Minnesota
updated
4:21 a.m.
by Dave Mindeman In our continuing series of Minnesota governance by the exclusive pen of Governor Tim Pawlenty, we visit the bonding bill. Passed by the legislature but shaped, molded, and stamped by the Governor. Let's look at his letter of explanation (these are vetoes): Page 8, line 8.24, to page 9, line 9.13: An appropriation for $8,500,000 to Rochester Community Technical College to de...
mnpACT! - Mon 11:01 p.m.
- Open Left on right-wingers and religion. - Demographic change and Texas politics, from Burnt Orange Report. - Eyeteeth is looking to catalog Twin Cities art blogs. - Proposed financial reform was released Monday. This Daily Kos post has plenty of links. ...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 9:24 p.m.
It's flood time in Fargo. And Moorhead, Breckenridge, Wahpeton, Cedar Falls, and Delano. The snowmass that descended on the midwest is melting, and as usual it's on it's schedule, not ours. The waters have already risen above major flood stage on several rivers and a few record crests have already been recorded. So it's time to kick off our always excellent Kos disaster coverage and inform and he...
DailyKos (Minnesota) - Mon 8:50 p.m.
At what point does society recognize that an elected leader's public speech has crossed the line into the territory of sedition? Wikpedia's definition : Sedition is a term of law which refers to overt conduct, such as speech and organization, that is deemed by the legal authority as tending toward insurrection against the established order. Sedition often includes subversion of a constitution an...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 7:51 p.m.
I got bunch of pictures to show you guys. I didn't take them, a fellow blogger directed me to the Flicker site where these photos were posted by "Fibonacci Blue." (A link to the original site appears at the end of this post--it's really worth looking at because there's video there, too.) This was a "tea party" event in St. Paul last Saturday featuring crowd favorite Michele Bachmann as a highligh...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 3:42 p.m. - 2 clicks 
Our absentee Governor Tim Pawlenty has been busted for some shady business. He has diverted money to pay for a staffer to do partisan work. He doesn't have the authority and the people vested with that authority didn't give their approval. Actually, they found out about it late last week . Pawlenty is also a hypocrite for always talking about how much he supports our troops whe...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 3:25 p.m. - 4 clicks
Last week in my Texas Focus I concentrated on some absolutely critical School Board races. I got a comment that I was burying the lead in my story. What I failed to emphasize, though I mentioned, was that the Texas School Board DOMINATES the school textbook market. They are the ones who keep almost getting creationism in our science books, downplaying of slavery in our history textbooks, and Chri...
DailyKos (Minnesota) - Mon 11:33 a.m. - 6 clicks
Our Democracy was based on certain ideals like a constitution that protected rights of people and like separation of powers into three branches of government. Constitutionally making corporations into people has broken the rights of people. The budget and policy rights of the legislature have been taken by presidents and governors. Our Governor Tim Pawlenty's deliberate planned use of unallotment ...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 8:22 a.m. - 4 clicks
Lots going on in the wake of Bachmann's "Kill the Bill" rally in St. Paul last Saturday. Much to report in upcoming stories--but for now, let it be known that Minnesota blogger/activist Eric Zaetsch never sleeps. He's cleared up a mystery regarding the disappearance of a "death threat against Obama" in the media coverage of Bachmann's Tea Party event. The other day I posted an item here about the...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 8:22 a.m. - 5 clicks
by Dave Mindeman John Kline spoke at the "Kill the Bill" Rally yesterday. Here's a quote: "For some reason," said Second District Republican Rep. John Kline, "President Obama, Speaker Pelosi and Harry Reid can't hear you. I can't understand that." Well, Congressman Kline, your ears seem to be plugged as well. Listen to these folks: MN Central wants to know wha...
mnpACT! - Mon 7:47 a.m. - 7 clicks
Another great weekend of delegate chasing across the state. We're still waiting on reconciliation of a two-delegate discrepancy in SD52, and we still don't have results from the 11-delegate Otter Tail County convention. However, other than those thirteen delegates, we're now looking at two virtual ties in the pledged delegate chase, which is almost at an end. I'm including the superdelegates her...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 6:22 a.m.
How to beat Michel Bachmann in MN-06 In an opinion post from last week , my cohort, Bill Prendergast, wrote a comment double-daring anyone to explain how a Democrat could win in Michele Bachmann's district (MN-06). I am taking him up on it. First of all, the Cook Report ranks MN-06 as R+7. To put this in perspective, Keith Ellison's district, MN-05 encompasses Minneapolis and the we...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Mon 5:25 a.m. - 4 clicks
Galen Robinson , a legal aid attorney at Mid-Minnesota Legal Assistance, is challenging the constitutionality of Minnesota's Gov. Tim Pawlenty cuts to a state medical nutrition program on behalf of six low-income Minnesotans. Oral arguments are scheduled today to begin before the Minnesota Supreme Court. Robinson is " one of the state's lowest-paid attorneys " reports the Star Tribune . He a...
