Cars? We don't need no stinkin' cars

No takers over the blogosphere for a ride for me. But I set out on a 4L bus anyway to the GOP Minnesota 72 Hour Task Force training. Beautiful day today. My bus dropped me off at Hwy 100 and 50th Street, leaving me with a wonderful walk to the Edina Community Center where hot Caribou coffee and Krispee Kreem donuts awaited me and about 50 other Republican activists.

I shouted out, "Anybody here going to the Patriot Picnic today? Free food!"

Nothing but blank stares.

We participated in a two-hour long powerpoint presentation and gained much valuable information for the ensuing battle. Somewhere in the proceedings I needed another coffee. Back in the lobby I met a fellow who I struck up a conversation with.

"Are you going to the Patriot Party?", I asked.

"Yes."

"You are?!" I was shocked. We introduced ourselves. Turns out this fellow is a candidate for United States Congressman, Daniel Mathias.

"Who is your opponent for the office", I asked.

"Martin Sabo".

"Really! I've voted for Marty Sabo all my life, but I'm voting for you this election.", I'd said, most sincerely.

And I mean it. W needs a Republican Congress and a Republican Senate so that he can get things done. We don't need a lame duck president whilst we're trying to conduct a war. We need effective leadership and action.

Needless to say, I got my ride.

Daniel Mathias; Van owner and generous guy

In a perfect world, I would have been delivered to the Patriot Picnic by 11:59, strapped in for the Northern Alliance Radio Network show on The Patriot. But it didn't work out that way. We got there at about 2 pm....just one hour before it wrapped. I was lucky enough to snarf up the last of 3 hot dogs and I was even a contestant in an on-the-air quiz.

King Banaian of St. Cloud State University Scholars...He's an economist.

I have other pics of the NARN fellows...but why overkill the pics? The atmosphere is set here. We were in a tent and we were on a stunningly beautiful site. Why show more pics of the personalities and the view?

In any case, it was a good time. I made some new friends, I got a hotdog, a bag of cheetos and a bag of Famous Amos cookies and a diet Pepsi, I got on the air on an overloaded web-streamed radio show. Not bad. And David Strom was there. He's a local Minnesota taxpayer's watchdog. We briefly discussed Metro Transit. Dave agrees that a great city should have a mass transit system and that it should be cost-effective. Bravo!

Going My Way?

As I stated in my profile, I haven't owned a car for some 20 years. I get around by bike or LRT or bus or foot...and sometimes by swimming. Last winter when Metro Transit went on strike I was reliant on the generosity and volunteerism of others to get to work. I used the Internet to link up with hearty souls who felt they should step up. I threw them a few bucks for gas.

Tomorrow I'd like to go the Diamond Bluff for the Patriot Picnic. And the NARN has posted the effort to marry drivers with patriots in need of transportation there.

I've pleaded with the GOP for a ride from the two-hour seminar I will be participating in from 9 to 11 am just before the picnic takes place. I guess they're a little too focused on beating John Kerry, 'cos I haven't heard of any solutions from them yet. That's not to say I won't hear from them. Of course, this would be incumbant upon some other participant wanting to go to the Patriot Picnic. And that begs the question; Why would a seminar-full of attendees attending a Republican training seminar have not one person who wants to go to the Patriot Picnic and not want to haul a Republican blogger and W volunteer along with? (if I may be allowed to employ a typical Minnesotan dangling modifier.)

So, as a man of means and various choices available, I can;
A) Skip the patriot picnic altogether if no ride materializes.
2) Hire a taxicab.
C) Rent a car.
4) Hitch-hike.

Hitchhiking seems like the most interesting solution. I like the odds of wearing W stuff and sticking my thumb out for a ride. Either I will get what I want and have an interesting conversation with the driver, or I'll end up wrapped in plastic and found in a local dumpster.

I any case, I will be taking the 4L bus to my GOP meeting in Edina at 8:17 am. The rest of the formula is up for grabs.

I mean, yes, I'd like to make it to the picnic, but am I going to hire a cab to go there? I don't think so. That strikes me as a bit desperate. After all, I could weed my garden and save $100.

Now, if 2 others wanted to share a cab with me...that might be a worthwhile venture.

Keegan's Meetup

I made my rendezvous with the Fraters Libertas fellows. They are an honest bunch. And I'm not lying.
I fulfilled my obligations. Fessed up to my gratuity to my waitress.
Then, I had new expenses to incur. Shepherd's pie and some Harp's lager.
A game of trivia was played. Some gamesters took this challenge very seriously. Some not.
I did not win. But I was pleased with some of my correct answers. One of my incorrect answers was Brooke Shields. Ha. How did I believe she starred in Alley McBeal? Then, the painful moment when the answers were revealed. Can you imagine my satisfaction to hear the name of Calista Flockhart? I thought not.
So you're getting the feeling that I'm not a t.v. guy? Wise of you.

And to think I'd missed John F. Kerry's speech because I went to a game of trivia with some bloggers!

No sense of priorities.

Ah well, the circus has pulled up its stakes and left Beantown. The three-ring circus featured jugglers, trapeze artists and donkeys. Clowns, too. Plenty of clowns. But one clown didn't show. We never saw or heard from Sandy McBurgler, the baggy-pants clown.

High Drama Comes to DNC

Matt reminds us over at Blogs For Bush that "a while back there was some doubt on whether John Kerry would accept the nomination tonight at the convention in order to continue to raise money for his campaign."
Some national conventions suffer from what Jimmy Carter might call a malaise, brought on by the certainty of events. Not this one. Not tonight.
The nation and the world will be watching tonight to see if candidate John F. Kerry flip-flops on his previous assertion that he would not delay his acceptance, if offered.

"I actually did decline the nomination of my party as presidential candidate, before I accepted it."

If It's Not Close, They Can't Eat

I received my copy of Hugh "Da  Kommissar" Hewitt's book "If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat: Crushing the Democrats in Every Election and Why Your Life Depends On It"

For the past two weeks now, I've been riding my Marin bicycle from my workplace, located in the Minneapolis Warehouse District, to Bush-Cheney '04 HQ in St. Paul's Energy Park. It's a beautiful urban bike ride. I slip onto the Mississippi River, crossing over the Stone Arch Bridge, up through Dinkytown and then onto the Metro Expressway to Headquarters.
A quick Chinese dinner at  Shuang Cheng Restaurant is called for to fortify one's constitution for phone bank work.

I'm only a little way  into the book, but I'm enjoying it quite a bit already.  I was pleased to discover that Hewitt has appended five of  W's speeches addressing the new threat to America. Hewitt writes; "I have included the texts of these five speeches as appendices because they are the crucial documents of our time, laying out as they do a comprehensive statement of what has happened and how the United States has responded and will respond in the future."
Reading President Bush's remarks at the National Cathedral on the National Day of Prayer and Remembrance on Sept. 14th, 2001, brought back feelings to me that I'd nearly forgotten. I'd heard the words of the president on that day. And that was a time of internal change for me. I was very impressed with W's  leadership in the wake of the attacks. And that speech struck a chord within me. I was becoming a Bush supporter.

Finishing half my meal, I saved the remainder in a box for tomorrow's lunch. Time to continue on to HQ. But first, a fortune cookie.


Not only did I get If It's Not Close, They Can't Cheat beyond a good price, but my new blog is promised with progress! 

Minnesota Meltdown

If this is Tuesday, then it must be phone bank day at Bush-Cheney '04 HeadQuarters in St. Paul. I volunteer at least once per week for the campaign. I do this so that I might assuage my fears of waking up this November 3rd to learn that John F. Kerry is our new president.
A friend sent me some good cheer today. Strategic Vision measures that Minnesota is a dead heat if the election were held today  (July 20 - 24), when the poll factors in Ralph Nader inclusion. That's pretty sunny for Minnesota, a state that has been Blue as long as anyone can remember in presidential races....well, at least since 1972.


(Tip o' the bird to Alan D.)

W Courts The Black Vote

Jay Reding posts, in Bush Strikes Back, that President W is smartly courting the Black vote in his speech to the Urban League.
I agree. But something stuck in my ears when I'd heard a snippet on radio; He  asked  for their vote.

"Ours is a solid record of accomplishment. And that's why I've come to talk about compassionate conservatism and what I envision for the future. I'm here for another reason. I'm here to ask for your vote."
 
The only mention of votes in John Kerry's address to the NAACP was in the declaration that he would diligently protect the right to vote, that all votes would be counted and that voters should be registered and brought to their polling places.

"But this election is more in your hands more than in mine.  Over the next four months, we need you to do what nobody in America does better -- register voters and get them to the polls."
 
It's a small thing, but Kerry never asked for their vote. It looks to me like W is right; The Democratic Party takes African-American votes for granted. So much so, Kerry couldn't humble himself enough to ask for it.

A Blog Is Born

Last Saturday I attended the Minneapolis Blogger's Bash hosted by Fraters Libertas and the Northern Alliance. And it was there that the kernal of ego entered my mind that maybe I should begin a blog. And here it is. A monster has been created from the primal soup of Harps lager and surging synaptic power surges eminating from the blogosphere. Please bear with me. I'm new at this. My first task will be to try and define myself and the scope of this weblog. While I do not have any special qualifications in politics I will be posting my opinions here of various topics. I am a volunteer with Bush-Cheney '04 in St. Paul, but I'm rather liberal on social issues. The Republican Party has a big tent, as Rudy Gulianni says.So, while I don't think I'll be stealing attention away from the Northern Alliance or Hugh Hewitt or Andrew Sullivan, I'll use this blog to make my thoughts and feelings known. I have not owned an automobile for some 20 years. I get around by bus, LRT, bicycle and walking. I'll be sharing that experience here, as I think it makes me a bit of a unique blogger. All the blogs I've read are written by car owners.One of my first actions as a blogger will be to compensate my waitress at Keegan's Irish Pub. I completely forgot to tip her. I may as well take care of this obligation on Thursday, as that's the day the FL boys hang out there. That'll be the perfect opportunity to warn them of the creation of pinkmonkeybird/weblog. It's mostly their fault.