Friday, November 30, 2012
Today's question.
The President is demanding that the GOP lead Congress allow the "rich" Bush Era tax cuts to expire. The GOP (most of them) are not interested in any extension that doe not involve all income levels. Some have even indicated they wouldn't discuss any options that did not include spending cuts. So what would you like to see happen?
Thursday, November 29, 2012
Durbin Wants No Entitlements in ‘Fiscal Cliff’ Deal
Medicare and Medicaid savings should be part of future
debt-reduction efforts, but not on the table in talks regarding the
impending “fiscal cliff,” the second-highest ranking Democrat in the Senate said.
In the prepared remarks of Sen. Richard Durbin’s speech today to the liberal Center for American Progress, he writes that progressives cannot “pretend” the programs can “continue forever” without changes to ensure their solvency. But the majority whip from Illinois insists that any adjustments should come after the immediate budget is passed.
“Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” it reads. “But those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff.”
During the event, the Illinois lawmaker skipped over that section of his notes, which were released to the media, but told reporters that he stood by every word.
“We can’t be so naive as to believe that just taxing the rich is going to solve our problems,” he told the crowd, adding that his caucus needed to be open to issues “painful and hard for us to talk about.”
Durbin said he continued to be opposed to some conservative proposals, including voucher programs for Medicare and a block-grant system for Medicaid. But he also maintained he’s wary of raising the eligibility age for the safety-net programs, for fear of creating coverage gaps. President Obama floated that idea last year.
The statements offer a window into what might be congressional Democrats’ proverbial “line in the sand” as each party sharpens their negotiating teams. Both sides must reach a budget agreement by Dec. 31, or else trigger the $607 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts economists agree would plunge the economy back into recession.
Some members of Congress see the talks as an opportunity to reduce the national debt, and it has become a central talking point as the deadline draws closer.
Members of both parties discussed cuts to entitlement programs earlier this month in a meeting with Obama as a way to bring about deficit reduction. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the sum total of US entitlement programs — including Social Security — make up a projected 62.4 percent of the federal budget in 2012.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/durbin-wants-no-entitlements-in-fiscal-cliff-deal/
In the prepared remarks of Sen. Richard Durbin’s speech today to the liberal Center for American Progress, he writes that progressives cannot “pretend” the programs can “continue forever” without changes to ensure their solvency. But the majority whip from Illinois insists that any adjustments should come after the immediate budget is passed.
“Progressives should be willing to talk about ways to ensure the long-term viability of Social Security, Medicare and Medicaid,” it reads. “But those conversations should not be part of a plan to avert the fiscal cliff.”
During the event, the Illinois lawmaker skipped over that section of his notes, which were released to the media, but told reporters that he stood by every word.
“We can’t be so naive as to believe that just taxing the rich is going to solve our problems,” he told the crowd, adding that his caucus needed to be open to issues “painful and hard for us to talk about.”
Durbin said he continued to be opposed to some conservative proposals, including voucher programs for Medicare and a block-grant system for Medicaid. But he also maintained he’s wary of raising the eligibility age for the safety-net programs, for fear of creating coverage gaps. President Obama floated that idea last year.
The statements offer a window into what might be congressional Democrats’ proverbial “line in the sand” as each party sharpens their negotiating teams. Both sides must reach a budget agreement by Dec. 31, or else trigger the $607 billion in automatic tax hikes and spending cuts economists agree would plunge the economy back into recession.
Some members of Congress see the talks as an opportunity to reduce the national debt, and it has become a central talking point as the deadline draws closer.
Members of both parties discussed cuts to entitlement programs earlier this month in a meeting with Obama as a way to bring about deficit reduction. According to the Office of Management and Budget, the sum total of US entitlement programs — including Social Security — make up a projected 62.4 percent of the federal budget in 2012.
http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/11/durbin-wants-no-entitlements-in-fiscal-cliff-deal/
Wednesday, November 28, 2012
Iron Range company Magnetation passes over Minnesota for $350M plant Minneapolis / St. Paul Business Journal by Ed Stych, Web Producer
Magnetation Inc. said Tuesday it is building a new iron ore pellet
plant outside of Minnesota, despite receiving incentives from the state.
Grand Rapids, Minn.-based Magnetation said in a news release that it will build the $350 million facility in Reynolds, Ind., between Chicago and Indianapolis. The company plans to break ground early next year, with the facility opening in late 2014 or early 2015. It will employ 100 to 120 people.
Magnetation said it will transport iron ore concentrate from its northern Minnesota plant to Reynolds, where it will be made into pellets, a critical raw material in the steelmaking process. The pellets will be used by AK Steel Corp., which is a 49.9 percent owner of Magnetation.
"With convenient access to major railways and highways, Reynolds is an outstanding location for the company's new pellet plant," Magnetation CEO Larry Lehtinen said in a statement. "We thank our local and state officials in Indiana for their ongoing support of our company."
Minnesota and Iron Range officials have long been frustrated with Magnetation in their efforts to have the facility built in Minnesota. The state passed laws to make it easier for the project to get started, and the company received $1 million in grants and loans from the state.
But the company said earlier this year that Minnesota was out of the running for various cost and regulatory reasons.
Manetation did say on Tuesday it will spend $120 million in northern Minnesota to add iron ore concentrate capacity to its operations.
Grand Rapids, Minn.-based Magnetation said in a news release that it will build the $350 million facility in Reynolds, Ind., between Chicago and Indianapolis. The company plans to break ground early next year, with the facility opening in late 2014 or early 2015. It will employ 100 to 120 people.
Magnetation said it will transport iron ore concentrate from its northern Minnesota plant to Reynolds, where it will be made into pellets, a critical raw material in the steelmaking process. The pellets will be used by AK Steel Corp., which is a 49.9 percent owner of Magnetation.
"With convenient access to major railways and highways, Reynolds is an outstanding location for the company's new pellet plant," Magnetation CEO Larry Lehtinen said in a statement. "We thank our local and state officials in Indiana for their ongoing support of our company."
Minnesota and Iron Range officials have long been frustrated with Magnetation in their efforts to have the facility built in Minnesota. The state passed laws to make it easier for the project to get started, and the company received $1 million in grants and loans from the state.
But the company said earlier this year that Minnesota was out of the running for various cost and regulatory reasons.
Manetation did say on Tuesday it will spend $120 million in northern Minnesota to add iron ore concentrate capacity to its operations.
Friday, November 23, 2012
Go for it.
If you could ask newly re-elected Senator Sean Nienow or Representative Bob Barrett on equestion going into a new year, what would it be?
Thursday, November 22, 2012
Happy Thanksgiving.
Take the day to give thanks to all of the great things we celebrate as Americans.
Wednesday, November 21, 2012
Convention calling.
Minnesota GOP has given it's window for BPOU conventions. February. Chisago has decided that they will hold thier's on February 21st. Are you going to yours? Why would you not get involved?
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Romney alone?
Last week Romney had suggested it was impossible for him to win the election given the promises of gifts by Obama. Do you agree with him? Bobby Jindal and others have turned there back on Romney for his comments. Are they correct to do that?
Monday, November 19, 2012
Submitted to the Star Tribune.
The Problem with Vikings Stadium Funding
In a letter to the Vikings earlier this week
concerning terms in the stadium agreement he negotiated, signed and touted,
Governor Dayton took exception to Personal Seat License revenue (PSL’s) the Vikings
are counting on to help fund their portion of the stadium costs.
As a sitting lawmaker, I worry that this bit of
political theatre, may now be water under the bridge and, either intentionally
or not, takes us farther away from recognizing a increasingly significant
problem concerning stadium funding -- how the taxpayer's portion of the stadium
will be paid for.
The taxpayer portion of stadium financing relies
on taxes generated from charitable gaming revenue, specifically new “electronic
pull-tabs.”. This revenue has to exceed $1.8 billion per year so that the
resulting taxes can pay for the public's share of the costs. Simple math
tells us that monthly sales of electronic pull tabs need to reach $150 million.
If the first month of operation is any indication, this may be a losing
bet for taxpayers. Electronic pull tab revenue reached just slightly more than
$1 million in its first month of operation. While there is no question
this revenue will increase, the public needs to understand the increase has to
be substantial to reach $150 million in sales each and every month.
If this doesn’t happen, then backup funding
sources, like Viking scratch off lottery games and additional suite revenue
taxes, kick in. These back-up funding sources, however, were never
substantial in amount so when they don’t fill the hole, the state’s general
fund will inevitably be tapped. Therein lies the problem. The Vikings
stadium will then compete with schools, roads, bridges and health care for the
poor/disabled for funds, or will result in tax increases to make up for the
deficit.
So while the Governor professes concern about
how the Vikings will be paying for their portion of the stadium using a clause
in the contract that was specifically given to them by Governor Dayton, many
lawmakers, including myself, will be getting headaches over how the State of
Minnesota will find the money to pay for the taxpayer portion when taxes from
gambling revenue don't come in as projected.
State Representative Bob Barrett
Friday, November 16, 2012
Romney: Obama’s ‘gifts’ to key demographics helped him win Posted by Natalie Jennings on November 14, 2012 at 6:09 pm
Mitt Romney, on a call with top donors on Wednesday, referred to some
of the policies enacted under the Obama administration as “gifts” that
helped him win young, minority and low-income voters.
Here’s The New York Times’s account of the call:
Just a few hours earlier, Obama said in his news conference that he hoped to meet with Romney to discuss ideas for ways they could work together.
Here’s The New York Times’s account of the call:
“In each case they were very generous in what they gave to those groups,” Mr. Romney said.According to that account and another in the Los Angeles Times, Romney also apologized to donors and said he was surprised by the loss.
“With regards to the young people, for instance, a forgiveness of college loan interest, was a big gift,” he said. “Free contraceptives were very big with young college-aged women. And then, finally, Obamacare also made a difference for them, because as you know, anybody now 26 years of age and younger was now going to be part of their parents’ plan, and that was a big gift to young people. They turned out in large numbers, a larger share in this election even than in 2008.”
Just a few hours earlier, Obama said in his news conference that he hoped to meet with Romney to discuss ideas for ways they could work together.
Thursday, November 15, 2012
Benghazi
Say that name 10 times...............do you feel like Washington is hoping we forget it. Don't!! The scandals that have engulfed the news media have conveniently pushed BENGHAZI to the side. Talk to your friends and remind people on social media. This administration cannot get away with this unchecked!
Wednesday, November 14, 2012
In 59 Philadelphia voting wards, Mitt Romney got zero votes
Miriam Hill, Andrew Seidman, and John Duchneskie, Inquirer Staff Writers
Posted: Monday, November 12, 2012, 3:01 AM
It's one
thing for a Democratic presidential candidate to dominate a Democratic
city like Philadelphia, but check out this head-spinning figure: In 59
voting divisions in the city, Mitt Romney received not one vote. Zero.
Zilch.
These are the kind of numbers that send Republicans into paroxysms of
voter-fraud angst, but such results may not be so startling after all."We have always had these dense urban corridors that are extremely Democratic," said Jonathan Rodden, a political science professor at Stanford University. "It's kind of an urban fact, and you are looking at the extreme end of it in Philadelphia."
Most big cities are politically homogeneous, with 75 percent to 80 percent of voters identifying as Democrats.
Cities are not only bursting with Democrats: They are easier to organize than rural areas where people live far apart from one another, said Sasha Issenberg, author of The Victory Lab: The Secret Science of Winning Campaigns.
"One reason Democrats can maximize votes in Philadelphia is that it's very easy to knock on every door," Issenberg said.
Still, was there not one contrarian voter in those 59 divisions, where unofficial vote tallies have President Obama outscoring Romney by a combined 19,605 to 0?
The unanimous support for Obama in these Philadelphia neighborhoods - clustered in almost exclusively black sections of West and North Philadelphia - fertilizes fears of fraud, despite little hard evidence.
Upon hearing the numbers, Steve Miskin, a spokesman for Republicans in the Pennsylvania House of Representatives, brought up his party's voter-identification initiative - which was held off for this election - and said, "We believe we need to continue ensuring the integrity of the ballot."
Larry Sabato, a political scientist at the University of Virginia who has studied African American precincts, said he had occasionally seen 100 percent of the vote go for the Democratic candidate. Chicago and Atlanta each had precincts that registered no votes for Republican Sen. John McCain in 2008.
"I'd be surprised if there weren't a handful of precincts that didn't cast a vote for Romney," he said. But the number of zero precincts in Philadelphia deserves examination, Sabato added.
"Not a single vote for Romney or even an error? That's worth looking into," he said.
In a city with 1,687 of the ward subsets known as divisions, each with hundreds of voters, 59 is about 3.5 percent of the total.
In some of those divisions, it's not only Romney supporters who are missing. Republicans in general are nearly extinct.
Take North Philadelphia's 28th Ward, third division, bounded by York, 24th, and 28th Streets and Susquehanna Avenue.
About 94 percent of the 633 people who live in that division are black. Seven white residents were counted in the 2010 census.
