February 2012
38 posts
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Freedom of religion doesn't extend to imposing...
The outrage on the right over the Obama administration’s efforts to provide women with insurance coverage for contraception has been so surreal, I haven’t known how to approach it. I shouldn’t have ignored the story for so long, though, because it’s a big deal. So here goes.
Yesterday, the House oversight committee held a bizarre hearing, entitled “Lines Crossed:...
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After seeing its success, how can Romney still...
One of the smartest calls Barack Obama made on the economy was saving Detroit auto manufacturers. With a million jobs on the line, the President refused to let the American auto industry disappear.
Given the auto industry’s renewed health — GM just posted its largest profit ever — it’s hard to argue Obama made the wrong choice. But Mitt Romney continues to say we should...
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More good economic news, pt. 312
We’re totally building a streak here, folks. A couple more months of continuing good news like this, and growing consumer confidence will turn into a virtuous circle that will propel the economy forward.
The number of Americans filing for new unemployment benefits unexpectedly fell to a near four-year low last week, suggesting the labor market recovery was quickening.
Other data on...
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What does the MNGOP have against renters?
There are a lot of groups who have been hurt by the policies passed by Republicans in the legislature. Most are just victims of the Republicans’ budget. A few, though, have been under active attack by the Republican majority. One of those groups is renters.
Renters took a big hit from last year’s cuts to the Renters’ Credit. Now, though, Republicans have decided that...
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Senate Republicans keep racking up ethics failures
Senate Republicans just can’t seem to get the hang of ethical behavior. Every week, it seems there’s a fresh revelation of wrongdoing from the body. Not only that, it all comes from the leadership.
In particular, the Senate’s hiring of Steve Sviggum has proven to be an ethical minefield. First, there’s the issue of Sviggum’s tenure as a University of Minnesota...
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Dayton to Legislature: Jobs!
In his State of the State address last night, the Governor asked the legislature to pass his jobs proposals, particularly the bonding bill. He said the voters will decide in November whose budget plan they support, and he urged legislators to put that battle side and work for jobs. Not surprisingly, he listed his proposed bonding bill first among the job bills that should be considered:
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BRB
It’s been a crazy few days. Some of you may have noticed that posting has been a bit light lately, and I’m not going to have anything at all up today. I’ll be back at full strength tomorrow.
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House Republican leaders agree to payroll tax... →
House Republican leaders said Monday that they will support extending the federal payroll tax holiday through the end of the year without demanding spending cuts to pay for it, a concession aimed at averting another politically damaging showdown in Washington. [Washington Post]
Wow, this is fantastic news, as well as a sign that Republican obstructionism is finally starting to hurt them.
...
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ACLU: Find a case of voter fraud, and we'll give...
Okay, voter-suppression advocates, it’s time for you to offer some actual evidence. You say your anti-voting constitutional amendment is about stopping fraud, not preventing Minnesotans from voting? Well, if you can find a single case of voter impersonation, you can now make a cash reward!
During a news conference today, ACLU Executive Director Chuck Samuelson offered to pay $1,000 to...
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Minnetonkans: Vote for Joe!
Attention, readers in Minnetonka! Today is a special election for city council, and on the ballot is the blogosphere’s own Joe Bodell. You may recognize Joe as the co-founder of MN Progressive Project.
If you’ve read Joe’s stuff, you’ll know him as a smart, analytical guy who knows his stuff. He’s exactly the sort of person we all want to represent us.
Today’s...
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As the economy picks up, Republicans work to apply...
Terrible news, everyone: The economy is improving.
I suppose I should clarify that statement. For most of us, it’s very good news. It’s only terrible news if you’re a Republican who anticipated riding a continuing recession to victory in November. Now Republicans in Congress are working desperately to reverse what they see as a devastating trend.
Unfortunately for us, there are...
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David Senjem: Only the GOP is allowed to play...
Senate Majority Leader David Senjem thinks things are getting too tense in Saint Paul:
“It’s time to put the spears down,” said Senjem.
Err… Senator Senjem? Aren’t you the one who started the legislative session with an unprecedented attack on the minority party? Aren’t you the one who just led your party in rejecting one of the Governor’s nominees?...
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With the MNGOP in charge, we sure need a lot of...
It’s funny: Republicans have been in control of the legislature for a year now, and we seem to be hiring a lot of layers to clean up after their messes. First, the Senate had to retain outside counsel in the wake of their firing of Michael Brodkorb. Now, the University of Minnesota is consulting a lawyer about the GOP’s hiring of Regent Steve Sviggum:
Linda Cohen, chairwoman of the...
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Dayton vetoes MNGOP efforts to reduce consumer...
Earlier today, Mark Dayton vetoed a number of Republican bills that would have reduced consumer protections under the law. The GOP calls these “tort reform,” and claims they’re about reducing frivolous lawsuits. In reality, they provide new windfalls for corporations by taking away our rights to address their wrongdoings.
In one of his veto letters [PDF], Governor Dayton got to...
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Republicans don't think this woman deserves the...
“She’s never had a copy of her birth certificate,” said [Rev. Celester] Webb, who has been trying to get a copy for his mother for years. But she was born at home, in rural Mississippi. He’s been told that the courthouse in Grenada, Miss., burned down, possibly destroying her birth records.
For a woman who grew up poor and black in the pre-Civil Rights deep south, and who’s never missed an...
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Everybody hates the GOP legislature
Nobody — and I mean nobody — thinks the Republican-controlled legislature is doing a good job, according to a recent SurveyUSA poll.
Mark Dayton has a solid 50 percent approval rating. With 33 percent disapproving, that gives him an excellent +17 net favorability rating. The legislature, on the other hand, has a 17 percent approval rating, and 65 percent disapproval, for a whopping...
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Report: Wealthy Minnesotans funding effort to...
It’s apparently not enough that the richest 1 percent already have a massive, disproportionate share of the money and power in Minnesota. They’ve used their money to buy power, and used that power to accrue more money, in a vicious circle that has no end in sight. Now, they’re making their most brazen play yet — they actually want to stop the poor from voting.
A new report...
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Equal marriage comes to Washington - Minnesota...
After a decade in which dozens of states passed anti-marriage laws and constitutional amendments, the momentum has reversed. The number of states that accept equal marriage is growing, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see the pace of acceptance accelerate in the years to come.
The latest state to allow equal marriage is Washington, where a bill just passed the legislature and is awaiting the...
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Some more good economic news
Over the last few months, it seems that all the economic indicators are improving. Here’s yet another encouraging one:
Job openings in the U.S. increased in December by the most in almost a year, showing employers are gaining confidence the economy will keep growing in 2012.
The number of positions waiting to be filled climbed by 258,000, the biggest gain since February 2011, to 3.38...
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Republicans may still derail the recovery
I’ve written a lot lately about how Congressional Republicans are rooting for the economic recovery to fail — in fact, it’s central to their electoral strategy. Despite their best efforts, though, the recovery appears to be gathering strength. That’s why they’re resorting to desperate tactics like demanding the Federal Reserve stop trying to improve the economy.
But...
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“Proposition 8 served no purpose, and had no effect, other than to lessen the...”
– U.S. 9th Circuit Court of Appeals, in a ruling holding California’s anti-marriage Proposition 8 unconstitutional.
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Republicans really hate Mitt Romney
Rick Santorum? Really?
It’s a sign of just how much the Republicans hate Mitt Romney that they’ll even vote for Rick Santorum over him. Santorum won all three of yesterday’s caucuses, prolonging the awesome spectacle that is the GOP primary.
I’ve never really thought of Santorum as anything more than a joke. This is a guy who couldn’t even maintain his Senate seat...
Attend your caucus tonight!
I know, the DFL caucuses this year don’t seem particularly exciting in many districts. We have a choice between Barack Obama and Uncommitted in the presidential straw poll, and a sitting Senator who will cruise to re-election. Even if you’re in a district without a contested Congressional or legislative endorsement, though, the caucuses are a worthwhile use of an evening.
Attending...
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Small business owners overwhelmingly support...
Republicans can never come right out and admit that their policies are all about heaping money on the richest 1 percent. That would obviously be political suicide. Instead, they rely on phony language. For example, they’re not the super-rich, they’re “job creators.” Similarly, Republicans falsely claim that taxes on the rich are actually targeting “small...
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GOP criticizes Federal Reserve for focusing on the...
The Republicans are getting desperate for some change in the economy — by which I mean they really need it to start failing again. They spent over a year trying to hold the economy back, but they failed. Now they’re going to ever-more ridiculous lengths to try to salvage the 2012 election, even if it means harming out-of-work Americans.
For example, did you ever think you would see a...
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Dayton administration uses Nicollet Mall as an...
In pushing for the Governor’s proposed $775 million bonding proposal, it looks like the Dayton administration will focus on the proposals’ abilities to jumpstart private spending and the creation of permanent jobs. On Friday, the Governor’s team posted an example — a $25 million project to revitalize Nicollet Mall:
The revitalization of Nicollet Mall as a signature...
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Obama: taxing the rich is the Christian thing to...
Hooray! This is the sort of thing I’m enjoying hearing more of from Barack Obama:
President Barack Obama on Thursday tied his proposal to raise taxes on wealthy Americans to his faith, telling leaders gathered for the National Prayer Breakfast that Jesus’s teachings have shaped that conclusion.
The rich should pay more not only because “I actually think that is going to make economic...
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"Our Voices Count" launches campaign to oppose the...
While there have been organizations working on opposing the voter suppression amendment, there hasn’t been an official campaign to oppose the amendment. Now, Our Voices Count MN is launching a campaign to protect Minnesotans’ voting rights:
We are a broad coalition of progressive organizations and concerned Minnesotans who have come together to protect our voice and our vote. Voting...
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Legislation should be done from the legislature
The Republican majority in the legislature, despite being a majority with the capability of passing legislation, has apparently decided not to do any legislating. Oh, there are plenty of laws they want to pass, but they’ve decided not to. Instead, they’re going to put a seemingly endless parade of constitutional amendments on the ballot this November.
We’re already going to be...
Fun fact: People are citizens while on the... →
The excellent Saturday Morning Breakfast Cereal asks why we should have a totally different set of laws for the Internet.
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MNGOP continues to slowly strangle cities
The MNGOP is upset that some cities and counties have raised their local levies to compensate for the millions of dollars the GOP took away from them. And doggone it, they’re going to do something about it! That’s why Rep. Greg Davids (R-Preston) is sponsoring the Stay Down, Cities! Act of 2012*:
Local units of government could find their ability to raise levies curtailed….
...
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Dear Minnesota Catholic Conference
In the past quarter, you contributed $350,000 to prevent Minnesota families from having the right to civil marriage. That’s $350,000 that will not go to help the poor, sick, and elderly. What a shocking rejection of the tenets of your own faith.
As you may or may not have noticed in the New Testament, Jesus seems to have had a bit of a fixation with justice for the poor. He had little to...
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“I’m not concerned about the very poor”
– Mitt Romney
(Reminder: This blog applies the Romney standard of accuracy to all of Romney’s own gaffes)
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MNGOP invites hatemonger to speak at their annual...
Wow:
The Republican Party of Minnesota announced today that Florida Congressman Allen West will headline the party’s annual Lincoln Reagan dinner in March.
If the name Allen West sounds familiar to you, here are a few places you may have heard of him:
West painted [Congressman Keith] Ellison as someone who “really does represent the antithesis of the principles upon which this country...
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Winkler: If we're reforming government, let's...
When they’re not busy with petty attacks against the DFL, the MNGOP’s big focus this year is supposed to be “reform.” That’s the agenda they hope will convince the public to forget about how the GOP sold them out last year when it comes time to vote. Of course, their so-called “reform” is just the same garbage the GOP has been pushing for the last 30...
January 2012
66 posts
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“In the last year, the Minnesota Legislature has been more dysfunctional than a...”
– Ryan Winkler, explaining the need for his proposed reform package. More on his actual proposed reforms tomorrow.
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Senate may vote on Buffett rule
This is great news:
[Senator Sheldon Whitehouse] will introduce a bill that would ensure that millionaires paying lower tax rates than middle class taxpayers would henceforth pay a 30 percent tax rate.
…under the proposal, those making more than $1 million a year would be required to calculate their overall tax rate, taking into account all their income and the full sum of what they pay...
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A furious Dayton unloads on the MNGOP
To say Mark Dayton is angry at the partisan attack on one of his appointees would be putting it mildly. Dayton is clearly furious — as he has every right to be. Senate Republicans are clearly bent on spending the legislative session doing nothing but attacking the DFL.
In response to the vote against Ellen Anderson, Dayton released a long statement slamming the Republicans as “unfit...
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The MN Senate under David Senjem: petty and...
The legislature has only been back in session for a week, but we already have a clear sense of new majority leader David Senjem’s leadership style: petty and vindictive. On the very first day of the session, his party voted to force the DFL to bear the consequences of the GOP leadership’s fiscal irresponsibility. To start week two, they ousted a dedicated public servant from office:
...
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Sunset Commission doesn't find any agencies that...
Republicans love attacking our government as big, bloated, and useless. As such, one of their much-touted “reforms” from last year was a Sunset Commission, which was tasked with recommending duplicative or useless agencies that should be abolished. It should make them feel better, then, that the commission couldn’t actually find any government agencies or commissions that need to...
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Equal marriage vote still close, definitely...
A Public Policy Polling poll [PDF] released on Friday showed once again the constitutional amendment that would ban equal marriage in Minnesota will be extraordinarily close. The bad news is that the poll currently shows the amendment ahead. There’s a lot of good news, too, though.
Q2. Should the Minnesota Constitution be amended to provide that only a union of one man and one woman shall...
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DFL poised to take back the legislature
After a disastrous session last year, in which the GOP agreed to put our state $1.4 billion in debt to protect the super-rich, Minnesota voters seem inclined to return control of the legislature back to the DFL:
When asked, “If there was an election for the Legislature today, do you think you would vote for the DFL or Republican candidate from your district?” 48 percent of those...
201 Unanimous Votes, 6 Minority Votes: Ellen...
Today, Deputy Majority Leader Julianne Ortman announced that Republicans plan to sack Public Utilities Commission chair Ellen Anderson on Monday:
It’s “likely” former DFL Sen. Ellen Anderson — now chairwoman of the state Public Utilities Commission — will be voted out of her job on Monday.
Deputy Senate Majority Leader Julianne Ortman said at Friday’s weekly news conference that Anderson’s...
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“Well the United States has a huge budget deficit, so taxes are going to have to...”
– Bill Gates
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Al Franken on Citizens United
On the second anniversary of the Supreme Court’s horrendous Citizens United ruling, Al Franken took to the Senate floor to lambaste the decision and urge legislative action to overturn it. Below is video of Franken’s statement, as well as a few excerpts.
Two years ago, the Supreme Court handed down the landmark decision, Citizens United, and with it, they gave corporations a blank...
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Obama pushes back on Romney's claims of "class...
Barack Obama has clearly warmed to the fight over taxes and income inequality, which is wonderful to see. At a campaign event yesterday, he responded with derision to Romney’s accusations that his policies were based on envy of the rich. He archly suggested that Warren Buffett and Bill Gates aren’t motivated by class envy. Mockingly, he reassured Americans that he, Buffett, and Gates...
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The House's inadequate bonding bill in context
For a bit more context on just how inadequate the House GOP’s proposed $500 million bonding bill is, here’s a bit of historical context. The chart below shows bonding since 1994, expressed in terms of 2011 dollars:
(Source [PDF])
As you can see, and as I mentioned earlier, the Governor’s proposal is right in line with previous years. The House GOP’s proposal, on the...