Shot In The Dark

Things I Can Say Without Fear of Rational Contradiction

• Keren Woodward was the hottest member of Bananarama.
• I measure eras on Saturday Night Live by the person anchoring Weekend Update; with one exception, the ups and downs in the show's overall quality have corresponded with the changes in the WU anchor staff (and you know what they say about correlation and causation). And I don't believe there's any question that the funniest period on Saturday Night live was a tie between the Bill Murray years and the Dennis Miller years. Not the Chevy Chase years.
• The worst years, on the other hand, were a tie between Mary Gross and Brad Hall.
• Norm McDonald was an outlier - the only period where Weekend Update was good, while the rest of the show stank horribly.
• Wikipedia, after about a year of trying to see if it's in any way useful - is not. THe odds of finding useful information written, especially about anything remotely political, in Wikipedia is directly proportional to the writers' determination to overcome the determination of the hordes of anal-retentive, ultra-left copy-drones who hover about the pages of the "online encyclopedia", editing or vandlizing badthink. It's not worth effort as a reader, much less as a writer.
• They don't make phones like the old Ma Bell boat-anchors we grew up with. Once they went touch-tone, anyway.
• Also - the glory days of the cell phone were about five years ago, at least in terms of design. The ones they have today - the ones that look like little matchboxes - look like they'd get lost between the seams of your desk at work. The ones 5-7 years ago - think the ones in Clueless - were just right in my book.
• As the the Motorola Razor, disregard the above.
• Blaine doesn't exist. Well, let's just say that I have never had convicing, empirical proof that the Twin Cities' northern suburb of Blaine actually exists. I suspect a chamber-of-commerce hoax.
• Mel Gibson needs to shut up. Now.
• In terms of World War II aircraft - the Hawker Hurricane was the niftiest fighter. The Douglass Dauntless as the coolest light-attack plane. Medium Bombers - I'm torn between the B-26 and the Polish PZ37 Karas. Big bombers? With a nod to my homey the B-17, the Lancaster looked just plain mean.

More as events warrant.

With God On Our Side, Part I

Faith and Politics are strange bedfellows to me.

I was a Christian back when I was still a liberal. My faith informed many of the reasons my politics shifted; Christianity is a faith that ennobles the life of the individual (even as it calls him to love his fellow human to the point of laying down his life for him, as indeed our Savior did). The valueing of the worth and value and capability of the individual - who, being a believer, still acts in the best interest of his fellow human being - contrasted with what I saw as the dehumanizing aspects of the far (and I do mean far) left; the concentration on society at the expense of the individual, and the perversion of Christ's calls for compassion into a basis for seizing and maintaining power over that society.
"
The most important person in my religious life was Reverend Bill King, who was pastor of the First Presbyterian Church in Jamestown, ND. He - and his youth group leaders, Mick Burns and Jim Jacobson, both themselves Presbyterian ministers for the past twenty-odd years - gave me a basis in faith, and acting on faith, that has stuck with me for nearly thirty years, and been the center of my life.

Bill King, as it happens, is a flaming liberal. Always was. He left Jamestown to run a church in Madison, Wisconsin in about 1979, and stayed there until he retired a few years back. His church was closely tied to the "Sanctuary" movement in the eighties; it offered a hiding place for Salvadoran citizens who feared being hunted by right-wing death squads (perhaps with justification, said some intelligence and foreign service workers; while many were teachers, political activists, and other people caught up in a bloody civil war, intelligence and foreign service sources said that some were involved in left-wing guerilla groups and death squads of their own. I have no idea which group Rev. King served). He was mortified when I called him in September of 1985 to tell him that his old confirmation student was now a conservative talk show host - as, indeed, I expected he would be.

And yet Rev. King gave me the same background in faith that underpins my life, including my politics, today.

I don't recall being beaten over the head with politics when I was in confirmation class in 1978. Perhaps if I'd attended Rev. King's congregation in Madison, rather than in staunchly Republican Jamestown ND, things might have been different - but I grew up believing that religion should inform one's politics.

Not the other way around.

I've been highly critical, of course, if leftward influences in my own Presbyterian church - not only nationally, but locally. More on that later.

But I'm also queasy about gratuitous nationalistic imagery tossed into other services I've seen. I've attended some services at, among others, the Living Word Christian Center and at North Heights Lutheran - and while I've felt at home with the overt patriotic message itself (I am, after all, an overt patriot), it's the placement that's made me uncomfortable. Christ came for all people. Christ was at the center of the faiths of most of our founding fathers, it's true - but I've always believed, again, that one's faith should inform one's politics.

Not, again, the other way around.

I'm a Presbyterian. I'm committed to the theology of the Presbyterian Church, and more importantly to my larger faith. I'm also committed to my nation. And while my nation needs God - and in many ways I believe America does God's work like no other nation on this planet - I get a little queasy about some of the ways the World mixes the two.

First of three parts. Probably.

Where Have We Heard This Before?

CNN wants in on "Citizen Journalism":

The cable news network on Tuesday plans to announce it has created a new program to let users send in digital audio and video from breaking news events in their region. Users can e-mail or upload these so-called "I-Reports" directly from CNN's site.

Contributions are vetted by seasoned editors much in the same way all news tips are followed up, Susan Bunda, senior vice president of news at CNN/U.S. said in an interview.

And then, presumably, approved or nixed by the same types of executives that, for example, soft-pedaled stories that hurt their market position and relations with foreign goverments. Or worse.

I wonder which well-paid [*] professional journalists' output will be displaced by this new, dirt-cheap effort?

[*] - Well, at the CNN reporter level, they do start getting paid well, right? I mean, I know being a low-to-mid level journalist pays like fry cooking, but once you get up to the bigs...???

You Can't Say "Crap" On The Radio...

...and you can't write "Socialist" in my comment section...

...because "Cialis" is probably the most-used word in comment spam today. And I can't think of a way to filter "Cialis" that doesn't get "socialist" to boot.

I really, really wanna get WordPress installed...

Unclear On The Concept

Every once in a while, while patrolling the left-wing blogosphere for material, I run across something to which I just can't resist responding.

Such as this, one of about half a million articles on the leftyblogosphere about how the mainstream media is really conservative doncha know (!).

And then - almost as if from the "I know you are, but what am I?" school of playground argumentation - comes this little bon mot:

If media is really slanted to the left then why aren’t conservative attempting to restore the Fairness Doctrine?

Because the "Fairness Doctrine" - the 1949-1987 FCC edict that demanded "balance" in media - was the problem. It was administered by a bureaucracy whose entire mandate springs from a big-government philosophy. It was handled at broadcast stations by news departments run by people who were more often than not more sympathetic to the left-of-center than otherwise - types who viewed the likes of Larry King and Owen Span and Michael Jackson and the entire stable of Public Radio programming as "balanced" and "centrist", but who noticed overt conservatism with laser-like precision.

That's why.

Paint And Movement

Kevin at Eckernet is working on a fiendish plan:

Ok, I hope to be putting together a Battle Royale of the Blogosphere on a field of combat. Yes, I'm trying to put together an Minnesota Blogosphere Paintball game.

The particulars are yet to be decided (or even thought about) but for now I am trying to guage interest. Preferably I would like to have the teams be the Right side of the Blogosphere vs the Left side of the Blogosphere. So hopefully we can get enough interest from both sides.

Chad the Elder from Fraters is interested:

I thought it would be like shooting fish in a barrel for the starboard side sharpshooters. With gun nuts like Mitch and Kevin and wild-eyed men like Swiftee (imagine the Scots from "Braveheart") [font color="blue">Note to self: bring bagpipes for pre-battle briefing]...Many questions will be answered when the two sides finally meet.

Will the lefties instigate the conflict and then beg the UN to intervene and declare a cease-fire?

Will Learned Foot really deploy the tactical nuclear paintball device as he's threatened?

Does Mark Gisleson still think that he has the 'nads to take a welt or two on his skin for a cause?

Will Kevin Ecker really live up to his pledge to treat enemy combatants captured on the field of battle according to the Geneva Conventions or should the lefties be worried about the dog collar and pair of panties in his trunk?

These questions and many others will only be answered once the dogs of paintball war are let slipped.

And the always-big-talking Rew from "Powerliberal" sounds off:

We're thinking end of summer, begining of fall. And by begining of fall I mean, of course, that they will fall quickly to the ground because of our accuracy and prowess. Let meknow if you're interested, and, if you can show me which end of the gun things come out of, cause i just don't know....You'll learn, toots.

I haven't played splatball in about 18 years. I'd love to give it a shot, so to speak.

That means it's time to start practicing again...

Stay tuned on this.

Trebek: "The Weather"

Berg: "What is Mitch under?"

Not feeling at all well today. Light posting until later.

Department Of All-Too-Convenient Irony

Let's play a game.

Earlier today, I pilloried Susan Lenfestey for her crabby, hectoring take on people daring to enjoy the one life they have, while she sits, stewing with political rage while on her "vacation".

Lenfestey, along with her husband John, a former Strib editor, is a very wealthy woman; the couple has donated more to political campaigns in the past two years than I have spent on my mortgage in the same time. They are, to say the least, well-off. One wonders how - does the newspaper business pay that well?

Well, anyway, even though the regal couple spends as much in a year as an immigrant making $7 an hour will earn working on a roofing crew, she excoriates the wealthy.

Here's where the game starts.

Lenfestey said:

These sailors come ashore with an all-too-familiar swagger of privilege, claiming dehydration and sexual deprivation from their weekend ordeal on the open water...these guys have free Bacardi rum and a whole slew of sturdy Michigan Girls Gone Wild, bare midriffs and breasts billowing like spinnakers, to slake their various thirsts.

And then - irony of ironies - Lenfestey notes:

As I write I can hear them partying on the lawn of the hotel below...The band is playing an old Edgar Winter rock song called "Free Ride." Well, that's over.

The irony of this random happenstance floored me this morning.

But then I thought - why not?

I'm going to catalogue lists of other perfectly ironic songs for situations. Feel free to join me in the comments. Yes, even you, Angryclown.

We'll follow the format: "Situation" - Song playing on radio/band at time.

Here we go:

"I was taking my kid to a movie at Block E, in Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis, and a couple of gang-bangers pulled a gun on me, held it to my spouse's head, and told us to clean out our account via ATM. Ironically, the overhead speaker was playing I Fought The Law by Bobby Fuller!"

"I was standing in line at the License Bureau, and this rich hag Lenfestey was standing in front of me castigating the woman behind the counter for not wearing a swatch of Red on May 1. So I slipped on my IPod - and what should come up but Miss Gradenko by The Police!"

"I was stuck in an elevator that stopped between floors in the IDS, and there was this rich couple behind me. And the dessicated husk woman kept saying "The whole world is like a stopped elevator, as long as Bush is in office! And if the cable breaks and the elevator falls 40 stories and we die in horror and pain, it'll be no worse than living under Bush!" And then someone's ring-tone came on, and what should it be but Suicide Solution by Ozzy Osbourne?"

You get the idea.

Black Bag Nutjob

Some of you are familiar with the story of Jason Leopold - the leftyblogger and former news reporter who claimed Karl Rove was being indicted in the Plame case - and was shown to be wrong. He's had many other ethical problems - Volokh has his rap sheet.

Anyway, Leopold didn't take that so well, according to NewsBusters. Leopold and a group of his left-wing supporters have been engaged in a bizarre smear campaign against various conservative bloggers that broke the story of Leopold's errors, as well as of his allegedly off-kilter responses to being exposed as not-very-accurate. His supporters in the lefty media published reams of personal information about a number of the bloggers critical of Leopold, including an expat American rightyblogger at Seixon.

Among Leopold's supporters is one Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer who's made a bit of a cottage industry of trafficking in anti-administration conspiracy theories.

And Johnson hasallegedly gone too far this time:

Sexion then received an email apparently from Larry Johnson, a former CIA officer and state department guy who now seems to spend his time peddling conspiracy theories and promoting Jason Leopold and Joe Wilson. After divulging more of Seixon's personal information, Johnson all but threatened the blogger to stop his reporting :

I am willing to accept a written apology and move on. If you refuse to retract your statements about me I am prepared to ratchet this up several levels. I have not spent the last twenty years working with the U.S. military and the intelligence community to accept this kind of nonsense from a wet-nosed 24 year old coward, who is an armchair warrior but does not have the courage to enlist in the military when his country is at war.

Asked if that was a threat, Johnson replied:

I know where you are living. You forget that I do work for the European Union and friends in Interpol. I've offered you a mature way to deal with this situation. You're obviously too immature and inexperienced to recognize the offer for what it is. Too bad.

(This type of behavior isn't exactly unknown from Johnson. He has a habit of emailing critics in a similarly empty and pugnacious manner.)

Things got worse early this morning when Seixon received a phone call from someone who said he had written "naughty things" on his blog. When asked to identify himself, the caller laughed. "You're a dead man," he replied.

We've run into this before, of course; last year, when the DFL was giving itself a hernia trying to figure out who Michael Brodkorb was, various deranged DFL stalkers published his personal address and details about his family.

But even after this, what do you suppose the odds are that Larry Johnson is still going be a regular guest on the Keith Olberman show?

(Via Powerline

Yates

Andrea Yatesfound not guilty due to insanity for drowning her children:

After being acquitted by reason of insanity in her children's bathtub drowning deaths, Andrea Yates won't spend her life in prison - but she will be committed to a state mental hospital.

One day after her acquittal, Yates will learn Thursday where she will be held until she is no longer deemed a threat. It will likely be North Texas State Hospital in Vernon, a maximum-security state facility, said her lead attorney, George Parnham.

Today is interviewing Rusty Yates, the father (who came in, himself, for immense public abuse from people who assumed that his abuse had to be the root cause).

I have no idea what to make of Rusty Yates. On the one hand, he's obviously forgiven his ex-wife for what she did. On the other hand, he expresses resentment to the State of Texas...

...for prosecuting someone who murdered her five children.

Not sure what to think, there.

But it highlights, I think, a movement I've noticed on the part of activists for the mentally-ill - the push to never really hold them accountable for anything they do. Yes, I know - if someone is really mentally ill, they don't really know what they're doing.

But a case in Minneapolis several years ago put it all in stark relief for me. A Somali man with some sort of severe dissociative disorder was walking down (if memory serves) Bloomington Avenue, swinging a machete - a blade that in the hands of a strong man (and the subject was indeed strong) cut a person's head cleanly off.

The police responded. They negotiated, the best they could (considering the guy was apparently dissociative and pretty much impossible to talk with) - and then the guy started swinging the machete again. Now, bear in mind that inside 15 feet, a big guy with a machete and a cop with a gun are pretty evenly-matched (especially if they're armed with nine-millimeter handguns, which are notoriously poor man-stoppers). The cops were in mortal danger, and opened fire, killing the guy with several hits.

Activists for the mentally ill decried the killing. Asked if it would be better to lose a cop...

...silence.

Not sure how to react to the Yates acquittal.

Discuss amongst yourselves.

Creepy

This blog has had great sport dinging on occasional Strib columnist and unhinged person Susan Lenfestey.

Today's column is almost, but not quite, beyond satire. It may be among the most perfect caricatures of the frothing hard-left I've ever seen - almost as if Learned Foot broke into her computer.

It's almost that funny.

Vacation, in her world, is a bitter, wrenching experience:

I'm sitting on my duff on Mackinac Island and fussing about the heat. With no newspaper, no TV and a gummy-slow Internet, I'm in a news vacuum.

I now understand how George W. Bush got to be the way he is. If you don't read the news, and only occasionally step off the shady porch to slash brush, you can pretty much avoid knowing that the world is blowing up around you. You get the most peripheral take on things, little glimpses of trouble spots, which prompt you to mutter inane things about who oughta stop doin' what to whom. Just the other day I said to my husband, "Whassup with Israel?" That's about as deep as it gets when your daily news intake has the nutritional value of a marshmallow.

Let's see: the President, the leader of the free world, in wartime, marinades in information, almost 24/7, even when he's on vacation, which frequently gets interrupted by events. This, compared to a ditzy old biddy who fusses about Republicans and writes fevered screeds.

Yep. Perfect comparison.

Back home in Minneapolis I start the day with the media equivalent of bran and hardtack. My teeth grind, my stomach knots and the little needle on my rage meter pings over to the red zone.

Frothing by 8AM.

Susan Lenfestey must be a riot at parties.

Up here I take my coffee looking out at Lake Huron, a sweep of clear, fresh water that shimmers over the distant horizon like the world's biggest infinity pool, which in a way it is. After the religious wars and the oil wars -- if there is an after -- they say it'll be the water wars, which puts those of us situated in the middle of the five Great Lakes sort of in the catbird seat. Or in a war zone.

There are surveys that show that conservatives are, as a broad rule, happier people that liberals. It sounds like Lenfestey might skew the results.

Not only is she in a full-time froth, what with her, personally, being the focal point of all the world's trouble - but it appears to piss her off that other people can block out the purported impending doom:

These sailors come ashore with an all-too-familiar swagger of privilege, claiming dehydration and sexual deprivation from their weekend ordeal on the open water. Unlike their less lucky counterparts stuck in, say, the 115-degree heat of Iraq, these guys have free Bacardi rum and a whole slew of sturdy Michigan Girls Gone Wild, bare midriffs and breasts billowing like spinnakers, to slake their various thirsts.

"DON'T YOU PEOPLE SEE? THERE'S GOING TO BE A WATER WAR! RIGHT HERE! QUIT HAVING FUN! IF YOU'RE NOT OUTRAGED, YOU'RE AN IDIOT!"

"AND KNOCK OFF ALL THAT DRINKING AND SEX! CONCENTRATE ON POLITICS!"

As I write I can hear them partying on the lawn of the hotel below. The sky blazes blue overhead, the soft breeze smells of balsam trees. The band is playing an old Edgar Winter rock song called "Free Ride." Well, that's over.

Wow - what do you supposed the odds were?

Let me flip on the radio and see if I can count on such convenient irony. (flips switch).

Wow, whaddya know - "Mother" by Pink Floyd! As if on cue!

Even those of us still coasting on the top know that the free ride our dunderhead president promised us is now -- and in reality always was -- a free fall, and at this point no one knows how to stop it. I'd rather be left home alone with Macaulay Culkin than with our bring-it-on kid in the White House. Note to Mom and Dad or any grown-up out there: Please come home.

Have I mentioned that Susan Lenfestey is one of the "non-partisan" patricians who signed the "Happy to Bend Over For a Big Budget" proclamation?

Have no fear...no, strike that. Have nothing but fear, if you're in Susan Lenfestey's frothing little world:

Eventually the anesthesia of oblivion wears off and you feel the pain, even as the crazed surgeons continue to slice up the world and there's nothing you can do to stop them. Vacation is over.

It is impossible to even satirize this kind of thing.

Have no fear: She's coming home to save the world, in her own, frothing, spittle-flecked, hate-choked manner:

I'll go home and dip my puny oar into the political waters of the midterm elections and pull toward that little sandbar of hope, though some days it feels like bailing a lake with a thimble.

But if those with oars pull together and those with thimbles keep bailing, maybe we can still get there.

Who wants to sit in a boat with Susan Lenfestey?

Anyone?

Random Meme

From Tanya via Sheila.

What curse word do you use the most?
I try not to swear, but the F word leaks out once in a while. Or three or four times in a while.

I also say, for whatever reason, "Christ on a Harley". I don't know.
Do you own an iPod?
I wish. It may be my Christmas present to myself.
Who on your MySpace "Top 8" do you talk to the most?
I have no idea what this means.
What time is your alarm clock set for?
5:15-30
What color is your room?
A wretched tan-peach color that is getting re-done this winter, come hell or high water.
Flip flops or sneakers?
Sneakers. Every time I buy sandals, they disappear in a week or so.
Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
I'd rather take the picture in a hearbeat.
What was the last movie you watched?
In The Bedroom
Do any of your friends have children?
The vast majority do.
Has anyone ever called you lazy?
Not since junior high.
Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep faster?
If my head hits a pillow, I'm usually out. I can remember lying awake maybe once in the last five years.
What CD is currently in your CD player?
Disk C of the watching the Dark box set, Richard Thompson
Do you prefer regular or chocolate milk?
Chocolate. It's a rare treat.

Family tradition: the first day of school, I have a can of Quik in the house. Always. It's not the first day of school without it.
Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Yes!
Have you ever given someone a hickey?
Er, yes. Got in trouble for it once.
Who was the last person to call you?
Mom.
Do you think people talk about you behind your back?
I'd be disappointed if they didn't.
Did you watch cartoons as a child?
YYeah, but I got bored with most of them by about fifth grade. Loved Bugs Bunny, hated Scooby Doo.
How many siblings do you have?
Barb and Jim
Are you shy around the opposite sex?
I used to be cripplingly shy around grrrls. I got over it.
What movie do you know every line to?
At the moment, none. I used to be able to recite along with Casablanca.
Do you own any band t-shirts?
Last year I bought a Ramones T. My daughter keeps stealing it.
What is your favorite salad dressing?
Italian.
Do you read for fun?
Constantly.
Do you cry a lot?
Never.
Who was the last person to text message you?
My daughter.
Do you have a desktop computer or a laptop?
In my house, there are two desktops and a laptop, plus my "work" laptop.

(Note to burglars - they are all kept next to my four dobermans, named War, Famine, Pestilence and Death
Are you currently wanting any piercings or tattoos?
Nah
What is the weather like?
Hot, muggy and miserable. I'm a winter person. I hate this hot humid crap.
Would you ever date someone covered in tattoos?
Call me old-fashioned, but I don't find excessive tattoos on women attractive.
Is sex before marriage wrong?
Probably.
When was the last time you slept on the floor?
Weekend before last. It was very hot, the kids were at their mother's, and the family room is the only place in the house with AC, so I crashed a blanket on the floor. Nice 'n cool!
How many hours of sleep do you need to function
Five.
Are you in love or lust?
I'm in both every time I walk into Willie's American Guitars.
Are your days full and fast-paced?
Very.
Do you pay attention to calories on the back of packages?
No, but I'll check out fat and cholesterol when in doubt.
How old will you be turning on your next birthday?
A year older.
Are you picky about spelling and grammar?
Spelling and grammar are among the very few things that separate us from the barbarians.
Have you ever been to Six Flags?
We have "Valley Fair" in the Twin Cities. Many times.
Do you get along better with the same or opposite sex?
Both, just fine.
Do you like cottage cheese?
No! Have always hated it.
Do you sleep on your side, tummy, or back?
Normally on my side - but if I sleep on my stomach, I feel better.
Have you ever bid for something on eBay?
A few times. It's how I got my bass!
Do you enjoy giving hugs?
Sure! I mean, I'm not one of those gloppy people who's hugging all over the place, but it's just fine.
What song did you last sing out loud?
While driving home last night, "Comfortably Numb" was on the radio. Sang the harmony part. Fun.
What is your favorite TV show?
All time: Hill Street Blues, Moonlighting, Cheers, old episodes of ER.

Currently: 24, Mythbusters, Veronica Mars, and my daughter and Red have me hooked on Project Runway.
Which celebrity, dead or alive, would you want to have lunch with?
"Celebrities"? They don't generally fascinate me. Maybe Ingrid Bergman, Teresa Wright, Humphrey Bogart...

If you're talking "Public Figures" - Ronald Reagan, Lech Walesa, Margaret Thatcher, Harry S. Truman, Stanislaus Schmajzner.
Last time you had butterflies in your stomach?
Every week, before the show - but they're the controlled ones you get when you've done something a billion times.

Although during the Patriot Picnic, I had a blast of 'em. We had an opposition photographer videotaping Kennedy. This was right after the event at the Humphrey Center where Amy Klobuchar's jackbooted fascist staff detained a group of Kennedy people and confiscated their cameras.

I was going to ambush the oppo guy - but as I waited to go on the air, I started getting intense butterflies. I am not normally a confrontational person; on my blog and on the air, it's all very controllable (and I'm not that confrontational on either medium), but this was in person.

But we went live, and I introduced the details of the Humphrey Center situation, and stuck the mike in the photographer's face and asked "so what do you think about campaigns harassing opposition photographers"
What one thing do you wish you had?
The extranatural knowledge that my kids, at the end of it all, are going to grow up heathly, happy, and good people.
Favorite lyrics?
I got a sixty-nine Chevy with a 396
Fuelie heads and a Hurst on the floor
She's waiting tonight down in the parking lot
Outside the Seven-Eleven store
Me and my partner Sonny built her straight out of scratch
And he rides with me from town to town
We only run for the money got no strings attached
We shut `em up and then we shut `em down

Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow `em off in my first heat
Summer's here and the time is right
We're goin' racin' in the street

We take all the action we can meet
And we cover all the northeast state
When the strip shuts down we run `em in the street
From the fire roads to the interstate
Some guys they just give up living
And start dying little by little piece by piece
Some guys come home from work and wash up
Then go racin' in the street

Tonight tonight the strip's just right
I wanna blow `em all out of their seats
Calling out around the world
We're going racin' in the street

I met her on the strip three years ago
In a Camaro with this dude from L.A.
I blew that Camaro off my back and drove that little girl away
But now there's wrinkles around my baby's eyes
And she cries herself to sleep at night
When I come home the house is dark
She sighs Baby did you make it all right
She sits on the porch of her daddy's house
But all her pretty dreams are torn
She stares off alone into the night
With the eyes of one who hates for just being born

For all the shut-down strangers and hot rod angels
Rumbling through this promised land
Tonight my baby and me we're gonna ride to the sea
And wash these sins off our hands

Tonight tonight the highway's bright
Out of our way mister you best keep
`Cause summer's here and the time is right
We're goin' racin' in the street

That should do it.

There Goes the 'Hood

Learned Foot joins KvM.

Invites to the KvM Christmas Party will be the hottest ticket in town.

Reader Mail

Periodically I like to go through some of the email I get from my readers (and occasional readers).

Let's get started:

To: Berg
From: [Redacted]
Re: Massive deception

You contenue to lye to the peopel. The creticisem of the M-1 tank you referred to in this post is all wrong. The M-1 was a descendent of the MBT70 tank, which get cretisiced for cost overruns in the 1960's.

You contenue to lie to the readers.

[Name redacted]

Sorry, you're mistaken.

Jack Anderson wrote an extensive, harsh - and, as events proved later, very very wrong - series of articles about the M-1 Abrams' operational testing in the late '70's and early '80's. He tried to paint the Abrams as a 65-ton lemon, and that the US would be better-served buying lighter, cheaper tanks made out of proven technology.

Look it up.

To: Mitch
From: [Redacted]
Subject: I Hate Clowns

Why do you let Angryclown post on your comment section?

I pride myself on being extremely sparing in banning people; in four years, I've only whacked three readers. Two of them came from Eva Young's blog; one of them made a lot of foul-mouthed scatological threats (after Eva posted my private email address to a bunch of radical gay sites); the other was just a dick. The third person I banned was a commenter who, frankly, I started to worry about; cutting him off probably did everyone - he, I, and the readers - a favor. Dealing with such endless, unbridled, and factually-void anger really made things un-fun after a while.

So there are two reasons I'd not ban the Clown: He's basically harmless (he exists mainly to yank people's chains) and frankly if it keeps him busy and gives him some pleasure during his days of wandering the streets of the Lower East Side in his jaunty fez and roach-nibbled overcoat, panhandling and begging for change to buy his next bottle of generic mouthwash at the dollar store, then it's money in the pockets of New York's taxpayers. You can thank me later - all of you!

To: Mitch
From: [Redacted]
Subject: Pictoores dont' lie

Why do you always say that the phootos of Michele Bachmann at the cappitol from Apriil of 20005 aren't shoowing her speying on the gay rally?

Hah! Joke, right?

Anyone who believes that photo ever showed the Senator "spying" on anyone - through transparent freaking bushes - needs to have more than their eyes examined.

To: Mitch
From: [Redacted]
Subject: Humor.

I know funny when I see it. And you aren't funny.

Signed, [expunged]

You finally figured that out. Pffft. I'm deadly serious! And the sooner you get that through your "head", the better off we'll all be!

To: Mitch
From: [Redacted]
Subject: Series

When is your "Twenty Years Ago Today" series going to end?

Thanks,

[deleted]

I actually have the final episode already written. It goes a little like this:

September 28, 2025

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part MCCLXIII

I sat down this morning and started writing about my spur-of-the-moment decision to move to Minneapolis, twenty years to the day earlier. The post took me ten minutes to write. The title took me an hour and a half.

That is all.

Faulty Analogies

If I could have a nickel for every time I've heard a specious Weimar Germany comparison, I'd be able to take my raaders out for lunch.

Brian E. Fogarty, sociology professor at (shudder) Saint Kate's, puts another nickel in the kitty in today's Strib.

Fogarty starts:

Imagine this situation: Your country has had a military setback in a war that was supposed to be over after a few months of "shock and awe."

Fogarty has just discussed nearly every war in history.

Because of that war, it has lost the goodwill and prestige of much of the international community.

Buncombe, of course. The war brought out bigotries, fears and national and ethnic self-interests that were there all along, in most cases.

The national debt has grown to staggering size. Citizens complain bitterly about the government, especially the legislative branch, for being a bunch of do-nothings working solely for themselves or for special interest groups. In fact, the political scene has pretty much lost its center -- moderates are attacked by all sides as the political discourse becomes a clamor of increasingly extreme positions.

It seems there are election campaigns going on all the time, and they are increasingly vicious. The politicians just want to argue about moral issues -- sexuality, decadent art, the crumbling family and the like -- while pragmatic matters of governance seem neglected.

Ready? Wait for it....wait...for...it...

Sound familiar? That society was Germany of the 1920s -- the ill-fated Weimar Republic. But it also describes more and more the political climate in America today.

Except for the bit about the description covering Weimar in any meaningful way, Fogarty is sort of correct.

Germans were worried about the future of their country. They suffered from all sorts of terror, as assassinations, coup attempts and crime pulled their society apart. The left blamed the right; the right blamed the left, and the political center simply dried up.

Let's aspire to some intellectual honesty here.

After World War II, the German state had been bled dry. 35% of men between 18 and 40 had been killed or wounded in the war. The economy collapsed even before the Versailles treaty - and the punitive reparations demanded by Clemenceau (whose France suffered even more grievously) and Lloyd-George further straitened the German economy.

The economy plunged into chaos (broadly speaking - there were bright spots, which the modern academy is as unaware of as they are about the truth in Iraq); Unemployment skyrocketed, as eventually did hyperinflation. Socialist legislation on the part of the national government didn't help matters much.

Desperate Germans joined extremist political parties, which organized their own private militias of unemployed veterans; each major political party had its own army, like Hamas and Hezb'allah do today; the Monarchists, Social Democrats, Socialists, Communists and various ultra-right parties had armies with rifles, machine-guns, even armored cars. They even fought pitched battles in the streets of some German cities, including an incident in which a private party army took the nation's capital.

So let's recap: Society physically gutted by war; economic catastrophe; private armies carrying the political squabbles into the streets.

Yes, Mr. Fogarty - this sounds just like America today.

To get themselves out of the mess, Germans might have demanded government that carefully mended fences with its allies and enemies;...

As, indeed, they did. The national governments of the Weimar said (to translate into modern Minnesotan), "Es freut uns für ein besseres Deutschland zu zahlen" (Happy to pay for a better Germany!). Taxes were high; so were services. The government reflected contemporary Europe's belief that a benevolent, interventionist government would help society recover from the spasm it had just suffered, and prevent the next one.

... one that judiciously hammered out compromises among the various political parties and sought the middle path.

This is the part that self-serving, selective writers like Fogarty keep missing - they tried. The various governments of the Weimar era were nothing if not well-meaning. But German society was so beaten-down, and suffered so from the contortions that any great, proud society is bound to go through when they are as completely crushed as Germany was, that good intentions weren't good enough.

By the way - does any of this sound like America yet?

Well - part of America, anyway. Maybe Fogarty has a small point buried in here somewhere.

But we know that didn't happen. In Germany of the 1920s, as now in 21st-century America, appeals to reason and prudence were no way to get votes in times of crisis. Much more effective were appeals to the anger and fear of the German people. A politician could attract more votes by criticizing the government than by praising it, and a vicious negative campaign was usually more effective than a clean one. One of the problems of democracy is that voters aren't always rational, and appeals like these could be very effective.

So let's recap; after a catastrophic defeat, the German electorate became extremist, paranoid, and prone to support extreme, even violent, means to political ends.

Who does this represent?

As usually happens in times of distress, the Germans became a people for whom resolve was valued more highly than prudence, daring more than caution, and righteousness more than discretion. In many ways, they were a people not so different from today's Americans.

Oh, they were different in every measure than mainstream Americans. Americans are wealthy beyond any rational historical comparison. Our society is settled enough that we have the moral and intellectual energy to fuss endlessly about things like flag-burning. The last two "extremist" Republicans we elected were, by any rational political measure, moderates.

But if you look out on the Daily Kos, and Democrats.com, and Democratic Underground, and listen to Air America - well, there you start seeing parallels; people who have been devastated by (political) defeat; people who view their opposition as something less than human, as criminals, as an enemy rather than a political and intellectual opponent (and please don't bother comparing Fox News or Free Republic to any of the left's netroots; Fox is plenty mainstream, and Freerepublic is the fringe in a way that Daily Kos is (ask Joe Lieberman) not.

Fogarty swerves into intellectual honesty of a sort - in paragraph 10 of 13. Sort of.

Of course, America is not 1920s Germany, and we are certainly not on the verge of a fascist state.

But...

But neither have we experienced the deep crises the Germans faced.

File this under "what if Napoleon had a B-52 at Waterloo?"

The setbacks of the Iraq/Afghan war are a far cry from the devastating loss of the First World War; we are not considered the scourge of the international community, and we don't need wheelbarrows full of money to buy a loaf of bread. But even in these relatively secure times, we have shown an alarming willingness to choose headstrong leadership over thoughtful leadership, to value security over liberty; to accept compromises to constitutional principles, and to defy the opinion of the rest of the world.

The "setbacks" of the Iraq/Afghan war have been nothing - costly as they have been - compared to some of the "Victories" of World Wars I, II and Vietnam.

How would we react if things got worse?

Like if 1,000 Americans were killed in two minutes at Pearl Harbor? Like if 900 Americans died in one day taking an island we didn't need to? Like if 5,000 Americans died taking an island half the size of Richfield?

Like if 3,000 Americans died in one hour from terrorist attacks?

If we were to lose the war in Iraq, leaving a fundamentalist regime in place; if we endured several more major terrorist attacks; if the economy collapsed; if fuel prices reached $7 per gallon -- would we cling even more fiercely to our democratic ideals? Or would we instead demand greater surveillance, more secret prisons, more arrests for "conspiracies" that amount to little more than daydreams, and more quashing of dissent?

Or would we demand rational surveillance of legitimately suspicious activity, appropriate treatment for stateless terrorists, proper handling of legitimate terrorist activities?

And precisely what dissent has been "quashed?" Please give me specifics, here.

And then go back and write something that shows you understand either Weimar or modern America.

With a "c", if you please.

Brian E. Fogarty, a sociology professor at the College of St. Catherine in St. Paul, is the author of "War, Peace, and the Social Order."

None of which is in the least surprising.

Where's A Can Of Mace When I Need One?

Minneapolis.

Criminals running amok. A revolving-door justice system. A County Attorney more interested in running for higher office than doing her job.

Zombies in the streets:

Ralphi Rechitsky said he and six friends who were arrested while dressed as "zombies" deserve a public apology from the Minneapolis police officers who arrested them downtown Saturday night and kept them in jail until Monday.

"They [the police] instructed us they'd shoot us in the head," he said.

Rule number one of dealing with pretentious art-fops: never go for the head shot when a flashlight to the groin will do fine.

And Jamie Jones also wants police assurance that they aren't going to shoot members of the group.

"We want a written apology. Our constitutional rights were taken away," she said.

Members of the group danced Saturday to music from portable stereos on a Nicollet Mall corner. Some were dressed in tattered clothing and were covered in faux blood, and several had wires protruding from their backpacks.

Police have said that the group was uncooperative and intimidated passersby with their "ghoulish" makeup at a time when officers were on high alert after a bulletin about men in other states who wore clown makeup while attacking and robbing people.

OK, seriously - nobody, not even the fabled Angryclown, supports the First Amendment like I do.

But I'm not sure what bothers me more; that people think that their right to free speech means an unrestricted right to be a nuisance, or that someone in Minneapolis didn't mace one of the "dancers":

Rechitsky said Tuesday that police approached the group and said people had called to say they didn't want the zombies there. The police asked them to tone it down and left, said Jake Sternberg.

But 1½ hours later, four officers arrived and told the zombies that their sergeant had instructed them to see the performers' IDs, group members said.

So - they neither "Toned it down" nor "left"?

I mean, the story doens't say, but can we assume this?

Because police get a little peevish if you don't follow things like "legal orders"...

"We said we don't have any identification," Sternberg said.

The zombies said they then went to the First Precinct station, where they were ordered to take off their backpacks and were taken away one-by-one to be questioned, Sternberg said.

"And they told the group they would be charged with possession of simulated weapons of mass destruction," Sternberg said.

More like "weapons of crass pretension".

One more thing bothers me; that this is in the newspaper at all. Because if we're to believe the police, these "kids" need to work on the whole "settle on a story" bit:

First Precinct Inspector Janee Harteau said the case remains under investigation. The comments and accusations by the group are changing, she said, but she declined to comment on specific allegations.

Rechitsky said: "Police are supposed to be public servants. They shouldn't be terrorizing people."

And zombies are supposed to be something the good guy mows down with a chainsaw and a shotgun.

Hey, I saw Army of Darkness.

On The Way To A Solution

I'm not normally one to quote from my comments section in creating new posts - it's kind of lazy if you make too much a habit of it.

But occasionally, a comment gives me the impetus for a post.

As did a comment in this thread the other day.

I dinged on the UN's potential role in...well, anything, but specifically the Middle East, by way of saying we shouldn't trust amateurs or the Demcrats to defend this nation.

The commenter responded:

Yes, and where our missions to stabilize countries have done so well by comparison.

Vietnam
Iraq
Somalia
Lebanon

Excellent points.

Vietnam started out as a low-key operation to enable the South Vietnamese to defend themselves against a guerrilla incursion. Until 1962, it was almost entirely a special forces operation - "Green Berets" teaching South Vietnamese army and militia units how to fight. It was, like all counterinsurgency operations, slow, painstaking, occasionally painful work - there are no shortcuts in counterinsurgency war.

Then, in 1962, John Kennedy - smarting from his defeat at the Bay of Pigs - needed a PR victory. His cabinet told him Vietnam was low-hanging fruit. So Kennedy sent in the Marines; the conflict widened, and LBJ sent in half a million soldiers and committed the US military to winning a war that had escalated into a large superpower proxy war. All to win a PR battle.

Strike one for the Democrats.

Iraq? It's a counterinsurgency war. No shortcuts. It will be slow, and painful (increasingly so for the Iraqis, less so for us - and sometime in the next 5-10 years, if fought aggressively, will end with a whimper rather than a bang.

Somalia: a limited US relief mission got turned, by Clinton, into a wider police action, from which the Democrat administration scampered like a scared bunny when there was a chance that the "Black Hawk Down" incident would erode the Clinton poll numbers.

Lebanon? Bad idea.

So let's see - three strikes against Democrats, one against a Republican.

I'm liking where I'm sitting at the moment.

We sure do get the prize for success, the only one that comes to mind that worked is Bosnia, which Mitch of course opposed.

And I was right - it should have been NATO's job.

And we're still involved in the Balkans. There is no "exit strategy". We have no idea when our troops will be out of there.

No prize there.

Mitch, I'd be interested to hear your prediction for success in Iraq. Having recently turned the corner again with the establishment of a unity government, and seen daily attacks go from 24 per day average to 34 per day, how long, do you suppose it will be until there is peace?

A little more context, please? The number of attacks bobs up and down like a hyperactive flamingo.

Will I predict when we succeed? It'll be a while. We'll win - the more firm we stay in pursuit of the goal, the sooner we (and Iraq) will win.

Oh, and would you please enlighten us all on how the situation with the Kurds will turn out, especially please concentrate on telling us how it will be different than the very accurate predictions from the left about how things were going to pan out.

The Kurds, able to determine their own destiny, will work things out. The Kurds - scattered across Iraq, Iran, Turkey and Syria - have been fighting against all four nations, to one extent or another, for over thirty years. They have many just grievances against all four nations, and vice versa. It will take diplomacy - internal and external - to sort out. For the first time, the Kurds have a stake in the future of one of those four nations; that will help.

Just for the record, they predicted:

a. extensive, long-lasting strife between Sunnis and Shiites [Really? Who predicted that before the war? I mean, in terms of specifics? ]
b. long-term destabilizing activity by AQ - a force not present prior to our invasion[Misdirection - AQ isn't the only terrorist group to be concerned about. And patently untrue at any rate - Zarquawi was known to be operating in Iraq, and the continuing translation of Baath party documents is shedding more light on Iraqi/terror (not just Iraqi]
c. eventual strife between the Kurds and Turkey [Um, no prize for that - they've been fighting for two generations, and that's just the latest bout. But we've gone three years in relative peace - anything is possible.]

Lots of luck, Left.

More on this later.

Question

To: Pat Buchanan
From: Mitch Berg
Re: Huh?

Pat,

You said:

Who would benefit from these endless wars in a region that holds nothing vital to America-save oil…Who would benefit from a 'war of civilizations' with Islam? Who other than these neoconservatives and Ariel Sharon? Indeed, Sharon was everywhere the echo of his American auxiliary…."

You've also wondered if American Jews can be trusted, because of their loyalty to Israel.

Weren't they asking the same thing about American Catholics like you, not fifty years ago?

Have your people call my people.

Unless They Come After You

Michelle Malkin broils Pat Buchanan and Chris Matthew over a spit, and remembers Lt. Col Rich Higgins, Petty Officer Dave Stethem, Bill Buckley and the Marines killed in Lebanon - of whom it's apparently too inconvenient for Matthews and Buchanan to recall.

Gloriously Arrested

A few weeks back, JB Doubtless commented on a Soul Asylum gig he'd attended.

Soul Asylum. I had little idea they were still playing. (Actually, googling around I notice that Michael Bland is drumming for them. He'll be turning up in a "Twenty Years Ago Today" in about five months here...).

I never liked Soul Asylum much. Oh, they were all right - I used to shoot the odd game of pool with Dan Murphy and/or Karl Mueller at the CC Club back when you could still meet musicians there, when I was still knocking around the music scene, and I liked a few songs here and there, and they were great live - but they were no Replacements.

So seeing them performing wouldn't really grab me now.

But JB's bit got me thinking about something that did smack me upside the head a few months back.

There's Dan Murphy. He looks like he did in 1991. He's still wearing thrift store clothing and the ubiquitous Chuck Taylors. Does he dress this way every day? I think he does. That isn't a stage outfit. The man is in his forties and he's still making some kind of statement with his duds. Sigh. He doesn't seem to be very happy to be playing tonight. There's Pirner. Talented guy, no doubt and he's thankfully lost the dreads from years back, but I wonder if it feels odd at all to be still singing songs of angst and depression and frustration--teenage themes--when you're over 40.

Maybe.

VH1's Bands Reunited last year undertook an effort to reunite The Alarm, the greatest band ever to a hail from Wales.

The Alarm - they of the gloriously overwrought bombastic lyrics, feverishly adolescent energy and hair that put Kajagoogoo to shame, were one of my favorite bands of the early-mid eighties; while their flaming-red socialist lyrics drew the odd giggle from this blooming Reaganite, they were still everything Rock and Roll was supposed to be; something that grabbed you by the liver and hauled you out on the dance floor.

Of course, that was twenty years ago. Here they are in 1983

Edde McDonald, Nigel "Twist" Buckle, Mike Peters, Dave Sharp, and 200 uncredited cans of hairspray.

And here they were on "Bands Reunited" last year:

Peters, Twist (Jamestown people - if you see the video, you'd wonder if it was Mad Dog), McDonald (No, not Dr. Jonez) and Sharp.

So I was thinking about the Alarm on TV when I read JB's bit - and it occurred to me...well, we'll get back to that part.

The highlight of "Bands Reunited" (if a performance by, say, Dramarama or New Kids on the Block can be called a highlight) is the climactic performance by the reunited group. And I loved this part; the Alarm is doing their anthem...

...scratch that. The Alarm did nothing but anthems. They were friggin' exhausting to listen to, because every single dadgummed song required you to get up and shake your fist and/or butt and stay at a fever pitch for two friggin' hours.

But I digress again. They were performing "68 Guns" - not my favorite of their bazillion anthems (you can't tell me "Marching On" and "The Stand" weren't better), but a good one.

And in the breakdown in the middle (another thing the Alarm tacked onto every blessed song they ever did, live), Peters looks around at his twenty-year-older band - McDonald the bassist-turned-mild-mannered paralegal; Sharp, with whom he'd spent most of the nineties feuding - as he sang the lyric:

"nothing lasts for ever - that's all they seem to tell you when you're young.

And then he ad-libbed:

But not tonight..."

And the crowd went wild.

So why does Dan Murphy wear slummy shirts and Chuck Taylors when he's actually 44 years old and works as a social studies teacher?

Because that's his job. When he gets on the stage under the moniker "Soul Asylum", his job is to take a legion of his fans back to whereever they were when that kind of thing mattered to them.

Oh, people like Mike Peters and Dan Murphy - and Mick Jagger, for that matter - may not see it that way. They probably think they have some new sod to turn in the world of music. They might even be right. But most rock and roll acts - the ones that don't flame out in a drunken, drug-sodden fog at age 25 - have to eventually deal with the fact that they are products of a moment in time for a group of people who were at the right age and place in their lives to have that moment in the first place, and that whatever they created isn't going to mean a lot for people who weren't in and of that moment. If they're talented and supernaturally lucky (Madonna, Springsteen) they can stretch that moment far beyond the norm, or at least do "nostaligia" rock with style (Mick Jagger).

