Well the House DFL is leaving little to the imagination of what it looks like inside the mind of a utopian. That is, what does the agenda look like from someone who has no basis of using practical real world cause and effect and instead relies entirely on feelings to govern.

Its always a good indicator that a policy is flawed when, in order to get enough support to pass legislation, you have to insert exclusions for special interests who would be harmed upon implementation…. (emphasis mine)

The Minnesota House and Senate have agreed to an energy bill that includes a 1.5 percent solar energy standard for investor-owned utilities.

[...]

The conference committee working out differences between the two bills decided on a 1.5 percent solar energy standard that will take effect sooner. Investor-owned utilities, such as Xcel Energy, must meet the standard by the end of 2020. Iron mining facilities and paper mills are exempt, as are electricity co-ops and municipal utilities.

Here’s a response from House Republicans on the issue.

St. Paul- Reps. Tim O’Driscoll (R-Sartell) and Pat Garofalo (R-Farmington) issued the following statements upon passage of the conference committee report for the Jobs, Commerce, Housing, and Energy Omnibus bill. HF 729 passed by a vote of 73-59 and the conference committee report now heads to the Senate for final passage.

“I was disappointed to find excessive wasteful spending for inefficient government programs in this bill which is inaccurately titled a ‘jobs’ bill. HF 729 is a hodgepodge of state programs and initiatives that will spend millions in taxpayer dollars and only kill jobs or drive them elsewhere through higher taxes, fees and energy rates. The special interests that benefit from this bill will result in others losing out, including a special group of employees that will receive much higher unemployment benefits than the average Minnesotan,” said Rep. O’Driscoll.

“Democrats passed energy mandates tonight that will result in higher energy costs for hardworking Minnesotans. Democrats are forcing consumers to use energy that nobody wants, everyone will pay for, and no one can afford,” added Rep. Garofalo.

Meanwhile, on the real energy crisis that affects Minnesotans TODAY….

Prices around the metro and across Minnesota jumped well above $4 a gallon Wednesday. Prices at some stations around the metro were listed at $4.19 a gallon, while other stations were reported to be slightly higher.

According to AAA, the highest average price on record for the state is $3.98, that was in 2008. Minnesota, Wisconsin, North Dakota, Michigan, Illinois and the West Coast are holding the highest gas prices in the country right now.

AAA says higher crude oil prices are partly to blame for the price hike, but refinery maintenance both planned and unplanned in the Midwest and West Coast caused those prices to go up.

AAA says we might not get relief at the pump until July 4.

This is not on the list of things the DFL is worried about. In fact, they are proposing a gas tax increase as well as driving related fee increases to pad their special interest slush funds and bailout packages.

Is this what you voted for Minnesota?

Today’s America is seemingly looking and feeling much more like the Colonies that were once ruled by a King.

The unanimous Declaration of the thirteen united States of America,

When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.–That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, –That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.–Such has been the patient sufferance of these Colonies; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former Systems of Government. The history of the present King of Great Britain is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over these States. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.

He has refused his Assent to Laws, the most wholesome and necessary for the public good.
He has forbidden his Governors to pass Laws of immediate and pressing importance, unless suspended in their operation till his Assent should be obtained; and when so suspended, he has utterly neglected to attend to them.
He has refused to pass other Laws for the accommodation of large districts of people, unless those people would relinquish the right of Representation in the Legislature, a right inestimable to them and formidable to tyrants only.
He has called together legislative bodies at places unusual, uncomfortable, and distant from the depository of their public Records, for the sole purpose of fatiguing them into compliance with his measures.
He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.
He has refused for a long time, after such dissolutions, to cause others to be elected; whereby the Legislative powers, incapable of Annihilation, have returned to the People at large for their exercise; the State remaining in the mean time exposed to all the dangers of invasion from without, and convulsions within.
He has endeavoured to prevent the population of these States; for that purpose obstructing the Laws for Naturalization of Foreigners; refusing to pass others to encourage their migrations hither, and raising the conditions of new Appropriations of Lands.
He has obstructed the Administration of Justice, by refusing his Assent to Laws for establishing Judiciary powers.
He has made Judges dependent on his Will alone, for the tenure of their offices, and the amount and payment of their salaries.
He has erected a multitude of New Offices, and sent hither swarms of Officers to harrass our people, and eat out their substance.
He has kept among us, in times of peace, Standing Armies without the Consent of our legislatures.
He has affected to render the Military independent of and superior to the Civil power.
He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation:
For Quartering large bodies of armed troops among us:
For protecting them, by a mock Trial, from punishment for any Murders which they should commit on the Inhabitants of these States:
For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world:
For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent:
For depriving us in many cases, of the benefits of Trial by Jury:
For transporting us beyond Seas to be tried for pretended offences
For abolishing the free System of English Laws in a neighbouring Province, establishing therein an Arbitrary government, and enlarging its Boundaries so as to render it at once an example and fit instrument for introducing the same absolute rule into these Colonies:
For taking away our Charters, abolishing our most valuable Laws, and altering fundamentally the Forms of our Governments:
For suspending our own Legislatures, and declaring themselves invested with power to legislate for us in all cases whatsoever.
He has abdicated Government here, by declaring us out of his Protection and waging War against us.
He has plundered our seas, ravaged our Coasts, burnt our towns, and destroyed the lives of our people.
He is at this time transporting large Armies of foreign Mercenaries to compleat the works of death, desolation and tyranny, already begun with circumstances of Cruelty & perfidy scarcely paralleled in the most barbarous ages, and totally unworthy the Head of a civilized nation.
He has constrained our fellow Citizens taken Captive on the high Seas to bear Arms against their Country, to become the executioners of their friends and Brethren, or to fall themselves by their Hands.
He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.

In every stage of these Oppressions We have Petitioned for Redress in the most humble terms: Our repeated Petitions have been answered only by repeated injury. A Prince whose character is thus marked by every act which may define a Tyrant, is unfit to be the ruler of a free people.

Nor have We been wanting in attentions to our Brittish brethren. We have warned them from time to time of attempts by their legislature to extend an unwarrantable jurisdiction over us. We have reminded them of the circumstances of our emigration and settlement here. We have appealed to their native justice and magnanimity, and we have conjured them by the ties of our common kindred to disavow these usurpations, which, would inevitably interrupt our connections and correspondence. They too have been deaf to the voice of justice and of consanguinity. We must, therefore, acquiesce in the necessity, which denounces our Separation, and hold them, as we hold the rest of mankind, Enemies in War, in Peace Friends.

We, therefore, the Representatives of the united States of America, in General Congress, Assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge of the world for the rectitude of our intentions, do, in the Name, and by Authority of the good People of these Colonies, solemnly publish and declare, That these United Colonies are, and of Right ought to be Free and Independent States; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to the British Crown, and that all political connection between them and the State of Great Britain, is and ought to be totally dissolved; and that as Free and Independent States, they have full Power to levy War, conclude Peace, contract Alliances, establish Commerce, and to do all other Acts and Things which Independent States may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the protection of divine Providence, we mutually pledge to each other our Lives, our Fortunes and our sacred Honor.

Andy Aplikowski – January 16, 2013

I am growing tired of “my Government” treating me like a criminal.

I can’t even watch the news anymore with out hearing someone proclaim that Americans must be treated like criminals in order to keep us all safe. Ban gun sales, transfers, and require registration (for a later confiscation). But of course, don’t disarm the police.

I feel like I am watching TV in some other country where a new dictator is afraid of the public. We are being culled like cattle. Disarmed. Our movements limited. Our choices predetermined.

What the hell is going on in this country?

With Republicans Like These, Who Needs Democrats? 

If Washington Republicans would spend a few weeks outside of the DC beltway and media cone of disinformation broadcasts from their propaganda machine, they’d realize that America was not salivating at the idea of permanently increasing taxes on our most successful people and businesses making the US less competitive for the best and brightest in this global economy we live in.

If only the Washington Republicans had just looked at the fact that Republicans will be selecting the next Speaker of the US House since they were sent back with a majority in 2012 by voters and the uber liberal Democrats were not…..

Only in the mind of a Washington Republican can  you believe that the same voters who allegedly gave Obama and Harry Reid mandates also reelected a Republican House Majority to sit in the corner and rubberstamp socialisms march in America.

Washington Republicans were so paranoid by the pressures of reelection or polling or something that they allowed the media confusion of the issues to force them to literally author a major plank of socialism, redistribution.

From each according to their ability to each according to their needs. 

For more bad news and why the McConnell/Boehner deal is so bad read this and this

Of course we also need to be reminded that Government is trying to solve a problem that Government actually created and here we are allowing them to try to fix it but sticking us with a bill for THEIR promises of free this and that.

Spending will continue to skyrocket under this “Republican Plan”. No cuts, no reforms, no sunsetting…. But tax increases are now the law of the land.

With Republicans Like These, Who Needs Democrats?

Whoops, too late.

Obama, Boehner move closer to ‘cliff’ deal

Its almost like Nancy Pelosi is still Speaker.

Hey John, its the spending you idiot. You suck at poker, now stop trying to gamble with the future of our Country. You’re playing with socialists, solving the problem is not their goal, socialism is. They’ll take whatever you give them that’s closer to Communism than Capitalism, so give them nothing.

If you don’t have the spine to do so, resign. You’ve done enough damage already.

Meet The Rich & Then What – UPDATE

The Numbers Don’t Support Taxing The Rich As A Fiscal Cliff Solution

Too busy to blog am I too.

But what do you need to know besides Pat Kessler is a biased hack?

“I’m still not completely clear why people don’t like her.” Pat Kessler WCCO political reporter.

Listen to this segment of the Dan Barreiro show with Pat Kessler. Jump ahead to 28:30 in the tape to where Dan let’s Kessler “get something off his chest.”

Susan Rice is the current United States Ambassador to the United Nations. She was sent out by the Obama administration to blame American citizens for a terrorist attack. The Obama administration wasn’t just operating on bad information, they wanted to change the facts of the case to make Americans look bad.

If Pat Kessler either doesn’t know why people don’t want Susan Rice to represent us on the world diplomatic stage as Secretary of State, or is too lazy to figure it out….

My head is about to explode.

Conservatives and Republicans need to refuse to talk to Kessler from now on. His bias and hackery is with out apology now.

Chris Matthews and Donna Brazile are more impartial than Pat Kessler.

Good news to all of you brothers and sisters out there who just want to enjoy the same freedoms as the breeders. You will be able to get married soon if you vote no.

That’s right ladies and gentleman, the Minnesota media is doing their duty and every single time a center right point of view manages to vreep through the filters, they will make sure equal billing is given to the liberals. In fact, they will let the liberals respond to the conservatives with no rebuttal so….

The bias in the coverage of the marriage amendment is clear from the start. Its not a proposal to ban gay marriage, by statute that is already in place. What this amendment aims to do is simply protect marriage as the union of one man and one woman. While it should have provided for civil unions, it does not prevent them.

But instead we are getting the gay bully treatment where people…

Screw it, I have to get back to work. This is what we are coming to as a nation, where unless you conform, you will be bullied. Accept homosexuality as the new mainstream or we will bully you into submission….

How else can you take the weekend talking points from the Obama admin’s UN Ambassador?

“In Cairo, as you know, a few hours earlier, there was a violent protest that was undertaken in reaction to this very offensive video that was disseminated,” Rice said, referring to protests in Egypt Tuesday over a film that depicts the Prophet Muhammad as a fraud. Protesters in Cairo breached the walls of the U.S. Embassy, tearing apart an American flag.

The American President is now blaming Americans for this. Fanning the flames of Anti-American hatred simply to stake out political wins.

Disgusting. Simply shameful to actually throw Americans under the bus to pander to radicals.

This could be used as a turning point, as a chance to help force moderate factions in that part of the world falling prey to the radical Muslim totalitarians to band together and oust these fanatics. To teach Muslims that when you feel slighted the first thing you do isn’t go run out in the streets and break stuff, rape women, and murder people.

These attacks were anti-American in every single nature. The details of exactly ho wseriously the Obama admin was taking the security of our foreign diplomats is very disappointing.

All signs of this tragedy point blame back to 1600 Pennsylvania so of course Obama is going to trot out his people who are supposed to be non-partisan to point political blame to his political opponents.

The American ambassador to the United Nations just spent the weekend going on American TV blaming Americans for the murder …… The world watching and Obama blames us.

It worked, I accidently took some night time sinus/allergy meds last night and slept through the DNC speeches, but I’m still physically ill to know that some of my fellow Americans are working to erase what makes America America.

The desire and rewards for striving for and achieving success.

Being handed something isn’t what makes Americans do something. The sound bites, clips, and reactions I have been hearing this morning make me sick. Its what you would expect to hear coming out of the Soviet Union, Europe, or some other failed socialist part of the world.

Why is it that Democrats get to call people unpatriotic and unAmerican, but Republicans can’t?

Oh yeah, because the media are a bunch of sympathetic socialists themselves and are eating up this closet communism with a spork.

I expect class envy, demands for redistribution, and caps on the standard of living coming out of the Communist Party, but not from a once great party that also believed in freedom and liberty.

Its just sad to know that some people in the Democrat party who claim to be opposed to socialism, can’t bring themselves to realize that they don’t have to leave the Democrat party, the party has left them.

Full blown fringe left extremism is on display in Charlotte.

The Democratic vision for America under a second term of Obama is taking us further away from what made America great, where there are no longer rewards for success, risk, and entrepreneurship.

Predefined outcomes and unequal lifting. The United Communes of America is the goal for Democrats. Where the have nots no longer have to worry or try because the haves will have theirs taken away and redistributed.

From each according to the means to each according to their needs.

An early name  that was being considered for this blog was: For needs not wants.

Everyone wants to be fat and happy, figuratively. But what happens to a society when everyone that wants a Lamborgini gets one? Oh, here’s the dirty little secret, not everyone will live like Bill Gates, Barbara Streissand, & Tom Hanks under Obama’s vision of America. Not everyone will have to shop at the grocery store that Michelle Obama would approve of.

You see, in the Soviet Union while the huddled masses stood in lines for their rationed loaves of bread, the elite aristocracy of Communist power were relieving themselves in solid gold toilets. John Edwards was right on mark with his phrase of 2 Americas the only problem is that its “Progressives” who have that vision. One for the leaders and one for them.

Rich people shouldn’t be rich anymore in Obama’s America. They shouldn’t buy fancy cars, yachts, take trips to posh resorts, or eat and uber fancy restaurants. The very same things and places that Americans make  good money working at or making, nope, in Obama’s America that guy or gal who can afford to buy that 6 figure care or stay at that 5 star hotel penthouse should have that money taken away. CEOs should be punished and have their pay tied to that of the workers. Don’t base Executive pay by performance or success, but rather worker satisfaction.

Ugh, its sickening to think about what Democrats have planned for America. Oh and if you are a Democrat who thinks I am wrong, please point out how your President and Congressional leaders aren’t pushing full throated socialism.

They want to tell me what car to drive, where to live,m what to eat, what light bulb to use, what to watch, what to read, what to think, and who to like.

You don’t want the climate to change, do you? You have to support affordable health care……