Various cities around the Twin Cities are debating raising the standard for garage door strength, noting that in many suburban tornadoes, the real damage begins when the garage door blows out.

When high winds, especially tornado winds, hit a typical suburban house, the failure of many garage doors to withstand the force can become the first link in a disastrous chain reaction. Minnesota has moved in recent years to require somewhat stronger construction standards for doors, but communities elsewhere have gone further.

The theory is that the failure of the garage door makes the rest of the garage a wind scoop. causing greater damage to the house and sending huge parts of the garage sailing into neighboring houses.

Some communities are answering by requiring the doors be able to withstand a 90mph gust, up from the current standard of 80mph.

Some question whether stronger garage doors are worth the additional cost, since no door can stand up to the full fury of nature.

Er…I’m no engineer, but why not just build a panel into the back of the garage that blows off (hinged downward, so as not to fly across the impeccably-maintained lawn and smash things) at 95mph, relieving the pressure inside the garage?

Would it not be cheaper than building armor-plated garage doors?

Code Pink tries to break up a group naturalization ceremony for new US citizens at Monticello – Thomas Jefferson’s old home.

President Bush invoked the memory of Thomas Jefferson Friday in welcoming new U.S. citizens at a naturalization ceremony at Monticello, saying “I’ll be proud to call you a fellow American.”

On his final U.S. Independence Day as president, Bush told an audience Friday at the home of the Declaration of Independence’s author that he was honored to be present for the naturalization. Shouts from protesters were heard during Bush’s remarks, and the president responded by saying he agrees that “we believe in free speech in the United States of America.”

Gateway Pundit covered the incident:

GWP notes that:

The crazed Pinko running at President Bush is Desiree Farooz, the same lunatic who assaulted Condoleezza Rice with “bloody” hands at a Senate hearing last October. This dangerous woman is going to get seriously hurt some day.

It’d be uncharitable and wrong of me to add “…if there’s any justice in this world”. Nope. Not gonna say it.

I would not want to see some Polish or Georgian or Laotian or Burmese or Tibetan or Cuban or Vietnamese, who risked life and livelihood to uproot themselves from tyranny (even former tyranny) and travel halfway around the world, backhand this “woman” in mid-specious-chant, and give her a picturesque and metaphorically-rich but ultimately-harmless bloody nose. This, I do not want to see. Because this slimy, pustulent, skeezy hag’s right to free speech is just as important as yours (and, if Nancy Pelosi gets her way, more important than half of yours will be).

It was nice of the Leftists to ruin the naturalization ceremony for the new Americans and their families.

C’mon, GWP – it’s all about them.

GWP also goes into this fella’s connections.

Oh, yeah. Don’t dare call them unpatriotic.

In Saint Paul, the Republicans rented space in a couple of nearly-empty old (1890’s) office buildings that had sold (to the current owners, not the GOP) for $10. 

Hm.  Saving money.  Good, conservative management.  (Comment about the Bush Administration’s spending excised for excessive obviousness). 

How about the Dems?

Democratic National Convention Committee decided not to take cheap office space and instead rented top-quality offices in downtown Denver at $100,000 a month, only to need less than half the space, which it then filled with rental furniture at $50,000 a month. And in a costly misstep, the Denver host committee, early on, told corporate donors that their contributions were not tax-deductible, rather than to encourage donations by saying that the tax-exempt application was pending and expected to be approved.

So that’s where all the dotcom CEOs went.

Ed has more.

As we approach the twentieth anniversary of Rush Limbaugh’s radio program, Zev Chafets has a fascinating profile coming out on the man in tomorrow’s New York Times magazine.

It’s about 8,000 words, and very worth a read. I’ll have some comments next week.

UPDATE: The leftysphere reacts with the sort of class we’d expect.

I’ve long had a theory that people are best-acclimated to the weather they were first exposed to.

For example, when I left the hospital it was 25 degrees below zero.  I rarely button my jacket if it’s above 10 degrees, and love the winter (commuting and getting kids to school aside); the dog days of summer pretty much incapacitate me if I’m not violently and constantly physically active.

Dad, on the other hand, was born in the hottest summer in history.  The temperature stayed in the 120s in central North Dakota during that year, the height of the dust bowl.  And Dad, as long as I can remember, was immune to heat; on a 95 degree day he could play five sets of tennis, have a cup of iced tea, and knock out 18 holes without breaking a sweat.  Of course, if it got below 40 degrees, he’d start like a Fiat, but them’s your tradeoffs.

Of course, heat resistance is a thin claim to fame.  Dad has more claims, naturally.  Here’s a good story.

In 1986, I was working at KSTP.  I was producing “The Company Challenge”, a lame game show at the Criterion, a bar/restaurant in Bloomington.   During the break the host, Mike Edwards, phoned out to the studio.