And if they're Dan Murphy or Mike Peters or Joe Grushecky, they can come around and play, and all of us who loved them the first time around can get a twinge of what it was like, the first time around.

It doens't last forever. But not tonight.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part XXXIV

It was Thursday, July 24, 1986.

A week or so earlier, Don had put out the call - we needed a new theme song.

He had sown the wind. He was reaping the whirlwind.

We had been deluged with tapes - or as close as any station drawing a four share ever gets to being deluged with anything.

Some of the tapes were obviously the work of very talented musicians, who did the work in actual recording studios, and put serious time into writing and arranging their efforts.

Totally wrong. Dave and I - both of us actual musicians who appreciated the effort that'd gone into the productions - shuffled uncomfortably as Don flipped past them. "It's just not right for the show."

On the other hand, some were too low-fi - a guy had written a fair long, involved, folky song which he'd recorded and sung on, apparently, a cassette tape. Hissy, with mistakes and missed notes and about two minutes too long...

Close!

And then - on the second-to-last day of the contest - we cued up a cassette. Over the home-cassette hiss, we heard a needle cueing up on a turntable - the guy was obviously sitting in front of a record player with a cassette deck...

...and the opening strains of the Bonanza theme, swelled up to the familiar tune...

...over which a schlemiely-sounding guy began singing with comic gusto

"Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel, it's the Don da da Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel Show!

(then up a fourth)

"Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel, it's the Don da da Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel Show!

(then into the bridge)

Oh ah uh, oh ah uh, the Round Mound of Sound,
Oh ah uh, oh ah uh, the Round Mound of Sound!

(then back to the tune)

"Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel, it's the Don da da Don da da Don da da Don da da Don Don Vogel Show!

You could tell when Don liked something - he'd start laughing with this sudden, sharp cackle, and then keep guffawing uncontrollably.

"That's the one!"

There were two more days to the contest, but Bill Kramlinger of White Bear Lake had us at "Don da da Don..."

And Your Solution Is...

The Strib notes Darfur...:

Push has definitely come to shove, and a meeting in Brussels last week underscored the calamity at hand. The only "peacekeeping" operation now in Darfur is run by a 7,000-member African Union force -- too thinly spread and underfunded to keep much peace at all. Money raised in Brussels will sustain the force only through September. But it's hard to know what benefit that investment can buy: Sudan's government militias -- known as janjaweed -- seem to have little trouble skirting the AU troops as they continue to torch villages and slay villagers.

They even give some credit where it's due...:

It's plain a stronger presence is required, and President Bush deserves praise for saying so. After meeting with Sudanese Vice President Salva Kiir last Thursday, Bush called on Sudan to welcome U.N. peacekeepers to Darfur. Backed by all in the international community, that move has so far met resistance from Sudan.

Un-noted by the Strib; the reason the proposal has "met resistance" from Sudan. The Khartoum government is an Islamic thugocracy.

The Strib's response?:

The sponsor of genocide should not have the last word on this question. If reason and pressure can't move Sudan to make way for capable peacekeepers, the United Nations must act nevertheless.

Who are these "capable peacekeepers"?

No, I'm serious. I'm digging back through fifty years of UN "peacekeeping", exclusing Korea (which was not "peacekeeping" at all) and I can think of exactly one UN mission that worked - East Timor, where the Australian military told the UN that they'd run their own operation, and to please just show up with the relief supplies and a few thousand capable soldiers in relief, and to keep their mitts off the grownup business of putting troops into the country and dispersing, disarming and killing militias, thank you very much.

If the UN doesn't have a similar mandate - let a competent, capable nation lead the initial, "hot" operation against the Janjaweed, so it's carried out like a military operation rather than a dirty political campaign, then history shows there's really not much of a point.

If It Feels Like The Earth Is About To Spin Off Its Axis

...it's probably because of this...:

Although Lynx Chief Operating Officer Roger Griffith strongly implied the decision was largely McConnell Serio's, the ex-coach said she tendered her resignation after a meeting in which "it was obvious they wanted to go in a different direction."

"I've never quit anything in my life, so it's difficult to walk away," McConnell Serio said. "But the one thing when I was hired, the conversation I had was when it no longer was fun anymore, it would be time to walk away. It seemed to reach that point."

I enjoy women's pro basketball about as much as I enjoy...oh, hockey, I suppose.

So I guess this news has...

...had no effect on me whatsoever.

The Lynx, however, should be flattered that the Strib saw fit to put their coaching change on their front (online) page. It never would have occurred to me...

Call for Alexandra Romanov

Sheila's going to go medieval on you.

Well...late pre-renaissance on you, anyway.

It's a Good Thing I Like To Blog...

...because I hate all blogging tools.

I started on Blogger, whose service hiccups have been legendary for years. But it was free, so I dared not complain.

Then, I upgraded to Moveable Type 2.6x. And when I say "I" upgraded, I really meant Ed upgraded me one day. In a couple of minutes. Because I couldn't do the installation myself. Now, I'm pretty literate around computers - I've even done a ton of work on Linux and Unix. But no - after days of trying, I was no closer to installing MT2.6 than I was to building a muscle car out of toothpicks. It could not happen. So thanks, Ed.

Of course, MT2.x is getting very long in the tooth - which is why I suspect my right menu, and sometimes my entire blog, won't load. So I'm trying to upgrade to either Wordpress or Movable Type 3.3

Wordpress, I have been told, is the easiest install in the world. But after three attempts, when I try to fire up the install script I get...nothing. Crash and burn. Zip.

As to Movable Type 3.3 - pffft. Not a chance.

And I won't go to TypePad - I won't pay to use an editor on someone else's space.

So does anyone have any ideas here?

Event In Search Of A Metaphor

Gay-marriage poster couple on the skids.

No, I'm not rejoicing over it. But given that the first thing that most pro-gay-marriage people say is "It can't hurt marriage any worse than divorce does", I'd be very interested in seeing what the mean duration of gay "marriages" is.

Plenty of straight marriages happen for all the wrong reasons. One of the worst of them is to "show" someone or "prove" something to someone. Straight couples are far from immune from that - and given the emotional loading of the topic, I'd suspect a higher share of gay couples have that as their motivation.

So it'll be interesting to watch what happens.

Devoid of Fact

The DFL issued a press release on the Immigration stances of the President and Karl Rove...

...which were so devoid of fact, even the Strib (albeit the excellent Eric Black) noticed it:

Specifically, the DFL news release demanded that Bachmann declare "whether she supports the Bush/Rove tactic of making scapegoats of immigrants" and whether she "really wants to endorse the Bush/Rove scare tactics?"

That doesn't describe Bush's position on this issue. Bush has a career-long record of outreach to Hispanics and moderate stands on immigration issues. He has spent this year promoting a part-carrot, part-stick approach to the issue of illegal immigrants that is closer to the Democratic position than the enforcement-only approach of Republican hard-liners.

Asked for examples of Bush and Rove scapegoating, the author of the DFL release didn't have any.

Insert pithy comment here.

The DFL: "The Truth Is Whatever We Say It Is"

From the "I Didn't Know She Was Alive, But Am Glad She Is" File

Jen Trynin hasn't had an album in nine years, but she's got a book out.

I'm sorely tempted to buy it, too...

Things Everyone Says I'm Supposed To Like, But I Just Don't

A by-no-means complete list:

• Spongebob Squarepants - It's clever. It's well written. It's jammed with sly references for the adults in the audience. It even makes me laugh, once in a while. But I hate it. Just hate it to death. I don't even entirely know why. Maybe it's that #@$#@^% "Reeeeeeeeeeally/Yes, Reaaaaaaaaaaally/Reeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeally reeeeeeeeeeeeeeally..." bit, or maybe that accursed laugh, I don't know. But I've concluded after years of trying to like the stupid cartoon that the only reason I like anything about the show is that it's rubbed me so far the wrong way it's almost gone full circle.
• Most Scotch - Oh, I'll admit I'm not immune to the charms of a snort of 30-year-old Laphraoig, if I've gotten warmed up on other stuff. But most Scotch - even most "good" scotch - tastes anywhere from fussy and anal-retentive to nose-clearingly unpleasant. There's a reason Scotland has remained conquered by the Brits, while the world's great Vodka producers - Russia, Poland, Finland and Sweden - remain independent.
• The Suburbs - The band, I mean. While I've seen them live a few times and admit they're a great bar band, their records always left me totally cold.
• The Suburbs - OK, now I'm talking about the geographical area. I admit, after last winter's go-rounds about the relative virtues of city and 'burb life, to have tried hard to keep an even more open mind about life in the subs. And after six months or so...it's not working. The tipping point? I was driving through a residential subdivision the other day, and my mind wandered, and suddenly I had to ask myself - "Where am I?" I couldn't tell if I was in Bloomington, Eden Prairie, Roseville, Brooklyn Park, Inver Grove Bites...for a moment or two, I literally could not tell where I was (it was Maple Grove). Y'all are welcome to your 'burbs, of course - but it's just not for me. (Of course, I won't rule out that a city income tax might improve my geographic memory...)
• Christian Rock - I'm a Christian. I'm a rocker. Surely the two must go together for me. But no - they don't. Now, there are (or have been) plenty of rockers who are Christians who have been very important to me - U2, The Alarm, King's X, Simple Minds, T-Bone Burnett and many, many more. But there's a "preaching to the choir" aspect of even good Christian rock that leaves both my faith and my rock and roll jones deeply unsatisfied.
• The SUV - Gas prices are pushing them out of fashion now - but even at their height, there's not been an SUV (since my old Jeep CJ7, anyway) that's attracted me. Too big, too expensive to run and maintain - and then there's that whole "I drive a big vehicle because I'm a lousy driver and I need to drive a battleship to compensate" thing going on.
• The Hybrid - Build a hybrid or a hydrogen car or an alt-fuel vehicle that looks like a '69 Chevelle rather than an art-deco toaster, and I'm on board.

That is all.

Freedom For Me, But Not For Thee

This should be all I need to see about today's op-ed in the Strib about Cuba; the author blurb at the bottom:

Patrick Leet was an educator and analyst in Cuba with Witness for Peace from 2001 to 2005. He now lives in Minneapolis and works with Witness for Peace Upper Midwest.

Whenever left-wing groups co-opt New Testament imagery, the message is clear; deeply-pretentious people painstakingly twisting Christian theology into a tool for the totalitarian thugs for whom they find such ready forgiveness (as opposed to conservatives in office in America).

Patrick Leet continues:

On July 11, the Star Tribune ran an article about U.S. plans for a post-Castro Cuba. Imagine how we in the United States would feel if our positions were reversed. The following paragraphs have been taken word for word from the July 11 article, just changing "Washington" to "Havana,"Castro" to "Bush," and so on.

I'll interrupt to point out that, if you're short on time and hoping Mr. Leet gets any more clever than this college-paper prank, it doesn't get any better. Move along if you need to:

"HAVANA - The Cuban National Assembly plans to spend $80 million over the next two years to encourage the United States to turn to democracy after George W. Bush is no longer in power.

I'm not sure what's funnier - that Leet got published, or that the Strib is under the impression that such press releases are fictional enough to draw comment anymore. I mean, it sounds like a typical day at Kos or on the Mike Malloy show.

But I digress:

" 'We are actively working for change in the United States, not simply waiting for change,' Fidel Castro said...
"It also calls for spending $24 million on Cuban-produced, English-language television, radio and Internet programming beamed into the USA; $10 million for education and cultural exchange programs, and $15 million to help people in the USA plan and organize for a transition to democracy."

As offensive as this scenario sounds, it is exactly what U.S. policymakers are planning for Cuba, completely ignoring what the Cuban people want for their own country.

Does Mr. Leet assume that the reader doesn't know that while this program is a proposal, Fidel Castro in fact does deny democracy to his subjects? Does he know it himself (as minions of groups named "Witness for Peace" frequently seem not to)? Does any editor at the Strib know enough to ask a writer like Leet to think about such things?

(Note to Marty Andrade: This is why I never write letters to the editor. What's the point?)

The article also mentions that even the minority of Cubans referred to as "dissidents" [They're a "minority" because if they come too far out of the closet they end up in the gulag...er, la gulaga] usually oppose U.S. funding and support, as the links to the United States make their work in Cuba illegal and taint them as carrying out a U.S. agenda. When even the Cubans that U.S. officials try to court as allies reject the "help" of the United States, it is time for a change of course.

Or perhaps time for the likes of Leet to realize that dissidents in Stalinist countries have to be very careful about what they publicly ask for.

After close to 50 years of failure, U.S. policies continue to meet with condemnation around the world. On Nov. 7, the United Nations voted 182-4 to condemn the U.S. embargo of Cuba. Israel, Palau and the Marshall Islands joined the United States in support of the embargo, while Micronesia abstained.

The fact that France, Russia and Sudan oppose the US doesn't keep me up at night.

Even the U.S. Congress has shifted dramatically in recent years, as conservative Republicans from farm states push to open up trade with Cuba and remove travel restrictions.

Which matters not a jot; trading with Cuba may help accelerate the fall of Castro; it may not. But either way, Castro will one day pass from the scene; it's best to have a plan, preferably one that leaves Cuba free, finally:

Just as the future of Cuba is up to Cubans to decide, so too is the future of U.S. policy left up to the people of the United States to determine.

Um, right, Mr. Leet.

We elected a president and a Congress.

All we want is for Cubans to have the same right.

Remember them, Patrick Leet? Or didn't you witness any of that?

Overwhelming Mistake

Radley Balko on something that's bothered me for years - the militarization of police in America:

These increasingly frequent raids, 40,000 per year by one estimate, are needlessly subjecting nonviolent drug offenders, bystanders, and wrongly targeted civilians to the terror of having their homes invaded while they’re sleeping, usually by teams of heavily armed paramilitary units dressed not as police officers but as soldiers. These raids bring unnecessary violence and provocation to nonviolent drug offenders, many of whom were guilty of only misdemeanors. The raids terrorize innocents when police mistakenly target the wrong residence. And they have resulted in dozens of needless deaths and injuries, not only of drug offenders, but also of police officers, children, bystanders, and innocent suspects.

But the militarization of the cops brings a lot of money into the various police forces.

Even worse; nearly every federal law-enforcement bureaucracy now has some sort of SWAT team, and nearly 80,000 non-military federal employees now carry guns for some reason or another; FBI and Border Patrol employees do not account for anywhere near all of them.

The post includes a map of botched raids.

Friends In Low Places

Amy Klobuchar is going to tackle education with the help of some well-heeled friends:

Dear Political Friends,

There's a special event for Amy Klobuchar & I'd like to explain why you
should come.

I'm supporting Amy Klobuchar because Amy presents the best hope to make
our schools better and our future brighter as a result.

At the beginning of the Bush term as president, democrats joined with
republicans in supporting No Child Left Behind (NCLB) because democrats
believed that with higher expectations for education, there would also
be federal funding to support the effort. At least that's what George
Miller, congressman from California, said at a national luncheon sponsored by
the legislative committee of the Council of Urban Boards of Education.
Unfortunately the federal funding for education has actually been
reduced in the last two federal budgets. We need a senator who will support the
funding to match the federal mandates. This includes not only NCLB,
but also funding for the Special Education mandate (IDEA).

I have been extremely proud of Senator Mark Dayton's efforts to seek
fund for federal education mandates.

WE NEED ANOTHER SENATOR WHO WILL SEEK FUNDING FOR EDUCATION MANDATES. [Education "Mandates?" How about for "education?" Oh, why bother - the message here is "the candidate who will support the status quo, as re the teacher's union and the administrative establishment, at all costs]

AMY KLOBUCHAR is that candidate.

Please join me at a special event for Amy

Date: Thursday July 20 @ 5 - 7PM

Where: 317 Washington St. (The former Minnesota Club)

WALTER MONDALE & AL FRANKEN will be the special hosts.

Bring your check book to show you care!!

Thanks for considering this request.

Al Oertwig
St. Paul School Board
Past chair, legislative committee, Council of Urban Boards of Education

So no big surprise, really - the Patricians For Big Taxes and Silent Peasants have chosen their candidate, and the Saint Paul School Board is calling in its markers.

Fearless prediction: I pay my kids a buck each for pieces of political indoctrination they bring home from school. I bet they make out like bandits this school year.

How Far Do We Go?

The latest Gallup Poll shows that a sampling of Republican-leaning voters prefer Giuliani and Rice among the field of GOP presidential hopefuls:

Republicans are closely divided in their evaluations of Newt Gingrich and George Allen as presidential nominee material. They tilt against the candidacies of Bush, Sen. Bill Frist, and Gov. Mitt Romney, and appear to reject possible runs by Dick Cheney, Gov. George Pataki, Gov. Mike Huckabee, and Sen. Sam Brownback. Of this second-tier of candidates, Huckabee, Brownback, Allen, and Romney are the least well known, so evaluations of them are probably most subject to change between now and the primary season.

Giuliani.

He's a "get things done" guy. He's done the impossible - fought and beaten the New York City public employees unions, among other invincible establishments. He is the first big (nationally-known) hero of the War on Terror.

What is most notable in the Republican data is the substantial proportion of party supporters (41%) who would consider McCain an unacceptable nominee for their party. In polls measuring nomination preference, McCain usually places first or second to Giuliani. In early June, the last time Gallup measured nomination preferences, 28% of Republicans said they were most likely to support Giuliani and 24% McCain for the 2008 Republican presidential nomination. He's also pro-choice, anti-gun and "moderate" as the day is long.

Conservative-favorite Warner Allen (UPDATE: Duh. Ooops). comes in waaay down the list.

So whaddya think, Republicans? Go for the win, knowing that a loss in '08 turns the nation over to people who just. aren't. serious about terror, even though Giuliani isn't all that conservative? Or go with Warner and his lousy name recognition and his (as I see it) inability to sell conservatism outside the base (which was the great talent of Ronald Reagan and, for that matter, Newt Gingrich) and risk turning the nation's security over to the Dems, some of whom shouldn't be trusted to drive, much less defend this nation?

That Smell

I'm as outraged by the death of 10 year old Jordan Gonsioroski - apparently by scalding, allegedly at the hands of her father and stepmother - as anyone else.

And depressed, too. The story in today's Strib about her background is enough to make one long for the days when people could commit the mentally-ill that were a danger to those around them:

She said when her daughter was visiting her father before the custody change, the girl often said she didn't want to live with her dad. Jordan told her mom she wasn't allowed to go out of her room until he and Meier got up late in the morning. Jordan was used to fixing her own breakfast when she awoke in her mother's home, Johnson said...
Court records said Jordan and her younger sister were removed from the family home in Braham because Amanda Johnson was uncooperative and her home had "detrimental living conditions."

Voigt agreed her daughter's home was a mess. But she said it was brought on by Amanda's having pneumonia and a bad sinus infection, and her bipolar condition. Amanda became lethargic after unknowingly taking medicines for her maladies that shouldn't be mixed, Voigt said.

While ill, Amanda Johnson had Jordan sleep on a mattress in the living room and put her other child in a car seat nearby so she could watch them from the couch, Voigt said...But the Isanti County assistant attorney who handled Amanda Johnson's case said "it went far beyond a messy house." Amy Reed Hall said there also were chemical dependency and mental illness issues.

After the girl began visiting her father, she told him that her stepfather had sexually assaulted her.

You can almost smell that funk of burned cooking oil and unwashed bathrooms that, more than anything else, scream poverty, misery, chemical dependence, mental illness, crappy education every child in this place was born before the parents were 20.

I need a drink.

They Can Use All Those "Air America" Stations

Gloria Steinem says women want female-friendly radio:

Based on conversations and surveys conducted by GreenStone, Steinem listed top radio turnoffs for females. "Women told me they don't want to hear the same top news stories that report only problems, not solutions," [Wow - when I took Journalism 101, news wasn't supposed to offer "solutions" - and I'd be afraid of the "solution" the typical radio news person would provide to anything more complicated than "do I throw out the tuna after the expiration date or not"] she said. "They want less politics and sports." And women are turned off by "verbal prizefights," she added, "even if they agree with the winner."

Steinem said the "argumentative, Washington-obsessed" talk shows have driven women "crazy by distorting what they really want -- fairness."

Women want a radio community that "treats everyone with respect" along with more humor and more stories about home, health, books, movies and "how women live in other countries."

That's what women say.

And yet the local station that fits that description to a "t" - Hubbard's FM107, a talk station aimed exclusively at women which was overjoyed to have drawn, after four years on the air, a 1.3 share.

And it's the same idea that Clear Channel followed in setting its non-Limbaugh/Hannity schedule; AM1280 is, reportedly, clobbering KTLK (except, obviously, for Limbaugh).

Gloria Steinem's never had to run a radio station, apparently...

Luther Filing for AG?

Flash says so.

Miller on Brodkorb on Entenza

Gary Miller of KvM:

Michael Brodkorb almost singlehandedly ended the Matt Entenza campaign for AG. In so doing he spared the state one of the most ego-maniacal personalities to come this way in a long time.

Our only regret is that it didn’t come a couple weeks from now.

True.

More time to work on Hatch, though...

Hasta La Vista Entenza

Matt Entenza, caught red-handed digging for dirt on fellow DFLers, to say nothing of GOPers, on top of a variety of other ethical lapses, bows out of the Attorney General hunt.

Who does he blame?

"But with so little time and so many attacks, from anonymous faxes to attacks on my family, it is impossible to fight these attacks and win this race without it taking a serious toll on the people and the party we care about the most," he said.

That's right - it's those darned critics' fault.

In fact, you can scan the Strib story in vain for any sign of Entenza copping to any of the blame for his fall:

"over the last few days my opponents have tried to land a few hits, but it is nothing compared to the hits the people of Minnesota have taken every day under this Republican administration."..."Entenza's campaign counterattacked with a statement accusing Mattson of "viciously attacking Matt's wife," who is being "dragged through the mud simply because of where she works."

Um no, Matt - it's because of how she allegedly made her money, and how you were using that money to skirt the campaign finance regulations that the party you help lead has imposed on the rest of us.

I'll await Kate Perry's story blaming "partisan bloggers" for Entenza's problems next.

Jeff Johnson has had Entenza dialled in from the beginning:

State Rep. Jeff Johnson, R-Plymouth, the Republican candidate for attorney general, bluntly accused Entenza not only of changing his story as details emerged, but of outright lying. "I think he lied probably several times this last week," Johnson said Monday.

Johnson said Entenza initially didn't tell the truth when he told reporters more than a year ago that there was no truth to rumors that he was doing opposition research on Hatch.

Johnson also said Entenza has tried to deceive the public on the motive for his research, the extent of the digging and the cost.

DFLers are queueing up to run for the AG gig:

Meanwhile, a St. Paul attorney with a familiar surname in DFL Party history became the first to file a primary challenge. She is Jennifer Mattson, granddaughter of former Attorney General Robert Mattson Sr. and daughter of former State Auditor and state Treasurer Robert Mattson Jr.

Mattson said she saw an "irreconcilable conflict" in Entenza's pursuit of the attorney general's office, which under Hatch is investigating $30 million in stock options granted to UnitedHealth Group, where Entenza's wife, Lois Quam, is a top executive.

