In three different and very significant ways, the Dayton administration has admitted that their ultimate aim is to have the state control the curriculum standards first for those governing all preschool and childcare programs in the state that "volunteer" to become involved in the Parent Aware Quality Rating System (the QRS), the Race to the Top preschool grant program, or the early childhood scholarship program regardless of whether these programs are public, private or religious. This seems to be the foundation for then controlling ALL preschool curriculum. (More on that in future alerts).

Minnesota's Race to the Top Early Learning Challenge Grant application neatly ties all three situations together. The document unabashedly states (p. 87):

Minnesota's Early Learning and Development Standards (called the Early Childhood Indicators of Progress, or ECIPs-see C1) for children birth to five are at the foundation of [Parent] Aware. Parent Aware Program Standards require that instruction and assessment be aligned with the ECIPs and the ratings are built on the ECIPs, which function like a scaffold. For example, ELD Programs must ensure that their staff members are familiar with the ECIPs before earning 1 star, and to reach 3 or 4 stars requires both familiarity with the ECIPs and also alignment of curriculum and assessment with them. (Emphasis added) 

As I wrote earlier, decision time has come to Minnesota, where I live.  Unfortunately, I can’t officially participate in that choice, since we have a caucus system rather than a primary — and one cannot cast an absentee vote in a caucus system.  I checked twice with my BPOU officials (a BPOU is a “basic political organization unit,” akin to a precinct) and there is no provision for proxy voting.  I will be in Washington DC for CPAC and some company meetings when the caucuses take place on Tuesday evening.

Very early in the process, I promised Hot Air readers that I would disclose my choice for President in the primaries when I had fully made up my mind.  Just as I did four years ago, I didn’t fully make up my mind until shortly before the caucus.  Last time I caucused for Romney; this time, if I had the opportunity, I would caucus for Rick Santorum.

From Americans for Prosperity:

From Our Local Ag Supplier:

ONE OF OUR CUSTOMERS GAVE ME AN EXPLANATION OF OUR NATIONAL DEBT IN SIMPLE ENGLISH.

• United States Tax Revenue ----------------------------------------- $ 2,170,000,000,000 
• Federal Budget ------------------------------------------------------- 3,820,000,000,000 
• New Debt Added This Year- ------------------------------------------ 1,650,000,000,000 
• National Debt -------------------------------------------------------- 16,271,000,000,000 
• Recent Budget Cut ------------------------------------------------------ 38,500,000,000 

NOW REMOVE THE 8 ZEROS AND LET'S PRETEND IT'S A HOUSEHOLD BUDGET

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With Indiana becoming the first Rust Belt state to take the position that workers shouldn’t be forced to tithe to unions in order to hold a job, one might think that other states might get a clue and consider their own workers and their rights.  Minnesota’s Republican legislature has actually been trying to get a similar law passed, but DFL Governor Mark Dayton has adamantly refused to consider it.  Instead, the legislature will put a right-to-work constitutional amendment on the ballot and bypass Dayton, taking the issue directly to the voters.

Dayton calls this … wait for it … “extreme.”  He also went to rather extreme lengths to make his point:

The almighty altar that Democrats worship at is under attack. Abortion.

And it could mean Amy Klobuchar's gravy train of donors is at risk. She is not taking this sitting down. 

Tuesday is caucus night in Minnesota and I'll be going to mine, which takes place at Mounds View High School.
What I don't know, even yet, is who will get my support. It's a difficult decision among four flawed candidates:

• Mitt Romney is not consistent and while he's less apologetic to be a Republican than, say, Jon Huntsman was, his only real conviction seems to be that Mitt Romney ought to run things.
• Newt Gingrich is a loose cannon. He's a great guy for generating ideas, but the job description is leading the executive branch of the federal government, not running a public policy seminar.

During Gov. Dayton’s ill-tempered diatribe, he said that Republicans were “unfit to govern” because they didn’t confirm the appointment of Ellen Anderson, a longtime DFL/environmental activist, to be the Commissioner of the Public Utilities Commission. The reality is that Gov. Dayton isn’t fit to govern.

His bombastic diatribe sounded more like a spoiled 3-year-old brat who didn’t get his way than it sounded like something a governor of a state.

Despite Gov. Dayton’s childish accusations, Sen. Julie Rosen’s explanation of why she voted against Sen. Anderson’s confirmation as PUC Commissioner is perfectly reasonable:

We held a special Saturday Roundtable so Sheila Kihne could make it to our studio. She joined Derek Brigham, Nancy LaRoche, and Brian Mason to talk about the remaining presidential candidates, entitlement programs. elections, and love.

You can hear the Late Debate every Sunday to Thursday from 10pm to Midnight on 95.9FM in the North Metro. You can also subscribe to the podcast through iTunes.

Consider this interesting hypothesis in The American Thinker by Jack Cashill:

Romney is no RINO -- Republican In Name Only.  He was not one even in his wobbly Massachusetts days.  Sitting as I do on the border between Missouri and Kansas, I have become a skilled RINO-hunter.  Here is the first rule of RINO-watching: they flourish only in Republican-dominated jurisdictions.

In Jackson County, Missouri, where I live, there are no RINOs.  Here, as in Massachusetts, there is no reason to declare yourself a Republican unless you actually are one.  Were I to run for office, I would have to run statewide to have any chance of winning anything.  Democrats have all the local power.

Ron Paul is coming to town, and you will have plenty of opportunities to engage him. The big event will be Monday night at the Minneapolis Convention Center at 7pm. I’ve been tapped to lead some Q & A, but the logistics won’t allow something as quaint as passing a mic around the audience (too many people expected). So, if you want your question asked, let me know at fightinwordsusa<at>gmail<dot>com and I’ll do my best to work it in.

Otherwise, if you want to ask the Congressman a question directly, the smaller events around town will allow for that. I’ll be moderating the one in Chanhassen on Saturday. More info is available here.

The 2012 campaign season officially begins in Minnesota next Tuesday, February 7, at ground level with the grassroots of the political parties: the precinct caucuses.

I love senate district-level politics, but few people actually want to go to their precinct caucus. Judging by the plethora of YouTube videos on how to attend a precinct caucus for Democrat candidates going back for years, the Democrats and unions seem to be doing their best to get their folks out of the house every election cycle. That's because the caucuses are a prime opportunity to identify campaign volunteers, get their cell phone numbers and Twitter handles, and mobilize them for the long ground game to Election Day.

Plato once said that one of the penalties for not getting involved in politics is that you become governed by your inferiors; or as many have said, in a democracy, the people get the government they deserve. If you are a conservative or libertarian who sat out the 2008 presidential election because you couldn't bear to vote for John McCain, or the 2010 election because you couldn't stomach Tom Emmer, how is that working out for you?