My buddy Rob pointed out this morning that, at the last minute, an organization called “ND Change That Works” is putting on a rally to support the Democrats who voted for unconstitutionally seizing control of your health care decisions. But who exactly is “ND Change that Works” anyway? Well, read the sign above: it’s a union front group.
As usual, when I post something on here I back it up. I don’t expect you to take my word for it. Besides, I love showing the KFYRs, KXMBs, Forums, and Tribunes how easy it is to get the real story behind this stuff; obviously journalism schools aren’t teaching anything but liberal activism these days. Here’s the “Change that Works” page on the SEIU union’s website.
The radical left fears average Americans. They’re even more freaked out now that those of us who’d rather live our lives and work our jobs are out protesting…that’s their gig! They’ve screwed up badly enough to get normal, everyday citizens involved in opposition against them, and they’re on the run. That’s why they have to fake this “rally” today, staffed with union labor. I imagine, since the union helped drive hundreds of Bobcat jobs out of North Dakota, that there should be plenty of union labor available to attend.
The timing of this is interesting, too; since most North Dakotans who have attended rallies, town halls, and protests have jobs, they’re unable to suddenly drop everything and head to Fargo to put on a counter-protest. The SEIU union thugs want to have a media event that goes unimpeded, so the KFYRs and KXMBs and the like will put pictures of a large group of “supporters” on your TV screens. It’s all a lie, folks. Remember who you’re dealing with.
If you’re like me, and run a very robust ad blocker, you haven’t seen the ads praising Earl Pomeroy which are being run by the SEIU labor union. I was tipped off by Rob over at SayAnythingBlog.com, actually. I thought it was very telling, since they’ve been bankrolling Earl Pomeroy for seventeen years.
The fact of the matter is, the labor unions are happy because they’re getting what they paid for. They want liberal lapdog politicians, and they pay top dollar for them. Earl Pomeroy has shown that he is no different.
Congressman Pomeroy, how can you claim to be a representative of North Dakota when you let the labor unions pull your strings? According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, only SIX PERCENT of your constituents belong to unions. In addition, according to the union members I’ve talked to, few of them like the direction you Democrats are taking this nation! Only about 28% of North Dakotans favored this legislation, which means that as a “representative” you should not have voted for it. Thank you for showing us who you really represent.
Just like when the union lackeys tried to overrun the Honk NO rally at the Federal Building a while back, Big Labor is showing its true colors. They and their liberal political allies are crawling out from under their rocks and being bold in their agendas at just the right time, when a vast number of otherwise disinterested Americans have grown outraged and decided to enter the political arena. Good. Be as liberal as you guys can be, folks…and show people once and for all what you’re about. It will have certain repercussions at the ballot box, which even ACORN-style ballot stuffing won’t be able to stop.
UPDATED 3/30/2010: According to this Politico article, the unions are dumping $700,000 into advertising for Earl Pomeroy and his Democrat cronies! I wonder if he’ll condemn this use of “out of state money” like he did when he whined to KXMB last November?
As I went to the post office to buy stamps last night, I couldn’t help but notice this funny-yet-sad example of a “government fix.” I see it every time I have business at the post office, and I have been taking not of it for YEARS. The metal plaque on the wall has been held up by a poorly-applied strip of shipping tape since at least 2006, and possibly earlier.
It isn’t even a meticulous repair, one which would give the impression that a diligent federal worker made do with the best that they had and attempted to make repairs to the best of their ability. No, this asymmetrical and wrinkled piece of tape looks rather sloppy. Of course, a strip of shipping tape isn’t usually how you attach a metal decoration to a slab of marble.
The crazy thing is that this repair will have proved itself far more effective than the government health care reform takeover; I mean, after all, the shipping tape has held up for several years for me to comment on it! Meanwhile, the Hopey-Changey nature of the health care bill is only appealing to the same sponges that thought Barack Obama was going to buy them a new car and a new kitchen out of his personal “Obama Stash.” Boy, are they going to be mistaken.
Earl Pomeroy, having established a long tradition of voting against North Dakotans’ wishes while collecting over 90% of his campaign money from out-of-state labor union and insurance company donors, is one of the US Representatives that is under intense scrutiny and pressure to vote NO on this farcical “health care reform” monstrosity facing Congress over the weekend.
