Savage Republican

In Minnesota, we have a process called “Truth in Taxation” hearings. These hearings are a chance for Joe Citizen to talk to the various taxing “authorities” to find out why his taxes are going up.

The Strib reports today on one Hennepin County residents run in with the “Truth in Taxation” process.

“Alarmed by a year-end tax statement projecting a 94 percent increase in 2006, Margaret Briarty, of Brooklyn Park, figured it had to be a mistake. So she called Hennepin County and City Hall, and attended her Truth in Taxation hearing.”

Yes dear readers, that is correct a 94% increase in property taxes!

“For Briarty, her tax jump was caused primarily by her property’s value, which rose from $153,300 in 2004 to $271,400 in 2005 — a whopping 77 percent increase…
It’s all about timing.
Current-year taxes, Rowe said, actually are based on values set on Jan. 2 of the previous year. And on Jan. 2, 2004, before she moved in, Rowe’s townhouse was only partially completed — thus the $153,300 value for 2005 taxes.”

Did you catch that? Your property tax rate is based on what the value of a home was on January 2 of the year before regardless of whether the property is fully developed or not, whether you own it or not.

Now I live in an older neighborhood in a town where property values were a little high to start off with, but have skyrocketed in the last 5 years and we have (thankfully) not seen the drastic changes that Ms. Briarty has seen, but her said tale is yet another reminder why we need tax reform in this state. Not just income taxes (which is what most people think of when someone mentions tax reform) but property tax reform. Cities, counties, school districts all take a tax bite out of our pocketbooks, not just state and federal. All taxing bodies need to be held accountable to the people that they represent. Unfortunately, these taxing bodies will continue to live by their own entrenched set of rules until such time as the citizenry rises up and demands accountability.

That dear readers is why I do this. It is my hope that, by continuing to point out problems like this I can engage my friends and neighbors to get involved in the system and to get them to demand accountability from their elected officials at every level.

I am really surprised that the folks over at Anti-Strib didn’t hop all over this particular op-ed piece in Pravda on the Mississippi. I mean I realize that Tracy is busy trying to get this set up, but still!!! So in the spirit of the season, I will step up and attempt to address it.

“A public-relations offensive comes as no surprise after months of terrible headlines for the president, but it is a classic and vain Washington blunder.”

Since when is telling your side of the story a “public-relations offensive”? For months and months, the left and their willing accomplices at the Strib have been hammering the Bush Adminsitration with quasi scandals (the Plame “leak” and the NSA “spy scandal” come to mind) and nary a peep has come out of the White House to explain their side of the story. Many conservative pundits (Laura Ingraham for one) have been pleading with the White House to explain their actions to the American people. The Strib tips their hand, yet again. They prefer a to beat up a bound and gagged opponent…..how very brave of them.

Americans became disillusioned with the Bush presidency during 2005 not because of the packaging, but because of the content. They see that the administration botched prewar intelligence on Iraq. They see that the Pentagon bungled the planning of the subsequent occupation, and that valiant young Americans are dying as a result.

So let me see if I have this right….in less than 36 months we have toppled a dictatorship, put the country on the path to the 21st century AND helped them hold 3 very successful elections in less than a year and the Strib calls it a bungled “occupation”? What would they considered success? Rhetorical question….I already know that what they expected. The expected total, abject failure. Anything less than that is indeed bungled…As far as the “botched pre-war” intelligence, the Strib conveniently forgets that much of that data came to us before the Bush Administration even came into office. If you are going to fault the Administration on anything (regarding pre-war intelligence) it is believing anything that the Clinton era CIA told them!

“They don’t trust the president’s leadership on Social Security and they recognize that his economic policies are not delivering for average working families. “

Now here the Strib is engaging in spin! The reason that the American People don’t trust the President’s leadership on Social Security is because the left and the MSM purposely mislead them on what the President was proposing (in the form of SS reform). The American people are smarter than the folks on Portland Ave….they do see that the Administration’s economic policy is helping. All you need to do is look at the consumer confidence levels to see that! Regardless of the media’s hype – the American people know that the economy is booming…they see it everyday in their bank accounts!

It has taken Americans five years to understand that the candidate who campaigned for president as a centrist and won twice with the narrowest of victories is actually leading the nation in radical and reckless directions. Now they are stuck with a costly conflict abroad and a disappointing economy at home, and no amount of repackaging will fix those problems.

Sorry folks….what it has taken the American people 5 years to see is the out and out WAR that the left has been waging on the American President! They call our troops murders and worse, they mock our troops, they call the President all sorts of names, they call anyone who supports the missioni fascists and yet they get mad if someone dares to question their patriotism? Finally after 5 years, the American people are seeing that the only quagmire that we are facing is the quagmire of defeatism as waged by the Democratic Party and their willing accomplices in the “legacy media”. The more strident the Strib gets, the more people of logic and sense turn to the “alternate” media on the Internet. As we progress toward the November elections, we can expect the rhetoric out of the Strib to become even more fevered!

Keep it up guys. You are helping us more than you can imagine!

We all tend to complain about what is “wrong” with the country and very few offer solutions. In this post, I would like to offer up some things I think the government could do to make this country a “better place to live”.

I realize that these ideas are going to upset many, hopefully on both sides of the political aisle, however it is my fervent hope that these ideas help spark the kinds of discussions that are necessary to move America forward. These problems can not be solved in 30 second sound bytes. They can only be solved by honest, hardworking Americans taking a hard look at their government and themselves and asking “what can I do to make a difference?”

I opened up my email today, and had a link here and got the following list.
And it reminds me of the question I asked my screaming socialist buddy a while back (screaming socialist: his plan to save Social Security? A 100% estate tax.). I had asked him when is it that whomever was elected, when were they inculcated with the incredible wisdom and deep insight to run my life that they never seemed to have before they were elected? And here is the proof that Article 1, section 8 and the 10th Amendment need to aggressively and fully regained and the Federal Register reduced to 20% of its current size.
Read and shake your head in disgust. Then find another Ron Paul (R-Tex) to vote for in your state.
I offer for your entertainment and disgust: Why We Are In REAL Trouble-

A Washington, D.C., airport ticket agent offers some examples of why our country is in trouble!

1. I had a New Hampshire Congresswoman ask for an aisle seat so that her hair wouldn’t get messed up by being near the window.
2. I got a call from a candidate’s staffer, who wanted to go to Capetown. I started to explain the length of the flight, and the passport information, then she interrupted me with, “I’m not trying to make you look stupid, but Capetown is in Massachusetts.”

   Without trying to make her look stupid, I calmly explained, “Cape Cod is in Massachusetts; Capetown is in Africa,” Her response – click.

3. A senior Vermont Congressman called, furious about a Florida package we did. I asked what was wrong with the vacation in Orlando. He said he was expecting an ocean-view room.

   I tried to explain that’s not possible, since Orlando is in the middle of the state. He replied, “Don’t lie to me, I looked on the map, and Florida is a very thin state!”

4. I got a call from a lawmaker’s wife who asked, “Is it possible to see England from Canada?”

   I said, “No.”

   She said, “But they look so close on the map.”

5. An aide for a cabinet member once called, and asked if he could rent a car in Dallas. When I pulled up the reservation, I noticed he had only a one hour layover in Dallas.

   When I asked him why he wanted to rent a car, he said, “I heard Dallas was a big airport, and we will need a car to drive between gates to save time.”

6. An Illinois Congresswoman called last week. She needed to know how it was possible that her flight from Detroit left at 8:30 am, and got to Chicago at 8:33 am.

   I explained that Michigan was an hour ahead of Illinois, but she couldn’t understand the concept of time zones.

   Finally, I told her the plane went fast, and she bought that.

7. A New York lawmaker called, and asked, “Do airlines put your physical description on your bag so they know whose luggage belongs to whom?”

   I said, “No, why do you ask?”

   She replied, “Well, when I checked in with the airline, they put a tag on my luggage that said (FAT), and I’m overweight. I think that’s very rude!”

   After putting her on hold for a minute while I looked into it (I was laughing), I came back and explained the city code for Fresno, California, is (FAT), and the airline was just putting a destination tag on her luggage.

8. A Senator’s aide called to inquire about a trip package to Hawaii.

   After going over all the cost info, she asked, “Would it be cheaper to fly to California, and then take the train to Hawaii?”

9. I just got off the phone with a freshman Congressman who asked, “How do I know which plane to get on?”

   I asked him what exactly he meant, to which he replied, “I was told my flight number is 823, but none of these planes have numbers on them.”

10. A lady Senator called, and said, “I need to fly to Pepsi-Cola, Florida. Do I have to get on one of those little computer planes?”

    I asked if she meant fly to Pensacola, Florida, on a commuter plane.

    She said, “Yeah, whatever, smarty!”

11. A senior Senator called, and had a question about the documents he needed in order to fly to China. After a lengthy discussion about passports, I reminded him that he needed a visa. “Oh, no I don’t. I’ve been to China many times, and never had to have one of those.”

    I double-checked and sure enough, his stay required a visa.

    When I told him this, he said, “Look, I’ve been to China four times, and every time they have accepted my American Express!”

12. A New Mexico Congresswoman called to make reservations, “I want to go from Chicago to Rhino, New York.”

    I was at a loss for words. Finally, I said, “Are you sure that’s the name of the town?”

    “Yes, what flights do you have?” replied the lady.

    After some searching, I came back with, “I’m sorry, ma’am, I’ve looked up every airport code in the country, and can’t find a Rhino anywhere.”

    The lady retorted, “Oh, don’t be silly! Everyone knows where it is. Check your map!”

    So, I scoured a map of the state of New York, and finally offered, “You don’t mean Buffalo, do you?”

    The reply? “Whatever! I knew it was a big animal.”

Now you know why Government is in the shape that it’s in!

Both the Star Tribune and the Pioneer Press are (finally?) reporting about the increase in serious crime in our fair cities, something Rambix has been sounding the alarm on for many months. While the Strib’s sub-headline talks about a meager 13% and 6% increase for Minneapolis and St. Paul respectively, the article buries the fact that aggrevated assualt and robberies rose by a staggering 23 and 22 percent respectively! The Strib actually interviewed (gasp!) police officials in trying to “understand” how this could possibly happen in their progressive utopia!

“You’re never going to get a grip on everything and hope that crime goes away,” Assistant Chief Tim Dolan said. “The harder you push on narcotics, you’re going to see a growth somewhere else.”

Gee, that’s positive…get used to it Minneapolis…with people like this in charge of catching the criminals, it’s going to get worse.

What is even better is how the Strib spins the numbers.

“The real important thing to realize is that if you’re 40 or younger, we’re enjoying some of the lowest crime rates of our lifetimes,” said Christopher Uggen, a University of Minnesota sociology professor. “These are the good times.”
Minneapolis, which as of Monday had logged 49 homicides this year, down from 55 last year, compares favorably with any large city, said criminologist Jack Levin, director of the Brudnick Center on Conflict and Violence at Northeastern University in Boston.
“Boston and Minneapolis have about the rosiest murder statistics in the U.S. for big cities,” he said. “Minneapolis has always enjoyed a relatively low rate of crime.”

Well either Mr. Levin has forgotten “Murderapolis” or he is ignorant of the history of Minneapolis. Things were so bad here in 1995 that the NY Times dubbed us “Murderapolis” – because gangs were taking over the poorest neighborhoods and were allowed to roam freely doing what gangs do. Fast forward to 2002 where 11 year old Tyesha Edwards was killed in her own home by gang crossfire! Fast forward again to 2005 where in the spring a 15 year old was pulled off of a Minneapolis City Bus by a gang of thugs who mistook him for a rival and beat him nearly to death. Fast forward again to December 21 where another teen was brutally beaten near a city bus stop for the crime of being white.

So what is the solution to this problem? According to the PiPress article, the Minneapolis Police seem to think that installing security camera’s will do the trick! Here is a radical thought…why not arrest the wrong doers and put them in jail!!!!

The truly frightening thing is that when these crimials are finally caught by the Minneapolis Police Department, they are being released by the Hennepin County Court system! Rabix again is the definative site for all of the details, but the reason I bring this up is the 2006 Senatorial election. Amy Klobuchar, the current Hennepin County Attorney, is running for the DFL nomination for the Senate seat that Mark Dayton is vacating. Anyone who is interested in their safety really need to be wary of a candidate Klobuchar. Will Senator Klobuchar make the hard choices in order to make sure that they American people are safe? No one knows for sure, although Andy from Residual Forces and KvM is certainly trying to find out. It’s a pity that the local press won’t do their job and get those answers for us.

The January 2006 Mpls St Paul magazine (not available on line) has an article on Al Franken and his possible 2008 Senate run. The article offered some interesting insights into the man that would be Senator.

Al speaks about the impetus for his run. The Republicans “criminally cynical exploitation” of the Wellstone memorial service/campaign rally. I’m sorry Al, the only criminal cynical exploitation came from the people running the memorial service. They began the exploitation when they turned it into a campaign rally. If it had truly been a memorial service, speakers would not have been exhorting Republican politicans in attendence to vote for Walter Mondale in order to “honor Paul”.

A couple of things are mentioned in the article that Republican activists and the Party need to take note of. This is not a whim. Al Franken is a progressive true believer. He loves the limelight and is quite comfortable in it. He also has hundreds of wealthy, influential friends in politics. He can (and no doubt will) bring in a cadre of entertainment and media friends to raise and donate money for the campaign. He also has a growing stack of IOU’s within the state DFL. Another thing the DFL is looking to use against Senator Coleman (and Congressman Kennedy in 2006) is the unpopularity of President Bush. They intend to paint Senator Coleman as a “white, male suit who has voted consistently with George Bush”. Franken is an attraction and a money magnet and the local media is already salivating over another “celebrity” candidate. However, even Al conceeds that could be detrimental to his campaign. He told the interviewer “Besides, Minnesotans may be willing to vote outside the box, but their last experience was not so hot, so they may be less willing to do it again…” GOP consultant, Sarah Janacek, is quoted as saying “People are tired of screeds from either the left or the right” and that Franken’s “big city liberalism” will not play well in red suburbs like Eden Prairie and Rosemont. I hope she is correct.

The big thing that will hurt Franken’s campaign with the progressive base is his stance on the use of the military. While he is opposed to the President’s use of force in Iraq, he is not calling for the immediate pull out or even of setting a timetable for withdrawal. Granted, this could be a moot point in 2008, but given the reality of modern campaigning, he is going to need to get these people on board (for campaign contributions) today and that could hurt him badly.

I don’t know which way this will play yet, but this I do know. The Republican Party can not take candidate Al lightly or they risk loosing the seat.

Just a follow up to my post last night on the “smokers tax”…

What upset me about the segment was a caller. This caller stated that this action should be mandatory for all business owners! That in the name of “heath care” all businesses should be forced to test their employees for cigarette use. Regardless of the fact that mandatory testing for ILLEGAL drugs is considered an “invasion of privacy” this moron wants business owners to test for LEGAL substance use. What’s next? Making Big Mac consumption a reason to terminate employment?

The big argument against municipal smoking bans is that the bans infringe on the property rights of the business (bar and restaurant) owner to do with his property as he sees fit. Maybe we need to take these smoking bans to court. If it is legal for employers to mandate their business to be no smoking areas, there certainly is no reason why a business owner couldn’t be within their rights to do the opposite, is there?

My husband is a veteran. He served in the military during the 1980’s. We have many friends who are veterans as well. One, has been a caretaker at the Minnesota Veterans Camp on Big Island (Lake Minnetonka) for a few years. The Vets Camp is fairly run down, because the governing board that runs it has not put much money into it for quite some time. Our friend has put a lot of time and some personal money into the camp so that it can be used. We have had many discussions about the fate of the camp over the last couple of years.

Today, I saw this article in the Star Tribune. It appears my friend has someone else who is fighting for the camp’s survival.

Maj. Mike Erickson served in Iraq and Afghanistan, but he still may not have been ready for the Battle of Big Island on Lake Minnetonka.

A little history on the camp…

In 1923 the Legislature leased land on Big Island as a living memorial to veterans. The property, according to the suit filed by Erickson’s group, was to be used “as a respite for disabled and war-weary veterans and their families.”

Here is the gist of the article….where the vets get the shaft…

But the camp’s board of directors had already voted to sell the property to the city of Orono for $5.7 million. The deal, which included a $2 million state grant and $1.9 million in city bonds, was scheduled to close on Dec. 14.
A week ago, a Hennepin County district judge gave Erickson and his group until today to avoid dismissal of their lawsuit by posting a $238,000 bond. “We don’t have it,” a discouraged Erickson said.

Now a lot of veterans, my friend included, have challenged the legitimacy of the sale.

Bill Anderson, a former member of the board of directors, said he lost his seat because he did not agree with the decision to sell the camp. “In the public’s eye,” said Anderson, a Korean War veteran, ” … No, the pawns voted to sell it — the shills.”

You may ask why I am writing about this, when according to the article today was the last day for the vets to get the bond to stop the sale. It is my hope that maybe some of my good readers would be able to come to the aid of these fine veterans or at the least someone can help them find a way to bring an equitable resolution to this issue. If not that, to at least bring to the attention of the people, that our defenders of freedom are loosing, yet again, another promise that we made to them. We owe our troops better than broken promises and being shoved off of their campground for the sake of private developers…..

I wrote about our governor’s ill-conceived tax, excuse me – “health impact fee” on tobacco products in this post about unintended consequences. Given the news of the last few days, the tax – er…fee – needs to be readdressed.

Recently a Ramsey County judge struck down the legality of the governor’s “health impact fee” ruling that the $.75 per pack (of cigarettes) fee violated the terms of the states tobacco lawsuit settlement! Bravo Judge – you got the right answer. The Governor vowed to fight it. When I heard that I was stunned. The Governor has been taking lots of flack about this and other “compromises” from his base. The ouster of his ally (and chief cheerleader) Ron Eibensteiner from the Party chair should have been his wake up call. Then again, maybe it was. Yesterday’s Star Tribune reports that the Governor will drop the fee if the appeal fails! Alleluia!

However some, including Republican Minnesota, has asked how can the governor forego the “millions” that the fee will bring in…well considering that the state is looking at a $1B budget surplus I don’t think that will be that big of an issue.

The bottom line is that the state can not be balancing the budget on the backs of smokers. As I said back in August, smokers will go elsewhere to get their cigarettes or they will quit smoking. If the Governor were to ask for my solution to the budget issues, I would have a simple 2 word answer for him. REDUCE SPENDING!

Update: I just heard on Fox News that the American Cancer Society (and a coalition of heath care providers) is pushing to get a ballot initiative in California that will increase the cigarette tax $2.60 per pack. I am not a smoker, but if the smokers of America were to rise up in rebellion, I would be right there with them. Here is a link to the story.