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Ellison, McCollum criticize Israel’s role in flotilla incident

By Andy Birkey | 06.02.10 | 8:03 am

Reps. Betty McCollum and Keith Ellison offered sharp criticism of Israel’s response to a flotilla sent to bring supplies to the Gaza Strip on Monday. The flotilla was detained and 10 activists on board were killed by Israeli troops. McCollum…

Minnesotans react to Israeli-Gaza flotilla incident

By Andy Birkey | 06.01.10 | 2:40 pm

A flotilla carrying supplies for the Gaza Strip was detained by Israeli troops on Monday, and 10 activists aboard were killed in an incident that has generated strong feelings on both sides of the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict. Rep. Michele…

Minnesota’s Congress members ranked on peace issues

By Andy Birkey | 04.14.10 | 8:30 am

Peace Action West, a nonprofit created to “foster broad-based civic activism to create a strong voice for peaceful and pragmatic solutions to global problems,” has released its scorecard on congressional votes in 2009. None of Minnesota’s delegation had a…

‘South Park’ to reference Blackwater gun fiasco

By Paul Schmelzer | 03.09.10 | 3:59 pm

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It’s a case of art imitating life imitating art: Last month, our sister site in Washington broke the story that employees at the military contractor Blackwater had diverted hundreds of guns from U.S. weapons bunkers in…

Plan for consumer protection agency falters in Senate

By Mike Lillis | 02.17.10 | 9:24 am

The White House wants it. Senate leaders support it. The House has already passed it. And, in the wake of the worst financial upheaval since the Great Depression, many consumer groups and state regulators say it’s vital if the country is to avoid another economic collapse. Yet the proposal to create a new consumer financial protection agency is, for all practical purposes, dead on arrival in the Senate.

Campus right unbowed by O’Keefe scandal

By David Weigel | 02.03.10 | 9:01 am

Activists like James O’Keefe and Minnesota’s Joseph Basel — who were recently arrested for trying to tamper with phones at Louisiana Sen. Mary Landrieu’s office — don’t represent the best of the conservative movement’s recent investment in college journalism. “For every James O’Keefe,” said the head of one network for conservative college media, “there are 50 serious journalists coming out of these programs.”

Payday lenders use loopholes to continue high-interest loans

By Mary Kane | 02.02.10 | 8:40 am

Instead of shutting down, payday lenders in some of the same states that passed reforms are making loans at higher rates than before the laws were enacted.

Defense analysts blast military exemption to spending freeze

By Spencer Ackerman | 01.28.10 | 8:38 am

During his State of the Union speech Wednesday night, President Obama formally unveiled a spending-freeze plan that will exempt the hundreds of billions spent annually on defense and homeland security. Leading defense wonks, particularly on the left, are calling it “ridiculous,” “completely inappropriate” and “a political decision.”

The question Geithner can’t escape: Why pay off AIG’s partners?

By Elana Schor | 01.22.10 | 10:20 am

The latest political clamor over AIG, poised to combust next Wednesday at a House hearing on backdoor payments to banks that made risky deals with the company, centers on the Federal Reserve’s effort to conceal details of those payments. But senior officials, including Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, have so far evaded a key question: Why were AIG’s trading partners fully paid with taxpayer money instead of being told to take a loss?

Minnesota’s religious right sees devil’s hand in Haiti disaster

By Andy Birkey | 01.20.10 | 6:00 am

Pat Robertson generated outrage last week when he said he believes Haiti’s problems stem from a pact the nation made with the devil in 1804, but his remarks aren’t unique among evangelical Christians, even in Minnesota. While not all subscribe to the view that Satan is to blame for last week’s devastating earthquake, some say Haiti’s salvation will only come about if its inhabitants abandon their Vodou religious practices and turn to Jesus Christ.