The Star Tribune is pushing hard for the quarter cent transit tax.  I know that this will surprise many of you but it is true.  Yesterday, the target was Washington County.

 

Just weeks ago, Washington County transportation officials fumed that the county was losing ground in the metro-wide race for commuter trains and other mass transit to help relieve crowded highways.
The Metropolitan Council's long-range transit study, the county board was told, included few promises for Washington County. Don Theisen, the county's lead engineer, said that the county was falling victim to a west-metro bias despite growing evidence that huge numbers of commuters were funneling through Washington County into St. Paul and Minneapolis.
But now Washington County, like the six other metro counties, is furiously computing the advantages of imposing a quarter-cent sales tax authorized by a new Minnesota transportation bill. While commissioners must first vote whether to impose the tax, Theisen said the county is suddenly in a better position to join the regional transit picture.

 

 

...those who attended the Forest Lake forum said they love the new bus line to downtown Minneapolis and now they want express bus service to downtown St. Paul,
Rogers said.
Joan Nicolai was one of about 13 people who attended last week's transit forum in Woodbury. She takes the express bus from Woodbury, where she lives, to her job in downtown St. Paul...

 

Notice what they asked for...BUSES...not trains. 

 

 

Transit can indeed be a useful tool.  However, here in Minnesota rail is not (light or commuter) is not practical.  Trying to build commuter rail now would cost way too much money just to acquire the land necessary to build it.  We need more buses to solve our transit needs.  It really is the most efficient way to get the job done.

As if we really needed more ammo.....
 
Take a look at the opening paragraphs of these stories about Govern Elliot Spitzers current legal troubles.....
 
Star Tribune

Gov. Eliot Spitzer, the crusading politician who built his career on rooting out
corruption, apologized Monday after he was accused of involvement in a
prostitution ring. He did not elaborate on the scandal, which drew calls for his
resignation.

NY Times

CNN

 
MSNBC

 
Now check the opening paragraphs in these stories....
 
CNN

 
CBS News

 
CNN Again

 
NY Times

 
ABC News

In every single one of the Spitzer stories it takes 4 to 6 paragraphs for the news organizations to off-handed mention that Spitzer was a Democrat where every single one of the Renzi and Craig stories listed above it is in the opening paragraph!
 
This bias is not limited to the treatment of Spitzer, Craig or Renzi.  One only needs to Google William Jefferson and Tom Delay to find even more examples!
 
This is yet another drip, drip, drip in the further erosion of media credibility...and they wonder why people chose to get their news from other sources.

 

That is all!

The Minnesota Constitution states that the State of Minnesota is responsible for educating the citizenry.  As school districts are fighting to fund their mandate with the dollars they have, our wise legislators have decided to throw yet another unfunded mandate on top of the mix (HT Drew)
 

1.1A bill for an act
1.2relating to public health; adding nutrition as a required academic standard;
1.3requiring a BMI monitoring program for children and youth; establishing a
1.4statewide health improvement program; establishing a health, nutrition, and
1.5physical education advisory council; requiring reports; appropriating money;
1.6amending Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, section 120B.021, subdivision
1.71; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, chapters 120B; 145.
1.8BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA: 
 

 

4.14    Subd. 3. Fee imposed. (a) A fee is imposed upon the sale of cigarettes in this
4.15 state, upon having cigarettes in possession in this state with intent to sell, upon any
4.16 person engaged in business as a distributor, and upon the use or storage by consumers
4.17 of cigarettes. The fee is imposed at the following rates:
4.18 (1) on cigarettes weighing not more than three pounds per thousand, 37.550 mills
4.19 on each cigarette; and
4.20 (2) on cigarettes weighing more than three pounds per thousand, 75 100 mills on
4.21 each cigarette.
4.22 (b) A fee is imposed upon all tobacco products in this state and upon any person
4.23 engaged in business as a distributor in an amount equal to the liability for tax
under
4.24 section 297F.05, subdivision 3, or on a consumer of tobacco products equal to the tax
4.25 under section 297F.05, subdivision 4. Liability for the fee is in addition to the tax under
4.26 section 297F.05, subdivision 3 or 4.
4.27 EFFECTIVE DATE.This section is effective for sales and purchases made after
4.28 June 30, 2008.

 
Hmmmmm - why does an increase in the cigarette tax sound so very familiar?  Oh yeah....well to be fair, that part of HF 3391 appears to have been taken out in committee....

 

I stopped by the SD 41 endorsement convention to drop off some literature and ended up staying for the fun. The 308 people who showed up, read that part again, the 308 people who showed up had one thing on their mind, representative leadership.

Representative leadership has been missing for a long time in this district. One so called representative had been around almost 18 years, since 1990. Almost two decades of incompetence and ignorance of what was important to the people in this district. Almost two decades of telling his district they trend blue. No Ron, they don’t.

Taped to the chair backs was a lit piece that included endorsements and recognitions from the Sierra Club, the Transportation Alliance, AFSCME, MAPE, and the GOP Feminist Caucus (what IS that?). He proudly proclaimed support from the League of MN Cities, the Suburban Transit Association, the Coalition of Greater MN Cities, the MN Public Transit Association and the MN Transportation Alliance (LL notes - the same MN Transportation Alliance whose president - Doug Zila - is the DFL endorsed candidate for HD 35A).

Signs posted around the auditorium included Commuters Go for Erhardt, Drivers for Erhardt, Ron Builds Bridges. Another list of supporters included Jim Ramstad, Neil Peterson, Marty Seifert, Randy Johnson, Al Quie and Arne Carlson.

The signs and all the mainstream media present…well for a minute there I thought I was at a

DFL convention. I too will be waiting for Lori Sturdevant’s column; my elation may have gotten the better of me and I may have been a bit uncharitable to the RINO’s and the few RINO supporters there.  OK, I was and I am not really very sorry.

Thank you SD 41 for decisively endorsing candidates who believe in limited government, lower taxes and fees, life, liberty and property rights. Thank you for soundly standing up for values and principles. Thank you for endorsing candidates who can actually articulate a winning message to all voters in your district. Thank you for showing up.

We know there is a lot of hard work ahead. We know there are lots of opportunities to help these candidates get elected. I personally pledge to help door knock for your endorsed candidates Jan Schneider and Keith Downey. Many of my new friends from the guest section are going to help too. A clear message, great conservative candidates, hard work is exactly the combination needed for conservatives to win.

A perfect example of the DFL, RINO assisted, incompetence was the transportation override vote, we have 89 more seats to target. Thank you SD 41, let’s get busy!

PS Neil Peterson deserves a bonus point for addressing his vote for the override in his opening remarks. I will not be sad to see both men go away, I only hope both have the grace and sense to go away quietly.

Congratulations to both Keith Downey and Jan Schneider for their impressive victories today.

Something to comtemplate while HF 3391 is winding its way through the House.

 

The Democratic candidates tell us they can provide healthcare for all either mandated or not. It sounds utopian except they don't say how we will pay for it or that the quality and quantity of care will go down as costs go up.

If we think we want universal healthcare first we need to make a few reality checks. It hasn't worked in Britain, Canada, France, Germany, and Russia.

There are some alarming health abuses going on in the United Kingdom recently noted by the Association of American Physicians and Surgeons and others.

To meet U.K. government targets, which require emergency department patients to be treated within four hours, thousands of patients are kept in ambulances outside the department for hours. Last year, more than 43,000 patients waited for more than an hour before being allowed into the emergency room.

Ambulances that are being used as "mobile waiting rooms" are unavailable to take fresh calls. The Labour government brought in the four-hour standard in an effort to end the scandal of patients waiting in casualty for days (Daily Mail 2/20/08).

I spoke earlier of my intent to dig into HF 3391 and I have spent the last couple days doing that (and a lot of BPOU business).  I thought what I would do is tackle the bill in small sections - covering one or two articles at a time.  In all fairness to the author(s) I should clarify that this is not necessarily a "universal" health care bill...from Article 2, Section 1,  subdivision 4...

 

5.1    Subd. 4. State health care program. For purposes of this section, "state health
5.2 care program" means the medical assistance, MinnesotaCare, and general assistance
5.3 medical care programs.

 

...but it is a start!

 

2.10    Sec. 3. [145.986] STATEWIDE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
2.11    Subdivision 1. Goals. The initial goals of the public health access fund are to reduce
2.12 the percent of Minnesotans who are obese or overweight to less than half by the year
2.13 2020 and to reduce tobacco smoking by 2 percent annually starting in 2011.

