The following is a press release from North Star Tea Party Patriots.

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Minnesota Democrats and Governor Mark Dayton are in a pickle.  Dayton believed if he just stood up to the newly elected Republican legislature and made them appear extreme, public opinion would flood to his side.  Dayton was elected by 43% of the vote due to a RINO third party candidate and now he thinks he has a firm mandate to shutdown the state to rob the productive class.  Unfortunately for the Democrats, the state has mostly yawned and/or sided with Republican legislators.  The Minnesota press has been trying to rile the general population against the ‘no new taxes’ mandate of the state legislature and that hasn’t stuck.  So, Governor Dayton decided to go on a little tour to give his propaganda wing some visuals.

From ‘Shifting tactics, Dayton takes tax plan to the people,’ by Rachel Stassen-Berger and Mike Kaszuba, “For the first time since Minnesota’s government shutdown began, Gov. Mark Dayton hit the road on Tuesday to promote his point of view, appearing before parents and teachers at a high school in St. Cloud.”  Let’s be perfectly clear about this.  Dayton wasn’t appearing before a random group that just happened to wander into the St. Cloud Apollo High School.  He appeared before parents, who are almost all government union members, and teachers, who are ALL government union members.  This isn’t a genuine listening tour or townhall discussion.  This was a spectacle dreamed up by his Democratic Politburo bosses for the easy use and consumption by his leftwing pamphleteers at local television stations and newspapers.  There is nothing real about this.  It’s theater and theater not unlike that used by Catherine the Great two hundred and thirty years ago.

You see, Catherine had an image problem.  Her lover, Grigory Potemkin, a prince of the realm had defeated the Khanate in southern Russia and chased these Muslims from their homeland.  As a result, there was a vast land that lay open and empty.  Russia and the Ottoman Empire were fighting over control of the Black Sea and each hoped to get France, England, and the German princes and Austrian Empire to side with them.  Russia had a terrible reputation because they’d basically caused a diaspora of many of these Tatars from their lands.  Furthermore, many western leaders doubted they had real dominion over it.

Potemkin came up with a great solution.  He recruited a bunch of people to settle this area.  He ran around creating villages and towns and put these settlers in those areas.  However, he just didn’t have enough people and so when Catherine invited an entourage of Western leaders to tour the newly conquered territory, they wanted to show how Russia conquered and peopled these lands. Problem was there just weren’t enough people but ever the crafty one, Potemkin cheated.

From Jay Winik’s book, ‘The Great Upheaval,’ he explains the Potemkin village of infamy.

“But were these towns real?  Or was this all some quixotic fantasy?  To this day, the very phrase, ‘Potemkin village’ evokes the myth, not of docks, towns, and palaces, but phony constructions made of pasteboard; it is further believed that Catherine saw the same peasants and the same flocks over and over again, who were simply moved down the River Dnieper each night ahead of the empress’s entourage.”

Fast forward to King Marx Dayton and his Potemkin Village Tour.  At each spot, the busy little Potemkin prog/soc’s are gathering up their union astroturf to politely listen and applaud at the right times.  These aren’t just gatherings to get information on the shutdown or voice their concerns.  This is stagecraft.  This is government by artifice.  Why are they going to all this trouble?  Well, as it turns out, even the Party shills at the Star Tribune are getting blue.

Continuing from Stassen-Berger and Kaszuba’s article they opine:

“Dayton has weathered some criticism in DFL quarters for making several concessions in recent weeks, even offering to drop his call for higher income taxes on the wealthy. Over the weekend, in the absence of budget talks, he went silent. At the same time, the GOP put out an unwavering message — the state spends enough — cycled ceaselessly through social media, news conferences and partisan bloggers.”

Now this is just overripe bilge.  Dayton didn’t drop his call for higher taxes, he made one little proposal to tax everything else except the rich but the GOP didn’t bite.  When the people of the state told the Republicans” no new taxes,” it wasn’t just on the rich, the poor, or the dead, but for everyone.  They have more than enough money as it is.

But, their second comment is quite interesting.  They are saying that “social media, news conferences and partisan bloggers” are making a difference.  This is quite the departure from the usual DFL chanting points.  First of all, Kevin Diaz informed us last fall that the Tea Party movement didn’t have a following in Minnesota.  Since Diaz is a member of the Democratic Party propaganda elite, it must be true.  So who are all these social media types who are pressing the Republican narrative?

Second, there were certainly news conferences but the local media treated the GOP with as much disdain and distortions of their remarks as ever.  But, the writers also named partisan bloggers.  Now, that’s interesting because we are just a bunch of kooks that no one reads.  How could we have influenced anyone?  All truth flows from the pens of the Star Tribune and the camera lenses of ‘oh we Kare Eleven, so much.’   It appears we may have struck a nerve.

What’s happening is the Democrats have overplayed their weak hand.  They are burdened with a governor who sounds like he’s about ready to either burst into tears or explode with Tourette’s.  They have a bunch of union thugs running around telling people where to stand and when to clap.  They have a message of ‘eat the rich’ and then when we’re done with them, climb into the pot, you’re next.  They are trying desperately to get their government sector to browbeat the productive sector.

But, it’s just not working.  Maybe this whole Potemkin village thing will work out for them.  Or, maybe we’ll see right through their Wizard of Oz curtain.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com

Everything happens for a reason. In the wake of Minnesota’s state government shutdown, many reasons have been offered to explain the impasse between Governor Dayton and the Republican-led legislature. Most seem to center around the notion of compromise.

On Friday’s Almanac, DFL party chair Ken Martin sparred with MN-GOP vice chair Michael Brodkorb over which party was to blame. Each accused the other of refusing to compromise. While there is certainly an instructive argument to be had over which side has been more willing to negotiate, it defers the important moral consideration which will inform any deal.

Martin evoked that consideration on Friday. “I ask you… Why is it so important in this state to protect 7,700 millionaires at the expense of 99.9% of Minnesotans?” Almanac co-host Cathy Wurzer summarized the DFL talking point as “millionaires over Minnesotas,” as if earning a certain amount of money is a renunciation of one’s residency and citizenship.

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Day Two

This whole shutdown thing isn’t going quite as they planned.  Several problems are arising in Governor Mark Dayton and the progressive/socialist wing of the Democratic Party’s plan to starve out the Minnesota population with a government shutdown.  First, the economic pain envisioned by Dayton isn’t happening.  Second, we are finding ourselves with a ‘government by fiat’ situation instead of a democratic republic.  Finally, Minnesotans are taking the situation at hand and dealing with it which upsets all their apple carts at once.  The narratives are being dismantled and the memes are washing away.

Desperate for stories about human misery and Republican perfidy, the crack reporters of the DFL’s favorite pamphleteers at the StarTribune ran around the state looking for problems.  Since there weren’t any GOP mobs assaulting the homeless, they came up with some interesting case studies.

Stocked His Freezer with Canned Goods

Strangely enough most people weren’t terribly upset by the extra day off before a long 4^th of July weekend.  Undeterred, they reported this laid off uncritical state employee as saying, “My frustration and my anger are very, very high,” Yaeger said. “In the near future, we move to rage.”

Yaeger, who has stocked his freezer with canned goods and meat, said jokingly that he’s now accepting free dinner invitations from friends.”  ‘Feeling effects at home, in wallet,’ by Kelly Smith, Richard Meryhew, and Warren Wolfe, Startribune.com, July 2, 2011.

My goodness.  So this 53 year-old training coordinator for the Minnesota Department of Health is so upset with the extra day off he’s moved to anger that could become rage.  This doesn’t sound like a very stable person especially with him putting his canned goods in a freezer.  Perhaps he believes without state government his canned goods will spoil and so he needs to double protect them.  Either that, or he really like frozen beets on a stick in this hot weather.

Regardless, the stories get even more bizarre.  There is a couple in Coon Rapids and the husband was laid off from his uncritical state engineering job.  “The couple started the day by pulling their 2-year-old from day care. For a time, he’ll stay at Mike’s parents’ house to help save money. Meanwhile, Heidi has set aside her “dream job” as a self-employed photographer to seek a second job.”  How desperate are the StarTribune reporters for a story that they come up with this remarkable tale.  Mike Mendiola has been laid off until Dayton sees reason.  They both know the state government will go back online sometime, but in the mean time they have to cope.

How are the Mendiolas coping?  They pulled their 2 year old from day care to stay with Mike’s parents.  Why the hell isn’t Mike just taking care of his child?  What would you need day care for if you’re home and laid off from work.  So what if poor Heidi has to look for a real job.  Quite frankly, these supposed tales of woe just make me more furious that we have 23,000 able-bodied Minnesotans soaking up millions of dollars in tax revenue on uncritical jobs and whining about having to take care of their own children.

This is ridiculous.  I know that Kelly Smith, Richard Meryhew, and Warren Wolfe were supposed to find people traumatized by Dayton’s Shutdown but this borders on a mockumentary in its effect.

Government by Fiat  (Not the car company.  That might be better)

Yesterday I listed off the noncritical items that were shutdown in Minnesota’s state government.  Quite a list of nonessential services I think.  These nonessential services were selected by dictator,  er Judge Kathleen Gearin, Chief of the Ramsay County District Court.   From the StarTribune, Times News Service, June 24, 2011, ‘Judge will likely decide next week on Minnesota government operations in event of shutdown.’  They reported this:

“Although the Minnesota Constitution says, “No money shall be paid out of the treasury of the state except in pursuance of appropriation by law” — meaning passed by the Legislature — Swanson argued that the U.S. Constitution contains an overriding requirement that the state cannot “deprive any person of life, liberty or property without due process of law.”

So, our Attorney General argued that our state constitution requires the legislature to appropriate money unless it conflicts with her opinion on the other parts of the U.S. Constitution.  In other words, “no money” really means “unless it’s inconvenient to the Democratic Party patronage system.”  Swanson argues there are facets of state government which simply have to operate otherwise we’ll just be dying in the streets and public unions will not get their take of the public funds.

Gearin agreed and made an arbitrary laundry list of noncritical parts of the state government which could ‘safely’ be shutdown.  But, she decided to appoint a ‘special dictator, I mean, ‘master’ to review her arbitrary laundry list and allow funding to flow to vital services like rest areas for the incontinent and fireworks displays for the blind.

July 2, 2011, ‘Agencies make pitches for continued funds,’ by Star Tribune’s intrepid Mike Kaszuba reports:

“All took their seats before Kathleen Blatz, a former state Supreme Court chief justice appointed as a special master to hear the pleadings. Blatz promised to have her first recommendations as early as Sunday.

In some instances, she said she had heard enough. “I thought they made a strong argument here today that they were” a critical state service, Blatz said after Southern Minnesota Regional Legal Services made its case.”

Congratulations Minnesota.  You’ve got yourself a tyranny.  Thank the heavens we have someone as distinguished and accomplished as Kathleen Blatz to decide where we need to spend money and what social programs are worthy of our tax dollars.  It’s not like we have a political branch charged by our CONSTITUTION to decide these things.  NOOOOOOO.  Now we’ve got ourselves a benevolent dictator to decide for us.  Does anyone really believe this glorified legal bureaucrat, once a state supreme court judge, is going to carefully decide funding based on public discourse?  Of course not.  That’s the new Undemocratic Party way, brought to you by the Prog/Soc wing of The Party.

Just as an amuse bouche of the kinds of testimony Minnesota’s ‘special master’ heard on Friday, we were treated with this.

“I don’t mean to scare you,” said Julie Tate of Minneapolis, who sat before Blatz in a wheelchair and lobbied for state funding for Vail Place, a community-based mental health program serving 1,700 adults in Hennepin County. “[But I] feel suicidal most of the time.”

Well, if you’re feeling suicidal, then let’s pull out the checkbook.  It’s not like it’s any skin off Kathleen Blatz’ nose.  So what if she decides to fund a mental health program without public comment.  If someone threatens suicide then we HAVE to fund their program.  I mean, if someone uses extortion, we have to fund them, right?

This is the nature of our policy making today.  We have abandoned all reason when it comes to public funding of anything.  The pain of cancer has been equated with the pain of ‘Mommmm, he looked at me funny.’  We no longer rationally evaluate public needs but simply cave to the most incessant whiner.  Everybody gets a place at the public trough.  That’s why we are all in the dilemma we face both in Minnesota and on the national level.

Robin Hood Visits Minnesota Parks

On the morning talk show on KTLK, former gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, the Republican endorsed candidate, gave a shout out to Minnesota residents.  He told them to walk around the closed gates at Minnesota parks and enjoy the scenery.  Sheriff of Nottingham Mark Dayton was hoping that closing the parks on a long 4^th of July weekend would make the people of Minnesota angry.  It did, but not at the Republican-led legislature.

In ‘’Closed’ doesn’t deter park visitors,’ Larry Oakes in July 2, 2011’s Star Tribune writes, “The gate was closed and the visitors center was locked, but hundreds of travelers still enjoyed the scenic splendor of Gooseberry Falls on Friday – even though all state parks are officially off-limits to the public as part of the government shutdown.”  It seems many people are taking Emmer’s advice.  Instead of meekly accepting the official park notices, visitors are streaming into Minnesota parks to enjoy the scenery and the beauty the state boasts about.

State officials weren’t too happy.  However, dragging eleven year old girls kicking and screaming out of a nature area doesn’t exactly present a positive picture of our state governmental officials.  Instead, the prog/soc’s issued grave warnings of peril.

“The state Department of Natural Resources, which manages state parks, is strongly advising visitors “not to enter the grounds of any state park during the shutdown.” The agency’s website offers this warning: “We are concerned about serious health, safety and security issues if visitors enter parks when there are no restroom facilities, water and staff available. For example, 911 calls might not be available due to lack of cell phone coverage.”

Oh no!!!  Can you imagine the horror of hiking through a park without a park staff member on hand to collect their entrance fee?  What are visitors going to do without having a rest room or water readily available?  It’s not like we have things like convenience stores and bottled water to rely on.  Oh no.  But my favorite little part of this warning is the cell phone coverage threat.  Are they trying to suggest that cell phones rely on state government park facilities to operate?  Are they really trying to scare people from visiting a park because Google might not be available?  Did cell phone coverage suddenly become more sketchy because we aren’t collecting the permit fees?

This kind of ‘theater of the absurd’ isn’t unique to this shutdown.  People in Minnesota are used to the nonsensical argument routinely pressed by our prog/soc officials.  That’s why people are visiting the parks even though Sheriff Dayton has warned them away.

Backfire

This entire experiment by the Left and the Democratic Party in Minnesota is instructive.  We are watching them spin and lie and fabricate and without any real effect.  They were so desperate to raise taxes on ‘the rich’, they were willing to give up all reason and sense to do so.  We are now seeing just how worthless and wasteful these social experiments really are.  We are starting to see that employing tens of thousands of state workers to push paper is stupid.  We are watching as the existential threats of a government shutdown are all air and no substance.  Antiseptic sunlight is exposing the hidden costs of liberal ideas.  It’s time to start cutting.  Not just because we can’t afford this mess, but because it goes to the very heart of our society and culture.  If we are willing to give up governing to special dictators and reason to political patronage, we are rapidly moving in a very scary direction.

It’s time to dissect the whole operation, throughout the country.

Crossposted at Looktruenorth.com

Conservatives are prone to lament a liberal bias in the media. There is another bias conservatives should play more careful attention to because it affects even the more relatively unbiased analysts and reporters that exist on television, radio, and in print. It is the “good government” bias.

The good government bias’s hallmark is the exasperated sigh of the Washington press corps longing for the “adults” to have an “adult conversation” and handle gridlocked issues in Washington as “adults in the room.” In other words, principles be damned, we need government to work. This is perhaps the most common press bias because it chooses to ignore or downplay real principled concerns in favor of practical, pragmatic, or “adult” solutions.

Republicans in Washington are scrambling trying to find a plan to stave off a government shutdown and reduct the debt to GDP ratio while looking like “adults” to placate a critical press. It won’t happen. The GOP is so fearful of a government shutdown and the media’s spin that the Democrats will be able to cajole them into doing less than they should.

One of the ideas making the rounds is Senator Bob Corker’s CrAP Act. The CrAP Act would restrain government growth at 23% of GDP, which is higher than historic norms even into the Bush Administration. Corker, through accounting sleight of hand, says it is really 20% of GDP, but that, like his Act, is crap.

It is, however, all done in the name of good government and bipartisanship in an effort to slow the growth of government without a government shutdown. Republicans need to understand that they will never ever win a PR battle on a government shutdown with the media, but they shouldn’t fear that. Winning a PR battle with the media is no longer necessary to win the hearts and minds of the American public.

But to understand why the GOP won’t win a PR battle is to understand how the Washington press works and is to understand precisely why the GOP so often comes off as the stupid party selling its soul for larger government.

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Conservatives are prone to lament a liberal bias in the media. There is another bias conservatives should play more careful attention to because it affects even the more relatively unbiased analysts and reporters that exist on television, radio, and in print. It is the “good government” bias.

The good government bias’s hallmark is the exasperated sigh of the Washington press corps longing for the “adults” to have an “adult conversation” and handle gridlocked issues in Washington as “adults in the room.” In other words, principles be damned, we need government to work. This is perhaps the most common press bias because it chooses to ignore or downplay real principled concerns in favor of practical, pragmatic, or “adult” solutions.

Republicans in Washington are scrambling trying to find a plan to stave off a government shutdown and reduct the debt to GDP ratio while looking like “adults” to placate a critical press. It won’t happen. The GOP is so fearful of a government shutdown and the media’s spin that the Democrats will be able to cajole them into doing less than they should.

One of the ideas making the rounds is Senator Bob Corker’s CrAP Act. The CrAP Act would restrain government growth at 23% of GDP, which is higher than historic norms even into the Bush Administration. Corker, through accounting sleight of hand, says it is really 20% of GDP, but that, like his Act, is crap.

It is, however, all done in the name of good government and bipartisanship in an effort to slow the growth of government without a government shutdown. Republicans need to understand that they will never ever win a PR battle on a government shutdown with the media, but they shouldn’t fear that. Winning a PR battle with the media is no longer necessary to win the hearts and minds of the American public.

But to understand why the GOP won’t win a PR battle is to understand how the Washington press works and is to understand precisely why the GOP so often comes off as the stupid party selling its soul for larger government.

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Yesterday the GOP under the leadership of house speaker John Boehner agreed to a tentative deal with Democrats regarding the remaining budget for this year.The more I reviewed the details of the deal, the moreI have come to believe that we actually won a huge victory. By “we”, I mean the American people and the conservative movement.On the other hand, I am somewhat saddened and disappointed that many conservatives who I have an enormous amount of respect and admiration for somehow think the deal was a horrible betrayal on the part of the GOP leadership. Washington still has a culture of deal making that will not change overnight or because of one election, and last night we made a deal that no realist would have thought possible a week ago.  The facts is that in this war over our country’s future we need real victories and not just moral ones. 2010 was a real victory, but unless we win in 2012, bills to change this presidents policies permanently that are just passed by the house will simply be limited to moral victories.  We already know that the democrats have a strategy of painting us as extreme, a strategy that we see as ridiculous, but one that unfortunately has an effect on the uninformed voter.I have always said that the left cannot compete with us in a fight over ideas, and yet they beat us by winning the messaging in the debate and I think this deal is a good example of how we need to change that.

Do we have a national movement that is demanding cuts and voted in 2010 for just that? Yes

Does that change the facts that until 2012 Republicans only have control of one branch of congress and effectively cannot fix anything unilaterally? NOT AT ALL.

If we are going to win then we need to win more than just the informed conservatives who know our country is on the brink of financial disaster, but also those millions who do not.The fact is that we did not want a shut down, Obama and the democrats did, but that is not how the public saw it. Anyone who spoke to those lay people who get tidbits of news from the lame stream media knew that Republicans really were losing the battle on Friday.  The shutdown was being portrayed and believed as an argument over Planned Parenthood, a debate that Republicans were not even openly having at the time.The Democrats were using over the top language about Republicans wanting to “kill women” and while we saw that as crazy, the fact is that it was shifting the window of the debate to successfully paint us as extreme.Furthermore, we painted ourselves in a corner by setting a bar where somehow our supporters thought we were going to reach a deal without compromising.Were the Democrats playing political games with troop pay, government shutdown stories etc.? Absolutely, but that does not change that those games were working.If a shutdown had happened there would be fighting back and forth over who was to blame, but based on the messaging eventually many of those affected would have blamed us.As time went on we would have to cave and likely concede a lot more than what we did last night.So let’s go over what we got:

1)We are now discussing how much to cut instead of how much to spend in Washington, that is an enormous accomplishment

2)38.5 Billion in cuts in addition to the billions we cut in past weeks while passing continuing resolutions (people seem to have forgotten about this money).Is this a miniscule amount compared to what we need? Yes.However for those pointing to how small it is they are forgetting that is way better than zero, especially because of point 1.

3)These cuts are permanent and will actually save hundreds of billions more for years to come.

4)Senate votes on the repeal of Obamacare and Planned Parenthood.People have no idea what a huge concession this is.The fact is Democrats control the Senate and do not want to have these votes because then they have to go on the record as supporting these policies.That means these will be issues that we can use against the Democrats in 2012.Obama and the Democrats have shown they care more about funding Planned Parenthood than preventing a shutdown, funding the troops, and making serious budget cuts.This revelation will be a huge campaign tool for 2012.Furthermore, the truth is and realistic Republicans know that they would never have agreed to pass a bill that defunds PP or Obamacare.Those actions are virtually impossible in our system of government unless we win in 2012. This deal helps us do just that.

5)Restores the D.C. school voucher program.Another concession that Dems must have gritted their teeth through.

6)Tools to fight Obamacare through studies of both waivers and impact of the bill.These are important because once again they can be used as tools in the 2012 election to bash a horrible policy that now Democrats will have to defend.

7)Denies additional funding for the IRS to enforce Obamacare.Since repealing Obamacare is impossible until we win in 2012, slowing it down with measures like this that really prevent its effective implementation will be the key.

Mandatory audits of new regulatory system set up under the Dodd-Frank bill.These regulations are job killers and these audits will expose them as such, giving us yet another tool for 2012.

The truth is Republicans gave up things they were likely to never get (PP funding etc.) in exchange for a change that we needed, the direction of Washington.We not only hit the brakes last night on spending, but we started going in reverse.This is not sugar coating or saying that we fixed everything, but we have to start somewhere and this was it.We are fighting to save the country here and that will not be possible unless we stick together and realize that the statists will not just forfeit.We have to fight them at every step and we have to recognize that our allies are not our enemies just because they do not accomplish everything we want them to.Boehner and other Republicans not only got us on the right path with this deal, but they also set us up for a victory in 2012, which is the one we really need to change course.We have often criticized the Democrats for yelling about our plan of spending cuts without actually presenting their own.Please do not make the same mistake here by complaining this deal does not accomplish enough, without recognizing that realistically we could not have possibly accomplished more (at least not until 2012).With all these concessions we also have to keep in mind that we still have several even bigger battles yet to come, such as raising the debt ceiling and next year’s budget. Those battles will be talking about much bigger numbers and reality is there will have to be some compromise on those as well since once again we will only have control of the House.However, if we win those battles in even close to the same fashion we won this one, I will be very impressed with the new Republican party. John Boehner is not the problem; he is part of the solution.The big government liberals will never want to give up their power or spending, but that is exactly why we are fighting to take our country back and need the public to know about it.So let’s take credit and enjoy this small win while we can, because tomorrow we have another battle and it will only get harder.  All hands on deck.

Over at Big Government, Mike Flynn has a fascinating post on what Barack Obama is doing to our soldiers.

In the past, American soldiers were classified as essential personnel. Therefore, should the government shut down our soldiers would keep getting paid.

But Barack Obama has decided to hold our American soldiers hostage to a government shutdown. The Commander-in-Chief has, via the Secretary of the Department of Defense, proposed classifying our men and women in harm’s way as “non-essential.” That means, should the government shut down, they will not be paid.

As Mike Flynn notes, during the previous two government shutdowns during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, soldiers were treated as essential. Barack Obama is not following suit.

It is important to note that the “non-essential” classification is a draft recommendation, but it is a huge departure from prior shutdowns and comes directly from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Why would Barack Obama and the Democrats do this? The answer is simple.

They need to change the message because right now they are losing. And they are willing to use our soldiers as hostages to get that message changed. Let me tell you why.

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Over at Big Government, Mike Flynn has a fascinating post on what Barack Obama is doing to our soldiers.

In the past, American soldiers were classified as essential personnel. Therefore, should the government shut down our soldiers would keep getting paid.

But Barack Obama has decided to hold our American soldiers hostage to a government shutdown. The Commander-in-Chief has, via the Secretary of the Department of Defense, proposed classifying our men and women in harm’s way as “non-essential.” That means, should the government shut down, they will not be paid.

As Mike Flynn notes, during the previous two government shutdowns during the Reagan and Clinton Administrations, soldiers were treated as essential. Barack Obama is not following suit.

It is important to note that the “non-essential” classification is a draft recommendation, but it is a huge departure from prior shutdowns and comes directly from the Office of the Secretary of Defense.

Why would Barack Obama and the Democrats do this? The answer is simple.

They need to change the message because right now they are losing. And they are willing to use our soldiers as hostages to get that message changed. Let me tell you why.

Read More →

The leftwing partisans are in full spin mode now after weeks of privately hoping for a government shutdown (though I have wanted one too). For a taste of the spin, go to Talking Points Memo.

According to Talking Points Memo, Barack Obama and the Democrats are willing to shut down the government to protect killing kids and killing businesses. Yep.

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