COMMUNITY VOICES | The Big E sizes up MN GOP candidates

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The Big E, confessing to Minnesita Progressive Project (MPP) readers and contributers, recently wrote that his heart no longer pines to hose down right wing sparkle ponies like Michele Bachmann or even review books by the likes of a Keith Ellison.  The Big E (known to his Minneapolis neighbors as Eric Pusey), is the founding scold of the MPP lefty sentry post and appears on the current edition of Democratic Visions as he retires from political blogging. After a moment of posing as a weary blogosphere elder  (as if blogging was old enough to earn elders), the smart, liberal confederate, prompted by an actual DFL elder,  Tim O’Brien, shines with bemused and bewildered takes on the current state of the Minnesota Republican Party and its clownish, hopeful State and Congressional candidates.   Mr. Pusey, who has splashed gleefully in the rushing stream of blogs, Tweets, Facebook twerking and probably Skype, does quite well in the “legacy” medium of television where I operate.  Fox Nine News knew that and for a while put him on from time-to-time.  But the Fox 9 News producers didn’t have the cojones to make him a regular pundit.   Too bad.  Mr. Pusey has good chemistry. This ten-minute Eric and Tim segment is yours to consider.  Its “tagged” (the TV producer’s sense of the word) with an homage to the late, great, populist troubadour Pete Seeger and Twin Cities activism thanks to the air guitar wonders -The Junk Yard Democrats, a peoples’ anthem, and creative editing.  Enjoy!  Enjoy!  Democratic Visions February Segments Ex-blogger Eric Pusey and Tim O’Brien on senate and gubernatorial hopefuls.Jon Spayde as a clinically depressed motivational speaker with advice for Republican hopefuls.I report on the DFL 48 Precinct Caucuses and present an award winning short film making change. Democratic Visions is handcrafted by Eden Prairie, Edina and Minnetonka volunteer Democrats at the Bloomington Community Access Television studio by arrangement with the Southwest Suburban Cable Commission. Democratic Visions Cable ScheduleMinneapolis – MTN Channel 16 – Sundays at 8:30 p.m.; Mondays 3:30 a.m., 9:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. Hopkins, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Eden Prairie – Comcast Channel 15 – Sundays at 9 p.m., Mondays at 10:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. Bloomington – BCAT Cable Channel 16 – Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.; Fridays at 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. The entire Feburary program and 183 archived Dem Vis segments can be seen on the Democratic Visions Channel on YouTube. Democratic Visions has become the  liveliest political issues show in Minnesota.   I know.  I produce the darned thing.   Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Video: MN Precinct Caucuses – Be heard on Feb 4

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Minnesota’s precinct caucuses will be held on Tuesday February 4.  I’m hoping you attend and nudge your friends to attend.  I have produced the accompanying Democratic Visions video to help.And I here share with you a portion of a January 18 letter-to-the editor of The Journal, a New Ulm, Minnesota newspaper.The letter is co-signed by the Brown County Chairs of the Republican and DFL Parties.  That would never happen in Senate District 48 (Eden Prairie/Southern Minnetonka).  The political culture here in the southwest suburbs may be trending blue, but right wing activists continue to dominate the local Republican Party and, given early PAC mail attacks on moderate, frosh Representative Yvonne Selcer (DFL, HD 48A), party lefties aren’t likely to co-author with the righties any love-notes about the democratic process. But its damn comforting to know that political party folk elsewhere in Minnesota are in tandem, making a good case for caucus attendance. “As leaders within our political parties in Brown County, we would like to personally encourage you to attend your precinct caucus on Tuesday, Feb. 4.The precinct caucus is a gathering of your friends, family, and neighbors to exercise your rights in the American political process. It is your first opportunity during an election year to talk about issues, learn about the candidates running for statewide and local office, make recommendations for changes in your party’s platform, and choose delegates to represent you at upcoming county conventions and beyond.You are welcome to express your opinions on important issues, or you can come just to listen and observe. The atmosphere is similar to that of a neighborhood town hall meeting where the exchange of ideas is encouraged and all participants are treated with fairness and respect, regardless of whether you are expressing your opinion or just listening to others.The caucus system in Minnesota is a unique system in the United States, where ordinary citizens have the opportunity to participate not only in the selection of the candidates who will represent your political party but also in defining the issues and positions under which those candidates will run in elections. It is participation citizen democracy in action.Jim Hahn-Chair, Brown County, Republican CommitteeLori Sellner-Chair, Brown County DFL Committee” Democratic Visions is handcrafted by Eden Prairie, Minnetonka and Edina Democrats and has a YouTube Channel and can be seen has the following Cable Channels –Hopkins, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Eden Prairie – Comcast Channel 15 – Sundays at 9 p.m., Mondays at 10:00 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.Bloomington – BCAT Cable Channel 16 – Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.; Fridays at 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.Minneapolis – Minneapolis – MTN Channel 16 -Sundays at 8:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 2 a..m. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Southwest Suburban Democrats parading and picnicking

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 Over the past year, I carried my video camera to many DFL events staged in a civic arc that stretches from Bloomington to Eden Prairie to Hopkins and Brooklyn Park.  I’ve stitched various clips from these get togethers into a fun kind of review of the past year for the current edition of Democratic Visions.   This is not a definitive review, but it does reflect some of what I lensed in a congressional district (CD 3) that ranges from red to purple and is trending blue.Democratic Visions is handcrafted by DFL volunteers from Eden Prairie, Edina, Minnetonka and Minneapolis.  The show looks good on large, home flatscreens via various community access channels.  Here’s the schedule -Minneapolis – MTN Channel 16 -Sundays at 8:30 p.m.; Thursdays at 2 a.m. 8 a.m. & 1 p.m.Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Hopkins – Comcast Channel 15 -Sundays at 9 p.m.; Mondays at 10 p.m. & Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.Bloomington – BCAT Cable Channel 16 -Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.; Fridays at 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | The future of Southwest Transit and light rail

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Southwest Transit CEO Len SImich and progressive broadcaster Nancy Nelson discuss the future of commuter bus service and light rail transit in the southwest suburbs on the current edition of Democratic Visions.Simich says that Southwest LRT project planners and the Met Council are expected to begin negotiating terms that would enable light rail to share SW Transit’s large station, parking ramp, restaurant and condo-apartment complex wedged between Highway 212 and Technology Drive and Purgatory Creek Park, Eden Prairie’s most heavily used, non-athletic park.But those negotiations, says Simich, will only occur if the Met Council chooses to run light rail as far as or beyond Southwest Transit’s large Eden Prairie hub at Technology Drive and Prairie Center Drive.  The publicly owned bus company serves Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and Chaska.  Simich and Nelson agree that the Met Council should not attempt to diminish this award winning commuter service to provide advantage to its own, much larger Metro Transit bus service or light rail.  Carver County, Eden Prairie, Chanhassen and Chaska have passed resolutions of support for Southwest Transit’s position, but Simich reports that to date, the Met Council has shown little interest in discussing the issue with Southwest Transit.This is a direct link to the story on YouTube.Democratic Visions is produced by volunteers through DFL Senate District 48 at the Bloomington Community Access Television studio by arrangement with the Southwest Suburban Cable Commission.Cable cast times:Hopkins, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Eden Prairie – Comcast Channel 15 – Sundays at 9 p.m., Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. and Thursdays at 9:30 p.m.Bloomington – BCAT Cable Channel 16 – Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m.; Fridays at 9:30 p.m.; Saturdays at 7:30 a.m. & 2:30 p.m.Minneapolis – MTN Channel 16 – Sundays at 8:30 p.m.Segments of the program are posted on the web on YouTube’s Democratic Visions Channel. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Update: The Uptake’s marriage equality film

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As of this posting, The Uptake is short by more than $7,700 of its Kickstarter fundraiser deadline goal of $21,211 for its documentary project on the struggle for marriage equality in Minnesota; that deadline arrives on SEPT 6 at 11:59 p.m.  The Uptake, a non-profit, citizen-propelled video news service, says its program on how Minnesotans successfully fought for marriage equality will be crafted for a national TV audience.  The gubernatorial signing of Minnesota’s marriage equality legislation came just six months after the unexpected defeat of the discriminatory constitutional marriage definition amendment question on the November 2012 ballot.  “That’s our story,” says The Uptake’s Mike McIntee. The Uptake can select interviews, demonstrations, legislative debates and protests from hundreds of hours of streamed and taped video from its own coverage and the video vault of the Minnesota United for All Families, the lead organization in the fight for equality.If the funding pledge deadline goal is made, the The Uptake will be good to go.  But if the $21,211 Kickstarter pledge goal is not reached by 11:59 p.m. on September 6, the film will not be produced.  The project will need to pay for such production costs as sifting through and selecting video clips from three years of coverage, scripting, digitizing the chosen footage for computer editing, music use fees, audio mixing, graphics and some promotion. Referring to the documentary’s small budget, McIntee says, “There’s some money in here for promotion and distribution, but not a lot.  We’re hoping that once we get this made other like-minded organizations are going to help us out on that.  It will get seen nationally.  Free Speech TV is one outlet for that.  I’m hoping that others will be available as well.” During the evening ramp up to the first, legal, same-sex marriage ceremonies at Midnight on August 1st, I assisted McIntee and Uptake videographer Bill Sorem at the Wilde Roast Restaurant at St. Anthony-on-Main.  They were live-streaming interviews of couples, activists and political supporters of the marriage equality campaign that I was recruiting from the jovial and reflective celebrants.  The three of us later added to that footage at Minneapolis City Hall before, during and after Mayor R.T. Ryback legally married the first group of 46 same-sex couples.  You’ll see clips of the evening in my accompanying video. McIntee explained that if the target amount is not raised by the September 6 deadline, pledged gifts will not be processed – prospective donors will keep their money. If the deadline goal of $21,211 is reached or surpassed, donations will be tax deductible.Here is the link to the film project’s information and pledge page at Kickstarter.http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/uptake/how-minnesota-went-from-no-to-yes-on-marriage-equa?ref=cardCORRECTON 9/3/2013: It’s Kickstarter, not Quickstarter. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | The Uptake’s film on marriage equality – Minnesota Style

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Our friends at The Uptake have gathered hundreds of hours of streaming and taped video of the campaign for marriage equality in Minnesota.  Michael McIntee and his colleagues at the citizen-driven, Internet video news service are hoping to make a documentary for national distribution on how marriage equality prevailed in Minnesota.  Their project needs to raise $21,211 through the Quickstarter fund raising mechanism by 11:59 p.m., September 6.  Mike McIntee has told me that if that amount is not raised by the September deadline that the film will not be made.  I think it is a story that has national import and should be told.Three weeks ago, The Uptake’s Bill Sorem asked me to help he and McIntee record Minnesota’s first, legal, same sex weddings at Minneapolis City Hall at midnight on August 1st.   I also assisted them at a pre-ceremonies celebration at a packed and celebratory Wilde Roast Restaurant.  McIntee and Sorem were live-streaming interviews of couples, activists and political supporters of the marriage equality campaign that I was recruiting from the celebrants.  It was the best time I’ve had in a tavern since my grad school days in Athens, Ohio.The perceptive comments and the informal and emotional pageantry, vows and hugs of the evening that we capture, however, is only a portion of an archive of several years of unwavering Uptake coverage of the marriage equality movement.The defeat of the State Constitution amendment referendum question on the November 2012 ballot and the legalization of same-sex marriage just six months later are well documented.  But only The Uptake has a large enough video archive for a major documentary. If the full amount is not raised by the September 6 deadline, your donation will not be processed.  You keep your money.  If the deadline goal of $31,211 is reached or surpassed, your gift will help complete the film and is tax deductible. I agree with McIntee and Sorem, this Minnesota story needs to be told.  Click here to view the video promo that I have produced for the project using some of the footage that will show up in the documentary. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Nancy Nelson to leave AM950 Radio

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 Nancy Nelson (in by professional broadcaster’s opinion – Minnesota’s best talk radio host/interviewer) leaves AM950 radio after she signs off at 6 p.m. on Friday August 16.  That’s only two shows left from the time I post this sad note.  For more than three years, Nancy Nelson has provided most of the local juice for the only progressive/liberal radio station in the Twin Cities. Nancy has engaged nearly all of the progressive leaders, politicians and thinkers in the state; provided quality air time for Minnesota and national lefties, candidates, activists and opinion makers in a medium that has been harnessed by corporate media for right wing paranoia mongers and the under informed.  Nancy has been professional, impassioned and always prepared – always knowledgeable about the subject in hand.  I have been blessed to have Nancy Nelson pinch-hit host “Democratic Visions,” the cable TV and Internet program I produce through DFL Senate District 48.  She is a force of nature sparked not by her own ego, but by the people who share with her their perspectives, emotions, hopes, anger and humor.  Nancy Nelson has liberated political talk radio from both the bloviators and the limp, journalistic poseurs on local public and commercial broadcasting.  CALL TO ACTION –Every DFLer, independent, progressive Republican, environmental, gay rights, gun control, health care and good government advocat and listener — Contact AM950 now and tell it to figure out a way to keep Nancy Nelson on the air. AM950 station phone 952-946-8885Nancy Nelson Show call-In Line: 952-946-6205, 5 pm to 6 pmMatt McNeill Show call-in-line: 952-946-6205. 6 am to 8 am Nancy’s email – nancy@am950radio.com  I am not certain why Nancy is leaving, but heard her talk briefly about her departure on her Tuesday drive time show.  I did not hear any of the “whys.” I only heard Nancy conversationally announce in here normally sunny and effervescent precise manner, that she was leaving AM950 on Friday and was very sad about having to leave her AM950 radio listener family and studio crew. A Message from Nancy Nelson’s Website – www.nancynelson.com/ “Thank you for stopping by.  I’m truly sad about not being on the air at AM950 any longer.  I have felt it a privilege every single day of the past three plus years, being able to talk to you and with you about the political matters that are so important in our daily lives.  I don’t know what is next, but I’d be happy to keep in touch with whatever that is, so if you want to leave me a message and your email address, that would be lovely.  Just click on the CONTACT US link.  Hope to be with you again sometime. So browse…. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | Political satire videos & pundits on Democratic Visions

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I’ve been grousing about the lack of sharp local, political satire and comment on Minnesota television and radio.  I’ve looked for it on YouTube, surfed our Comcast channels and radio dial — nothing.  (Yes, I do have a radio with knobs; a Christmas gift from my teenage kids.) I’ve not found one single wag with a grinning, perceptive sense of the politically absurd or mundane on our local airwaves and their Internet repeaters. The ones pretending to be – like the teleprompter readers on Almanac or, say, the awkward talent on AM950 Radio’s Laughing Matters are, to be polite about it, duds. They lack juice and are delusional in their self-confirming shows. Michele Bachmann’s recent TV campaign ad pegged to her U.S. House bill to undo Obama Care sparked more laughs per second than a month’s worth of Almanac. None-the-less, these local monologists, essayists, iconoclasts and chumps posture as if they are players in league with Bill Maher, Whoopi, Janeane Garofalo or perhaps sewer surfer Tom Bernard. Andy Rooney, Molly Ivins and George Carlin were never guilty of an “I’m clever and perceptive” attitude.  With brilliance, you don’t need attitude.  Jon Stewart is a special case.  His shtick of melodramatic asides, raised eyebrows, long takes at the camera and fist-pounding the fake news anchor desk is funny.  The show is CPR for democracy.  With maybe more than 15 Emmy winning writers and more producers making it up for him, Stewart is perched above the heap.  But our local broadcast pretenders to that comic aerie are bottom feeding; they seem to be worried about offending the Crocus Hill Chapter of the League of Women Voters.Rooney, Carlin, Stewart and Keillor set the bar, not the neurotic Catholic guy with his naughty priest jokes on open mic night at the Ha Ha Club.  Sweet Jesus!  Minnesota, via local TV, radio and video is dreadfully pleasant, un-funny, pulseless.  Politics have been left for the elected, the poly sci prof, partisan sound bite trombones and the Ember Reichgott Junges and Barry Andersons of this world. While the theatrical arts get better every year, satire remains as pointed as a Creamette noodle stuck in the drain.   The likely video production venues for prospective comic cynics with no restrictions are the metro area’s cable access television studios and channels.  It’s never happened.  That said, MN Progressive Project co-captain Eric Pusey has the licks, looks and wit to slap the puck into the net for scores. Fox Nine News knows that and so do I.On the current edition of Democratic Visions you can see him splash vinegar on the life political as he and host Tim O’Brien provide the continuity to four independently produced satirical videos, one from LaLa Land, two from Vancouver and one from Eden Prairie.  The vids take measure of President Barack Obama and the fiscal cliff, local TV weathercasters and climate change, Canada’s tar sand industry, and the National Rifle Association.  The latter features Eden Prairie’s Junk Yard Democrat’s Doug Lind, Norb Gernes and MN PP’s Tommy Johnson.  The boys aren’t pretty to look at and sing even worse, but deliver a damn strong message about gun cultists.  As Mel Brooks knows, you can’t beat monsters like Hitler with more speeches, but you can hobble them with silly.  The tar sand oil video is written and animated by Dan Murphy, who had been the Vancouver Province’s long time, brilliant political cartoonist before he bit the hand that fed the daily paper’s publisher.  Ronny Butler is superb as Barack singing and strumming a ukulele, and Deep Rogue Ram, a young Vancouver-based parody ensemble can tar and feather SCTV style. The Big E has at Chip Kravaack’s retirement, Tony Cornish’s guns for teachers bill and the Sixth Congressional District’s Princess Sparkle Pony.  Our program was taped a few weeks before the legislator announced that she will not seek another term in Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District. DEMOCRATIC VISIONS – ABOUT, WHEN & CHANNELSDemocratic Visions is produced with no budget by volunteers through DFL Senate District 48 at the Bloomington Community Access Television studio by arrangement with the Southwest SuburbanCable Commission.  The half hour can viewed on your home flat screen if you’re hooked up to cable as shown below –Bloomington Channel 16 on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m., Fridays at 9:30 p.m. , Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. Minneapolis MTN Channel 16 – Sundays at 8:30 p.m. Thursdays 2 a.m., 8 a.m., 1 p.m.Eden Prairie, Mtka, Hopkins and Richfield – Comcast Channel 15 Sundays at 9 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m. Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Hopkins. MORE VIDEO SATIRE & PARODY Daniel Murphy (with Lamar) YouTube Channel –https://www.youtube.com/user/damnmurphy/videos?view=0 Deep Rogue Ram YouTube Channelhttp://www.youtube.com/user/DeepRogueRam?feature=watch Ronnie Butler Jr YouTube Channelhttp://www.youtube.com/user/ronniebutlerjr?feature=watch Continue Reading

Dred and Harriet Scott’s Minnesota connection

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For a little more than an hour, Lynne Jackson of St. Louis, Missouri had commanded the attention of a large gathering of Minnesotans in Bloomington’s Civic Plaza. Jackson’s engaging, slide-illustrated presentation described the human element that led up to the infamous 1857, U.S. Supreme Court Dred Scott Decision. That decision held that African Americans could not be citizens and could not sue in federal court; that Congress did not have the authority to prohibit slavery in U.S. territories; and that slaves like Dred Scott did not qualify for emancipation for having lived in the slave-free parts of the United States. Continue Reading

COMMUNITY VOICES | An outdoors sportsman on gun control

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Doug Lind delivers another strong commentary on the lack of progress of gun regulation legislation in Minnesota when it has been accomplished in Connecticut and elsewhere. HIs comment is part of the new edition of Democratic Visions.  The program is produced by Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina and Minneapolis volunteers through DFLSenate District 48.DEMOCRATIC VISIONS CABLE TIMES AND CHANNELSComcast Channel 15 Sundays at 9 p.m. and Wednesdays at 5:30 p.m.  Eden Prairie, Minnetonka, Edina, Richfield and Hopkins.  Bloomington Cable Access Television (BCAT) Channel 16 on Tuesdays at 2:00 p.m. & 10:00 p.m., Fridays at 9:30 p.m. , Saturdays at 7:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. Minneapolis MTN Channel 16 – Sundays at 8:30 p.m.  Thursdays 2 a.m., 8 a.m., 1 p.m. Continue Reading