In other news...

I'm not saying there's a fat lady in Minnesota--I'm just saying she ain't sung yet!

In November I shared some thoughts about this topic, and in December, I wrote this post about the Franken-Coleman race, and now here's an update from PAT DOYLE and KEVIN DUCHSCHERE, Star Tribune staff writers:

"In a ruling that keeps alive Republican Norm Coleman's chances of overturning Minnesota's U.S. Senate recount, a three-judge panel on Tuesday allowed him to bring evidence to trial that as many as 4,800 absentee ballots were wrongly rejected and should now be counted.
The decision expands the evidence that can be considered in the recount trial, giving Coleman the opportunity to put more ballots into play in his effort to erase a 225-vote lead for Al Franken....[T]he judges said they will focus on rejected absentee ballots cast by voters who complied with the requirements of Minnesota election law or failed to comply because of mistakes by local elections officials."

There was a ten point election spread between Obama and McCain. This means that 10% of voting Minnesotans took the time to not vote a straight ticket. They pulled the lever for Obama but then deliberately voted against Democrat Al Franken. That is a huge understated fact in this tie that will finally be put to rest when these 4,800 votes are considered. If Franken still wins, so be it, but if he loses, I hope his truest of colors show through confirming the importance of these yet uncounted votes.

Two closing topics: First, I wish I could say my post about the stimulus package was read by thousands and that it had some part in the lack of traction it's gotten since going to the Senate, but the truth is millions of voices decided to call it what it was, and even some Democrats are afraid to put their name on such a blatant non-stimulus, pork barrel, liberal wish list (aka: "One giant leap toward irreversible bigger government"). Some have called it a step toward European Socialism that will do as much harm as good if not drastically overhauled. Here's what McCain had to say about it. The clip below features just one of the mouthpieces that helps us see this bill as hyped-liberal tripe: NANCY PELOSI. This lady has no credibility on the topic of true economic recovery. Have you ever noticed that when "leaders" feel they are on a righteous track that their self-declared good intentions outweigh their good sense? Listen to this unchallenged "flub" (or is it a "flub?" She has evidently said it with conviction in three different venues. It is absurd!)



[The Youtube headline is not mine. I don't think she's dumb (manipulative maybe); I just think she's flat-out wrong whenever her mouth moves. She's right up there with Maxine Waters whose socialistic leanings came through in this Freudian slip. Spoofed here.]

And finally, this has been a rough week so far for President Obama--not disastrous but when four of your most trusted appointments for your most valued cabinet seats have serious tax evasion issues (and are thereby "not patriotic" according to Biden and not as willing to "spread the wealth" as he had hoped they would model)... that's a rough week. (Truth be told, Daschle had more issues than $120,000 in unpaid taxes.)

I think he handled yesterday's "withdrawals" in a commendable way. It's not easy going from a whole-hearted "stand by your man" stance on Monday to "I screwed up by picking Daschle" on Tuesday, and he did it about as gracefully as any politician could. With that in mind, I'd like to close with a reminder that I will continue to pray for his success in all things that benefit this country (not only in this moment but in the long haul).

As I said in the comments of this post: "Something funny occurred to me today. If you consider the fact that America could be put in two groups: those that pray and those who do not believe in God and never pray, and when you consider that by all research, the latter group voted almost totally for Obama, it may very well be that there will be more Christians praying for Obama that did not vote for him than there are atheists who did. If I were him, that would be very reassuring."

"The Country's in the Very Best of Hands"



Update 5:00PM: As if to quickly change the subject, Obama packed a room full of people that he knew would cheer after nearly every sentence (oh, how he must miss the campaign trail) to press again for swift passage of this bill he knows is flawed and misguided. At an attempt to tug on the heart strings of the TV audience (why else have it at 5:00PM?), he introduced a father and son.

"When Gregory Seacrest from Martinsville, VA, lost his job back in August his kids lost their health care and when he broke the news to his family his nine-year-old son... handed over his piggy bank with $4.00 in it and told his father, 'Daddy, if you need it; you take it.' Now, this is not who we are."

I beg to differ, Mr. President. That is exactly the way families pull together; it's how they all pitched in during the Great Depression; that boy was willing to give of his small treasure for the sake of the greater good of his family. Sure his $4.00 is not the solution to his father's lost health insurance, but his willingness to sacrifice and 'do without' is at the heart of what will see families through these hard times in ways the government will never be able to provide. If you're going to exploit a family in need, please at least expose the true heart of the story.

I'm not suggesting that government can play no role in helping such families, but please Mr. President, in this week when you're trying so hard to help us forget that the "grown ups" don't get it, that the experts you've surrounded yourself don't pay their share of taxes and that the banker fat-cats don't know how to cut back on junkets during times when the investments they oversee have tanked, please don't miss the real message that this little nine-year-old conveyed to his father in that moment. "We'll get through this together, and I'm willing to sacrifice to make it happen."