Speed Gibson

I usually don't post on family matters, so I don't have identities for my relations, like "Littlest Scholar" or "Senator" or "Children I Used to Have" etc. But being a fan of comedian Ron White, the legendary 'Tater Salad, I'll borrow his theme. I like potato salad a lot so yes, I am Tater Salad in my house, married to Tater Chip, with two children, the youngest being Tater Tot. (Have to work on the daughter's title, maybe Tater Dumpling?)

Tomorrow is Tater Tot's last day of High School and tonight was his last Annual Athletic Awards Banquet. This year's guest speaker was Don Roney, head football coach at St. Thomas, and husband to Tater Tot's first grade teacher.

It caught 'Tater Chip and me by surprise when Tater Tot was given the prestigious (male) Sportsmanship Award after listening to many quotes on the various submissions. We whispered to each other in agreement who we thought it would be, and it easily could have gone to him or a couple of others we know.

We're very proud.

The DFL was thrown out at the plate; Minnesota wins! Yes, Governor Pawlenty as expected / promised / threatened, vetoed the entire Tax bill, and line-item vetoed a few items in three others he did sign. The 2007 session is finally over.

Thank you, Governor. After your 2005 meltdown, I had no reason to believe you would once again stand up to the DFL as you did so well in 2003. I am pleased to be wrong.

You still have some explaining to do about the smoking ban, like, uh, maybe some actual proof to justify what is essentially a taking of private property to suit someone else's mere opinion. You still owe us a "Republican" explanation for why you signed the Twins stadium bill.

But these battles are now lost unless the iron rangers and border towns force the smoking issue again in 2008 after their bars and clubs start closing later this year, just as they did here in Minneapolis and St. Paul.

Instead, for 2008, how about rethinking this adolescent renewable fuels fantasy of yours? Ethanol is a net drag on our economy and increases our dependency on foreign oil. We know now that there is no net improvement in air quality, just substitution of nitrogen compounds for carbon byproducts. Meanwhile, the environmental damage from runoff and ground water consumption are every more apparent. Wind power will be there via private investors when the price is right. Until then, it too is a net loss for Minnesota.

You really want to bring down gas prices? Repeal this and all other Ethanol mandates.

Certainly the most interesting tribute to our men and women in uniform this past Memorial Day was an hour of KISS's Gene Simmons (on A and E) spending time at Camp Pendleton with his daughter getting a taste of boot camp. Later, they visited a VA hospital, and finished with a nice little concert for the troops, singing the four service themes and God Bless America.

Simmons' emotions and gratitude for their service was deep and obvious, and his daughter's grasp of it was well beyond her 14 years. I really enjoyed it because the troops really enjoyed it. Nicely done.

I was out walking in the beautiful weather, listening to old time radio, specifically The Whistler from 1950. Their long time sponsor was the Signal Oil Company of California, and their final 20 second spot was courage from business you'd never hear today.

They have the nerve to remind their customers that they were paying 33 cents a gallon in taxes, enough to buy a another gallon for every three they buy. It sounded like gas was about $1 a gallon including the tax back then.

It was presented matter-of-factly, nothing more, and just a few seconds. Too bad modern day business can't summon that kind of courage today. That was John Galt's lament, that had a few businessmen stood up years before, all the chaos he brought about in Atlas Shrugged might have been avoided.

Imagine SuperAmerica running an add today reminding us of the various gas taxes, the Minnesota price fixing, and the true cost of ethanol mandates.

I read that several of the bills passed late Monday night have yet to reach the Governor's office. Some won't get there until Tuesday, in fact.

They can't produce one copy of these bills, but they could somehow produce them en masse Monday night and / or intelligently vote on them? What am I missing?

Or is this yet another manifestation of the surprisingly poor organization the DFL put together this session?

I say surprisingly for while I certainly disagree with most Democrats on most issues, I've always admired their almost instinctual ability to run the machinery of government. I've secretly and jealously wished that the Republicans could be even half as adept.

This year, the roles were reversed. Kelliher was the proverbial catboat in a hurricane when peppered with the many various parliamentary inquires during the last couple of hours. All those extra committees, all that mid-session overtime produced nothing. The session started and ended pretty much where it started, with Pawlenty's first offer.

Meanwhile, the Republicans actually (finally!) organized themselves into an effective caucus that didn't materialize two years ago when they had many more votes and controlled the House.

Thank you Senator Pogemiller! We couldn't have done it without you.

I'm watching Channel 17, the final hours of the 2007 session, specifically the House. It's the usual flurry (11:21 pm), but to my recollection, perhaps not quite as hectic as in previous years.

There is one noticeable, alas, predictable difference; the inexperience of the House Speaker. As I understand it, Speaker Kelliher has not even chaired a committee to date. If I didn't know better, and maybe I don't, I'd say the Republicans decided to test her knowledge of parliamentary procedure, and she got a bit confused and frazzled. Rep. Marty Siefert could have in fact gone in for the kill but decided to pull his punch.

The vetoed Transportation Bill is finally up for the override at 11:29 PM. Rep. Marty Siefert isn't pulling his punch this time, including a shot at those who scheduled this as an ultimatum, override or go to a special session.

*** 11:46 PM

It's getting warmer, with the debate on the Transportation bill suddenly cut off. Microphones also seem to be going dead at key points. But the veto is sustained, getting only 83 votes.

Now, the Omnibus Tax bill HF 2268 is up. Rep. Siefert reminds everyone this bill will be vetoed.

*** 11:53 PM

The fat's in the fire now! Debate is suddenly stopped again. Rep. Sviggum thundered:

"In eight years of sitting in your chair ... we never never once moved the previous question without retracting it. Never once did we gag members on this floor."

Meanwhile, Rep. Brod asks again for an explanation of Kelliher's seemingly inconsistent rulings.

*** 12:01

I couldn't quite follow what was last voted on, but with the Transportation bill veto sustained, I believe we're going for extra innings. For the House and Senate have both adjourned, just after midnight.

*** Later ...

I wasn't aware they had passed the lights on Transportation bill. Looks like no special session after all unlike Pawlenty really wants the Mall of America and/or Republican Convention money. Both can wait.

The reactions are many to the McCain-Kennedy-Bush immigration bill, said to be approaching 1,000 pages. Rush Limbaugh, who gave Hugh Hewitt quite the attaboy on Friday, is against it. Hewitt is busy parsing all that language. Meanwhile, Bill O'Reilly says you have to start somewhere, as I think our own Captain Ed seems to be saying.

Let's take two bills, ostensibly both with the same overall objective. One is 100 pages, another is 1,000 pages. Which is better, sight unseen? I can't imagine a scenario where the larger bill is superior. Let's take a K-12 Education spending bill for example.

A 1 page bill would say, here Governor, is $10 Billion for the next two years. Spend it as you think best, meaning have the bureaucrats in the Education Department divvy it up instead of the the Legislative equivalent.

A 10 page bill would break this down some, with some basic formulas, perhaps, like so much per student, maybe so much per acre served. Open Enrollment and Special Education get some general attention, too. There are winners and losers, but everyone is clear on what the bill allows.

A 100 page bill starts meddling. It finds a way around the basic formulas to reward failing districts like Minneapolis with even more money. It is studded with little gifts here and there, district by district.

A 1,000 page bill is almost impossible to fully implement, employing dozens in St. Paul and who knows how many in the districts complying with it, assuming it's even apparent what the intent is or was. There are numerous "guidelines" for the curriculum, staff selection, reporting, playground equipment, and lunch menus.

Give me the 10 page bill. It may have some faults, but understanding what is to be done is not likely one of them.

Now take the Immigration Bill. Almost by definition, it must contain 900 pages of loopholes, as I think Hewitt is finding. As such, it's useless. Start over.

I think this is a fascinating discovery. A Purdue engineer has discovered, quite by accident, a way to generate hydrogen on demand. An alloy of gallium and aluminum reacts with water, producing gallium, aluminum oxide, and - hydrogen gas.

This solves the problems of storing and transporting hydrogen safely. Hydrogen gas is produced on demand, for use either in a turbine, fuel injection motor, or a fuel cell. It's not a perfect solution, in that you need 2-3 times the weight of the alloy as the gasoline equivalent, but coupled with nuclear power, what carbon-phobic environmentalist can resist?

The process is clean and "closed" in that the "waste" is fully recyclable. The gallium is a catalyst and not consumed. The aluminum oxide (alumina) can be reprocessed into pure aluminum again. The car isn't really burning water per se; the energy is stored in the aluminum when refined or re-refined. What might make the most sense is doing this right by a power plant, avoiding the transmission losses.

It sounds promising. We'll know they're close when you see the DFL figuring out how to tax us when we add the water to our new Gallium-Aluminum cars.

U.S. Senator and former Hennepin Country District Attorney Amy Klobuchar was on TV again, calling for U.S. Attorney General Alberto Gonzales to step down. In fact, she now wants an investigation into Justice Department on reports that former U.S. Attorney Thomas Heffelfinger was on a list of potential dismissals.

She said she was "angry and appalled" when she learned that he might have been fired. (Heffelfinger resigned in 2006 for family reasons.)

Klobuchar and now U.S. Senator Coleman may have a point, but she personally has no standing to complain about managerial incompetence. Her own Hennepin County department had many of the same troubles, even by Star Tribune accounts.

Her advice and consent in such matters is clearly worthless, and would do better to let Coleman take the lead.

I normally don't comment on national issues here, but this bi-partisan immigration reform just announced is totally beyond me. I am hereby granting the Leftists temporary dispensation to call President Bush an idiot, for his position on this make no sense at all. When will he figure out that every deal he has struck with either Senator McCain or Senator Kennedy has been a mistake?

It shouldn't even be a partisan issue. For a nation so proudly and so ably built on immigration AND assimilation to now decide neither is necessary is beyond me. All I see now are political whores chasing cheap labor and cheap votes. I can whine that no real Republican should support this bill, but then neither should any responsible Democrat.

But I'm not a Democrat so I'll focus on the party I thought I knew. This bill makes no sense historically, politically, culturally, or economically. It forgoes national security, is demeaning to those who came here legally, and the increasing crime statistics and other social problems are undeniable.

If this bill reaches the President's desk and he signs it, the GOP might as well save its money for 2012, for 2008 will be lost for sure.

Survivor is done, the Amazing Race is over, and this week, American Idol ended unexpectedly, voting off the class of the field, Melinda Doolittle. Too old I guess, prefers to sing real songs. All that's left is the consolation round next week between Jordan and Blake.

All it means is that Melinda is on her way a week early. (Taylor ... who? Katherine ... who? Jennifer ... Hudson!)

Ah, but Dancing with the Stars should have its best finale ever next week. And Hell's Kitchen returns in June!

I'm a NASCAR fan, Junior Grade. Like most sports, it's amazing how the smallest of details and the simplest of tasks can decide the outcome. Of the 43 cars that start each week, a third are piloted by drivers that really have no business racing at this level, but the others need someone to pass. Another third have hotheads behind the wheel, too often overdriving their cars into the walls or other cars.

All this incompetence gives the sport a natural charm. We can't stand the football equivalents like Chris Dishman and Isaac Holt, but that same all or nothing recklessness seems to work on the track. But NASCAR itself seems intent on taking some of the edge off.

Recently, two time Cup Champion Tony Stewart spoke out, saying that NASCAR was beginning to resemble professional wrestling. He was unhappy with multiple caution flags for debris that probably cost him a race victory. A week later, the cold steel of a gun barrel in his back, he apologized and heaped praise on the NASCAR officials. Personally, I think Tony had a legitimate beef, as the TV crew had trouble finding some that alleged debris.

Now we have Dale Earnhardt Jr, the sport's most popular driver slapped with a 100 point penalty on a pre-race inspection. This is a huge penalty as NASCAR penalties go, not to mention a six race suspension of his crew chief and a $100,000 fine. Maybe I'm missing something, but the more obvious and egregious such a violation, the more likely it was just a misunderstanding, especially with the new "Car of Tomorrow" design introduced this year. A true cheater would be much more subtle.

So cut the crap. Let them race.

Remember the "Republican" shutdown of 1995 when Newt Gingrich and Bill Clinton squared off? Newt got the blame, even though Clinton vetoed the bills that forced impasse. Elections were held, the new Congress seated, the bills passed, and Clinton vetoed them. Clinton held out for a better deal and got it when Gingrich blinked.

In 2005, Dean Johnson forced a shutdown by abruptly adjourning at 9:30 pm, apparently worried that the DFL leaders meeting with the Governor at that hour might strike a deal. It could not be more plain who was responsible for the shutdown, but the press found fault with both sides despite the obvious lying done by Johnson in explaining himself.

What can we expect this time, given the near certainty of another special session this year? The press will no doubt claim it was Pawlenty's choice, and for once, they will be right. Elections were held, the new Legislature seated, the bills passed, and Pawlenty is vetoing them. No matter that he promised as much in January. It will be his choice unless the DFL adjourns early again.

I'm hoping Pawlenty won't engage in trying to blame the Democrats. He's playing it surprisingly well (given 2005) so far, standing back as the adult in the room as the DFL children run wild. Any "no, it's your fault" rhetoric won't play. That's the DFL line, that the other side is "mean" and not compromising.

Hold your ground, Mr. Pawlenty, like you did in 2003. Special session or not, the DFL bills are so absurd that they will have to come to you.

I risk annoying at least half the population, but I'm for abolishing Mother's Day and Father's Day. However well-intentioned, perhaps at one time an opportunity to do something special for your parents, it is now just servitude. You get no "points" for compliance, only scorn, even if you comply under protest.

The reality is now this. No matter how nicely you treat your mother the other 364 days a year, if you falter on Mother's Day you get a F. Even if you treat your mom just as nicely on this day 365, even if your mother releases you from providing any undue attention, those around you consider you a heel.

Worse, a significant number of females expect homage, whether an actual mother or not, whether they are your mother or not, and / or whether or not they're even old enough to give birth. Being female is enough.

Let's do two things: Abolish thees holidays and treat our mothers special two days a year,volunarilty of couse.

I said this once before, but in keeping with domestic harmony, I got sucked in again. But I'm serious this time. No more CBS Survivor. I know it's a game, but when someone signs over a $60,000 truck, it's not strategy to lie, it truly reflects on your character or lack of it.

I won't elaborate here; either you've watched it or not. But Survivor (you win by lying) now joins The Amazing Race (boring) and The Apprentice (jumped the shark silly) as must-flee TV.

The general consensus across all the versions of Superman's origin is that the planet Krypton was ruled by scientists. We could use a little of that here on this planet.

Imagine seeing their anti-smoking zealots try to extrapolate the mild health risk of first hand smoke that remains legal into the serious threat of second hand smoke that must be outlawed. Laughter is all they get.

Then comes the global warming brigade before the council. Krypton has no endearing polar bears so the ruling is abrupt: dismissed for lack of evidence.

Ethanol, Head Start, reduced class sizes, light rail, universal health care, death taxes, restorative justice, instant run-off voting, and the Freedom to Poop card are all quickly dispatched. The Happy to Pay for a Better Krypton activists can only wonder how it much nicer it must be on other planets.

But this is science fiction on multiple levels, for the scientists of their ruling council were ultimately politicians, too. Jor-El's prediction of doom was met with the same mockery and incredulity that the permanent property tax relief proponents got.

The timing was wonderful. The Star Tribune called again tonight just after dinner. Great news! I can save a bundle if I subscribe in time to get Sunday's paper!

What about Lileks I asked? "Oh, I love Lileks, too!" she said, quite earnestly I believe. Call me back when he's back, I told her.

There is much angst over the latest round of staff cuts at the Minneapolis Star Tribune. James Lileks' column is no more, the worst mistake the paper has made in ten years to hear Hugh Hewitt tell it.

This may be heresy, but I'm inclined to agree with management on this one. I enjoy his writing, too, and I give one of his books as a gift every Christmas, after reading it a couple of times myself, of course.

It comes down to who buys the paper regularly and why, and much as we might like him, management has to make that call. We may disagree, but it's their call and we have to respect that. They in turn must respect our decision on whether to buy the paper.

It's not personal; it's business.

Early in my career, a more experienced peer gave me some insight that I named after her. Gerri's Law says no matter how much overtime you put in at the beginning of a project, you will work just as many overtime hours at the end of the project.

This seems to apply to the Legislature, too. All those extra hours in March and April seem to be bearing no fruit. The Legislature is pretty much on the traditional calendar, with the most of the work undone in early May, with about two weeks left.

Extra hours by themselves mean nothing. If you're asked to calculate how much paint it will take to repaint a water tower, you can spend a lot of time (and money) getting actual measurements rather than just review the as-built plans. You can spend more time using 3.14159265 for pi instead of just 3.14, and it doesn't change anything.

The DFL has wasted countless hours handing out gavels and making bills wind through more committees. But the biggest waste of time has been in not taking the Governor at his word, as evidenced by the veto of the bonding bill.

Forget Minnesota for the moment; take any state. Is it not unreasonable to expect a veto if that legislature passes a $300 million bill instead of the $75 million that governor had requested? Now add the fact that Governor Pawlenty has promised as much since the election. All that time was predictably lost. The starting point is again the Governor's proposal, not this mess of a bill that grew in the House, grew in the Senate, and grew still more in the conference committee.

It looks like this will be the fate of several other bills.

Want to succeed in (liberal) politics? Lie.

Dee Long, Speaker of the Minnesota House, was caught lying on camera about attending a conference when in fact she was on the golf course. That and her failed attempt to cover up a phone card scandal cost her the Speakership. But the Star Tribune continued to endorse her, and she was soon chairing the House tax committee.

Former State Senator and Majority Leader and serial liar Dean Johnson told one too many, losing his seat in an otherwise perfect storm for Democrats. The result? He's now a Regent of the University of Minnesota.

How many lies did Patty Wetterling tell during her tawdry 2006 campaign? Not enough to matter. She's still "St. Patty" and will no doubt be back again this election or next.

Now another liar is back, former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza. Disgraced over investigating rival Mike Hatch, and lying about it, he is now running for the St. Paul School Board. Somehow, I doubt Mr. Entenza has any burning passion to change or improve the St. Paul Public Schools. It's just something to get him out of the house and back into public life, until something better comes along.

Of course, if you're a Republican, it's one and done, maybe even jail time.

What if Judi Dutcher had known about E-85 and Hatch otherwise kept his head long enough to defeat Gov. Pawlenty? Yes, what if Mike Hatch was now the sitting Governor?

Gov. Pawlenty seems poised to generally and significantly do better this session than his 2005 collapse would indicate. But vetos and threats of vetos still allow the story line to be DFL vs GOP, not the issues themselves. With that hard wall there, the DFL can propose anything fairly safely, satisfying the far left, then blaming the right to stay elected.

It's fun to speculate, but the focus can be put squarely on the DFL by the Republicans positioning themselves as the adults in the room. Pawlenty is doing well here so far. I applaud his decision to veto the entire bonding bill rather than try to have his way with specific line item vetos. Better still, his accompanying words were restrained and well chosen.

The Republicans in the Legislature are also doing well to sit back during some of the final floor debates, giving us some of the hard left DFL vs moderate DFL confrontation we would have seen with Hatch in charge. We saw 11 Democrats bail on a big tax bill last week, for example. Maybe that was planned, looking ahead to 2008, but the public won't see it that way regardless. After weeks of optimism and solidarity, it looks like retreat.

Keep it up, GOP. Let the public see the DFL unrestrained. Don't engage in pointless dialog with those for whom facts and reason are optional.

Warning! It's the May ratings period. Your local newsrooms have been saving up a lot of fluff and scary stories for you. Those CFC light bulbs contain a dangerous chemical! We'll explain at 10!

You might just want to turn the set off. Melinda Doolitte should easily win American Idol, especially given that her only serious rival Jordin has stumbled last week and this week, might even be going home tonight.

Survivor - who cares? The Apprentice? Already done, a bore. The Amazing Race? Might be fun one more time given the pairings, but this show is getting pretty stale, too.

Only Dancing with the Stars has a real competition going, heading for a Laila Ali - Joey Fatone finale I think.

Ah, but Hell's Kitchen returns in June!

I'm part of the statistic, and I truly wish I weren't. The latest counts report that our Minneapolis Star Tribune is losing subscribers by the thousands, including me early this year. The quality just isn't there anymore, even when they get most of the story right. The emptied-clip hit piece done on Fifth District candidate Alan Fine was the proverbial last straw, and I don't even live in that District.

Since then, we've had a couple of telemarketing calls trying to get us back. Like at a car dealer, when the salesman can't quite reel the "up" in, they have the next level person call you. He offered to put me right through to "one of the editors" to discuss my complaint, and it was tempting. But I told him that they already have an eMail from me on why I quit and what it will take to get me back. And it isn't promises. It's action, like getting rid of reporters and columnists that consistently get stories wrong, like favorite NARN/MOB target Nick Coleman.

A paper at all serious about getting serious about news again has no room for a Nick Coleman. But if I ran that zoo, I'd simply find a veteran old-school copy editor between Coleman and the press room. Every line is fact checked, every source confirmed, and the grammer policed without mercy. Ditto Doug Grow and Lori Sturdevant. But what would I print when not even a line of a column can pass traditional scutiny? They wouldn't be on vacation, ill, or on assignment. I couldn't even say for sure when the next column would appear.

No, I would print the truth. "[Columnist] did not submit anything worth printing today."