Savage Republican

I read Mitch Berg’s Shot in the Dark blog and saw that he was inviting people to join him in protesting the protesters. I wrote a few comments and off I went. Little did I know that was a major protest, not just a small protest in front of the recruiting office on Lake and Lyndale. In for a penny in for a dollar.
Here’s the starter protest:

Notice the woman with the apron. She was trying to sell Mitch a Che Guevara button. For only a buck. Leave it to the lefties to take a murderer and a thug as their hero. When Mitch, after ooing and ahhing over the button, asked if the vendor knew that Che murdered children with abandon, she looked puzzled and walked away. This little incident prompted me to repeat a quote I’d once heard-“socialism always needs capitalism to pay the bills.”
We moved our group across the street to separate ourselves from the lack of logic loony left rabble. We were joined by Diamond Dog (who wrote a very readable entry)and Doug Dagget with some first class signage (the best being JFK’s quote “We will bear any burden, we will pay any price”(the full quote Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe to assure the survival and the success of liberty). Stalwart men, Diamond Dog and Doug. And as I looked at this gaggle on no logic, no reason I commented “this is evidence of America’s greatness.”
A KSTP reporter showed up. There was a report on their website.
This mass of, well, mass could not be contained and off they went to congeal with their fellow amorphous masses. James Lileks joined us and became our roving videographer.

James and the rest of us are following the protesters as they show little concern for others having moved directly into the street blocking traffic:

Next: The “Brain Boy Incident”.

Well, now I’m into it. After being on The Northern Alliance Radio Network a few minutes ago, I’m now honor bound to explore the postulate of flush toilet technology and Democratic plans for Iraq.
I have a 1.6 gallon flush toilet. It is ineffective at best. I spend time to be sure that when I flush the thing that it doesn’t clog or back up. It has clogged over a dozen times in the year I’ve been here. It has overflowed twice. And all this to save one quarter of a penny (the cost of a gallon of water here in Savage). My mother works at a elderly care facility. She says that the staff and residents know which toilets are 1.6 gallon vs. real working toilets. But, this “we know best how to save water. We’re THE CONGRESS!” toilet that’s been forced on us wastes my time.
And, I ask, if these 535 people in Congress can’t get flush toilet technology right, how on earth do they think they can get a complicated military strategy correct facing the most critical battle against Islamic terrorists in Iraq? Short answer: they can’t! Don’t try. Leave the strategy to the experts and the adults. We trust you to tie your shoes. Nothing else. Yah know, on second thought, we recommend that you change to slip-ons as your attempted use of shoelaces poses a danger to you and others.

After reading Savage Republican’s post, he makes some great points.
We seem to be experiencing the “Death of a thousand cuts” as it concerns taxes, regulations, liberty. The Republican Party has a platform. Is it merely a list of suggestions or the guide for what Republicans believe and execute politically? When someone calls themselves a “Republican” what does that mean? What would a voter expect from that person over their elected term? Seems that people who call themselves Republicans (and in some cases a “conservative”) are willing to take the party over another cliff in 2008.
Savage Republican and I keep hearing the same thing from the state party leadership and the same cry down here in Scott County-“We have to elect Republicans”. That’s been the cry for the eight years I’ve lived on Scott County and been involved in Republican politics here in the county . And that same philosophy that was sown for years reaped the disastrous results last election day. And that piled onto the disastrous results in Minnesota in 2004. And now, again, the platform, the constitution are seemingly and merely lightly held suggestions.
After the drubbing the Republicans experienced in November, what have the Republicans done? Elected the same leadership that was in power before and during that drubbing. Same philosophy “Elect Republicans!”. Not “Platform Republicans” as my favorite Scott County Republican senior citizen proclaims with her button.No being held accountable. No political Sword of Damocles always hanging over the candidates/elected officials heads letting them know that they are being watched and are answerable for their performance and actions.
I again refer to the Pat Toomey article on a survey by Basswood Research whereby Republicans are now seen as the party of Big Government when the electorate still wants less government. And the critical swing voters in the middle and nearly 30% of Republicans see the Republican party that way.
And this summation is a stern and ominous reminder to the state and local party leaders: “if the Republicans continue to present voters with no reason to prefer them to the Democrats on fiscal issues, they likely will fail to reclaim these lost swing districts.“
And Republican leadership appears willing to strictly adhere to the principle :”If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.”
Prepare for another hard landing in 2008 (and for the next decade as re-districting starts after the 2010 census).

