Posted 7:48 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Discovering what the Minnesota GOP is about

Over the next few days, the Minnesota Republican party will be tested, during their convention in Minneapolis. I'll be helping Sue Jeffers challenge the incumbent Governor for the endorsement of the party. I was a solid Republican for 30 years before I gave up, disgusted with a party that said what I wanted to hear, then DID something very different. I could forgive failure to accomplish, but I could no longer forgive failures to even try to remain principled, or results that were completely contrary to party principles.

I've been a Libertarian party activist for the past 10 years, and I can tell you that Libertarians would not put up with the disappointments Minnesota Republicans have suffered with Governor Pawlenty. Yes, Libertarians often disagree publicly, and we do not hesitate to criticize our own candidates. That is precisely why the LP has remained principled. Yes, that does make it more difficult for a party to achieve power, because power is far easier to get through deception... especially deception of your own members and voters.

Sue Jeffers' is challenging the MN GOP to return to their own principles, and she has the support of a significant number of Republicans who know how far their own party has strayed under Pawlenty. Party management has done, and will undoubtedly continue to do, everything they can to divert Sue's challenge at the convention.

Delegates to the convention will have the opportunity to endorse a better Republican in Sue Jeffers, or at least to send a message to the Governor and party leaders that they need to get back on track.

I would love to see Sue Jeffers as Governor of Minnesota. It would, at the very least, shake up the establishment. At best, she would move Minnesota government toward positions that Libertarians stand for, and that Republicans SAY they stand for. How can that be bad for EITHER Republicans or Libertarians? It can't be, but it would be bad for the tax-and-spend socialists across the aisle.

How will the Republican delegates respond? We'll know soon.

Click here to hear Sue's radio message to delegates

Posted 6:50 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Slicker than goose crap

Microsoft's Live Local Beta system has been to St. Paul, adding a lot of "Bird's Eye" views to their normal aerial mapping. It's very similar to being able to pilot a helicopter over an area... marvelous aerial views, taken at an angle, with great detail. Often you can move to viewing an area from different directions. Careful study of different views of the same place reveals the short time lapse as they fly around, shooting from different views. One view of Holman airfield, for example, showed a small plane ready to take off... in another view it was no longer there.

You can move around in aerial view until you're over what you want to view. If Bird's Eye view is available, the control box on the left will let you know; just click on it to change views.

The system isn't perfect, but what they're doing is amazingly better than the typical satellite imaging such as maps.google or Microsoft own. When they've photographed more of the country, it will be very useful before you visit another city, to familiarize yourself with the layout. Mostly, it's just fun, providing a view of places you never get to see from above. Here are a couple of shots of the St. Paul Cathedral, reduced in size here. Imagine them filling your screen. You can mark views for later easy retrieval.
It's at http://local.live.com/

Posted 5:35 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Skipping down memory lane

Just returned from my personal time warp back into rural Iowa where I spent some of my malformative years. It was great fun, seeing people I hadn't seen for 50 years and, amazingly, being able to recognize them easily. For most of us, there's no easy way to recap that much time briefly, unless you've stayed in the same place doing the same thing. Even those classmates who did that... farmers, truck drivers, etc., have plenty to tell about marriage(s), kids, grandkids, surgeries, accidents, etc.

Amazing to see who has "done well", especially those kids we might have expected little from. You know... the ne'er-do-well kids, the rowdies, or the quiet, out-of-it, hard-working farm kids. An amazing number of those folks have done quite well indeed... successful by normal standards. On the other hand, some of the "in crowd" aren't "special" any longer. The cool girls in school then are now someones wife, mother and grandmother. Many of those who dated in high school married, as expected, and are still together. Time is a great leveler.

I was surprised at the number of people who remembered me. I lived on a farm, and wasn't very athletic, so I was never really part of the town crowd. I guess I never really knew what others thought of me, and never really cared much either. Perhaps not surprising, some of the people I liked a lot in high school I still like. I suppose basic personalities don't change much over time.

The town of Kalona has changed... a lot on the surface, not so much underneath. The feed and grain store is gone from main street, as is the creamery and tavern. Our school closed in 1960, merged into a consolidated school in another town. The building is now part of the library. The rowdy tavern (on the edge of town for easier entry, exit, and peacefulness, is still there, but tidied up a lot and renamed (no longer the Chicken Shack). The area Amish folk have become quite good at selling products to tourists... mostly quilts and furniture. Kalona has become a bedroom community for the much larger Iowa City (home of the U. of Iowa), 15 miles away, so one can now see yuppies in Kalona, and plenty of restaurants, boutiques, and antique shops.

One thing hasn't changed. Over the whole weekend, I didn't see a single "person of color". There were none when I left, and that's evidently still true.

I wonder if readers who are city kids understand why there are so many small towns in the midwest. Traditionally, towns grew up to serve and sell to area farmers. Those were the days before cars and trucks... everything was moved by horse and wagon or buggies, so towns were close together... usually about 6 or 7 miles apart, sort of a maximum distance for a round-trip by horse. Now there are fewer, larger farms, and better transportation, but most small towns have still survived, although some are mere shells of what they once were.

Six miles down the highway from Kalona is Riverside. Star Trek fans will already know that James Tiberius Kirk will someday be born there and go on to become the Captain of the Starship Enterprise.

Posted 12:15 PM by Robert Ronald Smith

Remember these names come election time

As reported by Minnesotans for Eminent Domain Reform:

Late Monday afternoon, both the Senate and House gave their final approval to the legislation supported by Minnesotans for Eminent Domain Reform. The Senate passed the legislation 56 - 9, while the House passed it 115-17. The bill now heads to Governor Pawlenty for his signature.

That's 86% in the Senate, 87% in the House... a substantial victory for Minnesota property owners. Secure property rights, as guaranteed in the U.S. Constitution, are absolutely essential in a free nation, and this legislation attempts to re-secure those rights that have been eaten away by poorly-written legislation, bad court decisions, and oppressive city governments.

Those few Minnesota legislators who voted against the bill deserve to have their names known to all. Take note that 25 of the 26 nay-sayers are DFL legislators. Isn't that the same DFL party that used to pride itself on individual rights? These people (including BOTH of my representatives) should be booted out of office for such a vote.

Those Senators who voted against reform were:

Ellen R. Anderson (DFL) District 66
Richard J. Cohen (DFL) District 64
D. Scott Dibble (DFL) District 60
John C. Hottinger (DFL) District 23
Sharon Marko (DFL) District 57
Mee Moua (DFL) District 67
Sandra L. Pappas (DFL) District 65
Jane B. Ranum (DFL) District 63
Wesley J. Skoglund (DFL) District 62

Those House members who voted against reform were:

Jim Davnie (DFL) 62A
Keith Ellison (DFL) 58B
Barbara Goodwin (DFL) 50A
Alice Hausman (DFL) 66B
Frank Hornstein (DFL) 60B
Thomas Huntley (DFL) 07A
Sheldon Johnson (DFL) 67B
Phyllis Kahn (DFL) 59B
Morrie Lanning (R) 09A
Ann Lenczewski (DFL) 40B
Tim Mahoney (DFL) 67A
Carlos Mariani (DFL) 65B
Joe Mullery (DFL) 58A
Michael Paymar (DFL) 64B
Cy Thao (DFL) 65A
Jean Wagenius (DFL) 62B

Posted 9:39 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Was that a time warp?

I just noticed that it's been 11 days since I posted here. Wish I had a great excuse, other than dementia. Friend Forrest says I don't have alzheimers, just halfzheimers. He should know, 'cause his mind works the way mine used to... always off thinking about 4 or 5 other things that nobody else knows about. Nope, letting 11 days go by is just neglect.

Remarkable serendipity occurance: I was going to drive to Iowa to meet a bunch of my first cousins, sparked mostly by the visit of one down from Alaska (now THAT'S getting OUT of Iowa). AFTER that get-together was all set, I got a call from one of my high school classmates, inviting me to a reunion at his farm. The remarkable thing is, that reunion is the evening before the cousin's thing, and the two events are only about 15 miles apart! Two different groups, with me being the only person in both, meeting as if I planned them for my convenience.

At the cousin's thing, I'll see folks I haven't seen for 15-20 years. They're all roughly my age, but I'm the oldest of the group. At the high school thing, I'll see people I haven't seen for FIFTY years. Yep... 50 years out of high school... 1956 (most of you have heard about it).

To keep in the spirit of returning to Iowa farm country, I'll be staying in Kalona (aka Bulltown), where we went to high school (school is long gone, consolidated with several others) at the Pull'r Inn motel (so named because the owner is a tractor-pull enthusiast). I'll enjoy having a little time to roam around Kalona again. Kalona (named after a prize bull) has become a minor tourist attraction since the Amish people have discovered marketing their lifestyle and products to the rest of the world. The town has also become something of a bedroom community to Iowa City, 25 miles away.

My parents, for a few years, ran a restaurant in Kalona... the Gobble Inn, so named because it was housed in the front of a turkey processing plant. Sounds terrible, but Gobble Inn had a great reputation, especially for Sunday meals... traditional roasted turkey with all the trimmin's. On Sundays the place would be jammed with people waiting to get in. That was a long time ago, when a steak dinner went for $2.50, coffee was a dime with free refills, and cigarettes were a quarter.

It should be interesting, returning to a place I never quite felt a part of. I was a transplanted city kid, living on a farm of sorts, so I wasn't part of the town crowd, and not really part of the farm crowd. There were only 15 (10 guys, 5 gals) in our graduation class. Some of us scattered widely, and some didn't move more than a few miles. Regardless of location, though, life creates significant events and plenty of memories.

Posted 9:30 AM by Robert Ronald Smith

Ah, sweet justice

Is it just a coincidence that since the Twins appeared to be getting taxpayer funding DESPITE public opposition, that the Twins team went into a deep slump? I would like to think it is not coincidence, but a subconscious effect within the players that they have become part of a public rip-off, and that support for them has dwindled.

Confidence and pride are important parts of excellent athletic play. It's why underdog teams often play over their heads, and teams with internal problems are affected in their performance. I think it's likely that the Twins players can feel that their organization has screwed up their support within the community.

Over many years, I came to the odd conclusion that if I attended a Twins game in person, they would lose, but that if I watched them on TV, it enhanced their chances of winning. Sure, I know that's gross superstition, but it has been reinforced over many years. A week and a half ago, I swore off watching the Twins, and they've been embarrassed since then. I didn't realize until this morning just how bad their slump was... they've lost 11 of the last 14 games? Attendance is down.

To add to the Twins organization's woes, the Minnesota Senate tax committee voted in favor of requiring a referendum vote on the stadium. It's far from a done deal, but politicians battling for votes may again bring this issue to no resolution.

I hope so. Stadiums should not have ever been a political issue. Sports is entertainment. Professional teams are in the entertainment business, and should have to compete with other forms of entertainment on a fair basis. That means pay for your own facilities like any other business. If they can't do that, then they should be in some other business, selling something else. Spending millions to lobby to force taxpayers to subsidize them is not only unethical, it's immoral.

One aspect of sport I've always enjoyed is that there are carefully-enforced rules, designed to "level the playing ground", but we have the spectacle of professional teams doing their damndest to forcibly tip the balance in their favor at the expense of the very people they need to sell tickets to.

If these teams DO succeed in forcing Minnesotans, with the help of crooked politicians, into paying for stadiums, their ticket sales WILL suffer. Bite the hand that feeds your big salaries and see where it gets you. You've lost this lifetime baseball nut already, and there will be many more. Continue to push and you'll turn this minor market into no market at all... and you will have deserved it.