Within the last day or two, the New Ulm Journal and other southern Minnesota media have printed a release from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) giving notice that the period for public comment is open for a 3000-cow dairy proposed for rural Nicollet County.
The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) invites public comment until 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, July 25 on an Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) being prepared for a proposed 3,000-cow dairy northwest of St. Peter.
High Island Dairy LLC, owned by Davis Family Dairies, LLC, proposes to build a total confinement barn off 348th Street, about two-thirds of a mile southwest of County Road 8 in Lake Prairie Township.
The facility would use anaerobic digestion to break down manure and waste water along with waste water and sludge from the Le Sueur Cheese Co. The process would create methane gas to use as energy at the site.
After digestions, manure solids would be separated from the waste stream and used as cow bedding. Liquid manure and solids not needed for bedding would be stored in a covered, earthen basin on site until it is applied as fertilizer to cropland annually after harvest.
The dairy would generate 32.85 million gallons of manure a year. The on-site basin would have 15 months of storage capacity for manure and waste water.
Based on a computer modeling study, the dairy, which would use 45 million gallons of water a year, would comply with state air quality standards, with odors considered faint to moderate. There are 13 homes located within a mile of the proposed facility.
Some tile drainage and treated storm water from the site would discharge to Judicial Ditch 13, then to the Rush River.
Comments and questions on the EAW may go to Charles Peterson, MPCA, 520 Lafayette Rd. N., St. Paul, MN 55155. Call 651-757-2856 or e-mail charles.peterson@state.mn.us
Permit comments on a discharge/disposal permit must be given in writing to George Schwint at George.schwint@state.mn.us
According to Davisco's website, the company currently runs two dairies, both in Nicollet County: the Northern Plains Dairy (3000 head) and the New Sweden Dairy (4500 head); In December, Nicollet County approved a conditional use permit for the Granby Calf Ranch, LLC., which would house 4,320-head dairy heifer calves for six months before they are sent to an Iowa location.
Although there is not much activity going on right now, by next summer this land could be the home to 3,000 dairy cows, which would generate over millions of dollars for the local economy. But before they can move forward, the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency will take public comments until July 25th before they can issue a permit.
Chuck Peterson from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency says, "We have worked with the Davis's on several project in the past and haven't had many issues. I haven't heard from anyone at this point so I don't believe that there is going to be much controversy at this time."
Peterson's remarks are rather curious, since the MPCA fined Northern Plains Dairy $7500 for a feedlot violation earlier this spring; the facility is one of the Davis Family Dairies. (The MPCA web site is down as Bluestem writes this, so we do not know the details about what the violation might entail, nor can we review and comment on the pending project for the moment).
Moreover, Northern Plains Dairy was the subject of quite the row between Gustavus Adolphus College and citizens of St. Peter when it was first proposed just a couple miles west of campus and the edge of town. A historical note for the GAC college archives item, The Conflict Files between Gustavus Adolphus College and Northern Plains Dairy, 1995-2001, reports:
In 1997, Northern Plains Dairy, a feedlot for 2,500 head of cattle, was proposed to be built in Oshawa Township, within 2.5 miles of the Gustavus Adolphus Campus. Gustavus did not want the feedlot so close to the campus because they were worried about the impact of odors on the Gustavus community, so they sued the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) stating that more environmental impact studies needed to be completed first. In 2000 a settlement was reached. Northern Plains Dairy agreed not to build the dairy at the proposed site, and Gustavus agreed to provide $15,000 for additional expert assistance to the MPCA and Northern Plains Dairy to develop an appropriate application of state-of-the-art animal waste treatment technology. Northern Plains Dairy built its feedlot 4.5 miles southwest of St. Peter in Oshawa Township, and it includes 3,000 head of cattle and an anaerobic bacteria digester system that combats the odor produced by the feedlot and creates methane gas which is harnessed to power the dairy.
But other than at least one fine, contentious grassroots organizing and a lawsuit, perhaps Peterson is dead on about Davis operations never disturbing the living stream
Bluestem is very curious about the plan to bring "waste water and sludge from the Le Sueur Cheese Company" to the dairy, but since the MPCA's website is down, we'll just have to remain curious until the Environmental Assessment Worksheet (EAW) becomes available. How are the waste water and cheese sludge treated and disposed of now?
Photo: Brown Swiss and Holstein milk cows at the Northern Plains Dairy.
In the last month, Bluestem has looked at the embrace of "Agenda 21" conspiracy by Minnesota Republicans, from Michele Bachmann and Allen Quist nearly ten years ago to this past session's bill to establish a legislative commission on Agenda 21.
And Minnesota's Republican leaders like Mike Parry and Mary Franson aren't simply plucking the phobia out of our sky blue waters. In January, the Republican National Committee approved a Resolution Exposing United Nations Agenda 21 (p. 3 of pdf) at its winter meeting in January:
Nations Agenda 21 is a comprehensive plan of extreme environmentalism, social engineering, and global political control that was initiated at the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED) held in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, in 1992; and,
WHEREAS, the United Nations Agenda 21 is being covertly pushed into local communities throughout the United States of America through the International Council of Local Environmental Initiatives (ICLEI) through local “sustainable development” policies such as Smart Growth, Wildlands Project, Resilient Cities, Regional Visioning Projects, and other “Green” or “Alternative” projects; and,
WHEREAS, this United Nations Agenda 21 plan of radical so-called “sustainable development” views the American way of life of private property ownership, single family homes, private car ownership and individual travel choices, and privately owned farms; all as destructive to the environment; and,
WHEREAS, according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy, social justice is described as the right and opportunity of all people to benefit equally from the resources afforded us by society and the environment which would be accomplished by socialist/communist redistribution of wealth; and, WHEREAS, according to the United Nations Agenda 21 policy National sovereignty is deemed a social injustice; now therefore be
RESOLVED, the Republican National Committee recognizes the destructive and insidious nature of United Nations Agenda 21 and hereby exposes to the public and public policy makers the dangerous intent of the plan; and therefore be it further
RESOLVED , that the U.S. government and no state or local government is legally bound by the United Nations Agenda 21 treaty in that it has never been endorsed by the (U.S.) Senate, and therefore be it further
RESOLVED, that the federal and state and local governments across the country be well informed of the underlying harmful implications of implementation of United Nations Agenda 21 destructive strategies for “sustainable development” and we hereby endorse rejection of its radical policies and rejection of any grant monies attached to it, and therefore be it further
RESOLVED, that upon the approval of this resolution the Republican National Committee shall deliver a copy of this resolution to each of the Republican members of Congress, all Republican candidates for Congress, all Republican candidates for President who qualify for RNC sanctioned debates, and to each Republican state and territorial party office and recommend for adoption into the Republican Party Platform at the 2012 Convention. As Approved by the Republican National Committee, January 13, 2012
Anti-Agenda 21 sentiment may well become part of the national Republican Party platform.
Image: Anti-Agenda 21 lecturer Allen Quist. Cartoon by Ken Avidor.
The world took little note, nor long remembered what Gil Gutknecht said to College Republicans at Mankato State in March 2006, when he introduced U.S. Senate candidate Mark Kennedy to the young activists, but it can never forget what they did there, because Operation Yellow Elephant fisked a story from the MSU Reporter that--like the link to Gutknecht's official website--is no longer online.
It is for us the enduring bloggers, rather, to be dedicated here to the unfinished work which they who posted have thus far so nobly advanced.
It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us -- that from these honored episodes from Southern Minnesota political history that we take increased devotion to that cause for which Gil Gutknecht and Mark Kennedy gave the last full measure of devotion -- that we here highly resolve that these careers shall not have died in vain.
Thus, when Bluestem read the opening paragraphs of Allen Quist's press release on today's Supreme Court ruling--
Abraham Lincoln, in his Gettysburg Address, said that the Civil War was a test of whether our nation, conceived and born in liberty, could long survive.
Our nation is being put to that same test once again—the test of whether a nation conceived and born in liberty can long survive.
In direct contrast to Lincoln, President Barack Obama, just before his inauguration, said he was just a few hours away from “fundamentally transforming” the United States of America.
The transformation President Obama had in mind was the loss of our liberty as accomplished by his health care law.
--Bluestem could only stand back in awe at the audacity of summoning forth that long-buried item of 2006 Republicania. Nay, Quist far exceeds Gutknecht's hyperbole by comparing insurance reform with a bloody internal war that included:
approximately 10,455 military engagements, some devastating to human life and some nearly bloodless, plus naval clashes, accidents, suicides, sicknesses, murders, and executions resulted in total casualties of 1,094,453 during the Civil War. The Federals lost 110,100 killed in action and mortally wounded, and another 224,580 to disease. The Confederates lost approximately 94,000 as a result of battle and another 164,000 to disease. Even if one survived a wound, any projectile that hit bone in either an arm or a leg almost invariably necessitated amputation. The best estimate of Federal army personnel wounded is 275,175; naval personnel wounded, 2,226. Surviving Confederate records indicate 194,026 wounded.
Gutknecht, whose remarks generated press release outrage from the loyal opposition's party headquarters, was far more chaste in his hyperbole by limiting his frame to one battle in the Civil War. The Rochester-area auctioneer compared the effort that the assembled student activists would have to make in electing Kennedy and himself to the uncommon valor of Minnesota’s 1st Regiment at Gettysburg.
U.S. Senate contender Mark Kennedy visits Minnesota's Mankato State University, promotes political involvement. by Benjamin Marti - March 28, 2006
The role they take on will be just as pivotal as the part played by Minnesota’s 1st Regiment to hold the line at the Battle of Gettysburg during the American Civil War.
As Congressman Gil Gutknecht, R-Minn. introduced U.S. Senate Candidate Mark Kennedy, R-Minn. to a small crowd of MSU College Republicans and other students Thursday, he used those words to describe their stake in this year’s mid-term elections.
“We’re asked to stand in that gap and there are big stakes in this election,” Gutknecht said. “I’m not asking you to make the kind of sacrifices that were made on July 2, 1863 by those brave Minnesotans, but I am going to ask you to give your best effort.”
Gutknecht said Minnesota’s 1st Regiment suffered 78 percent casualties in the first 15 minutes and were outnumbered 10:1, but still held the line.
“There’s going to be a lot of folks like you that are going to make the difference as to whether or not we win or lose this battle,” Gutknecht said. “And remember, had we lost the Battle of Gettysburg, we might have lost the war.”
That was six years ago; both Kennedy and Gutknecht lost their battles, and despite a last minute warning from now-disaffected Republican Joe Repya that “What is at stake is literally the survival of Western civilization,” the election of Tim Walz to Congress didn't mean the end of the world as we know it.
I also must point out that Mike Parry today released a statement on the Court decision, but in that statement he never directly clarifies his own position. In this critical time in our nation’s history, politicians who avoid stating their own positions are part of the problem, not the solution.
It's strategic. Quist and Parry are locked in a stink contest over who can generate more progressive outrage and DFL tracker expense reports in the sprawling rural district. BSP will try to chronicle both the jabs and the pearl-clucking for your entertainment.
Stay tuned as Bluestem's blogging for the people and of the people continues, and the Republicans wave the bloody shirt as they obscure the human needs that prompted health care reform.
The few remaining remnants of or constitution has been ripped up. Hello socialism goodbye liberty. Just makes me sick to think that John Roberts sided with the liberals. I think he was probably intimidated by the dictator in chief. Now we have to make sure that our state and national offices are filled with conservatives that believe in the constitution. It is time to stop playing games and help out on the campaigns of your conservative candidates. We need money and volunteers. I wish I could impress on everyone how important this election really is at all levels of government.
Curse those activist judges for upholding a law!
Dennis Moser's website contains more glittering gems. The Clearbrook Republican is running on a platform of hating on health care, spending, and foreigners, teachers, and dudes marrying. There's even a fake Abraham Lincoln quotation: "America will never be destroyed from the outside. If we falter and lose our freedoms, it will be because we destroyed ourselves."
Hacking a person's or organization's social media accounts is strategically stupid stuff, and it's likely that the thimblewit who hijacked Andy Parrish's gmail account (and all the related Facebook pages to which the intruder gained access) will be caught.
The culprit deserves what's coming to him or her.
But the bible verse that he or she posted, creating such an uproar, isn't new to Minnesota for Marriage tweets. Back on October 6, 2011, the M4M account tweeted:
David Lokker, Member of International Word Fellowship Church, Austin
Today a fight is brewing for the Marriage Amendment that defines a marriage as between one man and one woman. People are saying that this amendment means nothing, that it is no big deal because we have laws against homosexual marriage. They are wrong.
We need this Marriage Amendment because if we don’t, then they can get the law changed. This same homosexual group has changed the law in other places such as Iowa and New York. Now they say they want to get the law changed in Minnesota. They plan a massive blanketing of Minnesota by going neighborhood to neighborhood, making phone calls and distributing pamphlets.
This is what the Lord says of homosexual marriage: Romans 1:24-27, Leviticus 18:22-23, and Leviticus 20:13.
We must stand together and stand up for God and not let this happen. If we don’t, then we are allowing the homosexual movement to spit in God’s eye. We must stand together. We cannot sit down and do nothing while this happens. Please, let’s stand together and stand up for Almighty God.
“‘If a man has sexual relations with a man as one does with a woman, both of them have done what is detestable. They are to be put to death; their blood will be on their own heads.
When M4M deputy campaign director first raised the Facehack issue yesterday, he tweeted that the posting on the M4M page was "garbage":
My Twitter, Facebook, @gmail.com @me.com were all hacked and garbage was posted on the MInnesota For Marriage FB. I won't be intimidated.
“We are currently working with Facebook, Twitter, Gmail, and Apple to see who hacked Andy’s account and who posted this message,” reads the message posted on Minnesota for Marriage’s Facebook page on Wednesday morning. “Clearly we would never advocate for anyone to be put to death. We strongly believe that people are entitled to love whomever they choose, but they are not entitled to redefine marriage for all of society.”
While M4M will continue to push for enshrining one version of marriage in the state constitution (the bible suggests other forms), it's good to see the group moving from recommending LTEs quoting Leviticus to taking the position that people can love whomever they want without facing the death penalty.
And Minnesota United's faith leader Grant Stevenson condemned the hack in an interview with WCCO:
But the leading group working against the amendment denounced the hackings.
“Whoever is responsible for this kind of hacking should be ashamed of themselves,” said Pastor Grant Stevensen of Minnesotans United For All Families.
Rescued from its encounter with a hacker, Minnesota for Marriage posted Facebook photos of the 25 or so folks who came out in the noonday sun to object to fairness for everyone.
As I was getting in [my car] I saw a blond, male protester hustling over toward me. Maybe he was one of the organizers or leaders of the protest.
"I saw you were taking pictures, who are you here for?" he asked.
"MN Progressive Project," I replied.
"I've copyrighted my image," he stated. "If you use it I'll sue you for infringement."
James George Janos this guy is not. In addition to supporting equality for all Minnesota families, Jesse Ventura always understood that the point of public demonstrations is getting your picture taken.
And in the media.
Instead, what shows up is the blond man's parting comment to Pusey:
And he stepped aside so I could drive off.
"Take it up the ass," he called after me as I drove away.
About 100 area residents supportive of gay marriage filled the Jaycee Pavilion at Lake Park on Wednesday evening, rallying to defeat the proposed amendment to the Minnesota Constitution that would define marriage as between a man and woman.
“This amendment doesn’t create any jobs. It doesn’t help any families. Instead, it ensures that some Minnesotans wouldn’t be able to share the same liberties as other Minnesotans,” said Mike Slagenweit-Coffman, a Winona native and chaplain resident in Eau Claire, Wis. . .
“We need to be protecting and expanding freedom, not restricting it,” said Rev. Tim Forester of the First Congregational Church of Winona.
The statement drew loud cheers and applause from those seated on nearly every picnic table in the shelter.
The War on Betty continues for another day in Golden Valley. Bluestem encourages readers in the Twin Cities to stop by Drinking Liberally at the 331 Club with some General Mills products for a Thanks General Mills/Vote No Food Shelf Drive.
Image: The Lucky Charms Leprechaun, inviting Minnesotans to feel the rainbow.
Today's Worthington Daily Globe has published a letter from a friend, Brewster-area farmer Doug Bauman. In State taxpayers are left holding the bill, Bauman writes:
At the time of his termination, Mr. Brodkorb was employed by the Minnesota Senate GOP caucus as Director of Communications. This is a state job and therefore the cost of defending the GOP leadership in what is essentially an inter-party war will be assumed by the state. The current legal defense bill is $84,000. As Brodkorb shows no sign of going away, the legal bill will continue to climb. Legal expenses could easily reach the six figure range and possibly top a million if and when a settlement is reached. Negotiating a settlement with Michael Brodkorb, short of giving him everything he asks for, will not be easy. Mr. Brodkorb has a reputation as a master of divisive politics, sharp elbows, and scorched earth political strategies. The give and take of negotiation is not in Brodkorb’s nature. . . .
When the GOP Senate leadership hired Brodkorb they knew they were employing a divisive, no-holds-barred, politics as war, loose cannon. The GOP should not be surprised that Brodkorb is now aiming his cannons at them.
As your article noted, approval of the costs created by this avoidable legal mess broke along party lines. Democrats opposed payment, Republicans voted for it. Unfortunately the Minnesota taxpayers are on the hook for it.
Read the whole thing at the Globe.
Bauman's message echoes statements DFL state chair Ken Martin gave to the New Ulm Journal as part of a press pilgrimage that made its progress through a steamy Southern Minnesota yesterday. Josh Moniz reports in DFL chair confident about taking Legislature in 2012:
The Republican Party of Minnesota is struggling with many issues, ranging from financial difficulties to a scandal involving a party leader.
However, Martin said the factor that will have the most importance in the 2012 election is "the civil war within the Republican Party."
"The DFL has gone through its own internal strife in the past. But, I don't think I've ever seen something this pronounced before," said Martin. "An already fairly right-leaning party is being challenged by people even further to the right. They're tearing themselves apart from the inside."
Martin offers the local example of the Allen Quist--Mike Parry contest to illustrate his point:
"You have these two far-right candidates pivoting further right to be the candidate. They're going to have a very hard time turning back towards moderate voters in August," said Martin, "I think Walz has an advantage. The election won't be as close as people think."
Martin suggested that the Republican Party's shift to the right was caused by purging individuals who didn't exactly follow party lines.
Reading our traffic logs, Bluestem knows what he means. Viewer interest in Emo Senator is declining, while the recent post about Allen Quist's call for impeachment of President Obama gained interested only because readers felt the Norseland farmer had written off Romney's chances of getting elected.
At this rate, we suspect we'll be reduced to posting cute videos of our adorable rescue cats to get any attention for the congressional race in the First.
Full disclosure of corporate corruption: Bluestem's owner and editor was the Betty Crocker Family Leader of Tomorrow for St. Peter High School (and one of five state finalists) back when Trix's great-grandmother was a pup. Popularly known as the Betty Crocker Homemaker, awardwinners were selected by a written test and essay.
Two wildly separate news items today, connected only by the fundmental human need for food, underscore the failure of Minnesota's 87th Legislature. The legislature managed to put a divisive, retro amendment on the ballot, asking voters to enshrine anti-LGBT bigotry in the state constitution. It did not address fundmental problems with funding social services on the local level.
When it comes to protest, a general rules applies: Don’t Over-Promise. Don’t Under-Deliver. The brainchild behind the “Dump General Mills” campaign might have thought of that before getting all of the Minnesota media out to meet what was reported as “about 50″ or “dozens of supporters” ready to do some dumping. . . .
Morillo-Alicea notes that as the media reported that either 50 or 75 amendment supporters picketed Doughboy Central, the organization's communications department inflated resistance to Betty Crocker's evolving stance from "hundreds" to "thousands." Oops.
“It’s the neighborly thing to do,” General Mills spokesman Tom Forsythe told those who had gathered. “I was raised as a Minnesotan, and when people drop by your house, you put on coffee, so that’s what we did.”
And in this morning's Hot Dish e-newsletter, a sweet bit of Minnesota Nice in this Baird Helgeson item:
Marriage amendment supporters weren’t the only ones dropping off General Mills products during Tuesday’s rally at the company’s headquarters. Minnesota for Marriage is protesting the company’s opposition to the amendment that would ban same-sex marriage. The group collected General Mills products from amendment supporters that will be donated to local food shelves. But in a move to thank General Mills, at least a couple amendment opponents came over to donate food, too. Mark Bauer, an amendment opponent, donated $20 in General Mills cereal, with more to come in coming days. “I disagree with what they [amendment supporters] are doing, but I definitely agree with them on feeding the needy and helping the poor,” he said. -- Baird Helgeson
Drinking Liberally is holding a "Thanks, General Mills" food drive tomorrow night. If you're in the Cities tomorrow, drop off some GM items for area food shelves.
Those are the reasons more than 50 county residents — many toting signs and bells, nearly all carrying personal stories — lined the southern entrance to the county’s Government Services Building Tuesday morning.
They want it known: The Rice County Social Services system isn’t delivering services, and families are paying the price.
“Just recently I had a family fight over food,” said Dan Dimick, a family therapist and psychologist who works all over Rice County. “A kid ate some cheese, and the mother got angry. It’s stressing families.”
According to the story, Rice County faces a "a 150 percent increase in food support applications alone since late 2007."
The Rice County board is committed to keeping "the lowest per capita property tax levy in the state at $294, one of only two counties that are under $300, according to county documents" but faces sanctions from the state if it does not reduce the backlog of paperwork.
And the "no new taxes" philosophy is also delaying payments in other areas, while the board pins its hopes on a new data system, rather than hiring new staff to eliminate the backlog:
"Nine months is a long time to wait," said Malecha. "In the meantime we've got nursing homes not getting paid and daycare providers not getting paid.
Morillo-Alicea notes that the Republican-controlled legislature picked the fake fight over solving the real one:
In Minnesota, it was the Legislature that picked this fight. They did so even as they drove the government to shut down, even in the middle of a budget crisis, even in the middle of a jobs crisis, even in the middle of a financial meltdown. They made this their priority. That, in addition to dramatic generational and cultural shifts, has energized those who believe our constitution should not be used to limit the freedom to marry.
We'll hear more about Minnesotans For Marriage fake food fight in the War Against Betty, and Bluestem encourages people across Minnesota to buy and donate General Mills products to their local food shelves.
Then vote no on the marriage amendment in November, and pick state legislators who will get back to the people's business. Enough already.
Image: General Mills' Lucky Charms. Feel the Rainbow, Minnesota
A diligent DFL operative must have sent the party's tracker;s footage to Think Progress, a media outlet which pretty much functions as a PR service for progressive organizations and the Democratic Party, but since there's Youtube footage documenting the material, Bluestem will run it.
A Republican congressional candidate in a competitive district is promising to try to impeach President Obama because of his new immigration policy protecting one million undocumented students from being deported.
Allen Quist, a former state representative running against Rep. Tim Walz (D-MN) in Minnesota’s 1st congressional district, told a town hall late last week that Obama’s recent immigration policy, as well as his decision not to defend in court the Defense of Marriage Act, were both unconstitutional. While some Republicans would cautiously leave the matter there, Quist pressed on, declaring that Obama had committed an impeachable offense. If elected, he promised he would “not only propose it, [he] would argue it to the utmost of my ability and [he] would carry it like a banner to the American public.”