KXMB ran this article where Conrad assured North Dakotans that the Bank of North Dakota would have an exemption from the student loan nationalization. Now the Washington Times is running this article in which Conrad and Pomeroy attempt to distance themselves from this “Bismarck Bribe” or “Bismarck Earmark” as fast as they can, and says it will do them little good.
Every time a prominent North Dakota Democrat gets caught with their hand in the proverbial cookie jar, they simply say, “Oops!” and give the money back or to charity. KFYR, KXMB, the Forum, the Tribune…they all lap it up and dutifully cheerlead for the Democrat like the good little stenographers they are. Byron “Skybox” Dorgan got caught with a bunch of money in the Jack Abramoff scandal, which he gave back. Kent “Countrywide” Conrad gave back some money after it was discovered he got a sweetheart deal on a mortgage for which his property didn’t even qualify. Now Conrad and Pomeroy are trying to get as far away from “the Bismarck Earmark” as fast as they can.
Rush Limbaugh had some cautionary words for Rep. Pomeroy, which I’ve encapsulated for you here:
If you don’t see playback controls, move your cursor over the video window.
It’s interesting to note that Mr. Limbaugh mentions Kent Conrad as ‘wanting no part of this.” In the KXMB article I referenced earlier, Kent Conrad had no problem with a Bismarck Bribe in the Senate legislation. You can’t have it both ways, Senator! North Dakotans aren’t that stupid; you can no longer act one way on the east coast and another back here in flyover country. We’re onto you. And we can’t wait to meet you at the ballot box!
As for Rep. Pomeroy, who I’m not convinced even wants to remain in office any more, I suppose he’s still a wildcard. He’s owned by out of state labor union and insurance company interests…look who’s been bankrolling his campaigns for the past seventeen years. I for one have been calling his offices in Bismarck and Washington, DC in hopes of swaying his vote. I can’t count on his desire to represent North Dakota; if that was the case, he wouldn’t have nearly two decades of doing exactly the opposite. I can only hope that he’s not too tired to care anymore and resigned to voting the Democrat party line until he’s finally ousted. I guess this weekend we’ll know.
UPDATE: Here’s the article in Roll Call Magazine which talks about Conrad’s advocating for “The Bismarck Earmark” or “The Bismarck Bribe.” (click here)
A few of us got together to hang out at the federal building on 3rd and Rosser today and watch cars go by and honk to send a message to the unreachable Earl Pomeroy. It was a bit of a surprise to see a bunch of people show up to hold signs in favor of the government healthcare takeover, but not a surprise to find out the story behind them (which, by the way, you won’t find in North Dakota’s mainstream media).
These were the two ringleaders who brought stacks of pre-printed signs and were most vocal in engaging the grassroots folks while I sat and listened (of course I chimed in on occasion). Who they really are tells the story: Dave Kemnitz, on the left is the president of the AFL-CIO union. The guy on the right is Don Morrison of “ndpeople.org” — an organization I’ll get to later on in this post.
I think some of these folks were made available for this counter-protest by the incredibly great effect labor unions had on Bobcat jobs in our city. Given all the jobs they drove out of here, there could have been another couple hundred union folks here…
I wonder if anyone has told this fella about SCHIP, Medicare, Medicaid, CHAND, or any of the other social programs that take care of people who cannot afford health insurance. Something about this professionally made sign sets it apart from the grassroots movement that’s been sweeping the USA like a wildfire…
…oh yeah. Professionally printed by union shops for union operatives. This is called “astroturfing,” named for the antithesis of a “grassroots” movement.
Now, about ndpeople.org – a site which got a weblink in this story from KFYR-TV, although the organizers of the event did not (they could have linked to americansforprosperity.org or honkno.com just as easily. The ndpeople.org people have their headquarters in the NDEA building (another farcical union entity, in my opinion). I photographed it last summer but didn’t use the pics for anything until now.
The posters that adorned the windows of this place all have one thing in common. (Aside: how’s that “Health Care ’09” thing working out for ya?) Most of these have since been removed. Do you know what that is?
Have you spotted it yet? All that talk of evil CEOs and profits clued you in yet? Or do you recognize any familiar logos?
