National/International

Ellison on Al Jazeera: ‘Not much sympathy’ by U.S. for Palestinians

Many Democrats, including President-elect Barack Obama, maintain staunch support for Israel, despite its military crackdown on Hamas in Gaza over the past two weeks, but a few Minnesotans — including Reps. Keith Ellison and Betty McCollum and Sens. Amy Klobuchar and Norm Coleman — have taken more independent approaches. Discussing the conflict with Al Jazeera’s [...]

Rep. McCollum speaks out on Gaza, Israel violence

Rep. Betty McCollum called for an end to violence in the Gaza Strip late last week, adding her voice to those of Rep. Keith Ellison, Sen. Amy Klobuchar and former Sen. Norm Coleman.

Minnesota congressional delegaton mostly mum on Israel, Gaza

As the Gaza Strip conflict between Israel and Hamas intensifies, few in Minnesota’s congressional delegation have commented. Protests prompted Democratic Sen. Amy Klobuchar and Republican Sen. Norm Coleman to respond to the conflict, while Democratic Rep. Keith Ellison called for an end to the violence and outlined some ideas to get there.
The International Jewish Anti-Zionist [...]

Bachmann earns fifth spot on British “shame” list

Madoff, Palin, Bush, Blagojevich… Bachmann? The Guardian’s Michael Tomasky ranks Minnesota’s 6th Congressional District Rep. Michele Bachmann fifth in “America’s hall of shame.” Her suggestion that journalists should investigate whether Barack Obama and other members of Congress have “anti-American views” — which Tomasky calls “the single most appalling political statement of the year” — merited [...]

Are jihadist groups luring Minnesota Somalis back to fight?

Burhaan Hassan was a fairly typical kid, the kind who asked his mother for $20 when he wanted to go see a movie on weekends. But on Election Day, while much of the world — including his single mother — was consumed by the historic election, the 17-year old and a handful of other Somali-American teenagers quietly boarded a plane to Kenya, en route to the front lines of a Jihad in Somalia. Law enforcement officials fear as many a dozen local boys have been lured by Islamist groups to fight.

MnIndy’s Best: The 10 most popular stories of 2008

Newswise, it was an eventful 2008, thanks to the Republican National Convention, the historic election of Barack Obama, Sarah “In what respect, Charlie?” Palin, John McCain, Michele “anti-American” Bachmann, P.Z. Myers (and the communion “cracker” incident) and, now, the ongoing recount of ballots in Minnesota’s U.S. Senate race between Norm Coleman and Al Franken. MnIndy had a record year: We more than doubled 2007’s readership, welcoming nearly two million unique visitors, and saw nearly 6,000 comments. Here are two gauges of the stories you liked best — top 10s of the most-read and most-discussed stories.

Cheney: ‘I was aware of’ waterboarding and ‘I supported it’

On ABC News Monday, Vice President Dick Cheney acknowledged knowing about and approving of the torture technique known as waterboarding.
“I was aware of the program, certainly, and involved in helping get the process cleared, as the agency in effect came in and wanted to know what they could and couldn’t do,” Cheney said. “And they [...]

As transportation secretary, Republican LaHood travels well

President-elect Barack Obama is making good on his promise to include the opposition in his cabinet: He’ll be nominating Republican Rep. Ray LaHood as the next Secretary of Transportation. While some in the liberal blogosphere are outraged that Obama is naming a moderate Republican to the post, I’m not. I cast the first vote of my life for LaHood, a native of my hometown, Peoria, Illinois. And many others, from Central Illinois Democrats to my conservative mom, a self-described “dittohead,” are calling LaHood a solid, pragmatic choice.

Two Minnesota groups concerned about Vilsack as ag secretary

Our colleagues at the Iowa Independent hail Gov. Tom Vilsack, President-elect Barack Obama’s choice for agriculture secretary, as a “consummate pragmatist” who has “endeared himself to both the left and the right.” But one group that’s not so fond of Obama’s selection is the Finland, Minn.–based Organic Consumers’ Association. It reacted to today’s announcement with a petition calling for organic producers and consumers to urge Obama to block the nomination, highlighting Vilsack’s support for factory farming and biotechnology. A tamer response came from Minneapolis’ Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy which contrasted Vilsack’s “fairly conventional perspective on agriculture” with the “unconventional times” we live in.

Nixon too suffers guilt by Blagociation

Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a guy it’s better not to have known — even if for only one flash-lit moment. Blago-smears have stained President-elect Barack Obama, U.S. Reps. Jesse Jackson, Jr. and Rahm Emanuel, and even our own U.S. Sen. Norm Coleman, in a case (so far) of guilt by free-association. Now a 1980 photo of [...]