News Day

Among the winners in the finally-concluded Minnesota budget debacle were the richest Minnesotans – the top two percent or one percent or half of one percent, depending on which version of the totally-rejected tax hike you are talking about. The losers include people who need or use government services, from medical assistance to public universities. Just a couple of examples: Continue reading →

I enter the back door of the Wells Fargo branch. In the middle of Minneapolis, every visible worker in this bank is East African, most women wearing brightly colored dresses, their heads covered.

A smiling woman greets me and tells me that Baader will help me right away, at the window over there. The sign on the window says something about business accounts, but no matter. Baader (he has only one name) asks how he can help me today. Continue reading →

By just saying no, over and over again, the Republicans got another Pawlenty-style, one-time fix that shifts the state’s budget problem two years into the future. The budget deal, with details still to be ironed out, will definitely balance the budget on the backs of schools via the “shift” of education funding into the future, which means schools will have to borrow money and pay interest, enriching lenders at the expense of schoolchildren and government. Budget cuts will also get written into the deal, though precisely what those cuts will be is not yet clear. Continue reading →

Minnesota’s economy is healthier than those of many other states, but maybe not for much longer. Both the impending shutdown and the GOP-proposed budget cuts are bad medicine, prescriptions for pain rather than for health. The breadth of pain that will be caused by the shutdown is mind-boggling, from poor people receiving medical or food or other assistance to state workers who will join the ranks of the unemployed to highway construction workers, whose projects will be shut down. The impact of a shutdown, in fact, would hit hardest many of the same people who would be hurt by the GOP’s cuts-only budget. Continue reading →

On June 20, Republicans filed a suit in the Minnesota Supreme Court, asking the state’s highest court to order a complete halt to state spending if no budget deal is reached by June 30. The governor and the attorney general and the judiciary branch had previously filed various petitions in Ramsey County District Court, asking Judge Kathleen Gearin to declare certain services as essential, and to order that the state continue these services.

What will happen on July 1? No one knows for sure. The lack of a budget affects state functions from public health to highways, from contracts to criminal prosecutions. Today I spent some time trying to track the impact of a shutdown on the court system. Here’s what I found: Continue reading →

White House! Communications Director! Dan Pfeiffer! was the clear headline act on Friday morning at Netroots Nation. Probably a couple hundred people gathered in the big room to hear the Angry Mouse (Kaili Joy Gray, associate editor of Daily Kos) quiz him in a no-holds-barred session. Continue reading →

Minneapolis is the site of the national Netroots Nation convention this week, and Minnesota media is making a good showing. I caught two workshops with Minnesota presenters this morning, “Breaking News with Mobile” with Mike McIntee, Jason Barnett and Chuck Olson from The Uptake, and “Managing a State Community Blog,” with Joe Bodell and Eric Pusey from Minnesota Progressive Project joining forces with Katherine Haenschen and KT Musselman from Burnt Orange Report in Texas. Continue reading →

As Minnesota grinds on toward shutdown, schools are graduating students and closing their doors for summer. Unfortunately, summer vacation won’t make them safe from the consequences of state budget gridlock and shutdown. Continue reading →

“Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?” That was part of the response by Minnesota Republican Representative Tom Hackbarth to a letter from a constituent asking him to “ask the most fortunate among us to pay their fair share” rather than “inflict severe pain on the middle-class and vulnerable Minnesotans.” (Full copy of the correspondence between the union member, Hackbarth, and Cody below.)

Hackbarth, you may recall, is the 8th-term legislator who was “stopped and handcuffed by police in the parking lot of a St. Paul Planned Parented in mid-November after he was spotted with a gun in his waistband.” (Hackbarth may have been looking for a woman with whom he had an on-line relationship—or an in-person relationship—depending on which version of the ensuing stories you believe.)

The union member who sent a letter to Hackbarth forwarded his response to the Minnesota Association of Professional Employees. MAPE Executive Director Jim Monroe responded, in part, “Do you really believe that when our members ask you to protect 140,000 Minnesotans from losing their MnCare benefits rather than having the richest two percent of Minnesotans paying their fair share of taxes it compares to the rise of Hitler and targeting the Jews?   When did supporting public services for battered women, crime victims and students in public universities become a fascist notion?”

Monroe said he was deeply troubled by Hackbarth’s response. We should all be deeply troubled by the failure of civility, but also by the failure of competence and conscience that lead to the current sorry proposals to strip protection and support from the most vulnerable Minnesotans.

 

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

EMAIL FROM ROBIN SEIFERT TO REPRESENTATIVE HACKBARTH

>>> Robin Seifert <email address redacted> 6/9/2011 4:25 PM >>>

Jun 9, 2011

Representative Tom Hackbarth
State Office Building, Room 409
100 Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard St. Paul, MN 55155

Dear Representative Hackbarth,

You have a choice. As a legislators, you could chose to ask the most fortunate among us to pay their fair share or you could inflict severe pain on the middle-class and vulnerable Minnesotans.

I oppose the all-cuts budget which will increase property taxes on homeowners, renters and small businesses by more than one billion dollars.
The all-cuts plan will eliminate support for battered women and crime victims and slash funding for public universities by $411 million.

We have a choice. We can either protect the richest Minnesotans and large corporations or we can protect the vital services that average Minnesotans depend on.

Are you willing to take away health care from 140,000 Minnesotans just to protect the 40,000 richest people in Minnesota?

I also support the Viking stadium they are part of Minnesota and need to stay here.  We have waited to long to get a stadium they time is now!!

Please tax the richest 2% of Minnesotans. Ask them to pay their fair share.

Sincerely,

Ms. Robin Seifert

 

RESPONSE FROM REPRESENTATIVE HACKBARTH TO ROBIN SEIFERT

From: Tom Hackbarth [mailto:rep.tom.hackbarth@house.mn]
Sent: Thursday, June 09, 2011 10:14 PM
To: Robin Seifert
Subject: Re: Stand up for the middle class

Robin,

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from folks?  All, similar letters to yours.
Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?

Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, of Fidel Castro?
Hitler rose to power using and blaming the jews for the destruction of the German economy.  Castro built his army of murderers by blaming the rich bankers and capitalist for destroying Cuba and taking advantage of the Cuban people.  Hummmm?

Representative Hackbarth

Rep. Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
St. Paul, MN 55155
Office: 651-296-2439 Fax: 651-296-3918

To subscribe to my email update go to: http://www.house.mn/48A

LETTER FROM MAPE EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR JAMES MONROE TO HACKBARTH
June 13, 2011

Representative Tom Hackbarth
100 Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Blvd.
Saint Paul, Minnesota  55155

Sent via email and by U.S. Postal Service

Dear Representative Hackbarth,

I received a copy of an email that you sent to one of my members, Robin Seifert, in regards to her membership in the union I represent.  While I appreciate your willingness to respond to your constituents, I am deeply troubled about what you wrote and ask you to shed light onto linking a public employee union with the rise of Adolph Hitler and murderous armies of Fidel Castro.

I would appreciate you clarifying your statement to our member on June 9, 2011, at 10:14 pm:
“Robin,

I can’t believe what I’m hearing from folks?  All, similar letters to yours.
Are you a Union member?  If so, are they the communist giving you this propaganda?

Do you know the who, what, when, where, why, and how, of Fidel Castro?
Hitler rose to power using and blaming the jews for the destruction of the German economy.  Castro built his army of murderers by blaming the rich bankers and capitalist for destroying Cuba and taking advantage of the Cuban people.  Hummmm?

Representative Hackbarth”
Representative Hackbarth, do you really equate advocating for the middle class and Minnesota’s vulnerable citizens as communist propaganda?   Do you really believe that when our members ask you to protect 140,000 Minnesotans from losing their MnCare benefits rather than having the richest two percent of Minnesotans paying their fair share of taxes it compares to the rise of Hitler and targeting the Jews?   When did supporting public services for battered women, crime victims and students in public universities become a fascist notion?

When did humanity and caring for our neighbors and asking for millionaires to pay their fair share become supporting Fidel Castro and his murderous armies?

As I am sure you would agree, we are lucky to live in a free society.  But with the freedom of expression, comes the responsibility of explaining oneself.    I ask that you please explain to me the basis of your email response to a hard working public employee who wants to work for Minnesota, is proud to serve this state and is worried about what an all-cuts budget will do to her family and the rest of the middle class.

We are not asking you to agree with everything, but you were elected to serve all your constituents and listen to their concerns respectfully without denigrating their ideas.
Please remember that their hard earned tax dollars fund your position.

At the end of this letter, I will attach the full exchange between you and Robin Siefert to refresh your memory.

Thank you for your time with this matter.

Sincerely,

James Monroe
Executive Director

Updated 6/8/2011: The last few days have been (with apologies to Sly and the Family Stone) more hot than fun. On June 7, Twin Cities temps reached 103 degrees, hotter than it has been since 1988, according to MPR. With official voices are warning of dangerous heat and poor air quality in early June, what’s next? Back in the day, strategies for beating the heat included riding around with the car windows open, sleeping on the screen porch, and hanging out in air-conditioned movie theaters. Here’s a round-up of heat-related news, advice and predictions—and an invitation to share your advice, recipes, and complaints.<img title="” src=”http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/sites/all/modules/wysiwyg/plugins/break/images/spacer.gif&#8221; alt=”” />

The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency issued an air quality notification for Tuesday and Wednesday, noting ozone levels that are “unhealthy for sensitive groups” on Tuesday and “moderate” particle pollution both days. Sign up for future alerts at http://aqi.pca.state.mn.us.

Local environmental activist Allen Muller noted in an email that there should have been an air quality alert on Monday as well:

Yesterday, June 6, was a “Code Orange” (“Unhealthy for Sensitive Groups”) bad air day in much of Minnesota.  The official offending pollutant was ozone.  But this is misleading.  Particle pollution levels were also elevated, officially to “Moderate” (Code Yellow).

(However, no alert was ever issued for yesterday by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency (MPCA) because, we are told, their contract forecasting service–Sonoma Technology, Petaluma, CA–failed to forecast correctly.  By the time the PCA realized concentrations were climbing above forecast levels, the agency considered that an alert would be too late to do much good.  The MPCA has generally taken this responsibility seriously–within the serious limitations of the federal framework–but it is disturbing that air quality could deteriorate as seriously as it did yesterday afternoon in the Metro without any notice being issued.  I hope a post-mortem will be done on how this came about and how it can be avoided in the future.)

Muller also observes that the “Air Quality Index System is based on the single highest pollutant,” and that, “Air pollutants, pollen, heat, and humidity, individually, are health stressors and the combination, although not officially considered or reported, can be far worse.”

Speaking of far worse, Newsweek just published an in-depth warning on severe weather and climate change impacts, titled “Are you ready for more?” The article begins with the Joplin tornado, and goes on to warn: “The stable climate of the last 12,000 years is gone. Which means you haven’t seen anything yet. And we are not prepared.”

The city of Minneapolis sent out an advisory on coping with the heat, which has some helpful tips:

◦  Drink more fluids. Drinking fluids helps your body cool itself. Don’t wait until you’re thirsty to drink. Don’t drink liquids with caffeine, alcohol, or large amounts of sugar. They can actually cause your body to lose more fluid.

◦  Never leave any person or animals in a closed, parked vehicle.

◦  Wear lightweight, loose-fitted clothing.

◦  Check on your neighbors who may be at risk. Visit seniors and other vulnerable neighbors at least twice a day and look closely for signs of heat exhaustion or heat stroke.  Seek medical advice immediately if you notice nausea, weakness, disorientation, rapid pulse and dry skin.

◦  Stay indoors if you can. Air conditioning is your best defense against heat-related illness. If you must be outside, try to limit your activity to morning and evening hours, take frequent breaks in the shade, drink plenty of fluids, and protect yourself from the sun by wearing a wide-brimmed hat and sunscreen. The City of Minneapolis provides a list of public, air-conditioned buildings for those who don’t have air conditioning in their homes.

◦  Don’t rely on an electric fan. Electric fans may seem to provide comfort, but when the temperature is in the 90s, fans will not prevent heat-related illness. Using wet cloths or a spray of mist on exposed skin will help cool your body temperature.

Rhubarb Slush Two quarts rhubarb Two quarts water 3 cups sugar 1/2 cup lemon juice 1 package strawberry jello 1 cup vodka Boil rhubarb, water, sugar, lemon jucie until cooked well. Add jello. Cool. Process through Foley food mill. Add vodka. Freeze. Serve with citrus-flavored soda.

For a list of air-conditioned public buildings in Minneapolis, go to the Minneapolis Department of Health and Family Support website.

My favorite cool-down (so far) this summer is a Rhubarb Slush—both the drink and the  recipe served up by my sister-in-law, Joan Turck.

Have a heat tip? Post it as a comment below.