It was Wednesday, August 17, 1988.

After I turned down the apartment on York Street, it was time to get down to business; we had two weeks to find a place for the three of us to live.

And not a day went by where I didn’t have a bad feeling about my decision. While Wyatt had a brief stretch of relative sobriety, it was always more a matter of situational tactics than a change in lifestyle. He dried up enough to get a job with an asbestos-abatement company. “I’ll be able to pay some of the back-bills I owe”, he said, not-all-that-convincingly.

But as soon as the checks started coming in, he started hitting the bottle again.

And while he was a fairly jovial drunk, most of the time, you could see bits and pieces of ugly leaking out. He’d yell at someone, smack one of the dogs…the usual alcoholic stuff.

The worst? The day after I called the guy who’d offered me the apartment, Teresa – Wyatt’s gorgeous “girlfriend” – came over during the day, unannounced. Wyatt, of course, had another girl – a west-side Mexician girl named “Rosa” – over.

I was down in the basement working on some project or another in the early afternoon; Teresa walked in, and apparently caught Wyatt and Rosa in flagrante. First came the yelling. From where I sat, it sounded like Teresa actually got the better of Rosa, who walked out (or so I heard from the footsteps). Then the real fight, with thrown laps and scratching and kicking and a little actual bloodshed, started. I heard six feet walking out the door above me; Teresa had apparently taken one of the dogs.

Wyatt came ambling down the stairs a few minutes later – until he got to the bottom of the stairs. Then he broke into a run out the door. From the basement, I could hear the screaming on the front lawn; Teresa had apparently keyed Wyatt’s car before she left.

I thought briefly about calling the guy on York to see if the apartment was available. I figured there was no chance…

At any rate, we found a house for rent in the Pioneer Press; a three-bedroom frame out in Swede Hollow, on the East Side. The house was on an impossibly-narrow one-way street, surrounded by dilapidated houses with people sitting out on the porches; bullet holes stitched the walls of at least two houses. The whole enterprise smelled like “crack neighborhood”. But it was three bedrooms, no garage, $500 a month. I think the landlord liked the fact that we didn’t look like Section Eight or crack dealers; he offered us the place on the spot.

I walked away from the meeting relieved to have a place, but not really feeling good about the whole thing.

…drop what you’re doing at get out to Eagan.

As this is written, Col. Joe Repya will be starting his big sign giveaway in the parking lot at Stephano’s in Eagan – the corner of Highway 13 and Cliff Road  – starting at noon, and going until 3 or until they run out, whichever comes first. 

And the smart

I say that because they should run out fast – as in, possibly within the first hour or so. 

What to do with them?  From Colonel Joe Repya’s press release (I’ve added emphasis):

At noon on September 1, the anti-war crowd claims they’ll have upwards of 50,000 marching from the Minnesota Capitol Building to the Excel Energy Center where the Republican National Convention, at the Excel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

We are asking everyone who supports our men and women in uniform defending America in the War on Terror to line the streets from the Excel Center with our signs. It is our way of being “Minnesota Nice” and wishing these protesters a “nice day in Minnesota.” We encourage no discussion or verbal exchange with the demonstrators – only a pleasant “smile!

So show up!  I’ll be heading up there in a few minutes.  See you at noon-ish at Stephano’s!

Both Obama and McCain have historically been pro-environment and to a varying degree anti-drilling advocates until they felt the pain among their would-be constituents as gas prices squeezed their budgets and subsequently the economy.

McCain has opposed drilling in ANWR. In the past he’s compared it to drilling in the Grand Canyon. But as energy prices climbed over the past several months, he has been careful to avoid locking himself into an anti-drilling position.

First it was a loosening of the noose on offshore drilling, a move even whatshername Pelosi is now conceding (no doubt with a veritable fur ball of strings attached).

“It bodes well for him as a pragmatic and wise and experienced statesman,” says (Alaska Governor) Palin. “What he’s doing here is he’s calling an audible when conditions on the field are changing.

McCain is moving to beat Obama to the punch as he reconsiders his position on drilling ANWR. One has to wonder if he is actually changing his philosophy or simply executing a tactical adjustment to capture the political high ground before Obama gets back from vacation.

Part of the calculus at work is that, like McCain, Obama has moved to get closer to where voters are on drilling but the Democrat likely couldn’t go as far as flipping on ANWR.

For months, McCain had worked hard to portray Obama as “Dr. No” on energy. With his statement, Obama became Dr. Maybe-Under-the-Right-Circumstances.

McCain advisers are eager to restore a sharp contrast on energy and say they’re skeptical Obama will ever voice support, however qualified, for drilling in ANWR.

The only way McCain can move upmarket on Obama is to shift his thinking on oil from offshore drilling to ANWR, and hope that Obama won’t match him move for move.

(Governor Palin) added: “And I know up here in Alaska, most every Alaskan believes that ANWR should be drilled, and no one cares more about Alaska’s environment–our lands, our wildlife, our fresh air, our clean water–than Alaskans themselves. And we know that this can be allowed safely, cleanly, ethically–this type of exploration and development of an American supply of energy.”

That last point could be significant. When McCain changed his position on offshore drilling earlier this summer, he did so on federalist grounds. If states believe that drilling can be safely done off their shores, and choose to allow it, he argued, the federal government should no longer stand in their way. He could make the same argument on ANWR.

The real question is whether either candidate’s shift will translate in January to future increased domestic crude oil production. In the mean time the American consumer has turned his nose up at the pumps, allowing reduced demand to drain the market for now. But supply is the only solution to the current crisis until viable technology to replace the use of fossil fuels presents itself.

…or was that Jim Belushi?

In any case, I was listening to the radio the other morning and an Al Franken ad came on, telling the listener how hard Al Franken has been working for blue collar workers or some other crapola. How has he been working for anyone? He’s never held public office and looks certain to continue his loser streak.

NY Sun: When Democrats this spring sized up Al Franken’s bid to win a Senate seat in his native Minnesota, they saw plenty of promising signs: an engaging and famously funny candidate familiar to voters, a stockpile of campaign cash, and a vulnerable incumbent Republican.

Less than three months before Election Day, however, the Republican seat held by a former New Yorker, Norm Coleman, looks safer than ever

The Franken campaign has been a comedy of errors from day one. Normally I’d feel bad for the guy…actually that’s a lie. Al Franken is a putz and I couldn’t be happier that his candidacy is looking more and more like a painfully awkward standup comedy act, rehashing material that wasn’t funny in the first place.

Coleman may very well have been vulnerable but the Democrats blundered badly in their endorsement of Al Franken, grossly dismissing his vulgar and easily recalled “work”. Franken’s transparent attempts to disassociate himself with his musings on pornography and rape were ineffective and Minnesotan’s are increasingly dismissing his candidacy.

The Wellstone/Dayton legacy of most embarrassing Minnesota Senators is safe from being superseded for now.

Looking to bounce back, Mr. Franken shook up his campaign staff last month and brought in a group of veteran Washington operatives, including a former aide to Senator Schumer and John Edwards, Eric Schultz, and a top adviser to Senator Clinton, Mandy Grunwald.

But political analysts in Minnesota say the damage may be too great. The race, they say, has become a referendum on Mr. Franken rather than the incumbent — an ominous sign for any challenger.

Franken’s fairly justifiable claims (if you take Coleman’s voting record at face value) that Coleman is a pawn of the Bush administration, has failed miserably to gain traction. Rather, Franken’s now well documented trail of failure, incompetence or fraud, depending on how charitable you are, has taken the wind out of his sails.

Mr. Franken emerged as the star of Air America Radio, hosting a talk show on the liberal start-up network, which struggled to find a foothold.

The Fairness Doctrine wouldn’t have saved it either. And the hits kept not coming…

First came the disclosure that he faced $25,000 in penalties for failing to pay workers’ compensation for the corporation he had set up in his name in New York. Then, following a story broken by a Republican blogger, Mr. Franken in April announced that he was paying $70,000 in back taxes and penalties to 17 states.

All the while, Mr. Franken continued to be dogged by off-color jokes and writings from his career as a satirist. In particular, Republicans pounced on a sexually explicit parody he wrote for Playboy, titled “Porn-O-Rama.” Also unearthed was a 1995 article from New York magazine, which reported that Mr. Franken once proposed a joke for “SNL” about raping the “60 Minutes” correspondent Lesley Stahl.

News Flash: Failed SNL material apparently doesn’t play well in Minnesota. Yuck it up, Al.

With Mr. Franken’s campaign seemingly sputtering, a little-known St. Paul attorney, Priscilla Lord Faris, announced in July that she would challenge Mr. Franken in the DFL’s September 9 primary. Initially a supporter of Mr. Franken who had contributed to his campaign, Ms. Lord Faris said she concluded he was unelectable.

In an interview, she attributed Mr. Franken’s problems to his long absence from Minnesota. “It’s the total package. We kind of call it the New York City problem,” she said. “The root of it is that he’s been out of touch with Minnesota for so long that he didn’t understand that we don’t talk like that here.”

All may not be lost. Maybe Kathy Griffin is looking for a warm-up act. Don’t let the barn door hitcha on the way out Frankenfreak.

Today, the Northern Alliance Radio Network brings you the best in Minnesota conservatism from 11AM-5PM:

• Volume I “The First Team” –Brian, Chad and John kick off from 11-1.
• Volume II “The Headliner” – Ed and I hold forth from 1-3. Georgia – and our pols’ responses to it – will likely be on our mind.
• Volume III, “The Final Word” – King and Michael will be dishing the Minnesota smack 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!

Tomorrow’s the pick-up day for Joe Repya’s latest sign campaign:

Pick ’em up at Stephano’s in Eagan – the corner of Highway 13 and Cliff Road  – starting at noon, and going until 3 or until they run out, whichever comes first. 

I say that because they should run out fast – as in, possibly within the first hour or so. 

What to do with them?  From Colonel Joe Repya’s press release (I’ve added emphasis):

At noon on September 1, the anti-war crowd claims they’ll have upwards of 50,000 marching from the Minnesota Capitol Building to the Excel Energy Center where the Republican National Convention, at the Excel Energy Center in Saint Paul.

We are asking everyone who supports our men and women in uniform defending America in the War on Terror to line the streets from the Excel Center with our signs. It is our way of being “Minnesota Nice” and wishing these protesters a “nice day in Minnesota.” We encourage no discussion or verbal exchange with the demonstrators – only a pleasant “smile!

So show up!  So I’ll see you Tomorrow a Noon at Stephano’s!

Leave a comment here and/or at the Colonel’s blog if you plan on showing up.

Reading this is like a trip down memory lane:

A top Russian general said Friday that Poland’s agreement to accept a U.S. missile defense battery exposes ex-communist nation to attack, possibly by nuclear weapons, the Interfax news agency reported.

The statement by Gen. Anatoly Nogovitsyn is the strongest threat that Russia has issued against the plans to put missile defense elements in former Soviet satellite nations.

Ah, just like high school; the Russians perceive a “threat”, they respond with bluster and threats.

Of course, when I was in high school, the president was someone who caved in to those threats; who acquiesced to Communist expansionism around the globe; someone for whom audacity and hope were more important than security.

Twenty years ago, calling the Soviet bluff caused the house of cards to collapse.

Of course, the Soviets offered nothing to the west but a threat.  The Russians – while presiding over a crumbled, failing nation – have oil and natural gas as well as tanks and missiles.  They’re also not only institutionally paranoid about invasion (having been the stomping ground for invaders from Greeks and Huns through the Mongols and Germans), but they’re now surrounded by independent nations – Poland, Mongolia, Georgia, Hungary, the Czech Republic, Bulgaria – that hate the Russians with a ferocity that can only come from centuries of history.

So are our kids going to have to live through another Cold War?  Is the the Russia/Third World axis of the Sixties and Seventies going to recap itself with the Islamofascists – possible in reverse, with Islamists using Russia as a conventional proxy?

Is our next president going to be a Carter or a Reagan?

It was Monday, August 15, 1988.

I called the guy with the apartment – the affordable, gorgeous apartment with the $275/month rent in the not-tops-but-who-cares-I’m-6’5-and-have-a-gun neighborhood…

…and told him I was gonna find a place with my roommates.

I think it was the commitment of jumping my rent $100 a month higher, looking back.

But I do remember that I knew almost instantly it was a very bad idea.

When I saw the lefty blogs en phalanx crowing about the factoid that a survey of the military showed them giving to Obama by a 6:1 margin over Mac, I sat up.

Wow. Gotta check this out.

Zack Stephenson of MNPublius’ tone was a lot like all the rest of the leftyblogs that wrote on the subject (hmmm):

I thought the Republicans were supposed to be the party of the military:

According to an analysis of campaign contributions by the nonpartisan Center for Responsive Politics, Democrat Barack Obama has received nearly six times as much money from troops deployed overseas at the time of their contributions than has Republican John McCain…

Wow. Given that Bush crushed Kerry in troop donations (and votes; 4:1 with active duty troops, 3:1 with reserves) four years ago, that’d be big news, if it’s entirely true.

Of course, that’s the “if” you always have to run down when it’s “news” spread simultaneously through the Sorosphere.

Allahpundit:

The left will happily run this up the flagpole, just as Ron Paul’s supporters did last year, despite the fact there are so many variables in play that no one’s quite sure what the actual significance of it is. Is it evidence that the troops favor withdrawal? Evidence that the military’s trending left? Evidence that Obama’s supporters are more enthusiastic than McCain’s? None of the above? All of the above?

To really know, we’d have to know a couple of things; a big one would be “sample size”, the number of troops and contributions being sampled in the “Study”.

And we don’t know that. Remember that fact. We’ll come back to it shortly.
We do know a couple of things. Back to Allahpundit:

But again — what is it, precisely, that we’re noting? The fact that Paul does disproportionately well among the same group probably means it’s a war thing; it may be that there’s a core group of troops who are passionately opposed to extending the occupation for whatever reason and they’re willing to donate to candidates to achieve that end. That group was likely too small in 2004 to help Kerry given how recent the invasion still was, but after five years it’s grown along with the rest of the anti-war tide among the electorate. Evidence, then, that most troops want out? Maybe! Except … the data doesn’t specify whether the donations came mostly from Iraq or were spread out around the globe, and interestingly, the one branch where McCain leads Obama in contributions is the one most likely to see the hardest action — the [US Marine] Corps. Beyond that, the would-be McCain soldier-donor has a hurdle to clear on his way to his checkbook that the Paul and Obama donor doesn’t. By kicking in to Maverick, he’s making it marginally more likely that he’ll continue to be deployed in the field and away from his family in the future. Even if he agrees with McCain’s foreign policy, thinks we ought to finish the job in Iraq, and is willing to continue serving bravely and well to that end, it’s asking a lot to ask him to pay for the privilege.

They got their anecdotes, we have ours.

Oh, wait. Remember when I said to remember the fact that we don’t know the sample size?

That’s not exactly true:

Of the hundreds of thousands of American soldiers, sailors and airmen currently deployed around the entire world, 134 — about the size of a company or a handful of platoons — have contributed to the Obama campaign. This is blockbuster news, folks.

Here, let me use the original sensational headline instead:

Troops Deployed Abroad Give 6:1 to Obama

Anecdotes, data…whatever. Obama Fever is obviously blitzkrieging through the ranks.

The Sorosphere: Distrust and Verify.

Gary Gross at LFR – fresh off his I-don’t-know-how-many-th Instalanche – covers the Parnell/Young race in Alaska, pitting a conservative against a RINO.

Gary’s leded: things are looking encouraging for Parnell, the conservative.

Farther down:

A new generation of politicians are climbing the ladder. Sarah Palin and Sean Parnell are prominent members of that new generation. Other members of this generation’s new leaders include Mike Pence, Jeb Hensarling, Eric Cantor and Michele Bachmann in the House, Tom Coburn, Jim DeMint and John Thune in the Senate, Gov. Palin in Alaska, Gov. Jindal in Louisiana and Gov. Pawlenty here in Minnesota.

It’s time for the GOP to start cleaning out the deadwood that’s accumulated in Washington, especially in the House. It’s time we started re-establishing the GOP brand. It’s long past time to start giving people reasons to trust us again.

Cleaning out the RINO deadwood in Washington and Saint Paul is vital, of course.

Even more important in the long term: getting more conservatives into offices at the bottom of the order; school boards, district councils, water boards and the like.

We’ve had some success: we’ve had Republicans elected to three community councils in Saint Paul, now (although two of them might not know it just yet). Expect more in the next round. Getting conservatives into the offices that might not get in the news, but do face people fairly regularly on pocketbook and community issues is a bet on the future; it shows people that the left’s cynical lies about conservatism and Republicans are just that; lies.

When the dust settles from the Presidential election, that’s going to have to be a big priority for conservatives.

My friend Sloan Skjellerup is finally blogging; “A Gal’s Gotta Vent“.

And lordy, does she ever. I hope she gets around to writing half of the stories I’ve heard from her…

It’s no wonder I hear banjos when I drive into Isanti County.

Perhaps helped along by events in Georgia, Poland has finally signed the crucial paperwork to get a future US missile-interceptor base built on its territory.

The signing comes after Prime Minister Donald Tusk had been holding out for enhanced military cooperation with the United States in return for consent to host 10 interceptor rockets at a base in northern Poland.

Washington says the interceptors and a radar in the Czech Republic would form part of a global “missile shield” protecting the United States and its allies from long range missiles that could in the future be fired by Iran or groups such as al-Qaeda.

“We have crossed the Rubicon,” Tusk said just before the deal was signed.

“We have finally got understanding of our point of view that Poland, being a crucial parner in NATO and an important friend and ally of the United States, must also be safe.”

I have a number of friends in the armed forces in Germany who are very much looking forward to transferring to Poland. One of the most pro-American places in the world, a place where Ronald Reagan’s photo sits on mantelpieces next to Karol “Pope John Paul II” Wojtyła’s, it’d be a nice switch – say they – from Germany, which is constantly ambivalent about Americans.

On the other hand, from the “He Who Forgets His History…” department…:

Officials said the deal included a U.S. declaration that it will aid Poland militarily in case of a threat from a third country and that it would establish a permanent U.S. base on Polish soil in a symbolic gesture underlining the alliance.

“We are comfortable that we negotiated a strong agreement,” Rood said. “It elevates our security relationship to a new level.”

Given the chance of an Obama presidency and the Poles’ experiences in 1939, you’d think they’d be leerier about promises of aid if a bigger, gnarlier power attacks them.

Powitanie, dziękuje, i gratulacja, Polska!

According to Rasmussen…:

Nearly half of Americans (47%) believe the government should require all radio and television stations to offer equal amounts of conservative and liberal political commentary, but they draw the line at imposing that same requirement on the Internet. Thirty-nine percent (39%) say leave radio and TV alone, too.

I have to wonder what kind of rock those alleged 47% live under, to either think…:

• that there isn’t an over-ample amount of both liberal and conservative opinion out there
• that the “Fairness Doctrine” will “balance” anything.

I also wonder something that wasn’t in the Rasmussen breakdown: were part of that 47% conservatives who believed that the “Fairness” doctrine would actually bring conservative points of view to network, non-Fox cable and the major-market print media?

It’d be interesting to see the way the questions were put to the audience. Stating the issue as “should television and radio be balanced by federal decree”, for example, might make respondents think the question was about the general question of “balance”, rather than the left’s attempt to silence talk radio and the conservative internet.

At the same time, 71% say it is already possible for just about any political view to be heard in today’s media, according to a new Rasmussen Reports national telephone survey. Twenty percent (20%) do not agree.

Fifty-seven percent (57%) say the government should not require websites and blog sites that offer political commentary to present opposing viewpoints. But 31% believe the Internet sites should be forced to balance their commentary (full demographic crosstabs available for Premium Members.)

Again, I’d love to know the actual questions.

Is it worth being a “premium member”? Probably not.

Two states – Wisconsin and Illinois – allow no carry of firearms, concealed or otherwise, by (law-abiding) civilians.

And while Illinois’ state government seems unlikely to fix this wrong anytime soon, redoubtable Illini are taking the  matter up at county level.

From the Illinois blog “Right of the Star”:

Voters in Ogle County may soon join a growing number of Illinoisans who can cast a vote for president this November and, on the same ballot, decide whether their neighbor can pack a pistol.

An Ogle County Board committee approved a request from Winnebago County officials to place an advisory referendum on the November ballot asking Ogle voters whether they want to see concealed carry legislation in Illinois.

The request was one of the 101 unsolicited letters that Winnebago County Board Chairman Scott Christiansen’s office sent to every county in the state about a week ago, putting Winnebago County on the front lines of a statewide concealed carry debate.
…
Representatives from other Illinois counties, including Effingham and LaSalle counties, also have looked favorably on Winnebago County’s referendum request in recent weeks.

For those not from the area, Winnebago County is the top center county on the map with Ogle directly below it.  Rockford, Illinois’ third largest city is in Winnebago County.  To the East is Boone County which is set to take up the issue next month.

Illinois and Wisconsin are the only two states without some form of concealed carry and Winnebago County is considering a county law that would allow people to carry if they received a permit from the Sheriff, but a state law would be a far better alternative

For the history of Winnebago County’s excellent leadership on the restoration of rights and the releasing the state from the death grip of Chicago see the concealed carry label here.

By any means necessary, baby.

I was a Fred Thompson supporter before I succumbed to the McCain train. I still like Thompson’s down home straight-talk style. He concurs that the situation in Georgia should give pause to those that would make Obama the leader of the free world.

While Obama might find the need now to visit Georgia for another celebrity world tour photo op, McCain has already been there; some time ago.

My mind goes back to August 2002 in Tbilisi, as I visited Georgia with John McCain. I remember it feeling rather dark and secretive, with the former-Soviet Union’s heavy hand still making its presence felt.

What has happened in Georgia since that time should not be surprising to anyone. Certainly Russia has tried to pretty itself up: it renamed the KGB and even gave its 21st century strongman Vladimir Putin a new title.

But for some time we’ve seen Russia sliding back to its authoritarian comfort zone. Murder, imprisonment and property confiscation are back in vogue for any perceived troublemaker. 

But the one thing we must not do is allow Russia to feel it can get away with (it)

All the while, in Eastern Europe some of America’s staunchest friends are watching to see what the reaction of the U.S. and the west will be to Russia’s latest gambit. The U.S. and others use the word “unacceptable,” undoubtedly with the same effect that we get when we use it with the Iranians.

But the one thing we must not do is allow Russia to feel it can get away with, let alone feel rewarded for, this invasion of a sovereign democratic nation that has also loyally supported coalition efforts in Iraq.

The world is devolving dangerously…and the Democrats are fueling the ambitions of those that would bring harm to the free world.

While this crisis plays out we should also note that these events give evidence of a larger reality: the next American President is going to face an international landscape that is more difficult and treacherous than we have ever faced.

Little help can be expected from our friends in Europe no matter how much it appears that their own interests are at stake.

So let’s recap: international terrorism; powerful nation states on a quest for hegemony, whether close to home or further afield and with a willingness to squelch freedom anytime the opportunity arises; less stable and no less dangerous countries with nuclear and ballistic missile capabilities; an alliance of democratic nations of questionable resolve and a debate at home over our future role in the world with a political party happy to create the impression of diminished resolve with little concern for the long term damage such an impression may cause.

McCain leads the way while Obama body surfs in Hawaii with 80 some days left until the election.

This is no time to elect a president whose international experience is limited to speaking to adoring European crowds who want to see the United States retreat from the world … until they require our help in the next crisis that threatens them.

It has been instructive for the country to see the candidates’ reaction to the equivalent of Hillary Clinton’s 3 a.m. phone call. While he was vacationing in Hawaii, Barack Obama’s advisors scrambled into action and initially came up with the expected liberal bromides which equated the actions of Russia and Georgia and only ratcheted up the rhetoric when they began to actually understand what was happening.

…long before this Georgian crisis, (McCain has) had the correct read on Russia, just as he’s had the right read on what we needed to do in Iraq.

This crisis half a world away confirms what I’ve been saying for a while: This election cycle, the traffic in the world is very heavy …and dangerous; it’s no time to give a kid with barely a learner’s permit the keys to the car.

McCain may be far from the perfect “conservative” candidate but he called the surge correctly and is exhibiting the leadership requisite for the times.

The Russian attack on Georgia is an unfortunate but illustrative trial run for those that would be President.

Obama is treading water.

McCain has revealed a clear, firm, but steady edict for the Russians; exactly what the world needs from America right now.

Hillary was right about one thing. We don’t want to be calling Obama at 3 a.m. or any other time.

It was Sunday, August 14, 1988.

Our landlord – the crazy guy who’d tried to start a group home for victims and perpetrators of sexual abuse under the same roof – had tired of our complaints about sewage leaking into our kitchen cabinets and refrigerators that made better crock pots, and decided to terminate our lease on the first of September.

The landlord was as inept as a property manager as he was a therapist – and, as it turned out, his day job wasn’t much better.  He ran a hardwood floor refinishing business.  Wyatt, Shane and I went to look at a place – a lower-duplex in Frogtown.  We noticed the finish on the floor stopped a solid two inches shy of the wall moulding.

We all started laughing.  “Did [landlord’s name] do this finishing job?”

“Yes”, said the landlady, a rather irritated looking black woman. 

We all guffawed. 

We didn’t get the place.

The guys – Wyatt and Shane – thought the three of us should get a place. “No kidding”, I thought. Shane was making like $4 an hour and couldn’t afford much, and Wyatt no doubt figured it’d be plenty cheap sharing a house with a couple of guys who’d cover him when he skipped his bills. Which was frequently.

Although at least he’d caught the utilities up – once we heard the landlord was kicking us out.

So we started shopping for places.

And so did I. Part of me figured “I gotta get out of this place”. I could sort of afford a place of my own – as long as it was cheap. Part of me figured “what difference does it make?”, and thought I might as well stay with Wyatt and Shane.  As miserable as it was sharing a duplex with a guy whose drinking, pot-smoking, womanizing and bill-skipping was getting pretty much out of control, it was cheap; I’d been paying $166 a month in rent, plus generally $40 a month in utilities (more if Wyatt skipped out), plus $50-100 for the phone, depending on how many radio stations I called that month.  I was bringing in about $800-900 a month after taxes.  Not horrible, but not good.

Today, I was having an “Option A” day. I’d picked up a Sunday Pioneer Press this morning, and found an interesting-looking place.  I made a call, and drove over around noonish on a gorgeous Sunday.

It was on the East Side, over on York street, by the big Rainbow Foods store that serves as the home away from home for every schizophrenic in the east metro.

But it was nice – a newly-remodeled one-bedroom in a six-plex, with a small but new kitchen, a nice living room with a sliding window opening on the patio, and a bathroom of my very own (!) – for $275 a month plus phone.

The landlord liked me. “I’ll knock money off the rent for shoveling, fixing things, calling the handyman or the dealers if there’s something you can’t fix, that sort of thing.  You’d sort of be a building manager”, he said. “The place is basically yours if you want it”.

I was thrilled. I told him I’d call back tomorrow. Might as well not appear too eager, I thought – not quite realizing that that only applied to jobs, not apartments.

I turned the thought over in my head as I drove home to get ready for work. Nice place. I’d be alone – which I loved! But $275…

I kept on thinking.

I wrote about location-centric devices in the car a few months back and how you may some day be driving along and up pops a banner ad of sorts on your navigation screen. Or who knows, maybe the ads on your radio will be customized based on the businesses you are currently driving by.

The technology already exists. The Matrix will soon know where you are. And maybe whether you like it or not.

Customized advertising may be the least intrusive application of location technology.

There are already black boxes in passenger vehicles that gather data on throttle position, speed, steering angle, brake application and other data that can and have been subpoenad by insurance companies and in court.

Its not a stretch to think that these boxes will soon gather, store and maybe even report location data without your knowledge.

In the mean time, Yahoo would like to make use of it now, and at least for now, will ask for your permission.

Yahoo knows where you are

On Tuesday at Yahoo’s San Francisco-based skunk works – known as the Brickhouse – the embattled Internet company unveiled a new location services platform dubbed Fire Eagle.

Location is one of those things that has huge potential for adding a layer of context to all kinds of services on the Web.  Geo-tagging – the practice of adding geographic information to Web sites, photos and videos – is gathering steam across all sorts of Internet-based properties, from restaurant review sites to social networks and house hunting services. What has been missing, however, is an easy way to insert yourself into that growing stream of geographic information.

In essence, that is what Fire Eagle does. You either tell Fire Eagle where you are, or give permission for some device to do it on your behalf – say your mobile phone –  and Fire Eagle broadcasts your location information to the services that you have approved.

Which all sounds cool, and there may be some constructive, relevant use of this technology for consumers – as long as they retain the right to turn it on and off. I have Google Maps on my Treo, but at least for now, you have to tell it where you are. Equipping it to automatically know where you are would be useful.

“Where’s the nearest Caribou?”

So imagine that all your friends on Facebook now get feeds on your location, by city, neighborhood or even street address. If you are driving through a neighborhood house hunting, you could get updates on homes on the market, past sale prices and upcoming open houses. Hungry for Italian? The closest places for a decent plate of pasta come streaming to your phone. Note that you can do much of this today with individual services, but you have to tell each of them where you are. With Fire Eagle, you give your location once, and all kinds of services can access it (again, only with your permission).

If advertisers know where you are, they can entice you with deals/coupons/menus on the spot.

Apple is in on it as well. No surpise there.

Yahoo will face competition from the likes of Apple (AAPL), which has made scores of location-based services available as downloads for the iPhone, and Google (GOOG), whose Android mobile phone platform is expected to do the same for a range of mobile devices.

“No Elizabeth, I’m not at Rielle’s place again. I promise.”

In every case, whether it’s a social network or an advertiser, a person’s location will only be made available to those services that individuals approve. And if you don’t want anyone to know where you are – illicit affair, job interview – you have the option of hiding your location for a period of time you determine, or even lying.

“We think it’s a good idea that users can lie about where they are,” says Tom Coates, head of product at Yahoo’s Brickhouse. “Like I don’t always tell my mother where I am.”

Repeat after me:

You can’t get away from the Matrix. The Matrix always knows where you are. You need the Matrix.

Saint Paul party venues aren’t booking up as fast as other venues around the metro area:

Yet there are still a healthy number of parties being planned. According to an incomplete list compiled by one Washington, D.C., lobbying firm, there are at least 370 parties scheduled at the Democratic and Republican national conventions.

However, just 70 of those were in St. Paul.

“Is it as great as everyone’s expectations? I guess we’re going to have to wait and see,” [Randy] Kelly [son of the eponymous former St. Paul mayor] said.

Hm.  Why would Republicans be overlooking Saint Paul venues and going elsewhere in the metro?

Why, oh why indeed would that be? 

A guy walks into the Arkansas Democratic Party office and shoots the party chairman.

This is a ghastly crime; the shooter was killed by police in a shootout later in the day, which is probably what should have happened.

This blog condemns all shooting at people that isn’t in legal self-defense.

Of course, when something like this happens, you can count on the idiot fringe (which is the lower 80%) of the Twin Cities’ leftysphere to try to spin it.

From the Mississippifarian – yet another anonymous, unaccountable Twin Cities leftyblog obviously written by a deranged nutcase – we get this explanation:

Let me make a wild and irresponsible guess: this asshole is a dittohead. Nothing else about him will be noteworthy other than the fact that he’s obviously some kind of loser who takes Rush seriously when Rush jokes about killing liberals.

Oh, obviously!

Except, y’know, it’s pretty likely not true:

Police said they don’t know the motive for the 51-year-old suspect, whose name has not been released. However, they said moments after the shooting, he pointed a handgun at the building manager at the nearby the Arkansas Baptist headquarters. He told the manager “I lost my job,” said Dan Jordan, a Baptist convention official.

I don’t believe Rush Limbaugh has ever joked about killing Baptists, now, has he?

Oh, but since we’re talking about “climates of hate” caused by other people exercising their First Amendment rights, “he” might wanna have a word with some of the genuinely hateful people among or descending upon us. Presuming “Mississippifarian” isn’t more interested in painting those peoples’ toenails.

Twin Cities’ leftysphere: Yeah, ya got another winner. Keep up the great work.

And Mississippifarian, whoever you are? Seek help.

UPDATE:  To be fair, it’s not just gutless anonybloggers.

Paul Schmelzer at the Minnesoros “Independent” asks:

Which raises a question: If St. Paul police are still struggling to find enough officers to patrol the RNC, will there be enough cops to keep the peace in downtown Minneapolis, the myriad and likely far-flung RNC protests and neighborhoods, like North Minneapolis, that continue to grapple with summer crime?

Hm.  Good question.

Maybe if the Twin Cities’ left would do something to abjure and condemn the groups that are preparing to wreak mayhem in the Twin Cities, it’d be less of a problem?

Instead, say, of playing the coy peek-a-boo they’re playing with violent groups –  making solemn noises about wanting a peaceful week, but essentially doing anything possible to avoid condemning them?

Just a thought.

No – it’s…

…the MNPost?

Anyway – they’ve got posters and slogans for John “Silkypony”Edwards. had he won the nomination. And, for leftytooner humor, it’s almost funny.

There are Two Americas; people who joke about John Edwards, and John Edwards.

It’s parade season. 

Politicians love parades.

Parades love…well, entrants.  Because entrants have to pay fees to be included in the parade.  Which pays for the parade itself. 

It’s sure be a low blow if people tried to squeedge into parades without paying, wouldn’t it? 

Andy “Triple A” Aplikowski notes:

Oh look, Democrats don’t pay their fair share. Looks like Democrat El ‘Gas Tax’ Tinklenberg didn’t pay his dues to properly be in the Stillwater Parade.

Wow – I witnessed the same kind of ‘cheating’ at the Stillwater Lumberjack Days Parade. I wrote a letter to the editor, but of course NONE of the major papers would print it. Here it is:

I found it very interesting that DFL endorsed El Tinklenberg has already cheated the 6th District of Minnesota, the same district he is running to represent.

On Sunday, July 26th, at 12:45pm, Tinklenberg and about 6 of his followers walked the length of the Lumberjack Days Parade route, proudly showing off their campaign shirts “Tinklenberg for Congress”, while the candidate shook hands and spoke to hundreds of people lined up on sidewalks. The trouble is, the parade started at 1pm! All other candidates (including the person he is running against, Congresswoman Michele Bachmann), paid their $350 registration fee to Lumberjack Days for their exposure time. 

In the meantime, Steve Sarvi (or, as leftybloggers universally call him, “Veteran Steve Sarvi”) running against career Marine veteran John Kline (or, as leftyblogger call him, “Kline”) seems to have  a similar view on economizing, according to Janet at the Scholars:

At yesterday’s parade in Lonsdale, we checked the parade registrant list. Sarvi was not listed as a participant, yet he “doubled up” to walk with a local MN House representative. Is this the first time that Sarvi has ducked the parade registration fees while showing up to walk the parade route with several of his supporters, all wearing campaign T-shirts with his name on it? Probably not.

Stiffing local parade organizers over registration fees indicates irresponsibility on the part of a candidate. It raises the question: How many times this season has Mr. Sarvi just bummed a ride from some other candidate? Do we want to even consider someone who mooches like this to represent us in Congress?

No word yet on whether Ashwin Madia (or, as leftyblogger refer to him but never, ever to John Kline “Marine Veteran Ashwin Madia”) has been paying his parade fees. 

Anyone?

The ACLU and the St. Paul/Ramsey County authorities have duelling predictions about arrests at the RNC next month:

With thousands of protesters expected on the streets facing thousands of police officers, the American Civil Liberties Union of Minnesota is predicting that 800 people will be arrested during the week of the Republican National Convention and will have 75 lawyers on call to defend them.

The St. Paul police forecast far fewer arrests, but Ramsey County Sheriff Bob Fletcher indicated this week that the ACLU’s numbers may be in the ballpark.

Hm. Why would the ACLU predict so many more arrests than the cops? Perhaps because they want a melee publicity bonanza?

Ramsey County Chief Judge Kathleen Gearin said this week that she had heard those kinds of estimates. “I really don’t believe that it is going to reach 1,800, with the information I have now,” she said. “It could be closer to 800 and maybe less.”

She said that during the 2004 Democratic convention in Boston, the number of people arrested was in the teens.

One reason for New York’s high arrest total was a decision by police to arrest a large number of people during one of the demonstrations. Most charges were later dropped. Gearin said she was hopeful that things will work differently here.

“The St. Paul police are telling us they will be doing things more thoughtfully than New York,” she said. “They are being trained to avoid some of the arrest situations.”

I am, if nothing else, generally confident in the Saint Paul Police.

Next Tuesday, with support from the ACLU, about three dozen lawyers will attend a continuing legal education course at the offices of Fredrikson & Byron law firm in Minneapolis for training on how to represent people arrested in demonstrations, said Charles Samuelson, executive director of the Minnesota ACLU.

Must be all the lawyers released from helping defend civil liberties in the Heller case.

(Cough cough).

Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said her office had developed a “tiered plan” to deal with arrested protesters. The first tier involves minimal felony arrests with only certain personnel assigned, she said.

“If the felony arrests go higher, we have a second tier approach, more volume and more attorneys,” she said.

Gaertner said that there is also “a third tier, where all heck breaks loose, with more lawyers involved in the charging.”

She added: “We are ready for everything.”

I see no mention of (checks list of leftybot paranoid predictions) Blackwater, attack dogs, water cannon or the military.

…Mr. The One.  If you do nothing else in your life, do this:

When [Senator Chuck Hagel [RINO, NE] accompanied Obama on his trip to Iraq and Afghanistan last month, speculation swirled anew that he was a possible vice presidential pick.

Plenty of people have suggested that Obama recruit Hagel, one of the Senate’s most outspoken opponents of the Iraq war. The Illinois senator would benefit from Hagel’s military experience in Vietnam, they say, and Hagel would help temper perceptions that Obama is too liberal. A bipartisan ticket would also support Obama’s call for breaking away from polarizing politics.

Please please please…

The Minnesoros “Independent” not only glorifies vandalism, but giggles at the creation of an atmosphere of hate!

Somebody painted “Get Out Phascists” on the Grain Belt sign by the Hennepin Avenue bridge – one of Northeast Minneapolis’ major landmarks, other than Kramaczuks, anyway.  (G.O.P.!  Get it?  Hahahaha!)

Was the Mindy’s response:

• Anger at the vandalism of private property?
• Dismay at the climate of thuggish hate in which some Twin Citians are stewing against Republicans who are in town to participate in democracy, protected by the same Constitution that protects their right to print and assemble?
• A giggly, “neutral”-to-tacitly-approving piece that says “hey, it’s vandalism, but we approve without saying it in as many words”

Oh, what do you think?  Read it for yourself, and ask yourself “if someone had spraypainted DEPORT FAGS on the sign, or ABORTION IS MURDER on a Planned Parenthood clinic, would they, or any Twin Cities’ lefty, be all giggly-“neutral” about this kind of thuggish vandalism?”

It’d almost be fun to find out, except for – I dunno – the fact that I condemn crime, even crime I (in the case of abortion, not killing gays, for the benefit of those of you who sproing convenient and loud doubts about other peoples’ ethics when you get the opportunity) agree with.