Readers know Bluestem has a bee in our bonnet about the House Republican Caucus using new legislation and funding for pollinator habitat as an example of "waste," when bees and other pollinators are an important part of the ag economy, as well as a key link in food production.
Many believe the insecticide’s spread to other plants has caused a
recent increase in bee deaths. The European Union passed a two year ban
on neonicotinoid pesticides in April.
While Sundberg is concerned, he still isn’t completely convinced. He will, however, take caution in the future.
“I’m not ready to point the finger and say corn farmers are killing
our bees,” he said. “But it does affect how I’m going to run my
business.” . . .
Habitat is a greater concern for the beekeeper:
Sundberg said he believes the biggest reason for losses could be a
lack of available food sources in the area. A recent trend of farmers
planting crops instead of renewing CRP contracts and cutting in road
ditches has meant less alfalfa, sweet clover, buckwheat, basswood trees
and other plants where bees collect pollen and nectar.
“It could be related to a lack of nutrition and diversity,” Sundberg
said. “We’re dependent on all this land that we don’t have control
over.”
Who represents this area? Bud Nornes. While he didn't join in the vocal, public bee-bashing, he voted against the Omnibus Environment, Natural Resources and Agriculture Finance and Policy Bill, which funded bee habitat.
Photo: A bee helps out an apple tree.
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A year ago, the Minnesota
Legislature blocked a grant that [University of Minnesota associate professor of entomology Vera] Krischik received from the Minnesota
Legislative Citizen Commission on Minnesota Resources to study how
treating trees for emerald ash borer is affecting bees.
This year the Legislature passed a
pollinator habitat bill. It appropriates $150,000 a year to improve bee
habitat and increase public awareness of pollinators. The legislation
also requires state agencies to create a report on pollinator habitat
and to establish a process for reviewing the safety of neonicotinoid
insecticides.
The legislation reflects a growing
public concern about bees, said Marla Spivak, a Distinguished McKnight
Professor in the University of Minnesota's entomology department.
When Republicans controlled the Minnesota legislature, they blocked bee research. Thrown out of office, they chose to use the common-sense bee legislation--introduced by Ag Policy chair Jeanne Poppe (DFL-Austin), a Greater Minnesota lawmaker the Republicans had early on praised for her knowledge of farming (Mountain Lake Republican Rod Hamilton wanted her committee to handle all ag finance)--as the mascot for endless prattling about wasteful spending.
There's more of the cheap sound bites from House minority leadership, then this curious exchange:
There is Republican support for legislation to help pollinator habitat. Rep. Paul Torkelson (R-Hanska) co-sponsored
HF595,
which would direct DNR to establish criteria for a program to provide
enhanced habitat for honey bees, and other pollinators, on state lands.
But that language was not included in Wagenius’ bill. . . .
Language is one thing, but bees don't feed off words, however much those words might be fodder for Republican talking points. The article continues:
Wagenius said educating people about the importance
of pollination and pollinators was a good idea and that, while she
shared Torkelson’s concerns, her bill does more than the original
legislation asked for, directing DNR to include growing plants that are
good for pollinators throughout the growing season when doing
restorations.
“You did not include any money,” Wagenius said. “We spent some money and we changed policy.”
Words are like honey, but money will actually sweeten the hive. Is that wasteful spending? Bees are an economic driver:
Bluestem believes it's better that the Republicans are left in the minority to whine about bee research, rather than controlling the legislature and blocking it outright, as their buzz is far worse than their sting these days.
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 the eyes of the federal government, urban Minnesota has just pushed a little farther into the countryside.
What used to be a 13-county metropolitan statistical area now
contains 16 counties. Mille Lacs, Sibley and Le Sueur counties, which
still look pretty rural if you go driving around the likes of Milaca or
Winthrop, are now considered by the federal Office of Management and
Budget part of the Minneapolis-St. Paul-Bloomington Metropolitan
Statistical Area (MSA).
Part of this is statistical artifice, and at least a couple research
folks I've talked to around town have been scratching their heads about
how meaningful it is. But one thing it says is that the artery of
commerce and commuting that for some time has tied the Twin Cities to
the St. Cloud area is being duplicated in regards to Mankato.
. . . A county
is added to an MSA when more than a quarter of its workforce commutes to
the "core counties" of the statistical area.
While Gruenhagen's insurance office is in McLeod County (notably still not part of the metro), the lawmaker hangs his hat in Sibley County--and so now, he's statistically a metro legislator. (Indeed, all of his old pre-2012 district--parts of Sibley, Le Sueur and Scott Counties--is now part of the Twin Cities statistical metro area).
Does this radical Big Government redefinition of metro threaten Gruenhagen's role as a voice in the wilderness? After all, in his first message home after being sworn in, the insurance salesman wrote:
It was an honor and a privilege to take the oath of office on Tuesday
and be sworn in for the second time to the Minnesota House of
Representatives. One of my highest priorities this session is to be a
voice for rural Minnesota. Agriculture is such an important part of our
local economies, and we must make sure that rural Minnesota is
adequately represented in Saint Paul.
Someone needs to let Glenn Beck know.
For ourselves, we're just worried that hipsters will discover the incredible pie at Lyle's Cafe in Winthrop, itself already an urban island of lavender blue in Gruenhagen's deep red district.
Photo: Lyle's Cafe, future hipster haven? If you call this metro, serve it with a heavy dollop of irony.
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Governor Mark Dayton may have come out against a one-year moratorium on industrial sand mining while a Generic Environmental Impact Statement is conducted, but a story by Stephanie Hemphill at Minnesota Public Radio illustrates why grassroots citizen groups in Southeastern Minnesota are asking for both.
. . .The EQB is a multi-agency oversight
body that received a petition to do an in-depth study of the possible
environmental effects of frac sand mining. . . .
That kind of study would take
several years and cost a lot of money. In the meantime, the agency has
produced a 90-page report that summarizes the issues.
So far the questions outnumber the
answers regarding possible impacts on the environment, the economy and
local communities, said EQB planner Jeff Smyser.
One of those questions involves a very scary thing: sinkholes. Probably not Florida-scale sinkholes--and the water quality concerns that are related to sinkhole-producing karst geology are a whole lot more vexsome:
The report includes . . .maps of
southeastern Minnesota's unusual geology, known as karst geology, where
rich deposits of silica sand are found. That makes it tricky to predict
underground water flows, Smyser said. The limestone bedrock easily
creates sinkholes and causes unpredictable groundwater flows.
"It's kind of difficult to know
where the water's going to go, just what effects use of groundwater,
discharge of processing water is going to have because of that karst
geology out there," he said. "So that's a real tricky question that's
real hard to answer at this point."
A number of silica-sand related bills are working their way through the Minnesota legislature. Senator Matt Schmit's SF786 provides for a GEIS and a one-year moratorium; Schmit has also introduced a bill that creates setbacks to protect fish and sensitive natural areas in the driftless region. Rep. Hansen's HF906 creates standard and a technical assistance team team to help local government regulate sand mining; he also has a bill to protect wellheads and natural areas in the region.
Waconia Baptist pastor Mike Frey may have provided your moment of cray yesterday in the House Civil Law committee hearing for Representative Karen Clark's marriage equality bill, but the more interesting story might be tracing who put the whacko in Waconia.
A set of photographs at flickr posted by the Baptist Church Planting Ministry(BCPM) states that the Northern Lights Baptist church was planted in Waconia in September 2011 by the group. According to its website, BCPM's "United States office is based in Apple Valley, Minnesota and is a ministry out of First Baptist Church in Rosemount."
Follow the Money notes that First Baptist Church in Rosemount was one of the top 20 funders to the Minnesota Family Council's Marriage Protection Fund in 2012:
A Minnesota resident speaking before the House Civil Law Committee
offered a shockingly inaccurate testimony in an attempt to thwart the
approval of same-sex marriage in the state.
Mike Frey, a "concerned" father and husband, spoke in front of the committee on Tuesday and cited Minnesota's sodomy law, struck down in 2001, which defined sodomy as both anal and oral sex. He attempted to argue that gay sex poses a danger to citizens of the state because it results in the spread of acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS).
He claimed that heterosexual sex could be safer because the vagina
has a "barrier of cellular tissue that doesn't allow the sperm ... to
penetrate the blood flow," but anal sex doesn't have such protections.
"When ejaculation occurs inside of a colon, it's highly absorbent
material, the cells do not have a barrier for the sperm and those
enzymes to enter into the blood flow," Frey said. "When the enzymes
enter into the blood flow, and a continued, prolonged environment of
that happens, these enzymes in the blood flow, it causes what we know as
AIDS."
Frey's discussion of AIDS during a same-sex marriage hearing is
striking because AIDS affects people of all genders, races and sexual
orientations. The information shared by Frey is not only homophobic, it
is also misleading. . . .
While Mike Frey's testimony seemed outlandish to most of those watching the hearing, those of us watchdogging the Minnesota Family Council likely perked up our ears, since the group has long been the genesis in Minnesota for this sort of obsession with the details of gay sex.
Tom Prichard, president of the the Minnesota Family Council, the main
proponent of state Republicans’ anti–gay marriage amendment, told reporters after the bill’s passage on Saturday night
that the goal was not to get “personal” and that he hoped that
Minnesotans could have a “respectful discussion.” But documents on the
group’s website uncovered by bloggers on Monday
are dashing those hopes. A legislative handbook put out by the Family
Council states that gays and lesbians engage in bestiality and ingest
human excrement and claims that a disproportionate number of
“homosexuals” are pedophiles. . .
One page of the document focuses on “Informed answers to gay rights questions” and offers this example.
8. “Gay people are not different in their behaviors from other people.”
8a. Homosexual practices are often astonishing to heterosexual
people. Homosexuals must use body apertures not constructed for sexual
penetration or bring their mouth into contact with areas designed for
the elimination of human waste, which causes serious hygienic and health
risks. Some homosexuals become urolagniacs (ingesting urine and feces)
and engage in bestiality as well as other deviant behaviors.
Perhaps Frey was indeed at the hearing simply out of his own personal concern. However, his ideas don't jump full-blown from his head like Athena from the skull of Zeus; rather, they're nurtured in the cradle of the Minnesota Family Council and its kindred souls.
There was talk yesterday by some conservative Christians--including Senator Dan Hall when a senate committee heard the companion bill--that they might be called bigots and legally punished for their views should the marriage amendment pass. Senator Dibble and other hope that religious freedom provisions in both version of the bills will prevent that.
One wonders, however, if they simply believe that their "biblical" view of human sexuality gives them a warrant to spread bizarre claims about their fellow citizens without allowing the rest of us to speak out.
Holding them accountable isn't censorship--it's our own free speech. Puritan and poet John Milton defended this right of public discussion, believing as he did that a good public argument would lead to the discovery of the facts (although however open-minded he might have been for his time, he enjoyed his own prejudices against "Popery"). That one makes outlandish scientific claims in the name of one's faith does not make a person exempt from the discussion.
Here's the youtube of Frey's testimony:
Photo: screenshot of the Baptist Church Planting Ministry's Waconia flickr set from 2011.
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Today, Representatives Mike Beard (R-Shakopee), Steve Drazkowski (R-Mazeppa) and Mary Franson (R-Alexandria) introduced HF306, which would abolish Minnesota's renewable energy standards.
The Beard-Draz-Franson bill is unlikely to pass, given renewable-energy friendly DFL majorities in the Minnesota legislature. The state is home to a flourishing wind industry and expanding solar energy production. Companies such as tenK Solar also manufacture components in the state for solar production.
The American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC) is suffering
backlash from its battle on a new front: renewable energy standards.
The American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industry Association (SEIA) have let their ALEC memberships expire, according to Greenwire.
Why? Last October, ALEC adopted the "Electricity Freedom Act"
model bill. This model bill, which ALEC is now seeking to roll out in
various states, would end requirements for states to derive a specific
percentage of their electricity needs from renewable energy sources.
Given the gridlock on national legislation, renewable energy
standards, which are typically passed at the state or local level, set
targets for shifting from fossil fuel energy to renewable sources, such
as solar and wind energy.
SEIA let its one-year membership expire last fall; AWEA let its membership drop this month.
State Rep. Mike Beard is a nice guy. The Republican from Shakopee is
the former president of the local chamber of commerce. He says he cares
about humanity. He is a man with deep Christian values, a free-market
conservative and a veteran of eight years on the Minnesota House
Environment, Energy and Natural Resources Policy and Finance Committee.
. . .
. . . But right now, Mike Beard's solution is more coal-fired power
plants. He told me that having more coal plants would pave the way for
renewable energy. I think he meant it would buy time for innovation
without a drop in base load electricity as demand increases. . .
A lot of what Beard knows he learned in church. One Congressman,
talking about global warming, recently said that God wouldn't allow man
to do anything to destroy the planet. Beard told me, "It is the height
of hubris to think we could." I asked him about nuclear war. He said:
"How did Hiroshima and Nagasaki work out? We destroyed that, but here
we are, 60 years later and they are tremendously effective and livable
cities. Yes, it was pretty horrible," he said, "But, can we recover? Of
course we can." . . .
Beard believes that "God is not
capricious. He's given us a creation that is dynamically stable. We are
not going to run out of anything."
On Friday, the Fergus Falls Journal reported in State OKs power plant plan that the utility will close its Hoot Lake coal-burning plant by 2020:
The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission Thursday approved the
recommendation by Otter Tail Power to retire its Hoot Lake coal plant by
2020.
In October, Otter Tail Power Company officials recommended the idea of closing the plant in 2020.
“The
Public Utilities Commission approved an Otter Tail Power recommendation
that the utility company install pollution control equipment to comply
with mercury and air toxic standards by 2015, and make plans to retire
the plant in 2020,” said Cris Oehler, director, public relations for
Otter Tail Power. “(The decision) wasn’t a surprise. It was based on our
recommendation.” . . .
. . .In today’s meeting, the PUC also ordered Otter Tail Power to consider
stronger energy efficiency and expanded renewable energy in their future
integrated resource planning process. . . .
Though enviromental groups agreed the decision takes a step in the
right direction, they have urged OTP to consider the retirement of the
Hoot Lake Plant sooner than 2020.
“Mercury emitted from the Hoot
Lake coal plant affects our water in western Minnesota,” said Duane
Ninneman, Renewable Energy Program Director of Clean Up the River
Environment (CURE). “Today’s decision will lower the risk of mercury
contamination in our waterways. Phasing out coal vastly improves the
health of the surrounding community and helps us keep our water clean.
Every day that pollution comes from the Hoot Lake plant, our health is
put at risk.”
Other clean energy allies echoed the same concerns about Hoot Lake’s retirement timeline. . . .
Read the rest at the Fergus Falls Journal. Given the troubles with mercury burning coal creates, we hope that Rep. Franson will reconsider sponsoring HF 306, which repeals renewable energy standards in favor of polite suggestions.
Photo: Michael Beard, R-Shakopee, has faith in God's creation, if it's coal. Those renewables? Not so much.
