Pics of baby.

Baby Christopher was born May 20th at 8:10 p.m.

The first pic is him just born in the nursery. The second is him and mommy together. The thrid pic is big sister holding him.

Red plan.

Most people know that I am against the red plan. I don't know however if there is a time or not concede that the plan is just going to get stuffed down our throats. I don't think that time has come however I also am not sure that it was time to do this either. A group is suing the city over the planning commission decision to not hold an environmental study.

Now I do think there is environmental issues in this case however I don't think the city can do much about it. The fact is the school district needs to be held responsible for this. To push try to push another form of Government into this is not right.

Tom Bakk for Governor?

Tom Bakk a DFLer from Cook has filed an intent to run for Governor. Bakk said it is just an exploratory committee. Bakk said he will make a final decision at the convention. Bakk a long time senator from Cook in the northern part of the State.

Bakk is the second DFL candidate to announce his intent to run for Governor in the next election. The election is to be held in the year 2010. Should Bakk's finale decision to be to run. I think he would be a good candidate for the party. As many of you know I am not a democrat and don't support many of there candidates however Bakk is some one that maybe I could support. Bakk is a true centrist. Of course Pawlenty would have to not run and the republicans would have to put up a piss poor candidate for that to happen.

Couple of post.

I had a couple of post that have not posted. I am hoping they will if not I will have to re post them. I had pics of baby finale and a post about Tom Bakk running for Governor.

Was it a joke?

Prank or not? You may have seen the for sale signs on the site of Duluth Central High School. A group of students did this a joke. The thing is how right could they be? http://duluthpolitics.blogspot.com/2008/04/what-is-going-to-happen-to-duluth.html


I think they are spot on. I would not be shocked one bit if Central is put up for sale and soon.

I know......

There is a ton going on in our city right now. I wish there were more hours in a day. I don't have time to blog much now.

I however have to say did anyone see the Mayor look like he was going to cry last night when the surcharge vote failed. Then he said I hope that you who voted no take responsibility for your vote and come up with a solution. To which councilor Fedora had a great response. I toke responsibility for my vote like those before me did. Tossing the ball right back at the Mayor as the Mayor was on the council for eight years.

On a better note for our Mayor. Last night was the third open meeting he held with the public. as I said before I think this is a great idea. I however hope it is not just special interest group sending people to these open meeting times. The meetings with the Mayor take place the last Tuesday of every month starting at 5pm. You get 5 to 10 minutes to chat with Mayor about any issue you wish to.

Sign of things to come?

This is from Flash who runs a blog that I love to go to. He and I don't agree most of the time this one however I think we do. Flash has a blog called centrisity you can view it at http://centrisity.blogspot.com/

Here is his post:

Smoking Victim
Grandma's Saloon and Eatery, on the West Bank's Seven Corners is closing its doors. This popular hangout has endured most everything the economy has thrown at it, but the smoking ban on top of the other factors was too much.

Brian Daugherty, Grandma's general manager, said he opted out of the lease after being "legislated out of business." He blamed a host of laws -- a 2005 bill that doesn't allow tips to be counted as part of the minimum wage, the smoking ban, the 21-year-old drinking age and lower limits on blood-alcohol levels -- for a drop in business and rising expenses.

I haven't had a cigarette in over 6 months, but that hasn't changed my view of the rights of a private business to allow the use of legal products in their establishments.

Flash

My thought is this a sign of things to come for the Grandmas chain. Will we see any effects to our Duluth restaurants? Grandmas has been a staple in Duluth for many years and I would hate to see any of there establishments go out of business because of bills passed by our State legislators

Well many other items factor into the closing the smoking ban is the biggest hit to the business many say. You may have noticed in Duluth many places are not as busy as they were before the smoking ban. I know I have noticed it. Regardless of any report done I ask you talk to owners at there own business.

I had a conversation with an owner of a chines restaurant yesterday she was pissed about the new sales tax increase to Duluth restaurants because of the DECC expansion. The first words out of her mouth were on top of the smoking ban how do they expect us to make a living?

The owner expects to take another small hit because of the sales tax increase. She said down 40% sense the smoking ban took effect. Any small hit may make them close there doors.

If a big chain can't make it how can small mom and pop restaurants make it?

Life House prom night.

The Life House an outreach program for teens and young adults is having the prom night. Many of the items were donated by a local church and also business.

This is a good opportunity for some to get dressed up and have a great night. Many of these kids would not other wise have the chance. At least that is what they say.

Baby update #2

Well mommy and baby are still at the hospital. They should come home either today or tomorrow.

Baby has been freaking out in the nursery when we put him back there. It seems like he just wants to be with mommy and daddy and mostly mommy. After all mommy has the food.

Other then that not much is going at this point.

Dog park

As many of you know the city wants to have some areas for dogs to be unleashed. I don't think this is a good idea the city is setting them self up for major trouble.

I hate to say it but many people just are not responsible pet owners. I could point to many cases that this is the case. My uncle who is a responsible owner has seen hundreds of cases of non-responsible owners in Duluth. I have as well. The unleashed dog parks set the city up for lawsuit after lawsuit. what happens if the dog bites another dog or a child or any person. What happens if a dog gets hurt by just running around the park? What if a dog kills a child? Possible lawsuits go on and on and on.

Plus why are we talking about dog parks when the city has major issues in front of them? We need to get our priority's straight.

Baby update #1

Baby is healthy and the nuese said she sleept well last night. He is so cute as I said I will get pics up ASAP.

Today will be busy with family and friends coming to vistit.

I know I said you may not get anything but baby updates but I do have a few other thoughts I hope to get up tonight. check back.

Baby is here

As many of you know my wife and I were expecting our second child. Today my wife came in about 8am or so because her water broke. she was in labor all day then at about 7:30 this evening she had stopped progressing. The doctor said she had to have a c-section same as our first child.

The baby came at 8:10p.m. and wieghts 8lbs 13 oz and is 22 inches long. We could not be happier parents at this point.

I am at the hospital so I can't put up any pics but as soon as I can I will.

Christopher John Rathe was born at 8:10p.m.

This week will be slow. And Baby info.

I am sorry about the last two weeks and not many post however with expecint a new baby that has taken my time.

In fact I am in the hospital now as my wife is in labor and we expect to hhave baby soon. You may only get baby updates the rest of this week. This weekend I am out of town.

Normal blogging will begin again next week.

Edwards backs Obama

In an effort lead by chair of the DNC Howard Dean former candidate John Edwards endorses Osama, I mean Obama.

In an effort to unite the party John Edwards endorsed Obama. The endorsement was a big one for the Obama camp as Edwards has had support from the groups that Obama has not. White women tops among them.


It will be interesting to see if this brings an end to the Clinton campaign, I don't think it will.

more to come tonight

There has not been a lot this week but there are a couple of things I want to bring up here. Some new and some old so check back tonght.

OH BOY!!!!!

I am so excited all the the Bob Dylan Way signs are up in Duluth. That is great news because you know Duluth has nothing to worry about as long as we take care of Bob Dylan.

Street more importain then skywalk?

Duluth Mayor Don Ness said earlier this week that our streets were a bigger issue then a sky walk. He hopes that there will in the future be money for the sky walk. He said however if the sky walk was funded by the street improvement fund he could not support it.

Well I could not agree with him more. Our streets are a mess and need priority over any sky walk. In fact we need to stop using the street improvement fund for every things but streets. The city use to fix 6 miles of street a year. This year we are doing just over a mile. This is because of funding.

No baby today.

Well the baby was not born today. The good news is my wife's issues had been resolved at least for mean time.

New baby today?

As most you know my wife and I are expecting our second child. The baby may come today. It would be a little less then three weeks before the due date. I will keep you updated.

Say What?

Barb Olsen the president of progressive action had this to say about County Attorney Ford. This was because Ford was a keynote speaker at one of there events.



“Melanie Ford has shown incredible strength and tenacity in her first 15 months in office,” Olsen commented. “We look forward to hearing from Ms. Ford about what she believes are the biggest issues facing St. Louis County today and facing her as well as the county’s top legal voice.”



The only thing that Ford has done sense winning is be on a witch hunt. That maybe what this group wanted however. Ms. Ford has been nothing but a puppet to special interest groups and last I checked that was not what the county's top legal adviser is to do.



This event already went on and it would have been interesting to hear what was said.

New poll is up

This weeks question is do you think the council violated the open meeting law?