The Voter ID amendment is billed as a way to stop vote fraud, but it will actually prevent lots of legally eligible voters from voting — and it won’t stop vote fraud. How does that work? Let’s take a look at the language of the amendment, and at how it would work. Continue reading
2012 issues: Marriage Amendment
I flat out do not understand the arguments about gay marriage and about the marriage amendment. So, instead of answering them one by one, I’m going to share parts of four of the stories of same-sex Minnesota couples that are on the Minnesotans United for All Families website. (If you are interested in the arguments, scroll down past the stories for links to information.) Continue reading
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2012 issues: Poverty, wealth and inequality
Poverty is real, and it’s not caused by laziness and moral weakness.
Now I hear one of my sisters and at least three of my nieces screaming at me, “Yes, it is! I know this guy who just drinks and won’t work! My friend at work has a next door neighbor who just keeps having one kid after another and doesn’t even try to get a job.” Okay — there are some people who screw up, and some of them are poor because they screw up, but the fact is that poverty is mostly not caused by laziness and moral weakness. Continue reading
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2012 issues: Obamacare
The Affordable Care Act of 2010 has been reviled as “Obamacare” by Republicans, including the Romney-Ryan ticket, who pledge to repeal it if they are elected.
Now President Obama embraces the name and proudly claims the law as part of his legacy: Continue reading
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2012 issues: Social Security
Is Social Security going broke? Not really. I’ve been hearing this since I was in high school. Social Security was going to go busy in 1970, 1990, 2010, and so on. Hasn’t happened yet, and it isn’t going to happen. Continue reading
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Extra! Extra! Clark Kent quits the Daily Planet
In this week’s Marvel Comics Superman edition, Clark Kent quit the Daily Planet. Superman writer Scott Lobdell told USA Today: “Rather than Clark be this clownish suit that Superman puts on, we’re going to really see Clark come into his own in the next few years as far as being a guy who takes to the Internet and to the airwaves and starts speaking an unvarnished truth.” Continue reading
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Minnesota malarkey: On dropout rates and facts
Minnesota Compass on high school completion rates
http://www.mncompass.org/economyworkforce/key-measures.php?km=Educationalattainment#7-6895-g
I listened to The Daily Circuit on MPR Friday, with local “experts” debating what we should do about education (starting at about 37:16.) Peter Bell criticized Minnesota schools and repeatedly said, “The dropout rate in some districts is 50 percent.” He is absolutely, 100 percent dead wrong on the dropout rates, but nobody challenged him on the facts. Not the host. Not the other guests.
Continue reading
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Sex and statistics: The human trafficking numbers in Minnesota just don’t add up
Saving girls from prostitution is a noble and worthy cause, as well as a bandwagon that many nonprofit groups and politicians are happy to ride. Unfortunately, the statistics offered by various groups are often self-contradictory and unsupported by research. Using unverified, contradictory and exaggerated numbers is a disservice to the cause of combating juvenile prostitution and human trafficking. Continue reading
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Lies, damn lies and Voter ID
Among all the wild-eyed charges thrown about by Voter ID proponents, one stood out last week. That was the charge made by Ramsey County Commissioner candidate Sue Jeffers in a KFAI interview (about the 13-minute mark.) Continue reading
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Binders full of women?
Some rights reserved by onefallinghope, published under Creative Commons license
My husband, who refused to watch the debate, asked this morning what the “binders full of women” were. I hadn’t noted that phrase in Romney’s bragging points, so I had the same reaction last night when it began popping up all over Twitter last night. Romney used it in bragging about his record of appointing women when he was governor of Massachusetts, and sure enough — this morning’s fact checks show he misstated the facts. Continue reading
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Mary Turck