The Big 10 Network is simply a funding scheme for major Universities, and as usual, these Universities which are addicted to your money, are trying to get Politicians to intervene in the free markets.

You see, right now, Big 10 Network is pretty hard to get. People have to want it so badly to go get it themselves, but if the planners of the scheme have their way, they’ll get lawmakers to force cable and satellite networks to add the network to the basic packages.

Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak declared Friday, Sept. 28 as ‘Minnesota Big Ten Network Day.’
Rybak’s announcement came as a shock, due to the fledgling new network not being able to be received by most Minnesota cable customers.
Only Direct TV customers will be able to watch the Gophers on television this year. Normal cable subscribers will not be able to watch Gopher’s basketball games on television either. (source KSTP)

Why is that bad?

Because you will pay a few bucks for the Network whether you want it or not. Cable and satellite networks will have to pay Big 10 Network a certain amount for each and every subscriber.

Taking the failed scheme from a few thousand subscribers to literally millions, and the revenue flowing into the U will go up by millions and millions and millions.  If Comcast is forced to add this, it will cost them millions. And what happens when a company is forced to do something in a more expensive way?

They raise their rates.

Not only do Minnesota taxpayers (not to mention tuition paying students) pay through the nose for the U, now they want to make watching TV more expensive.

These people spend more time trying to figure out how to get their hands on more of your money than they do educating students it seems.

Yes it is your money.

So Norm Coleman has to buy an ad for $37,000, and Al Franken is given free space for his views….

Only at the Strib.

Oh and I just love how the Strib has to toss in the hyperlink for MoveOn.org. I’ve noticed they don’t often do that.

Look I am still one of those people who understands just how dangerous Al Franken’s idea of National Defense is. You cannot honestly say al Qaida and terrorists are threats to be taken seriously, and demand retreat from Iraq where al Qaida is actively fighting us.

Like it or not, planned or not, the terrorists are in Iraq.

You either want to defend this country from an enemy which has our demise on their agenda, or you want to cut and run and bury your head in the sand.

MoveOn.org is a dispicable organization, and yes, the Minnesota Democrats like Franken are more terrified of what MoveOn will do to them then they are what  terrorists will do to Americans given the chance, if they do distance themselves from the disgusting attack on our military. Or rather, maybe they are more afraid of what they won’t do…… like funnel them money and provide GOTV activities.

May I once again point out that Walz in the MoveOn.org Representative.

Senator Larry Pogemiller laid it all out on the table at a Stillwater Rotary meeting.

STILLWATER - Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller assured members of the Stillwater Rotary Thursday that he doesn’t enjoy the thought of a tax increase coming out of the 2008 legislative session.

But if the state wants to raise the revenue needed to improve its infrastructure and take the burden off local property taxes, lawmakers will likely have to increase both the state’s gas tax and sales tax, he said.

He’s going to go straight for the tax payer’s jugular. The same guy who said he can’t control his own caucus on the David Strom show at the State Fair. yeah right, he is the puppet master and driving force of what happens in the MN Senate.

The Minneapolis DFLer often talked about legislators’ divergent political philosophies at downtown Stillwater’s Lowell Inn, yet afterward he maintained that there’s enough support to push through tax increases in the upcoming session, even without Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s support.

“If he’s unable, the Legislature needs to proceed without him, if we can,” said Pogemiller, a member of the Senate’s tax committee.

In other words, he’s pretty confidant he can override any veto from the Governor thanks to squishy RINOs. I hope the Republican Party’s BPOUs are ready to hold their own accountable, and pass resolutions at 2008 Conventions that any Republican State Senator or Representative who votes to override a veto on a tax increase will not be re-endorsed in 2010.

Yes, you can choose not to endorse folks. You don’t have to endorse the RINOs.

He said the state needs between $1.7 billion and $2.4 billion annually to maintain the existing transportation system. Without comprehensive help from the state and bumps in local government aid, Pogemiller said, local municipalities will have an increasingly difficult time solving their own traffic issues.

That’s $3 billion of YOUR money that Pogemiller has already spent above and beyond the $35.5 billion last session.

$38.8 billion

There seems to be bipartisan support at the Capitol for increases in transportation spending, Pogemiller said. Some of those dollars could come from the 2008 bonding bill, which he said would probably hover around $1 billion. However, the senator noted that a large chunk of that total will probably be earmarked for higher education initiatives at the University of Minnesota and Minnesota State Colleges and Universities.

Another billion of your money gone with the blink of the eye.

