Secrets of the City

MinnPost reports that Al Franken’s first piece of legislation, a bill that provides “money for a pilot program and study for organizations that connect disabled veterans with service dogs,” has passed in the Senate and is just waiting to be signed by Obama to become law:

“We owe so much to the brave men and women who risk everything for us,” Franken said in a statement. “This legislation is a small but important step in making sure they can lead the happy, productive lives they deserve when they get home from the battlefield.”

The Daily Show sums up (and mocks) responses to Al Franken’s amendment to defund military contraters who have a cluase in their contracts forcing rape victims to arbitrate, rather than sue. In summary, 30 voted against the defunding, all of them Republicans, many of whom had voted to defund ACORN.

Both Al Franken and Amy Klobuchar voted to renew the Patriot Act, and, as the Minnesota Independent details it, both sort of embarrassed themselves in the process: The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) singles out Franken for forgetting the very Fourth Amendment to the U.S. Constitution with which he so recently bludgeoned an Obama Administration witness before the same committee.

In the meanwhile: Another sad but humorous moment of disappointment came from Senator Klobuchar, who opposed Senator Durbin’s amendment to ensure that the FBI only use National Security Letters to obtain records related to a spy or terrorist. Thinking that she was reading the text of the bill that she was about to vote for, Klobuchar recited instead Senator Durbin’s proposal to defend the reasonableness of the NSL standard in the bill..

Al Franken is introducing his second piece of legislation, which would expand the requirements for labeling products used in the household. From MPR: “Moms and dads have a right to know whether harmful chemicals are present in their kitchen cupboards,” Franken said. “When my wife Franni and I were raising our own kids, we were constantly concerned with what we used to wash their cribs, their pacifiers, the floors, and surfaces they played on. This is just a common-sense measure to help parents keep their kids safe and healthy.”

Blogger Dusty Trice offers up this video of an interaction between Al Franken and a group of Tea Bag Protesters (and others) at the State Fair, which seems like it might be explosive, but instead ends up civil and quite informative.

Mediation posts Al Franken’s first exchange with Sonia Sotomayor, which, surprisingly, was on the subject of Net neutrality. Franken’s concern, as he told Sotomayor, was that the Supreme Court is “”the last place a person can go to protect the free flow of information on the Internet.” (Similar questions to Franken’s were also raised by a Huffington post article) “It’s frightening,” Franken said, presenting the subject as a First Amendment issue and making the case that ISPs could block the flow of information unless directed to do otherwise. Sotomayor seemed to indicate that this was an issue for Congress, but what sort of an issue do you think it is?

The Minnesota Supreme Court has affirmed that Al Franken is entitled to receive the election certificate. (PDF of ruling)

I haven’t posted this yet, even though it’s a few days old: In an order issued just a short while ago, the Minnesota election court has now commanded Norm Coleman to pay Al Franken $94,783.15 in itemized costs from the trial.

Or, as Gawker puts it: Norm Coleman Owes Al Franken A Lot of Money

The Mn Supremes look at Coleman’s case in the Franken v. Coleman senate race. Uptake offers a live video feed, while MPR offers live updates. As of this moment, the judges do not seem very sympathtic to the case.

So Senator Arlen Specter (R-Pa.) is switching parties. That puts Minnesota, and our local Sentatorial race in the spotlight again, because it means that Al Franken, when Coleman has run through his appeals process (sometime in the next five years, one assumes), will be the Senator who brings in the supermajority vote.