In a letter to Entenza, Mattson said his handling of the Hatch inquest and the conflict of interest posed by his wife's income "are now the dominant issues."

"Not only is your own election highly questionable, but you are endangering the entire DFL ticket," she wrote.

More - much more - on Mattson coming up soon.

Memo To A Big Five Accounting Firm

To: A certain Big Five accounting firm. (ATTN: Marketing. Or HR. Not sure)
From: Mitch Berg
Re: Consultants.

To Whom It May Concern:

I work at a company which is, among other things, a client of yours. We have a couple of "hotel" cubes dedicated to the use of your employees while working in our office.

Now, perhaps it's a stereotype - but when most people think of "accountants", they think middle-aged men and women; seasoned professionals; people who exude an air of fiscal self-assurance.

The people in your hotel cubes - and I say this without meaning to impugn in any way their experience, credentials or competence - are almost universally mid-twenty-something women and, dare I say, hotties to boot.

I can't, of course, stress it enough; just because someone is female and attractive doesn't mean they're not a solid, capable professional. Far from it.

I also don't work in your field - consulting accountancy - so I have no idea if I'm missing something here or not. But in nearly a year I have not seen one of your employees over the age of 30 or male or below an "8", if I may wax neanderthal for a moment. And, while I hate to sound cynical, I have to wonder - is this a marketing thing?

If not, please ignore the question. But if it's true, wouldn't you perhaps cut to the chase and better serve yourselves and your clients by changing your company name to, for example (to riff off the name of another Big Five firm), "Ernst and Young and Babe-o-licious?"

Thanks for your attention to this matter. That is all.

Perry Runs Interference

Picture this: Your job is to be the "readers representative" of a major metro newspaper. Your job: answer reader questions about how your newspaper covers stories.

Someone accuses your paper of bias; what do you do? Most likely show how your paper did its job clearly and in a detached, evenhanded manner (objectivity is a myth).

Or, if you're Kate Perry of the Strib, you write what might as well be a press release for your subject - if it's a DFLer.

She writes in today's Strib:

Barely out of the endorsing convention, poised to deliver his views on the big issues -- war, health care, the environment -- Ellison instead has been sideswiped by allegations about his past zipping through the partisan blogosphere.

Oh, the injustice of it all - having Ellison's beliefs brought into question.

This is the same Star/Tribune that pilloried Rod Grams for the transgressions of a child that he, for the most part, didn't raise.

I wonder - if a GOP candidate turned out to have a history in, say, the Klan, what would the Strib have done? It would have been on the front page, day in, day out. Lori Sturdevant and Doug Grow would have intoned gravely (and Nick Coleman would have sputtered) on the subject; it wouldn't be off the front page until the candidate had been destroyed.

How is Ellison different? Besides his choice of political party, I mean?

A fine for a late campaign finance report. Traffic violations ignored until his license was revoked. Questions about the extent of his relationship to the Nation of Islam, a group whose message of African-American self-sufficiency he admired until he learned of the hate-filled comments of its leaders about Jews. Ellison then distanced himself. "I never shared any anti-Semitic ideas. I've always rejected that," he said.

I'm sorry, but does this pass the stink test with anyone?

Let's assume it's true - that Keith Ellison, law student/lawyer/activist, actually joined and became an activist in the Nations of Islam, but just didn't happen to catch Louis Farrakhan's constant, corrosive anti-semitic rhetoric. Oops - he just flaked it all!

What does that say about his intelligence?

I'm asking. If it were our fictional Republican candidate, the Strib certainly would.

A stampede of coverage about all that has made the start of the campaign trail exceedingly rocky for Ellison.

A "Stampede".

No. It wasn't. It was a few bloggers who, against the Strib's wall of absolute institutional indifference, wrote the facts.

Read Perry's piece. Tell me the part that doesn't read like an Ellison flak job.

Those "Nonpartisan" Growth and Justice People...

...are having some "public meetings" to discuss their plan from on high to revamp Minnesota:

Tuesday, Jul 18, 2006 8:00 AM
Paul and Sheila Wellstone Center for Community Building [Hm. Pretty "non-partisan" location, that...]
Fireside Room
179 Robie Street East
St. Paul, MN 55107

Thursday, Jul 20, 2006 4:30 PM
Minnesota Council of Nonprofits Conference Room Uh...yeah...]
2314 University Avenue West, Suite 20
St. Paul, MN 55114

Space is limited, so please RSVP by calling Growth & Justice at 651-917-6037 or email us at info@growthandjustice.org.

Wow. A "public" meeting at 8AM, and another at 4:30 PM.

I say, chaps - lousy time for all of us ripe sucks proles taxpayers that make between $45K and $100K to get to a meeting, isn't it? Pip pip and all that, what ho? Polo, anyone?

Never fear. I have some PTO saved up. I'll be attending, barring any problems...

"Smartie" from Poweliberal notes:

Based on all the howling from the right-wing blogs you have to think that G&J has struck a nerve here. That should make it well worth attending one of these sessions.

Smartie is young and liberal, so I don't expect much in the way of discernment from the lad - but there was no "howling" whatsoever. Just the sound of a cold chisel being hammered through the forehead of the notion that "Growth and Justice" is anything but a group of elitist, hard-left patricians who just plain know what's best for all of us proles.

Y'know - the man (metrosexual, in this case) on the horse...

World War?

Are we in World War III, as Newt suggested?

The former Speaker of the House and possible Republican candidate for president explained on NBC's "Meet the Press" what he described as the theaters of this war, North Korea's test missile, terrorist bombs in India, continued war in Afghanistan and the threats against Israel from the alliance of Iran, Syria, Hamas and Hezbollah.

There are two ways to respond to this:

1. Huh?
2. Duh!

On the one hand, this is not, as of yet, an all-out war between two major superpowers. For that matter, "World Wars" as we came to understand them in the last century aren't even that - they're wars between all-encompassing ideologies. World War I was a battle (largely) between empire and liberal democracy (although there were exceptions on both sides; Russia was no liberal democracy, Turkey was harldy much of an empire anymore); World War II, as Paul Johnson put it, was a war between the eastern, authoritarian notion of "Culture" and the Western, liberal notion of "Civilization".

And there's been a notion among geopolitics wonks that the next World War is going to have a different alignment - between the liberal/secular/Judeochristian/industrial "North" and the millenarian/Islamic/totalitarian "South" (and again, exceptions exist on all sides; Russia isn't "liberal", Australia is southern but part of the "Anglosphere"). The first time I read this in popular literature was in 1982, in General Sir John Hackett's The Third World War - The Untold Story, and it was hardly a new idea even then.

Now, when I say "duh", I don't mean to impugn anyone's intelligence; Joe Gandelman is no dummy. And he notes:

The problem with all of this is that it's suggesting that foreign crises would be dealt with in a way to extract maximum political advantage by using events and a blanket definition of them as a bludgeon against Democrats. And if it's done in a way that it's suggested above it would be so blatantly political that even some folks who agree with the term World War III would be turned off by it.

This could re-attract wavering members of the GOP's political base but it would totally turn off Democrats (who probably won't vote for the GOP anyway) and would probably be the final nail in the coffin for GOP hopes of getting a decent chunk of the independent voters or even some moderate Democrats who might be turned off by a such a transparent political ploy more than they are by World War II 1/2 (the war against Joe Lieberman).

We talked about this on Race To The Right yesterday. I think it goes a lot deeper than that.

The war - more, the approach to the war - is going to be the biggest issue on the ballot for the next several elections, whether the American people know it or not. Like the Civil War, many of the "domestic" issues facing the US will be offshoots of the war; energy prices, the state of the economy, immigration, federal and SCOTUS judge confirmations, all will have a toe dipped into the war issue.

It's going to be a long slog for conservatives; embracing conservative concepts takes a lot more brain power than most liberal ideals [*]. The great gift of, say, Ronald Reagan, was to take the thought of the likes of Hayek and Goldwater - stuff that made Joe Sixpack's eyes glaze over - and put it forward in terms that Mr. Sixpack to glom onto.

It's also been a gift of Gingrich's; he took a raft of wonkisms and political inside baseball and whipped it into a simple catchphrase, "Contract With America", that caught fire with the electorate (and helped reinforce the "Clinton Economy").

I think we are going to face a choice in this nation; take the war seriously now, or wait until the war gets serious for us again - the next 9/11. On my pessimistic days, I agree with Tony Garcia - this nation won't take the war on terrorism seriously until the next attack.

But if the American people were to connect the dots on the notion that the war we're in is not a bunch of disconnected regional squabbles, but in fact different metastasizations of the same cancer, maybe, just maybe, they'll have the common sense to keep the un-serious party out of power long enough to get the job done.

Gandelman calls it "extract[ing] maximum political advantage by using events...". I call it "explaining the problem as it really is".

[*] I said "takes brain power", not "takes a smarter person". Certain Twin Cities liberal bloggers notwithstanding, conservatives and liberals have about the same innate intelligence. But digging a ditch takes more energy than coding a website; if The Rock codes a website and Clay Aiken digs a ditch, Mr. Aiken has expended more energy, differences in innate strength notwithstanding.

Let's Get One Thing Straight

While I disagree with the policies of Saint Paul Ward 4 Councilman Jay Benanav on every possible point...

...I do not "hate" him, or any other politician.

Just so's we're clear on that.

Pitiable Victims

I caught the Indigo Girls on a repeat from MPR's morning show yesterday.

I've been listening to them since their debut EP in 1986. I can take a few of their songs, leave a bunch of the rest - but they are very good at the basic blocking and tackling of doing really good, tight harmony, and they have a way with a hook that after 20 years of alt-rock spotlight is as effortless as their social/political screeding is strained.

I loved this bit - and I'm paraphrasing closely, since I didn't have a digital recorder handy (although MPR did - it's a streaming audio file: the Dixie Chicks bit starts at 31:20 into the interview): In talking about the Dixie Chicks, one of them noted:

They've always had pretty left-wing values - and I think it was that one moment of saing something, and the audience saying "wait, we don't want you to have opinions, we just want you to sing"

Now, I can't stand Laura Ingraham's "Shut Up And Sing" meme. I don't care if "stars" babble whatever politics they want from the stage; most of them are idiots, and every time they open their mouths it shuts down another lefty voter.

And I don't even care that they have big stage to talk from; on a good day, as many people read this blog every week as attend any given Indigo Girls concert (they sell out Northrop, which holds about as many people as read this blog in a day), so I'm not even going to bitch about that. Let 'em say what they want - I'll talk back. Everyone wins.

But c'mon, Em'n Amy - nobody's saying anyone can't have their opinions.

It's just that opinions have consequences. If I went to an Indigo Girls concert and stood up and said "leftist lesbian coffee-house folk music bores me stiff!", I'd probably have some blowback to deal with - right? At least in that room?

(And "Goodbye Earl" was a strong feminist message? Your husband's a jerk, so kill him is "strongly feminist?" Ohh, my wheels are turning...)

Race to St. Cloud

I'll be joining Leo "Psychmeister" Pusatieri from the Ice Palace, Dan "The Ox" Ochsner will be joining Marty and Tony on Race To The Right, on AM 1450 KNSI in Saint Cloud.

It's going to be a round-robin donnybrook. A rhubarb. A whamma-jamma from Miamma. A...

...a fun radio show! Tune in!

People On The River Are Happy To Give...Lunch

Join the NARN this weekend tomorrow today(!) at Boom Island Park in Minneapolis for the Patriot Picnic. The party starts at 11, and runs to 3PM. It's going to be a beautiful day - the kind of thing we Minnesotans wait for all year - and Boom Island is a fun place to take the kids. We drew close to 700 of our closest friends last year - and having 700 conservatives in downtown Minneapolis will give Amy Klobuchar gas.

At any rate, just be there. It's going to be a lot of fun - and in any case, need I repeat, free lunch!

UPDATE AND BUMP: Party is still on. Gonna be a hot one; bring water and sunscreen! And I'll see you there!

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part XXXIII

I didn't need an alarm to wake up the morning after the first "Mitch Berg Show".

I drove out to the station a little early, to bask in a little of the reflected glory of my morning's work.

I walked in. Janice, the receptionist - a recent college grad who was not a Jersey Girl, but could have been - was reading a magazine behind the desk.

"Hey, Janice".

"Hi".

Not a word.

Oh, well.

I turned and walked over to General Manager Scott Meier's office. He was reading the paper.

"Hey, Scott. Catch the show last night?"

"Uh, sorry, Mitch. Wasn't up at 2AM. How'd it go?"

Guh. "Really, really well!"

"Great!" And it was back to the paper.

I walked through the door to my little desk.

Sportscaster Bruce Gordon walked by. "Heeeeey, Mitch - how was the big debut?"

"Great! Didja catch it?"

Bruce chuckled. "It was 2AM!".

"Yeah, yeah".

I finished a few bookings for Vogel, and walked into the studio to run the board for the Michael Jackson show, then off to meet with Don.

"So, Mr. BAAAAAAAAAGH!", Don bellowed (in a John Houseman voice, a la Paper Chase), "I got up at Two A M to listen to your debut last night!"

"Yeah?"

"Yes! And..." he said, still in the Houseman character, "it wasn't bad!"

"Cool!"

"But if you say 'in my opinion' one more time, I am going to strangle you!" I rolled my eyes. Before the show, Don had told me that if I were saying anything potentially actionable, to prefix it with "in my opinion" to set it up properly. I had said it before everything but the weather forecast, if I remember the tape correctly.

Dave Elvin spoke up. "Yeah, that got a little...repetitive. But it sounded good. I listened to the first ten minutes or so..."

And then it was on to other business. Don was sick of the show's theme song - the standard, generic, ABC Talk Radio generic theme that had started my show that morning. We needed a new one.

"How about we just have the audience send 'em in?" said Dave.

Vogel chortled. "Oh, my God", he giggled, "This is going to be fun".

We planned the rest of the show, and were done by two - a whole hour early. "Mistah BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAGH!", Don yelled at the end. back in the Houseman character, "I am HUNGRY. And in celebration of that fact and your first show, here's $20. Go to White Castle and get me..."

I drove down to the White Bear Avenue White Castle and brought back sliders, scabs and cokes for Don, Dave, Gordo, MacDougall and I. I may have been a talk show host, but I was still the most junior guy in the room by a couple of years.

======

The show started an hour later. I was screening calls.

I was at the point, by this time, when Dave Elvin and I alternated on the control board. But Dave was always vastly better at it - I was always a lousy boardop. And screening was a lot of fun.

There were - and are - four types of callers in talk radio:

• Boring callers. "Hi, Don, what's up? Yeah, like, I agree". Oh. You do. Thanks. Next!. The ideal was to try to screen out the dull, repetitive callers.
• Great callers - the kinds of callers that would make you guffaw, or rock you on your heels with their point, and had it in them to set the show on fire, or at least add some energy to the proceedings.
• Insane callers - Some insane callers were pure death for a show. We were plagued with a couple of older-sounding, deranged-sounding people who called all the time (literally, every single day) yelling "We are not of this world! We are of the infinite world!. Occasionally, screeners put them through to air - which was a bit jarring, and lousy radio. On the other hand, we had one fella - apparently deranged by years of lousy Twins teams. Listening to Frank Quilici, who had a habit of saing "Well, Doggonnit..." when he spoke, had gotten to the poor fella. He's call, slip past the screener by telling a likely story, and slip onto the air. He'd start his conversation normally, and then, while the host was responding, bellow "DOGGONIT!" in a raspy, nasal yelp, and hang up. Don Vogel and Geoff Charles loved the guy; Mike Edwards hated him; Joe Soucheray was responsible, apparently, for him.
• Average callers - we'd let them on in order, more or less (ladies first - more for ratings than out of manners); we let 'em on so that people wouldn't feel intimidated to call.

There was one caller, a guy who rang in about once a week or so. We called him the "Phantom Caller" - he'd ring in with these extremely funny, tightly-written little thirty-second bits - he'd call, do the bit, and hang up before Don could get in a word edgewise. Don didn't even have to tell me "Get him on, every time he calls" - but he did, just to be safe. He was the greatest caller of them all - but there were a bunch of them that were on my internal shortlist; if I was the doorman at an ethereal Studio 54, they were the beautiful people who went straight to the head of the line in front of everyone.

Except for people who wanted to rave about this morning's "Mitch Berg Show", of course.

Things I Think When I'm Bored

Rock and Roll started 52 years ago.

So - the half-life of the rock and roll era was 1980. Everything released before 1980 was released in the first half of the era.

Which means that everything from "Hound Dog" through "My Sharona" is closer to the beginning of the rock and roll era than to today; Sergeant Pepper, Exile on Main Street, Born to Run, Elvis' comeback concert, Rumors, Exciteable Boy...all of 'em are in the first friggin' half of the rock and roll era. And sometime in the next couple of years, the eighties - Thriller, Born in the USA, Brothers In Arms and the whole glorious lot - will be the same.

For that matter, 52/3=17 - which means that the one-third life of the rock and roll era is 1971. Which means that Who's Next, one of my three favorite albums ever, is half as far from the beginning of the rock and roll era as to today.

52/4=13. Which means the Summer of Love (1954+13) was three times as far from now as from the beginning of the rock and roll era.

A mind is a terrible thing to waste.

Definition of Insanity

Insanity is doing the same things over and over - and expecting a different result.

Even the Strib knows not to expect better from Hezb'allah:

If pariahs wanting back into the game explains the implicit reasoning for setting off this round of violence, the terrorist raids also served explicit goals: Hamas demanded hundreds of convicted Palestinians for the return of its soldier-hostage, and Hezbollah, not to be outdone, wants to negotiate the release of three Lebanese prisoners being held by Israel.

Israel felt it had to respond to incursions inside its borders with quick, determined force.

But as to the value of diplomacy against madmen?

To try to avert further escalation, President Bush and Rice must make whatever use they can of the Group of Eight summit in Moscow, the United Nations' latest efforts and allies including Jordan, Egypt and Saudi Arabia to counsel restraint, decrease tensions and concoct ways to control Iran and Syria. It'll be all the harder for the complications of America's role in Iraq, but the high road is the right U.S. road if these boiling points are to be cooled.

Right. Because Russia, France and China have been worth so much in averting carnage in the Middle East for the past fifty years. By all means, beat that horse.

And this one:

But history suggests that these strikes will only deepen Arab rage toward Israel -- and the United States -- rather than redirecting it toward the terrorists.

"Deepen" their rage?

The fact that we're Americans - or Jews - is all they need.

The Strib editorial board; still insane.

I Don't Think That Word Means What You Think It Means

The new weapons system rolled out, to muted fanfare...

...and intense criticism. The system was awash in new technology - revolutionary technology, which promised change the face of, if not warfare itself, at least the niche in warfare that the system was designed to fight, an esoteric and frightening form of warfare that threatened to erase a whole civilization.

The "investigative" press had a field day; the system tries to do too much; it's too expensive; the enemy will be able to swamp it with too many attacks, so it can't respond. Most all, "It doesn't work", or even (from some experts) "It's too complex to ever work".

The first rounds of tests were a disaster. Of ten tests, almost all failed, and failed miserably. "See?", bellowed the critics. "We told you so! It's a lemon! We need to scrap it, and hope for peace!"

The military-industrial complex kept at it, though - and, despite the critics' carping (intercut with their jubilation at the occasional testing difficulties), proceeded to refine the system.

What system was it?

Well, practically all of them - but in this case, I'm talking about...

...the M-1 Abrams.

To the untrained eye, it looks like any other tank - but the Abrams revolutionized armored warfare. Traditional tanks (indeed, all traditional fighting vehicles, from jeeps to aircraft carriers) designs are a calculated tradeoff between mobility, firepower and surviveability. The Abrams jumped the calculation into a new realm, with a multifuel turbine engine giving the tank sportscar-like speed, revolutionary composite armor making it immune from most weapons that have a chance of hitting it (and with a revolutionary ammunition stowage and fire suppression system that makes even a catastropic ammunition explosion, long the bane of tankers, survivable) and a computer-integrated laser fire control system that allows its cannon to kill enemy tanks (or anything else) at a range of 1-2 miles, while on the move.

It came at a cost, of course; the Abrams was and is expensive. But its effect has been all that was advertised; its two wars have been the most lopsided, and blazingly fast, mechanized wars in history; battalions of Abrams cut through divisions of Hussein's Republican Guard, with the finest tanks the Soviets would export in 1991 with historic speed. And to this day, not a single Abrams crewman has been killed by a through-the-armor shot.

They said - literally - that it could not be done. "They" were wrong. Why were "they" - including elite "investigative" reporter Jack Anderson, who railed against the M1 for years - so wrong?

Because "conventional wisdom" is based entirely on "convention" - in other words, what people agree upon based on existing information.

But there was no existing information on tanks with turbine engines, integrated fire control and Chobham armor.

And those miserable, failure-plagued tests - the clogged engines in the desert, the broken-down turbines, the failed computers? The tanks Anderson investigated were prototypes; the testing was designed to shake out problems. So while in 1978 Jack Anderson railed against a tank whose air intaked clogged solidly during desert tests (!), ten years later that same tank made the Soviet armored force recalculate their odds of bulldozing Western Europe. And the evolution was based largely on data gathered in those miserable tests.

Cut to 2006. The left insists - as they have for a two decades - that missile defense won't work, can't work, will never work. This, based now on difficulties in tests, as opposed to the blind, dogmatic opposition to a theory that dogged the idea in the eighties. This, despite the fact that we've been shooting down things like anti-ship missiles for thirty years (note to reflexively condescending people with background in the area; I know, the problem is largely different. And it doesn't matter).

Shooting down a ballistic missile is a major engineering challenge - not some infungible moral anti-certainty.

And with people like North Korea and Iran out there, it's a good thing to figure out.

Scenes From Hell

Learned Foot has 'em.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part XXXII

Tonight was the big night. Sunday, July 13, 1986. The debut of "The Mitch Berg Show" on KSTP-AM.

At 2AM, Monday morning.

I'd had about five days to get ready to do the show. I had started the week reading voraciously, had taken a folder full of notes - and realized that I was probably overpreparing just a bit. So I backed off - and felt like I wasn't doing enough. Still, my biggest fear was having two hours of air time to fill - and fifteen minutes of material to fill it with, and having to fall back on playing the music we had stashed on tape around the studio to kill miserable, talkless time until 4AM.

But now it was Sunday, and it was too late to worry about such things. I had some notes typed up (like, Friday), a few topics in my head, and Don Vogel and Geoff Charles as my role models - both of whose preparation seemed to involve hanging around the kitchen yukking it up with the rest of the staff.

There was one minor complication - Don Vogel had gone to Chicago for the weekend, and asked if I could pick him up at the airport and drive him home (to North Saint Paul, about a mile from the station). I met him at the gate at about 10PM...

...after (this is one of those "how things have changed in the past twenty years" stories) leaving a big lockblade knife in the basket by the metal detector - and picking it up on my way back out.

We settled into my car. "So - all set for the big show?" Don asked.

"I think so", I said, running down a few ideas.

Don nodded. "That's a lot of material. I remember when I did my first show, I brought in enough stuff for about twenty hours. When you've done this a time or two, you'll calm down and not overprepare so much..."

I dropped him off at his house; it was around 10:30. Only three and a half hours to go until air time. Naturally, I drove to the station.

KSTP at the time was in a rehabbed transmitter building on Highway 61 in Maplewood. I've described it elsewhere. The building is still there, although the studios are back in Saint Paul.

But one thing that's very, very different is the laws governing how stations are staffed. Today, a station will run all night, and sometimes all day as well, with nobody in the studio. In 1986, a station the size of KSTP (50,000 watts) needed to have not only a board operator, but an engineer in the building 24/7. I met them both for pretty much the first time that night.

The board operator was "Griff", a black guy who looked a little like a beer-gutted "Lamont" (from Sanford and Son) with a short afro. Griff, I had learned, was not happy to see me; the overnight shift was where he got his office work done for his real gig, managing bands. He made phone calls, dubbed demo tapes, stuffed envelopes, drank enough Mountain Dew to set all of northern California swinging into ponds on ropes, and, when needed, play commercials and read the weather. Usually.

The engineer was Ray Brown, a sixtyish guy who'd been with Hubbard since the end of World War II. Literally. Short, with a Van Dyck beard and rumpled hair, Ray was a character.

We'll get into that later.

I sat down in the newsroom, and began getting my stuff together. I had pages and pages of typewritten notes, news clippings, and bits of drop-in audio dubbed to "cart" (tape cartridges; they looked like eight-track tapes, and worked about the same, but were loaded with anywhere from 20 seconds to five minutes of tape; in the days before computers, it was what we put commercials, news stories, and anything we didn't want to have to futz with rewinding onto). It was a lot to sort out...

...but by midnight or so, I was done.

And getting nervous.

So I sorted them all out again.

And again.

Finally, it was 1AM. Nothing but the sound of Doctor Harvey Ruben on the monitor, and Ray puttering on something back in the relay stack.

I walked into the studio. Griff looked at me, disapprovingly.

"So why are they putting a show on at this time of night?" he quizzed me; I could tell from the tone that he already knew the answer, "they're idiots".

"Fairness Doctrine. Too many liberals on the station - they needed someone to balance things out a bit".

Griff shook his head. "So I'm supposed to screen calls", he asked, sounding like I'd asked him to pick up cat litter with his mouth.

"Well, yeah. I can do the weather..."

"Gonna do any sports?"

I stood for a second. Sports? I wanted to do a show about politcs, media criticism, pop culture, media bias...basically exactly what I do on my blog today...but sports?

Griff continued - sounding a little excited for the first time since we'd met, "Lotta guys up this late at night want their scores". He seemed genuinely interested.

I thought; there's nothing worse than having a board-op/screener who couldn't give a crap about the job. If this keeps him from keeling over from boredom..."

He continued "maybe at the top and bottom of the hour?"

"Er...How about at the forty?" I asked - put the sportscast after our break at :40 after both hours. "It'll make the news breaks shorter..."

"Well", he said, "Let's see how that goes for starters".

"For starters?" I thought. "He is going to angle for more airtime!" "Yeah. For starters. Let's see how it goes...". Pick your battles.

I bought my third Mountain Dew of the evening, and went into the studio. 45 minutes early.

And I waited. And waited. And slugged down the Dew, and another...until the top of the hour ABC News came on, signalling "three minutes".

"...for ABC News, I'm John Skibbenes. And then, Griff tripped the opening theme - the standard "ABC Talk Radio Program" theme, a piece of generic jingle-band filler that opened most of the shows on KSTP, both local and network.

And it was time. I shuffled my papers, and hit the mike button.

"AM1500 The Talk Station", I said, leaning into the foam-padded mike. "I'm Mitch Berg".

========

Truth is, I hardly remember what I talked about; I remember something about the TV movie "Amerika", a little-remembered movie about a Soviet takeover of the US that the left was howling mad about (and actively trying to censor). I think I still have the tape somewhere, on some ancient, cheap, think-stocked, 20 year old cassette tape somewhere in my basement. I should try to listen to it someday, when I find a cassette deck.

What I do remember is that during my opening monologue - which I'd been rehearsing all week, and in which I set out the whole rationale for having an actual conservative voice on the air, the phone lines lit up.

As in five phone lines, lit up wall to wall, within a minute of my monologue starting.

And they stayed lit for the next two hours. They were third-shifters, drunks, cops, cranks (including one guy who called every single day, on every single show from 5AM to, I guess, 2AM to declare Stanley Hubbard was Satan), insomniacs, night people, musicians loading out after gigs...

...and I had more fun than I'd ever had in two hours in my life. Ever.

Even Griff had fun; the sportscast kept him occupied enough to pay attention to what was going on - no mean feat.

Finally, at 4AM, it was over. The news came on. Jim Bohannon's show (which aired after the Larry King reruns) followed, echoing through the almost-empty station as I stepped out of the studio and dropped my stuff in my file drawer. I was spent - totally fried - as I walked out the door, grinning ear to ear, and drove home to South Minneapolis.

The sun was coming up as I went to bed; I set my alarm for 9:30, to get back to work in time.

I woke up before the alarm. I was dying to get to work and hear what the boss had to say.

But that was Monday.

Geek Question

Let's talk audio recording software.

Obviously, the cream of the crop for recording for Windows is Adobe Audition (post-purchase heir to Cool Edit), which gives exceptionally powerful multi-track recording, editing, and special effects capabilities on the Windows platform.

Mac is awash in good recording software, of course.

OK - what do people use to do good multitrack recording, editing and processing on Linux?

Leave suggestions in the comments, please.

Bell, For Whom The Tolls

Ford Bell bails on the Senate race.

Our campaign has touched and energized thousands of Minnesotans, and I am grateful beyond words for the support that we have received. There is not a doubt in my mind that our message would carry the day in November against Mark Kennedy.

Oh, me neither. Dang you Democrats for not supporting him.

(There is also not a doubt in my mind that if only everything on earth were different, I'd be richer than Trump, could take Shaq in one-on-one, and would have Marisa Tomei whispering sweet nothings in my ear. But I digress).

This is good news, actually. Sure, it'll free up some of A-Klo's money from the primary battle - but that was never really in doubt - and we have the "DFL-lite" Independence Party soaking them up from the "middle" and the Greens on the far left, anyway, so it's only so much of a loss. But it does mean that A-Klo will not "need" to run for the center to get past the primary challenge. She'll be out there playing to the hardcore DFL base - the cut-and-running, crime-coddling, money-to-Kathleen-Soliah-sending, happy-to-bend-over-for-the-budget crowd - from here on in.

And I love it when DFLers do that.

I Guess Now The War Is Over

Halliburton's contract gets spiked:

The Army is discontinuing a controversial multibillion-dollar deal with oil services giant Halliburton Co. to provide logistical support to U.S. troops worldwide, a decision that could cut deeply into the firm's dominance of government contracting in Iraq.

Blogswarm: The Cucking Fool

Someone from the "Cucking Stool" snarks[*]:

Mitch Berg at Shot in the Dark reports today that the 200 wealthy Minnesotan who took out the ad advocating higher state income taxes are heavily Democratic.

Bingo.

I was waiting for that one. A bunch of my left-of center commenters said the same thing.

Except that's not what the Patricians' supporters are saying to the public.

John Hetterick, a signatory, wrote in a Strib letter (emphasis added):

Signers who are "doing well financially" are now Minnesota's most wealthy and, of course, we're all "limousine liberals." And the governor invites us to bring our checks for a photo op. I must have missed something along the way.

How did it become "liberal" to want our state to invest in education, health care and transportation? When did it become "liberal" to want to invest in our children's future? What is "liberal" about proposing a fair shared way to invest an additional $2 billion per year in our state's future? Ironically, Growth & Justice is a bipartisan organization, not a leftist cabal, though you would never know it from the reaction.

This is the spin that the Patricians are putting out about their little ad; "we're really just a bipartisan bunch of concerned Minnesotans."

It is a leftist group ("cabal" is a bit loaded, doncha think?), pushing leftist policies that are pretty much universally wrong - pouring money down the education rathole, socializing (in effect) healthcare and post-secondary education, etc, etc.

This is what you can expect over the next couple of years: "Public Interest" groups, peddling re-warmed socialist dogma and calling themselves "bipartisan" (or, like the Patricians did in their ad, cossetting themselves in weasel-words like "Progressive", which means one thing to politics junkies and another thing altogether to a guy in Shakopee who works for the county and spends his weekend fixing his boat and who pretty much thinks what he sees in the newspaper is pretty much the truth). Then, when called on it, expect the left to snort, "well, of course [the group] is Democrat. What did you expect?"

But fair enough; According to Mr. Stool as well as the likes of Jeff Fecke and Flash, of course the Patricians are DFLers. Who could ever think otherwise.

Let nobody - least of all the Patricians themselves, with their 95+% DFL contributions - pretend otherwise ever again.

[*] I'm going to have to start looking for local leftyblogs that do anything but.

7/11

UPDATE: It's gotten much worse. And, according to Roggio, while Al Quaeda hasn't been formally linked to the attack yet, there are leads:

An anonymous intelligence source told the Times of India the attacks were "carried out by Lashkar-e-Toiba and local Students Islamic Movement of India (SIMI) activists and was designed to trigger communal conflagration in the country’s financial capital." MSNBC reports Indian intelligence view Dawood Ibrahim, an Indian terrorist and underground crime boss with links to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda, as the prime suspect in today's bombings. Dawood was designated as a terrorist by the U.S.Treasury Department on October 16, 2003:

We'll await confirmation, of course.

Terrorists set off bombs across greater Mumbai, India:

Police said the near-simultaneous blasts took place at Borivili, Khar, Jogeshwari, Matunga and Meera Road areas, with most on moving trains.

Reports described people jumping from trains.

Television images show dazed and blood-splattered commuters being carried by fellow passengers to waiting ambulances, as rescue workers clambered through wreckage to reach blast victims.

The force of the blasts ripped doors and windows off carriages and scattered luggage and debris.

The attack smells like Al Quaeda.

Ed says "India's outreach to Pakistan to resolve the conflict in the Kashmir threatens to end one of the major provocations that incites Muslims to jihad in the region. It also tends to prop up Pervez Musharraf, a man they have tried twice to assassinate. India's troubles with religious sectarianism (especially with Muslims) go back centuries, of course, and the historical irritants would have been enough for them in any event."

But if I may indulge in a hunch, I suspect Ed may have hit on something earlier: "...many Muslims live within the majority-Hindu nation." That's correct. In fact, if Indian Moslems had their own nation, it would be among the biggest Moslem states in the world.

And yet, how many Indian Moslems were on the 9/11 planes? How many blew themselves up on the London trains? How many are we catching in America's inner cities, plotting to blow up national landmarks?

None.

India (along with Mali and Senegal on a much smaller scale) show us something that islam's fascists don't want you - or their fellow moslems - to notice; freedom works. Indian Moslems live in a relatively (and relatively new) liberal democracy; they have the rule of law, democratic elections, a constitution descended from that of the UK, and perhaps most importantly of all, economic freedom and the prospects that an open economic playing field bring to people. India's Hindi and Moslems have had decades of strife - violence between the two religions has riven the country - but it's traditionally been an ethnic battle, not a struggle between millenarian religion and secular, liberal society.

India's moslems, in short, have a stake in the modern world.

And I'd bet that there's at least a small stake on Al Quaeda's part in stirring that up, if only by provoking a reaction against India's moslems, something that'll devalue that interest in the liberalism (small-l) that has helped quell so many of India's problems.

Scratch Those Reunion Plans

Sid Barrett, original Pink Floyd frontman and guitarist, dead at 60.

(Via KAR)

Kudos to the Godfather

Scott Johnson noted the Hewitt anniversary:

Last night our friend Hugh Hewitt celebrated his twenty-fourth wedding anniversary as well as the sixth anniversary of the Hugh Hewitt Show, his great syndicated Salem Radio program. Hugh is the inspiration behind the new Townhall and a true visionary. On a personal note, Hugh's recognition and encouragement of our work back in the fall of 2002 meant everything to us. We salute him on this milestone.

It's been noted that the Minnesota conservative blogging community is among the biggest, most influential blog scenes in the country. I think it's safe to say that we owe it all to Hugh; it was Hugh that coined the "Northern Alliance", back in 2002 when it was Lileks, Powerline and the Fraters. From there came the exposure that helped launch them, Ed, plus King, and finally the Northern Alliance Radio Network show itself. Which in turn launched the MOB. And let's not forget that the NARN would likely not have existed without a big push from Hugh.

So happy anniversary, Hugh. You are the king of new media...

...which is good, since if your career depended on your music and sports chops, you'd be working at a Jack In The Box in Oxnard.

All the best!

Oh, Great

Via the Dogs, more great news:

Cramped housing conditions and air pollution in Athens have given rise to a "super breed" of mosquito that is larger, faster and more adept at locating human prey, a Greek daily has reported.

Athens-based mosquitoes can detect humans at a distance of 25-30 metres (yards) and also distinguish colours, unlike their colour-blind counterparts elsewhere in the country that only smell blood at 15-20 metres, Ta Nea daily reported.

I smell an EU subsidy program.

Hands Off!

Display Jesus Christ in a jar of urine? No problem.

Burn a flag? Don't you dare call them unpatriotic!

Hack Americans to death? Screw 'em!

But for Allah's sake, don't harm the Quran!

Yes, it is apparently a federal case:

The F-B-I will look into an online video that shows two men shooting a Quran with a military rifle and then leaving the bullet-riddled holy book at a Chattanooga mosque.
F-B-I agent Tim Burke said the Washington-based Council on American-Islamic Relations asked the Justice Department to investigate the incident. He said no one from the Chattanooga Muslim community had complained.

Yeah, it might be a terroristic threat, I suppose, sort of, kind of. And the people who allegedly did it do not sound like nice people:

A man on the Web site identifies himself as "mully88" and claims to live in Chattanooga. The author's profile lists as heroes (quote) "anybody that has killed a muslim or at least tried to kill a muslim." The site also contains slurs against Hispanics and blacks.

The video shows the man purchasing a Quran at a bookstore, going to a wooded area and shooting the book, then throwing it on the ground outside the door of the Chattanooga Islamic center.

Not sure what the legal definition of "Terroristic Threat" is. Perhaps shooting someone's holy book fits the bill. I guess we'll see.

So I guess the next time some moron "artist" mangles the Bible, we can get the FBI on the case, right?

Or would that create a chilling effect?

All Right

Wow. I remember watchin this when it was first on; Cheap Trick doing "Surrender".

Sometimes it's hard to explain to my kids that funny, ironic power-pop did not begin with "All-American Rejects".

And that's Ted Nugent doing the intro, back when he was bigger than Kelly Clarkson.

The Blogswarm: The Point

I've had a couple of commenters during various parts of the blogswarm point out things like Jeff Fecke did earlier this morning:

Don't tell me that Walter and Ted Mondale are Democrats. I don't know if I could handle that

Jeff misses the point - as, indeed, one usually must be be a liberal in the first place. (Kidding. Kidding).

Of course the Mondales, David Lillehaug and the like are Democrats. The point isn't to show that any individual signatory to the Bend Over For Our Budget ad is or is not a Democrat (although judging by their contributions, they virtually all are).

It is to utterly debunk the notion that some of the Patricians' supporters have put out there, a notion that the Patricians themselves go to great pains to reinforce in their communications - that they are a fairly represenative (if wealthy) group of Minnesotans.

Look at their donations. They clearly are far to the left of Minnesota's mainstream.

Which is fine. They have that right. I'm just trying to prove, in infinitesimal detail, that that claim is utterly false.

Their contributions run 95% to 3% in favor of the DFL and Democrat party.

Minnesotans who read that fairly down-the-middle sounding ad and might have thought "Hmmmm - they're bipartisan!" need to have that impression corrected - and to know that the Patricians and their apologists are lying if they say anything but.

I think it's corrected.

The Blogswarm, Part II

Derek Brigham of went after two groups from the Scolding, Nagging Patricians list. He says:

No Surprises here Mitch. A few yielded no results. Every other one of the others is hardline left and usually a pretty big contributor to the DFL, DNC and often delegates to boot. The tapestry is noticeably rich even within this small group I looked into. This pot of snakes have been tied together in numerous endeavors. It will be interesting to see what all comes out of this.

He did a very thorough job. His work is posted below the fold.

Bud HaydenBio:
Possibly Runs Hayden Enterprises per this letter on OSHA Standards
http://www.osha.gov/pls/oshaweb/owadisp.show_document?p_table=INTERPRETATIONS&p_id=24103

NewsMeat:
Hayden, Bud H
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Hayden Enterprises/Engineer TINKLENBERG, ELWYN G. (D)
House (MN 06)
TINKLENBERG FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/06/06
Hayden, Bud H
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Hayden Enterprises/Engineer TINKLENBERG, ELWYN G. (D)
House (MN 06)
TINKLENBERG FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 08/22/05
HAYDEN, BUD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $300
primary 09/18/04
Hayden, Bud
Minneapolis, MN 55414
retired/retired DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 07/22/04
HAYDEN, BUD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $300
primary 06/19/04
HAYDEN, BUD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $300
primary 03/15/04
HAYDEN, BUD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55447
METROQUIP INC
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTORS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $250
primary 01/26/96
HAYDEN, BUD
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55447
METROQUIP INC
ASSOCIATED EQUIPMENT DISTRIBUTORS POLITICAL ACTION COMMITTEE $250
primary 01/19/95

Donations:

Carol Hayden
Bio: Film of her found here: talking up Mcalaster: http://www.macalester.edu/development/annualfund/testimonials/
Board of Trustees Macalaster College: http://www.macalester.edu/trustees/
Minnesota Advocates for Human Rights http://www.mnadvocates.org/Women_s_Program_Spring_House_Party2.html

NewsMeat: Holy Christ, This one’s been busy...
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
community activist MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $2,100
primary 08/23/05
HAYDEN, CAROL S
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,000
primary 03/18/05
HAYDEN, CAROL
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $300
primary 12/18/04
Hayden, Carol S
Excelsior, MN 55331
N/A/Retired HERSETH, STEPHANIE M (D)
House (SD 00)
HERSETH FOR CONGRESS $500
general 09/21/04
HAYDEN, CAROL
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED OBAMA, BARACK (D)
Senate - IL
OBAMA FOR ILLINOIS INC $500
general 09/08/04
Hayden, Carol S
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Not employed/Retired KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC $1,000
primary 07/26/04
Hayden, Carol
Minneapolis, MN 55414
none/community volunteer DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 07/22/04
Hayden, Carol S
Excelsior, MN 55331
N/A/Retired HERSETH, STEPHANIE M (D)
House (SD 00)
HERSETH FOR CONGRESS $500
general 07/21/04
Hayden, Carol S
Minneapolis, MN 55414
N/A/Retired HERSETH, STEPHANIE M (D)
House (SD 00)
HERSETH FOR CONGRESS $1,000 03/31/04
Hayden, Carol
Minneapolis, MN 55414
none/community volunteer DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 03/24/04
Hayden, Carol S Ms.
Minneaplis, MN 55414
Retired
EMILY'S LIST $1,000
primary 02/23/04
Hayden, Carol S
Minneapolis, MN 55414
N/A/Retired HERSETH, STEPHANIE M (D)
House (SD 00)
HERSETH FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 02/23/04
Hayden, Carol S Ms.
Minneaplis, MN 55414
Retired
EMILY'S LIST $250
primary 01/09/04
Hayden, Carol S
Minneapolis, MN 55414
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $1,000
primary 12/31/03
Carol Hayden
Minneapolis, MN 55414
EMILY'S LIST $500
primary 07/14/03
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
EMILY'S LIST $500
primary 07/14/03
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
EMILY'S LIST $500
primary 07/14/03
Hayden, Carol
Minneapolis, MN 55414
community activist MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 06/16/03
Hayden, Carol
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $250
general 08/11/02
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
REQUESTED
EMILY'S LIST $250
primary 04/16/02
Hayden, Carol S
Minneapolis, MN 55414
N/A/Retired HERSETH, STEPHANIE M (D)
House (SD 00)
HERSETH FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 04/16/02
HAYDEN, CAROL S
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 12/31/01
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
REQUESTED
EMILY'S LIST $250
primary 10/02/01
Hayden, Carol Ms.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
REQUESTED
EMILY'S LIST $250
primary 10/02/01
HAYDEN, CAROL S
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED SHAHEEN, JEANNE (D)
Senate - NH
SHAHEEN FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $250
primary 10/02/01

Donations:
Humphrey Institute Sponsor:
http://www.hhh.umn.edu/news/leadership_awards/sponsors2005.html

Anne Heegaard
Bio: Wife of Peter Heegard.
NewsMeat:
Heegaard, Anne M
Minneapolis, MN 55414
N/A/Retired ROWLEY, COLEEN MARIE (D)
House (MN 02)
COLEEN ROWLEY FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/30/06
HEEGAARD, ANNE
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,100
primary 05/31/05
HEEGAARD, ANNE
HOPKINS, MN 55305
HOMEMAKER KELLEY, STEPHEN P (DFL)
Senate - MN
KELLEY FOR U S SENATE COMMITTEE $500
primary 03/31/00
Heegaard, Anne Mrs.
Minnetonka, MN 55305 BRADLEY, BILL (D)
President
BILL BRADLEY FOR PRESIDENT INC $1,000
primary 04/26/99
HEEGAARD, ANNE
HOPKINS, MN 55305
RETIRED
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $500
primary 07/25/96
HEEGAARD, ANNE M
MINNETONKA, MN 55305
HOMEMAKER WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
general 10/05/94

Donations:
Supporter of HIRED: http://www.hired.org/Support/supporters.htm

Achieve Minneapolis: http://www.achieveminneapolis.org/contributors_03-04.htm

Council on Crime and Justice 04-05: http://www.crimeandjustice.org/Pages/Support%20Us/Donors%2020042005.htm

Numerous other annual reports and portfolio donations

Peter Heegaard
Bio:
HE...Heegaard is active in a wide range of civic organizations. He is immediate past Co-Chair of the City of Minneapolis Empowerment Zone Governance Board, immediate past Chair of the Blandin Foundation and on the boards of, The Gamble Skogmo Foundation, the Northstar Foundation, Wolf Ridge Environmental Learning Center, Ready 4K and The One Percent Club. He is a past chair of the Minneapolis Foundation, Presbyterian Homes of Minnesota and the Legal Rights Center. He is a past President of the Citizens League and a former trustee of Macalester College, the Minnesota Council of Foundations and the Minnesota Medical Foundation. He is a former director of Van Dusen Air Incorporated, the M.A. Gedney Company and the Board of Pensions of the Presbyterian Church USA. Heegaard is a member of St. Luke Presbyterian Church where he has served as Elder.
: http://www.blandinfoundation.org/board/bio-pheegaard.html

He founded Lowry Hill, a unit of Wells Fargo that advises wealthy clients on investments, and has long been a leader in community affairs in the Twin Cities.

He retired in 1996. Then he founded Urban Adventures, which offers crash courses in urban issues to rising business executives. Backed by banks here, Urban Adventures has taken 150 executives through 10-day, $1,750 per person "immersion courses" since 1997. They visit nonprofits and community leaders in St. Paul and Minneapolis.

http://www.city-data.com/elec/elec-AFTON-MN.html

Founder of HIRED: http://www.hired.org/News/newsbriefs.htm

Pushing the One Percent Club Idea for years: http://www.lifetrackresources.org/news/St.%20Paul%20Pioneer%20Press%20Article_Dave%20Beal_11-06-05.htm

NewsMeat:
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED BYRD, ROBERT CARLYLE (D)
Senate - WV
FRIENDS OF ROBERT C BYRD COMMITTEE $250
primary 09/23/05
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,100
primary 05/31/05
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $500
primary 12/17/04
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $200
general 10/15/04
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $200
primary 05/29/04
Heegaard, Peter A.
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired/Retired
VICTORY CAMPAIGN 2004 $5,000
primary 05/19/04
HEEGAARD, PETER
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $500
primary 03/04/04
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $250
primary 03/03/04
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Not employed/Retired DEAN, HOWARD (D)
President
DEAN FOR AMERICA $500
primary 12/30/03
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $250
primary 12/26/03
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $500
primary 12/12/03
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $500
primary 07/21/03
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $500
primary 07/17/03
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Not employed/Retired DEAN, HOWARD (D)
President
DEAN FOR AMERICA $250
primary 05/06/03
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MPLS, MN 55414
RETIRED MONDALE, WALTER F. (D)
Senate - MN
MONDALE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 11/01/02
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $500
general 10/21/02
HEEGAARD, PETER A
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $1,000
primary 09/03/02
HEEGAARD, PETER
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414 WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,500
primary 07/15/02
HEEGAARD, PETER
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 06/05/02
HEEGAARD, PETER
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
RETIRED WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 04/15/02
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $500
general 04/01/02
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $-500
primary 04/01/02
Heegaard, Peter
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Retired LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $500
primary 03/28/02
HEEGAARD, PETER
HOPKINS, MN 55305
RETIRED WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $500
primary 11/30/01
HEEGAARD, PETER
HOPKINS, MN 55305
RETIRED WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $500
Donations:

Kristin Henning
Bio: http://www.bizjournals.com/bizwomen/twincities/content/feature/item.html?item_id=2485&feature_id=252
In March 2002, Kristin Henning co-founded The Rake, a monthly literary, arts, culture and humor magazine, with her husband, Tom Bartel. Since its founding, the Minneapolis-based publication has nearly tripled its initial circulation of 25,000, and ad revenues were up 65 percent in 2004. Before The Rake, Henning co-founded and was associate publisher of alternative weekly newspaper City Pages, and was publisher of Minnesota Parent, during which time the magazine won the General Excellence award for parenting publications from the Medill Journalism School at Northwestern University three times. In addition to English and graduate creative writing at the University of Minnesota, Henning studied playwriting at the Playwrights’ Center in Minneapolis. She is a member of the Twin Cities Fine Arts Organization board of directors, the Fashion Group International of Minneapolis/St. Paul board of directors and the Advertising Federation of Minnesota.

Here’s a good one: She is the Mother of: Matt Bartel ’06 and his MNSpeak.com blog were featured in the [Minneapolis] Star Tribune's May 8, 2006, issue. Bartel, the son of publishers Tom Bartel ’73 and Kristin Henning ’75, has been owner of MNSpeak.com for just over a year. Bartel and Henning publish the Twin Cities magazine The Rake, and are former publishers of Twin Cities publications City Pages and Minnesota Parent.
http://apps.carleton.edu/news/index.php?module=headlines

NewsMeat: NADA

Donations: The Walker http://annualreport.walkerart.org/2001/10_financial.htm

John Hetterick
Bio:

NewsMeat: NADA

Donations:

Kathe Hetterick
Bio: I think the MOB has handled her husband pretty well already

NewsMeat: NADA

Donations:

Arthur Himmelman
Bio: Arthur Himmelman, Senior Program Officer with the McKnight Foundation

MMEP: http://www.mmep.net/Who_we_are.html In the fall of 1986, Arthur Himmelman, Senior Program Officer with the McKnight Foundation, convened a meeting of three college presidents:

Arthur T. Himmelman. ArthurTHimmelman@aol.com. June 2004. 800 IDS Center. 80 South Eighth Street. Minneapolis, MN 55402. www.MinneapolisFoundation.org

Arthur Himmelman. Himmelman Consulting. 210 Grant Street West, Suite 422. Minneapolis, MN 55403-2245. Telephone:. 612-998-5507

Community ToolBox: http://ctb.ku.edu/tools/en/sub_section_main_1229.htm – Pie in the sky socialist rubbish

NewsMeat:
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
CONSULTANT MONDALE, WALTER F. (D)
Senate - MN
MONDALE FOR SENATE $250
general 11/02/02
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR TURVOH
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
HIMMELMAN CONSULTING WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 05/30/02
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR TURVOH
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
HIMMELMAN CONSULTING WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $550
primary 04/23/02
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR TURVOH
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
HIMMELMAN CONSULTING WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $250
primary 03/20/02
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
CONSULTANT
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $550
general 06/27/96
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
HUMPHREY INSTITUTE
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $700
primary 02/03/95
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55403
HUMPHREY INSTITUTE
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $300
general 02/03/95
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR T
MPLS, MN 55403
UNIV OF MINNESOTA
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $250
general 10/24/90
HIMMELMAN, ARTHUR T
MPLS, MN 55403
UNIVERSITY OF MN
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $200
general 09/19/90

Donations:
Active Minneapolis: http://achieveminneapolis.org/contributors.htm

SCOTT HAS THESE 4 Below

Cecily Hines
Bio: The Law Office of Cecily Hines
Address: 117 Portland Ave #710

Minneapolis, MN 55401
Name often linked with another of the MN 200, Tom Pettus.
Name linked to support for Peter Hutchinson ‘s Mayoral race, 2006

NewsMeat:
MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$1,000

primary12/30/05

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$500

general11/01/04

DNC SERVICES CORPORATION/DEMOCRATIC NATIONAL COMMITTEE (D)$500

primary10/26/04

WETTERLING, PATTY (D)

House (MN 06)

PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS$300

primary07/13/04

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary07/30/03

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary08/11/02

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary03/27/02

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$1,000

primary12/13/01

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary04/14/01

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$500

primary04/05/01

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$350

primary01/01/01

YANISCH, REBECCA (D)

Senate - MN

REBECCA YANISCH FOR US SENATE INC$500

primary06/21/00

YANISCH, REBECCA (D)

Senate - MN

REBECCA YANISCH FOR US SENATE INC$500

primary02/26/00

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND - STATE OFFICES$250

primary11/15/91

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND - STATE OFFICES$250

primary10/23/90

Donations: $1,000 for Central Mpls Library 3/6/06

John K. Holman
Bio: EMPTY SEARCH

NewsMeat: EMPTY SEARCH

Donations:
EMPTY SEARCH

John K. Holman must be a name the Democrats made up just to make their list bigger. He probably died in the1880s and has voted for every Democrat since HHH.

Deborah Hopp
Bio:


Deborah Hopp ('75)
Deborah Hopp is vice president for publishing and publisher of MPLS.ST.PAUL Magazine at MSP Communications. A native of Cloquet, Minnesota, she is a 1975 graduate of the University of Minnesota School of Journalism and Mass Communication. The mother of two school-age daughters, Hopp serves on a number of volunteer and corporate boards in addition to the Alumni Association. These currently include The Minnesota Orchestral Association, the Minnesota Women's Economic Roundtable, the Twin Cities Communications Council, the Minnesota Chamber of Commerce, the Minneapolis Downtown Council, and the University of St. Thomas Graduate School of Business.

NewsMeat:

KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)

Senate - MN

KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA$350

primary01/23/06

KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)

Senate - MN

KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA$500

primary12/22/05

KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)

Senate - MN

KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA$250

primary09/28/05

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary09/28/05

KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)

Senate - MN

KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA$1,000

primary03/31/05

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$750

primary10/22/04

DALY, TERESA ANN (D)

House (MN 02)

DALY FOR CONGRESS$300

primary06/12/04

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$500

primary12/18/03

CLINTON, HILLARY RODHAM (D)

Senate - NY

FRIENDS OF HILLARY$1,000

primary08/01/03

MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)

House (MN 04)

MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS$250

primary06/30/03

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$300

primary08/20/01

YANISCH, REBECCA (D)

Senate - MN

REBECCA YANISCH FOR US SENATE INC$200

primary08/09/00

YANISCH, REBECCA (D)

Senate - MN

REBECCA YANISCH FOR US SENATE INC$500

primary02/01/00

THUNE, JOHN (R)

Senate - SD

JOHN THUNE FOR SOUTH DAKOTA$250

primary09/20/99 (How did this contribution happen???????)

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$1,000

primary04/26/99

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$300

primary04/26/99

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$500

primary09/14/98

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$500

primary04/06/98

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$250

primary04/06/98

MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC$630

primary05/31/9

Kimberly Hunter

Bio:
Attorney, Kim Hunter & Assocs. PLLC
821 Raymond Avenue\St. Paul, MN
http://www.kimhunterlaw.com/attorney.html

NewsMeat:
WETTERLING, PATTY (D)

House (MN 06)

WETTERLING 06$250

primary03/27/06

KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)

Senate - MN

KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA$500

primary09/22/05

KERRY, JOHN F (D)

President

JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC$500

primary01/21/05

WETTERLING, PATTY (D)

House (MN 06)

PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS$500

general10/17/04

WETTERLING, PATTY (D)

House (MN 06)

PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS$250

primary09/09/04

KERRY, JOHN F (D)

President

JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC$500

primary06/30/04

WETTERLING, PATTY (D)

House (MN 06)

PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS$500

primary05/23/04

Linda Ireland
Bio:
Hosts a show on World Talk Radio: http://www.worldtalkradio.com/show.asp?sid=188

A seasoned executive and serial entrepreneur, Linda Ireland has been building and developing organizations for more than 20 years, including at Wilsons Leather, Digital River, PaperDirect, and Deluxe Corporation. Well-versed in implementing strategic change, she has experience in business strategy, branding, product development, merchandising, manufacturing, and business development.

http://www.worldtalkradio.com/hostbio.asp?sid=188&hid=227

Roles at Community Health Charities MN
Member, Board of Directors
Member, Executive Committee
Chair, Marketing Committee

Biography
Linda Ireland is a partner at Aveus, a consulting firm in Minneapolis. Ms. Ireland has experience in a variety of industries – from financial services and technology to consumer apparel and collectables.

Immediately before joining Aveus, she was CEO of FORWARD I, a strategy and marketing consulting firm. Before founding FORWARD I, she was vice president and general manager of e-commerce at Wilsons Leather. Ms. Ireland has also held executive positions at several companies including Digital River, Genesis Direct, PaperDirect, and Deluxe Corporation.

Ms. Ireland has done advisory board work for several for-profit and non-profit organizations. She holds two B.A.s from the University of Minnesota and an M.B.A. from the University of St. Thomas, where she also teaches in the graduate school.

Newsmeat: NO RESULTS

Kathleen Jones
Bio: NADA

Newsmeat:
JONES, KATHLEEN A
WAYZATA, MN 55391
HOMEMAKER/VOLUNTEER KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $250
primary 09/20/05
Jones, Kathleen A
Wayzata, MN 55391
N/A/Homemaker
AMERICA COMING TOGETHER $1,000
primary 08/27/04
JONES, KATHLEEN
WAYZATA, MN 55391
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $500
general 08/03/04
Jones, Kathleen
Wayzata, MN 55391
community volunteer/community volun DEAN, HOWARD (D)
President
DEAN FOR AMERICA $250
primary 01/30/04
JONES, KATHLEEN A
WAYZATA, MN 55391
HOMEMAKER MONDALE, WALTER F. (D)
Senate - MN
MONDALE FOR SENATE $500
general 11/01/02
JONES, KATHLEEN
WAYZATA, MN 55391 WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $500
primary 04/29/02
JONES, KATHLEEN
WAYZATA, MN 55391 WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $200
primary 04/23/02
JONES, KATHLEEN
WAYZATA, MN 55391
COMMUNITY VOLUNTEER
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $250
primary 09/05/96

Catherine Jordan
Bio: Partnered with Steve Lick

Donations:
McKnight Foundation : http://search.atomz.com/search/?sp-q=jordan&arrows.x=0&arrows.y=0&sp-a=sp10017c0c
Ms. Catherine Jordan Achieve Minneapolis Minneapolis, MN $100,000 To expand e-mentoring, electronically connecting professionals and public school students in a mentoring relationship program areas: Children and...

Ms. Catherine Jordan Achieve Minneapolis Minneapolis, MN $3,000,000 To support the second phase of high school transformation through small learning communities program areas: Children and Families url:...

Ms. Catherine Jordan The Adaptors, Inc. Minneapolis, MN $20,000 For a movement theater company program areas: Arts url: http://www.margolisbrown.org 612-722-2333 e-mail: margolisbrown@aol.com contact: Mr. Tony Brown...

Donation to Artspace
http://www.artspaceusa.org/about/funders.html

Donation/Endorsement to the Wellstone affiliated MN Battered Women’s Movement
http://www.wewillharboryou.com/endorsements.html

Newsmeat

Jordan, Catherine
Minneapolis, MN 55408
AchieveMinneapolis/Non-Profit Ceo KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC $500
primary 03/24/04

Charles R. Jorgenson
Bio: nada

Newsmeat: nada

Donations:
Good Lord Check this one: TCCVM: Eliminating Phonelessness as a barrier to self sufficiency. Sheesh!
TPT 2004
http://www.tccvm.org/about_03.html

Sally B. Jorgenson
Bio: http://www.asm.org/Academy/index.asp?bid=39905
The William A. Hinton Research Training Award is given in memory of William A. Hinton, a physician-research scientist and one of the first African-Americans to join the American Society for Microbiology. This year’s laureate is Sally B. Jorgensen, Ph.D., Associate Professor Emeritus, Colleges of Biological Sciences and Veterinary Medicine, University of Minnesota.

Dr. Jorgensen received her B.A. from Wellesley College and her M.S. and Ph.D. degrees from the University of Minnesota, Department of Biochemistry. She completed her Postdoctoral Fellowship at the University of California, Los Angeles, in the Department of Bacteriology.

DONATIONS: St Paul Chamber Orchestra
http://www.thespco.org/page.cfm?id=18082832

The Walker $299-499
http://annualreport.walkerart.org/1999/donors/annual_sponsors.html

Newsmeat:
Jorgenson, Sally
Minneapolis, MN 55414
AMERICA COMING TOGETHER $500
primary 11/02/04
Jorgenson, Sally
Minneapolis, MN 55414
Not employed/Not employed KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC $500
primary 07/08/04
Jorgenson, Sally
Minneapolis, MN 55414
University of Minnesota/retired ass MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/31/04
JORGENSON, SALLY
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
HOMEMAKER
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $200
primary 10/21/98
JORGENSON, SALLY
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55414
UNIVERSITY OF MN
MINNESOTA WOMEN'S CAMPAIGN FUND-PAC $250
primary 12/04/96

Tom Joyce
Bio: nada

Newsmeat: nada

Arnold Kaplan
Bio: United Health Care/Senior Vice-Pres
http://www.unitedhealthgroup.com/news/rel1999/0107erland.htm
MINNEAPOLIS (January 7, 1999) - UnitedHealth Group (NYSE: UNH) today announced the appointment of Patrick J. Erlandson to the position of Vice President, Corporate Controller and Chief Accounting Officer.

"Pat Erlandson is a fundamentally strong financial executive who will be an extremely valuable addition to our corporate finance team," said Arnold H. Kaplan, UnitedHealth Group's chief financial officer. "Pat's leadership was demonstrated in the design and implementation of UnitedHealth Group's core management processes and in the rollout of our realignment into six separate, but strategically linked, businesses. By working closely with the financial executives in UnitedHealth Group's various businesses, Pat will advance the growth of functional excellence in finance throughout the company."

Newsmeat:
Kaplan, Arnold H
Wayzata, MN 55391
United Health Care/Senior Vice-Pres MINGE, DAVID (DFL)
House (MN 02)
MINGE FOR CONGRESS $1,000
general 10/18/00
DONATIONS: 2003 NPR

Sam Kaplan
Bio:
Samuel L Kaplan
http://www.forbes.com/finance/mktguideapps/personinfo/FromPersonIdPersonTearsheet.jhtml?passedPersonId=937524
Director at
Piper Jaffray Companies
Minneapolis, Minnesota
FINANCIAL / ASSET MANAGEMENT
Director since December 2003 Financial data from Hemscott

69 years old

SAMUEL L. KAPLAN: Age 69, director since December 31, 2003. Mr. Kaplan is a partner and founding member of the law firm of Kaplan, Strangis and Kaplan, P.A., Minneapolis, Minnesota, and has served as the firm's president continuously since the firm was founded in 1978. Mr. Kaplan also is a member of the board of directors of Vyyo Inc.

MUCH MORE: http://www.zoominfo.com/directory/Kaplan_Sam_144553253.htm
Sam Kaplan, a highly successful corporate attorney who was Wellstone's campaign chairman, remembers organizing one fundraiser that took in about $50,000.

"We never would have won without Sam and Sylvia, period," said Pat Forciea, Wellstone's chief campaign strategist in 1990.

In mid-October, standing outside a fundraiser for Rybak, Sam Kaplan gushed that Rybak was the "first candidate since Paul Wellstone that matches that energy level."
...
"I think [Sam] enjoys the recognition and publicity, frankly," said Mel Burstein, the retired general counsel for the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and a childhood friend and University of Minnesota Law School classmate of Sam Kaplan's.
...
"I think [Sam] enjoys the recognition and publicity, frankly," said Mel Burstein, the retired general counsel for the Federal Reserve Bank in Minneapolis and a childhood friend and University of Minnesota Law School classmate of Sam Kaplan's.
In the mid-1990s, court records showed that Sam Kaplan had a net worth of more than $7.6 million. He said the figure "is considerably more than that" today. Much of the money has been accumulated through his law firm's success, coupled with his separate business and real-estate dealings. When the couple is not traveling, they have breakfast together every morning at the posh downtown Minneapolis Club.

Newsmeat:
Kaplan, Sam
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Piper Jaffray/Director of Financial MARKO, SHARON (D)
House (MN 02)
MARKO FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/29/06
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
KAPLAN STRANGIS & KAPLAN KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,100
primary 03/04/05
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
ATTORNEY DASCHLE, THOMAS ANDREW (D)
Senate - SD
NEW LEADERSHIP FOR AMERICA PAC $1,000
general 08/06/04
Kaplan, Sam
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Piper Jaffray/Director of Financial DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $300
primary 03/31/04
Kaplan, Sam
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Piper Jaffray/Director of Financial DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $200
general 03/30/04
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
KAPLAN STRANGIS AND KAPLAN PA SHAHEEN, JEANNE (D)
Senate - NH
SHAHEEN FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $500
primary 08/26/02
KAPLAN, SAM
MPLS, MN 55409
ATTORNEY
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $1,000
primary 02/23/96
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
KAPLAN STRANGIS & KAPLAN LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $250
general 11/07/94
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
KAPLAN & ASSOCIATES HOTTINGER, JOHN CREIGHTON (D)
House (MN 01)
HOTTINGER FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE $300
primary 08/18/94
KAPLAN, SAM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
KAPLAN & STEANGIS DEMARS, LOUIS G (D)
House (MN 03)
DEMARS FOR CONGRESS COMMITTEE $500
general 10/26/90

Donations: Has his own Music charitable Commissioning Project
http://www2.smumn.edu/deptpages/~music/kaplan_project/index.php
Helen and Sam Kaplan Foundation Commissioning Project is outlined below. Please address all questions to Dr. Janet Heukeshoven, director of the SMU Concert Band.
GAY BICYCLING NONSENSE: https://www.soulforce.org/equalityride/sponsor_form.php?rider_id=1

Shirley Kaplan
Bio:

GET THIS: BIG ATOBACCO ACTION:
Attorney General Mike Hatch appointed:
Sylvia Kaplan, Twin Cities businesswoman TO THE MPAAT 19 MEMBER BOARD

Newsmeat: NADA
DONATIONS: MN LIBRARY FOUNDATION
GOLDEN VALLEY POLITICAL CONTRIBUTION: http://www.city-data.com/elec/elec-GOLDEN-VALLEY-MN.html
Sylvia Kaplan
Bio: BOY, SHE’S A LIVE ONE... Kaplan, Sylvia — of Minneapolis, Hennepin County, Minn. Democrat. Delegate to Democratic National Convention from Minnesota, 2004. Female. Still living as of 2004.
JOH KERRY CAMPAIGH COORDINATOR: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/kerry/kerrorgmn.html

U OF M PROGRESSIVE CRAP CAUSES:
http://www2.cla.umn.edu/clatoday/AR2000/donors_invention.html
"And he's right," says Sylvia Kaplan (B.A. '76, political science, M.A. '79, American studies).

Together, the couple recently endowed the Sylvia K. and Samuel L. Kaplan Graduate Research Fellowship in Social Justice--the first endowed fellowship offered by the Department of American Studies.

KLOBUCHAR STORY ABOUT HER: http://dalythoughts.com/?p=4223

04 DNC DELEGATE: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/07/21_newsroom_demdelegates/
DNC PARTY PARTY: http://news.minnesota.publicradio.org/features/2004/07/29_khoom_party/

Newsmeat: MY WHAT A BUSY LADY...
Kaplan, Sylvia
Minneapolis, MN 55401
N/A/Homemaker WETTERLING, PATTY (D)
House (MN 06)
WETTERLING 06 $1,050
primary 02/16/06
KAPLAN, SYLVIA C
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
RESTAURANTEUR KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,100
general 06/15/05
Kaplan, Sylvia Chessen
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Homemaker/Homemaker
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $1,250
primary 03/23/05
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
RESTAURANTEUR KLOBUCHAR, AMY (D)
Senate - MN
KLOBUCHAR FOR MINNESOTA $2,100
primary 03/04/05
Kaplan, Sylvia
Minneapolis, MN 55401
self/restaurant owner MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $500
general 10/18/04
Kaplan, Sylvia
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Unemployed/Homemaker WETTERLING, PATTY (D)
House (MN 06)
PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 08/12/04
Kaplan, Sylvia C
Minneapolis, MN 55401
Not employed/Homemaker KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC $2,000
primary 06/16/03
KAPLAN, SYLVIA C
MPLS, MN 55401
BUSINESSWOMAN MONDALE, WALTER F. (D)
Senate - MN
MONDALE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 11/01/02
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55401
RESTAURANT OWNER KIRK, RONALD (D)
Senate - TX
TEXAS US SENATE 2002 $625
primary 08/27/02
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
HOMEMAKER WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
primary 01/17/01
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
HOMEMAKER WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 01/17/01
Kaplan, Sylvia Chessen
Minneapolis, MN 55409
None/Retired MINGE, DAVID (DFL)
House (MN 02)
MINGE FOR CONGRESS $250
general 10/27/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409 CIRESI, MICHAEL V (D)
Senate - MN
CIRESI FOR SENATE $1,000
general 09/15/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
HOMEMAKER
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $1,500
primary 09/08/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA CHESSEN
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURANTEUR CIRESI, MICHAEL V (D)
Senate - MN
CIRESI FOR SENATE $1,000
general 08/10/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409 LILLEHAUG, DAVID L (D)
Senate - MN
LILLEHAUG FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
general 06/25/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA CHESSEN
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURANTEUR CIRESI, MICHAEL V (D)
Senate - MN
CIRESI FOR SENATE $1,000
primary 06/21/00
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURANTEUR LILLEHAUG, DAVID L (D)
Senate - MN
LILLEHAUG FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
general 12/31/99
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURANTEUR LILLEHAUG, DAVID L (D)
Senate - MN
LILLEHAUG FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
primary 05/25/99
Kaplan, Sylvia Mrs.
Minneapolis, MN 55409
Self-Employed/Restaurant Owner BRADLEY, BILL (D)
President
BILL BRADLEY FOR PRESIDENT INC $1,000
primary 04/13/99
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RAMSEY COUNTY HUMAN SERVI
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $800
general 11/01/96
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RAMSEY COUNTY
PROGRESSIVE POLITICS NETWORK, THE (FKA WELLSTONE FOR SENATE) (D) $500
primary 01/04/95
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURANTEUR WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $500
general 09/08/94
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
RESTAURATEUR WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $250
primary 05/09/94
KAPLAN, SYLVIA
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55409
UNITED HOSPITALS LUTHER, BILL (D)
House (MN 02)
LUTHER FOR CONGRESS VOLUNTEER COMMITTEE $250
primary

OTHER DONATIONS:
http://www.ifpnorth.org/funding.html
GAY BICYCLING NONSENSE: https://www.soulforce.org/equalityride/sponsor_form.php?rider_id=1

Phillip Kaufman
Bio:
* Born:
on 10/23/1936 in Chicago, Illinois
* Job Titles:
Director, Screenwriter, Postman, Salesman, Teacher

Family

* Son: Peter Kaufman. born c. 1959; mother, Rose Kaufman; produced "Henry & June" (1990), "Rising Sun" (1993) and "Quills" (2000); made documentary "China: The Wild East" (1995)

Significant Others

* Wife: Rose Kaufman. met while attending University of Chicago; worked with husband on "The Wanderers" (1979) and "Henry & June" (1990)

Education

* University of Chicago, Chicago, Illinois, history
* Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts

Milestones

* 1960 Moved family to California; supported them with odd jobs while trying to complete a novel
* 1961 Relocated family to Europe; tried to finish the novel and taught English in Greece and math in Florence
* 1962 Met Anais Nin at the University of Chicago
* 1962 Returned to Chicago
* 1964 Co-wrote and co-directed with Benjamin Manaster, his first feature based on his yet unfinished novel, "Goldstein"
* 1964 Directed Jon Voight in his screen debut in "Fearless Frank"; also produced and scripted
* 1969 Moved to Hollywood; put under contract to Universal Studios
* 1972 First film for Universal, "The Great Northfield Minnesota Raid", about the James and Younger brothers
* 1974 Directed "The White Dawn", a whaling adventure set in the 19th Century, greatly helped by the expert cinematography of Michael Chapman
* 1975 Was fired from "The Outlaw Josey Wales" by star Clint Eastwood, who took over the directorial reins; retained screenwriter credit
* 1977 Moved to San Francisco
* 1979 First feature co-written with wife, Rose Fisher Kaufman, "The Wanderers", adapted from Richard Price's novel
* 1980 Made what is considered his best film, "The Right Stuff", based on Tom Wolfe's book about the US space program; although a box-office disappointment, film earned eight Oscar nominations, including one as Best Picture
* 1988 Received Academy Award nomination for co-writing (with Jean-Claude Carriere) the screenplay adaptation of "The Unbearable Lightness of Being"; also directed
* 1990 His "Henry & June" became the first film to receive the new MPAA classification NC-17 over its sexual content; film, which was a box-office failure, traced the relationship of authors Henry Miller and Anais Nin
* 1993 Helmed the film adaptation of Michael Crichton's controversial novel "Rising Sun"; also co-scripted with Crichton
* 1995 Executive produced and narrated "China: The Wild East", a documentary directed by his son Peter
* 2000 Returned to the director's chair to helm "Quills", a film based on Doug Wright's stage play about the Marquis de Sade
* Born and raised in Chicago, Illinois
* Developed original story for "Raiders of the Lost Ark" with George Lucas
* Spent one year in Israel working on a kibbutz

Newsmeat: NADA

Marlene Kayser
Bio: Kayser, Marlene — of Minnesota. Democrat. Presidential Elector for Minnesota, 1996. Female. Still living as of 1996.
Board of Directors of MN Advocates for Human Rights http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Minnesota_Advocates_for_Human_Rights

Pro Choice Activist: Marlene Kayser; DFL and Pro-Choice Leader
Erin and Marlene Kayser.jpg
Erin is pro-choice because she is so fundamentally pro-patient. As a nurse, she knows that medical decisions need to be made by patients in consultation with care providers, not by politicians far removed from the situation. She understands that patients need all medical and family planning options available to them, not just the narrow range of options extremist politicians endorse. The patient's perspective on family planning issues gets lost in too many discussions at the Capitol, but you can bet that won't happen when Erin is at the table.

Lawsuit: SEX DISCRIMINATION AND SEXUAL HARASSMENT
IN THE WORKPLACE IN BULGARIA http://www.southeasteurope.org/documents/sexharas.htm

Newsmeat:
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
N/A/Homemaker WETTERLING, PATTY (D)
House (MN 06)
WETTERLING 06 $2,000
primary 02/06/06
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
N/A/Homemaker ROWLEY, COLEEN MARIE (D)
House (MN 02)
COLEEN ROWLEY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 11/25/05
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker/Homemaker/Volunteer
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $200
primary 09/30/05
Kayser, Marlene B Ms.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 08/10/05
Kayser, Marlene B Ms.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 03/31/05
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
none/volunteer DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $300
primary 09/14/04
Kayser, Marlene B
Saint Paul, MN 55105
N/A/Retired
AMERICA COMING TOGETHER $2,000
primary 08/27/04
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
none/volunteer DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 06/15/04
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
unemployed/homemaker WETTERLING, PATTY (D)
House (MN 06)
PATTY WETTERLING FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 06/13/04
KAYSER, MARLENE B
SAINT PAUL, MN 55105
HOMEMAKER DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $250
primary 03/31/04
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
none/volunteer DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 03/31/04
Kayser, Marlene B
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $250
general 03/23/04
Kayser, Marlene B
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $750
primary 03/23/04
Kayser, Marlene B
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Not employed/Homemaker KERRY, JOHN F (D)
President
JOHN KERRY FOR PRESIDENT INC $2,000
primary 01/26/04
Kayser, Marlene B
Saint Paul, MN 55105
DEMOCRATIC CONGRESSIONAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $1,000
primary 12/19/03
KAYSER, MARLENE B
SAINT PAUL, MN 55105
HOMEMAKER DAYTON, MARK (DFL)
Senate - MN
MARK DAYTON FOR MINNESOTA 2006 $500
primary 07/21/03
Kayser, Marlene B.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 06/30/03
Kayser, Marlene B.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Self Employed/Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/31/03
KAYSER, MARLENE
ST PAUL, MN 55105
HOMEMAKER MONDALE, WALTER F. (D)
Senate - MN
MONDALE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 11/01/02
KAYSER, MARLENE
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
HOUSEWIFE CLELAND, JOSEPH MAXWELL (D)
Senate - GA
FRIENDS OF MAX CLELAND FOR THE US SENATE INC $1,000
general 10/10/02
Kayser, Marlene
St. Paul, MN 55105 ROSENTHAL, MARY FOSTER (DFL)
House (MN 04)
ROSENTHAL FOR CONGRESS $500
primary 06/20/02
Kayser, Marlene B.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Self Employed/Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $1,000
general 03/29/02
Kayser, Marlene B.
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Self Employed/Homemaker MCCOLLUM, BETTY (D)
House (MN 04)
MCCOLLUM FOR CONGRESS $1,000
primary 12/20/01
Kayser, Marlene
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Homemaker/Volunteer/Homemaker/Volun
MINNESOTA DEMOCRATIC FARMER LABOR PARTY (D) $250
primary 11/05/01
KAYSER, MARLENE B
SAINT PAUL, MN 55105
HOMEMAKER WELLSTONE, PAUL DAVID (D)
Senate - MN
WELLSTONE FOR SENATE $1,000
general 05/16/01

Tom Kayser
Bio: Law Partner with Ciressi
http://www.rkmc.com/Thomas_Kayser.htm
ACLU Shithat pushing for Gay activism in public achools: http://www.aclu-mn.org/FEDERAL_COURT_ORDER_REQUIRES_OSSEO_SCHOOL_DISTRICT.html
Volunteer attorneys Tom Kayser, Michael Okerlund and David Pinto of the firm Robins, Kaplan, Miller & Ciresi, L.L.P. handled the case for the ACLU-MN. “We’re very gratified by this decision,” said Tom Kayser. “We assume that the School District will quickly comply with this order.”

DNC Delegate: http://www.gwu.edu/~action/2004/delegates04/mndelegates.html
2004 Delegate to DNC: http://politicalgraveyard.com/parties/D/2004/MN.html

Tobacco Busting Law deal: http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1:62568634/Tobacco-busting+lawyers+are+cash+champs+in+governors+race~R~(NEWS).html?refid=SEO

More on the Maple Grove School Gay rights issue: http://www.wagsa.org/forum/viewtopic.php?p=25&sid=22da104b3b1aa75d087c0dde63c99163

Newsmeat:
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBINS/ATTORNEY MORRISON, JOHN (D)
Senate - MT
MORRISON FOR MONTANA INC $500
primary 12/15/05
Kayser, Tom
Saint Paul, MN 55105
Robins Kaplan/attorney DALY, TERESA ANN (D)
House (MN 02)
DALY FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 02/17/04
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBINS KAPLAN & CIRESI
DSCC/NON-FED UNINCORP ASSOC $25,000
primary 08/23/02
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBINS KAPLAN MILLER & CIRESI SHAHEEN, JEANNE (D)
Senate - NH
SHAHEEN FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
primary 08/01/02
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBINS KAPLAN & CIRESI
DEMOCRATIC SENATORIAL CAMPAIGN COMMITTEE (D) $5,000
primary 04/19/02
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBBINS KAPLAN MILLER & CIRESI COLEMAN, CHRISTOPHER BRIEN (D)
House (MN 04)
CHRIS COLEMAN FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 07/23/00
KAYSER, TOM
MINNEAPOLIS, MN 55402
ROBINS KAPLAN MILLER & CIRESI COLEMAN, CHRISTOPHER BRIEN (D)
House (MN 04)
CHRIS COLEMAN FOR CONGRESS $250
primary 03/15/00
KAYSER, TOM
ST PAUL, MN 55105
ROBINS KAPLAN ET AL WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $1,000
general 03/31/94
KAYSER, TOM
ST PAUL, MN 55105
ROBINS, KAPLAN ET AL WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $700
primary 12/22/93
KAYSER, TOM
ST PAUL, MN 55105
ROBINS, KAPLAN ET AL WYNIA, ANN LOUISE JOBE (DFL)
Senate - MN
WYNIA FOR SENATE COMMITTEE $200
primary 10/22/93

The Blogswarm, Part I

Marty Andrade joins the blogswarm with looks at ">Thomas Moore, Walter Mondale, Ted Mondale, John Morgan, and a group of the other Ms.

Blogswarm Note

A number of other local bloggers participated in the blogswarm.

I will be posting links to their work later today.

Blogswarming the Patricians: Keller Through McBurney

I took the list of patricians, from Thomas Keller III through the McBurneys.

Since some commenter will inevitably write "what, don't these people have the right to contribute what they want to whomever they want?", let me answer in advance; of course they do. As demonstrated amply elsewhere on this site, I support genuine free speech (including abolition of speech rationing rules) more than anyone else.

The point is, "Growth for Justice" portrays themselves (allowing for the constant use of the word "progressive", which I argue is meaningful only to people who are hip to the fact that "liberal" is a dirty word, and "progressive" is more opaque to non-wonks) as typical (albeit wealthy) Minnesotans who are just concerned.

In fact, as shown by their campaign donations, the 26 people on my list, from Thomas Keller III through the McBurneys can not be shown to be anything but reflexive DFL contributors: among them, they donated $216,296.46 to various Democrat and DFL candidates, campaigns and PACs, against $1,950 to GOP candidates and groups (and $900 to Peter Hutchinson). That's about 98 to 1, if you're keeping track at home.

This is no representative sample of Minnesotans. These are big-state patricians, supporters of the Minnesota "liberal" establishment. They support a return to the status quo before 2002; high taxes, rapacious bureaucracy, endless entitlements of power to those who administer the above.

I used four sources: Opensecrets.org, newsmeat.com, fec.gov, and the Minnesota Campaign and Public Disclosure Board, usually referred to as MN CFB below. Note that information from Opensecrets and Newsmeat is generally linked directly in the list below; the FEC and CFB sites don't support direct linking to query results, so I display the links to the sites.

Below - my group's contributions on a person-by-person level.

Thomas A Keller III: - A Twin Cities attorney, Keller gave a total of $ to federal and state candidates - all of them DFLers.

Bill Kelly - an executive with Wells Fargo - is on record for a total of $16,400 in contributions at the federal and levels. Along with Patricia Kelly gave 21181.46 in political contributions. Of that total, $1,200 went to GOP candidates and committees. However, while $250 went to Tim Pawlenty, the remaining $950 went to "Republicans for Choice" - not exactly a mainstream GOP organization, sort of like kicking in for "Democrats for Killing Terrorists".

Susan Kinder, listed as an executive at American Express, is listed for over $3,000 in contributions with the FEC, all for Democratic candidates (John Kerry, Betty McCollum et al) and causes (Emily's List); the MN CFB site lists $2080 more for Steve Kelley, Roger Moe and other state DFLers. By another source kinder (who also apparently works or worked as an executive recruiter) contributed $5,000 - again, all to Democrat or DFL candidates and groups. No money went to GOP candidates.

Anne Knapp - A DFL activist and dark horse candidate for the 5th District seat, Knapp's record at OpenSecrets almost $11,000, of which $2,000 went to Norm Coleman, $250 to Mark Kennedy (in 2004) and $1,000 to...the American Quarter Horse Association? Newsmeat shows consistent DFL focus in her recent donations, while the Campaign Finance Board site shows $5050 in donations to the left-leaning Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund State PAC.

Laurie M. Kramer, spouse of Joel Kramer (below), is listed as a mental and/or public health educator on Opensecrets and Newsmeat and the FEC, which lists her as giving $2K each to Paul Wellstone and John Kerry, with another thousand to Amy Klobuchar in '05. She is also shown on the MN Campaign Finance Board site as having given $2,500 to Becky Lourey (on whose ticket her husband Joel ran for Lieutenant Governor in the '02 campaign), $2,000 of it in 2002 and the rest in December of '05. No GOP giving at all.

Joel Kramer is a former Star-Tribune editor, and was in 2002 the running mate of ultraliberal Becky Lourey. He is also the founder and leader of Growth and Justice, the group behind the Patricians' open letter. Kramer, a driving force behind the "Bend Over For The Budget Happy To Pay For A Better Minnesota" movement if there ever was one, Kramer is listed as giving over $20,000 to Becky Lourey in 2001, as well as another thousand to eventual nominee (and gubernatorial campaign second-place finisher) Roger Moe, according to the MN CFB. The FEC lists Kramer as giving $11,200 to the likes of Mark Dayton, Amy Klobuchar, Walter Mondale, the Democratic Senate Campaign Committee - and $250 of it to Rudy Giuliani's 2000 campaign exploratory committee. Open secrets shows nearly $10,000 in contributions, all to liberal Democrats.

Most sources show "Management Consultant" Matt Kramer to have given $500 to the DNC, while the MN CFB site shows $1322 in giving to the 2002 Becky Lourey campaign.

Mark Lacek, who runs a marketing company specializing in administering frequent flier mileage accounts, gave (according to the FEC and Newsmeat, $250 to Amy Klobuchar last October. His wife Susan, who runs a philanthropic non-profit, has no record of political contributions.

Amy Lange, listed as a nurse-midwife at Planned Parenthood, gave (according to Newsmeat and OpenSecrets to Paul Wellstone, John Kerry, Moveon, and the Democratic National Committee. The Minnesota Campaign Finance Board site also shows $150 in donations to the Minnesota House DFL caucus, as well as $135 to ultraliberal Karen Clark's 2002 campaign.

James Lenfestey is a former Strib editor. His wife, Susan, is a regional far-left gadfly, distinguished by being perhaps the most comically unhinged liberal writer working in Minnesota today. Open Secrets shows $28,800 in donations between the two of them (to the whole lefty rogue's gallery; Wellstone, Klobuchar, Wesley Clark, the DNC, Emily's List) as well as South Dakota gubernatorial candidate Stephanie Herseth. Newsmeat shows more. The FEC shows $9,200 in contributions to federal races (Kerry, Mondale, Wellstone) and the MN CFB show still more state and federal contributions.

David Lillehaug scarcely needs an introduction, either as a former US Attorney or as a statist, big-government liberal DFLer, running for the US Senate DFL nomination in the past. He has particularly distinguished himself as an enemy of the law-abiding gun owner. Opensecrets shows $11,000 in DFL and Democrat donations, as does Newsmeat. Interestingly, he gave over $1,000 to moderate, responsible DFLer Joe Lieberman. According to the campaign finance board, Lillehaug ponied up over $3,700 to liberal candidates in Minnesota, including $2,500 to the campaign of liberal-Republican-turned-liberal-Democrat Judy Dutcher for governor in 2002. Lieberman is the closest thing to a Republican that has ever gotten a nickel from David Lillehaug.

Physician David and developer Peggy Lucas have given about $2,000 to various Democrat/DFL candidates (ranging from Betty "Rubble" McCollum to John Kerry) and Independence Party gubernatorial candidate Peter Hutchinson, according to the OpenSecrets and the MN CFB.

Listed as a homemaker on the Open Secrets site, Kim Lund has given over $8,000 to Paul Wellstone, John Kerry and over 4,000 to Amy Klobuchar.

Dain Rauscher exec (and/or consultant) Bill Mague gave $1,000, split between the DNC and John Kerry, according to OpenSecrets. A Deb Mague in the same zip code gave $250 to Amy Klobuchar.

Businesswoman (and sometimes internet talk host Chris Mahai has a long record of relatively small donations (via OpenSecrets, Newsmeat, the FEC (showing almost $1200 to the MN Women's Campaign Fund and $500 to liberal Rebecca Yanish) and the CFB which shows a donation to Judy Dutcher.

Jan Malcolm, non-profit executive (Allina, Courage Center, etc) is on file with about $1000 in donations to Republicans ($250 to Gil Gutknecht in 1997, the rest to varioius Jim Ramstad campaigns), and $2000 to the likes of Walter Mondale, the DFL, and Amy Klobuchar.

"Consultant" Jennifer Martin gave thousands to lefty candidates from Betty McCollum to John Kerry (OpenSecrets, Newsmeat, FEC, and a grand total of $500 - half to the National Republican Senatorial Committee, the rest to the "GOP FC PAC", for which I can find no reference.

Tom and Barb McBurney gave, between them, $600 to Ford Bell, $500 to Amy Klobuchar, $3260 to the left-leaning "Minnesota Women's Campaign Fund PAC" (accoriding to the CFB), and $400 to IP candidate Peter Hutchinson (again, according to the CFB).

Charles Townsend's Children: Blogswarming the Patricians

In 1765, British parliamentarian Charles Townsend, in noting the Colonies' protests against the Stamp Act, said:

"And now will these Americans, Children planted by our Care, nourished up by our Indulgence until they are grown to a Degree of Strength & Opulence, and protected by our Arms, will they grudge to contribute their mite to relieve us from the heavy weight of that burden which we lie under?"

In 2006, a group of Minnesota patricians took out a full page ad in the Minneapolis Star-Tribune declaring that the citizens of Minnesota, nourished by their indulgences, planted by their care, shouldn't grudge to pony up for the "better Minnesota" they envisioned.

They envisioned, mind you; a group of a dozen "experts" who we, the plebeians, are supposed to trust implicitly to take our money (a concept they seem only dimly to recognize) to enact their vision for this state.

Charles Townsend? Meet the patricians.

A longtime Shot in the Dark reader, who wishes to remain anonymous, ran through the entire list of the 203 signatories to the ad:

I have completed the review of FEC and State Campaign Finance records
for the 203 Fat-cats who think we should jack taxes by a couple billion
"for the children".

Attached is the report [which I link here in PDF format. Note: I know the PDF is not a very friendly file; it's huge. I'll try to fix it later today]. I did not include any contributions for people
with rather generic or common names, as I found multiple matches to
different home cities. I also classified PACs according to their known
political affiliations, such as America Coming Together and Moveon.org to
the Democrats and NRA and Pro-Life Minnesota to Republicans.

The contributor did a very thorough job:

The spreadsheet has 3 sheets. One is the raw contribution data, aggregated to each candidate that received a contribution. The summary sheet provides a breakdown of each organization or candidate's contributions
received from this group of 203 people. Contributor Analysis breaks down total contributions by each name on the list and provides a comparision against their specific GOP contributions.

I made some interesting observations. First, 95% of the money these
203 fat-cats made were to DFL candidates and causes. Its not like they
spread their money around...they gave VERY heavily to one side.

Indeed.

These 203 signatories, according to the commenter's research, gave a total of $4,782,724 to DFL and national Democrat campaigns - 95.63% of the total. The GOP netted $188,580, for 3.77% of the total. Other parties/campaigns - mostly Greens, if you look at the spreadsheet - snagged $29,800, less than a percent of the total.

On another blog, a commenter - noting that there were some GOP contributions among the signatories - asked (paraphrasing here) "isn't this bipartisan enough?", noting that Republicans claim bipartisan support for things like, say, Iraq, on issues when Joe Lieberman and Ben Nelson are the only visible Democrat supporters.

The comparison is specious, of course. The left has turned Iraq into a wedge issue; "a better Minnesota" is not - or shoudn't be.

"Growth and Justice" claims to proffer...:

We believe that at a time of enormous deficits, struggling families and a bitter partisan divide over the size and role of government, we desperately need new ideas that can generate broad support.

Broad is good. Partisan is bad. Which must be why they refer to themselves as a "progressive" think tank; outside the world of wonks (and largely left-wing ones at that), "progressive" still means "favoring progress" rather than "reflexively statist".

The "Growth and Justice" site also notes:

Growth & Justice has a board of directors of 24 distinguished Minnesotans, including Democrats, Independents and Republicans...

Er, yeah. "Independents and Republicans", 95% of whose political contributions are to the Democrats and the DFL.

Back to the correspondent:

One other observation was VERY obvious...and confirms that these people are nothing but DFL partisons trying to mask their intentions. Not ONE penny of the $5 million in contributions went to either Rod Grams or Mark Kennedy. But as you see, Amy Klobuchar is #6 on the summary list...and not one GOP candidate or organization appears in the Top 25 of the list (Jim Rammer Ramstad comes in at #26).

In fact, Amy Klobuchar alone made more in contributions from the Patricians ($206,050) than the entire total of GOP donations for the entire group ($188,580).

Joel Kramer - one of the group's leaders - doesn't actually say that "Growth and Justice" is "non-partisan". But to pretend that it's anything but a DFL front group, with some GOP contributions (many of which are RINO contributions, at that) is as disingenuous as...

..., as the group's claims themselves.

This American Story

I listen to This American Life.

Yes, that "This American Life". Hosted by the invincibly nasal Ira Glass, TAL is a weekly digest of thematically-sorted stories, from poultry to gender-reassignment, slathered with a thick coat of forced, trendy irony by the most strainedly-eclectic musical soundtrack in broadcasting, delivered by people who sound like the granny-spectacled, espresso-guzzling fops (the grad-schooled children of the alpaca-clad, Volvo-driving parents that support NPR in the first place) that clog college liberal arts departments, coffee shops and Green Party rallies; the kind of people who think David Sedaris is the benchmark of American humor.

It can be a teeth-clenching experience.

So why do I listen, not just occasionally but in fact every week as I drive home from the studio?

Because once or twice a year, they do a piece like this week's story, "D.I.Y.", an hour-long piece about a guy's decades-long quest to get his wrongly-convicted childhood pal released from jail for a murder he never committed.

The piece (available on mp3 next week) is incredibly powerful. It exhumes the humanity of a bunch of people that, to the outside observer, might not be very human; a guy in the slammer for murder, another guy who pulled the trigger but got away scot free, some neighbors who saw the shooting but didn't tell the truth for two decades.

Even TAL's producers couldn't screw this story up.

It Was Twenty Years Ago Today, Part XXXI

Scott Meier had had my tape for about a month. Or four, the way it felt to me.

Finally, today, Monday, July 7 1986, it was time to make my move.

Or so I thought, as I sat at my desk.

By "desk", by the way, I mean a surface about the size of a coffee-table book stuck next to a rack of satellite gear, which I shared with morning drive producer Allison Brown. KSTP's old studios on Highway 61 were, as I've mentioned elsewhere, a bit like working in a submarine, with electrical gear in every nook and cranny, waffleplate floors and steel stairways, a big diesel engine wedged into a back room. And my "desk" was like something out of "Das Boot".

Anyway.

It was five minutes until the start of the Don Vogel production meeting. I put all my material into a manila folder, took three deep breaths, and walked out the door into the front hallway, to Scott Meier's office.

I knocked.

"Yeah, Mitch?" Meier said wearily.

"So - when do I start?" I always figured the aggressive route wouldn't screw me any worse than the passive one.

Meier groaned lightly. "All right. How about Sunday night, 2 til 4AM?"

I stopped.

I never expected it to actually work.

"2AM to 4AM?" My heart started racing. "Sure".

"Do it Sunday night. We'll see how it goes after that".

How to answer?. "Cool!". And "Thanks", as an afterthought, as I walked away.

I stepped into the production meeting, and after giving the customary greeting (MITCH: "I've been having trouble with my bank." DON AND DAVE: "What bank is that, Mitch?" MITCH: "The S**t P**s F**k Bank!"), sat down and put my cards on the table.

"Meier gave me a slot!"

Don and Dave erupted in congrats.

"So when?" asked Don.

"2-4AM, Sunday night and Monday morning"

Don and Dave erupted in laughter.

But it was a start.

The word got around the station during the meeting. By the time Dave and I went into the control room to start the show, everyone knew, although it'd be a stretch to say most of them cared. 2-4AM was out there, even by KSTP's modest standards.

As we got ready to start the show, newscaster Karen Booth - who also hosted a weekend program on KSTP - spoke.

"So what kind of show are you going to do?"

"News with a conservative point of view, mostly", I allowed. Why fight it?

Karen seemed to recoil. "Conservative?"

"Yep" I flipped as the Vogel opening theme started.

"Is this a bit you're doing, just to get on the air?" Booth asked, "or is that actually what you believe?" Karen seemed to find it genuinely implasible that I, guitar player and broadcaster and generally cool guy, could possibly really be a conservative.

I think I eventually convinced her.

Booth, of course, was the opposite; after several years at Minnesota Public Radio including a stint as their "chief political correspondent", she went on to serve as the DFL's communications director.

But that was all in the future. I had a show to plan.

And it occurred to me; as much as I'd fantasized about this day for the previous several months, I really had no idea what to do.

Don't Want No Scrubs

Andy at KvM on a couple of Senate campaign points.

First: A-Klo has gone to the C-team for a house blogger:

This also raises the question of just how well Klobuchar’s campaign is doing. If they are now hiring young bloggers, they are obviously having some problems with message delivery. (Maybe they see how well it is working for Ford Bell and “Wege”). Given that this race is one of the most important ones in the country for the Democrats, it seems odd that the DSCC or DNC wouldn’t have sent in a more experienced person to help out. Has the national party abandoned her?

One of the MNGOP's big achilles heels is its performance among inner-city minorities. The DFL pours massive resources into retaining them as voting blocs, because they rightly fear that defections among the urban Asian, Hispanic and Black population will doom their chances for all congressional and federal offices.

One of the biggest constituencies in Saint Paul are the H'mong. And one of their biggest events is the annual national H'mong soccer tournament, which descends upon Saint Paul every year around this time:

Reports indicate that the Hmong soccer tourney this weekend was both good and bad for the 2 major Senate candidates.

Mark Kennedy stole the show. He was welcomed with open arms by the Hmong leadership. He was given a glowing introduction, and by all accounts, won support from most if not all of the crowd, which was evident by the Kennedy tent being overwhelmed with people snagging up sports schedules and stickers. He even received the support of General Vang Pao, which bodes extremely well for Kennedy picking up huge support from the entire Hmong community in Minnesota.

Like so many urban minorities, the H'mong should be Republicans; they are family-oriented, and as focused on free enterprise as anyone in the world.

Which has to scare the state DFL.

The Fair Trial

While in North Dakota, it was impossible to miss the upcoming trial of Alfonso Rodriguez, accused killer of Dru Sjodin. Jury selection is under way in Fargo.

The question: Can Rodriguez get a fair trial in small, insular North Dakota?

Larry Leventhal and Ken Tilsen, longtime Twin Cities attorneys with experience in high-profile federal cases, agreed that jury selection will be critical to whether Rodriguez can receive a fair trial.

"He can get a fair trial there," Tilsen said. "But will he -- is another question. It will be very, very difficult, but [it's possible] if the judge controls things properly and is sensitive to ... jury attitudes."

Tilsen participated in the 1974 defense of American Indian Movement leaders Dennis Banks and Russell Means, who faced kidnapping, assault and other felony charges from AIM's occupation of Wounded Knee, S.D., in 1973.

That trial was moved from South Dakota to St. Paul, officially for administrative reasons but after defense surveys showed widespread "distrust and dislike of Indian people" among potential jurors in South Dakota, Leventhal said. Charges against Means and Banks eventually were dismissed on the basis of government misconduct.

The questions are fair ones. It'd be fair to say that people in the upper Great Plains distrust and dislike sex offenders accused of raping and murdering their daughters.

The preceding was not intended to be flippant. I would not want to be Rodriguez' defense attorney. There are a few things that draw people to life on the northern plains. People live in places like Grand Forks and Aberdeen and Sjodin's native Pequot Lakes for reasons; chief among them is the notion that you have less to worry about. Your kids are vastly less likely (meth epidemic notwithstanding) to run afoul of gangs, drugs, traffic, or the other hazards of urban life.

So when the balloon gets popped, people get peevish. I'd suspect it's very hard to find much in the way of jury material...

Blogswarm The Patricians

UPDATE 7/7 AND BUMP: Will start posting the blogswarm on Monday.

UPDATE 7/3 AND BUMP: Will update the group assignments later today or tomorrow. Vacation calls.

UPDATE 6/29 AND BUMP: More of the groups are going out. I've updated who's taken what in the list (the names in parens).

If you sent me an email but don't see your name on the list, try me again - or just leave a comment. My copy of Thunderbird is acting weird...

UPDATE AND BUMP: I've been buried at work - but am working on it. I'll update the list of who's taken whom shortly here. We have some people working out there that are doing a TON of work.

We have half the group covered; feel free to leave a comment or send an email to claim one of the other eight groups!

More tomorrow (Thursday, 6/29) on the plan.

---------------

I'd like to try to start my first blogswarm, here.

The idea actually came from longtime commenters Thorley Winston and Lady Logician, in the comment section to the previous posting. Here's what I'd like to do: do a research blogswarm on the 203 Minnesotans who signed the "Happy To Bend Over For The Budget" "We Can Afford To Pay More For State Taxes" (PDF file) "open letter" to the Strib last week. The group pitches itself as a group of bipartisan citizens concerned for the state. I suspect otherwise.

So click on the Continue to see what we should do, here.

There are three steps to the process:

1. Pick a group of signees - I'm going to divide the 200 signatories into groups of 12-13, and identify the groups. Pick one (or more) of them. They will be noted below. I have taken one group, but may well tackle some m ore...

2. Do the research - Thorley Winston came up with a good format:

1) Name - If there is a website with a profile (candidate, employer’s site) of the person, please provide a link to it. Wikipedia works as well. Make sure you get the right person!

2) Occupation (job title, note if they are currently retired)

3) Employer (name of the organization INCLUDING non-profit organizations, provide a link to the organization site preferably one that goes directly to their profile) – I would be interested to see how many of these people work for the same organizations

4) Offices they have held and/or recently ran for

5) Affiliations with any “civic” or lobbying groups

Campaign Contribution Information (use NewsMeat.com as it is the most comprehensive and provide a link), the information that I think we should include is:

1) Total Dollar Amounts contributed (be sure to check, sometimes these sites double-count contributions and we should be as accurate as possible, when in doubt undercount). Go back as far as Newsmeat records (which I believe is 1996).

2) Note the percentage contributed to DFL versus GOP (some of the signatories may be former corporate executives who contributed to both parties)

3) Note any amounts for candidates who are running in 2006 even if for different offices (be sure to list any Republicans as well as DFLers) and provide the amounts to the candidate and their names

4) Also note if they contributed money to candidates running for office in other States

Use the usual sources: Newsmeat.org, opensecrets.org, and of course Google, as well as any other information you come across. Since this is Minnesota, be careful about the names; make sure you're writing about the right person.

3. Publish What You Find - You can publish it on your blog (send me the link), or you can send me an email.

And that's it. Drop a comment, let me know the group you want to tackle.

Groups

OK - here are the groups of signatories. Please leave a comment, with your email and blog address if any, to "sign up" for a group of signatories. I'll update the list as I go.

• Group 1 - Bob Anderson through Claudia Bornier (Thorley and Anonymous)
  
• Group 2 - Arnold Brier through Richard W. Clarke. (Thorley and Anonymous)
  
• Group 3 - Burt Cohen through Teresa Daly (Lady Logician and Anonymous)
  
• Group 4 - Bruce Dayton through Lois Mary Dunlap (Lady Logician)
  
• Group 5 - Amy Eilberg through Kristen Marttila Gast (Anti-Strib Crew)
  
• Group 6 - Tom Gegax through Vernae Harsbargen (Anti-Strib Crew)
  
• Group 7 - Bud Hayden through Kimberly Hunter (Freedom Dogs)
  
• Group 8 - Linda Ireland through Tom Kayser (Freedom Dogs)
  
• Group 9 - Thomas A. Keller III through Susan W. Lenfestey (M Berg)
  
• Group 10 - Judy Lewis through Tom McBurney (M Berg)
  
• Group 11 - Cheryl McHugh through John Morgan (Marty Andrade)
  
• Group 12 - Allison Moyers through Karin Phillips
  
• Group 13 - David Pinto through Mark Roloff
  
• Group 14 - Jeanette M. Rupert through Jim Smart
  
• Group 15 - Archie Smith through Ruth Usem
  
• Group 16 - David Vealitzek through Julie Zelle

Let's see what kind of "Better Minnesota" they're "happy" to pay for...

Did Anyone Get The License Number On That Truck

Back from vacation.

Feels like I got hit by a sack of cement.

Maybe it's just the whole "coming down from two weeks off inside three weeks" bit, especially given that I'm not used to taking vacations - or even decompressing - at all.

Let's see how this goes...

So Off The Grid

Still on vacation.

I did get to accomplish one major life goal last night. My whole life, I've wanted to just sit and shoot off a ton of bottle rockets. When I was a kid, Dad wasn't much into bottle rockets, so it wasn't much of an option. Of course, most of past twenty years I've been in Minnesota, where bottle rockets just aren't.

So last night, I bought three gross of them. 400 and change. And I must have shot off most of them. Of course, I'd never dream of bringing the remainder back to Minnesota.

Of course, it'd Dad's birthday today. If you know Dad from wherever, send him your best wishes!

OK. back to work doing pretty much absolutely nothing...

They Call It Townhall

The new Townhall.com goes live today.

The name is onimatopaeic; it is currently loading so slow, it feels like I'm down at town hall, waiting for a drivers license exam.

Road Rules

On the road today. Will post more later, assuming I can find a connection somewhere...

Class of '81

I went to my 25 year high school reunion on Friday and Saturday nights.

The turnout was fairly small - but then, it was pretty much a last-minute operation. I had six weeks' notice, and I don't think anyone heard about it more than three months in advance. It was kind of done on the fly. And for all that we drew probably 50-60 of the 252 people who'd graduated; a far cry from the 70% who attended the 10 year reunion and probably 60% who showed up five years ago, but it was a lot of fun.

I've always felt sorry for people who don't like going to their reunions. Of course, I realize that everyone's time in high school is different, and that no two schools, or even groups of kids, are the same. It probably helps that Jamestown is a smaller city in the middle of nowhere...

...but even with that, Jamestown's class of '81 was pretty famous for being a lot more close-knit than most. Most of us seem to enjoy most of our company. Which helps a lot.

Friday started with a mixer at a local hotel bar. Saturday was a dinner and a brief, ragged, extemporized program at the Eagles' club (followed by a giggly ramble down Jamestown's main street, grabbing a shot at each of the town's remaining downtown bars until closing time caught up with us). And after both, we did was pretty much every group of high school kids on the prairie does when they have time to kill, the urge to kill it socially, and not much else to do: we found some land and some wood, built a bonfire, and broke out the coolers full of beer. This time, of course, the land belonged to one of our classmates, and the bonfire and beer were both legal.

The fun part, of course, is that a lot of the old social circles have broken down over time. Not that Jamestown High School was out of a John Hughes movie, of course; there was a lot less such pretense, but "a lot less" still left room for some of the clicques that form whenever groups of teenagers are stuck in a building together. I never belonged to any of them - mine was the clicque of the clicqueless - so I got along with everyone equally well and nonexistantly. And nowadays it just doesn't matter, which makes reunions a lot more fun.

I had time to sneak in at least a short conversation with almost everyone there. My first observation - genetics and time have been exceedingly kind to most of the girls I graduated with. Not so much with the guys, but such is life.

The reunion ended for me at John Cave's place, with about twenty of us standing/sitting around a bonfire, nursing rather than chugging the Miller Lites and passing stories around. It was chilly, pushing 4AM, and the night sky was just starting to brighten with the first hints of dawn. And I felt the way I always feel as these things wind down; wistful, happy to see these people (there's not one person I can honestly say I wish I could have snuck away from), sad that it'll be years before I see most of them again, and with the same odd sense of wanting...

...something that is as hard to define today as it was to put into words 25 years ago. A little shred of that same feeling I had the first time I walked away from all those people on May 28, 1981; that there's a lot to do, a lot to accomplish, and just a little bit to prove. And I'd better get on it.

Who showed? That's below the fold.

I'll leave out last names; everyone who needs to know them, already does.

• Pennie. She's a high school teacher in Houston who just won a major national teaching award. She looks not an iota different from high school, where she played keyboards in the first band I ever played in (at a talent show in tenth grade); we probably talked for half an hour at the mixer. She's sent me a few emails in the last couple of years about thinking about teaching in Minnesota, especially given Gov. Pawlenty's "super-teacher" proposal; legislators, you need to get on the stick. You don't know what you're missing
• Joe B. Other than the gray hair, another guy who hasnt' changed a jot since high school. Goofy, boisterous, always there with the long-forgotten story about yourself from 25 years ago (and laughing uproariously at the stories about himself), it was hard to square the goofball with the fact that he's a retired National Guard major (who, in fact, got back from Iraq not too long ago).
• Dan - a fighter pilot today, who looks every bit the Lieutenant Colonel and sounds every bit the Fighter Jock (he has even adopted the souther accent). Dan played bass in my "real" band in high school, and my biggest regret of the evening was that neither of us brought our guitars (as we did at the 20th reunion, where we ended up playing until 5AM at...yep, the last big bonfire party). Oh, and nobody's money was any good around Dan. At Dan's behest, in fact, was history's first "pitcher of kamikazes" created).
• Janice - a girl I remember very vaguely from German club, she works at the Marshall Fields home store in Edina, where I actually met her a couple of years ago while agog with sticker shock. She's still an absolute doll.
• Jerry - probably the most changed guy of the bunch. Jerry was always a big farm kid in high school, one of those guys who in eighth grade has the physique of a wrestler; in fact, my main/only memory of him in high school is him constantly kicking my ass during the "wrestling" unit that they kept dragging us through in gym class; Jerry and I were in the same "weight class", although I was 130 pounds of 6'3, and he was 130 pounds of 5'9 haybale pitcher, so he'd fold me up like a piece of origami. He's changed; darker hair, a little more settled-looking, and a lot thoughful. In fact, I talked with him more in half an hour at the bonfire than I had in four years of high school (where I think my total exchange was "you pinned me, motherf****er, let me up").
• Jackie - Another of the girls who's never changed. Jackie was/is mistakeable for a surfer girl; blonde, hilarious in a kind of spur of the moment way, and has always been a total hoot. She also just retired as a lieutenant-commander in the Navy Reserve, after years of being a nurse in both civilian and navy life. She and her radiologist husband, she says, have also just moved to the Twin Cities, and in fact live about a mile from where I work. The metro-area reunions just got a lot better!
• Jim E. - Another guy I don't think I talked with much after sixth grade, Jim has done well for himself, being (reportedly) a big wheel at the company that owns/builds/runs most of the billboards in North Dakota (which is sort of like running all the skyscrapers in Chicago; it's a corner on them market of one of the area's most notable features). Jim was, as he has been at every reunion, the life of the party.
• Gina - she's a nurse in Philadelphia (and came all the way from there for the reunion), improbably even more drop-dead gorgeous than she was in high school.
• Judy - the girl's track and basketball star in high school, she's still in town and - as Dan noted - hasn't changed a bit.
• Mad Dog - the Dog remains my oldest friend in the world; I have known Mike longer than any other person outside of my family, going back to when we were both around four years old. He is still...a mad dog. A couple of people noted what Pennie had in an email a couple of years ago; the two guys in our class whom nobody ever figured would be allowed to have kids were Mad Dog and I. And Mike has a nine-year-old daughter who lives with him fulltime, and I spend plenty-o-time with mine, which just goes to show you that high school impressions are worth as much as clicques. Although Mad Dog was as hammered as he has been at every reunion we've ever had...
• Lynnae - I'm amazed; she works at a company I used to work at (I won't elaborate; this blog has readers at that company), and in fact knows a lot of the people I used to work with. In high school she sort of had that Ann Wilson thing going on (and I mean "Little Queen" Ann, not the post 1990 Ann); today, more of the Diane Keaton (and I mean "Annie Hall", not "Something's Gotta Give"). Either way, it was fun to see her.
• Steve - he's at the University of ND right now; he's moving from the professor biz into Administration. He also held down the karaoke fort at the party (honest, Steve - if the damn book had had even one Bruce, Kinks, Sex Pistols, Ramones or Gin Blossoms song, I'd have had your back!), which I'm sure his students would find hilarious.
• Alayne - she's an editor at Public TV in Fargo. Still one of the biggest sweethearts of the bunch. One of the relatively few that brought a spouse - who is one of the best sports I've ever met at one of these things.
• Melanie - always the jockette in high school, I don't think I ever remember hearing her talk in high school (although judging by Jackie's "carrot in the nose" story, it was probably just me); she made up for it.
• Lisa T - married her high school boyfriend. Then, unlike so many such situations, stayed married for the past 20-odd years. They're a service family living in Germany, but I'm glad Lisa could make it. (Bring Corey next time)
• Kevin - a business consultant in Bloomington these days, Kevin was famous for being a very sharp (if R-rated) wit. He was also famous for being really, really big. Only the latter has changed; I didn't recognize him at the 20th reunion, and that was the only reason I recognized him this time; he's lost over 300 pounds since the 10th reunion, for the benefit of those of you who havne't met him lately. He organized the whole party; kudos on a fast job well done!
• Jen - She had been practically my neighbor in high school, living about a block down from me. There'd been this rumor before the tenth reunion that she'd been working as a model, somewhere or other. I could see it. I had the best time talking with her at the back-bar toward the end of the Eagles party.
• Nancy - another of those girls that married her high school boyfriend (Jen's brother, who looks like a either a young Robert Goulet or an old Orlando Bloom), and is still right there. Her luck was foreordained; she was our homecoming queen, and reigned over the homecoming game where, after decades of frustration, Jamestown finally kicked Fargo Shanley. I always chalked it up to Queen Nancy.
• The other Lisa T; we went to high school and college together. She's still in Jamestown, still married to my next door neighbor from college (who was a wrestler that could bend scrap iron in his biceps), still just about the nicest person alive

I know I'm missing quite a few. Sorry. I'm remembering as fast as I can.

And I hope to see all of you in five years!

Crushing of Dissent

I'm at my mom's place in Minot, North Dakota right now. She's a flaming Democrat. I'm obviously not.

She said I could use her computer only if I converted. So I'm up pretty early, hoping to squeeze out a post or two before I'm discovered.

Don't tell her, OK?

The Patricians, Part VI

The next section of the Rich People For Higher Taxes ad may be the most cynical of the bunch:

And we believe in raising the money fairly. It's wrong that middle-class families papy a bigger proportion of their income in state and local taxes than upper-income families.

Unstated: none of that will change if the patricians who signed this ad get their way. Because their "income" - wages paid for a day's work - is largely a small part of their cash flow.

They are mostly wealthy. They are mostly very-well-connected politically (the blogswarm will show you to whom). And they mostly employ accountants. So they mostly don't earn their income from "income". They have tax shelters, they earn money through investments, and if you jack their income tax up to the levels they claim to want, their incomes will still be largely sheltered.

But yours and mine, fellow middle-class Minnesotans, will not.