In the entire 28th Ward, Romney received only 34 votes to Obama's 5,920.
Although voter registration lists, which often contain outdated information, show 12 Republicans live in the ward's third division, The Inquirer was unable to find any of them by calling or visiting their homes.
Four of the registered Republicans no longer lived there; four others didn't answer their doors. City Board of Elections registration data say a registered Republican used to live at 25th and York Streets, but none of the neighbors across the street Friday knew him. Cathy Santos, 56, founder of the National Alliance of Women Veterans, had one theory: "We ran him out of town!" she said and laughed.
James Norris, 19, who lives down the street, is listed as a Republican in city data. But he said he's a Democrat and voted for Obama because he thinks the president will help the middle class.
A few blocks away, Eric Sapp, a 42-year-old chef, looked skeptical when told that city data had him listed as a registered Republican. "I got to check on that," said Sapp, who voted for Obama.
Eighteen Republicans reportedly live in the nearby 15th Division, according to city registration records. The 15th has the distinction of pitching two straight Republican shutouts - zero votes for McCain in 2008, zero for Romney on Tuesday. Oh, and 13 other city divisions did the same thing in 2008 and 2012.
Three of the 15th's registered Republicans were listed as living in the same apartment, but the tenant there said he had never heard of them. The addresses of several others could not be found.
On West Albert Street, Duke Dunston says he knows he's a registered Republican, but he's never voted for one.
The leader of the 28th Ward is Democrat Anthony Clark, who grew up under the tutelage of the late power broker and Democratic ward leader Carol Ann Campbell. Clark is also a city commissioner, one of three elected officials who oversee Philadelphia elections.
"In the African American community from 33d to 24th between Ridge and Somerset, there is a large population of Democrats and there are not many Republicans in there at all. I think it's the issues. People are not feeling that Romney is in touch with them," Clark said.
Despite the Democratic advantage in the 28th Ward, Clark says he also makes sure party workers are getting the vote out.
"People get out, give out literature, talk to people about the issues. Also, they work the polls," Clark said. "People know them in their divisions."
Clark struggled to recall anyone in his area who ever identified as a Republican. Though that is not something anyone would likely volunteer to a Democratic ward leader, Clark eventually remembered Lewis Harris, the GOP leader in the nearby 29th ward, and that rare species: an urban black Republican.
Harris, in an interview, said he works for the GOP mostly because he believes city neighborhoods need attention from both parties.
"I open the door to the community and let them be exposed to diversity in the political party," Harris said. "I want political community-based leverage."
Harris cast his vote for Romney, but he's also an Obama fan.
"I love both of those people," he said.
Nationally, 93 percent of African Americans voted for Obama, according to exit polls, so it's not surprising that in some parts of Philadelphia, the president did even better than that.
In the entire city, Obama got 85 percent of the vote. His worst showing was in South Philadelphia's 26th Ward. There, the president garnered 52.3 percent of the vote, compared to 46.6 percent for Romney.
Paula Terreri, 57, a 26th Ward Republican who describes herself as a devout Catholic, said outside the polls on Tuesday that she voted for Romney because she opposed abortion.
Many parts of Philadelphia and other big cities simply lack Republican voters, a fact of campaigning that has been true since Franklin D. Roosevelt's New Deal, Stanford University's Rodden said.
In 2008, McCain got zero votes in 57 Philadelphia voting divisions. That was a big increase from 2004, when George W. Bush was blanked in just five divisions.
As the first African American president, Obama held immense appeal to black voters, but skin color is only part of the story, said Mark Sawyer, a political science professor at UCLA.
Previous Republican candidates, including Richard Nixon and Jack Kemp, supported affirmative action and urban development, but their party has abandoned those stances, Sawyer said.
Romney's comments, including talking about people who want "more free stuff from the government" after a visit to the NAACP, only further distanced African Americans who felt the comments played to stereotypes about welfare, Sawyer said.
Tuesday, November 13, 2012
Petraeus mistress may have revealed classified information at Denver speech: The real reason for the attack on CIA operation in Benghazi
Biographer Paula Broadwell may not be getting investigated by
the FBI for sending threatening e-mails to Petraeus family friend Jill
Kelley, who neither works for the State Department, nor Joint Special
Operations Command.
Now, Broadwell could be facing questions about whether she revealed classified information that she was privy to due to her relationship with then-CIA director David Petraeus.
At an Oct. 26 speech at her alma mater, the University of Denver, Broadwell was asked about Petraeus’ handling of the Benghazi situation.
Her response was reported originally by Israel’s Arutz Sheva and Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell.
Broadwell quoted the Fox report when she said: “The facts that came out today were that the ground forces there at the CIA annex, which is different from the consulate, were requesting reinforcements."
Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus was likely known to Holly Petraeus, according to family friends. The FBI reportedly knew about it months beforehand and White House Counterterrorism advisor John Brennan reportedly was aware that there was a relationship in the summer of 2011.
Broadwell went on to explain more details from the Benghazi attacks.
“Now, I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually, um, had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted.”
Click here to watch Broadwell's speech on YouTube.
In the original October 26 Fox News report, sources at the Annex said that the CIA’s Global Response Staff had handed over three Libyan militia members to the Libyan authorities who came to rescue the 30 Americans in the early hours of September 12.
A well-placed Washington source confirms to Fox that there were Libyan militiamen being held at the CIA annex in Benghazi and that their presence was being looked at as a possible motive for the staged attack on the Consulate and Annex that night.
According to multiple intelligence sources who have served in Benghazi, there were more than just Libyan militia members who were held and interrogated by CIA contractors at the CIA Annex in the days prior to the attack. Other prisoners from additional countries in Africa and the Middle East were brought to this location.
The Libya Annex was the largest CIA station in North Africa, and two weeks prior to the attack, the CIA was preparing to shut it down. Most prisoners, according to British and American intelligence sources, had been moved two weeks earlier.
The CIA categorically denied these allegations in response to a query by reporter Eli Lake: “The CIA has not had detention authority since January 2009, when Executive Order 13491 was issued. Any suggestion that the Agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless.”
Broadwell, whose affair with Petraeus reportedly ended earlier this year, continued to serve as an informal spokesman for the CIA director. She suggests in her Denver speech that Petraeus knew almost immediately that the attack was a terror attack - possibly to free militia members.
A few days later, Petraeus testifies in a closed session to Congress that the attack was due in large part to an anti-Islam video and a spontaneous uprising, according to reports from the hearing.
Congressional leaders say privately they believe they were lied to by Petraeus when he testified shortly after the attack. Some of these members already considered charging Petraeus with perjury, but said they planned to withhold judgment until he testified this week. After resigning as CIA director, the CIA said acting director Mike Morrell would testify in his place.
All of this raises the question: what was the CIA really doing in Benghazi in addition to searching for Qaddafi’s stash of more than 22,000 shoulder held missiles that could bring down commercial airplanes, and who in the White House knew exactly what the CIA was up to?
Now, Broadwell could be facing questions about whether she revealed classified information that she was privy to due to her relationship with then-CIA director David Petraeus.
At an Oct. 26 speech at her alma mater, the University of Denver, Broadwell was asked about Petraeus’ handling of the Benghazi situation.
Her response was reported originally by Israel’s Arutz Sheva and Foreign Policy’s Blake Hounshell.
Broadwell quoted the Fox report when she said: “The facts that came out today were that the ground forces there at the CIA annex, which is different from the consulate, were requesting reinforcements."
Broadwell’s affair with Petraeus was likely known to Holly Petraeus, according to family friends. The FBI reportedly knew about it months beforehand and White House Counterterrorism advisor John Brennan reportedly was aware that there was a relationship in the summer of 2011.
Broadwell went on to explain more details from the Benghazi attacks.
“Now, I don't know if a lot of you heard this, but the CIA annex had actually, um, had taken a couple of Libyan militia members prisoner and they think that the attack on the consulate was an effort to try to get these prisoners back. So that's still being vetted.”
Click here to watch Broadwell's speech on YouTube.
In the original October 26 Fox News report, sources at the Annex said that the CIA’s Global Response Staff had handed over three Libyan militia members to the Libyan authorities who came to rescue the 30 Americans in the early hours of September 12.
A well-placed Washington source confirms to Fox that there were Libyan militiamen being held at the CIA annex in Benghazi and that their presence was being looked at as a possible motive for the staged attack on the Consulate and Annex that night.
According to multiple intelligence sources who have served in Benghazi, there were more than just Libyan militia members who were held and interrogated by CIA contractors at the CIA Annex in the days prior to the attack. Other prisoners from additional countries in Africa and the Middle East were brought to this location.
The Libya Annex was the largest CIA station in North Africa, and two weeks prior to the attack, the CIA was preparing to shut it down. Most prisoners, according to British and American intelligence sources, had been moved two weeks earlier.