“Hey, Mitch – there’s a couple of guys here who’re asking if you’re related to a Bruce Berg who taught English in Rugby, North Dakota in 1960”.

“Yep”, I responded.

“Ah.  They say he was the best ever…”

He was the best high school teacher anyone ever had; everyone in Jamestown ND either had him in class, and/or had kids who had him, and/or had parents who’d had him.  Sometimes two out of three (although Dad claims to have had no three-generation families), and everyone says he was the best ever.  Including me.

His signature subject was speech, which he taught as long as I can remember.  He took generations of scared, stage-shy kids and turned them into capable public speakers – and took at least one born ham and taught him some technique and love of the genuine aesthetics of the subject.  Everyone should have such a speech teacher.

Beyond that?  The only thing on earth that rivals his command of baseball trivia is my knowledge of music trivia.  And he’s got the book to prove it.

Anyway – happy birthday, Dad!

Today on the Northern Alliance Radio Network – we’ll be enjoying the Fourth of July holidy with our famillies.  

• Volume I “The First Team” – Chad, John and Brian will do their thing via the magic of digital recording from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I will redound from the ether from 1-3.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King virtually joins Michael from 3-5.

So tune in to all six hours of the Northern Alliance Radio Network, the Twin Cities’ media’s sole guardians of sanity. On the air at AM1280 in the Metro, or streaming at AM1280’s Website, or via podcast at Townhall.

And don’t forget the David Strom Show, with David Strom and Margaret Martin, from 9-11!

I’ve taken a good chunk of this week off from work. I don’t take a lot of vacations, and the ones I do take tend to be on the busy side.

This week? No big plans. Housework. Yard stuff. No biggie.

But yesterday – well, along about mid-afternoon, I’d had about enough.

I jumped on the bike, and did something I’d wanted to do for quite a long time:

1. Rode down Energy Park to the U of M Intercampus busway.
2. Took the bike path alongside the busway into the U of M.
3. Crossed from the east to west banks of the U on the Washington Avenue bridge. Spent some time looking over the staging yard on the west bank flats, down below; it’s where they load the barges with new sections for the 35W Bridge reconstruction, about half a mile upstream).
4. Over to Cedar/Riverside
5. Down the bike path along the light rail line
6. Over the “Sabo Bridge” – the big single-suspension bridge over Hiawatha, and thence onto the Midtown Greenway across town.
7. To Lake Calhoun…
8. …and then around Lake Harriett…
9. …to the Minnehaha Creek bike trail.
10. Then, up East River Road to Marshall…
11. and home.

Not sure how far it was, but it was a gorgeous day, and all in all it beat the heck out of vacuuming.

Nothing but one-word answers – and you can’t use any word twice:

1. Where is your cell phone? Bike.
2. Your significant other? Far.
3. Your hair? Shaddap.
4. Your mother? Enthusiastic.
5. Your father? Solid.
6. Your favorite time of day? Morning.
7. Your dream last night? Racine.
8. Your favorite drink? Smithwick’s.
9. Your dream goal? Happiness.
10. The room you’re in? Library.
11. Your ex? Which?
12. Your fear? Money.
13. Where do you want to be in 6 years? Studio.
14. What you are not? Mellow.
15. Your Favorite meal? Loukanikos.
16. One of your wish list items? SIG.
17. The last thing you did? Oatmeal.
18. Where you grew up? NoDak.
19. What are you wearing? Smelly.
20. Your TV is? Tiny.
21. Your pets? Voracious.
22. Your computer? Underpowered.
23. Your life? Stressful.
24. Your mood? Anxious
25. Missing someone? Yes
26. Your car? Taurus.
27. Something you’re not wearing? Shoes.
28. Favorite store? Willy’s.
29. Your summer? Decent!
30. Your favorite colour? Green.
31. When is the last time you laughed? Earlier
32. When is the last time you cried? Dunno.
33. Your health? Improving!
34. Your children? Vexing.
35. Your future? Rife.
36. Your beliefs? Freedom.
37. Young or old? Irascible.
38. Your image? Contradictory
39. Your appearance? Rare.
40. Would you live your life over again knowing what you know? Da.

(Via Red)

The Millard Fillmore Golf Tourney is almost upon us.

And the greatest tradition of all – selecting the sausage to be grilled at the Post-MilF party – has begun.

And for the love of all that is holy, Italian Sausage must beat out Brats or that other sausagoid product whose name is too foul to utter.

So go here and do what’s right.  Italian. Please, please, please.

Michael Brodkorb: “Joe Bodell lied about his identity to smear me on Wikipedia”.

Joe Bodell: “I know you are but what am I?”

No word yet on whether Bodell has turned his crack investigative skills on Brodkorb.

In the rush of other events yesterday, I neglected to write a post I’ve had in my mental notes for years. July 2 was the 145th anniversary of the epic charge of the First Minnesota Regiment.

