As I noted yesterday, a group of Minnesota environmental organizations will be protesting state climate policy at the State Capitol tomorrow.
Now, as the owner of a blog, I am as big a believer in the First Amendment as anyone. But I take no government subsidies to rail against government policies.
The good folks at MN350.Org are not so squeamish. The Metropolitan Council, an unelected government agency, is sponsoring Saturday's political protest through its Metro Transit arm (scroll down on link) by providing free rides to protesters on the agency's bus system.
Yes, this is the same Metro Transit that is pleading poverty in regards to funding the Cedar Avenue bus rapid transit (BRT) line. No money for new transit, but plenty of funds to move protesters about.
Metro Transit is itself promoting the event with a press release touting the program, which
"raises awareness of the climate crisis and inspires leaders to take action."
Say, don't those "leaders" include the members of the Met Council? I look forward to Met Council's sponsorship of and fawning praise for the next Tea Party rally at the Capitol.
So who is MN350? It's a chapter of 350.org, founded by environmental author Bill McKibben. In this speech, rebroadcast by MPR today in advance of tomorrow's St. Paul rally, McKibben calls for civil disobedience on climate change. Your tax dollars at work!
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