September 2005

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T-Paw's choice: Guv makes chief justice overture?

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Rumor IDs replacement for Blatz

An anonymous call from a "downtown lawyer" came across the transom late this afternoon. The voicemail seemed reputable, identifying Governor Tim Pawlenty's choice to succeed Kathleen Blatz as the state's Supreme Court chief justice.

The source spelled the name and noted the law firm of the rumored pick: Eric J. Magnuson of Rider Bennett in Minneapolis.

Magnuson has his bona fides: Twenty years of practice in state and federal appellate courts, named in the 2003-2004 edition of Best Lawyers in America, a "Super Lawyer," according to Minnesota Law & Politics.

The source also describes Magnuson as a longtime Pawlenty crony. This would seem to be borne out in Magnuson's CV, which curiously notes that he has dealt with cases involving "the consitutionality of the public school finance system."

Perhaps Pawlenty is looking to continue his neo-con acolyte quest to dismantle the public school system as we know it.

The two worked together at Rider Bennett from 1989 until Pawlenty left the firm in 2000. In 2003, Pawlenty appointed Magnuson chair of the state's Judicial Selection Commission. Here's an interview from that time with Magnuson.

The source says there's no word on whether Magnuson, if the scuttlebutt is true, will take the position. Accepting would involve, according to the source, "a major paycut." And the governor has to at least go through the motions of assembling a screening committee.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at September 30, 2005 4:57 PM | Comments (1)

 

SARS Mystery As Game Of Clue: It was the feces of the Chinese horseshoe bat in the asthma medication

Filed under: International

Two different scientific research teams have determined that the source of the SARS virus, which has killed at least 774 people worldwide thus far, is the Chinese horseshoe bat.

According to a story in today's New York Times, the each team arrived at its conclusion that the horseshoe bat was the culprit independently. "In Asia, many people eat bats or use bat feces in traditional medicine for asthma, kidney ailments, and general malaise."

By the way, there are no Chinese horseshoe bats in the United States.

Posted by Britt Robson at September 30, 2005 3:17 PM | Comments (0)

 

Mark Kennedy: Will he be nailed by love for the Hammer?

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

To a lot of observers, Tom DeLay has long been regarded as one of the more unseemly characters in the U.S. Congress. This distinction is roughly equivalent to being deemed the most ill-behaved denizen of a crackhouse. In other words, it is for good reason DeLay is known as "the Hammer." With an an awe-inspiring gift for wielding his political heft, he transformed himself from a Houston bug exterminator into the great Beltway Machiavelli of his day. As much as anyone this side of Karl Rove, he is responsible for constructing what--until very recently--looked like a permanent Republican majority in D.C.

But overreaching has also become the defining feature of the modern Grand Old Party. This was most recently illustrated by DeLay's indictment for gross violation of Texas campaign law. So it's no surprise that some of the Hammer's fellow Republicans--fearful of a general backlash in the 2006 elections--might decide to put a little distance between themselves and the now reeling ex-majority leader.

Indeed, as USA Today reported yesterday, two members of the Republican congressional delegation--Jeb Bradley of New Hampshire and Heather Wilson of New Mexico--have already announced that they plan to return monies they received from DeLay's political action committee, Americans for a Republican Majority.

But what about DeLay's closer allies...people like, say, Mark Kennedy, the Sixth District Minnesota Congressman who yearns to replace retiring Senator Mark Dayton. Kennedy is in a tough spot. By some estimates, he represents the GOP's best chance to pick up a Democratic seat in the Senate. Why would he want to risk alienating the still-powerful DeLay with some peevish, self-righteous gesture, especially if DeLay manages to wiggle his way out of the current jam?

On the other hand, depending on the outcome of the criminal case in Texas, any affiliation with DeLay could prove damaging. This is especially true for Kennedy, who is as closely linked to DeLay as any member of the Minnesota congressional delegation. Indeed, in a recent report from the League of Conservation Voters Kennedy is listed as one of the ten members of Congress deserving special designation as a member of "Tom's Tainted Team."

The criteria? Voting at least twice in favor of DeLay's pet initiative that would indemnify the manufacturers of gasoline additive called MTBE, a likely human carcinogen that has polluted groundwater supplies across the country; accepting at least $20,000 money from DeLay's PAC, which is funded in part by MTBE interests; accepting money from oil and gas interests; and, perhaps most significantly, voting to change House ethics rules to shield DeLay from a congressional investigation.

According to the Conservation Voters report, Kennedy accepted some $29,500 from DeLay's PAC though August '05 and about $13,000 in MTBE-related donations through August '04. And, as noted above, he has voted to protect MTBE manufacturers--a matter over which the wrangling still persists.

Such actions might be easier to swallow if MTBE were not an issue in his home state. But it is. In Kennedy's district alone, at least four water systems have tested positive for the presence of MTBE. In the rest of the state, which Kennedy hopes to represent, a total of 27 water systems have tested positive for MTBE.

So how does Kennedy feel about DeLay's largess these days? Apparently, just fine. In this morning's Star Tribune, a Kennedy spokeswoman said the congressman has "no plans" to return any of the DeLay PAC money. Meanwhile, according to the Strib, two other members of the Minnesota delegation also received donations from the PAC. Gil Gutknecht, who pulled in a paltry $5,798 in the mid-90s, declined to comment on what action he might take. John Kline's office, meanwhile, told the Strib that the congressman would only return contributions that are deemed illegal--and it's DeLay's Texas PAC, not the national one, that is in the investigator's crosshairs.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at September 30, 2005 2:08 PM | Comments (0)

 

Crash Course in the New Economy

Filed under: Economy

What would the ticker symbol be for Air Tegucigalpa?

Harold Meyerson has a nice commentary in the American Prospect that starts with JetBlue's near miss last week at LAX and the troubles with outsourcing airline maintenance, and then segues into the larger, and in some ways thornier, issue of how American workers (and consumers) might weather globalization.

The non-crash, for those who might have missed it, involved the emergency landing of an Airbus A-320 with jammed wheels. News that this isn't an isolated problem with this plane, which was likely inspected and/or overhauled either in Canada or El Salvador, was eclipsed by the much easier headline that passengers had watched the near-catastrophe on TV monitors from their seats. Almost as post-modern as the economy that underlies the debacle, no?

Meyerson recaps this, and then borrows a few sage thoughts on the bigger economic picture from "End of the Line: The Rise and Coming Fall of the Global Corporation," a new book by Barry C. Lynn, a fellow at the New America Foundation and the former editor of Global Business magazine. According to Meyerson, the book provides a thorough, but still easily digestible, discussion of the role outsourcing has played in the success of some of our more lauded corporations.

Dynamite. But from where I sit, the better comments concern the fundamental shift that has changed the very goal of the game.

There are multiple culprits in this tale, but the primary one is the rise of unchecked shareholder power over the new-model corporation. Today's corporate leader is expected to dismantle and disaggregate his corporation whenever there's a buck in it for his shareholders. The chief executive, writes Lynn, is no longer "the company's man in the boardroom [but has become] the investors' man in the company."

This shift in corporate control goes a long way toward explaining the anomalies of the current recovery -- the first in post-World War II America in which profits have soared but wages have flat-lined, median family incomes have actually declined and few new jobs have been created. What CEO, answerable to his shareholders and fearful of competitors answerable to theirs, would dare give his employees a raise? What would have happened to JetBlue's stock if its executives had decided to employ their mechanics in-house and in the United States?

It makes intuitive sense that running an airline as cheaply as possible might not be as smart as running, say, a lean, mean bra factory. But there are precious few economists willing or able to articulate why. I wish I'd had these thoughts at my disposal when I wrote extensively last spring about Northwest's desire to increase the outsourcing of its maintenance.

And while we're on the topic of planes that threaten to fall out of the sky, how did our local dailies manage to miss this Rapid City Journal story about a Northwest flight that was forced to return to Minneapolis shortly after takeoff: "When the plane landed, a number of fire trucks, police cars and other emergency vehicles were standing by." Passengers told the South Dakota paper that they were told the problem was a broken rudder damper. A Northwest spokesperson would say only that the incident was "under review."

Posted by Beth Hawkins at September 30, 2005 12:30 PM | Comments (0)

 

If you lived here, you wouldn't have a home by now

Filed under: Economy

You don't have to open up the piles of daily mail from mortgage companies to know they all offer similarly specious-sounding promises: Do you rent? Have good credit? Let us put you in the home of your dreams for as much as you're paying in rent! But if your apartment is the home of your dreams, you can pretty much forget about paying as much in rent once it's converted into a condo. In fact, in some cases you'll be paying almost twice as much.

One such apartment building at 35th and Hennepin was renting one-bedroom apartments for $750 a month. The same apartments recently were converted into condos and put up for sale for $183,900. With $15,000 down at a 30-year-fixed mortgage, the monthly payment with condo fees jumps to $1,378 a month. According to Home Line, a local tenant advocacy organization, the condo conversion craze is putting the squeeze on Minneapolis' already depleted affordable-housing stock. In the last five years, the city has lost 1350 affordable apartments to condo conversions.

The city of Minneapolis defines "affordable" as a unit that is 30 percent of the household income for a family making 50 percent or less of the median income. That means that because the median household income in Minneapolis for 2005 is $77,000, a family making 50 percent of that at $38,500 and forking over $11,550 a year ($962 a month) in rent lives in a city-defined "affordable" unit.

In 2004, the city adopted a Unified Housing Policy, which promised to create more units affordable at 30-50 percent of the median income. According to the study by Home Line, Minneapolis actually incurred a decrease last year in the number of units affordable at 50 percent or less. That loss can be solely attributed to condo conversions.

However, the increase in the number of condos doesn't mean the renters are turning into first-time buyers: An advocacy and nonprofit legal organization called the Housing Preservation Project found that less than 25 percent of the new condos contain affordable units ($115,000 or less.) Though there are programs that offer financial assistance and incentives for first-time home buyers, there is no such program in place for first-time condo purchasers. And unlike other major cities where condos are popping up like weeds, the city of Minneapolis doesn't offer relocation assistance to those who are displaced from their apartments.

While the city is reneging on its promise to create more affordable housing stock, it's also failing to follow up on city ordinances that require developers to give conversion notices to the planning commission. Over the past two years, only 52 percent of apartment-to-condo property owners submitted conversion notices. There is no penalty for not filing a notice. Meanwhile, more than half of the apartments that have been converted into condos were once a piece of the city's now rapidly dwindling affordable-housing stock, leaving a hefty burden on low-income renters.

Posted by at September 30, 2005 11:25 AM | Comments (0)

 

Book of Virtues, Chapter 11: Ethnic Cleansing

Filed under: Media

The "moment of zen" concluding Jon Stewart's Daily Show last night truly was a stunner. William Bennett, former Secretary of Education and author of Book of Virtues, appeared to advocate aborting all black children in the United States as a means of reducing crime.

Here is what Bennett said exactly on his radio show Wednesday: "If you wanted to reduce crime, you could--if that were your sole purpose--you could abort every black baby in this country and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

Between the financial derring-do of Tom DeLay and Bill Frist and the loose lips of Bennett and Pat Robertson, it appears as if the Republican establishment is throwing itself over a cliff.

Posted by Britt Robson at September 30, 2005 11:04 AM | Comments (3)

 

Pioneer Press exodus continues

Filed under: Media

Pioneer Press editor Vicky Gowler is not the only high-profile staff member to announce plans to leave recently. Dave Peters, a much beloved senior editor who oversaw coverage of St. Paul and public safety issues, has departed for the Star Tribune. Starting monday he will edit the Strib's nation and world coverage.

"He was a guy who quickly grasped a story and wanted it in the paper," says veteran Pi Press reporter Charles Laszewski, who has known Peters since they were both at the St. Cloud Times. "He would work with the reporter to get it in the paper as quickly as possible, but in as complete a form as possible."

Peters is another key loss for the St. Paul daily. In recent years columnists D.J. Tice and Nick Coleman have also jumped ship to the Strib.

Posted by Paul Demko at September 30, 2005 10:55 AM | Comments (0)

 

Rove/Plame: Judy Miller gets out of jail, will testify today

Filed under: Rove/Plame

New York Times reporter Judith Miller, jailed since July for refusing to talk to the grand jury investigating the outing of Valerie Plame Wilson, got out of the hoosegow last night and will testify today. Afterward, we'll see whether Patrick Fitzgerald has plugged the press leaks that regularly sprang from the grand jury last summer.

Why now? Miller says she was at last released from her pledge of confidentiality by the source in question, Cheney chief of staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby. This flies in the face of what Fitzgerald and Libby's own attorney have said. They claim Libby's waiver has existed for a long time. According to today's WashPost:

Joseph Tate, an attorney for Libby, said yesterday that he told Miller attorney Floyd Abrams a year ago that Libby's waiver was voluntary and that Miller was free to testify. He said last night that he was contacted by Bennett several weeks ago, and was surprised to learn that Miller had not accepted that representation as authorization to speak with prosecutors.

"We told her lawyers it was not coerced," Tate said. "We are surprised to learn we had anything to do with her incarceration."...

One lawyer involved in the case said Miller's attorneys reached an agreement with Fitzgerald that may confine prosecutors' questions solely to Miller's conversations with Libby. [emphasis added]

Read the WashPost story.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 30, 2005 8:41 AM | Comments (0)

 

9/30: Morning Communique

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Peter S. Scholtes interviews Peter R. Scholtes on Peter Sr.'s life as a priest on the South Side of Chicago in the 1960s and working with Dr. Martin Luther King, at Complicated Fun.

Lindsey Thomas takes on Spin, and develops her own Top 20 list of Rock & Roll innovators at This Is Pop.

THESE DAYS

On Wednesday, the cornerstone was laid on what will be the reconstruction of the distillery where the George Washington produced nearly 11,000 gallons of rye whiskey.

Nearly a year after Congress demanded action, the Pentagon has still failed to figure out a way to reimburse soldiers for body armor and equipment they purchased to better protect themselves while serving in Iraq.

The Danish Air Force said Thursday it paid 31,175 kroner ($5,032) in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm.

Rep. Jeb Bradley (R-NH) says he will return $15,000 in campaign funds from former House majority leader Tom DeLay's political action committee.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Get your geek on with web developer Sam Buchanan at afongen.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

This trailer for The Shining will remind you it was the feel-good movie of the year back in 1980.

Donate $100 to Katrina victims through Brian Wilson's website and the Beach Boy legend will call you and thank you personally.

They're little birds who talk about obscure bands and make stupid jokes, better known as the Indietits!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I don't think people are going to come down here to a comedy club, you know, when it's a two stab minimum."

-- Comedian Louie Anderson, on KQRS Wednesday morning, on the prospects of opening a comedy club in downtown Minneapolis [via KSTP.com]

"I think you're going to see a quantum leap in the number of products integrated into your television shows this year."

-- CBS television chairman Les Moonves, turning on the red light

"Anger is not a road map toward this city's future. When all is said and done, I believe the people of St. Paul, in their heart of hearts, care more about where we will all be four years from now than they do about rehashing a previous election."

-- St. Paul Mayor Randy Kelly asking voters to kindly forget about his endorsement of George W. Bush in last year's presidential election [via the Strib]

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 30, 2005 6:56 AM | Comments (0)

 

Star Tribune loses legal battle

Filed under: Media

There will be no more news stories written by weatherman Paul Douglas in the Star Tribune.

U.S. District Court Judge Paul Magnuson ruled this week that an arbitrator acted properly in determining that the Strib had violated its collective bargaining agreement with the Minnesota Newspaper Guild Typographical Union.

The dispute dates back to 2004 when the Minneapolis daily published five news articles by Douglas in the A and B sections of the paper. The WCCO weatherman has long penned a daily column for the Strib, but it's normally confined to the back page of the B section.

The Newspaper Guild determined that this violated the union's labor agreement and filed a formal grievance. The matter was turned over to an arbitrator, James Lundberg, and in March he ruled in the guild's favor. Lundberg noted that in the past 14 years the only freelance expert articles appearing in section A or B were the five penned by Douglas. (See Mike Mosedale's news story on the dispute.)

Normally this would settle the matter, but the Strib then took the extraordinary step of appealing the matter to the federal courts through what's known as a "301 lawsuit." This move merely served to piss off the paper's employees--and ultimately proved futile.

Douglas will henceforth be confined to the weather page.

Posted by Paul Demko at September 29, 2005 4:05 PM | Comments (1)

 

City Pages finds Che Guevara

Filed under: Spotted

Spotted: Marx's only son, the liberator of Latin America, and the uncle of the Cuban revolution, on the sidewalk along North Fifth Street in Minneapolis.

Let all who love revolution come unto this spot and sing "Guantanamera."

Posted by Michael Tortorello at September 29, 2005 12:48 PM | Comments (2)

 

City Pages finds Jesus Christ

Filed under: Spotted

Spotted: God's only Son, imprinted on the sidewalk along North Fifth Street in Minneapolis.

Let all who know the Prince of Peace come unto this spot and make it holy.

Posted by Michael Tortorello at September 29, 2005 12:45 PM | Comments (1)

 

Follow the money: City campaign contributions

Filed under: Minneapolis

Who's who and what they've contributed to McLaughlin and Rybak

Now that primary season is over, we head into the final stretch--just more than a month--of the citywide election cycle.

Having trouble figuring out the difference between incumbent Mayor R. T. Rybak and his challenger, Hennepin County commissioner Peter McLaughlin? Maybe a glimpse into who forks over the money for them to run will help you with your decision.

All candidate contribution info can be found on the county's very handy campaign contribution web site (it's really a treasure trove of revenues and expenditures; more to come from this leading up to election day). Reader Shawn Lewis passes along this summary of the mayoral money:

All city candidates filed preprimary campaign finance reports Sept. 6.

Peter McLaughlin began 2005 with $21,159.67. He raised $211,681.35, spent $199,554.66 and had $33,286.36 on hand as of August 30.

R.T. Rybak began 2005 with $19,069. He raised more than McLaughlin ($245,725), spent more ($252,092), and had less on hand ($12,702) to start the general election.

McLaughlin received significant donations from labor organizations; Rybak received none.

McLaughlin's donors

McLaughlin received maximum $500 contributions from 28 union groups representing: police, firefighters, and their retirees; buildings tradespeople; electrical workers; iron workers, carpenters, postal workers, transit workers, machinists, sheet metal workers and sprinkler fitters.

Other organizations donating to McLaughlin ranged from the Downtown Council ($500) to Citizens for Sensible Government Policy for Real Estate ($250) and Committee for Automobile Retailers ($400).

Individuals donating to McLaughlin ranged from Grace Harkness of the Minnesota Women's Consortium ($150) to Downtown bar owner Mike Jennings ($250), from Sam Grabarski, head of the Downtown Council ($250) to Herb Frey of Alliance of the Streets ($150).

Contributors giving McLaughlin the maximum $500 included: developers Stuart Ackerberg, Don Gerberding, Paul Klodt and Steve Minn; Mark Reiling, principal, Colliers Towle Real Estate and Alan Arthur, Central Community Housing Trust.

Politicians donating to McLaughlin included: former Councilmembers Joan Campbell ($500); Jackie Cherryhomes ($350); Tony Scallon ($325); Kathleen O'Brien ($400); and Joan Niemiec ($500); former Mayor Don Fraser ($300); state Sen. Linda Higgins ($156); former County Commissioner John Derus ($150) and Councilmember Sandy Colvin Roy ($200).

Other notables on McLaughlin's list include Louis Smith and Tom Johnson of Smith Parker, consulting firm on the I-35W Access Project; Brian Rice, attorney and lobbyist; David St. Peter, Minnesota Twins president; and Robert Benner, Northwest Airlines lobbyist. (Benner gave $250, the rest gave $500.)

Rybak's donors

Individual donors to Rybak's campaign ranged from Garrison Keillor ($250) to former Gov. Arne Carlson ($250), from Utne Magazine's Nina Utne ($200) to former City Council President Alice Rainville ($100).

Donors giving Rybak the maximum $500 include: former Star Tribune publisher Joel Kramer; auto dealer Denny Hecker; Hubbard Broadcasting patriarch Stanley Hubbard; Downtown activists Sam and Sylvia Kaplan; Susan Lenfesty, founder of WATCH; Richard Anderson, executive vice president, United Health Care and former Northwest Airlines CEO; and Charles Zelle, president of Jefferson Lines and Guthrie board member.

Other notables donating to Rybak include: former Vice President Walter Mondale ($500); former state Attorney General Warren Spannus ($100); County Commissioner Gail Dorfman ($175); Minneapolis DFL state Rep. Margaret Anderson Kelliher ($125) and Republican state Rep. Ron Erhardt of Edina ($100) former Minneapolis Police Chief Anthony Bouza ($100); James Campbell, past chairman and CEO of Wells Fargo Bank ($100); and Ford Bell of the Minneapolis Heart Institute ($200).

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at September 29, 2005 10:23 AM | Comments (0)

 

9/29: Morning Communique

Filed under: Morning Communique

THESE DAYS

The space shuttle and International Space Station -- nearly the whole of the U.S. manned space program for the past three decades -- were mistakes, NASA chief Michael Griffin said Tuesday.

As global warming melts the world's ice sheets, rising sea levels are not the only danger. Viruses hidden for thousands of years may thaw and escape - and we will have no resistance to them.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Join Laurie Richardson this Friday for the start of the Minnesota Rollergirls' roller derby season! She'll be blogging about it at chicken lady loves life.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Smoking Gun has Tom Delay's indictment papers. Heh, heh, Dale.

Boston.com has chosen their Top 50 Sci-Fi Shows of All Time and placed each one on a separate webpage for maximum page views as well as maximum annoyance. Stargate SG-1 ahead of The Twilight Zone? Jesus.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"If I did die, I wasn't going to heaven and say, 'Oh, excuse me, God. Let me wipe my nose, because I just did some drugs before I got here.'"

-- Ashley Smith, in the Augusta Chronicle, discussing the fact she gave suspected courthouse gunman Brian Nichols methamphetamine during the time he held her hostage, and how the ordeal convinced her to quit taking drugs

"The crew and Maria and I just sat and watched while he and his wife got into something comfortable -- nothing -- and they started to say, 'We want you to (do this).' Maria and I were both going, 'OK, we get it.'"

-- actor Viggo Mortensen, discussing the explicit displays of affection director David Cronenberg and his wife performed on the set of A History of Violence to show Mortensen and co-star Maria Bello how to act in an upcoming sex scene

"In general, higher rates of belief in and worship of a creator correlate with higher rates of homicide, juvenile and early adult mortality, STD infection rates, teen pregnancy and abortion in the prosperous democracies."

-- Gregory S. Paul, in the Journal of Religion & Society

"I do know that it's true that if you wanted to reduce crime, you could -- if that were your sole purpose, you could abort every black baby in this country, and your crime rate would go down. That would be an impossible, ridiculous, and morally reprehensible thing to do, but your crime rate would go down."

-- Former Reagan administration Secretary of Education Bill Bennett, on his radio program Bill Bennett's Morning in America

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 29, 2005 6:52 AM | Comments (0)

 

The MPD in New Orleans

Filed under: Crime

A reader sent along this link to the Minneapolis Police Hurricane Katrina Strike Force page, which features lots of photographs taken by MPD cops presently assisting with the policing of New Orleans. It's also a proto-blog (on some pages) detailing the duties that Minneapolis police have been taking up during their stint in the city that care and disaster-response planners forgot.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 28, 2005 1:33 PM | Comments (0)

 

In tomorrow's Star Tribune: Trappists with compulsive sexual disorders find fellowship in clogging

Filed under: Media

Free this week to Star Tribune home subscribers: An extra-soft box of Kleenex.

"Bagpipes unite young couple, Alzheimer's patient"

The new nurse in the Alzheimer's unit noticed a striking picture on the wall of one patient's room. It was a black-and-white photo of him in England during World War II.
"Hey, Ted, what are you doing in a kilt?" asked Sarah Hagen, 27, a licensed practical nurse.
Ted Wallis, 96, was able to convey part of his story. He was a drummer during the war, he told her, and his father had played bagpipes and drums before him. His family later filled in the rest for Hagen. Wallis played percussion and bagpipes when he served in the Canadian Army with the Queens Own Cameron Highlanders in Winnipeg and then in England during the war.
Such a coincidence. --Peg Meier, September 27, 2005

"Golf pals: Four Mankato friends with Prostate cancer are playing golf together again"

MANKATO -- They looked like any foursome on a beautiful September morning, sipping their coffee in the North Links clubhouse, teasing each other, mulling their scores.

The numbers captivating them, though, had nothing to do with golf, nor did their references to the da Vinci code have anything to do with the best-selling novel.

This foursome of longtime friends and former Minnesota State, Mankato educators wanted to talk about prostate cancer, remind the male demographic that September is Prostate Cancer Awareness Month, and recommend the cure they chose. --Jim Souhan, September 28, 2005

Posted by Michael Tortorello at September 28, 2005 1:03 PM | Comments (0)

 

Katrina cronyism

Filed under: National

The Center for Public Integrity has set up a new web site to track Katrina-related contracts awarded by the federal government. "Profiting From Katrina" keeps tabs on the cronyism and waste already coming to light. Among the dubious contracts awarded so far: $236 million to Carnival Cruise Lines for refugee housing and $568 million to Ashbritt, a company with ties to Mississippi Governor (and former Republican National Committee chairman) Haley Barbour, for trash removal.

Posted by Paul Demko at September 28, 2005 12:25 PM | Comments (0)

 

DeLay indicted

Filed under: Congress

Will the dominoes begin to fall? The AP's Larry Margasack details House Majority Leader Tom DeLay's indictment today on a single conspiracy count:

A Texas grand jury on Wednesday charged Rep. Tom DeLay and two political associates with conspiracy in a campaign finance scheme, forcing the House majority leader to temporarily relinquish his post....

GOP congressional officials said Speaker Dennis Hastert, R-Ill., will recommend that Rep. David Dreier of California step into those duties. Some of the duties may go to the GOP whip, Rep. Roy Blunt of Missouri. The Republican rank and file may meet as early as Wednesday night to act on Hastert's recommendation. The charge carries a potential two-year sentence, which forces DeLay to step down under House Republican rules.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 28, 2005 12:22 PM | Comments (0)

 

Pi-Press: meet the new boss

Filed under: Media

So who's the new editor charged with guiding the Pioneer-Press into the post-Gowler era? Thom Fladung is, as Eric Black notes in this morning's Strib, the former managing editor of the Detroit Free Press. He's also a long-time Knight Ridder hand, having done two tours at the Free Press and one at the Akron Beacon-Journal. Fladung was pushed out at the Free Press in August, when Gannett took over the paper from KR.

Here's a summary of some of the things he's said on the record about newspapers and the business of journalism:

"You want to know how I cope with downsizing?" said Thom Fladung, managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal. "I try to get better at my job. It's the only way I know."

Fladung managed through one of the longest and most wrenching strikes in newspaper history at the Detroit Free Press and later through a series of buyouts and layoffs at the Beacon.

"My first recommendation with downsizing is deal with it," he said. "It is what it is. How does any of that affect your ability to copy edit that story that's on your screen? Or to write that headline that you have to write for tomorrow morning's front page? I'd argue it does not. You can still be a better journalist."

--Ohio ACES workshop summary

I think it's extraordinarily shortsighted (and typical) for journalists to blanche at the idea of circulation folks in their news meetings. Circulation representatives always sat in on news meetings while I was at the The Beacon Journal in Akron, Ohio, and frequently do so here at the Detroit Free Press. I wish I could make it "always" here as well.

But let's be clear on the mission: The circulation folks are there to learn what's going into the newspaper, not to tell us what's going into the newspaper. And guess what? Sometimes they have ideas on what stories are interesting--ideas that come from out on the street, where they do their business, rather than from inside newspaper buildings, where editors do theirs.

Keep circulation folks out of news meetings based on some bizarre notion of ethical purity? Sure, good idea. Because we certainly wouldn't want to sell more newspapers and have more people read our journalism.

Sheesh.

--American Society of Newspaper Editors discussion thread

Detroit Free Press Managing Editor Thom Fladung recently had proposed a redesign of the paper to take place early next year. With circulation falling, Mr. Fladung sent reporters out to interview random people about why they didn't read the paper and what they liked and disliked. They found the demographic that was leaving the fastest was "women between diploma and diapers" -- unmarried women with college degrees.

Mr. Fladung often compared the Free Press to Detroit's ailing car makers, saying it would be like them if it didn't make a dramatic change. Even the idea of becoming a free paper was kicked around. Another concept was weekly inserts of women's and men's magazines.

