Upstaging Osama

Kerry Belittles U.S. Troops

"You know education, if you make the most of it, you study hard, you do your homework and you make an effort to be smart, you can do well. And if you don't, you get stuck in Iraq."

-- John Kerry

Over thirty years ago, John Kerry accused his fellow soldiers still in combat in Vietnam of wantonly murdering and raping civilians and burning their villages.

A few months ago, John Kerry said American troops in Iraq were "terrorizing" women and children in the dead of night.

Now he says the troops in Iraq ended up there because they are ignorant and uneducated.

At least Kerry is consistent: he besmirches and belittles American troops no matter the conflict in which they are involved. Now even Democrats are distancing themselves from the Massachusetts senator since he managed to expose their thoughts and feelings for our troops to the whole nation and the world.

It will be hard for Osama bin Laden and Ayman Al-Zawahiri to top that one.

Dear Values Voter

A recent letter to the Rochester Post-Bulletin editor challenged "values voters," code words for evangelical Christians, to vote Democrat "for a change." According to the author, the alleged failings of the Republican party swing from the vapid charge that evangelicals have been "played for saps" to the ludicrous and dismissive assertion that abortion, flag burning and school prayer are "emotional" issues.

Evangelicals value innocent life, are deeply patriotic and believe the Constitution gives them the right to exercise their freedom of religion in the public arena. Republicans are the party which embraces those values and therefore it's natural that values voters should gravitate to the Party of Lincoln.

Democrats, on the other hand, defend abortion-on-demand including the gruesome procedure known as partial-birth abortion. They also promote embryonic stem cell research, which evangelicals object to on moral and ethical grounds. It is difficult for me to determine exactly how patriotic Democrats are since I hear more criticism of than either praise or appreciation for America from their camp. Democrats also come across as opposed to religious expression, particularly the Christian brand. The Boy Scouts seem to be a favorite whipping boy of theirs and their surrogates in the misnamed American Civil Liberties Union.

So, Mr. Michael Fields, the author of the letter, should forgive us value voter "saps" if we continue to vote for the candidates and party which acknowledges, honors, respects and promotes the civic and faith values we hold so dear. We will leave the getting mad and getting even to Mr. Fields and his party.

Rochester School Board Election

The League of Women Voters promoted a candidate forum among the Minnesota House and Senate Candidates in the area on November 25 at the Heintz Center.

During a break between debates in the commons area, I decided to make my way to the other room where debates were being conducted when I heard someone call may name. It was DFL activist and school board candidate Gary Mullen-Schultz. He introduced himself and proceeded to tell me that he knew I didn't like him very much. You see, we had sparred online regarding the left-leaning content of his columns when he used write to the Rochester Post-Bulletin. Apparently liberals take dissent as a personal affront, not as honest disagreement. It would seem that they don't think their viewpoint should be challenged. They are "right," after all.

I tried to tell Mr. Mullen-Schultz that my disagreement with him was ideological, not personal. He wouldn't have it. He said I had been "rude" to him online. I replied I could have said the same about him but wouldn't. Then I excused myself and walked away.

Mullen-Schultz, along with Sandra Soltis, must not be elected to the school board. They are a threat to taxes and education. They are the latest products of a certain "social concerns committee" in town. They are the same folks who gave us Sheila Kiscaden, Ann Lynch and Kim Norton. DFL activists see the school board as nothing more than a stepping stone for their own to be elected to higher office.

Soltis is a professional bureaucrat. She promotes her experience in education administration as an asset but it is actually detrimental. If elected, she will become an advocate of the interests of the bureaucracy not the students. Moreover, she denies that she is a product of the "social concerns committee" as per a conversation that we had on the phone about a month ago.

Parenthetically, I know very little about Larry Gifford, but his brochure has enough mispelled words in it to tell me that perhaps he should go back to school instead of joining the school board.

Let's reelect Fred Daly and elect Dan O'Neil and Diane Hermann-Blakley to the school board so as to keep it from becoming a lab for the failed liberal ideas of the DFL.

Daly is a decent man who has been a champion of the interests of fiscally conservative residents of the Rochester school district.

I have interviewed Dan O'Neil and found him to be honest and straightforward in his answers. He supports choice schools, particularly core knowledge. One of his children attends Washington Elementary, where two of my children are students as well.

Diane Hermann-Blakley is a small business owner who has the business common sense the current school board sorely lacks.

Booted!

Carla Nelson, Dave Senjem and Rich Decker, along with a few of their Republican supporters were uncerimoniously booted from the Somali Indoctrination Event put out by the DFL this afternoon. The media was present, which Tina Liebling was not pleased with. My recommendation: write the P-B and ask them how fair is it that the DFL wants to deceive the Somali residents of Rochester by billing an event as meet-the-candidates and then only having DFLers and their ideas showcased. Send your POLITE and INQUISITIVE emails to: letters@postbulletin.com, furst@postbulletin.com, sellnow@postbulletin.com, or losness@postbulletin.com.

Somali Voter Indoctrination Event

I called Abdi and asked him which candidates are going to be present at the "education" event and he told me that no candidates were going to be present. I said that the brochure stated that candidates would be present and asked if Republican candidates had been invited. He said it was not an event for candidates and that it was open to anyone who wants to attend. Please note that the "event" is sponsored by the Olmsted County DFL. Abdi invited me to attend and I plan to be there.

It should be interesting.

BANKRUPT!

The blogosphere is abuzz with the news that the liberal talk radio network Air America will be filing for bankruptcy on Friday. I say, "Good riddance!" It seems like unfunny comedian and Air America star Al Franken's move back to Minnesota, supposedly to explore a U.S. Senate run in 2008, had more to do with the inevitable demise of the Bush-hating liberal radio network.

DWD: Driving While Deaf

You've already heard the story. First Congressional District challenger Tim Walz was arrested on suspicion of driving under the influence in 1996 in Nebraska shortly before he moved to Mankato. The high school teacher and coach failed a field sobriety test after the arresting officer detected the smell of alcohol in Walz's breath and person. Walz failed both a field sobriety test and preliminary breath test.

In some twisted plea deal, Walz's blood alcohol test was suppressed in court, he pleaded guilty to reckless driving and got away with paying a $200 fine.

Walz's camp blames the trooper ("he wouldn't speak up") and the DFL candidate's deafness, due to his artillery soldier's training, at the time

So, are Walz’s people claiming he was arrested for DWD (Driving While Deaf)?

Was Walz too drunk to tell the trooper that he had a hearing impairment?

I hear Walz was driving a 1993 Mazda at the time and that he bought a pricey Mercedes Benz, which he may still own, in 2000. Nevertheless, he drives an E85-fueled American-made vehicle now that he is campaigning for office to go along with his fake "union man" persona. Hypocrisy, anyone?

Why impugn the trooper? All he did was arrest someone who was speeding (i.e. going 96 mph when the posted speed limit was 55) smelled of alcohol and failed a sobriety test.

Why suppress the results of the sobriety test in court if he was not really drunk?

Why move from Nebraska to Minnesota after the arrest? If he was innocent, as he claims, why run away?

So many questions, so many evasive answers from the Walz camp.

Follow the Money

It looks like Ms. Amy "Let's End Give-Aways to Big Oil" Klobuchar has been secretly reaping the profits that she so self-righteously condemns. Klobuchar's mutual fund portfolio is replete with evil oil company stocks. ExxonMobile seems to be a favorite of Klobuchar's. How could she? Does she not remember the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill in Prince William Sound, Alaska? Does she not realize that those Machiavellian Big Oil executives are price gouging the American driver? Is she not ashamed to take their "blood money" so greedily?

Check out the Minnesota Democrats Exposed site for details and discussion of Klobuchar's hypocrisy.

Blowing Smoke

Just in case you missed him, Minnesota Attorney General Mike Hatch was in town again yesterday. He comes to Rochester almost as often as Governor Tim Pawlenty these days. Hatch and Judi Dutcher, his running mate, went to the University Center Rochester to smear Pawlenty and avoid saying that they want to raise taxes to solve any and all "crises."

Hatch's talk could have been summarized in one sentence, if he were not so in love with the sound of his own voice: Governor Tim Pawlenty is single-handedly responsible for the 50% tuition increase in higher education the last 4 years.

Not health care for university employees.
Not maintenance and construction costs.
Not waste and excess.
But Tim Pawlenty.

Matt Stolle's P-B coverage mentioned that Hatch addressed a group of 35 students, but it should be noted that most, if not all of them, were there to take notes for an "assignment" from their English teacher. It was a convenient, though disingenuous, way to add warm bodies and young faces to an audience which would otherwise be reduced to a couple of reporters and the aides who follow Hatch from photo op to photo op.

