This should be of particular interest to Andersen Employees and Retirees.  It's interesting to see this country going "green" and how new jobs are developed.

(Woodbury, MN) Sixth District Congresswoman Michele Bachmann announced today that her campaign for reelection ended 2009 with over $1 million cash on hand. The campaign raised $591,600 in the last quarter of 2009, bringing the total amount raised this election cycle to $1,552,864.

"Americans everywhere are fed up with the reckless liberal agenda of higher taxes, more spending, more government bailouts and takeovers, and rising deficits and debt emanating from the Democratic Majority in Washington. Clearly, Congresswoman Bachmann's common sense message of individual liberty and fiscal responsibility is resonating loud and clear with the hearts and minds of her constituents," said Bachmann spokesman Dave Dziok.

"After all, you can't have almost 9,000 individual contributors from Minnesota without being in tune with the voters. The numbers speak for themselves, and the campaign couldn't be stronger."

Here is a printable copy of the convener script for those that may not of received one.  Convener Script

UPDATE:

• A useful aid for caucus night : 2008 MN GOP Platform
• If you are bringing resolutions have them ready in advance. Print out this resolution form, one per resolution.
• True North has a great reference on precinct caucuses. 

UPDATE 2: Resolution form that can be filled out online and printed to bring to the caucus.

Eric Cantor, Republican Whip, on Tuesday released a few simple proposals to help get the economy going....

Are the Democrats in charge of our government listening? The last 11 months have been spent on an agenda that is out of step with the struggles of the American people. An agenda that expands the reach of government, increases the deficit, and requires us to borrow even more money from foreign countries.

Rep. Cantor highlighted some common-sense proposals that he believes are worthy of serious consideration by the President and the Congressional Majority. He knows there are philosophical differences between the parties, but surely there are a few common-sense things that all can agree on to help get America back to work.

Read his proposal here.

The NRCC is having an interactive engagement of the Presidents State of the Union speech.  View a YouTube video to see how or go to the NRCC web site for more information.

The Republican Party of MN wants YOU to be an election judge, an essential element of our representative democracy and a necessity to protect citizens’ right to vote.

MN has over 4000 precincts staffed by 30,000+ judges on Election Day. Each major political party is to provide people for these positions. Election judges receive compensation from their respective counties, and employers are required under law to allow time off from work to serve as an election judge without penalty.

Requirements to be a judge are:

• - Be eligible to vote
• - Be a U.S. citizen and a Minnesota resident
• - Read, write and speak English
• - Attend a 2-3 hour training session
• - Handle stressful situations and work a long day

Nice-to-have traits include:

• - Good communication skills
• - Knowledge of a second language
• - Good math skills and pay attention to detail

Go here: http://www2.mngop.com/electionjudge/  to register with MNGOP to be an election judge. Complete the registration. You will then get a link to your respective county. Complete the county form and then send or hand-deliver it to your county as well as MNGOP. The MNGOP also will submit all election judge registration data to the respective counties and follow-up to see that submitted names are placed as election judges.

Thank you!

The SD56 BPOU Newletter is now available here :  2010_02 Newsletter

Contents:

• Precinct Caucuses
• Accountability by Linda Stanton
• Media Bias - Brian Marum
• Pro-Life Update
• Upcoming District Events

This and previous newsletters are archived at  Newsletters.

The Senate is planning on bringing up a bill to raise the debt limit to $14.3 trillion from the current $12.4 trillion. The debt limit was increased by $290 billion just a month ago.  This new increase will be an additional  $1.9 trillion. They say they need that much to get through the current year.  Evidently they don't want to have to vote on it again just before the 2010 elections.

For the record the current debt as of Jan 20 is $12.327 Trillion that represents a deficit in less than 4 months into the fiscal year of about $407 billion. Federal receipts are way down because of high unemployment and poor business conditions.  Meanwhile federal spending is continuing to run out of control.  Most of the stimulus money has gone to expand government both at the federal level and state level.

The Senate is having a few problems rounding up votes for the $1.9 trillion increase. It is possible the Republican's can muster enough support to force a compromise at a lesser amount, which could force a second increase in the debt limit before the election.

Yesterday Obama made a proposal to force expansive regulation on to large banks, which if passed would further reduce this country's ability to recover from this long and deep recession. Obama has lost a lot of credibility recently so maybe this will go nowhere. So far government policies are making things worse, just as they did during the Great Depression.  Once again our leaders have failed to learn from past mistakes.

UPDATE: One of my favorite blogs  BizzyBlog has a chart which shows that federal January 2010 revenues are running 15.69 percent behind January 2009 revenues.  Some recovery.

A visual demonstration on the amount of CO2 global warming alarmists are worried about. CO2 Represents 385 ppm,  this video puts in in context.   Man made CO2 contributes 12-15 ppm. Water vapor is a major contributor to global warming, and it too is show, along with a few other gasses.

One can sense the true purpose of the global warming alarmism is taxation. 

The Star-Tribune has indicated that Sarah Palin will be campaigning with Michele Bachmann in April of this year. Palin will also be campaigning for John McCain, and others.

Read the article in the STrib

UPDATE: And from Michele Bachmann's web site:

U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann (MN-06) announced today that former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin will come to Minnesota to assist Bachmann's re-election campaign on April 7, 2010.

"There is absolutely no one more in tune with the hearts and minds of everyday Americans than Governor Palin, and I'm excited to welcome her back to our beautiful state this spring," Bachmann said.

Both Governor Palin and Congresswoman Bachmann are well-known and respected conservative leaders whose bold and unwavering stances in defending the U.S. Constitution and commonsense approaches to issues like health care, taxes and government bailouts have attracted millions to their message.

"It didn't take the American people long to see through the extreme liberal agenda of President Obama and his Democratic allies in Congress," Bachmann said. "We saw American's frustration start in the form of tea party protests in states from coast to coast. It continued with the health care town halls throughout last summer. But we saw it come into full focus yesterday in conservative Scott Brown's victory in Massachusetts, taking back a Senate seat that was held by Democratic Senator Ted Kennedy for decades. The American people have spoken, and the momentum is clearly at the backs of conservatives heading into the 2010 elections."

Details about Governor Palin's visit will be released as they become available. In the coming weeks, please visit www.michelebachmann.com for more information.

In a stunning and remarkable vote by the people of Massachusetts, Scott Brown (R) has easily won the Senate seat in MA former held by Ted Kennedy. The Kennedy nightmare is finally over.

It will be interesting to see how Congress reacts to this decisive election.  But we must remember that Obama is more of a leftist ideolog than a Democrat. He after all was also a member of the New Party when in Chicago. (Google that one).

America needs his 41st vote now to stop the Obama agenda. Thank you Scott Brown for running such a great campaign.

The Bulletin, a Philadelphia newspaper has a devastating op-ed by Herb Denenberg on Barack Obama;

But we don’t have this best-case scenario in the White House — we have the worst-case scenario. Yes, it’s about time America wakes up to the fact that we have a radical, leftist, socialist politician who still carries the trademark of the corrupt Cook County Chicago political machine from which he came and who has populated the White House with wild radicals and thugs willing to use intimidation and anything else if needed to achieve their goals. The Chicago machine adopts the Saul Alinsky Rules for Radicals that says the end justifies the mean, i.e., anything goes. On top of that our president is incompetent. At this time of the greatest danger to America, we have another even greater danger: a president not up to the job and not fit for the job.

Read the full article here

The Treasury is instituting a program to help finance home purchases. It is doing this with no legislation from Congress. This I would think would be highly illegal.  With this administration anything that they can get away with goes, while Congress fiddles.

Read more at Seeking Alpha

Once again a special deal has been made by the WH and Congress on the Health Care bill... This time taxes for you and me, but not for the Democrats favorite unions.   This special deal is much bigger than the one Bill Nelson of NE got.  Maybe the idea is to expand unions. How about that new union, the free choice union. You know the one where you don't have a tax on Cadillac HC plans, but there are no dues, and no membership requirements.

An additional exemption in the HC plan for the Amish who not forced to buy HC insurance. Amish may become the next fastest growing religion in America.

The new news site the Daily Caller has reported that after the $1.3 million raised on Monday that the Scott Brown campaign has continued to raise a $1 million dollars a day towards the upcoming Massachusetts US Senate election next Tuesday Jan 19th.

This election is very important if Scott Brown can win the seat, it will take away the 60 vote super majority that the Democrats now enjoy.

Read the article here.

I sent a small contribution on Monday, I hope it helps.

You can still contribute at Brown for US Senate

The sad thing is even if Scott Brown wins, his 41st vote on Health Care won’t occur. The bill has already passed the house, and the senate. When it comes out of conference committee or whatever method they are using it will be a simple up or down vote 51 to 49 will be enough. The only place to stop it is in the House where the vote was very close 220 to 215.

UPDATE: I stand corrected. Once the bill comes out of committee it will require unanimous consent to proceed to a vote. It will not get unanimous consent. It would need 60 votes to proceed to a vote to approve.

I think that he will definitely help for other items on Obama's agenda that need to be stopped; Cap and Tax, Energy, and Financial reform.

Scott Brown, Rep MA running for Senate in MA (Ted Kennedy's seat), had a goal of raising $500,000 today. So far he has amassed $522,000.  An important election to take away 60 seat super majority in the US Senate.

Donate here :  Scott Brown for Senate

UPDATE: Wow   $984,000 $1,012,059.94 $1,303,302.50 

This is kind of scary... From CNBC via theeconomiccollapseblog.com

When the U.S. government need to borrow more money (which happens a lot) they go over to the Federal Reserve and they ask them for some more green pieces of paper called Federal Reserve Notes.

The Federal Reserve swaps these green pieces of paper for pink pieces of paper called U.S. Treasury bonds.

Now normally the Federal Reserve takes these U.S. Treasury bonds and they sell them all to other buyers.

But in 2009 there were not nearly enough buyers.

So in 2009 the Federal Reserve sold itself about 80 percent of this debt.

From the other side of the political spectrum, mnsd56 DFL style is having a pizza party at Davanni's in Woodbury, Jan 11th at 7:00PM. Their guest will be Maureen Reed.

Details at  mnsd56.org

BTW: I just noticed if you Google  MN + Republican  mnsd56.com is second on the list, right behind the state party mngop.com.

Here are some upcoming events which need a little more than a little side bar notice.  Thanks to Linda Stanton and Joe for supplying them;

1) So Wash Co schools are asking for public input on how to spend ALOT of money. If you can attend please do. Tell them to SAVE the money...a rainy day may be coming or give it back to the taxpayers!
A Special Meeting of the Board has been scheduled for Tuesday, Jan. 12 to hear recommendations of the Referendum Fund Balance Task Force – as well as take public input on the decision being considered.

The Bond Referendum Fund Balance Task Force has concluded meeting. Their final recommendations will be presented to the School Board on Tuesday, Jan. 12 at 7 p.m. in the District Service Center board room. The minutes from the group and what they are proposing (minutes from 1-5-10) are available on the district’s web site at:

http://www.sowashco.k12.mn.us/HotTopics/FundBalance/default.asp

2) What: Precinct Caucus Training Session - Weds. January 20, 2010, 6:30-8:30 p.m.
Where: Nina’s Coffee Café, 165 Western Ave. N, St. Paul, MN 55102
Who’s Hosting It: The Randy Gilbert for State Auditor Campaign
Cost: Free to attend More information attached.

Who Can Attend: Anyone interested in learning more about Republican Precinct Caucuses, the first step in the political process. Learn how you can become a delegate, and become more politically involved. We especially welcome young adults and college students. Students under age 18 can attend, but must be 18 years of age by Election Day, November 2, 2010, to become a delegate.

3) If you haven't heard the candidates yet this would be a good place to meet them. You are invited to attend the January 2010 meeting of the Metro Republican Women on Saturday morning, January 16, at Mendakota Country Club. The program for this meeting will be "The 2010 Race for Minnesota Governor - A Panel of Republican Candidates." The seven Republican candidates for governor who will attend and participate on the panel are Pat Anderson, Leslie Davis, Tom Emmer, Bill Haas, David Hann, Phil Herwig, and Marty Seifert. Don't miss this opportunity to hear from this impressive group and to learn about their positions on those issues important to you!

The Agenda for the meeting is as follows:
8:30 a.m. Registration and Socializing
8:45 a.m. Buffet Breakfast
9:00 a.m. MRW Business Meeting
9:15 a.m. Program: A Panel of Republican Candidates for Governor
10:30 a.m. Adjourn

Please RSVP to Cheryl Todd at 651-457-4195 or by emailing her at minntodd1@aol.com by Monday January 11. The cost for the meeting including breakfast is $16 for members, and $20 for guests, nonmembers, and for those without reservations. All no shows are billed, and those without reservations pay $20 at the door. Spouses and friends are always welcome to attend!

4) Mark your calendar for the Sat. Feb 13, 9am meeting of the Washington County Republican Women who will have speaker Annette Meeks. For more info go to their website at: http://wcrw.wordpress.com or contact Lee Bohlsen at 651-738-3211. New members are always welcome. Sign up in advance.

Welcome to mnsd56.com. On Jan 10th, 2010 mnsd56.com will have been online for a full year. There have been many changes since its very humble beginnings. Most significantly was the addition of a custom CMS (content management system) which has been integrated into the website for over seven months now. It makes for a very convenient and secure mechanism for adding content.

Whenever an update is made to the site various social network updates are also made automatically. A Twitter update is sent to http://twitter.com/mnsd56, emails are sent to subscribers of the email list, and an RSS (real simple syndication)  feed is updated. The email update may be an especially attractive way to get updates, since you don't have to visit the site unless the email message which is a snippet of the complete message intrigues you.

The SD56 website is likely the most actively updated BPOU web site in the state. This is only right for a BPOU as active and growing as ours is. Since early June over 200 postings have been made including news items, events, and alerts. All of the news items are indexed and available for easy retrieval. An archive of previous postings are also listed and at the ready in a monthly compilation. Events and Alerts do expire, and are not shown again but are retained in the database. The book club is a recent addition. Currently it only shows a list of the books available. It can be sorted or filtered by title, author, or the owners name. In the future we may be able to show which books are checked out, or reserved, and so on.

We would like to make the website even better, and maybe one way to do that is to have more contributors. If you have an opinion on a particular subject write it up and it may get posted on the website. Have a hot news item you think others in the district would like send it over, it too may be posted. Do you know of an important event coming up that you want publicized... You get the idea.

Another way to contribute would be to be a regular poster of news items. Currently I am the primary source for news items. On our website, persons can be set up with access to the online editor, and would be able to compose an article directly to the site from there personal computer at any location. A permissions system can limit areas where one can make updates.

While I have designed the website and am the webmaster for it, another or several points of view would add new perspective to issues. I can provide training to anyone who might be interested in trying there hand at it. If you are interested please contact me or our chairman, Joe Salmon.

Minnesota's caucus's are right around the corner. If you are unsure of the local precinct you live in you can use this handy precinct finder provided by the MN GOP. Once you enter the your address or other location information, (There are several options.) a web page will display various information. It shows; what precinct you are in, your BPOU contact information, congressional district, senate, and house districts. It also provides the address of the GOP caucus for your precinct, and other useful information related to your location. 

This year caucus's are February 2^nd at 7:00 PM. At the caucus there will be a straw poll for GOP governor, election of delegates for the senate district convention, and submission of resolutions for the GOP platform.

Here is a handy FAQ and brochure about caucus's provided by the secretary of state.

Drew Emmer interviews Jeff Davis of the Minnesota Majority where they discuss irregularities in the 2008 election, and voter records in general.

In a PJM exclusive, ten GOP congresswomen tell the president how to make 2010 a better year for struggling women. From: Rep. Cathy McMorris Rodgers, Rep. Marsha Blackburn, Rep. Sue Myrick, Rep. Candice Miller, Rep. Michele Bachmann, Rep. Kay Granger, Rep. Ginny Brown-Waite, Rep. Shelley Moore Capito, Rep. Mary Bono Mack, & Rep. Lynn Jenkins.

Read the article on PJM

Charlie Daniels speaks out.  (of the Charlie Daniels Band)

Ray Stevens - We the People   YouTube Video

In a phone call Thursday, Sen. Ben Nelson, D-Neb., urged South Carolina Republican Attorney General Henry McMaster, the head of a group of 13 GOP state attorneys general who are threatening to file a lawsuit against the Senate health care bill, to reconsider, Politico reported.

The attorneys general are challenging the constitutionality of a Medicaid provision in the bill that they say benefits Nebraska at the expense of other states.

Read the article here on Fox News

I wish they would challenge the constitutionality of the entire bill. But at least this is a start.

The January 2010 BPOU Newsletter has been revised.  You can download it here.

Links from the original announcement and the Newsletters menu item have been updated as well.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

Just want to wish all MN SD56 readers a Happy New Year.

And there may be a few bugs in the handling of the year change in my code.

I hope to work those out over the next few days.

UPDATE: Yikes -- I think the date bugs are pretty much worked out now. If you see anything weird let me know.