The National Taxpayer’s Union is out with their latest non-partisan ratings for members of Congress. Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) is at the head of the Minnesota class. 

Michele Bachmann (R MN6) - 86, A

The rest of Minnesota’s US House Delegation is as follows. 

John Kline (R MN2) - 82, B+

Jim Ramstad (R MN3) - 47, C-

Colin Peterson (D MN7) - 7, F

Keith Ellison (D MN5) - 6, F)

Jim Oberstar (D MN8) - 5, F

Betty McCollum (D MN4) - 3, F

Tim Walz (D MN1) - 3, F

And the Senate isn’t much better:

Norm Coleman (R) - 38, C-

Amy Klobuchar (D) - 5, F

There is a rumor around the internet about a possible challenge to Sen. Norm Coleman from the “right”. That “right” being from the conservative wing of the Republican party. I don’t think I will be letting any secrets out by saying that Sen. Coleman is a little less than heart warming for a conservative Republican like me of late.

I think it is safe to say that he has been a bit of a Mvaerick, just like Sen. McCain has when it comes to certain, not all, issues as a US Senator. And of late, Coleman is crossing the isle and voting with Democrats more than he used to.

Well, given that John McCain is the presumptive nominee, and the conservatives in the Republican party are tired of being taken for granted…. as in, “where else will they go and cast votes?”….. some are looking for some candidate they can get behind. I got a call from the DFL’s E-zine political gossip hound Sean Troll late yesterday morning about the rumor.

The Rumor 

Former US Senator Rod Grams is a person many people are reaching out to. He’s had a growing number of people calling him about Sen. Coleman in the last week or so. I spoke with Grams very briefly this afternoon, and can report that he is not currently running against Norm Coleman.

Draft Grams?

There is a lot of discontent from conservative Republican activists statewide, but is there enough to man a Primary or endorsement challenge? Time will have to tell on that. If Grams getsenough calls of support, whoknows what he would do. He happens to be qualified for the job and has even happened to win the exact same race in Minnesota before, unlike the DFLers.  Some would say he may be the most qualified and electable.

SitRep

We have 2 people most conservatives would be happy to work for in Kline and Bachmann, but their Districts cover only 1/4 of the population. We do need a tried and true conservative on the statewide ballot to help unify the party.

I am sorry, that is not John McCain. And should Huckabee pull of the miracle some of his supporters are praying for, it wouldn’t be him either.

Is Grams going to challenge Coleman? A more important question is, will Norm Coleman and his campaign continue to take conservatives for granted and leave room on his right flank for a challenger, like Grams, to run against him?

Huh? What is AAA talking about now? Has he officially gone nutter?

No, for a lot of you out there sending emails and sharing the pondering of just what the heck we are to do this election season, we need to remember all is not lost just because a Democrat in elephant’s clothing (that’s McCain) appears to be the presumptive nominee. (No the fat lady isn’t singing, but if Rudy does endorse McCain, she is warming up (regarding Romney there))

Reps. Bachmann and Kline are solid principled conservatives who do have tough reelections ahead of them. They will get little to zero national or state party help so we the grassroots will have to pick up that slack to carry them over the line.

With Rep. Ramstad hanging it up, we have a chance to get a real conservative there in the 3rd.

Democratic Rep. Walz,  is beatable in the 1st, he got lucky in 06. There are 2 guys taking a run at him, Sen. Dick Day (meh), and Brian Davis who reminds me A LOT of Bachmann.

The MN House is a target rich environment for Republicans. Well, there are so few Republicans, you couldn’t help but say that. Especially when the DFL admittedly overreached last session. There are 134 races across the state, and I know that each and every local Republican party BPOU and candidate would love your help.

So don’t take off your sneakers. Don’t pack up your bat and ball to go home. Get local. The House of Representatives both in Minnesota and in Washington are where you can really send a conservative message. They are called the People’s House because the are elected in smaller districts so they have to be better representative to the electorate.

That’s you my fellow conservatives. You are the electorate and have to bust your butt in order to get good conservatives elected so the agenda can be reflective of our common views. If you can’t live with the POTUS nominee, (and neither can I if it is McCain) then we will all have to find another great conservative to help get elected. Maybe our grassroots effort is focused on Congressional seats and MN House races.  You don’t have to help McCain, not matter how badly some people say you do. It is still America, and you can allow your principles to guide your decisions.

But you do have to help out the candidates who do represent the principles and values you hold dear. You can’t sit it out on them too. We did that in 2006, and look at the mess it created. What’s great is that there are a lot of good candidates out there. They don’t even have to be in your District for you to help them.

So let’s all take a deep breathe. McCain may get the nod, but that doesn’t mean principled conservatives can take the election off.  Oh, and if you aren’t one of the dozen or few people who listen to Sean hannity, don’t bother tuning in, he was on his knees today talking about he has been wrong and McCain has been right all along.  The voters spokeHannity said, we all have to shut up and support McCain. I couldn’t take anymore, so i flipped over to Medved….. I had to double check to see if my radio actually  responded because he too was  attacking Rush for not shutting up and selling his soul to support McCain.  That one lasted about 12.5 seconds before I just turned the radio off and listened to the whoosh of hot air blowing out of the vents in my truck.

In conclusion, you do not have to sell your soul and support McCain should he get the nod. Frankly, it isn’t over yet. 36% of the people who “SAY” they are Republicans for the Primary in the state that has one hell of a hard figuring out how to vote picked McCain by 5%. That ain’t a mandate, and it sure as hell ain’t enough for me to fawn all over McCain as some sort of gOD.

So what if I won’t be invited on those conference calls, or to the fancy parties. At least I still have my principles. And, I’ll make a far larger difference with my time, money, and effort in a more local race in the first place, and so can you. So no one can take their ball and go home. You don’t have to drink the McCain koolaid.

Get local. Go to Caucus. Get elected a Delegate. bust your arse for a good MN House candidate who is as conservative as can be. If that doesn’t work, no, you can’t go sit on the couch. Find a good conservative and help them.

(Yes, I purposely left Sen. Coleman off this list. More on that later, possibly)

The US House passed the EISA (anti-)Energy bill today by a vote of 314 to 100. This is the bill that I wrote on last week when the US Senate passed the bill with Sen. Norm Coleman’s (Sierra Club MN)  help.

The bill includes the new 35-miles-per-gallon standard, a huge increase in the use of ethanol and new energy efficiency standards for appliances and building construction.

“This legislation is a historic turning point in energy policy,” said Majority Leader Steny Hoyer of Maryland because it will cut demand for foreign oil and promote nonfossil fuels that will cut greenhouse gases linked to global warming.

It is a turning point alright. Our society may have just reached its peek in productivity. These new laws are in effect, caps on production and consumption, not to mention designed on faulty and junk science. The mandates that passed in this bill are unsustainable, and likely impossible to meet…. unless we make drastic reductions in our way of life.

Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) & Rep. John Kline (R MN2) did not vote to end the American way of life as we know it. I will proudly haul their lawnsigns this year, should they need the help. Many thanks go out from me to both of them for standing on grounded principles and common sense and opposing this non sense EISA bill.

Sen. Coleman, on the otherhand, will need to find someone else to distribute his lawnsigns in Blaine and Anoka County, because I ain’t gonna do it. He wants to do away with my truck, as well as the trucks of millions of other Americans, so he can go pound the rebar himself. Of course this will greatly peturb the Party loyalists, and I don’t care. I have my principles, and they obviously mean far more to me than they do to Sen. Coleman it appears.

Politicians will never learn from the devastating impacts of their legislation unless it hits them personally.

I encourage everyone to contact the White House and urge a veto by the President. Then contact Coleman’s campaign office and tell him you and your truck or SUV have better things to do when he needs ya for his reelection campaign next Summer and Fall.

How’s this for a new CAFE standard?

C.A.F.E. 

Conservatives Against Federal Encroachment 

No Trucks or SUVs

Means: No Signs! & No Parades!

End the Lunacracy!

Let Them Live With “Their” Policies 

(Closed Circuit to Chief: This would be a great time to come up with a nifty logo if you have time. I have ideas in my head if you have nothing else to do.)

(Part 1 is here; 2 is here)

Sure Pawlenty was reelected in 2006, but only because Judy Dutcher was underwhelming and unqualified. Oh and Mike Hatch got tired of the nipping at his heels and lost his cool. The party and other groups spent something like $3 million dollars in the last weeks, and got lucky in my mind.

Who really caused what is something I don’t care to debate. What I want Republican leaders to think about, is what if it did not work? What if Dutcher wasn’t an idiot about E-85? There would have been no issue there? Hatch wouldn’t have had the chance to get “unhinged”. $3 million per single win is like a tennis player throwing all their effort into one single set in a best of seven match. You have nothing left for the other races. Pawlenty would not have won for not that one muffed question. That I feel is indisputable.

Frankly that was the only miracle of 2006. And given that we lost a Congressional seat, a chance at a US Senate pick up, the Majority in the MN House, and even more seats in the MN Senate, well, why should we follow the same game plan that has brought us to the precipice of irrelevancy? More of the same seems like a proven recipe for disaster.

(Note: I am so incredibly pleased Bachmann won, she did a great job, and is a shiny conservative star in Washington! But it was a conservative Republican District, so the idea that it was a long shot, held by many Party folks, is wishful thinking in my opinion.)

2008 is going to be a make or break year for Republicans. Nationally, someone needs to be nominated to lead the movement. It needs to be someone that not only does the base agree with, but that they can trust. Johnnie come latelys to the conservative cause are not going to do what the party needs to do.

Reunite it from with in.

It is the moderates in the party who have been tearing it apart, not us conservatives. Moderates and liberal RINOs have been setting the agenda, defining the party, and in far too many cases either sounding like Democrats or worse advocating for their liberal agenda items giving them credibility and creating riffs in this party.

This not only has driven wedges between the grassroots of the base and the leadership, but also damaged the ability to have prominent officials and leaders out in the market place of ideas fighting the good fight, and selling conservatism to the masses.

Instead leaders and officials scrape and claw to save their own skin. No one seems willing to fight the good fight, win or lose at the highest levels. When critics raise points of concern and question the truthiness of one’s own revisionist history, they are targeted for political assassination. Barring the “pillow talk” in the public arena will not solve the angst and lack of leadership both in Minnesota and Nationally.

Silence the critics is the number one mission of far too many. And as I have heard far too often, what far too many leaders consider to be the worst possible thing to do is to say anything negative about one of our own or our leaders. But some do deserve criticism. A perfect case would be how Pawlenty is trying to get out in front of a looming beduget shortfall that he himself created with a 9.5% plus increase in state spending squandering a $2.2 billion surplus and the opportunity to reduce the size of Government.

If we cannot discus who is and is not qualified to define this party and lead the party into electoral battle now, how in the world can we honestly have that battle later? But they only care about one thing, 50% + 1.

Current party leaders are doing what their predecessors have done. They are saying it is all about keeping the Democrat out of the highest office. Nationally, that is the “socialist” Hillary Clinton. It appears that you can just dust off the old ads about John Kerry and Al Gore, cut and paste Hillary Clinton’s name in, and run with it. That’s the gameplan of 2008.

The voters are flat out tired of this crap, and so are the conservatives within the Republican Party. We showed up for far more than 50% +1. We showed up for the issues. We showed up because there was something that inspired us to get involved. Whether it was a local candidate, single issue, or desire to limit the overall impact of Government burden in the daily lives of our families, we showed up and work for more than a November victory. We expect results.

In Minnesota we still have yet to really heal as a party following the fallout of the 2006 elections. It seems that the current leaders of the Republican cause and Party still don’t understand that there is no inspiration for the grassroots yet, and that the true principled conservatives who care more about the issues than November wins, don’t trust the Republican Party or brand anymore. If they do, they have yet to prove so publicly.
As a local leader with in the Party, it is my job to prove them wrong in my District. In many cases I agree with the criticisms local activists have for top elected Republicans or the agenda and message as a whole. I urge the fact that we can help change that from the grassroots not by focussing our angst simply on the top of the ticket, but my working for good principled local candidates. And for some die hards, it works, or they are just so invested, they carry on regardless. But for others of a growing number, those of us who got involved for the issues, it is really hard to overlook the gains Liberalism has and is making in Minnesota under the current crop of Republican leaders and officials.

The task of remaining focussed is incredibly hard especially when the top of the ticket candidates are supporting liberal issues and the expansion of the nanny state for pure electoral advantages. Conservative issues are not publicly part of the political agenda for the Republican party in Minnesota and top elected officials. There seems to be an all out ban on advocating for or against anything before the Legislature by the party. There is absolutely no public display of conservative principles, and what seems to be a ban on any talk on it if a Republican happens to be on the wrong side of the issue.

Instead you see the Party and surrogates attack attack attack both Democrats and principled conservatives. You see some more intent on throwing mud to bury the Democrat than you do see them display why people should vote for Republicans. And if you want to see some fur stand on end, tell that to party leaders, surrogates, and spokesters to their face. They don’t give a hoot that the grassroots is tired of this negative gotcha crap. I’ve tried, and it has fallen on deaf ears

Why?

Because when we go door to door, chat in the supermarket checkout lane, or around the water cooler (the arena of grassroots) all some people can say is how sick they are of the negativity and don’t even care who wins anymore. “Politicians, they’re all the same,” is a frequent response when one does try to explain the true differences.

Others end up holding every single Republican responsible for the negative attacks done by the party and issues surrogates, and hold that grudge for multiple cycles. And then there are others who say why in the world is the Republican party spending so much time, money, and resources on some silly little misstatement or flat out lie about a list, when in the end, it has nothing to do with changing policy for the benefit of the state or conservatism. He should resign, she should resign, tit for tat is for grade school disputes, not that of public policy. Honestly, our argument looks like nothing more than petty politics. Sorry.
I am of course referring to the Secretary of State’s flap over Mark Ritchie’s lie. Most of us in the conservative movement knew he would be terrible.We knew of the links to socialist organizations and support from the Communist party. But clearly the voters didn’t. Now 11 months after his endorsement seems a little late to the dance if you ask me.

Where was this dedication during the election cycle?

Look, the Republican party is on the ropes. it is make or break, and the only thing that can save it is embracing conservative publicly and principles. Rather than focus on why Democrats suck, we need to explain why our ideas and policies make sense, and make the case for them with voters. With that our candidates need to not only believe those issues, they need to fight for them.

We can’t correct the course of this party’s downfall by simply staying quiet. What ails this party is what has been ignored and shoved into the shadows. Not only does the base of this party question the agenda of the party as a whole but also the top leaders. We no longer trust this party. How in the world do you expect voters to do so?

So frankly my dear, I will not keep my discussions of what I feel has troubled this party in the shadows. Iw ill not shut up when I see the same mistakes that got us where we are today being made. I do care about this party far too much to sit back, shut up, and watch this party fall apart. I have no where else to go. That is a fact, whether you believe it or not, I am in the Republican party because I believe it is the last best hope to bring true conservative principles to the forefront of public acceptance.

The idea of the shining city on the hill Reagan spoke of is not something that can happen by simply focusing on winning one election. We need to get back to growing this party through making people realize they believe with conservative ideas and that only the Republican party can deliver on the promise of life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness.

This post is far from perfect. I have more in my head, and could clean this up to that perfection, but well, I blame Luggers. He has done a number on my laptop charger, and I am now faced with holding the cord end into my laptop to charge it.

My final point is this. What I am talking about in this series of posts is about that now is the time to have debates of internal nature. Now is the time ti debate the best vision the party should propel. We need to do this not only by party structure, messaging, focus, but also by who we select for top of the ticket positions.

Rudy and Romney are doing little to nothing to inspire me, and it really is sad that they and their campaigns are clinging to the 2 man race in order to silence the legitimate conservative ideals of the other candidates. It is those very issues and ideals that make up the principles that core conservatives are craving.

So what think? I know it was a lot. I would love the opportunity for debate and discussion on it.

El Tinklenberg dang near tripped over his tongue the night the 35W bridge fell, racing to TV news sets to shill for gas tax increases. His career of increasing funding for transit projects is now starting to make sense, it is in his best interest. Let’s take a look, shall we?

There has been a push from social engineers to replace the once failed Minneapolis to Duluth passenger rail line for a few years now, like since the Ventura administration. Well, maybe before that, it is one of Jim ‘Porker’ Oberstar’s (D MN8) priorities when not building bike trails. He has been trying to restore public subsidies for the rail line since it failed in 1985.  And that is where Tinklenberg has found a way to make money, for himself.

The next step for the Rush Line Corridor Task Force is to prepare a comprehensive feasibility analysis to give legislators, Task Force members and the public a definitive assessment of ridership potential, costs (initially estimated at $100 million) and whether the project is cost effective.

[...]

The $750,000 comprehensive feasibility study for the Rush Line will be financed by $600,000 in federal money that Oberstar also earmarked for planning the Rush, Red Rock and Central Corridor lines. The remaining $150,000 match will be contributed by municipalities along the proposed line, including Duluth. Another is the Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe which operates Grand Casino in Hinckley, a presumed major destination within the Rush Line corridor.

The company tapped to perform that study is The Tinklenberg Group, and surprise surprise, guess who is running around Minnesota trying to con Cities and Counties into ponying up money to pay his company to perform the study, that will of course come to the predetermined conclusion that it makes perfect sense Federal funds be used to build the rail line.

Elwin Tinklenberg from the Tinklenberg Group has attended several meetings regarding forming a passenger rail system, and said the idea has been very well received.

“It’s really interesting to be a part of a project that within six months went from a discussion phase to being talked about among the most powerful folks in Washington,” Tinklenberg said. “There is a lot of interest in this and a lot of support for it.”

Oh what a difference having a pork loving Transportation Committee Chair who stands to benefit from having the rail line in his District makes.

Tinklenberg said a proposed budget of $585,000 is being looked at to form a joint powers board for the rail system. The most expensive portion of the budget is $385,000 budgeted for a technical feasibility study.

That $385,000 for the study would basically go directly to Tinklenberg’s company. Must be rough.

Tinklenberg said the cost of the feasibility study may be reduced by working with Amtrack and the Burlington Northern Railroad through in-kind donations.

Note that AmTrak is a Federally subsidized company, and it is a kin to a taxpayer in-kind donation to Tinklenberg.

Since a few corridor participants have committed funding toward the $585,000, Commissioner George Larson asked Tinklenberg what kind of funding would be expected from Isanti County.

Tinklenberg said Isanti County may be asked to contribute $15,000 toward the $585,000, but ultimately the county’s contribution will be decided by the joint powers board.

Once again, Tinklenberg stands to financially benefit from these Cities and Counties throwing money into this program.

Tinklenberg said once the feasibility study is completed, the process can enter into a preliminary engineering phase and environmental assessment work can take place.

In other words, give me the money up front, just in case.

“I look forward to participating in this exciting effort with you,” Tinklenberg said. “I believe this is something that can happen quickly . . . this is not a decade-long project. This is something that can happen in a few years.”

That’s code for: with a pork lover like Oberstar at the helm of the Transportation Committee in Congress it has the best chance of passing now, before common sense and fiscal responsibility return and people realize there are much more critical projects that should be taken care of first or worse….. this project be funded locally by those who stand to benefit from the project.

The Other Conflict

It would be interesting to see what will happen to this project being lobbied for/coordinated by The Tinklenberg Group since El Tinklenberg is running for Congress in a District that the rail line runs through. Tinklenberg said in his announcement that it was the 35W bridge collapse that spurred him to break his promise and run again for the 6th District in 2008. You may remember he was rejected by Democratic grassroots activists when they selected Patty Wetterling to be their candidate in 2006.

Tinklenberg is, like many Democrats, trying to pull the wool over the public’s eyes on the subject of partisanship, and true Government priorities by blaming everything on Republicans and portraying personal desires as ‘public good’. Oh, and in his announcement, he got a bit nasty.

Alluding to inaction on issues of most importance to the working families of the sixth district, Tinklenberg said even more new faces are needed in congress.

“Clearly,” Tinklenberg went on, “our current representative from the sixth district did not get the message that people want action and accountability—not acting.  They want facts—not fiction.  They want production—not pandering.  They want hope—not hassle.  And they want it now—not later.”

He can claim inaction all he wants, but the truth is that it is his Democratic Party that is behind the wheel. The 35W bridge funds could be on the way thanks to Reps. Bachmann and Kline, but it was his Democratic party, led by Oberstar, that tied those funds to controversial projects and a pork filled bill which was destined for a veto.

I just have an incredibly difficult time trusting a man who is a clear partisan, has a history of capitalizing on tragedies, and is getting rich on the backs of taxpayers. We don’t need Twin Porkers in Washington.

Inspiration: Anti-Strib

I am having a back breaking hell streak here at work (storm sewer flushing the last 2 days), but this line from a story about the Veto Override of the pork filled water bill, pretty much makes me wish I could wash the power hungry career polititions out of DC as easily as I can the leaves out of our storm sewers.

Now he confronts a more hostile, Democratic- controlled legislature, and Thursday’s vote showed that even many Republicans will defy him on spending matters dear to their political careers. 

