Chris noted that Senator Norm Coleman had met with Senate District 16 leadership, and was considering backing down on his position, after hearing the full story. Chris said that Coleman told Senate District 16 Leadership that he was unaware of the full story about Mark Olson when he took the public position he did.
Whatever their reasons, the GOP delegates of District 16 have put their state party -- and particularly the Norm Coleman reelection campaign -- in an awkward spot. How can Republicans fault DFL Senate candidate Al Franken for writing jokes they deem antifemale when they have put their official arms around a candidate convicted of assaulting his wife?
ST. PAUL – The following is a statement from U.S. Senator Norm Coleman regarding the Minnesota state Senate Republican Caucus’ decision not to support disgraced state Rep. Mark Olson.
“I stand firmly with the members of the Senate Republican Caucus who today announced that they will not support Mark Olson for the open Senate seat of Betsy Wergin. His endorsement by the party is a matter that is of great concern to me. In particular, given the circumstances behind Mr. Olson’s decision to not seek re-election to the Minnesota House of Representatives – a decision that I believe was the right decision – I believe the fact that he is our party’s endorsed candidate for Senate District 16 is simply unacceptable and unsupportable.
“The Senate Republican Caucus has made the appropriate decision in rejecting the candidacy of Mark Olson. I understand there are other candidates who may remain eligible to run in the September Primary, and I would hope that they continue their efforts to become our party’s standard bearer.
“In the unfortunate event that Mr. Olson succeeds in the September Primary, I would ask that our party refuse to offer any type of assistance to his campaign. While the loss of a State Senate seat is unfortunate, I join Senators Senjem, Fischbach, Gimse, Hann, Koch and Michel in the strong belief that we must maintain and uphold our beliefs that violence of any kind, whether it is in word or in deed, should not be rewarded with our party’s
We’re Rebublicans. We expect our leadership to maintain the highest standards in their professional and personal lives.
If Olson has gotten his life together, great. He has my firm wish for success as a private citizen…but he has proved that he hasn’t learned a frickin’ thing.
If he wants to continue a career in politics, he’s going to have to go Democrat, ’cause we won’t have him.
You know this is all just a show of mock outrage when Swiftee (who actually wears a wife-beater) shares in the mock outrage (that's Swiftee giving the finger on the left.) Good 'ol GOP "Family Values"!
PRINCETON — Republicans in Senate District 16 on Thursday endorsed Rep. Mark Olson to be their candidate in a special election this fall to replace Sen. Betsy Wergin, R-Princeton.
Olson won the endorsement against Big Lake Republican activist Alison Krueger on the second ballot, Krueger said.
“The people who liked Mark showed up,” she said afterward. “If people in the district don’t like what happened, that can still change at the primary voting booth.”
Krueger’s name will remain on a Sept. 9 primary ballot, but she said she signed a pledge at the convention not to actively campaign for the seat.
ELK RIVER, Minn. (AP) - State Rep. Mark Olson was sentenced to two years on probation and must pay nearly $400 in fines and court costs but will not have to serve jail time for his misdemeanor domestic assault conviction, a judge said Thursday. Sherburne County District Judge Alan Pendleton also stayed a 90-day jail sentence.
'Jetsons'-like SkyTran system is 'pipe dream'
Jerry Spellman thinks it's about time Mesa met the future.
"The future," as seen in generations of TV shows and comic books, is a time when people whisk around modernistic cities in modernistic conveyances without having to worry about traffic jams and bus or train schedules. The future is clean, energy-efficient and cheap. Spellman thinks the future should be now.
That's why the Mesa resident has spent the past decade serving without pay as the Arizona coordinator for Unimodal, a California company promoting a transit system called SkyTran.
"The technology is here. We're finally at the point where we can actually demonstrate it," Spellman said. He believes Mesa would be a great place for that because the city is not yet locked in to its long-range transit options.
Spellman is waiting for Mesa's official answer to a proposal SkyTran floated this spring to build a 25-mile line between the light-rail terminus on Main Street and Williams Gateway Airport in southeast Mesa.
The cost: $225 million.
SkyTran figured Mesa could kick in $150 million from its share of regional transportation funds, and SkyTran would dig up the rest from transit-oriented lines of credit. Spellman said the money is but a fraction of what it would cost to lay light rail along that same route.
Kyle Jones, chairman of the City Council's transportation and infrastructure committee, said the idea is more "pipe dream" than reality.
"We're always willing to take a look," Jones said. "But . . . we just can't expend money for something that's an unknown. They'll partner with us for a test deal? We just can't gamble with funds that way. People criticize us enough already."
Mike James, Mesa's senior transportation planner, said SkyTran "is an idea on the Internet, but that's about the only place it exists."
James said that probably won't happen.
"We're really focusing in on what the federal government would call proven technologies," James said.
And as far as personal transportation, he said, "We as a city already have a good personal transportation system in our road network."
Dear Ken:
Who are you? What are your affiliations? And why do you want these"documents or links?" Aren't you the guy that keeps posting BS aboutSkyTran on Wikipedia? If you are, go FYS. If not, let's talk about it. SkyTran, as a private enterprise, owes nothing to you. I suggest that you contact either USDOT and/or NASA for the information you seek.
Jerry Spellman
City’s White Elephant Now Looks Like a Transit Workhorse
By SEAN D. HAMILL
MORGANTOWN, W.Va., June 4 — During its troubled years of construction and testing in the early 1970s, the Personal Rapid Transit system that snakes through this hilly college town was derided as a fiasco and a waste of money that perhaps should be dynamited rather than finished.
“This is the only operating P.R.T. system in the world,” said Larry Fabian, treasurer of the Advanced Transit Association, an organization based in Virginia that promotes advanced rapid transit technologies and held a conference in May in Morgantown. “After more than 30 years, it’s still unique.”
"There are 130 automated systems worldwide, but only one like this," said Lawrence Fabian of Boston, director of the Advanced Transit Association, which deals with futuristic transit programs. "Its characteristics are unique,"
But it is also expensive.
University and local government officials realize they are not likely to get the federal government to finance the expansion, as it did the original project. They are talking about coming up with local and state financing.
“The infrastructure requirements are such that it is not realistic to think it could be adopted in highly developed U.S. cities,” Jonathan E. D. Richmond, a transportation expert, said in an e-mail message from Singapore, where he is advising the government.
Still, it does not run often enough for people who do not attend the university or work there.
“There’s a real problem,” said Bruce Summers, 64, who has lived in Morgantown for 34 years and works downtown. “When the university is not in session, it’s closed. You can’t rely on it. If you want to get downtown people to use it, you’ve got to do it another way.”
Mark Funkhouser used to ride West Virginia University's Personal Rapid Transit system, which he recalled "was broken down half the time."
Now he'll help develop a light rail system for Kansas City, Mo., population 450,000.
How is that you haven't posted the results of Tuesday's elections yet?
Bucking the Democrat thumping, Minnesota's two PRTistias were reelected, I see. Wouldn't honesty urge you to post that on your lovely website?
Larry Fabian
The One Who You So Kindly Told to %#$@ Off
Of course ULTra runs on batteries and will likely end up on the trash-heap like the other PRT projects, but it will serve as a reliable engine of anti-transit propaganda for many years to come.
The electrically powered “pod cabs” will allow users to key in their destination and be carried there automatically along special roadways at speeds of up to 25mph.
The pods are seen as more economical, more environmentally friendly and less prone to being stuck in traffic than existing transport inside the airport.
Martin Lowson, founder and chief executive of Advanced Transport Systems, the Bristol-based manufacturer, said it would be far more convenient for users than conventional airport transport.
The pods will be guided by infrared sensors along 7ft-wide concrete roadways.
For the 2.6-mile-long terminal 5 section, they will be raised above existing roads, swooping down as they near their destinations.
In later phases the taxis will travel along ground-level routes separated from other traffic by 8ft walls.
Caught on tape by Ken Avidor, from Friday night's House floor debate on the energy policy bill. Rep. Mark Olson, R-Big Lake, had a few choice words for those who spread the word on global climate change.
Money quote:
"I haven't even studied this extensively. I just became curious about it. And I have received good evidence that it is false ... The national media is known for wanting to tear down this country. They're known for wanting worldwide redistribution of wealth. They're known for wanting a global government. In general, not all of them. They're known for having an agenda."
This was during a floor speech in which he argued that for those who believe in the Bible, the argument of global climate change doesn't make sense.
There's enough of the speech there, though a note to Ken: The more you edit the clips the more it looks like you're distorting his argument.
Tom Beckfeld summarizes the remainder of Olson's argument here, describing how Olson decided to conduct an experiment after watching An Inconvenient Truth that you really should read.
The only thing I can tell you for sure is that Olson will continue to push this boondoggle for has long as he’s in office. It is his type of Government program. One that will never be built. He can say he’s doing something but even he must know that this is a fraud and a scam. Let’s hope that his time ends very soon.
So why am I supportive of Rep. Olson? To be honest, I don’t really know. Every logical thought I’ve had has told me to run from this as fast as I can, in the other direction.
What I do know is that there are more to these stories than what the media is reporting, and that the man that I met with on Friday is a man who truly wants to do what’s right. That’s what my heart tells me. And I’m also reminded that there is more to this than meets the eye, and that I am no one (obviously) to judge.
State Rep. Mark Olson ... gave some wild-eyed legislative rants against the International Baccalaureate Program (House Floor Session, 3:54 p.m., April 18).
Olson refers to the IB program as "anti-American" and presented an amendment to have it removed from the school system. Happily, this self-proclaimed maverick had no support, not even from his own party.
Olson might want to consider turning in his crystal ball for a more reliable model... Where else would he get such foolish ideas? They certainly are not from a reliable, well-documented or extensively researched source. At the very least, is it too much to expect a representative ... to check his sources?
The International Baccalaureate Program is primarily a series of accelerated courses for high-IQ students. Not particularly sinister — unless you consider an intelligent, well-educated individual to be a threat. Perhaps to a radical such as Olson, a smart, well-educated woman in particular poses a grave threat to America.
My daughter was in the International Baccalaureate Program in high school. She was offered a full scholarship, complete with room and board, to West Point. I guess you can't get much more un-American than that.
