OK, we all know Obama is trying to stake his campaign on how he is more anti-war than Hillary. He has hung his hat many times how she voted for the war. How she didn’t do anything top stop ‘Bush’s war’.

Well in his big racial speech today he admitted he was in the church when his America hating racist preacher made ‘controversial statements’ and yet he did nothing. He did not stand up and challenge the lies, racist, and hateful remarks. He sat there and let his country be torn apart and racially divided by a man of the clothe. A brave leader who transcends race and has a vision of one America would have done something before those comments derailed his express train to the Democratic nomination.

Because Barrack Obama sat there and did nothing when his country was lied about and attacked from the pulpit, he has no business being the leader of this country. And when he kept going back to the church and never saw the need to address the hate for America that flowed from his church until today, he doesn’t deserve to even run to be the leader of this country.

Rep. Keith Ellison (CAIR MN5) brought some of his DC buddies to tour some forec losures here in Minneapolis yesterday and one just can’t help but say, photo-op much? They announced some feel good, we pay for it, legislation while here.

Ellison and Emanuel, the Democrats’ fourth-ranking House leader, said a congressional proposal that would provide $300 billion in new loan guarantees to help refinance at-risk mortgages could make a difference in neighborhoods like north Minneapolis, where more than 500 homes have gone vacant. It would also provide $10 billion in loans and grants for local governments and nonprofits to rehabilitate vacant foreclosed homes.

Deficit spending to solve debt problems? Isn’t that just shifting the problem?

Houses were way overvalued due to the shortsightedness of Municipalities allowing massive development projects and refusing to build workforce housing. I’d been saying for years that we were in a housing bubble and as bubbles do, it popped.

Sure some of the foreclosures out there were people caught up in the greed that flowed up and down the ladder of the housing market, but most of the people were taking a known risk. House flippers and speculators were trying to cash in on the game while the getting was good. They were getting rich, basically, filling out paperwork. they tried to play the market by owning numerous homes and trying to buy low and sell high. They never had any plans of actually living in these homes. get rich by the sword, get poor by the sword.

Others were people just had bigger wants than they had means. They bought way to big and expensive of homes and, also, knowingly rolled the dice and took out interest only or balloon mortgages. I’ve seen the paper work for a mortgage, they make it darn clear how much you will be paying. These people may not have known it, but they weren’t guaranteed a quick and profitable sale.

And yes, there were a small number of people who were taken by crooks. Some of those may have fit into the categories above. Others were caught up in dealing with human pond scum. Unfortunately that happens and hopefully they will be out of business soon.

In the end the only people who will truly benefit from this $300 billion handout are the banks that were also willing participants in the risk. And let’s not fortget that Congress also had a role. they demanded that loans trickled all the way down the economic ladder and well, that meant making loans to risky customers. In the end, the only thing that can prevent this sort of thing again is to let the markets correct themselves.

Bailing out people the way Ellison wants is just going to bury the real problem.

Oh and of course RT Rybak stuck his foot in his mouth as usual.

Rybak and members of the Minneapolis City Council told the congressmen that federal dollars are needed to help cities deal with the large number of foreclosed homes. The city has spent more than $1 million just boarding up vacant homes. It also costs the city when criminals use vacant homes for their activities or set fire to an abandoned property.

Maybe if the feel good mayor would lock these criminals  and prioritize Police and law enforcement funding these criminals wouldn’t be running free and raising hell.

Congress can’t erase this problem. There were a lot of causes for the mortgage crisis, and there is only one real solution. Let it run its course. The absolute last thing we need to do is put every American taxpayer on the hook by dumping federal funds in with the hopes it will stop the problem.

Stop intervening! Markets work, but you have to let them.

Meet the new Guv, not much different than the old Guv.

I never used state cash to pay for liaisons…

After many emails, phone calls, and scouring of DOLI’s website, I may have scored one for the little guy today. More details later, but let’s just say I should not be the one who realized the test I had to take did in fact include information that was completely unrelated and in conflict to the specific industry license I was taking the tests for.

Boooyah!!!!!!

Anoka County’s Board is going to vote to raise your taxes on Tuesday March 25th at 9:30 AM. Please show up and let themknow they are bucking the will of the voting public!

The Anoka County Govt. Center located at 2100 3rd Avenue, 7th floor, Anoka.

There’s a new poll out showing that so far the tax and spend agenda of the DFL controlled Legislature is not going over too well with the public. You can view the poll results here.

