A Crisis in the Party…

Rahm Emanuel is famous for his quote, “Never allow a crisis to go to waste’. A first reaction to a statement such as this was likely to be based on political bias. Mine was. Most of us were disgusted and aghast that someone would consider the suggestion of taking advantage of a bad situation to advance a political agenda.

Well, after more thought, it is likely that Mr. Obama picked the right person to be his advisor, confidant, and chief of staff. Karl Rove is considered to be a mastermind when it comes to political strategy and I can envision him making a similar statement but he would have had enough political savvy to have said it in private.

We in fact are in a crisis in the Republican Party. Our party is in crisis nationally, at the state level, and in our local government. We have lost our edge and the confidence in the people, to represent the people, for the good of the people. We are failing to find a base of fresh new candidates to represent the moral and fiscal values that this country was founded on. We dig around in the candidate bucket and grab someone willing to make a run at a seat with indifference to passion or opinion. For this we are now paying a heavy price.

Our party represents fiscal responsibility, moral values which include protecting the sanctity of marriage and the family, and making tough political decisions in tough times. Politics has become a dirty game, every politician will espouse whatever view the electorate wants to hear during a campaign. Once elected, they conform to the pre-existing political hierarchy established by those in power in trade for committee assignments and a potential seat at the power brokering table in the future and it’s business as usual.

Is representation by individuals like Jeremy Kalin and Rick Olseen truly representation of the people, by the people in this district?

I’ll be honest and admit that I had resigned myself to the fact that this district was full of left wing nut cases for having elected the representation that we have at the state level. But having experienced more and more people out in this district over the past months, talking with every day people who are concerned about their property taxes, the deficit we face in our state, jobs disappearing, property values declining, and the constant attack on family values, I am convinced more now than ever that we are in the majority and it is the responsibility of our party to step up.

We need to find candidates who are passionate about the core issues, defend the Minnesota family values, bring fiscal responsibility to state government and accountability to the tax paying citizens of our district and the state. If we want to fix this mess, we need to be prepared to step up and build a viable campaign to elect good candidates. We need to put forth decent candidates who can spell out the solutions to the electorate in this district in language they can understand.

Families in this district are losing their jobs, their homes, and there is an attack on their financial and family stability by those elected and sent to St. Paul tasked with representing us in this district.

Our current representatives are very willing to raise our taxes, promote alternative lifestyles as the norm, and conform to the political leanings of the liberal left entrenched in St. Paul.

Let us take a little advice from Rahm Emanuel, let us take advantage of the current crisis in our party and in the political climate in this state. The voters in this district are going to be looking for new leadership in the upcoming elections, let us offer them viable, enthusiastic candidates who are ready to represent this district and this state with the true values and beliefs I believe are in the majority in this district.

Let us move forward and let us move now.

FACTS ARE ALWAYS STUBBORN THINGS!!!!

The record is written!

The facts are in!

The truth cannot be disputed!

And now the tale must be told:

The "TAXPAYERS LEAGUE of Minnesota" has just published their Legislative Scorecard for 2009 showing the performance of Representative Jeremy Kalin and Senator Rick Olseen.

Representative Jeremy Kalin 17b earned a score of zero for the 2009 Session of the legislature and a score of zero for his legislative career!

That makes Representative Kalin's overall voting record even worse than the liberal extremist Representative Phyllis Kahn of Minneapolis.

And Senator Olseen, Dist. 17, was not much better than Kalin

Olseen earned a paltry score of "7" for the 2009 Session right along down there with Representative Kalin.

Folks, it is not how nice they smile at you or how many little red wagons they pull or tractors they drive in the parades - it is how they vote in your stead that tells the tale.

Clearly Kalin and Olseen must be replaced post haste.

Pity Party for 'publicans!

PITY! I had such a good idea for how "new Republicans" should act and succeed and then, right away, "Anonymous" blew my good idea right out of the water by suggesting we should go back to the principles of "a second rate, B-grade movie actor." Retrograde!



Have we already forgotten how successfully Representative Kalin "put people before politics" and how he solved the plight of the poor in this area by pulling his little red coaster wagon in parades and collected food in it for them and how, as a result, he won re-election big-time.



