Ladies and Gentlemen, the Veterans Administration’s RONA (“Release Of Names and Addresses”) Guidelines are clear, and here they are:

Parallel to the Republican National Convention (RNC) will be a Peace Island conference at Concordia University, St. Paul. Peace Island promotes and celebrates peace, justice, harmony, nonviolence and care of the earth. Two days of great national speakers, with three simultaneous sessions to pick from. A commons area will feature display tables from many organizations. The focus will be on on solutions instead of just describing the problems. The cost is $50, with a student discount.

Jonathan Kaminsky writes a great must read article, in Tim Pawlenty: Governor No. Governor Pawlenty shows through his vetos that he hates good government, basically falling in line with national Republican thinking, so he can be considered for the VP spot. Hard copies also available throughout the city. The article covers the astonishing 34 vetoes by Tim Pawlenty, more than any governor in Minnesota's history.

15. I was for improving health care before I was against it!

Last year, Pawlenty appointed a blue-ribbon commission to advise him on making health care coverage at once cheaper and better.

When the bill incorporating his own appointees' recommendations arrived at his desk, Pawlenty—you guessed it—vetoed it.
(Citypages)

This article is for the best article on news-not-covered of the year! Read it here!

"America better beware of a candidate who is willing to stretch reality in order to win points." --George orWell Bush, aboard his campaign plane, Sept. 18, 2000

DOH! But not only was Bush The Lesser willing to stretch reality, he and his misAministration were willing to do it over and Over and OVER again. How many times, just on Iraq? Well, the Center For Public Integrity says 935 times, and here’s how they say it:

”in a widely reported study of orchestrated deception, the Center found that President Bush and seven top officials made 935 false statements leading up to the Iraq war – and offer them in a database for all to see.

Link here and see for yourself, in the searchable database.

But if you really want to see someone willing to stretch reality in order to win points, link here, which describes this guy, here.

Thankfully, there's only 179 days until January 20th, 2009 - The End Of An Error

Big victory for American families today, for 400,000 homeowners who won't face foreclosure. Look at this, here's another reason why it really makes a difference that conservatives are out of power:

Help for strapped homeowners, mortgage giants sails through House after Bush drops opposition

By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS , Associated Press

July 23, 2008

WASHINGTON - Rescue legislation sailed through the House on Wednesday aimed at helping 400,000 strapped homeowners avoid foreclosure and preventing the collapse of troubled mortgage companies Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

(continued)

Occasionally, the truth slips between the glistening white teeth of Sen. Norm Coleman. Not often but occasionally. Part of the complex political gymnastics that Norm is attempting to perform this year is to make himself appear moderate and independent. He uses Norm-speak^TM to hide his partisan hack nature. So when Norm releases a statement concerning energy, you'd think he and his campaign staff wouldn't be parroting the Bush/Republican party line. This is just the title.

COLEMAN: ENERGY BILL MUST PRODUCE MORE, USE LESS AND FIGHT EXCESSIVE SPECULATION
(Norm's 7/23/08 press release)

"Produce more, use less" is the Republican mantra on energy. The only thing that separates this this press release from all the other Republican's talking about energy is that Norm wants to be the Republican Champion of Oversight. Of course, as I have mentioned on many, many occasions, Norm is only interested in oversight on a limited number of subjects. Oil speculation happens to fit his oversight criteria because no Republicans will be hurt.

The truth is Norm Coleman is as independent as his teeth are yellowed and crooked.

It is astounding when Republicans get honest. It doesn't happen often, but it occasionally does. Rep. John Kline (R-MN02) had one of those moments during a July 4th parade. Of course in typical Kline-style, he was rude about it.

It’s about oil
To the editor:

John Kline surprised me at the Eagan Fourth of July Parade. He came by shaking hands. I took the opportunity to tell him to stop spending our money in Iraq ($535 billion and counting). He responded by yelling at me, “Don’t you want oil?”

I was shocked by his response. He actually seemed to be admitting that this whole fiasco was really about oil.

I think it is time to send Kline back to Texas where he belongs.

Rod Haenke
Eagan
(thisweeklive.com)

His opponent, Steve Sarvi is the exact opposite of Kline. While serving in Iraq, he decided to run against Kline. The former small town mayor and city administrator is willing to honestly and politely talk about the issues with his constituents. He's seen the costs of the occupation up close and personal. That's why he wants to end this war.

Norm. I'm seriously concerned about your well-being and your family. I realize you're barely making it financially as a Senator and the stress of your reelection campaign has got to be giving you an ulcer. It's just not fair that a Senator such as you should be living in the dive basement of a Replubican political operative and yet have to work so hard in such a anti-Replubican reelection environment.

But I have an idea. You should become a lobbyist.

