In Minnesota ~ One System Does Not Fit....

 

What a born teacher! Radical Russ...I really like his radio format. Russ Belville "Your Red State Refugee" is filling in for Bill Press this week and he is a brilliant communicator. I usually listen to Bill Press cuz he is the only thing on in the morning where I can pick up some honest national and global news. I'm not a huge fan but Bill is O.K. My favorite Air America person is Randi Rhodes...she is a trail blazing pioneer of thought and prose. I love her take on issues And she is extremely brave for speaking about matters in a direct manner.

Slate Progressives, To Arms! By Paul Krugman Wednesday, Dec. 26, 2007 "Right now, the stars are aligned for a major change in America's direction. If the Democrats play nice, that opportunity may soon be gone."

On a another note.... I'm getting quite a bit of traffic visiting my November post on our really bad unemployment system, from the state of Minnesota.

Prior to this, mostly people searching for an answer to their unemployment system woe's I suspect. Hope the hearings set for January 14th will clear the air on how this problem turned into a fiasco and to make sure the system starts 'Working' for the claimant tax payer.

This whole mess sort of reminds me of what happened to people when they were being denied and getting booted out of the MNCare System. The repeated obstacles that faced existing MNCare applicants was not pretty. And the odds of a new applicant getting into that system seamlessly, as they had before, was almost an impossible task.

That left a pretty nasty taste in many a Minnesotans mouth a few years back. Again, the worst stories started surfacing in 2005. What was it about 2005? Is our current Unemployment mess the same as the MNCare mess?

How many people were booted out of that system? I heard it was about 30,000. How many were prevented from getting health care from that system? Who really knows. Which Minnesota State officials were heading up that big mess????

Just another thought on how Minnesota has changed from a 'people' centered state, to a system driven agenda.

MNpublius.com Strib: Pawlenty attempting to Cheapskate State’s way to Greatness Jun 14th, 2007 "Actually, this page preferred the old formula: Minnesota as a commonwealth, a place where nearly everyone swam or sank together."

Where the jobs are, and aren't By Joel Kramer MinnPost "Do you have an example of how numbers can inform us about life in Minnesota or the nation? Or an example of how numbers are being used to misinform us? Email us at numbers [at] minnpost [dot] com;"

It's a job trying to get unemployment pay By RANDY FURST / StarTribune startribune.com from MSNBC Sun., Dec. 23, 2007

Ugly Government In-Action ~ In Minnesota...bumping up... Tuesday, November 20, 2007

Minnesota Unemployment Insurance SYSTEM is a Disaster OR We have a New Obstructionist Tool that Works Perfectly Saturday, November 17, 2007

A Better Way of Contacting Congress by Phone Posted by Michael Clancy The Villiage Voice December 18, 2007 "...allows one person to target an entire congressional committee over the phone."