Pogemiller & GOP: through the looking glass

At first read, it appears that Tim Pugmire got it backwards on his Polinaut blog post:

• Sen. Larry Pogemiller (DFL-Minneapolis), arch nemesis of the Republicans, favoring "across the board" spending cuts of 13.65 percent, which would mean a $1.5 beeel-yun cut for K-12 education.
• Rep. Marty Seifert (R-Marshall), House Minority Leader and conservative stalwart, responding with "I don't think that slashing K-12 funding and dumping quality improvement programs [Q-Comp] is the right answer to what ails Minnesota."

Democrats calling for cuts to K-12 funding? Republicans, including the governor, vowing to hold K-12 harmless? Curiouser and curiouser.

In the words of White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel, "You don’t ever want a crisis to go to waste; it’s an opportunity to do important things that you would otherwise avoid."

Governor Pawlenty, this is not the time to let a crisis to go to waste.

Republicans should (I can't believe I'm writing this) reach across the aisle to Sen. Pogemiller in a bipartisan spirit to help him reach his bold goal of cutting $1.5 billion from Minnesota's K-12 budget. We should start by opting out from the impossible "Adequate Yearly Progress" accountability provisions of the Federal No Child Left Behind Act (NCLB). School districts are finding that the costs of compliance with NCLB are exceeding the federal funding they receive from it.

We should continue by dusting off Republican K-12 education reform measures that increase school choice (education tax credits), increase the local control of our independent school districts, and decrease the power of the state and Education Minnesota over those districts' local decision making.

I know, only in Wonderland.

Two Below Honey

Our friends at Minnesotans for Global Warming send their video greetings from Minne-So-Cold with this Van Morrison-inspired "Two Below Honey." At just under seven minutes, it's too long, but it's still hilarious, so watch the whole darn thing (current Twin Cities global cooling temperature: -7 degrees F).

UPDATE: "Two Below Honey" was removed from YouTube due to a copyright claim. It was fun while it lasted.

Informed patriotism

An informed patriotism is what we want. And are we doing a good enough job teaching our children what America is and what she represents in the long history of the world? Those of us who are over 35 or so years of age grew up in a different America. We were taught, very directly, what it means to be an American. And we absorbed, almost in the air, a love of country and an appreciation of its institutions. If you didn't get these things from your family, you got them from the neighborhood, from the father down the street who fought in Korea or the family who lost someone at Anzio. Or you could get a sense of patriotism from school. And if all else failed, you could get a sense of patriotism from the popular culture. The movies celebrated democratic values and implicitly reinforced the idea that America was special. TV was like that, too, through the mid-sixties.

But now, we're about to enter the nineties, and some things have changed. Younger parents aren't sure that an unambivalent appreciation of America is the right thing to teach modern children. And as for those who create the popular culture, well-grounded patriotism is no longer the style. Our spirit is back, but we haven't reinstitutionalized it. We've got to do a better job of getting across that America is freedom--freedom of speech, freedom of religion, freedom of enterprise. And freedom is special and rare. It's fragile; it needs protection.

If we forget what we did, we won't know who we are. I'm warning of an eradication of the American memory that could result, ultimately, in an erosion of the American spirit. Let's start with some basics: more attention to American history and a greater emphasis on civic ritual.

And let me offer lesson number one about America: All great change in America begins at the dinner table. So, tomorrow night in the kitchen, I hope the talking begins. And children, if your parents haven't been teaching you what it means to be an American, let 'em know and nail 'em on it. That would be a very American thing to do.

—Ronald Reagan, farewell address to the nation, January 11, 1989

Erik Paulsen: why I voted against the "stimulus" bill

Why Erik Paulsen voted against the (so-called) stimulus bill [to paraphrase]: because it's not a stimulus bill. It's a pork-laden, special interest payback, supplemental appropriations bill masquerading as a stimulus bill.

Thank you, Rep. Paulsen! Glad I campaigned for you!

Pelosi, Obama, and Scrooge

News item: Democrat "economic stimulus" bill would fund Planned Parenthood, contraception, abortion.

"Well, the family planning services reduce cost. They reduce cost. The states are in terrible fiscal budget crises now and part of what we do for children's health, education and some of those elements are to help the states meet their financial needs. One of those — one of the initiatives you mentioned, the contraception, will reduce costs to the states and to the federal government." —Speaker of the U.S. House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi (D-CA8)

"The first thing I‘d do, as president, is sign the Freedom of Choice Act." —Then Presidential candidate Barack Obama, July 2007

"If they would rather die, they had better do it, and decrease the surplus population." —Ebenezer Scrooge, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens

Brandon Sawalich launches website

Brandon Sawalich, who is running for chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota, has launched a website to build grassroots support for his candidacy.

