Tuesday, March 31, 2009

400 ballot Universe

theUptake is reporting that Election Contest panel has asked that 400 ballots be reviewd for potential counting. If ALL 400 are counted, Franken would need just 65 of them to retain his lead in the recount. Furthermore, and this is a crushing blow to Coleman:
The court denies double counting charges, allows the missing ballots in Minneapolis to be counted and only allows 400 absentee ballots to be counted. Franken has a 225 vote lead. Press conference at 4:30
Team Franken conference call LIVE at theUpdate, 4:30 Central!

Flash

Corporatism?!?

I didn't read much about the GM bailout, the demands being placed on them by the administration, specifically the stepping down of the CEO. But I DID read from many who seem appalled at the government meddling with private corporations.

Listen, folks, this is real simple. GM stopped being a private company the moment they came to Washington banging on our door asking for handouts. They don;t have to listen to a work, or follow a single guideline if they simply put their hand back in their pocked. But as long as 'WE' are going to invest in them to keep them afloat, well, we get a say in their management.

Can you imagine the outrage if the administration just handed over money without doing anything?!? This was a lose lose as the Right was going to pound on the President no matter what he did. The answer will be whether it works or not.

Flash

Monday, March 30, 2009

BasketBlogging v.2009; Final Four Set

Seven out of eight, three out of four:


OK, so Duke got bounced early, but that is bound to happen to at least on of your Final Four teams. But to all those folks who scoffed up my picks, and laughed at the fact I had Michigan State beating Louisville, HA . . ha . . ha . . HA!

In the Family Pool, the Lovely Mrs. Flash, Spartan fan that she is, went with UCONN beating Michigan State. The one son with a board has UNC winning it all. We are all still in it, and the Michigan State/UCONN game will be the key.

Spring Break this week, I don;t know if that mean more or less posting. Stay tuned!

Flash

Sunday, March 29, 2009

Rick Nelson, Mentor

Rick Nelson, an integral part of the DFL party has passed of pancreatic cancer. I will share with you Rick Stafford's words as sent to me for all to see:
Tonight I received word that Rick Nelson passed away from pancreatic cancer at his home surrounded by his many loved ones. This is extremely disheartening news for me as I considered Rick a good friend and political peer.

Most will remember Rick for his very able talents chairing parts of our state conventions and other unit conventions and meetings. But what many within the DFL Party did not realize was the numerous important, but sometimes trivial roles that Rick undertook or played "behind the scenes". He did much without taking credit or tooting his own horn!!!!! He was our "free" employment lawyer and provided "focus" during times that required it but few were able to provide. He was the secretarial scribe for the State Constitution and Bylaws for a couple of decades--keeping track of the many changes this body always seemed to make in developing the biannual DFL Call, making the clerical changes to the document and adding a touch of the lawyer "grammar" when needed. Most important, Rick was a mentor.

And, he had quite the sense of humor - Scandinavian heritage intact! He and his wife, Kathy, always enjoyed entertaining and Rick looked forward every Christmas to the Holiday Party that they would host at their home.

Rick was never a delegate to a national convention, something he never really wanted and sought during the last couple of elections. It was great that Rick was able to be part of the Minnesota delegation, while not a delegate, at this very historic convention before the good Lord called upon him. I know he/she will put Rick to good use!
My hopes and prayers to the Nelson family during this difficult time.

Flash

Friday, March 27, 2009

Sidebar Houskeeping

I've been going through my blogroll to weed out the ones that are defunct and adding some that were conspicuously missing. Additions were from both sides of the aisle:

Newsiness
MNScaifeNet
theUptake

Local Lefties
Arm Chair Politics MN
Dusty Trice

Righty Tighties
Hot Air

I am looking for some local moderates out there. If you are out there drop me a note or let me know in the comments.

If you are stopping in and have a blog of your own, please make sure you have Centrisity listed in your roll or feeds.

Thanks folks, now go fill more sand bags.

Flash

Red River Disaster

Heard from Rep. Earl Pomeroy (D-ND)
'ditches look like creeks. Creeks look like rivers. Rivers look like lakes.'
Simply awful. All my hopes to those weathering this unimaginable disaster.

You can help here:

Red Cross
WCCO Resource Links

Thursday, March 26, 2009

Stock Up Before SCHIP hits

On April 1st, tobacco taxes go through the roof to fund SCHIP. No big deal as I quit the nails and don't have to deal with the 60 cent increase. However, I do like to enjoy a quality cigar now and then, and those are also facing a 2.3 times increase in tax as well.

Good news, large cigars will not have a stock tax imposed, so anything in the warehouse on April 1st will be exempt from this tax. This is not the case with smaller cigars and cigarettes. So you will see an immediate increase in those items on April 1st.

I don;t have a problem with the tax itself, but that doesn't mean I am not going to be trolling the online cigar shops for some good deals on premium cigars. I mostly deal in the generic and store brand items as I am not much of a connoisseur, yet. But a box of Punches or some Romeo y Julietas may be out there with my name on it.

Again, as a "Commie homo-loving sons of guns", this little gift to help the children isn't a big deal to me . . . but Il Duce' must be livid *grin*

Flash

Revitilization in Action

Tax breaks in the stimulus bill are taking effect:
Three top window manufacturers, including Andersen Windows of Bayport, Minn., have seen an uptick in business in recent weeks that they credit, at least in part, to a tax break for installing more energy-efficient windows that's part of the federal stimulus package.

For Andersen, that meant recalling 180 of the 560 workers it laid off in January.
When I did all my windows 6 years ago, there was no break. And the basement windows I did last fall probably fall outside the chronological window. But you can bet there are those on the bubble, people who can't afford to sell due to the depreciation of the housing market, who will be all over this form of relief/incentive, to improve their home. In the process, it is putting people back to work, creating even more stimulus.

Don't you love it when a plan comes together.

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

SoS Joan Grow on Election Contest

via PiPress:
Like every election, this one had a winner. True, the margin was close. But as Minnesota's secretary of state, I supervised dozens upon dozens of recounts. Most were incredibly close, sometimes with a single-digit margin. But someone always won and someone always lost. That's the way it is. We verify who won the best way we can, but it is never correct to suggest that no one did.

One candidate won this Senate race, too. Of course, many of us wish that he had won it by a larger margin, allowing him to get to work immediately.

But all of us should be glad that we live in a state that has established a fair, transparent and meticulous process for determining who won the race when the margin is so close that the returns on Election Night are inconclusive.
Read it all!

Tuesday, March 24, 2009

Where's the Love

When President Obama took office, and the disaster that was the Bush economy, the rabid Right, on day two, hung everything on his head. The talking point of the day, and still is, "its all yours baby, you broke it you fix it", etc.

When the stock market continued its decline, follow years of mismanagement by the GOP white House, and the control they wielded in congress for 6 of those years, it now became all the Democrats fault. Of course, the true leader that President Obama is, he will not be distracted by these parrots, he takes responsibility:
"Listen, I'll take responsibility. I'm the president," Obama said at a "town hall" meeting in Costa Mesa, California, where his bid to sell his economic revival policies was swamped by news coverage of the bonus fiasco for a fourth day.

"We didn't draft these contracts. We've got a lot on our plate -- but it is appropriate when you're in charge to make sure that stuff doesn't happen like this," he added, amid outrage across the United States.

"So we're going to do everything we can to fix it,"
And then he makes the decisions necessary to do just that:
The Treasury Department unveiled its long-awaited plan to remove many of the troubled assets from banks' books Monday, representing one of the biggest efforts by the U.S. government so far aimed at tackling the ongoing financial crisis.
And the market responded positively to this move by posting its largest gain ever:
investors went on a tear as the administration announced details of its new banking rescue plan, hoisting the markets as much as 7 percent in one of the biggest buying binges of the year.

Financial companies' values soared as Geithner spelled out how he planned to liberate banks from $500 billion to $1 trillion of troubled assets by setting up a public-private partnership.
The market will pull back a bit, today. Between profit takers and those awaiting word from the Federal Reserve hedging their portfolios. But at the wink of a down tick, the Rabid Right were shoving all that was wrong, and inherited, in the economy, in President Obama's face. Now that it is clear his decisions are moving us in the proper direction . . . where's the love . . . don't they want America to succeed and become strong again?

Oh wait, that's right?!? . . They don't!

Saturday, March 21, 2009

Lady Gophers Succumb

The women met their match. After the Golden Gophers popped in the first goal, Mercyhurst proceeded with 5 unanswered through the 2nd period. Just a bit too much to overcome. Although, with 9 minutes remain in the game, the Gophers squad rattled off 3 quick goals, it still was one short.
With two Mercyhurst players in the penalty box and Gophers goalie Jenny Lura pulled for an extra skater, Monique Lamoureux scored at 18:43 of the third period to cut the Lakers' lead to 5-4.

In the final minute, with Lura still on the bench, both Emily West and Marvin were turned away by Pattenden on point-blank scoring opportunities. Mercyhurst finally cleared the puck with about 10 seconds to play, and the Lakers breathed a sigh of relief that could be heard back home in Erie, Pa.
Hard to say what happened, other than the starting goalie, Alyssa Grogan, had been battling food poisoning and was unable to return in the 2nd period. Back up goalie, Jenny Lura, allowed only one of the 5 Mercyhurst scores causing some to second guess the coaches' decision to stay the course at the beginning of the game knowing his net minder was ailing. But that is just armchair quarterbacking!

The Lovely Mrs. Flash and I are getting ready for a bike ride, first of the season. It will help me take my mind of that hockey game last night.

Flash

Thursday, March 19, 2009

BasketBlogging v2009; The Picks

The perfect bracket picks are below (click to enlarge). Sorry, no homer pick with Wisconsin being the surprise of the opening weekend.

Tuesday, March 17, 2009

Go Green!

My Irish ancestry was shared last year. But I am still going to post a picture of the Queen, my beloved late Grandmother Gladys Eaton!.

Have a safe St. Patrick's Day!

Flash

CNN Curmedgeon

Jack Cafferty over at CNN is a feisty ole coot, but for all the distancing my wife does from politics, she always liked Jack. Today, Jack calls it as he sees it, which is his style:
President Obama has done more in eight weeks than George W. Bush did in eight years -- unless you include starting a couple of wars.

While the armchair quarterbacks second guess the new president, he gets up every day and does things, lots of things.

Whether it's creating commissions for women and girls, ordering the investigation of President Bush's use of signing statements, or jamming a huge stimulus package through Congress, the man is working his tail off. And he seems to be loving every minute of it. It's almost as though our president was born to do exactly what he's doing. He's leading, and boy, is that refreshing.
Read the whole thing!

Monday, March 16, 2009

Fat v T-Bone

One person's pork is the next guys bacon:
Despite a likely conservative challenge in next year's Republican primary, moderate Sen. Arlen Specter (Pa.) won't be running from his record of bringing home the bacon.

A day after President Obama signed into law the $410 billion catchall spending bill for most federal agencies, Specter and Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pa.) issued five news releases noting every earmarked expenditure they had secured in the legislation.

The 16-page list tallies up $161 million in projects secured by the senators, most of it coming through Specter's seniority on the Appropriations Committee. "This funding will have a tremendous impact on local communities," Specter said in one release.

Specter, 79, has essentially doubled down on a political bet that all politics is local -- and the corollary theory that all earmarks are pork except when delivered to your own towns, in which case they are a nice T-bone steak.
I do not have an issue with local representatives fight for funds for their constituents, but I do believe there should be more oversight on how those monies are distributed.

Bachmann and Kline are doing a great disservice to their districts by not fighting vigorously for the much needed projects and programs their people need. How a good opposition candidate can successfully point that out is the key to defeating them in an election.

Flash

BasketBlogging v.2009

Gophers are in. Tubby was intense at the news conference:
Tubby Smith was in the middle of a press conference about needing just two years to shepherd troubled Minnesota into the NCAA tournament when he heard someone chattering on a cell phone in the back of the room.

"Can you take that phone call elsewhere, please?" Smith chirped, clearly annoyed at the interruption.

It didn't take him long to learn that it was Minnesota athletic director Joel Maturi informing University president Robert Bruininks that the Gophers (22-10) were given a No. 10 seed and will play seventh-seeded Texas in Greensboro, N.C., on Thursday.

"Oh, Coach I'm sorry! Tell Dr. Bruininks I'm sorry," Smith said as his head hit the table sheepishly and laughter filled the room. "Somebody should have told me that was my boss. ... I didn't just do that."
If they can get by the pesky Longhorns they'll butt heads with the perennial Duke squad. No one said March Madness was easy.

I'll post my bracket once it has been properly vetted.

Flash

Saturday, March 14, 2009

A Philly in Philly

I was shown this photo Wednesday night. It is a picture of me, circa 1985 1984, eating an original Philly sandwich on a Drum Corps bus while having freetime in Philadelphia.

Hey, I was hungry after doing the Rocky run up and down the front steps of the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

Flash

Friday, March 13, 2009

Closing Arguments or The End of the Beginning

Live video from theUptake. Replays up until court is in session. For a live blog of the events, along with this video feed, visit theUptake directly:

Video Removed

Of course, if I have time to watching any video at all, especially between 11:00 and 1:00, it will hopefully be here.

GO GOPHERS!

Flash

Thursday, March 12, 2009

Coleman's Case on Life Support

It really comes down to this:
Republican Norm Coleman's case in the U.S. Senate trial, once built on the prospects of counting thousands of rejected absentee ballots, is now down to 1,360 ballots or fewer.
And how do these ballots, should the panel decide to add them, break down:
Even if the court accepts all of the 1,360 ballots for counting, it's not clear Coleman's gains would be large.

Dean Barkley and other candidates won 17 percent of the vote in the counties Coleman's ballots came from. If those ballots go for Barkley in the same way, it would further reduce the pool that Coleman can tap.

If the ballots identified by Coleman were allocated to the candidates based on the percentage of the vote each got in the counties the ballots came from, Coleman would pick up 596 votes, Franken would pick up 539 and other candidates would get 225.

Whatever Coleman picks up from his list could be diluted by any ballots Franken identifies and the court approves.
Not only are Senator Coleman's electoral chances significantly diminished, his political future is severely tarnished. His only practical hope, is to man up, take his own advice, and let the healing begin. Its about the only chance he has to begin rebuild his own political career, if it isn't too late already.

Flash

Wednesday, March 11, 2009

Dear Mayor, About Out Library!

Dear Honorable Mayor Chris Coleman:

I was disappointed at the clear attitude by you and your administration that the closing of the Hamline Library is a foregone conclusion. Many more palatable ideas have been brought forth to not only save Hamline, but strengthen the Library program as a whole. But the lip service received last evening made it clear that this is no longer about saving the Library, but about easing the transitional plan is it closes. And once that Snowball is pushed down the hill, the Library is gone for good, with others in its wake.

Our community has already had its Middle School taken away by the District (Wilson Junior High) and soon the Griggs Rec Center (Reprogramming is no better a buzz word than No Child Left Behind. Lets not mince words, Reprogramming = closing)

So I ask a questions of you that I would like a specific answer to. Was there an awareness by the deciders at the level of pain the Hamline/Midway neighborhood has already received? Are there other communities that have had their Middle School ripped away, and a Rec Center closed and now are facing the loss of their library? Which other Community is facing the same painful expectation as ours?

I know of other communities that have taken the single hit, but none the double, and only Hamline/Midway the perfect storm trifecta.

This is NOT a NIMBY issue, it is a what's left for us issue after our schools are gone, Rec Centers gone and now our library gone. Has anyone really thought this through? I spent several hours looking at the city budget last night. There is plenty to review without gutting the essential programs!

I'd start buy gutting the Human Rights directors and supporting staff. This duplicity of services can be handled by County and City agencies. If the state is cutting funding, then we need to begin transferring services back to the state. Luxury services should be cut and eliminated, not the essentials. A 14% across the department slashing, sorry to say is lazy. Lets by the true leader you are and make the tough choices. Something tells me if you weren't running for Governor, other options would be on the table. True?

Let's put St. Paul first!

Respectfully yet frustrated.

Kurt 'Flash' Schiebel

Tuesday, March 10, 2009

Hamline Library Meeting

A Grip n Grin with the mayor will take place and the Hamline Midway Library this evening. If you recall, both my neighborhood library AND the closest rec center are on the chopping block. Staunch community activism has created a swell of support to keep the library open. It truly is a pillar of the community. We recognize that everyone needs to make sacrifices during these difficult times, but for my neighborhood to get a double whammy seems like more than our fair share. If you must, take the Rec Center, but leave our Library alone. I'll be making that pitch to the mayor this evening:

Updated Information here:
Community Meeting with Mayor and Library Director

Tuesday March 10, 5:30/6-8pm

Hamline Midway Library, 1558 Minnehaha

5:30 – Community Celebration/rally outside – family-friendly local music, wear red, bring neighbors and friends, signs, balloons, etc. Media is invited.

6-8pm – Meeting in Auditorium. Come with ideas for new partnerships and ways to use the library to make it stronger. Some parents will be watching their children upstairs. Get your friends from all over the city to come!
There are a variety of ways to juggle the current proposal that will secure the library for years to come. Those at 'Save Our Library' present them in detail, but here are the items in general:

1. Voluntary Donation Bins (estimated revenue = $595,512.00)

2. Use Four Work-Study Students and a Half-Time Librarian II to Staff the
Hamline Midway Library (approximate savings = $200,000.00 - $250,000.00)

3. Temporarily Reduce Materials Budget by 50% (savings = $600,000.00)

4. Eliminate the Cap on Late Fees (estimated revenues = $50,000.00)

5. Reduce Postage (estimated savings = $20,000.00)

6. Room Rental Fee (estimated revenue = $30,000.00 - $50,000.00)

7. Increase Late Fees for Adult Materials by 25% (estimated revenue = $82,660.00)

8. Fee for Interlibrary Loan Requests (estimated revenue = $15,426.00)

9. Late Fees for Children’s Materials (estimated revenue = $206,250.00)

10. $1 Rental Fee for “New” Entertainment Videos (estimated revenue = $20,000.00)
Is the Mayor listening?!?

See you tonight!

Flash

PS: For those who want to contact the appropriate individual directly, here is their information:

Email: mayor@ci.stpaul.mn.us, ann.mulholland@ci.stpaul.mn.us (Deputy Mayor), melanie.huggins@ci.stpaul.mn.us (Library Director), and copy russ.stark@ci.stpaul.mn.us

Online form: https://www.stpaul.gov/forms.asp?FID=69

Snail mail: Office of the Mayor, 390 City Hall, 15 Kellogg Boulevard West, Saint Paul, MN 55102

Phone: 651-266-8510

Friday, March 06, 2009

Section 12, Row 7, Seats 5/6

WCHA Ladies Final Face off is this weekend. The #1 ranked lady Gophers play a tough Mankato Minnesota State team at 1:00, followed by UMD and the #2 Wisconsin squad at 4:00. Winners play at 1:00 Sunday for the title!

Get your Tickets HERE! The title of the post show you were the Lovely Mrs. Flash and I will be sitting.

The Lady Gophers have been dominant this year and that is reflected in the WCHA awards recently announced.
The Golden Gophers placed three student-athletes on the All-WCHA First Team, while garnering some of the conference’s top awards this season.

Gopher senior defenseman Melanie Gagnon (St. Adolphe, Man.) was named the WCHA Defensive Player of the Year, while Gigi Marvin (Warroad, Minn.) was named the WCHA Outstanding Student-Athlete of the Year. Monique Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) received the WCHA Rookie of the Year honors and head coach Brad Frost was named co-coach of the year with Wisconsin’s Mark Johnson.

