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There Will Be Pelts
Check out this innocuous headline from yesterday’s Hibbing Daily Tribune: “Chisholm wins bid for national conference“ Snooze, right? Small town jibber jabber. I didn’t even click on the story when I saw it online. Then later I saw the print version of the paper. Guess who’s coming to the Iron Range in August 2009? Trappers!…
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Franken’s Iraq statement grabs national attention
Al Franken’s statement calling for the halting of reconstruction funds to the cash-flush Iraqi government is grabbing national attention. I read this on MSNBC.com. The red meat line? “There’s a line between being responsible for rebuilding a country you helped destroy, and being a chump, and I think we crossed that line,” Franken said. Related…
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A rare comment on foreign policy
So, here’s where it’s going with American foreign policy. A former Russian satellite, Georgia, challenges the mother country of Russia and is brutally attacked. Georgia, like many former Russian satellites, has formed close relationships with western powers like the United States. Why wouldn’t they? We are “The Superpower” after all. But now that they’re about…
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Same now as it ever was
This is my weekly column for the Sunday, Aug. 10, 2008 Hibbing Daily Tribune. Same now as it ever wasBy Aaron J. BrownMost people know the political tradition here on the Iron Range: Independent, but generally Democratic, and heavily influenced by the past and present labor movement. Sadly, it’s almost impossible to talk about politics…
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Building independent public media on the Iron Range
I was in studio for this week’s “Between You and Me” at KAXE in Grand Rapids this morning and I’ll be back there next Saturday guest hosting a show about “The Future.” I have done odd jobs and special projects for KAXE over the past few years, which is why I’m now putting out the…
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Smackdowns aplenty: Business North brings the news
If you aren’t getting Business North’s weekly e-alerts, you should. On Thursday, Wayne Nelson and the staff at BN put out some great stories. Cleveland-Cliffs merger with that Appalachian coal company is being held up by Wall Street dealmakers. Apparently Cliffs has played the opening chords of the banjo music from “Deliverance” and are waiting…
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Conservative education policy devalues Minnesota
Anyone who lives in Minnesota hears outsiders say, “Cold there, isn’t it?” And, of course, it is cold. But I always enjoy saying, “Yeah, but the summers are perfect and the schools are good.” Only, now the schools aren’t as good. They’re goodish. Better than most places, but they aren’t the best and they struggle…
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Source: Bakk plans primary run for gov
A source tells me that, at a fundraiser for State Sen. Tom Bakk yesterday, the Iron Range lawmaker is telling people that he’s running for governor in 2010 and that he’ll run in the DFL primary regardless of the endorsement. This isn’t a surprise, but I think other candidates can now count on Bakk being…
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Have you ever really been experienced?
A columnist Roger Bloom of the Orange County Register writes about the matter of “experience” in the presidential race. One of the most common criticisms of Barack Obama I hear is that he isn’t “experienced.” Bloom, joining others who have pointed this out, reminds us that great presidents haven’t necissarily had traditional Washington experience. As…
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MinnPost reports on Blandin’s rural broadband work
MinnPost republishes a post from Minnov8 about the Blandin Foundation initiative to increase rural broadband access, a top issue here at MinnesotaBrown. This post gives a great idea of what Blandin is doing but leaves me with the same feeling I had after I learned that Hibbing voted down Fibernet. We aren’t getting anywhere until…
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7B status update; Stenersen spurns TV for food bank
Ask and ye shall receive. Here is an anonymous assessment of the 7B primary race from a reader in Duluth: Just a update about the 7B house DFL Primary race. I have seen a lot of (Roger) Reinert and (Marsh) Stenersen signs and billboards. John Derbis has been knocking on the doors, Brandon Clokey has…
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Duluth’s compelling 7B DFL primary just a month out
I haven’t written much about Duluth’s 7B DFL primary, now just about a month away. If anyone has field reports or news about forums or other events please send them to me or post them in the comments. Duluth city councilor Roger Reinert put out a press release today saying he’d be taking a week…
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Rudy, RIP, still taking flak from the papers
The Chicago Tribune used the biography of the Iron Range native and late former Gov. Rudy Perpich as grist for an attack on current Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich last week. More than a few Iron Rangers will take issue with the characterization of Rudy, as did a Tribune reader and transplanted Iron Ranger now living…
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Obama more like ‘us’ than Cokie and Steve Roberts
Today, the Hibbing Daily Tribune ran a syndicated column by Cokie and Steve Roberts that bears the headline “Is Obama one of us? We’re not sure.” If the question is, is Obama an overrated national pundit thriving off of insider status, I suppose the answer would have to be “no.” But I still have no…
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They’re baaaaack …
It’s been a rather pleasant several weeks not discussing Excelsior Energy’s boondoggle Mesaba Energy Project proposed for the Iron Range. It reminds me of what I imagine the future will be like: a world where this terrible idea is merely a memory of the bad things that can happen when massive amounts of state and…