McLeod County Chronicle editor Rich Glennie might have opposed the rapid enactment of marriage equality, but he's turned his attention to new developments that seem far more threatening to him.
Drones. Secret wiretapping of reporters. I.R.S. investigations. Corporations using facial recognition software to track consumer behavior.
Well, just like the Y2K millennium end-of-the-world scenario and the Mayan calendar doomsday predictions, the world did not end with the same-sex marriage bill passed recently by the Minnesota Legislature.
Despite this admission, Glennie's rhetoric does take on some violent sexual connotations:
This was the liberals’ one opportunity to foist their gay agenda onto the rest of us, who simply were not ready for such fast action from a traditionally slow-moving Legislature. . . .
There was no one to slow down the DFL juggernaut this session, and not only was gay marriage rammed down our throats, so has a whole truckload of new and expanded state taxes.
That truckload sound hard to take. But then he softens his tone, noting that many Christians were torn between strictures against same sex love and Jesus's great commandment to love one's neighbor as one's self--and that Minnesotans tend to recognize shades of gray on social issues:
To most Minnesotans, social issues are more gray than black-and-white. We tend to favor equal rights for all; we tend to defend the underdog; we tend to fight for fairness and openness.
So when the same-sex marriage push was made, it was with mixed feelings.
That being said, Glennie moves on to what he thinks is a real problem:
What Minnesotans, and Americans in general, should be more worried about, however, is the insidious intrusion of the federal government into our lives with increased use of domestic drones, the secret wiretapping of Associated Press journalists’ phone lines and the Internal Revenue Services’ revelations about zeroing in on specific political groups for more scrutiny.
To top it off was the “60 Minutes” report on Sunday that showed how facial recognition is being used to not only find criminals, but to identify your spending habits, where you used your credit cards and for what purchases. Corporations can then use that data to pinpoint their advertising campaigns.
Big government and big corporations diminishing civil liberties? He might be on to something.
It is a fact universally acknowledged that Senator Warren Limmer may be one of the principal architects of the DFL majority in both houses of the Minnesota legislature.
Bluestem wishes we could say, for the sake of our state, that the ruin of his earnest desire in the constitutional establishment of one of his prejudices has produced so happy an effect as to make him a sensible, amiable, well-informed man for the rest of his life; though perhaps it is lucky for bloggers, who might not have relished felicity in so unusual a form, that he still is occasionally nervous and invariably silly.
The argument over the idea reignited simmering tensions about the voter ID proposal, which lost dramatic support in closing months before the November election.
State Sen. Warren Limmer, R-Maple Grove, another sponsor of voter ID, raised doubts about the legality of absentee voting. Minnesotans can vote absentee before an election if they are disabled or sick or if they expect to be traveling during an election.
Sen. Ann Rest, DFL-New Hope, warned Limmer and other legislators against edging toward a constitutional showdown over absentee voting.
“Senator Limmer, you are disenfranchising the vote of every singe member of the military,” Rest said. “I don’t think you want to go there.”
Limmer shot back: “I am not going to sit here and be questioned about my motive and be warned not to go somewhere.”
The hearing was filled with elderly, the disabled and others speaking in favor of early voting.
With that sort of performance, Bluestem wonders whether this might be the time to abandon political blogging, pull up stakes and move to Big Stone or Lac Qui Parle County and write nothing but blank verse until Terry Vanderpol's cows come home or John White quits fishing.
Our work here is done--and by Republicans.
Photo: Warren Limmer, the Mrs. Bennet of the Republican Party of Minnesota.
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The last time Tony Cornish gained attention from wanting to combine education and firearms was the first anniversary of America's most lethal spree shooting, the tragedy at Virginia Tech. In 2008, Star Tribune staff writer Pat Doyle reported in Bill would allow students with permits to carry weapons on MnSCU campuses:
A year after a deranged gunman killed 32 students and faculty at
Virginia Tech, a debate over thwarting future attacks continues in
Minnesota, where a legislator advocates allowing students to carry
concealed weapons for protection on campus.
The proposal by Rep. Tony Cornish, R-Good Thunder, faces an uphill
climb but reflects a national movement among gun advocates and some
students to overturn prohibitions on students carrying weapons at
college.
. . .The bill Cornish introduced Wednesday would remove the authority of
universities to prohibit gun possession by students on school grounds.
The change would allow students 21 and older with gun permits to bring
weapons on campus.
In reports about the bill from Minnesota Public Radio and City Pages, Cornish is getting the attention he craves as the Republican lead (ranking minority member) of the House Public Safety committee the retired lawman chaired last session when the MNGOP controlled the legislature.
But Cornish first garnered some hometown headlines when he went on the local CBS/FOX affiliate, KEYC-TV, to preen in front of the camera the very day of the shootings, before the children's bodies were even removed from where they fell.
But while state representative Tony Cornish believes legislation can
help, he holds the opposite view of what lawmakers should do.
"Israel had a problem with this years ago, and they started letting
teachers carry guns and it solved the problem, says Cornish, a
Republican from Good Thunder. "Other state in our nation have passed
laws allowing teachers to carry firearms, and I've heard from a number
of parents that agree with this."
Cornish says that while liaison officers can offer some armed presence and security in schools, the state needs to go further.
"In fact I had a policeman tell me tonight that we need to arm our teachers because they can't be everywhere."
So teachers get added duties: armed security officer. To give Cornish his due, we must remember that he was endorsed by Minnesota's teachers' union, Education Minnesota, in 2010. Although he was unopposed in 2012, the union did not endorse him.
Here's the video:
Stories from the Holy Land: armed security guards
The "Israeli teachers carry guns and there's no problem" tale (variation: "All Israeli teachers are required to carry") is so common right now that it's hard to track down whether or not the example is true or not. Bluestem looked into the question and found some interesting answers.
First, when we examined the sources of the claim about packing Israeli school teachers, we generally found that those making these assertions passed around the same set of links and articles that eventually traced back to articles posted between 1999 and 2002. With each spree shooting, the example was repeated, but not examined anew.
There are a couple recent examples online in the last couple of days where writers familiar with Israel say that the claim's a weak one. Most send readers to this post, Are Israeli Teachers Armed?--crossposted at various venues. Ron Cantor, the writer is aligned with messianic Judaism--no dirty hippie--and the column is turning up on mostly conservative Christan sites. Take with a grain of salt.
Stories from the Jerusalem Post are much more persuasive and largely confirm Cantor's general premise that school security guards protect schools from terrorist attacks. Some of the most persuasive articles cover what happens when the guards don't show up en masse, either through funding cuts or strikes.
When they heard about the Sandy Hook school slaughter, my children were
surprised that the school had no security guards. Educated in Jewish
schools in Montreal and in Jerusalem, they have always studied shielded
by security guards and locked gates. They take that situation for
granted, even as resent Jews’ unfortunate vulnerability in both cities. I
want my kids, I want all kids, to live in a world where schools are the
super-safe refuges they should be rather than the targets for
terrorists and maniacs they sometimes are.
On August 28, 2008, the JP's Abe Selig reported in "School year still under threat despite cancellation of cuts":
But with only
four days left and two other major matters unresolved - the issue of
security guards for schools and safety violations in a number of
institutions across the country - the threat of classes not starting at
all remains very real.
"If security guards are not
standing at the entrances of schools on Monday, teachers will still
arrive for work, and they will send their students home," said Keren
Shaked, a spokeswoman for the Secondary School Teachers Organization,
the union that led last year's strike that paralyzed public schools for
55 days. "We cannot allow there to be a situation in which the entrances
to our school are unguarded and anyone can just walk right in."
The
security guard issue remains a complicated one, with the Education and
Public Security ministries trading blame over who is responsible for
providing such guards and the underlying funding issue rooted in
proposed cuts to the draft 2009 state budget that was approved by the
cabinet after a 16-hour session on Monday night.
While
a last-minute agreement was reached between senior officials from both
ministries regarding guards for elementary schools on Wednesday evening,
upper level schools, where the SSTO holds sway, remain a problem.
A
spokeswoman for the Education Ministry told The Jerusalem Post on
Wednesday that the Public Security Ministry, which oversees the police,
has been responsible for the security guards since 1995. She also
referred to police Cmdr. Meir Ben-Yishai's statements at the Knesset on
Wednesday morning, in which he protested the government's decision to
cut the budget for security guards, saying it would severely detract
from safety at schools.
"The police
inspector-general [David Cohen] has held three separate meetings on this
issue," Ben-Yishai said, "And he has recommended that school security
needs to continue, the same way it does at the entrances to restaurants,
banks and event halls."
The Public Security
Ministry quipped back in a statement: "The responsibility for deployment
of security guards at educational institutions is the responsibility of
the Education Ministry. To our regret, the Education Ministry did not
bother to fight against the budget cuts for security guards, which is
their job and does not fall under the responsibility of the police."
The Education Ministry spokeswoman responded: "Every year in the past [the Public Security Ministry] has had the budget for [school security guards]. Now that the money isn't there, it's become our problem."
The
issue threatens to derail the school year from day one, with the SSTO
leading the call for classes to be canceled, and others following suit. (Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
In short: without the security guards, the teachers don't protect students themselves. They send kids home. On September 1, 2009, the JP's Selig reported in "School year to begin today, despite looming issues":
Meanwhile,
the head of the Secondary School Teachers Organization, Ran Erez, said
earlier in the week that a number of other unresolved issues were still
looming on a national level.
According to Erez, those issues included the ongoing shortage of certified security guards for the country's schools . . .
Police officers will temporary fill in for missing school security guards until after Rosh Hashana, Lt.-Cmdr. Meir Ben-Yishai, head of the Israel Police's Security Department, said Monday, as an estimated 10 percent of all guard positions are unfilled.
Ben-Yishai
met with security officers and Education Ministry officials Monday to
assess security at schools ahead of the start of the school year.
Erez had said that any junior high or high school that has no guard Tuesday would not open. (Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
Security cameras proposed for Israeli schools
There's more. In "School security guards to be trained to intervene against student violence" (July 29, 2009) Yaakov Lappin reported in the Jerusalem Post that the security needs of the schools were changing:
School security guards,
who until now have focused on preventing external threats like
terrorism, will begin receiving specialized training on how to deal with
pupil violence.
In addition, closed-circuit
television cameras linked up to control rooms will monitor school
playgrounds, as part of a series of steps being taken by police to
tackle violence in schools.
The measures were announced Tuesday by Lt.-Cmdr. Meir Ben-Yishai, head of the Israel
Police's Security Department, during a meeting with security officers
responsible for educational institutions from across the country.
"These
steps stem from a need that has been identified in recent years,"
police spokeswoman Orit Friedman told The Jerusalem Post. "The guards
will be trained to deal with confrontations and to intervene in fights
between pupils.
"Until today, the role of the guards
was limited to dealing with terrorism and external threats. But they
should be able to provide solutions to incidents on school grounds as
well," Friedman said.
Friedman denied there was a
recent rise in school violence, but noted that injuries resulting from
fights and stabbings were a reality in Israeli schools.
"Having trained guards on site will cut out the need to wait for police to arrive," she added.
As part of the reforms, CCTV cameras installed in school playgrounds will feed live images to municipal control rooms.
"Pupils
will be monitored at all times in playgrounds and other areas of the
school, where the presence of teachers could be lacking," Friedman said.
While away from the front gate, the security guard can lock the school's main entrance to avoid security breaches, she added.
The type of training school guards receive from their companies is dictated and monitored by the Israel
Police. According to the new guidelines, courses for new guards will be
extended from four to six days, and there will be a greater emphasis on
firearms training.(Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
So not only was the training changing, but security cameras were to be installed at schools, with monitors feeding images into the local police stations. This proposal drew cries of "Big Brother," according to a report by the JP's Ben Hartman, "CCTV cameras won't go into classrooms or corridors. Surveillance to be limited to school gates and yards, police say":
A plan to set
up police surveillance cameras at 12 schools across the country will
not be implemented by the time the school year starts on Wednesday,
police told MKs on Sunday.
During a meeting of the
Knesset's Education, Sports, and Culture Committee, police said that the
cameras, which will broadcast back to a police command center, will not
be placed in classrooms or hallways, and will be limited to gates and
schoolyards, where they can help security guards patrol the campuses.
The
plan has stirred controversy, with critics branding it a "Big Brother"
program, and others saying it attempts to replace teachers' education
and discipline with cameras. . . .(Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
What sort of problems with violence were Israeli schools encountering? Hartman writes:
According to
an Education Ministry study from 2006, "moderate physical violence"
occurred in over half of Israeli schools in 2005, while "serious
physical violence," involving injury or threats, took place in one out
of every five.
Almost half of all students described
the atmosphere in their school as violent, according to the study,
while 27.2 percent said they felt unsafe at school. In addition, 3.7% of
students reported carrying "cold weapons" such as knives to school,
while 1.5% reported carrying firearms.(Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
It's illegal for children to carry firearms in Israel; indeed, non-veterans can't obtain permits or guns until age 27. Nor are civilians as well-armed (or as often dead) as in the United States, Addicting Information's Wendy Gittleson writes:
Teachers are neither trained nor paid to be the first line of defense
against high-powered rifles. Out of one side of their mouths, the right
is cutting school funding and attacking the teachers’ union and on the
other side, they are wanting teachers to take on the responsibility of
police and military sharpshooters . . . .
In Israel, there are approximately 7.3 guns per 100 people. In 2008,
there was less than one gun homicide per 100,000 people. In the U.S.,
there are 88.8 guns per 100 people and in 2008, there were over 3 gun
homicides for each 100,000 people. Source, gunpolicy.org. This is despite the fact that some in Israel actually do live in a war zone. . . .
Israeli soldiers, police and volunteers mobilized for school security
That's another element that articles in the Jerusalem Post make clear. On September 1, 2005, staff writers Talya Halkin and Yaakov Katz reported in "Dovrat Reform debuts as schools open":
. . . Meanwhile,
thousands of policemen will deploy across the country on Thursday to
ensure that the new school year gets off to a secure and peaceful start.
Policemen,
backed up by volunteers, will patrol various carpool pickup spots,
schools and main population centers to prevent Palestinian attacks.
Soldiers will beef up the seam-line on the West Bank to prevent terrorist infiltrations.
While
police had not received concrete intelligence regarding terrorist
threats, they did not intend to take any chances, said Asst.-Cmdr. Ze'ev
Welednger, head of the Police Security Department,.
"We
do not have concrete information, but usually there is none when terror
strikes," he said. "Since we don't have intelligence reports, we get
ready for a range of scenarios that could happen and prepare ourselves
to the best of our ability."
Welednger said terrorism was not the police's only concern.
"In
addition to the terror threats, we are also prepared for the changes
people go through on the first day of school," he said. "People's moods
change since it is a day full of pressure, and we need to be there to
help everyone get to school and home safely." . . . (Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
Other than the gated schools, armed security officers, cameras, and occasionally fully mobilized military, police and civilian volunteer force, one supposes it's the teachers who decide to carry guns into Israeli schools who've prevented incidents like Ma'lat.
Indeed, at the time of the blood standard for school attacks--the Beslan, Russia, school siege, where at least 335 children and adults were killed in September 2004--security advisor Steve Albrecht wrote in a column in the San Diego Tribune, "School violence; The terrorists' new weapon here?":
Speaking at
the national conference for the Association of Threat Assessment
Professionals in Anaheim last week, Lt. Col. David Grossman, a retired
U.S. Army Ranger, foreshadowed the Chechens' attack on the school.
. . . A hush fell over the room
as Grossman reminded the group that as far back as 1974, terrorist
attacks on an Israeli school killed 21 children. As a result, schools in
Israel, starting then and certainly today, have armed soldiers, armed police, or armed security on every campus.
Israel
has taken this psychologically significant and economically difficult
step because the leaders felt they had no choice. Terrorists don't enjoy
targeting police stations and soldiers' barracks because these people
fight them with lethal violence in kind. Terrorists attack school
campuses for two undeniable reasons: children can't shoot back at them
and any incident involving violence at what is supposed to be a safe,
"protected environment," like a school, a hospital or a day care center,
creates tremendous anxiety in the nearby community. (Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
Other than the soldiers, the police, the security guards, the fenced and gated schools, the back-pack searches, the camera images piped into the local police station, sure, those teachers who choose (it's not mandatory) to carry have stopped those terrorist attacks, Representative Cornish, and that's all we need.
Or is it? Perhaps a good gauge for the tale might be the reaction of Israeli teachers and parents when they learn that the guards aren't in place. At the time of the Beslan attacks, the Post's Stuart Winer reports in "School guards leave before children go home":
As the world reels from the Beslan school massacre, a security lapse at Israeli schools was revealed on Monday.
The Union of Local Authorities (ULAI) in Israel admitted that school security guards are leaving their posts at 2 p.m. even though there are lessons that continue till 4 p.m. in many schools. . . .
. . .Although the standard school
day ends at 2 p.m., according to [Head of Security and Deputy Director-General of the ULAI Sharon] Azriel, there are some lessons that
continue till 4 p.m. in half the country's schools. . . .
. . .Chairman of
the National Parents' Association Erez Frankel called on parents to
collect their children from schools as soon at the guards leave.
"Can
you imagine a cafe owner sending home the guard when there are still
customers inside?" he said. "If there is a need for school security then
it needs to be for all the pupils all the time.". . .(Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
Pre-1991: Parent-volunters (Heckova PTA)
It's clear that Israel has increasingly beefed up security in its schools, and so it possible that the "armed teachers" narrative was born before 1991, when Israel first employed paid guards rather than having parent volunteers stand watch. Armed teachers would have been an important element at that time.
On November 30, 1990, JP staff writer Bill Hutman reported in "Every Public School To Have Armed Guards":
Trained armed guards will be
placed at all public schools within the next three months, an Education
Ministry official said yesterday. The ministry has called a meeting
today of IDF, police, and local authority officials to work out the
details. Ami Kahan, director of the ministry's security department,
said implementation will meet the February 28 deadline set by the
Knesset education committee for hiring school security guards.
Trained armed guards will be placed at all public schools within the
next three months, an Education Ministry official said yesterday.
The
ministry has called a meeting today of IDF, police, and local authority
officials to work out the details. Ami Kahan, director of the
ministry's security department, said implementation will meet the
February 28 deadline set by the Knesset education committee for hiring school security guards.
But
the Local Authorities Council, whose cooperation is necessary for the
implementation of the plan, remains opposed to the idea. Armed guards
are not necessary in all areas of the country, said Givatayim Mayor
Yitzhak Yaron, who heads the council's education committee.
Yaron
explained that trained guards were not needed in his town, for example,
because "few Arabs pass through the city." He also raised doubts
whether security companies would be willing to work in remote
settlements.
At present, parents and sometimes high
school or even elementary school pupils serve as guards. In many cases,
schools are left unguarded when parents don't show up for duty.
The
situation in kindergartens is more severe, with not even a parent-guard
system organized in some instances. Moreover, many kindergartens don't
have phones, making it difficult to call for help in case of emergency.
Last
month, in wake of the wave of violent attacks on civilians, the Knesset
education committee demanded that the ministry switch to professional
guards. Committee members severely criticized the ministry for not
implementing the recommendations to tighten school security, made over a
year ago by the Knesset-appointed Givoli commission.
Kahan noted that kindergartens are not included in the commission's recommendations.
In
Jerusalem, at the initiative of the Parents Association, over one-third
of the schools have hired security companies. The association
presented the details of their initiative to the ministry, in hope it
would be used as the basis of the nationwide plan.
The
ministry estimated that the professional guards will cost parents
around NIS 30 per year. But the cost may be two or three times higher
in development towns and remote settlements, Yaron said.
Despite the cost to parents, the National Parents Association is firmly behind the plan, chairman Moshe Mizrahi said. (Nexis All News, accessed 12.18.2012)
It can't happen here?
Since Minnesota's teachers unon endorsed Cornish in 2010, he can't be counted among the high command of education union bashers. The problems with the idea--and using Israel as analogy--are extensive. As a review of reports from the English-language Israeli press has shown, armed teachers have been an increasingly insignificant part of Israeli school security since the early 1990s.
Moreover, Israel is much smaller and much more militarized in daily life than the United States, even though our security apparatus has been transformed since the September 11, 2001 attacks. For Israeli Jews, military services is universal for those judged fit to serve; few Americans have military service and the attendant weapons training.
Perhaps the most damning things about the proposal, though, is the sense that the solutions to potential gun violence in schools are more guns, and in the hands of those we expect to teach. Let teachers teach, politicians across the spectrum say--with the exception of Tony Cornish and his kindred across the country, who also seem to want volunteer security officers.
It feels like the same old nickel and diming of the schools. security on the cheap, and lethal force handed out to those who are routinely denigrated by the political right in the state. Cornish may see this as straight shooting, but it's got the feel of blanks misfired to start out the session.
Photo: Tony Cornish, top; Union thug, bottom.
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"bleg" though Christmas.
Congressman Tim Walz is touting his record on veterans issues with the release of a new ad in his re-election campaign.
Titled "When They Come Home", the ad features
local veteran activist Mike McLaughlin, who talks about his experience
in the wars overseas, and the work Representative Walz has done for
veterans back home. Walz says it will continue to be a focus of his in
the House.
Rep.
Tim Walz says " I'm proud to say although it's still high too high,
veterans unemployment numbers are improving and that's good news for us
and good news for the country." . . .
McLaughlin, though, was willing to be the public face of Walz's
often-honored work on behalf of veterans and veterans programs because
he said he was genuinely impressed by the congressman's work.
He and some fellow veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan first
met Walz when they were frustrated with flaws in the way the GI Bill
worked for returning soldiers going to college. They heard Walz was
hosting a forum for veterans, and they went -- not particularly
confident that much would be accomplished.
"I was pleasantly surprised," McLaughlin said of the feedback and
responses he heard that day and also the follow-up in the weeks that
followed. . . .
Read Fischenich's article at the Free Press. Here's the ad:
More op-ed pieces and letters to the editor opposing the photo ID voter restriction amendment continue to appear on the op-ed pages of Greater Minnesota newspapers.
A national group dedicated to preserving the voting rights of
military personnel recently praised Minnesota for its leadership,
designating the state an all-star as part of its Heroes Vote Initiative.
Such
recognition represents a dramatic reversal in a long and disturbing
trend that distinguishes Minnesota from the vast majority of states
today. It also makes good on a campaign promise by Secretary of State
Mark Ritchie, whose office coordinates elections and voting.
Before
2006, Minnesota ranked near the bottom of all states in its number of
military voters, despite leading the nation in overall turnout for
30-plus years.
The proposed constitutional amendment on the
November ballot threatens to undo these gains — and take away the right
of democracy’s defenders serving abroad from taking part in elections at
home.
Minnesota is home to roughly 20,000 active-duty soldiers
and guardsmen — and more than 390,000 veterans, many of who are elderly
or otherwise would fall in meeting its requirements.
Unlike other
states with such laws, the Minnesota proposal provides no exemptions for
military personnel and their families. The same criteria for proving
identity and residency would apply to troops serving elsewhere as those
walking into their neighborhood precinct on Election Day. That includes
the need for an up-to-date state-issued photo ID with current address.
Nearly
one-third of all service personnel, according to U.S. Census data, move
on a yearly basis, a rate three times higher than the general
population. And often, troops and their families are uprooted on a
moment’s notice.
A new report titled "Military voting update: A
bleak picture in 2012" outlines the herculean effort by Ritchie to
overcome significant structural barriers in defending the military vote,
despite a federal law enacted in 2009 that so far has failed to ease
his way.
The report, published by the Military Voter Protection
Project and AMVETS Legal Clinic at Chapman University, concludes, “For
too long, our men and women in uniform have been silenced in the
electoral process.” (The full report is available at
www.GreaterMNCounts.org.)
Now is not the time for Minnesotans to turn a deaf ear. . . .
Move toward the middle of the state. In Tuesday's West Central Tribune, Jerry Tedrow of New London writes to the editors in his letter, Voter ID could be a disaster:
After having read a recent op-ed relating to the photo ID
constitutional amendment, wherein the writer challenged it because of
the number of moves and address changes he would have made had the law
been in effect, got me to thinking of what I’d have gone through had I
been confronted with it. I did a personal historical review.
From
my 21st birthday until the day I settled into my present address, a
period of 20 years, I discovered that as a result of being in college,
the military, working summers, going to summer schools and working at my
career, I had made 41 changes in living arrangements, residing in 23
different abodes.
During that time period, 10 various elections
took place, and I lived at 10 different addresses. Had the law been in
effect, I would have been forced to take time off, make the drive to a
county seat, and get a new ID with my most recent photo and address. My
driver’s license signifying I was a legal Minnesota resident wouldn’t
have been good enough.
I know I’m not the only person who would
have faced this dilemma. All we have to do is look at the thousands of
transients (workers and students) who might get fed up and say to forget
it, it’s too much of an inconvenience to jump through that hoop
seemingly with every election. I might have thought to do so.
The
inconvenience I could live with, but the cost would be another thing.
How much? We really don’t know, but estimates go as high as $50 million,
and this money has to come from some form of taxable revenue. It ain’t
gonna be free, as it’s being touted by the proponents of the amendment.
Please,
think this issue through. The results of its passage could be
catastrophic for us for a long time, and would be almost impossible to
retract at a later date.
If Minnesotans approve a proposed constitutional amendment that would
require voters to present identification at the polls, many government
officials say it will come with a multi-million dollar price tag that
will ultimately fall to taxpayers. . . .
A Minneapolis-based advocacy group
that opposes voter ID suggests even higher costs. The group Citizens for
Election Integrity Minnesota estimates combined state and local costs
of from $36 million to $78 million.
But another new report downplays the
financial effect of voter ID and suggests possible long-term savings.
The different assessments reflect deep disagreement between amendment
supporters and opponents about every aspect of the proposed requirement.
One argument is that with card readers, fewer election judges would be needed to match voters with their ID cards. Pugmire reports:
The author of a competing study for a pro-amendment organization rejects
those numbers. Peter Nelson, director of public policy at the Center of
the American Experiment, said he thinks Bonnifield's analysis
misinterprets the amendment language and overstates the number of voters
who would need provisional ballots.
Nelson contends Minnesota could save
money over time because a streamlined system for registration and
identification would require fewer election judges. He said counties
would also save money if there is less voter fraud to investigate and
prosecute.
Still, Nelson said his estimates
might not hold up once lawmakers begin crafting the enabling legislation
needed to put the voter ID requirement in place.
Gustavus Adolphus math professor Max Hailperin posted the MPR article to his Facebook page, along with an intriguing remark:
Nelson's suggestion of a net savings "because a streamlined system for registration and identification would require fewer election judges" is bogus because the same streamlined system could be put into place without the mandate of photo ID or the substantially equivalent identity and eligibility verification.
I observed an election in Cerro Gordo County, Iowa, in which those voters who had Drivers Licenses -- the vast majority -- simply stuck the back side of their card under a laser scanner and were all set to go, without the election judge needing to inquire after their name and address and manually look them up.
Likewise, anyone doing Election Day Registration who had a card got the registration form filled out just by scanning the card. But those few without the card were processed too, just more slowly. And nobody looked at the photos on the front of the pre-registered voters' cards.
(The same system is also used in other Iowa counties; similar systems have been deployed elsewhere. Electronic pollbooks do not require mandatory photo ID or any other restrictions.)
It's a very strong point. We could implement the technology without the voter suppression.
Hailperin, who writes that he has looked into "electronic
poll books around the nation while lobbying regarding that portion of
HF210/SF509 (the bill most people thought of as a photo ID bill -- but
20 of its 60 pages were devoted to electronic poll books)" has accepted a request to write a guest post for Bluestem elaborating on this comment. Look for it soon.
In addition to serving on the Ag and Transportation Committee, Walz, who retired at the rank of command sergeant major in the Minnesota National Guard and is the highest ranking enlisted soldier toserve in Congress, sits on the Veteran Affairs committee.
Recent visits to district manufacturing plants helped Walz highlight the need for good jobs for veterans returning from Afghanistan, Iraq and other deployments.
First District Rep. Tim Walz toured the Parker Hannifin Corporation
plant Thursday and talked about ways to make sure veterans returning
home from wartime deployments can find good-paying jobs.
"I am
here today to see first-hand the work Parker-Hannifin is doing and to
discuss ways to ensure our veterans are finding good-paying jobs they
can be proud of," Walz said.
Earlier this summer, Walz and Rep.
Jeff Denham from California introduced the Veteran Skills to Jobs Act to
address high veteran unemployment rates. The act seeks to streamline
the federal certification process and cut through bureaucratic red tape
for more than 70 jobs that require licenses or certifications in
industrial, energy, maritime and aerospace sectors, among others. . . .
. . .Parker Hannifin, which refers to itself the world's leading diversified
manufacturer of motion and control technologies, for a variety of
commercial, mobile, industrial, aerospace and military markets, has a
number of jobs open at its New Ulm facility located at 2101 N. Broadway. . ..
U.S. Rep. Tim Walz stopped by Peerless Chain Friday to discuss ways
to improve the training and hiring processes for Minnesota veterans.
Walz
congratulated businesses like Peerless for going out of their way to
hire military personnel, and to gather input from employees on policies
that aim to make federal and state certification for veterans entering
the workforce more efficient. Walz also stressed the importance of
locally-owned southeast Minnesota businesses like Peerless have on
economic growth. . . .
. . .In July, President Barack Obama signed into law the Walz-supported
Veterans Skills to Jobs Act, which will give veterans seeking employment
a more streamlined training certification process at the federal level.
Next, Walz said, he’d like to tackle the issue at the state level. . . .
Read the whole thing at the WDN.
So far, Quist seems rather quite about federal veterans's issues, which are important in the Fighting First, given the recent history of deployments to Iraq and Bosnia of Red Bull units based in New Ulm and other cities in the district. The cost of medical care for older veterans from peacetime and the Vietnam, Korean, and Second World Wars will also continue to grow as the population ages.
We can't wait for the next time the Norseland farmer outflanks himself.
Update: It's not just Allen Quist who outflanked his own self here by playing the welfare card with the Farm Bill. Politico's David Rogers reports in House GOP has issues to resolve:
Hundreds [of American farmers] are slated to rally Wednesday at the Capitol, demanding
action on a long delayed, five-year farm bill. But August has passed
with no real progress, and coming out of Tampa the overwhelming sense is
that the fix is in — for what could be described as a monumental
legislative failure by this Congress.
The Senate passed its farm bill in June. The House Agriculture
Committee followed within weeks. But two months later, the GOP
leadership is paralyzed, torn between doing something for the rural
economy vs. trumpeting the party’s attacks on food stamps as a new form
of welfare under President Barack Obama.
Speaker John Boehner (R-Ohio) seems most intent on stalling for time
until after the election and then pushing through a one-year extension
of current policy in the turmoil of the lame-duck session. “A ship
trying to sail on yesterday’s wind” was Ryan’s artful putdown of Obama.
Yet , House Republicans aren’t even allowing their farm bill out of the
harbor.
One veterans' health issue that Congressman Walz has worked on as a member of the House Veterans Affairs Cmomittee is traumatic brain injury (TBI). Changes in warfare has cause more TBI, while improved field medicine saves the lives of those who in earlier conflicts would have died from their injuries.
A press release from the Walz congressional office notes how language introduced by Walz to improve rehabilitation services for veterans with TBI will become law:
Legislation was included in the Honoring America’s Veterans Act that passed both the House and Senate with unanimous bipartisan support
Washington, DC – Today, legislation introduced by Congressman Tim Walz to improve rehabilitation services for veterans suffering from traumatic brain injury (TBI) passed the House of Representatives and will head to the President’s desk to be signed into law. The legislation, first introduced by Walz in May of 2011, was included in the larger Honoring America’s Veterans and Caring for Camp Lejeune Families Act of 2012, introduced by Chairman of the VA Committee, Rep. Jeff Miller (R-FL). The bill passed the U.S. Senate unanimously earlier this month.
“We owe it to our wounded warriors to give them the best care and support in the world,” said Rep. Tim Walz, who is a 24 year veteran of the Army National Guard. “When a veteran suffering from TBI comes to the VA for treatment, they need to be presented with a comprehensive approach to rehabilitation. One that will allow them to recover function, achieve independence, and fully integrate back into their communities. This bill ensures we provide the comprehensive care our wounded warriors need, instead of just physical rehabilitation currently available to them. I’m pleased it will be signed into law.”
Due to advances in medicine, service members who would not have been expected to survive catastrophic attacks in previous conflicts are returning home today with unprecedented severe and complex injuries. Since 2001, over 1,500 service members have suffered from a severe TBI, many of whom require rehabilitative programs ranging from total care for the most basic needs to semi-independent living support. A restrictive approach to rehabilitation puts these wounded warriors at risk of losing any progress they made towards recovery.
Because of ambiguities in current law, TBI treatment at the Department of Veterans Affairs narrowly focuses TBI care on physical restoration. The Walz bill will ensure wounded warriors suffering from TBI receive a more comprehensive and holistic rehabilitation plan that focuses on physical restoration, mental health, independence, and quality of life. It would also help veterans in maintaining the gains they have made during initial phases of treatment by requiring the Department of Veterans’ Affairs to develop rehabilitation plans that stress improved physical, cognitive, and vocational functioning in the long term.
The legislation is endorsed by the Wounded Warrior Project and the Blinded Veterans Association.
"Many of our warriors have sustained traumatic brain injuries that require long-term rehabilitative care,” said Wounded Warrior Project Executive Director Steve Nardizzi. “This critical legislation will help ensure that needed rehabilitation is not prematurely cut off, and that these veterans can get the kind of support they need – whether those are health-services or non-medical community-based assistance – to achieve maximum independence.”
As we return to another thrilling episode of Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, fans are captivated as they watch our hero Mike Parry and his archrival Allen Quist quarrel over who is the most loyal to the ideals of Grover Norquist.
Meanwhile, the Veteran Skills to Jobs Act, Congressman Tim Walz's bill to aid veterans' employment as they transition from active duty into the civilian workforce, has passed in the House and Senate.
While Republicans nationally devoted Wednesday to criticizing the Democratic Affordable Care Act, characterizing the health care overhaul as a tax increase, the two Republicans running for Congress in south-central Minnesota were hammering each other as tax hikers. . . .
Fischenich calls the blow-by-blow action that started Monday; go follow the diva rasslin' drama there. He also recalls a bit of Norquist suitor fickleness on Parry's part (emphasis added):
But Parry, too, has changed his position on taxes — and on the wisdom of no-new-tax pledges — although it might have been one of the quickest flip-flops in political history.
It happened on Nov. 4 in Mankato when the Waseca restaurant owner was taking audience questions during his campaign kick-off tour. Asked if he supported Norquist’s no-new-taxes pledge, Parry responded: “I think that’s irresponsible.”
After the questions ended and the crowd left, Parry changed his answer, Fischenich reports:
Virtually every Republican candidate for federal office now takes Norquist’s no-new-taxes pledge, and Parry changed his answer a few minutes after the Q & A ended.
“Well, let me clarify that,” he told The Free Press after the crowd had departed. “I am going to take the pledge. ... I was overanalyzing. I was thinking, ‘OK, as a business guy, blah, blah, blah, how did I handle spending money?’
March 2011: Parry tells Owatonna crowd he'd tax services
With the redesign of the Owatonna People's Press, GOP bills leave Parry in hot seat, the original OPP article seems to have disappeared from the database, though the link remains as a google ghost and excerpts in Bluestem.
According to the excerpt, Parry said (emphasis added):
In response, Parry promised that he and other Republicans planned to deep six certain tax exemptions as well, to “spread out the pain,” in spite of criticism he would likely face.
“If we do that, the other side is going to say, you’re raising taxes, and they want to beat us up for that,” Parry said. “There are some unbelievable tax exemptions here that we should all be paying. I was just looking at one today and I’ll be highly criticized but I think we should do it — tax on services.”
The Quist campaign has yet to bring that up--Heather Carlson writes that he spent his time at last night's Town Hall attacking Walz--but the Emo campaign isn't wasting anytime inoculating itself.
Parry faults Quist for agreeing to extend a sales tax in 1982
Today, the campaign emailed an attack on Quist for a sales tax position in a 1982 Mankato Free Press voters' guide:
Revelation comes on heels of news about Quist's support for gas tax increase
Ben Golnik, Advisor for Parry for Congress: "Allen Quist likes to talk like a fiscal conservative but supported extending a temporary sales tax increase when he ran for the legislature. Coupled with his vote for a gas tax increase, it is clear Quist is out of step with hard working Minnesotans. All the slick TV ads in the world can't obscure the fact that Quist is out of touch with taxpayers."
Source: The Free Press, Mankato, page 13A (Voters'Guide), October 21, 1982
Perhaps Mike Parry, the Belle of Waseca County, and Allen Quist can arm wrestle to see which is worse, extending a temporary sales tax increase or extending the sales tax to areas not already taxed.
Walz interrupts this feud with a moment of bipartisan action
As the election has drawn nearer and nearer, there have been more show votes and less lawmaking on Capitol Hill. But one measure that is headed to President Obama's desk this week pushed by DFL U.S. Rep. Tim Walz attempts to ease the transition from military to civilian life.. . .
The legislation ensures that vets don't have to acquire costly state-mandated professional certifications for jobs they already learned how to do while serving in the military. Walz mentioned emergency medical technicians and many technical fields as areas affected by the legislation.
"We spend $140 billion a year training soldiers," said Walz. "Let's capitalize on that investment by making sure we don't send them back to school on the GI Bill and spend more money when they're already qualified for those jobs."
A companion bill introduced by Walz and Republican Steve Stivers of Ohio that would affect certifications for nurses, nursing assistants, EMTs and commercial drivers received approval from the House Veterans Affairs Committee Wednesday.
Tune in for our next thrilling episode.
Photoshopped image: Mike Parry, the Emo Senator, by Tild.
July 2012 Sixth Anniversary Bleg Notice: Like what you're reading on this blog? Help support an independent voice from Greater Minnesota:
The world took little note, nor long remembered what Gil Gutknecht said to College Republicans at Mankato State in March 2006, when he introduced U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kennedy to the young activists, but it can never forget what they did there, because Operation Yellow Elephant fisked a story from the MSU Reporter that--like the link to Gutknecht's official website--is no longer online.
It is for us the enduring bloggers, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who posted have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored episodes from Southern Minnesota political history that we take increased devotion to that cause for which Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these careers shall not have died in vain.
Thus, when Bluestem read the opening paragraphs of Allen Quist's press release on today's Supreme Court ruling--
Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, said that the Civil War was a test of whether our nation, conceived and born in liberty, could long survive.
Our nation is being put to that same test once again—the test of whether a nation conceived and born in liberty can long survive.
In direct contrast to Lincoln, President Barack Obama, just before his inauguration, said he was just a few hours away from “fundamentally transforming” the United States of America.
The transformation President Obama had in mind was the loss of our liberty as accomplished by his health care law.
--Bluestem could only stand back in awe at the audacity of summoning forth that long-buried item of 2006 Republicania. Nay, Quist far exceeds Gutknecht's hyperbole by comparing insurance reform with a bloody internal war that included:
approximately 10,455 military engagements, some devastating to human life and some nearly bloodless, plus naval clashes, accidents, suicides, sicknesses, murders, and executions resulted in total casualties of 1,094,453 during the Civil War. The Federals lost 110,100 killed in action and mortally wounded, and another 224,580 to disease. The Confederates lost approximately 94,000 as a result of battle and another 164,000 to disease. Even if one survived a wound, any projectile that hit bone in either an arm or a leg almost invariably necessitated amputation. The best estimate of Federal army personnel wounded is 275,175; naval personnel wounded, 2,226. Surviving Confederate records indicate 194,026 wounded.
Gutknecht, whose remarks generated press release outrage from the loyal opposition's party headquarters, was far more chaste in his hyperbole by limiting his frame to one battle in the Civil War. The Rochester-area auctioneer compared the effort that the assembled student activists would have to make in electing Kennedy and himself to the uncommon valor of Minnesota’s 1st Regiment at Gettysburg.
U.S. Senate contender Mark Kennedy visits Minnesota's Mankato State University, promotes political involvement. by Benjamin Marti - March 28, 2006
The role they take on will be just as pivotal as the part played by Minnesota’s 1st Regiment to hold the line at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
As Congressman Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn. introduced U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Kennedy, R-Minn. to a small crowd of MSU College Republicans and other students Thursday, he used those words to describe their stake in this year’s mid-term elections.
“We’re asked to stand in that gap and there are big stakes in this election,” Gutknecht said. “I’m not asking you to make the kind of sacrifices that were made on July 2, 1863 by those brave Minnesotans, but I am going to ask you to give your best effort.”
Gutknecht said Minnesota’s 1st Regiment suffered 78 percent casualties in the first 15 minutes and were outnumbered 10:1, but still held the line.
“There’s going to be a lot of folks like you that are going to make the difference as to whether or not we win or lose this battle,” Gutknecht said. “And remember, had we lost the Battle of Gettysburg, we might have lost the war.”
That was six years ago; both Kennedy and Gutknecht lost their battles, and despite a last minute warning from now-disaffected Republican Joe Repya that “What is at stake is literally the survival of Western civilization,” the election of Tim Walz to Congress didn't mean the end of the world as we know it.
I also must point out that Mike Parry today released a statement on the Court decision, but in that statement he never directly clarifies his own position. In this critical time in our nation’s history, politicians who avoid stating their own positions are part of the problem, not the solution.
It's strategic. Quist and Parry are locked in a stink contest over who can generate more progressive outrage and DFL tracker expense reports in the sprawling rural district. BSP will try to chronicle both the jabs and the pearl-clucking for your entertainment.
Stay tuned as Bluestem's blogging for the people and of the people continues, and the Republicans wave the bloody shirt as they obscure the human needs that prompted health care reform.
While declared Republican challenger Mr. Robocall bothered Southern Minnesotans enjoying August in a non-campaign year, Congressman Walz toured his district's burgeoning robotics industry.
Last Sunday, Christi Braun of Winona got a phone call from her son, Matthew Konkel, currently stationed in Afghanistan with the U.S. Air Force.
He told her a robot manufactured at her Winona workplace, RiverStar Inc., identified an improvised explosive device while his unit was on patrol. The robot helped Konkel’s unit avoid a situation that could have resulted in injuries or even fatalities.
On Thursday, Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., toured RiverStar’s facilities to learn more about the growing robotics industry in southeast Minnesota, which increasingly has global reach. . . .
. . .Employees demonstrated Thursday how the robots, or “throwbots,” function: A robot is tossed into suspicious areas and guided over terrain by a monitor that displays video of the robot’s surroundings. The robots weigh less than 1 pound, record up to two hours of video, and function in daylight or darkness.
Who knew Minnesota is at the forefront of military robotics? Probably not the NRCC, which launched its first assault of robocalls Tuesday against innocent First District residents who were so minding their own business.
On this Memorial Day, I'm remembering those who defended my country, and those who died for it.
One story that's moved me this spring strikes at the core of what it means to be an American, to love this country, to honor its values: the death of Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt and his family's standing up for equality for all people. Andrew Wilfahrt was a gay man; this was the least interesting thing about him. What those who served with him remember is a soldier who was there for his fellow soldiers. He's buried now in the national cemetery at Fort Snelling, along with one of my own uncles who died in the Malmedy Massacre and with hundreds of others who served their country.
Wilfahrt's life and death became an emblem of equality in in recent debates over a bill to amend the Minnesota constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Those opposing the bill--and now the amendment--have risen to rare eloquence, none more than that of a Republican freshman legislator who lost the lower part of his legs in Iraq when an IED exploded.
In this video, John Kriesel points toward protesters chanting during this statement, saying that that America was the one he had fought for. I'd like to believe that this is where Andrew's heart is, in the America that includes everyone, and values everyone, but there are others, equally American, who believe otherwise. This is their right; some may even object to the posting of this video on Memorial Day. That, too, is their right.
My beloved state now faces a debate and a fight over fundamentals: who we are, what we love, how a society will recognize that love, and what love will matter. This Memorial Day, I'm siding with the Wilfahrt family and Representative John Kriesel, a straight, married, conservative man, in saying Yes to a society which respects love, and on Election Day in November 2012, saying "Hell No!" to those who would deny equality for Andrew and everyone. I'd prefer that no one's fundamental rights and dignity be put up for a vote, but since vote I must, it's "Hell No."
Thank you, John Kriesel. Thank you, Jeff and Lori Wilfahrt. And thank you, Andrew Wilfahrt.
Memorial Day is coming up, and families across Minnesota will tidy up the resting places of loved ones, leaving flowers and straightening up the Bronze Star markers on graves of their veterans. The stars are silent reminders of the part of a life--or all of it--that Americans gave to their country.
This morning's Star Tribune reports that may change under the dramatic cuts proposed in Republican bills working their way toward Governor Dayton's desk. In State VA chief: Budget cuts by GOP would hurt veterans, Rachel Stassen Berger writes:
Republican budget cuts could trigger the closure of at least one veterans' home, higher burial fees for veterans' families and elimination of the Bronze Star grave marker program, according to state Veterans Affairs Commissioner Larry Shellito.
Shellito, who led the state National Guard under former Republican Gov. Tim Pawlenty, said the budget as it stands would result in layoffs and other cuts, even though Republicans had pledged to protect veterans from spending reductions. "I'm very concerned," Shellito said.
The House sponsor, Rep. Morrie Lanning, says Shellito is overreacting. The soldier's response?
Although rhetoric at the Capitol has heated up as the budget process grinds toward a May 23 adjournment, Shellito said his projections are not part of that fight. "I don't play games," said Shellito, a major general in the Guard. "It's really serious."
In a letter to Gov. Mark Dayton on Thursday, Shellito said the budget proposals for his department would result in layoffs for more than 100 employees.
The Military Affairs Department, which is separate from Veterans Affairs, said legislative budgets could leave too little money to properly maintain state-owned National Guard armories and the House budget bill could "jeopardize the ability of the state to retain the Army and Air National Guard units currently assigned."
Judging from I've observed from Shellito during his time leading the Guard, and from what my many friends in the MNG say about their former leader, I believe him. Shellito isn't the sort of guy who'll play games.
In fact, Parry won his special election in January 2010 while campaigning on an across-the-board 15 percent budget cut that would nonetheless hold state veterans' program harmless. The Mankato Free Press reported in January 2010:
Parry was asked, if billions of dollars in inefficiencies are present in the budget, why Pawlenty didn’t target them when he had the chance.
“I wasn’t there,” Parry said. “I don’t know what he was thinking.”
One problem, according to Parry’s philosophy, might have been the governor’s attempt to protect K-12 education funding and other popular parts of the budget. Parry would exempt only two relatively small sections of the state budget — veterans benefits and public safety programs. [emphasis added]
Every other part of the budget must be cut — even property tax credits and other favored line items that directly reduce people’s property taxes, according to Parry.
Parry was hired by voters and draws a paycheck to answer questions. It's the rest of us who should be speechless.
Update: Tomorrow's "Tax Cut Rally" asks attendees to remember our troops and "Visit veterans memorials on the state capitol grounds." Bluestem thinks it would be better to call Parry's office (number here) and remind him of his promises to vets.
Earlier this year, Bluestem noted work by Tim Walz and other members of the House Veterans' Affair Committee to enforce and strengthen the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act. Walz challenged a bank executive testifying before the committee and introduced legislation to help military families who have a member deployed.
J.P. Morgan Chase said Friday it will pay $27 million to settle a class-action lawsuit that accused the bank of overcharging members of the military for their mortgages and prompted a federal investigation, a congressional hearing as well as public outrage.
In the suit, Marine Corps Capt. Jonathon Rowles charged that the bank refused to lower the interest rate on his mortgage, as required under a federal law, after he was activated for duty. When Rowles refused to pay the higher rate, the bank called his home up to three times a day and threatened to foreclose, according to the suit, which was filed in July.
The Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA) prohibits lenders from charging active-duty members of the military more than 6 percent interest on their mortgages. It also prevents banks from foreclosing on their homes during service and for nine months afterward.
Under the terms of the settlement, the bank will give $12 million to the estimated 6,000 service members covered by the suit. It will also set up a $15 million fund for additional individual damages, to be disbursed by a third party. The firm said it has already issued $6 million to service members who were overcharged. A judge is slated to issue preliminary approval to the settlement in late May. . . .
And the article closes with note of Walz's legislation:
Chase still faces several challenges on Capitol Hill and from federal regulators. The Justice Department has opened an investigation into the bank, along with Saxon Mortgage. A department spokeswoman said Friday that the case is ongoing.
Meanwhile, Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) has introduced a bill that would double the criminal and civil penalties for foreclosing on active-duty service members or for other violations of the SCRA. It would also extend service members’ grace period from foreclosure from nine months to 24. Rep. Tim Walz (D-Minn.) introduced a similar proposal in the House last week. Both bills await votes in committee.
“I hope this settlement will help rectify the harm that Chase caused to military families, and I urge other lenders to own up to their mistakes,” Whitehouse said in an e-mail Friday. “But this settlement does not wipe the slate clean, and we should still take action to make sure these mistakes are not repeated.”
Props to those sticking up for the legal rights of military families.
Jeff and Lori Wilfahrt of Rosemount, grew up in New Ulm, the son of Leo and Ruth Wilfahrt, and daughter of Betty Schaefer. They married and lived in Rosemount, where they raised their family, including Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt, 31, who died in Afghanistan six weeks ago when an IED exploded.
Jeff Wilfahrt spoke today to a rally sponsored by OutFront Minnesota on the wind-swept steps of the State Capitol in St. Paul as part of the GLBT political advocacy group's yearly Day on the Hill. Andrew Wilfahrt is thought to be the first gay Minnesota soldier to die in the service of his country in the war in Afghanistan.
His sister has said that her brother's sexual orientation was the least interesting thing about him, a remark Jeff Wilfahrt repeated to the crowd today. The elder Wilfahrt's speech, which he read from a statement he prepared, cuts directly to American values and the creation of the American system.
I apologize for the sound quality--at the beginning, the cold April wind carried Wilfahrt's words away. But listen carefully (and the sound gets better as the wind dies down) to a father made a "better human being, a better American, and a better Minnesotan" by the life and death of his beloved son.
Update: Jeff Wilfahrt kindly sent the prepared text of his speech:
Greetings to all, and thank you for the kind introduction.
I have no authority for what I am about to say. My only claim to fame is that I am the father of a fallen Minnesota soldier, the eighteenth to die in Afghanistan since 2007.
To all of you here in attendance and to all of those who serve in the Capitol of the great state of Minnesota I tender these following remarks.
Each of you here today are, first and foremost, a human being, you are in all likelihood an American, and you are in all likelihood a Minnesotan.
Each and every one of you can be described by height, by weight, by eye color, by hair color, by ethnicity, by gender and by sexuality. You were born with these things, not a single descriptor I’ve stated is a choice.
Each of you has chosen a life arc. You choose with whom to associate, you choose your creed, you choose your politics; you choose your work life. These choices each of usmake as humans, as Americans and as Minnesotans.
We had a son. He was gay, he didn’t choose it. But he did choose as his life arc to serve in the Army with the 552nd MP Company. He died in Kandahar just six weeks ago. It was death by IED while on foot patrol.
The bad publicity in the national arena that BSP's post reflected must have threatened to get to the firm's bottomline. Or maybe the bank executive just went through the same experience that friends felt after they were dressed down by Walz when he was their First Sergeant.
Commits to lower SCRA rate and increasing modifications, jobs, training, and home ownership assistance for military and veterans
“The programs we are announcing today are a start, but in no way a finish," said Jamie Dimon, Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase. “This company has a great history of honoring military and veterans, and the mistakes we made on military foreclosures are a painful aberration on that track record. We deeply apologize to our military customers and their families for these mistakes. We cannot undo them, but we can take accountability for them, fix them and learn from them. Today we want to begin a new way forward with the military and veteran community to make serving them a core part of how we operate our business every day. Our servicemen and servicewomen deserve nothing less.”
In response, the Walz congressional office emailed the following press release with the subject line: Walz to JPMorgan Chase: "It's About Time!":
Today, Congressman Tim Walz released the below statement following JPMorgan Chase’s announcement that they will enhance programs for military and veteran customers.
This announcement comes after a hearing in the House Veterans Affairs last week where Walz fiercely criticized the financial institution for overcharging service members and accidentally foreclosing on their homes, some of them while deployed.
“I am pleased JPMorgan Chase is taking responsibility for their actions and is working to improve their services for both service members and veterans. If they can issue a 65-page, complicated credit card statement, I am confident they can figure out how to adhere to the letter and the spirit of the law designed to protect the brave men and women who serve our nation in uniform. I am glad the VA Committee addressed this wrongdoing last week and I want JPMorgan Chase to know that I am committed to continuing that vigorous oversight for our veterans as these programs are implemented.”
In last week’s hearing, JPMorgan Chase claimed difficulty reading and understanding deployment orders as part of the reason soldiers had been wronged by their institution. Rep. Walz pulled up a JPMorgan Chase credit card agreement over 60 pages long on his iPad and stated that was the weakest excuse he had ever heard in his four years on the VA Committee.
Walz served in the National Guard for 24 years, retiring as a Command Sergeant Major. He is the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress.
Over at Minnesota Progressive Project, Eric Pusey cites a press release from Representative Betty McCollum in Republicans want to slash funding for homeless vets. Go over and take a look; it's sobering reading.
And McCollum is no alarmist. Earlier this month, Congressional Quarterly Weekly's Eugene Mulero reported in Cutting the Uncuttable: Congress Eyes the VA (via Nexis) that new chair of the House Vets Committee thinks vets can "sacrifice again":
For years, when lawmakers spoke about the need to cut government spending, they always hastened to add that they weren't targeting funding for the nation's veterans.
Indeed, it's been a banner decade for the Department of Veterans Affairs, which has seen its budget jump from $61.8 billion in fiscal 2004 to $109.6 billion in fiscal 2010, according to the Congressional Research Service.
But those days appear to be over. Lawmakers have made it clear that despite two wars, the VA won't be getting the kinds of increases it's gotten used to -- and the department will be lucky to hold its budget near current levels. Indeed, some key lawmakers in the GOP-controlled House say the VA could actually see painful cuts in the coming years.
Slashing benefits for veterans would seem to be an extremely politically risky thing to do, but in an age of tea party fervor and growing concern about the national debt, even those programs may no longer be spared from the chopping block.
The man in the middle of all this is Florida Republican Jeff Miller, the new chairman of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, who now has to walk a tightrope to prove himself a committed friend to the nation's vets while still keeping the House majority's commitment to deficit reduction. In a sign of where his priorities may lie, he says he believes veterans are willing to "sacrifice again."
The needs of homeless vets are especially at risk in light of Miller's priorities:
So far, Miller appears willing to confront the dueling functions of his new job. He already dismissed the Obama administration's goal to house every homeless veteran within five years. That initiative is dear to Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, who worked closely on it with Miller's predecessor, Bob Filner of California, now the committee's ranking Democrat. At a conference in December, Shinseki noted that an estimated 107,000 veterans remain homeless.
When he was the top Republican on the Veterans' Affairs Subcommittee on Health during the 110th Congress, Miller opposed Democratic attempts to authorize a variety of new programs for homeless veterans, complaining that the proposals would hurt organizations already providing care and create a potentially unnecessary therapeutic readjustment program.
And the article goes on to outline what Miller's fate might be if he bucks his priorities and turns aside his party's budget ax in favor of the veterans he is supposed to serve.
Mulero writes:
Most observers expect Miller to follow through on whatever House GOP leaders plan for the VA budget. For one thing, many remember what happened to New Jersey Republican Christopher H. Smith when he chaired the Veterans panel last decade.
When Jim Nicholson, President George W. Bush's secretary for Veterans Affairs, presented the administration's budget proposal at a 2005 committee hearing, Smith, in his role as a veterans' advocate, pressed him to admit that the proposal was at least $1 billion less than what the department sought. But instead of being praised for trying to protect veterans, Smith was roundly criticized by his GOP colleagues for embarrassing his party's president, and Speaker J. Dennis Hastert of Illinois stripped him of his chairmanship. After serving 24 years on the committee, Smith then left the panel altogether.
Indiana Republican Steve Buyer, who stayed on message, succeeded him.
In the article, Tim Walz responds to the proposed cuts:
"Attempting to balance the budget on the backs of veterans who have risked life and limb in service of our country is unacceptable."
I agree--and I don't think veterans should have to "sacrifice again." My friend serving now are sacrficing quite enough this very minute, thank you.
Tomorrow is Veterans Day on the Hill in St. Paul--I hope the veterans meeting with Governor Dayton tell him to hold the line on veterans spending on the state level. Let's not sacrifice our vets again, Governor Dayton.
Source: Mulero, Eugene. "Cutting the Uncuttable: Congress Eyes the VA," Congressional Quarterly Weekly, February 5, 2011, Nexis All News database, Accessed Feb. 14, 2011.
Photo: Congressman Walz speaking at a deployment ceremony in Southern Minnesota several years ago
The American Legion's Legislative Action Center serves up a hard hitting story in JPMorgan Chase grilled by Congress. Congressman Tim Walz, a member of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee, put in a memorable turn:
It was an eventful morning on Feb. 9 for a senior executive of JPMorgan Chase, the giant financial institution accused of violating lending rules that - in several cases - caused military families to lose their homes. Stephanie Mudick, Chase's vice president in charge of consumer practices, sat alone as members of the House Veterans' Affairs Committee grilled her about the company's handling of mortgage loan provisions in the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act (SCRA).
The committee's ranking minority member, Rep. Bob Filner, D-Calif., challenged Mudick and fellow JPMorgan Chase employees in absentia to take personal - not corporate - responsibility for violations that reportedly caused emotional and financial distress for a number of servicemembers and their families. . . .
. . . In her oral testimony before the HVAC, Mudick said JPMorgan Chase assumed "full responsibility" for the SCRA violations, characterizing the alleged 4,500 cases of mishandled interest rates and 18 wrongful foreclosures as products of human error. She said lack of internal training left many Chase employees with little, if any, knowledge of SCRA regulations and the intricacies of military documentation, saying that "military orders are sometimes hard to comprehend."
In response, Rep. Tim Walz, D-Minn., produced his iPad, upon which he exhibited a simple one-page set of military orders. In contrast, he held up a Chase credit card agreement spanning dozens of pages. He called Mudick's statement "the weakest testimony I've ever heard in this committee." [emphasis added]
On the county level, the county veterans service officer is the latter's best first hope, a staff person to guide them through the state and federal programs a more-or-less grateful nation provides to those who give their time to serving the country.
So what is the Republican majority in the Minnesota legislature doing about this increased need?
Why, cutting money for county veterans services offices.
. . .DFLers said cutting that money would hurt veterans, soldiers and college students most. Targets could include a state soldiers assistance program, which provides emergency financial aid to veterans, along with money for county veterans service officers. . . .[emphasis added]
Today, Senate DFLers asked to send the conference committee report for HF130 sent back so that a slight changecould be made to the language, a change that would ensure that veterans' programs would not be put on the chopping block.
Not a single Republican voted to protect veterans' programs. The DFL Senate Caucus has posted video from the floor debate:
Perhaps I should contact my state senator's legislative aide about his vote. That'll do it. Yeah, given Senator Newman's "Bus Dumping" Prowess, I'm sure he'll get my message.
Meanwhile, what will we say to Minnesota's veterans? To State Senator John Harrington's son, a member of the Red Bulls?
What promise can the GOP caucus give to vets that they couldn't put in writing?
My friends who have served in the National Guard all hold former Adjutant General of the MNG, Larry Shellito, in high esteem for the wauy in which he worked to reintegrate soldiers coming back from deployments in the wars. Doing that job for all of Minnesota's vets--young and old, and from all branches of the military, is going to be hard, but if anyone can, Shellito is the one. A great choice by Governor Dayton.
Shellito, 65, a Vietnam veteran who stepped down as head of the Minnesota Guard while facing mandatory retirement, said he actively sought the Veterans Affairs post, which coordinates programs and resources for the state's 131,000 veterans and their dependents.
"I threw my hat in the ring. One day you just wake up and say, 'There's still a lot of work that needs to be done,'" he said.
Under his guidance, the Guard began a pioneering Beyond the Yellow Ribbon campaign, which worked to ease the transition and reintegration of soldiers and their families after a deployment. It became the template for similar national programs for the Reserve, Guard components and active military.
The state faces a $6.2 billion budget deficit, but Shellito said he would work to sustain current $112.5 million funding for the department, the bulk of which is taken up with providing health care, including operating five veterans homes statewide. He said he also will work to break down barriers between state and federal programs, and will encourage such things as coordinating medical care on the local level for outstate veterans who might find it inconvenient to travel to VA Medical Centers in Fargo, St. Cloud or Minneapolis.
Representative Tim Walz, the highest ranking enlisted soldier to ever serve in Congress, issued a statement about the appointment that echoes my friends' sentiments about Shellito:
“From the days when General Shellito and I served together in the Minnesota National Guard, his commitment to those who have served our nation has been clear. He is a strong leader, a good listener, always focused on the mission at hand, an excellent manager and a visionary thinker. His foresight had the Minnesota National Guard prepared years in advance for their combat missions, guaranteeing the highest level of performance from our brave troops.
I am thrilled with Governor Dayton’s selection. I know as General Shellito transitions into this new role, he will bring the same dedication and work ethic he has in the past and will put veterans and their families first. I look forward to working with him to ensure that all the men and women who have risked life and limb in service of our country have the care they have earned.”
Today marked the 148th anniversary of the largest mass execution in American history, in Mankato following the U.S. - Dakota War of 1862. I've written before about the conflict; today the Mankato Free Press and columnist Nick Coleman each touched on the execution.
Today, as on many a Dec. 26 of decades past, the Dakota Indians will commemorate the hanging of 38 of their ancestors in the largest mass execution in U.S. history.
They will hold a ceremony at Mankato’s Reconciliation Park to remember this dark time in our history. 2012 will mark the 150th anniversary of the hangings.
Already there are preparations at the Minnesota Historical Society for a large exhibit and report on this significant historical event. Ancestors from both white and Dakota sides will be interviewed. Memories will come forth in a narrative that will be a somber reminder on the price paid by what seems like it could have been an avoidable conflict.
Many Mankato area residents know the story, although more and more it seems, some young people have not paid as much attention to it as their elders. . . .
. . . We should give pause to any reaction to declare a winner in a conflict that extracted so much violence on both sides. As we’ve watched the Dakota commemoration over the years, we see that spirit running through the ceremony. Many non-Indians have been invited and welcomed to the ceremony.
So it’s difficult sometimes to face an annual reliving of sorts of this dark chapter of U.S. and Dakota history, but it’s also a living reminder the reconciliation is just as important to history as the conflict itself.
Dec. 26, 1862: The execution of the 38 Dakota warriors at Mankato: Revenge and rage drove the flawed legal proceedings behind the kangaroo-court convictions of 303 Indians who surrendered after the U.S.- Dakota war of that autumn. Only President Lincoln’s aversion to mass punishment limited the hangman’s toll to 38. But the stain of those official killings, followed by the official banishment of the Dakota Sioux from their home (banishment or extermination was the state’s policy) left a mark of shame on Minnesota that has colored all the years since, and which has made it almost impossible to even talk about the events of 1862. Now, proposals have been made to extend a posthumous “pardon” to one of the hanged. Pardoning one man doesn’t even come close to an official recognition of the wrongs done to the Dakota, or to comprehending the scale of an avoidable tragedy that claimed hundreds of lives on all sides of the racial divide that was the cradle of Minnesota’s birth. . . .
After reviewing his extensive history of learning and writing about the war and its aftermath, Coleman includes his column from December 19, while observing that through the comments on columns about the conflict published at the Strib, he'sdiscovered:
through the kind of readers’ comments those efforts have received that the well of ignorance and outright racism remains deep and largely unplumbed in this state.
There's a great deal of truth in that observation. What will the 150th anniversary of the war draw from most: the spirit of the commenorations in the park today--or from that poisoned well at which so many readers of Coleman's columns drink?
— The largest mass execution in U.S. history occurred 148 years ago, when 38 Dakota warriors were hanged from a single scaffold in Mankato.
The shock waves of that mass execution still reverberate today among the Dakota people. A new documentary film remembers the 38, and also a group of Dakota who ride on horseback each year at this time to Mankato to commemorate the executions of Dec. 26, 1862.. . .
At the end of Dakota 38, the filmmakers reveal that one of the young men featured in the film recently committed suicide.
Dakota 38 co-director Sarah Weston, a member of the Flandreau Santee Sioux Tribe, said the suicide is part of what she calls the 'historical grief' left over from the traumatic collision in the 1800's between Native Americans and white settlers.
One of the film's messages, Weston said, is that the Dakota and other Indians should take a simple but difficult step: forgive the misdeeds of the past.
"The past is really, really traumatic," Weston said. "But we're going to reach our hand out and say that we forgive. Because when you're not in a forgiveness place, you're linked to that person or that trauma for the rest of your life, all day long. And so by forgiving we're no longer linked to that."
A point worth reflecting on in a dark and snowy December.
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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