The Minuteman Chronicles

THE GOVERNOR
The New Orleans Saints fired head coach Jim Haslett the day after his team lost their last game this past Sunday. Haslett had come to the Saints six years ago, and was voted "Coach Of The Year" after he led the team to a winning 10 and 6 record and actually won a playoff game for the first time in Saints history. That was an exciting year for Saints fans, and expectations were high. Unfortunately, that was the only "good" season the Saints had under Coach Haslett, and the team finished only "average" each of the next four years. Even so, expectations were still high when this football season started.

Then Katrina came, and everything changed. The Saints practice complex was taken over by FEMA for emergency operations. The Superdome was heavily damaged and could not be used. The team was hastily relocated to San Antonio, and mass confusion became ordinary fare for the team. All 16 games of the season were played "away from home", and the team was able to win only 3 while loosing 13.
Anyone who knows anything about football knows that coach Haslett did a terrific job under the extreme circumstances, and that the poor record was not his fault. Even so, his firing surprised no one. That is the way of professional sports. If the team looks bad, the head coach has to go. A new face, a new name, a new way of doing things is necessary for the fans to regain hope and to believe in the team again.
Katrina devastated the football team, but the man has to go. Likewise in real life, Katrina devastated our state, but the lady has to go. Governor Blanco didn’t do everything wrong, and she is not a bad person. She did not make the hurricane happen. Even so, in order for our state to regain hope and to believe in itself again, Governor Blanco should be, and must be, replaced.

A football team has an owner to hire and fire coaches. In the state, we are the owner. It is up to us to replace our Governor. We can do this by using the power of "recall" as is provided for in our state constitution.

We have heard the argument that the Governor is up for reelection in 2007 and we can replace her then. That is the easy way, but we strongly believe that we, the citizens of Louisiana, should act now to recall her. This should be a nonpartisan effort, as Democrats, Republicans, and Independents alike share a common love for our state and want it to regain the respect of the nation and the world. The governor’s incompetence in the face of crises has seriously tarnished our reputation as a state. Her continuing attempts to cover up her mistakes and blame others are embarrassing to all of us.

By the way, the name "Katrina" is used in Germany, Sweden, and all English speaking countries as a name for girls. It has roots in the Greek word for "pure", or "to make pure", or "to purify". It’s interesting that a storm by that name came to our region and, along with death and destruction, brought an opportunity for rebuilding an entire city.

We need help from public and private sources to get on with the rebuilding, and we need new leadership at the top to make that possible. Grass roots recall organizations are forming around the state. They will need lots of help. This is hard and thankless work, but work that nevertheless needs to be done. Even if the recall effort fails, the very fact that the citizens of Louisiana are making an honest effort to replace this governor will help our state to recover it’s image.

If you would like to help with the recall effort, go to R.E.C.A.L.L. Responsible & Effective Citizen Action for Leadership in Louisiana

THE MAYOR
Mayor Ray Nagin suggested Monday that Hurricanes Katrina and Rita and other storms were a sign that "God is mad at America" and at black communities, too, for tearing themselves apart with violence and political infighting.

Nagin also promised that New Orleans will be a "chocolate" city again. As 'God intended it to be'. Orleans is a french word Mr Nagin. N'est-il pas? Many of the city's black neighborhoods were heavily damaged by Katrina.

Nagin also said Dr. King would have been dismayed with black leaders who are "most of the time tearing each other down publicly for the delight of many."

A day earlier, gunfire erupted at a parade to commemorate King's birthday. Three people were wounded in the daylight shooting amid a throng of mostly black spectators, but police said there were no immediate suspects or witnesses.


DID YOU HEAR THIS NEWS?
December 9, 2005 (CNN) While interviewing an anonymous US Special Forces soldier, a Reuters News agent asked the soldier what he felt when sniping members of Al Qaeda in Afghanistan. The soldier shrugged and replied, "Recoil."

The Hildabeast said something potentially racist on Martin Luther King Day.....she referred to the House of Representatives as a "plantation." Now stop and ask yourself something. If one single Republican had called the House a plantation while it was under Democratic control, what would have happened? He or she would have had to resign, that's what. But Hillary Clinton? Nah...the media will cover for her quite nicely.

CNN, known far and wide for its favorable coverage of dictatorships, is breathing a sigh of relief today. Iran has lifted their ban on the network's reporting in their country. If CNN never reports on the Islamic terrorist regime's nuclear ambitions, we'll know a deal was struck.

A study by an Italian "sexologist" (what a job!) says that those who have TVs in their bedrooms have 50% less sex. Anybody want to buy a used TV? LOL

The New York Times has been caught red-handed running a staged photograph of Pakistanis near a supposed U.S. missile. The problem? The missile in the photograph is old...and unexploded. The blame-America-first crowd continues to rule at the Times.

The Medicare prescription drug program seems to have slowed out of the gate. Of the 42 million senior citizens eligible to sign up, only 2 million have so far. Obviously government isn't doing enough...more money will be the solution!


STUPID IN AMERICA
Did you happen to catch John Stossel's bit on ABC's 20/20 this past Friday night? I didn't sad to say, and now I'm looking for a transcript or a copy. It exposed the pathetic status of our government school systems.

One school even grades with geometric shapes -- squares, triangles and circles -- rather than with numbers and grades. The reason is evidently that while there may be a negative connotation to an "F" or a "60" on a test, geometric shapes have no preset negative meanings. Well, if you do not know you did poorly then how do you know you need to improve?

While our schools are getting worse, and our education standing around the world is falling, the teacher's unions continue their fight to maintain the government monopoly on education and to prevent anything that even remotely resembles school choice to become a part of the equation.

This is a passionate subject for me. I realize many of you think that the school system is good. And it may be better than a neighboring one. But, it is a disservice to the children never the less. The government schools teach to the ‘average’ kid. Average for the system, ask yourself ‘is my child smarter than their classmates?’ Probably so, hence they are not being challenged, so they grow lazy any work to a lower ability or grow bored and quit altogether.

Think about your government school experience, if you were subjected to one. Do you feel you as an adult [not capable of the sponge like child’s brain learning] have learned more on your own in a shorter amount of time than you ever did in 12 yrs of school?

Unions are setup to provide a consistent level of service. If your union operator knows exactly what the address of the business you are calling for happens to be because she lives right around the corner, then she is not allowed to use that ‘geographic familiarity’ knowledge to help you. Due to the fact that all the other operators do not have that same knowledge. So you get the same unhelpful service every time.

Why are we talking about unions? Because the largest one in the country is the Teachers Union. Same crappy service to every kid in school. They get pay raises not on merit, but because some politician gives them one as payback for him winning an election.

Following are the ten official measures (planks) needed for a Communist society, exactly as published in the English language translation. Resemblance to the platform of the modern Democrat Party is not coincidental.

1. Expropriation of property in land and application of all rents of land to public purposes.

2. A heavy progressive tax.

3. Abolition of all right of inheritance.

4. Confiscation of the property of all emigrants and rebels.

5. Centralization of credit in the hands of the State, by means of a national bank with State capital and an exclusive monopoly.

6. Centralization of transport in the hands of the State.

7. Extension of factories and instruments of production owned by the State; the bringing into cultivation of wastelands, and the improvement of the soil generally in accordance with a common plan.

8. Equal liability of all to labour. Establishment of industrial armies, especially for agriculture.

9. Combination of agriculture with industry, promotion of the gradual elimination of the contradictions between town and countryside.

10. Free education for all children in public schools. Abolition of children's factory labour in its present form. Combination of education with industrial production, etc.

WAKE UP AMERICA!!!!

"It is the duty of parents to maintain their children decently, and according to their circumstances; to protect them according to the dictates of prudence; and to educate them according to thesuggestions of a judicious and zealous regard for their usefulness, their respectability and happiness." -- James Wilson (1791)