The Minnesota Vikings unveiled plans for a stately pleasure dome to replace our aging and admittedly ugly Metrodome, apparently in preparation for an effort to extract $603 Million from our state legislature next session. Proponents argue that it is a necessary cost of keeping the Vikings in town. Opponents find it a horrific waste of public funds desperately needed in other areas.

While we're waiting on hardcopies of the FOIA from the VA, I thought it would be a good idea to review what was covered in "John Kline Franked Me! - Part 1" and in "John Kline Franked Me! - Part 2, Updated"

After all, it's taken well over a month to get the VA to give up John Kline's "Release Of Name and Address" ("RONA") Request, to determine exactly how the ol' TwoPutter happened to get campaign propaganda from John "Semper Never" Kline, mailed to my modest abode, courtesy o' hardworkin' taxpayers everywhere.

"And there is distrust in Washington. I am surprised, frankly, at the amount of distrust that exists in this town. And I'm sorry it's the case, and I'll work hard to try to elevate it." -- George “Dubya” Bush, interview on National Public Radio, January 29th, 2007

This quote is from the Texas Oil Man (that couldn’t find oil in Texas). Fortunately for Shrub, while he was running oil companies like Arbusto Energy into the ground, he had friends. Well, his daddy had friends. Good friends. Friends that could find oil in Texas, and Saudi Arabia, too. And they took care of Boy Blunder.

Once installed into the Oval Office, Boy Blunder brought some of these friends with him, and made some more. Not many of the new ones have been as dedicated a cheerleader as Norm “Smokescreen” Coleman, R=Lapdog, who has voted with Dubya at around a 90% clip. Coleman had Bush’s back while Bush was running the language and the country into the ground. Norm’s also a big backer of Bush’s Brain, Karl Rove. Disclosing the identity of undercover agents is no problemo in Norm’s world, as long as the leaker is Karl Rove. And that’s exactly how Coleman voted in 2005. Yet Dubya’s acting surprised at the lack of trust for his misAdministration?

There’s a saying for Boy Blunder And The Plunderers that makes a lot o' sense, and that’s ”stick a fork in ‘em; they’re done.” January 20th, 2009 will be The End Of An Error.

Republican MN-03 candidate Erik Paulsen may have finally taken a position on an issue. He is most likely (and rightly) frightened of taking any positions because of his far right voting record. He must be hoping that voters don't question him too thoroughly and assume he's a Ramstad, Jr. His campaign website has been empty of any content and he doesn't make any public appearances. By contrast, his DFL opponent Ashwin Madia has been in the spotlight because of his primary battle and takes strong and principled stands on the issues of the day.

Asked to describe his position on the war, Paulsen sounded like McCain when he said that the United States must atone for its mishandling of the war.

When asked if his war position was similar to McCain's, though, Paulsen demurred and used a buzzword more often used by Democrats — "blank check."

"I think Sen. McCain's more willing to give them a blank check," Paulsen told The Hill, before saying that he wants to continue to see a phased withdrawal.
(The Hill)

So to keep the seat Republican, Paulsen is triangulating to a neutral sounding position. Like most Republicans, he realizes that Grandpa McSame is going to lose and probably by a large margin. So he's distancing himself from McSame, but maybe not His Shrubness.

After Iraqi PM Nouri Al Maliki agreed with Barack Obama that a withdrawal timeline would be a great idea, His Shrubness is now for a "withdrawal horizon." Of course, its easy to point out that we can never reach a horizon ... so maybe this is what Paulsen is really for! Talk about withdrawal, but never actually do anything.

So far, it fits his campaign modus operandi.

Al Franken has introduced ads (here and here) that criticize Sen. Norm Coleman's poor voting record. Despite assuring Minnesotans that his record was fair game back in April, he always reserves the right to go back on what he said in the past.

GE: So you're record is fair game?

Norm: Absolutely. Absolutely..."
(MPR's Midday)

Norm is whining that Al's ads are negative, inaccurate attacks. If this race is about Norm's record, Al Franken will win this race. So Norm's campaign roles out the Norm-speak^TM to counteract the discussion of Norm's voting record:

The Coleman camp fought back Monday in a media missive that characterized Franken as "vulgar" and "dishonest," claiming that he had distorted Coleman's record and had been the first to air an attack ad.
(Star Tribune)

If you read the entire article, you will notice that Norm can't point out what specifically Al got wrong. If you read the blog post at Norm's campaign site, they cannot refute any of the points Al makes.

Which part is inaccurate? Norm hasn't rubberstamped Bush's invasion and occupation of Iraq? I think Norm still claims that one. Norm hasn't played cheerleader while Bush drove the economy into the ditch? I'm sure Norm doesn't want to talk about that. Norm hasn't voted for tax cuts for the wealthiest Americans? Norm would like you to think of this as stimulating the economy. Vulgar? I didn't hear any cuss words ... maybe Republicans exist in a parrallel universe?