 

 

2.18    Subd. 2. Grants to local communities. Beginning January 1, 2009, the
2.19 commissioner of health must provide grants to community health boards to convene,
2.20 coordinate, and lead locally developed programs targeted at achieving measurable health    2.21 improvement goals.

 

2.33    Subd. 4. Media campaign. The commissioner of health must conduct a statewide
2.34 marketing campaign using public media to reinforce local efforts at addressing health
2.35 improvement goals.

 

3.14    Subd. 3. Fee imposed. (a) A fee is imposed upon the sale of cigarettes in this
3.15 state, upon having cigarettes in possession in this state with intent to sell, upon any
3.16 person engaged in business as a distributor, and upon the use or storage by consumers
3.17 of cigarettes.

 

 

 

(St. Paul) For Immediate Release

Seifert Amendment on Illegal Immigration Fails by One Vote

Representative Marty Seifert (R-Marshall) came up one vote short on an amendment to a bill that would have taken local aid away to cities that prohibit their law enforcement officers from inquiring about the legal status of people detained by police.
Currently, Minneapolis and St. Paul disallow their police officers from inquiring about the status of people detained for violations of the law. Reports of illegal aliens using the two cities as "safe harbors" have come to light since the cities adopted the ordinances some years ago.
"Something needs to be done to bring sanity to this insane system," Seifert said.
Seifert's amendment failed 66-67, with DFLers keeping the voting board open and urging their members to vote against the measure. All of Seifert's fellow Republicans voted for the amendment, while all votes in opposition were DFLers. Seifert was able to persuade 18 DFLers to vote with him, but it wasn't enough.
Seifert said he would try to attach measures to restrict illegal immigration to any bills that would relate to the topic.
Roll Call vote failed 66-67.

 
 
Now before you start with the hate mail (I can hear the talking points warming up now) realize one thing.  This is not about race - I am an American of Mexican decent...one whose family did what they had to in order to immigrate here legally.  It is not about immigration - hundreds of thousands of people immigrate to the US legally every year.  This is not about people who come here legally, build businesses and relationship and, due to the snail like pace of our government bureaucracy, over stays their Visa.  This is about the rule of law.  This is about fairness for the hundreds of thousands of people who are waiting (and waiting and waiting and waiting) to enter our country legally.  This is about people of all nationalities whose very first act in coming to the US is to break our laws and the cities in our state that encourage them to continue breaking our laws.  It is about 66 members of the Legislature who care more about buying votes than they are about enforcing the laws of this country. 

Turn out was at about 80% and consisted of mostly first time BPOU Convention attendees. The energy from these new attendees was contageous. Besides the usual business that was on the agenda, we got to hear from our 4 wonderful Representatives - Congressman John Kline, Senator Claire Robling, Rep. Mike Beard and Rep. Mark Buesgens. My friend Amendment X covers Sen. Robling's remarks to the convention in his post, so I thought I would cover some of Rep. Buesgens remarks.

 

 

We then had our standard rah-rah speeches from local party officials - Chairman Carey, CD 2 Chair (and SCSU Scholar) Janet and the SD Chair (some crazy blogger lady).  Most importantly though, were the thoughts from the attendees.  Every single person in that room was "mad as hell" and had decided that they could not and would not take it any more. 

 

Here is what happens when you give 85 Democrats control of the Minnesota House of Representatives!
 

1.1A bill for an act
1.2relating to public health; increasing affordability and continuity of care for state 1.3health care programs; modifying health care provisions; establishing a public 1.4health access fund; increasing the tobacco impact fees; providing subsidies for 1.5employee share of employer-subsidized insurance; establishing the Minnesota 1.6Health Insurance Exchange; requiring certain employers to offer Section 125 1.7Plan; creating an affordability standard; requiring mandated reports; authorizing 1.8 rulemaking; appropriating money;amending Minnesota Statutes 2006, sections 1.916A.725, subdivision 1; 62A.65, subdivision 3; 62E.141; 62L.12, subdivisions 1.102, 4; 256.01, by adding a subdivision; 256.9658, subdivisions 3, 9; 256B.061; 1.11256B.69, by adding a subdivision; 256D.03, by adding a subdivision; 256L.05, 1.12by adding a subdivision; 256L.06, subdivision 3; 256L.07, subdivision 3; 1.13256L.15, by adding a subdivision; Minnesota Statutes 2007 Supplement, sections 1.1413.46, subdivision 2; 256B.056, subdivision 10; 256L.03, subdivisions 3, 5; 1.15256L.04, subdivisions 1, 7; 256L.05, subdivision 3a; 256L.07, subdivision 1; 1.16256L.15, subdivision 2; proposing coding for new law in Minnesota Statutes, 1.17chapters 16A; 145; 256B; proposing coding for new law as Minnesota Statutes, 1.18chapter 62U; repealing Minnesota Statutes 2006, section 256L.15, subdivision 3. 1.19BE IT ENACTED BY THE LEGISLATURE OF THE STATE OF MINNESOTA:

If you are a smoker, a member of the middle class (income $45,000 to $150,000 annual income), an employer, a health care professional or a health care consumer be prepared to pay dearly for your health care. For example:
 

2.10    Sec. 3. [145.986] STATEWIDE HEALTH IMPROVEMENT PROGRAM.
2.11    Subdivision 1.Goals. The initial goals of the public health access fund are to reduce
2.12the percent of Minnesotans who are obese or overweight to less than half by the year
2.13 2020 and to reduce tobacco smoking by 2 percent annually starting in 2011. By
2011,
2.14 and considering available funding, the commissioner of health, in consultation with the
2.15 State Community Health Advisory Committee established in section 145A.10, subdivision
2.16 10, and other stakeholders, may make recommendations as to future goals related to
2.17alcohol use and illegal drug use.

 Do you smoke? Use alcohol? Overweight? Be prepared to have the state dictate what you can and can not eat, drink or otherwise consume.

I am just starting to read this 52 page book.  Keep an eye for more thoughts and notes here in these pages.  But if first impressions are anything, I am not expecting much from this.
 

Sarah Janecek, whose must read publication Politics In Minnesota has been so very kind as to link back to True North and Ladies Logic in recent weeks, has a post that defenders and detractors should read and remember when the Senate starts debating the fate of MNDOT Commissioner Carol Molnau.

The DFL's deus ex machina, the "resolution to a story that does not pay due regard to the story's internal logic and is so unlikely that it challenges suspension of disbelief, allowing the author to conclude the story with an unlikely, though more palatable, ending."
 To Democrats in the Senate. Remember that, today. Carol Molnau is the "improbable, though more palatable, ending" to a bridge falling down in Minneapolis. Wasn't her fault, you know that. So, be kind. Send her on her way without adding insult to injury. No need to pile on. Tone down the floor debate.
 To Carol Molnau. Amor fati. Love your fate...because you have no other choice. Res ipse loquitur. It is what it is. For now.
 Because the Carol Molnau I know is a carpe diem kind of gal. Seize the new day in your personal life, or seize it in a reincarnation of your political one. [And please do seize Jesse Ventura's arm, whenever you want.]

 
 That is something that I have to remind myself as well.  I got to know Lt. Governor Molnau when she was still in the Minnesota House of Representatives.  A portion of Scott County was in her House District and so we saw her down here often.  There was no mistaking this woman for a hot house flower.  She had a history of rolling up her sleeves and doing whatever dirty work needed doing whenever it needed doing.  She could stand toe to toe with the "good old boys" and hold her own.  That is how I came to know and admire her.
 

Most of the DFL deus ex machina crowd knows in their hearts of hearts that they did you wrong.
The telling of that is in the fact that the dirty deed is being done under cover of today's budget shortfall announcement.
That's a small consolation prize, granted. But after seven months of political onslaught, any prize will do. And, you still have that big prize, Lt. Gov.  You're number two.

 
So in our rush to defend Carol Molnau from an attack that is, very partisan and very unfair, we need to remember, she is still the Lt. Governor and she is still a force to be reckoned with.  The Carol Molnau that I know will sieze the day with the grace and style that she has shown over a long career in public service.  Don't cry for Carol Molnau......she certainly won't be crying when the day is done.

 

Myron Cope, colorful sports broadcaster and reporter whose Terrible Towel remains the banner of the Steelers nation, has died.
In declining health since even before his 2005 retirement after a record 35 years of Steelers broadcasts, Mr. Cope died this morning of respiratory failure at the Covenant at South Hills nursing home in Mt. Lebanon.

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