunting wolves from aircraft in the 1960s and 1970s. “I want to bring back something that younger generations have never had the chance to experience.”

Are we going to shoot buffalo from trains too? Intrigue and enjoyment of blasting wolves from a plane, I wasn’t aware that we had that many pilot-hunters around. Whatever you thoughts on this issue are, pro or against, can we agree that is about as important as studying possum populations in urban forests in terms of things the legislators in St. Paul should be worrying about?

Speaking of priorities, our legislators also found time to pass a new law allowing Minnesotans to buy the “good” fireworks that we’d all been buying in Wisconsin anyway. Again, so glad that we had the time to pass this critical piece of legislation, it’s been too long since we were able to legally shoot fireworks into the summer sky. Thank G-d we don’t have to cross over to Wisconsin anymore. Gonna put more than one Badger state business out of business me things.

And what the hell people, since wasting the taxpayers time and money seems to be the order of the day, we couldn’t find time to legalize booze and car sales on Sunday. Where are your bloody priorities you worthless incumbent paper tigers.

Giving away our tax dollars that’s where. State is broke, the legislators are rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic and boom, along comes Roger Goodell and the NFL to hold a gun to these nimwits heads and demand $500M of our tax money for their private business. Yup we’re about to award Ziggy Wilf and the NFL half a billion dollars to build the NFL a new stadium here in Minnesota. Look, I love sports, I’ve loved the NFL in the past and I’ve been known to get whipped up for the Vikings but really? We have $550M lying around to give to one of the richest and most successful professional entertainment companies on the planet? I don’t see it. Good for the people of Los Angeles for not giving in to these clowns, hold your ground LA no one needs one of these franchises until they can pay their own way, and they can, looking at their balance sheets. For those of you from out of state, the issue was DOA this year until Roger Goodell came to town and held a gun to our heads.

Was it just me or did we have deficit to worry about just recently, oh that’s right we raided the schools to balance our budget. My mistake.

Some other gems from the most recent legislative session?

  • Marriage amendment on the November ballot, because hate is a family value.
  • Voter ID amendment. This is one of my favorites, by most accounts voter fraud in Minnesota accounts for 5 to 10 ballots a year. Thank goodness my faith in elections will be restored buy this POS legislation.
  • We’re working on legislation to enact what are called “barrier” laws to keep women from taking abortion inducing drugs. The new requirement they’re working would mandate that a Doctor be present, not just when the woman gets the prescription, but when she actually takes the pill and swallows it. This we’re told is a good thing for mothers and babies in Minnesota. Makes my head explode just thinking about that line. My wife, who BTW is very conservative on most issues and yet clearly sees this as yet another attack on women and has suggested that if they allow a RN to be present instead she’ll do house calls and not charge a nickel. Rebel.

When the Tea Party, who are about as non-partisan as James Carville, started making noise last election we were all led to believe they were all about fiscal responsibility and would not be pushing social issues and their conservative agenda. Well, surprise they’ve not done a thing about the budget, after all that’s a hard one, you can’t just cut spending and not raise taxes like they planned, that stupid thing called math got in the way. So instead they went to work on issues to rally their base, other far right zealots and here we are.

I saw an interesting video clip somewhere where a bunch of Tea Party types were out protesting the government. Cut spending, blah blah. Another clip was of the Occupy Wall Street folks, also protesting, this time big financial institutions, camera pans up and bazinga, they’re protesting in front of the same building.

I swear my head is going to explode.

BTW, there might be a way for your head not explode in Minnesota.

Independence Party of Minnesota.

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November 8, 2011 · 8:31 pm

Election day- If only I could vote my mind

Election day, 2012.

Just for the record I made no effort to get to the polls today, since I don’t know a thing about any of the school board candidates running, or for that matter even what’s on the ballot I don’t think I’m qualified to vote this time around. I’ll be sitting out.

I have some real trouble with the voting process here in Minnesota, and the fact that I don’t know what’s on the ballot is problem one. Seems to me that I should be able to go one line and download a copy of the my ballot before the election, so I know before the election who and what I’m going to be voting for. Truth be told when it comes to testy Soil and Water commissioners and school board candidate, I have no idea.

In California all registered voters received a copy of the ballot, in the mail, about 3 weeks prior to election. Maybe we have something on line in Minnesota, I couldn’t find it. Hey Mark Ritchie, you do a good job helping me find my polling place, be nice to know what I’m voting on when I get there, can you help a taxpayer out?

I don’t know if California still does this given their budget constraints.. but it was nice little perk that I’ve come to appreciate living here, where the only voter guides I get are from partisan sources which are full of lies and bullshit. In California we’d get a booklet, ballot would laid out in it, as a matter of fact it even looked like the real ballot so you could prefill it if you wanted to take it in with you. Also in the booklet 500 words or less from every local candidate about why they’re running and.. since California has a ballot initiative process, every initiative had a short pro and con statement and, one rebuttal to each statement. It was actually very helpful.

And the reason that California could mail these materials to every voter is that you had register to vote there, no less than 2 weeks prior to the election. Good news is you only had to do this once if you didn’t move or change your name or… change parties. Yes in California you had to register with a party which means in a primary only those folks pre-registered being in the party, get to vote on that party’s ballot. None of the hyjinx we have here where the other party floods the polls for a candidate they deem as beatable.

I’m seriously not a fan of motor voter laws where people can walk up the day of an election with an electric bill and a friend and vote. If you can’t figure out how to register two weeks prior, and believe me there’s voter registration drives in the mall, at your front door, at every community event, it’s not much a burden, but if you can’t figure it out I can’t imagine how you could figure out who to vote for. Democracy should have some minimum price of admission.

As long as I’m thinking about civics and government, another issue or thought that crosses my mind with some frequency, just how inefficient and bad our local governments have become in the suburbs. This is why I’m not lifting a finger to even try to vote. It’s also why, for the last 2 mayoral elections in Apple Valley I’ve written in my dog Giggs. Two elections ago, Giggs actually received several dozen votes from different precincts.. if only we had more time to campaign. (BTW, I won’t be running Giggs again. My poll judge friend has asked that we not run the dog because she had to stay late and count the dog votes)

In our small municipality we have our Mayor Mary. Mary has been elected three times in a row. Mostly because, she’s had no real competition running against her the last three times she’s ran. We had Lance the Spitter, the candidate with anger issues one election, the crazy libertarian last time, I can’t remember his name only that he was suggesting the elimination of public schools or something like that.. but no mainstream, serious candidates. Why? What qualified business person or management type, the sort who would run a good city hall, would run for Mayor? Pays squat, is a part time job and requires attendance at events during the day, when you have a real job.

Apple Valley isn’t unique. In Burnsville we have a mayor who has been trying to create a charming high density urban environment complete with a Performing Arts Center, to the tune of $20M. One year later the city is laying off employees and cutting services because of it’s performing arts funding deficit. All the while the Arts Center sits empty because apparently while the Mayor knows how to snatch public funds for pet projects, she doesn’t how to, or how to hire anyone who can actually book an act into a performance space, the thing sits empty all the time. Oh, and since the mayor lives in the charming urban core she’s doing all she can to keep property values up when she’s surrounded by empty units no one wants. One thing every suburb has to learn, some the hard way, you can’t buy charm. Ya just can’t build charm. You can build a quaint downtown, you can build pedestrian friendly, you can build antique looking store fronts like Main Street Disneyland. But you can’t build 100 year old buildings or charming where there was nothing. Sorry.

Why are all the little connected town all competing with each other anyway?

City Roll Call: South of the river we have, going from west to east; Savage, Burnsville, Apple Valley, Eagan, Rosemount, Farmington and Lakeville. Each of these burbs have their own fire departments, police departments, planning departments, sewer and water departments. And we have seven separate city governments and their associated city buildings and infrastructure; city halls and bureaucrats, you know, all the stuff that goes along with running a city, times seven.

For those of us who live here, the cities have in fact become one entity more or less. You have to have some local knowledge to know when you’re in Burnsville or if you’ve crossed the line into Apple Valley. Where does Eagan start, and why do you have Lakeville address, Apple Valley phone number and your kid goes to Rosemount high school?

Seems to me that at some point we should start talking about bucking tradition and merging these governments into one large unified suburb, something like Bloomington. Here’s my arguments:

  •  Efficiency. Take a look at the minutes from just about any Apple Valley City Council meeting, and ask “was it really worth the time and cost to hold this meeting?” In the private sector where meeting costs are tracked, 90% of what happens at a local city council meeting could be handled with a conference call. But.. our local politicians want to be involved, want to demonstrate their leadership, practice up on their Roberts Rules.. come on join the Lions if you want to do all that.
  •  Governance. In my town, Apple Valley, our local city council has approved a host of wasteful development projects which have made a lot of builders quite wealthy, but done nothing for the town. We have acres and acres of brownfields in Apple Valley, under utilized land in the heart of town land that is underutilized because developers have convinced the Mayor and council that we need more townhouses and shopping and dining on what used to be farmland, mostly across the street or down the road from center of town. Founders circle is a great example of a failed development. While Times Square, the original Apple Valley shopping center looks like something out of East LA these days, neglected. Behind Times Square, storage rentals and empty land.

    Another example of stupid planning, how about a$5.0M dollar brand spank’n new city run liquor store on the edge of town that sits empty day after day. Its’ lovely inside, but it has to be losing money hand over fist, I’ve never seen a soul in there. And the folks that work there, city employees, nice enough but don’t know shit about wine or liquor. Is it really the business of the city to be in the liquor business and, if like every other city around here, must we build

    I believe if we were able to look at the South Metro as one city, with one list of projects to prioritize we would have a better chance at avoiding financial black holes like an unneeded liquor store and a boondoggle like the Heart of the City project in Burnsville.

  • Consolidated services. Police and fire services would be consolidated and I think would probably be more efficient. Emergencies and crime doesn’t respect the artificial city lines we’ve drawn, so lets do away with them. Consolidate street work, snow removal, inspections, park services.. it’s seem like a no brainer to me, unless I’m missing something.

Here’s the bottom line in my mind. These little towns historically were separated by geography, space, land etc. There were well defined borders, and maintaining their own services and city councils made sense. This is not longer the case. We’re one town for all intensive purposes, having all these services separate really serves no one except the petty bureaucrats who sit in our city chambers and pretend to govern.

One day, on election I hope I have a chance to vote my little town of existence as we consolidate with other towns into one political entity that matters.

 

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October 8, 2009 · 10:45 pm

A disgusted point of view

I’m disgusted with this country. I don’t even know where to begin.

I’ll start with Dick Cheney… No secret to readers to this space that I believe, honestly believe, that Dick Cheney should be tried for treason. He’s evil, pure evil. They guy worked hard to suspend the bill of rights, broke his pledge to defend the laws of the United States and wiped his ass with the constitution. He got us involved in a useless war, he personally profited while Vice President by steering contracts to his former company, the guy reeks like a third world politician. Worst of all, the thing that I can’t forgive him for… he destroyed this countries credibility in the world as the bastion of democratic process and beacon of freedom. He lowered us to the level of many of the countries we count as enemies.

Why the obsession on Cheney again? After 9/11 Democrats and Republicans gathered around the president. We all came together. Congressmen and Senators from both parties gathered on the capital steps and sang America. What would happen today, if we were attacked? Well, Dick has already said, the next attack is Obama’s fault. It’s his fault because he stopped torturing people.

During the Bush years, and I hated George Bush, I had no tolerance for the “he’s not my President” crowd. Matter of fact it disgusted me. Now, we have a bunch of folks who can’t stand the thought that they lost the election who are demonstrating that they aren’t even loyal Americans. Sickening.

 

I’m disgusted with Obama at the moment. I’m an equal opportunity guy, and I call’um as I see um. He’s done nothing. None of the change I voted for has come to fruition. Universal healthcare. Where is it? We can’t even have a decent factual debate about it with out creating stupid noise, death panels, abortion field trips… I mean come on now.  Maybe we should get the government out of the healthcare business. That means we close all the VA Hospitals people. That’s a government run program that only serves a special interest group. Dump it.

I don’t understand why we want to continue to see our quality of health care diminish for the average American. We’re 50th on the list of life expectancy, and we’re number 1 in spending per captia. So lets aspire to make this worse. Lets shoot for Mexico or China, where we can have a our working poor and middle class unable to access basic care and preventative medicine. And what do the countries ahead of us have? Universal health care.

Guantanamo Bay is still open, we’re still in Iraq. Afghanistan is worse than it was when he came in.. On the other hand we almost collapsed the entire western worlds economy thanks to pure greed. We seem to be work through that thanks to the policies of the Fed, but have we learned anything? We’re the regulations to control our executives can’t do on their own?

 

Birthers- I can’t even think about these morons without fuming up. I hate conspiracies. If things are happening in the world that you don’t understand, like how a Nee-Gro could be elected President, make shit up about some conspiracy. The thing I really love about this.. Wouldn’t someone have had to be really damn strategic to engage all the moving parts to cover this up for Obama’s entire life? Crazy stuff. Of course there’s an awful lot of people who believe that Mason’s rule the world, the Protocols of the Elders of Zion is a real book and that the there are UN Troops in Canada waiting to invade the US.

Michelle Bachman How does the woman get elected. Will she get re-elected? A woman who, every time she opens her mouth makes me cringe. lately she’s been concerned about “ripping the guts out of freedom”. What freedom is she talking about?  Freedom from paying taxes? Maybe. Freedom from the tyranny public schools? Freedom from onerous laws that require environmental stewardship, discrimination free workplace? Freedom from having to see queer people in public? I mean this woman is a nut job.

 

Democrats- Republicans… all the same, one side is mean wacky and one side is crazy wacky and in the end the policies enacted look exactly the same.

And thats the most disappointing thing of all.

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November 5, 2008 · 8:32 pm

Taking it in-

Last night was amazing. Obviously I’ve been on the Obama train for a long time, but to see it all actually happen, and in a decisive way, and by the biggest margin in decades.. too much. I’m quite certain the best man won in this case. I’m also confidant, perhaps mistakenly so, that Barack is exactly the guy we want leading this country at this time. We have a president who understands the issues, who will work tirelessly for all of us, and who will leave the world a safer place.

The bad news? He’s inheriting a massive mess from eight years of the worst, most inept administration this country has ever seen. If it wasn’t putting our nations best in harms way in a horribly planned war which has cost us 4300 of our finest citizens, it was a massive deficit and unprecedented growth of the government, or the way they wiped their asses with the constitution, wiretapping and arresting people with out cause and then granting immunity for big telecoms spying on Americans, corruption with massive construction projects in fixed bids going to the former companies of administration officials (Dick Cheney), Guantanamo Bay, standing by and watching while one of our great cities drowned and 2,000 of our citizens dead, and finally destroying the good will of America in the world and making it a more dangerous place.

One of my coworkers, challenged me when I said was voting for the Harvard Grad over the Boise State drop out (Palin) had the nerve to say “smart is all your worried about”.. well we’ve tried stupid and that didn’t work. I digress.

Now that the dust has settled for a day on the whole election deal, shock, I have some thoughts. Here’s what I see-

President- One word- BUZZSAW. John McCain never had a chance. While I think he’s a decent guy and would have a made a decent president, he was in losing race from the beginning. He was up against the perfect storm of one of the best run campaigns the country has ever seen, a fantastic candidate who leveraged resources and messages that resonated with huge numbers of people, and association with the worst President and worst administration this country has ever seen. And along the way…

1) McCain never had the support of his parties base. I don’t know if it would have mattered much, but that lack of support caused him to select Sarah Palin over Tim Pawlenty or Joe Liberman, a decision that got a lot of applause at the convention, but turned out to be an albatross in the election. Sarah was a big mistake. Her interviews were disasters, she lacked sophistication on foreign policy, and her hard core convictions on abortion and the environment conflicted with the mainstream, making her a lightning rod. Ironically, in the end her caricature by Tina Faye became more popular than she was.

2) John made some tactical errors, trying to cancel the debate for example which generated huge negative press for him. The party went negative, played the domestic terrorist card.. which backfired on them, generating more negative press for McCain and allowing his opponents to portray him as negative and out of touch.

3) In the end, the collapse of our financial system did McCain in. His message of tax cuts for the wealthy didn’t resonate with the real Joe Plumbers, people in foreclosure, facing layoffs and so on.

4) Finally, the Republican base… that holy crucible that many conservatives feel drives elections their way.. is just not big enough to win an election. They have to figure out a way to enfranchise more people in the Republican tent. Hispanics, African-Americans, Asians.. at the convention here in Minneapolis this summer there were 17 African-American delegates, just over 1%.

National Trends- More examples of the decline of the “conservative agenda”.. While it looks like Prop 8, the ban on same sex marriages will pass in California, and Nebraska has outlawed Affirmative Action there are some signs. California defeated a parental notification bill on abortion. Shockingly South Dakota defeated a watered down ban on abortion that was supposed to be the challenge to Roe v Wade. Even the supporters were surprised that it failed in such a conservative state and that it failed handily. Colorado has a “live beings at conception” measure on the ballot, it was crushed.

