Eastbound on the 16 bus, 6:25 p.m., Friday, University Avenue, just past Snelling. White guy and black guy, both middle-aged, both well into their holiday binge drinking, sharing a seat.
"I'm going down to see Alice Cooper," announces the white guy.
"Alice Cooper?" responds his seatmate. "Who's she?"
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A couple of recently released studies underline just how grim times are for folks on the bottom rungs of the economic ladder.
The federal minimum wage has reached a 51-year-low in terms of purchasing power, according to a report by the Economic Policy Institute and the Center on Budget and Policy Priorities. Since 1997 the minimum wage has remained at $5.15 an hour. Last month Senate Republicans rebuffed efforts to increase the hourly wage to $7.25 over the next three years, voting the proposal down by a 52-46 margin. Over the last decade the buying power of minimum-wage earners has decreased by 20 percent.
For Minnesota politicians, ethanol is the classic no-brainer issue. You are either pro-ethanol or don't want to get re-elected. For Minnesota environmentalists, it is a more complicated matter. While everyone with any green in their blood agrees on the need to develop alternative fuels, ethanol remains controversial because of the long running debate over whether its production requires more energy than it actually creates. "What I would really love is to get all the researchers in the same room and watch them duke it out and see who convinces me," says Jeanette Brimmer, legal director of the Minnesota Center for Environmental Advocacy.
Or: Unsafe at Any Speed
Today's Star Tribune carries a story about a lawsuit against Timberwolf Eddie Griffin filed by a man who claims his car was damaged in a traffic accident he says was caused by Griffin. The ostensible point of the story is that the plaintiff has a videotape that shows Griffin in a convenience store after the accident staggering and telling people he's drunk. And it shows two Minneapolis police officers saying that Griffin was not getting a DWI, that they were driving him home to St. Paul.
All news, but this is the most amusing allegation in the piece:
The suit alleges that Griffin was watching a pornographic DVD in his SUV and masturbating when he crashed about 2:30 a.m. on March 30. Griffin, 24, had told the Star Tribune a day after the accident that a dropped cell phone caused him to crash.
Here's what I say: Of course he dropped his cell phone.
THESE DAYS
Reynolds Tobacco has begun marketing watermelon-, coconut-, berry-, and pineapple-flavored cigarettes to people who I'm sure are 18 or over.
A new Business Roundtable report says that "the United States is not sufficiently prepared for a major attack, software incident or natural disaster that would lead to disruption of large parts of the Internet."
A Marine who was dubbed the Marlboro Man after appearing in an iconic photograph from the Iraq War has filed for divorce less than a month after dozens of Americans contributed to a dream wedding for him and his bride.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Bob Schaefer is the pastor of First Lutheran Church of Litchville, North Dakota, and Spring Creek Lutheran Church of Hastings, North Dakota. When he's not preaching, he's blogging at Musings of a Young Pastor.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Not currently on Bravo: Inside the Porn Actor's Studio
It's slithering ever closer: Snakes on a Plane Trailer 1
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Valerie Plame was not a CIA Agent."
-- Former Congressman Tom DeLay (R-TX), discussing the do's and dont's of government leaking on Hardball
THESE DAYS
The native language you speak may determine how your brain solves mathematical puzzles, according to a new study out of Dalian University of Technology in China. Brain scans have revealed that Chinese speakers rely more on visual regions than English speakers when comparing numbers and doing sums.
The Senate Judiciary Committee chairman, Arlen Specter, said Tuesday that he is "seriously considering" filing legislation to give Congress legal standing to sue President Bush over his use of signing statements to reserve the right to bypass laws.
Vancouver residents can now pay parking meters from their cellphones, get a text message warning the meter is about to expire, and even top up the meter without going outside.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Posts on climate change, natural resources, and energy consumption can be found at Organic Blue.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Get a good start on that first coronary: The Twinkies Cookbook
Teenage Mutant Ninja Lebowski [via Boing Boing]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"I think that's been a tradition for a long time."