The CIA categorically denied these allegations in response to a query by reporter Eli Lake: “The CIA has not had detention authority since January 2009, when Executive Order 13491 was issued. Any suggestion that the Agency is still in the detention business is uninformed and baseless.”
Broadwell, whose affair with Petraeus reportedly ended earlier this year, continued to serve as an informal spokesman for the CIA director. She suggests in her Denver speech that Petraeus knew almost immediately that the attack was a terror attack - possibly to free militia members.
A few days later, Petraeus testifies in a closed session to Congress that the attack was due in large part to an anti-Islam video and a spontaneous uprising, according to reports from the hearing.
Congressional leaders say privately they believe they were lied to by Petraeus when he testified shortly after the attack. Some of these members already considered charging Petraeus with perjury, but said they planned to withhold judgment until he testified this week. After resigning as CIA director, the CIA said acting director Mike Morrell would testify in his place.
All of this raises the question: what was the CIA really doing in Benghazi in addition to searching for Qaddafi’s stash of more than 22,000 shoulder held missiles that could bring down commercial airplanes, and who in the White House knew exactly what the CIA was up to?
Monday, November 12, 2012
Distraction?
Is the recent news of Petraeus' affair just a distraction? Was it held until after the election on purpose? What are your thoughts? Notice not one word about Benghazi since. Is it all tied together or is it simply coincidence?
Saturday, November 10, 2012
Sean Nienow
Sean deserves this win. He showed real leadership in trying to track down the HMO fleecing of our tax dollars. You will have an uphill battle this session but......I cannot think of anybody better to tackle it. I am proud to call you my friend!
Friday, November 9, 2012
Bob Barrett
Congrats buddy! You won! Chisago County did not let you down. That is because you did not let them down. Continue to fight. Continue to be accessable. Allow your friends to help you plant the seeds in 2013 that will blossom at the polls in 2014.
Thursday, November 8, 2012
Well?
Post election hangover is still in effect. Many of us are bothered. We cannot believe that he won again! We also cannot stomach the other losses. So, ask yourself......did you do everything you could? Did you get involved? Did you do more than go to the election box on November 6th? If not why? 2014 midterms are just arround the corner. What will you do next time to be part of the solution?
Wednesday, November 7, 2012
Monday, November 5, 2012
Keep this in mind voting tomorrow.
This was sent out by Kurt Bills to his supporters. Read this before voting.
In June 2009 Norm Coleman conceded his Senate race to comedian Al Franken.
He lost the race, after 6 months of recounts and legal battles, by 312 votes.
In December 2010, Tom Emmer conceded his race for Governor after a similar recount, losing by fewer than 9000 votes.
Both races have something in common much more important than the fact that they ended after recounts: they ended with extremely liberal politicians taking power entirely due to the defection of Republicans to third-party candidates.
In a very real way, Democrats didn’t win those elections as much as Republicans chose to lose them.
In my mind, that is shameful. Do any of the Republicans who voted for Dean Barkley or Tom Horner really believe our state and our country are better off with Al Franken and Mark Dayton as Senator and Governor?
The reasons for some Republicans to defect from Coleman and Emmer are a mirror image of each other. Some Republicans expressed dissatisfaction with Coleman because he was not conservative enough for their taste; in Emmer’s case, others thought he was too conservative.
They were looking for the “Goldilocks” candidate in the race, and voted for a third party candidate or stayed home. In the Emmer race, former Republican Tom Horner garnered over 250,000 votes, more than 25 times the margin by which Emmer lost. Not all those votes were disaffected Republicans, of course, but too many of them were.
The results are stark: Minnesota didn’t get a centrist, “goldilocks” Senator or Governor. They were saddled, instead, with two of the most liberal politicians in the country representing them in Washington and St Paul.
Republicans who didn’t vote for their Republican candidates are responsible for the passage of Obamacare, a bill that would have been stopped had Norm Coleman been in the Senate.
I am not one to believe that we should abandon our principles and simply adopt the Party line. Many of you recall that I am the Republican Senate candidate today because I ran an insurgent campaign from outside the Party structure.
I firmly believe it is our responsibility to fight within the Party to ensure it represents our principles. Ronald Reagan was an insurgent, and eventually won out against the Rockefeller Republicans after nearly two decades of work in the trenches.
During that time Reagan was both a loyal Republican and a principled warrior for his cause.
