True North

According to this Redstate Action Alert, Democrats have slipped the AG Jobs bill into the Senate emergency supplemental appropriations bill. Why we care is because the bill has an amnesty provision in it. Here’s an overview of that provision:

President Bush's address in the Knesset yesterday was an excellent (if imperfect) speech. In parts it was great. Among these parts is its introduction setting forth the deep identification of the American people with the state of Israel:

The alliance between our governments is unbreakable, yet the source of our friendship runs deeper than any treaty. It is grounded in the shared spirit of our people, the bonds of the Book, the ties of the soul. When William Bradford stepped off the Mayflower in 1620, he quoted the words of Jeremiah: "Come let us declare in Zion the word of God." The founders of my country saw a new promised land and bestowed upon their towns names like Bethlehem and New Canaan. And in time, many Americans became passionate advocates for a Jewish state.

Doug Grow in the MinnPest does an endzone happy dance over the kickoff of Minneapolis City Hall’s new, hideously expensive, purely symbolic “Green Roof”:

Workers will begin tossing dirt on conservative talk radio skeptics and 5,000 square feet of roof at the Minneapolis City Hall Saturday.

Just a hunchy, Duggles, but I don’t think the last dirt’s been tossed on this issue.

The indispensable Instapundit has posted a link on Fred Thompson’s latest role. The news couldn’t be better for movement conservatives. Fred Thompson lost the battle for the GOP presidential nomination but he’ll win the war for movement conservatives in his new job:

Our nation has some serious issues to work through for today…and for the next generation. Now isn’t the time for conservatives to be looking for a tailored message or a politically expedient route to victory if the end result is going to be the inevitable slide toward the liberalization and secularization of America, and the growth of government and loss of freedom that inevitably ensues. For us conservatives it must be about principles and policies that are grounded in freedom, free markets and the rule of law. That’s what I’ve been talking and writing about for the past few years, and that’s what I want to talk write about here on Townhall and in the new Townhall Magazine.

California became the second state in the nation to legalize gay marriage by judicial fiat yesterday, but the court ruling will only heighten the political ramifications of the issue. In an election year, the debate will bring voters to the polls, and a referendum to amend the California constitution will do so in droves. Who wins in the rather remarkable circumstance of having the court decision highlight the ballot initiative? Already we see the presidential candidates carefully plotting their positions:

Democratic Sens. Barack Obama (Ill.) and Hillary Rodham Clinton (N.Y.) issued careful and nearly identical statements saying they support civil unions to protect the rights of same-sex couples. Both avoided taking a position on same-sex marriage, saying states should make such decisions.

Sen. John McCain’s campaign said the Arizona Republican “supports the right of the people of California to recognize marriage as a unique institution sanctioning the union between a man and a woman.”

We’ll accept it as a given that nobody in the Twin Cities media excites more deranged, dissociative ranting than Katherine Kersten.

There’s really no arguing the point. Let’s move along with the premise.

Yesterday, Kersten took a tongue-in-cheek swat at perhaps the dumbest thing I’ve read in my life; a petition to have her removed.

As I reported earlier, Senator Feinstein decided she wanted to try to sneak the AgJobs legislation into the Iraw War Supplemental Spending Bill. What one had to do with the other nobody knows, but she apparently considers the need for AgJobs an "emergency situation". Nevermind that she's been trying to pass it for over a year now and the world has yet to end despite no AgJobs legislation.

Nevermind that there is no need for any sort of AgJobs legislation. Feinstein is determined to grant amnesty to illegal aliens no matter what it takes. Even if it hurts American workers.

The advocates of free speech are at it again.  It seems that an online petition has been started by some of the usual suspects to get Star Tribune columnist Katherine Kersten fired.  They apparently did not like her reporting on the inconsistencies at the TIZA school.  Some of the esteemed signatories include Mark Gislason, our dear friend Eva Young and failed Congressional Candidate Coleen Rowley.  One anonymous commenter had this to say:

May 15, 2008,Anonymous, Minnesota
Katherine Kersten should lose her job because her column is extremely poorly researched, completely lacking any criticism of those in power who hold her narrow and intolerant views, and is invariably divisive to the community. It takes advantage of the Right of Freedom of Speech to perpetuate oppression --time and time again. The Star Tribune can certainly find a conservative columnist who is not so one-dimensionl.(sic)

Over at ABC's Poltical Radar blog, David Wright reported Barack Obama's disoriented comments on manpower needs in Afghanistan. As I noted earlier, Obama complained of the lack of Arabic translators duing Obama's appearance eariler this week in Cape Girardeau. Wright points out that Arabic is not a native language of Afghanistan.

I take Obama's comments as indicative of the improvisised nature of his superficially sophisticated critique of the conduct of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. In the update to the original post, however, Obama spokesman Bill Burton actually defends the Obama's statement by citing the presence of foreign fighters in Afghanistan. Wright responds:

St. Paul Police handed a march route to the Coalition to March on the RNC & Stop the War. The PiPress reports that the protesters rejected it for not letting them get closer to the Xcel.

"The Republican Party has made a lot of people in this country angry, and they have a right to express that anger at the Xcel Center," said Meredith Aby, one of the organizers of the Sept. 1 march.

Ms. Aby, a Bloomington Jefferson high school teacher who seems more interested in protesting than teaching, also protested the timing:

Senator Feinstein is up to her old tricks again. She has repeatedly tried to attach AgJobs to other pieces of legislation, but public outcry has defeated her every time. Now apparently she feels that the public has been lulled to sleep on this issue and she's gonna try it again.

Both NumbersUSA and FAIR are reporting that Senate staffers have indicated that she will try to add AgJobs as an amendment to the Iraq Supplemental Spending Bill (can you get more non-germane??). This could happen as early as TODAY! So call your Senators NOW and let them know you don't want this amendment in ANY legislation.

Senator Coleman - (202) 224-5641
Senator Klobuchar - (202) 224-3244

What is AgJobs?? Well....

There is occasionally an improvised quality to Barack Obama's critique of the conduct of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He sometimes seems to be making up his critique as he goes along. This improvised quality comes through clearly in the ABC News Political Radar blog report on Barack Obama's appearance earlier this week in Cape Girardeau:

Last night my daughter and I helped save lives. The youth group from our church joined two other churches at Feed My Starving Children (a Minnesota based NPO) to donate a little of our time. The face of America in the world does not always have a helmet over it.

This organization is brilliant. Their target is severely impoverished countries like Haiti, and severely malnourished people. (One of the most common foods in Haiti is a cake made from clay with a bit of sugar.) FMSC employed food scientists to develop a formula for a high nutrition, low cost meal that can be transported and stored easily, and prepared in primitive situations.

The Wall Street Journal has a little different take on the recent special election loss than my friend Kevin does.

If there is such a thing as a useful election defeat, then Tuesday's Republican loss in a special House election in Mississippi would qualify. Maybe this thumping in a heretofore safe GOP seat will finally scare the Members straight, or at least less crooked.

Democrats won with 54% of the vote in a district that a Republican won with 66% in 2006 and that President Bush carried in 2004 by 25 points. It was the GOP's third special election loss this year, and it has Democrats predicting that November will be another rout of 2006 proportions. Oklahoma's Tom Cole, who runs the National Republican Congressional Committee, captured the GOP reaction when he declared that "There is no district that is safe for Republican candidates."

Andy Birkey at the Minnesoros Monitor takes umbrage at the Minnesota Family Council’s response to the Legslture’s Sex Ed bill:

Part of the Family Council’s objections to a comprehensive sex education bill is that it would teach teens about certain sex acts and the risks inherent in those acts. The group opposes sex education that includes anal sex and anal-oral sex — a point it makes clear in its robo-calls. However, the bill itself would not mandate the teaching of these sex acts, only the teaching of “medically accurate and age-appropriate” sexual health information with curriculum decisions left to parents and school boards.

Politico offers Republicans six ways that they can save the GOP, but yesterday provided them at least one concrete opportunity that they squandered. The House passed the latest farm bill with a veto-proof majority, bloating the budget with subsidies during a period where crops receive record prices. Instead of trimming fat from the budget, House Republicans joined Democrats in feeding special interests:

The House yesterday passed a final version of a new five-year farm bill by a vote of 318 to 106, a margin large enough to override President Bush’s promised veto of the nearly $300 billion measure.

The bipartisan show of support came after intense lobbying by a coalition that included farm groups, anti-hunger advocates, environmental organizations and the biofuels industry. While continuing traditional farm subsidy programs, the bill increases spending on nutrition programs such as food stamps by $10.4 billion.

I’ve been pondering this after reading about the NRCC lost 3 straight special elections. The answer is now clear. It’s time to stop pussyfooting around. It’s time to start rebuilding. I’m not worrying about Minnesota House seats. John Kline and Michele Bachmann will be fine. Erik Paulsen should keep MN-3 in GOP hands. What I’m worrying about is having leaders who don’t give a damn about Reagan’s principles. It’s been fashionable this year to dismiss Reagan. Ed Rollins started it. Mich Daniels told us to get over Reagan.

The day the Republican Party forgets about what Ronald Reagan stood for is the day that the Republican Party becomes Liberal Lite. Some think it’s already there. I’m not sure I’d disagree, though I’m not that fatalistic.

.....at least that appears to be the new motto for the GOP. What's more, leadership at all levels of the GOP have started engraving "Abandon Faith All Ye Who Enter Here" above their offices and are sending out resumes to anyone that will listen. The third straight special election loss for the GOP doesn't exactly give one warm fuzzies about November. Already there are those that are claiming that 2008 will be 1994 in reverse, and they have no shortage of reasons to think so.

1. Mall of America executives, planning a $2 billion expansion of the mall, are continuing to press for nearly $400 million in state subsidies. Mall officials warn that the mall has "no chance of being built" if the subsidies are not given. If they have such a crummy business plan, maybe they just shouldn't bother.

2. What are the folks who own the Mall of America going to do if they don’t get their state subsidy — build Phase II in Iowa?

If this is an example of the political competence of Tom Daschle, then it leaves little doubt as to how he led his party to lose the Senate as well as his own seat. CNN interviewed Daschle on the occasion of John Edwards’ endorsement of Barack Obama, and Daschle almost seems beside himself with glee as he explains the impact of Edwards’ delegates on Obama’s nomination:

Tuesday, President Bush sat down for an interview with Politico.com and Yahoo, the first presidential interview with online new services. One of the things he commented on was Jimmy Carter’s destructive (my word, not his) role in the Middle East. Here’s what President Bush said:

He criticized former President Jimmy Carter for suggesting an approach to Middle East involvement that Bush described as “if you want to be popular in the Middle East, just go blame Israel for every problem.” “That will make you popular,” he said. “Popularity is fleeting. … Principles are forever.”

This is more than a characterization of Carter’s mindset. It’s the Democrats’ approach to foreign policy. Their’s is a let’s do what’s popular while it’s popular approach.

Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, held a press teleconference today in response to the third straight special-election loss this year. Losing Roger Wicker’s Mississippi seat stunned the House GOP caucus, which now has three more seats to recover in what looks like a very bad year for Republicans. They elected to go directly to Q&A after an initial greeting from Rep. Cole.

• Pacifica Radio: How do you change the strategy after MS? — Cole says he needs to take a long, hard look to see if something’s wrong with the product. He thinks the voters mostly agree with Republicans but simply don’t trust the GOP to follow their own rhetoric. The conference needs to do a better job establishing credibility, and McCain could help with his own personal integrity. The caucus needs to fight on principle. He notes that the Democrats who beat them mostly ran against their own party.