Here ya go. SEIU union logos all over the place. That URL on the one poster, healthcareforamericanow.org, well that’s interesting. According to the Discover the Networks website, this group is a front, controlled by the AFL-CIO and other unions! In other words, Don Morrison and his group are simply not-so-cleverly-disguised union lackeys.
The KFYR-TV report focused more on a five minute spat that was going on just as I arrived, which quickly turned into a relatively amicable discussion between both sides for the next forty-five minutes and ended in a bunch of handshakes. In the web version they put up a web link to the union front group ndpeople.org but didn’t do the same for the organizers of the event. More importantly, they completely ignored the fact that this entire counter-protest was a 100% union operation. Well, I guess that’s what the “new media” is for – connecting the dots that otherwise go unreported.
The afternoon was fun; I got to spend my lunch break outside with some pals, we had some good spirited political discussion, and it was Taco Tuesday at our local Taco John’s. Lots of people honked, and I saw some interesting hand-signals flashed at the union group on the corner. The counter-protesters exercised the same freedom of speech that we did, even if they did have to staff it with union labor in order to try getting their message out.
I had the opportunity to attend a meeting of the Bismarck City Commission last night and got to hear some really boring stuff, along with some very interesting stuff. Which do you think I’d like to write about this morning? 🙂
Recently there have been many questions brought up about the legality of the Renaissance Zone Authority, a body put together by the City Commission to authorize various pet projects in the city… beautification and upgrades, that kind of thing. If you read this letter (PDF) sent to the Commission you’ll find that the way the City did it doesn’t necessarily meet state law. But that’s a separate matter from what I want to discuss.
Here’s my “average citizen” understanding of what I heard last night (if I’m in error, please correct me):
When the City determines an area needs to be “renewed” the law enables them to come up with a specific renewal plan. They are then allowed to use Tax Increment Financing (TIF) to fund the plan for its specified goal. They assess the taxes of properties in the specified area at their current value at the time of the plan (in this case, 1978 or so). As those properties periodically rise in value, the amount collected over and above the assessed amount goes to the renewal fund. Once the work is completed, the fund is to be closed, and the remainder distributed to local entities such as school districts and the like. That fact is very important. Here’s why…
If the urban renewal plan is “amended” along the way, the City is required to re-assess the baseline value of the properties taxed therein. Last night’s vote to amend the plan was referred to as the seventh time this has happened. The way I heard it last night, the properties in the downtown area, however, have not been adjusted in the TIF plan since their original value! That simple fact is the basis for this post. What does it mean to you or me?
Let’s say I had property downtown that was taxed at $100 a year at the start of the renewal plan. Year one of the plan I paid $105 in taxes, so $5 went to the Urban Renewal Fund. Fine and dandy…but fast forward 32 years, and maybe I’m paying $1000 in property taxes. now the county gets $100 again, and the urban renewal fund gets $900! That’s $900 that could go to roads, schools, and things other than beautifying someone else’s neighborhood.
If you paid attention to the last legislative session, you know that the state passed a boondoggle of a bill in the name of “property tax relief” because people are upset at the amount they need to pay for property taxes. At the same time, the City of Bismarck is using questionable math and, to my understanding, bending the law as it relates to urban renewal. All the while it’s padding its urban renewal coffers by neglecting to re-assess the properties in the TIF area!
Like I said, the TIF idea enables the cities to “skim off the top” a bit for urban renewal. BUT…it also requires the amount above which they can skim to be adjusted every time the plan is updated for new pet projects! Apparently, in the past 32 years that has NOT been done.
This, of course, also flies in the face of the fact that the urban renewal law intended for a specific plan to be made, executed, funded, and then ended. The City of Bismarck seems to think they can keep amending this plan ad infinitum, collecting all the money in excess of 32 year old property tax values, and then congratulates itself for having FIFTEEN MILLION DOLLARS of tax money available for said projects. This is dishonest, it’s a violation of policy, and might just be illegal.
My friend Brett over at the North Dakota Policy Council has been following this and put together a little video about this Tax Increment Financing. As a taxpayer I suggest you watch it:
You can also read a little more on this page, which has the same video and a link to the PDF letter sent to the City Commission. If you’ll note in the letter, a decision to amend the Urban Renewal Plan was made by the Renaissance Zone Authority board, which was delegated that authority by the state. The problem is that the City did not follow state law in setting up such a board, nor did they comply with the law in delegating their authority to amend the Plan to the Renaissance Zone entity.
I heard buzz that the reason they held the meeting last night addressing the Urban Renewal amendment was so the City Commission could vote on it themselves, since they realized they screwed up with the Renaissance Zone Authority. That’s all speculation. Even if it’s true, it highlighted one other fact, one that meetings won’t fix: the City has been dragging this Urban Renewal Plan along, with apparently little oversight from us, the citizens. It’s time that is changed. The Urban Renewal plan wasn’t intended to be turned into an open-ended pet project.
If they’re sitting on $15 million that was taxed improperly, then I suggest that Urban Renewal Plan projects be STOPPED until the TIF mess can be sorted out. Money that should not have been skimmed into the fund should be returned to the entities who need it, and the remainder made available for Urban Renewal as planned. The City should be required to outline a specific, finite plan for renewal and, according to the law, finish that plan and close out the fund. If they find another project that needs TIF financing, then write up a new plan for that project and go about it on its own merits. It’s time to get rid of the city’s perpetual Urban Renewal piggy bank!
This TIF money in the urban renewal fund is money that would otherwise go to schools, roads, or emergency services. Instead, it’s sitting in an account waiting to dress up someone else’s property. Is that how the people in the Cathedral District got a facelift for their neighborhoods? Citizens of Bismarck, we need to wake up and keep an eye on how our city government is collecting and spending our tax money!
Let’s say I’m wrong, and the property values have been adjusted along the way as this Urban Renewal plan morphs into an open-ended pet project. That makes much of my argument above irrelevant, except for one thing: Urban Renewal plans are NOT supposed to be perpetual. They are supposed to be designed with specific project goals and closed when those projects are completed. A new Urban Renewal project should have its own plan and funding. That prevents a mess like I’ve outlined above from dragging itself out over thirty years and tying up millions of dollars in taxpayers’ money.
(Here’s a Bismarck Tribune article on the meeting, but they don’t get into why there’s concern about the pool of money in the Urban Renewal fund, or how it got there.)
Again, this is my understanding of the program as a taxpaying citizen and property owner. I’m still getting up to speed. I’m also not implying malicious intent on the part of any city officials, just that the city’s Urban Renewal activities need to be scrutinized and brought into compliance with state law. If you spot anything in this post that’s inaccurate, let me know so I can correct it ASAP. For more information on how you relate to your government, check out the North Dakota Policy Council website frequently. It’s a great resource.
In the past few months I’ve had several friends show up on billboards around town for various ad campaigns. Those were cool to see, and my little toddlers love pointing them out. This sign, however, is my new favorite! It points right toward the Federal Building on 3rd and Rosser, and I think it’s visible from Earl Pomeroy’s office windows! In many ways, the view from his Fortress of Solitude isn’t so lovely these days.
I got a copy of this email sent out by Congressman Pomeroy’s office this morning (no, I’m not on the mailing list) to someone I know, detailing a problem he has with Medicare funding and its impact on rural medicine. Apparently a new requirement of having routine therapeutic services performed by a nurse or other professional will only be reimbursed if “a doctor or mid-level practitioner is physically present,” instead of within 30 minutes of the hospital. Obviously this is not good for the practice of rural medicine in many cases.
Congressman Pomeroy makes a good point. I won’t disagree with him on that. There is, however, an even stronger point brought up by this last paragraph in his email:
I have been in touch with CMS and the Administration to make clear that this new rule is not acceptable, and I’m going to keep pushing them to resolve this issue. This policy might be just fine for hospitals in New York City and other urban centers, but here in North Dakota, this cookie-cutter approach is exactly the wrong way to go about it.
I think many North Dakotans would agree with you, Congressman. Why is it, then, if something so relatively small as a reimbursement requirement for therapeutic services is so unacceptable and worthy of a fight, do you want to support your party’s unwanted, unconstitutional “cookie-cutter” approach to nationalizing health care entirely?
Congressman Pomeroy has been dutifully following his political party’s lead and voting at Nancy Pelosi’s behest to force a “cookie-cutter approach” to the federal government’s takeover of the nation’s health care system. Doing so would force North Dakota to abide by the same bureaucratic nightmare as “New York City and other urban centers,” and that’s justifiable to Congressman Pomeroy? Does he actually think rural North Dakota would have any influence in such a system or how it’s designed?
But now he’s going to act all indignant and promise to fight because of a reimbursement criteria that does the same? This relatively insignificant issue will become irrelevant if he keeps voting for the federal government’s takeover of the entire healthcare system!
This is just one more example of the fact that, for liberal Democrats, “health care reform” is not about health care, health care funding, health insurance, or health coverage. It is about power. It is about pushing this country so far into European style socialism, even at the expense of a number of political careers, that it will be impossible to bring it back. For them, the health care system is simply a tool, the blunt instrument by which they will bludgeon this country into irreversible mediocrity and bureaucratically induced suffering. How do you think that affects North Dakotans, Congressman Pomeroy?
According to this article, self-proclaimed “budget hawk” Gaylord Kent Conrad, on-paper resident of North Dakota, wants to bridge the gap between his spending and government revenue from the taxpayers by…yes, another tax!
Chairman Kent Conrad, D-ND, raised the point during a hearing Wednesday, Feb. 24, on the subject of President Obama’s recent budget request for 2010-11. Conrad highlighted some of the options.
“And these include increasing the gas (fuel) tax; charging for each mile traveled; adding more tolls; continuing general fund transfers, which I strongly oppose; and identifying other funding sources,” Conrad said.
“Now let’s be frank, none of these are popular options. But we have to find a way to close this funding gap. We are going to have to start making tough choices.”
First off, it would be hilarious how Kent Conrad keeps claiming to be a “budget hawk” if it wasn’t so sad, and the consequences for our nation so dire. But the way he wants to bring those budgets into line is never by cutting government spending! It’s always about bleeding the taxpayer a little bit more.
Imagine what that’s going to do to rural North Dakotans that have long drives to get into town, or the farm families Kent Conrad claims to represent when he leaves his million dollar beach house, bought at a cushy rate from Countrywide Financial, to fly back to North Dakota for a bit and pretend he’s representing North Dakotans for a while. How about poor people who can’t afford newer, more fuel efficient cars? It seems that the people these Democrats claim to stand for are always the ones who take the biggest pounding as a result of Democrat policies!
(This is an article I wrote for the January 2010 issue of the Dakota Beacon.)
pu·sil·lan’i·mous: adj. contemptibly timid.
par’ti·san: adj. disagreeing with Democrats.
Liberals are wordsmiths. They have to be; they have no ideas of worth, a predicament demonstrated by their inability to come out and simply say what they want to achieve and why. The very term “liberal” itself characterizes their craft, in that it used to have a good connotation until it came to mean them. With that the case, they shriek and recoil with revulsion when described as “liberals” and instead cling to the term “progressive.” Of course, once that term gets connected with them and their ideology, they’ll have to jettison it in favor of another trendy label. They will probably always have one label for their enemies, however: “partisan.”
The term “partisan” has had its own negative connotation as well, often meaning someone who reflexively or instinctively clings tenaciously to one side of a disagreement. Perhaps that was a bad thing in the distant past, but these days the policies of the left must be reflexively and instinctively opposed. If we’d had some ferocious partisanship opposing the New Deal, the Great Society, or other such failed entitlement programs before they were enacted, we might not find our nation up to its eyeballs in debt!
When liberals are faced with a debate of ideas, they immediately change the game to one of name calling. It makes sense when you take into account that they’re really in the branding business. That’s why we have a litany of legislation with titles totally opposite of the substance of their text. That’s also why they label their advocacy groups with such innocuous name as Centers for the Public Good. Since ideas, at least ones that survive in the realm of sanity, aren’t their strong point, they instead resort to bludgeoning their opponents with insults. Their favorite, of course, is “partisan.”
I’m happy to be labeled a “partisan” if it means I oppose liberal Democrats at every turn. For politicians on the right, however, it seems to be the worst sort of punishment one could be asked to bear. For decades Republicans have cowered in fear of being branded as “partisans” by the liberal Democrats and their advocates in the media. Having bought into the lie that “moderates” will turn in distaste from anyone perceived as a partisan, these Republicans shrink from the term as a vampire would from a brandished crucifix. It’s no wonder we conservatives decry the absence of leadership on our side. Nobody seems ready to stand up to – gasp – the labels wielded by the liberal Democrats!
