It's not too late for Sanity in Scott County

Courtesy Minnesota Majority -
Tell Your Metro County Commissioners to Reject the Tax Increase

There may still be an opportunity to block a portion of the massive $6.6 billion transit bill passed by the Minnesota state legislature. The transit bill included over $1.1 billion of funding for mass transit boondoggle programs, funded by an increase in the metro-county sales tax and an increase in the vehicle excise tax.

According to our sources, these tax increases must be ratified by a resolution passed by the Board of County Commissioners within each of the seven metro counties in which these tax increases are to go into effect.

If a County Board rejects the tax increase, it cannot be imposed upon the citizens of that county. If enough constituents take the time to contact their County Commissioners, there’s a chance that we may be able to block these tax increases in some counties.

We have heard that some County Commissioners are telling constituents that they can't stop the sales tax and the vehicle excise tax. Have them read this section of the bill passed by the state legislature. It clearly states that the County Boards must pass a resolution for these taxes to go into effect.


Scott County Commissioners

District Name Phone Alt Phone Email
Dist 1 Joseph Wagner 952-445-7750 612-270-2660 jwagner@co.scott.mn.us
Dist 2 Bob Vogel 952-445-7750 952-461-2384 bvogel@co.scott.mn.us
Dist 3 Jerry Hennen 952-445-7750 952-445-1013 jhennen@co.scott.mn.us
Dist 4 Barbara Marschall 952-445-7750 952-477-5748 bmarschall@co.scott.mn.us
Dist 5 Jon Ulrich 952-445-7750 952-447-2286 julrich@co.scott.mn.us

Taxes and property rights

Yesterday I came across this article on tax cuts in communist controlled Hong Kong. Seems that there is a budget surplus in Hong Kong. Now, here in America the Congress spends the surplus, as does the Minnesota Legislature and then that spending becomes the new budget low level spending limit. Go below that line and the lefty pukes warn that senior citizens will eat dog food while living in a snow bank, babies will starve while they have no diapers and puppies will burst into flames. But, in Communist Hong Kong they cut taxes when they have a surplus. Get this: personal salary taxes (income taxes) were only cut 1%- from 16% to 15%. A 15% income tax! In a communist area. And corporate income taxes were also cut 1%: 17.5% to 16.5%. Most of us here in America would kill to have tax rates like that.
Today,to further point out how far behind we truly are here in America, the IPRI (International Property Rights Index) was posted. It is an exhaustive survey of how property rights are ensured and protected worldwide.
The good news: the United States is in the top 20% of countries worldwide that protect property rights. The bad news: we rank at number 19. Behind Finland, Ireland,even Canada! And of course, Hong Kong.
I remember a scene with Russel Crowe in "Gladiator". As he is going to appear in the Colosseum to fight , he hears the roar of the crowd. Thinking of Marcus Aurelius' command to re-establish the republic, Maximus turns to Proximo and says "Marcus Aurelius had a dream that was Rome, Proximo . This is not it. This is not it! "
And so it would be if our Founding Fathers came back to see what we've done to their dream.

Representative Erhardt

I just heard an interview on KTLK The Chris Baker Show with Rep. Ron Erhardt regarding his proposal to tax clothing (where Erhardt "reaches across the aisle" to a DFL'er Hortman. Not much of a reach. More of a hug.) . What an arrogant tripe! I've requested that Chris put the interview on a separate podcast. Rep. Erhardt says that his proposal to tax clothing is an attempt to start a debate on how to help people that are negatively impacted by the largest tax increase in state history. Chris suggested to Erhardt that all services be denied to all illegals. However, Rep. Erhardt then invited Chris to come to the state capitol. And then went on to say "What do you want to do? Deny rights to illegals?" Erhardt went into full deny/swerve/discombobulate mode after that. Again,here is the link at KTLK.
Also remember that no tax ever stays at a low level-ever. And once the clothing exemption is breached, the food exemption is next (we're already taxed on snack foods). Then prescription drugs. We started out at at 3% sales tax rate in Minnesota. We are now over 100% over that. Do not accept the spurious argument "Well, we have inflation!" The tax rate takes inflated dollars. Tax proponents always lie. Always.

The new Sales Tax - How to save Money

Since others have highlighted the legislators who stuck with this tax for pork bill -
I decided to focus on one of the other groups responsible and benefiting from the pork.

The Minnesota Chamber of Commerce -
A list of the members is available, but like most large organizations (AARP for instance) most people join not for the politics but for other benefits.
So if you are a member, I would suggest you cancel your membership and use the money you save to pay those taxes.

But that is not to say that there is no one to hold accountable - Namely the board of directors. Here is a list of the companies who have representative on the board.
Kindly let them know why you will no longer be supporting their establishment - You need to save the money to pay for all the new taxes and fees.

Officers:
SJE-Rhombus Controls
Detroit Lakes

Hubbard Radio
Minneapolis

General Mills, Inc.
Minneapolis

Northern State Bank
Thief River Falls

Board Members:

Boise Cascade Corporation
International Falls

Thern, Inc.
Winona

Bennett Office Technologies, Inc.
Willmar

The Bernick Companies
St. Cloud

Ruttger's Sugar Lake Lodge
Grand Rapids

Wells Fargo Bank, N.A.
Minneapolis


Padilla Speer Beardsley, Inc.
Minneapolis

Medtronic, Inc.
Fridley

Northwest Airlines
Eagan

Cambria
Le Sueur

TPS Insurance
Owatonna

L & M Radiator, Inc.
Hibbing

Cargill
Wayzata

Otter Tail Corporation
Fergus Falls

Stanton Group
Plymouth

Allianz Life Insurance Company of North America
Minneapolis

Par Aide Products Company
Lino Lakes

Target Corporation
Minneapolis

Coughlan Companies
Mankato

HGA Architects & Engineers
Rochester

Shaw-Lundquist Associates
St. Paul

Mille Lacs Band of Ojibwe Grand Casino
Hinckley

GCI Systems
St. Paul

Xcel Energy, Minnesota, North & South Dakota
Minneapolis

LDI Fibres
New Hope

UPM-Kymmene Blandin Paper Company
Grand Rapids

The Schwan Food Company
Marshall

Linsk Flowers
St. Louis Park

Best Oil Company
Cloquet

Minnesota Power
Duluth

Taylor Corporation
Eagan

Nelson, Tietz & Hoye
Minneapolis

US Bank
Minneapolis

State Farm Companies
Mendota Heights

Best Buy Co., Inc.
Richfield

3M
St. Paul

Custom Products of Litchfield
Litchfield

Grand View Lodge
Nisswa

Rosen's Diversified, Inc.
Fairmont

Alexandria Extrusion
Alexandria

UPS
Minneapolis

Hormel Foods Corporation

Burnsville Chamber of Commerce
Burnsville

HealthPartners
Minneapolis

Ecolab
St. Paul

Morrie’s Automotive Group
Minnetonka

non sequitur

I'm watching "Triple Cross" on National Geographic. It's a special on AQ in America. One character with which I had no familiarity is named Ali Mohamed. He was s sergeant at Ft. Bragg, stole training manuals and was a spy for OBL. Wanting more information I googled Mohhamed's name with the qualifier sergeant and 9-11. I came across this article from our favorite paper, the NYT. All the dates I'm seeing in "Triple Cross" are all 1990's. The article excoriates GWB for not capturing OBL. Yet with all that was happening on Clinton's watch, the NYT article never mentions all the incredible opportunities the Clinton FBI, CIA, NSA and Justice Department had to indentify and hold Mohamed. And it appears that the FBI had incredible evidence on him.
What impresses me is the NYT never even refers to the Clinton failures over eight years. Just that OBL is still loose. Big deal. One man, a symbol. Thousands dead because Clinton failed.
Again, I wonder what Sandy Berger really destroyed. And how harsh that nasty letter to him from the Bush Justice was.
It must have been stinging.

The irony and the stench

I just heard Governor Tim Pawlenty rail on the radical exteme lefty controlled MN Legislature and the largest tax increase in Minnesota history. The Governor says the radical DFL took a bucket full of taxes and dumped it on the taxpaying citizens. And I agree. He then went on to say that Minnesotans are struggling to pay for food, gas and health care. And I immediately saw what Tim didn't. And I asked myself the following question: and why are Minnesotans struggling to pay for these essentials?
1. Food: ethanol subsidies have gone to increase corn prices and therefore any and all foodstuffs rise in price. Culprit: the government.
2. Gas prices: refusal to drill in ANWR, coastal shelf and Gulf of Mexico. Heavy taxes on oil company profits. Bio-fuels and the waste of mandates. No new oil refineries in America in three decades. We now import a significant amount of gasoline. Gasoline. Culprit: the government.
3. Health care: mandates aplenty. Alcohol/drug treatment is mandated even if you don't want it. Psychological counseling services mandated even if you don't want it. Medicare. Heavy insurance regulations. Culprit: the government.
So, when Tim says Minnesotans are struggling to pay for these needed items, he also fails to mention why these items are as expensive as they are.

Canary time

In my four decades in business I've made many contacts. A few have been employed by Cargill, the Minnesota grain and commodities giant. Someone once said that if you wanted to know how much Cargill made, you took the total world sales of corn, wheat, salt and soybeans, subtract what the the other four top grain sellers did and the remainder is what Cargill sold. In the late 80's I was working to put together a few grain deals going to Russia. Someone at the Minneapolis Grain exchange told me that for decades when the U.S. Government wanted to know what the wheat harvest would be in the old Soviet Union, the Feds went and asked Cargill. They knew and knew fairly accurately. They had their own satellite it was said. Cargill employs the best and expects the best. And now Cargill is making a statement that every single ethanol supporter needs to hear: Cargill has suspended indefinitely the construction of a new ethanol plant outside Topeka, KS . According to the Cargill spokesman Bill Brady "The economics are not at a point where we see fit to move forward.The economics are not where they were a year and a half ago ". Two factors contribute to the decision: the cost to build a plant has doubled in five years coupled with the price of corn is now hovering around $5.00/bu. And nothing here should surprise anyone who has even a passing familiarity with basic economics. You always get more of what you subsidize, less of what you tax. Ethanol on its own is not profitable. Its profit comes only from its subsidies. And now even that's not enough to ensure profitability:"Jay O'Neil, senior agricultural economist with the International Grains Program at Kansas State University, said the $5 per bushel corn is putting a squeeze on ethanol plant profit margins.

If the high corn prices continue, he said, margins will be negative."The ethanol industry has fallen on more competitive and difficult times," O'Neil said. "They are going to struggle. You will see a consolidation in this process. Some will go out of business." " Lands! Even with massive government subsidies for the plants, ethanol, farm price supports and then having heavy mandates forcing you and me to put this crap in our cars and trucks these plants STILL can't make money! And anyone hear any lefty, anywhere say "Time to admit this ain't working!"? Nope. The house will burn down before they admit there's a fire. Oh, and here is an excellent article that that old "unintended consequences" of "bio-fuels" heavily contributes to "global warming/climate change" or whatever they're calling it now. Plus the study shows that bio-fuels really do create Man Made Global Warming. And will heavily contribute to global hunger and increased prices all the way around. The solution: drill. ANWR, the coastal shelf . Get government out of the way. End CAFE standards that kill us and do nothing except let politicians feel they "doing something". End all ethanol subsidies-now!

Save us, Oh Lord, from politicians and their good intentions!

As it should be

Prairie Pravda reports that Raul Castro is now Cuba's President with the headline "Raul Castro succeeds older brother Fidel as Cuba's president". In the first paragraph is this little gem:"...leaving the islands communist system unshaken."
The headline Prairie Pravda really wanted to run:
"Raul Castro succeeds older brother Fidel as Cuba's president; Communist system unshaken. Star Tribune Editorial Board celebrates, raises fist in solidarity".

Coalitions, alliances and a leap

I am what most people call a conservative. A real conservative. A radical conservative. Or as Joseph Farah would remind lovers a liberty, a rebel. I prefer the latter. It's truly much more accurate.
There seems to be quite a number of stories on the New York Times piece, more accurately the sorry but not unexpected piece that the Old Gray Whore wrote on John McCain.
Many on the right are heralding the support for John McCain that this story has produced. They believe that this story has provided the catalyst that at last has pulled conservatives to McCain's side. Steve Chapman writes for many at Real Clear Politics on this "coming together" for McCain. I'm not quite there.
All these stories and pronouncements would seem to intone the old Arab saying "The enemy of my enemy is my friend" amongst the right. For me, I have come to expect nothing less from the Old Gray Whore. Personally, I think the GWB Administration has been derelict in not prosecuting the staff on the OGW for treason after the exposed critical operations in the GWOT. But, this is also the same Administration that refused to prosecute Sandy Berger with anything worse than a strongly worded letter in his personnel file. Oh well.
In the chat room at BTR I asked who would this story discourage or disaffect? The Repubs loathe the OGW, the left reveres it as holy writ. So who does this loose? Duane Patterson suggested the independents. Perhaps. My read on this it that it provides a huge weapon for McCain: any story that raises its head above the ridge of "just irritating" can easily be marginalized as "just another New York Times hit piece". Viola'! Instant marginalization.
But still, I'd warn that this rising up regarding the OGW story is not automatically an arrow vote for McCain from the conservative quiver. That will more than likely come from serious consideration regarding the GWOT and Supreme Court appointments.