Over the last few days here in Minnesota there's been some low-level noise about Jesse Ventura jumping into the senate race. Nobody's really been taking the idea seriously, and it's likely just designed to get attention for his new book. It's also a nice diversion during the political lull after our caucuses some time ago. But Jesse's contention that he isn't satisfied with the GOP and DFL candidates and that he "hasn't ruled it out" got a bit of play. And there's very weak buzz about Ventura and Paul running on a Presidential/Vice Presidential bid, though this is about as likely as Huckabee/Norris in my book.

Well, today Jesse decided to get a bit wild, and in doing so, probably ended any possibility he'll ever run for office again--or at least that any such bid would last more than about five minutes.

The Gravelanche being less successful than perhaps had been hoped, Mike Gravel has officially switched to the libertarian party.  NY Times as well, here.

Not too surprising to me--two aspects of Gravel always struck me as someone who'd be happier running around in a smaller pond. The modern libertarian party, as opposed to the general ideology, is a very small pond.  He loves to lecture people about how misguided and easily fooled he thinks they are(at ykos, I felt like I was being lectured, that's for sure). In addition, his tax policies lean more to the right than any prominent Dem today, though his universal health care thing is sort of un-libby all around.

Gravel used his opposition to the war as a major reason, but certainly the Greens are anti-war as well, and frankly go about it more loudly. So clearly this is not just a war-related switch.

Here is the text of his statement:

The big news in the frozen north this week is the override of Governor "McCain Groupie" Pawlenty's veto of the comprehensive Minnesota transportation funding bill.  And Pawlenty is taking just enough time out of his busy day sucking up to talk show hosts to fire off a few sputtering replies.  But it's 6 Twin Cities republicans that are paying the biggest price so far for the override, which includes across-the-board tax and fee increases to put Minnesota's transportion infrastructure back on a first-world maintenance schedule.

At YearlyKos this year a group of Kossacks known as the Creative Arts Alliance debuted Art in a Liberal Frame, a chapbook of visual, poetic, and prose art forms from the Daily Kos community. A genuine grassroots anthology.

The chapbook was a resounding success, edited by Cosmic Debris with assistance from myself, and generously printed by Brahman Colorado. We had a few copies left after the conference, but within days all of those were spoken for as well, and we are officially SOLD OUT!

So today we learned of a second break-in at Minnesota's DFL headquarters in St. Paul. In both cases laptops were taken. In the first incident, the DFL spokesman was all too happy to say it was just a random break-in, no political motivation. With the revalation of a second break-in that they believe occurred in the 6:00am hour today, they aren't saying much.

Until more info is available, we can only speculate, but I'd like to put out there a few possible things that the Minnesota GOP might be looking for, if, by any chance, one of their minions was involved:

Here's your opportunity to travel to the future! No crazy contraptions, no need to to drop in on your parents' prom night...oh where was I. Oh yes. A new health plan in Minnesota, designed for young adults (20-somethings) DOESN'T COVER PREGNANCY OR CHILDBIRTH.

http://www.startribune.com/...

Now I know that we're all used to seeing 90-year-old actresses drop triplets, but the average childbearing age is still firmly in the twenties.  So why design a health plan that specifically excludes one of the biggest medical events of that decade?

BECAUSE IT'S THE FUTURE, THAT'S WHY! AND IN ADDITION TO LOUSY HEALTH PLANS THERE ARE CREEPY PEOPLE HIDING IN CAVES UNDERGROUND WAITING TO BECOME OUR FOOD! Once again, I digress.

Maybe this has happened before, elsewhere, I don't care. I just noticed it tonight, and to me, this is where our health insurance system is going. Where else can it go? The insurance companies note, rightly, that any coverage at all for the generation in their twenties is a bonus. Yeah, sure. But let's think about this a bit more, shall we, before Charleton Heston shows up and tells me what I'm eating.

In Georgia10's front page diary today, we learn that Dover's creationists--sorry--ED advocates--or was that ID--oh toss it--anyway, we learn that these folks wanted creationism to comprise of 50% of a typical science class.

Now that got me thinking. 50%! Wow! That's a lot! Now, I can see filling up a full class with actual SCIENCE, as I've heard it's all mighty complicated, in fact so darned complicated it can't be explained by science. But creationism? I mean, five minutes and you're done:

"Children, listen closely. God made everything."

"Even the dogs and the cats, Teacher?"

"Yes my child, even the dogs and the cats."

"Even the rosebushes, Teacher?"

"Yes my child, even the rosebushes."

"Even the snotball Johnny just flung at your head?"

"Fucking heathens. Fucking heathens!" smack squish

Er, anyhow. So I thought I'd help out by suggesting a curriculum that could adequately fill the time, thereby utilizing the maximum amount of taxpayer dollars for the teaching of creation--er Intelligent Divine--er--whatever.

The Governor of the Great State of Personal Largesse has announced a major new policy today, one indicative of his really, really, really deep thinking style of decision making. Well, that and his tendency to choose words by throwing wet spaghetti at wallpaper made out of his favorite movie scripts.

Now, this is a very complicated thing our dear Schwarzenookie has proposed today, so you may have to read it twice, and make sure you turn off the TV and radio and lock the dog in the refrigerator to avoid distraction. Schwarzysnickles said, and I quote,

"Close the borders."

Now I know what you're thinking. You're thinking, outrageous! What a %$#^$! %$$$&#@@&! #^$##$#! (more below the fold)

It happens all the time, I'm sure. A fundamentalist falls out of the wrong side of his cozy bed, knocks  his head on a bust of the Reverend Fallwell, and decides to rename a large geographical landmark in the name o' God and Jeeeeeezus and hallelujah pie.

And when it happens, it helps to stand up and take note, because amusement is good for the soul. Also, the sordid tale of the Finger Severed in Wendy's Chile Which May or May Not be Directly Related to a Leopard Attack in the Great State of Nevada needs to get out of my head and this just might do the trick.

Having read Marshall Loeb's gallant propoganda effort the other day in CBS Marketwatch, I was rather stunned to see that the new benefits calculator posted after the SOTU speech today tells a rather different story, to say the least.

A couple of years ago, a friend of mine gave me a small naked troll doll encased in clear glycerin soap.

I looked at my little troll today, my little trolly Han Solo, my little cryogenic trollmeister who sits on my desk and reminds me of the battle between cleanliness and soap scum, I looked at him, and I thought, that is me. I am that troll. I am my own troll.

And I thought, it's been some months since my last diary--since the election, in fact--and I must share this newfound discovery with my fellow Kossians, many of whom have become trapped in their own glycerin prisms of late.

The Oregon all-absentee voting system appears more attractive with each election. It came through this time without significant problems, whith huge voter turnout, and without any nasty lines. My dad finds it very easy to use, and so far, Oregon has not seen huge problems with fraud. Is it time to expand this across the country?

No matter what happens, I need to say this. Kerry was as good as it gets, despite what some Deaniacs still believe. We are up against some phenomenal forces; corporate media, big money, manipulation of terrorism threats, and the biggest force of all: cynicism.

Kerry is an idealistic man who dedicated his life to public service. The conservative movement has spent two decades convincing the population that anyone who cares about this country is a irrelevent and silly and worst of all, uncool. They have turned American politics into a high school locker room.  Swimming against that tide of cynicism is very, very difficult, and doesn't happen all at once. If he wins, he will not have an overwhelming mandate; we know that now. But I feel more optimism now than I have in many months. Let me tell you why.

The family values crowd is announcing a boycott of two Proctor & Gamble products as a way to protest the corporation's domestic partner benefits and its campaign contribution to defeat an anti-gay rights initiative in Cincinatti.

They have chosen, as the target of their holy fire, Crest toothpaste and Tide detergent.

Is the stereotypical cleanliness of gay men under attack? And on a personal note, can someone send a message to the fundamentalists that toilet manufacturers support the Johns, so that they will all be forced to dig outhouses?

Many had suspected Vladimir Putin (as in Putin' you on if you think he's pro-democracy) would make political hay out of the Breslin massacre, and of course it didn't take long at all. Today's NY Times reports that Putin is proposing massive political changes that would wipe out what remains of the opposition and return Russia to a one-party state.

This isn't hyperbole; it's happening. It's yet another example of a world leader who has no real plan to combat terrorism grabbing power, and using the power grab itself as a distraction from his lack of a plan.

 We all saw the poll numbers last week, folks. I know some of you are feeling a bit down. I sure was.

(Continued below the fold)

This "Ownership Society" theme the Republicans are pushing, besides being disturbingly similar to the corporate BS I heard from my millionaire, barely-working, always scheming leaders at Fortune 500 companies I've worked for, is also really, really dangerous. My only hope is that the whole "ownership" thing sounds so condescending, so "Daddy knows best" that it will turn some of the huddled masses off.

The LA Times summary (requires registration) of what we know about this strategy so far should be required reading for Naderites and "undecideds" everywhere. Despite their overweighting of right-wing sources, the author can't even begin to hide the stink of what's to come.

An excellent Washington Post article, redistributed in MSNBC, which goes into great detail about the Bush Administration's gutting of OSHA and the agency's transformation into a pro-industry, anti-worker tool.

This is yet another example of where Kerry provides an extreme contrast from Bush.  The Bush administration appears to be at war with American workers and, as the end of the article points out, has pushed science aside to the benefit of major corporations like 3M.

The modern Republican party is a radical political movement: exhibit ZZZ...