NEWSPAPERS
One pleasure of door knocking and lit dropping is getting out in lovely fall weather. According to the Strib's fall leaf forecast, MN-01 will be the "it" district for political activists:
But in places that received more rainfall, such as southern Minnesota or low valleys with more moisture, the oranges, reds, yellows and maroons should meet expectations.
"There will be the whole range this year -- subtle, subdued colors all the way to the vibrant colors," Albers said. "The northern third of the state is going to be a little subdued, with dabs and dollops. Southern Minnesota is going to be very good for color, along the Minnesota River valley and around Rochester."
Ron Tezzi, a letter writer in the Mankato Free Press notes that "Liberals need not apologize for keeping people informed":
For more than a year now, a steady stream of letters and My View columns in The Free Press has offered facts and arguments detailing the blunders and inadequacies of the Bush administration and Republicans.
You can’t help but notice the intellectual impotence of opponents unable to counter these facts and arguments. If they write anything, they just whine about liberal extremists.
Liberals need not apologize to anyone for keeping people informed about what their government is doing: Ignorance may be bliss; but it is not a virtue.
The problem with ignoring facts is that they can come back to bite your backside — evident (to anyone reasonably well-informed) in the President’s rhetorical attempts to cover his badly-bitten butt after the Iraq fiasco, Katrina, loss of international prestige for the United States, rejection of Bush prisoner policies by federal courts, huge deficits, tax cuts for the rich, denial of global warming, hindering stem cell research, and trying to panic people about Social Security. Equally bitten are his Republican cohorts, like Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy. [read more]
Cottonwood County saw a primary turnout of 20%, higher than its historical averages. One resident, Rosemary Schaffer of Windom, tells readers of the Cottonwood County Citizen Online that "It's time for the truth":
Are you a Patriot?
Do you love your country? Then it is your job (mine, too) to tell our leaders 'Give us the truth!' - not just the leaders of one political party, but all of them.
It is also time the news media tells the truth. If they do not know what the truth is, say that and report something they do know is true.
Blind faith in leaders isn't patriotism, whichever leaders happen to be in power at the time. And, if you say it's unpatriotic for someone to speak out about what they perceive is not true, that's just plain immature and loathsome name calling.
Sept 11 has come, been agonized over, and is behind us one more time.
We have heard over and over in the last few weeks, 9/11 - 9/11 - 9/11. That evidently is supposed to strike such mind-numbing fear into all Americans, that we allow our leaders to do anything they please to anyone - including our American citizens. They do it in the name of being frightened into stupidity and cowering in abject fear every day and night.
Oh how handy it is, in the run-up to the most important mid-term elections any of us will probably ever participate in, that Osama Bin Ladin has plopped yet another video out. Now we can be frightened one more time.
It's time for the truth, isn't it?
Last weekend, Michigan Republican Pete Hoekstra came to Minnesota to host a fundraiser for Gil Gutknecht and to visit with Rochester's first responders. Today, Hoekstra is the focus of an AP article published online at the Winona Daily News: "IAEA: U.S. Report on Iran 'Dishonest'":
A recent House of Representatives committee report on Iran's nuclear capability is "outrageous and dishonest" in trying to make a case that Tehran's program is geared toward making weapons, a senior official of the U.N. nuclear watchdog has said.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday outside a 35-nation board meeting of the International Atomic Energy Agency, says the report is false in saying Iran is making weapons-grade uranium at an experimental enrichment site, when it has in fact produced material only in small quantities that is far below the level that can be used in nuclear arms.
[snip]
Dated Aug. 12, the letter was addressed to Rep. Peter Hoekstra, chairman of the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. It was signed by Vilmos Cserveny, a senior director of the Vienna-based agency.
[snip]
The dispute was reminiscent of the clashes between the IAEA and Washington over whether Saddam Hussein was trying to make weapons of mass destruction, including nuclear arms. American arguments that Saddam had such covert arms programs were given as the chief reason for invading Iraq and toppling Saddam.
More on the letter in the Washington Post.
NETROOTS
Minnesota Central asks whether Rochester is rejecting Gutknecht.
Tim Walz has received $10,627.36 from 436 contributors as an ActBlue Netroots Candidate. Put some coin in that hat to help him tell the truth.
Did you see this comment from Steven Schier, a professor of political science at Carleton College :
Another surprise of the 2006 primary was the low GOP primary turnout. Democratic turnout constituted about 66% of all votes cast on September 12. In 2002, when neither party had important statewide races on the ballot, the Democratic turnout totalled a bit over 53% of votes cast. True, the AG and fifth district races on the Democratic side were bound to pull in more voters, and Republicans had no seriously contested statewide or congressional district races. But the gubernatorial and senatorial primaries for the GOP in 2006 had fewer total votes cast in them than in 2002. Does the low GOP primary turnout have implications for Minnesota this November? You can argue that one either way.
http://politicalwire.com/archives/2006/09/14/in_minnesota_low_turnout_and_some_surprises.html
Posted by: MinnesotaCentral | September 15, 2006 at 09:20 AM