“spending matters dear to their political careers”

Here I am busting my ass to try to bring home some dough, and the politicians in Washington can’t help themselves but to waste billions and billions of taxpayer money on their own little pet projects to help keep them in office.

That folks is exactly why term limits are so desperately needed. Every single Republican who voted to override the President’s veto on this bill should be ashamed of themselves. Oh and you had better nor even try to call yourselves fiscally conservative after this. You don’t have the right to call yourselves that.

Pork pork pork pork pork. Good little piggies, i sure hope you realize people like me won’t forget this. You wasted money, simply to save your and your fellow aristocrats in Congress’s collective arses.

All 3 Minnesota House Republicans voted for the pork bill. Bachmann, Kline, and Ramstad stood side by side with the Democrats to spend like drunken sailors. The House tally was 361 to 54.

In the US Senate, Sen. Norm Coleman (RINO MN) voted in lockstep with liberal Amy Klobuchar (Strib MN) to waste taxpayer dollars on reelection pork. The Senate tally was 79 to 14.

What can we learn from this? That the power in Washington is so corrupting, that no one can truly be trusted.

Shame on you Bachamnn, Kline, Coleman, and Ramstad. I expect liberal Democrats to waste taxpayer dollars like this, but seeing how you 4 voted today, really chaps my hide.

Can I get an earmark to get some lotion? Maybe one for some TUMS as the stress of watching my Government turn into the personal reelection machine for politicians is sickening.

I’m so terribly disgusted in my Government today, but moreso with the Republicans who failed to protect the taxpayers.

Shame on you all.

The usual cast of Democratic operatives and liberal special interest groups are still attacking Rep. Michele Bachmann (R MN6) for her vote against SCHIP’s expansion as well to sustain the President’s veto of the Hillary Care primmer.

But what they don’t want to tell you is that not only is the bill expanding a bad precedent of the nanny state, but it could actually lower federal dollars coming to Minnesota, and it funds the expansion through higher tobacco taxes.

Meaning, 9 million people will need to start smoking in order to give the “children” Government run health care.

An Unreliable Funding Source. Congress’s choice of a tobacco tax hike to fund SCHIP expansion might make political sense, but a higher tobacco tax would not be a reliable or sufficient funding source. Already, tobacco tax revenues are in decline as the population of smokers continues to decrease, and the decline in sales of tobacco products would accelerate with a higher tobacco tax. Thus, the additional revenue generated from increased tobacco tax would decrease over time.

Due to this effect, policymakers will somehow need to recruit new smokers if they insist on using the tobacco tax revenue to support SCHIP at proposed funding levels over the long term. In just five years, Congress will need over 9 million new smokers. Reauthorizing the program for 2013 to 2017 would require almost 22.4 million new smokers by the end of that period.2 To pay for SCHIP, Florida, Texas, and California would have to add about 1.5 million new smokers each by 2017, and other states would have to add smaller numbers.3 (See Table 2.) While unrealistic, this scenario is apparently what Congress envisions in its SCHIP proposals.

Of course we know this bill was all about politics, but that is the way Washington works. And hopefully people will soon see that Government is the least capable entity to solve a problem, if it even exists. Why are so many adults covered by SCHIP across the country, if this is for the children?

What is becoming incredibly evident is that Democrat operatives and liberal attack groups are willing to attack Republicans for doing the right thing. Of course the local lefty FOX9 is racing to give attention to the newest attack ad, but they are not giving you the other facts about SCHIP.

First, Democrat leaders in Congress (no doubt at the advice of their Campaign Committee) have decided to pull the SCHIP bill until next September. They want to have this debate all over again, right before the 2008 elections. Now who is playing politics?

Here’s a few of the facts that the detractors of Bachmann (and Rep John Kline (R MN2) who also voted with Bachmann against SCHIP) don’t want you to know.

• The SCHIP  funds are not being used as intended by states…. IE the Children

For example, of Minnesota’s SCHIP enrollees, 87 percent were adults in 2005. Arizona has one of the highest rates of uninsured children in the country at 16 percent, yet 56 percent of its SCHIP enrollees are adults.

• It is the first step to “single-payer” socialized health care

This self-interest explains a recent letter from the National Governors Association demanding “urgent action” on Schip, which got lots of favorable play in the press. Yet these are the same Governors who have been moaning for years about rising entitlement burdens, which is what Schip will be soon enough. Particularly egregious was the signature on the letter of Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty, a Republican who regards himself a conservative health-care maven and should know better.

This “bipartisan” cover is serving Democrats in Congress, who want to liberalize Schip eligibility as part of their march to national health care. The Senate Finance Committee has voted 17-4 to increase Schip spending to at least $112 billion over 10 years. Not only does it use a budget trick to hide a payment hole of at least $30 billion, it proposes to offset the increase by bumping up the cigarette tax by 61 cents to $1 pack.

• No accountability

It sets up a contingency fund to bail out overspending states. [14] The current block grant structure of SCHIP is undermined by the establishment of a so-called contingency fund that will help offset the costs of states that overspend their federal allotment. This contingency fund removes the incentive for states to exercise fiscal discipline in designing their SCHIP programs.

Sure, the Democrats and liberal attack groups and news outlets can kick and scream all they want, but in the end, SCHIP is a flawed bill. If we want to talk about making sure poor kids have access to health care, that’s fine, I’m all for it. But for some reason, SCHIP is set up for just about every one but the poor kids.

SCHIP is more about eroding the market for private health care coverage then it is about insuring kids. It is simply the stepping stone to get to the nanny state side of the government pond.

So when you see the attack ads and hear the biased news reports, keep in mind how many flaws the bill Bachmann and Kline opposed has. If you ask me, they did us a favor. They saved us from dealing with an even bigger problem in the future….

When tobacco taxes dry up, there will need to be a new source. What will be the next “sin” to tax for the children (and adults) when smokers are no more?

What is to be done when a state exceeds the limits and runs their program into the red and has to be bailed out by the other states? That contingency fund is going to do nothing but set up animosity and pit states vs. states. But more dangerously, it doesn’t allow for accountability. It simply uses the liberal theory of throw more money at it to plug all the gaps instead of actually solving problems.

The door is swung wide open to have the Federal Government take over failing states’ programs, and that would be bad, very bad.

But I know, and hopefully you’ll soon realize, that the people making all the noise about SCHIP not passing really want a bigger version of it to pass, or worse, socialized government run health care.

Why would anyone who is truly looking out for the kids, fund the program with smokers?

Well Nancy Pelosi once again failed in her role as leader. Or did she?

The US House failed to override the President’s veto of the Hillary Care-esque SCHIP bill.
273 - 156

Despite IDing 44 RINOs, the 2/3rds majority was not reached.

In Minnesota, the 5 Democrats did vote to expand the entittlement program, along with 1 R(INO)epublican. The soon to be former Rep. Jim Ramstad (MN 3) voted with Pelosi and the Democrats.

Reps. Michele Bachman (MN6) and John Kline (MN 2) both voted to sustain the veto.

I heard a radio clip of Pelosi, and she said it was nothing but “lies” being used against the bill. Well, if they arguments against the bill were all lies, why couldn’t the grand Pelosi manage to override the veto?

I almost have to wonder if Democrats won’t consider making a move in the Speaker of the House, should they manage to maintain control following the 2008 elections.

Today the US House is planning on taking up the veto override vote on Hillary Care’s primmer, SCHIP. Reports are that Pelosi will once again fail to lead Congress in opposition to President Bush, and fall short of the veto override.

Pelosi’s first 10 months as Speaker have been pretty much dismal. She can’t get anything meaningful on the Democratic agenda accomplished, except wasting a lot of people’s time and taxpayer money. She had grand plans of forcing members to be in Washington for the entire week, and take few vacations, but nothing is getting done.

I am one who believes our Representatives should spend as much time in their Districts with constituents as possible. I know the left’s operatives (liberal bloggers) and detractors (stalkerazzi) of Republicans love to chide Republicans who think the 5 day “work” week is silly, but the truth is that it is.

You see, it is impossible for members to properly Represent their Districts when they never have a chance to be there. Now I know this works out beautifully for the Democrats, as they can stay in close contact with their prime constituents, Washington Special Interests and DC money. But that is NOT what the founders had in mind when they dreamt up ‘the People’s House’.

So Pelosi may be running a sweat shop in the House by forcing members to be in Washington all week, but she is not producing the results to match. I guess that is why Congressional Approval is hovering just outside the single digits.