Blessed are they that mourn
There's an overcast and sullen sky today. Over in Lake City, Tony Hebert will be buried today. Hebert died in Baghdad in combat last month.
The Rochester Post Bulletin reports that Fred Phelps's Kansas church has threatened to picket the service--though these threats are often empty. The Hebert family probably won't have to see Phelps' hateful band if they do show up:
In reaction to the WBC, a group of motorcycle enthusiasts known as the Patriot Guard Riders have taken to attending picketed funerals, at the invitation of the family, to shield the mourning family from interruptions by picketers.
The Patriot Guard Riders were invited to Hebert's funeral and visitation and planned to attend, according to the group's Web site. They were to meet at Bluff View Elementary, and will ride to St. Mary's Catholic Church, where they will set up a flag line.
Craig Ugland of Rochester, ride captain for the Patriot Guard Riders in southeastern Minnesota, said that sometimes WBC posts notices that it will be at a funeral, but then doesn't show up. WBC has only attended one funeral that he knows of in Minnesota so far.
Either way, the Patriot Guard intends to be at Hebert's funeral to honor the family, Ugland said.
A press release from WBC on the Hebert protest says "God himself has now become America's terrorist, killing and maiming American troops in strange lands for (homosexual) sins."
Phelps' band first hit our radar in the early 1990s when we were living in southwest Missouri and they showed up at funerals of people who had died of AIDS. Their cruelty to mourners has only continued since then. Ugly stuff. Take note that Phelps and his band are not "anti-war" as some have labelled them, but misguided religious zealots, as the Patriot Guard calls them.
Basic stuff: feed the hungry, care for the sick, instruct the young
We're heading to Marshall in a bit to hear Representative Peterson talk to farmers about the 2007 Farm Bill. Sean Broom at MnPublius asks Representatives Walz and Peterson to
support more money in the Farm Bill for food stamps and nutrition in Could You Live Off Of 3$ A Day?.
At Minnesota Campaign Report, state representative Jeremy Kalin tried it, though he was able to take advantage of refreshments at various meetings when he tried it, but still felt lightheaded. When U.S. House members didn't allow themselves that option, they got pretty hungry.
The Winona Daily News reports that Older farmers changing the face of rural America. Tim Walz is a co-sponsor of the Beginning Farmer & Rancher Opportunity Act. Our friends at the Center for Rural Affairs, mentioned in the WDN article, applauded the legislation.
In today's St. Cloud Times, a letter writer asks the rest of Minnesota's congressional delegation to join Tim Walz and others to join Peterson, Walz, et al. in support of the Arthritis Prevention,
Control, and Cure Act of 2007:
The Arthritis Foundation thanks U.S. Reps. Betty McCollum, Collin Peterson, Jim Ramstad, Tim Walz and Sen. Norm Coleman for their support of the Arthritis Prevention, Control, and Cure Act of 2007.
With the nation's leading cause of disability affecting 1 out of 5 Americans, we urge Reps. Michele Bachmann, Keith Ellison, John Kline, James Oberstar and Sen. Amy Klobuchar to join their colleagues and become co-sponsors. . . .
In other news from the St. Cloud area, CSB/SJU students participate in Washington Summer Study Program reports that Walz's chief of staff Peg McGlinch, a 1995 graduate, spoke to the students. McGlinch's family still resides in the Rochester area.
Minnesota 2020 will focus on outstate Minnesota. The Strib likes the idea; we shall see.
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