In showing up for a Ramsey Council meeting to give some citizen's input, I was struck by all the front table guys now wearing suits.

I recall earlier telecast council meetings, Gamec as often as not wearing a suit, but others, not so. Now I see the Gang of Four, (the four wanting to "spend the Town Center out of failure to 'success' no matter how many public dollars it might take to create that illusion"), all wearing jackets and only Elvig with a turtle-neck vs tie-white shirt. Taking on airs. I think it's a trend the new mayor started, something I noticed because of a dislike of uniforms. Matt Look, earlier while on council, did the suit thing too. There is this:

I am unsure why that image came to mind. Reader help with suggestions of why would be appreciated. Vaguely I think, it might have something to do with Landform and spending.

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P.S. I measure success one good restaurant at a time.

If Anoka County shuts down, will the Board of Commissioners continue paying themselves 100 cents on the dollar; and would that be moral?

Reform Republicans, Look, Sivirajah, West, Westerberg seem to have overlooked any belt tightening among the top dogs, but is that a surprise to anyone?

My guess, the board will see themselves perhaps only a step or half-step more essential than police and fire-fighters, and contract things accordingly. They set their own pay and they pay themselves well.

Where is the conservatism in that? Doesn't conservatism start at home?

"That we would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not Baltimore and Kansas City, absolutely boggles the mind."

Strib carries an AP wire feed, questioning priorities, questioning what America is or should be:

US mayors gather in Baltimore; topics include redirecting military spending to home front

Article by: ALEX DOMINGUEZ , AP - Updated: June 17, 2011 - 2:46 PM

BALTIMORE - Money spent on wars in Afghanistan and Iraq should be spent at home under a resolution proposed Friday by U.S. mayors who called on Congress to hasten the end of the wars.

The resolution proposed at the opening of the U.S. Conference of Mayors annual meeting wants Congress to redirect the military spending to domestic priorities. The resolution says $126 billion is being spent each year on the wars that should be spent at home to create jobs, rebuild infrastructure, develop sustainable energy and provide for other needs.

The conference, which ends Monday, represents mayors of the more than 1,200 cities nationwide with a population of more than 30,000.

When asked to respond to those who argue military efforts overseas have made American cities safer from foreign terrorists, Los Angeles Mayor Antonio Villaraigosa pointed to the cost of the wars.

"How did we get to a deficit and a debt larger than at any time not only in U.S. history but in human history? We got involved in two wars that, no matter what you think about those wars, we haven't paid for," Villaraigosa said.

"That we would build bridges in Baghdad and Kandahar and not Baltimore and Kansas City, absolutely boggles the mind."

Many of the mayors speaking at a news conference opening the four-day event also criticized federal cuts that they say have increased the burden on local governments, cuts Philadelphia Mayor Michael Nutter called the "Great Retreat by the federal government."

Burnsville, Minn., Mayor Elizabeth Kautz, the president of the U.S. Conference of Mayors, said safety at home should be the top priority.


"And along with that it is about our economy and it is about getting people back to work, and it is about reinvesting in those efforts that will help us retain jobs and create jobs in our country," Kautz said.

My guess, our Ramsey mayor missed the event.

The above Strib excerpt is roughly the first half of the item. For the remainder, again, this link.

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Regarding that last paragraph quoting the Burnsville mayor, see the sidebar.

"What's the count?" Click the image. Making bad decisions, continuing bad decisions and extending bad decisions, is our national treasure? Too many generals, too much brass, and not enough brains?

Remember that, "I'd rather fight them on the Mekong Delta, than the San Francisco Bay." How many Viet Cong after we bailed out on that one showed up invading the Bay Area? Bad logic. Bad propaganda.

___________UPDATE____________
More about , "It's the jobs, stupid," this link. The GOP wants to bring a marriage amendment. That will produce how many new well-paying jobs, exactly?  Well, divisiveness has its own agenda, screw jobs; is not what they expressly say; but how else do you read those tea leaves, Batman?

Location, location, location. Next to the thundering tracks, a view of a wasteland and of Hwy 10, a cultural vacuum, a short walk to the county morgue.

Compare how the burned down Cosmo by the Canal thing was touted in Indianapolis to justify exorbitant rents. Compare it to the exorbitant rental pipe dream of getting away with those rental rates at the failed Town Center:

There is being realistic. Then, there is being within the myopic gang of four, the current Ramsey council majority that will plunge headlong into a marketing abyss, and cannot see the difference of downtown Indianapolis, a scenic canal, a short walk from an outstanding university campus with libraries and classes to sit in or audit.

There is not even an Anoka County Library in Clown Center, and given GOP budgeting in the near-term future, there likely will not be one for years, if ever.

You can walk to City Hall and watch people buying license tags. Train buffs can be satisfied, but will they alone populate the thing, paying those rental rates?

Go figure. Conceding the best to the gang-of-four, the location is not without any "art," but then excellence is in the eye of the beholder.

Could we say, "a passing fancy?"

More Michael Jungbauer, capability, and credential honesty.

P.Z. Myers, here, with comments - many on a tractor pull theme.

Myers is not saying those lacking a degree are ipso facto second rate and to be scorned.

He and others ARE saying kiting the resume is to be scorned. They are separate things.

Of those on Ramsey's council, past and present, I think neither Hendriksen nor Elvig hold university degrees. Hendriksen is one of the smartest people in the city and has been in the computer industry as a career and for about two decades has owned and run Enterprise Communications, Inc., surviving the 2000 high-tech crash, while Elvig for years ran a custom wookworking firm which did not survive the more recent housing and commercial real estate crash, where high-end furnishings suffered as much or more than other contracted real estate related goods-services.

Neither Hendriksen nor Elvig has ever misrepresented themselves as more schooled than they were. I think each is satisfied with personal accomplishment aside from formal education being an issue. It appears neither ever felt a need to misstate things that way, and presumably each avoided any temptation that way as a matter of basic honesty. I say that with Hendriksen being a friend and Elvig not so. I know Hendriksen's details and am presuming Elvig's.

I ran against Elvig in Ward 1 in 2006, based on policy differences and differing belief systems. In 2010 Elvig bested by 47 votes Republican insider and Jungbauer acolyte Harry Niska, who is fully credentialed as a capable lawyer in what appears to be an outstanding quality small firm. So, do you go for credentials, or feel that closeness to Jungbauer is a stain that will stick on Niska for years?

Others made decisions based on personal criteria, but in this household there were three solid unwavering votes for Elvig, as less doctrinaire and more distanced from Jungbauer. Not that a three-vote swing would have defeated the Elvig majority, but it evidenced a criterion that others might have also weighed in David's favor.

I would characterize Jungbauer not as unintelligent, but as willfully divisive, e.g., his co-sponsorship with Bachmann, in 2004 if I correctly recall - when the Intelligent Design craze was big in GOP circles, a monstrous and unforgivable bill to force a cramdown of Intelligent Design mischief into the State's science curriculum, "Notwithstanding any rule or law to the contrary, when science academic standards are taught that may generate controversy, including biological evolution, ... [Santorum language - see here, here]."

So, the gentleman is an evolution denier, as much as a global warming denier. That was pure divisiveness for its own sake with no good whatsoever to come of it. It appeared to be aimed to be troublesome because you can -- and perhaps somehow with some lamebrains, generate political capital of some kind; the exercise nationally and in Minnesota putting Jungbauer into the same category of person in which I place former Pennsylvania Senator Rick Santorum, per the image.



___________UPDATE_____________
I realize that going from the current MinnPost initiated review of Jungbauer credentials to his embrace of wanting to impose Intelligent Design is a step. It shows a creationist bent along with global warming denial. Evolution denial. Most would view this creationism affection as unscientific. And as obstructionist to the advancement of true knowledge.

As to the Jungbauer resume, ties to the U.Minn Twin City campus and the Humphrey Institute, online, are here and here, and there might be more but that would be for the Senator to identify. A fellowship there is not insubstatial. However, it is not at all the equivalent of permanant faculty, most of whom presumably hold doctorates, after writing original research theses, reviewed and approved by a peer panel - a thesis board. Jungbauer is not credentialed that way. It appears that Jungbauer was recognized as having a public voice, a policy voice, and that would attach to his being elected to the state senate and how he has used the position. I have seen no evidence, for example, of the Institute ever having Michele Bachmann as a fellow having anything worthwhile to say about anything. Jungbauer has gone a step further that way.

Bottom line for me, in that direction, you can put a thousand graduated-did not graduate from Moody Bible Institute investigations against once being appointed a fellow by the U's Humphrey Institute, and the latter holds more weight. I could care about Moody, what it is and what, if any, value it might have as proof of any capability. Again, bottom line, were he not to have been elected by SD 48, I seriously doubt Jungbauer would have been accorded Humphrey Institute recognition of any kind, but that is a speculative hypothetical. He is a State Senator, he was accorded a fellowship. That's the record, and might have been, could have been, is largely moot.

Regarding Heartland Institute, and Jungbauer's ties there, slides from a presentation are online, see fn. 24, this link. Jungbauer might have other materials online posted by persons beyond himself, but this is what I found. I admit making sense of the intent of the slides, without the audio, is difficult. But standing alone, they say what they say. It appears, whether you agree or disagree, that Jungbauer has put some thought into fashioning an argument. How much of that is original and how much is derived from other sources I cannot say. I am not expert in climate science, nor do I pretend to be. I expect those who are might be able to discuss such a question of originality vs. restatement. And that is not to say restatement of other resources into a fresh argument is not a creative thing.

Regarding Heartland Institute itself and its ultra right-wing existence and financing, much of which is deliberately kept a mystery, see: here, here, here, here (linking to the Jungbauer slides), here, here, here (Jungbauer not listed as among the "Global Warming Experts, "Policy Advisors," or "Senior Fellows," and given my disdain for that operation and its ultra right-wing bunk, not being listed in my view cuts in Jungbauer's favor), here, and here. They have money, they have a brand to sell, and I see the brand as counterproductive to the US being all it can be, for all its people. Witness Strib reporting, here, this blurb:

Americans are working the most in the industrialized world. According to the International Labor Organization, "Americans work 137 more hours per year than Japanese workers, 260 more hours per year than British workers, and 499 more hours per year than French workers."

To make things worse, Americans have little to show for their hard work and high productivity.

The United States has the largest income inequality of rich nations, which means that ordinary people are struggling more just to make ends meet and keep their heads above water. No wonder that job-induced stress is on the rise.

Read the item. It is worth your time, (if you have the time from your being stressfully overworked by those among whom funding for Heartland Institute arises, defining the brand via a pay the piper - call the tune reality). Jungbauer's having anything whatsoever to do with operations such as Heartland Institute, and it's somewhat disguised but actual policy of evils against working Americans, in my mind cuts against him.

In my mind this closes the books on what I have to say about the Jungbauer-credentials situation.

My worse criticism is not about his global warming stance, or stretching resume fact, but about his wanting to demean science by insinuating creationism, in the now discredited Intelligent Design flavor, into Minnesota schools where future generations are being trained to be effective in an ever more technological world where creationism is a boat anchor anachronism some cherish, but something that gets in the way of science just as embryonic stem cell research opposition is a counterproductive activity. Things standing in the way of progress and making a better world, advancing medical science and treatment possibility, are things to be disdained by rational people.

Two Googles which I only explored in part, here and here.

Booming a town in Ramsey, history I thought I had posted about, but had not. So I post it now, for history buffs and town boomers.

This link, these opening paragraphs:

What about booming a town in Ramsey?

OPINION | WEDNESDAY, MARCH 30, 2011 4:47 PM BY ABC NEWSPAPERS
by Bob Kirchner

Alexander Ramsey

The Center of Ramsey (COR), formerly known as the Ramsey Town Center, was not the first attempt to boom a town in Ramsey. The city’s namesake, Alexander Ramsey, tried it in the early 1850s.

His chosen site was less than two miles west of the present day COR project. A historical marker in Weigh Station Park tells the story of Ramsey’s would-be boomtown.

In Ramsey’s vision, this site was to become the capital of Minnesota Territory and ultimately the capital of the state.

Ramsey was in a position to make things happen. He had connections in Washington, D.C. He served as a congressman from Pennsylvania from 1843 to 1847. Later he was appointed the first territorial governor of Minnesota from June 1, 1849 to May 15, 1853.

Ramsey and other land speculators did not leave this boom town project to chance.

During this time the Territorial Legislature authorized taxpayer funded contracts and granted licenses that would directly benefit this location. These included road construction, steamboat operations and ferry operations. James Beatty won the ferry contract.

However, the quintessential political maneuver was an attempt to move the temporary territorial capital to this site.

On Sept. 26, 1849 a bill was introduced in the Legislature declaring that the temporary capital should be located at “a point on the east side of the Mississippi River between Rum and Elk Rivers, within 5 miles of a point opposite the mouth of the Crow River.”

It failed by only one vote. But this fueled land speculation and town booming fever took hold. Land claims were made.

In 1852 a site conforming to the legislative language was platted by Ramsey, Beatty and others. It was located on the east bank of the Mississippi River opposite the mouth of the Crow River.

These town boomers were assisted by the renowned town planter Thomas A. Holmes. The primary land owners were Ramsey (375 acres) and Beatty (216 acres). A hotel was built.

Ramsey christened this place “Itasca,” misappropriating this identity from Lake Itasca which had been discovered in 1832 and named earlier as the source of the Mississippi River.

They even labeled a small nearby lake “Itasca Lake.” It was a double steal.

That's about half of the ABC Newspaper's publication, again, this link.

For those interested, the Alexander Ramsey House is a St. Paul historical landmark, with a Minnesota Historical Society touring schedule for those interested.

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More recent historical retrospectives by the same author, here.

Rebranding 101. We'll give it a new name, image change rather than substance change. Run up the cost of changing stationary, etc.

For the entire story, this ABC Newspapers link; which is the source of this opening screenshot:

Darren should like that. This County body, they rebrand, and if full initiates, they also could do signs. As proof of progress put up a bunch of signs. Wow. Clever beyond my wildest guess.

My one modest suggestion, in rebranding, would be to call it the Anoka County Count Our Ridership.

Or Anoka County COR, to replace TMO.

That fits it being a tinkering without any substance, something that's not new, and I expect one of the last things they want is to have their riders counted over time and compared with the projected numbers used in selling the bag of stuff.

But I like that name, Anoka County COR.

It is so cute and resonant, warm, fuzzy and worthwhile even when nothing of substance is there at all, to be shown for cash spent, beyond "rebranding." Maybe, just maybe, mix in a little old-fashioned spiel, make it a lot, to finalize a distinction without a difference.