edited by: Sally Jo Sorensen,
Minnesota Editor
Representatives from Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s administration defended the governor’s decision to pay his faith-based office coordinator out of a license plate fund for veterans during a legislative hearing on the issue on Thursday. But legislators criticized Pawlenty’s use of inter-agency agreements to pay his [...]
Metro Weekly:
Photo: Jon Collins
Despite an audience sprinkled with supporters, a bill that would have made it possible for undocumented immigrants to receive driver’s licenses was tabled in the state House Thursday.
The House author, Rep. Karen Clark, DFL-Minneapolis, said she chose not to advance the bill because [...]
SD45 as usual put on a great forum last night. Republican Governor candidates Tom Emmer and Marty Seifert faced off in Plymouth. The moderator for the event was a complete let down, but luckily the candidates were skilled enough to get their messages out anyways.
There was some under handed behavior [...]
Seifert: …[Minnesotans] want strong managers to come in with innovative ideas.
MinnPost: What kind of innovative ideas?
Seifert: Using the private sector for government-service delivery. Reform. Downsizing government, just like the private sector has done.
Really, Marty? That’s all you’ve got?
As a liberal, I [...]
Sen. Al Franken met on Thursday with leaders from several of Minnesota LGBT advocacy organizations, who “applauded” Franken’s work on LGBT issues, including his work towards repealing the military’s ban on openly gay and lesbian servicemembers and his support for the Employment Non-Discrimination Act and [...]
Well, that was fun. Having slogged through all of the MN GOP’s Anti-Rybak talking points, I think I’ve found a few recurring themes:
1. Rybak raised some taxes and fees to cover revenue lost from Pawlenty’s cuts. He did this to maintain services such as trash hauling, city lighting, and street [...]
The Senate last night passed the second General Assistance Medical Care (GAMC) bill on 50-17.
The first bill was vetoed by Gov. Tim Pawlenty, and an override attempt in the House failed.
Area senators voting for the bill: Betzold,
Chaudhary, Doll, Erickson Ropes, Foley, Gerlach, Koch, Limmer, Metzen, Pariseau, Robling, Rummel, and [...]
I walk under ladders. I don’t throw spilled salt over my shoulder. At Hennepin County Medical Center (HCMC), where I work, we have a few pervasive superstitions. If someone ever says the word “quiet,” all hell will break loose; if you say a former [...]
It turns out that political contestants are occasionally critical of their competitors. The MN GOP has chosen to highlight two such cases where a fellow DFLer said something not so nice about Rybak. (Apparently, the MN GOP has gotten over their “Rybak’s a Green Radical” beef long enough to use [...]
And they spelled her name wrong. Will Bachmann call for an investigation of White House Brief? [...] Despite the fact that many Republican legislators long have been critical of "big-spending DFLers," most Republicans likely will oppose spending cuts proposed by DFLers to [...]
The unallotment case: The Supreme Court's options, and what the rulings would mean
By Eric Black | Friday, March 19, 2010
The Minnesota Supreme Court can go three ways with the unallotment case. Depending on which option the justices settle on, the impact on [...]
The unallotment case: The Supreme Court's options, and what the rulings would mean
By Eric Black | Friday, March 19, 2010
The Minnesota Supreme Court can go three ways with the unallotment case. Depending on which option the justices settle on, the impact on [...]
In Rep. Ellison’s district, the health care reform bill will:
Improve coverage for 358,000 residents [...]
The Walker Art Center design blog
TORONTO, Canada — In Europe and parts of North America, the image of a Muslim woman with a veiled face is increasingly the trigger for anxious debates about national identity.
[...]VILNIUS, Lithuania — It may not be on the level of Uganda's draconian anti-gay legislation, which applies the death penalty to some homosexual relations, but Lithuania this month enacted a law that observers are calling worryingly homophobic.
[...]
Rep. Michele Bachmann has missed about four times more votes than her colleagues Rep. Keith Ellison, a Democrat, and Rep. Erik Paulsen, a Republican, on the House Financial Services Committee, her only committee assignment. Three quarters of votes at which Bachmann wasn’t present happened [...]
How about an open thread for all things NOT related to the Princess of Wrong?
Discuss at will.
[...]
Back when Wham! was topping the charts, something happened that no one cares about in 2010:
EVERYBODY LOVES RAYMOND?
As Reporter Covering Downtown Council, Rybak Proposed To Downtown Council They Create Position Which He Would Fill. “He began his career at the Minneapolis Tribune in 1979 and left the paper, then renamed [...]
Rybak has taken PAC money at a lower rate than his GOP competitors, but that’s not the story the MN GOP is pushing:
RYBAK’S BROKEN PROMISES ON CAMPAIGN CASH
2001 Rybak Promised Not To Take PAC Money; Now Rybak Rakes In PAC Money. “Rybak version 2001 scorned contributions by political action committees. [...]
The Campaign Finance Board decided that Rybak screwed up and ordered him to reimburse his mayoral campaign with some funds he was using for his gubernatorial campaign. So he did.
RYBAK SLAMMED BY CAMPAIGN FINANCE BOARD
Rybak Ordered To Reimburse Mayoral Campaign $26,500 After Using Funds To Advance Gubernatorial Ambitions. “Minneapolis [...]
Could someone who campaigned for a 3-time Democratic US Senator actually be a member of something called the Green Party? That sounds radical:
Rybak Sought Green Party Endorsement In 2001. “Minneapolis’ Green Party failed to endorse a candidate for mayor at its convention Saturday at the North Commons Community Center. Seeking [...]
Earlier this evening, a quesiton popped into my head that perfectly illustrates the insanity of the Democrats’ health care legislation.
For months, Democrats have excluded the Medicare/Doc Fix from their health care legislation to get the CBO to say that their health care legislation reduces the deficit. People living outside the [...]
Earlier this evening, a quesiton popped into my head that perfectly illustrates the insanity of the Democrats' health care legislation.
For months, Democrats have excluded the Medicare/Doc Fix from their health care legislation to get the CBO to say that their health care legislation reduces the deficit. People living outside the' [...]
It was hard to get excited about Al Gore as a candidate in 2000, since he worked so hard to distance himself from Clinton while at the same time doing little to explain the differences between himself and George W. Bush:
Ultra Liberal Rybak Initially Supported Ralph Nader In 2000. “R.T. [...]
RYBAK IS WAY OUT OF THE MAINSTREAM
Even Liberal Columnist Conceded Rybak Backed Plan To Confiscate Majority Of Handguns “Radical.” “Start with the headline: Bouza says he’d confiscate majority of handguns. In a year in which DFL politicians running for governor and the U.S. Senate have been almost free of interesting [...]
This afternoon, I got an press release from Tony Sutton, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota. Here’s what his statement said:
“Today’s vote by the Democrat controlled Senate refusing to consider a resolution sponsored by attorney and state Sen. Julianne Ortman opposing ObamaCare is shameful. Minnesotans deserve to know [...]
This afternoon, I got an press release from Tony Sutton, the Chairman of the Republican Party of Minnesota. Here's what his statement said:
"Today's vote by the Democrat controlled Senate refusing to consider a resolution sponsored by attorney and state Sen. Julianne Ortman opposing ObamaCare is shameful. Minnesotans deserve to know" [...]
The MN GOP digs up a resolved issue:
Rybak Later Returned Campaign Cash From Facilitator. “Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak will return contributions made to his campaign last year by the $175-an-hour facilitator hired by the city to help him and City Council members develop good working relationships. … [Linda] Houden, of [...]
A brief world news roundup for 19 March 2010.
United States & the Americas Hindustan Times – As David Coleman Headley (49), the Lashkar-e-Tayyeba (LeT) operative accused of scouting potential sites for terrorist attacks in India, prepared to plead guilty in a Chicago court on [...]
Minnesota is one of only four states nationwide which has not experienced a rise in unemployment in any month since May 2009
Minnesota's Department of Employment and Economic Development announced on Thursday that the state's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate for February held steady at 7.3 percent for [...]
This is a little thin on context:
Rybak Brought In $175 An Hour Facilitator To Help City Council Members Trust One Another. “Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and the new City Council sat down for more than three hours Thursday morning in an attempt to ease the lingering bitterness from the previous [...]
- 'After Health Care, Immigration' from The American Prospect.
- Political Animal on the challenges of creating and moving the HCR legislation.Democrats were also told they needed to do all of this in the face of unanimous and apoplectic Republican opposition, far-right [...]
Photographer / Artist:
Sheila Regan
Carrie Feldman, who since November has been held in an Iowa jail for contempt of court for refusing to testify in a grand jury, was released today, March 18, [...]
Again, the MN GOP focuses on the “how much” rather than on the “why”.
Rybak Spent $180,000 To Promote City Tap Water. “The city of Minneapolis is spending nearly $200,000 to sell something that would seem to sell itself: tap water. … Tap Minneapolis is the city’s new web site, [...]
Millions, billions, trillions - what's the difference? They all sound the same. And if some of my college students are an indication, they simply do NOT understand the difference among the three.
Words matter. I have two suggestions for everything we say and write about the obnoxious deficits the Democrats are [...]
Caption:
Minneapolis pothole, as shown on SeeClickFix.com
In a normal March, Randy Williams would see a car or truck come into Grand Wheeler Sinclair in St. Paul with pothole damage once a week or so. [...]
Again, the MN GOP relies on proposed spending rather than what ended up in the budget or was actually spent.
RYBAK’S WASTEFUL & OUT OF CONTROL SPENDING
Rybak Spent $500,000 On 10 Water Fountains. “During the Aquatennial festival that begins Friday, the city plans to unveil concepts for 10 artist-designed drinking [...]
Editor's note: Although Minnesota politicians and many businesses and out-of-work miners on the Iron Range support Polymet's sulfide mining proposal, environmentalists strongly oppose it. The 714-page Draft Environmental Impact Statement (DEIS) has been issued and the MN Department of Natural Resources and the [...]
Again, the MN GOP relies on a proposal to attack Rybak rather than an actual fee or tax.
* “A new street lighting fee proposed by Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak last February has hit the desks of a City Council that will need to make an election-year decision on whether to [...]
Click Here to read the full plan.
Dear Friends,
As I travel across Minnesota, the same theme continues to arise – government spends too much, wastes too much and has too much power. Minnesotans are hungry for real solutions to the pressing issues facing our great state. A fair criticism of [...]
Leymah Gbowee brought Muslim and Christian women together in 2002 to end the 14-year civil war in Liberia that tore their lives to shreds. She was the keynote speaker at the Women's Day Celebration 2010 at Coffman Union at the [...]
Again, the MN GOP relies on a proposal rather than an actual fee or tax to attack Rybak:
* “With their sales slumping, Minneapolis business owners are chafing under the potential burden of two new city fees, including one that the City Council may impose today. That proposal would charge the [...]