And remember, too, how JK (that's JK as in Kalin - not "JFK" as in Kennedy) - and Senator Olseen were both going to come to the rescue of our schools until that right-wing Governor Pawlenty had the "audacity of hope" to not raise taxes and Pawlenty carried out his promise.



But it is very comforting to read repeatedly that Kalin and Olseen and all the other right-thinking (correction: I know it is "left"-thinking) Democrats are "disappointed" with the Governor. I mean their "disappointment" solves a lot of problems and makes us feel good. We know they "feel our pain."

Of course we still have one hope that we can all hold on to and that is that the Courts will get busy and rule in favor of Al Franken for our U. S. Senator. Then we can all sing: "Happy Days are Here Again!" and be entertained at the same time!!



I hope "Anonymous" will take another look at my earlier proposal and have a change of heart and recognize that "bi-partisanship" is what get things done "for the people" even if it does mean such a simple little thing as raising our taxes even more - even in the midst of a deep depression!


Wouldn't you like to "just get along?" People are even more important than principles!

The New Republican Party!

I know now how to solve the current Republican party problems!! The solution just came to me in a flash of insight. Let's just become once again "big tent", "moderate", "bi-partisan", "revenue enhancing" supporters, "bureaucracy expanding" Republicans who are not afraid to work across the aisle. That way everybody will like us and we can "succeed" together with the opposition party. Let's just be nice. Can't we just all work together? Wow, what an insight I just spelled out for us! Ready to be part of the new Republicans?

Let's Build A Fire...

The legislature is a mess. Our Governor is working the best he can to balance the budget through line item veto power and has vowed to do so regardless of the political fallout. It is my belief that he likely won’t be seeking a third term as governor and that fact makes his ability to slash spending by line item easier if he does not have to consider the political ramifications.

Where do we go from this point onward? Campaign season will be upon us again soon and we will put forth candidates hoping to gain a bit of ground in the legislature. Do we have a viable platform locally? Do we have a good candidate to offer the people of this district for the State Senate seat? Do we have someone willing to work to better our district and the state by demanding that spending be controlled, taxes lowered, and the rights of the individual taxpayers are protected through fiscal responsibility?

The homestead credit has nearly vanished, property taxes are soaring, a state income tax was dodged this session only thanks to the Governor, and businesses are moving out of our great state instead of being given incentive to relocate here and provide jobs. We as a district and as a state need to be in a better place with the future we are providing for our next generation.

I am fearful that our party has become complacent. We spend so much time pointing out the wrongdoing of our political opposites and fail to offer a better idea or plan. It’s simple to point out the misguided ways of our local legislators, we do it quite well on this blog and let’s face it, Representative Kalin and Senator Olseen make it pretty easy.

But I would challenge the great minds that participate in this blog to challenge themselves, use this forum to open dialog about the current mess we are in and encourage participation to spark discussion as to our future direction and how we are going to address this calamity we have we call State Government. Major changes are necessary at the state level, spending cannot continue to outpace the rate of growth, it doesn’t take a genius to figure that out.

The spending on social programs has to be gotten under control and it’s not going to be easy, spending on these programs has become a runaway train. It’s a difficult thing to even suggest that someone should not have a child (or another child), but the simple fact is that children cost money. If you’re dependent on our state social welfare system to provide food for your children, you may not be in the best position to have another child. We are in a quagmire of generations that don’t know anything different, the welfare system provided for their parents and it now provides for them and will likely continue on until something is done. I realize that this is not a popular subject and most people either run away from the subject as fast as they can or they take the position that we should shut down the welfare system and everyone should get jobs and provide for themselves.

We need to talk this out, figure out viable ways to help those in need and flush the system of anyone and everyone taking advantage of the system We as a society have enabled many of the folks on assistance and we now need to figure out a way to guide them to a means of providing for themselves and their families.

I think that it is a worthwhile investment to provide assistance to those in need, daycare assistance, healthcare, training where necessary, even some sort of income assistance as needed to help out where needed. But if we are truly going to get out district, our state and our country back on track for the long term and for the better, we need to address some of the basic core issues that have created the socio-economic conundrum such as our social assistance programs.

