Not quite “Dewey Beats Truman”, but…:

Obama strategist David Plouffe released a memo last week arguing that Hillary Clinton’s advantages were essentially those of incumbency, that her support was thin, and that Obama should actually be considered the front-runner.

Mark Penn, Clinton’s chief strategist, responded today with a memo that seemed designed to bludgeon all opposition into senselessness through the sheer power of numbers (links to 40 polls showing Hillary in the lead!)

Penn strongly implies another i-word is the best description of Hillary — not “incumbent,” but “inevitable.”

…I have a hunch someone will regret that someday.

It’s been a week since I and my readers noted several instances of the the Minnesota Monitor’s Jeff Fecke publishing quotes of statements uttered during interviews he did not attend, and which would seem, in several cases, to have been taken from Associated Press wire copy.  These quotes were made without attribution.  When questioned, he changed his copy (but still failed to attribute the quotes), made one fairly incriminating statement…:

 Maybe I did interview Ron Carey…and maybe I got the information from wire sources…and maybe there’s another option you haven’t thought of. 

…and then clammed up, refusing to answer any questions about the issue.

The Monitor’s “Code of Ethics” states that “citizen journalists” should:

  * Never misrepresent events in an attempt to oversimplify or take events out of context.

Fecke arguably misrepresented himself, by stating the quotations in such a way as to imply he had access to public figures like Senator Coleman, Governor Pawlenty, MNGOP chair Ron Carey and others.

   * Never plagiarize.

As noted in my series, a number statements appeared as direct quotes under Fecke’s byline that were practically identical to copy that appeared in the Associated Press.  King Banaian noted (with emphasis added):

While Mitch and Michael were discussing the issue of plagiarism at Minnesota Monitor, Michael called to ask whether the use of a quote from a published source met my definition of plagiarism. Pointing to the above definition, what I could say was that if a student here did what Mr. Fecke at MinMon did on a paper turned in to me, I would call it plagiarism. Use of the adverb “reportedly” would not suffice — I would have written in red in the margin, “reported where? Give source.”

Ironically, the “Code of Ethics” also calls upon the “Citizen Journalist” to…

  * Expose unethical practices among each other and wherever they are found to maintain professional standards.

  * Keep the same high standards to which they hold others.

The “Code” then goes on to…:

  * Encourage the public to use the information they have to question and analyze news stories on their own, and voice grievances when they feel stories are wrong. :

…which has certainly occurred, here, although perhaps not in the way the Monitor intended…

…and then, to:

   * Keep an open dialogue with the public in an effort to maintain and improve standards.

The Monitor‘s only response to this issue, off-line, has been an extended series of “no comment” non-responses. 

Which, when you consider that among their “code”‘s most-succinct points is that the “citizen journalist” is to…:

  * Admit mistakes and correct them promptly.

This, the Monitor has not made the most token effort to do. 

What is a defender of intellectual property and justice to do?

Gary Gross notes a puzzling coherence in the statements of Rep. Keith Ellison and Imam Abdul Alim Musa:

I read this Strib article about Keith Ellison speaking “to a gathering of atheists.” Here’s a quote worth noting:

On comparing Sept. 11 to the burning of the Reichstag building in Nazi Germany: “It’s almost like the Reichstag fire, kind of reminds me of that. After the Reichstag was burned, they blamed the Communists for it and it put the leader of that country [Hitler] in a position where he could basically have authority to do whatever he wanted. The fact is that I’m not saying [Sept. 11] was a [U.S.] plan, or anything like that because, you know, that’s how they put you in the nut-ball box, dismiss you.”

Later Sunday night, I watched a replay of Sean Hannity’s interview Imam Abdul Alim Musa. Imam Musa made some outrageous statements during the interview, which was taped on Feb. 18, 2007. Follow this link if you want to read the entire transcript. (I highly recommend it because you’ll see Imam Musa’s radicalism.) Here’s what Imam Musa said that caught my attention:

HANNITY: I already know what you say. You believe George Bush. You think George Bush knew about 9/11 ahead of time. 