Honest Amy

The following is the text of an email Chris Miksanek sent to 1st Ward Councilwoman Amy Blenker in response to a "personal" note left at his door. It is published here with his permission.

Dear Amy,

An hour ago, you apparently rang my doorbell. I didn't want to be bothered, so I looked through the blinds until "you" left; and left behind a leaflet stating that you were sorry you missed me. In person, you are apparently a 30-ish man with a receding hairline. Or maybe that was one of your campaign workers leaving behind your personalized material? Naaa .. you wouldn't be dishonest about something like that, would you? Say it ain't so! Tell me that you're more honest than that.

Chris Miksanek

Amy's "personal" note says "Sorry I missed you" (emphasis mine), implying that she herself had left the note. Very misleading indeed and even more egregious than the supposed "re-elect" wordage of Carla Nelson's signs.

Blenker's voice has been anything but independent. She votes the party line: with the bureaucracy and for tax increases. "Balancing our priorities" means absolutely nothing, unless she believes that funding the construction of yet another ice hockey arena is a "priority." Finally, there is nothing honest about pretending that you stopped by someone else's house, didn't find them home, but was thoughtful enough to leave a personal note.

The one "accomplishment" of Amy's that really stands out to me was her vote to raise city taxes the week before Christmas last year. Independent indeed.

Two Peas in a Pod

Fade to Red Ink

Vote Gary Mullen-Schultz for Rochester District School Board: because your local property taxes aren't high enough.

Fade to red (ink).

Mr. Mullen-Schultz's biography fails to mention that he is a protégé of former Rochester School Board Chair and current DFL Minnesota House District 29B candidate Kim "The Tax Lady" Norton. Apparently he is also too modest to brag about his credentials as a Rochester Post-Bulletin columnist as well as a reliable DFL mouthpiece. Mere oversights, I'm sure.

You will remember that Ms. Norton and most (*) of her cohorts, including Senate District 30 DFL candidate Ann Lynch, voted to increase property taxes the week before Christmas 2005. Ho ho ho.

(*) School board member Fred Daly was the lone noble dissenting vote.

Do not be fooled by Mr. Mullen-Schultz's rhetorical sleights of hand. The following come from his campaign website and are accompanied by color commentary.

"... there are no silver bullets that will both suddenly improve our schools and lower our taxes."

So, when if it comes down to a choice, what will Mr. Mullen-Schultz's be? We know that, to liberals, "improving" our schools means raising property taxes and dumping even more money in said schools. As a liberal himself, I rather doubt that Mr. Mullen-Schultz will even consider lowering property taxes. It's not in the liberal nature to let working people keep their own money. Seniors on fixed incomes and small business owners be damned.

"I believe we should take a hard look at introducing Chinese and Arabic languages. To facilitate this, we must carefully examine the need for other language offerings, such as German and French, to decide what level of funding they deserve."

Mr. Mullen-Schultz would probably find it jingoistic, but what about teaching our children how to write and speak the English language properly? Walk around any public school cafeteria or just stand in the hallway and you will realize that if kids are murdering their native tongue so callously, imagine what they will do to Chinese, Arabic, German and French.

"It is important to have varied voices on the board so that a multitude of thoughts and opinions are heard."

With the exception of Fred Daly's thoughts and opinions, of course. A genuine appreciation for a diversity of thoughts and opinions is not exactly a liberal forte.

"I will work to cultivate such an atmosphere, with the goal of creating the best possible school district with a minimum of public funding. "

A "minimum" of public funding.

Sure.

Somehow I doubt that the school district's taxpayers share Mr. Mullen-Schultz's definition of "minimum public funding."

Liberal democrats have adopted the language of fiscal responsibility with pathological fervor. They will not vote in a fiscally responsible way, but darn it if they haven't mastered the rhetoric.

The truth is that the Olmsted County DFL now sees the Rochester School Board as a primary stepping stone to showcase and eventually propel liberal candidates to higher office. The aforementioned Norton and Lynch, are prime examples.

Do not be fooled. The DFL is grooming Gary Mullen-Schultz for higher office. Warn your friends against voting for Mr. Mullen-Schultz or any other liberal wolf in pseudo-fiscally conservative sheep's clothing.

Also, if you live in either House Distric 29B or Senate District 30, remind your friends and neighbors of that cold and dark night the week before Christmas when Norton and Lynch raised our property taxes. Urge voters not to reward their fiscal misdeed by electing them to higher office. Besides, if they raised your taxes here at home, what would keep them from doing so again in St. Paul?