DailyKos (Minnesota) - Mon 3:43 a.m. - 5 clicks
Is John Kline representing his old employer (see trips paid for by the Heritage Foundation), or representing us, the little folk? In America, we are the government. And those we elect do things for us we cannot do ourselves. Right now we need help with health care costs, roads, schools, and the protection of our rights. The [...]...
MN Moderate to Liberal Political Roundtable - Mon 1:20 a.m. - 7 clicks
- A report from attendees at the Sparklepony anti-HCR extravaganza, from Democratic Underground. - A group of prominent religious figures, of various faiths, signed a letter supporting HCR. Via National Catholic Reporter. - Native Americans and the Missouri River, from Street Prophets. - An update on proposed financial regulation, from Crooks and Lia...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Sun 9:24 p.m.
by Dave Mindeman I grit my teeth every time I read this.... Bachmann criticized congressional Democrats and President Barack Obama for trying to pass what she called "a government takeover" of health care. At least this MPR story had the decency to put "government takeover" in quotes and qualify it furthur with a "what she called". Seriously, this is NOT a go...
mnpACT! - Sun 9:02 p.m.
by Dave Mindeman OK - final update for the weekend. This has 1151 delegates accounted for. I believe the 11 in Ottertail County were selected without subcaucusing, so they are totaled in the uncommitted column. Essentially, we will probably have a pretty open convention. Nearly half the delegates are listed as uncommitted. However, the campaigns surely have their own closely held numbers tha...
mnpACT! - Sun 7:45 p.m. - 10 clicks
Last week I wrote about local difficulties with enforcing Colorado's medical marijuana law. Here's a pretty good article that gives an overview of the economic and law enforcement issues related to the law as more people in the valley get......
Across the Great Divide - Sun 12:40 p.m. - 2 clicks
A brief feature about an Orono home designed by Ralph Rapson merits comment monitoring in today's Star Tribune. The home was designed in 1960 for the widow of Minnesota lumberman Edward Brooks. It's part of the Homegazing series of house......
Across the Great Divide - Sun 10:05 a.m. - 5 clicks
Still waiting on results from several conventions: SD33 SD34 SD44 SD52 Otter Tail If anyone was in attendance and has results from these conventions, drop'em in the comments. I'm reconciling some numbers from yesterday, but at present it appears that both Margaret Anderson Kelliher and John Marty had great days -- Marty appears to have moved into a virtual tie with Paul Thissen for third ...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Sun 7:29 a.m. - 5 clicks
- 'Why Are We Afraid to Tax the Super-Rich?' from AlterNet. - Polluters want to kill, via referendum, California's efforts to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. From Calitics. - Analysis of Fox 'News', and other media, from News Corpse. It is just as unnecessary for the media to worry about competition from Fox as it is to worry about competition from Nickelode...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Sat 9:47 p.m.
While the State faces the daunting task of cutting over $900 million from the budget this year and who knows how many billions next year, it would seem easy to look over the State’s allocations and start whacking away. Believe me, it’s not that easy. Let’s look at one particular item, buried deep in the [...]...
Mr. Dahle Goes to St. Paul - Sat 7:27 p.m. - 2 clicks
Another Bachmann rally, this time in St. Paul. Thousands turn out. From the Minneapolis Star Tribune, an account of the story. And something very weird going on: apparently, in the original of the story that appeared on line today, the Strib reporter wrote this: "The rally flashed with anger at times. As Bachmann was saying, "American people are not going to take this lying down," one man sho...
Minnesota Progressive Project - Sat 5:48 p.m. - 11 clicks
by Dave Mindeman Adding results of SD 33-34-45-50-54-67 (100 more delegates). Not officially confirmed, but looks pretty good for these. Still looking for numbers in 52-55-Ottertail..... First update for today (3/13) is the totals for delegates so far: (1070) Uncommitted........499 R.T. Rybak...........170 M.A. Kelliher.........168.5 John Marty.............66 Paul Thissen..........62 Tom Ruka...
mnpACT! - Sat 5:09 p.m. - 23 clicks
by Dave Mindeman Who's looking out for small business owners? Republicans or Democrats? GOP supporters will be quick to answer Republicans. Democrats will hem and haw and never answer directly. The assumption tends to move to Republicans...almost by default. But its not true. The Republican argument centers around taxes. Corporate or income, the argument always comes down to this assumptio...
mnpACT! - Sat 12:47 p.m. - 7 clicks
Want to join a 'supper patriots' Freedom First Pac , than click the link, But Not Just Yet. Watch the Video first: But Hold It, Don't Touch That Dial, opps Link, Juuuuust Yet Tim Pawlenty is out fighting against big government spending - join him in his mission by adding your name to our team. Hold that thought and not yet on the link, follow me ----->>down below:...
DailyKos (Minnesota) - Sat 12:02 p.m. - 7 clicks
by Dave Mindeman OK, we are heading into the home stretch for delegate selection and undecided is the big winner so far. This is going to be an interesting convention. To get up to speed, I have spent a lot of the last two days reviewing the information that I've collected on the delegate counts. Information from campaigns, from county and senate district chairs, and from delegates who partici...
mnpACT! - Fri 10:09 p.m. - 20 clicks
Colorado is getting its feet wet with medical marijuana, creating some new twists on how drug laws are enforced. This week in my hometown, authorities were called to an office building near the Census offices where someone observed an unusual......
Across the Great Divide - Fri 6:04 p.m.
As a political consultant who specializes in social networks I’ve watched campaigns make every mistake you can imagine. Somebody tells an intern to set up a Twitter account and then it all goes to hell. These are the 5 most common and easily avoidable mistakes I see on political Twitter accounts: 1. Looking Desperate [...]...
Dusty Trice - Fri 2:43 p.m. - 13 clicks
I used to run a small business called Northfieldweb, which closed its doors at the end of 2008. Since then I’ve been asked to do web work for others, but there was never a steady amount of income in that line of work, and now I am just a blogger (I don’t set up websites [...]...
MN Moderate to Liberal Political Roundtable - Fri 1:34 p.m. - 7 clicks
Today I happened to catch a Margaret Anderson Kelliher and Tony Sertich press conference on the Omnibus Bonding bill. Margaret is working hard for us, and was so knowledgeable. Go Margaret! So, will Governor Pawlenty use a line-item veto approach, thereby negating the legislatural process? And can he veto all but the sex offender facility funding, [...]...
MN Moderate to Liberal Political Roundtable - Fri 1:34 p.m. - 14 clicks
I believe a lot of us are scared about the economy and our future, and I like Matt Entenza’s strong, hopeful and practical message. This Matt Entenza for Minnesota Governor video shows he cares, and is listening to us, and that is important to me. Let’s get cracking on those wind farms. ...
MN Moderate to Liberal Political Roundtable - Fri 11:46 a.m. - 6 clicks
by Dave Mindeman As I listen and read the discussion from conservative bloggers and pundits regarding the "principles" of Tom Emmer, I have this thing in my head that keeps saying "gadfly"..."gadfly". Well, some of you may remember this, but the 2007 City Pages "best of" lists had Tom Emmer in it. Quite a feat for a person so new to the legislature. But...
mnpACT! - Fri 10:28 a.m. - 3 clicks
by Dave Mindeman The Republicans in Congress have had a curious 11th hour conversion to the anti-spending temperance union. Our Congressman Kline thinks he is leading the revival . Join me, he says... Come, oh ye Republican brethren. Let us stop the deluge of filthy lucre coming from the coffers of Washington. (Well, at least it won't be coming to the 2nd District.) And, sure enough, the...
mnpACT! - Thu 10:48 p.m. - 6 clicks
by Dave Mindeman In a brief announcement today, we learn that Chief Justice Eric Magnuson will be stepping down from the Minnesota Supreme Court where he has been serving as Chief Justice. In a statement Thursday, Eric J. Magnuson says he's leaving effective June 30 and returning to private practice. In a letter to Gov. Tim Pawlenty, the 59-year-old Magnuson cites "reasons personal to me...
mnpACT! - Thu 2:09 p.m. - 14 clicks
After witnessing the pervasive America-bashing at Saturday's SD42 convention , I imagined how much better life might be, if fellow attendees only shared my devotion to flag and country. No such problem for Crystal Kelley, where she's describing a recent gathering of Republicans : There is something inspiring about standing in a room saying the Pledge of Allegianc...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Wed 10:48 p.m. - 6 clicks
Out here in Grand Junction you can get home delivery of the Wall Street Journal if you don't mind receiving yesterday's paper. This day and age, that's like getting two-day-old news, but it's still hard to beat the print Journal......
Across the Great Divide - Wed 1:22 p.m.
In the Eden Prairie News local clerics take turns writing the weekly Spiritually Speaking column--the newspaper's dependable flagship for tautology, euphemism, planned obfuscation and self-delusion. One local man of the cloth, Dr. Bernard E. Johnson--no spiritual home listed--affirms a particularly noxious 'down-home' fundamentalism. His latest: What I ...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Tue 9:41 p.m. - 15 clicks
I got a copy of this via email on March 9, 2010. She is going to be featured at another rally, this time on the steps of the state capitol: KILL THE BILL RALLY WHAT: Minnesota Majority Rally Protesting Planned Vote on ObamaCare WHEN: Saturday, March 13 Noon – 1:00 p.m. WHERE: Upper Mall of Minnesota State Capitol &nbs...
DailyKos (Minnesota) - Tue 11:48 a.m. - 5 clicks
Crystal Kelly has published Party of "No" Vol. 1: Anti-Health Care Reform . A few comments: Kelley has had it with those who charge Republicans with opposing health care reform. ( How dumb can a Democrat get! ) An incorrigible leftist might point to the recent two-term Republican president who didn't push any comprehensive health care proposal. S...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Mar 8 - 4 clicks
The Minneapolis bike share system scheduled to debut in June hopes to avoid some of the pitfalls other programs around the world have faced, including thefts, vandalism and malfunctioning rental kiosks. The Minneapolis bikes have theft-resistant nuts and bolts, which......
Across the Great Divide - Mar 8 - 3 clicks
According to the Associated Press, State Sen. Tarryl Clark of St. Cloud is sponsoring a bill that could prohibit spending public dollars at in-state hotels or meeting facilities that provide their customers with pornographic materials that link sex with violence.......
Across the Great Divide - Mar 8 - 8 clicks
A state-funded effort to save the Everglades exhibits just about every peril and pitfall in the spongy ground of politics and Florida real estate. The public deal to buy scattered parcels of overpriced land from United States Sugar is looking......
Across the Great Divide - Mar 8
Choosing the right Twitter username can and will make the difference between a successful political social networking strategy and one that, well, sucks. The name of your campaign, organization or candidate IS your brand and you simply can not afford to get this wrong. Some tips for securing the best Twitter username: 1) Try to [...]...
Dusty Trice - Mar 8 - 5 clicks
I recently held a town meeting in a small town on the Western side of my Senate district. As the town meeting turned its focus to the budget crisis, one gentleman stood up claiming to have all of the answers regarding Minnesota’s budget woes. He said he had a proposal for “solving the [...]...
Mr. Dahle Goes to St. Paul - Mar 8 - 3 clicks
Hello Sanu Patel-Zellinger , I saw this intriguing info on your website : '[M]y grandfather was also the president of the Bharatiya Janata Party (loose translation is the "People's Party", one of the main political parties in India, with values similar Conservative values) during the early 1980's until he passed away.' The president of the BJP from 1980 to 1986 was Atal Bihari Vajp...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Mar 8
I attended the biennial SD42 DFL convention yesterday at Eden Prairie High School. Above, Dr. Maureen Hackett addressed the convention. Hackett seeks the party's endorsement for Congress, to face Erik Paulsen . This is her home senate district, but still: Her domination at this convention is stunning. Ron Case--running unopposed--gets the en...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Mar 8 - 8 clicks
I'm in low-blogging mode, but it's hard not to pass on one connection I feel with my old home place as I work on a novel based in this valley. Wait... a bobcat just walked past my door. No, that......
Across the Great Divide - Mar 6 - 2 clicks
A thorough and informative article was published by Doug Grow from Minnpost.com titled “Budget forecast highlights the vastly different federal stimulus views of Pawlenty and state economist.” As it states in the article, Gov. Pawlenty has been in “attack mode” regarding almost everything the Obama administration has been doing including the federal stimulus money. However, quietly [...]...
MN Representative David Bly, District 25B - Mar 5 - 7 clicks
US Reps Erik Paulsen and Tim Walz published a little love note to the nuclear industry the other day, calling for support in solving the waste disposal problem. A few comments: For decades, the debate over nuclear energy has been stalled, largely along ideological lines. During that time, our nation's primary energy sources have drastically narrowed. Our emissions have increa...
Gavin Sullivan's blog - Mar 4 - 6 clicks
The Star Tribune reported on the failure of the legislature to override a veto of a bill which would have stopped the transfer of 32,000 people from General Assistance Medicare to MinnesotaCare. Since many of those covered by GAMC are veterans, or homeless, or people who suffer from mental illness, MinnesotaCare may not adequately address their needs. [...]...
MN Representative David Bly, District 25B - Mar 3 - 7 clicks
On Monday, March 15, at 9:00 AM the Minnesota Supreme Court will address the arguments for and against the unallotments made to the budget by Governor Pawlenty. In a Friend of the Court Brief from the League of Minnesota Cities, an argument is made that the legislature, when passing the unallotment statute in 1939, does not [...]...
MN Representative David Bly, District 25B - Mar 3 - 7 clicks
