Savage Republican

Ethanol is supposed to be the great American replacement to fossil fuels. Congressmen and Senators from the “heartland” (including my own here in Minnesota sadly) all flock to the “promise” of biofuels. However, the “promise” may be a false promise, at least according to this Washington Post article.

“Biofuels such as ethanol made from corn, sugar cane, switchgrass and other crops are being touted as a “green” solution for a large part of America’s transportation problem. Auto manufacturers, Midwest corn farmers and politicians are excited about ethanol. Initially, we, too, were excited about biofuels: no net carbon dioxide emissions, reduction of oil imports. Who wouldn’t be enthusiastic?But as we’ve looked at biofuels more closely, we’ve concluded that they’re not a practical long-term solution to our need for transport fuels. Even if all of the 300 million acres (500,000 square miles) of currently harvested U.S. cropland produced ethanol, it wouldn’t supply all of the gasoline and diesel fuel we now burn for transport, and it would supply only about half of the needs for the year 2025. And the effects on land and agriculture would be devastating.”

This is the part I love…

“Using the crop residues (called corn stover) from corn production could provide about 10 billion gallons per year of ethanol, according to a recent study by the U.S. Energy Information Administration. The net energy available would be greater than with ethanol from corn — about 60,000 Btu per gallon, equivalent to a half-gallon of gasoline. Still, all of the U.S. corn wastes would produce only the equivalent of 5 billion gallons of gasoline. Another factor to be considered: Not plowing wastes back into the land hurts soil fertility.”

Do you know the main reason why corn stover was first plowed back into the ground every year? Ever heard of a little phenomonon called the Dust Bowl??? HELLO ENVIRONMENTAL LOBBY!!!!!

The article even addresses the “Brazil” buzz:

“Recently, there has been lots of excitement and media coverage about how Brazil produces ethanol for its automobile fuel and talk that America should follow its lead. But Brazil consumes only 10 billion gallons of gasoline and diesel fuel annually, compared with America’s 170 billion. There are almost 4 million miles of paved roads in America — Brazil has 60,000. And Brazil is the leading producer of sugar cane — more than 300 million tons annually — so it has lots of agricultural waste to make ethanol.”

All of that is well and good, but this paragraph address the one thing that the ethanol cheerleaders (my governor included) never talks about…

“Finally, considering projected population growth in the United States and the world, the humanitarian policy would be to maintain cropland for growing food — not fuel. Every day more than 16,000 children die from hunger-related causes — one child every five seconds. The situation will only get worse. It would be morally wrong to divert cropland needed for human food supply to powering automobiles. It would also deplete soil fertility and the long-term capability to maintain food production. We would destroy the farmland that our grandchildren and their grandchildren will need to live.”

Governor Pawlenty, Senator Coleman, Congressman Kennedy…any comment?????

That doesn’t seem like much, one penny out of one hundred…to go to the state…to pay for roads and art and schools…not much at all right? Let’s break out the calculator… For a family of four, making $60,000 a year, that penny per dollar additional tax equals $600.00 per year. $600.00 per year is:

• 20 tanks of gasoline (assuming you drive an economy car that only has a 12 gallon tank)
• 6 weeks of groceries
• 3 to 4 months of heat in the winter
• 1 year homeowners insurance premium
• 1 year car insurance premium
• less than one months (assuming a $125,000 mortgage at 5.5% interest) mortgage payment
• Depending on what county you are in, that is 1/2 of your annual property tax payment

That is for anyone who is outside of Hennepin County. Those that live in Hennepin County also need to factor in the new stadium tax of 3 cents on every $20.00 spent in Hennepin County. For someone living in Hennepin County, living on a fixed income (pension for example) the combination of the penny per dollar and the “Twins tax” means the difference between eating cat food or heating their home.
If Jim Pohlad and his friends really feel obligated to pay for something, here is an idea. Maybe Mr. Pohlad can get his wealthy friends together to pay for the new Twins Stadium (the Pohlad family owns the Twins by the way). Maybe if we, the taxpayers, didn’t have to buy him a new stadium for his baseball team we would be a little more willing to listen to his idea!

Cross posted at Ladies Logic

Cy and Paula DeCosse – The DeCosse’s are semi-retired artists according to Open Secrets. They are (again) generous patrons of the arts, wildlife and the DFL. Ron and Joyce Deharpporte – Mr. Deharpporte lists his employer as Gibbco Company, Mrs. Deharpporte is retired. Both have contributed exclusively to Democratic campaigns including Wesley Clarke, John Kerry and Paul Wellstone.

Charles “Chuck” Denny – Mr. Denny is the retired chairman and CEO of ADC Telecommunications. Mr. Denny has a chairmanship at the University of Minnesota named after him. He has been awarded CEBC Distinguished Corporate Citizenship award for his (among other things) “deep commitment to equity and justice in our society”. The majority of his contributions have been to mostly to Republican candidates, with just a couple of Democratic candidates (Bill Luther, Teresa Daly and Janet Robert) getting donations.

