As Minnesota 6th Congressional District constituents ring in the New Year, they can look back on the historic election year of 2008 with some measure of pride in the knowledge that their representative in Congress made a strong showing (of sorts) in several “Year in Review” lists. That’s no easy feat, considering the U.S. House of Representatives has 435 members, each vying for attention.

Here’s a partial rundown, as reported in the media:

Bachmann’s ‘Anti-American’ Comment Makes Best-TV-Moments List

By Paul Schmelzer
The Minnesota Independent
December 20, 2008

When TIME’s Best of 2008 series came out, I was surprised that Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann didn’t make the cut. Her infamous October appearance on Hardball didn’t merit mention in the Top 10 Campaign Video Moments (which, rightfully, saw Sarah Palin’s Katie Couric interview at the top) or Top 10 Campaign Gaffes.

Now, as 2008 winds down, we’ll start seeing more of Michele. The first two: Today, the New York Times’ Ginia Bellafante includes Bachmann’s “most embarrassing moment” on Hardball in her list of TV “Moments that Float and Sting.”

Meanwhile, Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 recognizes the 6th District U.S. representative for “channeling Joseph McCarthy” on the MSNBC show. She’s competing against the likes of Joe the Plumber, Rush Limbaugh, PUMAs and Barack Obama (“for being a Muslim, Arab, too-black, not-black-enough, Communist, socialist, Marxist, non-flag-pin-wearing, baby-killing, Hamas-endorsed, appeasement-practicing, elitist, community-organizing, eloquent, big-eared man who pals around with terrorists and can’t bowl”) for Best Campaign Villain of 2008. …

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Winner of Indecision 2008 Award for Best Campaign Villain of 2008

Posted by: TheInDecider
December 22, 2008

Last week, we asked you to decide who was the Best Campaign Villain of 2008.

And you dredged up all your hate to make your voices sound clear as a bell across this great land of ours.

First, before we announce the winner, here’s the nominees as you decided them …

* Michele Bachmann

* Joe the Plumber

* Rush Limbaugh

* Keith Olbermann

* The lunatic fringe of Ron Paul supporters

* Barack Obama

* The PUMAs

And the winner for Indecision 2008’s Best Campaign Villain of 2008 is …

Michele Bachmann, in a landslide victory!

And here she is, channeling Joe McCarthy, in her shining moment …

Minnesota Rep. Michele Bachmann, voted Comedy Central’s Indecision 2008 “Best Campaign Villain of 2008″ for channeling Joseph McCarthy by implying that Obama held anti-American views and calling for media investigation into other members of Congress to see whether they were pro-America or anti-America.

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Michele Bachmann (Year in Review)

Posted by: Political Muse
December 23, 2008

Over the past year Michele Bachmann has been honored seven times with a worse, worser, or worst person in the world award by Keith Olbermann. Congratulations 6th District, this is who you have chosen to represent your values:

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The Golden Crookies 2008: Who Was the Year’s Biggest Wingnut?

By David Neiwert
CrooksAndLiars.com 
December 30, 2008

Who was the biggest wingnut of 2008?

Everybody’s been compiling their Top 10 lists of 2008. We’ve decided to compile a list of the biggest right-wing nutcases of the year — which, admittedly, could be a very long list indeed.

I consulted the C&L staff, and indeed there was not shortage of suggestions. The competition was fierce, but we finally pared it down to the list on the poll below. …

More information on each of the contestants at the links below:

Sarah Palin

Bill Kristol

Michele Bachmann

Pastor John Hagee

Sean Hannity

Lou Dobbs (more here)

Bill O’Reilly

Rush Limbaugh

Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher

Mike Huckabee

[Note: I would not characterize all of the above as "wingnuts" (for example, Mike Huckabee and Lou Dobbs), which I expect will be reflected in the final vote totals.]

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1/1/09 Update

Golden Crookies Wingnut of the Year: Sarah Palin in a Runaway

By David Neiwert
CrooksAndLiars.com
January 1, 2009

After polling our readers earlier this week, we’ve come up with the winner of the First Annual Golden Crookies Award for the Year’s Biggest Wingnut. And it really wasn’t a contest:

Sarah Palin: 5,738 (38%)

Sean Hannity: 2,762 (18%)

Michelle Bachmann: 1,969 (13%)

Bill Kristol: 1,535 (10%)

Rush Limbaugh: 1,089 (7%)

Samuel “Joe the Plumber” Wurzelbacher: 808 (5%)

Bill O’Reilly: 781 (5%)

Mike Huckabee: 237 (2%)

Lou Dobbs: 179 (1%)

Pastor John Hagee: 144 (1%)

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Related report

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington Releases 2008 Most Embarrassing Re-Elected Members of Congress Report

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Minnesota U.S. Senate Recount — Live Coverage

Live Streaming Video of Coleman-Franken Recount from TheUpTake

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THE IRAQI EXODUS

An exodus of more than 2 million Iraqis is reshaping the Middle East — with ominous implications for the region.

Part 2 of 3:

U.S. Slow to Meet Needs, Refugees Say

By Matthew Hay Brown

Dec. 29, 2008

Excerpts

DOUMA, Syria – Mustafa Hamad Rassoul doesn’t see how his family can survive. …

“America always talks about human rights,” he says while waiting at the U.N. refugee registration center in this city outside Damascus. “They come and say they are liberating us. Let them find a place where I can live.”

The demand echoes around the world. The United States has admitted more than 16,000 Iraqi refugees in the past two years … and expects to more than double that number by the end of 2009. The nearly $570 million the United States has spent since the beginning of 2007 to improve conditions for displaced Iraqis, both in Iraq and abroad, has surpassed the contributions of the rest of the world combined.

Critics say it is not enough.

“The United States is responsible for this mess, frankly,” says Joost Hiltermann, a Middle East analyst with the International Crisis Group, an independent organization that advises governments on conflict resolution. “It certainly was responsible for allowing the chaos that enveloped Iraq. It should therefore bear the responsibilities.”

More than 2 million Iraqis have fled the kidnappings, car bombings and killings that have racked their homeland since the U.S.-led invasion almost six years ago. Most remain in Syria, Jordan and other neighboring countries, where they are drawing down their savings while burdening local services.

Officials on all sides warn of a population whose growing desperation could threaten stability in the region and beyond.

A coalition of advocates, including Refugees International, the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops and the Baltimore-based Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service, is calling on the United States to nearly triple the money it spends on the displaced Iraqis while allowing the entry of as many as 105,000 in 2009 – a sevenfold increase over current admissions. …

President George W. Bush did not mention the crisis in public until March of this year, when he said after a meeting with King Abdullah II that the Jordanian monarch had “pointed out something which I knew, but I wasn’t exactly sure how it was affecting his country, that there are roughly three-quarters of a million Iraqi citizens who have moved to Jordan.”

Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin has presided over hearings on the crisis as co-chairman of the Helsinki Commission. “I think the United States is trying to keep this out of the limelight,” the Maryland Democrat says. “They’re trying to show positive developments in Iraq, and they know that if they highlight the people who are dislocated refugees, that’s an issue that they don’t know how to deal with.” …

The coalition of advocates is calling on the United States to increase its support for Iraqis in the region to $1.35 billion in 2009 while admitting 105,500 Iraqis for resettlement. …

Denis Halliday, a former U.N. humanitarian coordinator in Iraq, has been a vocal critic not only of the war but of U.S. policy toward Iraq dating to the U.N. embargo from 1991 to 2003 – he was the first U.N. official to track Iraqis killed by U.S. and British fliers patrolling the no-fly zones between the first and second Iraq wars. He says the United States must take “full responsibility for what’s happened to this country.”

“The U.S. needs to pay, in my view, massive compensation to this country,” he says. “And much of that, if paid up now in advance and quickly as possible, could be used to rehabilitate the conditions and the needs and the services to bring people back into the country. …

Matthew Hay Brown is the Pulitzer Center World Affairs Journalism Fellow at the International Center for Journalists. Brown is a Washington correspondent for The Baltimore Sun. He has reported in English and Spanish from Africa, Asia, Europe, Latin America and the Middle East; he has written for The New York Times, The Boston Globe, The Christian Science Monitor, and other newspapers. Brown was a member of the team that won the 1999 Pulitzer Prize in Breaking News Reporting. He holds a master’s degree with honors from the Graduate School of Journalism at Columbia University.

Related reports

Challenges of forced displacement within Iraq 

Report on Internal Displacement in Iraq 
Internal Displacement Monitoring Center (IDMC)

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AFGHANISTAN/PAKISTAN UPDATE

Scenic Pakistani Valley Falls to Taliban Militants

A Pakistani soldier guards suspected militants in Pakistan’s troubled Swat Valley, Thursday Dec. 4, 2008. (Photo credit: Sherin Zada / AP)

Dec. 29, 2008

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan – Taliban militants are beheading and burning their way through Pakistan’s picturesque Swat Valley, and residents say the insurgents now control most of the mountainous region far from the lawless tribal areas where jihadists thrive.

The deteriorating situation in the former tourist haven comes despite an army offensive that began in 2007 and an attempted peace deal. It is especially worrisome to Pakistani officials because the valley lies outside the areas where al-Qaida and Taliban militants have traditionally operated and where the military is staging a separate offensive. …

The Taliban activity in northwest Pakistan also comes as the country shifts forces east to the Indian border because of tensions over last month’s terrorist attacks in Mumbai, potentially giving insurgents more space to maneuver along the Afghan frontier.

Too dangerous for journalists

Militants began preying on Swat’s lush mountain ranges about two years ago, and it is now too dangerous for foreign and Pakistani journalists to visit. Interviews with residents, lawmakers and officials who have fled the region paint a dire picture.

A suicide blast killed 40 people Sunday at a polling station in Buner, an area bordering Swat that had been relatively peaceful. The attack underscored fears that even so-called “settled” regions presumptively under government control are increasingly unsafe.

The 3,500-square-mile Swat Valley lies less than 100 miles from the capital, Islamabad. …

Officials estimate that up to a third of Swat’s 1.5 million people have left the area. Salah-ud-Din, who oversees relief efforts in Swat for the International Committee of the Red Cross, estimated that 80 percent of the valley is now under Taliban control.

Swat’s militants are led by Maulana Fazlullah, a cleric who rose to prominence through radio broadcasts demanding the imposition of a harsh brand of Islamic law. His appeal tapped into widespread frustration with the area’s inefficient judicial system. …

Villages are ruled by fear

In some places, just a handful of insurgents can control a village. They rule by fear: beheading government sympathizers, blowing up bridges and demanding women wear all-encompassing burqas.

They have also set up a parallel administration with courts, taxes, patrols and checkpoints, according to lawmakers and officials. And they are suspected of burning scores of girls’ schools. …

The Swat insurgency also includes Afghan and other fighters from outside the valley, security officials said.

Troops being shifted to India border

Any movement of Pakistani troops from the Swat Valley and tribal areas to the Indian border will concern the United States and other Western countries, which want Pakistan to focus on the al-Qaida threat near Afghanistan.

On Friday, Pakistani intelligence officials said thousands of troops were being shifted toward the border with India, which blames Pakistani militants for terrorist attacks in Mumbai last month that killed 164 people. But there has been no sign yet of a major buildup near India.

