Thursday, April 27, 2006

John Kline (R-MN) 'Roll Out The Barrel'

Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa,
Everybody feels so tra-la-la

Most Minnesotans won't get work raises to cover the rising cost of gas to just get to work these days - let alone drive to social events like dancing. But let's take a look at some of the decisions made by Bu$hCo and John Kline that brought us to almost $3.00 a gallon while oil and gas companies have record profits.

John Kline (R-MN) and the GOP Congress has turned a blind eye to holding executives from the nation's richest oil companies accountable. In November, when executives from the nation's richest oil companies testified before the Senate Energy and Commerce Committees, Ted Stevens and the Republican leaders refused to force them to testify under oath.

The same GOP Congress (with John Kline) also rubber stamped the 2005 energy bill which showered billions in tax breaks on oil and gas companies, (the same companies that showered Republicans like John Kline with kickbacks, bribes and "campaign contributions"). During the hearing many of the 'Oil Barons' bragged that they don't even need these breaks!

John Kline sided with oil & gas companies over working Minnesotans who are paying more and more for a gallon of gas to get to work. Instead of working on an energy bill that encouraged alternative fuel sources and energy conservation, John Kline voted for a bill which offers billions in tax breaks to wealth corporations of which nearly 9 billion is earmarked for oil and gas production, electricity reliability and coal pollution projects

It shouldn't be a surprise that Bu$hCo (with John Kline voting virtually in lockstep) adopted a budget package that cut $20 million in renewable energy and energy efficiency programs while voting kickbacks to oil and gas companies. Afterall, oil and gas corporations are lining the pockets of the GOP. In the 2004 election cycle alone, the oil and gas industry contributed more than $20 million.

Most of us don't feel like dancing these days...not since John Kline has rolled out the barrel!

Polka
There's a garden, what a garden,
Only happy faces bloom there,
And there's never any room there,
For a worry or a gloom there
Oh there's music and there's dancing,
And a lot of sweet romancing
When they play the polka
They all get in the swing
Every time they hear that oom-pa-pa,
Everybody feels so tra-la-la
They want to throw their cares away,
They all go lah-de-ah-de-ay
Then they hear a rumble on the floor, the floor,
It's the big surprise they're waiting for
And all the couples form a ring,
For miles around you'll hear them sing...
Chorus: Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun
Roll out the barrel, we've got the blues on the run
Zing boom tararrel, ring out a song of good cheer
Now's the time to roll the barrel, for the gang's all here

Wednesday, April 26, 2006

Kline Helps Exxon Pump Minnesotans Dry

CNN Money.com. is reporting that Exxon Mobile made the biggest annual profit on record for a U.S. company, $36.1 billion, which would add up to nearly $99 million a day, or about $1,140 a second.

As Kline's good ol' boys say back home, "That's good work if you can get it. Exxon/Mobile "got it" all right, and so do we every time we pull up to the pump.

Bu$hCo has given every tax break imaginable to oil companies including Exxon who has posted record profits that are 50% greater than the year before. Since Kline has been in office the price of gasoline has doubled while the taxes on Exxon has fallen by half. It's no mere coincidence that Exxonmobil Corporation Political Action Committee (Exxonmobil Pac) has given John Kline $4000.00 so far this year! Next time you pay at the pump...think of Exxon and John Kline.

Read more at Truthsurfer and DFLers.

Tuesday, April 25, 2006

John 'Pay More' Kline

John Kline (R-MN) has a new nickname: 'Pay More'
The Congressman from Minnesota has given Minnesotan's a legacy of:
  • Paying more for college tuition (50 percent in the last four years)
  • Paying more in property taxes (10 percent hike from last year alone!)
  • Paying more for heating and cooling (cost rose 74 percent)
  • Paying more for health care costs (a 63 percent increase!)

Oh and the best part, Minnesota's families are earning less ($3000 per year); and thier job rate is lagging behind the rest of America; and they lost 43,700 manufacturing jobs.

John "You Pay More' Kline is the worse Congressman ever!

Thursday, April 20, 2006

Kline 'Off Base' On Gitmo

How does John Kline sleep at night given his lockstep support of the Bu$hCo policies at Gitmo?

John Kline's statement that Guantanamo Bay was no Abu Ghraib after his VIP 6 hour tour of the US prison was just more Kline 'rubber stamping' Bu$hCo. While Kline acknowledged that a congressional delegation was unlikely to witness mistreatment of prisoners, he said the level of supervision would not permit abuse. Now that a federal investigation looming, looks like Kline was a tad 'off based'!

"A Leading international human rights group is calling for the Bush administration to appoint a special prosecutor to investigate the alleged involvement of Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld and other senior Pentagon officials in the torture of a prisoner at Guanatanamo Bay some three years ago."

Wait there's more....

A top Red Cross official has broken with tradition by publicly attacking conditions at the US military base on Cuba where al-Qaeda suspects are being held. Christophe Girod - the senior Red Cross official in Washington - said it was unacceptable that the 600 detainees should be held indefinitely at Guantanamo Bay without legal safeguards.

Mr Girod said the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) was making the unusually blunt public statement because of a lack of action after previous private contacts with American officials.

Also- on the heels of Kline's visit in 2005, there's another 'no bid' contract awared to Halliburton to build in Gitmo! (see a pattern emerging here?)

A Halliburton Co. unit will build a new $30 million detention facility and security fence at the U.S. naval base at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, where the United States is holding about 520 foreign terrorism suspects, the Defense Department announced on Thursday.
The prison was called "the gulag of our times" in a recent Amnesty International report. Under the deal with the Norfolk, Virginia-based U.S. Naval Facilities Engineering Command, Atlantic, the work is to be wrapped up by July 2006. It is part of a larger contract that could be worth up to $500 million if all options are exercised, the Defense Department said.

Is it any wonder that all of Bu$hCo (including Kline) have no credibility left? Fool me once, shame on you, fool me twice, shame...

Tuesday, April 18, 2006

What John Kline Finds Reasonable!

From Labor Blog:
...according to Congressman Kline and his cronies, it's more important to push through tax cuts for the wealthy and eliminate the inheritance tax for the super wealthy than it is to spend a few more dollars to save the lives of American workers. War on terrorism and all that.

He [Kline -R MN] noted that in light of expanding the nation's defenses against terrorism, the notion of enlarging OSHA to police more worksites is "just not reasonable at this time."

Reasonable? Let's see, in 2003 --5,559 workers were killed in workplace "accidents" (not to mention the 50,000 - 60,000 workers who die each year of occupational disease). That means that more people die on the job in this country last year than were killed on 9/11, in Afghanistan and in Iraq put together. OSHA's budget request this year is somewhere between $400 and $500 million, while we're spending around $5 billion a month in Iraq.
Sounds pretty damn reasonable to me to spend a few more bucks to hire more OSHA inspectors.

Thursday, April 13, 2006

Kline Going For Broke

The worse Congressman ever, John Kline (MN) and the rest of the 'rubber stamp' Congress is 'going for broke'.
Last month (March) the Treasury Department reported that federal spending totaled $250 billion, up 13.7 percent from March 2005. Government spending hit an all-time one-month high for March.Government receipts also were up, rising 10.6 percent from a year ago, to $164.6 billion. That left a deficit for the month of $85.5 billion, a record imbalance for March.
The previous record for a single month outlay was way back in... er...February. Well records are meant to be broken. Maybe Kline will really go for broke in April causing a 'trifecta of debt'! Had Enough Yet?

Tuesday, April 11, 2006

Kline Befriends GOP Culture of Corruption


To left, Tom DeLay campaigning for good friend John Kline.

Paul Bartlett over at mnpACT! is pointing out the obvious...Kline seems to be close to, if not down right chummy with the culture of corruption within the Republican party...

Kline eagerly accepted PAC money from fellow Republican Congressman Duke Cunningham. Trouble is, the Dukester is a felon and now resides at a federal prison. OK, anyone can make a mistake. That $30,000 he took from Tom DeLay, that was OK? Well, not really. DeLay's PAC was well greased by fellow Republican felon Jack Abramoff. But DeLay, he's OK? ...

Friday, April 07, 2006

Picture This: Kline With DeLay!

What's wrong with this picture?


















Time for Change!
JK put DeLays interest above America's by voting over 96% of the time with DeLay.
JK accepted $30,000 from DeLay's ARMPAC .
JK called for and voted to protect DeLay's position even if he was indicted of a felony!
JK voted to table a resolution calling for investigations of corrupt congresspersons and staff.

Five Reasons To Vote Kline OUT

1. Weak Job Growth
2. Weak Wage Growth
3. Poor Growth in Net Worth
4. Negative Savings
5. Massive Increase in Debt

Read more here
Keep in mind that Kline voted in lockstep with Bu$hCo to bring America where it is today:

Is Kline Dusting Off His Rubber Stamp?

Right now the Republicans are working on this year's budget for Kline to 'Rubber Stamp'...sigh..again.Least we forget, what Rubber Stamp Kline did last year...

Give aways to special interests:
  • $22 billion given away to HMOs...
  • $14.6 billion preserved in energy company giveaways...

Cuts for us:

  • $12.7 billion cut from student aid...$6.4 billion cut from Medicare...
  • $1.6 billion cut from child support enforcement...

The Many Pacs Of John Kline!

Representative John Kline (R-MN 2nd) brought and paid for by:

Political Action Committee Contributions: 2005-2006 Campaign Cycle -
Total 2005-2006 campaign contributions: $244,899

American Success Political Action Committee $-2500
Bae Systems North America Inc. Political Action Committee (Bae Systems Usa Pac) $500
National Cattlemen'S Beef Association Political Action Committee (Ncba-Pac) $500
Goodrich Political Action Committee $500
St. Paul Travelers Companies Inc. Political Action Committee (Sta Pac), The $500
Land O'Lakes Inc/Agriliance Llc Pac (Lol Pac) Fka Land O'Lake Inc Pac $500
Farm Credit Council Political Action Committee $500
Ford Motor Company Civic Action Fund $1000
Apollo Group Inc. Political Organization For Legislative Leadership $1000
U.S. Bancorp Political Participation Program $1000
Arkansas Best Corporation Political Action Committee $1000
General Motors Corporation Political Action Committee (Gm Pac) $1000
Career College Association Political Action Committee $1000
Pricewaterhousecoopers Political Action Committee I $1000
Humana Inc. Political Action Committee $1000
Cargill, Incorporated, Political Action Committee $1000
Mgm Mirage Pac $1000
Union Pacific Corp. Fund For Effective Government $1000
Johnson & Johnson Employees' Good Government Fund $1000
R.J. Reynolds Political Action Committee; Reynolds American Inc. $1000
Smithkline Beecham Corporation Political Action Committee (Glaxosmithkline Pac) $1000
Edison International Pac $1000
Credit Union Legislative Action Council Of Cuna $1000
Us Chamber Of Commerce Pac (Ncap) $1000
Merck Employees Political Action Committee (Merck Pac) $1000
Verizon Communication Inc Good Govt Club $1000
Zeneca Inc. Political Action Committee $1000
Action Committee For Rural Electrification (Acre) National Rural Electric Coop. Assoc. $1000
National Association Of Realtors Political Action Committee $1000
American Express Company Political Action Committee (Axppac) $1000
National Federation Of Independent Business/ Save Americas Free Enterprise Trust $1000
Dean Foods Company Political Action Committee $1000
Electrical Construction Pac-National Electrical Contractors Association, Inc (Ecpac) $1000
National Roofing Contractors Association (Roofpac) $1000
Albertson'S Inc Political Action Committee (Fka Amer Stores Co Fed Pac) $1000
National Conservative Campaign Fund $1000
Boeing Political Action Committee $1000
Microsoft Corporation Political Action Committee $1000
Ecolab Inc Political Action Committee $1000
Automotive Free International Trade Pac $1500
Rolls-Royce North America Holdings Inc. Pac (Rolls-Royce North America Pac) $1500
American Crystal Sugar Company Political Action Committee $2000
Science Applications International Corporation Voluntary Political Action Committee $2000
Alliant Techsystems Inc Employee Citizenship Fund $2000
Deloitte & Touche Federal Political Action Committee $2000
Safari Club International Political Action Committee $2000
Southern Minnesota Beet Sugar Cooperative Political Action Committee $2000
Unitedhealth Group Incorporated Pac (United For Health) $2000
United Technologies Corporation Political Action Committee $2000
Minn-Dak Farmers Cooperative Political Action Committee (Mdfpac) $2000
National Rifle Association Of America Political Victory Fund $2000
3m Company $2000
Pepsico Inc. Concerned Citizens Fund $2000
Independent Community Bankers Of America Political Action Committee $2000
Dealers Election Action Committee Of The National Automotive Dealers Association $2000
Targetcitizens Political Forum $2000
Overnite Corporation Employee Pac (Aka Overnite Employee Pac) $2500
Nacs Political Action Committee $2500
Northwest Airlines Political Action Committee $2500
Yrc Worldwide Pac $2500
Lockridge Grindal Nauen Political Fund $2750
Come Back Political Action Committee $3000
American Bankers Association Pac (Bankpac) $3000
Lockheed Martin Employees' Political Action Committee $3000
Investment Company Institute Political Action Committee (Ici Pac) $3000
Koch Industries Inc Political Action Committee (Kochpac) $3000
General Electric Company Political Action Committee $3000
Textron Inc. Political Action Committee $3000
American Association Of Nurse Anesthetists Separate Segregated Fund (Crna-Pac) $3000
Qwest Communications International Inc Political Action Committee $3000
Ceridian Corporation Political Action Committee $3500
Aircraft Owners And Pilots Association Political Action Committee $3500
Ag Processing Inc Political Action Committee, Agpac $4000
Exxonmobil Corporation Political Action Committee (Exxonmobil Pac) $4000
General Mills Political Action Committee $4000
Rely On Your Beliefs Fund $5000
United Services Automobile Association Employee Pac - Usaa Employee Pac $5000
Together For Our Majority Political Action Committee (Tompac) $5000
Build Political Action Committee Of The National Association Of Home Builders $5000
Keep Our Majority Pac $5000
Associated Builders And Contractors Pac $5000
National Restaurant Association Pac $5000
21st Century Pac $5000
Eli Lilly And Company Political Action Committee $5000
Committee For The Preservation Of Capitalism (Cpc), The $5000
Freedom Project; The $5000
Associated General Contractors Of America Political Action Committee $5500
Pfizer Inc. Pac $6000
General Dynamics Voluntary Political Contribution Plan (Gdvpcp) $6500
United Parcel Service Inc. Political Action Committee $8150
Bae Systems United Defense Employees Pac $9500
Trucking Political Action Committee Of The American Trucking Associations Inc. $9999
National Beer Wholesalers Association Political Action Committee $10000
Desert Caucus, The $10000

Wednesday, April 05, 2006

More DeLayism By Kline?

John Kline continues his tradition of voting to support the corrupt culture of cronyism over Minnesotans. This last week John Kline (R - MN) voted to table a privileged resolutuon offered by Minority Leader Nancy Pelosi calling for an immediate investigation into Abramoff's ties to members of Congress and staffers.

Tuesday, April 04, 2006

The Delay Rule

Take a look at this website to get a quick visual reminder that John Kline was the only MN representative to vote for the Delay Rule, which rescinded the rule that a sitting congressional representative must step down if indicted. And note how much money he took from Delay's PAC. Delay may be going away but Kline's record of his close ties to corruption won't.

The Friendship Of John Kline (R-MN) And Tom Delay

Just to be sure, this is all about criminal activity that includes: corruption, illegal lobbying, illegal campaign finance charges, money-laundering, influence buying, lying and misrepresentation. Delay was elected to office to hold the public trust...but then sold that trust to the highest bidder.

John Kline (R-MN) was a key supporter of indicted ex-house majority leader DeLay. While DeLay was in office, John Kline voted over 96% of the time with DeLay. John Kline in turn accepted more Delay ARMPAC money than any other Minnesota elected official ($40,000+).

Kline will be the first to tell you he was among the first republicans to call for Delay to step down from his leadership position but that is only after voting for Delay to retain his house majority leadership position even if indicted! Republicans got themselves into a bad spot through years of blind loyalty to DeLay and his culture of corruption. Time and time again,Kline has taken DeLay's dirty money and voted Delay's policies thereby accepting the corrupting influence of the DeLay over Minnesotan voters.

There's little doubt these days about the guilt of Tom Delay. Tom's former deputy of staff has pleaded guilty to conspiracy and corruption charges putting Abramoff directly into DeLay's office. With the writing on the wall, Delay has formally announced his retirement from the criminal activity that was run out of his office. Can more criminal charges be far behind?

Monday, April 03, 2006

Kline Votes 'Do Nothing' Bill For Education

Kline was quoted in the Star Tribune this last week saying:

“ … I've been focusing on making college more affordable for the low- and middle-income students.”

Congresswomen Betty McCollum (CD4 -D) summed up the Education Bill that Congress worked on and John Kline voted for as a ‘do nothing’ bill!

The Higher Education Act is one of the most important laws governing our nation's education system. It creates access to college for millions of students each year. The reauthorization of this law should serve as an opportunity to improve the current law and make college more accessible. Unfortunately, the underlying bill does nothing to make college more affordable.

On the heels of the largest cuts in the history of federal student financial aid which no Democrat voted in favor of—this House once again fails to make college more affordable for students at a time when tuition is rising faster than the rate of inflation and when financial aid is not keeping up with the rising cost of a college education. And, at a time when this Congress is voting for tax giveaways for the nation's wealthiest.

I wish I were rising today to applaud and support a Congress that plans to make good history today. Unfortunately, this is a "do nothing" bill. This is a missed opportunity bill. It is disingenuous to claim that this bill improves access and affordability.

Unfortunately, the students and colleges in my district-- and millions more across the country-- will share in my disappointment that this Congress did not make the investments needed to ensure a competitive and prepared nation for the 21st Century.

Kline Lacking In Traditional Minnesota Values

While Congressman John Kline (MN R) announces a third Congressional bid here, another article caught my eye and then another. Can Minnesota really afford more of the "conservative yet independent” Bu$hCo rubber stamp named John Kline?
“It’s a blend of suburban to rural, and that’s largely how I grew up,” Kline said. “I found it very easy to identify with the values of the people who live there.”
Unfortunately, the people who live here are finding it harder and harder to identify with Kline’s lack of traditional Minnesota values. Recent polling shows Kline's approval rating hooving with his mentor Bu$h with only a third of the voters in the district are ready to re-elect him.

ST. PAUL — Ramsey County will lose a quarter of its child protection and child support enforcement workers because Congress has slashed funding, local officials and union leaders say. The result of a $90 million cut in human services funding will be felt across the state, they predicted.

"We will lose 45 people – 25 percent of our staff" in child protection and child support enforcement because of an $8.2 million reduction in funding, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said at a news conference Thursday. "That's 600 families per case worker that won't be receiving the child support services at the level they deserve . . . Not as many cases will be investigated when child abuse is suspected."