Joseph and Rachel Dolan – I am not able to find any information on the Dolan’s.

Anita Duckor – Ms. Duckor is a sitting member of the Minneapolis Library Board and President of Duckor & Associates a business consulting firm. While these local positions are supposed to be non-partisan (by Minnesota Law) on look at the organizations and people that endorsed Ms. Duckor gives you a good idea of her political affiliation. There are no listed contributions in Ms. Duckor’s name on either Open Secrets, Newsmeat or Political Money Line.

Lois Mary Dunlap – Ms. Dulap is a contributor to the Loft Literary Center in Minneapolis. She has contributed mostly to Jim Ramstad’s campaign, but she has also contributed to the late Senator Paul Wellstone’s campaign.

Well that is the end of my list of the Patricians. I will cross post all of this over at Ladies Logic and I will also post links to any of the other blogs that joined Mitch’s blogswarm on the Patricians. For more information on the tax increase that is proposed Growth & Justice, please go to their website and read for yourself what these “wealthy few” are willing to burden the rest of the state with. I will echo the call of the working middle class of this state….those of you wealthy few who believe you can pay more to the state – please do so! However, do not mandate that those of us who are just getting by – driving used cars and working two jobs in order to make ends meet – pay for programs that you say you are happy to pay for! Pay for it and stay out of my checkbook!

UPDATE: Thanks to commentor Anonymous over at Ladies Logic for checking my math! I have corrected the entry for Charles Daly to correctly reflect his political contributions.

The Dayton family is legend in the Twin Cities. George Draper Dayton was the founder of the Dayton Corporation – the Dayton’s department store chain. Dayton’s merged with the J.L. Hudson Company in 1969 to form the Dayton Hudson Corporation, which is now Target Corporation. Bruce B. Dayton is George Dayton’s son and Senator Mark Dayton’s grandfather.

Bruce and Ruth Dayton are devotees of the arts, having donated over $20m in Chinese art to the Minneapolis Institute of Arts. Between the two, they have made over $229,000.00 in donations to both parties over the last 2 election cycles. Out of that $207,000 went to Democratic candidates, committees and campaigns. The rest to Republican candidates including President George W. Bush.

David Dayton works for Alumiplate Inc and has given much to local environmental and civic organizations. His campaign contributions have been exclusively to Democratic candidates and PACs.

Judy Dayton is the widow of Ken Dayton. They are great patrons of the local art scene and benefactors of Abbott Northwestern Hospital. As I stated in a prior post, Mrs. Dayton has contributed exclusively to DFL candidates for office – most notably her nephew Mark.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic

As many of you heard, 203 of Minnesota’s wealthiest signed an ad that ran in the Star Tribune last week, stating that Minnesota isn’t taxed enough and that the wealthiest (according to their plan that is anyone who makes over $45,000 a year) should be taxed more. Well Mitch (over at Shot in the Dark) challenged readers to research the signatories – find out what (if any) political affiliations that they have…to see if the group responsible for the ad are as non-partisan as they claim to be. Mitch challenged and I answered. Rather than get into a long preamble, I’ll cut right to the chase.

Burt Cohen – President and former Publisher of MSP Magazine. According to the Open Secrets search, Mr. Cohen has donated over $11,000 to Democratic candidates and campaigns between 2001 and 2004. According to the Cunningham Group profile of Mr. Cohen:

” Prior to MSP Communications he was the President of Modern Medicine Publications, Harcourt Brace Jovanovich Health Care Publications and Vice President and Director of The New York Times Media Company.

Burt has been active in the Twin Cities for years. Community activities include sitting on the Board of Directors for various organizations including Medica; the Minneapolis Foundation; Minneapolis Midtown Community Works; University of Minnesota Foundation; Minnesota Zoo Foundation; and the One Percent Club. In addition, Burt has served on a number of committees such as the Children’s Theatre Capital Campaign Steering Committee, the University of Minnesota College of Liberal Arts Advisory Committee and the Committee on Giving Organizing Committee.” (emphasis added)

According to the filings listed at Open Secrets, Rusty Cohen is an Consultant/Volunteer. He is listed on the masthead of Mpls St Paul Magazine as a consultant. While he has not been a prolific contributor to Democratic candidates, he has given solely to Democrats. According to an article here, he is also a co-founder (with Burt Cohen) of MSP Publishing.

Bert and Suzi Colianni – Mr. Colianni is the executive vice president and COO of Marquette Financial (along with co-signatory Jim Pohlad). There was no record of any political contributions at Open Secrets, but Mr. and Mrs. Colianni were listed as contributors to Common Bond Communities (a non-profit that helps the homeless find housing).