MUSA: Well, I said he was like Hitler and Hitler burned the Reichstag in Germany in 1933 to give him the fuhership, to also take the rights of the German people, right? To go do away with due process of law.

The similarity of Ellison’s quote to Imam Musa’s quote is stunning.

But not surprising. 

 

I’m getting some help on some long-overdue touch-ups to this blog.  The indispensable Dr. Jonz is doing a bunch of the mucking around in the site’s plumbing that I don’t know how to do myself, so that by the time he’s done the Search link will work, my archive URLs will be a lot less irrational, and I can switch adservers.

He’s doing this on top of his real job, of course – so at the moment, my comments and archive “category” links aren’t working. 

Bear with us.  It’ll be pretty cool.

It’s day two of the triennial “pledge week” bleg.  Since I don’t have any wealthy sugardaddies paying for this blog, and Blogads.com certainly isn’t paying the freight these days, I figured I’d go to the source; the best audience in the world!

Not to flatter anyone or anything.

So if you’re so inclined, I’ll be everlastingly grateful for whatever spare electronic change you might toss in the pail…

 

Thanks in advance!

The Met Council’s next plan, after building the nearly -useless Ventura Trolley from downtown to the Airport, is to basically destroy Saint Paul.

The current plan is to drive a light rail line from the current Ventura Trollley line through the University of Minnesota, then down University Avenue to downtown Saint Paul. 

Now, Uni in Saint Paul has been, if not a spectacular success story, at least a good one over the past twenty years.  Bit by bit, a strip – from the Minneapolis border to the Capitol – that used to be a blighted toilet has become, if not a showpiece, at least cleaned up, with actual stores in storefronts that used to be empty.  Asian business – Vietnamese, Lao and H’mong – swarmed to the cheap storefronts between Lexington and Rice, turning what had been a blighted wasteland into a place that at least had legitmate human activity going on. 

The Met Council would like to screw all of that up.  And not just by spending seven years tearing up the street, and to hell with the businesses that have established themselves there.  No, they’re going to run a light rail line down the street.

For those of you who don’t know or care, “Light Rail” is like the Ventura Trolley; it’s relativeliy fast, built to stop at big stations every mile or two.  In the great scale of rail transit options, it’s in the middle – between “heavy rail” (think the Metra in Chicago, or the Northstar Line when it starts running – big, full-size trains with passenger cars, for hauling people between larger stations) and “streetcars”, basically trolleys that stop every couple of blocks and don’t have a much bigger footprint on the street than buses (and, at least in terms of fuel used to move a passenger a mile, are much more efficient). 

Now, let’s assume for a moment that any of those options makes economic sense for connecting the downtowns (it’ll take some work, but work with me here).  Given that “light rail” only stops every couple of miles, and given that plenty of right-of-way exists in the rail-glutted area between Northeast Minneapolis, through the Midway Transfer Yards and all the way to downtown Saint Paul along the lines of tracks south of Como Avenue, wouldn’t it have made sense to either:

1. put a “light rail” line through the rail lines that already exist, and avoid tearing up the core of the inner city for years on end, or
2. put streetcars on University, provide more appropriate service for the corridor, and avoid turning the University Avenue corridor into an urban wasteland – again?

Oh, but it gets worse.

To accomodate both the train and the huge volume of traffic at the intersection of Snelling and University, they’re going to need to basically turn the intersection into a superhighway, tearing down huge swathes of the now-very-successful Midway Center and business around it, and building an underpass on Snelling. 

This was posted on a Saint Paul discussion group:

The reconstruction takes the form of a “below grade crossing.” Snelling  goes UNDER University. To accomplish this, according to preliminary drawings, traffic flows between Snelling and University would have to be accommodated
resulting in:

** Demolition of the American Bank Building at Snelling & University.
** Demolition of part of the Midway Shopping Center
** Demolition of the CVS building and structures on that side of  Snelling in
the block immediately north.

In short, the Ramsey County Commissioners’ vote is about putting a superhighway interchange right in the middle of our neighborhood. A  modified
cloverleaf that will speed motorists driving to the State Fair each  August. That will give people driving to work from the northern suburbs an  easier
commute, at least for awhile.