Gagnon and both Jocelyne Lamoureux (Grand Forks, N.D.) and Monique Lamoureux were named to the All-WCHA first-team, while Marvin, Rachael Drazan (Orono, Minn.) and Anne Schleper (St. Cloud, Minn.) were second-team selections. Monique Lamoureux was also the WCHA scoring champion and Alyssa Grogan (Eagan, Minn.) earned the WCHA goaltending championship. Lamoureux tallied 61 points in conference competition, while Grogan held a league-best 1.37 goals against average to win the award.
One of our favirite players, Dagney Willey, the daughter/sister of a couple of longtime Drum Corps buddies was tapped for academic honors

Along with the on-ice awards, Minnesota had nine student-athletes on the All-WCHA Academic Team. To qualify, student-athletes must have completed one year of eligibility at present institution, prior to the current academic year, and have a grade point average of at least 3.0 for the previous two semesters or three quarters. Minnesota had nine honorees in Kelli Blankenship (Lusby, Md.); Drazan, Brittany Francis (Thunder Bay, Ont); Gagnon, Marvin, Michelle Maunu (Esko, Minn.); Terra Rasmussen (Coon Rapids, Minn.); Dagney Willey (Maple Grove, Minn.) and Alexandra Zebro (Oak Grove, Minn.).
My Saturday is kind of booked, as you can see.

Flash

Thursday, March 05, 2009

Corps Update - March is Here

Another GREAT evening on the baritone! The Corps played with the Drum Line for the first time of the season. Pretty impressive for the first time together. First 1/3rd of the show is pretty locked in with the rest of the music being slowly rolled out. We have a commitment to be ready by April 15th, our first performance.

The beginning of the show starts with a Solo, supported by 3 baritones in a soli role. I am in line for one of those spots. What a gas it would be to start the show right out in front like that. But it is an earned spot, so I will be working towards that.

About April 15th,. MARK YOUR CALENDARS. Minnesota Brass, Incorporated will be having a performance showcase. The Winter Color Guard program, the Winter Drumline, and a full run through of the 2009 Summer Music book will be presented. We'll be in the main gym of Highland Senior High School in St. Paul. I'll have more details and the event approaches.

Flash
19th year on the field!

Wednesday, March 04, 2009

Rush to Judge

As long as Rush stays on the air, and is embraced by the 20%, the Left will be in power for a very long time!

via Lane:
Wolverton:

Prep Hockey - Osseo

I've become a HUGE Lady Gopher hockey fan. The pureness of their game makes for excellent viewing. One of the players, Dagney Willey, is the daughter/sister of a coupla Drum Corps pals of mine. The Brother, Kevin Willey, is co-coach of the Osseo Orioles Hockey Squad. The Lovely Mrs. and I ventured to the State Fair Collisuem to watch this Sectional #5 seed tackle the #1 slotted Blaine Bengals. Osseo had them onthe ropes, scoring first, and holding them to a shut out with just a minute left, until Blaine was forced to pull the goalie:
With goaltender Danny Harper on the bench for a sixth skater, Frischmon scored on a rebound at 16:18 to send the game into overtime.
With 17:00 minute periods, that meant Osseo was 42 secons away for a shot at State witha t rip to the sectional title. It was not to be:
Frischmon's game-winner came at 5:14 of overtime. Nick Bjugstad won a faceoff in the Osseo zone back to the right point. Defenseman Ryan Brockway sent the puck behind the net to Eric Scheid, who found Frischmon in the slot.
Kevin's co-coach summed it up crisply:
"We played a perfect game for 50 minutes," Osseo co-coach Mark Phenow said. "It needed to be 51."
Amazing hockey and this was only sectional Quarters.

I'll see Kevin this weekend as the Lady Gophers play in the WCHA Frozen Four, Saturday at 1:00 against Minnesota State. The winner plays Sunday for the title and a virtual lock at a #1 seen in the NCAA Tournament

Mrs. Flash will be going again tonight to watch the surprising Johnson Governor shoot for another upset. Last weekend the shocked the #1 seeded Tartan squad. Friday, the winners of last night, and tonight, play for their trip to State.

Minnesota IS the State of Hockey.

Flash
UPDATE: Live coverage from the section finals Wed, Thurs, and Friday this week on 106.1FM and 107.5FM.

Tom Saterdalen, Reed Larson, Dave Langevin, Jim Rich, Eric Gislason and Ryan Phelps will be calling the action at the following games:

Wed:
Johnson vs Stillwater
Hill vs White Bear

Thurs:
Edina vs Jefferson
Tonka vs EP

Fri:
Blaine vs Centennial
Tonight's winners

Tuesday, March 03, 2009

Closed Circuit to Buhl

Good friend, cabin owner, and occasional commenter, Buhl, is a Paramedic "up Nort' on da Ranj". Here in town, we have a new blog from a fromer GOP representative who is now a paramedic himself.

Ambulance Driver takes us through his shifts and fills us in on the nitty gritty of his daily grind. I know Buhl would be interested, but maybe you too!

Flash
h/t SitO

Coleman Rests

So former Senator Coleman's case to over turn the certified election results is preliminarily over. All we have seen over the past several weeks is the desperation of a loosing campaign. In fact, I would argue that the Coleman Camp has actually done more to show how clear and pure our election rules are, how committed and dedicated are election officers were, and how accurate the recount was. Was there mistakes, oh sure, but those mistakes, if anything, were evenly distributed and there is simply not enough votes to overcome Senator Elect Al Franken's certified lead.

Now, an honorable man would acknowledge that, bow out, and move on with their life. They would attempt to preserve their character, and what little is left of their political aspirations. But then, we are talking about a Republican.

Flash

UPDATE: I sometimes wonder, in my egotistical way, if these major news outlets read Centrisity for fodder before publishing. Take this for example:
Norm Coleman Must Quit the Minnesota Senate Race—He, Republicans Look Whiny
By John Mashek
Posted March 3, 2009

After four months of nonstop wrangling, it is about time for Republican Sen. Norm Coleman of Minnesota to throw in the towel. He is depriving his home state of a second vote in the U.S. Senate, threatening to stretch the appeal process of his losing Senate race into April.

Before Republicans start to scream about prematurely handing the seat to Democrat Al Franken, they need to be reminded of the presidential-recount marathon in Florida in 2000. The stakes were much higher then, and Republicans attacked Al Gore and Joe Lieberman as whiny losers. The Democratic ticket was belittled for refusing to admit defeat.

The GOP even brought in out-of-staters to protest recounts in four Florida counties, some of them with signs reading "Sore Loserman." Republican bigwigs complained that Gore was refusing to face the truth about George W. Bush's win, an eventual victory in the U.S. Supreme Court by a 5-to-4 vote.

With Coleman trailing Franken by 225 votes in the final recount, he is determined with the help of party figures to continue this process.

Get over it, Norm.

Sunday, March 01, 2009

. . . and that's the END of the story!

Paul Harvey, famous for his page 1, page 2 news snippets and the ever classing 'rest of the story' series has passed:
(CNN) -- Paul Harvey, the legendary radio host whose career sharing "the rest of the story" with listeners spanned more than 70 years, has died, according to ABC Radio Networks.

He was 90.

Harvey died at a hospital in Phoenix, Arizona, where he kept a winter home, said Louis Adams, a spokesman for the networks. He was surrounded by family members when he died, Adams said.

Known for his deliberate delivery and pregnant pauses, Harvey's broadcasts were heard on more than 1,200 radio stations and 400 Armed Forces networks and his commentaries appeared in 300 newspapers, according to his Web site.

He had been hosting his radio shows part-time for much of the past year, after recovering from physical ailments including pneumonia and the death of his wife, Lynne "Angel" Harvey, in May 2008.

"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news," said Harvey's son, Paul Harvey Jr., in a written statement. "So, in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."
Several other public statements are posted at his website. Most notably, for the heir apparent:
"My father and mother created from thin air what one day became radio and television news. So in the past year, an industry has lost its godparents and today millions have lost a friend."

- Paul Harvey Jr.
He will be missed.