EckerNet.Com

The photo below captures a disturbing trend that is beginning to affect wildlife in the US…

Animals that were formerly self-sufficient are now showing signs of belonging to the Democratic Party…as they have apparently learned to just sit and wait for the government to step in and provide for their care and sustenance.

In an attempt to prop up the failing campaign of Shelley Madore, the incorrectly named “Minnesota Independent” recently published a boilerplate “Oh a poor Democrat is being picked on by mean Republicans!“. Unfortunately the author has sanded off quite a bit of the truth.

Let’s start with the most egregious…

Campaign Funding

The liberal hacks at MN Independent start out by pointing out that Madore’s Republican candidate Tara Mack has raised more than $27000, a rather impressive sum for an unknown challenger. They then criticize Mack for having contributors such as “big-time GOP givers from outside the district such as local TV/radio mogul Stanley Hubbard, Minnesota Timberwolves owners Glen Taylor and former Target chief executive officer Robert Ulrich.” This is obviously meant to leave the impression that Mack’s campaign is mostly funding by big-wig rich fat-cats.

However, the truth is much much different…here are the contributions from those “big-time GOPers”

• Stanley Hubbard - $500
• Glen Taylor - $250
• Robert Ulrich - $500

For those of you that went to public school that’s a grand total of $1250…out of $27000, roughly 4.5%. In fact, most of Mack’s contributions are small donations from individuals. Wow, that’s not the impression you get from the article.

If you look at Madore’s records on the other hand, you see an entirely different story. She’s raised a rather anemic $14397, especially for an incumbent. The big issue there is that $6700 of that is from lobbyists and PACs. And many of those PACs directly benefit from the big transportation tax increase that Madore voted for.

So the implication that Tara Mack is being supported by special interests just is not reflected by reality. Instead it’s Shelley Madore who appears to be acting in the best interest of those PACs and lobbyists supporting her campaign. Not that she has much of a choice since few of her constituents appear willing to support her.

Media Access

The article also accuses Tara Mack of hiding from reporters…LOL, for those of you confused, lefty bloggers like to call themselves journalists and reporters….it’s a vanity thing I guess. Anyway, they claim that Tara Mack is hiding herself from reporters because…

• She skipped one of twelve debates because she was out knocking on doors talking to residents of her district instead. She has committed to attending four of the twelve.
• She won’t return a phone call from a lefty hack

So basically because she won’t follow the schedule and be at the beck-and-call of reporters lefty hacks she’s hiding from the media. Instead she deems it more important to go out to the actual neighborhoods of those she means to represent and talk with the people that could vote for her. Wow…that’s damning “evidence”.

UPDATE : The article makes the accusation that she won’t return a phone call from a lefty hack.  I just talked to Tara Mack and she stated that she actually DID call him back several times but he has no voicemail.  A “reporter” without a voicemail….huh.  She then tried to email him.  He responded with an email acknowledging her attempts to call and stated he’d talk to her before he went forward with the article…

Now he publishes an article stating she refused to call him back.  Just who is avoiding who here?

SCANDAL!

The article tries to manufacture a scandal out of….well, nothing. Here’s the scandal…seriously. The Apple Valley City Council (headed by a Democrat) having learned that the usual polling place for Precinct 14 wasn’t going to be available in 2008 had to pick a new polling place. Best they could manage was the River Valley Church which unfortunately isn’t in Precinct 14.

Now here’s the scandal part….Tara Mack’s husband Justin is an assistant pastor at that church. However, even the Secretary of State (a Democrat) says there is nothing wrong with the arrangement. And the change was made before Tara Mack even filed for office.

Yeah….that’s it…that’s the scandal. Apparently we can’t even trust a man of the cloth anymore. The Minnesota “Independent” mentions it in a “oh well this may or may not be a scandal, but since I mention it it must be newsworthy!” sort of way. Clearly the intent is to leave the impression that election fraud is taking place despite all evidence to the contrary….and lack of evidence to support it.

Big Bad Mean Republicans

And then there is the obligatory “Republicans are mean!” angle. In this case a local GOP activist (that would be me) has been publishing a site that has been pointing out the less flattering parts of Madore’s record, especially those areas where she isn’t exactly in line with the beliefs of her district. Every item is documented with a link to the legislation and voting record so that anyone that needs to can verify it themselves.

Reality

Fact of the matter is that Madore has been a horrible legislator with a record of voting that does not match the value of her constituents. The fact that she has received very few donations from residents of her district and has generated very little traction for her campaign says quite a bit about her as a candidate. I wouldn’t be surprised in the least if the DFL chooses to cut the umbilical cord and cut her loose. They wouldn’t be losing much.

[Crossposted at True North]

Steve Sarvi is the DFL’s sacrificial lamb challenging John Kline to be representative for Minnesota Second Congressional District, a job John has very ably held for the last six years. Problem is that Steve hasn’t been doing very well. His fundraising is anemic, his own polls show him way behind and his entire campaign theme is based upon a lie.

Sarvi’s entire campaign is based the myth that Kline doesn’t care about veterans. Unfortunately, this belief does not share the same reality as the rest of us, as very bluntly pointed out by the Faribault Daily News.

A transcript of the hearing to which Sarvi refers shows that Kline said it is “very appropriate” for the government to place “a lot” of emphasis on traumatic brain injuries and post-traumatic stress disorder.

Kline’s sin? Asking the question of whether spending so much money on PTSD is pulling too much focus — and money — away from the huge number of leg and arm injuries being suffered in the current campaigns in Afghanistan and Iraq. That was a fair question to ask considering the variety of serious wounds — mental and physical — our troops are coming home with and have come home with from all our country’s wars.

Even the most hard-core Democrat should be able to look at that transcript and see that Kline doesn’t lack in his commitment and support to veterans of our armed forces. What the Sarvi campaign must be banking on is that no one will take the time to look at the transcript.

Ouch…all but called a damn liar by a major cities newspaper. That’s gotta hurt.

The fact is that Sarvi’s campaign is based upon a myth. He can’t compete with John Kline on merit so unfortunately he feels the need to fabricate lies about Kline and his record. The reality is Kline’s record demonstrates years of dedication both to his country and to his constituents. It’s time for Sarvi to face up to that fact and quit lying.

[Crossposted at True North]

If Congress gets it’s way with this bailout, I suspect this is what the taxpayers will have left…

Those Nigerian spammers have apparently outsourced to the US government…

SUBJECT: REQUEST FOR URGENT BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP

DEAR AMERICAN: I NEED TO ASK YOU TO SUPPORT AN URGENT SECRET BUSINESS RELATIONSHIP WITH A TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF GREAT MAGNITUDE.

I AM MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY OF THE REPUBLIC OF AMERICA. MY COUNTRY HAS HAD CRISIS THAT HAS CAUSED THE NEED FOR LARGE TRANSFER OF FUNDS OF 800 BILLION DOLLARS US. IF YOU WOULD ASSIST ME IN THIS TRANSFER, IT WOULD BE MOST PROFITABLE TO YOU.

I AM WORKING WITH MR. PHIL GRAMM, LOBBYIST FOR UBS, WHO WILL BE MY REPLACEMENT AS MINISTRY OF THE TREASURY IN JANUARY. AS A SENATOR, YOU MAY KNOW HIM AS THE LEADER OF THE AMERICAN BANKING DEREGULATION MOVEMENT IN THE 1990S. THIS TRANSACTIN IS 100% SAFE.

THIS IS A MATTER OF GREAT URGENCY. WE NEED A BLANK CHECK. WE NEED THE FUNDS AS QUICKLY AS POSSIBLE. WE CANNOT DIRECTLY TRANSFER THESE FUNDS IN THE NAMES OF OUR CLOSE FRIENDS BECAUSE WE ARE CONSTANTLY UNDER SURVEILLANCE. MY FAMILY LAWYER ADVISED ME THAT I SHOULD LOOK FOR A RELIABLE AND TRUSTWORTHY PERSON WHO WILL ACT AS A NEXT OF KIN SO THE FUNDS CAN BE TRANSFERRED.

PLEASE REPLY WITH ALL OF YOUR BANK ACCOUNT, IRA AND COLLEGE FUND ACCOUNT NUMBERS AND THOSE OF YOUR CHILDREN AND GRANDCHILDREN TO WALLSTREETBAILOUT@TREASURY.GOV SO THAT WE MAY TRANSFER YOUR COMMISSION FOR THIS TRANSACTION. AFTER I RECEIVE THAT INFORMATION, I WILL RESPOND WITH DETAILED INFORMATION ABOUT SAFEGUARDS THAT WILL BE USED TO PROTECT THE FUNDS.

YOURS FAITHFULLY MINISTER OF TREASURY PAULSON

Hmmm, it seems legit right?

Heh, more random links from the depths of my depravity…

Congress is bitching about and the voting public is up in arms over a $700 billion bailout of Wall Street. But Congress just passed a spending bill that included 2,322 pet projects totaling $6.6 billion, and a bailout for automakers of $25 billion and nobody blinked.

According to Alcee Hastings, Jews and Blacks are roughly equivalent to a moose.

Obama is developing an awfully bad habit of shutting down anyone that says anything bad about him, regardless of whether it true or not. I think I’ll have a new anti-Obama ad on this site every day next week. Obama and his lawyers can kiss my ass.

The Chinese are building their first aircraft carrier….or rather adapting one the Russians already screwed up. Not a big deal because it’ll take ten years to be operational and it’s roughly comparable to our WWII carriers. Besides which, it’s only one and really you need to have at least three for one to always be operational.

How cute….the guy with one of the worst records on guns is trying to sound like a Second Amendment defender.

Good news for Team Obama, Barack isn’t the MOST financially irresponsible Senator, but he’s close. Bad news, is that his running mate, Joe Biden, is the most wasteful Senator.

The guys at The Jawa Report have been rather busy this week. They rather creatively tracked down the person behind a hit piece that was also extremely lacking in truth. Turns out it was a guy with very close ties to Obama’s campaign guru.

Which candidate not only employs more women, but also pays them better? Here’s a hint, it’s not the one endorsed by the National Organization of Women.

Obama’s 50-state strategy is officially dead.

Apparently the kooks at the Huffington Post aren’t content with just criticizing the bailout plan, they are advocating open revolt to fight it.

The biggest “cause” of “global warming” is always changing….apparently it has again. Old&Busted : Carbon New&Sexy : *shakes magic 8-Ball* Clean Air……yeah, you read that right.

For Obama, apparently there is a grey area between “not opposing” and “supporting” and he loves to live in it.

For years, we’ve designed hunting camouflage based upon what the human eye sees. Now we’re designing it based upon how our prey sees. Here’s the science.

McCain is suspending his campaign to head to DC to work on the bailout. This will be either the most boneheaded or the most genius move of his campaign.

Jonah Goldberg is turning out to be pretty prophetic this week…

And let’s not forget Biden, whose gaffes are the unavoidable byproduct of his limitless gasbaggery. Biden could shout on Meet the Press, “Get these squirrels off of me!” and the collective response would be, “There goes Joe again.” But if Palin flubs the name of the deputy agriculture minister of Kyrgyzstan, the media will blow their whistles saying she’s unprepared for the job.

Eating ice cream might get very very interesting thanks to PETA.

BIDEN is criticizing McCAIN on judgement in foreign policy??? The guy that wanted to (and still does!) split up Iraq into secretarian states is criticizing ANYONE on foreign policy?

A pretty neat electoral college calculator for you…

I felt a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror and were suddenly silenced.

A woman, married three times, walked into a bridal shop one day and told the sales clerk that she was looking for a wedding gown for her fourth wedding.

‘Of course, madam,’ replied the sales clerk, ‘exactly what type and color are you looking for?’ The bride to be said: ‘A long frilly white dress with a veil.’

The sales clerk hesitated a bit, then said, ‘Please don’t take this the wrong way, but gowns of that nature are considered more appropriate for brides who are being married the first time - for those who are a bit more innocent, if you know what I mean? Perhaps ivory or sky blue would be nice?

”Well,’ replied the customer, a little peeved at the clerk’s directness, ‘I can assure you that a white gown would be quite appropriate. Believe it or not, despite all my marriages, I remain as innocent as a first time bride. You see, my first husband was so excited about our wedding, he died as we were checking into our hotel. My second husband and I got into such a terrible fight in the limo on our way to our honeymoon that we had that wedding annulled immediately and never spoke to each other again.

”What about your third husband?’ asked the sales clerk.

‘That one was a Democrat,’ said the woman, ‘and every night for four years, he just sat on the edge of the bed and told me how good it was going to be, but nothing ever happened…’

I think I’ll be the only blogger on the planet today that isn’t bitching about the economy when I bitching about Congress. No my bitching is about my pet issue….illegal immigration.

We’ve known for a long time that E-Verify was going to expire in November if Congress didn’t reauthorize it. Instead of making progress on this, Congress has done the exact opposite. There is a bill (HR 6633) floating around that would re-authorize E-Verify and all the Senate has to do is vote on it.

Congress is scheduled to adjourn after this week, and this is the last change to re-authorize E-Verify before it expires. And since Congress is busy dealing with bailout after bailout, it is unlikely they will get around to authorizing E-Verify. As a result, we will lose one of the best tools we have to fight illegal immigration due entirely to Congressional incompetence.

The leader of that incompetence is Senator Menendez who has placed a block on that HR 6633, which would reauthorize E-Verify. In fact, Senator Menendez is uping the ante on his block. He’s release his block if we allow 550,000 more foreign workers in the US, in addition to the 1.1 million already scheduled to arrive.

Our economy is experiencing quite a bit of trouble right now. Instead of at least ensuring a level playing field for Americans in the job market, Congress is going to allow illegal immigrants to have the upper hand competing for jobs. With a five-year high in unemployment rates, are more foreign workers really the answer we need!?

And it doesn’t help that both of our Presidential candidates are trying to out-amnesty each other. Both declaring that their version of amnesty will be bigger and more repulsive than the others. This despite clear public support for enforcing the border rather than passing amnesty.

I’d love to tell you that we have a chance to save E-Verify, but I’d just be blowing smoke up your ass. And with it being Election Season, you’re getting enough of that as it is. So I’ll just tell you that it is important that the Senate realize the public view on all this.

You can let Senator Menendez what you think by calling him at the following numbers:

DC Office - (202) 224-4744
Newark Office - (973) 645-3030
Online Form

Minnesotans you can also call your Senators at:

Senator Coleman (202) 224-5641
Senator Klobuchar (202) 224-3244

And then you can call Senate leadership at:

Senate Majority Leader, Harry Reid (D-NV) (202) 224-2158
Senate Minority Leader, Mitch McConnell (R-KY) (202) 224-3135

Otherwise the Senate Switchboard can be reached at (202) 224-3121.

[Crossposted at True North]