Liberal in the Land of Conservative

I will be pushing for health care reforms, mental health reforms, and fixing Green Acres. I will of course be working on the budget and performing duties associated with my new role as Assistant Majority leader.

If we address health care costs, we will then be able to do a much better job funding education as we would have more budget flexibility. Right now, health care costs are consuming our budget, preventing us from addressing other very important issues.

According to reports, Obama is considering Reps. Collin Peterson (D-Minn.) and Stephanie Herseth Sandlin (D-S.D.) for the USDA post. His transition team declined to comment on Cabinet speculation.

Both members have agriculture experience, but they also come from GOP-leaning districts.

Peterson’s rural western Minnesota district has trended red in recent years and it went for President Bush in both the 2000 and 2004 elections. It took Peterson four attempts before he was finally elected in 1990. With a large wheat-farming industry in his district, he moved quickly up the ladder of the House Agriculture Committee and became its chairman in the Democratic takeover.

However, nothing is guaranteed in the 7th, where voters are far more likely to split their tickets than the typical Minnesotan. Volatility is a measure of variation across races, and precincts with high volatility are those that see a lot of ticket-splitters.

Maps courtesy of the Star Tribune website.

As your representative, I pledge to you that I will work tirelessly to ensure that all of our children have the opportunity to succeed. It’s called protecting what we have.

Together we can rebuild this State we call home!

Together we can accomplish the great things that were once handed down to us by people like my parents and yours.

Together we can protect the investment and legacy that our forefathers worked so hard to hand down to us.

"It is rare to see a Republican receive 22,000+votes in this district," Krueger said. "We are very grateful for that. However to those who gave their precious votes to the write-in campaign, we needed you. United we stand. Divided we fall. We Fell."

Def: A modern myth. A frightening untrue story in which the storyteller insists is true, but has no evidence to back up.

a legend that is hard to prove is true. or, it can be easy to prove it false.

The Nov. 12 Times news report on "Students' votes made difference for levy" should be an eye-opener for property owners.

We have now reached a point in society where the direct beneficiaries of a nonsocietal tax increase were responsible for its passing.

The unfortunate problem with this is that the vote was self-serving and passed by voters who have little or no stake in paying for it, i.e. students vs. property owners.

We are also reaching a point in tax collection and spending in general whereby it's estimated many people do not pay income taxes at all.

If they should join together, they could possibly vote themselves any kind of benefits they wanted, to be paid for by the people who do pay taxes.

Perhaps it's time to reconsider who can vote for these issues.

If the levy is against property, i.e. property taxes, maybe only those who own property should have a right to vote for it.

I don't know what to do about the rest of the self-serving benefits that are voted on, but I do think something should be considered.

Now that we have a president-elect who has spent his whole life registering voters (and has succeeded beyond all expectations), self-serving people have a model to work with.

Don't be surprised if you see more of this kind of action.

I think something has to change.

The "Minnesota Miracle" has a key problem in my opinion. First, and most important, the Minnesota Miracle changes the multipliers for the rural regional centers so that (as it currently stands) the disparity between a rural and metro schools create a distinct funding disadvantage for non-metro schools.

As one should beware of Greeks bearing gifts (unless it’s Michael Dukakis trying to look martial astride an M-1), conservatives should beware of the approval of the agenda media.

That damn Jeff Rosenberg at Twin Cities Daily Liberal wants to keep Joe Lieberman in the caucus and even in his committee chairmanship rather than string him up by his toes then waterboard him like the rest of the liberal netroots. What is wrong with him? The answer: Obviously a conservative spy and probably Michael Brodkorb in disguise!

The shocker of the day, Minnesota Majority (a tool of former Secretary of State turned Mark Olson slayer, Mary Kiffmeyer) is upset about election secrurity.

They are still harping on EFCA over at True North while also stirring the fear about the re-emergence of the Fairness Doctrine (despite ZERO bills being introduced in the past two years to reinstate the doctrine). Be AFRAID, people! Be very very AFRAID...

And the good folks over at Grizzly Groundswell (the ones who thought it would be a great idea to write in Mark Olson for both the Senate 16 seat AND the House 16B seat) have discovered the silver bullet. The last bit of evidence that debunks anthropogenic climate change. You have to love denial! It is a powerful tool...

The approach will be two fold: First, a best practice study and then a funding formula that reflects State and Federal responsibility for unfunded mandates meeting the needs of all our students. I will co-author, lobby, and give support to this effort. I was proud to have carried a bill for special education but it was small step forward we need a continue our quest fair and adequate funding.

Goals for our Saint Cloud team:

We need to have a successful follow up year for bonding in 2010 and keep the our projects going: Airport Expansion, Civic Center, Health Partners Building Tech College, New Science Building at SCSU, and our Central Minnesota Parks and Trails projects.

A significant challenge to our Saint Cloud Team is to find common ground and work as a team for fair and adequate school funding to improve public education and prevent the use of property tax increases.

We will also need team efforts to secure a fair disbursement of state and federal dollars in transportation funding for Central Minnesota.

As a past St. Cloud Park Director, I have years of experience dealing with budget preparation and controls. A primary budget reduction strategy was to lead by example; that is, reductions need to be made on an individual basis and on an administrative level. We need to demonstrate personal willingness to be part of any budget reduction.

I will lobby for a balance between revenues and spending. I'm hopeful we will be dealing with a reduced deficit projection.

In 2008 we used a variety of tools to solve the budget deficit: spending reductions, closing corporate loopholes and use of budget reserves. I would address a 2009 budget deficit in a similar way. I would also work to protect core services and the most vulnerable.

Republicans need to be farsighted on such issues as energy, health care and education, and broaden their appeal to working-class families and small-business owners, he said.

According to an analysis by the Blue-Green Alliance and the Renewable Energy Policy Project, Minnesota could develop about 18,400 new “green” jobs in manufacturing, construction, management, maintenance and financing of wind, biomass, geothermal and solar power projects. According to the analysis, Stearns County’s share of this growth could be around 1,200 jobs.

The analysis points out that Minnesota already has 450 firms that “are currently active in the industrial sectors that could provide the component parts” to reduce emissions by 15 percent worldwide.

Here in Minnesota, we’re ahead of much of the country when it comes to developing the kind of energy standard that can create these new jobs. Last year’s approval of a standard that will require utility companies to have 25 percent of their energy mix come from renewable sources by 2020 was a triumph of bipartisanship.

The Legislature also ordered the Department of Employment and Economic Development (DEED) to develop a strategy to maximize the economic benefit to citizens from the renewable-energy standard. Since then, DEED has produced promotional materials and traveled to trade shows to educate potential manufacturers and investors in renewable energy.

Greater energy independence, more jobs, a cleaner environment and bipartisan support—it’s hard to argue with benefits like that. Maybe renewable energy won’t solve all of our state’s economic troubles, but it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

As I said, anyone who drinks the green kool aid does not deserve to lead the conservative movement or the Republican party.

I crown both Newt Gingrich and Tim Pawlenty Lunacrats!

Where as, they believe in lunatic the policies of Al Gore that not only have science and common sense debunked, but any one with a functioning brainstem whose career doesn’t rely on public ignorance, can spot how the Earth has seen cooler temperatures this year and is forecast for 30 years of cooler temperatures. Be it resolved that neither of them ascend to any official leadership position of the free market oriented Republican party or conservative movement.