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Insight News • July 18 - July 24, 2011 • Page 3
Shutdown: How we got to this mess By Kevin George, Hindsight 2020 Undergraduate Research Fellow There’s been a lot of comparison charts going around since the shutdown. In case you missed it, MPR released a June 30th video on how to understand the state budget mess in 3 minutes. It does a great job illustrating the budget differences between Governor Dayton and the state legislature. While the main divide centers around health and human
services. Conservatives are proposing a vision for Minnesota that strips much of what made our state strong. In the spirit of MPR’s 3 minute theme, I’m taking a crack at showing you—in 3 paragraphs—how we wound up in this mess. 1. Conservatives’ Unicorn offers. As we neared a shutdown, conservative lawmakers decided sending unrealistic offers to the governor would be good for progress. On June 16th, conservatives offered a “big compromise.” They eliminated
their tax cuts proposal, many of which went to middle-class Minnesotans and small business operators. Shifting this $200 million they thought would erase the $1.8 billion gap between them. On June 29th, 28 hours before the government shutdown, another proposal was introduced that asked the governor to accept a variety of non-budgetary agenda items, including a conservative redistricting proposal, voter identification laws, additional abortion regulations, and reducing collective bargaining rights.
Sudan From 1 for millions who have actually died in the name of this independence. So Saturday July 9th 2011, the people of South Sudan are finally free and we are free because of you, our brothers and sisters in Black America who joined with us during both wars. People from Minnesota, like Mahmoud El Kati, like you, Al McFarlane, and many others have actually struggled through the media and through lobbying to make sure that their brothers and sisters in South Sudan also become free. So it is a wonderful feeling and it is a wonderful feeling for all of us and I want to congratulate also the Black community for this victory and for this independence. Our victory is their victory for we are one in the struggle.
never knew, the millions who died in the struggle over a period of decades in pursuit of justice and freedom. And congratulations to all of humanity for this achievement. LJG: Thank you.
AM: Well, let me speak on behalf of the Black community and on behalf of Minnesota. Ladu Jada Gubek, congratulations to you, personally, to your family, to your parents and your children. Congratulations to the people you
AM: But what is the background that led to this point? LJG: Sudan has been at war with itself for more than half a century. It was a British colony. During the colonial period, the South and North were ruled separately. When
Jenn Warren, USAID Africa Bureau
Southern Sudanese line up to vote in Juba on January 9, 2011, the first of seven days of referendum polling.
the British were preparing to leave Sudan, Egypt instigated the merger of the South and the North as one under the rule of the North. AM: What differences distinguished the two, the South and the North? LJG: The Northern part of the country is actually purely Islamic and they identify themselves as Arabs, although when you look at the people, they, most of them look like you and me. Through their ideology, they believe they are Arabs. And they believe they are Muslims. The people in the South are of African origin. Most are Christians. Very few are Muslims. And they are those who believe in the traditional African religion. These cultural differences actually were factors for all these wars. In 1947 there was a Juba conference which brought together Northerners and Southerners. The British actually facilitated the gathering. Southerners actually had wanted to become separate but agreed to a condition that they would become one country if the South could be developed to the same level of the North. There were promises that this would
2. Distractions and publicity stunts. Among the many things that could be placed in this category, a few truly stand out. A classic bill that would have eliminated eight state agencies, including the Department of Transportation, Department of Management and Budget, and the Department of Revenue. The “shoot first” bill attempted to radically change the landscape of our gun laws in Minnesota. Proposing and passing the voter I.D. bill which would have seriously impinged on voter rights. They also voted to put a happen. But by 1955 the South was very sure that this is not going to take place. So the South took arms against the repressive regime in Khartoum. The agreement of 1972 brought peace and autonomy for the regional government of South Sudan for a short period of time. But in 1983 they abolished the agreement and introduced Islam as the state religion. It meant a Christian would not have a chance to actually participate in the government in Khartoum. Or if you do, you will have to participate in a junior position, because their law says a Muslim cannot be ruled by a non-Muslim. Dr. John Garang de Mabior and a handful of others again took up arms on May 16th 1983 and fought a war that was not only for South Sudan, but it was a war that was called for the entire marginalised citizens of Sudan that were brought together including South Sudan, the Nuba mountains, the Blue Nile, the Eastern Sudan, the Hadendowa, the Beja in the East and even the Northerners who felt that they were marginalised and that they are foreign. So it was a coalition war. Then in 2004–2005 when they were negotiating the peace agreement Southerners demanded for a secular Sudan. The North refused. They did arrive at an agreement allowing the people of South Sudan the opportunity to exercise their right to secede after 6 years, which is now 2011. We could choose whether to remain in United Sudan that is under the Islamic and Sharia system or to choose to be an independent country, independent South Sudan, a democratic country where every citizen is free. The Referendum held on January 9th resulted in separation today. Saturday weekend July 9th the people of South Sudan joined by their friends across the globe celebrated the independence of South Sudan in the Horn of Africa.
constitutional amendment that would ban gay marriage on the ballot for 2012. 3. Millionaires, not Minnesotans. In the waning hours of budget negotiations, Governor Dayton backed off taxing the top 2 percent, opting to only tax Minnesota millionaires, roughly 7,700 people. Evidently, there was no room for negotiations of that kind, and that proposal was promptly rejected. With all of the finger pointing, remember these three paragraphs. Credit should be given where credit is due. Conservatives’ hard
Somalia From 2 Independently provide, or in collaboration with other institutions of higher learning, a facilities for university education and research, including among other things technological and professional expertise and teaching aids; Participate in the discovery, transmission and preservation of knowledge and to stimulate the intellectual life and cultural development of Somalia; To conduct examinations and to grant such academic awards as may be provided for in the statutes and other functions of institution of higher learning.
work produced this shutdown. The governor has made seven reasonable and balanced offers to solve our budget deficit. Conservatives have offered gimmicks and “no-new-tax” ideology, but no compromise, to protect the state’s wealthiest. Minnesota 2020 is a progressive, new media, nonpartisan think tank focused on what really matters. Check out the main site www.mn2020.org. Check out the Hindsight Blog at www.mn2020hindsight.org
The elders said the University accepts as candidates for degrees, diplomas, certificates or for other awards of the University all Somalis that the Admissions Office considers to be qualified, with no regard to any restrictions based on ethnicity, sect, or other barriers. The admissions policy forbids ethnic, sect or other distinctions being imposed upon any person as a condition for his or her becoming, or continuing to be, a professor, lecturer, or student of the University or of his/her holding any office of the university. Founding documents say no preference shall be given to, or privilege be withheld from, any person on the grounds of his or her ethnic origin or sect.