Some have asked why I have a beef with Jim Ramstad when he doesn’t represent Savage right now.
Well thank you for asking:
First he “claims” to be a Minnesota Republican and such he has gets the limited to resources of the MN Republican Party – resources that could be used to help support real Republicans, so any Republican is fair game.

But more importantly, I have lived under his representation before.
Back when I was just The guy in Savage, I got involved in SD41 politics, back when Savage was part of SD41.
We were “represented” by Jim Ramstad and Bill Belanger.
It was during that time that a group of us were named the Savage Mafia because we threatened candidates with withdrawing support if they did not actually start representing us and the party. (Life Issues and Taxes being just a few of the concerns we had with them.)
Well redistricting came along and surprise, surprise Bill who was on the redistricting committee, gerrymandered ,most of Savage out of his district and also a few neighborhoods of other committee members in Bloomington. (So it was some joy to see Bill gone, partly because he got rid of his Republican base).
Anyway, with John Kline’s strong conservative stands and Savage being a strong conservative district, it is within the realm of possibilities that in order to weaken him,
Savage will once again have Jim Ramstad as our representative again in 4 years.
And the MN Republican Party has made it clear that incumbent candidates will be protected regardless of their principals or support for the party.

And regardless, I will never feel it is my Duty to support Jim Ramstad!

As many know, The Savage Republican is a fan of Krispy Kreme and Twinkies (and airstreams, which are homemade twinkies wrapped in foil – but more on those at another time).

So our RINO Governor and RINO Senator have been pushing these stupid ethanol mandates.
Now, besides the mountain of evidince that they do nothing to help energy costs or supply, they are having on big effect. Like most government programs – the unintended consequences.

Right now for various reasons, I have been keeping an eye on the Fed reports and CPI.
Well the new numbers came out and inflation is a concern. Why? Well here is a quote from one of my favorite Mortage brokers blogs:

“Slice and dice these numbers as you please, the reality is that inflation remains a problem for the Fed,” economist Joel Naroff sums up. He points out that the demand for fuel ethanol (which is a byproduct of corn) is making corn syrup more expensive. So your price at the pump goes down while the price of sugar, soda, candy and doughnuts goes up.

Wow, artificially increase demand and the price goes up – who would have thought.

So what we are doing is taking candy from a baby and giving it to buy votes in Iowa.

Good thing we elected Republicans – If those democrats were in charge they would be raising our taxes – instead we are lucky to have republicans who just raise the cost of everything.

At least we know our local party leadership is doing something to keep the politicians in line (or not … more to come on this later)

LadiesLogic.com which spun off from SavageRepublican.com but was being hosted under same account structure.
Well Lady got herself setup to run it on her own, so I transfered it over to her – or thought I did.

Now if you go there you see some insurance company????

Domain is still owned, so must be a ghost from web past.

So if you go to ladieslogic, it’s not dead – it’s just lost???

Hopefully it will get fixed soon

and repeat:
Technology is our friend!
Technology is our friend!
Techn…….
Abort, Retry, Fail!!!!

I’ve always enjoyed Calvin and Hobbs. I was at my Mom’s the other day and while looking for something entirely different I came across a box of items that I thought I had lost. In this box was a Sunday Stribune cartoon page I’d saved fifteen years ago. It’s a take off on Montaigne’s expression “Ignorance is bliss”. I liked the cartoon so much I taught a Sunday School lesson on it, complete with copies. As I re-read it, I thought that it so clearly encapsulates the left wing.(Click on the image to get a larger version to read):
That was, until yesterday.

