Free Speech Zone

Amy Klobuchar, Norm Coleman, and Jim Ramstad recently cosponsored AIPAC-endorsed legislation pending in Congress which may authorize a naval blockade of  Iran.  The legislation demands that President Bush lead an international effort to prevent Iran from receiving exports of refined petroleum.  Members of the House and Senate have introduced resolutions (H. Con. Res. 362 and S. Res. 580), cosponsored by Klobuchar, Coleman and Ramstad, calling on the administration to focus on the urgency of the Iranian nuclear threat and to impose tougher sanctions on Tehran. The resolutions demand that the United States lead an international effort to increase pressure on Iran by curtailing Iran’s ability to import refined petroleum products. H.Com.Res 362 demands that the President impose “stringent inspection requirements on all persons, vehicles, ships, planes, trains and cargo entering or departing Iran.” MORE »

The Hyatt Regency in downtown Minneapolis is buzzing this week, with hundreds of delegates to the Urban Financial Services Coalition’s annual conference thronging the hotel’s corridors and meetings rooms. MORE »

The McClatchy Co., former owner of the Minneapolis Star Tribune, always prided itself on not using layoffs as a financial management tool. MORE »

Reflecting on the problems before him Albert Einstein once said, “The world we have made as a result of a level of thinking we have done thus far creates problems we cannot solve at the same level at which we created them.” Perhaps this is even more true today when we face prominent issues like the faltering economy, the endless war in Iraq, and a $2 trillion health care crisis. While there is no doubt that these issues will challenge the very best and brightest that we elect to the White House, Bill McKibben reminds us of the only one that will be visible from outer space (First, Step Up.) MORE »