Savage Republican

Not being one to just idly sit by, I called Jason on air in North Carolina to welcome him back. I assured him that if he could make the culinary leap from red eye gravy and fried mush to tater tot hotdish, well, the Revolution really needs him.
Whether or not he’ll be back here in time for the state Republican Convention next week, he didn’t know.
But again, stay tuned.

I’m listening to Jason Lewis online from WBT. And the topic?
He’s coming back to Minnesota!
Stay tuned…

Ever since his departure in 2003, the return of Jason Lewis has been the/a recurring rumor.
When AM1500 shot themselves between the eyes when they released Jason, I watched as the once mighty King of the Talk Stations became an small baron on the peerage list in jolly short order. They needed a good local conservative personality to take over the time slot. AM1500 never gave Dave Thompson a fair shot. The buzz was that Dave was not Jason. True enough. But then again, Jason wasn’t Jason either when he arrived in Minnesota. Jason needed to build an audience and a reputation. It would have been a wise move over at Hubbard to at least have given Dave Thompson more than 39 seconds to do the same. But, no, so AM1500 started flopping around and piling on itself with mistake after mistake.
The problem with a return of Jason would be where would he go? Back to AM1500. Not likely, but it would do them wonders if they did. AM1280 The Patriot? All their broadcasting is national with the exception of Saturday and the rebroadcast on Sunday. AM980? All Christian broadcasting. Where else? Well, perhaps with KTLK FM100.3.
And now this in Prairire Pravda on the potential return of Jason.
I’ve grabbed the streaming audio of Jason down in North Carolina. Same bumper music, same sign off. And reminds me what once was. And perhaps may be again.
We’ll see.

Previously, I wrote about a Star Tribune profile of DFL candidate Keith Ellison. Well, contrast that profile with the profile they did of his opponent. I don’t want to say I called it or anything, but…

Where the Strib talked about Ellison’s personality…how “”He’s humorous. He’s serious. There’s a lot of dimensions to Keith. “, the profile on Alan Fine focuses on issues. The Strib profile of Fine devotes most of the article to his stands on the issues (“Fine favored the invasion and believes U.S. troops must remain until security has been established.”). Compare that to the single sentence that the Strib devotes to Ellison on the issues “Ellison says his campaign will be about peace, economic justice and universal health care.”

It is reporting like this that has earned the Strib their reputation of being a journalistic lightweight! They do the citizens of the 5th Congressional District a huge dis-service by not running articles on where BOTH candidates stand. I applaud the attempt they made on Alan Fine, but why didn’t Keith Ellison get the same courtesy? Don’t the citizens of the 5th deserve to know where both candidates stand on these issues?

The wisdom in this, from the Pittsburgh Post Gazette is timeless!

“Vote to protest the pay raise. The 16 percent to 34 percent increase was approved without hearings or debate, came on top of a decade of annual cost-of-living raises for legislators and was paid out through “unvouchered expenses” to get around the constitutional ban on raising pay in midterm. For thwarting the democratic process, many incumbents deserve to go.

Vote to elect reformers. Some of them are incumbents who spurned the pay raise and for years have sought better government, like a lobbyist disclosure law, campaign finance reform and a smaller Legislature. Some are energetic challengers who want to replace fossilized politicians.

Vote to test the new voting machines. In Allegheny and other counties, voters will be using a modern generation of electronic units that comply with federal law. No levers, no paper, no hanging chads. Just touch the screen and vote. Maybe some year it’ll give cash back.

Vote to show that the people are watching. If you stay home, you give license to elected officials to disregard the public. Show up and you are a force to be reckoned with — powerful and resourceful, with democracy on your side.” (emphasis added)

Last Tuesday, Republicans in Pennsylvania sent a powerful message to their state legislature when two powerful incumbents were ousted for their support of spending increases. To those of you in other states (like Minnesota) who are equally upset I say this – GET INVOLVED! Campaign against those who run as Republicans and govern as Democrats! Run for public office yourself!

If you are that upset, don’t sit on the sidelines complaining, do whatever you can to change the system for the better!

I really dislike disagreeing with my friend Captain Ed. But, there are those times when though we are like minded and there is much much more that unites us than divides us, I have a fundamental disagreement over his posting today. He takes the tack of warning disaffected conservatives that if we don’t vote, if we sit out, look at history and what happens. He’s issuing a dire warning to us. In essence, repeating what I’ve been hearing for far too long “It could/will be worse with a Democrat!”
May I humbly suggest that he turn the muzzle around and fire the warning shot at the Republicans and warn them to look to history as to what happens when the conservatives are ignored, not when they sit out. Republicans at all levels in the country are voting and acting like Democrats, to spending money as if there’s no tomorrow, ignoring laws and oaths. Even going to incredible and rule breaking lengths to stop and stifle any voices of dissension-exactly what lefties are all about.
So, why would I vote for Republican and make them, and me, into a liar? I don’t vote for Democrats, they shouldn’t run as Republicans and expect to be elected.
Don’t warn me what will happen. Warn the Republican leadership and elected representatives what happens when they vote and act like Democrats.
Read the comments on Captain Ed’s article

Saw this headline on Drudge : “Dixie Chicks Take Back Apology”.
I read the article and see that Natalie Maines took back her ’03 apology to GWB saying that she changed her mind and that he doesn’t deserve her respect any more and that she just doesn’t “feel” the same way she did in 2003 when she made the apology.
Seems the MN State Legislature and Tim Pawlenty “feel” the same way about you and the income earners in Hennepin County. They don’t “feel” the same way about the referendum bill that they did when they passed it. They don’t “feel” that you deserve to keep your money. They don’t “feel” that you deserve the protection of the laws they pass.
Well, how do you “feel” about the way they “feel” about you?

It’s been interesting reading the other blog postings on the this weekend’s 2nd Congressional District Convention. Having been there and been an activist in the behind the scenes going ons, it’s interesting seeing others perspectives. I was not able to hear many of the speeches as I was late in arriving and involved in some of the dramas that the delegates never saw.
I’ve waited through the weekend to start my postings. But, let me start with one to show where I’ll be going.
Lt. Governor Carol Molnau gave a speech to stand in for the Governor. I was in the first row, having blood trickle down the corners of my mouth after having bit down on my tongue. The Lt. Governor had announced, to the applause of the delegates, that the Governor had signed the bill that “stopped government from taking your property and giving it to someone else” (eminent domain). And I bit hard to prevent myself from asking the Lt. Governor right then and there “And that obviously does NOT mean the property called income that is taken from the income earners in Hennepin County and given to Karl Pohlad!” The absolute incredible irony of her statement was lost on the delegates who roared their approval even as the governor was planning on signing the stadium bill that is exactly what Lt. Governor Molnau was loud and proud about in stating was not going to happen because Tim had signed a bill stating otherwise…except, well, for just THIS once. So far.
Wait a minute Spanky…seems to me that we HAD a referendum bill outlawing local taxes being raised unless there was a local referendum. And wasn’t THAT bill by-passed by the legislature to ensure that there was NO referendum on the stadium tax bill?
And so, all you Representatives, Senators , Governor and Lt. Governor,a very simple question:
If you by-passed the referendum statute, what protection do we have that you won’t by-pass the Eminent Domain statute ? What is the intellectual difference between the referendum law and the eminent domain law? Both are, oops, sorry, I meant WERE supposed to protect us. But, you all threw away that shield for the Twins. You forced the income earners of Hennepin County to pay for the Twins, but refused to allow private money (TCF’s Bill Cooper’s offer) for the Gopher stadium? Huh?!?!?!
We were supposed to be a state governed by laws, not the capricious, wanton fickle desires of men.
And we are now ruled by the desires of men, not laws.

Today was the 2nd Congressional Districts Republican Party convention and I was there as a delagate from my precinct. I thought I would bring you a few notes from some of the speakers that addressed the convention.

Harold Shudlick spoke early on. Mr. Shudlick is running for the nomination for US Senate. I have seen him speak once before and I also had an opportunity to speak to him in a small group a couple of months back. This speech was much better than the first one, but I still have the same concerns about him now that I had then…that concern is that he did not discuss any issues. Oh he spoke at length about how the party was denying him his opportunity to run and how he was going up against the “big bucks” of the “rich people and manipulators”. My take on the whole speech was that he felt he was “owed” an opportunity to run and he was upset that he wasn’t getting it. No indications about how he would work differently than the other candidates (Congressman Mark Kennedy and John Uldrich more on these 2 later). It was a very un-Republican speech in my mind. Lots of whining about how unfair things were and little action to fix it.

Ditto the speech that Sue Jeffers gave. Sue is running for the Republican nomination for Governor even though she was endorsed by the Libertarian Party, although she has not accepted that endorsement. She spoke about how party officials “blocked” her from running against the sitting Governor (and heaven knows he needs a huge kick in the political pants). That’s fine, but if she really felt that firmly about it she should have stuck with her plan to go for the Republican nomination instead of filing as a Libertarian! But then again, that’s just me!

Congressman John Kline gave a rousing speech to the crowd. This was “his” party after all – his nominating convention! He spoke about how much things have changed in the last 4 years – economy recovering from the post 9/11 recession, how we are making progress in the House getting Republican ideals transformed into legislation that kind of thing. The two things that really hit with me were when he talked about what it means to really support the troops (Congressman Kline is a retired Marine) and that supporting the troops but not supporting their mission is not support at all. He said that there was a huge disconnect between the reality of what is happening in Iraq (he has been there 3 times now) and what we hear in the press. He said that President Reagan’s simple solution for the Cold War (We win – they loose) is still applicable today!

Then he spoke on immigration! He said that the May 1 protests was a wake up call for the country. That people who “broke in” are demanding that we give them everything! He harkened back to the days when people came to America and learned English, embraced America and how prosperity followed. He then asked “When did learning English become an option!”

Congressman Kennedy was represented by his brother, as the Congressman was in Indiana at his son’s graduation from Notre Dame! Considering I have heard the Congressman’s stump speech a few dozen times so far this year, it was not big deal for me.

John Uldrich did not even bother to show up OR send a representative to the convention. How does he expect to win over delegates if he doesn’t go to the conventions? I don’t think he has quite the race as he had a large sign in the convention hall.

Lt. Governor Carol Molneau (Ma) spoke about the sucesses that she and the Governor have had in the last 4 years – turning a $4.5billion deficit into a small surplus in 3 years, road construction (to reduce congestion) at an all time high, “Women’s right to know” bill passed, the elimination of the Profiles of Learning, etc. She also mentioned that the Governor had just signed (last night) an Eminent Domain bill that will ensure that a Kelo type situation doesn’t happen here (we hope). I’ve seen her give better speeches – then again maybe she is aware of just how unhappy the people in this room – the Republican Party Grass roots – are with the Governor right now. His flirtations with the center/left are hurting them badly. She was being the “good soldier”.

All in all it was a good convention – we didn’t go into the wee hours debating resolutions, for which I am eternally grateful to the Rules Committee and the Resoultions Committee. However, I am anxious to hear what Savage American and Amendment X have to say about it as well.

I must point out that the Lady Logitian is factually wrong.

Sue Jeffers has not filed as anything, no one can file until July 4th – July 18th.
Sue, when she began to seek the Republican endorsement agreed to file as a Republican if endorsed.
That is the only requirement in the State Party Constitution for endorsement
(Ok, there are three. You must also be legally eligible and more importantly, You must also agree to the objectives of the Party as expressed in the Platform, which is why Mike Hatch can not seek the endorsement)

This is what concerns many in the Party, that the State Party Chair is ignoring the constitution.

More later – but wanted to correct the facts now.