That, Ladies and Gents, is a Tweet from the Independence Party Of Minnesota, the Party that (for now) has Major Party status.

Overwhelmingly, Democrats in Minnesota oppose the GreedOverPrinciples Party’s bigoted and hateful proposal to amend Minnesota’s Constitution by restricting the rights of our LGBT Brothers and Sisters. Specifically, they want to deny the right of our LGBT Sisters and Brothers to marry, thereby insuring Minnesota stays a state where marriage is an institution of “One Man And One Woman (at a time).”

And according to that tweet from the Independence Party, they reject Republican bigotry and hate, too.

Add into that Ron Paul’s strong showing in Minnesota last night, and it looks like Minnesota may be the very first state to reject an anti-LGBT amendment to a State Constitution!

To ensure defeat, there’s a lot of work to be done. Fortunately, Minnesotans United For ALL Families is out there working hard – I saw ‘em at my Caucus Precinct last night, and was told they were all over this great state.

Go show ‘em some love, would ya? When I pledge allegiance to the flag, it ends: “…with Liberty and Justice for all.”

Yes, “all” - which includes my LGBT Brothers and Sisters.

Yours, too.

(cross posted at MnProgressiveProject; comments welcome there)

The right for workers to organize gives workers the right to insist on safe working conditions. Back in 1934, workers died for those rights during the Minneapolis Truckers Strike. From the Minnesota Historical Society:

This strike, also known as the Minneapolis Teamsters’ Strike and, alternately, sometimes called “a police riot,” was one of the most violent in the state’s history, and a major battle in Minnesota’s “civil war” of the 1930s between business and labor. A non-union city, Minneapolis business leaders had successfully kept unions at bay through an organization called the Citizens Alliance, but by 1934, unions were gaining strength as advocates of workers for improved wages and better working conditions.

Yesterday in St. Paul, the Minnesota Workers Memorial Garden was dedicated, to honor our fellow citizens who did on the job. Let’s look!

(link to YouTube here)

From WorkdayMinnesota.org’s story on the event:

The memorial is “a place where people can come, reflect and visit a lost one,” said Harry Melander, president of the Minnesota Building & Construction Trades Council. “It will also be a memorial to what needs to happen in the workplace to improve safety.”

Minnesota AFL-CIO President Shar Knutson noted that “Last year, 21 Minnesota workers died on the job as a result of a workplace injury.” Countless more died of work-related illnesses and chronic injuries, she said.

“We should make sure we commit ourselves every day that Minnesota workers come home safe.”

Mondale urged everyone to “put pressure on those who are supposed to be administering these laws” to make workplaces safer.

I was at this event; an event dedicated to the creation of a memorial to remind everyone of the need for safe work conditions: people (family, friends, neighbors, CITIZENS) die when there aren’t. I, of course, was tweeting from the Dedication, when I noticed this:

@EileenLeft Rand Paul Opposes Mine Safety Rules htp://bit.ly/cmGquL
about 22 hours ago via web

Which, of course, I immediately retweeted:

@TwoPuttTommy On a day in MN dedicating a Memorial 2 honor killed workers, this: RT @EileenLeft Rand Paul Opposes MineSafetyRules htp://bit.ly/cmGquL
about 22 hours ago via web

I couldn’t believe it – so I started digging in.

That link leads to a blog which links to TheHill.com. We’ll start there:

Rand Paul: Congress has no business protecting miners
By Mike Lillis – 08/02/10 11:12 AM ET

Reform-minded lawmakers in both the House and Senate are pushing legislation to bolster the work-safety protections for miners working underground. But don’t try to convince Rand Paul.

The Republican running to replace outgoing Sen. Jim Bunning (R-Ky.) in the coal-mining hub of Kentucky said recently that Washington has no business formulating mine safety rules.

“The bottom line is: I’m not an expert, so don’t give me the power in Washington to be making rules,” Paul said at a recent campaign stop in response to questions about April’s deadly mining explosion in West Virginia, according to a profile in Details magazine. “You live here, and you have to work in the mines. You’d try to make good rules to protect your people here. If you don’t, I’m thinking that no one will apply for those jobs.”

“I know that doesn’t sound … I want to be compassionate, and I’m sorry for what happened, but I wonder: Was it just an accident?”

“…just an accident?” JUST AN ACCIDENT??!?

That “…April’s deadly mining explosion in West Virginia,…” was at the Upper Big Branch Mine, operated by Massey Energy Co.. It was NOT “just an accident” – as noted in the preceeding link:

As production at the mine has increased, so, too, have the violations.

In 2008, the mine produced 363,923 tons of coal and received 197 citations. Last year, it produced 1.2 million tons of coal and racked up 515 violations, the highest amount of violations in the past decade. The proposed fines for those violations amount to nearly $900,000.

Note: there is a big difference between “proposed fines” and “imposed fines” – but, that’s a tangent. The point is, it was NOT “just an accident.”

That story in TheHill.com links to the source, the original reporting in Details Magazine – and it’s a “must read.” From it, and remember how this post started – a brief mention of the 1934 Minneapolis Truckers Strike:

Harlan County, Kentucky, it turns out, is famous not for the Duke boys, or for the Hatfields and McCoys, as Rand Paul speculated, but for its violent coal battles. Nicknamed Bloody Harlan, and the subject of countless folk ballads (including “Which Side Are You On?”) and several books and movies (the Oscar-winning 1976 documentary Harlan County USA and the 2000 film Harlan County War, starring Holly Hunter), the county was the site of some of the most explosive labor battles of the early 20th century. The bloodiest clashes occurred in 1931, when miners, working 12-to-16-hour days without any safety or wage regulations, tried to unionize. Beatings, shootings, bombings, and tear-gas attacks followed, much of the violence perpetrated by the local sheriff’s department, which was controlled by the coal companies. Eventually, after four people died in one gun battle, federal troops were brought in to keep the peace. Bloody Harlan has been cited as a major reason for the passage of the National Labor Relations Act of 1935, which gave the federal government the power to regulate labor contracts and is anathema to everything Rand Paul stands for.

“…and is anathema to everything Rand Paul stands for.”

I’ve been following Tom Emmer on the campaign trail for quite some time, and for the life of me, I can’t think of a single difference between Rand Paul’s and Tom Emmers on the concepts of regulation.

From the 1930′s, from Kentucky to Minneapolis, the Rand Pauls and Tom Emmers and their ilk have opposed efforts to ensure worker safety. Decades ago, workers died trying to get safer condition for future workers – in Kentucky and in Minneapolis and elsewhere – and were killed by company goons trying to prevent just that.

This post is about two movements – one trying to protect workers; one trying to protect corporations. The former values people; the latter profits.

The Rand Pauls and Tom Emmers of this world make that perfectly clear.

It is 90 days until November 2nd, and the general election. Will you stand with those that honor those that have died to get safer working conditions, or with those that place profits before people?

90 days – and the battle rages on. Take a stand; the life of a loved one, a friend, a neighbor, a CITIZEN is at stake. Maybe even your own.

(cross posted from MnProgressiveProject.com; comments welcome there)

The Department of Justice internal watchdog, the Office of Professional Responsibility, submitted to Holder a report today that recommended the department re-examination earlier decisions, made under the Bush administration, to decline to prosecute apparent violations of anti-torture laws.

In reaching his decision to appoint a prosecutor, Holder also reviewed a 2004 report compiled by the CIA inspector general’s office. “As a result of my analysis of all of this material, I have concluded that the information known to me warrants opening a preliminary review into whether federal laws were violated in connection with the interrogation of specific detainees at overseas locations,” Holder said in a statement today. (Law.com)

So, what do the Obstructionists in Party Of No have to say? Let’s look!

Sen. Joe Lieberman (I-Conn.), the chairman of the Senate Homeland Security Committee, expressed his strong disagreement with the appointment.

“I respectfully regret this decision by Attorney General Holder and fear our country will come to regret it too, because an open-ended criminal investigation of past CIA activity, which has already been condemned and prohibited, will have a chilling effect on the men and women agents of our intelligence community whose uninhibited bravery and skill we depend on every day to protect our homeland from the next terrorist attack,” Lieberman said in the statement.

…

The ranking member of the Senate Intelligence Committee, Sen. Kit Bond (R-Mo.), and the ranking member of the Senate Judiciary Committee, Sen. Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.), were among nine GOP senators who sent a letter last week to Holder urging him to back off from the idea of appointing the special prosecutor. (TheHill.com)

There you have it, ladies and gentlemen: The Part Of No, demonstrating once again that when they break laws, laws don’t matter.

Which, of course, is but one reason why GOP now stands for GreedOverPrinciples.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

The video includes appearances by Oliver Stone, 9/11 family member Patricia Perry, actors Rosie Perez, Noah Emmerich, John Doman and Reg E. Cathey, and musical composer Philip Glass, among others, reading directly from a memo authored by Jay Bybee, former head of the Justice Departments Office of Legal Counsel under the Bush administration. The memo was released in April as part of a Freedom of Information Act lawsuit filed by the ACLU.

For more information, visit:
http://www.aclu.org/torturedlogic

Ladies and Gentlemen, I received the following via e-mail:

Opponents of torture will rally at the University of St. Thomas School of Law, LaSalle Ave and 11th Street, Minneapolis, on Monday, August 24, 9 – 11 AM to bring letters and voices of discontent to Dean Thomas Mengler regarding Professor Robert Delahunty. Prior to his current stint as professor of constitutional law for St.Thomas University, Robert Delahunty, along with John Yoo, authored an infamous memo (1/9/02) for the U.S. Justice Department which advised that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to the war against al Qaeda, the Taliban, and terrorism. The ‘legal’ advice of this memo helped the Bush administration to legitimize harsh methods of interrogation, which are widely understood to be torture.

The mission statement of St. Thomas University School of Law, posted currently at the University web site, reads, “The University of St. Thomas School of Law, as a Catholic law school, is dedicated to integrating faith and reason in the search for truth through a focus on morality and social justice”. Given this mission statement, many of us who also care about morality and social justice, wonder how the University of St.Thomas can justify maintaining Professor Delahunty on its teaching staff. We also wonder why Dean Mengler finds it necessary to defend Professor Delahunty. Is it the position of the University of St.Thomas Law School that Professor Delahunty’s position on torture is morally correct? Come to the rally August 24 (first day of classes) to hold Professor Delahunty and The University of St. Thomas Law School accountable.

For those who are willing to make it a slightly longer day, some of us will be marching with our banners and letters of discontent from The Center for Human Rights at the U of M to the rally at St. Thomas School of Law. We will be also carrying a copy of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, given to us by The Center for Human Rights. We hope that Dean Mengler and Robert Delahunty will read it. The Center for Human Rights is located in Mondale Hall, University of Minnesota, on the west bank (229 19th Ave. So). We will gather outside the north entrance of Mondale Hall at 7AM. The 2 mile march will begin promptly at 7:15. The march will go straight down Washington Avenue to Nicollet, turn left on Nicollet to 11th Ave, then turn right to St. Thomas University.

That’s next Monday morning; see you there.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

That’s not the point of this post; the point of this post is how the GOP deals with their “enemies”.

And former Ambassador Joe Wilson was considered an enemy of the GOP for his speaking out about the Niger yellowcake BS. So, what play out of the GOP playbook did they run? The ol’ smear play, directed at his wife:

“Valerie Plame wasn’t really a CIA Agent; whe was just a secretary.”

Remember that? The GOP played that one over and Over and OVER, and to this day there are rightwingnuts that still firmly believe Valerie Plame “wasn’t really a CIA Agent; she was a secretary, no, wait – just a glorified coffee go-fer.”

Take the Not-So-SwiftBoat veterans: “John Kerry isn’t really a Purple Heart recipient; all it took were some bandaids.

Disgusting. Then again, coming from GOP “leadership” – it’s to be expected.

These days, the smear machine is going after President Obama:

“He really isn’t an American; he was born in the slums of Kenya.”

Unbelievable. You really have to watch:

GOP Party “Leadership” doesn’t care that it’s simply not true; what they care is that voters think it is.

The GOP Party “Leadership” uses surrogate mouthpieces like G. Gordon Liddy to spread their filth.

(crossposted from MnProgressiveProject)

Two points, from the ol’ TwoPutter:

1. It’s a good thing the AG is recognizing the problem, but:
2. He’s BLAMING THE EMPLOYEES??!?

Say, Mukasey? Remember a girl named Valerie? Valerie Plame? What did this misAdministration do, when hubby stood tall and told the truth??!?

The Plunderers in the misAdministration put people’s lives at risk ’cause hubby blew the whistle – what makes anyone think that career Justice Dep’t employees didn’t take note, and wonder what THEIR fate might be?

Sorry – the ol’ TwoPutter ain’t buyin’ this Thema Culpa by Gonzo’s stand-in.

Ladies and Gentlemen, you shouldn’t either. If Mukasey was serious about career employees standin’ up, he’d have announced a program to cover their back when they did. He didn’t; he isn’t.

And since he’s sandbaggin’ the problems his boss, Boy Blunder, created – what else is he sandbaggin’?

Oh – and a H/T to Tony Mauro at LegalTimes for bringin’ this latest pile of horse(apples) from the misAdministration of Bush The Lesser to my attention.

(originally published at MnBlue.com)