Polinaut: September 18, 2007 Archive

The Daily Digest: 9-18-07

Posted at 10:18 AM on September 18, 2007 by Tom Scheck
Filed under: Daily Digest

Minnesota 3rd District is going to attract plenty of attention over the next 14 months. That's because GOP Congressman Jim Ramstad is not running for another term. MPR, the Star Tribune, the Pi Press, AP, KSTP, WCCO, KARE, FOX9, Politico and ECM Publishers have stories.

The Hill says Ramstad's decision puts another swing district in play and CQ says it could give the GOP a month of troubles.

Round up the usual suspects! KSTP and The Fix take a look at the possible contenders.

Ramstad's colleagues react to the decision.

Here's one question the Digest regrets not asking: Will Ramstad run for governor in 2010?

State government

Gov. Pawlenty is Washington again today. He's talking about SCHIP this time.

Members of the House Transportation Committee held a field hearing in Willmar.

Legislators are getting an earful from farmers.

Congress

Politico says Democrats are targeting Coleman for Iraq war votes.

DFL Sen. Amy Klobuchar holds a hearing on her cell phone legislation. The Star Tribune, Forum Communications, KSTP, WCCO and KARE have stories.

The St. Cloud Times says Klobuchar is spending a lot of time taking on consumer issues.

DFL Rep. Keith Ellison will take the food stamp challenge.

DFL Rep. Collin Peterson supports easing restrictions on Cuba.

A Pennsylvania reservist thinks he was fired because he reenlisted. DFL Rep. Tim Walz is mentioned.

Fox News takes a look at MoveOn. Walz is mentioned.

DFL Rep. Betty McCollum talks about No Child Left Behind at a legislative hearing.

DFL Rep. Jim Oberstar wants an investigation into why South Dakota used federal railroad money to buy an airplane.

The ACLU sides with Larry Craig on the bathroom incident.

U.S. Attorney

Eric Black says Rachel Paulose is under investigation.

2008

GOP Sen. Norm Coleman calls on Mike Ciresi and Al Franken to denounce the Move-On.org ad.

Illinois Senator Barack Obama sends a letter to the U of M in which he outlines his support for U of M striking workers.

Finally

A judge rules Star Tribune publisher Par Ridder must step down. The Star Tribune and the Pi Press have stories.

State senator sues God

Posted at 11:59 AM on September 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (5 Comments)

Attention, people of Nebraska! Evacuate your state immediately!

Or risk the wrath of God, who is being sued by a state senator who says God has made terroristic threats against the senator and his constituents, inspired fear and caused "widespread death, destruction and terrorization of millions upon millions of the Earth's inhabitants."

Apparently, I find from my Nebraska friends, Sen. Ernie Chambers has been doing this for years, and in this case he's protesting frivolous lawsuits.

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What if? (Special weird kid in Florida edition)

Posted at 5:50 PM on September 18, 2007 by Bob Collins (4 Comments)

No doubt, if you have a computer (you obviously do) and a desire to goof off for at least part of the day (guilty!), you have seen the video of this kid who got himself tasered. Personally, I think the kid was looking to make a splash for his Web site, but let's take that out of the mix for just a second.

This comment from Sen. Kerry, to me anyway, seems like an odd thing for a U.S. senator to say. This is a note from the Associated Press.

"Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine."

Way to step up to the plate, senator. That's the Constitution we're hypothetically thinking about here.

And for the sake of the hypothetical discussion on the question of the right to free speech, let's assume that the reason the campus cop first put her arm on the kid -- ostensibly because he exceeded his allotted time in asking the question (which means they gave people 30 seconds to ask questions as near as I can tell) -- was because she didn't like what the kid was saying politically to a, ummm, politician.

At the time, of course, Kerry didn't know. He said as much. But what if the "disturbing the peace" allegation was directly linked to the politics about which he was speaking?

How would this quote sound then?

Whatever happened, the police had a reason, had made their decision that there was something they needed to do. Then it's a law enforcement issue, not mine.

It's not exactly Boris Yeltsin standing atop a tank... or a man in Tiananmen Square standing in front of one.

On his Web site, Kerry posted a statement today, saying...

"I regret enormously that a good healthy discussion was interrupted."

I suppose the story there is a politician thinking giving someone 30 seconds to ask you something constitutes "a discussion."

NBC Nightly News, by the way, had an interesting question: "is this part of something bigger?"

According to the "Future of the First Amendment Survey," nearly three-fourths of high school students don't know how they feel about the First Amendment, or they take it for granted (see pdf of survey questions).

Even worse: 24% of the students surveyed say they disagree -- or don't know how they feel -- with this statement:

People should be allowed to express unpopular opinions.

How could that be? Over to you, senator.

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