“The five largest oil companies in this country have made $600 billion in profits since George W. Bush became president. Do we need a windfall profits tax? You bet we do.” —Sen. Bernie Sanders (I -VT)

“The oil companies need to know that there is a limit on how much profit they can take in this economy.” —Sen. Dick Durbin (D-IL)

“Every new regulation concerning commerce or revenue; or in any manner affecting the value of the different species of property, presents a new harvest to those who watch the change and can trace its consequences; a harvest reared not by themselves but by the toils and cares of the great body of their fellow citizens.” —James Madison

“In general, the art of government consists in taking as much money as possible from one party of the citizens to give to the other.” —Voltaire

Scott Fischbach from Minnesota Citizens Concerned for Life has an op-ed in the Star Tribune taking Rep. Phyllis Kahn to task for her advocacy of a bill that funds embryonic stem cell research in Minnesota. I wrote a little bit about the floor debate on Rep. Kahn's bill when the conference bill passed the House at the end of the session. What propmted Scott to write was a June 2 op-ed by Rep. Kahn herself, taking the governor to task for vetoing the bill. Rep. Kahn continues to insist many things about her stem cell bill but Mr. Fischbach obliterates the most disingenuous of Rep. Kahn's claims.

Kahn says her legislation "outlawed human cloning," but the bill explicitly authorizes "somatic cell nuclear transplantation" (SCNT), which is the technique by which cloning occurs. The National Institutes of Health calls SCNT "the scientific term for cloning."

Rep. Kahn suffered another blow to her argument for HESC research earlier this month. The Star Tribune reported on a mother whose drive and devotion to her sons led to the development of a cure for their very rare skin disorder.

Last fall doctors at the University of Minnesota did a bone marrow transplant on a 2-year-old boy in a risky attempt to treat his devastating genetic skin disease with stem cells. Until then, the technique had only been used in mice.

It worked.

The boy's doctors said Monday they think they have found a cure for the painful disease that, though rare, causes the skin to fall off at the slightest touch and inevitably leads to cancer. Most children who have it do not survive to adulthood.

It takes the Strib a while to get to it, but they finally do tell you where these stem cells come from....and it was not frozen embryos.

Researchers at the university, which specializes in adult stem cells, began experimenting with a variety of stem cells found in bone marrow and blood from umbilical cords. Dr. Jakub Tolar, a blood specialist at the university, said he tried 10 to 15 different classes of cells in the genetically engineered mice in the hopes that one would provide the missing protein.

Finally, one did.

This is just one more cure to add to the already long list of cures and potential cures that have come from adult and umbilical cord stem cells. We are still waiting for the first to come from embryonic stem cells. Perhaps Rep. Kahn should go back to school to learn a little more about the process. It should be awfully convenient for her...after all - the University IS in her district after all...

I love you Hillary!!!

You are my sHero.

I am now a registered Republican in a show of defiance, our family ended our lifelong democratic party affliation on Friday and became Republicans.

We will support John McCain in November to help defeat Obama.

Yesterday I received an email from Sen Joe Lieberman asking us Hillary Supporters to vote for John McCain.

HILLARY - this may sound counter-productive to all you believe in, but it is about WOMEN'S RIGHTS and sending a message to the Democratic Party - "No You Can't".

Hillary YOU are my President.

by Nancy in Cali at 6/7/2008 12:39:01 PM

My heart is broken……..i sobbed while she was giving this speech…..i will NOT vote for BO, i can’t!!! i don’t know what i’ll be doing come nov, maybe things will change in august…..i don’t know, it hurts too much to think about right now…..i want to make a difference, i thought that’s what i was doing this election period, the DNC is NOT going to give us a break………i will be here, support and donate and we’ll see what happens……

thanks for all the luv and support hillocrats

Gary Gross tipped me off to a Drudge Report link on the story below.

This morning, a Boston-born performance artist, Yazmany Arboleda, tried to set up a provocative art exhibition in a vacant storefront on West 40th Street in Midtown Manhattan with the title, “The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama,” in neatly stenciled letters on the plate glass windows at street level.

By 9:30 a.m., New York City police detectives and Secret Service agents had shut down the exhibition, and building workers had quickly covered over the inflammatory title with large sheets of brown paper and blue masking tape.

Later, Mr. Arboleda, who is 27, said in an interview: “It’s art. It’s not supposed to be harmful. It’s about character assassination — about how Obama and Hillary have been portrayed by the media.” He added, “It’s about the media.” ...The interview was abruptly ended as Mr. Arboleda was led off to the Midtown South police precinct for what he called an interrogation.

