(Another excellent "Democratic Visions" segment produced by DFL Volunteers in SD42! - promoted by TwoPuttTommy)
The Nation Magazine named Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie America's most valuable state official and Politics in Minnesota honored Mark as politician of the year.
Leah Solo, Mark's campaign manager sent out an email alert today which in part says:
"Mark Ritchie is a great leader and a great Secretary of State. But we cannot take this race for granted. We're in a race against big money and opponents willing to make baseless accusations. Some of the biggest GOP donors in the state have maxed out to our opponent, and with the new laws, we're up against corporate money.
We expect the attacks against Mark to be frequent. We expect them to be fabrications of reality. We expect them to be largely fact-free." - Leah Solo
Readers should refer their Republican friends to Mark's conversation with Tim O'Brien on the current edition of Democratic Visions. We've posted it on YouTube:
Al Franken, Keith Ellision, Chris Coleman and assorted legislative dignitaries joined the raucous MAK rally in the 95 degree heat in front of the venerable Fitzgerald Theater before the MPR DFL Debate hit the airways.
To get comments from a bunch of people go to:
http://theuptake.org/2010/08/0...
This page has links to the other stories on the debate. Trivia question: What did I ask Dave Kelliher?
While Keith Ellison posted a press release regarding the flotilla attack, nothing so far has appeared on Franken's website. This is an open letter to Al Franken:
Sen. Franken,
I am disappointed that you, Sen. Franken, didn't offer a press release expressing outrage over the massacre of innocent civilians in international waters by Israeli commandos. If Israel can commit such acts with impunity, what use are international laws? If US politicians like yourself, Sen. Franken, refuse to raise their voices against an illegal occupation, an illegal siege, and an illegal blockade that are causing misery, illness and death for thousands, what good is proclaiming yourself to be a "progressive"? If Iran had committed this crime, you, along with your colleagues in the AIPAC-dominated US Congress, would scream foul; but when Israel commits war crimes and crimes against humanity, you are silent. I recall another time, two years ago, when you and Norm Coleman stopped your contentious campaign and stood together before a crowd in St. Louis Park--to declare your undying support for Israel as it bombed Gaza. I also recall that you supported the Iraq war for several years before finally coming out against it. When you were elected I remember thinking, Is this really the best the progressive community can do? If you remain silent now, Senator, in the face of this latest Israeli aggression, including the inhumane siege of Gaza, you have forfeited any right to call yourself a humanitarian, a progressive, or even a decent human being.
Thank goodness for Al Franken. But we almost didn't get him into office. We almost had Norm Coleman as the junior senator for Minnesota.
Here's why that happened, and why everyone needs to pay attention to what happened:
The Franken campaign, for reasons I will never understand, failed to connect with new voters who supported President Obama.
At my Saint Paul precincts polling place, I took my time when I showed up to vote. I was watching what went on. What I saw told me why the Franken/Coleman race was so close, while Obama swept the state.
I was at the polling place for about an hour. In that time, at least a third of the voters were registering at the polling place. It was clear that they had not voted before...ever. Some were black, some were Hmong, some were hispanic. To a person, once they got their ballot, they were in the voting booth for less than 30 seconds.
They voted for President Obama, then ran their ballot through the scanner. They didn't vote for any other candidate or any other issue...only for Obama.
The Franken campaign did not align itself with the Obama campaign and make it clear that voting for Franken was as important as voting for Obama. I saw no campaign ads stressing that.
I mentioned this to a few people in the Franken campaign, long before the election, but the concept seemed foreign to them. They couldn't visualize anyone casting just a vote for President. Surely, they thought, these new voters would vote for DFL candidates down the line.
The results show that not to be the case. Campaigns need to pay attention to the details. They need to get every vote. Nothing else will do.
We almost had Norm Coleman as our Senator, ladies and gentlemen. Imagine!
If you're involved in a campaign, keep this in mind. How many people will go to the polls and vote for the Governor's race and stop there? Don't make Franken's mistake and miss those votes. We need to work together. It's not just the campaign you're working on...it's progressivism across the board.
What has happened to the Democratic Party of Paul Wellstone? Where have all of the truly bold and visionary progressives gone? Are they hiding under a rock or does the Party Machine not let their voices be heard via the corporate media lest they piss off the corporate sponsors of the Democratic Party? Yes, that is correct, I said Corporate Sponsors of the Democratic Party. After reading the following article, http://www.salon.com/news/opin... I must say it only reinforces the beliefs I have had for the last 12 months.
The Democrats don't care about their base unless it is 9 months before the next election. Then, on cue, they start up with the populist and "working families" rhetoric. After the election is over and they have won, it is right back to "business as usual". They slide up to the lobbyists and continue to do the work of Big Business all the while giving us patronizing quips, gentle pats on the head, and nice, warm fuzzies.
Take, for example, the recent Al Franken rally in Minneapolis. The room was packed and people were cheering for a bill that FORCES PEOPLE TO BUY A PRODUCT THAT IS SO BAD, THE GOVERNMENT HAS TO FORCE PEOPLE TO BUY IT. Unfortunately, it is sadly ironic and masochistic. I am sure there were quite a few people who were questioning the bill, as am I, but you could tell the MoveOn.org, SEIU, HealthCareForAmericaNOW, TakeActionMN, and OFA people were all boldly and vigorously cheering for not only Al Franken but also the bill that the President and Congress will eventually pass.
How is that possible? Why have we, the people of the Democratic Party, become so gullible and misinformed that we are willing to become slaves to the medical insurance industry. If you question that statement, I ask you; what other option is there in the president's plan? How else do I obtain medical insurance except through a private medical insurance company?
I truly believe that if President Bush was offering this very plan the Democratic faithful would be up in arms and frothing at the mouth. However, since someone from our party is in power and is offering the plan, we sit back quietly and say while nodding our head, they must know better.
Bullshit! They don't know better because the facts show that they have sold us out for the campaign contributions by the medical insurance industry, the pharmaceutical industry, the medical device industry, and almost every other sector of health care. I can't believe I just said that. The Democratic Party has sold out the working people for Big Business. Disgusting and pathetic!
Therefore, I forewarn you with great respect and remorse before this legislation becomes law. KILL THE HEALTHCARE REFORM BILL!! KILL THE BILL!! Otherwise, the Democratic Party will no longer be the party of the People. Instead, they will join with the Republicans and be the party for the Power.
Angry Minnesotans gathered on a frigid January day to thank Senator Al Franken and 5th CD Congressman Keith Ellison for their past support on health care issues and to plead with them to wake up the rest of the Democratic members of Congress. Since spine transplants seem out of the question, the people ask our representatives to stand up to the lobbying money flowing neck deep in Washington and act in the interests of American citizens.
Congress seems dedicated to acting as the WalMart of legislation; cut prices on all special interest bills. We have one senator, Shelby of Alabama, blocking all presidential appointments to force more pork for his state. Now thanks to the Supremes, corporations can participate freely in the bidding for self-serving gravy train bills.
I must admit that I felt that the health care bill had gotten to the point of doing more for the profits of health INSURANCE companies than helping people with health care. However many good people still think the bill has merit. I, like Big E, feel not so joyful this season.
We've all compromised on many fronts but the bill we have before us is real reform and deserves our support," said Sen. Franken. "The bill deserves our support because Minnesotans and Americans can't wait any longer."
"That will tie up their staff in knots." -- Michele Bachmann, 12 December 2009
And with Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive, you know - KNOW - that's not the only outrageous stuff she spewed.
Like, this:
"That's literally what it felt like yesterday. It felt like I had mud on my face, blood and battle scars. It just felt awful."
"Then Barney Frank snuck through a bill that no one had even heard of before. Thirteen hundred pages long, it's the takeover of the financial services sector. And I know that this is hard to believe but this bill, in my opinion, is even worse that the government takeover of healthcare and worse than cap and trade."
"It is the worst bill because any financial transaction from writing a check to using a credit card - government is now in control, and the House passed it. It's the last vote that we took yesterday before I flew out of Washington D.C."
"That's right, not one Member of Congress read this bill, including me. And it isn't because for lack of not wanting to, or being too stupid to read the bill. It is impossible, because we didn't even hear about it until Tuesday and it isn't like we don't have a lot of other things to do. They're ramming bills through right now. It's almost like you'd think they want to destroy the country."
"It will destroy a million jobs at minimum, this one section of the bill dealing with derivatives, it will destroy at least a million. It's a massive government takeover of the economy. It creates an unelected Czar. This Czar has the power to set wages and set the wages of a bank teller in Anoka, Minnesota."
"They will choose the most radical leftist option every time and then they'll twist and break arms to get what they want to get."
And while those comments by Bachmann MotorMouth Overdrive are certainly outrageous, the most outrageous - IMNSO - is a Congresswoman advocating that supporters interfere with the efficient operation of fellow elected official's staff. That quote, once again:
"That will tie up their staff in knots." -- Michele Bachmann, 12 December 2009
GOPers are always claiming "government doesn't work" - and here Bachmann is, advocating that her supporters ensure it can't.
That, Ladies and Gentlemen, is your tax dollars -- NOT at work.
(I think the word for "twisty and turny" is TORTUOUS -- but the play on words is nevertheless a stroke of genius, as is the use of the simple "if a=b and b=c, then a=c" logical construct on the poor staffer. Great work! - promoted by Joe Bodell)
Some time ago I wrote of my mission to get my Congressman and our two Judiciary-Committee-member Senators to say they supported the prosecution of torturers.
I made considerable progress yesterday. I called the Washington office of Senator Klobuchar, and after some discussion with a staff member, she told me the Senator does support enforcement of the federal laws currently on the books. I then asked if there were federal laws against torture on the books. She agreed there probably were. Then I asked her to take that monumental next step -- just like from "All men are mortal. Socrates is a man." to "Socrates is mortal." -- to the Senator supports the prosecution of torturers. I was so, so close, but the leap was just too much for her.
Torturous progress, but progress nonetheless. Next time, though, I'll probably get a different staff member and have to start over from scratch.
And when did I turn into a fine Franken fan? It was from speeches where Senator Al Franken equates net neutrality with free speech. Senator Al Franken gave a keynote address at the Future of Music Policy Conference in Washington, DC today.
And you may remember that during a live webcast of a 2007 Pearl Jam concert, AT&T killed the audio for a few beats. Turns out the missing lyrics were criticisms of President Bush.
I've been on a mission. Since the release of the torture memos in April, I have been trying to find out if my Senators and Congressman support the prosecution of torturers. (My efforts with Sen. Franken started the day after he was sworn in.)
Rep. Ellison was on the House Judiciary Committee until January, 2009, and both Senators are now on the Senate Judiciary Committee. So it seemed like an issue they probably would have a position on. I have emailed them all and made numerous phone calls.
My question was a no-brainer: Does the Senator/Congressman support the prosecution of torturers? Staffpersons at all three offices told me they were not aware of any position the Senator/Representative took on this issue, so they could not answer my question one way or the other. From Sen. Franken's office, I also was told he was new on the job, so he didn't have a position yet. I suggested the issue was not all that new, and it probably had come up at some point in his campaign. Nope.
So I tried to make the question even easier. Does the Senator/Congressman support the prosecution of bank robbers? of rapists? of white collar criminals? of people who sell drugs to children? To my surprise, the staff people were consistent. They were unaware of the Sen./Rep. having taken positions on any of those, so they couldn't say one way or the other. On one call, one person in Sen. Franken's office did go out on a limb and say he thinks the Senator would support the prosecution of bank robbers. I was making progress.
Eventually, I was given the name of a staffperson in Rep. Ellison's office to email with my question. She responded by email as follows: "Congressman Ellison and our office do not support and are against the use of torture."
Duh! I responded that of course he doesn't. But the question is what do we do about it. And I repeated my original question about prosecutions. This elicited the following response: "Congressman Ellison, as a matter of principle, supports lawful prosecution of crimes and wrongdoings, including tortures." I had finally hit pay dirt!
Thank you, Congressman Ellison.
No such luck with the Senators. Here is Sen. Klobuchar's first and only response so far:
Dear Chuck:
Thank you for sharing your thoughts on the memoranda on torture that were released by the Justice Department's Office of Legal Counsel (OLC). I appreciate your input on this important subject.
As you know, in April 2009, the Justice Department released OLC memos that were drafted between 2002 and 2005. These memos authorized CIA and other U.S. intelligence personnel to use certain coercive techniques in the interrogation of terrorism suspects. I supported the release of these memos as an important step forward to restore America's image and leadership in the world.
At the same time, I have supported President Obama's recent executive order, which requires that all CIA interrogators follow only those interrogation techniques approved by the Army Field Manual. We need to strike the appropriate balance between protecting our security and reaffirming our values, and I believe the President is helping us do just that.
Again, thank you for taking the time to contact me. One of the most important parts of my job is listening to what the people of Minnesota have to say to me. I am here in our nation's capital to do the public's business and to serve the people of our state. I hope you will contact me again about matters of concern to you.
Sincerely,
Amy Klobuchar
United States Senator
And my not so polite response:
Dear Amy,
If "one of the most important parts of [your] job is listening to what the people of Minnesota have to say to me," you're not doing well at all. My email to you talked about the failure to prosecute for war crimes, not about releasing memos or not committing war crimes in the future.
As Jonathan Turley has pointed out, waterboarding is no more a "coercive technique in the interrogation of terrorism suspects" than bank robbery is an aggressive technique in the withdrawal of money. DAMMIT, IT'S A CRIME!!
For heaven's sake, you were a prosecutor. If one of your defendants had said, "Well, I needed 'to strike the appropriate balance between protecting [my] security and reaffirming [my] values,'" you would have asked him or her what planet he or she was from. Nor would this have been a defense for those we've prosecuted for waterboarding.
You have implicated yourself in the cover-up of a war crime. It is becoming ever more obvious why Democrats no more than Republicans want to investigate and prosecute these alleged criminal offenses. I am ashamed of my country and of you.
Sincerely,
Chuck Turchick
I have heard nothing from Sen. Klobuchar since that May 8, 2009, email to her.
As for Sen. Franken, his office has taken down my email address at least three times during my phone calls to his Washington office. So far, no response.
This is not a particularly difficult question I'm asking. Why do I feel like I'm pulling teeth?
For so long, our Supreme Court has failed to protect the civil rights of our constitution, has overridden the laws of the land and given every advantage to corporations over people. And finally, I have a Senator who speaks for me, who defends civil rights and and defends the constitution. Cheers for Senator Franken!
(I would love if we continuously track all of Minnesota's representatives. This is a great start! - promoted by Grace Kelly)
A Take Action Minnesota meeting on health care in Bloomington included comments from 4 Minnesota members of Congress.. The actual statements follow. They offer little surprise. Amy waffles and wobbles, Al doesn't know yet and Kline and Paulsen are congenitally opposed to anything that would benefit all people. Read on:
Klobuchar
"I am open to that plan, but I'm not demanding that that plan be in there because I want to see what the proposal is that we put together and how well it suits our state of Minnesota. I have proposed in the past doing something like the federal health care plan which is a series of private plans under the umbrella of the federal government. So it is not just simply a public plan; it is a publicly administered plan with private plans under it."
Sen. Amy Klobuchar on May 20, 2009 on Minnesota Public Radio's Midday Program
Congratulations to Senator Franken and the huge numbers of volunteers. With 312 votes, every single effort counted! It has been a long road. The Big E and I have worked years now on documenting Norm Coleman to try to fill the gap in mainstream news coverage. We covered the senate endorsement race. Many people doorknocked, called and then covered the recount. The effort that went into this election of Senator Franken is huge.
Here is the best summary of the story done by the Uptake:
