Tip about AFSCME and Illegal Aliens

I received an e-mail from a friend of mine. He went to an informational meeting organized by the public employee union, AFSCME. This was about the Pro-Illegal Alien rallies to be held on the Socialist/Communist Day of Celebration (May 1st). I think it gives a ton of insight into the broken administration of that union.

Meeting held by Brad Sigal - Treasurer for the Chapter

I thought the title "National Day Without Immigrants" was kinda weird, with the assumption that "immigrants" means illegal aliens, like they've been using in all their literature. Couldn't that title be used by either side, depending on the way you're looking at it? On the other side of the fence, it would be viewed as what those people are striving for, a country without illegal aliens.

The bill trying to be passed would make immigrants (that's AFSMCE lingo, I'm calling them illegal aliens from here out) felons, since they're breaking the law. Would they get departed or jailed?

Anyone found harboring or helping out an illegal alien would be charged with Human Trafficking, and I'm guessing that this is a felony too.

-First demonstration for this cause was Chicago, where 100,000-200,000 illegals took the day off, about 5,000 were expected.
-Shortly thereafter there was a 1 million rally where illegals took the day off, this time in LA.
-4/8, 4/9, & 4/10 had rallies all across the country, these times for illegals and supporters to take the day off in show of support.
-4/9 St. Paul had somewhere between 30,000-40,000 people rally.

This rally and support through various organizations is to help support "worker's rights" for the illegals. Isn't that an ironic statement? Worker's RIGHTS for an illegal. That's like someone not related to me and who didn't know me having somone fight for their right to my estate once I'm dead; it's something they don't deserve because of who they are.

DREAM ACT - equal opportunity in education for illegals? An illegal alien would pay in-state tuition wherever they are, gaining a better deal than a student who is from out-of-state and isn't in a situation where reciprocity is an issue, where that student would be paying more. Moreover, how in the hell does an illegal alien gain entrance into the school without comitting some sort of fraud, which is a crime that the government does punish, unless they've been lax on illegals comitting fraud, which is then advantageous, crime-wise, for illegals when compared to actual citizens.

Quote from Brad Sigal - "NAFTA caused the major influx of illegals from Mexico because it caused Mexicans from the countryside to be forced to the big cities or the U.S. to make a living."
Quote from Brad Sigal - "U.S. Gov. funding in the El Salvador war cause the influx of Salvadorian illegals."
Quote from Brad Sigal - "Because the U.S. intervened in Somalia we had the huge influx of Somalians that we did in the 90's"

On the subject of split up families (their own choice), where one person leaves to work in this country, illegally, and sends money back home to support the family there, Brad stated that they're striving to get those families back together, by bringing in that person's family who was in the country working, illegally. I thought of this as a "Get Foot in the Door" policy, and it's retarded. Just cause I get inside your home doesn't mean that I can stay or call my buddies up and have them all come over to crash too. That's against the law, but because the person's an ILLEGAL alien they should not be considered to have broken the law and have the government help their family get here too? Whatever.
Quote from Brad Sigal - "It is nearly impossible for a poor person from a 3rd world country, whether trying as a student, worker or tourist, to enter the US unless they claim political asylum. Well Brad, you know what? I don't see our homeless going to other countries either, it's how it goes when you're in that type of economic situation. So, what you're saying is that we should take care of other country's poor people while they're still living in their own country?

Free Trade vs. Permanent Resident Trade? Brad said that because we have a free trade policy that we should have the equivalent when it comes to illegals. Very bad analogy, cause while goods come into and leave the country for the betterment of both participating countries, the same cannot be said when it comes to people. Obviously, the illegals coming into the country are getting a better deal than the one they were getting in their own country, but you don't see people from our country skipping across the border to make permanent residence down there. It's a piss poor example trying to justify his views.

AFSCME is looking at putting together a board of people to work on immigrant's rights. Why in the hell am I paying union dues that goes towards that? This is political and not an option for people to volunteer money towards. I'm being forced to pay union dues that they're using for things I don't agree with. How is this different from the execs at Enron and the like that spent their employees money for things that they wanted? Those guys are being put away, why aren't the leaders of AFSCME?

It was either Brad or one of the other people in attendence that are regular AFSCME hard-workers that said that we should be supporting all this and doing what we can cause we're all "immigrants". Well then, shouldn't your bleeding heart be doing something about a little section of people known as the American Indian? And if that's truely how you feel shouldn't you be moving out of the country so that they can get their rights and freedoms back to the way they were before us "immigrants" came knocking at the doors of the Atlantic? Selective caring and contradictory values and support systems?

Phone-banking tonight.
Flyering tonight, Saturday and Sunday.
Flyers being created by Anthony's ex-co-worker. Curious if this is being done during worktime and if it's being done on UofM paper using UofM equipment.

These were his notes of the meeting and his commentary interspersed. I received from another person the actual flyers passed out at the meeting. I hope to have those uploaded Monday night (I know, that is late).

Why is a public employee union utilizing its name & resources for pro-illegal immigration rallies? How is this helping its membership? Truth is, it is not helping their membership but is purely political. My question is this: why are union dues paying for the paper, copier, printer, list serve, phones, etc that are being used for such non-union work?

********** UPDATE **********
I have received word that the paper, toner and copier were not the University's or through AFSCME's hard funds. The posting has been corrected to reflect that correction.

The question still remains why is a public employee union using ANY resources (including their name) in a pro-illegal alien rally? Its listserv, its mailing list, these things are an abuse of the union's reach. It would be the same as using the State of Minnesota's mailing list to send out advertisements for the radio show. It is improper and abusive.

Why is the public employee union using their resources for a non-labor rally? The organizing of protesters THROUGH a labor union is inappropriate...and warrants investigation by the state, in my opinion.

Correction of KvM Analysis

Earlier this week Gary at Kennedy v the Machine gave some analysis on the the 6th District Race that needs some redefining. I'm here to help.

Every political creature in Minnesota was just sent the results of a poll commissioned by the Knoblach for Congress campaign which commissioned a poll from the Tarrance Group to disparage the candidacy of 6th CD frontrunner Sen. Bachmann. (Sorry, Ringer. Last time I relied on your nose-counting I was confidently predicting a first ballot victory for Ron Eibensteiner last June.)

Knoblach has decided to run what amounts to some expensive “push polls” that criticize Bachmann for, among other things, opposing another government-funded rail boondoggle and for allowing gas stations to make a profit. Ignorance on basic economics is, alas, a contagion that knows no party bounds.

It is clear to KvM that Mrs. Bachmann and Messrs. Krinkie and Esmay all offer much more satisfactory choices for conservatives in the most Republican district in the state. Having Mr. Knoblach on the ticket this fall would serve to suppress GOP turnout in exactly the places Republicans will have to strip mine to find their required margin of victory for constitutional and federal offices.

There are many reasons for me to redirect the 'non-fiscal' votes of Bachmann, but that is for another post. However, this analysis of Knoblach's tactic is missing some inside information about the northwest portion of the 6th...and even some of the northern portion of the district.

Northstar Rail is a HUGE issue to even the GOP members in the 6th. Especially those in St Cloud, Stearns Country and Sherburne County. If you think fighting against the Twins stadium crowd feels like a losing cause then go up to the aformentioned areas of the 6th and fight against the Northstar boondoggle. Even within the GOP there is a majority of people that WANT that thing built.

So, the two things that KvM forgot to factor in are:
1) Being pro-Northstar in roughly 1/3 - 1/2 of the district is a PLUS even amongst the GOP.
2) Being pro-spending for projects that affect a Republican directly is a plus. Principles within a party member generally go until it actually affects the member. The GOP is no different, hence the Twins stadium, rising higher ed bonding bills, Northstar demand from "fiscal conservatives" and a whole host of other things.

To an honest fiscal conservative Knoblach's push polls seem like grasping at straws. To a typical GOPer in the 6th it may play very well.

Vote them out

To the fiscal conservatives...address your scorn towards the following legislators for passing the Twins stadium bill.

Unofficial Recorded Roll Call Floor Vote for
H.F. NO. 2480
CALENDAR FOR THE DAY
Passage
76 YEA and 55 Nay

Date: 4/26/2006 -- Journal Page

* Please see the Journal of the House for official recorded roll call votes.

