Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog

Pity poor Jonathon Sharkey, the vampire politico forced to live in a world where two staples of the bloodsucker's craft--escape and stalking--happen to violate the laws of the daylight-dwellers. Sharkey was arrested in Princeton yesterday on two Indiana felony warrants that turned up after a police dispatcher saw Sharkey's name in the news.

Read the AP story.

Read Blotter's "Intervyew with the Vampyre."

The Pioneer Press and Checks & Balances both had stories yesterday reporting the departure of state Rep. John Lesch on a two-week backpacking trip to Iraq and Syria. But what exactly the St. Paul legislator hopes to accomplish on this journey remains somewhat murky.

"While it is true that most folks would choose more stable settings for their vacation, I believe the Iraq war is the seminal conflict for our age," Lesch wrote in announcing his departure. "What happens there today will affect many generations of Americans and Iraqis, and I seek to learn as much as possible in a short amount of time."

As both articles noted, Lesch's mission sounds a wee bit like that of Farris Hassan, the 16-year-old Florida rich kid who traveled to Iraq by himself and turned up at the Associated Press office inside the Green Zone.

Whatever Lesch's motives, you can follow his progress on his blog, Down the Rabbit Hole.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Karl Pearson-Cater wants to know what's on your iTunes Smart Playlist at Culture To Go.

Steve Monaco presents another edition if "My Movie Year (So Far)" at Couch Pundit.

An e-mail from Bruce Innes has Jack Sparks musing on Hunter S. Thompson and buying apes at the Other Side of Country.

Jim Walsh has the latest edition of his must-have Top 20 at the Walsh Files.

THESE DAYS

Coretta Scott King RIP

Larry Batson RIP

A printer that spits out ultra-fine droplets of cells instead of ink has been used to print live brain cells without causing them any apparent harm. The technique could open up the possibility of building replacement tissue cell by cell, giving doctors complete control over the tissue they graft.

Dean Kamen, the inventor of the Segway, is now drinking his own pee to promote his portable water filter.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Jason Motylinski blogs about A Million Little Pieces, local homophobic radio, his illin' pup, and taxes at Computer Jargon.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Demonic Tots and Deeply Disturbing Cuisine [via Boing Boing]

Whittling as a Hobby

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"This is the dark side of the reality of war. ...People don't want to know the Marlboro Man has PTSD."

-- Jessica Miller, wife of ex-Marine James Blake Miller, the famed "Marlboro Man" from a 2004 Fallujah photo, in a riveting SF Chronicle article

"If I had to pick right now and make a decision, I would say I'm not coming back."

-- Green Bay Packers Quarterback Brett Favre, interviewed on ESPN

Anyone who has spent much time in Minneapolis knows that the city government can be mighty picky in matters of zoning. Commercial, industrial and residential uses are generally quarentined from one another, as if any intermingling might result in an outbreak of bubonic plague, Ebola or, worst of all, a downward spiral in property values. That's why when you travel through certain residential districts in south Minneapolis, you can cover block after block without encountering a single bar, restaurant or other commercial entity. In this regard, Minneapolis resembles the suburbs it so often seems stuck on emulating: we live under the tyranny of the homeowners.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has your Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

Factotum, the Matt Dillon film based on Charles Bukowski's second novel and filmed in Minneapolis, has found a distributor at Sundance. More info at Culture to Go.

THESE DAYS

Sen. Wayne Allard (R-CO), a co-sponsor of the 2005 Marriage Protection Amendment, has confirmed that Senate Majority leader Bill Frist (R-TN) will attempt to bring the anti-gay legislation to the floor this year for a full vote.

The amount of money spent on pork barrel projects -- special state or local projects tacked onto federal legislation -- has almost tripled over the past 10 years, according to figures from the Congressional Research Service.

After 25 years and 1,500 versions of print ads built around the shape of its bottle, Absolut vodka is shelving the campaign that made it famous.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Mamluke is a Minneapolitan in the local GLBT chorus. He blogs about working at the U, rehearsals, and his friend grouchbutt at Late Late Antiquity.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Which sports car are you? I'm a Mazda. Jeez.

The Brian Peppers Song

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I genuinely care about people and life in general."

-- "Will & Grace" co-star Megan Mullally, touting her upcoming daytime talk show "The Megan Mullally Show" at the NATPE TV sales convention

"We need somebody to put rat poisoning in Justice Stevens' creme brulee. That's just a joke, for you in the media."

-- Political pundit Ann Coulter, taking a page from Pat Robertson's playbook

Two years ago, while researching an article about Wal-Mart's presence in the Twin Cities, I read pretty much every substantive piece that had been written about the retailing behemoth in the previous year. By far the most revealing article was in Fast Company magazine by Charles Fishman. The piece peeked behind the curtains of Wal-Mart's operations, and scrutinized its seismic impact on the world economy, in a way that no previous journalist had managed. Fishman has now expanded his reporting into a book, The Wal-Mart Effect, published earlier this month by Penguin Press.

Fishman catalogues the impact and enormity of Wal-Mart in ways that are often astounding. For instance, he points out that more than half of all Americans now live within five miles of a Wal-Mart, with roughly one outlet for every 78,000 residents. Between 1997 and 2004, the country added 670,000 new retail jobs. More than two thirds of those jobs (some 480,000) were at Wal-Mart. The company is now the largest employer in Mexico, the largest retailer in Canada, and the second largest grocer in England.

Up until September 2004, I lived across the street from where Victor Garma lived. That's why when news broke earlier this week of his murder in a botched robbery in his townhome, I couldn't help but feel a little shaken.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Join in the Szczerbiak trade discussion at Balls!

Meet Ernie, the newest occupant of the Pussy Ranch.

THESE DAYS

The ACLU of Georgia released copies of government files that illustrate the extent to which the FBI, the DeKalb County Division of Homeland Security and other government agencies have gone to compile information on Georgians suspected of being threats simply for expressing controversial opinions, including vegans picketing against meat eating.

Happy 250, Amadeus! It's all Mozart all day on Minnesota Public Radio.

A BBC survey into Brits' views on evolution has found that while 48 percent of people opted for evolution as that which "best described their view of the origin and development of life," 22 percent opted for creationism and 17 percent for intelligent design.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

The folks at McHale Must Go appear to have a few points of contention with the Minnesota Timberwolves current vice president of basketball operations.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Stuff you shouldn't put in your microwave

Another episode of Cedric & Gerard

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"And yet we have brave men and women who are willing to step forward because they know what's at stake. They're willing to sacrifice their lives for this great country. What I'm asking all of you tonight is not to put on a uniform. Put on a bumper sticker. Is it that much to ask? Is it that much to ask to step up and serve your country?"

-- Sen. Rick Santorum (R-PA), calling Americans to serve

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Paging Dr. Freud, Dr. Freud to the Pussy Ranch stat.

THESE DAYS

Defense, engineering and construction services contractor Halliburton Co. said its KBR subsidiary received a five-year, $385 million contract from the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement department for establishing temporary detention, processing and deportation facilities.

West Virginia, which has one of the nation's worst obesity problems, is expanding a project that uses a video game to boost students' physical activity.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Wall Street Journal reporters read Elana Centor's business culture blog, Funny Business. Shouldn't you?

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Fill out the Holmes-Rahe Scale to gauge the stress in your life. Over 300 is trouble. [via Tild]

Create your own Simpson character with the Simpsonmaker! Yours truly has been fashioned here.

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I don't think he's conservative, pure and simple."

-- Political pundit Rush Limbaugh, on why he doesn't support the presidential aspirations of Sen. John McCain. Limbaugh is quoted in The Desert Sun as "liking" Sen. George Allen (R-VA)

On November 30th, at approximately 5:40 p.m., police officers were summoned to investigate a robbery at the Blink Bonnie sandwich shop on E. 7th Street in downtown St. Paul. The clerk told responding officers that a black male wearing a camouflage jacket with black sleeves and a black stocking cap had just robbed the place. According to court records, the perpetrator stated that he had a gun and demanded all the money from the register. He made off with less than $100.

Roughly seven weeks later, on January 18th, the sandwich shop was robbed again. The details were almost identical. At approximately 5:40 p.m., a black male wearing a camouflage jacket with black sleeves entered the store claiming to have a gun and escaped with under $100.