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At a House Health and Human Services Policy Committee hearing on Wednesday for Rochester Representative Kim Norton's HF181, which would require insurance companies to cover treatments for autism spectrum disorder, Representative Mary Franson repeated discredited theories linking autism and childhood vaccines, noting that she no longer had her own child vaccinated.
Representative Norton, thank you for bringing this bill forward. As a mother of three children, I am very thankful than none of my children have had to experience autism, or my family hasn't had to go through that experience.
But also, I'm one of those parents that no longer vaccines either because of the fear that I have had talking to other parents that have experienced their child becoming --experiencing autism after what they found, what they believed correlated with the vaccinations.
But I'm just curious: you know we can talk about insuring and that's great, that's hope for the families that are experiencing autism now, but what I'm really interested is ending autism and so that autism is a thing of the past.
And with my own research online, mercury is one of those things, it's a poison, it's a neurological poison here that affects developing babies in the womb, it affects small children. . . California, Oregon and Minnesota are the three states that have the highest incidences of autism. Could you or do you know of any information that you may be able to share with us on what your beliefs are or theories are from the task force on what is being done to hopefully end this?
At this point, Tina Liebling steps as chair:
Representative Franson, this is really off-topic. The bill is not about the origins of autism, so I thinkI'm just going to go on to the next person. I think there will be other opportunities to have this kind of discussion, but today in not the day. And as I said, we're going to reconvene at four in the basement. We can talk about the bill for as long as members want, into the night. . .
Here's the clip:
Representative Liebling had more patience with Franson than people who read MinnPost staffer James Nord's tweet:
Rep. Mary Franson says she's stopped vaccinating her children.
The anxious tweeps were alarmed because the theory that links vaccination and autism has been discredited, although demogoguing on the issue persists--and it's not just Hollywood mom Jenny McCarthy spreading this malarky, as Forbes' Steven Salzberg noted in Congress Holds An Anti-Vaccination Hearing.
Salzberg went beyond the Washington hearing, and reviewed the evidence against the anti-vaxers:
. . . Dozens of studies, involving hundreds of thousands of children, have
found the same thing: there is no link whatsoever between thimerosal and
autism, or between vaccines and autism. . . .
. . . multiple studies, looking carefully and objectively at the data,
indicate that all or nearly all of the rise in autism cases is due to
increasing diagnoses, which in turn is due to multiple factors: a
dramatically broading of the definition of autism in the early 1990s, a
greater awareness of the condition, and a greater willingness of doctors
and parents to accept the diagnosis. For an objective summary of the
evidence, see the articles by neurologist Steven Novella here and here,
which summarize a dozen epidemiological studies. The weight of the
evidence shows that the actual incidence of autism is either stable or
possibly rising very slowly. There is no “autism epidemic.” . . .
. . .over the past decade, the anti-vaccine movement has successfully
convinced millions of parents to leave their kids unvaccinated, and the
result has been serious outbreaks of whooping cough, haemophilus, measles, chicken pox, and mumps around the U.S. and Europe.
Andrew Wakefield, the doctor struck off the medical register for his discredited research that claimed to find a link between autism and the MMR
vaccine, can add another honour to his list this Christmas: the
inaugural Golden Duck award for lifetime achievement in quackery, set up
by the science writer Simon Singh. . . .
In 1998, Wakefield was the lead author of a paper in the Lancet medical journal
that suggested a link between the measles virus and inflammatory bowel
disease. The paper also suggested the virus played a role in the
development of autism. Wakefield later said that his research led him to
believe that, instead of the MMR triple vaccine, children should be
given a series of single vaccines. His statements led to alarm around
the world, a drop in the rate of MMR vaccination and, in the UK, a rise
in cases of measles cases.
Adam Finn, professor of paediatrics at
Bristol University, said that Wakefield's legacy was "many, many
thousands of unimmunised children born over the last 15 years whose
parents decided MMR was too risky at the time and subsequently have
forgotten all about it. Measles rates are up and they will only decline
when this accumulation of susceptibles has either had the vaccine or the
disease."
The state is ranked 44th in immunization rates and parents who sincerely believe that vaccination is wrong can opt out of vaccinating their school-aged children, as Franson has done.
Bluestem believes that Franson sincerely thinks that she has done the right thing by her children. Nonetheless, her skills at evaluating medical claims are unfortunate and we side with another friend, mother of beautiful boy who was nonetheless very tiny at birth. His mother fretted during the epidemic, when her son was too young for his shots, that foolish theories might cause the wee baby to catch the disease.
That he was put at risk because of anti-science fanaticism promoted by nitwits like Jenny McCarthy is unacceptable--and Minnesota House committees are no place for repeating this foolishness.
Until today, it was unclear whether perennial candidate Allen Quist would enter the Minnesota House District 19A race, especially after stellar veterans' advocate Jim Golgart entered the 19A race as a GOP contender yesterday.
But Quist jumped in today, and the 1980s-era anti-sodomy crusader and culture warrior is already setting himself apart from the herd of cats running for the open seat by his mention of "welfare" and academic standards--a dogwhistle to the current battle over the state's revised social studies standards, which is largely led by conservative education group Education Liberty Watch.
Governor Dayton has yet to set the date for the special election prompted by the resignation of Rep. Terry Morrow, who ran unopposed in the 2012 election.
Robin Courrier, Clark Johnson and Karl Johnson are competing for the DFL endorsement, Tim
Gieseke plans an Independence Party bid and Golgart will battle Quist for the Republican nod. The winner will represent Nicollet County, Kasota, and parts of Mankato.
Bread & butter issues v. culture war
Quist is the first candidate to bring up an issue that points to cultural warfare.
The New Ulm Journal's Josh Moniz reports Clark Johnson, Jim Golgart enter 19A race that neither of the candidates to announce yesterday are concerned with social issues, but plan to focus on the bread and butter concerns they believe are most on district residents' minds:
[Golgart] said he has no interest in running on any social issues for the special election nor pushing any if elected. . . .
. . .Johnson has no interest in pushing any kind of social issues in either the race or the Legislature.
"I
think the time is not right for social issues. We saw what happened
with the last Legislature when they over emphasized [social issues].
They got diverted and ended up with having to have a special session,"
said Johnson.
That's pretty much where the other candidates are: upgrading the local "death road" that is Highway 14, the budget, fixing education funding, jobs.
Not so with Allen Quist. Here's the dog whistling passages, along with a curious claim about his effectiveness as a legislator:
Because Quist served three terms in the Minnesota House in the 1980s,
Quist would enter the Legislature with three terms of seniority. “Both
experience and seniority are major factors in being effective,” Quist
said.
Quist also said that his record of being bi-partisan is a significant
asset in promoting good government. “Good legislation is almost always
bipartisan,” he said. Quist was chief author of the bill that created
what was then called Minnesota’s Department of Jobs and Training. Quist
said he worked closely with then DFL Governor Rudy Perpich in drafting
and passing that bill. Quist said the purpose of the bill was helping
people become self-sufficient as opposed to keeping them on welfare.
Repeal of the controversial education policy known as the “Profile of
Learning” was another of Quist’s accomplishments. Quist said he won the
support of Education Minnesota in that successful repeal effort.
As interesting as that framing is to Allen Quist, it's not exactly how it happened.
In fact, when the Profiles were scrutinized beginning in 1999, then repealed in 2003, Quist wasn't serving in the legislature--and some of those those who were scrambled to distance themselves from the unsuccessful 1994 gubernatorial candidate.
Placing this "accomplishment" on his resume, right after noting the successful authorship of one bill passed while he served, without noting when the Profile was repealed and what his specific role was in this process, is something on the sketchy side.
The claim to Education Minnesota support for his efforts is also fuzzy. Looking into Nexis, it's not clear whether Education Minnesota was supporting Allen Quist specifically when it finally shifted from a "fix it or repeal it" position in 1999 to agreeing to the 2003 repeal; indeed, it's not clear that he can take full credit for the repeal of the Profile of Learning.
In fact, here's some evidence that legislators distanced themselves from Quist as support for the Profile vanished, though they supported the call for reform or repeal.
On February 12, 1999, St. Paul Pioneer Press staff writer Paul Tosto reported in "House Kills Profile:"
. . . But as the debate shifts now
to the Senate, observers there see interest in tinkering with the
Profile, but not killing it altogether.
"I think in the
Senate, we're going to be a little bit more prudent than they were in
the House," said Senate Majority Whip Steve Murphy, DFL-Red Wing.
The
Profile's paperwork burden and complex grading system had become a
fiasco, acknowledged Murphy, who also sits on the Senate Children,
Families and Learning committee. The Senate, he added, is interested in
maintaining some of the statewide standards laid out in the Profile's 10
learning areas, then leaving it up to districts to decide how to
achieve them.
"The gist of what they're (the House) doing is correct. But I don't want to be tied in with Allen Quist
and some of those people," said Murphy. Quist is a former gubernatorial
candidate who has attacked the Profile repeatedly as harmful to
education and has pushed for its end. (Nexis All News, accessed 1/4/2013)
And as for Education Minnesota's position, Tosto reported:
Backers
praised its emphasis on hands-on learning, original research and
community interaction. Critics dismissed it as bureaucratic busywork
with little connection to learning.
Even the state's biggest teachers union, Education Minnesota, urged lawmakers to "fix the Profile of Learning or get rid of it," after a membership survey found 63 percent of teachers opposed to the current rule.
There are only three articles in the Nexis All News database that are returned by the search string "Allen Quist AND Profile of Learning AND Education Minnesota," and neither of the other two include Education Minnesota's position on the repeal.
And while Education Minnesota supported the final bill that replaced the Profile with the state developing a set of standards in 2003, Quist wasn't serving in the legislature at the time, nor was the repeal credited to him at that time. Rather, then-state senator Michele Bachmann's name comes up most, while future Bachmann congressional aides Julie Quist and Renee Doyle of EdWatch are mentioned in the writeup of the repeal by Eagle Forum. The author of the repeal bill in the House was Rep. Tony Kielkucki, R-Lester Prairie.
In other works, like Fed Ed, Quist argues a deliberate conspiracy to dumb down students.
What's academic? A look at Quist's curriculum modules
Moreover, Quist's version of academic standards might be the very definition of political. The Curriculum Modules he edited remain online. He bills them:
CMods provides accurate and exciting new information for teachers and
other interested persons. This information is generally unavailable in
school textbooks because it contradicts the worldviews of the education
establishment. The information is presented in the form of curriculum
modules that may be downloaded or used in other ways by teachers,
parents or anyone else, free of charge. The mods are designed to
supplement and/or correct current textbooks.
Perhaps most importantly, this is something of a coterie issue, so the dog whistle is all the more obvious.
Quist not interested bringing home the bacon?
But what's most surprising that Quist is running for the state legislature at all, especially where a parochial, bringing-home-the-bacon issue like upgrading Highway 14 is important.
But earlier in his career he said politics isn’t his strongest suit.
In the 1994 Star Tribune profile on him and his family, Dane Smith
reported that legislators who worked with Quist in the capitol said he
was “something of a loner in the Legislature, preferring to socialize
with lobbyists and activists who opposed abortion rather than with his
colleagues. He did little to build the personal contacts and rapport
that is crucial to enactment of legislation.”
“He agrees that his character was not well-suited to the
back-slapping and tending to the narrow needs of a legislative
district,” Smith continued.
Quist agreed with that assessment. “I’m much more at home running for
statewide office,” he said. “I was never that interested in parochial
issues, in bringing home the bacon.”
Now, however, he's all about those things.
Cartoon: Allen Quist, by Ken Avidor.
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One of the persistent political folktales circulated by the likes of Mike Parry was that the EPA was going
to regulate farm field dust. With the agency's release of the final update on air quality standards, Bluestem doubts the anti-Obama faithful will stop trading this one in cafes and by beside campfires, since storytelling isn't grounded in the factual.
But we'll try once more to stand up for the facts of the matter.
The U.S. Environmental Protection
Agency (EPA) updated its national clean air standards today without
tightening “farm dust” standards.
"EPA's
final decision today on national clean air standards will have no
impact on farm dust from agricultural operations, as they have indicated
for more than a year,” said Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack in
response. “I commend EPA Administrator Jackson for her efforts to reach
out to the agricultural community and to make it clear that EPA had no
interest in regulating farm dust.”
Under
the Clean Air Act (CAA), EPA is required to review its air quality
standards every five years. According to EPA, a federal court required
the agency to issue a final standard by December 14, because it did not
meet its five-year legal deadline. In June, EPA proposed to retain
the coarse particulate matter (PM-10) standard, and several farm groups submitted comments encouraging EPA to make that proposal final. . . .
. . .National Farmers Union (NFU) Vice
President of Government Relations Chandler Goule said EPA’s announcement
will allow the agriculture sector to “finally put this issue to rest.”
“There
has been a lot of misinformation circulating about supposed regulatory
overreach so this final rule will hopefully put to rest any remaining
anxiety regarding ‘farm dust’ regulation by EPA,” he said. . . .
So no: the dirty hippies at "Obama's EPA" aren't planning to regulate farm dust. Find another dust-up.
Minnesota Farmers Union President and former state representative Doug Peterson sent out this statement about the decision today:
The United States Environmental Protection Agency
(EPA) finalized an update to its national air quality standards for
harmful fine particle pollution, and they ruled to not change the
regulations on dust from
farms and other sources.
“Minnesota Farmers Union and National Farmers Union
fought hard to make sure these dust regulations would not be changed
and so we are pleased that the EPA came down on the side of common sense
and decided to not regulate farm dust,” said
Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President.
Other common sense regulatory issues that Farmers
Union fought for and won on the behalf of family farmers include:
allowing for farm kids to continue to work on the farm; and
country-of-origin-labeling (COOL) on food.
Photo: So not an EPA rule against this.
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"bleg" though Christmas.
Blog begathon: Bluestem is supported by reader contributions. If you liked this post, consider throwing some coin to the tip jar. If you don't like using PayPal, email at the address on this page for a snail mail address. We'll be running our twice-yearly "bleg" though Christmas.
At the Lafayette Club in Minnetonka Beach, Romney came through for Star Tribune funny page readers, predicting a Bills win, Strib staff writer Jennifer Brooks reports in Romney tells Minnesota supporters campaign is for 'soul of America':
Romney took a moment to single out U.S. Senate candidate Kurt Bills,
who earlier in the day had renounced his support for Ron Paul's GOP
candidacy and officially endorsed Romney.
"I appreciate the fact that you're about to elect a Republican senator from Minnesota," Romney said.
As of July 25, Bills, a Republican, reported having just $5,841 in
the bank. His opponent, DFL U.S. Sen. Amy Klobuchar, has more than 900
times as much cash for her campaign -- nearly $5.4 million.
Bills actually didn't have a terrible 25 days of fundraising in July.
His haul was $105,113 compared to Klobuchar's $131,996. But the Bills
campaign began July with just $64,681 in the bank and then spent more
than $160,000.
According to the records, the campaign spent $35,000 on polling,
nearly $8,000 on software to manage the campaign's finances and another
$9,950 on fundraising consultants. An Ohio-based political consulting
firm called The Strategy Network was paid $12,691. Direct mailings that
are usually used to solicit funds cost the campaign another $8,980.
The bus has also consumed a fair share of the campaign's resources.
The records list a $3,533 charge to put Bills' campaign logo on the bus.
The campaign spent an additional $284.26 at a Tires Plus auto supply
store for batteries, $1,268 on drivers and $361 for bus repairs.
Romney must know something the rest of us don't--and surely a jaunt to rubs elbows in the tony zip codes on the shores of Lake Minnetonka demonstrates being deeply in touch with the soul of Minnesota.
When asked about the Global Warming issue wether [sic] he is for or against it?
He stated he doesn't know enough about the issue to support or legislate on it.
When asked about funding further windmill legislation or mandates?
He stated," I am definitely against that."
As for Ethanol subsidies should be continued?
He stated something along the lines of that needs to end ethanol subsidies as it hurts farmers.
He considered himself a conservationist and someone who enjoys /
appreciates the outdoors but wants to take a rational.[sic] States the EPA
has grown far beyond its mission.
Those answers should pull about as many checks from Minnesota's farmers as a fundraiser for cornborer nurseries.
Bills is as touch with energy development issues in rural Minnesota as Romney is with the suburban teacher's chances beating Klobuchar. The state ranks third in the nation in generating wind energy, with thousands of people working in the industry, a recent Department of Energy study reported, according to the ECM newpaper group. Minnesota House research reported in July, 2012, that the state's ethanol industry production capacity had grown to more than 1 billion gallons by the end of 2011.
Federal fuel tax credits for ethanol ended in 2011, and the final payment to eligible plants from the ethanol development fund was made this year. Since 2005, federal law has required gas companies to blend ethanol into the fuel sold to American drivers under the Renewable Energy Standard, according to a MN House factsheet.
Given the importance of the wind and ethanol industries in western and southern Minnesota, it's no wonder Bills lost both the First and Seventh congressional districts to Carlson.
Representative Duane Quam, Republican of Bryon, Minnesota, must be taking his cue about MNSCU buildings from Sheriff Stanek's treatment of Occupy Mpls members in the Hennepin County Government Plaza, aka the People's Plaza.
Byron Republican Rep. Duane Quam told county officials at the meeting that he is “sick and tired” of bonding tours focusing on the shiny, new projects instead of basics like roads, bridges and flood prevention. He said he voted against this year's $497 million bonding bill because less than 25 percent of the money went to bridges, roads and flood mitigation. He also questioned all the money going to renovate campuses in the Minnesota State Colleges and Universities system.
"So why are we throwing money at infrastructure that 10 years down the line is going to be underutilized? We need to be smart what we're spending this on," Quam said.
Rochester's Dave Senjem retorted that there was too money for roads and bridges in the bonding bill that came out of the special session.
Bluestem looks forward to the coming session. Perhaps MNSCU engineering and science students can bring the chemistry sets they get for Christmas and occupy Quam's office. The editor's memory is fading, but those experiments involving sulfur have much to recommend themselves.
Photo: Duane Quam wants buildings to fall down around college students.
I write in a studio with a south-facing window, four blocks north of the Gopher Campfire Wildlife Sanctuary on the Crow River in Hutchinson. This morning, the usual suspects took wing: a few bachelor mallards, Canada geese and herons. American White Pelicans soared, riding the thermals. The squeaky-pump calls of yellow-headed blackbirds flow from a nearby storm-water pond.
This spells trouble for the migratory birds that now grace the skies in my neighborhood. The Christmas Bird Count range map from the USGS's Patuxent Bird Identification Infocenter above illustrates the places where the pelicans winter. They're not the only birds who will be heading to Louisiana this winter.
PRI's The World discussed the potential effects of the spill on migratory birds wintering or passing through the ruined habitat in the Impact of Gulf oil spill on migratory birds:
MARCO WERMAN: Even if you live far from the Gulf
coast, you may eventually see the effects of the oil spill in your own
backyard. That’s because millions of migratory birds pass through the
spill area on their way to nesting grounds across North America. Some
of those birds could be sickened on their annual journey. The World’s
environment editor, Peter Thomson spoke to a conservationist about that
concern and filed this report.
PETER THOMSON: Imagine you’re a gray cheeked
thrush, you weight about one ounce, you’ve flown 3,000 miles from your
wintering grounds in Brazil on your way to Northern Canada. You’re
tired and hungry. You settle into a patch of coastal Louisiana to rest
and eat. Say it’s the spring of 2011, a year after the Deep Water
Horizon blow out and the gloppy brown oil from the wrecked off shore
rig has been scooped off the beaches. Everything here looks like it
always did before the spill, but there’s still a problem.
MIKE PARR: Oil, it has the capacity to soak into marshy areas and be held there and released slowly over a really long period of time.
THOMSON: That’s Mike Parr, Vice President of the
American Bird Conservancy, which advocates for protection of birds and
their habitats. He says oil’s tenacity means that even long after the
obvious effects of a spill are gone, oil can linger in coastal
environments and work its way into the food chain. Eating contaminated
food might not kill the birds outright, like direct contact with the
oil might, but it can have what are called “sub lethal” effects.
PARR: All those types of things can affect breeding
success. It starts to have effect on the liver, the GI tract, and on
vision and obviously that’s going to make it difficult for birds to
forage and probably difficult for them to feed their chicks effectively. . . .
How bad is it?
At its annual meeting last week, the board of directors of Ducks Unlimited unanimously passed a resolution stressing the group's commitment to restoring wetlands along the Gulf Coast. In a video on the DU site, Dr. Tom Moorman, director of conservation planning for the Southern Region calls the coastal Lousiana "the most important wintering area for waterfowl on the continent of North America."
As many birders know,the habitat preservation efforts groups like Ducks Unlimited doesn't simply help game species, but other wildlife as well.
The National Audubon Society has created a Gulf Oil Spill media page, Oil Spill Impact and Response Expanding. While its focus is on the immediate effects of the spill on species now nesting on the coast, the implications this winter for the birds I see now in Minnesota is sobering.
The environmental impact of what is now reckoned as the largest oil
spill in U. S. history continues to unfold. Oil is now being seen from
Louisiana to Mississippi, and there are fears that the loop current
will carry it up the Atlantic Coast. Read more
Audubon staff are seeing increasing numbers of oiled birds, and
fears of long term effects on birds, marine life and Gulf coast
communities are mounting. Audubon has urged speedy Congressional
authorization of emergency funding to address the unfolding crisi.s Read statement
.
. .Audubon has joined with other conservation leaders in calling for
the Administration to exercise more direct oversight of public safety
protection, environmental monitoring, and environmental testing in
response to the disaster in the Gulf of Mexico. Read letter
It's rare for me to look into a research subject and find that I can look no more into the truths that inquiry discloses.
I'm going to do some birding now.
Images: Christmas Bird County locations of American White Pelicans (above); Pelicans in flight (below).
I was wrapping up an editing project with a friend last night when Representative Kory Kath called to let me know that he had decided not to seek the DFL endorsement in the SD26 special election--and that another Owatonna High School teacher, football coach Jeff Williams, was strongly considering jumping into the senate race,
While we finished the project, the Waseca County News published the scoop in Senate race takes shape, which was soon posted in the Owatonna People's Press (all three major papers in the district are published by the same company).
Staff writer Claire Kennedy reports:
. . .Rep. Kory Kath will stay in the state house.
“I was thinking about it at one point in time, but I’m very happy to
represent District 26A in the House,” said Kath, who also teaches at
Owatonna Senior High. “I’m very passionate about the work I’ve started.
I will not be seeking endorsement as a Senate candidate.”
In our phone interview, Kath told me he had told his students at Owatonna Senior High about his decision earlier in the week. "They knew about the special election, and asked 'Mr. Kath, you're not going to take off early and run [for the state senate], are you?' " I assured them I wasn't going to do that," Kath said
In the phone interview, Kath talked about Coach Williams' interest in running, observing that Williams had taught science at OHS for 20 years. The WCN/OPP story noted rumors of Williams' potential announcement:
There are rumors that another OHS teacher may seek the DFL endorsement
— Jeff Williams, the high school football coach. Williams did not
return a call seeking comment on Tuesday.
However, Steele County DFL Chair Vicki Jensen confirmed that Williams had expressed interest.
“I did speak with Jeff Williams,” Jensen said. “I don’t know if he will or not, but we talked about it.
Kath said that his understanding was that both Engbrecht and Williams would abide by the endorsement at the SD26 DFL's meeting in Owatonna on December. "I'm excited that we may have two strong candidates to pick from," Kath said, "and we stand a good chance to extend the gains Democrats have made in the district."
Kath noted that Williams was a colleague at OHS, but didn't indicate a favorite in the field of two.
Prior to 2004, both house disticts in SD26 were in Republican hands. Representative Patti Fritz captured the 26B seat in 2004, while Kath won the open seat in 26A in 2008.
One entertaining side note to this story: reader comments on the Owatonna People's Press version of the article provide a glimpse into the negative know-nothingism of many of the conservatives who post after OPP articles.
IBEW Local 343 in Rochester played host to U.S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu and a host of labor leaders, union members, renewable energy innovators and a handful of politicians yesterday.
In addition to host Congressman Tim Walz, State Rep. Randy Demmer (R-Hayfield) and State Senate Minority Leader Dave Senjem (R-Rochester) got a firsthand look at three renewable energy projects. The Post Bulletin described them:
. . .three renewable energy projects championed by southern Minnesota
residents: a mobile self-contained ethanol plant, cars created and
adapted by students at Minnesota State University-Mankato that run on
solar and electrical technology, and the IBEW Wind Turbine Training
Facility, where electrical workers train to service the turbines
delivering clean energy to southern Minnesota.
Impressive stuff indeed. Bluestem have more later today or tomorrow; right now, I'm heading to Farmfest with BSP photographer Eric Adams.
In the meantime, enjoy this video clip from the Post Bulletin's coverage. The echoes in the inside of the training tower reminded me of those in an empty silo.
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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