Sen. Al Franken has signed on to a Senate resolution condemning a bill before Uganda’s Parliament that would outlaw homosexuality and make it a crime punishable by death. (Hat tip: Minnesota Independent.)

What makes the resolution sponsored by Wisconsin Democrat Russ Feingold so interesting is that it allies Franken, an unabashed liberal, with co-sponsor Tom Coburn, a dyed-in-the-wool right-wing Republican. The common ground: Saving lives.

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Duluth, Minn. — Senator Al Franken says promoting job growth is his top goal in Northern Minnesota.

Last week, Franken toured Iron Range mining facilities and spoke with Duluth Mayor Don Ness about the city’s long term employment goals.

“We need more long-term, viable jobs throughout northern and northeastern Minnesota,” Franken said.

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Sen. Al Franken’s plan for creating employment — fashionably nicknamed Cash for Jobs — came to East Grand Forks on Thursday.

Some praised it while others thought it was a clunker compared with other government options to stimulate the economy.

The first-term Democratic U.S. senator proposes a wage subsidy similar to one used in Minnesota in the 1980s that returned 7,400 workers to jobs. The subsidy, good for up to a year, would amount to half of the wages, with a maximum subsidy of $12 per hour.

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I sent an email to my list today, and I thought I’d post a note here as well. As you might have heard, I’m opposing the NBC/Comcast merger in its current form. I wanted to write you today to explain why, and to ask for your help.

I have some experience in the broadcast industry, and I simply don’t trust Comcast and NBC when it comes to the merger they are asking the Senate to approve. I am convinced that without significant changes to protect consumers, merging a company who provides programming and one who provides the pipes that carry said programming would be a raw deal for Minnesotans and independent content producers alike.

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The “I will mess you up” Senator is what Keith Olbermann is now calling Al Franken. He also added that “orientation” for Minnesota’s Senator is now over.

Franken’s toughness and savvy was on display last week at a hearing on the proposed $30 billion mega-merger between Comcast and NBC Universal.

In his feisty opening statement, Franken said: “I worked for NBC for many years. And what I know from my previous career has given me reason to be concerned–let me rephrase that, very concerned–about the potential merger of Comcast and NBC Universal. The media are our source of entertainment, but they’re also the way we get our information about the world. So when the same company that produces the programs runs the pipes that bring us those programs, we have a reason to be nervous…. You’ll have to excuse me if I don’t just trust their promises and that is from experience in this business.”

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Sen. Al Franken is using the momentum from last week’s NBC/Comcast hearing to rake in a few bucks for the cause.

In case you missed it, the former-NBC-employee-turned-lawmaker emerged as the most vocal critic of the two companies merging during a Judiciary Committee meeting and assailed their two execs for various alleged improprieties.

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Staff members from Minnesota Sen. Al Franken’s office will meet with Moorhead residents today to discuss their ideas for job creation in the area.

The meeting is scheduled for 1:30 p.m. in the east conference room of Moorhead City Hall, 500 Center Ave.

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ALEXANDRIA, Minn. – Sen. Al Franken may be stuck in a blizzard in Washington D.C., but his staff visited Alexandria today to talk about job creation.

It’s a part of the senator’s jobs-creation bill called “Cash for Jobs.” He wants to take $10 billion in existing funding from the Troubled Asset Relief Program (TARP) and re-allocate it to creating jobs in the private and public sectors.

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Staff members from Sen. Al Franken’s office will meet with East Grand Forks area residents at 10:30 a.m. Thursday in the first-floor training room of East Grand Forks City Hall, 600 DeMers Ave., to discuss “Cash for Jobs,” Franken’s newly introduced jobs creation bill…

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NO doubt there are drawbacks to choosing a U.S. senator from among former players on “Saturday Night Live.” Last week Sen. Al Franken, D-Minn., made an asset of his former life as a TV comic. He stared down the president of NBC Universal and announced that he did not believe the company’s promises. Franken had learned on the job not to believe them.

A $37 billion purchase does create an incentive for the players to make whatever promises about competition and innovation that are necessary to push it through. That is so for Comcast, which is doing the buying, and for NBC Universal, which is being bought.

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