McCain sure thinks you won't. This story has been kicking around for a few days now. I think it's huge. A diary on this by MoDem on Friday got only one comment.

Why is this huge? It shows how out of touch McCain is with every day life and why Republicans will never solve the immigration crisis.

Is this story not getting more play because people believe McCain? Go to the Midwest and ask around. You'll get plenty of people who would tell their kids to pick lettuce for fifty dollars an hour for the summer for their college tuition. I'd  have done it.

I am not a biologist but the recent reports of bat die offs as reported by the New York Times on March 25 sound very familiar to the Colony Collapse Disorder of bees. They both may be related to poor nutrition during hibernation.

The New York Times recently carried the die off of bats in NY, VT, and MA:  http://www.nytimes.com/... A researcher interviewed by the Times speculated that the bats were not getting enough nutrition that created the brown fat to enable the bats to last through the winter.

And from Brit Amos at Global Research on how GMO may cause the CCD in bees:  http://www.globalresearch.ca/...  A quote from the article:

When the flower pollen becomes genetically modified or sterile, the bees will potentially go malnourished and die of illness due to the lack of nutrients and the interruption of the digestive capacity of what they feed on through the summer and over the winter hibernation process.

Maureen Dowd's column today picks up on the really wierd phenomena going on in the White House:

http://www.nytimes.com/...

Can we all say cognitive dissonance?

My son's elementary school teacher started crying in class this week after she learned her son was headed to Iraq for the third or fourth time.

entries to our caucus site, a large newer high school in Rochester, Minnesota. Yes, I turned around and came home. I'll try again later.

I had small children in the car and I ran into a F0X news reporter who was also in the traffic jam and unable to access the site. The FOX reporter said she heard that the parking lot was full and you needed to use a way distant church parking lot. I have never seen an event at the High School cause traffic to back up like this.

Four years ago, I went to the same site for the 2004 Caucuses. No problem. It's a site, I believe, for only the Democrats. In 2004 we had good discussions on the gay marriage issue and public funding for sports' stadiums. I usually like to attend the County convention, but I wouldn't have been able to this year even if I had been around for the vote.

I think this access problem I ran into speaks to the caucus vs. primary issue. Caucuses are great if the logistics are there, but not so, in a situation like this.

or that is until he and his campaign clears this up. Frankly the situation on Rezko is uglier than I've ever seen discussed on Dailykos or in the MSM. And I'm annoyed, why wasn't this covered here earlier? My caucus is Feb. 5th. After the SC primary I said, I'll switch from Edwards to Obama. Now it's Edwards again.

Yesterday the two diaries on Rezko were asked by many posters to delete. And on an Obama diary yesterday, I looked for answers, and just got  non answers that even contradicted each other, vague descriptions of what happened, not of the ethical and legal dilemma's involved.

Hey, I was around during Whitewater. Whitewater looked cleaner than

Today's article at Minnesota Monitor on the situation at the Minnesota Attorney's office is rather shocking.

The federal Office of Special Counsel is investigating allegations that Rachel Paulose, U.S. attorney for Minnesota, mishandled classified information, decided to fire the subordinate who called it to her attention, retaliated against others in the office who crossed her, and made racist remarks about one employee.

It also details the dysfunction and poor management style of the MN Attorney General, Ms. Paulose, who also happened to be good friends with Monica Goodling, from the DOJ. I'd write more, but I've got a breafast emergency in my house. MM's Eric Black, has interesting details, so please read the whole article.

Recently the New Republic put out an absolutely fascinating piece by John Judis expaining how new research in psychology explains the Republican success exploiting the WAR ON TERROR.
From the article:

This strongly suggested that Bush's popularity was sustained by mortality reminders. The psychologists concluded in a paper published after the election that the government terror warnings, the release of Osama bin Laden's video on October 29, and the Bush campaign's reiteration of the terrorist threat (Cheney on election eve: "If we make the wrong choice, then the danger is that we'll get hit again") were integral to Bush's victory over Kerry. "From a terror management perspective," they wrote, "the United States' electorate was exposed to a wide-ranging multidimensional mortality salience induction."

At 2PM Central Time, five new bridge designs will be presented to the public. We will be able to comment on the designs. Here is the link:  

http://www.dot.state.mn.us/...  

Two issues have recently come to the fore front on the rebuild. The first is that a federal bridge paid for through emergency funds allows for no alternative transportation modes, no pedestrians, bicycles, or light rail access. The second is that the federal highway official that will be in charge of the 35W Bridge Rebuild is from the Big Dig in Boston and has had past disagreements with Sen. Kerry.  More after the fold.

How will the Republicans save one of their young stars? If you don't think they're not discussing this, you don't know politics. I think the plan has been laid out in bits and pieces these last few days, no pun intended. While we have no "official" cause of the collapse, I believe Republicans are planning for the worst.

STEP 1: Lt. Gov. Carol Molnau, and head of MNDOT, is going down. Pawlenty has given her the Brownie treatment: Star & Tribune

Although last week's disaster occurred on her watch, Pawlenty defended her. "Yes. I think she's doing a good job," he said.

His former chief of staff is saying something else:

David Gaither, chief of staff to Pawlenty until late 2006, said he fears Molnau could become a distraction as the transportation funding debate heads for a possible special session where legislators could enact the first gas-tax increase since 1988.

Now that the rest of the mortgage market is cooling, a New York Times recent article, "The $3.6 Million Mortgage", says that mortgage companies are increasing the number and the amount of big loans to  Manhattan high flyers. Instead of paying what used to be 50% down on their $4 million dollar apartment, buyers can put 10-20% down, and invest the rest in Conneticut real estate or the stock market, where they think they can get 20-25% returns. The mortgage companies are making it much easier to speculate on Manhattan apartments.  Thus inflating NYC prices, as well as inflating property and stock that the buyers are buying elsewhere, making  the Manhattan real estate market the base of a huge pyramid scheme. If the Manhattan real estate market crashes, which has been known to happen, what will happen to everything that it is propping up?

