Rep. Cravaack is in touch with his constituents?

One of the charges that Chip Cravaack made in his campaign to unseat Rep. Jim Oberstar was that Oberstar was out of touch with his constituents.  I wonder if Rep. Cravaack is doing any better.

My wife received a message from MoveOn that Rep. Cravaack would hold a meeting in Duluth tomorrow, August 23, at 11:30.  I checked the Duluth News Tribune online and found no notice.  I went to Cravaack's Congressional web site and found nothing about his being in Duluth.  I called his Duluth office and was told that he would be meeting with the National Federation of Independent Business; he would be the speaker.

Using good old Google, I found that he would be at two meetings in Duluth on August 23.  I found this information on the websites of the hosts, not in the newspaper and not on his website.  There will be a "Congressional Breakfast with Rep. Chip Cravaack" at the Northland Country Club hosted by the Minnesota Society of Certified Public Accountants.  There will be a "Special Congressional Briefing in Duluth", a National Federation of Independent Businesses Member lunch meeting at Grandma's Saloon and Grill.

So what was this MoveOn message about?  When I couldn't find any notice of Cravaack meeting with constituents in Duluth, I suspected that it was about a demonstration.  I was right.  In the MoveOn message was a link to an August 2011 Recess Action, a demonstration outside Grandma's a half-hour before the start of the luncheon.  One of the complaints on the web page is that Cravaack "refuses to set up a public town hall in Duluth."

I'll let you draw your own conclusions on why Cravaack has not listed any town hall meetings in Duluth and why he has not even posted these business events on his web site.

For your bedtime reading pleasure: America's Affordable Healthcare Choices Act of 2009

I received an email response to my webmail about healthcare to Rep. Jim Oberstar. It is lengthy and many of you may have already received a similar response. One interesting item was that he provided a link to find the text of the bill, H.R. 3200. Go to http://thomas.loc.gov, enter the bill number, H.R. 3200, select the bill number button, and then click search.

I was curious because I doubt many voting either way will read the bill in its entirety. I read somewhere that it is bigger than the Old Testament and New Testament together. I stopped at the table of contents - 12 pages!

I hope this sausage is palatable.

Mileage tax for pedestrians

State Representative John Overthere is pushing to tax pedestrians based on how much they walk. He says that pedestrians are a minority in our state and are not paying their fair share for the sidewalks they use. He claims that it is grossly unfair to have homeowners and other property owners pay for sidewalks that they never use. Most people go out their back door to the garage and drive away. They have no use for sidewalks. Can't you tell by the number of unshovelled walks in the winter?

Rep. Overthere's bill would mandate that all pedestrians wear state-sanctioned pedometers whenever they are on a public walkway. Pedestrians would have to have them checked once a month and pay the applicable tax. The fine for not having an official pedometer would be $100 for the first offense and $200 for subsequent offenses in the same year.

Immediate opposition was raised by ARM (Association of Runners of Marathons). They claimed the tax would strongly discourage marathon runners and would greatly reduce the amount of sales taxes paid during marathon events.

See "Oberstar pushing to tax motorists based on how much they drive", Duluth News Tribune, 2009-04-29