David Codrea notes that AG Mukasey espouses the  “Individual Right”
 view of the Second Amendment:

Per The New York Times:

Michael B. Mukasey was sworn in as attorney general this afternoon, less than a day after winning Senate confirmation despite Democratic criticism that he had failed to take an unequivocal stance against the torture of terror detainees.

Robert Levy had advocated Mukasey disclose his position on the Second Amendment. I’d wondered the same thing, and expressed concerns that he backs Rudy Giuliani for president, and is backed in turn by Chuck Schumer for the top law post.

Codrea:

Note I’m not focusing on the waterboarding charges here or making any proclamations about the desirability of this appointment or Judge Mukasey’s potential as AG. I’m merely pointing out his reported position on the Second Amendment, something I have been looking for but have not previously found.

Excluding all other considerations, and with the caveat that this is based only on the rhetoric, it would appear gun owners could have done worse.

I’d like to shoot for better than “Could have done worse”, but given Chuckles’ Schumer’s place in things, it…well, could have.

You call it “Livid”.

We call it “laughing at you, not with you”.

(Sorry to be a grinch, but no linkylinky!)

When I was a little kid, I remember going to see a parade on First Avenue in downtown Jamestown. One of the highlights for the five-year-old me was walking down by the Armory building (where, a decade or so hence, my first bands would play their first gigs) and watching the National Guard guys in their olive-drab uniforms getting their gear – trucks, jeeps and so on – read for one parade or another.I clutched my first book – a book of World War II airplanes that had been my dad’s when he was about my age – and looked on in awe as the guys, middle-aged pillars of the community, milled around waiting to roll out for the assembly area.

I walked up to one of them and showed him my book. He laughed. “I was in that war!”, he said, chuckling at the awe that must have stricken me.

On the arch above the armory entrance “Co. H 164th Infantry” was carved in stone first placed during the First World War. It’d seen Jamestown boys off to war in WWI, WWII and Korea.

One of the guys who’d left that armory in 1917 for France was Frank Newberry. He lived next door to us at the corner of 3rd Avenue and 8th Street SE in Jamestown; already 80ish when I was in elementary school. Photos of him in his uniform, with his cloth puttees and “tin hat”, hung around the house; his ’03 Springfield was in a case in his basement. He’d fought in H Company at Cantigny, Soission, St. Mihiel, and the Meuse-Argonne (I found much later, reading the unit’s history), the places where the US entered the modern world with all its horrors. He came home, married, raised a family, shot squirrels in his back yard with a .22 rifle, and, one day in probably the mid-’60’s, built a model of the WWII destroyer USS The Sullivans.  He gave me the model when I was maybe six years old.  I was thrilled – and I still am.  The old model, still together, slightly the worse for wear after enduring three boys (my stepson, son and I), sits on my library shelf, across the room from me, as I write this. 

———-

Of course, the WII veterans were everywhere. They didn’t talk much, that I recalled; I did my researching later. The North Dakota National Guard website narrates concisely:

1941 – The North Dakota National Guard’s 164th infantry Regiment and the 188th Field Artillery Regiment were mobilized for service in World War II. 776th Tank Destroyer Battalion formed from batteries F and H of the 188th Field Artillery Regiment. The 776th went on to spend more then 550 days in actual combat in Tunisia, Italy and Central Europe.

My high school civics teacher had been a member of the 776th, if memory serves. A few of the less-bright lights in my high school used to amuse themselves by popping blown-up paper bags or throwing fireworks nearby as he walked. In his fifties, he would still throw himself flat on the ground, if he was having a bad day, if the “bang” was loud enough. Later, of course, some of us learned why; the 776th’s 550 days in action included some of the bloodiest, ugliest fighting in US Army history; El Guettar, Salerno, the Rapido, the Volturno, Monte Cassino. Rumor had it that his tank destroyer had been the only survivor of his platoon in one ugly engagement. Nobody knew, and he never talked to any of us.

He passed away maybe ten years ago.  On behalf of a couple of the ninth grade morons who didn’t know any better (and I’m happy to say I wasn’t one of them), I’m sorry.

———-

1942 – The 164th Infantry Regiment landed on Guadacanal to reinforce the First Marine Division at Henderson Airfield. The regiment became the first US Army unit to take offensive action against the Japanese during World War II.

Company H of the 164th, from Jamestown, was one of the regiment’s 12 infantry companies. In the dark days after Pearl Harbor, they were sent to the South Pacific, and in late 1942 they were shipped to the Solomon Islands to reinforce the first American offensive ground action of the war, the Marine invasion of Guadalcanal. 

The Regiment was the first Army unit sent ashore to reinforce the beleaguered First Marine Division. The NDNG’s terse prose belies the desperation of the Regiment’s action on Guadalcanal; this online forum captures some of the story, first-hand, including pages of scanned diaries from the era.

On one of their first nights in the line, in late October, the 164th and the Marines were the target of a massive Banzai charge – at a place known to history as Bloody Nose Ridge and the banks of the Matanikau River. Green farm boys just two years off the prairie, they held off the attack, earning (by various accounts I’ve read over the years) the admiration of the grizzled Marines that’d been there for an eternity – two months months – already. The Fargo Forum’s story on the unit relates:

The infantry was also given the nickname “The 164th Marines” for their bitter fight against the Japanese in the Battle for Henderson Field and the Battle of the Matanikau on the island, and became the first U.S. Army unit to take offensive action during World War II.

A bunch of the old guys around town were vets of Guadalcanal. They never talked about it – not at all; other people who knew the story passed the story on to us.  It was in the books; names of guys we knew from around town and the county popped up occasionally, attached to actions that we couldn’t picture from the grizzly fiftysomethings we knew.

———-

The Regiment fought on under MacArthur for the rest of the war:

1943 – The 164th Infantry spearheaded the Americal Division’s island hopping against the Japanese in the South Pacific. The 188th Field Artillery Regiment was split up into the 188th Field Artillery Group, the 188th Field Artillery Battalion, and the 957th Field Artillery Battalion.

Like Guadalcanal, the old vets of the 164th didn’t talk much about their time on Bougainville or in the Philippines, or on a brief stint of occupation duty in Japan after the war.

By the time the war was over, the 164th suffered 325 dead, and nearly 1,200 wounded out of about 3,000 men.

———-

The North Dakota Guard fought in Europe as well:

1944 – Members of the 188th and 957th Field Artillery Battalions landed on Utah Beach and participated in the Cherbourg Offensive and the Battle of the Bulge while driving onward to Germany.

Pete Schwab was a crusty old guy who ran “Pete’s Radiator Shop”, across from Radish Widmer’s house on Eight Street at First Avenue. He was a cranky but friendly old fellow who I remember bothering to try to find go-kart parts.

When I was in Junior High, on one of my patrols through the library, I found the unit history of the 957th Field Artillery – batteries of which had hailed from Valley City, Fargo and other parts of eastern North Dakota. I found a picture of “Pete Schwab” in the unit history; Pete the Radiator man, 30 years and a world of care younger, an ammo handler who’d won a commendation – Bronze Star, I think? – for action in France, where the battalion had beaten back a German tank breakthrough (155mm shells can be persuasive). The 957th fought through France, and fired in support of the 2nd Armored Division in the battle that put the cap on the Bulge, at Dinant and Celles, Belgium. They went on to help liberate the Nordhausen concentration camp, and ended the war in Bavaria.

And then…:

1945 – World War II ends with the surrender of Germany and Japan. North Dakota National Guard units are released from active duty and return home.

Where they built the city I grew up with freedoms I scarcely knew how to appreciate, thanks to the service they scarcely mentioned.

———-

The 164th served in Korea – more Jamestown boys shipped out, and most came home.  The high school put up a large wooden Honor Roll that hung over the entrance to the Junior High for decades, listing all of the Jamestown High School boys that fought in World War II and Korea – with a number of stars highlighting the ones that died.  As I got older and learned more about what the Roll meant, the number of stars on the Roll was daunting. 

The 164th Infantry Regiment was disbanded during the ’50s.  North Dakota’s National Guard was converted to Combat Engineers, for the most part.  And Jamestown’s Armory – in the old building and then, in the late seventies, in the basement of the new Civic Center – was turned over to the new Jamestown company, Co. B of the 141st Engineer Battalion. 

Many more guys from Jamestown served, of course.  One of them was Fred Jansonius, one of my father’s star’s on the Speech Team.  He enlisted in the Army, and was killed in the Tet Offensive, serving in the Ninth Infantry Division.  JHS’ Speech award is named after him.

———-

Years passed.  B/141st served in Iraq – and two more Jamestown boys died overseas, including Phil Brown, nephew of one of my high school friends and of my favorite Junior High teacher. 

Many more served and came home, of course, including my high school classmate Joey Banister, who started as a private in B Company during high school, and was a Major on the Battalion’s staff by the time the battalion went to Iraq; not bad for ol’ knucklehead Joey.  He was among many other Jamestown guys, many of them friends and classmates, who’ve served in one capacity or another in the war on terror. 

And to them, today, the Jamestown guys and everyone else; though it seems not nearly enough, I send my thanks.

(more…)

All over the world today, the USMC is celebrating its 232nd birthday.

Happy Birthday, and thanks.

(via ms. O’Hara)

..that Ken “Crayola Boy” Avidor is lying?

His fingers are moving over a keyboard.

Foot sows the wind; soon, the only former Screw magazine art-director not to have a decent career will reap the whirlwind.

A few years back, many left-leaning commentators – up to and including Geraldo Rivera and some who are on the George Soros payroll – tried to bury Michelle Malkin in a wave of anti-Filipina bigotry.And while many people, left and right, rose as one to condem this ugly racist display, a number of left-leaning commentators were as silent as death on the subject. Among the silent – and thus, complicit – were:

• Steve Perry, editor of the big-buck-lefty-supported Daily Mole (and, at the time, editor of the City Pages),
• Karl Bremer, foul-mouthed Stillwater screechmonger, who has found via the local alt-meda a ready outlet and ravenous market for his raving vein-bulging screeching inner lout.
  
• Minnesota Monitor
• Every leftyblogger that attends “Drinkiing Liberally”, an organization of regional leftyblogs, which sets the agenda for local left-leaning alternative media.

The inference is clear; Perry, Bremer, Eric Black and the DrinkLib bloggers think the only place for a Filipina woman is writhing around a greased pole on a stage, or turning tricks by a navy base.

For that matter, on this blog I’ve commented many times at great length about the pre-1945 German trait of eliminationist anti-Semitism, as identified by Goldhagen. Who was silent on this subject? Perry, Bremer, MinMon and Drinking Liberally.

Their silence tells the tale; obviously, they hate Jews and want them all murdered.

Let us not forget that four years ago, DrinkLib participant and leading local leftyblogger Mark Gisleson called for the lynching of Vice President Cheney, among many other things. Whose silence again rolled like a hurricane storm surge? That’s right; Karl Bremer, the MinMon, the DrinkLib bloggers, and…well, OK, Steve Perry did sort of wind up giving Wege a muted “tut-tut” online.

The meaning is clear; all left-of-center alt-media commentators are racists who want to murder jews and lynch Dick Cheney.

Their silence is the proof.

When will leftybloggers rise as one and attack Steve Perry, Karl Bremer, the Minnesota Monitor and all of the Drinking Liberally leftyblogs?

———-

Stupid, right?

Yep. Intentionally so.

If only Steve Perry’s “Daily Mole” could say the same thing about Karl Bremer’s grindingly, corrosively stupid “Reader Op-Ed” hit ‘n run on Tracy “Anti-Strib” Eberly and, by the way, every single center-right blogger in the Twin Cities.

What happens when a leading local Republican blogger publishes a virulently racist screed that refers to Native Americans as “dirt worshipping heathens,” “domestic terrorists permanently stuck in the Stone Age” and “humanoid animals,” and describes them as a race “so primitive that they created nothing of any lasting value, nor did they contribute anything of note to the world”?

In Minnesota, evidently nothing—at least from his right-leaning compatriots in the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers and the mainstream media.

Wow. That’s pretty damning stuff. Where could that have come from?

Minneapolis regulatory affairs consultant Tracy Eberly published such a piece on his local blog Anti-Strib on October 11. Those are just a few salient quotes from it. If you want to read his further defense of genocide against Native Americans, you’ll have to visit his website yourself. Suffice to say it would make Andrew Jackson proud.

Um, yeah, Karl/Steve. About that.

Bremer knows how to put links into web copy; he provides copious links to the other Minnesota Organization of Bloggers (MOB) blogs that he wants to smear by association. So why – in the left-leaning “Mole”, publishing to a left-leaning audience – can’t he provide a link to Eberly’s actual piece?

Does he (and, by association, Perry, MinMon and the Drinking Liberally bloggers damn, now I’m picking up that awful habit), know is audience isn’t going to bother googling and digging to find the article? Is he counting on inertia (a reasonable assumption) to keep his audience from knowing the actual context in which Eberly was writing?

So read Eberly’s piece. I did. For the first time. I didn’t like it much, and don’t agree with it. Of course, I understand where it comes from – and it’s not racism.

To know that, of course, the reader would need to know the context of the story as well as the pull-quotes Bremer has elected to highlight. But that would undercut Bremer’s foamy-mouthed, self-righteous “point”. It’s unsurprising, of course – Bremer, a long-time anti-Michele Bachmann zealot, writes for “Dump Bachmann”, a blog whose entire oeuvre is built around crimes against context (and which also refuses to condemn the attacks on Malkin, the Holocaust, and to renounce the attack on Dick Cheney Crap. It’s catchy, and hard to kick).

More on that later. Bremer next lets his imagination romp and play – with results that some of his associates might find…hinky?:

Eberly is a member of a group known as the Minnesota Organization of Bloggers, or more appropriately, MOB. Self-described as “a group of mostly center-right bloggers,” MOB includes virtually every Republican blogger in the Twin Cities, including GOP-affiliated Minnesota Democrats Exposed, TCF-connected Power Line, and St. Paul Pioneer Press editorial board member Craig Westover.

Bremer slips from omission into lying, here. PowerLine is not “connected” with TCF, any more than Karl Bremer is “connected” to the Nazi Party for whom his deafening silence about the Holocaust is a sure sign of support (dammit) my employer is “connected” to my blog (I’m going to make sure Scott Johnson sees that, however; Steve Perry might want to see to the “Mole’s” “fact”-checking).

More importantly (to me)? The MOB is rigorously non-partisan. As one of the group’s “organizers” (there is no “organization”), I am the one, along with Chad the Elder, Brian Ward and King Banaian, to state this for the record; the MOB eschews politics completely, as a matter of principle. The group is a blogroll and a twice-annual gathering at a bar. Not only that, but we have made a point of reaching out and inviting leftybloggers to our semiannual MOB parties; not only as blanket invitations on our blogs, but specific emailed invitations to the leftybloggers themselves. These invitations have included several sent to specific City Pages writers (Paul Demko among others) while Perry ran the place.

Karl Bremer’s “boss” at DumpBachmann, Eva Young, attended the last MOB Party. She seemed to have a great time! And – what’s this? Tracy from Anti-Strib attended! Eva must hate Indians, too!

Some “right-leaning” group, that MOB, huh, Karl?

Eberly reportedly finished third in the runoff for their little club’s “mayor,” so he clearly has their respect.

For the benefit of any “Mole” reader who reads this; the “Mayor” race is the MOB’s equivalent of a “Miss Congeniality” award and – again, I say this as one of the MOB’s Capi di tutti capi, the mayor election is not an official MOB function. It is something the Kool Aid Report does for the fun of it.

Yet since Eberly’s “dirt-worshipping heathens” column ran last month, the silence from the usually fawning MOB mob has been deafening.

Let’s make sure we provide the context that Karl Bremer (anti-filipina, anti-semite and pro-lynching-advocate-by-omission that he is Jeebus, this “smear by omission” thing is a slippery slope!) is apparently afraid to, yet again.

Anti-Strib is a rant blog. It is not the Weekly Standard. It is among local center-right bloggers what “Norwegianity” is for the local center-left; the loud, unrepentant, sometimes gauche, sometimes dead-on (well, Anti-Strib, anyway), shoot-first-ask-questions-later portion of the local center-right psyche. They are South Park conservatives of the most unrepentant stripe; they whiz on Political Correctness with the sort of glee that PZ Meiers piddles (or tries to piddle) on faith, or “Crayola Boy” Avidor pees on…I dunno, artistic talent?

And – take note, Karl Bremer – just because we share a label doesn’t mean we think, act or believe the same. I’m not a screedblogger, so sometimes the Anti-Strib is off-putting. It’s a “big tent” groupblog, so the writing is mighty uneven, ranging from amateurish and awful to really good (sort of like the City Pages).

Do I care for the tone of Tracy’s piece? Of course not. Of course, unlike Bremer, I know some of the backstory that is probably opaque to Bremer and his readers; as he notes, Eberly is reacting to “Doug”, a malignant comment-section tumor (one of only four people that’s ever been banned from this blog) who claims to be (among many, many things) Native American, and who relentlessly romanticizes Native culture. “Doug” is such a remorselessly abrasive jagoff that if he were to start advocating for unicorns and puppies, I’d be tempted to rhetorically warm up the .270 and the meatgrinder. And I hate that – because while I deeply respect Native culture (I’ve spent a lot of time reading about hunter-gatherer and aboriginal farming cultures in recent years) within their cultural context, Doug’s relentless preening is enough to make Russell Means break out a copy of Fort Apache out of pure snotty spite.
Tracy’s article is an attempt to let the air out of a really obnoxious balloon. Was it coarse and un-PC and maybe just a tad less artful than I’d shoot for, myself? Sure. Remember, I banned Doug rather than indulge in a reaction I’d rather not have; after almost six years of this, I’ve learned to pick and choose my stressors. Tracy sees it differently; that’s Tracy.

I don’t endorse his reaction; neither do I think it’s a sign of racism or lousy character or bad breath or anything other than wanting to give the relentless prig Doug a rhetorical wedgie.

Suffice to say every regional leftybloggers had best be very careful about their own flippant bigotries.

And, of course, “logical fallacies” – like the kind Bremer smears all over himself in the next bit:

Minnesota Democrats Exposed is authored by Michael Brodkorb, a paid consultant to the Minnesota GOP, Norm Coleman and many other past GOP campaigns. Brodkorb calls Anti-Strib.com a “daily read,” and it’s the first permanent link on his website, where he has been flogging Al Franken relentlessly lately for Franken’s statements about Native Americans.

The “daily read” list is in alphabetical order. And – lest the distinction be lost on anyone dim enough to take Karl Bremer as an authority on anything – Tracy Eberly is not running for US Senate.

Even Westover, with his bully pulpit on the Pioneer Press editorial page, has remained on the sidelines

Bremer, again, fails to provide a link to allow the reader to note that Westover has “remained on the sidelines because his blog has been moribund for six months. Clearly, Westover’s “silence on Al Quaeda” during that time means he also supports stoning gays – by Bremer’s logic.

Substitute “Blacks” or “Jews” or “Christians” or “Catholics” for “Indians” in Eberly’s harangue, and what do you think the reaction would be, even from the right?

That’s easy. “That’s stupid enough to be a Karl Bremer opinion”

Isn’t it time Republicans and their internet and media cheerleaders [Hahahahahahaha! – Ed.] quit pointing their fingers at liberal political groups and their TV ads, and cleaned up the hatefulness in their own back yard? A good place to start would be a repudiation of one of their own family members, Tracy Eberly and Anti-Strib, for the shame he’s laid upon their doorstep. Because as long as they remain silent about fellow MOBster Tracy Eberly and his “earth-worshipping heathens” slurs, they will all wear the mantle of racism in my eyes.

OK.

Tracy; don’t insult Native Americans. Please.

Now – Steve Perry? What do you think about the fact that Karl Bremer has selectively misreported key facts of this story? If these misstatements aren’t corrected and atoned for, you will forever wear the mantle of “hack” in my eyes. And I know that’d hurt you to the quick.

Eva Young (Karl’s boss at “Dump Bachmann”) – either Karl misrepresented the MOB, or you are a closet right-winger because you attended the last MOB party. Clearly, if Bremer is correct, your participation in the MOB party means you Hate Native Americans! Where’s the correction – nay, the outrage?

See where this leads?

Karl Bremer is a Stillwater writer and part Cherokee Indian.

Good thing he’s got “aggrieved minority” to fall back on.

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network:

• Volume I “The First Team” – John, Brian and Chad – will shoo the Stroms from the studio and kick things off from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will be in next, from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will talk Minnesota trash after that until 5PM.

So join us on the Northern Alliance Radio Network, 11AM-5PM Central on AM1280 The Patriot, and at Townhall.com!

…well, I did too.

‘Til I read Gary Miller’s testimony about the worst Wednesday night of his life:

13 years ago this evening I died. Well, sorta. My heart stopped a half-dozen times or so on the operating table and I had to be resuscitated each time.

Notes to self:

• Hug the kids extra-long tonight.
• Double-check my insurance.
• Never, ever get in a car driven by a TvM staffer.

…on an update to my annual “State of Twin Cities Talk Radio” series…

…but I’m going to do some digging, first, since this bit here just might have a huge effect on it:

Thursday’s development does not mean Barreiro is leaving his employer of the past 15 years. The scuttlebutt is that KFAN has an opportunity to match any offer made by a competitor. Another factor could be the issue of a noncompete clause, something standard in radio and television contracts. Those usually run six months or one year, meaning Barreiro might have to go on hiatus if he does switch.

“We’re letting the process play out, I’ll just leave it at that,” Barreiro said.

As I noted in an earlier comment (in which Flash brought the story to my attention), it’d be an interesting move for the Evil Talk Empire.  They desperately need a morning show that doesn’t come with a warning not to operate around heavy equipment; and while I love my old friend and neighbor Tom Mischke’s “Broadcast” (one of the tiny list of things on which I agree with Garrison Keillor), Soucheray could use a little stronger lead-in and KSTP could stand a stronger counterprogram to Limbaugh (although, as always, I hope Mischke’s program survives and thrives).

It’ll be an interesting couple of months.

The other day, Pat Shortridge at TvM wrote one of the most insightful pieces I’ve ever seen on what ails the Minnesota GOP:

The Right side of the spectrum still doesn’t get it when it comes to the importance of local elections.  Our side gets all hepped up about the White House or a huge Senate race, over which we as citizens have relatively little control.  But when it comes to the areas where we can have the most impact – electing mayors, city councils, school boards, etc, – we are just giving it away to the other side, barely even in the game, with a very few notable exceptions.

I’ve kvetched about this for years; in my own district, the Fourth CD, the GOP barely shows up.  But for the odd Tom Conlon (the only Republican on the St. Paul School Board) or Bill Poulos or Georgia Dietz (who got elected to executive positions on the Highland Community Council), the Fourth CD is a wasteland for Republicans – even though the city and the first-ring burbs are clogged with people who should, by all rights, be amenable to conservatism; black parents disgusted by the collapsing educational system; Asians who embody free enterprise and  love of this country (how many of them or their forefathers crossed rivers under fire and oceans on rickety boats to get here?); Hispanics whose votes the Dems court, but whose industry and vibrant Catholicism the party piddles on; working people who are seeing their taxes rise and rise, for no rational return.

So why do Republicans not get that “government begins at home?” and that “politics is local?”

Because the enemy sure gets it:

Education Minnesota and its allies clearly understand what’s at stake.  Beyond the policy issues of any given election, they are accomplishing two critical things: (1) control over virtually all of the official information that gets disseminated and that the public relies on for its thinking about education issues, and (2) they are creating and constantly replenishing a political farm team.  Think about how many DFL candidates for the legislature in recent years have been involved in education policy making, either as school board members, teachers, activists, etc.

Shortridge nails the solution:

If the center-right is going to regain any standing, it must re-engage at the local level.  It’s all well and good for folks to engage in levy debates, but man, a whole lot goes on beyond that.  Our side – I include myself foremost in this – must start attending meetings, serving on committees, recruiting candidates, and running for office in our own backyards.  In scanning the election results, far too many races were uncontested or the opposition was token at best. 

The “warm body on the ballot” syndrome that especially besets the GOP in the Fourth and Fifth CDs – where a token GOP candidate will try to spare the party the embarassment of an open slot – is itself a symptom of the problem; endorsing names to run for the Legislature (to say nothing of Congress) that have no political history with voters of any party much less the non-political is a waste of time and effort at the very least – and at worst a Potemkin approach to politics; “See?  We have a party here!  Honest!”

The mere act of meeting every two years and endorsing a slate of candidates to stage hopeless, pro forma runs for office doesn’t make a party, much less a movement. 

Getting people – good, first-princples-based Republican people – involved at the grassiest of Minnesota Politics’ grass roots is where change really begins; where the GOP will start to actually contest control of the cities without which this state will never be in real contest.

Which means Republicans have to start running for those grassiest-roots offices; in Saint Paul, that means the Neighborhood Coalitions that control so much of the “on the street” effect of municipal government.  The GOP insurrection in Highland Park showed what can happen; Dietz and Poulos got Republicans to turn out, which in turn got a right-leaning council empaneled, which in turn uncovered epic rot at the district, a traditional DFL sinecure in “non-partisan” clothes.

More – much more – on this in coming weeks.

So my pal/neighbor Flash and I went to Paul “Wog” Kuettel’s visitation yesterday afternoon after work. Paul passed away this past Sunday.

The room was crammed with people – which, itself, is a great memorial to a guy who just plain knew a lot of people. Paul was active in his community of Cretin/Derham Hall alums, in the Ramsey County GOP, the MOB, and…well, life in general. He knew everyone, and everyone liked him, whether they agreed with him or not.

Don’t believe me? Flash tripped onto a photo on one of the display boards – Paul was standing with a couple of guys who looked dimly familiar. “That’s Bill Luther”, Flash said, pointing to the guy on the right. “But who’s that…”

“Rod Grams”, I filled in. Paul had the two diametric enemies in a conversation about..the Vikings or Paul’s beloved Kinks or who knows what?

I wandered around the room, focusing mainly on the photo displays. And that was the part that got to me. A half-dozen easels showed the parts of Paul we all knew – his run for the Legislature in ’96, his political associations, his career in the software business – and the parts we only heard about; his family vacations with his beloved Laura, Alex, Drew and Catie; his days at CDH; dressed up to go see the Kinks or Ian Hunter or one of his other musical obsessions with Laura, early in their marriage; standing in the surf with the kids.

It looked like he’d left things for people to remember him by.

I talked briefly with his son Drew, a chip off the block if I’d ever met one – gregarious, outgoing. He remembered me by name, even though we’d met maybe twice; he might just have inherited his father’s political savvy. If it’s a parent’s hope that their kids carry some part of themselves onward, Paul did good. I didn’t get a chance to talk with Alex and Catie – they seemed to be pretty well mobbed with their own friends.

As was Laura. Knowing Paul over the years, it’d be hard to overstate the impression Laura makes. Paul, along with his many good points, had his issues – he admitted to having been an alcoholic – and being with someone with a major illness like Paul’s is obviously a gruelling grind. And Paul himself testified constantly to his admiration for Laura, her grace, her steadfastness.

Paul was a lucky guy, and he knew it.
More later.

UPDATE:  Flash noticed something that I – someone who agreed with Paul on most things that didn’t involve Springsteen – wouldn’t have:

Paul had a way with words, both written and spoken. I met him through the Blogosphere about 4 years ago and it always seemed that whenever there was a blogger gathering or an Issues Forum MeetUp I would be at his table, trading stories. He was a Rightie, pure and pure. But he had a nack for debate. The kind of guy who you would talk to all night, and then find yourself agreeing with him more and more. It wasn’t until you left, and got halfway to the car you would stop in mid step and go . . . HEY, WAIT A MINUTE!!!

I’ve heard that from other people this week.

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…yes, I have been humming “Wasted Years” by Iron Maiden nonstop for the last couple of days…

On the one hand, it’s a bunch of money in a “cash-strapped” city:

The $5.1 million cable-stayed bridge is the first of its kind in Minnesota…

…on the other, it helps people like me avoid getting killed…

…and allows users of the popular Greenway to avoid traffic on Hiawatha Avenue in Minneapolis.

…on a stretch of road that a lot of drivers would like to get over.

On the other other hand, the thing pretty much looks pre-collapsed:

I feel unstable just looking at it.

I wonder – did Atomizer design it while on a bender?

This story reads like a Fawlty Towers scene; a mother in Britain books a birthday surprise for her son during the school day.  She thought she’d booked a guy in a gorilla suit. 

It’s here the Fawlty script kicks in:

The Daily Mail said the teenager’s mother had told the teacher beforehand that a “birthday surprise” would walk in during the class and requested that it be filmed.

It’d be here that Basil Fawlty would give the order to Manuel the waiter – and the hijinx would kick in:

Instead of a gorilla, an adult performer showed up at Arnold High School in Nottingham dressed as a policewoman and spanked the boy 16 times in front of his classmates, the newspaper said.

She stripped to her underwear while dancing to a Britney Spears song and asked the teenager to rub cream all over her body before the “stunned” teacher called an end to the act.

“He’s from Barcelona…”

“The teacher suddenly announced: ‘Something is about to happen’,” the student said.

“Then a woman in a very short skirt walked in dressed as a copper. She asked the lad to stand up, which he did, and told him he had been a very naughty boy because he hadn’t been doing his homework.”

The performer put on some music and had the teenager put a collar on her.

“No one could believe it,” the student said.

“Next she ordered him to get on all fours, led him around the classroom and hit him 16 times -one for each year – on the bottom with her whip.”

The newspaper quoted the student as saying that it was wehen the stripper pulled some cream out of her bag that the teacher took action.

“To be fair to the teacher, you could tell she was just stunned, and when the cream came out she told the stripper: ‘That’s it. That’s enough’.”

Of course, it’s not all laughs…

The student said the birthday boy ran out of the classroom while the stripper packed her bag.

I’m hoping Cleese buys the film rights…

KAR takes Dumpster “freelance journalist” Karl Bremer to the factual woodshed.

So, the Dumpster is a moron, and gets one more of these:

 

Nice try though.

Go over and read Foot’s vivisection of our old friend Karl.

Oh, and that fail also goes to Eric Black for his gatekeeping.

Black might have some ‘splainin’ to do.

Mr. Black; while I’m the last person who should tell you how to do your job as a reporter, as a general rule anyone involved with The Dump is about as reliable a source as a ferret on meth.

Yours in superior gatekeeping,

Mitch

Since 1984, I have heard that in fact Big Country did do a video for my favorite song of theirs, “Where the Rose Is Sown”, from Steeltown (one of my ten favorite albums ever).

Well, thanks to the miracle of Youtube, I not only see that it did in fact exist, but was accompanied by a cool live vid of the title cut (and an atrociously-edited version of this classic homage to the Jacobites).

So the remaining question, really, is where on earth can a guy find a Yamaha SG2000?

There are some lessons to be learned in Henco Commissioner Mike Opat’s escape from a pair of carjacking scumbags:

Opat was about to get into his Jeep outside his home in Robbinsdale at about 10 p.m. Tuesday night when he saw the two strangers approaching in the dark, [Henco PR flak and one-time hottest woman in the Twin Cities Media Carolyn] Marinan said Wednesday night.

The commissioner nodded in friendly greeting, then turned to slip his Jeep key into the lock.

Within moments, he had been hit with the butt of a sawed-off shotgun, knocked down, kicked and punched. After he grabbed the gun and managed to break free of his assailants, Opat bolted from the alley, yelling for his neighbors’ help.

The robbers fled with his 1999 Jeep, as well as his wallet, cell phone and Blackberry.

Lessons for everyone; sometimes, resisting is your best option.

Kudos, Councilman Opat.

Someone emailed me to ask what I thought about Brian Lambert’s take on the latest round of ratings.

What the heck; it’s always good entertainment.

I’ll ask you to remember one thing that, for some of you (and you know who I’m talking about), might seem counterintuitive; while I am a conservative host (part-time, anyway), I’m also very, very clinical about the business itself. [Pacino on] It’s not personal. It’s business. [/Pacino off] As I’ve noted in the past, I could probably do a better job of making the local Air America affiliate successful than whomever Janet Robert has doing it now.  Not that I’m going to; I’m just saying.

So let’s go to Lambert (whom the Rake has absorbed, along with Deb  Caulfield-Rybak):

In response to thunderous demand for radio ratings statistics — a task I find strangely titillating — the Slaughter offers these snapshots of what Twin Cities listeners say they were tuned to over the past summer.

The disclaimer I will always issue is that as they are currently handled, by volunteers filling in written diaries, the Arbitrons have about as much scientific validity as The Flat Earth Society. The game will change dramatically when the so-called Portable People Meters, devices that accurately record what people are actually listening to, as opposed to what they remember, or prefer to think they were listening to, hits this market. But until then, the radio industry lives and dies by these things, and the patterns — even with constantly shifting volunteers — are pretty static.

True.  With one important caveat; Arbitron’s method is notoriously…no, notoriously fickle with stations with smaller numbers.

Here are the rankings for the top 15 local commercial stations, among adult listeners 25-54.

Continued advertisement

STATION…..2006…….2007

KQRS ………….11.1…….11.0

It truly amazes me what a juggernaut KQ has become…

KS95……………5.9……..7.0

…or that KS95 is hanging in there at all, much less this far up the rankings.

K102……………9.2……..6.7

Wow.  Great job, Clear Channel!  Gassing Mick Anselmo did you a world of good!

JACK……………5.0……..5.8

On the other hand, that makes me happy.  Jack is my favorite “conventional” music station (although I’ve found myself listening to MPR Classical more and more lately)
The Evil Talk Empire continues its post-Limbaugh languish…:

(Tie)KSTP-AM…….3.4……..3.8

With its consultants’ view that “conservative talk is dead” still undisturbed in its’ cabinet at Hubbard HQ, I betcha the winter book, sans the Twins (not to mention next summer, with a rebuilding team) is going to huuuuuuurt.

WCCO……………4.7……..2.9

This astounds me; WCCO is unravelling.

And this…:

KTLK……………2.3……..1.9

KTLK fired program director (and my old KSTP colleague) Doug Westerman; I can’t imagine that dropping “The Limbaugh Station” into freefall made ’em very happy (although sources tell me Westerman didn’t have much more actual programming authority than did the manager of the Caribou across the street from Clear Channel Twin Cities’ studios).

Finally, the important part:

(Tie)Air America…0.6……..0.7
(Tie)The Patriot…1.2……..0.7

So.  After three years, the Patriot and AAo’M are tied.

Except we’re not.  Remember – this is radio inside baseball, so I am, in fact, very clinical in my approach.  My apparent bias toward the Patriot (where I host a show) applies a lot less than you might think:

1. A tie may not be a Patriot win, but it’s a loss for AAo’M from a “physics” perspective.  Both stations are 5,000 watt AM operations; AAo’M is a 950 Kilocycles, while AM1280 is, obviously, at 1280Kc.  The lower an AM station’s frequency, the more range and clarity it has per watt of power; AM950’s signal should cover – very conservatively – 50% more area than 1280’s.  And AM950 broadcasts from the heart of the überliberal 5th District.
2. As we noted above, Arbitron numbers this far down the standings are notoriously fickle.
3. When the numbers are this fickle, it makes no sense for a station to take Arbitron ratings to potential advertisers.  They have to rely on demographics and results.  So compare advertisers and inventories; by that measure, the Patriot is creaming AAo’M.
4. Oh, yeah – to the extent anyone cares about the numbers, the first “Trend” numbers after the summer book show the Patriot up, and AAo’M down.  Just saying.

The Patriot has problems; as noted in this space (by many, many commenters as well as me), it’s had a series of frustrating technical glitches leading to hours of dead air, doubled-up commercials and other problems.  When those get fixed (and while I don’t want to go into inside-station details, big changes are underway there), it’ll  be a huge improvement.:

On the downside, K102, Twins-less WCCO and The Patriot took tough slides in audience levels. Speaking of the Twins though, KSTP-AM can’t be thrilled that their expensive “partnership” with the Twinkies netted them only a meager 0.4 increase in adult listeners. That ain’t good.

It’s worse than that; apparently whatever numbers they got from the Twinks didn’t transfer to any of the station’s regular programs.

Now, to the fun part – drive time:

STATION … AUDIENCE SHARE
KQRS ……..22.9 (Barnard)

Say what you will about Barnard, his personality, his show’s teenage-boy orientation – but speaking purely clinically, it’s kind of fun to be able to watch one of the industry’s most enduring phenomena, year-in, year-out.  Barnard is the Walter Peyton of radio; year after year after year, he just continues to dominate.

KS95……….9.3 (Greg & Cheryl)

Not speaking clinically in the least, it’s great to see Greg Thunder (the first Mr. Eleanor Mondale) score.  I knew Greg nearly 20 years ago; he’s one of the good guys.

Speaking of good guys:

The Patriot…1.1 (Bennett/Ingraham)
KTLK……….1.0 (Hines/Conry)
AirAmerica….0.5 (Press/Miller)

All of the usual caveats about numbers below 2 points still apply – but this is just plain fun.  Forget about Bill Press and Stephanie “The Liberal Laura Ingraham” Miller – the fact that the syndicated Bennett is beating the local legend (and expensive but pointless host)  (UPDATE:  Ex-host, actually) John Hines is a sign of how badly Clear Channel is handling KTLK.  And it’s reportedly worse after 8AM, where the syndie Laura Ingraham is reportedly body-slamming the local (and, honestly, not-bad) Dan Conry in the mid-morning slot.

Now, let’s move to afternoons:

STATION AUDIENCE SHARE

AM1500…5.3 (Soucheray/Thomas)
KTLK…..2.3 (Hannity/Lewis)
AirAm….0.8 (Hartmann/Heaney)
Patriot..0.5 (Medved/Hewitt)

Lewis’ performance is counterintuitive; he should  be dominating the late-drive slot against the limpid sportstalker Matt Thomas.  Forget Clear Channel – his numbers are a disappointment to me – Lewis is the host I always wanted to be when I grew up.

As to the vital AAo’M vs.Hewitt battle – that’s an interesting question.   The Mark Heaney show has expanded to two hours, which merely makes Heaney twice as excruciating. Remember – I’m being pretty clinical here.  Heaney is boring enough to be on MPR, but smooth and professional enough for KFAI.

On the other hand, Hewitt’s numbers lately are pretty terrible.  Part of that, no doubt, can be chalked up to the inter-election slump that always bedevils conservative talk.  Part of it is the Patriot’s technical bugaboos, which seem to be worst in the afternoon (and have even made me tune out).  And part of it, perhaps, is that Hugh Hewitt might, perhaps, overestimate the fascination the American people have  for the inner workings of the legal system; as someone who is not only a big fan but an acquaintance (whose own radio show owes a lot to support from Hewitt in the first place), there’ve been times where even I get tired of endless insider-noodling about appellate court decisions.  Hewitt will benefit when both he and the audience switch into election mode (provided the Patriot gets its’ pernicious technical bugs squared away).

The next year, with a national convention and a presidential election, is going to be the real test.

And (not speaking clinically at all, now), I’m looking forward to it.

Simon,

For the past quarter-century, I’ve been pointing out to people that you are, in fact, Pete Townsend’s little brother. Of course, it’d make not the faintest shred of difference, and nobody would care…

…but for your great shining moment, Sweet Sound – the album that put you on the map, back in 1983.  And the cornerstone of that album was “I Am The Answer”, one of the most perfect pop songs ever written.

Cut with your old band (bassist Tony Butler and drummer Mark Bzrzecki, who joined Big Country around this time), centered around a spare, chiming guitar part and the gorgeous interplay between you and Butler’s vocals, the song was an exhilarating wonder. I’ve been wanting to find it for years.

So now I have an IPod, and ITumes.  And I went looking.  And found it.

Sort of.

No, the version available on ITunes is not the Sweet Sound take.  It’s a newer version.

And Simon?  Bubbie?  We gotta talk.

Where the old version was low-key and gorgeous, the new one is shrill and constipated-sounding.  Where Tony Butler’s harmonies on the original defied vocal gravity, the new version sounds like you’re backed by a bunch of Scottish football hooligans.

See to this, can we?

That is all.

The word is “pundit”.  Pronounced “pun-dit”. 

Not “pun-dint”. 

“Pun-dit“. 

That is all.

KAR commemorates their third blog anniversary with a very special holiday video production.

So git on over there and wish ’em a happy birthday!

Rep. Kohls challenges SOS Ritchie over alleged abuses of his office.

Brodkorb, as usual, has the story.

A DFLer friend of mine sent me this photo of Kathy Lantry, Mayor Coleman and Dave Thune at one of the DFL victory parties last night:

Oh, that was a cheap shot.  I’m sorry. 

But, as Sheila notes with her usual impeccable timing, it is the anniversary of the Russian Revolution today.

She describes with her usual pithy passion her fascination with the Oktyabrskaya Revolutsiva [1]:

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: any time some politician starts talking to you about Utopia, grab your loved ones and run for the hills. Make sure you are heavily armed. Utopianism is one step away from totalitarianism. In order to actually achieve any kind of Utopia, the individual must be ground to powder. There can be no individuals in a Utopia. But …. er … no matter what you do, you cannot get rid of the individual. Totalitarian states don’t care that their very IDEAS are illogical. They just want absolute power.

This is the secret in the secret book in 1984. This is what nobody told you, although their actions spoke loud and clear. The point was NEVER equality. The point was ALWAYS power – and controlling power into the hands of a very few. But the theories and ideals surrounding this secret were compelling to so many … many still refuse to believe that there is no secret. That the smokescreen of equality was STILL the real point.

Apropos – as they say – nothing.

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I voted last night, natch.

I voted a straight Republican ticket, to the extent that it mattered. “Big surprise, there”, I can hear some of you writing. Well, it’s not as big a lock as some of you might think.

SaintPaulicy had some predictions; sorry to say, he blew a couple.

We only had two races in St. Paul last night; School Board and City Council.

There was good news and status quo news.

St. Paul School Board

18609 19.78 ANNE CARROLL
16828 17.89 KAZOUA KONG-THAO
13258 14.09 TOM CONLON
13126 13.95 KEITH HARDY
—————————-
11683 12.42 KEVIN RIACH
08969 09.53 DAVID PETERSON
07976 08.48 JENNETTE GUDGEL
03106 03.30 BERNARD RUPPERT
00511 00.54 WRITE-IN**
== == == == == == == == ==

It’s good news that Tom Conlon – the district’s sole sane member Republican, got re-elected. It’s even better that he made the cut in third rather than fourth place, by a 132 vote margin. Saint Paul’s students thank you, voters. (Next election, could we see about chasing Tom Goldstein from the building?)

I voted a straight GOP ticket – Conlon, Peterson and Gudgel – and for my fourth vote wrote in my cat, Nosemarie. She’s becoming Saint Paul’s most-seasoned campaigner, I think; she’s gonna get elected one day.

Now, off to the city council, where the news is just plain worse:

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-01
2633 57.50 MELVIN CARTER
1932 42.19 DEBBIE MONTGOMERY
0014 00.31 WRITE-IN**

This is bad news; the Gang of Four is now the Gang of Five. It’s a bit of an upset – SPicy predicted “Debbie Montgomery has a past of being a history maker in Saint Paul. She is the first African-American female police officer, City Councilor and holder of other notable successes. What Debbie will now be is the first African American woman to be re-elected to City Hall. ” Blah.

Carter is yet another nutso liberal. Hang on to your wallets, Saint Paul. Montgomery was a voice of moderation on the district – ergo, the DFL put her on the hit list.

Big tent. Hahahahaha.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-02
2733 53.02 DAVE THUNE
2399 46.54 BILL HOSKO
0023 00.45 WRITE-IN**

This was a much closer race than expected. Thune should have buried Hosko without much effort.

Speaking of burying…

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-03
4369 86.29 PAT HARRIS
0639 12.62 GERALD MISCHKE
0055 01.09 WRITE-IN**

Sigh.

Now, to my ward:

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-04
3115 80.93 RUSS STARK
0691 17.95 TERRANCE BUSHARD
0043 01.12 WRITE-IN**

The GOP in Saint Paul is a disorganized mess; there’s no money to mount a credible campaign. Which is a shame, since – even though there was never a chance that a standard Republican would win in the smug, government-employee-clogged Fourth Ward, the open seat left by Jay Benanav was at least a place to make a race of it.

The Fourth Congressional District GOP habitually starves the city of money, focusing its’ efforts north of Larpenteur Avenue. It has to change.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-05
2124 51.52 LEE HELGEN
1983 48.10 DAVID HAAS
0016 00.39 WRITE-IN**

This hurts.

The “anti-Helgen” movement did their homework, pounded their pavement, and worked their butts off to remove the (in my opinion) loathsome Helgen from his seat. A charter member of the Gang of Four, Helgen squeaked through.

Blah.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-06
2507 53.69 DAN BOSTROM
2142 45.88 PAKOU HANG
0020 00.43 WRITE-IN**

Bostrom – one of the district’s few voices of sanity – withstood a full-court push. Thank goodness.

COUNCIL MEMBER WARD-W-07
1737 71.25 KATHY LANTRY
0689 28.26 JANINE KELLEY
0012 00.49 WRITE-IN**

Lantry is the boot on the Saint Paul taxpayer’s throat, (seeminglyl) forever.

As part of my continuing mission to make the English language suck less, I’m going to continue my quest to have certain words and phrases dragged out behind the outhouse and shot in the face.

Anon:

1. “Political Kabuki” – May anyone that uses this phrase for any non-ironic reason (and most ironic ones, frankly) be forced to commit political seppuku.
2. Fo Shizzle – while it was passé for white guys to add “izzle” to words a la Snoop Dogg even before Mr. Dogg started the trend, I think we now have ample reason to take anyone who carries on the tradition and make them a pizzle. And I’m not talking Snoop-talk.
3. “Brah” – This is the white-trash variant on “Bro”. It happens because the vowel “ah” takes less muscular effort in the face than the more-conventional “o” sound in “Bro”. Its recent popularity shows that Orwell was right; decades of lowest-common-denominator education have begun turning our language into “Duckspeak”, an unintelligible brand of gibberish. Anyway – for the sake of freedom, to say nothing of the language – say “Bro”, or just keep your gabbling gob shut.
4. “Developing” in reference to a “story” on a blog – you are not a news operation, and the story is not “developing”; you just ran out of stuff to write about, and you’re not very bright to begin with.

That is all.

UPDATE: Ed from Eagan writes to note “[Brah] is Hawaiian, FYI. It’s not a white-trash variant on Bro, although it may seem that way when you watch Dog the Bounty Hunter. ;-)”

Very well. Say “Brah” until the poi get submerged in pohoehoe. IN Hawaii. You can hang out at the drop-in counseling center bail bond shop with Dog the Bounty Hunter and say it all day! Just not here on the mainland.

Thanks.