The Work of the Day

Soft gold and green and a glimmer of blue.

The Midwest Presidential Prospects

Republican Govs. Daniels, Pawlenty, and now Sen. John Thune of South Dakota.

More. Fargo Forum: Pawlenty has eyes set on Iowa border

Project New Hope: Military Family Retreats

After wartime service. Minnesota, Wisconsin, New York. Canada.

You can donate to this worthwhile cause staffed entirely by volunteers, free to the veterans and families.

Sharia Supremacy in the Heartland

In May 2008, a disabled student at a public college being assisted by a dog was threatened by Muslim members of the student body, who were reluctant to touch the animal by the prescription of sharia. The school, St. Cloud State, chose not to engage the Muslim community, but simply gave the student credit without actually fulfilling the class hours so as to avoid conflict.

In a similar instance in November 2009, a high school senior in Owatonna, Minn., was suspended in order to protect him from the threat of violence by radical Islamists when he wrote an essay about the special privileges afforded his Somali Muslim counterparts in the school environment.

In order to accommodate sharia’s prohibition of interest payments in financial transactions, the state of Minnesota buys homes from realtors and re-sells them to Muslims at an up-front price. It is simply not the function of government to use tax money to create financial transactions that correspond to a religious code. Moreover, it is a strategy to create a precedent for legal recognition of sharia within U.S. law.

Amazingly, there are strong allegations that the United States now owns the largest provider of sharia financing in the world: AIG.

Rumbles in the Country

The "country" party's center of the country swing state, Missouri, is sticking right for the Senate seat. WaPo looks at Roy Blunt's ad vs. the Obama-Carnahan complex. RCP average here.

And Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty meets the press. TWS. Politics Daily:Tim Pawlenty Debut: The Un-Palin, Un-Romney Makes His White House Case for 2012

Un-Daniels as well.

More. NRO:

The focus of his August 11-12 sojourn will be a series of fundraisers for local GOP candidates, but a Pawlenty aide said the governor will be sure to swing by the state fair, in all its deep-fried glory, on August 12.

Yum.

Not always greener

Taking Back the Senate

Some indicators.

Wisconsin

Missouri

Illinois

RCP Map

More. Another indicator:

States have the authority to enforce immigration laws and protect their borders, Michigan Attorney General Mike Cox said Wednesday in a legal brief on behalf of nine states supporting Arizona's immigration law.

Cox, one of five Republicans running for Michigan governor, said Michigan is the lead state backing Arizona in federal court and is joined by Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, Pennsylvania, South Carolina, South Dakota, Texas and Virginia, as well as the Northern Mariana Islands.

Too bad there's no Senator from the Northern Marianas. We could trade NY's for it. Or Minnesota's.