So my Grandma made it through surgery and seems to be doing fine. The surgery was a success the Doctors told my family.

Thank you for all your kind messages, thoughts, and prayers. She’s not out of the woods yet. The Hospital says they will release her in the morning after they check the pacemaker out to see if it is functioning OK.

We couldn’t get a response from them on the prognosis on her bowl obstruction though. That is why she was taken to the Hospital in the first place. Surprisingly, the doctors didn’t seem to give a rats ass. [sigh] I can’t wait til Hillary care.

And people in this country are trying to make the Federal government take over health care. The same Federal government who can’t seem to figure out how to secure a border. The same federal government who takes weeks, months, and years to realize there is a problem, and then years to solve them after if at all.

Oh, and I just have to love fucktards. Someone has decided to impersonate my on MDE’s blog in a very unflattering way. I know there are people who really don’t like me exercising my right to have an opinion, but, well….. It is nice to know that while Michael was not feeling well himself, and unable to moderate comments in an open thread, and I was distracted with personal family issues, some lesser lifeform decides to well…. Just see for yourself, and keep in mind the people we all know who want me shut up right now before the MNGOP leadership elections. (the Andy Aplikowski that shows up is not me.)

(hint: The DFL is praying I unload something on Carey in the next week. It is Carey and his supporters who want me silenced or made irrelevant.)

Anyways, I haven’t even seen what is going on in the world, and it was brought to my attention by Michael. He is going to send me the IP addresses so that I can see if it is the same person or people who have left comments saying they wish my Mother had… coat hanger… back when ….. well anyways…. you get the picture of the way some people are trying to silence me.

long rant short….

Grandma - good

Thanks to every one who has been supportive the last day. My family appreciates it very much.

That’s the odds of my Grandma surviving her surgery tomorrow morning.

Posting may be light for a day or two.

So I have been talking to a lot of long time GOP activists over the last few weeks, and there is one resounding message that everyone is talking about.

This Amnesty bill is a piece of shit!

Now don’t just take my words for it, US House Minority Leader Rep. Boehner said the exact same thing.

I’m growing tired of the pansy assed Republicans who support erasing the law and order of this Country for their own political gain/survival or to save their legacy.

If Bush continues to attack the conservatives who understand what he does not, as in, his immigration plans are dead wrong, he is going to destroy the Republican Party.

The base is livid over a number of issues, and we do see glimmers of hope that some of our elected officials did get it. In both the MN House and US House, Republicans, or most of them, understand the fact that liberalism was not on the ballot in 2006, and it was solid conservatives who won. (ahem, it was conservative [acting] Democrats who knocked off Republicans, few if any, Dems ran as the liberals they are won)

Bush on the other hand is literally going to drive the GOP into the gutter before his portrait is on the wall in the White House. He’s failed a lot of people by actually allowing the Dems to convince people that Iraq has nothing to do with terror, despite the fact that its al Qaida’s main area of operations. yes, somehow people support defeating terror, keeping America safe from terrorists, but retreating from Iraq. So, due to the “poll”itical pressure, far too many Republicans and pundits are running from the fight for their own gains.

And then there is immigration, which many conservatives were ecstatic when the Amnesty proposals failed early on in Bush’s terms. It died mainly because the Congressional Republicans in both Houses killed it. But, well, Democrats are in control.

They not only support the idea behind the bill Re: Amnesty. But they also know this will be the final nail in the GOP coffin. if this Amnesty crap passes you will see grassroots activists abandon the GOP ship like never before.

We’re pissed as hell, not that Democrats are acting like Liberals, heck that’s what really gets us ready to fight. Nope, we’re pissed as hell that our own Republican leaders are acting like, well, liberals.

And this is a warning Mr. Bush, you’re going to destroy this party if you keep this crap up.

Illegal immigrants are illegal! Why is that so hard for you to understand?

Anyways, here’s the warning for the Republicans on the ballot in 2008. (Jedi mind trick) You don’t want to support this Immigration Bill (end Jedi Mind trick) Your base of support, volunteers, and donors oppose this bill. We’re flat out tired of putting up with/overlooking how you stray from our collective values on very important issues.

In other words, some of you are already in serious trouble, so stop digging. That’s an order! You cannot win with out us, and well, you’re deserting us, not the other way around.