Sawalich is also behind the website A New Day for Minnesota, at www.mnrepublicansolutions.com, which outlines a five-part strategy for revitalizing the Minnesota Republican party, including bulking up the grassroots (BPOUs for all of you insiders) and overhauling party tech infrastructure. This echoes similar conversations at the national level in groups like Rebuild the Party (Twitter: @rebuildtheparty) and others.

(Tech note for webheads: Net Brew Design's fresh A New Day for Minnesota website uses a bit of Mootools Javascript to very elegantly let you scroll several pages of text without loading multiple pages. Check it out.)

DFL: cutting costs fine for thee, but not for me

Already last Monday, only the fifth day of session, the DFL majority in the Legislature has demonstrated its unwillingness to take even a small leadership role in reducing the state's projected multi-billion dollar budget deficit. Like duck hunters, they wait for Republican ideas to shoot down, without making any serious proposals of their own (other than raise taxes, invent new taxes, and grow government to the detriment of the private sector).

During the debate over temporary Joint Rules of the House and Senate, in a time when e-mail and social networking are playing an increasingly significant role in constituent communication, Rep. Sarah Anderson (R-Plymouth) moved to reduce by 15% the postage allotted to House and Senate members. Instead of allowing the House to vote on the plan, House Majority Leader Rep. Tony Sertich (DFL-Chisholm) moved the idea to the House Rules Committee. Sertich said that he believed the Anderson proposal would save no money.

Cutting the Legislative budget, even though it will not plug the budget deficit by itself (no single cut can), would send a message to state taxpayers that the Legislature is serious about working with Governor Pawlenty to balance the budget as required by state law. A salary and per diem freeze for all members, a reduction in expense accounts, typical measures in the private sector, would demonstrate equal measures of common sense and leadership from Saint Paul.

Listen to Sarah Anderson discuss her proposal and the DFL reaction to it, on this podcast provided by the House GOP caucus.

Content of their character, or...?

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their skin but by the content of their character." —Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., "I Have a Dream," speech at the Lincoln Memorial, Washington, D.C., August 28, 1963

"Lord, in the memory of all the saints who from their labors rest, and in the joy of a new beginning, we ask you to help us work for that day when black will not be asked to get in back; when brown can stick around; when yellow will be mellow; when the red man can get ahead, man; and when white will embrace what is right." —Rev. Joseph Lowery, Barack Obama inaugural benediction, January 20, 2009

In forty years, we've gone from The March On Washington to Change Comes To Washington, yet some would still fixate on racial groups rather than the character of the individual. Shouldn't all Americans embrace what is right? Don't most Americans already do so?

UPDATE: Juan Williams is thinking along the same lines today.

President Bush's three letters to President Obama

It has been a tradition for the outgoing U.S. President to leave a note for his successor in the top drawer of his desk in the Oval Office. We have received an e-mail message from an outgoing Bush staffer with Minnesota connections that contains the entire text of President George W. Bush's three letters to President Barack Obama, each in its own numbered, sealed envelope:

Letter #1

Dear President Obama:

If you are reading this letter, you have been sworn in as the 44th President of the United States of America. Congratulations. My advice to you in your first year in office is this: Whenever something goes wrong, blame it on me.

If things are still going badly on January 20, 2010, please open Letter #2.

Letter #2

Dear President Obama:

If you are reading this letter, things have not gone so well in your first year in office. My advice to you in 2010 is this: Whenever something goes wrong, blame Congress.

If things are still going badly on January 20, 2011, please open Letter #3.

Letter #3

Dear President Obama:

If you are reading this letter, things are not going well for your administration, and even your reelection now appears in doubt.

My advice to you in 2011 is this: Prepare three letters.

Bloomington school buses: gellin'

It's not easy being green.

The 10,500 students of the Bloomigton, Minnesota Public Schools, who woke up this morning to -22 degrees F outside, are chillin' at home today thanks to biodiesel:

Today, a number of our school buses broke down as a result of the use of state-required bio-diesel fuel that clogged some of our fleet's fuel systems. This led to students having to wait at bus stops in dangerous weather conditions. A few of our back-up school buses also experienced this problem.

We have attempted to resolve the fuel issues with our buses. However, with extreme cold temperatures and dangerous wind chills predicted again for Friday morning, we could not ensure that our buses would not encounter the same issues.

The safety of our students remains one of our top priorities, and while closing schools disrupts work schedules and causes inconveniences for parents, we wanted you to know early enough to plan accordingly.

We apologize for any inconvenience families may experience with this decision. Thank you.

—Bloomington Schools Superintendent Les Fujitake

Using biodiesel fuels in Minnesota, which turn to gel as the temperature approaches 0 degrees F, makes about as much sense as using compact fluorescent light bulbs outdoors, which are also problematic in Minnesota winter weather. (Incandescent blubs will be banned by the U.S. government in phases between 2012 and 2014; other countries are planning similar bans.) Government mandates and taxpayer subsidies that prop up politically-correct, technically flawed products should be terminated in favor of the free market, which rewards products that work and that people want.