While my rant may seem targeted towards a specific issue, it was not intended to single out a particular problem. There are a multitude of issues that need our attention and this issue is only one. I’m sure that at this point I may have already lost your interest and I will bring my rant to this end.

Let us build a fire under our party in this district, let us feed that fire with guidance and ideas that are productive and realistic. We need to flush out viable candidates who will carry this fire to the capitol and work for us as our citizen legislators.

The same old same we cannot afford, I have been complacent since the election, life is busy, times are tough and it’s easy to stand in the background and hope for the best. Some of you have been diligent and watchful of the current legislators and for that I commend your attention.

This legislative session has proven that we need to take an active part in our government and participate more. We need new ideas, fresh perspective and we need to move this state in the direction we can be proud of. Let’s get this forum burning with fresh ideas and perspectives and start a fire we can carry to the capitol.

Memorial Day

Memorial Day really should be a holiday by another name because the word holiday doesn't do it justice.

This is the time to give thanks to our men and women, past and present who have devoted their lives to our security, and the many, all too many, who made the ultimate sacrifice on our behalf.It is a time of mourning for the men and women we have lost, but it should be a celebration too, of what their sacrifice has created for us.

We at home can and should debate the merits of putting our soldiers in harm's way in any given situation and we strongly believe that our forces should never be committed without the commitment and resources to ensure their blood will not be shed in vain.

I would encourage everyone to attend a Memorial Day parade or one of the many services in the area and fire up the barbecue this weekend. Take in a baseball game. Heck, play in a baseball game. Kick off your own summer season in whatever fashion you choose. It's all your choice.

But please, take a moment to attend a Memorial Day activity this weekend. Pause for a moment. Find a veteran and thank them. For all of our problems, and they are significant, we are still citizens of the greatest country on Earth, where it is literally possible to start with nothing and create a legacy.

This year, this Memorial Day, take some time to savor life and appreciate your freedom and what the sacrifice of others has wrought.

God Bless this great Country and God Bless You.

Memorandum to Senator Olseen and Representative Kalin

Gentlemen:



We read in various media that your DFL caucus considers that "everything is on the table" when it considers ways to balance the state budget.



This, of course, means that you intend to raise taxes. You use euphemisms such as "revenue enhancements" and similar words that mask the reality that you plan to - in plain words - "raise taxes!"



But before you go down that bumpy road of raising taxes we invite you to: 1) take a look in the various local media and study the list of "tax delinquent properties" and 2) observe the ever-growing list of foreclosures in your legislative district.



People do not ordinarily get on the "tax delinquent list" unless they have a problem of paying taxes that are already in place and they do not ordinarily get added to the list of "foreclosures" unless they already have a money problem.



And thirdly, if 1) and 2) above do not move you to vote against tax increases please do us a favor and cause to be publicly printed the names of your constituents who have contacted you wanting you to increase their taxes.

If constituents wish to pay more taxes we trust that they will also be willing to publicly so state. We will be surprised if there are any or many!



You are in public office to represent us but not to rule us. We ask now that you hear us.

Solving the State Budget Problem Kalin/Olseen Style

In the February 25, 2009 issue of the ECM Post Review (page 5) Representative Jeremy Kalin, by default, outlined brilliantly why the Minnesota State budget dilemma will NEVER be resolved by liberal DFLers.

Mr. Kalin, citing "nonpartisan House Research of the Minnesota Legislature" brought forth these stunning and pertinent facts: (Quote) " . . . . if the Minnesota legislature:

• Cut all children's health care ($139 million) and
• Shut down 20 percent of nursing homes in the state ($191 million) and
• Released all the prisoners ($950 million) and
• Let all the sex offenders go ($127 million) and
• Close(d) all the state parks ($52 million) and
• Eliminate(d) Meals on Wheels for seniors ($7.1 million) and
• Shut down 10 state college campuses ($146 million) and
• Shut down the Departments of Health, Public Safety, Transportation and the rest of state government ($3.45 billion) that would add up to $5 billion"

Mr. Kalin then continued by saying: "But all those devastating cuts still wouldn't be enough to balance the budget because the deficit is growing every day."

