Blanked Out

I’m taking on too many projects and graduate classes to give Blanked Out the time it deserves. I will still use Blanked Out as a platform for my political research - if I discover anything amazing, I’m sure you will hear about it through the usual channels.

I am focusing on energy and environmental issues - specifically how non-profits, the scientific community, business and politicians interface and communicate with each other.

Currently, you can see my blogging at Energista, a MN-based collaborative project to distribute and analyze energy news. It’s a great blog with incredible contributors and best of class comments.

I recently blogged on Bush’s supposed hydrogen “mishap” and current trends in solar energy. Energista has also done a great job of tracking and analyzing recent energy bills in the MN Legilature - notably the Renewable Energy Standards and the Global Warming Mitigation Act.

There are other projects that are still in development. Stay tuned.

Mark Kennedy tried and failed to tie the League of Conservation Voters and Amy Klobuchar to a false radical position.

What Kennedy forgot to mention is that he agrees with the LCV: manure is not toxic waste. The difference is that the LCV actually promotes positive solutions. From the LCV’s website: (emphasis added)

While most hog farms stink, and some contaminate waterways with waste-laden runoff, Legan’s operation is one of Indiana’s model farms, earning praise for consistently exceeding environmental requirements.

Legan’s business, Legan Livestock and Grain, experts say, exemplifies how modern pork producers can balance responsible farming and smart business.

The farm is a showcase of conservation. Manure is channeled into clay-lined lagoons filled with bacteria that help digest it. The waste is later sprayed onto crops as fertilizer at carefully determined rates.

Manure is not all that gets recycled on Legan’s farm. Even dead hogs are put to use, their remains shredded into nutrient-rich compost.

If Kennedy is going to claim he can “reach across the aisle” to get things done for Minnesotans, this would be a great place to start.

Mark, get the B.S. out of your stump speech and into the fields of Minnesota’s farmers.

UPDATE: MN Publius reminds us that Mark Kennedy salted the fields of many farmers by becoming the deciding vote in a $1.8 billion cut in farm aid. It will require a lot of manure to make that soil fertile again for Kennedy.