Evergreene Digest A Journal of Progress for the Rest of Us

• The federal government has spent a lot of money for the purposes of avoiding a Depression and easing a recession. But it has not spent that money well or wisely.
• The jobs emergency
• Class Warfare from the Top Down

John Nichols, The Nation

The official jobless rate rose from 9.5 percent to 9.6 percent in August. That’s a modest increase, but the trajectory is in precisely the wrong direction for a country that fears a double-dip recession – not to mention an Obama White House that fears a big dip in Democratic majorities in the House and Senate after an election that is now just two months away.

The president says that there is "positive news" to be found in the fact that private sector employers created 67,000 new jobs. But that spin is not going to get very far at a point when the country must create twice that many jobs each month just to keep up with growth in the number of Americans who are entering the workforce.
 
And that does not begin to address the challenges posed by underemployment – Americ ans who have jobs but who can’t get enough hours or sufficient pay to support their families – and the growing number of long-term unemployed Americans who have given up looking for jobs.

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Discussing the new campaign finance paradigm in light of public disclosures of corporate partisanship and the marketplace and public relations wisdom in using that new freedom to affect electoral outcomes.

Andy Driscoll and Lynnell Mickelsen, Truth to Tell, KFAI-FM | MN

Do Target and Best Buy serve as prime examples of why corporate donations to political campaigns may not be wise investments? Is the flap over donations to Republican Tom Emmer's campaign a short-sighted result of not thinking ahead to the effect on bottom lines and shareholder discontent, not to mention customer backlash.

This may be the first inkling of the fallout over the US Supreme Court's Citizen United decision granting corporations the freedom to donate directly to political campaigns, not just to independent expenditures and phony fronts that try to undermine candidate credibility.

Guests:

• Mike Dean, President, Common Cause Minnesota
• David Schultz,  Author, Adjunct Professor of Law, Hamline University, Campaign Finance Specialist

Broadcast: in Minneapolis/St. Paul KFAI-90.3/106.7/Streamed @ KFAI.org<http://www.kfai.org/truthtotell> 9-10AM, Monday, September 13

Archived: Click here

This campaign is on the verge of being taken over by the attack dogs, dumpster divers and dirt diggers who make following a campaign smell like following a garbage truck on a 90-degree day. It's hard to pay attention to anything but the flies.

Nick Coleman, Minneapolis Star Tribune | MN

Labor Day marks the traditional start, in earnest, of election season. This year, it would be understandable if Minnesotans hoped that tomorrow's holiday would bring the end, rather than the beginning, of the 2010 campaign for governor.

We can't stand much more of this.

Last week's (August 29 - September 4) horror show included a Republican Party blogger demanding during a news conference being held by the DFL candidate, Mark Dayton, that Dayton produce papers from a 10-year-old divorce agreement. That cringeworthy moment was matched by a revelation in City Pages that the 20-year-old son of GOP candidate Tom Emmer had pleaded guilty to underage drinking (not driving), a charge that may have surprised someone, somewhere, if they are unfamiliar with 20-year-olds.

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