Thursday night, August 19, the FCC held a rare public hearing on net neutrality. The issue is whether the FCC will be allowed to regulate and control the Internet for the public good or turn it over to Comcast, Verizon or whoever has the most magic beads. This is an issue of bandwidth and access, especially wireless. There is no issue about the FCC controlling content, that is not their charter. However if GE, Halliburton, NBC or whoever controls the distribution speed, you can bet that content control is right behind.
Complete coverage of hearing and interviews with participants is at : http://theuptake.org/
This is a serious issue for all of us, it has the possibility to be a disaster. It was duly ignored Strib and the rest of the MSM. Why? Their masters do not want net neutrality in any form. NBC, Verizon and the handful of the powerful are drooling over being able to take over the internet, make it a huge money fountain and control content.
(Say, Gregg (Steinhafel; Target CEO)? Randi wants to talk to you! And you'd better - the last thing you need is a "Where's Roger?" deal, with YOUR name on it.... - promoted by TwoPuttTommy)
Eden Prairie grandmother and activist Randi Reitan brought husband Phillip and son Jacob to Target HQ at noon, Friday, Aug 6, with a bunch of vocal supporters. Randi rattled Target's cage last week with a video showing her reversing a Target shopping trip and cutting up her Target card. That video reached over 250,000 views as of today. Today's HQ video:
Target's contribution of $150,000 to Minnesota Forward, a right wing group supporting Tom Emmer, a guy who's against almost everything.
The LGBT community acted swiftly and the boycott spread across the country. BAM, the group protesting Arizona SB70 immigration nightmare joined in support of the boycott. MoveOn.org adopted it nation wide and promoted individuals delivering boycott letters at high noon today.
Al Franken, recovering satirist, delivered the keynote speech at Netroots Nation 2010 in Las Vegas last week. A compilation of Al's one liners (once a satirist, always so) is at: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v...
Al offered hope for progressives, but also a challenge to get off our behinds before it's too late. He concluded by announcing that Netroots Nation 2011 would be in Minneapolis.
The DFLs of Senate Districts 61 and 62, the DFL Latino Caucus, and the DFL Senior Caucus, are presenting a forum on immigration reform at noon this Saturday, July 17. It is being held at the CWA hall at 3521 East Lake St., Minneapolis and is being moderated by State Senator Patricia Torres Ray of SD62.
Panelists will include
Javier Morillo of SEIU
Mohamed Jibrill of Hennepin County social services
Hussein Samatar, DFL endorsed candidate for school board district 3
Alberto Montserrate, DFL endorsed candidate for school board district 5
Not only has Arizona's law brought immigration to the forefront as campaign season heats up, but the Congress appears ready to take up the issue. We intend to inform the audience well enough that they can talk about the issue intelligently when meeting voters. Especially if you plan to help with grassroots campaign efforts, we encourage you to come. Updates will be posted at http://www.sd62dfl.org, and questions can be directed to me in either the comments, or eric at celticfringe.net.
A couple days ago, South Minneapolis resident Stacey Burns was perusing Facebook when she saw a photo of a billboard near her home advertising USI Wireless, the city-wide wi-fi service. The billboard, and 12 others around town, depict a woman wearing a tacky fur coat and excessive makeup who many viewers believe resembles a prostitute, with the large words 'Fast, Cheap and Satisfaction Guaranteed.' As someone who has had to deal with johns in her neighborhood on a regular basis, Burns wasn't amused.
Burns, who has bought internet access from the company since 2008, called USI Wireless on Wednesday morning, and after essentially being brushed off, contacted Minneapolis City Council member Gary Schiff. Schiff contacted USI, but his calls were not promptly returned.
Then Schiff noticed the insignia of the billboard's owner, and so called Clear Channel, which had previously donated billboard space for a city anti-prostitution campaign. Clear Channel was more responsive; within half an hour of being contacted, the billboard company promised to remove the ads the next day.
Meanwhile, Burns had posted the billboard image on her Facebook page, and several of her friends re-posted it, creating a significant amount of feedback to several councilmembers, including Elizabeth Glidden, who contacted USI's founders directly to express her displeasure.
The next day, USI Wireless told MinnPost that they were the ones responsible for making the call to remove the ads. Operations manager Sam Turner claimed that the company "didn't mean to offend anyone. Our response to the overall situation is we didn't, and don't, feel that the spokesmodel from the ad looks like a prostitute. We've seen way worse."
They may have seen worse in their ad mock-ups. When I asked USI to remove the billboards, Turner sent me a draft of an ad that was similar in tone to the ad that Schiff got pulled, but instead of a woman, it featured a man with a handlebar mustache reminiscent of the Deuce Bigalow movies, carrying a similar headline: 'Fast and Cheap.' After being told that ad was not much better, Turner noted that they were switching to a campaign involving a baby with a pipe in his mouth. "Put this in your pipe and smoke it," the ad invites. If these are the ads they approved, imagine which ones were rejected...
And while most commenters seemed to be on Burns' side, some disagreed. A father of three who was willing to answer further questions but declined to be identified for this story noted that the purpose of billboards is simply to catch your attention, nothing more, and as such, the USI ads were extremely effective. He and other commenters also expressed concern that the City was getting too involved in what they see as a free speech issue. They allege that the city is overstepping it's bounds by pressuring a company with a government contract to change it's business practices.
Though those arguments are fair, and while it's true that a City officials' call to the billboard company was what ultimately brought the ads down, the company also became acutely aware that some of their loyal customers were deeply offended by the images. They also now know about the billboard company's decency policy.
Burns is happy that the billboards are being removed, but feels that there is more work to do. The company has been using the same images in ads in bathrooms, and City Council President Barb Johnson has said she had a similar ad placed on her door handle at her home. Burns says she hadn't noticed any USI Wireless ads before, and clearly, doesn't want to see these ads again. But if she does, "I'm thinking of printing up stickers with stats about the harm that human trafficking causes, to alter the purported bathroom ads with."
Contrary to initials reports, the Minneapolis DFL endorsing convention for school board did not refuse to endorse non-white candidates. The Star Tribune made the erroneous report, and the misinformation was flittering around Twitter. Fortunately the Star Tribune corrected the story before it went to print.
Nonetheless, I just want to get out the correct information, alleviate the anger of misinformed people, take the wind out of the sails of conservatives who think the suddenly can claim liberals are the real racists who won't give minorities a chance. There were two non-white candidates endorsed. I'll be generous and suggest the confusion came from people who did not check any facts, but assumed the contested endorsements were the only endorsements. The other two were uncontested and therefore apparently ignored, but in fact we picked two impressive candidates.
Alberto Monserrate was endorsed in District 5, which is my district. He's originally from Puerto Rico, and it was announced at today's DFL state central committee meeting, where I personally first learned of the mid-reporting, that he's the first Latino endorsed for municipal office in Minnesota.
Hussein Samatar was endorsed for District 3. According to Mayor Rybak, who said this while introducing Samatar, if he wins, he will be the first Somali elected official in the country.
I'm not looking to get into the weeds of the DFL's affirmative action policy, whether we elect enough people from underrepresented groups, or the ongoing disputes over the endorsement process. I just wanted to correct this false report that we refused to consider minority candidates. If we shared the bigoted tendencies of the right, we wouldn't have nominated another candidate named "Hussein".
UPDATE:
I've been informed that Alberto Monserrate would not be the first Latino elected to municipal office in Minnesota. I don't know if the person who told me was wrong, or if I heard "Minneapolis" and then forgot. I'm guessing the latter. Anyway, the point was that it wasn't true the Minneapolis DFL refused to endorse someone from an underrepresented group.
While I'm updating, I heard this evening of a Republican congressional candidate in Idaho who embarrassed himself by saying Puerto Rico is a country. I'm sure you all know, but just in case you don't, and feel free to pretend you always knew and keep your former misapprehension to yourself, Puerto Rico is not a country. It is a US commonwealth. Puerto Ricans are native born citizens. So yes, Montserrate is a Latino, but not an immigrant. It shouldn't matter and probably doesn't to anyone hanging out here, but just to save anyone looking ignorant, there you go.
It was a great morning to attend the Minneapolis DFL City Convention at Patrick Henry HS in North Minneapolis. It was gloomy and it rained. It certainly got nicer as the afternoon wore on, but ... hey ... they'll all be out soon.
Nobody won endorsement on the first ballot, but Dick Mammen and Jenny Arneson garnered endorsement on the second ballot.
Dick Mammen is running for a city-wide seat and Jenny Arneson wins the 1st District seat representing Nordeast. Congratulations to both.
Tony Webster tweeted the convention adjourned without any other endorsements in the city-wide races:
UPDATE
Tony Webster also created an excellent chart which I missed on the first reads of his tweets. Thanks for the chart, Tony (click to view a larger version):
This diary started as my post on a thread on the Minneapolis Issues list discussing Minneapolis' ever increasing taxes. The fiscal problems of Minneapolis are shared with hundreds of cities statewide that are dealing with the double whammy of deflating property values and diminishing state aids. Fortunately most cities aren't dealing with this crisis in dysfunctional ways like Minneapolis is. Two Putt Tommy suggested I cross post this here as a diary, so here it is:
Actually, they haven't so much killed us with taxes as they've helped
kill off a lot of our tax base. We started this century with a rapid
inflation of the housing market fueled by too easy credit and in some
cases outright white collar crime. The home builders responded by
building over 100,000 new homes in this metro area, while the frenzy
drove home prices on the Northside far above their real value- $200,000
for a century old dump with no basement or central heating was not unusual.
Minneapolis government made barely any response to that inflation of
the housing market, despite warnings that the bubble was about to burst.
Not surprising, given that the bubble increased property values (on
paper, at least) which resulted in more property tax revenue for the
city. To make matters worse, our mayor cut the police force in the
middle of Minneapolis worst ever crime wave. Those 100,000+ new homes in
the outer suburbs were bought largely by residents of inner suburbs.
That left a lot of empty homes and apartments at more affordable prices
in those inner rings suburbs, and the Northside emptied out as residents
found better deals and safer neighborhoods in places like Golden Valley,
Robbinsdale, Brooklyn Center, etc.. Tenants having moved on and the
housing market bubble burst, landlord after landlord went into
foreclosure, leaving the Northside a landscape of abandoned buildings
with the occasional stalwart resident.
We are now left with a devaluating tax base city wide, and
particularily on the Northside. In fact, a lot of our tax base isn't
just devaluated, it's gone for good as the city races to demolish vacant
homes. In the still saturated housing market, the vacant lots left
behind will stay vacant for decades while the city still has to maintain
the same miles of streets, water and sewer lines, etc. to serve the few
remaining residents.
So it's obvious the city is in a crisis largely of it's own making. So
what is the city's response? Tax increases for a start, which will only
drive more residents out of the city. Down at city hall, it appears that
desperation is in charge. Oblivious to the saturated real estate market
and reduced buying power of the citizenry, Minneapolis is desperately
trying to add tax base. We currently have thousands of qualified home
repairers who are unemployed, and many have lost their own homes to
foreclosure. They'd jump at the chance to buy a vacant Northside home
for less than $50,000, rehab it, and make it their payed for home for
life. But Noooo... The city seems to be doing everything possible to
discourage these DIYers, clinging to the fantasy that if they just tear
that vacant house down a $200,000 new home will magicly appear to be
taxed. The height of this absurdity is seen in Hawthorne, where
developer Metro Plains LLC has barged into our neighborhood and demanded
the right to built a 4 story apartment complex in a neighborhood of 1
and 2 story homes and shops. In fact, the sliver of land they want to
build this behemoth on is so narrow they'd probably need a variance to
build a single family house. And all financed by tax credits for
wealthy investors that ordinary taxpayers like you and I aren't even
eligible for. And our city is so desperate for tax base that they sent a
CPED official to our Hawthorne Housing Committee to try to sell us
this insta-slum development. BTW, said CPED official admitted that the
city wants to upzone the Lowry Avenue corridor to allow more of these
behemoths. Again, we taxpayers are forced to support a city that in it's
mismanagement is so desperate to get tax base that it will ignore
neighborhood's wishes, setback requirements, and economic reality.
Seven decades ago, in the middle of the depression when new
construction was at a standstill, Minneapolis permitted my family of
DIYers to double the size of and put a basement under their tiny
Northside home. My grandparents got to live in a lovely home with no
mortgage and Minneapolis is still collecting taxes seven decades later
on that home. If the city's current politician's had been running the
show, that little house would have been torn down and there'd be a tax
forfeit vacant lot in it's place.
I've put a lengthy post up at my blog expressing my disappointment over the fact that there will be no District 1 School Board forum before this year's endorsing convention. Well I know School Board isn't mentioned much around here, I still feel it's a vitally important position. I'm just using my diary here as a way to vent my disappointment over the fact that one of the candidates decided it wasn't in their (or the people the represent) best interest to have an opportunity to hear them debate the issues at hand. Schools across the state will be facing a rough couple of years, and I think these candidates owe this opportunity to the people they will be endorsed by. You can read my entire rant at http://bit.ly/9XBbqx, if it helps, you can also watch Wellstone's 'Where's Rudy' ad as well.
The Intergovernmental Relations Committee of the Minneapolis City Council, a committee consisting of the entire city council, voted unanimously this morning, April 29th, to support the Minnesota Health Plan! The resolution places the Minnesota Health Plan on the city council's legislative agenda. The legislative agenda identifies the city's legislative priorities at the state capitol. Thank you to the Minneapolis City Council members, especially IGR Committee Chair Elizabeth Glidden, for bringing this forward. Thank you to all of our supporters who made calls or sent emails on short notice.
In case you missed the news too, the Duluth City Council passed a similar resolution on April 12th by a vote of 6-3!
The good news continues for the MN Health Plan...
Visit the Minnesota Universal Health Care Coalition website to stay updated --
http://www.muhcc.org/
A few hundred chanting peace marchers formed up at 3rd the Cedar on the West Bank and took a long route to the Bedlam Theater. Body counts at these events are always a challenge, but my guess is around 300 - 350. Lots of young people, 4 Avatars, and a medley of chants and songs.
Video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v... RawStory to ThinkProgress reports on the media fascination with tea baggers, ignoring the peace folks, so what else is new. http://thinkprogress.org/2010/... In Minneapolis the octogenarians and the teens marched arm in arm to ask for a better world.
While neither the news columns of the StarTribune nor the idiot box's news shows ever mention the phrase, a small group of us are demanding accountability for torture. Virtually every weekday since Nov. 12, 2009, we have conducted a daily one-hour vigil in front of the U.S. Courthouse, otherwise known as the Federal Building, in Minneapolis. B. Todd Jones, the U.S. Attorney for the District of Minnesota, has his offices in that building. Regrettably, Mr. Jones has forgotten we are a nation of laws. Usually the vigil is only a single person, dressed in an orange jumpsuit and a black hood, with a sign and sometimes with leaflets.
Our efforts have had to confront the "what-First-Amendment?" response of court security personnel. I was the guinea pig on the first day of the vigil. After about ten minutes sitting there with my sign that said "I Am Waiting" on one side and "For Justice" on the other, three guards approached me from different angles and asked me to remove my hood. They frisked me, asked for an i.d., refused to let me go retrieve a cap that I had a half block away (it was cold and windy that day), checked me for federal warrants, and told me I couldn't wear the hood. I told them about the First Amendment and that people had been wearing such hoods in demonstrations all across the country, even in front of the White House. The fellow in charge told me there was a Minnesota law prohibiting it, and that even if a lawyer argued the Minnesota law didn't apply, I couldn't wear the hood because it was alarming to people. I asked if my sign and orange jumpsuit alarmed people, would I have to stop using them as well? He said he would talk to those people instead. I suggested that if there were any place that the First Amendment should apply, surely it would apply in front of the Federal Building.
FairVote MN contracted St. Cloud State University to conduct a poll about how Minneapolis residents liked Ranked Choice Voting (RCV). As you all probably recall, Minneapolis used RCV for the first time in the 2009 election. The results are good (and you can see them for yourselves here). Voters understood it, liked it and there weren't any problems.
"The findings of the impartial survey show what FairVote Minnesota has seen in other cities that have successfully made a switch to Ranked Choice Voting - with good voter education, a well-designed ballot and well-trained election judges, voters of all ages and income and ethnic groups understand the system and want to continue to use it," stated Massey pointing out the following facts from the survey:
95% of voters polled in Minneapolis said RCV was easy to use and 90% said that they understand RCV perfectly or fairly well
65% said they believe RCV should be used in the future
Only 3% of the people voting said they didn't understand RCV
(FairVoteMN email press release)
An even better finding is that opponents of RCV can no longer claim that people won't understand it ... cuz let's face it, only one ballot filled out incorrectly in an election is really rare.
There was only one defective ballot in the whole Minneapolis election.
I had an interesting day. Ok, maybe not as interesting as that of Ferris Bueller, but I met lots of unique people. And all because of Mark Dayton. One of his campaign staffers gave me a button/pin, so I've been wearing it on my coat. Turns out it's a great conversation starter.
My first stop this morning was the community room of my apartment complex. Residents get free coffee, donuts and interaction with each other every Saturday morning. This morning we also had birthday cake. It was Joan's 90 something birthday. There were probably about 15 of us...the same ones every Saturday. They all asked me when the Meet and Greet was going to be. They're really looking forward to it. I said I didn't know, because I hadn't been given a date yet. Hopefully it'll be a Sunday afternoon. That way everyone can come. Including my son and daughter-in-law.
Next stop was downtown St. Paul. I parked in front of the Golden Rule Building and wandered over to the bus stop. I wanted to go to Minneapolis and take the light rail to the mall. I didn't want to drive to Mpls for parking reasons and because my front tires have bad tread. Not to the legal limit yet, but close. Plus my hood flops around (my youngest son had rearended a city bus).
There were the usual people at the downtown St. Paul bus stop. Three young men were loud, but it was excusable, as they were practicing their rap techniques. I had to get after one guy, though. He looked to be about thirty years old. Far too old to be frightening the pigeons, I thought. I told him he was naughty. He grinned then looked at the button pinned to my jacket. "Who's Mark Dayton?" he asked. I replied that he's running for governor. He asked if he was related to the department store. I agreed that there might be a genetic connection. I told him if he didn't vote for Dayton I was going to turn him into the ASPCA for his mistreatment of the pigeons. He shamefully agreed.
The bus finally came and off I went down I94 to Minneapolis. I got off on Nicollet and went immediately to the light rail station. Luckily you never have to wait long for it to come along. Thanks, R.T.
I love trains. I grew up on trains. I come from a railroad family. My grandfather was an engineer for the Minnesota Transfer Railway. My uncle Everett was a fireman (for the engine). I had cousins who worked for the Burlington Northern. I spent a lot of time on the Burlington Northern Black Hawk between St. Paul and Chicago. Sometimes we'd go on to York, Nebraska, where my aunt and uncle lived. Once we even took the train to Florida. My cousin Diana and I loved nothing better than to ride the rails. To this day I could ride them for weeks and never get bored. You meet so many interesting people on the train and there's plenty of time to talk to them.
The LRT was crowded today. Everyone was headed either to the airport or the mall. I struck up a conversation with a young Asian man who was new to Minnesota but had already found a job and a car. He asked about my button. I explained about that particular candidate. He was duly impressed and agree to cast his vote appropriately. I took out my little notebook and made another scratch mark. Soon I'll have to get another one.
We finallly reached the MOA VIA LRT. It was crowded today. I covered three floors in just a couple of hours. First I walked into C J Banks. Two saleswomen noticed my button and came over to talk about it. "Oh, is he campaigning already?" they asked. I agreed that he was. I didn't have to say anything after that. They told me all the reasons they were voting for him. I smiled, agreed, made my purchase of a Christmas pullover and went on my way.
The same thing happened in three more stores. For a total of nineteen people. I'm grinning by now. Getting hungry, too. Oh cool, there was Crepes to Go, right in front of me. I love crepes but haven't had any for the longest time. I eyed the dessert crepes. Fresh strawberries with whipped cream. Carmel with ice cream. Bananas with apricot preserves. Yummy. I was a good girl, though, and ordered the chicken/broccoli divan. And a Diet Coke, of course.
My last stop was at Brookstone. They really have some neat stuff. I bought my middle son, Charles, something really cool. I can't tell you what it is because he might read this. The guy who rang up the sale noticed my button (of course). He said, "Dayton. Isn't he running for something in the 5th Congressional District?"
"Governor," I explained patiently.
"Oh yeah," he agreed. "Didn't he used to be our Representative to Washington?"
"Senator."
"I knew he did something. I'll vote for him."
Why argue with success? So I invited him to a Toastmasters meeting.
Usually when I go to MOA I get a headache from all the loud noise reverberating through the amusement park. It wasn't too bad today. Unfortunately, I made the mistake of going into Crabtree & Evelyn and testing the rosewater glycerine lotion. I forgot I always get a headache from the scent of roses. Unfortunately, they discontinued the gardenia scent. I love gardenias and lilacs. So off I went with a headache coming on. Another Diet Coke and two extra strength Bayer took care of it. I was good to go.
Back onto the train and more people asking me who was running for what. I just gave them the link to my blog.
I almost fell asleep on the LRT. Such a lovely ride. I felt content and peaceful. Then we stopped at the airport and some more people got on. There weren't many seats left. A little boy was going to sit next to me. His mom told him to go ahead. He must have been about eight or nine. Then he saw my button and started screaming, "Dad! She's wearing a Mark Dayton button! I'm not sitting with her!" Blankety blank little snot-nosed Republican kid. That's ok, another kid, thoroughly DFL, sauntered over and very coolly said, "My dad can beat up your dad, so take that back." The GOP kid did.
On we rolled to downtown Minneapolis. Just in time for the Holidazzle Parade. The guy standing next to me looked at my button and said, "Are you voting for Mark Dayton?"
"No," I said. "I'm voting for Norm Coleman. That's why I'm wearing a Mark Dayton button." Moron.
Time to get on the 94 MTC and go back to St. Paul. I was hoping my car didn't get towed while I was gone. I left it at a meter all day. Now where does the 94 stop? I thought it might be 8th Street. I hadn't taken a bus from Minneapolis for awhile. I asked a bus driver and he told me 4th Street. So I walk back the way I came. When I got there the people (who duly noticed and commented on my button) said the 94 goes down 6th Street, not 4th. Crap. Some 20 something kid said he would show me. I didn't need to be shown but I let him tag along anyway. He decided he'd take the 94 back to St. Paul too and also decided to sit with me on the bus. Rats. I had to listen to a tirade about World of Warcraft all the way back to St. Paul. If I wanted to hear about WOW, I'd call my youngest son, Marcus. I quickly and efficiently turned the conversation to my beautiful, overworked royal blue (not purple) and red button. By the time we reached St. Paul, he was glassy eyed but eager to vote appropriately.
My car was still where I had left it sans ticket. I got in, cranked up the heat and the stereo, and listened to Johnny Cash croon about getting his car one piece at a time. Kind of like one voter at a time.
Each day is what we make of it. Enthusiasm means everything.
