Snow in the Swamp

While working in Washington DC this week I started my day by watching the local TV news which included numerous reports of school closings/delays due to the light dusting of snow in the area. It always seems that a 1 inch snowfall closes down Washington DC so I say -- give us a blizzard of 2 feet so they are never open for business!!

Enough of my wishful thinking on using nature to shut down government. As I walked downtown today during the snow fall I was stopped by people in parkas who were surveying pedestrians about the "harm caused by global warming............" to which I just had to laugh since the falling snow covered me so I personally so zero impact from global warming.

Yes -- timing is everything you Mother Earth First activists!! If you want to make an impact on the global warming debate they do your sidewalk surveys in August since Washington DC is little more than a swamp covered with concrete thus creating perfect HIGH humidity conditions that make pedestrians really believe global warming is going to kill us. I really hated living in Washington DC during the summer but a nice hike in the mountains of the George Washington National Forest just west of Washington DC offers cool refreshment.

Hike more and march less :-)

Todd

For the Students?

Today I attended our monthly "leave us alone"/center-right coalition meeting for Minnesota. This is the core group I am building to lead nothing shore of a political revolution to move us away from our high tax structure status.

Our guest speaker at the meeting was the Executive Director of a charter school -- which is still a public, no tuition school in Minnesota but the school has some freedoms such as being an "at will employer" meaning they can actually fire bad teachers!! Wow, I definitely learned something today. But what really stood out for me during this presentation was that this school has a current waiting list of over 300 students. This fact, coupled with my own local charter school's waiting list of about 320 applicants for their 24 annual kindergarten slots tells me that market demand for these alternative schools is not being met.

Sadly, many of our current state legislators - who swear they do what they do because they are doing it "for the students/kids" - have no idea what market forces are or simply refuse to acknowledge such consumer demand. The perfect example is the legislation introduced by a state representative that would have capped the number of charter schools in Minnesota. There is absolutely NO way such legislation would help the students and parents who clearly want charter schools based on the hard evidence of waiting lists/applicants for open slots.

So forget it students and parents -- you will go to the school we tell you to attend because we are spending your money for you because this is a perfect way to help the teacher unions grow in power while keeping you (our future workers!!) down on the economic ladder.

Markets not Marxists,

Todd

Jobs

Our Minnesota state government announced last week that we have a budget deficit of about $374 million which led the majority party who controls both chambers of the legislature -- the "DFL", Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party -- to immediately call for a special legislative session to address this latest "crisis". Their plan included a key provision to employ currently unemployed people to paint, repair, and build state government buildings!!

Amazing - exactly what we don't need -- more government employees building even more government buildings.

Today "government" is the largest employer/industry in the State of Minnesota. Nearly 400,000 Minnesotans are employed by government entities which include -- local government, local schools, state colleges, other state workers (clerical etc.), non-postal federal workers, and the US Postal Service. This totals a full 1/6 (or 17% ) of Minnesota's current work force.

After "government" our second largest industry segment in Minnesota is "Health Care and Social Assistance" with another 368,000 workers. Given the high level of government regulation in the health care field we could easily consider these people to be government employees.

SOURCE: Minnesota Department of Employment and Economic Security, July 2007, www.deed.state.mn.us/lmi/tools/ces/display.asp?geog=2701000000

As the recent state job report noted our "growth" for the last quarter was a completely anemic 0.1 percent so we need MUCH bolder ideas coming from our legislative leaders versus the DFL's 1930's style President Roosevelt make work program painting and repairing government buildings. Minnesota should sell non-essential assets like the State Office Building then move all legislators and staff back into the state capitol where they belong. The proceeds from such sales should be used to phase out our personal income tax system.

Minnesotans deserve their personal wages not paint brushes,

Todd

Website Traffic

Well the current Nielsen Ratings for website traffic have been released!! Sadly I have to report to SpaceBeagle readers that this blog did not make the list :-(

Here are the most visited websites according to Nielsen as of October 2007:

Nielsen Net Rating – October 2007

In Millions

33.2 Yahoo! News
30.2 CNN Digital Network
29.8 MSNBC Digital Network
9.5 Fox News Digital Network
8.7 WashingtonPost.com
5.5 Boston.com
5.3 BBC News
3.9 Oprah
3.8 New York Post
3.3 NPR
2.6 Chicago Sun-Times
2.4 DrudgeReport.com
2.3 Newsmax
1.9 Salon.com
1.8 RushLimbaugh.com
1.5 TheHuffingtonPost.com
1.5 The Washington Times
1.4 WorldNetDaily.com
1.4 TownHall.com
1.1 USNews.com
1.1 Chronicle.com
0.9 DailyKos.com
0.9 OpinionJournal.com
0.7 nationalreview.com
0.6 BillOReilly.com
0.1 Hannity.com
0.1 HumanEventsOnline

I will have to review this list a bit more later to offer more observations but two rankings that really stood out for me when I first glanced at this list include:

BBC News - 5.3 million
Oprah (Winfrey) - 3.9 million

Now this is amazing because it was always said that the "sun does not set on the British Empire" yet the Beeb's website only has 1.4 million more visitors more than Oprah Winfrey's website. Given the historic, geographic reach of the BBC news services versus Oprah's comparatively short career these are impressive results.

Perhaps they are doing it already but if not the Obama for President campaign (which Oprah has endorsed) should be buying banner ads on Oprah's website today!!

A second observation -- granted it is probably biased given my love of sports -- is that I do not see the ABC/ESPN family (owned by Walt Disney Company) represented in this list at all which really shows how much market share the USA's traditional broadcast TV stations (ABC in this case) have lost in the new Internet Age.

Space Beagle needs more eyeballs,

Todd

Bicycles

Last night the wife and I watched our local television news which included a story regarding a grassroots movement that calls itself -- "Critical Mass".

Overall I thought the reporting was poorly done but here is what I was able to gather. Critical Mass is a group of bicyclists which organizes mass gatherings where they all ride together to "re-claim the streets.........." based on one of the group chants that I heard them yell during the story which went --

Leader: "Whose Streets?"

Gang: "Our Streets?"


What the hell? What do they mean by "our" streets? The streets are the domain of bicyclists only? Since gasoline taxes - which are paid by automobile drivers like myself not bicyclists -- are a primary source of funding for street paving perhaps we drivers should have our own chant.

Now I admit that in some of the footage in this news report I did see numerous bicyclists simply enjoying the freedom to ride their bike complete with costumes for some of the riders. However, many of the Critical Mass members simply created public safety hazards by violating all traffic rules and traffic lights.

Again -- whether it was the poor reporting or simply Critical Mass' lack of message clarity I could not determine what they want. If I had to guess I would say they hate automobiles and want to "re-claim" the streets for environmentally friendly vehicles but that is just a guess.

I do know that if Critical Mass continues its practice of traffic anarchy that someone is going to get killed in a traffic accident. Once that happens then like all political movements throughout history Critical Mass will have a martyr from which to drive t-shirt sales!!! :-)

Remember your hand signals,

Todd

Perceptions of Americans

While traveling to Madison, Wisconsin (the state's ancestry is about 90% German) this past Thanksgiving Day weekend I purchased a copy of the Middleton Times-Tribune (MTT) newspaper. Middleton is a suburb of Madison and my personal practice is to always buy the local newspaper in the communities I visit so I get a sense of what is going on beyond my world and those topics that USA Today chooses to be noteworthy for us to know.

An article in the MTT entitled, "Exchange Students Love America, not crazy about the bread", focused on the experiences of 25 German high school students who were the guests of Middleton residents from October 4 to 25 this year. The one comment that caught my eye was from one of these students who was asked this question by the MTT reporter:

Question: "What will you tell your friends about the USA and Middleton when you arrive back home?"

Response: "My prejudices were not confirmed: there were not as many fat people and not as many McDonald's."

Wow, clearly the media and schools in Germany are failing to educate people just like they are in the USA. From my perspective the best education is "experience" which was confirmed for me in 1986 when I was a college student touring the now defunct (thank God and Reagan!!) Soviet Union. While I traded on the black market I realized first hand that the USA intelligence community was wrong -- this was not a nation to fear anymore because it was rotting from the inside. This was confirmed for me in 1991 when Boris Yeltsin climbed that tank to declare the end of the Soviet Union (essentially -- my shorthand version of their history).

So if my "Big Government is Great" friends out there want to save the world then they should support my campaign to eliminate all personal income taxes in the USA. This would then give Americans more money to pay for foreign travel so the citizens of the world can better understand each other.

Travel not Taxes,

Todd

Grey Cup

Since 1909 the Canadian Football League's (www.cfl.ca) championship game - the Grey Cup - has been played thus it is a much older game than the National Football League's ("NFL" of the USA) Super Bowl. This year's Grey Cup was played on 25 November in Toronto between the Saskatchewan Roughriders and my Winnipeg Blue Bombers (yes the nearest CFL team to my state of Minnesota). Sadly the Roughriders defeated the Blue Bombers by a final score of 23 to 19.

As regular readers of this blog know I love all forms of "football" (not soccer) and the Canadian game is particularly fun since they only allow 3 downs for 15 yards versus American football with its 4 downs for 10 yards (for a first down). This rule differential makes the Canadian game very focused on having a successful passing offense. Although the 2007 Grey Cup resulted in only 42 total points I am certain I would have enjoyed seeing this game in Toronto.

The 2008 Grey Cup is set for Montreal, Quebec which would really test my limited French language skills but the bigger issue for an American like me in terms of traveling to such a game is that it follows the American Thanksgiving Day holiday thus a logistical challenge.

Beyond the game itself I noticed a short sports story this weekend that noted the Buffalo Bills of the NFL have reached an agreement to play some of its regular season games in Toronto to capitalize on their fan footprint which caused the Canadian Football League's Commissioner to speculate that the NFL would eventually add a franchise to Toronto thus moving in on the CFL's territory. This article reminded me of the CFL's expansion into the USA in the early 1990's - an expansion that failed miserably.

Instead of trying to poach each other's fan base let's have the CFL and NFL teams play each other via some "inter-league" games like the American and National Leagues do in Major League Baseball. Yes the rules are a bit different but that could be addressed simply by requiring visiting teams to play by the home team rules. Such a match up could find my Minnesota Vikings playing against the Winnipeg Blue Bombers in Winnipeg using the 3 downs and 15 yards for a first down format.

This would add yet another exciting aspect to the game of football that would help drive ticket sales for the Vikings to help ensure their games do not face TV black outs.

NAFTA would then be an acronym not for the North American Free Trade Agreement but instead for the North American Football Teams Agreement :-)

Football not checkpoints,

Todd

Oprah Winfrey

With the Iowa Caucuses set for January 3, 2008 the presidential election season is at our doorstep so the political endorsement process is also picking up steam. Today's news coverage noted that the queen of TV talk shows - Oprah Winfrey -- is doing a campaign tour with her endorsed presidential candidate -- US Senator Barack Obama (D-Illinois).

Now this political match making is interesting from several different angels including:

• Hillary Clinton's husband, Bill, was called "America's first black president" despite his being whiter than I am so clearly being "black" is a state of mind not pigment :-)
• Hillary could be the first woman president in American history but yet perhaps the most prominent/respected/influential woman in the country, Oprah Winfrey, does not endorse Hillary
• Hillary insists she is not playing the "gender card" as she pursues the White House although her book title, "Living History", is a clear subtle reminder of the opportunity for voters to make history by electing her president.
• Does Hillary's campaign feel Oprah is playing the "race card" by endorsing a fellow African-American (Obama)?
• Both books -- Audacity of Hope by Obama and Living History by Clinton have appeared on Oprah's TV show but I can't find them endorsed via her book club -- http://www.oprah.com/obc_classic/obc_main.jhtml

Speaking of books -- Hillary Clinton made the old Benin (Africa) proverb, "it takes a whole village to raise a child......." famous via her 1996 book , "It Takes a Village" , but a quick search by her publishers would have found that this same book title (and subject matter) was published in 1994 by Jane Cowen-Fletcher so clearly Hillary did not break any new research ground with her book.

Personally I am a "fan" of Oprah Winfrey's work although I don't watch her show or read her magazine but because Ms. Winfrey developed a product (herself) that she brought to the market to become the multi-millionaire celebrity and philanthropist that she is today leading me to conclude that the old proverb Hillary loves should be re-written to become "It Takes a Market" not a "Village" to make a person. Her active support of Senator Obama should send a powerful signal to potential voters for Hillary Clinton. To better understand Ms. Winfrey's politics I would love to know the results of her taking this political worldview quiz - www.politicalcompass.org - because part of me would love to see the current political system shaken at its core via a presidential campaign by a woman that I have respect for -- Oprah Winfrey NOT Hillary Clinton.

You go girl!

Todd

Shopping

First a belated Happy Thanksgiving Day to everyone out there -- what a great American holiday in that we set aside a day just to eat food and watch American football!! Does it get any better?

Thanksgiving Day (November 22 this year) also marks another key date known as "Black Friday" which is considered the most important shopping day in the country because it serves as a barometer for the economic performance of the nation's retail industry. I was reminded of this fact yesterday when I picked up our two local newspapers from our patio yesterday morning. Each newspaper was rather think in terms of news articles but contained numerous sales advertisements from a full range of retailers -- Target, Macy's, Fleet Farm, Sears, JC Penney's, WalMart, Best Buy, Office Depot, Kmart.................. -- you get the idea.

The news media is peppered with stories of shoppers walking around stores at 3 am in search of good bargains so it got me thinking about the average consumer. I personally know people (having heard them talk about their plans during our Thanksgiving meal) that approach Black Friday as a project -- they review the sales ads, check the stores' hours, and map our their day so they can satisfy their desire to shop.

Now let's pause a bit to consider this consumer mindset --

Finding a good deal on a sweater or that flat screen television is a personal objective that totally consumes their time and effort. But how many of these consumers will exert this same amount of energy to "shop" for a school for their children? How many consumers read the "sales advertisements" from schools (they don't exist) or compare product features ("class curriculum")? No I don't have scientific polling on this but anecdotal evidence tells me that essentially ZERO consumer research is completed when it comes time to send our children to school since most of simply use the "default" choice by sending our children to whichever school the school bus will deliver them to for instruction.

American consumers can choose to shop at Target or WalMart for the exact same products but in most cases have no choice when it comes to which school to send their children to which is the issue that the media should be focused on during Black Friday.

Todd

Third Parties

During lunch today I attended a local chamber of commerce's (in Minnesota) monthly lunch meeting. This event featured a conservative talk radio personality and a former President Clinton White House staffer/now public affairs consultant.

After their prepared remarks the moderator asked a series of locally important questions -- transportation funding, school referendums, etc. Once this round of questions was completed the audience members were given the chance to ask questions.

Sometimes we hear what we want to hear so I might have sat there with my biased worldview - me biased!!?? I prefer to call it "accuracy." Now the theme I kept hearing was that the "base" (conservative voters in particular) need something to get them mobilized for the 2008 elections. As one of those voters I completely agree -- throw me a bone candidates!! Give me something to be inspired by versus sound bites that have been pre-approved by your focus groups. The 2008 presidential campaign needs a high profile loose cannon who throws out fresh ideas but at the same time is electable -- former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich perhaps comes the closest to these parameters however I fear if he were the nominee he would go down in flames like Senator Barry Goldwater did in 1964.

At no time during this chamber lunch event did I hear the speakers or the audience discuss the possibility of Minnesota's major third political party -- Independence Party (IP) -- becoming a force in the 2008 elections. Now the IP is not my party but neither is the Democratic-Republican Duopoly that rules our nation and state today.

Personally I am old school (yes - not just in my clothing much to my wife's dismay) so I would love to see the now defunct "Free Soil Party" (FSP) revitalized. Originally the FSP was formed by abolitionists working to eliminate the institution of slavery in the USA in the 1848 timeframe but in 2008 I think they are needed again. Why you may ask? When slavery was legal in the USA your plantation master took 100% of the wealth/earning your labor generated. Today -- once you add federal income tax, state income tax, Social (in-)Security taxes, sales taxes, unemployment tax, capital gains tax, death taxes............ -- government overall takes nearly 50% of the wealth we each generate thus making us "half-slaves" I guess.

So let's bring back the Free Soil Party to fight for the single issue of eliminating personal income taxes which not only violate our pursuit of happiness but also our personal privacy.

Martin Van Buren would be proud,

Todd

Bill and Hillary Clinton

Late last week I noticed a short Associated Press news story that reported -

"Clinton Foundation Raised $135 Million"

The foundation here is the William J. Clinton Foundation (www.clintonfoundation.org) - former President of the USA and former Governor of Arkansas of course. This money total was for the entire year of 2006 according to records filed with the Internal Revenue (dis-)Service. But what was fascinating from my perspective is that the story noted that "donations jumped by nearly 70 percent since 2005 when the foundaiton rasied more than $80 million."

So in one year (2005 to 2006) the foundation's fundraising jumped by $55 million!! Now that isn't bad since President Clinton left the Oval Office in January 2001 so a full 4 to 5 years after he left office the fundraising skyrocketed.

With some basic research journalists and political opponents could make a strong case that the Clinton Foundatin is a quasi-extension of and/or an in-kind contribution to the Hillary Clinton for President 2008 Campaign. How can I make such a claim? One is basic "brand equity" since the Clinton brand name is out doing "good things" for communities such as the foundation's new healthy schools initiative:

http://www.clintonfoundation.org/102407-cf-hs-hk-healthy-schools-program-expands-to-20-additional-states.htm

"The Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF) announced in August a $20 million commitment to expand the Alliance’s Healthy Schools Program. The expansion will allow the Healthy Schools Program to focus its efforts in states with the highest prevalence of obesity, which include Alabama, Alaska, Arkansas, Georgia, Indiana, Iowa, Kentucky, Louisiana, Michigan, Mississippi, Missouri, Nebraska, New Mexico, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Texas, Tennessee and West Virginia."

For those of you keeping track at home there are 20 states listed here including the first caucus state - Iowa -- along with some key swing states and states with large African-American populations thus providing resources (name identification) to help Hillary cut into any black voter base that US Senator/presidential candidate/Hillary rival Barack Obama (D-Illinois).

The reality is that political contributions are like a rain storm -- the water will flow along the ground until it finds a crack in the earth. Due to current campaign finance laws contributions to presidential campaigns are capped at $4600 per contributor but of course contributions to the Clinton Foundation are unlimited and of course tax deductible.

Granted I might be reaching too far and risk a cease and desist order from the foundation or campaign's attorneys but if I get such an order I will of course blog about their legal actions.

But before that happens perhaps readers can review the history that the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Clintons have together.

1.) Johnson Foundation and Clinton Foundation:

As noted earlier in this posting the Johnson Foundation recently gave a $20 million grant to the Clinton Foundation's "Healthy Schools Initiative" this year.


2.) Johnson Foundation and "Hillary Care" health care reform:

http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_m1282/is_n9_v49/ai_19421993

In 1994 the Johnson Foundation paid $2.5 million to be the lead sponsor of an NBC "two hour prime time special........." focused on Hillary's proposed health care reform which would have brought nearly 25% of the US economy (health industry) under direct government control.


Coincidence? Impossible but prove me wrong since I like to be right as much as possible :-)

So readers draw your own conclusions. I doubt the Federal Elections Commission will be reviewing this network of contributions so be sure to empower yourself via the Internet tools you have available to explore these relationships.

Thanks for educating me,

Todd

Minnesota vs. Iowa State University

Saturdays at this time of year in the USA are dominated by college (American style my European friends) football and today is perhaps one of the most important Saturdays of the entire season since it is the last game for most of the football teams. Two teams in particular -- the University of Minnesota and my alma mater, Iowa State University -- ended their seasons today with no prospects for a post-season bowl game appearance for either team.

As a native son of Iowa, a graduate of Iowa State University (ISU), and a Minnesotan by choice I am launching this grassroots campaign to encourage the athletic departments of these two fine universities to reach an agreement to set aside one of their non-conference games (PLEASE QUIT PLAYING KENT STATE UNIVERSITY ISU!!!) each season to play the "Jack Trice Memorial Game." Ideally after several years of playing this game it would become a rivalry on par with the "trophy games" played for Floyd of Rosedale, the Little Brown Jug, and Paul Bunyan's axe.

So who was Jack Trice?

Mr. Trice is famous today because ISU's football stadium is named Jack Trice Stadium but historically he is recorded as ISU's first black athlete and first ISU athlete to die as a result of injuries - in 1923 - sustained in a football game against the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis.

Interested readers can see the entire account of Jack Trice's story at this website -

http://www.lib.iastate.edu/arch/rgrp/21-7-23.html


With the 2008 football season already scheduled - along with several other future seasons - it would take several years to arrange for a Minnesota vs. ISU re-match to honor Jack Trice. In October 2008 it will mark 85 years since Mr. Trice died following the injury he received in that long ago Minnesota vs. ISU game so there is no better time than the present to begin this grassroots campaign to get this rivalry renewed.

As a first step in this campaign I am sending this blog posting to all my Minnesota and ISU contacts to get them involved in lobbying the Athletic Directors, university presidents, and the respective boards of regents to approve this memorial football game. Ideally this game could be the foundation for a fundraising campaign dedicated to creating a "transition fund" for former Minnesota and ISU football players once their playing days are over since so few players find successful in professional football. Such a fund would aid former players who need financial assistance as they develop post-college/non-football careers or perhaps suffer medical problems caused by past football injuries after their playing days have ended.

INTERESTED FOOTBALL FANS CAN PROMOTE THIS IDEA BY CONTACTING:


Jamie Pollard
Iowa State University
Director of Athletics
515.294-0123
jbp@iastate.edu

AND

Joel Maturi
University of Minnesota
Director of Athletics
612.624-4497
icaadmin@umn.edu


Not only should our football teams compete on the gridiron but we alumni of both schools should compete with each other in terms of money raised each year for this cause. I have to believe Jack Trice would be very proud of such a fund.

Write a check,

Todd

Voter Identification

Okay, my family (especially my wife) and friends know that my mind works in "interesting" ways so today's experience is a perfect example. Following a business meeting this morning in a St. Paul, Minnesota coffee shop I walked around the corner to visit Garrison Keillor's (author and radio host -- "Prairie Home Companion") book store -- Common Good Books ( "CGB" - www.commongoodbooks.com) .

While I walked to their front door I noticed that US Representative Betty McCollum's district office was across the hall from the book store -- make a mental note on this one for later in this posting. Once I walked into CGB I knew I had entered territory that freedom loving libertarians like me rarely tread since I immediately noticed a "Congratulations Al" sign attached to the book shelf holding Al "Nobel Peace Prize" Gore's "An Inconvenient Truth" book which is focused on global warming (aka "climate change" in case the global temperature goes down thus allowing Gore-bot to comment on weather patterns at all times).

Flash back to my coffee shop meeting first -- as I left my colleagues I mentioned I was going to "check out Garrison's book store........." so they warned me not to buy anything so Mr. Keillor doesn't make any money. Since I suffer from a disease that a friend of mine in London calls, "hyperbibliophilia" -- which is the condition where you have a number of books at home that you have not read yet BUT you still buy a new book when you see something you like -- I did purchase a book at CGB.

In an effort to add to the nation's consumer debt "crisis" I paid for the book with my credit card so they sales clerk asked for my identification/drivers license to verify I was who I said I was since I was using the card. Personally I like being asked for identification in an effort to fight consumer fraud.

Now remember US Representative Betty McCollum's office mentioned earlier? She is a Democratic Party colleague of US Representative Keith Ellison who has introduced legislation that would forbid state governments (personally I have to believe this is unconstitutional) from requiring voters to show identification when they vote in elections since such a requirement would be used to intimidate minority voters to suppress their voter turnout.

What?

So do these same minority voters pay for anything via a credit card -- perhaps when they purchase a book at CGB? In this Garrison Keillor's evil master plan to suppress reading among the minority community??

Now that is devious.

Vote once please,

Todd

Job Creation

"State loses jobs for 4th-straight month"

Pioneer Press headline - November 14, 2007

Yes indeed, that was today's headline on the front page of my local newspaper's business section. The state government's job report for Minnesota's economy shows that our, "year-over-year job growth rate was just 0.1 percent last month, compared with 1.2 percent for the nation."

So if you are a student ready to graduate at the end of this semester or Spring Semester 2008 this is not very good news and even worse for the state's taxpayers since you state university graduates are very likely to take your newly-minted, taxpayer subsidized college degrees out of state in search of employment. Even worse from a macro-economic standpoint is that if Minnesota has essentially zero job growth then it makes it nearly impossible for us to recover from the terrible housing market we have here currently. Who the hell is going to buy a bigger home or a first home when job prospects are this poor?

Enough of the gloom - let's think big with a tax revolution for Minnesota. Something completely out of character for the state is needed so here is a proposal that I have NOT run through any econometric modeling nor focus groups of voters so there may be some flaws I have not addressed below but it is a starting point for reform:

First -- instead of debating increases to make our state personal income tax rate the highest in the nation at 9.7 percent like legislators did during the 2007 session the legislature should cast a vote to eliminate ALL personal income taxes.

Second -- personally I don't want some "revenue neutral" solution that would replace the "lost money" the state would see via the elimination of income taxes but people that think like me do not have a majority in our legislature. So let me be "pragmatic" by suggesting that the revenue loss from the elimination of personal income taxes be offset by an increase in our state sales tax rate only equal to this revenue differential.

Third -- yes I know the old line, "but, but sales taxes are regressive and hurt the poor......................" Enough of that already -- set aside the class warfare rhetoric to think in terms of the economic activity that would be caused by the elimination of all income taxes in Minnesota. Those evil, greedy rich people would probably buy automobiles (think of the Ford Motor plant being closed in St. Paul due to poor sales), boats, and second homes in small towns that have negative economic growth rates today. Yes the rich (and the middle class since they also pay income taxes) would have greater disposable income to actually purchase things which help the state's poorer economic classes improve their job prospects thus offsetting the increase state sales tax rate.

Fourth -- such a proposal beats the "tinkering around the edges" thinking that currently dominates our state legislature and would place Minnesota in the small fraternity of states that have zero personal income taxes.

But sadly the central planners in the legislature do not want us taxpayers to keep more money in our pockets because we would probably make crazy spending decisions such as choosing to send our children to private schools by paying the requisite tuition with our income tax refunds versus sending our children to the public school system or even worse - taxpayers might be able to save more money for retirement in personal retirement accounts instead of having to rely on the Social Security "safety net" that the government has tried to convince us will exist when we retire.

Revolution not rhetoric,

Todd

Protesters

Since I grew up in a small town in Iowa I have no memory of public protests in our downtown - unless of course you count the farmers who gathered for coffee time in the morning to complain about the weather and the market price for their crops :-)

However, once I entered college in the 1980's I witnessed my first "die-in" -- yes similar to the sit-ins that were popular in the 1960's but in this twist protesters would apply fake blood then lie around in an area of campus to protest US military intervention in Central America or other region of the world. I had a flash back to these college days over the past few weeks as I watched the news reports of anti-government protesters in Burma (Myanmar) and Pakistan.

So who primarily led these protests?

Burma -- Buddhist monks

Pakistan -- lawyers

Wow, just imagine a Buddhist monk with a law degree!! Now that would be an excellent candidate for the US Congress.

We should all be encouraged by these protests because in Pakistan the lawyers are protesting because the current government is not respecting the "rule of law" which is a fundamental Western value that allows us to live safe and productive lives in the free world. Another reason to be encouraged is that the military junta's rule in Burma is clearly over since they have zero moral authority to justify their rule because when you have to utilize riot police to beat, imprison, and even kill peace-loving MONKS then you clearly have reached the end of your rope.

Protest away for better days,

Todd

United Nations - Havana

In my ongoing campaign to relocate the United Nations from New York City to a non-USA city let me offer a new candidate city --

Havana, Cuba

Earlier this month the United Nations General Assembly voted 184 to 4 to "urge the United States to lift its trade embargo against Cuba." Personally I have never needed a UN vote to urge me to support the lifting of our trade embargo since open borders will force Dictator/President For Life Fidel Castro out of power faster than our current foreign policy which is to sit and wait for him to die. However, the UN vote is very interesting because shouldn't the UN "support" the American trade embargo as a way to keep American imperialism - via the import of American products and services (those not made in China of course!) - out of Cuba so they can live in their socialist paradise without yankee corruption?

The key of course is that the UN vote was simply another way to poke the USA in the eye. I did not see the full roll call vote but am really curious who the three countries were that voted with the USA on this issue.

So let's help all parties involved here but moving the UN headquarters to Havana, Cuba from New York City. Such a move would create much-needed jobs in Havana and would help drive increased trade to counter the USA embargo.

I will rent the U-Haul,

Todd

Turkeys

As bowlers know -- three strikes in a row is not a "hat trick" but instead it is called a "turkey" and Benjamin Franklin was a strong advocate of the USA declaring the turkey as our national symbol but the Founding Fathers opted for the more stately -- bald eagle -- as our symbol.

So I don't know what old Ben would have thought of the road trip that my daughter and I did this weekend to Wabasha, Minnesota - home of the National Eagle Center (NEC)(http://www.nationaleaglecenter.org/) which is focused on ecology and wildlife management to keep the bald eagle off the Endangered Species List.

We really enjoyed the classroom lecture that ended with a feeding of the eagle. The NEC is located on the banks of the Mississippi River in a two story, very modern building complete with classrooms, video presentations, children's activity area, and of course the gift shop. While I did find the NEC educational they are clearly still developing the building since it felt a little thin in terms of scientific and cultural (Native American Indians for example) exhibits. Personally though I love to see that the NEC has chosen to feature Stephen Colbert ("Colbert Report") on their website since he has adopted the eagle as his symbol because as he book title says, "I am American (and you can too)".

If readers find themselves in Southeastern Minnesota I would encourage them to pay the NEC a visit -- especially since your federal tax dollars were used to create it :-)

Todd

Anniversary

In the USA today of course is a national holiday marking Veterans Day while Canada celebrates the same holiday as Remembrance Day. This holiday is set aside for all of us to pause to give a prayer of thanks for the military veterans who served and died in service to their country while safeguarding our freedoms. Personally I have never served in any capacity in the US Armed Forces and at my age if I am called up to serve then we are truly in trouble but thankfully today's wars have become isolated affairs watched, and sadly manipulated in many cases, from afar. Perhaps that is the most consistent aspect of "history" -- the dates and names change but the script reads the same across the generations.

As a lover of liberty and the American way of life let me offer my sincere and heartfelt "thank you" to the men and women (whether gay or straight) who serve or have served in our military. I will never forget my grandfather's World War II stories of his time stationed in London. My grandfather's job was loading the bombers for their missions to Continental Europe including D-Day. The one story that I will never forget is my grandfather's description of his travel to and from London for the war which I paraphrase below:

"At the beginning of the war we were shipped over from the East Coast to London on board the Queen Mary in the middle of a storm and I was sea sick the entire trip. As the war was ending I was recovering from surgery so I was shipped back home on board the Queen Mary again, but this time the sea was very calm."

John Petersen, US Army

As a lover of literature I love the symbolism in my grandfather's trips aboard the Queen Mary - stormy sea at the onset of war and calm waters as the war ended - if only I had had the forethought to capture my grandfather's war experience in a systematic way it could have provided the material needed for a short book for our family to enjoy.

Sadly my grandfather did not live long enough to see me marry the woman that I love -- yea, I got married instead of buying a red sports car in my mid-life :-) -- but as it worked out my wife and I married on Veterans Day (November 11) so this holiday has double special meaning to me each year.

May my grandfather rest in peace and may all couples experience calm seas,

Todd

Seven Days

The following post is a correction and apology to American football fans everywhere. In my earlier post here -- "Tuesdays and Wednesday" -- I noted that Tuesday and Wednesday nights were the only evenings that football fans had to go without televised American football games thus I suggested Major League Baseball should make sure World Series games were played on those nights if possible.

Well I stand corrected since I simply did not look hard enough to find football games on Tuesday and Wednesday nights -- yes Virginia such games do exist which should be enough to put theologians and atheists out of work since this is clear evidence there is a God AND he loves football!!

So this week I am proud to say that I will have watched a football game for seven nights in a row (yes - my wife is traveling this week so that helps my quest a bit!!) including a very entertaining rivalry game between Central Michigan University and Western Michigan University. No, these two schools aren't national powerhouses but they did play with a lot of heart. I would have gladly played for them back in the day had I been given the opportunity.

So I stand corrected and will promise my readers that I will read the sports pages more closely since missing a football game during the week makes absolutely no sense :-)

See you in the bleachers,

Todd

Election Results - parks and recreation

Another result from the USA's November 6th elections was the approval of a ballot referendum authorizing my local city council (Apple Valley, Minnesota) to spend $14.4 million on current and future parks and recreation facilities. This ballot issue was supported by 59% of voters because essentially if you voted against it -- like I did -- then you just hated children although I have two children myself plus I live a much more active lifestyle than the average citizens in our community.

But as with the advocacy campaigns for "Pre-K" education if parks are "for the kids" then the herd mentality tends to take over as was the case with this vote. Now I love parks and recreation programs but instead of simply voting in higher tax levels I offered two suggestions when I talked with my fellow citizens about this ballot vote. I proposed that instead of taxing ourselves more we should consider:

• Forcing our city council to sell/privatize our municipally-owned liquor stores then use the proceeds to improve our parks and recreation department. Question -- what type of employees should a city government have if it must employ people at all -- liquor store workers or park rangers/sports managers? I say -- SELL THE BOOZE AND BUY SOME SOCCER BALLS!!
• Forcing our city council to sell our municipally-owned golf course to the highest bidder but since this sacred cow is protected by the city bureaucracy and local "pride" I guess then my back up option/suggestion to the city leaders was to combine the senior center upgrades with the proposed golf club house upgrades so we end up with a joint use facility. Now doesn't that make sense given that many retirees spend their time playing golf so they would be on site anyway or I am just reinforcing a stereotype?

Raising taxes is NOT the only solution assuming we have any desire to think creatively but given our political leadership today such critical and creative thinking is an unknown exercise.

See you at the park,

Todd

Election Results - wages

November 6 was Election Day here in the USA so I plan to post a few post-election observations this week. Today's posting is a response to a Duluth, Minnesota voter who voted for the "moderate Democrat" running for mayor - Don Ness - because she said Mr. Ness has promised to implement a "living wage".

From an Economics 101 perspective the living wage concept is completely false since the "wage" is not set based on any principles of economics. But the larger problem is that voters like this woman become completely dependent on government for their quality of life versus taking it upon themselves to improve their station in life. Personally I would much rather move to a cabin in the woods to live off the land versus having a life dependent on government soup kitchens but that is me :-)

I was reminded of this Duluth voter's quote when I noticed this employment ad in my community newspaper which I quote below:

Awesome Career

Government Postal Jobs!

$17.80 to $59.00 hour entry level

NO EXPERIENCE REQUIRED (note - I added the all CAPS here)

Now hiring! Green Card OK. Call 800.370.0146, ext. 102 Closed Sundays

So with "no experience" it appears most anyone who wants a job can pursue this opportunity which pays an annual salary (based on the hourly rates mentioned in the ad) of $34,176 to $113,280 assuming you work 40 hour weeks all year.

Now that is what I call a living wage especially since you could get these nice paying jobs with no college education debt apparently. Again -- why does any government feel obligated to create living wages when government jobs like these are available?

Personally my idea of a living wage is much higher than government leaders are mandating employers to pay so I have no use for their central planning since I much prefer to build my own income versus being reduced to a mere vassal of the state.

Live free or die on food stamps,

Todd

God and the White House

Today's USA Today newspaper (November 7) contained an interesting article entitled, "Bishops to guide voting faithful on life questions", which focused on the US Conference of Catholic Bishops' role in the 2008 presidential elections.

What caught my attention in this article though was a chart entitled, "Where They Pray", which noted the official religion that each of the 16 Democrats and Republicans running for the President of the USA has stated for themselves. I did a quick tally of their chosen religions to determine the following results:

• Roman Catholic - 5 candidates
• Baptist - 3
• Methodist - 2
• Unitarian Universalist - 1
• United Church of Christ - 1
• Episcopalian -- 1
• Mormon -- 1
• Evangelical Presbyterian -- 1
• Church of Christ -- 1

Now that is what I call diversity!! The most telling result here of course is that 5 of these 16 candidates (31%) are Catholic. Clearly our country has come a very long way in terms of religious tolerance since President John F. Kennedy's (the first Roman Catholic to become President) in 1960.

So that is a good thing but the story that USA Today failed (or refused?) to note in this article is that my people - the Lutherans -- do not have one of our own seeking the White House in 2008. Forget about whether or not we are ready for a woman or an African-American in the Oval Office what about the salt of the earth, German-American farmers who are the backbone of the Lutheran Church?? When will we see our day in the sun?! To quote US Representative Maxine Waters who was quoted after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, "no justice, no peace..............." Of course we Lutherans aren't going to riot in the streets burning and looting Korean-American businesses because we envy their success -- no we will probably just sit in our church pews with VERY serious frowns!! :-)

Perhaps we can draft Lutheran-in-Chief , Garrison Keillor, to leave Lake Wobegon long enough to campaign for the White House? Just imagine the high dollar fundraising events that would be catered by the church ladies bringing hot dishes. Now that would revolutionize our modern day campaign.

Reformation,

Todd

United Nations - relocation

Today I officially became a pragmatist regarding the United Nations (www.un.org) in terms of the old phrase -- "1.) Get the USA out of the UN and 2.) the UN out of the USA."

Part One -- Personally I can never see the day when the USA leaves the UN as a member especially given our "Permanent Member" status on the Security Council which allows us to exercise veto power (as the other Permanent Members can if they choose) over UN decisions we consider not in our best interest. Sadly -- we have this legal power but clearly don't use it enough given fraud like the Iraq "Oil for Food" embezzlement/payola program.

Part Two -- However, getting the UN out of the USA is not only a great idea but it would also benefit the poor.


So the relocation of the United Nations from its current home in New York City, USA to a new city/country is my new personal campaign so volunteers are welcome to this cause. This campaign will appear periodically on my blog so for now let me just outline a few reasons why this relocation would be good for humanity:

• Moving the UN to a low cost location would reduce the overheard costs thus allowing the UN to use more of its current budget resources to "help" the world's poor.
• Moving the UN from the USA would eliminate all charges of American Imperialism since we exercise our sovereign right to deny visas (to our political enemies) for access to American soil since New York City is in the USA of course.
• Parking would improve in New York City since the diplomats at the UN would go away - especially good since they never pay their parking tickets anyway.
• The UN building could be razed to make way for yet another Donald Trump development - something that would actually generate economic activity versus the UN which simply takes the dues the USA pays.
• Jobs would be created in the new host country once the UN moves. Given the genocide currently underway in Chad/Darfur region (as noted by the UN itself at -- http://www.unhcr.org/chad.html) perhaps moving the UN there with its thousands of jobs would help stabilize the region.

More reasons for this relocation will follow in periodic postings so readers' suggestions are most welcome so we can build momentum for this campaign.

Calling Two Men and a Truck,

Todd

Football Records and Recommendations

For American football fans like me that is an exceptional weekend of football -- to be capped off with Monday Night Football tonight of course -- so here are some records and recommendations that I would like to offer to fans of the game:

• Iowa State University - my Cyclones secured their second win of this season against the Kansas State University Wildcats!! Yes only two wins this season but I was impressed the Cyclones played all four quarters and were consistent. This is encouraging for next year (now I sound like the Chicago Cubs fan that I am - "wait 'til next year")
• Notre Dame University -- finally after a 44 year drought the US Naval Academy Midshipmen defeated the Fighting (not this year) Irish after three overtimes. I always cheer against Notre Dame no matter whom they play so since this 44 year old record was broken it is doubly sweet. Touchdown Jesus!!!
• Minnesota Vikings -- Vikings' running back, Adrian Peterson (AP), rushed for a National Football League record of 296 yards so congratulations to him and the Vikings on their win against the San Diego Chargers. AP's running is very impressive but I fear he will shorten his career (like I did years ago) but seeking out people to hit instead of saving his body a bit more by running out of bounds when possible. I hope he has a 20 year career in the NFL but he needs to think long term about his physical well being.
• Minnesota vs. Iowa State -- The University of Minnesota plays in the Big 10 (which of course has 11 members!! I hate these mega-conferences football has created just for leveraging TV revenues but of course that is up to them) Conference and Iowa State University plays in the Big 12 Conference. Recommendation - instead of playing NCAA Division I-AA schools like Kent State University (which ISU lost to this year!!) I want Minnesota and ISU to play each other. This has historic importance because ISU's stadium is named in honor of Jack Trice. Mr. Trice was a black/African-American who played for ISU in the 1920's. He died in a hospital after being injured during a game between Minnesota and ISU. So like the great rivalries for the Little Brown Jug, Floyd of Rosedale, etc. I want Minnesota and ISU to play a memorial game in honor of Jack Trice to raise funds for sports medicine student scholarships perhaps or emergency room facilities -- still developing this proposal which I plan to blog on later this month.
• New England vs. Indianapolis -- while I am no star chaser I would love to sit with Indianapolis Coach Tony Dungy (whom the Vikings should have named our head coach years ago) and Indianapolis quarterback, Peyton Manning during a football game but that is impossible since they only get one "bye week" with no game so they probably would rather spend the time with their families :-) But I was cheering for them during this Sunday's game against New England. This was a huge game because both teams were undefeated going into this game so unlike in a government program (see I never miss a chance!!) one of these teams had to lose. Sadly New England won the day even without the use of their video taping equipment used to spy on teams -- another reason to cheer against them.
• Boston College -- since I considered going to college in Bean Town I was cheering for the Boston College Eagles this week especially since they were sitting in the apparently cursed, "number two", ranking in the college football team rankings. The Eagles could have used some Doug Flutie hail Mary passes on Saturday since they lost to the Florida State Seminoles -- who of course wrote a check to the Seminole Nation so they could continue using their Native American Indian nickname.

Again, a great weekend of football followed by some couch time with Monday Night Football tonight.

Touchdown,

Todd

Duluth

My day was consumed with a business trip "up north" to Duluth, Minnesota which is a vital port city on Lake Superior. The chamber of commerce was hosting a town hall meeting so I attended so I could do some networking to expand the monthly "leave us alone"/center-right political coalition meeting that I organize in St. Paul, Minnesota.

If any readers are interested in attending the coalition meeting that I organize or in another state (and some non-USA locations that I know of) please feel free to contact me via this blog. But first I need to see you if you pass my ideological litmus test so please take one or both of these web-based political quizzes so I have an idea of how you view the world:

www.self-gov.org

and

www.politicalcompass.org

Since I have visited Duluth several times I knew my way around a little so it was fun to walk around the downtown after the meeting I attended. Overall the downtown seemed vibrant although I did see several for sale/for rent signs -- it would actually be nice to have one of the empty condos I saw as a weekend retreat but first I have to reduce our income taxes so we can afford such an asset. Oh yea, government is there to help us :-)

While walking back to my gas-guzzling, Mother Earth-hating SUV I noticed a campaign office for one of the mayoral candidates since their election is set for November 6th. So I spent a few minutes talking with the staff in what appeared to be a VERY relaxed atmosphere since the election is only five days away. Since I don't know either of the mayoral candidates I asked the staff person to describe them for me to which he replied --

• one considers himself to be a "moderate Democrat", and
• the other one is viewed as more conservative

What? The choice is between a "moderate" and a "more conservative" -- that sounds like they are both dancing around in the middle just focusing on getting elected not leading a revolution. Duluth's major issue is the public pension liabilities it has for current and retired government employees. No where in the campaign literature that I saw did either of the candidates tell the truth -- pensions for government employees is the best example to show that welfare reform has not gone far enough since we need to take these pensions off 'auto pilot' by moving them to 401k retirement plans like most private sector employees have today.

As the saying goes, "Duluth is a great city on a great lake................" but there won't be any "great" changes after the November 6th elections I fear.

Todd

Family Budget

First a little personal disclosure -- I do indeed have our monthly family budget in an Excel spreadsheet so we have some sense of where our money goes which allows us to reflect on our spending priorities.

I was reminded of that tonight when I attend a town hall meeting hosted by a local state legislator in Minnesota. One of the documents supplied for meeting attendees to review was an overview of the State of Minnesota's sources of revenue and spending.

Here are the biggest slices of the state budget pie that I wish to discuss in this posting:

SOURCES OF REVENUE:

Individual Income Taxes -- 46.1%
Sales Tax -- 27.9%
Corporate Income Tax -6.5%

Since "corporate income tax" is merely a tax on consumers passed through by companies let's call it what it actually is -- "yet another form of sales tax" -- which gives us these new groupings:

Individual Income Taxes -- 46.1%
Sales Taxes -- 34.4%

Now that gives us a clearer picture of the tax burden on Minnesota taxpayers.

SOURCES OF SPENDING:

Education -- 49%
Health and Human Services - 28.1%

Since "spending" drives "taxation" let me now focus on these spending categories. In the typical family budget we are told that no more than 30% of household income should be spent on housing making it the largest monthly expense item for most families.

So if we look at our state government budget as a "family budget" we would see that our largest monthly expense is "education" at 49%. Let me pose this very simple question -- "if your family was spending a full one half - one half I said!! -- of its budget on just one item wouldn't you have very high expectations in terms of results/satisfaction you would derive from this expense?

Sadly though in terms of Minnesota's education system's (taking 49% of our budget!) performance we are not getting our money's worth based on the recent student achievement test results which were published (and posted on here) in early October.

I have to believe that 50% of our state budget is enough for the education machine -- instead we should have at least 50% of our households/parents having a choice of where to send their children to school by increasing the number and geographic distribution of charter schools which compete for students (and the revenues associated with students) via an open market not via today's education monopoly/plantation system.

Simply demanding more money does not work anymore,

Todd

Great Things in Life - Part One

In an effort to avoid being a one trick pony who always blogs on what is wrong with government and/or writing about disturbing things in our world (but then I repeat myself!!!) here is a blog posting devoted to the things, ideas, places that I feel enrich my life and make me happy. By now my wife has probably fallen out of her desk chair in a state of shock as she reads this posting so success is mine :-)

Here is my initial list of the "Great Things in Life" which I hope you enjoy as much as I do:

• Walking in the rain
• Reading the daily newspaper early in the morning
• Boy Scouts of America -- our country would be better if more boys joined
• College fraternities
• Chicago style deep dish pizza
• Laying in the steam room at my gym
• Playing racquetball with my old gang
• Reading books to our daughter when she goes to bed
• Canoeing in the Boundary Waters of Northern Minnesota (www.ely.org)
• Scuba diving in the Caribbean
• Windowless restaurants in the British Virgin Islands
• Free music from iTunes
• Crock pots
• Ending the day by reading a book in bed
• Reflecting on my life while "half-listening" to the sermon in my church
• Order of the Arrow -- if you are a member you know what I mean
• the USA
• Freedom
• Blogging technology/Internet access
• Log cabins in quiet places
• Spas
• Pedicures and manicures -- I am convinced health care costs could be lowered if more people purchased these services
• Hiking in Arizona
• Baseball Spring Training
• Any level of American football from Pop Warner to the Super Bowl
• Family
• Faith
• Traveling to foreign countries
• Collecting book markers
• Waffles sold by street vendors in Brussels, Belgium
• A hobby farm -- since open spaces create good neighbors :-)

Well, that is enough items for this first installment of what I hope is the first one of many more postings to follow.

Half full,

Todd

Tuesdays and Wednesdays

Last night (Sunday) I watched the fourth and final game of Major League Baseball's (MLB) "World (USA at least) Series" between the Boston Red Sox and the Colorado Rockies baseball clubs. Congratulations to the Red Sox - even though I wanted to see Colorado win -- who swept the Rockies in the first four games of the planned seven game series to become champions.

Then this afternoon (Monday) my favorite talk radio program, "Garage Logic", discussed the World Series since the show's host (Joe) is a former sports reporter. Joe made an insightful observation when he noted that MLB has a real problem with the length of their games since one game this weekend lasted for 4 hours and 16 minutes. This observation then prompted Joe to opine -- "today's baseball games last so long and the newspaper industry has had to cut expenses so dramatically there is really no reason to even send a reporter to cover the night baseball games anymore because the reporters' deadlines for stories come before the game has ended in most cases thus making it impossible for the newspaper to print the final scores/game results..........." (my paraphrasing).

Yes I enjoyed watching the World Series but let me offer the MLB owners/commissioner this bit of advice -- SCHEDULE YOUR SEPTEMBER AND OCTOBER GAMES ON TUESDAY AND WEDNESDAY NIGHTS WHEN POSSIBLE.

Why?

Because Tuesday and Wednesday nights are the only evenings we football fans (I am watching Monday Night Football -- Denver Broncos vs. Green Bay Packers -- as I type this posting) must do without televised football games!! While I am indeed a baseball fan, I must admit that I was switching back and forth last night between Sunday Night Football and the World Series which is not a good demographic trend for MLB assuming there are others like me out there :-)

Back to the game,

Todd

History not Social Studies

Today's Star Tribune newspaper in Minnesota (www.startribune.com) included a nice anniversary article focused on "Prohibition" (the USA's constitutional amendment to ban alcohol production/consumption) which was set in motion on October 28, 1919 when US Congressman Andrew Volstead introduced legislation on this topic. Students of politics should note that Congressman Volstead lost his bid for re-election in the 1922 election although I am certain the gangsters/mob supported his campaign however they could since Mr. Volstead created a gold mine for them!!

This posting will NOT focus on whether or not Prohibition was a good or bad idea (it was a VERY bad idea!!) but instead it will focus on why it is essential that we consumers/parents demands that the classroom subject known as "Social Studies" is replaced in all of our schools with "History" and "Government" taught as stand alone topics. Social Studies is just too watered down to leave any lasting intellectual impact on students.

How can I say this? Here is evidence for the newspaper article I just mentioned at the start of this posting --

Shonnie Brault
Age 37
employee at Neumann's Bar (a former 1920's speakeasy/brothel) in St. Paul, Minnesota
Quote -- "I'm not a history buff." when responding to the reporter's question of whether or not she had heard of Prohibition.

Now this is exactly the problem with many voters when they have ZERO historical perspective on public policy issues. In this case Ms. Brault was born just 37 years after the repeal of Prohibition which is not the distant past. To take it a step further -- the Soviet Union dissolved (thank God!!) in 1991 which is now 16 years ago. So I have to wonder do the new voters who turn 18 years old for the 2008 elections know that the Soviet Union showed the world that centralized economic planing was a failure?

I really doubt it since a lot of polling results that I have seen show that our nation's young voters like the idea "universal health care" which is a centrally planned economic system. Believe me, I was in the Soviet Union in 1986 to see the universal health care that the Soviets delivered to their citizens (serfs) and I gave thanks that we had plenty of vodka to drink :-)

Study history not campaign promises,

Todd

Chicago - Part 3

I guess Chicago is so big and so fun it justifies three postings today!! This one will be short because it will simply encourage interested readers to visit my "Erasmus Book Club" blog at -

http://erasmusbookclub.blogspot.com/

The combination of my meeting the author at the Heartland Institute dinner, the issues forum at the Newberry Library I attended, and my unplanned visit of the Columbia College-Chicago campus book store inspired a books posting.

Enjoy your own explorations,

Todd

Chicago - Part 2

"I think we're setting the bar too low when we say, 'Look, isn't it great that we haven't had a statewide elected official go to jail recently"

Louisiana Governor-Elect Bobby Jindal (October 2007)

While in Chicago for most of this past week I made a point of reading the local newspapers to find that not much has changed since I quit lobbying at the Illinois Legislature in 1998 -- corruption and sweet heart deals in the government are still prevalent. Two quick examples from the newspaper headlines (my summations are below) --

1.) City of Chicago buys lake front property for park -- political crony sells lot purchased for $50,000 to city for $1.5 million which is a nice profit for their 7 years he owned the lot. The land value changed dramatically as the city dramatically increased the assessed value of the land which is merely an odd-shaped parcel of contaminated land set to be turned into a park.

2.) Former Illinois Governor George Ryan is facing prison time for his practice of selling government licenses for cash on the side but is appealing to the US Supreme Court to avoid the jail time.

So let's turn our focus to the south for a moment to Louisiana which has "off-year" elections so they recently had their open primary election. US Congressman Bobby Jindal won this election with a campaign focus of bringing an end to the culture of corruption Louisiana government is known for historically. Assuming Governor Jindal is able to clean up the state government when the 2008 legislative session begins this could provide a campaign theme for political candidates in Illinois for the November 2008 elections so that Illinois starts moving away from their identity as the "Louisiana of the North" ( my phrase which was inspired by the Chicago Tribune's placement of Congressman Jindal's quote I used above to just below an op-ed entitled "Show Mercy for Ryan not System"). What a coincidence!

Good luck to Governor Jindal not Governor Ryan,

Todd

Chicago

Due to some client work I traveled to the Windy City (Chicago) this week for the annual dinner of the Heartland Institute (www.heartland.org). For several years now this dinner has been held in the same ball room at the Hilton Hotel but this year this same ball room was being used by Chicago Public Schools for their annual awards banquet. This meant that the Heartland Institutes's event was held in the ball room on the floor below the school event. For the average reader these ball room logistics would go un-noticed but in this situation it was just damn funny!! Why? Because the Heartland Institute is a libertarian/free market think tank which advocates school (aka parental choice) choice via their "School Reform News" newspaper while the Chicago Public Schools tends to support school choice "as long as our system is the only choice consumers have..................." (my wording so feel free to challenge it).

The event itself was not only entertaining but it was also very educational. Nearly 600 dinner guest enjoyed the comedy routine of Tim Slagle who offered a free market perspective on global warming, Al Gore, and Halloween -- yes two of these three things are scary :-) Mr. Slagle's spoof on Halloween was the best as he explained that when a child returns home with their bag of candy that they worked for that he would take portions of the candy away for -- "income taxes, social security taxes, sales tax..................." leaving the child were only half of Snickers bar. This "candy re-distribution" (my phrase) then inspires the child to simply lay on his parents' couch during the next Halloween opting instead to just eat from the bowl of candy that his mother left out for trick or treaters thus creating WELFARE.

After Mr. Slagle's performance we enjoyed a very lively debate between two scholars discussing whether or not US President Abraham Lincoln save the USA or was merely a power-hungry tyrant who destroyed civil liberties. The end result for me was that the debate opened my eyes to several things I was unaware of that even scared me such as President Lincoln's order to have 20 Maryland state legislators arrested to essentially silence them. Historically I am a sucker for buying the book of authors that I meet as I did at Thursday night's dinner so now I have yet another book on the growing reading list.

Overall it was a great trip to the Windy City and I look forward to future visits.

Todd

Employment

While serving as a guest lecturer at a local university last year I noted for the students that India was being overlooked by the "gold rush" to China. At the time I blogged on this subject by stating that for the USA India was a much better trading partner due to -- both countries are representative democracies, both countries speak our own versions of the English language, and both countries use the Common Law system inherited from our British overlords.

China faces a real challenge in terms of bringing development and wealth to its poor, rural, low skilled populations just like India does today as their economies modernize and open up to the global economy. But here comes some an exciting news from India in the form of a new company created by a former employee of Microsoft Research -- Sean Olin Blagsvedt -- which is named:

http://www.babajob.com/

"Babajob.com and babalife.com are a combined effort to provide the best social networking and job site in India and eventually worldwide. It’s based on the simple idea that everyone deserves to get a better job – even if you can’t read English and work in another’s home. Most people find jobs through people they know – namely their extended social network – and most employers – particularly when hiring employees that work in the home, would like to hire a person who someone they trust can vouch for."

BabaJob and BabaLife combine the worlds of social networking with online job searches but Baba's focus is on poor, unskilled workers which from my perspective makes this service so unique. Baba uses an incentive system that pays people for successful referrals once job applicants are hired which is perhaps an incentive system the USA's various social services/welfare workers should have implemented into their salary structures. One final observation is perhaps an obvious one -- creating job mobility and promotions for India's unskilled workers creates future middle class (potentially of course) consumers which is important news for both of our nations.

Keep up the good work Mr. Blagsvedt,

Todd

Sermons

I must admit that I often enjoy sitting through the sermons at my church in a state of half-listening and half-reflecting which combine to give me an overall sense of relaxation, perhaps even serving as an oasis from the hectic weekly family and work routine.

However, this last Sunday's sermon by our senior pastor really made me focus on his message since he made an impassioned pitch for every member to double our annual donations to the church so they could meet their budget and missionary commitments. While I hesitate to remind my own pastor of scripture it is worth mentioning that Jesus Christ himself told us via the Bible that we should -- "render unto Caesar what is Caesar's and render unto the Lord what is the Lord's..............." to which Father Robert Sirico, President of the Acton Institute (www.acton.org) told me years ago, "right there, Jesus tells us there is a limit to government.............."

Yes indeed Father Sirico -- Jesus only expects us to give 10% via the "tithe" yet the secular government expects nearly 50% of our personal incomes (once you add -- income taxes, Social Security taxes, sales tax, gas tax, etc................together" -- so I agree with your worldview not my local church which is an advocate of things like "fair trade" that merely create a trading regime that keeps poor farmers poor with just a few more coins in their pocket. If you don't believe me just review Paul Collier's book, "The Bottom Billion", since he is a supporter of World Bank development programs yet opposes fair trade.

Essentially I want my church (and any others who see the light) to call government greed exactly what it is -- immoral and sinful!! -- because requiring us to give 50% of the fruits of our labor to the Church of Big Government is a form of hell on Earth. Once government is cut dramatically I would gladly give a portion of what is returned to me to entities like my church although the Acton Institute would receive a check first.

Forgive me Father for I have earned,

Todd

Chess Boxing

There is nothing like a nearly nine hour flight like my wife and I had last week!! Plenty of free time to catch up on reading since you probably won't be able to sleep anyway since the passenger beyond you treats your seat like it is a catapult as they pull on your seat to get themselves in and out of their seat. Then they left your seat go treating you like you were a fire ball to be launched at a castle wall!!! But I digress.

One article I read during our flight was focused on a sport that we never played when I was in school -- Chess Boxing (www.wcbo.org).

Readers can probably guess for themselves what this sport is all about but the basics are this -- a round of boxing is followed by a round of chess and so on until the match is completed. The world championship is set for November 3 in Berlin but I will be at an Iowa State University football game instead (www.cyclones.com).

Chess Boxing's creator (a Dutch guy) got the idea while reading a science fiction/futurist graphic comic book where the sport of Chess Boxing was depicted. Clearly the Dutch culture provides citizens with a lot of free time!!

As a sports enthusiast and aspiring professor this combination of "brains and brawn" captures my attention especially since it was created by an entrepreneur with no known government support that I have seen -- there you knew I could not complete a posting without mentioning the government!!

Check mate,

Todd

Slush Funds for Thugs

Last night's discussion at my book club focused on "The Bottom Billion" by Paul Collier. This book was focused on the "billion poorest people in the world who live in the failed nation-states and foreign aid.........." (my paraphrasing summation). It was coincidental time that I finished this book was traveling back from Brussels, Belgium this week since I had the chance to read an op-ed in the International Herald Tribune entitled, "Take it Private - Rethinking Foreign Aid" by Justin Muzinich and Eric Werker.

Muzinich and Werker note that the USA currently spends $23 billion on development aid to foreign countries which Democratic presidential candidate, Barack Obama, has called for nearly doubling to $50 billion annually. Muzinich and Werker go on to argue that instead of simply providing foreign aid the US government should provide tax credits to American companies who invest in the countries who are current foreign aid recipients. Put another way these authors argue that building a factory in a country like Kenya via a US tax credit system for corporations is far better than a direct grant/forgivable loan that usually end up embezzled by corrupt local politicians and/or sent to the recipient country's military.

Now this is very fresh thinking on foreign aid -- MUCH more creative than Obama's "let's just spend more and hope for better results in these countries." Given the difficulty of implementing a tax credit system like the one the authors advocate let me offer my own version of foreign aid reform based on a model that has already been used by the US Congress.

Welfare Reform

Yes the US Congress via the leadership of former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich boxed then President Bill Clinton into a corner forcing him to sign the welfare reform into law. Essentially Congress converted the perpetual welfare train formerly known as "Aid to Families with Dependent Children" (AFDC) into the TEMPORARY assistance program known as "Temporary Assistance to Needy Families" (TANF) which imposes a five year maximum benefit for welfare assistance per individual thus giving all of us to get our lives right and to help our fellow citizens when they need a little assistance.

So I call on the US Congress, United Nations, International Monetary Fund, World Bank, etc. to reform all of their current foreign aid programs into a completely new mindset/policy to be called -- "TANNS" -- Temporary Assistance to Needy Nation States. How long do you think a complete thug/dictator/sadist like President Robert Mugabe of Zimbabwe would remain in power if all foreign aid were to be cut off at a date certain? He is starving his people today despite the food aid we send to his government (the government officials call it "fasting" -- I kid you not!!) so cutting off foreign aid to his country would not add to the harm being done today.

Trade not aid,

Todd

Partioning Iraq

When the USA-led military coalition invaded Iraq I was living in London, United Kingdom so one of my immediate thoughts was of the British Empire. Why? Because modern day Iraq was simply carved out of the former British Empire placing at least three different ethnic/community groups - Kurds, Sunni, and Shia - together via Iraq. While I was not a supporter of the Iraq invasion because I thought we should consolidate/ensure the victory in Afghanistan before taking on other "projects" if at all. But once the Iraq invasion happened my first thought was -- there can't be any reason to hold Iraq together as one nation other than it makes it easier to negotiate master contracts for oil exploration but perhaps there were other reasons.

Two other reasons come to mind -

1.) Fear of an autonomous Shia region/nation joining to form a "Greater Iran" , and
2.) Fear of upsetting the USA's ally (although they did not allow the USA invasion force to use their air space so not really much of an ally) , Turkey, since they fear an autonomous Kurdistan that would then lay claim to land in Turkey given its Kurdish population.

This week the news media is reporting that Turkey may launch a military offensive into Iraq against the Kurds which they view to be a terrorist organization. For more information on Kurdistan please visit -- http://www.theotheriraq.com/index.html While the USA would risk upsetting Turkey I see ZERO reason to lose more American military lives simply to keep Iraq in one piece.

Now in the 1980's we had the slogan "Peace Through Strength" but perhaps today's slogan should be "Peace Through Sovereignty/Autonomy" (a bit wordy but you get the idea) for regions like Kurdistan, the Basque region in Spain, and even Scotland which is increasingly interested in leaving the United Kingdom based on recent parliamentary election results. My regular readers know that I am NO fan of the United Nations but this is one idea that the UN should support since it will increase their membership numbers while also increasing the chances we will see less warfare/terrorism in the future (yes I know the Scots are not sending suicide bombers to London!!).

Bring on the Kurdish embassies!!

Todd

Keep Them Poor - Keep Them Down

"The innate character of every government is to increase the power of the state to deal with problems that it declares are unprecedented"

Henry Porter in The Observer (United Kingdom)

Believe me people I would MUCH rather write about some non-government topics but government is so pervasive in our daily lives I am obligated to highlight what is wrong with government almost daily via this blog. This is not only an attempt to keep my sanity by "venting" on this blog a bit but is also a campaign to educate those "fence sitters" out there who simply go through life with no passion on any public policy issue. So now let me invite you to get on the fence to come down on my side of the field by working to cut government wherever we can.

Why?

I can offer no better reason than an "affordable housing" project that has been proposed in my idyllic suburb in the Twin Cities of Minnesota. The situation we face locally is that our "Dakota County Community Development Agency" (CDA) is presenting a plan to our planning commission and eventually the city council -- my instincts tell me the wheels are greased on this proposal so it will move like things move through a goose :-) -- to build a senior citizen housing complex alongside an "affordable housing" rental town home project.

First of all let me state the obvious that the everyday communist (like some of my neighbors who attended the public meeting I did) does not fully consider -- GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS AND TAXES DRIVE UP THE COST OF HOUSING thus causing a "need" for affordable housing. Think of it -- lumber imports from Canada are restricted thus driving up the cost of building materials, construction companies services are taxed, building codes add costs, and government borrowing increases the "cost of money" thus driving home mortgage rates up. Once the cost of housing goes up then government sees the opportunity to take our tax dollars to finance affordable housing projects.

Okay anyone who knows basic economics can figure this out for themselves but let me offer you a personal insight from the public meeting I attended when I asked the CDA staff, "so given the useful life of this housing stock you plan to build will it always be rental properties or do you try to phase in renters to become home owners via a condo association model so that the residents will become part of the ownership society?" To which the CDA staffer replied -- "oh no , these properties will always be rental properties because some people in the world will never have the capability to become home owners...................."

Did you hear that? The central planners in our government are picking winners and losers when it comes to people getting their first step on the property ladder. I have more faith in the "working poor" than the CDA does OR is the CDA staff simply motivated to keep this economic class "poor and down" in order to keep all the CDA staff employed?

Bottom line is that if the need for "affordable housing" is growing then let's try a new approach by completely phasing out agencies like the CDA coupled with an overall reduction in the costs of home ownership as noted earlier. Clearly the current model is not working.

Owners not vassals,

Todd

Europe travel report

Last week I noted I was traveling to Brussels, Belgium where I attended the annual "Capitalist Ball" which is a black tie dinner hosted by the Centre for the New Europe to celebrate the virtues of capitalism.

Overall I can report that Europe is still broken in many ways as confirmed by my European friends such as my former flat mate who had to secure an electrician to fix the wiring in my former apartment. It was very difficult for my friend to organize this repair work due to the poor customer service so he lived via candle light for over one week -- but at least he reduced his carbon footprint to help ease global warming!! Another example was the overall customer service experience in many venues. Overall there is a staff shortage for either/or both of these reasons:

• European unemployment/welfare payments are higher than what some of these service economy jobs would pay so why should people take the jobs?
• Employment law makes the labor market VERY restrictive because Belgian law requires nearly two years of severance payments to be made to most employees that are fired I am told. Two years!!! So if you hire someone to fry hamburgers at your restaurant but they never develop the skill you essentially can't afford to fire them due to the severance payment rules. So employers simply avoid hiring more staff.

If you don't believe me just stop by the UGC movie theatres in Brussels sometime which regularly have staff shortages. You have to arrive at least 30 minutes early just to line up to buy a ticket.

Well that is enough discussion of employment law - let me return to the Capitalist Ball. When my wife and I stepped out of our taxi we noticed the "anti-capitalism" protesters stationed across the street from the ball's venue. These people were reading from scripts to protest the "evils of capitalism" since the local government authorities require planned protests to submit transcripts of what they plan to protest about -- no doubt to simply give a bureaucrat something to do for a job.

Personally I like the capitalist system especially since I experience the Soviet Union's command/control economy first hand back in the 1980's where I saw everybody but the Communist Party leadership living in dire conditions. Let's consider some "evils" that capitalism produces including:

• safe drinking water
• iPods
• computers that double computing capacity every 18 months
• cellular telephones that are given away to attract customers
• shoes that fit and come in a variety of colors :-)

Perhaps you have a favorite product or service that comes to you via capitalism versus a government program?

The Capitalist Ball was very entertaining and provided me with some excellent professional networking opportunities so I look forward to attending next year.

Competition not compulsion,

Todd

Europe

Today's local newspaper published an op-ed from a scholar at the New America Foundation arguing that the European Union (EU) is the the "old and sick man" that most Americans believe it is in economic terms.

I read this op-ed with interest since my wife and I are flying to Brussels, Belgium for the week to attend the annual "Capitalist Ball" hosted by the Centre for the New Europe. This annual gathering of the free market community is mainly a social gathering but there is substance in terms of the policy conversations.

I plan to share copies of today's pro-EU op-ed with my friends at the Ball to get their reaction so I can produce a posting later this week.

I look forward to hearing from readers regarding which economic markets are the most dynamic in the world AND enjoy the highest relative standard of living/quality of life.

Merci/danke/grazie/ta/mange tak/gracias,

Todd

Immersion Schools

While traveling in Northern Minnesota last week I clipped this article from a local newspaper --

"Language immersion interest remains for Superior schools"


This article was focused on the Superior (Wisconsin) School District's pending decision regarding whether or not to create foreign language "immersion schools." Now at my friends know by now I am not xenophobic regarding immigration preferring to have the world have less "walls" and more free trade including the movement of people under the rule of law where property is protected. Secondly I have studied two foreign languages during high school, undergraduate, and graduate school so no one can call me an "English only cave man" especially since my hope is that my children will become at least bi-lingual thus surpassing my foreign language abilities.

Having said all that what most attracted me to the Superior Schools article regarding immersion schools is this central question -- "why don't we create charter/immersion schools for new immigrants to ease their transition into the USA?" Such a school would have as its focus:

-English language immersion
-History (not "social studies" of the USA)
-Math
-Reading/literature (to reinforce the English instruction)

Such a model would be focused which is exactly the opposite of what education is today -- instead the education establishment has evolved into simply chasing more money for specialty jobs and "special education" students so the incentive becomes to have everything deemed "special or 'for diversity' " to help chase the dollars.

Fiscal conservatives and free traders like me would be a strange bedfellow to chicken little commentators like Lou "Build a wall across Mexico" Dobbs on CNN since he should LOVE this education reform idea that I offer.

Buy textbooks not barb wire,

Todd

Iran -- Part 2

In my earlier posting here entitled "Iran" I commented on the President of Iran's recent speeches at Columbia University and the United Nations in which he declared, "Iran does not have homosexuals.................." This comment was greeted with shock and ridicule by the audience at the speech and media coverage.

So the question remains -- were there never homosexuals in Iran or did the government/religious police do something with them? Perhaps the rule of the Taliban in Afghanistan provides us with a possible explanation. As noted in a recent Men's Health magazine article regarding the growing popularity of weight lifting/body building in Afghanistan the Taliban used what was called "Kabul's Pool (not "Rule") of Law" in the article I read. The program was simple -- the Taliban utilized an empty Olympic swimming pool built by the Soviets in the mid 1980's for their form of justice. Quoting Men's Health now --

" Homosexuals and political dissidents were pushed from the top (diving) platform and judged innocent if they lived. Today the pool serves as a soccer field for Afghan youth."

Progress is being made if we are willing to look for it.

Todd

Bio-diversity

As avid readers of this blog - both of you!! - noticed last week I have not posted any comments for one entire week The reason for my being off-line was due to a grouse (birds that look like forest-dwelling chickens - except grouse meat tastes much better) hunting trip in Northern Minnesota with my brother.

Clearly I need some professional counseling because while we walked through the forest land in search of grouse I could not help but think of the very mis-guided Al "Save Mother Earth" Gore!!! I thought about Gore during a conversation my brother and I had with a US Forest Service Ranger regarding which areas are best for grouse habitat so we could focus our hunt. The ranger informed us that grouse thrive in "recently clear cut logging areas.........." What, how can that be possible? We let people log forest lands and the net result is that more grouse are able to reproduce/thrive by feeding on the young aspen tress that are able to grow once the old growth trees are removed by the loggers. Just imagine that by simply harvesting a useful product like trees to build homes and offices which spur further economic growth we get the added benefit of more bio-diversity via higher grouse populations. Another benefit of this logging that I would add that the ranger did not mention is that the clear cutting also helps prevent/manage forest fires by removing "fuel" from the area.

So the obvious point here is that we do not need activists who advocate highly centralized government control over the environment such as Al Gore does. In fact we need the complete opposite -- hunters like my brother and I who spend our money utilizing the great outdoors because it is people like us that have a personal, vested interest in ensuring we maintain environmental quality.

The hunt for smaller government continues.

Todd