The bleg is over and outperformed expectations, though readers are welcomed to give tips at any time. Thanks to all for their contributions.
Note: Bluestem continues to post new material, although this "bleg" remains on the top of the page. If you've come here to read new posts, just scroll down. Thank you!
Update June 12: So far, the response has been tremendous. I'm floored by readers' generosity, and hope that Bluestem can live up to it in the rest of the year and beyond [end update]
If you're reading this post, you're probably one of the hundreds of Minnesotans who visit daily for Bluestem's quirky progressive take on the news from Greater Minnesota, as well as the stories that BSP breaks. For the second time, BSP is having a bleg (that's blogspeak for putting out the begging bowl, for asking for your spare change in the tip jar).
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Photo: You Can Run But You Can't Hide Street Team in the Hutchinson Walmart. Bluestem's post led to closer scrutiny of the fundraising by the media and Walmart.
Wilfahrt sent the attached images with the following note:
Last week after [taping] the Maddow show we received a free handful of magnetic bumper stickers as shown below. I put one on my car.
Today daughter Martha ran into Cub foods here in Rosemount. Upon returning to the car the two sided card shown below was stuck in the window. . . .
Lovely. While it's doubtful that the person leaving the card knew the Wilfahrt family circumstances, the incident illustrates the wrong approach to win friends and influence people. And fortunately, the card landed on the windshield of strong people who will not be bullied from loving their family and the memory of their son.
But this is getting into Fred Phelps territory.
Wilfahrt sent a second note with permission to post; I think it illustrates the resolve and backbone needed in the coming campaign against the Bradlee Dean marriage discrimination amendment:
I went to their site and posted a note asking if they wanted a lawsuit for invading my property.
I’ll be sending a note to the Attorney General's office shortly.
His man's son died taking an IED blast while shielding a fellow soldier from the blast. Do not underestimate the strength that courage has given the father.
I doubt any law was broken, other than a general rule for persuasion, Certainly, I can't remember a single time I've changed my opinion after someone first proudly announced that their message was going to offend me. Yeah, that works.
The card illustrates how quickly this discussion can go to hell in a handbasket (or at least a placard). It's a blatant appeal to fear, but likely we'll see more subtle pitches appear now that reports are out like this one on Fox 47, Marriage amendment supporters file to raise funds:
A group that supports amending Minnesota's Constitution to prohibit gay marriage has filed paperwork needed to begin raising campaign donations.
Minnesota for Marriage filed late last week with the Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board. The group includes the Minnesota Family Council and the Minnesota Catholic Conference and other religious and secular organizations. . . .
It's unlikely that these groups will be so crude as to directly mention even a whiff of sulfur. Indeed, even the Minnesota Family Council removed homophobic "ick" factor legislative manual from its website after bloggers discovered it online and the Minnesota Independent reported about the documents in Family Council asks for ‘respectful debate,’ says gays are pedophiles who engage in bestiality.
Like Huck Finn's decision after recalling his experiences with Jim on the river, I think I'll stick with friends in this debate and vote no the amendment in November 2012, regardless of how many Fred Phelps' wannabes commend my soul and state for a hellicious wienie roast. Enough already, people.
Writing about the newspaper niche industry that is Mazeppa's Representative Steve Drazkowski, Winona Daily News editor Darrell Ehrlick believes Drazkowski misses the mark about "Tenthism." Bluestem believes that Ehrlick in his turn misses the mark about how the Draz's ideas are central to the contemporary iteration of the GOP.
Amazingly for all the backward ideas floating around in St. Paul during Round One of the legislative session, even some ideas appeared too goofy for the GOP.
Did I say “amazingly?”
Minnesota newspapers’ niche industry, state Rep. Steve Drazkowski, who represents a wide swath of the Winona area, had enough time on his hands to contemplate the limits of federalism.
Apparently Team Draz wants Minnesota to become a tenther state.
For those unfamiliar, this is a movement of conservatives, tea partiers and other assorted conspiracy theorists who believe the not often used Tenth Amendment holds the key to breaking free from the tyranny of the federal government.
The Tenth Amendment for those of you who may not remember (it’s only been invoked directly twice in Supreme Court cases in the last 60 years), says that powers not given to the federal government remain the province of the individual states or individuals.
Borrowing from the playbook of doomsday prophets and movies like the “Da Vinci Code,” tenthers, as they’ve been called, believe the amendment’s spartan language and straightforward approach is really a secret code for states to nullify any federal legislation they don’t like.
Walk It Back
Let's walk back the cat on Drazkowski's idea and see what else and who else is lurking there among those Ehrlick implies are extremists. When one does so, it doesn't really seem that Drazkowski's ideas are too goofy for the GOP; in fact, last year's party standard bearer, gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer, co-sponsored a 2010 Tenth amendment bill.
Senate Republicans introduced a constitutional amendment Wednesday that would make Minnesota the first state to require a two-thirds majority vote in the legislature to approve federal laws affecting the state. “Minnesotans enjoy inherent, natural, God-given rights,” the bill states, and “Citizens of Minnesota are sovereign individuals, subject to Minnesota law and immune from any federal laws that exceed the federal government’s enumerated constitutional powers.”
The bill was introduced by state Sens. Mike Parry of Waseca, Bill Ingebrigtsen of Alexandria, and David Hann of Eden Prairie, and is a companion to a House bill introduced by Reps. Steve Drazkowski of Mazeppa, Bruce Anderson of Buffalo, and Tom Emmer of Delano last month.
Emmer has also authored a resolution that would lay claim to Minnesota’s sovereignty: “[T]he State of Minnesota hereby claims sovereignty under the Tenth Amendment to the Constitution.”
