It is WORLD WAR TEN in Minnesota. Following the government shutdown last Friday, there have been no public workers to protect the state parks from roving Visigoth hordes or whatever Marcus Bachmann keeps talking about, so the barbarian gangs went full ape shit on Minnesota’s natural spaces all weekend long. A “burglary and vandalism spree” spread across the entire state, destroying administrative buildings and public property. Minnesotans turn out to be anarchists? Meanwhile, former governor Tim “Pissy” Pawlenty is mad that everyone is blaming him for this. It’s not like he entered the Minnesota governor’s office with a $4 billion debt and left the state with $5 billion debt or anything.
Anyway, basically Pawlenty just passed the buck like every other politician before him has done, because that was what all the cool kids were doing at the time, and now according to the very important Newz Media, Pawlenty’s presidential campaign rests on whether or not the chaos subsides.
From the Washington Post:
The knock on Pawlenty’s record is that, in order to balance budgets during his time in office, he pulled all sorts of budget tricks, many of which essentially passed the buck and would have to be addressed in future years.
One of those methods was passing a cigarette “fee” that critics derided as essentially a tax. Despite a fiscal record that conservatives generally applaud, the “fee” is often seen as a black mark against the governor in the GOP presidential primary.
But the bigger issue is how Pawlenty’s fiscal stewardship affected future state budgets. It’s not uncommon for a governor to postpone obligations to future administrations, but the key is a matter of degree.
Hamline University professor David Schultz said Pawlenty entered office with a $4 billion deficit and left with a $5 to 6 billion deficit — one of the biggest in the country — and that could open the 2012 GOP presidential contender up to attacks.
Haha, and then the story goes on to note that “the attention alone could be beneficial to him.” We already forgot who you are talking about. [Star Tribune/ WaPo]
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I love the smell of Schadenfreude in the morning.
I love the smell of Hamline University. 1-800-Ham-Line
Mmmm…Hamline Biscuits…. **tongue hanging out of mouth**
I know a law grad from there, & he's a good guy, so, max respect.
I've got schadenfreude frothing all over my hysterical giggling that MichelleEffingBachmann is out-trucknutzing TPaw, media-wise.
First, the GOPee screws him back in the day and he has to switch his plans to run for Senate with NahmColeman, runs for Gov instead and he "norquists" all over the place trying to ruin MN because they've promised him his run for Pres.
And now, he can't get decent coverage and Meesh could be at least the Veep Nom. Where's your god now, Timmeh!
Excuse me while I break for further hysterical giggling.
Never should have converted from Catholicism.
In fact, look what happened to Walter Sobczak (Polish Catholic, turned Jew). Add that to Gov Auto-tune's switch from the Romanist Church to Evangelic Prostestantism, & it looks bad for the Anti-Papist crowd.
It smells like comeuppance!
Well played, sir. Well played indeed.
"Ma, Ma, where's T-Paw?"
"Not going to the White House, ha ha ha!"
Brilliant!
Wait, he's going to Cleveland?
Well, is he, or is he not, running from John Law?
Open Pawlenty up to attacks? For running up a deficit? Oh hell, Preznit Shrub did that — in fact, bested it by three whole orders of magnitude better — and the GOP revere him.
I guess the only solution is for Timmeh to promise to bomb some more brown people somewhere.
'Zactly. You'll not get the attention of a Teatard using the maths, no matter how fricken simple.
Math, history and English are dumb. Our children's need evolution…TEACH THE CONTROVERSY.
But is they learning? Is are children learning?
T-Paw's already decried Obama's shameful lack of leadership in not deploying 5 or 6 infantry brigades to Libya. Only pussies let NATO haul their water, he sez.
But Shrub attacked various countries mentioned in Daniel and Revelation in an effort to speed up the Rapture! That made him beloved to the 1/3 of all Americans who are Fundies and Dispensationalists!
However, before he attacked he explained to Tony Blair Gog and Magog, the demons who were setting up the trouble to begin with. Nice to know a smart guy with the sense to rely on empirical evidences is at the helm now.
See, deficits only count if you're a black Preznit. T-Paw should be golden.
Remember, too, the "Miss Me Yet?" billboard, with cheeky-faced Dubya giving a thumb-up, was in Minnesota. & that was May '09, or something, when the stimulus was still fresh & hadn't engendered so much hate (i.e. Right Wing Noise Machine* hadn't poisoned the well, yet).
*Killed at Coachella.
Like a bridge
overunder troubled water,Ouch! I see what you did, there.
At least not as out of place as the allusion to "You can call me Al" in The Zookeeper. Seriously, the kids seeing it were born in 2000, at the latest, & their parents might well have been ten or so when that song was out. No way anyone in the audience gets it.
The future wasn't supposed to matter, 'cause the Rapture train arrived in May.
Republicans furiously defunded Amtrak to head this off. And it worked! Hey! The Republicans actually did something that helped!
Oh, great. When they realize they accidentally did a good thing…
People keep waitin', ain't no train a-comin'!
Don't pack your baggage, you cain't get on board.
Dupes, chumps and suckers hear the diesel hummin'.
Who sold you them tickets? Shole ain't the Lord!
Too bad T-paw didn't go down with the I-35W bridge.
He hung that on the teachers' union.
In between lesson plans and chaperoning prom they chiseled out the supports on the bridge? Damn those educators are a crafty lot….
T-Paw bad, vandals good.
They took the handles, too.
I believe they had 20 pounds of headlines, stapled to their chests.
is that why the pump didn't work?
::sigh:: I miss Layne's Dylan references.
Extra upfists for Dylan ref. We Oldz appreciate that sorta thing.
What do you want to bet that some of the "vandals" are angry ex-cops, ex-rangers, etc.?
Now don't blame this all on Timmy, there's Pawlenty of blame to go around.
WHERE IS PAUL BUNYAN WHEN YOU NEED HIM
For sure not coming to rescue some pissygoth like TPaw. Although Pawlenty sacked Minnesota for a good billion, so he might claim some Roman Empire timez Goth traits.
pissygoth
I like that
Goth milk?
Goth Milk. Made from the freshest eyeliner and tears.
He's nowhere near as cool as Theodoric the Goth!
Only one thing left to do. Lower taxes for the Koch boys.
If the Koch's paid no taxes at all (which probably they don't, whatever) we'd all be RICH I tells ya, RICH!
and think of all the jobs!!
When you walk through the cottages in Newport, RI, which were built before income was taxed, thank you very much, you get an idea of the number of people it took to polish the silver, maintain the grounds, prepare the meals etc.
There will be messican jobs for everyone when the Repugs are done, praise the lord.
That way we can slaughter them and toss the guards a few bucks after we loot and burn them down.
This is Good News… for Hormel.
What's whatshisname got to do with it? It's all that n***** in the White House's fault! WAKE UP SHEEPLE!
Ha ha, good one, I see right through you. Iff'n you was a real Amurikan, you wouldn't put stars in that word.
About twenty times a day someone posts that at Huffpo. Or words to that effect.
I'd love to gee haw over Tim Pawlenty's fate, but I don't think he has a zzzzzzzzzzzz………..
Tim Who?
From the Star-Tribune:
Still got some Minnesota Nice in them, being all coy with the anatomical euphemisms just in case the violence indicated in the assault on park property was overwhelming readers' tender sensibilities.
It's how you tweet a weiner in the Minnesotas.
With a ranger's hat and shovel,
And a pair of dungarees,
You can see that hairy bastard,
Urinating on the trees.
You can tell when he's a' comin',
cause his farts give him awayyyy,
And on top of all of that,
Some people think he's gay.
Smokey the Bear! Smokey the Bear!
Howlin' and a' growlin'
And a' sniffin' god knows where!
They shut down Minnie's gubmint,
'cause Pawlenty is a prick,
Now there's nothing else to do
But draw Smokey a dick.
Not to complain about this fine, fine piece of doggerel, but it would scan so much better if the last line read "draw a Smokey dick."
Just sayin'.
Keith Haring Lives!
I don't think it was Minnesota Nice. I understand they didn't want to name the body part because the Koch brothers don't like having their name used in that way.
So how well-endowed is Smoky these days?
This illustrates the wisdom of having a balanced budget amendment to the Constitution, like so many of the states have — it ensures that your budget is so full of gimmicks, tricks, deferred debt and accelerated revenue that you really have no idea how deep in it you are. And if you're lucky, you can keep the real damage down until it blows up in your successor's face.
New Jersey should know. Et tu, Governor Whitman?..
California's latest budget is ace. It takes account of the magical thinking that there will somehow be an extra $4 billion to play with in revenues.
Of course, with a $10Bn deficit to fix, this doesn't help much. Naturally, Republicans in the state senate blocked any effort to extend a temporary tax hike which would have raised an additional $9Bn in revenue. Because, you know, taxes. So schools and state parks get it in the neck.
I'm really trying hard to find some snark here.
It is awful, but it has to happen sometime. I didn't vote for Ahnold, but I actually thought he might push the issue to a crisis. But he turned out to be as big a pussy as all the previous post-Prop-13 govs.
Either the California electorate (e.g., me) have to get rid of the fucking 2/3 budget-vote requirement, or get rid of a small number of Republican legislassholes, or the state may as well go tits-up now as later. Unfortunately, it appears that only way to get the electorate's attention is to cause pain, and inevitably that will hurt the schools, since about half of the state budget IS school funding.
FWIW, I'm in favor of increasing revenue (raising taxes) and paying our fucking bills, as I have been forever (I voted against Prop 13 at a time when I owned three houses). But we cannot do that unless the rules change, and the only possible way to get the rules changed is to demonstrate explicitly, and painfully, what bullshit the rules are. Every governor since 1978 has preferred to weasel around the issue, until Old Moonbeam, who truly doesn't seem to give a shit for what people think of him.
I'm not optimistic — as an electorate, we have a history of being pretty dim. But I still think the crisis has to happen.
Obvs, I am also snarkless on this matter.
I think the 2/3 budget-vote requirement is gone, but the 2/3 vote for any tax increases is still in place, yes?
That's exactly the case.
You nailed it there.
IMHO there are three major issues: three strikes, which is stupid, the 2/3 majority vote for tax increase, and, as you say, the biggest one of all – fucking prop 13.
When I first moved here from England (more than three years ago now) I was stunned to find that prop on the books. That's suicidal, especially given the value of real estate in California.
What could well hurt – and, let me make it clear, I hope this doesn't happen – is that the $4Bn magical revenue doesn't turn up. That kicks in some severe cutbacks for schools and many other social programs. Of course, Republicans will cheer at that point since it'll mean "smaller gub'mint".
Assholes. Utter fucking assholes. Naturally, it's the poors and lower-middle class who really get really, totally fucked in that case.
Of course, we're talking about the electorate which voted down an $18 increase in vehicle licensing fees in order to keep state parks open. There are some real wankers out there in the flat bit.
California, Minnesota, all the other state and local crises, and the debt ceiling crisis — let it ride and let the worst happen! I have been saying for at least 10 years, and probably longer, that American apathy and stupidity and non-involvement has NO CHANCE of changing unless things go to hell in a hand basket. The rise of brain-damaged right wing ideologues who have chewed through their oligarch-leashes, and the explosion of irrational hatred at a middle-of-the-road black president, means that nobody can restrain or prevent the worst of their ideology until it causes a lot of real pain to people who need to pull their heads out of their asses. Americans are 3 year olds who won't learn until their hands are very badly burned.
Correct!
it blows up in your successor's face
Success!!1!
Speaking of budget gimmicks, ole Kwame "Big Diamond" Kilpatrick – before he went to prison, of course – was trying to force on the council signing over the tolling rights to Windsor the Detroit-Windsor tunnel for like 75 years for a one-time payment of $75 million (of a $3 billion city budget) to keep the city from going broke. lol At one point, he was trying to sell off anything not nailed down, including shuttered parks, and now we know why he was trying to sell off all of these assets and to whom he was trying to sell them to.
Isn't that what we've been doing since the lovely 80s?
Welcome to Illinois. Have a nice day.
It's the quiet, mousy, boring ones that do it to you every time.
there's a story, or three, behind that post, I reckon.
Well, the alternative to being polite is fighting all the time, like they do in the South. Everyone knows how well that works out!
There's a "Hamline University"? It sounds more like an antisemitic 800-number.
Lyndsay Graham fundraising scam maybe?
The Hamline University fightin' Hambiscuits
I so needed a good laugh today, and that did it. Thank you.
Actually the scool basketball team at least is the Hamline Pipers, which sounds like a sex act, that when you read the description on the Urban Dictionary, makes you feel slightly ill. E.g., "he really pipered my hamline" or conversely, "she really hamlined my piper".
I believe the correct number is 1-800-OOPS-JEW.
http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-v...
genius! we'll call it a fee, then nobody can accuse us of raising taxes*
Having worked for the Vt legislature, this is, sadly, exactly how politicians of every stripe "think".
Call it a "temporary refund adjustment" – everyone likes refunds!
And Texans are fee-ed to death. But by God, they'll exterminate the legislature that passes an income tax aimed at the rich.
I think that they should give cigarettes away for free. That oughtta thin a particular herd.
A retired Doc friend of mine says the anti-smoking campaign is driving the healthcare, medicaid, and medicare expenses.
All these people used to die around 60 or 65, now they are living to 80 and costing a shitload.
I knew cigarettes were a win/win situation. Meth keeps the median age down too.
Well, yeah, but you can still be economically productive on cigarettes. In fact, smokers, based on my admittedly limited and anecdotal experience, tend to work harder, since it's the Type As that tend to take up the habit. Also schizophrenics. Wait, what?
A daily breakfast of potatoes and onions fried in bacon grease (like my grandfather made daily) finished a lot of them off young, too.
T-Paw doesn't call it a 5 billion dollar shortfall, it's called Quadruple Platinum Freedom Making, because without a state government we will have to rely on the tender mercies of the Kochs of this world to keep us alive. Thus America is destroyed and thereby saved, for Jesus. Amen.
♪ We didn't start the fire, but we didn't exactly put it out either ♫
Next week on CNN: Santorum defends T-Paw
Well, he had $40 billion at the start and then he had $650 billion at the end so that's more money. No, I'm right. Look it up.
If this keeps up, the convenience marts are going to start complaining about government competition.
"Mart"? Like Milo Minderbinder's "mart"?
A “burglary and vandalism spree” spread across the entire state.
Time to send in Robocop.
People are throwing tuna noodle casseroles at each other. The horror!
Behave yourselves!
This isn't going to look good for the company.
Soon, the people of Detroit will be able to say "thank goodness for Minnesota"
Lions in 2011: 7-9
Vikings in 2011: 5-11.
Or Rudy Guiliani.
No, I think Arnold would be the most appropriate choice. I can just see him kicking Minnesotian (?) ass.
If you send in Arnold, you guarantee a throw-down between him and Jesse Ventura.
I'd like to see that, actually.
Grudge match between him and Jesse Ventura in…..
Robo's been fired! He's leading the spree!
He's kind of still tied up with his work in Delta Cit…errr…Detroit, right now.
Needs moar napalm in the morning.
What would Ayn Rand do? Privatize the fucking parks, let armed teabagging shitheels patrol them and let the market rule. Fucking conservatives could fuck up a two car funeral procession.
She would fix everything through her own personal excellence, without help from anyone!
She'd stay in New York and keep on drawing welfare!
Doesn't count if you change your name!
Minnesotapocalyse!
New campaign slogan: "Pissy" Pawlenty. He made Jesse Ventura Look Like A Genius.
"Someone took spray paint and added a body part to the Smokey Bear sign" at the DNR area office in Grand Marais, Konrad said.
Well they shouldn't have castrated him in the first place.
This "Minnesota nice" is totally different from what I expected.
Too cold to be very nice…they have shitty weather and hot tempers.
…and crappy food. Have you ever tried lutefisk? OMG, then there's something called rumengruten (spelled phonetically) that's basically milk, melted butter, and uncooked flour served as a soup. Hideous.
Yuck??
The best thing I ate when I visited Norway was the raw herring.
I've heard about lutefisk. And nothing complimentary, either.
Libertarianism at its finest. When you're neck deep in shit and the house is burning and your daughter is being served up to the football team for a gang bang, suddenly the thought of government intervention has a bit more appeal than it did when you were signing that check to the department of revenue. Sometimes some folks have to learn a lesson again, and again, and again, before they finally figure things out.
Mmmmmmm gangbangs!
"before they finally figure things out"
Or, they die without ever figuring it out. Seriously, we're past the point of no return. If these assholes actually had firing synapses capable of processing information (and learning a lesson), things would not be going in the direction they're going.
Point well taken, but I still hold on to a tiny hope that some folks might recover from a momentary lapse of reason. It's sort of like standing on the stern section of the Titanic, humming along with "Nearer My God to Thee" thinking a ship will come along at any moment now. No really, a ship will come along at any moment now, just wait, you'll see….
To be fair, there actually were a *few* survivors from the Titanic.
Rearranging deck chairs as we speak…
Hang on to your hope, but our electoral loss of reason in Cali is going on 35 years now, so I've stopped calling it "momentary".
That momentary lapse of reason has been going on for more than a decade now.
A mere blink of an eye in geologic time.
This is T-Pawesome: closing socialist parks also prevents teens from having wine coolery naked tent parties. Win-win, libtards.
I thought the former Minnesota Governor's budget plan was pretty good. Drive to Fargo in a new car, and trade it plus some cash to two shifty characters – one big and quiet, the other funny-looking – to kidnap his wife for ransom. I'm surprised it went so wrong.
If only they'd jam T-Paw into a chipper shredder…
I think a lumpy mass of wet paper pulp (imagine a stack of unclaimed Weekly Readers that got caught in a downpour, aka T-Bland) might jam even the staunchest chipper.
We'd ALL be covered in shit if that happened. At least now he only shits on his staff and family.
If you want a damm park, go buy one. That's what the 2%'ers do.
They can fix the budget for this year and next by selling those parks, reduce the overhead, it's a no-brainer win-win.
(Of course now that they are trashed, they aren't worth as much as they used to be, but a deal can be made I'm sure.)
Welcome to the privatization of open space, known in LimmieLizzy land as the Closure of the Commons.
I'm not going to get off the couch until World War ELEVEN!!!11!
So does the whole nation revolt when they fail to get a debt limit increase passed? Maybe we can all vandalize Boehner's tanning booth.
"They train young men to drop fire on innocent State Budgets, but they won't let them paint 'FUCK' on their park signs – because it's Obscene!"
I'd pass a buck.
That is if I had one.
Gonna have to stick to passing gas, I guess.
Sometimes you have to destroy a state in order to save it.
It's what Nam was all about, people. Quitting, giving up, letting the place fall into commie hands, so it could then prosper again a short while later.
I love the smell of pickled herring in cream sauce. In the morning.
Cut off the finger to save the hand….
Photo in the Star – Tribune link has a park bench with the following brilliant graffiti:
"We broke in for free!"
Enjoy it while you can, kids, because if the Reeps truly take over this country you'll have to pay an admission fee before you can break into public property…
"Someone took spray paint and added a body part to the Smokey Bear sign"
Did anyone else laugh hysterically about painting a dick on Smokey Bear, or am I the only asshole here?
I thought maybe he now had 3 arms.
or a trunk.
"The Thing WIth Two Heads" starring Smokey Bear…and Smokey Bear!!!
Unsurprising that the Minnesota anarcho-syndicalists and their crypto-fascist counterparts are berserking. Once T-Snore left the state, the Gubernatorial Ambien Effect abated and their long statewide REM was over.
Now you've done it, Minnesotans! Peace-keeping patrols from the seven Anishinaabe reservations and four Dakota communities up there are going to have to annex the shit out of your state parks, build some settlements and restore some semblance of order. Finders keepers!
America's Native People: taking back their land one slot machine at a time
I like the way you think.
Homeland Security
The appalling lack of ideological purity shown in raising the "fee" on cigarettes is absolute proof that T-Paw is unfit for the presidency.
Plus he said something like this yesterday: we can't raise revenues by closing loopholes, because that doesn't let us lower everybody's taxes.
Anyone who can explain should get a prize or sumpin.
Wingnut Economics 101 – First thing you do is fire all the police.
(and the firefighters and the teachers)
2 – ????
3 – PROFIT!!!!
I see the Underpants Gnomes have you in thrall.
http://thinkprogress.org/justice/2011/07/06/26080...
Well, this is certainly working out nicely.
And, still, Pawlenty is probably the most competent person running for the Republican Nomination.
Which puts him in an uncomfortable spot. Competent enough to be responsible for the bad things, but not bat-shit crazy enough that everyone ignores what you actually say and do. Today's ideal Republican is just the opposite: Totally incompetent, so they can't be blamed for anything, and totally bat-shit crazy, so no one pays attention to what they really say or do.
Huntsman. Best Fairy Tale Name
McCotter. Best garage band lead guitarist.
nah i think romney and huntsman have the 'too competent for a blue-state republican much less for the red-state angry peasant base' vote all locked up.
Republicans want to apply those same buget shifts that Timmy used so they can "balance" the budget without any new taxes. Meanwhile the local property taxes are going throught the roof and we still have potholes from last winter. Thanks Tim!
Asshole.
Tee-Paw?
So bad, he makes Pedobear look like a good parenting alternative.
~
Hah! Pedobear would be a school commissioner in Republican-land.
Reporter: Senator. You appointed Pedobear as chief inspector for K-12 schools. He immediately changed the post to K-9 because, and I quote, "the others were too old". How can you possibly defend this appointment?
Senator: Well, he works for free. We're reducing the deficit!
Slightly OT but I was amused by this story over at Yahoo. According to the headline, the GOP is finally showing some flexibility in the debt ceiling negotiations. Then you get to the third graf to see that the writer defines flexibility as "Eric Cantor saying the GOP will consider closing wasteful tax loopholes as long as there are offsetting tax cuts somewhere else."
Now I know I'm not the sharpest penguin in the flock, but I'm pretty sure that this is not some newfound Republican flexibility on display, but rather the same old crap – sure we'll close yer loopholes, but only if you cut the top marginal rate another 5 or 10 points, or some shit. Yet because of the way the article is headlined and the lede is written, Obama comes off sounding like the asshole who is being unreasonable. And of course the mouth-breathers in the comments section get all fired up. Gah, it just makes me want to punch someone.
Anyone you choose; I'll hold her while you punch.
The fucked up thing about this little vignette is that It's under the cover of the "liberal MSM." I use yahoo, que séra, and they do this middling of the Right Wing all the time. shit like "Palin is actually reasonable," and "Bachmann comes out of nowhere to win debate," and "Obama wants to raise taxes."
TG for Wonkette.
colony
crèche
huddle
parcel
rookery
Those are your options for penguins – you don't get to flock*. I'm partial to "parcel".
*Totally making that up – you can flock all you want.
Yeah, ya gotta be 'a brick shy of a bag of hammers to get poked in the eye by that sharp stick ' i always scribble when i can find a sharp pencil, at home, here in the flock.
BTW Cantor firmly reaffirms he's a douche here at the 9th hole with this lame chip shot. -everyone should be required to discuss the debt ceiling talks in terms of golf.
Tim Pawlenty: twice as strong as lutefisk, with only half the spice.
Look, Pawlenty had eight straight years of being a crappy chief executive. Sooner or later, he's due for a good year. Shouldn't we give him a chance? (That could be a campaign slogan, if you could boil it down into one short sentence.)
I got Paw-lenty a nothin'.
Republitards are all about smaller government until the angry mobs of the poors start chasing down the rich with pitchforks while yelling chants demanding larger hobo bean rations and rich people's vital organs impaled on sticks. Then, suddenly, bigger government will once again come into fashion. So goes the history of the world.
Haha, but no! The ideal method is the one employed by Saint Reagan whilst Governor of California – you call out the fucking National Guard to beat the living shit out of the hippies/poors or whatever.
Four dead in Ohio.
Here's hopin' Nixon ain't comin' agin.
Nixon would be drummed out of today's GOP. He was merely a criminal not a full blown lunatic.
I gotta ask. Where is Michele "Mick Fleetwood Eyes" Bachmann? I think this is that 3:00 AM call.
Trading hits on a metaphysical bong with Jerry Falwell.
But at least there's no one to collect their evil socialist taxes!
I'm not sure I agree with you a hundred percent on your police work, there, Minnesota.
That's what they get for voting for the Lizard People .
Hey, let's go to Hamline U. for lunch. The sandwiches in their cafeteria are great.
Later. I may have to matriculate at Swiss Cheese Tech first.
ham biscuits?
I'll see your 6 billion Pawlenty deficit and raise you a 20 billion Rick Perry deficit.
Rick Perry–all hair and no hat.
Hmmm. I googled that.
"With a Republican legislative majority in Austin adamantly refusing to raise taxes to cover a shortfall estimated at as much as $27 billion over the state's two-year budget cycle, budget drafters are talking about shutting dozens of nursing homes, taking a hatchet to college financial aid and university budgets and paring K-12 spending by $5 billion a year."
http://articles.latimes.com/2011/feb/09/business/...
I sense a trend. Your state is utterly screwed so you should run for president rather than actually solving your local problems. What governor cum candidate does this NOT describe?
Re: the alt-text. Yes, this is what Minnesota parks look like now, but the fact is, that's what they look like every year at this time. Those aren't helicopters; they're mosquitoes.
They truly are the state bird. How can they not be with all those stagnant lakes?
Pussy plenty. Let's go with that.
It's… it's … it's as if Pedobear was actually alive… and … living … in Minnesota…
Polenta is that sludgy yellow corn meal pudding mush that they put on your plate under a tiny piece of expensive fish, if they are looking to save money on main courses. Last thing I'd want sitting in the Oval Office, especially after the flash and dazzle of the Obamas.
I call polenta libel. Good polenta is a gift from heaven, unlike good Pawlenty, which is a contradiction in terms.
**in hushed whisper**
Canada, they're distracted. Pull the trigger! Do it, baby!
oh I wish I could give you more p points.
Can't you just see the red-coated Mounties pouring over the border on their souped-up snowmobiles? Brings a tear to this Michigander's eye just thinking about it.
oh yes and as a (sort of) canadian, it makes me weep.
paul gross please, as lead snowmobile leader.
First, they'll come for the hockey players.
…Because God knows that the most important part of this story is whether or not Tim "Not A Chance In Hell" Pawlenty is going to fail spectacularly in his bid for the presidency or just fail miserably.
I don't care about unfunded foster kids or paycheck-free state employees either.
At this point Michele would have put the foster kids out to graze, if she was still in the business.
Minnesota Nice, eh? Minnesota, you're not doing it right.
The Great Lakes done gone and lost they damned minds. Stop the Asian Carp invasion! Build the danged (underwater electric) fence!
At least Minnesota & Illinois have Dems in the Governor's office.
Walker, Snyder, Our Li'l Friend, Deadhead — 'Sconny, the Mittens, Hoosierland, & Ohio have some 'splainin' to do.
I'd like Minnesota to explain electing their first Democratic governor in 20 years. Also, explain how we got Bachmann, Coleman, and Ventura so recently. Also, how Ron Kind could win a Senate seat in Wisconsin of all places. I could see that guy coming out of Indiana, but Wisconsin?
Here's the thing. In that stupid ass debate he was in, T-Pawty was the absolute biggest pussy I have ever seen. His clone, Mittens, and he are the only candidates that aren't clearly criminally insane. It's the Mittens vote he must have to get elected. So what does he do? He practically sucked Mittens' dick in the debate. He grovelled on his belly to prove that he didn't really mean to say anything mean about Mittens. I mean, WTF? You pussy, there's the guy you gotta take down to win. Go get 'im, boy. But no, I thought he was going to try to hide while they were asking him about the Obomneycare. He is like a wet noodle.
Blowing a mormon would have made Pawlenty interesting at least. I say we start a Draft Pawlenty to Suck Mittens Cock Super PAC.
I think he was afraid to offend Mittens because he hopes to be Mittens' VP. Remember, he got beat out by Lou Sarah last time. If that happens the GOP ticket will look like a Wonderbread american cheese sandwich.
can I still get an abortion?
Can I? Oh, wait.
I'd think now would be exactly the time to get one with the government shut-down and all, at the moment, which means they can't try and legislate it away.
An abortion in every pot!
Hey, hey now. At least Pawlenty finished out his term while fucking over his constituents. Unlike SOME grifters I could name, but won't, too.
That's the new threshold for Republicans governors, huh? If they actually finish a term, they become folkloric heroes. I guess that's not all that bizarre. I mean, it has become a feat for Illinois to elect a governor that doesn't end up in prison.
That explains Tim’s newest campaign slogan
“Tim Pawlenty, he wasn’t lynched!”
Minneapolis is a pretty good state.
'pissy pawlenty' btw needs to stay.
I love how Pawlenty is simultaneously the most and least electable person in the Republican field.
Wait, I thought this post was about a bald fat half-naked Newt Gingrich talking incoherently while surrounded by brainwashed natives (baggers)? …never leave the boat!!
"Someone took spray paint and added a body part to the Smokey Bear sign" at the DNR area office in Grand Marais, Konrad said.
A tail? A 3rd eye?
No, no, this is all wrong. Conservatives aren't supposed to actually DO anything about budgets – they are just supposed to talk about being fiscal conservatives.
Thats what a fiscal conservative is!
Ah ha. Conservative about taking useful action. That explains just about everything.
Would you like an espresso, Rip Van Winkle?
"Over the past eight years, Pawlenty’s budgets have broken new ground for finding ways to paper over budget deficits, while doing nothing to address them in the long term…"
http://mnpublius.com/post/2081619422/despite-a-6-...
Pawlenty of stupidity in the Minnesota Rep(tilian) Party!
But the important question here for the Minnesotans is "how will this affect the price of mayonaisse?".
Ha ha, that's why you should only run for office when you've got virtually no record and a chubby, ungroomed panty-sniffer desperate enough to pay homage to you in a (not)blockbuster summer release glorifying your less than 20 months of your one and only statewide elected position (that you quit.)
Mark Dayton (as Mr. Burns): Yvonne, release the robotic mosquitoes.
But what of those fine, fine, Minnesotan sugar beets and sweet corn? Will the supply be maintained? Or will they go the way of Nintendo gadgets caught in a rare earth tsunamiquake? We in the lower 37 are dying to know.
TIMMY DON'T SURF!
…and I said nothing, because I'm only a fair-weather Red Wings fan….
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