Minnesota passed a sales tax increase, handily mind you, to provide funding for the Arts and Environmental issues. As Mrs S so eloquently said, “We’re going to have some bitch’n empty concert halls now”. I was surprised by that vote as it’s bad law to control budgets in the constitution. I chalk it up to hoards of Obama supporters.

Minnesota Senate- It ain’t over till it’s over.. and the Al Franken/Norm Coleman saga continues. As of this writing, Coleman has won by 725 votes. That’s 725 out of 2.4 million cast. There’s going to be a recount, so results could change in this one. I’m quite sad to report that Al Franken’s success in this election is in large part related to his negative campaigning. Al is a pretty angry, pretty bitter guy, but a guy who surprised every one in his ability to crush his opponents in the primary and to successfully compete with Norm, a candidate who in all honesty is fairly bi-partisan ( he as been in both parties after all). Al rode the Obama coat tails and high voter turnout in urban precincts and the Iron Range. Coleman won all almost all of the rural counties and crushed Al in the suburbs.

The other wild card in this was Independence Candidate Dean Barkley. Dean played the spoiler by sucking about 15% of the votes out of the election. I’m feeling like these votes came from both sides.. it’s going to be a while before we sort this one out.

Minnesota Congress- Remarkably there were no changes in the partisan make of Minnesota’s Congressional delegation. In my local district, all talk of a challenge to John Kline, the Republican incumbent, were once again nada. Last time the Dem’s ran a horrible divisive candidate, Colleen Riely. She was crushed 60/40 or better. This time we ran a war veteran, albeit a new comer to politics, Steve Sarvi. Steve was far more middle of the road and more acceptable to the Republican majority who lives in this district. In the end however, the results were the same. 60/40. I’m afraid this seat is John’s until he decides to retire and turn it over to Chris Gerlach, our local State Senator.

Bottom line folks on the Dem side. We live in a conservative Republican stronghold and our victories will be difficult.

There really were only two races in play in the state, one replacing the retiring and greatly respected Jim Ramstad in the 3rd. The other wasn’t supposed to be in play, and as it turned out really wasn’t was Michelle Bachmann’s seat. Bachmann is a neocon dinosaur, who effectively wraps tax relief and religious fundamentalism. Her tax message plays well in her affluent conservative district, but her religious fascism and single mindedness on social issues should weigh in on the voters of that district. Seems the yuppies out are more concerned about preserving their personal wealth than upholding the constitution.

Local State House- The Democrat I helped out two years ago was pretty soundly defeated in her first reelection bid, 52%-47%. In Shelley’s case I think there were a couple issues.

1) She got caught up in the backlash of the Obama/Franken campaigns. In our heavily Republican district high voter turnout in a heavy Republican district sunk her. Case in point, our biggest precinct, and the most conservative and wealthiest demographic, Madore got crushed almost 60/40.

2) Her opponent, 24 year old Tara Mack hustled her ass off. As opposed to Lloyd Cybart, her previous opponent, the Republicans learned something this time around. They took the campaign page right out of the Madore play book and put the miles on the feet, door knocking and campaigning. And, in a conservative district, it didn’t take much to push her over the top.

3) Conservative agenda- More than anything, talking to my conservative Republican neighbors, Madore was unpopular thanks to her support of the Transportation Bill, which raised gas taxes to fund roads. That was a big courageous vote for Shelley, but one that was out of step with conservative leanings of the district. Shelley is also supportive of single payer health.. another problem in a conservative district.

I’m afraid that Tara Mack, our new representative will be very difficult to unseat once she gets entrenched in St. Paul. Her conservative credentials will resonate in the district and I do not believe that she will make the same mistakes the last incumbent made in taking a such a low profile.

All in all, despite the euphoria of the Presidential win.. for the local Democrats in Dakota County, this election was a disaster. Again. In a year when Democrats were running the table we failed to protect our one incumbent, while our challengers lost big. Dems.. we have to reassess how we pick candidates in our district and how we support them. Partisan left wing politics, while fun to talk about will not win elections in District 37. Next election we have some big challenges, Chris Gerlach is up for reelection in the state senate, Tara Mack is up again in her first defense of her new job.. and John Kline will run for his 4th term..

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November 4, 2008 · 11:48 am

The Deed is Done

There never been an election day in Minnesota that I can remember that was as nice as this one! NEVER have I been able to walk the mile or so to my polling place in shirt sleeves at 8:30 in the morning. Unbelievable. It was 62 degrees this morning. If this is a side effect of Global Warming, I’m going to have a tough time arguing against it. Then again this is Minnesota and we’ve had snow already too. Our next snow fall is scheduled for Friday. See if that gets delivered.

