With Pawlenty having run out of cash and incentive, his rats went adrift, looking for a promising landing.

Excerpting, Devin Henry at MinnPost writes:

Coleman, who lost his bid for re-election in 2008 by the narrowest of margins, had been a Tim Pawlenty supporter before Pawlenty dropped out of the race.

Now the chairman of the American Action Network and a member of the board of the Republican Jewish Coalition, Coleman praised Romney's ability to forge strong diplomatic relationships around the world, including in Israel.

Romney, meanwhile, said, "[Coleman's] advice will be critical as I lay out my vision for improving our economy at home and strengthening our partnerships around the world."

Coleman follows fellow Minnesotan Vin Weber in moving from Pawlenty to Romney.

Do you get the drift? That is restrained MinnPost, at its most restrained level. Mike Mullen at City Pages tells it better. This opening screen capture is indicative, but go to the original for the full post, and workable links.

Excitement? Norm? As in what, the before-after dental photos? Be real. "Bringing hockey back to Minnesota," seems remote from any presidential dimension that Romney might want to enlarge via expansion of the consultant group. Excitement relative to what? Romney himself? More exciting than a Mitt Romney? That's faint praise.

They have to pass a Jobs bill.

In honor of Steve. Two key segments.

iWork.

uPay.

He would like the focus and simplicity. The naming.

The problem is as with Steve's later stuff. Made in China.

I will believe this is sincere and not beltway bloviating when we see Ben Nelson, Max Baucus, and Joe Lieberman packing to leave.

This screen capture. From here. Quotation too.

-- blue dog trails --

“We will just keep on going at it and hammering away until something gets done,” Obama said in the final flourish of the news conference. “And I would love nothing more than to see Congress act so aggressively that I can't campaign against them as a do-nothing Congress.”

Earlier, he suggested he had no choice but to be out in the country campaigning, trying to get the American people to exert pressure on Congress, because he hasn’t seen constructive action from the Republicans.

“I think it is very clear that if members of Congress come in and say, ‘All right, we want to build infrastructure; here's the way we think we can do it; we want to put construction workers back to work; we've got some ideas,’ ” Obama said, “I am ready, eager to work with them.”

[...] “If Congress does nothing, then it's not a matter of me running against them: I think the American people will run them out of town because they are frustrated, and they know we need to do something big and something bold,” Obama said.

When asked about the Occupy Wall Street protests, which have blocked streets in New York and spread to other cities, Obama offered his analysis: “It expresses the frustrations that the American people feel that we had the biggest financial crisis since the Great Depression, huge collateral damage all throughout the country, all across Main Street, and yet you're still seeing some of the same folks who acted irresponsibly trying to fight efforts to crack down on abusive practices that got us into this problem in the first place.”

When asked why his administration has not been very aggressive in prosecuting the people who brought about the financial and subprime lending crises, Obama said that a lot of the actions were not necessarily illegal – just immoral, inappropriate, or reckless.

And besides, they're Geithner's and Bernanke's cronies. Not mine, no sir, but - Friends of friends, are my friends ...

The Mittster reenacts dad's "brainwashing" moment --- "Republican presidential frontrunner Mitt Romney on Tuesday compared the current anti-Wall Street protests to 'class warfare.' 'I think it's dangerous, this class warfare,' Romney said to an audience of about 50 people in response to a question about the protests over such issues as high unemployment, home foreclosures and the 2008 corporate bailouts."

photo from here

For younger readers (or others not wholly politicized or sentient in the '70's), read of father George's gaff reported by Time. The apple did not fall far from the tree (and the tree was neighboring third base where others get by hitting triples).

The headline quote is from Sarah Boxer reporting for CBS news.

click the thumbnail to enlarge and read

ABC news reporting here, (with the above screencapture), on the Wall Street hate-in - poor people in numbers, dangerous numbers some might say, but not too poor to lack air and local transit fare. But in numbers, Mittster, get that, chew on it.

This Google on young Mitt's defining moment. This one on George, decades ago.

The Wall Street protest appears short of a Tahir Square sized crowd, but things grow.

And while protesters were nonviolent Bloomberg's finest were not inactive bystanders, per the ABC photo caption.

The nonviolent tone of things probably is what disoriented young Mitt into making his gaff, since as Governor of Massacheusetts, he doubltessly knows the anything but nonviolent state motto, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem" - ( By the sword we seek peace, but peace only under liberty). His mind probably imagined crowds of that size (of non-elite people), alll assembled, and dangerously chanting in unison, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem!!" Over and over again. With a double exclamation point to make it all seem yet more dangerous, even evil if viewed from third base.

Mittster imagining what beyond that, we can only guess, but "class warfare" is his chosen characterization. It after all is the refrain his people always chant, (in unison but restrained and without exclamation marks), whenever somebody says "Why are those rich dudes getting a free pass?" It is knee-jerk schooling from early pre-school home happenings, reinforced through the prep school loop, and onward to where charging "class warfare" against those wondering what kind of tide they experience that is not raising their boats, becomes a bare, naked, but enjoyable instinctctual elitist reactionary mantra:

Doubtlessly young Romney has had his elite advisor corps, minions that represent the best money can buy, none of which will publicly stand forward to take credit for the class warfare characterization by declaring, "I programmed the mechanical stock broker to talk that way," etc. But we can imagine a few words from the elite and swift "Corporations are People" advisor pool.

Finally, for Mitt to gain a perspective on people collectively expressing discontent, there is this.

One image from that Google, here - from Tahir Square:

Roughly translated, that sign says, "Ense petit placidam sub libertate quietem." Massachusetts style.

_____________UPDATE______________
More of the same, with a different riff, tidbits after the opening excerpt from here:

Republican presidential candidate and former Godfather’s CEO Herman Cain joined former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney on Wednesday, criticizing a series of protests taking place across the nation.

Speaking Wednesday, Mr. Cain, who continues to skyrocket in recent polls, slammed the protest movement, saying their criticism of Wall Street was misplaced. The Georgia Republican said, instead, that protesters should blame themselves.


“Don’t blame Wall Street, don’t blame the big banks, if you don’t have a job and you’re not rich, blame yourself!” Mr. Cain said. “It is not a person’s fault because they succeeded, it is a person’s fault if they failed. And so this is why I don’t understand these demonstrations and what is it that they’re looking for.”

The former businessman joined Mr. Romney in criticizing the movement. Speaking earlier in the day, Mr. Romney said the protester were engaged in “class warfare,” adding that the movement is “dangerous.”

Asked Wednesday whether President Obama supports or opposes the movement, White House spokesman Jay Carney said that the administration “understands” why people are frustrated.

With the Republican presidential field likely set, polls continue to show Mr. Romney and Mr. Cain among the leaders. Texas Republican governor Rick Perry remains well ahead of Mr. Cain, however, a series of straw polls continue to show support for the Georgia Republican.

Meanwhile, Democrats slammed Mr. Romney and Mr. Cain, saying the statements were indicative of how a Republican administration would handle the economy.

“In New York and across the country, thousands of Americans have taken to the streets, certain of the morality of their message: bringing fairness to Main Street,” Rep. John Larson, the House Democratic Caucus Chairman, said in a statement. “The silent masses aren’t so silent anymore. They are fighting to give voice to the struggles that everyday Americans are going through.

The movement, which has called on Wall Street to create jobs and put people back to work, has slowly spread across the nation. In a sign that it is shifting from a loose-knit fringe group to a bloc that could draw in mainstream America, the movement added thousands of people to the streets of New York on Wednesday after major labor unions gave their backing to its anti-greed message.

So, now do we have a new litmus test? Never mind the poor embryos, will we have Santorum and Bachmann next in line saying, "Shame on you, you're poor and foreclosed and not knowing how to cope. I got mine, what's your problem?"

With "prosperty gospel" mongerer Mac Hammond on board her campaign train, can a Bachmann moment be far away?

And what I've missed seeing, is Perry's public reaction to Romney's comment, and to the protest effort of the downtrodden and disadvantaged. The longer he takes, the phonier his response will sound. He wants to say, what? So what's stopping him?

Two other signs of campaign season upon us as the leaves fall a year before the general election.

Same outlet as supplied that extended quote, an item headlined, "Elizabeth Warren to Scott Brown: ‘I Kept My Clothes on’." I will leave interested readers to pursue the item, this link.

Finally -- POP GOES THE WEASEL: Coleman endorses, schmoozes up unctuously to Romney - pick your reading from this Google. How about that for a ticket? The mechanical stock broker and the Kazeminy Deep Marine oil slick?

Mitt's fine with me. With us.
Let me recount the reasons ...

_________________FURTHER UPDATE_______________
Minnesota nice meets the voicing of despair and disdain from the downtrodden and disadvantaged, first planned for nearby the Mpls. Fed, scaled back to a different venue, but wherever it happens, be there or be square? This link. Here, here and here.

Gotta say it.

It is looking more and more like the Tea Party infiltrators at the town hall meetings during the healthcare theatrics.

Puppets and hidden-from-sight string pullers. Probably an event worth taking in, from a psycho-sociological student's perspective if for nothing else.

Free beer, and I'd go, but so far no such luck.

Astroturf is as astroturf does, and grassroots is something discernibly different. We wait. We see.

GOP inner-party criticism of Bachmann's playing with her Sixth District incumbency.

Andy Aplikowski, a north metro GOP party official, levels the complaint that Bachmann's national strutting is leaving too much uncertainty in the congressional district. His perfect world would be having Bachmann drop back into Minnesota, if she can find the way given the extent and recency of her absence, to take on a Senate contest against DFL incumbent Amy Klobuchar - who so far has no strong primary challenger to contest her middle of the road, right leaning record.

Here is an extended excerpt from Andy's post, with the entire argument put together at his Residual Forces blog, this link.

We all know the media in Minnesota hates Michele Bachmann. She represents everything that the liberal reporters and editors in this state wish would just up and leave. They demonize us and consider us more dangerous than running with scissors. That’s why they take every liberty they can to bury her. Bury our spokesperson, and you bury us.

A glance of the major news media outlets exposes a verbatim message. Bachmann can’t win POTUS, but can she fallback to her Congressional seat.

As if the media is the kingmaker or something and not the people. The 6th District is the most conservative and Republican District in the State. You need look no further than the down ticket races in the State House & Senate. Only one Democrat is elected in a District that is mostly with in the 6th District. that’s why the DFL is so determined to redraw the 6th District into DFL play.

[...] She could bring balance to a ticket where the top is occupied by someone the base can’t tolerate, ala Palin to McCain. Maybe that’s why they are trying to demonize her so much and force her to return back to her Congressional seat which, barring major liberal gerry maundering, she’d be a lock.

I think if she does have to drop out of the POTUS and wants to run for something, she’d be far better served to seek higher office, and in higher, I mean Senate. She’d be a good option to go after Amy Klobuchar. She could easily tap into national fundraising needed to raise the millions needed to bypass the liberal media who has yet to lift a finger to expose the liberal Obama lapdog Klobuchar.

Which gets us back home and to the subject who comes after Bachmann. Why is it that the only people who could possibly run for Congress are all office holders already? [...]

[...] My personal opinion is that Bachmann owes it to her District to let us know her intentions on reelection. If she’s out, we need to know so we can mount a new campaign. Its not that I want to force her out, if she wants back in, great. But if she is gunning for VP or Senate, or the Palin-money speakers circuit and book deals, let us get to work please.

The longer this goes, without Bachmann’s return, the harder holding the seat will be. Now don’t get me wrong, as long as the Sorosphere doesn’t Gerry Mander the 6th District, it’ll stay in GOP hands, but if we can put that baby to bed early with a good candidate and army of volunteers, we can start making head waves into other Districts, not to mention reelect Cravaack.

Andy is forthright in expressing his views, and there is political sense to being distressed inside the GOP while Bachmann leaves the Sixth District situation hanging, twisting slowly in the wind.

Bachmann lacks the courage to try to run against Klobuchar.

She can see that a candidate less narrow and more appealing then her, Mark Kennedy, lost big time in trying to defeat Klobuchar when Amy lacked the incumbency advantage.

BOTTOM LINE: Michele Bachmann lacks the guts to try to unseat Amy Klobuchar. And she's substantially short on having class enough to win. She's had a plethora of defining moments showing a Bachmannian clear lack of class.

Photo source and story, this link.

Moreover, Klobuchar is loyal to and has the loyalty of a stable and capable advisory staff; something the mercurical Bachmann personality has not achieved; e.g., most recently, this link, (together with her recent showing of a warmness if not a fetish directed toward crass town clowns, e.g. here).

Indeed, it is not mere mercury, but fulminate of mercury that comes to mind in contemplating the Bachmann persona.

And then there is Mary. One more likely wanting Bachmann to take on a Senate run than Andy, one almost as blinded as Bachmann by ambition, ego, and ideology, is Sherburne County's banker for the Lord, Mary Kiffmeyer.

Kiffmeyer would have ALEC ties, backing, and the money that goes with that. She's consciously positioned herself that way. If Bachmann were to want to risk ending up chopped liver in a campaign against Klobucher, you can bet a ton of money safely that Kiffmeyer would eagerly hold her coat. And given the District, Kiffmeyer would have a better chance running with no incumbent in the district than Bachmann would ever have running statewide against Klobuchar.

However, politics is not without its surprises. That a braying ignorant buffoon like Tom Emmer got the statewide vote count he did is scary proof enough that Bachmann might, just might, win in a race against Klobucher.

Again, bottom line, Bachmann is too gutless a coward to take on that actual challenge, and will fall-back to the comforting paycheck and benefits package that goes with her having a free ticket to not effectively represent the Sixth District, grandstanding still instead, but while holding the Sixth District seat. History repeating itself -- Deja vu all over again. An ineffective egoist, happy enough where she is, but wanting a national name so strongly that she's fooling around in the GOP national spotlight - because, why else for Bachmann, it's a spotlight.

The stage-struck former cheerleader simply cannot resist the allure of it. It can be a spotlight in downtown Delano, or Elk River or the little pastor's Living Word stage; but if it's a spotlight Bachmann wants it. Craves it. Gets hot on it. It is who she is.

Where are my addons? Where is my browser? Where are my bookmarks?

A lesson or two on automatic upgrades, and on security threat alerts and reacting reasonably when getting an alert.

Some corporate users wait a day or half a day before installing operating system upgrades network-wide, or other updates.

Why?

Well, it is a balance. There may be an exploitable software fault patched, and waiting extends system vulnerability and has that risk. In balance, if an upgrade itself is faulty, watch out. Faulty ones are spotted fairly quickly by the user community, and a few mineshaft canaries report things and a quick-fix is issued. That has been history.

Latest, start with the FireFox browser. A nice product, but what happened to installed special features, called addons, when users upgraded to version 7.0?

There were problems. That's what happened. Mozilla quickly released a ver 7.0.1 with a fix, and apparently the user files were not corrupted, the data remained, and users could restore their favored configurations by making the 7.0 -> 7.01 upgrade.

That is a screw-up related to one's own batch of dogfood? Is there any recent instance of messing with somebody's dogfood out of a different factory/vendor?

Short answer, yes.

Microsoft in a definitions update to its Microsoft Security Essentials [the most used home workstation antivirus software, and the parallel corporate IT product where an entire corporate network with centrally managed security installation of Microsoft Forefront Endpoint Protection were equally impacted], did a Microsoft "Oopsie."

It identified Google's Chrome browser as infected with malware, specifically a password stealing Trojan that is often used by hackers wanting to steal banking passwords and then steal cash, the "Zeus" family of malware. Upon the definitions update a message was displayed that malware was detected, and users having the auto-update set for the MSSE product, seeing that message, deleted the offending item - and lost their operating version of the competitor's browser.

Some users indicated that after installing a definitions correction-update, and reinstalling the Chrome browser, that bookmarks were lost. Other users reported bookmarks were recovered intact, that the profile files were not lost. I think it depends upon how a reinstall is done, and often installation dialog boxes are not read as carefully as one in retrospect might have judged as a more prudent procedure.

BOTTOM LINE: Antivirus definitions problems have affected major product providers besides Microsoft in this latest situation, one even giving MS XP operating system users a blue-screen-of-death crippling of essential operating system files [BSOD being a boot-up not to the user configuration as proper but to a blank blue screen, w/o any helpful hand holding for panicing users. There is a way to restore "last stable version" but there's also a way to do it wrongly, probably several, so it's best to call in a professional unless you are one, or as smart and experienced as one. With some selling computer services, that sets the bar low, but mostly don't muck it up worse is a good dogma.

Story links; the Mozilla FireFox item, here. Reporting on the Microsoft situation; here, here and here. There's probably more, but that's enough to urge caution with automatic upgrade settings and/or reacting to a security software warning of something being amiss. Immediate pushing of the panic button will likely not make anything much better if there is actual malware to be removed; and it could, per the stories, make things worse. Human nature, however, is to not remain cool under fire - or the equivalent, and to trust the warning and react quickly. Human nature sometimes is wrong and can be in instances counterproductive to species survival, or individual survival in thinning the herd.

Caveat emptor. Think of a homeowners' association as another "taxing government" and association CCRs (covenants, conditions and restrictions) as yet another layer of "government codes and regulation" when considering a townhome purchase.

Problems with a special assessment, with the CCRs not reported in detail, Strib, this link (read it quickly before it goes offline).

Title insurance should disclose CCRs if they have been recorded (whether Minnesota law requires recording of original and amended CCRs is unknown to me - ask a lawyer). Prospective buyers should ask the real estate agent about "any CCRs" and do it in writing, to protect later rights in the event of nondisclosure or defective disclosre by a seller and/or the brokerage/agents.

If a prospective buyer has notice that a homeowners association exists, there is a duty of diligence, visit the office, see if there is a management contract, ask questions and ask for document copies to study prior to closing. A purchase and sale agreeement can be conditioned upon buyer's review of CCRs and governing arrangements and buyer's subjective approval. In a hot market buyer conditions may be waived if a purchase and sale contract specifies that back-up offers can be accepted and if unconditional they can preempt. In a present market situation, a moribund market, preemption by additional offers is unlikely. All of this is general info, known to many, and in individual cases use a lawyer for specific advice or later wish you had.

The Flaherty situation.

It is not uncommon for a builder-developer to insinuate an affiliated management company, even to use a local LLC management company apart from a management arm of the developer, to provide limited liability so that general liability is kept from creeping at the crabgrass.

One thing Ramsey should consider, I am uncertain if the detail is or is not yet finalized, but I would guess it's been left open. Make the easement on the parking spaces in personam [personal and not running with the land] to the specific LLC that is obligated to the city on city lending. Ditto for the waiver/compromise of SAC and WAC fees. Once City of Ramsey is fully paid off a contract could permit or obligate the City to change such things as running with the land - attached as a part of record of the Flaherty-Collins real estate.

That way if the city is stiffed on money owed, and has a right to take over the LLC, the developer cannot lawfully convey away the LLC assets to another adventuring LLC, or limited partnership, or whatever, of the parking and fee waiver rights, if they are made "personal" to a specific LLC "person" and not running with the land. A due on sale clause might go with such a protective security provision, AND for the lender's security, the more, the merrier.

Now, before the land's been conveyed, that needs to be finalized in favor of the city, since a conveyance of the land to Flaherty with easements and waivers appurtenant cannot later be undone by the City.

BOTTOM LINE: It is now or never, to protect taxpayer interests. Bray and Goodrich advise, but they do not make the decisions. Council caution, or profligate lack of due caution, will be the deciding thing.