Say it ain't so Joe.

All those U.S. soldiers who died in Vietnam, died in vain.

So says Joe Repya, the man who wanted to be Minnesota's Republican Party Chair and in the past has tried to quiet any questioning of the occupation in Iraq by questioning the questioners' patriotism.

Thursday on WCCO's Don Shelby show, Repya said:

"I want to see victory for the Iraqi people. I want to see a safe nation. Because there's 4,000 of my brothers and sisters who have paid the ultimate sacrifice. And I don't want to see them die in vain , much like the 58,000 that served with me in Vietnam died in vain."

Listen here

Really? Giving your life for your country is dying in vain?

For the moment, let's take Joe at his word and accept that in his mind, this is true.

That means his argument for staying in Iraq is somehow tied to avenging the deaths of US soldiers in Iraq and Vietnam.

Joe, I can understand your anger over having lost friends in that war. But your anger clouds your logic. Those who ignore the lessons of history are doomed to repeat the mistakes. Vietnam taught us you can't fight for a country where its people are against you. Every poll in Iraq shows that the general population doesn't want us there. When the people are against you, the enemy is given shelter and can easily blend in. It's hard to fight a force you can't see.

In the same WCCO interview, Joe admits mistakes were made in how the Iraq war was conceived and executed. Why did those mistakes happen? Because "patriotism" was used as a rhetorical shield against serious questioning of what the Bush administration was doing. It's a tactic Joe and his party has employed liberally in the past. I witnessed this myself when Joe questioned the patriotism of peace supporters for not applauding when the mother of a fallen soldier she said her son would have died in vain if we do not win the "war" in Iraq.

What are we fighting for in Iraq? There's no consensus on what that is. Is it to find those elusive WMDs, bring democracy or for the sake of those who have already died?

It's hard to have "victory," which Joe has said "there is no substitute for," when you don't know what victory looks like. But I know what defeat looks like. Defeat is when our US Constitution is shredded, our liberties curtailed, and our economy collapses under a huge war debt.

If we're looking for a clear-cut definition of victory, returning our constitution, our liberties and our good economic (and diplomatic) standing in the world would seem to be something we can all agree on. As Will Rodgers once said, the first thing to do when you find yourself in a hole is to stop digging. I suggest we do it before we reach 58,000 lives lost.

Politics, just like rust, never sleeps. Both may be factors in the collapse of the 35W bridge. But there's a chance you'll never get the full story on either of those factors, thanks to the National Transportation Safety Board's decision not to hold an interim public hearing on the disaster that took 13 lives. The NTSB recently voted 3-2 to not hold the public hearing, angering Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar — who has frequently been critical of the NTSB's handling of the investigation.
Inside Minnesota Politics and The UpTake have obtained the written dissenting opinions from NTSB Commissioners Deborah Hersman and Katheryn O'Leary Higgins. The dissent reveals not only displeasure with the other commissioners' decision not to hold a public hearing on one of the worst bridge collapse disasters in U.S. history, but the document also gives us a glimpse into likely factors of the collapse.
The dissent mentions the design flaw that NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker touted as the "critical factor" at a January press conference, and then quietly backed away from after Congressman Oberstar took him to task. But it also details other factors that should be aired in the public hearing. The two dissenting commissioners wrote:

"The public hearing can then focus on other relevant issues, such as the design approval process at the time the bridge was built and its evolution into the process that exists today; national bridge collapse or failure history; inspection criteria and procedures; corrosion standards; records retention requirements; national, state and local oversight; and other areas that could help us learn how to prevent a similar collapse."

There's that word "corrosion" again. Rust is an unavoidable reality for bridges unless you paint and maintain them regularly. The frequency of that maintenance (not just inspection) is where politics comes in. Democrats in Minnesota have been pointing fingers at Republican Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty's administration, which has been strangling the budget so the dollars to do maintenance properly have not been there.

More political factors: NTSB Chairman Rosenker has spent a career in Republican politics starting with CREEP, the Nixon Re-Election group, where he was deputy director for radio and TV. He has worked in nearly every Republican campaign from the 1970s to the present. If funding for bridge maintenance turns out to be a factor in the collapse, Republican Governor Pawlenty could end up taking the political fall for it.

According to the dissent, NTSB staff are concerned that politics will make it difficult to hold a public hearing. The dissenting commissioners argue that the political charged environment make a public hearing necessary to maintain the public's trust in the process:

"The downside of not holding a hearing is significant not only for this accident and for the transportation community, but also for the Board. We believe we would be abandoning our important duty to educate and reassure the traveling public of an independent, transparent, credible investigation after a tragic accident of national scope. And, after our decision not to hold a public hearing on the Comair flight 5191 accident in Lexington, Kentucky - for which the Board was roundly criticized - we believe our reputation for independence and transparency would suffer further.

"This is one of the rare accident investigations the Board has undertaken that has involved the total collapse of a major interstate highway bridge. Given the number of interstate bridges that exist in this country, the age of those bridges, and the use of those bridges, there is a significant need to explore whether this accident is likely to remain rare in the future."

Congressman Oberstar will ask the NTSB to reconsider its decision not to hold the public hearing:

“I am disappointed in Chairman Rosenker’s decision to not hold public hearings as part of the investigation of the I-35w bridge collapse, I believe the board is making a mistake. There has not been a bridge collapse in the United States in decades and it deserves a hearing. For NTSB it is both a teaching and learning opportunity. The board can teach the public how it investigates a tragedy of this magnitude and the discussion of the data that was gathered may yield new information that will help explain how this tragedy occurred. No investigation has ever suffered from a thorough discussion of the evidence.”

US Senate Candidate Al Franken won the lion's share of delegates at this Saturday's SD 38 DFL Convention. Subcaucuses that named Franken as a candidate were awarded 10 of SD 38's 17 state delegates. Subcauses that named the other two candidates in the race Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer were awarded 1 delegate each. The remaining five delegates were awarded to subcaucuses that were uncommitted (3) or named a presidential candidate (Clinton-1, Obama-1.)

Here is the list of subcaucuses, the number of votes each one got and the resulting number of state delegates.

Subcaucus Votes
State Delegates
Uncommitted, Environment, Education
55
3
Franken, Health Care, Veterans
39
2
Franken, Obamaesque Issues
31
2
Franken, Education
23
2
Obama, End The War
21
1
Ciresi Victory '08
19
1
Clinton, Climate Change, Care
19
1
Franken, First Timers
18
1
Franken, Energy & Environment
18
1
Franken, Labor
18
1
Franken, Peace, Domestic Partnership
18
1
Nelson Pallmeyer, Stop Global Warming
18
1
Disclosure: I was a delegate to the SD 38 Convention and was in the "uncommitted" caucus.

This fall it's Al Franken vs. Norm Coleman -- Mike Ciresi and Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer just doesn't have the support to win the DFL US Senate endorsement. That appears to be the proclamation from the legacy media based upon Survey USA's KSTP sponsored poll and the TV station's online post about the poll. According to KSTP Franken is the "front runner" But if you take some time to dig into the numbers, and know a little bit about the political process, you know that outcome is far from certain.

First, the poll was done among Republicans, Independents and Democrats. Republicans and Independent voters don't determine the DFL endorsement, Democrats do. And when you look at just the Democratic voters numbers, Al Franken pulls 79%, and Mike Ciresi 75%. That's closer than the margin of error in the poll (when you narrow the sample to just Democrats).

Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer polls just 58% among Democrats, but there are nearly twice as many undecideds (18%) as there are in matchups between Franken/Ciresi and Colman. That's not surprising since Nelson-Pallmeyer's campaign is not very well known in the general public. Adding in just half of those undecideds puts Nelson-Pallmeyer just a few percentage points behind Franken and Ciresi.

Second, it is now delegates, not voters, who are going to determine who the DFL US Senate nominee is going to be. All three candidates have agreed to abide by the endorsement, which means there's only going to be one major candidate running in the DFL primary this September. This poll was done among the general public not delegates.

The three DFL candidates are better known to the delegates than the general public. And as noted above, even among the general population of Democrats, the race is too close to call or even a three-way race.

So for KSTP to use this poll to call Franken the "front runner" is not based on fact, not based on their own poll, and takes a real stretch of the imagination... or just a lack of attention to detail to do. KSTP should stick to the facts on this one -- that is Franken does better in this poll in a head-to-head matchup with Coleman than Ciresi or Nelson-Pallmeyer do -- and leave deciding who the DFL "front runner" is to the delegates.

Whoops. That rust on bridge and lack of maintenance might have had something to do with the 35W bridge collapse after all. NTSB Chair Mark Rosenker is backing off from his earlier statement that a design flaw in the gusset plates was the "critical factor" in the collapse of the bridge. As reported here earlier, Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar took him to task for that statement.

Rosenker writes back to Oberstar in an apologetic tone, saying

"Please be assured that it was not my intent to get ahead of the ongoing NTSB investigation or to hypothesize about the root and contributing causes of the bridge collapse.

"It was not my intent to characterize this single conclusion as the possible probable cause determination of the Board."

What he MEANT to say was corrosion was not found on the gusset plates where the collapse likely started. So while the gusset plate design flaw may not have stopped the bridge from collapsing, it may not be in Rosenker's words "the straw or straws that broke the camels back."

You can read a pdf of Rosenker's letter here.

The National Transportation Safety Board usually follows a strict policy of not announcing the cause of an accident until the investigation is completed. Yet last week even though the NTSB reported it had not determined the probable cause of the 35W bridge collapse, NTSB Chairman Mark Rosenker said a design flaw in the bridge's gusset plates "tells us why the bridge collapsed."

Minnesota Congressman Jim Oberstar is taking Rosenker to task for his remarks, calling them "unfortunate" and suggesting that they could compromise the NTSB's investigation.

In a letter sent to Rosenker today, Oberstar writes:

"I consider it highly inappropriate for you to have stated as you did in the press conference, that the poor design of the plates 'tells us why the bridge collapsed.' Although you admitted you do not have complete information on corrosion, you nonetheless insisted that poor design was the 'critical factor.'
"Such announcements undermine the process and create the potential for committing the board to conclusions that will be difficult to change if the subsequent investigation suggests other conclusions.
"I strongly urge you to adhere to the Board's established process of not announcing the cause of an accident until the investigation is completed."

In the letter Oberstar indicated that holding the press conference was the right thing to do since other bridges may have the same design flaw. A pdf of the letter is here

The UpTake, a Minnesota based video journalism project I work with is going to be getting a lot more national attention. Next New Network’s Veracifier will be promoting and showcasing video produced by The UpTake's correspondents. Most of those correspondents are in Minnesota, but with Veracifier's help The UpTake will soon have correspondents all over the U.S. to cover the 2008 campaign and election.

The first video from that partnership -- "New Orleans: From Evacuation To Eviction" went online today at both organizations' web sites. Watch it on The UpTake or on Veracifier.

The joint project is called Ground Hounds and will be on the ground at political events, giving individual reports on the local unique angles that are often lost in the spectacle of an election year.

The UpTake is a nonprofit media startup created by a diverse team of Minnesota-based political, business and media activists, including leading video blogger Chuck Olsen. The UpTake blurs the line between citizen and traditional journalism by training citizen correspondents in the practice and principles of journalism, sharing editorial responsibility with the public through an evolving interactive editorial calendar, then publishing a product that meets standards of fairness and accuracy. Correspondents who consistently produce the most compelling stories will become Veracifier’s Ground Hounds.

The UpTake will focus specifically on the 2008 elections, including the RNC in Minnesota and the DNC in Colorado.

Ground Hounds’ video reports will run every week on the Veracifier network. ‘Hounds’ will have profile pages where people can follow their personal blogs and videos. Veracifier and Next New Networks will work with The UpTake to harness its array of talented network producers and stars to support training sessions for aspiring independent journalists. With a little help, anyone can commit an act of journalism.

Also posted at TheUpTake.org
Probably the most significant aspect of Tuesday's US Senate DFL debate at Minneapolis Roosevelt High School was not the candidates, but the audience. With the election still nearly a year away, the debate drew enough people to fill the auditorium's lower level. A good portion of those in the audience were there to back Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer. His campaign volunteers and supporters had packed the auditorium.

Nelson-Pallmeyer does not have as much name recognition or money as Mike Ciresi and Al Franken. But he is apparently strongly organized in Minneapolis where he unsuccessfully ran for the 5th Congressional District DFL endorsement in 2006.

By now, if you've watched a couple of DFL U.S. Senate debates you can recite the candidate's stump speeches from memory. For those who want substance on last Tuesday's debate please check out an excellent text summary from DJ at www.idonthateamerica.com

If you want style, we give you something different. A few quick jokes from moderator and DFL State Chair Brian Melendez and then The UpTake-O-Meter (patent pending) on the response each candidate got when introduced to a crowd of about 700 people.



This is Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer's backyard and "Back Jack Pack" which jammed the auditorium let everyone know that.
Video: Greg Skog Text, editing and photos: Michael McIntee

One by one the barriers to creating your own mass media have been coming down. First blogs let anyone publish their own newspaper, then podcasts let anyone publish their own radio show, now online videos let anyone put out a TV show…if you have the equipment and technical know how.

Cameras and editing software have become less expensive and easier to operate. But creating and distributing your own video news story can still be a complicated and frustrating proposition.

The UpTake, a Minnesota based non-profit group, which I am the Executive Producer for, is stepping in to get rid of that last barrier. Here's a video about that.



Link to Quicktime/podcast file
This weekend The UpTake has scheduled its first video citizen journalism class. It’s free and open to the public (registration is required ahead of time through Wellstone Action). The class will cover the impact video citizen journalism has had and can have, cover story telling techniques and some of the nuts and bolts of shooting and editing video.

As any journalist will tell you, covering news is really a team sport. This is especially true in video citizen journalism. It takes people who can shoot video, contribute story ideas, research, and coordinate other volunteers. This weekend’s class will give you the blue print of how to work as a team.

Everyone has their own reasons to do video. For some it’s a cause, for others they want to be famous. For The UpTake, it’s to preserve that First Amendment right to free speech in what can be its most potent form –television. The power of TV has long been reserved for the few. And with media consolidation, those few are becoming fewer.

The revolution will not be televised, but it will be uploaded.

The Video class for Citizen Journalists is on Saturday October 27, 2007 at the Galaxie Library in Apple Valley, Minnesota, 11am to 3pm. Free registration for the class here.

How does supporting the University of Minnesota with a paid email account equal using taxpayer funds for a Congressional campaign? It doesn't. But reality has very little to do with anything when it comes to Republican smear campaigns in Minnesota's 2nd Congressional District.

Paid Republican operative Michael Brodkorb launched the smear campaign only a few hours after Iraq War Veteran Steve Sarvi filed to run against one of Brodkorb's former employer's clients -- Congressman John Kline.

Brodkorb, who continues to assert to the media that he is a reliable news source, assumed that since Sarvi's campaign manager Eileen Weber had used her U of M alumni email address to send out a press release that some campaign law must have been violated. However, it turns out tax payer dollars are not involved. Weber pays for the account because she believes in supporting the University of Minnesota.

Brodkorb, who has never let facts get in the way of a good smear, apparently did not check on this before publishing his story. Weber says Brodkorb has been contacted about the error, but as of now he has not corrected or updated the post.

We've grown accustomed to the lies and distortions coming out of Brodkorb's media enticing rumor mill. Thank goodness the media has learned its lessons and doesn't take what he says as gospel. Star Tribune reporter Mark Brunswick was smart enough to check out this latest distortion with Sarvi's campaign first and left Brodkorb's smear out of his printed story. Brunswick knows what a lot of other media folks now know, Brodkorb's intent is to misinform for political gain.

Update: Mr. Brodkorb claims no one from the Sarvi campaign has contacted him about his error. Yet he apparently has read about it and has not corrected it. He's posted again insisting this was a "taxpayer-funded e-mail account". Silly Michael, when you pay $60 a year for an email address at the U of M (as I did for years) that's not a tax-payer funded email account. That's an alum funding the University account. The dollars are going the wrong way for it to be taxpayer funded.

Face it Michael, you goofed. That's why the media doesn't take you seriously anymore.