She's not the only conservative rural woman flogging this one after the Minnesota legislature extended the freedom to marry to same sex couples.
Former state senator Gretchen Hoffman, who has moved to North Dakota as well as become the Minnesota state director for Concerned Women of America,
expounded on her belief that advocates for polygamy and pedophilia (she
names NAMBLA) will be next in line for changes in the state's marriage
law.
The statements were made on Tuesday, May 14, during an interview by Bradlee Dean and Jake McMillan on the Sons of Liberty radio show.
Hoffman: polgamists and NAMBLA will demand marriage rights
Last Tuesday, former Minnesota state senator Gretchen Hoffman was interview by toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean and his sidekick, Jake McMillan on the Sons of Liberty Radio show.
From our transcript (full text below the fold) :
Hoffman: I mean, these are militant activists who are pushing an agenda. . .and they made it all about love and being with who you love.
Well,
I'd like to know how the state can regulate love anyway. I mean, where
does it end? We're looking--the polygamists now are going to come and
ask for, I love, you know, four people and you know the NAMBLA group
which is what-I don't even know what that acronym stands for--
Dean: The North American Man Boy Love Association, it's a pedophile group, correct
Hoffman:
. . .And they're working to lower the age of consent so they can have
sex with children and so you know of course whenever I say stuff like
that they tell me I'm an extremist or I'm overreacting or..I've been
called every name in the book. . .
Hoffman: "Political correctness" kept Catholic Church "cowed" in 2012
While not mentioning that the diocese spent $650,000 to promote last year's amendment to restrict the freedom to marry to one man and one woman, as well as recruiting volunteers to work for the ballot measure, Hoffman also chided the Catholic Church for being too "politically correct" about "homosexual marriage", while praising a protestant community church in Warroad:
Dean: . . .Many won't like it, what I have to say, saying I was too indelicate,
well, how's being delicate worked for everybody, tell us about the
right, the church, what has been their part to play in this defeat?
Hoffman:
Well, I think that they've played a huge part, um, in the defeat. They
have been so cowed by political correctness that they are not speaking
morals and moral values and following God's Word from the pulpit and our
young people are walking away from the church in droves.
You
know, is that a product of they're bored in church, is that a product
of, you know, [chuckles] I went to church every Sunday when I was
growing up, that's just the way it was in our house, I didn' have a
choice in the matter. Are we trying to be too friendly with our kids
and not be their parents, I mean there's just a whole host of things but
I will tell you, I went to church and I'm a Catholic.
I went to
church the Sunday before the election, I mean I always do, but
especially I try not to miss the Sunday before elections, you know
Catholics are supposed to go every Sunday and I listened to what the
priest in my church said and there was no talk of gay marriage,
homosexual marriage--I'm trying to take back the language as well--there
was no talk in my Catholic Church against homosexual marriage. At the
end of the service he made a small mention to vote pro-life and that was
it.
And so when we have churches that are being cowed because of
political correctness and the threat of losing their tax-free status--
Dean: Which has never happened...
Hoffman:
And I'm sure you guys know about this, the church, the pastor up in
Northern Minnesota, I think his name is Doug Booth [Gus Booth], and the IRS--
St. Paul attorney John Gilmore, who represents former Bachmann chief of staff Andy Parrish, also confirmed that his client is among those being interviewed by the FBI as a witness. “Andy Parrish has been contacted by the FBI for purposes of an interview,” Gilmore said. “That has been set up for next week and Mr. Parrish will cooperate fully.” . . .
. . .One source familiar with the FBI inquiry said an agent from the bureau’s public integrity section expressed interest in campaign finance allegations contained in a Federal Election Commission (FEC) complaint brought by whistleblower Peter Waldron, a Florida pastor who worked on the Bachmann presidential campaign in Iowa.
. . . In an affidavit to the Iowa Senate earlier this month, [Iowa State Senator Kent] Sorenson denied being paid directly or indirectly by any “Bachmann entities.” That contradicts an earlier affidavit from Parrish describing an “arrangement” to pay Sorenson through Short’s company. Parrish’s affidavit said Bachmann was aware of the arrangement, but thought it was legal. . . .
Read it and weep at the Star Tribune
Bluestem is curious about the status of Bachmann's seat should the investigations mature. As readers may recall, Bachmann barely won in the 2012 election, beating DFL challenger Jim Graves by 4,296 votes in a district where Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney received nearly 6 percentage points of the vote than she.
We've heard and read rumors that many Republicans wish she would retire. That set Bluestem to wondering how the GOP could find a candidate who isn't a client of John Gilmore. Perhaps Tom Emmer would be interested in the job.
At two in the morning, the Minnesota House finally took up the bill to allow home-based childcare providers and personal care attendants to organize and vote on union representation.
Thank you Mr. Speaker and Members. What I'd like to do with this amendment is to require all signatures for the [union] solicitation materials to be printed in at least 14 point font. I'd like to avoid fine print. Smaller type can be hard on the eyes and even cause headaches according to the National Institute on Aging.
We do have an example of this in statute with park closings . . ."using the closure statements the following language must include in a font no smaller than 14 points." So I would just like to include that for the first part here on the childcare signatures.
It's a good amendment and I would urge your support on this one.
Make type size at least 12 point, 13 point, or 14 point.
Type that is too small can be hard on the eyes and can even cause a
headache. When selecting a type size, keep in mind that some fonts are
naturally bigger than others. For example, look at Georgia vs. Times New
Roman. Both of these fonts are in 13 point type size and yet Georgia is
bigger. Use 14 point type size when working with smaller fonts, like
Times New Roman. Headings should be even larger so they will stand out.
If your audience has low vision, consider using larger fonts, like 16
point or 18 point. However, for older readers who do not have low vision
problems, font sizes that are too large (greater than 14 point) may be
difficult to read. [emphasis added]
Throughout the debate, Republicans stood up against fine print on union materials. Former English teacher Sondra Erickson discussed her bonafides as a graphic designer, for example.
Bluestem applauds the offensive on fine print and looks forward to Ron Kresha, Mary Franson, graphic designer Sondra Erickson, Joyce Peppin and other members of the Republican House Caucus standing up for readability in all documents that Minnesotans may have occasion to read in the course of business.
A modest proposal on large type format equality
Let us suggest that not only union organizing documents, but all terms and conditions, contracts and other documents distributed by banks, consumer credit companies, mortgaged lenders, payday lenders and pawnbrokers be printed in 14 pt type. Or larger.
Indeed, given the urgency of this issue, first pressed by Republicans at 2:00 a.m. this morning, we're shocked that they haven't proposed this before. (The amendment was withdrawn after much discussion).
Unless the early morning fantods over fonts was simply time-wasting concern trolling, the Republican House caucus should have golden opportunity today to demonstrate their commitment to Reader Rights and Liberty.
Will the House Republican Caucus be bold, bold we say, and ask that the House rules on amendments be suspended, and ask their colleagues from across the aisle to require banks and mortgage lenders to produce all home loans, mortgages, and documents related to foreclosures, loan modifications, and evictions in at least 14 point size type, regardless of the font?
Surely, if Kresha's crusade is worthing of imposing on organized labor, banks and other lenders deserve big honking print as well.
At Bluestem's request, our friends at The Uptake are pulling the video of this morning's Fontgate debate. We'll post it here when it is available.
A conference committee has approved a plan to improve habitat for bees and other pollinators.
Pollinators around the country are
suffering from a complex set of problems that is causing their numbers
to plummet. This could hurt agriculture, which relies on insects to
pollinate crops.
Rep. Jeanne Poppe, DFL-Austin,
sponsored a bill that requires the Department of Natural Resources and
the Department of Agriculture to ensure they keep pollinators in mind as
they are restoring habitat.
One way to help is by choosing plants to ensure there is always something blooming.
"We have bees that have colony
collapse. We have bees that are impacted by pesticides. We have just a
reduction in the number of pollinators, so this is an attempt to say
throughout the state we have the right habitat," Poppe said. . . .
As farmers get underway with their spring planting, some bee farmers in Minnesota are already counting their losses.
In the last couple days one major producer reported that thousands of honey bees suddenly died.
In 2005, Minnesota was the sixth largest honey producer in the
nation. But since 2006, millions of bee colonies have died off in
Minnesota and across the nation. ...
The
service that bees and other pollinators provide allows nearly 70 percent
of all flowering plants to reproduce; the fruits and seeds from insect
pollinated plants account for over 30 percent of the foods and beverages
that we consume. Beyond agriculture, pollinators are keystone species in
most terrestrial ecosystems. Fruits and seeds derived from insect
pollination are a major part of the diet of approximately 25 percent of
all birds, and of mammals ranging from red-backed voles to grizzly
bears. However, many of our native bee pollinators are at risk, and the
status of many more is unknown. Habitat loss, alteration, and
fragmentation, pesticide use, and introduced diseases all contribute to
declines of bees.
Republicans joked about a "buzzkill" in their tweets about the legislation written by the Austin-based chair of the Ag Policy committee. Apparently, they had no idea about the job-killing consequences of bee loss as they droned on to themselves.
Here's the CBS-MN clip:
Photo: A honeybee helping out an apple grower.
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In her latest newspaper column updating her constituents, Franson (or the hapless minority communications staff person who may have drafted this) channels the great American horror writer H.P. Lovecraft, morphing the limbs of her majority caucus colleagues into those of the children of Cthulhu.
The legislative session is coming to a
close and the tentacles of Democrat legislators are out and reaching to
extract the hard-earned dollars out of your wallet! . . .
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.
This may be difficult to believe, but as a long-term school board member, I do not make this statement lightly. I have personal experience as a board member, where state statutes were changed and eventually school curriculum and speech had to conform. I was then chided for public comments on school issues when I used terminology that was not politically correct.
. . .With regularity Mr. Gruenhagen inserts his own biases into school
board meetings with not the least provocation. Abortion, homosexuality,
safe sex, evolution and countless other topics that do not appear on
the school board’s agenda are brought to the fore, repeatedly, and
forced onto unsuspecting school board members, administrators and
individuals in the viewing audience. To do so is rude, a violation of
school board decorum, a waste of attendees’ time and a disruption in
the flow of otherwise quality public meetings. He ignores the expert
advice of the superintendent of schools, two architectural firms, a
construction management firm ... Incredible! . . .
Jodi Braband, Doug Grams, Loren Mathews, Nancy Morris, Mark Rudy Glencoe-Silver Lake School Board
The link to the Glencoe paper at the earlier Bluestem post doesn't work anymore, but a diligent researcher could find it in a copy of the print edition.
In other countries and in the state of Massachusetts, where gay marriage has become the law, we have observed that citizens who would not succumb to politically correct speech have been charged with hate crimes and their parental rights infringed upon. (See www.massresistance.com for more information.)[Link is live in original MCC post online]
When signed, this bill will become the law of our state. We are a nation of laws, however we still have the right as citizens, parents and school officials to passively resist the gay agenda coming into our schools.
MassResistance is a Waltham, Massachusetts-based anti-gay group[4][5] that promotes socially conservative positions on issues relating to homosexuality, abortion, anti-bullying, gun control, the transgender community and same-sex marriage.
It was founded by Brian Camenker in 1995 as the Parents' Rights
Coalition, and in 2003 it changed its name to Article 8 Alliance. It
adopted its current name, MassResistance, in 2006.[3][6]
MassResistance's activism takes several forms, including promoting its views via its website, blog, email, lobbying, and voters' guides.[7][8][9][10][11]
The group has been critical of former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney for maintaining moderate positions on LGBT rights during his term as governor.[8][12] The Southern Poverty Law Center has designated MassResistance an anti-gay hate group,
in part for its claim that suicide prevention programs aimed at gay
youth were "put together by homosexual activists to normalize
homosexuality".[3][5]
In 1996 MassResistance's leader, Brian Camenker claimed that suicide prevention
programs aimed at gay youth actually were “put together by homosexual
activists to normalize homosexuality”. MassResistance also asserted that
groups such as the Gay, Lesbian and Straight Education Network (GLSEN),
which support school anti-bullying programs, actually want to "lure
children into homosexuality and, very possibly, sadomasochism".[3]
MassResistance has also insisted that gays were "trying to get legislation passed to allow sex with animals", later adding, "They [gays and lesbians] are pushing perversion on our kids".[3]
MassResistance has made claims that no homosexuals died in the The Holocaust of World War II, that the "pink triangle the Nazis
forced imprisoned gays to wear actually signified Catholic priests",
and that "gays are dangerous to kids". They have also made comments
regarding "skyrocketing homosexual domestic violence"[3][30] and called a gay pride
event a "depraved" display that featured "a great deal of obviously
disturbed, dysfunctional, and extremely self-centered people whose aim
was to push their agenda".[3]
If that's where the Glencoe Republican gets his information when he goes online, no wonder he's so afraid. Gruenhagen goes on in his column to cite one "self-confessed homosexual" coming after his religious rights:
As an example of this threat to religious liberty, University of Minnesota constitutional professor Dale Carpenter, a self-confessed homosexual, errantly wrote an editorial arguing that the religious freedoms in our Bill of Rights is “limited to the right to worship” only in our churches, instead of the current robust religious freedoms we enjoy. In truth, it is the right of each American under the Bill of Rights to act in accordance with their conscience and religious beliefs in the public square, not just in our churches. As you can see by the professors comments, the threat to religious freedoms is real.
What was Carpenter's "errancy"? Here's the editorial (the link to which Gruenhagen forgot to provide, unlike the one to the hate group) in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, Dale Carpenter: The rites and rights of marriage. Here's part of what Carpenter said:
. . . Nor is there any basis for fearing a flood of
lawsuits against religious individuals or businesses. Consider an
obvious fact: there is no right to sue simply because you don't like
what someone else believes or does. You must have a legal basis, a
"cause of action," spelled out in the law. The Minnesota Human Rights
Act ("MHRA") prohibits discrimination by businesses against people
because of their race, sex, or religion.
Since 1993, the MHRA has also prohibited businesses from
discriminating against a person based on sexual orientation in jobs,
housing, and services. In 20 years, despite what opponents predicted at
the time, there have been very few claims of such discrimination in
Minnesota. This is partly because there are comparatively few gay
people, partly because most businesses have no interest in
discriminating against customers and hard-working employees who happen
to be gay, and partly because the MHRA specifically allows religious
nonprofit associations and schools to discriminate against gays.
There is no additional cause of action provided in the marriage
bill. That's why it's puzzling that opponents claim business owners and
others with religious objections will be punished for their religious
beliefs. On what ground would a gay person sue a business owner or
religious association simply because he's now married?
If he did not have a valid claim before passage of the marriage
bill, the newly married gay person will not have one now. If a religious
organization was exempt from compliance with the MHRA before the
marriage bill, it will be exempt afterward. In case there was any doubt
about this, the marriage bill explicitly states that it "does not alter
or affect the protections or exemptions provided in" the MHRA to any
"religious association, educational institution, business, labor
organization, place of public accommodation, employer, or other person."
The exemptions in the MHRA are already among the most expansive in the
country, especially where claims of anti-gay discrimination are
concerned... .
Carpenter really didn't get into a discussion of schools, so Gruenhagen's representation of the editorial is peculiar.
It used to be that Bluestem could depend on local sources for news of toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean's latest rantings and not have to listen to his radio show ourselves. But since his lawyer initiated yet another lawsuit (we'll let Wonkette explain), those heroes of fee speech have been silenced while the legal eagles work things out.
Funny how a guy like Dean who describes himself as a son of liberty works that way.
Minnesota-based Religious Right activist/rock star Bradlee Dean went
ballistic on his radio show yesterday in response to his state’s new
marriage equality law. Dean warned that Gov. Mark Dayton, who signed the
same-sex marriage bill into law, is at “war with God” and is “about to
find out what it’s like as to what the fallout is when you throw rocks
towards God, he’s going to learn how gravity works.” He added that
Maryland Gov. Martin O’Malley, who backed his state’s marriage equality
law, and other pro-gay rights “criminals” will face divine justice as
well.
Listen to the audio at RRW. Tashman points to some classic Dean schtick:
Dean even seems to believe that every gay person in the country
showed up for yesterday’s celebration of the marriage equality law in
order to “push their propaganda and their agendas on the American
people,” just as Saul Alinsky commanded.
“They come from all over the country to do this so what you’ve seen
was probably the whole lump of the population of the homosexual
community in the United States of America,” Dean said. . . .
Dude, I've already bore my cross. It's called the prayer that rocked the capitol. I''ve already done my part. I was asked to step up by the Minnesota Family Council. Nothing but a bunch of spineless capitulators, burned hippies that think they're all that and a bag of chips, and yesterday we found that the bag of chips was open and they were stepped on.
But I was really happy to hear that they were in a room in the capitol praying to Je-s-us that he would come and do something for them that he himself commanded them to do, but they're unwilling to do what God called them to do and then they wonder why they continuously get . . . the backwards results that they continuously get.
Why are we losing the day? Because you're not man enough to stand up and play the man, you're not willing to bear your cross and therein lies the problem.
We can't thank RRW for bearing the cross of monitoring Dean now that the locals can do so no longer.
In the meantime we'll wait to see just what the devil Dean means when he says,"play the man." That may explain a great deal already.
Screenshot: Dean praying at the Minnesota House. The prayer, which questioned the President's faith, was stricken from the record.
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Bachmann: It’s no secret that our nation may very well
be experiencing the hand of judgment. It’s no secret that we all are
concerned that our nation may be in a time of decline. If that is in
fact so, what is the answer? The answer is what we are doing here today:
humbling ourselves before an almighty God, crying out to an almighty
God, saying not of ourselves but you, would you save us oh God? We
repent of our sins, we turn away from them, we seek you, we seek your
ways. That’s something that we’re doing today, that we did on the
National Day of Prayer, it’s something that we have chosen to do as well
on another landmark day later this year on September 11. Our nation has
seen judgment not once but twice on September 11. That’s why we’re
going to have ‘9/11 Pray’ on that day. Is there anything better that we
can do on that day rather than to humble ourselves and to pray to an
almighty God?
Lovely. Perhaps Minnesotans need a rhetorical Patriot Guard to shield us from this sort of nonsense?
Here's the video:
Photo: Some Westboro Baptist signs.
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Here in Minnesota, we've always taken pride in our women being strong, the men good-looking and our children above average.
States like New Jersey were the butt of jokes.
Thus, it's a blow to our Minnesota exceptionalism to read that NJ.com has named the Gentlewoman from Minnesota's Sixth the newpaper chain's "Knucklehead of the Week."
But we in the “Knucklehead of the Week” department like to make our own selections, Governor. Thanks for the tip, though.
As for Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-Minn.), it’s a wonder she made it
through the 2011-12 GOP presidential debates without a “knucklehead”
nod. She’s made a political career of making stuff up.
This week, we’re putting her back in the spotlight. Bachmann — a tea
party darling — recently claimed she voted against the federal budget
sequester because it would cut funding for the poor, and programs such
as Head Start and Meals on Wheels. As Mitt Romney liked to say, “We’re
not going to let our campaign be dictated by fact-checkers.”
In Bachmann’s case, the fact-checkers at the Washington Post are calling shenanigans.
She indeed voted against the sequester, but there’s no evidence she
warned against its “calamities,” as she claimed. What’s more, she
actually argued for deeper cuts to those poor-friendly programs.
Bachmann is currently the focus of a formal ethics investigation on
an unrelated matter, so she’s got bigger fish to fry. But we’re happy
she was able to brighten an otherwise slow week in the “Knucklehead”
department.
Bluestem is just wondering when they'll catch on to Bachmann understudies Glenn Gruenhagen and Cindy Pugh.
Photo: Michele Bachmann speaking at CPAC 2013.
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Hours after meeting with Representative Michelle Bachmann (R-CD6), Minnesota Latino immigrants remain hopeful, but cautious.
While grateful for an opportunity to discuss the issue of immigration reform with Representative Bachmann, members of organization La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles were disappointed that Representative Bachmann had opened up the meeting to an out-of-state congressperson whose comments in the meeting were inappropriate. While Representative Bachmann may believe that others are experts at the topic at hand, La Asamblea members believe that Representative Bachmann should be an expert in attempting to understand the experiences of her constituents.
However, La Asamblea members do applaud Representative Bachmann for agreeing to continue listening to stories and constituent perspectives regarding immigration reform. . .
The press release went on to praise the tone of the meeting:
"The meeting had a very positive tone of building bridges between the Latino community and Mrs. Bachmann. At the meeting, we had the impression that freedom for many immigrants is closer and we made it clear to her that the Latinos have a growing voting muscle in politics that we are ready to use," said Pablo Tapia, La Asamblea organizer.
Bluestem has learned that the other member of Congress was Alabama representative Mo Brooks, who serves his state's fifth congressional district on the Tennessee border.
Update: Bluestem's original post was not clear about the logistics of the meeting, which took place in Minnesota with Bachmann and one of her Washington staff members. Brooks joined the meeting via speaker phone. [end update]
Brooks 2011 statement: "I will doing anything short of shooting" undocumented workers
"As your congressman on the House floor, I will do anything short of
shooting them," Brooks said. "Anything that is lawful, it needs to be
done because illegal aliens need to quit taking jobs from American
citizens."
Rep. Charlie Gonzalez, (D-Texas) head of the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, blasted Brooks remarks.
"Rhetoric referencing acts of violence has no place in the
discussion for realistic solutions to our country's immigration
problems," Gonzalez said. "Words have consequences"
Brooks 2.0: Gentler anti-immigrant rhetoric in 2013
We don't know yet what "inappropriate" comments Brooks made in the recent meeting, but he's one of a handful of congress people who have been critical of current bipartisan efforts to move comprehensive immigration reform.
His rhetoric does seem to have mellowed in the last two years.
After the media reported that an immigration deal among the Senate’s Gang of Eight was imminent, a number of conservatives in the House told their leadership on Wednesday that they didn’t want to get steamrolled by the upper chamber.
Rep. Mo Brooks (R-Ala.) told The Hill, “We probably won’t know anything until a bill is drafted and presented.
“Keep in mind, it’s just eight people. It’s not sanctioned by anybody,” he noted, adding “it’s going to be very difficult for me to agree to ratify illegal conduct.”
. . .With both groups seemingly close to producing legislation, King and
the others believe it’s time for them to make their voices heard before
the momentum becomes overwhelming.
“We’ve held our powder dry,” King said, but “decided its time
to come forward now because we are seeing the inertia and we are
concerned about having this wash over us and not have the opportunity
for the constitutional conservatives in this country and in this
Congress to have their voice heard.”
A group of Republican House members led by Iowa Rep. Steve King spoke forcefully in opposition to a mass legalization before first solving the problem of illegal immigration at an event with reporters Thursday. . . .
Alabama Republican Rep. Mo Brooks said that the immigration system should serve Americans and stressed that in terms of immigration, America “is the most compassionate nation in history when it comes to allowing foreigners to become citizens of our country.”
“I want to emphasize the culture that we have in America, that we welcome immigration,” he said, explaining the issue is illegal immigration.
“We have to make a choice: Are we going to have laws, or not have laws? If we are not going to have open borders then that means we have to have laws that restrict who can come and who cannot come in. And we have to enforce those laws,” Brooks said, explaining that it is only a small percentage of people “who have chosen to disregard our laws as their first act on American soil.”
He added that with so many people wishing to come to America, the country should focus on accepting the most valuable and productive people.
“I urge that we get behind an immigration policy that focuses on bringing to America those who are clearly going to be on the productive side of our economy, less likely to be on the consumptive side of our economy,” he said, adding that illegal immigrants contribute to keeping wages low and Americans out of work.
Florida Sen. Marco Rubio went on seven Sunday talk shows
to pitch a bipartisan immigration reform deal, while a handful of
Republican lawmakers famous for their wacky cable news interviews can't
get any attention. An anti-immigration "gang of six" in the House is
trying to stop the pro-immigration "gang of eight" in the Senate, The National Review's Robert Costa
reports, but hardly anyone's listening. The six are cable TV favorites:
Minnesota's Michele Bachmann, Iowa's Steve King, Texas' Louie Gohmert,
Alabama's Mo Brooks, Pennsylvania's Lou Barletta, and California's
Dana Rohrabacher. There were zero "anti-amnesty" Sunday show guests
the week before Rubio's grand tour. The most popular cable guests of
the six -- Bachmann, King, and Gohmert -- haven't been invited on cable
to talk immigration in the last three months, according to Lexis Nexis.
They complain the GOP isn't listening to them either.
In 2007, Costa explains, Republican immigration opponents "dominated
the headlines" and "scared off many Republicans who might otherwise have
supported it." Now, "the anti-legalization warriors wonder why their
party suddenly seems to be ignoring their concerns." But once the bill
comes out, he writes, "they think they, not Rubio, will be the
Republicans who shape the debate, especially on talk radio and within
the conservative movement." But that hasn't happened so far! According
to Lexis Nexis -- which, granted, doesn't have every single word uttered
on cable news -- Bachmann, King, and Gohmert haven't been able to get
much time on Fox to sell their view. They're all far more popular on
MSNBC as bad guys than on Fox as good guys.
Check out the tally sheet at the Atlantic Wire. In the National Review article, A Gang of Six Plots a Revolt Costa writes:
King and his crew are not driving the negotiations, and they
increasingly feel like outsiders within their own party. “The meetings
of the Gang of Eight and the secret meetings in the House of
Representatives — the people who have been standing up for the
Constitution and the rule of law haven’t been invited to those
meetings,” King tells the assembled group of reporters. The other
huddlers — Michele Bachmann (Minn.), Lou Barletta (Pa.), Mo Brooks
(Ala.), Louie Gohmert (Texas), and Dana Rohrabacher (Calif.) — nod and
grimace. “We’ve got all the rich guys and the elitists talking to each
other,” Rohrabacher says. “Unfortunately us regular folks don’t have
that kind of coordination.”
Brooks has long been in opposition to allowing leniency to those who
skirted the law to live in the United States. In 2011, Brooks said at a
town hall meeting that the U.S. should "do anything short of shooting them" to keep illegal aliens out of the country.
Tonight,
Brooks pointed to the financial burden illegal aliens are putting on
the economy. He said the U.S. Treasury was writing checks for about $4
billion per year in child tax credits to illegal aliens who are
submitting fraudulent tax forms. He also said that estimates in
Washington indicate illegal aliens are contributing $20 million per year
to the tax system while consuming $100 million per year in taxes.
He acknowledged, however, that his views on immigration are "in the minority" in Washington. Immigration reform, including the amnesty program, has been a rare issue receiving bipartisan support.
Brooks' expertise: caucus memberships
It's curious that Bachmann would invite a member of the Gang of Six to meet with Minnesotans on immigration reform, since that might chill the discussion. Brooks was the author of the died-in-committee "Jobs for Americans Act of 2011."
The caucuses favor closed borders, withholding all federal funding to
cities that do not strictly enforce federal immigration status laws,
and other measures generally characterized as anti-immigrant by those
seeking comprehensive immigration reform.
Research on immigrants and job creation
While Brooks' central assertion--that undocumented workers rob Americans of jobs--is a staple of anti-immigrant talking points, the record is mixed. The New York Times Magazine asked in 2012 Do Illegal Immigrants Actually Hurt the U.S. Economy?, noting:
. . .Labor economists have concluded that
undocumented workers have lowered the wages of U.S. adults without a
high-school diploma — 25 million of them — by anywhere between 0.4 to
7.4 percent.
The impact on everyone else, though, is surprisingly positive. Giovanni
Peri, an economist at the University of California, Davis, has written a
series of influential papers comparing the labor markets in states with
high immigration levels to those with low ones. . . . In states with more undocumented immigrants, Peri said, skilled
workers made more money and worked more hours; the economy’s
productivity grew. From 1990 to 2007, undocumented workers increased
legal workers’ pay in complementary jobs by up to 10 percent.
As Congress considers immigration reform, experts across the political spectrum say American jobs are safe.
That
immigrants take the jobs of American-born citizens is “something that
virtually no learned person believes in,” Alex Nowrasteh, an immigration
expert at the libertarian Cato Institute, said at a Thursday panel.
“It’s sort of a silly thing.”
Most economists don’t find immigrants driving down wages or jobs, the Brookings Institution's
Michael Greenstone and Adam Looney wrote in May. In fact, “on average,
immigrant workers increase the opportunities and incomes of Americans,”
they write. Foreign-born workers don’t affect the employment rate
positively or negatively, according to a 2011 analysis
from the conservative American Enterprise Institute. And a study
released Wednesday by the liberal Center for American Progress suggests
that granting legal status to undocumented workers might even create
jobs.
The CAP study,
led by the visiting head of the Washington College economics
department, sought to predict what would happen under immigration
reform. The researchers considered a handful of scenarios. In each, it
was presumed that the nation’s 11 million undocumented immigrants would
be immediately granted legal status. They then looked at the effect of
those undocumented immigrants not being granted citizenship at all over a
decade, getting it immediately, or getting it in five years.
Legal
status alone would lead to the creation of 121,000 extra jobs annually
over the next 10 years, they found. Getting citizenship within five
years would increase that to 159,000 jobs per year. And receiving both
legal status and citizenship this year would create an extra 203,000
jobs annually.
Photo: Alabama Congressman Mo Brooks, Michele Bachmann's go-to guy for meetings with Minnesota Latinos advocating comprehensive immigration reform.
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Back during the Republican Revolution in the 1990s, the drive to cut wages by weakening overtime took the form of then Senator John Ashcroft's "Family Friendly Workplace Act," but the principle was the same: allow private business to offer workers the supposedly voluntary option of working long hours, then taking time off rather than overtime. Nevermind that loophole that might allow management to schedule an employee for 60 hours one week, 20 hours the next, without receiving either comp time or overtime.
That was the 1990s version of family-friendly, because moms especially want time off and don't care so much about their paychecks, or so the "family friendly" narrative goes.
Say what
you will, but anti-worker politicians are good at giving deceptive names
to things. “Right to work” takes away your rights at work. “Paycheck
protection” puts your wages at risk. And who could forget Paul Ryan’s
plan to “strengthen Medicare” which ends Medicare as we know it.
House Republicans are pushing the “Workplace Families Flexibility Act of 2013,”
which they claim would allow busy working parents to spend more time
with their kids. That’s bogus. The bill replaces the 40-hour work week
with a “comp time” accrual system that would allow employers greater control over their hourly employee’s schedule.
What’s worse? The bill ends ”time-and-a-half” overtime pay for hourly
and non-exempt workers as we know it, giving renewed incentive for
businesses to work their employees as long as they want with near
impunity.
In other words, the bill does the opposite of what House Republicans say it will. . . .
Check out the deets in the post. Here in Minnesota's Seventh District, we'll be seeing web ads urging Blue Dog Democrat Collin Peterson to enlist in the Republican War on Women's paychecks. (Peterson's already in with the attack on reproductive rights and raising the minimum wage).
The National Republican Congressional Committee is demanding vulnerable House Democrats "support more freedom for working moms" in new web ads, a sign the committee is trying to improve the party's standing with female voters.
The ads call on Democrats to back the GOP-drafted "Working Families Flexibility Act," which would allow employers to give comp time for overtime hours rather than pay employees for them. The bill will likely be voted on in the House next week...
But a spokester for the D-Trip flipped the narrative:
Democrats fired back, pointing out that most House Republicans voted against the Lily Ledbetter Fair Pay Act and the Violence Against Women Act.
"House Republicans wish women voters would forget their past and ignore their agenda, but women voters are too smart for that," said Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee spokeswoman Emily Bittner. "This Republican Congress has been the most extreme, anti-woman legislature in American history with an agenda to deny women equal pay, quality health care services and even domestic violence protections. If Republicans think their problem is the style of their marketing campaign — not the substance they're selling — they've missed the message of the 2012 elections.
Bluestem hopes that Peterson can stuff his latent Republican tendencies back in the closet with his boots and resist the urge to cut working moms' paychecks.
Photo: Blue Dog Seventh District Congressman Collin Peterson.
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In a recent radio interview broadcast by KDIO, Ortonville mayor Steve Berkner inveighed against "intimidation tactics" that had supposedly by used by "special interest" opponents of the Strata Mining Corporation's plan to open a granite quarry in a cow pasture that contains some of Big Stone County's namesake granite outcroppings.
Those tactics? "Busing in" people, carrying signs, chanting, swearing, pounding on tables, grandstanding. For this, Berkner cautions that the city attorney and Ortonville police have been ordered to prevent "intimidation" at the next hearing about Stata, on May 7. Berkner encouraged citizens to submit written remarks, since apparently speaking in public at hearings can be confrontational.
Now, Bluestem attended a number of the zoning and county board hearings on the matter last year, and doesn't remember seeing anyone being "bused in." As for the signs, those carrying them in February 2012 did sing on their way from the Land Stewardship Project's office in Clinton to a zoning meeting about a block and a half away, but set them outside before entering the hearing.
Law enforcement officials were present at that meeting and others, but that's not unusual for large public meetings. Berkner was accusing outside "special interests" (apparently Land Stewardship Project, which maintains a local foods program in Western Minnesota and Clean Up the River Environment, an Upper Minnesota River Valley watershed restoration group based in Montevideo, MN) of using "intimidation tactics," although he doesn't name names.
Since the singing sign carriers and those speaking at the meetings all seemed rather decorous, Bluestem contacted Big Stone County Sheriff John Haukos to see if his department had received complaints or reports of bad behavior. After reviewing his records, Haukos returned our call. No complaints or reports had been filed, although the presence of deputies at meetings were duly recorded.
Indeed, Sheriff Haukos, who had attended many of the meetings, thought that they could be models of public discussion of an issue. He had not observed swearing, pounding of fists, or any such behavior that could be charactized as "intimidation," although he did watch one confrontational exchange after a zoning meeting in Clinton between a citizen and a county commissioner. He determined that the exchange wasn't going to escalate and moved on.
Since Bluestem was there, we too observed that verbal jousting between Dakota scholar Waziyata Win, who lives in the Yellow Medicine Dakota community near Granite Falls and Big Stone County Commissioner Brent Olson. In light of Minnesota history, Bluestem hesitates to call her or the two other Dakota scholars from Marshall and South Dakota who spoke at another meeting "outsiders," however outspoken Waz might be.
Clinton resident Rebecca Terk dropped by both the Ortonville Police department and Big Stone Sheriff's office with the same question. She was told that no complaints or reports of intimidation had been made to either office during the 2012 hearing process.
It's curious that the mayor is inclined to declare opposition to a project by a North Dakota corporation to somehow be a product of "outside special interests," when signs objecting to the annexation of the pasture--since the local township where it had been situated originally enacted a moratorium on the development after residents objected--still grace lawns in his fair community. (To circumvent the township moratorium, the landowner divided his property among relatives, who petitioned to become part of the City of Ortonville; an MPR report here includes remarks by Berkner. An OAH judge ruled that only one parcel could be annexed.).
Also curious in the interview: the host's declaration that if one side doesn't want to speak about a controversy, it's best not to cover an issue at all. Bluestem was under the impression that journalistic convention held that one reported that folks were given an opportunity to present their side, but declined comment.
Indeed, the edited remarks below are characterized by a barely contained hostility toward those who might object to Strata's designs--while insisting that the public has the right to make "respectful" comments. His bar for "respectful" appears to be quite high--with no singing or signs allowed. Indeed, if only people could just write their comments down. That would be so much nicer. Want to speak up in Ortonville? Better meet Mayor Berkner's guidelines for form, presentation and content.
And if Strata Corporation decides to never comment to the press, why the nice respectful radio lady simply wouldn't have to report on anything that happens at all.
Here's the selected audio about the idea of order in Ortonville, drawn from a longer 20-minute interview.. Short fades mark the edits and photo is of Berkner, then a city council member, at a public information hearing held in Ortonville by the Ortonville Township board of supervisors.
Photo: Signs wait outside a Big Stone County planning and zoning board hearing in Clinton, Minnesota in February 2012. Ortonville Mayor Steve Berkner has labeled these signs an "intimidation tactic." Bluestem doesn't find the message "Outcrops Mean Tourism $" to be all that scary, but perhaps the mayor has a much different comfort zone than Bluestem and local law enforcement. (Photo by Rebecca Terk) Below: an anti-annexation sign in an Ortonville lawn last fall.
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Bluestem had some errands to do in Montevideo Saturday and so joined about 75 other people at the Minnesota For Marriage (M4M) road show rally in the parking lot of St. Joseph's Catholic Church.
Judging from media reports last weekend, yesterday's spiels from the in-state talent that M4M had packed on the wrappered RV were pretty much the standard arguments the group makes.
Morse was flown in from San Diego, California's second largest city and the eighth largest in the United States, to tell citizens in Chippewa County, Minnesota (population 12,135) that we should so not let our fellow Minnesotans living in the metro areas push us around (since she used the plural, Bluestem assumes she also meant the fleshpots of Cook, St. Louis, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Olmsted, Rice, and Winona Counties as well as the scary Twin Cities where most of the state's residents live).
Along the way, Morse tried relating to her audience by making references to hunting and livestocking farming, while weaving in an anti-divorce, anti-choice, and anti-equality message that predicted the end of marriage entirely if we let cuteboys have it. Her central assertion? Reciting Maggie Gallagher's claim that the "chief public purpose of marriage" was the production and regulation of offspring, Morse also insisted that the only argument that supporters of the freedom to marry made was that folks like her are bigots who are mean to cute boys in love.
And that's where the hunting earphones came in. Morse suggested that anti-freedom advocates silence the voices of their opponents by putting on metaphorical electronic ear protection to filter out those who don't agree with them:
. . .I was told that there might be a few hunters in an area like this and so I brought my ear protectors. I'm not a hunter myself. Do you guys have these sort of ear protectors? They're very snazzy. You can turn they on and they block out the noise, they block out a big loud noise like when you shoot your gun, it blocks out--you guys know what I'm talking about here?
Good, good, good. People in San Diego have no idea what I'm talking about. But I can hear you because I've turned up the volume on my little headset here. You can hear what you want, but you block out the noise.
Now why would I wear earprotectors to a marriage rally? Because there's a lot of noise in the marriage debate. You know what I'm talking about? Everytime somebody says, "You're a bigot," that's just noise. That is just noise. That is designed to keep you--when somebody says that, what happens? You go Ohh! . . .you suddenly immediately recoil, just like the shotgun going off in your ear.
So you have to do something to stop the noise, so you can think. And the people on the other side are very deliberate and intentional from keeping the subject away from the subject. Instead of the subject being, "What is marriage and why do we need it?," the subject is, "What's wrong with you guys that you're so mean to us and that you're on the wrong side of history?" That's what they want to talk about.
Did we mention she isn't from Minnesota? Bluestem also suspects that Morse never attended the Ozarks Famous Writers School, or she'd never have pulled out a howler of an analogy like that one.
It's fascinating how much folks like Morse talk about the word "bigot." Early on in the drive to defeat the amendment to restrict the freedom to marry, Bluestem's friend (and Thug in Pastels blogger) Javier Morillo-Alicea, a Minnesotans United for All Families board member, explained how the use of the word wasn't particularly helpful or descriptive, since while many people might be uncomfortable with the notion of marriage equality, that discomfort does not a bigot make.
In interviews before and after
Tuesday's results were known, key participants focused on these factors:
• Allies: From its beginning,
Minnesotans United for All Families sought to build a diverse,
nonpartisan coalition. It avoided confrontation and steered clear of
blunt words like "bigotry" and "discrimination."
• Faith: Although the side pushing
the marriage amendment enjoyed substantial support from Catholic and
evangelical churches, opponents of the amendment actively recruited help
from other faith communities. Several organizers put it this way: "We
refused to cede the religious ground."
• Money: Minnesotans United raised
more than $12 million for the drive to defeat the amendment. The
campaign dwarfed its opposition, both in the dollars raised and in the
number of donors named.
• Time: Opponents of the marriage
amendment had a full year and a half to organize and mobilize their
supporters. In fact, they had longer than that, because the effort to
ban same-sex marriage had made no secret of its existence ahead of time.
That's what Morse wants to filter out, and it illustrates why Morse's faux-folksie analogy about electronic ear protection misses the mark. Bluestem's editor loves shooting, and so knows that the voices of those around you aren't the shotgun blasts the ear protection gear filter out. It's your own gun firing that's likely to deafen you.
Indeed, Morse seems only able to hear her own thoughts and not the discussion in Minnesota.
Could Morse be a bigot? Bluestem would argue that her bigotry or lack thereof is immaterial to the debate. Fairness, respect and equal treatment are
positive public virtues, and the case for the freedom to marry is made
on this positive basis. It's not a repayment for insult and injury, like a tort claim, or a rebuke to Morse's personal cruelties, but rather an acknowledgement of full citizenship and fairness toward all citizens to acknowledge the claims of gay men and lesbians to marry the people they love.
As for the "essential public purpose of marriage," Morse can pretend that the conversation hasn't happened, as did Maggie Gallagher, with whom the phrase is most frequently associated online. But as The American Prospect's E.J. Graff wrote in What's the "Chief Purpose" of Marriage?:
. . . same-sex couples are following, not leading, the variety of changes in marriage's public meaning that were made by capitalism between 1850 and 1970—the time span between Anthony Comstock's anti-obscenity crusade and the paired Supreme Court decisions of Griswold and Eisenstadt. In addition, I would not agree that
the most important of these changes in marriage law and public
philosophy is snipping the link between sex and babies; that's just one
of them. Some of the other changes include formal gender equality, which
was won by the mid-1970s; and divorce with remarriage, which implies
that marriage is for love rather than being a lifetime sex-and-labor
contract, and therefore unbreakable. You believe that adding same-sex
couples to marriage is what really snips the link between sex and babies. I don't.
Later in the video below, Morse condemns divorce and reproductive choice, while going so far as to claim the freedom to marry will eliminate the institution entirely. It's one big plot or something.
Morse also tried to get folksy with a coy, nearly sniggering suggestion about rural and metro people having different understandings about where babies come from:
Every known society has something like marriage that attaches mothers and fathers to their children and one another. Now as soon as you see that that is the public purpose, the essential public purpose of marriage, then you can see right away that a same sex couple is different from an opposite sex couple with respect to that purpose. Can everybody see that?
It's basic biology. And I'm sure out here in a farm community, you all know how this works with the men and the women [she moves her hands back and forth while the audience guffaws] that stuff. Back in the metro area....ehhhhh, maybe not so clear on that, but out here, you all know how this works.
Bluestem suspects that Morse hasn't been to a modern livestock farm anytime recently to make that assertion--since sows and cows are artificially inseminated--or that she knows much about "the metro" either. Perhaps Rod Hamilton could give her a tour of a boar stud farm and farrowing unit if she wants to bring this up; as Harpers contributor Nathaniel Johnson wrote, it's a Swine of the Times in rural America.
Morse code: no stranger to controversy
One friend suggested that it might be a sign of M4M's desperation that it flew Morse in. Her most recent turn in the headlines was an almost Kluwesque turn, when the Chicago Bears and former linebacker Brian Urlacher ran from a Morse fundraising effort. The Chicago Tribune reported in the early April 2013 article, Urlacher, Bears reject link to group opposing same-sex-marriage:
The Bears and former linebacker Brian Urlacher denied any involvement
Wednesday with the Ruth Institute -- an affiliate of the National
Organization For Marriage, which opposes same-sex marriage -- after an online promotion for the institute stated a clear involvement of the team. . . .
In an advertisement for its June gala at an upcoming conference, the
California-based group stated, "For now, you should know that we have
two fabulous raffle items from the Chicago Bears Organization (and a huge THANK YOU to the Bears for supporting our message)."
Below the statement are images of an autographed Urlacher jersey and an
autographed black-and-white photo of deceased Hall of Fame running back
Walter Payton.
"I sign a lot of stuff for charity and I don't
always know where it goes," Urlacher told the Tribune. "If I would have
known it was for this cause, I wouldn't have done it."
Payton's
older brother Eddie Payton said he did not know of any memorabilia
regarding his brother used to support an anti-gay marriage group.
"This is the first I've heard of it," said Payton, a former NFL
kick returner. "Walter treated everybody equal. … Only Walter could
speak for himself, but it's a touchy subject. It should be a
non-subject."
The Bears issued a statement, saying "The two items
featured in The Ruth Institute gala invitation were personal donations
to (President) Dr. Jennifer Roback Morse. Neither was a club donation,
nor do they represent the team's view on any social issues. Any remarks
stating otherwise are false."
Reached by phone Wednesday
afternoon, Morse initially declined comment. But her website later
dropped all references to the Bears at the team's request, and Morse
issued a statement: "The Ruth Institute is not working with the Chicago
Bears organization or any of its players past or present to promote our
upcoming auction. The memorabilia we are auctioning off was acquired by
me personally, not through the team or players. We understand that the
Chicago Bears organization takes no position on social issues, and we
regret any confusion we may have caused on this point." . . .
Photo: Morse in Montevideo, tweeted by M4M. After watching the event, I wrote Andrew Falk, my state representative and asked him to vote "yes" on the Clark bill to legalize the freedom to marry for all loving adult couples. Video: Shot by Sally Jo Sorensen. Please credit Bluestem Prairie.
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While winter's pale blue eyes linger on here in Chippewa County, signs of spring are making a tentative entrance: a wren taking shelter in the garage during an ice storm, Tundra Swans wondering if this might be the place, a puzzled Yellow-Rumped Warbler perplexed by the snow, and this cycle's announcement by the National Republican Congressional Committee (NRCC) that Blue Dog Representative Collin Peterson is high on its list of targets.
In its first targeted campaign of the season, the National Republican Congressional Committee, the campaign arm of House Republicans, aired televised attack ads this month against Rep. Collin Peterson, D-Minn. — more than 18 months before voters go to the polls.
The ads attempted to tie Peterson to President Obama and his health care reform law, the Affordable Care Act, both unpopular in his sprawling rural district. “Instead of voting to balance the budget, he voted to spend $1.8 trillion on Obamacare,” a narrator said in the ad.
Peterson did not vote for the Affordable Care Act, but voted against its repeal. He also voted against the House Republican budget, which brings federal spending in line with revenues over 10 years.
Peterson laughed off the attack. “They don’t have anybody else to go after,” he said. “It’s kind of ridiculous, but whatever.” . . .
. . .The NRCC spent $2,000 on the early ad campaign against Peterson, which is a paltry sum, said John Geer, a political scientist at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tenn. “It’s just not that much money.”
We're hoping that former state senator and ethically-challenged tweep Kvetchin' Gretchen Hoffman runs. Not because this would help the Republican Party's odds, but because Bluestem could revive our Tales of Hoffman series. She's rich, she's crabby, and she's from North Dakota. What's not for the RNC to love?
And then there's the press release, which is crystal clear about Peterson's offenses to humanity:
After chiding Peterson for expecting “Minnesota seniors to foot the bill for his unbalanced, irresponsible priorities,” the statement from communications director Andrea Bozek read: “Peterson owes Utah families an explanation for his poor record, and his support of wildly expensive law that hurts jobs and Utah’s seniors.”
That should provoke outrage from Biscay to Climax.
Photo: Utah, the extreme western part of Minnesota's Seventh District.
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While the Des Moines Register reports about the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee's scrutiny of the gentlewoman's presidential campaign committee capers in Michele Bachmann knew about financial deal with Sorenson, former aide alleges, the Young Americans for Freedom are using her endorsement of toxic metal Christian rocker and radio talker Bradlee Dean for a Dean event at Des Moines Community College (see image, right).
ongresswoman Michele Bachmann was aware of the financial arrangement
between an Iowa senator and her presidential campaign that’s now the
subject of three separate ethics investigations, according to a former
aide.
Campaign aide Andy Parrish, a confidential informant who agreed this
week to step forward to testify to the Iowa Senate Ethics Committee,
will detail an arrangement for potentially improper payments to state
Sen. Kent Sorenson, R-Milo, for presidential campaign work, his lawyer
said today.
Parrish’s testimony could bolster statements another Bachmann
campaign aide made in an ethics complaint filed in January that alleges
Sorenson violated Iowa Senate rules that prohibit senators from
accepting employment, directly or indirectly, from a political action
committee. . . .
Waldron also filed a complaint with the Federal Election Commission in
January, citing the financial arrangement with Sorenson. And the Office
of Congressional Ethics contacted Waldron in February. . . .
Putting Bachmann's name at the head of a list of endorsements for Bradlee Dean must be capable of filling a couple of rows of seats.
Bradlee Dean has really screwed up the town of Dunkerton, Iowa.
Dean and his Christian-rap-metal troupe, Junkyard Prophet, hosted a supposed "anti-bullying" assembly
at the Dunkertown high school last week that literally left some of the
kids in tears. Among the more controversial messages delivered by the
anti-gay preacher and his cronies: The average lifespan for a gay man is
42, and if women have sex before marriage, they will have "mud on their
wedding dresses."
The principal of the school has since resigned, according to the WCF Courier, though school officials say there's no connection.
Earlier this week, a collective of advocacy groups, including the American Civil Liberties Union, penned an open letter to school administrators, demanding that they be more careful about who is invited to talk to kids. . . .
That sort of attraction, in addition to ethically-challenged Bachmann's endorsement, should pack them in.
Image: A poster of April 25's coming attraction at the Des Moines Community College.
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A divorced single mother in St. Charles, who supports the freedom to marry, received a mailer yesterday from Minnesota for Marriage that she shared via Facebook.
Both sides of the M4M mail piece appeal to fear: one image features a startled blonde toddler and the text: "Which parent do I not need, my mom or my dad?," while the other carries an injunction: "Don't let the metro area force gay 'marriage' on the rest of the state," along with the command to tell Senator Matt Schmit to vote against the Dibble bill.
The quote echoes a statement by 11-year-old Grace Evans in testimony to the state legislature. (However sincere Evans was in asking the question, Bluestem believes it's a red herring, since marriage equality will not change Grace's own family).
A standard trope of the right, the metro v. rural trope roughly reflects the division of the no and yes votes on the marriage amendment, although a number of non-metro counties with larger and younger populations--Cook, St. Louis, Blue Earth, Nicollet, Olmsted, Rice, and Winona counties--voted no.
Bluestem has seen the divisive urban/rural split invoked to spook Greater Minnesota voters into picking Republicans in the past; however, the election of pro-marriage equality DFLers like Vicki Jensen in pro-amendment Steele County suggests that the issue isn't quite the 2014 or 2016 deal breaker that some are suggesting a yes vote might be.
Nor have M4M rallies drawn throngs in rural Minnesota, as we noted in Greater MN leaves M4M road trip out in the cold. Another is planned for this weekend, including a stop in Montevideo. Now that we've relocated to Maynard, Bluestem will be asking our new state senator and representative to vote "yes" in honor of the RV's visit.
Our friend in St. Charles was unmoved by the appeal, and planned to call Matt Schmit to vote yes on the Dibble bill. On Facebook, she writes of the absurdity of the logic in the mailer:
Definitely--the conclusion is that if gay marriage passes, a lot of us will adopt the lifestyle, leave our heterosexual partners and establish same-sex parented households. It's ridiculous. It's a virus..wha, ha, ha. But why do they care, and who appointed them the arbiters and judges of what society should look like? Take the stye outta your own eye...your neighbor is none of your business. And a lot of those rural folk may have gay sons or daughters--big blind spot for the marriage crowd.
Another sign that a "yes" vote might not be a death knell? Tim Kelly, who had introduced a bill that would allow recognition of civil unions, now is revising the language so that it will be civil unions for everyone, PIM's Briana Bierschbach reports in New civil unions bill would remove word ‘marriage’ from law:
Kelly is revamping his proposal to allow civil unions in the state,
which previously inserted “civil unions” alongside any instance of the
word “marriage” in state statute. The bill got a cold reception from
gay marriage advocates earlier this month, but his new bill would
eliminate “marriage” from lawbooks and enshrine “civil unions” in its
place.
“The arguments [from critics] have been that I’ve created a separate
but equal definition,” Kelly said. “Over the last week and a half, that
has been the only real kickback. People said, ‘We understand what you
are trying to do, but what you haven’t done is you don’t call it the
same thing.’ By removing marriage from statute we have the same rights
for everyone.”
Gov. Mark Dayton made an impassioned case Thursday that same-sex couples should be allowed to marry in Minnesota, kicking off a frigid outdoor Capitol rally that intensified pressure on legislators to pass a marriage measure.
“Yes to marriage, yes to same-sex marriage, yes to the constitutional right, the American right, to marry the person you love,” Dayton told hundreds of cheering supporters.
The DFL-controlled Legislature is weeks away from voting on a measure that would make Minnesota the 10th state to legalize same-sex marriage. Legislators are grappling with the issue as the U.S. Supreme Court takes a closer look at restrictions on same-sex marriage.
Dayton dismissed a last-ditch proposal by opponents of same-sex marriage to offer gay and lesbian couples the protection of civil unions.
“People don’t want to be civil unioned, they want to be married,” Dayton said.
The governor urged supporters to meet with legislators and “be respectful, but be persuasive.”
Right now, neither side is declaring victory, and those involved believe the margin will be only a couple votes. That has both sides frantically meeting with undecided legislators.
Perhaps the most encouraging cameo at yesterday's rally was put in by undecided state representative Tim Faust. On Saturday, KARE-11 reported in Anti-gay marriage rally held in Hinckley:
. . .State Representative Tim Faust of Hinckley told the crowd that he was
not entirely sure why he was speaking to them since he had not decided
yet how to vote on the gay marriage bills moving through the
legislature.
"I will always, always give you the opportunity to convince me that
you're right. Always. and the problem is that I also will give the other
side the opportunity to convince me that they're right too. It goes
both ways," said Faust.
He invited those assembled to write and call him with their opinions. . . .
Rep. Tim Faust, DFL-Hinckley, has been one of the most watched members of the House on the marriage issue. He’s an undecided DFLer from a largely rural area that voted overwhelmingly for an amendment in November that would have banned same-sex marriage in the state Constitution.
A week ago, Faust had told a group of gay marriage opponents that he was unsure how he would vote.
On Thursday, Faust said for the first time that he is leaning toward legalizing same-sex marriage — even if many of his constituents disagree.
Faust stood to the side of the rally Thursday, unprotected from the sleet and rain. He said nearly all the arguments against same-sex marriage are biblical but noted that many devoted people view it the other way.
“Then the question becomes, do we have the right to impose our religious belief on others?” Faust asked. “If the reason we are arguing we shouldn’t be doing this is because of religious beliefs, it’s pretty hard to make that argument.”
Moments later, state Rep. Karen Clark walked up to Faust. The Minneapolis DFLer is a lead sponsor of the same-sex marriage legislation.
She locked arms with Faust and smiled. Then the two walked though the driving sleet back to the Capitol.
Perhaps Faust had noticed that in much worse weather than a week ago, far more people from across the state came out to speak respectfully of Minnesota values like fairness and civility than to listen to Colorado resident Glenn Stanton talked about debunked anthropology. KSTP-TV reports in Rain, Sleet, Snow Doesn't Stop Gay Marriage Rally:
When supporters of a bill legalizing gay marriage planned an outdoor
rally at the Minnesota State Capitol for April 18, they probably thought
they had a good chance for decent weather.
It turns out, they couldn't have been more wrong. Of course, no one
was predicting "spring" weather featuring rain, sleet and snow on an
almost daily basis. Despite the weather, hundreds of people showed up
to hear Governor Dayton and gay marriage bill authors voice their
support for the legislation.
Meanwhile, opponents of the gay marriage bill continue a "Minnesota for
Marriage Road Trip" across the state. This weekend a bus caravan will
make stops in Montevideo, Eden Prairie, Owatonna, Austin and Rochester . . .
Some things are just better parked by the side of the road of history.
Photos: One side of the M4M mailer (top) and the anti-gay travel route for this weekend (bottom). Call your state senator and representative and ask them to vote "Yes" for the freedom to marry.
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The article tells of the establishment of an addiction program called Reformers Unanimous at Bethel Fellowship, a nondenominational church in Minneota. Like nearly every news report about RU that Bluestem found in searching Nexis, the reporter seems to have accepted the claims made by program organizers about the efficacy of the program--and the dismissal of other programs--without fact checking.
But unlike reports about RU in the database--and statements made by the organization's national director--the local organizers claim that RU "isn't meant to bring people into the church in general."
Moreover, the broad definition of what constitutes an "addiction" might raise eyebrows.
Success rates?
In the article, program administrator Dale Johnson tells reporter Karin Elton:
"In other programs, it's one out of 10 will make it," he said. "In this
program it's eight out of 10. When I first heard about the success rate,
I thought 'this is ridiculous,' but judges have endorsed it in
Rockford, Illinois, where it started and jails let inmates out to attend
meetings. A bus picks them up and takes them there. They have a good
relationship with the courts. (The courts) are seeing the fruit. They
don't want to keep seeing the same people over and over again. America
has more people in prison than any other country."
Oh really? First off, Bluestem couldn't find any independent verification of RU's self-professed "success rate," simply the assertion repeated year after year by organizers. Since Johnson is talking about a meeting-style program, perhaps RU might
be compared to the original 12-step program, Alcoholics Anonymous.
Finding an apples-to-apples comparison is difficult, especially given the glibness of RU's assertions. A 2011 Scientific American article, Does Alcoholics Anonymous Work?, reports:
In 2006 psychologist Rudolf H. Moos of the Department of Veterans
Affairs and Stanford University and Bernice S. Moos published results
from a 16-year study of problem drinkers who had tried to quit on their
own or who had sought help from AA, professional therapists or, in some
cases, both. Of those who attended at least 27 weeks of AA meetings
during the first year, 67 percent were abstinent at the 16-year
follow-up, compared with 34 percent of those who did not participate in
AA. Of the subjects who got therapy for the same time period, 56 percent
were abstinent versus 39 percent of those who did not see a
therapist—an indication that seeing a professional is also beneficial.
Relapse rates from addiction (40 to 60%) can be compared to those
suffering from other chronic illnesses such as Type I diabetes (30 -
50%), Hypertension (50-70%) and asthma (50 to 70%). Drug addiction
should be treated like any other chronic illness, with relapse
indicating the need for renewed intervention.11
And:
A major outcomes study with 10,000 patients in both in-patient and
outpatient treatment (Hoffman & Miller) found that 90% of patients
attending AA meetings at least weekly and participating in aftercare for
one year were able to abstain from the use of any alcohol at all during
that year.14
Thus, while RU's assertions for its success rate can neither be confirmed or refuted, the dismissal of other programs isn't particularly well-grounded.
Nomeland said the program is open to anyone who has any type of
addiction - it could be drugs, pornography, gambling, eating disorders.
It isn't meant to bring people into the church in general or to Bethel,
but the parishioners are there to help [emphasis added].
Reformers Unanimous is a faith-based program that focuses on reforming
behavior by transforming our thought processes according to spiritual
principles. Since the concepts of Reformer Unanimous are faith-based,
the student has a life-time support system when integrated into a local
church in his community.
Reformers Unanimous Ministries exists to help anybody worldwide who
wishes to experience a life of victory over difficulty. This victory
is obtained and retained not through an experience of ongoing effort,
but through a once in a lifetime decision to accept Jesus Christ as
their personal Savior and a subsequent dedication to developing a
dynamic love relationship with Him.
Since the national program is fairly upfront about the importance of a local church for the individual "addict," it's curious that the Minneota staff would claim otherwise.
About those addictions
Finally, there's the matter of the omnibus "addiction" approach. Recall that Nomeland told the Independent:
Nomeland said the program is open to anyone who has any type of
addiction - it could be drugs, pornography, gambling, eating disorders.
While there's some similiarity between anorexia and bulimia and addiction, one wonders if the catch-all approach of throwing the porn "addict" in with the anorexic is the best policy. Moreover, other sources suggest that RU considers queer sexual identity an addiction to be cured.
. . . Alcohol may be legal, but it is still sinful. Marijuana may be legal in
some states, but it is still sinful. The real issue is with God. That
is all that should matter. RU Principle #1 is the only real place to
start for recovery – “If God is against it, so am I”.
. . .I can take you across this great country and introduce you to people who
have started with Principle #1 and their lives have been enriched and
transformed. No longer are they addicted to sinful homosexual ways. No
longer are they ensnared by alcohol, marijuana, or any other sinful,
controlling substances. They have been changed.
Well then. "Homosexuality" is an addiction, as well as a sin for Burks. Search the Internet a bit, and one can find examples of individuals who are in RU chapters for this "addiction." BJUnity tells the story of Jonathan Nichols, whose mother sought an RU cure for his "addiction":
. . .Before I left, my mom asked me if I would consider going to the Reformers Unanimous men’s
home in Rockford, Illinois. For those of you unfamiliar with it,
Reformers Unanimous is an “addictions ministry” that is completely Bible
based. Basically what that means is that there is no certification
necessary. Church laypeople are acting as counselors to anyone,
regardless of what he or she is struggling with. The men’s house is a
place where the extreme cases can go for more intensive Biblical
treatment. The realization that my mother saw my being me as the same
level of non-desirability as a compulsive alcoholic or serial drug user
increased my desire to leave. . .
And that men's home? While certification isn't needed, the program isn't entirely a private affair. The housing application form online includes this bit:
FOOD ASSISTANCE: Provided by state
In an effort to
further lower
program costs for our students, we have partnered with the state of Illinois
to provide food
assistance to those who qualify. Each student will be taken to the local department of human
services to be assessed for food assistance eligibility and is
required to take the necessary steps to qualify.
Food stamps? For the poor, dependence in some conservatives' thinking. For RU in-patient services, a way to a personal relationship with Jesus. Never mind the The Lies and Dangers of Reparative Therapy that HRC outlines.
One wonders what other elements of humanity RU considers "addictions," and if Minnesota's courts or social services have shuffled anyone into the three existing RU programs in Minnesota.
Private individuals have the right to signup for whatever religious healing they want, but putting this on the public's dime or time--especially in the absence of evidence-based recovery rates--might not be the best course in Minnesota.
A push by agricultural groups to avoid an
evaluation this year by the state's legislative auditor has raised red
flags for some lawmakers.
Lawmakers on Wednesday directed the Office of the Legislative
Auditor to audit agricultural commodity councils, over protests from
some of those groups that the move is unnecessary and burdensome. Rep.
Andrew Falk, DFL-Murdock, said the "rampant amount of lobbying" that
some of the councils did to have their name taken off the short list of
potential audit targets was unusual.
Rep. Rick Hansen, DFL-South St. Paul, said he's
never seen that kind of pushback in his eight years on the Legislative
Audit Commission. Amundson did not immediately respond to a request for
comment.
Falk said he's heard from several farmers who don't understand what the fees pay for and wonder if they're
being used effectively. Falk said he doesn't expect an audit to show
any wrongdoing and that the audit may merely help farmers understand how
each organization works.
Minnesota Public Radio's Tim Pugmire reports in Commission approves nine audit topics:
. . .one commission member said he found it "highly unusual" that
there was some lobbying against an evaluation of Agriculture Commodity
Councils, which the legislative Auditor hasn't taken a look at in more
than 30 years.
Rep. Andrew Falk, DFL-Murdock, said the farmers who fund the councils want to know if their money is being well spent.
"If their books are clean, and if they're doing a good job, they have nothing to fear," Falk said.
Since the councils have power to levy checkoff dollars, that's a good thing.
Photo: Corn. We grow a lot of it in Minnesota, and by statute, a check-off is allowed to be levied by a farmer-led state commodity council.
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Word comes to our new home office in sunny Maynard, Minnesota, via People for the American Way's Rightwing Watch, that Minnesotans Michele Bachman and Bradlee Dean will be taking part in the Awakening 2013 this weekend in Oviedo, Florida. The annual event is organized by the Liberty University-affiliated Liberty Counsel.
The theme? Fighting for the Soul of America. Food trucks are available on site on Saturday.
Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) will be joining some of the most extreme right-wing activists in the country at the upcoming Awakening 2013
conference, which is organized by the Liberty University-affiliated
Liberty Counsel. Along with Bachmann, Rep. Steve Pearce (R-NM) and Jim
Bob and Michelle Duggar are scheduled to take part in the Religious
Right gathering.
Just how radical are the conference’s leaders?
The fact that it is hosted by Liberty Counsel, the anti-gay group led by Mat Staver and Matt Barber that has been implicated in the Lisa Miller kidnapping case,
is the first clue to the Awakening’s far-right bent. On top of that,
the event includes 9/11 and Sandy Hook truther Bradlee Dean,
self-proclaimed prophet Cindy Jacobs and convicted domestic abuser and
anti-women’s rights activist Timothy Johnson.
On the program, we learn that Bachmann's keynote address is "America at a Crossroad: Pressing Forward to Victory," while Dean will be a presenter in two breakout sessions.
The first, "Families Under Attack: Pornography & Sexual Promiscuity and How to Fight Back," teams the toxic metal preacher with Bishop Harry Jackson and Patrick Trueman. Judith Reisman will moderate.
High Impact begins by pushing Jackson and Barna's own
"research," purportedly based on 100,000 personal interviews conducted
over the last 20 years, which uncovered "areas in which whites and
blacks are clearly divergent." One of those areas, according to Jackson
and Barna, is sexual temptation. Black people, they allege, are far
more prone to it, and specifically to "physical intimacy with a
nonspouse or enjoyment of pornographic materials."
In spite of
this allegedly innate promiscuity — a quality that most white
supremacist "race scientists" and hate groups also claim is an intrinsic
characteristic of black people — Jackson and Barna conclude that
African Americans are spiritually superior to white Christians, in that
their faith is more "integrated" into their everyday life. Since black
Christians spend more time in church than white ones, the book argues,
black God-fearers are more observing of the Sabbath, while "this concept
was lost more than a quarter century ago in white America" – just one
more "sign that the spiritual focus remains paramount among blacks."
Jackson has played a leading role in campaigns against marriage equality
in Washington, D.C. and Maryland, fights he described as a spiritual battle against Satanic forces. He said
that a demon called the Queen of Heaven is behind the push for same-sex
marriage, which he warned “corrupts, perverts and pollutes” society.
Jackson has also called marriage equality “a Satanic plot to destroy our seed” and warned that gay rights advocates “want to recruit your kids” and are targeting young people “just like during the times of Hitler.”
Patrick Trueman is a lawyer who serves as president of Morality in Media, which placed Attorney General Eric Holder at the head of its "Dirty Dozen" list, The Hill reported on April 1. Holder was joined on the list by Comcast, Facebook, Twitter, Wikipedia, Barnes and Noble and the Department of Defense.
Reisman, a visiting Liberty University professor who is fighting to criminalize pornography, has claimed
that schools are brainwashing children into becoming gay and that gay
rights advocates are emulated the Nazis. She also said that the Gay,
Lesbian and Straight Education Network’s Gay-Straight Alliances are modeled after the Hitler Youth and promote pedophilia.
Age ranges in the population were 0.3% under the age of 18, 0.3% from 18
to 24, 1.5% from 25 to 44, 40.4% from 45 to 64, and 57.5% 65 years of
age or older. The median age was 66 years.
Photo: Bachmann and Dean.
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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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