Blanked Out

Well, Doug Tice never came through with the crosstabs despite frequent promises to the contrary. Blanked-Out is on hiatus as I volunteer on The UpTake to build a true alternative to the MSM.

I’ll be doing some additional digging later into the poll but chew on this in the meantime:

Despite 52% of Minnesotans having a favorable impression of Senator Coleman only 45% approve of the job he’s doing.

I’ll explain the apparent contradiction after I whip some graphics up.

Full story at The UpTake.

If you think you already saw the story here, no, that wasn’t a sleep deprived illusion. I had cross posted the story only to discover that while it worked fine in most browsers the video embed code totally destroyed the CSS of my blog. So, until I figure that prickly question out you’ll have to go directly to The UpTake for video goodness.

It will end, will it? I thought Franken’s excellent editorial published today might be enough but no - the madness continues:

The Star Tribune of Minneapolis will be refunding about $12,000 spent on a full-page ad to Al Franken’s Senate campaign, a Franken campaign spokesman says.

This week, Sen. Norm Coleman’s campaign took out a full-page ad in the newspaper criticizing Franken for not condemning a New York Times ad by MoveOn.org, which had attacked General David Petraeus.

Coleman’s campaign says it paid a little over $23,000 on the ad - far less than the $37,000 that Franken’s campaign says it paid for a full-page ad two months ago.

In other words…

The Star Tribune is refunding Franken for giving Sen. Coleman a discount on an ad criticizing criticism (Franken’s) of criticism (Congress’) of an ad (Move On’s) criticizing (General Petraeus’) criticism of the Iraq War on the same day they publish an editorial (George F. Will’s) which criticizes the lack of criticism that can result in a discount on an ad criticizing criticism of…

While it would be fun to continue to expose the hilarity that arise from this Moebius Strip we call life I will instead leave it to others to plumb the comedic angles.

Succinctly:

• Congress, as an institution, should not condemn any instance of non-violent free speech. To do otherwise is both embarrassing and dangerous.
• A quick back of the envelope shows that it cost U.S. taxpayers at least $917,528 for the Senate to condemn the Move On ad.*

This is worse that a do nothing Congress.

*Equation: {Average Congress member makes $165,000/Congress meets an average of 93 days per year} x {517 members in the Congress who voted either way on resolution}. (Subtracted members who refused to vote since measure was farce, i.e. Obama).

UPDATE: The Strib is currently not reporting this on their site - instead some sort of bathroom incident is taking top billing. Strib story is here.

My coverage is up at The Uptake.

I would like to add that the reactions coming in from all sides are not the usual “We honor Rep. XXX’s years of public service…” boilerplate press releases.  Rep. Ramstad was that rare politician: he said what he was going to do and then he did it.  He had more creditability among Democrats the any other Minnesotan Republican.

As for the coverage itself - it was ok.  Due to the short notification of the announcement most of the A-list vloggers and equipment was otherwise occupied.  I had to rush to the scene with inadequate battery charge, tripod and audio equipment.  Even so - coverage quality at The Uptake is only going to get better by leaps and bounds.  Watch out for it.

Can be found over at The Uptake.

I asked Rep. Ellison about what he hopes will be accomplished by anti-war protests, what responsibility the U.S. has in the aftermath of an Iraq pull-out and whether or not he regrets his vote earlier this year authorizing funds for the Iraq War.

This interview is a short clip of a longer piece on the protest where I interview several participants of both the protest and counter-protest. Clips of Norm Coleman and some of the counter-protesters are also up. Stay tuned for more.

Thanks to Chuck Olsen, Oliver Dykstra, Jason Barnett, Ken Avidor and the team at The Uptake for their great coverage.

Former Virginia Governor Mark Warner just formally announced he is running for Senator John Warner’s old seat.  I expect only an egg timer will be needed to time how long it takes the presidential candidates to start politicking for Gov. Warner - he still has much of his presidential exploratory campaign apparatus still up and running.  It’s going to steamroll whatever unlucky Republican is put up against him.  Gov. Warner’s announcement video is here.

I apologize for the inconsistent posting. It has been due to inconsistent housing and internet access. Both have now been solved - this past weekend MNDOT gave us one day to fully move out of the old apartment next to the I-35W collapse site. It was a frantic grab for everything but now it’s done. Coincidentally, we were there at the same time they took down the last part of the south side of the bridge. It was surreal since there was a crowd of people on 10th Ave bridge looking down upon us. Click on the picture to see more.

This is my first report as I investigate the incident surrounding the Minneapolis Police Department (MPD) action of August 31st 2007. While there was a slew of photos, videos and eyewitness reports I did not see any reporting done with those who were actually arrested.

The MPD’s response was to give no comment on this story since it is still an open investigation.

Unless you’re on the City Council that is - 2nd Ward Council Member Cam Gordon was able to confirm several details in his post here that help explain the MPD response:

• The ride was under surveillance from the beginning from both air and ground - joint units (MPD intellgience and State Patrol) - no explanation of why or if this is common procedure
• “Officers reportedly responded to confrontational behavior by three Mass participants, and found themselves in a situation they could not control. They put out an “officer needs help,” call, which the Chief of Police has indicated is not the ideal response to this sort of event. Responding officers arrived without coordination, and, apparently afraid for the welfare of their fellow officers on site, reacted to the situation they found”

• Officers were unaware that Critical Mass participants often hold their bicycles above their heads, and that this is not a threatening gesture but one of celebration and empowerment.

Cam’s post helps a lot - I’ll be writing a “feature” piece that summarizes everything once all the pieces come together. For now, here is my interview with Joel Lueders who was arrested that day. I don’t talk much since his story (which checks out) speaks for itself. If you have any additional information regarding the incident please email me at noah AT blanked-out DOT com:

Blanked-Out:
Tell me a bit about yourself and what happened.

Joel Lueders:

I have lived in Minneapolis since 2000. For the last 5 years I’ve served in the Minnesota Army National Guard. I have a degree in Elementary Education from the University of Minnesota, Twin Cities. I am 25 and work in Downtown Minneapolis where I bike to and from each day. I am not a member of the pReNC and this was my first time attending Critical Mass.

It started at Loring Park, went to the University of Minnesota Campus then back across Broadway Bridge. A helicopter was surveying the crowd from the beginning. A police car trailed us the entire time, sounding their siren as they drove through intersections. As the crowd passed people would smile at us, whip out camera phones or whoop and holler.

Some would ask “What’s this all about?” Bikers usually responded with “Happy Friday!” I saw at least one plainclothes officer tracking us with a camcorder. Later, when crossing the Broadway Bridge I came across a single arrest in progress. Unified chants of “Let him go!” began – a few minutes later they did. Bikers immediately continued riding along with the rear police escort.

Read the rest of this entry »

Everything seems functional now - there are a couple of visual “hiccups” that I still have to track down.  If there is anything interfering with you use of the site please do not hesitate to comment on this post to let me know.  Thanks!