Perhaps it's appropriate that Hutchinson Leader staff writer Jorge Sosa's November 16 article, "In God they trust," is only in the print edition, given that Senate candidate Dan Severson admits to having an inner life worthy of a governess in a Henry James novella.
Let's turn that screw. Sosa writes:
Recalling his time in the Minnesota House of Representatives, Severson said, "There was a battle on the floor and it was literally between good and evil, between those who understand the word of God and those who do not."
Sosa also reports that Severson expects righteousness (presumably Christian) from elected leaders. Bluestem is not surprised to learn that Severson knows better than the framers of the United States Constitution, who thought there should be no religious test for office. He was, after all, a top gun.
Bluestem read the Sosa article with great interest, wondering why Severson is keeping the company he does as he campaigns for office. Sharon and Davida Dwson, he sponsors of the "Bringing America Back To God" event in Hutchinson last Sunday, insist in print that their gathering is so not about politics, since it's about bringing America back to Jesus. And patriotism.
The Dawsons, who emigrated from India, believe that America is facing a threat in addition to terrorism. Sosa writes:
Dawson recalled that on Sept. 11, 2001, the U.S. was attacked by terrorists. "There is another kind of attack that is taking place that many not many people are aware of."
Dawson said that groups such as the Hindu American Foundation are attacking the country by espousing concepts like multiculturalism and pluralism...
Bluestem must confess to never having lost sleep over the menace that the Hindu American Foundation poses to this poor country blog in the middle of the American heartland.
We can be sure the Dawsons will be hanging around in Hutch for some time to protect us, and look forward to future reports in the Leader about how the battle goes.
Photo: Dan Severson (left) in his committee chair, watching the battle between good and evil. And yes, that's Josh Gackle (right).
Toxic narcissist Bradlee Dean once again seeks to churn up a little attention via a post at Genesis Communications. The origins of this week's rants? Dean's recycled fury at Representative Keith Ellison's Muslim faith.
Maybe Dean considers this a Greatest Hit; it is high August, after all, and even phobes take holidays. Bluestem hopes he returned to his home world, but suspect he'll be back in time to staff the State Fair booth.
The right time to do the right thing is right now and America is waiting for the now. It is time for the re-establishing of who we are as a “Republic”, “One nation under God” (the Christian religion) “indivisible” (undividable, unbreakable) with “Liberty” (freedom to do the things that we ought to do) and “Justice” (according to the Mosaic Institution – who is on the top of our Supreme Court Building) for “All” (even people of other faiths such as Keith Ellison so long as they abide by the laws of OUR land).
To make myself clear, the extremities that I have advocated (according to Keith Ellison) are not lawless but rather lawful; they are not unconstitutional but rather Constitutional; they are not un-American but rather American. Keith Ellison seems to forget in his folly that I am not the one trying to overthrow our Constitution or the laws of our land, he is. I may be extreme, but I am extreme in preserving this country. Too many of our veterans have paid the ultimate price by giving the ultimate sacrifice and I am not going to roll over and let anyone desecrate their memories.
Others can parse the deep means of this, such as the implications that a United States Representative from Minneapolis, born in Detroit, isn't part of "OUR land." It's pretty simple where I sit, here in the rural State Senate district where Bradlee and I both live. Nasser, the Muslim next door, is the sort of Minnesotan who tinkers with his boat motor in summer and brings his snow blower over to help people on the block in winter. That's how we roll in "our land," whatever nonsense Bradlee wants to entertain inside his head about religious differences. I can't fear my neighbor.
One reason Bradlee wants me to mistrust Nasser and Keith is a cockamammie notion that when Ellison put his hand on Thomas Jefferson's Quran and swore to uphold the Constitution, he got some sort of free pass from the Liar's Allah. Okay then, a s good Minnesotans say, even outside of the frames of Koen Brothers' movies.
But Bradlee's got a Youtube of an expert witness talking on this, Tea Party darling Brigette Gabriel, of ACT for America, who carries on at length about Keith lying on the Quran and other anti-Muslim libels. When this pseudo-outrage first raised its ugly little head in late 2006, even the most conservative rural Minnesota newspapers snorted at the notion that Americans should be forced to honor only the Christian Bible.
. . .Ms. Gabriel, 46, who uses a pseudonym, casts her organization as a nonpartisan, nonreligious national security group. Yet the organization draws on three rather religious and partisan streams in American politics: evangelical Christian conservatives, hard-line defenders of Israel (both Jews and Christians) and Tea Party Republicans.
She presents a portrait of Islam so thoroughly bent on destruction and domination that it is unrecognizable to those who study or practice the religion. She has found a receptive audience among Americans who are legitimately worried about the spread of terrorism.
But some of those who work in counterterrorism say that speakers like Ms. Gabriel are spreading distortion and fear, and are doing the country a disservice by failing to make distinctions between Muslims who are potentially dangerous and those who are not. . . .
Loonwatch has more about Gabriel's great hustle in the lucrative Islamophobe market.
And since this is Bradlee Dean, he can't just stick to dissing a non-Christian religion, but has to go after teh gay:
I would ask Keith Ellison, what is extreme about our laws? What is it that you do not like about who we are? Our laws say NO to Sharia law in this country! Is this your problem, Keith? According to your mindset that is extreme. So be it! Extreme it is. The people all over the country are rising up against the gay agenda that you, Keith, are attempting to put forth. 31 of 50 states have voted gay marriage down. Is this your problem, Keith? According to your mindset that is extreme. Extreme it is! So be it! Apparently Keith Ellison does not know that sodomy is illegal in this country. That is pretty extreme Keith! But then again Keith Ellison is also the first politician that has blatantly disrespected everything about who we are as a CHRISTIAN nation. Keith Ellison broke tradition in our country by swearing in on the Koran (rather then the Holy Bible). That’s pretty extreme Keith.
Having garnered a modicum of attention for his lawsuit asking for $50 million from Rachel Maddow, MSNBC, and Andy Birkey of the Minnesota Independent, Bradlee Dean has slipped from the headlines.
He's trying to be provocative, though, since life can get sleepy out here in Senate District 18, home to both Dean's Ministry and Bluestem World Headquarters.
Putting aside the questionable theological merit of Dean's rant (I'll leave discussions of the impact of this schtick on Reverend Dean's tax status to lawyers), it's standard right-wing self-flagellation about not being attractive to kids these days, and Jake chimes in about how they'll grow out of it.
But Dean goes from godly to Godwin's Law at about four and a half minutes in, evoking Hitler's Youth as he reaches for an analogy for what Obama is up to:
Here's the transcript:
Dean: ...Now you see the correlation between the tyrants in the White House and the education system, folks. Bring them together you have to what? You have to re-educate them in public schools so you can go to them and win them just like-- what was that guy's name back in the 30s? What did he call his youth?
Jake: Like the textbooks.
Dean: Hitler's Youth. Isn't that the guy who went for the education system and then he had something called the Hitler's Youth? Didn't that guy have enough common sense to outwit those who should have knew better? It just shows the stupidity of those who should know better, and what they tolerate really shows their ignorance.
Wisdom is justified by your children, and I'm telling you what, this president, folks, is aiming for the collegiate age because he knows he can win them while the right's over there playing their old sixty-five, seventy, seventy-five-year-old men who don't have a care for the young..
Here's the full clip, up on Dean's site so readers can listen to the full context of the remarks.
Image:; The cover of Dean's book, My War. Draw your own conclusions.
