I Have To Wonder

Five protesters were arrested yesterday at a protest at the Mexican consulate in Saint Paul.Five people were arrested at the Oaxaca Solidarity demonstration this morning at the Mexican Consulate. We do not currently know what they are being charged with...
Posted by Mitch on November 03, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Savoy

Let's establish something here: I have nothing against unions. Unlike the vast majority of Democrats (especially lefty-leaning bloggers), I have actually been a union member; I have seen both the pluses and minuses of being in a union. I need...
Posted by Mitch on October 02, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Down This Road Before

If you're not from Minneapolis, you might have heard of the crime wave that's been sweeping the city - or the fact that Minneapolis' crime has been high for a city its' size for quite some time. You might not...
Posted by Mitch on September 27, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Attack The Healthy Tissue

Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis is becoming more dangerous; crime is up drastically this year over previous years. And crime does disproportionally hit lower-income people, both as victims and as participants. So what does the city do? Turn the screws on low-income...
Posted by Mitch on September 21, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Straight Priorities

The budget - strained by ever-more spending demands - is reeling. Crime is on an uptick - overshadowed by the miasma of Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis, but still unsettling. City infrastructure needs a ton of work. So what does the Saint...
Posted by Mitch on September 21, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Can't Make It Up Fast Enough

In Amy Klobuchar's Minneapolis, a guy can get arrested 110 times... ...and the county is looking for public input to try to keep the guy in the joint. Rambix:Stayed sentences, probation, 110 arrests - are there no consequences in Hennepin...
Posted by Mitch on September 18, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (10) | TrackBack

The Sacred Herd

There is no more sacred cow in local budgets than libraries. At least, that's what local politicians would like you to think. Minneapolis is going through the same flailing spasms that Saint Paul did a few years back over a...
Posted by Mitch on September 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Chief Dolan

The good news: Minneapolis is trying to promote from within for a police chief; Mayor Rybak has nominated Tim Dolan for the job:Dolan, 51, has long been considered the frontrunner for the job and has run the department since Bill...
Posted by Mitch on September 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Like Butter. Moldy, Sour Butter.

She's retired, but she's not necessarily out of it:Expect an announcement late today that Barbra Streisand will be performing at Xcel energy center on Sunday Nov. 12.The poor should have fun at uber-liberal Streisand's gig: Look for the top ticket...
Posted by Mitch on August 23, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

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...
Posted by Mitch on July 18, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (17) | TrackBack

Sign Me Up

Jim Farell of the Minnesota Licensed Beverage Association is launching a campaign to repeal Saint Paul's smoking ban. Look for the flyers soon: Images from the PiPress' "City Hall Scoop" blog, who has the story.Jim Farrell, executive director of the...
Posted by Mitch on June 30, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Off Message?

Nick Coleman, on noting several surveys that show the Twin Cities are among the "smartest" metro areas, gives us too much information:By the way, I admit to perusing Men's Health on occasion, because it has advice on how to keep...
Posted by Mitch on June 16, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Area Denial

I'm usually not one to troll comment sections for material; I have more fun writing my own. But for the second time in as many days, something popped up in a thread on PowerLiberal responding (in part) to a post...
Posted by Mitch on June 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

The Worst Intersection In Minnesota

This past Saturday evening as I headed for the freeway to go out for the evening, I saw a blazing mass of police whoopie lights - so many that I thought it could not be a traffic accident; there were...
Posted by Mitch on June 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (33) | TrackBack

Welcome To Adult Life. Duck

Shots fired outside a Minneapolis high school graduation - outside the Convention Center, one of downtown Minneapolis' crown jewels:Several shots were fired Sunday night outside the Minneapolis Convention Center as people were leaving Patrick Henry High School's graduation ceremony, police...
Posted by Mitch on June 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Rybak Solves Crime Problem!

While RT Rybak has seemed utterly unable to deal with crime in his plagued city, he might have some help:Teresa Skarman was nearby, walking home around 9 p.m. when the footsteps behind her got louder, closer. Within seconds, a wild-eyed...
Posted by Mitch on June 09, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Summertiiiiiiiime...and the living is...easy...

My favorite places in the Twin Cities, so far, to kill a couple of hours on a gorgeous summer night are:Pracna On Main - Sitting out on the sidewalk at Pracna, watching the river roll by on a balmy summer...
Posted by Mitch on June 06, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (22) | TrackBack

Justice On The Block?

A source in the western suburbs sends me this bit of alarming news; ultraliberal Saint Paul city councilman Jay Benanav is pondering a run for judge....
Posted by Mitch on June 05, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Minneapolis City Council to Blog?

Part of the Minneapolis City Council is thinking about running blogs:Perhaps not surprisingly, four of the five authors are first-term council members. Some of them, like the Eighth Ward's Elizabeth Glidden, expressed excitement about being able to communicate with constiuents...
Posted by Mitch on May 24, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Gang of Four: "Destroy Capitalist Lapdogs from Target!"

If there's been a success story in the Twin Cities, it's the journey of University Avenue over the past twenty years - from blighted, seedy strip to fairly thriving area; east of Lexington, waves of Asian immigrants have taken over...
Posted by Mitch on May 18, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Found Art

As always, I'll give credit where it's due; amid all the homespun yuk yuks in htis morning's Coleman column, this bit here:This is classic St. Paul: People arrive with low expectations, but stumble upon greatness. They aren't sure where they...
Posted by Mitch on May 05, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

How Bad It's Gotten

Back in 1986 when gangs first came to the Twin Cities (at least for the first time since Prohibition), it was a huge shock to the locals. I moved to South Minneapolis just blocks from where Minneapolis' first identified gang...
Posted by Mitch on April 24, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Adios, Ford

There are times I'm very, very glad that I grew up in a field as psychotically unstable as radio. The first time I got fired (not for cause, of course) was at age 17. It was a lesson that always...
Posted by Mitch on April 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (38) | TrackBack

