The Mankato Free Press reports in Toys: It isn't kid stuff that Congressman Walz is helping to spread public awareness of dangerous toys--and to pass legislation aimed to help protect consumers and their children:
The YMCA was a virtual Hall of Horrors for any anxious parent worried about the safety of the toys they buy their kids.
A decorative coat zipper-pull for kids — made of 65 percent lead. A Hot Wheels car in which the wheels easily popped off causing a choking hazard. Two tiny panda bears — held together with strong magnets — that if swallowed could bind a child’s intestines.
“Half the toy-related deaths are from choking,” said Samantha Chadwick, campaign director for U.S. Public Interest Research Group during a news conference in the YMCA’s day-care room.
She, and1st District U.S. Rep. Tim Walz, D-Mankato, were making the rounds Tuesday in a pre-Christmas tour warning of dangerous toys and calling for support of legislation that would improve inspections and recalls.
Legislation moving toward passage in Congress would provide more funding for the Consumer Product Safety Commission, a better toy recall system and a ban in lead in all toys.
Walz said the Safety Commission is drastically understaffed with just 15 inspectors to monitor all the millions of toys coming into the country and only one lab worker to test toys.
He said that even with beefed-up inspections, there is no way to check most toys and that parents must use vigilance and common sense.
“Parents should know there is no government agency that inspects toys before they go on the shelves,” Walz said. He said the legislation is intended to put pressure and penalties on those companies that willingly skirt consumer-protection laws. . . .
KEYC-TV has more coverage in Trouble in Toyland, as well as video:
With Christmas coming soon, a consumer advocacy group is releasing its report on toy safety. A representative from the U.S. Public Interest Research Group along with Congressman Tim Walz are alerting parents to the hazards with some toys still available in stores. Even with millions of recalls this year, there are still risks when buying gifts for your kids. Samantha Chadwick says, We went out there and easily found these toys on the shelves and so we are working to let consumers know that they're out there and they can take into their hands by making sure to check for hazards. Along with the consumer report, congress is hoping to pass the SAFE Consumer Product Act, which would increase safety standards on all toys in the country.
Agri News reports that the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center is hosting a dinner and forum; Walz will be taking part:
Elected officials will participate in a question-and-answer forum Dec. 1 at the Eagle Bluff Environmental Learning Center in rural Lanesboro.
The evening begins with dinner at 5:30 p.m. and the forum follows.
Congressman Tim Walz, state Sen. Sharon Erickson Ropes and state Rep. Ken Tschumper will participate in the forum.
Cost is $18 and reservations are required. Call (507) 467-2437 to make reservations.
And here's the menu from the EBELC website (mmmm, prime rib):
Menu: Red onion, cucumber, tomatoes and baby greens tossed with raspberry vinaigrette, sunflower seeds and goat cheese; Butternut Squash Soup; Grass Fed Prime Rib; Walnut Briskets with Braised Cabbage and Caraway Greyer Mornay Sauce; Sweet Potato Gratin; Roasted Root Vegetables and Red Potatoes.
Agri News also carries news of Walz's appointment of Josh Syrjamaki as his new chief of staff. We met Syrjamaki on Saturday at the Farmers Union convention. He sat in on a couple hours of the afternoon's policy debate, before his future boss arrived to speak at dinner. We look forward to MnCR's interview.
The Post Bulletin talks to Brian Davis about his blog. We're glad: it should take DJ off the hook.
Netroots
How's that for a segue? DJ at IDHA offers a different take on Saturday's scheduling fiasco by Senator Norm Coleman in Coleman stiffs Farmers Union to attend fundraiser…across the hall?
Setting aside who actually spoke to the convention, elected officials such as Rep. Tim Walz and Sen. Amy Klobuchar (each a member of his/her respective chamber’s Agriculture Committee), and candidates such as Al Franken and Mike Ciresi, the day seems to be more notable for who didn’t speak: Sen. Norm Coleman, who serves with Klobuchar on the Senate’s ag. committee.
A Bluestem Prairie reports that while Coleman’s people snubbed the MFU, despite repeated calls, emails and faxes, his people picked the same freakin’ hotel, the Four Points Sheraton, for a fundraiser at the same time with some dentists.
Others may see this as more of an issue of Coleman snubbing a major constituency. I see it as more of an issue of blatant “WHAT WERE YOU THINKING?!” on the part of the individual(s) responsible for scheduling this event and not making sure Coleman was scheduled to speak in front of those farmers.
Sure, the dental people may have scheduled the event at the Sheraton over the heads of the Coleman campaign. That would simply be a gaffe.
For Coleman’s campaign scheduler to not partition 10-15 minutes to talk to the MFU considering he would be within a few measly feet of the convention? That is pure incompetence.
League of Rural Voters blogger Randy "Ole" Olson has more about the Minnesota Farmers Union convention at My Main Street News. Olson used our account to login and blog the convention (Non-Norm material). We helped the League set up the blog and hope to post there more often now that the semester is winding down. Emily Gaumer, a journalist and communications specialist hailing from Iowa, spearheads the effort; Minnesota's political activists may remember her efforts on behalf of Christian Sande's SOS campaign in 2006.
At the Huffington Post, Colleen Rowley, an often harsh critic of Congressman Walz, looks at the Almanac tussle between Kline and Walz in Support Bridges, Not War: a Clear Question of Priorities:
. . .We had no idea, however, that only 3 months later, Bush and his cronies in Congress would actually VETO the money needed to rebuild this critical bridge that, before its collapse, spanned the Mississippi River into Minneapolis. Incredibly enough, our banner proved prescient in foreseeing the clash of priorities when, just last week, 137 of Bush's best Republican rubberstamps, including Minnesota's own two right-wing Representatives John Kline and (Bush-smooching) Michele Bachmann, voted to sustain Bush's veto of the Transportation Bill over their own constituents' interest in rebuilding the 35 W Bridge.
John Kline's attempt afterward on a Twin Cites public TV program (click "Congressional Tussle..." segment) to justify his vote against funding for the collapsed bridge, presumably on behalf of Bachmann and the other right-wing Republicans, takes the prize for arrogance. What gives when Kline and company voted for a Republican crony's "Bridge to Nowhere" in Alaska just two years ago but refuse to vote now for a bridge to somewhere in Minnesota? Democratic freshman Congressman Tim Walz, although he seemed fairly exasperated, did a credible job of questioning this strange set of Republican priorities, especially their support for funding of bridges in Iraq while not supporting funding for bridges in their home state. . . .
Rowley challenged Kline in Minnesota's Second District in 2006.
Firedoglake picks up on the latest Dick Day Minuteman wrinkle.
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