If you love books …
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We want this law stopped. We want the Governor to issue an executive order to stop the cutoffs. We want the courts to do something to stop this. And here’s why: These laws, if they go into effect, will not just kill people, before they kill people they’re going to torture people. Imagine the feeling of dialysis being stopped…how long before the pain sets in? How long before you get so sick that you’re waiting to slip into that coma?
Linda Gawboy of the Welfare Rights Committee. As of January 1, undocumented immigrants will no longer be covered under Minnesota’s Emergency Medical Assistance Program—meaning that if those seriously ill patients show up at hospitals without insurance, the hospitals will either have to pay for the patients’ care out of their own pockets or simply turn those patients away. (via tcdailyplanet)
(via tcdailyplanet)
Red worms and Facebook
I got a phone message at the TC Daily Planet yesterday from someone who wanted a local source where she could buy red worms. She said she read about red worm composting and TCDP was the only phone number on the page. Probably — we published the article, and we don’t always have phone numbers in stories.
I didn’t want to go find the article and track down a local red worm outlet, so I threw up a quick question on my personal Facebook account. Wow! Within minutes, I had multiple responses from the author of the TCDP article about places to go, and more responses from other friends who also knew where to get red worms or offered to share their own.
I think this Facebook post got more responses, more quickly, than anything else I’ve ever posted. (Yes, the caller got her worms.)
Maybe I’m missing something. I should write about worms more often.
Cave Cafe Food Truck: The miraculous journey of Chef Teddy
Let me ask you this, fellow citizens. Have you recently spoken with anyone who, in the course of your conversation, declared that the United States was the best country in the world, by far, no question, the best, best, best country in the entire world? If not, I suggest that you track down the Cave Cafe food truck, enjoy some Afro-Italiano fusion cuisine cooked by an Eritrean named Tewodros Negash, cast aside your cynicism, and ponder the magnificence of this great nation.
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Occupy Wall Street’s General Assembly operates under a revolutionary “progressive stack.” A normal “stack” means those who wish to speak get in line. A progressive stack encourages women and traditionally marginalized groups speak before men, especially white men….
“Step up, step back” was a common phrase of the first week, encouraging white men to acknowledge the privilege they have lived in their entire lives and to step back from continually speaking….
Guest post: My hope for #occupy wall street
I just learned what a progressive stack is. (via)
(via swirlspice)
As I sat in the office working on a New Normal story, I heard chanting outside. Though I couldn’t make out the words or see the crowd, I knew that several groups had been organizing around foreclosure issues and Wells Fargo, so I grabbed the FlipCam and went on outside to cover what was — sure enough — a crowd chanting, “They got bailed out, we got sold out!”
Wednesday’s demonstrations were organized by Minnesotans for a Fair Economy, and SEIU’s purple shirts were much in evidence. Kevin Whelan of Minnesotans for a Fair Economy said that this week various organizations had organized “a whole lot of events around banks and foreclosures.” (Take Action Minnesota had marchers downtownon Tuesday.) Whelan wasn’t present at the demonstration I saw, but another spokesperson talked to the camera (video, above.)
The marchers outside the Wells Fargo bank at 2600 E. Franklin in Minneapolis numbered about 40. (That’s where the TC Daily Planet office is, across from the ATM machine in the back lobby.) One of the marchers told me this was the fourth bank they had visited, and that they had occupied one bank briefly, before the police moved them on.
On Tuesday evening, October 11, over in St. Paul, ISAIAH, a coalition of more than 100 churches, called a meeting atSt. James AME Church ”to combat the housing crisis through a platform of policy initiatives around foreclosure mediation, raising vacant home fees, strong zoning policies, and holding banks accountable.” The next day, ISAIAH announced that 400 people attended, including six St. Paul City Council members.
The coalition for Tuesday night’s public meeting — which included Aurora St. Anthony Neighborhood Development Corporation, Frogtown Neighborhood Alliance, Housing Preservation Project, Jewish Community Action, St. Paul Black Ministerial Alliance — heard about an ISAIAH report called the St. Paul Housing Study. That study finds Wells Fargo and U.S. Bank at fault for their home loan practices:
In July 2011, the Federal Reserve Board assessed an $85-million civil penalty against Wells Fargo, the largest fine the Federal Reserve has ever imposed in a consumer case. The Federal Reserve charged that between 2004- 2008 Wells Fargo Financial steered customers into more expensive sub-prime loans even though they qualified for better rates. As part of its settlement with the Federal Reserve, Wells Fargo will have to repay up to $200 million to customers that it overcharged.
Previously, the Illinois Attorney General sued Wells Fargo for steering African-American and Latino homeowners to higher cost subprime mortgages while giving white borrowers who had similar incomes lower cost loans. The suit charged that “Wells Fargo drained wealth from families and neighborhoods and added to the stockpile of boarded-up homes …”
The study charges that Wells Fargo Bank made more prime loans to upper-income and white neighborhoods, but that, “Wells Fargo has served low- to-moderate income and minority neighborhoods disproportionately through its finance company, Wells Fargo Financial, which makes higher rate subprime loans.”
The St. Paul Housing Study focuses on St. Paul, tracing the disproportionate impact of the foreclosure crisis on poor and minority neighborhoods, and recommends foreclosure mediation and loan modification, as well as other steps.
The New Normal theory says that we will never get back to “the good old days” before the 2008 recession, that unemployment and insecurity will continue at a higher level, that incomes will decrease, and that we should all just get used to it and adjust our lives, government and social order accordingly. The protesters at Wells Fargo weren’t buying it. Like those downtown at the Hennepin County Government Center, and at all of the Occupy sites throughout the nation, they are pushing back.
» Generic internet comment
From The Tangential: Oh my God, ARE YOU SERIOUS?!?! This is the stupidest, most asinine thing I’ve ever read. How did you become a journalist? It’s a disgrace to our country that they pay you to write drivel like this. No WONDER our children are poorly-educated, our national debt is increasing, and California is about to FALL INTO THE SEA. It’s because of YOU, you asshole!
I don’t believe you’re even discussing this subject. This wouldn’t even be an issue if people like YOU weren’t bringing it up all the time! This was fine until people like you started whining about it and complaining that things need to be changed. This would be a NON-ISSUE if this country was on the right track and you sat in the corner with a dunce hat where you belong. Click for more
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Those who interpret the Second Amendment as the lawful possession of animal limbs aside, all citizens who wish to exercise their constitutional right to bear arms can earn the privilege with today’s deal from the pros at Mind Sight.
You have to feel for the freelancers who write up these LivingSocial deals. If it’s not another pizzeria or deep-tissue massage, it’s a handgun class. This one comes with “advanced tactical technique—like rapid drawing, firing from the hip, and delivering strategic shots.” In what less “advanced” scenario would the firing of a bullet be anything other than “strategic”? Probably best not to think about it. (via jaygabler)