Since Bradlee Dean's "ministry" operates out of Annandale, he's a homie of sorts for those of us fortunate to live in sunny Senate District 18. Out here, we've had our time on the cross with Dean and have learned there's more than enough to share.
Aiming for his latest round of fifteen minute fame, Dean's riding on Michele Bachmann's presidential coattails by linking his $50 million lawsuit against Rachel Maddow and Andy Birkey with a nefarious gay plot to destroy Michele Bachmann's higher ambitions.
Bradlee Dean's lawyer, Larry Klayman, is quite the character.
Really. As in, there's actually a character in the show West Wing based off of him named Harry Klaypool. Klayman is also the founder of Freedom Watch, might have been the inspiration for the Tea Party, and claims to know Michele Bachmann "very well."
He's also the guy who sued Facebook for more than $1 billion earlier this year. And, according to state records, his license is currently on "administrative suspension" in Pennsylvania. In 2009, Klayman released a book called "Whores: Why and How I Came to Fight the Establishment."
Wow! If you didn't think Michele Bachmann's favorite, heavy metal, tracksuit pastor could get more wacky, Bradlee Dean went on right-wing, conspiracy maven Alex Jones' show (they share the same podcast/radio network with Bachmann pal Jason Lewis) resulting in the one of the most hilarious wack-job gab-fests ever.... the money quote:
Alex Jones: "All over the country it is a fact, and I wouldn't want heterosexuals recruiting seven-year-olds, they target children and I can't even say on the radio what's been for twenty years taught, but they teach people sexual acts that can kill you. We are talking about... well, fisting, ladies and gentleman. Things like that are taught to seven-year-olds."
Radio minister and former rocker Bradlee Dean canceled his appearance with SiriusXM’s Michelangelo Signorile yesterday afternoon (claiming that he was overwhelmed with “interview requests”), but felt well enough to appear on Alex Jones’ show to discuss his lawsuit against MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and the Minnesota Independent’s Andy Birkey. Dean alleges that Maddow and Birkey defamed him and his ministry when they suggested that he wants to kill homosexuals and ignored a “very clear disclaimer” on his website saying that he does not endorse such action.
In his appearance on Jones’ show, Dean doubled down on his long record of anti-gay rhetoric, claiming that his lawsuit aimed at “protecting the young in public high schools” from homosexual indoctrination and agreeing with Jones that gay people teach fisting to young children. . .
Perez Hilton finds Maddow guilty of raised eyebrows, but little else.
Closer to home in nearby Carver County, Bradlee Dean's name turns up in the Chaska Herald's review of Minnesota's 2011 legislative session, Legislators share viewpoints on 2011 marathon:
The 2010 election brought many new faces into the Legislature, one of them a staunchly conservative Republican from Mayer named Ernie Leidiger, who filled the House seat vacated by Paul Kohls, a Victoria Republican who retired from the House following his failed bid for the Republican nomination for governor in 2010.
Leidiger made headlines this session, not so much for the legislation he authored but because he invited a controversial talk radio preacher from Minneapolis to lead prayer on the House floor. The preacher, named Bradlee Dean, suggested that President Barack Obama doesn't believe in Jesus Christ, and in the past Dean has reportedly equated homosexuals with predators and molesters.
Leidiger later said the reason he invited Dean was because of Dean's advocacy for Constitutional education in public schools, and he said he was unaware of his radical anti-gay views. . . .
And that's the news from Onion County, Minnesota, where women are uncertain, men inappropriately attired, and Bluestem sends the stuff it couldn't possibly make up.
Photos: Bradlee Dean's sartorial splendor at his NYC press conference (photo by Nick Pinto via City Pages).
Rejected by Republican leaders and Walmart alike, poison-prayer pastor Bradlee Dean still has a friend in the Mille Lacs Tea Party Patriots group, part of the Minnesota Tea Party Patriots network, if an event listing on the latter group's website is accurate.
A link at the bottom of the event listing leads readers to the Mille Lacs Tea Party website. And the stand-alone calendar listing in the screenshot above can be found here.
If Dean is telling the truth during recent radio interview about when he was invited by Ernie Leidiger to give the openin prayer in the Minnesota House (the explanation begins about 20 seconds into the clip here) , the Carver County pol had attended one of these events. Perhaps the showing he attended was one sponsored by the SW Metro Tea Party, a group with whom he "shares their core values," Leidiger wrote on his Facebook page in September.
In an October 2010 video on the group's website, Leidiger mentions this was his fourth visit with the group, so he was a regular, having only gotten in to the House race in May.
But Leidiger told Fox News 9 a different story about the circumstances leadin to the prayer:
Leidiger says someone from Dean's ministry requested the invite. He says he only knew of Dean's past work educating students on constitutional issues and not his controversial past remarks.
Dean's understanding of the Constitution seems to be a sour near beer; today the Minnesota Independent's Andy Bikey reports Upset by Ellison’s criticisms, Bradlee Dean says Muslim Democrat wants to overthrow Constitution. One wonders when Dean didn't conflate his views on the constitutional and controversy; Leidiger must have attended that exceptional moment when Dean wasn't discussing the material that forms the content of My War.
Bradlee Dean has been a speaker at other Tea Party events. In addition to the Central Minnesota Tea Party's blogging, The Princeton Union Eagle covered the Mille Lacs Tea Party's Tax Freedom Day Rally in April, which included Dean, sidekick Jake MacAulay, Representative Mary Kiffmeyer, Representative Sondra Erickson and Senator Dave Brown. Dean called for the Tea Party to be led "preachers":
Dean decried people having the “audacity” to spit in the face of the call to follow Jesus Christ, and who instead insist on “Doing it my way.” A lot of people who are in hell did it their way, Dean said.
“Folks, if you’re lost, pick up the blueprint,” Dean continued, and suggested that instead of conservatives leading Tea Party rallies across the country, it should be “preachers leading.”
Both the Mille Lacs and SW Metro Tea Party groups are heavily invested in Dean's ideological take on the Constitution, though much less obsessed than Dean with the legal ramifications of butt sex. That Leidiger invited Dean to pray based on the homophobic preacher's constitutional opinion makes Bluestem wonder just what the hell the freshman representative from Carver County fancies is in the Constitution.
Photos: Screenshot of the Tea Party event (top) Ernie Leidiger, MN House Republican and constitutional scholar (middle); Tild's Bradley Dean, who feels bad because people have made fun of the track suit he wore to give a prayer in the House chamber (bottom).
To Republican Minnesota House Speaker Kurt Zellers for attempting to rewrite history by deleting mention of the horrendous opening prayer by controversial preacher Bradlee Dean.
Dean broke with longstanding tradition of opening invocation to be non-denominational. He used the opportunity to intimate Christian faith was the only faith and the President Obama was not a Christian.
Zellers, clearly embarrassed and angered by Dean’s unwarranted actions condemned him in public and apologized. But then he struck Dean’s name from the official record of the day in the House Journal.
He contends he had a right to do that because Dean spoke before a House quorum was established. He may have had the right, but what he did wasn’t right. The action is a blow to public confidence in the official record.
One could wonder, what else has been deleted from the official record?
For myself, I don't think anything else has been stricken, given the high profile Zellersgave to the action. Nonetheless, the point is well-taken about eroding public trust.
I was born and raised in a southern Minnesota community. My wife and I attended twelve years of Catholic parochial education. In those grade school years, as they were known then, we queued up with our classes and trotted across the street to daily mass, five days a week. In the Lenten season it was Friday afternoon Stations of the Cross. And there with the church window transoms open and a boy could smell the earth of spring and his mind would wander from devotion to play.
We got a full dose of ecumenism back then in the sixties. By the time my younger sister and brother traipsed those same hallways most of the nuns were retired and gone. Theirs was a more laic education. In High School a man by the name of Buber left his thoughts in my mind. All that exposure to religion and dialogue left a mark on me.
This last December a college friend who remains devoted to his Catholic faith and actually studied and continues to study theology sat at our kitchen and table and related a comment on the parable of the loaves and fishes. His son is considering joining the Jesuits, a very Catholic household indeed.
According to this friend, at least some contemporary theologians would contend there was no actual miracle wherein the Christ multiplied loaves and fishes. What the Christ achieved was a miracle of persuasion. He convinced those who had, to share with those who had not.
We lost a son just a few months ago in Afghanistan. So many voices uttered the words “I can’t imagine” to which I respond “Don’t!” Only a small handful of Minnesotans know the depth and breadth of grief this brings. Believe me when I say you don’t want to even begin to know this hurt. This is not something to share.
What is to be shared from this sacrifice of service to this nation and to the soldiers to their left and right is our citizenry. This nation is something we jointly hold. Your citizenship is shared with five other million Minnesotans and three hundred million other Americans.
That which we share is citizenship, a citizenship which allows us to all to fall under a common rule of law. The same speed limits, the same tax deductions, the same judiciary, the same constitution declaring inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness is what we share regardless of race, creed or sex.
I read a lot blogs now. Never used to do that and of course there are so many comments asking to share equal rights and so many vehement comments about religious and social traditions suggesting they aren’t to be shared, at least so far as “marriage” is concerned.
Reflecting now on those loaves and fishes I am advocating, and I could be wrong, that the Christ parable holds the answer to our civil upset here in Minnesota about the marriage amendment.
Recalling that phrase of a decade ago, “What Would Jesus Do” I’m speculating he’d come down to sharing. He would have found a way to persuade us on this symbolic Galilee hillside to share those rights, those loaves and fishes. And therein the miracle will reside. Let those loaves and fishes multiply, let us share by way of citizenship. It would seem to be the only way out of this marriage argument to salvage the faithful and the secular without division. Love is a powerful sentience; open your hearts to the miracle of it. Enjoy the bread, enjoy the fish, share.
Photos: Jeff Wilfahrt shares the story of his son's sacrfice at an equality rally earlier this year. Photo via OutFront (above); Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt. Via Jeff and Lori Wilfahrt. (below).
It's been a rough week for Bradlee Dean. On Friday the gay-baiting minister was universally denounced by just about every state lawmaker who could get near a microphone.
Now it turns out that not only is Dean permanently unwelcome in the state legislature -- he's also banned from the Walmart parking lot.
Dean's You Can Run But You Can't Hide youth ministry was sighted yesterday hosting a fund-raising booth outside the Hutchinson Walmart.
We checked in with Walmart headquarters to ask if they knew they were playing host to a guy who says gay folks should be thrown in jail and has praised religious extremists who execute suspected homosexuals.
Walmart spokeswoman Ashley Hardie said Walmart didn't know -- because the ministry lied to them.
"They registered their request to solicit outside the store using a false name," Hardie said. "As soon as we learned the groups true identity, they were asked to leave."
And just as Kurt Zellers promised "That type of person will never, ever be allowed on this House floor again," Hardie said the ministry's hateful message has earned them a permanent ban from operating on Walmart property.
"Due to their actions towards our customers, we will no longer allow them to solicit outside our stores," Hardie said.
Since reading this scoop, I suppose I can use my Tidy Cat coupon now at Walmart. Sweet.
Relentless auburn wolverine Nick Pinto wonders if this will affect the Street Team's fundraising abilities:
Walmart isn't the only one calling out Dean's ministry. The editorial board of the Worthington Globe writes today in An ugly prayer:
While the not-so-veiled Obama reference is bad enough, some of Dean’s past comments should have kept him off the floor of our state’s Capitol. He has, for instance, “spoken approvingly of executing gays and lesbians,” as the Times noted, and compared gays and lesbians to child molesters. It should be considered ironic, to say the least, that Dean’s House prayer came in the midst of a heated debate about a proposed constitutional amendment — approved in an emotional vote Saturday — that will allow voters to prohibit same-sex marriage.
Many House Republicans quickly sought to distance themselves from Dean. But how come there wasn’t a huge distance from him before his Friday prayer? What happened Friday morning should have never taken place, and those responsible should be ashamed and disciplined.
Photo: Lost to the supercenter, Dean's banned Street Team.
Despite widespread negative publicity about Bradlee Dean's prayer in the Minnesota House of Representatives on Friday, Dean's You Can Run But You Can't Hide Ministry continues to fundraise at a table outside the door at Hutchinson's Walmart.
Every purchase is a consumer choice, even when a generous coupon makes something "free." I'd like to support retailers who understand the groups they allow to use their space and after Friday's exclusionary and anti-Obama prayer (as well as Dean's long anti-gay record), I wasn't inclined to "buy" even cat litter for nothing there.
But I figured the store deserved a chance, so I grabbed the nearest friendly staff person and asked to see someone in charge. The cheerful older man working in produce told me the manager was at lunch (he turned out to be off until Wednesday), so I was directed to the assistant manager, a pleasant woman named Angie. The first customer service desk person I talked with said the ministry had been at the store "a lot" before Angie was able to talk with me.
Angie listened somewhat sympathetically, but didn't seem to think the repudiation of Dean and his ministry was cause to end the tabling outside, since Walmart has a corporate policy of allowing all sorts of groups to table at its entryways. Provided that the groups had filled out a form and been approved, she couldn't do anything, but she would look into it.
I asked if something could be done right away, but she said she had been out of town and hadn't heard about the House incident, just the tornadoes, and would have to look into it. I asked several times if she really thought the company wanted to have its brand associated with a group all major political leaders in the state had condemned. I mentioned that I know media people, and wondered if she thought this story would be good for Walmart. I asked about contacting corporate. She offered an 800 number. She said she was sorry I felt the way I did about not shopping at Walmart because of this.
At no time did she request my contact information--and so I concluded that I was being "niced," as Max Shulman once described the bland corporate acknowledgement of "feelings."
I left, went home and retrieved my cellphone and video camera and returned to photograph and tape. Here's a Youtube of the encounter with the Dean Street Team (the young man would have to be at least 18, given YCRBYCH Craiglist ads):
After the police officer left, I still needed feline staples, so I head down to another grocery store to get some food (the coupon would wait).
Michael Straumann's Friday encounter with the Dean Street Team
On the way to the pet department, I said hi to a young Baptist friend working in the video store. I mentioned the You Can Run But You Can Hide team down at Walmart; he exclaimed, "Oh wow! I can't they're still there today! My friend Mike talked to them on Friday, trying to distract them so they wouldn't mess up any little kids."
He said Michael had snagged a copy of the comic book version of "My War" and scornfully described the pamphlet and this friend's discussion.
Reached by phone tonight, Straumann, who is in his early twenties, said he was shocked to find YCRBYCH conducting a fundraiser at Walmart on Friday. He had learned about Dean's prayer first thing that morning when he read about it on Rachel Maddow's blog and watch the Youtube embedded there.
Straumann said he engaged the ministry team of two (different people than those I encountered) and they defended Dean's prayer and ministry by claiming that the media distorted what Dean is about. They claimed that their faith was a "pure" form of Christianity and that many people who claim to be Christians are not really Christians, Straumann said.
"They talked about how being 'homosexual' was not natural, and how it was illegal in Minnesota," Straumann said.
The team accused him of being intolerant of their beliefs. The younger of the two ministry team members said that he had felt threatened as a Christian when he saw "homosexual" anti-bullying posters in the Hopkins high school from which he had graduated, and that "homosexuals" were given special privileges to spread their message in schools. The ministry team claimed that more numbers of heterosexual teens commit suicide; Straumann said he pointed out that their are numerically more straight people than LGBTQ, and that some of those teen suicides thought to be straight may indeed be gay.
He noted that this isn't true. He also said that they politely argued about the the Founding Fathers and the Constitution. In their worldview, Straumann noted, the United States is a Christian nation and God leads the country. They repeated Dean's claim that President Obama is not a Christian. "They really believe in a theocracy," he said, "and that's not the case," acknowledging that the Constitution forbids religious tests for elected office in the United States.
At one point, Straumann said, a Walmart associate came out and asked if everything was okay. The associate was not a member of the management team, Straumann said, and he went back into the store when both sides of the discussion assured him that there was no problem.
A few people placed money in the donation jar, Straumann said.
He was told what the ministry team wouldn't say on camera: the contributions are intended to pay for the expense of putting on Dean's presentation about "his war" to young audiences. Although some groups can pay for the show, he said, the ministry team told him that they offer it at no cost to organizations and schools that can't afford it.
Straumann noted that by talking a long time with the team, he hoped to keep them from spreading a message he find offensive--and that he also feared that any LGBTQ child might suffer from an exchange.
It was fascinating talking to Straumann.
In the end, I have to wonder what Walmart is thinking and what sort of vetting the company does before allowing group on its property. Let's hope that the Bentonville retailing giant reviews its policies. You Can Run But You Can't Hide isn't a troop of Girl Scouts selling those scrumptious cookies; rather, they're merchants of fear and self-loathing dressed in track suits or t-shirts.
Low prices are one thing, Walmart; cheapening and coarsening our discourse is another.
Updates: Dean Street Team at other Walmarts; Ripple in Stillwater & Dump Bachmann on Financials
Facebook friends are reporting seeing this group fundraising at Walmarts in Elk River and Fergus Falls. The friend who saw the group at the Fergus Falls Walmart said and commented here:
"I sent an ethics complaint to corporate Walmart and never received a response. I find this upsetting because I work for a major corporation and if a customer sends a comment we are required to send a response."
Long-time Dean watcher Ken Avidor emails with information about the Street Teams. He writes, "They get real nervous for a reason - it's a scam:"
Yesterday, we had a post about the phenomenal fundraising success of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International, fronted by radio hate-talker and Bachmann pal Bradlee Dean (Bradley Dean Smith) which reported a whopping increase in revenue in one year from $385,703 to $1,015,605.
According to YCRBYCH's 2009 #990 much of that fundraising success is due to YCRBYCH's amazing "street teams". . . .
• $444,126 from contributions collected by Street Teams. It claims its street teams “shared the gospel six days per week through the year” and “shared the message of Christ with over 250,000 individuals.” Street team members, each of whom is either a “certificated, licensed or ordained minister,” distribute CDs, DVDs and printed materials from tables set up at gas stations and special events, such as the Michele Bachmann-Sarah Palin rally in Minneapolis April 7 and the 2010 GOP State Convention.
Last weekend, I took a road trip through Southern Minnesota. It's a really, true, live place, and I remember that some of it wasn't very nice, but most of it was beautiful. There's no place like home.
Wherever Dean hangs his hat nowadays-- in Annandale or Minneapolis--he also heads the Old Path Church, whatever that is. It certainly isn't the the old high road I took on Saturday, or the yellow brick road to equality on which I march with my friends of Dorothy.
The fury over his prayer has exposed the politics driving the amendment, dissolving the mealy-mouthed Republican claims that putting the amendment on the ballot isn't about discrimination and treating some people as second class citizens, but about letting people vote. Doug Grow at Minnpost noted in Suddenly, GOP legislators seem to be losing the 'message battle' that:
But in the last two weeks, leaders either lost control of their own caucuses, or failed to understand how late-session pushing of the party's social agenda would overwhelm their budget message.
In his prayer, Dean said, “I know this is a non-denominational prayer in this Chamber and it’s not about the Baptists and it’s not about the Catholics alone or the Lutherans or the Wesleyans. Or the Presbyterians the evangelicals or any other denomination but rather the head of the denomination and his name is Jesus. As every President up until 2008 has acknowledged. And we pray it. In Jesus’ name.”
To put the first issue in perspective, all-inclusive prayers made news and spurred discussion earlier in the session, when Senator Terri Bonoff objected to a prayer that only addressed Christian believers (Bonoff is a practicing Jew). A reasoned discussion of the case can be found at Minnesota Conservatives.
Indeed, one wonders about the head full of straw possessed the freshman Republican Representative who invited Dean and took us down this road today. I'm no Wizard, but I can say with confidence that people who have no more brains than that man are known to teach at local junior colleges. What they do have that Leidiger apparently doesn't is Google. Ernie Leidiger should learn to use it.
The second flying monkey in Dean's prayer is the Obama slam, the opium of the anti-Obama postmoronic socially conservative right: that Obama hates Jesus, that he can't say the name of Jesus. Perhaps the blizzard of attention this incident drew will wake them to the silliness of it all, and they'll be able to get on the road to sanity--or at least a makeover of their madness.
But there's no place like home, and I'l leave you with what should be the lasting statement about the prayer, given by Terry Morrow just after the rabid Dean finshed up. Morrow asked his colleagues to assure that such an incident would never happen again.
Morrow represents the rural district where you can find the beautiful road I traveled last Saturday, the town where I graduated from high school.
But I'd also like to think that Morrow represents the best and the most beautiful part of this state, the true part which isn't a landscape or house district, but the hearts of citizens who can learn to respect and appreciate their neighbors, whatever their religion, beliefs or identity.
Here's the speech, from a Greater Minnesota legislator. There's no place like home, and this speaks to the Minnesota I carry in my heart:
Photo: Representative Terry Morrow. Photo by John Kaul, from Morrow's Facebook page.
As Bluestem readers know, the Winona Daily News' op-ed page is one of the many delights of Greater Minnesota's media.
Yesterday, Darrel Ehrlick's column was simply divine.
On both the federal and state level, Republican leadership has been carrying on about rethinking government and the way it conducts its business. In Church's missteps could solve the budget crisis, Ehrlick writes:
God may yet provide a solution to Minnesota's budget problem.
A minor squabble between a priest and his lawmaker parishioner this week may have inadvertently pointed out a partial solution to Minnesota's budget crisis.
The editor points readers to a post by Andy Birkey at the Minnesota Independent, which documents the dust-up between Rep. John Kriesel and the Rev. John Echert about the Catholic church's campaign for the marriage inequality amendment.
Ehrlick suggests a radical re-thinking of the limitations on a church's involvement with politics: set those priests free--free to promote a vote, free to pay taxes like others. After all, he points out, it's not just bishops testifying to the faithful this year, but to the legislature as well.
Rather than tut-tutting that, he suggests eliminating the tax breaks and the yoke that accompanies it:
I would like to publicly encourage the church to continue. I'd like to see it up its spending and maybe print some bumper stickers, clever buttons and even a few novelty foam hands and keychains.
. . .Granted, if the Catholic Church admitted that what it's doing jeopardizes its nonprofit status, it would be subject to taxes. Lots of 'em.
And that would mean at least something good would come out of this mean-spirited, decidedly un-Christian debate.
The Catholic Church could start paying into state tax coffers.
And who said gay marriage wasn't part of the budget solution?
Hmm, reminds me of an old saying about rendering unto Caesar ...
Allowing them to marry, however, in her mind, would lead to "social and societal ills," and she was only thinking of the children when she voted to place the marriage inequality amendment on the 2012 ballot.
“We just decided that this is a decision the state of Minnesota should make.”
So said District 10 Senator Gretchen Hoffman on her decision to vote in favor of placing a gay marriage referendum on state ballots next year. . . .
While Hoffman would not say how she would vote if the amendment makes to the 2012 ballot, she did say that “redefining what marriage means” could lead to social and societal ills, ills she already sees as she sits on the Health and Human Services Committee.
“(The cause of) just about all of our programs that we are spend so much money on I can point to the dissolution of families,” she said, adding that non-traditional family structures are not as conducive for raising children and forming productive societies.
“It’s been proven (that) what children need is a mother and a dad,” she said.
Hoffman seems unaware that in states that have banned gay marriage, divorce rates are up. Perhaps her blinders are a result of thinking of the children, rather than examining facts about the adults. If she wishes to save money by promoting stable families, maybe she'll secretly vote no once she shows her ID at her polling place.
But there's more. In her own eyes, the yarn queen and starched Republican is a defender of gay rights. The article continues:
Hoffman added that she does not see the issue as one of civil rights.
“Marriage is not a right,” she said. “It’s a responsibility and an obligation.”
She added that homosexuals are free to assemble, bear arms, worship how they chose and access every other right guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
“I would defend anybody’s rights,” she said.
Let Bluestem be the first to suggest that Fergus Falls is the perfect location for gay Raelians to assemble for a skeet shoot. If the event is designed intelligently enough, Hoffman might even join you.
Photos: ARAMIS members (top); State senator Gretchen Hoffman (bottom).
Via MiddleMinnesota (Views of a Moderate Pol)'s round-up of Outstate News headlines, Bluestem learns of more Greater Minnesota newspapers challenging the wisdom of the Republican legislative support of the marriage inequality amendment to the state constitution.
It's not just the editorial boards of papers like the Winona Daily News--which tends to be socially liberal--but conservative papers like the Fairmont Sentinel that are calling out the Republican majorities for fast-tracking the constitutional amendment through the state legislature.
Why is the state involved? Why does it have the final say on what constitutes "marriage"?and what does not? The answer lies in legal history and rights associated with property, inheritance, tax law, work benefits, etc. Marriage is like a permit into these benefits.
It's difficult to imagine how letting gay partners enjoy these rights causes real harm to any other member of society. Those other members still retain their rights. However, gay marriage - or triangular marriage, or polygamy - does represent a direct threat to the religious and cultural beliefs that tend to dominate our society. But we have to ask whether it is these specific beliefs or a tolerance for others' beliefs that underpins our free nation. [emphasis added]
Other papers are taking a stand as well.
Rich Glennie, editor of the McLeod County Chronicle, opposes putting same-sex marriage on the same footing as hetero marriage. He also opposes the amendment, he writes in Use constitutional amendment process only when necessary:
The Minnesota Legislature is playing a dangerous game with proposals for state constitutional amendments on the ballot in 2012. If Minnesotans are not careful we will be running down the same road with California and its endless supply of propositions and state plebiscites. With all these votes, who needs representative government? Let us become a pure democracy, put everything to the popular vote and then see what happens.
The Minnesota Constitution should not be used for political games. It should be amended only for compelling reasons that benefit the entire state, not just to further one party's political agenda...
. . .First of all, we happen to agree with the Republicans' intent. Gay marriage should not be on equal status with traditional marriage. We can live with statutes for same-sex arrangements to protect their legal rights, but we do not support stepping over that line.
We already have a same-sex marriage ban on the books. Republicans argue that "activist judges" have overturned state statutes on same-sex marriages in other states, and only a state constitutional amendment can stop such rulings. ...So instead of zeroing in on "bedroom issues" and photo IDs, legislators need to get at the real problem - the budget shortfall.
While the new prohibitionists in the Republican legislative majorities in St. Paul waste time revising the state constitution, ordinary citizens in Greater Minnesota are talking about making their towns more welcoming places to all people.
[Winning Marriage Equality executive director Denny] Smith will speak at next week's Marshall/Buffalo Ridge PFLAG (Parents, Families and Friends of Lesbians and Gays) public forum titled "Marking Marshall Welcoming to All People: Opening Our Doors to the LGBT Community" on the issue at 7 p.m. Thursday at the Marshall Adult Community Center. The gay marriage ban is an issue that affects him personally. His son, Kyle, is gay and has been forced to live separately from his partner because the two can't get married in Minnesota.
"Joe was here on a student visa and when it expired he was forced to leave," Smith said. "If he had the same rights as heterosexuals they would've been able to be married. Instead, we have two people who love each other very much - they're bright, well-employed people who are very lonely. As a father, it's gut-wrenching to see your kids not have the same rights as other people. That's one of the reasons I'm involved.
Joe currently lives in the Philippines. He and Kyle have been together for 16 years and their relationship, Smith said, was totally accepted by both families. But state law, which currently prohibits marriage between two men or two women, is standing in their way of being together, and Smith wants that to change.
"We have to start treating each other better as human beings across the board," Smith said. "We were all made by the same creator; we're all on this ball of mud called Earth together."
The Independent story led with the Internet sensation Youtube posted by the Uptake of a statement by State Representative Steve Simon:
The gay marriage issue in any state is a hot enough button that it doesn't need any help making headlines, but in Minnesota, it's gaining steam at a quicker-than-usual pace thanks, in part, to the Internet.
Video of remarks on the subject made by Rep. Steve Simon, DFL-St. Louis Park, had more than 170,000 views by Thursday morning after getting linked on national blogs. In the recording of a Capitol hearing on Monday, Simon asked, "How many more gay people does God have to create before we ask ourselves whether or not God actually wants them around?"
Simon says he was speaking off the cuff after talking about the issue with friends and constituents, and that he wasn't angling for the attention he's getting. He told the Associated Press he doubts his speech and the attention it's getting will keep the issue off the ballot, but hopes it influences voters who are going back and forth on the issue.
Simon talked to MSNBC about the debate, and funding flowing into Minnesota from outside groups to enshrine discrimination in our state constitution:
Watch until the end: Simon makes some great points about the process of people changing their minds about sexuality.
As I write this on Saturday morning, The Uptake Youtube has been viewed 412,539 times. It's a wonderful statement, soft-spoken, calm, and deliberate.
The Marshall Independent closes with Smith's own faith that the whole of the state can now discuss issues of equality:
Smith, meanwhile, remains optimistic.
"I have optimism that people of Minnesota really are so much more open and understanding now than even four, five years ago," he said. "We've been shy talking about this in the past. Now we're having reasonable dialogue about it instead of being intimidated. We can just talk normal."
I agree with Smith, who coached high school sports in Montevideo and St. Cloud for years, and Simon. My straight friends here in greater Minnesota tend to be inclusive in their attitudes--regardless where they land on the political spectrum--because gay, lesbian and bisexual people are part of our lives. We've gone to school, to work, to worship and (some) to war beside each other, and the bonds born from those shared experiences transcend ideology if we're willing to be honest about it.
A linguistics prof told me back when I was in college that an old word for neighbor--I don't remember what language--translated as "sets besider." She thought that was pretty good description of a neighbor, the person whose property, business and life sits beside yours. Increasingly, like Smith, I see common sense, practical values like neighborliness and cooperation (a pretty important quality for people who spend a lot of time digging each other out from snowstorms) leading people to conclude that there's much more prosperity and happiness to be gained from respecting all those who "sets beside" you.
Photo: Denny Smith, director of Winning Marriage Equality, is an advocate for marriage equality for same-sex couples. Tribune photo by Tom Cherveny.
In Rep. King's red scare, the Washington Post's Dana Milbank takes note of freshman Minnesota congressman Chip Cravaack's affection for another divisive Wisconsin politician.
The New York Republican {Peter King] was eager to avoid the Red Scare taint, and he allowed the 84-year-old dean of the House, Democrat John Dingell of Michigan, to open the session with wisdom learned during his time as a chairman. "I kept a picture of Joe McCarthy hanging on the wall so that I would know what it was I did not want to look like," Dingell said, cautioning the committee not to "blot the good name or the loyalty" of Arabs or Muslims.
But the ghost of Tail-Gunner Joe would not be denied. It found a host in the body of freshman Rep. Chip Cravaack (R-Minn.), who asked Los Angeles Sheriff Leroy Baca, a witness, about his work with a large Muslim group called CAIR, the Council on American-Islamic Relations.
"You are aware that this is a Hamas and . . . Muslim Brotherhood entity?" the lawmaker asked, pronouncing Muslim as "moo-slim."
"No, I'm not aware of that," the sheriff replied.
Cravaack informed Baca that CAIR was founded by two people identified by the FBI as "Hamas members." "Basically you're dealing with a terrorist organization," he said.
"If the FBI has something to charge CAIR with, bring those charges forward," Baca replied, coolly.
Cravaack was indignant. "Are you saying that the FBI was wrong in identifying that CAIR is part of Hamas, an entity of Hamas?"
This is the very definition of McCarthyism: false allegations of subversion. King didn't even bother inviting the group to defend itself.
Read the rest at the Washington Post. Milbank notes that CIAR isn't considered a terrorist organization:
I'm no fan of CAIR, which was one of 250 unindicted co-conspirators in the Holy Land Foundation terrorist finance case of 2007. But the FBI doesn't call CAIR a terrorist group. Nor does it allege that CAIR was founded or financed by Hamas. In America, if somebody, even somebody unpopular, has committed a crime, we bring charges. We don't float Internet rumors at a congressional hearing.
The Office for Social Justice St. Paul and Minneapolis, a program of Catholic Charities, notes ten major principles that highlight Major themes from Catholic Social Teaching. One regards public policy toward the poor:
The moral test of a society is how it treats its most vulnerable members. The poor have the most urgent moral claim on the conscience of the nation. We are called to look at public policy decisions in terms of how they affect the poor. The "option for the poor," is not an adversarial slogan that pits one group or class against another. Rather it states that the deprivation and powerlessness of the poor wounds the whole community.
The option for the poor is an essential part of society's effort to achieve the common good. A healthy community can be achieved only if its members give special attention to those with special needs, to those who are poor and on the margins of society.
I suspect that the Office didn't have in mind the "special attention" contained in another divisive bill sponsored by the Draz. Draz proposes making drug tests mandatory for all people receiving benefits via the Minnesota Family Investment Program because he sees them as not just drug users, but hard-core needle freaks:
"The whole drumbeat of accountability and welfare spending seems to be getting stronger," he said. "We're sending welfare money to people that are turning it around and pumping it into their veins."
Not everyone in Draz's redneck of the woods agrees with the Republican legislator's assessment of the magnitude of the heroin welfare queen menace. The Winona Daily News reported on Sunday:
The notion that most welfare recipients are also drug users is based on exaggerated stereotypes, and the extra screening would only further aggravate a process many applicants find embarrassing, said Karen Moore, a financial assistant specialist for Winona County Human Services.
"Most of the people that come into this office are just like you and I," she said. "They don't want to be here."
. . .It's hard to tell if this proposal is more mean-spirited or stupid. It is clearly the work of a divisive, politically opportunistic bully.
Once again, Mazeppa's Mr. Family Values paints the poorest and most vulnerable as the social villains responsible for running the state budget into the red. . . .
. . .Dignity. When you're down on your luck, it can be the only thing you have left. To have to pee to prove you and your children are worth being fed, clothed and sheltered adds one more humiliation to families whom circumstance has already humbled. Kicking a person when they're down is the classic act of a bully.
And if that mother, for whatever reason, did smoke a joint or make use of whatever substance the Legislature deems to disapprove of and is turned away, what do we say to the children?
Yes, in this county there are 166 adults enrolled in the program, but they support 237 children. If we take the food from the mother, what will she have to give her child?
Family values? For Draz and his buddies some families are more valuable than others. In fact, some families have no value at all.
He ought to be - we ought to be - ashamed.
The kicker to all this ritual humiliation for the poor?
In the proposed legislation, not only would poor people be subject to a pee test before receiving benefits, but they'd have to pay the cost of the test themselves as well.
Good Christian paradigm Glenn Gruenhagen and nine other Republicans join Draz in support of the bill. So far, there is no Senate companion bill.
Photo: The Draz option for the poor--kick 'em while they're down. Hint to visitors with impaired reading skills: that's Drazkowski's moral body double, not the Draz himself.
On the sidewalks along high school grounds, hundreds of people lined up Sunday afternoon with signs and voices to send a message: Hastings and Minnesota do not tolerate hate. . . .
. . .Wendy Leigh of Impact-Twin Cities was one of the organizers of the counter-protest. A national and global activist, Leigh and others sent out more than 3,500 invitations though Facebook to people, asking them to stand up against WBC. A couple hundred people confirmed their attendance, she said.
One of the counter-protesters had seen a WBC van in Hastings Saturday, Leigh said. It was described as a van with Kansas plates and phrases of WBCs message written on the sides. WBCs protest was scheduled from 1:15 p.m. to 2 p.m. By 2 p.m. there still had been no sign of the organization at the high school.
Not surprising. The facebook group notes that no one from the Kansas group showed up, and that those supporting the students had a great time.
Visit the Post Gazette to see a photo of Minnesota Nice in action.
Westboro Baptist officials were supposed to appear at 6:15 p.m. before the 7 p.m. performance. They didn't show.
So instead Neenah High got a demonstration they weren't expecting. The only protest was that of people in support of the play.
“If the Phelps family is coming here to preach that message to our community, I want to let them know that they're not welcome,” Tyler Baeten told FOX 11.
Tyler Baeten rallied some people to start a protest against the protesters.
“I have a bunch of friends in the play tonight who were concerned that these people were gonna come and ruin it,” said Glenn Anderson, a former Neenah High student.
“I'm really astounded that so many people came,” said Baeten.
It's not know why the group from Westboro didn't show up. School officials say they didn't receive any other complaints about the play.
Also not surprising.
Photo: Publicity shot from the HHS production of the Laramie Project.
With Special Guests: Bradlee Dean & Jake McMillian
Son's of Liberty Radio (Saturdays 3-5pm on am1280 The Patriot)
This will be a night for the entire family! "My War" is an all-encompassing look at the country today. This documentary will give you insight into topics such as: * Our Founding Fathers * The Constitution * * What kids are being taught in public schools * * The myth of alcoholism * Drug abuse * * Hollywood and the moral decline of our nation * * The spiritual heritage and foundation of the United States * * The lies in the media * & much more *
HELP SPREAD THE WORD & Be Sure To **BRING A FRIEND** Trust Us -- You will not want to miss this Showing!
Politico, like the mainstream media in general, may say that in the popular mind the Tea Party "movement draws on populist sentiments and pushes an agenda focused on reducing taxes, government spending and the national debt." In 2010, for instance, the New York Times reported that the Tea Party Avoids Divisive Social Issues. Other stories have suggested a Tea Party/social conservative split.
A recent poll found that Americans want Republicans to listen to the Tea Party, and given the earlier reportage about the Tea Party and social conservative ideas, those polled might readily be forgiven for assuming those ideas aren't a socially conservative agenda.
But the pollsters didn't actually define what Tea Party ideas are, so the coast is clear for the SW Metro Tea Party to fill in the blanks.
No interference in private life, business, health, assembly, speech or possessions.
That "personal liberty" only goes so far, and certainly not to include a woman's right to make decisions about her own health or treating queer folk as equals. One principle is traditional marriage:
The union between a man and a woman, has been the foundation of every civilization in human history. It is incorporated into the fabric of our culture and civic life. It is the platform on which children, families and communities are nurtured. The institution of marriage is far too precious to surrender to the whims of a handful of unelected, activist judges. Males and females are born with profoundly sacred and contrasting, yet complementary characteristics and responsibilities.
So much for the notion of "private life." Not to mention butch and femme. Read all of the Principles of the Southwest Metro Tea Party here in all their glorious pretzel logic.
But such paradoxes seem easily bridged by this set and their fellow travelers. Most recently, Bremer reported about YCRBYCH's commitment to the fiscal responsibility that the SW Metro Tea Party endorses.
Bradley Dean Smith, aka “Bradlee Dean,” and his Annandale-based anti-gay hate “ministry” found out that you can run, but you cannot hide—from the landlord. In 2007, Smith’s Old Paths Church Ministries, dba You Can Run But You Cannot Hide, was evicted under court order from its offices in the Bass Lake Business Centre II in Plymouth for nonpayment of rent.
The eviction was the result of a complaint filed against Old Paths Church Ministries in Hennepin County Housing Court on June 7, 2007, by its landlord, Bass Lake Realty LLC of Minneapolis. . . .
Given the road conditions out here today on the wind-swept prairie, I'll have to forgo the splendors of Dean's cinematic masterpiece in Chanhassen--surely a case of weather-induced cultural deprivation second only to missing a Katherine Kersten-led tour of Yale Sex Week.
Brian Lambert uses the time-tested MSM gambit for critics of the media.
First, label their analysis as emotionaL, or "worked up."
Second, deny or belittle the claim. Unfortunately for Lambert, when he writes "TPT might have flubbed it, but MacMillian/McAulay was ID’d as an “activist” by others, if not a leader of the anti-gay “ministry”/radio show “You Can Run But You Can Not Hide[,]” he fails to identify those traditional news sources which did identify MacMillian/MaAulay's ministry (and they were, other than Andy Birkey at MNIndy,whom exactly?)--or to explain why "activist" furthers public understanding.
But then, what might one expect from a post in which my last name is spelled incorrectly? Circle the wagons and clutch your Calvins, gentlemen and women of the press, but get facts and names right.
It's provocative for a citizen to call for government to get out of health care, and let the churches provide for the poor. And that young man has a right to speak, as Governor Dayton honorably and quietly pointed out to the press and assembled public alike.
It's approaching journalistic malfeasance for the press to lack the curiosity to ask a simple "five W" question about "who" that young man at the podium might be. It's their duty to ask such questions, a responsibility implied in the freedom of the press.
In short, in this age of civility, please realise that Google Is Your Friend (GIYF), Minnesota Public Television et al. With Mark Dayton serving as Governor and providing a model of decorous and gracious behavior, I promise not to use the potty mouth version of the acronym.
In return, I ask you to do your jobs and indentify those who insert themselves into the public discourse. Indeed, developing the slight amount of curosity in the Internet age might help you better understand the material you craft into "news." Almanac identified Jake MacMillian as "citizen" in the screenshot above. But he's much more than that, and informing viewers and readers about that identity serves the public interest.
After all, this "ministry" is no stranger to the political storyline that led to Dayton's election; Jake MacMillian/ McAulay's fellow "minister" Bradlee Dean played a strong supporting role last year. Dean's radio approval of kindred spirits in murderous homophobia was a key piece in the "Target supports an anti-gay politician" narrative that led many to boycott the retailer.
MacAulay raises some interesting points—especially considering he’s supposedly a paid ordained minister in a church himself. So as long as he’s asking, where is MacAulay’s “church” in all this?
I’ve spent a lot of time in the past few weeks looking into MacAulay’s mysterious “church” and have found virtually nothing about what it does or who it serves—other than the tens of thousands of dollars in grants it has received from its sister “ministry” YCR, and the $360,000 Annandale property it once owned that’s the home of Bradley Dean Smith, aka Bradlee Dean.
MacAulay is listed as the “agent” and “incorporator” of Old Paths Church, Inc. and YCR in filings with the State of Minnesota. The mission of Old Paths Church, its Articles of Incorporation state, “is to proclaim the Gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ, to develop Christian leadership, to perform charitable work and to otherwise function as a church.” Nothing about providing medical help for the poor, as he so eloquently demanded of his fellow church brethren.
There are no expenses reported for indigent medical services—or any other kind of medical services—in the tax filings, state filings or an independent audit of You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International. Nor are there any other expenses listed that could conceivably be related to medical services. No tax records are available for Old Paths Church, which shares the same Annandale address as YCR.
RIS blogger Karl Bremer suggests that Jake should share his own ministry for the poor--a move that would also make his identity easily discoverable by the legacy press:
The next time “Pastor” MacAulay decides to take the podium and preach about what churches should be doing for the poor, perhaps he should stick around to enlighten his congregation as to what his own Old Paths Church is doing in that capacity. Or what it’s doing in any capacity, other than trying to shelter its income from the government.
One thing curious readers learn from Avidor's post--if they didn't know this already--Jake and his partner in crime Bradlee Dean also have a radio show. So Citizen Jake is not only a minister, but media himself, though apparently not bound by any ethical constraints to identify himself as a radio host. The curious might wish to listen on Saturday.
This isn't the first time Jake has disrupted a political gathering - Jake crashed a DFL meet & greet in Cokato months ago and "confronted" gubernatorial candidate John Marty on his support for marriage equality (video here).
A curious narrative arc indeed, but not one the public will find on the pages of the credentialled press, save for MnIndy's sharp-eyed Birkey.
Screenshots: TPT identifies Jake MacMillian as "Citizen." (via Dump Bachmann, above); Minnpost's commentary about this post--because there's no finer way to belittle a post about the "who" in the five Ws than to spell the critic's name wrong (below).
Once upon a time in 2002, I door knocked pastoral New Auburn, Minnesota, in Sibley County, for a couple of DFL candidates. One citizen was out tending his garden, and we began with a pleasant chat that early fall afternoon about the usual suspects. Soon, though, the tiller of the soil launched into a spiel about how God had only recently stopped a comet from hitting Earth, as a warning.
Should Americans not leave off teaching evolution in schools, and having abortions, the diligent gardener told me, there'd be no divine intervention with the next comet. I thanked him for his views, promised to pass the information along to the candidates, and backed away very slowly.
Glen[n] Gruenhagen won the vote Tuesday night in New Prague to run against
Democrat Mick McGuire to be the successor to retiring Rep. Laura Brod,
R-New Prague. . .
. . .Gruenhagen received 47 votes on the second ballot, said Janet Morris,
the Le Sueur County Republican Party chairwoman. (To win, one candidate
has to receive 60 percent of the vote or they ballot again.)
That's not much to go on, especially given the strong headline at the top of the post. For illustrations of Gruenhagen's fringe views, one has to head to Mr. Google.
Since the Twin Cities' digimodernist political press is no doubt exhausted from examining the smallest nuance of fake Robyne Robinson tweets in the latest Entenza social media panic, and will likely take a month to recover (if ever), I'll dive in.
Gruenhagen is a culture warrior, fighting the scary forces of evolution, diversity, multicultural education and political correctness. His endorsement marks a distinct swerve right from Laura Brod's brand of conservative Republicanism in HD25A.
. . .Consider our government run welfare system. After spending approximately $6.5 trillion to eliminate poverty, the poverty rate in this country is the same or worse than when the government declared war on poverty over 40 years ago. Government run welfare programs are little more than a government subsidized prostitution program paying extra money to women who have children out of wedlock. This has contributed to over a 70% out of wedlock birth rate for Americans with an African heritage. Also, welfare provides financial support to able bodied men instead of incentives for an honest days work. . . .(page 6)
In addition to Gruenhagen's equation of sex out of wedlock with prostitution, there's a lot to work with there. The simplistic statement about poverty rates rising defies debunking in a short blog post. A good place to start reading about poverty rates--and their relationship to jobs, wages and living standards in America--is the EPI.
The rest of the pamphlet is a marvel as well; I'm curious how many seniors will agree with his assessment of Medicare. Go plumb the depths yourself. Gruenhagen's quite proud of the piece, having presented it at Congressman Peterson's health care town hall last summer in Wilmar:
Another questioner at the forum, Glencoe insurance agent Glenn
Gruenhagen, shows up with a three-chapter booklet he had written
specifically to combat liberal arguments for health care reform. After
revving up the crowd—topping off his turn at the microphone with a cry
of “Tell Obama to stop coddling terrorists!”—he approaches the panel
and drops his pamphlet on the table.
Now in his fifteenth year on the Glencoe Silver Lake school board, Gruenhagen has become known as a controversy magnet for his radical ideas, including segregating classes by gender--and he's sought to spread those ideas through resolutions at Minnesota School board Association meetings. According to this letter to the local editor in Glencoe from a fellow board member, the ideas are no more popular statewide than in the GSL schools:
Resolutions: Stop labeling and drugging students - 2 for; 103 against. Emphasize rote learning - 2 for; 130 against. Implement phonics reading - 8 for; 94 against. Teach principles of patriotism - 13 for; 88 against. Implement abstinence - 7 for; 95 against. Separate classes by gender - 16 for; 86 against. Teach fallacies of macro evolution - 7 for; 100 against. All children are gifted - 12 for; 89 against.
Then there's the letter to the editor from the time of Michael Jackson's death. Now, not being particularly interested in pop songs or celebrity culture, I simply turned the news off or clicked over to something else during that blitz. Not Gruenhagen. He railed against it, suggesting at the end of the epistle that education unions and politicians--especially that Al Franken--were to blame:
Unfortunately the education bureaucracy such as the US Department of
Education, the Minnesota Department of Education, the National
Education Association and the Minnesota Education Association continue
to support flushing educational sewage into our schools and colleges
using your tax dollars. Almost all the Democratic politicians, and even some in the Republican
Party, support this education nonsense and stupidity, including both
Minnesota US senators. The most recent being Senator Al Franken.
Now is the time for good men to redouble their efforts to prevent more
damage and restore positive role models to our nation’s children.
I suppose that women aren't role models for children--or maybe being a fecund vessel is all that's required, provided we're not whoring on welfare. Perhaps Gruenhagen will tell us.
Presented the first in a series on corrupted education
(which includes censorship of creation)
"Revisionist History: How And Why Historical Documents Are Being Changed"
Mr. Michael Chapman
Dubbs Club & Restaurant
702 - 10th Street
Glencoe, MN 55336
Series will include: Worldviews, Revisionist History,
School-To-Work system, School Curriculums, Health, Government, Violence
Prevention, and more. Series will be video taped for cable and
broadcast.
For additional information contact:
Citizens For Academic Excellence 1825 - 16th St., Glencoe, MN 55336
Mr. Glenn Gruenhagen [redacted]
Mr. Robert C. Frey [redacted]
I'll have to ask my former colleagues at The Library Company of Philadelphia (used as by the Continental Congresses and Constitutional Convention) if they've been changing the texts. Betting not.
Other gems about education can be found on his Facebook page:
EDUCATION
While serving on the GSL school board I have promoted the teaching of
U.S. History and patriotism, including the use of original founding
documents. I*ve opposed the politically correct educational philosophy
of multiculturalism and diversity. In subjects involving drug and sex
education I have advocated for curriculum that directly instructs
students in moral absolutes, including abstinence until marriage and
the traditional family. I have supported the use of intensive
systematic phonics for reading instruction. I have advocated a balanced
approach to teaching origins which would include all scientific facts
including those facts that might question the validity of Darwinian
Evolution. I purchased, at my own expense, a science textbook
supplement to provide a balanced, comprehensive approach for science
teachers. I support choice in education. I support public, charter,
parochial, private and home schools. I believe that parents are the
primary educators of their children and that all children are gifted
and talented and capable of success.
Since diversity is a bad thing in his eyes, Gruenhagen believes that "educational philosophies" lead to a "boiling pot." From his Facebook page:
IMMIGRATION
Legal immigrants have contributed major benefits to our society.
Historically, the U.S. has always been a *melting pot*, assimilating
legal immigrants into our culture. Today, unfortunately some of our
laws and educational philosophies are instead creating a *boiling pot*.
I have to wonder what the LeSueur County Czech-Americans I know would think of that. One of my fondest memories of the 2002 campaigns was overhearing two musicians discuss polka music after a parade-at a certain point, they slipped into the local variation of Czech to talk about the finer points of the music they loved. Both men were American-born, but their parents hadn't abandoned their culture to assimilate.
On energy:
ENERGY
All forms of alternative energy must prove to be economically viable
before widespread implementation across this state. We must build new
nuclear power plants and utilize clean coal technology, along with
expanded use of natural gas. Our country has the resources to become
energy independent.
This is another fascinating statement. Gruenhagen would apply one standard to "alternative energy"--presumably non-carbon based technologies--while promoting "clean coal technology." Unfortunately, for these technologies, Cost Is Chief Barrier to ‘Clean Coal’.
This is just the beginning. Perhaps that liberal media might even delve more.
As for Mick McGuire, the Democrat endorsed for the seat who is serving his fifth term as mayor of Montgomery, he's actually proving to be a visionary of sorts.
The first candidate to announce for the seat, McGuire isn’t convinced
he’ll be running against Brod — a four-term incumbent who has risen to
leadership positions in the House Republican caucus and is rumored to
be interested in running for governor. . . .
. . .McGuire, who was a city councilman before his repeated mayoral
elections, has never lost a general election. He did finish as
runner-up in a race for the DFL endorsement in a special election for
the District 25 Senate seat in December 2007, losing to Northfield
school teacher Kevin Dahle — who went on to win the special election
the following month.
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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