Friday, June 16, 2006

The Dixie Chicks don't get it

"The entire country may disagree with me, but I don't understand the necessity for patriotism," [The Dixie Chicks singer Natalie] Maines resumes, through gritted teeth. "Why do you have to be a patriot? About what? This land is our land? Why? You can like where you live and like your life, but as for loving the whole country... I don't see why people care about patriotism."

Daily Telegraph, "How the Chicks survived their scrap with Bush"

Monday, June 12, 2006

Zarqawi: renegade

Congratulations to coalition forces, whose combined tenacity, intel, and ferocious tactical precison led to the death of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi last week.

"Renegade" (Tommy Shaw)

Oh Mama
I'm in fear for my life
From the long arm of the law
Law man has put an end to my running
And I'm so far from my home

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted man

Oh Mama
I've been years on the lam
And had a high price on my head
Lawman said 'Get him dead or alive'
And it's for sure he'll see me dead

Dear Mama
I can hear you cryin'
You're so scared and all alone
Hangman is comin' down from the gallows
And I don't have very long

The jig is up, the news is out
They finally found me
The renegade who had it made
Retrieved for a bounty
Never more to go astray
This'll be the end today
Of the wanted man

Tuesday, June 06, 2006

David Johnson for House 43B

At a special endorsing convention last night, David Johnson received the Republican endorsement for Minnesota House District 43B. Also vying for the endorsement were activist James Seim and Jeff Koblick, husband of Hennepin County Commissioner Linda Koblick.

Thursday, June 01, 2006

Paying for Bonoff's "vision"

Sen. Terri Bonoff (D-Minnetonka) was one of a handful of Hennepin County state Senators who voted in favor of granting Hennepin County an exemption from asking voter permission to levy a sales tax to help pay for the Minnesota Twins professional baseball stadium. West metro legislators recently shared their views on this controversial bill in this week's Sun Newspapers:

Rep. Steve Smith (R-Mound): "The Twins stadium bill was premised upon the promise to benefit the many and be paid for by the few — in this case the taxpayers of one county, Hennepin. This was wrong. Minnesotans have been extended the right to vote on local sales tax impositions, and taking away that right to vote so as to promote subsidies for a private business was wrong."

Sen. Gen Olson (R-Minnetrista): "I felt strongly that the sales tax is a state tax," she said, adding that if the tax was to be Hennepin County's burden, voters should have been able to vote on a referendum.

Rep. Ron Abrams (R-Minnetonka): "I thought it was unfair to single out Hennepin County to pay the tax."

Sen. Bonoff: "During the campaign I made it clear that I was a supporter of the stadiums. I have a vision of what our cities are going to be. In order to be a thriving metropolis we need the Twins."

Although denied a referendum on the $1 billion sales tax, Senate District 43 voters will have a chance to express whether they share Sen. Bonoff's vision of public subsidies for private business, when Bonoff runs for reelection this November.