I walked down to my place and happily cast my ballot. If you’ve read this space over the last decade, how I voted is a surprise to know one so I’ll leave it at that, other than to say I did vote for the Independence Party candidate for Senator. No Mad Al Franken and No Dirty Norm.. instead I’ll take my chances on the unknown guy. I did have on interesting experience down at the polls. One of the election judges down there made the comment that “there’s been some stories about me locally, that I’ve changed sides..” Where in the hell would that be coming from? Is that why I’ve not been contacted to help with any campaigns?

Well, for the record I haven’t changed sides. I happily cast my ballot for all the Democratic Party candidates, with the exceptions of the idiot..

When it came to all the district judges, water commissioners, soil conversation district members, school board folks and garden club presidents I pass. Funny thing, when you do your research on those positions, which I do because for some reason people come talk to me about who and how to vote, there’s NOTHING to talk about these. It’s as if these elections don’t matter. Fact is, when 2/3rds of them are running solo, it doesn’t matter. Still I did find myself researching some school board positions for people in Minneapolis, since at the office I had people coming by. the only thing I could recommend is that you NOT vote for any school board members who homeschool their kids. Those people are running for only for a couple reasons 1) they want money from the state for their little private schools, 2) the want access to something, like sports teams or laboratory time.. something where the want to use the tax payers facilities while they’re protesting against it or lastly 3) they’re trying to corrupt the education system by introducing creationism or abstinence training or some other bullshit into the public schools.

I’m on the record time and time again that if you go to school in Kansas, and have been thought the there is no such thing as dinosaurs or that dinosaurs and cavemen co-existed.. you should be precluded from attending any University except M’Oral Roberts.. If I’m the dean of a school.. that’s my order.

Speaking of schools.. the Jock got his first acceptance letter from a real university yesterday… Missouri School of Science and Technology aka Missouri School of Mines. So, he’s going somewhere. We’re waiting on Michigan Tech and Colorado School of Mines.

I digress. I might want to investigate Missouri a bit more to make sure that’s not sum Fundie run school.

The election is over, back to back to back to back ads for Norm Coleman and Al Franken, one after the other all day, every day.. will be refreshing. Thank G-d this is over and I’m hoping the good guys win..

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October 19, 2008 · 2:34 pm

Minnesota Politics

The local paper came out with first of their endorsements for the upcoming election. They started with president. Cool. This on the day that Colin Powell went on record endorsing Obama. Our spineless papers endorsement: “Pick’um”. Yup, the newspaper has decided that because we have “two great candidates, both honorable men who would serve the country well”. So they’re going to take their resources and focus on local elections.

What a bunch of weenies.

Big news in Minnesota this weekend, our local congresswoman from Minnesota’s 6th District Michelle Backmann, of attempting to kiss George W at the state of the union opened her mouth again.

I will go on record, as I’m sure no one who has read this thing wouldn’t know, as saying that I can’t stand Michelle Backmann. There’s right wingers and then there’s Michelle. She’s a reactionary bigot, who hates Gays and Catholics, belongs to a church that includes in it’s doctrine a belief that the Pope is Satan’s agent on earth. She believes that schools should teach 12 Christian principals , I don’t know exactly what they are but I assume they have to do creationism and fundamentalist philosophy. She’s scares the crap out of liberals and moderates because she’s ideologue who would just assume limit personal freedom and rights and has confused the constitution of the United States and the Founding Fathers with Fundies’s who believe the same thing that she does. She is on record saying that G-d has sent her to Congress to do his work. I wonder how she gets along with Keith Ellison, the first Muslim member of Congress, also from Minnesota.

Bachamann has history of saying asinine things to the press, including inappropriately sharing intel data with the press and making up rhetoric about Iran that the State Department found “unhelpful”.

Now Bachmann in an interview with Chris Mathews has gone on record saying that she suspects that Obama harbors anti-American views and calling for an investigation into other members of Congress who have anti-American views. Sheez

I’m sorry, but this woman is the antithesis of a America and all that made this country great. Apparently she has more in common with an theocracy like Saudi Arabia than she does with the United States of America. Let’s hope the voters of the 6th do not send this subversive radical back to the house.

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