All of this stems from a Snelling University Capacity Study (SUCS) that
was completed at the end of last year. You can find more about this
(including an executive summary and the complete study) by Googling it.

So let’s go over the scorecard so far; the Met Council wants to:

1. Tear up Saint Paul’s main street for most of a decade, destroying a small, scrappy and growing commercial base
2. Destroy the commercial hub of the Midway
3. Spend a billion dollars or so…

…to build a train that will be a colossal money pit, serving a tiny film of commuters that go between the downtowns (and I happen to be one of them right now), an area that has little to do with the Metro’s long-term development, and won’t even make the faintest dent on light rail’s supposed mission, reducing congestion. 

Where’s the good part?

I’ve been writing about the Martin Treptow case for about a month now.

The case – in which a citizen with a carry permit shot a police officer who was alleged to have been undercover at the time – has been a strange one to watch.  Treptow was never charged with any crime; his permit wasn’t suspected (normal, pro-forma, after a citizen shooting – and shooting a cop is anything but pro-forma). 

And then there’s the dilatory release of official details on the case.  Dilatory to the point of illegal.

Joel Rosenberg has a long, detailed post summing up the case…so far. 

You need to read the whole thing. 

From Joel’s “conclusion” (because this is nowhere close to over):

Mrs. Treptow told Anoka County 911 that; it’s in the transcript, in black and white.  Let’s be clear:  within seconds of the shooting, the Treptows have called 911, explained the situation, in detail — and notice how cool-headed both of them appear to behave, despite the fear and shock that comes through even on the transcript.  The entire Treptow family — husband, wife, and two small children —  quickly proceed to a safe place to wait for the arrival of the police.

“We’ve got kids in the car.  I got a five month old and a, a six year old.” 

But even though Mrs. Treptow has been very explicit that she and her husband have their two small children with them — and this is just horrible — the Anoka County authorities dispatch numerous armed men to arrest Martin Treptow at gunpoint, without informing those armed men that Mr. and Mrs. Treptow have their two small children in the car.

“We’ve got kids in the car.  I got a five month old and a, a six year old.” 

There’s a basic rule of gun safety:  know your backstop.  In this case, the cops’ backstop included two small, frightened children . . . and Anoka Communications, which had known from the beginning —

“We’ve got kids in the car.  I got a five month old and a, a six year old.” 

— that the cops’ backstop included two small, terrified children . . .

“We’ve got kids in the car.  I got a five month old and a, a six year old.” 

… didn’t even mention that. 

There’s lots I’m still wondering about, in all this.  I wonder who that phone call was from toward the end of the Anoka Comm Center tape, the one that was important enough for the incident commander to drop everything to take.  I wonder what’s been happening with the investigation of Officer Friendly, and why, a month after this incident, there’s been no arrest made in this case and no report on why.  I wonder why the local papers and tv stations haven’t been all over this, and I wonder what there is in the State Patrol stuff that we haven’t seen, and in the investigators’ notes that we’ll never see.

But why all the stonewalling?

No, I don’t wonder why that happened.  Not anymore, I don’t.

Go and read the whole thing.

It’s been three years since I’ve launched a “bleg” – blog begging.  I figure “why not?”  I have a couple of computers to fix, some site upgrades to do, and my car isn’t getting any younger. 

So if you’re so inclined, I’ll be everlastingly grateful for whatever spare electronic change you might toss in the pail…

  

Thanks in advance!

End of week two of bike commuting and, when time and energy permits, riding a bit more just for fun.

And I’ve just recovered a memory from about 20 years ago.

One of my favorite things in the whooooooole world, I’ve re-realized, is passing the Saint Paul Cathedral, and continuing down the long hill onto John Ireland Boulevard – the broad, monument-dotted avenue that connects the Cathedral and the Capitol – and just unwinding, sailing as fast as I can past the Cathedral, the First Minnesota Memorial, St. Paul College and the Historical Society, and crossing Kellogg and over the freeway…

…and then hotfooting a hard right onto the frontage road below the Capitol and in front of the Veterans Building, blasting over the overpass past Saint Joseph’s Hospital onto Saint Peter Street, a one-way with almost too little traffic to worry about (although I worry about it, have no fear).

It can get better than this, but it’s not easy.

The bad news – it’s been probably over a year since Jeff Kouba took “Peace Like A River” off the air. 

The good news – he joined “Kennedy Vs. The Machine” and now “Truth Vs. The Machine”, whose stable includes the best center-right political writers in town.

The best news – we get our cake and can also eat it.  Jeff is reviving PLAR!

Git on over there!

The Night Writer apparently whacked his head on the same thing I did, somewhere along the way:

It was a warm summer evening, in the gathering twilight that I like best when it is still light but the sky is beginning to gray and the lights of the cars and houses really seem to pop. I swung out onto the almost deserted highway and flipped over from radio to CD and was rewarded with a couple of songs from Springsteen’s Born to Run album.

The quality of light, the open road in front of me, a couple of anthems from my youth…it was as if a screen door slammed in my mind, a dress waved, and a vision danced across the porch as the radio played.

I put the pedal down and off I screamed into the night.

Cool!

Just one look, a whisper…

…and I’m off to Keegans!

I think it was Leonard Bernstein – or Keith Richard, I always mix the two up – who said that 95% of any genre of music, classical or blues or jazz or rock or pop or afro-worldbeat – is rubbish.  5% of pretty much any genre is going to be great, no matter what genre.

But – apropos not much – there’s a long list of songs that I’m told I should like, but for whatever reason just…can’t. 

I’m going to kick the list off right about now:

• What’s Going On, Four Non-Blondes: Cringeworthy retro-hippie bilge.  Sung by chicks!
• No Rain, Blind Melon: Cringeworthy retro-hippie bilge.  Sung by chicks!
• Lay Down Sally, Eric Clapton: Clapton is one of the great guitar players alive.  He pretty much invented the “white guys doing bluesy-rock” genre.  Marcy Levy is one of the coolest background singers ever born.  Combining the three should be a no-brainer.  And yet I can’t stand it, partly because it’s just a pointless song, and partly because it kicked off about 10 years of really bad music from Clapton.  And why would anyone listen to LDS when “The Core” – which features Clapton actually playing some amazing guitar, Levy actually singing a cool harmony part, and a song that actually works – is available on the same album?
• LA Woman, The Doors: Actually, except for “Hello, I Love You”, pretty much everything the Doors ever did stank.  One of very few topics where the Oliver Stone movie about the subject was better than the subject. 
• No Rain, Blind Melon: Yep.  Still cringeworthy retro-hippie bilge. 
• Sunspot Baby, Bob Seger: Don’t get me wrong – Seger has had his moments.  Many of ’em. I flip on “Ramblin’ Gamblin’ Man” when I need wash Jefferson Airplane out of my head.  “Hollywood Nights”, “Beautiful Loser” and “Night Moves” have prominent places in the soundtrack of my teenage years.  And “Main Street” is one of the best songs ever written.  Chalk it up to having to play SSB for too many drunken mooks in too many crappy bars, and getting very tired of that same 12-bar progression, over, and over, and over, and over…
• You Spin Me Round, Dead Or Alive: Adam Sandler’s cover was actually a huge improvement.
• What’s Going On, Four Non-Blondes: Still cringeworthy retro-hippie bilge.  Not all that sure about the “chick” thing. 
• Everything “ZuZu’s Petals” Ever Did: No, I don’t care that the lead singer is married to Paul Westerberg.  Twin Cities underground rock died the day ZuZu’s Petals became a headliner.. 
• Eternal Flame, The Bangles: The sound of promise being shattered; the band that in 1984 gave us the incandescent “Dover Beach”, four years later gave us a Desmond Child outtake. Sung by chicks!
• Everything You Want, Vertical Horizon: The day alt-rock died.
• You Shook Me All Night Long, AC/DC: No, I love “Highway to Hell”, “It’s a Long Way to The Top”, “For Those About To Rock”, “Love At First Feel” and a zillion other AC/DC songs.  But YSMANL wore out its welcome by about 1983, never to return.  Instant tune-out. 
• What’s Going On, Four Non-Blondes: Yep.  Still cringeworthy.  And I think the bass player was really a guy.

That’ll do for now. 

Babe Winkelman meets Dirty Jobs.

Via Buzz, I see RT Rybak has kicked off the next Big Fight – against Big Water:

San Francisco’s mayor announced a ban on bottle water at the 75th annual U.S. Conference of Mayors and the nation’s mayors passed a resolution looking into potential negative impacts of bottled water on municipalities. The move follows a similar announcement last week, when the Ann Arbor City Council in Michigan announced that it would no longer have bottled water available at city events.

The resolution was introduced by San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom, Salt Lake City Mayor Ross “Rocky” Anderson, and Minneapolis Mayor R.T. Rybak.

Saying bottled water costs too much, worsens pollution and is no better than tap water, Newsom also announced that he would sign an executive order banning city officials and contractors from purchasing bottled water with city funds when tap water was also available.

But for all of you who just need that jolt of Dasani to get through the day, allow me to announce my new venture; “Water Offsets!”

That’s right – if you’re a politically-correct water drinker with a conscience, I’ll be happy  – for a buck – to offset your cool, delicious bottle of Evian via trading the cupped-palm drink of bacteria-ridden slime some Congolese villager scooped out of a creek downstream from the next village’s latrine!

It’s all a wash (as it were)!

..was born on this date in 1936, one of the first babies born in the new Jamestown Hospital.

It was the hottest summer in American history…

[…huh?  But I thought global warming meant…let me check…(ruffles through papers).  Huh.  Yep, it was over 100 for weeks on end!  Hm.  Go figger! – Ed.]

…yep, it was the hottest summer in American history, around 120 degrees when Dad was born. 

I’ve had this theory since I was a little kid; people are best acclimated to, and prefer, the weather they were first exposed to.  I observed this when I was in fifth grade, when I noticed that Dad could play five sets of tennis on a 95 degree day, then drink a cup of iced tea and go golf 18 holes and barely break a sweat – but when the temperature dropped below 40, he started like a Fiat.  I, on the other hand, came out of hospital into the -25F aftermath of a northern North Dakota blizzard; I don’t bother buttoning my jacket if it’s above 10 degrees, but if it gets over 85 I’m a sodden mess if I’m not constantly, violently physically active or curled up in front of an errant air conditioner.

At any rate – happy birthday, Dad!

From the website for “Almanac”, Twin Cities’ Public TV’s long-running aplogia for the region’s center-left status quo, their list of blogs they follow.

From the Left: Just about every left-leaning blog worth reading in the Twin Cities (and a few that aren’t). 

From the Right: Um, wouldja believe, Minnesota Democrats Exposed.  That’s it. 

Your tax dollars in action.

Why, it’s almost like they don’t know they’re in the midst of the nation’s most vibrant conservative blog community.

An oversight. I’m sure of it.

Dr. Phil with mace.

In North Dakota, the Missouri River is sort of the eastern edge of the zone of heavy Mormon settlement.  As you go west from Bismark, you start to meet Mormons, and then see tabernacles, and then as you get into southern Idaho and southwestern Montana  you start to see big tabernacles…at any rate, I grew up around more than a few Mormons. 

One of my best friends in college was, as it happens, a pretty devout Mormon, the oldest of 12 children, plus four adoptees.  And they found room to take in an exchange student and the occasional foster kid.  They were great people, who lived by a code that, in some ways, I find admirable; their goal of self-sufficiency, especially in emergencies, I find in particular laudable and worthy of emulating.  But while my friendship (with my pal from college among others) and my admiration for certain aspects of Mormon secular practice are very genuine, so were my doubts (to put it mildly) about the Mormon faith. 

That being said, I never said anything.  Tact is a good thing.  My pal was a great person (still is), and he never tried to convert me (fat chance!), and the overriding fact was that he was a good guy and a good friend.  

On Tuesday, Chad the Elder quoted Richard John Neuhaus on the subject of the faith-based reasons to look closely at Mitt Romney’s Mormon faith.

For millions of other Americans, the [question of Romney’s Mormonism does] not matter. And for those for whom they do matter, they are not the only questions that matter. Mr. Romney is a very attractive candidate in both substance and style. As in most decisions, and not least of all in voting, the question comes down to what or who is the alternative. We will not have an answer to that question for some months. But I can now register a respectful disagreement with John Fund when he writes, “We will be a better country if even people who don’t support Mr. Romney for president come to recognize that our country is better off if his candidacy rises or falls on factors that have nothing to do with his faith.” On the contrary, we are a better country because many Americans do take their faith, and the faith of others, very seriously indeed. Also when it comes to voting.

Neuhaus swerves into, through and past a good point; we are a stronger country because of the pervasiveness of faith and its presence in the national dialogue.  Faith counts in this country, thank goodness.

But Fr. Neuhaus then tries to have his communion wafer and eat it too:

Does this line of argument mean that anti-Catholicism should have prevented the election of JFK? No. Anti-Catholicism is, in my judgment, an unreasonable prejudice.

Well, I tend to agree.  However, that agreement would get tossed out the window (or smothered) if we were to elect a Catholic president who used his office as a bully pulpit to proselytize Roman Catholic doctrine worldwide and expand Vatican power.  Wouldn’t it?

An absurd example, right?  

Sure.  Because although that was what the anti-Catholic meme of the day purported to fear (and it was a meme that helped scupper Al Smith’s presidential bid in 1928), JFK governed not as a Catholic President, but as a President who happened to be Catholic.  Just as Ronald Reagan, Dwight Eisenhower and Woodrow Wilson governed as Presidents who were Presbyterian, and didn’t spend their terms spreading Knoxian doctine via their office (as much as this country could use it).

Which is how a President, whatever his/her faith, is supposed to act in office.  One wouldn’t think twice about a mainstream Christian candidate’s faith (lefty paranoia about conservative Christianity aside) because of worries about their intentions to use their position to benefit the faith, whether they were Baptist, Episcopalian, Catholic, or Presbyterian.  Beyond that, I recall no worries about Joe Lierberman’s hidden effort to Judaify America. 

So Romney is different how?

Others, of course, will disagree, but not enough others to prevent the election of a Catholic president. Anxiety about the strengthening of Mormonism by virtue of there being a Mormon president is not unreasonable. One may or may not share that anxiety, but it is not unreasonable.

But how – Neuhaus’ statement aside – is it any less reasonable than that same fear, held by many Americans before we took the great leap into the theological unknown in 1960? 

What evidence is there that a Romney presidency would benefit Mormonism any more than Kennedy’s benefitted Catholicism – or that either of those were a bad thing?

For the millions of citizens who do take religion so very seriously, the fact that Mr. Romney is a Mormon may not be the determinative factor, but it will be a factor, and, for many, an important factor.Well, he’s got that part right. 

Will it be an important factor for the right reasons?

Chad the Elder picks up the narrative

Neuhaus articulates (much better than I ever could) a view that I share on this matter. The notion that voters should never take a candidate’s religious faith into account when deciding how they’re going to pull the lever is unrealistic and smacks of the sort of relativism that has tried to convince us that all cultures are equally valid and that it’s not possible to judge them on their individual merits.

Except that that’s an unrealistically (to me) absolutist view of the question.  Of course a candidate’s religious faith is an important factor in  my vote. Most important, to me, is that they are a person of faith – which one is secondary – whose faith forms and informs them as people, and helps guide their actions. 

If you can’t take Romney’s Mormonism into consideration, then what happens when a Scientologist runs for office? How about a Wiccan? I’m not trying to make a direct comparison between the LDS and either of them, but the idea that we can’t use a candidate’s religion–no matter what it is–as a basis for evaluating whether they are the best choice for office will lead you right down that path to religious relativism.

So here’s a question:  what if, in 2008, the race ends up being one between the Mormon Romney and, say, Hillary Clinton, who’d seem to be as dilatory a Methodist/Southern Baptist has we’ve seen?  What would Neuhaus suggest; vote for the good of the nation at the expense (whatever that means to you) of hypothetically building a stronger Mormon church?  Or dooming this nation but keeping Rome Salt Lake City at bay?

Further out:  Let’s say in 2012 the race is between a Wiccan, moderate Moslem or even an atheist with impeccable conservative credentials and a strong record of personal integrity, and a pro-death, pro-surrender, pro-tax, pro-Castro, pro-weasel Catholic (who doesn’t happen to be John Kerry, althought he’d fit the bill)?  What then?

Faith?  Or politics?

I’m actually writing this on Tuesday.  I’m certainly not going to be blogging today, Wednesday. 

Anyway, get out and celebrate our nation’s independence. I strongly recommend commemorating our forefathers’ resistance to arbitrary, stupid authority by driving to Wisconsin or the Dakotas (if you’re in Minnesota) and buying a ton of bottle rockets, screamers and roman candles. 

George Washington and the patriots who founded this country would have wanted it that way. 

I read a lot of local leftybloggers.  With some, it’s a pleasure; there are a few good writers out there. 

With most, of course, it’s for yuks and giggles. 

Now, I have a theory about the perennial commenter and blogger who goes by the name “Phoenix Woman”.  “Her” blogging is such a concentrated melange of leftyblog/”activist”/identifeminist cliches, delivered with a caricaturish frothing perma-ire, that I can only figure that she’s an incredibly elaborate parody, done by a fiendishly clever, albeit low-shooting, anti-feminist conservative blogger.  I’m guessing Kevin Ecker, JB Doubtless, or maybe Dementee. 

Long ago, Molly Ivins pointed out that the Republicans were habitual practicers and cultivators of the psychological tic known as “projection”, wherein one blames other people for one’s own thoughts and deeds.

“Maaaaa!  They did it first!”

And if you can’t trust Molly Ivins to give you the straight scoop about conservatives, who can you trust?  She is – or was – the Joe Farah of the frothy left.  Again, evidence that “Phoenix Woman” is a parody.

Today I’d like to introduce you to Mitch Berg, local Republican radio host and owner of the “Shot In The Dark” blog.

It’s “conservative” host – I’m not an arm of the party.  And “you” needn’t introduce me, since more leftybloggers read me than read “Mercury Rising”.  

Mitchie-poo [Oh, I’ve never heard that one! – Ed.] wants to have it both ways: He wants to stamp his widdle feet and blame lefty protesters for any and all acts of violence at the upcoming Republican National Convention,

“Phoenix Woman” (ha ha) tips “her” hand here.  I’m on record, over and over, supporting the rights of everyone, left, right, center, up and down, to protest to their “widdle” hearts’ content. 

I am, however, pointing out that it is parties on the far fringe left that are plotting to “shut down the convention” and disrupt life in Saint Paul, in as many words.  Nobody has managed to show me a single instance of a conservative group planning – or even talking about – “shutting down” the DNC, or causing mayhem of any sort in Denver, Saint Paul, or anywhere else. 

I’m pointing that out, because some people seem to be unaware of it.

I have that right.  So far. 

while at the same time happily discussing the 2008 convention plans of himself and his buddies at “Protest Warrior“, whose members like to go around doing stupid things while pretending to be lefty protesters.

If “The Colbert Report” can do stupid things and pretend to be a conservative talk show, why can’t the right return the favor?  Again, “Phoenix Woman” tips “her” hand; most lefties  I know can get a yuk or two about PW’s dead-on parodies.  If “she” really exists, she would seem to need a good tranquilizer.

This is, by the way, the second time today I’ve seen a leftyblogger or email forum corrrespondent cite that particular piece about Protest Warrior.  Hmmmm.   

The left – no, I’ll be fair, the dogmatic fringe left – is terrified of other peoples’ freedom of speech.  It’s why they’re openly advocating the return of the “Fairness Doctrine”, it’s why they support campaign finance “reform” (and bringing conservative blogs under its aegis), and it’s why they stood outside the Highland Park District Council meeting asking people not to vote for Bill Paulos and Georgia Dietz; because they love diversity, as long as it’s the kind of diversity Alan Dershowitz decried at Harvard – people with different skin color or gender, who think exactly the same. 

So, for the record:

• Democrats – protest at the RNC all you want!  It’s a free country, and unlike “Phoenix Woman”, I believe in free speech for everyone!
• “Anarkids” – welcome to Saint Paul!  Smile for the camera!
• “Phoenix Woman” – as parody goes, you’re no “Plain Layne”.  You’re not even “Feisty Republican Whore”.  But whatever floats your boat. 

And that, as they say, is all.

From St. Paulicy, it looks like our Mayor is warming up his political swing:

It seems that Mayor Coleman has entered Minnesota’s political “Q School.” But instead of trying to qualify for a spot on the PGA tour, it seems that Chris is trying to earn a spot on the “Long-shot Gubernatorial Ambition tour. The LGA – not to be confused with local government aid (which Saint Paul can never seem to find) – is the first step for people anxious for higher office.

On the one hand, it’d be great to kick the mayor upstairs (to political defeat), and hopefully half of the City Council as well. 

On the other hand…

…well, there really is no downside to this, is there?

Via Mingle.com, Shot in the Dark rates as…:

 (toy at Mingle² – Free Online Dating – original post at the NC-17-rated KAR)

Hm.  How about some other area blogs?

• Captain’s Quarters:  G
• Power Line: R (!) (mainly due to violence references)
• Fraters Libertas: PG (references to pain, hell and murder)
• SCSU Scholars: G (There’s just no way to make economics edgy)
• Hugh Hewitt (not local, but whatever): PG (references to death and suicide)
• Nihilist in Golf Pants:  PG13, with references to pr0n and a bomb. 
• Truth Vs. the Machine:  R!  They’re violent!
• Rambling Rhodes: R! (mostly due to, um, excretory references)
• Jay Reding: PG (a couple of suicide references)
• Bogus Doug has already copped to his PG.
• Yucky Salad with Bones:  PG (a single use of the word “Kill” is all it takes!)
• And, shockingly, Tom Swift only rated an R!

And how about the leftyblogs?

• Minnesota Monitor: R due to the troika of guns, lesbians and hell.   (Although editor Robin Marty’s “Powerliberal” ranks a “G”)
• Centrisity: G, as befits a good family guy.  With a kegerator. 
• MN Publius:  PG, with their dual obsessions over abortion and violence. 
• New Patriot:  PG.  Lesbians and death. 
• Cucking Tool:  R, with an apparent obsession with violence and death.
• Norwegianity:  A thoroughly-unsurprising NC17, due to a death fixation and enough cussing to pass a junior high boys locker room.

And non-political blogs I read?

• The Sheila Variations?  NC17.  Sex, bombs and guns, pain, and rampant homosexuality.
• Blind Cavefish:  R, due to knives, rape and pr0n. 

  Sobering.

No, not really.

Michael Yon reports from an Iraqi village that was apparently the victim of an Al Quaeda mass murder:

I told the Iraqi commander, Captain Baker, that it was important that Americans see this; he took me around the graves and showed more than I wanted to see. He said the people had been murdered by al Qaeda. I made video of him speaking, and of the horrible scene. The heat and stench were crushingly oppressive and broken only by the sounds of shovels as Iraqi soldiers kept digging.

Yon’s piece is a pictorial, and not for the squeamish. 

Hm.  Maybe if the villagers had been the subject of a stupid giggly photodocumentary by US troops (but were alive today), the US mainstream media would cover the story.

Paul Schmelzer at the MinMon writes:

City Pages accused of fabricating quote: City Pages’ Peter Scholtes is getting heat for his cover story, “Where the ladies at?” Among the complaints about his piece on the B-Girl Be hip-hop festival: that he fabricated quotes.

Posted by Mitch Berg in Media, Music| 3 Comments »