Progress in motion?

By Bill Jungbauer

Our esteemed Governor Pawlenty has vowed to veto any tax increases. He has aired his views on this subject on the radio air waves recently. I believe that he has been preaching to the choir. I have heard these commercials only on The Patriot 1280 AM. It would be good to hear his message on the more mainstream, popular stations. That could be my own fault. I only listen to 1280 AM or 100.3 FM 75% of the time.

I am deeply concerned about a political ad on KQRS radio. It goes against every thing the Governor is saying. That his "borrow and spend" way of thinking for financing our transportation needs in Minnesota are wrong. This ad claims that the interest alone will cost nine hundred million dollars just in interest alone. Where do they get that figure? Then we are subject to the usual song and dance about our "children and grandchildren" being saddled with massive future debt.

What I would like to know is, who is Progress in Motion? At the end of this radio commercial we hear "paid for by Progress in Motion." Who are they? I can not find any thing on them, whoever they may be. If any one knows, please let me know. I am guessing it's the road construction people that met at the capitol last week. If this is true, it would be a similar parallel to the teachers union and their relentless lobbying of our elected officials.

A Sad Parallel...

I bought a bird feeder. I hung it on my back porch and filled it with seed. Within a week we had hundreds of birds taking advantage of the continuous flow of free and easily accessible food. But then the birds started building nests in the boards of the patio, above the table, and next to the barbecue. Then came the poop. It was everywhere: on the patio tile, the chairs, the table...everywhere. Then some of the birds turned mean: They would dive bomb me and try to peck me even though I had fed them out of my own pocket. And others birds were boisterous and loud: They sat on the feeder and squawked and screamed at all hours of the day and night and demanded that I fill it when it got low on food. After a while, I couldn't even sit on my own back porch anymore. I took down the bird feeder and in three days the birds were gone. I cleaned up their mess and took down the many nests they had built all over the patio. Soon, the back yard was like it used to be...quiet, serene and no one demanding their rights to a free meal.

Now lets see...our government gives out free food, subsidized housing, free medical care, free education and allows anyone born here to be a automatic citizen. Then the illegals came by the tens of thousands. Suddenly our taxes went up to pay for free services; small apartments are housing 5 families: you have to wait 6 hours to be seen by an emergency room doctor: your child's 2nd grade class is behind other schools because over half the class doesn't speak English: Corn Flakes now come in a bilingual box; I have to press "one" to hear my bank talk to me in English, and people waving flags other than "Old Glory" are squawking and screaming in the streets, demanding more rights and free liberties. Maybe it's time for the government to take down t he bird feeder.

Quote for the day

"How a politician stands on the Second Amendment tells you how he or she views you as an individual... as a trustworthy and productive citizen, or as part of an unruly crowd that needs to be lorded over, controlled, supervised, and taken care of." -Texas State Rep. Dr. Suzanna Gratia-Hupp

Light Rail on Robert St.

By Bill Jungbauer

It is time for me to tell you everything I know about the proposal to run a light rail line down Robert St. in W. St. Paul.

It began in January 2006. Betty McCollum was hosting a town hall meeting at the Northern Dakota County Service Center. It was at this meeting that Senator Metzen hoisted up a map with a line drawn right down Robert St. Also in attendance were Rep. Rick Hansen and W. St. Paul Mayor Jon Zanmiller.

Any one who paid any attention to last falls race between Jim Metzen and myself will remember how Senator Metzen vehemently denied that he had any intentions of light rail on Robert St. Well check out this web site,

http://mpls.startribune.com/news/metro/elections/profiles/26491.html

Here you will see that Metzen said, “Nor will I stop working on the Robert Street light-rail project.”

If you notice the time and date when this page was published, (Tuesday, November 07 08:31:51 AM the day of the election,) I am sure you will agree that it was sneaky and deceitful on his part.

