June 9-13, 2012
Jun 09 09:10 Defining success Jun 10 08:20 Minnesota legislature's fight against DFL's 'situational' election integrity Jun 11 10:19 Enough with the DoJ's charade Jun 11 16:39 Gov. O'Malley's spin is nauseating Jun 12 06:50 DFL no more Jun 12 21:34 DFL's dirty deeds done dirt cheap? Jun 13 14:50 Another day, another swing state turns red
Prior Months: Jan Feb Mar Apr May
Prior Years: 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011
Defining success
President Obama has led, until now, a semi-successful campaign on defining the terms of what constitutes a successful private sector. President Obama's statement that " the private sector is doing fine " is still fresh. It's time to define what a successful private sector is.
First, a successful private sector creates enough jobs to lower the unemployment rate without having hundreds of thousands of people quitting looking for work. That means consistently creating 200,000 jobs a month. An occasional month dipping to 150,000 is semi-acceptable but that must be the low-water mark, not the hoped-for goal.
Another proof that "the private sector is fine" is a jump in revenues in states nationwide. That revenue jump must be big enough to eliminate the chronic deficits that have existed since the start of this administration.
Another bit of proof that I haven't seen is people's hours increasing. That hasn't happened. I haven't seen incomes or productivity rising, either.
We'll know that the private sector is doing fine when the administration stops attempting to kill industries it doesn't like. Killing the coal and oil industries satisfies this administration's ideological goals but it's terrorizing state economies in Ohio, Pennsylvania, Virginia, Florida, Indiana, Kentucky and West Virginia.
We'll know that the private sector is doing fine when we aren't pumping billions of dollars into failed companies like Solyndra. It's undeniable fact that governments are worthless venture capitalists. Picking winners and losers is something that government is pathetic at.
Giving guaranteed loans to companies that are on the verge of bankruptcy is stupid. When we let market choose the path for capital, the economy wins and the private sector starts creating jobs.
That's the definition of a successful private sector.
Tags: President Obama , Private Sector , Jobs , Democrats , Surpluses , Economy , Election 2012
Posted Saturday, June 9, 2012 9:10 AM
No comments.
Minnesota legislature's fight against DFL's 'situational' election integrity
On May 30, 2012, a collection of the DFL's special interest allies filed a lawsuit in their attempt to thwart the will of the people . In their attempt to thwart the will of the people, they also sought to undo the work of a properly elected legislature.
Friday afternoon, the Minnesota Legislature announced that they would fight for the will of the people:
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
June 8, 2012
MEDIA CONTACT:
Senate - Steve Sviggum 651-296-4814
House - Jodi Boyne 651-296-5522
SENATE & HOUSE REQUEST LEGAL INTERVENTION TO PROTECT CITIZENS RIGHT TO VOTE ON VOTER ID
St. Paul- Minnesota Senate and House leaders announced Friday that they will file paperwork to request to intervene in litigation brought forth by special interest groups in an effort to remove the Photo Identification Constitutional Amendment from the ballot.
The Photo ID Amendment was passed by the state legislature earlier this year and is scheduled to appear on this November's ballot. On May 30, 2012, special interest groups opposed to Voter ID filed a claim to block citizens from voting on the issue in 2012.
'It is my very strong feeling that the integrity of the election process will be enhanced with photo ID. The legislature, in a bipartisan effort, placed this very clear and concise question before the citizens for their judgment in the November election. With our action today, we intend to protect the right of citizens to vote on this important of election integrity,' said Senate Majority Leader David Senjem (R-Rochester).
'This request is needed to protect the Minnesota Legislature's right to pass and place constitutional amendments on the ballot,' said Speaker of the House Kurt Zellers (R-Maple Grove). 'It is unfortunate special interest groups who are opposed to photo ID are using any means necessary to prevent citizens from voting on this important election integrity measure.'
The Legislative Coordinating Commission will meet next week to adopt a formal resolution on the matter.
Speaker Zellers and Majority Leader Senjem were diplomatic. I won't be. The DFL and their special interest allies fight for election integrity in their private balloting. In fact, they fought for election integrity at the DFL State Convention . That means that it's only in public that they fight against election integrity.
The DFL's motto could easily be 'Election integrity for me, not for thee.'
The DFL knows that Minnesota's election system is flawed. They admitted it in their debate on the DFL State Party Constitution. Rick Varko of Senate District 64 rose in opposition to the amendment to allow absentee balloting in their presidential preference ballot. Here's Mr. Varko's motion:
I move to strike Section 10, which allows for the option of absentee ballots in the presidential preference ballot.
I'm against this section for three reasons. One, I don't believe that the Central Committee can come up with any mechanism that will genuinely prevent somebody from printing out a stack of absentee ballots, submitting them and getting them improper votes for a candidate.
This wasn't a motion made by a GOP plant as a prank. He isn't the only person that thinks that somebody could print a "stack of absentee ballots", either. Varko's motion passed overwhelmingly.
That's an implicit statement that they know absentee ballots are prime opportunities for voter fraud. In fact, it isn't that difficult to make the argument that it was an explicit admission that the absentee ballot system is a great opportunity for voter fraud.
The DFL stopped short of saying that the only way to prevent absentee ballot voter fraud was by requiring photo identification. They stopped short of that by not adopting absentee balloting.
Minnesota's election system doesn't have that luxury. Minnesota's election system has an absentee ballot provision.
The League of Women Voters-MN, the ACLU-MN, the Jewish Action Community and Common Cause filed this lawsuit in an attempt to thwart the will of the people. They're attempting to say that the legislature doesn't have the right to do what Minnesota's Constitution provides for it to do.
Voters would be well-advised to remember that the DFL legislators opposed election integrity with their votes but support election integrity when it's an internal DFL matter.
It's time to tell the DFL that their situational support for election integrity isn't acceptable.
Tags: Constitutional Amendment , ACLU-MN , League of Women Voters-MN , Common Cause , DFL State Convention , Absentee Ballots , Election Integrity , Precinct Caucuses , Straw Polls , DFL , Kurt Zellers , Dave Senjem , Photo ID , We The People , MNGOP , Election 2012
Posted Sunday, June 10, 2012 8:20 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 10-Jun-12 12:10 PM
Gary:
You missed the real story here. The real story is that Lori Swanson, Mark Ritchie, and Mark Dayton should all be saying that the voters of the state of Minnesota should have a chance to vote on the issue before any lawsuit takes place.
The fact that they're not or actually giving support to the other side shows that they don't care about the voters of the state of Minnesota.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 10-Jun-12 03:40 PM
Walter, I'd suggest that you re-examine my opening paragraph.
That's where I said that the DFL's special interest allies were attempting "to thwart the will of the people" by not letting them vote on this proposed constitutional amendment.
Comment 3 by walter hanson at 11-Jun-12 03:13 PM
Gary:
The point of my post is that the people responsible are Mark Dayton because he refuses to sign, Mark Ritchie because he claims it's not needed, and Lori Swanson giving them legal cover by not defending it. What you should've wrote, "A collection of DFL special interest groups doing the work for Mark Dayton, Mark Ritchie, and Lori Swanson filed a ..."
When voter ID passes overwhelming in November we need to make sure everyone understands that these three elected state wide officials didn't want it and were using these special interest groups to duck their work.
Walter hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 4 by eric z at 11-Jun-12 04:37 PM
Yawn. Let's just shut up and vote when the time comes?
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 11-Jun-12 04:48 PM
No thanks. I'll highlight the DFL's lying about whether our election systme has significant vulnerabilities.
I've said from the start that voter fraud is real. In public, the DFL has said that Photo ID is "a solution in search of an answer."
When they gathered for the DFL State Convention, DFL delegates said that they worried about voter fraud. In fact, they passed a motion to prevent voter fraud from happening with their presidential straw poll.
Get used to hearing this day after day after day. The DFL lied about voter fraud during the House & Senate floor debates. The DFL lied that voter fraud doesn't exist during their public appearances.
Then video showed up proving that the DFL knows that voter fraud exists.
This is Game. Set. Match. Championship.
Deal with it.
Comment 6 by walter hanson at 12-Jun-12 09:30 AM
Eric:
The reason why you want to shut up and vote is because you want a pile of fraud votes again for the DFL. Be honest when you post.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 7 by Patrick at 13-Jun-12 08:37 PM
Check this out............ photo ID and Social Security number to attend a book signing. Amazing hypocrites these people are. http://visiontoamerica.org/10202/hypocrisy-michelle-obama-requires-photo-id-for-her-book-signings/
Enough with the DoJ's charade
With the House Oversight Committee set to vote on whether Eric Holder is in contempt of Congress , it's time to stop Holder's charade in its tracks. First, here's information on the impending vote:
CBS News has learned the House Oversight Committee will vote next week on whether to hold Attorney General Eric Holder in contempt of Congress. It's the fourth time in 30 years that Congress has launched a contempt action against an executive branch member.
This time, the dispute stems from Holder failing to turn over documents subpoenaed on October 12, 2011 in the Fast and Furious "gunwalking" investigation.
The Justice Department has maintained it has cooperated fully with the congressional investigation, turning over tens of thousands of documents and having Holder testify to Congress on the topic at least eight times.
Full cooperation could've been determined at last week's hearing had Chair Issa asked Gen. Holder pointedly if he'd turned over internal memos that were sent between Lanny Breuer and others at DoJ. If Gen. Holder went with his 'we've cooperated fully, we've turned over thousands of documents' schtick, the next question should've been 'Of the thousands of documents you've turned over, how many were internal memos from Lanny Breuer discussing Operation Fast and Furious'?
People understand that compliance isn't determined by whether 5,000 documents were turned over to the committee. It's determined by whether the specific documents were sent to the committee.
Another thing that should've been done is to recess the hearing momentarily during Holder's testimony. That recess should've then been used to hold a brief press conference outlining the documents that haven't been turned over.
Democrats would surely whine about ambushing Holder. That's the point at which I'd reply that he's had the ability to prevent the ambush by simply complying with the committee's request for specific documents. I'd also reply that if he doesn't like being in the spotlight, he should just follow the law and comply with the committee's request.
Tags: Contempt of Congress , Operation Fast and Furious , Eric Holder , DoJ , Lanny Breuer , Democrats , Investigation , Darrell Issa , GOP
Posted Monday, June 11, 2012 10:19 AM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 11-Jun-12 03:16 PM
Gary:
Part of the problem is that the Democrats interrupt the Republicans trying to ask questions or worse Holder pretending a document didn't apply to fast and furious when it did.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
Comment 2 by eric z at 11-Jun-12 04:34 PM
You should be all over Holder and Obama for their medicinal marijuanna prosecutions. I think the prevailing mood in the nation, surely in the GOP with Ron Paul active, is that it is a States' rights question. Obama promised as much, as candidate Obama in 2008, and it is one more promise he's not kept. No CHANGE in the boog law enforcement.
As to Stuxnet, everybody knew it was sophisticated and now there is Flame. Have you thought, Gary, this could be a disinformation campaign? The stuff might have come from Europe, within range of Iranian missles with the Germans and eastern Europeans having anti-malware expertise (enough to cook some), or from the private sector or a public-private cooperation where the idea is to divert the Iranian thought to only governmental sources, only Isreal and the US.
Disinformation on intelligence issues would not exactly be news, would it? The Gip, and Iran-Contra.
Gov. O'Malley's spin is nauseating
In coming to the aid of President Obama, Gov. Martin O'Malley, (D-MD), repeated the Democrats' mantra about 27 consecutive months of private job growth :
O'Malley came to the president's defense after Mr. Obama said Friday that the private sector is "doing fine." He latter clarified his remarks saying that it is "absolutely clear that the economy is not doing fine," saying that compared to the public sector, which continues to lose jobs, the private sector is increasing jobs.
O'Malley expanded on the president's clarification, telling host Bob Schieffer, "No one can deny that we've had 27 months in a row of private sector job growth. Fact of the matter is, that the public sector continues to be a drag on the economy, because in 16 of the last 18 months we've had public sector job losses."
The question isn't whether the US economy is creating jobs. That's the default position of capitalism. That jobs are being created isn't news. The question worth asking is whether all parts of the private sector are creating jobs.
- Is the manufacturing sector creating jobs? If yes, at what rate are they getting created?
- Is the energy industry creating jobs? If it isn't, what's holding it back?
- Is the tech industry creating jobs? If it isn't, what's preventing it from creating jobs?
- What impact is the EPA having on job creation?
- What negative impact is the NLRB having on job creation?
- What negative impact is Obamacare having on job creation?
- What impact is tax uncertainty having on job creation?
- Why are American corporations sitting on $2,000,000,000,000 in cash rather than investing it?
Creating 100,000 jobs a month isn't something to brag about. It's something to be ashamed about. How many US presidents haven't created private sector jobs? Try zero. Even FDR managed to create jobs during the Great Depression.
President Obama's argument that jobs are being created each month is a lowest common denominator gimmick. It isn't proof that his policies are working. It's proof that the US economy is exceptionally resilient and that capitalism works. Net jobs were created during Jimmy Carter's administration. Inflation and unemployment were high most of the time. Interest rates were 15% or higher. The term misery index was created during the Carter administration.
There isn't an honest person from that time that would argue that President Carter's policies were great economic policies. The fact that jobs got created didn't prove that he knew what he was doing. That's why the American people fired him after a single term, voting in overwhelming numbers and giving Reagan a landslide victory.
The people see that President Obama's policies haven't created prosperity. They've created a pattern of treading water. At a time when people are hurting and need robust job creation, President Obama is highlighting his failed 'more of the same' policies.
That isn't acceptable.
Tags: President Obama , Great Recession , Unemployment , Manufacturing , Energy , Regulations , EPA , NLRB , Jimmy Carter , Misery Index , Interest Rates , Inflation , Price Controls , Democrats , Election 2012
Posted Monday, June 11, 2012 4:39 PM
No comments.
DFL no more
The political party that Hubert Humphrey formed back in the late 1940's doesn't exist anymore. Back then, Humphrey convinced farmers and unions that his fledgling party was their home.
For some time, the DFL really did represent those interests pretty well. Then came the 1970's. That's when the DFL started drifting away from its founding principles.
Nationally, the anti-war movement caused it to drift away from its belief that America is the greatest force for good in the world. Significant-sized parts of the Democratic Party, both nationally and in Minnesota, got the title of being the 'blame America first' crowd that former UN ambassador Jeane Kirkpatrick talked about.
The Sierra Club and other environmentalist organizations caused the DFL to become more of a metrocentric party. That's when the biggest drift from supporting miners and farmers happened.
These days, the DFL is essentially a metrocentric party. Miners' input isn't welcomed in the party. In fact, they've lost their seat at the table to the environmentalists.
Proof of that is supplied by Gov. Dayton's delaying the mineral rights auction for a year. When the Executive Council finally approved the mineral rights auction, an organization tied to Gov. Dayton's first ex-wife announced that they'd do everything possible to prevent PolyMet Mining from becoming reality :
Conservation Minnesota, Friends of the Boundary Waters Wilderness and the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy are targeting the proposed PolyMet mine near Hoyt Lakes and the proposed Twin Metals mine near Ely.
The campaign includes the web site MiningTruth.org, a 40-page report examining mining in detail, a Facebook community, and four billboards along Interstate 35 between the Twin Cities and Duluth to reach summer travelers.
Environmental groups call it sulfide mining because the copper, nickel, gold and other metals are locked up in minerals that contain sulfur and can produce sulfuric acid and other contaminants when exposed to the elements. They fear toxic runoff would threaten Lake Superior and the Boundary Waters Canoe Area. And they say the environmental record of such mining elsewhere is poor.
'These are not our grandfather's iron ore mines,' said Molly Pederson, government affairs director for Conservation Minnesota. 'This is a completely different kind of mining.'
The unmistakable message to mining unions is that their industry isn't welcome in the DFL anymore.
Environmentalists 1, unions 0.
Sens. Franken and Klobuchar told the unions that they weren't welcome when they voted to keep construction unions unemployed. That happened when they voted to prevent the Keystone XL Pipeline from becoming reality. That's unforgivable considering the fact that unemployment in the construction industry is 14.7% nationally.
Environmentalists 2, unions still nothing.
When Hubert Humphrey started the DFL, public employee unions didn't exist. Today, they've achieved sacred cow status. Whatever Tom Dooher, Javier Morillo-Alicea and Eliot Seide says they want, Gov. Dayton and the legislature do without question or hesitation.
The DFL is so endebted to these unions that Gov. Dayton signed an unconstitutional executive order in an attempt to unionize child care small businesses.
It's time that the DFL admitted that it isn't interested in supporting the Steelworkers Union or the United Mineworkers. Jim Oberstar's vote for Cap and Trade was seen by the mineworkers rank-and-file as a vote to destroy the mining industry in Minnesota.
Similarly, Collin Peterson's vote for Cap and Trade was potentially damaging to farmers. Throughout that fight, Rep. Peterson insisted that he wouldn't hold hearings on Cap and Trade. Then Queen Nancy came calling for his vote, at which point his vote flipped. That's when Rep. Peterson threw farmers under the bus.
Today, the Democrat-Farmer-Laborer Party doesn't exist. It's transitioned into the Democrat-Public Employee Unions-Environmentalist Party.
Tags: Hubert Humphrey , Alida Messinger , Militant Environmentalists , Public Employee Unions , Mark Dayton , Amy Klobuchar , Al Franken , DFL
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012 7:49 AM
Comment 1 by Bob J. at 12-Jun-12 12:33 PM
Want to make a liberal's blood pressure spray out his ears? Tell him (and you'd be right) that today both Hubert Humphrey and John F. Kennedy would be Republicans.
Comment 2 by eric z. at 13-Jun-12 06:46 AM
The sky is falling for the DFL.
But they pay their bills on time.
Comment 3 by Gary Gross at 13-Jun-12 07:23 AM
But they pay their bills on time.No they don't. Alida pays their bills on time. Then she tells them what to believe & how to vote.
How does it feel to have 1 person tell the party what to believe?
Comment 4 by J. Ewing at 13-Jun-12 09:02 AM
"How does it feel to have 1 person tell the party what to believe?"
isn't that the way it has always been in the Democrat party?
Comment 5 by Gary Gross at 13-Jun-12 09:55 AM
Not hardly, Jerry. That's how it's been the last 10 years but that isn't how it was during the Clinton years.
DFL's dirty deeds done dirt cheap?
This morning, a frequent reader of this blog informed me that the DFL might be attempting to play some dirty tricks in northern Minnesota.
First, the Republican-endorsed candidate for HD-6B is Jesse Colangelo. He's being challenged in the GOP primary by Dan Darbo. According to this loyal reader, Darbo isn't registered with Minnesota's Campaign Finance Disclosure Board. Also, Republicans in the district haven't heard of Darbo. Finally, according to GOP records, he's never attended a GOP precinct caucus.
Based on this information, it sounds like the DFL is running a DFL candidate in the GOP primary to defeat the GOP-endorsed candidate before the general election.
That isn't the only hijinks the DFL is playing in the district. Jason Metsa is the field coordinator for the North East Area Labor Council, aka NEALC. He's been endorsed by Joe Begich, the DFL kingmaker on the Range as the DFL candidate for the DFL in HD-6B.
What's exceptionally slimy about that is that NEALC is working with CREDO, another of the progressives' astroturf organizations. CREDO bought the list with the names of every union worker in Metsa's district. It's a safe bet that Metsa's opponents in the HD-6B DFL primary don't have that list.
Isn't it interesting that the DFL's heavy hitters are doing everything possible to make sure their candidate gets a free ride in the DFL primary and in the general election.
This is the perfect picture for illustrating DFL corruption. The reality is that the DFL trusts all-powerful precinct bosses and back-room dealmaking to pick their candidates.
Tags: Jesse Colangelo , GOP , Dan Darbo , Corruption , Jason Metsa , NEALC , CREDO , Joe Begich , IRRRB , SuperPACs , DFL , Primaries
Posted Tuesday, June 12, 2012 9:34 PM
Comment 1 by eric z. at 13-Jun-12 06:50 AM
Where is district HD-6B? What about Mary Kiffmeyer's GOP opponent? That's news, in your Highway 10 corridor neighborhood. Any word on that race?
Comment 2 by Gary Gross at 13-Jun-12 07:25 AM
6B is by Duluth.