This Amnesty plan will not increase the GOP vote, but rather shrink it, be cause the existing ones will abandon ship.

This Amnesty bill is a piece of shit, and anyone who votes for it with an (R) behind their name will have to live with the consequences. I’m sure there will be primary challenges for anyone who votes for Amnesty. I don’t intend this to be a threat, just a warning.

It is high time that our elected officials stop taking us for granted.

(Closed circuit to President Bush and the White House: You’re dead wrong on this issue. And for crying out loud, are you seriously going to go down this road? If you really think you can win this argument with the GOP base, well, you will leave this party in shambles.

So in other words, thanks for the tax cuts, now get the heck out before you do any more damage. Didn’t your mother ever tell ya to leave things in no worse condition than you found them? Oh wait, you don’t need us anymore.

PS This Amnesty bill is a piece of shit!

OK, so for all of you who say there is not enough money for transportation I would advise y’all to just go travel on my regular routes. 694&35E are a cluster-frack with the unweave the weave project; Hwy 36 is FUBAR as an alternative with that being closed; and they are microsurfacing Hwy 65 in Blaine by my house.

My grandma is back in the Hospital again (yeah great Memorial weekend for her) and I have had some semi-frequent travels to the East metro area that require me to go the way of East in the North metro which is a nightmare right now.

And tonight, I had a late meeting which required me to thread the detour needle to get home. Hooray! I said as i found the perfect path. Cruising North, I was stoked I’d get home in no time. Well, all that was thrown out the window by the time I got with in a few exits of my home off Hwy 65.

MNDOT, the brainiacs that they are, decided no one needed to turn West or left off of Hwy 65 for a large portion of Blaine. there’s a certain part of the city that is rather inaccessible except for left turn off of or by crossing Hwy 65. So the turn lanes to my exit are blocked off. I say OK, I’ll go up and swing a U-turn. Whoops, nope not there, that’s blocked. So I head up a mile and try the next light.

Nope. that’s blocked off too. So I ended up taking a right and going down a frontage road on the other side of 65 through a neighborhood. I get to the road i had originally tried to turned Left on, and low and behold about 300 cones awaited me. they formed a bizarre cone like design that had no instructions. The 3 other cars that all faced the same dilemma I did, who I had been following on the roundabout way to get there from here, all tried to read the braille on the road to figure how we get there from here. Here being right there in plain sight with just these silly plastic cones stopping us from crossing the untouched pavement.

Well, apparently, they just plain cut off all access to the roads I needed to go on to get home. I couldn’t go straight. So I went left to try to get onto my road directly, but they had the whole Right lane blocked off, and the exit to my road along with it.

Since the only way for me to get there required going all the way down to Hwy 10, going up to the next exit and then going down a bunch of other roads, somewhere between a 5 to 8 mile drive, to get right back to where I currently was, I just cut through the cones, and dipped through the Road Closed signs.

It was a long heckish day at work, at which I nearly gave myself a concussion in the Bobcat. that followed by the stupid commute East on 94 into and out of St. Paul for my meeting. And well, I just sooooooo wanted to get home.

So, next time MNDOT, please consider that they may just happen to be people that live there, on those roads that you just plain close and offer no alternative routes for, because, you know, we just want to get home.

night all.

Have you heard about Rep. Jim Oberstar’s (D MN8) bill that would basically federalize any body of water, or low spot that may hold water in America? Probably not, since it is one of the biggest power grabs ever attempted in the US, but it is done by a Democrat.

Washington DC – Today, Congressman Jim Oberstar is introducing legislation to fix the Clean Water Act after it was damaged by two U.S. Supreme Court rulings. The pair of rulings issued in 2001 and 2006 question the ability of the Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers to enforce the Clean Water Act on wetlands, streams and ponds that are not part of a major “navigable” waterway.

Now  Oberstar says the bill won’t create “onerous” new rules and regulations, but it will empower the Federal Government to take over or regulate your land.

Excluding immigration, how many laws does the US Government ignore or not enforce?

Folks Oberstar’s bill will destroy the American way of life. It will not only affect land development, but also recreation. As I understand it, this bill will also open the door to regulate the use of bodies of water, IE boating.