Bluestem looks forward to learning how Quist's rival for the nomination in the August primary, Emo Senator Mike Parry, will go Quist one better in establishing conservative cred on this one. Revoking report cards for the children of undocumented workers?
This isn't the first time Quist has captured national attention for throwing red meat to the conservative GOP base in Southern Minnesota. In January, 2010, covering an earlier Quist bid for Republican endorsement to run against Walz in a slightly different configuration of CD1, MnIndy staff writer Andy Birkey reported that Quist told the Wabasha County Republican's Christmas Party that Defeating liberals a bigger battle than defeating terrorism.
Down in conservative Wabasha County, the board of Wabasha County extends nonmetallic moratorium, the Winona Daily News reports. Translated, that means the moratorium on new frace sand permits has been extended.
But if you read the Star Tribune, the fault lines on frac sand mining are "ideological and environmental battlegrounds." While Bluestem agrees that environmental concerns are a battleground, the Strib might want to actually look at the partisan inclinations of those citizens objecting to frac sand mining in Southeastern Minnesota before they frame this as a battle of partisan ideology.
In Sand trains stir up dust in St. Paul neighborhood, Chao Xiong interviews filmmaker Jim Tittle, who got caught up in the frac sand controversy when a mine was proposed near his parents' home in Hay Creek Township, Goodhue County. One of the first things Tittle observied to me was that Hay Creek Township was no bastion of liberalism. The township's voting record speaks for itself: residents voted solidly for McCain, Coleman, Kline and Kelly in 2008; in 2010, Republican Attorney General candidate Chris Barden matched votes cast for Lori Swanson.
The standard partisan frame doesn't work (and perhaps that's another reason why the MPCA is opting out of any meanful action on frac sand mining). Instead, think more about those westerns--like Eastwood's Pale Rider--where a mining company tramples on the interests of local citizens. But unlike the wild west, citizens take up the weapons of zoning and local control. It's no wonder that corporations want to strip local people of these tools. It's that sort of ideological battle.
Open train cars filled with sand have raised alarm in St. Paul's St. Anthony Park neighborhood, where some residents wonder if the silica that comprises 80 percent of the unprocessed sand is safe.
The cars, which often are parked in a rail yard sandwiched between homes and an industrial zone, are appearing on a more regular basis since an oil boom has increased the demand for the sand for its hydrofracking operations.
BNSF Railway Co., which transports the sand, and Minnesota Commercial Railway representatives said the trains are carrying wet "unprocessed raw sand" -- not pure frac sand -- and that it isn't a health risk. The concern, however, is that nearly all information about silica's health impact are derived from studies in the workplace, where it has been shown to cause cancer, and not of ambient exposure.
"We know it's [silica] not good for you," said Hillary Carpentar, a toxicologist with the Minnesota Department of Health. "It's a classic occupational toxin. I think the concern is that we just don't know" about casual exposure.
Read the whole thing at the Star Tribune. But don't hold your breath waiting for dust monitoring and risk evaluation to get done with any transparency soon. Witness what's happening in Wisconsin.
A group critical of the frac sand industry in the Chippewa Valley is claiming a local sand plant is producing off-site particle pollution that is “quite possibly” a health hazard.
The group’s conclusions are based on a study of data that people associated with the group gathered on their own.
However, a DNR official and a national air quality monitoring expert say the equipment used in the study and the methodology are suspect, and the conclusions are not supported by data being gathered from more sophisticated equipment at the EOG plant site.
Fascinating stuff. Closer to home than the Chippewa Valley, the WDN reports in State experts weigh in on frac sand that 125 people braved fierce storms to hear what those experts might have to say. From the article:
Hillary Carpenter of the Minnesota Department of Health spoke about silica exposure, which he deemed an occupational hazard.
Carpenter said if he lived in the area, he’d be asking for more research about environmental exposure to silica sand — considered a low-level risk by health organizations.
Others on the panel made recommendations including enclosing sand plants, wetting sand as much as possible and tracking how much sand leaves and enters each facility, all measures which Hedman said the City of Winona is exploring.
Carpenter said the emerging nature of the industry means expertise may not have been fully developed yet.
“Monitoring (exposure to harmful kinds of sand) is doable,” he said. “The question is how you do it.”
Are any such studies underway, or will the residents serve as guinea pigs as industrial scale silica sand mining digs wide swaths out from under their feet?
Judging by the letters the paper received, the experts' discussion was not intended to calm the residents. There's Marie Kovecsi in We all have a part to play in monitoring:
We heard Dr. Carpenter, a toxicologist with Public Health say, “As we learn more about silica sand, we learn more about its toxicity.”
There is much about this industry that needs additional research and information.
All panel members talked about the seriousness of the consequences. Once a habitat for a rare and endangered species is destroyed, there is no restitution. Once our water is the victim of a spill or accident, there is real damage done. No one expected the I-35 bridge to fail, so it is important to use care when assessing our aging bridge, with its new traffic loads of sand trucks coming from Wisconsin.
This all laid out a case for careful proceeding as we try to plan. One additional measure would be to begin a Generic Environmental Impact Study. Such a study could provide necessary information and research that would be useful and important for planning. This should begin now.
I am particularly concerned about particulate pollution, including silica in the air. I asked that state department representatives, using their expertise, suggest a monitoring plan that would, after the data was analyzed, enable them to give an opinion on the risks to adults and their children’s’ health.
The representative from the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) ignored the intent of the question and detailed Best Management Practices. There was no reference to monitoring.
The representative from the Minnesota Department of health (MDH) basically said silica is dangerous. He could give a risk assessment if provided relevant data — but no one has nor is currently attempting to get appropriate data. This was more of a direct answer to my question but still did not give an idea of what a worthwhile monitoring effort would look like.
Read both letters at the Winona Daily News. The residents of St. Anthony Park have grounds to be concerned.
Photo: Diagram depicting the layout of the proposed mining areas and its proximity to homes. Used with permission of Citizens Against Silica Sand Mining.
In the comments, Brick City blogger Sean Olsen notes that tonight SW Metro Tea Party will be presenting Bowers' film, "Agenda: Grinding America Down, and Bowers himself will speak on Wednesday, July 11 at the Chanhassen Rec Hall.
Is Bowers making a circuit of Tea Party gatherings in Minnesota that promote Republican candidates"?
Bowers is no stranger to Minnesota's Tea Party organizers. In December 2010, North Star Tea Party co-founder Walter Hudson interviewed Bowers for the NewsReal Blog. In “Agenda: Grinding America Down,” NewsReal Interviews Filmmaker Curtis Bowers, the men discuss the socialist hell that is group work in public schools, organizing grade levels according to students' ages, and the "unholy trinity of Darwin, Nietzche and Marx.
I knew Groucho had to be lurking there somewhere.
And John Gilmore will be overjoyed to learn that at the end of July, the SW Metro Tea Party's movie night presentation will be Farmageddon, a flick that defends raw milk by taking the name of all family farms in vain.
Image:Via Sodahead, proof of Marxist humor right here among the useful idiots at Bluestem/
This [Michael Brodkorb's threatened lawsuit after being fired for having an affair with Senator Amy Koch] is an internal employment issue involving the Republican caucus. This has little to do with creating and passing legislation for the public's beneift. Brodkorb was basically a political strategist and spin doctor whose job was to make the Republicans look good and the DFL look bad. The Republican Party should be footing the bill for the caucus' defense.
Of course, the Republicans have had trouble paying the rent on their state headquarters and paying for their recent recount challenges. They probably don't have the money for the legal fees, either.
If they are really concerned with protecting the taxpayers, the Republicans should pay their own legal bills.
The Fairmont Sentinel, a more conservative sister of the Odgen Newspapers Inc. chain that owns the Journal, suggests a different option buried in its regular Saturday "Et Cetera" short editorial:
Settlement in order?
The Minnesota Senate is facing rising legal costs associated with the firing of a communications aide, Michael Brodkorb, who reportedly was having an affair with his boss, former Majority Leader Amy Koch. Brodkorb is alleging unfair termination and is threatening a gender discrimination lawsuit.
Senators are getting riled about the escalating legal bills, and the story is driving the public nuts.
There's a simple solution: The Senate must weigh what it stands to lose in a lawsuit versus the cost of its defense. A settlement would fall somewhere in between.
The accompanying cartoon by Dump Bachmann's Ken Avidor suggests that without a confidentiality clause, Michael Brodkorb might be able to cash in by publishing a tell-all memoir, especially with a cover like this.
Republican Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem and Deputy Senate Majority Leader Julianne Ortman met privately today at a St. Paul coffee shop with former Senate staffer Michael Brodkorb. MPR News learned of the meeting, which was later confirmed by Senjem. Brodkorb has said he plans to sue the Senate for wrongful dismissal after he was fired from his job last December.
Senjem would not say what was discussed at the meeting.
"We had a brief conversation," Senjem said. "I can't go any further than that because it's a private conversation."
Ortman didn't return calls. Brodkorb said in an e-mail that he no comment about the meeting.
Brodkorb's attorney, Phillip Villaume, was surprised to hear of the meeting.
Via a tweet by my friend Mary Franson, Bluestem has learned that former partial-term Idaho Republican state representative Curtis Bowers will be the keynote speaker at a July 12 Central Minnesota Tea Party Patriots rally in sunny Browerville. Fargo area radio personality Scott Hennen will emcee the gathering.
Those who can't make Professor Quist's PowerPoint presentation have a couple of other opportunities for emotional loading and froth. The Sherburne County Tea Party is serving up two nut courses on January 26, as well as a Taco Bar. Not only with GOP U.S. Senate candidate Dan Severson, who "has what it takes to defeat the Obama-Klobuchar Agenda!" be there, but his top gun will be followed by a showing of the documentary, "Agenda: Grinding American Down."
Curtis soon lost his primary in May 2008, the first time he actually faced Republican voters in Idaho's District 10.
Readers are likely to learn elsewhere that, like the conservative obsession with "Agenda 21," this second "Agenda" is a brand new shiny thing, but to those observers who do more than superficial sneering at the right, knowledge of Bowers goes back a couple of election cycles.
And his presence at a Greater Minnesota Tea Party rally likely marks a ramping up of the rhetoric from the right on the marriage amendment, since the gay agenda is one of the three prongs of the pitchfork that Bowers sees pushing Americans toward the dark satanic mill of post-modern communism.
In the fateful column that brought Bowers to the attention of fellow conservative conspiracists everywhere, the former Mona Lisa Fondue restaurant magnate and Otter appointee declared in Communist agenda makes its way to our mainstream:
They [Communists at a 1992 meeting he infiltrated by growing a goatee, and wearing "a revolutionary T-shirt" and "some ratty jeans"]had a three part agenda. They would use their manpower, influence and funds to back anything that would destroy our families, businesses and culture.
Firstly, to destroy the family, they would promote co-habitation instead of marriage. They would also try to get children away from their mothers into government programs at the earliest age possible. They felt the best way to do this was to promote the feminist movement, which had been very effective at making women discontent with marriage and motherhood.
Secondly, to destroy businesses, they aimed to wipe out the profit potential that motivated people to start them. If people couldn't make good money off their ideas and hard work, they would eventually be content working for someone else. They were sure the environmental movement (modest at the time) was the only vehicle capable of creating enough regulation and expense to discourage business growth.
Finally, to destroy our culture, they needed us to abandon our heritage of religion and morality. They believed the homosexual movement, if accepted, would begin to effectively extinguish these values.
In Bowers' worldview, pride flies a red flag. This is retread Bircher material with a lavender twist.
The local reaction in Republican Idaho wasn't particularly kind to Representative Bowers, although he had his defenders, who claimed he was doing a great job representing his constituents (the constituents showed him the door in the next Republcian primary, the first time they actually had a choice in the matter).
Bowers' goal, it seems, was to pit neighbor against neighbor by targeting three groups of people: feminists, environmentalists and gay rights advocates. According to him, these groups share blame for the destruction of families, business and culture. In fact, his enemies list may include you.
1. Do you agree that women should have the right to vote? If so, then you're a "feminist."
2. Do you enjoy hunting, fishing, hiking, camping, skiing or other recreational activities, and do you agree that preserving the ability to participate in these activities for your children and grandchildren is important? If so, then you're an "environmentalist."
3. Are you among the 63 percent of Idahoans who, according to a recent BSU survey, agreed that it should be illegal to fire a person because they are gay? If so, then you're a "gay rights advocate."
If you answered "yes" to any of these three, you are among those Bowers has accused of being unpatriotic communist sympathizers.
“We have this political war going on where we are trying to shift today’s Republicans [back to the right],” she says.
Franson, who was interviewed at length Feb. 15 by Capitol Report, acknowledges that the ideas are not her own. They are gleaned from a documentary film, “Agenda: Grinding America Down,” by conservative filmmaker and Idaho legislator Curtis Bowers. It is a movie that critic Richard Metzger claims is replete with “John Birch Society conspiracy theories that no one takes seriously anymore.”
Franson would dispute that. “This movie says it so great,” she enthuses.
Come and hear our conservative candidates, and hear more about Voter ID, ObamaCare, Flat Tax/Fair Tax and Tax Reforms, about the UN, and the Marriage Act! A fun evening planned. There will be a hot dog stand with chips, pop and water. It starts at 6 pm, but come early and come hungry!
The trailer not only raises the ghosts of those murdered by communist regimes, but Hitler and Nazis make an appearance too. Will Bowers be couching his keynote remarks in Browerville with the same historical references?
Whoever originally posted the Youtube took it down, though fugitive copies are posted at other channels.
Now it might be time for Parrish and other amendment supporters to return the favor with regards to Bowers' rhetoric. The trailer below for "Agenda" not only raises the spectre of the millions who died under communist regimes like Pol Pot, but that of Hitler as well, at the 3:17 mark. Will Minnesotans for Majority and other pro-amendment groups step back from this inflammatory rhetoric?
Should Bower's own private Idaho really take a central place in the conversations Minnesotans are having about the meaning of family and marriage? It wasn't particularly welcomed by Republican voters in Idaho's 10th state house district--and Bluestem is curious just why it's getting a welcome in Todd County's Browerville.
Bonus round: Bluestem always keeps an eye out for earnestly believed urban legends and spurious quotations attributed to the Founding Fathers. Our search for news of the July 12 Tea Party Rally led us to the NW MN Tea Party Patriot site, where the patriots attribute the following to Thomas Jefferson at the bottom of the site:
"A government big enough to give you everything you want, is strong enough to take everything you have."
Historical evidence suggests that Jefferson and Ford were not the same person.
Photo: Curtis Bowers imagines he has a handle on the gay agenda; Bluestem thinks all that was solid melted into the fondue sauce he once slung. Photo via the Prodos blog.
It's a lovely summer morning in greater Minnesota, but one state Republican party officials might not be able to savor over the morning papers. The Morning Take samples a conservative Washington Post blogger's dismissal of TPaw, the Kind of Bland, as a potential Romney running mate--and there's more unsettling news closer to home.
Bob Cummins, who has donated more than $3.5 million to Minnesota Republican causes, is telling allies he has had it with Republicans in the Minnesota Legislature and will not give their campaigns any cash this year, according to multiple sources.
Cummins, CEO of Plymouth-based Primera Technology, is reportedly frustrated over legislators' failure to approve a "right-to-work" constitutional amendment that would limit union power. At least 21 states have such restrictions.
A pillar of GOP financing in years past, Cummins' support could be especially critical for Republicans, who have seen contributions drop off as their money troubles mount.
Senate Majority Leader Dave Senjem, R-Rochester, said he has not talked personally with Cummins recently but would not be surprised if he withheld contributions. "He was pretty tied in to the right-to-work issue, and I think that was his main legislative priority. I don't think I would expect a lot of help out of him given that we didn't advance that," Senjem said.
Donations played into the calculus of the amendment vote in another way, according to one source who monitored the amendment effort. House Republican caucus uber-funder Robert Cummins, the chief executive officer of Primera Technology, is a fervid backer of the amendment and a past donor to anti-gay-marriage initiatives. Since 2004, Cummins has contributed more than $408,000 to groups like Minnesota Citizens in Defense of Marriage — now Minnesota Majority — and the Minnesota Family Council, and has thrown hundreds of thousands of dollars at the House GOP caucus campaign chest. In a June 2010 Capitol Report story, then-caucus treasurer Matt Dean said Cummins is much more involved than the average donor. He works directly with House leaders to recruit Republican candidates to run in each district. “He understands the importance of winning elections,” Dean said at the time.
“Promises must have been made to outside sources,” the source said, adding that the caucus was reportedly promised several million dollars for the 2012 elections from various groups if the amendment passed this session.
Guess Cummins decided to add another amendment as a condition for his money as the West Metro 1% Club goes wild.
And Briana Bierschbach's article in PIM shared another flawed assessment in the political calculus the GOP caucuses made last year concerning the marriage discrimination amendent:
He [Gregg Peppin] added that there was a lot of discussion internally about whether it should happen in 2011 or 2012, especially as the leadership started out the year touting a budget-first agenda. But ultimately the prospect of wealthy donors on the pro-gay marriage side persuaded them to go for this session, Peppin said. “[Pro-gay marriage campaigns] typically have many well-to-do donors nationwide,” he noted, “and while there are some wealthy anti-gay-marriage supporters, there are more $5 and $10 donors on that side, and that money will take time to gather.”
Oops! This week's release of fundraising by Minnesotans United for All Families exposed the folly in Peppin's math.
And after that amendment? The deluge with news of the wreck of Republican finances under Tony Sutton, the Koch and Brodkorb affair and its fallout. That fallout continues.
In Let Senate Republicans pay their own legal bill, the editorial board of the New Ulm Journal shares a harsh assessment of the responsibility for legal bills incurred by Senate Republicans:
He hasn't even filed a lawsuit yet, but Michael Brodkorb, the former Senate Republican Caucus senior communication aide fired for his affair with then Senate Majority Leader Amy Koch, has cost Senate Republicans nearly $85,000 in legal fees.
Brodkorb is planning to file a federal gender discrimination lawsuit, claiming he was treated differently from female Senate employees who had affairs with legislators and got to keep their jobs. His attorneys have also threatened lawsuits for defamation and invasion of privacy against several senators.
Chances are taxpayers are going to wind up paying this bill, and that is an injustice.
This is an internal employment issue involving the Republican caucus. This has little to do with creating and passing legislation for the public's beneift. Brodkorb was basically a political strategist and spin doctor whose job was to make the Republicans look good and the DFL look bad. The Republican Party should be footing the bill for the caucus' defense.
Of course, the Republicans have had trouble paying the rent on their state headquarters and paying for their recent recount challenges. They probably don't have the money for the legal fees, either.
If they are really concerned with protecting the taxpayers, the Republicans should pay their own legal bills.
The paper isn't a bastion of liberal media; it's a small town paper serving a conservative area of the state. The shockingly blunt words may signal trouble for Michael Brodkorb's hand-picked candidate for CD1, Mike Parry, who ran into surprising resistance in his bid for the party's endorsement. With no nod coming at the district's endorsing convention, Parry is locked in a primary battle against Allen Quist, who's matching Parry's self-proclaimed energy, such as it is.
As we rejoin another episode of Emo Senator, southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, fans of Mike Parry will be stunned to learn that the Belle of Waseca County may be told to walk away from the parade in the district's largest city.
The Post Bulletin's Heather Carlson has the scoop in Don't expect to see Parry or Quist with Olmsted GOP float. She reports that the Quist campaign paid the required $500 for a separate unit by the April 14 deadline after sensing some uncertainity as to whether the Norseland farmer would be able to join the county unit--a deadline that comes before the endorsing convention.
(Carlson doesn't state another possible reading of Quist's action: that endorsement or not, he was going to file and run in the primary).
Even more peculiar, Parry isn't marching with the county Republicans (though both men have been invited to join the float, since neither was endorsed. Instead, Parry plans a free ride:
Instead of marching with the Republican party, Parry is walking for free with the "Bell of Honor" float. He said local veteran and Rochester City Council member Terry Throndson approached him and asked him to join them in the parade. The 3,000-pound Bell of Honor is used at funerals and other special events to honor veterans, law enforcement officers and others.
There's only one hitch:
Rochesterfest's Executive Director Carole Brown said politicians are supposed to either walk with a political party unit or pay the $500 to march in the parade on their own. She said the Parry campaign would be violating those rules by walking with the Bell of Honor.
Meanwhile, Quist earned more media today in Winona, the publication of the reminding readers of his Town Hall. Don Evanson writes in Allen Quist is coming to town, a letter to the editors of the Daily News:
. . .The consistent conservative of the choices that the Republicans have is Allen Quist, former Minnesota representative, published author and spokesperson for keeping social issues in the public square.
Allen Quist is hosting a townhall meeting in Winona at 7 p.m. tonight at the Riverport Inn.
A sharp-eyed friend wrote this morning with a story from Ortonville's finest news venue, the Independent. In Ortonville VFW to host U.S. Constitution Class June 21, Big Stone County residents learn that endorsed Republican congressional candidate Lee Byberg is sponsoring a legal seminar:
A free U.S. Constitution Class, presented by Mark “The Freedom Poet”, will be held this Thursday, June 21 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Ortonville VFW Post #3964. This is open to anyone age 12 and older.
This is sponsored by Lee Byberg, candidate for U.S. House of Representatives, who will be available to answer questions over the lunch hour.
Lunch will be available from 11:30 a.m. to 1 p.m. consisting of roast beef sandwiches.
Every attendee will receive free materials, including the U.S. Constitution, Bill of Rights, Decalaration of Independence and a bibliography of 30 books.
Our correspondent asked the obvious question: "I can only wonder what brand of Constitutional freedom he's offering at the VFW?!"
Looking into the event, Bluestem has established that "The Freedom Poet" is one Mark Skogerboe, who is to poetry what Collin Peterson and Byberg himself are to music. If Skogerboe has published a book of poems, we were not able to find it.
What we did find are a basic biography, a history of various events, and Skogerboe's professional relationship with Scott Hennen, who runs Byberg's major vendor, Freedom Force Communications.
And Skogerboe is going to serve as director of the donor clubs Hennen has formed to underwrite his purchase of AM 1100 The Flag. With a $1000 share, "founding fathers" get not only advertising time, but "access" to political guests. Will "access" to Byberg be one of the perks of donorship in the remote chance he defeats Blue Dog Collin Peterson?
Let's take a look at Skogerboe's education in creative writing. In 1996, the Star Tribune reported that Skogerboe was from:
East Grand Forks, a commodities broker who quit his job to take a position as a deputy national campaign manager for the [Alan] Keyes [presidential] campaign. He'll be watching Dole's vice presidential choice" (Dane Smith, "The state Republican convention; Minnesota's delegates to national convention are converts to Dole," June 1, 1996, Nexis All News, accessed 6/20/2012).
He apparently never went back to the boards. The Grand Forks Herald reported in 2004:
The 5,280-pound monument to the Ten Commandments that got Alabama Chief Justice Roy Moore knocked off the bench by a federal judge was brought to East Grand Forks on Tuesday in a rally for American values, Christianity and warnings against the judiciary.
Mark Skogerboe, a lay Lutheran pastor from New Hope, Minn., who previously lived in East Grand Forks and Karlstad, Minn., is a leader of the group that is hauling the huge granite edifice around the country.
"America is in big trouble," Skogerboe preached from the back of the rented truck to a crowd of about 60 people in Sherlock Park. The truck was parked near the Ten Commandments monument that has been in the city since the Eagles club donated it in 1958, one of many the Eagles helped fund 40 years ago. America is in a moral, spiritual and political decline, Skogerboe said, illustrated by the fact that its jails and prisons today have 10 times the 200,000 prisoners they did in 1980.
"Let us repair to the standards the founders gave us, like the Ten Commandments and the Word of God," said Skogerboe. He graduated from high school in Karlstad, and lived in East Grand Forks for 12 years, working as a commodities broker at Benson Quinn before studying for the Lutheran ministry. He now works for Vision America, a Texas-based group organizing clergy to be more active in civic and political life. (Stephen J. Lee, "Ten Commandment Stone Tours EGF; Monuments Made Famous By Alabama Justice," Grand Forks Herald, August 25, 2004, Nexis All News, accessed 6/20/2012).
While Skogerboe studied for the ministry, the GFH article and later news accounts note that he is a "lay Lutheran pastor."
Following the Ten Commandments tour in 2004, the lay pastor next earns some media in the Aberdeen American News in 2006:
Nationally known speaker Alan Keyes will appear Tuesday night in Aberdeen at a rally sponsored by the South Dakota Family Policy Council.
The gathering is meant to build support for the "sanctity of traditional marriage and life," said the Rev. Mark Skogerboe of Roseville, Minn., who is serving as a field representative for the South Dakota Family Policy Council.
Keyes, a Maryland resident who ran for president in 1996 and 2000, will be one of three guest speakers at the rally, which begins at 7 p.m. at First Baptist Church, 1500 E. Melgaard Road. Admission is free.
He will be joined by three Texans -- Laurence White, a Lutheran minister; Rick Scarborough, the president of Vision America; and Christian musician Kim Noblitt. Noblitt will be joined by a local choir.
Skogerboe, who is spending about 10 days in Aberdeen, describes Keyes as an "electric orator." ("Aberdeen--Rally Tuesday Night," Aberdeen American News, October 14, 2006, Nexis All News, accessed 6/20/2012).
But it was the Tea Party movement that brought Skogerboe into his own, and brought the nickname, "The Freedom Poet," with Bemidji forming the workshop for his poetic license and trademark prosody of fake historical quotes, Inbox malarky and other Snopes-worthy prophecy. There's freedom in that poesy alright, as he takes liberties with American history.
Mark Skogerboe, author of "The Threefold Plan to Save America" and chairman of an upcoming Liberty Weekend of the Baptist Church, called Wednesday a "great day of awakening when the people said you cannot take my freedom.
"Government is not God," he added. "Bad change is not good, and the changes this new government are putting forth are almost all bad."
God never changes, and He said not to covet, don't steal and don't hate people who work night and day that have more than you have, he said. Skogerboe quoted Abraham Lincoln, who said, "You can't make the weak stronger by tearing down the strong." . . .
Take what has become known as the “The Ten Cannots,” a list repeatedly misattributed to Abraham Lincoln. It begins:
You cannot bring about prosperity by discouraging thrift. You cannot strengthen the weak by weakening the strong. You cannot help little men by tearing down big men. You cannot lift the wage earner by pulling down the wage payer. You cannot help the poor by destroying the rich. You cannot establish sound security on borrowed money. You cannot further the brotherhood of man by inciting class hatred....
And so on. These words were actually written by William J.H. Boetcker, a conservative minister who published them in a 1916 pamphlet along with some actual Lincoln quotes (Snopes.com, 8/19/09). Almost a century and many well-documented debunkings later (e.g., the 1989 Oxford Press book They Never Said It), some conservatives still insist on assigning them to Lincoln.
Mark Skogerboe, with dramatic interpretation, told the story of the 56 signers of the Declaration of Independence, and that some were killed during the Revolutionary War, and others had their families killed and tortured.
Ah yes. The famous Fate of the Signers of the Declaration of Independence, noted as a "mixture of true and false information" by Snopes, and "often published and cited concerning the fate of the Signers, but its accuracy is doubtful, and should only be taken as "traditional" rather than historical" by the Constitution Society.
That should be one heck of a class in Ortonville. But it's not surprising that Byberg is sponsoring the speaker, however bogus his understanding of American history might be. Skogerboe is a business associate of Scott Hennen, whose Freedom Force Communications received the lion's share of Byberg's spending reported to the FEC in recent quarters.
Scott Hennen has a new timeslot and a new plan to enlist his fans as backers – “founding fathers,” as he puts it – of AM 1100 The Flag.
The conservative talk radio host said Thursday he will announce today that he’s seeking 1,600 backers to put $1,000 each toward the purchase and operation of the station. . . .
To finance the deal, he’s asking fans to buy into one of four clubs – Faith, Family, Freedom and Free Enterprise, which he describes as his “pillars.” Each will be limited to 400 members who pay a one-time fee of $1,000 each.
Members won’t be owners of the company, but they’ll get input on the station’s weekend programming, behind-the-scenes updates, $1,000 in advertising credit to use as they see fit, and an American Flag in a case handcrafted by Iraq war veteran Rusty Ouart.
Hennen said they’ll also act as “citizen journalists,” feeding the station stories and keeping an eye on issues that matter to them.
Mark Skogerboe, a Twins Cities author and tea party activist who describes himself as “The Freedom Poet,” will serve as the director of the clubs and also contribute as an on-air personality.
Hennen and Skogerboe appear in a Youtube pitching the arrangement. At the 4:00 point, Skogerboe notes that donors will have "great access to these people who come in":
They're practically the Duke and Dauphin of the Red River Valley with that pitch. Hennen and Skogerboe rent themselves out to Byberg, and media personality and Byberg consultant Hennen buys a radio station with promises of "access" to guests for donors. No one ever said that grifters don't have to grift.
Photo: Mark Skogerboe speaking at a 2010 Tea Party Rally in Grand Forks Photo by Sarah Kolberg / Forum Communications Co. Skogerboe ran for both the state house and senate many years ago.
As we return to the latest episode of Emo Senator, Southern Minnesota's most watched telenovela, devoted fans find Mike Parry's arch-rival Allen Quist, political messiah from Norseland, grabbing the headline (there's only one) in today's news of the primary.
Meanwhile, the candidates prepare for Farmfest, two scheduled debates and parades across the district. Up next? Thursday's parade for Viola's Gopher Count, where small children compete to see who has collected the most gopher tails.
Allen Quist, who is running against state Sen. Mike Parry in a race to determine who will challenge U.S. Rep. Tim Walz this fall, will host a town hall meeting at 7 p.m. Thursday at The Riverport Inn in Winona.
The Republican and former state representative will discuss his plans to balance the federal budget in five years or earlier and his call for an investigation into how Minnesota spends federal Medicaid dollars. There will also be a question-and-answer session.
The event is free and open to the public.
Intrepid souls who visit Quist's campaign website learn that this is the first at least four town hall via the post The Latest on Debates, Parades and Town Halls. Three follow the Winona town hall and it looks as if the veteran campaigner is planning more:
We'll keep you informed as additional Town Hall details are finalized.
And then there are the debates:
DEBATES & FORUMS
A KSTP TV At Issue with Tom Hauser debate date has been changed. It will likely be aired on Sunday, August 5th.
TPT's Almanac show has set up Friday, July 27th as its 1st District pre-primary debate.
I will be participating in the Farmfest Congressional Forum on Wednesday, August 7th from 10:30 to 11:50 am.
Debate Minnesota is still trying to set up a pre-primary debate.
Stay tuned for more details.
Meanwhile, Parry's calendar includes parades and a few fundraisers, with field staffer Doug Gardner as the contact person. Gardner interned in the state senate and worked on Rep. Randy Hultgren's campaign in Illinois in 2010.
Will the House conference committee members quit diddling over funding roads? Who will win the gopher count? Stay tuned for the next thrilling episode of Emo Senator, and shop local for your steak sauce.
The deep budget disagreements that led to last year's state government shutdown are still echoing a year later on the campaign trail.
DFL and Republican candidates for the House and Senate remain miles apart when it comes to taxes and spending. And as they try to regain the majority in the state House and Senate, Democrats say that another shutdown could be looming if Republicans retain control.
Reporter Tim Pugmire asked Senate Majority leader if he thinks that the shutdown will play a role in the campaigns. Don't think of a government shutdown, Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man doppelgänger Senjem replies:
Senate GOP Majority Leader Dave Senjem of Rochester said he hasn't run into anyone who's still thinking about last summer.
"It's not talked about," Senjem said. "I think people have generally moved on. It's certainly possible that the DFL will bring it up, certainly in debates and forums and things like that. But it just seems to be old news."
Senjem said the shutdown is not a fond memory and it should have never happened. But a year later, he sounds more than a little proud of the stand his side took against Gov. Mark Dayton and his proposed income tax increase.
But as an old cliche suggests about elephants, if Minnesota is told not to think about a government shutdown, Gophers will do just that. Senjem's staff must not be sharing Greater Minnesota newspapers with the genial Rochester Republican if he thinks no one is talkng about a government shutdown.
Take the June 16, 2012 column in the Marshall Independent, GOP wary of shutdown talk. Editor Per Peterson begins:
There was plenty of blame to share for the 2011 state government shutdown and, indeed, many Republicans and Democrats took on their share of responsibility for the breakdown in budget negotiations resulting from the Legislature's and Gov. Mark Dayton's inability to compromise on how best to plug a $5 billion hole.
The partisan fingerpointing didn't stop, however, after that compromise was reached, and Democrats will likely use the shutdown on the campaign trail this summer as a prime example of how House and Senate leaders in the GOP, in their eyes, have failed to get things done since taking over in St. Paul. . . .
But he finds local Republican leaders wanting to abandon the blame game--the very blame game that swept their party into control of the legislature since Trix was a pup--and just have the North Star state nurture job creators, who might look at Minnesota if only we can just convince working people that their boats will rise if they accept lower wages and benefits.
Don't think about a government shutdown, Minnesota Representative Chris Swedzinski of Ghent and state senator Gary Dahms of Redwood Falls tell Peterson. It's enough to make George Lakoff blush.
"It's one of the most unfortunate things in politics - you see folks wanting to blame other people. I don't go out of my way to blame Governor (Mark) Dayton for everything I believe is wrong. . . ."
The media, the two say, have played a big role in highlighting political fingerpointing during the last couple of years, portraying the Capitol more as a breeding ground for conflict than a place where things get done.
"If the media shows conflict, they sell more papers, or on the news, they get more viewers," Swedzinski said. "A lot of the areas we focus on are areas where we work together, and I think if people saw that more, their attitudes toward politicians would be more pleasant. There's always gonna be a couple bad apples that spoil the bush and make it a point to be a burr under the saddle, whether they're Democrats or Republicans."
Dahms said the political blame game is played on many other issues, not just during and after a shutdown.
It's all being nurturing parents to the job creators, Dahms says:
Dahms said jobs are vital to stabilizing the state's economy. Minnesota's low unemployment rate compared to the rest of the nation notwithstanding, he said the state still has a long way to go, and increasing jobs is the best way to do it.
"In order to increase jobs, we've got to get the folks offering them to feel more confident in the economy in Minnesota so they will be more willing to start expanding," Dahms said. "We also need to make sure we get job creators from other states taking a look at Minnesota. In order to do that we have to have a Legislature that is friendly to the job creators, because they could just as well go to another state."
Why can we all just get along? If being nice to the creators is enough get Dahms and Swedzinski to abandon traditional conservative roles as strict parents holding Democrats responsible for everything, then all the rest of us can just SFTU about the shutdowns and retirements.
Because there's no better way to avoid repeating the mistakes of the past than by forgetting them--or at least by hoping voters have the collective memories of gnats.
Image: Dave Senjem wants you to think about harmless things, so not the government shutdown. Still from Ghostbusters, via Wikipedia.
[Republicans] accuse him of selling out constituents for the sake of liberal ideals. Walz also backs same-sex marriage and abortion rights, which lead National Republican Congressional Committee spokeswoman Katie Prill to call Walz "out of touch" with people in southern Minnesota.
"When he's in his district, he pretends to be a moderate. But when he's here in Washington he votes so far to the left on key issues that matter to his district," Prill said.
Poor Katie. It must be tough to be stuck in DC and forced to mouth talking point about being in touch with Southern Minnesota. She should visit. It's pretty nice this time of year.
Her bosses might also want to review the facts about Walz's 2006 run. He ran as a pro-choice candidate and famously said in a number of public forums that he supported same-sex marriage.
CP: The First District runs along the entire border of southern Minnesota and is viewed as being socially conservative. There is a reference to your "Catholic values" on your website. Are you pro-choice or pro-life on abortion?
Walz: I am pro choice, openly pro choice. And the reason for that is that if our goal is to get women true opportunities, true choice, and to reduce the number of abortions, criminalization is not the way to go. That is just based on fact. The second part is the privacy issue: me extending my values and my beliefs into somebody else's values and beliefs on something as personal as that. Guess the Catholic values thing was more the social justice thing. . . .
CP: Do you worry about being too socially liberal for your district?
Walz: No. Because I think I am consistent on the subject of personal freedoms and where the line of government ends. I am a strong advocate for people's right to hunt and own guns. . . .
I never really saw how it was a conservative value for people to let government reach in and change your positions on health care. My wife and I spent many years having this little girl and that was a decision made at the fertility clinic and Mayo between my wife and myself and I don't want the government involved in that—no more than I want them to control my hunting decisions.
And the best thing that ever happened to me was to get married and I don't see a reason to deny that to anyone. So I'm pretty consistent on that, of where government should not be in our lives.
Over at Minnesota Democrats Exposed, Michael Brodkorb--you remember him, right?--declared Walz's race over. Since then, Walz has won three terms.
Perhaps Washington Republicans need to get in touch with Brodkorb and discuss the importance of marriage.
Photo: Tim Walz in 2006, from the City Pages, photo by Michael Dvorak.
The subtitle? "One man's view from the front line of politics by political war horse Tony Sutton." That Sutton can assert that he's able to correspond from the front line should be somewhat discouraging to conservative accountants who had hoped the party boss and failed burrito baron had been put out to pasture.
Given his newly public appreciation of art and beauty, the design of his blog disappoints with its tiled trench warfare photo and gloomy palette, although the gracenotes in his writing easily rival those of the homonym error master of the left. Bluestem hopes that Sutton will tart the place up a bit visually.
In the spirit of blogger camaraderie, Bluestem offers one suggestion: the addition of an author's photo. Fortunately charming images of the blogger abound; Bluestem is especially fond of Tild's photoshopped image at the top of this post, and through the miracle of Creative Commons licensing, Mr. Sutton is free to use the image at no cost, provided that he attributes the source.
Image: The famous Tony Sutton peso, by Tild, perfect for blogging from the trenches. For an example of a nattily dressed new Wordpress blog, Bluestem recommends Thug In Pastels, by SEIU leader and DNC member Javier Morillo.
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, serves clients in the business and nonprofit sectors. While progressive in outlook, she does not caucus with any political party.
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