Kiffmeyer has a primary opponent? Cool. First, that won't be a race. Second, if she has a primary opponent, there's a name for that opponent: ROADKILL.
Comment 3 by Bob J. at 13-Jun-12 11:24 AM
6B is Hermantown, Mary Murphy's district. She's been there since the Earth cooled.
Another day, another swing state turns red
It was months ago that people assumed, rightly, that President Obama didn't stand a chance of winning Indiana's electoral votes. It wasn't that long ago that honest pundits wrote North Carolina off for President Obama. Considering the fact that President Obama won 338 electoral votes in 2008, those states weren't considered critical to his path to 270.
Suddenly, President Obama can't say it isn't a big deal. Scott Rasmussen's latest polling shows Mitt Romney with a 3-point lead in Wisconsin:
Mitt Romney now leads President Obama for the first time in Wisconsin where the president's support has fallen to its lowest level to date.
The latest Rasmussen Reports statewide telephone survey of Likely Voters shows Romney with 47% of the vote to Obama's 44%. Five percent (5%) prefer some other candidate, and four percent (4%) are undecided.
It isn't a big deal that Mitt's got a 3 point lead. Presidents can make that up with 5 months to go. There are 2 things that are big deals. First, it's a big deal that President Obama got 44% of the vote in this poll. That's a difficult position for him to be in.
The other thing that should worry people in President Obama's campaign is the fact that only 4% of voters are undecided. That means President Obama has to take votes from Mitt Romney to win the state. That's a difficult task, especially for incumbents.
Ed's post talks about the possibility of breaking the "Blue Wall":
Earlier today , National Journal's Josh Kraushaar warned that Mitt Romney was poised to breach the Blue Wall: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. A new Rasmussen poll of likely voters in Wisconsin corroborates Kraushaar's analysis.
When the anti-Walker protests started in 2011, the left gushed that the Republicans' enthusiasm gap had disappeared. While it's true that it disappeared, that didn't put Democrats and Republicans on equal footing.
When footage rolled in showing the unions' thug tactics, a different problem emerged for the Democrats. People were disgusted with the unions' behavior. When Katherine Windels sent death threats to legislators , people were disgusted:
Katherine R. Windels of Cross Plains was named in a criminal complaint filed in Dane County Criminal Court.
According to the criminal complaint, Windels allegedly sent an email threat to State Sen. Robert Cowles (R-Green Bay) March 9. Later that evening, she allegedly sent another email to 15 Republican legislators, including Senate Majority Leader Scott Fitzgerald (R-Juneau).
The subject line of the second email was: 'Atten: Death Threat!!!! Bomb!!!' In that email, she purportedly wrote, 'Please put your things in order because you will be killed and your families will also be killed due to your actions in the last 8 weeks.'
'I hope you have a good time in hell,' she allegedly wrote in the lengthy email in which she purportedly listed scenarios in which the legislators and their families would die, including bombings and by 'putting a nice little bullet in your head.'
After that, AFSCME thugs tried threats and intimidation :
Members of Wisconsin State Employees Union, AFSCME Council 24, have begun circulating letters to businesses in southeast Wisconsin, asking them to support workers' rights by putting up a sign in their windows.
If businesses fail to comply, the letter says, 'Failure to do so will leave us no choice but (to) do a public boycott of your business. And sorry, neutral means 'no' to those who work for the largest employer in the area and are union members.'
If President Obama wants to lash out at anyone for his fall in Wisconsin, he should blame AFSCME's thugs for it.
Tags: President Obama , Blue Wall , Wisconsin , Michigan , Pennsylvania , Katherine Windels , Death Threats , Intimidation , AFSCME , Thug Tactics , Democrats , Scott Walker , Mitt Romney , GOP , Polling , Election 2012
Posted Wednesday, June 13, 2012 2:50 PM
Comment 1 by walter hanson at 13-Jun-12 07:37 PM
The beginning of large Romney landslide win is forming. This will be the first of many states everyone counted in Obama's camp because they were in the Gore, Kerry, Clinton, and Mike D camp.
Minnesota Republican first time since 1972 looks possible.
Walter Hanson
Minneapolis, MN
