Speed Gibson

You sometimes hear budget deficits or a portion of them described as "structural" in nature. This is to say that the current laws bring in too little revenue and/or spend too much money. In Minnesota where revenues triple every 20 years, it's safe to say we have a spending problem.

Local attorney Gregg J. Cavanagh had his guest commentary published recently in the Minneapolis Star Tribune: How to make state budget easy to balance. In it, Cavanagh claims that "balancing the state budget would be easy — if our leaders were willing to kill a few sacred cows." He lists nine of them, and it's a great list, worthy of several posts, to wit:

1. Cut the size of the Legislature.
   
   "Minnesota has far more legislators per capita than even a geographically and economically complex state like California. Maintaining this large a Legislature is expensive. Even more expensive is the unnecessary legislation the senators and representatives must generate to demonstrate they are 'doing something.' The Legislature should be reduced in size, and legislators' compensation and per diem should be reduced to a level appropriate for a part-time Legislature."
   
   
2. Eliminate the education monopoly.
   
3. Turn off the welfare magnet.
   
4. Place a moratorium on light-rail projects.
   
5. Reduce or eliminate the corporate income tax.
   
6. Outsource whenever possible.
   
7. Repeal the prevailing wage law.
   
8. Ban project labor agreements.
   
9. Stop trying to run everything.
   

***

I'm afraid that the position of Legislator will never be considered part time again. They might get shamed into shaving their excessive per diems a little, but they're not going to cut their own pay or benefits. And you're certainly not going to get them to reduce their numbers for fear they're one of the "reducees." Not unless...

Many disagree with me, but I'd like to see a unicameral Legislature. The two house concept was a grand political compromise needed to adopt the U.S. Constitution, not any model of good government; quite the opposite. There's no accountability if you can blame the other chamber or the conference committee conveniently stacked by the leadership. A lot of busy work is created in coordinating the operation of those two chambers. And if two are better than one, why aren't three better than two?

What's the right number? If the Senate can claim to do full justice to all the legislation it handles, clearly 67 is adequate, especially if the above coordination and busy work is eliminated. So close the House, use the existing district boundaries, just shift the terms to elect half the body every two years.

Who survives among the three current office holders in each district? I'd say whoever has been there the longest. Senator wins the ties with the House, otherwise that district is in the first group of elections.

What's the right pay? This is the key. As part of the Constitutional Amendment that would obviously be required, set it high enough to get that Amendment through the current bodies. Include money for lavish expansion and remodel of their offices. Install a Zagat-rated cafeteria and Olympic-class workout facilities, including a pool. Provide Superintendent-level retirement and severance packages.

In other words, spend whatever it takes. Buy those votes! It will still be chump change as part of our $25+ billion annual state spending. If it makes it impossible for the remaining Legislators to generate all the extra nonsense they pass each year, it's almost certain to be a net plus.

The wife's away tonight. I have some date filled cookies from Jerry's in Edina. I'm relaxing in my favorite chair, laptop in my lap, HDTV at my total command. Watched NASCAR qualifying, now watching Dirty Harry - The Dead Pool, one of my guilty pleasures. It's amazing how the bad guys can squeeze off 500 rounds of machine gun fire and hit nobody while Callahan never wastes a bullet. He should have shot that little car bomb, too.

In scanning the MOB sites and elsewhere, Ayn Rand's Atlas Shrugged is showing up repeatedly. There's been a resurgence in sales of late. I read this around 1980 in my Libertarian days, when I began to come of age politically. Just as the Carter Administration spawned - demanded - I smell the coffee, maybe the Obama Administration is repeating the cycle.

So, up to the bookcase and sure enough, there's my old Signet paperback copy I bought at Shinder's downtown almost 30 years ago. Back to my 80's I go.

I figured that the Chief and others would cover the DFL Magical Misery Tour's stop in Plymouth last night, so I went to the Sunny Hollow Public Hearing. Sunny Hollow will be closed this summer, then re-opened as the Districts Spanish Immersion (RSI) home. There were maybe 20 people there, not counting staff.

As expected, most there were upset that they would now be going to Sonnesyn, Neill or elsewhere. Their rhetoric got a little heated, but nothing like at Pilgrim Lane a week ago. Also different was the considerable time spent on RSI, as if it would now continually remind them of what they lost. Charges that RSI is elitist were made, and a couple of them had some basis in fact.

Otherwise, I didn't hear anything to make me think that closing Sunny Hollow as part of the K-5 plan is not correct, however sad for those who have helped make it successful.

It's snowing again. Do you know where your plows are?

The past weekend, Minneapolis and St. Paul understandably invoked Snow Emergencies, which generally mark the start of a three day plowing cycles. Curious, though, while walking 15 miles Saturday and Sunday in the Cooper and Longfellow neighborhoods of Minneapolis, I saw but one plow each day, plus one more while on the bus returning home.

That Saturday morning my first tier suburban city had its streets plowed by noon, probably earlier. Today, they made a full pass by 4:30 pm, and will no doubt clean up the additional snowfall well before lunch again tomorrow.

It used to be that only Minneapolis and St. Paul used the Snow Emergency concept. The past few years, a few other suburbs have decided that they need to get into the act, like St. Louis Park where I grew up. Why can't they simply plow the streets like they did all those decades before?

In fact, just what does "Snow Emergency" mean in these suburbs? I visited three cities' web sites, no clue. I can only presume it means that the 2 to 3 inch snowfall threshold has been reached, outlawing on street parking until plowed. But again, depth ordinances have been around for some time now, before suburban snow emergencies started making the airwaves.

I'm pleased to say that my city simply plows my street when enough snow falls. They don't talk about it. They just do it. What a concept!

We just crossed into 11+ hours a day of daylight, though we may not actually see the sun until Saturday.

I think I'll bail out early, get started on the driveway like Chief Twittered, finish the day via the VPN.

In District 281, the second legally required public hearing on closing a school building was held Monday night, at Sandburg Middle School. The plan adopted January 20th calls for closing Sandburg by moving most students to an expanded Robbinsdale Middle School operation, using space vacated by Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion (RSI) moving to the Sunny Hollow building. Meanwhile, auxiliary programs like ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) and Community Education will be consolidated to Sandburg from various other buildings long since used as schools.

This group was a bit smaller than at Pilgrim Lane, but I think better prepared and more eloquent. As I've posted, I like the Wold K-5 solution vs. the others they and others developed the past 16 months. And yet, I think these concerned citizens made enough of a point for the Board to research yet one more alternative.

As one speaker noted, the Board should not only consider what can be done now, but also where we want to wind up, say, three years from now. Closing Plymouth Middle School never made any sense in any scenario, but of the other two, which would you rather keep open long term - Robbinsdale or Sandburg? Clearly, that answer is Sandburg. It was built as a middle school and has better facilities, including a swimming pool. It's location within the District is certainly workable.

This is largely what the "Two Phase" solution was about, waiting to see what happens with enrollment before making this decision. But this was otherwise an incomplete solution and required a second wave of boundary changes that the public clearly does not want. "Do it once," the Board heard repeatedly. So to keep all three going short term as some proposed seems unrealistic.

As I reread the documents, maybe we're at the point where Sandburg and Plymouth can shoulder the load this fall, a slight overload at most. If so, then the Robbinsdale Area Learning Center (RALC) can house the auxiliary programs. RSI still should move, but the elementary area in the RALC it used should be suitable for ECFE now, another plus.

I don't know what the dollar effect would be, but if both stay open and just swap roles, I suspect the differences are small and manageable.

That said, the community has to continue to step forward to push this if it's going to work. The community will need to convince the Board that they're willing to endure a little overcrowding for now. They may have to sanction increasing class sizes by maybe 2 or 3 for now.

I think it's worth pursuing, to at least think a second time on this one facet of an otherwise sound plan.

Per the Minneapolis Star Tribune, Dr. Bill Green, Superintendent of the Minneapolis Public Schools (MPS), wants to withdraw from the West Metro Education Program (WMEP). MPS is broke and WMEP isn't working. "I just need to direct our resources more towards restructuring and right-sizing Minneapolis schools proper," said Green.

WMEP is a Joint Powers School District set up in 1989 to improve racial integration among its member districts, including my own Robbinsdale Area Schools. Without Minneapolis, WMEP may have to disband.

The stated mission of WMEP is to

• Build the collective capacity of its members.
• Raise the achievement of all students.
• Eliminate the racial achievement gap.
• Prepare all learners to thrive in a diverse world through regional leadership, integrated learning opportunities, shared resources, and mutual support.

It sounds wonderful, but there's apparently no evidence that it's working. Allow me to quote a couple of comments on the Star Tribune site:

"A school administrator who can publicly admit that a social engineering program didn't work! Good for you Bill Green. If kids were just allowed to go to the schools closest to where they live the world would be much simpler, less expensive, and neighborhoods ultimately more stable. Kids who don't speak English need to learn it. We had a similar problem 100 years ago and everyone seemed to learn English because they had to. Desegregation is about economics and housing, not about yellow buses and grand schemes. It isn't 1965 anymore. People live where they can afford to not where realtors put them by color."

"If, after 20 years, WMEP has not [achieve] its [desegregation] goals, then it should be abolished. Does not matter how good the magnet schools are. The goal is to provide better education for minorities, and education for minorities has not improved over the 20 years. Having WMEP is simply throwing money away."

District 281 should also reevaluate whether WMEP justifies whatever resources it consumes, whether or not Minneapolis withdraws.

I was out of town when my (DFL) Legislators held a couple of town hall meetings to meet with us. Since the next round isn't likely until June or so, I have to imagine the fun I might have if they held one after their Magical Misery Tour.

They no doubt would retell the tales of woe they picked up from throughout the State. I wait for one of them to talk of "putting a face" on the situation and I ask, "What's wrong with our faces? Isn't your time better spent talking to us, your constituents?"

Does not a given Legislator represent a given District? Should a Legislator base a decision on what someone outside the District says while an actual constituent goes unheard because said Legislator is "out of town?" Those other areas have their own Legislators. My Legislator can confer with them at the Capitol, if its important.

That's what Legislatures are created to do, bring together information, district by district, via representatives. There is no need for my Legislators to go out gathering anecdotal input from those they do not represent.

Today's Minneapolis Star Tribune profiles Lois Langer Thompson, recently appointed to head the Hennepin County Library (HCL) system. She replaces Amy Ryan who left to head the Boston Public Library. She appears more than qualified, a 20 year veteran of HCL.

You may remember that HCL absorbed the financially moribund Minneapolis Public System. You know, the one that rebuilt its downtown location yet had nowhere near the funds to run it. The dust hasn't settled yet from that merger, and now Thompson has to pare about 10 percent from the $74 million budget for its 41 branches.

It seems a good time to again suggest merging the county libraries with all those overlapping Community Education programs the public school districts offer. In fact, the article says that the mission of the library is to promote early literacy and lifelong learning, so why not include ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education) in that as well? While I'm at it, let's toss in the similar programs offered by MnScu. Did you know that North Hennepin teaches babysitting? Or that Anoka-Ramsey teaches candle making? Oh, and don't forget the city community centers where you can learn pottery.

Two good things would happen. One, a great deal of overlap is eliminated. Better still, agencies for whom such programs are at best incidental to their primary government roles can better concentrate on those roles. That includes the library system.

The Referendum has passed. The right-sizing has been made. The resulting program restorations have been adopted. The Legislature has yet to weigh in, but the 2009-2010 Budget can and will now take shape. And, I can resume my T.E.R.M. paper to see if I can make District 281's finances more understandable.

As a State Legislator recently admitted on a radio interview, school finances for whatever the reason are much harder to interpret than say, city budgets. I like a car analogy. You go to a dealer and ask, "How much for that Bulgemobile Sultan over there?" The salesman gives you figures on how much they pay for the engines, transmissions, axles, fenders, seats, brake assemblies, air conditioning compressers, and so on. He shows you charts of what the assembly line workers make, and average hours per station. He lists the General and Administrative costs, Research and Development expenditures, and taxes paid, plus the transportation costs in putting that Sultan on the showroom floor. Another book lists all the buildings involved, from the factory to the dealership, with maintenance and utility costs shown. And none of it answers the original question: how much for the car? How much to educate my child?

In response to some recent commenters, I think I'm going to start with transportation. Again, the recent decisions should help because we won't have co-mingled operations like the Robbinsdale Area Learning Campus (RALC) any more. The RALC currently houses a middle school operation and the Robbinsdale Spanish Immersion (RSI) program, which is K-8 today. The alignment of the elementary / middle / high school boundaries also helps.

Starting this fall, there will be six categories of Transportation:

1. Daily, to your assigned school
   
2. RSI, from throughout the District to the re-purposed Sunny Hollow building.
   
3. IB (International Baccalaureate), from non-IB areas to IB schools.
   
4. AP (Advanced Placement), from non-AP areas to AP schools.
   
5. Events, for field trips, away games, etc.
   
6. Other - transportation for ECFE (Early Childhood Family Education), Community Education, or other non K-12 activity.
   

Some of these like IB and AP are in flux I believe, either being phased out or possibly restored. I will find out. Some of these are essential, like Daily and Events. Some are not, like RSI and IB in my opinion. I'll sort this out when I get the figures assembled.

In Captain Ed's True North post on possibly lowering the drinking age, he quotes House Representative Tom Hackbarth (R-48A Elk River).

“I think that bars and restaurants are having a difficult time right now with the smoking ban that went into place. I think with economic times the way they are, I’ve never opposed the drinking age being 18.”

Leaving aside the drinking age question, if the smoking ban is causing a problem, shouldn't the smoking ban be addressed?"

First, let's remember that there are no proven links between so-called second hand smoke in bars and the health of others, the patrons and employees. Second, let's remember that even if it was a problem, modern air handling equipment easily addresses this, bringing the air quality well within EPA guidelines. Several bars bought such systems, thinking the push for the smoking ban was truly about public health cause and effect.

But like Prohibition, the Smoking Ban was borne of zealotry, not science. Prohibition was later repealed in 1933, one key reason being to generate much-needed jobs during the Great Depression.

Continuing that parallel, given the economy, given our budget deficit, given the unfair competition our border cities have suffered, and given the proven job and tax revenue losses to date, isn't it time to now repeal the state wide Smoking Ban?

In fact, let's repeal it with interest by precluding and setting aside any local such ordinances. Otherwise we'll again have border issues that supposed helped justify the state ban by making everyone suffer, not just the foolish jurisdictions.

I'm out walking as usual on Saturday, listening to the North Alliance as usual. I hear Mitch and Ed try to put our state budget deficit in perspective, trying remember what the budget itself is. Mitch was way low thinking $5 billion a year, Ed much closer at around $14 billion annually - if you're only talking about the General Fund, that is.

Do you know what state spending will be for the current year, or at least until the unallotments? About $ 28.5 billion, of which the General Fund is $ 17.4 billion. That's correct, four of every ten dollars spent is not from the General Fund.
That's about $5,600 per capita, over $20,000 for a family of four. Obviously a lot of that is hidden from us, like in higher prices to pay our corporate income tax.

The state has a two page history of these figures, available at the Minnesota Management and Budget web site. Like Real Clear Markets these days, an adult beverage or two is good preparation for what you'll see.

Our own Minnesota's Mr. Right, Jason Lewis, is going national starting next week. He'll start an hour later, going up against Ralphie from 5 to 8 pm. You Sean Hannity fans, and I'm not one of them, will finally get his whole program live.

I've noticed since Jason returned that he's focused almost entirely on national news, especially since he started pinch-hitting for The Great One. I soon found that there just wasn't enough local content to keep me tuning in. Even when he does impale a local liberal or government entity, he's clearly not done the homework I expect, to the point of making some factual errors.

I'm nonetheless very happy for Mr. Lewis, another great American success story. I'll be at the Tax Rally as usual, but I fear we've lost Minnesota's Mr. Right.

I attended last night's District 281 Public Hearing on the Closing of Pilgrim Lane Elementary School, held at said school. I'd guess the attendance was just over 50, plus the Board, Superintendent and a number of District officials.

I left after the formal meeting was adjourned, moving on to an informal session reserved for answering transition questions. I'd had my fill of slander, nonsense, unfounded accusations, and conspiracy theories, even a little bigotry.

There wasn't much real substance to comment on. Instead, I'll note the repeated charge that the District was not being sufficiently forthcoming with information, too little or too late or both. This was generally expressed as "you didn't tell us" as opposed to "we didn't know" and there's a big difference. Who is responsible for that communication?

Information is not free. You have to invest time and money to obtain it. You have to pick the mediums that suit you - mailings, broadcast TV, cable channels, newspapers, radio, the web site, and of course - blogs! Or you can do it the hard way like I have, by attending meetings and getting involved.

The District conducts almost all of its business in public. You can obtain ten times that in detail for the asking. Other than for some specific cases like litigation and expulsions, there are no secrets that I'm aware of.

That all said, it is totally unrealistic to think that the District can communicate in all the ways I listed, meeting the various expectations. They do some mailings, some Web publishing, some press releases, and so on, but it varies on a case by case basis as it must. Don't forget: it costs the District money to communicate, too - your money.

Another unrealistic expectation is that everything will be said perfectly, every time, and that you'll understand it exactly right each time. Ask for confirmations and clarifications if something bothers you, when you first hear it instead of mistakenly complaining later on. And be a little forgiving when misunderstandings occur.

If it's important to you, it's your responsibility to stay informed, like life in general.

Another birthday, another set of Senior menus beckon. How old, you ask? Let's just say that I worked on one of these for several years:



I ain't as good as I once was
But I'm as good once as I ever was

"Morning in America" host Bill Bennett ended today's program with this observation I felt was worth re-quoting.

When I looked at the Obama approval ratings A, and the unhappiness with Bush B, and then I looked C what people were saying about the Stimulus Package, these reviews were more negative than I expected. I didn’t expect the negative reviews to come in quite so quickly.

Now the Republicans did do a good job of getting their message out of criticism, and a lot of this stuff on its face is self-evidently just nonsensical and doesn’t add up. [Early on,] you saw these numbers teetering evenly the first four or five days into the debate. And now as it’s sinking in, people [are] looking at it and saying, “What kind of deal is this?”

I’m not sure [that President Obama] has until summer or the end of summer to make good on this, and I don’t think this package will make good on things. […] There’s not a ton of criticism to the GOP for voting against it. There’s some, but […] it’s not that much.

The mainstream media itself is a little unsure of what to think. This is the guy they bought. This is the guy they pushed. But is this the program they want? They’re not so sure, either.

While on vacation, I saw this proposal to let exceptional students opt out of high school early to enter college early, trading the school money saved for college tuition. Whatever I might have said about it, this Letter to the Editor in Monday's Minneapolis Star Tribune said it better.

In Minnesota, high school students are required to pass four full years of both English and social studies as well as three years of math and of science plus a year each of health, phy ed and the arts. Most students also want to take a world language and technology classes. All this is rightfully provided by the state at no cost to students.

If students and their families feel they are ready to be in college early, the postsecondary options program allows them to substitute college classes for high school ones during their junior and senior years. The new proposal for a "get out of high school early with a minimal scholarship program" appears to try to rush students through high school and then push them out to pay for college mostly on their own so state taxpayers can save money.

We are doing our students and families no favors and much potential disservice with this proposal. Minnesota is a better place than this!

There's more to high school than academics. I've always told my children that school is 50 percent social. Sixteen year old children are still children no matter what Phyllis Kahn thinks. Their social immaturity will directly threaten their college success to some degree.

We may be sending them too early as it is. Dennis Prager has long argued that high school graduates should take a year off before entering college. Travel, work, whatever, but get some sense of the real world before the isolation and fantasy of college life jades your mind.

I've seen this technique used many times in the public and private sector. It's used for selecting key suppliers or hiring key employees. Somebody builds a matrix listing various attributes. Somebody puts weighting factors on each. Everyone involved scores it, and somebody tabulates it. And either it supports the subjective consensus or it leads to making what proves to be the wrong choice.

This is fine for Iron Chef, but I prefer the Top Chef judging model for the big decisions. Yes, the food and presentation matters most, but the judges take many other factors into consideration, particularly those that seem to drive the chefs' approach and decision making.

The Matrix gives everyone cover when a mistake is made. Or so they think. Trouble is, everyone can later second guess the criteria or the weighting or even the scoring, as we saw with the facilities study. We'll likely hear a bit more of this at the three school closing public hearings coming up. In fact, you invite this by making an exhaustive matrix (pro's and con's in this case). Somebody will sooner or later see an item they really disagree with, especially those that work against your preferred action.

Interview the candidates, take some notes of course, convene the "Judges' Table" and decide.

Never doubt the resiliency of the American Economy. Times are tough, and at least one restaurant in town is keeping Valentine's Day dinner within reach of almost everyone.

I'm out walking this afternoon, listening to the Northern Alliance of course, and go past the White Castle at 36th and East Lake street in Minneapolis. There's a pink sign in each of the glass doors saying that reservations will be required today from 4 to 9 pm. Yes, you have to phone ahead for inside dining. Otherwise, it's take out only.

District 281 is searching for a new Superintendent to take over this July. They have just published a "Letter to candidates for Superintendent" on their web site. Now I realize that this letter, which links to a list of "desired" attributes on another page, is primarily for us residents, parents, and taxpayers to read. Actual applicants will more likely learn of the opening and more about the District through the search firm hired and professional publications.

Still, I'm rather surprised by the almost flippant style used for such an important position. This person will be responsible for the education of over ten thousand students, supervise nearly two thousand employees, and manage a $ 180 million annual budget.

Plus, only a superman could hope to meet all the criteria listed. The 32 NFL teams can list all the highly desired skills they seek in a quarterback, but the truth is that there are only about 6 such active players in any given year.

Much of it is so obvious as to be redundant:

• Works creatively
  
• Speaks and writes effectively
  
• Is an outstanding educational leader
  
• Has a strong background in curriculum
  
• Can meet the multiple needs of the District
  
• Focuses on improving student achievement
  
• Is a strong leader
  
• Has excellent interpersonal skills
  
• Has high integrity and ethics
  
• Can engage the staff
  
• Is an effective listener
  
• Can make positive connections with the community
  

I could list several more, but truth be told, much of this doesn't ultimately matter. These are all means to an end: results. And not the only means. Many Super Bowls have been won by teams with second tier quarterbacks.

There are two broad questions I'd pose to Superintendent candidates. First, what do you think of the 2008 Strategic Plan? What would you change? How would you rank these goals in priority? What do you think of our progress to date? When would you be done with the remaining tasks?

Second, how would you make the Robbinsdale Area Schools again be regarded as one of the ten best public school districts in Minnesota?

The Anoka-Hennepin School District (ISD 11) has decided to offer the Superintendent's job to Dennis Carlson. Quoting the Minneapolis Star Tribune:

Board Chairman Tom Heidemann said Carlson got the nod in part because of his "organizational and operational experience" and his broad involvement in the community.

"He's in a lot of clubs and organizations," Heidemann said. "He is well-known."

Well known? Let's be specific:

His years of lobbying for district interests at the Legislatur:e also marked him as a candidate with political savvy and an understanding of how education works in the bigger picture of government and politics.

Carlson retired in 2008 as an Associate Superintendent to be a partner in a consulting firm, one that in fact participated in the search process. He was soon hired as interim Superintendent when 13 year incumbent Roger Giroux retired.

Carlson was picked unanimously over Associate Superintendent Dr. Michelle Langenfeld, recently promoted from Principal of one of the district's middle schools. The Board's reasons may be valid, but I'm disappointed that the administrator beat out the educator. And I'm also not surprised.

What I do find surprising is that the final two were both Associate Superintendents in the District. No one else from outside District 11 wants this job, leading the largest public school district in Minnesota? Or did the Board not want outsiders who would (in their eyes) need to learn Minnesota politics?

Promotion from within is often the correct choice in any hierarchy. I think that's a valid option in my own district, in fact. But here, Anoka-Hennepin is transitioning from the 13 year reign of Giroux and entering a significant stretch of declining enrollement. It was time for some new blood, an outsider that could hire Carlson or Langenfeld to be Lobbyist in Chief and join all those clubs.

It was an opportunity missed.

More than one of you out there likes to note that the Superbowl means that pitchers and catchers will soon be reporting for Spring Training. Very true, I like baseball, too, but something else comes even sooner - The Daytona 500.

In fact, Speed Week in Daytona is already well underway. The Bud Shootout was Saturday Night and qualifying was Sunday. I must note that veteran Mark Martin (age 47) is on the outside pole. Bill Elliott (age 53) qualified fifth. Hey, even 10 year old Sussex Spaniel "Stumpy" won Best in Show at the annual Westminster Kennel Club Show, another post-football, pre-baseball classic. Maybe this is the year of the Geezer, a comforting thought given that I have a major birthday coming up.

A caller to Joe Soucheray had a good idea, that our State Legislators wear suits like the NASCAR drivers, with all their sponsors emblazoned for all to see. Among the usual suspects, of course, would be: Education Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio, ASCFME, cities too dependent on LGA, MnSCU, lobbying firms, school districts, lawyers, Metro Transit, and all those wacko Environmental Groups.

I like it: real Truth in Taxation.

The first computer I ever worked with had cycle times measured in micro-minutes. Adding two numbers took 10 micro-minutes, or maybe 1.6 "kops" - kilo operations per second. I'll spare you the size, power, and cooling requirements required to do that.

Soon after, we were talking microseconds, then nanoseconds a decade later. Storage went from kilobytes to megabytes to gigabytes to terabytes, and whatever follows that.

Government budgets have done much the same. I remember the announcement that the state budget had reached $1 billion. I remember when Federal spending was a $100 billion or so. In those days, a billion dollars was an impressive sum, "real money" as the late Senator Dirkson called it.

Now we casually speak of trillions of dollars and nobody's heart skips a beat. Printing and spending another trillion dollars or two is discussed almost casually by many. Ironically, there is no fear now when we need that fear the most. Locally, the DFL could not be bothered with the time-honored traditional 3 percent bonding guideline last year. No fear.

What comes after a trillion? As Mark Steyn observed, when they asked Senate hopeful Caroline Kennedy Schlossberg, she said a cotillion.

King Banian, host of the Final Word segment of Saturday's Northern Alliance Radio Network production, is normally a calm voice of reason. After all, he used to have Michael Brodkorb to be the "bad cop" chastising the Democrats and RINO's.

But King was a bit animated today, speaking rather disparagingly of our DFL Legislative leaders, and rightly so. I may listen to that portion again tonight. His interview with Senator Haan (R-Eden Prairie) about a Statewide wage freeze was very thought provoking as well. I want to think about that before commenting further.

I highly recommend listening to this podcast when it becomes available.

The January thaw has finally arrived and the streets are a mess. Actually, the sidewalks in Minneapolis (and my driveway) are even worse, so I'm doing most of my walking in the streets.

At least it's melting. I note that we began getting 10 hours of daylight on Thursday.

My prime objection to candidate Obama was his lack of experience, zero in executive roles. It shows already. Plus, his rumored ignorance of world history is already largely confirmed judging by his foreign policy to date. People skills? Appointing Tom Daschle to anything? As he admits, his error, but a completely unforced error.

My President is a fish out of his Chicago machine waters. His solution so far seems to be to bring (more) Chicago politics to Washington, starting with a big wad of spreading around money. It worked before when President Clinton brought what was accepted practice in Arkansas to the White House, didn't it? Not exactly, but give President Clinton his due. Even at his lowest, he retained a forceful executive style that had to be respected as Newt Gingrich found out.

As I survey the economic news, I hope for the best, but I fear the worst economy I've ever known and I remember Jimmy Carter. One hope was that a President Obama would inspire some confidence. That hope is gone in just 3 weeks.

If I've learned nothing else from my past year of reporting and involvement with my public school district, it's that you really have to invest that much time to really make sense of what's really going on. What Rush Limbaugh calls "drive by" reporting and reaction won't do. Consider this letter in the Sun Post (1/29):

"District 281 taxpayers paid $70,000 for the Wold Company to provide analysis, support it with data and draw the best facilities conclusion. Yet, the report was so limited in scope and so much analysis was not done that a final data-driven conclusion could not be made. But Wold, district administrators and the school board did it anyway."

I was at almost every scheduled public meeting. I took dozens of pages of notes, including public input. I heard a few make claims like the above, that there wasn't enough data, the analysis was flawed, and the outcome was predetermined. I heard no competent substantiation of any of this. Another Sun Post letter (2/5) states:

"Are you buying what District 281 School Board and administrators are selling? I'm not. While conducting this recent facilities study, they collectively have claimed to be transparent and thorough. My personal opinion is that this process continues to be half-transparent and half-complete. Now we have a half-solution. Where is the thorough plan to make Northport and Lakeview viable buildings?"

I'll give this writer a little more credit, in that yes, Northport and Lakeview's fate is unknown at this point. But if you had watched this process unfold, you know why. Solutions like "K-6" that kept all the western elementary schools open were so skewed geographically that it forced absurd ideas like herding most of the Northport and Lakeview students into a mega-elementary in the old Robbinsdale High School building. That's why Wold didn't recommend this. That's why 6 of the 7 Board members wouldn't vote for it.

Consider this from a recent Taxpayers League of Minnesota eUpdate (1/26):

"For over a year Robbinsdale school district 281 has been working on how to solve their lowering enrollment problems. Last year they decided against closing three schools to save money, and then asked for more money via 2 referendums on the November ballot.

It seemed that the fear of their kids’ schools closing got the best of Robbinsdale parents because the 2 referendums (totaling $22 million in additional revenue over seven years) passed November 4th with flying colors. But now, just a few short months later, the school board has all but officially voted on closing three schools anyway."

The Taxpayers League is a great organization, but even they got a few details wrong. Last year, yes, Robbinsdale looked at closing one, possibly two schools in reaction to the failed 2007 Referendum. The District had assumed it would pass like all the others, had made no contingency plans, and thus was suddenly scrambling. The School Board finally decided to make other cuts in order to understand the situation better.

Once the situation was better understood, the closing of at least one building was clearly going to have to happen given the dropping enrollment. The 2008 Referendum advocates didn't present their case as clearly or accurately as I would have liked, but nowhere was a promise made not to close schools if passed. Like many others, the Taxpayers League made a faulty correlation with the events of a year ago and now, seemingly unaware of the intervening months of study and analysis.

Budget summaries and enrollment projections are pretty dry stuff, but school closings are immediately felt and understood. You have to follow it all if you're going to draw any meaningful conclusions.

That said, the public schools in Minnesota have much to do in the areas of transparency, accountability, and communications. Given their near monopoly status, these aren't going to be high priorities, especially with the DFL in control. If you want to know what's truly going on in your district, you're going to have to spend some time attending meetings and reading the web sites.

You may have seen the coverage of the winter storm that pushed through parts of Arkansas, Kentucky, Missouri, and Illinois. On the way down, we drove through this area the day after, actually shortly after sunset.

For an extended distance in Illinois and Kentucky, the countryside was dark. Fortunately, we had just refueled, as other than one isolated oasis, all the gas stations, hotels, etc that adorn freeway exits were dark. The trees were all bowed over with ice. Numerous cars and a few semis had spun off the road. It was like "The Day After" when the "nuclear winter" had snow falling in late summer Kansas. Or the TV series "Jericho."

When we returned, the ice had melted but the trees were mostly broken and snapped from the weight. Power crews were everywhere, with crews sleeping in churches in some areas because the hotels are either full or without power. Radio reports said today that 270,000 were still out, and that it would likely take another week or more to repair it all.

Everyone seemed pretty calm about it all. There was no whining about FEMA. People seemed to understand that you can't plan for such freak weather, just react the best you know how. Granted, it wasn't like you could drown or lose everything in a flood like New Orleans, but I think it speaks very well of these good old boys and girls.

We're back from our winter escape to Tennessee. I see that while we were gone, 7 days were below zero, and overall, temperatures here were 5 degrees below normal, 10 degrees if you leave out that brief thaw around Feb 1. We brought back the 30's with us, you're welcome.

What I'll likely remember most was finally seeing the Grand Ole Opry, in the old downtown Ryman Auditorium, just like it was before they moved to the larger Opry House in the suburbs in the 1970's. Vince Gill was the headliner, did a great job as both host and singer, but there were many other acts old and new. Among them was Jim Ed Brown of The Browns that recorded those smooth ballads "The Three Bells" and "The Old Lamplighter."

I enjoyed the beautiful precision of this live broadcast, flawlessly executed. The house band was great, too. On one of Vince Gill's numbers, a slow ballad, the steel guitar player teased me, oh so beautifully sliding up a couple of times. He's going to be late or flat, I thought, only he wasn't. He has the patience I would never have, the result, well, as somebody quipped, it would bring a tear to your glass eye.

It's another American treasure, one I will definitely relive by watching or listening to the broadcast from time to time.