July 6-7, 2008
Jul 06 11:25 Thanks Tarryl Jul 06 13:43 Safer Now? Safer Then? Part III Jul 06 15:22 Harry Reid: YouTube Sensation, Village Idiot Jul 07 01:42 Sadr in Total Disarray Jul 07 09:07 Leo's a Grandpa Jul 07 10:43 Obama Fights Back On Energy...Sorta Jul 07 20:48 Democrats' Crisis Of Choice Jul 07 23:37 Setting the Record Straight
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May Jun
Thanks Tarryl
Tarryl Clark, my state senator, always puts together a nice e-letter, which I always look forward to. This week's wasn't an exception. I'd bet that Mr. Tinklenberg will appreciate it much. Here's what Tarryl put in her e-letter that won't paint Mr. Tinklenberg in a flattering light:
Bridge Collapse Committee Meets with MnDOTI'm positive that El Tinklenberg was the Transportation Commissioner during at least 3 of those 17 years. I'm equally certain that Democrats controlled the Senate & had a sympathetic ear in Jesse Ventura. What I'm absolutely positive of, though, is that Mr. Tinklenberg either did nothing in preventing decread license tab revenues or insisted on cutting license tab fees. Here's what MPR reported in 2000:
The Joint Bridge Collapse Committee met last week to take testimony from Department of Transportation officials. They were responding to the Gray Plant Moody bridge investigation report that was created at the request of this bipartisan legislative committee.
Among other concerns, the study found that funding considerations did influence MnDOT decision making at the agency, sometimes causing further study of a problem rather than taking corrective action. The I-35W Bridge was rated poor for 17 years, yet no action was taken to improve that rating nor was there a plan in place when the bridge fell down.
Ventura's transportation commissioner, Elwyn Tinklenberg, was left to defend the governor's last-minute vetoes, saying Ventura thought the last bonding bill was too expensive.While former Sen. Johnson is the person agreeing with Jesse, it isn't a stretch to think that Tinklenberg helped put the policy together.Tinklenberg: This was not to be taken as a message that somehow he was not supportive of local bridges or understood the need for bridge improvements across Minnesota, and that's why you see even though we have a very tight and very limited bonding proposal coming out of the administration, it does include significant investment in local bridges as a part of a state responsibility.Because Ventura's transportation package is so sweeping, it will need to go before at least four committees in each chamber; a daunting task in a short session, and Senator Flynn says lawmakers may need to break it up into separate pieces to pass the key initiatives. But the chairman of the Metropolitan Council, Ted Mondale, warned lawmakers against, in his words, too much creativity with the governor's plan, saying Ventura might decide to walk away from the table. That prompted an angry response from Republican Senator Bill Belanger of Bloomington.Belanger: Then it would be nice if he would quit trashing us every opportunity he gets.Many lawmakers echo Belanger privately, saying they're far less willing to accommodate the governor's requests after getting burned by vetoes last year and listening to Ventura criticize the Legislature. That said, the Senate is still likely to support many of the Governor's transportation priorities.
DFL Senator Dean Johnson of Willmar, the newly-appointed chairman of the transportation budget division, says he agrees with the governor on cutting tab fees and balancing highway and transit funding, but he predicts Ventura's plan won't make it through the Legislature intact.
The truth is that El Tinklenberg was ineffective at best as Jesse Ventura's Transportation Commissioner. If he points towards not having the money to do what he wanted, then I'll point to the fact that he didn't cause a stir when license tab fees were cut.
Posted Sunday, July 6, 2008 11:25 AM
Comment 1 by eric zaetsch at 06-Jul-08 06:35 PM
Clark gave the keynote endorsement speech for Tinklenberg at the endorsement convention, for Sixth District. She was followed by other speakers, but she spoke first.
Given that, I expect she is not inclined to put blame on Elwyn Tinklenberg, so there is the grain of salt caution needed.
Good post. There was one study by a U.Minn. person, in 2000-2001, that time frame, on that bridge, concluding they could string things out on replacement. But not on maintenance, replacement, if I recall correctly. Here's info:
Fatigue Assessment of Deck Truss of Bridge 9340 TH I35W over the Mississippi River
Principal Investigator:
Robert Dexter, Former University Researcher, Civil Engineering
These are links:
http://tzd.state.mn.us/Research/ProjectDetail.html?id=1999014
http://tzd.state.mn.us/Publications/ResearchReports/reportdetail.html?id=617
If you can get a civil/mechanical/bridge engineer to say, is it exonerating Tinklenberg, or implicating him? My question, did it ever get to his desk, in total or executive summary, somehow. I don't think MnDOT has released any email traffic either way, was he on top of MnDOT, or fiddling while Rome burned?
Why don't you try a public data disclosure request, to Sue F. Stein, the Data Practices Coordinator there. Good luck in getting responsive info, however.
You could try it, and if you get a run-around, disinformation on a request for 2000-2002 emails to/from Elwyn Tinklenberg, about the study; publish that fact. Scream about it.
As the public, asked by Tinklenberg to vote for him, my view is we deserve him to be the one seeking that email trail, and publishing it, if it is exculpatory. The presumption from the silence that way, to me, is there's worry in that campaign camp.
Comment 2 by eric zaetsch at 06-Jul-08 07:12 PM
Quick extra note
Google = minnesota bridge 9340
gets a lot of hits. I just did the Google, and am looking at a few.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 07-Jul-08 12:00 AM
Eric, I appreciate the DPR suggestion. I was thinking about submitting one because I want to get to the bottom of this.
Most importantly, I appreciate the contact information on contacting Sue F. Stein. At minimum, I'll have a name to tie to MnDOT's failure to provide such information.
Safer Now? Safer Then? Part III
If you didn't read this Times Online article , you'd likely never know that AQI is getting their heads handed to them in Mosul. But that's exactly what's happening:
American and Iraqi forces are driving Al-Qaeda in Iraq out of its last redoubt in the north of the country in the culmination of one of the most spectacular victories of the war on terror.The first question that liberals will undoubtedly ask is what this operation has to do with keeping us safe. That's a fair question, one which I'll answer this way:
After being forced from its strongholds in the west and centre of Iraq in the past two years, Al-Qaeda's dwindling band of fighters has made a defiant "last stand" in the northern city of Mosul. A huge operation to crush the 1,200 fighters who remained from a terrorist force once estimated at more than 12,000 began on May 10.
Operation Lion's Roar, in which the Iraqi army combined forces with the Americans' 3rd Armoured Cavalry Regiment, has already resulted in the death of Abu Khalaf, the Al-Qaeda leader, and the capture of more than 1,000 suspects.
Because al-Qa'ida declared that Iraq had become its central front in its war against western civilization, that's where they poured their resources into. They've focused on Iraq instead of New York during that time. The proof is obvious. We haven't been hit in almost 7 years. That's verifiable and irrefutable.
American and Iraqi leaders believe that while it would be premature to write off Al-Qaeda in Iraq, the Sunni group has lost control of its last urban base in Mosul and its remnants have been largely driven into the countryside to the south.It's been an awful couple years for AQI. They once had total control of Anbar Province. That disappeared when they started killing fellow Sunnis. That's what started the Anbar Awakening.
When Diyala Province heard about AQI killing fellow Sunnis, that news turned that province against AQI. That turned much of western Iraq against AQI. Before long, AQI had only a few strongholds left. It appears as though Operation Lion's Roar is eliminating the last of those strongholds:
Brigadier General Abdullah Abdul, a senior Iraqi commander, said: "We've limited their movements with check-points. They are doing small attacks and trying big ones, but they're mostly not succeeding."It's obvious that al-Qa'ida can't put together big attacks at this point. That doesn't mean that terrorist organizations like Hezbollah can't plan and execute attacks on American soil. There just isn't any history of that happening.
Captain Ed has the most astute observations on this development here :
And what have we won? AQ has sustained an unmitigated defeat in Iraq. They have lost tens of thousands of recruits and fighters, men that would have otherwise volunteered for other missions in which they didn't have to face the American military. They have lost their supposedly divine endorsement; why would Allah have called them to action, just to see them destroyed by the infidels? The sheer bloodthirstiness of their actions in Iraq have exposed them as drug-driven demons, not righteous jihadists.Simply put, AQI have had their asses handed to them. Decisively. It wasn't pretty if you're a jihadist.
After this, I'd love to hear a Democrat explain why we aren't as safe now as when we started the war. (Alleging that doesn't count. Proof is required for credibility.)
Posted Sunday, July 6, 2008 1:46 PM
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Harry Reid: YouTube Sensation, Village Idiot
Everyone who's read this blog knows that Harry Reid is the easiest target ever known to bloggers. This editorial is additional proof of that. Here's the editorialist's first proof:
His latest hilarious monologue came a few days ago on the Fox Business channel when, in trying to defend the exorbitant costs (and federal subsidies) of renewable power, he asserted that money is overrated in debating the country's energy policy.This was the predictable outcome of Harry's shooting his mouth off:
"Coal makes us sick. Oil makes us sick. It's global warming. It's ruining our country. It's ruining our world," Sen. Reid blurted out between pregnant pauses. "We've got to stop using fossil fuels."
Yes, the resources that not only drive the world's economy and rising standard of living, but make life and prosperity possible in his political base of Las Vegas, are "ruining our country" and "ruining our world."
By Thursday afternoon, the video clip had close to 400,000 hits on YouTube.Is it any wonder why Harry Reid is the foremost YouTube sensation while he's simultaneously the world's finest village idiot? As laughable as that is, the editorialist points out something even more hilarious:
In an interview with Jan Helfeld, Sen. Reid first denies that America's progressive tax structure transfers wealth from its most productive citizens to its least productive, then attempts to argue for several minutes that the federal income tax is voluntary. That clip already has about 175,000 Web hits.Sen. Reid should try peddling that to Leona Helmsley.
"Our system is a voluntary system," he says again and again.
I've said it before and I'll say it again: Harry Reid is the most incompetent person to ever lead the House or Senate in either a minority or majority position. God help us if someone surpasses Reid's incompetent leadership. That wouldn't be laughable. That'd be really frightening.
UPDATE: Commenter C. Smith points out Dennis Miller's YouTubed opinion of Harry Reid. It's one video I'll guarantee you'll enjoy:
Posted Sunday, July 6, 2008 5:45 PM
Comment 1 by C Smith at 06-Jul-08 03:37 PM
Dennis Miller, over a year ago, owned Ried for all time:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=miXAZj-tcGI
Sadr in Total Disarray
Though you'd never know it from the NY Times' front page or the lead story on NBC, it's fact that Muqtada al-Sadr's regime is crumbling. Here's the political situation in Iraq:
Already Mr. Sadr's partisans and members of his Mahdi Army militia believe that ISCI and its affiliate party, the Badr Organization, previously known as the Badr Brigade and ISCI's armed wing, instigated the recent US-Iraqi military operations against the Mahdi Army in southern Iraq and Baghdad. They allege it was part of an ISCI/Badr plot to dismantle Sadr's organization ahead of elections.ISCI was part of the Shiite coalition during the JJanuary and December elections in 2005. Now they're the dominant force in a major political coalition in October's elections. Wisely, they've chosen to align themselves with Grand Ayatollah Ali al-Sistani.
On Friday, Sheikh Salim al-Darraji, an ISCI official based in Basra, was assassinated in a part of the city traditionally controlled by Sadrists. It comes one week after Basra's chief of military intelligence was killed in a predominantly Shiite part of eastern Baghdad.
The ultimate goal of ISCI and Badr is to consolidate their grip on southern Iraq and to create a nine-province Shiite region on par with the semiautonomous Kurdish region in the north. This is a subject of great controversy among many Iraqis, including the Sadrists.
"We believe the elections are extremely important. We will run jointly with (ISCI). We both have a significant base of public support," says Hadi al-Ameri, Badr's leader and a senior member of the Iraqi parliament.
Here's an example of Badr's blunt talk about Sadr:
Ameri, who met with Sadr in Iraq in March during the height of the Basra battles with the Mahdi Army, says he believes that the cleric bowed to intense pressure at the time and that his statement last month urging his militiamen to turn to more charitable activities is "effectively dissolving the Mahdi Army without losing face."There's nobody with less power than a Muslim who's just gotten his backside handed to him. Put slightly differently, nothings fails like failure. Sadr trusted in Iran too much and overplayed his hand. Right now, he's paying the price for trusting Iran.
Ameri's Badr Bridgade is in such good shape that they can make this type of statement:
"We are trying to strike a balance between the Grand Satan and the Axis of Evil," jokes Ameri, referring to Iran's favored label of the US and President Bush's reference to Iraq, Iran, and North Korea.That a Shiite leader would make such a statement speaks volumes. That wouldn't have been acceptable 2 years ago.
The bigger lesson to be learned throughout the region is that Ameri didn't reject the United State's assistance and lived to tell about it. Not only did he live to tell about it, he's about to be rewarded for his trust.
FYI to John Murtha: The civil war is over and we've entered the 'winning hearts and minds' stage of this battle.
SIDENOTE: Does anyone think that Sen. Obama will ask Mr. Ameri if he thinks the surge is working? Better question: Does anyone think that Sen. Obama will want to talk with Mr. Ameri about anything?
It would be foolish to think that Sadr and Iran don't have something planned before October's elections. They won't quietly fade into the background. They'll attempt some sort of violent act to bring chaos into the electoral equation, though I'm certain that Sadr will be in Iran at the time of the attacks.
This is a sign of Sadr's desperate situation. He can't influence Shiites with his fiery rhetoric and his militias get their heads handed to them whenever they attempt sustained acts of violence. Yes, they can occasionally assassinate someone but they can't sustain it.
The other lesson worth learning from this is that the fighting has largely subsided, the political reconciliation and elections, not firefights, are the subject of most days in Iraq. With Saddam long in their rearview, Iraqis can get on with the business of governing themselves. That's a far cry from the terror they lived under Saddam.
Don't expect to hear about how well Iraq's government is doing in the NY Times or on NBC if McCain is elected.
Now that I think of it, Sadr, NBC and the NY Times have something in common: They'll each soon be history.
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008 1:43 AM
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Leo's a Grandpa
Leo just called me to tell me that his daughter-in-law gave birth to a beautiful baby girl a little over an hour ago.
I told Leo to take his time getting back to the political wars & to enjoy exacting his revenge on his son. (Just kidding but grandchildren are sometimes called a "grandparent's revenge.") I told him I'd do my best in wallopping liberals until he returned, which drew a definitely positive response.
I'm betting that Leo will post something on this glorious event shortly.
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008 9:07 AM
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Obama Fights Back On Energy...Sorta
It took awhile for the Obama campaign to respond to the RNC's launch of an ad criticizing Sen. Obama's energy policy. Frankly, they should've taken a bit more time and gotten it right. This isn't a compelling response:
An Obama campaign spokesman labeled the ad an "attack" and said the energy crisis can be solved only through honest debate.Sen. Obama is pretending if he thinks that there can be "short-term relief for our families" without increasing drilling for oil and natural gas. PERIOD. As for Sen. Obama's position on energy, here's part of what his website says :
"There's a real choice in this election between John McCain's promise to continue the Bush approach of trying to drill our way out of our energy crisis, which even he admits won't lower prices this summer, or Barack Obama's plan to provide meaningful short-term relief for our families and to make a historic investment in alternative energy development that will create millions of new jobs, keep the cost of energy affordable and secure our energy independence once and for all," Obama spokesman Hari Sevugan said.
Barack Obama's PlanLet's examine Sen. Obama's approach. He does nothing in the short-term to increase oil production, which means people won't feel relief at the pump.
Reduce Carbon Emissions 80 Percent by 2050
Cap and Trade: Obama supports implementation of a market-based cap-and-trade system to reduce carbon emissions by the amount scientists say is necessary: 80 percent below 1990 levels by 2050. Obama's cap-and-trade system will require all pollution credits to be auctioned. A 100 percent auction ensures that all polluters pay for every ton of emissions they release, rather than giving these emission rights away to coal and oil companies. Some of the revenue generated by auctioning allowances will be used to support the development of clean energy, to invest in energy efficiency improvements, and to address transition costs, including helping American workers affected by this economic transition.
Confront Deforestation and Promote Carbon Sequestration: Obama will develop domestic incentives that reward forest owners, farmers, and ranchers when they plant trees, restore grasslands, or undertake farming practices that capture carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.
Invest in a Clean Energy Future
Invest $150 Billion over 10 Years in Clean Energy: Obama will invest $150 billion over 10 years to advance the next generation of biofuels and fuel infrastructure, accelerate the commercialization of plug-in hybrids, promote development of commercial-scale renewable energy, invest in low-emissions coal plants, and begin the transition to a new digital electricity grid. A principal focus of this fund will be devoted to ensuring that technologies that are developed in the U.S. are rapidly commercialized in the U.S. and deployed around the globe.
Double Energy Research and Development Funding: Obama will double science and research funding for clean energy projects including those that make use of our biomass, solar and wind resources.
It gets worse from there. Sen. Obama boldly proclaims that he's for a job-killing Cap and Tax bill. Scientifically speaking, the benefits are arguable. Economically speaking, the job-killing tax increase is guaranteed.
Let's return to Mr. Sevugan's reply. When did Sen. McCain or President Bush say that drilling wouldn't lower prices? That's the goal behind increasing oil production. While it's true that President Bush and Sen. McCain have made statements to lower expectations, that isn't the same as saying it wouldn't help.
The Democrats' worst nightmare is for them to control the House, Senate & White House while they implement their energy policy. If they got everything they wanted, they'd cripple the economy. If that happened on their watch, the midterms would be a bloodbath for Democrats.
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008 10:45 AM
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Democrats' Crisis Of Choice
Readers of this blog know that I've used the phrase Crisis of Choice with regards to the gas crisis. This morning, I talked with Erick at RedState about that terminology. Erick agrees that this crisis is a crisis of choice.
It's time that we pinned this tail on the Donkeys. It's time we pinned this tail on the Donkeys every morning, every afternoon, every evening, each day of the week, each week between now and Election Day.
These days, the major difference between the GOP energy plan and the Democrats' energy plan is oil production. Democrats utterly refuse to even entertain the thought of increasing oil production. If they thought about increasing oil exploration or production, they'd have their knees cut off by their allies in the environmental movement in a NY minute.
While Democrats make their case for their energy plan, they've used several phrases that IBD debunked . Here's one popular Democrat mantra:
"We can't drill our way out of our energy crisis."Democrats have filibustered every piece of legislation that would've opened up oil exploration. In fact, had Bill Clinton not foolishly vetoed that bill, ANWR would've been pumping oil and natural gas long before this Crisis of Choice.
Actually, we can. As we've noted before, conservative estimates put the total amount of recoverable oil in conventional deposits at about 39 billion barrels. Offshore, we have another 89 billion barrels or so. In ANWR, 10 billion barrels.
In oil shale deposits, we have more than 1 trillion barrels of oil. In perspective, that's about four times the total reserves of Saudi Arabia. And if estimates of shale reserves as high as 2 trillion barrels prove true, we'll have about a 300-year supply of oil just from shale. This compares with current estimated total U.S. oil reserves of about 21 billion barrels.
Here's another myth:
"Oil companies are sitting on 68 million acres of oil leases and refuse to drill."These are only some of the statistics that dispel the Democrats' myths. Democrats have brought up alot of these statistics to distract people from the central issue, which is their opposition to fossil fuels. They've had their heals dug into their position since Al Gore's " Earth in the Balance " book was fist published.
This is yet another slander of "Big Oil" by House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, one that has become a major talking point for Democrats in Congress. It's completely dishonest.
Oil companies have spent billions of dollars for those leases. Drilling has increased by more than 66% since 2000. They are searching for oil even as you read this. Some parts of those 68 million acres will have oil, some won't. But at $145 a barrel, you can bet oil companies have plenty of incentive to find it.
That said, 68 million acres is in fact a minuscule amount. Some 94% of federal lands, 658 million acres, remains off-limits to exploration. Another 97%, or 1.7 billion acres, of federal offshore properties likewise remains off-limits. These lands contain tens of billions of barrels of recoverable oil. It's there for the taking, now.
Democrats have used these myths to create this crisis. It's time that Democrats were forced to defend these myths. Let's ask them why we can't drill our way out of this crisis of choice. Let's ask them why they've dismissed even the possibility of drilling as part of the solution.
In House and Senate races, let's ask them why they won't go against the wishes of their environmentalist allies. Let's ask them who they represent, their environmentalist allies or their constituents in their district/state.
