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Paul Wellstone

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Open Thread

I wanted to share with you all a video my colleagues from the Senate Democratic war room released four years ago in remembrance of Senator Paul Wellstone, who died nine years ago today:

Thanks to my friend Adam Conner who was kind enough to share that video on his YouTube channel.

Many of us will remember where they were that day in 2002 when we got the news from Minnesota. I found out while I was door-knocking in Maine for Chellie Pingree as she ran against Susan Collins for her Senate seat. Senator Wellstone was a big supporter of the Pingree campaign. Chellie is, of course, now doing great things as the Congresswoman from ME-1.

I can’t believe it has been nine years already. Looking around the political landscape today, I can’t help but imagine how giddy and excited Senator Wellstone would have undoubtedly been in embracing and championing the Occupy movement which has lit up our entire country and spread across the globe.

Do you have any special memories of Senator Wellstone? If so, please share them here in our open thread.



Sen. Al Franken backs EFCA

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Senator Al Franken is quickly taking a stand with working families across America and signed on to sponsor his first bill and guess what it is. Yep, The Employee Free Choice Act.

Hours after he was seated, Sen. Al Franken, D-MN, let it be known that he would be sign on as a co-sponsor to the Employee Free Choice Act, the labor-backed provision that would allow unions to more easily organize, as his first legislative activity.

"I just became a cosponsor of my first bill in the Senate, the Employee Free Choice Act," the Minnesota Democrat declared at a gathering at the AFL-CIO on Tuesday evening.

Despite taking a backseat in terms of media attention, EFCA remains very much a hotly-debated measure within the halls of Congress. And while Franken's vote will likely boost Democratic efforts on health care and judicial nominations (he is poised to sit on the HELP and Judiciary Committees) it could be on labor matters where his voice is most felt. Certainly the union community, which is pushing for a vote on EFCA sometime this year, feels relieved that it is one senator closer to preventing a Republican filibuster on the measure.

Franken, who was officially sworn into office on Tuesday after an eight-month recount, told the AFL-CIO crowd that he shared common interests with them. According to Eddie Vale, a spokesman for the union group, Franken described the long tradition that exist in Minnesota of "having two Senators who are very pro workers and working families." "He said it was an honor to be sworn in today and walk through the aisles with Mondale and to be sworn in on Paul Wellstone's Bible," Vale recounted. "He stressed that both men were champions of the labor movement."

Paul Wellstone would be proud.



Open Thread, Remembering Paul Wellstone

Crooks and Liars honors the late, great, progressive Senator Paul Wellstone,
(July 21, 1944 – October 25, 2002). This video was made by Senate Democrats last year at this time (h/t Hold Fast).

Open Thread below...



Say Hello to Digby

Digby reveals herself by accepting the Paul Wellstone Citizen Leadership Award on behalf of the progressive blogosphere at the Take Back America conference in Washington, D.C.

Other videos on Take Back America available here....



Continue reading "Travelin' Norm

Travelin' Norm Clever Peasantry

There has been much talk lately concerning House Majority Leader Tom Delay’s ethical slips. A great deal of the attention that has been directed towards Mr. Delay’s has had to do with trips that were paid for by lobbyists. Who knew that we had our very own version of Tom Delay right here in Minnesota?

One of the leaders in the recent uptick in privately funded travel is Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who ranks 15th in Congress in the number of free trips since 2000, even though he has only been in office since Jan. 2003. Coleman has taken 36 trips with a combined tab of $57,617.

Among Coleman's free travel: visits to Punta Mita, Mexico, and Barcelona, Spain, care of the Aspen Institute; a fact-finding trip to Maputo, Mozambique, paid for by World Vision, Inc.; and four trips to Las Vegas, two of them funded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., is at the bottom of the pack, listing one free trip: a March 2001, tour of Alaskan oil drilling sites funded by Alyeska Pipeline Services Co. and Era Aviation.

A spokesman for Coleman said his frequent privately paid travel is a reflection of his work on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as his draw as a speaker after a dramatic 2002 election in the wake of the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Ah yes, the Foreign Relations Committee. Las Vegas is a hot spot for the folks on the Foreign Relations Committee. Here are some other places that Senator Coleman has visited in his 2 years of service....All told, Sen. Coleman has taken 36 privately funded trips. Most of them were paid for by PACs or lobbying groups.

My question would be whether or not his staff has been on some of these trips (and how many went.) I’m sure they have. Do they have to claim any expenses? Email Kevin Diaz and ask him to find out.right here in Minnesota?

One of the leaders in the recent uptick in privately funded travel is Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., who ranks 15th in Congress in the number of free trips since 2000, even though he has only been in office since Jan. 2003. Coleman has taken 36 trips with a combined tab of $57,617.

Among Coleman's free travel: visits to Punta Mita, Mexico, and Barcelona, Spain, care of the Aspen Institute; a fact-finding trip to Maputo, Mozambique, paid for by World Vision, Inc.; and four trips to Las Vegas, two of them funded by the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC).

Sen. Mark Dayton, D-Minn., is at the bottom of the pack, listing one free trip: a March 2001, tour of Alaskan oil drilling sites funded by Alyeska Pipeline Services Co. and Era Aviation.

A spokesman for Coleman said his frequent privately paid travel is a reflection of his work on the Foreign Relations Committee, as well as his draw as a speaker after a dramatic 2002 election in the wake of the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone.

Ah yes, the Foreign Relations Committee. Las Vegas is a hot spot for the folks on the Foreign Relations Committee. Here are some other places that Senator Coleman has visited in his 2 years of service....All told, Sen. Coleman has taken 36 privately funded trips. Most of them were paid for by PACs or lobbying groups.

My question would be whether or not his staff has been on some of these trips (and how many went.) I’m sure they have. Do they have to claim any expenses? Email Kevin Diaz and ask him to find out.
Coleman’s travel is completely unique in the Senate. His predecessor only made 15 privately funded trips during his last 2 years in the Senate; something Coleman has more than doubled.  "

 
Calling Dave's Bluff        Canadian Cynic
 
Having, over the course of the last few months, documented the sleazy, pathological dishonesty of David Horowitz and his little leprechauns, the laughably-misnamed Students for Academic Freedom, it just occurred to me that there's one incredibly easy way to shut Dave up once and for all -- just give him what he wants.

Since Dave is constantly bitching, whining and moaning about the overwhelming (in his own mind, anyway) pro-liberal, anti-conservative bias in academia, what better way to test his claims than to give him his own college class to teach?

Seriously, I propose that some college or university in the U.S. -- ideally, one that Dave has viciously slagged in the last little while -- invite Dave to teach a single, one-term course. Since Dave is perpetually slobbering about the under-representation of right-wing moonbats on the faculty, what better way to address this than to give Dave his very own course to try to set things right. So, let's hammer out the details, shall we?

First, would Dave agree to do it? It's hard to see how he could refuse and not become the laughing-stock of the entire galactic quadrant. How could he possibly justify being such a total pain-in-the-ass for years regarding alleged liberal bias on campus, only to refuse the opportunity that's handed to him on a platter? Really, there's no way he could turn down such an offer and have anyone (well, anyone sane, that is) take him seriously any more. So I think we're safe in assuming that Dave really couldn't weasel his way out of this.

Coleman’s travel is completely unique in the Senate. His predecessor only made 15 privately funded trips during his last 2 years in the Senate; something Coleman has more than doubled. Continue reading "Travelin' Norm"