The bills are part of a larger conservative push, following the election of President Barack Obama, to give states power to reject federal policies. Seven red states passed Tenth Amendment resolutions following Obama’s inauguration: Alaska, Idaho, North Dakota, South Dakota, Oklahoma, Louisiana and Tennessee. Five others have passed a resolution since health care reform passed: Alabama, Kansas, South Carolina, Utah and Wyoming.
And Emmer isn't the only GOP leader in the list above. Mike Parry, for instance, is a communications point man for deputy MNGOP party chair and Senate Majority caucus leader Michael Brodkorb. Brodkorb has put Parry on the radio as host of "Inside the Senate."
ALEC's support
The "larger conservative push" Birkey mentions later drew support from two of the more powerful policy groups in Republicanland: the American Legislative Exchange Council and the Republican Study Committee in the U.S. House of Representatives.
“The federal government continues to squash the sovereignty rights of the states as guaranteed by the 10th amendment to the U.S. Constitution unrelentingly and at an accelerating pace. From countless unaffordable federal mandates imposed upon Minnesota's healthcare system, education programs, and even families, the overreach of Congress has gone unchecked. It's time for the states to restore their Constitutionally-protected autonomy, and that's why I am going to sponsor the Article V application for the Repeal Amendment.” Steve Drazkowski, member, Minnesota House of Representatives
Draz wasn't able to make the press conference ALEC staged for the announcement of the legislation, but plenty of Republicans were there, including Congressman and 10th Amendment Task Force Chairman Rob Bishop (R-UT), Bill Howell, Speaker of the House of Delegates in Virginia, David Clark, Speaker of the House of Representatives in Utah, and Mike Haridopolos, President of the Florida Senate.
It would be goofy not to see those folks as part of the GOP--and somewhat irresponsible of Ehrlick and others to continue to frame the Tenthers as simply a fringe. While the idea itself might indeed be goofy, it's not so goofy that Congressman and House Republican Whip Eric Cantor refused to put his name on the media advisory along with that of the Draz. Indeed, Cantor's name heads the list of sponsors on ALEC's November 2010 media advisory. So far as I can tell, no Democrats there. And while ALEC claims a few Democratic members, it's by far a Republican dominated group.
And while ALEC is one of the great conservative satans for the left, Minnesota conservatives typically say that the group is no different than another membership group (though the legislative membership of ALEC is never disclosed to the public; a transparency law like that in Florida might change that).
If we take Republicans at their word about ALEC being just another group, then Tentherism is just another idea that's not too goofy for Minnesota Republicans.As we should see, it's not too goofy for Republicans in Congress to consider.
Wikipedia notes that there are over 170 current members of the RSC--a majority of the caucus. Moreover, like ALEC, it was founded by the profilic foundational conservative godfather, Paul Weyrich.
Is the GOP "too goofy"
As much fun as it is to laugh at ALEC member Steve Drazkowski--and Bluestem often delights in our own share of belly laughs at his expense--neither Ehrlick nor BSP should claim that many of his laughable ideas are "too goofy" for the Republican Party. Indeed, given their provenance and the investment corporations put into groups like ALEC, the Tentherism might be some of the best ideas at the core of the Republican Party, the best and most central ideas money can buy.
Photo: Zombie Draz Bunny. And yes, he caught those ideas from somewhere, from other Republicans and respectable conservatives. Bluestem can't remember him coming up with a single goofy notion on his onliness.
Here in greater Minnesota, late-coming warm temperatures finally have unleashed an army of wood ticks. Can the state's air force be far behind, singing the woods and prairies in the key of summer?
Not only that, but the legislature's adjourned for now as well, and the likes of Drazkowski and Parry haunt the scenic byways of Southern Minnesota as well. Break out the garlic and citronella candles.
One thing they probably aren't talking too much about are the value of small cities--a notion that the Mankato Free press correctly identifies as conservative in Sunday's editorial, Our View: Don’t ignore importance of cities.
There’s plenty to think about. Minnesota has always been a small-town state. There are hundreds of small towns that are viable. There are only a few big cities. States like South Dakota have let their small towns go away. States like Wisconsin have several large cities that dominate.
The discussion on local government should include debates about just what kind of a state we want to be: One dominated by big cities with the naturally occurring urban problems, or one that has a good mix of clean metropolitan areas not overly crowded and a good number of small towns that offer the value of communitarianism.
That’s the simple idea that small businesses can serve home-grown markets. It’s the idea that the community, not just official institutions, have a role in educating children, keeping them safe and policing the problems.
It’s the reason crime rates are much lower in small towns and smaller communities. If the populations of small towns in Minnesota were added to the urban populations, you’d likely see all the costs of urban centers increase, thereby leading to increased costs for the state as a whole and its taxpayers.
So, it’s unfortunate the Legislature was not able to have a debate about local government aid in the context of value versus cost.
The editors in Mankato probably didn't read some of the recommendations provided by conservative bloggers, the advance teams in Senate Majority leader Michael Brodkorb's messaging empire, which suggested that Minnesota's small town heritage should go the way of the VHS player and cassette tape. Take this post, for instance.
I'm being to wonder if small towns serve their greatest value for the Republican Party of the Minnesota suburbs as a rhetorical device for "nice" anti-gay and anti-brown bigotry. The real towns themselves? Not so much.
Stir together this tendency with the anti-big city rhetoric and what do we have? Perhaps a future as caustic as that other summer hazard: poison ivy. A whole field of it.
It's gotta be tough to be Republican Party and caucus leaders Michael Brodkorb and Tony Sutton.
Though I can imagine them gloating in the privacy of their Eagan and Inver Grove Heights boudoirs over Sutton's boorish behavior, the editorial headline over a recent Star Tribune editorial, it stretches even the educated imagination to fancy that they're pleased with the reviews coming in from rural Minnesota.
Love is hard to find on the editorial pages.
Take this headline from the Winona Daily News, where Darrell Ehrlick writes Our view: This GOP solution is worthless. The accompanying text matches the harsh tone; a sampling:
The logic of the Republicans isn’t worth a dime.
Literally.
The stalemate at the Capitol boils down to an argument about taxes.
True to his word, Democrat Gov. Mark Dayton originally proposed to raise income taxes on the wealthiest 2 percent of Minnesotans when he was elected. He wanted to raise the tax rate 5 percent on these rarefied earners.
But, also true to his word that he would compromise and work with the Republican-dominated Legislature, he shifted, now seeking around 2 percent from the wealthiest.
Republicans — padding the budget bills they passed with numbers from their own partisan staff — sent him budgets that preserved tax breaks for the superwealthy, but increased property taxes and gave cuts to places like Winona Health to the tune of $2.2 million.
The Dayton-backed plan would have required a dime more for the top wage earners on income made in the highest bracket.
Those dimes then add up to serious dollars. About $1.8 billion to be exact.
Let’s forget for a moment that state income taxes are already at a low.
Republicans have conveniently forgotten to mention how low income taxes are from a historical perspective.
It’s not lying, but it’s certainly not telling the entire truth.
Instead, GOP politicians have trotted out the same tired red herring: If you tax the rich, the jobs will disappear. . .
Oh my. Just down the road in Austin, the Herald lets Governor Dayton off with a gentle reprimand in Minn. lawmakers fail constituents, while reserving its full wrath for the legislature:
. . . Most of the blame, or course, lies with the Republican majority that controls both houses of the Legislature. This is a majority which, despite months to prepare, began the session with no coherent plan for addressing Minnesota’s massive budget deficit, not even a plan that matched its stated intention of avoiding new taxes. It is also a majority which frittered away countless days, weeks and months on issues unrelated to surmounting the huge budget challenge. Stadiums, social engineering and trivial legislation seemed to be more important.
The governor, who also must bear responsibility, at least offered a complete budget plan and made notable attempts to compromise – although from a position so far afield that success was unlikely.
. . .We don’t really believe Republicans who pushed the legislation feel deep down this is a pressing issue for Minnesota. Instead, it’s the same old story of fiscally conservative Republicans who run the party using socially conservative issues in an attempt to distract the public from fiscal issues — such as the floundering economy and the woeful state budget.
They put this on the ballot as a strategic move. They want voters in 2012 to be polarized on the issue of same-sex marriage rather than focusing on the issue of jobs. In the 2010 election, these same Republicans had campaigned on the issue of jobs, yet no jobs bill was produced in the recent session.
The GOP strategy almost reminds us of the line from the movie “The Wizard of Oz”: “Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain.” . . .
Photo: Michael Brodkorb working at messaging. Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain.
On this Memorial Day, I'm remembering those who defended my country, and those who died for it.
One story that's moved me this spring strikes at the core of what it means to be an American, to love this country, to honor its values: the death of Cpl. Andrew Wilfahrt and his family's standing up for equality for all people. Andrew Wilfahrt was a gay man; this was the least interesting thing about him. What those who served with him remember is a soldier who was there for his fellow soldiers. He's buried now in the national cemetery at Fort Snelling, along with one of my own uncles who died in the Malmedy Massacre and with hundreds of others who served their country.
Wilfahrt's life and death became an emblem of equality in in recent debates over a bill to amend the Minnesota constitution to define marriage as a union between a man and a woman. Those opposing the bill--and now the amendment--have risen to rare eloquence, none more than that of a Republican freshman legislator who lost the lower part of his legs in Iraq when an IED exploded.
In this video, John Kriesel points toward protesters chanting during this statement, saying that that America was the one he had fought for. I'd like to believe that this is where Andrew's heart is, in the America that includes everyone, and values everyone, but there are others, equally American, who believe otherwise. This is their right; some may even object to the posting of this video on Memorial Day. That, too, is their right.
My beloved state now faces a debate and a fight over fundamentals: who we are, what we love, how a society will recognize that love, and what love will matter. This Memorial Day, I'm siding with the Wilfahrt family and Representative John Kriesel, a straight, married, conservative man, in saying Yes to a society which respects love, and on Election Day in November 2012, saying "Hell No!" to those who would deny equality for Andrew and everyone. I'd prefer that no one's fundamental rights and dignity be put up for a vote, but since vote I must, it's "Hell No."
Thank you, John Kriesel. Thank you, Jeff and Lori Wilfahrt. And thank you, Andrew Wilfahrt.
If failed boorish burrito baron Tony Sutton let customers stiff him at Baja Sol, the restaurant chain he and wife/Republican activist Bridget Sutton once co-owned, like he's done to Greater Minnesota counties, it' no wonder former business partner and TCF boss Bill Cooper showed them the door.
The Star Tribune reports today that the Republican Party of Minnesota still owes $27,115 to Greater Minnesota counties for 2010 gubernatorial recount.
The Republican Party of Minnesota still owes money to about one-third of the state's counties for work performed before the 2010 gubernatorial recount.
Thirty counties are owed a total of $27,115 for work processing data requests for the party, according to the GOP.
"We are picking away at them," said state party Chairman Tony Sutton.
The recount came after DFLer Mark Dayton scraped past Republican Tom Emmer by 9,257 votes.
GOP leaders filed a blizzard of requests around the state seeking data about election judges, absentee ballots and other issues in an effort to find voting irregularities. In the end, they dropped their challenge.
The party's debt ranges from $192 for Yellow Medicine County in western Minnesota to $2,020 for Goodhue County, southeast of the Twin Cities. . . .
As the related posts below indicate, Bluestem has kept a tab on this story. The Star Tribune sotry notes that the DFL has paid the counties all it owed for recount costs.
The Republican earmark ban may threaten to turn off the taps for the Lewis and Clark Rural Water Project, but Al Franken is earning praise from the Worthington Globe for hauling water for the project.
Franken said the answers he got didn’t make much sense, but added that’s not — and never has been — his primary concern. He told the Daily Globe on Thursday that U.S. Secretary of the Interior Ken Salalzar commented during a U.S. Senate Committee on Energy and Natural Resources hearing that Lewis & Clark was a primary project of his, and that it should be fully funded.
Franken noted that he is seeking a meeting with the Department of the Interior and the White House’s Office of Management and Budget “to press the administration to make sure this is fully funded.” The state and local share has been covered, he stressed — “the federal government should live up to its side of the bargain.”
As we’ve indicated before, Lewis & Clark is critical to future economic development in northwest Iowa and southwest Minnesota. Franken, along with fellow senators Amy Klobuchar, Chuck Grassley and Tom Harkin — as well as area U.S. representatives — must continue to “press” to get the money this project needs and deserves.
I was weaned on politicians like Republican Sen. Everett Dirksen from Illinois who is famously quoted for saying, “I am a man of fixed and unbending principles, the first of which is to be flexible at all times.”
Who today is aspiring to join these ranks? Or do we today perceive these lawmakers as nothing more than “old fogies” with outdated ideas?
Unfortunately, the whispers in St. Paul are how the freshmen GOP are having an inordinate influence on the direction the party is going. And the loss of so many incumbents last year now has other GOP representatives looking over their shoulders.
They walk and talk very carefully as to not upset their new watchers who seem hell-bent on conflict rather than resolution.
This isn’t leadership; it’s capitulation. And to the freshmen, there is a synonym for “anti-government;” it’s called anarchy. You don’t join the Legislature to tear down government, you join to ensure it does its job of service better for the people, not the party.
Personally, I don’t recall any great leader who consistently said no without offering acceptable alternatives and then convincing others they are right.
I have great fear for the Republican Party today — both in the state and nationally. Leadership is not about blockage but offering a smarter, more reasonable alternative that people can agree upon. If no new taxes are really what’s on the table, then tell the people which services will be cut. Convince us we all have to make sacrifices and let’s get to work on doing that. It’s ownership not only for your ideas but the consequences as well.
Prior to the November elections, House District 25A candidate Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe said that if Republicans do not stick to their beliefs, "they could quickly find themselves in the minority.
What he may not have foreseen, however, is if the Republicans continue their inflexible position on the budget, as has been the case this session, the result may be the same.
Republicans like to stamp their little feet and complain about that liberal media, but really much of the talk here is simple common sense. Funny how these voices parallel that of Wayne Cox, a genuine liberal, writing in The state's GOP has lost its way - and many party veterans know it, a column in today's Star Tribune.
I'm told that no one has ever seen the Minnesota Independent's Andy Birkey and Minneapolis City Pages' Nick Pinto together in the same room, so those who mistakenly suspect that they are the Hannah Montana and Miley Stewart of Bradlee Dean reporting can be forgiven.
For years, Birkey has picked up where bloggers at Dump Bachmann began, chronicling Dean's virulently homophobic ministry. If you don't read his work at the Minnesota Independent, start now. Minnpost's Daily Glean has rightly called him "the go-to guy for news on the gay marriage referendum," and his thorough investigations will be a great asset for those working to defeat the Bradlee Dean bill when it comes up on the ballot in 2012. (See, for instance,Minnesota Anti-LGBT Group Spouts, Then Hides, Timeworn Lies, the SLPC Hatewatch report that cites Birkey's recent uncovering of the Minnesota Family Council's balderdash)
But although the amendment has drawn some of Birkey's attention away from Dean, the City Pages has stepped up to the plate. Today, Pinto scores a homer in Bradlee Dean uses "suicide prevention" to raise money for anti-gay ministry, relating two first-hand accounts of Dean's Street Teams monkey show working the unsuspecting at a BP station on Lexington in St. Paul.
Recall the discussion that Michael Straumann had with the Street Team working at the Hutchinson Walmart (recounted at Bluestem here) in which the Deanistas denied the problem of high teen suicide rates among LGBTQ youth while claiming to be oppressed by anti-bullying campaigns. To raise money under the pretext of suicide prevention, while fighting a self-described "war" against LGTBTQ people raises the bar on bait-and-switch for all hucksters.
But Dean's activities aren't just a con; they're hurtful to children who are learning about their identity. Talking to Straumann, the Street Team members shared Dean's notion that being gay was no different than being a murderer or rapist--and Straumann said he tied up their time in hopes that they wouldn't get a chance to mess up local children.
When City Pages spoke with Dean by telephone yesterday, he said there's nothing deceptive about presenting his ministry to potential donors as a suicide prevention or drug-abuse prevention organization.
"We do address the topic," Dean said. "We do tell the kids that, you know what? Suicide is a permanent solution to a temporary problem. So it is a part of our ministry."
His claims aren't persuasive to Julia Miller, who regrets giving $5 to You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International -- not least because her friend who committed suicide was gay.
"When I realized that was the group I had given money to, I felt sick to my stomach," Miller says. "Other people need to be made aware of this, so they don't make the same mistake I did."
It's likely that Walmart isn't going to be the only business that tells the Street Teams to take it elsewhere. Kudoes to all of those who've worked for years to bring the facts about Dean's "ministry" to light. Sunlight is the best disinfectant.
Photo: While the Dean Street Teams might have thought they were justifying the ways of God to men, I'd say it's more like Paradise lost by light of a dashboard shot in the Hutchinson Walmart.
One of the unexpected products of the passage of the bill to put the Bradlee Dean marriage amendment on the 2012 ballot has been the outpouring moving statements by both legislators and ordinary citizens alike.
Via Jeff Wilfahrt, whose gay son was killed while serving in the Army in Afghanistan, this statement came my way from North Minneapolis, written by Boris Kilmer, a tornado survivor who has had his own epiphany about the value of marriage. Bluestem ordinarily publishes rural material, but I think that any disaster and threat, be it a tornado or discriminatory legislation, serves to point out that we're one Minnesota. The letter:
I support gay marriage. Not because I'm gay, but because it's the right, the moral, the American thing to do. I, of course, have always been against the idea of codifying such ugly discrimination in our state constitution, which this ban does. The constitution is meant to enumerate the rights of the people and define the power of the government and the limits thereof. This hateful amendment does the exact opposite.
Despite my opposition the the amendment, I haven't said much up until now. I, myself, have never been interested in marrying and given the sheer volume of disgusting and alarming anti-worker, anti-middle class, anti-poor, anti-gay, anti-minority, anti-education, anti-women, anti-everyone legislation coming from nearly every corner of the federal and states' governments, an anti-gay marriage amendment was not first among the things on which I needed to focus my outrage.
I have had a change of perspective on where I need to place this amendment on my list of priorities. As most of you know, North Minneapolis was hit by a tornado on Sunday afternoon. My block was hit especially hard, but the devastation was wide spread. My home and property were badly damaged by both the wind and by a tree that fell on my house. Despite the outpouring of help and support from friends and family for which I will be forever grateful, it is extremely difficult to deal with the aftermath of a natural disaster by yourself.
I have a great neighborhood full of folks who are both helpful and supportive. Currently the northside is a madhouse of city workers, utility companies, contractors, insurance adjusters and a fair share of gawkers. I watch my neighbors with their spouses and children as we navigate this upsetting new reality in which we suddenly find ourselves. How reassuring it must be for them to know that beyond our strong sense of community they also have their families to help pick them up after being knocked down.
Marriage is about being there, in good times and in bad. But it is in the bad times especially when marriage is the most helpful. It's about knowing that the person you're with is committed to helping you and you to helping them in return. It's about knowing you have your best friend and lover to help you get through it; whether it be a flood or tornado, a sick child or a dying relative.
Having someone there to offer physical and emotional support, to help with financial or medical hardships and knowing their decisions carry the same importance and legal authority as your own makes all the difference in the world.
I respectfully ask you to please vote NO against the MN Anti-Marriage Amendment.
From the wind-swept prairies of Glencoe to the urbane halls of medicine in Rochester, citizens can't be blamed if they're baffled by the confused message and flaccid wrangling of our Republican overlords.
Prior to the November elections, House District 25A candidate Glenn Gruenhagen of Glencoe said that if Republicans do not stick to their beliefs, "they could quickly find themselves in the minority.
What he may not have foreseen, however, is if the Republicans continue their inflexible position on the budget, as has been the case this session, the result may be the same. . .
Minnesotans did not send state representatives to St. Paul to shut down state government. Do your jobs. Get a budget hammered out, even if that means compromise, that blasphemous word to conservative Republicans. . . .
Not only are conservatives trying to reshape the size of government, they also took on constitutional amendments against same-sex marriage and for requiring voter photo IDs for future elections. Plus, they are mulling over an expansion of gambling, a new Vikings stadium push and squabbling over the Legacy funds and who should get that constitutionally designated tax money.
That has been quite a load to address in one session. The aim apparently is to get this all accomplished before the next election because they may not have the majorities after voters go to the polls in 2012.
Buzzkill. And blasphemous about that unbending position. But it gets worse in Rochester, where the Post Bulletin caught a former Senate Minority Leader talking about his caucus's own "bad bills." In Senjem offers Dayton advice on reaching a budget deal, Heather Carlson writes:
When it comes to who is at fault for the session ending without a budget deal, Senjem said everyone is somewhat to blame. He said he backed the Republican strategy of passing out budget bills and leaving them open in hopes of negotiating with the governor. The idea was to avoid having the bills vetoed. In retrospect, he said "maybe I was a little idealistic."
He added, "The idea as good as it might have been just didn't work and so then what do we do? We throw a whole bunch of frankly bad bills at him — bills we knew needed to be negotiated with the governor," Senjem said.
Because there's nothing like bad bills and bad faith in troubled times. But there's more!
Howe, meanwhile, conceded that "maybe we should have started at $32 billion, and created a budget, and been willing to come off of that number." He declined to specify where they would have made the extra cuts.
"He’s winning on this message right now, I believe," Howe said, referring to Dayton.
What more can I say? Sounds like Sutton's got himself at least one pretty dysfunctional caucus.
One of the country pleasures people in these parts enjoy is waiting for emails from the "Gruenater" himself, Glenn Gruenhagen. One never knows what pearls of wisdom will turn up with a mere click of the mouse; with these treasures, we poor country folk never covet Newt's line of credit at Tiffany's.
Maryland and Oregon each passed tax increases on top earners only to end up collecting far less revenue than anticipated. Both states lost approximately one-third of their high-income filers, who relocated to tax-friendly states like Florida. They didn’t necessarily move their entire business out of state, but relocated themselves enough days a year to meet tax-filing requirements.
Since Mr. Google is a close personal friend, I thought I'd check that out, starting with Oregon. The claim about the state's population of high income earners flight as the cause of revenue decline is a standard grade conservative GOP gem.
After voters approved the measure, the critics claimed their prophecies were being fulfilled. The Legislative Revenue Office reported in August that Measure 66 would yield an estimated $300 million, rather than the projected $472 million. Those seeking evidence of tax flight, however, faced a problem: Measure 66 was retroactive to 2009, and much of the shortfall was based on revenues from that year. To leave the state and avoid higher tax rates, a high-income taxpayer would have had to see Measure 66 coming more than a year ahead of time.
The decline in tax collections from upper-income people occurred mainly because they, like everyone else, had been affected by the Great Recession. Some who had incomes above the Measure 66 threshold fell below it. Others saw steep declines in their income from dividends and capital gains, nearly all of which goes to people in the top tax brackets. The revenue projections for Measure 66, based on income information from 2008, were bound to be far from the mark.
Information from Phoenix Marketing International, a company that provides research services to industry, further undermines the notion that Measure 66 has chased people out of Oregon. Phoenix ranked states by their percentages of households with $1 million or more in investable or liquid assets, excluding sponsored retirement plans and real estate. The rankings, from 2006 though 2010, are remarkably stable. Oregon has ranked No. 25 since 2008, having climbed a couple of positions from the years before.
. . .Most states have seen significant declines in their percentages of households with $1 million or more in assets — including Oregon, where the percentage fell to 4.12 percent in 2009 from 4.88 percent in 2007, which helps explain the Measure 66 shortfall.
High-income people are undoubtedly sensitive to taxes. But few can or will move simply because of a change in marginal rates. Most are tied to their communities by their work, their families and their social networks. Indeed, the rich are likely to be among any state’s least mobile populations — they’ve done pretty well where they are.
First, although Measure 66 applied to 2009 income, voters didn’t approve them until January 2010. For The Wall Street Journal’s claim to be true, 10,000 wealthy Oregonians would have had to master time travel and leave the state retroactively to avoid the 2009 tax.
Second, the total number of tax returns filed in 2009 is greater — not less — than what the state had predicted in May of 2009. That doesn’t suggest out migration.
The explanation for why in 2009 there were actually 10,000 fewer tax returns subject to the new rates than had been projected in mid-2009 is obvious: the Great Recession was worse than the state economists had thought in mid-2009. The recession caused income for all income groups to fall further than they anticipated. Those at the top and subject to the new tax rates — those who derive a greater portion of their income from capital gains — saw a particularly sharp decline. . . .
That fewer taxpayers than expected in mid-2009 ended up actually being subject to the new tax rates reflects the fact that the Great Recession pushed many people below the new tax brackets' thresholds. There’s no data to suggest that the taxpayers formerly in the new brackets are not likely still in Oregon and paying taxes. . . .
So other than the Wall Street Journal, where is the sage of Glencoe's ghostwriters get this stuff? My pretend internet research assistant Mr. Google found it at The Heartland Institute and other like think tanks, which try to hock this cubic zirconia across the country wherever a revenue shortage develops. A diligent collector might even find a motherlode of shared language or something like that somewhere deep in the bushes.
One of the many great things the Minnesota Farmers Union does is conduct low cost summer camps for young people. The camps focus on teaching the skills needed to be a good and active citizen--and it's a chance to have fun out in the country with peers.
From the MFU:
Minnesota Farmers Union (MFU) offers five week-long educational and leadership summer camps where youth get the chance to develop self esteem, team building and leadership skills, all for under $100.
“Minnesota Farmers Union is very proud of its leadership camp. Every year we hear stories about how much the kids learn and how much fun they have at the same time,” said Doug Peterson, Minnesota Farmers Union President. “That fact that kids come back year after year is a testament to the great program we have, and you cannot beat the rates!”
Kids gather from all across Minnesota to learn about cooperatives; how legislation is formed; and the importance of being an active and responsible citizen. They also learn a lot about themselves as well as the other campers in attendance.
Farmers Union camp schedule:
Grades 3-5 ($70):
June 20-24, Northern Elementary Camp at Lake Sarah Campground in Erskine;
June 27-July 1, Southern Elementary Camp at Sibley State Park in New London.
Grades 6-8 ($95):
July 11-15, Northern Junior High Camp at Lake Sarah Campground in Erskine;
July 25-29, Southern Junior High Camp at Sibley State Park in New London.
Grades 9-12 ($95):
July 31- August 5, Statewide Senior High Camp at Sibley State Park in New London.
There is also a $25 transportation fee if a camper needs a ride to camp. You do not need to be a member of MFU to attend the first year. For more information about the camp programs, as well as to register, go to www.mfu.org/camp. You can also contact MFU Education Director Glen Schmidt at 651-288-4066or e-mail him at [email protected] with any questions.
Photo: These elementary kids formed a co-op board at their summer camp. Dotcha know we could use a little more of that kind of thing in Minnesota--teach them the skills for citizenship young. Via MFU web site.
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.
The Republican no-new-revenue budget will cost Blue Earth and Nicollet counties 500 jobs and $28 million in wages for every year it is in effect.
Those figures equate to the 15 percent cut in state employment Republicans passed in their budget that Gov. Mark Dayton has vetoed.
There will be even more severe consequences in outstate Minnesota and Republican districts if the Republican majority in the Minnesota Legislature continues its intransigence on meeting the legal requirement to balance the state’s budget.
Schools, city, county and even hospital budgets would be disabled while a few folks keep an extra 2 percent of their income over a quarter of a million dollars. Property taxes on businesses and homeowners will rise. That cost of doing business will not only impact jobs, but also create an uncompetitive tax structure in outstate Minnesota.
The stakes for outstate Minnesota have never been higher.
Republican spin should be dismissed. . . .
Read the whole thing that concludes:
About a dozen chambers of commerce, from Worthington to Duluth, know the impact the Republican budget will have on their communities. They recently voiced their support for a balanced approach and keeping property taxes low, and opposed the all-cuts GOP budget.
Unfortunately, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce continues to support the all-cuts budget of Republicans. Outstate members of the chamber should consider that position next time they’re asked to renew their membership or join with the Minnesota Chamber on other projects.
Republican leadership may have its so-called principles, however flawed, and maybe that keeps the big donor money flowing. But now is the time for outstate Republicans to lead, or their constituents will be on the bankrupt end of the spreadsheet.
While the moving protests against the marriage inequality bill grabbed the headlines this weekend, that gathering at the state capitol wasn't the only one. Others rallied to protest the majority party agenda that puts two percent of the state ahead of the rest of us.
I didn't get to the rally, but did participate in two of the three side actions. I wish I had been able to go to the capitol. From a Take Action Minnesota press release:
A diverse group of Minnesotans filled the Capitol Rotunda Saturday morning, calling on the legislature to increase taxes on the richest two percent of Minnesotans, producing a fair budget. Faced with devastating cuts to education and health care, an estimated 1,000 participants called for a responsible budget that protects Minnesotans, vital public services, and creates good jobs.
Hundreds then boarded buses to bring the message directly to CEOs, joining protests at the Minneapolis Club, Calhoun Beach Club, and the Lake Street Cub Foods.
A friend from this part of rural Minnesota spoke:
“I come from a part of the state that knows that that when we invest in our workers, our schools, our health programs, and our environment, everyone benefits. And that everyone should pay their fair share for those benefits,” said farmer Terry VanDerPol, a cattle producer from Granite Falls and a member of the Land Stewardship Project.
The first action I attended was at the Minneapolis Club:
At the Minneapolis Club, 200 people called on Wells Fargo CEO Jon R. Campbell, a member of the club’s Board of Governors and the Chair of the Board of Directors of the Chamber of Commerce, to pay his fair share. Wells Fargo received a taxpayer bailout, made $12 billion in profits in 2009 and 2010, then laid of more than 300 Twin Cities-area workers this spring.
“Wells Fargo received a bailout, got a huge tax refund, and then turned around and killed jobs for the very same people who made that money possible. Now, they tell us the state is broke and we need to fire teachers, cops and healthcare workers? CEO's and executives like those at Wells Fargo need to do their fair share like the rest of us,” said Kerry Felder, a North Minneapolis education activist and organizer with Neighbors Organizing for Change, whose neighborhood has been hard hit by foreclosures.
Update: here's a Youtube of the action that I edited:
Uptown, another action, which I didn't attend:
Margaret Uriah of St. Paul told the crowd she was outraged that families like hers are falling through the cracks, being cut off healthcare, and asked to sacrifice more, while legislators choose to shield the richest from paying their fair share. “When CEOs of healthcare companies providing public healthcare, like Medica’s David Tilford, make millions and aren’t asked to pay their fair share in taxes, we have a revenue problem.”
But I spent most of my time volunteering with some friends helping out retail cleaning workers:
At the Lake Street Cub Foods, CTUL (Centro de Trabajadores Unidos en Lucha), began an open-ended hunger strike to change the unfair wages and working conditions of workers who clean Cub Foods and other Twin Cities stores.
For over a year cleaning workers have asked Cub Foods to negotiate a Code of Conduct ensuring fair wages and working conditions for the workers who clean their stores. Ten years ago, many workers who clean Cub Foods made up to $10-$11 an hour. Now, most workers make as little as $7.50 an hour and the workload has doubled. The workers’ requests for dialogue with Cub have been ignored and in one incident peaceful protesters and bystanders were pepper-sprayed by Cub security.
“Every night we work in grocery stores and are surrounded by food, yet often many of us cannot even afford to feed our families. I am hunger striking to bring to light the injustices workers face every day cleaning Cub Foods and to call on Cub Foods to meet with us,” said Mario Colloly Torres, a former cleaner at Cub Foods and who was fired from his job after the protests against Cub began.
These actions are the beginning of a campaign around the state asking the richest 2 percent to pay their fair share, supporting Governor Dayton’s plan for tax fairness in Minnesota.
“There is no budget deficit. The only deficit in our state right now is the deficit of imagination and the deficit of moral clarity,” said Grant Stevenson, a Lutheran pastor and President of ISAIAH.
More will follow; here's a video of the CTUL action I helped assemble:
Photo: Grant Stevenson at the Minneapolis Club. Photo via the Campaign for a Fair Economy.
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.
It’s still early in the presidential race, so the opposition research dumps haven’t really begun. But when the skeletons in the closets of 2012 GOP hopefuls begin to be revealed, the unique shape of the field — which will almost certainly feature a handful of current or former governors — makes it a good bet that someone is going to have a Willie Horton problem.
That’s code for a violent or deranged felon run amok on their watch — a reference to the notorious convict who went AWOL during a furlough from a Massachusetts prison, committed more crimes and ultimately became the subject of a devastating ad that helped seal the fortunes of1988 Democratic presidential nominee Michael Dukakis.
With former Govs. Mitt Romney, Tim Pawlenty, Jon Huntsman and Mitch Daniels in the 2012 mix — and a few other current and former chief executives perhaps in the wings — the issue of pardons and furloughs is one that could play an unexpected and damaging role for some campaigns.
Before he departed from the race, Mike Huckabee, who issued more than 1,000 sentence reductions and pardons as Arkansas governor, was widely viewed as having the most exposure. While no one in the current field has anything close to that in the oppo files, Romney and Pawlenty might be haunted by a few cons who could undermine their law-and-order credentials.
Pawlenty’s pardon problem involves Jeremy Geifer, who had been convicted in a statutory rape case involving a 14-year-old girl he later married. Geifer had been described by everyone in his life as a model of reform, which eventually led to a 2008 pardon by a three-person board led by Pawlenty.
But late last year, Geifer was accused of sexually assaulting another underage girl more than 250 times. Pawlenty moved swiftly, asking for a probe into whether Geifer lied on his pardon application and pushing to close down a day care run by his wife.
While finishing his term as Minnesota’s governor last year, Pawlenty said he never would have made that decision had such information been known at the time. And he pointed out that Geifer had finished his prison stint well before the pardon was granted – a mitigating factor that could lessen any of his rivals’ blows.
Yet there is also the case of Dru Sjodin, a college student who was murdered in 2003, early in Pawlenty’s administration, by a repeat sex offender who had only recently been released from prison. That case became national cable TV fodder, as the tragic search for the pretty blonde gripped viewers.
A Pawlenty aide referred to the governor’s book, “Courage to Stand,” in which he wrote that people played politics with the case and often had the facts wrong, and that Pawlenty was “horrified” by the man’s release.
The governor later proposed stiffer sentences for sex offenders, including doubling their jail time.
Romney is at an apparent advantage over Pawlenty — in his lone term in office, the former Massachusetts governor never issued a single pardon or commutation. But that doesn’t mean he’s in the clear. . . .
Though it’s typically pardon-empowered governors who must fret about their felons in the closet, legislators can also have some cause for worry. Case in point: Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, who might need to explain her support for a pardon for a donor named Frank Vennes.
Vennes was convicted in 1988 on money-laundering charges, and pleaded no-contest to illegally selling a gun and aiding in a cocaine sale. He claimed he discovered religion while in prison, and went on to become a well-known donor -- in fact, he was a top giver to Bachmann’s 2006 congressional campaign.
She reportedly wrote in a pardon letter to then-President George W. Bush in 2007, “Mr. Vennes is truly a unique man in that he is not asking for a pardon that he may achieve personal success. By the grace of God, this has been done. Mr. Vennes is seeking a pardon so that he may be further used to help others.”
Well, that depends on the meaning of helping others — in 2008, the feds raided Vennes’ home as part of a probe into a massive Ponzi scheme.
In response, Bachmann wrote another letter to the White House -- this time saying she “too hastily accepted” Vennes’ claims that he was a new man, and withdrawing her earlier letter.
Vennes was indicted on new fraud and money-laundering charges a few weeks ago. . .
Bremer, also nominated for a Page One Award in one of the same categories for which Pinto is up for (though about different Bachmann scandal, the Bobby Thompson scam), also has the dogged quality that makes for an strong investigative writer.
May 21 is here, the day proclaimed by fancifully painted delivery trucks everywhere as the Rapture. While some trust those who think they have Jesus's private cell number on this one, I'm among those who think this pseudo-event is to salvation as phone sex is to riding a pink road to the very end.
I'm more concerned with the coming Ashpocalypse, and the stink bugs being poured out by the Angel of Globalization, than an imaginary media opportunity to actively covet my neighbor's servants. (I'm not going to get into the bighead and flying carp, as dynamic as metaphor for the Anti-christ that might be).
Governor Mark Dayton has proclaimed May 22-28 as Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week. The designation is an effort to raise awareness of the destructive nature of emerald ash borer (EAB) and promote the use of local or MDA Certified Firewood when camping this upcoming summer.
EAB is a tree pest not native to the U.S. But since being discovered in Michigan in 2002, it has been found in 15 states, including Minnesota. The insect attacks and kills ash trees when the larvae tunnel under the tree's bark, cutting off its food supply. EAB has been spread in firewood, nursery stock and possibly other ash materials.
During EAB Awareness Week, the MDA is urging residents to use local firewood or wood that has been certified by the MDA as safe to transport, for example from home to a campground. The MDA Certified Firewood program ensures the ash firewood is free of EAB through a heat-treatment process.
Minnesota Agriculture Commissioner Dave Frederickson says it’s important for all Minnesotans to be aware of this destructive pest and not help it move around the state.
“With nearly one billion ash trees in Minnesota, EAB could be devastating for our tourism and lumber industries, our natural landscapes and our recreational destinations” says Frederickson. “Please look for the MDA Certified Firewood logo which ensures EAB is not living in the wood you burn.”
For more information on emerald ash borer, visit the MDA’s website.
Be wide awake: the ash you save may be your own. As with any character list from a good revelation, the EAB's are not alone. Welcome the brown marmorated stink bug, which arrived from Asia in the 1990s.
It has made its way from Pennsylvania to at least 33 states, and has been spotted as far west as California and Washington. A continuing advance is inexorable, scientists say, because the bugs have no natural predators and can travel long distances — not by flying, but via a more convenient method: covertly hitching rides in vehicles.
The insect has caused tens of millions of dollars in damage, munching apples, peppers, corn and soybeans, and has proved to be a general irritant — in no small part because of its foul odor, which the bug secretes as a defense mechanism.
“The feeling in the bug world is this is the worst bug we’ve seen in 40 years,” said Michael J. Raupp, an entomologist at the University of Maryland. “It eats peaches and grapes and soybeans. It’s annihilated organic growers who can’t use pesticides. And guess what? After it eats your crops, it comes inside your home. I’ve never seen another bug do that.”
Yes, indeedie. Minnesota's native box elder bugs, after all, simply cluster on the sunny side before coming inside. Stay vigilant, dearly beloved, as Minnesotans begin to celebrate Emerald Ash Borer Awareness Week tomorrow.
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