Wednesday, May 26, 2010

Taxin' Tarryl Clark on 'humility'

From a "Your Turn" article in the St. Cloud Times (emphases mine):
During my five legislative sessions, we produced balanced budgets, but we fell short of creating long-term financial stability for our great state. Unfortunately, there were times when those maneuvering for political advantage won over sound policy and fiscal responsibility, which too often stalled needed progress on improving the lives of working families, veterans, children and senior citizens.

But I have been among several leaders — from both parties — to pursue a different path to move Minnesota forward. And in those five sessions, I'm proud of what we have achieved.

We put job creation front and center. This session alone, we created or saved more than 22,000 jobs by jump-starting infrastructure projects across our state and encouraging small-business growth including through an "angel investor" tax credit.

We made it clear that early childhood education is important, and I'm proud to say that the governor signed my early childhood bill into law.

We took the lead on closing the achievement gap by preparing our students from their first day in school, and ensured we continue to have world-class colleges and universities.

We took on the big insurance companies on behalf of Minnesotans. Even after they sunk more than $1 million into defeating our bill, we scored a big victory for consumers, ensuring they get what they pay for from their insurance policies.

We stood up for our veterans and their families, welcoming them home through the Warrior to Citizen campaign and the nationally recognized Beyond the Yellow Ribbon program. We expanded the GI Bill, providing counseling services, leaves of absence and tax breaks for service members and their families.

We worked directly with law enforcement to give them more of the tools they need to combat violence and drugs in our communities.

We helped seniors stay in their homes by protecting them from predatory lenders, we made utilities more affordable, and we expanded the cold weather rule preventing power shutoffs, because we don't leave seniors and families out in the cold in Minnesota.

We made huge strides in building Minnesota's transportation future, including the opening of the vital Northstar Corridor. You can be sure I will keep working to finish the job and bring it all the way to St. Cloud.

We worked with our federal partners to ensure Minnesota wasn't punished for a health care system that focuses on quality outcomes instead of quantity of procedures.

And, when some federal partners didn't want to be part of solutions for Minnesota ... we stepped up and got the job done anyway, because it's what Minnesotans expect and deserve.

We said no to the status quo — demanded accountability, transparency, and cut a whole lot of red tape. We made it easier for local governments to cut costs, and for everyone to innovate.

We've done all this even while dealing with significant economic challenges. It's meant making tough choices that sometimes have been the subject of unfair or dishonest partisan attacks. But I have always stood on my principles and put people ahead of politics, and I think we could use more of that these days: leaders who are willing to be a part of the solution, who tone down the rhetoric and focus on results, and who get the job done for the people they represent.
And now, for Taxin' Tarryl's closing money quote...

Get this....
That's the kind of leader I've tried to be, because I believe, as President Harry Truman once said, "It's amazing what you can accomplish when you don't care who gets the credit."
I'm sure that ol Harry Truman is spinning wheelies in his grave right about now.
"What a doofus"

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 5-26-2010

This Weeks Post Was Suggested And Written By Beth

Capt. Kyle Comfort
Capt. Kyle Comfort
27 years old from Jacksonville, Alabama
Fire Support Officer Company D, 3rd Battalion, 75th Ranger Regiment
May 8, 2010
U.S. Army

Kyle Comfort had just recently been promoted to Captain and been assigned to a Ranger Regiment in the Army. His accomplishments as a Soldier, in such a short time, were a testament to the fact that he was an excellent Soldier. Unfortunately, in this war, it doesn’t make a lot of difference how good you are at your job. The difference seems to be left to chance. Where you are sitting in your vehicle or which vehicle you are sitting in when you hit an IED or where you are standing on your FOB when the mortars come in. All chance and circumstance.

It has to be that way. The enemy that is fighting us now could never win a legitimate war with our Soldiers. So they fight as insurgents and use tactics that they know make our Soldiers vulnerable.

That is how they got CAPT Kyle Comfort. With an IED just a month into his tour of duty in Afghanistan. If they had fought him face-to-face, they never would have gotten him.


You Can Read The Rest Here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero Logo

The Obama Slide...


The Obama Slide... (to the tune of The Electric Slide)

He's Pathetic!