The Lady Doth Protest Too Much, Methinks

For all the talk that Republicans are about to experience electoral defeat at all levels of government, liberals don't seem all that confident they will indeed sweep the November elections.

I say that because of the latest campaign controversy that seems to have gripped southeastern Minnesota. DFL Rep. Tina Liebling's liberal minions are fit to be tied over "Re-elect Carla Nelson" campaign signs. Their underwear is currently tied into tiny little painful knots as they argue Nelson's signs are meant to imply she is the current state representative. According to their delusional argument, Nelson is pretending to be the incumbent in order to deceive District 30A voters into "re-electing" her. Such a wascally Republican.

How dumb do DFLers think District 30A voters are? In the current climate, what advantage is there to falsely claim to be an incumbent anything?

Liebling has cast aspersions on Nelson's honesty, of course, which in itself is a cleverly dishonest way to deflect attention from the freshman DFL representative's mediocre record in the legislature.

Is the term "re-elect" the exclusive property of an incumbent or is someone who at one time held the office entitled to use the term in order to reclaim it? Does it matter?

There is no anti-incumbency talk from DFL activists regarding the Minnesota House races in Districts 27B, 30A and 30B since their candidates are the incumbents. Their anti-incumbency bravado, vitriol and slander are reserved for First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht.

Instead of quibbling over the meaning of the term "re-elect," Tina Liebling and her supporters should explain why she should be re-elected when the first government shutdown in Minnesota history happened on her watch, why she consistently votes for taxes increases and why she is lax regarding the enforcement of our immigration laws.

Embracing Insanity

Howard Dean piqued way too soon.

Had the 2004 Iowa Democratic caucuses been held yesterday, Dean would have been well on his way to clinching the Democratic Party nomination for President of the United States.

If anyone had any doubts that the liberal Democratic Party is in the process of being taken over by its radical wing, the results of yesterday's primary in Connecticut should remove them once and for all.

Political Cynicism

"Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies."

-- Groucho Marx

Ink by the Barrel

I attended a conference a few weeks ago where one of the speakers advised political candidates not to pick a fight with someone who buys ink by the barrel. The topic was "Media Relations," as you may have guessed. Well, I don't believe that the media are above criticism, no matter how much ink they can afford to buy. So here it goes.

Jay Johnson's latest anti-Republican editorial tirade ("Attacks feed voter apathy," August 8, 2006) serves a dual purpose; (1) raise School Board member and DFL Senate District 30 candidate Ann Lynch's unimpressive profile and (2) paint Republicans as a whole with the broad brush of "less-than-admirable side of human behavior."

Mr. Johnson's springboard was an online comment by Duane Quam in which the Olmsted County Republican Party Co-chair chides Lynch for considering her School Board experience an asset in her campaign for the Minnesota senate. Mr. Quam is a critic of the fiscal priorities of the School Board and believes that Lynch is very much a part of the problem, which raises questions as to her qualifications for higher office.

The School Board's "excellent bond rating" and " high marks in overall effectiveness," which Mr. Johnson's editorial touts, were built on the backs of senior citizens on fixed incomes and small business owners. The Board's last property tax increase was enacted the week before Christmas last year. Ho ho ho! I should refrain from making any Ann "Grynch" jokes.

The P-B editorial took Mr. Quam to task for "hit-and-run tactics" and "scorched-earth politics." Never mind that leftist bloggers hiding under the anonimity of monikers such as "coezee" and "211094" routinely use invective, name-calling and even vulgarities in the same forums as Mr. Quam but with impunity.

Mr. Johnson admits that Mr. Quam subsequently sent the P-B an email that had "considerable detail" meant to back up his online comments. The P-B editorial page writer never lists those details, however. The editorial goes on to praise School Board actions and imply that Lynch is responsible for their success.

It looks like the P-B has a dog in this electoral fight.

Run, Kerry, Run!

John "The Come Back Kid" Kerry dazzles an Iowa "crowd" and decides that the masses really want him to run for President of the United States once again.

Trivializing Illegal Immigration

As a LEGAL immigrant and naturalized American citizen who has filled every form, met every deadline and abided by every rule in order to comply with American immigration laws, I resent the implication from the open borders crowd that I am a racist for wanting the laws to be enforced.

When trying to detract from the term "illegal," open border types often point out to what they consider the inconsistency between Canadian and Mexican border enforcement. The implication is that America discriminates against "brown people." Liberals do so love to play the race card.

However, the Canadian government is not publishing literature to both encourage and help their native population cross the border into the United States "safely," Mexico is.

Canada is not threatening to sue the American government in OUR courts if we send the National Guard to our own borders in order to stem the tide of ILLEGAL immigration, Mexico is.

Canada is not outsourcing its jobs and social services to the United States, Mexico is.

Liberals are obviously ignorant of how strict Mexico's immigration laws are. The Mexican government apparently does not understand the absolute poverty some of the Honduran and Guatemalan immigrants crossing its southern border face in their own country.

Doesn't the Mexican government care where their illegal immigrants' next meal is coming from or how they will get medical care for their sick children? Why is the southern border of Mexico so tightly controlled when the northern one is a sieve? Mexico should be more tolerant of "undocumented" immigrants but they can't get past the word.

Kill Gil

Eight out of twelve letters to the editor and three out of four Rochester Post-Bulletin editorials discussing First District Congressman Gil Gutknecht's performance, positions and statements over the last 60 days have had a negative tone. The letters to the editor are patently orchestrated. The editorials are more disturbing. Perhaps the Post-Bulletin should register as a 527.

Liberals Find God at Guantanamo Bay

Jay Johnson has found God.Sort of.

The Rochester Post-Bulletin editorial writer believes that the Creator has endowed islamofascist terrorists in U.S. custody at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and elsewhere with certain unalienable rights ("God-given rights for all?," Wednesday, July 19, 2006).

It's funny how God is often sidelined in political discussions, unless the Good Lord can somehow be shown to favor the liberal side of an argument.

Whereas Americans and other free peoples pursue happiness through hard work, self-sacrifice, involvement in and support of their duly formed governments, uncivilized and murderous peoples such as the terrorists incarcerated at Guantanamo Bay get their jollies from broadcasting decapitations, blowing up car bombs at street markets and committing other innumerable senseless acts of slaughter.

But Mr. Johnson argues that we "must" protect "the God-given rights of people who might have sought to do us harm." Might? "Harm?" He makes it sound like terrorists have been plotting to toilet paper our homes, place whoopee cushions on our chairs just as we are about to sit down or give Americans a collective wedgie. That bin Laden. What a prankster! The awful truth Mr. Johnson and most liberals refuse to face is that, given a chance, Gitmo detainees would murder our families and us where we stand.

Conferring constitutional rights on fanatical mass murderers, as Mr. Johnson argues we "must," will do nothing but embolden America's enemies in their pursuit of democracy's demise. They will plot, attempt and execute acts of unthinkable carnage secure in the knowledge that, whether their plans are foiled or they are apprehended after the fact, they will be afforded every protection and right guaranteed by the principles, documents and institutions they have sworn to eradicate in the bloodiest possible manner. If liberals like Mr. Johnson have their way, the very rights and freedoms terrorists loath would be showered upon the ones now imprisoned and others we are sure to capture in the future.

The United States Supreme Court has given Congress a unique opportunity to "limit" the so-called rights of sworn enemies of the United States of America. It concerns me that the likes of Ted Kennedy (D-MA), Dennis Kucinich (D-OH) and Dick Durbin (D-ILL) will have a say in the matter. Preserving our system of government requires defending it from real threats posed by the likes of Guantanamo Bay terrorist detainees.

In his Gettysburg Address, one of the most brilliant speeches ever written, Abraham Lincoln states that America's Founding Fathers established a nation "conceived in Liberty, and dedicated to the proposition that all men are created equal." Mr. Johnson's Guantanamo Bay friends, on the other hand, have dedicated themselves to the proposition that such a nation and form of government SHALL "perish from the earth."

The Declaration of Independence states,

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable rights, that among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. That to secure these rights, governments are instituted among men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed.

Terrorists do not believe they are equal to "infidels." And they certainly reject the idea that power requires consent of the governed - the major tenet of a democratic government.

The Preamble of our, not the terrorists', Constitution reads,

We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.

When has al-Qaida, or Hamas and Hezbollah for that matter, ever committed to unity, justice or tranquility? What document have terrorists produced that binds them to the promotion of the good of their people and promises to perpetuate freedom?

I welcome Mr. Johnson's desire to make this an election issue. The referendum question to be answered is as follows. Whose rights are we to preserve, our truly God-given rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness or the terrorists' "rights" to take them away?