--Wall Street Journal via KRWatch

Posted by Steve Perry at September 28, 2005 11:37 AM | Comments (0)

 

Army says it will investigate gore-for-porn site

Filed under: Iraq

Possibly the hottest story in blogdom this week involves the disclosure that soldiers are trading pictures of Iraqi corpses for access to porn at the site nowthatsfuckedup.com. Today a very brief wire dispatch says the Army will investigate.

It all started with this story by Chris Thompson in last week's East Bay Express.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 28, 2005 11:31 AM | Comments (1)

 

9/28: Morning Communique

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Peter S. Scholtes tries to get comfortable in his new bloggy digs at Complicated Fun.

THESE DAYS

Fort Lauderdale police have arrested three men on murder and conspiracy charges in the 2001 gangland-style killing of a South Florida businessman who sold a casino cruise line to Washington lobbyist Jack Abramoff, authorities said yesterday.

Scientists in China plan to use satellites to track pandas to learn more about their sexual behavior. It's also being groomed as a mid-season replacement show on FOX.

Construction workers have found bone fragments that may be remains of people who died in the World Trade Center attacks on the roof of a neighboring skyscraper damaged on September 11, 2001, a city official said.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Antonymous participated in the recent protest march in Washington, D.C. Check out some photos at hot soup in my eye.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Those manic Badger Badger Badgers have gotten into footy.

B3ta had a contest asking creative types to devise a way to make going to church more popular. Warning: Badgers have also been sighted among the entries.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"My biggest mistake was not recognizing by Saturday that Louisiana was dysfunctional."

-- Former FEMA head Michael Brown during congressional hearings on Katrina

"I'm happy you left. That kind of look in the lights like a deer tells me you weren't capable of doing that job."

-- Rep. Christopher Shays, R-CT, to Brown

"The disconnect was, people thought there was some federal expertise out there. There wasn't. Not from you."

-- Rep. Gene Taylor, D-MS, to Brown

"Of those who participated in the hearing, Brown was by far the most impressive."

-- Power Line blogger John Hinderaker's assessment of the hearings

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 28, 2005 6:38 AM | Comments (0)

 

Taxpayers League on stadium: "Well-organized theft"

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

We hate to give any virtual ink to the Taxpayers League of Minnesota, given that its starve-the-beast ideology has become one of the many hollow mantras for the 21st Century. But credit is due: The league has been consistently against public dollars going for private stadiums.

The "E update" that came to inboxes this morning points out the absurdity of Vikings owner Zygi Wilf's claim that the Anoka County stadium deal will bring all sorts of jobs to the north metro. Positing whether Anoka County has any "poor, unemployed or homeless," the missive points out that surely a new stadium would fix any of those problems.

"All the bells, whistles and urinal space in the world," the Taxpayers League concludes, "can't make up for the fact that any way you slice it, this plan is simply well-organized theft."

Another note on the stadium: Does anyone really believe that the state is going to pony up $115 million (charitable estimate) for the Vikes? Governor HockeyPuck has consistently witheld state money for such things, most notably a Twins stadium. Does he figure the Vikings constituency is more valuable--and worth playing off of--that of the Twins?

And this is to say nothing of the fact that Anoka County will require legislative approval to enact the sales tax without a voter referendum to pay for its portion of the stadium--a notion that has been swinging in the balance since a similarly financed Twins deal was unveiled this spring. Lawmakers are understandably queasy about setting such a precedent with either team.

In other words, keep those wrecking balls away from the Dome for now.

Posted by G.R. Anderson Jr. at September 27, 2005 5:46 PM | Comments (0)

 

Why the Dems sat out the DC anti-war rally

Filed under: National

The investigative reporter Wayne Madsen posted this note over the weekend:

"Anti-war protest in Washington, DC today. Very few Democratic members of Congress to appear. Reason: The American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), according to Democratic insiders on Capitol Hill, put out the word that any member of Congress who appeared at the protest, where some speakers were to represent pro-Palestinian views, would face the political wrath of AIPAC. According to Democratic sources on the Hill, Rep. Barney Frank of Massachusetts was the chief conveyor of the AIPAC warning to his colleagues. At the time of this report, three members of Congress were to address the anti-war protestors: Reps. Cynthia McKinney (D-GA), John Conyers (D-MI), and Lynn Woolsey (D-CA). The word is that AIPAC will direct its massive campaign support to Woolsey's neo-con and pro-Iraq war primary challenger, California State Assemblyman Joe Nation, who has strong connections to the Rand Corporation, one of the Pentagon's chief war-making think tanks. Woolsey represents California's Marin and Sonoma counties. September 26 Update: In the end, the antiwar rally apparently only drew only one member of Congress as speaker: Georgia Democratic Representative Cynthia McKinney.

Visit the Madsen Report

(Via Michael Donnelly, Counterpunch)

Posted by Steve Perry at September 27, 2005 5:00 PM | Comments (1)

 

U.S. forces fight Zombie army in Iraq: How many "top lieutenants" can a man have?

Filed under: Iraq

When it comes to fighting the Iraqi insurgency, U.S. forces are discovering that there is a lot of Number Two.

On a steady basis, U.S. and Iraqi officials boast that they have captured or killed a "key aide" to Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi. The associates are rounded up in raids, shot during showdowns, bombed in hideouts. Yet a new "lieutenant"--or at least a new nom de guerre--seems to materialize almost instantly to take his place.

The news accounts listed below chronicle the monthly liquidation of Zarqawi's entourage. While the U.S. Army struggles to refill its ranks, Zarqaqi's Al Tawhid group--like McDonald's--seems to have no shortage of fresh applications.

U.S. Kills al-Qaida Suspect's Key Aide

U.S. troops killed a key lieutenant to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a militant with suspected ties to al-Qaida, the military said Tuesday.
Abu Mohammed Hamza, believed to have been a bombmaker for al-Zarqawi, was killed Thursday in Habaniyah after U.S. troops came under fire while distributing leaflets, Brig. Gen. Mark Kimmitt said.
The troops returned fire, killing Hamza, he said. --Associated Press, February 24, 2004

Top Zarqawi aide killed in US attack near Baghdad

A top aide to suspected Al-Qaeda operative Abu Mussab al-Zarqawi has been killed in a US attack near Baghdad, an internet site and a Jordanian newspaper reported Wednesday.
"Abu Anas al-Shami, who heads Tawhid wal Jihad's Sharia (Islamic law) department, was killed a week ago in an American attack on his car in Abu Ghraib," west of the capital, according to the website http://arab.moheet.com/.
In Amman, Al-Ghad newspaper quoted the family of Jordanian-born Shami, whose real name is Omar Yussif Jumaa, as saying he had been killed in a US rocket attack Friday and that he was considered Zarqawi's number two in Iraq. --Agence France Presse, September 22, 2004

U.S. Military: Al-Zarqawi Aide Killed

The U.S. military said Tuesday that an aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi was killed in an airstrike in the militant stronghold of Fallujah.
The 3 a.m. strike hit a known safehouse being used by al-Zarqawi's terrorist network, killing a "known associate," a military statement said....
"Recent strikes and raids targeting the Abu Musab al-Zarqawi network have severely degraded its ability to conduct attacks," the U.S. statement said. --Associated Press, October 26, 2004

Al-Zarqawi Aide Caught In Chemical Bomb Lab Discovered During Fallujah Sweep

Iraqi officials Thursday announced the capture of a key aide to Jordanian terrorist suspect Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and said soldiers had discovered a "chemical bomb" factory in Fallujah, even as insurgent rocket attacks brought death to a camp of Nepalese security contractors in the center of Baghdad.
The U.S. military announced troops discovered a huge weapons cache in a mosque compound in Fallujah and said another 81 insurgent suspects had been arrested during an ongoing sweep of an area south of Baghdad.
Meanwhile, Basra's police chief said his men had captured several foreign fighters who had fled Fallujah.
Iraqi National Security Adviser Qassem Dawoud identified the seized al-Zarqawi lieutenant as Abu Saeed and said he had been captured in Mosul in northern Iraq a few days ago. But he declined to say whether Saeed was Iraqi and what role he played in al-Zarqawi's al-Qaida-affiliated organization, which has claimed credit for several beheadings and car bombings. St. Paul Pioneer Press, November 26, 2004

Iraq says aide to Zarqawi killed, two arrested

An aide to Iraq's most-wanted man, Jordanian Islamist Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed in Iraq and two others captured, Prime Minister Iyad Allawi said Tuesday.
"I have been told that an individual by the name of Hassan Ibrahim Farhan Zyda from Zarqawi's group has been killed and that two of his deputies have been arrested," Allawi told the interim national assembly. --AFP, December 14, 2004

Iraqis Report Seizure of 2 Aides To the Most Wanted Militant

Security forces in Iraq have captured two senior aides to the most wanted militant in Iraq, his top bomb-maker and his propaganda chief, a government spokesman said Monday.
The captured bomb-maker, Sami Muhammad Ali Said al-Jaaf, was seized in Baghdad on Jan. 15. He is believed to have taken part in three-quarters of the car bombings in the capital since the war began, the spokesman, Thaier al-Naqib, said in a written statement....Mr. Naqib said Mr. Jaaf also used the name Abu Omar al-Kurdi and is considered to be a lieutenant of Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, a Jordanian militant who has a $25 million bounty on his head.
Mr. Naqib also issued a later statement saying that on Jan. 14 security forces captured Mr. Zarqawi's chief of propaganda, Hasam Hamad Abdullah Muhsin al-Dulaimi, known as Dr. Hassan. Mr. Dulaimi had not served long in the post; he took the job after American-led forces killed the former propaganda chief, Hassan Ibrahim, in a Baghdad raid on Dec. 13, Mr. Naqib said. --New York Times, January 25, 2005

Iraq announces arrest of two top Zarqawi aides

The Iraqi government said Friday it had arrested two close aides of Al-Qaeda frontman in Iraq, Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, one of whom was described as his Baghdad commander.
Salah Salam Dubaig al-Ubaidi, also known as Abu Saif, and Ali Mohamed Yassin Al-Isssawi were captured in Baghdad on January 15 and 17 respectively, Iraq's National Security Advisor Qassem Daoud told reporters.
Daoud identified Abu Saif as the main commander for Zarqawi in the Baghdad area.
"The guy you see on the screen was named by Zarqawi his emir in Baghdad. He met with Zarqawi more than 40 times over the last three months," Daoud said.
"He was arranging (Zarqawi's) meetings and providing (him) logistical and financial support." --AFP, January 28, 2005

Zarqawi Aide Held, Iraq Says; Suspect allegedly was a key deputy in charge of logistics for the Jordanian militant

The Iraqi government said Friday that its soldiers had captured a key aide to Jordanian militant Abu Musab Zarqawi, the leader of an insurgent network suspected of killing more than 500 people in a wave of car bombings, assassinations and beheadings.
The capture is the latest made in a string of raids conducted in Baghdad, Mosul and western Iraq that have reportedly netted top Zarqawi lieutenants and soldiers. Iraqi and U.S. military authorities say they have caught or killed more than half a dozen of his operatives since January, including the network's top bomb maker and its website designer.
In a statement Friday, the government said Iraqi forces had captured Talib Mikhlif Arsan Walman Dulaymi, responsible for "arranging safe houses and transportation as well as passing packages and funds to Zarqawi."
"Abu Qutaybah was responsible for determining who, when and how terrorist network leaders would meet with Zarqawi," the government said. "His extensive contacts and operational ability throughout western Iraq made him a critical figure in the Zarqawi network." --Los Angeles Times, February 26, 2005

Zarqawi aid captured in 2004 in Baghdad

The Pentagon said Friday a top aide to Jordanian terrorist Abu Musab al Zarqawi was captured in Baghdad in late 2004.
The man, a Jordanian who lived for 20 years in the United States and became a naturalized American citizen, is believed to have been a personal emissary for Zarqawi to several Iraqi cities, according to a U.S. government official.
When he was captured by coalition forces last year in his Baghdad residence he was found with bomb-making equipment and other weapons. --UPI, April 1, 2005

Zarqawi Top Aide Bagged--Hit Plot Foiled

A deputy of al Qaeda's chief in Iraq has been captured while preparing to assassinate an Iraqi bigwig, officials announced yesterday.
Ammar al-Zubaydi, an aide to terror boss Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, was seized in Baghdad on Thursday, U.S. and Iraqi officials said.
Al-Zubaydi, also known as Abu Abbas, was the emir, or leader, of the Baghdad cell of Zarqawi's operation. --New York Post, May 9, 2005

U.S. and Iraqi Troops Capture a Top Militant Leader in Mosul

Mohammed Sharkawa, the militant leader who leads Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's operations in northern Iraq, was seized Tuesday afternoon in a home in western Mosul after aerial reconnaissance and a tip from a local resident helped pinpoint his whereabouts, American military officials in Mosul and Baghdad said Thursday....
The impact of his capture ''will be significant,'' Lt. Gen. James T. Conway added. ''He has been in charge of the operation up there for a long time.'' --NYT, June 16, 2005

Suspected leaders of al Qaeda in Iraq captured

U.S.-led coalition forces have captured two alleged leaders of the insurgent group al Qaeda in Iraq, including a man suspected in the death of an Egyptian envoy, an American military spokesman said Thursday.
Troops caught Khamis Farhan Khalaf abd al Fahdawi, also known as Abu Seba, on Saturday in Ramadi, west of Baghdad, after intelligence led them there.
Abu Seba reportedly is a senior lieutenant for` Jordanian-born militant Abu Musab al-Zarqawi and is suspected in this month's attacks on Bahraini and Pakistani diplomats and the killing of Ihab al-Sherif, who came to Iraq to be Egypt's ambassador....
In addition, forces detained Abdulla Ibrahim Muhammed Hassan al Shadad, also known as Abu Abdul Aziz, on Sunday in Baghdad. He reportedly is the leader of al-Zarqawi's operations in the Iraqi capital and a key officer for the insurgent group. --CNN, July 14, 2005

U.S. military says al-Qaida lieutenant killed in Mosul

A lieutenant of al-Qaida terror boss Abu Musab al-Zarqawi has been killed by Iraqi security forces in Mosul, the U.S. military said Sunday.
Mohammed Salah Sultan, also known as Abu Zubair, was killed Friday, the U.S. statement said.
The statement said Abu Zubair was a "known member of al-Qaida in Iraq" and an al-Zarqawi lieutenant who was sought for his role in a July suicide bombing of a police station in Mosul in which five Iraqi police were killed. --AP, August 14, 2005

U.S. Says It Has Killed No. 2 Qaeda Operative in Iraq

"Two American officials said in Washington on Monday that Abu Azzam, a top lieutenant to Abu Musab al-Zarqawi, the leader of the terrorist group Al Qaeda in Mesopotamia, had been killed in an operation involving Central Intelligence Agency officers. A senior military official said Abu Azzam was a senior financier in Mr. Zarqawi's network, and was killed Sunday." --NYT, September 27, 2005

Update: Yesterday, Air Force Gen. Richard Myers, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, answered questions about the recent killing of Zarqawi "number two" Abu Azzam. As reported in the A.P.:

"The nation's top military officer said Tuesday that the killing last weekend of a senior leader of the al-Qaeda in Iraq organization will hurt the terrorists but perhaps only in the short term. "'It will have some effect, but over time they will replace people,' Myers said. "'There are others, foreign fighters, marching to the guns on a regular basis,' who can be promoted to leadership roles,' he added."

Coincidentally, it was Myers' last press conference in uniform, coming a few days before the general's retirement.

Posted by Michael Tortorello at September 27, 2005 3:11 PM | Comments (5)

 

Are we supposed to believe this is a promotion?

Filed under: Media

Vicki Gowler is stepping down as editor of the Pioneer Press. As suggested in this morning's Star Tribune, Knight Ridder announced today that Gowler will be taking over the top job at The Idaho Statesman, in Boise.

Filling her post at the Pi Press will be Thom Fladung, currently managing editor of the Detroit Free Press. Fladung has previously worked at the Akron Beacon Journal, in Ohio, and The State, in Columbia, S.C.

Gowler was named editor of the Pi Press in November, 2001. She's overseen a tumultuous period at the paper, with several high profile writers departing. Columnists D.J. Tice and Nick Coleman defected to the Star Tribune, while music scribe Jim Walsh moved on to City Pages. The paper was also radically re-designed on her watch, with the editorial pages being shifted to the local section and page two now devoted to a recounting of the day's headlines dubbed "speed read."

Posted by Paul Demko at September 27, 2005 2:40 PM | Comments (0)

 

Carl Hiaasen on Knight Ridder

Filed under: Media

Carl Hiaasen is in town today to read from his new kids' book Flush. He's best known for his witty, acerbic novels, but Hiaasen continues to write a regular column for the Knight Ridder-owned Miami Herald. From that perch he's been a persistent and pugnacious critic of the newspaper chain, which locally owns the Pioneer Press and the Duluth News Tribune. It's worth revisiting this interview with Miami New Times from last year. Here's Hiaasen's take on the demise of his newspaper:

I don't blame the Herald. I blame Knight Ridder. There's plenty of good talent there, plenty of good editors, all the ingredients. But when you're not in charge of the money, when you're getting memos that say 'cut here, cut there,' you're screwed. Short of quitting, what do you do? It's amazing what they still do given how the budget has shrunk, the staff has shrunk, the news hole has shrunk. But it's really silly pretending it's the same paper it used to be."

Posted by Paul Demko at September 27, 2005 10:41 AM | Comments (0)

 

"We really tried hard to get a GOP speaker"

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

For the past few months, Minneapolis resident Guy Gambill has been working to organize a public forum to bring attention to the plight of homeless veterans. The subject is close to Gambill's heart. A veteran himself, Gambill struggled after his discharge from the Army. A few years back, he says, things got so bad that he wound up on the street, homeless and often drunk. He didn't know what sort of help was available. For 16 years, he says, he wasn't even aware that he qualified for free medical care from the VA.

Such stories are not unusual. According to research from the Wilder Foundation, there are about 700 homeless veterans on Minnesota streets, accounting for roughly one quarter of the state's homeless population. Not surprisingly, nearly half suffer from some form of mental illness; many struggle with post traumatic stress disorder--they called it "soldier's heart" in the Civil War days--and are distrustful of those who want to help them.

These days, about 47 percent of the homeless vets on Minnesota streets served in Vietnam. But when the legions of soldiers return from the war zones in Iraq and Afghanistan, everyone knows those demographics will shift. That's why Gambill is so interested in gathering policy makers and service providers: he wants them to talk strategy so vets aren't failed as pitifully as they were after Vietnam.

Last Saturday morning, Gambill's Forum on Homeless Veterans was held at the Minnesota Veterans Home in south Minneapolis. There was a certain irony in the selection of that particular veterans home, as its four top officials resigned earlier this month after inspections revealed multiple violations in the care of some of the home's most vulnerable residents.

Turnout for the forum was relatively light. There were about a dozen speakers and maybe 100 attendees. Still, Gambill deemed the program a success. After all, a good number of active military people, social workers, psychiatrists and politicians were all in the same room, where they could share perspectives on some seemingly intractable problems.

One group, however, was conspicuous in its absence: elected Republicans. According to Gambill, this was not by design. Invitations were issued to every member of the Minnesota legislature, most of the state's Congressional delegation and scads of other state and local pols.

Overall, just a fraction of these public servants could be bothered to spend their Saturday morning discussing the dreary realities of the homeless vet. In attendance, according to Gambill, were five DFLers (Senator Mark Dayton, State Senator Jane Ranum, Hennepin County Commissioner Gail Dorfman, Hennepin County Commissioner Peter McLaughlin, and Minneapolis City Council member Paul Zerby) and one Green (Minneapolis City Council member Natalie Johnson-Lee). Of those six, all but Johnson-Lee and McLaughlin delivered prepared remarks.

Commenting on the partisan disparities of the forum participants, Gambill writes: "Again, we really tried hard to get a GOP speaker and, in the end, we were unsuccessful."

What to make of this? Maybe all those yellow ribbons adorning the cars in the Capital parking lots just don't work very well anymore. Or maybe members of the War Party don't care to be reminded of the fate of those left most devastated by their policies.

Posted by Mike Mosedale at September 27, 2005 10:07 AM | Comments (3)

 

9/27: Morning Communique

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has your Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

A Pocatello, Idaho, weatherman who gained attention for claiming that Hurricane Katrina was caused by the Japanese mafia using a Russian electromagnetic generator has quit the television station to pursue the theory.

Suspects arrested or detained by federal authorities could be forced to provide samples of their DNA that would be recorded in a central database under a provision of a Senate bill to expand government collection of personal data.

"Saving Private Ryan" actor Tom Sizemore is set to release a series of his own home-made sex films to raise some cash. Heh, heh, sizemore.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Just a pale, Midwestern guy kicking W when he's down at Truetone.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington released a report on the 13 Most Corrupt Members Of Congress.

Banned Books Week 2005 is September 24 - October 1. You may enjoy flipping through one of the most frequently challenged books of 2004.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"A few weeks ago, we did a story on worshipers returning to the shattered churches of the Gulf Coast, and I made an offhand comment based on an old expression that said, 'There are no atheists in foxholes or hurricane zones.' Well, many have since pointed out that there are 30 million atheists in this country and among them, Katrina victims, first responders and relief donors. I stand corrected."

-- "Good Morning America" weekend anchor Bill Weir

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 27, 2005 6:38 AM | Comments (1)

 

WSJ on the environmental damage wrought by Katrina

Filed under: Science

There's a superb story by Ken Wells in last Friday's Wall Street Journal titled "Oil, Saltwater Mar Louisiana Coast, Threaten Future." Here are some salient excerpts:

[A]t least 193,000 barrels of oil and other petrochemicals were blown or driven by tides across the fragile marshy ecosystems and dense urban areas of the Plaquemines and St. Bernard Parishes, southeast of New Orleans.... The spills... approach the scale of the famous 1989 Exxon Valdez tanker spill, which dumped 240,000 barrels of crude oil....

