Minnesota State Senator Tom Neuville

Serving District 25 Counties of Rice, Le Sueur, Sibley and Scott

March 23rd, 2007

Budget Bills: Lots of “Poison Pills” for the Governor

By Tom Neuville

The Minnesota Senate has approved several of its Omnibus Budget bills already.

Yesterday we passed the Higher Education Budget bill (SF 1989 Sen. Pappas), and the Agriculture and Veterans budget bill (SF 1925 Sen Vickerman).

The Higher Ed bill spends less than the Governor recommended, and included the controversial “Dream Act” language. This provision would all illegal aliens (undocumented aliens) to attend Minnesota public colleges and universities for in-state tuition rates, rather than non-resident tuition rates, if they attended a Mn. high school for at least 3 years and graduated from a Mn. high school.

The Governor, and most Republicans oppose the provision. I am a co-author.  We heard from the university systems that the proposal has no fiscal cost. The State can absorb these additional students at marginal cost which is less than resident tuition rates.

The Senate Republican offered an amendment which would have limited tuition increases at all public colleges to inflation plus 1 percent. Surprisingly, it failed by 3 votes.  This surprised me, given all of the concern about tuition increases during the past 4 years.

Today, the Senate passes the Omnibus Transportation Budget  bill (SF 1986 Sen. Murphy). It includes at least 6 increases in taxes, totaling up to $1.5 Billion in new taxes. The Governor has also made clear that he will veto any gas tax increase. This bill includes up to 18.5 cents/gallon of gas tax increase.

Tomorrow the Senate will debate and vote on the Omnibus State Government bill (SF 1997 Sen. Betzold). This bill is possible veto material too. It includes 2 controversial provisions:

1. Mandatory language to include “domestic partner” health insurance benefits in all state employee contracts, if the benefits are offered to spouses. This is clearly a move toward recognition of same sex marriage.

2. Elimination of all assistant commissioner positions and about half of the deputy commissioner positions appointed by the Governor.

I don’t believe that Gov. Pawlenty will allow either of these to pass either.

We did pass one bill unanimously. It was the Omnibus Public Safety and Corrections Budget Bill (SF 1992 Sen. Higgens). I am a co-author of this bill.  It funds our public safety and prison systems at about $25 million less than the Governor requested, but does not include a “poison pill” provision.

The Senate will pass all of its tax and budget bills before Easter break. The bills will probably  change a lot before they get to the Governor’s desk.

I suspect that April and May will be interesting. The table is being set for a major controntation between the DFL controlled legislature and the Republican Governor.

Posted in Legislation | No Comments
March 22nd, 2007

Global Warming: “The Great Swindle” (Post 9)

By Tom Neuville

The video ” The Great Global Warming Swindle” is back up on You-Tube. You can view it at this Link. The video presents a very good scientific rebuttal to most of the arguments of global warming proponents.

I’ve also attached an article by Steven Hayward of the Pacific Research Institute. The article is dated 2006, but was actually written just a few days ago about Al Gore’s appearance before Congress on March 21, 2007.

The article cites Kevin Vranes, a global warming proponent from the U of Colorado as saying:

“To sum the state of the climate science world in one word, as I see it right now, it is this: tension. What I am starting to hear is internal backlash. . . None of this is to say that the risk of climate change is being questioned or downplayed by our community; it’s not. It is to say that I think some people feel that we’ve created a monster by limiting the ability of people in our community to question results that say ‘climate change is right here!”

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 1 Comment
March 21st, 2007

Global Warming: The “Skeptics are increasing” (Post 8)

By Tom Neuville

Al Gore’s appearance before Congress today proved to be a good day for those who don’t believe that Global Warming is caused by human activity.

Here is the opening statement by U.S. Senator James Inhofe of Oklahoma during Senate hearings. Here are some interesting charts used by Senator Inhofe.

Reid Bryson, Emeritus Professor of Meteorology, of Geography and of Environmental
Studies. Senior Scientist, Center for Climatic Research, The Gaylord Nelson
Institute for Environmental Studies (Founding Director), the University of
Wisconsin, Madison, has changed his position about global warming. Here is a piece written by Dr. Bryson in March 2004.

Nir Shaviv, an Israeli astrophysicist, used to be a believer in human induced global warming. But, he too, has changed his position. Here is a Link to a recent article about Dr. Shaviv.

It has been interesting to review hundreds of articles, and comments from readers of this blog. However, I won’t be supporting the “Carbon cap” bill in the Minnesota Senate this year. I simply don’t accept that global warming is caused by humans. The cost of the “cure” would be worse than the disease.

Al Gore refused to sign a pledge (at today’s Congressional hearings) to reduce his personal energy use by March,2008. How can he ask anyone else to limit their use, or say that we should never build another coal generated electric plant? But, the proponents still have renowned scientist, Katie Couric, on their side.

There are still many reasons to reduce our energy consumption. There are compelling reasons to have strong environmental laws against air pollution. But, Carbon Dioxide is not a pollutant.

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 4 Comments
March 20th, 2007

Global Warming: What do Religious Groups Think? (Post 7)

By Tom Neuville

Some people believe that reducing our use of hydrocarbons, and the level of CO2, has become a moral issue. Indeed, the Catholic Bishops have said that our stewardship of the earth is a moral issue. Several Evangelical leaders have also supported global warming solutions as a moral issue.

However, as more science comes to light, and as more of the global warming claims are peer reviewed, some religious groups are speaking out differently. One group, called the Interfaith Stewardship Alliance, has begun to address the issue of global warming from a moral viewpoint, which is supported by science. One post on the Website for the Alliance states:

“The appearance of growing consensus among evangelicals in favor of alarm over CHIGW is fictitious, fabricated by a few advocates associated with the Evangelical Climate Initiative, which offered almost no evidence for its assertions and was endorsed not by scientists and economists with relevant expertise but mostly by Christian college presidents and mission leaders and was rejected by the National Association of Evangelicals (representing 30 million members) and the Southern Baptist Convention (16 million members) and refuted in “A Call to Truth, Prudence, and Protection of the Poor: An Evangelical Response to Global Warming,” which has been endorsed by 124 evangelical leaders.”

Last week, I listened to a speaker who was addressing the global warming issue from a moral and ethical viewpoint. He asked, ‘do we believe God when He tells us that he will protect the earth until the end of times? Do we really believe that God would allow us to destroy his greatest creation? ‘

Personally, I believe that we do have a moral obligation to be good stewards of the environment. We should protect our water, air, and living environment. Strong environmental protection laws are important. Political differences of opinion on environmental issues tend to be on the means, not the objective. Exaggerating or fabricating problems, has nothing to do with true environmentalism.

 

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 1 Comment
March 19th, 2007

Global Warming: What is the Average Global Temperature ? (Post 6)

By Tom Neuville

Most scientists, even those who call themselves “skeptics” believe that the earth has warmed by about 1 degree Farhenheit over the past century.

Now, we have a Danish scientist who questions whether the measurement of global temperature is even mathematically possible. Here is a Link to an article in Science Daily, which begins:

Discussions on global warming often refer to ‘global temperature.’ Yet the concept is thermodynamically as well as mathematically an impossibility, says Bjarne Andresen, a professor at The Niels Bohr Institute, University of Copenhagen, who has analyzed this topic in collaboration with professors Christopher Essex from University of Western Ontario and Ross McKitrick from University of Guelph, Canada.

Yet another interesting question on the whole topic of “global warming”.

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 3 Comments
March 19th, 2007

Global Warming: Al Gore has some explaining to do ! (Post 5)

By Tom Neuville

I still have to watch the Al Gore movie, “An Inconvenient Truth”. But, it seems that others are now questioning some of the statements made by the former Vice President.

Today, the Wall Street Journal writes about some of the exaggerations in the movie.

Now, his home state newspaper, The Tennessean, is writing critically about Mr. Gore. First about his zinc mining royalties, (Link Here); and also about his outrageously high home electric bills (Link Here).

Even the New York Times, has asked Al Gore to “Cool the Hype” (Link Here).

Even Congress is about to begin some tough questioning concerning Mr. Gore’s global warming arguments. (Link Here).

Lord Monckton has challenged Al Gore to a debate on the question of whether “Our [Man’s] effect on global climate is dangerous”. (Link Here) .

Monckton, a former policy adviser to Margaret Thatcher during her years as
Prime Minister of the United Kingdom said:

“A careful study of the substantial corpus of peer-reviewed science reveals that Mr. Gore’s film, An Inconvenient Truth, is a foofaraw of pseudo-science, exaggerations, and
errors, now being peddled to innocent schoolchildren worldwide.”

The economic consequenses of “fixing” global warming, thru the implementation of Carbon caps and carbon credit trading, are profound. Let’s be sure the problem is real before we try to fix it.

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 7 Comments
March 18th, 2007

A Time to Reflect and Refresh

By Tom Neuville

Last August, I wrote about the death of my Brother-in-law, Dan Bissen, from Austin, Mn.

Dan died of brain cancer, at age 51, after two years of experimental treatment. The care and concern from the Austin community for his family was remarkable.

Today, was the first “Dan Bissen Memorial Bash”, a concert of family, friends and community members. The Bissen family was very musical, and involved in the Austin arts community. There were many moving songs, but the one that touched me most was when Dan’s son, Tony, sang “Oh Danny Boy”. Everyone cried.

There were many times to laugh as well. Nothing heals the pain more than a smile.
We all live such busy lives. We worry about too many things which aren’t important in the eternal scheme. It’s our faith, family and friends that are most important. (and maybe a little fishing).
Hundreds of people took time to remember and celebrate Dan Bissen’s life today, and came away refreshed. Thanks Dan, for helping us remember what life is all about !

Posted in People, Community | No Comments
March 14th, 2007

Public Safety and Corrections Budget

By Tom Neuville

I have been posting a lot about global warming and the statewide smoking ban. I decided to write about these topics early to encourage a public debate.
But, most of my time is spent serving as the Lead Republican on the Senate Public Safety and Corrections Budget Division and Judiciary committee.

Today we marked up our budget bill and sent the bill to the full Finance Committee. (which I also sit on).

The bill spends about $23 million less than the Governor’s budget proposal. There are not many new initiatives in this year’s bill compared to previous years.

I authored the only two provisions of the bill which will save money for the state. One bill increases the financial threshold for theft related crimes. The bill would require a theft of $1000, rather than $500 for the crime to be a felony. This change, which adjusts the theft threshold by the rate of inflation (going back to about 1990) will save about 75 prison beds. The county attorney association and law enforcement supported the proposal.

The second bill directs the Minnesota Sentancing Guidelines Commission to review our current prison sentances for Drug Offenses. The goal is to adjust the presumed sentances and make them more proportional with other crimes in Minnesota, and comparable to drug sentances in other Midwestern States.

For example, many of our drug crimes receive the same prison time as manslaughter, 3rd degree murder, kidnapping, and criminal sexual conduct offenses.

I believe that some drug offenders are receiving more time in prison than necessary, especially when compared to other violent and personal crimes committed in Minnesota. We should use our prison beds for the most dangerous of the state’s offenders.

PS. I’d like to thank everyone who attended the Town Meeting tonight (with Rep. David Bly and me) at the Northfield Public Library.

Posted in Legislation | No Comments
March 14th, 2007

Global Warming: What do the Proponents Say? (Post 4)

By Tom Neuville

Some people who are checking my blog have observed that I only post Articles from the “skeptical ” point of view. I have been reading many articles written by proponents of Global Warming (even though I’m not posting many of them). Here are just a few that I have read:

1. Warming Report to Warn of Coming Drought. This article summarizes the future report of the IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change), which is pretty grim. About 1000 scientists will be reviewing this report before its release.

The draft document says scientists are highly confident that many current problems - change in species’ habits and habitats, more acidified oceans, loss of wetlands, bleaching of coral reefs, and increases in allergy-inducing pollen - can be blamed on global warming.

2. After Tomorrow: Ignoring Global Warming doesn’t change the science. Here is one excerpt from the article:
Over the last 150 years the Earth’s surface temperatures have risen by about 0.8 degrees centigrade, with the majority of the rise taking place in just the last fifty years. A true though seemingly improbable statistic is that all of the ten warmest years on record have occurred since 1990.

3. The Language of Global Warming. This site provides a fair analysis of the language used by both proponents and skeptics of global warming theory.

4. Americans Believe that Global Warming is Real, Want Action, But not as a Priority.

The article says:

Most Americans believe global warming is real but a moderate and distant risk. While they strongly support policies like investing in renewable energy, higher fuel economy standards and international treaties, they strongly oppose carbon taxes on energy sources that put carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

5.Global Warming Myths and Facts. The article begins:

MYTH: The science of global warming is too uncertain to act on.

FACT: There is no debate among scientists about the basic facts of global warming.

I remain a skeptic about global warming. But, I am evaluating the arguments on both sides of the debate.

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 2 Comments
March 13th, 2007

Global Warming: Environmental Effects of CO2 (Post 3)

By Tom Neuville

Here is a paper written by Dr. Art Robinson, writing for the Oregon Institute of Science and Medicine from 1998.

Also, Here is a video of a Lecture by Dr. Robinson on the topic of Global Warming.

Dr. Robinson does not believe that CO2 will affect global climate and presents a rational argument. He helped to organize the ” Oregon Petition ” which opposes the Kyoto global warming agreement, and has been signed by over 17,000 scientists, economists, and others. Information about the Oregon Petition can be found at This Link.

Posted in Commentary, Global Warming | 3 Comments
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