Zombies arrested in downtown Minneapolis (July 25)

Jamie Lee Jones

Jessica Rae Baribeau

Jake Benjamin Sternberg

Christian Alexander Utne

Marie Katyanne Kibbe

Raphi Rechitsky

'Zombies' file lawsuit against city of Minneapolis

MINNEAPOLIS (AP) - A group of zombies have risen up to claim the city of Minneapolis and Hennepin County violated their free rights and discriminated against them.

The six adults and one juvenile who were arrested while impersonating the undead in July filed their lawsuit Thursday.

The ragged group were arrested for "simulating weapons of mass destruction" during a dance party near the Minneapolis entertainment district.

Police alleged that wires protruding from the zombie's backpacks could have been bombs or were meant to imitate bombs. It was later learned the wires were actually radios.

The adult zombies were jailed for two days before police and city attorneys said there was not enough evidence to charge them.

The lawsuit claims the zombie event was intended to "satirize contemporary commercial culture" and the arrests violated the partygoers rights to free speech.

City officials did not return a call to the St. Paul Pioneer Press seeking comment on Wednesday. City offices were closed on Thanksgiving.

Source

Gingrich raises alarm at event honoring those who stand up for freedom of speech

MANCHESTER – Former Speaker of the House Newt Gingrich yesterday said the country will be forced to reexamine freedom of speech to meet the threat of terrorism.

Gingrich, speaking at a Manchester awards banquet, said a "different set of rules" may be needed to reduce terrorists' ability to use the Internet and free speech to recruit and get out their message.

"We need to get ahead of the curve before we actually lose a city, which I think could happen in the next decade," said Gingrich, a Republican who helped engineer the GOP's takeover of Congress in 1994.

Gingrich spoke to about 400 state and local power brokers last night at the annual Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment award dinner, which fetes people and organizations that stand up for freedom of speech.

Gingrich sharply criticized campaign finance laws he charged were reducing free speech and doing little to fight attack advertising. He also said court rulings over separation of church and state have hurt citizens' ability to express themselves and their faith.

Last night's event, held at the Radisson Hotel-Center of New Hampshire, honored a Lakes Region newspaper and a former speaker of the House for work in favor of free expression.

The Citizen of Laconia was given the Nackey S. Loeb First Amendment Award, which is named after the longtime President and Publisher of the Union Leader Corporation, owner of New Hampshire's statewide newspaper.

The Citizen scrutinized the Newfound Area School Board beginning last year over a series of e-mail discussions held before public meetings. It also used the right-to-know law to uncover costly decisions by the town of Tilton this year.

Executive Editor John Howe said the decision to pursue the stories led to at least one advertiser canceling its business with the paper.

"We try to practice what we preach, even if it costs us business," Howe said. "And it has and it will in the future.

Also honored was Marshall Cobleigh, former House speaker and a longtime aide to former Gov. Meldrim Thomson.

Cobleigh introduced an amendment to the state Constitution defending free speech. He also helped shepherd the state's 1967 right-to-know law through the Legislature.

Gingrich's speech focused on the First Amendment, but in an interview beforehand, he also hit upon wide-ranging topics.

• Gingrich said America has "failed" in Iraq over the past three years and urged a new approach to winning the conflict. The U.S. needs to engage Syria and Iran and increase investment to train the Iraqi army and a national police force, he said. "How does a defeat for America make us safer?" Gingrich said. "I would look at an entirely new strategy." He added: "We have clearly failed in the last three years to achieve the kind of outcome we want."
• Political parties in Presidential primary states should host events that invite candidates from both parties to discuss issues, said Gingrich, who criticized the sharpness of today's politics.
• Gingrich said voters unhappy with the war, the response to Hurricane Katrina and pork barrel spending were the main drive behind the GOP's rejection at the polls. But he argued Republicans would have retained the Senate and just narrowly lost the House if President Bush had announced the departure of embattled Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld before, instead of after, the election.
• Gingrich said he will not decide whether he is running for President until September 2007.

The event last night was sponsored by the Nackey S. Loeb School of Communications. The school was founded in 1999 to promote journalism and other forms of communication.

Minnesota voters send first Muslim to Capitol Hill

MINNEAPOLIS, Minnesota
(CNN) -- In a political first, a Muslim has been elected to serve in the U.S. Congress.

Keith Ellison, a Minnesota state legislator and lawyer, reached the political milestone by defeating two other candidates in Minnesota's 5th Congressional District, which covers the Minneapolis area.

His victory was part of the Democratic wave that seized control of the House of Representatives from the Republicans.

Ellison won 56 percent of the vote, defeating Republican Alan Fine and the Independence Party's Tammy Lee, both of whom garnered 21 percent of the vote. A Green Party candidate received 2 percent.

With 99 percent of the precincts reporting, Ellison received 135,519 votes, Fine 51,896, and Lee, 51,250.

Ellison is also the first African-American from Minnesota to be elected to the U.S. House. He ran on the Democratic-Farmer-Labor ticket in a district that is heavily liberal.

Members of that party, a uniquely Minnesotan movement, describe the DFL as the state chapter of the Democratic Party.

Ellison's winning platform

Ellison's views reflect Democratic ideals and discontent. (Watch what Ellison said about Katrina victims, abortion and insurance for the poor -- 2:38)

He is opposed to the war in Iraq and on his Web site, he has called "for an immediate withdrawal of U.S. troops from Iraq."

"I opposed the war before it began. I was against this war once it started and I am the only candidate calling for an immediate withdrawal of troops."

His religious message is one of inclusiveness.

Regarding his Muslim faith, he said, "people draw strength and moral courage from a variety of religious traditions."

"Mine have come from both Catholicism and Islam. I was raised Catholic and later became a Muslim while attending Wayne State University. I am inspired by the Quran's message of an encompassing divine love, and a deep faith guides my life every day."

Ellison's position on the Israeli-Palestinian issue is supportive of the two-state solution and the road map to peace process. He has been critical of the Hamas movement.

"Peace is necessary for both Israeli and Palestinian people, and I wholeheartedly support peace movements in Israel and throughout the region," he said in a statement on his Web site.

He was endorsed by the Twin Cities newspaper, the American Jewish World, which said, "In Ellison, we have a moderate Muslim who extends his hand in friendship to the Jewish community and supports the security of the State of Israel."

Ellison is pro-choice and pro-labor, and supports "universal single payer health care" -- long popular stances among liberals.

The seat Ellison won had been held by Rep. Martin Olav Sabo, the longtime Democratic incumbent, whose retirement sparked a wide-open race. Sabo won 70 percent of the vote for the House seat in 2004.

Source

The Votes Are In! And I Didn't Win. :(

BUT, I got 11.4% of the vote. Not so bad, considering I barely campaigned. Something about breaking up with a husband and having the previous husband die that just takes the thrill out of it. LOL And, I didn't believe I would win. Between my late entry into the race and the local papers hatred of Libertarians that turned the race into "the evil Libertarians against the good Dems/Reps", there was little chance of my swaying the majority.

Here are the results:

NP - Michael J. Wallace	26340	27.42
NP - Bernard L. Stewart	24264	25.26
NP - Jacob Eapen	24096	25.08
NP - Gwen S Todd	10795	11.24
NP - Steve Strayer	10228	10.65
Write-in	335	0.35

Stay tuned. I already have my candidate info site for the next run and have learned a lot about what to expect. Watch this space for me to be the WINNER of the race next time around.

Not Child Left Behind . . .just suspended and humiliated

Fourth Grader Suspended After Refusing to Answer Exam Question

By David Evans

Nov. 3 (Bloomberg) -- Tyler Stoken was a well-behaved fourth grader who enjoyed school, earned A's and B's and performed well on standardized tests.

In May 2005, he'd completed five of the six days of the Washington State Assessment of Student Learning exam, called WASL, part of the state's No Child Left Behind test.

Then Tyler came upon this question: ``While looking out the window one day at school, you notice the principal flying in the air. In several paragraphs, write a story telling what happens.''

The nine-year-old was afraid to answer the question about his principal, Olivia McCarthy. ``I didn't want to make fun of her,'' he says, explaining he was taught to write the first thing that entered his mind on the state writing test.

In this case, Tyler's initial thoughts would have been embarrassing and mean. So even after repeated requests by school personnel, and ultimately the principal herself, Tyler left the answer space blank. ``He didn't want them to know what he was thinking, that she was a witch on a broomstick,'' says Tyler's mother, Amanda Wolfe, sitting next to her son in the family's ranch home three blocks from Central Park Elementary School in Aberdeen, Washington.

Because Tyler didn't answer the question, McCarthy suspended him for five days. He recalls the principal reprimanding him by saying his test score could bring down the entire school's performance.

``Good job, bud, you've ruined it for everyone in the school, the teachers and the school,'' Tyler says McCarthy told him.

`He Cried'

Aberdeen School District Superintendent Martin Kay ordered an investigation. ``My suspension was for refusal to comply with a reasonable request, and to teach Tyler that that could harm him in the future,'' McCarthy told an investigator. ``I never, for a second, questioned my actions.''

Tyler, who's 4 feet (1.2 meters) tall and weighs 70 pounds (32 kilograms), hasn't been the same since, his mother says.

``He liked the principal before this,'' she says. ``He cried. He didn't understand why she'd done this to him.''

Now, Tyler blows up at the drop of a hat, his mother says. ``They created a monster. He'll never take that test again, even if I have to take him to another state,'' she says.

Tyler's attitude about school changed. He became shyer. He's afraid of all tests and doesn't do as well in classes anymore, his mother says.

`Blatant Defiance'

McCarthy's May 6, 2005, letter to Tyler's mother detailed her son's suspension. ``The fact that Tyler chose to simply refuse to work on the WASL after many reasonable requests is none other than blatant defiance and insubordination,'' McCarthy wrote.

In the letter, she accused Tyler of bringing down the average score of the other 10 students in his class. ``As we have worked so hard this year to improve our writing skills, this is a particularly egregious wound,'' McCarthy wrote.

Her accusation was wrong, state regulations show. There is no averaging of the writing scores. Each student either meets or fails the state standard.

Tita Mallory, director of curriculum and assessment for the Aberdeen School District, says school officials feel tremendous pressure because of the high-stakes tests.

While there's no academic effect on elementary school children taking the exams, there can be repercussions for school administrators. When schools repeatedly fail to show adequate yearly progress, as defined by No Child, the principal can be fired.

``In many ways, there's too much emphasis on the test,'' Mallory says. ``I don't want that kind of pressure on our kids.''

Out of 74,184 fourth graders taking the WASL test last year, 42.3 percent failed to meet the state standard for writing.

Juanita Doyon, director of Mothers Against WASL and author of, ``Not With Our Kids You Don't! Ten Strategies to Save Our Schools'' (Heinemann, 144 pages, $14.95), says Tyler's experience is representative of what's wrong with tests like the WASL.

``They took a student who loved his school and crushed his spirit,'' Doyon, 46, says.

``We've elevated test scores to be the most important part of school. The principal and teachers are so pressured by the test that they've lost good sense in dealing with children.''

To contact the reporter for this story: David Evans in Los Angeles at davidevans@bloomberg.net

From Swami Beyondananda's Newsletter 11-2-06

No Story, No World ...New Story, New World

~~~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~ ~~~

In her book, Butterfly, Norie Huddle offers a powerful biological metaphor about the caterpillar' s metamorphosis into a butterfly. Inside the cocoon, new cells -- called, appropriately "imaginal cells" -- begin to pop up. Initially, these cells are recognized as "not the caterpillar" and are attacked. At some point, there are enough imaginal cells that they begin to communicate with each other and cluster together in communities. Although the caterpillar organism is still attacking these cells, the new cells become stronger and eventually and inevitably, the imaginal cells become the butterfly. So, you may be asking as you read or watch the news, where's the butterfly? Or, as the Swami has said, "Will the new age get here before old age does?"

And certainly, on the surface it's all caterpillar out there. But just as there is a moment where the field shifts from caterpillar to butterfly, I can assure you that the imaginal cells are popping up everywhere and beginning to cluster and communicate. And just as sure as a caterpillar never says, "You know, I'm not sure about this flying butterfly thing so I think I'll just go back to being a crawly caterpillar, " the process of evolution is a one-way street leading onward and upward.

In my travels to just about every region in the country over the past two years, I've seen this awakening and "up-wising." On one hand, those who allow themselves to see are facing the awful truth of how we've been betrayed by our leaders and institutions. On the other, people are also embracing the awesome opportunity as they see things as they can be, were we to actualize our human potential. It can be an emotional roller coaster to go from one extreme to the other, wondering how long it will take for a critical mass of citizens to awaken to the "critical mess." One thing is for certain, though. We can't get there from "here" when "here" means continuing to do what we've always done.

We Can't Get There From Here Unless We Find a New "Here"

To paraphrase Albert Einstein, a problem can never be solved at the level it was created. So it should come as no surprise as we shift from the Newtonian world view of force vs. opposing force, that we recognize that the dualistic political parties and cultural forces will only keep us stuck doing what we've been doing. Neither of the dominant dominator stories -- dogmatic religion or cynical materialism -- will be able to help us achieve this new emergent phase. A new story is needed, one that encompasses the spiritual and the material, that celebrates the individual and yet honors community, that anchors us with all that is precious in the past and also points us where none have gone before.

Thanks to a combination of intention and graceful good fortune, I am working with cellular biologist Bruce Lipton (The Biology of Belief) on a book that offers a new story based on the latest understandings of biology and quantum physics, and -- not coincidentally -- consistent with the teachings of the great spiritual masters. Boiled down, the message is this: "Just as our body is a harmonious community of 50 trillion cells, we humans are a 6.5 billion cell community on the surface of the earth. Since nature tells us that patterns repeat at higher levels of complexity -- from cell to organ to organism to planet -- what works under our skin is very likely to work in our human community as well."

On a purely biochemical level, the cell, the organism and the planet all need the same things: Clean water, nutrients and oxygen. Should any of these be compromised on any level, from cellular to planetary, life itself is threatened. On the psychological, social and spiritual level, harmony works better than disharmony. Throughout the recorded history of civilization, we have suspected this is true. It's what just about every religion or spiritual path has at its root, some version of the Golden Rule. Over millennia, we humans have been "content" to -- in the words of Alan Watts -- worship the finger instead of noting where the finger is pointing. But now, the dysfunctionality has gotten so profound and destructive to the entire planet, that we must finally turn to living those truths our teachers have been patiently trying to teach us for centuries. Put bluntly, unless we consciously choose to play "the world game," the "end-of-the- world" game will play itself out.

And the Good News Is ... the Bad News IS The Good News This bad news is good news indeed. It means we humans can no longer survive at this level of consciousness, and must metamorphose into something greater. The good news is that "truth" is inclusive, that Jesus and Einstein were both right, that we are indeed "all in this together, here to re-grow the Garden and have a heaven of a time doing it." Yes, it is easier said than done. However, we must say it before we can do it. And instead of the stories we've been telling ourselves -- either we are helpless children who can only be saved by divine intervention, or that we're even more helpless isolated entities stuck in an uncaring and random universe -- we need an empowering and enlightening story that encompasses science and spirit.

Getting back to those imaginal cells, what finally brings forth the new organism is the growing coherence of a new field. On the human level, the foundation of that coherence is a new story. Think about all the good work and well-intentioned organizations in this country and around the world. Consider those who understand and are working for environmental health, personal wellness, universal spiritual awareness without dogma, social and economic justice, sustainable business, enlightened education of our children, non lethal forms of problem-solving, etc., etc., etc. All of these great causes ...

And yet, it seems like so many of these well-meaning organizations are overworked and underfunded, seemingly in competition with one another for limited resource, and far too often disheartened and discouraged. A coherent and unifying story of what the "butterfly" looks like when it's up and flying can help us see how all of this work fits together, and how we can prioritize and move forward. It's my profound hope and intention that this book, The American Evolution, and the accompanying website will help transform the imaginal field of dreams into reality.