What do preschoolers and sexy vampires have in common?

Burger King kids meals!

These are photos of the "toy" that was included in my three-year-old granddaughter's kids meal a few days ago.

When you open up this plastic thingy, this is what you get:

I have a couple of problems with this. First of all, this doesn't even qualify as a "toy." It's purely an advertising tool that doesn't even break a sweat trying to be an actual toy.

Then there's the problem of extreme age inappropriateness. I know all kids who eat Burger King kids meals aren't three years old, like my granddaughter. Frankly, she's too young to even understand what this toy means though she did notice it's not really a toy.

Burger King kids meals are targeted to children ages 12 and under. Does anyone in their right mind think children in this age group should be an advertising target for this PG-13 rated movie? Yes, I know there will be the few parents who will bring their toddlers to this film. (Years ago, I sat behind a toddler whose parents thought it would be a great idea to bring her to see "Alien." She screamed that she was scared the whole time and tried to face backwards in her front row seat with her tiny, dimpled hands tightly covering her eyes, occasionally looking at me. I remember nothing about the film but this poor child.) So there are a few parents out there who will do this, but I don't think that covers even a slight fraction of a percentage point of American parents. At least I hope not.

I know fast food restaurants often give toys for children under age three if asked. These three-and-under toys contain no small parts the child might choke on. There were no small parts contained within this toy.

There was, however, a $5 coupon for any "Eclipse" merchandise I would like to buy for my child. She could be sporting sexy vampire apparel for a bargain price!

What in the world is Burger King thinking advertising to small children about a new addition to a movie franchise based on books about vampires? Young sexy ones? I don't have any hang ups about young vampire sex, except when it comes to children. Watching it. Being exposed to it. Opening their Burger King kids meals and thinking the photo inside is cool.

Gotta go. I need to look up movie times for "Eclipse." I think I might bring my granddaughter to that instead of "Winnie-the-Pooh." I'll make sure to buy her a T-shirt first. I wonder if they come in a size 3T?

Pawlenty goes Gaga

So, T-Paw likes Lady Gaga, particularly her songs, "Bad Romance," and her a cappella performance of her song, "Born This Way" on her HBO special.  There are more than a thousand articles on the subject available on the internet, if you'd like to read them.  The most succinct one I found was this article from USA Today.  The StarTribune article, as is typical of that publication, crossed the line between news and opinion.  It seems this breaking news had a lot of people talking.

And I say, "So what?"

I know this confession won't be big news, but I, the Friendly Neighborhood Republican, "like" Lady Gaga too.

I know, it's shocking. A Republican, mid-western grandmother thinks Lady Gaga is really talented. I know I'm not a member of her typical fan base, but that's okay.  I'm a very music-oriented person, and I have a lot of eclectic tastes.  If you were to look at my playlist, it would include sacred choir music (performed by my son's high school choir); Prince, more Prince, and still more Prince; Vince Gill; Stevie Ray Vaughn; Meshugah; all of my son's performances that my husband burned for me; Mozart piano concertos; Aerosmith; and, of course, Elvis.  And I'm leaving a lot of musicians out.

I harbor no guilt or conflict about any of my choices.  I come from a very musical family, and frankly, neither I nor my children or grandchildren would exist without a combination of 50's rock-n-roll, blues, and classical piano.  It's a very long story.

So, if my choice to appreciate the talent Lady Gaga clearly exhibits as a songwriter, singer, musician and performance artist is a problem for anyone, given my political leanings, that's just too bad.  But contrary to what you might think, I'm not advocating that the two are mutually exclusive.  They're not.

Pawlenty, when asked whether the lyrics of Gaga's song, "Born This Way," might be contrary to his belief system about whether or not gay people are born gay, he said, "The science isn't clear either way on that." Even the liberal publications had to admit he was right. It was a round-about way of saying he doesn't disagree with the song's message.

Pawlenty, like most Republicans, has never said he hates gays and everything they stand for.  So why is it news that he appreciates the talent of a woman who has become a contemporary gay icon?  He even argued for gay marriage rights as a Minnesota legislator.

He now says he regrets his support when he was legislator. Sadly, Pawlenty, like Michele Bachmann, has aligned himself with the religious right segment of the Republican party for his presidential campaign. That's where we differ.

I'm coming out to say that being Republican doesn't automatically mean you are against gay rights. My gay, Republican nephew would agree with that statement.  I plan to write much more about gay rights as it relates to Republican politics in the near future.

But for now, let's just say, stop being shocked that a mid-western Republican would be a Lady Gaga fan. If you are the least bit scandalized or feel Republicans are somehow hypocritical for being fans, I say you're very closed minded, something liberals accuse conservatives of all the time.

I also say, as a preface to a series of upcoming writings, that the cobwebs needing to be swept from the hinges of the doors slammed to new ideas and anti-stereotyping don't exist in the minds of all Republicans.  They just may belong to members of the "tolerance party" who can't seem to accept something as trivial as Tim Pawlenty's musical tastes, just because he happens to be a Republican.

Letter to the editor reveals truth about Dayton's extreme vetoes

I wrote a letter to the editor of a local newspaper, which was published on Thursday, June 9, 2011.  I would have liked to post a link to it here, but it's not online yet.  I really want to share the facts included in the letter with readers who may not have seen it.  If you saw the letter, you know I had the dubious honor of being published on the same page as Senator Al Franken.

Here's the letter:

Questions Dayton's vetoes

Mark Dayton issued a flurry of vetoes last week, making it the biggest snowstorm of 2011. Among the things he vetoed:  Tax relief for Minnesota's 506,000 married joint filers who now have to pay the marriage penalty tax, tax relief for military veterans, property tax relief for disabled veterans and surviving spouses, property tax refunds for homeowners and property tax relief for businesses statewide.

Republicans gave him a $34.2 billion budget - much larger than I would have liked. After subtracting the one-time stimulus money Minnesota received last year, this budget actually represents an increase of $3.5 billion. It raises spending without raising taxes. Why isn't it enough for Dayton - a 9 percent spending increase when so many people are getting little to no increase in income?

Dayton also vetoed Senator Daley's bill to require basic skills testing for teachers.  This bill was not controversial.  It passed 87-41 in the House and 52-0 in Senate. Dayton is revealing himself to be even more radical than his own party.

Finally, Dayton vetoed the voter ID bill.  He said it was because the bill "lacks broad bipartisan support."  But, according to two recent polls (Minneapolis Star Tribune and Survey USA), Minnesotans overwhelmingly support voter ID. For example, according to the Star Tribune poll, 80 percent of Minnesotans support voter ID (including 64 percent of Democrats) and only 18 percent are opposed.  That sounds pretty bipartisan to me.

I'm not publishing this on my blog so I can blow my own horn, but because I have had comments from several people who, after reading the letter, said, "I didn't know he vetoed all of those things."  I think people should be as informed as possible.  If this letter can help that happen, then I want to spread it to a wider audience.

So, if you think the information here is important, please pass it on to your friends. Thank you for your readership.

         

Who is really holding Minnesota hostage: Republicans, Dayton, or left-wing media scare tactics?

The front-page article in today's StarTribune, "Shutdown would be a leap into unknown," is typical in many ways. First, it showcases the Strib's well-known penchant for uni-partisanship by deliberately slanting the article to make Republicans look like the bad guys. Second, it uses the handy dandy scare tactics the left likes to pull out when things get rough.

(Click this link for mood music to read the article's excerpts by.  Right click on this link to open it in another tab or window so you can play it while you read.)

The article begins:

"Minnesota's state parks: Closed.

The state lottery? Frozen.

Minnesota's most violent prisoners? Held back by a skeleton crew.

Taxes? Not so fast. Minnesotans would still be paying those.

In 19 days, Minnesotans could endure the most wide-reaching government shutdown in state history, with little sense of when it might end."

The music is appropriate here, don't you think? The smell of fear, the bait dangled for dangers lying ahead--you get the drift.

The last paragraph on the front page before the jump to page A16 reads:

"DFL Gov. Mark Dayton's administration has rushed to piece together a shutdown plan largely in secret, even as he slogs through inch-by-inch budget negotiations with Republicans to avert closure. Dayton's..."

Poor Governor Dayton, slogging his way through inch-by-inch budget negotiations with Republicans. It gives one mental pictures of Dayton struggling through quicksand toward those stubborn Republicans, standing with arms folded, refusing to move at all, while his administration rushes to piece together a plan in secret. (More about that important word later.)

Then comes the jump, which most editors hope readers won't bother to follow to continue reading the article. Many won't. They just read what's on the front page and don't continue. That's why liberal journalists are masters at setting up headlines and front-page teaser articles that blame the right while waiting until after the jump to the inside page to add a point of view from the opposition. You know, to give a balanced news story, not an opinion piece, to help preserve their journalistic integrity. Did I just write, "journalistic integrity?" You may all pause for a short belly laugh at my naive use of those words when referring to the StarTribune. For just one of many examples, even after this article's second jump, it doesn't give the Republican viewpoint at all.

But it does begin to describe what's going on with the budget negotiations and what Dayton is doing about it. It seems Dayton's top staffers are "cobbling together" information to determine which government workers would be deemed essential in the event of a government shut down.  (Non-essential workers would be temporarily laid off and wouldn't be paid during the shut-down period.) Then there is what I consider to be the most important piece of the article:

"Dayton's administration has refused to release many details, in part because final decisions will be made not by them but by a court."

So Dayton is "piecing together" the shutdown plan in secret and refuses to release many details. Sounds like representative government to me. They say the reason is because decisions will ultimately be made in court, but I think there is another, simpler reason.

It's much, much scarier to leave things dangling in the unknown, isn't it? Much of the rest of the article speculates which jobs or services could be cut (but might not be because no one knows what the plans are), such as schools, nursing homes (which may have to kick residents out), home health care aides, etc. They even trotted out the possibility of a dangerous epidemic and pointed out the "deadly E.coli outbreak in Germany as a ghoulish example of the need to be prepared."

When presented with the scenario of the possible shut down lasting into September, Charlie Kyte, the executive director of the Minnesota Association of School Administrators was quoted as saying, "It could be hugely problematic." Such specificity from academia. 

Anyway, the article points out that Dayton faces pressure from state workers living paycheck to paycheck (who are a large part of his voting base) and his desire to get what he wants politically, which the Strib simply boils down to raising taxes on high earners with no mention of Dayton's proposed 15 percent spending increase. It also points out that much of the outcome is in his hands:

"An expansive shutdown would apply maximum public pressure on Republicans to agree on a budget deal. Or Dayton could argue that most services are essential, which would minimize disruptions, but also give Republicans less incentive to cut a deal.

So far, Dayton has been silent on strategy. "We are still in the process of developing what we believe the law requires," he said."

So Dayton could give in and balance the budget with the Republican's version, which proposes a six percent increase in spending without increasing taxes, or he could lay off thousands of people who really need those paychecks to keep coming in for their very survival.

Given Dayton's past as a trust-fund baby turned aimless adult, I wonder which he'll choose? Surely he hasn't stood in the shoes of those whose fate he holds in the palm of his hands. If he has, I'd love to hear the story (a true one, of course).

The second-to-last paragraph in the article reads:

"Meanwhile, the state's 40,000 workers watch the days tick away while they worry about lost paychecks and whether they'll be able to maintain their health insurance, which could run roughly $1,500 a month."

To answer the question posed in my headline, "Who is really holding Minnesota hostage: Republicans, Dayton, or left-wing media scare tactics?" my answer is: the latter two. Republicans found a way to balance the budget without raising taxes in a recession. By not giving up on his ill advised, silly economic ideals, Dayton has the power to throw Minnesota into a much deeper hole by putting government workers out of work.

The media are contributing to the problem by printing articles like this to try to scare people into putting pressure on Republicans to back down or on Democrats to hold fast. What I propose is that Republicans begin calling and e-mailing their legislators, both Republican and Democrat, and let them know you want them to accept the Republican budget and keep the government running.

The potential for government shutdown is in Dayton's hands. Let's hope he drops it like a hot potato and moves on instead of making a politicized move to shut down government and spending the upcoming years blaming Republicans for what is truly his decision.

Now it's easy to "follow" Friendly Neighborhood Republican

I want my readers to know it's now easier to follow this blog than ever before.  At the top of the-right hand margin above my photo is a "Friendly Neighborhood Republican Followers" box.  In that box there is a button marked "follow."  All you have to do is click and you will become a Friendly Neighborhood Republican Follower and be alerted when new blog posts are up.  This is a great way to follow the blog if you are not a member of Networked Blogs, which has a follower box at the bottom of the right-hand margin on the page.

Thank you to all my loyal readers who come to this blog regularly to check for new posts.  Becoming a Follower will take some of the work out of that.  Thanks to all new visitors for checking it out.

If you like it, "follow" it!

Weiner "victim" of poor lying skills

While strolling through the blogosphere, I'm finding a lot of media items that seem to be expressing empathy, sadness, and even notes on the bleak, spiritless decor of the room in which Representative Anthony Weiner (D-N.Y) admitted he sent illicit photos and e-mails to young women.  The photo in question is one of him in a pair of grey shorts that was sent to a college student via Weiner's Twitter account.

Weiner gave a series of embarrassing news conferences and interviews in which he tried to pull a Clinton ("it depends on what the definition of 'is' is," etc.) and instead wound up looking like a kid with chocolate smeared all over his mouth telling you he didn't eat the candy.  He actually said in an interview with NBC when asked if the photo was or was not of his body below the waist,  "I can't say with certitude that it's not me."

And so today the Congressman has now confessed it was his doing all along (gasp!).  In predictable fashion, the liberal media began bestowing victim status upon Representative Weiner, though he already trotted out the "V-word" himself last week.  "I was the victim of a prank," he said.

Eric Dezenhall, author of Damage Control, speaking of today's news conference during which Weiner confessed to lying, said, ..."Unless you're a sociopath, watching someone endure that is a very, very distressing thing."  Call me a sociopath, but I don't think watching someone squirm out of the ropes with which they bound themselves is "very, very distressing."  It feels a little more like...justice.

Didn't we all--and I mean all--know this guy did the deed in question and was lying about it?  Why the headlines and dismay?  Reports are Weiner won't resign (he should) and so, at least for now, the Dems will hold onto their seat.  So that's probably not it.  Why such sympathy and column space for a guy we knew was a lying sack and a story from which we should just move on?

Because I'm writing about a dweeby little guy with a funny name who happens to be a United States Congressman using his official Twitter account for ill and blaming it on hackers instead of how Obama's great economic recovery is a failure and an even bigger lie than the tale of the Little Man Who Tweeted.

Dayton Vetoes Voter I.D. Bill

Okay, here we go. I'm about to embark on a blog post about a subject nearly every conservative Minnesota blogger has undertaken. Mark Dayton has vetoed the bill that was delivered to his desk (located in a closet), commonly known as the Voter ID Bill.

This bill would have required Minnesota voters to show identification at the polls before voting. Republicans wanted this because of the massive voter fraud alleged in the Coleman/Franken race (including felonious and dead voters) and in the election that put Dayton himself in the governor's closet.

The dems repeat the example that only a "handful of convicted felons were caught voting illegally." That handful was in the low hundreds--about enough to turn around an election such as Coleman/Franken. They also state the Voter ID law wouldn't identify felons because their ID doesn't show their status as a felon or non felon. But they are missing the point. It would catch the huge amounts of other fraudulent acts perpetrated at Minnesota polls during every election due to our ridiculous, 19th-century "vouching" system, in which a "neighbor" can "vouch" for up to 15 people, and the polls have to let them vote based on that reliable information.

Dayton has laughably given an executive order to appoint a task force to look into voter fraud in Minnesota. The fraud the dems have repeatedly said doesn't exist. Does any thinking person believe this task force is going to uncover anything?

I'm not surprised by this at all. Well, just a little bit. This veto is probably the first time I've seen a democrat decline to bite the hand that feeds him, as they advocate Americans do all the time by being anti capitalist and regulating and taxing businesses to the point where they leave the state/country. But I digress.

Thank God the Republicans have in their back pocket a Constitutional amendment to require voter ID, which would not require Dayton's approval. Go with that, Republicans. Please.

There isn't much more to say about Dayton's veto except that he may as well wear a T-shirt that reads, "I Heart Voter Fraud."

I'm too disgusted to write more about this predictable move by an illegally elected governor.

I think I need a Kombucha.

New Reality Show About Young Veterans Using Their Skills in the Private Sector

This is worth supporting, I think, because it's important for Americans to see what life can be like for young vets coming home from our current wars, and to see them using what they learned in our military to protect and serve individuals in the homeland.

This is a sample video of the reality show. Reality TV gets a lot of flack, but if we support more quality programming, that's what we'll get. (And for the love of God, if you are a fan of The Jersey Shore, just stop. Stop it. Now. You are a drain on America's collective IQ.)

Support our young vets and support reality TV that uplifts, not downgrades, the United States of America.

Here's the show's description, ripped from YouTube:

Premise: "Dog the Bounty Hunter" meets "Jersey Shore," "Miami Ink" and "Real World." The lives of Blue Diamond's "A" team (comprised of former combat Marines and Special Operations veterans, and a former Navy Seaman, political and business minded recent college grads, and even a few single parents) are showcased in their professional lives starting and running a premier executive protection company, Blue Diamond Strategies, along with a glimpse into their personal lives. See these characters during their journey starting a business, seeking celebrities and other high-profile clients from the entertainment, political and business world, training (gun range, gym, board meetings, etc.,), their development as a team, trying to become the best in the industry, and going out on their off time because these characters work hard and play harder. Since many of Blue Diamonds principal players are emigrating from outside Minnesota, we will get a group house for a handful of the guys to showcase the camaraderie, drama and everyday lives of some of America's highest trained warriors... It's the Real World—only with a bunch of guns, black SUV's and testosterone... Blue Diamond already has the ability to work outside Minnesota in California, and Baja California, so the action is fresh and fast paced.

Background: While serving in Iraq in the Marine Corps, David thought of taking what he did in Iraq (Personal Security Detail) and doing the same in back stateside. While thinking about how he would run the business, he decided on the name Blue Diamond Strategies. The concept was simple, instead of having run of the mill old bodyguards in a 1 man security detail, why not put a highly trained team detail (2-4 agents +) who have millions of dollars of US Military training, coupled with needy clients, to provide them high end, elite team security. Through David's three tours of duty he become close friends—brothers, with his fellow Marines and decided to bring these same friends who had fought side by side with David in the Battles of Fallujah and Ramadi-- as well as gun fights in Al Asad, Hit and Baghdad..

Voting Rights Issue Minnesotans Should Act on NOW

I found a very important article from Sheila Kihne at The Activist Next Door. Her article is titled, '"Look that Way!" While the Republicans pass National Popular Vote.'

It concerns the bill HF495, which was passed in committee but has yet to reach the House floor. It is considered likely to pass. The bill will give all of Minnesota's electoral votes in presidential elections to the candidate who got the most popular votes nationwide.

I believe this bill seeks to take away the power of Minnesotan's votes by giving them to whomever the rest of the country voted for, no matter how Minnesotan's really voted. It's a sneaky way to circumvent the true intent of the electoral college.

Anyway, Sheila writes it much more thoroughly on her blog, so visit the article, and contact your legislators immediately to tell them to vote against this bill. The legislative session is about to end, so don't wait!

Raising the Debt Ceiling: It Just Makes Sense...

Lazy blog. Fun video.