For those of us who simply want to work our jobs, live our lives, practice our faith, raise our children, and have the government impede us as little as possible, only one term can suitably describe these sissified Republicans: pusillanimous. Their contemptible timidity saddens those of us who count on them to champion our cause, stand up for our Nation and its founding principles, and stand guard against further bureaucratic government into our lives. Rather than fighting on our behalf, they’re dithering and dodging in the hopes that everyone in the establishment will like them. That is not a sign of character, and it’s certainly not leadership.
Show me a candidate for local, state, or national office who has the guts to come out and say, “I oppose abortion and will be a fierce partisan in my stand against the murder of innocent children in the womb” and I’ll be chomping at the bit to give that man or woman my vote. The same goes for issues such as national security, tax reform, border security and immigration enforcement, or the myriad rights which the leftists are trying to strip from my fellow citizens and me in total defiance of the Constitution. I want a partisan.
The leftists have their fierce partisan fighters…where are ours? We seem to be the only side with defectors in this war for the future of our nation, culture and heritage! For instance, I was sickened by Sen. McCain’s promises to “reach across the aisle” to work with Democrats. He’s a remarkable man, but he’s obviously been in government too long if he can’t see the fact that some things need to be wholly opposed because they’re wrong. Period.
Hypothetical: Let’s say the North American Man/Boy Love Association decides they want to codify into law their right to prey on young children (don’t think they don’t dream of that day). Naturally the decadent left, with President Obama at the helm, champions this “bold new initiative to bring about relationship change for adults and children all across this great nation.” Dorgan, Conrad, and Pomeroy ride the party line as usual, parroting talking points about how all North Dakotans want such legislation and it’s good for North Dakotans while whining about “out of state money” financing any campaign to oppose them. First off, they’d never name it the “Legalizing Child Rape Act of 2010.” No, it’d be something like the “Fairness in Relationships Act” or something obfuscating like that, like so many dishonestly named bills in recent years.
The point I’m trying to make with such a drastic example is: just exactly how do you “reach across the aisle” and work with something like that? Do you “compromise” by “only” lowering the age at which a predator can sodomize a child? Do you “only” lessen the penalties for someone convicted of such an offense? No. The correct answer is that you do not cross the aisle to work with the Democrats on the issue, because they’re WRONG. Yes, it is that simple. It is just as simple when it comes to government taking over the health care system, labeling carbon dioxide a harmful pollutant, or considering treaties that turn our nation’s sovereignty over to a bogus international climate regulatory organization as well.
When the Democrats seek to grant citizenship to millions of criminals who are in our country illegally, you don’t cross that aisle. When they want to cripple our nation’s energy supply to placate rabid environmentalists, you don’t cross that aisle. When they want to destroy our economy in the name of falsified “climate change” pseudo-science, you don’t cross that aisle. Sure, it will cut down on the number of invites you receive from Meet the Press, but standing your ground is the right thing to do. I say again:I want a partisan.
We partisans are finally influencing things in Washington, however. When even the most liberal of Republicans won’t vote for cloture on the health care takeover by the Democrats, that’s an indication. Call it self preservation on their part if you wish, but the fact remains that they’re taking notice of how their constituents feel on this matter. It’s too late in that we lack the numbers to stop such legislation outright, but the indignance of the Democrats at the Republican rejection of this bill shows that they’re nervous about owning it one hundred percent. What we need now, and what conservatives have been craving for some time now, is some leadership. If we’d had an articulate conservative leader in the last election, Obama would still be in Chicago with his thug pals.
Sorry, Senator McCain, the last election proved that Americans couldn’t be less interested in an aisle crosser. Step by step we’ve watched as you establishment Republicans let the government chip away at our freedom as it grows larger and more unwieldy. Bit by bit the radical left has won victories in driving Christian faith from public view, hamstringing our military, and bludgeoning citizens with the multiculturalist and politically correct movements. It’s time for you Republicans to start acting on our behalf or get out of office and make way for someone who will. We desire to see someone who’s got the nerve to roll up their sleeves and oppose all this lunacy. Your days of being contemptibly timid and remaining in office are over. We’ve had enough pusillanimity; now show us some partisanship…or we’ll find someone who will.
