Northlanders for Corporate Accountability is a new group for folks committed to applying pressure to reckless/unethical companies like BP Oil and Goldman Sachs. To quote Noam Chomsky, many corporations engage in “massive rip-offs of the public.” And “under one guise or another, the public pays the costs and takes the risks, while profit is privatized.” The NCA is committed to changing the status quo in the only way possible – on the local level.

Interesting article over at Salon.com about aid making it to Gaza. It seems Hamas has a little bit to do with the aid not getting where it should. Color me surprised.

But hey, let’s just blame Israel instead.

As noted in a previous post, an Elvis impersonator is running for lieutenant governor in Minnesota.

Here are some other things that jump out at me from the candidate filings:

* Kenny Kalligher, co-host of Duluth Public Access Community Television’s The Average Guys is running for state auditor. He’s also a musician. Maybe you saw him at the Homegrown Music Festival, performing as Uncle Kenny.

* Longtime Republican Harry Welty is running for the State Senate in the 7th district on the DFL ticket. (By the way, Welty was my geography teacher in the 7th grade. My 9th grade civics teacher was Sam Solon, who held this senate seat for 31 years. And just to stretch these parenthetical Morgan-Park-Junior-High-related remarks out longer, I’ll note that the son of my 8th grade social studies teacher is running for judge in sixth district court 11.)

* Joe Reasbeck of Iron River is running for Congress in Wisconsin’s seventh district (currently Dave Obey’s seat; Obey’s retiring). This is, of course, the Joe Reasbeck of Google Goes to Twin Ports fame. He’s running as a Democrat.

An article in the Wausau Daily Herald notes that “in 2006 Reasbeck ran as an Independent write-in candidate for Congress in the Houston-area district formerly held by House Majority Leader Tom Delay. He raised about $4,000 from donors and ended up with less than 1 percent of the vote.”

An AP story notes that Reasbeck and other Republican candidates were officially considered independents after DeLay quit the race, but Reasbeck “said he was running as a Republican at the time and his campaign listed his party affiliation as Republican in a federal filing.”

My dad and my uncle are walking from sea to shining sea to raise awareness and prompt discussion about the perils of corporate personhood. Their blog is at lairdandrobin.org.

To learn more about the amendment that made corporations people, check out movetoamend.org. (There’s a petition there if anyone wants to get crazy active.)

As with any grassroots effort, every little bit of attention helps. Thanks in advance.

Well, it’s sort of regional… might be a good idea for Duluth:

St. Paul Mayor Chris Coleman orders boycott of city-funded travel to Arizona