Surely there must be some place in downtown Saint Paul that makes an edible Cuban Sandwich…

 …mustn’t there?

Por favor?

Saint Paulicy – the best Saint Paul politics blog there is – is covering the…er, odd Pakou Hang campaign for city council:

For a mere fifty cents a day over what was then 10 days left, you could answer the call of the campaign to fund Pakou in her 10 day muffin eating marathon. The campaign sent out a plea for more money to help send Pakou “over the top.” The campaign missed a golden opportunity to call on supporters to help send Pakou over the “muffin top.”

At first SPicy thought that Pakou had scored a major endorsement from Sally Struthers and the Feed the Children Foundation, instead Pakou is soliciting donations to feed herself.

Hang is running against councilman Dan Bostrom:

City Council Member Dan Bostrom should donate $500 in gift certificates for muffins and coffee for Pakou. Then he can just sit back while Pakou does her campaigning in locally owned neighborhood coffee shop featuring organic gluten free muffins while she ponders what she is going to do after the election…The DFL left her hanging weeks ago focusing their efforts on Wards 1 and 5.

It’s actually an idea for fighting hunger…

Now she wants supporters to buy her muffins. If the voters of Ward 6 decide to send Pakou to City Hall, SPicy will eat a big old bran muffin, and you know what’s next.

Hm. I think I’d take a shot at Sakura or Murray’s. Or at least a bagel shop.

Not a big muffin fan.

Ever since the immediate aftermath of the 35W bridge collapse, a parade of lefty pundits lined up to blame the disaster on lack of state aid to local govenrments, closed libraries, and the war in Iraq for all I remember.

The response – let’s wait until actual engineers investigate this thing.

Well, they’re still investigating.  But according to federal transportation officials, Bthere’s a working theory, and that theory is that Nick Coleman suffered a stroke has, has, so far, nothing to do with money:

The top federal transportation official said that investigators have a “working theory” of why the 35W bridge collapsed in August: a poorly designed metal component called a gusset plate and excessive weight on the bridge that day.

U.S. Transportation Secretary Mary Peters’ comments Thursday mirrored statements she made in August, a week after the collapse, and like her previous comments immediately led to controversy. The National Transportation Safety Board, which is investigating the collapse, has said a formal finding will not be available for at least a year.

Everyone knows this.  But knowing that the investigators have narrowed things down to a short list of theories does help…

…in dealing with this kind of thing:

Sen. Steve Murphy, chairman of the Senate Transportation Committee, said Peters told a gathering Thursday in Washington, D.C., that he attended that “a finding of fault was not going to be lack of inspection or lack of maintenance” by state officials.

“I think it taints the findings,” he said.

No, Senator Murphy.  It taints the spin you and your party want to bring to the upcoming election.

It is all politics to the likes of Murphy.

But a spokesman for Peters said Murphy’s account of her comments was inaccurate.

“What she said is, look, I’m not going to prejudge what the NTSB is going to find, but the working theory that they are operating on, and this has been in the news for about two months now, is that there was a combination of a gusset plate and too much weight placed on a certain part of the bridge,” spokesman Brian Turmail said.

“Certainly, the NTSB would want to look into whether lack of maintenance was a factor in the collapse of the bridge,” he said. But Turmail added that “the working theory at the NTSB is that it is not a lack of inspections, but a design flaw and weight.”

Doesn’t seem all that controversial, does it?

Unless you’re someone for whom the bridge collapse was nothing but political red meat in the first place:

Later Thursday, Rep. Ron Erhardt, R-Edina, confirmed Murphy’s account. “Murphy was sitting behind me and I turned to him and said, ‘What is this?'” Erhardt said. “To hear that it wasn’t maintenance or inspection, I thought, ‘What the hell?’ I remembered early reports about the gussets and I thought, what is that but lack of maintenance?”

I have to sit still for a minute.

I need to breathe slowly.

In.

Out.

In.

Out.

Rep. Erhardt:  If the gusset plates were (as the “working theory” postulates) poorly designed – meaning “not designed to be capable of relieving the stress on the joints that they needed to under the circumstances” – then their maintenance would (under my understanding of the theory) be irrelevant.

If you design a gusset plate (and its attendant bolts and welds, and its interaction with the rest of the structure) to transfer fifty tons of weight from girder A to arch B, and there’s really eighty tons being transferred, it wouldn’t matter if the plate were brand new out of the box; there’d be a problem.

A design problem.

Not a maintenance problem.

The Strib piece – by Patricia Lopez – notes the real importance of this theory. Oh, and it has nothing to do with the bridge falling over:

A design flaw would give administration critics less of an opening to hold current officials at the Minnesota Department of Transportation or Gov. Tim Pawlenty responsible.

And – oh, yeah, just like all of us people who care about science and stuff have been saying all along – it’s not over yet:

“It’s true, yeah, we are looking at the design issues and the gusset plates and the weight of the construction materials and equipment on the bridge,” NTSB spokesman Peter Knudson said. “We’re also looking at the maintenance and repair history. We’re looking at the de-icing fluids — any role they may have played. We basically haven’t ruled anything out yet.”

But you can smell the fear, can’t you?

It’s interesting; for all the yapping the left does about the (caricaturish, cartoon-y parts of the) right’s flailing about with non-issues like evolution and creationism, it’s amazing the contempt the (caricaturish, cartoon-y parts of the) left has for science.

…I’m telling y’all to get out to the Weblog awards to vote for Sheila O’Malley in the Weblog Awards’ “Best Literary Blog” contest. 

Well, she’s not in this year – but my old friend/adversary Erik Hare (AKA “Transit Geek”) is, for his litblog.

So give it a read, and if you’re so inclined, vote away!

After last fall’s incident involving middle school kids passing meth around in class, among other things,  this sordid incident almost seems like a return to a simpler, more innocent time:

Tipped off by some odd behavior during science class and a 15-year-old who had trouble negotiating a school stairway, St. Paul school officials discovered that four girls had shared a water bottle filled with vodka during their second-hour class Monday.

It almost seems like something Beaver Cleaver would do, in context.

Politico says Norm is going to endorse Rudy:

Sen. Norm Coleman (R-Minn.) plans to endorse the presidential campaign of former New York Mayor Rudolph Giuliani, according to Republican sources.

It’s a union of two Brooklyn-native, non-Protestant former mayors.

True – although I’m wondering what “non-protestant” has to do with it?

Giuliani will also make a joint appearance in Washington on Friday morning to accept the endorsement of another U.S. senator whose name has not been disclosed, the sources said.

The endorsement holds clear advantages for each of them. It could bolster Giuliani’s argument that as nominee, he would have the chance a better chance of putting certain Democratic states in play than some other Republicans would.

Pat Shortridge writes at TvM:

Ideologically, the former mayors are compatible. Norm is a bit more conservative than Rudy on social issues; Rudy more conservative than Norm on the fiscal side.    

As with his work on things like uncovering corruption in the UN Oil for Food program, Norm realizes that there’s more to being a conservative than fiery speeches, you have to get results.  The same applies to Rudy.  In Rudy, I’m sure Norm sees executive competence, ability to get things done, and a willingness to lead on tough issues. 

Of course, the corollary is both have been willing to lead in the wrong direction, at times.

Still – it’ll be big news.

Keith Ellison stands up for corruption:

Requiring photo IDs to vote in federal elections would be banned under legislation introduced Wednesday by Rep. Keith Ellison, who said such requirements disenfranchise minorities, the poor, women, elderly and young people.

“While photo IDs seem harmless, they are in fact the modern day poll tax,” Ellison, D-Minn., said in a statement.

While appeals to logic with supporters of someone like Keith “X” Ellison are probably futile, one is bidden to try.

How, precisely, is a photo ID – something that is equally available to everyone regardless of race or economic status – anything like a “poll tax” which was, in fact, designed to keep people from the polls?

How dare Ellison trivialize the ghastliness of the Jim Crow laws like this?

Ellison, who serves on the Judiciary Committee, got an important backer for the bill, as the panel’s chairman, Michigan Democrat John Conyers, signed on a co-sponsor.

Color me “not shocked”.

Ellison noted that people do not need a photo ID to vote in Minnesota.

 And we’ve not had (much of) a voting scandal, which shows that Minnesotans are either very lucky, very blind or uncommonly virtuous.

“In Minnesota we go to great lengths to make voting as inclusive as possible,” he said, arguing that has helped with voter turnout.

The mania for “turnout” as a goal in and of itself is absurd. 

While I support the right of everyone, no matter how ill-informed or ignorant, to vote, I value “inclusiveness” at the polls less than I do “smart voters”.  Dragging busloads of ignorant, uninformed people to the polls – whatever the party – does nothing good for our democracy.

Making elections amenable to the ignorant, the uninformed and the lazy (to say nothing of the many Democrat initiatives to re-enfranchise felons – who, factually, seem to be America’s most solid Democrat constituency) cheapens the franchise for everyone – and, more importantly, means this nation will be run by ever-lower common denominators of people.

Fill in the snark of your choice right here.

Rep. Lamar Smith of Texas, the ranking Republican on the House Judiciary Committee, said that requiring a voter ID helps preserve the integrity of the voting process.

“The right to vote is one of the most fundamental liberties we have as Americans,” he said. “And to protect that right, we must ensure that those who vote do so legally.”

But “the integrity of the voting process” is the last thing Keith “X” Ellison would seem to care about.

But what on earth is the big problem with ensuring people are who they say they are?

Bun and Zam, my kids, are both teenagers now.  They bring all the things kids usually bring to one’s life; sullen, crabby disobedience, stubborn crankiness, a level of consequence that I as an adult know all too well and that they as overgrown babies do not.

But some things from their younger, more innocent years remain.  For instance – blood-curdling, hair-yanking sibling rivalry.

So I read this bit from Sheila O’Malley about a passing observation while walking amidst the trick-or-treaters in rural New York City, and smiled at the familiar…emotion.

Emphasis added:

I became aware that 2 small boys, probably aged 6 or 7, were literally rolling around on the pavement in a scuffle. Rolling. They weren’t throwing punches, or being too rough, they were just wrestling fiercely. One was dressed as Elvis in Elvis’ bloated Vegas later years, and one was a skeleton. Standing over the two fighting boys were two mothers, and as I approached I heard one of them say – in a voice that could only be described as FLAT – she wasn’t pleading, or cajoling, or scolding. She had been in this situation 5,000 times and was merely speaking the truth. She is an ADULT being faced with the absurd intensity of children – and she accepted it – but she did not succumb to it. I heard her say, “Nobody’s costume is better than the other’s…” which already made me start laughing. Elvis and the skeleton were rolling around due to competitive feelings about costumes. But it was her TONE that really struck me. I just fell in love with her. She was barely paying attention, actually – she was chatting with the other mother, and broke focus long enough to say, “Nobody’s costume is better than the other’s …”

On the one hand, I’m picturing Fran Drescher pulling on a piece of chewing gum as she grinds the language through a North Jersey accent.

On the other – I’m at the point where “flat” is all I can personally muster for yet another kid squabble.

Since I’ve gotten an IPod (a 30G video with a cracked LCD whose repair is in my December budget), I’ve just started to troll the world of podcasts.

And this piece from Saint Cloud’s public station – the recollections of a Holocaust survivor – is one of the great discoveries.  As we honor and lament the passing of the World War II generation, we should also recall that the Holocaust survivors are passing as well.  The survivors today were largely the teenagers and children of the ghettoes and camps – and they’re not getting any younger.

Anyway – this is the stuff that is public radio at its best.  Give it a listen.

I mean, you’ve already paid for it, right?

…private and charter schools have ever gotten:

People decisively favor letting their public schools provide birth control to students, but they also voice misgivings that divide them along generational, income and racial lines, a poll showed.

Sixty-seven percent support giving contraceptives to students, according to an Associated Press-Ipsos poll. About as many – 62 percent – said they believe providing birth control reduces the number of teenage pregnancies.

85 percent of this particular polling sample also said that giving away Coca Cola in the cafeteria would curb obesity.

…to, and prayers for, the Night Writer and his family.