The individuals we interviewed under oath testified that the events involved in the allegations did occur. The individuals said—as Representative Simon relayed to the commission—that they felt pressured to act inappropriately, and they gave detailed accounts of specific events. However, they also stated that no inappropriate, unethical, or illegal actions resulted from the pressure.
In addition, the individuals we interviewed did not cite direct and specific job-related threats from either former-Attorney General Hatch or Attorney General Swanson in connection to the events in the allegations. Rather, the individuals we interviewed linked the pressure they felt to the fact that attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office work “at the pleasure” of the Attorney General; in other words, they can be dismissed or demoted “at will” rather than “for cause.” In addition, they said it was “well-known” that termination, demotion, or reassignment often fell on an employee who lost favor with the Attorney General. Some of the individuals we interviewed said they thought his or her demotion or reassignment was retaliation for having not followed a directive from either former-Attorney General Hatch or Attorney General Swanson, but acknowledged they could not prove the connection.
The individuals we interviewed also linked the pressure they felt to an office environment that focused on obtaining favorable media attention rather than the methodical legal work required to successfully litigate cases. Several of the individuals we interviewed pointed to cases they thought had merit that were dropped in favor of new cases that would draw media attention.
The individuals we interviewed focused a large share of their criticism and discontent on Mike Hatch, both as Attorney General and during the time he served as a deputy to Attorney General Swanson.2 Indeed, a principal criticism they made of Attorney General Swanson was that she appointed Mr. Hatch to a position in the office after Attorney General Swanson was sworn into office in 2007. This—and Mr. Hatch’s continued influence on the office—was said to be the “tipping point” that caused some current and former employees to voice criticisms and accusations against Attorney General Swanson. Mr. Hatch resigned his position with the office in May 2007.

While the individuals we interviewed provided sworn statements based on first-hand knowledge, their testimony did not establish a basis for further investigation by OLA. OLA has authority to investigate alleged noncompliance with legal requirements related to the use of public funds.

Since there was no mis-use of public funds the OLA can not investigate further.  That does not mean that the individuals involved (ie Ms. Lawler) can't do anything...we will have to wait and see what happens there.

We understand that legislators do not want to become involved in the recent unionization dispute in the Attorney General’s Office. However, the “at will” status of attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office is a separate issue, and we think it should be considered by the appropriate legislative committees.
The status of employees that work for the state’s elected constitutional officials is mixed. All employees in the Governor’s and Lieutenant Governor’s offices are in the unclassified civil service (in other words, they are “at will” employees). In contrast, most employees (60 of 77) in the Secretary of State’s Office are in the classified civil service, and most employees (86 of 110) in the State Auditor’s Office are in the classified civil service. In the Attorney General’s Office, 87 employees (secretaries and administrative staff) are in the classified civil service, and 267 employees (attorneys, legal assistants, investigators, etc.) are in the unclassified civil service.3
Since a state employee’s status as either a classified or unclassified employee is largely determined by law, we think a legislative review of the current status of attorneys in the Attorney General’s Office would be appropriate. The question for the Legislature to consider is whether the legal services provided by the Attorney General’s Office require that all of the attorneys in the office serve “at the pleasure” of the Attorney General.

"You had your shot," said former state representative Fran Bradley, who was chairing the convention. "What happened is the will of the majority and it's time to move on."

That irked Paul supporters who said they were victims of an undemocratic process. "We've been completely shut out of the process," said Lara Witte, a Paul supporter from Savage.

Bo Diddley, who died Monday at age 79 in Florida, was as essential to the creation of rock 'n' roll as Chuck Berry, Elvis Presley and Little Richard, though he seldom got the credit or the accolades that were showered on his better-known peers.

The singer-guitarist was a hard-scrabble visionary from the streets of Chicago's South Side who literally had to fight for everything he got. He created rock 'n' roll's essential rhythm, pioneered an approach to electric-guitar playing that was at least a decade ahead of its time and developed a vocal style and stage persona that influenced everyone from Elvis to Chuck D.

Democratic Rep. Betty McCollum said that a Playboy column written by Senate candidate Al Franken eight years ago was offensive and presents a serious political problem for Democratic candidates this year.   McCollum, who had supported Franken rival Mike Ciresi until he dropped out of the race, told The Associated Press on Thursday that she was worried that Minnesota Democratic congressional candidates will be running with a candidate “who has pornographic writings that are indefensible.”

I guess in the end it doesn’t matter much how Al Franken loses this election, but a broadside from two key members of the Minnesota DFL’s Congressional delegation reflects a strange set of priorities. Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison attacked Franken not for his serial tax evasions or his failure to provide workers-comp insurance to his employees, but for a sexually graphic and sophomoric piece of fiction Franken wrote for Playboy eight years ago. Apparently for the DFL, breaking the law doesn’t rise to the level of outrage, but idiotic fantasy is a disqualification: