Leading the children onto the ice!

If I made up this quote, it would be slander:

House Speaker Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove, acknowledged recently the blow to school budgets. "It will lead them out on to the ice, but they won't fall through."

C'mon kids! Follow me! It'll be fun! Don't worry about all the cracking noises!

This is the guy, by the way, who actually seems to have his caucus in order.

Kurt's right hand guy, Matt Dean, explains why Kurt is so effing satisfied:

"The most important thing is that we are not going to have tax increases," said House Majority Leader Matt Dean, R-Dellwood.

Is it really necessary to mention that Matt Dean is a nihilist moron?

The linked article reports:

In two budget cycles, the state will have rung up $2.1 billion in IOUs to its public school districts. As a result, schools scraping to keep students competitive must try to borrow money just to manage their own cash flow.

Of course, this won't bother you if you've don't have a child or grandchild in public schools, aren't an employer hoping to hire educated Minnesotan in the future, or aren't a homeowner hoping to avoid having to deal with a property tax levy for operating funds for your local schools, or, well, you get the idea.

Does leading Minnesota's schools "out onto the ice" seem like a prudent plan for the future, just so we can have "no tax increases?"

I thought there was a deal

Of course, there was. But because Amy, Junior, and Mikey cannot count to thirty-four, the reports were premature. A lot of people (including me) have judged Republican leadership as amateurs all along. These people cannot deliver pizza.

Katherine Kersten wrote again today

Yawn.

That's all I have to say.

Revenge of the Steaming Shitburger!

Sources say that the Republican caucus in the Senate may have as little as, well, not nearly enough votes to pass the budget compromise. I posted about Mike Parry's tantrum earlier, and MCCL is now in on the act, so you know that can't be good.

C'mon, Amy, Junior, and Mikey! Pull on your oars. You're the ones who served up the Steaming Shitburger of Revenue.

Now, in a moment of supreme irony, it looks like they're going to have to eat it, too!

Wasting Mike's time

That's a really good one, Mike!

From today's Strib:

While controversial social policy items such as abortion were taken off the table, Republicans maintained Friday that other reforms should stay in the mix. "The policy dictates where the money goes," said House Speaker Kurt Zellers. "You can't just take out all the policy and then hand somebody a chunk of money."

Those policy differences threatened to derail some negotiation Friday. Sen. Mike Parry, R-Waseca, who chairs the state government committee, stormed out of a meeting with Minnesota Management and Budget Commissioner James Schowalter on his bill after Schowalter told him the "policy and reforms" were off the table. Among the changes were consolidation of some state agencies and activities.

"I just took my tablet, put it in my folder," Parry said. "And Commissioner Schowalter looked at me and said, 'Senator, please don't leave.' And I said, 'Commissioner, I'm not here to waste my time.'"

The idea that you could waste legislative cipher Mike Parry's time strikes a lot of us as pretty funny. Mike's just a windy grandstander, as I learned early in his career at the Capitol. From the baggers rally in April 2010:

Who won?

Thursday, the great Minnesota Shutdown went from intractable to settled with dizzying speed. Mark Dayton's morning presentation at the Humphrey Institute became an announcement of his acceptance of a June 30th offer from Republican leaders. The $1.4 billion dollar package of shifts and tobacco revenue bonds, coupled with demands for removal of policy changes contained in the GOP budget bill, agreement not to seek a 15% across the board cut of state employees, and a $500 million bonding bill became the framework for a compromise. By 5:15 PM, a deal was struck.

It was oddly anticlimactic to watch Speaker Zellers and Majority Leader Koch announcing that they had an agreement with Governor Dayton. Dayton's offer was effectively one the GOP couldn't refuse, even if they wanted to. It was a definitive end to an impasse that transformed Minnesota into a synecdoche for national budget woes. Twenty-two thousand laid off state employees, shuttered state parks, and a downgrade to the state's credit rating were all part of the mounting toll. In one stroke, Dayton ended that.

A lot of folks on the left have been and will be critical of this decision. Instant reaction from a number of DFL legislators was strongly negative, though minority leader Paul Thissen reportedly said that he'd support it. The smart money is that very few DFL votes will be cast for the budget compromise. Many left-leaning pundits took Dayton to task for caving to the GOP. Indeed, by the evening that was the GOP's talking point, with Michael Brodkorb posting a sheet of headlines that Dayton had conceded or lost.

While it chafes for Dayton supporters to watch, this bravado is mostly for the Republican base. Check out the sources for the headlines in Brodkorb's piece; National Review, Powerline, True North, Drudge, and the lead quote from Rush Limbaugh. This is not a piece for the general public, it's for the right wing base. Or consider this piece from House Republicans claiming that they've held state spending to $34 billion. That might come as a surprise to House Speaker Kurt Zellers, considering he "said the agreement will spend more than the $34 billion Republicans wanted to spend." Remember, Dayton won his budget. The revenue comes in the only form the GOP would permit, borrowing and shifting. As Dayton said - he'll own the budget, but not the revenue.

There are a lot of members of the GOP caucus that have made a lot of noise about cutting state spending. This compromise will be hard to swallow, especially as the pet policy provisions of GOP members are excised. Rep. Garofolo will howl about the removal of private school vouchers and curtailment of teacher's organizing rights. Sen. Hann will lecture disapprovingly as his plan to voucherize MinnesotaCare disappears. Rep. Banaian will cluck, as he did on MPR this morning, about the loss of his budgeting provisions. Rep. Runbeck's vendetta against Minneapolis, St. Paul and Duluth is shelved. And Rep. Downey's corporate consultant crusade against state employees will have to wait until later. Stopping a tax increase will seem like cold comfort for Republican true believers.

This assumes, of course, that "no policy provisions" means what it says. The details of an agreement will be painstaking on some of the larger bills, and it's worth watching what makes it into a final version. But it represents a big win for Mark Dayton on many fronts.

Dayton is taking the long game on the budget. The resolution insulates folks from the full brunt of cuts to health care and increased property taxes from local government aid cuts. The $500 million or so in bonding projects will stimulate the construction industry and the economy, and it seems that a $1 billion Vikings stadium will likely follow. This will put literally thousands of folks back to work. For a governor in the mold of Rudy Perpich, this is exactly what he wanted.

It's true that both sides shared in the blame for the shutdown, but Dayton's well-positioned to get credit for decisively ending it. Republicans will be saddled in 2012 with a broken promise to their base and an intransigent reputation with moderates. DFL legislators will get to campaign against the budget as irresponsible borrowing and shifting. In all, the political advantage is decidedly in favor of the DFL and Mark Dayton.

They'd better take advantage in 2012. It will take three or four budget cycles to dig Minnesota out the hole created over the last decade.

Follow me on Twitter @aaronklemz

Grover's nut collection

You have to wonder if he keeps them in a jar on his desk.

If you want to help Geoff, Kurt, and Matt find their nuts back, and become Minnesota legislators, you should contact them (at the Legislature's home page) and help them out!

mis-ˈnō-mər

It's Teach Michele Bachmann English Usage Day at the Cucking Stool. Who can spot the misuse of a word in the lede in a story about Michele and the debt ceiling:

WASHINGTON - Taking the vanguard of a Republican revolt against President Obama and their own GOP leaders, Rep. Michele Bachmann and two other Tea Party members said Wednesday there is no need to raise the federal debt limit in order to continue paying Social Security benefits.

"This is a misnomer that the president and the Treasury secretary have been trying to pass off on the American people," said Bachmann, R- Minn., a presidential candidate who is leading the polls in her native Iowa.

Of course, I gave it away in the title. Misnomer means:

1: the misnaming of a person in a legal instrument

2: a: a use of a wrong or inappropriate name
b: a wrong name or inappropriate designation

Unless Bachmann was saying, "The President said 'debt ceiling' when he meant 'Social Security'," which is not likely, she used this word incorrectly, as she often does. From the same Mirrriam-Webster entry:

“International Airport” is something of a misnomer, since almost all the arriving and departing flights are local.

See? Must better choices of words would include error, falsity, misconception, or maybe misbelief.

That would leave Bachmann's comment factually incorrect, but grammatically more satisfying.

In any event, her statement is duplicitous, since she and the Tea Party want to dismantle Social Security. Providing assurances about Social Security while maneuvering to kill it is guileful.

In other words, calling Michele Bachmann a truthful person would be a misnomer.

The St. Paul hospitality industry: a teachable moment

One of the interesting stories about the shut down comes from the eateries and watering holes in St. Paul that are so severely affected. There have been several articles in the Twin Cities' dailies about them: hard to hang on, having to let employees go, rent still has to be paid, property taxes still have to be paid, etc.

It occurred to me that the plight of the hospitality industry in the Capitol City is a perfect example of some things in the current economic debate.

First, demand for products or services is what cause businesses to hire people. It matters not at all how rich or poor a coffee shop owner is, if she has no customers, she won't need employees to serve them. To hire the employees first and then expect the business to come is what is called supply side economics.

Second, the tax that kills small business, especially in downturns, is the property tax. You have to pay the property tax if you are a building owner, or you pay it as part of your rent for the coffee shop, or whatever. You have to pay this tax whether a single customer walks through the door or not.

Parenthetically, the same is true of residential property owners; the property tax is no respecter of fluctuations in your income.

To have customers, you need to have not only people, you need people with money to spend. And enough confidence to spend it. Contrary to what Republicans will tell you, plunging the economy into the shitter is not the way to create people with money and the confidence to spend it.

What tax don't you have to pay if you aren't making money? The income tax, of course.

The hospitality industry in St. Paul is not carping about the income tax. Nor the sales tax, for that matter, because it doesn't have to be paid on sales not made.

Most of the jobs created by small business are not created by hot shot entrepreneurs racing around the country looking for the lowest tax rate. They are created by people like the St. Paul hospitality industry, who are hurt far more by the increased property taxes that will result from cutting off local government aid to St. Paul than a small income tax increase on incomes over a million dollars, or even $300,000.

The "job creator" argument is pure sophistry.

Now, we can't rely on the income tax alone, because as is obvious from the discussion, it goes down when people's incomes go down. The property tax for all its warts is pretty reliable (unless property values assessments decline severely). And the property tax is rather unavoidable, too. A similar argument can be made for the sales tax. People have to eat. Okay, not a good example, at least in Minnesota. But they have to buy clothing. Kidding. But the sales tax is more stable than the income tax, and it's pretty collectible, too.

But the case of the St. Paul hospitality industry during the shut down does illustrate quite nicely the Republican game that's afoot on income taxes.

Quote of the day

Senate Republican Leader Mitch McConnell (apparently channeling his inner Mike Parry) in remarks made on the Senate floor:

"After years of discussions and months of negotiations, I have little question that as long as this president is in the Oval Office, a real solution is probably unattainable."

Let that one sink in.

Update: More pro-democracy bons mots from McConnell:

The time has come for a balanced budget amendment that forces Washington to balance its books. If these debt negotiations have convinced us of anything, it’s that we can’t leave it to politicians in Washington to make the difficult decisions that they need to get our fiscal house in order. The balanced budget amendment will do that for them. Now is the moment. No more games. No more gimmicks. The Constitution must be amended to keep the government in check. We’ve tried persuasion. We’ve tried negotiations. We’re tried elections. Nothing has worked.

Again, let that sink in: Elections haven't worked.

Republican legislative leadership in the State of Grover

In yesterday's post on the Pledge of Allegiance to Grover Norquist, commenter Alec provided a list of members of the Minnesota Legislature who have superseded their oath of office as legislators with an oath to a genuine svengali. Thirty-seven members of the Minnesota Legislature have promised Grover that no matter what happens, no matter what calamity strikes, no matter what damage might occur to the citizens, commerce, or cities of the state, they will not raise taxes. They've turned part of their brains off: the thinking part, leaving only the lizard stub at the switch.

But even that is not the worst part. Three out of four of the top leaders in the Republican-controlled Legislature signed the pledge. Kurt Zellers, the Speaker, and Matt Dean, the Majority Leader, signed on in the House. In the Senate, Junior the Deputy, Geoff Michel signed. The only one MIA is Amy Koch; unaccountably missing, since she has been the biggest foghorn for no tax increase all session.

In a recent presser, the Deputy said that tax cuts were in Republicans' DNA. Nah, they're just especially vulnerable to the power of suggestion. Grover: look into my eyes. Deputy: yes Master.

The leadership controls committee assignments and the agenda for their respective bodies. How do you like the fact that, by and large, the Republican leadership is more concerned about what Grover thinks than what you think?

I think you should let them know. Just go to the legislature's website, look 'em up, and give 'em a shout!

Photo from here.

I pledge allegiance

Jack Ohman cartoon

I pledge allegiance to the Grover,

And to the greed for which he stands,

Serving rich people as my God,

With Liberty and Justice for Them.

For all the Grovers in the Minnesota Legislature, who pledged their allegiance to Grover Norquist instead of the State of Minnesota and its citizens, who we all thought they had pledged to serve.

You can see a list of the Minnesota pledge signers in the comments, thanks to Alec.

Cartoon by by Jack Ohman, Tribune Media Services, via the Strib.

From the book of Titus to you

A great deal has been said about Bob Vander Plaats' pledge signed last week by presidential candidate Michele Bachmann. The part of the pledge implying that African American children may have been better off under slavery because two parents were present has received widespread attention.

But one section of the pledge jumped right out at me. As the aging product of an Irish Catholic culture who were said to "breed like rabbits and multiply like vermin," I remember when the news of yet another child on the way brought not just happiness, but worry dread to the mothers in my neighborhood. Another bundle of joy, but at the same time another one to feed, clothe, and care for. The church wouldn't have it ant other way. So when I read this part of the pledge, I was creeped out:

“Recognition that robust childbearing and reproduction is beneficial to U.S. demographic, economic, strategic and actuarial health and security.”

Yep, "robust childbearing and reproduction." Trying to bolster the underlying assumptions in this part of the pledge, Vander Plaats provides a footnote that makes reference to several "sources." There's Mark Steyn's America Alone, a 2006 polemic about how Muslims are outbreeding Europeans, Ben Wattenberg's Fewer, about which Publisher's Weekly said "starts off as a persuasive statistical analysis [that] dwindles into demagoguery," and Julian (everything-will-last-forever) Simon's thirty-year-old The Ultimate Resource.

Both Spotty and MrMNO have read Steyn's racial views into the pledge, that what Vander Plaats means by "robust childbearing and reproduction" is a dog whistle to those who worry that the United States is destined to become a minority majority country. For those who fear growing influence and power in citizens not of European descent, the pledge represents a call-out to their fears.

But to Robin Marty and I, the pledge is more of a shout out to the Christian Patriarchy and Quiverfull movements. As Robin points out, those more familiar with the movement saw it right away and pegged this as endorsing coercive childbearing cloaked in economic strength. Make no mistake: control over women who desperately love their children is easily accomplished by forcing them to bear more. The document signed by Bachmann - one probably that will soon be signed by Pawlenty - is a coded message for barefoot and pregnant.

The pledge represents just one more step in an assault on women's rights undertaken by the Bachmanns of the world and the men who control them. It started ostensibly as criticism of abortion rights many years ago that has now become a full-out attack on the legitimacy of birth control.

Vander Plaats is best known for his campaign last year to remove judges from the Iowa Supreme Court, an undertaking one former aid has called obsessive and a threat to the Iowa judiciary. But beyond that, Vander Plaats evidences a deep seated antipathy to women who don't fall into line with his world view. In a post that has since been removed from his website, he praised certain marriages:

Studies have shown that divorce rates between Thai girls, Filipina girls and foreign men are lower than other marriages.

We will leave to you, dear reader, to figure out what is meant by that assertion from a Christian patriarch.

All of this leads to one inescapable conclusion: Bob Vander Plaats is a cesspool of misogyny the depth of which we have yet to plumb.

Note: The illustration is from another place and time where the strategic value of robust childbearing and reproduction was particularly valued.

Sadly, poor Michele is misunderstood again!

Before we get to that, however, I note that the Stib's Sunday tag team of Heartburn & Gas (tm) features Gas this morning. Suffering from a form of political Tourette Syndrome, Jason Lewis periodically leaves his usual state of catatonia to shout "Wealth Redistribution!" before slipping back out of it entirely. Sadly, he's seen specialists around the world, but no one has been able to help.

Personally, I think he just missed the day at nursery school where the kids learned about sharing toys and cookies, so he's been forced to go around with his arse painfully clenched ever since, depriving his brain of blood and oxygen. A good Freudian therapist -- such as Sigmund Spot -- might be able to take him back to his painful childhood and help. We'll see.

Lewis thinks that educating children and taking care of sick people is "redistribution of wealth." As if he earned it all by himself. Really, no more needs to be said about this poisonous blowhard, at least today.

Now, where were we? Oh yes, poor misunderstood Michele. It seems like just yesterday -- or was it Friday, or maybe even Thursday? -- that the Corn Queen proudly stepped forward to ink the deal pledging fealty to the FAMiLY LEADER in an effort to suck up to every bat-shit crazy tea bag conservative who has ever heard of Bob Vander Plaats. (Roughly, "Vander Plaats" means "from the place," although the place is not, and probably cannot, be identified or even found.)

Bachmann signed Vander Plaats' loyalty oath, which contained the usual list of bagger baloney, but this one was special. Really special. This stunner was part of it:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Yes, slavery was such a socially stabilizing institution.

Having been laughed at, scorned, and mocked for three days, Michele says that she was misunderstood entirely. Why, she didn't mean that when she signed the pledge that she agreed with all of it. Heaven forfend! The part about slave babies being better off was in the preamble, kind of like the Preamble to the Constitution.

A Bachmann spokeswoman said earlier Saturday that reports the congresswoman had signed a vow that contained the slavery language was wrong, noting it was not in the "vow" portion.

"She signed the 'candidate vow,' " campaign spokeswoman Alice Stewart said, and distanced Bachmann from the preamble language, saying, "In no uncertain terms, Congresswoman Bachmann believes that slavery was horrible and economic enslavement is also horrible."

It wasn't clear whether Bachmann had read the "slavery" language in the preamble, but Stewart later added Bachmann "stands behind the candidate vow - which makes absolutely no reference to slavery."

But even Plaatz plotzed:

A social conservative Iowa group has retracted language regarding slavery from the opening of a presidential candidates' pledge, amid a growing controversy over the document that Michele Bachmann had signed and Rick Santorum committed to.

The original "marriage vow" from the Family Leader, unveiled last week, included a line at the opening of its preamble, which suggested that black children born into slavery were better off in terms of family life than African-American kids born today.

The Politico article quotes Vander Plaats's organization:

“After careful deliberation and wise insight and input from valued colleagues we deeply respect, we agree that the statement referencing children born into slavery can be misconstrued, and such misconstruction can detract from the core message of the Marriage Vow: that ALL of us must work to strengthen and support families and marriages between one woman and one man," the group's officials said in a statement. "We sincerely apologize for any negative feelings this has caused, and have removed the language from the vow.”

Samples of the "wise insight" undoubted included:

Are you people completely crazy?

What are you trying to do? Our Wikipedia revisionists can't keep up with Michele Bachmann as it is!

Who did you test the message of this pledge on? The KKK?

Hang in there, Timmy; you may have a shot yet.

No need to equivocate here, Kevin

Most of you are aware of the pledge that our gal Michele gleefully signed that, inter alia, said this:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

It elicited the kind of wonder, astonishment and disgust that a signature move from Michele Bachmann can provoke.

But rather than risk a hasty denunciation, chief Bachmann follower at the Strib, Kevin Diaz, weighed in with measured tones:

But to Bachmann’s detractors, the language on slavery represents a further misreading of history. Apart from the intimation of better conditions in the old antebellum South, the vow seems to overlook a brutal historical record of African-American slave families being broken up for sale. [emphasis added]

Jesus, Kevin, grow a pair.

It sucks to be John Boehner

That's the title of a Rick Ungar post on his blog at Forbes.com. Ungar recounts the times he mocked and criticized Boehner (a considerable list), but then says this:

Still, you have to admit that it sucks to be John Boehner.

Imagine if you had to make decisions regarding the successful operation of your own home and your three year old, five year old and two year old each had a full vote in the decisions that are ultimately taken.

That's a preamble, of course, to an observation of what it must be like to be the Speaker of the Tea Party House of Representatives:

Welcome to John Boehner’s world – a world where he is the leader of a cadre of children who have yet to mature to the point where they warrant election to the post of school hall monitor let alone the halls of Congress.

And Ungar says this about the back-stabbing weasel, Eric Cantor:

If these immature Members of Congress were not enough of a problem for an old school deal maker like Boehner, the Speaker has to contend with a scheming GOP Majority Leader in Eric Cantor who waits behind every door with a dagger aimed squarely at his boss’s heart.

Which made me think of the above graphic that Tild did some time ago for me.

But only because Michele moved to Minnesota

Here's the lede from a post at Truth Wins Out:

I mentioned in a post yesterday that Bob Vander Plaats, Iowa’s Most Unhinged Wingnut [emphasis added], and his organization the FAMiLY LEADER [sic] had drafted a pledge for GOP candidates to sign, which affirms their anti-gay bigotry and hatred. Michele Bachmann was, of course, the first to sign it. [emphasis also added] But as usual, there’s more to the story, and anti-gay bigots never just traffic in one kind of hatred. Baratunde Thurston reports that indeed the very first bullet point in this pledge absolutely glorifies slavery. Here it is:

Slavery had a disastrous impact on African-American families, yet sadly a child born into slavery in 1860 was more likely to be raised by his mother and father in a two-parent household than was an African-American baby born after the election of the USA’s first African-American President.

Bob Vander Plaats is a Republican gadfly from Sioux City.

That's just a stunner, isn't it?

When they were slaves, couples could not get legally married. They were PROPERTY, remember? As were their children. The families could be split up and sold off at the whim of the slave owner.

Mere words are inadequate to describe what a base, poisonous, demagogic harridan Michele Bachmann is.

Frank and Friends

That's Frank "God is my cover" Vennes and Michele "Mine, too!" Bachmann, Tim "Governor Gutshot" Pawlenty, Norm "That's funny, he was here a minute ago!" Coleman, and Ron Eibensteiner, who passed through here without leaving enough of an impression to give him a nickname. Eibensteiner, for those of you who cannot remember him at all, was the chair of the MNGOP years ago, so he's Tony Sutton's political grandpa, or great grandpa; it's hard to keep track.

This group of people -- with the exception of Frank, who knew better -- thought Frank deserved a pardon from his conviction for money laundering, firearms and drug offenses. So, Michele, Timmy, Norm and Ron proceeded to try to get him one, making their entreaties to then President Bush's conspiratorial pal, Karl Rove.

The fact that Frank spread a bunch of money around to assist the political fortunes of the aforesaid, well, four, had absolutely nothing to do with it! Nothing!

None of them questioned why a convicted felon would contribute so lavishly to politicians, especially a Congresswoman who didn't represent him. Nor, apparently, did anybody wonder why Frank seemed to have so damn much money throw around.

Now we have a pretty good idea about the answers to those questions.

One of the people who has been checking up on Frank for some time is Karl Bremer, who has started a new -- and excellent -- series on the whole l'affaire Vennes. Another is Ken Avidor, who has regaled me at Drinking Liberally with Frank Vennes anecdotes for a long time.

This unfolding story involves not merely one, but two, candidates for President of the United States. You ought to follow it.

Wrong Sutton, guys!

Tony Sutton has been hired by the RPM to do his grunt work at a fat 100K per year.

This is the same Tony Sutton who screwed up the RPM books so bad they still aren't straightened out. Tony had to be rescued from that job by then State Auditor Pat Anderson who made Tony her feather bed deputy at the State Auditor's office (the RPM is good at feather bedding, see Michael Brodkorb, Chas Anderson, Davey Strom, Margaret Martin, et al.)

The is the same Tony Sutton who still can't pay the bills for the photocopies he ordered in the pointless and fruitless Emmer recount.

Pretty clearly, the Sutton that the RPM meant to hire (and should have) was this guy.

Willie Sutton. He might have actually helped with the money problems.

Republican suicide bombers

Killing for ideology

From an editorial in the New York Times:

As painful as the closure may become, the governor is right not to yield to the extremist ideology the Republicans are pursuing in St. Paul, Washington and across the country. President Obama has done so twice and faces an emboldened opposition willing to create chaos in the credit markets rather than agree to modest revenue increases from the richest people. On Tuesday, he urged everyone to leave ultimatums at the door in this week’s talks, but the Republican Party has shown no willingness to do so.

The editorial concludes:

In Minnesota, there is now a chance to draw a line and say, no further.

The problem, of course, is that it is difficult to negotiate with a suicide bomber.