Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

Former United States Senator Mark Dayton, now running for Minnesota governor, has refused to participate in the Minnesota DFL's nominating process... calling the process "rigged."

Nicole Beaulieu and Gregory Paquin found out for themselves just how rigged and racist the process is.

Everyone is wondering if they will now do like Mark Dayton has already said he will do and move on into the primary election where voters will choose the candidates which is the only democratic and fair method as former United States Senator Mark Dayton has pointed out.

All of Minnesota is looking to see how this election plays out in Senate District 4 and House District 4-A because Minnesota voters have had it with the mainstream Democrats and Republicans who they view, rightfully so, as nothing but a bunch of politicians bought off by the insurance, banking, mining, forestry and gaming industries without one iota of concern for solving the problems people are experiencing. Let's hope Nicole Beaulieu and Greg Paquin follow the lead of Mark Dayton and force these corporate bribed politicians like Olson and Persell out of the race... let the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association organize their own political party and see how many votes their candidates receive from Minnesota voters. Democracy has been perverted to no end with the entrance of the money from these corporate lobbyists.

The political process is so corrupt, John McCarthy, the white man who heads up the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association and has become fabulously wealthy off the poverty of Native American Indians who are being used as a pool of cheap labor for this highly profitable casino industry had to personally take charge of his hand-picked candidates along with those who nominated Persell and Olson.

Who nominated Persell and Olson? None other then Skip Finn is widely viewed as the most crooked and corrupt politician in recent Minnesota history! Finn was kicked out of the Minnesota State legislature for his dirty, corrupt underhanded dealings--- an outright crook nominated John Persell and Mary Olson... this is how pathetically crooked and corrupt the Minnesota DFL nominating process has become... Skip Finn is the embodiment of this thoroughly racist and corrupt political process.

When an apple is rotten to the core, you chuck it without taking another bite... just like Mark Dayton has done.

Alan L. Maki


Highlights from the article below:

From Nicole Beaulieu:

Beaulieu said she sees certain needs of American Indians that aren’t being addressed by current politicians or tribal leaders. Coming from a “struggling family” of seven, she said she took a part-time job to help pay the bills.

“There are many needs that need to be met, and that is one reason I want to be your representative,” she said.



From Greg Paquin:

“Our people are … left out of it,” he said, adding that there is no interest in enforcing affirmative action laws. “We have tribal leaders today, but I never see them get out there and say, ‘Hey, Minnesota. Hey, Mr. Persell, Ms. Olson — we want jobs for our people, and not just behind the fence. When a legislator gets a vote from an Indian behind the fence, he thinks it’s a sovereign nation and it’s the tribal government’s responsibility to provide economic development.

“No,” he continued. “When they take a vote from an Indian on a reservation, they owe us all to be treated equally and that’s what this is about – equality.”

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

Published March 21 2010 Bemidji Pioneer

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100017081/group/News/

Olson, Persell, Bye endorsed by Senate 4 DFL

WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer



WALKER — Two incumbents and a second-time candidate were endorsed here Saturday morning by Senate District 4 Democrats.

Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, and Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, were both overwhelming endorsed for second terms, despite being challenged on American Indian issues.

Meg Bye of rural Pequot Lakes was unopposed for endorsement for a second run against Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker, who will be seeking his seventh term for House 4B.

Olson was challenged by Greg Paquin of Bemidji, a Red Lake Band member, who said both Olson and Persell aren’t doing enough to ensure that American Indian tradesmen get jobs. Olson, however, won the endorsement with a 68-3 vote of Senate 4 delegates.

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a Leech Lake Band member, sought to wrest the House 4A endorsement from Persell, saying it’s time for American Indians to become politically active and take legislative seats to represent native communities. Persell won the endorsement for a second term with a 42-4 vote of 4A delegates.

“I think we saw democracy in action, as we do at the Capitol when people come down with strong views, wanting to make sure their voices are heard,” Olson said after the endorsements.

“That’s something we encourage in the DFL, and we encourage in democracy,” she said. “And I think we heard some concerns raised that are valid concerns, and I think that’s always a good thing for the process.”

Neither Paquin nor Beaulieu said if they would challenge the endorsements in the Aug. 10 DFL primary.
Bye was unopposed for endorsement, and was unanimously endorsed by 25 House 4B delegates at the convention held in the Walker-Akeley-Hackensack High School.

“This is going to be a very, very important election,” said Olson, who will be seeking a two-year term because of pending reapportionment. “This is really going to make a difference and an opportunity for Minnesota to decide whether we affirm our traditional values, whether we affirm three separate branches of government acting as three separate branches of government, whether we affirm the importance that we place on having equal opportunity for all of our citizens, whether they’re native American citizens, whether they’re rural Minnesota citizens, or whomever they may be.”

Olson also includes having equal access to a quality education across the state, not just in property-wealthy areas of the suburban metro area; equality in funding for health care so all Minnesotans have access to quality and affordable health care; and whether to deregulate everything and let consumers fend for themselves.

“All of these issues are going to be on the ballot in Minnesota this year,” Olson said. “Which direction we go on those issues is going to depend on how involved we get in this process.”

Persell, seeking his second term, said the rest of this session will be tough and one where not much is expected to get done with a Republican governor who won’t raise taxes. The office is open on the November ballot, as Gov. Tim Pawlenty isn’t seeking a third term.

“Things are very trying down there,” Persell said of the session in St. Paul. “The anger … is on the surface. If you read the papers, it probably came out of me a couple of times. I try very hard not to show my anger.”

The Bemidji Democrat was referring to remarks he made at a town hall meeting that he had looked into how to impeach Pawlenty, and also for those who think the business climate is better in South Dakota, he’d pay them $10 toward a ticket to that state.

“But these are really tough times,” he said. “God, I wish we had a veto-proof majority. I’m not going to say some of the things that are on the tip of my tongue about that, but I did talk to some of my colleagues the other day and said in all seriousness I was going to get a peach tree and plant it outside the governor’s office.

“I welcome this endorsement, and I trust that you will find it in your hearts to send me back,” he added. “I’m excited to go back again; I hope I’m fortunate to go back in 2011 and sit in the House of Representatives with a Democrat governor, a majority in each of the houses … so we can start to rebuild Minnesota.”

The rest of the session won’t be pretty, Persell said. “Those who really need help out here are hurting, and we know that, but we can’t come up with any new revenue with the governor, the way it is right now. We’re just going to have to commit ourselves … to rebuilding Minnesota, getting education back to the 15 to 20 pupils range (in the classroom) instead of 30-plus.”

Beaulieu said she sees certain needs of American Indians that aren’t being addressed by current politicians or tribal leaders. Coming from a “struggling family” of seven, she said she took a part-time job to help pay the bills.

“There are many needs that need to be met, and that is one reason I want to be your representative,” she said. “I want to commend John Persell for his dedication … I see some of the things he does for my people, although being a native American myself and growing up with these struggles and things that are not met in this community.”

A main reason to campaign, Beaulieu said, is to break the influence of gangs in Cass Lake and Bemidji. “The gang culture in our communities is so strong, and is one of the many struggles we deal with on the reservation.”

Beaulieu says she wants change for her people. “I think it’s about time that a native American gets involved in this political process — it’s long overdue.”

Olson and Persell have done wonderful things for the native people, Beaulieu said, “but they are not native. I don’t know what it’s like to be a non-native, but I’m sure it’s much easier than being a native American.”

Beaulieu said it was not her goal to just represent American Indians but to represent Democrats.
The political process is open to everybody, said Paquin, who sought the Senate 4 endorsement. But not much has changed for American Indian communities, he added.

Last year, he formed a native American labor union to try to increase job opportunities, but said he found a brick wall with the Bemidji Regional Event Center and U.S. Pipeline working the Enbridge pipeline as contractors wouldn’t hire his referrals. In another case, there was a refusal to recognize Paquin’s union.

“Our people are … left out of it,” he said, adding that there is no interest in enforcing affirmative action laws. “We have tribal leaders today, but I never see them get out there and say, ‘Hey, Minnesota. Hey, Mr. Persell, Ms. Olson — we want jobs for our people, and not just behind the fence. When a legislator gets a vote from an Indian behind the fence, he thinks it’s a sovereign nation and it’s the tribal government’s responsibility to provide economic development.

“No,” he continued. “When they take a vote from an Indian on a reservation, they owe us all to be treated equally and that’s what this is about – equality.”

He said that despite a billion-dollar American Indian casino industry in Minnesota, taxpayers still have to pay huge sums for welfare programs to American Indians. “Something’s wrong,” Paquin said.

One of Olson’s seconders was Eugene “Ribs” Whitebird, a Leech Lake Tribal Council member, who laid out numerous bills that Olson carried for Indian people, and that she is a member of the Minnesota Indian Affairs Council.

Harold “Skip” Finn, a former state senator and a Leech Lake Band member, seconded Persell’s nomination. Finn said Persell “has demonstrated an unwavered commitment to those less powerful, to those who have no other voice in the process — the children, the elderly and the poor.”

Working his career with American Indian tribes in environmental consulting, Persell has “also demonstrated an unwavering allegiance to the goal of one nation, indivisible, with liberty and justice for all,” Finn said.

Bye, unopposed for endorsement for 4B, said more people than ever have no access to health care. More and more of Minnesota’s lakes and streams have been listed as impaired. And the state’s budget continues to spiral.

“Anger and disappointment is widespread among us,” said the former Duluth City Council member who retired to rural Pequot Lakes. ‘It has brought out the worst in many of us., as we throw verbal fire bombs at one another.”

It’s time for Minnesotans to get back into the game and do better, she said. “We still care; you still care. We still care about the state of our state and our nation. We still care about the future of our children and their children.”

Minnesotans still care to provide an education system with access to all and health care system with affordable access to all, she said.

“Democrats do not believe that transferring more wealth to the already wealthy is the way toward a healthy economy,” Bye said. “The experiences of the last two years has proven us right.”

Nicole Beaulieu opposes Persell for 4A bid

Link to article: http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100016853/

“It’s time to go back and fix the things we left behind so we can move forward in unity for a better Minnesota.”

Nicole Beaulieu

Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party Candidate for District 4-A

Published Sunday March 14, 2010

Beaulieu opposes Persell for 4A bid

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a student and Ojibwe language teacher, filed recently as a Democratic candidate for the House 4A seat held by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer

Nicole Beaulieu of Bemidji, a student and Ojibwe language teacher, filed recently as a Democratic candidate for the House 4A seat held by Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji.

She’s running “because I know we aren’t being represented as well as we can be. It’s time to go back and fix the things we left behind so we can move forward in unity for a better Minnesota.”

She filed March 4 with the state Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board as a DFL candidate for House 4A, although a three-page news release last week didn’t indicate which party.

In it, she leveled criticisms at both Persell and Bemidji Mayor Richard Lehmann, who a week ago declared his candidacy as a Republican for House 4A.

“Both John Persell and Mayor Lehmann have repeatedly failed the native community of Bemidji area by excluding our needs and special problems resulting from systemic and institutionalized racism from all matters or events that are meant to demonstrate concern for our shared community and citizens,” Beaulieu wrote.

“Neither Mayor Lehmann nor Rep. John Persell do anything about helping people living in poverty as a result of the lack of enforcement of affirmative action which is only one of the many reasons why I wish to be your 4A House of Representative chair holder,” she said.

Beaulieu did not return an e-mail asking for more information.

Born in Duluth, Beaulieu grew up in Bemidji and spent summers with her grandmother on the Leech Lake Reservation. She was graduated from Bemidji High School in 2005, and earned an associate’s degree in Anishinaabe studies from Leech Lake Tribal College in 2008. Currently she is a student at Bemidji State University and teaches Ojibwe language at Leech Lake Tribal College.

“I will work to improve the relationship between natives and non-natives. I would like to change the perspective of the native and non-natives opinion of one another by working hand in hand in all matters we engage ourselves in within our community,” she wrote. “… it saddens me to think of my own daughter exposed to the harsh realities of institutionalized racism of teachers and non-native students alike, which I have endured …”

She recalls growing up in a family of seven, making use of government programs and the food shelf, and said she would work to ensure those programs are available to all in need and entitled to receive.

“Throughout my candidacy I will make the recognition of native American issues in this city a priority along with several other important downfalls of our community,” Beaulieu wrote. “I want the people of the state of Minnesota to know that we are citizens too and we can represent our state just as well as anybody else. We want fair opportunities at whatever it is a native American may pursue as an opportunity to raise above and beyond discrimination.”

In these economic times, government programs need to be expanded, not cut back, she said, adding that it is “interesting Mayor Lehmann chose to build the Bemidji Regional Event Center rather than create the kinds of programs to help the people of Bemidji to cope better with life here.”

Beaulieu wrote that she is anti-abortion, “but why are we worrying about the unborn when the living are going without jobs, going hungry, going without adequate health care, or adequate education?”

She disputes Lehmann’s economic solution to jumpstart the economy by allowing the private sector to expand with less government regulation.

“It is because of this over-emphasis of doling out taxpayer money to private industry which is largely responsible for the present state of the economy,” Beaulieu wrote. “Massive public works programs will create jobs and stimulate the economy. Mayor Lehmann’s ‘trickle down’ theory of economics has been proven not to work.”

She also advocates for a public health program providing everyone with free health care, as is the goal of the Indian Health Service for American Indians, would create thousands of jobs in Minnesota.

She sides with Senate 4 DFL candidate Greg Paquin that the city failed to use affirmative action policies in hiring for the BREC, a decision the city says went to the construction manager and which there is no formal policy as no federal funds are involved.

“It saddens me when we have to utilize these laws meant to open up doors of opportunity for my people. But, the door has been slammed in our faces, once again, because of lack of enforcement of affirmative action,” she said.

Beaulieu is part of an effort to petition the United Nations human rights commissioner in Geneva to review human rights within the United States, including that of American Indians.

“I am doing this in hopes of giving our matters global attention so that those that create these injustices can no longer hide their corrupt agenda which has been devaluing the quality of life of my people for a very long time,” Beaulieu wrote. “Native American aboriginals are not represented by present Democrats from Senate District 4 or House Districts 4A or 4B.”

In filing her Nicole Beaulieu Committee, she lists herself as campaign chairwoman and treasurer. She reports she will not collect a public subsidy for her campaign.

Lehmann has yet to file a campaign committee with the state board.

Tags: news, local, politics, elections

For Nicole Beaulieu’s complete statement, check out her blog and bookmark Nicole’s blog to keep abreast of campaign activity:

http://anishinaabecandidate.blogspot.com

Also check out Gregory W. Paquin’s blog:

http://nativeamericanindianlaborunion12.blogspot.com/

MN DFL Senate Candidate District 4

Contact info:

1511 Roosevelt Road SE.
Bemidji, Minnesota , 56601
Home: 218-209-3157
Cell: 651-503-9493

Please distribute this blog posting as widely as possible. Minnesota has one of the largest Native American Indian populations in the United States and there is not one single Native American Indian sitting in the Minnesota State Legislature--- this must change.

Yours in struggle and solidarity,

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

Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/

Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for real change.

Hated for their Way of Life

By June Terpstra, Ph.D.

I write today from Havana , Cuba , where the internet is connected through satellite because the USA blocks all cable that surrounds Cuba . Yesterday we met with trade union leaders, state diplomats, a medical doctor from Cinesex, the state sexual health department and Havana university professors. The people are intelligent and gracious, advanced in their knowledge of world events and unbelievably patient in the tasks of hosting a group from that same USA who has caused them so much suffering.

Cuba and its people are beautiful and brave. They have lived through hundreds of terrorist attacks by the USA including but not limited to: economic terrorism through an embargo that attempts to starve the people; a blockade that prevents their medical health and technological stability; military invasion and coup attempts engineered and paid for by the CIA; countless CIA assassination attempts of their leader; blocking of communication access; media smearing and false propaganda campaigns; wrongful imprisonment of their people in the USA while those who commit terrorism against them are free; and preventing and limiting cross country family visitations and communication. They are a traumatized but brave people who endure in the face of hardships imposed not by their government but by the terrorist tactics used by the USA to politically enforce a program of capitalist “democratization” that will benefit the corporate and military elites presently controlling much of the world’s resources today.

Why does America and the West hate Cuba ? They hate them for their way of life. What is that way of life? A unique Cuban form of social justice governance comprised of people’s committees at every level (grass roots, provincial, and national). A people who established a new way of life through the blood and tears of revolution deciding together to commit to the elimination of imperialism, slavery, racism, and sexism in order to share the country for and with each other holding a specific set of anti-oppression constructs that are foundational. Property, schools, and hospitals are not privately owned here and the Western elites hate that way of life.

Why do the global capitalists hate societies that attempt new forms of social justice governance models? Because when the people around the world self-determine their own resources the capitalists are not “free” to own it, control it, degrade it and deplete it. That is the operation of freedom the capitalist wants the people around the world to endure. In fact, “own it, control it, degrade it and deplete it” is the real program of so called democracy in the USA and Europe . That is the USA’s way of life that is to be imposed globally be it through a program of bribery and corruption; or programs of debt slavery with so called development programs and “aid”; or secret agency coordinated regime change; or, outright military invasion and occupation.

The Cuban people understand and articulate very well the politics of colonialism, neo-colonialism, imperialism, and globalization. Unlike the public in the USA they are not dumbed down. There are no Mac Donalds and other fast foods here to make them obese and infect them with Franken-food diseases. There are no mega shopping malls or Walmarts to keep them distracted with materialistic consumption. The people here are not obsessively attached to cell phones or screens.

The Cuban people are in the schools, the universities, the government, the fields, the parks, the cafeterias, the hotels, and the streets talking, smiling, playing, working, and loving each other. The Cuban people are defending their way of life in their thoughtful relationships with each other. The Cuban people are attentive to what is needed to survive each special period imposed from the USA and each act of sabotage engineered by the USA . The Cuban people are surviving and enjoying the ocean in walks by the sea; drinking wonderful Cuban coffee while passionately debating politics; and suffering the ignorance of fools by hosting delegations from the USA .




The World is in Crisis with Dark Clouds Ahead

Alfred L. Marder, President, US Peace Council

Remarks of Al Marder, President, US Peace Council, to the World Peace Council Secretariat meeting at Katmandu, Nepal.

February 18, 2010

Comrades and Friends:

I wish to thank the Nepal Peace and Solidarity Council for providing the opportunity to come together to exchange ideas and proposals at this critical period for united action against the continuing and accelerated drive of imperialism that threatens world peace. We must seize this occasion to fulfill our historic responsibility to seek to unite the global peace movement in common struggle for peace. We recognize that our brothers and sisters in countries throughout the world, in many forms and many organizations, are struggling for national independence, for sovereignty, for the right to determine their own destiny, for peace. The World Peace Council, founded in the cauldron of anti-imperialism and internationalism, must reach out as never before, to seek common ground with all those forces, to forge a “superpower,” a global people’s movement for peace and justice.

In the last few days, further ominous steps have been taken by the Obama Administration intensifying the dangers to peace. The Polish Government announced the agreement to station a US Missile base 60 kilometers from the Russian border of Kaliningrad in the city of Modrag, Poland, stationing 100 US soldiers. The Polish Defense Minister boasted that this site would be combat-ready! The newspapers reported that a leading Russian General questioned the justification that the northern flank of NATO had to be strengthened. He said, “NATO has manifold superiority over Russian conventional arms, as it is.”

That issue, dear friends, is stalling an agreement on the START talks between the US and Russia on the reduction of nuclear weapons. Putin and Medvedev have stated that the negotiations must include missile bases before Russia will seriously negotiate on the reduction of nuclear weapons, let alone on their abolition.

Further, Rumania has announced an agreement with the US to station a missile base. Together, with a base already in Bulgaria, new military bases will be erected, costing $110 million dollars. They will house 4, 000 US troops.

We celebrated the heroic actions of the Czech people against stationing bases in their country. The Obama Administration has now announced they will arm all US warships in the Mediterranean and Middle East waters with these missiles.

Washington has increased the drone attacks in Pakistan and now there are calls for drone attacks on Yemen against the so-called terrorists. The recent attack on a vehicle in Pakistan revealed American soldiers in Pakistan dress from head to toe. The press reported that they dress the American soldiers this way in order to hide the fact from the Pakistan people that American troops are actually in Pakistan. The wars of invasion for imperialist domination have expanded: Iraq, Afghanistan and Pakistan.

The US has moved into Haiti again, using the horrible natural catastrophe as the excuse. French, Cuban, Venezuelan planes, bringing humanitarian supplies and assistance, were forbidden to land in the Porto-Prince airport. The French Minister of Defense has said it bluntly; the aim is to assist not occupy.

The Obama administration signed an agreement with Colombia for ten years for seven new bases. Colombia receives billions in US aid, third, after Israel and Egypt. 1,400 US troops will be dispatched to Colombia to man the new bases in Colombia. Why the need for bases and soldiers in Colombia?

These steps are clearly a threat to the independence movement in Latin America. The overthrow of the Zeyala administration in Honduras is a clear warning that US Imperialism is not ignoring the historic struggle of the peoples of Latin and Central America to rid themselves of the US yoke that has been choking them for centuries. Activities, including killings, in opposition to the new people’s governments, are taking place daily with the support of US embassies. The oligarchs and the murderous paramilitary mercenaries of Latin America are actively supported by the CIA and other US agencies.

The African Command has announced increased activities on the coast of Africa beyond the counterinsurgency operations in Somalia, Uganda, Mali, and Djibouti. Who is active in the Congo and other African countries for their rich resources? The US now gets 17% of its oil from Africa. By the year of 2015, the US will get 25% of its oil from Africa. There is now a Drone base in the Seychelles.

