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Showing posts from January, 2008

Killing the Democratic Party as we know it?

Just to warn you before you read this posting… If you’re part of the establishment (define this as you may) you probably won’t like this, so you may want to check out a different posting… Let’s talk about the Democratic Party in this very important year of opportunity. Currently the Democratic Party has 3 strong presidential candidates by anyone’s standards. I view the Presidential race as more of a cross roads for our party and our country. One road will lead us to growing our party (let’s call this a rebirth). One road will lead us to KILL our party, as we know it. And the last road will be somewhere in the middle. Can you guess which candidates are trying to lead us down what path??? Towards the beginning of the primary and caucus process I truly felt that any Democratic candidate would be a great President. I was proud of the diversity that our party was showing with our array of candidates. This thinking was changed with New Hampshire. It was Bill Clinton turning negative and goi...

Wakota Bridge Wonker

So once again we have the saga of mismanagement, poor decisions, wrong reasoning and just plain lack of leadership costing Minnesotan's more...And once again, it's MNDOT's process and the Wakota Bridge.... For $6 million more than the bid gathered over a year ago...MNDOT just awarded the Wakota proposal to Lunda Construction ...MNDOT opted to rebid the eastbound span of the bridge stating that the cost was too high. A year later and now $6 MILLION higher ...MNDOT accepts the lowest bidder. MNDOT's new slogan should read...MNDOT's business acumen takes longer and costs more tax dollars! The Wakota bridge is the single-worse bridge project in Minnesota history in terms of delays and cost overruns... Current traffic backups on the bridge are now at or exceed levels before the bridge was replaced. Often traffic is backed up miles as far as Hwy 52 on the eastbound side during evening rush hour and to nearly Interstate 94 on the westbound side during the morning rush hou...

Dinner Last Night

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If I were to believe in a higher being, they would look, and talk, and think a lot like ex U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Jocelyn Elders. I attend a Pro-Choice Coalition Dinner last night at the International Market Place in Minneapolis. The keynote speaker, Dr. Joycelyn Elders, gave an amazing speech. She was smart and funny and hit home runs with her truth and wit pertaining to abortion. Dr. Elders had been one of our most competent Surgeon Generals, urging this country to adopt a sane and progressive health agenda. Unfortunately like many progressives, her comments were exaggerated, distorted, politicalize and marginized by the media. She was forced to resign. So many of us can't say the word because of the stigma that society, men and even women have attached to it. Yet there she was in all her glory speaking to us about abortion and citing examples and giving information...including the time before abortion was legal and being a doctor in the south. She pointed out (paraphrased) th...

Collective Thoughts

The recent ‘scorched earth’ media reporting does more to hurt the Democratic party and it’s candidates. It doesn't build a consensus or give value to the issues...instead the media reports as if Democrats were a 'a flock of Britney Spears' with no reference to substance like...oh I don't know...ISSUES! It's become painful to see as even the candidates struggle to bring attention back from their egos to the issues. Here's one blog's account from Jane Hamsher at firedoglake.com If no decisive victor emerges before the convention, the superdelegates could force both Clinton and Obama onto a ticket. While I'm sure neither would be happy with that situation, it may be the best thing for the party as a whole. It certainly would be an unbeatable and historic combination, ushering in an era where we can hopefully begin to talk about these things. And after the damage that their mutual mud slinging contest has done to any kind of future coalition, the onus may b...

Seeing Invisible Sexism

Instead of seeing dead people, I’ve been seeing invisible sexism...everywhere…for most my life...Now that Hillary is running for President, its triggered an evaluation and review of just ‘how far have we come- baby’?. And my sense as well as the reality on the ground... is we've haven't made the strides we thought we would have by now. Not when the thought of a women President can evoke such vile and demented responsive from even the most mainstreamed media. For me personally, I think a lot of advancements were cosmetic (wearing pants to school) verses the same opportunities (attending A-listed schools). In reading about gender as a political issue I ran across Erica Jong who speaks to finding that 50/50 division of sexual power. Jong tells us that Hillary's running (win or lose) has opened up the opportunity to look at the role invisible sexism plays in our society as well as the opportunity to change it. The truth is, we want sexism to be passรฉ. We don't want to keep...

Stop The Pile On

Shouldn't we want the media to be fair in reporting on candidates?And along those lines shouldn't the media provide substance over framing. It's time we exam why we are uncomfortable support women running for higher offices or positions of power. And before you pants get in a bunch... this isn't about supporting Hillary over Obama . But it is about the unacceptable phenomenon of media uniquely attacking women who seek a higher position and unfairly framing them... and if it should be acceptable in our society? Kathleen Hall Jamieson has some interesting insight and concepts regarding the media's role in undermining women running for office and a disheartening lack of a national discussion of that behavior. see it or read it … Let's say if Elizabeth Dole was this far along in the polls for the Republican nomination. Would she be subject to the same kinds of attacks? And I think the answer is no….. These kinds of attacks have actually been deployed against women ...

All Over The Map

The 'Church Secretary' been drinking the wine again...but not to worry...the visions are real..."Fuck hope. We've been stuck in stupid for so long, it's going to be hard and painful work pulling ourselves out of it. This country is in a hole, and we need leaders with the good sense to start by snatching the shovels from those who are digging us deeper." Oh my gosh, the voters in New Hampshire can read more than in Iowa! And what a long...long...long trip it's been... Expectation Low for Bush Trip . I'm thinking of investing ... If you hate he Electoral College, then you're be really upset to learn about Super-delegates ? And talking about College....How many times have you heard ' unglued in time for class '? And finally the madman makes more sense than the rest: Domestic terrorists. That’s what these people are. That’s how they should be treated. That they aren’t is just another demonstration that we don’t live under the rule of law, but r...

If He Was A She

Okay unbind your shorts this isn't about one candidate against another. It's about exploring the role that gender plays in this election. Nice insight and some background on how age within gender also plays a role... Bonnie Erbe posts About Race, Gender and Class at US News. It opens with: Women played interesting roles in last night's Iowa caucuses: * Younger Democratic women deserted Sen. Hillary Clinton. * Republican women at some caucuses opened with a prayer, then voted in large percentages for the preacher Mike Huckabee Erbe goes about what that means and how gender factors into it... Gender matters still, yet we act as if it is done. Most of us who led the second wave came out of the civil rights movement. We were inspired by it, learned from it, and led where we could. I celebrate last night for a victory that we also feel, where our nation's troubled history with race, class and gender took an inspired turn for the better. That victory belongs to all of us, bu...

If She Was A He!

Gloria Steinem, well know feminist and co-founder of the Women’s Media Center, has and interesting op-ed at the New York Times on why a women won't be president...speaking from experience, she's correct. Read it here . "... Gender is probably the most restricting force in American life, whether the question is who must be in the kitchen or who could be in the White House. This country is way down the list of countries electing women and, according to one study, it polarizes gender roles more than the average democracy. That’s why the Iowa primary was following our historical pattern of making change. Black men were given the vote a half-century before women of any race were allowed to mark a ballot, and generally have ascended to positions of power, from the military to the boardroom, before any women (with the possible exception of obedient family members in the latter). If the lawyer described above had been just as charismatic but named, say, Achola Obama instead of Bar...