$39.8 billion

If the state does opt to raise taxes, Pogemiller said he wants it to be enough to cover Minnesota’s needs.

“Let’s do it right,” he said. “We don’t want to have to come back and ask again.”

But they do just keep coming back.

Politicians like Pogemiller see the public taxpayers as ATMs. What ever they want to spend on, we have to pay for through taxes. When they can’t spend within their means (ahem, the money they take from us), and spend the all too abundant money wisely, they just take more, and we have no choice. Taxation with out representation is a dangerous thing, and frankly until we get the Minnesota Senate to split their elections so half the body is up every 2 years, these people will get away with rhetorical murder.

On the political climate in St. Paul, Pogemiller, who has been in the state Legislature for almost a quarter century, asked the Rotarians in attendance for patience while lawmakers do their best to address constituents’ concerns. Top issues this session will likely be transportation, health care, taxes and the environment, he said, also noting that education funding needs a 15-20 percent funding boost.

In other words, that $5.5 billion in new taxes and spending that got rejected last session is coming back and will be an even bigger bite out of your wallet.

$41+ billion

Wrapping up his public comments, Pogemiller asked if he and his colleagues would leave their constituents a better Minnesota “or are we going to pull the ladder up behind us?”

That hurts!!

Lugnut is right.

That is definitely going to leave a mark on the average hard working Minnesotan’s bottom line.

I can hear the kitchen table chats now……

No Sally, we can’t go see Grandma in Florida this year or to Disneyworld, we need to pay for Liberal Larry Pogemiller’s vision of Minnesota.

Leg’s get this out there, Pogemiller is already laying out his plan to spend like a drunken member of Congress and increase the burden of Government on every single Minnesotan. And what’s worse, he is going to try to make you feel like it is you who is being greedy with your money.

Yes, it is your money.

“Let’s step up and do what’s right,” he said.

The right thing to Pogemiller is to force Minnesotans to pay for his liberal utopia. He wants your money to spend as he sees fit.

- Pogemiller said is considering a push for an amendment to the state’s constitution that would require all Minnesotans to have health insurance.

“Let’s get the political authorization to do the really hard job,” he said.

In other words, he knows that the DFL platform plank of Health care as a right is not something Government has a legally bound requirement to provide, but he hopes to change that so he can force socialized Government run health care upon us. The same kind of health care system where they control your life.

- He said he feels comfortable in the state Senate and doesn’t plan to run for higher office - “That’s not my cup of tea.”

Yeah, he knows he would never get elected out of the socialist utopian mecca that is the urban core of Minneapolis, and he can be his true self with out any worries of political consequences for his power grabbing, oppressive, nanny state, big government, and money of your paying for his dreams political agenda.

Folks, if you thought last session was bad, you haven’t seen anything yet. Pogemiller feels he has Pawlenty right where he wants him, and I am afraid I think he is right. There is no longer some one like Krinkie for Pogemiller to have to deal with. And now that Republicans lost the MN House and are a skeleton minority with enough RINOs (Democrat leaning Republicans on issues of tax increases and spending) to override any veto, he no longer has to worry about watering down the liberalism. He feels he can do anything he wants.

There are dark times ahead in Minnesota. The only thing that can brighten them up is if some one, some where, can stand toe to toe with liberals like Pogemiller in plain public view and expose these socialist for what they are and provide an alternative and far differing vision for people to choose from.

They want to take away more and more of your money every year until we get to the point that we have no choice but to get everything we need from Government. They want us completely reliant on Government. Government is their religion and these people think that some of you are not capable of taking care of yourselves, and they want to make sure the rest of us can’t take care of our selves and do what we choose to with our own lives by stealing as much money as they can from us.

Pogemiller and the other liberals (of both parties) are in for the getting while the getting is good. Pogemiller knows that with what the DFL is trying to do there will be some consequences should the Republicans mount some type of electoral counter, and he won’t have the huge majorities he currently does in 2011. He wants to get as much of the liberal agenda he longs for, passed now, so we have no choice but to carry on. And that’s why he wants a Constitutional Amendment for Health care.

Like the stupid MVST amendment last year, once an Amendment passes, it is with us for ever. “No more than 40% for roads and bridges….”

Please wake up Minnesota. Please wake up you pissed off conservatives who have given up hope. If we lay down and let the dogs of liberal utopia have their way, there is no telling what Pogemiller and the likes will get put into law.

Wait, there is. Pogemiller is telling you exactly what his plans are. Get off the couch and get ready to rumble. the 2008 cycle is upon us. Let the elected Republicans know you are still there, tell the party you demand results, and then dig in for the battle of all battles that will be the 2008 elections.