You can see it

He's pathetic!

Obama's gotta feel it

He's pathetic!
Ooh, he's tankin' :danceparty:


He's pathetic!

Bob-Gibbs-can't save it,
Spinnin' like a lunatic
He's tryin' to excuse it
But Obama's on a slide..

You gotta know it
He's pathetic!
Boogie woogie, woogie!
Obama can't hold it
He's pathetic!
Boogie woogie, woogie!
His socialism's crumblin,
Yeah here there everywhere

Barack's lost his groove,
He's watchin' his party slide
They'll be losin', losin' losin'
And from this fact he just can't hide.

Thursday, May 20, 2010

Caption This...


There will be a fantastic prize for the winner of this caption contest. Well, maybe not a fantastic prize. Well, maybe not a prize at all. (Just getting used to being let down by those in Washington).

You will, however, receive my undying admiration :O)

(Image from here)

Wednesday, May 19, 2010

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 5-19-2010

L/Cpl. Joshua M. Davis
L/Cpl. Joshua M. Davis
19 years old from Perry, Iowa
1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force
May 7, 2010
U.S. Marines

Lance Cpl. Joshua M. Davis of Perry, Iowa, was a 2009 Perry High School graduate. He enlisted in the Marine Corps in March 2009. Assigned to the 1st Battalion, 2nd Marine Regiment, 2nd Marine Division, II Marine Expeditionary Force, from Camp Lejeune, N.C., he deployed to Afghanistan in March 2010 and was promoted to Lance Cpl. on May 1, 2010. He was killed in action on May 7, 2010 while supporting combat operations in Helmand province, Afghanistan. His awards include the National Defense Service Medal, Global War on Terrorism Service Medal and Afghanistan Campaign Medal. Also killed alongside L/Cpl. Davis were Cpl. Kurt S. Shea, 21, of Frederick, Maryland and Lance Cpl. Christopher Rangel, 22, of San Antonio, Texas.


All Information Was Found On And Copied From Here and Here

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero Logo

Wednesday, May 12, 2010

Wednesday Hero Blogburst, 5-12-2010

Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles
Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles
U.S.M.C

Sgt. Kristopher J. Battles, the combat artist with the National Museum of the Marine Corps, stands in front of his paintings, May 5, 2010, at the John F. Kennedy School of Government for Harvard University. Battles showed several paintings, sketches and portraits for residents and tourists to see the artwork of a combat artist, in Cambridge, Mass., to help tell the Marine Corps story during Marine Week.


Photo Courtesy United States Marine Corps.

These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero Logo

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Obama and Kumar Trash White Castle...

More hopenchange, baby--

It seems that Obama's nifty, 'thrifty' julienne fries making health care bill is already in the process of making already astronomical unemployment figures even more so:

Meanwhile, the Ivory Tower of the Obama administration declares war on a much more prosaic target. House Republican Leader John Boehner notes “ObamaCare’s War on White Castle Jobs:”

American jobs are under attack by the massive health care overhaul that was rammed through Congress by President Obama over the objections of the American people. The latest evidence of the new law’s job-crushing nature comes from White Castle, the Columbus, Ohio-based restaurant chain that employs thousands of Americans nationwide.

An analysis conducted by White Castle officials and submitted to my office this week indicates that one provision of ObamaCare alone will effectively cut White Castle’s net income in half and chop future job creation by at least that much. The analysis also illustrates how the law’s job-crushing impact will be most severe in lower-income areas, where jobs such as those provided by employers like White Castle are needed most. The White Castle analysis comes days after the U.S. Department of Labor announced that the national unemployment rate last month rose to 9.9%, meaning at least one out of every 10 Americans is now out of work.

* * *

At least one in every 10 Americans is out of work. Any politician who believes such a statistic is cause for celebration isn’t listening to the American people. President Obama’s job-killing health care law should be repealed and replaced with common-sense reforms that will lower health care costs for American workers and encourage private sector job creation, not discourage it.

The liberal road to hell has now reached Cloward & Piven Drive, and our total road to ruin is at hand.

The neo-socialist toilet is in full flush mode--I just hope that right-minded folks can muster enough strength to hang on to the rim.

