Minnesota Independent

Franken contributes to ‘It Gets Better’ book

By Andy Birkey | 03.23.11 | 2:41 pm

Sen. Al Franken is a contributor to a book urging LGBT youth not to commit suicide because of bullying. “It Gets Better: Coming Out, Overcoming Bullying, and Creating a Life Worth Living,” by columnist Dan Savage contains an essay by Franken as well as fellow politicians President Obama, Hillary Clinton, Nancy Pelosi, British Prime Minister David Cameron and celebrities Perez Hilton, Ellen Degeneres and Suze Orman. The book is based on a video project of the same name in which thousands of people have lent their voice in support of LGBT youth.

Daniel Ellsberg. Image: Mediagrrl, YouTube

Ellsberg calls Assange and Manning heroes, lets Clinton off hook

By John Tomasic | 12.02.10 | 2:30 pm

Daniel Ellsberg, the Defense Department analyst who leaked the 1960s Pentagon Papers exposing Johnson Administration lies tied to the war in Vietnam, said in a recent interview that he disagrees with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange that Secreatary of State Hillary Clinton should resign for apparently encouraging diplomats and staff to spy on members of the United Nations. He also praised Assange as well as the suspected source of the leak, PFC Bradley Manning, who have been called respectively a terrorist and a traitor with many prominent figures calling for the assassination of Assange and the execution of Manning. Ellsberg called Manning a patriot and a hero.

Birther at Obama rally: ‘The media are down on their knees in front of Obama sucking as hard as they can’

By Paul Demko | 09.12.09 | 4:48 pm

A protester at Saturday’s healtlh care rally with President Obama says she wants the administration out, calling them “thugs.” She elaborated: “They bring in communists. They lie. They bring in terrorists, Bill Ayers. … And the media covers for him. The media are down on their knees in front of Obama sucking as hard as they can.”

AM.MN: Passionate kiss-offs at town hall

By Chris Steller | 08.21.09 | 8:30 am

Who needs high school football or rock festivals when congressional constituents can get rowdy together at a town hall meeting? People in the First District gave a clinic in civic (and by all accounts civil) boisterousness at…

Holtz pondered Congress, now says he’ll keep Perpich pledge: no politics

By Chris Steller | 08.06.09 | 12:41 pm

One-time University of Minnesota football coach Lou Holtz now says he’s not mulling a run for Congress in Florida, as reported. If so, he’d be keeping a promise made in 1983 to the late Rudy…

Mondale sings opera as his rooster crows? Wikipedia ‘is bull,’ says ex-veep

By Chris Steller | 12.27.08 | 2:31 pm

In an interview with the Scandinavian-American cultural magazine Nordic Reach, former Vice President and U.S. Sen. Walter Mondale sounds fed up with social media and crowdsourcing. He was unaware he has a MySpace page until the interviewer tells…

MnIndy’s Best: Top 10 photos of 2008

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.24.08 | 8:30 am

Doing online journalism on a shoestring budget means borrowing, buying and shooting our own photographs. With high-profile events in the Twin Cities this year, from the September Rage Against the Machine Concert in Minneapolis and RNC events in St. Paul to a particularly exciting election day, we hired some freelancers and fired up our own cameras, capturing some memorable and — dare we say — historic images.

As transportation secretary, Republican LaHood travels well

By Andy Birkey | 12.18.08 | 7:44 am

President-elect Barack Obama is making good on his promise to include the opposition in his cabinet: He’ll be nominating Republican Rep. Ray LaHood as the next Secretary of Transportation. While some in the liberal blogosphere are outraged that Obama is naming a moderate Republican to the post, I’m not. I cast the first vote of my life for LaHood, a native of my hometown, Peoria, Illinois. And many others, from Central Illinois Democrats to my conservative mom, a self-described “dittohead,” are calling LaHood a solid, pragmatic choice.

Progressive circle forming around Obama

By Laura McGann | 12.01.08 | 8:49 am

In the last few weeks, irritated progressive critics have looked at Obama’s Cabinet picks and wondered why the left has been left out. An examination of the president-elect’s White House staff reveals where liberals will be in the next administration — closest to the president.

Obama names National Security Team today, Clinton to be tapped as Secretary of State

By Paul Schmelzer | 12.01.08 | 8:26 am

At a 9:40 a.m. press conference in Chicago, President-elect Barack Obama will name his National Security team and, most notably, Sen. Hillary Clinton as Secretary of State. According to The Swamp, other nominees will likely include: