Saint Paul homeowners feeling the bureaucratic pain:

Andrew Dick is trying hard to make sense of the situation he’s in.

He bought a vacant, dilapidated house on St. Paul’s East Side with the intention, and the means, to fix it up and sell it. He has a track record, a plan and money in the bank.

What he might end up with, though, is a hole in the ground and a bill. According to a recently adopted city ordinance, he shouldn’t have been allowed to buy the property, which is heading down the path to demolition.

And yet – it’s a perfectly good house?

Too bad Mr. Dick isn’t a non-profit; it seems they can get a hold of vacant houses:

I recent had a chance to hear Sheri Pemberton of Planning and Economic Development (PED) tell the Fort Road Federation what the city wants to do with all this.  The first order of business is to characterize the pockets of vacant and foreclosed homes into places where the market is still working, starting to falter, or has totally broken down. The latter is where you find empty blocks and houses being offered for $40k or less.  The strategies to deal with these are based on saving houses where the market is working and creating a new market where there is none now.

In other words, it could very well be that Mr. Dick’s attempted reno just isn’t policy.

Too bad he didn’t read Shot In The Dark last summer. As the supply of vacant homes skyrockets, Saint Paul is choking down on the rules involved in occupying them.  (Read the whole series:  Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV, Part V).

Happy Birthday to The Night Writer, the first family of the MOB and and one of the best blogs that came out of the “Class of 2005”!

Here’s to four more years.  Or, y’know, more, if it pans out.  Y’know.

European greens discover that after decades of fuss and intrusion in the economy, they’ve really done not a stitch of good:

Turns out that wind and solar energy hasn’t done anything to reduce CO2 emissions.This is what happens when you follow the leader and the leader was just looking to get some attention by being the first one to do something. When you enact policies based on whatever’s trendy, don’t expect to accomplish anything.

If you actually want to accomplish something, you need to start with facts and logic and find out what really works.

Or, naturally, hope.  Hope for change.

Hope really hard.

Since signing up for a forum on “Obama.com” last year, I’ve been indundated with email from various functionaries in the campaign.  Most of it was pretty typical “send us money” boilerplate.
But this past week, they asked me – all of us, really to “Share our about the Economic Crisis”

I figured, how many chances like this does a guy get?  To send my story directly to the President?

I had  to respond!

I work for a company that depends on the free and open flow of commerce, and a robust business market. My “economic crisis”is that, while I’m one of the 93% of Americans who ARE working (knock wood), my company’s business is going to get hobbled by the hiked interested rates and jacked-up taxes the “Obama” (really Pelosi) plan will foist on us all.  The “cure” might be worse than the disease.

Please stop mortgaging my childrens’ future.

That’s my crisis story.  You should put yours up there, too.

Dave Mindeman at mnpACTed has the vapors over TCF Bank’s planned shell-move to South Dakota:

TCF Bank announced that they are moving their headquarters to South Dakota. Now before we get all that bogus high corporate tax nonsense, here is the reason:TCF National Bank will move its headquarters from Minnesota to Sioux Falls, S.D. in April to take advantage of more bank-friendly usury laws.

Mindeman goes on to quote an explanation of “usury” laws – state caps on interest rates.  South Dakota has none; banking is a completely free-market operation there (as well as in Delaware).  That’s why so many banks moved their headquarters to the two states over the past twenty years.
To Mindeman, of course, there’s only one response:

So, TCF (TARP recipient) is setting things up to jack up future interest rates on consumers.

Glad to see TCF is going to “help” out on our economic troubles by helping us part with more of our money.

The first question that jumps to your mind should be “is Mindeman that ignorant? Or is he just counting on his readers to be that ignorant? Or could it be both?”

He gives a tiny little glimmer of evidence that he could be “b”:

Consumers beware!

Well, duh.  Don’t sign up for no-cap-rate credit.  It’s one of those things in life – unlike, say, government “stimulus” packages that we and the next four generations of our progeny get sucked into on the “wisdom” of Nancy Pelosi and Barney Frank – that you can opt out of by (radical concept here) not taking the credit card.

TCF is a bank that’s built its model on low cost, low-entry-point banking.  They own an amazing amount of the low-end banking business in the Twin Cities, and earned it by offering aggressive no-cost checking and card accounts.  They pay for those low-cost services, among other ways, by having high fees on their services and, yes, high interest rates.

But just for fun, let’s assume Mindeman really doesn’t know better; why does  he suppose TCF is moving its headquarters (albeit not shedding the HQ jobs in Minneapolis; it’s a change of incorporation more than anything else)?

Because South Dakota banking laws are more amenable to the bank’s long-term health than Minnesota’s.  So they don’t need any more bailouts (not that they needed them in the first place; by all accounts TCF got TARP money as a credit pump-primer, not a rescue).  TCF is doing its fiduciary duty to its shareholders; securing the best conditions in which to do business.
And, it’s not unreasonable to assume, because TCF has no confidence that the DFL-controlled government won’t make things much, much worse.

Barack Obama likely would have won the presidency without the unrestrained, tingly-legged adoration of the mainstream media.

Or course he?  We don’t know.  We’ll never know – because the press was utterly in the bag for The One.

But what’s the best way to piddle away fawning press coverage?

DTake the press for granted.

Dana Milbank at the WaPo reports that David Plouffe, Obama’s former campaign majordomo, gave a speech at the National Press Club – but tried to have it kept off the record:

Plouffe was listed as the keynote speaker at the luncheon yesterday for “Transition 2009,” sponsored by Georgetown University and Politico. The public was invited to the event — students free of charge and everybody else for a fee. But at the last minute, Georgetown announced that Plouffe’s speech would be “closed press,” even though the speech was being given in the National Press Club ballroom, described on a plaque at the door as “the sanctum sanctorum of American journalists.”National Press Club President Donna Leinwand fired off an e-mail to Plouffe and his agents stating her “strong opposition” to the press banishment from its own club. “If Mr. Plouffe wants to keep secrets,” she said, “Mr. Plouffe should stay at home.”

It’s not nice to tweak the MSM.  They might start reporting on you:

This sort of mess has become a trademark of the former Obama campaign manager. Plouffe still keeps his Obama ties — over the weekend he sent out an e-mail in his name to millions from barackobama.com titled “Urgent message from President Obama” — yet he is also profiting from them. He is reported to have received as much as $2 million for his forthcoming book, “The Audacity to Win,” and he can’t give his material away in public speeches.Plouffe’s Audacity to Cash Out caused some embarrassment for him over the weekend, when he flew to Azerbaijan to give a speech to a group tied to that country’s repressive leader. The title of that speech, “The Power of Democracy,” took on an ironic meaning when journalists were ordered to leave the auditorium before it began.

I’m sure the MSM’ll get over it.

Still, we’re not even a full month into the honeymoon yet.

If a DC liberal pundit tells you you’re paranoid for worrying about your house being robbed, aim your gun at your door; there will be an armed burglar bursting in shortly.

Anytime a liberal pundit, politician, apologist or powerbroker “guarantees” to keep hands off a liberty that might undercut the left in any way, they are lying.  Every time.  There are no exceptions. To the left, civil liberties are not “rights endowed to us by our creator”; they are tools in the political toolbox, to be manipulated to the left’s singular advantage.
For the past year, as conservatives warned that Obama (and/or his followers, and/or his masters in Congress) were aiming towardreimposing the “Fairness” Doctrine, the lefty peanut gallery tittered and tut-tutted; “you’re being paranoid!”, we were assured – ignorant, of course, of the fact that we conservatives have in our institutional memory many examples of the left’s casual outlook on civil liberties issues.

We are right, of course:

[Chris] Wallace asked [Obama minion David Axelrod] about an issue making the rounds on both conservative and liberal radio shows, where Democratic Congressional leaders (and even Bill Clinton) have recently weighed in.”Will you rule out reimposing the Fairness Doctrine?” asked Wallace.

Now, remember; Obama was putatively “crystal-clear” on the subject last summer, when his press flak Michael Ortiz said “Sen. Obama does not support reimposing the Fairness Doctrine on broadcasters.”

Why would there be any need to fudge what was once – as the lefty peanut gallery has pointed out – a clear, definitive statement?

Because Obama is no more about “clearness and definition”, to say nothing of honesty, than he is about “depth”:

“I’m going to leave that issue to Julius Genachowski, our new head of the FCC, to, and the president, to discuss,” Axelrod said. “So I don’t have an answer for you now.”

Um – why not?

The One’s position seemed (we have been assured!) pretty clear before the election.  Why not now?

Lester Kinsolving, the conservative radio host, has twice asked Robert Gibbs about it in the briefing room, and each time, the press secretary didn’t reveal the administration’s position.Last week, I reached out to press office staffers in order to find out if the administration’s position is the same as in June, and have not yet received a response.

This is, unlike many political questions, an utterly black and white issue; “Do you support free speech?”  You do, or you don’t.  Last year – when Obama was trying to suck in reach out to “moderates” –  he saw it as such, as well.  No “Fairness” Doctrine.

Today?

If Obama’s position on the Fairness Doctrine is the same as during the campaign — and I have no reason to believe it isn’t — stating that clearly would quickly silence a lot of conservative critics who assume the Democratic president is going to push to reinstate the defunct policy. Otherwise, the Fairness Doctrine chatter on the airwaves isn’t likely to die down.

I won’t rule out the idea that Obama wants to leave the question open.  Knowing as he does that conservative talk radio is the most focused, effective opposition to his rule right now, and knowing that actually acting to shut it down would tie his Administration downin endless litigation and justifiable accusations of overreach, it might be in The One’s interest to leave this issue out there, to serve as a stalking horse to occupy peoples’ attention.

It’s equally likely that Nancy Pelosi has told The One “jump”, and Obama is still just wondering “off what?”

Over the weekend, one of the producers at the station (actually from “AM980 The Believer”, the religious station upstairs from the Patriot) asked me if the NARN wanted to book a couple of segments on an upcoming debate between a Creationist (“the earth is 6,000 years old!”) and an “Evolutionist” (“There is no God!”).

While I was too tactful to say “I’d rather lobotomize myself with a spork” – the producer is a good guy and an excellent producer, and when you’re a host you gotta know how dumb it is to antagonize good producers – there are probably few arguments that interest me less than “Creation versus Evolution”.

Part of it is that there is no conflict between science and an allegorical reading of the Old Testament – and I personally believe that God is glorified no less by recognizing the immensely, exquisitely wonderous and complex system He created (humanity and our existence included) than by chalking it up to six days of cosmic tinkering 6,000 years ago.  The conflict between evolution isn’t really one over the origin of the universe so much as it is about interpretations of history; less a matter of validating faith and science than of competing groups of book critics impotently slapping at each other.

The other part, of course, is that the debate is so badly-informed.  As MPR’s Speaking of Faith’s excellent piece on Darwin’s anniversary pointed out in an excellent program on Darwin’s anniversary last week, Darwin himself never saw the conflict between evolution and faith.

And finally, too many followers on both sides are just so face-palmingly ignorant.

Bogus Doug knows of which he speaks:

In honor of this day Gallup helpfully polled the U. S. public only to discover that only 4 in 10 of us “believe in the theory of evolution.” This is probably not the best outcome anyone might hope for. I mean… if it’s true, you want everyone to see that and believe it. If it’s false (spoiler alert: it’s not), you want everyone to see that and believe it. But that’s not the part that most bothered me.The part that most bothered me is that I know that within those “4 out of 10” are a considerable number of people who believe in something they call evolution, but which is very much at odds with Mr. Darwin’s theory. I met these people when I attempted to help my professor teach “Introduction to Physical Anthropology” as an undergraduate teaching assistant. I was staggered by the number of people flunking our quizzes who insisted they hated the idea of creationism and believed in evolution. (Me the undergrad TA: Hey, that’s fine. Good luck with that anti-creationist stuff. But can we talk about why you got every question describing the fundamental mechanisms of evolution wrong? I mean… I thought we went over this after you failed the last time.)

See, my problem isn’t so much that people understand the theories of Mr. Darwin and choose to reject them. My problem is that so few people understand them in the first place. Including many of those who profess deep abiding belief in them.

The sad thing I reflect on upon the 200th anniversary of Charles Darwin’s birth is that his scientific discoveries and ideas have gotten to far fewer people than can be measured by Gallup asking who believes in them. And honest to God, the basics of this stuff aren’t that hard to grasp.

They then grow up to comment endlessly on how we need to separate church and state to keep all those ignint fundies out of power.  And/or take PZ Meiers seriously.

Senator Judd Gregg disses Obammy and makes it crystal clear why he said “Thanks, but no thanks” withdrawing his nomination as Commerce Secretary for the Obama Abomination Administration.

“It has become apparent during this process that this will not work for me as I have found that on issues such as the stimulus package and the Census there are irresolvable conflicts for me.”

Gregg’s withdrawal is yet another in a string of embarrassments for Mr. Jimmy’s team of fools and serves to underscore the utter folly that is the “Stimulus” bill and portends a brewing census scandal.

At least a dozen candidates turned the prestigious commerce secretary’s post down before President Obama came up with Gregg, after assuring him that the Democratic governor in his home state would appoint a Republican to take his seat. Obama even joked about the difficulty of “finding a commerce secretary” to the media.

But the real reason why Gregg pulled out is probably that he found there isn’t any real place for commerce in the new administration. With President Obama saying things like “only government” can save the economy, Gregg learned quickly he was unlikely to have any power or influence on behalf of the private sector.

The current approach has been to use business and bipartisan Republicans like Gregg as window dressing. But no one’s fooled.

Well, actually, about 52.9% of us are still being fooled. Meanwhile Obammy’s back to begging someone to take the job.

Prestigious commerce secretary post? Not so much. In another time and on another team, maybe. It appears no Republican is willing to go down with the bipartisanship.

Look – “Obamessiah” was just a figure of speech; a reaction to some of his more overwrought, hyperbolic (?) supporters.  To stuff like Michelle Obama saying he was the only thing that could save this nation’s soul – that kind of thing.

So try to track me here:  Just because we joke about something doesn’t mean you have to live down to it.

Please tell me it’s a fiendishly-effective photoshop.

Please.

That is all.

Joe “Chloe” Bodell at Minnesota Short Bus – a “blog” that hosts 9/11 truther Grace Kelly, the always indignant-to-the-point-of-incontinence anonyblogger “Two Putt Tommy” [blogging motto: “Rage is evidence!”] and Eric “Big” Pusey,  “writes”:

The political media establishment in Washington D.C. is increasingly disconnected from reality.

The sky turned blue tomorrow.

I’ll be guesting on Radio Free Nation on BlogTalkRadio tonight with Marty Owings and a cast of characters.

I’m the token conservative guest – one on three.

And it’s still not a fair fight.

Sadly the passage of the stimulus bill to an all-too-willing President serves to mark the certain end of an era.

We have become a nation ruled by a majority no longer able or equipped to face our challenges head-on, rather deferring them ever further into the future for our children to solve.

In a bygone era, we collectively strove to live our lives and suffer sacrifices to lever the rarefied benefits of freedom and enterprise for the sake of future generations in the interest of a higher standard of living.

A great many among us even risked their very lives so that America could remain free and were thus christened The Greatest Generation.

Alas, long gone are the concepts of thrift and sacrifice that faded memories of a great depression taught us generations ago.

There once was a time when the trappings of success were acquired once you were actually successful. Nowadays young people feel they deserve to pick up where their parents left off.

Indeed, our entire commercial culture is predicated on the fact that whatever you wear, whatever you drive, the very house that you live in is obsolete the day after you acquire it.

An anachronism indeed is the concept that if you can’t afford it don’t buy it. In its place: buy now pay later; you deserve it!

Is it no wonder then that our government is an apt reflection of we who sent them and are now levering the future for today?

Driven by an insatiable appetite for consumerism, enabled by institutions all too willing to lend with greater margins of risk, risk falsely mitigated by high minded liberals hell bent on gerrymandering and meddling their way to Utopia, our nation has been sowing the seeds of this crisis for decades.

Growing under the dark clouds of a three decade long supercyle of personal, corporate, institutional and government borrowing, the seeds needed only a nudge to emerge.

Now germinated, a crisis that has left our government so clueless as to the solution that it offers a larger dose of the poison as prescription.

Liberal politicians have hijacked the will of half of our electorate, skillfully conditioning their impressionable sensibilities and aligning millions behind the notion that mother government is somehow able to absolve them of their responsibilities as a citizen of a free nation.

They have been led to believe that they are entitled to the coffers, filled now only with obligations to future generations, or to be defaulted upon entirely, because they are entitled to be equal to those vilified by their choice to work hard, employ others, save and invest.

These hapless many are being reminded that all men are created equal, and entitled to remain so.

Substantiated by billions to be spent with no chance of any economic impact, this stimulus bill is the manifestation of all of this coupled with the inexorable will of liberals to enlarge our government as an instrument of their collectivism ambitions. This crisis is not seen as a challenge to solve rather it is a gift not to be squandered. The American people are vulnerable; time is of the essence for a liberal political land grab.

…all sold under the guise suffering and sacrifice are no longer modern concepts, offer no tuition and are to be avoided at all costs; even at the expense of our children’s financial future – even at the expense of our freedom as a nation.

Wars were once fought with sticks and stones but the wars of the future may very well be fought with financial instruments. The battleground may be the internet and in the financial markets. The strong, preying on the weak, especially those destroyed from within.

This battle may already be afoot.

This generation has brought our nation to its knees. Now manifested is the notion that a democracy made aware of it’s power to vote itself it’s riches will do so, and with a vengeance.

It’s Tony Butler’s birthday today.

“Tony who?”

No, not the pitcher. This Tony Butler.

You’re forgiven for not having heard of Butler if you’re not seriously into unsung musical heroes.  But that’s certainly Butler.

He’s most famous as the long-time bassist for Big Country.  Before, during and after that, he served as a session bassist, most notably in concert with longtime pal and bandmate Mark Brzezicki.

In the late seventies, he edged into the limelight as part of “On The Air”, a band with Brzezicki and Simon Townsend,  younger brother of The Who’s Pete Townsend.  From there, the Butler/Brzezicki rhythm section gigged with all manner of British heavyweights, including Simon’s Sweet Sound, the elder Townsend’s classic Empty Glass and All The Best Cowboys Have Chinese Eyes, the Pretenders (with whom he recorded the hit “Back On The Chain Gang” in the wake of Pete Farndon’s death) and many more.

Bass players are, by nature, support players (leaving out the odd Geddy-Lee-like bass-playing frontman or John-Entwistle-like superstar).  And Butler was a support monster – not only as a very capable bass player, but as a seamless yet distinctive backup singer.  Listen to the greatest moments for Big Country or Simon Townsend’s first album; right behind Townsend or Stuart Adamson, singing his trademark, “loosely-tight” dropped fifth harmonies, was Butler.  Most casual music fans don’t give a second thought to backup vocals – which, in a sense, is as it should be, since great backup vocals reinforce the lead without drawing attention from it.

But think about it.  Would “In A Big Country” or “Where The Rose Is Sown” been the same had their hooklines been nothing more than Adamson’s earnest yelp?

Would  “I Am The Answer” packed the same on-the-edge thrill with just Townsend’s thin tenor?

No – the hooks – and the songs built around them – are memorable because of Tony Butler’s support; seamless and unostentatious, and yet tense and musically-inventive and unique and just-plain-thrilling.

So happy birthday, Tony Butler.  And though I’m sure you’ve heard it a zillion times, please, stay alive.

The Brits deny Geert Wilders – critic of Islamofascism – entrance to the UK because it might upset Moslems who are busy picking on Jewish kids.

US Senators jump on board for a reprise of the “Fairness Doctrine”.

And a dictator messes with a hero who’s already notched one dictatorship:

Nobel laureate, former Polish prime minister, and hero of the Cold War Lech Walesa will not be allowed to visit Venezuela ahead of that country’s referendum on extending the rule of Hugo Chavez. El Jefe told Venezuelan media that Walesa was unwelcome in Caracas, where he was set to meet with opposition student groups, and would be prevented from entering the country. After Walesa cancelled his visit, Chavez claimed that he would, in fact, be allowed through customs but would be “closely monitored” on his visit.

The left’s chattering classes around the world can not handle criticism of them or those they deign to protect.

By the way, look for Jon Stewart or Keith Olberman to start bagging on Lech Wałesa sooner than later.

Judd Gregg tells Pres. Obama I’m doing my hair for the next four years:

New Hampshire Republican Sen. Judd Gregg withdrew from consideration as Commerce secretary Thursday, saying his differences with the Democratic White House ran too deep.The announcement was a fresh embarrassment for an administration rocked by a number of setbacks. While his recent predecessors each lost one or two early cabinet nominees, Mr. Obama has lost three less than a month into his term. And Mr. Gregg’s withdrawal comes two days after a bank rescue plan was widely panned by financial markets and lawmakers from both parties, partly because of its lack of detail.

Note to Oly Snowe, Arlen Spector, Sue Collins et al:  if he’s smart enough to spit out the Kool Aid, aren’t  you?

If Obama wants to do something good for this country, he can ban the word “Czar” from public use.

Czars – absolute rulers of Russia, a state that hadn’t (and in many ways still hasn’t) left medievalism, autocrats who exercised boundless power and tolerated specacular cruelty in maintaining order – are not a very American concept.

Another?  Ditch the “war on drugs”, a war that has cost more lives than Vietnam and Korea together (not even counting the overdoses) and which we can not win as long as Americans – here’s a key concept – want to guzzle illegal drugs, and are willing to pay through the nose both ways for them.

So what do you get when you put two concepts – noxious/unamerican and just-plain unworkable – together?
Rumor has it we might have a new Drug Czar – and it looks like the President has picked another real winner, Gil Kerlikowske, former Seattle police chief.

Currently, he serves as president of the Major Cities Chief’s Association, which consists of police leaders from the country’s 56 largest metropolitan areas.

So he’s gone from being a cop to a politician.  Worse – someone who feeds off of politicians.

He has been an advocate of gun control and fought to pass the assault-weapons ban and has championed closing the background-check loophole at gun shows.

Another great choice, Mr. President.

As Carnivore at TvM points out, this was the sort of astute pick that did such wonders for George HW Bush.

…for harm to befall others, I think it’s forgiveable to hope that dogs and tasers were used in this FBI raid:

The FBI searched the Virginia headquarters of the PMA Group in November, according to the sources, who spoke on the condition of anonymity. PMA was founded by former Murtha aide Paul Magliochetti and specializes in winning earmarked taxpayer funds for its clients.

Good government groups have long criticized Murtha’s cozy relationship with a handful of lobbyists and defense firms, ties that see millions of dollars in government spending go out from Murtha’s office, and hundreds of thousands in campaign donations come in. Murtha has said his earmarking has helped revive his economically depressed district.

And maybe that cool battering ram tank they have in LA.

Major League Baseball pitchers and catchers start 2reporting for Spring Training around the league today and over the weekend (actually the Indians reported yesterday, but who cares?)

Cubs?  Today.  Twins?  Sunday.

I’m just going to chant “baseball” to myself and wash the smell of this past few weeks out of my mind for a bit.

At President Obama’s El Grande Stimuloso Tour Del Mundo  New New Deal Road Show  Socialist Party Recruitment Tour Town Hall meeting in Florida this week, a downtrodden Henrietta Hughes stepped to the microphone and asked for an extra helping of Hopey Changey^© from the Messiah.

“I have an urgent need, unemployment and homelessness, a very small vehicle for my family and I to live in,” she said. “The housing authority has two years’ waiting lists, and we need something more than the vehicle and the parks to go to. We need our own kitchen and our own bathroom. Please help.”

Now, why didn’t she ask for help getting a fricken job? Why does she expect the government to skip to giving her the fish instead of helping her to catch one?

Who could be giving people the idea that that is how America works?

…I don’t even have my own bathroom – I have to share it with Mrs. Roosh – and Henrietta just got…three? Plus a study, a library, a jacuzzi, a three-car garage, and a big-screen telly-vision.

Supplied by Obammy’s handlers?

Nope.

A Democrat breaking rank and actually giving his/her own money?

Nope.

Chene Thompson, the wife of state Rep. Nicholas Thompson, R-Fort Myers, is letting Henrietta Hughes and her son stay in a house she owns in nearby La Belle rent free until they get back on their feet.

“You don’t have to be a politician to put forth a stimulus package,” Chene Thompson said during a joint interview with Hughes Thursday on CNN’s “American Morning.” “This is our own little mini-stimulus package for a person who was a stranger and now is a friend.

What? The guvment isn’t coming to the rescue?

Republicans…one voter at a time!

Now if someone could help find her a job…

Saint Paul’s Ward Four City Councilman, Russ Stark, is holding a town hall meeting.  It’s less than three weeks away:

Please join me for a conversation with your neighbors and fellow Ward
4 residents in a conversation about the status of the City and its
neighborhoods.  Tough times are upon the City of Saint Paul, leaving
my colleagues and me with the challenge of making responsible,
difficult budget decisions.  Please join the discussion to lend your
knowledge and creativity to the task of sustaining the City’s
livability despite the challenges we face.

Tuesday, March 3, 6:30-8:30pm at Goodwill Easter Seals (553 Fairview
Ave N)– enter off the corner of Fairview and Charles.
(Goodwill/Easter Seals is conveniently located on bus lines 16, 50,
and 67.  www.metrotransit.org  If you’re driving, there is on-street
parking and a lot across Charles from the building.)

Due to the urgency of this gathering, we are unable to notice it in
community papers.  Please extend this invitation to neighbors and
friends.

If you know questions in advance that you’d like answered at the Town
Hall meeting, please send them to Samantha Henningson
(samantha.henningson@ci.stpaul.mn.us) so we can prepare for some
questions and have the most informed conversation possible.

Thank you for considering attending this conversation, and for passing
the invitation to others.

Yes, I do believe some of us could come up with just a smidgen of feedback.

You know the US real estate market must be close to bottoming out when the Chinese are coming here looking for deals.

Beijing lawyer Ying Guohua is heading to the United States on a shopping trip, looking not for designer clothes or jewelry, but for a $1 million home in New York City or Los Angeles.

He expects to get a bargain. Ying is part of a growing number of Chinese who are joining tours organized especially for investors who want to take advantage of slumping U.S. real estate prices amid a financial crisis.

Chad the Elder makes it official; he’s retiring from the NARN after an almost-five-year run.

And the piece is actually a great retrospective, not only on the NARN’s history, but on the thing that’s always made the show(s) unique:

I would hope that most of the time we’ve played the role of serious amateurs on the NARN. I doubt if there’s been much temptation to succumb to delusions of grandeur since doing a Saturday radio show from the catacombs of the Patriot studio in Eagan hardly lends itself to thoughts of grandeur (although when the septic system backed up people did get a bit delusional).

I have wondered for a while how long Chad would be able to balance three toddlers and a productive day job with the Saturday gig. 

We’re about three weeks away from our fifth anniversary – which, when I step back and say it, blows my mind.  In 18 years spent doing one kind of radio or another over the past (gulp) 30 years, I never had a job (or in this case, “job”) last more than two years, to say nothing of five.  Which isn’t bad, for an enterprise that most of the NARN cast gave between three weeks and a year, way back when.

Anyway – all the best, Chad, and here’s hoping we can keep things running until your calendar frees up just a tad.  It’s been five great years…

 …although I can’t help but wonder if he’s skipping out to avoid some karmic justice.

Longtime commenter and NARN caller Fresch Fisch is finally, finally blogging.

And it’s not like there’s a shortage of material.  Fisch turns his gimlet eye on Minneapolis’ rather oddly-prioritized budget:

In the coming weeks Minneapolis will start cutting police, fire and street maintenance. All because they will not be getting LGA money from the state. So, cut essentials first, then add goofy stuff like this.http://www.tcdailyplanet.net/article/2009/02/06/bike-sharing-planned-minneapolis.html

That’s right! Amost “Yellow Bikes”! I am glad the writer, Jon Behm, did admit that the Saint Paul Yellow bike program was a disaster.

So, while the light bulbs will not be getting changed in the street lights, Minneapolis will find room for bike sharing.

How long will the voters of Minneapolis submit to not only being a one-party city, but such a badly-run one?