Canadian Catholics Beware

Miscellaneous OK, so you will have to bare with me as I wander off the beaten path some more. When I read this article I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. Clearly this former professor Bob Ferguson does not practice any sort of faith or religion, unless you include multicultural or humanism. Now that some "intellectual" made this statement in Canada, it is only time before someone says it here. That is one reason why it may be relevant to people who live in SD63. This is really about liberty, not religion. If there was ever a way to unite a devote Christian and Muslim, imposing such laws against all religions would do it, but notice the Catholics were the ones singled out. What would have happened if someone said the same thing and then singled out Muslims? Here is one of the more absurd excerpts:

"Given the inertia of the Catholic Church, perhaps we could encourage reform by changing the environment in which all religions operate," Ferguson began his commentary in measured tones yesterday. "Couldn't we insist that human rights, employment and consumer legislation apply to them as it does other organizations? Then it would be illegal to require a particular marital status as a condition of employment or to exclude women from the priesthood. " Ferguson continued, "Of course the Vatican wouldn't like the changes, but they would come to accept them in time as a fact of life in Canada. Indeed I suspect many clergy would welcome the external pressure."

I always love "external pressure" to shape my church's doctrine.

Just When You Think You're Safe!

Miscellaneous As previously noted, I am taking a "vacation" of sorts from the heavier topic of politics for the month of July. And just when I thought I was safe I saw THIS. (The photos are copyrighted so I could not repost here.) Of course, politics even entered the tour another way as people speculate about Armstrong's life after cycling. In fact, even today as I watched the big one hour summary broadcast on CBS (yes, I'm a little bitter about the fact that I am too cheap to have cable or satellite therefore I only have the 1 hour of CBS coverage, not OLN coverage) the politics question was posed to him, Lance wisely said he learned to "never say never" and "I'm a fighter, and politicians are fighters". If Lance does go into politics I can only hope that he aligns more with his his former governer, than with his Tour de France visitor on Saturday.

Too Positive for MSM?

Media, World Here is another positive story from Iraq. The bravery of these men is amazing.

ALI BASE, Iraq, July 11, 2005 — When a crew of instructors deployed here to teach Iraqi airmen the finer points of flying and maintaining C-130 Hercules, they knew they had a monumental task in front of them. But what they found was something unexpected.

Slowly over several months, Iraqi and U.S. airmen have developed lifelong friendships with the very men they previously called enemies.

Captain S’s wife, concerned for her family’s safety, continually pleads with him to quit and has also asked his father to pressure him. But the captain, whose own son does not know he is currently serving, said, “If I don’t do it, who will?

What Is In a Letter?

2006 Elections, MN Senate, MN House Well, in some people's case a simple little, harmless letter could spell defeat in 2006. I amd not talking about an "R" or a "D" behind the name either, we are talking about the dread "I" for Incumbent. If you listened to the independents and the centrists of either party, many of them were voting out the incumbent because of their inability to get their work done on time. This weekend I heard the same thing. I sitting their watching the parade and when the political units came by one person said it and then others started offering their two cents about the "incompetence" at the state capitol.

Parade Trash?

Federal, 2006 Elections Question: How do you avoid your literature from becoming parade trash? Answer:

Kennedy's handouts at Heritagefest Parade in New Ulm, MN

The parade officials did everyone the favor of splitting the Brown County Republicans and Democrats (could not find link for them) floats by one unit. The Democrats must have won the coin flip and they were first and then came the Republicans with their tractor and these handy sports schedules. If you look, the handout has one schedule that leans towards the CD-6 roots, this of course is the St. John's football schedule.

I was waiting to be offered a Klobuchar sticker, but alas I was not offered one and could not use the line I was hoping to use. I did note that the Democratic float was only offering two stickers, one for the local CD candidate, Tim Walz, and the other for Klobuchar. There was not a single piece of literature or sign for Wetterling or Doran, however, on the way home I did spot one of those Kelly Doran headshots along Highway 169 near LeSeuer.

Finally, I'm sure Ms. Klobuchar would be proud of the many uses for her stickers. On the way home we made a quick stop for nourishment (fast food) and two enterprising young women (girls really) stuck one on the unclothed portion of their chests hoping to attract the attention of boys (the trap obviously worked, but don't worry I did not stare, nor did I turn for a second look).

Work, TdF and Summer Fun!

The lack of posting can be linked to those four items. 1. Work - sadly a big project is taking my evening surf time 2. Tour de France - as a cyclist in America, I have to surf English and Australian websites to get all the latest information on the greatest sporting event on earth 3. Summer Fun - I have kids and it is time to play!

Attention Leaders in Spain

World

Attention to leaders in Spain, the appropriate reaction to this:

Is this reaction by London mayor Kevin Livingstone:

Mr Livingstone said: "This was not a terrorist attack against the mighty and the powerful. It was not aimed at presidents or prime ministers. It was aimed at ordinary working class people."

this:

He added: "They seek to turn Londoners against each other... London will not be divided by this."

and this:

Nothing you do, however many of us you kill, will stop that flight to our cities where freedom is strong and where people can live in harmony with one another. Whatever you do, however many you kill, you will fail.

Here is a the face of a real leader after the horrific events that took place in his city.

I pray for all the families and people of London and the UK. While the leaders of the UK have been the strongest allies in the U.S. war on terror in the past and especially today, some of the population was definitely wavering in their support. As difficult as it would be, I pray that the people of London stand firm with their leaders and do not give in to the fear that the terrorist are counting on. Do not take the route of the people of Spain.

Muslim Leaders in London

World The Muslim leaders are starting to speak out against the attacks in London. Will their peers around the world do the same?

No Sticker Son!

Federal, 2006 Elections Our friends from Lakeville came up to our place to celebrate the brave and audacious actions of 56 men, we started with a some food and fun on the new patio and then head off to the Richfield 4th of July parade. This was my first one after nine years of residence in Richfield. The parade featured four different political units this year, the city hall float with mayor and councilmen, CD5 king... er Rep Martin Olav Sabo, a Amy Klobuchar surrogate and the candidate (sorry, forgot name) for Bloomington's Ward 1 council seat (I believe this is the most easterly ward in Bloomington). Noticeably absent was Rep Mark Kennedy or a surrogate. I was a little bit surprised about the no-show for Kennedy since his campaign has been so active, but Hennepin county is home turf for Klobuchar so she is probably hoping to round up some support early. There is a problem for Amy though, when you send a surrogate you should probably not assume the crowd knows the person. Why? Because at the time of the parade I just saw an old guy sitting on this convertible and a bunch of kids handing out stickers. After I had some time to think, I realized it was probably her old man stumping for her but I'm still not positive. This brings us to the important part. I saw all the little kids swarming to get a coveted Klobuchar for Senate sticker and I was thinking of a kind way to explain to my boy that he will not be wearing that sticker. Thankfully, he didn't even ask for one. He saw them coming and is normally a sucker for any sticker, but the boy wanted nothing to do with an Klobuchar sticker. What a good boy! Attention Mark Kennedy for Senate campaign, I hope you are happy because since you did not attend this event you probably lost the coveted 3 to 10 year-old vote in all of Richfield and east Bloomington. Good luck recovering from that.

In A Corner [shameless plagiarism]

Yes, I stole Gary's title. Just go read his post, which actually just contains the whole article [reg required] that was in the WaPo.

Phil Gets Published

Federal SD63's very own Phil Mortenson gets his letter to the Red Star published.

Arrest Them It was invigorating to read Lt. Peter Hegseth's recollections about the conditions and treatment of detainees being held at Guantanamo in Katherine Kersten's outstanding June 27 column. As for Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., and others like him, the U.S. Marshals Service should march up to Capitol Hill and arrest them for sedition. Plain and simple, they are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Phil Mortenson, Richfield

O'Connor Retires: Senate Cage Match Scheduled

Federal Things get interesting in Washington now. This should provide hours of summer entertainment and frustration to political junkies. We are also about to learn more about the deal that was struck by the "Gang of 14" a few weeks back. Go check out KvM or RedState to get some more information. UPDATE: Here is a list of more blogs to track this one, they have it covered: HowAppealing, ConfirmThem, BenchMemos and NominationBlog.