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Taxpayers Leauge of Minnesota eUpdate
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
2. How many lawyers does it take to investigate a collapsed bridge?
3. Why did they have to go and get all productive on us?
4. A municipality and their common sense – once parted – may be reunited.
5. “Congress goes postal.”
1. The David Strom Show presented by the Minnesota Free Market Institute.
Tune in this Saturday to AM 1280 The Patriot from 9 – 11 am when David will be joined by Jon Gutierrez and Jonathan Williams. Gutierrez, from the St. Croix Preparatory Academy – a charter school in Stillwater, will talk about the challenges that Minnesota charter schools face and how a little choice in education can make all the difference.
During the second hour Williams, director of the Tax and Fiscal Policy Tax Forcefor ALEC, will talk about the role of ALEC and how they are developing policy to reduce excessive government spending and lower the overall tax burden.
2. How many lawyers does it take to investigate a collapsed bridge?
No, seriously. Of the dozens and dozens of lawyers in the state legislature you couldn’t have just asked three or four to help you out?
Because the current (expensive), myriad investigations into the I-35W bridge collapse aren’t enough (and because State Senator Steve Murphy “lacks faith” in the National Transportation Safety Board investigation), a joint House-Senate committee is going to pay $500,000 to a Minneapolis law firm to conduct its own investigation. The primary reason for hiring the firm is of course their desperate need to make some kind of political hay out of whatever trumped-up findings this group will come up with by March. That, and they certainly can’t wait until after the 2008 elections (when the NTSB investigation may actually finish) to blame the Governor, global warming, the Taxpayers League, acid rain, Japanese whaling ships, SUVs, etc., etc., etc. for the bridge collapse.
Another day at the Capitol, another day needed to pay staff, another round of per diem payments and another sweetheart deal for friends at the Legislature.
But ask yourself this: how many snow-making machines would $500,000 buy?
3. Why did they have to go and get all productive on us?
Just in time for Christmas, a little good news/bad news on the Congressional legislative front. The good news is that Congress has finally adjourned for the Holidays and we should be able to relax for the next few weeks. The bad news is what they had to “accomplish” to earn their vacation; namely, the Renewable Fuels, Consumer Protection, and Energy Efficiency Act of 2007 – or, the Energy bill. If there could be a worse piece of legislation that purports to rid us of our addiction to foreign oil, then I haven’t seen it. This bill, that President Bush signed into law on Wednesday, mandates unnecessary fuel economy standards on auto makers, contains more than $21.5 billion in tax increases over ten years, will most assuredly stifle American energy production and creates dozens of new government programs and federal mandates – including an Office of Climate Change and Environment within the Department of Transportation.
For the complete wrap on this monstrous piece of filth and irresponsibility, click here for the RSCs Legislative Bulletin and here for a Web Memo from the Heritage Foundation.
4. A municipality and their common sense – once parted – may be reunited.
“St. Louis Park is dropping the contractor that was supposed to build the nation's first solar-powered citywide wireless Internet service. It will soon look for a new partner.
“The City Council voted Monday to find Maryland-based Arinc in default of its contract with the city. It's the first step in dissolving the contract entirely.
“Although the city has pledged to continue talks with the company, a fight is likely over who gets what and who owes whom. That battle could include a lawsuit.
“The city estimates the delays have cost it $300,000 in lost revenue.”
Sure, part of me feels bad that SLPers are having problems with their WiFi experiment. But another part, the part that controls the logic side of my brain, wonders how many more cities have to fail before people realize that providing technology services is way outside the competency curve of local governments. WCCO recently reported on the problems that Minneapolis is having with their network. And if you want to see what the future of government-sponsored technology services looks like, look no further than Provo, Utah. Residents of Austin and Red Wing, hold on tight because your own personal technology boondoggle is right around the corner.
5. “Congress goes postal.”
From Stephen Moore in Tuesday’s OpinionJournal’s Political Diary:
“The one thing the 110th Congress has managed to accomplish with great speed and alacrity is the vital job of naming post offices and other public infrastructure after minor celebrities and deceased politicians. By last month, nearly half the 106 bills signed into law this year were enacted to affix names to various roads, buildings and post offices. “Thanks to these urgent actions we now have the ‘Gerald R. Ford, Jr. Post Office Building,’ the ‘Lane Evans Office Building,’ the ‘Rush Hudson Limbaugh, Sr. United States Courthouse,’ the ‘Lyndon Baines Johnson Department of Education Building,’ the ‘Buck Owens Post Office’ and the ‘Rachel Carson Post Office Building.’ A chunk of Interstate 395 has even been designated ‘Cal Ripken Way.’ Who says Congress never gets anything done? “Indeed, most of the rest of the bills passed this year have been only slightly less trivial. Let's see, we have the Native American $1 Coin Act, a bill to convey land to the Saginaw Chippewa Tribe of Michigan, a law to authorize the U.S.-Poland Parliamentary Youth Exchange Program Act, and a bill authorizing the transfer of funds from the Senate Gift Shop to the Senate Employee Child Care Center. Thank heaven Congress found time to approve an $800 billion extension of the national debt to help implement these vital national purposes. “The latest polls award Congress approval ratings in the 20% to 30% range, which are Barry Bonds-type numbers. Those numbers aren't likely to improve any time soon.”
The Taxpayers League of Minnesota's eUpdate is written by Mark Giga |
