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.
More >>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.
More >>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:
More >>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.
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