On Minnesota's greatest lake...

 

 

 

 

                                           

"I would like to say I get tired of coming up here - but that would be a lie..."

This weekend we journeyed on our annual trek to Minnesota's greatest lake. We went up there with our oldest daughter, our son-in-law and our grandson. This really was the calm before the storm before the storm - they have sold their house and will soon be homeless. They are building a house on a wooded lot on the north side of their town, and in the interim, will be living with us.

We stayed at a resort a couple miles north of Two Harbors (which is about 20 miles northeast of Duluth). Over the years, my wife and have visited many of Minnesota's "greater lakes". Without exception, none of our majestic inland lakes compare to Lake Superior.

Yesterday after breakfast, we all packed up and headed north up the coast from Two Harbors. It was slightly under a two hour drive from Two Harbors to Grand Marias. The state parks we passed (and they are some of the best in the state), were packed. It is after all summer in Minnesota and on a weekend. Once we arrived in Grand Marias, we discovered there was a huge art show in progress. Some of the best artists and photographers in Minnesota (as well as points elsewhere) live in Grand Marias. Once we found a place to park not far from the exhibits, we started our journey.

It was the most wonderful day. The weather for Grand Marias was a bit warm, but very tolerable indeed. We wondered through some amazing art exhibits, chatted with some of the exhibitors, bought a few items, and then after a while, packed up and left for our resort.

Not too long ago, I read something which decried the low number of people from Minnesota who visit the North Shore. Many people who do not live in our state would give their eye-teeth to have this wondrous body of water so very close. Why people in our own state would not visit this lake confuses me.

I was raised, at least once a year the family would pack up any visit Duluth or points north. Consequently, when my wife and I were raising kids, that tradition continued. Now our grandson has had his first taste of Gitche Gumee. I can only hope he will grow to realize the gift we have all been given. Peace, tranquility, wisdom, wonder, majesty - all can be experienced by visiting Minnesota's greatest lake.

Our trip is now over and we are home with some souvenirs, but mostly memories. Stay classy and majestic Gitche - we will see you again in September...

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Dying under its own weight

 

 

"Created by the government, run by the government. How did you expect it to work?"

A few years ago, when there was still a chance to stop ObamaCare in the courts or at the voting booth, a very wise pundit had some pearls of wisdom to share. I will paraphrase a wee bit as I don't remember his exact words - "We don't need to do anything to derail this new health care law. Because it is unsustainable, it will die under its own weight."

Today it was disclosed the backlog of MNSure cases has now grown to 180,000. A spokesperson from MNSure said a prime reason for this backlog was the state was trying to ensure only qualified people receive subsidies. This program looks to be ripe for waste, fraud and abuse. Our other two health care sacred cows (Medicare and Medicaid), have fraud running through their veins.

But MNSure is a "pet rock" of our Governor. He will continue to pour good money after bad to try and fix the unfixable. Sooner or later he too, will give up. Then MNSure will be dead, and if ObamaCare is still alive at that time, we will get on the federal exchange.

Speaking of which (that is, if ObamaCare is still alive), how about the latest news of health care premiums? Awesome right? Just like we were promised, right? WRONG! This program, which was sold by the slickest of all snake oil salesmen, is a perfect example of "you can't get something for nothing". In other words, you can play the shell game only so long before the costs pop up somewhere. And they are popping up in renewal insurance premiums.

Buyer's remorse has started to spread over the land. That is, those who "bought" this pile of crap in the first place. Myself, like many others, were not so easily cowed. We knew there is no such thing as a free lunch. When the salesman in chief told the minions that not only were scads of people going to get healthcare for free, the rest of us were going to get a huge discount in our premiums. PLUS, our healthcare was going to get better! Excuse me - I know I am not the sharpest blade in the drawer, "but I ain't stupid either!"

We will see what happens now that the news is settling in about the new premiums. By the way, the new premium increases are not slight - some are close to 50%. If that does not help this pig die under its own weight, I don't know what will.

  

Countdown to Jade

 

 

"I am really hoping this entire thing is much to do about nothing. What bothers me the most is our Administration has become so untrustworthy, many people are assuming the worst..."

