Phoenix Woman

Tomorrow, the Republicans controlling the Minnesota State Legislature will be voting behind closed doors on whether to put an ALEC-assisted measure on this November’s ballot that will effectively strip the right to vote from tens if not hundreds of thousands of Minnesotans.

As part of an ongoing look at ALEC and its pet legislators, I’m looking at why certain ALEC bills (such as the Minnesota anti-voter “voter ID” bill which, having been shot down by both an ACLU lawsuit and a Mark Dayton veto, is back for its third go-round as a ballot measure) keep getting revived even after being shot down for unconstitutionality and other reasons.

A research document going the rounds in Minnesota summarizes twelve specific actions taken by ALEC darling and voter-ID maven Mary Kiffmeyer during her time as Minnesota’s Secretary of State (1998 to 2006) that put the integrity of voting in Minnesota at risk during that time.

Stearns spokesman Paul Flusche denies it, but…

Today we’re looking at the anti-voter actions of Mary Kiffmeyer, former Minnesota Secretary of State, current Minnesota state representative, ALEC’s point woman in Minnesota, and longtime foe of nonwhite voters, college kids, or anyone else she thinks might not vote for Republicans.

I saw an interesting story the other day that starts off thus…

In these hard times — caused by Wall Street bubbles and unregulated greed — it’s more than a little bile-inducing to see of the worst perps not only skate on jail time or even paying to fix the messes they helped create, but to steal some more money out of the till, money that could have gone to schools, highways, libraries, and actual job creation the way Franklin Delano Roosevelt did it lo these many years ago.

That’s why Minnesotans for a Fair Economy and several other local groups are staging a Rally and March for the 99% this coming Tuesday, January 24.

Grab the beverage and morning comestibles of your choice, kick back and chat, and imagine that two pairs of soulful brown eyes are watching your every move to see if you wind up dropping a piece of bacon on the floor. (Please don’t, it’s too salty for them!)

On Wednesday, January 18, the OccuPirates of Occupy MN, led by Nick Espinosa, will be making their own special variant of a Booty Call on US Bank. They demand that the US Bank pirates, who are far more rapacious than Henry Morgan or Edward “Blackbeard” Teach could ever hope to be, return their ill-gotten gains to the 99% from whom they were taken.

Ben Golnik’s refrain: “I was not a check-signer, I was not a check-signer”. Yeah, you were just the frigging Executive Director, with power enough to help Ron Carey end Tostenson’s career in the Republican Party of Minnesota.