In Hilo, we are not camping (yet) but we have been holding sign wavings, rallies and other protests for well over 2 months now to raise awareness on a lot of issues. We have been meeting formally and holding General Assemblies for 7 weeks to pool our ideas and energies into direct actions. We are a small but determined and passionate bunch.

Minnesota governor Mark Dayton this morning offered the Republicans controlling the Minnesota Legislature a choice: He’d accept their June 30 proposal, which delays school payments and doesn’t tax the rich, on these three conditions …

Minnesota’s government shut down takes only a few hours to devolve into a ‘Minnesota Nice’ version of Beyond Thunderdome

It’s been a busy week in Lake Wobegon and the rest of the Upper Midwest. Here’s some of what happened …

Congratulations, America, your federal budget process is now as efficient as New York State’s!

So here’s what I don’t get: Why all the finger-pointing back and forth about who’s responsible for shutting down the government? The Republicans have branded themselves as the anti-government party for years, so why aren’t they bragging about shutting it down?

We’re hours away from a government shutdown because Republicans want to use their hatred of lady parts to extract maximum budget cuts. Apparently John Boehner agreed to drop that rider last night, if we’re to believe Harry Reid, but then Boehner sent a 4am email saying he couldn’t sell it to his caucus. He’s not really in control.

Feeling poleaxed by the audacious hopes it raised during the ‘08 campaign, Team Obama will attempt to lower expectations going into 2012–and nothing lowers expectations like proving yourself irrelevant.

With less than half a day to cut a budget deal to delay or prevent a government shutdown, now would probably be a good time to familiarize ourselves with some of the facts about what a shutdown of the federal government would mean.

Embedded here is about the most straightforward and complete take on who and what will and won’t be affected by a federal government shutdown. Please share it with anyone you think might need the info, and if you have any additional news about a government agency, service, or venue, please let us hear about it in comments.

Polling shows the public divided on whether to blame Democrats or Republicans. The establishment media doesn’t want to be seen as choosing sides. And since there is an even split of powers in our Constitution, unlike many other democracies, there isn’t the clear accountability of being able to point to the party that controls this one specific chamber/office as the obvious offender.