Free Republic

UK Sun: Palin "Simply Stunning" Palin strikes back at critics From FERGUS SHANAHAN in Minnesota Published: Today A WEEK ago nobody had ever heard of her. Today she is the most talked-about woman in the world. And with good reason. Sarah Palin's sensational performance at the Republican Party Convention may turn out to be the tipping point of this rollercoaster American election. Obama fans hoping she would fluff her big night were in for a nasty shock. This speech has turned the election upside down. It was simply stunning. Democrats and their Lefty media backers had been sneering that she...

Sarah Palin, the Republicans' surprise choice for the vice-presidential slot on the presidential ticket, will go before her party's national convention and her fellow Americans tonight and make her first major address since presumptive presidential nominee John McCain chose her for the No. 2 spot. Meanwhile, McCain flew into the Twin Cities, arriving about noon at the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport. He was met on the tarmac by among others his wife, Cindy, and Palin and her family. That included Palin's pregnant teenage daughter, Bristol, and father-to-be Levi Johnston. McCain gave Bristol numerous hugs, patted Johnston on the arm and...

Ramsey County sheriff's deputies found weapons and devices to disable buses - among other items - in searches in the Twin Cities last night and today. Authorities said the items came from "key members of the RNC Welcoming Committee," a self-described anarchist group. Five people have been arrested and four properties have been searched, according to the sheriff's office. At 8 a.m. today, the sheriff's office executed search warrants at three Minneapolis homes - 2301 23rd Ave. S., 3500 Harriet Ave. and 3240 17th Ave. S. The FBI, Minneapolis police and the Hennepin County sheriff's office assisted them. "The 'Welcoming...

John McCain has picked up a little ground on Barack Obama, now trailing by only two points in a recent SurveyUSA poll in MN, and by seven in WA. However, McCain has gained significantly in WA: Obama was down four, McCain up five from the last poll. Both are of LIKELY voters.

Jesse Ventura might become a judge. Not a real judge, just a television version of one. The publication TV Week reports that Ventura is close to signing a deal to host a television court show to debut in a year. A Twentieth Television spokesman would not talk about negotiations between his company and the former Independence Party Minnesota governor. However, an official for the Katz Television Group told TV Week that Ventura's history as a navy frogman and a talk-show host "might have the star power to distinguish himself from the welter of court shows." "Jesse is a bigger-than-life personality,...

According to a KSTP exclusive new SurveyUSA poll, Barack Obama leads John McCain by two points, 47 to 45 percent in Minnesota. That's well within the three-point-eight percent margin of error. Four percent prefer another candidate. Only four percent are undecided. The poll not only shows a close race, but also points again to Minnesota voters becoming increasingly polarized. In the poll of 682 "likely voters," McCain has the support of 89 percent of republicans. Obama garners support from 86 percent of democrats. McCain has a narrow two-point lead among independents. McCain does have a bit of a gender-gap to...

The Military Salute Project is pleased to announce our main project for next year, the 2009 Remember The Fallen Tribute. Shortly after we returned from the 2008 Honor & Remember Ride To Washington, we posted hundreds of photographs taken during the trip. One of the albums displayed pictures of the gravesites of Minnesotans buried at Arlington National Cemetery who died while supporting the Global War On Terror. Within days, we began receiving e-mails of appreciation from family members and friends of the six Servicemembers. We have also received "thank you" notes from other families throughout the United States. Some of...

When Democrats this spring sized up Al Franken's bid to win a Senate seat in his native Minnesota, they saw plenty of promising signs: an engaging and famously funny candidate familiar to voters, a stockpile of campaign cash, and a vulnerable incumbent Republican. Less than three months before Election Day, however, the Republican seat held by a former New Yorker, Norm Coleman, looks safer than ever, and Mr. Franken's hopes could be doomed by his own New York past. The former "Saturday Night Live" star, best-selling author, and talk show host is lagging far behind in the polls amid a...

