Leave a twig for the birds to perch on... don't let the capitalists do your thinking for you... if you are in the neighborhood, stop on in; the coffee is always hot and the cookie jar is full... looking forward to the day when the real decisions in America are made by working class families gathered around the kitchen table... new postings daily...Yours in the struggle...Alan L. Maki
Texas Longhorns with newborn calf in Bluebonnets
Please note I have a new phone number...
512-517-2708
Alan Maki
Doing research at the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas
What we need is a "21st Century Full Employment Act for Peace and Prosperity" which would make it a mandatory requirement that the president and Congress attain and maintain full employment.
"Voting is easy and marginally useful, but it is a poor substitute for democracy, which requires direct action by concerned citizens"
Pretty pathetic, even Sarah Palin has more compassion and common sense than Obama's main man as reported by all the MSM:
"Palin's non-rebuke rebuke of Limbaugh comes after she called on President Obama, earlier in the week, to fire his chief of staff after using the word. According to the Wall Street Journal, Rahm Emanuel called liberal activists who wanted to run ads against conservative Democrats "fucking retarded" in a closed-door meeting at the White House. On her Facebook page, Palin likened Emanuel's "slur on all God's children with cognitive and developmental disabilities" to using the "N-word," something she deemed "unacceptable" and "heartbreaking." Emanuel later issued an apology to Special Olympics chairman and CEO Tim Shriver."
Rahm Emanuel should have been fired on the spot. What kind of person is Barack Obama for refusing to fire Emanuel... this says more about Obama than anything... we know Rush Limbaugh is nothing but a fascist and a bigot.
Say, did anyone notice the new "contract" the United Autoworkers union (UAW) just signed with the huge Foxwoods Casino/Resort (an outfit run by a feudal tribal government for the profits of some mobsters)... a corrupt government put in place just like the puppet government in Haiti?
It's a union--- and a union contract--- management is thrilled about because the contract helps management "manage" the workers--- the dealers.
The agreement includes a sub-minimum wage for base pay.
The UAW has been busy "organizing" in Michigan, too, at two casinos we have been trying to organize--- Odawa and Island... their idea of "organizing" is to offer management "a better deal" than you can get "from a bunch of communists."
The "contract" includes a clause prohibiting workers from striking to "keep the contract in line with tribal traditions and laws."
No mention of the fact the feudal tribal government is the creation of the crooked and corrupt Indian Gaming Association.
Under the terms of this "contract" two-thirds of the workers covered by the contract will make less than $12,000.00 a year because the UAW did themselves one better and went from their "two-tier" auto contracts to a "three-tier" contract for casino workers.
Foxwoods is one of the most profitable capitalist enterprises in the world and this is the best the UAW can do for workers... but, its like Ron Gettelfinger has said, "We are going to have to pick up the dues we are losing in auto from some place else."
Workers at the Odawa Casino/Resort in Petoskey, Michigan told the UAW to get lost... at the Island Casino in Escanaba, Michigan workers weren't quite as polite.
The UAW has refused to join us in challenging the "Compacts" creating the Indian Gaming Industry for fear it might offend their "coalition partners," the Democratic Party which gets tens of millions of dollars in campaign contributions from the Indian Gaming Associations and the UAW doesn't want to insult corrupt tribal governments which work together with the Indian Gaming Associations to assure a pool of cheap labor through the perpetual breeding of racist unemployment and poverty so there will be enough workers to employ in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws.
Rumor has it the lead UAW negotiator from the Foxwoods' "gentlemen's agreement" has been offered a job with the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
The UAW thinks its alright for workers to breath in second-hand smoke as long as it "doesn't bother them;" of course, the American Cancer Society and the Heart & Lung Foundation might take a different view of this as does the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council--- no smoking in the workplace, period.
In Minnesota, with the help of State Senator Tom Bakk, now a candidate for Governor supported heavily by the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association; the UAW, USW and the building trades unions have joined with Bakk in looking after the rights of non-union employees in the hospitality industry by helping them save their jobs by freeing these workers from having the minimum wage enforced in the hospitality industry.
The UAW-Foxwoods agreement is the worst union contract in U.S. history; the washer-women in the Jamestown Settlement were able to negotiate a better union contract.
Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
58891 County Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net
Check out my Blog:
http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/
Precinct caucus night in Minnesota has become a Minnesota tradition, kind of like "hockey night in Canada" is across the border... over 8,000 precinct caucuses are held where citizens and grassroots activists in the political parties have an opportunity to make their voices heard... and last night the voices in the DFL resounded very clearly: put affirmative action into the DFL platform's "Action Agenda" and get out there and enforce affirmative action.
I hope you will circulate this wide and far. People across this country have a right to know that progressive Minnesotans are rising to today’s challenges and we need all the allies we can get from across the country if we are going to be able to muster the movement in building for the kind of change people were hoping for.
Read full article below after my comments---
Note: In many precincts across Minnesota “watered-down” versions of the original resolution were passed in an attempt by MN DFL Chair Brian Melendez to head off a discussion as to why it has taken the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party to take a stand for the enforcement of affirmative action… but, so far, all reports coming in from across Minnesota indicate that the grassroots, in their majority, expect affirmative action to be enforced and they expect the MN DFL to advocate for the enforcement of affirmative action policies which are not at present being enforced by state agencies or department or other levels of government. The Minnesota DFL has been evading supporting affirmative action because it has become official MN DFL strategy to write-off the urban and working class vote as more and more people are sitting home on election day because they see no difference in the Democrats and Republicans so the MN DFL has decided to go after the votes in suburban and gated communities instead of responding to the concerns of working people. In fact, it was difficult to get people to turn out for these grassroots precinct caucus events because people were saying things like, “What’s the use; we put so much effort into electing Obama and these Democrats and they are hurting us instead of helping us with our problems.”
Note: It is interesting to note that the leaders of the MN DFL are lamenting the fact they have not been able to elect a Minnesota Governor since Rudy Perpich. Ironically, it is these same Democrats who launched a vicious red-baiting campaign against Rudy Perpich after he proposed tax-the-hell out of the rich and drastically increasing the “taconite tax” on the iron ore. These well-heeled Democrats often referred to as “The Summit Hill Club” because they live a life of tremendous wealth (Summit Hill is where all the old mining, lumber and railroad barons resided… and these reactionary Democrats dubbed Rudy Perpich who came from a family of communist union organizers on Minnesota’s Iron Range as “Red” Rudy which provoked Rudy Perpich to begin exploring the idea of creating a party independent of the Democratic Party… unfortunately, Rudy Perpich died of cancer before he could initiate the struggle against this bunch of well-heeled and middle class Democrats who had, and have, no connection to the working class.
Another former Minnesota Governor, Elmer Benson, an avowed socialist who worked tirelessly to give liberals, progressives and the left among the working class, farmers, small business people and professionals a voice in the decision-making process was subjected to a similar vicious racist, anti-Semitic, anti-communist and anti-labor campaign in 1938 as was Rudy Perpich years later.
Both Rudy Perpich and Elmer Benson valued their friendship with fellow Iron Ranger, Gus Hall who, who, as a member of the NAACP in Yonkers, New York, helped lead the fight for affirmative action. Both Elmer Benson and Rudy Perpich during their terms as governor strictly enforced affirmative action and would not tolerate any kind of racial discrimination or bigotry… there is a reason why the healthcare center on the Red Lake Indian Reservation is called the Roger Jourdain-Rudy Perpich healthcare center.
I should also point out that a move is quietly underway by this “Summit Hill Club” to try to end “precinct caucus night in Minnesota”… it is like famed playwright Bertolt Brecht was fond of saying, “The wealthy create the poor but cannot stand to look at them;” we could, and should, add to this, “the wealthy few who own the mines, mills, factories and the casinos cannot stand to have the poor participating as equals in the decision-making process during precinct night in Minnesota.” Many people opine that should these well-heeled Democrats be successful in ending this Minnesota tradition of “precinct caucus night in Minnesota” this will be, for liberals, progressives and the left, “the straw that breaks the camel’s back” and a new progressive party in Minnesota will be born out of the rich history of the real Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party.
Anyways, read the article from the Bemidji Pioneer Press republished below… it best captures “precinct caucus night in Minnesota” better than any other newspaper article I have read from the Main Stream Media (MSM).
It is good news that Iron Ranger and State Representative Tom Rukavina, dubbed “Tommy the Commie,” by the “Summit Hill Club” crowd is still running a strong campaign in northern Minnesota and other parts of the state. Rukavina, the most progressive member of the Minnesota State Legislature has pledged to Minnesotans, “My door, as Governor, will always be open to everyone.” And people know he is sincere because he is the only state legislator who has this open door policy right now--- and for years, Tom Rukavina has been their governor as he has helped not only his constituents, but any and all Minnesotans. Rukavina has stated he is the voice of the Farmer-Labor wing of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party and working people know this. Rukavina is the only candidate in the race for Governor who has openly stated he will take up where Rudy Perpich left off. As a worker who made his living in the iron ore mines, Rukavina doesn’t have the financial resources of the wealthy candidates leading the pack; but he is putting up one heck of a fight… at the Roseau County DFL Convention, Rukavina was tied for first place and as the article below points out he held his own in Beltrami County.
Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
Alternate MN DFL State Convention Delegate, Roseau County; a delegate vote committed to Tom Rukavina for Governor
This is an excerpt from the article (full and complete article below):
All the precincts elected permanent precinct chairmen and delegates to the county convention, but even there very few resolutions to change or add to the party platform were offered.
“Institutionalized racism is still firmly in place and entrenched in all aspects of life in Minnesota,’ ’said Ward 5 caucus attendee Greg Paquin, who is seeking DFL endorsement over Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji.
Saying institutionalized racism is more evident in American Indian communities, Paquin offered a resolution that affirmative action become part of the Minnesota DFL platform and that the DFL supports the strict enforcement of all affirmative action guidelines and policies and that affirmative action plans “must be drawn up and implemented to become part of all projects in Minnesota …”
Paquin was the only supporter of the resolution which wasn’t adopted, mostly because of a lack of understanding, as six people abstained while five voted no.
Precinct captain Michael Meuers said he thought affirmative action was already part of the DFL Party platform.
A measure by Joe Day on affirmative action, however, did pass. He asked ”all governances to recognize and uphold Affirmative Action in all agencies.”
“This is a watered-down version of what I want,” Paquin said.
“Federal law includes affirmative action, and tribes are covered by the Tribal Employment Rights Act,” Day said. “And the private sector has the Human Rights Commission. This would affect state and local governments.”
That measure passed with four abstentions and only Paquin opposed/
The institutionalized racism resolution, however, did pass unanimously in Frohn Township.
Comment:An interesting point to be made is that those who "watered down" the resolution have refused to stand up and call for enforcement of affirmative action on the largest public works project in Bemidji in years--- the Bemidji Regional Event Center.
Michael Muerers is the public relations man for the Red Lake Tribal Council's casino business, among other things. His wife has sat shamefully silent as a member of the Bemidji City Council knowing full well affirmative action is not being enforced on the BREC at any level... talk about the way the bribes from the casino industry corrupts the political process on and off the Indian Reservations.
Joe Day has not uttered a peep nor come out in support of affirmative action in hiring on the BREC project.
John McCarthy and his Minnesota Indian Gaming Association have contributed millions of dollars funding candidates opposed to affirmative action. In fact, John McCarthy urged support for the racist City Planner, Rita Albrecht who was the primary Bemidji City official responsible for working the way out from enforcing affirmative action on the BREC.
State Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji who put forward a resolution supporting the Indian Gaming Industry represents the area the BREC is being built on and he has not lifted a finger to insist that federal, state and city laws, statutes and policies on affirmative action be enforced... yet, he wants to protect the Indian Gaming Industry in a way that assures casino workers are employed in smoke-filled casinos at poverty wages without any rights. In a conversation I had recently with Representative Persell he told me that I didn't understand economics because he maintains, "low wages don't create poverty. Any job is better than no job at all." When I pointed out to Persell that he works in two smoke-free offices and makes more than ten times the income from his two jobs on the public pay-roll--- as a wet lands specialist and as a state representative, he tapped his head indicating that if one is smart they would not be poor or working in a casino.. When I pointed out to Representative Persell that he is in office because us stupid casino workers create the wealth stolen from us by the casino industry and a big chunk of this wealth is used by the Minnesota Indian Gaming Industry to elect such smart people as he is to public office he gave me a shove and said, "Typical talk coming from a 'commie union man;' you see poverty and cancer, I see jobs, jobs, jobs."
The question has to be asked:
When will Michael Meuers, Joe Day, John McCarthy and Representative John Persell meet with Bemidji City officials and demand full implementation of the "watered-down" affirmative action resolution Joe Day brought forward in an attempt to spare the Minnesota DFL and the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association embarrassment?
Alan L. Maki
Article from the Bemidji Pioneer Press...
Published February 03 2010
DFL: Rybak wins favor at Beltrami County precinct caucuses
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, meet Beltrami County Democrats.
Michael Meuers, left, Bemidji Ward 5 DFL precinct captain, explains procedure Tuesday night as Democratic precinct caucuses were held at Lincoln School, one of 12 Beltrami County sites. Behind him is Beltrami County DFL Chairman Steve Nelson while caucus attendee Jackie Ryder is at right. Pioneer Photo/Brad Swenson
DFL: Rybak wins favor at Beltrami County precinct caucuses
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, meet Beltrami County Democrats.
By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer
Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak, meet Beltrami County Democrats.
The urban mayor, who only in November won a second term, won the favor of Beltrami County precinct caucus attendees Tuesday night, scoring well in a non-binding preference poll for governor.
At least that was the verdict of several Democratic precinct caucuses which convened at Lincoln Elementary School, one of 12 sites DFLers met for precinct caucuses in Beltrami County.
In a low attended caucus night despite nine major candidates on the straw poll ballot – former U.S. Sen. Mark Dayton didn’t want to partake in the poll and will go directly to the Sept. 14 primary — Rybak polled 12 votes, including seven of 11 in Frohn Township.
Iron Range Rep. Tom Rukavina also won favor, coming in second with six votes, all from Bemidji Ward 5. House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher got four votes and no one else got more than two.
Full Beltrami County results followed suit. Rybak led with 36 votes, followed by Rukavina with 23, Marty 19 and Kelliher 16. Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook polled 13 votes while former House Minority Leader Matt Entenza got 10 and Rep. Paul Thissen nine votes. Former Sen. Steve Kelley got five votes and Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner two.
“The quest for ‘change’ continues,” said Beltrami County DFL Chairman Steve Nelson. “It’s been 19 years since Gov. Perpich. Today we begin the campaign to put a DFL governor in office.”
In statewide results, with 73 percent of precincts reporting, Rybak with 21.5 percent led Kelliher with 20 percent. Rukavina was fourth with 7.5 percent, behind Sen. John Marty’s 9.8 percent.
Delegates cast their ballots when they arrived at 7 p.m.. but voting in the preference poll had to remain open until 8 p.m.
“Let the tellers count the ballots,” Frohn precinct captain John McCarthy said at the stroke of 8 p.m. “That’s what we’re all here for.”
Thirteen people caucused in Bemidji Ward 5 while 11 were in Frohn Township. Ten Lake Township had five people will Unorganized No. 3 had only two. A spot was laid out for Moose Lake Township, but no one showed, with that precinct needing to elect two delegates to the Beltrami DFL County Convention, which is noon Feb. 28 in Bemidji State’s Beaux Arts Ballroom.
All the precincts elected permanent precinct chairmen and delegates to the county convention, but even there very few resolutions to change or add to the party platform were offered.
“Institutionalized racism is still firmly in place and entrenched in all aspects of life in Minnesota,’ ’said Ward 5 caucus attendee Greg Paquin, who is seeking DFL endorsement over Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji.
Saying institutionalized racism is more evident in American Indian communities, Paquin offered a resolution that affirmative action become part of the Minnesota DFL platform and that the DFL supports the strict enforcement of all affirmative action guidelines and policies and that affirmative action plans “must be drawn up and implemented to become part of all projects in Minnesota …”
Paquin was the only supporter of the resolution which wasn’t adopted, mostly because of a lack of understanding, as six people abstained while five voted no.
Precinct captain Michael Meuers said he thought affirmative action was already part of the DFL Party platform.
A measure by Joe Day on affirmative action, however, did pass. He asked ”all governances to recognize and uphold Affirmative Action in all agencies.”
“This is a watered-down version of what I want,” Paquin said.
“Federal law includes affirmative action, and tribes are covered by the Tribal Employment Rights Act,” Day said. “And the private sector has the Human Rights Commission. This would affect state and local governments.”
That measure passed with four abstentions and only Paquin opposed.
The institutionalized racism resolution, however, did pass unanimously in Frohn Township.
Frohn Township also passed a resolution offered by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, to call upon the DFL to oppose the expansion of gambling in the state.
The state already allows several forms of gambling, such as horse racing, charitable gambling and the State Lottery, plus it has compacts with the tribes to allow on-reservation gaming, he said.
“The gambling already offered throughout the state provides economic benefit to many people as well as our local economy,” Persell said. “Our local economies are fragile enough and should not be put in further jeopardy.”
The resolution calls for the DFL “to oppose all further expansion of gambling, be it state-owned casinos, racinos or in any other form.”
Persell said lawmakers twice last session staved off video slots in bars. “If this ever happens, our region loses jobs, period. Both Indian and non-Indian, as 60 percent of the workers in casinos are non-Indian.”
The resolution would not affect American Indian gaming within reservations. “We can’t tell the tribes what to do,” Persell said.