That is what each of us needs to be today. Day in, day out each of us needs to work tirelessly to persuade other Republicans to our side when we disagree; and day in, day out we need to fight to defeat Democrats who are pushing policies which if left unchecked will bankrupt our country and undermine the constitutional foundations of our country.
Ronald Reagan hit it on the nose when he declared: “The person who agrees with you 80 percent of the time is a friend and an ally — not a 20 percent traitor.”
That is why I am voting for a Republican straight ticket this Election Day…and why you should, too.
Sunday, November 4, 2012
Chisago Lakes School Board
We recommend Jim Green for the Chisago Lakes School Board. He is known for his fiscal responsibility.
Interesting thought stream.
October 28, 2012
Obama's Taqqiya Unravels
I have never entertained
the idea that Obama was a Muslim and always believed he was a socialist. But
Obama's behavior over the last four years regarding Islam has convinced me
that Obama has a Socialist/Islamic centered worldview -- a combination that is
not uncommon in many parts of the Muslim world.
Having been a journalist in
Egypt for six years in the seventies, I have witnessed socialism with an
Islamic twist to be a popular political ideology, especially amongst Arab
journalists and intellectuals. Socialism, and even communism, have managed to
survive in the ruthless Islamic political system as an alternative to
full-fledged Sharia. The two ideologies have blended together in cases
including the Baath Party in Syria and Iraq and socialist regimes in Egypt
and Yemen. One major difference between the two ideologies is that Islam uses
Allah, while socialism uses atheism, to fight the God of Christianity. Free
democracies, such as the United States, are alien to Islam and socialism both
because they regard government as a servant of the people and hold that human
rights are granted by God and not by government or the code of Sharia.
Both Sharia and socialism
are united in their envy of Western society and need to change it. That is why
Obama has become the savior of both Islam and socialism. He embodies both
ideologies. The claim that Obama is a Christian was a silly joke, but a
necessary lie for the greater cause of changing America to fit the goals of
both creeds.
Obama became the One, the
savior of both Islam and socialists. To do that, Obama had to deny who he
really was, which explains why his actions and words have never added up. At
the recent Alfred E. Smith Catholic Charity dinner speech, Obama did not seem
to be just kidding when he said that Romney uses his middle name Mitt and
"I wish I could use my middle name." Obama was referring, of
course, to his Islamic middle name of Hussein. In Obama's mind, he was not
ashamed for having deceived America -- he blamed America for putting him in
the position of having to deny his true pride in his middle name.
That brings us to an
important discovery by WND in an article by Jerome Corsi titled: "Obama's Ring: 'There is no God But
Allah'." The article featured
close-up photos of a ring still worn by Obama today in the White House, one
that he has worn since his visit to Pakistan as a young man. The ring, which
later also became his wedding ring, has very tiny and discrete
Arabic calligraphy that means nothing to Americans, but to Arabic-speaking
people like myself and Dr. Mark Gabriel, means quite a lot. Such Islamic
calligraphy is commonly found throughout the gold markets of the Muslim
world. I am not a writing expert, but I can clearly see on the ring the word
'La Ilaha IllaAllah. ("There is no god but god.")' Such a sentence
in Arabic has a lot of the letters A and L which in Arabic are simply a
straight line like the number one.
The only explanation for
Obama's exciting ring secret is that he is a closet Muslim and feels that he
can serve Islam best if he denies his being a Muslim for the purpose of a
higher aspiration to serve the Muslim world from the White House, in Islamic
terms the "higher jihad." Obama has no problem whatsoever in lying
for the sake of "Hope and Change" since lying about being a Muslim
in a majority non-Muslim country is allowed under Islam. Lying for the
purpose of jihad (known as "taqqiya") is not only allowed, but an
obligation to be proud of and even serves as a reason to blame the enemies of
Islam for one's lies. Sharia law states: "Lying is obligatory if the
purpose is obligatory." Muslim clerics have no problem in lying not just
to the non-Muslim world but even to the Muslim masses, since Islam also
allows Muslims to lie in order to bring Muslims together in harmony and
friendship.
That brings us to the
current debacle in Libya, which can only be understood if we grasp Obama's
worldviews as regards the "Muslim World." Like the so-called
'moderate' Muslims, Obama insists Islam in and of itself has nothing to do
with terrorism and blames previous American foreign policy (along with
Israel), for Islamic anger. Obama narrowed down the problem of Islamism to Al
Qaeda while embracing other Islamic groups, such as the Muslim Brotherhood,
as moderate. In the process, Obama dismissed the Brotherhood's long history
of terror, which in fact gave birth to Al Qaeda and hundreds of other terror
groups. Nothing in Obama's world is the fault of Islam, which is why he
ordered the Fort Hood massacre to be classified as "workplace
violence" and not Islamic terrorism.
Obama believes that he
uniquely understands the Muslim world and will bring about a new era of peace
with Islam, at least during his administration. There are strong rumors in
Egypt that when Obama met with the Egyptian foreign minister, he confided in
him that he was a Muslim and that he would assist the Islamic cause in
America after he passes the Health Care Bill.
But as president of the
United States, Obama was caught in a quagmire between protecting American
lives and appearing loyal to Islam. Placing American Marines at US consulates
in dangerous terror-infested Islamic countries created the possibility of a
bloody confrontation between American security and Islamists. That would
discredit Obama's attempt to separate Islam from
terrorism. Also, if Obama confronted militant Muslim jihadists in Islamic
countries, his entire claim to opening a new page in American/Islamic
relations would fall apart. He would then be no different from his
predecessors, Bush or Reagan.
That explains why the
demands for American security by U.S. ambassador Stevens went unanswered.
Obama did not want to deal with the possibility that American Marines would
shoot at Muslim attackers in order to save American lives.
According to Sharia, it is a capital crime for a Muslim individual
or leader to shoot at fellow Muslims -- even Islamists -- for the purpose of
protecting Americans. That would make Obama a violator of Sharia and an
apostate. If Obama considers himself a Muslim and wears an Islamic ring, then
he must have had a very hard time deciding on how to protect the consulate
without killing Muslim attackers. His solution? Settling for the lesser of
two evils: getting Muslims, in the form of Libyan security, to guard the
property and in this way, forcing Muslims to shoot other Muslims in order to
defend the consulate. But that plan was useless because even the Muslim
guards had to follow Sharia, and ran away and left the Americans to be killed
rather than violate Sharia themselves by killing other Muslims. Obama gambled
with the lives of Ambassador Chris Stevens and three others and left them as
sacrificial lambs rather than violate the dictates of Sharia.
The Benghazi fiasco merely
underlined Obama's failed promises of peace with the Muslim world. The murder
of Americans at the hand of Muslims did not even get us an apology from any
Muslim leader or cleric. No one is taking responsibility, not even Obama
himself.
With the terrorist attack
in Benghazi, Islamists and jihadists made it clear to us that they could care
less about Obama, his appeasement, his apologies, and even his Islam. They
could not put jihad on hold or restrain themselves on behalf of an American
president who wanted to help build a better image of Islam. They could not play the game with Obama and
refrain from jihad even during the Obama presidency. The jihadists in effect
declared that Obama, Muslim or not, is just another American president who
should not be trusted. No leader, Muslim or not, can get away from the wrath
of Islamic jihad, and that is why angry Islamic mobs were recently seen
torching Obama's effigy.
It is unfortunate that it
took a tragedy in Libya and the lives of decent Americans to prove that Obama
is unfit to be president of the USA. Obama has fooled many Americans for four
years and that is why, when he sees the face of Mitt Romney, he is reminded
of a reality that he could not fully eliminate. Obama knows the game, and his
presidency, is over.
Nonie Darwish author The Devil We
Don't Know and
President Former Muslims United.
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Saturday, November 3, 2012
Wyoming
Minnesota Commonsense Conservatives would recommend voting for the following in Wyoming.
Mayor - Ray VinZant: Ray has many years of political experience. His opposition to the proposed road tax increases can be appreciated by all of the residents of Wyoming.
City Council - Linda Nanko Yeager: She has a track record that deserves your vote. Fiscal conservative.
Mayor - Ray VinZant: Ray has many years of political experience. His opposition to the proposed road tax increases can be appreciated by all of the residents of Wyoming.
City Council - Linda Nanko Yeager: She has a track record that deserves your vote. Fiscal conservative.
Friday, November 2, 2012
North Branch City Government.
Are you as anxious as I am? It has been a long campaign season, here are our picks for North Branch City offices.
Mayor: Ron Lindquist
City Council: Joyce Borchardt and Theresa Furman
See you tomorrow.
Mayor: Ron Lindquist
City Council: Joyce Borchardt and Theresa Furman
See you tomorrow.
Thursday, November 1, 2012
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