58% disapproval for the Legislature

63% oppose the transit Tax bill

50% Minnesotans won’t vote for someone who voted for the transit Tax increase

58% of Minnesotans support the common sense solution to solving the Budget Deficit with out raising taxes.

This is not a sign of success for the DFL’s handling of the People’s business in the State Legislature. This is also a great sign of why liberal Republicans should not be treated with kid gloves. They are on the wrong side of the party line as well as  that of public sentiment.

Pawlenty will announce his next MNSCOTUS choice today.

ST. PAUL (AP) - Governor Tim Pawlenty plans to announce a new chief justice for the Minnesota Supreme Court.

The Monday morning announcement comes a week after current Chief Justice Russell Anderson said he would step down in June because of his age and concerns about his wife’s health. Anderson is 65.

I hope Governor Pawlenty seeks someone outside the Legislature this time. No more special elections please!

Well, I didn’t get to the Windy City to see my family, but I did spend the weekend hanging with something pretty special. Thank you!!

Hearings on Metropolitan Area Sales Tax

Hennepin County will hold hearings next week on the proposal to increase the sales tax in the county by ¼ percent with proceeds dedicated to transitways as allowed by the 2008 Transportation Funding bill. Transportation advocates are encouraged to attend and show your support for the proposal to increase transit funding.  Two hearings will be held on March 18th.

Hennepin County hearings, Tuesday, March 18th:

2:00pm, Hennepin County Gov’t Center (300 S. Sixth St, 24th floor, during the regular Budget and Capital Investment Cmte)

7:30pm, Eden Prairie Library (565 Prairie Center Drive)

Keep in mind any tax increases are for projects that are called “transitways”. They have no intentions of using these funds to fix to roads you drive on.

Lady L has a post up at True North where she blames conservatives who stayed home for the $3 Billion turnaround in the state’s fiscal health. I beg to differ that the blame for the DFL’s ascension to power over the State’s purse is solely to blame on the coinservatives who may or may not have thrown the election to the DFL.

If conservative voters not showing up is what led to the DFL electoral wave, I would focus blame much more on the Party and Elected Republican leaders not providing the motivation. As I have harped on numerous times, Republicans lost their way and “we’re not as bad as the Liberal DFL” is anything but an inspirational and motivating factor for voters.

The larger problem for Republican candidates was that conservatives didn’t really see how things could get worse if the Republicans lost. Now, a $3 Billion turnaround in the State’s fortunes is a pretty cold shower, but the question of knowledge learned needs to remain focused on the powers that be in the Republican Party.

Will the Republican Party and elected Republican leaders hold true to principle and maintain the line for what the party will stand for? Will they allow the core beliefs of conservatives and the broader Republican party to be thrown out as they hhad been both locally and nationally leading up to the 2006 elections? That was what led to the absent conservatives.

The people who had the opportunity to fix things before they got5 as bad as they did, or most of them, were punished. Bush now has a hostile Congress, Pawlenty a rabid Legislature, Frist and Hastert no longer get to eat Freedom Fries at the COngressional cafeteria and Sviggum is now a commissioner.

Republican officials let liberal Republicans rule the party. Spending was setting records under Republican administrations, Congress, and a MN House. Republican officials forgot who elected them in the first place, and that was the conservatives. And the biggest problem was the Party did absolutely nothing.

Conservatives don’t show up and carry the burden of voter ID, lawn signs, lit drops, and GOTV for tax fee and spend liberalism. They don’t show up and try to elect people who are exactly, or near to, what conservatives so direly oppose. We show up for what we recognize as true to form principled conservatism.

So rather than blame conservatives alone for the DFL’s win, maybe Lady L and others should be more focused on asking the Republican Party and elected Republicans who managed to survive the 2006 Blue crush tidal wave if they learned anything?

Have Republican Party officials and elected Republican leaders digested why they really lost in 2006? Because if the choice on the ballot is tax and spend or fee and spend, you will see another Republican blood letting in 2008.

The conservative movement is in dire need of leaders in both elective office as well as the Republican party to provide a message that will get conservatives off the couch. We have glimmers of hope and new leaders in our movement are emerging, but will they have the power to drive the message so conservatives can come home again? The DFL is helping immensely in that task, but will our guys and gals do their part? Will they figure out in time that leadership does matter.

Those who can’t lead, cast blame for their failures. Leaders, do. (Lady L, that is not directed at you)