I was suffering from sticker shock from buying mushrooms for the Thanksgiving holiday, when a friend pointed out that one can grow mushrooms in a bag in the basement, in the compost pile, on stumps or even in a helpful alliance with the garden. The most popular to grow are Shiitake Mushrooms. For the coldest basements, Enokitake mushrooms will grow in a 45 degree basement, which would look like this picture. Shaggy Mane mushrooms could be grown in your basement, and then the leftover bag can be put in the compost pile to provide a second crop.

Here is the perfect gift for a gardener for shady tree spots, for the pre-teen who likes science projects or just for a truly different and surprising gift for someone who has everything, started at about $25 plus shipping from Fungi Perfecti. Hint, hint, Santa Claus!

A few counties worked this weekend in the Minnesota Senate recount. The Al Franken and Norm Coleman campaigns challenged ballots at an even higher rate yesterday. As a result of increased Republican challenges, Norm's lead increased from 115 to 167. At this rate I calculate that we'll reach 4,000 challenged ballots. There was even less controversy, but that didn't stop the media from trying to gin one up.

This is 65.65% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th.

"I can remember the first home I bought in Midland, Texas. I remember going down to the savings and loan and sitting down with the savings and loan officer and negotiating with the savings and loan officer. Well, this day and age you're going to use -- mortgages have been bundled, so the savings and loan doesn't own the mortgage anymore, or the bank doesn't loan [sic] the mortgage anymore, the local lending institute doesn't loan [sic] the mortgage anymore: it's owned by some international group, perhaps, or it's been bundled into an asset. And so there's hardly anybody to negotiate with. And so some lenders [sic] aren't sure where to turn. They have credit-worthiness, they may get pinched as their interest rates reset." -- George orWell Bush, Fredericksburg, Virginia, December 17th, 2007

Well, give Dumbya partial credit; things have changed. But, since we can't expect Boy Blunder to explain how or why or what went wrong (one explanation is the election of "Bush The Lesser" - which is why we're doin' this countdown to "The End Of An Error"), who can we look to, to explain? Fortunately, a dedicated reader of MnBlue sent the ol' TwoPutter a YouTube that does just that! Let's look!!!

(editor's note: YouTube after the fold; use of parody may offend some.)

The Franken absentee court battle is really helping bring attention to an important issue. Even Minnesota could make absentee ballot voting easier. For stories like this break my heart:

Oh, and my husband (who is currently serving his country in the military) received a letter today that his vote was thrown out. Supposedly someone challenged his absentee ballot and election officials "determined" that the signature on his ballot did not match the signature on the absentee ballot application - even though he signed them both. I would love to know how many other voters also had their votes discarded like this... I can't even describe to you how angry it makes me.
(Kula2316 at DailyKOS)

November is a "blues" time to live up North. Truly you are feeling the lack of sunlight in your mood. I find one of the best cures is to do something active for the community like:

1) Phonebank: Call with a phone with free nationwide calling, to replace one of the very worst Senators in the game today with an actual progressive, the most progressive candidate to run statewide in Georgia in years, Democrat Jim Martin. Republicans have just dropped a $2 million bomb in the state! We can provide grassroots power by phonebanking through MyBarackObama.com . By the way, this method is easy and sweet. Just 15 voters at a time.

The third day of the Minnesota recount was even less exciting than the first two as Norm Coleman's lead over Al Franken reduced by 5 to 115 votes. Not that the Minneapolis Star Tribune was looking for attention grabbing headlines ... or anything. The challenges increased dramatically which reduced the gains for Al Franken. This may be due to Ramsey County Election Director Joe Mansky being told to "punt" any and all challenges to the canvassing board. My very own 8th Ward in Minneapolis may hold the key to a Franken victory. Finally, Norm flip flops on his election night comments that he would concede if he was trailing in the recount.

This is 60.86% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th.

"The legislature's job is to write law. It's the executive branch's job to interpret law." --George orWell Bush, Austin, Texas, November 22nd, 2000

And that's exactly how the misAdministration of Boy Blunder And The Plunderers ruled over these last eight years. And yes, I mean "ruled" - clearly, there was no attempt to govern with consent. But, that's a tangent. Getting back to "It's the executive branch's job to interpret law," this statement is part and parcel of their "unitary executive" philosophy. This philosophy interprets the Constitution's separation of powers to argue the power of Congress to check and balance the President's control of the executive branch is limited. I'd make a comment about the inherent hypocrisy of claiming to want "judges on the bench that don't intrepret the Constitution" when their view of Executive Power does exactly that, but: that, too, would be a tangent. Dick (cheney)in' Cheney is a strong adherent of this philosophy, which is why Biden called Cheney “the most dangerous vice president we've had probably in American history.” The Unitary Executive philosophy, in it's barest essence, is explained by Nixon, in his interview with David Frost:

For years, Minnesota has led in election integrity processes to make sure every vote is counted fairly and accurately. Media does not want to tell an orderly fair process story, instead they want drama, even when there is not drama!