Saturday was a Republican Leadership Summit called by MN Republican Executive Chair Ron Carey. Ron responded to the November Massacre with a call for four task forces to regain seats lost. So, Savage Republican and I went. There were 6,000 letters to go out and maybe 250-300 attendees. And Savage Republican and I seemingly were the only ones from SD35. Ron Carey opened up the Leadership Summit. Republican House members talked. As did Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann and Congressman John Kline. Congressman Jim “White Flag of Surrender” Ramstad was conspicuously absent.
We then broke out into the four task forces. However, before that I knew the Republican Party was in trouble. Deep, deep trouble. And the same leadership that was at the helm as we went over the cliff last November is still at the wheel
On our chairs was an eight page booklet from the MN House Republicans. At the bottom it proudly broadcasts that though outnumbered 2-1, the House Republicans “stood up for taxpayers…farm families”(oh,oh)”and fiscal responsibility in January 2007.”
So, I started paging through the booklet. And there on page 6, left hand side of the page was this headline “RENEWABLE ENERGY IS A KEY FOR HOUSE GOP”. In a bill sponsored by farmer special interest representative Bob Gunther (R-Fairmont) it’s nothing but mandated programs and subsidies for every failed alternative energy attempt that’s been tried for three decades. Oh, and an attempt to find an alternative to the alternative ethanol fuel source, corn. And all this for Minnesota energy independence. Wow! I didn’t know that we were at risk for going to war with Texas, Oklahoma and Alaska. Good thing I went to the summit. Now, on the same page was another article “MARKET-BASED POLICIES FOR AGRICULTURE”. And I thought that was certainly an ironic juxtaposition of headlines and articles-government mandates versus market based policies. Ah, silly me. Upon further reading beyond the headline, it was all about subsidizing the farmers for corn/ethanol/biomass, etc. And there are the two money quotes (pun intended) “Helping farmers improve their economic viability is the main goal of an agricultural proposal…” proposed by another farmland lobbyist posing as a Republican House member (Rod Hamilton R-Mountain Lake). The second quote:”Realizing that there is a corn price issue at play for farmers, and understanding that corn alone will not be able to fulfill all ethanol needs…the plan would expand research and focus on cellulosic-based ethanol to help meet Minnesota’s future demands.”
And one more, of course, “To keep the dairy industry competitive…”
There is so,so much wrong here. And this whole page could have easily been written by the DFL (Democratic FARMER Labor).
I am not interested in “the farmers economic viability” as planned by any politician. The market will do an excellent job: I get hungry. Farmers grow food. Instant market! Where’s the problem? Absolutely no need for any politician to get between the two of us. Or to be involved at all.
Corn prices in play? Yah, because of ethanol mandates by politicians who can not cite a single study that shows that ethanol or “biomass” is effective, efficient or economical. Food prices increase as the price of corn increases due to mandates and subsidies.The only “biomass” that’s effective? Coal. There is a theory that oil comes from the interaction of heat, pressure and carbon and/or compression of methane (abiotic theory of oil formation). But, the House Republicans publish this and are proud? And the top irony prize of the booklet? Right across from these articles is a little article title “5 Governing Principles: 1. Common sense 2. Fiscal Responsibility and lower taxes 3. Personal responsibility and individual freedom 4. Stronger families 5. Safety and security.
Ethanol is anything but sensible. Fiscal responsibility and lower taxes with mandates,subsides for ethanol and farmers to prop up an industry that would fail on its own? Individual freedom with this Republican sponsored boondoggle? Stronger families as the House Republicans pile on with this tripe to the taxpayer?
Now, for the leadership Summit: The task force I went to was involved taking back the suburbs. And a good part of the meeting was the members of the committee telling us what they thought. And the chair was a member of the committee that was instrumental in keeping Sue Jeffers from talking-a tactic that Republicans regularly excoriate Democrats for. If what I saw in that one committee was representative of the other three, the Minnesota Republican Party is in deep trouble. And the leadership seems to be making one huge error in judgment: mistaking energy expended and furious and serious activity for progress.
Note to leadership: you need new leadership. You need new blood. Too many people who voiced their opinions looked back to the days of Reagan and think that that’s the way to win again. That was a quarter century ago. We certainly need Reagan like leadership today. A man or woman who’s not afraid to engage. Who’s not afraid to fight. We need a Reagan for the times. It seems that the current leadership is much more interested in just electing Republicans, which is exactly how we got into this spot. You/we need task force committee members who are willing to fight and challenge the entrenched establishment that seems to be trying to take a different route to the top of the same mountain. Believe me kids, the view from that mountain top will be exactly the same as it was the morning of November 8th, 2006. And it will not be pretty.We need committee leadership that has had or will have a paradigm shift.
However, I will urge the Republicans to follow the lead of Rep. Dean Simpson (New York Mills): Ever wonder why we pay 6 and ONE HALF % sales tax? I repeated this for years. In 1992 Governor Arne Carlson proposed, and the MN Legislature passed a 90 day TEMPOARY emergency one half percent increase in the sales tax. As Rep. Simpson accurately points out, with over $2,000,000,000 in overtaxation, the emergency is obviously over (and it only took fifteen years. I guess we were still in an emergency in 1998 when we ran those huge over-taxation surpluses that were all spent. The new emergency is that we committed to spending all that extra money year after year). This is exactly what the House Republicans need to do if they ever want any to have any hope of seeing the Speakers gavel in the hands of a Republican ever again.
“You can not solve a problem at the same consciousness that created it”- Einstein
And it seems that the House Republicans and Republican leaders
hip are at that same consciousness they were at two to four years ago.