Bemidji Ward 5 also passed a resolution calling on the use of instant runoff voting in state and local elections. The system allows voters to rank candidates, so if no majority winner is declared, a voter’s second choice is added to the mix until a majority winner is declared.
Alan L. Maki
58891 county Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net
Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/
It was a fantastic night... all over Minnesota resolutions were passed calling for the MNDFL to aggressively support affirmative action... this resolution, which they were all based around, unanimously passed the Roseau County DFL 2010 Convention.
I introduced this resolution.
I was elected an alternate delegate to the upcoming MN DFL State Convention in Duluth and I look forward to discussing this resolution with everyone... hopefully everyone will begin discussing this resolution now so it isn't necessary to fight for six years to get it part of the Action Agenda like we had to do to get single-payer universal health care as part of our Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party “Action Agenda” against powerful forces aligned with big-business interests and those politicians paid-off by outfits like the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association, the mining, banking and forestry industries and the American Medical Association.
Roseau County continues to lead the way in progressive thinking; it's where the single-payer universal healthcare movement got its impetus and its where the struggle for affirmative action will get its forward movement... DFL elected officials have ignored affirmative action for too long right along with Pawlenty... this needs to change and it is going to change, beginning with this resolution... we really need to get this resolution into all political parties all across the United States.
There will be a continued need for affirmative action as long as higher unemployment and higher rates of poverty continue to plague communities of people of color. “Last hired, first fired” need to end; we end this racist discrimination resulting from institutionalized racism by vigorously enforcing affirmative action… the Roseau County DFL gave affirmative action one heck of a push tonight… like a snowball rolling down a hill on a warm spring day let’s keep pushing until this movement gets so big it can’t be stopped.
This struggle against institutionalized racism will strengthen the working class movement and the progressive movement in general while providing a better standard of living for millions of people in this country… this is the kind of change people voted for.
Say “No” to racist discrimination and “Yes” to full equality!
We also unanimously passed a resolution that would tie the minimum wage to a real living wage based upon the BLS cost of living index. The MN DFL leadership has steadfastly opposed both resolutions--- but, they also opposed single-payer universal healthcare and we finally won.
So far only one DFL candidate for governor, Mark Dayton, has come out in support of the strict enforcement of affirmative action and he has condemned the refusal of the Minnesota Department of Transportation and the Department of Employment and Economic Development to implement state mandated and legislated affirmative action; Dayton responded to this broad-based, grassroots people’s movement which was initiated by Gregory W. Paquin DFL Candidate for State Senate District 4 who has provided the leadership in the struggle for affirmative action by launching the fight to enforce affirmative action at the Bemidji Regional Event Center… Paquin and Dayton should be applauded for their courage to stand up for what is right when others have remained shamefully silent; Dayton and Paquin have set a new standard for politics in Minnesota and we should all pitch in and give them a hand--- they have the ball rolling and we need to keep this ball rolling… delegates to the Roseau County DFL and other precinct caucus participants did this tonight.
The silence of all other gubernatorial candidates on the issue of affirmative action enforcement is shameful… and where are all the other candidates on this most important issue; which, in addition to breaking the back of institutionalized racism holds out the hope of ending poverty for those whose lives have been turned into a nightmare for decades.
Let this serve notice on all politicians that the people are on the move for real change.
I appreciate the continued support from the Roseau County DFL in helping to advance a real progressive agenda.
This resolution, word for word, passed unanimously… Let’s hear from MN DFL State Chair Brian Melendez his position on this resolution:
Tuesday, February 2, 2010
Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party resolution in support of affirmative action
Institutionalized racism is still firmly in place and entrenched in all aspects of life Minnesota.
Institutionalized racism has resulted in horrendous and disgraceful unemployment and poverty afflicting communities of people of color far exceeding that of the general population.
No place is the effects of institutionalized racism more evident than in Native American Indian communities and on Indian Reservations.
Affirmative action is the only remedy to discriminatory practices in hiring resulting from institutionalized racism.
State agencies and departments are required by statute to enforce affirmative action in hiring as the way to end historic patterns of discrimination against people of color, women and the disabled.
The required enforcement of affirmative action has not been taking place in Minnesota.
Whereas the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is not presently on record supporting affirmative action;
Therefore---
Be it resolved the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party supports the strict enforcement of all affirmative action guidelines and policies; and, when missing, but required, affirmative action plans must be drawn up and implemented to become part of all projects in Minnesota--- including as part of the initial planning process and in all stages thereafter.
Be it resolved that Affirmative Action shall become a part of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s “Action Agenda” and it shall become the responsibility of all public officials--- elected and appointed--- to see to it that affirmative action is fully enforced on all public works projects and any projects involving public participation by local, state or federal government bodies in Minnesota employing more than ten people and/or involving more than $50,000.00 in public investments.
Alan L. Maki
58891 county Road 13
Warroad, Minnesota 56763
Phone: 218-386-2432
Cell Phone: 651-587-5541
E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net
Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/
Institutionalized racism is still firmly in place and entrenched in all aspects of life Minnesota.
Institutionalized racism has resulted in horrendous and disgraceful unemployment and poverty afflicting communities of people of color far exceeding that of the general population.
No place is the effects of institutionalized racism more evident than in Native American Indian communities and on Indian Reservations.
Affirmative action is the only remedy to discriminatory practices in hiring resulting from institutionalized racism.
State agencies and departments are required by statute to enforce affirmative action in hiring as the way to end historic patterns of discrimination against people of color, women and the disabled.
The required enforcement of affirmative action has not been taking place in Minnesota.
Whereas the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is not presently on record supporting affirmative action;
Therefore---
Be it resolved the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party supports the strict enforcement of all affirmative actionguidelines and policies; and, when missing, but required, affirmative actionplans must be drawn up and implemented to become part of all projects in Minnesota--- including as part of the initial planning process and in all stages thereafter.
Be it resolved that Affirmative Action shall become a part of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party’s “Action Agenda” and it shall become the responsibility of all public officials--- elected and appointed--- to see to it that affirmative action is fully enforced on all public works projects and any projects involving public participation by local, state or federal government bodies in Minnesota employing more than ten people and/or involving more than $50,000.00 in public investments.
Moved for support by:
Seconded:
Approved (please circle): Yes No Precinct Caucus: County:
Signature of Precinct Caucus Secretary:
Signature of Precinct Caucus Chair: Date: February 2, 2010
it gives this information for my address (58891 County Road 13; Warroad, MN 56763):
Democratic-Farmer-Labor Party
Roseau City Center
110 2nd Ave NE
Roseau MN 56751
Ley Soltis, the Chair of the Roseau County DFL, is refusing to return phone calls.
The two locations are thirty minutes away from one another.
Real slick as shit the way these Dumb Donkeys work.
The last Roseau County DFL Convention was announced at the precinct caucus for a certain date and time to be held at the Community Center of the Roseau Electric Co-op and the Convention was held at another completely different location... no signs posted, no one called--- except of course for a select little clique... so much for democracy.
I find this interesting... Matt Entenza is also the one who ordered that I be put on the "Do Not Call" list.
When I asked how many people were on this "Do Not Call" list maintained by the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, I was told that I was the only one.
The article below, which appeared in the Bemidji Pioneer Newspaper--- the largest circulation daily newspaper in northern Minnesota, raises a number of very interesting and important questions as well as providing important facts about the racist unemployment and racist poverty plaguing the Red Lake Nation Indian Reservation and other Indian Reservations in Minnesota--- and across the entire United States.
Important to note is none of the candidates were willing to broach the topic of "why" there is this great differential between the unemployment and poverty on Indian Reservations and urban areas with high concentrations of Native American Indians like Minneapolis-St. Paul, Duluth, Detroit Lakes, Warroad, International Falls, Thief River Falls, Mankato, Hinckley.
Very importantly, perhaps not as intended, this article raises questions about the role of the state of Minnesota in Indian Gaming; and, also, the State' role in creating this horrendous unemployment which breeds so much poverty and all the misery associated with poverty--- from homelessness, hunger, disease and crime.
Most incredible, is that we see how completely ignorant these candidates are about what is the source of the EXTREME POVERTY on Indian Reservations; or perhaps they are being allowed to escape an explanation by not being asked by reporters because these candidates would be offended being asked this question knowing that they each have played a role in creating and allowing this shameful and disgraceful poverty to continue unabated when the solutions are at hand and resolving the problem so simple.
The issues of unemployment and poverty, in general, are very complex--- or at least the mainstream media, the politicians and the capitalist sooth-sayers and apologists would have us believe these are complex issues and the reason for the existence of unemployment and poverty exist side-by-side with such tremendous wealth having been created by the working class---- perhaps the discussion is just too controversial for them to under-take; but, the racist unemployment and the racist poverty resulting from institutionalized racism is actually very easy and simple to solve--- so simple to solve, in fact, that these politicians like the ones below--- and their colleagues in positions of decision-making and power can only be called racists because they have refused to solve the unemployment and poverty problems associated with institutionalized racism.
Look at the track records of the candidates below:
Susan Gaertner: as a prosecutor she is responsible for putting more Native American Indians behind bars simply because they can't afford the high prices charged by her colleagues in the legal profession.
Tom Bakk admits that he saw the tremendous poverty of Native Americans living all around him; yet, what did he do as a leader of the Minnesota Building and Construction Trades Unions in Minnesota? He helped to exclude Native American Indians from membership in his own and other unions... and, then, if this wasn't bad enough, he helped orchestrate highly illegal "sweetheart contracts and deals" with the Indian Gaming Industry where members of his union and others could purchase jobs on casino construction projects which by-and-large have excluded Native American Indians from these good jobs with very good pay and extremely good benefits.
Mayor R.T. Rybak is a very special phenomenon when it comes to these candidates as he has fought tooth and nail against implementation of affirmative action in hiring in the City of Minneapolis.
And then we have John Marty, the slick and sophisticated middle class racist and bigot who likes to conduct survey after survey doing study after study to find out how extensive poverty is among Native American people. Senator Marty, like all the other candidates appearing at this forum are fully aware of the controversy now swirling around the Bemidji Regional Event Center... affectionately known in these parts as "the BREC." This is the high-priced boon-doggle forced upon tax-payers, who happen to have among their ranks--- surprise, surprise, Native American Indians who pay taxes but weren't employed in the planning and design, aren't being employed in the construction of the BREC and aren't being considered for the management, staffing or maintaining the BREC... because of the historic and continuing institutionalized racism in the City of Bemidji, Beltrami County and surrounding political subdivisions.
It is interesting to note, that in this article it mentions that only two women are vying for governor of Minnesota--- but, what is not mentioned, even though the event is held on an Indian Reservation, is that among the more than 20 candidates seeking to become Minnesota's next Governor--- there is not one single Native American Indian in the race nor any person of color.
Nor, does the article mention that there isn't one single Native American Indian sitting among Minnesota's more than 200 state legislators in either the House or Senate; nor does this article mention there isn't one single Native American among Minnesota's Congressional delegation in the U.S. House or U.S. Senate.
There is one Native American Indian sitting on the Beltrami County Board of Commissioners; retired Minnesota Highway Patrol Officer Quentin Fairbanks whose heart acts up every time he is asked to initiate action to enforce affirmative action but then he manages to recover in time to run for re-election.
There is only ONE solution to the institutionalized racism bred unemployment and poverty--- and this solution is the strict enforcement of affirmative action.
If anyone else knows of any other solution, other than affirmative action in hiring, to the unemployment and poverty bred by institutionalized racism, I would like to hear the suggestion and I am sure lots of people without jobs or income would like to hear the answer, too.
For years, the City of Bemidji has had the "distinction" of being "the most racist city in North America" and its elected and appointed public officials and businesses still hold this title even if they would rather tout that the community is the headwaters of the Mighty Mississippi River, a tourist mecca and home to that great American hero--- Paul Bunyan and his faithful companion Babe--- the big, blue ox.
Bemidji's Mayor and City Manager would just like Native Americans to pay their taxes and remain unseen; or, at least, unheard. Why upset the apple-cart with complaints about bigotry and racism as long as a few rich people have a good thing going for them?
I was prevented from attending this forum because of death threats made against me originating from this telephone number in Red Lake: 218-679-1850. Anyon have any idea where this is located?
So, if I am missing anything or accusing anyone of anything I should not be doing, I make no apologies because I can only go by what I have learned of this gubernatorial forum--- held at the Seven Clans Casino-Red Lake where casino workers are forced to work in a smoke-filled casino receiving poverty wages without the protections all other Minnesota workers enjoy under state and federal labor laws--- from this article in the Bemidji Pioneer Press.
What I find so astounding is that these candidates all say they can't do anything about these most Draconian and deplorable working conditions even though it was they who supported and initiated the "Compacts" creating the Indian Gaming Industry and this situation.
How does John Marty or any of these other candidates like Tom Bakk or Susan Gaertner or R.T. Rybak have the audacity and the unmitigated gall to suggest to the people of Minnesota they are concerned about POVERTY when they are sitting face-to-face with the very casino managements at this forum who are paying their employees poverty wages? Are these candidates so incredibly stupid that they can't figure out that anyone being paid a poverty wage is going to be living in poverty?
How much longer are these politicians going to use ":poverty" as a political football at election time trying to get one up on the other candidates as they each indulge in such racist hypocrisy?
Each of these candidates for governor, and all the rest running, have intentioally evaded this issue because they know and understand the only way out of this racist unemployment and racist poverty is to implement good strong affirmative action in hiring policies--- especialy when it comes to huge public works projects like the Bemidji Regional Event Center where implementing affirmative action in hiring would serve a dual purpose:
1. Provide Native American Indians with jobs they have been historically frozen out of because of this institutionalized racism which so permeates every aspect of life in and around the City of Bemidji; and,
2. Implementing affirmative action would serve to push wages in the casino industry up as would improved working cnditions in a smoke-free BREC where workers will be protected under state and federal labor laws while experiencing and participating in a union organizing drive would serve notice on these casino managements that they are going to have to reconsider their wages and benefits packages in competition with a unionized work-force because, no doubt, if affirmative action is implemented in hiring at the Bemidji Regional Event Center many casino workers will be the first in line to apply for the jobs--- leaving these casino managements forced to offer better wages and working conditions.... because, as has been pointed out, there will be a huge hospitality industry springing up around the BREC and all of these workers will be organizing for union contracts--- hundreds of workers; and, if affirmative action is implemented in this entire hospitality industry springing up around the BREC... here come more Native Amercan Indians quitting their jobs at the casinos in quest of real living wages, a healthier working environment and good benefits--- not to mention the protections offered by state and federal labor laws.
I find it very interesting that not one of the candidates sitting inside participating in this "candidates forum" so much as mentions institutionalized racism, racial discrimination or affirmative action or what the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association is buying from them--- but, outside in the cold, in sub-zero temperatures, the article notes that there is a candidate for the Minnesota State Senate, Greg Paquin... with the article concluding:
"Meanwhile outside the casino, Senate District 4 DFL candidate Greg Paquin was holding an informational picket against the forum held on an Indian reservation, citing the heavy influence of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association in lobbying."
We must all ask the question:
What is it the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association is purchasing from these candidates with their bribes to the tune of millions of dollars every year?
If the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association is not purchasing from these politicians a pool of cheap labor; what then are they getting in return for their bribing these politicians who come to this forum at Red Lake's brand new Seven Clans Casino-Red Lake--- financed with a loan from Stanly Crooks--- with their hands out looking for casino money for their campaigns--- money that could just as well be going to pay heating bills and to buy food for hungry children on the Red Lake Indian Reservation --- but, instead, this casino money is going to purchase poverty by making sure the Indian Gaing Industry has a pool of cheap labor.
Figure it out, why else would all these politicians be talking to people in Red Lake... four hundred miles north of the Twin Cities, about why they don't want a state-owned casino competing with Stanley Crook and his Mystic Lake Casino?
It doesn't take a genius to figure out that people in Red Lake aren't worried about this state-owned casino in the Twin Cities... four-hundred miles south, competing with any of their three casinos. There simply is no competition to be concerned about--- is there?
Why, then, did all of these politicians running for governor, focus on saving Stanley Crooks and his Mystic Lake Casino/Resort empire employing over 5,000 casino workers at poverty wages in a smoke-filled casino without any rights under state or federal labor laws from competition from gubernatorial candidate Mark Dayton's call for the state to get into gaming for the express purpose of "competing with Mystic Lake Casino?"
In fact, Mark Dayton made this proposal only days after I gave him the suggestion that he should come out strongly, not just for the state of Minnesota getting into the gaming business to fund education and healthcare; but, my suggestion was that he declare such a state casino venture would be in open competition with Stanley Crooks in order to force wages up and better working conditions, while helping us give our union organizing drives a boost across Minnesota since the Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council would be representing those employed at a state-owned casino.
In fact, hundreds of Minnesotans heard former Senator Mark Dayton and myself discuss this and saw us shake hands as Mark Dayton agreed that he would become engaged in the struggle against racism and against poverty and for worker's rights... making a promise to use his campaign to help destroyinstitutionalized racism.
Dayton is the one and only candidate to make good on any promises by any politicians to date.
Make no mistake, I know I am speaking for Mark Dayton: A state-owned casino would have affirmative action in hiring as its policies.
Under a Mark Dayton Administration, thousands of casino workers, many of them Native American Indians, including many wokers from Red Lake who now live in poverty in the Twin Cities... would have real living wage jobs and work in a smoke-free casino, in addition to being protected by state and federal labor laws, they would enjoy decent jobs and good livelihoods negotiated collectively and enforced through a good union contract--- none of this $8.00 an hour crap like the AFL-CIO and Change To Win unions enter into sweetheart contracts with the employers in the hospitality industry. WE are talking real living wage jobs... pay like union miners and union mill workers receive through their union contracts. Workers are entitled to real living wage contracts in return for paying union dues.
AFLACK and these other scam health insurance outfits wouldn't get through the doors of a state-owned casino.
And, the crooked and corrupt Alerus funds wouldn't be allowed to steal the pension monies of casino workers.
So, what "competition," besides real living wages and better working conditions in a smoke-free state-owned and operated casino would such a venture be for Red Lake Tribal officials operating three Seven Clans Casinos employing over one-thousand casino workers?
I guess we will have to wait to see what people from Red Lake now living in the Cities call home about when they have full equality free from racism employed in a state-owned and operated casino venture free from mobster domination where the money being plunked into the slot machines will fund public education and health care instead of line the pockets of some vicious and violent little mobster in Boca Raton, Florida who owns all the slot machines in Red Lake Gaming Enterprises' three casinos... including in the brand new casino these politicians pledged their loyalty to, to the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association rather than towards eradicating the last vestiges of institutionalized racism which breeds unemployment, poverty and despair.
How do these politicians like John Marty even have the nerve to talk about any financial rewards Native American Indians are receiving from these casinos when the only thing they own is a great big pile of debt?
All the profits leave with the owners of the slot machines and table games.
How much longer are these brazen lies about the casino industry going to be perpetuated by these racist, dirty, filthy, corrupt politicians like John Marty, Susan Gaertner, R.T. Rybak and the master of them all, Tom Bakk?
I have complete confidence in the Bemidji Pioneer Press' writer, Brad Swenson, that had any of these candidates mentioned the need to enforce affirmative action beginning with the BREC... he would have reported such.
Minnesotans were represented by one lone politician--- a Native American worker and union member representing us all, standing in the cold--- as reported by Brad Swenson:
Meanwhile outside the casino, Senate District 4 DFL candidate Greg Paquin was holding an informational picket against the forum held on an Indian reservation, citing the heavy influence of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association in lobbying.
If we really think about what is going on in our state; aren't we all locked out of the decision-making process by big-business with big money buying off politicians?
When is enough really going to be ENOUGH!
Alan L. Maki
Director of Organizing,
Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council
A few additional thoughts...
Please note: This should not be considered an endorsement of former United States Senator Mark Dayton for Minnesota Governor... though, it could be leading to that depending on how Mark Dayton responds to the request we made for his help in getting affirmative action in place as the hiring policy at the Bemidji Regional Event Center... I would note that Mark Dayton has been the first and only candidate to note that state agencies and departments are not enforcing affirmative action and he wants to see the affirmative action laws enforced... we simply don't think, as good as it is, that Mark Dayton has taken the initiative to help us focus on the problem of institutionalized racism in this way that it is yet enough to warrant endorsement... not yet.
Dayton needs to act to become involved more pro-actively in helping us see to it that the largest public works project in northern Minnesota since the Great Depression; that hiring is based upon full equality through full enforcement of affirmative action which will signal the death-knell of institutionalized racism in the City of Bemidji, Minnesota, Beltrami County and throughout northern Minnesota.
We are asking Minnesotans to join with us in doing what is morally right and just... become pro-active in helping us push forward into the public vision the need for strict enforcement of affirmative action laws and to develop and implement further measures where required--- in the long and short terms, this will stregnthen our democracy and push wages and living conditions for everyone up while restoring Minnesota to a place where we can all be proud again to be living in the most progressive and liberal state in the nation.
We call on all Minnesotans to participate in local party caucuses on February 2 and bring forward into discussions about candidates their stands, or lack of taking a stand or their racist opposition to, affirmative action.
Don't be dismayed with politics because of the betrayals of Barack Obama and the Democrats who campaigned on a theme of "hope" and "change." We will overcome this corruption in politics; to do so requires persistent efforts to create real change. The time has come to push aside the flim-flam men and con-artists like Barack Obama who seems to be an apprentice in training to become an insurance salesman for AFLACK who will follow around Wayne Newton and his quacking white duck; working people need to bring forward real solutions to problems that will make life better for us all.
Please consider introducing resolutions in support of affirmative action at your local precinct caucus... after all these years, the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party doesn't even have a position supporting affirmative action in public and private employment as part of its Action Agenda... which just goes to demonstrate my point, that none of these candidates who appeared at this Governor's Forum care one iota about ending racism, discimination and institutionalized racism in our state.
Let us be very clear as long as this discussion is taking place. While racist discrimination is part and parcel of institutionalized racism--- the insidiuos institutionalized racism permeating every facet of life in northern Minnesota is what is maintaining the racist levels of unemployment and poverty--- we must break the back of this institutionalized racism if working people in Minnesota are going to stop this overall decline in living standards because it doesn't take a rocket scientist to figure out that when there are huge pools of cheap labor resulting from this institutionalized racism, this racism is just as powerful a weapon in the hands of all employers as those billy clubs used by the police brought in by Susan Gaertner that pounded on the heads of a bunch of kids daring to protest the reactionary, racist, warmongering, anti-labor policies of the Republican Party at the Republican National Convention... make no mistake, if Susan Gaertner is ever allowed to become governor of the State of Minnesota, she will not hesitate to call out the police to beat the heads of anyone who dares to speak out against racism, for social and economic justice... after all, as a prosecutor, she had no qualms about participating in a forum where I was prevented from attending because of death threats made against my life and she didn't seem to indicate in the least that law enforcement refused to respond even though the number has been given to them: 218-679-1850. Talk about your hypocrites--- can you imagine if such a call had been plced to Susan Gaertner what would have been the response by law enforcement personel?
Anyways, there were only 70 people in attendence at this forum in a brand new casino which tells us quite a bit about what the people of the Red Lake Nation think about these politicians... and over half the people in attendance were policians and their racist backers who are opposing implementation of affirmative action at the BREC... and, like we are saying; these are politicians coming looking for bribes as they turn their heads in indifference to the racist unemployment, racist poverty and racist despair... because this casino is on the "Reservation line," these politicians could spare themselves seeing the result of the 55% unemployment rate R.T. Rybak cited, but has refused to do anything about. And make no mistake, R.T. Rybak chose to ignore the racist hiring practices now being employed surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center just like he intentionally ignores the plight of casino workers.
R.T. Rybak had the perfect opportunity to use his stature as a candidate for governor when pointing out this most atrocious racist unemployment rate of 55% (official figures and we all know the official figures are low) to then proceed to look these public officials in the eye who had come begging for their bribes... and say to them--- the heads of the Beltrami County DFL whose silence on the racist hiring practices surrounding the BREC have been shameful, and politicians like Brita Sailer and Mary Olson whose responses to calls for enforcement of affirmative action on the BREC were to go play on the beach of Lake Bemidji and smile for cameras at the ground-breaking ceremonies as they applauded Native American dancers and drummers while they worked to undermine affirmative action with racist Bemidji City officials including the Mayor, the City Manager and even the Bemidji City Attorney Al Felix and each and every member of the Bemidji City Council and the racist City Planner, Rita Albrecht, who was responsible for all aspects of every single detail involving the Bemidji Regional Event Center... including figuring out how the City of Bemidji could get out of its legally mandated and required responsibility to enforce affirmative action.
Of course the regular foundation flowers like those in "SharedVisions" are hard at work doing surveys and studies but even with affirmative action shoved right under their noses they evade the issue so as not to offend the many fingers feeding them--- as if they are ducks in a pond quacking for crumbs from tourists.
In my opinion, the day is fast approaching when working people will be able to declare our indepedence from the racism, war and corruption foisted upon us by the Democratic and Republican parties... we really do need a new political party built upon the foundation and along the lines of our Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party; a Party that wsn't afraid to stand up and try to dismantle institutionalized racism and understood that as long as working people were treated like crap and paid poverty wages they would continue living in poverty.
It is simply amazing to what lengths these politicians will go to today in trying to evade this very basic and simple truth.
I cannot believe the audacity of Minnesota State Senator John Marty, a candidate for governor, talking about how he is all for living wages.. yet, so cowardly he doen not dare to look those casino managers sitting in front of him in their eyes and demand they pay their employees living wages... I guess this is what is meant by not biting the hand that feeds you... and this is what is thoroughly corrupt and rotten with politics in Minnesota today.
What the heck kind of "partnerships" are these racist and corrupt politicians thinking of creating beyond the damage they have already done in creating these "Compacts" in the name of "sovereignty" enabling a bunch of mobsters to go goose-stepping over democracy while expoiting and abusing over forty-thousand casino workers in Minnesota?
I shudder to think what kind of "partnerships" these politicians have in mind.
Did anyone notice that Susan Gaertner's nose seems to be getting longer?
Something to think about...
Alan
Published Sunday, January 31 2010
Red Lake forum: DFL candidates pledge to honor treaties, create partnerships
SOUTH OF RED LAKE — Four Democratic candidates for Minnesota governor said here Saturday they’d honor treaty obligations with American Indian nations and oppose a state-run casino. By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer
Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner answers a question during a forum for gubernatorial candidates Saturday at the new Red Lake Casino, sponsored by the Red Lake Political Education Committee. Joining her, from left, are Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak and Sen. John Marty of Roseville. All are Democrats. Pioneer Photo/Brad Swenson
SOUTH OF RED LAKE — Four Democratic candidates for Minnesota governor said here Saturday they’d honor treaty obligations with American Indian nations and oppose a state-run casino.
And they pledged to create partnerships with Indian tribes as well as communities across Minnesota, and not bash them as Gov. Tim Pawlenty did Friday about Bemidji.
Sponsored by the Red Lake Political Education Committee, invites to the forum went out to all Democrat and Republican gubernatorial candidates. But only DFLers came – Sen. Tom Bakk of Cook, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner, Sen. John Marty of Roseville and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.
About 70 people attended the forum, which included a chili and fry bread lunch as well as candidate booths with literature. There was also social time for candidates to mingle.
Republican Pawlenty used his Friday radio show to make a point about cities bemoaning Local Government Aid cuts. He was critical of Bemidji raising its property taxes by nearly 20 percent purportedly to make up for LGA unallotments by Pawlenty.
He said Bemidji’s taxes will collect $2.4 million more while state aid fell only $189. Pawlenty called Bemidji “a government town in a lot of respects.” He blasted contract talks that lead to higher public sector wages and benefits while the private sector is “not doing so well.”
“I hear tell that he called Bemidji one of the most dysfunctional cities in this state, or words to that effect,” Gaertner said. “What kind of government bashing is that? And what good comes from that kind of disrespect that he shows to local elected officials?
“I will not be that way,” Gaertner said. “I make decisions that are right for my community, not my political career.”
Jobs are a big issue in every part of the state, said Marty, “and in Beltrami County and the northwest part of the state, it is a particularly serious problem. … One thing the governor should do in times of high unemployment is not make the problem worse.”
Pawlenty’s budget cuts have greatly affected the public service sector, he said. “Tim Pawlenty’s budget cuts have laid off school staff, bus drivers, teachers, food service people in the schools, ended up with cutting back in nursing homes. Because of cuts in child care we lose child care workers.”
He’d call for higher taxes on those able to afford it, and would rewrite state laws to mandate “living wages” for every job.
The challenge in rural Minnesota is not to attract big manufacturers but instead to develop local value-added industries, Bakk said. “Everything that sustains life comes from the ground. There is a huge opportunity in rural Minnesota, both in the ag region and in the forested region of the state for renewable energy.”
Using biomass energy can provide a constant power source, rather than occasional as wind or solar power.
Northern Minnesota wood products plants now shuttered, including Bemidji, used 1 million cords of wood a year, he said. “That wood is now available in a sustainable harvest. There is a significant opportunity for us to build a significant biomass industry here to provide energy not only to the communities but to export out.”
Bakk would create state incentives to spur biomass development, as it did with ethanol plants.
“We are in very tough times, and what we need is someone to walk into the governor’s office on Day 1 and have a proven record of creating jobs,” said Rybak, adding that he’s created thousands of jobs as mayor of the state’s largest city.
“First, we have to invest where there is the greatest unemployment right now,” he said. The construction industry suffers with unemployment in the 40 percentile, demanding immediate jobs attention. And the Red Lake Reservation has 55 percent unemployment.
“First, you invest in people,” Rybak said. “Everyone one of us now needs continuing, ongoing education, because the economy is changing. We need to restructure education to do all that training as we go along.”
Second, “we have to invest where there is the greatest possibility of growth,” Rybak said. “It’s always been in small business.”
All four said they would oppose efforts for a state-run casino which would compete with American Indian gaming.
“I don’t believe the state should be in the gaming business,” said Bakk, adding he also opposed the creation of the State Lottery.
Growing up between the Bois Forte and Nett Lake reservations, Bakk said he has seen the opportunities created by Indian gaming. The Nett Lake elementary school provides laptops to all children, paid for by the Fortune Bay Casino.
“I have seen how it changed Indian communities for the better, created a lot more opportunity that was not there when I was kid when I watched the poverty between those two communities,” he said.
Marty recognized the need for the new Red Lake Casino, but said that “the state reaches out and tries to work with the tribes to find new ways for economic development as well, because the unemployment and poverty is way too great.”
Marty said that “we have to make sure we do more than just this, but for now the gaming is (it), obviously as you see here with this beautiful new facility with beautiful things happening. I do not support a state casino.”
Rybak said he opposes any expansion of gambling more than it is currently. “Gaming with Indian tribal governments in this state is something that is about righting historical inequities, about leveling the playing field.”
But that does not end the state’s responsibility to work with tribal governments, he said. “The tribal governments and the state of Minnesota need to be a partnership, an ongoing partnership.”
As a prosecuting attorney, Gaertner said she opposes gambling because of the social ills and criminal activity that springs from it. “I am very opposed to a state role in gaming at all.”
The state should not “be taking money out of the pockets of the tribes” with a competing casino, she said.
All four DFLers also said they would honor treaty responsibilities with Minnesota’s tribes.
Bakk said he met with the Minnesota Chippewa Tribe chairmen in Walker on Wednesday.
“We need to work more together on economic development on and off of tribal lands,” he said. “For me, it’s not telling you that I support; I’ve demonstrated that.”
There are “generations of inequities that we need to take care of,” Rybak said.
The state needs to recognize that the tribes are independent governments, Marty said. “I, as governor, would treat you as equals, treat you with respect and dignity.”
Meanwhile outside the casino, Senate District 4 DFL candidate Greg Paquin was holding an informational picket against the forum held on an Indian reservation, citing the heavy influence of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association in lobbying.
Richard Trumka, the President of the AFL-CIO and its think-tank, the Campaign for America's Future--- who, together, derailed the single-payer universal healthcare movement--- are now attempting to derail the struggle for jobs in the exact same way by bringing foreward a so-called, "Five Point Program for Jobs;" and, with this program, they are trying to prevent a grassroots and rank-and-file working class movement from developing instead of having to kill the movement like they did with single-payer.
For Trumka and the Campaign for America's Future, the objective is to keep electing Democrats like Barack Obama whose loyalty is to Wall Street, not working people.
This "coalition" has forgotten a few things... and apparently, neither the AFL-CIO or the Campaign for America's Future, wants to hear what they forgot to include in their "Five Point Program for Jobs" because they have had their webmasters constantly deleting these comments below.
I ask Richard Trumka and Robert Borosage and Roger Hickey:
What is it that you find so offensive in my comments below that you stoop to censorship after saying you welcome all opinions?
Your "Five Point Program for Jobs" is short a few "points"...
By Alan Maki
January 30, 2010 - 10:43am GMT
...Beginning with the need to enforce affirmative action.
That this "coalition," which is really nothing more than a press conference get-to-gether, has refused to demand "jobs, not Obama's wars" is all telling because we cannot possibly turn this country and the economy around as long as these expensive and costly wars are going on.
What happened to "America needs a raise?" What good are millions of poverty wage jobs?
What about saving existing jobs like at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant? How do you save jobs so you don't have to talk about creating more jobs? How much longer before the labor movement in this country confronts the "ownership issue" and the "right" of corporations to make all the decisions? The time has come to consider public ownership and nationalization of plants and industries as the way to SAVE and CREATE jobs.
These five points make for nice sound bites at press conferences but do little as far as taking a campaign for jobs out into working class communities and into the mines, mills and factories in this country.
Here is a further concrete proposal for Jobs and health care, not wars--- the time has come for some specifics and real solutions and not just these nice progressive sounding policy directives:
How can anyone even have the nerve to suggest that it is possible to have a jobs creating program capable of tackling the massive unemployment this country is experiencing at this time without ending Obama's wars?
We need this money being spent on these wars to finance the creation of jobs.
The best jobs program would be the creation of a public health care system:
No-fee/no-premium
comprehensive
all-inclusive
prenatal to grave
universal
public health system
publicly financed
publicly administered
publicly delivered
What we need are 800 public health care centers spread out across the United States instead of financing and funding over 800 U.S. military bases dotting the globe.
Such a public health care program built upon the VA, Indian Health Service and the National Public Health Service models would create hundreds of thousands of decent, good-paying jobs while providing the kind of world-class health care the American people are entitled to.
Tell Barack Obama and the Democrats:
No peace; no votes.
No public healthcare system; no votes.
No jobs; no votes.
To get America working is going to take a real fight!
You better think about adding a few points and providing some real specifics if you are serious about mobilizing working people for real change.
A number of people have asked me to expand my thoughts about "Letters to the Editor" and how to use them more effectively... do you have additional ideas?
Write, and write often.
Be sure to include your name, address and phone number where you can be reached for verification that you wrote the letter.
If one newspaper won't publish your letter send it on to the next newspaper.
At a recent forum in Thief River Falls, Minnesota where I was on a panel discussing Minnesota's financial woes, I was asked what I would do if I was governor.
This is a fair question.
This was my answer:
Please keep in mind as I proceed with my thoughts that there is a "fare" and a "fair." One is spelled "f-a-r-e" and means something completely different from "fair" spelled "f-a-i-r."
If I were elected governor of Minnesota the very first reforms I would implement to solve the state's budget problems would be:
1. A hefty tax on the rich like Mark Dayton promised as he campaigned for election but reneged on once elected.
2. Substantially increase the taconite tax; the mining companies are robbing us blind leaving us with poverty and pits filled with pollution while they abscond with the profits. This has to end.
3. Place a really hefty tax on the forestry industry in the form of stumpage fees; cut down any tree and you pay what the tree is really worth.
4. I would place toll booths at the entrances to each and every casino in Minnesota charging the exact same fee Minnesotans are charged to enter our State Parks. Anyone who can afford to gamble can afford such a fee. I would also initiate a "gambling license" on all gamblers. Just like a fishing license
Like most of you, I am fed up with this "circus in the Cities." Democrats and Republicans don't know the difference between the words "f-a-r-e" and "f-a-i-r;" we should give them all a dictionary not our votes.
I think most Minnesotans would agree with these four solutions. So, what kind of democracy do we have where politicians won't do what people want and expect?
It's just like the priorities at the national level... like they say in the Navy--- it's a SNAFU. If you don't know what a S-N-A-F-U stands for, look it up in the Urban Dictionary on your computer when you get home.
If the United States government would stop spending our tax dollars on this insane militarism and all these dirty imperialist wars we would have the money to put people to work solving the problems of the people.
I recently read this little book by former Democratic Vice-president under FDR, Henry Wallace, "Sixty Million Jobs." I would encourage everyone to read this book because it was in 1945 when this book was published to support the Full Employment Act of 1945 when Democrats and Republicans--- at Wall Street's insistence--- decided not to take Henry Wallace's advice provided in this book that our country began going way off track.
Henry Wallace pointed out that Peace will put everyone to work which will solve just about every major problem we have in this country.
Who gave their consent to make this a "two-party system" where only one class gets representation?
How capitalism works...
How capitalism works explained from a worker's perspective...
Abba Ramos, a veteran organizer in the International Longshore and Warehouse Union:
"If they can get a trained monkey to unload that boxcar tomorrow morning, rest assured, they'll have them over there and they'll have some bananas for lunch, and you'll be out on the street looking for work. Simple as that. You've got to remember, they follow only one rule of economic law, and that's that maximum production-minimum cost yields the greatest amount of profit. They don't deviate from that."
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Howard managed a nice big fake smile after I asked him: As you travel around the country are you asking people how Barack Obama's Wall Street war economy is working out for them?
Keep True, a life in politics by Howard Pawley
A most important book for progressives
Check out what others are saying about "Keep True"
* Peace--- end the wars in Iraq, Afghanistan and Libya and shutdown the 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil.
* A National Public Health Care System - ten million new jobs.
* A National Public Child Care System - three to five million new jobs.
* WPA - three million new jobs.
* CCC - two million new jobs.
* Tax the hell out of the rich and cut the military budget by ending the wars to pay for it all which will create full employment.
* Enforce Affirmative Action; end discrimination.
* Raise the minimum wage to a real living wage
* What tax-payers subsidize in the way of businesses, tax-payers should own and reap the profits from.
* Moratorium on home foreclosures and evictions.
* Defend democracy by defending workers' rights including the right to collective bargaining for improving the lives and livelihoods of working people.
* Roll-back and freeze the price of food, electricity, gas and heating fuels; not wages, benefits or pensions.
* Wall Street is our enemy.
Let's talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for a real change.
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Follow and support the important working class' victory at the polls in Canada
Canadian workers and their New Democratic Party are blazing the path of independence from the big-business controlled political parties. Manitoba will be having elections in the fall. Workers here in the United States should be paying attention to Canadian politics as there is a lot to learn. Ask your union to link its websites to the Canadian Labour Congress, New Democratic Party and Manitoba NDP.
Also, I would encourage you to paste this into your own personal blogs, web sites and FaceBook and other social netwoking sites.
I have been involved in the peace, labor, civil rights, and environmental movements for over 30 years, and I am a socialist. I would encourage everyone to get involved in promoting the United Nations' Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which came into existence on December 10, 1948; we should strive to use the yearly anniversary of this document to popularize it. We need to struggle to create a more progressive, socially just society where all working people receive real living wages and have a voice at work, and in their communities. I have worked with casino workers across Minnesota who are trying to organize a union. I have worked with people in northern Minnesota struggling to save the Big Bog, the primary freshwater aquifer--- this bog is being mined for peat. In my spare time during the spring and fall you can find me fly fishing on the Dark River, a pristine designated trout stream;in the winter ice fishing on Lake-of-the-Woods.
I look forward to hearing from you. Nothing human is alien to me.
Any lessons from this picture for liberals, progressives and leftists today?
My dog Fred...
My dog Fred understands the way the system works better than labor "leaders" like Leo Gerard or Richard Trumka... at least my dog knows to keep barking UNTIL he gets his bone.
Vote for Mark Dayton to "tax the rich" and enforce affirmative action
Unfortunately, Mark Dayton as Governor has renegged on both of these promises even though he has a Democratic super-majority here in Minnesota. So much for being able to trust the Democrats.
General McCrystal... please don't leave me alone like a Rolling Stone with no way home...
Good articles to read about the healthcare legislation
Barack Obama and the greedy Wall Street pigs he represents
A note from Governor Pawlenty
"Alan, ...active and thoughtful citizens like you make Minnesota a great state in which to live."
This blog is proud to be a part of the ever growing and expanding People Before Profit network.
Question...
Could Minnesota's debt be eliminated by modestly taxing the Indian Gaming Industry in Minnesota?
If, so, why haven't any of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party candidates for governor brought this idea forward as part of their campaigns?
Other businesses and industries are faced with a myriad of taxes... shouldn't there be a level playing field in taxation?
Wouldn't such a tax on gaming revenues amounting to tens of billions of dollars provide working people and small business owners and the middle class with a little much needed tax relief?
Suggestion:
Ask this question at a "meet the candidates forum;" no one else will ask this question if you don't.
Comment:
We have toll booths at the entrances to all Minnesota State Parks; put up toll booths on the public roads going into all casinos--- budget problems solved.
Real health care reform creates jobs
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Our organization is distributing this in union circles and beyond in
preparation for the AFL-CIO's National Convention in September:
Sisters and Brothers, ...
Due to recent budget cuts and the cost of electricity, gas and oil, as well as current market conditions and the continued decline of the economy, The Light at the End of the Tunnel has been turned off.
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Two views. Which way for organized labor and the working class.
Listen to this. Richard Trumka's main speech to the AFL-CIO's National
Convention: http://...
The United States has 800 military bases on foreign soil...What we need--- instead--- is 800 public health care centers spread out across the United States where people can universally access, for free, all their health care needs from pre-natal care, to general health care to eye, dental and mental care right through to burial.
Instead of moving in this progressive direction, President Barack Obama and the United States Congress are moving in a most reactionary direction towards establishing military bases in outer space as they seek to insure the profits of both the merchants of death and destruction and the profit-driven health care industries... talk about skewed priorities and your wacky ideas which will execerbate the problems surrounding the failing capitalist economy, and ideas devoid of common sense.
In addition to these 800 U.S. military bases on foreign soil, Barack Obama and the United States Congress continue funding--- with our tax-dollars--- the Israeli killing machine to the tune of tens of billions of dollars. Where is the "change?"
This is the change Americans want, and the change we need:
A network of 800 public health care centers spread out across the United States would create over four-million good-paying, decent jobs--- talk about your "economic stimulus" package!
We would be redistributing the wealth as we are planting the seeds of socialism while helping to eradicate poverty by keeping people healthy and getting them well when sick.
Think about this kind of solution in relation to what Barack Obama, the U.S. Congress and the Wall Street bankers and coupon clippers are offering the American people, and the peoples of the world... just what is the reason for bailing out the banks and AIG and maintaining more than 800 expensive U.S. military bases of foreign soil?
The Mt. Carmel Clinic in Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada offers us a glimpse at what militarization and wars continue to rob us of.
The problems created by Wall Street will not be solved as long as the military-financial-industrial complex is allowed to squander human and natural resources on militarism and wars... we might just as well be dumping these resources out into the ocean... at least no one would die in wars.
These merchants of death and destruction must be stopped if humanity is to survive in a livable world.
The time has come to talk about working class Marxist politics and the economics of livelihood... capitalism has failed humanity miserably and left us a real mess to clean up.
Capitalism is on the skids to oblivion and unless we take a "left turn" we will continue down this road to perdition.
Something for working people to think about and discuss around the dinner table... the capitalist sooth-Sayers certainly are not going to broach such solutions to the problems of working people as they hide behind the skirt of Rosy Scenario as this global capitalist economic depression intensifies while wars rage on.
The times and conditions call for "building a new era of justice and peace;" this is one step in that direction; this is the change the American people voted for.
Alan L. Maki
Founder,
Frank Marshall Davis Roundtable for Change
A gift returned...
Dear Mr. Ambassador,
Thank you for the 3 bottles of wine that you sent me as season’s greetings. I wish to you, your family and everybody in the Embassy a happy new year. Good health and progress to you all.
Unhappily, I noticed that the wine you have sent me has been produced in the Golan Heights. I have been taught since I was very young not to steal and not to accept products of theft. So I cannot possibly accept this gift and I must return it back to you.
As you know, your country occupies illegally the Golan Heights which belongs to Syria, according to the International Law and numerous decisions of the International Community.
I take the opportunity to express my hope that Israel will find security within its internationally recognized borders and the terrorist activities against Israel territory by Hamas or anybody else will be contained and made impossible, but I also hope that your government will cease practicing the policy of collective punishment which was applied on a mass scale by Hitler and his armies.
Actions such as those of these days of the Israel military in Gaza remind the Greek people of holocausts such as in Kalavrita or Doxato or Distomo and certainly in the ghetto of Warsaw.
With these thoughts allow me to express to you my best wishes for you, the Israeli people and all the people of our region of the world.
Athens, 30/12/2008
Theodoros Pangalos, Member of Parliament (Greece)
Auto workers fight for union recognition 1930's
This demonstration was organized by the Trade Union Unity League under the leadership of Phil Raymond who was an organizer of the auto workers
Coleman Young... a politician who brought forward real solutions to the problems of working people
Union organizer, civil rights activist, peace activist, working class politician, victim of "red squads" & McCarthyite political repression
Coleman Young testifies before House Un-American Activities Committee
1952: Coleman Young, center, testifies before the House Un-American Activities Committee. A future House member, George Crockett Jr., right, accompanied him.
A great YouTube video from Virginia Beach... Karl Rove on Trial
Everybody knows the boat is leaking. Everybody knows the captain lied.... Everybody knows the plague is coming. Everybody knows it’s moving fast. Everybody knows ...
— Leonard Cohen
Historic victory
Communist Elected President of Cyprus
AKEL anti-fascist, anti-imperialist elected
Congratulations to AKEL and Dimitris Christofias.... GC of AKEL and President of the House of Representatives comrade Dimitris Christofias and GC of KKE (Communist Party Of Greece) comrade Aleca Papariga at the rally against the war in Iraq a few hundred meters towards the USA Embassy in Nicosia
Michigan poet--- The poetry of Ann Holdreith merges the mystical with the everyday. A chapter of her work is included in "Beyond the Lines", an anthology of Michigan authors published by Plainview Press. Her publishing credits also include: Wayne State University, Gravity Presses, Dixie Phoenix, Poetry Motel, Free Fall, Snakeskin, Gravity Webzine, Stirring (Best Love Poems), Aether, Friction Magazine and a Pushcart Prize nomination. Ann has taught for the Detroit Writer's Voice and is a Magna Cum Laude graduate in Fine Art and Literature from the University of Detroit. She has featured at the Michigan Opera Theatre, The Detroit Festival for the Arts and Spring Fed Arts of Detroit. Her riveting performance style synthesizes her background as an actress, vocalist, dancer and performance artist. Ann has been teaching her Fire Seed workshop, designed to free the authentic self, since 1987. Her work is dedicated to the full expression and elevation of the human spirit.
Autumn Sky
By: Ann Holdreith
On the ride home from Toledo, from a worn out school resurrected for good honest men, for men with kids and grandkids, guys who eat sugar doughnuts and wink while they hammer-out fenders and hurl the carcasses of metal beasts, against autumn’s haunted sky, I wonder if they remember the grip of thighs around engine-less muscle and sweat, ragged dirty hair assaulting the wind, buttocks and back pounding with hooves that know exactly where they belong on this earth.
On the way from Toledo, a pulsing cloud of blackbirds hurls its wings against the dying blue; dark umbrellas opening to summer’s last ride.
Carlton, Minnesota
Help Stop Sulfide Mining in Michigan's Upper Peninsula... urgent action needed
Democratic majority in the Michigan House abandons casino workers...
Wednesday, August 8, 2007--- Lansing, Michigan. By a shameful vote of 63 to 41... not a single Michigan Legislator--- with the exception of one lone Republican--- would take a stand in defense of the rights of casino workers to be employed in a workplace free of second-hand smoke. Not one single Michigan Legislator would take a stand for casino workers being paid real living wages protected by state and federal labor laws along with the right to organize for collective bargaining. House Democratic Floor Leader Steve Tobacman and Democratic Representative Barbara Farrah did this dirty work for the Fertitta Family and the Kansas City mob which will "skim" the profits from the Gun Lake Casino like they have done in all the other casinos managed by the Fertitta Family. The United Auto Workers union leadership, fearing estrangement and being shunned by the Democratic Party, dropped its feeble opposition to this legislation giving a hint as to how they intend to abandon autoworkers in the present contract negotiations with the "Big Three."
Minnesotans give Bush a piece of their mind...
Lake Michigan
Northern shore in the Upper Peninsula
Michigan: Gun Lake Casino venture... workers' rights and health are the issues
Communist singers and songwriters in the struggle for peace and socialism
This Land Is Your Land
Words and Music by Woody Guthrie, one of America's outstanding working class Communists
Chorus:
This land is your land, this land is my land From California, to the New York Island From the redwood forest, to the gulf stream waters This land was made for you and me
As I was walking a ribbon of highway I saw above me an endless skyway I saw below me a golden valley This land was made for you and me
Chorus
I've roamed and rambled and I've followed my footsteps To the sparkling sands of her diamond deserts And all around me a voice was sounding This land was made for you and me
Chorus
The sun comes shining as I was strolling The wheat fields waving and the dust clouds rolling The fog was lifting a voice come chanting This land was made for you and me
Chorus
As I was walkin' - I saw a sign there And that sign said - no tress passin' But on the other side .... it didn't say nothin! Now that side was made for you and me!
Chorus
In the squares of the city - In the shadow of the steeple Near the relief office - I see my people And some are grumblin' and some are wonderin' If this land's still made for you and me.
Mitch Berg interviews Alan Maki, union organizer and socialist.
Length: 00:48:55
AM 1280 The Patriot; Right-wing talk radio with Mitch Berg
Maki calls for:
* health care not warfare
* smoke-free casinos to protect worker health
Super Profits and Crises; Modern U.S. Capitalism by Victor Perlo
This is a must read book for anyone wanting to fully understand the present economic crisis.
Victor Perlo was a noted researcher and economist in the Franklin D. Roosevelt and Truman Administrations.
Perlo has made economics easy to understand for everyone.
Did anyone notice former President Jimmy Carter did not address the Democratic National Convention?
Former President Jimmy Carter speaks about his controversial book 'Palestine Peace Not Apartheid' at Jewish-founded Brandeis University in Waltham, Massachusetts January 23, 2007. [Reuters]
Owl on cold winter day
near Jacobson, Minnesota
Minnesotans give United States Senator Norm Coleman a piece of their mind about the Iraq War...
The protest was organized by the Twin Cities Peace Campaign--Focus on Iraq and WAMM (Women Against Military Madness)
As these Minnesotans protested outside Coleman's office...
Others went inside to write their statements calling for an end to this dirty war in Iraq
These protests at Coleman's local office will continue as long as he continues to support the war
Among the concerned citizens opposed to the war in Iraq were members of many church groups, the Iraq Peace Action Coalition, Veterans for Peace, the Minneapolis Club of the Communist Party USA and members of the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, Military Families Speak Out... the diversity of the demonstrators reflected a broad cross-section of the Minnesota public.
He could get it fixed on Wall St. create real jobs on Main St. and select a better crew, He'd end blank checks to Israel and bring some peace to that hell -- if he only had a clue
He could make the Congress line up if he pressed them all to sign on but instead he tries to woo the right-wing crooks who hate him and will still block and berate him -- if he only had a clue
He could deal with all the Repugs imprisoning the worst thugs and save the constitution too but instead he will continue their imperialist venue, -- if he only had a clue
He could close down all our gulags and end so-called "renditions" but this he will not do-- He could bring the world together and address the changing weather -- if he only had a clue
posted by Jaded Prole
Destroying a people, their homeland, their right to survive...
I offer guided tours of Northern Minnesota that include visits to historic Mesaba Co-op Park, historic buildings and cemetaries on the Iron Range, the Wellstone Memorial, "Mine View," United States Steel's Minntac operation, the Big Bog, Red Lake.
A great opportunity for photographers.
Individual, family, small or large groups. Meals and overnight accomodations can be arranged.
Let's really explore Northern Minnesota.
Drive Easy... Conserve
For stickers and more info, contact: Fulton Hanson 320-384-9967; e-mail: fultonhanson@yahoo.com