The sole reason Norm objects is because the claims in these ads are irrefutable.

The Freedom Of Information Act request I submitted to the VA has been filed and approved; any day I'm expecting a hardcopy list of zip codes that John Kline requested for sending his personal propaganda to veterans - at government expense.

I know that Kline shouldn't have "franked" me, at taxpayer expense - the VA already told me that. You see, I'm not in Kline's district; I'm in CD-03 and it's against the law for a Member of Congress to do a franked, unsolicted, mass-mailing to addresses outside of the Member's district.

In an ubelievable case, Michelle Bachmann and John Kline both voted against a bill last week that would help ensure free and fair elections. No matter what side of the aisle you are on, it has been obvious that there have been a few technological glitches with electronic voting. In a massive bi-partisan effort, the House voted to help counties provide a paper back up trail to electronic voting. The Honorable Rep. Ramstad (R) voted for this bill, because he knew it would help defend Democracy and the constitution he swore to defend. Of course, Kline and Bachmann serve another master, that is not the people nor the constitution. Using Zimbabwe-esque logic, they voted down this Democracy saving bill. Democrats and many Republicans rightfully voted for this bill, but it was people from the third, Fascist wing, that blocked the 2/3rds necessary for passage. Read on for the non-partisan and indisputible facts on their betrayel:

In McCain's lime green background speech, I managed to not hear McCain say that we should "deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies". Probably because my mind rejects anyone actually saying anything like that. Anyone who has fed babies, knows the amount of temperature testing and concern goes over the formula. Skin temperature is the perfect temperature for babies. And wouldn't you want to deliver formula to babies, properly refrigerated? So someone saying "deliver bottled hot water to dehydrated babies", is like a line from a horror movie. This candidate is not only lost in his understanding world affairs, he doesn't even get the basics of caring for babies. Who would put him in charge of anything? Watch the original film clip yourself!

"But all in all, it's been a fabulous year for Laura and me." - George orWell Bush, summing up his first year in office, Washington, D.C., Dec. 20, 2001

Yeah, "right." Fabulous, simply fabulous. Thankfully, there's only 181 days until The End Of An Error.

In DFL politics, everyone knows that the coordinated campaign, which is supposed to get all the campaigns at all levels to work together, usually fails and often miserably. The saying goes "it's neither coordinated nor a campaign.". Another older saying goes "I'm not a member of an organized political party, I'm a Democrat." But that was the past. In 2008 the campaigns are actually working all together. It's unheard of.

In my neck of the woods, DFL State House candidates Bobby Joe Champion (58B) and Jeff Hayden (61B) are getting help from the Obama, Franken and Ellison campaigns. In turn they are helping out the larger campaigns. A lot of credit goes to the Ellison campaign staff who want to explode the vote in MN-05. They are working hard at getting high voter turnout to help Obama, Franken and intentionally including all the State House candidates in Keith's district.

This Sunday marks 100 days out from election day. To celebrate they're coordinating a massive doorknock.

This Sunday, July 27 marks 100 days until the election. That's 100 days left to talk with as many Minnesotans as possible about our candidates, our values and our vision for our state and country.

I’m asking you to join us on July 27 as we hold a Statewide Day of Action with 100 doorknock locations around Minnesota. With your help, on Sunday we can have 1,000 volunteers across Minnesota delivering our message of change to thousands more people in their neighborhoods.

Click here to find a location near you:
http://www.democrats.org/page/content/partybuilder/
(DFL press release)

So ... join the fun. Help your local candidate, make a difference in the Presidential race and help get rid of Norm Coleman.

The report found that the US ranked 42nd in the world for life expectancy despite spending more on health care per person than any other country.
(BBC)

First of all, a British paper, the BBC had to report this very important information! Basically for developed country, the U.S. get the least health care for a dollar spent. Actually the undeveloped countries when they have health care are more effective with their money, however all the other conditions of living overwhelm the influence of heath care. Health care can't fix starvation for example. Basically our private health care system is just interested in more greedy profits and is not working. So when the Republicans scream "socialism", those Republican would have every American pay the most for health care while receiving the poorest health care of any developed country! If people were able to compete among countries for health care, then no one would buy American's health care. People die so Health Insurance CEOs can have huge salaries and huge benefits!

Hello, I'm the newest candidate for Congress in the 5th District running on the Independence Party ticket. The purpose of my campaign is to focus discussion on our economic future. The federal government has performed badly in recent years. Prospects for future generations enjoying our present standard of living are becoming increasingly bleak.