I took off from work early today! My wickedness knows no bounds. My wife and I took a nice walk downtown, in the bizarrely spring-like February day — warm, sunny — to the public library, where our Republican congressvermin, Jeff Backer and Torrey Westrom, were doing a town hall. Our local indivisible group had prepared ahead of time with a set of questions.
You may have heard a while back that our Democratic governor, Mark Dayton, had collapsed while giving a speech. He’s being treated for cancer. Backer opened the meeting by making jokes about Dayton’s health, the ratfucking asshole. Let’s hope that costs him a few votes. There were a number of topics discussed: our group focused on environmental issues. So one concern was that Backer had voted against a bill that encouraged more ‘made in Minnesota’ solar and renewable initiatives — his complaint was that too much of it was made in China and shipped to Minnesota where we “put a bolt on it”. It was pointed out that that was fine, you could make a better bill, but do that before you discard the existing law.
Another hot issue out here is a buffer zone bill: our water quality sucks because of the massive amounts of agricultural runoff, so this law would require buffer strips near streams that would not be plowed and would slow erosion and runoff. Westrom and Backer both oppose it, and have voted to delay it; some farmers there also complained that it was their land and how dare the government tell them how to use it. I just wanted to mention that it was our water and how dare they poison it?
It was generally an annoying meeting, but about 60 people showed up, so the main point was to demonstrate that we’re agin’ ’em, and that we’re organizing, so start sweating.
Afterwards we cooled off by continuing our walk, popping by the coffee shop for a little while, and then having dinner at the American Legion hall. It was Indian Taco night, to benefit the Circle of Nations Indigenous Association, so of course we had to indulge. With extra fry bread on the side. Mmmmm. Fry bread.
We have walked home, and are digesting briefly before heading out to the Morris Theater for La La Land.
Gosh, I’m feeling relaxed already. This and Cougar Con tomorrow, my blood pressure may have dropped a few points.
I’m trying to remember the last time I actually saw Indian tacos.
None of the little summer weekend fairs around here seem to sell them anymore.
“Warm and sunny” describes most of our winter locally, and that’s not usual. We’ve broken record high temperatures more than a dozen times in the past couple of months. Christmas day, for example, typically runs between 30 and 40 degrees. This year it was 70.
I’ve taken to scurrying about under the hateful yellow eye burning in the sky and hissing at all the people who talk about how ‘nice’ the winter has been. Not nice! Nasty! Nasty, nasty weather. Spring is bad enough when it’s just three months out of the year. Six (or even nine, as the weather in the fall was little better) months is intolerable.
My congress-critters don’t seem to be doing any townhalls in the area. Mores the pity. I’d like to hiss at Roy Blunt for rubber stamping the turd-in-chief’s cabinet picks. I’m mostly happy with my recent move, but trading Tammy Duckworth and even Dick Durbin for that putz is not one of the high points (Claire McCaskill is alright, if a little more conservative than I like).
How did the Myerses manage to stroll three months into the past?
curious:
does that include Standing Rock? Totally acceptable if not, yet they deserve support for their protection of our water, currently under full assault by 45, so I had to throw yet another shoutout to Standing Rock.
#NoDAPL
Spent a while cleaning house as there was a YUGE backlog of unshredded and unsorted mail. Got it under enough control to take this “strike day” off.
I look at the next five days predicted high temperatures, they are in the high fifties to low sixties (which includes today).
This is the middle of February in Chiwaukee. Yep, AGW is happening. One or two days; an anomaly. All week, a pattern.
3 months into the past? This is Morris. We live 30 years and 3 months in the past.
And earns him the scorn of decent people everywhere. What the hell?
Sounds like Dah Yoo Pee.
That looks suspiciously like a pizza to me.
Why does it matter where the solar panels are made? Surely the benefit is a) the electricity and b) the carbon emissions saved? Still get those whether they’re made in Minnesota or China.
Making solar panels is jobs, so if you can get them locally made, you have local jobs. And local pollution, and more expensive panels.
Regardless, most of the labour is in the installation, and that is typically local because otherwise you’d need to fly people in. It’s roofing work, which is dangerous, but it’s a lot of work.
More likely the congresscritter was worried about fossil fuel donations.