Mr. Kalin, you might also consider, in your brilliant analysis, the savings that could be effected if government did away with all the police departments, fire departments and the schools too. After all we don't need any of them until emergencies arise or fires get started or children need to get an education!

And, while you are at it, you might also include in your further research an investigation into how much could be saved for the taxpayers if bloated full-time salaries and massive perdiems for part-time legislators would be eliminated. The citizen legislature concept is that legislators ought to have gainful outside employment and not be full-time bureaucrats as many of you are and have become.

In summary, since all the budget eliminations outlined by you in your Capitol Commentary still do not balance the budget as required by the state constitution might we not suggest that you and Senator Olseen start to get the picture that state government is way too big and you ought to be reducing it instead of increasing it. If you cannot understand that concept and act on it, clearly you are not representing the people and are only serving yourself.

Memorandum to Senator Olseen and Representative Kalin

Honorable Legislators:

Please do not further waste our time commiserating in print or in person about the fact that balancing the Minnesota budget is a problem! That fact is in plain and obvious sight.

And please do not further waste our time by telling us that you disagree with the Governor's proposals to balance the Minnesota budget. Trying to make political points with that fact does not balance the budget. Your Democrat party disagreement with the Governor's proposals are legendary and traditional and they are obvious from media releases by you and other DFL legislators around the state.



Here is what we, as your constituents, expect from you based on the fact that the task of balancing the Minnesota budget is a constitutional requirement. As legislators it is you who own the budget balancing responsibility. Senator Olseen and Representative Kalin, you rang thousands of doorbells and wore out many pairs of shoes (by your own statements) running for the offices to which you were elected. Over and over you committed in word and printed page and public meetings that you had better answers and good solutions to state government challenges. You assured that you were head and shoulders beyond and above your predecessors and all that needed to be done was for us to elect you. With smiling faces, happy handshakes and enthusiastic voices you assured us you were up to the challenges. You alleged that your predecessors had fallen down on the job of representing us in the legislature and you committed to the public that in exchange for our votes you would provide the answers to our problems and needs. So far the responses we have from you are largely happy talk while avoiding the relevant issues. Now we need responsible actions based on the commitments you made.



Our firm advisory to you on the Minnesota budget issue is that raising our taxes at the state level is absolutely not a viable option for you to use in balancing the budget nor is it fiscally reasonable to further burden your constituents who are already taxed to the hilt at local, county, state and national levels and with known steep and further increases coming at us from the Obama Administration at the federal level.

KALIN THE POLITICAL PHILOSOPHER

Oh, how fortunate we are to have Jeremy Kalin serving us as our State Representative!



Get yourself a copy of the Isanti-Chisago County STAR, Thursday, March 12, 2009 and read for yourself how eloquently, thoroughly and scholarly he summarizes the dire straits we are in and note how carefully he analyzes the actions that will lead the way out to a better day. That ability must be a spin-off of his school teaching days! Why, he's Reaganesque you'll exclaim!



With the skill of a deep-thinking socio-political philospher the Venerable Kalin informs us in the opening comment of his extensive House Notes (and notice, even those words are a clever, eye catching title for his tome) that he has "always believed that the best social program in this country (his thinking in not narrowly limited to Chisago County - he thinks big!) is a job."



Further, as he continues to wax eloquently, he strokes his philospher's beard and tells us that "(a)s Minnesotans we pride ourselves on our work ethic and providing for our families by the sweat of our brow! Wow, Mr. Kalin that's almost biblical is it not! (both exclamation points added for emphasis).



But something has gone wrong! Here Representative Kalin lays out the problem. "Every week, more than 1,300 Minnesotans are losing their jobs." (Multiply that by 52 weeks and that's a lot of job losses - if it keeps up at that rate it could become a real problem!)



And here Rep. Kalin further points up the scope of the problem. He tells us that as a consequence of the "global economic recession" it is "harder and harder to hang on to the jobs we already have."



You have to hand it to Rep. Kalin, he's a thorough analyst in defining the problem. You probably were not aware until he told you that this has become a world-wide recession. You see, he "thinks globally" while insignificant little you think only locally!



A few statistics will be helpful to you to follow where he is going with all this. He informs us that "Central Minnesota is ground zero (that has kind of an ominous ring to it does it not!) in the tide of joblessness and home foreclosures - "ground zero" right in Representative Kalin's District no less! But fortunately, to move this along, "(h)elp is on the way (drum roll!) in the form of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. The signature achievement (his words with italics added for emphasis) of the 110th Congress and President Obama, the federal recovery funds will help save 45,000 jobs in Minnesota this year - if . . . . " IF and what a big if that is!



And on top of everything else our esteemed Representative had opportunity to demonstrate his humanitarian instincts for "(d)uring the late-February blizzard, I stopped on my way home (was that his Minneapolis house or his Chisago county rent house?) to push a car spinning its wheels in a snowdrift, and I saw dozens of others do the same."

This must have been the other members of the DFL caucus for they are well-known for "spinning their wheels and getting nowhere" while pretending they are accomplishing things!

Kalin and Olseen - Both are Failing as Legislators

By this time in the legislative Session Representative Kalin and Senator Olseen have introduced many bills and have voted probably hundreds of times in Committees and on the floor on bunches of bills but Kalin and Olseen have reported back to the constituency virtually nothing about their activities or votes on most or any of these bills.
By their silence you would think that nothing important is going on down in the legislature. Do not be fooled by their silence! Nothing that goes on in the legislature is unimportant - legislation restricts your freedom, it reaches into your pocketbook, it tells us what we must do and cannot do. Legislation costs you money, it impacts your future in many ways and for years to come.

Olseen and Kalin are very well-paid in salaries, per diems and are well supplied with public services for their time at the Capitol and they are absolutely derelict in their duties by not giving us constituents routine reports of their votes and actions. Olseen and Kalin have at their command public resources that give them an opportunity to be reporting back routinely to the people with an on-going summary of their legislative activity.
Kalin has rightly been faulted, for example, for voting against picture identification as part of the protection of the voting process. Kalin's vote against that matter would not have been known by us constituents had it not been revealed by a public source other than Kalin. Then Representative Kalin weakly "defends" his opposition to it by citing "the cost" that he said it would entail. Of course that defense ignores the tremendous cost of the legal activity, for example, that is going on right now in the Senatorial court case between Franken and Coleman and the fact that Minnesota has gone at least three months with only Senator Amy Klobuchar having to carry the workload of two Senators.
We don't need to hear that you - Olseen and Kalin - disagree with the Governor's proposals. That's a foregone conclusion and a cheap-shot way of failing to divulge what you intend to do about the State budget and priorities. The schools are hurting, the counties, the cities and towns of your district are claiming financial hardship. The typical taxpayer is certainly saying loud and clear that they do not want you to raise their taxes. Yet you, Olseen and Kalin, sit silent on what you will be doing to rectify the situation. Do not come back to us with the cry that it is going to be hard to resolve the fiscal problems. We already know that. Tells us with frequency and with regularity what you have done and what you are doing for your constituents to solve the problems facing the state.

Withdrawal From Serving in the Obama Administration - A Developing Pattern?

In view of the numerous appointees, nominees, aspirants and prospects who have "withdrawn" for varieties of reasons from serving in the Obama Administration wouldn't it be an interesting turn of events if the Head Push himself would do the nation a favor and "withdraw" from serving as President! He certainly is laden with as many negative reasons as any of the others as indicators why he should not have the privilege of serving in the highest office - not the least of which is the unresolved question whether he is even Constitutionally eligible to serve as President. The proof positive of his eligibility in the circumstances of his birth has not been made public and a number of negative reasons have been adduced.

Do You Have Your Belly Full of Democrat Lies, Spending, Trickery, Control, Dictatorship?

The title of this blog is the message - the message is: "Have you had enough?"

The Wisdom of Id

While Barack Obama has been working on this for a long time, it didn't take long for the peasants to figure it out.

Click the picture to enlarge

Republican Convention

Calling all Delegates and Alternates

Plan now

The Chisago County Republican Convention

will be held at the

North Branch High School Auditorium

on

Saturday, March 28, 2009 at 9:00 a.m.

Registration begins at 8:00 a.m.

All Delegates and Alternates will be receiving the official call via the postal service.