Almost akin to a stopped clock... The NYT got it right...

...with regard to the current Minnesota legislative session. According to this article (all emphases mine): (username netfree4ever, password: bugmenot)

Professor Jacobs said the liberal wing of the Democratic Party, frustrated by years of cuts to social programs that have long defined Minnesota’s progressive reputation, went too far too fast after taking control of the House of Representatives last fall, scaring moderate Republicans back into party unity, and bruising moderate Democrats crucial to the majority’s success.

“The Democrats won a majority but they didn’t win a liberal Democratic majority,” he said. “They misread the election.”

And the Democrats’ legislative plans for more taxes and spending in turn appear to have bolstered the fortunes of Gov. Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who has brought his party charging back to the political right — perhaps to fuel ambitions for national office, many people at the Capitol say — with sweeping vetoes that have dismissed much of the Legislature’s work as liberal over-reaching.

And as proof positive that Minnesotans didn't bargain for a tax & spend, anything-goes legislature:

(Governor) Pawlenty, who won a second term in November by only 21,000 votes out of 2.2 million cast, has seen his popularity soar recently, with a 55 percent approval rating earlier this month as he stood up to the Legislature, according to a poll by Minnesota Public Radio.

Unlike Larry Pogemiller, Tarryl Clark and Larry Haws would have you believe, Minnesotans are not now nor were they ever ready for a reaming up the taxpayer bunghole in the form of the largest proposed tax increase ever in Minnesota history. And with the DFL campaigning like fiscal conservatives, who could blame them? Like a hungry hog in hummingbird clothing, Minnesota democrats have unmasked themselves for the true socialists that they are, and Minnesota taxpayers don't want any part of it.

Democratic leaders concede that the timing of some of their ideas — including a plan, also vetoed by Mr. Pawlenty and opposed by Mr. Berns and Mr. Benson, to raise income taxes on families making over $400,000 to pay for property tax relief — might have struck some people as ill-timed at a moment when the economy is sluggish and the state has surplus money to spend. (can you say 2 billion??--ed)

Gee...ya think so?? And which mental gnat giant actually thought that this proposed taxpayer-financed giveaway would fly?

The majority’s plan to allow illegal immigrants to pay the same tuition rates as state residents, called the Minnesota Dream Act, similarly foundered when people like Mr. Berns and Mr. Benson opposed it, and the governor threatened a veto.

But the democrats still don't get it:

But they say that after years of spending cuts by Republicans, Minnesotans voted for change, and a restoration of the things that create the state’s reputation for a high quality of life. That means more spending for education, transportation and health care, the party leaders said.

Perhaps Minnesotans voted for a change in leadership, but they did not vote for a financial raping to the tune of $5 billion extra dollars! If the democrats actually ran on what they were going to do, instead of lying through their teeth, I can guaran-damn-tee you not one of them would be voted for as much as dog catcher (And for those of you who think that the government is the source for a "high quality of life," and all that is good in the world, think again).

Even gasoline, which is at or near the highest price point in history, is not safe from democrat avarice; as they initially demanded a progressive 10-cent extra per-gallon tax to be increased in perpetuity; to a now pared-down tax increase of five cents.

They think government has it tough. What about the family who has to pare down a summer vacation, or may even need to choose between enough fuel to get to work and food to go on the table; in no small part due to the government taking a 40- to 50-cent per gallon cut on a product is has absolutely no hand in producing? Lawmakers from some states are recognizing this hardship:

Lawmakers in Connecticut and Texas, by contrast, are considering actually suspending their state gas tax for this summer’s summer driving season, according to the Tax Foundation, a nonpartisan, nonprofit research group in Washington.

But with bloodsucking vampires like Pogemiller, Tarryl Clark and Larry Haws at the helm, don't look for a similar garlic-laden idea to even enter the minds of the DFL. As a matter of fact, I wouldn't look for it to pass if they were in the middle of the Sahara and the bill was a drink of water.

It just isn't in them to put taxpayers first.

Question: If a liberal rag from NYC can get it right, why can't the DFL from our own state?