“The terrorists’ aim in Mumbai was precisely this — to get the Pakistani army to withdraw from the western border and mount operations on the east,” said Ahmed Rashid, a journalist and author who has written extensively about militancy in the region. …

1/19/09 Update

Pakistani Taliban blow up schools in Swat (Reuters, Jan. 19, 2009) — Pakistani Taliban insurgents blew up four schools in the northwestern Swat region Monday hours after a cabinet minister vowed that the government would reopen schools in the violence-plagued valley. … Residents say the militants are now virtually in complete control of the valley, which is 80 miles northwest of Islamabad and not on the Afghan border …. Full story

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Civilian Deaths in Iraq 98,000 since 2003

Dec. 27, 2008

BAGHDAD – Sectarian bloodshed has dropped sharply in Iraq from the high levels of 2006-07, but attacks against U.S. and government forces continue, claiming the lives of Iraqi civilians in step, a new study found on Saturday.

Between at least 8,300 and 9,000 civilians were killed in Iraq in 2008, bringing the total of civilian deaths since the U.S.-led invasion in 2003 to at least 98,400, human rights group Iraq Body Count said in a new report.

Twenty-five civilians a day died in 2008, the study found. While far below 2006-2007, when at least 48,000 civilians were killed, it is comparable to violence during 2003-2004.

“The first thing is that there has been a very, very significant decrease in violent deaths in the last year, and this decrease has been most prevalent in Baghdad,” said John Sloboda, the group’s co-founder and spokesman.

Still, “no one was saying in 2004 that levels of violence were acceptable. People were talking about a country in terrible decline. It’s only an improvement … from the appalling peak in violence in 2006 and 2007,” he said.

The group, which collates deaths reported by media and from other sources, acknowledges the true toll of more than five years of violence in Iraq may be far higher.

Sloboda said the drop in violence in 2008 reflected a slowing of “intercommunal,” or sectarian deaths, which soared between minority Sunni Arabs and majority Shi’ites following the bombing of a Shi’ite shrine in Feb. 2006.

In order to staunch violence, the United States sent tens of thousands of additional troops to Iraq in 2007, which the Bush administration has largely credited for improving security.

Others argue that the newfound assistance of Sunni tribal leaders helped, or assert that violence subsided after Baghdad’s reorganization to a larger degree along sectarian lines.

Sloboda said that attacks continue against U.S. and other foreign forces, Iraqi police and soldiers, government officials and members of “Awakening Councils,” local patrol units often made up of former insurgents.

“Because this violence is actually against the occupation, it is unlikely to drop while the occupation continues,” he said. …

Since 2003, more than 4,200 U.S. soldiers and more than 175 British soldiers have died in Iraq.

The study found that Iraqi civilian deaths involving foreign forces reached 584 in 2008, compared with 1,359 in 2007.

Related stories

Baghdad bombs kill 28

U.S. soldier killed in Baghdad’s Sadr City

Well-known American surgeon killed in Iraq

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Dec. 28, 2009, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier died of wounds inflicted by a roadside bomb in northern Baghdad, the U.S. military said.

BAGHDAD – Police captured two suspected militants overnight after they escaped from their cells in a dramatic jailbreak two days earlier in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad, police said.

MOSUL – A suicide bomber riding a bicycle packed with explosives killed a 12 year-old boy and wounded 17 others when he struck a demonstration in Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, police said.

FALLUJA – A car bomb exploded near a police patrol, killing two people, one of them a policeman, and wounding 5, near the eastern entrance to the city of Falluja, 30 miles west of Baghdad, police said.

BASRA – Basim al-Moussawi, a provincial council member and a candidate in upcoming provincial elections, escaped an assassination attempt when a sticky bomb attached to his car exploded in Basra, 260 miles southeast of Baghdad, Hakim al-Mayahi, the province’s security head, said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb wounded two people in Abu Dsheer district of southern Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – The body of a man was found on Saturday in Baghdad, police said.

KIRKUK – An Iraqi soldier opened fire on and wounded a local provincial council member and killed his bodyguard in Kirkuk, 155 miles north of Baghdad, on Saturday, police said. Police arrested the soldier and said after interrogating him that the attack was for “personal reasons.”

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Taliban’s Power Growing on Kabul’s Doorstep

Seven years after fall, militia attempts to re-establish rule

This image taken from television footage June 26, 2008, reportedly shows Afghan militants holding weapons next to the burning wreckage of a vehicle in Wardak province, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: The Associated Press)

Dec. 27, 2008

WARDAK PROVINCE, Afghanistan – Two months ago, Mohammad Anwar recalls, the Taliban paraded accused thieves through his village, tarred their faces with oil and threw them in jail.

The public punishment was a clear sign to villagers that the Taliban are now in charge. And the province they took over lies just 30 miles from the Afghan capital of Kabul, right on the main highway.

The Taliban has long operated its own shadow government in the most dangerous parts of Afghanistan, but its power is now spreading north to the doorstep of Kabul, according to Associated Press interviews with a dozen government officials, analysts, Taliban commanders and Afghan villagers. More than seven years after the U.S.-led invasion, the Islamic militia is attempting — at least in name — to reconstitute the government by which it ruled Afghanistan in the late 1990s.

Over the past year in Wardak province alone, Taliban fighters have taken over district centers, set up checkpoints on rural highways and captured Afghan soldiers. The Taliban in Wardak has its own governor and military chief, its own pseudo-court system and its own religious leaders who act as judges. Bands of armed militants in beat-up trucks cruise the countryside, dispensing their own justice against accused spies and thieves. …

‘Talibanization’ of countryside

In a growing number of regions, insurgents have put in place:

• Militant commanders who serve as self-described governors and police or military chiefs of provinces.
• A 10 percent “tax” — a forced payment at gunpoint, Western officials say — on rich families, or donations by poorer families of food and shelter for fighters.
• A military draft that forces fighting-age males to join the Taliban for months-long rotations.
• A parallel judicial system run by religious scholars who impose such punishments as tarring, public humiliation and the chopping off hands.
• The closing of Afghan schools or the forcing of schools to replace science with more religious study.
• Manned Taliban or militant checkpoints to demand highway taxes and search vehicles for government employees or foreigners.

The increasing “Talibanization” is taking place in wide areas of countryside where the U.S., NATO and government of Hamid Karzai don’t have enough troops for a permanent presence. Recognizing this, the U.S. plans to send its newest influx of troops in January into Wardak and Logar, right next to Kabul. Between 20,000 and 30,000 new American forces are scheduled to arrive by the summer. …

A shadow government

It’s not clear just how far the shadow government goes. Taliban officials and analysts boast that there are now Taliban shadow governors in almost every Afghan province.

“Three years ago the Taliban had no control in Afghanistan. They were spread too thin. Now they have power. They have soldiers. They have governors, district chiefs and judges. It is a very big difference from what you saw in 2003 or even 2005,” said Abdul Salam Zaeef, the Taliban’s former ambassador to Pakistan. …

In 2007 militants attacked foreign troops only in small formations, worried that bombing runs by fighter aircraft would result in huge battlefield losses. But over the last year, that has changed.

Recently, some 300 militants massed for an attack in the Bala Murghab district of Badghis province. About 250 insurgents took part in an attack on a government center in Paktika province in late November. And earlier this year some 200 militants attacked a small U.S. outpost in the east and killed nine soldiers. …

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Late update

14 Children Die in Bombing Near Afghan School
Another 58 wounded as suicide bomber tries to attack meeting of elders

School textbooks and shoes are seen on the ground after a suicide attack Sunday, Dec. 28, 2008 in Khost province, east of Kabul, Afghanistan. (Photo credit: Nashanuddin Khan / AP)

Dec. 28, 2008

KABUL, Afghanistan – A suicide bomber tried to attack a meeting of tribal elders and blew himself up near an Afghan primary school on Sunday, killing 14 children and wounding 58 people, the U.S. military said.

The suicide blast went off near the entrance to a police and army post, said Yacoub Khan, the deputy police chief of the eastern province of Khost. U.S. troops are also stationed inside the outpost, but no troops were wounded or killed in the attack. …

Dr. Abdul Rahman, a doctor at a hospital near the blast, said the children were aged 8 to 10.

U.S. blames militant network

Photos of the bombing’s aftermath showed bloodied text books lying on the ground beside small pairs of shoes. The U.S. military also released images of the blast caught on a security camera.

U.S. Gen. David McKiernan, the top NATO commander in Afghanistan, said he believes the militant network run by warlord Siraj Haqqani was responsible for the attack. …

The blast in Khost province came only hours after a late-night rocket attack in Kabul on Saturday killed three teenage sisters. …

2008 deadliest year for NATO soldiers

The year has also been the deadliest for NATO soldiers since the 2001 invasion to oust the Taliban.

In the south, a roadside bomb killed two Canadian soldiers and two Afghans working alongside them in a dangerous region of southern Afghanistan, Canada’s military said Sunday.

In addition to those killed in Saturday’s roadside bomb attack, four Canadian soldiers and one Afghan interpreter were wounded, the military said. …

NATO officials have said that Canadian troops have suffered more deaths per capita than any other foreign military in the country. More than 100 Canadians have been killed. …

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Iraq update

22 Killed in Baghdad Car Bomb

Iraqis stand at the site of a car bombing in the northern Baghdad Shiite neighborhood of Kazimiyah on Saturday, Dec. 27, 2008. At least 18 people were killed and 25 were wounded in the blast, the U.S. military said. (Photo credit: Karim Kadim / AP)

Dec. 27, 2008

BAGHDAD – At least 22 people were killed after a bomb tore through a busy square in a Shiite neighborhood in Baghdad on Saturday, Iraqi army officials said. More than 50 others were wounded in the attack.

An Iraqi soldier and two other people were killed in a separate bombing south of the capital, police said. …

U.S. allies killed

Also Saturday, an Iraqi soldier and two other people were killed when a car bomb exploded as they were trying to defuse it in Musayyib, about 60 miles south of Baghdad, according to local police.

The two nonmilitary victims were members of the local awakening council, also known as Sons of Iraq, one of several names used to refer to the Sunni insurgents and tribesmen who have turned against al-Qaida in Iraq, joining the U.S. military in the fight against the terror group, a police officer said on condition of anonymity.

He said 10 other people were wounded in the blast. …

The last major bombing was on Dec. 17; on that day, 18 people were killed and 52 others wounded when a car bomb exploded in eastern Baghdad followed by a roadside bomb minutes later as police rushed to the scene, according to police and hospital officials. The U.S. military reported nine killed and 43 wounded.

On Dec. 11, a suicide bomber killed 55 people in a packed restaurant near the northern city of Kirkuk where Kurdish officials and Arab tribal leaders were trying to reconcile their differences over control of the oil-rich region.

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Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Dec. 26, 2008, as reported by Reuters.

RAMADI – Three senior Islamist militants escaped from their cells in clashes overnight at a police station in Ramadi, 60 miles west of Baghdad. The clashes killed seven police and seven militants, officials said.

BALAD RUZ – A roadside bomb targeting an Iraqi army patrol killed three soldiers and wounded four in Balad Ruz, 55 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

BAGHDAD – A bomb blast on an Iraqi home killed a man and wounded his two sons in Baghdad’s southern Dora district, police said.

BAGHDAD – A roadside bomb targeting a police patrol wounded four policemen and two civilians in the Zaafaraniya district of southeastern Baghdad, police said.

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Pat Forte is Thankful on the Ice

By Tom Elliott
St. Cloud Times
Dec. 25, 2008

Pat Forte is spending a whole bunch of time at the hockey rink these days and for that he is extremely thankful.

Cancer kept him away from his passion as a hockey coach and nearly cost him his life.

He was given six months to live in 2006, but has now been cancer-free since complicated surgery removed a huge tumor that was attached to his heart and one of his lungs.

He’s down to one lung, takes medication for nerve damage after having his chest reconstructed and admits to sometimes having trouble breathing, especially in ice-cold hockey rinks.

But hey, he’s alive.

“I can remember being laid up in the hospital after my surgery and talking to the pastor and asking him, ‘How do I thank people for all they’ve done for me,’” Forte said. “And the pastor said, ‘Share your story.’”

Here it is.

Forte will be behind the bench as an assistant coach for the Sartell boys hockey team when it plays in the Granite City Classic Monday through Wednesday at the Municipal Athletic Complex.

The Sabres play St. Cloud Tech at 1:30 p.m. at Torrey Arena on the first day of the eight-team, three-day tournament.

Teams from St. Cloud Cathedral, Sauk Rapids and St. Cloud Apollo also are competing, as are Litchfield/Dassel-Cokato, Dodge County and Bismarck (N.D.) Century. The final is set for 5 p.m. Wednesday.

Back at the rink

“It’s been a lot of fun,” said Forte, who returns to the ice at the high school-level for the first time since 2000. “The kids are very nice. They work hard.

“I love working with (head coach) Ryan Hacker and (assistant) Troy Fath. They’re great guys I’ve known a long time.”

Hacker and Fath played at Alexandria when Forte was coach at Brainerd. Forte taught and coached at Brainerd from 1991-99 before taking over as Apollo’s head coach for the 1999-2000 season. He was the Warriors’ head coach for four seasons, winning one Central Lakes Conference title.

“He’s very, very knowledgeable,” Hacker said. “He knows the game inside and out and has a lot of experience.

“I’m only in my second year (as head coach), so he helps me out a lot.”

A sixth-grade teacher at Kennedy Community School in St. Joseph, Forte left Apollo for personal reasons after winning the CLC title with the Eagles, mostly focusing on raising his young son Nico, who is now 8 years old.

“I couldn’t make the time commitment to be a head coach,” said Forte, who is single.

Forte, a native of Eveleth, coached the Minnesota Select 17s for six years and spent two years coaching in the elite league. It quenched his desire to stay involved in hockey.

His rare cancer — it’s called thymic carcinoid — kept him away from the ice entirely the past two years.

But he still has the hockey itch.

“I thought about getting back into hockey,” he said. “A lot of hockey friends encouraged me because I have a passion for it.

“I also have a passion for teaching. But that didn’t feed my competitive juices like hockey does. I’m very competitive.”

Forte was a high school star. He has had his No. 17 retired in Eveleth, which is home to the United States Hockey Hall of Fame.

He played Division I hockey at American International University in Massachusetts. Bad knees prevented him from taking his career further. He had nine knee surgeries when he retired.

“The number’s up to 16 now,” he said. “I’m kind of a physical wreck for 42 years old.”

He’s also taught and coached in Chisholm, Austin and Mora.

Life put on hold

But the hockey and the teaching all got put on hold in February 2006. That’s when he checked himself into St. Cloud Hospital because of a breathing ailment he thought was related to his asthma.

Doctors instead found a tumor measuring about 4¾ inches, which Forte says is considered huge.

He was diagnosed with thymic carcinoid, a rare cancer that attacked his lungs.

It’s so rare, there are about 200 known cases of it in the world. Because of its rarity, research is limited. Treatments were mostly educated guesses for doctors.

Forte became a Guinea pig at the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center, where he spent 61 days.

The tumor was too big to remove initially. It was also resistant to chemotherapy and radiation therapy. There were thoughts that the cancer might be inoperable.

“For about four or five weeks there, news would come and it was worse than the day before,” Forte said. “Things got very stressful and scary.

“I’m thinking, ‘I’m going to die now? I’m only 40. And of course, Forte is my name, so I thought about that. I was thinking a lot of weird thoughts.”

Doctors suggested a drug normally prescribed for kidney cancer to see if it would do anything. It did. The tumor shrunk enough for surgery to be viable.

But the ordeal was far from over. He needed a 12-hour procedure to remove his lung, detach the tumor from his heart and reconstruct his chest. He was told there was a one-in-three chance he would die.

“I beat the odds, I guess,” he said.

Thinking about his son kept him going through the ordeal, which included more surgery.

The cancer hasn’t come back. He returned to class in the spring of 2007. By 2008, after a couple more checkups said he was still cancer-free, Forte decided to get back into hockey.

He’s one of those guys who plans to live life to the fullest, even if he has to take things slowly every now and then because he’s down to one lung.

He says his Catholic faith has helped, too. It got him through some tough times.

“I’m a Christian,” he said.

Enjoying life

Through the grapevine, he heard there might be an opening on Sartell’s staff last summer. Activities director John Ross told him to apply and he was hired this fall.

He was finally back on the ice. His recovery from cancer had taken another step.

Forte is Sartell’s junior varsity coach. He says that as a former varsity coach, he understands his role well.

He’s trying to develop young players so they can become good varsity players. The goal is to develop players more than necessarily winning. Not that Forte, ultra competitive, is not trying to win. He is.

“I remember calling him and asking him if he’d be willing to help us out,” Hacker said. “He’s been absolutely great for our program.”

The Sabres are off to a 2-2 start, but have played two perennial CLC powerhouses, Sartell and Brainerd, tough. Both were 4-3, one-goal losses. The Brainerd loss was in overtime.

It’s encouraging because Hacker says Sartell is young, with six seniors.

“When I was away from it, I thought a lot about hockey because I definitely have a passion for it,” Forte said. “I’ve been very impressed with what I’ve seen so far at Sartell.

“From the parents to the youth coaches to everyone, they seem dedicated and positive.”

It’s how Forte is approaching life, too.

“If you love something, you’ve got to do it because your time on this earth is very short,” he said. “I happen to love teaching hockey to kids, love relating to them.

“I hope, after what I’ve been through, I can help them learn to deal with adversity.”

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Nico’s 8th birthday party. From left to right: Matt, Tim, Pat, Aubrey, Patrick, Nico, Beth. (Photo: Pam Immelman)

Pat Forte’s CaringBridge site

Update

Unleash Discovery: Meeting the World’s Toughest Challenges

University of Minnesota Foundation 2008 Annual Report

Pat Forte and his son Nico (Photo: University of Minnesota Foundation)

After a diagnosis of thymic carcinoid, a rare cancer that had attacked his lungs and pericardium, Pat Forte was given six months to live. But the 42-year-old single dad and sixth grade teacher from Sartell, Minnesota, was sent to the University of Minnesota Masonic Cancer Center for his cancer treatment, where his team of doctors wasn’t about to give up.

“This is a very rare cancer, and no research has been done on it,” Forte explains. “Worse, it’s resistant to chemotherapy and radiation.” So when his physician suggested a drug normally prescribed for kidney cancer, Forte agreed.

In three weeks, the drug had inhibited the cancer activity and Forte could undergo radical surgery to remove a lung and reconstruct his chest. “They didn’t sugar coat anything, but told it to me straight, answered all my questions, and shared my excitement at my progress. They treated me like a person.”

Minnesota Masonic Charities’ $65 million gift to cancer research and care—the largest gift ever given to the U of M—will mean more success stories like Forte’s. “I needed a miracle,” he says. “I found it in my doctors at the U.”

Two years later, Forte is cancer free and home with his son Nico, who is in second grade. “He is my number one priority,” says Forte. “My doctors did everything they could to get me back to living as normally as possible. I enjoy every single moment of every single day.”

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A Tribute to Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB

Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB
(Photo: Saint John’s University)

On Friday, December 5, Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, President Emeritus of Saint John’s University, returned to St. John’s Abbey and University after brain surgery at the Mayo Clinic to treat malignant metastatic melanoma. A few days later he was interviewed on film about his life, Saint John’s, and his legacy as the 11^th president of Saint John’s University.

Excerpt from the film: Our Best Days Are Yet to Come (01:32)

* 12/30/08 Update: The tribute to Br. Dietrich has been postponed until spring 2009.

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12/29/08 Update

SJU President Emeritus Dietrich Reinhart passes away

Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB (1949-2008)
(Photo: Saint John’s University)

Br. Dietrich Reinhart, OSB, president emeritus of Saint John’s University, passed away peacefully in Collegeville early on Monday, Dec. 29. Br. Dietrich served as the 11^th president of Saint John’s University from July 1, 1991 to October 21, 2008.

Funeral arrangements

The monks of Saint John’s Abbey will receive the body of Br. Dietrich at a Vigil Service at 7 p.m. Monday, Jan. 5. Abbot John Klassen, OSB, will preside at the Mass of Christian Burial at 3 p.m. Tuesday, Jan. 6, in the Saint John’s Abbey Church. Interment will follow in the Saint John’s Abbey Cemetery.

Further updates: Br. Dietrich Reinhart Funeral

Additional information

+ Obituary: Brother Dietrich Reinhart OSB, 1949-2008

Dietrich Reinhart announces resignation (Oct. 16, 2008)

St. Cloud Times photo gallery: Anointing Service for Br. Dietrich (Nov. 5, 2008)

Br. Dietrich biography and selected speeches

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5-year Terrorism Threats Forecast for U.S.

Homeland Security: Beware instability in Middle East, Africa

Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security Michael Chertoff (Photo credit: Matt Dunham / AP)

Dec. 25, 2008

WASHINGTON – The terrorism threat to the United States over the next five years will be driven by instability in the Middle East and Africa, persistent challenges to border security and increasing Internet savvy, says a new intelligence assessment obtained by The Associated Press.

Chemical, biological, radiological and nuclear [CBRN] attacks are considered the most dangerous threats that could be carried out against the U.S. But those threats are also the most unlikely because it is so difficult for al-Qaida and similar groups to acquire the materials needed to carry out such plots, according to the internal Homeland Security Threat Assessment for the years 2008-2013.

The al-Qaida terrorist network continues to focus on U.S. attack targets vulnerable to massive economic losses, casualties and political “turmoil,” the assessment said.

Earlier this month, Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said the threat posed by weapons of mass destruction remains “the highest priority at the federal level.” Speaking to reporters on Dec. 3, Chertoff explained that more people, such as terrorists, will learn how to make dirty bombs, biological and chemical weapons. …

Marked “for official use only,” the report does not specify its audience, but the assessments typically go to law enforcement, intelligence officials and the private sector. When determining threats, intelligence officials consider loss of life, economic and psychological consequences.

Worries about biological attack

Intelligence officials also predict that in the next five years, terrorists will try to conduct a destructive biological attack. Officials are concerned about the possibility of infections to thousands of U.S. citizens, overwhelming regional health care systems.

There could also be dire economic impacts caused by workers’ illnesses and deaths. Officials are most concerned about biological agents stolen from labs or other storage facilities, such as anthrax.

“The threat of terrorism and the threat of extremist ideologies has not abated,” Chertoff said in his year-end address on Dec. 18. “This threat has not evaporated, and we can’t turn the page on it.” …

Terrorists will continue to try to evade U.S. border security measures and place operatives inside the mainland to carry out attacks, the 38-page assessment said. It also said that they may pose as refugees or asylum seekers or try to exploit foreign travel channels such as the visa waiver program, which allows citizens of 34 countries to enter the U.S. without visas.

Long waits for immigration and more restrictive European refugee and asylum programs will cause more foreigners to try to enter the U.S. illegally. Increasing numbers of Iraqis are expected to migrate to the U.S. in the next five years; and refugees from Somalia and Sudan could increase because of conflicts in those countries, the assessment said.

Because there is a proposed cap of 12,000 refugees from Africa, officials expect more will try to enter the U.S. illegally as well. Officials predict the same scenario for refugees from Afghanistan, Bangladesh and Pakistan.

More radicals in U.S.

Intelligence officials predict the pool of radical Islamists within the U.S. will increase over the next five years due partly to the ease of online recruiting means. Officials foresee “a wave of young, self-identified Muslim ‘terrorist wannabes’ who aspire to carry out violent acts.” …

The Lebanese Shiite group Hezbollah does not have a known history of fomenting attacks inside the U.S., but that could change if there is some kind of “triggering” event, the Homeland assessment cautions.

A 2008 Interagency Intelligence Committee on Terrorism assessment said that Hezbollah members based in the U.S. do local fundraising through charity projects and criminal activity, like money laundering, smuggling, drug trafficking, fraud and extortion, according to the homeland security assessment.

In addition, the cyber terror threat is expected to increase over the next five years, as hacking tools become more sophisticated and available.

Cyber attacks ahead?

Currently, Islamic terrorists, including al-Qaida, would like to conduct cyber attacks, but they lack the capability to do so, the assessment said. The large-scale attacks that are on al-Qaida’s wishlist — such as disrupting a major city’s water or power systems — require sophisticated cyber capabilities that the terrorist group does not possess.

But al-Qaida has the capability to hire sophisticated hackers to carry out these kinds of attacks, the assessment said. And federal officials believe that in the next three to five years, al-Qaida could direct or inspire cyber attacks that target the U.S. economy. …

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TERRORIST PROFILES

Following are terrorist profiles developed at the Unit for the Study of Personality in Politics:

The Personality Profile of Al-Qaida Leader Osama Bin Laden

“Bin Laden’s Brain”: The Abrasively Negativistic Personality of Dr. Ayman al-Zawahiri

The Personality Profile of September 11 Hijack Ringleader Mohamed Atta

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IRAQ UPDATE

Security Developments in Iraq

Following are security developments in Iraq on Dec. 25, 2008, as reported by Reuters.

BAGHDAD – A U.S. soldier was killed by “indirect fire” — a phrase refering to mortar or rocket attacks — in Mosul, 240 miles north of Baghdad, the U.S. military said. 

BAGHDAD – A car bomb near a popular restaurant killed four people and wounded 25 in the Shi’ite district of Shula in northwestern Baghdad, police said.

MUQDADIYA – A suicide car bomb targeting a U.S. military patrol killed three people and wounded 14 in the town Muqdadiya, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said.

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LATE UPDATE

Well-Known American Surgeon Killed in Iraq
Mortar round explodes near his living quarters on Christmas Day

Dec. 26, 2008

TRENTON, N.J. – A prominent New Jersey doctor has been killed in Iraq, the Defense Department said Friday.

Maj. John P. Pryor was a well-known trauma surgeon at the hospital of the University of Pennsylvania. According to the Pentagon, Pryor died Christmas Day when a mortar round hit near his living quarters.

Pryor’s colleagues say they’re devastated by the loss of the New York City native. Pryor, who was 42, was a married father of three.

He wrote of his experiences as a surgeon confronting violence in Iraq and inner-city Philadelphia in articles published in The Philadelphia Inquirer and The Washington Post.

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Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year

From the Immelman family, Sartell, Minnesota

THE POPE’S CHRISTMAS MESSAGE — URBI ET ORBI

Pope Decries Selfishness in Economic Crisis

Pontiff says world headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails

Pope Benedict XVI delivers his Christmas Day blessing from St. Peter’s Basilica. (Photo credit: Franco Origlia / Getty Images)

The Associated Press and Reuters via MSNBC.com 
Dec. 24, 2008

VATICAN CITY – Pope Benedict XVI warned in his Christmas message Thursday that the world was headed toward ruin if selfishness prevails over solidarity during tough economic times for rich and poor nations.

Speaking from the central balcony of St. Peter’s Basilica, Benedict said he was trying to inspire hope in the world. …

The traditional papal Christmas Day message “Urbi et Orbi” — Latin for “to the City and to the World” — usually covers the globe’s hot spots, but this year Benedict also addressed the economic conditions worrying many across the planet amid near-daily news of layoffs, failing companies and people losing homes. …

Singles out Zimbabwe

Wearing a crimson mantle against a damp chill, Benedict told tens of thousands of people in St. Peter’s Square that God’s saving grace could “alone transform evil into good” and “change human hearts, making them oases of peace.”

Benedict dedicated part of his message to Africa, singling out Zimbabwe, where hunger is spreading and deepening. He said that people there were “trapped for too long in a political and social crisis which, sadly, keeps worsening.”

International pressure has been mounting for longtime Zimbabwe leader Robert Mugabe to step down, following disputed elections in March. Millions of Zimbabwe’s people need food aid, and a cholera epidemic has sharpened problems in a country once considered African’s breadbasket.

Plea for Mideast peace

Benedict spoke of violence and tensions in the Middle East, lamenting that “the horizon seems once again bleak for Israelis and Palestinians.”

He denounced what he called the “twisted logic of conflict and violence” and said he hoped dialogue and negotiation would prevail to find “just and lasting solutions to the conflicts troubling the region.”

Benedict also cited Lebanon and Iraq.

Without naming any particular groups, the pope called for an end to “internecine conflict” dividing ethnic and social groups and disrupting peaceful coexistence. He also denounced terrorism “wherever” it continues to strike. …

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Conflict in Iraq video

Christmas about ‘hope’ for U.S. troops (MSNBC, Dec. 25, 2008) — For U.S. troops stationed in Iraq and Afghanistan, Christmas is a time to reflect upon “prayers and memories of home.” NBC’s Martin Fletcher reports. (01:28)

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Christmas Day Bomb Kills Four in Baghdad 

A U.S. soldier holds a candle and a prayer booklet during Christmas celebrations at Camp Liberty in Baghdad late on December 24, 2008. (Photo credit: Ahmad al-Rubaye / AFP — Getty Images)

Dec. 25, 2008

BAGHDAD – A car bomb near a popular restaurant killed four people and wounded 25 in northwestern Baghdad on Thursday, police said.

The explosion in the Shiite district of Shula occurred while police officers and construction workers were eating breakfast on Christmas Day. Casualties included police officers and civilians, police said. …

A few hours later, a suicide car bomber targeting a U.S. military patrol killed three people and wounded 14 in Muqdadiya, 50 miles northeast of Baghdad, police said. …

The Shi’ite-led Iraqi government declared Thursday, Christmas Day, a national holiday to show what it said was its solidarity with minority non-Muslim religious groups in Iraq.

A week ago, twin bomb blasts killed 18 people and wounded 53 in central Baghdad.

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Iraqi Parliament Speaker Resigns

Move clears way for non-U.S. troops to remain into 2009

Dec. 23, 2008

BAGHDAD – Iraq’s fractious parliament squeezed its abrasive speaker out of a job Tuesday and authorized non-U.S. foreign troops to stay in the country for another half-year, a pair of high-stakes moves in its final session of 2008.

The resignation of Sunni speaker Mahmoud al-Mashhadani capped a long-running power struggle with Shiite and Kurdish lawmakers and even members of his own party. Lawmakers applauded his announcement, quickly approved it, then passed a measure allowing Britain’s 4,000 troops and several smaller contingents from other countries to stay through July. …

The new measure will allow non-U.S. military personnel to stay and assist American soldiers through the end of July. The Americans can remain until the end of 2011 under a separate security agreement.

Britain has already said it plans to withdraw its 4,000 troops from southern Iraq by the end of May. Australia, El Salvador, Estonia and Romania also have troops in Iraq but much smaller contingents. …

Also Tuesday, nearly two dozen police and security officials allegedly arrested on suspicion of forging identity cards and badges were released on bail, security officials said.

The men originally were reported to have been arrested for conspiring to restore Saddam Hussein’s outlawed Baath party and planning a coup. But the government subsequently denied there was any conspiracy.

Bomb blast in Tarmiyah

Elsewhere in Iraq, four policemen were killed and three others injured in bomb explosion in Tarmiyah, 30 miles north of Baghdad, an officer said on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to the media. …

Late update: Iraq’s Ex-Speaker Praises ‘Brave’ Shoe-Hurler

Dec. 24, 2008

BAGHDAD – The newly resigned Iraqi parliament speaker on Wednesday praised the journalist who threw shoes at President George W. Bush and says the legislature should have supported him. …

“He was a zealous, brave journalist and even his enemy Bush said he is brave – only the parliament did not say that he is brave,” said al-Mashhadani, who is Sunni. …

The abrasive speaker had frequently quarreled with lawmakers, but tensions came to a head last week during a shouting match over the detention of journalist Muntadhar al-Zeidi. …

The case has become a focus for Iraqis and others who resent the U.S. invasion and occupation. Thousands of Iraqis have demonstrated for al-Zeidi’s release, but the judge says he does not have the legal option to drop the case. …

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Conflict in Iraq video 

Bush wars forever? (MSNBC, Dec. 22, 2008) — Talk Me Down: Will U.S. troops stay in Iraq longer than the 3-year timetable that’s already put in place? Will troop levels in Afghanistan double as indicated in an Associated Press report? New Yorker staff writer Lawrence Wright tries to talk Rachel Maddow down. (06:28)

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Iraq Situation Still Fragile, Says U.S. General

Dec. 23, 2008

BAGHDAD – The situation in Iraq after five years of war is fragile and remains under threat from al Qaeda, possible meddling by Iran and unresolved political tensions, the top U.S. commander in Iraq said on Tuesday.

Army General Ray Odierno said a series of elections next year, beginning with provincial elections on Jan. 31 and culminating in a general election at the end of the year, would be the test of whether Iraq can attain greater stability. … 

The northern city of Mosul, which Odierno said was the last area where U.S. troops were conducting major military operations, remains plagued by al Qaeda and other insurgents.

And political analysts say they fear tensions between the Shi’ite bloc of Prime Minister Nuri al-Maliki and ethnic Kurds in the north, especially over the oil-rich disputed city of Kirkuk, could plunge Iraq back into violence.

Odierno said he remained concerned about Iran’s intentions in neighboring Iraq.

“We still have some intel (intelligence) reports that say they’re still training surrogates. They’re still moving a little bit of ammunition and weapons into Iraq,” Odierno said. …

The elections would likely see attempts by al Qaeda to stir up violence, intimidation by some political actors and possibly some effort by Iran to influence the vote in the south, he said. …

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U.S. Marine killed in Iraq — Reuters reports that a U.S. Marine died on Sunday, Dec. 21, after being wounded in fighting in Iraq’s western Anbar province. Several U.S. soldiers have died in separate non-hostile incidents over the last week, bringing the number of U.S. military deaths in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led invasion to 4,213.

2008 Veterans Day Ceremony, St. Cloud — Rifle Salute and Taps

Remember Their Sacrifice

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Minnesota Senate Recount

Live streaming video of the Coleman-Franken recount has been moved to the Dec. 30 blog. … Link here 

Related link: Coleman vs. Franken: ‘Flip a Coin’ 

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