There’s an old saying in politics that elections are won or lost one vote at a time. On Friday, DFL-endorsed U.S. Senate candidate Al Franken demonstrated how true that saying can be, when a roundtable on veterans issues at Brigitte’s Cafe his campaign scheduled drew only one participant. Josh John, a St. Cloud resident who said he served in the Navy from 2000-04, had Franken to himself for an hour as he described difficulties he faced returning from his tour of duty and the help he received from his Veterans Services Office and the St. Cloud VA Medical Center.

This St. Cloud Times story about only one person attended a public event for Al Franken yesterday hit the Drudge Report. “ONE Person Shows Up At Franken Event..” This story is turning into a national embarrassment for Team Franken.

This is a summary review of Governor Pawlenty's political career. It begins with this paragraph: "As is his way, Gov. Tim Pawlenty made a self-deprecating aside on a local radio show this spring during the ceremonial start of the state’s beloved fishing season. He praised his wife’s willingness to fish with him and to watch hockey games, then added, “And I jokingly say, ‘Now, if I could only get her to have sex with me.’ ” While this is a long article, a brief summary can be found in the paragraph: "...For Mr. McCain, whose campaign would not comment about...

MORA, Minn. -- A Mora woman has paid a $2,500 fine in relation to the October, 2007 shooting of a bald eagle. On Oct. 10, Minnesota DNR officers received a complaint from the Minnesota “Turn in Poachers” hotline that a bald eagle had been killed in Mora. Katherine K. Tramm, 48, paid the fine July 15. After being listed as endangered since 1967, the bald eagle was removed from the federal list of threatened and endangered species in 2007. "This case is a clear indication that the DNR and the USF&WS are working diligently to protect and preserve our natural...

WASHINGTON, Aug. 1, 2008 – Letters a Minnesota couple has received thanking them for musical instruments they’ve sent to deployed troops show that just a simple note can change the atmosphere in the desert. Steve and Barb Baker, founders of Operation Happy Note, pose with a guitar that members of the 3rd Infantry Division signed and sent them after learning about Steve's wish to go to Iraq and hand out guitars. Operation Happy Note supplies deployed servicemembers with musical instruments. Photo courtesy of Operation Happy Note  (Click photo for screen-resolution image);high-resolution image available. “The purpose of these … instruments is...

A man in Minneapolis by the name of Tom Kleven is training for a triathlon. You know ... the bike, swim, run ... an exhausting physical accomplishment. So on Tuesday night Tom goes to Lake Nokomis to go for a swim. When he returned to shore, there are Minneapolis Park Police waiting for him. They are waiting because they wanted to cite Tom with a violation for "swimming too far." http://kstp.com/article/stories/S529469.shtml?cat=1 p> Tom was attempting to swim shore to shore, but when he got half way across the lake, a lifeguard ordered him to turn around. When he returned, the...

A family whose house was raided by police in error is outraged that eight officers involved were honored. Police say the eight, who also took fire, "performed bravely." First, the city apologized. Then it gave awards. Eight Minneapolis officers received medals in City Hall Monday for their valor in a botched raid that the city apologized for last year. That isn't sitting well with the family shot at multiple times by the officers. "I'm shocked that they're receiving awards for that night," said Yee Moua. "My family is a mess right now. My [9-year-old] son, who saw the shooting, still...

The Independence Party has endorsed Steve Sarvi, the DFL-endorsed candidate for Congress in the 2nd Congressional District, according to a joint announcement from Sarvi and the IP. Sarvi is running against incumbent Rep. John Kline, a Republican, elected in 2002 and in his third term. “The Independence Party occasionally endorses a candidate from a different party when we do not have a candidate from our own party,” said Marian Brown, the IP 2nd District chair. “To be cross-endorsed, the candidate must agree with at least 75 percent of our key issues and meet several other qualifications. We look forward to...

I need to know about my right to defend myself as it is applicable in Minnesota. I have a person making threats against me and my family, he assaulted me (unsuccessfully I might add), and threw a 6' tall Shepard's hook into our picture window trying to taunt me to come out and fight (I called 911, got him arrested, but he got out in less than 6 hours and is back in my neighborhood). Will an OFP provide me anymore levity should I need to protect myself of my family with deadly force? When can I use deadly force...

Peter Hong, a longtime Republican operative in Minnesota, was arrested Wednesday afternoon on a charge of soliciting prostitution in St. Paul. Police spokesman Peter Panos said that the arrest came during the first day of a two-day sting operation during which "johns" and prostitutes responded to ads placed on the Internet and in print. Thirty-five people were arrested Wednesday and Thursday, Panos said today. He declined to say where the undercover operation was based. According to city and county records, Hong, 41, of Minneapolis, was arrested at about 3:40 p.m. on Wednesday and arrived at the Ramsey County jail just...

If John McCain and his loyalists were hoping for something to brighten their day amid the blizzard of coverage of Barack Obama's foreign tour, they've gotten it with new poll results from four key states -- Colorado, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. The survey by the Connecticut-based Quinnipiac University Polling Institute, conducted between July 14 and Tuesday, contains especially good news for the presumptive Republican presidential nominee in Colorado and Minnesota. In Colorado, the one state among the four that President Bush carried in 2004, the poll showed McCain ahead by 2 percentage points. That lead is within the poll's margin...

Yes, the sad little cracker has met its undignified end, so stop pestering me. The cracker, the koran, and another surprise entry have been violated and are gone. You'll have to wait until tomorrow for the details, what little of them there are.

A mother of young children. A retired corporate executive. A victim of violent crime. Number of right-to-carry permits issued from 4/28/2003 to 12/31/2007 County Number Rate per 1,000 Dodge 166 8.5 Fillmore 160 7.6 Goodhue 387 8.4 Houston 246 12.6 Mower 233 6.1 Olmsted 1,140 8.2 Wabasha 287 12.8 Winona 487 9.8 Total valid permits in Minnesota: 51,347 Source: Minn. Bureau of Criminal Apprenhension These are just some of the people seeking permits to carry handguns whom Sue Bierly has trained at the Minnesota Southern Sportman's Club in Rochester. "They come from all walks of life and professions," said Bierly,...

The 23rd Psalm rolled off the Rev. Jason Strand's tongue with soothing familiarity, the way it had since he memorized it as a boy. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not be in want. He makes me lie down in green pastures, he leads me beside still waters ..." But up on the 16-by-24-foot screens flanking Strand, the PowerPoint version displayed the updated words "quiet waters" instead of the "still waters" of Strand's memory. Amy Anderson noticed the problem instantly. She began scribbling notes in her three-ring binder, then flipped to a new page to catch up with what...

In one of Senate candidate Al Franken’s literary efforts titled “Rush Limbaugh Is A Big Fat Idiot,” he reveals his personal feelings about a topic important to many Minnesotans. In Chapter 12 of his book, I learned that candidate Franken is against private ownership of guns due to his belief that firearms in the home are “too dangerous.” I believe these views are more consistent with California or New York, where Mr. Franken still maintains corporate interests. His problem is Minnesota has always been a pro-gun state. Remember, a bipartisan majority passed “conceal and carry.” I called the National Rifle...

The father of a 12-year-old girl who tried to keep a young man from groping his daughter at a popular Shakopee amusement park was seriously hurt late on July 4 after he was allegedly kicked and stomped by a group of men in an attack police called "brutal." The attack on the unnamed man, which happened just outside Valleyfair Amusement Park, resulted in charges against at least six Twin Cities-area men. They were among several people the initial attacker called on his cell phone to summon them to join the assault. The group beat up the father as his wife...

Former professional wrestler and Minnesota Governor, Jesse “The Body” Ventura has cast his hat into the ring as an Independent candidate for the Senate seat currently held by Republican Norm Coleman. Ventura said his candidacy was mainly inspired by a desire to “body slam that smirking, obnoxious twit—Al Franken—into political oblivion.” Franken, the Democratic candidate for the seat, is perhaps best known for his years on the “Saturday Night Live” skit comedy show that has aired on NBC for over three decades. “The ‘Al Franken Decade’ was over more than 20 years ago,” said Ventura, needling the comedian for one...

MoveOn.org tried to stage one of their pitiful made-for-the-evening-news events here in Rochester. Their goal? Blame Bush, McCain and the GOP for high gas prices. The Olmsted County GOP caught wind of it and within 48 hours staged one of the most fun coups ever. MoveOn activist Lyle (didn't catch the last name) was befuddled by the strong GOP counter-protest for drilling domestic oil. On the KTTC six o'clock news broadcast he could do no more than stutter when asked if he knew that there was going to be a counterpoint to his protest. He did manage to claim that...

A Minnesota university instructor is jousting with a national Catholic watch dog group over a kidnapped communion wafer, which the associate professor dismisses as a "frackin' cracker." Paul Z. Myers, who teaches biology at the University of Minnesota, Morris, on his blog this week expressed amazement that a Florida college student who briefly took a wafer "hostage" has been receiving death threats. Under the headline, "It's a frackin' cracker!" Myers wrote in an at-times profane blog entry: "Crazy Christian fanatics right here in our own country have been threatening to kill a young man over a cracker. This is insane."...

Paul Zachary Myers, a professor at the University of Minnesota Morris, has pledged to desecrate the Eucharist. He is responding to what happened recently at the University of Central Florida when a student walked out of Mass with the Host, holding it hostage for several days. Myers was angry at the Catholic League for criticizing the student. His post can be accessed from his faculty page on the university’s website. Here is an excerpt of his July 8 post, “It’s a Frackin’ Cracker!”: “Can anyone out there score me some consecrated communion wafers?” Myers continued by saying, “if any of...

A Watertown pastor suspected tonight of having sexual contact with a child. KSFY obtained these court documents which lays out the case against Dennis Hayes. In documents released by Watertown Police, we're told the suspected contact happened last Friday when Hayes took a juvenile boy he had been mentoring from the "Southwest Youth Services Center" in Magnolia, Minnesota to a library in Luverne, Minnesota. The boy claims during the drive to Luverne, Hayes held his hand and told him he loved him. While at the Luverne library, he claims Hayes rubbed his back outside his shirt. During the drive back...

U.S. Rep. Michele Bachmann thinks you should be paying $2 a gallon for gasoline again. Standing outside a Woodbury gas station Monday morning, Bachmann, R-Minn., said Congress could make that happen — if it passes a half-dozen bills aimed at reducing gas prices and opening up the nation's known petroleum and natural gas reserves. "The question is one of supply and demand, and we want to increase the supply,'' Bachmann said. The bills already have been introduced but haven't gotten very far yet. Bachmann said that with consumers paying $4 or more a gallon, the time has come for Congress...

Minneapolis police officers and Hennepin County sheriff's deputies have stepped in to help law enforcement in flood-ravaged Cedar Rapids, Iowa. By noon Sunday, Minneapolis Deputy Chief of Patrol Rob Allen along with 1 lieutenant, two sergeants and six officers were helping local police prevent theft and other crimes in areas of the Cedar Rapids where flood waters were beginning to recede and residents were being allowed to return to their homes on a limited basis, said Jesse Garcia, a Minneapolis Police Department spokesman. Minneapolis police personnel were joined by 10 deputies and supervisors from the Hennepin County Sheriff's Office. In...

The apparently strange alliance and accommodation between Islam and the Left is not strange at all when put in historical perspective. The aggressor and the appeaser are not strange bedfellows. The question is who is fooling who? We read various reports of school administrators accommodating Muslim students by providing scheduled prayer time, meeting facilities, foot washing basins, instructors and similar conveniences or facilities. Having school sponsored “Islamic Festivals” or “Be a Muslim for a Week” events is also fair game. These same administrators adamantly refuse any such accommodations to Christian or Jewish students. Punishing Christian students for bringing a Bible...

Just as DFL activists begin streaming into Rochester for a state convention that starts today, their top U.S. Senate candidate, Al Franken, is fending off still more slings on his troubled road to the nomination. On Thursday, an e-mail surfaced from one of the state's leading abortion-rights groups, Planned Parenthood, denouncing an article he wrote for Playboy in 2000, calling the piece misogynistic and degrading to women. And U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar broke a week-long silence to chastise him publicly for the piece, which she called "entirely inappropriate," and to ask him to acknowledge that. On Thursday evening, Franken's campaign...

Fitger's Brewhouse in Duluth is updating the old concept of the milkman for beer drinkers. The brew pub says it's the first in Minnesota to offer home delivery of growlers -- half-gallon jugs of fresh beer. The pub plans for weekly and daily routes through Duluth. Brewmaster Dave Hoops says the company will drop off the beer and take the empties away, sort of like and old-time milkman. The growlers are $14 each, or $11 for a replacement. There's a special introductory charge of $1 per delivery, but Hoops says with today's gas prices that will go up. The pub...

Law enforcement officers may have blood drawn as evidence of DWI if they have probable cause to believe criminal vehicular operation or homicide has happened, state Supreme Court rules. When authorities have reason to believe that a drunken driver has caused a serious or fatal accident they have a right to draw the driver's blood to test its alcohol content without their consent and without a search warrant, the Minnesota Supreme Court ruled Friday. The ruling was greeted with relief by law enforcers. The high court reversed a ruling by a Dakota County district judge in the case of Janet...

enate candidate Al Franken's satirical and explicit take on virtual sex and other topics, published in Playboy magazine eight years ago, is drawing concern instead of laughter from some Minnesota Democrats. Rep. Betty McCollum, who supported the comedian's rival Mike Ciresi until he dropped out of the race for the party's nomination for the Senate, complained Thursday that she and other Minnesota Democrats will be on the same November ballot as a candidate "who has pornographic writings that are indefensible." "Do they spend all of their time defending him, or do they spend their time talking about issues that are...

EAGAN, Minn. — On a laptop at a kitchen table in this cheery Twin Cities suburb, headlines ripping into Al Franken ... are written up day after day for Minnesota Democrats Exposed, a political blog created by a former Republican Party researcher. * * * But Minnesota Democrats Exposed has dealt several blows to Mr. Franken’s campaign lately: revelations that he owed $25,000 to the State of New York for failing to pay workers’ compensation insurance and that his corporation was in forfeiture in California. With only weeks until the state Democratic Party’s convention, where Mr. Franken is expected to...

In preparation for the Republican National Convention, the FBI is soliciting informants to keep tabs on local protest groups Paul Carroll was riding his bike when his cell phone vibrated. Once he arrived home from the Hennepin County Courthouse, where he’d been served a gross misdemeanor for spray-painting the interior of a campus elevator, the lanky, wavy-haired University of Minnesota sophomore flipped open his phone and checked his messages. He was greeted by a voice he recognized immediately. It belonged to U of M Police Sgt. Erik Swanson, the officer to whom Carroll had turned himself in just three weeks...

Former Gov. Jesse Ventura said he "may" file the necessary papers to run for the U.S. Senate in the November election. If he doesn't, his former campaign manager will. Both are hinting at a run against Republican incumbent Norm Coleman and likely Democratic candidate Al Franken this fall. The only question seems to be: Will it be Ventura, or the man who helped him become governor? Ventura's former campaign manager, Dean Barkley, now works as a bus driver and gardens as a hobby. "Ear to the dirt, listening to the pulse of the people," he joked Thursday. But Barkley, who...

Three small-town eighth-graders were suspended for not standing at the start of the school day Thursday for the Pledge of Allegiance. "My son wasn't being defiant against America," said Kim Dahl, mother of one of the students, Brandt, who attends Dilworth-Glyndon-Felton Junior High School in western Minnesota. Brandt told the Fargo Forum that Thursday's one-day in-school suspension, "was kind of dumb because I didn't do anything wrong. It should be the people's choice." Kim Dahl said the "punishment didn't fit the crime. If they wanted to know why he didn't stand, they should've made him write a paper." She said...

ROSEVILLE, Minn. - Paul and Sue Rosenau say they already have everything they need, so their lives won't change that much after winning a $180.1 million Powerball jackpot. "We realize that money is probably not as important as friendship and helping others. And that's what we hope to do with it," Paul Rosenau said at a news conference Tuesday when they accepted a ceremonial check. Rosenau, 54, is a heavy equipment operator and his wife, Sue, works at an agricultural research institute. The couple from Waseca will take the prize from last Saturday's drawing in a lump-sum of $59.6 million...

Senate candidate Al Franken wants to talk about jobs, health care and global warming. Republican blogger Michael Brodkorb wants to talk about Franken's failure to pay all his income taxes on time. Guess what everyone is talking about? From the kitchen table in his tranquil suburban neighborhood, Brodkorb for the last year has used his blog "Minnesota Democrats Exposed" to launch a furious political assault on Franken. He's labeled the former comedian and liberal commentator a "mean-spirited and un-Minnesotan" candidate who's running a "desperate and ridiculous" campaign. That's routine stuff in the world of political blogging, but in the last...

Washington - How many members of Congress does it take to change a light bulb? Americans may soon find out, courtesy of a contrarian piece of legislation introduced this month by Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota. Titled the "Light Bulb Freedom of Choice Act", the bill seeks to repeal the nationwide phase-out of conventional light bulbs, the kind that have been used for more than a century--pretty much since the invention of the incandescent light bulb. Bachmann, a first-term Republican, is challenging the nation's embrace of energy-efficient compact fluorescent lights, saying the government has no business telling consumers what kind...

Brooklyn Park police were looking for a meth lab, but they found a fish tank and the chemicals needed to maintain it. And a few hours later, when the city sent a contractor to fix the door the police had smashed open Monday afternoon, it was obvious the city was trying to fix a mistake. It happened while Kathy Adams was sleeping. "And the next thing I know, a police officer is trying to get me out bed," she said. Adams, a 54-year-old former nurse who said she suffers from a bad back caused by a patient who attacked her...

Could there be a calculated, cross-country plot to kill young college men, including some in Minnesota? It seems a little hard to believe, but two New York detectives say, they can prove it.

CAIR comes to the rescue of Minneapolis tax-funded Muslim school By Michelle Malkin • April 15, 2008 As I have reported over the years, there are many good reasons to be wary when CAIR and other Muslim grievance groups start banging the drum about being victimized by Islamophobia. Now, the usual suspects seem engaged in the usual tactics to distract from the controversy over the Minneapolis tax-funded Muslim school exposed by Star-Tribune columnist extraordinaire Katherine Kersten. Just as the state has launched an investigation of the school, here comes CAIR: The Minnesota chapter of a national Islamic civil liberties group...

The Minnesota Tax Cut Coalition held its annual rally at the State Capitol on Saturday, drawing a crowd of about 1,000 people demanding that legislators stop "wasteful'' spending and allow Minnesotans to keep more of their paychecks. Government funding to support light rail transit, the social safety net and the Twins ballpark were among the targets of complaints among the crowd, which spilled across the Capitol lawn.

Minnesota taxpayers are footing the bill for a charter school that reportedly violates the law by promoting religion — Islam. Tarek ibn Ziyad Academy (TIZA) in Inver Grove Heights regularly holds prayer sessions and includes study of the Koran in its curriculum, even though charter schools are public schools and must not endorse or promote religion, according to columnist Katherine Kersten of the Minneapolis-St. Paul Star Tribune. She writes: “TIZA has many characteristics that suggest a religious school. It shares the headquarters building of the Muslim American Society of Minnesota, whose mission is ‘establishing Islam in Minnesota.’ The building also...

A 23-year-old woman is suing Meeker County and Sheriff Mike Hirman alleging that she was subjected to a series of strip searches while in custody for various traffic violations, misdemeanor theft and a child-support dispute. The federal lawsuit, filed March 31, also alleges that her pierced breasts were photographed the last of the five searches. The class-action suit's plaintiff is Gail Lynn Simpson, of Big Lake, Minn. She is suing for an amount in excess of $75,000 and is represented by Robins Kaplan, Miller and Ciresi of Minneapolis. The suit says that it is the county's "custom and/or practice of...

More than a month ago, investigative GOP blogger Michael Brodkorb in Minnesota first broke the news that Al Franken had violated New York state’s worker compensation laws. The Franken campaign finally ‘fesses up: DFL Senate candidate Al Franken acknowledged today that his New York-based business wrongly failed to provide workers’ compensation insurance for nearly three years, his campaign said.According to campaign manager Andy Barr, after five weeks of investigation the accountant for Alan Franken Inc. (AFI) was unable to figure out “the exact circumstances that led to the oversight.”However, the accountant “has determined that, in fact, AFI was not in...