Minneapolis / St. Paul News Blog

THESE DAYS

Starved for cash, the New Orleans school district is taking a long shot and hoping to sell its flooded, unsalvageable school buses on eBay.

Super Bowl winning offensive lineman Roy Simmons discusses being a closeted homosexual in the NFL, childhood rape, and drug addiction in his new book Out Of Bounds.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

A new baby is shifting the focus from reading, writing, and beauty products at Girl Detective.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

For the three people who haven't seen it yet: Heat Vision and Jack, the 1999 Ben Stiller-produced TV show starring Jack Black as a super-smart astronaut with a talking motorcycle (voiced by Owen Wilson) being pursued by Ron Silver as... Ron Silver.

Progressive Boink tallies the 25 Best Moments on Arrested Development

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It's just sad that his life has spiraled down to the point where in all likelihood he's going to go to prison. You never like to see anybody go to prison, let alone somebody who is 54 years old."

-- Morley Pitt, assistant district attorney in San Mateo County, California, bemoaning the fate of Village People singer Victor Willis (the policeman) who has been arrested on drug and gun charges

The move to legalize medical marijuana in Minnesota

State Senator Steve Kelley (DFL-Hopkins) is known for being an education expert of sorts at the Capitol, but this legislative session, he's doffed a new cap: Marijuana advocate. With little notice, Kelly (who is also a candidate for governor) has introduced a medical marijuana bill that thus far has narrowly passed through three committees, and Kelley expects it to hit the floor in front of the full Senate before the session is over in May.

Still, Kelley is doubtful that the House will approve a companion bill, and Governor Tim Pawlenty, buzzkill that he is, has said that he will veto any piece of pot legislation.

But Kelley is undeterred, and views this as a step toward Minnesota joining 11 other states around the country that allow growers to supply marijuana for medicinal purposes to the chronically ill.

The Pioneer Press reported Thursday morning that residents of City Walk Condominiums had been without electricity for approximately...27 hours. An entire day without electricity?! That's akin to going a full day without a fresh Golden Raisin Scone from Turtle Bread Co. How do they do it? Not well, apparently: According to the Pi Press, the condo residents were feeling "powerless" yesterday morning, a dreary and wet one it was, and were forced to leave their downtown dwellings for coffee since the outage left them unable to brew their own at home. The predicament sparked this headline: "Caffeine deprived condo residents feeling powerless."

This relevant story of desperation got us thinking about other such stories we'd like to see in the Pioneer Press. Yesterday, for example, the entire CP offices were without long distance for almost an hour. Staffers needing to make long-distance calls during that brief period were forced to use their cell phones instead. And others, either without cell phones or a decent service plan, were forced to wait it out in their cubes. Possible headline: "CP staffers want to go the (long) distance, but can't."

Mid-morning both Wednesday and Thursday, African American man begging at the off-ramp on the southeast corner of I-94 and Highway 55, Near North side of Minneapolis.

He looks to be in perhaps his late 50s, and despite the recent spate of warm weather, is adhering to the Minnesota principles of layering. His cardboard sign, heavy with text scrawled in black marker, reads:

Running for president
President Bush took my job
I want his

Chris Dykstra was initially amused when he learned last summer that the web site that he runs, Gatheroo.com, was being threatened with a lawsuit for trademark infringement. Gatheroo was created by Minnetonka-based software company Warecorp after the popular online networking site, meetup.com, began charging for its services.

But Dykstra is no longer amused. Earlier this month Warecorp was sued in U.S. District Court by Gather, a Boston-based company affiliated with Minnesota Public Radio. The lawsuit alleges that Warecorp is improperly infringing on the company's trademark and engaging in unfair business practices. Gather is seeking an injunction barring Warecorp from using the Gatheroo name, as well as monetary damages.

It has been hard to avoid the news coverage of the murder of Michael Zebuhr, the 25-year-old graduate student from South Carolina who was shot twice in the head as he walked down an Uptown street with his mother on March 18. Zebuhr, it seemed, was the very unfortunate victim of two cold-blooded muggers.

Or was he? On the internet discussion boards, a competing theory has emerged. Zebuhr, the thinking here goes, was not a random victim; he was, rather, the target of a government black-op.

So why would the government want to kill a promising young bioengineering student about whom no one can seem to utter a negative word? Because, you naive dolt, Zebuhr was a member of 9/11 Scholars for Truth, an organization of students and academics who believe the attacks on the World Trade Center and the Pentagon were orchestrated by rogue elements within the U.S. government.

THESE DAYS

Most programs written in the C programming language were immune to the Y2K problem, but suffer instead from the Year 2038 problem.

Smokers often say that smoking a cigarette helps them concentrate and feel more alert. But years of tobacco use may have the opposite effect, dimming the speed and accuracy of a person's thinking ability and bringing down their IQ, according to a new study led by University of Michigan researchers.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Join in the American Idol conversation, and read commentary on music and movies at Society Dome.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

1973 Walt Disney VD cartoon

Gloabl Politics in 30 Seconds from the hilarious Wonder Showzen

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I think Angelina Jolie has done amazing, amazing things, and the international adoption rate just since her has skyrocketed. It's unbelievable."

-- pizza commercial fixture Jessica Simpson, on the possibility of her adopting and caring for children

I wrote about the ridiculously crowded race to replace U.S. Rep. Martin Sabo in today's paper. A couple of additional notes: Rebecca Yanisch dropped out of the race yesterday.

And I failed to make the connection initially, but one of the two Republican Party candidates vying for the post is the guy who believes the roof of the Metrodome is a giant swastika! Who says the Republicans aren't going to be a factor in this heavily Democratic district?

My story in today's City Pages about former Minnesota Pollution Control Agency researcher Fardin Oliaei merits a quick footnote. As the piece relates, Oliaei's 16-year employment at the MPCA came to an end last month--an outcome the scientist attributes to institutional opposition to her efforts to focus public attention and research dollars on pollution from a ubiquitous and highly persistent family of synthetic chemicals known as PFCs. In particular, Oliaei has been concerned with a PFC called PFOS, which was long manufactured by the 3M Company at its facility in Cottage Grove for use in such products as Scotch-Guard.

Well, yesterday, the Minnesota Department of Health announced that it was issuing new fish consumption guidelines for a nearby stretch of the Mississippi River (Pool 2) because of research findings that show unusually high levels of PFOS in the fillets of bluegill sunfish.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Jim Walsh has a shot of the reunited Replacements at the Walsh Files.

THESE DAYS

Scientists can grow frog and mouse meat in the lab, and are now working on pork, beef and chicken. Their goal is to develop an industrial version of the process in five years.

Tennessee State Rep. Debra Maggart believes homosexual couples should not be allowed to adopt children because they may molest the children they adopt.

John Claassen is suing the popular online matchmaker eHarmony for refusing to help him find a date. The company says there's one good reason for that: He's still married.

Oil services company Halliburton Co. repeatedly overcharged taxpayers and provided substandard cost reports under a $1.2 billion contract to restore
Iraq's southern oil fields, according to a new report by U.S. Rep. Henry Waxman.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Aliecat had an NG tube down her throat for 24 hours. And she hates those eHarmony ads. Read more at The Kitty Kat Lounge.

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TIME WASTERS

Star Wars animated GIF

How to earn your first million by starting at age 16

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Arrested Development reached its end, creatively, as a series."

-- Show creator Mitch Hurwitz, after talks with Showtime to pick up the cancelled series failed

Until recently, even close news readers have known little about the bodies turning up around Iraq by the hundreds. More than a few of them have been headless, which makes identification more complicated. Were these insurgents? Sunni clerics? Ex-Baathists? Regime sympathizers?

New York Times war correspondent Jeffrey Gettleman suggested an answer to those questions in his Sunday front page story: frequently, none of the above. The piece begins with the case of a non-observant Sunni bird fancier who was extracted from his pet store at gun point, over the objections of a Shiite neighbor. He turned up the next day at a sewage plant. "A slight man who raised nightingales," Gettleman continues, "he had been hogtied, drilled with power tools and shot.

