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Most Minnesotans approve of the job Gov. Tim Pawlenty is doing — and most won’t be influenced one way or another in their presidential voting if he ends up as John McCain’s running mate.
Last update: May 20, 2008 - 8:17 AM
LTNS! As usual, you’re off on your comparative analysis. But don’t feel too bad. HoneyDog was even worse (he said in a previous posting … read more that three bridges can be built for under $75 million). I did my homework for the posting at 8:30-ish this morning, and I’ll extend that just a tad for lucky you. Your Lt. Gov. Farmer Carol “Dolt” Molnau said the bridge repair should cost about $393,000,000.00. You say Oberstar got funds for more than $12 million for alternative transportation projects like commuter rail, etc. Are you including the $52 Million from two years ago? Looks like you dropped the ball on that one, dude. Nevertheless, your Gov. Toolittle, through his Lt. Gov./anyone-can-do-this-job Transportation Head Molnau, failed to make sure the safety of the motoring public was ensured, but not because of funds Oberstar earmarked. Nope. It was because Toolittle allowed safety to take a backseat to cutting taxes to appease the Tax Evaders League, et al. The money Oberstar got was not meant for inspecting bridges, no matter how many would’a could’a should’a assertions you wish to make. Toolittle put in his own personal no-nothing hack into a position designed for someone who knows how to make public roads, bridges, and other forms of transportation work. The buck stops with him, and no one else.

startribune.com

Ryan Perrilloux — once the nation’s top prep prospect at quarterback but since dismissed at Louisiana State — is headed to Jacksonville State.
"Basically, I just see this as a second opportunity to be successful," Perrilloux told the Birmingham News.
Perrilloux was dismissed from the team at LSU by coach Les Miles early this month, for repeated rules violations.
Perrilloux told the News that Jacksonville State coach Jack Crowe and school President William Meehan "are helping me with this. They are behind me l00 percent."
Perrilloux said he visited only two schools during his second recruitment - Jacksonville State and Alabama A&M. The News reported that Perrilloux was at Jacksonville State’s campus Monday and Tuesday, and met with the school president.
"I am excited that it’s over and I can begin to move forward," he said.
While at LSU, Perrilloux was suspended three times, but he also was MVP of last season’s Southeastern Conference championship game, in a relief role. Perrilloux has two years of eligibility remaining, and can play immediately for Jacksonville, a Division I-AA school.
(Perrilloux and Miles, at SEC championship/AP photo/Dave Martin)

blogs.usatoday.com

By EMILY WAGSTER PETTUS – 3 hours ago
JACKSON, Miss. (AP) — It’s becoming a disturbing trend for Republicans: losing traditional GOP strongholds to Democrats in some hard-fought congressional races.
It happened again Tuesday, as Travis Childers beat Greg Davis in a special election to replace Republican Roger Wicker, who served in the House since 1994 and was appointed to the U.S. Senate to fill the seat vacated by Trent Lott.
Childers’ win will give him the chance over the next several months left in the seat’s two-year term to build a fundraising and publicity advantage as he heads into November’s general election. He will again face Davis, as well as two other opponents.
Childers’ win gave Democrats a 236-199 edge over Republicans in Congress.
Earlier this year, Democrats captured the Illinois district long represented by former Republican Speaker Dennis Hastert, who resigned from Congress. This month, Democrats claimed a seat in Louisiana that Republican Rep. Richard Baker vacated and that the GOP had held since 1974.
Childers is a socially conservative county official, while Davis is mayor of a fast-growing city across the state line from Memphis, Tenn.
Vice President Dick Cheney campaigned for Davis the day before the special election, and Davis ran ads trying to tie Childers to Barack Obama, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, and the national Democratic Party’s policies.
Childers stressed his independence, emphasizing his support of gun rights and opposition to abortion. He said his values match those of most voters in the deeply conservative district.
Tom Cole, chairman of the National Republican Congressional Committee, said the Mississippi race showed that “Republicans must be prepared to campaign against Democrat challengers who are running as conservatives, even as they try to join a liberal Democrat majority.”
Cole said voters are “pessimistic about the direction of the country and the Republican Party in general” and the GOP must offer “positive change.”

ap.google.com

(AP Online Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Myanmar cyclone death toll soars past 22,000: state radioYANGON, Myanmar (AP) _ The cyclone death toll soared above 22,000 on Tuesday and more than 41,000 others were missing as foreign countries mobilized to rush in aid after the country’s deadliest storm on record, state radio reported. Up to 1 million people may be homeless after Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian nation, also known as Burma, early Saturday. Some villages have been almost totally eradicated and vast rice-growing areas are wiped out, the World Food Program said.
Indiana, N.C. voters settling largest remaining contestsEVANSVILLE, Ind. (AP) _ Barack Obama and Hillary Rodham Clinton once again faced-off in crucial primaries as voters in Indiana and North Carolina crowded polls Tuesday seeking to settle the largest remaining contests in an epic Democratic presidential nomination struggle. Obama was looking to shore up his position as the front-runner, while Clinton was seeking another victory to keep her candidacy competitive in a race that is likely to continue into June and perhaps to the Democratic National Convention in August.
Nearly 100 students at San Diego State arrested in drug bustSAN DIEGO (AP) _ The San Diego County district attorney’s office says nearly 100 students have been arrested at San Diego State University on drug-related charges. Drugs, cash and guns were seized from sellers and buyers in the bust that followed a five-month undercover operation.
3,500 US troops set to leave Iraq in the coming weeksBAGHDAD (AP) _ About 3,500 American soldiers are scheduled to leave Iraq in the coming weeks, the U.S. military announced, as part of the Pentagon’s overall reduction in troop strength following last year’s "surge." Washington plans to trim it forces in Iraq to about 140,000 soldiers by the summer _ from a peak of about 170,000 in October at the height of the troop buildup in Baghdad and surrounding areas.

tmcnet.com

The problem is compounded in Sussex County by lack of affordable housing, high land prices and transportation issues that keep new businesses from moving to Delaware.
Then consider Delaware’s changing demographics. More than 134,000 Delawareans are over the age of 65. The fastest growing population in the state is older than 70. Delaware has a higher percentage of seniors over 80 than any other state, including Florida.
Most of that senior influx is occurring in Sussex County, and with that will come economic and social challenges. The graying of Delmarva — and of the country — will require hundreds of thousands of jobs in medicine and health care. Already the country faces daunting shortages in elder care, physical therapy, nurses, nuclear technicians and pharmacists. Insuring all Americans won’t matter much if we don’t have the medical facilities and personnel to care for the aging population.
So how do we educate young people and give them skills that serve the future needs of Delaware?
One idea might be to transform Delaware Technical & Community College from a two-year commuter institution into a four-year university focusing on health and medicine.
A university with dormitories and affordable housing for teachers, administrators and graduates could be a blueprint for the state’s long-term economic growth while addressing a booming senior population and an educated work force.
Throughout the United States over the next 20 years, more than one million nurses will be needed, along with more than 100,000 pharmacists, nearly 250,000 physical therapists and approximately 153,000 nuclear technicians to fill the void as the baby boomer generation reaches retirement.
That’s a lot of jobs and a lot of educating. So how do we pay for a new university?
With the real estate market in shambles, the state’s share of transfer tax dollars has slowed. Income tax revenue is declining. Taxes are never popular. And that was before the recession.

delawareonline.com

Pittsburgh, PA — Speaking to a group of Pennsylvania Democrats on the home turf of the Pittsburgh Steelers Thursday night, Sen. Hillary Clinton got into the mood and broke out some of her best metaphors from the gridiron.
“I want to tell you that I will be the best quarterback I can be for our country to take us to the future,” she said to a group of Allegheny Country Democrats at their annual Jefferson Jackson dinner held at Heinz Field. “We’re gonna start calling some new plays. And we’re gonna go on offense as well as have a good defense. We’re going to have a new approach to bringing jobs back to Western Pennsylvania, to creating an economy that works for everybody to move us toward the goal line of Universal health care. We are gonna get across that.”
But after Clinton played with language (though one might add that she is actually making a defensive goal line stand of her own in the Keystone state), she took aim at an Obama ad in which the IL Democrat declares himself free of oil company money.
“I know that my opponent has been running an ad recently across Pennsylvania very forcefully saying that he doesn’t take money from oil companies,” she said. “Nobody takes money from oil companies. It’s illegal to take money from oil companies…but more than that–we both had a chance in 2005 to stand up and be counted–not just what we say when we are on the campaign trail but how we act when it matters. And we had a chance to vote yes or no on Dick Cheney’s energy bill which gave billions more in tax breaks to the oil companies. I voted no, he voted yes and we’re going to take that message across Pennsylvania. If you want somebody who is strong enough to take on the special interests and mean what I say and deliver results than I’m your candidate.”

embeds.blogs.foxnews.com

SACRAMENTO, Calif., April 14 /PRNewswire/ — A press release from the California State Board of Equalization (BOE) last week reminding dog and cat breeders to pay sales tax on their pet sales was praised today by a taxpayer advocacy group concerned with animal welfare.
Judie Mancuso, Campaign Director for California Taxpayers for Safe & Healthy Pets, a group working to pass a tax-saving spay and neuter bill that would help government enforce the BOE regulation, said the BOE action "will give the pet breeding industry no excuse to skip out on their taxes, and will help bring puppy mills — like the ones on the recent Oprah show — out of the darkness and into the light."
Mancuso is a co-sponsor of Assembly Bill 1634 California Healthy Pets Act (http://www.cahealthypets.com/) carried by Assemblyman Lloyd Levine (D-Van Nuys), which has passed the full Assembly and is awaiting a hearing in the Senate.
"The fact that up to one million dogs and cats enter our shelters, the needless killing of over 500,000 healthy pets in California and the waste of millions of taxpayer dollars each year must end," Mancuso said.
The reiteration by the BOE of the tax responsibilities of breeders, all too often ignored, helps illustrate just how widespread and costly the underground economy caused by unregistered pet sellers is for California.
The BOE press release stated that, "BOE estimates approximately $14 million in sales tax is due but goes uncollected every year because some pet sellers are not properly reporting and paying sales tax on their pet sales."
"It’s an easy equation," Mancuso stated. "Right now, California taxpayers are paying over a quarter of a billion dollars each year to house and euthanize healthy pets while our state faces a huge fiscal deficit; this is simply taxpayer waste and an ethical nightmare".

earthtimes.org

Earlier today , ESPN reported that Oklahoma State would be willing to offer Kansas coach Bill Self $ 6 million - as a signing bonus . The figure itself is ridiculous , but even more silly is the fact that Oklahoma State unleashed this gem just hours from the biggest game of Self ‘ s coaching career . The nation ‘ s attention should be focused on two brilliant basketball teams playing at the height of their ability tonight . Unfortunately , the nation will be subjected to sideline reports and cut - ins reminding everyone that Boone Pickens is a very , very rich man .

blogs.cjonline.com

UNIVERSITY PARK — Six familiar players were not present when Penn State started spring football practice this week. Those six players might not be present when the Nittany Lions start their season in September. Either way, the Nittany Lion seniors have no intention
of letting the rest of the team suffer.
“The guys who want to be here are going to be here, and the guys who aren’t, aren’t,” senior linebacker Sean Lee said Saturday. “We’re going to be concerned with the guys who are here playing football and wanting to be part of the team.”
Defensive tackle Chris Baker, wide receiver Chris Bell, linebacker Navorro Bowman, tight end Andrew Quarless, defensive tackle Phil Taylor and defensive back Knowledge Timmons, all of whom were in Penn State’s two-deep last season, were all indefinitely suspended during the winter by Penn State coach Joe Paterno for various disciplinary reasons.
“I want everything settled down,” Paterno said Saturday. “As I told all of them and their families, let’s wait and see what their grades are, whether there’s (anything) hanging over their heads. They can do the things they’ve got to do, and when the time comes. … I don’t know. I would hope all of them would be out in the fall. But right now, none of them are out.”
Paterno, who joked that there were only one or two players on the remaining squad “that I’d like to hit over the head with a bat,” has liked the leadership and approach he has seen through the first week of drills.
“I’ve been really pleased with the whole attitude of the squad,” Paterno said. “I’m not trying to be a Pollyanna, but I really feel very good about where we are.”
Penn State has at least one senior and two-year starter on each unit but quarterback and tailback. Those seniors have set the early tone for the rest of the team.

centredaily.com

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