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To People for the American Way (www.pfaw.org)

We have a nearly  complete government SHUTDOWN here in  Minnesota.

Our governor bravely struggles to "negotiate" with members of the "immovable object" - which is secret members of the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), AEI, graft takers, those sworn to the Grover Norquist "oath" which places oaths to his "PAC" over the sworn State of  Minnesota legislative oath.

What is at stake in Minnesota is a complete gutting of our government, a resource grab of our land, resources and people as quickly, cheaply and as recklessly as possible; privatization of many vital functions if the right wing loonies have their way.  It is a graft and corruption racket which has not been exposed by our media despite our repeated and presistent efforts to expose the depth of the social cuts proposed by both sides and the total inequality of the Minnesota tax system.

We reached out to progressive legislators, the press, other progressive groups, unions and professional poverty industry "types," and citizens from November to date - including our position on Citizen's  United.

I was able to reach a minimum of 16,000 - largely at my own expense and am now facing eviction.  A few generous souls have seen to  it that at least we have a few dozen teeshirtson the ground, that we had ink and money for our blog, USuncutMN.blogspot.com.  Despite repeated requests for financial help and backing, we have not even reached the $1000 goal orginally required to do a half-way respectable job.

It was with delight that I saw that ALEC was finally being extensively exposed by PFAW.org and rightwingwatch.org. The booklet is superb and so were the public statements that came on national media.  We tried to reach as many fine bloggers, organizations, and activists as possible @Netroots Nation as humanly possible, asking for  help and support as the SHUTDOWN neared. There is not a single action  proposed or educational pamphlet that we have offered that does not mention ALEC since the beginning of the session.  We've added our tiny drop to the growing  ocean of  protestors against ALEC and Grover Norquist.

As a result of pushing "ideological purity," growing a progressive coalition to fight back has been fraught with difficulty. It's hard to get progressive support from organizations that don't want to work w/others and rely on the old organizing  prp