I attended the Taxpayers Rally at the Capitol and I had a great time and met many wonderful people. When the fun was over it was time to take a stroll down to the Global Warming Rally. I had just missed Jimmy (that’s Metzen!) at the Sierra Club tent. He was handing out fliers titled “Let’s Bring Light Rail to Dakota County.”

It is loaded with information on the future of light rail on Robert St. You can view all of this at,

http://www.northstar.sierraclub.org/dakota

Representative Rick Hansen is in on the scam to. Have you ever seen or heard any of this mentioned by him?

W. St. Paul Mayor John Zanmiller is honest and open about this. I am glad some one is. I asked the Mayor about this last January. He told me it is going to run all the way to Rochester. When I asked him where do you plan on putting it he said it is going to be elevated. Mayor Zanmiller, by the way, is representing W. St. Paul on a Metropolitan Council task force on this very issue.

At this web site you can see that what looks like eleven people.
http://northstar.sierraclub.org/campaigns/sierracommunities/ndc/20060507knockABlock.html
They went door knocking and collected forty post cards in support for light rail down Robert St. I believe there are roughly 22,000 residents of W. St. Paul. Looks like they have there work cut out for them.

What I know of the Sierra Club is that they spend none of their own money on what they believe in. They lobby our elected officials to spend our tax dollars for their purposes.

Metzen has been benched

By Bill Jungbauer

I had the pleasure of listening to Governor Pawlenty speak yesterday at the 4th Congressional District Republican Convention. He is a polished and articulate speaker and fun to listen to. While he was expressing his views on the current budget bill that is filled with tax increases and other bazaar item such as giving fifty, and one hundred dollar gift cards to the poor to encourage them to get medical check ups and immunizations. One of my least favorite is giving tuition breaks to illegal immigrants.

Our Governor talked about the increase in income tax to the wealthiest among us. These hikes would make Minnesota number one in the nation for income taxes. He mentioned that 70% of job growth in our nation is from small and mid-size businesses. What amused me was when he mentioned that he plays hockey. Now just a little slower. Now he has to stop playing forward and start to play goalie and stop the tax hike bills from becoming law. So what that means to me is that while our Governer Tim Pawlenty is in the net, Senator Jim Metzen has to sit it out on the bench. There's a new goalie in town. His name is Governor Pawlenty.

Stop the Mediocrity

By Bill Jungbauer

Have you seen the commercials on TV? The one with the robust fellow wearing the tee-shirt with the word "Mediocrity" on it. We are told that we voted last fall to stop mediocrity in the schools. We are told that we should visit this web site http://www.schoolsfirst.org/ I had to go check this out and see who is paying for all of this high buck advertising. It is just as I have suspected, it is paid for by Education Minnesota. This organization is funded by the dues of Minnesota's teachers. This is the teachers union. Check them out at http://www.educationminnesota.org/ This happens to be the organization responsible for holding the number one spot for lobbying money spent in last years election cycle. This group had spent about 1.1 million dollars to liberal democratic candidates last year to continue to promote their propaganda campaign. They have 55 lobbyists whose duties are to influence elections and promote their agenda of squeezing as much money as they can from us. As usual, we are told they need more money for everything under the sun, yet all us taxpayers ask for, and never receive, is some accountability. In Minnesota we have one teacher for every seventeen students. This includes all the "special ed" teachers. So what do they do all day?

I am a citizen of W. St. Paul. We are paying off a school levy of over 57 million dollars. Last fall another school levy of over 2 million dollars was voted down. This was to be for technology upgrades. All fall we were subject to mailings filled with scare tactics telling us of all the cuts our children would be subject to if this levy failed. Having ran for office, I am quite familiar with the cost of mailings. This easily can run into the tens of thousands. On top of this I witnessed newspaper ads and lawn signs. Where did that money come from? Now that it has failed, we are told that 14 teachers will be cut, 7 by attrition. Office staff within the schools will be cut. Sports fields will not be maintained as well as in the past. The question that I have is, Who in the District 197 Superintendents office is getting cut? I am sure that it is no one. Of course there has been no mention of this happening.

