Answering a question about MNSure, Minnesota's health insurance exchange for those who don't receive affordable health care insurance from their employers or don't qualify for Medical Assistance/MinnesotaCare, Andrew Lang, the endorsed Republican candidate for state senate district 17 told listeners he couldn't afford MNSure.
Lang said:
. . .I've talked to a lot of people door-to-door, and what they're always saying, that's one of their big main concerns is health care has become so expensive, I can't afford it.
I know for myself personally, I can't afford the MNSure program. It would . . . (laughs) It's as much as my mortgage payment. The deductibles are outrageous. I can't afford it. There's no way I can go with it.
Here's the clip:
The cry to the heavens about expensive health care insurance came during a Kandiyohi County Fair forum earlier this month. One can listen to the whole debate here (along with those for the Minnesota House candidates for 17A and 17B).
We grew worried that Andrew Lang and his family might become homeless from having to pay for both "MNSure" and that mortgage, but further investigation revealed that Lang, who works as Supervisor of Parks for Renville County, receives health insurance benefits from his employer (Lang's wife also works for the county). A friend who works in a non-union supervisory position in the county said that the employer-provided insurance for "management" is very good.
One has to wonder if Renville County supervisors' insurance is close to AFSCME union members working for the county receive under their contracts, negotiated by Council 65. We dipped into a few of those for Renville County workers and found this language for health insurance benefits across the county:
Bluestem is all for members of all branches of the military--including the National Guard--receiving quality health care insurance. Our friends who serve are ready to make to ultimate sacrifice--and short of that, spend months away from their families and friends. Health care is the least we owe them.
While county employees aren't asked to make the same sacrifice as those serving in the armed forces, those we know work hard and take pride in helping their communities, so we don't begrudge them the benefits they receive. Indeed, we don't like the race to the bottom that's happened to private sector workers' benefits that in part triggered the need for health care reform.
What we don't have sympathy for is a wannabe lawmaker copping fake empathy about the cost of insurance. Lang should be honest about his own circumstances.
The West Central Tribune reported that the forum "drew a sparse crowd at the fair but was broadcast on KWLM." Let's hope those listening or downloading the audio online apply critical thinking tools to Lang's "feels" about the cost of policies obtainable from private insurance companies in the MNSure exchange.
Photos: Andrew Lang, via the Republican Party of Minnesota (top); screengrab from one of the AFSCME Council 65 contracts with Renville County (bottom)
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The Republican Seniors of Minnesota host representatives of the organization, ACT! For America on Tuesday, April 5 at the Richfield American Legion, 6501 Portland Avenue.
Debbie Anderson and Clare Lopez will make a presentation on Islam, Shariah and jihad. Also appearing will be candidate for state senate in District 51, Victor Lake, who will tell his story of immigrating from Soviet Uzbekistan.
Republican Seniors is a long-established group of Republicans aged 50-plus.
****DEBBIE ANDERSON and CLARE LOPEZ are representing ‘ACT! For America’, an American political organization founded in 2007 working to build a nationwide volunteer chapter network that trains citizens to recognize and help prevent criminal activity and terrorism in the United States while preserving civil liberties protected by the U.S. Constitution. They have over 300,000 members and 890 chapters. Their topic will be: “What is Islam, Shariah, Jihad and How They May Affect Minnesota”. [bold in original]
Given the effort of Republican State Chair Kenneth Downey and other Republican to make the Republican Party a more inclusive organization, we're surprised to learn of this program--and the presence of a Republican candidate on the bill. The Minnesota Republican Seniors is an official affiliate of the Republican Party of Minnesota
In the radio interview, Lopez told Ochsner that she had spoken earlier in Grand Rapids, Minnesota. But that's not all she said.
Clare Lopez, the vice president of the Center for Security Policy and a national security adviser to Sen. Ted Cruz’s presidential campaign, told a Minnesota radio program yesterday that parts of Minneapolis have become “no-go zones” where the police “don’t go” and are letting Sharia law take hold.
Lopez, speaking on the “Ox in the Afternoon” program about supposed “no-go zones” in Europe, said that “we’ve got them in America, at least in the beginning stages.”
“In Minneapolis, for example, places where the police don’t go because they know they’ll be attacked, have been attacked in the past already, and places where the police know that Sharia is being practiced,” she said.
Last year, Family Research Council President Tony Perkins similarly claimed that neighborhoods in Minneapolis had become “no-go zones” where authorities had allowed Sharia to become the law of the land. This prompted Rep. Keith Ellison, who represents parts of Minneapolis, to invite Perkins to tour the city and see for himself. Perkins is now a prominent supporter of Cruz.
“No-go zones, well we’ve got them in America, in the beginning stages,” said Lopez during her appearance on “Ox in the Afternoon,” a radio program. “In Minneapolis, for example. Places where the police don’t go because they know they’ll be attacked, have been attacked in the past already, and places where the police know that Sharia is being practiced.”
Minneapolis begs to differ.
“This is Islamophobia, pure and simple. Of course, our police serve every part of the city. There is no part of our Minneapolis that the police, residents, and visitors should avoid,” said Mayor Betsy Hodges to The National Memo in response to the claims.
Radio host Ochsner ran for Minnesota State Senate in a special election in 2005; he was defeated by DFLer Tarryl Clark. Although his guests may tend to be conservatives, the leadership of St. Cloud's #UniteCloud are often guests as well.
Bluestem Prairie was unable to determine which venue or organization hosted Lopez's appearance in Grand Rapids, MN.
Photo: Clare Lopez, via YouTube.
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On Tuesday, Religious Right activist Bradlee Dean appeared on “The Real Side with Joe Messina,” where he criticized “the homosexual industry, or lobby, in America” for going to “war with Scripture.”
Dean also had a message for “radical” gay rights advocates: “Those radicals need to be lawfully dealt with because they are radical, they mean to divide and conquer, they mean to make war against real Christianity.”
“I’ve yet to find a situation where a homosexual could actually verify the fact that they were the victim of someone actually hating on them,” he said. “I have yet to see it.
Dean struggles after street ministry teams disband
Dean gained national attention in 2011 when he questioned President Obama's faith in a prayer delivered while serving as guest chaplain for the Minnesota House. The prayer was redacted and then-Speaker Kurt Zellers ordered a do-over for that day's session opener.
Later, Dean unsuccessfully tried to sue Rachel Maddow, MSNBC and local Minnesota reporter Andy Birkey for defamation after they reported remarks delivered on his radio show.
The 2013 and 2014 990 reports for Sons of Liberty posted online by Citizen Audit document the decline in the non-profit's revenues since the end of the street teams. Contribution and grants went from $899,202 in 2012 to $740,311 in 2013, then sank to $411,426 in 2014. (It's also possible that large donors departed from the scene).