Okay--one more Separated At Birth:

Obama's uber-leftist pick for SCOTUS, Elena Kagan, and Saturday Night Live's "Debbie Downer":

The. Nanny. State.

Big Government is watching you.



But who's watching Big Government?

(h/t Kevin Ecker)

Monday, May 10, 2010

@TarrylClark Just Couldn't Help Herself...

You can take the democrat out of D.C., but you can't take D.C. out of the democrat:
The DFL-controlled Senate today (Monday, May 10) passed a state budget bill containing an income tax increase on wealthy Minnesotans.

The Senate passed the legislation on a 34-33 vote — Sen. Tarryl Clark, DFL-St. Cloud, cast the deciding vote after the board had been left open for about 20 minutes with a 33-33 vote registering. A tie vote would fail. Clark indicated her tardiness was the result of being on the phone discussing a health issue of a son. Clark is the DFL-endorsed 6th Congressional District candidate running against Congresswoman Michele Bachmann, R-Stillwater.
Most likely, she knew that a 'yes' vote to a tax increase to job-producing Americans during the middle of the worst recession in nearly a half-century would be political (not to mention economic) suicide, but in the end, like a vampire drawn to human blood, she couldn't help herself from pushing the 'yes' button.

Not that it will do anything, since Governor Pawlenty is 'looking forward' to veto-ing the bill.

But thanks anyway, Tarryl. We CD-6 voters knew that we could count on you to show your true colors where it really mattered.

Sunday, May 09, 2010

In Honor of My Mother..

I wrote this on the occasion of my mother's death, in early April of 1995

God Cast a Pebble..


God cast a pebble into the ocean
in 1924
A tiny pebble.. one human life, nothing less, nothing more.

The pebble travelled through the waters
of the Depression and World War II...
Touching the world with God's Holy Love,
But God's plan wasn't through.

Then that pebble met another,
and a family they did make...
Teaching us about God's Holy Love,
and selfishness, forsake.

But that pebble touched others, too,
as many would begin to see..
Spreading God's Love and Holy Message
beyond the family tree.

Touching all that pebble met
with unconditional Love...
And giving all those special gifts,
given her from above.

Now that pebble's gone through troubled waters..
on her journey through life's sea
Into the waters of Peace and Happiness
for all eternity.

But who would've known when God cast that Pebble
in 1924,
That a tidal wave of love was created
That would last for evermore!


For those of you who are fortunate enough to have your mother still on this earth on this Mother's Day, don't take that fact for granted. Give her a call. Give her a hug.

Hell--give her a hundred hugs.

Friday, May 07, 2010

The 12-Step Program for the whacko left..(with apologies to Bill W.)

Not much to blog on today, so I thought I'd resurrect an old post:

(The following was originally posted on May 30, 2005)

America Haters Anonymous...

1. We have admitted we were powerless over our left-leaning, America-hating ways--that our hatred for America had become unmanageable. But at the same time we were loathe to admit this, even though our every word spoke it.

2. Came to believe that a Power greater than ourselves, mainly the ACLU and its followers, could restore our society to fit our Marxist-Leninist beliefs.

3. Made a decision to turn our will and our lives over to the care of our nannystate government as we understood it.

4. Made a searching and fearless moral inventory of ourselves--wait--scratch that... errr.. made a searching, nonjudgmental inventory of.. errr.. Oh never mind!

5. Preached to ourselves, to the mainstream media, and to other fellow travellers the exact nature of George Bush's and America's wrongs, and how it is, to us, the most
evil and vile force ever to occupy the world's surface.

6. Were entirely ready to have the ACLU, the AFL-CIO, the NAACP, and the NEA remove all these defects of character.

7. Humbly asked them to confiscate the wealth of the nation and redistribute it.

8. Made a list of all conservatives that we despise, especially minority conservatives, and became willing to assassinate their characters and to make examples of them all.

9. Made direct, unfounded and inflammatory attacks to such people wherever possible, except when to do so would injure our own cause.

10. Continued to take personal inventory and when we were wrong promptly said that it's how we feel and it's our intentions that count.

11. Sought through activist judges to remove God from public discourse as we understood him, knowing that secular humanism is the one true religion.

12. Having had an awakening of consciousness as the result of these steps, we continue to carry this message to all, and to practice these principles in all our affairs.

Sound right?

Wednesday, May 05, 2010

The Minnesota Supreme Court Gives the DFL Carte Blanche

Minnesota's Supreme Court today ruled that Governor Pawlenty acted beyond his authority when he un-allotted spending items from the DFL submitted un-balanced budget.

Under Minnesota's Constitution, the Minnesota legislature is required to present a balanced budget to the governor for signature within a specific time frame. Margaret-Anderson-Kelliher's DFL-led Minnesota legislature failed miserably in their Constitutional duty, banking on a mistaken notion that the lack of a balanced budget would force Governor Pawlenty to call a special session, one that would have the very real possibility of lasting ad-infinitum while the DFL had their way with the budget and squandered untold taxpayer dollars in the process.

Governor Pawlenty, on the other hand, being the statesman that he is, was not about to entertain DFL-foolishness. Instead, he made good on his promise that if Margaret Anderson-Keliher's DFL-led legislature would not meet their Constitutional obligations within the Constitutionally-mandated timeline, he would have to play the parent by utilizing his un-allotment authority to balance the budget.

This was a strong message to the Margaret-Anderson Keliher DFL-led legislature that the days of shirking their responsibility in the interest of political gamesmanship were over, and served as a common-sense protection of and stewardship of hard-earned taxpayer dollars.

Then enter the Minnesota State Supreme Court, whose decision today will bring our state that much closer to insolvency.

In a press release, Minnesota GOP-endorsed gubernatorial hopeful, Tom Emmer, had this to say about today's decision:

The court changed the law in midstream by adding a time constraint to when the governor could exercise his unallotment powers. Once the court changed the law, they found that the Commissioner of Finance did not follow the “new” law.

So, in effect, a judicially-imposed 'ex post facto' law, or bill of attainder.

Today's decision was a loss, not only for Governor Pawlenty, but for the integrity of Minnesota's budget and for the rights of Minnesotans to be served by their elected officials within the parameters of their Constitution:

The legislature shall meet at the seat of government in regular session in each biennium at the times prescribed by law for not exceeding a total of 120 legislative days. The legislature shall not meet in regular session, nor in any adjournment thereof, after the first Monday following the third Saturday in May of any year.

The Minnesota Supreme Court, today, in effect, gave Margaret-Anderson-Keliher's DFL-controlled legislature a green light to ignore their Constitutional obligations.

Wednesday Hero Blogburst 5-5-2010


U.S.  Army

The President of the United States of America, authorized by Act of Congress, July 9, 1918 (amended by act of July 25, 1963), takes pleasure in presenting the Silver Star to Sergeant Keith Dewayne Andrews, United States Army, for conspicuous gallantry and intrepidity in action during the ground assault of Operation DESERT STORM. Sergeant Andrews showed extraordinary courage once he observed that air support had by-passed two Iraqi machine gun positions, leaving a Humvee with five soldiers of the 101st Airborne Division pinned down by enemy cross fire. Sergeant Andrews negotiated a minefield while fighting his way to the top of the enemy bunker, destroying it with a fragmentation hand grenade. Being out of ammo, Sergeant Andrews resourcefully obtained the enemy machine gun using it to fight his way up the second Iraqi fighting position. Over all, Sergeant Andrews single-handedly killed some twenty-five enemy combatants to secure two enemy bunkers. This allowed for the quick evacuation of the five wounded soldiers thus saving their lives. These brave and selfless actions of Sergeant Andrews bring great credit to himself, his unit and the United States Army.


These brave men and women sacrifice so much in their lives so that others may enjoy the freedoms we get to enjoy everyday. For that, I am proud to call them Hero.
We Should Not Only Mourn These Men And Women Who Died, We Should Also Thank God That Such People Lived

This post is part of the Wednesday Hero Blogroll. For more information about Wednesday Hero, or if you would like to post it on your site, you can go here.
Wednesday Hero Logo

Monday, May 03, 2010

Budget Cutting for Dummies...

The truth about Obama's 'significant' budget cuts: