Posted by draabe on 31 March, 2009
Just this afternoon, District Court Judges Elizabeth A. Hayden, Kurt J. Marben and Denise D. Reilly ordered the delivery of the following 400 ballots/applications/envelopes to the Office of the Minnesota Secretary of State by noon the 6th of April, 2009:
“The absentee ballot return envelopes for the individuals identified in Exhibit A [394 beginning on page 20 of the Order], the absentee return ballots, absentee ballot applications and federal postcard applications for the individuals identified in Exhibit B [five listed on page 30 of the Order], and the original voter registration application and absentee ballot return envelope for the individual identified in Exhibit C [one on page 31 of the Order].”
“Legally cast ballots shall be opened, sorted and counted by the Office of the Secretary of State in open court. Opening, sorting and counting shall proceed using the same methods as described in the Minnesota Supreme Court’s Order of December 24, 2008. Upon opening, sorting and counting, the ballots shall be completely and finally separated from the envelopes in accordance with Minnesota’s policy of ballot secrecy. The totals from the opening, sorting and counting shall be included in the results of the 2008 United States Senate election reported by the Minnesota Secretary of State.”
The Order further states that “Any other relief not specifically ordered herein is denied,” ostensibly referring to the ballots Coleman’s attorneys claimed were lost or double-counted. However, Franken’s attorney Marc Elias said there could be additional orders forthcoming.
If the 400 ballots reconfirm that Al Franken received the most votes in this election, it is clear that Coleman’s attorneys will not concede. What is unclear is how far they might be allowed to take their arguments, how long the people of Minnesota will remain underrepresented in the US Senate and how long this race will be used to keep a lawfully elected fillibuster-proof majority out of the US Senate. In a recent radio interview, Coleman’s lead attorney Joe Friedberg told Ron Rosenbaum, “We’ve been trying this case with the appeal record in mind,” and “the more input lawyers can have, the better I like it. It’s called the full employment act for lawyers.”
An appeal to the MN Supreme Court by either side could be ruled on relatively quickly, but Sen. John Cornyn (R-TX) has already begun appealing for Coleman on the federal level. Should Franken remain the winner after the 400 ballots and envelopes are counted next week, and Coleman fails to impress the MN Supreme Court, Cornyn said Coleman should keep fighting “for years.” Although Senate Rules and Administration Committee Chair Sen. Chuck Shumer (D-NY) said that the case will be decided in Minnesota state courts, Cornyn has threatened “World War III” if Franken is seated.
Posted in Franken v. Coleman, POLITICS | Tagged: Al Franken, Coleman Franken April, coleman franken ruling, Coleman v. Franken, Franken Coleman results april, Franken Coleman results March, Franken v. Coleman, minnesota elections, Minnesota Senate decision, MN politics, mn senate race, Norm Coleman, Norm Coleman appeal, who is winning minnesota senate race | 2 Comments »
Posted by draabe on 24 March, 2009
“We’ll recover. It will take time, patience and the understanding that when we work together and look beyond our short-term interests, that’s when we’ll prosper. We should look to the future with new determination and renewed confidence.” – President Barack Obama
There should remain no question as to how President Obama intends to deal with the current financial crisis. Some of the greatest pieces of the solution lie in reducing health care costs, switching our energy dependence from foreign oil to clean resources that create jobs within the United States, investing in education and establishing policy that prevents systemic breakdown brought about by financial institutions.
In his opening remarks this evening, President Obama said the budget would cut the deficit in half by the end of his first term, and that we need to move from the borrow-and-spend mentality of previous years to one of save-and-invest if we’re going to bring down the deficit. He said there was a lot of rage and finger-pointing last week and, like so many others, he was angry about the large bonuses that went to those who brought us down and the culture that led us to this point. He said the days of outsized rewards and speculation that put us at risk are over, but we can’t demonize every investor or entrepreneur who seeks to make a profit.
Read more…
Posted in POLITICS | Tagged: Barack Obama, budget, clean energy, health care, NEWS, obama, obama press conference summary, Obama second news conference, Obama's Press Conference, POLITICS, Presidential News Conference, Presidential Press Conference | Leave a Comment »
Posted by draabe on 21 March, 2009
“…on December 22, [1999,] the evening of the winter solstice, the brightest moon of the century would appear, just days before the calendar started with new numbers for the next century. It would be the first and only full moon of the 20th century to occur on the first day of winter. These days, Edward clung to simple, objective facts as if they were the molecules of his oatmeal. Facts could not be disputed.”
Christopher Meeks’s novel, The Brightest Moon of the Century, begins with young Edward Meiopian (My-o-pyan) being forced into private school by his widowed father. With some difficulty, he learns to contend with the sons of Minnesota’s upper crust in spite of their relentless teasing, and with the help of his new stepmother finds himself settling in at the University of Denver. From there, he tries to forge a life for himself in the movie business by way of an LA camera store, an Alabama trailer park, very few girlfriends and a good deal of sexual angst.
Within the pages of Brightest Moon lies an entertaining saturnalia of authenticity also found in Meeks’s short stories (see Months and Seasons). He has a knack for making readers believe his characters are real people. The protagonist in Brightest Moon “told a writer once that it was only in conflict that you saw a character’s true personality.” Revealing truth of character is a skill Meeks has taught himself well, and he reveals Edward’s through, to use his own words, “not a single crisis, but a series of little ones….add[ing] in daily drops of discontent; stir[ring] in unconscious offenses…”
In nine chapters written much like individual short stories, Meeks gives Edward the opportunity to grow into his full self, to come full circle, to experience the brightest moon of the century. Readers can decide for themselves whether or not Edward finds any success, but the journey suggests that Meeks has.
Christopher Meeks grew up in Minnesota and attended high school in Hopkins. He is a former journalist and Daily Variety theatre critic who now teaches creative writing to graduate students at the University of Southern California. His play, Who Lives?, opened at the Pico Playhouse in Los Angeles on March 12, 2009. He will be reading at The Bookcase in Wayzata, Minnesota on March 21, 2009, at 7:30 p.m.
The Brightest Moon of the Century, 324 pp
White Whisker Books, March 7, 2009
ISBN 13: 978-0615249148
Read an excerpt
Visit Christopher Meeks at RedRoom.com
Read more reviews: Minneapolis Star Tribune, The Book Lady, Raging Bibliomania
Buy the book
Posted in BOOKS | Tagged: book review, brightest moon of the century, chris meeks novel, chris meeks review, Christopher Meeks, months and seasons | Leave a Comment »
Posted by draabe on 15 March, 2009
Al Franken (photo, Huffington Post)
With the Franken campaign resting its case last week, the three-judge election panel is about to begin final deliberation of Norm Coleman’s appeal to overturn Franken’s 225-vote victory in the US Senate election. His lawsuit, filed January 6, 2009, alleged that upon conducting a formal recount, the Minnesota State Canvassing Board erroneously declared Al Franken had received more votes than Coleman.
Norm Coleman, Getty Image
During their five-week presentation, Coleman’s attorneys focused their appeal on the allegation that votes (mainly in Franken-favored districts) were double-counted, then switched gears and attempted to prove that votes made by absentee ballot and formally rejected (mainly in Coleman-favored districts) were not counted at all, but now should be. Although the Franken team’s request to have the case dismissed has been denied twice, they have been consistent throughout the recount with the message that every vote counts.
On February 26, the judges ordered that 1,500 rejected absentee ballots be opened to look for voter registration cards. MN Deputy Secretary of State Jim Gelbmann has since reported that only 80 of the 1,500 contained the cards. Franken attorney Marc Elias said, “It’s not likely the 80 will yield 80 votes.” There are other reasons why those ballots might have been rejected, and even if all 80 registration cards had been filled out properly, the 80 votes are nowhere near what the Coleman camp was hoping for…or what they needed. As Coleman’s case largely hinges on rejected absentee ballots and the 1,500 were chosen by the Coleman team with the expectation that they would yield enough votes to overtake Franken’s 225-vote lead, this discovery does not bode well for Norm Coleman.
In closing arguments, Coleman attorney Joe Friedberg admitted that the Coleman team did not prove the required elements set forth by the three-judge panel to render the absentee ballots valid. He claimed that “the panel got [it] wrong.” Friedberg said the law requires him to prove only that ballots were “more likely than not” valid, not that they comply with the elements predetermined by the three-judge panel.
The idea that votes need only be more likely than not valid stands in direct opposition to the Coleman team strategy during the physical recount. During that time, Coleman observers and lawyers seemed to have little faith in Minnesotans’ ability to complete a valid ballot, grossly overreaching when challenging ballots that had been counted as votes for Franken. Friedberg’s closing summary statement seems to imply the opposite. He claims that the rules changed, but either the Coleman team believes it can confuse the judges by attempting to cast a pallor on Minnesota’s entire electoral process or, as Franken attorney Kevin Hamilton said, “their failure of proof is simply breathtaking.”
Once the panel renders its decision, it is possible (some say likely) that an appeal will be filed with the Minnesota State Supreme Court.
Read more at MinnPost
Watch CSPAN video of MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie at the 2009 Legislative Conference in Washington, DC
Posted in Franken v. Coleman, POLITICS | Tagged: Al Franken, Coleman v. Franken, Franken v. Coleman, Joe Friedberg, Kevin Hamilton, Marc Elias, Minnesota Senate, mn senate race, Norm Coleman, senate recount | 1 Comment »
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