A mere EIGHT MONTHS after the election, it looks like MN will once again have 2 Senators [UPDATE]

'bout freakin' franken time, i say...!

Minn. court rules for Franken in Senate fight

The Minnesota Supreme Court on Tuesday ordered that Democrat Al Franken be certified as the winner of the state's long-running Senate race, paving the way for a resolution in the seven-month fight over the seat.

The high court rejected a legal challenge from Republican Norm Coleman, whose options for regaining the Senate seat are dwindling.

Justices said Franken is entitled to the election certificate he needs to assume office. With Franken and the usual backing of two independents, Democrats will have a big enough majority to overcome Republican filibusters.

i just came back from minnesota where i was visiting my daughter... it's bizarre enough to have viewed this debacle from the outside but it was ever so much more bizarre to actually be there, talk to folks, and watch them just shake their heads... thank god, it's almost over...

[UPDATE]

coleman, the quintessential prick, concedes...

Outside his St. Paul home, the incumbent, Norm Coleman, a Republican who had held the seat for one term, conceded the election to Mr. Franken, bringing an end to a lengthy battle that had resulted in thousands of pages of legal documents, cost tens of thousands of dollars, and had left many ordinary Minnesotans weary.

what a maroon... coleman's going to go down in history as a complete and total ass, finally humiliated into the loss he should have accepted as a fact months ago...

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Minnesota, the one Senator state

i've been kinda sorta following the epic drama of the minnesota senatorial election recount... i essentially lost interest once it became apparent that the proceedings were going to drag out ad infinitum... i simply do not understand why, with votes being cast nearly five months ago, this couldn't have been resolved by the end of the year at the latest...

A three-judge state panel convened to review an election contest brought by former Minnesota Sen. Norm Coleman (R) in his race against entertainer Al Franken (D) has dealt the Republican a serious setback in its ruling this afternoon.

The panel will allow the consideration of only 400 wrongly rejected absentee ballots to be reviewed and possibly counted -- making it very difficult for Coleman to make up the 225-vote deficit he currently carries.

[...]

The ballots will be opened, sorted and potentially counted by the Minnesota Secretary of State on April 7. It remains unclear how many of the 400 votes will actually be counted. It's also unknown whether Coleman will appeal the ruling to the state Supreme Court, which is within his rights.

[...]

National Republicans have pledged to fight -- and filibuster -- any attempt to seat Franken as the 59th Democratic Senator in the 111th Congress prior to Coleman exhausting his legal rights.

... [W]atch to see whether Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (Nev.) moves forward with seating Franken or whether he continues to wait Coleman out.

leaving minnesota with only one senator during perhaps one of the heaviest periods of critical votes in the nation's history seems to me to be a gross violation of everything the democratic process stands for, and i just don't get why that's been allowed to happen... i know coleman and the repubs are determined to fight to the death and will appeal all the way to the supreme court if necessary, but that still doesn't explain why the courts could not have made a serious effort to fast-track the process...

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Why Raise Taxes??????????

Let's just start collecting the ones due right now. Why should the wealthy corporatists and bankers pay little to no taxes?

The Senate is looking into it. It'll be interesting to see how far it actually goes.

Senate report says dividend taxes being dodged

By Donna Smith

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - U.S. financial institutions are using stock swaps and intricate loan transactions to help foreign investors avoid paying billions of dollars in taxes on dividends paid by U.S. companies, according to a Senate report to be released on Thursday.

The report by the U.S. Senate Homeland Security subcommittee on permanent investigations said investment bankers use phrases like "dividend enhancement," "yield enhancement" and "dividend uplift" to market an array of transactions "whose major purpose is to enable non U.S. persons to dodge payment of U.S. taxes on stock dividends."

Committee Chairman Carl Levin, a Michigan Democrat who along with Minnesota Republican Sen. Norm Coleman led the year-long investigation into these transactions, said the Internal Revenue Service has not done enough to crack down on abusive swap and loan transactions.

"There is no business purpose other than avoiding taxes," Levin told reporters at a briefing on Wednesday. "The IRS ought to go after that, they ought to go after that heavily, they have not."

The committee estimates that using offshore entities to avoid paying U.S. taxes costs the federal treasury about $100 billion annually. The report did not put a specific amount on tax losses due to stock swaps and loans transactions with offshore entities, but said the amount is "substantial."

[...]

Levin said transactions aimed at avoiding U.S. dividend taxes have become widespread in the offshore hedge fund industry and that some of the funds function as shell companies controlled by Americans.

"It adds insult to injury when so-called 'offshore' hedge funds turn out to have a shell operation offshore and their real headquarters are in the
United States with U.S. personnel advising them on how to dodge U.S. taxes," said Levin.

...........and they're talkin' 'bout thowin' me in Debtor's Prison, and seizing everything I own, including wife, children, and pets, for owing less than $5,000.

Go figure......................

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BUSH'S government, not OUR government

i'm glad we got THAT little issue cleared up...

They can have their votes of no confidence, but it's not going to make the determination about who serves in my government," Bush said in Sofia, Bulgaria, the last stop on a weeklong visit to Europe.

53-38, and specter, snowe, and norm coleman all voted for it, and that miserable, rotten, worthless, piece of shit, joe lieberman, voted against it... what a piece of work that guy is...

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Oh, those wascally Democwats and their bottomless bag of twicks

uh, 'scuse me, mr. fratto, who exactly IS it that still supports gonzales...?

Q Senators Schumer and Feinstein are going to introduce a no confidence resolution for Attorney General Gonzales next week, the Senate is going to vote on this. You have a sixth Republican, Norm Coleman, come out and say the Attorney General should resign. Doesn't this all add up to the weight that's dragging him down? And how can he be effective with all --

MR. FRATTO: I think it adds up to the bottomless bag of tricks that Democrats in the Senate would like to pull out on a weekly basis, regarding the Attorney General. The Attorney General has the full confidence of the President. He's focused on the mission of the Department of Justice, which is to keep Americans safe, protect us from domestic terrorism threats, child predators. We know that this has been a difficult period, dealing with the discussion and questions having to do with the U.S. attorneys. But the Attorney General is sticking to his job. We feel he's been a very strong Attorney General, and we continue to support him.

Q You addressed the Democratic part of that question. You didn't say anything about the six Republicans. And you also had Specter saying that he predicts that he'll resign -- Gonzales will resign, saying that he's unable to perform his duties. What about the Republicans?

MR. FRATTO: We understand that there are senators who have different views.

Q I'm talking about the Republicans.

MR. FRATTO: Talking about senators of both parties, and we understand that they have concerns and questions. We think that the Attorney General has been honest and forthright in addressing those questions; and as I said earlier, most importantly, has the full confidence of the President.

Jim.

Q But, Tony, when you say he has the full confidence of the President, and when you say you feel he's been a strong Attorney General, doesn't this erode the President's credibility when it seems like the entire rest of the political universe is on the other side of that?

MR. FRATTO: No, I don't think that's where everyone is. Look --

Q How is -- who's on his side?

MR. FRATTO: What we are focusing on, what we think the Attorney General is focusing on is the mission of the Department of Justice. I haven't heard anyone say that the Department of Justice has been weak in enforcing child predator laws. I haven't heard anyone say that the Department of Justice has been anything short of strong and aggressive in protecting America from domestic terrorism threats. Those are the things that we are focusing on, and those things have happened under this Attorney General's leadership.

if gonzo is good enough for george, he's good enough for me...

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Norm Coleman, Lamar Alexander and Susan Collins have joined the choir

notice how the words "fire" and "resignation" are conspicuously absent... instead we have "grave doubts," "tightrope," and "not served well..."

• "I think there's a huge credibility issue at the Justice Department," said Sen. Norm Coleman (Minn.). "I continue, even after his testimony, to have grave doubts."

• "I think the attorney general is on a tightrope, and he and the president need to make a decision before very long," said Sen. Lamar Alexander (Tenn.).

• Sen. Susan Collins (R-Maine) also said only Bush could demand a resignation. "It's his call," she said. "I don't think the attorney general has served the country or the president particularly well."

but, as we know, criticism and prevailing opinion has no effect on where the choir of one stands...

This is an honest, honorable man, in whom I have confidence.

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