Dan Burns

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Biography

Animal protection bill probably dead for session

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

Going into this session of the Minnesota Legislature, a small part of my head was reckless enough to indulge in fantasies of really transformative achievements. The reality-based part tended otherwise, and, thus far, it has been proven correct. Here’s my biggest individual disappointment, as of now:

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Minnesota Progressive Project

On the proposed changes to Minnesota Local Government Aid

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

There is a “bipartisan” effort afoot to deal with some issues regarding Local Government Aid in Minnesota.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Minnesota legislation seeks to help locked-out workers

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

Minnesota HF 602 would provide a measure of protection for workers victimized by “lockouts” during labor disputes. Note that in this day and age, “labor dispute” is often code for what happens when corporations seek to slash worker pay and benefits, pretty much just because they can, for the sake of short-term profiteering and “shareholder value.” It’s the sort of incredibly short-sighted, selfish, vindictive crap that unfortunately didn’t die with the figure primarily associated with it (perhaps not entirely fairly), the late Milton Friedman.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Minneapolis Mayor: the race beckons

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

With Mayor R.T. Rybak leaving after this term, the starting gate is wide open for all comers. Here are the names that I've seen mentioned, with at least a moderate degree of realistic possibility, so far. Feel free to use the comments if you know of others; I'll update this list accordingly, if it looks like they're for real, and not just off of somebody's "wish list." (I know that could be a close call to make, at this point.)

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Minnesota Progressive Project

What can be done about the Koch brothers (and their ilk)?

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

If you're doing me the honor of reading this, you're presumably a regular on the progressive blogosphere, and I don't have to explain to you what the noxious right-wing billionaires David and Charles Koch are all about. Bilious disgust almost certainly rose in your gorge at the mere sight of the name. (If you'd like some kind of overview, anyway, here you go.)

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Will marijuana initiatives lead to real reform?

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

Voters in Colorado and Washington approved initiatives to legalize the personal possession and use of marijuana. (One in Oregon failed; it was apparently poorly conceived, and had little activist support.) It needs to be noted that the approval of such initiatives is one thing, and the actual law that ends up happening can be quite another. Ideally, said actual law would include the immediate release of everyone currently incarcerated in those states for non-violent marijuana "offenses." Fat chance.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

Israel vs. Iran: A real electoral wild card

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

OK, for the time being, things are looking about as good as I dared hope, for President Obama's reelection. But I'm not as sanguine as many; it just doesn't feel right, to be that way. The bottom could still fall out of the labor market, though that looks unlikely. Gas prices could continue to rise, even after Labor Day, though most analysts seem to be anticipating a drop.

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Minnesota Progressive Project

No room for women's rights in Scalia's originalism

By Dan Burns, Minnesota Progressive Project

For some perverse reason, there's been an idea, prevalent for a long time, that the rights of women to make personal choices require some sort of explicit legal justification. In fact, in any rational, enlightened society, such rights should be a given, regardless of what lawyers, judges, and (most of all) politicians might say and do.

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Minnesota Progressive Project
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