Founders Day fun! (Updated)

Bluewoman and I were able to attend the DFL Founders Day festivities in St Paul last night. Needless to say, it was a great time.

Bob Olson attended the reception event before the dinner before heading over to Minneapolis for the Human Rights event, where Congressman Tim Walz was a keynote speaker as well.

El Tinklenberg was surrounded by Janet Roberts and Bill Luther at the event. I never saw El in the reception area, but he was at the dinner.

Walz and Ellison delivered short speeches before the dinner and it was great to have spent a few minutes talking to the Congressman!

Senator Klobuchar introduced Senator Tester from Montana. The Senator rocked the house! Having ran in a primary in Montana, the Senator implored the Senate candidates and their supporters to unite behind the DFL candidate for US Senate in 08. If Tester can beat Burns in Montana, Ciresi or Franken can beat Coleman here!

Senator Tester repeated a quote from Senator Wellstone's famous 20o2 speech in opposition to military action in Iraq.

This debate must include all Americans, because our decisions finally must have the informed consent of the American people, who will be asked to bear the costs, in blood and treasure, of our decisions. When the lives of the sons and daughters of average Americans could be risked and lost, their voices must be heard by Congress before we make decisions about military action.

Senator Dayton was highly animated at this event. I must say, the last several dinners Senator Dayton has spoken at, the more animated he is getting. Dayton spoke of Senator Wellstone and his vote in opposition to the war in Iraq. He praised Wellstone as the only incumbent Senator to oppose the vote. He also praised the wisdom of Betty McCollum, Martin Sabo, and Jim Oberstar on their votes against the war as well.

I did ponder how that sat with Tinklenberg, as his position on Iraq has been "I would have supported the decision based on the information available at the time."

Seems like most of Minnesota's leaders in Washington knew 5 years ago this war was wrong.

Congressman Oberstar ended the night with a great speech on the GOP transportation obsructionists who have opposed him at every step of the way.

But...Congressman Oberstar is the chair now, those bills got hearings and were passed!

He did take a good shot at the Carlson, Ventura, and Pawlenty administrations for underfunding transportation. Who served as Ventura's Transportation Commissioner?

Finally, while on the subject of Minnesota transportation commissioners, one of the lowlights this past week was former Jesse Ventura Administration Commissioner of Transportation Elwyn Tinklenberg. Mere hours after the bridge went down, he was being interviewed on KARE-11 TV (our local NBC affiliate) standing in front of the dark Capitol building blathering (there is no better word) about MnDOT's "constant deterioration of the budget, constant layoffs, failure to replace people," etc. Most of what he said was not only not true, but it was crass in the immediate aftermath of the bridge falling down. And for the record, the collective opinion on Tinklenberg in the transportation job was much worse than Molnau's.

I must say, it was a really fun night. I was able to talk to a few Klobuchar staffers I had not seen since the last election, talked to Senator Klobuchar for a few minutes as well as Congressman Walz.

We'll be sure to attend the second annual Founders Day event as well!

BTW, it was great seeing liberal bloggers Beyond Sound Bites and Headlines and Bluestem Prairie there as well.

Army of Dude v Rush Limbaugh: Get his Vicoden ready!

With all of the fabricated outrage over Move On's ad, and resolutions in both the House and Senate condemning their remarks, I am anxiously awaiting those same Republicans that were so deeply offended, to honor our troops and condemn Rush Limbaugh.

Army of Dude slaps Rush Limbaugh around for a bit, undoubtedly sending him into a Vicoden induced fit of rage.

Of course, this is the same Rush Limbaugh who threw a fit about the Moveon.org Petraeus ad, calling it "contemptible" and "indecent." Apparently anyone in the military is above criticism as long as they agree with Rush's brave belief that we should be in Iraq "as long as it takes." And I use the term 'we' loosely, as I believe the closest Rush has ever gotten to combat was watching We Were Soldiers with surround sound.

He would have fit in well with Mel Gibson and his anti-Semitic rants too!

As a phony civilian hoping to be a phony soldier, I tried to enlist in the military after I graduated high school in 2003. In 2002 I had a Nissen fundoplication operation to repair a hiatal hernia caused by severe acid reflux, preventing esophageal cancer later in life. I was immediately flagged on my attempt to enlist because of this surgery, as there was a chance that a physically stressful job such as Army infantry would complicate it. I had to be cleared by the surgeon general before entering the service. As the war kept on, so did I. I waited for a little over a year to get my results back: I would finally be able to join despite the surgery I had two years prior. As Rush found after dropping out of his first year of college at Southeast Missouri State University in 1969-1970, he found himself on draft status. Nothing that a claim of an old football injury or a boil on the ass can take care of, though! The medical deferment he was referring to was a pilonidal cyst, which apparently is a clump of severely ingrown hairs. That barred him from enlistment, and I'm sure he was ecstatic. After all, there was a war on. Here's a first hand account of the surgery that was done to correct it. She claims that in eight weeks, it was perfectly healed. Rush is willing to sacrifice the lives of Americans in Iraq but not his own ass (literally) in a simple surgery. I waited a year to get in, and he didn't try. Boy, do I really give an effort at being a phony soldier!

Wow...nice to see Rush try hard to be a soldier.

You must check out his blog post and the photo gallery with comments.

Once again, Army of Dude strikes back with a powerful post. Great work my friend!

A Bachmann photo-op

Liberal in the Land of Conservative has the scoop. He does an excellent job of laying it all out.

Congresswoman Bachmann voted against Homeland Security and our firefighters on 3 separate occasions. Yet, she has the audacity to come to Clearwater and present a check from the same legislation she failed to support, talking about the importance of the grant.

Wow, check out the work of Politcal Muse, it's top notch!

Garner Moffat for St Cloud City Council

I'd be negligent in my blogging duties if I did not post something about Garner Moffat, and his St Cloud City Council run.

Garner, a student at St Cloud State, is one of the most gifted students and activists I have ever met.

I met Garner while he was the chair of the Neighborhood University Community Coalition, NUCC. As the Student Body President, I worked with Garner on many of the issues that were important to the residents of area.

Garner was, and still is, a true leader. We walked the streets on numerous occasions, working to settle disputes, or to solve a problem before it became evident.

That's why Garner will make a great City Council member.

He's proactive. He gets out amongst the people and gains a great sense of what the real issues are and works tirelessly to solve them.

The SCSU Chronicle has a good story about him this week as well.

Check it out!

Four years ago, Garner Moffat, an SCSU student, ran for St. Cloud City Council and lost, but this fall, he is running again with more experience and community involvement."

I was 21-years-old when I ran last time," Moffat said. "So, it was a challenge to be able to show that as a young person I was more qualified than the incumbent who'd already been in the office for four years."

Moffat will graduate from SCSU in the spring with a bachelors degree in community development.

While growing up in St. Cloud, Moffat got frustrated watching the evening news.

"It seemed like things didn't make any sense to me, and people were making really bad decisions," he said.

He began following political issues closely. Knowing he couldn't do anything on the federal level, Moffat focused on state and local issues.

At the age of 18, he began attending city council meetings on a weekly bases.

"I saw the same problems at the local level, at least, to a lesser degree," Moffat said. "I realized that there was an opportunity for me to actually get involved and be able to help things out and make a change on the local level."

Moffat originally attended St. Cloud Technical College for computer networking.

He credits his degree change and transfer to SCSU to faculty member Aspasia Rigopoulou-Melcher, associate professor of community studies at SCSU.

Moffat had been attending all of the City Comprehensive Plan meetings when Rigopoulou-Melcher saw his ideas and took an interest in him.

"I was at one of the meetings and had spoken up about separating out the economic differences between downtown and the east side, which was kind of a controversial topic," Moffat said. "I had drawn out maps showing some of the differences and how traffic could be rerouted through the area to benefit the commercial districts and the overall transportation systems in the city. I was talking to an organizer, when she came over to talk to me. Turned out she was a professor here in the community development department."

Rigopoulou-Melcher asked Moffat if he had a degree in community development and where he had gotten it. Moffat informed her that he did not and had no idea what community development was exactly.

"And I said, 'well no, I just do this for fun,'" Moffat said.

Rigopoulou-Melcher had Moffat come visit her at SCSU where she told him more about the program, which he later enrolled in."She probably had the largest influence on my specifics within the Community Development field," Moffat said of Rigopoulou-Melcher.

Moffat has been involved in many different boards and organizations. They include being a founding member and former chair of the St. Cloud Neighborhood Coalition, former chair of the City Charter Commission, former chair of the Neighborhood University Community Council, board member of the St. Cloud Historical and Neighborhood Preservation Association and a member of the South Side Neighborhood Association.

"I've also been studying community development here at State, so I've gotten the formal background and know how to make decisions to guide the planning of a city," Moffat said. "I feel that I have a good base for what is needed for this Ward. I work downtown, which is part of this Ward. I've lived in this Ward my entire life, and I've seen things from a renters perspective and then last year I bought a house, so now I can see things from an owners perspective. I feel I've got a good basis of the different constituencies within the neighborhood."

One of Moffat's most important issues is neighborhood based planning.

He believes that having active neighborhood organizations will help create a sense of belonging and ownership in their neighborhood.

The organizations would also help make some decisions that guide their neighborhood.

Moffat has talked with some students already, but his campaigning will increase on campus in October.

He feels that the student vote is very important, not only for himself, but for the students themselves.

"Last time I ran, only about 4 people voted at Atwood Center," Moffat said. "It's disappointing because students don't take any sense of ownership in this city. They don't think about the fact that they're here nine months out of 12. It has a really big impact on their day-to-day life, like what types of jobs they have, how they get paid, where stop lights are, how many speeding tickets they get, just everything they do in their everyday life. There are decisions behind those and people are making them."

Moffat is running against David Masters for an open seat in Ward 1. The elections are on November 6.

For more information about Moffat and his platform, visit www.garnermoffat.org.

Go Garner!

Move on!

Randy Demmer has now called out Congressman Walz, calling on him to denounce Move on!

Seriously? When Southern Minnesota is still battling the effects of the horrendous flood, Demmer focuses on Move On?

Meanwhile, Demmer is a asleep behind the wheel as Republicans on the House Veterans Affairs Committee applaud Congressman Walz work!

Should we start calling out Norm Coleman and have him denounce Rush Limbaugh, hatemonger Michael Savage, Ann Coulter and the rest of the right wing pundits who hurl hateful rhetoric on a daily basis?

Randy Demmer calling out Tim Walz? Really?

Ok, here goes!

Blueman calls upon Congresswoman Bachmann to denounce the hateful comments of Ann Coulter and Freedom Watch's deceptive ads.

I expect her to bring this to the floor ASAP...

Dille on the gas tax

Senator Dille has a piece in the Annandale Advocate discussing the difference between Federal and State gas taxes.

I hope Dean Urdahl reads this...at least one of our locally elected representatives gets it!

Many people have communicated with me about supporting a gas tax increase if it is used only for roads. They are concerned that revenue could be diverted to the general fund and used for transit or some non-transportation purpose. This concern about the Minnesota gas tax is not valid.

100% of the State gas tax is used for the roads.

Metro area legislators are generally not supportive of this distribution formula. They want more money for mass transit (buses, light rail and commuter rail). Rural legislators on the other hand are usually supportive because the current formula favors greater Minnesota where there are more miles of highway than in metro areas.

Others really have no idea where they stand on Transportation, until they come out of Principal's office!

Urdahl calls his vote to override the Governor's transportation veto "a meaningless vote".

Let's make sure that after 2008, Dean Urdahl never casts a meaningful vote again...

Anti-war op ed in the Annandale paper

H/T to Sue! Thanks!

My hometown paper confuses the heck out of me.

They let Dean Urdahl off the hook on his flawed logic on his transportation flip flop.

They ought to hammer Urdahl putting politics before the people!

But, they have a great op ed on the war.

Chuck Sterling writes about a Support our Troops, End the War rally in St Cloud.

I finally did it.

After more than four years of wanting to take part in an anti-war demonstration, I did a couple of weekends ago in St. Cloud.

I joined a group that demonstrates their opposition to the Iraq War every Saturday from noon to 3 p.m. on the Division Street sidewalk alongside Barnes & Noble.

They welcomed my offer to protest with them, and I spent more than an hour there holding a sign and waving to people in passing cars. It was the first time I've ever taken to the street to declare my opposition to a government policy.

That seems odd for someone who spent four years on a college campus during the early and mid-1960s.

But the only previous demonstration I took part in was actually in support of the Vietnam War. It was 1965 in the early stages of that war, before the peace movement had made much of an impact and a full decade before the killing finally ended.

When I approached the St. Cloud demonstrators, I didn't come prepared with my own sign. They invited me to grab one of theirs, and I sorted through a stack of them before I found one with a message that I thought was especially appropriate.

"Not one more death," it said.

For me, that's the central issue about Iraq - the deaths of thousands of American soldiers and who knows how many Iraqis in a war that isn't and wasn't necessary.

The answer to the debate about what to do now is simple. We should do
whatever it takes to stop the killing, never mind whether that's seen as a
defeat.

What glory can there be in winning an immoral war that should never have been fought? What pride can there be in a victory that has needlessly consumed so many lives? I was amazed at the positive response the demonstrators received from people driving by.

Many honked their horns enthusiastically and others held up their fingers in the V shape that's come to be known as the peace sign. One demonstrator laughed that some people have also flashed the one-fingered peace sign at her.

I'd estimate that half the passersby were on our side. And they weren't radicals. Supporters included young people, soccer moms and dads and gray-haired grandparents.

I took home a sign that declares: "Support the troops. End the war."I do support the troops. They're braver than most of us to put their lives on the line for their country. The fact their government started and refuses to end a pointless war doesn't diminish their courage.

I also visited a replica of the Vietnam wall at the St. Cloud VA Hospital that night, more by coincidence than design.

The memorial displays the names of 58,000 Americans killed in that war, and I wonder whether, more than 30 years later, anyone knows why they had to die.

I support our brave troops by protesting to try to help end a war that otherwise might add them to a list of dead that now approaches 4,000.

I don't want anyone to stand in front of another memorial wall someday and read the neatly carved names of 5,000 or 10,000 or more Americans and wonder why they had to die.

Great work Chuck!

I can tell you that 3 years ago, it was not such a pleasant experience. I had a full coke can thrown out of a moving car at me...it missed by a foot or so...but kept going!

Mike Ciresi in Monticello today

Senate District 19 had an event for Mike Ciresi today in Monticello.

It was a very well attended event, as 30 Democrats braved the great weather to hit a few golf balls and have a conversation with US Senate Candidate, Mike Ciresi. Two representatives of the Bob Olson campaign were in attendance, no one from the Hill or Tinklenberg camps.

Olson's people appear to be at every function throughout the 6th!

Mike took questions for over an hour, and not softball questions either! Party insiders wanted some real answers, and Mike delivered.

I was able to have a conversation with Mike as well, and having spoken to him on numerous occasions now, walked away from today's event impressed with Mr. Ciresi.

When I think of Mike Ciresi, one word comes to mind.

Leadership.

Mike has an impressive bio, in which he has been a leader at every level. He has also been a loyal supporter of Democrats for the past 30+ years.

Similar to my post about Bob Olson, I think Mike Ciresi is the right candidate at the right time for the US Senate race.

Don't believe me? Check out the debate between Mike Ciresi, Al Franken and Jim Cohen, decide for yourself who the true leader in the group is.

Welcome Home Armyofdude!

His first post back in the states!

Welcome Home Alex!

There is said to be three stages of clarity about one's life in a war. I didn't come up with the theory, but I sure have felt it. At the beginning, you feel like you're invincible and if anything bad happens, it's going to happen to some other guy. Then when people start to get hurt and killed, you think to yourself, I better look out or I'll be next. The final stage comes after the second one wears on you after awhile. Your thought is, I'm going to die next unless I make it out of here as soon as possible.

I entered the final stage on March 14, and there it remained until August 25.

Think about that. More than 5 months with the feeling that you will die unless you make it out of there as soon as possible. We cannot begin to fathom what this war is doing to a new generation of Veterans.

The right wing cowards in Congress won't allow soldiers to spend an amount of time at home, equal to that of their deployment?

Perhaps some of these "leaders" need to spend more than a night in a heavily protected, swanky Green Zone hotel.

Keep up the great work Alex...hit up the Engine House #9 and have a 4 Alarm Oatmeal Stout for me!

Tinklenberg LTE in the SC Times

The SC Times has a LTE supporting Tinklenbergs run for Congress

Tinklenberg was, and is, right choice for district
By Ed O’Brien, Waite Park

Elwyn Tinklenberg was the right candidate in 2006 and will be the right candidate in 2008 for the U.S. House 6th District seat.

The DFL will do well to welcome him to the race, endorse him and start him on his way to replace the embarrassment caused by our current representation.

While I agree that we should replace our current "representation" in Washington, I firmly believe that Elywn Tinklenberg is not the right man, nor was he in 2006.

We need leadership. The leadership void in the 6th has been long absent by being represented by Mark Kennedy and now Michele Bachmann. Both have been lap dogs for a Bush agenda, while sacrificing the core values of our district.

I like Elwyn. He's a nice guy.

But, in my opinion, he is not a leader. Leaders step forward before things like the 35W bridge collapse and the Iraq War, not after. Many will cite Tinklenbergs work at Transportation Commissioner under Ventura as a contributing factor to the transportation nightmare facing Minnesota.

If Tinklenberg wants to run on transportation issues, he should move out to Wright County and run for a State Representative seat against Dean Urdahl, who is equally as guilty for the transportation nightmare in Minnesota.

His stance on the Iraq War is troubling to me as well. He would have supported this flawed plan, based on the information provided at the time.

Trouble is, many of us protested the present war as early as 2002. The info WAS out there! Senator Paul Wellstone gave a powerful speech on the floor of the Senate in October, 2002.

He was 100% correct.



The information was available in 2002 and in 2006. It simply took courage to stand up to the right wing machine and a morally bankrupt Bush Administration. Saying you support a policy based on "the information available at the time" is an excuse.

I am tired of excuses.

We don't need another politician who cannot articulate a solid, courageous, and consistent policy on the important issues of the day.

We don't really know where Tinklenberg stands on issues. He's been on both sides of the fence too many times for me.

That's why I support Bob Olson for Congress. His stance does not waver in the strong political winds that move through Minnesota and the 6th.

He is a man of conviction and a straight shooter.

He is a leader.

When gas was a buck, he was working on sustainable and renewable energy issues. He's a leader in our communities.

I want to win in 2008! That's why I am supporting Bob Olson for Congress in 2008.

Bob Olson is the right candidate at the right time in the 6th CD.

Stay tuned...Blueman is getting fired up!

The 6th CD Race: Labor

I had some nice conversations last night in St Paul about the race in the 6th, between Bob Olson, Hill and Tinklenberg. The sentiment is consistent throughout; Tinklenberg is not a solid candidate in the 6th.

While he came close to defeating Patty Wetterling for the 6th endorsement in 2006, Patty was always ahead. Some may side with Tinklenberg because of how the race in the 6th "went down", with Patty going back on her word and running against "the Tink".

A sympathy vote for Tinklenberg does nothing to defeat Michele Bachmann. In fact, it hurts Democrats in the 6th. Why?

Moderate Republicans who are embarrassed by the Congresswoman's antics in Washington won't vote for Tinklenberg. Why would they vote for a pro-life, anti same sex marriage and at times, anti civil union, and pro war Democrat? They have all of that in Bachmann.

He will not appeal to moderates on choice and same sex marriage. Social conservatives will vote for Bachmann.

Bob Olson will appeal to moderate Republicans, not only on choice and same sex marriage, but also in his expertise in the Federal Tax code and his work on sustainable energy.

Sustainable energy sources will produce jobs in the 6th and will provide income for our farmers.

It's a win-win situation.

I recall the battle in May 2006 over the DFL endorsement in the 6th. Labor got involved early with the Tinklenberg campaign and provided some significant funds to assist in his efforts.

Once Patty Wetterling won the endorsement, many of these labor groups were faced with the daunting task of coming up with more money to support yet another candidate.

Rumors are flying across the 6th that several major unions across the state are moving forward early to endorse a candidate in the 6th.

What's the big hurry? While Tinklenberg raised a boatload of money in 2006, no one will have a clear snapshot of his financial standing until at least January 31, 2008. While officially unofficially in the race here in the 6th, by delaying his announcement, Tinklenberg will most likely miss the October quarterly filing report, a mere 2 weeks away.

My thoughts on this are simple.

I saw what labor went through in the 6th in 2006 by endorsing candidates early. I would hope that Union leadership throughout the state would sit back and let the candidate’s duke it out for a bit, and endorse after.

I'd prefer it after the endorsing convention, but I am not that naive.

Ellison takes food stamp challenge

Since all the news on Ramstad has broken and dominated the blogosphere, this may have fallen under the radar, but is important.

Congressman Ellison joined two other Democrats in taking the challenge.

Where are the Republicans on this challenge?

While Congresswoman Bachmann has resisted calls to join Congressman Ellison in this challenge, I am hoping that our efforts to support Bob Olson in the 6th will force the Congresswoman into a socio economic status where she can feel the pain of working class Minnesotans who rely upon food stamps on a daily basis.

Celebrating 40 years

Last night, the Minnesota State University Student Association celebrated 40 years of student advocacy. The event was well attended with members of the Board of Trustee's, MnSCU, former officers and board members, current and former staff members, and legislators.

It was fun talking to everyone at the event. It was cool seeing some old pictures of Paul Wellstone at MSUSA conferences!

BTW, no sign of Abe... :(

Bob Olson press release on Bush's speech

Olson Responds to President's Speech

For Immediate Release

ST. CLOUD – Bob Olson, a DFL candidate in the 6th Congressional District, released the following statement after President Bush's speech on Iraq:

"Gen. Petraeus did what we expected this week. He honestly tried to explain what it would take to carry out President Bush's flawed policy in Iraq.

"The issue before us now is the president's unwillingness to face the realities on the ground and redeploy American forces out of a bloody religious civil war.

"Since 2003 our troops have toppled a brutal dictator, liberated millions and set the stage for democracy in Iraq. They have long-since achieved the success of which the president spoke tonight, now it's time for Iraqis to do the same.

"No matter how much President Bush may wish otherwise, we cannot force the Baghdad government to accept responsibility for its people, which was a term the president set forth in January when he announced the troop 'surge.' We cannot keep changing our goals each time Iraqi leaders fail to act.

"Our troops have done all the Bush administration has asked and more. They now deserve an exit strategy, not an open-ended commitment to a quagmire."

Olson Iraq Op-ed (St. Cloud Times; Saturday, Aug. 25, 2007): http://bobolson.org/node/86

For more information, visit www.bobolson.org.

A 3 way race in the 6th?

On my way home from work last night, I spoke to a few bloggers and other party insiders about the growing race in the 6th.

The story originally broke over at Dump Bachmann earlier this week. One side of the DB story has been verified. Elwyn Tinklenberg has joined the DFL endorsement race in the 6th CD.

Minnesota Campaign Report is covering the story as well!

The other side of the DB story was that Bob Hill would drop out of the race. At this time, it's only a rumor, but DB had the story at least a day before anyone in the mainstream media.

There may be something to it.

I was caught off guard by Tinklenberg entering the race. I took his statement in May 2007 to mean that he was not running for Congress.

Elwyn Tinklenberg, a former state transportation commissioner, said he has decided against seeking the DFL Party endorsement in the 2008 race for Minnesota's 6th District congressional seat. Tinklenberg had said in March that he was considering another run for Congress. But he told the St. Cloud Times last week that he's decided against seeking the DFL endorsement because it's too soon after his last campaign. Tinklenberg lost the party's endorsement for the 2006 election to Patty Wetterling, who was defeated by Republican Michele Bachman.

I feel a bit of irony here. Wetterling came into the 6th CD campaign after promising she wouldn't, after she left the US Senate race.

Tinklenberg, his campaign, and his supporters were livid that Wetterling "broke a promise".

Activists across the 6th have been seeking out a candidate who can send Congresswoman Bachmann back to Stillwater on a more permanent basis. It's been a long process and we have found a candidate to rally around and support, Bob Olson.

Tinklenberg is playing the same cards Wetterling did in 06, and activists in our area are not happy. It appears to many of us that its another case of the DCCC pushing a candidate upon the voters of the 6th. I'm not happy about that either!

Did the bridge collapse "push" Tinklenberg to reconsider is motives in the 6th?

It will be interesting to see all of this unfold over the coming months.

Blueman is back!

Sorry for the nearly 2 week hiatus. Between some work down at the U of M, getting a year older, and other DFL events, my time was strapped.

So, here are a few quips for the day, as I get my sea legs back.

Dennis Kucinich will be on the Ed Schultz show today. Actually, he will be on the show for the entire 3 hour tour!

Dennis Kucinich will take to the airwaves for an unprecedented three hours today (Wednesday) when he becomes the first Presidential hopeful to accept the
invitation of one of the nation's premiere radio broadcasters, Ed Schultz, for a
no-holds-barred discussion of the issues, the candidates, and the priorities in
the 2008 campaign.

Check it out on AM 950 locally.

Why haven't the other candidates taken Schultz up on his offer?

MN Blue has some interesting comparisons between Bob Olson and Bob Hill, both running for the 6th CD DFL endorsement.

I agree with MN Blue, that Olson does have some great analysis on the Iraq War debate, sustainable energy, and the inequalities in taxation in the United States.

Technology is no longer the biggest barrier to the acceptance of wind energy production and usage. There are misperceptions that wind costs more to use, is unprofitable unless procured in large wind farms, and is solely the purview of the utility companies. American Sustainable Energy is working to change that. ASE encourages businesses, municipalities, and the public to adapt their thinking and methodologies to incorporate wind energy. It is sound both environmentally and economically. Wind belongs to everyone.

Bringing farmers and labor together...what a concept!

On Iraq?

"The Iraq War is stupid," Bob explained when I began with asking his position on the Iraq War. "I hate to say it that way, but it's true. What if after the attack on Pearl Harbor by the Japanese we would've attacked China? That would be similar to what the Bush Administration did.

Having spoken to Olson about this issue, he's significantly deeper than this as well.

Anyway, I apologize for the abrupt end to this post! Gotta head into work! We'll post more later tonight!

Check out Kucinich on Ed Schultz today!