Heart of hate

"A note for the gun grabbers. Work with us on finding the "something". Grow up and realize that guns are not the problem. These kids in Colorado yesterday broke numerous laws. So you want some more laws on the books, which can also be broken?"

When I was a kid growing up in Robbinsdale, there was a Coast to Coast hardware store in town. They sold everything - including guns. Since guns have always been legal, many families had at least one gun in the house - mostly for hunting. And kids learned how to shoot at an early age. I learned to shoot with a .22 rifle when I was a pre-teen. Many kids did. No big shakes. Plus - this is the bottom line - nobody had any inclination to go shoot someone - in school or otherwise.

Not only that, most kids my age grew up owning many, many toy guns. Some fired caps, some did not. We played army, cops and robbers, cowboys and Indians, you name it. All the time, we pretend to shoot someone, or someone shot us. Of course, once shot, we would die in dramatic fashion. But we all knew it was just play. Nobody was tempted to go out and really shoot somebody - in school or otherwise. 

So what in the world has happened? Why this spate of school shootings? Twenty years ago there was Columbine. Yesterday, there was a high school in Colorado not that far from Columbine. And of course the worst school shooting in most people's minds was the carnage at Sandy Hook elementary. Very young children slaughtered. Every school shooting has been awful. I think we can all agree on that.

But is it the fault of the gun? If it is, why not before? Why not when my parents were in school? Why not when my grandparents were in school? Why not when I was in school? Why now? Sorry gun grabbers - this has nothing to do with guns. It has everything to do with a heart of hate. Somehow, something tripped a switch which turns some school kids into murderers. What that "something" is, turns out to be one of the greatest mysteries of our time.

But what if there were no guns? For starters, once your heart turns to hate, you can kill just about anyone with anything. That is a cold hard fact. The killers at Columbine had enough explosives to kill lots of students. Fortunately, they did not work. Or knives. Chasing someone down and stabbing them is not hard for someone, who has the determination to do so. There are a hundred different ways to kills someone, should that be the objective. If this sounds foreign to you, it should. Most of us have no clue about this kind of aberrant thinking.

Here is the bottom line. And this bottom line has been discussed before by many smarter than I. Until we figure out what that "something" is, which flips the switch on some of our young people, this carnage will continue. Guns or no guns, it will continue. I don't know if it is the music, the video games, the insularity of internet addiction, the movies, family life, or some of all of these. But we need to focus in on what is happening - and soon. 

A note for the gun grabbers. Work with us on finding the "something". Grow up and realize that guns are not the problem. These kids in Colorado yesterday, broke numerous laws. So you want some more laws on the books, which can also be broken? Our youth are our seed corn. We can't afford to let this continue.  

MN gas tax - Stupid is as stupid does

"You will pay for the miles used on ANY state provided road or trail. In exchange for that, all state tax will be taken off of gasoline. Gasp! WHAT??? Yes, no more state gas tax. Only a charge for every mile driven or ridden on."

Anyone else think the way we fund our roads and bridges in this state is stupid? Not only stupid, but way, way out of control. First off, and this is an immutable fact - this state takes in a ton of money to fund our roads and bridges. Fact # 2 - this state pees lots of that money away on silly things, like bike lanes, LRT, and the general fund. Fact # 3 - with the coming wave of EV (electric vehicles) and hybrids, the gas tax will become less and less of a factor in funding transportation.

So Taxing Timmy and his two lap dogs (the DFL and the Strib) think we should raise our gas tax by 20 cents. They think it would be a panacea for our transportation woes. Excuse me? This is deja vu, all over again. Heard that one before during the last gas tax increase. That was the one which was going to fix everything forever more. Uh-huh... 

This forward thinking of raising our gas tax to fix our potholes, comes from same group of stooges who gave us MNSure and MNLARS. This is the pattern they have had for decades.

So, I am going to propose something which is radical, and way out of the box thinking. No more stupid is as stupid does. How about a total usage tax. Period. You will pay for the miles used on ANY state provided road or trail. In exchange for that, all state tax will be taken off of gasoline. Not even a penny. Gasp! WHAT??? Yes, no more state gas tax. Only a charge for every mile of road or trail driven or ridden on.

What do you mean ridden on Bird? Bikes also? Yep. Since we are using tax dollars to build and maintain their bike trails and paths, time for them to pony up also. Cars, trucks, motorcycles, bikes, whatever uses our roads, bridges and trails - has to pay a users fee. And how would be know how many miles are used by each? GPS. That technology has been around for many a year.

One more thing which would need to change. No more confiscatory license tabs fees either. We will be like other states, and only charge $95 or so each year new tabs are required. By the way, should Taxing Timmy blow this idea off, and keep the status quo, here is what will happen. Due to the increase in electric vehicles and hybrids, in a couple of years, he will realize the 20 cent increase in gas tax was not enough. So, he will either ask to have the gas tax raised again, initiate a mileage tax, or both. Knowing him, it will be both.

Some don't like the idea of a mileage tax. They don't like Big Brother knowing where they have gone, and when. I get it. But we do need money to pay for our infrastructure. And even though this is not a perfect solution, it is a heck of a lot better than what we have right now. One final thing. I also want a total transparent system where the monies taken in from this mileage tax, cannot be skimmed off and put towards the general fund.

That is it. My solution. Something to get us away from Taxing Timmy's stupid is as stupid does approach to our roads and bridges. If he does not like it, he can quit and go back to Nebraska. That would be another part of this plan I would like!  

War and power in the Middle East

"I really hope that Iran does not do anything stupid. A war with Iran right now could be very messy, and the threat of contagion beyond the region is real. It could be the match which could light something terrible for the region, or maybe even our planet." 

It never stops. Sometimes, we end up in a temporary hiatus period, but it never really stops. Gaza. This dirt poor area of the Middle East is up to it again. This time with better missiles with longer range. Launching a surprise missile attack on a neighboring country. And for what? A "two state solution"? Guess what? This ain't the way to win the hearts and souls of the Israelis.

By the way, how in the world can a country which is scratching in the dirt to survive, afford to get hundreds, maybe thousands, of these new missiles? Try a four letter word - Iran. The neighborhood "bad boy" is being bad once again. Always stirring the pot. And how can Iran afford to be a puppet master? Russia, China, and let us not forget - pallets full of cash on the runway (Thanks Biden/Obama/Kerry).

Besides what is going on in Israel, something else has happened in the past week or so. What was it? Classified. The public (including me) does not know what it was, but it was a threat credible and serious enough for us to send the USS Lincoln strike group and a bomber wing from Central Command over to the Med. All we do know was Iran might have been planning an attack on US forces in the area. Besides that, we know nothing.

Of course, one is then tempted to wonder if the massive rocket attack on Israel and this new treat from Iran are related. Anybody out there trust the Mullahs from Iran? Anybody? This ancient Persian Empire, now the country of Iran, has really been a thorn in our side. In fact, ever since the Shaw was overthrown in 1979. How dangerous is Iran right now? In my opinion, much more dangerous than North Korea, Al Qaeda and ISIS rolled into one. 

I really hope that Iran does not do anything stupid. A war with Iran right now could be very messy, and the threat of contagion beyond the region is real. It could be the match which could light something terrible for the region, or maybe even our planet. 

What is happening in the Middle East is worth keeping an eye on. Once again, the world will be walking on eggshells until cooler heads prevail. And cooler heads are what we need right now.  

  

Cinco, Bastille, or Boxing?

"Well, whatever. Today is May 5th, and I have some pretty good tequila down in my bar. I might have to have some chips and salsa, washed down with a home made something or other, made with that fine tequila."

For those who do not know, and I doubt today if there were many, today is Cinco de Mayo. Oh my gosh! Do Americans ever love this Mexican holiday! In fact some love it almost as much as an American holiday. If you ever want to do something fun on Cinco de Mayo, ask a group of party goers, what this holiday is all about. If you are lucky, one or two might say it stands for May 5th. I dare say none would be able to explain the origins of this day.

For Americans, this day should mean nothing. I am surprised many Mexicans care for it either, as it involves their history from many years ago. It would be like the United States celebrating a major battle in the War of 1812 each year. That would never happen. Cinco de Mayo celebrates Mexico's victory over the French in the battle of Puebla in the mid 1800's.. Get the picture? What? Where? Huh?

I think my wife hit the nail on the head this morning. When I asked why this day is such a big deal to so many non-Hispanics who live in this country, she had a very good and succinct answer. "So they can go out and drink margaritas". Bingo! Americans don't give a hoot and a holler about this battle which occurred in Mexico so long ago. Just like most Americans would be hard pressed to name any battles in the War of 1812. But to go out and have a couple of margaritas with some salt on the glass, a couple limes, with some crushed ice - now you are talking!

What the heck? Why don't we celebrate Bastille Day also? That is a big deal in France, so why not here? Or Boxing Day? That is big in the Commonwealth - heck, we were part of the Commonwealth at one time. Why not here? Simple answer? These holidays don't have margaritas. Now if the Boxing Day had a tradition of Bloody Mary's, well, then we might be getting someplace. Or if Bastille Day had a day of champagne all day, many might sign up for that also. And please - don't let me forget about St. Paddy's day, when EVERYONE is Irish (thanks Mike)!

Well, whatever. Today is May 5th, and I have some pretty good tequila down in my bar. I might have to have some chips and salsa, washed down with a home made something or other, made with that fine tequila. Why would I do that? When in Rome, do as the Romans do. Or in this case, when in America on May 5th, do as the Mexicans do.   

The ying and yang of MN education

"It is time for this state as well as others, to leave the 20th century behind and start training our kids for jobs in the 21st century. What kid of jobs? Have no clue - they don't exist yet. And that folks, is the main thing we need to train our kids for." 

The education funding is being debated now in St. Paul. As usual, with divided government, there is not a whole lot to agree on. That is, except one thing. My belief is every elected person in our government, as well as the vast majority of the taxpayers, want a highly educated workforce coming out of our very expensive school system. A task force who can compete in a world market with the best and the brightest. How we get there however, is like "ying" and "yang" with Republicans and Democrats. Democrats want more money, and Republicans want more reform.

I really don't care about graduation rates. I really don't care about the achievement gap. I really don't care about how many snow days are baked into the school year. What I do care about, is simply this - are our kids learning. I mean really learning. True facts, not revisionist history. Math, science, American history, World history, writing, speaking, civics and so forth. What? There is not enough time in the school year to teach that much? I agree. Make the school year longer. The school day longer. Like other countries do. Scrap the 180 days and make it a minimum or 220 days.

And bring back the PTA. Good grief, once the PTA became part of history, is when the wheels started to fall off. Many private schools require a contract signed by the student, the teacher, and the parent. Why is it important to have all three? Most bar stools work very well with three legs, The stools with only two legs don't work well at all. When I was in school, my parents were very involved. We had the three legged bar stool. 

"No child left behind." Remember that motto? It turns out, that is all it was - a motto. To do a total reclama on our education system, we must turn that motto into action. Each student is part of this nation's seed corn. No more failure centers (inner city schools) can be tolerated. I am sick to death of this state spending the money it does, and then having some high schools in the inner city with 35% graduation rates - and the ones who do graduate, don't know much. 

It is ironic that in this day of the internet, Google, Siri, Alexa, and so forth, we have some of our young folks who act like they just crawled out from under a rock. I have never seen more sources of information for learning. Sure beats when I was growing up, and all we had was the public library with the Dewey Decimal System. Or the World Book Encyclopedia. And yet, we learned back then. With today's information sources, our young people should be as smart as rocket scientists when they graduate from high school.

This year our Governor wants over 41% of all money spent in this very highly taxed state to go into E-12 education. It is a waste of money. It is if we leave some of our kids uneducated, and others under-educated. It is time for our state brainiacs to practice some of that "out of the box" thinking we keep hearing about. Throwing more money at a broken system is just plain stupid. 

It is time for this state as well as others, to leave the 20th century behind and start training our kids for jobs in the 21st century. What kid of jobs? Have no clue - they don't exist yet. And that folks, is the main thing we need to train our kids for. 

Too hard, too expensive...

"Thank goodness we have innovators like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. With their help, maybe NASA can get off their earthly butts and get back in the game. I am tired of the Apollo Program looking like ancient history to our grandies. They deserve the same excitement we had fifty years ago." 

The race to the Moon (phase II) is on! Get ready folks, because this summer, it could start getting crowded up there! By whom? Aliens? Nope - Earthlings. Seems like the rest of the world is catching up with what we did fifty years ago. That is, the rest of the world - except us.

Here is a stubborn fact which I can't get over. Gemini, Apollo - every flight was fly by the seat of your pants. The science used to propel these huge rockets into space, and then to safely bring astronauts home again, was barely ready. Sometimes, the proverbial "spit and chewing gum". Truthfully, other than the three astronauts we tragically lost in the fire on the launch pad, it is nothing short of a miracle we did not lose a whole lot than we did.

But we did not. We did flight after flight, and had Americans walking on the Moon, and then bringing them back home again. Fifty years ago. Today, our technology is a parsec or so better than it was in 1969. Heck, our cell phones have more computing power than Apollo 11 had. And yet - India, China, and maybe Israel are going to the Moon before us. What up with that? We have the technology, and the know how, to have established a Moon base by now. We could be mining Helium 3 and sending it back to Earth. 

So, what is it? Too hard? Too expensive? Let's face facts. We have lost our edge. Explorers huh? Most of Antarctica is still not explored. 90% of our oceans are still not explored. Over 99% of the Moon is still not explored. And how about Mars? One would have thought 50 years ago, once we conquered the Moon, that Mars was next. What up with that? The big news out of NASA is now we are thinking of sending a helicopter to Mars in our next flight. How about some Earthlings instead? Come on NASA! Grow a pair! You did fifty years ago!

Well, the die is cast. I guess this summer we will just be spectators, watching the rest of the world venture up into space. My Leftie friends think going into space is a folly anyhow, since we still have unmet needs here on Earth. JFK would hear that and have none of it. Why can't we do both? We are after all, the country which saved the world (twice) through bravery, innovation and determination.

Thank goodness we have innovators like Elon Musk and Jeff Bezos. With their help, maybe NASA can get off their earthly butts and get back in the game. I am tired of the Apollo Program looking like ancient history to our grandies. They deserve the same excitement we had fifty years ago. 

The battle over fraud, and tax dollars

"Fraud, waste and abuse. Three words which drive Republicans nuts. Three words which are music to the ears of the statists. Efficient government is like a plague for the Democrats." 

How is your blood pressure? Want to see it go up a few points? Just listen to the Democrats talk about fraud in the area of Minnesota's Health and Human Services. "Move along - nothing to see here." Michelle Benson was on the radio this morning trying to explain how convoluted our welfare system is, and how easy it is for someone to game the system. The Democrat's solution? Throw more money at it. Whose money? Your hard earned tax dollars. 

Ladies and gentlemen, for anyone paying attention as of late, one shining fact has been revealed over and over again. This state is a mess. Our state government can't even change a light bulb the right way. Too harsh? Try the MNSure (METS) mess. Or the MNLARS debacle. And our welfare fraud is legendary - it even gets reported on the East Coast. Why? Because it seems that quite a bit of our cash ends up overseas - like in parts of Africa. But we don't know for sure, because our controls are so sketchy. 

The Republicans in the Senate are coming up with as many fixes as they can for this gaping hole in our state budget. Real, common sense fixes. Of course, the Democrats will have none of that. The DFL take? Republicans are only trying to screw the poor people so they can give more money to the fat cats. Balderdash! I am so tired of that stupid stereotype when it comes to fixing what is broken in our state government. Jeff Johnson was absolutely correct - this state has plenty of money to run efficiently. In fact it has too much. It just takes a little bit of management and a whole lot of will power. 

This is an analogy I have used in the past to describe how our state government works. You go to a restaurant to order a steak dinner for $20. The steak comes, and it is overcooked and very tough. For some reason, you decide not to complain about it. Why? The steak is always cooked in this manner at this restaurant. The bill comes, and it is for $30. The owner explains that you need to help pay for some of the inefficiency in the kitchen. Bottom line? You are paying too much for a lousy product. Sound familiar? Sounds like St. Paul to me.

Fraud, waste and abuse. Three words which drive Republicans nuts. Three words which are music to the ears of the statists. Efficient government is like a plague for the Democrats. Give them a disorganized mess, flush with lots of tax dollars, and fraud grows like daisies in the springtime. Why are the Minnesota taxpayers not up in arms over this misuse of their tax dollars? That is the $64,000 question.

This state was a mess under Dayton. It was ripe for reformation under a fixer like Jeff Johnson. But the lovers of waste, fraud and abuse wanted a super statist instead. So we got Taxing Timmy. Has Minnesota become the land of the idiots? Seems so.