Julie Corty lists her occupation as “retired” although she is listed on this newsletter as a member of the advisory board of a group called Wilderness Inquiry. Wilderness Inquiry is a non-profit organization that focuses on getting people from all walks of life to personally experience the natural world. She only had one listed donation from 2001 to 2004 and that was to John Kerry’s presidential campaign.

John and Sage Cowles – John Cowles Jr is the former publisher (President of Cowles Media Group) of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, a position that he assumed after his father retired. They currently hold the Lewis W. Hill Fellowship on Philanthropy at the University of Minnesota’s Hubert H. Humphrey Institute. Mr. Cowles political donations have been to Democratic candidates and committees exclusively. Mrs. Cowles (whose occupation is listed as retired) has donated to Democratic candidates, committees and organizations such as America Coming Together and Emily’s list.

Dan and Cassie Cramer – I couldn’t find a lot of data on the Cramer’s so I have no idea (yet – still looking) what the Cramer’s do for their money. What I did find is that they have donated moeny to an organization called Admission Possible, which helps disadvantaged students get prepped for college and helps them find grants etc. Mr. Cramer had donated to the Progressive Politics Network – formerly known as the Wellstone for Senate campaign. Mrs. Cramer is also listed on the campaign website of current DFL endorsed candidate (for MN Secretary of State) Mark Ritchie as a supporter.

Kim Culp – FINALLY a Republican donor! Mr. Culp is a banker from Eden Prairie. He is the chairman of the Minnesota region of M&I Bank and former President of Century Bank. His political donations have been exclusively to Republican candidates Norm Coleman and Jim Ramstad.

Susan Cushman is an OB/GYN doctor from Wayzata. Open Secrets shows no record of political donations, but Dr. Cushman is a patron of the Walker Arts Center.

Teresa Daly is (as I stated here) a former DFL candidate for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District. She is a consultant by profession – employed by Right Management, an employment transition consultant. Her political donations have been to DFL candidates and to Democratic aligned PAC’s like Emily’s List.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic

On June 20, the following letter to the editor appeared in the Strib:

“I find it highly ironic that less than one week after the Star Tribune lambastes the Minnesota Republican Party for its criticism of “lame duck” Sen. Mark Dayton, it calls President Bush “King George” in an editorial!”

On June 26, the letter writer revieved the following anonymous letter in her mailbox:

“Irony? What is ironic is that Bush thinks he is KING. How blind are you?”

Now I happen to know the person who submitted the letter which is how I know what she got in return.

And before any of you comment about the hypocricy of blogging under a pseudonym, I point you to the threats that were made against Michael Brodkorb and his family while he was still anonymous! There are some sick people out there whole feel that any and all opposition must be silenced at any cost. As long as people like that are out there, I will continue to blog under a pseudonym. However, I am more than willing to debate any and all who have the the strength of their convictions to actually engage in respectful discussion! Disrespectful discussion will be mocked appropriately!

Mitch (over at Shot in the Dark) did a post on the “Happy to pay more for a better Minnesota” ad from last week. In the comments section someone (thanks Thorley) suggested that an enterprising blogger would be well served to take a look at the signatories and see exactly what they do to get their money and are they really as non-partisan as they suggest. I mentioned that I had started doing that (here) and that all led to this:

“I’d like to try to start my first blogswarm, here.

The idea actually came from longtime commenters Thorley Winston and Lady Logician, in the comment section to the previous posting. Here’s what I’d like to do: do a research blogswarm on the 203 Minnesotans who signed the “We Can Afford To Pay More For State Taxes” (PDF file) “open letter” to the Strib last week. The group pitches itself as a group of bipartisan citizens concerned for the state. I suspect otherwise.”

So I am going to take a group of the “patricians” and see what I can find out about these folks. Stay tuned here or over at Ladies Logic for the results. I will also link to anyone else that decides to join us in the project.

Cross posted over at Ladies Logic

This was posted on Bachmann v Wetterling today.

Sue Jeffers drove by, and I took a picture, but I might be flogged if I put that up here.

I know it was written partly in jest, but after seeing the Party muscle that showed up at the CD conventions and the behavior at State convention – I can see why some people might be afraid to stand and speak what they believe. Or to even ask why others are not allowed to speak. Or to ask any questions at all.

Dasvedanya to free speech comrades.

A lot has been said in the last 24 hours about this story, some of it serious and some of it more“reactionary”.

“More than 200 wealthy Minnesotans signed a full-page ad that appears in the Star Tribune today asking the state to raise $2 billion for various initiatives by increasing the state’s tax burden for high-salary earners. “

One thing that is assumed in all the commentary on this is that the signatories are more “left” leaning than the average Joe that would also be affected (only those who make less than $45,000 a year fall don’t fall into their “high-salary” category). So I thought I would take a quick peek over at Open Secrets to see if this assumption is accurate.

Joel Kramer, former publisher of the Star Tribune and founder of think tank Growth and Justice contributed to the DSCC, Paul Wellstone, Mark Dayton, John Kerry, Walter Mondale, the MN DFL and the Democracy for America PAC.
Mike Ciresi and Ann Ciresi – Former DFL endorsed candidate for US Senate Mike Ciresi donated to Maria Cantwell in 2001. Ann has contributed to the DFL Party and to the campaigns of the following Democratic candidates – Tom Daschle, Patty Wetterling, Maria Cantwell, Paul Wellstone, Janet Roberts (owner of the MN Air America affiliate), Teresa Daley, John Kerry, Joe Biden, Betty McCollum and Walter Mondale (when he was made the Senatorial nominee after Paul Wellstone died).
Teresa Daly – Former DFL candidate for 2nd Congressional District 2004 has only contributed to Emily’s List and to Betty McCollum’s (D-CD4) campaign.
Bruce Dayton, David Dayton and Judy Dayton – Bruce Dayton contributed $20,000 to the DSCC in 2001, $5,000 in 2002 and $25,000 in 2004. Judy Dayton contributed Mark Dayton’s Senatorial Campaign, Teresa Daly’s Congressional Campaign, to Betty McCollum’s Congressional campaigns and Paul Wellstone’s campaign in 2001.
Ruth Stricker Dayton – Ruth Ann Dayton has a bi-partisan approach – she has given to Republican Jim Ramstad and DFLers Bill Luther and Paul Wellstone.
Mrs. Orville L. Freeman – Mr. Orville Freeman has donated to Paul Wellstone, Bill Luther and Walter Mondale.
David Lillehaug – Mr. Lillehaug has donated to Joe Lieberman, Patty Wetterling, John Edwards, Stephanie Herseth (D-SD) and John Barrow (D-Ga).
Joan Mondale, Ted Mondale and Walter Mondale – The Mondales are known DFLers. It does not take open secrets to tell you that!
Lois Quam – Wife of DFL endorsed candidate for MN Attorney General Matt Entenza, Ms. Quam has donated to the DNC Services, the MN DFL, Senator Hillary Rodham Clinton, Mark Dayton, Dick Gephardt, Patty, Wetterling, Teresa Daly, Byron Dorgan, Walter Mondale, Paul Wellstone, Emily’s List and many, many others.
Rebecca Yanisch – DFL candidate for Congress and Senate has contributed to Teresa Daly, Paul Wellstone, Betty McCollum, Howard Dean, Patty Wetterling and Stephanie Herseth.

I think it is safe to say that this assumption was an accurate one…

Having said all of that, the collective response (from those of us who are also in that “highest earning” category – those making over $45,000 a year) has been “speak for yourself!” The best response, I think, came from Governor Pawlenty who said:

“Minnesota is not undertaxed, he added, but he invited the ad signatories to send voluntary contributions payable to the State of Minnesota to the Finance Department, 400 Centennial Office Building, 658 Cedar St., St. Paul, 55155.”

I would offer that advise up to all those who say that they would be “Happy” to pay more in taxes. Get out the checkbook and write a check in the amount that makes you feel happiest and send it to the state. No one is stopping you! Show us all just how much more you would be happy to pay, for a better Minnesota!

Cross posted at Ladies Logic

I have composed a few posts now on just why Coleen Rowley and her ideas for fighting the global war on terror are wrong and why she is the wrong person for the Second Congressional District to send to Washington DC because of those wrong ideas. Now the Star Tribune gets into the act, running this story.

“Former Minneapolis FBI agent Coleen Rowley, who gained fame for exposing blunders in the bureau’s pre-Sept. 11 investigation of Zacarias Moussaoui, drew criticism herself in a government report released today for failing to press for a criminal warrant to search Moussaoui’s possessions.”

The article goes on to detail Coleen’s single minded determination to go down the WRONG PATH to go after ZacariasMoussaoui – persuing a FISA court order versus a criminal court order.

Well, the First Ringer over at KvM gives us the best analysis of the article and it’s effect on Ms. Rowley’s campaign for Congress.

“While the move may deduct a minute or two out of Rowley’s 15 minutes of fame, her political stature already seems to have fallen to Herve Villechaize proportions. National focus on Minnesota’s 2nd District has all but evaporated while even Beltway pundits seem to have thrown in the towel, with National Journal not even ranking Rowley’s bid among the 60 most competitive House races in the country.
Rowley says that Kline will likely “try to make political use of the report.” At this rate, it might not be necessary.”

KvM is a must read for anyone interested in the outcome of the 2006 campaign and Ringer’s analysis is one of the reasons why.

Cross posted at Ladies Logic