Although Bradlee Dean was listed as one of the speakers prior to Larry Klayman's November 19 Reclaim America Second American Revolution rally in Washington DC, no video footage of him speaking to the hundred or so souls who turned out has surfaced anywhere.
You'd think that any publicity would be welcomed under the circumstances, but self-proclaimed journalist and webmaster Kevin Banet, who runs Tree Frog Click publicity service, is just plain outraged.
. . . CityPages squawks about Dean, “He's hidden in plain sight behind Captain America in this photo from the rally.” One can imagine the editors and writers, gleefully yucking it up over a Skype conference call, peering at photo after photo, looking for Dean like a gold nugget. They knew about his appearance because he was invited to speak at the event, thus drawing their thunderbolts of anger. In fact, Dean’s tall stature and long hair are very hard to make out in the crowd, but I guess you could say that he’s there. . . .
Dean’s article leads off with the provocative quote: “ADHD is fraud intended to justify starting children on a life of drug addiction,” made by Dr. Edward C. Hamlyn, founding member of the Royal College of General Practitioners. Dean, a drummer in a heavy-metal rock band and a preacher, himself was diagnosed as having ADHD as a child, only to be taken off of it because of adverse reactions. Dean also notes that in past generations, the “rod of correction” was sufficient to avert many kids’ behavior problems.
Perhaps Banet thinks the "rod of correction" will cure the staff at the City Pages of journalism. Or something.
Bradlee Dean gained national attention when he delivered a prayer to the Minnesota House of Representatives that questioned President Obama's faith; the prayer was ordered to be redacted by then-Speaker Kurt Zellers.
The first Hispanic to win a seat on Minneapolis City Council earlier this month grew up in Litchfield and, during her time here, overcame many challenges associated with being an outsider.
Moving from Mexico at age 10, Alondra Espejel Cano didn’t know English when she entered fifth grade at Wagner Elementary School in 1991. . . .
Life also wasn’t easy for her parents, who worked long hours for various poultry producers, including Sparboe, Jennie-O Turkey and Gold’n Plump. “Like a lot of immigrant families that come to this country, my parents did the hard labor at a lot of places where many people don’t want to work,” she said. . . .
Read the whole thing at the Independent Review. The article concludes with an observation by Cano's high school American and world history teacher, Greg Mathews, who wasn't surprised that she won the seat:
He added, “If you’re talking about someone who’s living the American Dream, it’s Alondra.”
Photo: Minneapolis City Council member-elect Alondra Espejel Cano, who moved to Meeker County from Mexico at age 10, then attended the U of M after graduating from LHS.
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Turning his attention to agriculture Seifert joked he was the only candidate with experience in cutting pork, citing the time he spent castrating pigs on his family farm near Clements.
Not pig nuts again! Seifert used this line in mid-November 2009, according to an article in The Land:
He chuckled, “I even recall castrating little pigs. So when it comes to cutting pork barrel legislation, I can relate.”
Seifert, who is a state representative, had the most memorable answer to what he might do about pork barrel projects. One of the jobs he had growing up, he said, was “castrating pigs,” adding that he felt he was the only one of the five with “experience cutting pork.” At least two other candidates said they too had experience working with hogs.
"I was raised on a hog farm in southern Minnesota, and one of my jobs was castrating pigs when I was growing up," Seifert said. "You're wondering what this has to do with anything? I'm the only candidate who has firsthand experience cutting pork."
We can't wait to listen to the six-pack looking to displace Dayton discuss their youthful experience with swine testicles, but Bluestem hopes Seifert al least sends a fruit basket and kind note to former Al Juhnke for legislation that rescued home canning. The expiration date on his own piglet oysters in that stump press kit might have come and gone, but there's no regulation stopping him as far as we can tell.
Photo: One hog objecting to Seifert's lifting the level discourse in the Republican nomination debate by plagiarizing his own rhetoric from his last gubernatorial bid.
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Bluestem suspects that the Winona County Republicans mostly wanted to share the image in the Federalist Papers' photo (from Union Grove ISD in rural Upshur County, Texas), but a bonus followed the photo caption:
Serious events are about to hit the US Economy. Do you know about the 37 food items that vanish first in a crisis? See how to get them in this video here: - http://l-bitly.com/37Things
That's a link to an "EMERGENCY MESSAGE: Americans proven to be over-confident and underprepared lack these crucial items – and may not have a chance to buy them later… "
The video doesn't actually tell those who watch what they are; rather, those who freak out over the message of the impending crisis--extreme weather or market crash or FEMA camps or any of a long laundry list shared by the video's narrator--can plunk down some dollars to get the list.
Fortunately, those who have the sense to just google SoldOutAfterCrisis.Com can find product reviews for the list on Amazon and prepper forums, more that what the Federalist Papers or the Winona County Republicans were able to do before sharing.
So I saw a little tab on a web-page that talked about "The 37 critical items."
I spent Waaay too long watching/listening to a teasing video about "this" is the most important thing, I will tell you what "that" is. And then at the end it is just a pitch to buy this book.
So what are the 37 things? (I did some research on the web, for FREE.) Pretty much what you would expect. They focus a lot on stockpiling (I'm a "prepper" myself, and don't necessarily see this as a bad thing, just totally P/O.'ed about this miserable video/advertisement) raw materials (honey, rice, beans, fruits, vegetables, seeds) as opposed to MRE's or more processed meals like canned chili.
In the end, I think we all know MORE about survival than this would ever teach us, and if you would like to know more, get yourself a BOY SCOUT HANDBOOK. It's better and cheaper than this k-ra-ap.
Baking essentials, power bars, instant rice, coffee, alcohol.
Hard candies, dehydrated canned entrees, juice powders, protein drinks, peanut butter, Long lasting treats ( twinkies, etc.)
Salsa, Ramen noodles, fresh fruit, baby food and pet food.
Glad I didn't fork over any cash for this. Anyone serious about prepping can come up with this list on their own.
Bluestem will probably forage for wild mushrooms and crawdads before we eat twinkies and consume sports drinks, but there's no arguing taste. Perhaps a systems crash might allow Minnesotans to test Wright County Republican and North Star Tea Party Patriot Walter Hudson's free market game management hypothesis.
Screenshot: From the Winona County Republican Facebook.
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A community group in St. Cloud has applied for a low-power FM radio license from the FCC that would allow them to broadcast news and music for Somali-Americans in and around St. Cloud.
Organizers said they expect to receive approval from the FCC as soon as this week, and that they hope to start broadcasting on the air by spring.
For more than a year, KVSC-FM at St. Cloud State University and the nonprofit St. Cloud Area Somali Salvation Organization worked together to create St. Cloud Somali Radio. In a project funded partially by a state Legacy grant, community members launched a 24-hour webstream of Somali music and news in March.
Mohamoud Mohamed, executive director of SASSO, said expanding to the airwaves was the next logical step. He said the radio station will serve the estimated 13,000 Somali-American immigrants who live in the area, many of whom speak primarily Somali.
Collins reports that the project will educate its listeners about their own history, civic engagement, the United States Constitution and other topics. The project initially faced distrust by some within the Somali community, but won over skeptics who had feared mischief; now it anticipates some resistance from those who fear or resent Somalis living in the area.
Greater Minnesota Worker Center established in St. Cloud
Protesters gathered Tuesday outside a St. Cloud temporary employment agency to decry what they call its shoddy treatment of workers.
At least 60 protesters lined 25th Avenue South outside the St. Cloud office of The Work Connection, a St. Paul-based agency. They criticized the agency’s use of a pay-card method to disburse workers’ wages, said the agency has fired workers unfairly and treats many workers, particularly Somali workers, with disrespect.
Protesters also called on St. Cloud-based GNP Company, which contracts with The Work Connection to fill jobs at its Cold Spring processing facility, to hire workers directly.
The event was organized by the Greater Minnesota Worker Center, a new St. Cloud-based group that aims to help low-wage workers get better pay and working conditions.
One of the workers Sommerhauser interviewed told the Times that The Work Connection singles out Somali workers for exploitation:
[Mustafe] Abdulahi said some of what he describes as poor treatment of workers by The Work Connection seems to be directed at Somalis and other immigrants.
He said people who don’t speak flawless English face curt treatment from its staff and sometimes are unfairly eliminated from consideration for job placement.
“We are expecting that they will treat us equally and also that they will treat our community as other agencies do,” Abdulahi said.
The Labor Education Service at the U documents the action in this video:
. . .Last night—Worker Center Watch, a new website dedicated to attacking labor-affiliated activist groups like OUR Walmart, Restaurant Opportunities Center, and Fast Food Forward—began sponsoring advertisements on Twitter to promote smears against the protests planned for Black Friday. In one video sponsored by the group, activists demanding a living wage and better working conditions for workers are portrayed as lazy “professional protesters” who “haven’t bothered to get jobs themselves.” . . .
TheNation.com has discovered that Worker Center Watch was registered by the former head lobbyist for Walmart. Parquet Public Affairs, a Florida-based government relations and crisis management firm for retailers and fast food companies, registered the Worker Center Watch website. ..
Check it out.
Estar in el Prairie in Stevens County
Over in Stevens County, the organizers of the Estar in el Prairie have launched a Facebook page to get the word out for an innovative project in the West Central county that's home to the University of Minnesota- Morris campus.
Portraits of Western Minnesota’s Emerging Latino Community Retratos de nuestra nueva comunidad latina
Description
From 2000 to 2010, the Latino population in Steven’s County increased by 234%. In order to put faces and stories to this number, we are pairing photographers in the Morris area with Latino members of the community. There are two goals associated with this project.
1. Document this migration. We ask participants to share positive experiences in the community and write about them in both English and Spanish. Photographers then take photos of the participants holding a white board with each phrase.
2.Create a space for communication. Given the cultural and language barriers many new immigrants face, connection between established communities and new groups is often difficult. We hope that this project can begin to create relationships between photographers and participants that extend into the greater community and future.
We have already paired six photographers with participants and received eight pairs of photos (examples attached). At this phase of our project, we are seeking funds to professionally print 20 photos (10 pairs.) We plan to showcase the prints in prominent locations around Morris such as the PRCA, Common Cup, and the library. We have also been approached by CURE in Montevideo concerning a travelling exhibit throughout Western Minnesota.
Check out and like the Facebook page. The photos are gorgeous.
Photos: Yusuf and Prchal talk in a studio at St. Cloud State University’s KVSC 88.1 FM in Stewart Hall 9middle, via Kismaayo Daily).Workers in St. Cloud (middle) via MN AFL-CIO ; a photo from the Estar in el Prairie (below) Paul Cortes and Keni Zenner as part of the portrait project. Copyright 2013, Nic McPhee. Please credit the photographer and better yet, like the page on Facebook.
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Hudson believes that the elimination of hunting and fishing licenses, seasons and other regulations would not lead to the endangerment of species because private landowners and hunters would prize the resources and manage them in a responsible manner, just as livestock producers make sure supermarkets are stocked with abundant turkey, beef, chicken and pork.
Because hunting and gathering is so like agriculture. Or something.
Montana esquire as poster child against fishing laws
. . .Terteltge argued that the court did not have the authority to charge him, citing "natural law."
He told the judge, "You are trying to create a fictitious, fraudulent action." He continued, "I am the living man, protected by natural law."
He then yelled, "Do not tell me to shut up! I am the living, natural man, and my voice will be heard!"
Terteltge then pointed at the flag and said, "That is the Jolly Roger, that thing you call the American flag with the golf fringe around it is the Jolly Roger, and you are acting as one of its privateers!"
When the judge noted that he had pleaded not guilty, Terteltge countered, "I never plead, animals plead, sounds like baaaa, oink oink." The back and forth exchange continued for a few more moments, and the hearing ended after both the judge and the defendant walked out.
This time, extra law enforcement officers were in court Tuesday and the proceedings happened without any outbursts. . . .
Justice Adams set Tertelgte's bond at $500 and his next court hearing is scheduled for January.
Certainly not a man who pledges allegiance to the flag of the United States of America (or who believes in voter registration, as he mentions in the video). A local television station has more on the nature of the charges in Manhattan man removed from court during proceedings:
The charges stem from an August 31st incident in which a game warden attempted to cite Tertelgte for fishing without a license.
After the warden could not get Tertelgte to identify himself so he could issue a fishing citation, he called in a Three Forks police officer for help.
A prosecutor says that police informed Tertelgte that he would be arrested for obstructing a peace officer. Tertelgte reportedly went limp and was uncooperative.
So that's the instance for Hudson's reflections on fish and game laws. His conclusion--that all government regulation of hunting, fishing and taking of animals should end and public hunting lands be sold--is based on the market as well as "natural law," which Tertelgte embraces.
Hudson's sovereign citizens
Hudson states in the podcast:
Now, before I get into the text of this article [the Ben Swann piece], and the story that it's referencing, let me just preface by saying this: there are many, many people among us who maybe inclined to give thanks to the State, since the State protects us from oh so many things, especially ourselves.
One of the ways the State protects us from ourselves is forcing us to comply with restrictions on hunting and fishing, because if it wasn't for the fact that the state was out there telling us that we could only shoot from this time of the year to that time of the year, or that we could only fish this much at any time at any given place, why if it wasn't for that, unquestionably, and within a matter of months, if not days, we would completely deplete the planet of all its fauna. [Laughs] Right? Of all deer and fish and elk and moose and caribou and whatever else people might hunt.
This is a commonly held belief. The vast majority of people believe that the bounty of the wilderness in the form of quarry, deer, rabbits, whatever it is that people chose to hunt, fish, that that bounty is hanging by a thread and protected by the magnanimous State, which if it weren't for that, if the State wasn't there, standing as a barrier between ravenous hordes of unconscionable human beings, then there wouldn't be any deer in existence or fish to harvest from our waters.
Hudson then reads from the Ben Swann article, noting that when he shared the article on Facebook, many of those commenting suggested that the Montana man was "nuts." Hudson posted this head note:
Here's an example of one of those dangerous sovereign citizens, the type Hennipen County Sheriff Richard Stanek calls "the biggest concern facing us today in terms of a threat" - a guy fishing to eat. (Source: http://www.kaaltv.com/article/stories/s3206250.shtml)
To be fair to the Hennepin County sheriff, Stanek wasn't talking "guys fishing to eat," but "sovereign citizens" who are becoming violent or filing billions of dollars in liens against the property of public officials.
Craig Westover All movements start with the "nuts" and the people who have nothing to lose. It is history that mythologize a movement's early days and makes those "nuts" and "losers" become martyrs and heroes. Whether you're talking the American Revolution, gay rights, the Ron Paul "liberty movement" or even Christianity, lasting movements do not jump fully formed from the heads of "mainstream" culture. The caveat -- not every voice crying in the wilderness is a prophet.
That should help Westover's boss, Jeff Johnson, with the sovereign citizen movement (if only they believed in voting) although it might not help so much with working class hunters who don't own their own hunting property.
Because the feather market so protected birds or something
Go read the discussion. It's eye-openings. Hudson continues in the podcast:
. . .I don't think people are saying he's nuts because they have a better idea than I do whether or not he is. I think the reason that they're saying he's nuts is because he's expressing something which goes against the conventional wisdom.
The conventional wisdom is--well let me sum it up for you by quoting one of the commenters there at Ben Swann.com. Quote: "If we all tried to rely on food by foraging for food in the wild, most of us would die, because in most places there is not enough food in the wild to support so many of us. ven in Alaska, where may people rely heavily --some exclusively--on hunting for their food. Many species would be threatened if hunting seasons and limits were not imposed and obeyed." Unquote.
So let's dissect this a little bit, shall we? Let's think about it. First of all, let's take a look at one of the areas in life, in the economy, where despite the fact that there certainly is regulation, we do not yet have the kind of rationing that is imposed upon hunting and fishing. Namely, food production as a whole..
He next talks about how farmers produce more than enough food for everyone, prompting an obesity epidemic. Farming is a rational activity that allows us to feed ourselves through use of a market. Hudson believes that starvation is only ever caused by government, since "we're hardwired to eat."
Hudson continues:
So God forbid that we lifted hunting seasons, we lifted fishing restrictions, and people were just free to forage as they pleased, to fish as they pleased and there was nothing legally from stopping them from doing so. What would be the result?
You might be inclined think that people might just hunt willy-nilly until there was nothing left. They'd fish until there were no fish, they'd shoot deer until there were no deer. But is that what would really happen?
In truth, and this is something that we have to speak about hypothetically, because we have not seen a free market anywhere ever, it has never existed, in truth, property rights and the profit motive and natural human incentive to continue eating, to maintain sustainable resources in order to keep alive, to apply rational foresight to your actions, those things would interact just as they do in the larger food production market to ensure abundance. Abundance.
Because much of the land --there is really very little "wild" quote-unquote that exists in the modern age. Every piece of land for the most part isw owned by someone. A lot of it--a huge chunk of it--much of the land where people do hunt and fish--is owned by government . . .
Hudson repeats the old conservative "tragedy of the commons"-- that land own by eveybody isn't cared for--"nobody conserves it." Might work for English sheep pastures, but hunting lands partnered with Pheasants Forever? Really?
Hudson continues on about how private land owners who value hunting will preserve their land. The market will take care of it. Listen to the rest.
Aside from making a dude who calls the American flag "The Jolly Roger," Hudson's movement simply ignores history. In Minnesota, game seasons and licenses came into being in part because wildlife became more scarce. And as for letting market forces rule, Hudson needs a crash course on the reasons sport hunters and other demanded that the market for bird feathers in the millinery trade. What he's suggesting would nullify the Lacey Act of 1900 and the Migratory Bird Treaty Act of 1918, both which were a reaction to the very real consequences of market forces on wildlife.
A look at Minnesota's deer hunting history is provided by Ron Hustvedt's 150 Years of Minnesota Deer Hunting, that illustrates that at one time, the herd was indeed "overshot." The Minnesota Conservation Officers Association (Cornish lobbied for this at one time) has put together a timeline of game laws and enforcement.
Eliminating public hunting lands would only push the costs of the sport higher, a common complaint of those who hunt but do not own their own acres. Perhaps Hudson imagines that hunting preserve-raised game is enough, or that wild game obeys property lines.
There are plenty of other sources that discuss the consequences of open hunting (all Minnesota waters over 10 acres are public property) but a 1935 article from Minnesota History provides a pretty good view of what a seasonless hunt would look like. Market forces--as in meat market hunting and the feather trade--were not very good at conservation.
As far as humans never hunting species to extinction, perhaps the state's passenger pigeons bear witness to that clever notion on Hudson's part. Since they're not able to speak up, perhaps Tony Cornish can help Walter out with this.
Coming soon to your local sheriff: 18-ton, armor-protected military fighting vehicles with gun turrets and bulletproof glass that were once the U.S. answer to roadside bombs during the Iraq war.
The hulking vehicles, built for about $500,000 each at the height of the war, are among the biggest pieces of equipment that the Defense Department is giving to law enforcement agencies under a national military surplus program.
For police and sheriff's departments, which have scooped up 165 of the mine-resistant ambush-protected vehicles, or MRAPS, since they became available this summer, the price [free] and the ability to deliver shock and awe while serving warrants or dealing with hostage standoffs was just too good to pass up. . . .
But the trucks have limits. They are too big to travel on some bridges and roads and have a tendency to be tippy on uneven ground. And then there's some cost of retrofitting them for civilian use and fueling the 36,000-pound behemoths that get about 5 miles to the gallon.
The American Civil Liberties Union is criticizing what it sees as the increasing militarization of the nation's police. ACLU affiliates have been collecting 2012 records to determine the extent of military hardware and tactics acquired by police, planning to issue a report early next year. . . .
An Associated Press investigation of the Defense Department military surplus program this year found that a disproportionate share of the $4.2 billion worth of property distributed since 1990 — everything from blankets to bayonets and Humvees — has been obtained by police and sheriff's departments in rural areas with few officers and little crime.
In addition to the MRAP now in St. Cloud, a half dozen are now controlled by sheriff outfits the Minnesota counties of Dakota, Pine, Sherburne, St. Louis, Olmsted and Wright.
Dakota and Wright Counties are suburban-to-exurban places; Olmsted is home to Rochester, the state's third largest city, while Duluth's in St. Louis County; part of Sherburne is in St. Cloud. Only Pine County counts as purely rural, although its proximity to I35 allows some residents to commute to the Cities for work.
The Wright County Sheriff’s Office has obtained a surplus military armored personnel carrier and is getting the heavy-duty law enforcement vehicle ready to roll.
“It’s basically a big dump truck that’s got a lot of armor on it,” said Lt. Todd Hoffman. “”We picked it up at Fort Bliss, Texas. It came back from overseas.”
The Wright County Sheriff’s Office was placed on a short list for acquiring the 2008 International Navistar MaxxPro Mine-Resistant Ambush Protected (MRAP) vehicle because it plays a key role in security planning for the Monticello Nuclear Generating Plant in Monticello, Hoffman said.
“We’ve been working with the federal government ever since the nuclear plant has been here,” he said. “The Monticello pant, whether we like it or not, is considered a national asset. We have different types of plans for security, and there are different types of contingencies we have to be able to address. This vehicle fit nicely into our plan.”
The Military Defense Logistics Agency (DLA) operates a program called the Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO), Hoffman said. The LESO program assists local law enforcement offices across the country in acquiring surplus military supplies and equipment for no or little cost.
“These surplus fully armored vehicles are now being given to local law enforcement agencies at no cost. The sticker price on a brand-new vehicle is $658,000,” Hoffman said.
Wright County’s armored vehicle arrived Sept. 23 with 13,000 miles on it, he said. The Wright County Highway Department is currently working on the armored vehicle and giving it a thorough tuneup. Once operational, the vehicle will be used by the sheriff’s office and its emergency response team as part of its security plan for the nuclear plant. The vehicle will be used at other incidents if needed.
The Wright County Sheriff's office did remove the gun turret, a spokester tells the paper:
“There are two different types of vehicles,” Hoffman said. “The St. Cloud Police Department decided to keep the gun turret. We decided to take that off as well as some of the armor. Basically, it’s a transport built on an International dump truck frame. It doesn’t have any gun ports.”
Bluestem knew that St. Cloud State's Homecoming got rowdy, but this seems a bit overboard. Over at the Wright County Tea Party ally Wright County Watch, Tom McGregor approved the acquisition, although he had some reservations:
Troubling, in that there now seems to be a 20 year practice of distributing military-grade, assault weaponry to the local level. Here is a description of the Law Enforcement Support Office ( LESO ) program on the MN state web-site
“HSEM is the state administrator for the Minnesota Law Enforcement Support Office (LESO) program established by the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) through the Defense Logistics Agency. It allows law enforcement agencies to obtain surplus military weapons, tactical vehicles, aircraft and other equipment for any bona fide law enforcement need at no cost.
All transferred surplus items must have a direct application to the law enforcement agency's arrest and apprehension mission.
Since the inception of the program in 1993, more than $25 million worth of equipment has been transferred to Minnesota law enforcement agencies including the Bureau of Criminal Apprehension (BCA), the Department of Natural Resources' (DNR) Enforcement Division, along with 85 county sheriff's offices and approximately 325 local police agencies.”
But ultimately, he's down with it:
In the end however, I guess that until I hear that a 50-caliber machine gun has been mounted in the turret of that armored vehicle, I believe that we are still a long ways away from any danger of Wright County Sheriff’s department becoming an instrument of tyranny and oppression and I have to say that the acquisition of this vehicle is a good thing for the citizens of Wright County and for the men and women in Wright County Sheriff’s department who risk their lives on a daily basis protecting our freedoms and keeping Wright County safe.
That MRAP and the direction of a citizen energy rebellion
Meanwhile, the Wright County Watch is rallying the citizenry against a request by Geronimo Energy LLC to install three solar projects that will supply energy for Xcel Energy, which also operates the nuclear power plant at Monticello.
So, here is your chance, citizen of Wright County, to make your voice heard regarding solar energy in Wright County, but act quickly as a vote on the issue will be taken next Tuesday's Wright County Board meeting. One question that seems germane is: Do we really want our county commissioners, in essence, lobbying for something that ( will most likely be funded with tax dollars ) when there are serious questions about the effectiveness of alternative energy production?
The Commissioners voted to withhold support for the project until the boards of the townships form opinions about the projects, three of thirty-one sites in the distributed solar energy project.
It's curious to see the local Tea Party ally, like legislative Republicans, kvetching about solar energy, while remaining mute about Monticello. Earlier this month, the Star Tribune's David Schafer reported in Xcel Energy seeks a $291 million rate hike:
Xcel Energy asked for its largest-ever Minnesota electric rate hike on Monday but offered ways to soften the pain, including spreading it over two years.
The increase of $291 million is slightly more than what Xcel sought in its 2013 rate-hike request, which utility regulators slashed by two-thirds. This time, Xcel proposed smaller, single-digit increases over two years for its 1.2 million electric customers in Minnesota. . . .
In its regulatory filing, Xcel attributed 37 percent of the requested increase to investments and expenses related to its nuclear power plants. The company’s oldest reactor in Monticello was recently refurbished and one of the two units at the Prairie Island nuclear plant in Red Wing, Minn., is now undergoing a major upgrade.
Xcel said 17 percent of the rate increase stems from transmission investments, 11 percent from wind and other generation projects and the remainder from an array of investments and expenses. Overall, Xcel said its been investing about $1 billion a year in Minnesota.
Earlier articles indicated that the refurbishing of the nuclear power generating plant at Monticello went way over budget, while Xcel sought to pass these expenses on to ratepayers. Shaffer reported in August in PUC slashes Xcel rate hike, votes to probe reactor upgrade:
One question getting special attention is how much Minnesota ratepayers will end up paying for the $655 million project to extend the life and boost the output of the Monticello nuclear power plant. The project ended up costing more than twice the 2008 estimate of $320 million.
Minnesota regulators are hiring a nuclear expert for their investigation of Xcel Energy Inc.’s massive cost overruns during upgrades to its Monticello nuclear power plant.
The state Public Utilities Commission on Thursday decided that a consulting engineer would help the state Commerce Department review the $665 million spent to extend the plant’s life and boost its output. The final cost was more than double the original estimate.
The PUC in August decided to investigate whether the investment was prudent — and whether ratepayers should pay for the overruns. The Minneapolis-based utility last month submitted to regulators a lengthy explanation, asserting that the five-year project turned out to be more complicated than first envisioned, but still worth doing. . . .
The cost-overrun investigation is expected to last into 2014, and is likely to play a role in the PUC’s eventual decision on Xcel rates. The company in October asked for a $291 million rate hike that will raise customers’ bills 4.6 percent increase in January, with a slightly larger increase possible in 2015.
If the PUC declares some of the Monticello costs imprudent, Xcel investors, rather than ratepayers, would pick up the tab.
And there you have it, gentle readers: the local Tea Party watchdog in Wright County is calling citizens to the barricades over three small solar installations, while remaining silent over the potential rate-hike spiking overruns.
Doesn't look like the Wright County Sheriff's Office will have to roll out its armored dump truck for that.
Photos: Generic MRAP via the Wright County Watch blog (above); Proto angry peasant mob from the Frankenstein movie (below). We can sorta guess who wins this fit, so maybe it's a lot safer to protest small solar projects than ginormous cost overruns (and simultaneous demands for a higher rate of return for investors) at a nuclear plant. Just saying.
If you enjoyed reading this post, consider giving a donation via mail (P.O. Box 108, Maynard MN 56260) or paypal:
The Minnesota for Marriage organization, which promoted a gay marriage ban, recently sent an email soliciting donations by criticizing Rep. Tim Faust, D-Hinckley, who has said “most people have moved on.”
“Do you agree: Have you ‘moved on?’” the organization asked its supporters.
“Apparently, Rep. Faust thinks that simply because other states have passed same-sex ‘marriage’ since he voted to pass Minnesota’s same-sex ‘marriage’ law in May (even though you, along with the vast majority of his constituents wanted to keep Minnesota as a true marriage state), you will forget about his vote by the time his re-election comes around,” Minnesota for Marriage wrote.
The anti-equality group is the Miss Havisham of Minnesota politics.
M4M first scolded Faust for the remark on its Facebook page on November 18, in a headnote for a shared link to Gay marriage backlash quiets – for now, a Brianna Bierschbach story in Politics in Minnesota.
Here's the full context in Bierschbach report about Faust, the suitor who jilted M4M:
“I think we are seeing that other states are doing this, and I think that by the time next election comes around it will not be near the issue people said it was going to be and what we thought it was going to be,” said DFL Rep. Tim Faust, who supported gay marriage this spring. “As a rule, there have been more positive comments than negative. Most people have moved on.”
Issue has small impact
Faust is a Lutheran minister from Hinckley. His House district voted in favor of the constitutional ban on gay marriage, and Faust didn’t know which way he would vote until shortly before the issue came up on the House floor. He’s been door-knocking in his district since the legislative session ended, and while some have expressed anger over his vote, most have thanked him or said they’ve changed their view on gay marriage.
When it comes to his bid for re-election next fall, Faust said the gay marriage vote will only have a small impact on his chances.
“It’s going to motivate people, the 25 to 30 percent of people in my district who are very strongly opposed to it, and maybe they will be more motivated to work against me and work for my opponent,” Faust said. “It’s going to make a difference, but is it going to make a difference in the mind of the independent voter? I don’t think so.”
But from the distant of the M4M's metro offices, mention of Faust's apostasy in a fundraising email might move some cash into their hands.
Faust was first elected to the Minnesota House in 2006; he was defeated in the Republican wave election of 2010, but was re-elected in 2012.
Image: Helena Bonham Carter's Miss Havisham. Movie still from the Lionsgate production of Great Expectations.
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You have Representative David FitzSimmons of Albertville to thank for its progress. David, while a first-term Republican in a Democrat-dominated state government, was the leader behind this initiative. While Governor Mark Dayton is focused on wasting more money on light rail projects and moving away from prioritizing our tax dollars on road expansion, David built a coalition of business and civic leaders to advocate for this critical need. After months of putting pressure on the Dayton administration, the Department of Transportation finally came around to agreeing with David that more lanes on I-94 is the best way to alleviate congestion for commuter and commercial traffic. . . .
Bluestem doesn't agree with Daudt's transportation agenda, but we can't fault him for calling attention to the work by a Republican on this issue. That's Kurt's job as minority leader.
Given the recognition of FitzSimmons by so many of those working on I94 expansion, Bluestem was a bit perplexed by Chris Kauffman's November 22 letter in the St. Michael Patch, I-94 expansion "Give Credit Where it is Due." Kauffman gives credit to everybody but FitzSimmons:
Without the dedicated effort of the following groups and individuals this would never have happened. Thanks to: I-94 Chamber of Commerce, I-94 Coalition Members, Mayor Jerry Zachman & staff St. Michael, Mayor Jillian Hendrickson & staff Albertville, Mayor Jessica Stockman & staff Otsego, Mayor Jay Bunting & staff Rogers, Representative Joyce Peppin, Senator Mary Kiffmeyer, Congresswoman Michelle Bachmann.
Fitzsimmons, who represents St. Michael, is nowhere to be seen in the list drawn up by a man who includes his own credentials in the letter:
As a past Chair of the I-94 Chamber of Commerce I can personally attest to the seven year effort of the I-94 Chamber of Commerce and the I-94 Coalition members to get this done.
But FitzSimmons's name isn't the only piece of information Kauffman leaves out of his letter. Another Kauffman credential? He's the deputy treasurer of the Friends of Eric Lucero campaign committee, so perhaps praising FitzSimmons for anything is praise that dare not speak its name in his circle of friends.
Eric Lucero is challenging FitzSimmons for the Republican endorsement in House District 30B. Maybe Kauffman should have mentioned that bit in his letter, especially since his own pony in the race doesn't even include transportation on his website's issues page.
Photo: State representative David FitzSimmons, who may or may not deserve credit for working on the I94 expansion. Maybe it's a world view thing.
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A friend has been spending time in Washington, D.C., working for immigration reform; part of the coalition asking for change is a broad swath of the nation's faith community, from Roman Catholic social justice groups and Rev. Jim Wallis of Sojourners to the National Association of Evangelicals and the National Latino Evangelical Coalition.
Last week, eight members of clergy met with the President in the Oval Office to discuss reform, and Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, closed the meeting with a prayer, Religion News Service staff writer Sarah Pulliam Bailey reported in PHOTO: Obama, Biden holding hands during Russell Moore prayer on immigration:
White House photographer Pete Souza posted a photo last night of President Obama and Vice President Joe Biden holding hands during a prayer at the end of a meeting on immigration.
As Speaker of the House John Boehner signaled there would be no immigration legislation by the end of the year, members of Obama’s administration met with leaders on Wednesday.
The closing prayer was led by Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, one of the eight clergy invited to the Oval Office meeting. Moore’s prayer was extemporaneous so his spokeswoman said there is no text from the prayer available. . . .
Some may find it heartwarming, others may find it disturbing, and still others might find it downright weird! The oddity in question is the picture, tweeted out by White House reporter Pete Souza, featuring the abortion-supporting Roman Catholic Vice President Joe Biden and Barack Obama, the crucifix-covering Commander-in-Chief, grasping each other’s hand in prayer.
The president and his main squeeze … er, I mean main sidekick, Joe Robinette Biden, Jr., gathered together with other faith leaders to discuss how to go about foisting thirty million gate-crashing interlopers on the American people.
. . .The heartwarming moment took place while asking an unnamed higher power for blessings and direction on how to go about finding a way to allow criminals who broke the law to remain in America.
. . .The result [the photograph] was a historic record of two great leaders, unabashed in their devotion to God. America’s momentous half-black Muslim-raised president Barack Obama and Joe the Irish-Catholic guy with the bad hair plugs simultaneously displaying affection for each other while humbling themselves before the Almighty in the name of comprehensive immigration reform.
Well then. That's some awesome imagination about a prayer to which she had no access. Either that, or she's divinely inspired. Or something. Never mind the other people in the prayer circle who, though out of focus, also appear to be holding hands, as is custom when folks pray.
It's difficult for Bluestem to wrap our mind around DeAngelis' notion that Russell D. Moore, president of the Southern Baptist Convention’s Ethics & Religious Liberty Commission, is going to pray to some unnamed higher power after he asked his companions to join hands in prayer.
Certainly is the most peculiar attempt at argument against immigration reform that we've read, outside of a Bradlee Dean radio rant.
Moore and his friends seem to have had other ideas about why the Baptist pastor ended up visiting the Oval Office. Here's a sample call and response on twitter:
@MidwinterJames thank you brother! I really appreciate that!
Far more worrisome concerning this photo for Bluestem? The White House policy banning press photographers, while distributing those snapped by the house photographer. Politico's Hadas Gold reports in Media protest White House photo ban:
. . .The White House often releases official government photos and videos in lieu of allowing photojournalists to cover events with the president. The WHCA letter lists several occasions when photographers were barred, only to have the White House release "official" photos, some on social media. They include meetings with the Congressional Hispanic Caucus, Hillary Clinton, and Malala Yousafzai.
"While certain of these events may appear 'private' in nature, the decision of the White House to release its own contemporaneous photograph(s) suggests that the White House believes these events are, in fact, newsworthy and not private," the WHCA writes. . . .
While the National Republican Congressional Committee has TIFF businessman Stewart Millionaire on its radar, the beltway band isn't so hot for the clowns seeking GOP endorsement in the First.
The National Republican Congressional Committee has intimated that U.S. Rep. Tim Walz is one of their top targets in the 2014 election cycle, but party leaders aren’t yet sure they have a candidate capable of mounting a serious challenge. When the NRCC released its list of promising House hopefuls Thursday, none of Walz’s potential opponents made the cut. Businessman Jim Hagedorn, state Rep. Mike Benson and Army veteran Aaron Miller are all seeking to oust Walz, who represents southern Minnesota.
No one is surprised that former House Minority Leader Marty Seifert jumped into Minnesota's Republican gubernatorial race today--nor should the attention given the Marshall Republican's announcement by the press be a surprise either.
Seifert is a charming and very funny man. However, no reports recall how Team Seifert practiced brass knuckle tactics against its opponents--real and potential--in the 2010 campaign.
"I'm a different person now than I was four years ago. I am a 100 percent private-sector citizen," Seifert said. He said that experience has helped shape his decision to run for governor. Seifert said there have been some disturbing developments in Minnesota in the past several years, including unemployment, rising tax and regulatory burdens for businesses and rising health care costs under Obamacare.
"Real, normal people are hurting right now," Seifert said. Minnesota will be in "desperate need" of leadership in the next four years, he said.
. . .Seifert made the expected announcement at City Hall in downtown Marshall with his wife Traci and children Brittany and Braxton by his side.
Marshall was the first stop of a 13-city tour for Seifert. He plans to be at the Happy Chef in North Mankato at 4 p.m.
"I think the people of Minnesota want to see a candidate as much as possible, which is why we're going to 13 cities," Seifert said. "We'll be hustling around a lot and my family and I are ready for it; this isn't our first time in the rodeo. We know what we're getting into."
He cut short a question-and-answer session to tend to one of his two children, who fainted under the hot lights as his father spoke.
This time, it seems, Seifert may not accept no as an answer from the state convention delegates, according to the New Ulm Journal:
This will be Seifert's second run at the GOP nomination - he lost to Tom Emmer in the 2010 gubernatorial campaign. That year, Emmer, who was ultimately defeated by Mark Dayton by fewer than 9,000 votes, carried a game-changing advantage in the metro area, and on the second ballot was able to pull away from Seifert, who eventually withdrew from the race. Seifert, however, has recently expressed his confidence in his ability to improve his standing in that area as a rural candidate in 2014. . . .
Bluestem predicts that the heretofore convival gubernatorial race will likely turn more aggressive with Seifert's entry into the race, given the rough and ready tactics his campaign used in 2010. Two items from that contest are worth noting.
Tom Emmer’s previous drunken driving charges have resurfaced in the neck-and-neck Republican gubernatorial contest.
State Rep. Marty Seifert’s campaign released a letter Tuesday from a delegate who criticizes Tom Emmer’s legislative push to weaken drunken driving laws while at the same time failing to disclose at a recent candidate forum that he had two previous drunk driving charges.
“I was shocked to learn that Tom Emmer was not entirely forthcoming,” wrote Sandra Berg, a Chisago County delegate who said her husband and son were seriously injured when their car was struck by a drunken driver. “He also used his role as a lawmaker to attempt to weaken the kinds of laws he had previously broken and to cover up the fact that he had broken them.”
Seifert campaign manager Kurt Daudt defended the release of the letter.
"Republican activist and state convention delegate Sandra Berg’s family was victimized by a drunk driver," he said in a statement. "As a result, she was moved to share important information with fellow Republican state convention delegates about Tom Emmer’s record: two past DWI arrests; his efforts in 2009 as a legislator to weaken the state’s DWI laws and cover up the fact he broke them; and not sharing this information when asked about a possible ‘October surprise’ at a recent candidate forum.”
Daudt said the letter “provides factual information about a vital issue for the delegates to consider.”
Later in the campaign for the general election, the progressive group Alliance for a Better Minnesota created a devastating IE ad on a similar premise.
The ghost of a snapshot: 2009 "Commentgate" shenanigans
But there were whispers of other smear campaigns, though the reports were based on circumstantial evidence. As Tommy Johnson posted in a 2009 blog entry at the Minnesota Progressive Project, Another Piece In The CommentGate Puzzle, Emmer might not have been the only Republican whom the Seifert campaign was accused of sliming:
. . .Last Monday, August 10th, blogger Brian Falldin, who broke and is covering this story, posted the following breaking news:
MINNEAPOLIS (CWM) – We’ve received an e-mail confirmation from Residual Forces author Andy Aplikowski that Andy Gildea was the Republican Staffer referred to in his accusatory article. (CWM.org)
Tuesday, I confirmed Andy Gildea was on GOP Rep. Marty Seifert’s staff when this smear campaign was being orchestrated; Andy Gildea left Rep. Siefert’s staff when Seifert stepped down as Minority Leader. Andy Gildea is now employed as a Research Consultant by the GOP House Caucus.
Stay tuned as this CommentGate story of dirty GOP politics (are there any other?) continues . . .
Little remains outside of the Wayback Machine of Commentgate, in which rumors of an affair on Brod's part were left in the comment sections of conservative blogs.
Brod had been considering a gubernatorial bid, but decided against it after a health scare. (Of course, Bluestem has retrieved the Commentgate material once posted by Dusty Trice and Brian Falldin at their late lamented blogs, and the Triple A post that Johnson references, but feels that that ground can for now remain fallow).
In light of distribution of the boudoir shot of Brod to the press in the Summer 2013 and her subsequent statement about the status of her marriage, explored in painful detail by City Pages editor Kevin Hoffman, 2009's Commentgate takes on a whole new meaning. Will it reverberate in the 2014 gubernatorial race?
Photo: The Seifert family. Photo by Per Peterson, The Independent, Marshall.
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GOP State Sen. Torrey Westrom says he’s mulling a run for the Minnesota congressional seat now held by DFL Rep. Collin Peterson.
Westrom, whose legislative district includes western and part of central Stearns County, says he’s being courted heavily by Republicans who want him to run in Minnesota’s 7th Congressional District.
“I am giving serious consideration to this,” Westrom told the Times. . . .
Westrom would likely prove to be one of the more serious contenders to have faced off against Peterson, ranking Democrat on the House Ag Committee, and as the Minnesota state senate is not up for re-election, the Elbow Lake Republican would still have a job after Peterson defeats him in November 2014.
It's probably as close to a win-win as one stumbles across in these sorts of things.
At the end of September, Founder of Judicial Watch and Freedom Watch Larry Klayman set a date to march on Washington in a peaceful revolution to end the "reign of terror" by Barack Hussein Obama. He then laid out his agenda at the end of October, and today, he along with thousands of patriots are in Washington to speak out and protest the Obama administration until their demands are met.
The archived streaming video now posted on Brown's site and accounts at the Rachel Maddow show's Tuesday’s Mini-Report, Right Wing Watch, Time's Swampland and US News & World Report document much different numbers. You can check out the video at Freedom Outpost (Bluestem couldn't find Bradlee Dean's time on stage in the blurry footage and it's not mentioned in any news coverage).
* Dud: “Larry Klayman predicted that his rally calling for the overthrow of President Obama would draw ‘millions to occupy Washington D.C.’ and that those millions would ‘occupy parks, sidewalks, public areas’ until the president leaves office. In the end, no more than a hundred people showed up for today’s big event.”
Larry Klayman predicted that his rally calling for the overthrow of President Obama would draw “millions to occupy Washington D.C.” and that those millions would “occupy parks, sidewalks, public areas” until the president leaves office. In the end, no more than a hundred people showed up for today’s big event. . . .
The photos RWW offers are priceless. Maya Riodan of Time's Swampland reports in Tea Party Protestors Demand Obama Impeachment Outside White House:
Less than 100 Tea Party-affiliated protesters gathered in Lafayette Square on Tuesday to call for Obama’s impeachment, just steps from the White House where President Obama was meeting with members of the Senate Foreign Relations committee. “We have been disserved by the so-called leaders of our country for generations,” said Larry Klayman, the chairman of Freedom Watch and leader of the Reclaim America Now Coalition. ““We are giving [Obama] one last chance to obey the will of the American people.”
There were no announcements about the person best fit to replace Obama. When asked who he would rather see in his place, Larry Sherwood from Virginia who held a sign that read “Obama Lies” said he hadn’t yet considered it. ”Maybe Rand Paul,” he said. “But he’s getting kind of old”
Approximately 100 conservative activists gathered in front of the White House on Tuesday for a kickoff of what organizers call "the second American revolution."
The event could easily have been mistaken for a tea party rally, with American and Gadsden flags, a smattering of biker jackets and a few lawn chairs.
Freedom Watch founder Larry Klayman, who emceed the event, told attendees if President Barack Obama does not resign by Nov. 29, conservative activists will meet in Philadelphia to elect a shadow government.
"We've got God on our side," Klayman said. "He's going to make sure we win this revolution." . . .
The article closes with this nugget of the vernacular:
"He's kind of like a skunk," one attendee joked. "He's half white, half black, and everything he does stinks."
Lovely.
Photo: The gathered millions, via US News and World Report (above); Bradlee Dean and World Daily Net publisher Joseph Farah amid the gathered throngs in Lafayette Park, via Sons of Liberty's Facebook page (below). Does this rally demonstrate that without the clout of FreedomWorks and other organizations, there's little organizing mojo in the religious branch of the Tea Party?
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The resolution (excerpted below) will be taken up for consideration by ALEC's International Task Force on December 5, according to a tentative agenda included in the packet.
A reading of news reports and analysis suggest that ALEC members in the private sector are advancing the anti-COOL resolution.
COOL faces uncertain fate in Farm Bill conference committee
Members of a select House-Senate panel on Wednesday targeted for potential repeal a U.S. meat-labeling law that Mexico and Canada have challenged as a violation of world trade rules, and that U.S. meatpackers also oppose.
The country-of-origin labeling (COOL) law requires labels on packages of beef, pork, poultry and lamb sold in U.S. stores to carry specific information on the source of the meat. The U.S. terms it a "consumer information" program. [BSP Editor's note: COOL covers more than just meat, but fruits, vegetables and fish as well].
While favored by consumer groups, COOL has been a lightning rod for dispute for more than a decade. Congress approved meat-origin labeling in 2002, but it did not become mandatory until 2009. . . .
Defenders such as the National Farmers Union and the Consumer Federation of America say COOL help shoppers make informed decisions on their meat purchases. They said there is no need for Congress to intervene. . . .
Read the entire piece at Reuters. For an informed analysis of the develop, check out Ben Lilliston's column at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy's (IATP) Think Forward blog post Who’s afraid of COOL?:
To truly see the power of agribusiness, and its growing disconnect from regular people and farmers, look no further than the current dust-up over Country of Origin Labeling (COOL). Polls say more than 90 percent of consumers want simple labeling indicating what country the meat they are buying comes from. Farm groups like the National Farmers Union and the U.S. Cattlemen’s Association support it because of the marketing advantage it gives to U.S. produced meat and livestock producers. Yet, agribusiness has repeatedly flexed its lobbying muscles to block COOL and now they are at it again as Congress negotiates a new Farm Bill. Why do companies like Cargill, JBS and Tyson care so much about COOL? Remarkably, these enormously profitable global corporations are frightened that if consumers better understood their business model—which pays no attention to what country animals come from—they might have to make some changes.
On October 29, big meat (Cargill, Smithfield, Tyson, JBS, among others) sent a letter (subscription required) to the House and Senate Agriculture Chairs demanding that the Farm Bill “reform” COOL. Soon thereafter, House Agriculture Chair Frank Lucus (R-OK) parroted big meat’s arguments in announcing he wants to repeal COOL to avoid retaliation from trade partners.
Lilliston points out that not every actor in the food industry is blocking more information for consumers--others are responding to the market created by growing consumer interest in the sources of their food:
. . . COOL is just one manifestation of a larger battleground for greater food transparency as consumers struggle to have some say in a food system controlled by fewer and fewer corporations. Any step toward greater transparency is being fought tooth and nail by agribusiness; see the tens of millions of dollars companies spent to defeat labeling of genetically engineered foods in Washington State and California.
Of course, not all in the food industry are blocking more information for consumers. More and more voluntary labels are on the supermarket shelves, from “free range” to “raised without antibiotics” to “fair trade.” Food co-ops and Whole Foods are driving many of these changes, as the market grows for consumers who want to know not only where their food came from, but how it was produced. Many farmers targeting local markets are embracing greater transparency, and even larger-scale farmers are recognizing the price premiums offered by the rapidly rising non-GMO market. . . .
Are other trade groups and corporations opposed to COOL ALEC members? Bluestem has requested more information about this issue from the folks at the Center for Media and Democracy. Stay tuned.
Meanwhile, in the North Star state, the Minnesota Farmers Union* is likely to pass a special order urging passage of a Farm Bill; among other things, the draft special order language puts the MFU on record "opposing unnecessary legislative changes to the Country-of-Origin Labeling law" in the Farm Bill.
Senator Amy Klobuchar and Congressmen Collin Peterson and Tim Walz serve on the Farm Bill Conference Committee.
With the Central Minnesota Tea Party blog flogging anti-Muslim sentiment in a new post, it's not hard to see the need for the interfaith dialogue that CAIR-MN and partners organizations are hosting from 6-8 p.m. Dec. 4 at St. Francis Hall, Franciscan Center, in Little Falls.
. . . At least one person who attended the tea party meeting, Lenore Felix of Collegeville Township, believes the health care law has its origins with the United Nations. Felix’s question to Bachmann prompted the congresswoman’s comments about the U.N.
Felix, of Collegeville Township, said she believes the health care law was created by an international group that includes the United Nations, George Soros — a billionaire who donates to liberal political groups — and the Environmental Protection Agency. The health care law is part of a bid by those groups to reduce the world’s population, Felix said.
“Everything leads to that conclusion,” Felix said.
The retired Cold Springs woman is still fearing on the United Nations in a new post on the Central Minnesota Tea Party's blog. In Refugee Resettlement, Felix writes amid a chorus of babble about how refugees are nothing but welfare moochers:
. . . And why do we now take in more Muslims than any other kind of refugee? At one time, we chose the great majority of those brought to our country, but now “up to 95% of the refugees coming to the U. S. were referred by the UN High Commissioner for Refugees or were the relatives of UN-picked refugees.” (Refugee Resettlement Fact Sheet [no link in original]) Why?
And, how is it that Muslims brought here as “refugees” can afford to build a mosque in St. Cloud? For that matter, why does our tax money pay refugee resettlement costs across the country for these Muslims who can then build mosques? Does a single one of them pledge allegiance to our flag?
Muslims building mosques! The next thing you know, Christians will build churches and Jews temples, first thing they get to the western hemisphere. Oh noes!
Felix opposes immigration: an LTE to the editors of the St. Cloud Times condemning "traitorous Republican committee chairs" who would support reform was reprinted on the CMTP blog. In another post, she also doesn't much like marriage equality, which she sees as a homosexual war on religion in which same-sex couples launch "not-so-subtle attempts to mock Christian marriage while forcing the world to see and acknowledge the sodomy they practice."
Okay then.
Interfaith dialogue: “Tolerance and the Fear of Islam”
It's easy to see why there's some pushback on Felix's attitude--and to an event the Central Minnesota Tea Party hosted earlier this year: ACT! for America Islamophobe Brigitte Gabriel. The St. Cloud Times and the Morrison County Record have both published notice of a December 4 event.
Interfaith leaders and community members will gather in Little Falls, Wednesday, Dec. 4, for a community dialogue on “Tolerance and the Fear of Islam.” Event sponsors include: Little Falls Partners for Peace, Brainerd Area Coalition for Peace, Building Blocks of Islam and the Minnesota chapter of the Council on American-Islamic Relations (CAIR-MN).
The event will be held at St. Francis Hall in the Franciscan Center, 116 Eighth Ave. S.E., from 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
“Many individuals in the community have never met a Muslim in person and that allows fear to grow,” said CAIR-MN Civil Rights Attorney Ellen Longfellow. “This event seeks to promote a positive discussion around tolerance, respect and community. Martin Luther King Jr. said it best: ‘We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.’”
Speakers include Saly Abd Alla, CAIR-MN civil rights director; Jaylani Hussein CAIR-MN outreach and advocacy director; Ian Norwood Little Falls Community High School student; and Father Virgil Petermeier, St. Cloud Muslim-Christian Dialogue. The dialogue will be moderated by Jeff Odendahl of the Franciscan Center.
The event was organized after community leaders and activists considered the negative impact a speech by an anti-Muslim speaker had in Little Falls earlier this year. On July 29, the Central Minnesota Tea Party featured anti-Muslim speaker Brigitte Gabriel from the group ACT! For America.
The event is free and open to the public. Refreshments will be served.
CAIR is America’s largest Muslim civil liberties and advocacy organization. Its mission is to enhance the understanding of Islam, encourage dialogue, protect civil liberties, empower American Muslims and build coalitions that promote justice and mutual understanding.
Place-baiting: MNGOP organizing and rural/suburban Tea Party divisiveness
All four Republican gubernatorial candidates who took part in the "Outstate Debate" agreed that the role of the Tea Party is positive. Perhaps one of them will step forth with some real leadership and friendly advice that Felix's brand of conservativism might not be a viable path to victory.
Photo: Lenore Felix (center) riding an unusual mount (via Facebook).
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In If you want your freedom, you can keep it!, his latest column on the op-ed pages of the Albert Lea Tribune, Freeborn County Republican Party BPOU chair Mike "Jerrold" Dettle claims that before World War II, Germans "had been given their freedom through the struggles of previous generations, only to vote themselves bigger benefits including cabarets."
The Minnesota First District Republicans shared the link on the group's Facebook page, remarking that it was ""Freedom earned is freedom appreciated." Another poignant column by Freeborn County MN GOP Chairman, Mike Dettle." (screenshot to the right).
For example, the Weimar Republic (Germans) in “selfish want” bankrupted their nation and foolishly elected a popular leader with the name of Adolf Hitler.
Like us, the Germans had been given their freedom through the struggles of previous generations, only to vote themselves bigger benefits including cabarets. Our own Liza Minnelli mockingly made famous the song that scorned the Germans, “Oh Chum! Come to the Cabaret.”
Liza Minnelli's divine performance in the move "Cabaret" certainly is spectacular evidence for Americans being like the Germans, voting in a popular leader who became a ruthless dictator who practiced genocide on an unprecedented scale, as well as going to war against just about everybody with a handful of allies.
Cabaret is a movie starring Minnelli, based upon a 1966 musical, based upon a 1951 play I Am a Camera, in its turn based upon Christopher Isherwood's 1939 novel, Goodbye to Berlin. While immensely entertaining, Cabaret's not only fiction, but it's fourth-hand fiction set in 193, set in the Kabarett culture he knew. (What's up with Minnesota Republicans using musicals, written years after the fact, as primary historical documents in their quest to equate President Obama with Hitler?)
As far as German citizens voting to give themselves cabaret as a government benefit, just like they voted to give themselves Hitler, there's no evidence that Bluestem can find that that ever happened. Rather, the raucous and often raunchy political cabaret scene depicted in the movie and musical emerged after the Weimar Republic's new constitution led to the loosening of censorship laws, and the election of Hitler signaled the demise of the form in all but name.
The National Socialist takeover in the spring of 1933 nearly destroyed the cabaret movement, for most of the entertainers were liberal, leftist, or Jewish. Many of these fled Germany in the first days and weeks of Nazi rule. . . .in the wake of that affair [sly criticism of the Reich], the authorities called for the creation of a "positive cabaret" that would applaud the Nazis' goals and mock those of their enemies. The project, which was totally alien to the spirit of cabaret, was a failure; consequently in 1937, Goebbels banned all political themes from German stages. Thereafter cabaret degenerated into pure vaudeville, the seedbed from which it had sprung in the 1890s (p. 288).
Jelavich writes that while Goebbels sought to rid Berlin's cultural scene of all "decadent" art, theater and literature, he loathed cabaret in particular (p. 230).
Brutal political criticism at "decadent" cabarets a government benefit? Hardly. But we'll give Dettel bonus points for hyperbole and presentism in his Obama-Hitler historiography.
Since readers have negotiated through Dettel's analysis, here's Minnelli's wonderful performance as a reward:
Screenshot: Minnesota First District Republicans loving on Dettel's column. The future belongs to someone, and it's poignant. Or something.
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ORDER. 15 Motion to Dismiss for Failure to State a Claim is granted to the extent provided in this Order. 14 Amended complaint is dismissed without prejudice. Second amended complaint is due 12/5/13. Signed by Chief Judge Anne C. Conway on 11/15/2013. (LAK) (Entered: 11/15/2013)
Since it's dismissed without prejudice, the conservative lawyer can come back at them, if he has time to address the problems spelled out by Judge Conway. Flogging a new Declaration of Independence may demand a lot of energy if it takes off, so who knows.
As the fight over tasteless-to-racist Facebook posts continues to escalate between the DFL and Republican Party in Minnesota, the RPM's Tea Party allies in Rochester are doing their bit for the war effort.
On November 13, under the head note, "Notice anything???," the Rochester Tea Party Patriots posted the old canard "A 1981 Columbia University student ID card identifies Barack Obama as a foreign student named Barry Soetoro" that's listed in Snopes' "Card Trick" entry.
Numerous rumors have been circulated over the years claiming that Barack Obama attended college in the United States as a foreign student and/or under the name Barry Soetoro (the latter reflecting the surname of his Indonesian stepfather), evidence which would supposedly demonstrate that at some point in his life Barack Obama was not a U.S. citizen and is therefore ineligible to hold the office of President of the United States. The image displayed here of a purported 1981 Columbia University student ID card identifying Barack Obama as a "foreign student" named "Barry Soetoro" is yet another entry in this vein.
However, the ID card pictured above is not a real Columbia University student ID issued to Barack Obama (under any name) in 1981; it's simply an altered version of a Columbia University ID card issued to another student in 1998. . .
Aditionally, the pictured card couldn't possibly have have been a Columbia University student ID issued to Barack Obama in 1981, as the digital ID card format it uses wasn't introduced at Columbia until 1996.
Finally, the pictured ID card is obviously a forgery, as the photograph it bears is not a picture of a 20-year-old Barack Obama from 1981; it's a picture taken several years later, during or shortly after Barack Obama's time at Harvard Law School (1988-1991).
Diana Lynn Friemann Yeah, it says foreign student! He was born in Kenya there're he can't be our pres! Take him to court! Oust him! Where did u get this?
The Rochester teabaggers got it from FaithFamilyFreedom.com, billed as a conservative news site, which posted the image on its own Tea Party United Facebook page on November 13 as well. So far, 5,862 people like the image and there have been 5,051 shares. Over 1,000 people have commented, mostly to say that it's old news and a shame that nothing can be done about it.
Klayman told Jones that participants in his rally will issue a new Declaration of Independence “because if you read the Declaration of Independence it is exactly identical to the situation we have today.” “We have to rise up,” Klayman continued. “We will succeed in the end but we need to show force.”
In the accompanying video, Klayman calls not only for President Obama's resignation, but said, ". . .we want [Speaker] Boehner's resignation, we want [Senate Minority Leader] McConnell's resignation, we want them to go."
The day before the rally, Klayman will be in U.S. District Court Judge Richard Leon's court, which will consider oral arguments for and against a broad preliminary injunction request to block some National Security Agency surveillance programs, US News and World Report reported. According to the USNWR article, "The American Civil Liberties Union is also suing to stop the NSA phone-record collection. . . .Leon scheduled the Nov. 18 hearing after U.S. District Court Judge William Pauley scheduled Nov. 22 oral arguments for the ACLU's preliminary injunction request."
Perhaps Klayman will be able to provoke an uprising and avoid the embarrassment of the April Fools Day 2015 trial--or maybe mediator Winston T. Churchill, II, will convince both sides to avoid fighting on the beaches, on the landing grounds, in the fields and in the streets, in the hills of the Ocala Division of the Middle District of Florida, and settle this one out of court.
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