The State Canvassing Board of Minnesota met today to “certify” the election results from earlier this month, and to affirm that the vote was within one half of one percent in the gubernatorial race between Democratic Farm Labor candidate Mark Dayton and Republican Tom Emmer.

Part of that process involves a discussion, which as of this writing is still ongoing, about the procedure for the required recount. There are a number of issues involved, and I will not bore you with all of them. But I will discuss one, because it seems to me that the outcome of today’s canvassing board meeting may guarantee that there will be a successful state supreme court challenge to the Minnesota Gubernatorial recount, presumably on behalf of whomever is determined by the recount to have lost.
Continue reading How the Mn Canvassing Board has Guaranteed a State Supreme Court Challenge in the Minnesota Gubernatorial Recount. →

Right?
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Ronald Reagan would spin in his grave.
Continue reading New START Treaty in place, will the Teabaggers block it? →

There is no down side to this, and viewing it s a political move is cynical and unacceptable.

From the White House:

Earlier this year, President Obama called on the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to create new rules for Medicare and Medicaid hospitals that would allow patients the right to choose their own visitors during a hospital stay. The Presidential Memorandum instructed HHS to develop rules that would prohibit hospitals from denying visitation privileges on the basis of race, color, national origin, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, or disability.

Today, the Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services (CMS) has issued that rule – a rule that will let patients decide whom they want by their bedside when they are sick – and that includes a visitor who is a same-sex domestic partner. The rule presents an important step forward in giving all Americans more control over their health care.

Continue reading Obama forces gay visitation policy. This is an unmitigated good thing. →

Aaron Huey’s effort to photograph poverty in America led him to the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation, where the struggle of the native Lakota people — appalling, and largely ignored — compelled him to refocus. Five years of work later, his haunting photos intertwine with a shocking history lesson in this bold, courageous talk…
Continue reading America’s native prisoners of war →

Over the last couple of weeks, I’ve written a handful of blog posts that are based primarily on the local news in the Twin Cities or Minnesota. Either we have stranger news than other places (which I think is true), we are going through a strange period (which I think is true) or I’ve got some sort of strange personal psychotic thing going on so that whenever I see a news story like “Combine runs over, kills black bear” or a web site that says “Help us Decide, Should we Have an Abortion or Not” I think it’s odd (which I do).

Continue reading PZ Myers can see the Dakotas from his Living Room. Which could be a problem. →

Labor activist Auret van Heerden talks about the next frontier of workers’ rights — globalized industries where no single national body can keep workers safe and protected. How can we keep our global supply chains honest? Van Heerden makes the business case for fair labor.
Continue reading Making global labor fair →

In some societies, men hunt together and this is probably a part of male bonding. Before you write off the idea of male bonding as facile pop psychology, please step back a moment from the term, which is so overused in mostly cynical contexts that it has probably lost its meaning. Let me try to put some fresh meaning on those old bones.
Continue reading Oh deer, what happens when you go hunting? →