The charge was one of the pivotal moments in the Union victory in the battle of Gettysburg, and arguably of the entire Civil War.

The first of nine regiments of Minnesota troops that fought in the war, the First was the only one to serve in the Army of the Potomac, the key eastern theatre of the war (the other eight regiments served up and down the Mississippi, and in fighting against the Indians in Minnesota and the Dakota Territory).

The First had served throughout the Army of the Potomac’s operations throughout the war; like most veteran regiments, it was down from its initial strength of about 1,000 men when it mustered at Fort Snelling, to 262 on the morning of July 2; the Union army didn’t replace men lost to casualties or illness, preferring to muster new regiments (with the attendant political appointments that went along with forming a new unit).

The First was part of the wave of reinforcements that raced to Gettysburg when it became clear that Lee’s invasion of the North was heading into central Pennsylvania; the day before, Union cavalry under General Buford and the First Union Corps had stopped Lee’s advance in a furious rear-guard action in and around the town of Gettysburg; the First Brigade of the First Division of the First Corps, the “Iron Brigade” – largely Wisconsin and Michigan troops – had suffered eighty percent casualties repelling the Confederate advance until evening and the wave of reinforcements that brought the Minnesotans to the scene.

On July 2, we take up the story by Wayne Pafko at the U of M, and a website on the Regiment:

“To support Maj. Gen. Dan Sickles’ hard-pressed Third Corps, Brig. Gen. John C. Caldwell’s division of the Second Corps was moved to the left, leaving a large gap in the center of the Union line. About 5:00 p.m., parts of Hall’s and Harrow’s brigades were shifted to the left to fill that gap. The First Minnesota was shifted to the left about six hundred yards in support of Evan Thomas’ Company C. Fourth United States Artillery on Cemetery Ridge. From this position, the Minnesotans had a grandstand seat from which to observe some of the war’s most savage and bloody fighting, although at times the smoke of battle obscured their view… When at times the smoke lifted enough to see, the First watched with increasing anxiety as the Union left crumbled under the sledgehammer blows of Longstreet’s Corps. They witnessed the disasters taking place before them, and their apprehension increased rapidly as they saw Sickles’ Third Corps fallback, slowly at first, then in some disorder. The men felt a foreboding of disasters to come. The First Minnesota now occupied the former position of Caldwell’s division. The 262 Minnesotans were hardly an adequate replacement… It was a very thin line, and the batteries on Cemetery Ridge were in grave danger.”

In the fog of war, under immense Confederate pressure, there’d been a snafu, and a Union division had bailed, leaving a hole in the line big enough for Lee to march his entire army through.

It was clear that something had to be done. “…General Hancock, commander of that portion of the battlefield, quickly studied the situation and determined that this Southern rush must be halted, regardless of the hazard. With only a single aid he rode desperately toward the station of the First Minnesota. Reserves had been sent for, they were known to be coming, but the delay might be fatal. If only the approaching troops could be delayed for five minutes, the impending catastrophe could be averted. Hancock galloped madly up to Colonel Colvill and demanded to be told the name of the latter’s regiment; on being told it was the First Minnesota he immediately gave the order to ‘Charge those lines’ and at the same time pointed to the oncoming Confederates.” (P1,p.71)

“Colvill, and every member of the First realized what they were being asked to do – sacrifice themselves to gain the few minutes Hancock and the Union army so desperately needed. Without hesitation, the Minnesotans responded quickly to Colvill’s orders, and, in a moment, the regiment was moving down the gentle slope on the double. The eight companies of 262 men present formed a front of not much more than a hundred yards, as they headed towards the Confederate brigade of more than a thousand men.”

It couldn’t end well, naturally:

The First Minnesota was engaging a force over four times its size. Alfred Carpenter described the advance… “We advanced down the slope till we neared the ravine, and ‘Charge’ rung along the line, and with a rush and a yell we went. Bullets whistled past us; shells screeched over us; canister and grape fell about us; comrade after comrade dropped from the ranks; but on the line went. No one took a second look at his fallen companion. ‘We had no time to weep.'” (C1)

