DFL Senate District 62: Convention or Marathon?

Yesterday, March 8th, was the Minnesota State Senate District 62 DFL Convention and I was a delegate selected to attend at our precinct caucus back on Super Tuesday, February 5th. Unfortunately my friend and neighbor was unable to attend due to an illness in his family.

As this was my visitation weekend and wanting to spend time with my teenage son, I suggested that he accompany me and afterwards we would go do something fun. After all, registration begins at 9:00 A.M. and we should be out of there by what, 11:00 A.M. or 11:30 A.M. at the latest? Well, guess again. We did not get out until nearly 4:00 P.M. and that was only after leaving early because, as Popeye would say: That was all me could take and me could take no mores!

We arrived at my father's alma mater, Roosevelt High School in South Minneapolis at approximately 9:25 A.M. and immediately knew that something was up when we had to park three blocks away. As we approached the entrance on 28th Avenue, we were inundated with supporters for Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer, one of the three candidates running for the DFL Party's endorsement for the U.S. Senate seat currently held by Republican Norm Coleman and once held by Saint Wellstone.

I knew our district was known for its political activism and this was later confirmed when one of the speakers announced that more people turned out for caucuses in our one district then in the entire state of North Dakota. The registration line snaked through the school down one corridor, then another and another, then back again. After approximately 45 minutes, I finally received my credentials and then off we went to very last row of the balcony, where precinct 12-6 was being seated.

The first item of business was voting on the 138 resolutions that were passed by the various precinct caucuses. Yes, that number was correct, 138 freakin' resolutions! So many that we had to use the same forms you use for taking the SATs. The resolutions ranged from the profound to the absurd.

Falling into the latter category was a resolution that wanted to require the Administration and Congress to consult with state and local officials before negotiating any provisions of the Free Trade Area of the Americas. Only problem with that resolution was something called the Constitution of the United States which gives Treaty making power to the executive and the advice and consent power to the U.S. Senate.

Another exasperating moment came shortly after the convention got under way when some clown made a motion to abandon Roberts Rules of Order. We never got to hear what the alternative was, anarchy? Luckily this motion was not seconded and in a rare moment of parliamentary economy, the convention quickly moved on. The same could not be said when well-intentioned delegates made various motions intended to speed things up only to end up slowing thing down in what would have been comical attempts except for their frequency. These are all good examples of why lawyers are still indispensable to the legislative and political processes, if for no other reason then to keep idiots from wasting citizens time and turning people off to the political system.

Perhaps the most frustrating point in the convention came during the subcaucus portion of the convention when 48 people proposed subcauces. If that wasn't bad enough, the person keeping track of the various groups on an overhead projector had apparently never heard of a time saving device called abbreviations. I mean, it was like watching old people screw.

A moment worth mentioning is when candidate for the DFL U.S. Senate endorsement, Al Franken, arrived too late to address the convention as we were already in the process of creating the 48 sub caucuses. Thankfully what could have been a bitter standoff was quickly resolved with a negotiated motion to allow each of the three candidates or their proxies an additional 5 minutes to address the convention. Al made the best of the awkward moments by walking the floor shaking hands before being allowed his five minutes to give a heartfelt and pragmatic speech before hurrying off to the next convention. In true Franken form, as Al was leaving he grabbed a floor mike and reiterated he had to go, acknowledging those in the balcony who had not already come down to the main floor. Then, after exiting a door stage right, he ran back in and yelled: "thanks for letting me speak!".

Also worth noting was former Senator Mark Dayton's passionate, almost spastic speech in support of Hillary Clinton, which in a district which went almost 75% for Obama, took a great deal of courage. After Dayton finished, everyone sitting in my section agreed he showed more passion in his speech on behalf of Hillary than he ever showed on his own behalf when he was our Senator.

Special thanks should go out to the people at Fire Roast Mountain Coffee Shop for providing the fabulous tamales and baked goods in addition to beverages as we really needed sustenance during this marathon affair. Thanks also to the affable gentleman from Northern Sun Alliance with his two tables of humorous, progressive shirts, buttons and stickers, which gave my son and I something to do during the longwinded speeches by local officials. Finally, a very special thanks to Bill Davis, our savior, who was brought in to act as surrogate chair to move things along and without whom we would still be there.

Time Has Come to End Discrimination In Mental Health and Addiction Coverage: Senate Should Adopt House Version of Wellstone Mental Health Parity Act

The U.S. House of Representatives took a huge step towards ending discriminatory insurance coverage practices by passing with a vote of 268-148, legislation that specifies that if a health plan provides mental health benefits, it must cover mental illnesses and addiction disorders listed in the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (DSM) of Mental Disorders, which is used by mental health professionals.

The version passed by the House would help end the stigma of mental illness and create greater access for people needing mental health and addiction treatment. The Senate had previously passed a watered down version that had been gutted extensively by its Republican opponents. David Wellstone, son of the original Senate bill’s author, the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, withdrew his father’s name from the Senate’s version stating his father would have never supported the Senate bill.

The entire Minnesota Congressional delegation joined as sponsors and voted in favor of the House bill with the notable exceptions of Michelle Bachman and John Kline. In a page right out of the Karl Rove playbook, the Republican opponents conflated ridiculous and absurd examples into a false choice and railed against a perfectly sound piece of legislation. Along with Rep. Bachman and Rep. Kline, another Neanderthal opponent, Rep. Phil Gingrey, R-Ga., complained the House bill would mandate coverage for such conditions as jet lag and sexual dysfunction, both of which are listed in the psychiatric association's manual.

See "U.S. House Passes Mental Health Bill Named for Wellstone" by Tom Weber, Minnesota Public Radio March 6, 2008. http://minnesota.publicradio.org/display/web/2008/03/06/mental_passes/

It is precisely this lack of understanding and insensitivity towards fellow citizens who suffer from mental illness and addiction disease that leads to the discriminatory practices that the House version attempts to address.

I have profound respect for retiring Minnesota Rep. Jim Ramstad, who has championed the legislation in the House and lead the bipartisan fight both in Congress and by personal example. Ramstad, a Republican and recovering alcoholic himself, sponsored colleague Patrick Kennedy, Democrat from Rhode Island after Rep. Kennedy’s public struggle with addiction a few years back. It’s too bad that so many of his so called Christian, right-wing, Republican colleagues would rather play politics with people’s lives and treat those suffering from mental illness and addiction disease so disrespectfully, instead of the way we would want our own family members treated. But I guess those people never heard of something called the Golden Rule.

The conflicting House and Senate bills have been sent to a conference committee in an attempt to reconcile the different versions so it can be presented to the President, whose signature remains doubtful. The President is said to favor the Senate bill because it “wouldn't significantly raise health care costs”. That is coming from the same cost conscious President and then Republican-controlled Congress that would not let the government negotiate with prescription drug manufacturers under Medicare.

SHE'S BACK!!!

Bill sighs knowing he's been holding Hillary back too
She left to carry some top states, ain't it the cold truth
And there hasn't been a tally since Edwards left the race
Since Hillary won New Hampshire things have got pretty thin
It's tight on this fence since that young dude was musclin' in

Barak cries 'cause baby's in a bundle
She goes running nightly, lightly through the jungle
And them tin cans are explodin' out in the ninety-degree heat
Barak somehow lost his lead thinking he was on Easy Street
It's sad but it sure is true
Barak shrugs his shoulders, sits back and sighs
OOh, what can I do, ooh, what can I do?
OOh, what can I do, ooh what can I do?

Barak lies back bent on a trash can,
Flashing lights cut the night, dude who's not white says he's the man
Well you better learn to move fast when you're young or you're not long around

Barak somehow lost to Hillary down in Texas town
So get right, get tight, get down
Well who's that down at the end of the alley?
She's been gone so long

Hillary's back in town, here she comes now
Hillary’s back in town
Hillary’s back in town, here she comes now
Hillary’s back in town
Hillary’s back in town, here she comes now
Hillary’s back in town

Now Barak knows Hillary’s chances are true
And that she can beat this city dude
But she's so soft, she's so blue
When he looks into her eyes
He just sits back and sighs

Sampling credit:
“Kitty's Back” Lyrics
Artist(Band):Bruce Springsteen c. 1973

Karl Rove and That Old Black Magic

I was surfing channels during commercials on my favorite, CBS' Sunday Morning, (about the only thing the CBS News division hasn’t ruined since the Katie Couric era) news program when I heard Fox's excuse for a reporter and GOP shill, Chris Wallace, say Karl Rove will be on when they return from commercial, so I decided to stay. I find it amusing and entertaining to hear what Fox's version of Punch and Judy have to say, even if it is obviously scripted, biased and has no relation to the journalistic requirements of good news reporting.

As much as I despise Mr. Rove and what he has done to this country, you have to appreciate his cunning and guile, despite its evil intentions, but most importantly, the results. You might as well call him UPS because Rove delivers. Not packages, but elections. Karl Rove knows right-wing Republican politics down to the precinct level and knows what buttons to push on these people so that when he plays on the fears, greed and prejudice of Red State America it is like watching a concert violinist play a Stradivarius.

Roves' results are often so miraculous that it can be said that Rove is to Republican politics what Merlin was to sorcery, except with Rove he only practices the dark art of Black Magic. Rove demonstrated this dark art very effectively in the 2000 South Carolina Republican Primary (I know, a local S.C. official's fingerprints are on that piece of character assaination) much to John McCain's chagrin (i.e. false rumor McCain had a mulatto child out of wedlock) but you gotta think, who was doing the encouraging?

Wallace and Rove lived up to my expectations with a call and response "interview" that would make any Southern Baptist minister proud. Although a paid analyst for Fox, Rove wasted no time laying the foundation for the eventual Republican attempt to "Swift Boat" Obama come the general election.

Rove's blueprint: Treat Obama's words with seriousness. This is political spin doctor speak for take a statement out of context, emphasize a point that strikes an emotional chord with the public, create simplistic false choice and exploit the half-truth with righteous indignation.

But wait, Rove "needs a witness" and Wallace responds with all the timing of an enthusiastic, overweight, female parishioner shouting "Amen!". Fox shows a tightly edited excerpt from an Obama campaign speech which Rove goes on to take completely out of context and conflate. The now famous excerpt includes Obama taking McCain to task about there being no Al Qaeda in Iraq prior to the invasion, something Rove wouldn't publicly admit until after leaving the Bush Administration. The clip also shows Obama expounding on the effect the war and its $12 Billion a month price tag has had on the country. Thanks to the art of tight editing, Rove goes on to conflate Obama's remarks and create a false choice dichotomy that worked so well for GBW the last two elections.

Rove preaches to the choir that it doesn't matter who was right about the Iraq War initially, (like this has no bearing on a candidate's decision making ability on life and death issues of national importance), but rather we are there now and "Who you gonna call?" Ghostbusters! No, you're gonna choose McCain because according to Rove, Obama is going to immediately and unconditionally pull our troops out of Iraq, regardless of the conditions on the ground and revert back to the isolationist foreign policy pre-911. I can just picture in my mind millions of Red State Americans nodding their fat, red necks and murmuring through their overbites and buck teeth: "Yep, by God he's right!"

Two of the biggest problems with that little bit of linguistic and logical magic are that Obama never said that (timing of withdrawal depends on conditions but it is a policy decision for political leaders not Generals) and Rove's "analysis" implies that it was the Clinton Administration that was isolationist when in fact it was the foreign policy platform that GBW ran on (no Nation Building) and authored by none other than Rove. Hypocrisy, distortion and half-truths? Truth doesn't matter in the Rove art of Black Magic and besides, the American People don't pay attention, so he gets away with it.

Now, does the so-called journalist in the room point out any of the numerous lies and distortions of Mr. Rove? Of course not, Wallace, like a puppy on a choke collar just wags his little tail and encourages him on with big, loving, puppy dog eyes of admiration.