Gettleman's conclusion: Shiite militia are running loose in Iraq with the backing of the nation's Interior Ministry.

Do they also enjoy the backing of the United States? No one has hinted as much--recently, that is. Amid all the awful stories coming out of Iraq--the graft, the child soldiers, the Taliban-style restrictions on women, music and alcohol--one can forget the news from last week...to say nothing of last year. And so it was with morbid unease that I stumbled yesterday upon a Newsweek story from January of 2005 that suggested that frustrated American military planners were considering something called "the Salvador Option":

NEWSWEEK has learned, the Pentagon is intensively debating an option that dates back to a still-secret strategy in the Reagan administration's battle against the leftist guerrilla insurgency in El Salvador in the early 1980s. Then, faced with a losing war against Salvadoran rebels, the U.S. government funded or supported "nationalist" forces that allegedly included so-called death squads directed to hunt down and kill rebel leaders and sympathizers....

THESE DAYS

Richard Lynn of the University of Ulster has ranked European IQ scores and puts Germany and the Netherlands at the top, with Turkey and Serbia bringing up the rear.

Congressman Tom Delay's concealed handgun license is revoked.

"Sex consent forms" are being circulated in South Africa in the wake of ongoing rape trials involving high-profile personalities.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Loosestrife casts a jaundiced gaze at politics in the City of Lakes at Minneapolis Upside Down.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

A 1989 Apple computer brochure illustrated by The Simpsons's Matt Groening.

Life and love with the world's worst dog: Snarley

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Mike's played in this system. There won't be a lot of thinking involved with him."

-- Vikings head coach Brad Childress, on acquiring former Philly back-up QB Mike McMahon

A word from Hennepin County Commissioner McLaughlin

Peter McLaughlin made an appearance at a labor rally/protest in downtown Minneapolis Saturday afternoon. Judging from the reaction of many union members, it was the rarest of sightings since McLaughlin lost his bid to be mayor of Minneapolis in November.

"I told you about the crime," McLaughlin said aloud to no one in particular, referring to the issue he repeatedly hammered when he ran against incumbent Mayor R.T. Rybak last year.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has the 100th Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

Jack Sparks remembers Buck Owens at the Other Side of Country.

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

THESE DAYS

New York state Sen. Ada Smith, a Queens Democrat, allegedly threw coffee in a staffer's face after the senator returned from a Weight Watchers meeting and said she had lost about four pounds. The staffer then stated she thought Smith would have lost more.

A Los Angeles screenwriter, J. Neil Schulman, is claiming that the Department of Homeland Security has informed him that he may not use the agency's name "or any of the Department's official visual identities" in the script for his film, Lady Magdalene, despite the fact that the film presents a positive image of the DHS. [via Undernews]

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Abigail Garner, author of Families Like Mine: Children of Gay Parents Tell It Like It Is, blogs on gay and lesbian issues in our culture at Damn Straight.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Cat vs. Ninja Chipmunk

Heavy Metal Ken dolls

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"[Brokeback Mountain producers] were engaged in a 'movie laundering' scheme designed to obtain the services of talent such as Randy Quaid on economically unfavorable art film terms."

-- excerpt of a lawsuit filed by actor Randy Quaid ("Christmas Vacation 2: Cousin Eddie's Island Adventure"), asking for $10 million in damages, and accusing the movie producers of procuring his services for little money by falsely representing the movie to him as "a low-budget, art-house film, with no prospect of making any money."

This morning the blogger known as Mr. Sponge posted his last communique at the relatively new left-wing blog Minvolved, intimating a threat had been received concerning the safety of his wife and/or children. A letter from Sponge to Norwegianity blogger Mark Gisleson stated he received two e-mails from separate Hotmail accounts. The e-mails included Sponge's wife's name and her place of work and implications that the author would confront Sponge's wife or her boss about the content on Minvolved, a partisan but rarely inflammatory site. Matthew Martin, a fellow Minvolved contributor and blogger at MN Publius, is out of town and unable to respond to inquiries until April 4.

Partisanship seems to have taken a really ugly turn when the lives of one's family are threatened over policital commentary. Let's hope Sponge is successful in tracking down the odious troll behind these threats.

Chino Latino, as the name suggests, is known for its cheeky fusion of cuisines and cultures from around the globe. The trendy, six-year-old Uptown eatery serves up such concoctions as chipotle salmon roll, Philippine paella, and Fidel's capitalist pig roast.

But according to a lawsuit filed earlier this month by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission in U.S. District Court, Chino Latino also serves up a heaping platter of discrimination for its Hispanic employees.

It was almost a year ago that Sen. Paul Koering (R-Fort Ripley) essentially outed himself as a gay person when he voted against moving the anti-gay marriage amendment proposed by Sen. Michelle Bachmann (R-Stillwater) out of committee and directly to the floor of the Senate for a vote. The very next morning, groups supporting the gay marriage ban starting running radio ads in Koering's district, and gave out his home phone number in the process. Within the week, caught up in a political firestorm, Koering decided to announce to the media that he was gay.

In an interview with City Pages last June, Koering claimed that he was against gay marriage, and that his vote was one disagreeing with procedure, "departing from the way we normally do business in the Senate...To make a motion to pull this out of committee and drag it right to the Senate floor, I just thought it was the wrong thing to do."

So far this year, the 67 members of the Minnesota Senate have filed expense reports totalling $226,539. In keeping with historical patterns, however, there is considerable variation between individual senators. Those who live the furthest from the Capitol typically wind up with biggest tabs because of their greater travel and lodging expenses.

That probably explains why State Sen. Leroy Stumpf sits atop the expense report heap for 2006. The seven term DFLer hails from the northwest Minnesota hamlet of Plummer, a 310 mile drive from St. Paul. Stumpf, who has filed for total reimbursements of $9,217 so far this year, has accumulated $4,186 in mileage alone. Gubernatorial hopeful Steve Kelley, meanwhile, has submitted the lowest request for reimbursements in 2006: $876. Like 15 of his colleagues (mainly fellow metro area legislators), the Hopkins DFL-er has requested zero compensation for his mileage.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

Pizzaman delivers to the drunkest man ever on the Streets of Pizza.

It's Art Brut vs. the Arctic Monkeys and Minneapolis vs. St. Paul at the Walsh Files.

First, the St. Paul City Council banned Easter Bunnies to avoid offending non-Christians. Find out what they're banning next at American Idle.

THESE DAYS

Former first lady Barbara Bush donated an undisclosed amount of money to the Bush-Clinton Katrina Fund with specific instructions that the money be spent with an educational software company owned by her son Neil.

Infants tend to grasp the names of objects that interest them rather than whatever the speaker thinks is important, a new study has found.

Under the auspices of its religion-based initiatives and other federal programs, the Bush Administration has funneled at least $157 million in grants to organizations run by political and ideological allies, according to federal grant documents and interviews.

Hitslink, a web metrics company, reports that the number of people using Mac OS online topped 4 percent by the end of November 2005.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Lefty blogging and podcasting can be yours at LoLife.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

The Simpsons theme performed on a single acoustic guitar

Kiplinger's has Seven Career Killers for those just starting out

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It's usually worth the expense, because you get more emotion which sells more product."

-- commercial director Laura Cheshire, on why companies like AOL and Anheuser-Busch spend millions for voiceovers from A-list stars when few viewers will recognize them

Viagra and polyamorous red herrings

It's not often I agree with Slate's William Saleten. I find his abortion-reduction schtick tiresome and not a productive plank in the debate, for instance. But in the wake of Strib columnist Katherine Kersten's cautionary rant about gay marriage leading to the legitimization of polygamy, I'm willing to take up with Saleten, albeit temporarily. Saleten writes in response to the Washington Post's Charles Krauthammer, who earlier this week advanced the same argument as Kersten--namely, that HBO's new drama, about a suburban clatch of polygamists in Utah is the next salvo in the pervert culture wars. History, Saleten argues, is rife with examples of flirtations with the kinky gone awry.

As a postscript to this week's CP interview with epidemiologist Michael Osterholm, here are some links for further reading:

H5N1: the best and most thorough of the dozen-plus bird flu news blogs I've looked at.

CIDRAP: the avian flu page at the University of Minnesota Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy's website.

A "phantom flu": contrarian view of the H5N1 hubbub by a former Canadian public health official, Richard Schabas.

A 50 percent chance of crossover: ABC News story about the views of noted virologist Robert G. Webster.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Diablo Cody gives us a behind-the-scenes look at her interview with David Letterman at Pussy Ranch.

THESE DAYS

A survey conducted by The Times, London, among people working in Indian call centers for British and American companies found that one in five of those questioned has had a workplace affair even though the majority of them were married.

The spoils from former Rep. Randy "Duke" Cunningham's bribery scheme--a household of valuable antiques, rugs and home furnishings--will be auctioned off by the government today to help cover the back taxes and restitution he owes.

The New Hampshire House voted overwhelmingly Tuesday against a proposed amendment to the state constitution to ban gay marriage.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Will poodle enthusiast Mike Finley ever write a happy poem? Find out at Cheer Up, Dogs.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Chris Bliss juggles to the Beatles

Inside the Actors Studio's very proper host James Lipton shotguns a beer on Conan O'Brien

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"It was a little country place. I used to go rabbit hunting over here."

-- L.A. Metropolitan Transportation Authority employee Arthur Winston, describing Los Angeles when he started working in 1924. He retired yesterday on his 100th birthday.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

A nation rejoices as Pizza Man grabs a stack of pies and hits the Streets of Pizza once again.

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

THESE DAYS

The Archbishop of Canterbury, Rowan Williams, has stepped into the controversy between religious fundamentalists and scientists by saying that he does not believe that creationism - the Bible-based account of the origins of the world - should be taught in schools.

The partnership between Amazon.com and Toys 'R' Us came to an end as a judge ruled in favor of the toy retailer and its desire to end the arrangement.

Budget constraints are forcing some FBI agents to operate without e-mail accounts, according to the agency's top official in New York.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Eric Atherton, Greg Peterson, Craig Swalboski, Donny Henn, and other staff members of the Rochester Post-Bulletin blog about sports at the Bullpen.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Christopher Walken Cowbell Soundboard

Eat my sugary ultrasound, with or without sprinkles!

World's Top 10 Nude Beaches

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"Listen, every war plan looks good on paper until you meet the enemy."

-- President Bush, during yesterday's press conference

Local agent in Moussaoui case issued 70 terror warnings

On the stand yesterday in Virginia in the sentencing phase of 9/11 conspirator, a Minneapolis FBI agent offered some horrific testimony about his attempts to investigate Moussaoui's al Quaeda ties while the convict was incarcerated in Sherburne County, Minnesota.

An FBI agent who interrogated Zacarias Moussaoui before Sept. 11, 2001, warned his supervisors more than 70 times that Moussaoui was a terrorist and spelled out his suspicions that the al-Qaeda operative was plotting to hijack an airplane, according to federal court testimony yesterday.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Watch Diablo Cody of the Pussy Ranch on The Late Show with David Letterman at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

Doctors pronounced Ethan Myers brain dead after a car accident dealt the 9-year-old a severe brain injury in 2002. Yet, thanks partly to a video game system, Myers has caught up with his peers in school.

A study from the Journal of Research Into Personality by Jack and Jeanne Block tracked 100 kids from their 1960s nursery school days to the present and found the whiny kids tended to grow up conservative, and turned into rigid young adults, while the confident kids turned out liberal and were still hanging loose, turning into bright, non-conforming adults with wide interests.

Dubai, which agreed this month to sell its interest in U.S. ports, said its $1.2 billion takeover of a U.K. company with U.S. plants that make military equipment is delayed while the authorities investigate security concerns.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Blogging on Malachi Constant, Veronica Mars, and Earth/asteroid collisions can be found at Planetarium.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Fans of Office Space can download their T.P.S. Report coversheets here. What? You didn't get the memo? I'll send it to you again.

What was song was No.1 on the day you were born? "Everyday People" by Sly & The Family Stone: the only cool thing about me. What was No. 1 on the day you were born? Leave it in the comments!

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I went through a big 'me' situation last year with a guy who was all about 'me.'"

-- Minnesota Vikings Head Coach Brad "Major Dad" Childress, busting on Pro Bowl quarterback Daunte Culpepper at a Chamber of Commerce luncheon

Now that Bill McManus has shuffled off to San Antonio, the biggest story around City Hall is who might replace the Minneapolis police chief.

Mayor R.T. Rybak tapped Assistant Chief Tim Dolan to serve as interim chief. In the short term, at least, Dolan makes sense: He has been overseeing the day-to-day operations of the department for some time.

Still, most observers couldn't help but notice that Dolan's stature has risen since the last chief search more than two years ago.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Steve Monaco has the Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.

THESE DAYS

Prominent leaders from the Christian right have warned Republicans they must do more to advance conservative values ahead of the mid-term elections.

In a world of too much work and too much multitasking, Fortune senior writer Anne Fisher thinks the best way to beat the competition may be to do less.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Extensive information on local microbreweries, homebrewing, beer-related events, and updates on beer menus at Twin Cities pubs can be found at MN Beer.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

A Barq's root beer ad featuring Spumco's George Liquor and Jimmy Of The Future

Sample emoticons for e-kicking someone in the e-balls

The trailer for Snakes on a Plane starring Samuel L. Jackson. When did he hire Cuba Gooding Jr.'s agent?

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"In Venezuela, a demogogue awash in oil money is undermining democracy and seeking to destabilize the region."

-- The White House's latest National Security Strategy report, describing Venezuela President Hugo Chavez [via American Street]

It is disappointing, but hardly surprising that the primary opposition to new legislation that would reform the way Minneapolis School Board members are elected is coming from the board members themselves. Sponsored by Rep. Jim Davnie and Sen. Wes Skoglund (both DFL-Minneapolis), the bill would have school board representation mirror that of the Minneapolis Park Board, with six members each elected from a specific geographical district and three more chosen on an at-large, city-wide basis. Currently, all seven school board members run city-wide.

CITY PAGES BLOGS

Britt Robson breaks down last night's Timberwolves game at Balls!

Lindsey Thomas is blogging from SXSW at Culture To Go.

THESE DAYS

A large and previously unknown reservoir of water ice may have been found below the surface of Mars, new radar observations suggest.

The Pentagon's official watchdog will investigate allegations by Halliburton Co. water experts that their company endangered U.S. troops in Iraq by failing to provide safe shower and laundry water.

The new Star Wars television series will film more than 100 episodes, and is expected to debut sometime in 2008. And we can all pray it's Jar Jar-free.

MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY

Liberal pastor, jmjm, DeKlined, and Evigil aren't huge fans of the representative from Minnesota's 2nd District. Check them out at Dump John Kline.

[Minnesota-based blog directory]

TIME WASTERS

Two brothers live on a houseboat in the middle of a field in a very strange movie called The Neverything

Google Mars

FREEDOM OF SPEECH

"I didn't realize until I was two or three years into the show that I had actually taken my father's death gasp and turned it into a national joke. ... That story itself put me on a shrink's couch for years to come."

-- Ron Palillo, on the laugh he developed for his character, Sweathog Arnold Horshack, in the 1970s TV series "Wlecome Back, Kotter," which is being made into a feature film starring Ice Cube

Becky Lourey's spine prevents her from politicking

State Sen. Becky Lourey today cast the lone dissenting vote on a bill to prohibit the intentional disruption of funerals by protesters. The proposal was sparked by last month's protest of a the Anoka funeral of a U.S. soldier killed in Iraq by a Kansas-based religious sect intent on showing that God is killing American troops to punish tolerance for gays and lesbians. Reprehensible though the protect was, Lourey said in explaining her vote, it's a form of speech protected by the U.S. Constitution--something her own son died protecting in Iraq.