Full story at The UpTake.
If you think you already saw the story here, no, that wasn’t a sleep deprived illusion. I had cross posted the story only to discover that while it worked fine in most browsers the video embed code totally destroyed the CSS of my blog. So, until I figure that prickly question out you’ll have to go directly to The UpTake for video goodness.
It will end, will it? I thought Franken’s excellent editorial published today might be enough but no - the madness continues:
The Star Tribune of Minneapolis will be refunding about $12,000 spent on a full-page ad to Al Franken’s Senate campaign, a Franken campaign spokesman says.
This week, Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign took out a full-page ad in the newspaper criticizing Franken for not condemning a New York Times ad by MoveOn.org, which had attacked General David Petraeus.
Coleman’s campaign says it paid a little over $23,000 on the ad - far less than the $37,000 that Franken’s campaign says it paid for a full-page ad two months ago.
In other words…
The Star Tribune is refunding Franken for giving Sen. Coleman a discount on an ad criticizing criticism (Franken’s) of criticism (Congress’) of an ad (Move On’s) criticizing (General Petraeus’) criticism of the Iraq War on the same day they publish an editorial (George F. Will’s) which criticizes the lack of criticism that can result in a discount on an ad criticizing criticism of…
While it would be fun to continue to expose the hilarity that arise from this Moebius Strip we call life I will instead leave it to others to plumb the comedic angles.
Succinctly:
This is worse that a do nothing Congress.
*Equation: {Average Congress member makes $165,000/Congress meets an average of 93 days per year} x {517 members in the Congress who voted either way on resolution}. (Subtracted members who refused to vote since measure was farce, i.e. Obama).
UPDATE: The Strib is currently not reporting this on their site - instead some sort of bathroom incident is taking top billing. Strib story is here.
My coverage is up at The Uptake.
I would like to add that the reactions coming in from all sides are not the usual “We honor Rep. XXX’s years of public service…” boilerplate press releases. Rep. Ramstad was that rare politician: he said what he was going to do and then he did it. He had more creditability among Democrats the any other Minnesotan Republican.
As for the coverage itself - it was ok. Due to the short notification of the announcement most of the A-list vloggers and equipment was otherwise occupied. I had to rush to the scene with inadequate battery charge, tripod and audio equipment. Even so - coverage quality at The Uptake is only going to get better by leaps and bounds. Watch out for it.
Can be found over at The Uptake.
I asked Rep. Ellison about what he hopes will be accomplished by anti-war protests, what responsibility the U.S. has in the aftermath of an Iraq pull-out and whether or not he regrets his vote earlier this year authorizing funds for the Iraq War.
This interview is a short clip of a longer piece on the protest where I interview several participants of both the protest and counter-protest. Clips of Norm Coleman and some of the counter-protesters are also up. Stay tuned for more.
Thanks to Chuck Olsen, Oliver Dykstra, Jason Barnett, Ken Avidor and the team at The Uptake for their great coverage.
Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner just formally announced he is running for Senator John Warner’s old seat. I expect only an egg timer will be needed to time how long it takes the presidential candidates to start politicking for Gov. Warner - he still has much of his presidential exploratory campaign apparatus still up and running. It’s going to steamroll whatever unlucky Republican is put up against him. Gov. Warner’s announcement video is here.
I apologize for the inconsistent posting. It has been due to inconsistent housing and internet access. Both have now been solved - this past weekend MNDOT gave us one day to fully move out of the old apartment next to the I-35W collapse site. It was a frantic grab for everything but now it’s done. Coincidentally, we were there at the same time they took down the last part of the south side of the bridge. It was surreal since there was a crowd of people on 10th Ave bridge looking down upon us. Click on the picture to see more.
This is my first report as I investigate the incident surrounding the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) action of August 31st 2007. While there was a slew of photos, videos and eyewitness reports I did not see any reporting done with those who were actually arrested.
The MPD’s response was to give no comment on this story since it is still an open investigation.
Unless you’re on the City Council that is - 2nd Ward Council Member Cam Gordon was able to confirm several details in his post here that help explain the MPD response:
Cam’s post helps a lot - I’ll be writing a “feature” piece that summarizes everything once all the pieces come together. For now, here is my interview with Joel Lueders who was arrested that day. I don’t talk much since his story (which checks out) speaks for itself. If you have any additional information regarding the incident please email me at noah AT blanked-out DOT com:
Blanked-Out:
Tell me a bit about yourself and what happened.
Joel Lueders:
I have lived in Minneapolis since 2000. For the last 5 years I’ve served in the Minnesota Army National Guard. I have a degree in Elementary Education from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I am 25 and work in Downtown Minneapolis where I bike to and from each day. I am not a member of the pReNC and this was my first time attending Critical Mass.
It started at Loring Park, went to the University of Minnesota Campus then back across Broadway Bridge. A helicopter was surveying the crowd from the beginning. A police car trailed us the entire time, sounding their siren as they drove through intersections. As the crowd passed people would smile at us, whip out camera phones or whoop and holler.
Some would ask “What’s this all about?” Bikers usually responded with “Happy Friday!” I saw at least one plainclothes officer tracking us with a camcorder. Later, when crossing the Broadway Bridge I came across a single arrest in progress. Unified chants of “Let him go!” began – a few minutes later they did. Bikers immediately continued riding along with the rear police escort.
Everything seems functional now - there are a couple of visual “hiccups” that I still have to track down. If there is anything interfering with you use of the site please do not hesitate to comment on this post to let me know. Thanks!
City Pages is reporting that while attending Hofstra University, a young Norm Coleman found himself in an argument with Tom Buggeln a Navy veteran who had spent time in Vietnam. At the time, Coleman was a student activist who frequently agitated against the Vietnam War:
[Buggeln] resented what he viewed as the privileged college kids protesting the war and lambasting U.S. policies. Buggeln allied himself with Young Americans for Freedom—a conservative campus group associated with William F. Buckley—and frequently clashed with Coleman. Buggeln remembers one particularly heated confrontation with Coleman after some antiwar students roughed up an ally who was distributing literature on campus. “I went to him and I bitched about it, and we got into it,” recalls Buggeln, now a sheriff’s deputy in Maricopa County, Arizona. The dustup culminated in Buggeln slapping Coleman across the face, giving him a bloody lip. “He ran down the hall screaming, ‘First blood of the revolution!’ or some shit like that.”
I knew that would draw you in. Don’t worry, pay off for the headline is buried deep. This is an analytical feature, so you’ll have to work for it. You had Labor Day off after all.
First: This post is not about the arrests during the Critical Mass bike ride on August 31st. Currently, that event is being adequately covered by eyewitness Steve Marsh, Aaron Landry and the always solid Andy Birkey at the Minnesota Monitor. The only thing that will provide info on that event is more verifiable eyewitness reports – something I’m working on.
Exculpations or convictions should be held off until then.
In the meantime, I felt it was important to clarify an emerging mainstream media meme regarding the RNC Welcoming Committee’s (RWC) plans to protest the RNC Convention. This post is not to render judgment either way but to present the details in context which has always been a core mission of Blanked Out.
On the morning of 8/27, RWC proxy Bea Bridges presented this statement and this video. Star Tribune staffer Randy Furst posted a news story that afternoon along with Rachel E. Stassen-Berger of the Pioneer Press. Two days later, activist-columnist Katherine Kersten posted an editorial regarding the legal preparations for the RNC convention.
Let’s see how the story developed on two key points: (emphasis added)
