Bluestem has no idea whether the Alexandria Lakes Area Tea Party has sought tax-free status, but if it has, its latest project will pose no questions about the application. Their sanity, perhaps.
According to a PDF posted on the group's website, the conservatives have launched a worldwide prayer request asking people everywhere to pray for the conversion of billionaire hedge fund manager George Soros to Christianity. To pray--"perhaps more than once a day":
The Alexandria Lakes Area Tea Party (ALATP), Alexandria, MN, would like to invite you to participate in a world-wide prayer campaign for the conversion of George Soros from atheism to Christianity. Please say a prayer everyday for the conversion of his soul—in fact, perhaps more than once a day. This prayer campaign must be done to the Glory of God--not to glorify the tea party movement.
We are asking that you spread this message to anyone on your contact list via Email, Facebook, Twitter, and the like. We are hoping that by midsummer, the whole world will be praying for Mr. Soros.
A Jew born in Hungary, Soros and his family managed to escape extermination by Nazis in World War II by assuming false identities and hiding, according to his website. He is an atheist who "believes that people of faith and faith communities contribute to the
public’s understanding of pressing social issues and often add a
principled, moral aspect to debates that are too often dominated by
politicians, statistics and polling," a FAQ on his religion notes.
Yes, this is the place that elected and re-elected Mary Franson to the state legislature. The PDF is embedded below.
Growing up in the suburbs of Chicago, Caitlin Pawlowski came to Detroit Lakes to vacation at Fair Hills Resort every summer. After graduating from Ohio State University in 2007 with a degree in finance, Pawlowski spent a year working in New Jersey.
Then, in 2009, she was offered a job at Fair Hills.
"I jumped at the chance to move to Minnesota," Pawlowski, the resort'sHuman Resources/Front Desk Manager, wrote in an email interview. "I love the lakes country and
moving here was a dream come true. The life we have built in Detroit
Lakes is a dream come true."
"Minnesota is my home," she added, noting that she appreciates Minnesota values like "family, love, acceptance and freedom."
She lives with her fiance and two dogs in Detroit Lakes. In many ways, the couple represents the "talented individuals who will be coming here and sharing their gifts in the workforce," that Norwegian bachelor farmer and fellow House District 4B voter Daniel Anderson believes will find marriage equality a draw for the state.
One cloud darkens the sunny skies of her good life in Minnesota: the inability to marry the love of her life, her fiance. "Why can I not commit my life to another woman and enjoy the same
marriage benefits that my fellow heterosexual citizens enjoy?" she asks. "I didn't
choose to love my fiancé, my love for her developed without a choice."
Pawlowski believes that the freedom to marry the person she loves is a basic human right. "Marriage and the benefits of marriage is a basic human right that should
not be denied to anyone. Marriage is a commitment that should be not
withheld from anyone. Love and commitment between any two people at its
basis is the same among all couples regardless of gender," she said. "Marriage equality is important because love is blind and cannot be stopped."
The 27-year-old transplant thinks that her state representative, Paul Marquart (DFL-Dilworth) should vote to move HF1054,the Clark marriage equality bill, forward when it is heard in the House Ways and Means Committee today, and to vote yes when the bill is brought to the floor of the Minnesota House.
"Passing this bill will strengthen Minnesota's right to be called a great
state," she wrote. "It will show the nation that Minnesota is on the front line of
changing history. It will show that Minnesota is not afraid to do the
right thing. Minnesota will be a state filled with free, happy and
open-minded citizens."
"Our nation was built upon freedom for all," she added. "By not passing the bill,
only some have marriage freedom while others do not. To vote no is to
deny freedom for all. Why not? I cannot come up with a negative
outcome to passing this bill."
If Pawlowski had a chance to sit down with opponents of the bill, she'd start by listening to their explanations for their resistance to allowing her to marry the woman she loves. "I would be respectful and listen," she wrote. "I would share my story. I would
ask how love between two people can be discriminated against. I would
ask how marriage equality could be threatening."
"We lead a normal, common, boring, non-threatening life," she notes. "Why can I not
legally marry her and call her my wife and share all the benefits?"
Photo: Caitlin Pawlowski, her fiance G., and one of their two dogs, enjoying the good life in Minnesota's lake country.
This original story is underwritten by a sponsorship by Minnesotans United for All Families.
While conservatives like to whine about over-regulation, it's easy to appreciate the manure management advice the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency is distributing to livestock farmers.
As a winter of heavy snowfall and freezing
rain gives way to warming temperatures, rapid melting and potential for
flooding pose challenges for manure management among the more than
25,000 livestock farms in Minnesota. Farmers who spread solid manure
during winter must ensure that it doesn’t run off with rapid snowmelt
flowing to ditches, streams and other waters.
Manure-contaminated runoff not only threatens water quality, it
reduces the value of manure as a crop nutrient. If possible, farmers
should refrain from spreading manure during periods of rapid melt. This
may be even more important in some areas this year because of frozen
snow conditions. In January and February the snow was saturated by rain,
and then froze. This prevents surface-applied manure from soaking in to
the soil, and more susceptible to runoff.. . .
Governor Mark Dayton may have come out against a one-year moratorium on industrial sand mining while a Generic Environmental Impact Statement is conducted, but a story by Stephanie Hemphill at Minnesota Public Radio illustrates why grassroots citizen groups in Southeastern Minnesota are asking for both.
. . .The EQB is a multi-agency oversight
body that received a petition to do an in-depth study of the possible
environmental effects of frac sand mining. . . .
That kind of study would take
several years and cost a lot of money. In the meantime, the agency has
produced a 90-page report that summarizes the issues.
So far the questions outnumber the
answers regarding possible impacts on the environment, the economy and
local communities, said EQB planner Jeff Smyser.
One of those questions involves a very scary thing: sinkholes. Probably not Florida-scale sinkholes--and the water quality concerns that are related to sinkhole-producing karst geology are a whole lot more vexsome:
The report includes . . .maps of
southeastern Minnesota's unusual geology, known as karst geology, where
rich deposits of silica sand are found. That makes it tricky to predict
underground water flows, Smyser said. The limestone bedrock easily
creates sinkholes and causes unpredictable groundwater flows.
"It's kind of difficult to know
where the water's going to go, just what effects use of groundwater,
discharge of processing water is going to have because of that karst
geology out there," he said. "So that's a real tricky question that's
real hard to answer at this point."
A number of silica-sand related bills are working their way through the Minnesota legislature. Senator Matt Schmit's SF786 provides for a GEIS and a one-year moratorium; Schmit has also introduced a bill that creates setbacks to protect fish and sensitive natural areas in the driftless region. Rep. Hansen's HF906 creates standard and a technical assistance team team to help local government regulate sand mining; he also has a bill to protect wellheads and natural areas in the region.
In fact, Bluestem hopes you'll don your tinfoil hat and find somewhere as far away from the Minnesota River Basin as possible.
But if you're like the farmers, land owners, river rats and county commissioners up and down the river who've been working to make sure that Lake Pepin doesn't silt up--and dirt stays in your own pasture or field like any sane property owner would desire--the group's new Local Resource Management Scorecard is pretty nifty, packed with helpful information:
To view aggregate results from the counties in the Minnesota River Basin or to read about how the categories we chose relate to sediment, please visit our County Evaluation Overview Page. If you live in the Minnesota River Basin (in blue) you can click on your county . . .! The map also features the overlapping watersheds for every county in Minnesota; hover over your county to see.
...The mission of the Lake Pepin Legacy Alliance in developing this scorecard is to:
1) Recognize county successes in remediation of sedimentation and compliance with state and local regulations and best practices.
2) Recognize accountability in monitoring and enforcement of regulation.
3) Identify county specific obstacles to reducing soil erosion and keeping water on the land.
4) Identify specific opportunities and solutions to address these obstacles.
5) Encourage cooperation and collaboration among local units of government to plan and address the unifying water quality issues of the Minnesota River Basin, where appropriate.
6) Provide a means for counties to more easily share information on their processes, funding sources, success rates, and areas in need of attention.
Go check out the scorecard, which is chock-full of great information. Here's a video from the Alliance with more information about the project:
Today, Representatives Mike Beard (R-Shakopee), Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) and Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) introduced HF306, which would abolish Minnesota's renewable energy standards.
The Beard-Draz-Franson bill is unlikely to pass, given renewable-energy friendly DFL majorities in the Minnesota legislature. The state is home to a flourishing wind industry and expanding solar energy production. Companies such as tenK Solar also manufacture components in the state for solar production.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is suffering
backlash from its battle on a new front: renewable energy standards.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) have let their ALEC memberships expire, according to Greenwire.
Why? Last October, ALEC adopted the "Electricity Freedom Act"
model bill. This model bill, which ALEC is now seeking to roll out in
various states, would end requirements for states to derive a specific
percentage of their electricity needs from renewable energy sources.
Given the gridlock on national legislation, renewable energy
standards, which are typically passed at the state or local level, set
targets for shifting from fossil fuel energy to renewable sources, such
as solar and wind energy.
SEIA let its one-year membership expire last fall; AWEA let its membership drop this month.
State Rep. Mike Beard is a nice guy. The Republican from Shakopee is
the former president of the local chamber of commerce. He says he cares
about humanity. He is a man with deep Christian values, a free-market
conservative and a veteran of eight years on the Minnesota House
Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee.
. . .
. . . But right now, Mike Beard's solution is more coal-fired power
plants. He told me that having more coal plants would pave the way for
renewable energy. I think he meant it would buy time for innovation
without a drop in base load electricity as demand increases. . .
A lot of what Beard knows he learned in church. One Congressman,
talking about global warming, recently said that God wouldn't allow man
to do anything to destroy the planet. Beard told me, "It is the height
of hubris to think we could." I asked him about nuclear war. He said:
"How did Hiroshima and Nagasaki work out? We destroyed that, but here
we are, 60 years later and they are tremendously effective and livable
cities. Yes, it was pretty horrible," he said, "But, can we recover? Of
course we can." . . .
Beard believes that "God is not
capricious. He's given us a creation that is dynamically stable. We are
not going to run out of anything."
On Friday, the Fergus Falls Journal reported in State OKs power plant plan that the utility will close its Hoot Lake coal-burning plant by 2020:
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Thursday approved the
recommendation by Otter Tail Power to retire its Hoot Lake coal plant by
2020.
In October, Otter Tail Power Company officials recommended the idea of closing the plant in 2020.
“The
Public Utilities Commission approved an Otter Tail Power recommendation
that the utility company install pollution control equipment to comply
with mercury and air toxic standards by 2015, and make plans to retire
the plant in 2020,” said Cris Oehler, director, public relations for
Otter Tail Power. “(The decision) wasn’t a surprise. It was based on our
recommendation.” . . .
. . .In today’s meeting, the PUC also ordered Otter Tail Power to consider
stronger energy efficiency and expanded renewable energy in their future
integrated resource planning process. . . .
Though enviromental groups agreed the decision takes a step in the
right direction, they have urged OTP to consider the retirement of the
Hoot Lake Plant sooner than 2020.
“Mercury emitted from the Hoot
Lake coal plant affects our water in western Minnesota,” said Duane
Ninneman, Renewable Energy Program Director of Clean Up the River
Environment (CURE). “Today’s decision will lower the risk of mercury
contamination in our waterways. Phasing out coal vastly improves the
health of the surrounding community and helps us keep our water clean.
Every day that pollution comes from the Hoot Lake plant, our health is
put at risk.”
Other clean energy allies echoed the same concerns about Hoot Lake’s retirement timeline. . . .
Read the rest at the Fergus Falls Journal. Given the troubles with mercury burning coal creates, we hope that Rep. Franson will reconsider sponsoring HF 306, which repeals renewable energy standards in favor of polite suggestions.
Photo: Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, has faith in God's creation, if it's coal. Those renewables? Not so much.
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Some Greater Minnesota stories aren't political, but irresistable to Bluestem Prairie nonetheless. With the windchills predicted to drop to -38 degrees below zero tomorrow, we find ourselves coveting the fish house an angler has built out in Big Stone County.
For 10 years, Pat Minahan of Ortonville had dreamed of building his own drivable, portable fish house. Finally, last year Pat started work on it and was able to have it completed just in time for ice fishing this year.
Minahan loves to ice fish, but wanted to build something that he could drive out onto the lake without having to get out to fish.
You can't fault a guy for that, especially out there in chilly Ortonville, where the National Weather Service is saying it could feel like -41 degrees tomorrow.
Read more about how Minahan built his dream. The Independent reports the fish are biting on the lake at the headwaters of the Minnesota River Valley:
Many have said that ice fishing this winter has been the best they have seen in many years. There has been a good bite on the perch and walleye and the fishing pressure on Big Stone Lake has been outstanding with many fish houses on the lake.
If you want to find Minahan's favorite fishing hole, just head west on Highway 7 or 12 until you get to South Dakota. You can't miss it.
Photo: Bluestem is so coveting this guy's fish house in Big Stone County, along with the big stones out there. Photo via the Ortonville Independent.
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For some, it’s protecting Minnesota’s natural places.
For
others, it’s cleaning up the state’s lakes and rivers. Or combating
invasive species. Or coping the demands on land from a state population
expected to grow by 1 million by 2035.
More
than 250 people voiced diverse views on what environmental issues
should be Minnesota’s top priorities at a forum Wednesday night at St.
Cloud State University.
Over-regulation was a concern as well:
Some attendees voiced concern about overreaching government
regulations affecting property rights. Mike Schmoll, a crop farmer from
Kandiyohi County, said he is worried that stricter regulations will mean
he can’t drain his land.
“I don’t mind regulations,” Schmoll said. “I just don’t want it to be so cumbersome that we can’t do it.”
Read the entire article at the St. Cloud Times. Here's a video from the paper:
Photo: EQB chair Dave Frederickson.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar. If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though Christmas.
Alarmed that invasive aquatic vegetation like Eurasian Water Milfoil and Curly-leaf pondweed may infest more of Minnesota's 10,000 lakes as a result of the state government shutdown, some Minnesota lake associations are asking for the state to shut down public accesses on infested lakes.
At Diamond Lake, just north of Atwater in Kandiyohi County, concerned citizens have taken matters into their own hands, patrolling boat landings to make sure boat owners clean their craft at the launch.
After enduring a week long state government shutdown, citizens are taking matters into their own hands to protect area lakes.
According to the Department of Natural Resource website, about 2,000 employees were laid off last week leaving about 220 employed. The layoffs have prompted some Minnesota lake associations to urge legislators to treat public lakes like public parks allowing no access.
WDAY News in Detroit Lakes reported Friday that three Minnesota lakes groups, including one in Becker County, are pushing legislators to close public access to the 360 infested lakes during the shutdown.
Terry Frazee, executive secretary of the Green Lake Property Owners Association, said he has sent letters to Gov. Mark Dayton and DNR Commissioner Tom Landwehr asking them to close the lake accesses.
Frazee said contamination is the biggest concern for the property owners association as Green Lake currently has Eurasian Water Milfoil infesting its water. He said the property owners just want to make sure boats are cleaned off. . . .
Want to get a friendly reminder to clean your water wells and prop? Well do you, punk? Then try Diamond Lake:
With a lack of presence by the DNR, Diamond Lake residents have started voluntarily patrolling accesses during holidays and other events, according to Jim Teschendorf, vice-president of the Diamond Lake Area Recreational Association.
But it's not the lake association's doing:
And as of Friday afternoon, Teschendorf said the association directors were slated to hold their monthly meeting this morning and he had not seen or heard any possible discussion of the issue.
He said the board is comprised of representatives of property owners from around the lake and, “if there was a large group that wanted to step forward then the board would pursue it,” he said.
The paper reports that others are simply calling for thoughtfulness on the part of lake visitors:
Calvin said he has received e-mails regarding the issue of closing the lake accesses but boils the problem down to personal responsibility by the boat owners rather then relying on the DNR.
“Coming from a known contaminated lake be courteous, of other citizens and decontaminate boat prior to reentering a lake in the county,” he said.
Images: Even Harry Callahan would use a water pistol for this gig (above); Diamond Lake (below).
While her identity remains shrouded in mystery, blogger Phoenix Woman is no stranger to those who want their political commentary served with style and sass. In today's Come Saturday Morning: Governor Grownup Shows Us How It’s Done, over at FireDoglake, she writes:
Now Pawlenty is gone, free to pursue his presidential pipe dream for which he nearly wrecked the state by putting the whims of hard-right GOP presidential primary voters above the welfare of the people he was elected to govern. The nationwide Republican wave succeeded in tipping both state legislative houses back into official GOP control, but even it couldn’t get the virulent teabagger Tom Emmer into the Governor’s Mansion, and for the first time since my early adulthood, Minnesota now has a Democratic governor, Mark Dayton.
In this day and age, it’s a common thing for Democratic executive-branch leaders, be they governors or presidents, to cower at the sight of Republicans — and this is doubly true when the Republicans actually have official control of one or houses of a state or Federal legislature. Which is why it’s so refreshing to see Governor Dayton, politely yet fearlessly, go toe-to-toe with Republicans and their patrons.
Go over and read the rest of it there. In noting the strength of Dayton's pick for Department of Natural Resources commissioner--Tom Landwehr, the dream candidate for outdoors enthusiasts and conservationists--the post draws from commentary by Neil Haugerud, now writing at Renaissance Post.
Bookmark Renaissance Post. Haugerud delivers nuggets like these:
Landwehr’s appointment terminates an unhappy period in resource management direction in the Land of Sky Blue Waters. Neither the Boy Governor, nor his Wrasslin’ predecessor could see the need to go beyond cronyism in their natural resources appointments. Those administrations seemed to think that companionship in the blind or duck boat (duties amply served by competent Labrador retrievers) was sufficient qualification for a Natural Resources Commissioner. Dayton rightfully recognizes the value that Minnesotans place on their wildlands and outdoor recreation, and his appointment reflects the challenge and gravity of resource management.
Emphasis on the sentence that induced envy here in Hutch, and an appreciation for a Governor who can respect both a good dog and good government, while possessing the wisdom to know the difference.
A larger-than-life figure in Fillmore County, Haugerud:
has been — among other things — a carpenter, a farmer, a Sunday school teacher, a Marine, an interrogator of accused criminals (who got his subjects to talk with kindness, not waterboarding), a deputy sheriff and sheriff, a real estate and insurance agent, a prominent state legislator, the chair of the Upper Mississippi River Basin Commission, a small-town newspaper columnist, a mediator and consultant in conflict management, and a loving husband, father, and grandfather.
Some readers may remember his commentary in the Star Tribune, We're creating police who are quick to shoot, published shortly after the 2009 police killing of Tyler Heilman in Kasota. It's good to hear from another progressive voice in rural Minnesota.
I write in a studio with a south-facing window, four blocks north of the Gopher Campfire Wildlife Sanctuary on the Crow River in Hutchinson. This morning, the usual suspects took wing: a few bachelor mallards, Canada geese and herons. American White Pelicans soared, riding the thermals. The squeaky-pump calls of yellow-headed blackbirds flow from a nearby storm-water pond.
This spells trouble for the migratory birds that now grace the skies in my neighborhood. The Christmas Bird Count range map from the USGS's Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter above illustrates the places where the pelicans winter. They're not the only birds who will be heading to Louisiana this winter.
PRI's The World discussed the potential effects of the spill on migratory birds wintering or passing through the ruined habitat in the Impact of Gulf oil spill on migratory birds:
MARCO WERMAN: Even if you live far from the Gulf
coast, you may eventually see the effects of the oil spill in your own
backyard. That’s because millions of migratory birds pass through the
spill area on their way to nesting grounds across North America. Some
of those birds could be sickened on their annual journey. The World’s
environment editor, Peter Thomson spoke to a conservationist about that
concern and filed this report.
PETER THOMSON: Imagine you’re a gray cheeked
thrush, you weight about one ounce, you’ve flown 3,000 miles from your
wintering grounds in Brazil on your way to Northern Canada. You’re
tired and hungry. You settle into a patch of coastal Louisiana to rest
and eat. Say it’s the spring of 2011, a year after the Deep Water
Horizon blow out and the gloppy brown oil from the wrecked off shore
rig has been scooped off the beaches. Everything here looks like it
always did before the spill, but there’s still a problem.
MIKE PARR: Oil, it has the capacity to soak into marshy areas and be held there and released slowly over a really long period of time.
THOMSON: That’s Mike Parr, Vice President of the
American Bird Conservancy, which advocates for protection of birds and
their habitats. He says oil’s tenacity means that even long after the
obvious effects of a spill are gone, oil can linger in coastal
environments and work its way into the food chain. Eating contaminated
food might not kill the birds outright, like direct contact with the
oil might, but it can have what are called “sub lethal” effects.
PARR: All those types of things can affect breeding
success. It starts to have effect on the liver, the GI tract, and on
vision and obviously that’s going to make it difficult for birds to
forage and probably difficult for them to feed their chicks effectively. . . .
How bad is it?
At its annual meeting last week, the board of directors of Ducks Unlimited unanimously passed a resolution stressing the group's commitment to restoring wetlands along the Gulf Coast. In a video on the DU site, Dr. Tom Moorman, director of conservation planning for the Southern Region calls the coastal Lousiana "the most important wintering area for waterfowl on the continent of North America."
As many birders know,the habitat preservation efforts groups like Ducks Unlimited doesn't simply help game species, but other wildlife as well.
The National Audubon Society has created a Gulf Oil Spill media page, Oil Spill Impact and Response Expanding. While its focus is on the immediate effects of the spill on species now nesting on the coast, the implications this winter for the birds I see now in Minnesota is sobering.
The environmental impact of what is now reckoned as the largest oil
spill in U. S. history continues to unfold. Oil is now being seen from
Louisiana to Mississippi, and there are fears that the loop current
will carry it up the Atlantic Coast. Read more
Audubon staff are seeing increasing numbers of oiled birds, and
fears of long term effects on birds, marine life and Gulf coast
communities are mounting. Audubon has urged speedy Congressional
authorization of emergency funding to address the unfolding crisi.s Read statement
.
. .Audubon has joined with other conservation leaders in calling for
the Administration to exercise more direct oversight of public safety
protection, environmental monitoring, and environmental testing in
response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Read letter
It's rare for me to look into a research subject and find that I can look no more into the truths that inquiry discloses.
I'm going to do some birding now.
Images: Christmas Bird County locations of American White Pelicans (above); Pelicans in flight (below).
All of the statements, opinions, and views expressed on this site by Sally Jo Sorensen are solely her own, save when she attributes them to other sources.
The opinions, statements, and views of contributing writers are their own.
Sorensen, editor and proprietor of Bluestem Prairie, served as a New Media training and strategy consultant for the Minnesota Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party from October 2009 through mid-April 2010. She now serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors.
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