Groups prepare to protest oil pipelines

It’s “Tar Sands Resistance” weekend. Steve Karnowski of the AP reminds us, “Battles over climate change and oil pipelines come to a head on three fronts in Minnesota this week. Environmental groups have high hopes for a ‘Tar Sands Resistance March’ to the State Capitol on Saturday with the aim of keeping Canadian crude in the ground instead of piping it across the state via an expanded Alberta Clipper pipeline. The Minnesota Public Utilities Commission will decide whether the separate Sandpiper pipeline from the North Dakota oilfields is needed. Meanwhile, American Indian tribes that feel shut out of the discussions will hold their own pipeline hearings.”

From Duluth, the NorthlandNewsCenter reports, “The proposed Enbridge pipeline would cut across the Rice Lake watersheds on the White Earth reservation and the Rice Lakes and Sandy Lake territories of the East Lake community of the Mille Lacs reservation, according to Honor the Earth. The White Earth Band will hold a hearing at 5 p.m. on Thursday, June 4 at the Rice Lake Community Center. The Mille Lacs hearing will be held at 10 p.m. on Friday, June 5 at the East Lake Community Center. General Counsel for the White Earth reservation, Joe Plummer, explained that the hearing is being held to allow tribal members that will be impacted most by the proposed pipeline to testify. ‘State hearings fifty miles away from a community, in the dead of winter, and on short notice, did not constitute consultation,’ Plummer said.”

At something called bakken.com offers a view on all this is: “Like it or don’t that America still is running on oil (and if you’re in the ‘don’t’ camp, you have to be heartened by ambitious efforts to get energy from wind, solar and other ‘green’ sources, as we all should be), but don’t expect the demand for crude to wane anytime soon. That’s just unrealistic. Nearly 1.2 billion gallons of North Dakota crude are traveling through Minnesota every year to refineries, including the one in Superior. With pipelines nearing capacity, more and more of it is being moved via rail and highways. And that’s not the best option. Trains are backing up, causing motorists, especially in cities, long waits. Fiery train accidents are grabbing headlines. And other commodities that normally move by rail or truck are being forced to wait.”

The Culture Warriors have mashed the “outrage” button over the grade school field trip to a “smut store,” as The Daily Caller refers to it. Blake Neff writes: “While parents may be upset about their lack of forewarning, the nature of Gaia Democratic suggests they should have expected some unconventional decision-making at the school. ‘We believe in academic freedom, youth empowerment, democratic education, and environmental stewardship,’ the school’s home page reads. Democratic education, to the school, means ‘an educational approach grounded in respect for human rights and a broad interpretation of learning… in which there is equality and democratic decision-making among young people and adults.’”

In The Washington Times, Tim Constantine writes, “Starri Hedges, also teaches the school’s sex education class. She said the trip to Smitten Kitten was to provide a safe environment for students to learn about sexual behavior. ‘What I saw happening on our trip, I thought it was beautiful because kids could talk to these sex educators without any shame, without any fear,’ she said. The school director apparently thinks minimum wage workers at a porn store talking with 14-year-olds about sex and showing off sex toys is ‘beautiful.’ In most states, if you were to take minors into a porn shop you’d be arrested. But not in Minnesota. I feel bad for the Minnesota families, but Starri Hedges has made my point.”

For The Examiner.com Scott Paulson says, “Imagine having your 11-year-old coming home from school and you ask, “What did you do today?” and the answer is: “‘Our teacher took us to the Smitten Kitten Adult Sex Toy Store! And look what I bought!’ as the child pulls a condom out of his pocket. That’s basically what happened to some parents in Minneapolis late last week … . Though the students sat in the front in a library section of the store which calls itself ‘a progressive sex toy store for everyone,’ sex toys and other products were visible to them. Students had access to products that could be used to practice safer sex and some bought condoms.” Clearly, those kids are doomed to life of “preversion,” to quote Bat Guano from “Dr. Strangelove.”

At Fox Sports North, Tyler Mason recalls the only time Joe Mauer struck out … in high school. “Paul Feiner remembers the day like it was yesterday. There he was, a right-handed pitcher for Elk River High School, facing Cretin-Derham Hall in the 2000 Minnesota high school state tournament at Siebert Field. The batter staring down Feiner was a high school junior named Joe Mauer, who one year later would become the first overall pick in the Major League Baseball draft. Mauer had gotten hits off Feiner twice already that day, tagging him for a home run and a single. But with the game tied 1-1 in the sixth inning, it was Feiner’s time to shine. Feiner vividly recalls the infamous pitch, a 12-to-6 curveball — his best strikeout pitch. It started middle in around the waist of the left-handed Mauer before dropping off. Mauer swung through it and missed.” Feiner met Mauer the other day, and I bet he could get him to hit a slow tapper to second.

Yes, an auditor. The Strib says we need one. “It must come as a surprise that a dispute over the auditor’s authority is a stumbling block this week as DFL Gov. Mark Dayton (a former state auditor) and leaders of the House GOP majority seek an agreement that would lead to a special session. More unusual: The disagreement is over a provision in a bill Dayton already signed into law, but wants excised as a condition of calling a special session. … Private auditors may be qualified to review county bookkeeping, but few such firms can provide the compliance review that the state auditor performs to assure that county practices comply with state law.”

But will it eventually enroll as many in pot therapy as there are transgender athletes? Says Jennifer Brooks of the Strib, “Minnesota enrolled its first medical marijuana patient Monday. Sign-up for the new program got off to a relatively slow start on June 1. By the end of the day, the Office of Medical Cannabis had approved the first unidentified patient who will be able to buy the drug legally when the program launches on July 1. According to figures released Tuesday by the Minnesota Health Department, the first day of enrollment saw 30 health care practitioners register with the state, ready to certify patients to participate in the program. In all, five patients were certified by their doctors.”

Other than employment numbers, Narayana Kocherlakota, president of the Minneapolis Federal Reserve Bank was pretty upbeat yesterday, talking to MPR’s Tom Weber. “The inflation rate is running near zero thanks to cheap fuel, he said. Without factoring in gasoline and food, prices are only growing at about 1.2 percent a year. Kocherlakota said he thinks the Federal Reserve should keep a benchmark interest rate near zero until inflation rises to the target level of 2 percent. Kocherlakota said low inflation translates to slow growth in wages and jobs. ‘We have more work to do,’ he said on MPR News with Tom Weber. ‘If you look at the numbers over the past seven or eight years, we have a lot of room for improvement in how we’re doing in getting employment back up.’”