Those who voted in the affirmative were:
Abeler, Anderson, I., Atkins, Beard, Blaine, Bradley, Brod, Charron, Cox, Cybart, Davids, Demmer, Dempsey, Dill, Dorman, Dorn, Eastlund, Eken, Entenza, Finstad, Fritz, Garofalo, Gazelka, Gunther, Hamilton, Haws, Heidgerken, Hilstrom, Hoppe, Hortman, Hosch, Huntley, Johnson, R., Juhnke, Kelliher, Koenen, Lanning, Lesch, Lieder, Lillie, Magnus, Marquart, McNamara, Meslow, Moe, Murphy, Nelson, M., Nelson, P., Nornes, Ozment, Pelowski, Penas, Peterson, A., Peterson, N., Poppe, Rukavina, Ruth, Sailer, Samuelson, Scalze, Sertich, Severson, Sieben, Simon, Simpson, Slawik, Solberg, Sviggum, Sykora, Thao, Thissen, Tingelstad, Urdahl, Wardlow, Welti

For those who voted for this I wish them a nasty primary battle within their party and a sound defeat in their general election.

If the stadium was so important then let those who ACTUALY and DIRECTLY benefit from the stadium (the fans, the corporations who purchase skyboxes, the employees, etc) pay for it through their purchases and payments.

Let's pick out some key anti-fiscally responsible provisions.

The acquisition and betterment of a ballpark by the authority must be conducted pursuant to this act and are not subject to Minnesota Statutes, sections 473.165 and 473.173. Minnesota Statutes, section 116J.994, does not apply to any transactions of the county, the authority, or other governmental entity related to the ballpark or public infrastructure, or to any tenant or other users of them.

There is the exemption from the state law requiring this type of project to be put to a direct citizen's vote.

The authority may equip, improve, operate, manage, maintain, and control the ballpark and related facilities constructed, remodeled, or acquired under this act, subject to the rights and obligations transferred to and assumed by the team or other user under the terms of a lease or use agreement.

Yep, that means RENOVATIONS would be subject to the exemptions of this bill. That is there is an exemption from the requirement to allow citizens to vote on major expenditures are set aside for the building of the stadium (remember the gay marriage amendment people said that the people of Minnesota should be allowed to decide on their own rules?) and that exemption carries to all maintenance, renovations, etc. If the newly created bureacracy called Minnesota Ballpark Authority decides they want to put a roof on the stadium they will be exempted from putting it to a vote of the citizens.

The authority may conduct research studies and programs; collect and analyze data; prepare reports, maps, charts, and tables; and conduct all necessary hearings and investigations in connection with its functions.

And all of the studies and commissions to decide if they should put a retractable roof on in 8 years will be paid for through tax money at the whim of the Authority.

And what about local control?

Local units of government may not impose restrictions or conditions on ballpark and public infrastructure land use approvals except those which are based on reasonable land use grounds and criteria which are within their jurisdiction to apply.

Yep, love that local control.

The team must agree to contribute $125,000,000 toward ballpark costs, less a proportionate share of any amount by which actual ballpark costs may be less than a budgeted amount of $360,000,000. The team contributions must be funded in cash during the construction period. In addition to any other team contribution, the team must agree to assume and pay when due all cost overruns for the ballpark costs that exceed the budget, excluding land, site improvements, and public infrastructure.

Hmm, anyone want to bet that the cost overruns will be disguised by adjusting the budget? Or claiming that the overruns were related to "site improvements"? I bet landscaping falls under that open phrase, but I am new to this whole process.

I hate this too:

Materials, supplies, and equipment used or consumed in, and incorporated into the construction or improvement of the ballpark, and public infrastructure constructed pursuant to sections 3 to 12, are exempt.

Don't exempt them...rededicate those taxes to pay for the construction. I know, it seems like a circular reference but the same thing happens for public employees. Their taxes on their income go to pay their income. Don't exempt these purchases from taxes. That in itself is another government subsidy beyond infrastructure.

There is so much in the bill for fiscal conservatives to point at. The last one is this anti-free market provision:

The authority must ensure that a ballpark constructed under this act be, to the greatest extent practicable, constructed of American-made steel.

OK, and then Pawlenty signs this and he is still able to be considered a small-government, local control, fiscal conservative? Give me a break.

On the scoreboard note...Both Krinkie and Knoblach voted against this bill. To each of them I give + 4. I had a post a while ago detailing what varioius legislators position on the stadium issue was. Bachmann never returned the phone call...for that as a Congressional Candidate is unacceptable and I deduct 3 points.

West Texas Cowboy

An old joke, but fun to re-read nonetheless. Thanks to Pete S for sending this.

A West Texas cowboy was herding his herd in a remote pasture when suddenly a brand-new BMW advanced out of a dust cloud towards him. The driver, a young man in a Brioni suit, Gucci shoes, Ray Ban sunglasses and YSL tie, leans out the window and asks the cowboy, "If I tell you exactly how many cows and calves you have in your herd, will you give me a calf?"

The cowboy looks at the man, obviously a yuppie, then looks at his peacefully grazing herd and calmly answers, "Sure, Why not?"

The yuppie parks his car, whips out his Dell notebook computer, connects it to his AT&T cell phone, and surfs to a NASA page on the Internet, where he calls up a GPS satellite navigation system to get an exact fix on his location which he then feeds to another NASA satellite that scans the area in an ultra-high-resolution photo.

The young man then opens the digital photo in Adobe Photoshop and exports it to an image processing facility in Hamburg, Germany. Within seconds, he receives an email on his Palm Pilot that the image has been processed and the data stored. He then accesses a MS-SQL database through an ODBC connected Excel spreadsheet with email on his Blackberry and, after a few minutes, receives a response.

Finally, he prints out a full-color, 150-page report on his hi-tech, miniaturized HP LaserJet printer and finally turns to the cowboy and says, "You have exactly 1586 cows and calves."

"That's right. Well, I guess you can take one of my calves," says the cowboy.

He watches the young man select one of the animals and looks on amused as the young man stuffs it into the trunk of his car.

Then the cowboy says to the young man, "Hey, if I can tell you exactly what your business is, will you give me back my calf?"

The young man thinks about it for a second and then says, "Okay, why not?"

"You're a consultant for the National Democratic Party." says the cowboy.

"Wow! That's correct," says the yuppie, "but how did you guess that?"

"No guessing required." answered the cowboy. "You showed up here even though nobody called you; you want to get paid for an answer I already knew, to a question I never asked. You tried to show me how much smarter than me you are; and you don't know a damn thing about cows........ Now give me back my dog."

Ah, so funny to me.

AFSCME to take time off for non-union protest

It is high time someone investigates the union status of this arm of the Socialist Worker's Party.

AFSCME sent out to their membership a call to particiapte in the pro-illegal immigration rallies to take place on the Socialist Worker's Party big day: May Day.

From: AFSCME 3800 [mailto:union@afscme3800.org]
Sent: Wednesday, April 26, 2006 7:14 PM
To: Recipient list suppressed:
Subject: Info Session Thursday about May 1 Immigrants Rights Activities



Local 3800 invites you to an information session on Thursday, April 27, from 12:15 to 12:45 p.m. in Amundson Hall Room 162 (East Bank).

At the meeting we will have information about the immigrants rights and workers' rights activities taking place in Minneapolis on May 1st. We will also answer any questions you may have about those activities and about the rules for taking time off of work, if you so choose, to attend those activities.

On May 1st, thousands of immigrants and other workers in Minnesota will take the day off of work, miss school and/or not consume or shop, as part of the national call for "A Day Without Immigrants". This is part of the historic movement of millions of immigrant workers who are standing up for dignity and basic rights as workers.

The main activity in the Twin Cities will be a Rally for Immigrants Rights, taking place on May 1st from 3:00 - 8:00 pm in Powderhorn Park in South Minneapolis (3400 15th Ave. S., Minneapolis). The rally is in support of a path to legalization for immigrant workers, family reunification, workers' rights, equal opportunity in education (the DREAM Act), and civil liberties and human rights for all.

We encourage Local 3800 members to participate in this rally to stand with our brothers and sisters, fellow workers here in the Twin Cities and around the country, who are standing up for basic dignity and workers rights. If you can't get time off work, we hope you will consider attending the rally after work. Join your fellow union members at the rally -- look for the Local 3800 banner.

Please come to the information session if you have questions or would like more information, or if you are interested in being part of the ongoing movement for immigrant workers' rights.

----------------------------

Why May 1st?

May 1st is celebrated as International Workers' Day around the world. On May 1, 1886, workers around the U.S. went on strike for the eight-hour work day. The center of this powerful movement was Chicago, where workers fought and died for the eight-hour day. May Day is the most widely celebrated holiday in the world. In 2006, 120 years later, immigrant workers are again marching through the streets of most US cities on May 1st, in the spirit of international worker solidarity.

Get something straight...They are ILLEGAL aliens and have no regard for this country. If they did they would have become LEGAL aliens. Standing up for them is to stand against this country...plain and simple.

But more importantly is a union engaging in activities that have NOTHING to do with their membership or for that matter even ANY union business. I find it interesting that the DEMOCRAT Attorney General is not doing anything about this.

Fair and Biased

On our show we have several goals. One is in our intro. We try to be the place "where rational thought and common sense are disguised as entertainment". We also try to be Fair and Biased. I mean, everyone is biased. Few admit it, but everyone has a bias that cannot be removed from their broadcast, reporting, writing, etc. We admit it. But we also strive to be what few strive to be: Fair.

There really is not a way to test that except to see what those who you disagree with say.

This past show we had in studio DFL Secretary of State candidate Mark Ritchie. We disagree very much on some key issues regarding the Secretary of State position. What did he say about his time with us?

I had the same experience both times - you guys are funny, fair, and get into the key elements of a topic very fast! I also think you are achieving your other goal of rational thought and common sense disguised as entertainment.

I also really like your blog - congrats!

Thanks. But this is not an isolated instance. We have heard from nearly every guest after the fact on how fair we were. Other sites have also commented in similar fashion.

Thanks to everyone.

Bitter about Culpepper

OK, this is funny to me. I think the creator of this video actually is NOT bitter about Dante Culpepper being traded away but is bitter about the disappointment that Dante turned out to be for the Vikings.

WARNING: Explicit language in the subtitles and in some of the background music.

Bachmann's vulnerabilities

Interesting numbers from a poll commissioned by Knoblach's campaign. For those of you who think that Michele Bachmann stands a chance in the general election you should take note of this.

The Tarrance Group is pleased to present the following findings from our most recent survey of general election voters across the Sixth Congressional District of Minnesota. The Tarrance Group was commissioned by the Knoblach for U.S. Congress campaign to conduct a telephone survey of N=300 registered voters across the district. A random sample of this type is likely to yield a margin of error of +5.8% in 95 out of 100 cases. Responses to the survey were gathered April 17-18, 2006.

The Tarrance Group has a history of having conducted polling in this congressional district, having been the pollster to the previous successful campaigns of U.S. Congressman Mark Kennedy. In addition, the firm has conducted polling for a host of successful Republican campaigns throughout the state.

As the table on the following page reveals, voters are concerned about the record of congressional candidate Michele Bachmann. For each of the messages tested, a majority of the electorate would be less likely to vote for Bachmann. For Republican voters as well as the general electorate, the issue of; 1) Bachmann not paying her campaign staff payroll taxes and, 2) her vote to allow gas prices to increase appear to be the two biggest concerns. All the messages could contribute toward making her less appealing to the voters in the general election.

Yikes. For the actual results keep reading.

IMPACT OF BACHMANN ISSUES ON VOTERS

Bachmann voted in favor of a guaranteed retail mark-up for gasoline, which increases gasoline prices.
All Voters More Likely 8%
All Voters Less Likely 71%
GOP Voters More Likely 13%
GOP Voters Less Likely 63%

Bachmann voted against the North Star Commuter Rail Line.
All Voters More Likely 23%
All Voters Less Likely 56%
GOP Voters More Likely 33%
GOP Voters Less Likely 40%

Bachmann missed 32 votes in 2005, more than the average State Senator, including a vote to prevent a government shutdown.
All Voters More Likely 10%
All Voters Less Likely 69%
GOP Voters More Likely 13%
GOP Voters Less Likely 57%


Bachmann took federal PAC money during the legislative session after she said doing so would be a conflict of interest.
All Voters More Likely 9%
All Voters Less Likely 67%
GOP Voters More Likely 12%
GOP Voters Less Likely 54%

Bachmann did not pay payroll taxes on her current campaign staff as required by law.
All Voters More Likely 5%
All Voters Less Likely 75%
GOP Voters More Likely 7%
GOP Voters Less Likely 64%

There is one last thing to point out here. The GOP voters were on average 5% more likely to than the general voters to support Bachmann even though Bachmann has some questionable votes and ethics. There were also on average 10% more accepting of Bachmann with her issues (taken from the 10% average lower rating on the "Less Likely" answers). Easily this supports my contention that some GOP members are treating her with a party over principles mentality.

Poor little man

The poor little man at imp tried to threaten us in a blatant and brazen effort to prevent us from analyzing his hypocrisy on the air. Upon being faced with the reality of copyright infringement defense he went on instead to namecalling.

For the benefit of Michael “the thief” Brodkorb and Tony “the plunderer” Garcia of Leighton Broadcasting owned radio station KNSI-AM let me say that again. You need explicit written permission to use the material. To all of our other listeners, if you enjoy our coverage of politics, please write these two thieves and ask them to stop stealing from my podcast and stealing from the hard work and ultimately the paycheck of other journalists.

See the poor little man try to inflate his own importance.

Mikey McIntee, let me explain this to you. There are a few things that you really fail to understand. Using fair usage clips from your podcast is NOT taking any money from "other jounalists". What allows us the fair usage? What is it that you wish to ignore in an effort to prevent analysis of your political speech? That nasty little thing called The Constitution.

So, call me "the plunderer" all you wish. It will not prevent fair usage. Ask people to write begging us to infring upon our own free speech rights. It will not stop us. (BTW, as of right now there have been no such requests.) I thank you for the link...and all ONE hit from it.

********** UPDATE **********
Ah yes, the sad little man continues debating on facts and issues.

Grow up and get a real job, if you can. I'd be surprised if any decent employer would want to hire you after he or she googled your name read the venom you spew forth.

A New Feature of this Blog

I was going to create a different blog for this idea and thought, "Nah, leave it all here."

Campaign Press Releases by the campaigns are starting to come out in numbers. I am going to try and put them up here as a running record of those releases. Yeah, I understand the real use for these would be opposition research. So, when someone lies in their campaign releases about something like, I don't know, their superior tax record then there will be an archive of them.

I have 2 rules for this feature.
1) The candidate must be on my scoreboard. Candidates not on the scoreboard can leave in the comments section a way to contact them so I can consider adding them.
2) The press release will be collected via e-mail from the campaigns directly. I don't have time to canvass websites, blogs, blah blah blah and then figure out if they have updated recently, etc. Must be e-mail.

The list of the campaigns can be found here.

NOTE TO ALL CAMPAIGNS
If you would please send to me an image of your campaign signs I would appreciate that.

Also, I have subscribed to all of the campaign newsletters where the option was available and working. In some cases multiple times with various names. NOTE TO KNOBLACH'S CAMPAIGN...you are an example of a website whose subscription feature is not working.

Enjoy and thank you.

Podcast for the blog

OK...I am pretty close to completing to my satisfaction the studio in my house. As such I will try to enhance this blog with ARUC podcast. Yes, it will be an experiment that I could scrap at any time.

The intention will be to put a voice behind some of the things that I am reading around the blogosphere, interesting tidbits, maybe restate a post or put my voice in place of a post.

Give it a listen.

Podcast #1...Why the GOP Conservatives should embrace Sue Jeffers.

Click here to listen.

2006 NBA Playoffs

Here we are...the NBA's second season. The first round has already started but as typical each year the first game of each series is barely a surprise.

Eastern Conference
vs
#8 vs #1
The poor Bucks have to take solace in the fact that they made the playoffs. If they manage a win in this series that will be better than I expect from them. The Pistons are too strong of a team and the Bucks are too, well, not good.

Pistons in 4.

vs
#7 vs #2
Last year the Bulls were in the #4 vs #5 match up which gave them the chance to win a series BEFORE getting wiped up by the Heat. Last year the Bulls did not make it, but they had the chance to do so. This year they do not have the chance to make it out of the first round.

Heat in 5.

vs
#6 vs #3
The Pacers and the Nets...Probably going to be the closest series in the East, maybe in the whole first round. I like the Pacers anyway so I will pick them, but in all seriousness I think this is a toss up.

Pacers in 6.

vs
#5 vs #4
The Wizards again find themselves in the #4 vs #5 matchup. This time I do not think it will be that close. LeBron James is too talented for the Wizards to handle and will dominate this series. Even thought the Wizards won the season series I think that James can step it up enough for the Cavs benefit.

Cavaliers in 5.

Western Conference
vs
#8 vs #1
This is no contest. There is nothing to comment except to say that the Kings are lucky to be in the playoffs and the Spurs have a great chance at repeating the NBA Championship.

Spurs in 4.

vs
#7 vs #2
The Suns are a strong team again. The Lakers are not. The Lakers are too one-dimensional to compete with the elite of the leauge. I see no chance for the Lakers to move on from here, but I will give them an extra game in the series just because they are my team.

Suns in 5.

vs
#6 vs #3
The Clippers finished ahead of the Lakers for the first time in 500 years and have the benefit of playing the Northwest Division champions. The Division champs get an automatic top seed (in Denver's case they get the #3 seed) and otherwise the Nuggets were tied for the #8 seed with the Kings. Going by seeds alone the Clippers will upset the Nuggets. But I have a hunch that the betting lines all favor the Clippers anyway.

Clippers in 5.

vs
#5 vs #4
This should be the most lopsided #4 vs #5 series in NBA history. Dallas, the 2nd best team in the West get a #4 seed because two other weaker teams won their divisions and Dallas did not. If the teams were ranked according to the records the Grizzlies would be the #4 seed and play the Clippers. There they would have a fighting chance. But the insanity of rewarding division leaders instead of the better teams puts Memphis on the road against Dallas. No contest.

Worse than that, the premiere matchup in the West (Dallas vs San Antonio) will happen in the 2nd round instead of in the Conference Finals. Back to this 1st round matchup...

Mavericks in 4.

********** UPDATE **********
Don't know what I was smoking but I did these predictions as if the 1st round was still played with a best of five format. I amended the predictions (though many are already wrong) by adding a game to each prediction.

Why is Jay Esmay the guy to support?

Jay () has been chronicling his campaign through his blog (linked in the campaign sign above also). Jay () has not attacked other candidates like some candidates ( or ). Jay () has not lied to the faces of delegates like some (), does not have ethics issues like certain candidates () and is proven to be a competent candidate.

He () has made every engagement he has scheduled unlike others ( x 3, x 5, x 2).

Jay () is a straight shooter and says what he () means.

His () most recent blog entry was very interesting...and this is another reason I have endorsed him ().

Another evening of energizing talks with delegates. "Jeff" and I spent a few minutes talking. He relayed how one of the candidates had called him on the phone for a 45 minute talk and only strengthened Jeff's resolve not to vote for that candidate. We of course talked about the problems in Washington being caused by career politicians. I relayed how the other candidates and I are meeting Friday at the State Capital to sign another pledge to not run in the primary if we lose the endorsement.

This is at least the 4th pledge I've signed in addition to stating it another half-dozen times. Another Question for you Delegates: "Why do we have to make the same pledge so many times?" Answer: Because no one trusts politicians. And of course the wording is critical, because someone will look for a loophole to sneak their way into a primary.

This reminds me of an interaction we had with Bachmann. As we on the show were getting all of the candidates to ask each other one question of each other Bachmann's campaign was the most militant about "the exact wording" of their question. They e-mailed their question to the show ("will you promise to abide by the endorsement?") The morning that we scheduled to record these questions they tried to change the wording. "It has to be exactly this way: Yes or No, do you promise to abide by the endorsement of the 6th District Convention under any circumstance." Considering that I actually had recorded the answers already (based on the e-mail version) of the other candidates I informed Michele directly that I would not call everyone back to re-record everything. But Michele was SO hellbent on the exact wording of her question to the other candidates.

Jay continues:

Are you happy that this mentality is part of the system? Are you willing to have people represent you who believe the ends justify the means? And since their reelection is a good thing, whatever it takes to get elected is good, no matter what. I reject this.

I will go through any tribulation to win, but I will not compromise my principles. Victory without honor is not victory.

If you reject the, "ends justify the means" mentality too, then help me in this battle.

Now the reason I will vote for Wetterling or Tinklenberg over Bachmann is very simple...Bachmann's campaign is so intertwined with the "ends justify the means" mentality that she is willing to do longterm damage to her party simply to be THE candidate. Quite bluntly the "walk the walk" candidates are Jay Esmay () and Phil Krinkie (). The "political expediency is acceptable" candidates are Jim Knoblach () and Elwin Tinklenberg (no picture yet available, sorry). The "do as I say not as I do" hypocrisy-supreme candidate is Michele Bachmann (). The partisan hackery candidates are Michele Bachmann () and Patty Wetterling (again, no picture yet available).

You decide what person is one you want representing you.