MinneaPolitics.com

ILSR Press Release on Monticello,MN

Bretton Jones — Wed, 23 Jul 2008 19:07:38 +0000

The following is as it reads from the ILSR’s press release. The telephone company can actually get beaten in this scenario. If you look at the ILSR’s case study on municipally owned and operated data networks, Burlington, VT, you can see how a community run data network operates as a not-for-profit entity, securing residents the monthly price of $45 for a triple play service package of phone, cable, and internet.

*MONTICELLO, MINN. FIGHTS TDS LAWSUIT*

Minneapolis, Minn.—(July 23, 2008). Monticello has filed a motion to
dismiss the lawsuit preventing it from building the fiber optic network
74% of voters supported in a referendum last fall.

TDS, the incumbent telephone provider in Monticello, rebuffed
solicitations from the City to build a fiber network before filing a
complaint to prevent the City from building its own network.

Minnesota Statute 475.52 gives cities the right to bond for a variety of
projects, from public buildings to sidewalks to wastewater treatment
plants. The language is quite broad, granting bonding authority “for any
utility or other public convenience from which a revenue is or may be
derived.”

“TDS wants the court to believe that a fiber optic network offering
telephone, Internet access, and cable television is neither a utility
nor a public convenience,” says Christopher Mitchell, Director of the
Telecommunications as Commons Initiative for the Institute for Local
Self-Reliance (ILSR). “Incumbent providers across the United States file
these frivolous lawsuits to prevent communities from breaking their
monopoly.”

The second piece of the complaint alleges that part of the bond will be
used to pay ‘current expenses.’ MN statute proscribes bonding for
current expenses. The city of Monticello has responded that it will be
well within the law when using bond proceeds.

“Consider a community using revenue bonds to build a swimming pool. The
community must hire employees before it generates a dollar of revenue,”
Mitchell continues, “these startup costs have never been considered
‘current expenses’ and Minnesota Supreme Court has said as much.”

Mitchell researches publicly owned broadband networks nationwide, and
has followed in the Monticello lawsuit from the beginning.

“If our ancestors accepted TDS’ position – and there were many companies
making the same points 100 years ago – electricity would still not have
reached many rural areas, leaving us much worse off as a country,”
explains Mitchell. “We hope the court rapidly dismisses this frivolous
lawsuit and allows the democratic process in Monticello to continue.”

Parking Downtown: Chicken vs Egg

Bretton Jones — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 19:56:36 +0000

I hate parking downtown for anything. The question for the council is, “What are some policies we can put in place to encourage people to get microcars and drive them downtown instead?” Granted that the Tango, pictured above, isn’t exactly being mass produced right now, but even the Smart Car dramatically reduces the amount of surface area taken up by daily commuters downtown. So should council move forward and act to implement new parking mandates for city parking lots setting aside several spaces for microcars?

Ag Based Biofuels & New Biofuels

Bretton Jones — Thu, 28 Feb 2008 06:54:56 +0000

This video doesn’t cover new feedstocks for biodeisel like Algae and Jatropha, or wild grasses and CO2 to make ethanol. I’m frustrated that people are this misinformed. How about making a more nuanced argument differentiating between the two? No? Easier to be unreasonably pessimistic about the entire future of the industry? Fine.

They’re dead on in the second half of the production.

‘08 Disillusionment Setting In

Bretton Jones — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:41:09 +0000

Watching Obama go after Hillary on NAFTA started out entertainingly enough. The total disconnect between HRC’s Ohio base and their distaste for NAFTA is well documented here:

But looking at Obama’s record on the issue isn’t very comforting either. The other day he made the statement that getting rid of NAFTA would be even more harmful to American workers. Got anything to back that assertion up?

This is the reason I despised the Clintons and it will likely be the reason why I end up disliking Obama, assuming he doesn’t have a more progressive agenda tucked away for post election times. If history is any indication, the dem will move to the right after the election.

I decided early on that a rejection of Clintonian economics and election tactics would be a suitable outcome for the democratic primary, just as Ron Paul’s campaign represented a rejection of neoconservatism; I only wish my fellow bloggers would have recognized that it isn’t just about the dems, but about the ideological beliefs of those sitting across the aisle that will determine the outcomes to our political imperatives.

But whatever, we have to look after our own. It’s just unfortunate that Americans get this “our team” “your team” attitude.

Other reasons I’m losing trust in Obama include his lack of coming up with a plan to open up our elections to a proportional system. I can’t stomach the assertion that America is somehow a promoter of competition, when our political system is designed to create a homogenous body politic. He’s also not very inspiring on foreign policy, despite his claim that he was against the war from the beginning. Why is it that a republican like Paul can make the argument in a debate on Fox news that he wants to close every foreign base, saving us trillions of dollars, and no democrat can come forth with the same argument. Why are they trying to appear hawkish?

There is a very strange psychological paradigm with which the democratic party perceives itself in the face of its neoconservative counterparts.

Racist, Authoritarian Buckley Dead

Bretton Jones — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 18:10:20 +0000

This is probably the best video that brings out the worst Buckley had to offer. Chomsky’s arguements demonstrate why it’s often neccesary to send in a radical to take on the wingnut as a means of breaking down their positions to their core and exposing them for what they are.

Obama’s Infrastrure Plan

Bretton Jones — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 19:46:33 +0000

I think that the National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank sounds good, but I’m interested to hear more about what kinds of projects it will actually fund. Here’s what he said about it yesterday.

“It’s a Washington where decades of trade deals like NAFTA and China have been signed with plenty of protections for corporations and their profits, but none for our environment or our workers who’ve seen factories shut their doors and millions of jobs disappear; workers whose right to organize and unionize has been under assault for the last eight years…So today, I’m laying out a comprehensive agenda to reclaim our dream and restore our prosperity. It’s an agenda that focuses on three broad economic challenges that the next President must address - the current housing crisis; the cost crisis facing the middle-class and those struggling to join it; and the need to create millions of good jobs right here in America- jobs that can’t be outsourced and won’t disappear.

For our economy, our safety, and our workers, we have to rebuild America. I’m proposing a National Infrastructure Reinvestment Bank that will invest $60 billion over ten years. This investment will multiply into almost half a trillion dollars of additional infrastructure spending and generate nearly two million new jobs - many of them in the construction industry that’s been hard hit by this housing crisis. The repairs will be determined not by politics, but by what will maximize our safety and homeland security; what will keep our environment clean and our economy strong. And we’ll fund this bank by ending this war in Iraq. It’s time to stop spending billions of dollars a week trying to put Iraq back together and start spending the money on putting America back together instead…

It’s also time to look to the future and figure out how to make trade work for American workers. I won’t stand here and tell you that we can - or should - stop free trade. We can’t stop every job from going overseas. But I also won’t stand here and accept an America where we do nothing to help American workers who have lost jobs and opportunities because of these trade agreements. And that’s a position of mine that doesn’t change based on who I’m talking to or the election I’m running in.

You know, in the years after her husband signed NAFTA, Senator Clinton would go around talking about how great it was and how many benefits it would bring. Now that she’s running for President, she says we need a time-out on trade. No one knows when this time-out will end. Maybe after the election.

I don’t know about a time-out, but I do know this - when I am President, I will not sign another trade agreement unless it has protections for our environment and protections for American workers. And I’ll pass the Patriot Employer Act that I’ve been fighting for ever since I ran for the Senate - we will end the tax breaks for companies who ship our jobs overseas, and we will give those breaks to companies who create good jobs with decent wages right here in America.”

Hillary still finished

Bretton Jones — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:09:10 +0000

Notice the blue pantsuit? That’s the textbook Clinton election movie. How so? She and her lame ass husband always start out the election appealing to the base and move to the imaginary “center” throughout the race. It is no coincidence that she wants to be percieved as Margaret Thatcher, same as Michele Obama went out of her way to look like Jackie O. Thatcher was likely Clinton’s icon anyway; a thoughtless, ideologically driven shill.

Here’s a piece that pretty much sums it up.

My picture with Hillary

Bretton Jones — Tue, 12 Feb 2008 03:03:53 +0000

So I sent a message to Clinton’s campaign asking them just what I’d have to do to get my picture with Hillary. I’m actually not getting down on her about this cuz I know every campaign does this crap. I just think it’s lame.

Hi Bretton,

My name is Tori Roth, and I am working on the Hillary Clinton Campaign. I read your inquiry about the cost to get a photo with Hillary. I understand that you are in Minneapolis, but the closest event we are holding is a breakfast reception with Hillary in Milwaukee, WI.

The reception will be at 8:30am on Sunday, February 17th at the Pfister Hotel. Tickets are $2300 per person for the photo with Hillary, $1000 for the Sponsor’s Reception, or $250 for the General Reception.

I have attached the invitation (the time on the invitation says TBD, but it will be at 8:30am). If you are interested in attending, feel free to e-mail me or call me at 513-673-5210.

We really hope you and your family can join us!

Sincerely,
Tori Roth
Hillary Clinton for President

Thanks, Ann

Bretton Jones — Fri, 08 Feb 2008 08:28:44 +0000

You’re one in a million. You might be prone not to trust her, but every word she says here is true.

Billary Moves to Menomonie

Bretton Jones — Thu, 07 Feb 2008 03:06:47 +0000

Yeah this is sweeter than honey on shit. The old guard can’t even do what they supposedly do best. It’ll be interesting to see just how much money they flushed down the toilet. We know of $5 million, but how much else could there be? Time will tell. It’s gonna be a long month for Billary. There was some good specuation on DKos about whether Clintons will go after Dean or muddle with FL and MI.

I’m hoping she’ll drop out before it comes to that, but these parasites only care about power.

Update: Even if this was a stunt, I don’t think it was a very good move to try and give her the underdog status. What is it with people and how they relate to underdogs? So irrational.