Democrats Need to Take a Stand

Helen Thomas says in her Op/Ed piece reprinted below people are looking for “answers;” I think working people are looking for answers along with real solutions to long-festering problems which are creating havoc with their lives and untold human misery.



Now that Minnesota has a veto-proof DFL dominated State Legislature there are no excuses for not delivering on real solutions to peoples’ problems:



· Single-payer universal health care

· Saving the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant through public ownership

· Reform of unemployment compensation laws making it so employers don’t have the upper hand in the Appeals Process

· A moratorium on all home foreclosures and evictions

· A substantial increase in the Taconite Tax

· A substantial increase in stumpage fees

· A halt to peat mining in the Big Bog in Minnesota’s Pine Island State Forest

· Legislation to protect the Mississippi Headwaters

· Halt the contamination of our streams, rivers and lakes by United States Steel’s MinnTac operation

· Real property tax reform

· Slash college tuitions

· Protect the rights of Minnesota’s more than 20,000 casino workers who the MN DFL shamefully threw into smoke-filled working environments at poverty wages without any rights under state or federal labor laws



Working people are expecting the MN DFL to move swiftly and decisively in the upcoming legislative session as it opens in February; working people expect the MN DFL to work in their favor after years of corporate greed attacking working class families and dominating the political landscape.



Let the corporate CEO’s do the crying for a change; tax corporate profits to the hilt to pay for everything.



Give the Republicans and the corporate CEO’s real reasons to cry.



Every working man and woman is watching what the Minnesota Democratic Farmer-Labor Party is going to do with its veto proof powers… if the MN DFL can’t come through for working people now there is no reason for working people to continue making the trip to the polls on Election Day… at least not to pull the DFL lever.



This upcoming legislative session will be seen as a test drive by Minnesota working class voters… Are you listening Senator Jim Metzen and the DFL members of the Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs… you had better do what is required to save these 2,000 jobs of those employed at the St. Paul Ford Twin Cities Assembly Plant… those 2,000 workers have families to feed, clothe, house and PAY TAXES… they have the VOTE, too.



Here is a little “To Do List.” I would encourage everyone to start calling Senator Jim Metzen the Chair of the Senate Committee on “Business, Industry and Jobs” along with his colleagues on the Committee insisting that SF 607 (Legislation to help save the Ford Plant, Hydro Dam and 2,000 jobs) be brought back for reconsideration by the Committee:



S.F.607
Sponsor: Senator Richard J. Cohen
Motor vehicle manufacturing plant maintenance requirement.


What you can do:

* Please contact the following Minnesota State Senators and request that SF 607 be reconsidered.



* Please ask these Senators how they voted the first time, and if they will bring this legislation forward for reconsideration.



Remember, there is now a veto proof State Legislature here in Minnesota and this Committee is completely dominated by DFL Senators.

Start calling, the new legislative session is set to open in February


The following Democrats are on the Senate Committee on Business, Industry and Jobs:



Senator James Metzen, Chair: 651-296-4370 ; Home: 651-451-0174

Lisa Sarne is Senator Metzen’s Legislative Assistant: lisa.sarne@senate.mn


United Automobile Worker Local 879 helped initiate this legislation… contact: Bob Killeen, Secretary-Treasurer: rjkuaw879@yahoo.com


Senator Kathy Saltzman, Vice Chair: 651-296-4166


Senator Tom Bakk: 651-296-8881


Senator Terri Bonoff: 651-296-4314


Senator Jim Carlson: 651-297-8073


Senator Ron Latz: 651-296-8065


Senator Steve Murphy: 651-296-4264


Senator Linda Scheid: 651-296-8869


Senator Rod Skoe: 651-296-4196


Senator Dan Sparks: 651-296-9248


Senator David Tomassoni: 651-296-8017


Here are the Republican members for what its worth…


Republicans:


Senator Dick Day: 651-296-9457

Senator Chris Gerlach: 651-296-4120

Senator Joe Gimse: 651-296-3826

Senator Amy Koch: 651-296-5981

Senator Geoff Michel: 651-296-6238

Senator Thomas Neuville: 651-296-1279

Senator Julie Rosen: 651-296-5713




Ok, here is Helen Thomas’ Op/Ed piece…



-----Original Message-----
From:
Sent: Saturday, January 05, 2008 10:15 PM
To: Alan Maki
Subject: Democrats Need to Take a Stand By Helen Thomas


Note reference to single payer.


Subject: Democrats Need to Take a Stand By Helen Thomas



http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/opinion/345962_thomas04.html

Seattle Post-Intelligencer

January 4, 2008



Democrats Need to Take a Stand By Helen Thomas



After seven years of the Bush administration, who in

the U.S. does not want to see a dramatic change in the

nation's leadership?



For that reason the Republican candidates have an

uphill battle, since most of them have not distanced

themselves sufficiently from the failed stewardship of

President Bush.



On the Democratic side, Sens. Hillary Clinton of New

York and Barack Obama of Illinois say they are the true

advocates of change. But they are short on specifics.



Former Sen. John Edwards of North Carolina is more

definitive on one issue at least, saying he would bring

U.S. combat troops home from Iraq within 10 months.



He also is on the attack against poverty, corporate

greed, war profiteering and free trade pacts that cost

U.S. jobs.



Clinton emphasizes her 'experience' in the White House

as first lady, saying this makes her the best candidate

to bring about change.



But in 2002 as war clouds gathered, Clinton aligned

herself with the administration on a critical vote

giving Bush the green light in Iraq.



And four months ago she voted for the resolution that

could have paved the way for an attack on Iran.



The resolution - sponsored by Sens. Joe Lieberman, I-

Conn., and Jon Kyl, R-Ariz. - designates the Iranian

Revolutionary Guard Corps as a terrorist organization.



The U.S. National Intelligence Estimate recently

defused the threat of war by reporting that Iran in

2003 dropped plans to build a nuclear arsenal.



Of the Democrats' three top presidential seekers,

Clinton appears to be the least inclined toward

dramatic change on foreign policy.



But she may be able to trump Obama, whose campaign is

based on 'hope' and 'optimism' - ephemeral terms at a

time when the voters may be looking for solid answers

to America's pressing problems.



That's what the 2008 election is all about: answers.



All the candidates should be pinned down on how they

feel about Bush's concept of pre-emptive war;

wiretapping without a warrant; waterboarding and other

forms of torture; and the policy of 'rendition' -

sending prisoners to jails abroad where they are

subject to abusive interrogation while being held in

limbo.



The presidential hopefuls also should be quizzed on the

lack of real oversight of CIA activities and immunity

for the telecom companies that have cooperated with the

administration's wiretapping schemes.



Their views are needed on privatizing the war with

thousands of gun-slinging mercenaries employed by

Blackwater and other private security firms. Assigned

to protect U.S. diplomats, they're paid handsomely -

some as much as $1,500 a day and more.



The candidates also should offer specifics on how they

will provide medical care for the 47 million Americans

without health insurance.



A single-payer system - much like what we have with

Social Security - is the most comprehensive solution,

but the candidates are avoiding it in favor of tweaks

to the haphazard, luck-of-the-draw coverage we have

now.



Bush is trying to go green - belatedly - but the

environment and the future of the planet are issues

that have been neglected far too long.



There is also the economy, and the inroads that

globalization and free trade have made on U.S.

production capacity and the livelihoods of U.S.

workers. Manufacturing has fled the country and

globalization has proved to be a race to the economic

bottom rather than a boon for U.S. jobs.



And how about the unscrupulous mortgage lending

practices that yielded rampant housing foreclosures?



At this point, questions are in greater supply than

answers: Which of the candidates buys Bush's biggest

tax cuts for the richest Americans? What about how

federal agencies have been politicized while the

traditional, apolitical civil service has been gutted?



The candidates won't even touch the highly

controversial issues of capital punishment and gun

control. And you don't hear much about abortion rights

and gay marriage.



Those wedge issues have given a lift to conservatives

in the past. But now, they are nowhere near the top of

the agenda.



Once we get the answers on issues that do matter from

our would-be presidents, then we can all honestly wish

for peace on Earth in 2008.

_____



Helen Thomas is a columnist for Hearst Newspapers. E-

mail: helent@hearstdc.com.




Alan L. Maki

Member, MN DFL State Central Committee

Director of Organizing, Midwest Casino Workers Organizing Council



58891 County Road 13

Warroad, Minnesota 56763

Phone: 218-386-2432

Cell phone: 651-587-5541

E-mail: amaki000@centurytel.net



Check out my blog:



Thoughts From Podunk



http://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/





Looking for some interesting reading which is also a handbook for activists?



Check out: “Always Bring A Crowd; The Story of Frank Lumpkin, Steelworker” By: Beatrice Lumpkin



Find out how rank and file steel workers abandoned and sold out by their union fought International Harvestor and Wisconsin Steel and won their fight for justice and human dignity against powerful corporate interests. Frank Lumpkin looked for a leader… found none… and took on the task of leadership himself.



This book is destined to become a movie like “North Country.”