"John McClane: You know what you get for being a hero? Nothin'. You get shot at. You get a little pat on the back, blah, blah, blah, attaboy. You get divorced. Your wife can't remember your last name. Your kids don't want to talk to you. You get to eat a lot of meals by yourself. Trust me, kid, nobody wants to be that guy. Matt Farrell: Then why you doing this? John McClane: Because there's no body else to do it right now, that's why. Believe me, if there were somebody else to do it, I'd let them do it, but there's not. So we're doing it. Matt Farrell: Ah. That's what makes you that guy. "
"The era of small government is over ... government has to be more proactive, more aggressive." ( Tim Pawlenty2006)
"You're just petty politicians, who'd sooner sign onto the wisdom of a tyrant in another country, than the demands of ticked off voters in your own." (Neil CavutoJune 2008)
“I didn’t question her patriotism. I questioned her judgment.”
Mr. Cheney went on: “The point I made and I’ll make it again is that Al Qaeda functions on the basis that they think they can break our will. That’s their fundamental underlying strategy, that if they can kill enough Americans or cause enough havoc, create enough chaos in Iraq, then we’ll quit and go home. And my statement was that if we adopt the Pelosi policy, that then we will validate the strategy of Al Qaeda. I said it, and I meant it.”
(Vice President Cheney NYT Feb. 2007)
"A political party cannot be all things to all people. It must represent certain fundamental beliefs which must not be compromised to political expediency, or simply to swell its numbers. (Ronald Reagan March 1, 1975)
"Oh, no! First of all, if I took one vote away from a serious candidate, it would be a sin." (Al Franken Time Magazine, 9/1/03)
I started writing something last week about the future of the Republican Party of Minnesota. What it needs to change, stop doing, and the lessons it must realize and come to accept.
And not just lessons that need to be learned by the people who hold election certificates, elected party leaders, señor staff, strategists, advisers, etc., but also the lessons that the activists and base need to understand. What its is that sets us apart, in a negative way, from Democrats when it comes to party operations.
I’m still working on my piece and trying to decide if I actually want to publish or release it. I’m debating my future in the party, as far as being active in the party side of things. This piece is helping me work through that decision in my head. But its more like an open letter, or a speech I’d love to give.
But I am curious as to what you all think we should do differently, not at all, or start doing. Or maybe you think everything is just fine. Please share.
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.
“Why do we guard our banks and stadiums better than we do our schools?”
Set aside all else you are thinking about in the “gun violence debate” and ask your self that question and answer it.
This is a great video letter by Mills Fleet Farm where they expose the hypocrisy of 3 of Minnesotas liberal Democrats in Congress who are trying to restrict the 2nd Amendment. It points out crucial facts about what types of guns they want to take away, but what kind of damage the ones they don’t want to restrict can still do.
WASHINGTON — With 2013 bringing tax increases on the incomes of a small sliver of the richest Americans, the country’s top earners now face a heavier tax burden than at any time since Jimmy Carter was president.
The last-minute deal struck by the departing 112th Congress raised taxes on a handful of the highest-earning Americans, with about 99.3 percent of households experiencing no change in their income taxes. But the Tax Policy Center estimates that the average family in the top 1 percent will pay a federal tax rate of more than 36 percent this year, up from 28 percent in 2008. That is the highest rate since 1979, at least.
Heck of a job John Boehner.
Why do I dare demean America by calling us socialist? Because “Progressivism” is somewhere between socialism and communism.
Got an email from someone’s HR about the new tax rates.
My response.
Its just the beginning. Even Tom Petters & Bernie Maddow know we are hosed as a country. We can’t even balance the budget in one year, let alone pay down the debt or liabilities.
Congress has 2 months to pretend its all ok. The next fight is the debt ceiling. If it doesn’t get increased, everyone will see massive tax hikes. We’re running over a trillion in the red. All of the tax increases passed on Tuesday don’t come close to bringing in another trillion. When they were talking people earning over $250K a year it ‘supposedly’ would be $82 Billion a year in revenue. They shrunk that pool so it won’t even come that close. To quote Clint Eastwood “This is the greatest hoax ever perpetrated on the American people”
This “deal” will run its course in just weeks. The dangnamit Republicans should have let us go off cliff so cuts would have been made and everyone would have felt the pain of having to pay for kid in the candy store government. Instead everyone is just annoyed but still addicted to the government cheese. Don’t cut my program. Don’t raise MY taxes. Tax that guy over there and give it to me.
That’s because payroll taxes will increase on most workers after Congress decided not to reverse an expiration of a payroll tax cut – a development that was largely expected. Payroll taxes rose to 6.2% under the deal, from 4.2% last year.
The nonpartisan Tax Policy Center estimates that 77% of Americans will see higher taxes because of the elimination of the payroll tax cut, meaning $115 billion less in disposable income. …
A household making $50,000 to 75,000 a year will make $822 less this year than last year, according to Rosenberg’s calculations. Those making $75,000 to $100,000 will see $1,206 less in their paychecks, while those making $200,000 to $500,000 will see a drop of $2,711 in their paychecks.
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.
Rather than keep kicking the can down the road, Obama and Republicans agreed to just kick the fiscal sanity can off a cliff once and for all.
Which is such great news America. Yep, taxes raised on the uber successful… er rich so they can pay “their fair share” which is exponentially higher and a larger share of the overall financial burden than the rest of Americans…. Which we also just saw in France has an equal and opposite result…..
Oh and spending cuts are not an option, and oh yeah, Obama will not take no on a Debt limit increase….
Which is of course, elevating the fiscal cliff America will continue to face…..
Facts have been withheld from this entire fiscal cliff debate. So have honesty and rationality.
America got screwed last night.
Washington avoided accountability for their decades of floating checks and promises for power and to win elections.
Need immigrant voters: Push amnesty and demonize anyone who just wants to secure our porous borders.
Need senior votes: Refuse to address the Medicare & Social Security insolvency problems and demonize anyone who wants to begin the necessary reforms to protect future generations.
Need young vote: Push gay marriage and demonize anyone who wants simply to define traditional marriage by painting them as the evil that wore white hoods and murdered people for their skin color.
Need hard core anti-Capitalist voters: Push for socialist redistribution tax rates and demonize anyone who wants to protect America’s greatest asset, its mighty economy, from those who see it as its greatest evil.
The fiscal cliff was about un-sustainability in federal spending and liabilities. What happened last night did nothing to address either of those, just check off one of the political to-do’s of the radical leftist socialists.
Its very disappointing that the people who voted yes last night did so after taking an oath to defend this country from all enemies, foreign AND domestic.
I was forwarded the Anoka County Watchdog email today and asked to read it. This portion of this week’s email is very important for everyone to read and remember the next time the election cycle heats up and the same people are telling us how and who we need to win.
Just take a look at campaign finance reports. To be honest, there are some flat-out
embarrassing fundraising numbers in there. You can’t win without the proper resources.
It’s that simple. It’s a fact that some candidates lost because they didn’t raise
enough money and/or didn’t door knock hard enough.
And that’s not anyone’s fault except the candidate’s. The candidate alone is responsible
for the effort. The result is influenced by many factors but a strong effort on
the part of the candidate is often times a necessary ingredient, especially for
Republicans, who have no “gimme” seats.
Which brings us to the amendments. Simply put, the amendments backfired, failing
to deliver the turnout punch many had hoped for.
In fact, the amendments went the other way, motivating turnout for the crowd opposed
to the amendments.
The Watchdog spoke with a political operative who was involved with a liberal organization
working to elect DFLers to the legislature.
This operative was of the strong opinion that the amendments, especially the marriage
amendment, increased DFL voter enthusiasm, especially in college areas.
He chalked up the defeat of Rep. King Banian (R-Saint Cloud) to the amendment battle,
as well as the legislative losses of both Travis Reimche and Phil Hansen in the
Moorhead area.
In addition to firing up college crowds, the gay marriage amendment no doubt helped
to contribute to the gender gap the GOP experienced.
Moreover, the campaigns for both these amendments were horribly executed. The people
responsible for these campaigns were outraised, outspent, outhustled, outworked,
and outthought.
Remember, the forces behind these amendments had the initiative. The ballot questions
were selected and passed by the legislature at the time of their choosing.
The ball got fumbled in a big way and many people paid a price for it.
To watch the photo ID amendment drop like a rock in the polls made both the Emmer
and Bills campaigns look like Karl Rove masterpieces.
Talk about a need to rethink things. We thought the Emmer campaign was the worst
major campaign in party history. And then came the Bills campaign. And then came
the photo ID campaign. And the marriage amendment campaign.
Four catastrophic campaigns in back to back cycles.
We’re making it way, way too easy for the Left. This has got to stop.
May these people never work in politics again. Find another line of work.
We all have been feeling it. Something wasn’t right. They kept saying in the news that the economy was back, that shoppers were out in force, that everything was ok and people were thrilled Obama was reelected.
But people aren’t out there shopping, they are looking for something for nothing. Seeking out huge deals and only showing up for the loss leaders, not big ticket items at full retail. We’re the discount bin nation now. We have learned patience. Why buy something at full price that will be obsolete today when you can get it next week at 40%?
Add to that the awakening on how bad the fiscal mess in Washington is, Americans are finally realizing that the chickens of the great society are finally coming home to roost. The average Joe’s out there on the street are starting to dig down to see the truth, not the spoon fed lies of the media, to see that the next few years are going to be very VERY bad for America.
Obamacare is coming to tax us to “health”. Obama’s scam payroll tax credit is ending, and rightly so as that was money not going to the Social Security Fund. Income taxes are going to go up. Businesses will not be looking at wage or benefit increases with all the red tape and added costs thanks to Obama.
Let’s also not overlook that not all electoral capitulation was done in Washington, in Minnesota Democrats rode the socialist GOTV wave to winning single party rule of all levels of Government. uHaul is now the busiest business in Minnesota as the question is not if taxes will be raised, but how how. Not if money will be wasted by the social engineers on trains and other useless stuff, but how many more billion dollar boondoggles that make traffic worse are going to be added..
Americans are finally looking in the mirror and realizing that the party is over, that the bills are going to come due. That this Christmas was not going to be on someone else’s credit card.
The stark reality Americans are facing is that the fiscal cliff is not located in Washington, and that the only way out of the mess created by promises made for votes cast is that literally everyone has to pay their fair share.
As I have pointed out, even if you took every penny away from the rich, you would only balance the budget for one year.
Merry Thriftmas America. Its a miracle. You woke up and you finally realized things aren’t all rosy, but it may be too late.
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.