-- Gov. Ernie Fletcher (R-KY), discussing why, at the end of the day, he leaves his Capitol office, climbs into a Lincoln Town Car driven by a state trooper, and returns to the Governor's Mansion--which is just across the street
At the wee hour of 3:46 a.m., I received the first response to my profile of Jim Fetzer, professor emeritus at University of Minnesota Duluth and noted conspiracy theorist. The email came from none other than Fetzer himself. Given both the tone of the profile and what I gleaned of Fetzer's nature, I anticipated he would object to some aspect of the story. I just wasn't sure which passages in particular would raise his ire. As it turned out, it was this one:
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Jim Walsh sings the praises of local chanteuse Joy Divine at the Walsh Files.
THESE DAYS
Randy Jackson, of Nampa, Idaho, checked "The Joy of Gay Sex" out of the public library and says he has no intentions of returning it due to graphic content he worries could be viewed by the younger library patrons.
A Japanese boy burned down his home, killing his stepmother and two younger siblings, for fear his parents would find out he had lied about his score on an English test.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
MN Publius noticed Congressman Mark Kennedy (R-MN) has removed a number of references to President Bush on his congressional website.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Hitler Cats [via Dependable Renegade]
CreativeBits takes us back to a simpler time, 1990 to be exact, for a recollection of Photoshop Version 1
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"I'd rather be at home making love to my wife while my children are asleep."
-- Sen. Joe Biden (D-DE), speaking to supporters of his leadership PAC about his presidential aspirations
On Sunday afternoon Minneapolis police officers Dave Ulberg and David Elliot were dispatched to the Harrison neighborhood to investigate a report that three teenage girls were being harassed by an adult male. When the officers arrived on the scene, the girls pointed out the man and they attempted to speak with him. According to a criminal complaint filed in Hennepin County District Court, the man--subsequently identified as 43-year-old Steven Maurice Abrams-- responded by asking "What the fuck do you want?" When Abrams was asked to put his hands on the squad car, he allegedly shoved Ulberg with both hands and spit on him. He then declared "I'll kill you. I have AIDS." While being transported to the jail, Abrams continued spitting all over the rear of the squad car while repeatedly threatening to infect the officers with H.I.V. At the jail it required five Hennepin County Sheriff's deputies to remove Abrams from the squad car. They then placed a "spit mask" on him, but not before he was able to spit in the eye of one of the deputies. Abrams has been charged with two counts of assault in the fourth degree and one count of making terroristic threats. According to records maintained by the Minnesota Bureau of Criminal Apprehension, Abrams has four previous misdemeanor criminal convictions in the state.
THESE DAYS
Having several older brothers increases the likelihood of a man being gay, a finding researchers say adds weight to the idea that there is a biological basis for sexual orientation.
The Walt Disney Co., which had denied permission to grieving British parents to put Winnie the Pooh on their child's gravestone, has had a change of heart.
A former handyman has won more than $400,000 in a lawsuit over a penile implant that gave him a 10-year erection.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
News on local artists, their shows, and arts-related events can be found at the MN Artists blog.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Page 2's Bill Simmons gives us the 33 clips in his YouTube Hall of Fame
Astronaut Buzz Aldrin punching some mouthy guy in the face [via Fazed]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"You don't make so much on the first one."
-- Superman lead Brandon Routh, longing for those sequel paychecks
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Paul Demko has returned from Germany with World Cup photos and stories at Live Nude Weblog.
THESE DAYS
Called2Action, a North Carolina Christian activist group, is calling on Wake County school officials to remove books by Toni Morrison, Maurice Sendak, and Alice Walker from required reading lists and the school library.
Fifty-seven Ground Zero workers have died and thousands of others have been sickened by exposure to a noxious mix of chemicals released when the World Trade Center was reduced to smoldering rubble, according to lawyers.
Saddam Hussein ended a brief hunger strike after missing just one meal in his U.S.-run prison, a U.S. military spokesman said Friday.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Album reviews, album reviews, and more album reviews (and show highlights) await dear readers at Perfect Porridge.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
SNL castmember Amy Poehler's 8 Simple Rules for being a civilized New Yorker
AskMen.com schools us on Six Common Sex Myths
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Yeah, they should let Ann Coulter do it instead."
