Free Republic

Stealing through the dark to yank three John McCain yard signs from yards along rural Hwy. 19 in Northfield was wrong but also thrilling and satisfying, a visiting instructor at St. Olaf College recently told readers of a national website. Philip Busse, who teaches a class in media studies at the Northfield school, said he intended the posting to point out the foolish things people do in a highly charged political season. But neither the McCain nor Obama presidential campaign was amused by his exploits, St. Olaf has condemned the prank and the Rice County sheriff is investigating. In his...

Sen. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., said the Senate's version of a rescue package for the financial industry includes many extra provisions, including mental health benefits that were championed by the late Sen. Paul Wellstone. Klobuchar said Wellstone's cause is among a number of other additions to the bailout bill that the Senate will take up Wednesday night. Previous forms of the mental health legislation would have mandated equal health insurance coverage for mental and physical illnesses when policies cover both, which is known as mental health parity. Wellstone was killed along with seven others in a plane crash outside of Eveleth,...

Dear Friends, Four years ago today, a plane crash took the lives of Paul and Sheila Wellstone, their daughter Marcia, and three campaign aides - Mary McEvoy, Tom Lapic, and Will McLaughlin. On that horrible day, it seemed like the ground had fallen out from underneath all of us. It was, and still is, hard to imagine that they are gone. Here at Wellstone Action, our work is focused on building progressive politics for the future. Yet as much as we look forward to that future, today is a day of remembrance. We miss our friends. We remember their commitment...

A teacher at Wellstone Elementary in St. Paul was arrested for allegedly having child pornography at his home in western Wisconsin, police said. Police said they searched his home in Grantsburg on Thursday night after receiving a tip and found "several sexually explicit, illegal photographs of young females" inside. Police said they still didn't know whether he knew any of the girls. The teacher had not been charged as of Tuesday and was not in custody. Wellstone Elementary is conducting its own investigation.

A St. Paul teacher was arrested last week for allegedly having child pornography at his home. Investigators in Wisconsin's Burnett County say Jim Wichmann teaches at Wellstone Elementary. Wichmann was arrested at his home in Grantsburg Thursday night after police found "several sexually-explicit, illegal photographs of young females" inside. They searched his home after receiving a tip. "We have no information indicating that any misconduct took place at school, or even in St. Paul for that matter," said Christine Osorio, principal at Wellstone Elementary. Osorio sent home a letter on Friday saying a staff member had been "arrested on allegations...

The Geneva Conventions. The writ of habeas corpus. Presidential power. Torture. Four years ago this month Paul Wellstone was taken from us. Today, more than ever, American politics suffers from his absence. Just days ago, Senate Democrats agreed not to filibuster a bill allowing the president to detain indefinitely, even for life, any alien, whether in the United States or abroad, whether a foreign resident or a lawful permanent resident. The bill denies prisoners the right to challenge their detention in court.

Count Josh Hartnett among the conspiracy buffs regarding Sen. Paul Wellstone's untimely death in a 2002 plane crash in northern Minnesota. The cover boy in this month's GQ says, " 'It didn't make any sense' " about the accident that killed Wellstone, his wife, Sheila, their daughter, the pilots and three others. "He's angry, and he's not convinced that pilot error or mechanical failure or fog was to blame for the crash," writes GQ's Alex Pappademas, who noted that Hartnett "points out how close the race was, how Republicans were hell-bent on winning control of the Senate, how George W....

The kid shocked everyone in the place -- including himself. On the eve of the Sept. 12 primary, Keith Ellison asked 15-year-old David Gilbert-Pederson to introduce him at a get-out-the vote rally for Ellison's congressional bid. "I kept asking him for stats that I could use in the introduction," David said. "I wanted to know some specifics about how much we're spending on the war, that sort of thing. Keith said, 'I'm not telling you stats. Speak from the heart and people will listen.' " As it turned out, the audience didn't just listen. They roared as, before their eyes,...

AP) St. Louis Park, Minn. State Rep. Keith Ellison won the Democratic Party's endorsement as its candidate for the 5th Congressional District on Saturday, putting himself on a path to be Minnesota's first black member of Congress. Ellison's rapid victory was unexpected in the crowded field of candidates seeking the seat. By the third ballot he was just a few votes short of the 60 percent needed to claim the endorsement, and the two remaining contenders -- Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman and peace activist Jack Nelson-Pallmeyer -- withdrew and backed Ellison. "We've got to unify," Ellison, 42, told the...

1995 Jeep Wrangler Mileage 78,500 Cylinders 4 Cylinders Body Style SUV Transmission Automatic Doors 3 Condition Good Drive Train 4WD VIN Exterior Color Red Listing Date March 22, 2006 Interior Color Listing Source: Star Tribune

Senator Edward M. Kennedy (D-MA), when speaking during Monday's funeral service and memorial for the late civil-rights icon, Coretta Scott King, only told half the story when he spoke of his two brothers, John and Robert, and their relationship with Mrs. King's husband. Sen. Ted Kennedy drew roars of approval when he invoked the 1960 phone call placed by his brother, then-presidential candidate John F. Kennedy, to Coretta King to pledge his help in freeing her husband from jail. Kennedy also mentioned the call placed by another brother, Robert F. Kennedy, JFK's campaign manager, to a local judge to inquire...

MIDI - DON'T FEAR THE REAPER - Blue Oyster Cult, version 2 Funeral time has come...Dems will have some fun You're not gonna find one weeper They all are there for partisan rants (there is not one weeper) They're not solemn (there is no weeper) They are there to bash Bush (you won't find one weeper) Like the Wellstone rally day (there is not one weeper) They just want to win Eulogies abound...it's George Bush they pound Where's the body now...it's been lost somehow No one knows where it has gone...they don't even seem to care (you won't see...

How low has James Earl Carter sunk? It took Bill Clinton – the man who lied under oath during a legal deposition, the man who had sex with that woman before he did not have sex with that woman, the man who had bin Laden’s head on a platter but thought more golfing was in order, the first elected President to be impeached – it took Bill Clinton to restore a modicum of dignity at the funeral of Coretta Scott King. During his remarks at Mrs. King’s funeral yesterday, the wrinkled friend of dictators and despots implicitly lashed President George...

IF LAURA INGRAHAM WRITES A FOLLOW-UP BOOK, IT SHOULD BE TITLED, SHUT UP AND MOURN! Yesterday, the Left again chose division over reconciliation, bitterness over harmony, and the transient over the transcendent at the funeral of Coretta Scott King. For the third time in as many years, leftists politicized a funeral service. And the most outspoken partisans present were a failed former president and a man who once bestowed an award on Moammar Qaddafi. President Bush, as ever, maintained his dignity and demeanor. He honored Coretta Scott King at the opening of his State of the Union Address and spoke...

What is it that makes Democrats incapable of controlling their hostility, even during funerals? Especially during funerals. Rush Limbaugh just played a clip of today’s “Wellstone Funeral moment” from Rev. Joseph Lowry in which he raised the issue of weapons of mass destruction in the Coretta Scott King funeral, then talked about how not enough money is going to the poor. I know I have seen figures that indicate that Bush has spent more on some programs for the poor than Clinton did, but it wouldn’t matter if he had spent ten times more. Facts don’t matter. This is pure...

Today's memorial service for civil rights activist Coretta Scott King -- billed as a "celebration" of her life -- turned suddenly political as one former president took a swipe at the current president, who was also lashed by an outspoken black pastor! The outspoken Rev. Joseph Lowery, co-founder of Southern Christian Leadership Conference, ripped into President Bush during his short speech, ostensibly about the wife of Martin Luther King Jr. "She extended Martin's message against poverty, racism and war. She deplored the terror inflicted by our smart bombs on missions way afar. We know now that there were no weapons...

After months of tacit approval, Vermont Democrats made it official: Bernie Sanders is one of them, at least for this election season. Despite the endorsement — and the campaign cash is likely to follow — Sanders still keeps the Democratic Party at arm’s length. “Congressman Sanders put it best when he said the Democrat Party is ‘ideologically bankrupt.’ Their endorsement of him proves it,” ... Attracting national Democratic support...Howard Dean, ...Harry Reid...Sen. Russ Feingold have backed Sanders’ Senate bid. Feingold...was in Vermont earlier this month to stump for Sanders. “Bernie is a true progressive,” said Feingold. While a top Sanders...

At the first annual Paul Wellstone Memorial Dinner, filmmaker and activist Michael Moore is honored. Moore speaks about Bush administration policy and various labor and economic issues. Sen. Wellstone (D-WI), one of the more liberal and progressive members of the Senate, died in a plane crash in October of 2002. TODAY [11-23-05] , C-SPAN, 8PM ET

The Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site opened to the public Sunday, drawing an appreciative crowd of supporters -- and the late senator's famous green bus, of course -- to a remote, wooded area near Eveleth where the plane carrying the senator and seven others crashed in October 2002. For most of the crowd Sunday, it was their first glimpse of the area where Sen. Paul Wellstone; his wife, Sheila; their daughter, Marcia Markuson; three campaign staffers, and two pilots died. They read the markers and walked the grounds with a mix of sadness and smiles. "I didn't know how I'd...

This weekend, students at Brandeis University in Massachusetts are learning the ABCs of political organizing at the new "Campus Camp Wellstone." Actors at the Great American History Theater in St. Paul are rehearsing "Wellstone," a three-person play based on the life of the late U.S. senator from Minnesota. Construction workers are pouring sidewalks at the nearly-finished Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building in St. Paul. And today, a month shy of the third anniversary of the couple's death, the Wellstone Memorial and Historic Site will be dedicated in Eveleth, Minn., near the field where the senator's plane crashed,...

Those Nigerian scammers are getting creative! The classic formulation is, of course, that of some foreign official who has died leaving ill-gotten gains which the scammer would be only too happy to share if the email recipient would willing to let the scammer use his bank account to receive the funds. But in this variation, the deceased government official who has died without identifiable next-of-kin is none other than . . . the late Senator Paul Wellstone of Minnesota. Just how Wellstone supposedly came by the $9+ million left in a European bank account is not explained! Anyone else receive...

WASHINGTON — Minnesota state Rep. Steve Simon, a St. Louis Park Democrat, doesn't consider himself a "Wellstone Democrat." But he used the lessons he learned from Camp Wellstone to help win election last year. Simon said the techniques taught at the camp, established to train activists in the tradition of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone, transcend ideology. "A conservative Republican could get as much from the program," said Simon, who was one of 20 Camp Wellstone graduates who won elected office last year, according to the group's tabulation. "The principles are ideologically neutral — energizing people." As it happens, most...

July 27, 2004 Pg. 1 Senators Satisfied With Their 'No' Vote On Iraq ‘We were all firmly convinced we’d done the right thing’ By Lauren Shepherd By 1 a.m. that Friday morning, almost every senator had left the Capitol for home. Three Democrats, though, were still on the Senate floor, waiting for the final vote count on a resolution that would allow President Bush to launch a pre-emptive strike on Saddam Hussein and Iraq. Sens. Kent Conrad (D-N.D.), Dick Durbin (D-Ill.) and Paul Wellstone (D-Minn.) — had voted against the resolution along with 18 other Democrats, one independent and one...

MOBILE, Ala. (AP) - A plane carrying three U.S. senators bound for a campaign event in Missouri landed in Alabama after pilots reported problems with the landing gear, a Republican official said. Ann Wagner, co-chairwoman of the Republican National Committee and the Missouri Republican chairwoman, said late Monday that a plane carrying Senate Minority Leader Trent Lott, R-Miss., and Sens. Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., and Rick Santorum, R-Pa., reported problems with its landing gear and landed at Mobile. A police report at Mobile Regional Airport indicated that a Challenger 250 landed safely Monday at 3:28 p.m. CST after reporting its landing...

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- University of Minnesota Duluth Professor James Fetzer, a Kennedy assassination theorist, called on Congress Monday to investigate the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, who Fetzer believes was the target of a White House plot. Fetzer, a McKnight professor of philosophy, told a group of journalists and supporters at the National Press Club that the official government probe into the Wellstone plane crash on Oct. 25, 2002, whitewashed a broad Republican murder conspiracy, a charge he has made before. "Something very wrong has happened in this case," he said. Fetzer's assassination theory, now the subject of a book...

NORTHFIELD, MINN. -- Paul Wellstone taught for 20 years at Carleton College, but there's no statue or even a plaque on a wall to mark the fact. Dave Holman thinks that's just fine. Holman and seven other students have created a living memorial to the former Minnesota senator in the Wellstone House of Organization and Activism (WHOA)...

"Wellstone!", the locally made documentary about the lives of Paul and Sheila Wellstone, is both a comfort and a painful reminder of all that was lost two years ago today in the piney bogs of northern Minnesota. Clearly a labor of love, the film also touches on some of the more loopy moments of the firebrand professor's unlikely trajectory to the U.S. Senate, and even revisits the controversial memorial service that followed the plane crash.

EVELETH, Minn. — U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone drew his earliest support and his last breath on Minnesota's Iron Range. On Tuesday, Rangers claimed him as one of their own forever

Two years ago, all eyes were on the Senate race of Senator Paul Wellstone. In the wake of the defection of Jim Jeffords, the White House hand-picked Norm Coleman to attempt to unseat the populist Wellstone. But Coleman still trailed Wellstone late in the campaign. On October 11th, Wellstone voted against the President’s war on Iraq, despite a dire personal warning of "severe ramifications" from Vice President Cheney. As the result of his vote, Wellstone’s popularity soared. Then tragedy struck. Just ten days before his probable re-election, Senator Wellstone was killed in the mysterious crash of his small aircraft. On...

SCARE: EDWARDS PLANE ABORTS TAKEOFF John Edwards almost followed in the footsteps of Paul Wellstone and Mel Carnahan when his plane aborted take-off. An old favorite of the Democrats trying to eliminate weak candidates from their ticket ... Let's see how the conspiracy theorists try to link this one to President Bush...

The groundbreaking celebration for the Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building on St. Paul's West Side on Sunday would have been one of those events that reminded the late senator why he went into politics in the first place, his son told a crowd of supporters. Longtime Wellstone supporters, young parents toting strollers, children on bikes and neighborhood politicians all milled about to toast the new $25 million Neighborhood House facility that, when complete, will help the group continue to serve the growing number of immigrants relocating to St. Paul. The 93,000-square-foot building is being named in the...

The state of Minnesota is entitled to more money than it got from a $25 million insurance settlement in the crash of Sen. Paul Wellstone's plane two years ago, the state Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday. The case was sent back to St. Louis County District Judge James Florey for recalculation of how much the state should be reimbursed for covering some benefits for four campaign workers who didn't have worker's compensation coverage. Minnesota earlier was awarded $200,000, but attorneys estimate that the state will ultimately pay almost $1.5 million to the victims' relatives from a special fund. Wellstone's campaign...

Pat Forciea, one of Minnesota's most recognized political strategists who helped launch Paul Wellstone into the U.S. Senate, waived his rights to a trial in U.S. District Court on Friday and admitted to scamming millions of dollars from friends and banks in an attempt to build a minor-league hockey empire. Forciea, 46, of Minneapolis, pleaded guilty to two counts of bank fraud and four counts of wire fraud in connection with forgeries and unauthorized cash transfers used to acquire United States Hockey League teams in Cedar Rapids and Council Bluffs, Iowa.

Michael Reagan, the late president's oldest son, stepped to the podium, retrieved a folded page from his breast pocket, and after a few obligatory remarks in which he described the deep love and affection he felt for his departed father, he launched into a vicious attack on those in the Democratic Party and the liberal media who'd made his father's life a living hell during his days in the Oval Office. Michael was followed to the microphone by his step-sister, Patty Davis, who questioned why liberals and Democrats had found it so easy to hate her father, a man who...

MIDI - IN MY LIFE There are women I remember...most were wi-illing but some said no I don't take no for an answer...I guess that is just the way it goes You with kneepads still are my biggest defenders I even admit sometimes I had strayed As you leave the bookstore you must all remember When you re-ead "My Life," drink Kool-Aid (There's one born everyday...there's one born everyday) Of my victims I've not written...there was one I had met in some dark pub When I finished, I was smiling...she had screamed in my face, "Beelzebub!" You with kneepads...

She was cute in her own way. I caught a glimpse of her across the pub, and we finally made eye contact. I knew how the night would end, but I didn't know whether it would be voluntary on her part. Her name was Eileen, and she was nineteen years old. She looked innocent. She was perfect for defiling. After a few beers and conversation about how I was going to change the world, she agreed that I could walk her home. Southern charm gets 'em every damn time. While she made a restroom stop just before we were ready...

"Audemus jura nostra defendere" has been translated as: "We Dare Maintain Our Rights" or "We Dare Defend Our Rights." This Latin phrase is on the state coat of arms completed in 1923.

The state of Minnesota wants at least $1 million of the insurance money being paid to the heirs of the campaign workers who died in the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone last year. Attorneys representing the state say some of the $25 million insurance settlement received by the families of the crash victims earlier this year should be used to replenish a fund set up to protect injured workers whose employers have failed to provide workers' compensation coverage as required by law. It was discovered after the Oct. 25, 2002, crash that the Wellstone for Senate Committee did...

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pilot error caused the plane crash that killed Sen. Paul Wellstone, D-Minn., and seven others, investigators said Tuesday. Investigators told the National Transportation Safety Board that the twin-propeller King Air A100 slowed down too much while approaching Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport in northern Minnesota on Oct. 25, 2002. The plane lost altitude, veered sharply, sheared off treetops and crashed 2 1/2 miles short of the runway. "The flight crew did not monitor and maintain minimum speed," NTSB Aircraft Performance Group Chairman Charlie Pereira told the board, which will vote on whether to accept the finding. Wellstone; his wife,...

WASHINGTON — A year later, the question lingers: Did the fierce backlash to the Wellstone memorial service-turned-rally affect the national 2002 elections and tip the U.S. Senate to the Republicans? Some political experts think so. Others say the idea is ridiculous. There is evidence to support both camps. The fact that it's still even being discussed a year later indicates that the political shock waves unleashed a year ago this week at the Minneapolis memorial service for U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone in Williams Arena went far beyond the norm, even for high-profile events. But can it be pinpointed as the...

Wellstone service quickly got out of control Dane Smith Star Tribune Published 10/29/2003 Already a little uneasy about the length and the tone of the memorial service held four days after the death of Sen. Paul Wellstone, master of ceremonies George Latimer grew more alarmed when Rick Kahn's eulogy veered into a startling plea to Republicans to "help us win this election for Paul Wellstone." Latimer thought of his options. He was prepared to help speakers off the stage who broke down, but Kahn clearly wasn't rendered speechless. A corrective comment could be offered, but that would be presumptuous and...

Camp Seeks to Impart Wellstone's Lessons Mon Oct 27, 4:05 AM ET Add U.S. National - AP to My Yahoo! By PATRICK HOWE, Associated Press Writer ST. PAUL, Minn. - You could build a small village with the number of buildings named to honor the memories of Sen. Paul Wellstone and his wife Sheila, who were killed in a plane crash a year ago. AP Photo But wouldn't it be more fitting, those closest to them ask, to honor the pair by training motivated idealists to follow in their footsteps in a grassroots quest for change? That spirit drives Wellstone...

Eveleth, Minnesota-AP -- Senator Paul Wellstone and the seven other people who perished in a Minnesota plane crash a year ago are being remembered by their friends. They gathered Saturday at the St. Louis County Wellstone Historic Site, where Wellstone, his wife and their daughter died. Some speakers promised to carry forward the causes championed by Wellstone, a Minnesota Democrat, and his family. Lisa Pattni, Wellstone's former northern Minnesota director, praised the commitment of the senator and his wife to social justice. And she spoke of Wellstone's optimism and belief in government. Todd Markuson, the husband of Wellstone's daughter, Marcia,...

A makeshift memorial of fresh flowers and flickering candles lined a chain-link fence on University Avenue for days. A public service meant to heal instead ripped people apart. A beloved elder statesman, a vigorous up-and-comer, an ever-aggrieved governor and a president worried about weapons of mass destruction all played their parts. One year ago today, Minnesotans began an extraordinary chapter in the state's history, when the chartered plane carrying U.S. Sen. Paul Wellstone, his wife and daughter, three campaign aides and two pilots crashed into a pine forest near Eveleth. By the morning of Wednesday, Nov. 6, Minnesota and the...

<p>The green Paul Wellstone (search) bumper stickers can still be seen on Minnesota vehicles, a testament of the late senator's popularity, said his son David Wellstone (search).</p> <p>"He touched a lot people's lives and I feel good about that," the younger Wellstone told Fox News.</p>

Please forgive this lousy way to locate a post, but I could not have been the only one to see this. Can someone link to the thread this is on? If no thread was created, then basically here it is: Wellstones son was on Fox and said the funeral for his dad WAS a political rally and pointed out his distaste for McCauliffe.

Franken's book bravely presents the truth by Deborah Locke, Editorial Writer, St. Paul Pioneer PressAt least two sections of Al Franken's book ought to grab the attention of people from Minnesota. In "Lies: And the Lying Liars Who Tell Them -- A Fair and Balanced Look at the Right," Franken recounts the Paul Wellstone memorial. The chapter is a good example of the way right-wing pundits aided by their media outlets will distort the facts to the American people. A more chilling theme throughout the book is the way mainstream media organizations buy into the lies and report them as...

Democratic Activist Charles Greeley of Des Moines, Iowa is a follower of the late Senator Paul Wellstone. He believes the Democrats should nominate Wellstone. "Paul stood for progressivism. He'd be an articulate spokesman for our party, and far better than any of his competition." Greeley is promoting the Wellstone campaign in Iowa. A member of Fmr. Governor, Country Doctor, and all-around great American Howard Dean (D-VT) sees a slight problem with this. "I don't think Americans will elect a dead candidate." said Shelley Hopkins of the Dean Campaign. The words from the front-running campaign of a man who walked on...

Survivors of the late Sen. Paul Wellstone and five other passengers killed in an October plane crash have reached a $25 million insurance settlement with the air charter company that operated the flight. Mike Ciresi and Roberta Walburn, who represented the families of all six passengers who died in the Oct. 25 crash, said the settlement will avert a lawsuit by their clients against Aviation Charter Inc. of Eden Prairie and its affiliated companies. Ciresi and Walburn said their investigation determined that pilot error brought down the twin-engine Beechcraft King Air A100 as it approached Eveleth-Virginia Municipal Airport en route...

Nine months ago, having a green "Wellstone!" bumper sticker on your car was like wearing a black band on your arm. For a few days at least, before the ill-fated memorial service made people crazy with partisan feuding, people walked a respectful distance around your grief. Now, nine months after that plane crash, a friend of mine finds that her bright green bumper sticker and lawn sign have a rather different effect. Regularly, she finds the words "commie," "socialist" and others I can't print here scratched into the dust that coats her car. Twice she's been flipped off, for no...