Photo: On Facebook this week, Dean posted a photo of himself and his children walking on Hollywood Boulevard. We cropped out the kids for privacy sake (and don't link to the Facebook post), but Bradlee's flaxen ponytail and ballcap are unforgettable. Is he about to have that big break in a Netflix original series or just on a family vacation?
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At a mid-October meeting in the Granite City, Governor Mark Dayton scolded those who object to immigration and refugee resettlement, the St. Cloud Times reported in Gov. Dayton provides harsh criticism of racial tensions.
Those who object to refugees in their midst, particular refugees who are Muslims, have not been discouraged, with anti-refugee resettlement events taking place this week in St. Cloud and Burtrum.
Tonight at VFW Post #428, Times Guest Columnist AJ Kern will be sharing her insights. A good introduction to her views can be gained from the tone of the flyer above, her monthly columns and an interview today on Ox in the Afternoon.
At one point, host Dan “Ox” Ochsner asks Kern what Islamic country she grew up in, and she corrects him, noting that she lived in Iran for less than a year, during the rule of the Shah. A secular Muslim, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi ruled from 1941 until the Iranian Islamic Revolution in February 1979.
Concerned Citizens of Todd County hosts Thursday meeting
Information will be presented about following the money trail, about the secrecy of resettlement contractors, and the use of taxpayer dollars. The impact on local communities will also be discussed.
The meeting starts at 6:30 p.m., but visitors are encouraged to come early and enjoy a chicken or rib dinner for a fee. A small donation will be collected to cover expenses.
Unlike Kern's event, it's not clear who is speaking, but the anti-refugee agenda is clear, since refugee resettlement is framed as a process marked by "secrecy" with a "money trail" to follow. We're assuming the Concerned Citizens of Todd County is an ad hoc group, as we find nothing about it via Google or Nexis.
Photo: Bruno's Hub Supper Club. The food looks fantastic.
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Since we pay as much attention to talk radio as we do fantasy leagues or professional sports chatter on twitter, Bluestem's had to catch up on our reading about conservative radio personality Jason Lewis.
The Mercatus Center was founded and is funded by the Koch Family Foundations. According to financial records, the Koch family has contributed more than thirty million dollars to George Mason, much of which has gone to the Mercatus Center, a nonprofit organization.
Voters can also form an idea of Lewis's ideas by the company of those most comfortable with him. The Woodbury resident played a supporting role in an extended 2010 profile of the then-congresswoman in the Washington Post, Michele Bachmann is cool to mainstream media, and an increasingly hot property, serving as local guide to the WaPo reporter, who observed:
The man who has enjoyed the best and longest access to Bachmann is a sandy-haired, tanned 54-year-old who arrives at the Minneapolis studios of KTLK-FM to do his radio show in a golf shirt.
No figure was more instrumental in Bachmann's early political success than Jason Lewis. Although his show became nationally syndicated only a year ago, he has been a force in Minnesota for two decades, lacerating Democrats, centrist Republicans and conservative apostates. He is to Minnesota Republican politics what radio titan Walter Winchell was to New York politicians: a force capable of delivering migraines.
In his studio, he takes a seat now across from where Bachmann sometimes sits when she does the show. More often, he gets her on the phone. Having known each other for a decade, they are chummy on-air: A relaxed Bachmann doesn't receive uncomfortable questions, and Lewis, in turn, can steer her into intriguing discussions mainstream journalists can't.
She sounds liberated in Lewis's world. Recently, she meandered into a discussion of 2012 Republican presidential politics, taking veiled swipes both at former Massachusetts governor Mitt Romney ("What happened in Massachusetts is not a good thing for the state," she said in reference to the Massachusetts health-care plan approved by Romney) and John McCain ("We need to get a presidential candidate who is a constitutional conservative with guts. No substitutes this time").
Lewis expresses sympathy with what he views as Bachmann's special burden in dealing with "the establishment media," a force with waning clout, Lewis believes. "They have Michele in their cross hairs," he declares. "They used to be the media gatekeepers, but no more." . . .
Lewis, who regarded her as an up-and-comer with uncommon political backbone, threw the full weight of his show behind her [state senate endorsement challenge]. "I was leading the charge to get more House crazies elected," he remembers, grinning. . . .
Our favorite Lewis gem so fair, however, is the prescient prediction by Republican pundit Sarah Janecek in Ellen Tomson's November 12, 2000 profile in the St. Paul Pioneer Press, "Conservatively Speaking, Local Talk Show Host Jason Lewis Likes Being Right in Minnesota" (via Nexis):
. . ."He's much too conservative for me," says Sarah Janecek, a Republican and a co-editor of Politics in Minnesota newsletter. "But there is a place for people who try to be ideologically pure like Jason. It's good radio and gets people going." . . .
Some observers believe he may declare himself a candidate again some day. Janecek, for example, gauges his interest in public office by the congratulatory letters he sent delegates to the Republican National Convention in Philadelphia.
"I was an alternate, and he sent me one," Janecek says. "I also got letters from Tim Pawlenty, Norm Coleman, George Bush. So, he was in that group. People don't send those letters unless they are interested in something."
. . .Lewis can't rule out the possibility of a run for public office.
"You never know," says "Mr. Right." (Nexis All-News, accessed 10/12/2015)
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With a hotly contested September 29 DFL primary in Minnesota House District 3A to fill the vacant seat created by the loss of Representative David Dill to cancer in early August, at least one independent expenditure radio ad has hit the airwaves, a hit piece against Bill Hansen from the conservative group Minnesota Jobs Coalition.
We'd checked with the Board by email and received this response from Executive Director Gary Goldsmith:
Minnesota statutes do not provide for additional reporting for party units or political committees or funds in a special election, so for this year we will see only the year-end reports.
Only candidates in the election have additional reporting, so we won’t know anything about independent expenditures until the year-end reports.
Gary
Gary Goldsmith Executive Director Minnesota Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board
As we noted, the independent expenditure spending for the Northeastern Minnesota special election has begun. Blois Olson noted in Thursday's Morning Take:
HS3A: The Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund announced an independent expenditure radio advertisement in Minnesota House District 3A against Bill Hansen. Via the news release, VERBATIM: "Bill Hansen has tried to campaign as a moderate but the reality is Hansen is the only candidate in District 3A who opposes mining projects like PolyMet. Hansen has twice been endorsed by DFL activists in the past and has been endorsed by liberal-environmentalist special interest groups," LISTEN: http://bit.ly/1Kiq28o
Or the irony of a well-funded Twin Cities-based ideological political action group funded by special interests ripping one DFL second-generation business owner for ties to metro special interests?
Tough call.
There's also the distinct possibility that many radio listeners will have no idea who the Minnesota Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund is--or where its money comes from. The nearest spending by MJC was $4,068.70 in the 10B Cayuna Range race against Joe Radinovich and a whopping $95,341.44 in 10A against John Ward.
And given the rules, the voters won't know who's tossing coin in the MJC pot until nearly two months after the election.
The Republican State Leadership Committee: This Washington, D.C.-based group invested heavily in trying to help Minnesota Republicans win back control of the state House, donating $355,000 to the Minnesota Jobs Coalition to spend on GOP House candidates. And while Republicans they supported in suburban areas of the state mostly lost, candidates in greater Minnesota won – giving the GOP the majority in the House.
The Minnesota Jobs Coalition: This group was among many conservative organizations that backed Republican House candidates. But what set it apart from the pack was its close work with the RSLC, serving as the primary conduit for the group’s money. Unlike the state Republican Party and other GOP groups, the Minnesota Jobs Coalition spent most of its money targeting candidates for the Minnesota House. After fine-tuning its messaging and microtargeting strategies early in the year, the group also invested its cash in races that were considered a long shot early in the election, forcing Democrats to match that investment . . .
If Tom Bakk is cheering the MN Job Coalition Legislative attack on an environmental-minded DFLer in his own senate district, he might have some chicken come home to roost, since the Republican State Leadership Committee has put his senate leadership on its to-do list for 2016. As Bluestem reported in MN Jobs Coalition Legislative Fund's biggest donor in flipping House vows to take Senate, that money is likely to be funneled via the Minnesota Jobs Coalition, given its prowess in 2014.
Can the pro-sulfide mining Rangers keep it together long enough to recognize that the enemy of their "enemy" is not their friend? With Dill--justly known as the brain of the outfit--passed on, we can only wonder.
Photo: Voters won't know who put the hay in the Minnesota Jobs Coalition's money barn--or any party or PAC loft--until February 1.
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For a full buffet of Loudon's fear-mongering (including commendation of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce for being all about the Benjamins and speculation that Senator Amy Klobuchar may be under the sway of secret foreign agents), we recommend a Youtube of Loudon's first visit to Minnesota, when he spoke to the Minnesota Tea Party Alliance Quarterly Event on June 17, 2015:
“Everything Obama does in foreign policy and domestic policy fits the communist playbook,” Loudon said.
He added that the only reason Republicans haven’t exposed Obama is because the GOP is also “complicit” in the progressive movement’s push for communism.
That must explain Tom Emmer's recent interest in normalizing trade with Cuba, not the opportunities for Minnesota's farmers to find new markets for all that corn and beans they're growing.
In April 2010, Loudon launched "KeyWiki," which profiles over 64,000 politicians and political activists from the United States, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, South Africa and other countries. KeyWiki accepts submissions from approved contributors only.
"We've got congressmen in there, 'peace' activists, labor unionists, black radicals, 'religious' socialists, 'greenies', left wing academics, Obama appointees and thousands of card-carrying socialists and communists," Loudon said in announcing the project. "In short, all the people who are dragging America down."
Of course, that guest list made Bluestem quiver with anticipation, since it sounded like every Facebook event we've been invited to since moving to the sylvan prairies of the Upper Minnesota River Valley.
Bluestem finds this to be a travesty--and hope our readers will rat out these dirty hippies. Send Javier's secret playbills from The Moth and the Fringe, as well as Wrong About Everything podcasts to KeyWiki.org (instructions here). While you're at it, create profiles for RINO fellow travelers Brian McDaniel and Mike Franklin.
The world needs to know what's been said. Meanwhile, on the off chance there's something in the water in Browerville and all of MN7, we're hoping people have had their wells tested.
Photo: Congressman Tom Emmer, communist dupe, via Facebook. Hold on to your pennies, capitalist tools!
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Sounds like something a guy who might be interested in running for governor might do huh?
Here's a screenshot:
A Brief History of the Fundraiser
Bakk, who has sponsored the fundraiser for eight years, first announced in 2008 that he was seeking the 2010 DFL endorsement for governor. He withdrew from the contest in March 2010. Since the fundraiser began before his ambitions flowered and has continued since he pruned them back, one suspects that Jeffers is simply reaching for an evergreen criticism of the Majority Leader.
Moreover, we must pause at the spectacle of a conservative libertarian objecting to a private charity raising money to feed the hungry at a part of Minnesota that Republicans do often tell us lags behind the rest of the stay. And with Christmas coming on, Jeffers' observation seems a big baa humbug.
Just a couple months ago, Leslie Rosedahl served as Senate GOP communications chief under state Senate Minority Leader David Hann, R-Eden Prairie. On Tuesday, she was down in the Capitol press offices promoting a cause for Senate Majority Leader Tom Bakk, a Democrat. Rosedahl now works as director of communication and grassroots advocacy for Lockridge Grindal Nauen. Part of her new job is to promote the annual Stock the Shelves food drive. Last year, Bakk’s event raised $110,000 for the Arrowhead Region Food Shelf. This year’s event is Thursday, Dec. 19, at the Liffey in St. Paul. There is a 3:30 p.m. private event for sponsors and a happy hour from 4 p.m. to 6 p.m. The suggested donation is $25. Democrats and Republicans are welcome.Star Tribune
Anything to the former statement? Minnpost's Joe Kimball had mentioned that "Many corporate sponsors helped present the event" but didn't name them. Fortunately, Hunger Solutions shares them in its own press release:
Presenting sponsors of the event include Ameriprise Financial, Thomson Reuters, Cliffs Natural Resources, and the Minnesota Trucking Association.
Gold sponsors include Goff Public, Minnesota Power, Twin Metals, Enbridge, Payday America, Minnesota Grocers Association, State Farm Insurance, Polaris Industries, and AT&T.
Silver sponsors include Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota, Dorsey and Whitney, Molpus Timberlands Management, Minnesota Nurses Association, Thrivent Financial, and Faegre Baker Daniels LLP.
Some of the sponsors in the list are players at the capitol with a clear agenda, while others--such as the Minnesota Grocers Association and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Minnesota--are both policy and food security players. Others--like the Minnesota Nurses Association, Minnesota Power, Twin Metals, Enbridge, Molpus Timberlands Management--also represent or employ many Arrowhead residents.
One can certainly understand their civic-minded engagement with this non-profit and this particular effort, which will help fund food shelves across the area. As one Jeffers friend comments, "Sometimes, people just do the right thing."
Here's the post and the entire set of comments; Dorothy Fleming is a well-known Republican activist, while Gretchen Hoffman is a former Republican State Senator who sought but did not receive the GOP endorsement for MN07 in 2012:
Payday lending reform and hunger
And Hunger Solutions itself does have its own legislative agenda, much of which Bluestem Prairie heartily agrees. Here's a summary of the 2014 agenda for Minnesota Partners to End Hunger, from Hunger Solutions website:
Raise the Minimum Wage: Raise the minimum wage from $6.15 to $9.50 by 2015.
School Lunch as a means to alleviate hunger for students-SF 146
Universal Free School Breakfast—Rep. Jerry Newton chief author: HF 1922
SNAP Policy/Healthy Food Access—bill to be developed
5% Campaign: The Partnership to End Hunger supports The 5% Campaign, a nonpartisan coalition of Minnesotans working to ask state legislators for a 5% rate increase for Home and Community Based Services (HCBS) in 2014.
Minnesotans for Fair Lending—reform payday loans
Agricultural Surplus: Move more surplus edible agricultural crops and ag commodities from fields to food shelves statewide, working with the six Feeding America food banks that serve Minnesota.
Closing the food gap for low income Minnesotans with limited mobility
Many of these admirable goals--like raising the minimum wage, creating farm-to-food-shelf programs and the 5% raise to care-providers--were accomplished last spring.
Hunger Solutions' 2015 legislative priorities are also admirable, though less ambitious: incentives for SMAP recipients to buy at farmers' markets, mobile food shelf programs, restoration of SNAP benefits to unemployed Minnesota adults without dependents, and expanded school breakfast.
Missing from the list? The payday loan reforms, and here where the story gets a bit more sketchy.
This is one of those baffling issues. Why is it so difficult to put tougher restrictions on an industry that seems to have a strong odor? Why does Minnesota continue to protect business practices numerous states outlawed and the Department of Defense condemned? Why has this issue become partisan, with virtually no Republicans supporting clamping down on the industry?
Or is it really that partisan, when you look at campaign contributions? . . .
Let’s take time out to deal with a rumor that floats around the Minnesota payday loan issue:
Brad Rixmann is founder and CEO of Pawn America, which owns Payday America. Rixmann also is a major player in Republican Party politics. He is a big donor. He was an honorary chairman of Tom Emmer’s gubernatorial campaign. . . .
But Republicans don’t control the Legislature — Democrats do. They could pass any bill on their own. Why don’t they?
Well, as long as we’re talking Rixmann donations, know this:
In 2013, Rixmann gave $10,000 to the DFL Senate Caucus, $5,000 to the DFL House Caucus, $500 to the 52nd Senate District DFL, and $4,000 to Gov. Dayton, according to the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board.
While the funds obviously didn’t buy Dayton’s or the House’s support, Senators might have some explaining to do about their fifth-largest 2013 individual contributor. Rixmann also gave the Senate DFL an additional $24,750 between 2006 and 2012, according to the CFPDB.
Understand, Rixmann was more generous with Republican causes. Still, his name is known — if not mentioned in caucus sessions — among DFLers as well as Republicans.
In Inside job? Payday lending reform spiked, Politics in Minnesota's Mike Mosedale reported that although both houses passed the bill, they were significantly different enough that the House would have to substitute and vote on the last-minute Senate bill. No vote was scheduled before the legislature adjourned.
Mosedale also noted the Rixman campaign contributions:
The CEO of Payday America, the state’s largest payday lender, Rixmann has also emerged in recent years as one of the most active big money donors on the Minnesota political scene. While both parties have benefited from his largesse, the bulk of Rixmann’s contributions have gone to Republican candidates and causes. He currently serves on the campaign finance committee for GOP gubernatorial candidate Rep. Kurt Zellers, R-Maple Grove.
To Minnesotans for Fair Lending, the coalition of religious groups and non-profits that pushed all session for the legislation, the failure of the House to take up the bill came as a surprise.
“We didn’t make it over the finish line,” said Brian Rusche, the lobbyist for the Joint Religious Legislative Coalition. “We were disappointed we couldn’t get some small reforms. But we did succeed in explaining the debt trap to the public, and [the] predatory nature of the industry.”
Since the Grow and Mosedale stories were published, Rixmann gave $15,000 to the HRCC (House Republican Campaign Committee), $4500 to the GOP Senate Victory Fund, and $2500 to the DFL Senate Caucus. (All links open to the reports pages for the committees; figures are taken from the pre-general reports. The interface for searching individual contributions to committees isn't working as we write this, so we only looked at legsislative caucus and state party reports).
Humming that Chieftains & Jackson Browne's Christmas song
Sometimes Hunger Solutions does just that. It was part of a coalition whose 2014 agenda included raising the minimum wage. That was accomplished, however much Senator Bakk's caucus had to be dragged and whipped to agreeing to the shape of the final conference committee report. The grocers association objected to raising the minimum wage, and yet the organization continues to give, to its credit. We don't see a quid-pro-quo relationship between the non-profit's public policy agenda and the contributions.
On the other hand, your mileage may vary on the merit of a politician soliciting the dollars of the payday loan industry to fund food shelves.
Photo: Canned goods at a Minnesota food shelf. Bluestem encourages all of our readers to donate to a local food shelf; those in Greater Minnesota can especially use cash that can be used to purchase food at greatly reduced prices at regional food banks.
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A reader in Northwest Minnesota who has been following our coverage of the red-hot Minnesota House race in District 2B brought an new radio ad to our attention.
In the ad, David Collins, Executive Director of the Hubbard County Regional Economic Development Commission in Park Rapids, endorses the endorsed DFL candidate. Here's the text from Sobieski's website:
Ad #9 Hi, this is David Collins. As a lifelong Republican who believes in limited government, the free enterprise system and gun rights, I urge you to support David Sobieski for House District 2B. Surprised? You shouldn’t be. Sobieski, a small business owner, veteran and fiscal conservative, not only reflects the values of our area, but he also understands that government and business must work together and not in conflict. Join me in supporting David Sobieski for House 2B. Paid for by the Committee to Elect David Sobieski.
Here's the audio of the radio ad, via Youtube (Collins is the person on the left in the still):
Businessman Steve Green is the GOP endorsed candidate in this race. David Collins, the Hubbard County Regional Economic Development Director, is the insurgent challenger. An insurgent challenger who is also endorsed by the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce and the NRA.
David Collins did not seek the endorsement though, so he is not going back on any promises made about abiding, which always helps. It also helps when you rake in almost three times as much in individual contributions as your opponent. . . . .
Our reader tells us:
The ad is causing quite a stir in the Park Rapids area, as David Collins is a well-known pro-business, small government Republican who in fact narrowly lost the GOP primary to Steve Green in 2012. His support for Sobieski is not sour grapes, but rather a result of frustration over Green's 'no' votes on projects his constituents (and the business community) wanted.
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In MN House district 2B DFL endorsed David Sobieski is trying to unseat the single term tea party Republican Steve Green. Green is proud of his record of 'no' votes, in spite of the urging of many of his constituents to support vitally needed projects in the District, according to a Bluestem source.
During a candidate forum held in Fosston MN on Monday and broadcast live over KKCQ radio in Fosston, Representative Green made the following remarks:
I know that people like to talk about the 2nd amendment rights like, like it’s your privilege to hunt.
Well, I got news for you, it’s not about hunting. It’s about protecting your family. It’s about protecting your country. It’s about being able to defend yourself. We have borders now on our southern borders in this country that are wide open. We don’t know who’s coming across. We’ve had our first beheading in the United States from radical Muslims. And, and this stuff is coming at us.
According to some of the news reports I’ve heard, these people now, have, have said straight out that they’re going to infect their own soldiers with Ebola and get them to cross the southern border. They’ve also said that when they get here they’re gonna hunt down and kill all the family members of the soldiers that are fighting overseas. We need our 2nd Amendment rights.
And we need a government that’s willing to stand up and defend this country. It’s one of its main purposes. It’s not; it’s not to give you a house. I hate to tell you that. It’s to defend you. It’s to get infrastructure in. And we’re failing in, the government is failing in the very places it’s supposed to be succeeding and it’s succeeding and growing bigger in areas that it has no business in.”
Here's the audio via a Bluestem Youtube:
As the reader who sent Bluestem the audio clip notes:
This was part of Green's closing statement at the forum Monday night . . . . I was astounded when I heard it, especially since he managed to combine gun rights, immigration, terrorism and Ebola into one gigantic steaming pile of fear mongering.
The Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee has named three Minnesota House races to its watch list.
Those races are among 69 the group, which works to elect Democrats to state legislatures, believes have the best chance of flipping from red to blue.
Targeted Minnesota races include:
Minnesota House District 01B – Democrat Eric Bergeson is challenging incumbent Republican Rep. Debra Kiel of Crookston.
Minnesota House District 2B – Democrat Dave Sobieski is challenging Republican Rep. Steve Green of Fosston
Minnesota House District 14A – Democrat Dan Wolgamott is challenging Republican Rep. Tama Theis of St. Cloud.
Kiel and Green won their races in 2012 by less than 4 percentage points. . . .
Screenshot: Steve Green in a 2012 debate.
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Via the Rochester Tea Party Patriots' enewsletter, an interview on a Rochester radio station with former congressman Gil Gutknecht, whom listeners are told took time out from his busy schedule to talk after a "Class of 1994" reunion in Washignton D.C.:
We're not sure who is pining for the Contract on America, but there you go.
Tim Walz defeated Gutknecht in a 2006 upset, and now few can spell his name.
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Minnesota House candidate Jim Knoblach's record went on trial in dueling radio ads that ran recently in the St. Cloud area.
Knoblach, R-St. Cloud, is challenging Rep. Zachary Dorholt, DFL-St. Cloud, in the Minnesota House District 14B race. The district covers east, north and central St. Cloud and Haven and Minden townships.
House DFLers got an early start to campaign advertising in late August with a radio spot touting Dorholt's record and criticizing Knoblach. Knoblach's campaign responded with an ad addressing some of the claims.
Here's a look at a few major points at issue in the ads — and at who's telling the truth or straying from it.
A point about a 2005 government shutdown is ruled "This claim is tough to deem true or false," while both sides on a point about Social Security are deemed true.
But Knoblach's response to charges that he voted to raise his own pay are ruled misleading. Sommerhauser writes:
Who voted to raise their own pay?: Knoblach voted to increase his own pay as a legislator.
Knoblach's counterclaim in his ad that "Dorholt voted for an even larger pay increase amendment" is misleading.
The House DFL ad started the exchange by blasting Knoblach for voting to increase his pay.
Knoblach voted in 1997 to increase lawmakers' pay by 5 percent. Knoblach said lawmakers hadn't had a pay increase in about 20 years when he cast the vote.
"It's like any other job. Occasionally there needs to be a pay increase," Knoblach said. "A 5-percent pay increase was reasonable."
Dorholt voted in 2013 for a constitutional amendment that would create a commission to set lawmaker pay. The amendment would have to be approved by voters in 2016 to take effect.
Knoblach said similar commissions created in other states gave big raises to legislators. And it's true some proponents of the Minnesota amendment have hinted they think lawmakers are underpaid.
But there's nothing in the constitutional amendment Dorholt voted for that would increase lawmakers' pay or require the proposed commission to do so.
"We've spent $100 million on a website that doesn't work," Knoblach said.
Dorholt didn't shy from defending the health care law. He said it will help many of the patients with whom he works as a mental health counselor.
"People are getting quality care who had no care before," Dorholt said. . . .
Knoblach told the paper after the debate that he supported repealing the index on the new minimum wage. Lovely.
Sommerhauser also notes that DFLers are pushing in another race in the St. Cloud area:
The first-termer [Tama] Theis and [Dan] Wolgamott, a real estate agent and high school football coach, are the contenders in the House District 14A race. The area historically has voted Republican, but DFLers are optimistic they can make a play for the seat this year.
We'll be watching for developments in both races.
Photo: First-term HD14B legislator Zach Dorholt (DFL, St. Cloud).
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The organization has made a change in their program services and ceased street teams ministry fall of 2013. The street team ministry was the heart and soul of the daily outreach but in order to have a larger captive audience the radio and event ministry will be pursued stronger.
We're not sure how radio is a captive audience, though if Dean's still getting school assembly gigs, a case can be made for that definition.
And there's this expense for suing Rachel Maddow:
In addition to Bradlee Dean Smith, his wife and her parents, Midas Resources and Genesis Communications Network mogul Ted Anderson (who brings us Alex Jones) and Gun Owners of America president Larry Pratt serve on the Sons of Liberty board of directors. GCN distributes the SOL radio show.
The Dove television network will be carrying Bradlee Dean’s series My War beginning September 16, 2014. The series will continue over the course of several months every Tuesday at 8:30pm PST, with repeats at different times during the program schedule.
Tune in for more updates.
Bradlee Dean came to national attention when a prayer he gave as guest chaplain in the Minnesota House questioned Presiddent Obama's faith, and later when he unsuccessfully sued Rachel maddow for defamation for discussing what he said on his show.
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Much of Self-Created Hate Crime, a diatribe by toxic metal Christian rocker and radio talker Bradlee Dean, is lifted from other conservative sources without attribution or linkage.
We suspect even the most brazen eighth grade word thief would have put in a bit more effort than Dean does--and perhaps find more current examples to illustrate his point that victims of hate crimes are just all making this stuff up (which we must observe, is more than Dean him is doing).
Floyd Elliott, of Independence, Mo., told police that two subjects attacked him in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He said the attackers cut him in the stomach, branded him with a hot knife and attempted to carve the word “fag” on his forehead.
Investigators were suspicious about the report because the head carving was backwards, as if done while looking into a mirror. Later, Elliott admitted to police that the injuries were self-inflicted.
. . . Floyd Elliott, of Independence, told police that on Dec. 14, two subjects attacked him in the parking lot of his apartment complex. He said the attackers cut him in the stomach, branded him with a hot knife, and attempted to carve the word "Fag" on his forehead.
Investigators were suspicious about the report because the head carving was backwards, as if done while looking into a mirror.
Later, Elliott admitted to police that the injuries were self-inflicted. . . .
Dean uses this ten-year-old pilfered anecdote to claim:
It seems today that more often than not those that are decrying hate are the ones that are actually perpetuating it.
There is the famous contrived hate crime of Kerri Dunn at Claremont McKenna College. Dunn was scheduled to speak at a campus forum on racism. She shocked the audience by telling them that she had been the victim of a hate crime that very day. How convenient, or was it? Her car had been vandalized, its windows smashed, tires slashed. And profane, anti-Semitic graffiti covered the wreckage. The problem with her story was that two students saw her commit the crime herself. Dunn lost her job and also went to prison for lying to federal investigators and for insurance fraud. (She had claimed that $1,700 worth of items, including a laptop computer, had been stolen by the hate-crime bogeyman. These items were later found in a closet in Dunn’s home.) Oh, and by the way, she wasn’t even Jewish.
Dunn . . . was scheduled to speak at a campus forum on racism. During her talk, she shocked the audience by announcing that she had been — that very day — the victim of a hate crime. Ta da!
Her car had been vandalized, its windows smashed, tires slashed. And profane, anti-Semitic graffiti covered the wreckage. . . .
. . . Dunn lost her job, of course, and also went to prison for lying to federal investigators and for insurance fraud. (She had claimed that $1,700 worth of items, including a laptop computer, had been stolen by the hate-crime bogeyman. These items were later found in a closet in Dunn’s home.)
In Douglas County, Colorado, a lesbian couple called the police after they allegedly found the words “Kill the Gay” scrawled in red across their garage and a noose hanging from their front door.
Perhaps the women didn’t anticipate how seriously the issue would be treated, because nearly eight months later, with the full force of the FBI involved, authorities stated the women themselves were responsible for the acts. They were charged with both criminal mischief and false reporting, and one of the women, Aimee Whitchurch, faced an additional charge of forgery (See the TV news report here.) . . .
Back in October, a lesbian couple in Colorado called the police after they allegedly found the words “Kill the Gay” scrawled in red across their garage, and a noose hanging from their front door.
. . . Perhaps the women didn’t anticipate how seriously the issue would be treated, because nearly eight months later, with the full force of the FBI involved, authorities are saying the women themselves may have been responsible for the acts. They have been charged with both criminal mischief and false reporting, and one of the women, Aimee Whitchurch, faces an additional charge of forgery.
. . .Watch Fox 31′s full report, below:
At no point does Dean link to the source material, use quotation marks or any of the standard devices ethical writers use to attribute authorship. Minnesotans can thank heaven that at least the fiery conservative preacher isn't running for the United States Senate or anything..
Dean is best known for unsuccessfully suing Rachel Maddow for defamation and for a prayer as a state house guest chaplain in which he questioned President Obama's faith.
Photo:Bradlee Dean.
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But social conservatives are fighting back on the local level, and it's not just in Minnesota House races in Eden Prairie and Wright County.
On the group's blog Monday, the Seventh Congressional District Republicans began promoting a talk on Saturday, August 9, by conservative activist and publisher Dave Racer, "Constitutional Christian Citizenship in a Post Christian America."
While the CD's post lists the Northwest Minnesota Conservatives as the sponsor of the event, with a Pennington County BPOU picnic following, an ad in the August 2, 2014, Thief River Falls Times and Northern Watch, a local newspaper, lists the Northern Minnesota Conservatives and the Pennington County Republican Party as co-sponsors of the event.
A screenshot of the ad is posted above. The twitter profile for the contact person for the event who's noted in the CD7 MNGOP blog post, Barb Chervestad, describes her as "Northwest Minnesota TEA Party Patriots Pennington County Republicans Chair, MN CD7 Deputy Chair." The Republican Party of Minnesota's web page for the Pennington County BPOU also lists Chervestad as county chair. The "Northern Minnesota Conservatives" appear to be the rebrand of the NW Minnesota TEA Party.
May preview of the presentation: Godwin's rule & Christian men like Dave should rule
The May 28, 2014 podcast is quite a listen. Racer and Ridgeway lament the decline of the American republic, including the departure of Mozilla co-founder CEO Brendan Eich after employees and Ok Cupid objected to his contribution to California's Proposition 8 banning same-sex marriage.
But there's more. At the 7:58 minute mark, Ridgeway and Racer begin this exchange:
7:58: Ridgeway: It's pretty serious stuff in this country and the trouble we're in. So how can we begin to turn the tide in this nation and begin to be a salt and light instead of a society that's just falling apart?
Racer: I think there's great value in understanding the foundation and principles of America and then having the confidence once you understand--as John Adams said that our constitution is only fit for a moral people and morality is, you know, a Biblical term, it's not a--well, I suppose there's a secural morality but it's one of those things that's chasing clouds without any definition, which is part of why we're in trouble anyway.
When you really understand the history, the rich history of the Christian worldview and its effect on America and you look at today and then you say, "what does the Bible say?"
The talk I'm going to do is kind of historical and it's biblical, it's got, it's like a history teacher, a Constitution teacher, who's then going to scripture and become a lay preacher for a little while. you know, what does the scripture say about how Paul and Dave and Brian and everyone else should act and react in society.
And then we're going to skip to some contemporary issues and Paul, you know I've been writing and speaking on health care for nine years. Well, I'll tell you, there's nothing more personal than when you're sick and you're life is threatened and if you want a doctor there who's detached and could care less about your faith and looks to pure science or do you want a --would you rather have a Christian who is a scientist doctor, you know, working on you who has compassion and love and understands the value of human life.
And in a sense that's a demonstration of the difference between government by science and reason discarding faith and government by faith that employs reason and a lot of it has to do, it sounds very complicated but it isn't.
Speaking of this, Obamacare is based on a concept called the "complete life system," Paul, and that system says that you should calculate the monetary value of human life and if you're younger than 4 or older than about 55, and you have complications physically, it is not practical. This is the complete life system, it's not practical to invest money in you, that money should be reserved for people who are going be more productive in society.
Ridgeway: Dave, it's Nazi Germany, a Nazi Germany philosophy. it's terrifying.
Racer: Absolutely, absolutely, and that is, that is, if you will, the post-Christian concept of the delivery of Medicare, of medicine and that is the foundation of Obamacare, and so I am going to demonstrate that in this talk tomorrow night. I've done this talk once before, I've done another talk on the Christian history of the United States. This is kind of like the second talk in that series.
But as Racer contninued to describe his presentation to Ridgeway on air in May, it's clear he had wearied of just talking about the Affordable Care Act.
Racer:.. .I'm tired of just talking about Obamacare. I want to talk about the philosphical underpinnings and what it means to be a believer in this society, how you and I are both brothers in Christ and we have every right in this country to also be the rulers of this nation, in fact we have the responsibility to be, and I guess that's the bottom line in my message.
Ridgeway: It would be nice to get some fresh new leadership that really has biblical values.
At the 11:33 mark, Ridgeway asks for questions from the audience, then the men discuss the need for Christian to get politically involved and vote, as well as talk to their neighbors about the marriage-based two parent family as God's plan for America or that protecting human life is God's plan for each of us. They can not be afraid of saying that because its the truth and influence their society and be salt and light"
Never mind that bit in the United States Constitution and that in the Minnesota state Constitution about voters getting to elect their representatives (or that it doesn't seem to have been God's plan via those mechanisms for Pacer to "rule" in Minnesota). Or the fact that the Constitution clearly states that there should be no religious test for office.
Dave Racer knows that it's his God-given right to be a ruler, and he's ready to share that with Northwestern Minnesota Conservatives and Republicans, as they boldly organize to turn back the rising tide of American culture in Pennington County.
Minnesota's Seventh Congressional District is considered in play in the contest between Blue Dog Democrat Blue Collin Peterson and Republican challenger Torrey Westrom.
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It's no wonder then that Annadale's toxic metal preacher, radio talker and failed anti-Rachel Maddow litigant is in a total panic about America.
At News With Views (Where Reality Shatters Illusion), Dean writes in SPITTING TOWARD HEAVEN:
Last week we witnessed four denominations emboldened by this criminal, “sodomite-advocating” administration, joining the ranks of the apostate in America. Namely, the United Church of Christ (that claims 1 million members with about 5,200 congregations), the Presbyterian Church USA, the Moravians, who voted to ordain gay clergy, as well as the Pentecostal Church International (1 Timothy 4:1). . . .
This is spitting toward Heaven; and rest assured, they (along with whoever tolerates their crimes) will fall on their own backs. . . .
When it comes to the issues at hand concerning our culture, we can clearly see that the majority of professed Christians are guilty of contributing to America’s state of moral anarchy (which they so boldly proclaim), proven by their support of antinomianism and the effeminate lifestyles they perpetuate. . . .
It is revealing that these “churches” are “coming out” and exposing “what” and “who” real Christians have always known them to truly be: counterfeits that open doors wide to the gates of hell.
Side note: This is nothing new. It reminds me of an evil king named Jeroboam in 1 Kings 12:31, who “made priests of the lowest of the people, which were not of the sons of Levi.” These appointed priests were not ordained or appointed to stand in the place of or as God’s ministers, by God. Yet, there they were because of an evil king (a man) who usurped himself above God and His Law. (By the way, Barack Hussein Obama has appointed over 225 radical homosexuals, lesbians and transvestites to governmental positions.) . . .
Since it's been awhile since our editor took those theology extension courses, Bluestem had to review the meaning of "antinomianism,' which we vaguely recalled as having something to do with taking the belief in salvation by faith alone yo an extreme.
The hereticaldoctrine that Christians are exempt from the obligations of moral law. The term first came into use at the Protestant Reformation, when it was employed by Martin Luther to designate the teachings of Johannes Agricola and his sectaries, who, pushing a mistaken and perverted interpretation of the Reformer's doctrine of justification by faith alone to a far-reaching but logical conclusion, asserted that, as goodworks do not promote salvation, so neither do evil works hinder it; and, as all Christians are necessarily sanctified by their very vocation and profession, so as justified Christians, they are incapable of losing their spiritual holiness, justification, and final salvation by any act of disobedience to, or even by any direct violation of the law of God. This theory — for it was not, and is not necessarily, anything more than a purely theoretical doctrine, and many professors of Antinomianism, as a matter of fact, led, and lead, lives quite as moral as those of their opponents — was not only a more or less natural outgrowth from the distinctively Protestant principle of justification by faith, but probably also the result of an erroneous view taken with regard to the relation between the Jewish and Christiandispensations and the Scriptures of the Old and New Testaments. Doubtless a confused understanding of the Mosaic ceremonial precepts and the fundamental moral law embodied in the Mosaic code was to no small extent operative in allowing the conception of trueChristian liberty to grow beyond all reasonable bounds, and to take the form of a theoretical doctrine of unlimited licentiousness. . . .
. . .it is not always an easy matter to determine with any degree of precision how far certain forms and offshoots of Calvinism, Socinianism, or even Lutheranism, may not be susceptible of Antinomian interpretations; while at the same time it must be remembered that many sects and individuals holding opinions dubiously, or even indubitably, of an Antinomian nature, would indignantly repudiate any direct charge of teaching that evil works and immoral actions are no sins in the case of justified Christians. The shades and gradations of heresy here merge insensibly the one into the other. To say that a man cannot sin because he is justified is very much the same thing as to state that no action, whether sinful in itself or not, can be imputed to the justified Christian as a sin. Nor is the doctrine that goodworks do not help in promoting the sanctification of an individual far removed from the teaching that evil deed do not interfere with it. There is a certain logical nexus between these three forms of the Protestantdoctrine of justification that would seem, to have its natural outcome in the assertion of Antinomianism. The only doctrine that is conclusively and officially opposed to this heresy, as well as to those forms of the doctrine of justification by faith alone that are so closely connected with it both doctrinally and historically, is to be found in the Catholicdogma of Faith, Justification, and Sanctification.
We hope that clears things up for readers; it will certainly tempt Bluestem to scrutinize our neighbors here in Chippewa County --especially who follow doctrine espoused by those heretics Luther and Calvin. Like these guys.
Dean's kvetching about fems is pretty old school homophobia. However, we suspect that he maybe totally original in linking changes in church policy, deliberated by membership and clergy, to both Presidential appointments and antimonianism Whatever the case may be, we'll hazard a guess that Obama's appointees were selected on the basis of prior job performance (works) and not faith alone.
Dean has also produced an hour and nineteen minute YouTube about spitting, an endless screed about teh gay., We only lasted through about a half hour, but perhaps readers will have more stamina and stomach for it. It opens with a mashup of video from a pro-equality for-profit t-shirt company:
We must confess that we haven't had much time to commit to Dean, given that there's a four-way Republican gubernatorial campaign going on, nor are we sure we swallow anything Dean's producing.
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This weekend, “Understanding the Times” host Jan Markell spoke with Minnesota conservative activist Marjorie Holsten about Common Core, which Holtsen claims contains sex-ed material so graphic that it actually violates obscenity laws in several states.
The only reason schools would teach sex-ed, Holsten explains, is that educators are playing the long game in trying to increase the number of Democratic voters: “People say to me, why would they teach such awful things to our children? If you go deep down and you connect those dots, you see that when children are desensitized to sexual things, that affects their ability at a later date to bond with a spouse. And so if you have somebody who can’t bond, they’re not going to have a stable marriage. When you have unstable, broken households, how do they vote? Democrat. So this has a very evil underlying intent.”
Holsten has been lecturing against Common Core for months at Minnesota Tea Party meetings across the state. Here's a video of her presentation last fall for the Rochester Tea Party Patriots:
Photo: As the picture illustrates, Holsten is urging folks to support endorsed Republican U.S. Senate candidate Mike McFadden against Senator Al Franken.
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Jesus Christ may have famously said in Matthew 23 that the way to heaven is through serving the "least of these" among us, but on Monday's Sons of Liberty radio broadcast, toxic metal Christian rocker Bradlee and wife Stephanie Dean preached stereotypes about American Indians in order to bash all poor Americans as actually wealthy.
Pointing out that poor Americans own appliances--the "WalMart Effect" of cheap goods, while decent housing and essential services remain out of reach--has long been a standard trope employed by the right to bash poor Americans.
But it's rare for the Christian right to single out the improverished living conditions of Dakota and Lakota people living on reservations in South Dakota, while trotting out stereotypes about alcohol and tobacco, to ridicule all poor Americans.
Here's a transcript of the exchange, which took place about 44 minutes into the broadcast, and the audio of the segment:
BD: Nearly two-thirds, 63.7 percent, have cable or satellite television--
SD: You know, I have to--
BD: That's how poor America is--
SD: I have to say this, you know, we've done a lot of high school assembly programs in South Dakota and in South Dakota, you drive and you see, you know, especially among Native American nations, you see lot of these mobile homes and they'll just be the trashiest looking house and they just won't look good at all, but I notice, you see these really really bad-looking houses with the satellite smackdab on the side of the house--
BD--Oh yeah--
SD:--So it's like they've got these rundown houses--
BD: --Or cigarettes hanging out of their face--
SD: --And they've got these dishes--
BD: --Oh yeah--
SD:--These satellite dishes--
BD:--Or they're walking out of the liquor store with the 24-pack, these are the poor people--
SD:--I think you can afford what you want to afford--
BD:--Their groceries are paid for--
SD: --Exactly--
BD: --And if that's not good enought for you, friends, they're out there gambling--
SD:--Exactly--
BD:--Buying these little cards to see if they can win the big lottery, right? Let me go back...
Bradlee Dean first gained national notoriety when, as a guest chaplain at the Minnesota House, he questioned President Obama's faith in his prayer. He later unsuccessfully sued Rachel Maddow for defamation when she played a tape of part of one of his radio broadcasts.
Photo: Sons of Liberty radio personality Stephanie Dean, who was judging on our neighbors in South Dakota.
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But via Freedon Outpost, we learn that Bradlee Dean--who first gained national notoriety when, as a guest chaplain at the Minnesota House, he questioned President Obama's faith in his prayer--will continue to soldier on in his holy war on Maddow, regardless of what the courts say.
In the latest news, Dean is continuing the fight against MSNBC and talk show host Rachel Maddow, in which she slandered him on national television, claiming that he was calling for the execution of homosexuals. He took it to court and months later chose to move his case to federal court, resulting in the judge overseeing the case declaring that before the case could move, Dean would have to pay MSNBC attorney's over $24,000. He appealed, and just last month the appeals court sided with the judge in the case. Now, Dean is determining how to proceed. . . .
As far as Judge Zeldon's decision that Dean pay Maddow's attorney's a ridiculous amount of money for work that would easily transfer over into the federal court case, Dean says that he will not be paying it.
"I don't mind paying for the lawsuit to bring Maddow and MSNBC to court, but I'm not going to pay for justice," Dean said. "I'm not going to pay a judge because she cannot distinguish between what is right and what is wrong."
So far, Dean says that he is not only considering pursuing the federal court case, but is also considering an individual lawsuit against Rachel Maddow. . . .
We're not sure what the next step in Dean's legal quest, but we'll let you know when we learn about it.
Photo: Bradlee Dean, right foregound.
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,We haven't written much about Annandale toxic metal preacher Bradlee Dean much recently because he's been carrying about going to California to preach the Gospel Of Bradlee to "Rock Stars."
Boring.
This week, Dean appears to be avoiding the wrathful winter here with God's frozen people in Minnesota by conducting a swing through southern states.
While traveling through Memphis, he stopped at the site where Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. was assassinated, then popped off a couple of tweets that confirm the judgement of Matt Labash's 2006 Weekly Standard article, What Would Jesus Rap?, Matt Labash wrote:
. . . He is also a gold-plated conspiracy theorist who will readily hold forth on the mysterious plane crashes of Paul Wellstone and John Kennedy Jr., how Oswald didn't act alone, how O.J. Simpson might've been framed ("He's driving down the freeway, all of the sudden there's this helicopter on his truck--how convenient!"), and how the moon-landing was faked in a television studio. We disagree so vehemently on this last point that he starts polling his assemblies on the subject just to settle the dispute. To what should be the chagrin of us all, apparently about 35 percent of public school students and teachers believe Neil Armstrong deserves an Oscar for his star turn in that NASA movie. . . .
Dean tweeted:
Just left the Loraine Motel in Memphis Tennessee where Martin Luther King Jr. was shot in April 1968
The notion that James Earl Ray was framed by a conspiracy was first promoted by an attorney Ray hired in his appeal. From the New York Times obituary of the lawyer:
Ray grew disenchanted with Mr. Kershaw after he persuaded Ray to be interviewed by Playboy magazine and submit to a lie-detector test for the article. The results indicated that Ray was lying when he said he did not kill Dr. King and that he was telling the truth when he denied he was part of a conspiracy. Playboy said the results proved “that Ray did, in fact, kill Martin Luther King Jr. and that he did so alone.”
The last straw came when Ray learned that Mr. Kershaw had accepted $11,000 from Playboy. He fired Mr. Kershaw and replaced him with Mark Lane, a lawyer, author and conspiracy theorist.
Great stuff, Bradlee.
Bradlee Dean gained national attention when he questioned President Obama's faith in a prayer delivered as a guest chaplain for the Minnesota House; the prayer was redacted from the House record. He later unsuccessfully sued Rachel Maddow for defamation when she played part of his radio broadcast on her MSNBC cable show.
Photo: The iconic shot of the King assassination.
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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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