The Governor Needs a Heart

Over the years, I have continually seen Governor Tim Pawlenty cut funds to social services. He only cares about balancing his budget, and nothing about the people who have to live with it (or in this case, without). First there was the battle with cutting people off of health insurance, who have no other way of having health care. Then he decided to cut emergency assistance. Now he has decided that General Assistance should also be cut. In an MPR article it states:

Advocates for the homeless warn that thousands of the state's poorest residents could lose their only source of income under the new budget proposed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty.

The governor's budget would eliminate General Assistance, the program that provides $203 a month in cash assistance to low-income single adults who are unable to work, and replace it with a less expensive crisis assistance program.

General Assistance served about 19,000 people each month in the last fiscal year, and is the only source of income for many homeless adults.

"It's a devastating cut," said Liz Kuoppala, executive director of Minnesota Coalition for the Homeless. "These are folks who are waiting in line for federal disability. They don't have access to any other money."

Welfare recipient Virginia Weldon participated in the health insurance protests, and has spoken at legislative hearings about welfare reform. Still, she said, the elimination of the monthly cash program, General Assistance, was something she never expected.

"Why would you just all of a sudden want to take GA away?" she said. "People need money to survive."

State Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, who chairs the Health, Housing and Family Security committee, said the governor could make other cuts to fix the state's deficit.

"It's an attempt to make the poorest and the sickest people pay the brunt of the economic problem," said Marty, who is also candidate for governor. "He's not going to talk about any taxes on people who make large amounts of money. Instead, he's going to, in effect, take people who are very sick and very poor and step on them a little further."

Many people in Minnesota laugh at Pawlenty's lack of charisma and find his bid for a future presidency laughable. But, the way he treats the residents of his own state, and repeatedly takes from people that have nothing, I'm much more concerned about his obvious lack of heart.

No, Not Really.

(Photo by Bradley Berg)

This billboard is up in Wyoming, Minnesota. Hmmm...wonder who sponsored this one? Either way, in answer to the question: Miss you, no. Still cleaning up your mess, yes.

Demon Sheep?

My cousin worked for Hewlett Packard for years. An extremely successful company with extremely smart, talented people working for them. The exception to their success seemed to have been Carly Fiorina.

With her latest ads out on the "Demon Sheep," perhaps we can see why. To not even get into how weird and disturbing these commercials are, does this woman really show any intelligence putting something like this out there? They are all over the web as comic relief....Tom Campbell must love them (they clearly can't be hurting him), and, of course, Democrats are saying: do more! The ad is like something out of a low-budget, bad horror movie.

According to the Huffington Post:

Democrats want to get in on the "demon sheep" craze sweeping the political world.

The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee has made a strategic Google ad purchase to piggyback on the popularity of the web ad being run by California GOP Senate candidate Carly Fiorina, in which she accuses her opponent of being a "FCINO" (a.k.a. Fiscal Conservative In Name Only).

Google the phrase "demon sheep" and the second link on the right hand bar -- under titles such as "Demand More Demon Sheep," and "Keep Up the Baaad Work" -- goes to the DSCC's website. (The first link is to Fiorina's primary challenger, Tom Campbell, the target of her notorious web ad).

The DSCC link goes to a petition urging Fiorina, a former Hewlett-Packard CEO and the best-known GOP Senate candidate in California, to make more videos.

"Sign our petition. Tell Carly Fiorina to make more videos, preferably featuring farm animals. This one provided a great laugh on an otherwise typical afternoon -- and we'll gladly accept the risk of a nightmare or two. It's so baaaaaad, but so good at the same time."

A spokesman for the DSCC, Eric Schultz, declined to say how much money was behind the Google ad purchase. But he did offer a rough take on the web ad madness: "We're starting to realize why Hewlett-Packard paid her $21 million to go away."

I agree with the Huffington Post. Funny, yes. But, very weird...and very, very baaaaaad.

And Now for Something Political

With everything else going on of late, I've taken a bit of a break from political posts. Just a couple of comments:

1) I lived in Massachusetts for many years. Of all the places I grew up, I consider it more home than anything else. Shame on the Democratic candidate for not even trying to campaign and just riding along, and double shame for not knowing anything about the Red Sox. Yes, that is a big deal there. And lastly, a conservative teabagger wins by campaigning with his truck and riding on his so-called looks? It is shameful....a very blue state with a seat held by a Kennedy for decades. It wouldn't be as bad if it wasn't for lack of trying....but it was a lack of trying.

2) The above mentioned win in Massachusetts still does not give Republicans a majority. Since when - and in what math class - is 41 a majority over 59? Time to step up to the plate, Democrats. Get health care passed...get some of these things done and quit playing nice. It isn't about debates, it isn't about winning - it is about what the American people need. As far as the Republicans go, there is something said about standing up for what you believe in, but just saying no to everything and being difficult and playing games is stupid. And while they are at it, watch some old tapes of yourselves. Too many of you are against things that you were for before, but you say you weren't. You are aware these are on videotape? Lieberman is even against a bill he introduced in the first place. Ridiculous, game playing, and a waste of everyone's time.

3) Lastly, thank you President Obama. For finally getting to the point where you aren't overly nice anymore. The President Obama that did the last State of the Union address and his meeting with the Republicans...now that is the man I voted for. As Rachael Maddow said...something like "where's the popcorn?" it was so enjoyable. Calling people on their lies and being strong and direct. Now, that's what I'm talking about....