Coastal Louisiana's wetland produces a third of the nation's commercial seafood--about a billion pounds of fish, crab and oysters annually--the most in the lower 48 states.... The mixture of sewage, rotting vegetation and oil... has been devastating to aquatic birds. More than 5 million migratory birds, including a number of rare and endangered species, make use each year of the Louisiana estuary's marshes, swamps, bays and bayous. Coastal Louisiana also harbors the largest nesting population of bald eagles in the lower 48....

Coastal Louisiana holds the earth's seventh largest wetland and is America's largest estuary, containing 30 percent of all U.S. coastal marshes... Yet the state's coastal ecosystem is less well known than places such as Chesapeake Bay, whose fishery production it dwarfs. It receives far less adulation than the Florida Everglades, though it shelters far more species of wildlife, fish, and birds.

Some scientists... are convinced that the conditions of the wetlands of the St. Bernard and Plaquemines Parishes contributed to the number of oil spills [at least 40, ten of which are major] during Katrina. One example: Pipelines originally buried under the marsh 20 years ago had become more vulnerable to Katrina's surges as the landscape changed... [T]he Plaquemines Parish president says he heard of cases where "the force of the storm surges forced a lot of pipelines to the surface, snapping them like sticks of dried spaghetti."

Posted by Britt Robson at September 26, 2005 1:27 PM | Comments (1)

 

Rove/Plame: The New Criminologist breaks it all down for you

Filed under: Rove/Plame

I went to Google News this morning to see what's been going on with the Rove/Plame grand jury investigation since it was knocked off the news pages by Katrina and Rita. Not much, it turns out, apart from some details of Judith Miller's jailhouse guest list.

In the absence of any real news, though, one British crime tabloid, The New Criminologist, claims to have all the explosive details of special prosecutor Patrick Fitzgerald's upcoming indictments. Buried amid its many fevered dispatches on terror preparedness ("The Small Animal Veterinarian's Role in a Bioterrorist Event") and conspiracies the world scarcely suspects ("Jihad Vegan"), TNC writes that a slew of sealed indictments have been handed down:

"Sources close to the federal grade [sic] jury probe also allegedly told Heneghen a host of administration figures under Bush were indicted, including Vice President Richard Cheney, Chief of Staff Andrew Card, Cheney Chief of Staff I. Lewis "Scooter" Libby, Attorney General Alberto Gonzalez, former Attorney General John Ashcroft, imprisoned New York Times reporter Judith Miller and former Cheney advisor Mary Matalin. Heneghen, unavailable for comment, also allegedly told sources White House advisor Karl Rove was indicted for perjury in a major document shredding operation cover-up."

Read the whole story. Or don't. Just remember you heard it here first. And probably last.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 26, 2005 9:28 AM | Comments (0)

 

Houston freeways: Cadillac Ranch, the SUV edition

Filed under: National

Hurricane Rita's jog to the north last Friday was lucky not just for those who stayed in Galveston and Houston but likewise for those who tried to flee, only to find themselves stuck on Texas interstates. From Wednesday onward, gas stations in the Houston area and all along the main routes north and west turned up empty, temporarily stranding thousands and gumming up traffic for miles. After Rita passed on Saturday, Texas officials from Houston Mayor Bill White on up the line vowed to find out what happened.

One root of the problem was evident in the aerial shots of clogged freeways: They were choked with trucks and SUVs that have massive gas tanks and get shitty mileage. The math is not so difficult. The average passenger car's gas tank holds from 12-18 gallons. Trucks and SUVs start in the 22-gallon range (Ford Explorer) and run all the way up to 31 (Chevy Suburban) or even 35 gallons (Dodge Ram ST). And many of them get 10-13 MPG in stop-and-go traffic, which means they go about as far as a lot of cars with gas tanks half the size. No wonder the storage tanks at filling stations were quickly tapped out.

Texas ranks number two in the country in total SUV registrations, trailing only California. Yet while SUVs account for only about 7.5 percent of Texas registrations, that figure does not count pick-up trucks, and does not begin to do justice to the parade of gas guzzlers that took to the freeways leaving Houston last week. Sunday's New York Times Week in Review section carried a half-page photo of one random stretch of suburban interstate; SUVs, trucks, and vans outnumber passenger cars by a roughly 80-50 margin.

Posted by Steve Perry at September 26, 2005 8:31 AM | Comments (2)

 

9/26: Morning Communique

Filed under: Morning Communique

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Diablo says good-bye to sweet Agnes the pup at Pussy Ranch.

THESE DAYS

An extraordinary appeal to Americans from the Bush administration for money to help pay for the reconstruction of Iraq has raised only $600.

NewsMax thinks Al Gore is poised to make a comeback and could pose a serious challenge to Hillary Clinton in the 2008 Democratic presidential race.

A 14-year-old student was expelled from Ontario (CA) Christian School because her parents are lesbians, the school's superintendent, Leonard Stob, said in a letter.

The National Rifle Association (NRA) and the Second Amendment Foundation (SAF) joined individual Louisiana gun owners in a federal lawsuit to stop authorities from confiscating firearms from private citizens in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Not to get all meta on your ass, but the Minnesota Blog of the Day isn't a blog, but it's City Pages's own Minnesota-Based Blog Directory that's moved to its new home at blogs.citypages.com/mnblogs. Blogs by former and current Minnesotans can be posted there by sending me a nice little note with the title and link.

TIME WASTERS

Amy Sedaris plays Paulie the Penis in an amusing little flash film about puberty.

Peter Griffin and Michael Moore in a farting contest from Family Guy

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I clearly miscalculated how popular it would be to show Calvin urinating on a Ford logo... Actually, I wasn't against all merchandising when I started the strip, but each product I considered seemed to violate the spirit of the strip, contradict its message, and take me away from the work I loved. If my syndicate had let it go at that, the decision would have taken maybe 30 seconds of my life."

-- Calvin and Hobbes creator Bill Watterson, discussing the merchandising of his famed comic strip

"The First Amendment has not repealed the basic rule of life, that he who pays the piper calls the tune. When you place the government in charge of funding art, just as when you place the government in charge of providing education, somebody has to pick the content of what art is going to be funded, what subjects are going to be taught."

-- Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia, on federal funding for the arts

"Plus, a dog swallows a knife and lives."

-- FOX9 anchorman Jeff Passolt promoting last night's 9:00 p.m. telecast

Posted by Corey Anderson at September 26, 2005 6:48 AM | Comments (0)

 

Irony of the week: Norm saves detainee!

Filed under: Minnesota Politics

Junior Senator intervenes to free obvious, five-year-old terror suspect

It's no secret that our buddy Norm loves to march lockstep behind--and even out in front of--our president on all things terror related. Coleman has defended prisoner treatment at Gitmo, called for the resignation of Kofi Annan in the oil-for-food scandal, and just generally played the politics of fear in the "War on Terror" about as well as anyone else.

That's why one of three (!) missives from his office caught the eye today: Coleman actually helped someone "suspicious"--at least in the eyes of the Kenyan government--get into the United States. Never mind that the "suspect" was a five-year-old U.S. citizen. Quimby rushed in just in time to save the day. To wit: