The merger between MN Campaign Report and mnblue is almost complete. There will be few if any updates here at mnblue. At some point tonight or early tomorrow, w When you surf to mnblue it will roll over to www.mnprogressiveproject.com. Joe Bodell and I have been talking about this and working on this for a while now. Grace Kelly, TwoPuttTommy and our newest regular writer Holly Cairns are excited about the change as are the contributors from MN Campaign Report. We've even added a few new regular contributors. Also, Aaron Brown from Minnesota Brown will continue to contribute.

Our coverage of Minnesota politics should be better because of the number and quality of the writers. Plus, we've got loads of new features.

Since we're in the roll-out phase throughout the month of December, be sure to post comments or email me about things you'd like to see us do at MNPP. Both Joe and I built community blogs ... and we want MNPP to be yours, too. We want you to rant, rave, analyze and question. We want you to post about what's on your mind.

It's a bigger, better community. I hope you'll help. The future starts now.

We are in the blues times of the year, so activities should be picked that bring cheer. That is why putting up a tree now with lights could really help. One of the best ways to stop the blues is dig in dirt, by planting a garden. Yes I mean right now with snow on the ground! I noticed that pots were on super sale in hardware stores. If you can give up the window sill or counter space for a while, you could make holiday gifts of basil, cilantro, chives, oregano, parsley, sage, rosemary and thyme. Imagine being able to make a Christmas meal with really fresh ingredients. It would be a less expensive gift with big impact, and very unlikely that anyone else will do it. Plus very helpful directions abound. This picture also comes with directions at all-about-container-gardening.

If you haven't seen it yet Sarah Palin pardoned a Wasilla turkey and gave an interview at the same farm.

Don't think for a minute this is a gaffe. I believe she's aware of what is behind her and she obviously knows the camera.

Every Thanksgiving I eat turkey and I'm left wondering if it is really all that bad to see what I eat?

"This is an urban environment. Right over here is Juarez. And people are able to easily come into the border - into Texas, in this part of - in part of the border."

"We're also increasing the number of agents that will be working in the internal part of the country to find those who've broken the law and bring them to justice." -- George orWell Bush, El Paso, Texas, November 29th, 2005

"...into the border..."??!? "...internal part of the country..."??!?

What a maroon. In 51 days Boy Blunder will exit, stage "right." January 20th, 2009 will be The End Of An Error.

The Republicans would not spend 30 million over 5 years to help provide health care to the nation's poor children, however the the Republicans gladly added US debt of a trillion dollars to pay for 2 wars, an almost trillion that was supposed to buy up toxic mortgages but was instead used to buy stock. Now we have the greatest end run of government responsibility of all, the Federal Reserve is financing $7.8 trillion in debt that is basically in helping pay for the credit swap debit that estimated to be larger than the assets of the world.

In the last year, the government has assumed about $7.8 trillion in direct and indirect financial obligations. That is equal to about half the size of the nation’s entire economy and far eclipses the $700 billion that Congress authorized for the Treasury’s financial rescue plan.
(New York Times)

And how is the federal reserve paying for this? - by printing money meaning inflation! Everyone one's dollar will be worth less. Through inflation we will all be taxed. We didn't have the money for health care, helping people pay mortgages, or converting to green energy. However the Republicans had the money to save the "credit swap" bets of the very rich. Truly Republicans are the government of the rich. by the rich and for the rich. This time will live in Republican "spend, spend, spend" infamy and the most enormous redistribution of more wealth to the wealthy. Furthermore, with all the money in the hands of a few, we truly might have King Midas end to this story. We would have been way better off declaring all credit swaps null and void! We could created a US bank that borrowed only for legitimate business and never for credit swaps, letting "credit swap" banks go through bankruptcy. And especially notice how little media attention is being devoted to the $7.8 trillion, it is invisible news!. What news is out there was published on Thanksgiving day. In fact, I would wonder if the super rich did not arrange for news to hit during the Mumbai distraction. $7.8 trillion should have 2 million times the fuss that was made about spending 30 million over 5 years to help provide health care to the nation's poor children.

"Those who enter the country illegally violate the law."

"Every new citizen of the United States has an obligation to learn our customs and values, including liberty and civic responsibility, equality under God and tolerance for others, and the English language." --George orWell Bush, Tucson, Arizona, November 28th, 2005

January 20th, 2009 will be The End Of An Error.

Someone should have called it "White Friday" this year. "Black Friday" makes me nervous since I'm old enough to remember "Black Monday." Perhaps some of you are nervous, too, since you can remember the much worse "Black Thursday (1929)".

Today I'm hearing about lines and 4:00 a.m. store openings. Is this normal capitalism, where the consumer pumps money into the market (instead of the government)?

"The law I sign today directs new funds and new focus to the task of collecting vital intelligence on terrorist threats and on weapons of mass production." -- George orWell Bush, The White House, November 27th, 2002

You can't spell "worst" without "Dubya" - but you can be thankful that in 53 days January 20th will be The End Of An Error.

The Minnesota Senate race recount gets stupid today. First, the challenges are simply out of control. At the current rate, we'll break 7,500 and possibly approach 8,000, but each day the rate increases so do I hear 10K? Secondly, the Recount Canvassing Board punted the decision on the rejected absentee ballots to the courts.

Norm's lead range: 84 to 238.

6,400 rejected absentee ballots yet to be resolved.

This is 86.04% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th. The recount is on holiday until Monday.

Republicans tend to break election rules and laws. Now, is the time to be checking those financial reports! Like Republican Mark Mohr, running for the West St. Paul City Council 2nd Ward seems to have conveniently forgotten the $300 individual contribution limit for city offices.

CONTRIBUTION LIMITS: Candidates or candidate’s committees for county, municipal, school district offices may not accept aggregate contributions in excess of $300 in an election year or in excess of $100 in a non election year made or delivered by an individual or committee. However, candidates seeking election from districts with a population in excess of 100,000 may not accept aggregate contributions in excess of $500 in an election year and $100 in a non election year.
(Minnesota Secretary of State)

Just so you know the $300 limit applies since the population of West St Paul was 19,405 at the 2000 census, which is well under the 100,000 needed for the $500 limit.

So add up these contributions from the 39A GOP for "Mohr for Change", the personal campaign account of Mark Mohr? Do you get $500, greater than the $300 limit?

(Minnesota Campaign Finance Board, select RPM, select 39A House District RPM, select view report twice)

And there is more on Mohr ...

Progressivenature.com is my attempt at the front end of things-- usually I'm the technical guru, not the writer. However, I've been trying to raise awareness about "progressivism" and more specifically, "progressive Democrats" before the radical right steps in and does that for us.

I've narrowed down my message, tried to fit in all of the avenues, and communicated with several types of groups (including Republicans and Progressive Party members). But I've just now asked the DNC to lead the effort to define "progressive" and "progressive Democrat."

The image below is of a website called Christian Voter Guide. Click on Minnesota and you'll see a link to Minnesota Majority (see arrow), which apparently has good ideas about which political candidates Christians should support.

Should good Christians indeed heed Minnesota Majority's pleas to elect certain candidates?

AP obviously sat on the story about melanine until after the election. The fact that melanine was in our US food supply has been reported by me, at this very site since April 11, 2007. So basically all the Republican owned corporate news sources are now going to be reporting all the bad news that they should have been constantly reporting, now that it can't hurt Republican election chances.

Traces of the industrial chemical melamine have been detected in samples of top-selling U.S. infant formula, but federal regulators insist the products are safe....

Melamine is the chemical found in Chinese infant formula — in far larger concentrations — that has been blamed for killing at least three babies and making at least 50,000 others ill....

The three firms — Abbott Laboratories, Nestle and Mead Johnson — manufacture more than 90 percent of all infant formula produced in the United States.
(AP)

Basically China gets a free pass because we need China to keep buying our US debt bonds. Ever notice how we now never talk of cancer prevention, just on about working on cancer cures. Melanine is "singing canary" of a much larger problem. Note that we have many description deaths of unknown causes like "Sudden Infant Death" in babies. The coverup could be much more widespread than we currently know.

"We must continue the work of education reform, to bring high standards and accountability not just to our elementary and secondary schools, but to our high schools, as well." -- George orWell Bush, The White House, November 4th, 2004

January 20th, 2009 will be The End Of An Error.

(Updated: see below)

Anyone wonder about the Avista Partner's Star Tribune bizarre recount math? It has been clear that they were backing Norm Coleman from way, way before they actually got around to endorsing him. They always slant their coverage conservatively. Aaron Landry has the goods on that. They first post the AP's lede, then alter it to a more conservative title. Avista Partners are basically oil men and they hire conservatives to run their papers.

Their poor coverage due to too few political reporters left after budget cuts (another classic Avista move) kept any good news for Al Franken during the DFL endorsement race out of the paper. They had one reporter covering the Senate race, the Governor and the Legislature until this June. This isn't coverage, it's neglect. Not to mention their inaccurate coverage when they tossed a story to someone who knew little about the race.

They front-paged any bad news about Al or good news for Norm. Furthermore, they minimized Norm's controversies as much as they could while front-paging his defense against the various charges. For example, they never wrote about Norm's ties to the Myanmar dictatorship.

Now they have this exclusive math which they don't explain. It certainly can't be from journalists doing hard work. There are just too few political reporters left at the paper. Are they just pulling it out of their *** the air?

While Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken in the Minnesota Senate race (MN-SEN) has been reduced to 84 votes according to the Franken campaign or has increased to 231 (according to the mystery math at the Strib), that's a statistically meaningless number. The Franken campaign identified 6,400 rejected absentee ballots that the Canvassing Board will adjudicate. What are the chances that they'll find lots of uncounted Franken votes among them? With the Coleman campaign challenging absolutely any ballot they possibly can, how many will be deemed frivolous and counted? MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie wants a process established so that the frivolous challenges will be resolved before the Canvassing Board meets on December 16th. Good luck with that.

With the increase in challenges, we could now even hit 6,000 challenges. I'll show the math after the break.

This is 80.62% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th.

Since every magazine tends to have a personality type test and story, the real question is there a personality type model that really works, that helps political persuasion and that helps put volunteers into good matching roles. I believe that I have found just such a model, a diamond level personality model.

I first tested the model by typing myself and others, which you see the diagram of my type. Friends have also tried the model. It has predicted problems and personality matches quite well. It does a good job of explaining how stress affects each personality type. Here is my personality type:

Type Five

The Investigator

The perceptive, cerebral type. Fives are alert, insightful, and curious. They are able to concentrate and focus on developing complex ideas and skills. Independent, innovative, and inventive, they can also become preoccupied with their thoughts and imaginary constructs. They become detached, yet high-strung and intense. They typically have problems with eccentricity, nihilism, and isolation. At their Best: visionary pioneers, often ahead of their time, and able to see the world in an entirely new way.
(Enneagram Institute)

You read my articles, do you think that fits? Test here for your type!

"You'll hear, we're going to spend -- the government is going to spend the government money here, and the government is going to spend the government here." -- George orWell Bush, Trenton, New Jersey, September 23rd, 2002

And now we know where Boy Blunder is "spending the government" - AIG, Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac, Citicorp, TCF, etc etc etc.

Which led to this quote, from Socialist Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez:

(editor's note: quote, and YouTube, after the fold)

Our national health insurance discussion correctly focuses on documenting the industry's failures with sick people. Yet even the lucky people with good health have great difficulty with purchasing private health insurance. Our family is the classic case of health insurance not working. We have had a perfectly healthy family, and yet we still can only afford to take high deductible insurance, basically only catastophic insurance. We pay $7434 this year in premiums. We could end up paying $16434, before we see even one 80% payment from the insurance company.

So what would happen if we actually needed the insurance? How much would we pay then, and would our insurance company just drop us? The McCain $5000-for-health-care-insurance plan was totally out of touch with what really is available privately.

I'm off to the Wild game to see Alexander Ovechkin's Washington Capitols. Maybe the Wild can find a way to score. It might be as exciting as the recount. Ahem.

I'll post the numbers once I get home, but Jeck Fecke's analysis at Blog of the Moderate Left cuts to the quick of where this race is headed -- The courts.

Updated

Norm leads by 172. We're on pace for ... sweet Jebus ... possibly 5,000 challenges? We're nearly at 100 challenges per percentage point.

This is 74.18% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th. The gonkulations follow...