It's not like we all need one more reason to cry that Al Gore isn't sitting in the White House. But this recent Fast Company article gives you more reason to cry. We all know what a smart, funny, humble man he is, and it's all here in the article. And by the way, he's also very wealthy. From the article by Ellen McGirt:

One problem he had in politics, he says, was identifying an issue too early--"'predawn' is the term I use"--to be able to act on it. But "in the business world, particularly at a time when things are moving so swiftly, if you can see it early, you can make a business opportunity out of it." He pauses. "For whatever reason, the business world rewards a long-term perspective more than the political world does."

Some of you have likely seen  this article at NYTimes, by Elizabeth Weil.  I am writing this diary because the author seems to not have discussed a possible remedy to the problem.  Red shirting is becoming a bigger issue as a result of  the No Child Left Behind Law; older third graders test better than younger third graders under the law. What do you think the school prefers, older or younger? If you don’t have kids, you’re probably thinking, what‘s the big deal, what’s the fuss? But I’ll tell you as a parent, this can be a very big deal. The article does a good job explaining the dilemma: no one wants their child to be the youngest in the kindergarten class.  If you have a child in the last few months before the birthday cut-off it can be a wrenching decision whether to send them or not. My spouse and I decided to send our child with the birthday near the cut-off. It’s a personal decision that I typically keep the reasons for, to myself.  Doesn’t that say something? But I’ve listened to countless parents explain  in detail  their reasons for holding back their own child.

Or what’s that F*CKING BANNER AD doing here?

Most regular users have probably already noticed the flashing banner ad at the top of the front page about  "freight rail being clean and green" or "freight rail works for the environment". You may have thought, "good", the site is getting ad revenue, or maybe a few of you even clicked the link, saw rail legislation information, and decided it wasn’t for you.  GORAIL, the banner’s sponsor,  wants to give railroad investors a 25% tax credit. Well, what’s wrong with that you think? After all the ad said it’s "clean and green" and "works for the environment"?  Excuse me, but who  will really be the big beneficiaries of this tax credit? It’s Big Coal, WalMart, and possibly the NAFTA Super Highway.

Retired military Colonel Ann Wright’s recent editorial in Truthout should be front and center on the debate over Iraq. And why it’s not, raises a lot of questions that our elected democrats haven’t answered. Colonel Wright’s lead-in:

On Thursday, May 24, the US Congress voted to continue the war in Iraq. The members called it "supporting the troops." I call it stealing Iraq's oil - the second largest reserves in the world. The "benchmark," or goal, the Bush administration has been working on furiously since the US invaded Iraq is privatization of Iraq's oil. Now they have Congress blackmailing the Iraqi Parliament and the Iraqi people: no privatization of Iraqi oil, no reconstruction funds.
This threat could not be clearer. If the Iraqi Parliament refuses to pass the privatization legislation, Congress will withhold US reconstruction funds that were promised to the Iraqis to rebuild what the United States has destroyed there.

I'd like to discuss here Mark Shield's recent take on the Iraq funding issue that was in the Star & Tribune today. Mark Shields seems to believe that what this is all about is who will be blamed. Here's a quote:

Still, the high political stakes of the continuing debate over funding the war in Iraq were starkly put by Republican Sen. Kit Bond of Missouri: "If we pass legislation that loses the war, then the people who vote to pass the legislation that ends the war are going to own it. That failure will be their [read, Democrats'] failure."

He goes on to discuss how Dem's were blamed for losing both China and Vietnam. More after the fold.

Just read the MSNBC story on Brownback's gaffe at the Republican convention in Wisconsin: he claimed Manning could by NFL's best quarterback ever. When he realized what he had said, he suggested Starr could be in running for best ever. Also not what the crowd wanted to hear.

On  the big scale of things, between 1 and 10, this is definitely below a 1, but shows a definitive lack of retail politics. Or perhaps Brownback knows football the way Romney knows guns.

Since this is a Saturday night, what's your favorite political gaffe? And who is the best NFL quarterback ever?

Steve Forbes in a recent issue of Forbes discusses the infamous $2.3billion loan the FRA(Federal Railroad Admin.) is considering giving to a small privately owned railroad  to build a new line to haul coal from Wyoming. Leigh Pomeroy, at voxverax has the article. The railroad, the Dakota, Minnesota, and Eastern has one of the worst safety records in the US, and is  one of only two railroads of 600 plus in the United States to be under a Safety Compliance order by the FRA for its' poor management in maintaining safety.

One can easily scratch their head in wonder how  a mainly Scottish owned railroad with a terrible safety record has come into a position that it may be racking up nearly 95% of the federal loans given to railroads. The government wouldn't be in this position if Sen. Thune-R of South Dakota, a former DM&E lobbyist, hadn't slipped it in in a conf. committee in  late 2005. It was part of the more widely know package that also had the "bridge to nowhere". More after the fold.

I really don't have much to add to this Star & Tribune article except that it needs wider distribution. A Minnesota Marine home from Iraq told VA mental health counselors on three separate occasions that  he was thinking of killing himself. After one of these conversations he was placed on a waiting list for hospital admittance, he was No. 26. Four days after this occurred, he was gone. My greatest condolenses to the family. This should not have happened.

The new congress needs to take immediate action to insure that these vets coming home have health care. AND THIS INCLUDES MENTAL HEALTH CARE COVERAGE! My personal, unprofessional,  opinion is that if this vet was sick enough to be placed on a waiting list, a bed somewhere should have been found for him.