Just a reminder about the Town Hall in Mankato tonight:
Monday, December 7th, 5:30-7pmTom Driscoll covered the first Town Hall in Winona for Bluestem in Walz: Decision on Afghanistan strategy is agonizing.
I was curious what [...]
While much of the attention about Jim Hagedorn's entry as a Republican contender has been focused on his literary career as "an equal opportunity hater" (as he reportedly described himself in a Rochester press conference) and offensive post scrubber in his blog,' [...]
From the congressional office:
(Mankato, MN) – Today, Congressman Walz announced he will host his second townhall to discuss the US strategy in Afghanistan with southern Minnesotans in Mankato on Monday night. Walz, a retired Army National Guard Command Sgt Major, held his first Afghanistan townhall in [...]
A friend forwarded this image of the reservation on the room for the Hagedorn announcement press conference in Rochester.
Though the spelling is slight bit off, I'll venture a guess that the "Gregg Pepin" in the sign is political consultant Gregg Peppin of P2B Strategies,' [...]
Respectfully submitted for your perusal: a press release from one Jim Hagedorn. Origin: a 25-year resident of Washington DC, but lately of Blue Earth, Minnesota. Motives? Therein hangs the tale, but for just a moment we're going to ask you to shake hands, figuratively, with yet another' [...]
Is a lack of fact-checking a measure of lack of interest? Minnesota's Republicans are atwitter this morning about Cook's Political Reports changing its rating of MN-01 from "Solid D" to "Likely D".
Look more closely, though, and Cook's list of Republican candidates in the Overview' [...]
No sooner did I learn that "teabagger" was a finalist for word of the year with those language gatekeepers at the Oxford English Dictionary, than a rumor arrived that state Representative Randy Demmer will be jumping into the GOP efforts to unseat two-term Congressman Walz. [...]
An email is circulating in Republican circles stating that State Representative Randy Demmer, R-Hayfield, will be announcing his bid for the Republican endorsement for a second congressional bid in Rochester.
The email --which I have obtained through several sources--says:
Randy Demmer will be holding a press conference to [...]
The recent murders of four union members in Colombia underscores the tensions that remain with the doctrine of free trade since the WTO protests in Seattle ten years ago; a trade agreement with the South American nation remains stalled because of human rights [...]
Sunday, I reported that Gary Wertish was elected Vice President of the Minnesota Farmers Union by delegates at the group's annual convention. In the video below, Bruce Miller talks about the group's pioneering use of IRV to pick new leadership:
In other news from the MFU convention, Politics in Minnesota [...]
Update: Indymedia has posted its YouTube about the action:
Early his morning, DJ Danielson and I went to the Immigration and Customs Enforcement offices in Bloomington to watch Robert Erickson and seven others turn into the authorities for deportation as illegal European Immigrants.
Robert Erickson claimed [...]
In his closing keynote speech to Netroots Minnesota late yesterday afternoon, Minnesota Secretary of State Mark Ritchie spoke of how the best activism is based in an expression of values. Those involved in social media at some point begin to base their work in what they love, and act with [...]
I'll be dividing my time this weekend with Netroots MN and the Minnesota Farmers Union convention, so posting will be light. Here's an article from the Farmer about the latter event:
Minnesota Farmers Union is having their annual state convention Saturday, November 21 and Sunday, November [...]
Word comes to Bluestem Prairie from a friend on the scene that no representatives of the media attended Allen Quist's much-ballyhooed press conference in Rochester this afternoon.
Post Bulletin political reporter and blogger Heather Carlson wrote Wednesday that the announcement was to happen today in
St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman put together a great campaign team for his recent wildly successful bid for a second term in office, and like many Greater Minnesota progressives, I looked forward to seeing more of them in rural Minnesota had Coleman chosen to run for [...]
Some footage by Bluestem Prairie and DJ Danielson is incorporated into this edited HD video edited by Dan Feicht from video by Nigel Parry.
Over at City Pages, the Blotter picks up on DJ's video of MINN-SIR President Ruthie Hendrycks's rant, as well as her attempt to claim that she [...]
See the update below the fold for more on Hendrycks' response.
My friend DJ Danielson honed his wits announcing regional pro-rasslin' matches in Minnesota, and his charming verbal style is clear in the video below.
Working in the ring, however, didn't quite prepare him for the spontaneous assaults he and I witnessed' [...]
Over at Across the Great Divide, my friend Charlie Quimby notes a Stalinesque airbrushing out of former Minnesota Free Market Institute president and senior fellow David Strom in Who Shot David Strom?:
Also, the Internet Archive pages for MnFMI have been purged. You can't view the old staff photos showing Strom' [...]
Citizen journalist DJ Danielson post this video on his YouTube Channel drawn from his footage at yesterday's Tea Party Against Amnesty:
Go over to I Don't Hate America to read about the misinformation in Ronan's speech with his condemnation of what he calls a guaranteed ticket to citizenship--and the great' [...]
Another Veteran's Day's blown clean across America. Like a warm wind suddenly chilly, a stray cloud on a sun-rich afternoon. Like an army of old soldiers sailing past on a magic carpet. An almost invisible shadow shudders through frost-bleached prairie grass and up [...]
One of Bluestem's young friends tipped me off yesterday that one of the speakers at this morning's Tea Party Against Amnesty, organized in Minnesota by Ruthie Hendrycks, would have an interesting message for the fans of Minnesotans Seeking Immigration Reform (MINN-SIR) and their fellow [...]
To judge from the chatter dutifully blogged by the Rochester Post Bulletin's political reporter and Tea Party stenographer Heather Carlson, readers might think that Congressman Tim Walz was in danger of losing his seat long before the Republican Party endorses a candidate next year.
Other indices' [...]
Yesterday, in The Great Gaski; or, does Twila Brase still need to find a Democrat fretting about death panels?
Bluestem explored claims made by Twila Brase in the Quist health care forum about whether Dr. John F. Gaski was a "registered Democrat":
I'm tracking down her assertion that' [...]
In today's Mankato Free Press coverage of the Quist health care reform forum, , staff reporter Mark Fischenich writes:
Quist, who promised to have details of his fiscal analysis of the bill on his Web site in the next five days, was joined by a Minnesota nurse who' [...]
Back in October, the Minnesota Independent reported in Speaker for local rightwing fundraiser likens Obama to Hitler:
First District GOP Congressional hopeful Allen Quist wasn't the only one in Southern Minnesota talking about the House health care bill today.
I attended a press conference at the Mankato Clinic this morning with Congressman Walz; the Mayo Clinic's medical director, state government and local affairs, [...]
Note: a technical glitch in Bluestem's online editing software prevented me from posting the final notes on the meeting; fortunately, I was able to save them in Word and now post them here. [end note].
1:27 Someone raises the issue of constitutionality; Quist agrees that the bill' [...]
Media criticism
Though Bluestem Prairie has been critical of the Rochester Post Bulletin's coverage of this year's National Socialist rallies in Austin, the reporter and editor nail it when covering the latest of Sam Johnson's recruitment drive for the neo-Nazi organization.
Austin anti-immigration rally flops begins:
On' [...]
"I have to believe that the reigning champ would have lost tonight had he shown up," new Southeast Minnesota Chili Champion Phil Castrovinci said. "That's how good all the chili was," he added.
Castrovinci captured the top cook honors after capturing the hot chili category. Mary Petersson' [...]
It’s that time of year when wet is raw and the wind chokes on chaff. Seems one day it’s been raining for a week. Then by sunset the next afternoon, the west is orange and purple and beautiful as a childhood memory of a rusty dust cloud bigger than [...]
Claiming a need to spend more time with his family, chili cook-off kingpin Merle Larson has withdrawn from Saturday night's Senate District 29/30 Chili Cook-off at the IBEW Hall south of Rochester.
The revelation rocked the hyper-competitive world of rural Democratic chili contests. Spouse of DNC member' [...]
According to the group's web site, Southeast Minnesota NSM leader Sam Johnson is organizing another rally:
On Nov. 7th the NSM Mn. Unit will be holding an "AMERICA FIRST" rally at the George Washington statue on Main st. in Austin Mn.
If you would like to [...]
Bluestem first posted Breaking Spamtown's spiral of silence: Austin and Twin Cities activists confront neo-Nazis, a guest commentary by Indymedia writer Brian Hokanson, on October 20, and it its own review of news coverage of the National Socialist Movement rallied that began in Austin, MN,' [...]
All Saints Day is an edgy holy day, dangerously syncretic, carved as it is over early layers of pre-Christian worship--Samhain, when observed at the harvest, and the Feast of the Lemures, in which the unsettled spirits of the dead [...]
Back on October 12, Bluestem broke the story Allen Quist reportedly exploring congressional bid. I've been regularly checking the URLs his wife Julie Quist (Congresswoman Michele Bachmann's district director) registered, and today the site is live.
Could this apparition be a sign that Quist's political career' [...]
Today is "Mischief Night," and, appropriately enough, friends say, my birthday. While October 30 is a fearful Devils Night of arson in Detroit, Michigan, the evening was the more mild Corn Night of teen pranks when I was growing up in the St. Peter area [...]
The wind squeaks. Rusty oaks litter rutted deer trails with wet potato peelings. Saw a fat doe at dusk the other day limping on a foreleg broken at the knee. Screwball fall. Dark all day. Beans moldy in muddy fields. River’s up in Rushford, and smells [...]
As loyal readers know, Central Minnesota's DFLers have struggled for years to remove the pepper-fisted hand of Merle Larson from its grip on the Meeker County DFL Chili championship. They succeeded one year--when U.S. Representative Collin Peterson served as a judge and selected the mildest chili' [...]
On Saturday afternoon, I called National Socialist Movement (NSM) Southeast Minnesota leader Samuel Johnson, who this spring began organizing rallies in Austin, Minnesota, to protest the presence of undocumented workers and their families in his community.
We talked for a hour and a half about his views [...]
On Saturday afternoon, I called National Socialist Movement (NSM) Southeast Minnesota leader Samuel Johnson, who this spring began organizing rallies in Austin, Minnesota, to protest the presence of undocumented workers and their families in his community.
We talked for a hour and a half about his views about what he called "white" [...]
Note 10/28: In order to put this post in more complete context, review the chronology of media coverage of Johnson and NSM activity in Austin, please see Bluestem's earlier backgrounder here. [end note]
On Saturday afternoon, I called National Socialist Movement (NSM) Southeast Minnesota leader Samuel Johnson,' [...]
Seven years ago today, a plane fell into the forest near Eveleth, Minnesota. All on board, including U.S. Senator Paul Wellstone, his wife Sheila and daughter Marcia, University of Minnesota prof and DFL associate chair Mary McEvoy, staffers Tom Lapin and William McLaughlin, and pilots Richard [...]
Earlier this week, Bluestem published Brian Hokanson's commentary about a confrontation in Austin, Minnesota, that pitted members of the neo-Nazi group National Socialist Movement (NSM) with local and Twin Cities anti-racist activists.
The latest episode in a series that began last spring, the' [...]
Our friend Jessica Hayssen, field rep from the Minnesota AFL-CIO, writes about a health care reform action yesterday afternoon in Congresswoman Bachmann's district:
Sixth District constituents and union members visited Rep. Michele Bachmann's St. Cloud office Tuesday afternoon to deliver the message for health care reform. Members from AFSCME [...]
By Brian J. Hokanson
The role of a journalist, says popular Democracy Now! host Amy Goodman, is to go where the silence is.
In Austin, Minnesota, and surrounding communities, a tiny but vocal number of neo-Nazis presenting the vocal and public face of white supremacist sentiments have [...]When my friend, Bluestem contributor and veteran Chad served as a veterans caseworker for Congressman Walz, one of the most frustrating issues that came up was the Veterans Administration reluctance to add Parkinson's Disease in the list of presumptive illnesses related to Agent Orange' [...]
Last night, I traveled across Kandiyohi, Meeker, and McLeod Counties after dark, roads that were less dark for the rush of harvest, as farmers used a break in the recent wet weather to get at their crops. Mainly beans, these days.
Ever since I was a small [...]
Editor's note: In keeping with this site's focus on Greater Minnesota outside of the Range, I asked DFL gubernatorial candidate campaigns to submit statements from non-metro supporters. The writers were asked to focus on the merits of their candidates for outstate voters.
The responses [...]
Sally Jo Sorensen, Tom Driscoll
