On January 14th of this year, 15 year old Phoebe Prince committed suicide in Massachusetts after relentless bullying, including cyber-bulling on facebook, twitter, and other internet places. The Massachusetts legislature is now looking at enacting a cyberbullying statute, similar to the one Erik Paulsen voted against 3 years ago. Erik Paulsen is further to the right than Gov Pawlenty, who signed the bill – despite Erik Paulsen’s “No!” vote.

Sheila Kihne is currently the Vice Chair of the GOP's 3rd CD; she has a seat on the Executive Committee.

The freshman Congressman now has the dubious distinction, in less than two months in office, of being taken to task by FactCheck.org. Following the lead of others in the GOP Party, like his ideologically kindred soulmate Michelle Bachmann, Paulsen repeated the debunked bull today's republiCons love to spew. Let's look!

Of Dog Parks and Frisbee Golf

There are several more supposedly frivolous, not-so-stimulative projects that Republican members of Congress have criticized for being part of the economic recovery act. None of them are actually mentioned in the legislation, either.

In a form letter to constituents (e-mailed to one of our readers on Feb. 20), Rep. Erik Paulsen of Minnesota claimed that the bill (now law) "contains a huge amount of spending on many things that are unrelated to saving or creating jobs." He said that it "will fund requests such as $2 million for neon signs in Las Vegas, $4.5 million for an eco park featuring butterfly gardens and gopher tortoises, $500,000 for a dog park, $3 million for a municipal golf course clubhouse, $886,000 for a 36-hole disc golf course, $1.8 million for replacement tennis courts, $6 million for three aquatic centers with water slides ... the list goes on and on."

None of these projects are specified in the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. In fact, golf courses, and many other recreational projects, simply can’t get funding under the law, which stipulates:

ARRA: Sec. 1604: None of the funds appropriated or otherwise made available in this Act may be used by any State or local government, or any private entity, for any casino or other gambling establishment, aquarium, zoo, golf course, or swimming pool. (FactCheck.org)

So, how did Paulsen respond when FactCheck.org checked in with him about his claims? And, how do those claims square with Paulsen's Press Release, just last night?

Those that have received an e-mail from me may have noted I end each message with:

It's A Great Day To Be A Veteran

It's just before the privacy disclosure.

As much as Senator Coleman would like you to believe the recent allegations concerning potentially illegal payments funneled to his wife are “a vicious 11th hour attack”, the record simply does not bear that out. Questions regarding Senator Coleman’s complicated financial arrangements with financial backers go back at least to June, when Edward Pound of the National Journal first broke the story of Coleman’s unusual rental arrangements.

From that story:

"We're never been stay the course, George." -- George W. Bush, attempting to distance himself from what has been his core strategy in Iraq for the last three years, interview with ABC's George Stephanopoulos, Octboer 22nd, 2006

I picked this Bushism for a very special reason. Just as Boy Blunder tried to distance himself from who he is and what he believes, "right" here in Minnesota's 3rd Congressional District there's a Republican candidate for Congress that's tried to pull the same stuff concerning who he is, what he's done, and what he believes - Erik Paulsen.

Let's go back, and look at what part of what I wrote concerning Erik Paulsen's campaign announcement, in January:

It's really rather pathetic, watching Pausen's campaign screaming: "That LIAR is lying about me!!!" when, in fact, Team Paulsen is - at best - stretching the truth themselves.

KSTP recently fact checked Team Paulsen's lates TV ad; let's look:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EGZmleFdUfg

So, we see KSTP saying Paulsen's latest ad contains falsehoods and misleading statements, in an ad Team Paulsen put together to complain about falsehoods and misleading statements.

Well, it seems that John Kline is outraged - OUTRAGED! - that a candidate is taking footage of Marines in uniform, and using said Marines in an ad. And he's outraged. Here's what Blogger Michael Broadkorb is reporting Congressman Kline said, over on M.D.E.:

That's the headline from The Anchorage Daily News,

Here's the part of the story, describing the composition of the panel that made the finding that Governor Palin abused the power of her office:

"(the investigator's) report was released Friday by a 12-0 vote of the Legislative Council, with eight Republicans and four Democrats voting.

Yes, a 12-0 vote with 8 Republicans and 4 Democrats. That, by definition, is a bi-partisan finding, that Governor Palin abused the power of her office.

"If Washington would only prioritize, we've got plenty of money to spend in Washington, D.C." -- George "Dubya" Bush, Kaukauna, Wisconsin, September 3rd, 2001

"We got plenty of money in Washington. What we need is more priority." -- George "Dubya" Bush, Washington, D.C., June 2nd, 2008

Over the course of his 8 year Presidency, George "Dubya" Bush never waivered from his firm belief Washington D.C. has plenty of money to spend. This philosophy explains an almost $11 TRILLION National Debt at the end of Boy Blunder's 2nd term.

To put this in perspective, at the end of FY 1980 (Ronald Reagan's first year in office) the National Debt was $930 Billion, or 33.3% of the GNP. Under GOP "stewardship" this ballooned after 1990 to over $3 Trillion - and 56% of GNP. At the end of 2000, the numbers were $5.7 Trillion, and 58% of GNP.

By 2007, the GOP, led by Dubya, took the National Debt to $9 Trillion and 65.5% of GNP. As hard as this is to believe, in the past year, GOP policies have caused the National Debt to have gotten worse.

What we know for sure is you cannot spell "worst" without "Dubya." We cannot "Stay The Course." And we also know for sure we simply cannot afford 4 more years just like the last eight; we cannot afford John McCain leading George "Dubya" Bush's Third Term.

Some things must change. In 99 days, January 20th, 2009 must be The End Of An Error.