A few months ago our esteemed Governor was at the Northern Dakota County Chamber of Commerce. The topic of the day was education. The Superintendent of district 196 was there. Where was our district Supe? No mention of him in anything that I have read.

I listen to my children's teachers whenever I get the chance. I am told that our district 197 officials never set foot in our schools. They do not have a clue as to whats going on in the schools today. I have also been told that because these administrators went to school 20, 30, or 40 years ago, they have predispositions as to how schools should be ran and have no clear, modern visions or ideas, just business as usual.

I love my children and hope that they can get the best education possible. I also have these very same wishes for all children. What I do not want is the nanny state taking over for what a parents responsibility is, and I want accountability for the taxes we pay. I also want the 197 Supe and his office to be actively involved and visible in the community.

People I Have Met

By Bill Jungbauer

I am a carpenter and my duties basically are to install counter tops. This means that every day I have the pleasure of going to a different location and meeting different people. Here I will tell you about a couple of interesting ones that I have had the good luck to meet. I will not tell their names, because they are my customers, but I assure you they are for real.

The first person I choose to mention is a man that lives in Roseville and works at the Biosciences Building at the U of M. We had a nice discussion on stem cell research. He said that within the next ten years, the stem cell debate would be over. He claims that ten years from now, if you become ill, doctors will be able to extract your own stem cells to use in curing you.

I met a man today who is a Nurse Anesthetist. I hope I spelled that right. He works at HCMC. He said that he couldn’t remember the last time that they delivered a baby to parents that spoke English. He also told me of a Mexican man that flew to the Twin Cities with his medical records and CT scans and was instructed to take a cab to HCMC where he could get free medical care for an aortal obstruction. Here he received free health care courtesy of the taxpayers of Minnesota.

I know a wonderful lady and she works at Ramsey County Human Services. She tells me that the people on welfare get their choice of five different health plans. Her and the people she works with get their choice of one plan. I recently learned that three to four thousand people come to Minnesota every year and within thirty days are enrolled on welfare.

Next is the genius of the bunch. This man is a doctor that lives in Mendota. I asked him if he knew who his elected officials were. He said that Hansen was his Representative and Atkins was his Senator. Wrong. I told him that Metzen has been his senator for twenty years. I immediately knew how off the wall this man was when he changed into a Hillary Clinton 2008 tee shirt. This mans wife works with women’s groups. I think he is whipped.

Rick Hansen Update April 14th

By Bill Jungbauer

Rick Hansen's latest legislative update contains mention of Global Warming Day, which took place yesterday at the capitol mall. I find it quite amusing that he made absolutely no mention whatsoever about the Jason Lewis Tax Cut Coalition Rally that was on the steps of our beautiful state Capitol. Some of us did talk about Representative Hansen. Like who will we be supporting in next years campaign and his fondness for taxing us.

Estimates of about five thousand people showed up for the Tax Rally and many great people showed up to speak. Michelle Bachman, John Kline, Marty Seifert, Ray Vandeveer, Matt Dean and many other great representatives of the tax cut cause spoke up for "We the People" of Minnesota.

Lets take a look at what Rick Hansen has proposed so far this session to tax us more,

HF2261 This bill authorizes the city of Mendota to impose a tax of 1.5 percent on the gross receipts on (1) retail on-sales of intoxicating liquor and fermented malt beverages when sold at licensed on-sale liquor establishments and municipal liquor stores within the city, and (2) all sales of food and beverages primarily for consumption on or off the premises by restaurants and places of refreshment within the city.

So it's going to cost more to eat and drink at our favorite watering holes in beautiful downtown Mendota.

HF2199 Here Rick Hansen is attempting to do what the democrats call "Borrow and Spend." I suppose it's fine for the dems but not for the Republicans. This bill calls for $800,000 to be appropriated from the sale of bonds to finance a pedestrian arch bridge in S. St. Paul.

HF2102 Lilydale food and beverage tax authorized. See the Mendota liquor tax. Same thing, different city.

HF1449 Wants to increase the state sales tax by .25% to raise at least $500 million a year to pay for new parks, trails, and habitat projects. What really sucks about this bill is that these funds would also go to "fund the arts."

Joke of the week-Larry Pogemiller

By Bill Jungbauer

Sundays Pioneer Press had a decent article on our beloved Governor and the tax hungry DFL. All was fine and dandy with me until I had to read some snippets of blather from Senate Majority Leader Larry Pogemiller.

Larry had this to say, “I hope that in the next month he refocuses on Minnesota and a little less on his national horizons.” He was speaking about our Governor. I think he’s jelous. Seeing this in the paper reminded me of a joke I heard recently,

What is the difference between God and Larry Pogemiller?

God doesn’t think he’s Larry Pogemiller!

I believe in our Governor. Thank God we have him. Imagine if Hatch had won last fall. We would be paying every tax that has been proposed and then some.

Pawlenty had this to say, “We tried to focus on things that were in the range of doable and that were bread and butter issues. I don’t feel our effort to set aside wedge issues has been reciprocated in kind.”

I recall specifically, (I may even have this on tape) Metzen and Atkins saying that they were all for setting aside “wedge issues” but lets take a look at what these liberals have proposed so far,

Cutting spending for alternatives to abortions
Scrapping Pawlenty’s JOBZ job-creation program
Providing benefits to same-sex partners of state employees
Increase taxes on damn near everything

Pawlenty called for our lawmakers to focus on four areas at the beginning of this years session:

Fiscal discipline
Renewable energy
Making health care more affordable
And education reform

The problem with our big band of liberals is that none of them represents the people. Metzen, Pogemiller, Hansen, and Atkins are incapable of doing any good with a set budget. What they can squeeze from our wallets will never be enough.

Metzen and the meatpacking bill

By Bill Jungbauer

My neighbor, Jose was in my garage the other day and he said to me "Bill, when a person moves to America, he should learn English."

This bill would require employers to notify employees in their native language. Lets think about this for a moment. If a packing plant has employees that speak Spanish, Hmong, Arabic, and Russian, the employer would need four different interpreters. What would that do to the price of the final product? Would this hinder an employer from hiring people who speak a foreign language?

This bill also seeks to expand big government by requiring an ombudsman to represent the meatpacking industry.


Metzen said he compromised out of political necessity, not because he changed his mind. Hesse, however, is working to restore the original provisions in the Senate and, on the House side, much of the original proposal - including the ombudsman position - so far remains intact.


South St. Paul / City in the thick of debate over worker rights
Advocates say meatpackers need special protections
BY BRIAN BONNER
Pioneer Press
Article Last Updated: 04/01/2007 11:52:42 PM CDT


Meatpacking jobs have always been dirty and dangerous, and a way for new immigrants to get a foothold in the American economy.

Today, packinghouse workers are more likely to speak Spanish or Somali than the Croatian, Serbian or Polish of previous generations.

But wherever the workers have been from and whatever language they've spoken, they have needed protection from the exceptional hazards of their workplaces and, occasionally, from unscrupulous employers.

But just how much government regulation and oversight are needed? That's one of the debates at the Minnesota Legislature as lawmakers consider whether to adopt a Packinghouse Workers Bill of Rights and what to put in the legislation.

South St. Paul, fittingly, is in the thick of the debate, even though its famous stockyards will go out of business next year and the last of the big meatpackers left 28 years ago.

Dakota Premium Foods, a significant slaughterhouse and meatpacking operation, remains. The business, with some 300 workers, is part of the giant Fairmont, Minn.-based Rosen's Diversified Inc.

And the United Food and Commercial Workers Local 789, the labor union that represents about a third of the state's 16,000 meatpackers in 320 plants, also is based in South St. Paul.

The geographical confluence of interests has been enough to spark conflict over the proposed legislation. Two South St. Paul DFLers, Sen. James Metzen and Rep. Rick Hansen, are sponsoring the Packinghouse Workers Bill