The upcoming election on November 3rd is under many radars in Minneapolis for a few reasons: it's an off-year, mayor R.T. Rybak doesn't have a viable challenger for reelection and many campaigns have simply not been aggressive about getting people to the polls. What this means for you is that your vote is even louder when it comes down to our city council, park board and major decision about who controls our tax levies. The first thing to point out is that this is our first election using Ranked Choice Voting (RCV) and despite some people's confusion over how it works, from a voter's perspective it is dead easy: just rank who you want in office in your order of preference. There's more about RCV at voteminneapolis.org. If you are not sure where to vote, use the City of Minneapolis Voting Precinct Finder. Below are my choices if I could vote in every park district and ward in the city:

Mayor: R.T. Rybak
Ward 1: Kevin Reich

I disagree with the Star Tribune's endorsement here. This video, for me, sums up why I can't vote for Hanna. Reich is a solid for Northeast.

Ward 2: Cam Gordon
Ward 3: Diane Hofstede
Ward 4: Barb Johnson
Ward 5: Don Samuels
Ward 6: Robert Lilligren
Ward 7: Lisa Goodman
Ward 8: Elizabeth Glidden
Ward 9: Gary Schiff

Gary Schiff is actually my favorite CM in the city. In fact, for any issue I go to a CM with I talk with his office instead of my actual CM in Ward 12. Hey, being three blocks away from Ward 9 is close enough, right? He unfortunately has one of the tougher races in the city against activist Dave Bicking.

Ward 10: Meg Tuthill
Ward 11: John Quincy
Ward 12:

Ward 12 is where I live and I'm in a tight situation. There's four candidates running. Rick Nyhlen is a Ron Paul Republican and Brent Perry is a young Socialist with almost no grasp for city issues. The two Democrats running are Charley Underwood, who has not been traditionally campaigning after he lost the DFL endorsement to incumbent Sandy Colvin Roy. Neither have active websites as far as I'm aware. I haven't agreed with Sandy Colvin Roy on a number of issues and my experience has been that I've been only able to get through to her when she's running for re-election. Charley Underwood and I talk now and then and while we had very opposite positions regarding the recent U.S. Senate race and a few other political subjects, out of the four he's the guy I feel like I can level with and really debate the issues with. That doesn't necessarily translate to effectiveness on the City Council, however. In a recent email, Underwood stated "if I get elected, I am going to scream every time I hear about another subsidy for fat-cats at public expense. If I get elected, I am going to network like crazy to support the neighborhood sustainability programs that can deliver, the sorts of things I have been studying quite intensely for the past year." So I'm in Ward 12 with a Libertarian-lite Republican, a young Socialist, a deep-left progressive ideologue and a politically-savvy center-left incumbent. All of whom I respect, none of whom I'm terribly excited about sending to city hall.

Ward 13:Betsy Hodges

Minnesota Independent has had a fantastic overview of the City Council races starting here.
Park Board At-Large: John Erwin Tom Nordyke

John Erwin is far and away my number one choice for Park Board. He's endorsed by almost everyone under the sky, he's a horticulture professor at the University of Minnesota and also has solid experience with being on a Park Board -- because he was one. I also support Tom Nordyke. Mary Merrill Anderson and Annie Young are vying for the third seat, in my opinion. Mary's the DFL-endorsed incumbent and Annie Young is also an incumbent endorsed by the Green Party.

Park District 1: Liz Wielinski
Park District 2: Michael Guest
Park District 3: Scott Vreeland
Park District 4: Anita Tabb
Park District 5: Jason Stone

This is actually an interesting race, not for reasons I terribly like. Carol Kummer is the incumbent and did not seek re-election. Kummer and the majority if not all of her strong supporters backed Marty Demgen. Demgen dropped out of the race not long after the Minneapolis DFL Convention where the endorsement procedure for this seat got so out of hand it had to be adjourned with no endorsement. After Demgen dropped out, Carol Kummer decided at the last minute to run for re-election again and many of those Demgen supporters followed. Jason Stone, in my strong opinion, should have won the DFL endorsement in the first place. He's one of the most sincere and solid people in city politics and should have been in office when he ran for this seat four years ago. He's in this for the right reasons -- fighting for our park system.

Park District 6: Brad Bourn
Board of Estimate and Taxation: David Wheeler
Charter Amendment #168 : Vote Yes

The Board of Estimate and Taxation (BET) is an obscure 130-year-old, six-person board with a member of the park board, the Mayor, two city council members and two elected officials (who are paid only $35 a meeting) that decides our tax levies, issue bonds and receive audit reports. I strongly favor having our elected City Council be held responsible and accountable for these things, like almost every other major city in the country. This is what this charter amendment does and I'm supporting it. A six-person board with two bottom-of-the-ballot candidates should not be deciding our maximum tax levies. The "Save the BET" group, which is essentially run by the same people as BET reelection candidate Carol Becker's campaign, have been aggressively pushing messaging that implies voting "no" would not only remove the BET but effectively ruin the independent Park Board, be a "consolidation of power" or actually cause less accountability. With all the "Save the BET" and Carol Becker's claims, in my strong opinion, the opposite is true. Let's hold our City Council accountable like every other modern city. The current president of the BET, Jill Schwimmer, who was formally Becker's running mate, wrote a solid editorial encouraging people to vote "yes." It's a must-read. From my understanding, most of the current BET supports its removal too. BET frontrunner Carol Becker's running mate and neighbor DeWayne Townsend entered the race "because [Becker] asked me to run" after it was feared people would run for the seat seeking to abolish its existence. I am not voting for either of them. Even though David Wheeler is voting "no" to the charter amendment, I see him by far the strongest candidate for the Board of Estimate and Taxation if it were to continue to exist. I generally agree with the Star Tribune editorial board's thoughts on this race.

Unfortunately, I don't get to vote on every single race in the city. :-) Also check out my neighbor and friend Brian Moen's picks; almost all I agree with. Have fun at the polls on Tuesday! Do you have different choices? Different thoughts on the race? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

Bloggers Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin and I have filed an ethics complaint with the Office of Congressional Ethics. A copy of the complaint is here above and the press release is below.

MINNESOTA BLOGGERS FILE ETHICS COMPLAINT AGAINST REP. MICHELE BACHMANN FOR PARTISAN USE OF TAXPAYER DOLLARS

ST. PAUL, MINN – Jul. 29, 2009 – Minnesota bloggers Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin, and Aaron Landry filed an ethics complaint with the House Office of Congressional Ethics (OCE) requesting an investigation into whether Rep. Michele Bachmann’s office has violated House franking rules pertaining to proper e-mail usage.

The complaint points out that an e-mail sent by Representative Bachmann’s office on May 26, 2009, advocates for the National Automobile Dealers Association (NADA), a political organization, which is in violation of the House Franking Rules.

Aaron Landry, who first began investigating the story said, “Michele Bachmann is no stranger to NADA, they’ve been a strong donor to her congressional campaign committee.” According to campaignmoney.com, Rep. Bachmann has received approximately $13,000 from NADA since 2006. Thus, Rep. Bachmann’s ties to the organization establish a potential quid-pro-quo scenario.

Brian Falldin, who began looking into filing the ethics complaint said: “While Michele Bachmann tends to moonlight on national news shows, she apparently spends little time following the rules of the road while at her day job, which is unfortunate for the 6th District and America.”

Dusty Trice, who is well known in Democratic circles for his firebrand commentary, stated: “It’s clear that Michele Bachmann cares about one thing – and that’s making sure she rewards those who give her the most money, regardless of the rules she needs to break in the process.”

Aaron Landry summed up the reasons for filing the complaint best: “There’s a reason why ethics rules exist: to keep our representatives ethical. I believe the Office of Congressional Ethics will continue to protect the taxpayers of Minnesota against the kind of activity Representative Bachmann’s office participates in.”

Dusty Trice, Brian Falldin, and Aaron Landry are well-known writers in the Minnesota political community. For more information or press inquiries, please visit www.dustytrice.com, www.brianfalldin.com, www.s4xton.com or call 612-234-5614.

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Mayor R.T. Rybak's Minneapolis Utility Bill, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

When I started paying my City of Minneapolis utilities online, I did what many curious people likely did when confronted with the fields to enter your address: entering my neighbor's after I was done paying my bill. After a number of clicks, to my surprise I had my neighbor's bill in front of me. With the number of interface bugs the system had I figured it was a fluke and forgot about it.

In the last few months, the City of Minneapolis rolled out their new Utility Billing system which has a much friendlier interface, seemed to be a lot more secure and now offers paperless billing. While the system isn't perfect, for a municipal utility site I can't complain. A week ago, Kyle (of More Cowbell and Reveille Magazine) messaged me saying he may have found a "bug" with the new utility system similar to what I noticed before. After playing with it further, we realized we could access anyone's bill by typing in their address in the right place.

We questioned if this was not a bug and actually an unusual way to access public records. I contacted the City of Minneapolis and after talking to a few people I got a lot of details and helpful background from Matt Laible in their communications department. First off, utility billing information is public information under state law:

All government data collected, created, received, maintained or disseminated by a government entity shall be public unless classified by statute, or temporary classification pursuant to section 13.06, or federal law, as nonpublic or protected nonpublic, or with respect to data on individuals, as private or confidential. The responsible authority in every government entity shall keep records containing government data in such an arrangement and condition as to make them easily accessible for convenient use.

It should be noted that there is an exception for electrical billing only. Being I don't pay the City of Minneapolis for my electricity it doesn't apply to me.

While this system does not include people's names and phone numbers, they are public record as well. I was shown an email from 2006 where Assistant City Attorney Lisa Needham was asked about the subject and after studying the law concluded that:

...information such as names, addresses, and phone numbers would be considered public data and must be released pursuant to a data request. The only information that would remain private would be social security numbers if those are collected.

She also added that "the Department of Administration (which oversees data practices) has urged the legislature" to make this data private in a similar manner to electrical utility billing. As of today, it is still public.

The bottom line is that essentially all the information the city has in regards to you as it relates to your utility billing is public information.

So here's how to access it: At City of Minneapolis Utility Billing, click on the "Standard Access" tab. Then type in the address you want to look up. If given a list of options, select the address that is most correct and that's it. To access a different account, you need to hit "Log Out" in the upper right. Rather straightforward, isn't it?

It does not give you access to do anything malicious. You just see how much your neighbors pay for water, sewer, refuse and drainage and their payment history. The only activity you can do to someone else's account is to pay their bill for them.

I did a quick sweep through some of Minneapolis' elected officials and as shown in the photo above, Mayor R.T. Rybak pays his bills on time and seems to use a lot more water than I do. Council Member Paul Ostrow from Ward 1 has about a $100 bill each month, paid on time. CM Diane Hofstede from Ward 3 currently has a $215.87 credit because their bill seems to be paid in large amounts in advance, including a $500 payment in mid-July 2008. My neighbors CM Gary Schiff in Ward 9 and CM Sandy Colvin Roy in Ward 12 have bills that average around $50-$60, just like my utility bills, and they seem to be paid on time as well.

While I don't take a particular side if this information should be public or private, I do have a problem with residents not being aware of the level of information that can be pulled up about themselves. Nobody I talked with about this post was aware they could view other residents' utility bills. So let your neighbors know -- and if you're nice, pay their bill for them.

Al Franken Lawn Sign, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

As most readers of this site know, my lack of posting in the last couple months has been due to my continual posting over at MNpublius (my posts here). Covering the races, primarily the U.S. Senate race has been a thrill.

My strongest suggestion today: Make sure every single person you know that is eligible to vote, votes. Poll finders: Secretary of State, DFL Tonight should be an exciting night: I'll be on WCCO TV not long after 7:15 PM around 9:30 PM and then I'm off to the DFL party at the Crowne Plaza in Saint Paul. Now go vote!

John McCain Piece With Absentee Ballot Request Forms, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

There's been a lot of recent news regarding the John McCain campaign sending millions of absentee ballot request forms bundled with McCain literature. In many cases, there's been incorrect mailing info, incorrect forms and the wrong people receiving the mailings. The reports are mixed and vary by state and some of it smells of voter disenfranchising.

A friend showed me one that his step-daughter received in Minneapolis from an Arlington, Virginia address containing a Colorado absentee ballot request form. The addressee wasn't ever registered to vote in Colorado and only lived there briefly to work a seasonal job. It didn't apply to her whatsoever and she was not clear why she received it.

While stuffing ballot request forms with campaign literature certainly touches a number of ethical questions and edges with the law, there seems to be a lot more to this story. See more photos of the McCain literature with absentee ballot request forms.

Aaron Landry & Liz Glover, originally uploaded by fimoculous.

For the Republican National Convention, CNN transformed the Eagle Street Grille into the CNN Grill. It's directly across the street from the Xcel Energy Center and like a similar establishment in Denver for the RNC, it was completely redone with new exterior signs, red walls, branded umbrellas, televisions, a small studio space and even some of the booths were changed to fit CNN's brand. The pint glasses were changed out and there was even a news marquee and huge neon sign over one of the bars. Photos on the wall ranged from scenes of political signage to a bizarre set of large frames showcasing logos under the CNN brand, like "iReport" and "CNN Airport Network." There was nothing inside or outside that I could see that said "Eagle Street Grille." It was as if this theme restaurant had always been here.

Access required being credentialed for the security perimeter as well as wearing a pass from CNN. Inside were piles of swag and gift bags. It was heavily staffed, brightly lit and had reliable internet access. Like many of the RNC-related parties, everything on the menu was on the house. Quite the deal, especially as it wasn't the Eagle Street Grille's regular menu either: they flew in chef Michael Romano and others from New York to run the kitchen and all the food was replaced out. There were a few special bottles at the bar and the drinks were poured strong. Despite my disdain towards Makers Mark, I couldn't resist ordering from the bottle dipped not only in red wax, but with two more layers in white and blue too (hey, I had to remind myself "when in Rome..." quite a bit during the RNC). At a table I was at on Wednesday, we joked about how a gin and tonic fits into a full pint glass. There was a Texas joke somewhere there. I talked with Andrea Mayer at the Eagle Street Grille the Saturday after the convention and she told me about the long hours people were working confirmed to me what some of the wait staff told me during the week: they don't even know exactly what they're being paid. While this surprised me at first, she, "did it for the experience." The tips were being pooled that week which seemed rather antithetical considering the crowd but then I reminded myself that there were more media people here than there were Republicans. I said I didn't see people tipping when I was there and she interrupted "oh, they were tipping" and without saying directly, indicated she had no qualms about the compensation. During the week, I talked with another woman on the CNN Grill's waitstaff who was a recent college graduate and came back to work for the week because of the deal. Even still, she didn't know how much exactly she was being paid either. It was clear she thought it was going to be enough to be worth it. I asked Mayer if there were any issues or problems they had as a result of the CNN Grill taking over and she paused. She wasn't able to blame CNN for anything but said the main problem was her disappointment of hearing "the regulars wanting their bar back." For the week, it was the place to hang out with media. CNN's "CNN Grill" tag on Political Ticker mentions only a few who were there, New York Times' David Carr humorously includes the CNN Grill in one of his videos, and the people I was with would be frequently pointing out people they knew. It was a big reminder that while I may know some faces in the local media scene, I'm quite unfamiliar with most faces nationally. Some of the people I met would start by asking where I'm from. One responded, "oh, you're from here? Wow." The experience at the booth I sat at went like this: I was sitting next to FishbowlNY's Glynnis MacNicol who was celebrating a birthday after midnight (turning 27 if I remember correctly? ;-) ) so they brought out some cupcakes with packets of red and blue frosting to decorate with. One was lit with a candle with the words "Happy Birthday" written out in frosting. There was a bowl of sprinkles that 23/6's Eugene Mirman grabbed, threatened to use in some form on the booth next to us and then dumped them back in the bowl. No surprise he was earlier questioned by secret service after causing trouble inside the Xcel Energy Center. He talked CNN President Jon Klein into receiving a kiss on the cheek from him. Klein introduced himself to me and shook my hand without saying his name. A couple CNN anchors and correspondents from The Daily Show were hanging out while others donning a boatload of credentials and pins pushed through a thick crowd holding small "McCain/Palin" signs fresh out of Sarah Palin's speech. Wonkette videographer Liz Glover stopped by and showed me her Barbie-branded pink Polaroid camera where I snapped a shot with her and Rex Sorgatz. We played with Glover's "70's microphone" not long after the CNN Grill dog Sara (who roamed the CNN Grill freely) completely control an interview with her. Huffington Post's Rachel Sklar and Time Magazine / Swampland's Ana Marie Cox were behind laptops and I heard that many people spent some long hours there and a few treated it almost as a remote office. I asked Mayer what she thought of all the celebrities and she said that everyone, especially the CNN anchors, were very friendly. She didn't spend any time trying to get to get to know anyone saying "I wanted to treat them like any other customer." Perhaps then, I received the same service Tom Brokaw, Wolf Blitzer and Ben Stein got. After the Republican National Convention ended on Thursday night, The CNN Grill re-opened Saturday as the Eagle Street Grille and "everything is back to normal," including a fresh paint job. They got to keep some of the CNN glassware but everything else CNN took with them -- presumably for another establishment that CNN can take over for a week during a major national event. Eagle Street Grille 174 7th St W Saint Paul, MN 55102 651-225-1382 A couple more photos at Flickr.

Directional Argument, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

With all the various news that was happening yesterday regarding the RNC, the huge peace protest and buzz regarding hurricane Gustov and Governor Palin's daughter, I ended up tagging along with photographers Stacy Schwartz and Jon Behm, periodically catching up with Noah Kunin of The UpTake. We all were helping with The UpTake's coverage.

We followed a splinter group unrelated to the primary protest around the streets of Saint Paul. If you're new to this story, the Minnesota Independent, The UpTake and the mainstream media outlets have been covering it extensively. What I don't think has been covered though is that this group was incredibly unorganized and continually disagreed with themselves as to what they were doing. The route we took around Saint Paul around noon was completely on the fly. Police in full riot gear as well as cops in blue shirts on bikes lined certain intersections to try to persuade which direction the mob went. Groups like "Funk The War" pumped loud music from wagons which made a the scene almost feel like being in a film. Kids wearing handkerchiefs and gas masks running around juxtaposed with people dancing as if it was a rave was a moderately surreal scene. Eventually we ended up in Lowertown where there were virtually no visible police. I watched as some people in this mob smashed rear view mirrors of cars, threw bricks through Galtier Plaza and the First Bank building and one tried to rip a door off of a van. I also saw water bottles flung at windows where they bounced off. They surrounded a bus and spray-painted anarchy symbols on the side in light blue. People yelled at each other within the group, calling the violence "fucking stupid" and the reaction of bricks thrown through the glass at Macy's "does not help stop the war," yelled a girl with a torn t-shirt. At each intersection, the head of the group many times would point in conflicting directions. Some wanted to go back to the Xcel. Someone wanted to "stay away from the police." Some wanted to turn around and go back the other direction. While there were not police presence at many of the intersections, you could see police blocking off roads a block away. A smart maneuver by law enforcement, I thought: not directly engaging the group but influencing the route they were traveling by showing their presence in the distance. There were few times where tear gas and smoke bombs were use to control the direction of the mob. By the time they made it to Macy's and the Landmark Center, an entourage of police cars were following them as well as a huge presence of cops in riot gear in most directions so they scattered and dispersed seeing they were now trapped. I argue that if the police intervened when a few of the rebels threw bricks through windows, the matter could have escalated. Instead, they were able to trap the group, make some arrests and get them to scatter without much intervention at all. As I was uploading photos from what happened at The UpTake's offices (and after listening in to a great conversation between Matt Stoller and former congressman Bob Edgar), Utne Reader's Bennett Gordon alerted me that the group was rebuilding itself near the Cathedral. I walked up with him and Stacy Schwartz and saw lines of police in riot gear blocking off certain streets but maintaining a distance of about a block from the growing mob. They chanted "join us, join us" until they had a large group. Bennett stayed behind and Stacy and I followed the group to the Cathedral, down towards 35E where they crossed a pedestrian bridge, crossed 7th Street and travelled down towards Irving Park with little or no property damage. Two kids took a dumpster and after a few attempts were able to tip it over in the middle of an intersection. Getting near the perimeter, police stayed a block away in riot gear, forcing the mob to move to the river. A couple folks in masks made a makeshift blockade with a couple detour signs to "stop the cops." At the Mississippi, they marched down Shepherd road's sidewalk, not interfering with traffic. Stacy and I were talking about how difficult it is going to be for this mob to actually get back into downtown and then figured that the only way to get back was to turn around or to go through the tunnel at Jackson street. To the north was a parked train and a bluff and to the south was a river. I said, "this looks like a trap." Sure enough, by the time they got to Jackson street, the police in full riot gear were blocking the entrance back into downtown. Stacy and I knew the ramifications of this and stayed back behind the main mob to observe. We saw a reporter for MPR and two people from The UpTake continue on. There was no way out but back the way we came. Then, this happened, as filmed by The UpTake's Corrine McDermid: What the video doesn't show clearly is that the mob threw first. The police responded swiftly with tear gas and smoke bombs. There were other objects thrown at police, one I believe exploded in front of them. Stacy and I turned around and started heading the other direction, as did many in the mob and cars were beginning to back up, also trapped. While some wanted to peacefully get away, some people in masks were harassing motorists. The helpful were yelling at people to turn around and roll their windows up due to the tear gas. As Shepherd road is divided, there is a curb-sized median to climb over to go the opposite direction. Most cars did this, although one driver of a large SUV yelled to us "I don't care, I'll drive those fuckers right over." Personally, I don't think that's a good choice considering all the people that were about to surround his vehicle. Stacy and I, at this point, were now victims of this trap along with the motorists on Shepherd road. We were telling people to turn around and roll windows up, and one woman in an SUV didn't seem to understand. I tried to explain and then asked if we could ride with her out of the area. I showed her my press pass and explained who we were and what was going on as fast as I could and she reluctantly let us in. I immediately told her to turn around and go the other way, driving over the median. As she was driving an SUV, I knew it wouldn't be a problem but she was scared of damaging her vehicle. It got to the point where I was yelling at her to do so, noting the people in masks that were coming at us and the loud explosives that were going off. She made the turn but it was too late for a clean getaway. The most unnerving moment was on our way out. A man in a gas mask stood in front of the SUV staring at our driver to her the face, refusing to move. The ugly face of terrorism was standing in front of her vehicle. She froze, with her hands on the wheel and did not honk or try to move. It was a frightening scene. I yelled, "go around him" and Stacy opened her door and yelled, "Get the fuck out of the way, we're press" and another man yelled, "if you're press, fucking cover this!" Meanwhile, the mob was coming up behind us. Stacy's a concert photographer, lawyer and music blogger. I'm an IT Manager for a design firm, social media consultant and blogger. We were doing citizen photojournalistic roles and the situation changed where we decided that our safety was more important than covering the event. Finally the guy moved and ran and we drove away. Our driver, who asked her name and occupation to be off the record told us that she was a mother, works downtown and was simply trying to go home in the eastern suburbs. She said she was appalled, disgusted incredibly shaken and said she felt like she was about to throw up. I feel bad that I yelled at her how to maneuver her vehicle but I think if we would have done it any later we would have had to deal with the main mob that were attacking the police. She drove us to Stacy's car in Highland Park. Stacy and I gave her our cards and if you're reading this, we are very thankful you got us out of there. After following around these groups, I think they are fairly unorganized, do not have agreement on their goals and are being controlled and trapped fairly well by the police. It's unfortunate that the traps both in downtown as well as by the river negatively impacted some normal citizens and storefronts but I think the situation could have been a lot worse. Of course, seeing our city armed to the teeth with riot gear, police from all over the state and the Minnesota National Guard is almost as unnerving as the rioters. It's a lose-lose situation. Visit my photo slideshow on Flickr as well as sets by Jon Behm and Stacy Schwartz. Also visit The UpTake for continuing coverage. UPDATES: I've been asked about my use of the word "kids." While the group seemed to be younger teenagers to people in their early 20's, I admit I may have used the word loosely. Note though that my perception wasn't unique: Corrine McDermid from The UpTake used the same language in the above video and also referred to them as "students." Michael Caputo from Minnesota Public Radio and I had two long conversations about what happened. He was closer to the action than I was but we differ on a key part of the story. On the other hand, my version of the story seems to fit with what the police report said. Corrine McDermid, seems to agree with Caputo. He made a five minute piece about the event for MPR. Overall, good conversations regarding the recollection of stories and what really is the truth.

Northstar Health Collective, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

There have been crazy activity all over the Twin Cities with raids and buzz about the cancellation of part or most of the Republican National Convention due to hurricane Gustov.

While Minnesota Independent, The UpTake and other organizations have been covering some of the major protest-related events, I dropped in a small protest in my neighborhood. The Industrial Workers of the World staged an event in "solidarity" with Starbucks workers. What I found most interesting was not the group itself but the other people that showed up. There were numerous people surrounding the area wearing bright green hats from the National Lawyers Guild, most of whom I presume are not actually lawyers but monitor events in attempt to represent individuals' rights. There were two representatives in bright red shirts from the American Civil Liberties Union, one of which gave me a small card explaining the rights of protesters during the RNC. I was most surprised to see a strong contingency from the Northstar Health Collective, a group of volunteers that have essentially developed their own version of the Red Cross. MPR has a good piece on these 'street medics.'

Tomorrow is going to be a lot bigger.

Xcel Energy Center, originally uploaded by Aaron Landry.

I haven't been updating this site for awhile so here's a short recap of what I've been up to and what I'm doing this upcoming week.

I've been updating my tumblelog. Add it on Tumblr or your RSS reader if you'd like. I've also been covering the U.S. Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman at MNpublius. It's a ton of fun, honestly. As well, I've been maintaining my day job. This weekend, I pick up my press pass with The UpTake. I've been a supporter of the UpTake since day one and I'm happy to help them out during the Republican National Convention. I also pick up Rex Sorgatz at the airport and the upper floor of my house turns into his space for a project he's working on relating to the RNC. While there's going to be a ton of press locally, nationally and internationally on almost every aspect of the convention from the speeches, the reactions from delegates, the protests, the looming hurricane in the gulf, the newly chosen vice president candidate and everything John McCain, I'm going to focus on three things: Norm Coleman, Jeff Larson and the parties. I'm also going to be at The Daily Show on September 2nd. This upcoming week might be a huge mess but I think it'll be fun. Thanks for reading and my apologies for the lack of updates recently.

Ever wonder why the Star Tribune includes code that forces your browser to reload periodically? Ever wonder why they don't have full RSS feeds? I understand that stories evolve as more information becomes available, but watching the Star Tribune's headlines change online before (and sometimes after) they go to print has been an interesting experience for me the last week or so. My handy RSS reader, Vienna, treats each time a headline changes as a different link and stores it. Below are a few examples. In the final headline I link to the story: On July 22nd, the Star Tribune published a story titled "Senate votes to move ahead with plan to curb speculation in oil markets that some blame for high oil prices." A few hours later, the headline changed, pointing to the same story: "Oil speculation bill provides Senate forum for partisan energy blame game." This change took the focus off of "oil speculation" being to blame to it being a "partisan energy blame game." The next day, on July 23rd, "Help for homeowners, mortgage giant sails through House, on track to become law" was updated after the vote to "House approves bill that aims to help strapped homeowners facing foreclosure, mortgage giants" but ultimately the final headline read "Help for strapped homeowners, mortgage giants sails through House after Bush drops opposition," where it now sounds like Bush gets a lot more credit. On July 25th, a story that head a headline that sounded like good news for Obama turned into a pro-McCain headline: "In shadow of Obama trip, McCain works battleground states and raises campaign funds" went to "McCain claims Obama's policies for Iraq could have led to war across Middle East" in the afternoon. Before it went to press it became "McCain mocks Obama policy for Iraq as 'audacity of hopelessness' that could have lost the war." Ouch. On July 26th, I saw a headline go through eight different versions. "Obama defends decision to travel to Europe, Middle East, says it'll help Americans in long run" changed slightly to "Barack Obama defends trip to Europe and Middle East, saying it'll help Americans in long run" to "Obama defends decision to travel to Europe, says US must work with allies" to "Barack Obama defends trip through Mideast, Europe, says US must cooperate with allies" to "Barack Obama defends decision to travel to Europe and Mideast, says US must work with allies" to "Obama defends decision to travel to Europe and Mideast, says US must work with its allies" to "Barack Obama rejects criticism of trip, says John McCain moving his way on Iraq, Afghanistan" to finally "Obama rejects criticism of trip, says McCain moving his way on wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." The key words here are "Obama defends decision" changing to "Obama rejects criticism." Also on the same day, a story titled "Bush signing legislation next week to triple funds for AIDS around the world" changed to "Bush says he's eager to sign legislation to triple funds for fighting AIDS around world." It changes from the fact it will be signed to talking about how Bush is eager to do so. On July 29th, bad news for McCain: "John McCain steps back from 'no new tax' pledge, gets rebuked by conservative anti-tax group" turns to "John McCain returns to 'no new tax' pledge after criticism from anti-tax group." Funny though, how bad news for McCain can turn into positive news: after another headline change he sounds proactive: "Analysis: McCain eager to reassure anxious conservatives he won't raise taxes." On July 31st, "Bush poised to report Thursday on progress in Iraq war." After the report, the headline and story was updated: "Bush declares significant progress in the Iraq war, saying terrorists 'are on the run.'" Sounds like the same old news right? Well, the headline changes again to "Bush cites progress in Iraq, suggests further US troop withdrawals possible." The final version, headline changed later in the day reads: "Citing gains in Iraq, Bush hints at possibility of further US troop withdrawals this year." Sounds like great news now. While not presidential in nature, it was too interesting not to include: Also on July 31st, "Alaska Sen. Stevens, in arraignment, expected to plead not guilty to hiding $250,000 in gifts" turned to "Alaska Sen. Stevens, in arraignment, pleads not guilty to hiding $250,000 in gifts" which later read as "Alaska Sen. Stevens pleads not guilty to corruption, gets chance to clear name before election." Overnight it got its final title, "Sen. Stevens takes 'gutsy' tactic, asks for speedy corruption trial in time for elections" which doesn't include the words "guilty" "hiding" and "$250,000 in gifts." On August 1st, "Obama calls for $1,000 energy rebates to be paid with windfall profits tax on the oil industry," which was mildly edited to say "Obama proposes $1,000 rebate checks from oil company profits as part of pitch to Fla. voters." Sounds like a great deal. The headline then gets changed to focus on a right-wing hot-button issue: "Obama shifts, now says he would be willing to back limited additional offshore oil drilling." The final story reads: "Obama endorses energy compromise that includes additional offshore drilling." On August 2nd, a headline about Obama and McCain agreeing on debates turned into different story: "Obama campaign agrees to 3 debates with McCain and 1 between their running mates" changed to "Obama steps back from McCain challenge for series of debates, agreeing only to standard 3." That's quite a different story. The final headline painted Obama even weaker: "Playing it safe, Obama steps back from McCain's challenge for a series of summer debates." I want to stress that in all of these cases, the changing headlines all link to the same story URL. I think there's a pattern here.