Central Minnesota Political

Bob Lessard waited until a few ours before the deadline to file as a Republican candidate for Attorney General. “I kept hoping that someone would file that really was filing to protect the Constitution and laws of Minnesota,” the 80 something former Minnesota State Senator from International Falls, said. “Nobody did so I filed.” Lessard says he has two reasons for running for Minnesota’s Attorney General. One reason is that he’s concerned that Republicans want to repeal Minnesota’s Clean Water, Land and Legacy Amendment to the Minnesota Constitution. “You know it’s in their party platform,” he asked. Lessard, along with Staples area Senator Dallas Sams, were the co-authors of the bill that eventually went before Minnesota voters as a Constitutional amendment to fund environmental and arts projects with a quarter of one percent sales tax. Fifty-six percent of Minnesota voters voted yes on the Constitutional amendment. “I’m not in favor of governing by initiativ...

The Todd County DFL will be holding a pot luck picnic at the Dinkel - Van Valkenberg home in rural Long Prairie on Sunday August 26th. This is a social event wit no specific event. For more information contact Amy at  alvanvalkenburg@gmail.com

I’ve been wondering if the Quran, the book of Islam, teaches kindness and generosity? If it does, two Muslim men from St. Cloud were following the teachings of their Prophet recently. Here’s how it happened. We were on a journalism assignment in St. Cloud. The assignment took us down Division Street at a very busy time. The traffic was pretty much crawl and stop. Crawl and stop. If you’ve been on Division Street you know what it can be like. All the traffic lights are against you. There’s a car nibbling at your tail pipe, two on either side of you, and one in front of you. All the drivers are on their cell phones. Since we drive a stick shift this kind of traffic situation requires lots of clutch work and shifting. Our little Chevy has 100,000+ miles on it and it has been shifted more than one-hundred thousand times. As a consequence the clutch has been sticking. By sticking, I mean that when we push the clutch to the floor it stays there. Or, it stays there for a minute o...

The Sanders Institute and renowned climate activist and writer Bill McKibben have teamed up to make a series of elegant two to three minute videos on climate change and renewable energy. Each video makes just one simple but profound point. Watching them gives you something to think about and talk about. I've provided the links to the three that that have already been released. I expect that there are more to follow: Video #1 - The Climate Crisis There is ample evidence that climate change is happening.  97% of scientists  believe not only that climate change is happening, but that humans are causing climate change. https://www.sandersinstitute.com/blog/the-climate-crisis Video #2 - Renewable Energy Around the World Our leaders like to talk about “American exceptionalism,” but America is not so exceptional when it comes to renewable energy. In fact, we are falling far behind. https://www.sandersinstitute.com/blog/renewable-energy-around-the-world ...

West Central Climate Action will be showing the award winning film Merchants of doubt at the Detroit Lakes Holiday Inn at 6 p.m. on Wednesday July 25th. The screening of this important film will be followed by a discussion and social hour. The following is a synopsis of the film from Wikipedia: Merchants of Doubt  is a 2014 American  documentary film  directed by  Robert Kenner  and inspired by the  2010 book of the same name  by  Naomi Oreskes  and  Erik M. Conway . [1] [2] [3] [4]  The film traces the use of public relations tactics that were originally developed by the  tobacco industry  to protect their business from research indicating  health risks from smoking . The most prominent of these tactics is the cultivation of scientists and others who successfully cast doubt on the scientific results. Using a professional  magician , the film explores the analogy between these tactics and the methods used by ...

Senator Paul Gazelka high-tailed it to Duluth when Donald Trump, Sr. made an appearance there in early July. The Senator was photographed, not once but twice by the Star Tribune newspaper, shaking the Donald's hand and beaming warmly at him. One of the photos was run on the front page of our local newspaper along with Gazelka's claim that he got to spend some quality time with his man. Here are some Gazelka quotes from that Long Prairie Leader article: "In my opinion there's more to the President than what you see on TV," Gazelka said. "In our conversations he was a refreshingly good listener. You can tell how he truly cares about how his policies are affecting Minnesotans." A little later he said: "Yes, President Trump has definitely reached people here in Minnesota who feel their voices haven't been heard. Something he is saying is reaching their hearts." So, we need to understand what causes Senator Gazelka to beam at the Donal...

Last week I wrote about John Poston's vote against allowing the Minnesota DNR to regulate the use of lead shot on DNR lands. Alex Hering, who intends to take back the seat in the Minnesota Legislature that Rep. Poston currently warms wrote back. Here's what Hering said: "John Poston does not appear to represent Minnesotans or the health of Minnesota's people, wildlife or air, soil and water quality. Like getting the lead out, John Poston must go." Poston does not represent Minnesotans or their environment because lead shot poses a health risk to those who use it, those who eat wild game shot with it, employees of firing ranges where lead shot is used, and wild animals - such as bald eagles, vultures, and fox - that consume the remains of animals injured or killed with lead shot. Alex sent me the link to a blog that explains many of these dangers. The blog also makes it clear that there are many alternatives to lead shot. White tailed buck from Wikipedia...

The Donald gives to you with one hand and takes from you with the other.  Take for example the tax bill that he signed some months ago. The Donald said it was a really big tax cut. Some of us - not me - actually paid less taxes and got pay raises because our employers were paying less taxes. That was good and the press The Donald loves to hate so much wrote about that a lot. So now a lot of people have some extra money in their pay check. They are looking for ways to spend it. Where should it go? A vacation? Restaurants? A new lawn mower or outdoor grill? It’s hard to decide. Don’t worry. The Donald will decide for you. And he has decided that you will spend your money from his really big tax cut on gasoline. You can use that gasoline to go to work to pick up your extra large pay check. If you drive to work in a Ford F100 you’ll pay $413 extra for gas this year compared to last year, according to the U.S. Energy Information Administration. If you’re driving a Honda...

I get emails from the environmental organization Conservation Minnesota that point out the dismal voting record that Sen. Paul Gazelka and Representative John Poston have on environmental issues. Sometimes I drop the two men a note pointing out their wrong-headed votes. Even though I almost never agree with John Poston I do appreciate his willingness to respond to me. A Conservation Minnesota email in June read as follows: "Did you know that lead is toxic to wildlife and is unsafe at every level in humans? A recent survey of Minnesotans showed that 76 percent supported phasing out the use of lead in ammunition to protect wildlife and people. Yet, the Minnesota Department of Natural Resources (DNR) estimates that 178 tons of lead were deposited on state lands during the 2017 small game hunting season. In 2016, the Minnesota Legislature enacted a law forbidding the DNR from taking action to reduce lead ammunition until July 2019. During the 2018 legislative session, an ame...

My friend Juan Jose Leon Guillen reports that there was unusually high voter turn out across Mexico for the June 1st Mexican elections. I will quote him here. Please forgive his imperfect English. "There was a participation of 68% of people who voted had always been 35 to 40% of voters, where I voted there were long lines of people voting, I had never seen so much participation." Juan Jose and his family have been campaigning for progressive causes in the State of Chiapas since I met them in 1996. At that time they were part of a group called the Civil Zapatistas and they, and hundreds of others - including me, were occupying the town square in their home community of Comitan de Dominguez. When I last visited with them, in 2016, they had just hosted a campaign visit from Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador, now the President-elect of Mexico. Needless to say, they are ecstatic about the election of Lopez Obrador. Over the years they pointed out to me that the ruling party, t...