The Miller campaign said the endorsement was a big gain in the race.
“I am excited to hear that Allen Quist has endorsed my campaign for Congress. We need a united front from all Republicans across this district to send a common sense conservative to Washington D.C.,” said Miller in a statement.
While Miller may be excited, Bluestem isn't surprised given Quist's penchant for keeping grudges.
In the 2010 endorsement battle that both Quist and current Miller rival Jim Hagedorn lost to Hayfield Republican Randy Demmer, Hagedorn ripped long time Quist political ally Michele Bachmann as a political liability. We had posted then:
Mr. Quist’s allegiance to Congresswoman Michele Bachmann is understandable, and I would expect nothing less as Mrs. Quist serves as the congresswoman’s district director. Congresswoman Bachmann has impeccable conservative credentials and serves the 6th District with distinction. But tying one’s candidacy to another campaign is politically risky and offers the media a free pass to issue stories about Bachmann-Quist, rather than Tim Walz and his liberal voting record. . . .
Despite being a solid conservative, Quist campaigns are known for making provocative statements that often generate sympathy for opponents and undermine our conservative cause. Even during this relatively short campaign, counter-productive attacks made by Mr. Quist concerning Tim Walz and the Democratic Party provided Walz with a national media platform as well as a national fundraising base.
Way to make friends and influence people, Mr. Hagedorn.
Allen Quist is attributing his Tuesday election loss in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District to a surprise DFL voter turnout fueled by Minnesota's constitutional amendments and a lack of support from national Republican organizations.
Quist, a former state lawmaker and a farmer, lost 142,162 votes, or 42 percent, to the 193,209 votes, or 57 percent, of his DFL incumbent opponent U.S Rep. Tim Walz. . . .
Cartoon: Ken Avidor's take on Allen Quist, 2010.
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Numerous conservative organizations are working tirelessly in Minnesota to achieve worthwhile goals. The Rochester Tea Party has invited several of these organizations to address their monthly meeting. This is a great opportunity to learn about other political groups, what their missions are, and what issues they are pursuing. This should be a most interesting evening.
Participants are listed below.
6:30 Meet and Greet 7:00 Program
This event is free and open to the public.
Participating Organizations Americans for Prosperity MN Paul Carlson College Republicans Andrew Hasek Minnesota Majority Dan McGrath Minority Liberty Alliance Dan Severson Tax Payers League of Minnesota Margret Martin The 56 Club Minnesota John Larkin
While some of these groups--like the Koch Brothers-founded and dark money funded Americans for Prosperity, College Republicans, Taxpayers League, and Minnesota Majority are well-known, a couple of them are newer or lesser lights.
While the effort seems directed by white males, the intent does seem to be in good faith (its only podcast, created over a month ago, is billed as "In our pilot show of Minority Liberty Alliance Radio, host Tim McShane interviews MLA Latino outreach coordinator Maria de la Paz, as she describes what got her motivated to become an activist," actually features only McShane talking for 17 minutes).
The original 56 Club group meets weekly here in Minnesota. Our focus is on the truthful exploration of our early American history, our Founding documents, our Founders and how all of that comes together and impacts us today. We pay close attention to the things that the Founders of this country would have wanted us to pay attention to.
Defenders of the NCCS argue that the outfit, run by the grandfatherly Taylor, is merely teaching good old-fashioned civics to interested Americans. But while there is a large amount of straight, accurate history included in "Making of America" seminars, the lessons are about much more than just the Constitution. The organization's larger mission is to crudely propagandize against America's secular foundations and sow doubt over the legitimacy of the modern welfare and regulatory state, using a textbook written by a notorious conspiracist who adhered to apocalyptic folklore. . . .
The NCCS views its education crusade as crucial for rebuilding America after a coming cataclysm; thus, "The Making of America" is best seen as a God-centric civics class for the bomb shelter. Speaking last year in Mesa, Ariz., Taylor spoke cryptically of the need for "the Good Lord's help" to take America "into a much better phase of existence lasting for a thousand years."
The 56 Club hosted CAPS senior fellow and immigration reform opponent Michael Cutler on November 5, according to a post on its Facebook page. Cutler also appeared at SW Metro and Central Minnesota Tea Party meetings last week. A post on the SWMTPP's Facebook page promoting Cutler's visit incited a kerfuffle in the comments between the page admin, xenophobe Ruthie Hendrycks of MinnSIR and Bob Quasius of the pro-CIR group, Cafe Con Leche Republicans.
And there's some Agenda 21 conspiracy theory pandering as well. In January 2013, Senator Dave Brown stopped by:
Good Tuesday Morning! Join us this evening for our weekly meeting at Perkins in Eagan starting at 6pm. Tonight, Minnesota Senator Dave Brown will be speaking with us about Agenda 21.
Larkin also seems to encourage "RINO" framing. In January 2012, 56 Club leader Larkin wrote that Representative John Kline had ". . . fallen into the RINO heap. . . ."
Larkin and the 2010 Recount
However, those tempted to brand Larkin as an anti-party upstart extremist should noted his role in the Republican Party of Minnesota's 2010 gubernatorial recount legal battle. ECM Publisher's T.W. Budig noted in Republican Party, Emmer campaign file petition on Nov. 2 election:
The Republican Party of Minnesota and the Emmer for Governor campaign filed a petition today (Nov. 17) with the Minnesota Supreme Court asking the court to ensure that the number of ballots and number of voters voting in the Nov. 2 gubernatorial election match.
“It can be a game changer,” said Republican Party of Minnesota Chairman Tony Sutton of the result of a court-ordered review of the election. . . .
In their petition, Republicans argue that “strong and growing evidence” exists that some election officials did not determine the number of the ballots to be counted or otherwise failed to follow proper procedure.
Included in their petition is sworn testimony from 11 election judges — judges from Ramsey, Hennepin, Dakota counties — alleging irregularities.
One affidavit is from John Larkin, an election judge in the City of Eagan, in which Larkin alleges that “no judges counted the names of individuals signing the polling roster on election day.” . . .
. . .the Minnesota Independentreports that the "vast majority" of the witnesses in the complaint have ties to the Republican Party or the Tea Party movement.
. . .John Larkin: Founder of Tea Party group The 56 Club. . . .
"What this does is enhance the suspicion that this is really based on political factors," Professor David Schultz of Hamline University told the Independent.
College Republicans: Not clear on Cam Winton concept?
Bluestem can't close without a parting observation about a Facebook entry posted by College Republicans who were out door knocking for Cam Winton, the leading Republican candidate in the recently concluded Minneapolis mayoral race. The post of two CR leaders eating at a Chick-Fil-A illustrates the messaging mishmash inside a party that fosters the Minority Liberty Alliance while continuing accept date nights with xenophobic and Islamophobic tea party chapters.
. . . I am a Republican. I am not seeking the endorsement of any party in this race. So let me drill down on what I mean by that. I’ve been active in the Republican Party.
That said, I’m married to a DFLer. I have a lot of experience compromising with a DFLer. And while I am a Republican, there are ways I disagree strongly and fundamentally with the party platform.
Gay marriage I support. Period. No equivocation. I was vigorous and outspoken in my opposition to the marriage amendment I co-hosted a fundraiser. That’s one way where I disagree with the Republican Party. . . .
American fast-food chain Chick-fil-A was the focus of controversy following a series of public comments made in June 2012 by chief operating officerDan Cathy opposing same-sex marriage. This followed reports that Chick-fil-A's charitable endeavor, the S. Truett Cathy-family-operated WinShape Foundation, had made millions in donations to political organizations which oppose LGBT rights. LGBT rights activists called for protests and boycotts of the chain, while counter-protestors rallied in support by eating at the restaurants. National political figures both for and against the actions spoke out and some business partners severed ties with the chain . . .
Do the Olmsted County Republicans and Rochester Tea Party Republicans share this confusion about message?
Screenshots: MLC Facebook congrats (above); 56 Club Facebook post of the "Feeding the Animals" "joke" (middle); The RCs loving on some of that marriage-inequality fast food (below).
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a citizens organization started in 2010 to oppose changes in the Anoka-Hennepin (Minnesota) School District 11 policy which limited discussions of lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender (LGBT) issues in district classrooms.[3][4] PAL's roots go back as far as 1994, when one of its most-vocal members, Barb Anderson, successfully influenced the school district's board to exclude homosexuality from its sex-ed curriculum.[1]
The school district abandoned the 2010 policy following several student suicides, lawsuits and investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. The Southern Poverty Law Center designated Parents Action League as an anti-gay hate group[5] for "damaging propaganda about the gay community".[6]
After nine suicides, a federal lawsuit, and the glare of the media spotlight, Minnesota’s Anoka-Hennepin school district has at last rid itself of the policy that helped create a virulently anti-gay environment in its schools. In a 5-1 vote on Monday night, the district's school board repealed its Sexual Orientation Curriculum Policy, which required teachers to be "neutral" on homosexuality. Teachers throughout the district had been so confused about how to enforce the policy that they’d avoided any mention of homosexuality, even when it meant ignoring anti-gay bullying; the result was a toxic environment in which LGBT students were marginalized, demoralized, and subjected to unchecked torment.
And yet at Monday's vote, the policy still didn’t go quietly. While 13 parents spoke up during the tense meeting in support of the policy’s removal, a dozen others – some from the anti-gay Parent Action League – argued the policy was critical to protect students from "homosexual propaganda." PAL’s Barb Anderson darkly warned the board that its vote for gay tolerance "will have a ripple effect for years to come." Her argument evidently resonated with board member Kathy Tingelstad, who cast the lone vote to preserve the policy, and blamed outside forces for pushing the district to back off.
Anderson's presentation should be quite the set of funhouse mirrors--and undercuts the attempts of those who are attempting to frame the Tea Party as a movement not much interested in social issues. As a researcher for the Minnesota Family Council, that's pretty much all Anderson is interested in.
In 2010, she sat down for a radio interview with Peter LaBarbera of Americans for the Truth About Homosexuality (AFTAH) and said:
“I think the greatest threat to our freedom and to the health and well-being of our children is from this radical homosexual agenda which is just so pervasive.”
Parents Action League was first listed as a hate group by the SPLC in 2012. The SW Metro Tea Party is led by Minnesota state representative Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen), one of the organization's founders.
Photo: Barbara Anderson, from the flyer for Monday's workshop.
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Birds of a feather flock togther, and it's no different in the Cloud Cuckooland that's Bradlee Dean's own habitat. Tuesday morning, Dean presented to first year students at Joyner's MorningStar University in Fort Mill, South Carolina, according to posts on the Sons Of Liberty (SOL) Radio Facebook and twitter accounts.
The latter tweets mark the first activity by the SOL profile since Halloween.
Bogus Joe Stalin tweeting
If the Sons of Liberty tweets are any indication of Dean's sermon, it was the usual fake-quote laden malarkey that's one of Dean's signatures.
There was a fake Joe Stalin quote:
"America is like a healthy body and it's resistance is threefold: its patriotism, its morality, and its spiritual life." -Joseph Stalin
. . .The legendary pop/gospel singer and avowed conservative appeared on Fox Business News on Wednesday night, joining Neil Cavuto to give his expert opinion on the deficit fight and sequestration. Instead of fiscal wonkery, though, Boone reached back into the past several years of Tea Party rhetoric to accuse Obama of being a socialist, bent on destroying economic progress through policies advocated by Saul Alinsky.
"He is following his playbook, which is Saul Alinsky's Rules for Radicals," Boone charged. "This is the guy that trained him to be a community organizer, a Marxist, a socialist, a progressive, who wrote the rules for doing what Mr. Obama is doing."
After Cavuto suggested that he differed with Boone on that accusation, the singer doubled down.
"He has a plan, he thinks it’s good for America -- a virtually socialist nation in which nobody gets rich, government is in charge of everything," he said. ...
Following an acting career that spanned 50 years, most notably on the 1980s TV melodrama Dallas, Morgan Brittany launched a new career as a political commentator.
However, if we can trust one of Dean's sermon tweets today, it looks like he's not going to be calling for an armed rebellion on the 19th:
"I'm not asking you to grab your guns and go after anybody, I'm asking you to grab the Sword of the Spirit and Stand!" #BradleeDean at #MSU
Photos: Bradlee Dean, missing former sidekick Jake (above); Pat Boone, Alinsky hater (below). Dean gained notoriety by delivering a prayer to the Minnesota House of Representatives as guest chaplain that questioned the President's faith; it was redacted by the body. Dean also unsuccessfully tried to sue Rachel Maddow for defamation when she played a recording of one of his radio broadcasts.
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Often media coverage of Minnesota's debate over raising state minimum seems generated by "pseudoevents"--press conferences or protests--with canned talking points for or against, but two recent articles in the Faribault and Owatonna newspapers reveal a slightly different story.
Freshman state senator Vicki Jensen, who owns an independent insurance agency with her husband Trevor, holds regular informal public meetings with her constituents. Her most recent meetings this past weekend focused on the issue of raising the minimum wage--and the discussion seems fairly free ranging.
When Minnesota State Senator Vicki Jensen (DFL- Owatonna) met with residents of Senate District 24 on Saturday at the Elks Lodge, a possible minimum wage increase in Minnesota was the main focus of the discussion.
This was Jensen’s 11th Saturday meeting with Owatonna residents.
The state of Minnesota current ranks in with the 43rd lowest minimum wage, $6.15, of the 45 states, plus Washington, D.C., that have a minimum wage. The remaining five states have no minimum wage requirement.
“I was hoping to start a good conversation about minimum wage in our state,” Jensen said to kick off the meeting. . . .
Jensen outlined the issue, and others joined in:
Owatonna Mayor Tom Kuntz attended Jensen’s discussion and brought up another issue tied to minimum wage: training.
“Owatonna has a number of businesses willing to pay the higher amounts, such as $11 per hour,” Kuntz said. “But the issue they’re facing is finding workers with the necessary training to fill those positions.”
Kuntz’s point is one common to the minimum wage debate. Jensen agreed, taking the opportunity to talk about the minimum wage issue as a whole, not just numbers. . . .
A number of residents turned out for the Saturday meeting. Todd Andrix, an Owatonna High School teacher, was among them and voiced a concern involving the youth of the area.
“I’ve been seeing students at the high school missing assignments because of the times they had to work,” Andrix said. “It’s one thing if they’re just working to buy a car or a new computer, but some of these kids having to work to help their families get by.” . . .
Read the entire article at the OPP to learned about ideas voters offered to Jensen.
The question on Saturday, for a vocal group of constituents at the Central Avenue coffee shop with Sen. Vicki Jensen (DFL-Owatonna), was not should we raise the minimum wage, but by how much.
Jensen said as a small business owner herself she understands the balancing act employers have to make when determining their employees’ wages. Opponents of raising the minimum wage say small business owners will have to reduce their employees' hours or let them go.
Jensen voted yes to increase the minimum wage to $7.75, which passed the state senate by a margin of 39-28 in May. . . .
According to a Jensen aide, the local discussion echoed what the state senator heard in Owatonna and Waseca on Saturday:
It was Jensen’s third stop of the day, first in Waseca, then Owatonna to hear from voters on the issue that will likely be decided in the next legislative session.
Kevin George, the legislative aid to Jensen, said that the turnout in Faribault represented what they heard at the different stops that morning, which is that most people seem to be in agreement that raising the minimum wage to $7.75 is not enough. . .
Check out the rest at the FDN.
Photo: State Senator Vicki Jensen.
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In Slowing demand for frac sand changes the landscape in southeast Minnesota, Minnesota Public Radio's Elizabeth Baier would have listeners pity the poor, poor frac sand miner whose teeny-tiny little bitty operation is now forced to sell sand for cow bedding, rather than for the more lucrative market for use in fracking.
Oh! what a disaster to have an economic landscape change, because, you know, ripping up a real one is just one big unmitigated blessing.
Except for that naughty slowdown and those mean, mean, tough new laws Minnesota enacted last session, Baier reports:
Rowecamp hopes demand picks up soon. If it does, he estimates they might exhaust the sand deposit in five years.
"If we're going to do anything with the oil and gas industry, that could be possible," he said. "But if it's just sand for Winona County and surrounding counties, I don't know if we'll get it cleared off in five years."
Despite the slowdown in the emerging industry, Minnesota has new laws that prohibit silica sand mining within a mile of a trout stream in parts of the state.
Not only is that a non sequitur (why would dropping demand delay a law?), but there's something far more amiss with MPR's reporting.
She's just plain making stuff up.
The "new laws that prohibit silica sand mining within a mile of a trout stream in parts of the state" NEVER HAPPENED.
In a retreat from tough language that would have put much of southeastern Minnesota off limits to frac sand mining, state officials have reached a compromise that will allow mines near the region’s trout streams, but only if companies follow new permitting rules.
As part of a deal announced Tuesday, Sen. Matt Schmit, DFL-Red Wing, said he’ll drop his effort to ban frac sand mining within a mile of any trout stream in the southeast corner of the state. The ban was embraced by Gov. Mark Dayton until a compromise emerged at a recent meeting with Schmit, industry lobbyists, three state agency heads and organized labor.
If the deal goes as expected, the 2013 legislative session will end without sweeping statewide environmental protections sought by a throng of “fractivists” from areas around Red Wing, Wabasha, Winona and other parts of the bluff country known as Minnesota’s Paleozoic Plateau. . . .
. . .Under the compromise, any company proposing to dig within a mile of a trout stream within the Paleozoic Plateau would need a special DNR permit.
But with crack reporters like Baier telling Minnesota that mining within a mile of trout streams is banned, and the industry has slowed down, those who continue to raise questions about mining simply come off as sore winners.
This despite the fact that Baier's facts are just plain wrong. Will MPR issue an on-air correction? Don't hold your breath.
Minnesota has new laws that prohibit silica sand mining in parts of southeastern Minnesota, and the state is working on more specific rules to protect communities and the environment.
Egan said Minnesota's existing laws are stringent enough, but Fischer said more regulations could be considered during the next legislative session, including a tax on sand leaving the state.
Well, at least we know now who's telling MPR reporters that our laws are strict enough. (Facepalm).
Images: Screenshot of the MPR misinformation (above); A trout taken from a stream in Southeastern Minnesota (below). Baier's report may make you feel happy for the stream, and sad for the miner, but it's just bologna.
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Like Seifert, Rosen is from greater Minnesota. Currently, school teacher Robert Farnsworth, of Hibbing, is the only Republican candidate for governor to hail from outside the metro and suburban areas.
State Sen. Bill Ingebrigtsen, R-Alexandria, is also considering a run, he said over the weekend. He said he would make a decision on whether he will make a bid within the next month.
In a statement issued today, Ingebrigtsen said he gave the idea serious consideration but the timing wasn't right.
"Although I strongly feel that Minnesotans want a common sense conservative voice in the governor's office, this is just not the right time for me to offer my service," he said. "As a leader in the state Senate, I will continue to proudly serve the people of Minnesota in District 8 and work to regain a Republican majority in the next election cycle."
After Rosen and Seifert jump in (or not) that should settle the field for the Republican gubernatorial endorsement. So far, Hibbing special education teacher Rob Farnsworth, businessman Scott Honour, Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, State Senator Dave Thompson and Former Speaker Kurt Zellers are riding the clown car.
Photo: Bill Ingebrigtsen, R- Alexandria, will remain a state senator , via Capitol Chat.
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Praise flowed to Sen. Julie Rosen at the Agri-Growth Council’s annual meeting, as the Fairmont Republican was sitting in the middle of the room, looking like she was trying to disappear.
A political panel was discussing whether she should enter the governor’s race, as she has said she is considering.
“She has a strong personality,” former U.S. Rep. Gil Gutknecht of Rochester said, adding that Minnesota voters seek candidates like that.
“She is probably the one candidate who could win in a primary by attracting non-Republican votes,” fellow panelist Blois Olson said.
Why non-Republicans will want to vote in a Republican primary is never parsed by the former congressman who suffered a surprise defeat in 2006 at the hands of Tim Walz.
About that headline: One of the "some" who think 2014 might be a good year for Republicans is former House Speaker Steve Sviggum, who always sees the sunny side of the street for the GOP. The other? Former Senate Majority Leader and 2002 DFL gubernatorial candidate Roger Moe, whose political wisdom recently led him to back Mark Andrew for mayor of Minneapolis.
Heavens to Betsy, that's some acumen.
Photo: Gil Gutknecht in 2006, via MPR.
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Representative Ernie Leidiger (R-Carver County) is the lawmaker who recommended toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean for a guest chaplain gig at the Minnesota House.
In response to alleged code violations, county inspectors posted “Do not occupy” orders on two buildings on the rural property occupied by state Rep. Ernie Leidiger.
Leidiger, who lives at 7775 Tacoma Avenue in rural Camden Township, represents western Carver County and the city of Carver in the Minnesota Legislature.
The 10-acre property contains a house and three other buildings, of which two were posted with “Do not occupy” signs.
County Administrator David Hemze described the situation, via e-mail, as “very unusual.” When asked how many people were allegedly living in the buildings, he replied “Unsure, appeared to be one or more persons living in each dwelling.”
According to Hemze, there were two unauthorized dwellings, building code violations, sewage treatment code violations and zoning code violations. (In rural areas, Carver County only allows one residential building per 40 acres.)
The property is owned by Leidiger’s ex-wife Janelle Leidiger and his sister-in-law Linda Leidiger. Leidiger described himself as an “ex-husband living on ex-wife’s property.”
The house on the property has four bedrooms and four bathrooms. Leidiger said some occupants are friends, “some rent a room from me.” There is no lease, residency is on a month-to-month basis, Leidiger said.
“Everyone is tied to the house, and there’s plenty of room in the house,” he said, regarding occupancy. “We’re all attached to the house. We live in the house,” he said. . . .
What's even worse, the Republican-controlled local government is taking away Ernie's mancave:
One of the buildings posted by inspectors is described in county documents as a former barn/tack room, which was renovated for use as a day care, with a bathroom and kitchen, before the Leidigers purchased the property in 2006.
“That’s one of the reasons we bought the property was it’s all trimmed out,” Leidiger said. “It was fully inspected, the whole works, no safety, no health [code] issues,” Leidiger said.
Another building posted was a barn renovated for use as office space. “I’ve got a big nice flat screen TV in my office and on Sundays I watch the ballgame,” Leidiger said. “Is it OK to have a man cave?”
“How do you determine [violations]? It doesn’t make any sense,” Leidiger said.
The buildings were inspected after neighbors grew concerned about a request for. a conditional-use permit for an equestrian facility and a future riding arena. Some neighbors complained about people living in the various structures on the land and the contracted inspectors found evidence of people dwelling in buildings in addition to the house, Olson reports.
The paper also notes that the property has been used for Republican fundraisers. One was Bratfest June 22 2012 for the Bruce Schwichtenberg for Senate campaign in SD47. Schwichtenberg unsuccessfully challenged state senator Julianne Ortman from the right. Winner of the MNGOP SCC straw pole for U.S. Senate, Ortman is now bidding for endorsement to run against US Senator Al Franken.
Olson mentions that MNCD6 candidate Tom Emmer served as a master of ceremony for a fundraiser at the compound. Brick City blogger Sean Olsen noted in Meet Your “New” Republican Party!:
State Rep. Ernie Leidiger will be holding his annual hog roast fundraiser [dead link] next month. This year’s event is themed “Meet The New Republican Party”, and features a pulled pork dinner, silent auction, activities for kids, karaoke, and a bonfire. On-site camping is also available if needed. Lots of special guests are also invited, like these fresh faces:
Hog Roast Emcee and failed gubernatorial candidate Tom Emmer
U.S. Representative Michele Bachmann
U.S. Representative John Kline
U.S. Representative Erik Paulsen
Radio talk show hosts Jason Lewis and Sue Jeffers
State Senator Julianne Ortman
State Representative Joe Hoppe
Of course, these aren’t “new” faces at all. These are just the same faces we’ve been seeing and hearing from for years now. Keep looking down the list and — aha! — here are the new faces we’ve been looking for!
State GOP Party Chair Keith Downey
State GOP Deputy Party Chair Kelly Fenton
State GOP Secretary Chris Fields
Of course, of these folks, only Fields really qualifies a “new” face. Heck, Fields hasn’t even lived in Minnesota for two years and he already has lost a race for Congress by 49 points. Downey is a two-term former state representative who was heralded as an ideological leader behind the Republican House majorities that got routed in 2012. Fenton, meanwhile, is a longtime party activist.
We know that Bradlee Dean is a bit shorthanded at his Sons of Liberty Radio and You Can Run ministry of late, but it's still surprising that it took the publicity-hound preacher longer to discover his place on Amanda Marcotte's Christian Hipster list than it did for Jesus to rise from His tomb.
Bradlee Dean and Tim Tebow named The Top 5 Hipsters TRYING to make Christianity look cool. Written of course by the enemies of The American way. YOUR THOUGHTS....
The responses so far:
Shawna Kay Or you may just be yourselves AND redeemed.
Mike Setleff Hipster? I highly doubt Bradlee fits anything that describes such term. Goes to show how much research did not go into researching what a hipster even is to make a decent headline. I'll be honest it made me not want to read past that so I didn't bother why give clowns like this any kind of spotlight or recognition it's what provocateurs and trolls thrive on.
Paul Groenwoldt They can try to make the Christian mythology cool but it isn't going to happen any time soon. Hipster LOL!!!!!
Amanda Marcotte is a provocative feminist author who got her start as a blogger.
Dean gained national notoriety when the then Republican-controlled Minnesota House of Representatives redacted his opening prayer that questioned President Obama's faith. The Annandale resident attracted additional attention when he unsuccessfully attempted to sue Rachel Maddow and local journalists for defamation.
Here's a screenshot of the SOL Facebook post:
Photo: Bradlee Dean, Christian hipster.
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You’ve got to hand it to the Minnesota Republicans who want to suppress the right to vote at all costs: They know how to follow the national GOP script and they don’t give up easily.
As part of that effort, two interest groups and four state representatives – including Steve Drazkowski, R-Mazeppa – filed suit this week against Secretary of State Mark Ritchie.
Ritchie believes that a 2000 law involving electronic signatures means he can implement online registration for voters – and nearly 2,000 Minnesotans have used the service in recent weeks to register. . . .
While there certainly can be a difference of opinion about Ritchie’s interpretation of the law, it’s clear that the lawsuit is yet another attempt to keep people in our state from voting.
Here’s how we began our endorsement editorial two years ago recommending defeat of the partisan, petty, hateful push to force voter ID in Minnesota: “It would be so refreshing if proponents of Minnesota’s constitutional amendment to require photo identification to vote would just call the measure what it truly is: the voter-suppression act.”
Come to think of it, nothing has changed. It still would be refreshing if the opponents simply told the truth. . .
We wish the people filing the lawsuit would spare us the sanctimonious blather and just level with us: Your national-agenda, voter-suppression constitutional amendment gained support from only 46 percent of the voters in 2012, but you’re not giving up. You don’t want to make it easy for people to register and vote because they may not look like you or speak like you or agree with you or vote for you.
Please, just fess up.
Read the whole thing at the Winona Daily News. A reader asks in the comment section:
I'm anxious to find out if Draz is a dues paying member of ALEC and has been attending the wine and dine resort propaganda fests they sponsor where this kind of legislation (written by the likes of the Koch brothers) gets handed to him and then he comes back to introduce it as if he had written it himself.
But the legislative lawsuit isn't the only activity by the voter suppression crowd as the deer herd moves into rut. The Liberty Tea Party Patriots, who meet at the Maple Tavern in Maple Grove, will be hearing about a lawsuit to end same day registration in Minnesota, according to a posting on a Facebook event page created for the November 14 meeting.
Opponents of a Minnesota law that lets citizens register to vote on Election Day lack standing to allege a constitutional violation, the 8th Circuit ruled. Under Minnesota law, an individual may register to vote at any time before the 20th day preceding any election; on the day of an election; or when submitting an absentee ballot, by enclosing a completed registration application. To register before an election day, the individual must give their county auditor or the Minnesota Secretary of State a completed voter registration application (VRA) at least 20 days before the election. That application must include the individual's personal information and certification of voter eligibility. To register on the day of an election, an individual must appear in person, complete a VRA, take an oath and provide proof of residence. The Minnesota Voters Alliance, the Minnesota Freedom Council and seven individuals challenged under the First, Fifth, Ninth and 14th Amendments. They argued that, by allowing Election Day registrants (EDRs) the right to vote without completely verifying their eligibility, these individuals could improperly cast votes that cannot be taken back. A federal judge tossed the suit for failure to state a claim, lack of standing and failure to exhaust administrative remedies. The 8th Circuit affirmed last week.
Read the decision at CNS. The Minnesota Voters Alliance and Minnesota Majority, along with four state representatives, are parties to the lawsuit against Ritchie.
Photo: Draz listens to people, understands their experiences, tries to suppress the rights of some of them to vote.
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Bradlee Dean may have merged his You Can Run But You Cannot Hide International ministry with the Sons of Liberty Radio back at the beginning of August, but both organizations are listed as members of the coalition that will assist attorney Larry Klayman with his proposed revolution on November 19 to kick President Obama out office
protesters will “descend on Washington, D.C., en masse, and demand that he leave town and resign from office if he does not want to face prison time” for pushing “his Muslim, socialist, anti-Semitic, anti-Christian, anti-white, pro-illegal immigrant, pro-radical gay and lesbian agenda.”
Klayman, who has repeatedlycalledforarevolution, claims that demonstrations will use the same tactics as Mahatma Gandhi and Egyptian protesters to “shut the city down, by blocking roads and massing in front of the White House” and “bringing the victims of his reign of terror” to Lafayette Park.
He contends that Obama is even worse than King George III: “King George III may have been a greedy ‘control freak,’ but at least he was a Christian. The United States is being run by a Muslim bent on furthering an Islamic caliphate who seeks to destroy our spirituality and the body politic of our Judeo-Christian roots.”
Participation in the bill of speakers--along with such high-profile conservatives as Alan Keyes, Jihad Watch's Pam Geller, former congressman Bob Barr, and WND Joseph Farrar--is the second national nod Dean has gotten this week. Monday on Salon, Amanda Marcotte included Dean in her list of 5 Christian “hipsters” trying to make fundamentalism look cool.
Given that Sons of Liberty appears to be down to two employees in addition to Bradlee and Stephanie Dean, Dean's ability to attract attention doesn't seem to have diminished.
Dean gained national notoriety when the then Republican-controlled Minnesota House of Representatives redacted his opening prayer that questioned President Obama's faith. The Annandale resident attracted additional attention when he unsuccessfully attempted to sue Rachel Maddow and local journalists for defamation.
Photo: Bradlee Dean draped in the flag. via Facebook.
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Carlson reports that for Nelson, home is where the heart is:
. . ."At the end of the day, I just realized that my heart and soul and passion is serving folks right here in Minnesota as compared to Washington D.C.," she said.
Nelson had been aggressively courted by Republicans at the national and state level to run for the seat. She said she became convinced it is a winnable seat for a Republican, which required her to do some soul searching whether she wanted to run for it.
"I just really feel I can be very effective, more effective here in Minnestoa being one of 67 senators rather than being one out of 435 congressmen," she said. . . .
Or maybe she just knew she might not get the all-important Allen Quist endorsement.
Photo: Carla Nelson had the good sense to stay out of the clown car of contenders now running for GOP endorsement in MNCD1. Bluestem certainly wouldn't want to share a seat belt with Jim Hagedorn, although Mike Benson and Aaron Miller seem nice enough.
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Sivarajah also parted company with Krinkie and Pederson slightly on immigration, calling for more visas for skilled workers, while opposing current proposals for reform, Sommerhauser reports in 3 hopefuls have their say at CSB-hosted 6th District debate:
All three candidates said they would have opposed an immigration bill that passed the Democratic Senate earlier this year, then stalled in the GOP House.
But Sivarajah struck a somewhat different tone on that issue, saying more visas should be given to skilled workers. Noting that her husband is a legal immigrant to the U.S. from Malaysia, Sivarajah said many immigrants have a special regard for the freedoms they find in the U.S.
“We need to, as Republicans, stop looking at immigration as a bad word,” Sivarajah said.
Former Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s chief of staff, David Gaither, took part in a major Capitol Hill lobbying effort in Washington last week to push for immigration-reform legislation.
Gaither is executive director of the International Education Center in Minneapolis, which last year helped 1,000 immigrants from 89 countries develop language and work skills. Recruited by FWD.US — the Mark Zuckerberg, Bill Gates pro-immigration reform group — Gaither joined representatives from Cargill, Ecolab, Hormel and several religious organizations and met with Reps. Tim Walz, Erik Paulsen and Collin Peterson.
He said that Republican Paulsen and Walz, a Democrat, in particular seemed eager to see a bill pass the U.S. House. The GOP-controlled House plan most likely to pass would not provide a “special” path to citizenship for the country’s estimated 11 million illegal residents. “That’s the one thing that gives them the most heartburn,” Gaither said.
But Gaither said that Walz, Paulsen and Peterson, a Democrat, appreciated the needs outlined by Minnesota business: modifying the system to allow more highly skilled workers to enter the country and fixing glitches in the “e-verify” system that can misidentify immigrants and countries of origin.
Walz is also a Democrat, as Republicans in his districts constantly remind voters. Democrats in Peterson's district sometimes are reminded of Peterson's party label, so Brucato's being helpful there.
It's an interesting strategy for both Sivarajah and Paulsen (if indeed his position is as the lobbyist describes it). However, while at first FWD.US's agenda seemed to be focused just on visas for skilled workers, more recent activity by the PAC suggests a broader commitment to comprehensive immigration reform.
To the U.S. technology industry, there's a dramatic shortfall in the number of Americans skilled in computer programming and engineering that is hampering business. To unions and some Democrats, it's more sinister: The push by Facebook's Mark Zuckerberg to expand the number of visas for high-tech foreign workers is an attempt to dilute a lucrative job market with cheap, indentured labor.
The answer is somewhere in between, depending as much on new technologies and the U.S. education system's ability to keep up as on the immigration law itself. But the sliver of computer-related jobs inside the U.S. that might be designated for foreigners — fewer than 200,000 out of 6 million — has been enough to strain a bipartisan deal in the Senate on immigration reform, showcase the power of big labor and splinter a once-chummy group of elite tech leaders hoping to make inroads in Washington. . . .
. . . According to a recent report by the labor-oriented Economic Policy Institute, the number of skilled guest workers has increased sharply in recent years while only 1 in 2 U.S. college graduates with high-tech degrees can find a job in their field.
"You have to question why we would want to import an increasing number of foreign workers," said Lowell, who co-wrote the report.
Manufacturers say there's a shortage of skilled workers. But some economists say companies aren't finding workers because of low wages and other factors.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg took his first step on the national political stage Monday night when he joined publicly with tech leaders, civil rights activists and undocumented immigrants to call for a comprehensive overhaul of the nation's immigration policies - an issue he said touches not just Silicon Valley but "the whole country."
"This is something that we believe is really important for the future of our country - and for us to do what's right," the social media innovator told a crowd of several hundred at the Yerba Buena Center for the Arts in San Francisco.
The political advocacy group co-founded by Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg launched a lobbying blitz on Capitol Hill Tuesday to push House Republicans to act on immigration reform.
Zuckerberg’s group, FWD.us, joined with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, Bibles Badges and Business and other pro-immigration groups to sponsor a day-long trip aimed at pressuring House Republicans to bring immigration legislation to the floor for a vote. More than 80 representatives from the tech community across the country met with House Republican members from their home states on Tuesday to make the case for immigration reform. . . .
Overall, the joint lobbying push sponsored by FWD.us, the Chamber and other pro-immigration groups brought roughly 600 representatives to Washington for meetings with 150 member offices.
FWD.us plans to keep up its push for House action on immigration legislation in the coming days.
Next month the group will host a “DREAMer Hackathon” event at LinkedIn’s Mountain View, Calif. headquarters. Young immigrants who came to the United States illegally with their families, often called “Dreamers” in relation to the Development, Relief, and Education for Alien Minors (DREAM) Act, will build digital tools and applications at the “hackathon” event that help promote FWD.us’ advocacy efforts for immigration reform.
When the negotiating gets tough, will the Silicon Valley immigration lobby bail on those undocumented workers most desperately in need?
While Sivarajah might be comfortable with a "yes" answer to that question, the Dreamers and others, who wish to secure their parents' status as well as their own, may be very unhappily vocal about such a change.
Anti-environmentalism as a cover for immigration reform votes
Mark Zuckerberg is being unfriended by progressives angered by television ads from his political advocacy group Fwd.us that praise lawmakers for supporting the expansion of the Keystone XL oil pipeline and drilling in the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge. . . .
Fwd.us is spending seven figures in seven states to frame immigration reform as a conservative issue. The first round of ad buys makes no mention of immigration. Instead the ads tout lawmakers' support of causes embraced by conservatives.
Fwd.us chief Joe Green was not available for comment, spokeswoman Kate Hansen said.
"Fwd.us is committed to showing support for elected officials who promote the policy changes needed to build the knowledge economy," Hansen said. "Maintaining two separate entities, Americans for a Conservative Direction and the Council for American Job Growth, to support elected officials across the political spectrum –- separately –- means that we can more effectively communicate with targeted audiences of their constituents."
Is there a connection between this advertising and the attempts by some conservatives to pretend that environmental groups and progressives are really the ones blocking immigration reform?
Bluestem can only say good luck with that, folks. It's not Minnesota's environmental groups hosting anti-immigration reform CAPS senior writing fellow Michael Cutler. This week, Cutler is the guest of the anti-environment Agenda21phobes at the tea parties in Central Minnesota and the SW Metro. All of the Republican candidates in MNCD6 have made the pilgrimage to St. Cloud to speak to the former, and state representative Cindy Pugh (R-Chanhassen) holds court at the latter.
Meanwhile in Paulsen and Kline's districts, pilgrimage and protest
Meanwhile, faith-based group ISAIAH and Catholic Charities Office for Social Justice are in the midst of its Minnesota Pilgrimage for Citizenship, going from church to church in Representative Paulsen's district. They'll conduct a prayer vigil at Paulsen's office in Eden Prairie at 4 p.m.
Ten protesters were arrested Monday as they blocked Burnsville Parkway in front of U.S. Representative John Kline’s office while about 100 supporters watched their act of civil disobedience. Organized by La Asamblea de Derechos Civiles (Assembly of Civil Rights), a statewide, faith-based non-profit organization, the action was planned in an effort to pressure the Republican Congressman to support immigration reform, as well as to call on House Speaker John Boehner to bring HR-15, the bill that has already passed in the Senate and includes a path to citizenship, to the House Floor.
“He needs to listen to the community,” said Asamblea co-founder Antonia Alvarez, who brought her young children to the action, including eight-year old Melina, who delivered a personal message to the congressman. “Will you please ask Congressman Kline to pass immigration reform with a path to citizenship,” the young girl asked Kline’s receptionist.
Between business and the bible, will Republicans be swayed to vote for reform?
Photos: Rhonda Sivarajah (above); Facebook zillionaire Mark Zuckerberg promoting CIR in August via SFGate (middle); Protesters outside Kline's office in Burnsville yesterday, photo by Sheila Regan (below).
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U.S. House Republicans were justified in using the recent federal government shutdown to try to spur changes to President Barack Obama’s health care law, two GOP candidates to succeed Rep. Michele Bachmann said Monday. . . .
Sivarajah dissented from Krinkie and Pederson on the shutdown, faulting House Republicans for what she called their “failed strategy” on the issue. She said Republicans should have allowed the media focus at that time to be on the botched rollout of HealthCare.gov and other elements of the health care law.
Lest readers imagine that marks her as a moderate, Sommerhauser also reports that she sees privatizing Medicare as a way to "shore up federal finances."
Tonight's speaker at the SW Metro Tea Party monthly kickoff, prominent immigration reform opponent Michael Cutler, has added another speaking engagement to his visit to Minnesota. The Central Minnesota Tea Party's website front page has posted the following notice:
Central MN Tea Party event- Come hear Michael Cutler, a retired special agent of the INS. Wednesday, Nov. 6 at 7:00 PM. Michael's Restaurant 510 Hwy 10 S in St. Cloud, 320-252-7100 Michael has been on CNN, MSNBC, Fox News and has testified before congress on Immigration issues. Don't miss out!
[Update:] The Coon Rapids Tea Party's web site notes that the group's November meeting was a car pool to the SW Metro Tea Party Cutler event. [end update]
Cutler's appearance at a second Minnesota Tea Party chapter closely associated with Republican state lawmakers and Republican candidates for office illustrates tensions with the state's conservatives and business community over immigration reform.
The Strib reported last month that the Minnesota Chamber [of Commerce] advocates for immigration reform; however, the paper noted yesterday in Clock ticks on immigration reform:
A number of conservative Republicans, including Rep. Michele Bachmann of Minnesota, have made it clear they will not vote for what they consider to be “amnesty” for undocumented immigrants.
With Bachmann firmly in the “no” column, reform supporters are hopeful that House members like John Kline and Erik Paulsen will heed their pleas, pitches and protests.
. . .Both Kline and Paulsen have indicated support for change in the nation’s immigration system but have not come out in favor of full-blown reform.
While Chanhassen is just outside of Paulsen's district, it's likely that many attending tonight's talk will be Paulsen's constituents. The Cutler appearance in St. Cloud will signal a path against citizenship for immigrants to Republican candidates vying to replace Bachmann.
He is currently a Senior Fellow at CAPS (Californians for Population Stabilization); a Fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies, a Washington-based think tank; a Contributing Expert for the Counterterrorism Blog; and an advisor to the 911 Families for a Secure America. He also advises the American Council for Immigration Reform as well as Family Security Matters and the American Council for Immigration Reform on issues concerning immigration issues that relate to national security.
Cutler Is A Regular Contributor To The White Nationalist Social Contract Journal. Cutler is a regular contributor to The Social Contract -- the white nationalist quarterly journal established by notorious nativist John Tanton. A search of Cutler's name at the Social Contract Press shows that he has written at least six articles for the journal since 2009. His most recent article for the Winter 2013 issue is based on his notion that the victims of illegal immigration are American citizens and legal immigrants. He also blames undocumented immigrants for prostitution in immigrants' communities. [Social Contract Press, accessed 7/18/13]
Rocky Mountain News: The Social Contract Press Publishes White Supremacist Authors. The Social Contract Press publishes pieces "by authors who express white nationalist or separatist views," and its editor Wayne Lutton "has also been on the advisory board of the publication of the Council of Conservative Citizens," a white-supremacist group. [Rocky Mountain News, 7/15/06]
The Council of Conservative Citizens' statement of principles states: "We also oppose all efforts to mix the races of mankind, to promote non-white races over the European-American people through so-called "affirmative action" and similar measures, to destroy or denigrate the European-American heritage, including the heritage of the Southern people, and to force the integration of the races." [Council of Conservative Citizens, accessed 7/19/13]
Cutler Is A Former Fellow For The Nativist Center For Immigration Studies. Cutler served as a fellow at the Center for Immigration Studies (CIS) for at least five years. The Southern Poverty Law Center has labeled the group a nativist organization. [Center for Immigration Studies, accessed 7/17/13, Southern Poverty Law Center, February 2009]
CIS Is Part Of Tanton's Network Of Anti-Immigrant, Nativist Organizations. The group was founded by notorious nativist John Tanton, an anti-immigrant activist with ties to the Federation For American Immigration Reform (FAIR), an organization the Southern Poverty Law Center has designated a hate group. . . .
Cutler Is A Senior Fellow For The Anti-Immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization. Cutler is a senior fellow for the anti-immigrant Californians For Population Stabilization (CAPS) and regularly posts to the organization's blog. He is also referred to as a "senior writing fellow" in the organization's 2012 annual report summary, released in Spring 2013. The report praises him for increasing CAPS' national profile, stating: "With the particular assistance of Joe Guzzardi and Michael W. Cutler, TV, radio, print and Internet exposure continued increasing, with coverage in more than 200 blogs." [Californians For Population Stabilization, 2012 Annual Report Summary, Spring 2013; accessed 7/18/12]
Center For New Community: CAPS Is "The Anti-Immigrant Hate-Group Masquerading As An Environmentalist Organization." In a post exposing CAPS as an "anti-immigrant hate-group masquerading as an environmentalist organization," the Center for New Community noted that the group receives funding from the white supremacist Pioneer Fund. SPLC lists the Pioneer Fund as a "hate group" and says the fund "has bankrolled many of the leading Anglo-American race scientists of the last several decades." [Center for New Community, 6/29/12; Media Matters, 9/8/11]
Cutler Has Appeared On A Radio Show Linked With The "White Nationalism Codifying" John Birch Society. According to the Center for New Community, Cutler has appeared on the Second Opinion radio show hosted by Donald R. Griffin. Griffin is a member of what CNC called the "white nationalism codifying, conspiracy-convinced John Birch Society" . . .
To learn more about Cutler's views, read the entire post. Cutler has also been a guest on "The Ruthie Report," hosted by Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Report (MinnSIR) and Minnesota Minuteman leader, Ruthie Hendrycks. Hendrycks was Sue Jeffers' running mate in her 2006 Republican primary challenge to Governor Pawlenty.
Bluestem noted in an earlier post that exurban and Greater Minnesota Tea Party chapters' anti-CIR events are also a potential trainwreck for the party's commendable outreach to immigrants and people of color:
Following the gripping drama of the Olmsted County Republicans' gubernatorial forum last Friday night--that featured all of the declared candidates seeking endorsement and an audience of about 50--debate fever burns across the Southern Minnesota city of Owatonna, in sylvan Steele County.
Leaders within local GOP organizations were looking to give voters of southern Minnesota an opportunity to talk to candidates about issues they feel are important, and on Tuesday, voters will get that opportunity.
That night, the Owatonna Country Club will be the venue for a GOP gubernatorial debate put on by the Republican organizations from Steele, Waseca and Rice counties.
Four of the five announced GOP gubernatorial candidates will be present for the debate on Tuesday night. Among those confirmed candidates are Hennepin County Commissioner Jeff Johnson, Hibbing teacher Rob Farnsworth, assistant Senate Minority Leader Dave Thompson and Rep. Kurt Zellers, former Speaker of the House.
Scott Honour of Fridley, Minn. has announced his candidacy on the Republican ticket but will not appear. . . .
Originally, the debate was designed to be a fundraiser for the GOP organizations of Rice, Steele and Waseca counties. The proceeds from the event will be split evenly among the chapters. . . .
The hope is to have between 150 and 200 people attend the event. Tickets are $20 in advance and $25 at the door. Tickets can be purchased through http://southmndebate.eventbrite.com. The event begins at 6 p.m. with a social hour, followed by the debate at 7 p.m. . . .
Who could resist giving local Republicans walking around money for that?
Screenshot: The OPP has posted an online poll to entertain readers with its unscientific results. Image captured Sunday night around 10:30 p.m.
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An Austrian Catholic who immigrated to the United States in the early 1950s, Werthmann was 12 when Germany annexed her native country. By her own account, she witnessed Nazi oppression first hand, but was never sent to a concentration camp or jailed herself. Prominent horrors of Hitler's regime for Werthmann, president of the South Dakota Eagle Forum, include equal rights for women (historians have discovered a rather different story about women in the Third Reich than what Werthmann recalls).
The Republican Party of McLeod County sponsored a talk by Werthmann in Hutchinson during October; Yvonne Piker wrote in Speaker warned of perilous path, a letter to the editor:
. . . I was a child at that time but I remember some of the stories I overheard the oldsters talk about. Remember “The Sound of Music”?
Hitler’s fear was going through all of us and throughout the world. He wanted the whole world to be at his feet and obey his every word.
She compared those incidents to present day and our country. It is almost uncanny, the very thoughts and actions our government is taking from us and the path we have just gone through with the banks, health care plans now being dumped on us, crosses and flags taken out of our schools, as well as being deprived of public displays of Bibles, prayer, the Ten Commandments, Christmas scenes and even not being able to wear a cross necklace. . . .
. . . Kitty Werthmann was not Jewish. She was Catholic in a predominantly Catholic country. . . .
While no state-sponsored prayer in schools has been the law of the land since a Supreme Court ruling in the1960s, Piker and Werthmann seem confused about flags being "taken out of our schools." As for banning wearing of crosses, that seems to be related to bone-headed, if well-intentioned, anti-gang efforts; such restrictions have been condemned by both the American Center for Law and Justice and the ACLU.
In the Oct. 11 Leader, Yvonne Piker wrote glowingly about her experience hearing the touring speaker Kitty Werthmann in Hutchinson earlier that week. Ms. Werthmann lived in Austria during the Nazi occupation before and during World War II and emigrated to the U.S. in the 1950s. I had occasion to meet her while she was in town and she is a very nice lady. The parallels she attempts to draw between the Nazi regime and the present day United States, however, I find specious and, frankly, insulting to the memory of the victims of the Nazis and those who fought for the cause of democracy and freedom from oppression.
She uses the tragedy in her past to rail against a vision of the present that simply does not exist. She compares the worldwide depression to our current economic difficulties, which are real but in no way comparable to the global hyperinflation and desperation that characterized the 1930s. She cites the secularization of public education and equal rights for women as horrible legacies of Hitler when, in fact, these are both fully consistent with our own founding Constitution and have served to make America greater and more free.
I understand that Ms. Werthmann was invited to speak to a class at Hutchinson High School while in town. I respect her right to express her ideas about the state of American politics and will look forward to the high school also bringing in some progressives to lecture the students with opposing perspectives.
Hitler was not evil because he promoted equality for women [BSP's note: he did not in fact do so] or universal health care. He will always be equated with evil because of his remorseless irrational hatred toward Jews, Slavs, homosexuals and everyone he considered to be inferior.
In his letter in the Oct. 16 Leader (“Comparison to Nazis is insulting”), Chris Leonard apparently did not hear Kitty Werthmann speak as I did.
He must also be years younger than myself and did not hear from actual firsthand victims of the torture that Hitler’s Nazis did to women, men and children of any race and color. You can’t begin to understand what all these people went through unless you had an opportunity to listen to them. The whole world was appalled at his antics and some did not even know all the horrors that he did until the war was over.
I had a dear friend who was so sweet and gentle. She became a doctor after fleeing from the German camps and came to to United States. Her name is Dr. Vera Schlamm and her book is “Pursued.” You have to visit the Holocaust Museum in Washington, D.C., and also the one in Jerusalem. Women were always used as a test vehicle for medical experiments. People were murdered for their religion and race.
I have visited countries with bullet holes in the walls, and Nazi symbols on the buildings and the Jewish “Star of David.” There are areas that have cemeteries with Americans and others who fought the Hitler bunch, willing to die for you and myself and all the rest of us.
My uncle was on a ship in the Atlantic and shot in the arm while in the Navy, My other uncle was in Iwo Jima and watched the bullets connect with his buddies, blowing their heads off. Being so mad he shot back everything he carried and also what his buddies carried. He told me a few years ago that “I must have killed 20,000.” One cousin was killed the day the Japanese invaded Hawaii.
Some day we will meet, Chris. You don’t live far from us. God bless and thank you for reading my letter.
Dare to challenge a sketchy analogy between Obama and Hitler made by a non-Jewish Austrian Catholic who survived the German annexation without being imprisoned?
Then you must have forgotten the Holocaust. Or just be too young to remember.
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Pat Shortridge, the Republican operative and former state party chair who replaced Tony Sutton as the party's finances crumbled, manages Honour's campaign. Osmek continued to meow plaintively about the neglect:
@PatShortridge: Out of respect, we tend not to pester folks who support other candidates. Except...I haven't endorsed or picked a side yet
Just before the primary election, voters in Senate District 33 got more mailers from an outside group.
This week, Americans for Prosperity Minnesota (AFP-MN) sent out fliers targeting Rep. Connie Doepke, R-Orono, that say she stands with President Barack Obama on health care. . . .
It’s not the first time the SD 33 primary race between Doepke and GOP-endorsed David Osmek to replace retiring state Sen. Gen Olson has attracted outside attention. Last month, the Freedom Club, a conservative group linked to GOP donor Robert Cummins, funded mailers targeting Doepke on her spending record.
It's not as if Osmek didn't have some friends, and Honour gave to the Freedom Club in 2012.
Honour, who intends to primary the GOP state convention endorsee should he not land the prize himself, took a distant fourth place in Saturday's straw poll. He told Zack Kayser at the Bemidji Pioneer that the poor finish didn't matter:
Honour said since his campaign didn’t invest any time or money on an effort to do well in the poll, the results don’t really mean much to him.
"Because I’m a political outsider, I have to take the time for people to get to know to me," he said. "To me, the straw poll wasn’t relevant at all — it doesn’t faze me."
Perhaps if he gave his state senator a call . . .
Images: Dave "Big D" Osmek's twitter avatar (above); Avatar for Scott Honour, the standoofish snoot! (below).
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Bluestem's favorite Minnesota Republican Basic Party Operating Unit (BPOU) is at it again, promoting an informational town hall against the court-delayed organizing of home-based daycare providers, while simultaneously asking the readers of the New Ulm Journal to dream of a future where moms can stay home and care for their own kids.
Yes, indeedie: Emily Gruenhagen and her fellow executive board members are here to save daycare so they can destroy it. They're also out to stop the organizing of personal care attendants, although they don't share their reasons why.
The more recent epistle, Childcare Unionization Town Hall Meeting, repeats standard talking points against the organizing drive by AFSCME, before asserting this vision for a better Minnesota:
Imagine a society with taxes and utility rates so low that mothers have the economic freedom to choose to stay home with their children, again. We know there are liberals (some are even Republicans) at City, County, State, and National levels, however, with the involvement of common sense Americans we can stop their radical agenda and get them un-elected. Imagine that!
Yes, indeedie. Those days of women staying home in the glory days of the 1950s and 1960s (or 1850s and 1860s) had absolutely nothing to do with wages, and everything to do with low taxes and utility rates.
Certainly rooting out all Liberals--including moderate Republicans--will restore the Edenic splendor that Sibley County once enjoyed before big government brought rural electrification to the countryside. Utility rates were a lot lower then. Imagine that.
Representatives Glenn Gruenhagen and Dean Urdahl, along with Senator Scott Newman and anti-daycare union advocate Hollie Saville, who shares the belief that allowing daycare providers to vote to choose or reject representation amounts to "forced unionization," will speak at the meeting, the letter notes.
According to the Sibley County Republicans, "the lying DFL" isn't concerned about low income people, just "more money for unions, which everyone knows their leaders run the DFL."
Photo: Johanna Hayes (Revier) sitting in wagon. Faxon Township, Sibley County. Undated, but Bluestem is pretty sure her utility bills were low. Swiped from the MSHS.
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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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