Nothing will get any better if you do nothing. Find your BPOU, and ask how you can make a difference!

Al Franken is not going to get Norm Coleman reelected.

Norm Coleman needs to get Norm Coleman elected.

So, for those of you who thought Pawlenty has conquered the mighty DFL with one fail swoop on the special session regarding the 35W bridge, you may want to look again. The DFL has been paying attention, and is going to make you eat your words.

“Less than three weeks ago the lieutenant governor said they didn’t need legislative help,” Murphy [DFL MN Senator & Transportation Chair] said, referring to Carol Molnau, who also serves as transportation commissioner. Now, he said, “they’re telling us projects will be delayed or canceled unless they get this approval. The fact is, they need new revenue and we need a special session on transportation to deal with this.”

This comes on the heels of reports that other MNDOT projects will be put on hold until the 35W bridge is dealt with. Truth be told, yeah, rebuilding the 35W bridge has to be THE priority for MNDOT.

Problem is, Governor Tim Pawlenty opened doors one cannot close in Minnesota with out excruciating levels of screaming from the usual suspects. Tax increases. Yep the almighty TPaw may have won over the operatives and pundits with his ‘everything is on the table’ talk in the wake of the collapse, but he has little choice now but to act on his (ahem) proposal and raise the gas tax.

Measure twice cut once.

That should also go for political statements and calculations. Unfortunately, when one has unquestioning support and loyalty, I suppose one doesn’t have to consider the reprecussions of bad decisions and political posturing.

$34 billion should be enough my friends. 

Time will tell if Minnesotans lose as badly as the DFL wants them to. More importantly, we’ll have to see if every single Republican candidate has to face the question in 2008, “why are Republicans refusing to increase transportation revenue?” Of course the easy come back, is “Minnesotans are taed enough. We have plenty of money, but we don’t spend it wisely. We need to re-prioritize the way we spend all the money we already have.”

I hope that we don’t have to wait until next Summer for Republicans to start talking about re-prioritizing state spending. That could be devastating for Minnesotans if no one is looking out for them during the transportation debate in the upcoming regular or special session.

I just had an email from Brian Sullivan arrive an hour or so ago.

Dear Friends,

When Jim Ramstad announced his decision not to run for re-election as the Third District Congressman, I received many calls encouraging me to seek the Republican nomination, and I agreed to consider doing so.  I appreciate the trust many of you have shown in me by asking me to get into this race.  It would be an honor to serve the Third District as its Representative in the U.S. Congress.    However, the timing is not right for my family or me.  As a result, I have decided not to enter the race to replace Jim Ramstad as Minnesota’s Third District Congressman.

Mia and I had a third daughter this past April, and I acquired another business in May.  It is simply not possible for me to disengage from either my family or my businesses at this time to run for this office.   I will continue to serve as Minnesota’s Republican National Committeeman, and I will work hard to elect a Republican Congressman in the Third District.

Jim Ramstad has served our state and our country well these past 17 years as our Third District Congressman.  He deserves our gratitude for his selfless commitment to public service.   Our family wishes him all the best.

Best Regards,

Brian

It was a retry email for it to get to me with a special note. Seems the first one got bounced back earlier in the day.

Anyways, Brian Sullivan is out of the 3rd CD sprint, as you’ve no doubt heard or seen elsewhere.

I think that is for the best. I think conservatives in Minnesota have Mr. Sullivan right where we truly need him (until 2010…. just saying……). He’s on the Republican Party State Executive Committee as well as a representative to the RNC. I have a good feeling he’s holding people accountable and making sure the party has a strong conservative advocate in both places.

Did the Columbia President (???) just get a brutal dictator to sit down and get a verbal smackdown?

His intro was incredibly well done, and maybe the outrage over this whole thing was overblown.

If you want to know why many conservatives are livid with Republican office holders, one might not have to look any farther than the green push from environmental RINOs. And well, as usual, their race to be hip, populist, or in the media spotlight, they’ve sold their souls to the environemntal lobbies.

And as many of us have been preaching for a while, the cure may be worse than the ‘addiction’.

A renewable energy source designed to reduce greenhouse gas emissions is contributing more to global warming than fossil fuels, a study suggests.

Measurements of emissions from the burning of biofuels derived from rapeseed and maize [AAA: corn IE Ethanol] have been found to produce more greenhouse gas emissions than they save.

Go read the rest, then call your favorite Green Republican and ask them why the heck they are pushing mandates that will pollute the environment even worse.

Rapeseed and maize biodiesels were calculated to produce up to 70 per cent and 50 per cent more greenhouse gases respectively than fossil fuels. The concerns were raised over the levels of emissions of nitrous oxide, which is 296 times more powerful as a greenhouse gas than carbon dioxide. Scientists found that the use of biofuels released twice as much as nitrous oxide as previously realised.

I guess now it is time to have Nitrous Oxide credits. 

I’m sure there are people all worked up into a RINO praising lather over this polling story.

In it, they target the political mood of Independents, and well, surprise surprise, only 17% of them are true independents. I’ve heard political wonks and leaders at the very highest level quote such polls, and preach the importance of the independent vote. These people appear as adept at managing campaigns as Childress is the Vikings’ Offense.

Now the agenda of the poll is that the Republicans are too right wing….. [scraaatttcchhhhhh]

The Republican controlled Congress which made earmarks into an art form, inflated the budget and burden of Government, and well, pretty much acted like Democrats do when you give them power, yeah, I’d hardly say they acted like conservatives.

Add to that Bush’ Big Government entitlement programs, not to mention his affinity to spending. Sure yes, Republicans as a whole have been pretty staunch on tax cuts, but what else on the right wing agenda, have they really accomplished of late? They were doing what the left does, and trying to buy votes.

Now I know there are some victories, but when I look back there is no real ‘major’ conservative reform or accomplishment people will think of. The major agenda items that have been pushed or passed under Bush have been, well, liberal programs and agenda items.

Medicaid, Amnesty, spending increases to countless programs, Federal intervention into Education, oppressive Environmental mandates, and an expansion in Federal powers over the common America’s life.

Frankly I myself find my self confused as hell too about what the Republicans stand for. And as usual the useful tools of the media and political masterminds on the left, the Independent voter, are allowing their skulls of mush to be filled with leftist talking points.

Sure, I hate what Republicans did to Government when they were in control. It wasn’t so much that they did ‘it’. It was that ‘it’ was what the Democrats do.

So before everyone assumes now is the time for more moderation of the Republican Party, and further isolation of core conservatives, remember this.

If the electorate truly wants bigger Government, massive tax and spending increases, and less freedom and personal choice, they will never vote Republican across the board. And if a certain Republican candidates do manage to appease these wily Independent voters and get elected, won’t they then have to follow through on the leftist agenda items?

The last great expansion of the Republican party was under Reagan. He didn’t do it by heading left, or moderating his message. In fact he grew the party by helping people realize that they actually do identify with the core Republican beliefs, which surprise surprise, are the conservative ones. That is what sets us apart from the Democrats after all.

So, fire your advisers, strategists fire your spokes men and women. If they have been doing what they are doing for years, well, they are part of the problem. I am serious. I’ve had some of the most conservative individuals in the world, who are in those positions, wax poetic to me about polls like this and in defense of the indefensible, the RINOs.

Now is not the time for more moderation, they’ve been doing that for years, and the results are in, they are terrible at what they do. The advisers, strategist, and spokepeople in this party have been doing that for far too long. I don’t care how long they have been doing it or how much experience they have. They suck at it, and proof of that is how dismal the last few years, in Minnesota especially, have been.

The Republican party cannot climb out of the cellar and begin the journey to winning the hearts and minds of a majority of voters when we have the same tried and failed bomb throwers and mud slingers doing what they do best.

“Well you don’t want Hillary or Franken do you?” is not something that most people care about. They want what is best for “them”. Yes, most voters are kinda selfish. The key for Republicans is to convince them that what’s best for “them” is a vote for a Republican with core conservative beliefs, so they can govern their own lives and not rely on the Government, State or Federal, for their day to day needs.

If we don’t get back to providing a vision people will and want to follow, the Republican party will once again fail the conservatives, and lose in 2008.
Now is the time to get back to what makes this party great and sets it apart from the Democrats.

Wow, that was exactly the kind of weekend I needed. I went up to the cabin and was all business, I mean relaxation, er yeah.

I got all the plumbing stuff finished up, and the cabin is now, “useable” again. The new water lines and drains are in. I spent most of Saturday on my back under the cabin, or trying to contort my body under cabinets to install new lines. Well, my body is not too happy with me this morning, but hey, it is done.

It was also nice to get away from the daily grind. Even got to take boys for a nice boat ride Sunday night.

We had the lake pretty much to ourselves that evening.

But Lug Nut kept an eye out.

And when someone on shore looked at us, he stepped up.

Unfortunately, he got sea sick on the trip.