Belated Grammy Award Announced: Pinal Co. Sheriff Paul Babeu and his Lover Jose

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences have announced a belated Grammy Award for hypocrite duet of the year going to Pinal Co Skinhead Sheriff Paul Babeu and his illegal alien lover Jose. ABC News reported:

"A sheriff who has gained notoriety as an outspoken opponent of illegal immigration has stepped down from his post as the Romney campaign’s Arizona co-chair after allegations surfaced that he threatened his ex-boyfriend with deportation.

Paul Babeu, 43, who serves as sheriff in Pinal County in Southern Arizona, rose to prominence when the then-first term sheriff appeared in campaign advertisements with John McCain in 2010. The pair walked along a border fence, which McCain had vowed to complete. Babeu tells him: “Senator, you’re one of us.”..." http://abcnews.go.com/blogs/politics/2012/02/az-sheriff-quits-romney-campaign-after-ex-boyfriends-accusations/

Now for the first time in public I give you the Skinhead Sheriff Paul Babeu and Jose:


(feat. Jose)

[Paul:]
Havin' my Babeu
What a lovely way of sayin'
How much you love me
Havin' my Babeu
What a lovely way of sayin'
What you're thinkin' of me
I can see it, face is glowin'
I can see in your eyes
I'm happy you know it

[Both:]
That you're havin' my Babeu

[Paul:]
You're the woman I love
And I love what it's doin' to ya

[Both:]
Havin' my Babeu

[Paul:]
You're a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through ya

[Paul:]
The need inside you
I see it showin'
Whoa, the seed inside ya
Babeu, do you feel it growin'
Are you happy you know it
That you're

[Both:]
Havin' my Babeu

[Jose:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what it's doin' to me

[Both:]
Havin' my Babeu

[Jose:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through me

[Paul:]
Didn't have to keep it
Wouldn't put ya through it
You could have swept it from you life
But you wouldn't do it
No, you wouldn't do it

[Both:]
And you're havin' my Babeu

[Jose:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what it's doin' to me

[Both:]
Havin' my Babeu

[Jose:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through me

[Paul:]
Havin' my Babeu (havin' my Babeu)
What a lovely way of sayin'
How much you love me

[Paul:]
Havin' my Babeu
(havin' my Babeu)

[Jose:]
I'm a woman in love
And I love what's goin' through

Forest Lake Police Should Revoke Rookie Cops Firearm Privileges

In the most recent edition of City Pages is an article about "...a Forest Lake police officer who shot two collared, domesticated deer on private property about 50 feet from a house. First-year policeman Brent Degroot told his superiors that he almost crashed his vehicle into one of the deer while on early morning patrol last month. He then used a shotgun to kill both of them." See the article and my comments at http://blogs.citypages.com/blotter/2012/02/brent_degroot_forest_lake_policeman_shoots_domesticated_deer_jeff_carpenter.php#comments



Lawyer who hunts

There are so many violations of state wildlife and firearm laws I do not even know where to begin. This officer should have his firearm privileges revoked in light of his poor judgment. Although I am a lawyer, most citizens of the State of Minnesota know you cannot just take matters into your hands and kill wildlife you deem are causing a hazard. You are required to contact the DNR and let them handle it. Furthermore you are not allowed to discharge a firearm within 500 feet of an occupied building or dwelling. The idea that this person is authorized to use lethal force by virtue of his status as a law enforcement officer, in light of his incredible ignorance of the law and poor judgment is absolutely frightening. I established the precedent for police liability for taking private property in this state so I know a little of what I speak. There is still the question of whether the citizen should have domesticated the deer and/or whether they had a property right in them.

Syria Vows to end Crackdown, Greek Government Agrees to Abide By EU Conditions, and a Republican Jobs Program

Name something that that doesn't exist and two that ain't gonna happen.

Dems: "We Take Care of Our Own!" GOP: Turning Swans Into Crows

Oh yeah....HUH HUH HUH Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own We take care of our own
We take care of our own We take care of our own We take care of our own We take care of our own We take care of our own Wherever this flag's flown
Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own We take care of our own Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own We take care of our own

(Hey Republicans ask yourself: Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea Where's the spirit that'll reign, reign over me) Where's the promise, from sea to shining sea
(Question was that the Republican Jobs bill last Friday? Tort Reform?)
HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH HUH


Gov. Mark Dayton didn't just veto four "tort-reform" bills
passed by the Republican-controlled Legislature this morning.

He shredded the bills and GOP leadership.

"These were laughably characterized as jobs bills," Dayton said.

"Calling a crow a swan doesn’t make it one."

The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows

The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows

Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own Wherever this flag's flown We take care of our own

The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows
TThe GOP Turning Swans Into Crows The GOP Turning Swans Into Crows

President Wins One for Old Notre Dame and in MN Score Four for the 4%ers (i.e. the Little Guys)

If you have not read my profile or figured out by now from my writings, like Harvey Levin says on the closing credits of TMZ: "I'm a lawyer". My current job description requires that I keep abreast and research all aspects of the law as well as state and federal legislation and their respective regulatory processes.

I know for instance that the President was on the level when he said that no decision had been made on a final contraception policy when he initially made his announcement about a week ago. That's because the Federal Rulemaking process is a multi-step process which requires, in part, an agency to:

Sign and publish notice of proposed rule in Federal Register, conduct stakeholder outreach, manage public comments on proposed rule, review and consider public comments, statutory and executive order requirements, optional agency procedures (e.g., supplemental proposal), conduct internal and external deliberation and approval processes, publish final rules in Federal Register and lastly, to again conduct stakeholder outreach. (Source: GAO Report to the House Oversight and Government Reform Committee April 2009 citing EPA.)

This process can normally take up to one year and we were only at the very early, initiating policy stage of the process. The President, in response to heated and unfair criticisms and pure demagoguery, certainly sped up the commentary and deliberative processes but the actual reg still needs to be written and follow the approval process. This is how the system works.

I listened to the President's announcement yesterday live on the radio and I thought the President laid his case out like a skilled litigator and cut his opponents off at their knees. I challenge anyone to listen to his entire announcement and dispute the pragmatism and wisdom of his compromise and solution to a difficult and complex problem, in a pluralistic society, involving many stakeholders and rights including everything from individual health to the nation's economy to fundamental constitutional issues such as religious freedoms, privacy and libertarian ideals (i.e. control over one's own body not Ron Paul's convoluted notion of economic liberty and isolationism). High marks and fives to the President on this one.

Meanwhile back in Minnesota the Republicans who control the legislature tried to pull a fast one. Without an iota of a chance for passage and without following the normal legislative process, rushed to the Governor for signature four major pieces of legislation. Had the Republican majorities in both the Minnesota House and Senate had a Republican governor to rubber stamp their payback to their fat cat benefactors, the legislation would have become law. This would have had dramatic impacts on the Minnesota Judicial system, all to the detriment of the average citizen and all to the benefit of big business, insurance companies and wealthy elites who do not play by the rules.

Never mind that at least one of these one-sided pieces of legislative garbage was blatantly unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers. Never mind the fact that the Republicans believe that businesses and insurance companies deserve 10% interest on their judgments and ordinary citizens would have been relegated to only 4%. Well on behalf of all the 4%ers out there: Thank you Governor Dayton for your righteous vetoes. http://mn.gov/_live/governor/images/20120210_vetoletters.pdf

Wolverines: "Forget Michigan, We Prefer Minnesotans. They Taste Better!"

Watching the excellent PBS series Nature the other night reminded me how much I miss my parents. I would have loved to call them on the phone and tell them to turn on channel 2. The episode that aired locally the day before yesterday was entitled: "Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom". http://video.pbs.org/video/1558511285

The reason I wish my parents had lived to see this documentary on Wolverines is that it would have proven both my father and I correct. You see both my father and I are incredibly stubborn Germans. We are also bastions of useless information with good memories and we are rarely wrong. In other words, we are both insufferable to live with. Just ask my ex or my two children.

Flashback to the early 1990's and a cool but sunny spring day. I had stopped by my parents home just off West River Road in South Minneapolis for a visit and wound up taking the aging family dog, Max, a golden Retriever/German Shepherd mix, for one of our favorite pastimes, a walk along the banks of the Mississippi River.

Truly one of the greatest urban natural resources in the country, as Bob Dylan once wrote about ("I'm just sitting on this bank of sand and watching the river flow") and the great Minnesota party band, Lamont Cranston resurrected in spirit on its album "Upper Mississippi Shakedown", "...From the shores of the river you can't see the big city lights..." Max and I jumped the old decrepit WPA era chain link fence and raced down the steep banks of the wooded river gorge until we emerged from the woods and onto one of those banks of sand of which Bobby Zimmerman spoke.

After a nice walk along the shore, Max and I headed back up the steep river gorge near the sandstone cave by the big picnic area off West River Road. About half way up we were hit by a powerful, musky or funky smell, sort of a cross between a dead body and decaying fish smell. There in the trail in front of us was what looked like a flattened dead animal of some sort. It was dark brown with an outer ring of lighter hair which looked blondish grey.

Assuming from the smell and its flattened appearance that it was dead, but just to be sure, I kicked some of the wet muddy dirt of the trail onto the carcass. Much to Max's and my astonishment and terror, this "dead" animal leaped into the air and in one swift mover turned a 180 degree turn in mid air landing facing us snarling at us with gaping jaws.

Well Max and I did not have to be told twice. We high tailed it out of there taking a wide circle around the beast and fighting each other as to who would be first on the way up.

When we reached the old chain link fence demarking the lower trail, I picked up Max and hucked him over the fence and we ran back to my parent's house now about two and a half blocks away. Excited and out of breath I blurted the recent frightening developments to my parents who looked at me as if I was on drugs. Instead of joining in our excitement and enthusiasm, my father dismissed my story with a wave of his hand.

I'll never forget him yelling "there hasn't been a wolverine in these parts in 100 years!" About three days later Mom calls me laughing hysterically. I said what's up Mom and between gulps of air and laughter she manages to croak out, you'll never believe ..."your father is in his den with the encyclopedia out and shaking his head in disbelief, your and Max's Wolverine is in our back yard!" There must be something about Minnesotans that attract them. Watch the Nature documentary on PBS entitled "Wolverine: Chasing the Phantom"

Breaking News: Maturi Heeds the Great Roll Call and Finally Resigns!

The worst athletic director in the history of Golden Gopher sports, Joe Maturi has resigned. Not since Hosni Mubarek resigned have we seen a bigger despot leave the world stage!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Hallelujah! Hallelujah! Hallelujah!

Viscous Pre-Caucus Fluid* Seen Leaking From Luverne

On the eve of the biggest prize yet in the Republican presidential sweepstakes, the candidate that a drunken imbecile fool of a media personality, Glen Beck, once dubbed "a Churchill for our times", was seen emanating from a seedy movie theater in the Southwestern Minnesota town of Luverne yesterday.

Made famous by newspaper columnist Dan Savage in his column Savage Love, this obscure but frothy mixture of an ultra conservative, homophobic excuse for a former Senator from the Keystone State* was selling his body to the highest bidders in a cheap celluloid palace.

The evenings festivities got under way precisely at 7:00 PM proving that fascists were always capable of making the trains run on time. After a heart felt reading of their international anthem Deutschland über alles, the Neo-Nazis that make up the Minnesota Republican Party quickly got down to business passing on unanimous voice votes their plans to turn FEMA Camps into Serb style homosexual rape camps so their repressed members will finally be free to quit living the lie that they are Christians.

The evenings entertainment was a live sex act performed onstage between what looked like one of Katherine the Great's horses but was actually a soon to be former Minnesota State Senator and her bitch, former MN Republican Party Chair Boss Hog Sutton's little buddy, all set to the tune of "Brown Eyed Girl".

Following a very productive evening of debauchery, former MN gubernatorial candidate Allen Quist invited everyone over to the town's funeral parlour to engage in the Quist family version of scrap booking, i.e. carving fetuses out of corpses.**


*Definition: Santorum
Pronunciation: san-TOR-um
Pronunciation: san-TOR-um
Function: noun
Etymology:
Savage Love - 05/29/03

1. The frothy mixture of lube and fecal matter that is sometimes the by-product of anal sex.
2. Former Senator Rick Santorum


**Years ago, when Quist's first wife died while nearly seven months pregnant, Quist had the fetus removed from her body and displayed in an open casket so his family could properly grieve for an unborn child. It was one of a series of revelations from the '94 campaign--another was Quist's assertion that men had a "genetic predisposition" to rule the household--that torpedoed his primary bid after he'd been endorsed at the last GOP convention. It also fueled the notion that he is unelectable in Minnesota.
http://www.citypages.com/1998-06-24/books/the-brilliant-demise-of-allen-quist/

MN GOP Playing Politics With Appointments: the Two Parties Are Not "Just the Same"

We hear it all the time. I even hear it from my closest friends, people who I genuinely like and respect constantly say: "Oh they all do it" or "There is no difference between the two" or "They're just alike". Sometimes I think my friends say it just to get a rise out of me because they know nothing exasperates me more than this misinformed cop out.

No matter how many times I point out powerful, irrefutable examples of instances where Republicans have put personal, party, class and or special interests ahead of the country's interest, their response is always the same. Like the mindless drones from a B grade horror flick they continue to chant the mantra: "They all do it" as if a variation of the aspirational Nike commercial "Just do it".

No, actually Virgina , they are not just alike. Like a family court judge once told me the world is not black and white but a series of shades of grey. Well if this is true (which in the case of that family law matter was not, I was right and she was wrong) then the Republican Party is a very very very dark shade of grey and the Democrats are are very very very light shade of grey.

Case in point, this week the Minnesota Senate is going to refuse to approve Governor Dayton's choice to head the Public Utilities Commission, former State Senator Ellen Anderson. The capitol gossip is that the Republicans are in essence "firing" a highly qualified, intelligent and quintessential good person as "payback" for the DFL refusing to reappoint Governor Pawlenty's Lt. Governor, Carol Molnau to a second term as head of the Minnesota Department of Transportation. Now the uninformed would ignorantly throw up their hands and say: "You see, they all do it!"

There are just two small differences between the two actions: it was a huge and unprecedented conflict of interest for a Lieutenant Governor to also serve as commissioner of one of the state's largest and most critical departments, one in which she was wholly unqualified to run and which was done merely as a cost savings matter and number two, and this is a big one:

THE F#@KING BRIDGE COLLAPSED ON HER WATCH KILLING 13 PEOPLE!!!

It would have been professional malfeasance and dereliction of duty to reappoint such a buffoon and shame on Governor Good N Plenty for even nominating her for a second term.

So Virgina, if you cannot see nuances in this world, if both of the above actions seem equal to you, then Virgina my dear there is a Santa Claus.

Austerity Reshaping U.S. Political Landscape: Republicans More Than Willing to Throw America Under the Bus

Long time Washington Post political reporter Thomas Edsall's new book "The Age of Austerity: How Scarcity Will Remake American Politics" beautifully summarizes my observations of the body politic in this formerly great country of ours.

Wait a second, did you say formerly great? Yes I did. Well then, you admit that President Obama has been the direct cause of the decline of American civilization?

Hardly. Quite to the contrary. Rather it has been the forces of conservatism, largely Republicans, Tea Baggers if you will, and their push for all things Austerity at the very time when every past Congress and administration, Democrat and Republican alike, have increased spending on public works projects to spur the economy, to get it over the hump, until consumer spending kicks back in and prosperity returns for all.

Like the engineers at Three Mile Island, the know nothing Republicans, Tea Baggers and fiscal conservatives are operating under misinformation and doing the exact opposite of what is needed to pull us out of a dire situation. The false notion that severely curtailing budgets and balancing the budget at the federal level is the panacea to all our problems is in fact a recipe for disaster.

Unfortunately like Ronald Reagan adroitly and cynically proved, if you repeat a lie long enough to the ignorant and lazy American public, they will not only begin to believe it, they will embrace it. That is why all the stupid ignoramuses in this country think Reagan was some kind of great hero when in fact he was a brain addled idiot controlled by a martinet of a wife who screwed Frank Sinatra in the White House when he was out of town.

What does any of this have to do with Tom Edsall's new book? Not much. But it sure felt good getting it off my chest.

To see what Tom Edsall's new book is really like go to the PBS NewsHour site and watch or read the transcript of his excellent interview with Judy Woodruff.

http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/politics/jan-june12/ageofausterity_01-26.html

All the Best Canadian Oilmen Have Chinese Eyes

I am taking a peremptory strike here and admitting I took a little journalistic license in my last post. My dear sister who I dismissively labeled as "red state" is actually a bastion of beauty and intelligence in what at times can seem like an ugly and ignorant setting.

I mean their legislature did not have the smallest amount of constitutional knowledge that it would pass the most ridiculous knee jerk, xenophobic, hate-filled legislation calling for a ban on adopting Sharia law which was of course struck down by the appellate court.

What my sister actually asked me was why the President would kill the pipeline project when the Canadians were now going to sell all their oil to the Chinese. Like most Republican talking points, there is a kernel of truth to this story, a kernel in a silo of falsehood. What I believe the mass emailers are talking about is the first reaction to the denial of the Keystone permit by a Canadian proponent of the pipeline and government official.

Although the initial unthoughtful reaction was something to the effect that the Canadians would just now have to sell the oil to the Chinese, the official Canadian government reaction was much more realistic and measured and stated something to the effect that the Keystone project was not over, that there are plenty of other pipelines and methods of getting the oil to U.S. markets and in a global economy the Chinese are free to buy oil on the international market.

Besides, in my discussions with a geologist and head of an energy think tank, the beef against the Canadian oil sands is that while it is currently economically viable to extract the oil at $100 a barrel and up, like ethanol from corn, you expend almost as much energy and leave such a large carbon footprint in the process. Furthermore, they have not reached a compromise on bypassing the Sandhill region of Nebraska.

So there you have it. Pete Townsend eat your heart out.

Coat Hangers, Pipeline Jobs and No Taxes: Let's Be Serious, the Adult in the Room is Not Going to be a Repubulican

Let's get serious for a minute. I know, I know, it's not easy when a national humor magazine ran a faux headline last week: "Minnesota Braces for Bachmann 's Full Attention". As if on cue, Bachmann, not exactly Minnesota's shrinking violet, made her first public appearance in Minnesota in over a year at the annual Roe vs. Wade protest at the State Capitol proclaiming that at this time next year we will be well on the way to overturning Roe.

If past performance is in any way a good predictor of the future, we can expect that Bachmann will unveil her new legislative agenda, adding to that torrent of legislation that has flowed from Bachmann in her three terms as Congresswoman, she will soon introduce a bill protecting coat hangers, just like the incandescent light bulb. Why coat hangers? They will be in short supply if Bachmann and her Republican colleagues get their way in overturning Roe. I still have not heard one of these geniuses idea as to how we are going to avoid going right back to back alley and Mexican abortions for our mothers, sisters and daughters.

Item number two, why does Obama hate jobs? That must have been one of the Republican talking points last week. How do I know this? Because my red state sister asked me that in all seriousness yesterday, apparently in reference to the President refusing to short cut the permitting process for the Keystone oil pipeline, which would run near one of this country's most important bird sanctuaries in Nebraska. With the oil industry past performance in the gulf firmly in mind, one thing we do not need now is relaxing regulations on these bozos.

The question I have for Republican politicians, both state and national, is why are the only jobs you are willing to promote in the entire country are pipeline jobs? Historically speaking, ahem, Mr. Gingrich, bipartisan elected officials, both state and national, have helped to create public works jobs during times of economic slowdowns as a means of jump starting the economy, driven largely by consumer spending.

Unfortunately, the Republicans are playing politics with working class and middle income people's lives and would have the less informed believe that the only jobs in the whole country are the 2,000 to 6,000 jobs anticipated by the Keystone project. Don't believe me? Just read the paper, oh no wait, that is too much work when I can just turn on Fox news, be it radio or television and hear the Fox news readers mouth the latest Republican talking points.

Speaking of history, the good economic times that were the Clinton years were in part due to his Republican predecessor having the guts to do what was good for the country at the time and raising taxes. The fiscal problems facing the country is not due to a lack of taxes paid by the working and middle classes, but rather the huge tax cuts that went to the investment class during Bush II. That is why millionaire and billionaires like Buffet and Romney pay only 15% in federal taxes while you and I pay closer to 30%. If the electorate really wants to send Washington the message"It's the economy, stupid" not only must we re-elect the president, we must send him back with Democratic majorities in both houses.

Neut's Latest Lie: Obama Food Stamp President? Nice Try Neut, But the Truth is That Bush is The Food Stamp President

"Neut", short for neutered Gingrich, is up to his old tricks. Tonight America will learn more about this paragon of conservative and Republican virtues. We'll hear all about his two divorces, womanizing and request for an open marriage with wife number 2. While this should render his campaign dead, since he is relying on the Evangelical Christian vote to win. However, I noticed a clever ploy used by the "rules don't apply to me gang" and "I'm a hypocrite and I don't care crowd", that is they can commit whatever sin, crime, and or immoral conduct they want to and we are supposed to give him a free pass because his religion believes in forgiveness. Ahhh BULLSHIT!!

If these finger pointers were true Christians they would not be judging everyone BUT THEMSELVES.

So judge for yourselves: Who is the Real Food Stamp President? Why of course, George W. Bush, a conservative Republican. But Republicans are great at repeating the big lie until they believe things like Iraq had something to do with 911, truth be damned.

Well Damn all of you hypocrite christians and Republicans, there is an especially warm corner of hell waiting for you.

To read the proof that Neut is lying : http://factcheck.org/2012/01/newts-faulty-food-stamp-claim/

The Future Is Now: Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and Me.

No this is not a George Allen Sr. sequel. Well then, what does Nostradamus, Edgar Cayce and high colonics have in common? You obviously know nothing about prognosticators and their predilections.

I, for instance, know that the Edgar Cayce World Headquarters was located in Virgina Beach, Virgina in the late 1970'. I know this because I was on a road trip with my friends John and Lamont following our graduation from high school. Also on the trip was Lamont's very cool and pretty hippie girlfriend. Her only fault if you could call it one, was her hippie stoner belief in all things mystic and metaphysical and her topic du jour was this great psychic Edgar Cayce. According to the pulp paperback Miss Hippie had, Edgar was the second coming. According to her book, this Cayce character predicted everything from the Great Depression to World Wars I and II as well as the Kennedy Assassination.

The entire drive down to Virgina Beach it was "Edgar predicted this..." and "Edgar said that..." the whole f#@king way. As we hit the outskirts of Virgina Beach someone spotted the signs heralding "Edgar Cayce World Headquarters and Museum". "You have to stop! You Have to Stop!!" hippie chick squealed with glee. Lamont looked at me as we both rolled our eyes when Johnny , like the big softie he was, dutifully pulled over much to hippie chick's delite. I would have much preferred that we drive the extra three miles to the ocean and a motel room where we could start partying.

I was even more perturbed when the young Jane Fonda insisted that we all shell out the outrageous sum of $5 or $7 to gain entrance to this holiest of shrines. It was to hippie chick's complete devastation and to one of my life's more fondest memories when it turned out that the Edgar Cayce World Headquarters and Museum was nothing more than a shrine to high colonics.

As best as I could tell from the exhibits, which consisted of black and white photos of a series of brick and colonial style buildings set next to actual hoses and pans all connected to a story line contained on placards extolling the virtues of deep cleansing for even the most serious and fatal diseases, good old Edgar was cleaning out the terminally ill and desparate.

I ran giggling and gushing like a child from one exhibit to the next reading each placard much too loudly and hysterically laughing emphasizing the colonic aspect of each exhibit along with choice noises I made by blowing my lips into the palms of my hands. "Look everyone!" I screamed in delight, "Edgar shoved this hose up..."and "Edgar used that pan..." and on and on I went to the absolute horror of Lamont's girlfriend. It don't get any more delicious than that.

And with that incredibly banal digression I give you:

Plainsense's Proctological Political Prediction for 2012

Pretty but pooped Michele Bachmann packs it in following a crappy performance in Iowa.

And the Weiner Is..."That's Not Tea It's GOP"

That's right, we have a tie for the First Annual Poser of the Year Award. The "Mary Edgar" goes to the Republican Party and to all members of the so called Tea Party for letting themselves be co-opted and hijacked by the very people who put us all in the financial predicament we find ourselves in today, the Republican Party.

Whether it was crony capitalism, tax breaks for the uber wealthy during wartime, trading in bogus securitized mortgages or selling the same bogus investments short, all tracks lead back to the GOP. So the idea that the groundswell of public anger should be co-opted and hijacked by the likes of Michelle Bachmann and her ilk is laughable. The U.S. House Republicans were directly responsible for the lowering of the U.S. credit rating as a result of their game playing and brinkmanship over raising the debt limit, an issue no one ever played politics with in the past.

Locally, the Minnesota Republicans were directly responsible for shutting down state government to the detriment of the state's credit rating and bringing UNCERTAINTY, the new boogieman, to the mindless zombies who repeated the chant in unison all the while pointing their stupid , bony, mindless fingers at the Obama administration while taking absolutely no responsibility for the very problems they were themselves causing. Amazing. Exactly! (Nod out to Lake Superior State.)

Adding hypocrisy to injury was the Minnesota Republican Senate Caucus who punished and illegally retaliated against two of the ugliest, most loathsome human beings for having the audacity to hook up and share the love. Family values indeed. Amazing . Exactly!

Not to be outdone, the Republican majority leaders of both of the state's chambers played games with the Democratic Governor who was working earnestly and in good faith on the Vikings Stadium while at the same time stabbing him and the state in the back with secret emails to the rank and file vowing to sabotage any deal. Senate Majority leader Amy "Craig" Koch even gave an interview to Minnesota Public Radio extolling what the Vikings meant to her: "A great big bowl of chili on a Sunday afternoon". Sports and food. That's all the Sabbath means to Petunia. Amazing. Exactly!


So take a bow Tea Party and Republican Party members for you all are the 2011 Posers of the Year!!

The 2011 Poser Award Nominees.

2011 Poser of the Year Award

It's that time of year again. "What time would that be?" you ask. Well ye of little memory, it's time for the First Annual Poser of the year Award*.




*Poser of the Year Award Winners are selected by the Academy of Politician Watchers otherwise known simply as the Academy. Winners are not selected on the basis of race, gender, sexual orientation or deviation, including septums. Each winner receives an award from the academy. The award , also known as a "Mary Edgar", is a miniature statuette of J. Edgar Hoover, a real figure from American History not to be confused with that poser Leonardo Di Crappio.

It's Begining To Look Alot Like Christmas...

Here were go again. Another year and the barrage of television ads just keeps getting more and more prolific. It used to be, back in the day, or as my parents' generation would say: "When we were young you did not have all this commercialism, retailing was not on a mass market basis, but rather a face to face, personal interaction..." You know the rest, it was about the spirit of the time, not the amount of money involved. It was about who you could trust and do onto others as you would have done onto you.

It seems this Holiday season, at least if you live in the Twin Cities area, you cannot turn on the television, literally no matter what time of the day or night, without being bombarded with their obnoxious ads, of varying lengths and quality of production, listening to them extol the value of their services, their wisdom, their integrity and their earnestness. It is almost as if the Three Wise Men had been given millions of dollars by God Almighty and been told to go forward and proselytize.

You of course know the names of the Three Wise Men by now: Scwebel, Goetz and Seiben. To hear these paragons of self-conceit tell it, they are the smartest, wisest, most brilliant human beings alive. You have doubts this Christmas season? Your faith has been challenged to the point you no longer have all the answers to life's most pressing problems yourself? No problem. Just Ask Gary. You have just been injured in a car accident? You have already called 911. Now call 411 and ask for one of their phone numbers. Worried that no one will be there to answer your call. No worry. This is all they do and they do it well.

So if you are like me and you have gotten fed up to the point that you just can't take it any more. I have got some advice for you. Just like that Republican candidate for Governor of Texas said when he ran against the late Governor Ann Richards, "It's alot like rape, if it's inevitable, if it is going to happen anyway, you might as well just lay back and enjoy it." I mean, after all it's just the time of season: it is TSR time.

Ruminations On the "War" On Drugs and Those Who Purportedly Protect and Serve

News out of Colorado has a National Sheriff of the Year sullying the name of honest peace officers everywhere with his arrest for allegedly offering meth in exchange for sex with a young male. http://mycenturylink.com/news/read.php?rip_id=%3CD9RB5VRO1%40news.ap.org%3E&ps=931

Back in Minnesota the out of control drug and gang strike and task forces are huddling with their paid snitches and conspiring to raid individuals, not who are major drug dealers, but rather, individuals with substance abuse problems who happen to have valuable assets that these corrupt law enforcement agencies can seize hoping the victim will then be out of resources to fight the seizures so they can augment their budgets in times of fiscal austerity. http://thegreatrollcall.blogspot.com/2011/06/corruption-coverup-completed-fbi-closes.html

In New York City there have been numerous press conferences in the last month announcing the indictment of police officers for crimes ranging from fixing traffic tickets to gun running. http://www.npr.org/2011/12/01/142909989/is-nypd-commissioner-raymond-kelly-bulletproof

What is the common thread with all this stories? The more power we invest in law enforcement, especially in the post-911 world, the more , not less, safeguards and checks must be placed on those who purportedly "Protect and Serve". Absolute or unbridled power corrupts absolutely.

Meanwhile the citizenry sits on the sidelines thinking "serves 'em right" or "this can't happen to me". Just wait...

The Night They Drove Old Herman Down

Herman Cain is the name and I served on the Uncle Tom train
'Til lyin' white bitches came and tore up my good name
In the spring of '11, we were hungry, just barely leadin'
By November the tenth, my poll numbers had fell
It's a time I remember, oh so well

The night they drove old Herman down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Herman down
And the women were singing
They went, "La, la, la"

Back with my wife in old Atlanta , when one day she called to me
"Herman, quick, come see, there go another of your affairees"
Now I don't mind sproutin' wood, and I don't care if the bitch's no good
Ya take what ya need and ya leave the rest
But they should never have taken the very best

The night they drove old Hermie down

And the bells were ringing
The night they drove spermin' Herman down
And all the women were singing
They went, "La, la, la"

Like my father before me, I will work the Man
And like a brother with no self-respect before me, I took a subservient stand
turned my back on my brothers and this great land
I swear by the lies that I continue to speak
You can't raise a Cain back up when he's in defeat

The night they drove old Herman down
And the bells were ringing
The night they drove old Herman down
And all the women were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"

The night they drove old Hermie down
And all the bells were ringing
The night they drove spermin' Herman down
And the women were singing
They went, "Na, na, na"

"Na, na, na"
"Na, na, na"
Hey hey Goodbye!

Ret. Sen Alan Simpson, Republican: Grover Norquist and His Extortionate No New Taxes Pledge the Root Cause of Country's Financial Crisis Impasse

Speaking to Ret. Sen Alan Simpson, Republican, Wyoming and co-chair of the Deficit Reduction Committee, Scott Simon host of NPR's Weekend Edition got a Republican to admit the obvious:

His own party, The Republicans, and their commitment to Grover Norquist's No New Taxes Pledge have placed party over Country and do not even deserve to be in Congress.


To read the transcript: http://www.npr.org/2011/11/26/142795941/after-supercommittee-fails-last-years-plan-gets-new-look


To listen to the interview: http://www.npr.org/player/v2/mediaPlayer.html?action=1&t=1&islist=false&id=142795941&m=142795914

Thoughts of Thanks

Having just hit one of life's major milestones, the big Five O, it causes one to seriously consider what he is thankful for. With very little thought going in, I am just going to wing it:

I am first and foremost thankful for my children, while not perfect, they put up with a very strange and peculiar father. Special thanks go out to my daughter for watching my "nasty little dog" who bit her, while I make my biannual pilgrimages to New Orleans and to my son for being the best hunting partner a guy could ask for, who never complains and gets along with his Dad's hunting companions who are just as strange and peculiar as his dear old Dad.

Speaking of which, I am thankful for my hunting companions, from Mick and his boys and Jay to Charlie, Jason, Cal and the boys at the farm, they make a difficult time of year fun to look forward to. I can never pay these friends back for the acceptance of my son and I to their group and for being such good role models to my son.

Although this may sound strange to some, I am so very thankful for work. Being a professional, ones work become their life, their alter ego, their self-esteem and their reason to exist. Having changed positions a few years back, I am so very grateful, not only just to have a job in this economy, but to have a job which is fun, challenging and filled with so many friends and good people as colleagues. For this I am truly blessed.

Lastly, to my friends away from work and family, I am so thankful you put up with such a difficult person like me and I apologize for being so hard on you all at times. I hope you know that although I may not show it, I cherish your friendship and love each and every one of you.

Occupy TCF Bank Stadium: "This Is Not What A Football Team Looks Like"

My patience has run out. It's time to Kill the messenger. The Joe Maturi experiment is over, the jury is in and Maturi is out. From the firing of Glen Mason to the hiring of Tim Brewster to the shores of Tripoli, Maturi has fought the Gopher Nation's battles like a gimp with cerebal palsey.

Deer Be Damned: Roomful of Blues Are Still the Kings of Swing

One of my favorite quotes in all the history of music reviews was a line in the Boston Globe many years ago which described my friend and guitar legend Jimmy Thackery as "... a four-hour performer. That's not how long he plays, but how long one should travel to see him." Well you can add another legendary band to the list of "four hour performers": the incomparable Roomful of Blues who were in town last night at Famous Dave's Blues Club in Uptown.

So what would make a die hard deer hunter pull up stakes on one of the most productive, (two eight points and a ten point buck), deer openers in recent memories and drive back to Minneapolis for an extended set of live music? Why that would be to see the best purveyors of traditional American Music, Providence, R.I.'s gift to the world, Roomful of Blues.

From T-Bone-esqe jump blues to New Orleans swing with a heavy dose of Earl King,to originals with the feel and authenticity of the great standards, Roomful of Blues are simply tops in their craft. Having just returned from the capitol of American music, New Orleans, a little more than a month ago where I witnessed some of the greatest music and musicians of all time, it is clear that Roomful of Blues are not only in the same league, hell that make the playoffs every year.

Like any organization that has spanned nearly four decades, occasionally one goes through the process of rebuilding. I am glad to say that the rebuilding process has been over for the current version of Roomful for a couple of years now and the band has profited from the new found stability in its line-up. Lead singer Phil Pemberton was such a great find and the perfect fit for this band. I just love listening to this guy sing. Not only does Mr. Pemberton have the right voice for this style of music, his phrasing, the subtleties he coaxes out of a song makes him fun and interesting to listen to all night long.

Just like you can't think of Herman Cain without thinking of harassment, one cannot think of Roomful of Blues without thinking horns and believe you me this band is as horny as Herman. Led by the legendary tenor player Ritch Lataille, the Roomful horns are back on top of the business but with a more laid back and more nuanced feel due in large part to its newest member Doug Woolverton who I gushed about the last time these guys were in town. My only comment this time is that at one point in the evening, I leaned over to my good friend Mike LeBeau, Roomful's longtime soundman and one of the best in the business and said flat out, "Am I being disloyal to Bubba when I say how much I love this guy's playing?" To which Mike responded: "Heck no, Bubba would be proud."

My highlights this time around were the numbers Roomful did with New Orleans icon Earl King on the great album "Glazed" and its progeny. Band co-leader Chris Vachon gets the greatest gut bucket excello records sound out of his guitar on these numbers and when mixed with the cool baritone horn honkings of the great "Top of the"Mark Early it produces a rich dark roux that makes the gumbo bubble up, jump and boil. Always a high note is that Monster from Austin, Travis (not Tritt) Colby (not Dolby) on keys and the classiest rhytym section in the business, gentleman John Turner and ever subtle and nuanced drumming of Ephraim Lowell.

All in all it was a highly enjoyable night of music by a group of "four hour performers".

Deer Opener 2011