Director Gets Golden Parachute; Minneapolis Citizens Get Golden...Parachute Bill

MDE notes that the Minneapolis Teachers Pension Fund director is getting a golden parachute... ...for leaving a billion dollars in obligations unfunded:The executive director of the Minneapolis Teachers Retirement Fun Association received a "golden parachute" for running a pension fund...
Posted by Mitch on April 13, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Quagmire In Minneapolis, Part XXXVI

A shooting at a Wendy's in south Minneapolis leaves two wounded:Minneapolis police are searching for two teenagers after a double shooting at a fast food restaurant in south Minneapolis late Monday night.This particular Wendys is the one that Joel Rosenberg's...
Posted by Mitch on April 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

It's All In The Skin Color

Doug Grow never met a DFL fringe cause he didn't like. No matter how dumb, as we see in today's column about Governor Pawlenty's violence summit at the mansion. Grow:Missing from the meeting? People of color. There were 13 people...
Posted by Mitch on April 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (37) | TrackBack

Half-Clear On The Concept?

Transplanted Noo Yawker Katherine Macdonald writes the Strib about downtown's decay:As a recent transplant from New York City, I can tell you honestly that the Block E area all the way to where Gameworks is resembles how Times Square used...
Posted by Mitch on April 07, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

US Out Of Minneapolis

Rambix reports on a shooting/murder in downtown Minneapolis - hours ahead of the Deadtrees, as usual. A commenter quips "So now going to a movie on a Friday night constitutes a high-risk lifestyle". So it seems....
Posted by Mitch on April 01, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (60) | TrackBack

Smoke 'Em While You Got 'Em

St. Paul, 1927: The streets are thronged with partygoers of all ages and incomes. Chicago Mob money floats an endless party at the Saint Paul Hotel and the Wabasha Caves, among others. The city rarely sleeps. St. Paul, 1947: Hard-working...
Posted by Mitch on March 31, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Deep, Abiding Stupidity

I meant to cover this yesterday, but both Captain Ed and Dementee beat me to the draw (which is sort of like getting scooped by both Fulton Sheen and Dog the Bounty Hunter): the city of Saint Paul's "Human Rights"...
Posted by Mitch on March 24, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (24) | TrackBack

White Bear Lake: The Last Frontier

Quick question for those of you who live in the Northeast 'burbs of Saint Paul: What's a good place to grab breakfast? Leave a comment, if you could. Thanks in advance!...
Posted by Mitch on March 22, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Uptown Down

Rambix covers Minneapolis crime like nobody else, in or out of the mainstream media. His blog's coverage of the Zebuhr shooting - and its context, as part of an outbreak of Somali gang violence - should be required reading for...
Posted by Mitch on March 22, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Grow Whines

Michael Zebuhr - the visitor from West Virginia who was shot in a robbery in Uptown Minneapolis last week - has died. Joel Rosenberg notes Doug Grow's inevitable - and stupid - response:Doug Grow, of the Star Tribune, weighs in...
Posted by Mitch on March 22, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Looking For Info

I sent this letter to the PR contact listed with the revenue study we discussed yesterday:From: [my email]@shotinthedark.info To: [city contact]@ci.minneapolis.mn.us Subject: Media Request Headers: Show All Headers [Contact], I'm Mitch Berg. I'm a host with the "Northern Alliance Radio...
Posted by Mitch on March 22, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Well, That Didn't Last Long

Minneapolis top cop Bill McManus leaves for San Antonio:Police Chief Bill McManus, who came to Minneapolis saying he was ready to "bust out of the locker room and get going," decided Wednesday to get out of town after only two...
Posted by Mitch on March 16, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Adios Cameras - For Now

Minneapolis' "Stop on Red" program - which used robot radar cameras to catch drivers running red lights - has been tossed in court:The ruling Tuesday to shut off the cameras doesn't necessarily mean the thousands of people who have paid...
Posted by Mitch on March 15, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

The Evil Tobacco Empire Strikes Back

A group of Saint Paul bars are suing the city to stop the March 31 onset of the city-wide smoking ban:Sixteen St. Paul bar owners sued the city Tuesday, asking a judge to halt its smoking ban from taking effect...
Posted by Mitch on March 01, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

From Your Fingertips To My...Er, Fingertips

Commenter "angryclown" says:By the way, I'm on pins and needles waiting to read about your trip to the dry cleaner. If you're lucky, you can catch somebody picking up a jacket made of cashmere or some other politically significant fabric.In...
Posted by Mitch on February 22, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Quagmire!

Rambix and the Red Star has become one of my essential MOB blog reads lately. The blog is on a mission - expose the crime wave in Minneapolis that the Star/Tribune can't seem to bother with. Today's piece covers a...
Posted by Mitch on February 18, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Built On Sand?

There was a demonstration outside the embattled house at 14 East Jasmine in Saint Paul today, as the owners, neighborhood activists and the City of Saint Paul traded claims and counterclaims... ...including some claims traded via the media. The Pioneer...
Posted by Mitch on February 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Protest Too Much

Thomas Radke made it to the protest at the Army Recruiting Center in Minneapolis last week. He sent a report:Just a brief note to let you know that only two of the "anti-protesters" showed up at the Lake/Lyndale intersection but......
Posted by Mitch on February 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Helping Nicolle

Swiftee is on a mission. The mission's name is Nicolle Birch. Swiftee's impressed - which, I'm here to tell you, isn't easy:Once in awhile you run across a kid who blows every pre-conceived notion you've ever had about today's kids...
Posted by Mitch on February 14, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Not To Code

Quick: Which of these properties is going to get torn down on Wednesday, if the city of Saint Paul gets its way?? This one? Or this one? Or this one? Watchdog now: http://watchdog-news.com/politics-as-usual/14-east-jasmine-saint-paul.htm If you guessed the second one -...
Posted by Mitch on February 13, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Tragically Hip

Via Chad, I see that Minneapolis/Saint Paul magazine has screwed up again. While I did a long, involved interview for their "Hipster Survey" - their annual survey of their writers' drinking buddies - the copy editor, still miffed over my...
Posted by Mitch on January 25, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (18) | TrackBack

It's Not Just Me!

Someone else noticed it - Target is insane!:It was Jan. 2. Our Christmas tree had just been denuded of decorations, and as is the case every year, I needed one more green and red plastic storage tub to pack away...
Posted by Mitch on January 25, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (17) | TrackBack

Things I Wish

Among the wishes of the season, I wish I could get St. Paul City Councilweasels Jay Benanav, Kathy Lantry, Lee Helgen and Mao Tse Thune, as well as their well-heeled, impeccably be-clouted supporters and their pet mayor, Chris Coleman, in...
Posted by Mitch on January 17, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (97) | TrackBack

St. Paul's Great Leap Forward

It time to crush the big-tobacco revanchist running dogs! Illustration by the irreplaceable Freedom Dogs...
Posted by Mitch on January 13, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Frogtown Has Always Been At War With Swede Hollow, Winston

Mayor Coleman springs into action and tightens the county smoking ban in Saint Paul bars, with the aid of the Gang of Four:For: Jay Benanav, Lee Helgen, Kathy Lantry and Dave Thune Against: Dan Bostrom, Pat Harris and Debbie MontgomeryThe...
Posted by Mitch on January 12, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Public Relations

A bird told me that "Public Relations" consultant Blois Olson - the guy who's sueing Michael "MDE" Brodkorb over alleged defamation - physically walked his press release in to the Star Tribune. I'm awaiting confirmation of that. But in any...
Posted by Mitch on January 06, 2006 | Read Whole Post | Comments (16) | TrackBack

Dead On Arrival

I heard Willie Clark this morning. Let's get back to that....
Posted by Mitch on December 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (28) | TrackBack

The Politics of Someday

On a local political discussion forum, a DFL activist and school-board member or member-elect wrote about a comment I'd made about the Minnesota Personal Protection Act. Spot the leaps of faith:[People should not] rely on the statement that "the results...
Posted by Mitch on December 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Smile

Minneapoliis "Photocop" program is going to court today. "Photocop" is a robot radar/camera combination that shoots pictures of red-light runners, and mails them a ticket. While I don't run red lights - I err on the side of caution to...
Posted by Mitch on December 21, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (37) | TrackBack

Terrorized

I caught Dave "Mao Tse" Thune on the KARE11 morning show today, in re the citywide smoking ban proposal in Saint Paul. "I don't blame them for being scared...they're being terrorized by thesmoking industry", he said. No, Mao Dave; they're...
Posted by Mitch on December 07, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (15) | TrackBack

Minneapolis: Your "Leaders" Should Alarm You

Today's Strib editorial is entitled "Target's Move Should Alarm Downtown". They got it half right. Target Corporation built its new headquarters building in downtown Minneapolis a few years ago, bucking the trend toward companies building corporate campuses in the suburbs....
Posted by Mitch on November 25, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Government-Enforced Mulligans For The Rich!

The Twin Cities International Airport has occupied its present location for around eighty years. It became a central source of noise pollution during World War II (when it was a major Air Corps training center) and again at the dawn...
Posted by Mitch on November 23, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Now You Sium...

I met Odi Sium at last week's Fourth District dinner and fundraiser. He's a charming, personable guy, a natural politician. The Strib notes Sium's candidacy for the Fourth Congressional District seat in about the most perfunctory article possible, today."I don't...
Posted by Mitch on November 22, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Write the Hennepin County Board

A commenter asked that I post the email address to the Hennepin County board, to faciliate your complaints about the smoking ban quagmire. board.clerk@co.hennepin.mn.us Please write. Be polite, but let 'em know what a disaster this misbegotten ban has become....
Posted by Mitch on November 16, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (22) | TrackBack

Can Take No More

A group of ideologue activists, using borderline-fraudulent information, drive government leadership into an unpopular action that, months later, has been an unmitigated disaster. But far from admitting their mistakes, the dogmatists - still lying about their information - press onward,...
Posted by Mitch on November 16, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (19) | TrackBack

Distinction Without A Difference

Doug Grow thinks he's seeing a corpse. It's really a vampire....
Posted by Mitch on November 14, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

These Colors Don't Run

Briain "Saint Paul" Ward addresses my piece from yesterday about why I live in the city. I gave ten reasons. In my haste, I forgot a couple....
Posted by Mitch on November 12, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (50) | TrackBack

The Nihilist City

Nihilist gets some email that sounds off on cities vs. 'burbs....
Posted by Mitch on November 11, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

The Apple Doesn't Fall Far From The Source of Raw Power

Rambling Ryan Rhodes performs a rare, complicated double-fisking; the Coleman Brothers. Highlight, with Coleman (Nick) in italics:It may seem unfair outside St. Paul that Kelly's endorsement of President Bush sank his campaign, but this is not a game we are...
Posted by Mitch on November 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (19) | TrackBack

The Old "Invisible Platform" Trick!

Driving home last night, heard Mayor-elect Coleman talking on MPR:"This campaign never was about George Bush"Followed, inevitably, by about forty seconds of:Bush lies bla bla Bush/Pawlenty plan to gut cities bla bla bla Bush bla bla bla radical right bla...
Posted by Mitch on November 09, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (27) | TrackBack

My Neighbors Scare Me

As I left my polling station this morning, I saw a guy standing at the corner of Snelling and University, holding a sign. He looked - well, basically interchangeable with a hundred thousand other left-of-center guys in the Metro; fortyish,...
Posted by Mitch on November 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (23) | TrackBack

Terrier Vs. Gerbil

It's election day in the Twin Cities - and in no city is the choice starker than in Saint Paul, where we have a choice between a mayor who's accomplished much in four years... ...and a vacuous hamster who's accomplished...
Posted by Mitch on November 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (10) | TrackBack

The Suicide of Saint Paul

Tom Swift gave a Saint Paul history lesson last week:During the tenure of Norm Coleman we enjoyed unprecedented progress in Saint Paul. Anyone who lives anywhere near W. 7th street cannot deny that Coleman's vision and hard work turned that...
Posted by Mitch on November 07, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Strib: Dog Protests Man!

The Strib covers covers yesterday's pro-dictatorship protests at the U of M:More than 1,000 students, many of them from 40 Twin Cities-area high schools, joined Worrall -- some risking parental punishment or school discipline -- to protest the war in...
Posted by Mitch on November 03, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Scratch a Vocational Opportunity

I used to think that if all else failed, I could hire myself out as a guide to people from Wayzata and Edina who were trying to get to a show at the Orway or Rivercenter or the Civic, in...
Posted by Mitch on November 01, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (13) | TrackBack

My Mistake

On last Saturday's NARN show, Brian "Saint Paul" Ward and I said that the Minneapolis mayor's race was basically a joke, a run-off between two candidates who are, at day's end, merely different types of DFL machine hack. Which is...
Posted by Mitch on October 31, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

City Pages: Molehill In, Mountain Out

Saint Paul mayor Randy Kelly had a rough primary; his challenger (and former wholehearted fan) Chris Coleman got nearly twice as many votes in the city's qualifying primary. So what? I mean, there's no way to spin the primary as...
Posted by Mitch on October 14, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Chris Coleman's Kerryesque Flipflop

Randy Kelly is persona non grata in the Saint Paul DFL. This, of course, is not news. Last year Randy Kelly committed a sin far worse to the Saint Paul DFL than being pro-life, pro-Second-Amendment, pro-growth; he was an apostate....
Posted by Mitch on October 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Kelly Kampaign Klatsch

Saint Paul Mayor Randy Kelly is holding a big news conference this afternoon, billed as a "major address on the stateof the St. Paul mayor race". So what's it going to be? A change in party, a change in strategy,...
Posted by Mitch on September 29, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Results!

When I meet a new manager, and he/she starts off with some variation of "I'm a process expert" or "I was brought in to help with process", I silently start updating my resume. The group I'm with will be in...
Posted by Mitch on September 29, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Hennepin Anti-Smoke Jihadis: "Duck Is Dog!"

Disclaimer: Other than the odd cigar (I'm up to maybe a couple a month) I don't smoke. Smoking doesn't especially bother me - I worked at radio stations where I was the only non-smoker. If smoke started bothering me, I...
Posted by Mitch on September 22, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Saint Paul: The Racism of Charity

I live, as has been noted, in Saint Paul, Minnesota. Beautiful city, clogged with funky history, vastly more interesting than neighboring Minneapolis. Much less flaky, too. Generally. But the Green candidate for mayor just logged 20% in the city primary,...
Posted by Mitch on September 21, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Yucky Neighbors With Gall

Katie from Yucky Salad With Bones has joined the Ladies Neocon Auxiliary MAWB Squad. Just as long as she leaves her neighbors at home....
Posted by Mitch on September 20, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Just A Bar

Craig Westover does something the the Strib and PiPress seem unable to; puts a human face on the Twin Cities' smoking bans. The column's from last week. So what? It's still important this week....
Posted by Mitch on September 20, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Finney for Sheriff?

Rumor has it that former St. Paul police chief Bill Finney has announced (at last night's Bruce Vento Spaghetti Dinner) that he will be running for Ramsey County Sheriff. I have to wonder - what's the motivation? He would have...
Posted by Mitch on September 19, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Clearing The Air

Marcus Aurelius of Clearing The Air - the best blog out there about the smoking ban - has the word about a benefit for Porters - one of many bars that are reeling from the effects of the ban:Kathy at...
Posted by Mitch on September 16, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

My Conundrum

Here's my conundrum: I love my city. I think way too many of my neighbors are idiots. Chris Coleman - longtime DFL bag man and scion of the Coleman political dynasty - won the Saint Paul mayoral primary going away,...
Posted by Mitch on September 15, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Primary

Today's the mayoral primary in both Minneapolis and Saint Paul. For those of you who live elsewhere, both of the Twins use the primary as a runoff among all the declared candidates. The upside is that the primary is always...
Posted by Mitch on September 13, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (14) | TrackBack

"Politically Motivated"

The local Green Party was right, sorta; the federal investigation of Minneapolis City Councilman Dean Zimmerman was, allegedly, motivated by politics; the politics of people who wanted stuff done for them:Minneapolis City Council Member Dean Zimmermann took $7,200 cash in...
Posted by Mitch on September 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Speaking of Root Causes...

...Green Party candidate for mayor of Saint Paul, Elizabeth Dickinson, unleashed her big plan for combating crime in the city yesterday. Let's look for the big plan, here....
Posted by Mitch on September 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Counter-Insurgency

John Kerry is endorsing Chris Coleman, the DFL-endorsed candidate to try to knock off Saint Paul mayor Randy Kelly:John Kerry is weighing in on St. Paul's mayoral race, a year after the city's incumbent Democratic mayor came out against the...
Posted by Mitch on September 06, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Smoking Ban Claims Three More Victims

Three of the key - and remaining - tenants on the Mall of America's Fourth Floor "entertainment" district have closed their doors. And while marketing at the Mall of America is dicey (as the article says, it's hard to strike...
Posted by Mitch on August 30, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Boycott the Copy Editors!

Katherine Kersten's new Strib Column ends:These applicants, like Wal-Mart's current employees and loyal customers, are not dupes or fools. They are individuals struggling to get their small part of the American Dream. It's time, I'd say, for teachers unions to...
Posted by Mitch on August 29, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Wes Skoglund Was Right

There are people creeping around Minneapolis who want to kill people. Oh, they're not concealed carry permit-holders, of course. No, they're the ones that Wes Skoglund wasn't verbally worried about during last spring's caterwauling about the Minnesota Personal Protection Act....
Posted by Mitch on August 12, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Scratch Another Good Guy

Nail Mahmoud died this morning. Mahmoud's case has drawn some attention because last month, he and his brother broke up a robbery at their convenience store in suburban Apple Valley, Minnesota:Mahmoud refused to open the safe, and he and his...
Posted by Mitch on August 03, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Law Is A Meatheaded Ass

Sponsels Minnesota Harvest Orchard is one of my family's favorite summer and autumn diversions. It's a great place to take the family to pick your own apples, let the kids run around, nosh with the locals, send your daughter on...
Posted by Mitch on July 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Smoked Out

After watching bars implode like Buffy the Vampire Slayer M.A.S.H. spinoffs, they're starting to rethink their smoking ban, the most Stalinistic of the metro area's bans:The county has been under pressure to scale back the ban, and more than 100...
Posted by Mitch on July 27, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (13) | TrackBack

Finney Out

According to the PiPress' City Hall blog, former Saint Paul top cop Bill Finney is not running for Mayor. This contradicts (and presumably shuts down) some rumors from earlier in the week:Contrary to suspicions, hopes, fears and whatever else might...
Posted by Mitch on July 20, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (17) | TrackBack

Saint Paul Greens and Education

Normally, I couldn't care less about the platforms or "visions" olf minor parties. I'd be hard-pressed to post the "visions" of the Constitution Party, the Socialist Workers, the Libertarians... But the Greens in the Twin Cities are another matter. They're...
Posted by Mitch on July 19, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Skelton Update

Jeffrey Skelton - who allegedly murdered his wife's lover by shooting him in the eye, foot, groin and twice in the chest - has had a busy month or so. You may recall that after he allegedly shot Michael Delmore,...
Posted by Mitch on July 18, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Stinking Heat

Doug observes:It's hot. Nasty hot. Hot like Minnesotans shouldn't have to endure. Our schtick is cold weather. But this is day... nine-hundred or something, I've lost count... of our current heat wave.There's the dirty little secret. Minnesota's winters - at...
Posted by Mitch on July 17, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Skelton: Three Times is the Charm

Jeff Skelton - who allegedly murdered his wife's lover by shooting him five times, in the eye, groin and foot and twice in the chest, apparently confessed to the shooting on WCCO Radio, was arrested, violated bail conditions not once...
Posted by Mitch on July 06, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (15) | TrackBack

Rutger Hauer, Call Your Agent

Sunday's murder in Mound (a western 'burb of Minneapolis) is a tragedy, and nothing to joke about. The shooting - possibly sparked by a wife's affair, allegedly carried out by a guy with serious anger issues - has put Jeffrey...
Posted by Mitch on June 21, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Return To The DMZ

Wow - today is a trip down memory lane. Doug Grow writes about the closing of the Pizza Shack, a longtime South Minneapolis institution. When I first moved to Minneapolis, almost 20 years ago, the Shack was one of the...
Posted by Mitch on June 18, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Henco To Voters: "Pony Up. Forever."

So a while ago, Hennepin County's commission rammed through a stadium deal. As the spoonful of sugar to make the medicine go down, they solemnly promised "But we won't throw for the roof. Yet. Promise. Really." I remember countless conversations,...
Posted by Mitch on June 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Let's Cut The Crap, Shall We?

As evidence for the "infinite monkeys" theorem, Laura Billings has a pretty good column - in this case, in re the stadium....
Posted by Mitch on June 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Beatings Will Continue Until Morale Improves

The smoking ban has been a disaster for most of the bars in the metro area;...
Posted by Mitch on June 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Smoked

Tom "Swiftee" Swift was covering the smoking ban long before it was an issue on the radar. I first heard about the impending bans - or at least, paid them attention - last year when Swiftee called the NARN show...
Posted by Mitch on June 06, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

And the #1 Sign...

...that my next gig will be in Eden Prairie or Chanhassen:Crosstown Hwy. 62 is being restricted to one lane each way from Cedar Avenue (Hwy. 77) to 43rd Avenue from Tuesday to Thursday....
Posted by Mitch on May 31, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Death Toll

( I first posted this on Wednesday, May 25. I'm bumping it to the weekend; please leave your observations in the comments). There's a spirited discussion going on in comment thread on the fallout of the smoking ban. In the...
Posted by Mitch on May 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (41) | TrackBack

Compassion

Katherine Kersten, the Strib's new token conservative, and her new column are finally up and running in the Strib. And she's off to a great start, bringing what promises to be a healthy, long-overdue dollop of reason and common sense...
Posted by Mitch on May 26, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Wanderlust

I moved here almost 20 years ago, for much the same reasons James Lileks did; to get out of North Dakota. And I love Saint Paul. I really do - there's a lot to love about the Twin Cities. And...
Posted by Mitch on May 26, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (17) | TrackBack

Up In Flames

The night Saint Paul's smoking ban went into effect, the ringleaders of the smoke ban effort celebrated at Tavern On Grand, one of my personal favorite Saint Paul eateries. Ironically - according to Swiftee... Well, I'll let him tell the...
Posted by Mitch on May 25, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (18) | TrackBack

Smoked Out

Tom Swift - blogger, political gadfly and Dave Thune's worst nightmare - has been following the progress of the smoking ban. Oh, who are we kidding? Everyone knows it's been a disaster for bars. Mike Lee, a manager at the...
Posted by Mitch on May 17, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (12) | TrackBack

Mark Your Calendars

It's rare indeed that the Strib writes a sensible, institutional-voice editorial. But while I admit that I tend to focus more on the egregiously stupid things they write, there's a reason for that; they write so much of it. But...
Posted by Mitch on May 12, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Rosario On Vick

Ruben Rosario has perhaps the best testimonial I've yet seen for Sergeant Jerry Vick, the Saint Paul officer killed in the line of duty last week....
Posted by Mitch on May 12, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Just What They Told Us

The PiPress has the events surrounding the Vick shooting....
Posted by Mitch on May 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Funeral For A Policeman

Cop killings always expose a city's rawest nerves. If the killer or killers remain at large, whatever community that thinks it's the city's "usual suspects" finds itself on the wrong end of a lot of suspicion - usually unwarranted. Since...
Posted by Mitch on May 10, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (16) | TrackBack

The Hometown That Dare Not Speak It's Name

The Strib's Tony Kennedy writes a piece on the home neighborhood of the two "men" who killed Sergeant Jerry Vick last week in Saint Paul. It's interesting....
Posted by Mitch on May 09, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (18) | TrackBack

Snark and Hiding

The eternal time-waster C.J., the Twin Cities' excuse for a gossip columnist, "reports" on a curious incident at Minneapolis City Hall....
Posted by Mitch on May 09, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Cop Killing In Saint Paul

Someone once called Saint Paul "fifteen small towns with one mayor". And like a lot of small towns, the police in Saint Paul are generally well-regarded by most people, and it's a particular shock when something bad happens to them....
Posted by Mitch on May 06, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (27) | TrackBack

Paging Dr. Faust

Key fact of trying to do business in the Twin Cities - at least, business in any of the areas that run afoul of the Twin Cities' libertine-yet-prudish sense of public morality - is that you can't win. No. Not...
Posted by Mitch on May 02, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

Blackout?

The Saint Paul DFL endorsed Chris Coleman to run for mayor of Saint Paul:Former St. Paul City Council Member Chris Coleman earned the DFL endorsement for St. Paul mayor on Saturday, defeating Ramsey County Commissioner Rafael Ortega to take on...
Posted by Mitch on May 02, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Last Of The Independents

Bound To Be Read Books is toast:Bound to be Read, which advertises as "the Twin Cities' largest independent bookstore," will close its two locations in St. Paul and Albuquerque, N.M., President Julia Coyte said Wednesday. "It's a beautiful store, and...
Posted by Mitch on April 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

The Inmates Are Running The Asylum

Minneapolis' police chief wants to curb begging. By licensing beggars:If Minneapolis Police Chief William McManus gets his way, the city's panhandlers will face arrest unless they're wearing a photo ID issued by the city.Sic the Minneapolis bureaucracy on them! It's...
Posted by Mitch on April 28, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Who Had 11 Months?

The Ventura Trolley claims its first pedestrian victim:A man was hit and killed by a light-rail train Monday evening as he tried to run across the tracks near 26th Street and Hiawatha Avenue S. in Minneapolis, authorities said. The northbound...
Posted by Mitch on April 26, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Henco to Voters: "Grin and Bear It, Suckers!"

Hennepin County continues its endless battle to ram a Twins stadium down the throats of its constituents.The latest plan for the $478 million, 42,000-seat stadium project would not require any state money. Twins owner Carl Pohlad would put up $125...
Posted by Mitch on April 25, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (14) | TrackBack

Fingers Crossed

I'm always leery of businesses that harp on their "connections with the community". Such "connections", at least in the inner city, usually are made with a screechy, preachy, condescending sense of "this is what you people really need. I'm also...
Posted by Mitch on April 25, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (19) | TrackBack

Bread and Circuses. And More Bread.

My old colleague David Cargo, an up-and-coming power-broker at the Saint Paul Bread Club, tells me this year';s Bake-Off is coming up this weekend:Membership in the club is free and open to the public. Bread bakers with any level of...
Posted by Mitch on April 21, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

The Wireless City

A day after Minneapolis announced they are seeking to follow Philadelphia into the municipal wireless internet ("Wi-Fi") business, Saint Paul's city council votes to study the "best way" to do the same....
Posted by Mitch on April 14, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

That Sucking Sound

Conventional wisdom is that Saint Paul mayor Randy Kelly dug himself a deep, deep hole when he broke DFL ranks and endorsed President Bush in in the '04 election. Saint Paul, of course, is Democrat in the same way that...
Posted by Mitch on April 13, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

News Flash: Driving Cab Is Difficult

If you spend a lot of time driving down Highway Five from Saint Paul toward the Mall, the Airport, or (as I did for many years) to work, eventually you'll end up stopping in at the Post Road Super America....
Posted by Mitch on April 07, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Digital Killed the Optical Star

I hate CDs. When the compact disk first came out about 20 years ago, my neighbor - a German jazz fan (let me be clear - he was a German who was a fan of jazz. "German jazz" is a...
Posted by Mitch on April 01, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Smoking Bans

The Twin Cities' push to make life better through more laws continues apace, as metro cities ban smoking in bars. The ban is having its desired effect among the populace:Smoker Blake Drussendorf laughs. "We just ran over from Minneapolis to...
Posted by Mitch on March 31, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (9) | TrackBack

Protest Too Much

The local far-left is going to be out in "force" this coming weekend. Pro-Hussein demonstrators will gather in (if memory serves) Loring Park and near the Capitol to express their regret for the end of juvenile prisons, institutional gang-rape, and...
Posted by Mitch on March 16, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (39) | TrackBack

I'm Going To Start A Sham 69 Tribute Band Next Door To Him

For the record, I don't own a leaf blower. I'll never buy one. It's just another power tool - and power tools are built to break. I don't like power mowers, snowblowers, weed trimmers - largely because in my hands,...
Posted by Mitch on March 15, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Whitewash

Over at the City Pages - our local freebie lifestyle handout - they seem to start young writers out on the "Facile Stereotype" beat. Molly Priesmeyer is the CP writer perhaps best known to us in the NARN. She appeared...
Posted by Mitch on March 13, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (8) | TrackBack

Another Reason I Prefer Saint Paul

Joe Kimball's column notes something I saw last fall - the eagles are back on the Saint Paul riverfront.M ore bald eagles are roosting on the Mississippi River near downtown St. Paul than river folks can ever recall. Houseboat resident...
Posted by Mitch on March 08, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Undercover of the Blight

Read this editorial in the Strib - "Bush and the Cities/Setback for Urban Renaissance" - and tell me it's not Nick Coleman....
Posted by Mitch on February 14, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Mao Betta Blues

Reader Corey from Minneapolis writes:I was in the Uptown transit station and on the bench, laid for anyone to find - not unlike a Christian tract laid in phone booths, bus seats, utility bills by believers with a zeal for...
Posted by Mitch on February 04, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (7) | TrackBack

Nick Coleman's Long Lost Child

What can I say about the City Pages? Pro: Their graphics people are as cool as ever: Illustration: City Pages And when they stick to reporting the facts, they do some great journalism. That's a fact. Con: When they swerve...
Posted by Mitch on January 13, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (11) | TrackBack

Wired in Saint Paul

The Saint Paul City Council is pondering setting up some sort of city-wide high-speed internet access. This being Saint Paul, naturally, they're talking big-government solutions:"We don't know what the end result will be, but we want to do everything possible...
Posted by Mitch on January 06, 2005 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Pot, Meet Kettle

Earlier in December, I invited Nick Coleman to appear on the Northern Alliance radio program. We were going to talk, in theory, about the Maxfield School flap between him and Craig Westover. Coleman responded with an angry, petulant, frankly wierd...
Posted by Mitch on December 30, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (6) | TrackBack

Merry Christmas

(Guest post by Steve Gigl.) I'd try to say something profound and moving, but that's simply not what I'm good at. Instead, I'll just link you to an excellent entry by the other Steve G.: Merry Christmas! Happy Chanukkah! Seasons...
Posted by on December 25, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Delusions of Hauteur

I never much cared for the suburbs; I grew up in rural America, and if I wanna live in a small town, I'll go to a <real one. But I leap to the 'burbs' defense in this piece; the enemy of my enemy is my friend.

Posted by Mitch on December 16, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (18) | TrackBack

Its Own Reward

I, uuuuuuuuuuuuuh, actually heard, uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuh, Nick Coleman on, uuuuuuuuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmm, "Straight Talk Radio," the, uuuuuuuuuh, local FrankenNet affiliate last, errrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr, night. Rocketman and Saint, naturally, got to writing about it before me. Trunk:I think Air America exists mostly so it can...
Posted by Mitch on December 14, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (10) | TrackBack

Nick Coleman - Bigot of Low Expectations

Forget the criminals. It's you - the lowly Twin Citian, especially in the inner city and the first ring 'burbs who doesn't "know stuff", who is merely trying to raise good kids in a culture where half of their influences...
Posted by Mitch on November 24, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (18) | TrackBack

Sign of the Season

You can tell the change of the seasons in my little neighborhood here in the Midway of Saint Paul. You know summer is ending when the Hamline University kids start moving in - and that fall has truly fallen when...
Posted by Mitch on November 20, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Curses! Foiled Again!

I drive most days past the corner of Randolph and Fairview, in Highland Park in Saint Paul. The problem is, I always drive through at a time of the day when coffee is the last thing on my mind. But...
Posted by Mitch on November 15, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (5) | TrackBack

Coleman: Red-faced Ranter Sings The Blues

Nick Coleman on the "Reds" who wrote him after the election. You sent me a ton of angry mail, Red: letters giving me "a one-fingered salute," telling me the '60s are over, that I should shut my cake-hole, and sending...
Posted by Mitch on November 08, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (4) | TrackBack

The Pioneer Press Endorsement

The St. Paul Pioneer Press has endorsed the President for the second time. The endorsement echoes things many of us conservatives feel:Like many Americans, we have been disappointed with some of the policies and decisions of President George W. Bush...
Posted by Mitch on October 31, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Bipartisan Reason to Hope for a Bush Victory

So that faux-homespun populist bilge like this can be be banished from the newspapers forever:If this election is a tossup, it's Moynihan who has done the tossing. He took out his lucky silver dollar -- an 1878 Liberty head he...
Posted by Mitch on October 29, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Recognition

Doug Grow writes a fascinating piece about Dr. Robert Fisch, a Holocaust survivor and Saint Paul pediatrician who, among other things, was my daughter's pediatrician when she was a baby. He's also an artist - and quite a fascinating one,...
Posted by Mitch on October 28, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fisk Nick: The Winners!

After hours of painstaking critical analysis, I can finally, and with great and appropriate fanfare, announce the winners of the first (but no doubt not last)... Fisk Nick Coleman Contest!!! The winners will receive...a virtual standing ovation. Ready? Well, then,...
Posted by Mitch on October 24, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (3) | TrackBack

Paging Dara Moskowitz

Chumley at Plastic Hallway has the Restaurant Review Line of the Year:He's obviously making his move, now that Martha's in the joint......
Posted by Mitch on October 23, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0) | TrackBack

Fisk Nick: The Contest

I thought about fisking Nick Coleman's latest opus, but then I realized: I've done this dozens of times. I've picked his stuff apart more often than my lawn mower. My heart's not in it like it used to be. And...
Posted by Mitch on October 21, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (28) | TrackBack

City Pages Endorses Bush!

Well, not exactly the whole City Pages. A typical opinion in the Twin Cities' weekly freebie tabloid, known for paranoid liberal editorial opinion (about which more later), incoherent and dilletantish music criticism and, by the by, some excellent local hard-news...
Posted by Mitch on October 18, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

Off Message?

The City Pages prominently runs an interview with Andrew Borene, former Marine intelligence officer and a leader of "Veterans for Kerry". I'm not one to quibble with the experiences of someone who was in Iraq. However, I'd have to question...
Posted by Mitch on October 18, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The End of Pax Colemania

For 11 years - since former Democrat Norm Coleman was first elected mayor - the St. Paul city government has held off on tax increases. Coleman, and his conservative Democrat successor Randy Kelly, have managed to veto or fight off...
Posted by Mitch on September 09, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (1) | TrackBack

The Ruminator Handout

I've always liked Ruminator Books. Although the store and its management are relentlessly DFL-PC, and they host readings from some of the most obnoxious left-wingers (Michael Moore and Paul Krugman are recent guests), it's a just-plain-good bookstore... ...apparently run...
Posted by Mitch on January 26, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Virtue Bought Cheap

Alfred Fingulin adds this thought to the Saint Paul City Council's specious anti-Patriot Act resolution on Wednesday:If the St Paul City Council really means it, then instruct the St Paul Police Department not to comply with law enforcement action requested...
Posted by Mitch on January 23, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Perspective

Perspective - Jay Reding recaps a point I'd love to hammer into the heads of some Patriot Act opponents - most notably the Saint Paul City Council:"For instance, take the infamous Section 215 which allows law enforcement to look through...
Posted by Mitch on January 23, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Trivial Pursuit

The Saint Paul City Council passed an anti-Patriot Act resolution yesterday. My commentary about my moonbat councilman Jay Benanav (DFL - the Merriam Park People's Collective) is well-worn enough to skip here. This is about Councilman Dave Thune (DFL -...
Posted by Mitch on January 22, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Blogs of Mass Deception

If you see Karl Rove hiding in your hedges, call 1-877-MOONBAT. Mark Gisleson is on the beat, and he needs your help. The City Pages - the Twin Cities "alternative" weekly handout - has always slewed to both sides of...
Posted by Mitch on January 20, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Someone Call the ACLU

I live in Saint Paul, and I genuinely love the place It's a major city with a small-town feel - one wag called it "Fifteen small towns with one mayor", and he's not far off. While Minneapolis is largely...
Posted by Mitch on January 02, 2004 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

The Fast Lane

Yesterday, Governor Pawlenty unveiled a new plan to create low-density toll lanes on some of the Twin Cities busier commuter routes. Exactly one femtosecond later, the DFL claimed that the plan would starve children and kill Bambi. The plan would...
Posted by Mitch on December 30, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

The Common Food

Twin Cities' sports-radio station KFAN is doing a firat - opening the nation's first radio-station-branded restraurant.: "'A lot of people,' says Mick Anselmo, regional vice president for Clear Channel Inc., 'aren't willing to stick their head up out the hole...
Posted by Mitch on December 26, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Meet the New Nick. Same as the Old Nick

As the billboards remind us, Nick Coleman has made the jump back to the Strib, the latest in a herd of reporters and columnists so big it may have been used as a justification for the Minneapolis-St. Paul light rail...
Posted by Mitch on December 18, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Indoctrination Alert, Part III -

Richard Broderick wants to use the St. Paul Public Schools not only as a platform for indoctrinating students with the Green worldview - he also sees it as a potential lobbying and political action resource for liberal causes. This is...
Posted by Mitch on September 24, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Krusing and Boozing

Colleen Kruse used to be a modestly serviceable comic. The bulk of her schtick has always (as I remember it) been to beat her audience over the head with PC cliches about...Colleen Kruse "Teenage Single Mom! Waitress! Woman in a...
Posted by Mitch on September 03, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Trolling for Signficance

Interesting bit on the Fraters blog yesterday about what the City Pages collection of blogs calls "the first cybermooning":"Apparently last week there was a coordinated effort among Left leaning blogs across the nation to protest the lawsuit filed by Fox...
Posted by Mitch on August 17, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Broderick, Again - Last month,

Broderick, Again - Last month, we discussed Richard Broderick, a Green Party candidate for the St. Paul School Board. In his initial press release last month, Broderick said In order for our society to adopt these values [Green ones, noted...
Posted by Mitch on August 15, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Shocked. Shocked, I Tell You

First, I'm glad I live in Saint Paul. There seem to be far fewer of this type of incident here than in Minneapolis (although I admit I've never really kept detailed count). In fact, while I know lots of...
Posted by Mitch on June 20, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

The Other Protest

I figure there were about 1/4 as many people at the MacAlester protest. As I arrived, they were marching west down Grand Avenue toward the MacAlester quadrangle. The march was led by a loudspeaker truck at the front of a...
Posted by Mitch on March 22, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Murderapolis

Minneapolis got about an hour into the new year before someone got murdered.The murder happened in a neighborhood that residents are working tirelessly to clean up. Despite their efforts, the people that live there say drugs and prostitution are rampant...
Posted by Mitch on January 01, 2003 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Aaagh

Fraters Libertas reports the impending demise of Sherlock's Home. An authentic Brit brewpub, it was one of the few - and most profound - joys in the bleak southwest suburban bar 'n chow scene, one of the precious few...
Posted by Mitch on December 29, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Murder in Minneapolis - A

A shootout between gangbangers in Minneapolis has left a 12-year-old girl dead. The Strib's headline this morning? "Stray Bullet Kills 12-Year-Old". Powerline notes the media's soft-focus coverage of this tragedy - and, like many local critics, notices that the...
Posted by Mitch on November 24, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Budget Shenanigans at the St. Paul Schools

My kids both attend the St. Paul Public schools. Now, I'm not like a lot of conservatives - my dad taught public school for nearly 40 years, and I'm not one to attack the public school system by reflex. But...
Posted by Mitch on November 20, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Just Say Whoah

The Strib's Doug Grow - who's an honest fellow, albeit as reflexively pro-DFL as anyone in the Twin Cities' media, amazes by writing - hold the presses - a soft-focus piece about a group of local "peace" activists! In...
Posted by Mitch on November 14, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

That Smell

The miasmic stench hanging over St. Paul's "West End" neighborhood is matched only by the controversy about "Gopher States Ethanol" (GSE). Bear in mind, Ethanol brewing is a new, non-economically-viable industry mandated by the State of Minnesota's creation of an...
Posted by Mitch on February 09, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

Copeland's Orphanage

I was amazed to read an editorial supporting Mary Jo Copeland's proposed orphanage...in the Minnesota Daily! The author makes an interesting point - while foster care may be a great option for many kids, others, especially older children, can't get...
Posted by Mitch on February 06, 2002 | Read Whole Post | Comments (0)

tb test

test Test this!...
Posted by Mitch on August 19, 1887 | Read Whole Post | Comments (2) | TrackBack