Jim Oberstar, Iron Range's longtime congressman, dies at 79

[alp227]

Source: Minneapolis Star Tribune

Former Rep. Jim Oberstar, Minnesota’s longest-serving congressman, died in his sleep early Saturday at the age of 79.

The veteran Democrat served 18 terms from 1975 to 2011 — 36 of the 48-year congressional career as a representative from northern Minnesota.

“I’m just shocked,” said longtime aide, Ken Hasskamp from his Baxter, Minn., home. “History will record him as the quintessential congressman — the complete package.”

The son of an underground miner from Chisholm, Oberstar started his career in the early 1960s, when he was a clerk on the Rivers and Harbors Committee, a precursor of the Transportation panel he would later lead. He was elected in 1974 after longtime DFLer John Blatnik retired.

Read more: http://www.startribune.com/local/257797051.html

---

More reports:

Duluth News Tribune

AP

[undeterred]

1. Anti choice Democrat.

RIP.

[alp227]

2. I did NOT know that...

http://votesmart.org/candidate/key-votes/26927/jim-oberstar/2/abortion

Voted FOR a 2009 amendment "Prohibiting Federally Funded Abortion Services"

Voted FOR a 2006 "Abortion Pain Bill"

Voted FOR a 2005 "Child Interstate Abortion Notification Act"

Yikes.

Thankfully, Rick Nolan, the DFL'er who now sits on Oberstar's seat, is pro choice.

[RobertEarl]

3. Therein lies the quandary

Some of us like to think of a fetus as a person. It isn't an anti-choice so much as wanting to give a fetus the choice to become a person, which it would if it is born.

Having said that, I think it is not the government's place to tell a woman what she should do with her body.

[sufrommich]

15. Of course it's anti choice. Those of you who

think a fetus is a baby already have the choice to continue your pregnancy.

[Brickbat]

8. I'm as pro-choice as they come, and his stances on other issues made it easy to vote for him.

[mac56]

4. A good man.

I've lived in his district most of my life. It was virtually impossible for a pro-choice candidate to win in the Minnesota 8th until recently.

I would hope that we can look at the totality of his work instead of focusing on one issue or another. Just my .02.

[undeterred]

6. I agree.

There has to be room in the "big tent" for Dems who think differently on some issues - or who vote the way their constituents tell them to.

[jwirr]

7. Agreed. I an sorry to hear he has died. May he rest in peace. And may our other representatives be

as good as he was.

[mn9driver]

5. The Iron Range is very conservative.

However they are very pro-labor up there. Oberstar was unseated by Chip Craavack in 2010, a tea party type who had some labor credentials. He only lasted one term once people figured out that he would side with business when push came to shove.

[Octafish]

9. Oberstar was one who asked FBI about the 20th hijacker Moussaoui BEFORE 9/11.

Eagan flight trainer wouldn't let unease about Moussaoui rest

Greg Gordon, Star Tribune
Published December 21, 2001 FLIT21

WASHINGTON, D.C. -- When a Twin Cities flight instructor phoned the FBI last August to alert the agency that a terrorist might be taking lessons to fly a jumbo jet, he did it in a dramatic way:

"Do you realize how serious this is?" the instructor asked an FBI agent. "This man wants training on a 747. A 747 fully loaded with fuel could be used as a weapon!"

SNIP…

The still-unidentified flight instructor became wary of Moussaoui immediately, according to Minnesota Rep. Jim Oberstar and others with direct knowledge of the briefings.

SNIP…

Besides alerting the FBI about Moussaoui, the school's Phoenix office called the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) early this year about another student – Hani Hanjour, who was believed to be the pilot of the plane that flew into the Pentagon on Sept. 11. The school had raised questions about Hanjour's limited ability to speak English, the universal language of aviation.

An FAA representative sat in on a class to observe Hanjour, who was from Saudi Arabia, and discussed with school officials finding an Arabic-speaking person to help him with his English, said Oberstar and others with direct knowledge of the school's briefings.
Oberstar and Minnesota Rep. Martin Sabo, who also was briefed by the school, praised Pan Am for its efforts to safeguard the skies and for passing federal authorities clues to possible terrorist activities before Sept. 11.

CONTINUED…

http://www.startribune.com/stories/843/913687.html

Links gone bad. More from 2002: http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x757860

[alp227]

10. Wayback Machine has the link archived.

http://web.archive.org/web/20020106150354/www2.startribune.com/stories/843/913687.html

[Octafish]

11. Thank you, alp227! Oberstar got the FBI involved in August...

...Of course, FBI Washington didn't want Coleen Rowley and the office in Minneapolis violating the guy's rights (which is weird as it's the only time I can remember the FBI respecting any suspect's rights) and thought it would be OK to just deport the man who wasn't interested in taking off or landing 747s, just in turning them.

One more weird twist, the unnamed flight instructor, Michael Guess, was co-pilot aboard the aircraft that crashed with Paul Wellstone, his wife and their party less than two weeks before the 2002 elections.

FTR: Oberstar endorsed Rowley when she ran for Congress in 2006.

PS: An entire generation will soon come of age that has no clue to any of this, alp227. I imagine jaws would drop when discovering Crisco General John Ashcroft stopped flying commercial in July 2001. For some reason, most all the rest of the flying public was not so warned.

[alp227]

14. Better source than what seems to be a kooky conspiracy message board.

http://allafrica.com/stories/200511170773.html

Original source for what's posted at Rigorous Intuition, Global Research is an Infowars wannabe site, see this thread.

That website is also anti semitic.