-- Bruce Springsteen, sarcastically responding to CNN's Soledad O'Brien when asked about those who say musicians shouldn't discuss politics
"There's another force that wants to keep us from going to Washington, D.C. It's the devil is what it is. I don't want you to print that, but it feels like that's what it is."
-- Republican Third District candidate John Jacob, running against five-term Utah Congressman Chris Cannon (R-UT)
Attorney General and DFL-endorsed gubernatorial candidate Mike Hatch will finally announce who will join him on the ticket as lieutenant governor Sunday afternoon at his Burnsville residence.
Hatch's announcement will occur a day after the Independence Party is expected to nominate former MPS Superintendent Peter Hutchinson as its standard-bearer for Governor at its convention at Midway Stadium before the St. Paul Saints minor league baseball game Saturday night. Opposing Hutchinson is former Jesse Ventura aide Pam Ellison.
THESE DAYS
Chief executive officers in the United States earned 262 times the pay of an average worker in 2005, the second-highest level in the 40 years for which there is data, the nonprofit Economic Policy Institute said this week.
According to a study by the University of Washington, condoms protect women against cancer- and wart-causing human papillomavirus (HPV) infections.
The National Academy of Sciences, after reconstructing global average surface temperatures for the past two millennia, gave the panel "a high level of confidence that the last few decades of the 20th century were warmer than any comparable period in the last 400 years."
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Gay blogger Fila1974 has some thoughts on Pride Month and why he won't be attending the MSP Pride festivities this weekend at Everything Duluth 2006.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Who said it: Ann Coulter or Adolf Hitler?
The folks at Office Pirates proudly present the 10 People Who REALLY Don't Matter
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"It just isn't in me to sit around doing nothing."
-- Dan Rather, on leaving CBS after 44 years following a break-down in contract talks
THESE DAYS
Eating plenty of green leafy vegetables such as kale, spinach, and collard greens could decrease skin cancer risk, according to a recent study.
House Republican leaders on Wednesday postponed a vote on renewing the 1965 Voting Rights Act after GOP lawmakers complained it unfairly singles out nine Southern states for federal oversight.
Researchers at Southwestern University speculate that intake of caffeine might enhance the sexual experience among females.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
PiPress tech writer Julio Ojeda-Zapata posts hardware information and software reviews (as well as a shout-out to the Disney Channel's High School Musical) at Your Tech Weblog.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Painter Steven Keene has rendered four Hüsker Dü album covers using paint on wood. You can bid on them at eBay.
Maybe I could play the wacky neighbor: Feldman and Haim reunite in The Coreys
Director Aaron Russo began a quest to find the law that requires American citizens to pay taxes, and reveals the vast erosion of our civil liberties in America: From Freedom to Fascism.
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"There probably are not 72 virgins in the hell he's at. And if there are, they probably all look like Helen Thomas."
-- Congressman Steve King (R-IA), joking about Abu Musab al-Zarqawi's fate to GOP delegates
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Peter S. Scholtes has more photos of local band Faggot from this week's cover story at Complicated Fun.
THESE DAYS
Numerous federal and local law enforcement agencies have bypassed subpoenas and warrants designed to protect civil liberties and gathered Americans' personal telephone records from private-sector data brokers.
According to a professor at the University of Southern California, the pleasure of grasping a new concept triggers a biochemical cascade that rewards the brain with a shot of natural opium-like substances.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Bunny Edelman walks the streets of Minneapolis everyday and reports on her findings at I Can Walk the Walk.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS (PUPPIES IN PERIL EDITION)
The sad story of Skeeter the Narcoleptic Poodle
Duo the Two-Nosed Bull Terrier needs a home
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"So you know you're being used, but in a way you kind of like it because it's good pictures."
-- CBS News contributor and U.S. News & World Report contributing editor Gloria Borger, on CNN's Reliable Sources, discussing President Bush's recent visit to Baghdad [via Media Matters]
"Are there any churches around here?"
Subaru must be baffled. Is the woman with the sloppy Sunday pony-tail looking for a Ukranian Catholic or a Polish National Catholic church? Maronite or Greek Orthodox? Because you can find all of them, and a dozen others, within 10-odd blocks.
The woman in the red pickup elaborates, then. "My boyfriend just hit me," she says. She turns her head and points to her right eye. "I want a church."
God help her. And if that doesn't work, there happen to be a couple of bars in the neighborhood, too. Her boyfriend may be familiar with a few of them.
THESE DAYS
Just weeks before the release of a movie about the death of the electric car made by General Motors, the Smithsonian Institution has removed its EV1 electric sedan from display and replaced it with a high-tech SUV. GM happens to be one of the Smithsonian's biggest contributors. [via Undernews]
Scientists in Italy have uncorked a new finding about grapes: The fruit might be packing melatonin, a sleep hormone.
A real estate transaction last December left House Speaker Dennis Hastert with a seven-figure profit and in prime position to reap further benefits as the exurban region west of Chicago continues its growth boosted by a Hastert-backed federally funded proposed highway.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Thirty-eight-year-old suburban dad "Sean Aqui" lends voice to the silent majority known as the moderate middle at Midtopia.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
For your child's next birthday party or David Lynch movie: The animatronic panda suit
For the little playa on your Christmas list: Baby Hip Hop
Connie Chung ensuring she never works in broadcast journalism ever again. [via Drudge]
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"It's, you know, another boy, another girl, which country, which race would fit best with the kids."
-- Actress Angelina Jolie, on "Anderson Cooper 360," discussing the various criteria for adopting another child. Jolie currently has three children.
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Steve Monaco has an audio-only Monday Movie Quiz at Couch Pundit.
THESE DAYS (INTERNATIONAL EDITION)
France has launched a huge project to remove silt linking the mainland to Mont Saint-Michel - a national landmark - and make it an island again.
An Australian company has developed a system that would allow parents to know when their teen drivers are speeding.
Russia plans to send up a space exploration capsule to analyze the surface of Mars and collect test samples from one of the red planet's moons in 2009.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Arthur Willoughby's Admin Worm blog is kaput. Arthur Willoughby's My Name is William Smythe blog is now open for business.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Cookie Monster vs. Martha Stewart
Larry the Cable Guy: Also not funny when he was a khaki-wearing, mullet-sporting preppie
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Some of these old people are probably wonderfully wise and some of them, maybe, should have retired a long time ago."
-- Stephen Hess, a congressional scholar at the Brookings Institution, commenting on the fact that more than one-third of the U.S. Senate's 100 members are age 65 or older
Father's day tribute breaks the Hallmark mold
H.J. Cummins' work/life column in today's Star Tribune is a short, sweet ode to the influence our fathers have on our career choices. This one actually broke me up, especially the bit about Ray Wells Jr., who, Cummins reports, "was 18 and a Golden Gloves boxer when his daughter, Tene, was born."
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Jack Sparks has reposted his Top 100 country songs and wants to know what you think. Head over to the Other Side of Country, give it a read, and give Sparks your two cents.
THESE DAYS
Indianapolis police have made an arrest following a bank robbery in which officials said the robber left behind his birth certificate.
New documents obtained by conservative watchdog group Judicial Watch suggest that the U.S. Army Corp of Engineers may have publicly lied regarding the involvement of the Vice President's office in awarding a 2003 multi-billion dollar, no-bid contract to Kellogg Brown and Root, a subsidiary of Halliburton.
Actor Michael Madsen, best known for his roles in Reservoir Dogs and Kill Bill, has thrown his weight behind a web-based campaign to save Union 76 petrol station signs, otherwise known as the "76 Ball."
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
A pair of epicures nosh their way through Twin Cities restaurants at Two MN Foodies.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS (iPOD EDITION)
The portable music player and toilet paper dispenser: iCarta
The hottest thing in feminine protection: iPad
Apple develops multiple-user music player: iPod Maxi
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"We can't forbid people from buying it. I'm sure Dom Perignon or Krug would be delighted to have their business."
-- Frederic Rouzaud, managing director of Louis Roederer, the company that produces Cristal, bemoaning its association with hip-hop culture in The Economist, prompting rapper Jay-Z to announce a boycott of the Champange
Don't clutter up the page with pesky details
We realize context is pretty darn hard to sneak into something as short as a Star Tribune metro section column these days, but you'd think that a spare inch or two of newsprint might be made available when one is confronted with the kinds of troublesome details that tend to rob a news commentary of its credibility. Case in point, Katherine Kersten's column today on the thoughts of one Minneapolis Police Sgt. Jeff Jindra vis a vis possible causes of the city's rising crime rate. Kersten reruns the week's news--crime is up--and then quotes Jindra, currently assigned to the Metro Gang Strike Force, complaining about two overlooked causes: Hennepin County's drug court, which he feels is too lenient; and cops reduced to bystanders for fear they'll be charged with racial profiling or brutality.
Ratings for spring 2006 give snapshot of Spanish-language market
A follow-up to last week's CP story about the emerging Latino media market: One of the questions left unanswered at the time was whether the Twin Cities had enough Spanish-speaking listeners to support not one, not two, but three Spanish-language stations.
The Arbitron ratings for this past spring weren't out yet, but they are now.
There's a full list of winners following the jump.
THESE DAYS
The White House has announced that President Bush is taking Japanese Prime Minister and big-time Elvis fan Junichiro Koizumi to Memphis for a pilgrimage to Graceland.
A Fort Lauderdale nanny who was arrested after police viewed hidden camera video recordings that appeared to show her shaking a 5-month-old baby is suing the recording system's manufacturer.
A retired farmer in Millard, Wisconsin, who says he served in a branch of a German paramilitary unit in World War II, is turning some of his property into a memorial to Adolf Hitler.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
Citizen journalists post hometown news and events at Northfield.org.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
New York Times puzzle editor Will Shortz and crossword puzzle fans Jon Stewart, Bill Clinton, Indigo Girls, and Bob Dole are featured in Patrick Creadon's documentary Wordplay.
The Incredible Hulk doing his best Denny Hecker impersonation
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"I find her--I wouldn't put her--well, she doesn't pass the Chris Matthews test."
-- MSNBC pundit Chris Matthews, on Hardballing with conservative pundit Ann Coulter
Curiously, only 3.7 percent of U of M students and staff reported having grown up in a godless home. It would seem that the University of Minnesota is responsible for shaking the faith of almost a fifth of its campus community. No data were available on precisely which course convinced students that the universe is a cold and utterly lonely place. May we suggest statistics?
CITY PAGES BLOGS AND NEWS
Peter S. Scholtes discusses one of the most-sampled backbeats in popular music at Complicated Fun.
THESE DAYS
The Department of Homeland Security allowed a man to enter its headquarters last week using a fake Matricula Consular card as identification, despite federal rules that say the Mexican-issued card is not valid ID at government buildings.
Sander Daselaar of the Netherlands' University of Amsterdam and Roberto Cabeza of Duke University studied 14 healthy young adults and found that the healthy brain may still hold memories that are believed forgotten.
U.S. District Judge Frank C. Damrell Jr. rejected a lawsuit from an atheist who said having the phrase "In God We Trust" on U.S. coins and dollar bills violated his First Amendment rights.
MINNESOTA BLOG OF THE DAY
MPR's Stephanie Curtis discusses new releases and reviews DVDs at the Movie Maven.
[Minnesota-based blog directory]
TIME WASTERS
Help Screech save his house
It's Cho vs. Smokey in this episode of Ultimate Cat Fighting
FREEDOM OF SPEECH
"Maybe you can wear jeans for a living and make out with Teri Hatcher."
-- Desperate Housewives plumber James Denton, delivering the commencement speech at his nephew's eighth-grade graduation in suburban Nashville
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