Centricity - The state or quality of being centric; centricalness.
Centrisity - The state or quality of not being bound to an ideology. Freedom of thought.
the state has been hobbled by earlier budget fixes that can't be repeated and make it difficult for it to climb out of its fiscal hole.You can't keep shifting line items around without paying the piper. The no new tax pledge could cost the Governor more then his re-election if he maintains his stubbornness on the issue. Of course, he has his own ideas how to raise revenues. But of course, they are user fees, not taxes.
Johnson says he's "99 percent sure" that he won't run in 2006 for Sen. Mark Dayton's seat. Dayton announced earlier in the month that he would not seek a second term.Johnson also hinted he may not run for re-election, but that would only be if he perused higher office.
He wouldn't say which one, but when asked specifically about running for governor he would only say that he needs time before making a decision.The field begins to become clearer for the US Senate race. The Bench has been updated.
Since Senator Mark Dayton announced he would not seek reelection two weeks ago, a lot of people have urged me to run for the U.S. Senate.
I am extremely flattered to be considered as a potential candidate for such an important position. Up to two weeks ago I had not given a run for Senate much thought because it was my understanding that Senator Dayton would seek reelection.
A United States Senator has the ability to have a profound effect on public policy issues that affect the daily lives and futures of working families. After discussing this development with family, friends, and supporters I have decided to actively explore a run for the U.S. Senate.
In the upcoming weeks I will form an exploratory committee to further look into this option. My focus, as always, is to determine where I can best advocate for children and families, to serve the people of Minnesota most effectively.
Patty Wetterling
"We've had tens of thousands of dollars of contributions come in, many of them unsolicited, and the law says that we have to file when we start to get these contributions in,"The field may get clogged up soon, but the early filing will gave Klobuchar, one of the favorites going in, a leg up on the rest of the slate.
Mr. Snow:I thought nothing of it. I was sure he was too preoccupied with his reality to wade through a pile of E-Mails. To my surprise, I received this:
I can't say that I watch you and I can't say that I am a fan, but I CAN care.
My hopes and prayers go out to you and your family as you travel this difficult road. All my hopes for a quick and speedy recovery.
Thanks for the kind e-mail. It means even more to me because you're not a "fan." I have been amazed, but not completely surprised, by the goodness and decency of people I encounter. You fit that mold, and I thank you from the bottom of my heart.He just might have picked himself up a new fan. I may not always agree with him, but there is a bright side. Look at all the new material I can gather *grin*
Best,
Tony Snow
As a veteran of Illinois politics, U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson is no stranger to a culture of back-biting, name-calling and cliques pervading the halls of power.This may be an uphill battle, seeing they don't have the clout of seniority, but leadership from both sides have made statements.
But when the Republican got to Congress, he found out things were even more bloodthirsty.
And that, said Johnson, is why he and another equally flustered colleague, Democrat Steve Israel of New York, are announcing the formation Wednesday of a new centrist caucus dedicated to tempering the win-at-all-cost attitude pervading Congress while preaching the virtue of getting people who disagree to get along.
A Hastert spokesman said the speaker will support efforts to reduce partisanship, but he declined comment on specifics until Johnson and Israel laid out their plans in full.Efforts like this have been tried before, but this times it seems like there is a certain level of sincerity. Whether it is PR smoke and mirrors is yet to be seen.
House Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif., who rips into Republicans with regularity, has also given her support to the new caucus. Former Democratic House Speaker Tom Foley and former Republican Minority Leader Bob Michel of Illinois, whose leadership harkens back to times when things were more congenial, are also ardent supporters, saying the time has come for a change.
The problem was most prevalent in North Dakota, where an estimated 31 percent of residents 12 and older had engaged in binge drinking, according to the 2003 National Survey on Drug Use and Health.I wonder who will slam who first. Fast Eddie, or 'Shoot from the Hip' Berg. My monies on Mitch, it is more his style!
I'm sure most of you have heard the news about Ron by now, I know word carries quickly. I'm sorry to say that it is true. God took him home at 9:20am February 10, 2005.My heart and prayers go out to the Rice Family.
The blog is bogus. If I start my own, I'll let people know.So there ya have it. Another mystery solved by the crack investigative team at Centrisity.
Mondale 'cured' of Senate aspirationsI'll be going through my Bench list today to see if there has been any changes.
. . . former Vice President Walter Mondale was among the first to take himself off the list of potential Senate candidates. "No one is as cured as I am,"
Mondale flatly ruled out another race. "It's time for new faces," the 77-year-old Minnesota icon said.
THE DEEP THROAT BRIEFThe research is thorough, and the arguments made are rather convincing. A teaser
An unorthodox solution to the greatest mystery in American politics.
Wittgenstein usually applied his ideas on liguistics to philosophical issues, but I think they can be of use in solving this puzzle. Consider the following passage from ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN:The linked screed is long, but compelling. I skimmed it for entertainment purposes, as I have always written off Ben as a candidate. I have stayed with the mainstream choices, with L. Patrick Gray being my front runner.
"Deep Throat was already there, smoking a cigarette. He was glad to see Woodward, shook his hand. Woodward told him that he and Bernstein needed help, really needed help on this one. His friendship with Deep Throat was genuine, not cultivated. Long before Watergate, they had spent many evenings talking about Washington, the government, power."
This passage has been the basis for what has been assumed to be the most fundamental clue of the mystery - that Woodward and DT had been friends long before Watergate. But is this clearly stated in the above paragraph? Read it again carefully. Does the word "his" in the fourth sentence refer to Woodward? Could it refer instead to Bernstein, whose name appears in the preceding sentence? Does "they" refer to Woodward and DT? Or to Bernstein and DT? Before answering, consider this: Ben Stein and Carl Bernstein grew up literally next door to each other in Montgomery County, Maryland. Ben's father was an economist and active Republican. Carl's parents were self-professed Communists who went through some difficult years during the 50s and 60s. And yet these two were best friends and remain close today. They certainly spent many evenings talking about "Washington, the government, power" over the years. Many people feel that Deep Throat must be a composite character created by Woodward to protect various sources. Wouldn't it be interesting if the opposite were true - if Woodward disguised himself in ALL THE PRESIDENT'S MEN by making the readers assume that he had known DT for many years, in effect making himself into a composite character. For years people have been trying to connect Woodward to various Deep Throat suspects by investigating his years at Yale, in the Navy, etc. with no results. I think they've been barking up the wrong tree. And it wouldn't have been the first time that Woodward played tricks like this on his readers. On page 26 of Adrian Havill's DEEP TRUTH he describes a novel Woodward wrote during his college years. It was never published, but the manuscript still seems to be floating around. In the final chapter the reader learns that the four major characters are actually a single individual. Woodward seems to have a taste for these little games.
January 11, 2005All I can say now is . . . Hmmmmmmmmmmmmm *scratching head*
Actor, Writer, and Political Commentator Ben Stein to Speak at SLU
Ben Stein's visit to Saint Louis University will be rescheduled due to his continued illness. Keep watching this story for updated event time and location.
My office manager joked that at least 100 more people are going to bed tonight with U. S. Senate dreams"Following is a list of names that I have culled from various sources. I have broken them down into three categories; Probably, Maybe, and Probably not. If you have specific information on which column these candidates should be in, please E-Mail me with your information and source (anokaflash -AT- gmail dot com). If I missed anyone you think deserves a mention, let me know as well.
Dayton expected to bow out of re-election bidA telephone news conference is schedule in just a bit 12:30PM.
Greg Gordon, Star Tribune Washington Bureau Correspondent
February 10, 2005
WASHINGTON, D.C.-- Minnesota Democratic sources said they believe Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., will announce today that he will not seek reelection to a second term in the Senate.
Two knowledgeable Democratic sources said Dayton was believed to have made the decision because of a series of events that darkened his reelection prospects.
Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., said today that he will not run for re-election in 2006. ''I do not believe that I am the best candidate to lead the DFL Party to victory next year,'' Dayton said in a conference phone call with reporters.Flash
This newspaper, a strong supporter of public school choice, has opposed previous voucher proposals in Minnesota. The burden for advocates is unchanged in our mind. Neither they nor the record on results from other states demonstrates a positive, provable correlation in the lives of children. The data depend on interpretation and are, at best, mixed. It is more than curious, too, that the push for vouchers comes from suburban conservatives rather than lawmakers from the cities whose kids are supposed to be the beneficiaries of such fund transfers.If you have been following the exchange at Craig Westover's online home (he also writes for the PiPress) you would think the print screed was drawn from some of the dissenting commentary in the thread.
A key prosecution witness in the Robert Blake case backed off of a claim that the actor tried to hire him for murder and admitted he was a heavy user of cocaine who had paranoid delusions.My record in celebrity trials isn't any better then my political prognostications. I thought OJ was toast, he walks. I didn't think there was any way a jury could convict Peterson, he is on Death Row. So, although I have a feeling on this one, my feelings aren't a very good indicator of which way a jury will go. This trial is far from over. I'll be following it, and sharing the juicy stuff here.
Retired stuntman Gary McLarty, 64, told jurors Monday he met with Blake a few months before Bonny Lee Bakley was killed, but did not even know the woman's name afterwards and had only "insinuated" that Blake wanted her dead.
"A lot of people want to strangle their wives at times," McLarty said, "and it was possible he was just venting his anger."
At a preliminary hearing, McLarty had testified Blake solicited the killing of his wife.
From the White House:The indexing issue is one I am actually open to, but he darn near talked me out of it here!
President Discusses Strengthening Social Security in Florida
Q -- really understand how is it the new plan is going to fix that problem?
THE PRESIDENT: Because the -- all which is on the table begins to address the big cost drivers. For example, how benefits are calculate, for example, is on the table; whether or not benefits rise based upon wage increases or price increases. There's a series of parts of the formula that are being considered. And when you couple that, those different cost drivers, affecting those -- changing those with personal accounts, the idea is to get what has been promised more likely to be -- or closer delivered to what has been promised.
Does that make any sense to you? It's kind of muddled. Look, there's a series of things that cause the -- like, for example, benefits are calculated based upon the increase of wages, as opposed to the increase of prices. Some have suggested that we calculate -- the benefits will rise based upon inflation, as opposed to wage increases. There is a reform that would help solve the red if that were put into effect. In other words, how fast benefits grow, how fast the promised benefits grow, if those -- if that growth is affected, it will help on the red.
Okay, better? I'll keep working on it. (Laughter.)
We'll all know one day very soon, however. Bob Woodward, a reporter on the team that covered the Watergate story, has advised his executive editor at the Washington Post that Throat is ill. And Ben Bradlee, former executive editor of the Post and one of the few people to whom Woodward confided his source's identity, has publicly acknowledged that he has written Throat's obituary.There has been much speculation as to the Identity of this source (or some believe sources, one character in a book that combined the information of many anonymous sources)
Fred F. Fielding, the White House counsel for Ronald Reagan, who vetted the current President Bush's cabinet nominees during the 2000 transition, heartily agrees. Nominees have to be prepared, he said, honestly to answer the awful questions posed by White House lawyers: Have you ever had an affair? Or used drugs? A yes to either of those questions, Mr. Fielding added, was not necessarily a problem.There is no way to know when the interview took place, but it would seem that, if this is the same Fielding pointed to in the article, he is probably still in relative good health. (More on Fielding)
Under one variation, any funds that remained available under these annuities after death would revert to the government, meaning the money could not be inherited. While that would ensure retirees a monthly check while they live, it also could undercut what polling shows is one of the most persuasive arguments on behalf of private accounts, that they could be inherited.So if you die prior to retirement, you may be able to pass on your account to your heirs, as the President stated in his speech. But once you retire, and the annuity is set up, there is a possibility that any remaining funds at your death would revert to the Social Security fund.
Grams said Tuesday that he's had about a dozen conversations with Republicans and former supporters who have asked him to consider a run for the party's nomination, so he intends to begin talking to other activists and party leadersThe GOP hasn't been in the business of running retreads. Their experience with the failed Boschwitz attempt against Wellstone may scare them off. Kennedy is in the driver's seat, and it will be his call. The chance of losing the 6th district to the Blue may be enough for some to encourage Kennedy to stick around in the House.
The Pioneer Press has confirmed the winners in its annual Treasure Hunt. The medallion was found at St. Paul's Crosby Park just after 3 p.m. Tuesday.Ya can't win, if ya don't play.
A West St. Paul family (Judy Melville, her son Ryan Melville and her son-in-law Hayward Estepp) followed the tenth clue published in the Pioneer Press to find the medallion under the bark of a large fallen tree branch.
Caller: This is a political call from the office of Mark Dayton for SenatorIt will be awhile before the Senate race heats up. I don't see any of the Right Wing candidates interesting me at all, but Dayton will have to make great strides to recapture my support. I hope that there is a challenge to his nomination which will put the Dems in a better position to retain the seat.
ME: I'm sorry, but I have been very disappointed in the decisions and actions of Senator Dayton lately, and I will be evaluating all candidates before I decide on my support.
Caller : *click*
