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John Gilmore's arraignment listing
It’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon and the rest of the Upper Midwest. Here’s some of what happened:
– Michele Bachmann was the subject of a Matt Taibbi piece in Rolling Stone that was not up to his best standards. In fact, as writers like Abe Sauer and Karl Bremer were quick to notice, it borrowed heavily, without attribution (and at times almost verbatim) from local writings such as “The Chosen One”, the seminal 2006 City Pages piece by G.R. Anderson. This is probably why there was very little new information in the piece. (Ironically enough, Anderson had tried for years without success to get Rolling Stone interested in his writings on Bachmann. Go figure.)
– Speaking of Bachmann, it’s beyond me how Taibbi managed to do a profile on her and all but totally miss covering the big fat rumor magnet known as her husband, Dr. Marcus Bachmann. Go here for a little taste of why, buzz notwithstanding, there won’t be a President Bachmann in our future.
– Yeah, the Republicans running our state legislature won’t budge on tax increases for the upper 2%, so there’s a state shutdown going on. The GOP leadership, taking their cues from (morally, at any rate) bankrupt failed taco baron Tony Sutton, are publicly all defiance and bluster, but behind the scenes there are already cracks in the GOP’s front. One Republican freshman legislator, Mike LeMieur of Little Falls, had this to say: “I personally think the Republicans will probably be more damaged than the governor. The fact is that we’re all up for re-election again next year, and he’s not up for three years.” Left unspoken by the local legacy media, but picked up by sharp-eyed new journalists Sally Jo Sorensen and Andy Birkey, was how the Republican fixation on social issues such as abortion helped derail the budget talks. More on this — and of Governor Mark Dayton’s principled and smart stand — in my 6:45 Pacific post tomorrow morning. (By the way: If you’ve got a Twitter account, pass this on. Thanks.)
– Finally, it was John Gilmore’s arraignment day in court today. (See above screen shot.) He’s the powerful local Republican operative and blogger who got nailed for harassing a pair of Muslim women and their pedicabbie friend outside of Netroots Nation 2011 two weeks ago yesterday.
And that’s the news from just south of Lake Wobegon. What’s new in your neck of the woods?
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Hello, everyone! How goes it tonight?
Cuomo’s gotten himself into a peck of hot water of lifting the ban on fracking. Lots of environmental running around howling today. He also set Anthony “I’m just on my blackberry chatting, honey” Weiner’s special election as well. In my neck of the woods, the fruit is coming in and we went picking sweet cherries as well as raspberries this week. Can pie cherries be far behind?
Young Master Andrew is fracked up, I fear.
Not sure if the cherries are ready here, but the strawberries are going berzerk, my snap peas are going great guns, and the first of my tomatoes are now about the size of my thumbnail.
Nikki Haley, the conservative governor of South Cackalack, just signed a bill into law that would effectively end SCETV.
Hardly a whimper to be heard, down here.
She knows her peckerheads.
I could use more happy news. As we approach debt ceiling day, for once I hope the market knows something I don’t. I hope what they know isn’t that Obama is going to cave. I wonder how long the fed could hold things together buying US debt.
I think they figure it’s all kabuki. Or have been told such by Boehner.
It’s amazing. Thirty days away from a potential disaster and barely a flicker in the bond market. But Eric Cantor has a $15,000 bet shorting the dollar. It’s just part of a balanced portfolio.
What’s new here? Portland has become the third city in America to include transgender surgery in its employee health benefit package, thanks to the tireless work by Mayor Sam Adams convincing his City Commissioners it’s the fair thing to do:
TIME is idiotic, here, though — Sam’s scandal wasn’t anything like Anthony Weiner’s, in that there was real live and barely legal actual boy involved.
QE 1+lite+2 has been monetizing the debt for years now. They have shut down the money pump for now, but I’m sure they could turn it back on with a few days notice.
Wow! Thanks for the news, Teddy!
Here where the state’s Democrats, led by our governor, the very grown-up and principled and intelligent Mark Dayton, could give the Dems in DC a lesson or two in negotiations: Rather than letting themselves and the state be held hostage by Republican water torture of the “we’ll give you a few weeks’ reprieve if you agree to being partially hosed so we can hose you even harder a few weeks from now” variety, they have made coming back to the bargaining table contingent on agreeing to work on a full budget deal, not a stopgap, and without an expensive special session where they can grandstand for the cameras.
More good news here:
http://firedoglake.com/2011/07/01/connecticut-gov-signs-marijuana-decriminalization-bill-in-effect-starting-today/
Good luck to the governor. I hope he can hold out but when you “negotiate” with those kind of people there is no telling how far they will go. Still, if they insist on being fools…..
Thanks for the nice post, PW. I live in “South of Lake Woebegon” and in the southern most part of Michele Bachmann’s “territory.” (I live in the only part of the state district which is not part of John Kline’s district, if that’s any clue.).
I’m just posting here to give a shout out and a hey-nonny-nonny link to our buddy stalwart Bill Prendergast who’s been manning the anti-Bachmann barricades all these years:
http://bill-prendergast.dailykos.com/
Michele Bachmann could very well be the Republican nominee for President. At 61, I never thought there were so many stupid and frightened people that would allow a person like this to even be in Congress. But life is full of surprises and requires us all to re-examine our basic assumptions.
Governor Dayton has shown himself to be a rather effective negotiator. I expect he and the rest of the Democrats — who are for a change putting in a truly united front behind him — will triumph (as will the state) after a couple of weeks.
My favorite of the longtime Bachmann watchers is Stillwater resident Ken Avidor, who’s been at it since well before she won her first election:
http://www.dumpbachmann.com
Fellow Stillwaterian Karl Bremer does an excellent job of Bachmann-watching as well:
http://www.rippleinstillwater.com/
And no, she won’t be the Republican nominee for president. This post over at Dump Bachmann shows the main obstacle to that particular possibility — namely, her husband.
I do hope you are right. The Wash Post has a story relating this to trouble in Greece, the UK and in DC saying that people will have to choose higher taxes or less benefits. Maybe they should also add, less warmaking and special tax loopholes.
I still think Perry will enter the race and take the nomination.
The Republicans have one overwhelming advantage over Democrats, both in campaigning and after they take office: they have convinced their supporters that a) government should do nothing and b) if it tries to do something, it will not work.
That completely frees them from any responsibility for governing, from any accountability for their record in office, or for any qualifications for office. Look at how many candidates say proudly that they are “outsiders” who have never held office.
Now think about it, if you apply for a job, get an interview and they ask you “why do you think I should hire you?”. You respond “you should hire me because I know NOTHING about it, because I don’t think it should be done, and because I will do everything in my power to destroy your organization”. Oh, and I look good in a suit.
I think Taryl Clark ran against Bachman last time around. I hope she does again.
Pdubau
Nice take on the news. Love the Keillor.
I put women’s health care issues, pills, access to abortions a little higher on my happpy list than transgender surgery, but that’s only a little bit higher. I’m fine with my parts, but I’m all for people being happy.
In this little town, the news is it’s HOT! I’m too hot and I’m not bragging.
We are headed for more trouble b/c the nuts will continue to win even after all the nonsense we have seen.
Want some of our rain? We’ve got a little too much around here.
Only if it’s cool water. It’s over 100 degrees at 7:21 pm. Lawd, and this is the year I decided we could do without the central air. Money. Energy. Save the planet.
I’m nuts. (Don’t say it.)
taking their cues from (morally, at any rate) bankrupt failed taco baron Tony Sutton,
His chain that uses Hispanic labor never mind his own position on that went under? Bwahahaha! more details please :)
Question Timmy vs Michelle can either of them carry their home state?
Next Question Who is wining in the polls in their home state?
Next Question can any GOPer running for President carry their home state?
Is using Hispanic labor a good thing or a bad thing? I’m not sure what your point is?
In Chicago news we have hot weather for a few days but after the rain we get cold weather that kills off new born Mosquito Chicago is built over a swamp normally we get tons of Mosquitos I think the freak cold spells are killing them.
I have never got to july with only one possible Mosquito bite. I had one bug bite so far but it did not itch much so it might have been a Mosquito.
I wonder how this weather will effect crops? I don’t think bugs will be a problem this year for crops or people if this keeps up.
The guy has problems with illegal immigrants but he runs, ran a Taco fast food chain of all things. Having worked in the business it seems very unlikely he could run the chain without immigrants.
Tarryl Clark is running in the 8th district against a Rep named Cravaack. Either Clark was re-districted out of Bachmann’s fiefdom or she moved. Phoenix Woman?
Take this with a grain of salt. Local TV station WCCO Channel 4 did a quick poll on tonight’s 6PM news asking viewers to text their response to the question:
Who do you blame more for the state shutdown, The GOP Legislature or Gov. Dayton?
Viewers blamed the GOP 76% and Gov. Dayton 24%.
Again, highly unscientific, but . . .
Oh, okay. I make tacos all the time, at home. I’m white.
You maybe right but can Perry carry his home state? I’m on strike researching the GOP Presidential candidates until they get a serious candidate in the race.
If you can’t carry your home state how can you be a serious candidate?
Is it wrong to have standards:)
I never run air conditioning. Never made enough to support the electric bill. I assume I’m less and less an outlier these days.
It’s the Spiro Agnew principle: keep moving, the law can’t hit a moving target.
Your cool Demi its just funny that an anti immigrant guy would hire Hispanics probably illegals but be against immigration. The guy made my list:)
Hmmm? Timmy moved before his state’s budget exploded you might have a valid theory. Sarah I am not sure if her state has budget problems might confirm your theory. I am not sure about the other GOPers and what they might be running away from.
I make Pesto sauce with hot peppers :)
In Kansas as most of you know, the State has tried to shut down the three places abortions can be performed with their bogus re-licensing shenanigans.
They succeeded in accomplishing it for only one of them and that temporarily.
I wonder how much Rachel Maddow’s report from last night alerted people to it or if it was merely the legal challenges set up this week that pulled their brakes.
They’ve been fighting this war for over twenty years here. Looks like this is only the beginning this time around.
We have open carry gun laws here, too. Guns, alchohol, fireworks, 100 degree heat, hooligans, sigh. Which means I will stay indoors this holiday weekend. As. Much. As. Possible.
The GOP wants the election to be about Abortion and Gays they don’t want to talk about creating jobs well mitt does a little but little details on how.
They could win the election by saying they would create jobs but their Corporate Masters don’t want to hear the words end the Wars to create jobs or tax the rich to create jobs.
They certainly don’t want to hear create good paying jobs or end free trade so they will lose the election.
Obama is going to win the general. The only one who polls competitively with Obama is Romney, and I don’t think he can break 25% of the primary voters.
I think Perry is the only one who can build a solid plurality in the primaries. It will be between him and Bachmann. She has too much embarrassing material out there to hold together through primary season. Perry can take advantage of it and pick up most of her supporters. She may be the VP nominee.
What they really don’t want to hear is: “People don’t exist to serve the economy, the economy exists to serve the people.”
Good news. Grayson is actively soliciting campaign contributions. Although he didn’t specify for what. My guess is he is waiting to see if Bill Nelson retires from the senate before deciding which direction to go.
And for those that don’t like Grayson, I don’t agree with everything, his stance on Israel for instance, but he is a flicker of hope.
You’re totally right TCU. The same people who were crying about ‘wag the dog’ a dozen years ago now have any number of made-up issues to get self-righteous about. And understand less about. And have less of an idea ‘how we got here’.
What you say though makes me think about people seem to be leaving the state in droves. I say this anecdotally as I look around and see so many empty houses. Empty towns. But unemployment remains low compared to nationally.
Lots of middle age men wandering around the grocery stores at 11 am with that haggard, lost look.
Makes me curious to see how population numbers show this or not.
Phoenix … it’s a good night but not for Michele. Daylight is the best disinfectant for Bachmann septicity. Keep up the fight!
Michele Bachmann Exposes 23 Minors to Possible Pedophile
Let me state at the outset that everything you will read after this sentence is based on logic, but only as logic applies to someone with Michele Bachmann’s belief system; if Bachmann really believes what she claims to believe, then her conduct in exposing 23 minors to whatever risks her home might have posed to those minors…
Article:
Michele Bachmann
What’s happening around here?
Once again I made the mistake of buying a blueberry muffin at the supermarket. Best I can figure, they dusted it with alum rather than sugar.
I. mean. yikes.
Once things get cooler, I’m baking them myself. One by one, if necessary, to keep from overindulging.
Well, Agnew kept moving one step ahead of investigation and finally landed where he was safe from any inquiry. But I was really referring to the principle of continually moving away from a dubious history. I can see Chris Christie doing that already. He was unprofessional and ethically challenged as a fed prosecutor, so on to the governorship. Supposing he doesn’t make a second term, I’m sure he’ll have another bullet in his bandoleer. And another after that, and another, and etc. Tim Pawlenty was the beneficiary of split voting in MN. Not a hugely popular figure. Presidential candidate? On what basis?
I was just thinking along these lines this morning dave.
I mean, what are banks for? Why are they there?
They provide credit as lending institutions. They act as a middle man between businesses and utilities, they finance big loans for houses, cars etc.
But essentially they are supposed to be a safeguard against business or entrepreneurial failure.
And why didn’t anybody notice when they stopped paying attention to the money and started acting more like merchants themselves?
Yes, the balloon of ‘credit opportunities’ in the ’80′s, say, people could not fail to see. But yet, nobody questioned them when it became obvious they were trying to make money instead of primarily save it and safeguard it?
Or was everybody just too busy to notice?
stuck on what credit could do for them?
I’m at a loss…
Oh, and I got my assessment lowered enough to take a little over $2,000 off my taxes. Yahooooooo
It’s the single most revolutionary thing we can say. It almost fits on a bumper sticker /T-shirt. Everyone can immediately understand it (they may not agree, but they will understand).
It shoots the entire idea of globalization in the head. We have local (in-nation, in-state, near-point-of-use) production to a) meet local needs and b) provide local incomes. It absolutely does not matter whether it could be produced on the other side of the world and shipped here for a nickel less. You have long-distance trade to accommodate things that cannot be produced locally (like particular minerals).
If your country has a lot of oil, burn oil. If your country has very little, use something else. There was a time when the US was the largest producer and exporter of oil. It made sense for us to use a lot. That ended a long time ago (early 1950s, IIRC).
The economy needs to make jobs for the people. If they have a skill, give them a job doing that. If they really don’t have a useful skill, pay them to get training. If the job they are trained for becomes obsolete, pay them to train in something else.
PW, I’m not sure why Michele Bachmann dancing with Marcus is going to block her from the White House.
As for her speech, it sounds pretty much like Republican boilerplate.
Keith Olbermann had a segment on Marcus Bachmann that he promised would shock us. Marcus said that gays are “barbarians” who “need to be disciplined.” This ain’t going to shock any Republicans outside of the Log Cabin, and it’s likely to pass normal among lots of centrists.
I think she’s a lot stronger candidate than you think. I think Americans are a lot crazier than you think.
Agreed. I want to use it.
good for you l-a!
Be my guest. Spread it around. Paint it on sidewalks. Make it your sig. Tattoo it on your grandchildren. Whatever it takes.
If the Log Cabin Republicans engage Ann Coulter for entertainment, I don’t think Marcus Bachmann is going to faze them. They might find him amusing. Which, come to think of it, is probably the worst thing you can do to someone like Marcus: not take him seriously.
;-)
I’ll see if the neighbor girls wanna get a fanny tat of that in chinese…
yes, that’s a joke.
seriously, it’s good and gets to the guts of the issue!
Charles, go listen to the 100% straight (so he says) maker of ex-gays awhile and then tell me what you think are the chances of his ever becoming the First Man.
I dunno… a lot of Republicans like that kind of thing anymore. I didn’t find the DumpBachman site all that convincing that her hubby would stand in her way & be a preventative. Don’t get me wrong, though: I find that kind of attitude morally reprehensible, and I find Bachmann pretty scary (more so than Palin) as serious contender for POTUS. But I’m not convinced that her hubby’s “straightening” out the gays schtick will be a serious inhibition to Bachmann’s desires for the White House. I think her constituents will view all that very favorably. JMHO, of course, but thanks for the info. I hadn’t seen that before. urk
Go read this: http://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2011/07/mark-ames-why-the-american-right-never-liked-v-s-naipaul.html You won’t forget it.
Oh, I listened to him, PW. I don’t think he’s gay, if that’s what you are suggesting. Of course he could be. It’s not like a flaming “G” appears on the forehead of people who are gay.
Send it!
Tarryl Clark has been raising money for a run against Cravaak in the 8th. I don’t know that she’s been redistricted there because the redistricting isn’t done yet. I think she might have moved to get herself in the district. But I’m not sure.