The World Peace Council is a member of the International Network Against Foreign Bases. The struggle against foreign bases is a struggle against imperialism at the national level, capable of mobilizing the people in the name of national sovereignty and independence. The WPC must play a leading role commensurate with its mission. It must encourage all of our members to become active in this movement.

While all of the above is very serious and dangerous, the most ominous of decisions is the decision to sell $6.5 billion dollars of weapons to Taiwan. In the mix will be 200 Patriot anti-ballistic missiles. China has rightfully denounced this dangerous situation, as direct intervention in their internal affairs. The US moves deliberately to surround China and Russia.

The Obama new missile-shield project will be extended to all of Europe integrated with NATO and will extend to the Middle East and the Caucuses. All the warships plying the oceans in Europe and the Middle East will be have Standard Missiles 3 and a new land-based version. Plans are afoot to deploy missile interceptors on the soil of European nations

The Review of the Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty is to take place on May 4 again in New York at the United Nations. This is at a critical stage in the struggle against nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons have been the excuse for the invasion of Iraq; the attacks against Iran and the maneuvers against North Korea. The issue of nuclear weapons has been with us since the days of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. It sparked the founding of the World Peace Council itself. While it is important to recall that it was the WPC that initiated the historic Stockholm Peace Pledge, it is now 60 years later. The World Peace Council is regaining its strength. We must become deeply involved in the global movement to rid the world of nuclear weapons, in collecting signatures on the global petition , in mobilizing national movements and particularly, participating in the International Conference in New York and the Demonstration on April 30, May 1, and May 2.

The duplicitous role of the former Secretaries of State and Defense, Kissinger, Schultz, Perry and Schlesinger in the United States right-wing hawks, pretending, by major articles in the world press, that they were calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons, has been revealed. Honest anti-nuclear weapons proponents pointed to the apparent change in the thinking of the right-wing hawks in the United States calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. These imperialists have strong financial ties to the nuclear weapons industry. They were misleading the public, hoping, obviously, to lull the opposition to nuclear weapons. Today, prior to the NPT Review, they are calling for increased funding and manufacture of new and more deadly nuclear weapons. Obama’s budget obliges them.

The President of the United States, Barack Obama, made a forthright statement in Prague calling for the abolition of nuclear weapons. He asserted that it was the moral duty of the United States, as the only nation to use nuclear weapons, to take the lead in their abolition. The global anti-nuclear weapons movement seized upon this statement to demand that the words are followed by concrete action. However, here again, an examination of the budget of the Obama administration shows that new money is being funneled into the major laboratories for new bombs, more deadly weapons, for a policy that will continue nuclear weapons as an essential party of military strategy. Manufacturers and laboratories devoted to these weapons of mass destruction are not going to give up their huge profits. President Obama’s words prove to be rhetoric not backed by deeds.

The Obama Administration is asking for almost $1 trillion dollars in military and war spending this year. This is double all the world together spends on killing machines.

All this is not a sign of strength of US imperialism. The US is a debtor nation, financed by China and Japan and other foreign investors; 28 million people are unemployed or under employed, African American and Hispanic workers are most affected: 17% to 10%; 50 million people have no health insurance; 8 million homes have been foreclosed by the banks; one out of 5 children go to bed hungry. Pensions have been either destroyed or seriously depleted. 38 million n people are now forced to get government stamps for food. Yet, the banks and corporations register huge profits as productivity per worker is up with fewer workers! The people had demanded a change. Obama talked of change. There is little change.

It was quite common to hear that war provides jobs; while it is true our sons and daughters die, the economy benefits. That is no longer the case. Our sons and daughters die and the people suffer. That is the reality.

The World Peace Council has a noble history, holding its anti-imperialist banner high during a very difficult period, resisting all attempts to change its anti-imperialist foundation. Yesterday, the world, seeking liberation from colonial rule and the horrors of fascism, looked to the World Peace Council for solidarity and internationalism.

Today 2 billion of our brothers and sisters are hungry; without clean drinking water; homeless or living in deplorable conditions. Disease is rampant. Internal conflict is encouraged by imperialism and their domestic agents so that the natural resources, their wealth, end up in foreign hands. Their countries are in deep debt, and their destiny is decided in foreign capitals.

We must find a way to reach out to these brothers and sisters, as we did before. Their struggle is our struggle. We need them in our ranks.

The world is in crisis with dark clouds ahead. The WPC is no stranger to crisis. There is a historic global peace movement today. We must assume our role in that movement. We must respond today as we have in the past. This meeting should propel us forward to meet our responsibilities.

Thank you.

Support Vale/Inco workers in Sudbury, Ontario... they need your help and solidarity

Dina Rivers Smith  March 8 at 7:46am

 

There is an "Event" that you are being asked to be aware of and respond to. This link will bring you straight to it, and on the right side of that page you can RSVP:

http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=338505712370#!/event.php?eid=343491676794&ref=nf

Here is the information from that event page:
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
 

Bridging The Gap Rally

Date: Monday, March 22, 2010
Time: 4:30pm - 8:30pm
Location: 66 Brady Street, Sudbury, Ontario

USW Local 6500 is in the hometown fight of their lives. Our members have been fighting strong for 8 months.

On Monday, March 22nd we are having a massive rally to show the solidarity and support that our local has from our members, our community, our province, and from around the world. There are 30 delegates from around the world (Brazil, Germany, Australia, Geneva, Indonesia, Zambia, and more) who have already committed to attending. Can I count on you to attend as well? Can I count on you to share this message with everyone you know?

We are looking for community members, organizations, clubs, unions, political groups, and community businesses to attend. Show up in large numbers and bring your banners, your flags and your signs! We need your help!

We need your help to show VALE Inco that we have the solidarity and the strength of our brothers and sisters everywhere - from around the corner to around the world. Come to Sudbury and help us to stand strong and unblinking in the face of VALE.

The Six Steps I need you to take:

1. Learn the facts about at FairDealNow.ca: http://www.fairdealnow.ca/?page_id=100
 

2. Check out the video invite here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hiXmE63ZT7I
 

3. Join the Facebook page: "Bridging the Gap":

http://www.facebook.com/?sk=2361831622#!/group.php?gid=349883574886
 

4. Tell me you are coming: usw@uswsudbury.ca
 

5. Forward this email to everyone you know.
 

6. Print the posters and put them up in visible locations.

That's Monday, March 22nd at 4:30 pm - Starting at 66 Brady (The new USW Union Hall) in Sudbury, Ontario, Canada.

We Need Your Help!

~ Jamie West

Jim Bunning is playing for Team Wall Street…

When Jim Bunning was pitching, he shook off the calls from management... now he takes the calls from management. Jim Bunning is playing for Team Wall Street…



This would not be happening if the Democrats called for a full mobilization of the American people to put an end to this kind of thing treachery; or, if our union leaders and civil rights organizations called out their members as has been done in Greece.



Of course, if the Democrats and Republicans were to see a new progressive party rising on the horizon in full support of peace and real reforms this would not be happening either.



It should be obvious to everyone by now that Obama and the Democrats have kicked liberals, progressives and the left under the Wheels of the Wall Street bus which is now headed to take those living in the suburbs and gated communities to the polls in 2010 and 2012 leaving the rest of us completely disenfranchised unless we start a new progressive party willing to stand up for peace, healthcare and jobs:



PEACE=Healthcare+Jobs



Tell Barack Obama and the Democrats:



No peace; no votes.


No healthcare; no votes.


No jobs; no votes.



We can pay for a national public healthcare/socialized healthcare with money saved from ending these dirty imperialist wars which would create almost ten-million new, good-paying jobs employed at over 30,000 community based healthcare centers across the country. Instead, we get to pay for wars and over 800 U.S. military bases dotting the globe protecting Wall Street's profits and investments in quest of cheap labor and resources.



If we had policies based upon the needs of the people rather than corporate profits before people, everyone would be working paying into Social Security and we wouldn't have to be worried about paying people unemployment benefits because with a full employment economy producing for human needs we could open up the more than 3,800 presently closed mines, mills and factories across this country.



We are paying a terrible price because we lack a progressive political party like the old Minnesota Farmer-Labor Party which had been set to go national when its leader, the socialist Governor of Minnesota, Floyd. B. Olson died.



Come to think of it, we are paying a terrible price for failing to take the time to understand our real history, too.



When Jim Bunning was a baseball player and a pitcher for the Detroit Tigers who I used to watch in awe as a kid... he was a leading advocate for the player's union and defender of the rights and livelihoods of auto workers in Detroit... now he is trying to deprive working people who are unemployed through no fault of their own of miserly unemployment benefits as he boasts of having become a "conservative" Tea Party supporter pitching against the working class. Bunning still tosses a wicked curve-ball, but for his Wall Street team versus the Working Class.



It's time to bring the heavy hitters on the Working Class team up to bat... the rank-and-file, because the leaders are striking out.



Someone in the dugout sure as hell better wake up and smell the coffee---



Wake up! Wake up! wake up!



Alan L. Maki

Director of Organizing,

Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council

A Democrat for governor? Parade of governor hopefuls woo Beltrami DFLers

"Greg Paquin, who was elected as a delegate, spoke about his Senate 4 DFL candidacy against Olson, saying affirmative action laws must be enforced and that more American Indians need to hold elective office."

 A Democrat for governor? Parade of governor hopefuls woo Beltrami DFLers

Minnesotans haven’t elected a Democratic governor in 24 years, Beltrami County DFLers heard over and over Sunday by a handful of would-be governors.

http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100016425/


By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, addresses the Beltrami County DFL Convention Sunday at Bemidji State University. He won three delegates for his Democratic gubernatorial endorsement bid, with the county also sending six uncommitted delegates to the State DFL Convention in April. Pioneer Photo/Brad Swenson

• Tom Rukavina takes three delegates in contested process



Minnesotans haven’t elected a Democratic governor in 24 years, Beltrami County DFLers heard over and over Sunday by a handful of would-be governors.

Rep. Tom Rukavina, DFL-Virginia, evoked the name of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, saying he’s another progressive Democrat with fire in his belly.

“I’m a little guy from the Range,” Rukavina told nearly 90 Beltrami County DFLers at their convention Sunday at Bemidji State’s Beaux Arts Ballroom. “But 20 years ago there was a little populist with a lot of ideas and people said he couldn’t win. But Paul Wellstone won.”

Rukavina was the only gubernatorial candidate winning delegates from Beltrami County with three. Six delegates will go to the April 23-25 state convention as uncommitted.

“I’m just a common, ordinary person,” said Rukavina, chairman of the House Higher Education and Workforce Committee. “I can connect with the most liberal, progressive in the state and those blue-collar workers we’ve been losing.”

Said he’s been called the “love child between Paul Wellstone and Jesse Ventura,” Rukavina said he has “a fire in my gut, and I’ve got a lot of passion in my heart, and I know with you I can win this election.”

He was light on proposals, saying as chairman of workforce development, he has worked for years on job creation and on green energy projects. He also called education the way to a job and to better pay.

Fellow Iron Ranger Sen. Tom Bakk, DFL-Cook, called the fall election “a very pivotal election” with Minnesota at a fork in the road.

“Never before will we have a governor as powerful as the next,” Bakk said, saying Gov. Tim Pawlenty’s use of unallotment to balance a state budget that had yet to take effect set new precedent, if it stands in court.

“Never before has the power of unallotment that Tim Pawlenty’s used been used in that way,” he said. “The next governor will be facing a $5.4 billion deficit, with the power to unilaterally hold the budget by him or herself.”

Because the balance of power is so badly tipped, this election must be won by Democrats, Bakk said.

Bakk says his “jobs, jobs, jobs” campaign message is based on his background as carpenter who has gone without a paycheck. Also, as chairman of the Senate Taxes Committee, he said the economy must grow jobs as the state budget deficit can’t be solved by cutting spending or raising taxes.

“The third reason is pure politics,” Bakk said. “You think of this election, we Democrats have to do a little soul-searching. We have lost five governor’s elections in a row. This is not a blue state in the governor’s race.”

Swing voters will determine the next election, he said, in rural Minnesota. “I understand the state better than other candidates … I understand the entire state.”

As House minority leader, former Rep. Matt Entenza, DFL-St. Paul, said he also understands the state, helping to bring the DFL to majority power in 2004. He cited Frank Moe’s win in Bemidji over three-term Republican Rep. Doug Fuller.

“This state gave me all the opportunities that I have,” said the Worthington native and Twin Cities attorney who founded the progressive think tank Minnesota 2020. “It gave me the opportunity to get a good education right out of high school. It gave me the opportunity to go to law school at the University of Minnesota.”

He noted the Bemidji area is now “100 percent Democrat.” The House was down 28 seats from being a majority when Entenza took the lead role, he said, and was told that cities like Bemidji and Park Rapids would never be turned to DFL.

“We need tough leadership, we need strong leadership,” he said. Entenza and then-Senate Majority Leader Dean Johnson in 2005 called Pawlenty’s bluff and forced the governor to shut down state government.

“We didn’t want that, but the governor wouldn’t negotiate,” Entenza said, adding that among Pawlenty’s pitches was to end MinnesotaCare and to deeply cut Local Government Aid. “I believe we aren’t elected to hold office, we’re elected to get things done.”

The shutdown ended in eight days, with Pawlenty signing bills with the only real increase in revenues, he said, although there was a squabble over health impact fee or tax on cigarettes.

“We need to make sure we have a new sustainable environment, that we have respect for sovereignty and real partnerships with our tribes, that we expand MinnesotaCare and health care, and that we have a governor who will be strong and tough in a good DFL tradition,” Entenza said.

Rukavina, Bakk and Entenza were the only gubernatorial candidates to speak to delegates, but a number of surrogates spoke for other candidates.

“A mother knows a lot about a person,” said Lorraine Rybak Nelson, Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak’s mother. “I know more about R.T. than anybody.”

She told of being a single mother running a drug store near downtown Minneapolis and raising and educating a family.

“He is a proven leader, he has been a leader all of his life,” said Nelson. “He’s also a person who knows how to handle people and crises.”

She said her son as mayor has balanced eight city budgets. “That’s being fiscally responsible — he learned that from me. He also knows how important it is for everyone to succeed in this world.”

Minnesota needs a Democratic governor, she said, “someone who appeals to people all over this state … The grass-roots people flock to him.”

Nelson urged to Democrats to solidify behind whoever is endorsed at the state convention.

Karen Thissen spoke on behalf of her husband, Rep. Paul Thissen, DFL-Minneapolis, and chairman of the House Health and Human Services Policy and Oversight Committee.

Paul Thissen’s “clear and decisive leadership” is a reason to endorse his candidacy, Karen Thissen said. “He has a proven and successful track record on state-level issues like health care, education and economic development, and that track record is in the partisan environment of the State Capitol.”

He’s also “a fresh, energetic new face in the DFL who can beat the Republicans in November,” she said. “We’re not nominating a candidate, we are nominating a governor. Paul’s going to do particularly well in November against Republicans.

“He is not weighed down by institutional political baggage like a lot of other candidates in the race,” Karen Thissen said. “He can focus on Minnesota’s future, he can be a fresh face in the DFL, and that will make him particularly strong in November.”

House Speaker Margaret Anderson Kelliher “absolutely is the candidate who has one foot very firmly in the rural area and in the metro area,” said Rep. Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids, who spoke on behalf of Kelliher’s bid for governor.

Sailer said she has worked closely with Kelliher and recommends her candidacy as a rural and metro candidate. “She knows and understands our part of the country, of the state, and she also a very, very good understanding of the metro area.”

All of the candidates are “great people,’ Sailer said, “but we need somebody who can win throughout the state.”

Sailer said she was particularly pleased with Kelliher’s leadership in a House override of a Pawlenty veto of transportation funding that included a phased-in gasoline tax hike, the first in 20 years.

Herb Davis, a DFL delegate from a southern county, spoke on behalf of Sen. John Marty, DFL-Roseville, who cited his work in health care.

“He supports universal health care and a single-payer system,” Davis said. “Go on his Web site, and to know what he believes is to know me.”

Local legislators Sen. Mary Olson, DFL-Bemidji, and Rep. John Persell, DFL-Bemidji, also addressed the convention but only to urge support of the endorsed candidate for governor, that the governor’s office must be taken by Democrats in the fall.

Greg Paquin, who was elected as a delegate, spoke about his Senate 4 DFL candidacy against Olson, saying affirmative action laws must be enforced and that more American Indians need to hold elective office.

Bemidji lawmakers score high on racial equity issues; but, should they have failed?

The best way out of poverty is a job, he said, and that’s why he continues to push enforcement of affirmative action.

Gregory Paquin
Candidate for Minnesota State Senate District 4

Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party holds press conference skewing the facts to try to deflect charges of racism


The Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, reeling in disorganization and disunity from charges of racism surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center (BREC) and resolutions passed across the state at precinct caucuses and county conventions for enforcement of affirmative action, pulled together its gaggle of front groups to try to pin the problem of racist hiring practices resulting in extreme poverty for Native American Indians who have no representation in the Minnesota State Legislature, on Native American Indian candidates now seeking the legislative seats held by Senator Mary Olson, Representative Jim Persell and Representative Brita Sailer.

The DFL leadership is fearing many of its other candidates will be challenged for national, state and local offices across Minnesota by Native American Indians seeking a voice in the state's decision-making process as a way to end the racist poverty plaguing Native American Indian communities and Indian Reservations.

For months these racist white legislators have been attacking Gregory Paquin, a Native American Indian and journeyman union pipefitter, for exposing the fact that no affirmative action program and policy was--- or is--- in place regarding the largest public works project in decades now under construction in northern Minnesota costing over one-hundred million dollars with another one-hundred and fifty million dollars in associated development about to get underway as the BREC nears completion and is brought into operation.

The BREC is an operation called by many a “boon-doggle” to make the rich richer while ignoring the extreme poverty plaguing the region.

People have cited as examples of this being a boon-doggle:

Sledge-hammers being rented for $15.00 a day and wheel-barrows being rented by the contractors for $28.00 a day for the duration of this two-year project.

It isn’t hard to figure how many sledge hammers and wheel-barrows could be purchased over a two-year period at rental rates like these.

Many people have suggested that Kraus-Anderson Construction company has learned a few tricks from the military-industrial complex and their high-priced toilet seats.

But, at issue for most people has been the blatant racism in hiring practices surrounding the BREC; a result of the fact that Kraus-Anderson has testified in court that when it asked Bemidji City officials for the affirmative action policies… both the Bemidji City Manager and the Bemidji City Attorney responded, “There is no affirmative action policy you need to follow on this project.”
The City of Bemidji, the State of Minnesota and Kraus-Anderson are now arguing in court that since there is no proof that they discriminated against anyone that they are in compliance with city, state and federal statutes and laws even though they intentionally failed to devise an affirmative action program knowing that poverty in the area has a most distinct racist edge. They can look out their office windows on any given day and see the impoverished Native American Indian people seeking help at the food bank across from city hall.

Minnesota DFL legislators representing the area who boasted that they brought hundreds of jobs to the community with this project are now embarrassed because they refused to see to it that affirmative action hiring policies were in place to assure equal employment opportunities for everyone.

Of further embarrassment to the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party, is the fact that a number of the contractors on the job are rat, or non-union, contractors; and some of the contractors are refusing to pay prevailing wages as required by state and federal laws. Workers on the project have further complained that there has been an almost complete failure to enforce health and safety laws and regulations on the job site resulting in a number of injuries.

The Organizing Apprenticeship Project, a front group for the thoroughly racist and corrupt Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party which is owned by the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association headed up by John McCarthy a racist, rich white man who has a two-million dollar estate built on the poverty he and the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association have subjected casino workers to; and Audrey Thayer, an opportunist apologist for this institutionalized racism, are seeking to divide Native American voters in an election year where people are thoroughly fed up with Obama’s and the Democrat’s dirty wars, their failure to enforce affirmative action and defend worker’s jobs as they claimed they would do in order to get elected: work to end poverty and provide people with healthcare, not to mention the continuing home foreclosures and evictions and rising prices on everything from food to heating costs during a period of economic depression which the Democrats have done nothing about.

Any thinking person with an ounce of common sense can see right through this article that is nothing but a puff-piece where these legislators have not even been asked by the media to explain their refusal to insist on the enforcement of affirmative action on what the Democrats refer to as a “jobs creation project;” jobs for everyone except Native American Indians, other minorities, women and the disabled.

Any person with the least little bit of intelligence has to ask how it is that a foundation funded outfit like the Organizing Apprenticeship Project which has refused to enter the struggle for affirmative action in spite of racist record high levels of unemployment among Native American Indians in the City of Bemidji and the surrounding communities, without one whimper of protest from the Organizing Apprenticeship Project or the three DFL legislators mentioned in this article or the complete and disgraceful silence from the American Civil Liberties Union another front group for the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party as is clearly evidenced by the shameful remarks of Audrey Thayer in covering up the racist hiring practices surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center where Native American Indians, other minorities, women and the disabled have been intentionally and systematically excluded from jobs--- the largest public works project in over 70 years in northern Minnesota situated between three large Indian Reservations where unemployment ranges from 65% to 85% and where we see predominantly Native American Indians standing in long lines in minus thirty degree cold waiting to get food at the Beltrami County Food Bank right across from the Bemidji City Hall; any thinking and reasonably intelligent person has to ask how it is that Senator Mary Olson, Representatives John Persell and Representative Brita Sailer could possibly score anything but a big fat “F” for intentionally sitting by in complete silence as this institutionalized racism reared is nasty and ugly head in such a vicious and pernicious manner around the BREC.

One Bemidji woman attending today’s Beltrami DFL County Convention compared these legislators getting an “A” for their work for racial equality with Barack Obama receiving the Nobel Peace Prize as he expanded the war in Afghanistan.

Instead of resolving the problem created by one boon-doggle; the DFL with this thinly veiled attempt to cover up its racism is seen by most people as indulging in one more racist shenanigan--- thus compounding the racist injury and insult.

This is not a news story; this article should have been a campaign advertisement paid for by the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association.

The real crux of this story below in the Bemidji Pioneer today is this racist comment from Minnesota State Senator Mary Olson:

“Olson, however, said she had asked Paquin for specific violations but received none from him. Also, she can only work with state violations and she noted that Paquin has a lawsuit against the city of Bemidji involving the lack of American Indian workers on the Bemidji Regional Event Center.”

Olson, like all other DFL legislators is running away from having to say “affirmative action.”

Who the hell is receiving a pay-check courtesy of the tax-payers, which include thousands of Native American Indians living in poverty in the communities in the region surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center?

Senator Mary Olson has now made this most outrageous racist statement yet this reporter did not even ask her what she has done to make sure equal employment opportunities are made available to everyone in keeping with the law of the land” the Executive Order #11246 from Lyndon Baines Johnson mandating that affirmative action is enforced until there is “a level playing field” for everyone.

What does Gregory Paquin have to do with whether or not affirmative action guidelines are being enforced on this massive public works project--- the Bemidji Regional Event Center?

It is not up to Gregory Paquin to tell Senator Mary Olson about any violations of anything. It is up to Senator Mary Olson and her legislative colleagues to monitor a project like this to make sure affirmative action is being enforced according to the Executive Order #11246 from President Johnson that is the law of the land; and, in spite of challenges from every single racist organization, every racist employer imaginable and the racists who head up the building trades unions--- in spite of challenge after challenge, President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Executive Order mandating affirmative action remains solidly and firmly in place.

Now, if Senator Mary Olson and all of her Democratic Party colleagues who have just received this grading of an “A” for their “outstanding” work on behalf on racial justice have to complain that they have taken no action against what anyone except a blind person can easily see just by looking that affirmative action has not been enforced on the Bemidji Regional Event Center perhaps it is time for Senator Mary Olson to make an appointment with her eye-doctor to see about a new pair of glasses.

The question here is not whether or not Greg Paquin told Senator Mary Olson, Representatives Persell or Sailer about the lack of enforcement of affirmative action on this BREC public works project… THE QUESTION here is why Senator Mary Olson, Representative John Persell and Representative Brita Sailer along with the entire gaggle of Democratic Party politicians who have been so quick to boast about all the jobs they created with this project never insisted that an affirmative action policy be in place before one single penny of tax-payers’ money was expended on this project right from the very beginning.

This is the question Senator Mary Olson and her DFL legislators cannot escape answering.

It is the epitome of the worst kind of racism that Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party State Senator Mary Olson would turn around in trying to escape what she is mandated by law to do as part of her job as a public official required to see to it that the rights of all people are protected as far as equal employment opportunities go and blame Greg Paquin for her failure to perform her job as an elected State Senator.

Senator Mary Olson’s entire campaign has been funded by either the racist Minnesota Indian Gaming Association which lavishly spends the money rightfully belonging to the Native American Indian people to elect their own representatives to the Minnesota State Legislature with most of the rest of her campaign contributions coming from the vey racist building trades unions which have made attempt after attempt--- to no avail--- to get the courts to overturn President Lyndon Baines Johnson’s Executive Order intended to be enforced for just these types of public works projects like the Bemidji Regional Event Center.

And to compound racist injury upon racist injury, Senator Mary Olson and her gaggle of DFL colleagues have REFUSED to insist that an affirmative action policy and plan be put in place for the hiring of maintenance workers and staff of the BREC.

Than this article brings up this entire business of Minnesota legislators passing this legislation concerning the teaching of the Native American culture and language in the public schools.

The racist hypocrisy of this is the epitome of sickening because not one single one of the legislators who voted for this legislation that State Senator Mary Olson has boasted she introduced have raised their voice to question the systemic and institutionalized racism that is a part of the present public school systems here in Minnesota where Native American Indian children are not being taught their own language--- but, they are not being taught to read and write English, properly, either--- thus depriving Native American Indians of the ability and the right to participate fully in the decision-making process in a way that will better their lives and livelihoods after being subjected to centuries of racist genocidal policies on the part of a conquering nation’s government which, in robbing them of their land and natural resources and their way of life, language, culture and livelihoods--- pushed Native American Indians onto reservations hoping they would die off quicker than is being accomplished, thus ending “the Indian problem.”

I suppose State Senator Mary Olson is going to blame some Native American Indian person for not coming to tell her there is a problem of systemic and institutionalized racism in the public schools preventing Native American Indian youth from learning to read and write English properly and that no one informed her that there is going to be an even much larger problem once Native American Indian school children start to learn their own language, again, and then teaching these children to read and write English.

Of course, Senator Mary Olson never had a Native American Indian explain to her why there are no Native American Indians sitting among her and her colleagues in the Minnesota State Legislature or among its Congressional delegation.

Can someone explain to the racist Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party State Senator Mary Olson in some kind of peculiar political language she expects to be communicated to in, that it is her job to take the time to look into all of these problems including making sure an affirmative action hiring policy is in place before any work begins on a public works project like the Bemidji Regional Event Center--- because, for now, it is her name, not Greg Paquin’s name, on the pay-check she is receiving courtesy of Minnesota tax-payers--- ALL of whom have the right to decent jobs and quality public educations.

Receiving an “A” rating from a MN DFL front organization and then being praised by Audrey Thayer of the ACLU all sitting in the offices at Bemidji City Hall in what can only be described as “damage control” by the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party as Olson, Persell and Sailor are facing Native American Indian opponents in the upcoming election. Audrey Thayer, a political gadfly who frequently flirts with the Green Party when it is to her advantage, has made a career out of being apologist for DFL racism while managing to pull off a cute little hat trick pretending she is the advocate for Native American Indian rights without having raised her voice in support of affirmative action in hiring in her “illustrious” career as a human rights advocate--- just like she has managed to remain silent concerning all the rancor and charges of racism in hiring presently surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center. Audrey Thayer conveniently manages to talk about past injustices and future injustices but never once has expressed concerns for injustices taking place for which she and the American Civil Liberties Union with their vast resources could do something about… being it covering up for the racist hiring practices surrounding the Bemidji Regional Event Center by taking part in a farce like something like this, or helping to cover-up the recent police murder of a Native American Indian youth by Bemidji Police--- the powers that be can always count on Audrey Thayer to come to their rescue… this time though, she is caught in her own web of deceit and disinformation.

These are the final paragraphs from the article below:

Greg Paquin, the Bemidji union organizer who is opposing Olson for the Democratic nomination to Senate 4, said not enough has been done to enforce affirmative action policies at the county and city level.

Olson, however, said she had asked Paquin for specific violations but received none from him. Also, she can only work with state violations and she noted that Paquin has lawsuit against the city of Bemidji involving the lack of American Indian workers on the Bemidji Regional Event Center.

“We need to have more of our representation to get our people’s needs met,” Paquin said, adding there are no American Indians serving in the Legislature.

“If we just stand by and let it continue, then it won’t be long and all the Indian people will be gone,” he said. “Our people are important.”

The best way out of poverty is a job, he said, and that’s why he continues to push enforcement of affirmative action.

Probably the most profound statement we will ever hear from any politician across the country during the election campaign has come from the Native American Indian pipe-fitter, Greg Paquin, who has decided to run for public office seeking the Senate seat now held by Mary Olson:

The best way out of poverty is a job, he said, and that’s why he continues to push enforcement of affirmative action.

Every single voter in this country should determine if who they intend to vote for supports and understands the very basic and simple truth and what justice requires.

Again--- DFL Senator Mary Olson, DFL Representative Jim Persell and DFL Representative Brita Sailor--- based upon their failure to see to it that affirmative action is implemented and enforced according to statutes and legislative mandates brought into existence as a result of the Executive Order issued by Democratic President Lyndon Baines Johnson in making affirmative action the law of the land, should have received an “F” instead of an “A” when it comes to racial equality… fortunately, voters, not a couple DFL party front groups and an apologist for racism holding a press conference trying to cover up this disgusting and shameful racism which enforces poverty on an entire people, will get to do the final grading which will be done by giving these racist bigots the boot on election day.

Hopefully candidates will step forward to run against Skoe and Howes because if the politicians above received an “A” just imagine what kind of dirt-bags Skoe and Howes must be to have received a “C.”

Let’s just hope that the grading in our public schools is done in a more honest and scientific manner… After all, these people doing the grading gave Minnesota’s most racist and reactionary ever governor, Republican Tim Pawlenty, a “B;” but, we all know why this happened don’t we? Another cutesy little political game being played by the DFL Summit Hill Club who orchestrated this entire charade at the behest of the Minnesota Indian Gaming Association… it isn’t coincidental that Senator Mary Olson’s campaign for re-election is headed up by John McCarthy, the rich white man sitting up on the hill in his multi-million dollars estate courtesy of profits derived from Native American Indians living in poverty.

Alan L. Maki



http://www.bemidjipioneer.com/event/article/id/100016371/



Published February 28 2010

Bemidji lawmakers score high on racial equity issues


Bemidji’s two lawmakers scored “A’s” on racial equity issues in the 2009 session, according to a report released Friday in Bemidji.

By: Brad Swenson, Bemidji Pioneer

Sen. Mary Olson and Rep. John Persell, both Bemidji Democrats, talk Friday to about their “A” ratings in the Organizing Apprenticeship Project’s 2009 Minnesota Legislative Report Card on Racial Equity, released at the City Hall meeting by the ACLU-Minnesota Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project. Pioneer Photo/Brad Swenson

Bemidji’s two lawmakers scored “A’s” on racial equity issues in the 2009 session, according to a report released Friday in Bemidji.

Sen. Mary Olson and Rep. John Persell, both Bemidji Democrats, earned the high rating from the Organizing Apprenticeship Project, which rated lawmakers on their 2009 votes on racial justice issues.

Add to that that “A” list Rep. Brita Sailer, DFL-Park Rapids, who represents Beltrami County north of Bemidji.

“The OAP has been at the forefront in dealing with racial equity and justice issues in the Legislature,” said Olson. “I am honored to receive this recognition, and I will continue to carefully consider issues of racial equity and justice as we move through the 2010 Legislative Session.”

The Organizing Apprenticeship Project works to advance racial, cultural, social and economic justice in Minnesota through organizer and leadership training, policy research, and strategic convening work.

It ranked lawmakers on a variety of bills, including hiring equity in green jobs, covering more kids with health insurance, and strengthening efforts to revitalize the Dakota and Ojibwe languages.

Both Olson and Persell were at a session late Friday afternoon at Bemidji City Hall to go over racial justice issues, held by the American Civil Liberties Union-Minnesota Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project.

Olson “has done phenomenal work,” said Audrey Thayer, executive director of the Greater Minnesota Racial Justice Project. And she noted that Olson, Persell and Sailer were three of the only eight lawmakers to receive “A’s” from the OAP ranking.

“This year we particularly wanted to be sure to thank our representatives and senator,” Thayer said. “We still have a lot of work to do locally … in the community, and that’s where we see the grass roots work.”

Thayer noted that Wisconsin passed a law to record race when making traffic stops, so it could be determined if officers are conducting racial profiling. Olson carried a bill to do that in Minnesota, but it died.

“Things like that happen, for whatever reason, so you try again,” Thayer said.

Thayer said ACLU must remain non-partisan, but “I want to assure you that the representatives that we have representing us right now are doing the job that they need to for us, and all we need to do is let them know what we need on a local level.”

Among other legislators, Sen. Rod Skoe, DFL-Clearbrook, scored a “C”, as did Rep. Larry Howes, R-Walker. The Legislature overall and Gov. Tim Pawlenty earned “B’s” for 83 percent support for racial equity bills, OAP said.

“John and I are down there doing what we think is the right thing to do,” Olson said. “We try to represent people in our district and often we get the privilege to be involved in local initiatives and things people bring to us to help us accomplish at the Legislature.”

Olson authored legislation, S.F. 1256, that was incorporated into the Legacy Amendment appropriations bill that was passed and signed into law last session providing $2 million for preservation and revitalization of the Dakota and Ojibwe languages and culture. The funding will be used to design and promote education programs in the two native languages.

“That bill really evolved out of the work a lot of people have been doing for a long time,” Olson said. “It was clear that there were many different initiatives happening by different tribes, but that they weren’t necessarily even aware of what other tribes were doing.”

The bill puts together a working group with representation from each tribe in Minnesota, as well as from communities with high American Indian populations like Bemidji .

The group over two years “will come back with recommendations on how we can build native culture and language into our curriculum, for not just native students but everyone to have some exposure to the benefits of what that would bring,” she said. “We can revitalize the language so that our youth can be fluent speakers, so it doesn’t become an historic language but a living, used language.”

Funded through the new Legacy Amendment, the pot grew from $125,000 to $2 million.

Persell joked that he gained House support for the measure by bringing Leech Lake smoked whitefish to his colleagues.

“A lot of good things came out of that, and we’re poised pretty well on the language issue,” he said.

OAP said that 10 of the 12 racial justice issue bills they were following passed in the 2009 session.

Bills it tracked included covering more kids with health insurance, holding public schools harmless in budget cuts, setting new standards for payday lenders, rethinking graduation testing, and opposing efforts to dismantle General Assistance Medical Care.

The report also cited Olson for authoring restorative justice legislation.

People at Friday’s meeting, representing a wide array of community action groups, cited the need for transitional housing and more youth activities. Cited as a positive move is the placing of Ojibwe language signs in Bemidji businesses.

Greg Paquin, the Bemidji union organizer who is opposing Olson for the Democratic nomination to Senate 4, said not enough has been done to enforce affirmative action policies at the county and city level.

Olson, however, said she had asked Paquin for specific violations but received none from him. Also, she can only work with state violations and she noted that Paquin has lawsuit against the city of Bemidji involving the lack of American Indian workers on the Bemidji Regional Event Center.

“We need to have more of our representation to get our people’s needs met,” Paquin said, adding there are no American Indians serving in the Legislature.

“If we just stand by and let it continue, then it won’t be long and all the Indian people will be gone,” he said. “Our people are important.”

The best way out of poverty is a job, he said, and that’s why he continues to push enforcement of affirmative action.


Yours in struggle and solidarity,

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



Please check out my blog: http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/


Let’s talk about the politics and economics of livelihood for real change.