Henry Coates also described the charge… “It seemed as if every step was over some fallen comrade. Yet no man wavers, every gap is closed up… bringing down their bayonets, the boys press forward in unbroken line. Men stumbled and fell. Some stayed down but others got up and continued.” (M1, p.82)
“When the Confederates were only about thirty yards away, Colvill ordered his men to fire a volley into their faces, causing much confusion. Wilcox’s second line returned the fire through the remnants of their own first line, and, according to Colvill, ‘felling more of their own men then ours.’ Colvill shouted, ‘Charge,’ and with a wild yell and leveled bayonets, the First sprang forward, smashing head-on into the somewhat disorganized first line of Wilcox, which recoiled in the confusion back into his second line; both fell back across the dry run and a distance up the far slope…Quickly, the men of the First took whatever shelter they could find behind rocks and the shallow banks of the creek bed, as they began the struggle to win those precious five minutes of time Hancock and the Union army needed. Seemingly confused by the audacious and savage attack upon him, Wilcox’s Alabamians kept their distance from the First, but poured a continuous and heavy fire into the ranks of the Minnesotans. Casualties were extremely heavy…Receiving fire from the front and both flanks, the First could not hold its position much longer, but the attack gained the precious five minutes of time, and a bonus, that the Army of the Potomac needed. Fifteen minutes or more went by – an eternity to the men in the smoky glen. The Confederates poured a murderous fire into the regiment. Meanwhile, Hancock succeeded in rallying some of the Humphrey’s division, which re-entered the fight.”

At last the reserves reached the First Minnesota, and the danger was ended. But at what cost…

Of the 262 that started off on the charge, 47 walked out. 82 percent of the regiment was killed or wounded that day.

But it made all the difference; the charge gave Hancock time to reinforce the position along the row of hills, forcing the Confederates back to the lowlands to the west. Reinforced overnight, the row of hills became an impregnable position, into which Lee sent Pickett’s division the next day on its ill-fated charge into a the meatgrinder that broke the back of the Confederate invasion, and with it General Lee’s will and the future of the rebellion.

A monument to the First stands across from the Cathedral above downtown Saint Paul. Many of the First’s officers and men, including Colonel Colvill, are the namesakes of streets around and about Saint Paul.

No word on whether the MinnPost would just as soon forget the whole thing, but for my part, I won’t.

I’m a conservative. No surprise there.

But when it comes to a couple of things, I pretty much suspend politics. My day job would be one example; good interaction design isn’t political.

The other is the business and tactics of radio; while my political sympathies are obvious, when it comes to the business and the craft itself, I’m supremely clinical. I’ve said in the past that Janet Robert (GM at the local Air America affiliate) could hire me has her Program Director and I’d do a better job that whomever she’s got doing it now (not that she could afford me), without even impinging on notions of my own political orientation.

Good business is politically agnostic.

That’s just the setup to the real piece here: the pack on the left is getting a chuckle over Rush Limbaugh’s eight year deal with Clear Channel:

“I think it’s a monster error,” [CNBC contributor and Vanity Fair contributing editor Michael] Wolff said. “I know – I’m sitting here saying, ‘What are these people smoking?’ You know, the truth is that Rush Limbaugh has been – he’s ridden the rise of conservatism for 25 years and I don’t, maybe nobody quite, quite has been following the news, but that’s coming to an end.”…”According to a link posted on the Drudge Report on July 2, a New York Times Magazine story will reveal on July 6 that the long-time conservative talk show host has secured a 9-figure signing bonus. The report says the total package is valued north of $400 million.

Now, the irony here is that Michael Wolff is, more or less, the equivalent of a talkradio personality, only in print – and as such, he should (and, I suspect in the pit of my gut, does) know better.

Again, we’ll come back to that.

Wolff based his assessment on the assumption Americans are shifting to the left politically, based on the success of presumptive Democratic nominee Sen. Barack Obama, of Illinois. Wolff’s comments repeated Obama’s theme word “change” at least six times.

“It’s going to be over and Rush Limbaugh in a relatively short period of time is going to look like a really kind of out-of-it kind of oddity,” Wolff said. “And I can not for the life of me imagine how someone could have made this deal.”

Again, we’ll come back to that.

Wolff, y’see, isn’t the only one coming up a buck short in the perspective department:

Brian Stetler, a media report for The New York Times, appeared with Wolff and maintained Limbaugh was worth the deal. However, he suggested Limbaugh may have to “be a little less conservative.”

“[I] don’t think it’s a good sign though for the ad market,” Stelter said. “I talked to Clear Channel and Premiere Radio today and they said it’s pretty much a flat-to-declining market. That said though, Rush is looking at the long-term and if he has to reinvent himself, if he has to be a little less conservative – I think he will, as long as he can retain that audience.”

Let’s take a whack at this.

Does anyone remember when Limbaugh got started? It was 1988. Tne end of the Reagan Administration. For all of Reagan’s accomplishments, there’s no way around the fact that outside of foreign policy, the last two years of the Gipper’s administration were not the ones that’d go on his resume. Petty scandals, media riposte over Iran/Contra and our involvements in Central America, and some legislative setbacks had some of the punditry – including George Will, if memory serves – declaring that conservatism as Reagan had practiced it was dead. George HW Bush was talking “compassionate conservatism; pundits said America was wearying of the right.

This was the market into which Limbaugh launched, twenty years ago this summer.

And yet while there’s no way you can say America has had as conservative a president as Reagan in the past twenty years, times have been – to say the least – good for Rush Limbaugh and the industry he led to prominence, pariah-dom and immense profits over the past twenty years.

However, Wolff wasn’t convinced there would be a demand for conservative talk radio – including talk radio host and Fox News Channel’s “Hannity & Colmes” co-host Sean Hannity. Even though eight of the top 10 talk show hosts on Talker’s magazine “2008 Heavy Hundred” list are conservative hosts, Wolff asserted the era of conservative talk radio is drawing to an end.

“I mean, I think that there’s another underlying thing here and this is talk radio has been the province of conservatives, if that’s going away – then there’s going to be a big problem – not just for Rush, but obviously for Sean Hannity, too,” Wolff said. “And I do not think in a major way that it’s a question of them becoming less conservative to follow a less conservative audience. They are conservative – that’s what they do. If they can’t do that anymore, they are worth much less than they are being paid.”

Well, there’s a huge “if” in there. There’s no rational sign that the demand for conservative talk has changed.

Still, Limbaugh has demonstrated his ability to maintain high ratings no matter who is in power. He enjoyed much of his success during the eight years of the Bill Clinton administration – a Democratic presidency, as CNBC’s Julia Boorstin pointed out.

“I think the theory here is that Rush Limbaugh has held up despite who’s been in office and he has a loyal listener base,” Boorstin explained. “These are people who tune in every single day, in the same way that people want to tune into Howard Stern. Limbaugh has his audience and they’re going to be tuning in no matter who’s president – whether it’s a conservative administration or a liberal one.”

Let’s get one point firmly established, here; Limbaugh, and all of conservative talk radio, is at its best when it’s swimming against the current in Washington (and, for that matter, Saint Paul). There is, indeed, an argument (a badly flawed one, at that) that conservatism is at its best when its on the outside, firing in; with Limbaugh and conservative talk in general, that’s certainly true.

An Obama presidency would usher in a second Golden Age for Limbaugh, and conservative talk in general.

Conservative talk has never been about being on top of the trends (assuming Obama’s “audacious change” is a broad social trend at all); indeed, even when conservatism was at its peaks in the past twenty years, conservative talk radio nagged and hectored conservatives to stay true to the beliefs that got them there; it’s to the GOP’s chagrin in 1996, 2006 and, likely, this fall that they didn’t listen.

Not so, says Wolff (emphasis added):

“You know, I just think that that’s myopic,” Wolff said. “Things change and when they change, they change in a big way. And we are now looking at that kind of change. It’s the kind of change, which if you run a large public corporation, you’re supposed to look at and say, ‘Hey, wait a minute. There is something here and this is something that we have to take into consideration.’ When change comes, it is going to be devastating and absolute.”

The only “change” involved in this campaign (I’m stepping out of clinical mode here) is that a Chicago ward heeler has managed to armor himself with a perfectly vacuous set of slogans.

So forget Michael Wolff’s advice; go long – if not on Clear Channel, then at lest on conservative talk in general (barring, of course, federal action to censor it via the “Fairness” Doctrine.  Government intervention inevitably skews markets, pretty much always to everyone’s detriment).

Here’s the funny part:

Wolff isn’t exactly batting 1.000 when comes to this sort of analysis. Jack Shafer, a media critic for Slate.com called Wolff a “sloppy, lazy media columnist” in a May 5, 2005 column.

“Gifted with a hyperactive and malicious mind, Wolff’s forte is not reporting and analysis. It’s the oh-aren’t-I-naughty clever slur, a talent worth admiring if not applauding, especially when you’re the target. Which I, and the Web site I call home, am,” Shafer wrote.

He’s a pundit who looks for an emotional hook to his statements – something to keep people tuning in to see what he’s going to say next.

Just (stepping back into clinical mode) like a talk show host.

(Via Gary at LFR)

The MinnPost, in observance of Minnesota’s 150th birthday, is compiling a list of Minnesota events they’d just as soon forget.

And some of them, to be honest, make me wonder.  I mean, I know, I know – you don’t dare insult anyone’s patriotism, yadda yadda – but:

1943
The Minnesota Legislature asks the federal government to set up a prisoner-of-war camp to replace the droves of workers joining the military in World War II. About 3,000 POWs were held in 21 camps between 1943 and 1945, according to “Uncle John’s Bathroom Reader Plunges into Minnesota.”

Why would we want to “forget” that?  For starters, it was a fact – the war left Minnesota’s farms drastically short of labor.

Beyond that?  It was a huge success.  The father of a German friend of mine from college had a father who was captured during the war, and spent time at a camp near New Ulm.  The treatment he received at the hands of his captors convinced him that the American way was the right one.  Steven Ambrose in Citizen Soldiers mentions other German Kriegsgefangene who, after spending time “incarcerated” in the New Ulm area (where many people spoke and still speak German), decided to immigrate.  It’s exactly the sort of thing Michael Yon talks about as America’s greatest strength in the global war of ideas.

Forget it?  We oughtta celebrate it.

Of course, one person’s “thing to forget” is another person’s “reason to celebrate”, I suppose:

1984
Nov. 6 — Democratic presidential candidate Walter Mondale of Minnesota loses 49 states, and the election, to Ronald Reagan.

Courtesy of the Minnesota Historical SocietyWalter Mondale and Geraldine Ferraro campaigning in 1984.

I always save a few extra fireworks for election day, just to celebrate the landslide.  But I guess I can see why the MinnPost doesn’t.

And there’s this other one that pops up several times:

1865
By the end of the Civil War, 1,800 Minnesotans lose their lives in the war between the North and the South.

1918
2,716 Minnesotans lose their lives in World War I by its end in 1918.

1945
By the end of World War II, 6,278 Minnesotans lose their lives serving in the war effort.

1953  
By the end of the Korean War, 688 Minnesotans have died in the fighting.

1975
By the end of the Vietnam War, 1,072 Minnesotans lose their lives.

Nah.  Not forgetting anything.

Of course, some things unite Minnesotans across most divides:

1919
Minnesota Congressman Andrew Volstead fashions legislation, called the Volstead Act, to criminalize booze. He is later tossed out of office and spends years heading prohibition enforcement for the Midwest out of offices in what is now Landmark Center in St. Paul. The Women’s Christian Temperance Union built a monument to him in Rice Park, which for some reason has disappeared.

Atomizer?

Marie Castello – “Madame Marie” from the Asbury Park New Jersey boardwalk – died last Friday:

The psychic reader and adviser was in her mid-90s.

Castello told fortunes on the Asbury Park Boardwalk since the 1930s.

She became famous worldwide in 1973 when Bruce Springsteen paid homage to her in the song, “4th of July, Asbury Park (Sandy).”

Didja hear the cops finally busted Madame Marie
for telling fortunes better than they do?
For me this boardwalk life’s through, babe.
You oughtta quit this scene too…

The song – and her appearances in stories Springsteen would tell onstage (most notably during his extended band introduction during “Tenth Avenue Freezeout” over the decades) made her a bit of a celeb; she’s popped up in all sorts of other pop culture references (including an appearance on Chef Anthony Bourdain’s TV show).

This morning I was talking with Leaky, my pet beagle.

“Nothing like a nice cup of joe in the morning”, I said as we walked back from the coffee shop.

“Yeah.  But I saw cockroaches in the kitchen”.

“Huh?  What are you talking about?  You never even went near the kitchen…hell, the place doesn’t even have a kitchen”.

“So?”

“Well, did you or did you not see cockroaches?”

“Yes”

“In the coffee shop?”

“Well, in a coffee shop.  In Guadalajara.  Eight years ago.  But nobody has to know that”.

“So in other words, Leaky, you want to talk crap about the coffee shop and its owner because…”

“Well, because I can”, Leaky responded.

“What do you mean?” I replied, somewhat dumbfounded.

“Well, I’m just a dog writing under a pseudonym.  Nobody has the faintest idea who I am.  I can say anything I want!  I can say that Mark Gisleson is a closet Republican!  I can say that PZ Meiers is a secret priest…”

“But none of that is true”.

“So?”  Leaky added, a wry grin crossing his face.  “I can say that Eva Young has posters of Michele Bachmann and that Swiftee has posters of Eva Young…”

“Oh, good Lord, Leaky…” \

“…and nobody can say or do a thing about it, because I’m anonymous – or, to be correct, pseudonymous”.

I walked, sipping my coffee.  “But then if they found out your real name, and people could start digging into your past…”

“NO!”, Leaky yelled, stopping cold in his tracks.  “DON’T EVEN JOKE ABOUT THAT!”  A glint of panic welled through his eyes.  “THERE ARE SOME CRAZY PEOPLE OUT THERE”.

“Right, Leaky.  And you…”  I started, and let it go.  “So in other words, you want to be able to write any crap you want without consequences, but you want to be insulated from the same thing yourself”.

“Yep”, Leaky said, panic having subsided, taking a sip from his mochaccino.  “That’s pretty much it”.

“Oh.  So…” I pondered, “if people were to know that your real name is…”

“NO!  DON”T!  I CAN’T HEAR YOU!”, he bellowed. sticking his paws in his ears.  “I CAN’T HEAR YOU!  NYA NYA NYA NYA NYA”

“Well, I mean, it’d only be…”

“NYA NYA NYA”.

“Oh, OK.  Relax.  Mums’ the word.”

“Cool”, he said, taking another slug.

“And the fact that you work at a prominent local…”

“NO!  NO!  NO!  NYA NYA NYA!  NYAH!”

I shook my head.  “You are one strange dog”.

“Yep”, he said, calm as suddenly as he’d gotten exercised.

Kouba at TvM wonders – what if the Obamesseiah were the father co-parent of our country?  What would his farewell address have looked like?:

My fellow Subjects of the British Crown,

In looking forward to the moment, which is intended to terminate the career of my public life, my feelings do not permit me to suspend the deep acknowledgment of that debt of gratitude, which my country owes me.

When I pulled back our forces from Yorktown, it was because we had already been fighting for far longer than any world war I could possibly imagine. It was time to end that illegal war and bring peace, peace which can only come when we talk to our enemies.

Oh, read the whole thing already.

Depending on who you ask, the upcoming elections are going to shake out one of two ways:

1. Democrats, riding a wave of Bush-weariness and hope for audacity, are going to massacre Republicans
2. Shocked by Democrat tax and spending proposals, voters will opt for Republicans.

“What election are you talking about?” you might ask.  And the response is “yes”.

I’ve seen the numbers that show Barack Obama trouncing Mac this November – and seen some other fairly plausible cases pointing toward a potential Mac blowout.

As to Congress – well, OK, the theory breaks down a bit there.  This is going to be a bad year on Congress.  Indeed, if the Dems come out of this election at anywhere less than 80-20 in the Senate and with less than 340 seats in the House, it’ll be tantamount to a defeat.

But in the Minnesota Legislature?  Things are a lot less clear there.  The Dems have two years with a crushing majority, and have done a fairly risible job; after two sessions of complete control, all they have to their credit is a huge tax hike, Carol Molnau’s scalp, and not a whole lot more.

Sarah Janecek is breaking down the ten most-in-play races over at Politics in Minnesota – today is the first installment.   Check it out.

I gotta confess, when I read about the Texas Polygamist flap last spring, this was the last thing I expected:

A new clothing brand may be born out of the Texas raid on a polygamous sect.

FLDS women for the first time are offering their handmade, distinctive style of children’s clothes to the public through the Web site fldsdress.com.

Launched initially to provide Texas authorities with clothing for FLDS children in custody, the online store now is aimed at helping their mothers earn a living.

The fun part will be trying to figure out a way to make them next year’s hot ironic fashion statement by dinkytown hypstrz.

After six years of trying, I found all of Men Without Women  by Little Steven and the Disciples of Soul on the ‘net.

I’m so stoked about it, I can even listen to “Princess of Little Italy” with a smile on my face, knowing that “Lying in a Bed of Fire”, “Save Me”, “Inside of Me” and the title cut all await.

Dennis Haysbert – formerly “President David Palmer” on 24 – says that his role on the hit show may have given people positive mojo about a black president:

“If anything, my portrayal of David Palmer, I think, may have helped open the eyes of the American people,” said the actor, who has contributed $2,300 to the Illinois Democrat’s presidential campaign.

“And I mean the American people from across the board — from the poorest to the richest, every color and creed, every religious base — to prove the possibility there could be an African-American president, a female president, any type of president that puts the people first,” he said Tuesday.

To be fair, Haysbert’s “Palmer” had coherent policies, and didn’t change his statements from season to season episode to episode.  While “Palmer” was a Democrat, he was more of a Bill Richardson than a Jimmy Carter.

Now, Wayne Palmer…

Haysbert, who now stars on “The Unit” on CBS, made his comments to reporters during a teleconference call promoting the upcoming American Century Celebrity Golf Championship at Lake Tahoe.

Haysbert, who also played Nelson Mandela in the 2007 film “Goodbye Bafana,” said his role as President Palmer seemed to “confuse people” who would approach him on the street “every day, almost every hour, and ask me to run.”

“I still, even after three seasons into `The Unit’ playing Sgt. Maj. Jonas Blaine, I’m still asked by people on the street to run,” he said.

Now, Sergeant Major Blaine I’d vote for.

Demko at the Minnesoros “Independent” brings the allegations (from an organization that shares funders with the “Independent”):

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington has filed a complaint with the Senate’s ethics committee calling for an investigation into whether Sen.Norm Coleman’s Washington living arrangements violate the legislative body’s gift rules. The questions stem from recent revelations that Coleman rents a $600-per-month basement apartment on Capitol Hill from Republican operative Jeff Larson.

Joe “Learned Foot” Tucci responds:

And the story here is what, exactly? If the landlord was trying to payoff the Senator or give him a side-door gift, what about the other 8 months (2007: July August September October & December; 2008: February, April, May and possibly June) when the rent was paid on time and the checks were cashed. Why November and January? Why hold just the March check? Certainly there can be no other explanation for the 3 relevant months in this casual business relationship?

Not if your a Soros funded hatchet jobber trying to get moonbat liberals elected without having to actually defend your stupid stances on taxation, energy policy and national defense.

Sometimes it seems like the local leftyblogosphere is paralyzed by MDE Envy:

Finally, for those barking seal MDE wannabe lefty douchebloggers wondering why the MNGOP is just attacking CREW and not addressing the substance of the charges, it’s really very simple.

It’s because there is no substance to address.

People ask me why I keep dinging on the “Independent”, when it is by any objective measure a complete failure; they have a higher payroll than some radio stations I’ve worked at, but about the same circulation as Shot In The Dark.

It’s simple. As Foot showed us last week, these organizations – “Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics Among Republicans In Washington”, Media Matters, the Center for “Independent Media” and all of its subordinate affiliated blogs – all get their money from the same little circle of deep-pocketed lefty activists.

And that’s their right. But on the chance that there’s a news consumer out there who doesn’t know exactly what they’re getting – not just from the “Independent”, but from the rest of this chain of financial cause and effect – then I’m gonna try to fix that.

It is their right. And I’ll defend it (although it’s interesting to notice how many of the “Indy’s” staff were at the “Media Reform Conference” in Minneapolis last week, cheerleading on cue for the notion of reimposing the “Fairness” Doctrine, which is a direct attack on conservatives’ freedom).

All that, and sometimes it’s just fun beating on the hapless.

UPDATE:  Of course I’m too charitable. Brodkorb has, to quote Paul Harvey, the rest of the story.

Which brings up a question:  while it’s possible that most of the media that are breathlessly reporting on Coleman’s apartment are unaware of…:

• …the links between the CREW and Franken’s campaign, and…
• …the financial ties linking the Center for “Independent” Media and CREW…

…it’d be an insult to Steve Perry and Paul Demko’s unquestioned intelligence to assume they don’t.

Chris Steller at the Minnesoros “Independent” is asking for town-related political plays on words:

Sen. Barack Obama has shown a remarkable willingness to fly across the country for appearances in especially apt-named places like Independence, Mo., and Unity, N.H. Here are some other possible destinations for Obama and others:

Obama explains for the 60th time that he’s Christian, not Muslim

– Dead Horse, Alaska

Sen. John McCain announces Gov. Tim Pawlenty as his running mate- Boring, Maryland

Oh, and he asks – perhaps to his eventual chagrin…:

Got more? Use the comment feature to add to this itinerary.

Loath as I am to send traffic to a Soros propaganda mill, this could be fun.

Jay Reding on Obamamania:

It’s hardly unusual to see a candidate inspire their partisans—that’s what a good politician does. What is so unusual about Obama is the level of fervor that surrounds him. He is treated like a rock star in a way that even Clinton was not. The Obama campaign is less a traditional campaign that it is a movement.

I think it’s worse than Jay lets on.  I think that a big part of Obama’s “movement” is verging on a personality cult.  The “messiah” references, the unmoderated mass adulation (about nothing so much as him, himself), the masses of people mawkishly investing their political hopes and dreams into a personality that has given no rational reason beyond him…

…well, as Jay notes it’s not “about the issues”:

Political campaigns are, or at least should be, about ideals. The Obama movement is about nothing deeper than some vague vision of “change”—a value that could mean everything from marching through Poland to changing the national anthem to “Kumbaya” and inviting Osama bin Laden to a nationwide love-in. “Change” is an empty slogan, the intellectual equivalent of junk food—filling, but never offering anything of substance.

And if it were just about “change” there’s no reason to suspect that Obama would be ahead. Every candidate in this race talked about change. The real force behind the Obama campaign is not mere change, but force of personality.

And we know how well those work in office.  Right?

One thing about liberals; when the courts rule in their favor, they demand compliance, and to silence all opposition (see: Planned Parenthood protests).

But let them lose a case, and their weaselling looks like one of those hapless schlubs on Cops: “Officer, can you prove that was me driving the car? Just seeing me alone in the car isn’t proof…”.

And the unintended consequences…well…

Carnivore at TvM noticed this little bit:

D.C. has decided that it will only register revolvers and is refusing to register semi-automatic handguns, the type which millions of people find suitable for self-defense and in common use.

So, the Ruger Mark II pistol chambered in .22LR, with 10 shot magazine is still banned.

But the Smith & Wesson 617 revolver in .22LR, with 10 shot cylinder is not banned.

The Smith & Wesson Model 500 revolver with massive .50 Caliber cartridge (Right) is OK.

(Not to scale)

But the Beretta 950 Tomcat chambered in marginal .32ACP with 7 shot magazine is still banned.

And lest you thought Carnivore wasn’t a real gun geek – yes, he did peg the ultimate handgun trivia question:

I wonder what the police manual says to do if someone tries to register a rare Webley-Fosbery semi-automatic revolver.

That’s right – a semi-automatic revolver.

(MINNESOROS MONITOR STAFFER: “You mean they’re not all semi-automatic?”)