In short, let's let them own this crisis. After all, they created it. They've paid for it. Now it's time for them to own it.
Technroati: Gas Crisis , Crisis of Choice , Earth In The Balance , Al Gore , Environmentalists , Nancy Pelosi , ANWR , Oil Exploration , Oil Production , OCS , Election 2008
Cross-posted at California Conservative
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008 8:49 PM
Comment 1 by TwoPuttTommy at 08-Jul-08 08:22 AM
"In short, let's let them own this crisis. After all, they created it. They've paid for it. Now it's time for them to own it."
Good luck with that one.
In November of Y2K, two men with extensive ties to the oil industry are elected President and VPOTUS (ok, one of 'em couldn't find oil, in TEXAS, but crticizing the intelligence of a guy 22% think is doing a good job is a tangent).
Immediately upon taking office, VPOTUS commences a series of secret energy policy meetings with leaders in the energy "bidness."
Subsequently, the misAdministration dligently strives to keep all aspects of said "energy policy meetings" secret - and succeeds.
Now, we're at - give or take - $140 a barrel, $4 a gallon.
Add to this fact the GOP has mostly had a lock on the levers of power this decade, and this energy crisis is the result of the GOP's actions and inactions.
Period. End of Story.
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 08-Jul-08 11:48 AM
Add to this fact the GOP has mostly had a lock on the levers of power this decade, and this energy crisis is the result of the GOP's actions and inactions.
Actually, that's a bald-faced lie. Every year that the Republicans had control of the Senate, they didn't have a filibuster-proof majority. I know you aren't stupid enough to dispute that. With that fact established, let's look at actual events.
In 2004, John Kerry promised to filibuster to death any bill that included opening ANWR to oil exploration & production.
THAT'S FACT!!!
Every year, Democrats have filibustered bills that would've opened up the OCS to oil exploration & production.
THAT'S FACT!!! END OF STORY!!! PERIOD.
BTW, I'm going to remind voters of these facts over & over again from now until Election Day.
Yap all you want, Tommy, but them's the facts.
Setting the Record Straight
My friend Larry Schumacher had an article on Tarryl Clark in the SC Times Monday. There's one portion of the article that I've got to disagree with. Here's what I'm talking about:
In her first three years in the Senate, Clark has successfully obtained state funding for local projects such as the St. Cloud Civic Center expansion and St. Cloud State University's National Hockey Center renovation. She also helped get a state bioscience zone designation to aid local business recruitment efforts.I followed the bonding issue pretty closely. I spoke with a number of people about this, including Mayor Kleis, SCSU President Potter, legislators like Dan Severson and Steve Gottwalt and community leaders like Theresa Bohnen and Bernie Omann. I also talked directly with Gov. Pawlenty when he visited St. Cloud the day after he line-item vetoed out $200+ million out of the bill.
I know that Theresa Bohnen played a big role in getting the Civic Center expansion. I know that President Potter played a big role in the gateway project, the Brown Hall and NHC projects. I know for fact that it was Bernie Omann and Steve Gottwalt that invited Gov. Pawlenty north for a bus tour of the proposed projects and how they all fit together.
I further know that President Potter, Mayor Kleis, Theresa Bohnen joined Rep. Gottwalt and Bernie Omann on that bus tour of the projects.
I further know that Gov. Pawlenty talked directly with Rep. Gottwalt that Saturday when Gov. Pawlenty was weighing what to day. I further know that Gov. Pawlenty's staff called Rep. Gottwalt on Sunday with a couple follow-up questions.
That's before I mention the $50 milllion in private investment that will go in to augment the state bonding monies. At the St. Cloud ceremony, I asked Gov. Pawlenty how important the $50 million investment was. His answer was succinct: "It was huge."
Knowing all this, my question is what role Tarryl played in all of this. I don't doubt that she played a role in it. I'm just not willing to give her starring credit for St. Cloud getting these projects appropriated.
That's my opinion and I'm sticking with it until someone provides me with proof that says Tarryl was a workhorse on these projects.
Posted Monday, July 7, 2008 11:37 PM
Comment 1 by Walter hanson at 08-Jul-08 09:34 AM
Wow I must be blind. I didn't see the name Taryl at all. Wait a minute that was your point!
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