Minnesota, Land of 10,000 lakes, none of which you can use.

Ed notes how the AP just can’t get the facts straight about how Kyoto has a history of being rejected in the US.

Once again, the AP has failed to report the history of this treaty correctly. While Bush does not support the Kyoto approach, he had nothing to do with rejecting the pact. The Senate rejected it in 1997, almost four years before Bush took office. When Al Gore pushed Bill Clinton to sign the treaty, the Senate reacted by passing a resolution informing Clinton that Kyoto would not get ratified.

We’ve rejected both Kyoto and McCain’s own ‘Kyoto 2.0′ before. This is a wealth redistribution program, with the hidden agenda of killing the American economy.

There’s a movement growing in Minnesota, it is rock solid conservative one in the Minnesota Legislature. Someone is trying to ….

This is in response to an email Ron Carey sent out on the GOP Newline list on Friday. (I will post Carey’s email below the fold)

Dear Republican Activists,

Republican activists should not let Ron Carey take the credit for the last minute luck we had this session. This success we have exhibited comes from of conservative activists wanting true conservative choices and demanding that of their lawmakers. The party has done almost nothing to pressure or encourage our members to stick together. Had it not been the outside conservative responses to liberal democrats riding the environmental tax trolley out to San Francisco, we would not have been able to muster the support we needed to hold the line.

This last month Carey was been on Jason Lewis talk radio program defending the moderate republicans that had they not been for pressure from the right would have voted to override the governor’s veto. While each BPOU bears a certain degree of independence, we do have a party platform that ought to bear some meaning to the candidates who get our backing. Groups like the taxpayers league and radio hosts like Jason Lewis have done far more for the movement this year than the party ever did. No longer can the party take a back seat in the process. We need to transform it into a focal point for these groups and venues and form a coalition out of conservative leaders and grassroots supporters who desperately want stronger leadership at the state level.

The choice for chairman is clear. We need a leader who is not going to sit back and wait for the democrats to screw up to win an election as our past two administration have done. We need someone who has a gung-ho attitude who will be out there on TV and Radio leading the party and the movement. I think Joe Repya will be a credible force to work with the conservative movement, not against it. That’s the kind of party chairman we need. If the current mediocre leadership continues to run this party, than we are likely to wake up to a veto proof democratic majority next November. In our states divided political structure, we need to stay united around our core conservative values. Joe Repya will do just that as our new chairman.

Sincerely,

Ryan Fluagur
Senate District 38 Republicans
Deputy Chair

Read the rest of this entry »

Please listen to this while you read.

Memorial Day 2007. (Reposted from 2005 & 2006 because I could.)

It has been a long year. We have lost many good men and women. Their sacrifice is not the first. It will not be the last. But their sacrifices must never be tarnished by the politics here stateside. We must always weep with the families. Hold them, look them in the eyes and tell them their loved ones fought bravely and died for a good cause.

Many have sullied the sacrifices of the soldiers in the War on Terror for their own gains. In America that is their right, short of treason. But we can never let the voices of doubt and division be the loudest. We can never allow those voices to be heard loud and clear on the battlefields across the globe. We must show the same support and allegance that those brave souls, worlds away show us.

On July 4, 1776 America started on a long journey towards freedom. That was the day that The Declaration of Independance was signed.

This is an exerpt that has to be repeated.

But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.

It is our duty to help them throw off such Government.

Since America is the most powerful nation in the World, it has certain responsibilities that other nations do not. We have massed a military force, one like no other has existed before. But our force is not the oppressive force like so many have been over the years. Ours is fathers, mothers, sons, daughters, and friends. They do not serve to conquer. They do so out of duty. They stand guard not only for their fellow Americans, but for all endangered people around the world.

I believe that God gave America the brave soldiers, sailors, airmen, and marines, not only for our protection, but for the protection of all those who cannot protect themselves. And as it is written in our Declaration of Independance, it is our duty to stand up for them.

God Bless & Thanks,

Triple_a

Gary at LFR has a quote from Fred Thompson.

“Al-Qaida have a 100-year plan,” Thompson said. “We have a plan until the next election.”

That is the problem with politicians. They all calculate how things will affect the next election, and in the case of the war against radical muslim extremists trying to take over the world, well, elections don’t matter. We can’t vote if we’re dead or our democracies in the West have been over run.

The left’s feverswamp is throwing a temper tantrum because Congressional Democrats seem to have blinked on the war funding (including pork up the wazoo) bill. The American left wants the war over regardless of the real threat and they have coerced a lot of squishy Americans to side with them, wrongly. I think now that Democrats have some power, but more important, responsibility in DC, they realize talk is cheap, and political rhetoric will not keep America safe.

In other words, they ran a good political game last November, but don’t have a clue on how to really rule. All they can do is appease the left wing echo-chamber of their party. They don’t really know how to run a country. All their “best” plans in their agenda are things that have been tried and have failed elsewhere in the world. From domestic policy to foreign affairs, Democrats’ ideas are bankrupt.

That’s where Republicans could capitalize. not for the good of the party and election results, although it would be a nice side affect, but for the good of the Country. Our nation is at war, whether we like it or not. We were attacked by the elements that are in Iraq.

Our enemy will not put down their arms if we go home. They know no borders, and have murder on their mind. Democrats are coming to the realization that the threat we face from losing the central front in the war on terror is as serious as people on the right have said.

It seems there are two different groups that share the notion that Iraq is not worth fighting to win. The pacifist left, and the Republicans on the ballot in 2008. That scares the hell out of me, because I always thought the Republican party was full of responsible people who would not place themselves (read their political careers) ahead of the nation.

I know it was somewhat wishful thinking, as on domestic programs and spending, far too many have been electorally selfish. But I held out hope that on the major issues of life and death, Republicans would get it right.

Maybe I was wrong. I know that the steady drum beat from the MSM and the pacifist left that the threat we face is ‘volutary’, is tiresome to hear. I fully understand that it is tough to run for office in this climate.

But imagine the climate if our enemy takes over the entire middle east as they plan to.

It is time for someone on the right to step up and be real. they need to selflessly lead this nation back into the proper mindset to deal with the enemy we are engaged with. Our enemy wants us and our way of live irradicated. We need to get that sinking feeling back in the pit of our stomachs that every single one of us Americans had on that morning back in September 2001.

We were attacked. There are Nations around the world who mean us harm. A strong national defense is the only way to deal with that. Cutting and running, or mitigating defeat will only embolden our enemies and endanger Americans.

(does anyone think it is rather odd that no one is saying that Congress’s actions will embolden our enemy anymore? …. Oh yeah, that’s because Republicans are doing it now too.)

So, what can the electorate learn from this?

1) Elections matter and people should look beyond the sound bites.

2) war is hell, and not something to be swept under the rug. there are no easy solutions for the type of war we are in. It took decades to defeat the Soviets. Do we really think we can defeat radical Islam in just a hand ful of Congressional elections or with in one Presidential term?

3) Democrats cannot be trusted. They say one thing, and do another. They say liberals things to appease their base. they attack Republican ideas to win elections, but once elected, they are forced to adopt Republican positions because they are the right thing to do.

4) Conservatives need to be ready to take the Republican party back. Republicans have major leadership vacuums at just about every level. the people deciding what we “stand for” have only themselves in mind, take immigration as an example. A country with out borders is a country no more.

As Sen. Thompson said al Qiada has a 100 year plan to win. They won’t face voters. The animals currently plotting and fighting their jihad are fully prepared that they will be long dead before they are victorious.

We need a few good men and women to behave like that too right here in America.

This is bigger than any single politician. We either decide we are gonna go kick some ass and fight this enemy once and for all, or we be ready for our future generations to face this enemy around the globe. Just imagine the Western world looking like the streets of Baghdad.

Because if we cut and run from the enemy we face in Iraq, that’s exactly what we have to look forward to.

Someone emailed me a picture this week to help cheer me up.

Yeah, that did it.

I do have a busy weekend of not relaxing. I’m on call for work, and I promised to help Mom with her yard and garage. plus I have to do some major TLC to my yard, reinforce my fence as Lugnut likes to crawl under it to get in my neighbor’s backyard and do some much needed inside tiddying up. Oh, and I have been trying to get some deck furniture stuff for some time now, so I hope to get it so maybe Monday can be a veg day.

Anyways, yes, the picture is pretty fitting. It is a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow.