Midtown Farmers Market Face-Lift

We attended a community meeting in Midtown Minneapolis last evening – fighting a driving snow storm to get there and back – and found it invigorating and far different than our low-key life in the country.
by Charlie Leck

4 April 2014
We attended a community gathering last night in the northeast corner of the Corcoran Neighborhood in Minneapolis. A block of property, right next to the Lake Street station of the Hiawatha Light Rail Line, is currently owned by the Minneapolis School Board. Hennepin County is seriously considering a purchase of this property and a redevelopment of it that involves significant cooperation with the residential and business interests of that neighborhood. The plan is only in its embryonic stage and there will be lots more of these conversations in order to bring a wide spectrum of varying interests and stake-holders together.

We were there because my wife has been a vendor at the Midtown Farmers Market, which sets up on that piece of property, ever since the market first opened. We don’t have much of a financial stake in the neighborhood, but we’ve developed an emotional attachment to a lot of the people there and we feel strongly about the market’s future. And, we like the work that the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization does in sponsoring this market and advocating for the health and welfare of the entire neighborhood.

It will be four or five years down the road before the changes and developments really impact the market and, by that time, my wife will likely be retiring from this rugged lamb production work she does. It may be just as well. Though the market will likely become a much more attractive place in a very busy and bustling location, there will be much less room for getting a pickup truck and a freezer trailer in place to offer the product we sell.

You can see some of this early thinking about the development of the site on the Midtown Farmers Market web site. I've also included a photo that graphically explains the change in size of the market. The entire development will certainly be a mixed use location that will feature housing for various incomes and ages, retail and office availability and a home for a neighborhood center for the county’s health and human services work.

The neighborhood residents in the current single family houses – to the south and immediate southwest – are worried about the increase of traffic and parking in the areas where they live. There is currently a significant Park & Ride site for users of the light rail line and that space will be gobbled up by the development. That adds more worries for home owners who don’t want curb-side parking to increase in their residential neighborhood. The chances for conversation about these matters were very limited last night because of the jam-packed agenda and one could sense that a number of special interests were given too little time for an expression of their concerns – including bicyclists, home-owners, environmentalists and sustainability advocates.

We came away feeling that this is a very exciting project! The farmers market will certainly change in character and I see it becoming much more like the current Mill City Farmers Market down alongside the Guthrie Theater – and that’s not a bad thing. We’ve made a lot of good friends at the Midtown Market and in the Corcoran neighborhood and we wish them nothing but great good luck on this very exhilarating time that lies ahead for them.

In the meantime, we look forward to the opening of the 2014 Midtown Farmers Market on Saturday, May 3rd and we’ll see you there.

It was some drive home last night in the heavy April snowstorm that rolled into the Twin Cities. We took between 10 and 11 inches of snow here on our farm.

Miscellaneous Thoughts
We enjoyed listening to the presentations of various interest groups last night and we learned quite a bit about how community organization and the nature of communities have changed over the years. We allow ourselves to get pretty isolated out here in the country and we have to catch up on some of the terminology we hear at a meeting like this – co-housing (I sat down this morning and did a bunch of reading to understand it), green-living, Leeds Housing, solar energy, water conservation in housing development and sustainability.

Various interests at the meeting last night (some of the stake-holders) have quite a job ahead of them. I’m talking about the Minneapolis School Board, the Hennepin County Commissioners, the Corcoran Neighborhood Organization and the City of Minneapolis. I hope the YWCA, which owns property just to the west, will also be very involved.

Hey!
There was a point in the meeting where I wanted to stand up and shout-out proudly that we installed a geo-thermal heating system in our home just this past autumn. We’re not complete hicks or country-bumpkins, you know!

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Fair Elections

America has always praised itself for fair and square elections! In truth elections have been stolen quite regularly by nasty and crooked sources who managed to come up with schemes that are sometime illegal and sometimes unfair and untruthful – and sometimes both!
by Charlie Leck

In the 2012 election in the Minnesota Senate District in which I live the Republican endorsed candidate for the Minnesota Senate – a wonderful, young woman for whom I voted – was robbed of the election on the day before the vote was to take place. Our mailboxes out here were stuffed with gaudy pamphlets and fliers that told numerous lies about the young lady and wildly distorted and twisted even the facts. She was a certain favorite to win the election and she lost by a slim margin to the “independent” who was running – all because of this erroneous and untruthful information. All my readers are aware that I am a long-time and loyal Democrat and I rarely vote on the other side of the ticket. On this occasion I did and feel like I was cheated. A dirty and distasteful group of radical conservatives (who love to sing their patriotic songs and speak of God and flag) very unfairly swiped this Minnesota Senate seat.

And, to top it off, there was no attribution on these deceitful flyers as to who was responsible for making the charges and distributing these materials.

I’ve run a number of political campaigns and they were hard and tough campaigns, but we always attempted to tell the truth and we always stated carefully who we were as a campaign organization and how we could be contacted. It’s just the way it ought to be done. We understand that financial spending limits were placed on the campaign and we always stayed within those limits.

“Drops,” as we call them, the night before election, which tell lies and untruthfully smear a candidate, are disgusting. The disgust is even increased where there is no information about the persons or organization telling the lies.

The Governor of Minnesota is now supporting a bill in the legislature that would demand more protection is such advertising. He wants groups that spend money on such advertising to be required to report that spending. He wants to put a stop to small loop-holes that allow clearly political advertising and endorsement to be called something other than political.

Come on! If you say something about a political candidate you ought to be held responsible for what you say and you ought to be required to indicate how much money you’ve spent on such a clearly political promotion.

Hold on to your hats because you are going to be surprised at who opposes such current legislation – the National Rifle Association and Minnesota Citizens for Life. They contend that such legislation limits “freedom of speech.” Have we not learned that there are certain limits to the free speech provisions in the constitution? You can not unfairly and untruthfully liable a person! You must take responsibility for what you say!

You know who else opposes the Governor’s suggested legislation to expand what is defined as political advertising? Oh, well, my, my, if it isn’t the fellow who won the state senate race in our district in 2012.

The League of Women Voters Minnesota (LWV Minnesota) supports such an expansion of the definition of “political advertising and promotion.” The following is taken from the organization’s December 2013 statement on the issue.

“Evaluating disclosure laws for independent spending in the 50 states, a watchdog group has given Minnesota an ‘F’ because of limitations in the state’s disclosure laws. But even with limited disclosure requirements, campaign finance records reveal that independent spenders – representing special interests – have stepped up their spending in Minnesota by billions of dollars in the wake of Citizens United. In 2012, for instance, groups independent of the candidates spent $4,200,853 more than the candidates themselves on literature and advertisements. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg.

“With so much money pouring into elections advertisements, billboards and literature, improved transparency is vital. The reforms recommended by League of Women Voters Minnesota focus on measures that would provide greater disclosure so that voters know who is trying to influence the outcome of elections. Voters can then hold their elected officials accountable if the laws they enact tend to reflect the interests of financial contributors rather than the public interest.

“LWV Minnesota advocates these immediate reforms in Minnesota’s campaign finance systems:

1.       Broaden the category of communications requiring disclosure to those that clearly seek to influence voters even though the ads do not use the so-called magic words such as ‘vote for’ or ‘defeat.’ Specifically:

    ▪ Widen the definition of ‘express advocacy,’ and
    ▪ Require disclosure of ‘electioneering communications’

2.      Improve the Campaign Finance and Public Disclosure Board’s website to provide easy and timely accessibility for a citizen seeking to learn about donations and expenditures in statewide election.

“If Minnesota does not make these improvements in its disclosure requirements and practices, our state fails to keep pace with the manner in which elections campaigns are conducted in the 21st century, and our elected officials do a disservice to themselves and the voters of the state.”

LWV Minnesota is one of the most widely respected organizations in the state of Minnesota and it takes such positions, as the above, with great care and concern. Minnesota’s legislators should pay heed.

I hope, if you are a Minnesotan, that you will urge your legislators to do the same.

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Americans Against the Tea Party

In the last few weeks, on Facebook, I began following an organization called Americans Against the Tea Party. You who follow my blog know just how right-up-my-alley such a site would be. The Tea Party is generally vile, selfish and hateful and, I believe, it represents everything that America isn’t.
by Charlie Leck

I recommend you look into Americans Against the Tea Party (Americans Against the Tea Party).

We need a strong movement in this country to counteract the bigotry, selfishness, hatefulness and propagandizing of the Tea Party. America is better than the Tea Party.

If the Tea Party bothers you as much as it bothers me, I strongly recommend you look into this organization that powerfully counters these ultra conservatives.

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Alice Munro

This Canadian is one of the best short story writers I’ve ever come across. Get to know her!
by Charlie Leck

Alice Munro was awarded the 2013 Nobel Prize in Literature (“for the entire body of her work”). Until then I had never heard of her, but I committed myself to getting some of her short stories to read. Now, I am one of her biggest and most ardent fans. Her writing is really special and her stories are wonderful. At first, I might finish one of her stories and put it down and ask myself, “What was that?” Yet, the story stuck with me for hours and hours and I would keep thinking about it. Some stories seemed to be strange and mysterious, while others were simple, unvarnished and ordinary; yet they were always written brilliantly and it seemed they were always sticking with me. I just finished THE VIEW FROM CASTLEROCK and it was one of the most lovely and interesting books I’ve ever read. So, now I am looking for another of Munro's books. I haven’t been this intrigued with a woman writer since I went through all of Doris Lessing’s stuff back in the 70s.

Here's a pretty thorough bibliography of Alice Munro's work:

Dance of the Happy Shades and Other Stories (1968)

Lives of Girls and Women (1971)

Something I’ve Been Meaning to Tell You (1974)

Who Do You Think You Are? (1978)

The Moons of Jupiter (1982)

The Progress of Love (1986)

Fried of My Youth (1990)

Open Secrets (1994)

The Love of a Good Woman (1998)

Queenie: A Story (1999)

Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage (2001)

Runaway: Stories (2004)

The View from Castle Rock (2006)

Away from Her (2007)

Too Much Happiness (2009)

Dear Life (2012)

Several collections of shorts stories (selected from the works above) have also been published:

Selected Stories (1996)

No Love Lost (2003)

Vintage Munro (2004)

Carried Away (2006)

Alice Munro’s Best (2008)

New Selected Stories (2011)

Carried Away was the first of her books that I read; and the very first story in it is as cryptic as one can imagine. After that, her stories came easier and I figured out that I wasn’t suppose to find deep meaning in them; and I stopped trying to find all the symbolism and innuendo. I just sat back and enjoyed the beautiful writing.

So far, The View from Castle Rock, is my favorite. I just loved it. It’s a group of short stories that can be read alone or together viewed as something of a novel. The book held me captive from beginning to end.

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What goin' on in Mississippi?

I don’t understand Mississippi. To quote the legendary Green Bay Packer coach, Vince Lombardi: “What the hell is goin’ on out there?” The Democrats should be powerful in Mississippi and they are not – not at all!
by Charlie Leck

Voting results in Mississippi are an enigma and have been throughout the state’s history! I thought the passage of the Voting Rights Act in 1964 would change things in Mississippi. It has not.

In the 2012 Presidential election, Mitt Romney won in Mississippi by 11.5 points. Obama won only 43.8 percent of the vote.

37 percent of the population of Mississippi is black.

721,000 black citizens are eligible to vote in Mississippi.

The estimated turn-out of eligible black voters in Mississippi was estimated at 62 percent but that was actually higher than the percentage turnout of eligible white voters.

“What the hell is going on out there?”

This happened in a year when a black President of the United States was running for reelection. For whom were black voters in Mississippi voting?

I can see Obama losing in Mississippi, but he should not have lost by more than 11 points (as he did)! This is crazy stuff I’m trying to figure out here.

Why does Mississippi send some of the most conservative politicians to the United States Congress – politicians who do little or nothing for the black citizens of Mississippi? As of this past October, the unemployment rate in Mississippi was 8.5 percent. Unemployment among black Mississippi residents is currently 14.3 percent.

Mississippi is the poorest state in the nation.

Mississippi ranks first in the number of residents living below the poverty level.

“What the hell is going on out there?”

I need a top-notch political scientist to explain this to me.

Could it have anything to do with who is counting votes or how they are being counted in Mississippi!

With proper organization, Mississippi is ripe for a takeover by progressives and liberals (Democrats). This is a state that should not be in the red column. It should be a tooth and nail fight and election in every race, every year, but statewide democratic candidates to national positions should win.

Here’s how Democrats could get the upper hand in Mississippi (and the formula would probably work in George also)…

They must move their turnout of eligible black votes up to the 70 percent and even 75 percent point. Over 85 percent of eligible voters go to the polls in Minnesota. It sounds difficult but other states do it too, and much more is at stake for black people in Mississippi

Mississippi must get more of their black population eligible to vote. It shouldn’t be difficult when so much is at stake.

This year marks the 50th anniversary of the 1964 voter registration project in Mississippi (a project in which I took part and have written about here many times). It would be a good year to again call on the nation to participate in a voter registration drive in Mississippi.

Mississippi should not remain a stagnant and forlorn state. It should not be in the blue column.

“What the hell’s goin’ on down there?”

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Biggest Big News

You may be amazed as you look at the newspaper and see all the big news, but there is one story to keep your eyes on closely because it holds the potential for great danger; and that is Mr. Vladimir Putin and the Russian nation.
by Charlie Leck

I’m not a scare-tactics kind of guy; and I do not frighten easily. That doesn’t mean I’m a tough guy, because I’m not. I often get wary about certain news items, but they don’t downright scare me. I’m just a chary kind of guy.

However, I’m a bit shaken these days as I read about the activities of the Russian military and the brazenfaced actions of the Russian president. I’m less afraid of Putin, who I believe can be handled properly and without violence; but I’m uncommonly afraid of certain segments of the American population and government which have become rather hawkish these days.

Their little nipping criticisms of President Obama have already begun over this Russian matter.

“Why hasn’t he stopped that son-of-a-bitch?”

“What we’ve got here is a president with no guts!”

“Ronald Reagan wouldn’t have allowed this Rooskie to get away with this!”

I’ve got some years on me folks; yet I’ve also got a danged-good memory. I remember times when hawks within politics badgered presidents into wars that they later regretted (even if they didn’t publically admit it). Let’s talk…

Lyndon Baines Johnson in Vietnam!

Richard Nixon in Cambodia!

Ronald Reagan in Granada!

George W. Bush in Iraq!

The wars listed above (take away the invasion of Granada) just about brought us down economically and spread enormous pain and injury throughout our military.

One is not being unpatriotic to talk about the foolishness of each of these wars. No, rather, one is being in-tune with history and fact.

“Those who cannot learn from history are doomed to relive it!”

I don’t know that anything more important and accurate has ever been said. George Santayana said it and it is often quoted in one form or another. He was a discerning and practical guy. As I think of his brilliant comment above, I also remember that he said…

“Even the most inspired verse, which boasts not without a relative justification to be immortal, becomes in the course of ages a scarcely legible hieroglyphic; the language it was written in dies, a learned education and an imaginative effort are requisite to catch even a vestige of its original force. Nothing is so irrevocable as mind.”

My god, how easily we forget. History will one day record that President Obama was correct in not allowing troops to be placed in harm’s way in Egypt, Libya or Syria, in spite of the constant snarfing of the hawks in Congress. He’s correct now to rally the nations of Europe and NATO to take non-military stands against Putin and Russia. And already the bully bear is feeling the pressure and the heat!

One must note that the pressure on Russia is being felt by them and we need to continue on this course without a public, congressional show of opposition to the nation’s leader.

Putin and Russia have been ousted from the select Group of Eight (this is a select gathering of the world’s greatest industrial powers). The group may next impose a series of sanctions against Putin’s government that could both embarrass him and do harm to his nation’s economy.

Germany and its chancellor, Angela Merkel, have been the most outspoken about Mr. Putin’s activities over the last two weeks. And, in spite of the hawks’ criticism of our President for not taking that role, it is wise for the President not to be a leader in these actions against Russia because of the historic rancor and rivalry between our nations. (Obama, you see, is a bright enough president that he thinks of these things!)

It is so refreshing to have a president who believes in the diplomatic route toward harmony and peace and doesn’t promptly begin to shake the iron fist. The Secretary of State and the President are working diligently and in harmony to bring about the best results they can from this brutish behavior of the Russian president.

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The Frightening Hatred of the Tea Party
A tea party organization put out a flier the other day with some comment about how sorry the world was about the disappearance of the Malaysian passenger jet. Below it was a photograph of Air Force One cruising in the sky. Below this photo was the statement: “Too bad it wasn’t this flight!”

I have a copy of it. I won’t post it here (or anywhere) because it is too sickening. I cannot tell you how shaken I was when I read that piece of trash. And these are people who boast of their extreme patriotism!

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Had We Not Invaded Iraq

Imagine, just for the heck of it, that we had never gone into Iraq, chasing and searching for fictional Weapons of Mass Destruction (WMD)! Things would certainly be different now. For starters, there would have been no war in Iraq, but… by Charlie Leck

Try this on for starters…
We probably would have had a string of Republican Presidents. That’s right! Had George W. Bush not made that very unfortunate mistake of invading Iraq, on what appear to be false premises, he probably would have ended his two term presidency with great honor and enormous popularity. However, we spent trillions of dollars on the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, under George W. Bush’s administration and watch, and that sent the nation’s economy into a tailspin. Now, the whole collapse of the banking industry may also have happened, but perhaps not. George W. might have had more time to keep watch over the naughty home-lending habits of the vulgar and greedy bankers and we may have caught the smell of their lending habits before it led to disaster.

And, George W. Bush would have handed over the reins to other popular Republicans and any one of them may have been elected. Perhaps it would have been John McCain. That might not have been so good. Under McCain, I’m sure we’d extend the military’s reach in Afghanistan (even if we hadn’t gone to Iraq).

John would have also sized up Iran as a nasty enemy and he would likely have ordered the military to take them on as well. McCain would also have sent some troops (boots on the ground) into Libya also and now we’d have troops (at least as monitors) in Syria as well.

So, the money we would have saved on the war in Iraq we would likely have spent in Afghanistan, Libya and Syria.

And now?
And right now, a President McCain would be lobbying Congress to send troops into the Black Sea and onto to Ukrainian soil to help out an independent country whose democracy was threatened – unless, of course, we had spent too much money in Syria, Libya, Egypt and Afghanistan and the banking industry had taken its terrible tumble under President McCain rather than the second term of President Bush. History is like that you know!

No Groundhog Day principle!
And, thank goodness the world doesn’t let you take a second, third or fourth take on these matters all the time. So, by this time the Tea Party would have completely given up on the McCain presidency and they would have been in absolute revolt and they’d be promising that McCain wouldn’t have a second term.

You have to think about these things! I mean, you have to think about these things. I’ve spent the last several weeks listening to Senator McCain blithering and blathering about Syria, Afghanistan and the Russian-Ukraine affair.

America’s military can not solve every political quirk that happens in the world! Really! Mr. McCain knows that in his heart of hearts. His constant nagging of the President of the United States is baseless and merely empty fodder.

Russia with the upper hand on this one! I’m afraid Russia caught us by surprise this time. We thought they’d become more civilized, less greedy and kinder of spirit. On this one, Mr. McCain would have been correct. We should have been more prepared. We should have smelled the stink of this one coming. This was simply too grand an opportunity for a greedy nation like Russian. International law does not now and never did mean very much to them. They have developed a fine, sharpened sense of Democracy yet. They don’t know just how a Democracy works. Crimea just looked too tempting, out there in such an unhinged and unattached fashion. Russia’s leader, Vladimir Putin knows everything there is to know about election corruption. It would not be difficult for this wolf to steal the sheep while the Shepherd was slumbering and in confusion.

President Obama will not win any street cred for this one. Yet, what can he do? America’s military is not prepared to enter into conflicts right now. Neither is America’s economy. Neither is its mood and temperament. Two weeks ago I warned you in a blog that we would probably get a chance to see the face of the REAL Vladimir Putin as the Ukrainian violence unfolded. And, we have; and it ain’t pretty!

Crime in Crimea! It doesn’t work very frequently, but we must depend on the United Nations and the European Union on this one. America must just continue to push for a negotiated solution. It must allow the voices of the other nations of the world to be heard. Vladimir Putin is a bad person and he must be exposed as he is to the entire world. Only then might he be backed down and new and fair elections allow in the Crimea.

Nations just cannot go around stealing other nations because they have bullied everyone else into fear of them! In a peaceful way, we must make the world see this.

If you want to see what the Ukraine was like before they won independence from the Soviet Union, you could start here and see how bad it was.

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