Well, we are now under a week. Less than a week away. From what? From one of the most talked about, feared, hyped up events in United States (domestic) military history. That would be Jade Helm 15 (the 15 standing for 2015).

So what is Jade Helm 15, and more importantly, why is it? Going on the internet right now, especially on YouTube, there is an almost endless stream of information about what people think Jade Helm is. Before I get into conjecture, here are some facts as I know them:

• It will be comprised of mostly special forces from more than one service - about 1,200 in all.
• It will take place in a number of states in the southwest part of the United States. Texas however, seems to be ground zero.
• It will be the LARGEST military exercise outside of Federal land in United States history.
• It will start July 15th and go until September 15th.

Now we will dive into the deep end of the pool of speculation. Even though the military denies it, Jade Helm might be an acronym. Some say it stands for JADE (Joint Assistant for Deployment and Execution) and HELM (Homeland Eradication of Local Militants). And this is where the nerves become frayed. Who are the "Local Militants"? ISIL operatives? Or patriots who disagree with this Administration?

Some have videos showing a butt load of heavy armor heading southwest on rail lines. Others have videos of convoys. Even if this exercise is as harmless as baby's breath, the optics are terrible. One can't help looking at this event with a cocked eyebrow.

First off, there is a press blackout. No embedded press allowed for the entire 8 weeks. Huh? We have had press embedded in all our recent wars. The second is the unexplained closing of 5 Walmart stores in the region. Very short notice and boom - closed. Some believe they were closed for the purpose of internment.

Not all states are just taking a wait and see attitude. The Governor of Texas has activated part of the National Guard "just to keep and eye on things". Also, it is my belief that interested and concerned Americans will watch this exercise closer than Area 51 is being watched by UFO Hunters. I will keep my ears to the track and eyes to the sky and report on anything in the next two months that seems relevant enough to share.

One other thing before I close. The logo. The logo is a takeoff on the Special Forces logo with a small deviation. What that "cloud" is where the two arrows and dagger intersect is a "sabot". A "sabot" which is today a form of tank or artillery shell, got its name from sabotage. Interesting for the logo of a major military exercise.

Wednesday is "go day". We will soon find out the fact or fiction of Jade Helm 15. If it turns out to be harmless, the military has some explaining to do about he clandestine nature of the next two months. If it turns out to be Machiavellian, God help us all.

Are the parties over?

 

 

"Some think this country is on the tipping point. If enough people forget about the constructs of our Constitution, we might tip over the edge..."

I don't want this to sound like a venting session. Not my purpose here. But I will get this off my chest. I am tired of names. Not personal names, party names. I am tired of Republicans, Democrats, Progressives, Conservatives, RINOs, Socialists, Marxists, Libertarians, Independents and so on. As far as I am concerned, our political differences should only be defined by two groups - Constitutionalists, and those who are not.

I know that sounds very simplistic. However, I have been pondering this for a while now. Fortunately for me, I have quite a few friends who are mired quite deep in our Constitution. They are very smart on it. They know what today is in alignment with our Constitution and what is not. Every now and again I tend to "stray off the reservation" (so to speak). When that happens, one of my Constitutional minded friends gives me a "love tap" (or a kick in the butt) to get me back in line. And I appreciate that.

The other day when I was out cutting the grass, I had an epiphany. And it was a dozzie. I was wondering why more people in this country do not come under the spell of this most amazing document. This document which was put together over 200 years ago. Why people today cannot understand that this document, our Constitution, was constructed to limit the power, not expand the power, of the federal government. How this document is full of subtle (and not so subtle) checks and balances to keep our government from becoming tyrannical.

That is when the lightening bolt hit me. Mostly due to a broken education system, people today have been dumbed down on our government. Our Constitution is not taught anymore. Civics are not taught anymore. People get their political education from listening to the media or worse yet, politicians. Quite a few of whom don't know their butt from a six pack of beer. Far too many people I have talked to over the past few years don't give a rip about the Constitution. They don't know it, they don't understand it, and surprisingly, some don't even like it.

Therefore, I believe our political system should be broken into only two groups. Those who understand, believe in, and love the wisdom of our Constitution. And those who do not. I dare say many the differences that exists between our two major parties would all but disappear if everyone looked through the prism of our Constitution. Not what we think the Constitution says, but what it actually says.

Our best defense against ignorance is wisdom. Learning, constant learning. I realize there is still much I don't know about the genius and genesis of our founding documents. I will continue to explore our early history. I will learn. As iron sharpens iron, I will continue to expand my circle of friends with Constitutionalists. I will continue to get more involved in my local Tea Party Patriot group. And I will continue to try to educate with Constitutional FACTS, those who have the need to know (and that be many).

The time is short. Our government is devolving into what our Framers warned us about. The first glimpse of tyranny has revealed itself. We need to get back to our roots. We need to find our center of gravity. We need to get off the tipping point. Yes, we need to get off the tipping point before we tip over - for good.  

Trump and the city of fruits and nuts...

 

 

"Even in the land of the fruits and nuts, a sanctuary city is a nutty idea..."

I will get this out of the way first. I like Donald Trump. Is he arrogant? Yes. Is he pushy? Yup. Is he entertaining? Absolutely. Do I respect him as a business man? Constantly. Will he ever be President? Never.

Donald Trump committed the cardinal sin of politics a short time ago. And now he is paying a huge price for it. What did he do? He told the truth. He called out our broken immigration system. He called a spade a spade. Donald, in his usual unfiltered manner, did some plain talking that most all politicians are afraid of. And for that, my respect for him went even deeper.

What started this all was yet another act of violence committed against a citizen by an illegal alien. This was particularly heinous crime as it took place at a tourist location in the middle of one of our most beautiful cities. Yes, that be San Francisco. So how could this happen? That a woman in her 30's, walking with her father and enjoying the day, was shot in the back for no reason. How? Simple. The ILLEGAL immigrant who did this murder wanted to live in San Francisco - because it is a "sanctuary city".

And what is a "sanctuary city"? Simply put, it is a place where law breakers can live with impunity. This reprobate, who shot this innocent woman in cold blood, has a long rap sheet. He had been deported by ICE numerous times. But he keeps coming back to San Francisco. In the Bay City, he has a "get out of jail free" card which will never expire. ICE knew he was there, and yet could not touch him. He was being "harbored" by city officials.

Back to Trump. Everyone thought he was making a racist rant against all Mexicans. I don't believe he was. I think he was terribly ineloquent in his language, as he often is. To say that many of the Mexicans who have snuck across the border are not the finest Mexico has to offer, is the truth. Many are criminals even in their home country as well as ours. The list of Mexican illegals who have rap sheets AND who we have lost track of, is in the tens maybe hundreds of thousands.

Now we are doing to Donald Trump the same thing we do to anyone else in our PC world who dares tell the truth - we try to ruin them. The fact that a large city in the United States would defy a federal law absolutely baffles me. Oh, one more thing. Just so you don't think I am too hard on San Francisco, we also have three sanctuary cities in Minnesota. Yep, three. The very blue and trendy cities of Minneapolis, St. Paul and one more city which is not as blue - Worthington.

Keep on speaking the truth Mr. Trump. You really got the discussion going in the right direction. I am sorry so many of the other candidates are such woosies on this issue. When most of them were asked if they agreed with you, their tongues became thicker than a Butterfinger Blizzard from Dairy Queen. They all talked like weak-kneed politicians.

Here is my bottom line. PC madness is no longer a joke. Now innocent people are dying because of it.

  

Trains vs. Buses vs. Autos

 

 

"Our traffic in this state is like a horror story. Only instead of a story, it is real life that many of us have to deal with each and every day..."

I think I might have told this story before. Shortly before I retired (for good), I did a tour at Ecolab in St. Paul. After being through the wringer some very tough accounts at IBM, the job I had at Ecolab was a breeze. Good company, great job, horrible commute. Many days from the time I left my garage, parked in a municipal ramp in downtown St. Paul, and then plugged my laptop in at work, was two hours. If there was bad weather or an accident, it took longer.

There was an express bus I could take into downtown St. Paul, but I had to drive 25 minutes to get to the express stop. Plus, the express schedule was very limited. The last bus left St. Paul at 5:00. If you missed it, you ended up taking a "milk run" bus with many stops and transfers. In short, to get from my house to downtown St. Paul, there is no train, and limited bus service. That left taking my car and sitting in hours of butt ugly traffic.

My son-in-law lives in Elk River and works in Minnetonka. On a good day, his commute is an hour. On a bad day, much worse. There are zero options other than taking his car. And traffic sucks. What did our planners, our representatives, come up during the last session? Na-da. Keep on sucking out citizens. If you don't live on a bus line (or the Northstar line), work downtown Minneapolis with a 8 to 5 job, you are out of luck for mass transit.

So where do we go from here? What can we do? Prohibit companies from moving from the city and into the burbs? Probably not. Basically we are in the soup for years. Even if our elected officials realized how much we need ROADS in this state, it would still take years to garner funding, permits, environmental studies and so on to see any improvements in our transit.

Some interim solutions which have been bantered about:

• More telecommuting - Many jobs are set up for working mobile. You don't have to sit in a cubical downtown to do your job. You can do it from anywhere, including your home.
• More flex time - The simply dumbest thing we do as a working public is have EVERYONE start at the same time and then have EVERYONE leave at the same time. Can you spell "traffic gridlock"? Offer the opportunity to have people start as early as 6am and as late as 9am. It would help traffic as well as give employees more free time at home.
• More flex days - What ever happened to the concept of 4 days at 10 hours a day? Taking cars off the road one day a week would certainly help. Many companies loved the 10 hours a day, but want 5 days to boot.

In absence of any forward thinking by employers, and with the lack of viable transportation options by our state government, we remain stuck. Stuck in gridlock hell. How long will this continue? I fear my children will go through their entire careers stuck in traffic. Thousands of hours, and millions of gasoline wasted. Day after day, week after week and year after year.  

Over promised, under delivered

 

 

"Such a drop dead gorgeous country. Such a rich heritage of history. Such a financial mess..."

Well history was made this weekend. Not here. Not by ISIL. But by Greece. The people of Greece had a referendum and they told the rest of the Euro Zone to "stick it". They are done with austerity measures. No more. In the opinion of many of the Greek people, this was not their fault. They had been sold a bill of goods. In other words, their government had promised more than they could deliver.

Some refer to the southern countries of Europe as PIGS (no insult intended). PIGS would stand for Portugal, Italy, Greece and Spain. For some reason, the countries of southern Europe seem to struggle financially more than their northern neighbors. As I was watching a financial show this morning, of course Greece was the center of attention. Nobody could even guess what would happen next. One analyst thought the other three countries in PIGS might hurry up and get some financial religion based on what is happening in Greece. But again, nobody knows for sure.

Looking at Greece as a case study is a bit like looking in the mirror. For years their government had over promised and then under delivered. At the end of the day when a government does that long enough, the "unsustainability factor" sets in. Humpty Dumpty falls off the wall. Now the Greek government is broke and has empty promises going out to the horizon. Sound a bit familiar?

Every good party ends with the clean up. Every good drunk ends with the hangover. Every good shopping spree ends with a bill. Greece kept putting off the evitable - the payment for the party. Most knew this day would eventually come. But they were stuck. They only way to pay the piper was to pay for the party which had long been over. People were going to have to accept the fact their government lied to them. They are going to have to live on a whole lot less. Much less than their government promised them. Over promised and then under delivered.

Well our day is coming. Like the people of Greece, we ignore the facts. We listen to the snake oil salesmen in Washington. We shout down truth tellers like the Simpson-Bowles Committee. Rather than fix the current entitlements which are bankrupting us, we add another one - ObamaCare. Yes, the road to Athens is loaded on our GPS, and we are speeding down the highway to financial damnation.

My advice is we pay close attention to how this plays out in Athens. It might be our future. Should we decide in 2016 to elect another Socialist or a Progressive, it will be our future. As all elections have consequences, our next election will have a dozzie.