The event was sponsored by MinnSir, lead by Ruthie Hendrycks, and featured KTLK’s Sue Jeffers as master of ceremonies. Unfortunately for Ruthie and Sue, one speaker on the agenda, Robert Erickson, had plans for his speech which didn’t include attacking Latinos.

Let’s just say, as we say in the rasslin’ business, these marks got swerved.

For more on this epic FAIL! by these tea baggers, check out Bluestem Prairie.

Pawlenty, who has more often than not failed to shoot a deer during the opener, shot a small buck while hunting north of Thief River Falls Saturday morning.

But the deer ran off into the brush, apparently badly wounded.

Hunters who were with Pawlenty started hunting the blood trail the animal had left behind, but Pawlenty had to leave for Iowa, where he was headlining a Republican Party fundraiser.

Yes, this is just like what Gov. Pawlenty did to the state of Minnesota by refusing to negotiate with the legislature in order to craft a balanced solution to the state’s budget woes.  Instead, he eventually took his axe to important programs like General Assistance Medical Care, recklessly.

It’s just like how he  shot this deer, let it slowly bleed, and left it behind as he departed to Iowa for the same reason as he kicked thousands off of health care: to further his own political ambitions.

And just like the deer, Pawlenty won’t be around to have the responsibility of cleaning up the mess he created.

http://www.bluestemprairie.com/bluestemprairie/2009/10/nsmsamjohnson.html

I’m not sure I have whole lot of new analysis to add, but I hope this helps all of us reevaluate the manner in which we think about racism in our society.

Sheesh, and to think, just over a month ago I was merely flipping burgers.

This brings me to the ad which I consider to be the worst I have ever seen. Let’s rewind to 1994, when super-mega-ultra right winger Allen Quist was endorsed by the Independent Republican party for governor over incumbent Arne Carlson.   The primary would prove to be a no-holds-barred affair, which featured Quist in his attempt to use his brand of conservativsm to “retake” the party (which would in the not-too-distant future after that shed the word “independent” from its name) by taking down Gov. Carlson, generally judged to be a centrist.

Quist lost to the popular Carlson in a landslide.

I was only the age of 10, however one advertisment from that bloody primary struck me as particularly farcical despite my young age. In fact, I still remember it to this day in all of its inflammatory glory.

Here’s how Dane Smith explained it in a September 3, 1994 story in the Star Tribune:

Video and audio (Ad  1): Throughout this 30-second ad, a man wearing a suit and a President Clinton  mask dances with another suited man, who has his back to the camera and is supposed to be Gov. Arne Carlson.  Their dance opens with children’s voices singing to the tune of “Love and Marriage.”  The lyrics are: Clinton  and Carlson, Carlson and Clinton, go together on a lot of issues.”  As the men dance on, a narrator says: “They’ve raised your taxes.  They support government-run health care that will lead to rationing.  They support gun control as an answer to crime.  They favor legalized abortion into the ninth month.  And neither Clinton nor Carlson has ever been endorsed for governor by the Independent-Republican Party.  On Sept. 13, elect the real Republican.  Vote for Allen Quist.”

Bill Clinton: never endorsed by the IR party for Governor.  That might have been the most obviously absurd assertion in the ad, but Smith’s analysis shows it wasn’t the only one:

But the ad ’s claims on gun control and ninth-month abortions have been criticized as distortions by IR Party chairman Chris Georgacas. Carlson and Clinton did raise taxes, but Carlson also cut spending programs and balanced the state budget. And although Hillary Rodham Clinton lavishly praised the MinnesotaCare program, which Carlson helped initiate, Carlson has been critical of Clinton ’s health care proposal. The ad is supposed to be humorous and light, but the Clinton mask, the shadowy background and the disembodied dancing shoes give this ad a strange and ominous quality. Quist’s campaign manager, Leon Oistad, offered the unsolicited disclaimer that the dancing has nothing to do with the gay rights issue, which has become a symbolic dividing point between Carlson and Quist.

Yes, in perhaps an unprecedented move, the state chair of the IR party publicly criticized his own endorsed candidate in a separate Strib story saying the ad “stretches the truth to the edge of credibility” and could cause the losing side in the primary to “sit on its hands, won’t vote, or worst of all, support Democrats.”

Now it’s developing that, having already registered a domain name, Allen Quist is a likely candidate for congress against Rep. Tim Walz.

If Quist ultimately decides to run, my only hope is that he will run ridiculous, off-the-wall TV ads again.  We can never have enough whacky spots like Quist’s from 1994, especially in this age of YouTube and viral video.

Oh, and seeing Walz win with 70 percent of the vote would be cool too, I suppose.

By the way, does anyone have video of the “Dancing Carlson and Clinton” ad? If so, please upload it to YouTube immediately; the “new generation” must see it!

From the VA:

“VA presumes that all military personnel who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange, and federal law presumes that certain illnesses are a result of that exposure.”

Their current list of diseases include:

acute and subacute peripheral neuropathy, porphyria cutanea tarda, chloracne, prostate cancer, chronic lymphocytic leukemia, respiratory cancers (lung, bronchus, larynx and trachea), Hodgkin’s disease, multiple myeloma, soft-tissue sarcoma, acute; non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma, Type II diabetes mellitus

From the Walz mailing:

I am writing to inform you that Veterans’ Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki has made the important decision to add Parkinson’s disease, ischemic heart disease and hairy cell leukemia to the list of presumptive illnesses related to Agent Orange exposure for Vietnam veterans. I applaud Secretary Shinseki for making this decision, which will have a positive impact on thousands of America’s veterans.

VA presumes that all military personnel who served in Vietnam were exposed to Agent Orange, and federal law presumes that certain illnesses are a result of that exposure. This “presumptive policy” simplifies the process of receiving compensation for these diseases since VA foregoes the normal requirements of proving that an illness began or was worsened during military service.

The decision announced this week expanded the list of presumed illnesses to include ischemic heart disease, hairy cell leukemia and Parkinson’s disease. This policy change means that all service members who served in Vietnam and are suffering from these illnesses will no longer have the additional burden of proving their illness is connected to their service to our country.

I am happy the VA made this decision today, and I want to thank Secretary Shinseki for moving us in the right direction. When our warriors return home, they should always be given the benefit of the doubt, and we have an obligation to ensure that they receive the care and benefits they earned. This decision helps us fulfill the moral responsibility we owe to the men and women who have served this country.

I would also like to thank the U.S. Military Veterans with Parkinson’s (USMVP) for their untiring efforts. Their advocacy and research helped VA make this important decision and their efforts will have lasting impacts on the lives of Vietnam veterans. I appreciate the close partnership and assistance they continue to give us as they advocate for our nation’s veterans.

For more information about Agent Orange and VA compensation eligibility, please see http://www.vba.va.gov/bln/21/benefits/herbicide/aono1.htm. To file a compensation claim for a current disability related to Agent Orange, veterans can call 1-800-827-1000 for an application form or visit VA’s Web site at: http://vabenefits.vba.va.gov.

For more information about my activities representing southern Minnesota in Congress, please visit http://walz.house.gov and sign up for my e-newsletter.

Sincerely,

Tim Walz
Member of Congress

Twenty-nine percent (29%) of Republican voters nationwide say former Arkansas Governor Mike Huckabee is their pick to represent the GOP in the 2012 Presidential campaign. The latest Rasmussen Reports telephone survey finds that 24% prefer former Massachusetts Governor Mitt Romney while 18% would cast their vote for former Alaska Governor Sarah Palin.

Former House Speaker Newt Gingrich gets 14% of the vote while Minnesota Governor Tim Pawlenty gets 4%. Six percent (6%) of GOP voters prefer some other candidate while 7% remain undecided.

My first thought was “Ah, well. It’s still early and ole’ T-Paw prolly still’s got plenty o time to build name recognition and gain support within the GOP base.”

He did lead the field in one category, though, and it unfortunately doesn’t appear Pawlenty’s problem is name recognition. While obviously not as well known as the rest of the candidates, 28 percent of respondents said T-Paw is the candidate they would least like to see on the the ballot.

The numbers for Huckabee and Romney look even stronger when GOP voters were asked which candidate they would least like to see get the nomination. Pawlenty came on top in that category with 28%. Palin was second at 21% while 20% named Gingrich. Romney and Huckabee were in the single digits with 9% and 8% respectively.

Tim Pawlenty: less popular than, ahem, Sarah Palin? I suppose it is early, but at this stage our lame duck, absentee governor might need to start managing expectations for his presidential ambitions.

Indeed, from his perch utop the Governor’s Mansion on Summit Avenue, perhaps T-Paw should, rather than aspiring to move to Washington, D.C., or even Iowa for the caucuses, look toward moving closer: his home in Eagan.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HB8UO-3aDf0

Decide for yourself!

The Minnesota Nurses Association (MNA) is currently holding elections through September 8th, 2009 for many major positions within the union organization.  MNA members are given either a mailing packet with a paper ballot, or access to an online ballot.  I am running for three elected positions and hope that I can convey my message to a wide audience as the MNA represents 20,000 members.

All ballots should already have been received by the time of this posting.  This is an excellent opportunity to set in motion change by electing active members involved with current healthcare issues. I’ve been an active member in governmental affairs since being a nursing student at Winona State in 2007.  After graduation, I have furthered my interest as both an MNA bargaining unit representative for multiple units at Abbott Northwestern, served as a delegate to the annual House of Delegates, and have chosen the MNA organization as my clinical location for my Master’s degree practicum (MSN) in leadership & management.

One issue that I know many of us see in our daily workplace is the aging population of nurses. Many are nearing the retirement age, worried about pension problems that are extremely important to everyone including us, but also need to consider other issues important to the generation X and Y’ers who would like to be in the profession for many years to come. I understand that as younger nurses, we want flexibility in our job, regular hours, better pay, and tend to look at our job as second to our family and personal life. A study by Kovner et al. (2007) sent to nurses all across the country found that 41.5% of responding nurses would choose to go into another profession if they were given the chance, 24% “planned to leave their first job within two years of taking it,” and 37% plan to find a new job within one year (p. 68). Does any of this sound like you?

Have many of you faced issues with poor staffing ratios, were given severely ill patients, yet asked to take up to six or more of them on one night? Burnout and dissatisfaction in our jobs is commonplace, but it doesn’t have to be! Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, Sochalski, & Silber (2002) found that there was a high frequency of emotional exhaustion and job dissatisfaction “significantly associated with patient-to-nurse ratios” (p. 1990). MNA wants to change this by helping to pass legislation that would mandate a maximum nurse-to-patient ratio in MN. Furthermore, we would receive fewer patients depending on their acuity/intensity because we all know that sometimes the most difficult patients are not the ones that may be real sick, but can be the ones that need constant attention, or frequent assessments due to issues more than just their illness.

I’m a nurse with only two years of experience under my belt, but like many of you, I feel that we need a change in our healthcare system that works better for nurses, better for patients, and better for hospitals. Our jobs as nurses has always been considered a “line item,” or an expendable “cost” as patients are charged for our services simply through their room and board rate. How wrong is that when we do so much for our patients that simply one charge measures our work?

The nursing shortage has been discussed less as of late, but we can all agree that things have truly not become safer at the bedside. A survey by Anderson, Niebuhr, & Associates (2007) found that “90% [of] Minnesota citizens express concern that lack of adequate RN staffing negatively affects patient care” (p. 5). The study also highlighted the feelings of MN citizens during times of hospitalization as 30% “experienced a situation where too few registered nurses on duty affected the quality of care they received, or they know someone who experienced such a situation” (p. 5).

What we do as nurses is invaluable in healthcare. We cannot let anyone tell us that we need less nurses, or that we have to sacrifice lunch breaks, must stay for overtime, or do more non-nursing tasks just because hospitals do not want to hire ancillary staff. Registered nurses are there to assess and perform potentially life-saving nursing tasks, not stock gowns due to personnel issues! Soon, we may see hospitals try to increase our patient loads due to financial problems, but we know that patient mortality increases “7% for every additional patient in the average nurse’s workload” (Aiken, Clarke, Sloane, & Silber, 2002, p. 1991). If we let them do this to us, it is our license at risk and more notably, a patient’s life at risk.

If any of you have not seen the impromptu video of famed author Suzanne Gordon and me at Nurses Day on the Hill 2008, check it out on YouTube, it may be worth a look to raise awareness of the seriousness of this problem through an actual situation I had. I know for a fact I’m not the only one who has had experiences very similar to the one I presented, but we all need to speak up. I am reaching out to this group specifically because I know most of you are younger, just getting involved with your profession, and want to give the best care possible to your patients. I want to make sure that all of you are standing up for our profession, our rights as professional registered nurses, and are expressing to your colleagues any concerns you are facing. We also need more young nurses involved as the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (2004) estimates the average age of our workforce is 46.8 years and increasing every year! We are the future and need to secure a better profession for ourselves!

I am running for three elected positions within the Minnesota Nurses Association so I can continue the fight for nurses and patients. If you have already received a ballot, there are many great candidates to choose from this year. I am likely one of the youngest on the ballot since I have only been in the profession since 2007. However, this means that all of you will have a voice for the younger generations in an organization mostly led by senior nurses. Please consider voting for me for the following positions if you have an MNA ballot:
- Commission on Governmental Affairs for congressional district 2
- Delegate to the MNA’s annual House of Delegates
- Delegate to the United American Nurses (UAN) national collective bargaining union

If you are interested in serving in the annual House of Delegates (HOD), there will likely be openings as alternatives! It is such an awesome event that teaches so much about our profession. Everything is paid for (except work hours), such as hotel, food, and mileage. Hotel is paid for based on dual occupancy and I’m more than willing to help a new member! This October 11-13th HOD will be located in the Crowne Plaza hotel in St. Paul, MN. CEU’s are available for those attending while you vote on items affecting MNA for the following year(s). More information is: here.

An alternate delegate form is available online. Fill this out and send it via e-mail to Kelli.Eisenschenk@mnnurses.org

Please consider being a delegate as I can’t stress how great of an experience this is: FORM.

My biography for the positions I am running for:

Jason Bauman, RN, BSN, PHN
- Winona State University graduate in 2007. Nursing major, Psychology minor.
- Walden University Master’s in Nursing (MSN) – Leadership & Management to be conferred in October, 2009.
Activities:
- Staff nurse at Abbott Northwestern
- MNA Steward
- Delegate to the MNA HOD
- League of Women Voters
- AFL-CIO: Working America
- Minnesota Public Health Association (MPHA)
- Creator/moderator of an international Nursing Student Community of 5,500+ members focused on healthcare issues.

Questions answered for the ballot (50 words or less):

- 1. How would you help fulfill MNA’s mission and strategic goals/priorities?
- We are a powerful union when using our collective strength. As a nurse part of Generation Y, I would promote the use of grassroots organizing, utilizing new technologies such as social networking and motivating members of all ages to participate. Education will especially be vital, particularly with negotiations approaching.
- 2. Health Care Reform and Safe Staffing legislation are priority issues of MNA. Please comment on one or both organizational priorities.
- MNA can have a real impact on these issues if we properly organized, mobilize and educate our members. RNs need to be patient advocates in the political area, though lobbying and sharing our stories as we focus on covering the uninsured and protecting our children.
- 3. How have you or would you represent the views of the membership?
- My political involvement prompted me to serve on the House of Delegates, become an MNA representative and choose MNA for my Master’s degree seminar. I am passionate about researching how other states are implementing nurse safe staffing to learn how we can improve our bill for next year.

My primary nursing issues:

- Nurse safe staffing. I would like to see state legislation pass next year that has a ceiling for how many patients a nurse can receive at any given time (e.g. mandated ratios), however this number can decrease if patients are more acute, have a greater need for nursing care, and/or ancillary staff is unable to help (i.e. with patients needing feeding, are fall risks, etc.). I feel we need this guaranteed in law, otherwise with the greater financial strain on our hospitals, we will be the first to feel cuts while given more tasks as nursing is technically considered a “line item” or “cost” that doesn’t generate revenue through what we do, unlike other parts and personnel in the hospital. We need change now to secure our future and keep nurses at the bedside!

- Healthcare reform. As of 2008, uncompensated care costs from those uninsured rose to 42.7 BILLION; money which will pass on to the consumer who is insured (Families USA, 2009). For families with private insurance, uninsured people are raising their insurance premiums approximately $1,017 annually (Families USA, 2009). These amounts are added up from many things such as uninsured people visiting the ED’s, patients unable to pay for the cost of their hospitalization (1/3rd of the uninsured pay out of pocket, 26% comes from the government or charities, but the rest is uncompensated), and many more reasons that add to the hospital’s debt. As a result, hospitals charge insurance companies more for services so they can get pay off their debts which again raises the premium of everyone else who has private health coverage. What we need is a comprehensive reform that targets a preventative approach to medicine (not a reactive one) that includes basic insurance coverage for all. If you think about it, a patient who comes into the ED with coverage will reduce uncompensated care costs since he or she will have money insuring them, physicians will receive payments rather than forced to do charity work, and nurses can provide optimal care as they are being reimbursed for what they do instead of increasing uncompensated care fees. Costs for hospital services will eventually decrease as the need for paying off uncompensated care, or debt isn’t going to be as major of an issue.  Why do we require car insurance for an “item” we use and aren’t requiring health insurance for our LIFE.

- I could list more of my opinions, but I am willing to discuss these on a one-on-one basis if anyone would like to contact me personally.

HOW TO VOTE:

If you work in an MNA facility (or are an MNA member) and did not receive a paper ballot, the online ballot is located here.

If you do not have your ID/password, go here and enter your registered MNA e-mail address.

If that doesn’t work (I had to go to this step as well… don’t worry!), go to the technical support information on the bottom and find the click “here” which brings you to a form located here.
- Fill the information out and you will receive your username ID/password within the next day or two so you can do the online ballot. Please do this and vote by September 8th!

Thank you everyone for reading and for your support. Don’t hesitate to comment, or write me directly as I would love to answer your questions. Thanks again.

References:

Aiken, L. H., Clarke, S. P., Sloane, D. M., Sochalski, J., & Silber, J. H. (2002). Hospital
nurse staffing and patient mortality, nurse burnout, and job dissatisfaction. Journal of the American Medical Association, 288(16), 1987-1993

Anderson, Niebuhr, & Associates. (2007). RN staffing and patient care in Minnesota:
Perspectives from nurses at the point of care and the citizens of Minnesota. Minnesota Nurses Association. Retrieved on August 15, 2009, from http://www.mnnurses.org/vertical/Sites/%7B41671038-B8D0-4277-90A9-50B10F730CBD%7D/uploads/%7B4F6264DC-088D-4B2B-9F1D-CD7FC2024FE8%7D.PDF

Families USA. (2009, June). Investing in health coverage: It just makes sense. Retrieved
on August 23, 2009, from http://www.familiesusa.org/assets/pdfs/health-reform/invest-in-coverage.pdf

Kovner, C. T., Brewer, C. S., Fairchild, S., Poornima, S., Kim, H., and Djukic, M. (2007).
Newly licensed RNs’ characteristics, work attitudes, and intentions to work: A better understanding of newly licensed RNs and their employment patterns is crucial to reducing turnover rates. American Journal of Nursing, 107(9), 58-70.

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. (2004). The registered nurse population:
Findings from the 2004 national sample survey of registered nurses. Health Resources and Services Administration. Retrieved on June 29, 2009, from http://bhpr.hrsa.gov/healthworkforce/rnsurvey04/

In the midst of the media’s coverage of health care “town hall” style meetings and the hysteria from conservative activists over the reluctance (or in some cases, refusal) of some Members of Congress to participate in such forums, at least one Republican congressman’s refusal to hold one has, until recently, been virtually ignored.

Rep. John Kline, R-Minn., has largely gone under the radar despite not only failing to host a forum about health care so far during Congress’s summer recess, but hosting only one forum at all since his election to the House in 2002. Kline serves Minnesota’s Second Congressional District, which, while containing suburbs in Carver, Scott, Dakota and Washington counties, is largely rural.

This stubbornness has been an ongoing frustration for Kline’s constituents, but his emergence into the broader discussion about health care town halls only occurred when he turned down Rep. Tim Walz’s invitation to appear at a forum in Walz’s First District. In return, the invitation said, Walz would have appeared at a town hall with Kline in the Second District.

With a town hall even being held by DFL Seventh Congressional District Rep. Collin Peterson, who previously had a hands-off attitude toward such forums, a few of us from the Second District DFL thought was time to request that Kline hold one.

So, about a half-dozen of us went off to Kline’s district office in Burnsville yesterday. No video cameras. No ambushing. No hostility. No inflammatory rhetoric. Just a simple request that Congressman Kline hold a town hall forum on health care.

We were kindly greeted by congressional staff including District Director Mike Osskopp who invited us into a conference room to discuss our request. When Kline’s rejection of Walz’s invitation was brought up, Osskopp strongly reiterated that it was their opinion that the invitation was nothing more than a “publicity stunt.” Due to the relatively close relationship both congressmen share (he mentioned that they often travel together), if the invitation was in good faith Walz would have picked up the phone and called Kline as opposed to sending a letter, Osskopp said.

After some discussion of concerns with the current health care system, we were joined somewhat unexpectedly by Rep. Kline himself. After briefly mentioning his frustration with the road map to a health care reform bill used by President Obama, Speaker Pelosi, and Majority Leader Reid, Kline gave his reasoning for refusing to hold a town hall forum, with or without Walz.

“They are a circus,” the congressman said. “They have been a circus for our side, and a nightmare for my Democrat friends, as you’ve seen.”

This position is in stark contrast with that of other Repbulican activists who were outraged at Peterson’s previous lack of town halls. Among them is Minnesota GOP Deputy Chair Michael Brodkorb, who said “If you don’t want to meet with people, then don’t run for Congress.”

While he refuses to hold a traditional town hall forum, Kline did express willingness to meet with a smaller group, 50 to 100, from the DFL side to discuss health care.

He explained that he felt the current “auditorium style” town halls have “gotten so far away from their original purpose” and only enable “each side to shout over each other.”

“It shouldn’t be about looking to get on YouTube; it shouldn’t be about getting on Channel 9,” Osskopp added.

Soon, the subject was changed to Kline’s use of “tele-town halls,” which Kline characterized as “successful” and led Osskopp to mention that “even Tim Walz is having one.”

I pointed out that the Walz telephone town hall, held last night, would feature a pre-announced dial-in number enabling all constituents and the media to “attend.” I added my position that this method enables greater constituent participation and transparency, as opposed to the method used by Kline and other members, like Michele Bachmann, which “auto dial” 40,000 constituents at random with no advance notice of the “event.”

Osskopp explained that since Kline usually hosts the telephone town halls from Washington, and the voting schedule changes “by the hour,” it would be difficult to offer advance notice. He went on to express willingness to email a couple of members of our group in advance when he becomes aware of the forums, however

Another DFLer at the table expressed greater concerns about the “auto dial” method of telephone town halls, particularly the potential for participants to be cherry picked based on party identification and for only friendly softball questions to be taken. Kline, Osskopp and Communications Director Troy Young (in the room taking photos) all explained that there are strict laws which would prohibit such behavior and that the House Ethics Committee has strict oversight over telephone town halls which would prevent it. Kline further explained that he indiscriminately goes “down the sheet one by one” taking questions during a forum. Young further explained that if a constituent opts-in to participate in the telephone town halls on Kline’s official website, the office is “required” to call the constituent when one occurs. We were all encouraged to take such a step.

Soon after, with his scheduler hovering in the hallway, it was time for Kline to move on to the next task on his schedule. He closed by mentioning that the subject of town hall meetings was one about which he agrees with his “friends Collin Peterson and Jim Oberstar.” Before his exit I quickly mentioned how Peterson recently had a town hall in Willmar which was widely reported as civil and productive. The congressman’s response: “Well, that’s great. Thanks guys.”

Kline mentioned a couple of times during the conversation that he is “not afraid of Democrats.” Since he spent time meeting with our small group, along with his willingness to meet with a larger group of us and his district director’s willingness to try giving advanced notice for telephone town halls, I would like to take him at his word. Considering the collegiality of our meeting yesterday (for which Kline, Osskopp and other staff should be commended) I see no reason for such a fear.

Hopefully there can be follow-through on both sides so we can continue our dialog about not just the process surrounding Kline’s constituent outreach but the subject on so many of our minds: health care.