Take for example, the challenger Bob Murray story:

One dustup came when Coleman observer Bob Murray questioned Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky on all the people jamming in the room as well as how ballot stacks were being counted. When Murray challenged a handful of ballots in which voters appeared to mark Franken clearly, Mansky said they were frivolous challenges, something state law prohibits.

“If you want to deal with it, take me to court,” Mansky said.
(Star Tribune)

Fortunately, Noah Kunin was producing the actual video of the what happened, and actually put this comment on the Strib's article

The quote from Mansky is slightly inaccurate as posted here. Consultation of video from the incident produces the following exact quote:

MANSKY: If you want to deal with them, you can take my determination to court.
Slightly more politic, I’d say…

Noah Kunin
Senior Political Correspondent
http://www.theuptake.org

Basically an independent journalist was doing a better job in the comments of actually reporting what really happened. The best reporting is actual video. Here's my video, produced by Noah Kunin:

"The president and I also reaffirmed our determination to fight terror, to bring drug trafficking to bear, to bring justice to those who pollute our youth." -- George orWell Bush, speaking with Chilean President Ricardo Lagos, Santiago, Chile, November 21st, 2004

January 20th, 2009 will bring The End Of An Error.

Less drama, more counting was the word today in the Minnesota Senate recount. Al Franken gained 43 votes to cut Norm Coleman's lead to 129 votes. I expected the Coleman campaign to challenge more ballots, but the challenges are about even. Franken volunteer turnout has continued to be awesome. The Coleman campaign has been paranoid. And finally today's tempest in a teacup, Norm accuses Al of trying to delay the recount to get the US Senate to decide the race once the new Congress is seated and has a large Democratic majority.

This is 42.33% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th.

When I first arrived at the Ramsey Recount Center, I was looking over the shoulder of election judge on the second page of challenges when only 0-3 challenges is normal. Every stray mark was being challenged. Apparently stray marks could be identifying marks according to an old law that prevent people from signing or otherwise marking their ballot, so they could get paid for their vote. I could foresee boxes of challenged ballots arriving in front of the canvas board. Fortunately later in the day, Joe Mansky, the Ramsey county elections director integrated the mark check into a brief flash. Also all challenged ballots are reviewed by Joe Mansky, who makes the authors give a reason, dismissing the frivolous. Joe Mansky also declared that stray marks are not identifying marks! Suddenly the recount process was again back up to speed, with only 0-3 challenges. It is everyday heroes like Joe Mansky who create good government.

"This morning my administration released the budget numbers for fiscal 2006. These budget numbers are not just estimates, these are the actual results for the fiscal year that ended February the 30th." --George orWell Bush, Washington, D.C., October 11th, 2006

"February 30th", eh? No wonder Boy Blunder thought the economy was doin' fine.

January 20th - just sixty days - will be The End Of An Error.

(Update: see below)

Here's what happened on the first day of the Minnesota Senate race recount. Al Franken's lawsuit to gain access to rejected absentee ballots was granted. There was another tempest in a teacup, a dust-up at the Ramsey County recount caused by a Republican activist. Most importantly, the recount began.

This is about 15.68% of votes counted out of 2,885,502 votes cast on November 4th

If we can stay at a pace of 15% per day, we're done in early December. However, the bigger counties of Hennepin and Ramsey will be recounting for a long time and the rural counties will finish sooner. Almost half the state lives in these two Twin Cities counties. Once the rural counties are done, our rate will slow down.

Update

Nate Silver at FiveThirtyEight.com declares that recounting cut Norm's lead of 215 down to 172.

According to data just released by the Minnesota Secretary of State, Al Franken has gained a net of 43 votes on the first day of that state's recount process. Norm Coleman had a lead of 215 voters over Franken in Minnesota's certified, pre-recount tally; that margin is now 172 votes.

Minnesota reports that it has thus far re-counted 15.49 percent of its ballots. If the first day's results are indicative of the pace that the candidates will maintain throughout the recount process, Franken would gain a net of 278 votes over Colmean, giving him a narrow victory. For any number of reasons, however, the results reported thus far may not be indicative of future trends.
(FiveThirtyEight.com)

The importance of Ramsey County Judge Dale B. Lindman's ruling is that this may uncover many uncounted Franken votes. Ramsey County knows Norm and voted overwhelmingly for Al. We don't yet know how many ballots were rejected in Ramsey County nor do we know if the Franken campaign will try to see Hennepin and St. Louis counties' rejected absentee ballots.

As to the ruling's implications for Franken's case before the State Canvassing Board, Lindman wrote: "With each passing hour, the Franken Campaign is irreparably harmed in its efforts to ensure that each valid vote is properly counted and to prepare for the procedures that will decide this election."

Franken recount lawyer Marc Elias said in a post-decision briefing that Lindman's opinion "is helpful to us" in relation to the Canvassing Board.

For his part, Coleman attorney Fritz Knaak wasn’t reeling from the decision. He said Wednesday afternoon that he and the Coleman campaign are focused on the recount and reported it was going “exceptionally well.”

Knaak called the Data Practices case and Lindman ruling a “side issue” and “not of any particular relevance to the count itself.”

But, clearly Elias will use Lindman’s opinion to urge the State Canvassing Board to allow rejected absentee ballots to be part of the count. That would run counter to an opinion offered earlier this week by the Minnesota attorney general’s office, but Lindman’s words – “irreparable harm” -- are sure to be heard over and over again.
(MinnPost)

Check out the ruling here.

At a Ramsey County recount location, a Republican activist, Bob Murray, was challenging far too many ballots for County Elections Director Joe Mansky's liking. On the AM950's Mark Heaney Radio Show, Mike McIntee of The Uptake said that Mansky told the Murray to quit making frivolous challenges and when the activist objected was told (and I'm paraphrasing) "this isn't a campaign, you can't do that and if you've got a problem with it, sue me."

One dustup came when Coleman observer Bob Murray questioned Ramsey County elections manager Joe Mansky on all the people jamming in the room as well as how ballot stacks were being counted. When Murray challenged a handful of ballots in which voters appeared to mark Franken clearly, Mansky said they were frivolous challenges, something state law prohibits.

“If you want to deal with it, take me to court,” Mansky said.
(Star Tribune)

Grace Kelly, who was there all day, said that Murray got louder and louder each time he didn't get his way. Mansky stayed calm the entire time. McIntee commented that Murray later apologized. I"ll post the video from the Uptake once they post it. Noah Kunin had this comment on the Strib's article

The quote from Mansky is slightly inaccurate as posted here. Consultation of video from the incident produces the following exact quote:

MANSKY: If you want to deal with them, you can take my determination to court.
Slightly more politic, I’d say…

Noah Kunin
Senior Political Correspondent
http://www.theuptake.org

Update

Here's Grace Kelly's video, produced by Noah Kunin:

Updated with a math fix!

Here is my first day report of the recount. The most interesting item is that Precinct 5-2 was off by 9 votes, which is startling because rarely does a precinct count vary by as much as 4 votes. An undercount could easily happen, it would simply mean a pen was used that the machine could not read. However these 9 votes were machine overvote, meaning the machine read more votes, than the manual recount read, which is surprising. Sometimes a ballot jams the machine and is re-submitted in error, when people think it wasn't read. So that can account for a few, not 9. The total manual count is 2009 is 1 off from the 2010 ballots cast from the Secretary of State website (a friend looked this up for me). So, this is a mystery and an outlyer. More info on this later in the article.

On Republican Fox News, Rep. Michele Bachmann (R-MN) embarrassed herself again. She now claims she never said what so many Americans have heard her say. Now we've got two more years of her embarrassing our state until we have another chance to take her out.

Download | Play Download | Play (h/t Crooks and Liars)

In Princess Sparklepony land, denying reality is as easy as ... well ... watch for yourselves to find out. Here's the reality that Princess Sparklepony cannot evade:

Transcript of her appearance with Alan Colmes after the fold...

"I appreciate the fact that Hank Paulson agreed to join my administration, after a long career as one of the world's most successful investment bankers. Here's how he puts it. He said, "This is far and away the strongest global economy I've seen in my business lifetime." In other words, not only is our economy strong, but so is the economies around the world." -- George orWell Bush, The Department Of Treasury, Washington, D.C., August 8th, 2007

One (cheney)in' year, and the economy goes from "the strongest in a lifetime" to the worst meltdown since The Great Depression??!?

Ladies and Gentlemen, you simply cannot believe anything that comes from the misAdministration of Boy Blunder And The Plunderers.

Thankfully, January 20th 2009 is The End Of An Error, and it's only 61 days away.

Minnesota Majority continues to try and suppress votes in the 2008 election. They were making calls in the run-up to intimidate voters and now they want to contest voters who had someone vouch for them. This is typical Republican strategy -- work hard to disenfranchise voters in Democratic-leaning areas.

Minnesota Majority's motto is "Standing Together for Traditional Values." Funny how traditional Republican values include vote suppression. Funny that they'd be lashing out at the MN Secretary of State Mark Ritchie after he began investigating their suppression efforts.

At a news conference, Minnesota Majority president Jeff Davis said the group is filing a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice contending that Secretary of State Mark Ritchie had failed to verify voter registrations as required by federal law.

The group is also seeking records from the Secretary of State's Office and county officials under the state's Data Practices Act on registration procedures, such as verification postcards returned as "undeliverable" and voters who registered by having someone vouch for them.
(Star Tribune)

I'm sure Jeff Davis and Co. won't trying to suppress votes in Stearns or any other conservative counties. I'm sure he'll be targeting Hennepin and Ramsey counties.

Let's just imagine that I'd spent the last year campaigning for Norm Coleman's reelection. Furthermore, suppose I'd repeated all of the Team Coleman talking points. Let's pretend I was willing to repeat every lie about Al Franken that Norm wanted me to especially the worst ones. Let's further imagine that Norm had put me onstage with him frequently as an example of a Democrat who strongly opposes Al.

What would happen if I were to go to the next SD60 meeting? What would happen if I were to somehow dupe everyone and become a delegate to the next DFL state convention? Would you forgive me?

In the cozy environs of the US Senate, Joe Lieberman's lying, demagoguery and actively campaigning for Grandpa McSame is not worthy of denying him the powerful Chair of the Homeland Security Committee. They always protect their own and at all costs. These Democrats go along with the Patriot Act, torture, Military Commissions Act, and warrantless wiretapping because they can get away with it.

Accountability? Rarely. Business as usual? Definitely.

Still waiting to hear from Sen. Amy Klobuchar on how she voted and why.

Update I

Here's Sen. Klobuchar's statement:

"The political season is over and the season for governance has begun. I appreciate that Sen. Lieberman has acknowledged he regretted some of the things he said in the heat of the electoral battle, and believe that the time has come to move forward - not out of revenge, but with a spirit of reconciliation and a focus on the future of our country."

Update II

Think Progress perfectly sums up how the Senate operates with their post entitled:

Lieberman: I’m ‘Grateful’ Senate Democrats Changed The Rules So That I’m Not Singled Out For Punishment

It is not unprecedented to strip a Senator of his Committee Chair when they endorse and actively campaign for a candidate from another party:

But Lieberman is not facing potential punishment because he has criticized his own party or failed to uphold its agenda. As Jamie points out, that is common behavior, and it would be highly unusual for Lieberman to be sanctioned for it. What Lieberman did was to endorse and campaign for the other party's presidential nominee. What has further upset Democrats is that, in their view, Lieberman promised to confine his role to praising McCain, but went beyond that to attack Obama.

For a Senator to endorse a member of the opposing party is extremely rare. The last instance I'm aware of is 1964, Mississippi Representative John Bell Williams and South Carolina Rep. Albert Watson, both Democrats, endorsed Barry Goldwater for president. After the election, they were stripped of their seniority. Doing the same to Lieberman would be following this precedent, not some unusual retribution.
(The Plank)

The question before the board that certifies election results was whether reviewing the acceptance or rejection of absentee ballots was a part of the recount process. The board decided that the recount process could start without having decided the absentee ballot question. The board also certified the election results as final except for the four races going into recount, which includes the senate race.

Here are some of the reasons that an absentee ballot can be rejected:

Last Saturday night in Duluth, I again had the privilege to dine as a guest with the Cadre and Cadets of the 420th Air Force ROTC Detachment. The Cadre's task is to lead, teach, and train these Cadets, who will become America's "Next Generation Of Heros." It's an honor to be with brave young men and women who willingly have volunteered to serve our country in the profession of arms - a profession they knowingly may put them directly in harm's way.

As we prepare to gather next week with family and friends for Thanksgiving, please consider a ceremony the Cadets performed before dinner was served at last Saturday's gathering - the same ceremony performed across this great country; the same ceremony recorded six months ago as performed by the Coral Springs Cadet Squadron, Civil Air Patrol, U.S. Air Force Auxiliary:

(editor's note: YouTube video after the fold)