Two Minnesota entities currently in the news are in the midst of blowing up in the home stretch of their respective campaigns: The Minnesota Twins and Tom Emmer. While the disintegration of the former pains me, the meltdown of the latter puts a smile on my face. The latest act in the Emmer Implosion: Getting [...]

No matter how much the corporate GOP-friendly media tries to cover for Republicans, it’s kinda hard to project the appearance of an unstoppable juggernaut when you have to go into hock to do it. Yet that’s exactly what John Boehner and the NRCC are planning.

Minnesota Senator Al Franken has spent his time in office as a staunch advocate for women’s reproductive health.  And once more, he is proving he is a pro-woman senator.

Written by Robin Marty for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

Remember how it became a running joke that the surest way to see if George W. Bush was going to cut a group’s funding was if he’d done a recent photo-op with it? I mean, it happened again and again.

Well now, today we see Tom Emmer, a tax cut fanatic in the mold of George W. Bush and outgoing governor Tim Pawlenty, had a photo-op at a company that, if Emmer had had his way, would likely have gone under.

Pawlenty’s executive order will affect the elderly, teens, the poor and middle class, those in high risk insurance groups, rural Minnesotans, the mentally ill, new moms and newborns. You can do the math, but you can’t begin to calculate the damage.

Written by Sarah Stoesz for RHRealityCheck.org – News, commentary and community for reproductive health and justice.

Those who pooh-pooh that global warming is a certainty in our future, take note. It’s already here.

Immigration satirist Robert Erickson is back! This time, he’s going after the insane cruelty of Tom Emmer, the Republican candidate for governor of Minnesota, with regard to the unborn — namely, the unborn children of immigrant women. Emmer, who claims to be “pro-life”, apparently couldn’t care less about the unborn if their mothers’ skins happen to look somewhat different from his.

Tony Sutton, the chair of the immigrant-bashing Republican Party of Minnesota and a supporter of Arizona’s “Show Us Your Papers” SB1070 law, owns Baja Sol, a local chain of Mexican fast-food joints. SEIU Local 26 would like to point out the incongruity of this.

How badly has GOP presidential wannabee Tim Pawlenty messed with Minnesota’s judicial system during his time as absentee governor of the state? His own former best buddy, Eric Magnuson, the guy he made Chief Justice of the state Supreme Court, is now one of his biggest public enemies.

In challenging times like ours, it is important to step back and look at the big picture. In the Senate we wrestle with painful choices to balance the state budget. Some factors affecting the budget are outside of our control, some we can control, and others fall somewhere in-between. While most legislative work addresses things we have direct control over, we should at least understand other factors influencing the resources available.