The online publication Market Oracle recently reported that Wall Street banks and multibillionaires are rapidly buying up water all over the world. Shiney Varghesy, Senior Policy Analyst at the Institute for Agriculture and Trade Policy notes that "Fresh water commons are becoming degraded and depleted in both developed and developing countries."
In the United States, diversion of water for expanded commodity crop production, biofuels, and gas hydro-fracking is compounding the crisis in rural areas. In areas ranging from the Ogallala aquifer to the Great Lakes, water has been referred to as liquid gold. Willem Buiter, chief economist at Citigroup, views water as the single most important commodity, dwarfing oil, copper, agricultural commodities, and precious metals.
 Sandra Postel of the Global Water Project, cautions that if governments undermine local farmers in Africa through large scale commercial land and water schemes, social advancement in Africa will be curtailed. Shiney Varghese concludes that "National and international regulatory mechanisms must be put in place to ensure that basic resources such as land, water and the means for accessing fresh water do not become merely the means for profit accumulation for the wealthy, but are governed in a way that ensures the basic livelihood of those most dependent on it." Read her article, "Corporate Land Grabs Reveal a Hidden Agenda: Controlling the Water."
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 Investigative reporting in the New York Times revealed that a trio of Senators inserted a paragraph in the Fiscal Cliff Deal that will benefit Amgen to the tune of a half billion dollars by exempting the company from Medicare cost controls on drugs used in kidney dialysis. The trio were Republican Minority Leader Mitch McConnell, Democratic Senator Max Baucus, chair of the Senate Finance Committee, and that powerful committee's ranking Republican, Orrin Hatch. All three have received substantial campaign contributions from Amgen. Bill Moyers and Michael Winship explain how it happened. See their article "Foul Play in the Senate" along with Moyers interview of Peter Welch, Vermont's Democratic congressman, who just introduced bipartisan legislation to repeal the half billion-dollar giveaway to Amgen.__________________________________________
Senator Marty to Speak on Livable Wage and MoreVisionary Practical, and Carefully Researched Legislative Proposals
Monday, February 11, 7 p.m.
Fire Station (off Highway 5)
1500 80th Street, Victoria, MN 55386
 The Carver County (Senate District 47) DFL enthusiastically announces that Senator John Marty will be its guest speaker following its regular monthly meeting on February 11, 2013. The public is invited to hear one of Minnesota’s most renowned state legislators discuss the hottest topics on his legislative agenda, including his pending “Worker Dignity” bill and proposed single payer Minnesota Health Plan.
Senator Marty is by far the most energetic and practical progressive voice in the state Senate. As a legislator, Senator Marty is the best friend of those who work hard and still struggle to make ends meet. He holds a core belief that every person who works full time for a living deserves to be rewarded fairly. Full time workers should be able to afford adequate food, shelter and other necessities of life, including health care, and “should not be forced to live in poverty.” According to Marty, “Paying workers a living wage is the most important action that can be done to reduce poverty and welfare costs.”
Phil Benson is the DFL Outreach and Inclusion Officer for SD47 and lives in the Watertown Township.
See further details.
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Minnesotans Stand Up for Voting Rights
 Working over a short time frame, dedicated Minnesotans made phone calls, knocked on doors, handed out flyers at parades, spoke on the radio and YouTubes, submitted letters to the editor, and talked to their neighbors about the far reaching restrictions an amendment named "Photo ID" would place on voting in Minnesota. They shared with their fellow citizens the ways the Amendment would change Minnesota from the state with the most viable democratic election system to the state with the greatest barriers to voting. They explained the many details left out of the amendment that the next legislature would have to fill in. They described the origins of the amendment in the American Legislative Exchange Council, a coalition of global corporations, wealthy individuals, and legislators which meets to craft legislation in their own interest that is then introduced in legislatures across the country. They cautioned that the high cost of the complicated provisional balloting system would have to paid through increased property taxes.
The volunteers came from faith based institutions calling their fellow congregants, unions, and nonprofit organizations working together through Our Vote Our Future. They contacted over 1.5 million people. Their dedication to maintaining Minnesota's democracy paid off on election day when the "Photo ID" Amendment was defeated.  If they didn't reach you, you can find out more about the amendment by viewing the following videos and checking out the information on the amendment at the Think Again MN website.
This 3 minute video shows the many consequences Minnesotans of all walks of life would have faced if the amendment had passed.
Who was behind the Voter Restriction Amendment? Tim Obrien and Jeff Strate of Democratic Visions explain that narrow corporate interests have influnced Minnesota Republicans to put two constitutional amendments on the November ballot. Watch their 6 minute video.
Between performances at the Gospel Music Concert in Brooklyn Center on October 26, ministers and leaders in MN nonprofit organizations introduced the concert goers to the history of voting in the U.S. and Minnesota and commented on the devastating impact the Voter Restriction Amendment would have on the Minnesota election process. You can watch several of their passionate and insightful presentations on this half hour tape.
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Minnesotans Stand Up for Civil Rights
Minnesota made history in the early morning after the November 6th election by becoming the first state to defeat a marriage amendment that declared that marriage is between a man and a woman. The campaign against the marriage amendment was a long expensive 18 month campaign with 28,000 volunteers. During the final week of the campaign, volunteers knocked on 400,000 doors and made 900,000 phone calls. The defeat of the marriage amendment ended a 32 state winning streak by those who sought to limit marriage to a man and a woman.
Richard Carlbom, Campaign Manager of Minnesotans United for All Families, credited the breadth of the campaign for the victory. It brought together Republicans, Democrats, Independents and Green party members, faith leaders, and businesses. "This campaign was built on the idea that if we have an honest and authentic statewide conversation about why marriage matters and who should have the freedom to participate in it, that Minnesotans would value freedom and fairness above all else. And they did!" he said.
See Minnesota Public Radio's report and videos for more information.
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DFL Gains Majority in MN House and Senate
 Senate District 49, mainly Edina and West Bloomington, with small parts of Eden Prairie and Minnetonka, celebrated the success of all of its DFL candidates on election night. First time candidate Melisa Franzen gained the Senate seat. Republican turned DFL candidate Ron Erhardt regained the House 49A seat and Paul Rosenthal regained the House 49B seat. SD49 was the only Senate District to move from being completely on the Republican side of the aisle to the Democratic side. At left are Bill Melton, Chair of SD49 and Representative Paul Rosenthal at the election night celebration.
Congressional District 3 also gained three other new DFL Senators: John Hoffman in Senate District 36, Alice Johnson in Senate District 37, and Melissa Halvorson Wiklund in Senate District 50. Terri Bonoff who now has a district with more Republicans in western Plymouth won with almost 56% of the vote.
Congressional District 3 gained one additional House seat, Yvonne Selcer in 48A but lost House seat 36A. That leaves CD3 with a substantial gain of four additional DFL Senators and two additional Repesentatives.
Bloggers Steve Timmer and Tommy Johnson give a recap of the 2012 Election in Senate District 49, mainly Edina and West Bloomington and Senate District 48, Eden Prairie and Minnetonka on Democratic Visions. Timmer also explains the many reasons the Edina City Council opposed the Voter Restriction Amendment, See the November Democratic Visions.
Congratulations to all the new and returning legislators and a big thank you to those who worked hard and promoted DFL values in their SD's, but didn't win a seat in the legislature this time.
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Though he isn't headed for the White House, Paul Ryan will continue to wield influence in Washington as Chair of the House Budget Committee. The big story from the Republican Convention was the many falsehoods told by Vice Presidential candidate Paul Ryan. Juan Cole, professor of Middle Eastern history at the University of Michigan and an internationally prominent scholar, noted on his blog, Informed Comment, that Paul Ryan repeated statements previously proven to be false and added new ones to his speech at the Republican Convention. "He has to get people on his side who would be hurt by his policies. And that requires that he simply lie to them." Read his article:
"Ten Big Lies Paul Ryan Keeps Repeating That the Corporate Media Refuses to Push Back On"
Paul Ryan
6 Things You Need to Know
About Mitt Romney's VP Pick
1. He believes in the same top-down economic policies that chrashed our economy.
2. His plan wold require hiking taxes on middle-class families to pay for tax cuts for millionaires.
3. He'd cut Pell Grants, clean energy, and medical research funding even as he gives more tax breaks to oil companies and the wealthy.
4. He would end Medicare as we know it, turning it into a voucher program which would increase seniors’ health costs by $6,350 a year.
5. He favors privatizing Social Security, subjecting seniors’ retirement security to the whims of the stock market.
6. He cosponsored a bill that would ban many forms of birth control.
Obama’s Medicare reforms expand benefits for seniors and lower out-of-pocket costs. The Affordable Care Act actually enhances Medicare benefits by closing the prescription drug coverage gap known as the “doughnut hole” and expanding free preventive services, including an annual wellness visit.
The Congressional Budget Office has estimated that the Ryan/Romney plan to give seniors coupons to buy their own insurance will cost retirees over $6,000 more by 2020 and over $12,000 more by 2030. That means seniors can expect to pay $14,000 for Medicare and a supplmental plan by 2020 and $20,000 for each person by 2030. That's no problem for extremely wealthy people like Paul Ryan and Mitt Romney, but what about the average middle class retired couple, not to mention the poor. How many retired couples can afford $40,000 a year in medical insurance plus their health care deductions and copays?
Erik Paulsen has voted for the Ryan budget that ends the Medicare that currently provides secure care for seniors and replaces it with coupons that pay part of the cost of a plan from a private insurance company. Do seniors really want to give up their secure Medicare coverage for much higher cost private policies?
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Romney won't tell voters that the number of small businesses in Massachusetts shrank under his watch as governor of Massachusetts—or that his state dropped to 47th out of 50 in job creation under his watch. And he certainly won't mention that he's proposing to raise taxes on middle-class families to pay for huge tax breaks for the wealthiest Americans.
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